Chapter 5: New Obstacle
Ranma had a plan.
She hadn't yet had a chance to study her copy of the Cinderella script, but that was going to change. There were always a few free minutes before classes began, and by leaving early for school, that time could be extended. That would give her an opportunity to get a quick skim of it. More training would have been preferable, but less time was better than no time at all.
As she walked through the streets, the presence of Sachiko's rosary around her neck giving her a sense of comforting reassurance, another thought occurred to her. Over the course of her lifetime of meals with Genma, she had learned to eat everything as fast as humanly possible; the only time food was safe was when it was in her stomach. That meant that she would have the majority of the lunch period free. She could use that time to focus on studying the argument with the step-sisters and the conversation with the prince.
Ranma liked that additional idea, and she made a modest change in her planned route to facilitate it. It would be quick enough to stop by the vending machines on the way to class and spend her sparse lunch money buying some instant noodles in advance. She could then spend the rest of the day in the First-year Chrysanthemum Group classroom, and thus save even more time during lunch itself.
Despite her relatively early arrival, there were already several students walking around the school grounds of Lillian. As was typical, a couple of girls had paused in front of the statue of the hooded woman, and the demure greetings of "Gokigenyou" splashed on the edges of Ranma's hearing as she walked to the vending machines. Two of those greetings were directed at Ranma herself, one of them accompanied by a small bow. Despite not recognizing the faces of those girls, Ranma still gave a small nod of her head back to them in acknowledgement.
The vending machines were just as bereft of students as they always were; Ranma never having seen anybody else visiting them in the past. She had her cups of instant noodles bought in a few seconds. Everything was exactly as she had expect it to be.
And then her plan completely fell apart.
Minako was loitering just outside of the door to the First-year Chrysanthemum Group classroom, and she was looking back and forth, just as she had the day before. There was a every reason to suspect that she would interfere with Ranma's attempts at early morning studying. Her presence was a possibility that Ranma hadn't considered, although in hindsight she should have, considering all the trouble she and Mami had given her the day before.
Annoyance and worry vied for control of Ranma's emotions, and in the end, they compromised on an even split.
Ranma considered taking the window entrance again. However, after the ruckus it had caused the day before, that seemed like an imprudent choice to make. That left her with two options. The first option was to give up and go back to camp, but giving up was just as unacceptable now as it had been the day before. That only left the second option of taking the direct approach, and its associated confrontation with Minako.
"Gokikenyo. Can I have a minute of your time?" Minako asked as Ranma approached.
"No. I'm busy."
"Don't be like that. Everybody's interested in you. Lillian is an elevator school, and we don't get many transfer students here, you know?" Minako asked. She entered the classroom right behind Ranma.
Taking to heart Sachiko's advice of not encouraging the members of the newspaper club, Ranma remained quiet as she took out her copy of the script of Cinderella, put away her book bag, and sat down in her seat.
Minako just continued speaking, irrespective of the silence. She said, "You just sweep into Lillian, become Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur, and even get the starring role in the upcoming play the Yamayurikai is doing. All that in just two days. When you stop and think about it, it really is incredible, isn't it?"
Ranma turned to the first page of the script.
"Interest in the play is way up. The people want to know more. Who is this mysterious real-life Cinderella who will be taking center stage? Come on. Help them out. What's your favorite food? What's your blood type? What kind of music do you like? What do you do in your free time? What's your life motto?"
It was no good. With Minako's talk distracting her, Ranma could barely read her lines, let alone concentrate on trying to memorize them. Apparently just ignoring Minako would not be a successful strategy. Therefore, Ranma moved on to her backup plan.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination," Ranma said. She didn't really understand the technique, so she did her best to imitate the posture, tenor, cadence, and everything else from how Sachiko had defeated Mami the day before. Anything could be the key detail which made it work.
"That's your life motto?" Minako asked.
Ranma just smiled in return and then turned back to her script. Time would tell if she had done it correctly.
"Right..." Minako said. She scratched more words down on her small notepad.
Ranma's hopes of a quick success were dashed when Minako remained at her desk and asked, "What drew you to Lillian in particular?"
It was disappointing that Minako hadn't left, but it was natural that the first time a technique was tried, it wouldn't be perfect. That was the whole point of practicing. Ranma tried again.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination."
"Why did you jump out of the window yesterday?"
Ranma smiled and turned back to her script.
"Where did you learn to climb like that?"
"I'll leave that up to your imagination." Ranma was getting disheartened. It was increasingly clear that her technique was flawed. She would need to watch Sachiko more closely next time.
"Is that your natural hair color?"
Smile.
"What are your three measurements?"
"I'll leave that up to your imagination."
Minako continued to pepper Ranma with questions, each one more provocative than the last. Ranma stuck to her line, though, and focused on trying to dismiss the older girl. As flawed as her technique was, there was always the chance she could get lucky and have it work anyway. Additionally, the more practice she got, the more context she would have for the next time she saw it used correctly.
And then that minor miracle happened. It worked.
"Thank you for your time. Gokigenyou," Minako said. She turned and walked out of the room.
Ranma inwardly cheered. She wasn't sure what she had done differently in that last line, but it must have been something. Maybe it was the speed at which she said the words or some quirk of her head.
"Stand. Bow." Ami's announcement and Tanezaki's entrance answered the question in a most direct and unsatisfying way. Ranma hadn't defeated Minako; Minako had merely departed due to the time.
Frustrated, Ranma closed the booklet and did what was asked. Her plan to study in the morning had been a failure. But she still had lunchtime. She would be able to get in at least one read through then. She put her concerns aside as the morning classes started.
When lunch came around, Ranma pulled both her instant noodles and her script out of her book bag. No sooner had she opened the first package, though, when Mami appeared at her side. While she was less directly confrontational than Minako had been, the younger girl did continue the trend of peppering Ranma with questions and was just as resistant to Ranma's attempts at dismissal as Minako had been. Between that and trying to eat lunch, Ranma was even less successful in her script studies than she had been in the morning.
But she still had one last hope. There would be a few minutes while the Yamayurikai gathered after classes. She could do some frantic cramming for a few minutes at least. She could dash to the Rose Mansion and maybe have time for the briefest of skims through the meeting with the prince. She figured she had had at least some practice with Yoshino and Shimako on the argument scene with the step-family the day before, and the short time frame meant she would need to prioritize.
The afternoon classes, even the gym class, seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. The after-class cleaning did as well, in large part because Ranma was intentionally hurrying through her assignment. Each second she saved was another second she could train.
She had just finish smashing the chalkboard erasers together outside a window when a short musical chime played over the school speaker system.
"First-year Chrysanthemum Group Ranko Sugita-san, please come to the guidance office immediately. I repeat..."
All the girls in the classroom turned to look at Ranma.
"... First-year Chrysanthemum Group Ranko Sugita-san, please come to the guidance office immediately."
"Ehh?" Each individual girl's question was quiet, but combined together, they made a substantial sound, underscoring the confusion and then worry within Ranma.
The day had been completely non-notable. The only thing she had done was ignore Minako and Mami, and there couldn't have been anything wrong with that. Therefore, there was only one possible explanation for her summons: They had discovered "Ranko Sugita" was a fraud. She had thought that she had been doing a good job hiding in plain sight, but she must have made a mistake somewhere.
"Would you like me to show you where it is?" Yoshino asked.
"Ehh, sure," Ranma said. She was more worried what would happen afterward. She would be kicked out of Lillian. Hopefully Genma would offer her a second chance at the Umisenken training. Even better would be if he didn't insult her too much for her failure, although she held little hope for that.
Ranma and Yoshino walked out the door, although they were hardly alone. About half of the class tagged along behind then, far enough away that they weren't actually with Ranma, but close enough that it was blatantly obvious she was the object of their attention. And once they reached the hallway proper, the crowd immediately started to grow.
"Ranko-san. Gokigenyou."
Ranma didn't even need to look to confirm it was Minako. She was loitering by the side of the door, just like the day before.
"Why'd you get called to the guidance office? What's going on?" Minako asked, falling into step to the side of Ranma.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination," Ranma said. It hadn't worked in the morning, and it hadn't worked in the afternoon, but she didn't see any harm in trying yet again, and this could be her last opportunity.
"So you're being expelled?" Minako asked.
"If that happens, I'm sure you'd be the first one to know. Excuse us," Yoshino said. She interposed herself between Ranma and Minako, and she sped up her pace, allowing Ranma to do the same.
The crowd continued to grow throughout the trip. Here, a couple of girls would divert from the hallway and join in to see what the spectacle was about, and there, a few girl would exit from their classroom and fold themselves in with the others. The net result was a collection of several dozen girls hovering a semi-respectful distance away when Yoshino finally brought Ranma to a set of double-doors with a sign above which read, "Guidance Office."
One of the two doors pushed open, and Tanezaki looked out. She said, "Ahh, Sugita-san, you've arrived. Please come in." She pushed the door more fully open.
Ranma walked in. Inside was the headmistress, who was sitting behind a wooden desk. Behind her stood a man and a woman, neither of whom Ranma recognized. The man was middle-aged and balding. He wore a pair of glasses, a shirt, a tie, and a jacket. The woman was also middle-aged. She wore a black tunic, a white collar, a white coif, and a black wimple, just like the headmistress did.
Tanezaki pulled the door closed behind Ranma.
"Gokigenyou. Please, have a seat," the headmistress said.
Ranma sat down on a plain chair in front of the desk while Tanezaki stepped around to stand behind the headmistress.
"Do you know why we called you here?" the headmistress asked.
Yes. "No."
"There's a story going around the school that you jumped out the window of your classroom yesterday," the headmistress said.
Ranma immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Now that she knew what the meeting was about, she felt substantially better. This was yet another manifestation of the jump and climb she had done the day before. It seemed like she had critically underestimated how big a deal that relatively inconsequential action had been.
"Oh, that?" Ranma asked casually. If she played it off as being unimportant, it was much more likely to be treated as being unimportant.
"So it's true?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Ranma said.
"Whatever possessed you to do something so dangerous?" Tanezaki asked.
"It isn't really," Ranma said.
"What isn't?" Tanezaki asked.
"It's not really that dangerous," Ranma said. Some of her earliest memories were bruised shoulders and broken legs, and it had been years since that had last happened.
The four adults all looked at each other in skepticism, and ended up looking at Tanezaki in the end. She shrugged back in confusion.
"Sugita-san," the middle-aged woman asked gently, as if Ranma were a misguided child or an angry lunatic, "What do you mean when you say it's not that dangerous?"
Ranma again repeated the story of training to avoid newspaper reporters a third time. She couldn't change her story now. Consistency was vital when trying to avoid having a lie be discovered. The adults had likely learned of the jump and the climb from a student, and it was very possible that they would turn around and repeat whatever Ranma said back to that student.
"Are you really trying to tell us that your father taught you how to jump from five meters in the air to avoid newspaper reporters? And you expect us to believe that?" the middle-aged man asked angrily.
Genma had actually taught Ranma to jump from considerably higher, but that didn't seem like the most prudent thing to say, so she instead said, "Yeah. I mean, I can do it again and show you."
The man said, "You'll do nothing of the kind. It's entirely improper for a young lady to act in such a reckless way. It's ridiculous that..."
The headmistress gave a pointed cough and directed a look up at the man. He bristled but fell quiet. She then looked back at Ranma and said, "I'm sure that won't be necessary. In fact, I'm afraid we must insist that you refrain from doing that from now on. I believe you are now a member of the Yamayurikai. Therefore, you will need to act as a role model, as the other students will have a tendency to imitate you. Even if it is easy for you to do, it would be much more dangerous for the others."
"Sure," Ranma said. It was the same realization that she herself had come to the day before. A broken arm or leg wasn't that important, but a bad fall on the head could be a much bigger deal. Without somebody like Genma to help with the early steps of training, it could be disastrous.
"In that case, I see no reason to further detain you. Gokigenyou," the headmistress said.
Ranma could recognize an opportunity to withdraw as well as anybody else could, and she quickly took advantage to head to the door. It opened with a smooth and slow motion, revealing it was much more dense and massive than its initial appearance suggested. It swung outward, and Ranma was greeted by the sound of Minako giving a forced laugh.
The crowd of girls had, if anything, grown during the time of Ranma's absence, and everybody turned to look at her as she stepped out.
Minako almost literally pounced on her. She asked, "What did they want to talk to you about?"
Before Ranma could say anything, Yoshino said, "They were probably just checking on how Ranko-san is settling in."
Minako sent her a dirty look and then said to Ranma, "They wouldn't have raised this big a fuss for something so ordinary, so what's the story here?"
Ranma could have used the ready excuse that Yoshino had provided, but based on what the headmistress had said, she felt like she had a larger responsibility. She addressed the wider crowd, including Minako, and said, "They just told me that we shouldn't be jumping out of windows."
There was some nervous laughter from a few of the girls Ranma didn't recognize. The ones in the First-year Chrysanthemum Group mostly just nodded in response.
"Really?" Minako asked.
"Basically," Ranma said.
"Basically? Then there's more. What else was there?" Minako asked.
Ranma floundered. She could have told of the adults' skepticism of her, but she didn't see that as being anybody else's business. Additionally, after only a single day of interaction, she already knew enough to know that Minako wouldn't settle for that alone. Bereft of any other ideas, Ranma just said, "I'll leave that up to your imagination."
Yoshino stepped partway between Ranma and Minako. She said, "Now, if you'll excuse us, we're already late for our practice. Gokigenyou."
Ranma took the opportunity Yoshino provided and started walking with her down the hallway.
Most of the crowd stayed behind, but Minako did keep following them. She kept asking questions as they left the building and made their way to the Rose Mansion, but Ranma refused to answer, and the light distraction of Yoshino's presence prevented Minako from pressing harder.
As they walked, Ranma's balance of worries shifted. Her concern about Minako shrank and her concern about the upcoming rehearsal grew, both in direct proportion to the proximity of the Rose Mansion. Despite her best efforts, she had not been able to do any real training since the day before. She couldn't even do any frantic, last-minute cramming, seeing how she was already late.
It wouldn't be the first time Ranma engaged in a confrontation for which she was not prepared, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last time, either. While the result might have been a foregone conclusion, there was still nothing to be done for it but to push forward and take the proverbial beating she deserved.
As they approached the Rose Mansion, Minako peeled away and left, eliminating that particular worry for the immediate future. Ranma wasn't sure what had caused it, but she did note it as an interesting phenomenon for later consideration.
Ranma and Yoshino entered the Rose Mansion, and they were greeted by the clamor of the Yamayurikai talking from the side room in which they had practiced the day before. Inside, Youko and Eriko were digging through some boxes and handing out various props. The other girls were examining and donning the different accessories. Rei had a fake beard hanging on her face, and Sachiko and Shimako were comparing a couple of broaches. Youko had just put a tiara with some large embedded gemstones on her head when Ranma and Yoshino entered.
"Hello," Ranma said.
"Gokigenyou," Yoshino said.
"Gokigenyou."
Ranma's eyes naturally drew themselves to the cake on the coffee table. There were a few small plates and forks lined up next to it, and several half-eaten slices were already circling the edge of the table. She barely broke stride before heading straight at it.
Eriko put down the bracelet she was examining and said to Ranma, "You've been here for less than a week and get called into the guidance office. I've never been called there myself, so I'm kind of envious of you."
Youko looked more worried, though. She asked, "For what reason were you called? Is everything alright?"
"It wasn't anything too special," Ranma said. She cut a generous slice of cake and used a fork to flop it onto a small plate. "It was just some talk about what happened yesterday."
"Yesterday? What happened yesterday?" Sachiko asked.
Ranma considered keeping quiet about it, but there was no point. The story had already spread throughout the school to the extent that the teachers had heard it. It was only a matter of time before Sachiko and the others heard it as well.
"I jumped out of a window to avoid Minako-san," Ranma said. She used her fork to stab into her cake and shovel a large piece into her mouth.
"You what?" Sachiko, Youko, and Sei all exclaimed.
Yoshino and Rei exchanged a glance and a nod.
Ranma sighed. She was getting tired of explaining the same thing over and over. Surely this had to be the last time. She held her plate in one hand, her fork in the other, and turned to address Sachiko and The Three Roses. Yet again, she began the story of how she had trained to avoid newspaper girls. Her previous practice making it easy to recount with confidence.
She finished her explanation, and the room was quiet as they processed what she had said. Ranma took advantage of the pause to shovel more cake into her mouth.
Sei shook her head and said, "That's quite the story. Rosa Foetida, I believe an error in judgment may have been made. It seems to me that Ranko-chan would be more suited as Rosa Foetida en bouton."
Eriko smiled and nodded. She said, "I quite agree, Rosa Gigantea. That does seem like it would be most appropriate." She turned to Ranma and asked, "Would you like to change? You know, I am the one who brought the cake today." She gave a conspicuous wink at Ranma.
Ranma froze with her fork in her mouth. Eriko's offer was certainly interesting to consider; she was the third of the three girls that Genma had suggested Ranma befriend. If there was a way to get close to her, too, it certainly had to be a good thing to do. However, it would be pointless to switch if it left her situation fundamentally the same as it currently was. Would switching somehow ruin things with Sachiko?
"Alas, what would become of poor Rei? Abandoned by her Onee-sama. Rosa Foetida, how could you be so cruel?" Youko asked. The content of her words was contrasted by the smile on her face.
"You are most considerate, Rosa Chinensis. In that case, I would propose a trade. I believe that Rei would be an acceptable Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur," Eriko said.
"Before I could even begin to entertain such a motion, I would need to know in what state that would place Yoshino-chan. Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur petite soeur?" Youko asked.
"Surely she would be Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur en bouton, would she not?" Sei asked. She turned to Sachiko. "As Rosa Chinensis en bouton, I believe you have a great deal of say in this matter. What do you prefer?"
"I prefer that you kindly stop teasing Ranko," Sachiko said loudly.
Sachiko's comment jolted Ranma out of her considerations. She had been trying to determine if switching would somehow ruin things with Sachiko, but had not been able to make any progress on how to even approach the question.
Sei looked at Ranma. She then raised a hand vertically in front of her face in apology and said, "Sorry, sorry."
"Sachiko is correct, of course. The afternoon is quickly passing, and as we are now all present, we really should get started with our practice. If you would be so kind as to begin, Ranko-chan?" Youko asked.
Ranma stuffed the last forkful of cake into her mouth and fumbled around in her book bag for the script as she chewed. She swallowed hard, took a gulp of water, and opened to the first page. The time of judgment was at hand.
To call the second read through a disaster would be an overstatement, but it was certainly leaning in that direction. Ranma stumbled and stuttered through numerous lines of dialogue, and the "wa"s she said at the end of her sentences felt more like an afterthought than a natural speech pattern. And that was the first half of the play. Starting at the scene with the wizard, it just got worse.
Ranma had only just finished saying the last line of the play when Youko turned to her and asked, "Is that really the best you can do?"
It was time to face the consequences.
"I know, but I can do better next time, no problem," Ranma said. It hadn't been her fault. She would have studied, but Genma, Minako, Mami, and the school administration had all conspired to stop her.
"Next time? The play is next week. We don't have many 'next times' left. Are you sure you're going to be ready?"
Ranma didn't need the prodding. She had always prided herself on being the best at whatever she did, and her incompetent performance was galling. She would find some way to succeed, no matter what it took.
"Yeah, easy," Ranma said. Flexibility, adaptability, and figuring out something which worked in the end were her strongest skills. She would find some way to manage, even if she didn't know what that some way would be. She had learned how ride a bicycle on one wheel while detaching the other and throwing it like a giant discus at an opponent. She could learn this, too.
"Very well. Then we'll hold you to that. You'll need to study on your own for a while. We have practice with the dance club tomorrow in the secondary gym; we've already rescheduled it from earlier this week, and we can't afford to delay it any longer," Youko said. She turned to Sei and Eriko. "Rosa Foetida. Rosa Gigantea. We need to discuss the Third-year Peach Group's request. Shall we meet up in the conference room?"
"Let's," Eriko said. Sei nodded in agreement.
"Okay. Ranko-chan, you know what you need to study, so please do so. Take the help of whoever you'd like. Everybody else, if you aren't needed with Ranko-chan, you can join us in the executive committee meeting, or continue sorting out the props here. It's up to you. Besides that, we'll meet tomorrow in the secondary gym. Gokigenyou."
The Three Roses took their leave and walked up the creaky staircase to the second floor.
Ranma scratched the back of her head in confusion. Youko's declaration had pulled the proverbial wind out of her sails. She had expected a long lambasting, full of bombastic language and colorful metaphors. The lack of one left her unsure of what had just happened.
"So that's it?" Ranma asked.
"What do you mean?" Sachiko asked.
"Rosa Chinensis. She just... left. No shouting or anything else," Ranma said. It was the most gentle castigation she had ever received, if it could even be considered a castigation. It somehow felt too easy.
"For?" Sachiko asked.
"For failing," Ranma said. She could imagine Genma's reaction in the same situation.
"Why would she do that? You said you'd be ready. That is unless you're saying we shouldn't trust you?"
Considering how Ranma was actively lying to them all about who she was and what she was trying to accomplish, there was an obvious answer to Sachiko's question.
Yes. "No."
"Then there you go," Sachiko said. "So, what would you like to practice today?"
Ranma scratched the back of her head and scrunched up her face in thought. She didn't have a specific plan, and she needed to think one up quickly. She had slightly less practice with the second half of the play, so it seemed natural to focus on that for a start. She said, "Uhh... I guess I should practice the scene with the wizard and the ball scene with the prince, so I can use Rei..sama's help."
"In that case, I shall continue sorting through the props in here. If you need anything, let me know," Sachiko said.
"I'll help out, too," Yoshino said.
"Then I'll go and check if there is anything The Three Roses need assistance with," Shimako said.
Ranma began practice by crying out in despair, cuing the entrance of Rei as the wizard. The exchange between Cinderella and the wizard went as poorly as Ranma had expected it would. They then proceeded to the ball. It was with some relief at that point that Rei pulled out her copy of the script. It was purely psychological, but it did feel better for Ranma to not be the only one who was reading out her lines.
The session as a whole was a slog. Ranma tripped over Cinderella's feminine language as often as not. Combined with the earlier run through of the whole play, practice went on for longer than the previous day's had, too. By the end, she felt decidedly tired, albeit tired in a somewhat novel way. Her mouth felt dry, and her throat had traces of rawness to it. She had said more words in the past three days than she had in the previous three weeks; most of her conversations with Genma were done using their fists.
By the time Ranma and Rei finished, the room had already been cleaned and straightened up. Yoshino was sitting on one of the chairs and was reading a book, but nobody else appeared to be around. Ranma had the vague recollecting of Sachiko, along with Shimako and The Three Roses, bidding them a good evening and leaving some time earlier.
"Good job. You're getting better," Rei said. While true, that was only because "better" was a relative term.
"It's getting late. We should get going. Yoshino?" Rei asked. The sun was low in the sky, and hints of orange had entered its light.
Yoshino gave a hum of agreement, closed her book, and stood up.
Ranma thought she recognized the cover of Yoshino's book. She asked, "Is that 'Confusion?'"
"This?" Yoshino asked, waving her book. "It is. Do you read Shoutarou Ikenami too?"
"Yeah. I love his books," Ranma said. There were few things to do when hiking through the wilderness, and books were one of the few portable forms of entertainment she had access to. "'Confusion' was good. I think it was my favorite one since 'Shinano Daimyou.'"
"Yes. That's a good one, too," Yoshino said with a nod. "I own his whole collection. Did you notice how much more polished he gets in his later works?"
"Yeah. His pacing gets a lot better. I love his descriptions, too."
"I agree. I can almost hear the clash of swords in all his fights," Yoshino said. "What did you think of his screenplay, 'Human Sword Hanjiro?'"
"Hmm? Which one?" Ranma asked. She hadn't heard of that before.
"'Human Sword Hanjiro.' It was published in 'Asahi Performing Arts,' in Showa 39."
"I haven't read that one," Ranma said. Her access to books had always been limited, due to both her frequently being in the wilderness and the size limit of her pack. She had read and reread the all books she could carry from town to town until their pages had turned yellow.
"You haven't? You really have to. I'll loan you my copy tomorrow," Yoshino said.
"Alright," Rei said. "It's getting late, and we should get going. You two can talk on the way to the bus."
Ranma hesitated. If she returned back to camp, she knew exactly what would happen. It would be the same as the day before. Genma would certainly begin her martial arts training once again, and another day would be gone.
In ordinary circumstances, Ranma would have loved to forget everything and just engage in some vigorous sparring, but this was not ordinary circumstances. She was already in danger. There had been less yelling and insults than when Genma realized Ranma's failures, but in the end, Youko was committed to having the play be successful. Ranma was sure what would happen if she failed to deliver. Sachiko would be forced to resume her role, and that would signal the end of their so-called friendship.
There was nothing to be done but to just stay around the school to study. She was willing to put off a few days of regular martial arts practice in order to accomplish the special training for the Umisenken. Besides, her own pride rankled at her that all of the others were better than her. She was the best, and she would prove it yet again.
"You two go ahead. I got some stuff I need to do," Ranma said.
Yoshino and Rei exchanged a glance. Rei then said, "Are you sure? I don't know if your father ever told you, but it's not always safe for a young lady to walk around at night by herself."
Ranma scoffed at the idea. If anything, Genma had taught her the exact opposite, mocking her any time she showed the least bit of fear of anything. She said, "Yeah, I'm sure."
Yoshino and Rei exchanged another glance. Then Yoshino hesitantly said, "Okay, if you're sure."
"Then we'll be leaving first. Don't stay too late. Gokigenyou," Rei said.
"Later."
Ranma was left alone.
The Rose Mansion felt larger and emptier than it had before. It had had an excited busyness with all eight of the Yamayurikai earlier. That had morphed into a quiet companionship when it had been reduced to the three of them. The departure of Yoshino and Rei effected yet another transition, and it now felt like the solitude of an empty forest path on a lonely evening.
Ranma walked back to the conference room on the second floor. That room was better placed to catch the fading late afternoon sunlight, and she had always had a proclivity for heights, regardless. She sat down at her choice of seat around the large table, picked up her copy of the script, and began the effort she had originally expected to do the previous afternoon: a full cover to cover review of everything. There was a lot of work to do.
Ten pages into the read through, she heard the front door open. It was quiet, but in the silence surrounding her, the sound carried well enough for her ears to take notice.
"You have got to be kidding me," Ranma said. Minako had turned around earlier, but apparently she had overcome her reluctance of entering the Rose Mansion.
More loudly, Ranma shouted, "Go away!" She then went back to her reading.
Ranma's shout was met by a loud creak of the stairs. She sighed to herself. If Minako had been willing to post sentries outside of the classroom windows, then of course a simple shout wouldn't be enough to deter her. Ranma had no better ideas of what to do, though, so just repeated, "I said, 'Go away!'"
"That's not a very nice thing to say." It wasn't Minako.
Ranma turned and saw Sachiko entering the conference room.
"Oh. Uhh... I thought you were Minako-san," Ranma said.
"I see. All of the reporters from the Lillian Kawaraban can be troublesome, but Minako-san can be particularly persistent," Sachiko said.
"A pain is what she is," Ranma said. Sachiko gave a wry smile at the description. "What are you doing back here?"
"I left my bag here by mistake," Sachiko said. She lifted the book bag she carried to highlight her words. "What are you doing here?"
"It's the only place I could find to get some quiet. I need to study." Ranma said. She lifted her script to give Sachiko a better look in return.
"You can't do that at home?"
"It's complicated," Ranma said.
Sachiko got a slightly pained look on her face. She said, "I understand."
When Sachiko didn't say anything more, Ranma went back to studying her script.
A few seconds later, Sachiko asked, "How long do you think you're going to be here?"
That was a difficult question. She just needed to get better, but that made things tricky; it was always possible to get a little better with a little more effort. It was hard to know how good was good enough, and it was harder to predict how much time she would need to get there.
"However long I need," Ranma said.
"I see," Sachiko said. She left, and the sound of her footsteps faded away in the quiet building.
Ranma returned to her training. She was at the part where the holding of the ball was being announced. It would take considerably more time to read through the rest of the script, let alone re-reading and re-re-reading the trickier sentences strewn throughout. That wasn't even counting the time needed to actually memorize the thing. It would definitely be at least several hours of practice this evening.
In the background, Ranma could hear Sachiko's muffled voice saying something, but it was too quiet to make out the details, and Ranma disregarded it.
Two pages later, Ranma heard the creak of the stairs for a third time. She looked at the door in curiosity as Sachiko walked in yet again.
"What kind of grande soeur would I be if I left my petite soeur here all on her own?" Sachiko asked. She turned on the lights in the room and walked inside. She then took a seat on the other side of the table and pulled out a book from her book bag.
That was basically no concern of Ranma's. Her only real interaction with Sachiko was her occasional glance up to see her checking her textbook or writing something out on some paper. Nevertheless, the addition of Sachiko somehow filled the space of the empty room and made it feel far less abandoned than it had before. It had transformed the ambiance from one of a lonely dark path through the forest to instead be one of a quiet trail on a bright afternoon.
Ranma eventually stretched and stood up. The blackness of the night outside gave no indication of what time it was. The light ache in her back and shoulders suggested she had been sitting immobile for hours.
"Are you finished?" Sachiko asked, looking up at Ranma.
"Yeah. I think I got enough in for today," Ranma said. She moved her arms in wide circles, trying to work the kinks out of her shoulders.
"Good job. Thanks for all your hard work," Sachiko said. She closed her book and put it away.
Ranma picked up her script. As she did so, she noticed something written on the back. She asked Sachiko, "Why's your name written here?" She pointed at the small characters written in tidy pen strokes.
"Hmm?" Sachiko asked and looked over. "That's because that was my copy of the script."
"Yours? You don't need it anymore?"
"I don't have any use for it. I already memorized the whole thing, and I checked Sister B's part two days ago for a refresher."
"Really?" Ranma asked. She slid the booklet into her book bag.
"I've had a lot of practice. I used to take acting classes."
"Hmm..."
Sachiko led the way out of the room, with Ranma turning off the lights behind them.
"What do you think of Lillian so far?" Sachiko asked as they walked down the stairs.
"It's fine," Ranma said. The major elements were familiar enough. There was the fighting and the challenge, in the form of Minako and the play respectively. The timing was somewhat unusual, her experience suggesting that her first fight typically occurred before the third day, but it wasn't uncomfortably so.
Sachiko opened the front door, and to Ranma's relief, Minako and the others were not present. That relief was colored by a shade of disappointment, though. She could have used another example of Sachiko confronting a newspaper girl.
As they moved through the darkness, from one small pool of lamplight to the next small pool of lamplight, Sachiko asked, "How does Lillian compare to your previous school? I heard things here are somewhat different than other places."
Genma had said Ranma should solidify her relationship with Sachiko, so she decided to open up a little bit. Only a little bit. She asked, "What do you want to know?"
"Anything. Everything. It's natural for a grande soeur to want know more about her petite soeur, isn't it? And how else are we supposed to get to know each other unless we get to know each other? Our introduction might have been unorthodox, but I do want to at least try to act the part. Besides, I'm curious what life is like in other schools. I've only ever attended Lillian, just like my mother and grandmother before me."
"Lillian's pretty different than the last school I went to. Back there, everything was determined by dressage competitions," Ranma said.
"Dressage?" Sachiko asked. "You mean that horse riding exhibition?"
"Yeah," Ranma said. An exhibition was certainly an appropriate term to use. Martial Arts Dressage was one of the more showy forms of combat Ranma had learned. Riders and their horses stalking, throwing, and otherwise attacking each other in a desperate fight to dismount and subdue their opponents. "The student council was made up by the students who won the most challenges."
"Really? You must be making that up," Sachiko said. They were nearing the front entrance of Lillian.
"Nope. They had this big arena in the center of the school, and the highlight of the day was the competitions after classes ended," Ranma said. It was always good to get intelligence on your future opponents. "Anybody could issue a challenge, and if you beat somebody higher ranked than you, you could take over their position, all the way up to the student council itself."
"That seems like a very odd way to organize a school. How did you do?" Sachiko asked.
"I did fine," Ranma said.
She could have said more. She could have said how, after an altercation on the first day, she had found herself thrust on top of a horse. And how she had been promptly dismounted and almost trampled by her opponent. And how her subsequent matches had been equally bad, with her losing time and again until she had ended up at the bottom of the rankings. And how after several days of special training, she had finally cracked the trick and formed a rapport with her horse. And how her years of experience with martial arts had made the subsequent combats easy. And how she had crushed rider after rider and had gotten about 2/3 through the ranks, to the point that she had caught the interest of the student council as the rising star rookie, before Genma had pulled her out of the school for their next trip.
But it was always good to be underestimated in a fight, and it was impossible to tell who would be a future opponent, so she didn't.
"That sounds exciting. I used to be really interested in horses when I was young. You'll need to show me what you can do one of these days."
Ranma made a noncommittal noise. If describing her abilities was bad, then giving a live demonstration was far worse.
The pair emerged from the main entrance of the school. On the other side of the nearly empty street, there was a large black car parked beneath a streetlight. Ranma didn't know much about cars, but the pretty, young woman in uniform who stepped out from the driver's door suggested that it was an expensive one.
"That's my chauffeur," Sachiko said, nodding over in her direction. "Would you like me to give you a ride home?"
Ranma minutely tensed. Allowing Sachiko to discover that she was camping in a small temple with Genma would be an excellent way to draw far too much attention to herself.
"No, no no. I'm fine."
"Are you sure? It's getting late, and the buses and trains will be pretty empty at this hour. I'm not sure if your father ever told you, but there can be some unsavory people riding on them."
Ranma scoffed again. The idea that anybody in the city could be a danger to her was just as laughable now as when Yoshino and Rei had suggested it earlier. She said, "It's fine."
"As you like, then," Sachiko said. "Gokigenyou."
"Later."
Sachiko walked to the car. The chauffeur opened the door for her, and she entered using the same grace she always exhibited. The chauffeur then closed the door and returned to the front.
Ranma watched the car leave, making sure it was not turning around to follow her. Once the road was empty again, she began her own trip.
Lights were more common on the main road than they had been within the campus of Lillian, and it was easy for Ranma to make her way back to the small temple she currently called home. Once there, she made a cursory check for any observers in the area. She didn't expect to see anybody at this late hour, and if there was a spectator, the darkness would have masked much of her movement anyway. However, there was always a chance, and a check only took a few seconds.
"Where were you, boy?" Genma asked as Ranma entered the campground.
There were multiple answers Ranma could have given. She had been at school. She had been studying. There was only one she could think of which would cut off the inevitable argument Genma would give, though. She said, "I was with Ogasawara."
Genma nodded, faintly seen in the dim reflected light from the city surrounding them. He said, "Fine. Hurry up and get changed. We got training to do. Can't have you getting lazy now."
Ranma had already begun taking off her neckerchief, and fractionally sped up at Genma's prompting. She asked, "What about dinner?"
"All gone. Come back earlier next time," Genma said. He picked at his teeth.
Ranma was as disappointed as she was unsurprised. Genma stole Ranma's food even when she was present. She had vivid memories as a child of Genma literally pinning her underfoot while he ate her rice balls, bread rolls, or whatever else had been on the menu. It would only be that much easier for Genma to steal her food when she was entirely absent.
It wasn't the first time Ranma had fought with an empty stomach, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last.
Their sparring brought them through the streets, lit by the various lights splashed here and there. As they progressed through the city, she tried to dodge away into a convenience store a couple of times to grab something to eat, but Genma was having none of it. He intercept her each time, and while she could have fought her way past him, it would definitely have prevented the low-attention entrance needed for a successful theft.
The practice fight continued for several hours before they eventually returned to camp and the tent within. Once there, Ranma quickly flopped down onto her bedroll, exhaustion overcoming her pangs of hunger.
Last Updated: December 4, 2021