After that rough first day at the house, it became quite apparent to all of the young residences that Ranma wasn't going anywhere, whether he liked it or not. And he had certainly tried. Ranma had acted like being forced to stay at the Tendo house was a punishment to something.
This was naturally not earning him any points with the residents. Kasumi was being as polite as ever, giving him his space and not really making an effort to speak to him except to ask questions if she had to. Nabiki had only really spoken to him just once, to tell him she was his fiancee, and they actually hadn't said a word since. They barely even looked at each other except during meal time.
Akane, she was the most bothered by him. Ranma's attitude was just part of the problem, what really irked her was the fact that him being there really threw off her standard for normal. For one, there was a boy living where there was no boy before. Not just any boy, but a boy that didn't gush over her. While Akane was no fan of the Hentai Horde, she was certainly not used to a boy who acted like he couldn't stand being around her. And as the youngest of her family, she wasn't used to being ignored in her own home either. For another thing, he brought with him creatures that weren't supposed to exist, and acted like he was more comfortable around them than his own species.
That meant Ranma was not going to like what Genma had planned for him a few days after their arrival.
"School? What the hell? Since when has public education ever been a good idea to you?" Ranma said one morning.
"You need social skills my boy. You can't spend your entire life talking to cryptids. There will come times you have to deal with humans too."
"Since when have you ever wanted be to spend time with other humans? I know more about Bigfoot then I do my own kind thanks to you."
"And now it's time for that to change. I enrolled you in the local high school that Tendo's daughters go to. Now, I know that Nabiki is your fiancee-"
"Not if I have anything to say about it you pile of akaname food." Ranma cut off.
Genma snorted. "Despite that you'll have to be in the same class as Akane."
Said girl showed up in her blue school uniform. "She already left, so I'm the one who's going to show you how to get there."
"You're both assuming I actually intend to go." Ranma said defiantly.
"You know, I did hear that there was a recent surge of injury at the school that can't be identified. Could be a cryptid infestation there." Genma added.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Oh, how convenient."
"Those things in my school? Are you crazy?" Akane asked. "There's no crypt kids or whatever there, just some wasp nest that the custodians can't find yet."
"You should take a look at it boy since you're already enrolled anyway." Genma insisted.
"You take a look at it, I'm not going. I don't need any damn school. You taught me to work with cryptids, what else do I need to learn?" Ranma claimed, crossing his arms and looking like he dared anyone to make him leave his spot.
Akane frowned. "Well, I'm not going to be late because of you. Have fun with your monsters."
Ranma gave her a dirty look, tempted to throw one of his chopsticks at her as a sign of defiance, but he withheld his hand. Such a gesture was uncalled for and unneeded.
Genma stood up and looked ready to throw something at his son however. "Boy, I'm not giving you a choice in this."
"What a shock, you given me so many choices in other things." Ranma said with heavy sarcasm rolling his eyes.
"I'll drag you there myself if you don't go voluntarily boy." Genma threatened.
Ranma clenched a fist. "Go ahead and try old man."
"Just what the hell is that boy's problem?" Akane fumed as she walked off by herself, going over a bridge and walking by the fenced-off canal. "He's invites himself into my house and brings in a bunch of monsters, and is nothing but rude to all of us. And he has the nerve to act like we're in his way?"
She paused for a huff. "Right now the only good thing about him is he's not acting like a pervert. And yet even that bothers me. He's either biding his time, waiting to assault me when he thinks my guard is down, or thinks I'm not attractive enough to bother trying to assault. That last one is the one that bothers me the most."
As much as Akane disliked perverts, she wasn't exactly fond of being considered unsexy instead. A bit of a double standard, she even admitted to that, but it wasn't uncommon among the girls she knew to want to be seen as sexy while at the same time not harassed because of it.
Eventually she reached the gates of Furinkan, where a large group of perverts ready to harass her were waiting, striking even before they saw the whites of her eyes. Akane was only mildly grateful they were doing this today, for it gave her an outlet to her frustration about the guest in her house who made himself as unwelcome as he felt.
The boys came at her and she met them all with fists and kicks, pummeling them soundly until they were unable to be vertical on their own. She didn't stop until she was certain each of them was down for the count.
"Splendid performance as always Akane Tendo." Kuno, the creator of the Hentai Horde, said praisingly as he stepped into view. He always did this, despite being the one who most wanted to win against her he never once attacked her first, preferring to wait until after the group of lesser men had worn her down.
"Up yours Kuno." Akane said, annoyed.
"Tis time to fight my tigress, and to the winner a date with the fallen." Kuno said, clearly stating that win or lose he'd get what he wanted.
Unfortunately for him Akane wasn't too naive to fall for a 'heads I win tails you lose' scenario. So rather than respond, she simply ran up to him and kicked him in the face like she was aiming for the back of his head. He collapsed and she went inside.
"It's sad how your sister has to keep putting up with this." A girl said to Nabiki, both having watched this from their classroom.
"No, what's sad is that despite all the effort to stop this morning ritual it's still going on." Nabiki commented. 'Ranma wasn't with her. Is he actually skipping school on his first day, or did Akane not bother showing him the way here?'
"What effort? Nobody's done anything." The girl replied.
Nabiki shook her head. "No, nobody has done anything that's had any effect. There's a difference."
"What has been done?"
"Think about it, a bunch of boys are assaulting a girl each morning in clear view of everyone with the intention of making her do something for them. Any idiot could see this is a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen, so of course the school would cover its ass to make sure it can't be held responsible. Suspensions and detentions aplenty have been given to these boys, along with black marks on the records work to those positively identified, and even a few taken out of Akane's class and transferred to others. And of course the parents have all been sent notices so they can do something about the kids at home."
"Then shouldn't someone have been able to stop this by now?" The girl asked, surprised that the schoolboard hadn't been as inactive as it appeared.
"That's the bad part. For reasons that confound me, none of the boys take the hint and stop. And I think at some point the schoolboard gave up and just let it continue. I'm surprised none of the parents have pressed subpoenas yet, claiming the school is unsafe for their daughters. They can't all defend themselves as well as Akane does."
"Well, with how things have been going, for a while I started thinking maybe someone was forcing everyone to let this continue."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "I'm sure there's no mind control involved here. Just a combination of stupidity and futility."
Akane's day was so far so good, but she got a shock when lunchtime came and she went outside. Her friends Yuka and Sayuri told her to go on ahead, because both had forgotten their lunches and had to go buy some from the school itself, while Akane had one from Kasumi.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, going up to Ranma who happened to be talking to some students and in his girl form.
Ranma looked to her. "Don't get the wrong idea, I have no intention of being a student here. It's be a waste of time. But if there is a cryptid here I should investigate."
"There is no monster here. Well, there's one guy who comes close, but he's still human. Legally if nothing else. and why are you in this form?" Akane semi-rambled.
"This body is a great disguise if nothing else." Ranma replied.
"Well there's no monsters, so if you're-"
"They are not monsters. They're cryptids and frankly they're better than most humans. And if there's one here, I'm going to make sure it's not hurt or hurts anyone else."
"What's your problem with me?" Akane asked, taking his mild insult to humans a bit personally.
Ranma blinked and looked confused. "You? I have no problem with you. Never have."
"Oh don't give me that. You've disliked me since you got here."
"No, I've disliked what our fathers are doing. I have no problem with you or your sisters, not at all. It's our parents I'm angry at."
"Then why have you been acting like such an ass?" Akane asked.
"Long story short, I have nothing to do. And the three of you have made it clear I'm not welcome in your house and you don't want to talk to me."
Akane blinked. "You think we're the ones who don't want to talk to you?"
"Do you?" The redhead asked back.
Akane hesitated. "Well, not really, but I assumed that was because you didn't want to talk to us."
"You never gave me a chance to. Just because I hate what our fathers are doing doesn't mean I think you and your sisters are bad people. I mean, you don't blame me for what my old man is doing right?"
Akane couldn't respond right then.
Ranma arched her eyebrows, then frowned. "You think I'm the one who came up with that dumbass plan?"
"No, but..."
"But nothing. You either blame me for it or you don't. Simple as that. Which is it?"
Akane was silent, still not sure how to respond. It was like even though she knew it was Soun and Genma who came up with the whole engagement and living together plan, on a subconscious level she had held Ranma as the one responsible because he irked her. Now, she was forced to address that.
"I... don't blame you." She admitted.
"Good, and I don't blame you or your sisters. I just don't want to be a part of their plan." Ranma explained.
Akane nodded. "I don't either. But could you at least not be so distant to us? Just because we're not cryptoids doesn't mean we're not worth paying attention to."
Ranma looked annoyed. "As long as you guys stop acting like you're just waiting for me to go away. And for the last time, it's cryptids. Crypt-tids. Get it right tomboy."
"Tomboy?" Akane repeated.
"Akane!" One of the girls in her class that wasn't a friend to the youngest Tendo yelled, running up to the martial artist. "Your friends, they've been hurt."
"What?" She asked, worried.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, stings and scratches, like so many others. They're in the nurses office."
Akane instantly ran, and Ranma followed. "Why are you following me?"
"I should see if there really is a cryptid here or not. Stings and scratches aren't exactly a normal combination after all."
Akane in no time made it to the nurses office, with the school nurse trying to get the two girls treated. Neither was making it easy.
"It burns!" Yuka yelled, covering some wounds on her arm.
"My face is on fire!" Sayuri added, some scratches visible on her cheeks.
"Yuka, Sayuri, what happened to you?" Akane asked.
"Please leave, no visitors allowed just yet." The nurse claimed.
Ranma pulled out a badge of some sort. "I'm a professional dangerous animal handler and I'm told there's a risk of an infestation on the grounds. Is this the first time you've treated wounds such as these?"
The nurse looked at the badge. "Is this real?"
"Touch it yourself. Dial the number if you disbelieve me." Ranma said in complete serious.
The nurse considered it, but decided not to challenge the redhead. "No, this is not the first time. On average these injuries have been happening twice a week, always on Monday and Friday."
'Today's Monday.' Akane thought.
"Are they all the same kind of injury?" Ranma asked.
The nurse nodded. "Yes, always stings like large wasps and scratches like some kind of stray cat. At first we considered it was a suzumebachi hive that happened to be nearby, but no hives have been found around or within the school. But that doesn't account for the scratches or the regularity of the attacks."
"Is there a specific time of day these are more likely to happen? Or a specific place within the school where all victims had been?"
"We can't find a place, whatever is causing this is quite mobile and good at stating hidden. As for times, it seems to be most frequent in the mornings and lunchtimes on Mondays, but on Fridays it can be any time."
Ranma put a hand on her chin. "Do the victims all react the same way?"
The nurse nodded. "Yes, no one seems to be showing significant pain compared to others, so I'm certain there's no allergy involved. But they all seem to claim a burning sensation at the place of injury. Burn creams seem to help the pain even if they do nothing to treat the injuries, which seem to heal like any ordinary sting or cut."
"Burning sensation..." Ranma repeated, as if finding that significant.
Akane looked at the redhead in surprise. 'He's handling this so professionally. Like some kind of true expert. No wonder he doesn't want to go to school, what's the point when you're already this good at a job?'
"Do you know what's causing this?" The nurse asked.
"I have some ideas, but I will need to see for myself what's causing this. Do what you can, and let all students keep going on like nothing's wrong, but I'm going to need Tendo-san here assist me in my search."
"What? Me? Why?" Akane asked.
"I need someone that knows the school. And there's no need to get your sister involved when you're right here, and have reason to help me find the culprit." She said, pointing to Yuka and Sayuri who still looked like they were in agony.
Akane looked to her friends, then nodded. "Where do we start?"
Ranma walked into the hallway, with Akane following her. "Infestations always prefer the places humans don't normally go. Where's a place that people don't go?"
"I dunno... the basement? The boiler room?" Akane offered.
"It's a start." Ranma said, gesturing for Akane to show him an access to such a place.
Akane went down the hall, trying to find any such access since she had never bothered looking for one before. "So what was that back there? What's the badge for?"
"You didn't think I worked with cryptids for fun did you?" Ranma asked. "I'm part of an organization that keeps humans and cryptids from endangering each other. I'm sure I told you that when I got here."
"Hmm... yeah I think you did." Akane reflected. "So the badge is for?"
"Think of it as a cover. I can't exactly tell people what I'm dealing with now can I? The badge just tells others I'm a professionally trained animal handler, with a number to my organization that reinforces the cover story if called."
"That's pretty handy." Akane admitted. "What do you think is here? Nothing dangerous, right?"
"Life-threatening? I hope not. All I got are guesses, but nothing that makes sense. Especially the timing, why only those days?"
"I thought you were an expert."
"I never said I knew every cryptid that was out there like the back of my hand. When I first saw Fisk I was really surprised. We still can't identify his proper species. He's just known best as the Fiskerton Phantom."
"Never heard of it."
"You wouldn't, it's not a commonly known story outside of its own region. You'd have to go online to find anything about the story. But basically the town of Fiskerton, England had a humanoid entity roaming in the area, and that entity is Fisk. Pop and I saved him from a frightened mob that were chasing him with torches and weapons."
"So you brought a dangerous creature into my house?" Akane accused, thinking the only reason anyone would chase down something like that was if they were dangerous.
"Has Fisk done anything dangerous since we got here?" Ranma asked. "So many cryptids are misunderstood by people like you."
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly what it sounds like. Does this lead to the lower floors."
Akane looked to a door they had stopped in front of without her noticing. There were no words on it, but it clearly did not lead to any classroom. "I don't know. Only one way to find out."
Ranma carefully opened the door, and saw a set of stairs leading down. "That's good enough for me." She said before heading down, with Akane following.
"Where's the lights?" The youngest Tendo asked, seeing that it was rather dark down here.
"Cryptids could have chewed the wires or something, disabling the lights in the room." Ranma noted. "Either by accident or on purpose to hide better, won't know until I spot them."
"You think there's more than one?" Akane asked.
"Most likely."
Ranmca came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, peering into a wide hall that led to various rooms where maintenance features for the school such as boilers, pipes, and many other things were kept out of reach of the students. She pulled out her Shroud-seeing goggles and put them on, hitting the button to get them to work. "Oh yeah, there's definitely something living down here. And from the looks of it, more than one."
"How many?" Akane nervously asked.
"Not sure, the energy is within the walls."
"Which walls?"
"All of them." Ranma asked.
Akane's eyes widened in mild fear. "All of them? We're surrounded?"
"We can still escape, but these cryptids won't attack." Ranma reassured.
"What makes you so damn sure?" Akane demanded.
"Because they're strengthening the Shroud right now. They don't want to be noticed. They're afraid of us."
"Afraid?" Akane repeated, surprised.
Ranma took off the goggles and her eyes started glowing. Some scurrying sounds were heard and from out of some holes in the walls small creatures started to emerge. Lots of small creatures.
"They look like rats." Akane whispered. "I was expecting something more... evil looking I guess."
"Of course." Ranma said, ignoring the girl. "It's a swarm of hinezumi."
"Of what?" Akane asked, keeping her eyes on the red rodents.
"Hinezumi, AKA fire rats. Often hunted for their fur and venom which can both be used in various ways. Such as fire proof clothing or medicinal ingredients."
"Are you saying these things are poisonous?" Akane asked, getting closer to the redhead for a semblance of protection.
Ranma nodded. "Yes. Despite what the name would have you believe, hinezumi don't actually create fire or anything like that. They instead have toxins in their bites and scratches that feel like you're on fire. And this particular swarm just so happens to be the sasori subspecies, one of the more dangerous ones."
Confused, Akane tried to get a better look at the cryptids. That was when she noticed that each of them had a scorpion tail.
"Bites and stings..." She muttered, realising just what these things had done to her friends.
Ranma nodded again. "Relax, I'm making sure they won't attack us."
"How?" She asked, looking at Ranma's face and seeing her eyes glow.
"I have this sort of power, it lets me control cryptids. Right now they're just going to stay here and wait for me to give them an order."
"Then order them to leave already." Akane insisted.
"And where exactly would they go?" Ranma asked. "You want a cluster of scorpion-tailed poisonous rats to march out into the streets in broad daylight looking for some other building to take shelter in?"
"So what are you going to do then?" The youngest Tendo asked.
Ranma pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number. "Hey Mom, listen I found a swarm of hinezumi within a school. About thirty or so I believe and I'd say they're Rattus Pyroscorpio. Think you can get something arranged?" There was a brief pause. "That would be perfect. Thanks Mom, I'll try to keep them out of trouble until then. See you later." She then hung up the phone.
"Please tell me you called your version of pest control." Akane said.
"Actually that's exactly what I did." The redhead replied. "They'll be here after school ends. Fewer witnesses that way. Until then I just need to make sure all the hinezumi are in one place."
"Well, good luck with that. I'm going to be getting back to class."
The rest of the day went normal despite the fact Akane could not stop thinking about the fact her school was infested with animals she never even knew existed. She didn't have any clue how they got there in the first place, most likely the same way normal rats get inside the buildings they infest, but what bothered her the most was that no one aside from her even knew they were there.
'If these creatures can hide this well, then no wonder some people like Ranma specialize in dealing with them.'
When school ended, Akane stayed in the classroom looking out the window. She wanted to see whoever Ranma called to handle the problem, mostly to reassure herself that it would be handled. After lunch ended she hadn't seen any sign of Ranma, but considering he was trying to collect and contain a bunch of rats that might not be a bad thing.
Close to thirty minutes passed, and Akane was getting impatient. 'What's taking them so long? Shouldn't some armored trucks and guys in armor carrying weapons be rushing here to get rid of the vermin by now?' Looking over the schoolyard where the Hentai Horde and Kuno harassed her on a daily basis, she saw only one person remaining.
"Ranma?" She called out after opening the window.
Now a boy, he turned to the voice. "Akane? What are you doing here still?"
"Making sure those things are gotten rid of. What's taking whoever you called so long?"
"You didn't expect them to show up immediately did you? They're waiting for all the civilians to clear out."
"It's been long enough. I don't think anyone's still here except faculty or custodians." Akane replied.
"We know how to do this job Akane. I didn't start handling cryptids yesterday you know." Ranma claimed. He then heard his phone ring and saw the number was from his mother. "Look at that, she's calling me back. So settle down already." He then accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Greetings and bien venue my old friend." A rather creepy voice said in English like it was trying to impersonate Vincent Price.
Ranma gasped. "You? Where's my mom?" He demanded in English as well.
"Oh, I'm sorry my boy, I should have told her to watch her step." The voice cackled.
Ranma glared. "When I get ahold of you Argost I'm going to-"
"You'll do what boy? I'm not one of your little cryptids to command. Now if you'll excuse me, your mother and I have business to attend to. Don't wait up. But if you ask nicely, maybe I'll let her have a guest appearance on my show." The voice finished, still laughing while the call disconnected.
Careful not to shatter his phone in his hands, Ranma looked up to the girl in the school and returned to speaking Japanese. "Change of plans Akane, the hinezumi will have to wait."