Ranma and Akane walked back home from Furinkan High. They had opted to walk slowly along the river, the two of them just by themselves. It was the first semester they had started together, after Ranma was unceremoniously dumped on the Tendo’s doorstep that fateful day three months ago. While they were still dispassionate about the… arrangement their fathers had put them in all those weeks prior, they did dare call themselves friends. It was nice to have a friend.
Ranma sighed, looking up at the sun. “I know I’ve said this before, but I'm really glad I was able to get that Phoenix Pill thingamajig from Ke Lun.”
Akane turned to look at her friend, his face much more content than it had been at the start of summer break. The cat’s tongue pressure point had been fine at first, as Ranma had been a girl. But, he was never any one gender for very long, and the absolute pain the red-headed boy had experienced had been enough to set fire to his fiancée’s soul.
Akane was pulled out of her thoughts by the black-haired boy bending over at the waist, eagerly awaiting a response. She nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’m just glad you’re able to control your transformations again. Seeing you scald yourself was no fun.”
Akane watched as her companion started skipping. It was nice to see him happy like this again. She had fought alongside him on many occasions, seen his ups and his downs. An elegant Kendoist too dumb to take “no” for an answer. A crazed gymnast too obsessed with breaking the rules for her own good. A pair of ice skaters: one too focused on sexually assaulting every man or woman he encountered; the other filled with childlike wonder and whimsy. A spurned fiancée turned okonomiyaki chef and dear friend. A lost pig boy who was just a little too aggressive for her sensibilities. Ancient Chinese Amazons who seemed to think their laws trumped words and Japanese common sense. Akane felt as if she had seen it all, and Ranma had been right there next to her, sharing both the pain and the pleasure of the encounters.
Ranma chuckled to himself. “Yeah, I’m sure we could have found a way to cool me down at some point, but me and the old man aren’t exactly the brightest when it comes to… solutions. Poor asshole probably overheated his brain trying to come up with ways to cool me down.”
He stopped, lost in thought for the first time since leaving the gates of Furinkan. His face scrunched up into one of the weird thinking faces he got into when his tiny brain started to try and compute something big. Akane found it cute, in whatever body they had. Akane watched as Ranma took a water bottle out of her bag, and opened its entire contents onto herself.
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Transformed into a more comfy form for the moment, Ranma fetched a towel from her bag, and rubbed the water off of herself. The worst part of the Jusenkyo transformation for her was how wet she ended up being. On top of water seemingly attracted to her more than anyone else, she occasionally needed to trigger the transformation herself when her current form no longer suited her. It was honestly quite tiring, but Ranma figured herself lucky. Most people didn’t even get the luxury of being able to change back and forth quite so easily.
She smiled back at Akane, waving and starting to walk again. “Sorry ‘bout that, ‘Kane. Didn’t fully realize it myself until I needed to.”
Akane beamed back at her friend. “No worries, Ranma. Do we need to refill your supplies when we get home?”
Ranma shook her head. “Nope. I’m all out of thermoses, but I’ve still got a few water bottles handy!”
They continued walking down the road by the river, humming a catchy new song released by a hot new rock band who had recently sprung up from the Minato ward. They were apparently going to put out a full LP soon, but Soun had grabbed a tape of the first single before it sold out while he was on business in the ward. It had become a sort of musical bond shared by all but one member of the Tendo household. Ranma had memorized the lyrics, and figured she could voice match with the lead singer enough on a good day to consider becoming an idol if this whole “teach martial arts with her best friend” thing she had going on at the moment didn’t pan out.
Suddenly, a large gate appeared directly in front of them. It covered the entire road, and arched up into a small collection of four stars with ribbon running between them. Stars sparkled in the panels of the doors, which slowly opened inwards.
The pair of martial artists looked at each other, and shrugged. “You figure this is just another one of Ke Lun’s tricks, Ranma?” Akane asked her companion.
“I’ve got no clue, ‘Kane.” Not like we can go much further without taking a big detour. Maybe it’s a shortcut?” Ranma grinned at the thought.
Akane rolled her eyes, but took Ranma’s hand in hers. She needed the warmth of her friend’s hand at the moment. The pair stepped forward, and in an instant, they weren’t in Nerima anymore; they were on a sound stage, with hundreds of crew members bustling around. There must have been no less than twenty cameras watching action happening on said stage.
The cameras were pointed girl with blond hair, a tiny portion of which was tied up in a high ponytail. She was wearing a dirty white gi. A tattered black belt held the entire ensemble together. Akane could have sworn she was also wearing short heels, for some gods forsaken reason. The girl stood in front of a tower of five karate tiles resting between two cinder blocks, sweating bullets. With a harsh kiai, she raised and lowered a single hand. All five tiles instantly shattered.