Disclaimer: The following is a fan-written fiction, the views and opinions in this story are not intended to be viewed as those of the author. Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Inuyasha, and Five Pound Gospel are the creations of Rumiko Takahashi, property of their respective rights holders and publishers. Please support the official releases.
CW: This story will contain violence, strong language, sexual humor and situations, drug use, Moroboshi Ataru, and Happosai. You've been warned.
|Persistence|
Buzzing filled the morning air above the Nerima Special Administration District, a large quadrotor drone passed over the clean, trendy-looking streets of cafes and expensive shops in the Taian Neighborhood and headed north. It passed over the tops of buildings, several rail lines, and a river, before crossing the broad front lawn of a lavish, palatial estate.
At the center of its fuselage, the camera focused on a large, tandem rotor helicopter idling on the lawn, then on a young man, flanked by black-suit and sunglasses wearing bodyguards, walking towards the rear doors of the helicopter. The handsome young man dressed impeccably in an all-white school uniform and holding a sheathed blade on his shoulder, looked up towards the drone, the camera catching his face square in its sights to snap a picture.
Turning on its axis, the drone headed west, leaving the massive mansion. Crossing the same river, and over more well-kept and expensive property, it reached the wall of a clean and orderly all-girls school that was just opening its doors for class. The camera zoomed in and focused on one girl in particular–Kuno Kodachi walking to class flanked by several girls. Its shutter clicked rapidly several times.
The drone continued on, leaving the school and flying westward. Only three blocks over and the condition of the buildings changed. Stylish shops with glass fronts gave way to boarded up businesses, empty lots, and the occasional abandoned kiosk used by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police before Nerima was walled off.
Walking down a sidewalk in front of one of the kiosks, flanked by his gang with Curly at his right, was the hulking Soban. The drone zoomed in on him, and clicked several more pictures as it passed, before it changed direction, heading more southwest. As it flew, it gained more altitude, rising higher and higher, forcing it to zoom in to keep a clear view of the ground.
The terrain below improved as the drone went. Boarded up buildings and abandoned infrastructure gave way to more orderly suburban streets, and girls in blue and white school dirndls making their way to school. Its camera fell upon Nabiki and Akane, walking together towards the school. They were joined by Kasumi, who was riding a bright red bicycle alongside her sisters and amicably speaking with them. The camera passed over all three of them, but took the majority of its pictures of Akane, sparing three for Nabiki and one for Kasumi compared to her eight.
The drone turned again, the camera coming around even faster and overshooting Katie, who was coming from another direction with her eyes aimed ahead of her. When the camera panned back to her, she was looking directly at the drone.
The drone snapped off one quick picture, changed direction, and fled east as fast as it could.
After a kilometer or so, the drone slowed down, and stopped as it captured Ataru in its lens. He was walking down a street, his head tilted up with a relaxed look on his face like he was lost in a daydream. The camera held onto him for a moment as he walked, before it turned without snapping a picture.
A flash of blue-green iridescence passed in front of the lens, and the camera swiftly panned to catch Lum–wearing Tomobiki's dark blue school uniform–floating from some nearby clouds, following Ataru's general direction. First the camera, then the drone itself followed Lum, capturing picture after picture of her before another object passed in front of the drone–forcing it to stop.
It was an infant Oni boy with short hair the same color as Lum's, wearing a yellow with black striped diaper. Staring at the drone's camera, he looked back at Lum, then at the camera. Scowling, the infant took a deep breath and incinerated the drone with a blast of flame from his mouth.
The remains of the drone plummeted from the sky, its pops and snaps not unnoticed by Katie. She glanced back in time to see the plume of fading smoke in the sky and nodded in approval of the pesky machine's destruction. "Cool."
Things had calmed down a bunch after doing away with the Shining Killers, the only boys who'd been showing up to class were the few who didn't take part in the carnage Akane inflicted on them, and the occasional listless mob too broken to care where they went. If it weren't for having Akane to hang out with after class, she'd be complaining about it being boring again.
"Yoohoo~!" Daikoku Kaori called out, and the delivery girl hopped down from a nearby roof to land beside Katie. "Good morning, preferred customer."
Katie waved back, and noticed Kaori was in her blue and red work attire. "Howdy, getting ahead of the morning rush?"
"Better than that, I finally got my passport updated so I can do delivery work in Japan. I'm heading over the wall after a few more deliveries here," Kaori revealed.
Katie's eyebrows rose. "Whoa, congrats on getting your papers and good luck over there."
"Thanks. But it also means I won't be around to run stuff between you and Misao, so… you're gonna have to do without me until four-twenty."
Katie frowned. "Crap, and I didn't bother with lunch today."
Kaori clapped her hands together. "Well you're in luck! A new place opened up near Tomobiki and they've got a special for folks who use my delivery services."
Of course she'd use the opportunity to sell her something. "I'm listening…"
"It's an okonomiyaki stand called Ucchan's, run by a friend of mine from Kansai. He just moved here to set up his own business and I'm helping him get his name out on the street."
Katie pondered the offer. Never had okonomiyaki before… but going near Tomobiki sounds like a recipe for a fucked-up day.
Kaori all but read her mind. "Now I know what you're thinking–'why the heck would I go to Tomobiki for food?' Come on girl, I wouldn't recommend walking into the wolf's den if the food wasn't worth it. Ucchan makes the best okonomiyaki you'll ever try, and if you show him this?"
Kaori put her arm around Katie's shoulder and held up her phone to take a selfie with her. Pulling back, she sent the photo to Katie's phone. "You will get two regular okonomiyaki for the price of one. So c'mon~! Take a chance and pay my boy Ucchan a visit. You'll be treated to a most unforgettable luncheon."
Katie checked her phone to look at the selfie. "Well, I can't really say no to a deal like that. All right, I'll give it a try. It's this, mooch, or put up with commissary food–oh wait, I can't even do that."
Because the school did not have a commissary, hence why so many students left school altogether for lunch. It was a practice largely frowned upon, but rarely enforced against by the faculty at Furinkan, even after Okamada's proclamation that they'd be doing more to maintain order at the school.
Kaori grinned. "You're the best!" Her phone beeped. "Oh, I have a delivery. I'll be back around the usual time. Text me if you want anything brought in from Japan and I'll get it over the border to you, 'kay? Bye bye!"
"Yeah, that's cool," Katie replied, and Kaori was gone like a delivery Supergirl, leaping onto a telephone pole and climbing up it to jump off to a nearby roof. She looked at her phone and at the selfie and let out a small laugh. "Girl knows how to make money; I'll give her that."
Katie looked at her phone, another message came from Kaori, giving the actual address of Ucchan's stand. Oh okay, it's not that close to the school itself. If I leave straight from the lunch bell and take the rooftops, I'll get there in time to eat my fill and get back within a half-hour. That should be quick enough to…
Her expression shifted to a low glower, as she tilted her phone just enough to see Ataru in the screen's reflection. He was standing right next to her, a big grin on his face.
"I hoped I'd see you again!"
Katie turned her head and scowled down at Ataru. "I'm not interested. Geddon outta here."
Ataru's expression grew strong, as he met Katie's gaze. "A girl as pretty as you? I can't just let you go!"
Katie's nose wrinkled, and her upper lip curled with the wave of revulsion rolling over her. She turned from him and stormed away. Knowing he was following right behind her, she spoke. "I'm gonna say it just this once, y'hear? I ain't interested in men like you. Iffin' you insist on keepin' this up? I will break you in half."
"Your accent is so pretty, are you from Texas?" Ataru asked.
"Leave me alone," Katie repeated as she kept walking.
Ataru held his arms out towards her as he trailed behind. "But I'm in love with you!"
"Nah, you just wanna bang," Katie replied. "Go 'way."
Zipping in front of her, Ataru held out his arms and looked up at her, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I am not after base desires! These are genuine feelings! Are you just going to run away from a chance at…?"
He trailed off as Katie sprang and somersaulted over him, landing behind him to keep walking. He stared at the empty space then looked back in time to watch her land–her shiny black hair waving back and forth behind her. "Wow…"
Katie rolled her eyes, as he jogged up alongside her. "Tall and graceful! You're not a model, you're a gymnast!"
"I'm all that and out of your league." She stopped and turned to face him. "Final warning, turn around and walk away or you will fly away."
Taking her free hand in both of his like he had the other night, Ataru knelt in front of her. "The only way I'm walking is your way, by your side."
Her hand slipped from his, drawing his gaze down to his empty hands. Before he could look up, Katie turned in place to build up momentum for the knee she drove into Ataru's gut–the force of the blow folding him over and lifting him off his feet.
"You were…" She turned and side-kicked him in the same spot she kneed him, shooting him off the sidewalk and towards the middle of the street. "Warned!"
Ataru tumbled like a ragdoll and struck several garbage cans and recycling bins stacked up in front of the row of houses on the opposite side of the street. Lowering her leg with a snort, Katie turned and kept going towards the school, now well within sight.
Ugh… why are the grossest boys the most desperate? Where are all the cute, quiet, and shy boys in this goddamn town? She thought with a darkening brow. Shit, this is just like that bullshit with Akaneko.
Looking back again at Ataru to make sure he hadn't somehow recovered from his thrashing; Katie took off in a sprint towards the front gate of the school. To her relief, she spotted both Akane and Nabiki crossing the street. And just like that, I'm back to having a good morning.
Then she saw Kasumi was with them. Fuuuuuuuuuuu…
Seeing Katie running towards them, Akane raised her hand in greeting. "Good morning, senpai!"
"Yo." Nabiki said with less enthusiasm.
"Good morning, Katie-chan," Kasumi chimed last.
"Yeah, howdy," Katie replied before looking at Kasumi. "What brings you out here?"
Akane was happy to explain. "She's got errands to run today, so she walked with us to school."
"And to say hello," Kasumi added. "How have you been? You haven't been by in a few days."
"I'm fine," Katie replied, stuffing her enthusiasm away. "Kinda buried in my schoolwork, y'know?"
"Well, as nice as it'd be to have you around," Kasumi allowed. "It's no good if you're failing your courses."
"You never know when it'll come in handy." Akane added, looking proud about things.
Katie managed to hide her expression. Jeez, if I tell them the real reason, I'd just disappoint them. Shaking her head, she decided to respond. "Yeah, it's just a bad habit from spending summer on the road."
"Well, be careful, the teachers might not do anything about violent lynchings, but they love to run their mouths about your grades," Nabiki warned, though she still seemed put off by something.
Katie narrowed her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."
"It'll be fine," Akane said, seemingly trying to shine bright enough to knock out her sister's bad mood. "Just do your work and they'll have no choice but to keep their mouths shut."
Neither Katie nor Nabiki felt like being the one to point out that that was likely just wishful thinking.
Kasumi decided there was enough talk about school work. "Still, if you have the chance to come by, it would be really nice."
"Akane might actually practice for real again." Nabiki slipped the jab in there.
"Hey!" Akane yelped.
"You literally skipped practicing yesterday because it wasn't as fun without her around," Nabiki said, deciding that taking her bad mood out on Akane was on the table.
Katie ignored Nabiki's attitude and decided to try and live up to her status as senpai. "Hey, just like I can't slack off with school, you can't slack off with your training. The boring, unfun days are the best to train on because you have to work that much harder to make it not suck."
"I know," Akane demurred, toeing the ground with uncertainty in that way that made her appear obnoxiously cute and made you forget she could beat up dozens of people at once if the mood struck her.
"Anyways, at least if there are any surprise quizzes, we might be rid of our math teacher." Nabiki said, moving away from bashing her sister now.
"Makes you wonder if any of them really get what living in this place means, huh?" Katie retorted, feeling that people in authority forgetting that the protection it gave wasn't absolute was something of a universal constant.
Akane cut off any further talk of teacher beatings. "So can we have lunch at least today?"
Katie flinched, feeling like getting gut punched would feel better than having to let Akane down. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't pack lunch because I didn't know Kaori was going to be heading back to Japan proper today."
"Oh no," Kasumi said, having experienced first-hand that eating lunch at Furinkan was just shy of eating garbage.
"But it's fine, she did me a solid, so I have something lined up to take care of it." Katie explained, nice and easy. "I'd flake on it, but she doesn't always do favors, especially not without proper payment in advance. So I'll be headed off campus for lunch today."
Kasumi frowned. "It's too bad you didn't know sooner; I could have made you a bento."
"Hey hey, don't feel bad about it." Katie tried to smooth things over. "I should have had a better back up option anyways."
"Still." Kasumi wasn't to be deterred. "If you find yourself in such a predicament in the future, let me know."
"All right," Katie said, trying not to sigh and melt into a puddle. It was pretty hard considering...
"Well, we'll have to get to class eventually." Nabiki had to be the one to break it up, of course. "And you still have some more errands before you go home."
Kasumi didn't seem bothered by it. "Of course, thank you Nabiki-chan." The way she said it made it clear she didn't even begin to take offense to her moment being interrupted.
Akane stepped up to defuse things before Nabiki got put any further into her place. "Yeah, let's get to class right? You were complaining about needing to get to school early."
Nabiki stepped away from her sisters and trudged towards the school, roughly shoving one of the meandering zombie boys over without care about her reputation.
"Bad morning? She seems snippy." Katie asked.
"I don't think so?" Akane replied. "Maybe she's just restless because she doesn't like uncertainty–things still haven't settled down enough around here."
"Well, not gonna begrudge her that." Katie said, shaking her head. She looked over at Kasumi. "Gotta go."
"Come over soon," Kasumi said, smiling just a little. "Please?"
"No promises, but I'll be sure to try and clear my schedule." Katie turned to Akane. "Come on, I can walk you to your class at least."
And with that, just another boring day at school was about to begin.
A/N: Ataru would not be Ataru if he did not relentlessly pursue the flavor of the week. Hopefully he can get that fixed.