Of Choices and Chances (2/?)
By GT Ranma-Chan
Finding an apartment turned out to be easier than she thought. A
few well-placed questions and one visit to an agency later, she
found herself standing in a small, vacant room and uttering the
words "I'll take it."
She had to fork over three months rent in advance, though, which
did cut into her funds substantially. But she ended up with a
room in a quiet neighborhood in Kobe, on the second floor
overlooking a street. She had to share the bathroom with the two
other young women that lived on the floor, which meant she would
have to be careful when it came to shower time. But still, it
was her first apartment, and somehow it felt wonderful as she
stood there for a time trying take it all in, even though the
room was smaller than her place at the Tendou residence and had a
much tinier closet. It did have a small desk with a couple of
empty drawers, though. She would have to buy a mat to sleep on,
but then that had always been part of her plan.
Her name was now Ranko Yamamuri. She wasn't certain why she
chose the surname, except perhaps that it sounded bland enough to
hopefully not attract attention. Which was her objective, after
all. She briefly considered changing the familiar name as well;
Reiko and Ryoko flashed briefly in her mind as suggestions, and
if she had to choose she decided she'd have gone ahead with the
latter, in deference to one of her all-time favorite anime
characters. But upon reflection she decided to keep with Ranko
after all. The name wasn't terribly unheard of, just a little
rare. On top of that, she was setting herself up with enough life
changes as it was; to have to learn to answer to yet another name
was perhaps too much in too short a time. Besides, "Beautiful
Chaos" sort of suited her sense of humor.
She would probably have to work on getting some kind of
identification under that name, she realized. But at present no
one had asked her for any, so she figured as long as no one was
asking she was prepared to put it off for as long as necessary.
Who knows, perhaps she'll come to a conclusion long before she
needed one.
The only drawback to all of this was that she realized she would
probably have to do some of her workouts in the apartment. It
was annoying, but necessary. She could probably do some of her
her regular exercises in the park, but she also knew she was
probably going to have to hold herself back when it came to her
martial arts. Young women practicing the art were not uncommon,
but a young woman exhibiting the kind of skill and precision she
was capable of would almost certainly bring about attention.
Which was exactly what she was trying not to attract. So, she
was going to have to come up with some kind of regimen that she
could do in the privacy of her own apartment. It would be
difficult, but not impossible. Perhaps later, when she had a
job, she might have enough money to join a club and have a dojo
to work out in. But not at the moment
Finding a job. That was going to be her biggest problem. She
certainly couldn't live forever on the money she had. She still
needed some clothes; what she'd brought was enough to live on for
awhile, but not indefinitely. Especially underwear; she knew she
was going to have to get some of that soon, and that prospect
filled her with an odd mixture of dread and something else she
still wasn't sure she wanted to acknowledge. Then there was
food: what was she going to live on, instant ramen noodles?
Well, she supposed she wouldn't be the first poor kid on their
own for the first time to do so.
She could just sit in her apartment and do nothing. Just on food
and clothes alone, she figured her money might just stretch to
the end of her three-month advance rent. A part of her wanted to
do just that, or to chuck all of this and just go back to Nerima.
But she killed that thought. The whole purpose of this was to
live among people as a young woman, to interact with them as a
young woman, to basically BE a young woman. To find out what it
was like, and if the changes to her psyche she suspected were
there in fact did exist. She owed it to Akane to find out, she
told herself, while acknowledging at the same time she also owed
it to herself.
She was in the middle of her ruminations, trying to decide what
next to do, when there was a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" Ranko asked, as she unlocked the door and opened it.
Outside was a young woman, whom she had seen earlier when Mrs.
Hayakawa, the land lady, had shown her around the maison. She
was a small, young woman, about Ranko's height but of thinner
build and probably a couple of years older than her, but not much
more. She had long, straight black hair that reached just beyond
her shoulders, and seemed to have a perpetual smile on her face.
"Hi, it's just me, your next door neighbor. I saw you earlier,
but didn't get a chance to say hello."
Ranko smiled. Somehow, she liked this person already. "Why,
thank you, um....?"
"Sugasawa Fumiko." she said, with a slight bow. "And you are?"
"Yamamuri Ranko." Ranko returned her neighbor's smile. "Well,
thank you, nice to meet you. I guess we'll be bumping into each
other regularly."
"Probably." Fumiko said, with a laugh. Then she peered
cautiously over Ranko's shoulder, as if trying to gauge
something. "Err, um, I don't mean to barge in or anything, but I
noticed that you came in with a small amount of luggage."
Ranko looked at her with a little bit of apprehension. "Um,
yes?" she returned, cautiously.
"Well, do you have anything to sleep on?"
Ranko shook her head in the negative. "Uh, no. I was going to
go out and buy something as soon as I settled in."
"Oh. Well, don't bother. I've got an extra bedroll you can
have. Come on over to my apartment, and you can pick it up."
"Umm, how much?" Ranko asked, hesitantly.
Fumiko waived her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about
that. I've certainly got no use for it, and since you look like
you're just starting out you're probably needing a little help.
Am I right?"
Ranko shrugged, but nodded in the affirmative. "Well, thank you.
That's very generous." And with that, Ranko followed her new-
friend into the apartment next door.
Fumiko's apartment turned out to be larger than Ranko's, but only
slightly. However, it was clearly more cluttered. A bedroll on
the ground was unkempt, the covers thrown haphazardly to one
side. On the room desk sat an older laptop currently with the
screen down, and surrounded by a stack of books in a variety of
languages. Judging by her brief look at the spines, Ranko judged
the books to be mostly language-related. On the floor was a CD
playing boom box, and a stack of CD's, mostly classical music by
the look of the titles. There was also a small dresser, from
which a number of drawers were open and various garments draped
over the sides. The rest of her wardrobe looked to be scattered
in various piles on the floor, although some of the piles looked
as if efforts had been made to fold and be otherwise presentable.
Fumiko went immediately to her closet, standing on her knees.
After pulling out some other clothes and pushing aside some of
the dresses hanging from the bar, she gave a cry of triumph.
"Here it is!" she exclaimed in satisfaction. She swiftly began
to stack various items on the floor behind her. "Here's the
bedroll. Here's also some sheets that go with it, a blanket, and
an extra pillow."
Ranko stared at the pink-and-white patterned monstrosities before
her, aghast. "Oh." she said, unconsciously mimicing Kasumi. "I
didn't realize they were, um..."
Fumiko looked up at Ranko, faintly disappointed. "Oh, uh... I'm
sorry, is that a problem? I didn't realize that maybe..."
Ranko considered for a split moment, but the fact that the other
woman was willing to give her the bedroll for free finally won
her around. After all, she now needed to watch her money. "Oh
no, it's not that, it's just... I didn't expect it all to be
'Hello Kitty'."
Fumiko gave her a slightly guilty smirk. "Yeah, I know. I used
to be 'Hello Kitty' mad when I was a lot younger, and I took some
of that stuff with me when I moved out. I got tired of it,
though, and bought a new bedroll a few months ago." She sighed.
"It just seemed a waste to throw the old one out, though."
Ranko bent down to pick up the items. "Oh well. I only need it
to sleep on, I guess. It's not like I'm going to show people
around my apartment." She gave Fumiko a reassuring smile. "Thank
you. This is very generous of you."
Fumiko helped with setting up the bedroll. The sheets and
blankets had all been washed and smartly folded prior to storage,
so by the end of it the entire set was laid out in all of its
ghastly, sickly-feminine glory. Ranko wanted desperately to
cringe every time she looked at it. Still, she hid that very
well from her new friend.
Fumiko helped her unpack her meagre belongings, mostly girl
clothes she had accumulated over the years or squirreled away
secretly over the past few weeks. Some had been things she had
obtained for one hairbrained scheme or another. Most, like the
underwear, had been lifted from one of Happosai's secret stashes
or set aside from clothes the other girls had discarded. She had
taken some time in assembling the wardrobe, concentrating on
things that would not be missed or
which she could purchase on the sly and not be noticed. Slacks
figured prominently, although she did break down and purloin one
of Nabiki's old black skirts, not that she ever had any intention
of actually wearing it she told herself. A few blouses. The
sundress she was currently wearing and one other made up all of
the fancy clothes she carried. An assortment of t-shirts,
sweats, and sweaters made up the balance. Her neighbor commented
on the paltry collection, but Ranko shrugged it off by saying she
had "planned to go shopping anyway." Fumiko volunteered to show
her where the best local retail areas where, and before Ranko
could think of a tactful way to decline the offer and instead go
off on her own, she found herself walking down the street with
the older woman at her side and heading for one of the main
thoroughfares in the district.
After about a half hour, Ranko relaxed and decided to just enjoy
the company. She wasn't certain why Fumiko was being so
forthcoming toward her, but she soon began to feel the other
woman's enthusiasm was infectious. It was pleasant, at least, to
be able to talk with someone and not find that there was a
purpose to their company, or to be always on the look-out for
ulterior motives, or even to have to juggle conversations just to
keep several different factions of fiancees from going to war
with each other. Fumiko simply was a cheerful, optimistic person
who truly liked to help people, and it soon became quickly
obvious to Ranko that there were some things she was still in
need of help with.
Fumiko nixed the slacks she was looking at. "Don't bother. You
already have too many, and you said yourself your money needs to
stretch as far as possible."
Ranko looked at the women's slacks on the hanger, and regretfully
put them back. "Then what do you....?"
Fumiko pointed to a circular display behind the red-head.
"There. You probably need a couple more skirts. A couple of
knee lengths should do, and at least one full-length." Fumiko
pulled a few, and handed them to Ranko. "Here, try these on."
Ranko looked at the cloth dismally. "But..."
Fumiko shook her head. "You said you wanted to go out job
hunting soon, right? Well, look around you. How many working
girls around here do you see wearing slacks?"
Ranko glanced around, and realized she had a point. A number of
young women were around, many obviously on their lunch breaks
from wherever. Very few were not wearing skirts or dresses.
Inside of her, she could hear an entity called Ranma start to
rail, but the only words she could speak were "Ok, I guess so..."
Ten minutes and one size adjustment later, Ranko had three
assorted-length skirts picked out along with a dark-gray sheaf
dress Fumiko recommended. The price was more than she wanted to
pay, but she decided to defer to the other woman's judgement.
Ranko entered the lingerie department with a queasy feeling of
forebodence, but suppressed the urge to show it. She didn't want
to come off as completely ignorant to her new friend. After all,
she was suppose to be an average young woman buying clothes for
herself, right? Wasn't that the role she was trying to fit in?
So, all of this should have come natural to her. Besides, she'd
actually been dragged off shopping for lingerie once or twice
before. Admittedly, those instances had mostly been with her
mother, who at the time didn't know this buxom young red-head was
in fact her son. Still, she did come away with some knowledge.
Like her bra size. And the awareness that if she was going to be
condemned to wearing skirts and dresses for the foreseeable
future, she also needed slips to go underneath them. So she
picked out a few items, as bland and unfettered with lace and
frills as she could find, and swiftly paid for and added them to
her shopping bag.
Fumiko, ever the one to look out for her new charge, pointed out
a set for her. Black, heavily set with lace, with bra, panty,
garters, and a pair of stockings. Ranko merely glared at her.
A pair of shoes, some hose, a few more cosmetics, and a stop at
the jewelry counter completed their trip. Afterwards, they
stopped off for a quick drink at an outdoor caf‚.
"So, where are you from?" Fumiko finally asked.
The answer came out before Ranko could edit it. "Nerima." she
said, then instantly wished she hadn't. At least say another
district in Tokyo, she scolded herself.
"Ooo, I've never been there." Fumiko said pleasantly, which made
Ranko feel a little more at ease. With her luck, she decided,
Fumiko was just as likely to come from someplace nearby her
former haunts. "I've only been to the Tokyo area once, and that
was just on a weekend when I was twelve. Is it nice there?"
"Nice enough." Ranko responded, equally pleasant. She gave the
older woman an ironic smile. "A bit boring sometimes..."
"Why did you leave?"
*To find myself.* she thought. "Well, I'm finished with high
school, and most of my friends were moving on, so I just decided
I wanted to get away from everything and move out on my own."
Which was all true enough, she reflected, although the minor fact
that half of her friends were also, at any given time, among her
fiercest opponents also contributed greatly. "Tired of school,"
she added, "which was why I decided to delay University for a
year."
"What do your parents think of this?"
*Oh, nothing. They've probably only just found out.* "My
parents... make their plans regardless of what I think." Ranko
put just enough of an edge on these words for Fumiko to hopefully
pick up that this particular avenue of conversation was closed.
For a second the woman looked surprised, but then her face
changed curiously. Fumiko politely allowed the subject to change
when Ranko spoke next. "What about you? What are you doing
here?"
"Oh, not much really. Like you, I guess I just decided I wanted
to get away from everything and try seeing the world for a
change. My family lives just outside of Kyoto, in company
housing." She smirked. "I've got two other sisters, and all
three of us were crammed into the same room. As soon as I was
old enough I decided I wanted out."
Ranko nodded in sympathy; back in the Tendou residence she too
had often felt like that, especially when at night her dad was
snoring in the room they shared.
"Are you going to go to back to school?"
Fumiko's face faltered slightly, betraying a degree of glumness.
"Tried. Lost by one point on the entrance exam." She raised her
index finger in emphasis. "One point, one measly point! Can you
believe that? Now I have to wait another year to retake the
tests."
"That must be frustrating."
"Frustrating isn't the word for it."
They left the caf‚ and continued back toward the apartment
building, stopping along the way to quickly pick up some non-
perishable groceries and couple of cheap pots to cook food in;
there already was a small kitchen in the apartment building with
a communal stove and refrigerator, so there was a place to
prepare some meals. Along the way, the two talked about
inconsequential things, Ranko asking questions about the
neighborhood and where things were, Fumiko supplying answers and
periodically asking a few questions of the young red-head
herself. All in all, it turned out to be a fairly enjoyable,
relaxing afternoon, even if Ranko became faintly alarmed at the
amount of money she had found herself to be suddenly devoid of.
A year's worth of savings could simply NOT have gone away that
fast.
Ranko had just finished picking out her one splurge (a cheap
clock radio, mostly because she told her companion that she'd go
crazy if she didn't have anything to listen to) when Fumiko asked
a question that made her stop. "So, do you have anyone back home
in Nerima?" she asked, with curiosity.
Ranko stopped for a moment, stumped. *How do I answer that
question?* she asked herself. "Well, I guess sort of." she began
carefully, hesitantly. "We've certainly talked about getting
together, but, well..."
"But you haven't yet made the commitment."
"No, not as such. There are, um, still some issues that need to
be resolved and, well...." Ranko let the sentence trail off
uncompleted.
Fumiko nodded, as if she understood. "Well, then I won't pry any
farther." she told Ranko.
"Thank you."
After a pause, Fumiko continued. Her voice, however, had
suddenly become rather serious. "Ranko... Mrs. Hayakawa is a
very nice lady. She's been around a long time, too, and has had
her share of tragedies. If you treat her right, she can be a
good friend and confidant. She'll let rules slide, she'll even
let the rent slide, as long as she knows you're honest and not
trying to take advantage of her." There was another pause. "If
you have a problem or are in trouble, she's the person to go see.
Trust me on this, I know."
Ranko blinked. "What makes you think I have any problems?" she
blurted, perhaps more quickly than was prudent.
Fumiko merely smiled, knowingly. "I'm not saying anything.
Just... giving you the heads-up, should something ever come up."
The smile became a lopsided grin. "Us girls have got to stick
together, you know."
At the apartment building they met a couple of the other tenants,
a middle-aged dock worker who lived on the first floor, and
another young woman named Noriko Taneda, who was the other young
female occupant of the second floor. Taneda was on her hurried
way down the stairs when they arrived, dressed in a black one-
piece dress and late evidently for a night on the town with a
boyfriend. She gave Fumiko a quick hello, gave Ranko a quick
welcome-greeting, then departed into the evening.
"One last thing." Fumiko whispered into Ranko's ears, after the
other young woman departed. "If you ever decide to bring your
boyfriend up to your room, Mrs. Hayakawa usually turns a blind
eye, so long as you don't draw attention to yourself when you do.
Just remember: be discrete."
Fumiko giggled when she saw how red Ranko's face turned at THAT
piece of advice.
And so, Ranko returned to her room, and unpacked her new
purchases. She shook her head at the skirts and dress she had
purchased, and at the other items that had found their way into
her bags. She looked down at the Hello Kitty bedroll that
awaited her, and then at the newly-purchased mirror on her desk
surrounded by cosmetics and jewelry. She suddenly grew conscious
of the straps to her bra, now digging into the skin on her back
and shoulders. It had not even been 24 hours, and already she
was becoming acclimated.
A part of her was scared at what she had so casually spent her
day doing, but even so she thought that (if she was really honest
with herself, but then again self-honesty had never been one of
her strong points) another part of her was finding it oddly
exhilarating, almost liberating. One segment of her was warring
with another over the simple question of how she should feel, and
as a result everything seemed tentative, unresolved. A distant
feeling of vague, unformed something that she could only hope the
coming days and weeks would bring into focus.
She grunted, smirked, and began to set up her room more to her
liking.
One rep of kata, a bowl of ramen noodles, and a long cold shower
later, she cuddled up underneath her pink cartoon-cat blanket,
placed her had on the equally pink pillow, and calmly went to
sleep, ending Ranko's first day.
And predictably, the dreams began to come once more.
END OF PART TWO
GT Ranma-Chan
gt_ranma_chan@yahoo.com
By GT Ranma-Chan
Finding an apartment turned out to be easier than she thought. A
few well-placed questions and one visit to an agency later, she
found herself standing in a small, vacant room and uttering the
words "I'll take it."
She had to fork over three months rent in advance, though, which
did cut into her funds substantially. But she ended up with a
room in a quiet neighborhood in Kobe, on the second floor
overlooking a street. She had to share the bathroom with the two
other young women that lived on the floor, which meant she would
have to be careful when it came to shower time. But still, it
was her first apartment, and somehow it felt wonderful as she
stood there for a time trying take it all in, even though the
room was smaller than her place at the Tendou residence and had a
much tinier closet. It did have a small desk with a couple of
empty drawers, though. She would have to buy a mat to sleep on,
but then that had always been part of her plan.
Her name was now Ranko Yamamuri. She wasn't certain why she
chose the surname, except perhaps that it sounded bland enough to
hopefully not attract attention. Which was her objective, after
all. She briefly considered changing the familiar name as well;
Reiko and Ryoko flashed briefly in her mind as suggestions, and
if she had to choose she decided she'd have gone ahead with the
latter, in deference to one of her all-time favorite anime
characters. But upon reflection she decided to keep with Ranko
after all. The name wasn't terribly unheard of, just a little
rare. On top of that, she was setting herself up with enough life
changes as it was; to have to learn to answer to yet another name
was perhaps too much in too short a time. Besides, "Beautiful
Chaos" sort of suited her sense of humor.
She would probably have to work on getting some kind of
identification under that name, she realized. But at present no
one had asked her for any, so she figured as long as no one was
asking she was prepared to put it off for as long as necessary.
Who knows, perhaps she'll come to a conclusion long before she
needed one.
The only drawback to all of this was that she realized she would
probably have to do some of her workouts in the apartment. It
was annoying, but necessary. She could probably do some of her
her regular exercises in the park, but she also knew she was
probably going to have to hold herself back when it came to her
martial arts. Young women practicing the art were not uncommon,
but a young woman exhibiting the kind of skill and precision she
was capable of would almost certainly bring about attention.
Which was exactly what she was trying not to attract. So, she
was going to have to come up with some kind of regimen that she
could do in the privacy of her own apartment. It would be
difficult, but not impossible. Perhaps later, when she had a
job, she might have enough money to join a club and have a dojo
to work out in. But not at the moment
Finding a job. That was going to be her biggest problem. She
certainly couldn't live forever on the money she had. She still
needed some clothes; what she'd brought was enough to live on for
awhile, but not indefinitely. Especially underwear; she knew she
was going to have to get some of that soon, and that prospect
filled her with an odd mixture of dread and something else she
still wasn't sure she wanted to acknowledge. Then there was
food: what was she going to live on, instant ramen noodles?
Well, she supposed she wouldn't be the first poor kid on their
own for the first time to do so.
She could just sit in her apartment and do nothing. Just on food
and clothes alone, she figured her money might just stretch to
the end of her three-month advance rent. A part of her wanted to
do just that, or to chuck all of this and just go back to Nerima.
But she killed that thought. The whole purpose of this was to
live among people as a young woman, to interact with them as a
young woman, to basically BE a young woman. To find out what it
was like, and if the changes to her psyche she suspected were
there in fact did exist. She owed it to Akane to find out, she
told herself, while acknowledging at the same time she also owed
it to herself.
She was in the middle of her ruminations, trying to decide what
next to do, when there was a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" Ranko asked, as she unlocked the door and opened it.
Outside was a young woman, whom she had seen earlier when Mrs.
Hayakawa, the land lady, had shown her around the maison. She
was a small, young woman, about Ranko's height but of thinner
build and probably a couple of years older than her, but not much
more. She had long, straight black hair that reached just beyond
her shoulders, and seemed to have a perpetual smile on her face.
"Hi, it's just me, your next door neighbor. I saw you earlier,
but didn't get a chance to say hello."
Ranko smiled. Somehow, she liked this person already. "Why,
thank you, um....?"
"Sugasawa Fumiko." she said, with a slight bow. "And you are?"
"Yamamuri Ranko." Ranko returned her neighbor's smile. "Well,
thank you, nice to meet you. I guess we'll be bumping into each
other regularly."
"Probably." Fumiko said, with a laugh. Then she peered
cautiously over Ranko's shoulder, as if trying to gauge
something. "Err, um, I don't mean to barge in or anything, but I
noticed that you came in with a small amount of luggage."
Ranko looked at her with a little bit of apprehension. "Um,
yes?" she returned, cautiously.
"Well, do you have anything to sleep on?"
Ranko shook her head in the negative. "Uh, no. I was going to
go out and buy something as soon as I settled in."
"Oh. Well, don't bother. I've got an extra bedroll you can
have. Come on over to my apartment, and you can pick it up."
"Umm, how much?" Ranko asked, hesitantly.
Fumiko waived her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about
that. I've certainly got no use for it, and since you look like
you're just starting out you're probably needing a little help.
Am I right?"
Ranko shrugged, but nodded in the affirmative. "Well, thank you.
That's very generous." And with that, Ranko followed her new-
friend into the apartment next door.
Fumiko's apartment turned out to be larger than Ranko's, but only
slightly. However, it was clearly more cluttered. A bedroll on
the ground was unkempt, the covers thrown haphazardly to one
side. On the room desk sat an older laptop currently with the
screen down, and surrounded by a stack of books in a variety of
languages. Judging by her brief look at the spines, Ranko judged
the books to be mostly language-related. On the floor was a CD
playing boom box, and a stack of CD's, mostly classical music by
the look of the titles. There was also a small dresser, from
which a number of drawers were open and various garments draped
over the sides. The rest of her wardrobe looked to be scattered
in various piles on the floor, although some of the piles looked
as if efforts had been made to fold and be otherwise presentable.
Fumiko went immediately to her closet, standing on her knees.
After pulling out some other clothes and pushing aside some of
the dresses hanging from the bar, she gave a cry of triumph.
"Here it is!" she exclaimed in satisfaction. She swiftly began
to stack various items on the floor behind her. "Here's the
bedroll. Here's also some sheets that go with it, a blanket, and
an extra pillow."
Ranko stared at the pink-and-white patterned monstrosities before
her, aghast. "Oh." she said, unconsciously mimicing Kasumi. "I
didn't realize they were, um..."
Fumiko looked up at Ranko, faintly disappointed. "Oh, uh... I'm
sorry, is that a problem? I didn't realize that maybe..."
Ranko considered for a split moment, but the fact that the other
woman was willing to give her the bedroll for free finally won
her around. After all, she now needed to watch her money. "Oh
no, it's not that, it's just... I didn't expect it all to be
'Hello Kitty'."
Fumiko gave her a slightly guilty smirk. "Yeah, I know. I used
to be 'Hello Kitty' mad when I was a lot younger, and I took some
of that stuff with me when I moved out. I got tired of it,
though, and bought a new bedroll a few months ago." She sighed.
"It just seemed a waste to throw the old one out, though."
Ranko bent down to pick up the items. "Oh well. I only need it
to sleep on, I guess. It's not like I'm going to show people
around my apartment." She gave Fumiko a reassuring smile. "Thank
you. This is very generous of you."
Fumiko helped with setting up the bedroll. The sheets and
blankets had all been washed and smartly folded prior to storage,
so by the end of it the entire set was laid out in all of its
ghastly, sickly-feminine glory. Ranko wanted desperately to
cringe every time she looked at it. Still, she hid that very
well from her new friend.
Fumiko helped her unpack her meagre belongings, mostly girl
clothes she had accumulated over the years or squirreled away
secretly over the past few weeks. Some had been things she had
obtained for one hairbrained scheme or another. Most, like the
underwear, had been lifted from one of Happosai's secret stashes
or set aside from clothes the other girls had discarded. She had
taken some time in assembling the wardrobe, concentrating on
things that would not be missed or
which she could purchase on the sly and not be noticed. Slacks
figured prominently, although she did break down and purloin one
of Nabiki's old black skirts, not that she ever had any intention
of actually wearing it she told herself. A few blouses. The
sundress she was currently wearing and one other made up all of
the fancy clothes she carried. An assortment of t-shirts,
sweats, and sweaters made up the balance. Her neighbor commented
on the paltry collection, but Ranko shrugged it off by saying she
had "planned to go shopping anyway." Fumiko volunteered to show
her where the best local retail areas where, and before Ranko
could think of a tactful way to decline the offer and instead go
off on her own, she found herself walking down the street with
the older woman at her side and heading for one of the main
thoroughfares in the district.
After about a half hour, Ranko relaxed and decided to just enjoy
the company. She wasn't certain why Fumiko was being so
forthcoming toward her, but she soon began to feel the other
woman's enthusiasm was infectious. It was pleasant, at least, to
be able to talk with someone and not find that there was a
purpose to their company, or to be always on the look-out for
ulterior motives, or even to have to juggle conversations just to
keep several different factions of fiancees from going to war
with each other. Fumiko simply was a cheerful, optimistic person
who truly liked to help people, and it soon became quickly
obvious to Ranko that there were some things she was still in
need of help with.
Fumiko nixed the slacks she was looking at. "Don't bother. You
already have too many, and you said yourself your money needs to
stretch as far as possible."
Ranko looked at the women's slacks on the hanger, and regretfully
put them back. "Then what do you....?"
Fumiko pointed to a circular display behind the red-head.
"There. You probably need a couple more skirts. A couple of
knee lengths should do, and at least one full-length." Fumiko
pulled a few, and handed them to Ranko. "Here, try these on."
Ranko looked at the cloth dismally. "But..."
Fumiko shook her head. "You said you wanted to go out job
hunting soon, right? Well, look around you. How many working
girls around here do you see wearing slacks?"
Ranko glanced around, and realized she had a point. A number of
young women were around, many obviously on their lunch breaks
from wherever. Very few were not wearing skirts or dresses.
Inside of her, she could hear an entity called Ranma start to
rail, but the only words she could speak were "Ok, I guess so..."
Ten minutes and one size adjustment later, Ranko had three
assorted-length skirts picked out along with a dark-gray sheaf
dress Fumiko recommended. The price was more than she wanted to
pay, but she decided to defer to the other woman's judgement.
Ranko entered the lingerie department with a queasy feeling of
forebodence, but suppressed the urge to show it. She didn't want
to come off as completely ignorant to her new friend. After all,
she was suppose to be an average young woman buying clothes for
herself, right? Wasn't that the role she was trying to fit in?
So, all of this should have come natural to her. Besides, she'd
actually been dragged off shopping for lingerie once or twice
before. Admittedly, those instances had mostly been with her
mother, who at the time didn't know this buxom young red-head was
in fact her son. Still, she did come away with some knowledge.
Like her bra size. And the awareness that if she was going to be
condemned to wearing skirts and dresses for the foreseeable
future, she also needed slips to go underneath them. So she
picked out a few items, as bland and unfettered with lace and
frills as she could find, and swiftly paid for and added them to
her shopping bag.
Fumiko, ever the one to look out for her new charge, pointed out
a set for her. Black, heavily set with lace, with bra, panty,
garters, and a pair of stockings. Ranko merely glared at her.
A pair of shoes, some hose, a few more cosmetics, and a stop at
the jewelry counter completed their trip. Afterwards, they
stopped off for a quick drink at an outdoor caf‚.
"So, where are you from?" Fumiko finally asked.
The answer came out before Ranko could edit it. "Nerima." she
said, then instantly wished she hadn't. At least say another
district in Tokyo, she scolded herself.
"Ooo, I've never been there." Fumiko said pleasantly, which made
Ranko feel a little more at ease. With her luck, she decided,
Fumiko was just as likely to come from someplace nearby her
former haunts. "I've only been to the Tokyo area once, and that
was just on a weekend when I was twelve. Is it nice there?"
"Nice enough." Ranko responded, equally pleasant. She gave the
older woman an ironic smile. "A bit boring sometimes..."
"Why did you leave?"
*To find myself.* she thought. "Well, I'm finished with high
school, and most of my friends were moving on, so I just decided
I wanted to get away from everything and move out on my own."
Which was all true enough, she reflected, although the minor fact
that half of her friends were also, at any given time, among her
fiercest opponents also contributed greatly. "Tired of school,"
she added, "which was why I decided to delay University for a
year."
"What do your parents think of this?"
*Oh, nothing. They've probably only just found out.* "My
parents... make their plans regardless of what I think." Ranko
put just enough of an edge on these words for Fumiko to hopefully
pick up that this particular avenue of conversation was closed.
For a second the woman looked surprised, but then her face
changed curiously. Fumiko politely allowed the subject to change
when Ranko spoke next. "What about you? What are you doing
here?"
"Oh, not much really. Like you, I guess I just decided I wanted
to get away from everything and try seeing the world for a
change. My family lives just outside of Kyoto, in company
housing." She smirked. "I've got two other sisters, and all
three of us were crammed into the same room. As soon as I was
old enough I decided I wanted out."
Ranko nodded in sympathy; back in the Tendou residence she too
had often felt like that, especially when at night her dad was
snoring in the room they shared.
"Are you going to go to back to school?"
Fumiko's face faltered slightly, betraying a degree of glumness.
"Tried. Lost by one point on the entrance exam." She raised her
index finger in emphasis. "One point, one measly point! Can you
believe that? Now I have to wait another year to retake the
tests."
"That must be frustrating."
"Frustrating isn't the word for it."
They left the caf‚ and continued back toward the apartment
building, stopping along the way to quickly pick up some non-
perishable groceries and couple of cheap pots to cook food in;
there already was a small kitchen in the apartment building with
a communal stove and refrigerator, so there was a place to
prepare some meals. Along the way, the two talked about
inconsequential things, Ranko asking questions about the
neighborhood and where things were, Fumiko supplying answers and
periodically asking a few questions of the young red-head
herself. All in all, it turned out to be a fairly enjoyable,
relaxing afternoon, even if Ranko became faintly alarmed at the
amount of money she had found herself to be suddenly devoid of.
A year's worth of savings could simply NOT have gone away that
fast.
Ranko had just finished picking out her one splurge (a cheap
clock radio, mostly because she told her companion that she'd go
crazy if she didn't have anything to listen to) when Fumiko asked
a question that made her stop. "So, do you have anyone back home
in Nerima?" she asked, with curiosity.
Ranko stopped for a moment, stumped. *How do I answer that
question?* she asked herself. "Well, I guess sort of." she began
carefully, hesitantly. "We've certainly talked about getting
together, but, well..."
"But you haven't yet made the commitment."
"No, not as such. There are, um, still some issues that need to
be resolved and, well...." Ranko let the sentence trail off
uncompleted.
Fumiko nodded, as if she understood. "Well, then I won't pry any
farther." she told Ranko.
"Thank you."
After a pause, Fumiko continued. Her voice, however, had
suddenly become rather serious. "Ranko... Mrs. Hayakawa is a
very nice lady. She's been around a long time, too, and has had
her share of tragedies. If you treat her right, she can be a
good friend and confidant. She'll let rules slide, she'll even
let the rent slide, as long as she knows you're honest and not
trying to take advantage of her." There was another pause. "If
you have a problem or are in trouble, she's the person to go see.
Trust me on this, I know."
Ranko blinked. "What makes you think I have any problems?" she
blurted, perhaps more quickly than was prudent.
Fumiko merely smiled, knowingly. "I'm not saying anything.
Just... giving you the heads-up, should something ever come up."
The smile became a lopsided grin. "Us girls have got to stick
together, you know."
At the apartment building they met a couple of the other tenants,
a middle-aged dock worker who lived on the first floor, and
another young woman named Noriko Taneda, who was the other young
female occupant of the second floor. Taneda was on her hurried
way down the stairs when they arrived, dressed in a black one-
piece dress and late evidently for a night on the town with a
boyfriend. She gave Fumiko a quick hello, gave Ranko a quick
welcome-greeting, then departed into the evening.
"One last thing." Fumiko whispered into Ranko's ears, after the
other young woman departed. "If you ever decide to bring your
boyfriend up to your room, Mrs. Hayakawa usually turns a blind
eye, so long as you don't draw attention to yourself when you do.
Just remember: be discrete."
Fumiko giggled when she saw how red Ranko's face turned at THAT
piece of advice.
And so, Ranko returned to her room, and unpacked her new
purchases. She shook her head at the skirts and dress she had
purchased, and at the other items that had found their way into
her bags. She looked down at the Hello Kitty bedroll that
awaited her, and then at the newly-purchased mirror on her desk
surrounded by cosmetics and jewelry. She suddenly grew conscious
of the straps to her bra, now digging into the skin on her back
and shoulders. It had not even been 24 hours, and already she
was becoming acclimated.
A part of her was scared at what she had so casually spent her
day doing, but even so she thought that (if she was really honest
with herself, but then again self-honesty had never been one of
her strong points) another part of her was finding it oddly
exhilarating, almost liberating. One segment of her was warring
with another over the simple question of how she should feel, and
as a result everything seemed tentative, unresolved. A distant
feeling of vague, unformed something that she could only hope the
coming days and weeks would bring into focus.
She grunted, smirked, and began to set up her room more to her
liking.
One rep of kata, a bowl of ramen noodles, and a long cold shower
later, she cuddled up underneath her pink cartoon-cat blanket,
placed her had on the equally pink pillow, and calmly went to
sleep, ending Ranko's first day.
And predictably, the dreams began to come once more.
END OF PART TWO
GT Ranma-Chan
gt_ranma_chan@yahoo.com