"So, who's she?" The question came without Ranma even noticing that Ukyo had joined him, Akane, and Ino on the walk to school, taking up the place on Ranma's opposite side from his girlfriend. None of them were sure what to say. They'd talked the night before about what to tell Ukyo regarding the Jusenkyo curses, and ultimately both Ranma and Ryoga had agreed to wait. Akane hadn't liked the answer, but respected it as their choice. "Oh, and where's Ryoga?" Ukyo asked, looking around, confused.
At first, Ranma looked over at Ino, hoping she might take the field and cover this for him. That was, of course, a fool's hope. Unless talking with a close friend, Ino was shyer than Ryoga, which showed itself here as her chubby face turned a bright red, and she looked anywhere except at the new girl. Realizing it was up to him to cover this topic with his childhood friend, Ranma's mind started racing.
One would think, after deciding to hide the fact that he and his friend changed gender one every four days, Ranma would have thought of a cover story. But such forethought was a rarity for the martial artist, who more often than not preferred to think on his feet. Even when the answers he came up with were substandard. "Oh, uh, yeah, Ryoga, he, um, he's sick!" Once the fumbling teen caught a hold of a workable lie, he ran with it. "Caught a cold, Kasumi's nursing him back to health right now! And Ino here, she, well, she just got back from vacation! Yeah."
Ranma actually felt pretty good about what he'd come up with, unaware of the annoyed looks he was getting from Akane and Ino both. Ukyo frowned, and told him, "Well, that sucks. After school's over, I'll make him a get-well okonomiyaki, and drop it by your place for him." Ino smiled a little at that, touched that someone she barely knew would go out of her way for her.
On the other hand, Ranma was not as happy to hear that. After all, what if she came by the Tendo residence, she might want to see the sick martial artist, or say something about him to someone not in the lie. Kasumi would tell the truth right away, Ranma knew, and Nabiki would play along long enough to start extorting him to stop her from telling the truth. Scrambling for a cover, Ranma stuttered, "Oh, did I say he had a cold? No, it's more like a stomach bug. Can't keep anything down. Food wouldn't be a good idea. But it's probably a 24-hour thing, so he'll be back tomorrow, I'm sure." Ranma wasn't sure how he'd handle Ino's sudden disappearance, but that was Future Ranma's problem in his book.
Ukyo made a face that signalled to all but Ranma that she smelled something funny in his story, but decided to ignore it for right then and there. She leaned back a bit to wave at Ino, who was on the opposite end of their four-person group. "Nice to meet you, Ino. My name's Ukyo Kuonji."
Clearly nervous to have more attention on her, Ino stumbled for something to say back. "N-nice to meet you too. Your, uh, clothes, they're interesting..." That last thing she said came out almost as a whisper, but everyone heard it anyway. It was true. In a reversal of how Ukyo had dressed the day before, now she was wearing the boy's uniform, a blazer, on her top half, matched with the skirt of the girl's uniform.
Doing a quick twirl, Ukyo laughed. "Thanks! I love skirts, but I never got to wear them too much. But now that I'm on my own, you'll probably see me in them more often than not." Ranma knew what she meant. Her dad had always insisted she wear boy's clothes, for reasons he never understood. "You look cute too, by the way," she told Ino, which sent the already shy girl into speechlessness. Ino was wearing the standard girl's uniform for Furinkan High, which looked a little tight on her plump body. Still, Ranma couldn't deny she looked very cute wearing it, only for him to shake his head. He had a girlfriend, and thinking stuff like that about Ino felt like something he shouldn't be doing, especially with Akane around.
That said, Akane was paying more attention to Ukyo than her boyfriend. "We haven't gotten to talk much, Ukyo," she told her with a smile. "I think Ranma mentioned something about you being a chef, was that right? What do you specialize in cooking?" In point of fact, her boyfriend hadn't told her much at all about his old friend. Hell, she hadn't even known Ukyo existed until the letter had arrived just a day before her arrival. But Akane knew Ranma well enough to know it hadn't been something he was necessarily hiding from her, and despite her initial jealousy, she wanted to get to know Ukyo better.
The chef in question looked Akane over, almost critically, before telling her, "Yup. Third generation Okonomiyaki chef, though ever since I started transitioning my Dad has wanted to revoke that title from me. I can cook a lot more than that, of course, but it's my favorite food, and what I'm best at. Dunno if Rankun told you, but I'm opening up my own restaurant here in town." At the mention of her nickname for Ranma, Akane couldn't stifle a giggle, even as she filed away some of what she'd heard, and Ranma had overlooked, for later. "Oh, he didn't tell you that's what I've always called him, huh? Want to hear some embarrassing childhood stories?"
Both Akane and Ino were nodding in the affirmative, even as Ranma looked like the world was about to end. Luckily, they were rapidly approaching the school building, so Ukyo decided to save the stories in question for another time. Ranma just hoped she didn't mention what his dad had made him wear whenever they'd visited the Kuonji's place. But just as he was going to join the others in their class, Ukyo slipped him a note: 'Can we talk after school, just me and you?'
Ranma didn't have a problem with it, but he wanted to check with Akane first. During their first break, he floated the idea to her, saying, "Ukyo wanted to chat after school, alone. I know we spent lunch together yesterday, but we still have a lot of catching up to do. I'm still plannin' on spending lunch with you, but if you don't want me to hang with Ukyo, I'd want you to tell me." They'd already made clear that talking stuff over like this in the moment was better for both of them than picking up the pieces later after an argument.
"Hmm," Akane murmured, looking like she was giving the idea a lot of thought. "Just me and you for lunch, on the roof?" He nodded, and pulled out two made bento boxes of food from his desk for her to see. She hadn't needed that, but it made her happy to see it anyway. "Ranma, of course you can spend time with your friend. I trust you." Those were big words to say, but Akane believed them. She knew that Ranma was impulsive, and had a major talent for putting his foot in his mouth, but Akane was confident he wouldn't break her trust on purpose. For her sweet answer, Akane got a quick kiss on the cheek, and when Ranma later passed Ukyo in the hall between classes, he told her they'd gotten the go-ahead.
With the last bell having rung, and the students starting to file out of the school, Ino and Akane left Ranma behind so they could head home together. After a certain point on the walk, they were the only students in sight, and it was then that Ino decided to speak up. "Um, Akane?" The other girl made a sound to show she was listening. "Ukyo said something this morning I didn't understand. What did she mean about 'transitioning'?"
That made Akane widen her eyes. It wasn't surprising to her that Ino and Ryoga didn't know what the word meant, but it was a shock that she'd picked the word out in the conversation. Had she noticed Akane react to hearing it? Taking a deep breath, Akane ran a hand through her hair as she tried to think of a way of explaining this to her friend. "I could be wrong, but I think it means Ukyo is transgender." That got her a blank look from Ino, so she continued. "Think of it...you know how you feel like a woman right now? It's how you think of yourself?" Ino nodded her head. "Well, imagine if you looked like Ryoga, but still felt like Ino inside."
It was the best way of putting it Akane could think of. Always a well-read person, she'd encountered the term long before meeting Ranma, but after hearing about his curse, had looked into studies on gender identity to get a better sense of how to help her friend. Ino took the idea into her head and flinched. "That sounds like it would be awful. But what does it have to do with Ukyo? She doesn't look like a guy." It was true, even when wearing half a guy's uniform, Ukyo's long hair and feminine appearance made her gender clear to everyone.
"That's because she's started transitioning. That means she's been doing things to make herself look more like how she wants to." Akane didn't want to get into the messy details of exactly how, especially when that wasn't anyone's business but Ukyo's. "What's important is that Ukyo is still a woman. Some people, like her dad, might see her as a man, but that's not how she sees herself. Does that make sense?" Ino still looked a bit confused, but nodded anyway, which Akane was grateful for. Even after her research, this wasn't really her field, and she felt like she was explaining it really clumsily. Still, she had one last thing to say. "Ukyo mentioned her transitioning to us pretty casually, so it seems like she doesn't mind if people know. Despite that, we shouldn't spread it around. It's her private business, right?" Ino agreed, and they soon reached the Tendo household, the topic dropped. But still, it lingered in Akane's mind. Did Ranma know?
Ukyo led the way once school was out. It took a little while, but they reached her store, and showed Ranma around inside. It wasn't a very large place, especially considering it would be both a business and Ukyo's home, but he could still tell she loved it, even if he didn't really know why. It was clear she still had to set some stuff up, but Ranma felt like he could already start to see what it might become some day. The tour over, they sat on stools, side by side, looking out the window. "Soooo..." Ukyo started, elongating the sound. "You and Akane. She seems nice. Really cute too."
He nodded to that. "Yeah," he said. "I'm kinda freaking out that I haven't, like, imploded it yet. We've known each other for a while, and I still say stupid crap sometimes, but we get through it. The dating is new though." He was feeling more than he said. Ranma's biggest fear those days was finally screwing things up permanently with Akane.
It didn't look like Ukyo was as concerned. "Rankun, if she can put up with you for this long, even as a friend, I don't think you have to worry. She must've gotten used to your faults by now. Otherwise she wouldn't be speaking to you." Ukyo laughed at her own quip, leaving Ranma to scowl, even if he was feeling pretty good-humored about it too. But then Ukyo looked over at him, her face more serious. "I didn't ask you over so we could talk about Akane. I wanted...to talk about this."
Then, Ukyo reached into a blazer pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, wrapped into a scroll. It looked old, weathered, but somehow familiar to Ranma. Then he saw the seal on the outside: that of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Flashes of memory went through his head. "N-no way..." he breathed, as parts of the past started coming back to him.
Looking just as worn down by the memories, Ukyo nodded. "Yup. Our marriage contract." Like so much of his journey with his Pop, Ranma had forgotten about the stupid thing. It had been the last time he and his dad had gone to see Ukyo. This time around, Pops' wallet was completely empty, and he'd run out of all the good will he'd built with Mr. Kuonji. Running out of food and credit, the old man had sold the only thing he thought he could: his son's hand in marriage. For one meal. The cheap bastard.
But seeing it made Ranma realize there was something he hadn't told Ukyo. "There...miiiiiight be something I forgot to tell you about how Akane and I met." That got her attention, and he hesitantly spilled more of the truth. "The whole reason me and my dad came here to stay with Akane's family was because my dad had promised they I'd marry into the family." Ukyo's mouth fell open, and Ranma just kept talking. "Her sisters weren't into the idea, so Akane was the one they decided on. We're not 100% sure we want to get married and everything, but there's another contract."
Ranma flinched as Ukyo started spouting out curses. "Damn it, Ranma! Why do you make everything so complicated?!" He would have protested that this was, like so much in his life, more his dad's fault than anything else, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise. "It's not like I'm eager to slip a ring on your finger, but I got the loan for this place because I showed them the contract, and they took that as evidence of my credit." Now it was Ranma's turn to reel from a revelation. "We won't need to get hitched, you idiot, but we might need to fake it to some bank folks a few times."
The absurdity of it all was too much. Ranma started laughing, and soon Ukyo joined in. Really, when Ranma looked at situations like this, he could either laugh or cry. This time, he'd decided to go with the former. "We'll have to tell Akane, at some point," he said, once they'd both calmed down. "Just, y'know, make it clear neither of us are interested in each other."
Ukyo looked to be very happy with the idea. "Oh, for sure. Especially since I don't want to ruin my chances with her," Ukyo added, making Ranma blanch. The chef stuck her tongue out at her friend. "What? You said yourself you might mess things up with her, and she's a cutie!" It was news to Ranma that his friend swung that way, but he wasn't exactly in a position to throw stones. "Still, it's pretty cool her folks were okay with you and her marrying. They must be pretty progressive." Ranma didn't know what she meant, but decided to pretend like he totally did. From there, they spent the next hour sharing stories of what they'd been doing since they were kids, though Ranma still tried to skirt around the whole 'cursed by a spring' thing. How long he'd be able to keep that up for, he was unaware. The miscommunications between them were only growing, and soon their weight would make forcing them inevitable.