Fools Rush In…
By JSB and Weebee.
Chapter 6: A swing and a miss.
Sojiro looked up from his morning preparations at the sound of feet on the stairs in the back of Le Blanc, eyebrow rising slightly as he saw the kid standing in his school uniform, bag over his shoulder. "Didn't expect to see you up this early today," he grunted in greeting.
"Runnin' a bit late already," Ranma answered, taking his usual seat at the counter. The older man paused for a moment, and then rummaged around in the cupboards for a bag of breakfast bagels.
"You sure you're up for going in?" Sojiro asked as he buttered a couple of the bagels and slid them onto a plate. "I'm not gunna hold it against you if you duck out for a day. After yesterday…"
"You ain't," Ranma answered, "But I'm not sure if the government will."
"That's… probably true," the older man nodded reluctantly. "I talked to the principal about what happened. Bastard downplayed it, but from the way he reacted, I've got a feeling stuff's come up before."
He removed his hat, running a hand violently through his hair before replacing it. "He pretty much had to pretend that the replacement credit idea was something he signed off on, but I did manage to get him to agree to any physical extracurricular, even if this Kamoshida guy wasn't managing it."
"That'd be a great option," Ranma said, between slow bites on his bagel, "'cept I'm pretty sure Kamoshida controls all the sports clubs."
"I was kind of wondering why he was so quick to offer that option," Sojiro grimaced.
"Don't worry," Ranma said, finishing one of the bagels and picking up the other before pushing the plate away and standing. "I'll figure out somethin'." He turned to leave the cafe.
"Hey!" Sojiro called, producing an umbrella from somewhere under the counter. "Might wanna check the weather forecast."
Ranma looked surprised, but then nodded gratefully as he took the umbrella. "Thanks."
HR.
Ryuji smiled as he saw a familiar figure entering the school building, shaking some water off of an umbrella. "Hey," he said, walking towards Ranma and waving. Looking him up and down, the other boy seemed much more composed than he had the day before
"Hey," Ranma nodded back, moving to a locker to switch his shoes.
"You okay?" Ryuji asked, leaning against the wall next to the lockers. Ranma's response was a surprised look, and a noncommittal grunt. After several long moments of uncomfortable silence, he finally tried again. "Can we deal with… stuff… later today?"
As he spoke, Ryuji casually glanced around the hall. Kamoshida was actually within sight, talking animatedly to Mishima in one of the side hallways. When the older man looked over and gestured at him, Ryuji found himself glaring back.
"Wanna make it any more obvious?" Ranma asked, irritably.
"Yeah… right, sorry," the former blond said, shaking his head.
"And yeah, I should be okay for today," the pigtailed boy continued. "I'll meet you guys at lunch, and if Takamaki doesn't have a problem we can go after school."
"Sounds good," Ryuji agreed, turning to head to class. He caught sight of Kamoshida and Mishima again as he turned, but the teacher seemed to have lost interest in them and was walking quickly down the hall. 'You'll get yours, buddy,' he thought to himself, darkly.
HR.
Yuuki Mishima fiddled with the cap at the top of the bottle of water he was carrying, ensuring that it was properly loose enough as he waited near the foot of the stairs down to the first floor. Not for the first time, he wondered why he was even doing this. Mr. Kamoshida had been very clear that it was important, but hadn't been willing to explain why.
The nervous boy, himself, would have been perfectly fine leaving the new transfer student alone, in spite of the rumors about him. Still, orders were orders. He squared his shoulders as he saw the other boy walking down the hall towards him, speaking casually with Takamaki. Starting forward at a brisk pace, Mishima deliberately placed one foot in the way of a garbage can, stumbling to the side and flinging out one arm. The lid popped off of the top of the water bottle, as he'd planned, and the liquid seemed almost to be magnetically drawn to Ranma.
That was when the world went insane.
The pigtailed boy let out a startled cry, eyes flicking rapidly around before locking with Mishima's own. In an instant that Mishima was sure he was blinking, there was now a red-headed girl where Ranma once stood, staring back with an expression he could only define as terror. After a moment, it faded and she looked down at her uniform. "A-ah crap, seriously?" Came a higher pitched voice than he had expected, a slight catch fading into a more irritable tone. As the girl spoke, the steady murmuring in the hallway started to rise in volume.
"Wh… what?!" Mishima squeaked, stumbling back and bumping into the wall.
"That was… wow," Takamaki said, shaking her head.
"Well, that didn't take long," the girl in Ranma's uniform muttered, pulling the jacket hurriedly closed. "Honestly, I didn't expect to make it a full week," she said, flippantly. "Though, at Furinkan it was longer. But those guys were idiots."
"What?!" Mishima repeated, his mind still trying to parse the situation. This time, the girl seemed to take notice of him again, and the water bottle that lay at his feet.
"You're the one that got me, huh?" She asked, bending to pick up the bottle. "It's an ancient chinese curse. Changes with water temperature. I kinda wanted to tell the class, at least, earlier but Kawakami thought it wouldn't be a great idea."
"Oh," the boy stammered. "I'm really sorry, it was an accident, and-" he babbled, only stopping when Ranma waved a hand.
"Like I said, I kinda figured it'd happen eventually," she explained. "Next few days probably aren't gunna be fun, though." She looked around, spotting several other students who were still staring. Looking back to Mishima, she looked him over. "You're that guy from the volleyball team, right, The one with the bad leg?"
"Yeah," Mishima nodded, deciding to just go with the conversation.
"Well if you're stumblin' over it, you probably should get it checked out," Ranma answered.
"But… I just outed you, to the entire school!" Mishima said, finally managing to put a couple of thoughts together in a coherent order.
"Outed?" The redhead tilted her head.
"Let's… just move on," Takamaki interjected, her expression looking uncomfortable. "We've got to meet Ryuji."
"Yeah," Ranma agreed, starting to walk past Mishima. As he opened his mouth to try and say something else, she continued. "Seriously, don't worry about it. If it wasn't you, it'd be someone else."
"But I…" Mishima stammered once again, the two girls continuing down the hall and several other students following them with their eyes. Rubbing his head in abject confusion, the boy stumbled off in the opposite direction.
HR.
"Well, that was weird," Ranma muttered, as he and Ann met up with Ryuji after class.
"They giving you crap over the curse?" the former blond asked.
"That's the weird part," the pigtailed boy shook his head. "They're just talkin' about it. The first few days at Furinkan, I was dodging water all the time and even a few of the nicer students were asking if they could see."
"So… you've got a problem because they aren't bothering you?" Ryuji asked as the group made their way towards the entrance.
"Yeah…? Sorta?" Ranma said, shaking his head. "It just feels… off. I can't say I'm not thankful, though."
"He's got a point," Ann chipped in. "In the classes we share, he was getting fewer weird looks than I did over my hair when I first transferred in."
"That does sound weird," Ryuji admitted, "But it's good for us, right?"
"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "And that's part of why I'm kinda nervous about it."
"Are you guys out yet?" a voice came from Ann's bag, attempting and failing to be quiet.
"Almost there," the blonde said, patting the bag as the group exited the school grounds on its way to their usual alley. Ryuji was pulling his phone out at the same time, tapping at the screen. As Ann pulled the bag open, letting Morgana leap from it to the ground, the transfer announcement began.
"Speaking of stuff that gets taken way too casually," the blonde muttered as the world rippled around them. "How did I get used to this so quickly?"
"A lot of weird all at once tends to soften the blow," Ranma offered. "Well, unless it makes you faint."
"That's… kind of reassuring," Ann said incredulously as she looked down at the costume that materialized around her. When Ranma didn't respond, she looked over to see him standing at the edge of the courtyard to Kamoshida's palace, just staring into the middle-distance.
"Um… Ranma?" She asked, walking over to join him, Ryuji following. When he didn't respond, she waved a hand in front of his face. "You there?"
"I… huh?" The boy in the ninja outfit shook his head. "I… yeah, I'm here."
"Dude, what was that?" Ryuji asked. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah," Ranma said, before looking between the two of them. "Just checkin', but you guys can see that gate, right?" He gestured at a point in empty space in front of him.
"Gate?" Morgana asked as he walked up behind the other three. "There's nothing there."
Ranma winced. "Don't worry about it."
"...Okay…" Ryuji dragged out the word a bit before shrugging. "Oh right." He dug around in the bag he'd brought, producing a compact, matt-black weapon. "This is the last one I have, but I brought it for you." He offered the fake SMG to Ann.
The blonde shook her head. "I think I'm good."
"Kinda figured she'd say that," Ranma smirked as Ann pulled her shotgun out of her bag.
"You've been carrying that all day?" Ryuji asked, blinking. "We're… really lucky our school's got crap security.
"In both worlds," Ranma nodded.
"So what's our plan today?" Ann asked.
"We still don't really know much about this place," Ranma shrugged. "If it were a real house, I'd actually start lookin' for other ways in that might be closer to what we're lookin' for, like maybe a window up there" He said, pointing higher up at the castle. "But…The inside doesn't really match the outside from what I can tell."
"That wouldn't be likely to work anyway," Morgana explained. "Palaces tend to have fewer vulnerabilities than real buildings, unless you make them yourself."
"So we're stuck goin' in the same way," Ryuji growled.
"Ugh…" Ann wrinkled her nose. "Let's try and avoid that… room… from last time."
"Bettin' that's not the worst thing in there," Ranma shook his head. "But I guess we'd better go find out."
"Let's go!" Morgana exclaimed. "It's time to get that treasure!"
"He's a pretty enthusiastic little guy," Ann offered, following the starry-eyed cat as it raced for the vent.
HR.
"Ugh, this place is a friggin' maze!" Ryuji grumbled. "How many more rooms are there?"
"The outside doesn't match the inside, remember?" Ann grumbled. That hadn't seemed more true than this moment, when the group of thieves found themselves walking through the twisted, fractured tower at the top of Kamoshita's castle. "How long have we been in here?"
"I'm… not sure," the former blond responded, squinting at his phone. "The clock says about half an hour, but it's been way longer than that…"
Ranma, who was walking ahead of the others, raised a hand and ducked down next to one of the walls, being careful to avoid touching it. Shortly after they'd entered the tower, bits of the floor had begun rising up to make new walls, some form of reddish black slime oozing off of them.
The martial artist held up his index finger, and gestured. Morgana let out an irritated sigh before moving up to join him, then springing out and latching onto the helmet of the guard that was waiting around the corner. Immediately afterwards, Ann and Ryuji charged forward to join the battle, having gotten fairly well practiced at this procedure during their exploration.
The guard's helmet came loose with a loud clang, and the shadowy substance the guard was made of split off into three shapes. Two of them were winged, female demons similar to the one who had taken on Ann's form previously, while the third was one they hadn't seen before.
"Why are half the ones up here female?" Ann asked, whip lashing out to smack the new creature, which looked like a cross between a kunoichi in a leotard and mask, and an animal with fur covering its arms and legs, a tail curling behind it.
"You gotta ask that question at this point?" Ryuji replied, stretching out his arm and sending a lightning bolt at his foes. He expected to hear the crack of Ranma's pistol a moment later, but didn't.
"Hey, watch out!" Morgana yelled, Zorro appearing in front of the pigtailed martial artist to blow one of the demon women out of the air with a gust of wind. Ranma, for his part, was standing perfectly still, eyes wide and locked on the animal ninja who was irritating Ann by dodging her next attack with a cartwheel, the whip cracking harmless in the air.
"Dude? You okay?" Ryuji asked, using his lightning to follow up Morgana's attack on the demon woman, before bringing his machete up to slash at the other one.
"I… uh…." Ranma choked out, backing slowly away, before fumbling for his gun. He brought it up in shaking hands and pulled the trigger rapidly, emptying the last few shots in the general direction of the cat ninja. He missed. In fact, he missed so badly that one of the bullets clipped the last demon woman as Morgana blasted it back, causing it to fade into dust.
"Hey, wait a second!" The furry ninja called, raising her hands. Ann stopped half way through her next whip strike. The length of whip just flopped into the face of the ninja shadow with no real force behind it.
"That… really wasn't nyice," the creature complained, spitting as her eyes crossed, before rubbing her nose.
"Whips don't really stop halfway." Ann stated, pulling her weapon back and preparing herself for another attack.
"Oh, I totally understand," the Shadow said, holding up her hands to reveal the clawed gauntlets she wore. "These aren't all that user-friendly either. Almost took my head off once, ya knyo."
"Right, so… we're doing this again," Ryuji said. "Do we ask her for information, or…"
"K-kill it!" All eyes turned to Ranma, who was still pointing his pistol at the furry shadow, gun wobbling as his hands couldn't stop shaking.
"That's pretty out of character, you okay?" Ryuji asked.
Ranma didn't respond, only making a slight choking noise in the back of his throat. The shadow for her part focused her attention on the panicking boy, her slitted eyes narrowing and tail waving around excitedly.
"Oooh! It seems you already have a spot for mye! How considerate!" The shadow exclaimed.
"I...What is that supposed to mean?," Ann said, slowly.
"I've decided. I'm going to join you!"
"Wait, no, don't!" Ranma started as the Shadow began to glow, letting loose a terrified scream as it lunged towards him. As it shifted into a mask and clamped onto his face, he began running forward, out of the room and down a nearby hall.
"Shit…" Ryuji muttered under his breath, bolting after the other boy, the other thieves following closely behind. Before they got to the end of the next hallway, they heard a loud, unearthly yowling sound, followed by an animalistic screech. When they got out into the next room, the remnants of several shadows were fading into the floor, and the noise was coming from a stairwell that lead up. Climbing two steps at a time, they burst into another room, more destroyed shadows fading into the ground, and this time with several long, ugly looking gashes in the floors and walls.
"Wait, you can do that?" Ryuji panted. "These walls have taken fireballs without scorching!"
"To heck with the walls, look at that!" Morgana pointed ahead of them, to where a large black iron gate lay torn off of its hinges, several of the bars missing.
"I think that probably needed a key..." Ann said, faintly, before another angry feline yowl reminded the group of the urgent nature of the situation. Bolting through the destroyed gate and up the stairs, they finally caught sight of Ranma, who was engaged in battle with a very large shadow.
Before them was a weird green alien-like monster on a four wheeled golden chariot with metal blades at the front. The monster possessed a number of tentacle-like appendages extruding out the back, and four arms. The head -
"Oh god why does this exist?! It's just a penis on wheels. Come on!" Ann shrieked.
"You know, I figured we'd have to run into some representation of Kamoshida's lust at some point. But this is a little too on the nose, don't ya think?" Ryuji noted readying his machete.
"You do remember that knight-angel thing that said he was god, in a church," Morgana deadpanned.
"I'm… not thinking about this anymore," Ann decided. "Agi!" She stretched out a hand, launching a fireball at the… thing… in front of her, deciding that she was never letting her whip go anywhere near it.
At least Ranma was attacking the thing relentlessly enough that it wasn't likely to get near any of the rest of them. Sections of its flesh were wrending even before his hands came into contact, as his body contorted in ways that looked like they should be breaking his spine in order to dodge retaliation strikes.
It only took a few more seconds of attack for the creature to fall and fade away, eliciting a massive sigh of relief from almost all involved. Ranma, for his part, simply sat in the middle of the room, bringing one hand up in a catlike curl before he started licking the back of it.
"That's… uh…" Ryuji started, moving slowly towards the other boy. "Hey, uh Joker?"
"Kitty, kitty?" Ann tried, reaching out a hand and beckoning with it. This actually got a response, Ranma returning to all-fours and moving a few steps towards her, before abruptly falling forward, unconscious.
HR.
"Gah, my leg's killin' me, he was heavy!" Ryuji grumbled, as he, Ann and Morgana sat around a table in a safe room they'd found in the tower, the unconscious Ranma sprawled out on a couch nearby.
"If he doesn't wake up, we're going to have to figure out how to get him out past the guards…" Ann said, worriedly. "What happened there, anyway? Morgana, you know everything about this place, right?"
"That… wasn't a result of the palace," the plushie creature shook his head. "It's almost like the shadow… possessed him, but his thief outfit was still intact, so that should be impossible."
"Also, it basically did the same thing that pixie did, right?" Ryuji asked. "Hey, wait a sec…" He pulled out his phone, starting to poke at the screen.
"Somehow I doubt calling anyone's going to help," Ann objected. "Especially with no signal."
"No, that's not it," Ryuji waved her off. "Just a sec… ah, here we go!" He held up his phone, which showed a picture of Ranma along with a set of numbers and indicators.
"Huh?" Ann blinked, and then pulled out her own phone.
"We can check our stats with the Evil Eye app," Ryuji explained. "I figured out there are buttons to switch to other people's pages."
"This… has an HP and SP listing," Ann said in disbelief. "And Ranma's are both at 1."
"What are you two on about?" Morgana questioned, eyeing them both suspiciously.
"It's complicated. I don't think cats play video games," Ryuji said dismissively.
At Morgana's low growl, Ann tried to jump in. "I guess maybe it's putting some of this persona stuff in a format we can kind of understand?" she offered. "Like Ranma and this cat thing." She showed Morgana the screen, sliding over to an image of the shadow Ranma had absorbed. "Apparently it's got some ability called 'auto-Berserk."
"So it makes him go crazy whenever he uses it," Ryuji added. "On the other hand, the stat values for it are… kinda insane. It looks like it's stronger than anything we've got, by a long way. Even that D'Eon thing of Ranma's."
"I see, I see," The plush nodded, as if understanding.
"So now we know why it happened," Ann gestured at the boy on the couch. "So what do we do about it?"
"Well, I got one idea," Ryuji offered. Before anyone could stop him, he leaned over, clapping his hands next to one of Ranma's ears. "Hey! Wake up!"
A hand lashed out, grabbing onto Ryuji's wrist and twisting as he rose to a sitting position. The former blond yelped indignantly as he tumbled over the back of the couch, hitting the floor on the other side with a meaty thud. "Guh… wha?" Ranma stammered, blinking his vision clear. "Where's th' food?"
"That… worked?" Ann asked in shock before turning her head to the thrown phantom thief, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking…" Ryuji replied weakly, pulling himself back to his feet.
"What... " Ranma looked around, confused. "What happened?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Morgana retorted. "You absorbed that Cat persona, and then…"
"Cat…" Ranma started, before his face drained of color. "Right, that ninja… of course it was…" He shook his head. "Look, it's hard to explain, and-"
"Oh no, that ain't gunna work here," Ryuji raised both hands. "We saw you tear through half that tower like a buzzsaw! I mean, the eff, man?!"
"Least it was sorta useful for once," Ranma rubbed his forehead, and then sighed. "It's that thing I mentioned a couple days ago, with the pit," he started. "It's an 'unbeatable technique' my old man taught me. Ta be fair, it is pretty much the strongest trick I've got. Unfortunately, it also makes me terrified of c-cats. The Nekoken triggers if I can't get away from them."
"And I guess it's really hard to get away from one that jumped into your head," Ann guessed.
"Did… did you have to put it like that?" Ranma glared, shivering.
"Okay, yeah, sorry," the girl replied.
Ranma nodded gratefully. "How far'd we get?"
"We're really close to the treasure room," Morgana answered excitedly. "It can't be more than a few rooms away now, and you cut up the major obstacles."
"Great," Ranma nodded, pushing himself up from the couch. "Let's go."
"Wait, hold up." Ryuji stated, positioning himself in front of the door. "We're done for the day. If the evil eye app is right, you are barely holding on."
"We're so close, though!" Morgana objected, eyes sparkling.
"Seriously, stop that," Ann waved the plush's objections away.
Ranma was about to object, when he remembered how the last two trips into this place had ended. "Yeah, I got it," he nodded. "Let's go."
HR.
"You have returned to the real world, Welcome back." Three figures staggered as they materialized in the dead-end alley, one holding a small black cat in her arms.
"Still not a fan of that thing," Ryuji muttered, glaring at his phone.
"At least we're out," the blonde girl disagreed, raising her head to the sky and taking a deep breath.
"And the treasure's only a few rooms away!" Morgana reiterated, excitedly.
"Yeah, that's great 'n all, but what do we do with this?" Ryuji asked, gesturing to a pile of assorted junk in front of him. "I mean, findin' five thousand yen's one thing, but this stuff…" He gently nudged a small blue can of energy drink at the base of the pile.
"I dunno," Ranma disagreed. "I dunno why someone'd just stick a single bill in a treasure chest like that."
"Your first mistake was assuming anything in that place would make sense," Ann grumbled.
"Point," the boy conceded, before hooking the can with a foot and popping it deftly up to his awaiting hand. "Man, I'm thirsty."
"I… don't think I'd trust anything that… plain," Ann shook her head. "It just says 'energy drink,' and I'm pretty sure there's no sell by date."
"Honestly, at this point, I'd try anything. I'm absolutely drained." Ranma noted.
"C'mon, peer pressure," Ryuji laughed, scooping up two more of the cans.
"Seriously?" Ann rolled her eyes. As Ranma popped the tab on his, she muttered "Boys…" under her breath. She tried her best to ignore the can being held out in front of her before reluctantly snatching it from Ryuji's hand.
"If I die later, I will haunt you both." She said pointedly, before also opening her can.
"This… ain't half bad," Ryuji said, after a few sips. "Real hard to pin down the flavor, though. It's just… soda."
"Of course," Morgana piped up, from the ground next to Ann. "It was produced by the palace, after all."
"Huh, that's right," Ann said, eyes narrowing slightly. "So does that mean that five thousand yen got generated by the palace, too?"
"Aw, man, you sayin' it's fake?" Ryuji scowled, taking his wallet out of his pocket, before removing a crisply folded bill. "...Huh… what the heck's Macca?"
"Well, that answers that question," Ranma noted. "We can probably sell off some of this stuff, though." He bent down and picked up a wooden sword that was jutting out of the pile. "I think we should worry about that later, though. I gotta get back home and rest."
"Yeah, I guess," Ryuji nodded. "With the whole… cat… thing. Let's get outta here."
HR.
As the door slid closed behind him and the train pulled away from the platform, Ranma looked over to where Ann was standing next to him, holding her bag to her chest. "Okay…" he said, slowly, as he headed for the steps. "I know your place ain't anywhere around here."
"I just… wanted to make sure you got home okay," she answered. "I mean, after what happened in the palace…"
Ranma winced. "Yeah, that'd make sense," he started, "'cept you've been stickin' to me since lunch."
"I… I haven't," She replied, defensively. "I mean… if it bothers you so much, I can just-"
Ranma raised his hands in placation. "That's not what I meant. You wanna hang out with me, that's fine. It just seems a little off."
"I… I guess you're right," she admitted, quietly. "It is a bit off." She remained silent for an uncomfortable few moments as the two climbed the steps of Yongen-jaya station. "I just… want to make sure that someone's okay."
"Huh?" Ranma asked, completely lost.
Ann took a deep breath. "She still hasn't talked to me, you know," she started. "Only that one message in almost a week."
"Shiho." Ranma said.
Ann nodded. "And then, what happened to you, I just… Everyone would have been better off if I just gave him what he wanted."
"Lady Ann!" Morgana's shocked and outraged voice came from the girl's bag, the cat struggling to get his head free of the zipper.
"I… fuck…" Ranma opened and closed his mouth several times, completely blindsided. "What I wouldn't give to be able to spar with you right now," he said in a defeated tone.
"Spar?" The girl asked, mystified.
"There are batting cages nearby. Let's go there." Ranma said, turning away from the Cafe he was probably supposed to be returning to.
HR.
"Why am I doing this?" Ann asked, before swinging the aluminum bat in a smooth arc, sending the baseball spinning into the net behind the pitching machine.
"In my experience, hitting things helps when dealing with...Ummm...problems." She glanced over at Ranma, incredulous, as a ball sped past her and bounced against the back fence.
"If you go back far enough, sure, I wouldn't have been in that situation yesterday if you'd given the bastard what he wanted," Ranma started. "I wouldn't have been there if Sojiro hadn't agreed to take me in, either. Or if I hadn't stopped to help someone, or if Akane hadn't…" He shook his head. "There are probably a bunch of spots where all of this coulda been stopped, so you aren't the only one that can be blamed. Ta be honest, the bastard who created the situation should be at fault."
"You… used the time I was swinging the bat to come up with that, didn't you?" Ann accused him, a slight smirk forming as she held onto the fence.
"No...Yes… I kinda stole some of it from somethin' a psychologist told me in jail." At her incredulous look, he smiled sheepishly. "I ain't gunna tell you what to do. You wanna walk home with me, or whatever, that's fine. Just… try to keep that in mind."
"Yeah, I'll try," Ann nodded. "You… want a turn?"
"I'm pretty sure the bat would just fly out of my hands," Ranma admitted, which got a laugh from the girl. She then turned back to continue swinging until an alarm sounded, marking the end of the session.
"You know," Ann started as she exited the batting pen. "You're right. I do feel better after hitting things."
"See?" Ranma nodded happily. "Works every time."
"Pssst!" A noise from the bag next to him made itself known. Glancing down, he couldn't help but shiver a bit at the narrowed, slit-pupiled eyes that peered from the gap in the zipper. "I'm watching you…"
"I think Morgana wants to get outta that bag," the pigtailed boy laughed nervously, while a thought ran through the back of his head. 'Not this again…'
"Did I not let him out before we started?" Ann glanced at the bag apologetically. "You could have just let yourself out, you know." There was an irritable sniff and shifting from within the burlap prison, before the girl reached down and picked it up. "I should probably get going, though. Not that hitting a bunch of baseballs wasn't fun."
"Yeah," Ranma nodded, waving casually as the blonde turned and headed down the stairs to street level. As he was turning to follow her, he heard a chime from his pocket, withdrawing his phone. The simple, red and black message displayed on screen caused him to tighten his grip on the little device and contemplate chucking it as hard as he could into a nearby wall.
"The Lovers Confidante has reached level 2."
HR.
"That bad, huh?" Sojiro asked from behind the counter, as the kid slumped into the cafe and let the front door fall closed behind him. He was busy drying some coffee cups with a towel, stacking dry ones on top of each other, and pulling another one from a different stack.
"Oh… huh?" He looked around, as if jolted out of his train of thought, dark expression lightening significantly. "Nah, it's nothin'."
"Uh-huh…" The older man said dubiously, adjusting his hat. "Want something to eat?"
"Nah, I got somethin' while I was out," Ranma answered, heading for the stairs.
"Hey, kid," Sojiro tried again. His previous subtle attempt to find out how Ranma's day had gone had failed miserably, and he thought for a moment of asking outright before changing his mind. Reaching into his pocket, he produced his wallet and counted out several bills. "I was originally planning on having you work tomorrow, but with… everything…" He slid the cash across the counter. "Don't worry about it."
Ranma looked at the money for a long moment before pushing it back towards him. "Nah, I'm fine for tomorrow."
"Well, that's fine I guess," Sojiro picked the money up and slipped it back into his pocket. "Not sure I'm thrilled about the place being a maid cafe again."
Ranma twitched as he was about to head upstairs. "I… uh… I'm not sure that's…" He shook his head, his expression unreadable.
"Something wrong?" Several coffee cups went onto the drying rack, and he picked up a couple more.
"It's nothing," Ranma waved him off, though he was just barely able to hear a muttered 'Why did I even do that?' as he headed upstairs.
HR.
04/20. So, the curse lasted… less than two weeks? I think I win that bet. Remember to ask about it at next session.
END.