Chapter 7. Friday, July 8

Ranma drifted slowly into consciousness. Maybe she’d had a dream that she was back in the Nekohanten, but it was too distant to properly recall. Mostly she felt rested and centered. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. The young woman looking back at her seemed more at peace than before, but something still clouded her expression. Something about… duty? Ranma closed her eyes and tried to focus, to find something to help carry her though, like finding the femme character she played at the restaurant.

“I gotta do what I gotta do,” he said, affecting a deeper voice. That wasn’t it. That was too much, a caricature. He tried again, this time with a softer voice. “I am Ranma Saotome,” she said firmly. That was better, but still not quite right. She opened her eyes and looked at the young woman in the mirror. “I am Ranma Saotome,” she repeated, this time with a gentle smile. “And I will get through this.”

* * *

By the time he had washed, dressed, and arranged his hair, Ranma felt ready to face the day. It wasn’t really that much of a surprise if he was a bit loopy when he first woke up, given everything that was going on. If he just focused on doing rather than overthinking, he could chart a path without getting completely lost on the way.

Downstairs, he found Akane waiting with breakfast they could eat on the go: onigiri; rice balls that could only have been made with Kasumi-onechan’s love and care. “Morning, Ranma-chan,” she said cheerfully. “If we want to be early birds, we can eat on the way to school.”

As they walked and ate, Akane asked, “So, uh, I heard Dr. Tofu dropped off some things to read for you yesterday. Did they help at all?”

“I haven’t read them yet,” Ranma replied. He took the last bite of his umeboshi, partly because its pickled plum taste was calling to him but mostly to give himself a chance to organize his thoughts and decide just how vulnerable he wanted to be. “Well, I kinda glanced at one article, but it wasn’t really my thing. It was all like, ‘Oh, I’m in the wrong body, I need to fix it,’ and stuff like that.” He readied the okaka, with its savory soy and bonito, poised to take a strategic bite if Akane’s questions became too awkward.

Akane was confused. “But you are in the wrong body, aren’t you? I mean, you’re a guy, but you’re stuck in a girl’s body….” She paused, trying to make sense of things. “Or… was it like they were going in the other direction? They wanted to be a girl and you couldn’t relate or something?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just—” Ranma hesitated, feeling like they were under the spotlight. “Can— Uh… Could we talk about something else?” Ranma took a large bite of okaka, just in case.

Akane nodded, sensing that Ranma wasn’t ready to discuss this topic further. “Sure, Ranma-chan,” she said gently. “We can talk about anything you want.”

Akane waited while Ranma-chan finished her mouthful. “Thanks, Akane-chan,” she said with a shy smile.

The analytical part of Akane’s mind caught and replayed that exchange. Shouldn’t she be saying Ranma-kun? If Ranma were younger, Ranma-chan would be okay, but as a high-school aged guy, Ranma-kun would be more fitting. But every physical cue told her that Ranma was a girl just like she was and that saying Ranma-kun would be absurd. Even the way he spoke was different now; at school Ranma fit in perfectly and her speech patterns were indistinguishable from those of her friends; outside of school it was more of a mixed bag. A few times early on when talking about fighting Cologne and the frustration of it all, she’d sounded so much like she used to that Akane had to check to make sure that he hadn’t somehow changed back. If I’m getting mixed up, how confused must Ranma be? She’d need to keep that in mind.

* * *

Unfortunately, even though they were ten minutes early when they arrived at the school’s gate, they weren’t as lucky as Ranma had been the previous day. Kuno wasn’t there, but Kodachi was, and she immediately spotted them.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Akane Tendo and the girl who has stolen the name of the great warrior Ranma Saotome,” she sneered. “I suppose you think you can just waltz into school and take his place, do you? But I know the truth! The real Ranma Saotome is missing, and I will find out what you have done with him if I have to kill you both to do it!”

Ranma had fought Kodachi before, and knew many of her attacks, from the flying (drugged) roses to her various rhythmic gymnastics techniques, so he knew some countermoves that had worked well in the past. And yet, none of them felt like the right approach today.

“You could not comprehend what has become of the real Ranma Saotome,” she said, keeping her voice steady. (To herself she added, Not even I can fully grasp it!) “But I will not let you harm anyone else in your misguided quest.”

Akane watched in fascination as the fight unfolded. This was clearly the martial-arts skill of the Ranma she knew, and yet there was something more—not just the speed they’d worked on together, but there was a new elegance to Ranma’s form; she flowed gracefully between attack and block, retreat and advance. Each set of moves seemed to have been honed to its purest essence. The fight ended a few minutes later with Kodachi caught up in a tree, hopelessly entangled in her ribbons.

Ranma allowed herself a smile and bowed to Akane. “Shall we?” she said, gesturing to the school building.

“I’d be delighted,” Akane replied, taking Ranma’s arm as they headed inside.

As they walked, Ranma’s pride in her performance began to be undermined by a new misgiving. Could he have trounced Kodachi as easily as she had? From past experience, she didn’t think so. He would be too impulsive, too aggressive, too… macho. He had the skills, but not the finesse. It was a sobering thought. I mean, probably when I’m back to normal, I can take what I’ve learned and apply it, right…? he wondered. I just have to remember what it’s like right now.

Like some kind of Droste picture, he imagined himself in the future looking back to now, and what that might be like. It was unsettling. Stop tying yourself in knots over this stuff! Just focus on what you have to do today! She shook her head and tried to clear her mind and focus on the school day in front of her.

One notable part of her school day was PE class. They had to form into two teams, and her group elected her as team captain. Students had been assigned to the teams randomly, resulting in a teams with students with a range of abilities, and it was pure luck that she had Akane and Yumi on her team. Ranma wondered if they always picked teams this way; it seemed much fairer and a lot less stressful than having captains pick their teams, especially for the students who weren’t into sports. She bit her lip, realizing that she’d probably been part of the problem back then.

Ranma gave her team a pep talk, saying that what mattered wasn’t whether they won or lost, but that they did their best and worked together as a team. Clichéd, yes, but she wanted it to be true. The game was close, but in the end, Ranma’s team won by a single point. In the past, the victory meant everything, but here the satisfaction came from something else—maybe the teamwork, or the camaraderie, or just the feeling of being a valued part of something bigger than oneself. Whatever it was, Ranma found it surprisingly satisfying.

As the school day ended and Ranma prepared to head to the Nekohanten, Akane asked, “So, uh, do you want me to come by again today? For moral support?”

“That’s okay, Akane-chan,” Ranma replied. “I think we’re gonna need to hone our strategies a bit before we try another team effort to take the Phoenix Pill from Cologne. But today is Friday and that’s payday, so I was wondering—would you be up for doing a bit of shopping tomorrow? I think my casual wardrobe needs a bit of a refresh, you know, and I think you’ve got a good eye for what suits me and the strength of character to tell me when I’m totally wrong about something.”

Akane smiled. “I’d love to go shopping with you, Ranma-chan,” she said warmly. “It’ll be fun.”

* * *

Her shift at the noodle house was exhausting, but not quite as bad as the previous days, despite it being the busy Friday dinner rush. Ranma was able to find a few opportunities to get close to Cologne, but each time, she was foiled at the last second. As the shift ended, she collected her pay and retreated to the bathroom to change back into her school uniform and remove her makeup. She ended up just blotting the lipstick a bit to tone it down, and likewise made the mascara less obvious. She looked at the girl in the mirror and smiled at the result. “Less is more,” she said, appreciating her understated but still feminine look.

“Marry Shampoo and the pill is yours!” Cologne had called out as Ranma left the restaurant. Ranma just smiled and waved, not dignifying the offer with a response.

“Sometimes I think you don’t even want it!” Cologne had shouted after her. Ranma just laughed to herself. Oh, I want it all right, she thought. Just you wait and see!

She did want it, right…? Whatever. She certainly wasn’t going to be beaten by Cologne, that was for sure.

When she arrived at the dojo, Akane was waiting for her. She could see the exhaustion on Ranma’s face. And the makeup. “How did it go?” she asked gently.

Ranma gave her a weary smile. “No Phoenix Pill, but I did get paid, so that’s something,” she replied. “I’ve still got a bit of energy left, so, uh, do you want to do some training?”

And so they did. Ranma was too tired to practice the speedy moves they’d come up with, but they worked on strategy, thinking about ways in which they might entangle Cologne like Ranma had done with Kodachi earlier that day. They brainstormed a few ideas and tried a few out without coming to any conclusions.

After dinner, she and Akane had another study session. Much of their homework was review for the upcoming exams and she was glad to have a study buddy. She couldn’t help thinking that Ranma-kun would have just blown it off and gone back to training. She felt like she was doing much better at balancing everything these days than she had then.

* * *

In her room, ready for bed, Ranma glanced at the stack of books and articles from Dr. Tofu. She couldn’t face them tonight. Instead, she looked at the girl in the mirror, and, putting on her most over-the-top femme voice, she said, “Since the age of two, I just knew I was a girl. It was so obvious to me, even though I was a manly firefighter with a woman on one arm and an axe in my hand, I just knew (somehow!) that inside I was meant to be a sweet young woman.” She giggled a little at her mocking performance, as unkind as it was.

A moment later, she frowned deeply at her reflection. That was really rude.

As a way to make amends, she decided that turnabout was fair play; so, using a similar tone, she said, “I was always convinced that I was a man among men until I turned into a girl and realized it was so much better having this body.

“Once you go girl, you never go back!”

She laughed again, but stopped abruptly when she realized that maybe what she’d said cut a little too close to the bone. She sighed and dropped the act.

She sat in silence for a moment. How much truth had there been in that “joke”? A little battle raged inside her head; she really, really didn’t want to find answers she might not like, but she also couldn’t stop thinking about what Dr. Tofu had said about self exploration and not being ashamed of who she was. In her dresser drawer was that… device. If she was set on self exploration, well, maybe it was time to try it out.

Things didn’t work out quite the way she’d expected. She thought she’d quickly get off, put the thing away, and be done with it. But the whole process took much longer than she’d anticipated. She did manage to build a growing sense of arousal, and that was, she had to admit, very nice, but in the end it didn’t go anywhere and she gave up. She wanted to just go to sleep, but she forced herself to get up, clean off the massager, and put it away. She climbed back into bed, feeling a little frustrated, but also, somehow, a little more at peace with herself. Maybe this was part of the journey she needed to take to understand who she really was. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.