Chapter 3: Who is Ranma?

School on Thursday was completely normal. The main rumor permeating the school was that some petty squabble had occurred during lunch between Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou. It had few details of who had started the argument and what had actually happened, but such events were so commonplace that there was no reason to bother finding out more. The only question was whether Genma or Soun had happened to be in the area during the fight, and that didn't really make any difference, either. It was always the same script whenever there was an argument. Blame, protest and insult, counter-insult, squabble, fight. If any of the parents was around, then they would either egg them on or try too hard to push them together. It would end when Akane got in the last word in some way or another, and the status quo would be restored until the next time.

Classes also ended without any major attack on Ranma. In fact, the only thing which made the day at all notable was what didn't happen. Specifically, Nabiki still hadn't figured out a plan for what she would do in regard to Nadeshiko.

The easiest course of action would be to use the power of yen to transform one of her classmates into a Business Associate, and then use that person as an intermediary to approach the hostess while she was working a shift at Flare. Assuming the advertisement sheet Nabiki had read was correct, the Business Associate would be able to go there on Friday. However, that solution was wholly unsatisfactory. It just had too many complications and drawbacks.

Nabiki would need to provide that person with enough guidance as to how to judge whether Nadeshiko would be open to the idea of some compensation dating with the "very rich and only slightly eccentric modern samurai who was well-known throughout the community and was a model of behavior and honor." No mention need be made as to what he was known for and what type of model he was. Nabiki would then be forced to trust the judgment of that Business Associate in regard to Nadeshiko's opinion and attitude. Finally, she would need to find a way to prevent the Business Associate from getting any clever ideas. Yen was the ultimate transformer, and it could easily transform a Business Associate into an Independent Agent who would cut her out of the potential deal entirely and capture all the theoretical profit by dealing with Kuno directly.

Trust was as rare as friendship for Nabiki. It wasn't personal, it was business, and everything was business.

In the end, Nabiki decided that it would be best to just do everything herself. That led directly to the obvious problem of how to actually do it. She couldn't just walk into the club and find Nadeshiko there. After her last visit to Flare, with her attack on the hostess, that would result in Nabiki promptly being thrown out. It could even lead to her being arrested for trespassing.

Nabiki once again cursed letting her emotions overcome her sensibilities on Tuesday. She had known it would cause problems immediately after she had thrown the hot water at Nadeshiko. However, what was done was done. Further self-recrimination would do nothing to advance her endeavors. What she needed was a plan.

On the upside, she had plenty of time to generate that plan. On the downside, the thought of all that tantalizing yen dangling just outside her reach was absolutely infuriating. It continued to tease at her as she carelessly walked the habitual path to the photography shop, as she picked up the photographs she had dropped off at the store, as she walked the familiar path back home, as she ate dinner while ignoring the effectively-scripted argument around the table, as she completed her homework, and as she went to bed. And it continued to nag at her as she ate breakfast on Friday, and as she walked the habitual path to school, and as she learned all about Japanese Literature and English in the morning.

It was only during lunch that the seed of an idea hit her. She was eating alone, as she always did when not trying to enact some enterprise with some Business Associates, when inspiration struck.

The whole idea of locating Nadeshiko was being driven by her uncanny resemblance to Ranma's female form. By definition, resemblance went in both directions. If she could use Nadeshiko as a proxy for Ranma, then she could also use Ranma as a proxy for Nadeshiko. She could get a female Ranma to smooth her entrance into Flare. Once she was inside, she was sure she would be able to make contact with Nadeshiko. If only she could talk, Nabiki was sure she could rectify things. She could explain the situation, and if absolutely necessary even apologize. Then it would be an easy matter to gauge the hostess's opinion on a little compensation dating on the side, do a little convincing if Nadeshiko was reluctant, and generally lay the groundwork for a bit of clever and profitable matchmaking.

The idea continued to bloom throughout the afternoon. There was the photograph Nabiki had taken of the display in the front of Flare, back when she had thought the picture was of Ranma. Nabiki could confront Ranma with it and subtly suggest that Akane, Nodoka, and everybody else might be interested in finding out where it had been taken. She was sure Ranma would be nervous and off-balance. When he protested his innocence, as he was sure to do, she would allow herself to hold off on exposing his supposed secret and give him a chance to prove that he and Nadeshiko were two different people. Naturally the easiest and best way to do that would to be to get both Ranma and Nadeshiko together in the same place at the same time, and so they would be off to Flare.

If Nabiki played it just right, she might even be able to get Ranma to offer her a bit of yen, too. Her time was valuable, and there was the Tokyo Metro fare to consider as well. It was only right and proper that Ranma compensate her for the trouble she would be taking on his behalf.

The plan was perfect. She would find Ranma after school and put it into action. If they left immediately, then there would be the added benefit that they would arrive in Ginza well before Nadeshiko was scheduled to start her shift at 17:00. She could already imagine the growing nervousness Ranma would experience as time passed without the hostess appearing. It would be easy to add to it with a few well-timed comments. It would be more than worth the extra time.

The main obstacle would be to get Ranma alone. If anybody else was around, they would be an unpredictable factor which could potentially ruin the line of accusation Nabiki had planned. This was especially true if Akane were around. She was liable to hit first and ask questions later. At best this would cause a delay and prevent their immediate departure for Ginza, and at worst it could potentially ruin everything if the reprieve and extra time were to cause Ranma to act differently.

"Ranma, you idiot!"

Outside, Ranma was blowing a raspberry at Akane as he dodged back and forth in the courtyard. Akane was swinging an inordinately large mallet around trying to hit him. She swung once, which prompted Ranma to vault over her head and land behind her.

"How can a gorilla like you be so slow?" Ranma's voice carried clearly through the courtyard and into Nabiki's classroom. She watched the near-daily show from the open window. The half of her class who hadn't immediately left once the lessons for the day had ended had joined her in spectating.

Nabiki sighed to herself. It was always the same script whenever there was an argument. Normally she would either watch with amusement at their various foibles, or she would ignore them in favor of more pressing matters. This time, though, the argument was actively interfering with what Nabiki wanted to do. It would completely ruin any chance that she would be able to talk to Ranma before they got home. That meant there would no opportunity to make him squirm with nervous impatience in Ginza. It was very disappointing.

Out in the courtyard, Akane kicked backwards towards where Ranma had landed behind her. He sidestepped to the left in an exaggerated manner while mocking, "Oh, you're getting better. That one might have a hit a turtle. You know, if you surprised it, and if it were sleeping."

"Dry up and die!" Akane shouted. She pivoted and followed up with a giant two-handed swing of the mallet as though it were an over-sized baseball bat.

Ranma's showboating had left him off-balance, and the mallet connected directly against his chest. It sent him flying over the school fence. Nabiki's gaze naturally followed him, but she was temporarily dazzled by the sun to her left. She held up her hand to block it as she watched the last traces of Ranma disappearing off to the right.

Akane was left panting with her weapon still held in her follow-through position.

"Now that he had coming," somebody mused out loud.

Nabiki turned away from the window. Now that the show was over, she needed to hurry home. It wasn't as if the mercenary ice queen of Furinkan had any friends or anybody else to hold her up after class, and any business she had could wait until tomorrow. If she was fast, she would be able to find Ranma before Akane had regained her temper. The ghost of yen of the future taunted her, and loitering was no way to transform it into the physical yen of the present.

There was no way to catch up with Akane for the walk home. The martial artist was in much better physical condition than Nabiki, who hadn't practiced in years. Her sister also had a substantial head start. Most likely, by the time Nabiki got home, the youngest Tendo would have already changed clothes and be wasting her time breaking bricks in the dojo, as she tended to do when she wanted to both release some stress and avoid Ranma in the Tendo house.

Nabiki didn't even bother paying attention to the familiar streets of Nerima as she quickly walked back home on her own. The habit of years led her feet one after the other without conscious thought. It let her concentrate instead on bigger questions and larger plans.

Ranma and Akane's argument had solved one particular conundrum quite nicely. Akane would be actively avoiding Ranma, and vice-versa. It was very convenient. The most likely companion of Ranma was now out of the equation. All Nabiki needed to do was find Ranma in the immediate future to take advantage of the situation. With some luck, he would already be home by the time she got there. There were less than 1:2 odds that he would be, but it wasn't impossible.

Nabiki pushed open the front door, and announced, "I'm home." It was time to find out how lucky she was.

"Welcome home," Kasumi and Nodoka both answered from the kitchen. Neither of the fathers answered Nabiki from where they were playing Go in the living room. At their level of play, a moment of distraction would quickly mean the disappearance of some key pieces in the match. Never mind that the piece would more accurately have been described as being kidnapped than officially captured; it would still be gone, and its absence could turn the tide of battle.

Akane didn't answer Nabiki, either. The shouts and crashes coming from the direction of the dojo served as proof that Akane was there, as Nabiki had expected. Ranma never wasted his time breaking things unless it was part of a fight or for special training.

It was as good a time as any to corner Ranma. He would be as alone now as he ever was. There was always the chance that Shampoo, or Kodachi, or some heretofore unknown traveling salesman of magical artifacts, would barge in while they were talking. However, those random acts of chaos were impossible to predict and impossible to avoid, so there was no reason to try to plan around them.

"Have you seen Ranma-kun?" Nabiki asked the two women cooking in the kitchen.

"I don't think so," Kasumi said.

"Have you checked our room?" Nodoka asked.

"Not yet," Nabiki said. She walked back to the main entrance of the Tendo house and walked up the stairs to the bedrooms on the upper floor. She made a quick stop at her room to drop off her book bag and pull out one of the two photographs she had taken of the advertisement wall of Flare. She only needed one. It was good to have a backup hidden away in case Ranma did something drastic, like trying to destroy the photo when she confronted him. She still had the negatives, but she didn't want to wait for more copies to be developed.

Once the mercenary ice queen of Nerima was prepared, she crossed the hall to the Saotome room and barged in. She didn't bother to knock. If she caught Ranma in the middle of changing, or in some other compromising situation, it would have only made it that much more fun. She announced, "Ranma-kun, remember how..."

Nabiki stopped her opening line when she saw that there was nobody actually in the room. It was a bit of an anti-climax. Her plan would need to wait. She knew that the argument between Akane and Ranma earlier had postponed her, but she had hoped it wouldn't have delayed her timeline by that much. She only hoped that Ranma would return before approximately 19:30, so she could still get to Flare with enough time to talk to Nadeshiko. Otherwise, she would need to wait until Tuesday.

As disappointing as Ranma's absence was, it did present an opportunity as well. There was nobody in the room besides Nabiki, and she was always interested in expanding her wardrobe. She was sure that Ranma wouldn't mind her borrowing a couple of pieces of clothing for a while. He would have complained if he minded, and he had certainly never complained in the past. If it was because he had never noticed, then it was so much the better.

Surprisingly, Ranma had fairly good taste in female fashion. Some of his outfits were clearly designed to be excessively eye-catching and fantastical, if not outright bait for Happousai, but most of them were quite attractive. Unfortunately, Nabiki was substantially larger than Ranma's female form in all ways except her chest, which meant that she wouldn't be able to help herself to any of his plethora of dresses and skirts. She would need to limit herself to borrowing tops and accessories.

She crossed the room and opened the closet. It was like taking a proverbial trip down memory lane as she flipped past outfit after outfit, looking for whatever struck her fancy.

There was the yellow, teal, and red outfit Ranma had worn on his date with Kuno when he had found the wishing sword. There was the jumper and shirt that he had worn when he had managed to convince both Ryouga and Akane that he was Hibiki Yoiko, the sister of Ryouga. There was the bloomers and shirt combination he wore whenever he wanted to join the girls in gym class at school for whatever reason.

Ranma had a wide collection of leotards of different colors and sleeve lengths, too. There was the long-sleeved green one he had worn when practicing for his Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics contest against Kodachi. Next to that was the pink one he had worn for the actual fight against her, complete with associated ribbon and clubs. There were several more specialized bunny leotards, too, with their distinctive fuzzy tails, furry ears, pantyhose, and collars. There was the pink one he had worn when he had tried to out-cute Kurenai Tsubasa, the black one he had worn when he had fought Mousse during the Cat Tongue incident, and more.

The leotard section smoothly transitioned to the numerous swimsuits that Ranma had. There were several practical and even boring one-piece suits, including the plain one used as a school uniform for swimming class. These gave way to more ornate and frilly one-piece suits, such as the one he had worn when trying to find the haircut exemption coconut from Principal Kuno. After that was the plethora of bikinis he had, ranging from the very usable ones to the more notional ones which were liable to shred if they ever actually touched a body of water.

Ranma also had a large number of dresses. There was the standard female Furinkan High School uniform he occasionally wore to trick Ryouga, Kuno, or whoever else. There was the tasteful innocent white ruffle dress with cap sleeves from the time he had hit his head and thought he was a girl. There was the cheerleading uniform he had worn in his duel with Konjo Mariko, complete with pompoms and batons. There was the plain green one he had used for the cover photograph of one of the audio CDs Nabiki had had produced and sold.

The ongoing profits from that enterprise still brought a smile to her face.

Past the dresses were a surprisingly large number of kimonos. There was the kimono Ranma had worn in that Martial Arts Badminton tournament from that time when Akane had eaten the super soba. Next to it was the kimono he had worn in the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony fight with Miyakoji Satsuki, or more precisely in his fight with her monkey. Next to that was the kimono he had worn on his date with the spirit of that old man who had been in a coma. And there were more, too. Strangely, Nabiki didn't see a single male kimono in the closet; they were all female ones.

In fact, it was quite amazing exactly how much female clothing Ranma had in general. He had a fair bit more of it than both Kasumi and Akane. Now that she actually looked at it, he even had more than Nabiki herself did. Every time there was another adventure which called for it, Ranma would somehow just happen to have an appropriate outfit for the situation. If he needed to lure out Happousai to learn the secret of the Happo-Fire Burst, he just happened to have a tennis dress at hand. If he wanted to teach a mirror copy of his female form how to pick up boys, he just happened to have two matching black and white strapless dresses, complete with color-coordinated handbags, high-heel shoes, and accessories. It was an inordinate amount of clothes for somebody who spent less than half of his time as a girl, and it was certainly more than a poor martial artist should have.

Then again, it was said that the child of a frog is a frog. So what did that make the child of Saotome Genma, petty thief extraordinaire? It was probably best to not think too hard about where Ranma had been acquiring designer clothes.

Nabiki had just skipped past a red silk cheongsam when her hand froze. She recognized the next dress. She pulled it out to confirm what she thought she had seen. In the full light of the room it was undeniable. It was a cream-colored chiffon dress which coincidentally happened to match the handbag Nabiki had just purchased on her last trip to Ginza. It was the same delicate confection she had seen only once before: on Tuesday, on the body of one Yamato Nadeshiko.

It was a coincidence. It had to be. It was an outfit Ranma had worn on one of his past adventures that Nabiki had long since forgotten about. Or maybe Akane had purchased it recently, but then Kasumi had had it washed and had then accidentally placed it in Ranma's closet by mistake. Never mind that Akane had no way to afford such a dress; maybe Kuno had bought it for her for some reason. Never mind that the bust was clearly too large for her younger sister; it was the only possible explanation.

Nabiki picked it up, along with the other clothes she had pulled off the rack, and rushed out of the room. She dropped the rest of the clothes onto her bed, and then all but ran down to the dojo. She had to be sure.

"Hey, Akane," Nabiki interrupted once she had slid open the door to the dojo. "I saw this dress in my closet, but it's not mine. I think Kasumi-oneechan gave it to me by mistake, and I wanted to give it back to you before I forgot."

Akane stopped what she was doing, and the cloud of cement particles surrounding her slowly drifted to the ground. The martial artist took a look at her sister, and then said, "That's not mine. Maybe it's Kasumi-oneechan's? Or maybe it's Saotome-san's? I don't think I've ever seen her wear anything besides a kimono, but she has to have something, right?"

"Maybe. I guess it's got to be, unless you happen remember Ranma-kun wearing something like this on one of his dates, or something," Nabiki said. She spoke negligently, like it was a chance comment she was joking about rather than something important.

"Not that I remember," Akane said.

"Thanks," Nabiki said. She left the dojo and re-entered the house proper. The next stop was the kitchen.

A fiery lump was starting to form in Nabiki's stomach. The dress could have been Kasumi's, or Nodoka's, but it didn't seem like either of their styles. It looked much too modern for a traditionalist like Nodoka, and Kasumi very rarely left the home for anything besides shopping. Her older sister was far too practical to buy something she would wear once a year at most.

Nabiki didn't even have a chance to say something in the kitchen doorway before Nodoka said, "That's beautiful, Nabiki-chan. Is that what you bought at Ginza a few days ago?"

"That looks quite expensive. Are you sure we have the budget for it?" Kasumi asked.

"Uhh... yeah," Nabiki said. She wandered away from the kitchen in a daze. She automatically walked back to her room out of habit. Once inside, she started to pace back and forth in thought.

There was always the chance that Ranma would be back for dinner. However, she knew he wouldn't be. At some level she had already known about his work at the hostess club. She had 1:2 odds that Ranma would be back by dinner if he left school due to a fight or under some other strange circumstance. This week he had come back for dinner on Wednesday, but not on Tuesday. Last week he had been absent on Tuesday and Friday, but had returned on Monday. The week before he had been absent on Tuesday and Friday, but had been back on Wednesday. She couldn't remember beyond that, but if she checked her records she was sure that the pattern would continue. He was absent every Tuesday and Friday, but he returned every other day.

There was the fight he had just had with Akane, too. It had been the same fight as always, so Nabiki hadn't paid any real attention to it. Now that she did, though, it was highly suspicious. There was no way that Akane could hit Ranma if he were actually fighting for real. Their skill gap was too large. However, she had managed to hit him out of the school towards the southeast, which coincidentally happened to be towards Ginza. Ranma must have provoked Akane into the argument, and then manipulated the fight until Akane finally hit him that direction. It gave him an excuse as to why he wasn't present in the afternoon, due to wanting to avoid Akane, and it gave him a head start on his trip.

Anger surged. He'd tricked her.

He had tricked her.

That lazy, crude, stupid, boorish, vulgar lout had tricked her. Her. Nabiki. The mercenary ice queen of Furinkan. The girl who prided herself on being smarter, harder-working, and just plain better than everybody else. The girl who used her brains, instead of the dumb muscles that her sister and everybody else in the Ranma-chasing squad favored.

And he had tricked her.

In a way, she was impressed. She didn't think the buffoon had it in him to do so. Never mind that he had once tricked Ryouga into thinking he was his fiancee. The eternally lost boy was as muscle-brained as all the other martial artists. Never mind that he had once tricked Akane into thinking he was Ryouga's sister. Akane had always had more passion than sense, common or otherwise. Akane and Ryouga were naive and easy to fool. Nabiki would know. She had done so before. Multiple times.

But Nabiki was better than that. She actually watched people. She actually paid attention. Ranma's bluffing couldn't fool an eight-year-old child. She knew this. Just a few weeks after that incident with the so-called Hibiki Yoiko, Nabiki had watched dumbfounded as Ranma had spent hours passing a joker back and forth against the Gambler King. So how could he hav...

Nabiki froze in place.

Something about that Gambler King fight nagged at Nabiki. Something was missing. What had actually happened in that duel?

Nabiki and the others in her family, along with numerous children, had watched in utter disbelief as Ranma and the Gambler King traded a joker back and forth for hours. The duel had escalated, with the Gambler King doing ever more drastic forms of cheating which Akane had interrupted time and again. Eventually, Ranma had given a heartfelt speech full of passion which had convinced everybody how much the fight had meant to him and how they should have a fair fight without any cheating. This had led the Gambler King to propose a single final game. Ranma had then himself cheated and won the duel.

But wait. Nobody had actually seen him cheat. Nobody had caught him. The only way they had known he had cheated in the end was because he admitted it much later. For that matter, that passionate speech he had given to convince everybody that the fight was important to him had to have been false, too. After all, he had turned around and cheated his way to victory immediately afterwards.

It all suddenly clicked into place.

Ranma actually did know how to lie!

It was so clear in retrospect. It wasn't like there weren't numerous examples. He had convinced Ryouga and Akane that he was Yoiko. He had convinced Kuno that he sincerely wanted to date him several times, such as to get a wish with the Wishbringer Sword. He had tricked her whole family that he had destroyed the packet of Instant Jusenkyo Powder during the fight with the Dojo Destroyer. He had convinced Happousai numerous times that he was an innocent girl to lure him into doing something. He had managed not only to hide from his mother for several months and convince her that he was Tendo Ranko, he had managed to get everybody to help conspire to trick her into thinking Kumon Ryu was her son.

Of course, each and every one of his lies was obvious once you knew the truth. If you knew that it was Ranma in disguise, then his disguise as Ryouga's fiancee was easy to spot. If you knew that he was Ranko Tendo, then it was easy to realize that somehow Ranko always appeared whenever Nodoka had thought she had found Ranma. However, in the middle of things, it was so easy to get caught up in the story and be tricked. Nabiki had had personal experience, from that Gambler King fight. In hindsight, it was clear that Ranma had palmed the card and cheated his way to victory. However, it was only clear in hindsight with knowledge of the truth.

And now that she knew Ranma was Nadeshiko, it was easy to see through the suddenly transparent lie.

Nabiki was impressed. There was more to the uneducated lout than she had thought. The only question that remained was what to do about it. Would she act like a member of the Kuno family who, when faced with something which didn't fit their world-view, would turn a blind eye and continue to live in the fake fantasy they found more comfortable? Or would she be like Nodoka and chase the thread of truth wherever it led?

In the end, it wasn't even close. She was nothing like the Kunos. Nabiki was not delusional. She would find the truth, and she would expose him. Ranma would rue the day he had tried to pull one over on Nabiki. She would show him off to everybody, most especially to his mother. The seppuku pledge might be null and void, but there was no doubt Nodoka would make Ranma's life very miserable once she found out. And Happousai, too. He would get a thrill out of knowing of Ranma's double life. Not to mention the reaction in Flare, and from everybody else in Ginza. Nabiki would see him thrown out on the streets.

Ranma had tricked her. And he would pay.

Nabiki grabbed her camera and a couple rolls of film, and then she stormed out of the room. She would get hard evidence of him entering the hostess club. She would even pay for the expedited photograph development, just so she could distribute the pictures tonight. Her revenge would be worth it.

"I have some things I need to do. I've got to track down a stupid martial artist. I'll be back later tonight," Nabiki called out.

"Are you going to be back by dinner?" Kasumi asked.

"I'm not sure. If not, I'll just get dinner myself," Nabiki said. She then stalked out of the Tendo home and into the afternoon.

The familiar background of Nerima barely even registered as Nabiki hurried through it to the nearest Tokyo Metro station. The anger coursing through her pushed out all other thoughts except for her pending vengeance.

The train was crowded, as it always was at this hour. Nabiki held her wallet close. It would be far too easy for a petty thief to snatch it and then flee a closing train door. Crime was rare in Tokyo, but it was present, and there was no reason to take any unnecessary risks.

Ginza was a major destination for a good portion of traffic, so it was easy to go with the flow of people and get out onto the open platform when she arrived. Once there, she was safe. The station was busy, but there was no risk of getting swept to the next traffic stop by accident.

She arrived outside Flare at 16:40. She took an unobtrusive position loitering against a wall on the other side of the street and calibrated her camera's focus for the distance to the front door. She would focus her camera more after that first picture had been taken, but she would only have a few seconds and wanted to be sure she would get at least one usable picture. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for Ranma to arrive.

Time ticked by slowly, as it always did whenever she was on a stakeout waiting for the perfect shot. Minutes would pass by in what felt like hours. She didn't let it distract her as she scanned back and forth across the crowd. She kept a particular lookout for the familiar red hair, but she didn't limit herself to only that. She couldn't discount the possibility that he would arrive in male form just to thwart any pursuers. She made sure to keep an eye out for both a taller male Ranma as well as a shorter female one.

After what felt like far too long, Nabiki continued to scan the area. She had a great deal of experience with how time felt dilated whenever boredom interfered, and she had no desire to miss her shot. She continued to watch. When more than far-too-long had come and gone, Nabiki continued to wait. Eventually, after another period of too-long had passed by, she finally took a glance at her watch.

The time showed 17:50. It was long past when Nadeshiko should have started her shift. Somehow Nabiki had missed her chance.

She mentally kicked herself. She had kept such close watch. She wasn't sure how she could possibly have missed him. She had seen each and every one of the numerous men walk in to Flare, one at a time, and none of them had been Ranma.

That last thought stuck. All men. No women. Each of them had to be a customer. But then where were the hostesses? If none of them entered through the front door, then there must be a service entrance.

She suddenly felt quite foolish. Of course, there had to be a service entrance. You wouldn't want a customer to be confronted with cases of sake awaiting delivery, nor would you want them to see a hostess walking in through the front door herself. It would ruin the catered illusion of perfection.

Nabiki pushed off against the wall and crossed the street. Flare had buildings attached to both of its sides, but there was a side street to an alley a few buildings over. She hurried to investigate.

The alley was far less sanitized than the main streets of Ginza. The area had a gray dampness to it, and a vaguely organic smell permeated the atmosphere. She could feel it clinging to her skin. There was a shallow pool of unidentified liquid lining the building along one wall, and against the other side of the alley were a few wooden boxes haphazardly stacked up next to some stairs leading downward. There were a couple of windows to the buildings which lined the alley, but they were small things covered with years of grime rather than the huge crystal-clear displays lining the shops of the main streets. The hum of air conditioner compressors filled the air and provided a din of background noise as omnipresent as the sound of cicadas in season.

Nabiki counted the doors as she walked past them. After she passed by four of them she stopped and looked up. It was the back entrance to Flare. The door was elevated off the ground by a stair step, like all the doors in the alley. She tried turning the doorknob, but it was locked. As expected. It couldn't have been that easy. It never was.

She had missed her window of opportunity. Rather, she had missed her window of opportunity to catch Ranma as he entered. He still had to leave, and she could catch him then. She would only need to wait a couple of hours to have her revenge. A few lamps lined the alley, including one above the door just off to the side. It would be dark, but once they were lit they would probably provide enough light for a photograph. There was also the flash of her camera as well, if she needed it. If anything, getting a picture in the dark evening might be easier. The alley was linear and fairly long, so hiding or remaining unnoticed would be hard in the open daylight. An evening ambush when Ranma left would be far simpler to execute.

First, though, it was time for dinner.

No. First, it was time to confirm Ranma's presence in the hostess club. She walked back to the main streets of Ginza and crossed several blocks before she found a pay phone. Once she did, she dialed the number which was starting to become familiar to her.

"Hello, this is Flare, how may I help you?" a woman asked. It was a different voice than Yuka's.

Nabiki dropped her voice into as deep a register as she could force it and asked, "Yes, I was wondering if Sakura-chan was working tonight."

"Yes, she is, but she is with a customer right now. Would you like me to have her call you when she is available?"

"No, thank you. I'll just come by when I can," Nabiki said. It was better to not give Ranma any hint that something was wrong.

"Okay, thank you very much. We hope to see you soon."

Nabiki hung up. Now it was time for dinner.

She ate at the first fast food restaurant she passed by on the way back to Flare. It was four-times more expensive than what Kasumi would have spent preparing dinner, and it wasn't nearly half as good. Still, it was edible, which was more than what she could say for some of the things her younger sister cooked. Regardless, the waste of yen was another thing Nabiki blamed on Ranma. Revenge would be so sweet.

Nabiki intentionally ate slowly and in a relaxed manner. If she was going to have to spend yen, then she was going to get as much value out of it as she could. It was far more comfortable lounging in a restaurant than loitering around in the streets, and she still had hours to wait. She figured that if the restaurant really wanted her to leave, then they would ask. If they never asked her, then she had no obligation to leave.

The air was cooling and the last vestiges of sunlight were rapidly disappearing in the sky when she finished dinner. It made much less difference in Ginza than it would have made in a place like Nerima. A plethora of neon signs kept the streets brightly lit in artificial colors. The garish clash of reds and oranges was awful to look at, but made it easy to retrace the path back to the hostess club.

She returned to the alley and the back entrance she had examined a few hours earlier. It looked far different than when she had seen it in the sunlight. Unlike the neon-shaded main streets of Ginza, the alley was now only lit by a few dim lamp lights. She could still make out the boxes, but the wide puddle of liquid was now nearly invisible. Its presence was only given away by its smell and the lights reflected on its surface. She gave it a wide berth as she passed.

It appeared that the camera flash would be necessary. She had overestimated the amount of light the lamps would give off. She could see decently enough, but human eyes were far more darkness-tolerant than camera lenses were. Any photograph would need a flash. That would definitely give away the fact that Ranma had been caught. In Nabiki's opinion, that was an advantage. Ranma would be able to experience the anticipation of ruin as well, not only the perdition itself.

Based on the position of the back door, the direction it opened, and the direction of the light, Nabiki determined the best place to wait for the shot would be just below a particular lamp mounted on the wall. She picked up one of the wooden boxes, moved the makeshift chair into an appropriate position, and then took a seat upon it. She picked up her camera and refocused it. She took a sample picture with her camera to ensure that everything was properly set up, and then leaned back. All she could do now was wait for Ranma to emerge.

Time once again ticked by slowly in anxious anticipation. The noisy street traffic of Ginza was barely audible despite it being only one building away. The single siren she heard blaring could have been from another district for how distant it sounded. The whole area felt deathly quiet for a place in bustling Tokyo, and the whole alley held its breath waiting for what would happen next.

Nabiki didn't worry half as much about missing Ranma in this quiet alley as compared to the busy main streets of Ginza. There was no crowd to distract her in this setting, and nowhere Ranma could hide if he somehow evaded her initial notice. She only waited one period of far-too-long before she averted her gaze to check her watch. The hands were hard to see in the dim light, but it appeared that the hour-hand hovered somewhere around the 9 and the minute-hand hovered somewhere around the 12. It could have been anytime between 20:50 to 21:10 and it would have looked much the same. Nabiki re-gripped her camera and re-checked the focus through the lens. She was poised to act the moment Ranma opened the door.

"Well, what do we have here?"

A man's voice caused Nabiki to lower her camera and turn to look at its source. She could make out the general shape of three surly men swaggering towards her. They had matching leather jackets which seemed to glow black in the dim lamplight. The occasional gleam of metal could be seen reflected off the nose of one of the men, and off the lip of another.

"It looks to me like this poor little thing wanted to be a hostess and got kicked out."

"Aww... that's too bad. Why don't you come with us, little girl? You can hostess for us. We could use some company."

All of a sudden, Nabiki realized exactly where she was. She was in a dark alley in the middle of Ginza, far away from Nerima.

And nobody else knew that.

The major street, full of bright neon lights and passing crowds of watching witnesses, was only a block away. A full block away, through dim light and looming shadows. Thoughts of Nadeshiko, Sakura, and Ranma vanished. Years of warnings about how dangerous the city could be whirled around her head and started crowding out all other thoughts.

Nabiki tried to keep her wits about her in her suddenly racing head. Away. She had to get away. No sudden moves. Nothing suspicious. Just get back to the safety of the crowd of spectators.

"No, thank you. I was just here to... get something," Nabiki said as she clutched her camera in her hands. "That's right. I just got it here. My friends are waiting for me. I'd better go back to them before they miss me," Nabiki said as calmly as she could. She started to walk back down the alley away from the three men as fast as she could without actually appearing to be in a hurry.

A sharp rap of metal on metal made her jump. She spun around at the sound and saw where one of the men had slammed a stairway rail with something. He spun his hand a bit and let the blade of the knife he held catch the light and gleam in the darkness.

"Now, you look like a smart girl. These places here, they're dangerous, you see. Some of the guys around here... well... they're liable to do some bad things to a girl all alone. You know... like cut her... or maybe worse." The man twisted the knife back and forth as he walked toward Nabiki. Her eyes locked on to the shine of metal and she stood paralyzed in fright. "Now, you're lucky I found you here. I'm not like one of those men. I'll protect you. I'll even treat you to a drink. We'll have a great time. Me and my buddies just want to keep you safe, see? It's much safer to be in a group. You wouldn't want to meet one of those bad people and get hurt, right?"

Nabiki was hyperventilating by this point. The threat was obvious and oppressive. She could just end up as a missing person report never to be seen again. It was hard to think of anything through the mind-numbing panic which had enveloped her. The only thing she saw through the pinprick of focus was the gleam of metal in the man's hand.

She fumbled around for something. Anything. Even just the camera in her hands. She raised it, closed her eyes, and clicked the shutter.

The light of the camera flashed through the dark alley and directly into the faces of the three men. Even as she triggered the flash, she turned and sprinted for the main road. It was only a few dozen meters away.

There were three inarticulate shouts of complaint from behind her, but she didn't dare turn around. A few seconds. All she needed was a few seconds. Then she would be safe.

A heavy weight grabbed the back of her calf and tripped her. She fell straight forward onto her face, splashing into some smelly liquid. Her camera went skittering forward across the ground. She looked behind her, and through the pain she saw that the man who had been threatening her with the knife earlier had grabbed her leg. She kicked with that foot to try to dislodge him, but he held firm.

"Now that was a really stupid thing to do," the man said. He pulled her backwards, through the pool of liquid, as he himself climbed to a kneeling position.

Panic surrounded Nabiki, and she was acting purely on instinct. She wildly flailed with her free foot, but the man caught it with his other hand. She reflexively continued to try to kick, but both of her legs were now held fast and her struggles were ineffectual.

"It looks like you have a handful there, Kiyoshi-san. I think this girl needs to be taught some manners," one of the other men said.

"That's just what I was thinking. Naughty girls need to be punished," Kiyoshi said. "What say you, Nobu-san? Would you like to do the honors?"

"Nah, I think it's Masaru-san's turn this time," Nobu said.

Nabiki regretted all of the times she had skipped out on the martial arts lessons her father had tried to teach her. She had always thought that they were beneath her. Her younger sister was a dumb ox to waste all that time just getting sweaty, but Nabiki was better than that. She used her brains when her sister only had brute strength to rely on. Only now, the image of metal edges and pierced men filled her thoughts and prevented her from thinking anything besides the overwhelming panic which had robbed her of any self-control.

She knew she should do something. Anything. But she couldn't get herself to move. She thought she wanted to scream, but couldn't make her voice heard. She thought she wanted to punch him away, but she couldn't get her arms to move. She found herself wanting, hoping, begging for something to help her, even as she couldn't actually do anything herself.

"Oh my. What are you four doing?" the gentle voice of Nadeshiko cut through the commotion. Even as she shouted, her voice still carried a demure grace.

The red-haired girl was standing just outside the back door to Flare. She wore a silk purple dress with a floral pattern printed on it, complete with matching purple shoes and purple eyeshadow. Nabiki was certain she was Ranma, but she still had a hard time reconciling that with the image of femininity in front of her. Nadeshiko looked like a picture of polished poise who just happened to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You should just turn around and go back inside. There's nothing to see here," Kiyoshi said.

"I think you had best leave her alone and depart this place," Nadeshiko said.

Kiyoshi jerked his head over in the direction of Nadeshiko, which caused Nobu to start walking over in her direction. The man drew a knife of his own as he walked towards the hostess. He said, "Now, why don't you calm down. We're just having a little fun."

"Please leave, or I shall summon the police," Nadeshiko said.

Nobu reached out and grabbed Nadeshiko's arm with his free hand. He then pulled her down the stair towards him. He said, "There's no reason for you to do that, little girl. There's enough here for you, too."

"I really wish you hadn't done that," Nadeshiko sighed.

Nabiki didn't even see what happened next. All she saw was that Nobu's knife was looming menacingly in the face of Nadeshiko, and then the next thing she knew, the man was being thrown over Nadeshiko's shoulder. She jabbed into the man's neck, and then left him behind on the ground.

"Why you!" Masaru shouted. He lunged forward at Nadeshiko, only to end up being tossed to the ground next to his companion. One neck jab later, he was likewise left behind like so much debris.

"How about you, sir? Will you please wait patiently while I summon the police?" Nadeshiko still spoke with her demure formality, but it carried an edge of steel within it.

"You... you monster!" Kiyoshi shouted. He shoved Nabiki down to push himself upright before he sprinted away.

Nadeshiko gracefully reached over and picked up one of the wooden boxes next to her. She bounced it in her left hand once, and then threw it through the murky darkness at the fleeing man. It hit his legs and caused him to trip to the ground. She then jumped up, bounced off a wall, and dived straight at the man. He was still trying to climb to his feet when she tackled him to the ground with both of her knees. One final neck jab, and it was over.

"Are you alright?" Nadeshiko asked Nabiki, and then offered her hand to the fallen girl.

Nabiki grabbed the hand and pulled herself upright. With the immediate danger over, the crushing paralysis departed Nabiki's body. She clung to the hand, and then pulled herself into the shoulder of the shorter girl. She trembled and cried, as if to wash away her fear with the tears streaming from her eyes.

"There, there. It's all over now," Nadeshiko soothed. "Come on. Let's get you inside."

Nadeshiko led the unresisting Nabiki back to the door from which she had arrived. She knocked, the door opened, and she guided her into Flare.


Last Updated: September 16, 2018