Grumbling as his eyes slowly opened to the sound of incessant buzzing, Ranma frowned as his gaze shifted to the alarm clock on the nightstand. He didn’t want to get up but he had to...
Reaching over and slamming a hand down on the large on/off button, the Asian teen released a yawn. Damn it, was he ever tired. It was extremely difficult to get to sleep last night, and not because he was uncomfortable, oh no. He was TOO comfortable. The mattress, the pillows, the sheets, the blanket... everything the blonde supplied him with was so soft and wonderful, he couldn’t tear himself from the sensations. It was a far cry from the camping futons he and his old man used all the time, even when they were staying at the Tendo Dojo.
“Man, this woman is gonna spoil me,” the pigtailed martial artist grumbled as he stretched. He didn’t mind really, but he just wasn’t used to someone fretting over him and simply being on HIS side. It was an almost alien feeling. He was so used to people yelling at him, humiliating him, blaming him, attacking him, or simply denying him one thing or another... for someone to go out of their way, almost selflessly was unheard of! Even when his mom helped him, she had some ulterior motive or another!
Yawning again, the pigtailed martial artist shook his head. “Right. Breakfast.” He grumbled. He needed to wake up and get things going. One of the things Gina made him promise was that he’d go to Furinkan today to drop off a copy of his GED and the paperwork she’d have for his transcripts. He didn’t want to go back there, really he didn’t... but it would only be one more visit. One final time.
Finally, the youth was awakened enough that he could function. He made his way to his personal bathroom first, heading right for the sink. He wasn’t going to shower yet, but a splash of water to his face would do wonders. The raven-haired male cupped his hands underneath the running water, his body shifting to female, and then back as the water finally warmed up before bringing it up to his face with a fierce splash. He rubbed his eyes, clearing away the last vestiges of fatigue before reaching down and turning a handle, shutting off the water once more. He grabbed a hand towel off the sink-top and dried his face enough before exiting the bathroom.
Walking down the short hallway, he made his way to the kitchen area. He blushed as he saw Gina sitting at the table with her laptop in front of her. The reason for his blush was that the woman was only in her underwear. Sure, she had a bathrobe on as well, but the belt was untied and it laid splayed open, only really serving to cover her arms and shoulders.
And for the first time since getting to know the scientist, Ranma got to see the woman with her glasses off. He had to admit... she was still very pretty. Sure, her glasses really suited her, but to see her face without them made her look a bit more youthful.
He shook his head, banishing the thoughts that came. He couldn’t view her like that: not only was this woman doing everything to help him, but in a way, he was her guest. He decided it would only be best to be respectful while living here. “Uh, hello. Good morning, Diggers-san.”
“Hrnn,” Gina muttered, still focused on whatever was on the small computer before her.
Shrugging—he was used to the language of the morning person, thanks to living with Nabiki—he continued on. Since he hadn’t been able to translate her mumble, it had to be something non-threatening, which was why he didn’t recognize it.
Opening the fridge, he looked at the items, wondering if Gina even had things to make a usual Japanese breakfast.
Nnnn~ope, he thought, spotting one egg, a quart of milk, something that was either a chia pet or a takeout container, yogurt, and a shoe.
Looking up, he thought of opening the freezer, but didn’t want to satisfy that inner-voice that wanted to know if the other shoe was in there—his luck, it would drop... on him.
But he did spot some cereal on the top of the unit. Guess this will do until I make my way to school, he thought sadly. But on the bright side, he could use that thing his mother gave him: a... what’s it called? ‘Cre-dit car-d’, or something like that. She had said the plastic card with the ‘JCB’ logo could be used in exchange for goods and services, telling the people where the money to pay for it was.
All that meant to him was a local restaurant was about to discover that you should never let a Saotome near an all-u-can-eat breakfast buffet!
Taking the milk and the box and bringing them to the table Gina was sitting with her coffee mug and laptop, the pigtailed teen placed them on top the otherwise bare surface before going to the cupboards and searching for bowls and silverware. Those, she at least seemed to have stocked up on with no problem. Nodding his head, Ranma took a single bowl and a—plastic—spoon and carried them over to the table. Sitting down across from her, the pigtailed male’s hands blurred with swifts movements. When he was done, he had fixed himself a bowl of cereal.
“Mmm... Double-Chocolate Frosted Cocoa-Marshmallow Sugar Bombs...” Ranma mumbled happily before digging into his meal that was a part of this complete breakfast... minus the part that WAS the complete breakfast.
Blinking her eyes once, twice, Gina slowly looked up from her computer screen to the man who was sitting opposite to her in his boxers and a muscle-tee. The blonde reached over with her right hand for her mug before she carefully brought it to her lips to take another sip of her coffee, letting the now semi-cold caffeinated liquid pour down her throat. Smacking her lips a moment, the older woman finally greeted, “Good morning Ranma. Sleep well?”
“...Not bad,” he stated, deciding he should probably swallow the sugar-n-chocolate goodness before speaking. “You?” he asked once his mouth was empty.
Gina opened her mouth to reply, only to snap it shut. Turning her head to look at the digital clock on the wall, she had to palm her forehead. She’d been up all night researching Ranma’s life! And she still felt she was only a quarter of the way through! She hadn’t even had that much trouble trying to expose that corrupt city councilman last year! “...About normal,” she finally answered rather lamely.
“Ah, cool...” Ranma said slowly as he took a few more bites of his cereal. “So, you have the paperwork you said I’d need? Not that I’m rushing you or anything...” he managed to add quickly. “That you’re doin’ all this for me is something I’m very grateful for, you know?”
Despite how fatigued she was from lack of sleep, not even Gina could fight the small smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I can believe that Ranma... oh trust me, I can believe that...” she tilted her head, mumbling, “The paperwork is on the key shelf by the door...” the woman raised her head, meeting the younger male’s eyes. “But there is something I want to bring up to you,” she added with a tone of seriousness.
His attention now drawn to the woman, the heir of the Saotome School of Martial Arts nodded his head and replied, “Yeah, Diggers-san?”
“Once you drop off the paperwork at the main office, I want you to run back here. Run, do not walk. Run,” the currently de-spectacled blonde proclaimed. “From what I've read, as soon as word breaks out that you’re no longer attending Furinkan, and have in fact graduated, the proverbial shit will hit the fan and I doubt you’ll be allowed to make it back here in one piece... and I’m going to need you to, as we have a lot we're going to need to discuss, a lot of important things.” Although her tone remained serious, she was now smiling. “That includes the fact that if I’m right, I have your way out of all the engagements legally.”
She blinked as she didn’t hear him respond. Looking up, she noticed that he was frozen, mouth open, eyes wide, cereal dripping off his spoon and falling apart as it returned to its milky grave.
Did I break him? she asked herself.
Shaking his head, Ranma finished what remained on the spoon, before focusing on her again. “Sorry, drifted off there for a moment... it sounded like you found a legal way out of all my engagements.”
“I did,” she stated, watching as the glassy-eyed look returned. “...Usually, guys only do that to me when I discuss sweet sciencey magic to them,” the blonde muttered.
Ranma blinked his eyes once, twice. “...Sorry, drifted off—” he started, before Gina interrupted him.
“I did, not a dream, stay with me here,” she said rapidly. They’d get nowhere if he kept thinking he was still in The Matrix.
The raven-haired male just stared at her with wide eyes. “You mean... no more engagements?”
Gina nodded her head.
“Honor satisfied?”
Again, the woman nodded her head.
“...Freedom?” the pigtailed youth squeaked out, daring not to hope against hope.
Again, the woman managed a smile and nodded her head.
“...Olive juice...” the pigtailed martial artist whispered.
She had no idea what that meant, but moved on. “I’m still sorting out a few things, e-mailing a few others to get the information corrected, and such.” Really, how did a seven-year-old kid rack up such a huge bar tab!? “But frankly, it’s too much to go over right now, so it’d be best to do with you after you get back from dropping off your paperwork. So don’t even stop somewhere to pick up anything valuable you want to keep, unless you can do it on your way to the school.”
Ranma nodded his head. “No problem, I keep anything I wanna keep inside a subspace pocket.” Flicking his wrist, he produced a small sleeping bag, and returned it with a similar flick. It even kept cold foods cold, hot foods hot, and money from money-eating, gold-digging, mentally abusing assholes...
...And his Father, too!
Gina blinked her eyes once, twice. “Wow! That’s impressive! A free-form subspace pocket. I thought those could only exist when attached within a physical enclosed object, like a purse, a bag, a backpack, a pocket, or the inside of a sleeve!” Gina may have depended on Hyperspace technology but even she had her own ‘Purse of Holding’ for those long archaeological digs but to have one free0form, to access anywhere any-when without worry of someone stealing it? That would be very handy!
Smiling, Ranma shrugged, feeling a little prideful. “What can I say? I worked hard to get this skilled.” He grinned. “And I promise, if you help me like you say you’re gonna... I promise I’ll work hard at that too!” Hell, he’d gladly tackle school-work if it meant his life would be his own!
“...You sure I can’t stop and tell anyone about this?” He finally asked. “Not to be ungrateful or nothing but there is one person I wish to rub this in the face of.”
At the man’s insistence at causing trouble, Gina sighed. She could see how important this was and could see it would hurt him to be denied. “Fine. But only on one condition. You are NOT to instigate it. Knowing your luck, at least from what I’ve read, even going as fast as you can to get in and get out, there will be someone who attacks you for trying to leave school grounds during school hours. If this person catches up with you then, you may, since it's going to come out anyway. But remember, under those conditions only: NO INSTIGATING!”
Grinning wide, the pigtailed youth replied happily, “I promise, Diggers-san!”
Gina gave him a hooded glare. “I’d believe you a lot more, if you didn’t immediately just rub your hands together and cackle evilly.”
“...I can’t do that?” Ranma asked innocently.
“...No detours,” she muttered.
He pouted, eyes shimmering.
Sighing, the woman grabbed her coffee cup, heading to the sink to dump it and get some fresh—warm coffee always helped her get her catnaps better. “Just... just try and avoid things,” she sighed wearily. Damn it! Men were not supposed to be able to pull off those kinds of looks! That was for women only!
Taking the pot off of the burner—and frowning as it only had black sludge in it—the woman huffed and carried it to the sink, pouring the burnt brew down the sink. “I mean it, Ranma! This is important! Only as a last resort can you tell them today! You are to come back straight here! That’s an order!”
The pigtailed male nodded his head... only because he was still pretty sure his luck would cause this to be a very chaotic visit and still give him those options to follow.
Hey! He may have been naïve, but he wasn’t stupid!
“Right,” he responded, bounding off towards his room and personal bathing area. If he was going to go to school, he knew he’d better wash the happiness off himself.
They could smell it, track him with it.
Shaking her head, Gina started the pot once more, the fresh aroma helping her calm down. With his luck, she’d likely get a full eight in before he returned. But she could deal with a good power nap.
Now... had she unpacked her power napping chamber yet?
Running at high speeds along the chain-link fence, Ranma smiled wide as he felt the breeze rush past him. In his hand, he had a sealed manila envelope; all the copies of paperwork and his GED. Gina had been kind enough to double-check it before sealing it for him. She wanted to make sure if he had to return before dropping it off, that it was because of no doing on her part.
He jumped from one fence to the next, pumping his legs at full speed. Eyes narrowed as he saw the place on the horizon, that building that was a sink of despair and worthlessness: Furinkan High.
As much as he’d come to hate the place for wasting his time, he kind of hoped Kuno would interrupt him and keep him from exiting the area in a timely fashion. Ranma promised himself, Tatewaki did, then he’d INSIST on making the asshole call HIM, “upperclassman Saotome” and the circle of revenge would be complete!
Of course, all things considered, he should have known his luck.
The schoolyard was empty...
The hallways were empty...
No one was stopping him, running into him, or even in sight...
“...Is this a holiday or something?” he wondered. Would be my rotten luck: the most excellent revenge to put down onto these people, and no one here to see it!
Luckily, there were people in the main office ... that he finally found, having never been there before.
Sadly, it was almost the first room you saw as you entered the school, making him feel even worse... more so after he walked around for half an hour trying to find it, before seeing a fire exit plan posted to the wall, the map showing the rooms on the first floor.
He blinked his eyes as he opened the door. There at the front desk, seemingly shaking down the secretary...
“Hey! Hello, Nabiki! How’s it going?” Ranma called out cheerily. Oh, thank you, Kami-sama! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Of all of them, it was SHE who he wanted to lay the verbal smack-down upon most of all with this information! Thank you for finally opening a small light upon him from within the dark clouds that made up his luck!
Nabiki paused in her ‘exchange’ with the secretary, and turned towards her favorite bitch future brother-in-law. “Ranma-kun, how nice,” she drawled. “Akane was so worried about you when you didn’t come home last night.”
He snorted. Yeah, and you didn’t fill her head with possible reasons why, he internally ranted. No doubt, Akane had probably made the whole round around the District, from Shampoo to Kodachi to Ukyo... and probably beyond, knowing Nabiki’s ability to spin a yarn...
Hey! He got an American euphemism!
Hey! He used another big word correctly! Hell-fuckin’-yeah! Gina was so getting a proper Japanese breakfast tomorrow! He’d see to it thanks to his ‘credit card’.
Nabiki’s eyebrows furrowed angrily. What was this? A smile? Asmile on Saotome’s face? Why would Ranma be smiling? He had nothing to smile about!
Her steely cold eyes looked over the pigtailed martial artist, studying him like an insignificant bug. Almost immediately, her gaze was drawn to the manila folder she saw in his hands. “Say, Saotome... what’s that?” She asked with a sneer, already making mental preparations for what could possibly be in there and how to use it or the situation to make money.
Smiling wider, the boy held up the sealed manila folder so it was more openly in view. “What? This? Why, it’s paperwork!” He turned away from Nabiki, stepping PAST her and plopping it down on the Secretary’s desk. “Here you are, Miss. My transcripts and other paperwork!”
Blinking her eyes, the woman behind the desk decided that, yes, it probably would be better to file this quickly, and get him out of here, before Nabiki dropped enough hints that...
Oh, wait; this was Saotome.
However, even then, she knew Nabiki would make her pay more if she dragged it out, so despite her instincts screaming at her to tell him to shove it, she was on break, she opened the envelop, and proceeded to do her job.
“What’s this?” she muttered, looking at the file as she was entering it in the computer.
What more, it came back as legitimate!
“Oh, it’s not much ma’am...” Ranma said to the secretary, refusing to face Nabiki for the moment. “It’s just some copies of the essentials: my GED, my academic transcripts, and my college acceptance letter and the authorization for the accompanying scholarship.”
As the pigtailed jock continued to list off everything, he finally turned to look over his shoulder when he heard the unintelligible words coming from Nabiki’s mouth. “What this paperwork means,” the martial artist started, his tone of voice quite light. “Is that I have officially graduated High School!” Noticeably, he mentioned High School and not Furinkan by name. “It also means I gotta get back and start preparing to attend Todai.”
The secretary raised an eyebrow. “Todai?”
“...Tokyo University?” Nabiki whispered, awe prevalent in her voice. The gears were rapidly turning in her head as she came to a horrifying if not sobering realization: she stuck her younger sister... with a future Todai graduate?
Looking at how distraught she looked, Ranma fought to resist rubbing it in.
“Yep, me! Not you, not Akane; me! Me, me, me, me, ME! Ranma Saotome!”
...
...Didn’t say he fought that hard.
Turning around, he stared at the secretary, the woman’s mouth working silently, blinking her unseeing eyes.
...I think I broke her, he thought, before snapping his fingers in front of her, bringing her out of her mental fugue.
Wow! More big words every day! He really was learning! “Can you, you know, file that before either of the idiot trio show up and destroy them?” he asked kindly.
The fact he was flicking his fingers and generating sparks of ki went unsaid.
Sure! Right away!”
Still, it gave her the right motivation, so whatever.
It took a few minutes, but Nabiki finally came back from her mental reboot. “You... you’re going to Todai?” the middle Tendo managed to whisper, her tone one of weak bewilderment. “You. Ranma Saotome. Ranma ‘Raised by Wolves’ Saotome are going to college, and not just any college but Japan’s premiere institute: Tokyo University? What the hell would you EVEN BE ABLE TO DO!?” she screamed that last part in frustration.
Nodding his head, the pigtailed martial artist couldn’t fight the beaming smile, despite the anger he felt radiating off of the Tendo woman. “Yep! And I can’t wait to get started at Todai!” he tilted his head, and decided the truth couldn’t hurt. “As for what I’ll be there for, I’m going to be an Archaeology Major with a Minor in Physical Medicine.” After a moment, he decided to add something Gina had mentioned to him about something she noticed becoming a trend. “Good thing I’m going with degrees that will likely have huge financial pay-outs! I don’t see too many business grads surviving the coming economic hardships due to the housing bubble in the American economy bursting.”
Nabiki twitched. She had foisted a future stable salary man onto her sister. Todai graduates had a much higher chance of surviving any economic hardships in any company, but with what Saotome was saying... such a specialized major sounded like he was setting himself up for some government job or another. In addition, if that scholarship was to be believed… he already had the funds to attend Tokyo University for all the years he needed… he was going to be set for life! He was... perfect.
Okay, perfect minus the curse but she’d be willing to eat carpet for such a catch!
And she let Akane have him...
Nodding his head as the middle Tendo sister from Hell was undergoing a Blue Screen, he turned towards the secretary. “Can you file that real quick... and can I borrow that black permanent marker?” he asked with a mischievous smile.
Whistling as he quietly shut the door behind him, Ranma tossed the marker into his subspace pocket—oh, that was so a keeper—and made his way towards the main gates of the schoolyard to exit this hell once and for all.
Sure, when she snapped out of it, Nabiki might become worse than Shampoo and Kodachi combined...
...
…Shaking his head to rid himself of the somewhat pleasurable mental image, he continued towards the exit. Yes, everything was going well...
Which, if you knew Ranma, meant that Hell was about to ride into town and stick its spurs in his ass.
“SAOTOME!” came the familiar bellow from the idiot son of the idiot principle of the useless high school.
Pausing in his tracks, Ranma looked up to the sky and smiled Thank you, he thought happily to the kami before turning about towards the charging kendoist. “Well, well! Nice to see you too! How’re you doing, lower-classman Kuno?”
Ah! It felt like sweet honey flowing across his lips as he called the idiot kendoist that.
Needless to say, it had the intended effect. Kuno paused in his charge, with inertia still in full effect and sending the man head over heels and skidding across the pavement of the school’s front grounds. He came to a stop at the pigtailed martial artist's feet, looking up at him with obvious shock. “Wuh-what did you call me?”
Ranma tilted his head, feigning confusion. “Why I called you ‘lower-classman’, lower-classman Kuno,” Ranma stated. “You see, I was just dropping off some files, one of which stated that I had passed my tests to show an equivalent education to passing all my years of education,” he paused, smiling. “Essentially, it means that I passed my final year of high school... now please, remind me, what year are you in, lower-classman Kuno?” he asked with a smile. Come on... come on! he mentally begged.
Tatewaki twitched, before screaming in rage, and charging Ranma.
Sometimes, the kami did answer a prayer.
The pigtailed martial artist ducked and weaved about the strikes and slashes of Kuno’s bokken. “Ah! That’s right!” the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts cried out with a bit of excitement, as if he were just making the realization. “You’re a Junior, Kuno! Emphasis on Junior as being akin to a child! You’ve got a couple more years ahead of you BEFORE you graduate from Furinkan! That means that your level of education, your station in life is actually far lower than mine! So please, if we’re going to continue to talk, you’re going to need to refer to me as “upper-classman Saotome”. It’s the respectful thing to do, after all!”
“RAAAAAAARGGGHH!!!” Kuno bellowed, now foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog as he tried to strike down this blasphemer before him.
“Yep!” the raven-haired youth chirruped happily as he weaved about the attacks of the enraged kendoist. “I’m going into college while you’re still in High School, playing at being a big boy, you Junior, you! Do you need me to go out and get you anything lower-classman Kuno? A sippy cup? A bib? Maybe some new diapers?”
Amazingly, those comments did little to calm him down. In fact, they only infuriated him more.
Which meant nothing to Ranma, he enjoyed it. In fact, it gave him a warm feeling in his heart... which turned cold, as he led the Junior into a spiral...
Yes, it was additionally cruel, as he could have ended the fight with one hit. It was unnecessary, cruel, and wrong on so many levels...
“Hiryü Shöten Ha!”
...Didn’t make it any less satisfying.
Watching as the tornado of clashing chi flew Kuno about the yard before smashing into the building, Ranma nodded his head in a job well done. He didn’t want to end everything so fast, but he promised Gina he’d come right back to the apartment! She promised him when he came back, that she’d have what he needed to be FREE! Free of all the craziness, free of the fiancées, free of... pretty much his whole shitty existence!
So, it was with a smile on his face and a song in his heart, that the raven-haired Asian male turned on the balls of his face, turning his back to Furinkan for the last time. He then calmly walked off, whistling a happy little ditty.
Life... was good!
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(Posted Tue, 18 Sep 2012 02:23)
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