Ranma Half Moon Season Two, Phrase White: Cold opening, part 7

"So, that's what this is about!"

Towa shields his eyes from a flashlight's glare. What is going on? We just successfully exited a house after completing a mission. No one has followed us, and Jadero has not signaled that anyone had driven up.

Towa looks around. Zoiki and Kunochi had already made it to the woods. He and Nephuyu were caught.

Seeing Towa's confusion, Nephuyu speaks up. "Towa, this is that girl I mentioned last week. This is Natsumi."

"How do you do?"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear from you. You're a monster. You seduced my Nephuyu into a life of crime."

"Towa, I'm sorry you're getting dragged into this. Apparently, Natsumi-kun is confused."

"You won't even call me by my name anymore?" Natsumi looks crushed temporarily, but then goes back to looking enraged.

"You're my classmate."

"I'm your girlfriend! The girl who you're going to be with forever, remember?"

"I told you yesterday that we were broken up."

"I don't believe the reason you gave."

Towa smirks. "What reason was that, Nephuyu?"

"I told her the truth. I told her that she was a worthy and good person and the one person in the school who everyone wanted to date. However, I felt nothing for her and only dated her on a bet. And, now, Zoiki has less money."

"That's impossible. I know that you love me."

"I don't feel anything at all for you."

Natsumi starts crying, then regains her composure. "I know what it is. You think that I'm a good person and that you're a motorcycle punk. I don't care about being a good person. I want to be with you. Let me join your gang. After all, I was able to track you down just by riding a bike."

Towa raises an eyebrow. So that's why Jadero didn't notice her presence. "So, you would become a petty criminal just to be with the man you love."

"Absolutely."

Towa shakes his head in disbelief. Zoiki is right. Getting too close to the living world leads to a lot of pain.

Nephuyu gets a sly smile on his face. "I don't have a say in letting you join the gang. Towa has seniority, he would be able to give you a better idea if you can join."

Towa gives Nephuyu the evil eye. Why do I have to be the one that cleans up people's messes? "Nephuyu, this young lady called me a monster just a couple of minutes ago. She has a lot of nerve thinking that I would let her into our gang after that."

Natsumi's face reverts back into rage. "Listen, you moron. You think I'm going to let you have Nephuyu without a fight? I'll have all of your gang arrested. I'll hire detectives to trail all of you. You wouldn't be able to jaywalk without having the police in your face."

Towa scratches his head. This wasn't going well. Natsumi's obsession with Nephuyu could cripple all of their training and jeopardize their entire operation.

"Natsumi-kun, I see that I was wrong about you. You pretend to be good but on the inside you are willing to both become a criminal and to harass me with the law."

"I'll do what it takes to keep you."

"I feel like giving Zoiki back his money. I was supposed to date the most desired girl in school. But, who would want to date you if they knew what you were really like?"

"I don't care about anyone else."

Towa rolls his eyes. "Nephuyu, you might be wasting our time her trying to reason with this person."

"Shut up monster."

Towa sees Nephuyu is starting to lose his temper, so he squeezes Nephuyu's wrist to get him to calm down.

"Natsumi-kun, please do not call Towa-sama a monster."

"How can you use that honorific on this punk?"

"It's how I should refer to Towa. It's how I want to refer to him."

"Is that how it is? You can't be with me because you want to be Towa's girlfriend? You can't even keep me around as a fujoshi?"

Towa cringes. This girl reminds me of the story of the tar baby. No matter what we say, she wouldn't go away.

"Natsumi-kun, this has gone far enough. As your classmate, it is upsetting for me to see you act like an idiot. I played a prank on you by pretending to be interested in you. I apologize. That wasn't appropriate behavior to display towards a classmate. However, you have to accept that the only feelings I have for you are the same feelings that I have towards everyone in our class. And, I probably feel a little bit less about you as well, after seeing the real you behind your mask."

"I won't accept what you say."

"Then accept this. I feel bad that I played a prank on one of my classmates, but I feel worse about the fact that I dated a monster like you. When I look at you I no longer see a pretty girl, I see an ugly girl."

"Princess-boy. I'll tell all my friends that you and your gang like each other."

"What you tell your friends is not my concern. But, Towa and I have other things to do rather than talk to some confused classmate."

Natsumi rides away on her bicycle, crying.

Out from behind a couple of trees, Zoiki, Kunochi, and Jadero appear.

"Fu fu fu. That was cold."

Nephuyu smiles at Zoiki. "She felt so highly about her appearance that she couldn't accept that someone would reject her. It took me calling her ugly for her to accept that I had rejected her."

Kunochi nods and smiles. "The last time I felt this way was when I heard one of the Snatchers tell off that murderer."

Zoiki enthusiastically nods his agreement.

"And, I think it's because it they were both the same thing. A cold and emotionless message, written by the transgressions of the target of the message. They were both a phrase white."

...

"Towa!"

Towa stops his progress to his next class. Zoiki was usually too busy with his own stuff to bother him much during school. "What's up?"

"I'm going absolutely crazy. There were a dozen letters in my locker today."

"Why?"

"They were all expressing support for me and Kunochi. That witch's babbling has turned me and Kunochi into folk heroes."

"That sucks. It's not like we need attention."

"It's a good thing that Nephuyu is so cute. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to forgive him for being such a troublesome kouhai. I think he's causing my eyebrow hairs to fall out."

"We all had our rough patches."

"But, I was talking with him yesterday, and he has a hidden talent that he hasn't told you about yet. I told our handlers, and they were very excited about it."

"What is it?"

"Come to my house tonight and find out."

To be continued