Chapter 14. Sunday, July 17

Ranma dreamed that there was a Japanese fertility rite she’d been totally unaware of. It involved being bundled into a hot-air balloon emblazoned with the phrase, “She has come of age!” and being set adrift to fend for herself wherever it landed. Initially she was worried as everyone she knew vanished in the distance, but after the traumatic experience of the balloon crashing in thick jungle, she was rather pleased to find pods filled with chocolate. She was starting to think that maybe this initiation wasn’t so bad after all when she woke up.

Awake, she found that despite not having actually eaten anything, she felt like she’d had too much chocolate and was just feeling off, somehow. On top of that, something seemed to be up with her proprioception sense—it felt out of sync, like watching a movie where the audio track has been timed wrong.

It didn’t help that the weather was forecast to be even worse today than yesterday, with even more oppressive heat and humidity. It definitely wasn’t worth going out.

For the rest of the day, she mostly kept to herself; she didn’t want Akane bugging her, or, worse, accusing her of being irrational. Anyway, Akane needed her space, too, so it was fine, obviously. Of course she made an appearance at mealtimes, where, true to form, the two men at the table made remarks that showed they not only had no understanding of her situation, but that perhaps they’d completely lost touch with reality.

She did try to do a little training, but then Akane came in just after she’d managed to misjudge a move, and, well, it seemed better to just let Akane have the room. That was totally fine.

By the end of the day, Ranma had realized that she had mostly wasted the day, and also that she clearly had been out of sorts for some reason. Probably it was the heat messing with her proprioception and that’s what had thrown her off. That was it. She tossed and turned as she tried to get comfortable, and eventually she fell asleep.