It didn't took long before Nerima was poured by rain, it was as if everything had started all over again since that day. Except this time, Ranma wasn't running to find Ryoga. She was now running to save her own hide.

"D-Damn it, it wasn't supposed to be this way!"

"Ranma! You better stop running away, it'll be less painful. You just have to say it was a bad joke what you did!" - Ranma was running, and Cologne was chasing. It was one of those one-in-a-life-time chances where you see a master being outrun by the student. At least for now.

"Who says I was joking?!" - Denying it was useless. For Ranma, it had been very real, and despite she could have lied and be saved from all the trouble, she couldn't do it. Not this time.

The thing is, she answered in a very problematic way, and that was by giving a quiet answer. Enough silence to make things crystal clear for the old mummy and start giving chase once Ranma slipped from her staff.

At the very last moment of this chase, when Ranma was about to be caught by the frightening, angry lady, Ranma calmed her body, her breathing and her mind for a moment. That moment was enough to create the Umisen-ken and disappear in front of Cologne's reach.

"Ranma!" - Shocked and with no sense of his presence, she stopped on her staff just to quickly change her direction, as it seemed to be the most logical option from her own point of view.

Little she knew that Ranma in fact hadn't moved from her spot, in fact she was mere a few inches from Cologne's grasp and it was mere luck that she changed her ways. After having a few minutes to calm her breathing until it felt like air was coming back to her lungs, she indeed moved in another direction that wasn't the front. She didn't knew where she was going though, her feet were moving on her own once again. And she was found deep in her thought without releasing the Umisen-ken.

"Escaped... I should have said I didn't lo... No, no! This is wrong, there's no way I would feel such thing for... Ryoga" - She sighed and with this she kept walking, each time more slowly until her feet stopped to look to the raining sky. It fitted her mood just perfectly. - "What should I do now?"


"Ryoga... Do you also feel the same thing? Don't think you'll take me for a fool..."

Since the moment she had stopped on her feet, at least an hour had passed and the rain was still pouring with the same strength. Just as her mind was still pouring with doubtful thoughts. But up until now, she hadn't talked them out loud. - "I know... I know you love me too!"

"L-Love you too? R-Ranma! I didn't knew... Y-You had such feelings for this old man!"

A voice came out of nowhere from her point of view, she just had to see a little lower to see Happosai looking at him with glimmering eyes and a wide smile and a bright red on his cheeks.

"E-Eh?! No! It wasn't for you" - Ranma felt like if her empty stomach wanted to return what she hasn't eaten just yet. She wasn't so far from jumping back if it wasn't because of her mouth had spoken before her mind did.

His eyes quickly went back to normal and quickly sat on the bridge. - "I knew it, it was too good to be true"

"You're not gonna argue, or something?"

"Ranma, who do you take me for? It's obvious this isn't the time for games" - While in the rain, Happosai was calmly smoking his small pipe, like if this was something of routine for him. - "We should head home or you'll definitely catch a cold. Come"

A bridge.

Ranma finally snapped out of it once again. She was not far from home now, in fact this was the path she always took in her way to school. She took her time but seemed to have ignored the last words of Happosai. She couldn't help it, this was all too useless. No matter how hard she tried so far, she was always loosing herself in her thoughts for something that she couldn't understand, but wanted to. She desperately had to know. - "O-Oi, Master Happosai..."

"What did you called me?!" - It was hard to believe and part of him wanted her to call him the same way. He wasn't so far from being mind-blown.

"You once told us you were in love, even if it was a bluff... Can you please tell me... Just how was it, being in love?"

He was more than just dumbfounded, he it was enough shock that he let go from his pipe, loosing it with the strength of the wind and of the rain. - "Ranma... Are you alright, why are you asking...?"

Ranma had a glimmering light on her eyes, but were for much more different reasons. She didn't answered his question. She didn't felt like doing so. Instead, with her clothes already soaking wet, it didn't seemed like a problem to sit on the sides of the bridge and curl her body like a ball to keep herself warm enough to fight against the cold wind.

"Hmph. Very well"

The person he saw in that moment looked pitiful. It was as if a young girl that was just brought in the world, was now facing the most challenging decision of her life without knowing much. Her eyes were sad and her face looked pale and without life. It was the sight of a young child that was seeking for direction, and he couldn't help it but to help her in her time of need.