Bad Ideas Gone Wrong Productions presents

Everybody's Having Fun

A Ranma ½ fan fiction by Geoduck

She walked right past me. Like she didn't even see me there. Just right past me.

It's not that she was ignoring me. She just didn't notice me. That's it. It was completely accidental. She didn't even see me.

…even though I was standing right in front of her, holding a present. And she was walking directly towards me. Even in that situation I was totally invisible to Akane.

I don't like that explanation.

No, there must have been some other reason. Of course she had to have seen me. But she was in a hurry.

Yes, that's it. She was preoccupied. She was certainly planning on talking to me afterwards, and I could have presented my gift to her then. The only reason she didn't at that moment was because she had a higher priority right then. She needed to find…

…Ranma.

I don't like that explanation, either.

Wait! Maybe… maybe, what she really needed to do was to find Ranma in order to pass on an important message from someone else. So it had nothing to do with Akane l-l-liking him.

Even though she was clearly carrying a present. Probably the scarf I had seen her knitting before. The scarf that she had been knitting for weeks. For him.

M-maybe it wasn't the scarf in that bag at all. Maybe it was…

I'm running out of ideas.

Who am I kidding? There's no way to spin all this to make it seem okay for me in the end. It's a total defeat for me. I lose, Saotome wins. Again.

But at least nobody else noticed, right?

I felt a hand on each of my shoulders. I looked to my left and right. A couple of guys… I think they go to Akane's school?

"Wow, that's rough, Hibiki-san."

"Yeah, but don't let it get you down."

"Plenty of fish in the sea…"

Oh, crap.

Well, if it's just these losers, it's okay. I don't care about being embarrassed in front of people I don't even know.

"Ow. That was pretty bad, Hibiki. She just walked right past you, didn't she?"

That voice. That obnoxious, stupid annoying voice. "Mousse…" He can hardly ever see anything, but he was able to see my raw humiliation. Just my luck.

"Shampoo's never just failed to even notice me like that. I feel bad for you, friend."

I'm getting sympathy from Mousse? Pity from the world's most pathetic man?

Well, at least no women noticed.

"Poor guy…" "He's the one with the massive crush on Akane, right?" "…and she just broke his heart…" "…more like, she just re-broke it." "…after all, if you had to choose between Ranma and him, wouldn't you do what Akane…"

Okay, that's it. Total debacle. Time to go on a journey. A very long journey. With any luck, I can get some sort of amnesia and forget this horrible party ever happened.

I go to find my backpack. I know I set it down in one of the corners of the dojo. Not that one… not there… not there… not there… not there… Hey, how many corners does a rectangular dojo have, anyway?

Oh, there it is. I heft it up and put my arms through the straps. Now for the door. It's in the middle of one of the sides of the building. Hey, how many sides does a rectangle have, anyway?

It's getting hard to see. My eyes are watering pretty badly. It must be all the perfume that girls are wearing. That's the only possible reason.

"Oh, Ryoga-kun. Leaving so soon?"

Kasumi. "Ah, yes. I have to be going, I'm afraid. Thank you for your hospitality." Please stop talking to me, Kasumi-san. I don't know how much longer I can hold it together.

"I'm sorry to see you leave. You were a big help to me earlier. Thank you for coming."

"Think nothing of it." A little water escapes my eye. "Oh, somebody must be smoking in here, and it got in my eye. I'd better be going."

Kasumi smiled gently. "It's probably father. I'll tell him to smoke his cigarettes outside." She looks down and sees the package I'm still holding. "Do you need to go to deliver your gift?"

"Ah. I had thought that the person I intended to give this to was going to be at the party, but she, uh, isn't here." I'm not lying, in any case. Akane has left, chasing after… stop thinking about it.

"Oh dear. Well, I hope you'll find her…" Please stop being so kind, Kasumi-san. If this goes on much longer, I'm going to fall apart right here in front of you.

But what am I going to do, anyway? Carry around an undelivered Christmas present? What could be more pitiable than that?

I look at the box in my hands. Then I look up at Kasumi. And I hand the box over to her. "I'd like you to have this present, Kasumi-san."

"Oh, but surely you should give this to the person you intended to…"

I smile at her. "I don't think I'll be able to find her for a long time. And besides, you've been so kind to me."

"If that's the case, then I am happy to accept… oh, but let me get you something!" She left me for a moment and disappeared into the crowd.

This would be a good moment to disappear. It might be rude of me to go while Kasumi is planning on returning, but I think it's best this way. I slip out the door…

…and find myself in the kitchen? And nearly bump into Kasumi there. "Oh, Ryoga-kun, I didn't expect you to follow me." She hands me a small package wrapped in a large handkerchief. It feels like cookies. Freshly-baked, still warm. "Merry Christmas, Ryoga-kun."

"Ah, thank you very much, Kasumi-san. Merry Christmas." She smiles at me once more and goes off to the party.

I find the door, and at last I'm outside. Off to wherever the road will take me.

Since I'm alone now, it's safe to let myself cry.

And I can't. I can't bring myself to cry. The tears won't flow.

Why?

And why am I still smiling?

I suppose it is pretty nice to give a gift to a girl and receive a gift in return. Even if it wasn't the girl I originally intended.

Kasumi is a very nice girl, after all. And very pretty, too.

And come to think of it, Kasumi doesn't have a fiance.

She could make a man very happy. Even one who has a hard time finding things to be happy about.

Not that I plan on giving up on Akane. But… well, it's worth thinking about, at least.

And when I make it back to the Tendo Dojo, I will definitely bring some souvenirs for Kasumi as well.

Author's notes:

I wrote this because Ryoga being ignored at the end of the "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble" always rubbed me the wrong way. I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so: there's another "continuation" story previously published called "Contralto & Arsenic Sauce" by Ninnik Nishukan that I recommend highly.

I hadn't originally intended for it to turn into a Ryoga and Kasumi story, but that's the way it happened. The OVA this story is based on is exclusively from the anime continuity, anyway, and Akari doesn't exist there, so… why not?

The title of this story comes from one of my favorite Xmas songs, "Merry Christmas Everybody" by Slade.

Have a peaceful new year.