Ranma stood there in silence, and Green didn't wait long before putting her hands on her hips and demanding, "What, you don't have an answer?"
Why would he have a good answer to such a dumb question? Ranma almost sighed. "Does it matter? I'm not giving it back."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because you might stab yourself, and that would make me sad."
Ranma pondered the question a bit further. "And because you might stab me. That would also make me sad, but in a different way."
Ranma saw Green's hand clench and move toward her pocket. She didn't look willing to accept his non-answers or leave without her weapon. "Since I'm holding a scalpel," he said, "I hope for your sake you're not planning anything stupid, liking spraying me." He accompanied his statement with a wave of the scalpel.
Green watched the scalpel's path warily. "And how do you know what I'm carrying?"
"I guessed," said Ranma, "from the weird pocket bulge. I doubt you're carrying tubes of lipstick." Ranma resisted the urge to scratch the side of his head with the scalpel. "And where did you get them, anyway? Do they sell pepper spray now?"
Green said nothing, but Ranma didn't press. Compared to getting an answer, he wanted this conversation to end much more. His classmates had already gone back to their baseball after the teachers left, and he'd like nothing better than to sit down and rest by himself again.
But he couldn't have people bringing weapons into the school. "So, are you sneaking weapons?"
Green planted her hands on her hips. "If I say yes, are you gonna tell me to stop?"
"No," said Ranma. "I'll just tell you this school won't have any more fighting, so don't bother anymore."
"With a face like that, I don't think I believe you."
Ah, right. His bruises wouldn't convince anybody that weapons weren't necessary. "You must not know about what happened at school today. Are you a student here?"
"Are you? You don't even know who I am."
Was she known at school? He supposed she had a point. "I'm new."
"And I've been out of school all week."
If she was known, Ranma decided, and one of the reasons so many of the students had weapons, then he could let somebody else fill her in. "I'm sure you'll learn soon enough."
Green's eyes narrowed as Ranma sat down on the bench, and Ranma could see the suspicion swirling in her mind. "Why? What happened?"
"I'm too tired to talk about it."
"No, tell me!"
Green looked like she wanted to step closer, but maybe a quick summary would satisfy her. "There was a big fight today," said Ranma, "and some guy from the second year declared he wanted the fighting at school to stop."
A long second passed.
"And?" said Green. "Who cares if somebody wanted to stop the fighting?"
Was this girl going to make him talk about himself? Ranma frowned. "He beat the hell out of a lot of people too, and smacked around one of the teachers. Since the staff didn't punish him, I figure if the guy said he wanted people to stop fighting, people will listen."
Green thought over this information, but skepticism stayed on her face. "And who is this guy?"
"I dunno. I'm new. He's about this high—"
Ranma raised a hand to half a head above his own.
"—and talks about himself a lot. Go ask around. I'm sure somebody'll point you to him."
Green shrugged. "I might, after I confirm this with my own sources."
She began to walk off, muttering to herself, and Ranma readied himself to forget this entire conversa—
Green spun around. "You wait right here!"
With that command, Green turned and walked away again, leaving Ranma to his own confusion.
—conversation.
By the end of the day, Ranma was exhausted. Not by physical exertion, since his fight with Takamichi was so short it was more stimulating than tiring. No, he was exhausted from all the quiet, ill attention directed at him through the afternoon.
And no, he didn't wait for Green. If she ever came back, or remembered he still had her scalpel, he was long gone by then, and happy to put off considering the issue of Green dealing weapons.
Ranma heard many rumors spreading through the school, but he lacked the energy to pay attention. All that mattered was nobody else showed up to trouble him further. Something went right for once.
Now that school was over, he had to yell at Old Man Konoe.
When he trudged through Konoe's office door, Konoe was full of cheer. "So what would you like to talk about?" the old man said.
With his left hand, Ranma stabbed Green's scalpel into the center of Konoe's desk hard enough that half of the blade sank into the wood, ruining both desk and tool.
Ranma took a seat, and said, "Why am I in a school so bad that these are lying around?"
Konoe looked at Ranma face and hands for a moment—Ranma didn't even go home to fix up his hands first—before reaching forward and pulling the scalpel out of his desk. The old man tapped the wound in the wood with two fingers, and Ranma watched in annoyance as the wound slowly began closing up. In seconds, the desk was repaired.
Whatever, as long as Konoe answered the question.
"It is as you heard before," said Konoe as he sat back into his chair. "Your father put you into my care, so that you would learn to control your temper and familiarize yourself with how kids your age behave. I placed you in Fukuzawa Middle School because that was where space was available, given your placement score. It is no more complex than that."
Ranma grimaced at the reminder of his test score. "I've seen what the people at my school are like. If you want me to learn how to act like everyone else, why put me in a school regular kids can't fit into?"
"As I see it," said Konoe, "your education not about whether you can fit in, but rather that Genma wants you to control your emotional outbursts." The old man steeped his fingers together. "Fitting in is your father's request, but from my view, asking you to fit into a normal child's mold will not work in a mere year of schooling. Your talents and your upbringing are too different. The best I can do is ensure you can still your temper, and for that reason, Fukuzawa is proper. A place with conflict will test you, and accurately reflect your own actions."
Okay, thought Ranma. So far it was reasonable. If irritating him was expected, then compared to somewhere peaceful, putting him in a violent school would be far better. He could blend more easily at a bad school, and pragmatically, a bad school would give Konoe deniability. "But if you had it so planned out," said Ranma, "why didn't you explain this to begin with?"
"I didn't think it was necessary," said Konoe. "You should've realized it yourself after a while, and besides, you've been in no mood to chat with me. Even when you didn't know, things proceeded well."
"Proceeded well? In case you don't remember, old man, I hurt a lot of other kids this week. Since you sent me into this school while knowing what kind of temper I have, while deciding I don't need to know what I'm getting into, are you taking responsibility for all the damage I did?"
"Not merely kids," said Konoe. "You even attacked one of my staff."
"Takamichi's a teacher, and I heard he deals with discipline too. You pay him to get smacked around, and he can quit when he wants."
Konoe smiled. "True. Yes, I am responsible for everything you do while in my city. I accept the consequences too, but I need to take a broader view, and Fukuzawa is a problem for me. That is why I won't punish you for the trouble you've caused. Takahata told me what happened today. Despite your audacity, I am fairly pleased with the outcome."
Ranma leaned back for a long interrogation. "He said you wanted some sort of connection between me and the school."
"Yes, but that isn't what I meant. I am pleased that you took steps to better your school's situation. Most of the schools on this island are private and under my governance, but your school is publically financed and I have no authority there. Your actions, though questionable, are beneficial."
"If I can do something beneficial," said Ranma, "then why aren't the teachers doing anything? It's a whole lot more their job than mine."
Konoe sighed. "As I've said before, the school has funding and staffing shortages. For whatever reason, they cannot govern themselves very well, and I have no power or influence to contribute aid."
"Politics?" said Ranma, remembering Takamichi's hesitation on the subject.
"In part."
"Yeah right. What kind of money or political problems are so big the teachers can't stop their own kids from fighting and bringing weapons to school?"
Konoe laughed. "I'm afraid that information is too volatile to share with someone your age. And yet it's precisely because you are nothing more than a student that I can leave the situation to you. There are greater repercussions for adults who injure children the same way you do, and Takahata has too many other things to do to patrol one school rigorously enough."
"If the place is so bad," said Ranma, "why don't you just get it closed down? I doubt somebody who administers the whole island lacks that much power."
"Where would those students go? They don't qualify for any other school on the island, whether based on their academic ability or their families' finances. Are you saying we should simply force their parents to quit their jobs and move away their households away?"
"There's a thing called commuting, but sure, why not force them to move?"
Konoe shook his head. "That is not so simple to demand. Nor is it kind to ask families to give up their lives for such a reason."
Ranma scoffed. "Are you asking me to pity other people who give up what they have and move away? Who do you think you're talking to?"
Konoe started to say something, but silence reigned as he seemed to realize Ranma's point. Konoe knew that Ranma moved all the time.
"Besides," said Ranma, "all this means is you and everybody else have problems, but making things better is up to me. How is that fair?"
"I do admit," said Konoe, "that asking you to fix the situation is beyond your duty as a student. And I suppose I have no right to ask for favors." Konoe nodded to himself. "So be it then. Shall I compensate you for your efforts?"
Ranma clenched his fists, not minding the pain of that movement. "Why would I want that? I already told everybody I'd make people stop fighting at school. By offering me things, are you trying to call my motives into question?"
Konoe looked at Ranma's face. "Then at least let me get you some healing for your injuries, since you took them in the course of...."
The old man trailed off at the bloody murder in Ranma's eyes, and sighed. "Alright, if that is your wish."
Konoe sat back with a disappointed face, but Ranma could sense smugness behind that facade, smugness from getting Ranma to act as Konoe wanted.
That irritated Ranma, but he got the answer he came for. There was nothing else for him here, and he had injuries to tend.
"You always look so stressed," said Konoe as Ranma rose from his seat. "You should calm down more. Perhaps find yourself a girlfriend."
"Yeah," said Ranma as he walked away. "That couldn't possibly add stress."
Konoe smiled. "That would depend on whether you find the right girl, wouldn't it?"
Damn Konoe. Forget the weird remark about girlfriends—if the old man had told Ranma he didn't need to fit in, he wouldn't have gotten the haircut. What a waste of hair.
Anyway, Ranma figured, if Konoe was going to support his efforts, then he might as well expand from stopping school fighting to actually fixing the school. That would be a long and grindingly tedious campaign, but he could do it.
He'd just have to change his perspective. Instead of training and learning new martial arts with Pops, he'd shift back into applying what he already knew.
Sunrise at Mahora was around 5:30 in the morning during the spring months, which gave Ranma around two hours to devote to morning training before school. He intended to put that time to use, since today was the first time he could do so; every previous day had seen him with too many injuries to train.
As it was, he had a busted right hand, a blisters on his left wrist, and bruises on his face and torso, but after proper care of those injuries, he could at least run.
Ranma sprinted up and down the steps in front of Mahora's giant-honking tree.
Maybe he was too harsh on this place. Mahora wasn't the most interesting city he had ever seen, but any place with its skyline more dominated by a single tree than by skyscrapers had to be special.
He wondered how much the tree was worth in lumber.
Sometime around an hour of sprinting, Ranma noticed the girl in the exercise clothes while running down the steps, and when he came back up Nanoha was still standing there as if she had something to say.
Ranma continued past, because he was in the middle of training and had no intention of stopping to talk.
Up the stairs he went, then down again, thinking idle thoughts all the way.
The teachers have chosen to be absent, so the best he could do was collect information on the history of the school, and maybe provoke the teachers until they act.
Up. Down.
He'll have to defend the regular students after all, and prevent them from blundering into his plans. Should he bother to sway the public opinion?
Up. Down.
He has been keeping the delinquents down with violence too much, which won't work in the long run. They had no solidarity though, so if he observed them, he should find rivalries and other weaknesses to exploit.
Up. Down.
The student council... well he didn't know how they reacted to Takamichi's influence among the teachers.
After all that running, Nanoha was still standing there, and each time he passed her her expression lightened a little bit more. At first it was flat, and then she began smiling, then a bit wider.
Her smile was as warm as the morning sunlight when Ranma passed her on the way up again, whereupon she stepped forward and kicked him in the shin.
That crazy bitch!
Ranma managed not to fall onto his knees, instead hobbling to a stop and glaring at her. "You lack discipline, Nanoha Takamachi."
Okay, fine. He shoved her for jumping into a fight. It was her own fault, but if she wanted some kind of payback, she was welcome to it. Disrupting somebody else's training just because she was too impatient to wait was impolite though. And for that matter, interrupting her own exercise just because she saw somebody she wanted to hit showed lack of temperance.
Still smiling, Nanoha spoke.
"I'll be your bodyguard as you deal with the trouble at school."
Ranma's face went from angry to flat like a snarling tiger running into a wall. Nanoha looked to him for a response, and the only question Ranma could think to ask was:
"What."
Wow, that didn't sound like a question at all! He knew exactly what was going on here, of course. Old Man Konoe needed to be found. Maybe beaten.
No, first of all, he had to ask Nanoha, "Don't you have anything better to do? Why would you agree to Konoe's requests?"
Nanoha folded her arms. "Rent."
Ranma's irritation lessened a little. He knew what that was like. "Oh. Okay, I'll fire you."
"You can't. I'm not working for you."
Dammit.
"I don't need a guard," said Ranma. "There's no fighting when I'm around."
"It's easy for you to say that after one day, but people are still going to attack you."
"Maybe," said Ranma, "but more importantly, I'm not letting you fight, even to guard me."
"Uh huh," said Nanoha in a voice Ranma knew meant she didn't care about his permission. "Since you bring up the subject, I also want something else."
"I'm not fighting you," said Ranma.
Nanoha frowned. "There was that, but I'm talking about something else. I know you're a better fighter than me. If you can fight Mr. Takahata like that, I know I can't challenge you and make it matter."
Ranma looked at Nanoha. "I don't think you'll end with 'I'm not going to challenge you anymore'."
"I want to learn how to be as good as you. I want to learn your special techniques."
This was exactly why Ranma avoided fighting above normal skills.
"I have no special technique." Ranma waved a hand toward the stairs. "As you can see, my skill comes from training. Long, early-in-the-morning, boring training."
"Yeah, sure. I already asked Principal Konoe and Mr. Takahata, and they say you're far above normal. Are you going to lie about not knowing any special fighting or training techniques?"
Maybe this was Konoe and Takamichi's revenge for threatening to expose them. Ranma wanted to lie, but Nanoha wouldn't hear his denial. Instead, he said, "Why do you want to know about that kind of thing?"
Nanoha uncrossed her arms and puffed up her chest. "As a martial artist myself, I want to learn and improve myself."
"I can't help you," said Ranma immediately. "I don't know any special techniques. The only way you'll be a better martial artist is with hard basic training."
Nanoha's puffing ended and her eyes narrowed. "You're trying to blow me off."
"If that's your reason—"
"I have others. My family's business is protecting people. I want the skill to do that."
Ranma didn't know if he truly cared less, or just felt that way this moment. "You're on your own."
Annoyance spread over Nanoha's face. "I know you've spent years learning martial arts. Isn't it hypocritical that you learned them from other people but refuse to teach?"
Ranma could almost feel the veins in his head throbbing in time with the counterarguments floating through it, but the only counter he could use was simply: "I've never learned anything without paying the price. What are you offering?"
Nanoha brightened. "So you're going to teach me?" When Ranma didn't say a word, she continued on her own. "I'll give you thirty thousand yen if you teach me how you fought Mr. Takahata."
That probably didn't sound like a bad price to Nanoha. It was indeed more money than he expected her to pony up, enough to feed him for a month.
But no. "If you think you can buy me with money," said Ranma, "I'll point you to to a neighborhood dojo where you can pay a fee and learn some karate."
Nanoha didn't look as disappointed as he hoped. "Then what kind of price do you want?"
Ranma didn't want to answer, but he considered the question. If she was offering to pay....
"You want training to protect other people?"
"Yep."
"I can teach you if you're willing to betray that sentiment when I tell you."
As expected, that jarred Nanoha's thoughts. "What? What does that mean?"
"It's not complicated. Let's say sometime you're protecting somebody important to you. I'll tell to hurt that person. If you're willing to do that, I'll teach you."
Nanoha didn't seem to deliberate that price. "I would never do that."
"How about instead of whenever I want, just once? One time, you betray someone you're protecting without question."
"There's no way I'll accept!"
"Fine. No deal."
Ranma began to turn back to his training.
"Wait," said Nanoha. "There's got to be something else you want!"
Ranma sighed inwardly. Since she was begging something of him, her want was more important than his, but she probably didn't think her approach very far.
What could he do with her? Maybe she would make a good ally. He didn't need to deal with the school himself. "Okay, how about this. Instead of someone you're protecting, I'll ask you to specifically betray Konoe. Say, for example, if someday he asks you to keep me under control under the guise of protecting me, and I'll tell you to disobey him and let me do whatever I want."
Nanoha didn't seem to deliberate this price either. "I won't betray Principal Konoe's trust. Ask something else."
Well, she's not all that useful. How about.... "I'll tell you to give me information from the disciplinary committee."
Nanoha didn't seem—oh wait, she actually thought this one over. "You mean like what they're talking about in meetings?" Nanoha looked unconcerned about this for a second, but then became suspicious. "Wait, is this another betrayal request?"
Ranma spread his hands. "For example, if I'm going around beating people up and they want to secretly ambush to make me stop, you'll warn me ahead of time."
"No! What is with you and all the betrayal? What kind of person are you?"
Ranma chuckled at Nanoha's funny glare. "The betrayal isn't important to me, but you got nothing to offer that I find valuable, so I'm asking for whatever's valuable to you."
"So you're asking things that you know I won't like on purpose?"
"Sorry to break the bad news, but that's what a price is."
Nanoha's glare intensified. "I'll never compromise myself this way."
Ranma smiled, and said, "Good for you. You succeeded in not betraying your character and I succeeded in not giving you anything. Everybody wins!"
A pause later, he stopped smiling, and said, "Will you go away now?"
Nanoha refused to budge.
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(Posted Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:04)
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