...better late than never... ^_^

Theme song by Vincent Seifert (with alterations by G.K.)

Theme song? Gaah! Go away! Die! Disappear!
(long, too)

	An announcement sputtered over Furinkan's public address system,
ending the school day. "Don't forget that submissions for the school
play are due tomorrow morning. See Mr. Mokusei with any questions."

Mr. Jupiter or Mr. Wooden? Though I fail to see a *good* pun
in either... (sure, it's also a *real* name, but that wouldn't
be you :))

	"Jokes are easy to write. It's best to go for the cheapest
possible laugh. Forget about doing anything that requires any setup, or
anything satirical; your audience probably won't get it anyhow. Go for
cheap sight gags, pop culture references, and the occasional vague
remark that sounds like sexual perversion. That's what we did in the
last play, and we had people rolling on the floor."

Personally, I think this sounds a bit too advanced for H&D, but OK.

	"Probably wasn't important, then." Ranma poured himself a glass,

Methinks Ranma needs an elementary lesson in Murphy's Law (especially
seeing as how none of the innumerable practical examples seem to work). :)

touch-ups." The last page said that the old man was too stereotypical,
and that it would be better to humanize him, make him more sympathetic.
That was the only thing that would take some thought.

Uh? The last page said that...? *confused*

thought about it, and the answer was obvious. "Ranma, I wish... I wish
that Tofu was able to cure cancer."

*laugh*

	"Nice meetin' you too." Ranma waved. "And I'm glad your mother
doesn't have cancer!"

*laugh*

	Ranma sighed. How would they *ever* get through a whole semester
like this?

*laugh*

Confusion. Wonderful.

	"Ranma, you can be such an egotistical jerk sometimes," Akane
said. "When you fight, do you expect to *always* win?"

Wrong question. :)

	This was a difficult chapter to write; it went through several
different incarnations before I settled on a final form. Yuka's mom
really did have cancer in the first version; Ranma's misunderstanding
persisted through the whole fic in the second, and in the third, Akane's
wish really did give Dr. Tofu a cure for cancer, but it was such a goofy
procedure that no one would let him try it out. I'm not sure how well
the final product works. I tried to integrate this series usual comedy
with some serious elements, and I might've fallen on my face. You tell
me.

Methinks it worked pretty well. Better than the alternatives sound,
anyway.


---
Ronny Hedin, thark@mangakai.org, http://nabiki.newberry.edu/thark/
                            "Baka baka, minna baka." -Hoshino Ruri
                    "Kids grow by exploiting adults." -Yang Wen-Li