Chapter 6: New Technique

Hunger-based motivation made the morning battle for calories especially hard fought. The attacks and counterattacks Ranma traded with Genma were focused and frenetic, but despite her best efforts, she failed to acquire anything extra to eat. The best she could do was fend off Genma's own sorties.

Once the battle had concluded, Ranma began her journey to Lillian. It was later in the morning than ideal, but that didn't matter in the least. Arriving one minute early or one hour early made no difference at all. Minako, Mami, or one of the other newspaper girls would see to that.

The morning was already lost to her, but Ranma could still salvage lunch. She had a plan.

It would necessarily take some time for the newspaper girls to travel from their respective rooms to the First-year Chrysanthemum Group classroom. If Ranma hurried, she would be able to reposition herself before they arrived. The Rose Mansion had previously been successful in warding them away, and Ranma would be harder to find there in any case. The travel time would reduce the amount of training she could do, but some time was much better than no time at all.

The trip to school was very similar to the day before. There was the scattering of girls walking through the nearby streets, the greetings of "Gokigenyou" in the air, the passing under the tall gateway at the entrance of Lillian's campus, the small crowd standing in front of the statue of the hooded woman, the purchases at the vending machines, and Minako keeping watch in hallway. Ranma took a moment to prepare herself and then went for the direct confrontation needed to get to class.

That was when things took a shift.

Instead of confronting Ranma with a question, Minako instead confronted Ranma by handing over what appeared to be a newspaper. On the top of it was the name: "Lillian Kawaraban." That barely registered, though, in comparison to the huge headline below it:

"Ranko Sugita: The New Rose Princess."

Ranma snatched the paper out of Minako's hands and quickly skimmed it. In the center was a prominent picture of her walking along Lillian's school grounds.

"What do you think?" Minako asked.

The article was sparse on actual facts, and it tried to mask that by using bombastic language and creativity. It began by explaining how "Ranko" had transfered in to Lillian earlier in the week. It went on to say how one day later, she had been made Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur by Sachiko in a touching ceremony which was as romantic as it was fictitious. It continued by describing how, appropriately considering her own recent fortunes, she was now going to be playing the role of Cinderella in the upcoming play the Yamayurikai was putting on for the festival. It concluded by recounting the more prominent things she had done in the past few days.

There was also a sidebar purportedly describing some of her personal details as well. Supposedly, her favorite food was instant noodles; her hobbies were cooking, cleaning, and climbing; and her life motto was "I'll leave that up to your imagination."

"We still need to have that interview. There are so many questions that need answering. Even better, we'll do a dual interview with you and Sachiko-san. It'd be a great follow-up article next week."

Ranma just shoved the newspaper into Minako's stomach. She used that contact to push her aside and walk into the classroom, letting go of the paper as she passed.

The other students in the room turned at Ranma's entrance. Several of the girls were reading copies of the newspaper, but they put them aside in favor of crowding around her. It was similar to what had happened two days earlier.

"You're going to be the lead of the play?"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Have you done any acting before?"

"How will you play Cinderella?"

"Yes. Why would I? A bit. You'll find out." Ranma answered the flurry as best she could.

Despite Ami's efforts to return a semblance of order to the room, Ranma's classmates continued to pepper her with questions as she put her things away and went to her seat. It was only with the arrival of Tanezaki that Ami finally gained enough moral authority to get everybody to settle down, and it was clear that that was reluctant settling at best. Regardless, Ranma's fifth day of classes had begun with exactly as little time to train as she had expected.

The classes themselves proceeded as they typically did. Ranma tried to bend her head around the functions of the endocrine system and the strange word patterns poetry relied upon; both were far divorced from the punches, kicks, throws, jumps, falls, and other physical activities which comprised her life on the road. On the other hand, sewing a shirt from a pattern was utter simplicity; it was obviously related to the Martial Arts Tailoring she constantly used to fix the numerous rips that appeared in her and Genma's clothing throughout their perpetual training trip.

When lunch came around, Ranma immediately put her new plan into motion. There was not a moment to lose. She quickly stood, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the room.

The upstairs hallway was blissfully bereft of newspaper girls. The stairway was likewise empty, as was the downstairs hallway. Ranma emerged into the fresh, outdoor air with a distinct lack of followers. From there, she turned to the Rose Mansion and started jogging. She reached the door of the building, opened it, entered, closed it, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had made it.

Ranma proceeded up to the conference room on the second floor and took a seat at the large table therein. In the distance, she heard the front door open, but she didn't pay it any attention. She had learned her lesson the night before, and time was short. She instead pulled out her first package of instant noodles and the script.

Footsteps creaked on the wooden stairs, as they always did when somebody was climbing them. Seconds later, a voice came in from the doorway. "What a coincidence to meet you here."

Minako was at the entrance of the room and was stalking forward towards Ranma. Her appearance dealt a crushing blow to Ranma's mood.

"Coincidence? You followed me!"

"It's true that I may have seen you running around outside, but no matter. Is this a good time to talk?" Minako said more than asked. Rather than wait for Ranma to respond, she pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. "People have been writing to us with all their questions about the newest member of the Yamayurikai." Minako took out a pencil and a sheet of paper with several items listed on it. "First, how long have you known Sachiko-san? Did you know her before you came to Lillian?"

The front door opened again.

"Why won't you go away?" Ranma asked, rubbing her hair in frustration.

"It's just a few questions. We can be done in a couple of minutes, if you cooperate with me."

Ranma considered her options and could only think of one she hadn't yet tried: changing the nature of the fight. If she were over-matched in a specialty field, such as Martial Arts Badminton, then the best way to win was to break the rules of that field and transform the fight into an Anything Goes battle. The downside of doing that was that it meant she had no chance of actually learning that specialty field.

The stairs creaked.

Ranma clenched her first. It would be so easy to transition the fight to one Ranma was actually prepared for. However, that would be tantamount to giving up on learning the martial art specialty of Lillian. It wasn't worth it.

She restrained herself and said, "I'll leave that up to your imagination."

"Excellent," Minako said. "So like I..."

"What exactly is going on in here?" Sachiko's voice cut through the room, drawing the attention of both Ranma and Minako to the doorway.

"What does it look like? I'm conducting an interview," Minako said.

Sachiko walked over to the still-sitting Minako and loomed over her. She said, "You presume too much. Stop bothering Ranko and leave." She pointed decisively at the door.

Ranma watched the exchange with newfound interest and excitement. Her own attempts at using Sachiko's techniques had been entirely unsuccessful, and she was eager to see them in action again.

Minako stood up to face Sachiko eye to eye. She said, "I represent the Lillian Kawaraban. The people..."

"And this is the Rose Mansion," Sachiko said sharply, cutting Minako off. "This is the office of the Yamayurikai. This place is reserved for Yamayurikai business only."

"This is Yamayurikai business. I am conducting an interview with a member of the Yamayurikai."

"You have the audacity to make such a claim? That is not Yamayurikai business. Yamayurikai business would be something like reviewing the status of the newspaper club. Would you like me to provide you a demonstration of the difference?"

"You would dare threaten the Lillian Kawaraban? The students would be outraged. The headmistress would be outraged."

"Just like they would be outraged at what you and your fellow club members have been doing to Ranko. She has been here for five days. Five days. How many times have you cornered her? Four times? Five times? Six times? Do you even know? I would have thought that her jumping out of a window would have been enough to tell you that you had gone too far. What would Maria-sama say about your behavior?"

The two girls faced off. Sachiko fiercely glared at Minako. Minako glared at Sachiko just as fiercely. They remained silent as they stared each other down.

Minako blinked.

"Very well," Minako said. She picked up her pencil and sheet of paper off of the table, and she walked to the door.

Sachiko conspicuously cleared her throat.

Minako stopped where she was, half-way to the door. She turned back to face Ranma and said in a stiff voice, "My apologies. We were out of line. It shall not happen again." She gave a moderate bow and held it for two seconds. She then stood up straight again, turned around, and finished walking out of the room without a look back. Her footsteps creaked on the stairs, and the front door opened a few seconds later.

The outcome left Ranma confused.

She had been through enough fights, both as the victor and as the defeated, to recognize that a trouncing had just occurred. Without a single punch being thrown, Sachiko had defeated Minako and forced her to leave the field. As esoteric as it was, there was clearly value in training in Lillian.

What was not clear was how she should be reacting to Sachiko's intervention itself. Ranma knew that Minako had to be defeated in combat, but she had also known that she herself would need to be the one to do that defeating. It was unheard of for somebody else to fight on her behalf, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Thanks," Ranma said, trying to feel her way through the situation. "But what brought you here?"

"I saw you running and Minako-san chasing after you earlier. Your neckerchief's been tossed into disarray," Sachiko said with a small smile. She reached down and straightened it.

This really was uncharted territory. In the past, Ranma had always needed to resolve whatever situation she faced on her own. Genma's interventions were primarily motivational speeches to try harder, typically in the form of mocking derision with some insults thrown in for good measure. At best, he might give her some training in a new technique. Never before had he assisted directly. The experience left her feeling muddled.

"Thanks," Ranma repeated.

Sachiko looked Ranma in the eye and said, "No. You wouldn't even be in this predicament if it weren't for me. Really, I should be the one thanking you." She took a step back. "Thank you. Gokigenyou." She then turned and left, leaving Ranma alone in the conference room.

Ranma turned back to the table and allowed herself to focus on the more concrete and immediate concern that was her lunch. The familiar and visceral sensations of chewing and swallowing helped draw her back and focus her. There would be more time to think about the fight in the future, when she didn't have such a short deadline looming in front of her.

She then opened her script and started carefully reading the encounter between Cinderella and the prince at the ball. It was about as successful an effort as could be hoped for given the circumstances, and she was able to get through the entire scene before it was time to return to class.

Ranma kept careful watch on her way back to the main school building. Despite Minako's words earlier, she still expected that some member of the newspaper club was going to confront her during her trip. Her worries proved to be unfounded, though, and for the first time since becoming Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur, she had a quiet entrance to the First-year Chrysanthemum Group classroom.

The afternoon proceeded similar to the morning, albeit with different class subjects. PE class saw them splitting up into teams to start playing some games of volleyball, and Ranma had to keep purposely serving the ball into the net to match her classmates. History class started talking about the Genpei War, and Ranma found the conflicts and battles between the Taira and Minamoto clans of that era interesting. She saw Yoshino sit up straighter during that lesson as well. Eventually there was the after-class cleaning, and the school day was over once again.

"It's been a busy day, hasn't it?" Yoshino asked as she approached Ranma.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked.

"Here." Yoshino handed over a book. "I've been trying to get this to you all day, but at lunch, you just disappeared."

"Yeah. Thanks," Ranma said. She eagerly took the copy of "Human Sword Hanijro" and slid it into her book bag. She wasn't sure when she'd find the time to read it, but she was definitely interested in experiencing a new Shoutarou Ikenami adventure.

"You're welcome. Let me know what you think once you finish it," Yoshino said. "Shall we go?"

Ranma had no idea where the secondary gym was, so she once again relied on Yoshino to show the way. As they walked, they talked about all the different samurai novels they had read, exchanging their favorite scenes between them: the pitched duels of honor, the disastrous betrayals of loyalty, and the heroic triumphs of courage and determination. Despite the fact that they had crossed the majority of Lillian's campus on their trip, it still felt short due to their discussion.

At the front entrance of the reasonably large building Yoshino led Ranma to was a long line of shoes and vinyl slippers. There were a couple of girls inside who were taking off the former and donning the latter. Yoshino joined them in picking up a pair of slippers and swapping her shoes for them, and Ranma did likewise.

The secondary gym was much smaller than the primary gym. It was about the size of a basketball court, and it had no stage on its side. What it lacked in size, though, it made up for in atmosphere. It exuded an ambiance of welcoming coziness.

Inside the gym were approximately a dozen girls. Aside from the Yamayurikai, Ranma didn't recognize any of them. About a third of them, including Shimako, were standing around in pairs. The remaining two thirds, including Sachiko, were standing around by themselves. As new girls would trickle in, most of them would join one of the single girls, shrinking that collection and increasing the number of pairs in the room.

Youko caught sight of Ranma and Yoshino as they entered. She said, "Gokigenyou. Yoshino-chan, your partner is going to be Minami-san." She brought Yoshino to a girl with black hair in a pixie cut.

"Ranko-chan, this way please," Youko said. "You'll be center stage and the focus of attention for the dance scene, so you'll be learning different steps than everybody else."

Ranma immediately felt at home. Receiving special training was a common occurrence for her. She wasn't sure what it would be, but she was eager to find out.

Youko led Ranma across the room to where Rei and a tall girl with glasses and a black ponytail were waiting.

"You'll be working with Shouko-san. Rei will be filling in for the role of the prince during dance practice, too," Youko said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Shouko said.

"I'll leave Ranko-chan in your care," Youko said. She then walked back to the main area of the gym.

After Youko had left, Shouko asked, "Have you ever danced before?"

Ranma shook her head. "No."

"Hmm..." Shouko said. "Then, from the beginning. Waltzes are danced by two people: a lead and a follow. The man leads and the woman follows, so for this dance, the prince will be the lead and Cinderella will be the follow. That makes things easier because you won't need to worry as much about the beat, and all of your moves will be cued to you.

"Why don't I show you what the whole dance looks like first. I'll be dancing Cinderella's part, so focus on me. Rei-san?"

Shouko stepped right in front of Rei. Rei wrapped her right hand around Shouko, slightly under her armpit in something of an open hug. Shouko draped her left arm on top of Rei's, lightly gripping her bicep. Rei's left hand was held outward at a raised angle, and Shouko clasped it with her right hand.

The position was vaguely reminiscent of the middle of a grappling engagement.

Shouko said, "The general rule is that whatever the lead does, the follow should mirror so we can stay in this relative position. So when Rei-san steps forward with her left foot, I'll step back with my right foot. When Rei-san turns left, I'll turn left as well."

The concept was intuitive, and Ranma made the immediate connection with a martial arts duel. If the opponent advanced, you pulled back in some way. If the opponent retreated, you advanced to maintain the pressure. Watch their every move and react accordingly, ready to strike the moment an opening presented itself.

"Whenever you're ready," Shouko said.

Rei bobbed her head while evenly counting, "One-two-three two-two-three three-two-three four-two-three..."

They moved. It was in a rough circle, similar to a pendulum which kept being reoriented to change directions. Rei and Shouko would sink for a couple of steps and then rise for a couple of steps to end up standing tall. This was frequently punctuated by a flashy flourish here and there, where Shouko would spin outward and then return, jump up into the air and then be caught by Rei, or otherwise move around like the Moon circling the Earth. They eventually came to a stop with Shouko pressed up against Rei.

The two of them stepped apart, and Shouko asked Ranma, "What do you think?"

The sequence had the complexity of a moderate kata. The various movements were obviously not combat useful, but they did feel combat adjacent due to the adroit footwork and rapid changes of direction. It would be interesting to see how many of her martial arts skills applied.

Regardless, one thing was very clear; the slippers on Ranma's feet were too loose for this type of activity. She pulled them off, tossed them to the side of the room, and said, "Looks easy."

"That's the spirit," Shouko said.

Some classical music filled the air.

"Okay then. Let's get started. Please stand here," Shouko said.

Ranma stepped in front of Rei.

Shouko maneuver Ranma and Rei into a position similar to the one she and Rei had taken earlier. Rei took a firm grip of Ranma's torso at approximately the level of her bra strap, and Ranma had to reach up such that she could grasp Rei's bicep. The starting stance left Ranma feeling ridiculously exposed, as if she were in the middle of a judo throw; it made her nervous, and she had to fight her impulse to pull away and put some space between her and her opponent.

"Be sure to hold firm with both of your hands. It's the main way for the lead to communicate to the follow." Shouko took a step back. "Hmm... there's more height different than could be ideal. Well, I guess it's good enough. The heels will help, when we get to the real thing.

"Okay, now remember this position. I want you two to split up and then take it again."

Rei released Ranma, and they both took a step back. They then stepped forward, and Ranma easily adopted the same position again. She had lost count of the number of ready stances she had learned across all of the different disciplines of martial arts she knew; learning one more was trivial.

"That's perfect. Now, remember to hold firm. I'm going to count you up. After I finish the fourth count, I'd like you to begin. Ranko-san, Rei-san will be stepping forward with her left foot. You should step backwards with your right."

The reminder was entirely redundant. Ranma had already memorized all the steps of the pseudo-kata. It wasn't half as complicated as Martial Arts Mountain Bicycle Racing or Martial Arts Traffic Directing.

Shouko counted up again, and on cue, Rei stepped forward. Ranma instantly reacted, dodging her right foot out of the way. Rei continued forward, as Ranma had known she would from the earlier demonstration, and Ranma easily countered. They proceeded for several seconds.

"Stop, stop, stop," Shouko said. Rei let go of Ranma hands and stepped back. The additional space let Ranma relax.

"What did you think?" Shouko asked.

"Well, I can't exactly say it's wrong," Rei said.

"Me either, especially for a beginner..." Shouko said with a wince, "... but it's not right either. Hmm... How to put it? Take a look over there."

Across the gym, about two dozen girls had paired off and were arranged in a geometric pattern. The pairs of girls were all embracing each other in a position similar to how Ranma and Rei had been embracing before. They smoothly moved back and forth in unison. The exception was Sachiko, who was moving on her own in the center of the spectacle. She was going through what Ranma recognized to be Cinderella's half of the sequence. She gracefully flowed from step to spin to pose, arching her torso and curving her arms such that it was almost impossible to not imagine the invisible parter with which she fought.

"You should be moving more like Sachiko-san. Think elegant. Let's try it again."

Ranma and Rei resumed the starting position for their pseudo-spar, the feelings of vulnerability once again triggering Ranma's danger instincts. She stood tense, ready for action. When Rei stepped forward, Ranma adroitly stepped back, ready to react to her next move. When Rei twisted sideways, Ranma repositioned herself, ready to handle any sneaky attack Rei could send her direction.

"You're still jerking around too much," Shouko said. "You should be matching Rei-san's steps."

"I promise I won't hurt you. We're partners. Just relax and work with me," Rei said.

Her words sounded familiar for some reason, but it took Ranma a few steps to remember why. The phrasing and tone were different, but the content of Rei's remarks was reminiscent of Nukui's taunts, back when Ranma had been trying to learn Martial Arts Dressage. Ranma had been sitting with her back against a stall wall, fuming at her recalcitrant would-be equine partner. Nukui's words had floated over the air at her, mocking and condescending.

In hindsight, Ranma knew what her problem had been. The experience of relying on a horse had been so unfamiliar that she had kept herself tense and had overreacted to every move it had made. That very nervousness had caused the horse to be nervous, and the two of them had fed off each other in a cycle of anxiety and paranoia. Nukui's jeers had ironically triggered the breakthrough in understanding that Ranma had needed. That had been the turning point of her special training, and thereafter she had relaxed enough to actually work together with her horse and began her rapid ascent up the ranks. It had been particularly satisfying to crush Nukui in her challenge two weeks later.

If they used similar words, then maybe a similar approach was appropriate. It was worth a try, at least. Ranma made the mental shift away from judo, subverting and countering Rei's actions, and into a mindset of Martial Arts Dressage, taking what was offered and giving what was needed in the partnership of two against all.

Rei stepped forward. Ranma received that idea, channeled it around her body, and sent it back via her hands. Rei pulled it around and shunted it through her legs over to Ranma's outstretched foot. Ranma took it and used her hips to return it to Rei. It moved back and forth between the two of them, weaving around like a butterfly in a flower garden.

"There! Like that! Just like that! Keep going!" Shouko exclaimed.

As they continued onward, Rei stepped on Ranma's feet a few times, but compared to the kicks she traded with Genma daily, Ranma barely even noticed impact of the soft slippers Rei wore. She disregarded the minor distraction and focused on reproducing the sequence that Shouko had shown earlier. She was sure she was off on the minor details, such as the angle of her neck and the height of her jumps, but she thought she did a passably good job for having seen it only once.

They eventually drew to an end, Ranma clutched close to Rei much like Shouko had been earlier.

"That was incredible! I can't believe you've already learned the whole thing!" Shouko exclaimed.

Ranma stepped back and looked over. To her surprise, she saw everybody in the whole gym was staring at her. Several of the girls were obviously whispering to each other, although they were too far away to hear over the music still playing in the background. She self-consciously scratched the back of her head.

Youko approached and said, "That was really impressive. Do you think you're ready to join us in the main group?"

"I think so, if I can keep up with her, that is," Rei said.

"Definitely," Shouko said. "I've never seen anybody pick things up so quickly before."

"Okay. We're taking a short break right now. Why don't you take 10 minutes, too, and then come join us. I wasn't expecting to be able to get to it, but I think we'll be able to finalize the choreography today," Youko said.

Ranma walked over to pick up her discarded slippers. As she did so, Shouko followed her.

"I was wondering why Rosa Chinensis changed the roles so late. To tell you the truth, I was rather worried about it," Shouko said. "I guess I should have known better. I can see why she did it now. Sachiko-san's great, but you're amazing."

"Thanks," Ranma said. She rarely actively showed off, but she did like it when her abilities were acknowledged.

"You know, once the festival is over, you should join the dance club. It's a lot of fun, and it's great exercise."

"I don't know," Ranma said. She wasn't even sure she would still even be in Lillian for the festival itself, let alone after it. She hoped to be finished with the Umisenken training long before that point.

"Well, think about it. Speaking for myself, I'd love to have a chance to dance with you, and I'm sure I'm not the only one." Shouko cast a meaningful glance across the room. Several of the girls had continued to watch Ranma, some overtly and others more subtly.

Ranma gave a noncommittal hum and walked over to the entrance to return her slippers. As she went, a few other girls approached her and asked where she had learned to dance. To the first girl, Ranma repeated the explanation that she didn't actually know how to dance, and she received a skeptical look in return. To the other girls who asked her, Ranma just answered with a shrug instead.

She used the rest of the break to wander around the gym in an attempt to find something to drink. Her explorations revealed a changing room, a bathroom, and a lounge. She found a water fountain as well, which she used to quench her thirst before returning to the gym proper.

They resumed their practice. Sachiko paired with Shouko and took a position to the side of the group. This left the center area open for Ranma and Rei. Having the crowd surrounding her made Ranma feel even more on edge, but she forced herself to stay calm and ignore them, trusting in Rei to not steer her incorrectly. As they danced, Youko occasionally called out instructions for people to move to different places or to change how they were oriented.

Practice came to an end with Youko's semi-shout filling the gym. "Good job, everybody. We'll have our next session here on Tuesday. In the meantime, please try to find some time to practice with your partner. Thank you for your hard work."

"Good job."

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow?"

"Gokigenyou."

Chatter surrounded Ranma as the precise lattice of dance pairs all around her melted away into a fluid collection of girls meandering roughly in the direction of the gym entrance. Ranma herself was included in that collection for a few seconds until a girl with two long blonde ponytails approached her.

"You're really good."

"Thanks," Ranma said. This was the way it was supposed to be, her excelling at whatever task she had dedicated herself too. After some more special training, she was sure she would get her acting in a similar state.

"Why don't you join the dance club?"

"You really should," another girl stepped forward to say. "Everybody in the club's really nice, and it's a lot of fun."

"Shouko-san already invited me," Ranma said, inclining her head over to the girl who was packing up the CD player on the side of the room.

"Shouko..san?" the first girl asked, emphasizing the honorific.

"Oh my. Using the 'san' honorific with an older student," the second girl said.

"I had no idea you two were that close. Did you know Shouko-sama before you came to Lillian?" the first girl asked.

"No wonder you dance so well," the second girl said. "Then you're definitely going to join the dance club, aren't you? That's great news. I'm looking forward to it."

"It's nothing like that!" Ranma exclaimed. Now that she thought about it, she had never heard a first-year student in Lillian refer to an upperclassman using anything other than the "sama" honorific.

"Hmm?"

"I'm just not used to calling people 'sama,'" Ranma said.

"Oh." The two girls deflated.

"Anyway, Shouko..sama already asked me," Ranma said. The honorific still felt weird, but it also felt right, considering the atmosphere of stately decorum prevalent throughout the school.

"Then are you going to join?" the first girl asked, perking up again.

"I don't know," Ranma said.

"Okay. Well, in any case, we'd love to have you. Gokigenyou." The two girls both gave a slight bow and then took their leave.

The traffic jam at the entrance of the gym, where the huddle of girls waited patiently to retrieve their shoes, was interrupted when a girl with short blonde hair rushed through the door. She caught sight of Youko and exclaimed, "Rosa Chinensis! Rosa Chinensis! We have a problem!"

Everybody turned to look.

"Yes?" Youko asked. She still spoke in a calm and collected manner, not being caught up in the girl's frantic pace.

"The karate team is saying that they got permission to use the secondary gym for the festival," the girl said, still in a rush.

Youko looked at Eriko and Sei, both of whom shook their heads back. She then said, "I see. In that case, we had best go check what this is all about." She directed her attention to the wider group of students around her. "If you would please excuse us."

The Three Roses stepped forward, and the line of the girls parted in deference to them. They reached down, switched their shoes, and followed behind the girl as she led them away from the gym.

With the interruption out of the way, the semi-organized procession of girls reformed into a line, and the switching of slippers for shoes resumed. It took a minute for them to clear enough to allow Ranma and the other members of the Yamayurikai to take their turn. They were the last ones out of the gym, and they emerged into the cooling afternoon air.

Approximately two-thirds of the way back to the main entrance of Lillian, Ranma diverted away from the others.

"Where are you going?" Shimako asked when she noticed.

"To the Rose Mansion," Ranma said. The situation remained fundamentally the same as it had been the day before. There was still a lot more work she needed to do to even be able to speak Cinderella's part with any confidence, let alone from memory, and if she returned to camp, she had no doubt that the rest of the evening would be spent fighting with Genma.

"What's there?" Rei asked.

"I thought I'd do some training before I headed home today," Ranma said.

"In the Rose Mansion?" Yoshino asked.

"That's two nights in a row. Your father doesn't worry?" Sachiko asked.

"Why would he?" Ranma asked. Genma could be annoyed at the delayed dinner. More likely, he would be happy that he got to eat more for himself. No matter what he was, though, the one thing he would not be was worried.

"How long do you think you'll stay here tonight?" Sachiko asked.

"No idea," Ranma said. "Probably a few hours. I got a lot to go through. I mean, you know Cinderella's lines better than me, right? I got to do something to catch up."

"Don't worry about that too much. I've had a lot of practice. You'll get there eventually," Sachiko said.

"I know I will," Ranma said. It was a foregone conclusion. She would master the technique. She always did. What she didn't know was how much training she would need to do to get there, or what esoteric forms that training might take. She idly wondered if reciting her lines while being locked in a freezer would help somehow.

"At least she's confident," Rei said. Yoshino nodded in agreement.

"In that case, I had best go get some snacks. I learned my lesson yesterday. If we're going to have a study session, we should do it properly."

Sachiko's declaration brought a smile to Ranma's face. It was rare for martial arts training to come with free food; the last time it had was years ago, back when she had learned Martial Arts Stir Frying. It was an unexpected but very welcome surprise.

"Have fun. Don't stay too late. Gokigenyou," Rei said, with Yoshino and Shimako following her lead.

They parted ways, Ranma turning to go to the Rose Mansion and the other four continuing on their original path.

Ranma entered the Rose Mansion and made her way up to the large room on the second floor. She turned on the lights, took a seat, and pulled out her copy of the script. She then started reading from the beginning. This time she spoke the lines highlighted in pink out loud, trying to twist her tongue around the flowery speech that Cinderella used.

The front door opened about 20 minutes later. The creak of the stairs immediately followed it, and Ranma looked up to see Sachiko entering the room. She bore an armful of cookies, crackers, candies, crisps, and cups of instant noodles. The sight of them brought a smile to Ranma's face which exposed her earlier smile as the mere foreshadowing it had been.

Ranma continued to practice verbally, although she frequently interrupted herself in favor of eating one or another of the foods Sachiko had brought. For her part, Sachiko spent her time filling up some blank pages of papers with writing. There was little direct interaction between the two of them, aside from when they occasionally looked at each other as they both reached for some cookies at the same time. Regardless, Sachiko's presence was something of a comfort.

Between her munching and her recitations, Ranma barely even noticed the passage of time. The sky was once again dark when Ranma decided that she had done enough for the day.

"Finished," Ranma said loudly, pushing herself away from the table and stretching her arms up and out. The remnants of empty bags and cups surrounded her.

"Good work. I could hear you getting better," Sachiko said.

The statement surprised Ranma. She had assumed that Sachiko had been ignoring her. She said a subdued, "Thanks."

Ranma shoved her script into her book bag. Sachiko was much more deliberate with her packing up. Ranma took the chance to clean up the plastic and foil entrails of the eaten food scattered around the table, mostly near her.

"Shall we go?" Sachiko asked, once again leading the pair downstairs and outside.

The empty campus looked identical to the night before. The sparse lights created small pools of illumination along the path and revealed the silhouettes of the buildings in the near distance.

"What's it like, living with only your father?" Sachiko asked as they walked. The tone of the question felt odd. It was certainly different than the interrogations of the newspaper girls. It was less directly confrontational. In fact, it barely felt like a question at all.

"I never really thought about it before. I mean, I could ask you the same thing. What's it like living with both your parents?" Ranma asked.

The susurrus of the trees and bushes somehow sounded more emphatic in the darkness which surrounded them.

"That's a good question," Sachiko said. "To tell you the truth, I'm actually a bit envious of you. I'm the only child of the one and only Ogasawara family, and a daughter at that. There's an image I'm supposed to maintain. I'm expected to be the best at everything. Ballet lessons. Piano lessons. Tea ceremony lessons. Calligraphy lessons. I had so many lessons growing up."

Ranma could understand. It was not unlike how she had grown up herself: learning all the different forms of martial arts that Genma had exposed her to and fulfilling the expectation of being the best at everything she did. Dance rather than martial arts. Tea ceremony rather than dueling rituals. Sachiko might have been a wealthy heiress, but it sounded like there was more similarity between their lives than surface appearances might have suggested.

Sachiko continued, "Truth be told, it can feel a little stifling at times. Did you know that Onee-sama was the first person to ever ask me what I wanted to do?"

"Oh?" Ranma asked.

"Yes. It was before she was even my Onee-sama. She approached me and asked me about all my extra lessons. She asked me which one of them I most enjoyed doing. It was so strange. I didn't even understand the question at first. I had just gotten into the habit of doing them all because I did them all, because I was the daughter of the Ogasawara family. I had never stopped to think about what I wanted to do for myself until she asked me why I was doing all of them.

"That night, I sat down and thought hard about what I really wanted. It was the first time I had ever done so. I ended up quitting all those lessons that very night. I told Onee-sama the next day, in the middle of the new students' welcoming ceremony, right in front of the whole class. I still remember the look of surprise on her face. We made the soeur vow right after the ceremony completed."

"So you were the one to ask her to give you her rosary?" Ranma asked.

"No, not literally, but..." Sachiko said. "The whole sequence was very unusual. I was looking for something that I didn't know, and I think she was looking for something, too. I guess the best way to put it is that we both asked each other at the same time, in a way. It was the best thing that's ever happened to me, too. Onee-sama really is like an older sister to me; maybe even more than that. She's helped me so much, with everything."

"But wasn't she the one who was trying to make you play Cinderella?" Ranma asked.

"Yes."

"That sounds weird, then. Why did she try to do that to you?" The two ideas felt to be in contradiction with each other.

"I don't know," Sachiko said as they emerged into the street outside of Lillian. The same car from the previous day was there, complete with the same uniformed woman sitting in the driver's seat. She opened the door and stepped out upon seeing them.

"Are you sure you would not like me to drive you home?" Sachiko asked.

The offer did not bring with it the jolt of panic it had the night before. Ranma knew she could decline without any real danger. She said, "Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks."

"Very well," Sachiko said. "Gokigenyou."

"Gokigenyou."

Ranma once again watched to ensure that Sachiko had driven away before beginning her own journey. It was unlikely that Sachiko would turn around and try to follow her, but years of traveling with Genma had drilled into her the need for constant vigilance. It wasn't only Genma's words, either. Even more then his pompous warnings, the consequences which occasionally resulted from failure to display appropriate levels of caution had also left their mark. One mistake was all it took for some scheme to fall apart, causing varying level of pain and disaster in its wake.

Once she was certain that Sachiko had left, Ranma began her own trip. It passed by with the speed of familiarity, and after a quick check around for observers, Ranma entered camp.

Where she was greeted by an amorphous mass hurtling at her face.

She reflexively sidestepped to the right and prepared herself for any follow-up Genma might unleash. To her side, the blob of material floated through through the air, expanding as it went, until the keikogi landed in the bushes with a large rustle.

"Late again," Genma said. "Ogasawara?"

"Yeah," Ranma said.

"Good," Genma said. The scowl in his voice tempered. "That's good."

"So are you going to tell me the next step or what?" Ranma asked. She grabbed the keikogi from the bushes and started to change.

"You'll find out soon enough," Genma said. "Now hurry up. We got training. Can't have you getting soft, now can we?"

Ranma carefully placed the Lillian uniform away and emerged from the tent to face Genma. By unanimous consent, they sneaked out of the camp and made their way to the river before engaging in their evening of vigorous martial arts practice. They went up the bank, through the streets, and over the rooftops in their daily bid for victory.

The end result of the evening was a sorely beaten Genma and a more sorely beaten Ranma making their way back into the camp. The one time Ranma had gotten close to getting some dinner, Genma had used the opportunity to grab her and punish her distraction. Her only consolation was the plentiful snacks Sachiko had provided earlier. It meant that she wasn't as hungry as she had been the night before when she once again collapsed onto her cold bedroll and fell asleep.

Omake:

Ranko had departed for the Rose Mansion, and Sachiko had split away shortly thereafter. The school grounds were only sparsely populated by whichever clubs had happened to have recently adjourned. A quick look around revealed there was a trio of girls further up the path, but nobody was in immediate earshot.

This was as good a time as Shimako was going get.

There was something she wanted to talk to Yoshino about. Rather, there was something she absolutely did not want to talk to Yoshino about but did need to talk to her about.

Shimako hated all forms of personal relationships. The attachments she formed with others felt like anchors, tying her down with promises of future pain and loneliness. If she never had any entanglements, then she could avoid the suffering which always struck her when she inevitably lost them. If she could have had her own way, she would have just walked on by, an ascetic nun disengaged from worldly affairs.

That was precisely the problem, though. It was the exact same situation that was presented in the bible in the parable of the Good Samaritan, among countless others. Check the fallen. Bring the injured to safety. Pay the denarii. Help the neighbor. It was correct and laudable to follow in the example of the Samaritan. Even a priest and a Levite, let alone an aspiring nun, was worthy of scorn should they pass by on the other side.

Thus, despite how antithetical it was to Shimako's personal preference, she had to at least check.

"Would you mind it terribly if I were to borrow Yoshino-san?" Shimako asked.

Rei looked at Shimako with no small amount of surprise. She sent a questioning glance at Yoshino, who glanced back, equally surprised. "I guess it's fine, if Yoshino doesn't mind."

"I don't mind," Yoshino said. She was now looking at Shimako with curiosity.

"Will it be long?" Rei asked.

"It shouldn't be too long. I only need a few minutes," Shimako said.

"In that case, I'll be waiting at Maria-sama, okay?" Rei asked.

"Okay," Yoshino said with a nod.

Shimako took one more look around for any eavesdroppers, especially Minako. Rei was walking away, and the three girls from earlier were disappearing into the distance. Nobody else was in sight, and there were no bushes or any other potential hiding places in the immediate vicinity. It was the perfect opportunity to talk in private.

Something had nagged at Shimako for the past few days, with Ranko's commentary about going to the Rose Mansion to study being the most recent example. It wasn't wrong as such, but it was notably unusual to avoid going home, especially for multiple nights in a row. Combined with the other things, such as how Ranko was always hungry and how she had jumped out of her classroom window, it just bothered Shimako.

She could have talked to Sei, but they had a much more autonomous relationship than the other rose families did; Sei valued her independence just as much as Shimako valued hers. Moreover, approaching Rosa Gigantea somehow felt too official for what was ultimately just some odd feelings. It made more sense for her to talk to her fellow first-year student first, especially as Yoshino was in Ranko's class and could have more information on the situation.

Discretion was the order of the day, though. With luck, it would turn out to be nothing; the traveler would have just tripped and fallen. Shimako could continue on her way, and the whole situation could be carefully ignored in the future as a private embarrassment between two people only.

Shimako turned to Yoshino and asked her opening question. "Have you noticed anything strange about Ranko-san?"

"You too?"

Yoshino's cross question was already a disappointment. It confirmed that it wasn't just Shimako's imagination. While it wasn't conclusive, it appeared that her journey between Jerusalem and Jericho would not be without incident.

"Yes. She's always eating. Did you see how much of the cake she took yesterday?" Shimako asked. She wouldn't have been surprised if Ranko had eaten a third of the whole thing. There were the cookies the day before, too, and the sandwiches on that first day.

"And she's always eating instant noodles for lunch. Dry at that," Yoshino said.

"Always?"

"As far as I can tell."

That was another oddity, and Shimako added it to her collection. She had seen Ranko eating them once, but she had assumed it was a one-time thing. Regardless of anything else, they were unhealthy and monotonous.

"Maybe she never learned how to cook? She doesn't have a mother, after all. If it were up to my father, he'd likely just eat instant noodles all day, too," Shimako said, speculating out loud on a potentially benign explanation for Ranko's choice of lunch.

"That could be it, but when she introduced herself to my class, she said one of her hobbies was cooking."

Shimako tried to think of other possible explanations. She said, "Maybe she just likes them." It was unlikely, but it was not impossible. People had favorite foods, and maybe instant noodles was Ranko's. For all of its errors, more often than not, the Lillian Kawaraban had at least some basis of truth in its articles. It made Shimako wonder what kind of person her father was to allow her to eat like that, though.

"Maybe. However, on her first day here, she asked me to show her to the cafeteria. When she got there, she counted out three coins and then asked me where the vending machines were. That's when she bought the noodles," Yoshino said.

That made it sound like Ranko's eating instant noodles throughout the week was an issue of cost. Shimako could remember how Ranko had described them as being cheap, too. That would suggest that she was always hungry because her father couldn't afford to feed her properly.

"Do you think she might have money problems? That doesn't sound right to me. Lillian is quite an expensive school. Her father has to have a fair bit of money in order to pay for the tuition, if nothing else," Shimako said.

It wasn't standard practice to discuss the occupations of their parents, but the topic did occasionally slip out during conversations. Within Lillian, everybody's parents were doctors, lawyers, university professors, presidents of smaller companies, department heads of larger companies, and even more exalted positions. Not a single family could be considered anything less than prosperous.

"I agree, but I keep thinking of the three coins and the look on her face in the cafeteria," Yoshino said. "That's not all, either. In PE class, when she took off her uniform..." Yoshino glanced around, and then leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "She had bruises all over her body. They were mostly on her arms and torso, but there were also a few of them on her legs, too. Many of them looked new."

That definitely worried Shimako. She had wanted to proverbially search for injuries on the traveler between Jerusalem and Jericho. She had never imagined that those injuries would be literal.

A chilling thought occurred to her. She took another look around the area to ensure nobody had approached while they had been talking, and then in a low voice matching Yoshino's, she asked, "Have you asked her about them?" The implication of all of the details, especially the bruises, was obvious, but she sincerely hoped there was a more innocent explanation.

Yoshino shook her head. She said, "I haven't. It's not exactly an easy thing to ask about, is it?"

"No. I suppose it isn't," Shimako said. As much as she hated to even consider it, there was no way to avoid it. She edged even closer to Yoshino and practically whispered, "Do... do you think her father is... mistreating her?"

"I'm sure he is. He's been throwing her out of windows, if nothing else."

"Yes," Shimako said with solemn nod. "That would explain why she's so reluctant to go home, too."

"Would it? She didn't seem to think it was such a big deal," Yoshino said.

"If she were being abused, do you think she would be open about it?" Shimako asked. Pride, honor, and face were all components of society, for better and for worse.

"I guess that's true, but still, it doesn't really make sense, does it? What kind of abusive father would turn around and send his daughter to Lillian?" Yoshino asked.

"I don't know."

"How about this as a possibility? Maybe her father just doesn't know how to raise a daughter. That would match what the headmistress told us about them. You should have seen her struggle with her uniform in her first PE class, and she's gotten a lot better with it, even after just a few days. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lillian sailor uniform was the first dress she's ever worn in her life."

"So it'd be okay to throw a son out of a window?"

"Of course not," Yoshino said, barely missing a beat. "Then let's just say he's all around incompetent. The idea still stands."

"I'm not sure how much better that idea is," Shimako said. "That could explain her bruises, the jumping, and the instant noodles, but how does that explain her always being hungry and her not wanting to go home?"

"It doesn't," Yoshino said. She shook her head. "I don't know. The only thing I do know is that something strange is going on."

Shimako nodded. She was disappointed, but it wasn't like she had had any better ideas herself. All that she had was the instinct that something was very wrong.

"Do you think we should tell Sachiko-sama?" Shimako asked, still in a whisper.

Yoshino hummed in thought. She asked, "If you were having a problem at home, would you want somebody to tell Rosa Gigantea?"

Shimako's breath caught. Yoshino's question had been a hypothetical one. It had to be. There was no way that she could have known that Shimako was in fact having a problem at home, and that she had already told Sei about it. She took a moment to try to put some distance from her own situation and think more objectively about the question.

On the surface, the answer was so obvious that she didn't even understand why it was a question at all. Sei was her grande soeur; of course Shimako would want her to know. That was why she had told her.

Thinking further, though, there was more to it than that. If somebody else told Sei, that would mean that somebody else would know about her problem, too, and the thought of somebody else knowing out about her home situation was absolutely mortifying.

"I don't know," Shimako said.

"Me either. I mean, I'd want Onee-sama and Rosa Foetida to help, but I don't know I could bear it if they knew," Yoshino said.

"Regardless, I want to help Ranko-san somehow," Shimako said. The bible was full of instructions to help the needy and to not disregard those in trouble. It was one of the numerous things which had drawn her to Catholicism.

That was in the abstract, though. She wasn't sure how she could apply the religious principles and parables to the enigmatic flesh and blood situation she was actually facing. What wounds needed to be bound? What was the oil and wine she should pour? She just didn't know.

Shimako leaned back and said in a more natural voice, "I think I'll need to ask Onee-sama to see what she thinks."

As much as she and Sei both valued their autonomy, some things were more important. One of the key pillars of the soeur system was for the grande soeur to provide guidance and assistance to her petite soeur. While this was most prominently exemplified in Rosa Chinensis and the Red Rose Family, it applied to Rosa Gigantea and the White Rose Family just as much. Hopefully Sei would know to whom the denarii should be paid.

Yoshino nodded. She also returned to a regular speech volume. "That sounds like a good idea. I'll discuss this with Onee-sama as well to see what she thinks about it and if we should bring this up with Rosa Foetida."

They resumed walking towards the entrance of Lillian. The weight of the previous conversation pressed down, making the silence between them feel substantial and heavy.

Rei was waiting at the statue of Mary, as she had said she would be. Apparently the depression of their conversation subject was obvious in their bearing because she immediately asked, "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure. I'm sure Yoshino-san will explain. Gokigenyou," Shimako said. She wouldn't have wanted Yoshino getting involved in her initial discussions with Sei, and she expected Yoshino would likewise prefer Shimako's absence when she spoke to to Rei. For now, for such a sensitive subject, it was better for each rose family to come to their own conclusions about how best to proceed. If appropriate, there would be a time for a group discussion later.

"Gokigenyou," Rei said hesitantly.

"Gokigenyou," Yoshino said as well, subdued.

Shimako moved ahead, leaving Yoshino behind with Rei. Along the way, she thought about her upcoming phone call with Sei and how to best broach the subject.

Last Updated: December 12, 2021