Author's Note: First off, sorry about the short chapter. This just seemed like the best place to end this one.
Regarding some comments I've received: The age of majority in Japan as of this point in time is 20, which will remain so until 2022. I was aware of this when I wrote the last chapter, but I didn't want the kids to have to wait until the story was almost over to get money. I've since edited the Judge's decision regarding the Nekoyama Treasure in the last chapter to be more in line with the Japanese legal system while allowing an opening for what I have in mind.
Also, some elaboration. Mousse always struck me as someone who was never taught the consequences of his actions, perhaps because he was seen as a joke by the village and never taken seriously in spite of his power. He was the most likely to eventually recklessly kill someone with his style of spamming weapons recklessly. Death was just a distant concept to him that hypothetically made the enemy go away and solved his problems. That had to be nipped in the bud, and that's what Xiao Mei did in as controlled a manner as possible. I don't condone making animals suffer or writing about it at length, so I avoided such dirty details while not taking away from the impact. That took a good while to figure out how to get right.
Chapter 22: Tests
March 29, 1977
Ukyo opened her eyes in the late morning after a good night's sleep. She'd been understandably tired after her journey and the stressful business afterward. Having snuck into Ranma's bedroom and fallen asleep while clinging to him again, the child found that her target had once more escaped from her grasp and was no longer in the room. The irritation she normally felt at this was supplemented by a surge of panic as she got out of bed. Rushing out of the bedroom and down the hall, she swiftly entered the living room in her pajamas to see Ranma seated on the floor at a low table and writing on a piece of paper. Nothing else registered in her mind as the girl lunged at her friend and emotional lifeline.
"Ran-chan!" That exclamation was the only warning she gave before the tackle came, though Ranma had at least dropped the pencil in time. He could have dodged, but then the girl would have collided with the table. As it was, only his own side hit the table and scooted it out slightly out of place. "Ran-chan, you got up without me again! That was mean! Why do you keep doing that-...eh?"
It was only at this point that she became aware of the person sitting at the other end of the table across from Ranma. Principal Pierre Shiratori was at the Saotome home. Nodoka was next to him with a wide-eyed look on her face, having hurriedly lifted the man's tea from the table before it could be jostled and spill onto the man's light blue suit.
"Ukyo," Nodoka started to explain, "Ranma was awake sooner than you girls and Principal Shiratori wanted to have the placement tests done as soon as possible. Natsume has already finished hers and made it into second grade, but Ranma is taking a far larger set of tests. He won't be going anywhere for a while. Why not have some breakfast after changing your clothes?"
"...Eep! S-sorry, Auntie Nodoka! Principal Shiratori! I'll be back, Ran-chan! Don't you go anywhere!" Embarrassed over the fact she was in her light blue pajamas in front of company, Ukyo gave an awkward bow before she rushed back toward her room to change.
The next few hours were sheer boredom for Ukyo. Oh, she ate and even played some Old Maid with Natsume, but the child never strayed far from Ranma's side after breakfast. Kurumi was coloring with crayons under Sachiko's care while Tenma read a newspaper with the headline 'UK Deploys HMS Ark Royal to Hong Kong Amid Chinese Instability'. It was quiet and tedious. A certain noise was becoming more and more prevalent as the morning wore on toward the afternoon.
"Nnnnnnnnggggghhhhh..." The groan was one of profound irritation. Ukyo was bored as she rocked back and forth at the table next to Ranma. It was understandable, really. Not only was she a six-year-old girl who was accustomed to being active, but she'd been waiting next to Ranma for hours while he took his placement tests grade-by-grade. Ukyo had tried to test out of her first year to pass the time, but only managed to score ahead in her math skills. Helping with paying customers while her father made okonomiyaki had served her well in that regard at least.
Ranma had insisted on taking more than just the test for the second grade. He'd been taking the junior high school tests by the time Ukyo awoke and was now well into the high school versions. The fact that he was able to sit still for so long showed just how determined Ranma was. It was a small blessing that they were able to take the test in Ranma's home out of consideration for Ukyo's psychological condition.
"Remember to show your work." Principal Shiratori told Ranma just before he started the math portion of this test. Ranma had a habit of doing math problems in his head and considered writing out his work to be troublesome. Still, the boy complied with the reminder. His goal was to get in and finish his schooling within a year, but he'd had difficulties. His knowledge of history had gaps that showed themselves in the Elementary and Middle School tests, and he wasn't the best student in high school in general. He was far more likely to know historical battles than the identity of the current Prime Minister. While he might have used the time travel as an excuse for that particular failing were he able, he was also well aware that he didn't know who the Prime Minister was in 1989 either.
Principal Shiratori was grading the tests at pace with Ranma's taking them, refusing to let himself fall behind. If the child was willing to take this seriously, so was he. By the time Ranma concluded with his final test, the man was ready to start grading it. They waited tensely and watched the man employ a red pen for the task. Ranma was far from getting a perfect score, but Nodoka and her parents were more than a bit surprised by the Principal's words when he spoke.
"...If I were going by the score of the twelfth-grade admission test alone, then Ranma would qualify for admission into the Senior year of a low-end high school. He wouldn't make it into a good school, though." Ranma smiled, seemingly satisfied with this. The Principal, however, continued. "Unfortunately, I can't in good conscience recommend that Ranma be permitted to do that."
"What? Why not?" Ranma exclaimed, more than a bit irritated to hear this. Was he really going to be stuck going to school for longer than he had to just because this guy said so? Even though he admitted that Ranma was good enough to do it?
Principal Shiratori crossed his arms and answered calmly. "Because your knowledge has more holes than Swiss Cheese. Your awareness of history is limited. You may know how to read kanji, but you don't know the stroke order for writing them properly. Your mathematics, while serviceable, is profoundly inefficient. You don't even know your multiplication tables." The man had spoken somewhat bluntly. It was necessary, however. Sugar-coating it wouldn't help here.
"What are multiplication tables?" Ranma inquired, but Nodoka had been silent long enough.
"How could Ranma possibly test so high without knowing something that basic?" Nodoka inquired. The Principal responded by showing them one of Ranma's earlier tests which had basic multiplication and division problems.
"Here is how he solved 'seven times twelve'. Typically we multiply it using our knowledge of multiplication tables and other teachings. Ranma just turned it into eleven separate addition problems. He brute-forced the solution rather than actually multiplying. He does something similar for division but uses a subtraction method instead. He does so quickly, but it is very inefficient. It turns into an absolute nightmare for him when exponents and variables enter the equation. His comprehension of mathematics has numerous faults and convoluted workarounds like this."
"In other words," Tenma Saotome said while looking to his grandson, "you haven't had the training needed to do as well as you clearly could. Education in such skills is cumulative much like learning a Martial Art is. You are akin to a martial artist that was taught only half of the basic moves of his school, yet has managed to stumble his way through a proficiency test for a higher dan ranking regardless. It hints at your potential by managing the feat in spite of your limited training, but your deficiencies hinder you just the same. The Principal, much like an evaluating Master, would be doing you a disservice to ignore that and advance you because it denies you the opportunity to resolve a large oversight and grow properly."
Ranma's eyes widened as the analogy was parsed into terms he could understand. For the first time, he felt anger at his father for making him miss out on so much of elementary school and junior high. Maybe high school wouldn't have been such a nightmare if he'd attended just a little more. "Tch...I guess that makes sense. I was lookin' forward to bein' done faster."
Principal Shitatori was relieved, giving a nod of gratitude to Tenma for helping the child understand the situation before continuing. "I do think Ranma could be done with school faster than normal, but it would have to be done with proper consideration and in a somewhat unconventional way."
"What do you mean, Principal?" Nodoka asked, wondering what this meant for her son.
"Ranma clearly has the potential to learn far more quickly than his peers and would be bored if forced to learn at the same pace. I worry that might lead to him misbehaving or otherwise losing interest in school. He would start in first grade and be able to socialize with children his own age but would undergo a specialized curriculum based on the results of these placement tests and potentially take classes for older children or skip grades as time progressed. The trade-off is that instead of going home after four periods and lunch like the first, second, and third years, he would stay for five or six periods like the older students." Ranma wasn't too upset about this detail. He didn't know that younger elementary school students only went for partial days anyway.
The Principal continued. "I know that this arrangement flies in the face of the conformist nature of the Japanese school system, but I feel it to be necessary. I can also count at least three older students off the top of my head who would be willing to help tutor him after hours as well if need be, one of whom wants to go into education." It was a noteworthy offer made in part due to the same altruism as when he initially offered to have Ranma attend, though another part of it was that the Superintendent now really wanted Ranma at the school so he would draw in other kids from the Martial Arts disciplines. Current estimates conservatively placed the boy in the same realm as Olympic athletes without his ki abilities, and Lumiere Elementary was a school that catered to those in various disciplines such as Martial Arts Figure Skating and Kendo. To use that weight with the administration to help the boy get a better education than otherwise possible? That was a no-brainer for the Principal.
Nodoka readily agreed. "That would be fantastic! If my son has the potential to handle such an arrangement, it is my responsibility to cultivate it!" The woman was beaming at the idea that her son was some sort of prodigy in schoolwork as well, even if his knowledge was cobbled together.
"Excellent," Principal Shiratori responded, "if it doesn't work out, he can simply be moved to the standard curriculum. I am sure a child who managed to learn this much on the road in four years' time will manage quite well, though." Ranma's expression wasn't elated like his mother's, but he said nothing. At the very least, he nodded in acknowledgment. "Oh, don't worry Ranma. Everyone goes to school. It can be a very positive experience. You'll see." Putting the tests and paperwork back in his briefcase, the latter long since signed by Nodoka, Principal Shiratori rose and gave a bow.
"You all start on Monday, April 4th. Now if you'll excuse me, my daughter wants me to take her to see the cherry blossoms after I'm done submitting this paperwork. We are leaving for an inn tonight that some of you are familiar with." The man smiled, referring to the ryokan in Takato.
"Of course. Thank you for your assistance, Principal Shiratori. Please, this way," Nodoka responded. The woman led the Principal outside where they said their goodbyes before the man straddled a large, red, two-person bicycle. The tandem bike was clearly custom-made to match his frame and that of a smaller second person behind him. Putting on a helmet, the massive man placed his briefcase in a very large basket on the front and started to pedal away down the street.
By the time Nodoka re-entered the house, she heard the sounds of children sparring from the backyard. Seeing her father standing on the veranda while Ranma and Ukyo worked out their pent-up energy sparring with each other filled Nodoka with a sense of pleasure. Sachiko, meanwhile, was at the living room table with Natsume and Kurumi, reading them a story. Nodoka couldn't help but smile at seeing her parents dote on their grandchildren and Ukyo. The sense of contentment Nodoka had couldn't be overstated. The house finally felt like a home again.
With her parents watching the kids, Nodoka headed off to finish with the laundry. The clothes the children wore during their travels had been in need of thorough washing. The final load of Ranma's clothing was finally dry. Ranma's old gi had seen better days, so she dropped that off in her room to try to mend it later with a needle and thread. The remainder of the clothing was folded neatly and she carried it in a laundry basket to her son's room.
Ranma's room was a bit less sparse after Nodoka had told her son to remove his items from his ki-space and store them here. Ukyo's story indicated that Ranma had regularly strained himself carrying items in it, so she insisted that he rest from that practice for a time before doing so in a more practical manner. The boy did not seem to be uncomfortable going unarmed, but it had taken a lot of convincing for him to yield his magical items. As such, his toy box was full of an ancient mirror and assorted weapons instead of the typical possessions of a child. It was a bit sad to see a complete lack of normal childhood interests, but perhaps he would take on more of those over time.
Still, the look on her father's face when he learned about Ranma's magical armaments was priceless. Such weapons were of a quality and power exceeding anything he'd ever used and were easily over a thousand years old. He was equally floored when Ranma mentioned that he'd purchased the apparently over 900-year-old mirror at Takato for a mere 1200 yen while it was burnt and damaged, only for it to accept his ki and regenerate itself. "Where were these wonderful things during my training journeys?" The man had lamented at the time in a rare slip of his composure. Still, he was clearly happy for Ranma...as well as placated by the opportunity to inspect the finest weapons he'd ever known. Ranma's training would likely be supplemented with more skills suitable for the weapons' various forms, perhaps something along the lines of naginatajutsu.
As Nodoka finished folding the laundry, she opened Ranma's closet door to put it away and what she saw gave her pause. There in the closet, between his pants and his folded casual shirts, sat a small stack of books. She wondered for several moments why they were stored in there. Her child was excited to have a space of his own and had been carefully planning what went where. Ranma didn't seem likely to simply stuff things in the closet without reason. Finally, a possibility dawned in her mind. Her son had never had a room like this before. Might he not fully understand the difference between a closet and a typical shelving space? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Her son was lacking in common sense thanks to his father. It was bound to manifest in unexpected ways.
The sad thing was that though she was unaware that her child was eighteen instead of six, her guess had been right on the money. He didn't have much opportunity to learn better in the Tendo guest room, nor did he make a habit of going through the other rooms' closets.
Taking out the books and setting them on her son's desk, she then put the clothes in their proper places in the closet. After doing so, she closed the door and looked over the books which were clearly too thick for a six-year-old's reading material. She would notice that there was a scrapbook and some notebooks as well as a number of high school textbooks. Puzzled, she looked the textbooks over to find that they weren't in bad condition. Had Ranma taken them from a library and forgotten to return them? Picking up the textbook on the top of the pile, she opened it to look for a stamp or a library's borrowing card and sleeve. She found a stamp saying "Furinkan High School" and immediately became even more confused. Before she could think further, however, a tiny piece of text at the bottom of the book's cover page caught her eye.
Copyright 1983, 1988 by Fude Press.
'Thank you for your hospitality, especially since it was sudden and less than optimal for you.' Cologne said to the restaurant owner after they had awoken that morning and had breakfast. The man who she spoke to hadn't been pleased with their visit but had remained cordial. Ran's willingness to work had been a major mitigating factor. Now they were preparing to head east again. A few false memories and orders massaged into the scalps of local officials allowed for some papers to be drawn up for the traveling trio. Getting on a train and travel in general would be far easier. Sadly, they weren't able to get passports with this method in a timely manner.
'You are welcome, Elder. Hopefully, this all passes soon.' Of course, he was inwardly hoping it passed so that he and his wife could avoid being troubled by more members of the tribe popping up rather than for any common cause. They'd already rendered his wife a non-functional shadow of her former self simply because she married for love instead of obligation.
'Indeed. Keep a close watch and remember the cover story should anyone come asking questions.' With a nod from the man in response to her order, Cologne looked to her travel companions. 'Lan, Xian Pu, we depart.'
The group left and walked through town while Cologne mused over the information she'd learned over the telegraph last night. Mousse had gone missing, as had a large number of supplies and weapons from storage. The boy had apparently run off into the wilderness to try and chase Shampoo against orders. The subsequent lockdown on travel due to the Peoples' Liberation Army searching for the village had prevented any sort of rescue effort from being made. She didn't dare mention it to Shampoo lest she be saddened about something she could not have prevented. While it was a shame, there was nothing more that could be done at this point. The Xiu were already ordered to keep an eye out for him, as were Joketsuzoku who happened to be in neighboring towns when the lockdown was initiated.
Speaking of reckless actions, Cologne needed to say something to her adopted daughter.
'Lan. You should be more careful with your actions in the future. If I could smell the blend of shampoo in the air, so could an enforcer of the Xiu.' Ran gave Cologne a brief glare in response but said nothing. Cologne couldn't help but surrender a weary chuckle. 'Well, I can't honestly say I disagree with your reasons...so I will profess ignorance this time. Come, we have over 1,500 kilometers to go before we reach the sea.' Unwilling to teach the Joketsuzoku how to steal a ride on an aircraft, and unsure Shampoo could even endure it, Ran simply followed the youthful elder. Shampoo was just happy to be exploring again, having no concept of just how large a distance that was.
Meanwhile, within the restaurant, the husband returned to the kitchen and sighed. He seated himself next to his inexpressive wife at the table. 'To think they'd show up demanding our aid after everything they've done. Well, at least they're gone. I just want to close the place for a day and relax after that.'
A hand moved over and rested on top of his own as a familiar voice he hadn't heard in several years spoke. 'Why don't we, then?' He looked over to see his wife's smiling face now that she'd dropped her vacant appearance. This was an expression he hadn't seen in a long time...
'...Y-you're...' The husband awkwardly stammered.
'The redheaded girl didn't like our situation and undid the conditioning. I think the Elder knows, but she pretended not to notice. Now then...I agree that we should stay closed for the day. I've been waiting on that honeymoon for a few years now.' After the wife's revelation, it took her husband several moments to process the information before he pulled his wife into a long-overdue embrace.
All of Ranma's textbooks claimed to have been printed at some point in the mid-to-late 1980s and issued by Furinkan High School. Nodoka had verified that first. She expected it to be some sort of prank, but the textbooks seemed to have legitimate content and suitable quality on a cursory inspection. One notable inclusion was a small and cheaply produced black-and-white booklet from the Japanese Ministry of Education. The title of the booklet, From Showa to Heisei: Imperial Succession and the Change of Eras, bade Nodoka to open it first and look through it.
The booklet claimed that the Emperor of Japan had died, past tense, on January 7, 1989 (Showa 64) and that the Showa Era representing his rule had ended. His son, Crown Prince Akihito, would ascend the throne and preside over a new period known as the Heisei Era. This booklet was hurriedly sent out to students to help them understand the meaning of the transition and what traditions and practical changes would happen in the coming days and months. Were it not for the fact that the event necessitating the booklet had never even happened, Nodoka would have considered it a decent resource. As it was, she simply felt confused.
Ranma had separate books on World History and Japanese History which both continued their records beyond the modern-day well into the 1980s. Even just skimming them, Nodoka could tell that they were consistent and a reasonable progression of events...even if not always predictable without hindsight. The recent events in China, however, were not present. Surely the current self-destruction of the Chinese Government was worth recording in the history books!
The woman shook her head to make herself stop thinking of these as real history books. They were simply that convincing. It was at this point that Nodoka's eyes came to rest upon the scrapbook. What did it contain? Sitting on Ranma's bed and resting the book on her lap, she opened it and saw a picture of Ranma as a two-year-old with her and Genma. She had mixed feelings. Genma's smiling and more youthful face brought back some good memories, though he was now her ex-husband and that relationship was forever tainted. No, the source of happiness that made her smile was borne of her young son's image. She flipped through the pages after looking at the familiar photograph. Various images of Ranma and Genma with assorted fathers and daughters were present. The Yamamuras, the Tachibanas, the Kuonjis, and others. Never had Genma taken a picture of Ranma on his own initiative, so these images were few and far between.
When Nodoka turned the page, her eyes widened as she saw a page torn from a yearbook placed in the scrapbook. The bottom of the page said "Top six images of the undefeated Ranma Saotome beating Ryoga Hibiki to the last piece of bread at lunch, 1984". Studying the images, she saw two boys wearing school uniforms fighting in what appeared to be a lunchroom. The poses and skills were pronounced, often involving airborne stunts. The context of the caption stated that this happened more than just six times. Nodoka was frozen as she studied the face of the victorious boy in the images. The ponytail and hairstyle were a definite match and the face...
She turned the page to test her suspicions and saw new pictures. Color ones. These were of the Tendo home and Dojo, with a slightly older Ranma than the one who had fought for bread in the lunchroom. There was no doubt by this point. The boy in her images was an older version of her son. There were also an aged Genma and Soun along with teenage versions of Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi. Kasumi might even have been an adult at this point. Nodoka's future self and Kimiko were nowhere to be seen, though there was a redhead in some images that was clearly a relative of her side of the family. A number of the pictures throughout were candid in nature without the people taking notice of the camera, including a few of Ranma and the redhead asleep. Separate pictures, but with the same outfits and futon. That was just confusing. Almost as confusing as the pictures which focused on Akane being violent with her son.
Some images were in different locations and had new people she did not know. There was the Ryoga boy who fought Ranma in the lunchroom pictures, a panda of all things, there were a Chinese girl and boy, there was an aged Chinese woman with a walking stick, and Happosai eventually started coming into the pictures as well. There were even a select few with Natsume and Kurumi, but not many. She finally found herself start to appear in pictures partway through. Genma was very nervous in that first picture with her in it, looking at her in what she recognized as thinly veiled terror. Ranma appeared...uncertain.
All this time, Nodoka was looking for a sign of a date. Only on this image did she find one written on the back in her own handwriting. 'Reunited with Ranma! 1988/11/17'. Nodoka was floored. 1988? Eleven years from now? A deep shudder ran through her core as she looked through the other images, some of which were taken in this very house. She then noted a December 1988 report card from Furinkan High School which had been added to the scrapbook, showing that he was struggling in the second semester of his junior year. A Hinako Ninomiya who served as his English teacher had some choice comments including rambling accusations of delinquency and a bad doodle of Ranma's head with closed eyes and a snot bubble, above her complaints of his sleeping in class.
Dates became more common on the final images, progressing through the remainder of 1988 and into the beginning of 1989. The final set of images from the future showed what appeared to be a wedding that was interrupted and destroyed the Tendo Dojo. After that, contemporary images from Ranma's recent training journey with the girls were filed as if they took place afterward in progression. No more odd images from the future appeared.
What oddities were present, interspersed with from the expected images from the training journey, were letters. Letters between Ranma and someone calling herself Ran who claimed to be 'his female half' that spoke of China, curses, and time travel. Someone who said she was coming to Japan with two others to fight Happosai or recover stolen goods. This Shampoo was apparently a fiancée candidate in this weird future that was depicted in the scrapbook. Mousse was apparently someone who sent Ranma back in time to the point of the Neko-ken training...somehow. She wasn't sure she believed it, but the narrative was coming together.
Hearing someone at the doorway, Nodoka looked up to see a rather surprised Ranma staring at her and the book in her hands. Ukyo was next to Ranma with a far less surprised expression. She likely didn't understand the significance of the scrapbook.
"I'm sorry, Ranma. Books don't go in the closet, so I took them out when I was putting away the laundry. Then I noticed that they were above your reading level and when they claimed to be from. I then got curious." It was important for Nodoka to be calm. She didn't want to scare or anger him into silence and distrust. She was the one intruding on his possessions and personal space. "Would you please confirm for me just what I'm seeing? I want to help if I can."
That last set of words from his mother's mouth were clearly not something he expected. Ranma was used to being blamed, hated, or any number of things for something like this. It just went to show that things were very different now. Still, it was time to come clean. "Ucchan, I need to talk to Mom alone for a bit about stuff."
"Eh?" Ukyo wasn't happy about this, her over-reliance on Ranma coming to the fore. "B-but..."
"Ukyo, we just need to talk alone for a bit. You can wait outside the room if you want. He isn't going anywhere." Nodoka said in an effort to appease the child. If she was still like this when school started, it may well prove to be a problem. Perhaps gradually separating the pair for brief periods would be a good idea.
"W-well, alright..." Ukyo looked a bit worried but allowed Ranma to enter the room and close the door behind him.
The boy stepped forward and had a seat next to his mother, noting that she'd gone through the whole scrapbook. Nodoka cleared her throat and, rather than starting with the time travel, the magical sister, or the wrecked wedding, she turned to his last report card. "...So, sleeping in class, Ranma?"
It was perhaps the most mundane place to begin, which may well be why she chose it, but it was no more pleasant to explain.
"Yeah...Pop raised me to think that anythin' outside of martial arts was a waste of time. Escapin' the truant officers was a trainin' method unless he needed to settle in one place for a while. I never went to elementary school and only went to junior high for a couple months before he dragged me off to China. When we met the Tendos, he told me school was suddenly important and put me in high school. I always just thought school wasn't for me. Didn't know it was another way Pop messed me up." He glanced at his mother, fearful of disappointing her. "I ain't some genius kid, Mom. My head's just...older than my body. Didn't know how to tell you just yet, but I sure wasn't plannin' to screw up the trial by sayin' anythin' then. I didn't want some guy in a suit callin' me crazy and ruinin' things."
Nodoka gave a sigh and realized that things were worse than she thought. Her son wasn't merely bad in school, his development had been actively sabotaged. She put an arm around her son and gave a sad smile. "Then it is a blessing that you arrived at just the right time to start over. School is important, Ranma. It teaches children the basic skills they need to function in society and how to gradually become independent adults. It identifies what their skills and capabilities are, prepares them for the workforce, and even how to generally live life in the modern world. Knowing what I now know about your father, I believe he wanted you to be incapable of doing anything but teach martial arts and to be unable to function without him managing your finances. He wanted to make sure that you had no chance to do anything but what he wanted you to do, inherit the Saotome School and support him in his middle and old age. By keeping you out of school...I think he wanted to control your future by crippling you."
Ranma's eyes were wide as he looked at his mother. The gears turned in his mind as realization dawned. From this new perspective, everything made sense. Oh, he'd realized his father was planning to mooch off of him, but the boy never realized just how much damage was done to accomplish this. "That...GAHHH! That old man! Everywhere I look he messes me up! What's his problem?" Ranma was infuriated by this revelation, but at least understood the weight of it...
Nodoka embraced her son gently, holding him close to provide comfort. "Ranma, the police did a mental evaluation on your father. I won't go into the advanced terminology, but Genma is...mentally ill. He is both a narcissist and a sociopath. He cares about himself to the point where it usually overshadows any care or empathy he may have for others. He manipulates others for his own gain, without care for the consequences. Oh, I'm sure he loves you and he might show it in subtle ways like his pride in you...but it's locked up by his illness. He's simply not capable of acting any other way."
Silence filled the room. Nodoka hadn't planned on telling Ranma this until he was much older. If there was truly an eighteen-year-old mind in that six-year-old body though, then he needed to know. Especially to give that sixteen years of suffering at his father's hands the needed context. "Tch...Stupid old man, ruinin' everybody's lives...gotta wonder if all the adults I knew were like that, 'cept maybe Doctor Tofu and Kasumi."
"Why do you say that, Ranma?" Nodoka asked, wondering if he was misunderstanding the nature of the illness.
"Because the adults in Nerima kept screwin' up their kids' lives for what they wanted. Pop, Happosai, Mr. Kuonji, Mr. Tendo, Principal Kuno, Miss Hinako, Cologne...future you...everybody messed up whatever they touched! It's why I had to make sure and bring Ucchan, Natsume, and Kurumi along." Nodoka heard her son speak and realized that she didn't know how bad things really were. He wasn't the only one suffering? It was that wide-spread?
"Tell me, Ranma. Just what happened?" Nodoka asked, opening the floodgates. She soon realized that Ranma's story was worse than she feared...and for all involved rather than just himself. Kimiko had died. Soun had fallen apart and his daughters had to pick up the slack while developing issues of their own, the broken man eventually pinning all his hopes and responsibilities on Ranma taking over the Dojo after marrying an irate Akane. Genma kept stealing and lying only to dump the problems on Ranma when the consequences of those actions came home to roost. The two men pushed the engagement hard and ignored their children's unhappiness and circumstances in favor of their own retirement. With Akane having misandrist tendencies, trust issues, communication issues, anger management issues, and a possible inferiority complex to boot, she resorted to violence readily. Ranma, though strong enough to resist the physical abuse, tended to accept it for various reasons. He was a guest in their home, he blamed himself for misspeaking at times, he used it to get away from her quickly by being punched clear of the house...there were many reasons. Nabiki lusted for wealth to the point of unethical practices and exploitation. Kasumi was trapped as a homemaker and surrogate wife and mother while lacking a real future. Ukyo had a gender identity crisis and ten years of fixation on Ranma and Genma before making up with the former, but still pushing for that marriage. Principal Kuno was full-blown crazy with his kids following suit in an effort to turn sexual harassment into an art form. Natsume and Kurumi were saved from the bear by Happosai instead of Ranma, were told Soun was their father in a lie meant to motivate them to train, and had spent most of their lives searching for a lie before learning the truth. That wasn't even all of the people involved in the mess that was her son's life, it was just the ones she had met.
Hearing about her future self was hard too. Though mutual love was clearly there, Ranma hesitantly mentioned that the pledge defined their relationship. The Jusenkyo curse, which Ranma explained at length, was a key stumbling block to this in his mind. With that block gone on returning to his younger body (resulting in a magic-borne eighteen-year-old daughter for her to boot), he'd hoped he could reconcile with his mother in this era. While he was right, Nodoka knew it hadn't been that simple. The concerns of her psychologist and psychiatrist had clearly come to pass in that future and taken their toll on that future Nodoka's mental health.
"...While I don't know if we were all narcissists and sociopaths like your father, it's clear that there was plenty of mental illness to go around, Ranma." The woman said, hesitantly. "I'm proud that you helped save Ukyo, Natsume, and Kurumi from those fates. Even if Ukyo is suffering now, I believe this is something she can heal from. I can also say that you saved me from such problems."
"Huh? How, Mom?" Ranma asked, not quite understanding.
"Waiting for you for four years was...stressful. I'd started developing tendencies like carrying my sword around in your baby blanket and thinking of how manly you'd be one day, but those tendencies were broken over the week I spent chasing you and Genma across Japan and hearing what Genma had done. By the time you'd come home, I'd been reunited with my own parents and had shaken off such things to love you unconditionally as a mother should. Unfortunately, if I had been forced to endure as long as that older version of me had, I don't think I would be entirely sane. So...thank you, Ranma. Thank you for coming home to me. Now it's my turn to help you." Nodoka held her child close, with a new appreciation for the leap of faith he had made in coming home and an even further strengthened resolve to help her child.
