Chapter 10: New Fit

The congealed hollowness within Ranma's chest from the night before was still there, but the distance of sleep had muted much of it. It further dwindled during Ranma's morning preparations until it was little more than a half-recalled memory on her trip to Lillian.

As compared to the past two days, the girls she met on her walk to school had settled down somewhat. Rather than practically every single girl noticing her and reacting, maybe only four-fifths did. The number of greetings had commensurately reduced as well, although it was still at the point where, while on campus, every few seconds, somebody would offer her a "Gokigenyou."

The sign near the front entrance had been updated to read, "04." It foreshadowed the subtle change of atmosphere throughout the school. Little glimpses of preparation for the upcoming festival could now be seen here and there, such as a girl pausing to measure something on her walk through the hallway or a girl hiding something away in a cabinet. Even if the announcement sign near the entrance hadn't existed, a visitor to Lillian would definitely have gotten the sense that something was afoot.

Festival preparation activity wasn't the only thing which had escalated, either. When Ranma approached the vending machines for her daily acquisition of lunch, she saw two girls there. One of the girls she recognized as being Chiyo, a classmate in the First-year Chrysanthemum Group. The other girl had short and wavy blonde hair, similar to Chiyo, but Ranma didn't recognize her at all.

The two girls each purchased a package of instant noodles, and they shared a look and a giggle with each other. That turned into a chagrined "Gokigenyou" to Ranma when they noticed her. They then walked away, leaving Ranma to make her own purchases.

Ranma's entry into her classroom, her brief training, Tanezaki's arrival, and the morning classes all continued the theme of being roughly similar to the day before, give or take a certain amount of tolerance. It was only with the beginning of lunch that the first major change occurred.

Several days had passed since the last time Ranma had been tormented by the newspaper club. Even her respectful declination to answer their survey hadn't resulted in any negative consequences that she could detect, which demonstrated that Sachiko's judgment in the matter had been correct. As a result, Ranma had lowered her guard; she no longer felt the need to jump to her feet and dash out the door the moment lunch began in an attempt to escape their interrogation.

Therefore, it was an easy matter for Yoshino to approach her at the start of lunch and say, "I was wondering if you would be interested in eating together today."

The unexpected invitation took Ranma by surprise. She sat back and looked up at Yoshino, who was carrying her lunch box wrapped in a colorful carrying cloth. The size of the container looked quite intriguing.

However, the festival was only four days away, and Ranma had yet to actually complete a full run through of the entire script from memory alone. She said, "Uhh... well, I was planning on training for the play."

"Then that works out very well. I was going to meet Shimako-san, too. We could make it a triple practice session," Yoshino said.

That sounded even better. Sachiko had regularly demonstrated the value of working together with a partner. It would be far more effective to practice with Yoshino and Shimako, rather than just mentally cuing the various step-sisters' lines to herself.

"In that case, sure," Ranma said. She stood up, picking up her packages of instant noodles as she did so.

Three other girls were taking tentative bites of their own blocks of dry instant noodles as Ranma and Yoshino left the room.

Ranma and Yoshino walked side by side through the hallways and down the stairs. They eventually made their way outside, where the light smell of ginko nuts surrounded them in the still-warm autumn air.

"Are you doing anything special three weeks from now, on Sunday?" Yoshino asked as they walked.

"I'm not sure," Ranma said. She rarely knew what to expect even one week away, let alone three. It would just be whatever Genma decided. "Why do you ask?"

The path they were walking on looked familiar to Ranma. In fact, most of the paths around Lillian were starting to look familiar to her. This one appeared to be the same path that she had taken with Shimako the previous week, when they had eaten lunch together.

"The kendo team is competing in an upcoming inter-school tournament. I thought you might be interested," Yoshino said.

Ranma blinked at Yoshino's comment. "We have a kendo team?"

"Of course we have a kendo team. We also have an archery team, a judo team, a karate team, and a bunch of others," Yoshino said.

"I see. Do you do any of them?" Ranma asked.

"Me? No. I want to, but my health isn't the best. Onee-sama is the star of the kendo team, though," Yoshino said proudly. "So, are you interested in coming? You can help me cheer on Onee-sama. It will also be a good chance for me to prove that a good offense will beat a good defense."

"Only if the defender doesn't know what they're doing," Ranma said absentmindedly as she thought about Yoshino's offer.

Ranma wasn't sure if she would still be present in three weeks. Genma frequently had them moving from place to place without any advance notice. On the other hand, she wasn't sure that she wouldn't be present, either. She had gone weeks, and occasionally months, in a single location before. If she was still here in three weeks, she could think of far worse ways to spend the time.

"Sure," Ranma said. It was always fun to watch martial arts, even if it was just a bunch of girls waving sticks at each other. At worst, she could get a good laugh at their lack of skill, and there was always the chance that she could learn something new. It was a very slight chance, but it was still technically possible.

They looped around the primary gym, through the scattering of ginko trees behind it, and to the single cherry tree in the area. Shimako had spread out a sheet on the ground and was sitting on it. In the center of the sheet were several containers of rice, potatoes, sausage, salad, eggs, and other foods. It was almost a miniature banquet.

Shimako looked up as they approached and said, "Gokigenyou. I'm glad that you were able to join."

"Gokigenyou," Ranma said.

"Gokigenyou," Yoshino said as well. "Ranko-san was thinking of doing some Cinderella practice during lunch, and I thought we could make it a threesome."

Shimako gently clasped her hands together in front of her and said, "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Yoshino turned back to Ranma and said, "Actually, to confess, I had an ulterior motive in inviting you here."

That statement immediately put Ranma on guard. It hadn't been the first time that she had been lured to a secluded place by somebody trying to ambush her. She tried to prepare for the worst, watching for any approaching attackers.

Yoshino continued, either not noticing or disregarding Ranma's tightened guard, "You see, I actually packed too much food for lunch today. I was hoping you might help me take some so it wouldn't go to waste."

Food. Extra food. Extra food? It took a second for the thought to parse through Ranma's battle-prepared brain.

"Actually, I prepared a bit too much, too," Shimako said. She gestured to the several containers carefully laid out on the sheet. "I know. Why don't we all share? We can make this a potluck lunch, like last night."

Extra food. Extra free food. Free food? The idea finally managed to percolate through Ranma's head and settle to a conclusion. It brought a smile to her face. The idea of willingly giving up her instant noodles galled her. However, even a quick glance down at the spread on the sheet showed there was no comparison at all. Shimako was offering far more than Ranma herself had, and that wasn't even counting what Yoshino had potentially brought in her enticing large lunch box.

Ranma relaxed her guard and said, "Sure. I have some instant noodles." She took two of the packages cradled in her arms and placed them in the center of the sheet. She then sat down on the side of it.

"That's good. I've been wondering what those are like. They seem to be quite the fashion in class now," Yoshino said. She sat on the sheet as well and began the process of unpacking her substantially large lunch.

Ranma enthusiastically helped herself to the variety of foods in front of her. They might not have been hot, but they were still delicious. The tangy salad was every bit as delightful as Ranma's eyes had led her to believe. The cutlet, sausage, and various other pickled, fried, steamed, and baked goods likewise did not disappoint her in any way.

Shimako and Yoshino both ate as well, their measured pace far slower than Ranma's own. After two bites of dry instant noodles, Shimako said, "This has quite the interesting texture. Thank you for sharing."

"This is actually better than I had expected," Yoshino said in response to her own test bites.

The two of them only ate four bites of instant noodles each before putting them down and moving on to the other foods. Ranma lamented the waste. Only a little, though. It was hard to be too upset, considering how preoccupied she was by her own more favorable side of the trading of meals. A mouth full of succulent cutlet was a great mollifier.

Once they had finished eating, they rehearsed the opening scene of the play, with Yoshino and Shimako splitting the lines of the missing Sister B between them. Ranma's presentation was a slight regression as compared to the previous evening with Sachiko; she had to occasionally pause in silence as she dragged the correct line out from her memory. However, she was able to complete the entire scene without a single reminder, and she considered that a success. It was obviously imperfect, but she didn't let that bother her. Improving her skill was the entire point of practicing with Yoshino and Shimako, after all.

They concluded their brief practice session with plenty of time to pack away the lunch boxes, pick up the sheet, and return back to their respective classrooms.

The afternoon classes continued much like the morning classes had, which was to say nothing special happened in them. Discussion of the effect the Genpai War had upon the trade of the era was interesting, in so far as the Genpai War itself interested Ranma. The volleyball game in gym class was less so, being as dull and lackluster as it always was.

After classes had ended, Ranma joined a few other girls in cleaning up the music room. The task was rapidly completed, which brought to a conclusion what Ranma had come to recognize as a typical day of school.

From there, Ranma made her way from the music room to the clothing room for the upcoming costume fitting. As she walked through the hallways, though, something tickled at her memory. Something felt familiar, and she slowed down as she tried to figure out what it was.

"~... is the evergreen...~" The words spontaneously came to Ranma's mind. "~... is the mountain lily...~"

She realized what it was. In the distance, Ranma could faintly hear some kind of brassy, multi-tonal musical instrument playing a song. It was the same song that Eriko and the others had sung the evening before, "Maria-sama's Soul." That must have been why it had sounded so familiar, both then and now.

The mystery solved, Ranma resumed walking to the clothing room. As she did so, another thought struck her. The "mountain lily" was one of the things that Mary's soul was compared to in that song; the Yamayurikai literally meant the "mountain lily council." Was there a relationship between them? There probably was, considering all the references to Mary found throughout the school. Besides the welcoming ceremony the evening before, there had also been Sachiko's invoking of her name when confronting Minako on Saturday. Ranma thought she recalled the headmistress saying something about Mary on that very first day, too, when Genma had met with her.

This Mary person seemed to have some kind of link with Lillian. Ranma wondered who she was.

Ranma was still pondering that connection when she reached the room in which they had their sewing lessons. She pulled the door open and stepped in.

And she was immediately confronted with the image of a half-naked Sachiko and Shimako.

Ranma startled in surprise.

Girls changing clothes was nothing new to her. She saw it at the start of every PE class, let alone whenever she herself changed. However, she hadn't really been expecting it here, although in hindsight, of course people would be changing for a costume fitting. She just hadn't really thought about it, and it had caught her off guard.

Ranma recomposed herself and continued into the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Gokigenyou," Eriko said from across the room. She was dressed in a red Victorian dress. It had puffy sleeves and a deep square neckline which showed off a substantial amount of her decolletage. She also wore a pair of black gloves which stopped at her wrist, ending with a floral pattern of lace.

Near her was Shimako. She was standing on a small platform about 10-centimeters tall. She was in the process of pulling on an ornate Victorian dress of her own. Hers was yellow, with large puffy sleeves and a high collar which dropped into a V neckline. She also wore gloves, but these were long, yellow ones which rose past her elbows.

Sachiko was also standing on a small platform similar to Shimako's, but she was only wearing a slip. Beside her were a few girls. One girl had a clipboard in her hands, and another girl had a cloth tape measure wrapped around Sachiko's waist.

At Ranma's entrance, a tall and pudgy girl with long dark hair departed from Sachiko's company and approached her. She was followed by two other girls.

"Gokigenyou. Come here, please. This way," the pudgy girl said. She took Ranma by the elbow and pulled her onto another platform, beside Sachiko's. It was the fourth in the set, with the four platforms forming a line which spanned across the room.

The other half of the room had several large worktables, upon which were distributed sewing machines, heavy shears, pincushions, and bolts of fabric. There was a girl sitting on a chair at one of the worktables and marking some cloth with a piece of chalk. She was in the minority, though. Most of the girls were bustling around on their feet in the open half of the room.

"Don't just stand there. Time's wasting," the pudgy girl said to Ranma. She waved her hands upwards in a lifting gesture.

"What?" Ranma asked.

"Take off your uniform," Eriko said. She had walked over to stand nearby, close enough to be involved but far enough away such that she would not interfere with the activities of the girls who had surrounded Ranma. "Fuuko-san needs to measure you. She's the president of the handicrafts club, by the way."

"Sorry. I've just heard so much about you that I forgot we've never met before. It's a pleasure to meet you," Fuuko said with a slight bow of her head.

"Likewise," Ranma said in return, giving a slight bow as well.

"Now," Fuuko said, once again gesturing upwards with both of her hands, "let's go."

Ranma did as instructed, untying her neckerchief and pulling off her dress. One of the girls took the articles of clothing from her and laid them out on one of the nearby tables.

It felt weird to be standing around wearing only a slip, and even more so as she noticed that Eriko and the girls around her were all staring at her.

After a momentary pause, Fuuko pulled a tape measure off from around her neck and said, "Hold still."

The girl started measuring various parts of Ranma's body: her neck, her arms, her wrist, her fingers, her bust, her waist, her hips, her legs, her height, and more dimensions on her feet than Ranma had imagined were possible. Fuuko would read off a number, and a girl behind her would write it down on a clipboard. It felt very similar to what Ranma had gone through on Sunday, albeit far more intimate, both due to the removal of her uniform and due to the fact that Fuuko was pulling the cloth tape measure snugly against Ranma's body.

Once Fuuko had finished, a new girl approached Ranma's side and handed over a large white mass of cloth. She said, "Here. Put this on."

Ranma took the bundle, turned it around, flipped it over, and generally tried to figure out what was what on the presumed dress.

It was strangely hard to find an edge on the thing, especially considering how large the hem turned out to be. She was eventually able to locate the bottom and orient it. Once she had found the appropriate opening, Ranma pulled it on like it was the biggest shirt she had ever seen before.

If the Lillian sailor dress was a lake of a cloth to navigate, this dress was an ocean of fabric. Ranma got lost on the way to the surface, and she had to swim around for several seconds in order to find the hole for her head, which was ironic, considering how open the neckline proved to be in the end. She emerged out of the mass and was surrounded by the sound of fabric settling around her, not unlike the echo of distant thunder.

The dress may possibly have fit Sachiko, but it definitely did not fit the substantially shorter Ranma. The long skirt spilled across the platform and threatened to fall off the edge. There was an excessive amount of cloth around Ranma's torso, too, with lavish folds of white fabric flopping around her entire body. More than anything, it felt like she was wearing a tent, and the rustle of fabric from her movements made it sound like a storm was just outside of it.

"Hold still. I'm going to pin it," Fuuko said. She then started taking in the cloth. It tightened measure by measure, until Ranma could feel the dress skimming just off her torso, ever so slightly inhibiting her movements. The skirt, though, remained loose and continued to jostle around her legs.

"Hmm..." Eriko said, holding her hand up to her chin and leaning in towards Ranma for a closer look. "Let's lower the neckline. We should give more service."

Eriko launched into an energetic design session. She kept pushing for provocative, almost risque, alterations, while Fuuko subtly hinted that more restraint might be in order. The other girls nearby occasionally offered an opinion or suggestion as well.

Eriko's enthusiasm was as entertaining as it was infectious, and Ranma soon found herself engaged as well. She couldn't help but feel like they were somehow having separate conversations, though. She didn't understand why so much attention was being put on the color of the gloves to use, as that would have only minimal impact on their combat effectiveness, as best she knew. In turn, her suggestion to reinforce the knuckles of the gloves didn't exactly get the reception she was expecting, only being met with some confused nods.

Part way through the discussion, the door to the hallway opened, and Yoshino walked in. Two of the girls hovering around Ranma peeled off to greet her and escorted her to the first platform in the line, at the other end of the room. There, they repeated with Yoshino the process Ranma had undergone, removing her uniform and measuring various dimensions of her body.

Eriko was in the middle of talking about the trim on the neckline when Ranma had her attention literally yanked away by something far more pressing and urgent. A girl had grabbed at her pigtail. Ranma whipped around to confront the interloper, slapping away the grasping hand. She asked, "What're you doing?"

"Oww..." the girl said. She rubbed at her hand. "What was that for? I was just going to undo your pigtail."

"We need to see what you look like with your hair done up," Eriko said.

"No. Nobody touches the pigtail," Ranma said. Her braided hair had been bound by a dragon's whisker, and it was the only thing preventing her male form from running out of hair and growing bald. It was one of the few mishaps she had had which couldn't directly be tracked back to Genma, luckily. If Genma had known about the dragon whisker, there was no doubt that he would have forcibly taken it from her the first time he won a fight, if not sooner, as it was also ironically a cure for baldness.

"Why not? It won't hurt a bit," Fuuko said.

"We'll put it back when we're done," the girl whose hand Ranma slapped earlier said.

"You should try it. That pigtail is so dull, and you have such nice hair," Eriko said. She stepped forward and stroked the top of Ranma's head. The proximity triggered Ranma's sense of danger, and she jerked sideways, out from under Eriko's hands. Her feet landed on the edge of the platform, and she slipped on the hem of her dress a bit before she was able to regain her balance.

"No. The pigtail stays," Ranma said, clutching protectively at her braid with both her hands. She tried to think how she could explain it without giving away the secret. Numerous people had been attacked in order to steal a dragon whisker, and she had no interest in becoming a dumpling head like her father was. "It's a seal. Bad stuff will happen if it becomes undone."

"That's no fun," a girl, now standing to Ranma's other side, said. Ranma twisted to account for the new threat.

"Come on," another girl said, now approaching Ranma's flank.

"You'll like it. You'll see," Eriko said. She grabbed at Ranma's pigtail.

"Hey! Stop that!" Sachiko's shout drew the attention of the entire room. "Leave Ranko alone!" Sachiko lifted the long skirts of her red and black dress and charged forward.

"Huh?" Eriko asked. "Stop what? It's just some hair. We'll put it back when we're done. It's no big deal."

"Yes, it is a big deal," Sachiko said emphatically. "We all have things we don't like. How would you feel if somebody threw you onto dentist's chair?" Eriko's face to took on a queasy appearance. "Or if somebody were to put a spider on your desk?" Fuuko looked a bit disturbed at that. "If Ranko wants to keep her pigtail, then she can keep her pigtail. We'll just need to figure something else out."

Sachiko stepped over to Ranma's side and reached for her braid. Unlike with the others, Ranma relaxed and let her take it.

"Like what if we do this..." Sachiko said, pulling one end of the pigtail in a spiral while holding the root of it with her other hand, "... and this... and... done. How does that look?"

Eriko, Fuuko, and the others gave a murmur of appreciation.

"Wait, let me get something to hold it," one of the girls said. She walked over to one of the nearby drawers and returned with a pair of knitting needles. She took one of the long needles and twisted it through Ranma's hair, and then everybody took a step back to observe.

"As expected from Sachiko-sama," Fuuko said. "That looks very sophisticated."

"That's quite the transformation. I like it, although Ranko-chan will need to learn how to do that herself in only a few seconds," Eriko said.

Ranma turned to look in a nearby mirror to see what they were seeing for herself. What she saw was a young princess dressed for a night at the ball. The color of her vivid red hair pinned up in a braided spiral counterpointed with the white of her long dress. She had an exquisite silhouette, with a low cut neckline and sumptuous drapes of fabric on her sleeves and skirt. Everybody was staring at her, giving her their admiration and envy.

"We'll need to fix the hem. Here, try putting these on," Fuuko said. She handed over a pair of high-heeled shoes. "They'll be too big for you, but that shouldn't matter for this."

Ranma took the shoes and lifted her foot to switch them with the indoor shoes she was wearing. Unfortunately, her other foot was still standing on the hem of her skirt. It caused her leg to catch against the edge of her dress and yank her forward. The sudden tug from an unexpected angle along with Ranma's awkward posture from balancing on a single leg were too much for her to compensate for, and she pitched forward off of the platform.

A lifetime of martial arts training kicked in, and she rolled with the fall, ending up on the floor in a mess of white cloth and taffeta.

"Are you alright?" Sachiko asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Ranma said. Her only injury had been to her pride.

There were some snickers from around the room. Most of the girls tried, with varying degrees of success, to hide their laughter. Yoshino and Eriko, on the other hand, were very overtly giggling. Even Sachiko's mouth had a distinctive quirk to it as she stared down at Ranma.

"Stupid dress," Ranma said, shaking the excessively long skirt from where she was still sprawled out on the ground. She made up her mind: this dress was the worst. It was outright dangerous.

Ranma made sure that her feet, and her hands for good measure, were on solid ground before she slowly pushed herself up to a standing position. There was no way she was going to be caught by the same trick a second time. She moved carefully, feeling for any unexpected resistance as she did so. The motion felt ungainly, but it was effective.

"We're definitely going to need to raise the hem," Sachiko said. Her voice was still colored by the flavor of mirth. "Maybe we can make it calf length? I don't think that would be too out of place."

"That's probably for the best. It'll also help show off her shoes a bit more, too," Eriko said. "Besides, if Cinderella stands out a bit, that's not really a bad thing, is it?"

Fuuko nodded. She asked Ranma, "Can you step back up?" She gestured to the small platform from before.

"Carefully," Sachiko said.

Ranma mimicked Sachiko from earlier and hiked up the front of her excessively long skirt, such that she could see her feet and the platform in front of her, and she easily stepped up. She then had another attempt at pulling off her indoor shoes and putting on the high-heeled shoes, making absolutely sure she was on solid ground this time. Sachiko and Fuuko both offered out their hands to Ranma as she did so, but she ignored them both as she made the change.

The first shoe was easy to switch. Balancing on top of it to change the second shoe was much trickier than it seemed like it should be, though, but Ranma still managed to stay on her feet as she did so. As Fuuko had warned, both of the shoes were substantially too large for her, and she flexed her feet outward in an attempt to fill the extra space.

One of the girls took Ranma's indoor shoes from her while Fuuko circled around her. She folded up the hem of the skirt, pinning it much higher than before.

"All set. Why don't you try walking around a bit? Carefully," Fuuko said.

The warning was superfluous. The oversized shoes ensured Ranma would have to be cautious, lest they go flying off of her feet. She took a couple of tentative steps, moving with a slow, artificial gait.

Eriko watched Ranma as she moved, then lowered herself into a squat and watched some more. She said, "I think that looks pretty good."

Ranma turned around and stepped back up onto the platform. The task was made easier by the shortened hem, but she still had to manage her skirt to prevent the chance of any mishaps. Once she was in place, Fuuko marked some lines on the dress with a piece of blue chalk.

It was at that point that Rei entered the room. She exchanged some brief words with Eriko about something regarding the Second-year Cherry Blossom Group, and then she began her own costume change. She stepped up onto the platform Sachiko had abandoned, and two other girls began the measuring process with her. Later, Sachiko took over Shimako's empty platform, and the different members of the Yamayurikai rotated places based on whatever was needed at the time. Ranma was spared all of that, though, being the only member of the Yamayurikai with a dedicated space.

After an hour of being measured, chalked, pinned, and generally fussed over, it was finished. Ranma, along with the other members of the Yamayurikai, removed her dress and returned to her more typical Lillian sailor uniform while the girls of the handicrafts club put things away into the cabinets and drawers around the room. During the clean-up, Eriko took a moment to claim the two knitting needles from earlier and put them into her book bag.

The room was then quickly emptied, with various declarations of "I'm leaving first," "Thanks for your hard work," and "Gokigenyou" filling the air.

Eriko naturally took the lead, bringing the other members of the Yamayurikai to the Rose Mansion and into the side room near the entrance that contained all the boxes of props. These they dug through, retrieving broaches, bracelets, batons, and several other objects. These were distributed as appropriate.

Neither Youko nor Sei were present, which caused the group to focus their abbreviated rehearsal on the scenes which did not include the king and the queen. That meant they only did the first half of the play, up to the conclusion of the wizard's transformation of Cinderella.

This session was almost exclusively focused on the girls' physical motions. They would circle each other, dramatically gesturing with and pointing at the props in their hands. The new physical component of the rehearsal colored everything in the play, and Ranma found that the delivery of her lines was influenced by what she was doing and how she stood in relationship to the others around her.

Including the repetitions and refinements, they practiced for about an hour. After that, Yoshino, Shimako, Eriko, and Rei put away their props, including the newly acquired knitting needles, and left for the evening.

Once again, Ranma and Sachiko were the only two left remaining in the Rose Mansion. Irrespective of the departure of the others, they continued on with their practice. At Sachiko's recommendation, they focused on the ballroom scene.

If anything, Ranma thought Sachiko did a better job of playing the prince's role than Rei did. Her delivery flowed naturally and smoothly, although that may have been aided by the fact that Sachiko, unlike Rei, wasn't reading from a script she carried in her hand.

A loud knock at the door interrupted the second time they were acting out Cinderella's introduction to the prince. Ranma immediately turned and walked to the entrance of the Rose Mansion. She didn't even bother finishing her current line. She had a strong suspicion as to what the interruption was, and she was eager to be proven correct.

Sachiko's chauffeur and Yamamura startled slightly at Ranma's abrupt opening of the door, which in Ranma's excitement had almost been shoved into Yamamura face. They both quickly regained themselves, though, and said, "Good evening."

The chauffeur had two covered trays in her hands, and Yamamura was carrying a large bag. The sight brought a smile to Ranma's face. She had been correct in her speculations. Dinner had arrived.

"Come in," Ranma said, beckoning them to enter. She eagerly brought them up the creaky stairs and through the biscuit-shaped door into the dining room.

Therein, Yamamura spread out a tablecloth and set some place settings. Once Ranma and Sachiko had taken a seat, she placed the trays the chauffeur was carrying in front of them and revealed the bounty which had been brought.

The sight redoubled Ranma's smile. She didn't recognize any of the foods in front of her, but that didn't matter; there was a lot of it. The tray was almost overflowing with the number of dishes upon it.

There a bowl with what looked like an off-white cross between rice and porridge. There was another plate with a rice-porridge hybrid as well, although that mixture had a yellow color and was overshadowed by the thick shank of meat still on the bone stuck in the center of it. There was a smaller plate with what looked like thin slices of cured meat on it. Beside it was another small plate of slightly thicker cuts of cooked meat with small green leaves on top of them. In one corner of the tray was a bowl with a salad lightly covered with some oil and a dark liquid. The opposite corner had a plate with a plush triangle of some kind of quilt-like bread. There was a bowl with long strings of pasta mixed together with clams still in their shell. There was also some some grilled steak on another plate. Finally, there were two layered foods, one with layers of meat and pasta in a red sauce, and the other with layers of powdery white and brown something.

The fact that Ranma didn't recognize anything did nothing to slow her down. She grabbed a spoon and began with the off-white rice-porridge hybrid. It turned out to be a rich, creamy, salty, rice dish which was full of flavor. Ranma enthusiastically took another bite.

"It seems like I learn something new about my petite soeur every day," Sachiko said. She had begun by cutting off a piece of bread with her fork and knife.

"Hmm?" Ranma glanced over at Sachiko in askance.

The closer look revealed something a bit strange. Sachiko's tray was different than Ranma's was. It was much less packed, containing maybe two thirds of the number of dishes that Ranma had, and each of those dishes was noticeably smaller than her own. Ranma definitely thought she had received the better of the two.

"I had no idea you were so clumsy," Sachiko said. She had a bit of a smile on her face.

Ranma had never been accused of being clumsy before, and it rankled her. She took great pride in her martial arts, and her physicality in general. She asked, "What'd you mean I'm clumsy?"

"Back in the clothing room," Sachiko said.

"That's not fair. That's the first time time I ever wore anything that long before. How was I supposed to know it would trip me?"

"You've never worn any long skirts or dresses before?" Sachiko asked. She had a touch of a frown on her face now.

"Of course not. I never wore any dresses at all before coming here. I'm..." Ranma said before her mind caught up with her mouth. She was supposed to be Ranko Sugita. Saying she was really a guy had to be a bad idea. "... I'm... I just never have before. Okay?" She took a deliberate bite of the pasta with clams. It was exactly what she had expected, only more so, and she eagerly ate.

"Oh, I see," Sachiko said. The frown on her face became a bit more pronounced. "Then you don't trip into things that often?"

"Of course not!" Ranma repeated. She then aggressively bit off a piece of the bread. It was soft, springy, and quite flavorful. She quickly took another bite of it, equally aggressively, but for a different reason.

"Oh, I see," Sachiko also repeated. There was a few seconds of silence. "Is..." Sachiko fell quiet for a moment. "Did you know? One of the expectations of a grande soeuer is to provide assistance to her petite soeur."

"Yeah," Ranma said. She remembered hearing that from Yoshino back when she had been describing the soeur system. Far more interesting to her were the slices of what appeared to be cured meat. They were salty, fatty, and full of umami. She intertwined pieces of them with the final bites of her bread.

"So, if you have anything you'd like to talk about, or any problems with anything, I'd be happy to help," Sachiko said.

"Sure," Ranma said before taking a bite of the shank of meat on the bone. She had a large tray of delicious dinner in front of her. What kind of problems could she have?

Despite the inclusion of so much extra food, Ranma still finished her dinner before Sachiko did. It was closer than the night before had been, though.

Yamamura then cleared away the trays, and she and the chauffeur left the Rose Mansion.

Ranma and Sachiko practiced for another hour after that. They continued to focus on the stage directions and prop usage, but they moved on to rehearse the scene where Cinderella was reunited with the prince. For some reason, Sachiko was particularly concerned with making sure that Ranma was ready for Kashiwagi's imminent arrival.

After that, they did some light cleaning up of the Rose Mansion, turned off the lights, and made their way out of Lillian.

All said and done, it had been an enjoyable day. Lunch with Yoshino and Shimako had been great. The afternoon spent fussing with the others on the costumes had been surprisingly entertaining, and the communal spirit had made the whole activity, even the mishaps, fun. Practice with Sachiko and the others had been good, too, for a very similar reason. That wasn't even counting the dinner Sachiko had provided, which had been even better than the one Ranma had had the night before due to the quantity as well as the novel nature of the dishes.

The good mood within Ranma quickly faded away, though, as she once again walked back to the temple and to the camp therein. The vague half-remembered feelings from the morning quietly returned to her. She could feel the pressure within her, like she was slowly trudging through a bog. It wasn't wrong as such, but it did feel a bit off, as if she was shouting in a graveyard or something.

Much like the night before, those vague feelings were swept away by the exhilaration of combat as Genma pushed Ranma to the utmost, but they then crept back as Ranma collapsed onto a cold bedroll and waited for sleep to come.

Last Updated: May 24, 2021