Who woulda thought that after a three year hiatus I'd give this thing
another go! ^_^; In any case, here is the long-awaited (or perhaps more
accurately, long-forgotten?) continuation of Scoop of the Day. For those of
you who might wish to refresh their memories as to past events, or even read
the fic from the beginning for the first time (whose parts are still in a
state of flux), you'll find what you're looking for (I hope) at
<http://www.geocities.com/seeraphael>.
Oh, and please send comments, criticisms, flames, and the like directly to
<seeraphael@hotmail.com> as I'm not actually on this list. I'm not sure this
account could handle the traffic. >:-)
So without further ado...
Scoop of the Day
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and its characters are not mine and such yadda yadda
they're Rumiko Takahashi's yadda yadda I'm in the iffy zone of copyright
legality yadda yadda so please don't try to pay me or anything for this
stuff. Not that you'd want to anyway.
Special thanks to
_everyone_ who has helped me write this three long years
ago, and especially to Mike Loader, without whose help this fic would never
have gotten off the ground.
Chapter 7: Fresh Blood
Bored. Ranma had felt more bored in his life before, but this afternoon
definitely ranked up there in the top ten. He exhaled dejectedly for the
third time before resuming his gaze out the window. It was a gorgeous day
outside, with the weather balmy and inviting and the skies as deeply blue as
he could ever remember them being before. It was the perfect sort of day for
running through the park, letting the breeze cool him as he passed landscape
afer landscape. Or perhaps it was the sort of day for going through the
complete set of advanced kenpo forms in the backyard. Ranma couldn't decide
which one he would rather do right now.
But all of this was moot since at the present moment Ranma was trapped in
Japanese Composition class, staring out the window. *What a waste of an
afternoon,* he thought. *They shouldn't coop us up in a classroom on a day
like this; it's uncivilized! There oughta be a law or something against this
sort of thing--*
Ranma reflexively batted away a flying chalkboard eraser just before it hit
him. His reverie interrupted, Ranma looked up into the steady gaze of Mr.
Watanabe.
"Well, Mr. Saotome? I can assure you that you won't find the answer outside
that window," Mr. Watanabe reprimanded dryly. Amused titters went through
the classroom.
"Um... could you repeat the question again, Mr. Watanabe?" Ranma grinned
sheepishly.
"I asked if you could remind the class what the cherry blossoms symbolize
on line 273," the teacher repeated, allowing just a touch of exasperation to
enter his voice.
"Well, um..." Ranma threw a quick glance few rows over at Akane, who
responded by shaking her head and silently mouthing the word "brevity."
"Yeah, brevity. That's right, the cherry blossoms symbolize brevity," he
finished, a smug smile on his face.
"Very good," Mr. Watanabe said blandly. "You've managed to grasp the fact
that nearly ninety-nine percent of the time cherry blossoms symbolize some
form of transience. Now, for the real question: how does the symbolism of
the cherry blossom pertain to the author's lover? Her transience?"
"Um...," Ranma hedged. "The cherry blossom represents transience, so the
author is saying his girlfriend is transient or something, right?"
"Okay, but what does that mean? How is she transient? What aspects of her
character are embodied in the transience of the cherry blossom?" Mr.
Watanabe asked as he began to pace slowly across the front of the classroom,
never taking his gaze off of Ranma.
Realizing that a pantomimed word from Akane wouldn't be enought to get him
out of this jam, Ranma began to grasp at straws. "Well... it means she
changes a lot, right? So I guess that means that sometimes she's one way and
then the next day she's not." An inspiration suddenly hit him. "Like, I'll
bet she's pretty cute sometimes, but then most of the time she becomes a
violent sexless tomboy! And that makes the author really depressed, so he
has to sit down and write a long boring poem about it!"
The class didn't bother trying to restrain its laughter this time. Akane
shot Ranma a murderous glare as Mr. Watanabe shook his head in genuine
exasperation.
Just then, the period bell rang. As everyone scrambled to gather their
books, Mr. Watanabe called out, "For tomorrow, be sure to read chapters
nine, ten, and eleven! Oh, and Ranma," he added, "could you stay for a few
moments?" A few isolated snickers floated across the classroom in response
as Ranma watched Akane roll her eyes before stalking out of the room.
---
Ranma left the classroom some time later, irritation plain on his face.
*Stupid fragging blagging blasted teacher...*
"Hey, Saotome! So what'd Teach say, huh?" Ranma looked up to see Hiroshi
waiting for him in the hall. "Daisuke said he had to run an errand for his
mom."
"Thanks for waiting." Ranma looked around briefly. "Uh, I guess Akane
didn't wait up either?"
Hiroshi snorted. "After the comment you made in class? You'll be lucky to
keep your teeth when you get home, Ranma."
"Oh, yeah. Well, I didn't mean Akane
_in particular_ when I said that,"
Ranma said in his defense.
"Uh-huh. Suuuure."
"Hey, it's not my fault if she over-reacts to everything I say!"
Hiroshi waved his hand in the manner that indicated that they had been down
this line of conversation many times before. "Whatever. So, anyway, what did
Mr. Watanabe tell you?" Hiroshi repeated.
"Oh, that." Ranma's expression darkened once more. "Some crap about me not
putting in enough effort into the class."
Hiroshi grinned. "Mr. Watanabe needed to keep you after class to tell you
_that_? I coulda told you that, myself."
"Thanks a lot," Ranma replied sacastically. He leaned against a row of
lockers. "No, it gets worse. Lots worse. He also told me that if I didn't do
something about it, he's gonna have no choice but to fail me for this
semester."
"Geez!" Hiroshi said, his eyes round. "That's pretty harsh!"
"Yeah, he seems to have it in for me all right. I think he's been waiting
for an opportunity to do something like this to me all semester."
"So what are you going to do about it? He didn't just call you in to tell
you that you were going to fail, did he?"
"Of course not," Ranma said, hopping to a nearby handrail and crouching on
top. "I've got three choices, he told me, and I've got to decide before he
leaves school today. No matter what, I've gotta do make-up work of some
kind, or I don't pass. I could write a twenty-five page paper on a topic of
his choosing, due at the end of the semester..."
Hiroshi shook his head in disbelief. "No way, Saotome. Knowing him, he'd
pick some really nasty topic for you, too."
"Yeah, he would, too. I'd be completely at his mercy. Or I could do some
serious overtime with him over summer vacation..."
Hiroshi made a face. "Ugh."
"Uh-huh. And then there was his last option..." Ranma paused, reluctant to
continue.
"Yeah? What was it? Anything's gotta be better than busting your brains out
writing some nasty paper or working over the summer."
Ranma smirked ruefully. "You think so, eh? He said... I could work for the
'Furinkan Informer' as a reporter this semester."
"No way!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "That's nuts! You're not gonna do it, are
you?"
"I don't know if I really have a choice!" Ranma growled, initial anger
returning. "I mean, the first two choices are definitely bad news, but... I
just don't know about that last one. I mean, who knows what...
_she'll_ do
if I have to put myself under her charge."
"Oh, that's right," Hiroshi chortled. "Hey, no fair that you get to be with
all the cute girls yourself. When are you gonna save any for me and Daisuke,
huh?" he ribbed with a light elbow.
"Shut up already! It's not like that, okay? Geez. I'm going." Ranma hopped
down from the railing and started down the hallway.
"So what are you gonna do?" Hiroshi asked, calling after him.
"The only thing I
_can_ do," Ranma retorted over his shoulder as he turned
the corner.
---
Suzuki handed back the list of assignments for the next issue of the
_Informer_. "Looks kind of light this week, Chief."
"I know," Noriko sighed. "It's all we can cover for right now, though. Ever
since... well, you know... the crew hasn't been quite as committed as they
used to be. They've all been kind of discouraged, you know?"
Suzuki nodded in agreement. "I guess it's kind of hard to stay on top of
things with everything that's been happening to the paper recently. It's
almost as if the school itself is against the
_Informer_ or something."
"'Almost?'" Noriko questioned, irony present in her voice. "The school
_is_
against us, remember? With our funding gone, we'll barely last the rest of
the year. And with our staff pared down to a skeleton crew..."
"Yeah..." Suzuki drummed his fingers on Noriko's desk before sitting down
on its edge. "We could really use some fresh blood right now."
"I'll say," Noriko agreed glumly. "But who, smack dab in the middle of the
school year, would join a newspaper that's doomed to cancellation anyway? It
would be nice, but it's also pretty improbable."
"I guess you're right," Suzuki agreed with reluctance. A few awkward
moments of silence passed. "Hey... don't take it so hard, Chief. Maybe...
some things just weren't meant to be."
"I'm not taking it so hard," Noriko corrected not unkindly. "But thanks for
your concern. And we're not dead yet; it's too early for us to just give up,
right?"
"Right," Suzuki agreed with a smile. "Well... I guess I'll start heading
home. See you tomorrow, right?"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Suzuki! And thanks for your help!"
Suzuki grinned. "Always a pleasure, Chief." The door to the journalism room
closed behind him.
Noriko sat at her desk awhile, her head in her hands. All positive facades
aside, she was finding it more and more difficult to resist the current of
hopelessness that seemed to be pulling her crew towards a terminal state of
complacency. Without a good shot in the arm, the paper could just as well be
finished -- funding or no funding. She needed help -- but from where?
*Well, no use dwelling on that now,* Noriko chided herself. *I guess I can
file these last entries before heading home myself.* Picking up a stack of
papers, she began to organize them for archiving.
Noriko heard the door open once more. "Did you forget your bag again,
Suzuki?" she asked, not bothering to look up from her work.
"Sorry, but you've got the wrong guy," replied not-Suzuki. "Got a minute,
though?"
Noriko looked up and saw the last person she expected to see in the
journalism room again. "Ranma...?" Noriko asked, bewildered. "What...what
are you doing here?"
Ranma hesitated for a moment. "I... I've got a favor to ask of you. It's
kind of weird, though..."
Noriko's eyes narrowed. "What kind of favor are we talking about here?"
"I... um... that is..." Ranma nearly choked before regaining his composure.
"I want to work for the 'Informer,'" he finally blurted out.
Noriko's senses reeled at the last words she expected to hear from the last
person she expected to see in the journalism room again. "You want to
_WHAT_??" she nearly shouted.
"Okay, maybe want is the wrong word," Ranma added quickly, displeasure in
his voice. "Mr. Watanabe said this might be a good way for me to do my
make-up work in Japanese Composition. It was either this or do a big long
report."
"You want to work
_here_? As a
_reporter_?" Noriko asked, her brain still
not allowing her to fully comprehend what Ranma was saying.
"So he told me to come here this afternoon and talk to you. Said you would
give the final yay or nay. So which one is it, huh?" Ranma asked rather
impatiently. His embarrassment was becoming increasingly clearer with each
passing moment.
"You... I... this is weird. Too weird," Noriko said, quickly shaking her
head in disbelief. "All right, Ranma, what do you
_really_ want?" Suddenly,
a movement from the doorway caught her eye. It was Mr. Watanabe, beckoning.
"Could you hold on a minute?" Noriko left her desk and nearly ran to the
door to meet her advisor.
---
Mr. Watanabe watched the rather flustered editor-in-chief as she
approached. "I see that Ranma has talked to you," he commented dryly.
"Mr. Watanabe, could you tell me what in the world is going on? I was just
finishing up in the journalism room when suddenly out of the blue
_Ranma_
walks in and starts blathering some nonsense about working here at the
'Informer!' And he says
_you_ were the one who suggested it to him!"
"Now hold on a second; let's calm down here for a moment," Mr. Watanabe
said, holding out his hands in appeasement. "First of all, yes, it was my
idea that he come here to work for the paper."
"Mr. Watanabe!" Her voice was one of shocked betrayal. "But
_why_?"
"I thought it might be a more constructive way for him to demonstrate his
competency in writing for me. Normally, I would have just given him my usual
options for make-up work, but you
_did_ tell me last week that you were
suffering some understaffing problems, didn't you?"
"I'm not so understaffed that I have to start asking random people in the
hallways to work for me!" Noriko protested. "Who's to say that he knows the
first thing about writing an article?"
"Tell me something, Noriko. If you were to get a new reporter on staff,
would you expect him or her to already be an expert in completing
assignments?"
Noriko thought for a moment. "Well, no... I'd have to give him or her some
training first..."
"And what about you, Noriko? Did
_you_ start off as an expert in journalism
when you arrived last year?"
"Okay, fine... I get your point," Noriko conceded. "But how do I know that
I won't be wasting my time, sensei? I don't have the time to deal with
sub-par work."
"He
_will_ do good work or you can take him off of staff and leave him at
my disposal. That was the agreement we worked out. Noriko," Mr. Watanabe
implored, "I understand this is a bit of a change for you, and something you
may not be entirely comfortable with. But you
_do_ need the extra help, and
he
_does_ need the make-up work. And I think it would be good for you to get
more practice in training other staff members."
*Except that the training won't do us any good when the paper is killed,*
Noriko didn't say. "...Fine. I'll do it," came her reluctant reply at last.
"Good." Mr. Watanabe smiled. "I appreciate your willingness to help us
out."
"I just hope
_he_ does, too," Noriko replied.
---
"Look, if you don't want me to be here, just tell me so, okay? I don't need
this runaround," Ranma said with irritation upon Noriko's rearrival.
Noriko paused before she spoke, trying to find the right words. "Um,
Ranma... I'm sorry for my reaction earlier. It was just kind of unexpected,
I guess. But... I'll be willing to have you on staff for a while until you
finish your make-up work with Mr. Watanabe."
"Really?" Ranma responded incredulously. "Hey, that's great... I guess," he
finished, remembering himself.
"Do you know anything about writing an article, Ranma?" Noriko asked as she
began to root through the stacks of paper on her desk.
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "No, not really... Is that gonna be a
problem?"
"Ye... I mean, no, not really," Noriko managed to correct herself, not
looking up from her desk. "You'll just have to get some training before I
can let you start writing on your own, that's all."
"Oh. Well, that's okay, I guess." Ranma watched Noriko continue intently
searching her desktop. Finally, he cleared his throat, breaking the somewhat
tense silence. "Um. So, when does training start?"
"I always thought that the best way of learning was by doing under
supervision." Noriko found the sheet of paper she was looking for and eyed
it critically. "I'm going to give you an assignment just like I do with my
regular staff, only this time I'll also assign someone to come with you to
help you as you go along. Sort of an apprenticeship, if you will. Okay, here
was what I was looking for...," Noriko said as she skimmed the list of
assignments. "Well, it looks like there's not too much going on this week.
The only thing that looks noteworthy is some kind of teen fashion show
coming up this weekend."
"Huh. A fashion show," came Ranma's somewhat less than enthusiastic reply.
"Yeah. Sorry, but not everything you cover in journalism is necessarily
what you're interested in, right?" A sudden pang of guilt for her
brusqueness forced Noriko to adopt a kinder tone. "At least it's something
fairly uncomplicated. It should be a simple story -- just write about what
it was all about, if anyone important or from our school was there, and if
there were any winners, stuff like that. It'll be a good start for you."
"All right... I guess it's still better than writing a long paper for Mr.
Watanabe. So who am I going with?"
"Hmm... I can ask Suzuki to help..." Noriko began, but suddenly remembered
the aftermath of Suzuki's previous involvement with Ranma. "On second
thought, I think I'll come with you. I can bring Gosunkugi's camera and get
some photos while I'm there, too. The show starts at nine." Noriko handed a
copy of the details of the assignment to Ranma. "How's eight o'clock at the
front door sound?"
Ranma took the paper and gave it a half-hearted glance. "Why so early?"
"The extra time will let us check out the area, sniff for potential angles,
that sort of thing. It's pretty good practice to show an hour early to be on
the safe side. Will you be able to make it?"
"Yeah... I should be finished washing up from my morning workout by then.
I'll be there."
"Good! Bring a notepad and a pencil for notes." Noriko looked down at her
desk once more, feeling awkward once more and cursing herself for feeling
so. She didn't like not feeling in control of a situation. "I... I guess
I'll see you Saturday, then."
"All right. See you later." Ranma turned to leave.
Noriko suddenly remembered forgetting to do something, and feeling an even
stronger pang of guilt upon realizing her hesitation to do so. She did it
for all of her staff, and this shouldn't be any different, should it? "Oh!
Hold on a moment!" she called out, stopping Ranma's exit.
Ranma turned around. "What is it?"
Noriko got out from behind her desk, walked up to Ranma, and held her hand
out. After a moment's pause, Ranma slowly put his hand out and met hers in a
firm handshake. Noriko forced a smile, and with more sincerity than she
expected, gave the greeting she gave to all newcomers to her staff.
"Welcome to the team, Ranma!"
end part seven
Well, it's a bit slower in coming, but it's coming! I've got some vague
ideas going and I'm not sure what big plans I have in store for the gang,
but I hope they'll be fun ones! I'll try to write as much as I can over
summer break, because once school starts again I think I'll be lucky if I
can
_think_ about Ranma, let alone write anything. >_< Anyway, thanks for
reading, and drop me a line sometime, will ya!
---
Raphael See (\__/) .~ ~. ))
/O O ./ .'
{O__, \ {
/ . . ) \
|-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels.
.( _( )_.'
'---.~_ _ _&
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