No.
No, that was too much. He shouldn't have mutilating that kid, and he definitely shouldn't have fought the others. Today was only the second day of school. By mid-month, he'd be burning down the school.
But what could he do for balance?
Maybe he should talk to Konoe. Konoe would help him, since that was the old man's part in the deal his dad made.
Ranma considered that. No, Konoe had other motives, and Ranma knew that the old man wasn't all charity. As long as he mistrusted Konoe's motives, he couldn't take Konoe's advice, and he had no time to figure out Konoe right now.
His teachers couldn't control the other students, so Ranma couldn't count on their help. That left one person he could go to.
Takamichi Takahata stared at Ranma's reddened knuckles. "What did you do?"
Ranma continued massaging the top of his head, which by this point in the afternoon still hurt a twinge. "Some kids started a fight in school."
He couldn't blame Takamichi for glaring like a guard dog on the other side of a flimsy fence, since no teacher wanted this conversation.
"Yes," said Takamichi. Ranma felt the man couldn't find something else to say, which was fine because Ranma didn't want to talk about it.
Ranma lowered his hand from his head and instead started tapping those red knuckles as he stood there, not caring that they wouldn't return to normal color if he did that. Tapping his knuckles had become a habit today; nobody bothered him when he did it.
"Anyway," Ranma said before Takamichi could think too much, "I need your help. I need to find something nice to do."
"Nice to do?" Takamichi frowned in confusion, as Ranma expected. "Like what?"
"Something compassionate. Altruistic. If you want a different word, I'll find a thesaurus."
"No, that's fine. Why do you want something like that?"
Ranma answered with what he thought was most understandable, if not most believable. "I broke some guy's arm, and now I want to ease my guilty conscience."
His choice was rewarded, as Takamichi probably didn't even hear the second half. "You did what?!"
Hmm. How to justify this? "I had a headache," said Ranma. "and they were bothering me."
Okay, that didn't justify much, but Ranma figured he could wring this excuse for extra guilt credibility.
"You broke a kid's arm because you had a headache?"
"Yeah, it was sad that him and his friends came at me with weapons, and ended up crying so much. Supposedly they were coming back from being suspended, and they were having an argument with the student committee. I didn't listen to the entire explanation, but the kids they were arguing with spoke up for me when the teachers came and broke up the huge cryfest, and the teachers decided I was defending myself."
To the school, he was defending himself. Ranma didn't agree, and found that interpretation suspicious given how much overkill he used, but by this point he suspected his teachers would side with him no matter what he did.
He also wondered if the students who spoke up for him supported him, or just hated the people he beat up. Either way, they avoided him.
"I know I'm not the one to punish you," said Takamichi, and Ranma could see the teacher's instincts struggling with what was probably Konoe's personal order, "but even if the school decided you were defending yourself, couldn't you have been gentler about it? Breaking an elbow takes months to heal."
Ranma shrugged.
Takamichi observed Ranma's indifference. "Have you tried to make amends toward the student you hurt?"
"No," said Ranma without the slightest remorse for the kid who attacked him. "Why would I?"
That made Takamichi sigh, as if Ranma's response was just as he imagined it would be. "Yes, well, somehow I don't believe guilty conscience is the real reason you want to do something nice."
Oh well, Ranma thought, it was a fake-sounding excuse anyway. "Wait, I got another one."
Takamichi relaxed, as if Ranma's previous reason had put him on edge. "Okay, I'm listening."
Ranma took a deep breath. "I need money."
Takamichi didn't frown at this excuse. Ranma thought that reaction was promising. "I heard your father sends you an allowance."
"It's not enough to buy everything I need. I can't make food in the apartment Konoe gave me because the place doesn't have a working stove, and I don't know many recipes that use a rice cooker."
A faint smile appeared on Takamichi's face, which Ranma took as a sign this excuse was indeed more plausible than the last one. "Hmm, really? So you're not eating much besides rice?"
"No, I can make stuff like stews with a rice cooker, so it's not like I'm starving, but that gets boring. The five thousand yen from my allowance isn't going to cover restaurants, not if I want to buy anything else."
Takamichi thought about that. "Can't you cook outside?"
Ranma frowned. "If I was going to cook outside, why am I living indoors in the first place?" He looked away. "Also, the first day neighbors got pissed about the campfire, saying it's illegal. A regular stove is like thirty-five thousand yen, and I'm not waiting that many months for something to cook on. Right now the only resource I have is time, and I want to exchange time for other things."
"The principal," said Takamichi with a lecturing drone, "wants you to spend time with others your age, have fun, and be like a normal kid. Why not do that, and then when you've shown you're doing what he wants, ask him to help you?"
"Because I'm not going to beg," said Ranma, not even bothering to think the advice through. "If I'm doing something for money, then I'm earning it. It's degrading for me to act good and hope Konoe rewards me. More importantly, I'm not going to leave him to decide whether he'll reward me or not."
Takamichi looked like he wanted to say something to that, but he changed the subject. "So you want to ask me for a job? Why me?"
"You've been nice to me since I met you," said Ranma. "I don't think Konoe would put you near me unless he thinks that I'll warm up to whoever played the nice guy while he continued setting down the rules and attracting my irritation. If that's the game we're playing, then you might as well do your part and help me."
Takamichi looked hurt at that analysis. "That's too cynical for someone your age."
He didn't deny it though. Ranma smirked. "I know Konoe. Besides, I've done stuff to annoy Konoe but nothing to make you like me, so is it hard to believe you being nice is suspicious?"
That simple reason left Takamichi without a comeback. "I can have you grade papers," he said instead.
"No, no, that's boring. I want a job that accomplishes something."
Takamichi stared at him, puzzled by that requirement. It didn't make sense if what he needed was money. "Then what do you want to do?"
"Oh come on, I know you Mahora people have stuff that needs to be done. Stuff that you can't let other people know about."
Takamichi fell silent.
"Look," said Ranma. "Konoe did tell you why he wants me around, right?"
"Not very much."
"Huh." Ranma found it strange that Konoe would have Takamichi supervise him, yet not brief Takamichi that far. "That makes the explanation longer. First of all, you can tell I'm different from most people because I had us meet here."
Takamichi looked down over the edge of the roof they were standing on. "Yes, and since you brought up the subject, why are we meeting up here?"
Four stories below the shopping district building where they stood, many people were clustered around the street watching a balloon parade go by. From the parade, festive J-Pop music floated up, but Ranma had ignored that cacophony so far and he continued doing so now.
No, something else had been holding his peripheral attention for a while now.
"For two reasons," said Ranma, "and if everything had worked out, I won't have to explain either of them. Too bad you take so long to talk to."
A hand reached over the edge of the roof from below.
Ranma rubbed the top of his head. "But anyway, here's reason one."
In hindsight, he might've avoided this meeting by not standing where everybody could look up and see him.
But no, if this girl had enough drive to climb a building then she would've searched the rooftops anyway. Since Takamichi would tell Konoe that Ranma wanted to meet, and Konoe would probably tell her where Ranma was, Ranma knew this confrontation was unavoidable. At least standing on the edge of the roof, he could see her coming.
"I found you!" said Hairbows as she climbed up to the roof. She was huffing, and Ranma thought her performance was unimpressive until he saw her cradling a large blob of gauze bandage where her right hand should be.
Heh. So that's why she had such a hard time. Well, if hitting him busted her hand, then all's fair.
"What do you want?" Ranma said to her.
Hairbows stomped up to where Ranma was standing but before Ranma could back out of swinging girl-fist range, she said, "I came here to apologize."
Maybe because he got a punch in the head for using this same approach, the surprise Ranma felt was muted by his caution. "Really?"
"Yes," said the girl with eyes downcast and face contrite. "I was wrong to hit you. I should've controlled myself."
And then she clenched her shoulders and bowed in front of him, and this time Ranma felt the surprise more clearly.
A long time passed before she looked up at him, eyes wide with her own amazement. "So," she said, "I guess you're not going to hit me back."
"Of course not," said Ranma, because if she sincerely wanted to apologize then he could be nicer about it. "If I was going to hit you," he said, "what difference does bowing make?"
The girl's amazed expression promptly flattened. Yes, Ranma could be nicer, but niceness was relative, and even if Konoe said Ranma knew her, Ranma planned on treating her like a stranger. Like-a-stranger meant—well, a little better than like-a-stranger meant he wouldn't hold what she did in the past against her. "Okay," he said. "It's fine. Forget about it."
But a mere apology didn't earn casual talk. "So is that all?"
Hairbows pulled a large paper note with "challenge" scribbled on it from her pocket. Ranma stared as she extended it. "Why are you challenging me?"
"So you really don't remember after all," said Hairbows, now frowning again just a bit, "even though you said you did?"
Ranma started frowning too. "Do you know how many families I've insulted or pissed off? Who are you, and what makes you special?"
The girl stood straight and proud. "I am Nanoha Takamachi of the Mikami Fuwa small-sword school!"
At that pronouncement, Ranma's face smoothed of all expression, and he turned to Takamichi.
Takamichi shrugged and said, "No relation, just similar names."
That hadn't even occurred to Ranma, but maybe Takamichi got the question a lot. "No, I was going to ask if you ever heard of them."
Takamichi noted the twitch on Hairbow's—
Ranma crossed out the temporary label from under the picture on his mental board and wrote "Nanoha" there instead.
—Nanoha's forehead. "Martial arts schools aren't my field. I'm just a lowly English teacher."
Ranma turned back to Nanoha, and to complement the bored look that must've been on his face, he let the challenge letter fall from his hand onto the roof—no, the wind blew it over the edge.
Nanoha's shoulders hadn't loosened since bowing, but now they were clenched for another reason. "I thought maybe you had gotten nicer over the years," she said, "but now I can tell you haven't changed one bit. If I knew that you were making fun of me yesterday, I wouldn't have stopped after the first punch."
"Even after you messed up your hand?" said Ranma. She should've figured he hadn't become nicer after seeing or hearing about the fight at school, but he kept that thought to himself.
Nanoha reached behind her with her good hand. "Well," she said, "it's good I'm from a two-sword school." And saying that, she pulled out a single small-sword.
Ranma glanced at the polished metal of that curving blade. Well. She certainly looked serious.
But before he could reply, Takamichi jumped to full alert.
"Hey, now I draw the line right there!"
Nanoha must've been very focused on Ranma, because she seemed to see for the first time Takamichi standing nearby. The shock on her face made Ranma think she just took a punch to the gut. "Mister Takahata! Umm, I was—"
"Nanoha, put the sword down. If Ranma doesn't want to fight, the principal will definitely not let you off if you force the issue, and you'll only make your father more angry."
Takamichi said it in a slow and steady voice, as if the sword was a real danger. Ranma could see that it had no edge, so it was a blunt replica for training. As this Nanoha girl said, she was here to challenge him, not cut him to death.
"That's unfair!" said Nanoha. "Why do I get punished for fighting while he can go around doing whatever he wants?"
"Because Konoe has no leverage on me," said Ranma, ignoring the irony of hearing that question in favor of wondering if she knew about his fight today after all.
"Because we punished him preemptively," said Takamichi just a second later. Ranma turned to glare at him, but Takamichi accepted the look without flinching. "She's at your school as punishment. You started at the bottom."
"Fine." Ranma wanted to scoff, but he pushed that subject aside. "But Takamichi, don't stop this."
In response, Takamichi became all teacher. "It's one thing that the principal told me not to get between you two if you squabble, something else if you pull weapons right in front of me."
"If she only brought a blunt sword then she's obviously not here to hurt me."
"Don't take me so lightly. You think I can't hurt you with a blunt sword?" said Nanoha.
Ranma wanted to ignore her, but thought better of it. "I don't intend to take you seriously," he said to Nanoha. "Whatever your problem is with me, it's so far in the past that I don't even remember it. And you think I'm going to accept a challenge from a kid like you?"
Nanoha stepped forward with her sword half-raised. "You insult me, and you expect me to leave without fighting?"
"I try not to live my life caring what other people do," said Ranma. He turned to Takamichi. "Here's reason two."
Nanoha managed to slip a "what" from her mouth, and by that time Ranma had sprinted across the roof and leapt off the edge onto the next building over.
That girl was shouting something. Ranma turned his head back, and saw with small annoyance that Nanoha was already jumping to the same roof wearing a most peeved look on her face. Dealing with Takamichi would have to wait. He started running.
Unlike the previous building's flat roof this one slanted sharply, but Ranma could still run along the narrow apex. He knew from the footsteps behind him that Nanoha was being a bit less confident, or maybe less reckless.
At least this was a good day for running on the roof. The sunny afternoon made it easy to see where he was going and the early spring wind kept his head cool, which eased the wooziness of his headache that was starting again from the movement.
But even a headache should be fine. He had used his time waiting for Takamichi planning where to go in case he had to escape. Instead of running to the edge of the building, Ranma slid down one side of the slanted roof, and the extra speed allowed him to jump across to yet another building, grabbing onto the edge of a balcony instead of falling three stories to the ground.
Ow. That maneuver messed up his insides more than it should have. It wouldn't make him run much slower than he was already, but even with an escape route he couldn't do any fancy tricks.
Behind him, he saw Nanoha glaring from the previous rooftop as he pulled himself onto the balcony. The customers eating there looked surprised, but he ignored them as he entered the restaurant and ran through it into the building's atrium. A shopping center or something, but Ranma didn't stop to take in the details. All he saw as he moved were walls and people—the obstacles. He ignored the irrelevant things, because for all he knew Nanoha might be right behind him.
He got to the elevators... he wasn't going to wait for an elevator. The nearby staircase was what he needed, and though Ranma would've usually jumped down in his hurry, he didn't want the pain in his stomach any worse than it was, so he settled for half-stumbling down the stairs. If he got to the street, then he could blend into the crowd.
The exit was in sight from the staircase, and Ranma burst through the front door of the building. He clipped Nanoha on the way out in his hurry, throwing her onto the sidewalk outside and messing up the job she did bandaging her hand.
Despite his hurry, he wasn't going to leave without helping up a girl he knocked down no matter who she was, so when Nanoha gawked at the stupidity of him stopping to haul her up, Ranma shrugged before running off again.
He knew better than anyone how wrong his priorities could sometimes be.
From the footsteps again, he knew it didn't take Nanoha long to collect herself. She followed him closely, and she knew the streets far better than he did. He could spot her behind him every so often exploiting small shortcuts while he followed the turns of the streets, and while that didn't help her much, it kept her in the chase.
Too bad with the girl right behind him, he couldn't meld with the parade watchers because of his uniform's dark color, and Nanoha's eyes were sharp enough eyes to follow him even as he ran through the crowd. Maybe he should try to counteract that, but he wasn't about to ditch his uniform. He needed another idea.
The parade watchers were rather tolerant. This chasing must be common. All Ranma got were exasperated looks from those who saw him early enough to step aside as he ran past.
Ranma considered turning into the alleys instead of continuing down the busy streets, but... no, the pedestrians hindered Nanoha more than him. She had an honest and straightforward approach of just chasing him down... or maybe she wasn't too imaginative.
Well, he wasn't being imaginative either.
What could he use? While he wasn't limping, he wasn't in top shape. He didn't want to chance running into someone in the crowd of pedestrians or something in the fast-moving traffic. That wasn't a big deal for him, but he might get people hurt... or get Nanoha hurt, since she didn't seem to run as skillfully.
Too bad they were already pushing through the thick crowd gathered to watch that balloon parade.
Ranma sneaked a look over his shoulder, and saw the girl falling behind. All the jostling and her attempts to nudge people aside were making her bandages fall apart in bundles, and Ranma saw Nanoha look down at her hand.
Hmm.
He couldn't take credit for this opportunity, but using it seemed proper.
In the moment that Nanoha's attention was diverted, he ducked through the crowd along the sidewalk and into the doorway of a nearby building.
He couldn't hear if she cried out in disbelief, but he amused himself imagining Nanoha did so while he waited to see if she would find him.
She didn't show up, and after standing there for a while, Ranma relaxed.
What was her name? Nanoha Takamachi? Ranma remembered Old Man Konoe making a big deal yesterday after she ran from his office. "She was transferred to the same school as you," Konoe had said as Ranma got up and felt the bump on his head, "for fighting too much here in the girls' academy. I think it might've been because we took her from her home and from her old friends when we accepted her to this boarding school after... well, you know."
And Ranma had replied with pained contempt, "Am I supposed to feel sorry for the poor little girl? Boo-fucking-hoo, left her friends. Am I crying a lake yet?"
Silence fell over them. "I hoped you would at least sympathize," said Konoe.
"What makes you think I care? I don't even know her!"
Konoe's old eyebrows rose. "What? You said you did!"
"I wanted to get her out of my way."
"But then how did you narrow it down to humiliating her family?"
Ranma snorted. "Why else do people usually hate me? Should I narrow it down more by saying she wears clothes? Has hair?"
This reply seemed to make Konoe worry. "Then you wouldn't remember that she was brought here because—"
"And why are you telling me this? Shut up, Konoe! Did I ask for her life story?"
"You're not even—why aren't you the least bit concerned about this? Even though it has to do with you?"
"Because I know damn well that if you're this eager to tell me about other people, you're just as eager to tell other people about me!"
Thankfully, Ranma's retort and his stumble from the room ended that topic.
He had been pissed about restraining himself all day, then seeing Nanoha get away after punching him, but after dinner Konoe had promised he'd punish Nanoha.
Ranma changed his mind and demanded that Konoe let her go.
The old man had been surprised, but Ranma thought that if this girl was scarred by something he did years ago, then he could let her hit him for free. And besides, Ranma figured anybody who held a grudge that long wouldn't give it up just because Konoe punished her.
Ranma sighed and looked around the building he had darted into.
Oh, hey. This is a supermarket.
He hadn't had time to walk around Mahora because of all the aching nights he spent in bed, so this was his first time out shopping by himself. Walking down the aisles of groceries and people, he kept his eyes open for the items his barren new apartment needed.
Foods... appliances... aha! A electrical portable grill! It was only a single small one instead of the array of four grills that come on a regular stove, so he couldn't cook a large meal's dishes at once, but wow, he had been out of the cities long enough to forget this kind of thing was available.
What a pitiful reminder of this whole living-in-Mahora situation.
Ranma stared at the box that held the grill. Yes, it was pitiful, but the rest of the situation was just as bad, and at least he could cook more food now. Maybe there was a sparkle of good fortune inside the mountain of... eh, enough muddling over that. Now he needed pans.
Ranma bought all the supplies he needed to feed himself for the rest of the week, hefted the large paper sack out the front door of the supermarket, and charged right into Nanoha for the second time that half-hour.
Wasn't this perfect? Now he had to get away from this girl without damaging his purchases.
Nanoha was huffing and puffing and red, obviously from searching for him all this time, and after reeling back she glared at him in utter indignation, yelling, "How can you be shopping and eating while I'm trying to find you?"
Ranma continued chewing on the pork bun he bought at the hot foods counter. Since his mouth was occupied by eating and his hands by carrying his groceries, he put on the biggest I-don't-understand-your-question frown he could make around his bulging mouth.
"Don't give me that look," said Nanoha as she pointed her blunt sword at him, "like you don't get the question! I've been searching my heart out but you're just eating!"
Ranma spat out the bun. "Hey screw you! I haven't eaten since breakfast because the disciplinary council spent all of lunch trying to recruit me! And I don't know why you're having such a hard time. The rest of us aren't even breathing hard."
Ranma looked over to the wall, where Takamichi was standing to ensure nobody with a sword got violent.
"You knew I was here?" said Takamichi, probably because he thought he was being unobtrusive as he followed Ranma through the market rather than being ignored. Ranma wished Takamichi would go follow Nanoha instead, but since Konoe had told Takamichi not to do anything about Nanoha... ah, whatever. The point was neither he nor Ranma had a problem keeping the pace up.
Nanoha twitched at Takamichi's presence, but she quickly focused back on Ranma, while Takamichi shrugged at their lack of response and returned to his observation without another word.
"I don't need you to lecture me on keeping in shape," said Nanoha. "I've spent the last three years training to challenge you—"
"To avenge your family's honor, I heard." Ranma was taller, so he looked down at her. "You know what? Just get over it. Your family's still alive, and what are you? Thirteen? A girl like you should just live happily and leave hard things to adults."
His words weren't very sympathetic, but Nanoha seemed to get much angrier than she should have.
"How dare you say that? Do you know what you did? You broke my brother's arm and he couldn't go back to work for weeks—"
Broke her brother's arm? Ranma didn't remember that.
Well, he couldn't deny it was something he'd do.
"—he spent all of his time retraining, then got injured again at work from the cut you gave him too! All because you came out of nowhere and fought him, and you don't even remember!"
"I'd like to point out," said Ranma with arms folded around his groceries, "that just because I don't remember doesn't mean I want to be reminded."
"You did this to him, and you don't care?!"
"In this world, there are some people I don't care about."
And your brother is one of them, Ranma wanted to say. But he frowned. "No, wait."
Ranma coughed and started again.
"In this world, there are many people I don't care about."
Nanoha seemed to see the point. "Fine," she said, "then instead of telling you my reason, let's just fight right here!"
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(Posted Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:57)
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