Ranma was dumbfounded. What was this girl talking about?! Still, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided that he'd better hear her out.
After Ranma shook her hand, Megumi began telling him about that horrible day six years ago. The words just started pouring out: how he had rescued the old man, received that old book as a reward, opened the cover only to have a genie pop out, and wished to be the "manliest man on earth". Head hung low, Meg then related how the genie had misconstrued the wish into "the womanliest woman on earth", how he had been transformed into a she, how she had hot-headedly thrown the book into the river, and how the genie had apparently "rewritten history" so that no one remembered Meg ever being a boy.
"Anyway, I've been this way ever since," she concluded.
Ranma wasn't sure WHAT to think. "On the one hand, it sure is possible; I'm living, breathing proof of that. On the other hand, this chick might be suffering from 'attention-starved rich girl syndrome' or somethin'. She can't prove anything one way or the other, so how can I know for sure? Hmm..."
Then an idea hit him. "Geez, that's pretty rough!" Ranma said sympathetically. "So you've been stuck as a girl for six years, without anyone believing that you used to be a guy?"
"Not exactly," she replied. "My best friend Miki was there when it happened, and she still remembers the 'old me'."
"An she be for real about this?" Ranma thought.
Megumi suddenly noticed the suspicious look in his eyes. "He doesn't believe me, either..." she thought, her heart dropping. "Guess I have to bring out the big guns..."
Ranma's train of thought was derailed by Meg's sudden bowing to the floor.
"Wha-what are you doing?" he asked, suddenly very uncomfortable.
"I know that it's a wild story," Meg said in a quiet voice. "I know that it sounds crazy and I know that there's no earthly way I can prove it, but... I'M A GUY!!!"
She looked toward him pleadingly. "I promise I'm not making this up; we're really in the same boat! Please, you've got to believe me! You've got to; if you don't, who would?! Please!!!"
Ranma didn't know what to say. Of course, the rational explanation was that this girl was indulging a fantasy gone too far. But several things made him hesitate. Why was this room so completely un-girly? Why had she reacted so calmly to hearing about his curse? Also...that fighting stance she took earlier...that was a boy's stance. Assuming she even knew that, wouldn't she have used a girl's fighting style when surprised? Confused, he looked at Megumi again. Her eyes were silently pleading with him with a desperation that could only be described as pitiful. That look confirmed one thing for him: Meg wasn't just doing this for attention!
"She's really gone out on a limb here by telling me this," he thought, "and so many things point in that direction..." Ranma closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and made his decision.
"Alright, Meg. I believe you."
"Y-you do?" she asked, startled. "You're not just saying that?"
Noting the relief on her face, Ranma grinned. He must have made the right call.
"Yeah, I really do. A lot of things around here didn't add up, but that curse would pretty much explain them. I do believe you, cross my heart and all that good stuff," he smiled.
"YAHOO!" Meg shot up from the floor, frightening Ranma and jumping a good 6 feet!
When she landed, she said, "Thank you SO much! You're the first person other than Miki who has ever believed me! Boy, have we ever got a lot of things to talk about! Hmm... where to start? Well, first, how long have you been cursed, anyway?"
"A little over a month," replied Ranma, "but it seems a lot longer than that to me. I'm still stuck on the fact that you've been dealing with this for six years!"
"It hasn't been easy," Meg sighed. "Other than the physical changes and all that entails, I've also had to relearn how I'm supposed to act, dress, and all kinds of other stuff. Then there's those boys always following me... Say, have any boys hit on you?"
Ranma turned red. "No offense, but I'd really rather not talk about it," he grumbled.
Indignant, Meg said, "Look, I've stuck my neck out here by telling you about my curse; the least you could do is be straight with me!"
Ranma reluctantly fessed up. "Two guys. One only once, the other pretty much every day."
"I feel your pain, buddy," Meg said. "I've got THREE guys that definitely want to date me and one other that I'm not sure about; they won't take any of the hints I keep giving 'em! Still, it could be worse. Genzo, Ichiro, and Yasuda are pigheaded perverts, but when it counts, they can really play the hero."
Ranma shrugged. "It'd be nice if Kuno had some redeeming qualities. As it stands, the only good thing that I've found about the guy is that he's fairly easy to beat down. He won't take 'no' for an answer, and if that ain't enough, he's always trying to put the moves on Akane, too!"
"Akane? Who's that?" Meg asked.
"My fiancee," Ranma mumbled unhappily.
"FIANCEE? You've got a fiancee? Wow!" Meg said.
"Not by choice!" Ranma almost shouted. Cooling down, he explained further. "My dad and her dad decided. The Saotomes and Tendos are martial arts families, the only two in the world who use the Anything-Goes style. They decided that two of their kids would get married, uniting the schools; Akane and I got nominated."
"Oh..." Meg said, feeling sorry for him. "So you don't love her or anything?"
"Not really; I mean--" Ranma got a little flustered. "She ain't all bad, but she's got a lot of downsides. For example, she's built like a brick, she's as violent as King Kong, she gets mad at the littlest things, and she's about as coordinated as a drunk."
Meg pictured this tipsy gorilla with a dress on. "Geez... that's rough. I feel sorry for you, Ranma..."
Although she did pity him, she was getting a little tired of his "poor me" attitude. He didn't know what suffering was! Clearing her throat, though, she said, "Still, no offense, but those problems are pretty small compared to some of what I go through. When things heat up, you can just head for the nearest kettle of hot water, but some of us aren't so lucky."
"Yeah? What's a beautiful rich girl know about having a tough time of it?" Ranma asked, a little scorn creeping into his voice.
"Alright, Saotome," Meg snapped, now fairly peeved. "Listen up! Imagine being stuck as a girl somewhere with no hot water in 100 miles. Now imagine having to go to school in a dress and makeup every day. Add guys ogling you every split-second they think you're not looking, and some seconds when they know you are. Some of them grab at you and try to attack you, and when you cream them, you get reprimanded for being 'unladylike'. On top of that, add a few guys who DO actually matter to you, that you don't want to hurt, who won't back off no matter how hard you try to break it to them gently!"
Her voice rising, she continued. "Now, imagine that there's no way out of this place, no way to change back! I was the biggest, toughest badass on the block until 6 years ago!!! Now I'm being forced into a 'Miss Princess' persona that I don't want and never have! Don't you dare tell me I've got it easy!!!"
Ranma was stunned speechless. He'd never really given that much thought to what it would be like to be stuck as a girl indefinitely. "Looks like I've managed to stick my foot in my mouth again..." he thought. "Maybe I do have it easy in some ways."
"Look, Meg, I'm sorry!" he apologized. "Maybe I was a bit out of line sayin' that. I just kinda get frustrated at everything that's happened to me, you know?"
Her face softening, Meg replied, "Apology accepted. Speaking of, what all has happened to you, anyway?"
Ranma smiled weakly; it was once again his time to complain. "Alright, but if any of this leaves this room, then you'd better be prepared for some really bad consequences! Here goes: that Kuno guy wants to date the girl-me and kill the guy-me. He grabs at me and buys me bouquets when I'm a girl and tries to take my head off with that sword of his when I'm a guy. His twisted sister, Kodachi, wants the exact opposite to happen, and ain't afraid to use paralysis gas and really big hammers to send the girl me to the grave so she can date the guy me. I've tried to tell them that we're the same person, but those two are about as thick as they get..."
Continuing, he said, "Then, there's Shampoo and Ryoga. Shampoo's from a village in China that has a 'if you're defeated, marry the guys and kill the girls' law. I accidentally beat her both ways, and she doesn't know we're the same, either. She's probably waiting at the house for me right now; I still haven't figured out how to get rid of her. Ryoga is my rival and a total nut-case. I can't tell you what started the grudge between us (I promised him I wouldn't), but he kind of wants me smashed into teeny-tiny pieces, too. Now I hope you understand why I get bummed out pretty easily. My curse is only half the problem; all of these lunatics make the situation a lot, LOT worse!"
Megumi stared bug-eyed at Ranma. "You--you're joking, right? All of that couldn't have possibly happened in one month!"
If it was a joke, Ranma wasn't laughing.
"Man... looks like neither of us has the best luck, huh?" she muttered.
A grin came over Ranma's face as an idea popped into his head. "Most embarrassing moment?" he asked Megumi.
"Er--", she said, caught off guard. "I...guess it would be that time Genzo 'proclaimed his undying love for me' in front of the whole class. I almost had to be hospitalized after that! Hahaha!" she laughed. It was a little bit funnier now it was in the past!
"How 'bout you, Ranma? With the company you say you keep, I bet you've had at least one really bad 'embarassing moment', right?" Meg asked.
Ranma actually turned green. "Let's see, how to choose... getting kissed by that jerk Mikado Sanzenin when I let my guard down, or having to wear a pink leotard (in front of a whole auditorium full of people) during my fight with Kodachi?"
Megumi started making choking noises as she tried to hold back her laughter, but her self-control was only so strong.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!! (wheeze! wheeze! cough!) HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Go ahead and laugh it up!" Ranma growled. "Hardy har har!" Privately, he had to admit it was a little funny.
"You know, it's actually kind of nice to have... someone who can sympathize..." he thought.
And so the conversation continued late into the night...
(Until bedtime, that is...)
"YOW!" yelled (girl-type) Ranma from her now-wet futon. "Why'd you do that for? That was cold!!!"
"Sorry," Meg replied, "but I've only known you one night. If you think you're sleeping in my room as a guy, then you've got another thing coming! 'Night!"
END OF CHAPTER 4
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That's it for this chapter! I hope I'm still keeping these two "in-character", but I'm sure you folks will let me know if I'm not. Again, sorry for the short installments, but get used to it; they're all this way! Hahaha!
Because I've made quite a bit of progress in writing the later chapters during this past week, I'm going to post the next chapter on Wednesday, as opposed to my normal "on-the-weekends" routine. I'm something of a man-slut when it comes to reviews, by the way, so please keep them coming! Adios, sayonara, au revoir, see ya later, and all that good stuff!