Chapter 3: New Role
Ranma splashed some cold water onto his face in an attempt to drive off his lingering sleepiness.
A morning spar would have been far more effective. However, a morning spar would also have been far more likely to draw undesired attention to their camp. Moreover, the cold water had the convenient effect of triggering Ranma's transformation, even if it didn't bring her to full wakefulness.
It was with bleary eyes that she went through what was to be her morning ritual for the next few days.
Despite the relative fogginess in her head, she had more luck dressing on this second day. It only took three tries to get her bra in place, and she was able to don her sailor uniform without getting lost in a sleeve hole or tangled up with its large collar. It still took her far longer to dress than it should have, but it wasn't nearly as bad as her first attempt had been.
After she had finished putting on her socks and shoes, Ranma took a quick peek through the vegetation surrounding the camp to confirm there were no early morning spectators in the nearby area. She then hopped over the bushes and began her journey to Lillian. As she did so, she reflected on the next step of her training. She had mostly ignored it the previous night in favor of fighting Genma, but she was now free to consider her newest instruction in earnest. Genma had told her to befriend some rich girl, with Ogasawara, Kanina, or Torii being preferred. The question, though, was how to do that.
The obvious answer was to find one of the girls and challenge her to a duel. She had been in enough fights to know how it worked. After she invariably won, they would be friends. Or they would be eternal rivals. One or the other. Ranma had never figured out what made the difference, and therein was the problem. It was a risky option to say the least, and she wasn't quite ready to commit to that large a gamble when the deadline was still so far away. Regardless, she did note it as a potential last resort effort.
As she was thinking, Ranma passed through the front entrance of Lillian's campus. The wide path and rows of carefully planted trees made the area feel like an arcadian sanctuary in the middle of the concrete jungle that was Tokyo. That effect was reinforced by the susurrus of the wind through the leaves, masking the distant noise of Tokyo traffic. This could have been exact same scene from a century earlier. It had a certain timeless quality to it.
The second idea which occurred to her was to follow Tanezaki's advice. Tanezaki had said that joining an after-school club would be a good way to make friends. She had particularly suggested that the choir would be happy to have Ranma join. There was no guarantee that Ogasawara, Kanina, or Torii would be a member of any club, choir or otherwise, but Genma had said that any rich girl would work. It was a definite possibility she would need to consider in more detail.
"Gokigenyou, Ranko-san," a girl said. It was far from a yell, but the voice still managed to carry across the distance.
A third option occurred to Ranma as well. The name Torii sounded familiar to her for some reason. She could have sworn she had heard it somewhere before. However, she had heard many names on her first day of class. If she had heard the name Torii specifically, it had become lost in the sea of memory. Maybe she was one of her classmates? Ranma wasn't sure. Regardless, now that she was primed to seek those three names out, she was sure she'd notice the next time she heard it. Once she did so, she could approach Torii directly and try a more targeted effort.
That option was good, as far as it went, but it didn't really go far enough. It still left open the question of how to actually befriend somebody. Even if she did find Torii, she had no idea what to do with her, outside of challenging her and defeating her in combat.
"Ranko-san," the same girl said again.
Ranma took attention to the second calling of that name. She still wasn't used to it, and it would take a while longer before it became a habitual mental highlight rather than merely something she consciously recognized as something she should respond to.
She stopped and looked around. Apparently somebody was trying to call for her.
It was hard to say who that person was. There were about 15 different girls in uniform around her. Most of them were on their own, but there were a couple of pairs, and a trio as well. All of them had stopped and turned to look. A couple of the pairs were talking to each other, hands raised to block their mouths from view.
"Ranko-san," Ranma heard a third time. This time she was able to spot its source.
The girl was elegant, to say the least. She stood about 25 centimeters taller than Ranma herself did, and the long dark hair which flowed freely down the back of her head was as luxurious as any model's. She moved with a grace befitting an expert martial artist, albeit her positioning lacked any real tactical considerations. Her face had a look of aristocratic nobility tempered with just a touch of playfulness in her eyes.
Ranma had no idea who she was. The girl hadn't been in the First-year Chrysanthemum Group, though. Ranma was sure of it. Somebody that beautiful naturally stood out wherever she was.
"Yeah?" Ranma asked.
"It is most unseemly for a student of Lillian to be dressed like that," the girl said. Her voice had a refined tone and cadence to it.
Ranma mentally responded that she wasn't really a student of Lillian. However, Genma's admonition to blend in and infiltrate the school echoed in her head. She could already hear his derisive mocking that it hadn't even been three days yet and she had failed already, and her pride bristled at the imagined slight.
She was torn between her need to keep a low profile and her desire to retort. That internal conflict emerged as a question. She asked, "And who are you to say that?"
The girl's eyes widened fractionally. She said, "Of course. I apologize for my presumption." She gave a slight bow to Ranma. "I am Sachiko Ogasawara, Rosa Chinensis en bouton."
The name sprang to Ranma's attention. It was one of the names Genma had told her particularly to seek out. Suddenly Ranma felt good for having held back her impulse of outrage. She might have never made the discovery.
Unfortunately, that meant that she was now faced with the very real quandary which up until just moments ago had only been a theoretical problem in regards to Torii. Ranma had one of her targets directly in front of her, and she had no idea what to do about it. It seemed like an opening, but it was one which she didn't know how to take advantage of without overextending herself.
Besides Sachiko's name, there was one other thing which caught Ranma's attention in Sachiko's introduction.
"Rosa Chininse Bouton? That's one of those student council things, right?" If that were the case, then that was very fortuitous. It would make it easy to find Sachiko in the future. She was sure Tanezaki had pointed out the place where the student council met during her tour the day before. Ranma just needed to remember where that was. In the worst case, she could just ask somebody, too. It was far easier than trying to wander the whole school in search of a girl she had never met before with only a name to go by.
"That is correct," Sachiko said with a nod. "I'm part of the Yamayurikai. We were told that you would be transferring in and that we should assist your transition however we could."
"I see," Ranma said. She had mixed feelings about the encounter. Locating one of her potential targets so quickly, before classes had even started, was good. The fact it had happened because she had stood out in some way was bad. She looked down at her uniform to see what had drawn Sachiko attention to her. "So what's wrong with how I'm dressed?"
"Your neckerchief," Sachiko said, guesting to Ranma's chest. "As charming as a bow is, it is not the correct way to tie it. It is important for your entire uniform to be worn properly, including your neckerchief."
Ranma looked around. All of the other girls had their neckerchiefs tied in a draping knot. It looked distinctly different from the large bow she had tied.
"Uhh... nobody ever told me what to do with it," Ranma said. Her hand reflexively reached up to scratch the back of her head is she spoke.
"I see. Hold this," Sachiko said. She held out her book bag to Ranma.
"Okay?" Ranma was confused, but she took her book bag anyway.
Sachiko stepped directly in front of Ranma and untied the bow. She then pulled the neckerchief off of Ranma's neck and held it in front of her on display.
"You hold it like this to find the center, and then fold it like this," Sachiko said. She reached around Ranma, both arms surrounding her in a loose hug. "Pull it upwards until it is lined up, and then draw it under the collar to the front here." She held up the two ends in front of Ranma. "Then you pull this end this way, pull this end over here, tuck this end here, and tighten. Done."
Ranma's neckerchief was now draped in front, similar to everybody else's.
"Thanks," Ranma said. The knot had seemed simple enough to tie, but that wasn't the focus of her attention. She was instead focused on trying to think of a way to turn this brief incident into a friendship with Sachiko. This was a huge opening, and she was eager to exploit it, if only she could think of the appropriate technique to do so. Nothing in her vast repertoire seemed appropriate, though.
"You're welcome. Gokigenyou," Sachiko said. She took her book bag back from Ranma and turned away.
"Uhh... right." Ranma said. Unfortunately, the moment passed with no sudden breakthrough, and she resigned herself to the idea that the apparent opening Sachiko had presented was actually a feint. She would need to let it pass and bide her time, waiting for a more actionable opportunity.
Regardless, Ranma did take advantage of the meeting to memorize Sachiko's face. The Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts strongly preferred being reactive to proactive, but if nothing better presented itself in the next few days, she could always seize the initiative herself and go on the offense by issuing a challenge to Sachiko. In order to do that, though, Ranma would need to be able to recognize her.
With Sachiko's departure, the other girls around Ranma lost interest and also turned away, continuing their own trips to their respective classes. Ranma likewise continued on her way towards the building and the First-year Chrysanthemum Group classroom therein.
She was disappointed that she hadn't been able to complete her second task right there and then, but more than that, she felt relieved. Practically speaking, her situation had improved dramatically over the past few minutes. She had identified at least one specific target for her efforts. She had a name, a face, and a location. If it came to the point that she needed to use her desperation strike, she was now in a position to be able to do so. The difference between having no options and having one option was immeasurably large, and Ranma felt good for having established one.
That was for another time, though. She still had several days to come up with a more reliable way to befriend Sachiko before she would need to resort to sending her a challenge. There were also the matter of those two other girls Genma had mentioned. It would be good to find them, too. Having one option was a solid start, but it was always good to have a backup and a backup backup.
Classes this second day were just as semi-inscrutable as they had been the day before. Having been the transfer student more times than she could remember, she knew it would take at least a few days to get enough of the background knowledge for the class subjects to start making sense. Until then, all Ranma could do was to try to drink from the proverbial fire hose of information.
She was distracted in her efforts to concentrate in class, though, by the question of how to actually make friends. She really didn't know how it worked. It seemed like the classmates in all the schools she went to always had their cliques and confidants, but Ranma had never really directly experienced that herself. Aside from the boys she had fought and defeated in the past, she had never actually had any friends.
There had to be a way to befriend somebody other than a duel, though. There were simply too many friendships and too few rivalries to account for all these relationships if dueling was the only way. However, Ranma had no idea what that other way was. From what she had observed as a disinterested outsider, it seemed like suddenly one day, K would be talking to U, or M would be giving T a present of some kind. All of that just sort of happened without any bruising, limping, or any other evidence of a fight.
The question of how it all worked nagged at Ranma. It was an obvious oversight in her training, which explained why Genma had chosen to focus on it as the second step of her special training. Identifying the problem didn't help that much in cracking the secret to the techniques, though. It was like saying the secret to Martial Arts Beekeeping was to use Martial Arts Beekeeping. While that was literally true, it was basically useless.
Between the classes and her puzzling over friendship, the morning passed by quickly. She was still in the process of speculating when the sounds of people shuffling around caught her attention. The unexpected bustling caused a brief moment of confusion and worry, but then she noticed the clock. It showed that somehow lunchtime had managed to sneak up on her. Her stomach quickly reminded her that it had been telling her the same thing for hours.
Ranma stood up and stretched her legs, glad to be in motion again. As she did so, Ami approached her and said, "Gokigenyou."
"Hello," Ranma said.
"I think you left right after classes yesterday, right?" Ami asked.
"Yeah. What of it?" Ranma asked, although she already knew what Ami was interested in. This was far from the first time she had had such a shakedown. She had transferred schools enough times to know how things went. If the boss of the school was in Ranma's class, it would start the very first day. If the boss was in a different class, though, it would typically start on the second day, as it took some time for the news to spread and for orders to be given.
Next would be the indirect allusions to supporting the group effort or helping those in need. It was all very silly. If they wanted to demand money, it would have been so much easier to directly say so. Then Ranma could directly deny the request, and they could quickly move on to the fight. It would have saved so much precious lunchtime.
"I'm not sure where your last school was, but in Lillian, it's expected that everybody contribute to the class," Ami said, using the innocuous-sounding language which was so common.
Their conversation was now the center of attention of the entire room. Girls had paused in their sliding of desks together and their unwrapping of lunch boxes. Everybody was undoubtedly eager to see how Ranma would answer.
"And what form would this contribution take?" Ranma asked. Concurrently, she tensed herself and prepared for the upcoming fight that would occur when it became clear that she would not quietly submit. Ami didn't look like much of a fighter, but it was easy to hide skill, as Ranma herself did all the time. No matter how she looked at the situation, Ami had to have something, seeing how she was the boss's lieutenant who had been chosen to threaten Ranma.
"We have our daily cleaning assignments: wiping off the chalkboard, vacuuming the floor, emptying the trash, washing the windows, and the like. There's a lot of things to do, but if we all work together, we can get it done fast. Yesterday you mentioned you liked cleaning things, right?" Ami asked. She gave a tentative smile.
Ranma blinked in confusion. That had not been what she had expected to hear. Typically the confrontation would have had some line about caring for those who were less fortunate, getting an insurance policy against unforeseen health problems, or something else clearly linked to money. "Wiping," "vacuuming," "emptying," and "washing:" if those were innuendo-laden verbs, Ranma failed to make the connection. She couldn't tell if she was being bullied or not, and the change of tact left her unsure how to respond.
She decided to take Ami's statements literally. Even if it was a shakedown, a misunderstood request would just force Ami to clarify what was going on. Even better, it had the possibility of annoying Ami, which could put her off-balance.
"Yes, I did say that, didn't I?" Ranma remained tense and on-guard, ready to jump back and possibly pull a desk over with her foot to serve as an impromptu obstacle.
"Then you should quite enjoy this. I believe you are scheduled to vacuum the floors today," Ami said. She walked over to a notebook at the back of the classroom and opened it up. "Yes, it appears that you are."
Whatever was happening, it did not appear to be a demand for money. The failure to follow the typical script for new students left Ranma confused. With no other ideas how to respond, Ranma asked the obvious question. "What's a vacuum?"
Ami blinked at Ranma. She blinked again. She said, "I see. You poor thing. It must have been hard to grow up without a mother. I'll show you after class today."
Ranma didn't know what to make of the exchange she had just shared with Ami. Was she being picked on, albeit the girl version of it? If so, then who was she expected to fight in response to it? If not, then what was Ami driving at? If Ami's words were to be taken at face value, Ranma would find out what was going on when school ended, one way or another. That was good in that it gave her time to prepare. The only problem was that she had no idea what to prepare for.
Regardless, she did have something which was both more concrete and more pressing to attend to. It was lunchtime.
Ranma made her way out of the classroom to the snack vending machines. Once there, she quickly bought some packs of instant noodles. She ate them almost as quickly, picking up the dry blocks and biting into them like large and particularly crunchy biscuits. It was just faster, easier, and safer to eat the noodles that way. Aside the trouble of finding any hot water to cook them, there was also the unacceptable risk that being near hot water would bring with it.
The afternoon classes were as uneventful as the morning classes had been. She still had some trepidation upon approaching the changing room for PE class, but it was very much muted as compared to the day before. Even one day's worth of experience was infinitely better than going in completely blind, and both her changing of uniforms and the volleyball practice went by without incident. That was a mixed blessing, as it meant that she spent another period in mind-numbing boredom as she bumped a ball back and forth with one of her classmates.
Over the course of the afternoon, Ranma continued to think about what Ami had said during their lunchtime confrontation and what it had all meant. However, she came to no real conclusions, so she figured she would just need to improvise when the time came. In a way, that was better. Improvisation and adaptability had always been the strongest aspects of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and when classes came to an end, she was primed to handle anything Ami might try.
To her surprise, things turned out to be exactly as Ami had said. It was the first time her welcoming reception's words were literally true. The class actually did work together to clean everything up.
The different girls assigned on the sheet teamed up and did the tasks to which they were assigned: cleaning the chalkboards, straightening the furniture, disposing the rubbish, and a number of unknown tasks outside the classroom. All of this without any threats or yelling of any kind.
It was surreal.
Throughout her life, whenever they stayed in a place long enough to do any cleaning, it was always Ranma on her own who did it. Genma's involvement would purely be in the form of verbal encouragement, which was to say he insulted, threatened, and yelled at her until she gave in and did it. That was the proper way of things, with the master ordering around the underling to do the actual work.
Not here, though. Despite being the class representative, Ami joined in herself. After she helped demonstrate how a vacuum cleaner worked to Ranma, and she walked off to smash some chalkboard erasers together out of an open window to clean them off.
The idea of everybody working together just felt weird.
If nothing else, it emphasized something which Ranma had already known. Between the class introduction, the neckerchief, the cafeteria, the changing room, the cleaning, and everything else, there were far too many things lingering around Lillian which were unknown to her. That was a problem, seeing how the first instruction Genma had given to her was to blend in. She couldn't do that unless she understood the environment into which she was to blend.
She was long overdue for some basic information gathering. In addition to helping her not draw attention to herself, getting more information from around the school could possibly give her a better idea of how the process of friendship worked. That would certainly help her in her mission of befriending a rich girl, be it Sachiko or somebody else.
The best way to learn more about Lillian and the girls who attended it was to observe them in action. With that in mind, Ranma began subtly following Ami as the class dispersed. As she was the class representative, it was hard to imagine somebody more appropriate from whom to acquire techniques.
Ami walked through the hallways, greeting a couple of girls in passing as she moved, and then went outside. It was easy to follow her, as the vegetation throughout the area was meticulously planned and cultivated, resulting in large regions free of obstructions along and between the paths around the campus. Paradoxically, that also made it difficult to follow her, as it meant that there were few places to hide in the event she turned around.
Ranma moved carefully, taking advantage of the long sight lines to keep her distance as she trailed behind. She wanted to be close enough to see what Ami did, but far enough away that an errant scuff or rustle wouldn't be noticed. That balance became easier to maintain as they neared the primary gym. Bangs, crashes, and other similar noises became progressively louder as they approached. The faint sound of girls calling out instructions joined the commotion once she got close enough to hear. It had the ambiance of a construction site of some kind or another.
Ami reached the building first and went in. In response, Ranma sped forward. There was far less chance of being detected now, and she wanted to minimize the amount of time Ami was out of sight.
It took several seconds for Ranma to reach the door, quietly open it, and enter.
Inside was definitely a scene of construction, but of what, Ranma couldn't tell.
Up on the stage to the side of the main room were several teams of girls building a variety of seemingly unrelated things. One team was hammering some several planks of wood together. Another team was drawing lines on a large piece of gray paper. Yet another team was pulling out long strips of fabric and tying them to pieces of furniture. On the far side of the stage, where Ami had gone, was a small cluster of girls staring at sheets of paper and chatting.
Curiosity got the better of Ranma, and she approached. She asked a girl kneeling on the ground near the edge of the stage, "What is this?"
The girl looked over at Ranma. She had medium-length blonde hair which draped down the back of her head. She asked, "This? This is going to be a carriage. I hope." It looked like the girl had taken a desk and tied a chair to the front of it with some string. She tapped the surface of the desk with the flat of her hand. "What do you think so far?
"No, I meant all of this," Ranma asked. She waved her hands around, indicating the entire stage.
"All of this? This is the handicraft club. We're getting set up for the upcoming play of 'Cinderella' that we're doing with the Yamayurikai for the festival."
"The Yamayurikai?" Ranma asked. That sounded promising. She knew that Sachiko was in the Yamayurikai. If they were working with the handicraft club, then maybe if Ranma had an opportunity here. The idea would be to join with the handicraft club, in the hopes that it would bring her in contact with the Yamayurikai, in the hopes that she could meet Sachiko again, in the hopes that she could befriend her... using some unknown after-school club technique which Tanezaki had alluded to... Somehow...
When it was put that way, it did seem rather unlikely. On the other hand, it was also relatively safe. Unlike challenging Sachiko to a duel, which culminated in a a single decisive and unpredictable event, Ranma would be able to abort this effort at any time without any particular risk. Additionally, it could also help give her more of that general background knowledge of life in Lillian which she so desperately needed.
Ranma's analysis of the value of joining the handicraft club was interrupted by the appearance of Sachiko herself. She walked into the gym using the same door Ami and Ranma had used, but unlike their entrances, she brought with her a wave of quiet. The girls near the stage edge stopped their work and turned to look at her. Their interest caught the attention of the girls behind them, and the phenomenon propagated backwards as a wave until everybody had stopped in attentive silence.
"Are there any first-year students in here?" Sachiko asked. Her voice managed to fill the entire room, even as it stayed moderate and composed. "I'd like somebody to take over the role of Cinderella from me."
Her question was met with silence. Several of the small clusters of girls exchanged looks with each other, but nobody said anything.
"I'll make you my petite soeur," Sachiko said, the hint of desperation coloring her voice. "Please. I need help."
The phrase "petite soeur" resounded in Ranma's head. It was one of the phrases that Yoshino had said. She had described it as a "sacred bond" and had mentioned how the two girls in that relationship helped each other in various ways. That sounded as close to a description of "friend" as Ranma had ever heard.
Ranma prided herself on her ability to spot and exploit and opening, and this opportunity practically screamed at her. Even better, unlike the one in the morning, she knew exactly how to take advantage of it.
"I'll do it," Ranma said. Her swift declaration was loud, filling the cavernous space of the gym and causing everybody to snap over to look at her.
"Are you sure?" the girl that Ranma had been talking to earlier asked. "Do you even know what you're volunteering for?"
Before Ranma could say anything in return, Sachiko was at her side and grabbing her by the hand. "Come on," she said as she pulled Ranma away from the others.
The two of them rushed through the grounds of the school. Rather, Ranma rushed. Sachiko was technically on the verge of a jog as well, but she maintained her poise and grace as she moved. It was as if she were taking a stroll through a garden, albeit at double a more leisurely speed.
"The Yamayurikai is putting on a play for the school festival," Sachiko said as they passed by a row of trees and were approaching a small grove. "Onee-sama is telling me to be Cinderella, but I can't do it because... personal reasons. However, if I can find a petite soeur, then she could take my place. That's where you come in. That reminds me. Here, take this. You'll need to wear it around your neck."
Ranma took a quick glance at the object Sachiko handed to her. It was a small, silver cross attached to a loop of cord with beads all along it. It looked not unlike the necklace that Yoshino had shown her the day before. Ranma had to fractionally slow down to straighten it out before she could put it on.
Sachiko hadn't changed her pace at all and had already moved past the statue of the hooded woman by the time Ranma had placed the rosary around her neck. It forced Ranma to outright run for several steps in order to catch up.
"We're going to the Rose Mansion. It's this way. That reminds me, be sure call me 'Onee-sama.' It's traditional," Sachiko said, briefly sparing a glance back at Ranma before she continued forward.
"Sure," Ranma said. It felt weird for her to address anybody using the extremely respectful "sama" honorific, but based on her limited time in Lillian, it seemed to be rather common. She had already overheard several girls in her class referring to their "Onee-sama." Additionally, there had been an occasional mentioning of a girl by name with the same honorific, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Besides, it was just pretend for a few days.
They made their way behind the main school building, and Ranma eventually found herself approaching a modest, two-story building. It had a peaked roof with a small cross on its top like a miniature steeple.
"When we get in there, let me do the talking," Sachiko said. She opened the front door and pulled Ranma in behind her.
The inside of the Rose Mansion reflected the outside. It was a plain building primarily made out of wood. A throw rug lined the floor of the entrance hall, and there were a few paintings decorating the different walls in sight. It was well maintained, but that couldn't overcome the fact that the building was just old. It very much could have been a priest's house from 100 years ago.
Sachiko quickly pulled Ranma forward and up some creaking stairs along the side of the entrance hall. At the top of the stairs she sped up even more, yanking on Ranma's hand in her haste. She rushed directly to a door which was shaped like a biscuit.
The door had a sign hanging on it which read, "Please be quiet. We are in a meeting." Ranma only had a moment to read it, though, as upon reaching it, Sachiko immediately shoved the door open and barged in.
"I have an announcement to make!"
The room they entered looked liked a Western-style dining room. There were numerous bay windows, several of which were open to the temperate autumn weather. In the center of the room was a large rectangular table upon which sat several flowers and a basket half-filled with cookies. Around the table were ten chairs. Sitting in them were six girls.
Ranma recognized the girl sitting on a near side as Yoshino, but she was the only girl she recognized.
Of the five unknown girls, three of them had short hair: the first with dark hair and a penetrating look in her eyes, the second with brown hair which was somewhat frizzed and messy, and the third with light brown hair and an androgynous face. The fourth girl had medium-length, brown hair which she kept pulled back with a headband. The last girl had long, wavy, brown hair and a delicate appearance.
All of the girls startled and snapped over to look at both the abrupt entrance and Sachiko's forceful declaration. The girl with short, dark hair had a teacup frozen half-way to her lips, and she slowly put it back on top of the saucer in front of her. The girl with frizzed hair had been reaching over for a cookie, but she stopped and sat back down onto her chair. The girl with her hair in a headband was holding a sheet of paper, but she put it down on the table in front of her and joined in with the others in peering at Ranma and Sachiko.
"Ranko-san?" Yoshino asked from where she sat at the table.
Ranma wondered what they had just interrupted.
Apparently Sachiko did not, though, as she continued, "I found a petite soeur." She pulled Ranma forward and held her in front of her as if Ranma were a child being shown to some extended relatives for the first time.
A bolt of lightning striking the room could have had more of an effect on the six girls sitting in the room than Sachiko's announcement had had, but it was hard to be certain. It would have been close, regardless. The collective sound of six gasps filled the air, and all six of the girls' gazes escalated to be outright goggling. Some of the girls had brought their hands up to cover their faces, and the ones who had not could be seen with their mouths gaping open. Each of the girls had an unfocused look of shocked disbelief as their eyes flicked between Ranma and Sachiko.
Sachiko's voice had the ring of triumph in it as she continued, "Ranko will be taking my place as Cinderella, just like we agreed."
Silence filled the room.
The girl with short, frizzed hair was the first to partially recover. She had an exotic beauty which looked somewhat roguish due to her casual bearing and posture. She held her hand against the side of her face and shook her head. As she did so, she said, "Ay-yay-ya. She's actually gone and done it."
"So it would seem," the girl with short, dark hair said. Her head was also shaking. She relaxed her face and looked over to direct her attention exclusively towards Ranma. "Gokigenyou. Welcome Lillian, Ranko-san. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable." She gave a welcoming smile and gestured to one of the empty chairs at the table near Ranma. "Let's introduce ourselves. After that, we can discuss what my misguided petite soeur has done." The confidence with which she spoke and the subtle glances the others in the room periodically sent her way made it clear that she was the one in charge.
Sachiko said, "There's no..."
"Sachiko," the girl with short, dark hair said sharply. Sachiko fractionally shrank back at the girl's interruption.
The girl with long, wavy hair stood up. She had exceptionally pale and fair skin, and in many ways, she looked like an antique Western doll. She walked around the table, pulled out a chair, and held it slightly angled towards Ranma.
Ranma cast a skeptical eye at the chair, trying to judge if it was a trap. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about it, either in its construction or in its positioning. She gingerly stepped forward and took a seat, but she still maintained her guard in the event somebody tried to launch a surprise attack upon her.
"Would you like some tea?" the girl with long, wavy hair asked. "Or maybe some coffee or hot chocolate, although I have to warn you that those are only instant." She walked over to a table in the corner of the room where there was both a tray with a tea service on it and an electric kettle from which steam could be seen slowly rising.
Ranma automatically made the connection between hot drink and hot water. In turn, that was connected to danger. She quickly held up her hands and said, "No, no. No, thank you."
"As you like," the girl with long, wavy hair said. She returned the teacup in her hand back to the tray on the table.
The girl with short, dark hair took a sip from her own cup and then put it back down. She offered another smile to Ranma and said, "I will confess that I had been hoping to have a chance to meet you, but I had never imagined it would be like this. I must apologize for the circumstances that brought us together. This is the Yamayurikai. I'm Youko Mizuno, Rosa Chinensis, and the grande soeur of Sachiko."
Ranma made note to pay close attention to her. She was one of the winners of the school tournament, and that made her one of the best of the best. Ranma still wasn't sure what it was that Lillian specialized in, but regardless of if it was Martial Arts Politics, Martial Arts Socialization, Martial Arts Friendship, or something else, it didn't matter. Youko's status marked her as being somebody particularly dangerous in the event that this was a trap, and somebody especially valuable to copy techniques from in any case.
The girl wearing a headband spoke next. "Nice to meet you. I'm Eriko Torii, Rosa Foetida." Her headband held back her hair to reveal her large forehead, and the smile on her face quirked mischievously.
Eriko's introduction caught Ranma's attention, even more so than Youko's had. More important than being one of The Three Roses, Eriko was one of the three girls that Genma had listed as being particularly good for Ranma to befriend. She made sure to memorize her face and her voice. If things didn't work out with Sachiko, then Eriko was another person she could target.
The androgynous girl was the next one to speak. She had a lean body which spoke of her being involved in some kind of sport. She said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Rei Hasekura, Rosa Foetida en bouton."
Ranma struggled to make sense of what was happening. It wasn't unusual for the boss of the school to give an introduction before beginning a duel, and occasionally a favored lieutenant might as well. That had never happened prior to an ambush, though, let alone having a third person also give an introduction. Everything just felt off.
"I'm Sei Satou, Rosa Gigantea," the girl with short, frizzed hair said.
Ranma noted her as well as the third master of the school, but by this point, she was more preoccupied with trying to place the sense of discordance than marking another special practitioner. This didn't feel at all like a trap, but if it wasn't a trap, then what was it and why did it feel so familiar? She was sure she had been in a situation like this before, and multiple times at that, but she had no idea where, when, or why. It was like remembering some lyrics but not being able to identify the song they had came from. The disorienting confusion left her unsettled, and she tightened her guard in response.
The girl with long, wavy hair spoke up last from where she still stood behind Ranma. She said, "My name is Shimako Toudou, Rosa Gigantea en bouton, although I am also a first-year student like yourself. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Then the room went quiet.
Everybody focused on Ranma.
The air was heavy with the tense pressure of expectation.
Ranma's eyes quickly flicked between the different girls around her. While it didn't feel like a trap, one thing she had learned from Genma was to never let down her guard. The moment she relaxed was the moment she was most vulnerable to a surprise attack.
Eriko turned and sent a look at Youko. Sei did the same.
"There's no need to be nervous," Youko said. "Can you introduce yourself?"
Ranma hesitated. Sachiko had said to leave the talking to her, and she wasn't sure if she should keep quiet or not. She sent a glance towards Sachiko to see if she could get a cue, but she couldn't read anything from her at all.
Youko continued to look at Ranma with compelling expectation.
They were at an impasse, it seemed, and Ranma needed to do something to break it. She said, "... Nice to meet you... I'm..." She was going to continue on and give her name, as the standard greeting went, but she suddenly realized to her chagrin that she had forgotten her supposed surname. It was Su-something, she thought. She wasn't sure, though, and she wasn't willing to risk it. In a small voice, she trailed off, "... Ranko..."
Once again silence filled the room.
"Nice to meet you," Youko said. She offered Ranma another warm smile. "So now that we've properly met, I must apologize on behalf of my petite soeur for placing you in this situation." She gave a modest bow of her head. She then turned to look at Sachiko. In a decidedly more stern voice, she said, "I'm very disappointed. We were told about Ranko-san so that we could look out for her, not so we could take advantage of her."
"Poor thing," Rei said quietly with a shake of her head.
Youko turned back to Ranma and said, "I would like to assure you that my petite soeur's behavior has not been sanctioned by the Yamayurikai. You may return her rosary without worry. I'll be having words with her later."
And suddenly everything clicked together: the initial encounter with the masters of a new school of martial arts, the introduction of the panel before her, the accusations directed towards the one who had brought Ranma before them. This wasn't a trap. This was a test!
Everything had felt so familiar because it was so familiar. She had been through a countless number of initiation trials throughout her years of training, and she knew exactly how those went.
First would be the accusations against the would-be sponsor for violating some rule of some kind or other. Then would come an explanation of why Ranma couldn't be allowed to learn the secrets of their school. Concurrent to that would be her interrogation, during which Ranma would need to convince them she was worthy of studying here. There may even be some consultation with some authority to see if an exception could be granted. Regardless, though, it would ultimately culminate with some challenge Ranma would need to overcome. Once she did so, as she always did, only then would she be allowed access.
The stakes were much higher this time, though. Not only were the novel and still unknown martial arts practiced in Lillian depending on this test, the Umisenken was as well. If Ranma was turned away, that would put the entire training program Genma had planned for her at risk. There was always the possibility she could befriend some other rich girl, but who knew when such an opportunity might come again? At the very least, it would set her back a few days, and she was enthusiastic to learn the Umisenken as fast as possible. Plus there was the matter of her pride, too.
"Soeurs are supposed to have a sacred bond. I can't believe you would degrade it like this. It's despicable," Sei said.
Now that Ranma had managed to place what was going on, she felt much more confident. If this was the trial for her admission, then she was more than prepared to fight. She took advantage of the opening Sei had presented and launched her counterattack.
"You take that back! Osa... I mean Onee-sama..." the title slid off of Ranma's tongue like a roof tile smashing into the ground, "... has been very kind to me."
Youko let out the breath she had been taking in in an abrupt questioning exhalation. She blinked at Ranma with an expression of surprise and confusion. Everybody else in the room did likewise, including Sachiko herself. The look of curiosity was consistent in all of the eyes now focused upon Ranma.
They were off-balance. That had to be a good thing. Ranma pressed the attack. "She showed me how to tie this stupid thing." Ranma flicked her neckerchief with her hands as she spoke. "And... and..." She tried to think of something else to add. "... And she's been really helpful." That was all she could think to say. Her declaration felt weak, so she quickly continued, increasing her volume in an attempt to compensate. "This is something I want too."
"It's only been one day," Youko said.
"So what? That doesn't matter. Onee-sama gave me her rosary..." Ranma said as pulled the pendant out from where it hung around her neck, "... and that's that."
"Technically..." Eriko said, slightly elongating the word for emphasis. "... Sachiko can select whoever she wants as her petite soeur, as long as they both agree." The mischievous look on her face had grown more prominent, transforming her smile into something much more like a grin. "And it certainly sounds to me like Ranko-san does in fact agree."
Youko pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a large, if quiet, a sigh. She said, "That is a good point. Very well." She dropped her hand from her face and looked back and forth between Ranma and Sachiko. She edges of her mouth quirked into what could passably be considered a smile, and she made a slight bow with her head. "I apologize for my misunderstanding. I will recognize Ranko-chan as Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur."
The change in honorific Youko used came as a relief. More than the words themselves, it suggested to Ranma that she had been successful in her argument. She had been admitted. Yet a cloud of doubt still lingered in the air. It was typical to face a challenge of some sort before being granted admission, and the absence of one made things feel incomplete and unsettled.
Sachiko visibly inflated in response to Youko's declaration. The defiant triumph was back in her voice as she said, "Good. Then like we agreed, Ranko can take over my role as Cinderella in the play."
"Now that..." Eriko said, once again extending the word for emphasis, "... is another matter entirely. It's too late to change the role of Cinderella."
"You promised," Sachiko almost, but not quite, shouted.
The room went quiet as Youko, Sei, and Eriko exchanged glances. Youko broke that silence, saying, "While it is true that we had said that somebody without a petite soeur didn't have much standing to speak in meetings, we never said anything about changing the roles of the play. You just decided that on your own. I won't allow you to drop it. It's for your own good."
"What'dya mean she's got to play Cinderella?"
It took a moment for Ranma to realize that that exclamation had just come from her. Behind her, the chair she had been sitting in clattered to the ground, thrown back by her abrupt rising to her feet.
Everybody startled and looked up at Ranma.
"Ya'all keep going on and on, saying what Ogasawara-san's gotta do. Says who?"
The line about it being for Sachiko's own good grated Ranma. She had heard Genma say the same more times than she could count, such as when he had eaten her dinner, or when he had left her as a distraction while he made his escape.
"And who are you to have any say in this matter?" Youko asked. Her voice maintained an even and controlled tone, in contrast to Ranma's brassy shouting.
"Rosa Chinesisu en boton peti souyu, but that don't matter. What matters is Ogasawara-san's Ogasawara-san, and if she don't want to do it, then she don't got to." Ranma sent a challenging look of defiance at Youko.
"Onee-sama, you are the one who's always telling me I should assert myself more," Sachiko said. She spoke in a normal voice, but it sounded decidedly subdued in comparison to Ranma's much louder declaration.
The room was quiet for a second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Then Sei gave a quiet laugh. "She's got you there."
The other girls remained quiet as they turned to see Youko's reaction. It seemed like no matter what else happened, she would be the final arbiter.
"So you're willing to take over then? Do you even know what you're volunteering for?" Youko asked, half-skeptical and half-exasperated.
"It doesn't matter," Ranma said. She thought back to the explanation Yoshino had given the day before. "It is the sacred duty for the petitu souyiru to assist her Onee-sama." The title became easier to say the more she used it. "For her, I'm ready to do anything."
Rei leaned over to Yoshino and semi-quietly said, "You could learn a thing or two from her."
Yoshino emoted an exaggerated frown back at Rei, who grinned in response.
Youko continued to address Ranma and said, "Those are brave words, but it won't be easy. We've been practicing for a few weeks now. It will be a lot of hard work for you to catch up, if you even can."
Suddenly, a sense of order and correctness was restored to the world. The absence of an admittance challenge had felt as strange as trying to cook tonkatsu without any oil, and its reappearance brought with it the comfort of familiarity. Ranma had lost count of the number of times she had heard lines like Youko's before. It was a common refrain throughout her life of martial arts training: this could make you cry, this could make you throw up, this could make you pass out, this could kill you. Are you sure you can handle it?
She had a universal answer to every one of those warnings.
"I love a challenge."
"I can see why Sachiko picked you," Youko said. The ghost of a smile crossed her mouth, and she nodded with her eyes if not her whole head. "Very well. You've convinced me."
It felt natural. This was Ranma's element. None of the secrets, scheming, and whatever else Genma was having her do for Umisenken training. This was a plain and simple challenge, like so many she had done before. She had just learned the objective to meet. Next would be the desperate struggle to learn the new skills she needed to accomplish that objective. There would be complications, of course, maybe even to the point that it would seem like all was lost. Then, in the end, she would succeed. She always did. Eventually.
Youko looked up at Sachiko. "You'll play... Sister B instead. I expect you to talk to the handicraft club about the costume change."
"Of course. Thank you very much," Sachiko said. She bowed to Youko.
Youko turned to address Yoshino and Shimako. She said, "And that means you two will only need to do Sister A's and Sister C's lines."
"Understood," Yoshino and Shimako both said.
Youko looked around the table, meeting the eyes of everybody sitting there. She said, "So now that that's all settled, I think we should get back to the meeting agenda. We still have numerous open requests, and I'm sure the coming days will be filled with a great deal of extra time practicing, now that we've had this late casting change. We had best get through everything today so we can focus on rehearsals starting tomorrow." She looked up at Sachiko. "Would you please take a seat?"
Sachiko sat down in a chair next to where Ranma was still standing.
As her role in the situation was done, Ranma turned and started to leave. Before she could take two steps, though, Youko asked, "Where are you going?"
Ranma turned her head back and said, "It looks like you're starting your meeting, so I thought I'd just go and leave you to it." She pointed towards the door with both of her hands.
"Now that you are Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur, you have a place in the Yamayurikai as well. That is, unless if you've changed your mind?" Youko asked. She tilted her head fractionally and her eyebrows raised in question.
Ranma hadn't come this far only to back away now. She turned around, picked up the fallen chair, and placed it at the table next to Sachiko. She then sat down.
"Are you sure you don't want some tea?" Yoshino asked from where she remained seated at the table.
"Yes. No. Yes, I am sure," Ranma said, trying to sort out the proper way to answer Yoshino's question. "Maybe some water. Just some regular, cold water." She was going to do anything she needed to do to avoid hot water. It was just like Genma had said; it was as easy as just not getting splashed.
"Of course," Yoshino said. She stood up and walked out of the room.
Ranma looked to the left and to the right. She then slowly reached over to the basket of cookies tempting her from the center of the table. When nobody objected, she darted in and grabbed one. It tasted as good as it looked, and she quickly grabbed another.
"Now I believe that we were discussing the request of the scripture reading club," Youko said. She turned to Sei and asked, "Rosa Gigantea?"
Sei picked up the paper from where she had placed it on the table and held it up in front of her again. She said, "Yes. They have requested to reserve the space around Maria-sama for the festival. They are planning on doing a seminar on Gestas and Saint Dismas. They believe that Maria-sama would serve as a good backdrop and encourage people to join the discussion."
"They want to reserve Maria-sama? For how long?" Youko asked.
Across the table, Eriko took a sip from her cup.
Sei looked at her paper again. "The whole festival."
"The whole festival?" Eriko exclaimed.
Rei reached over and took one of the cookies in the basket. Ranma waited for her to finish before she reached over and grabbed a third one for herself. Free food was free food. Even better, the cookies were delicious. The only disappointment was that each one was so small.
"They can't reserve Maria-sama for the whole day," Youko said. "It'd make the entire student body quite angry if we were to block her off just for them. Everybody prays to her."
Yoshino returned with a cup of water. She placed it in front of Ranma and then took her seat.
Sei asked, "How about a compromise..."
The discussion went on for hours. The Three Roses discussed several clubs and classes, none of which Ranma recognized, and the requests that each of them had for the upcoming festival. Sachiko and Rei occasionally chimed in with their opinions on the topic at hand. To a noticeably lesser extent, Shimako did as well. Yoshino was mostly quiet throughout the discussions. Ranma was quiet, too, in no small part because she wasn't quite sure what was going on.
At some cue which Ranma didn't recognize, a communal agreement was somehow reached that they should break for the day. The girls sporadically pushed back from the table and stood up. Ranma did so as well, stretching as she rose to her feet.
"Ranko-san. Can you please help get the windows?" Shimako asked. She gestured to one of the open windows at the side of the room.
"Hmm?" Ranma asked.
"It's traditional for the petite soeurs to clean up after the meetings. Can you help close the windows and the curtains? I'll dispose of the trash," Shimako said.
Shimako picked out the wilted flowers on the table and walked over to the trash bin in the corner of the room. Meanwhile, Yoshino collected the plates and cups. Rei had stayed behind as well and was helping Yoshino by holding the serving tray upon which Yoshino stacked the dishes.
"Uhh... sure," Ranma said. She moved to the windows and started closing them.
There was less to do in the Rose Mansion than in the classrooms, which was good because they had fewer people as well. Yoshino washed up the dishes, Shimako took out the trash, and Ranma closed the windows and straightened out the furniture.
The sun was rapidly approaching the horizon when Ranma, Shimako, Yoshino, and Rei made their way back to the entrance of the Rose Mansion. As they descended the stairs, Sachiko emerged from one of the rooms on the ground floor to meet them.
Upon seeing her, Rei looked over and asked, "You're still here?"
"Yes. I just wanted to have a word with Ranko," Sachiko said.
"I understand. Gokigenyou," Rei said. She gave a nod of her head, opened the front door, and took her leave. Yoshino and Shimako did likewise, following behind Rei.
Once the door had closed behind them, Sachiko turned back to Ranma and said, "I just wanted to say thank you. That didn't go the way I was expecting, and... thanks."
"Sure thing," Ranma said.
"That's all. I'll see you tomorrow for the rehearsal then. It will be held here, after classes. Gokigenyou," Sachiko said. She nodded her head and then exited from the front door.
"'Later," Ranma answered to Sachiko's back. She turned off the lights and left the Rose Mansion.
The sun was in the process of setting as Ranma made her way back to camp. That wasn't the only sign of the time, either. More than the reddening light all around her, her stomach urged her forward. The cookies in the meeting had been nice, but they had quickly run out. Dinner beckoned, even if it was just another handful of cold cereal.
Once she was sure she was unobserved, Ranma once again sneaked into the camp at the temple. Inside, sitting under the tent, Genma hovered over a shogi board. The light was rapidly fading, but it was still possible to see Genma's repeatedly removing and placing a piece on the board. He quickly flicked his hands and fingers to do so, such that it appeared as if the piece would simply materialize or vanish to anybody not paying close attention: the lance had always been there, the knight had never been there.
"How are things going, boy?" Genma asked. "You manage to make friends yet? Time's wasting."
"Yeah," Ranma said. She pulled the rosary off from around her neck and held it out on display. "I got this from Ogasawara-san today. Easy."
Genma stood up and snatched the rosary from Ranma's hand with the same speed he had been using to manipulate the shogi board earlier. He took a step away and turned to the side, such that he could more closely examine the silver cross in the dimming sunset.
"It's worthless," Genma said. He threw the rosary back at Ranma, who easily caught it.
"Maybe, but it does show Ogasawara-san's close and everything, so I'm done with that step," Ranma said. She negligently lobbed the rosary onto the top of her pack. She then pulled off her neckerchief and unzipped her dress. As she did so, she asked, "Now what's next?"
"I can't tell you yet. You're still too inexperienced, and it would ruin everything," Genma said. "Concentrate on solidifying your relationship with Ogasawara. I'll tell you step three in a couple of days, once it won't be... once the time is right."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma said, rolling her eyes to herself. She then pulled off her sailor uniform. "This had better be worth it."
"It will be. Trust me," Genma said.
Ranma was disappointed that Genma was withholding the next step in the training from her, but she took his reasoning and assurances at face value. If there was one thing Genma took seriously, it was martial arts. He could be callous, incompetent, deceptive, or just plain mistaken; but he was never flippant about it. If he said that there was some ultra powerful set of techniques at the end of all of this, a set of techniques that he himself had invented, and if he said that it would be more effective for Ranma to wait a few days before learning the third step to this bizarre training, then Ranma was willing to believe him, for another two weeks, at least.
Genma leaned down and swept all the shogi pieces on the board into a bag. He said, "Now hurry up and get changed. You're late enough as it is."
"What do you think I'm doing?" Ranma asked as she carefully stored the dress. She then quickly pulled off her undergarments, too. They joined the sailor dress, although she didn't need to take as much care in storing them as she had with the dress. She finished by finding a keikogi and putting it on.
"Where's the hot water?" Ranma asked.
"None today. We'll get some on the way. Come on. Let's go," Genma said.
"Okay," Ranma said. She followed behind Genma, and the pair made their way back to the riverbank.
Along the way, they stopped by a convenience store. Ranma sneaked into the bathroom and emerged male. On the way out, he casually slipped a few candy bars into his keikogi in preparation for dinner.
Genma engaged with Ranma in a vigorous spar for an hour before they broke for dinner. Ranma's preparations proved wise, as Genma was not inclined to share the warm sushi he was eating. Not only that, Ranma had to fight to protect the food he had acquired for himself.
Once they had finished eating, they resumed their training. It continued for several hours before Genma called an end to their fight. They then sneaked back into their camp, which was made much easier to do by the quiet darkness of the night. Finally, Ranma collapsed on his cold bedroll, and he quickly fell asleep.
Last Updated: November 24, 2021