Here it is. . .chapter two. C&C is appreciated as always, and I'd like to request for mostly comments about plot/characterization.
Email: irene@furinkanhigh.com
O-tomodachi
By Irene Ying
Chapter Two
"See you later!" Akane called to Yuka and Sayuri.
School had finally ended, and the students were
filing out of the school gates. People were
everywhere, and Akane was having a hard time
finding Ranma.
"Over here!" She called when she saw his braid.
"Ranma!"
Ranma turned around and squeezed through the crowd
towards Akane. Finally, he stepped by her side.
"Who was that girl yesterday?" Akane asked him.
Ranma didn't reply at first.
"What, you jealous?" He teased.
"Who'd be jealous of you?" She retorted. "Wanting
a piece of you. . .I'm surprised. Hmph."
"OK," he said. "Anyway, I got lost. After
insulting me and slapping me and a lot of other
things, she realized that I was harmless and she
took me home. I thought you two might get to know
each other, maybe get to be friends." He laughed
to himself. Yeah, with her temper and personality,
she'd get along pretty well with Akane. She wasn't
exactly violent, but she certainly was. . .well,
emotional. Laughing one minute, crying the next.
Akane ran off in the distance. Ranma walked
slowly, by himself.
He sighed as he turned back and saw the high school
building. Ranma hated school. He thought there
was no purpose for school, especially for him.
Geometry and physics might actually help his
fighting, but who needed multivariable calculus?
Shrugging, he walked on by.
Akane came running back, still in her uniform.
Ranma stopped in surprise. "Akane? What are
you doing?"
"I should be asking you that, too!" She panted.
"I forgot a couple of my books at school, so I
had to come back and get it. You?"
"I. . ." Ranma fidgeted. Finally, he gave in.
"I don't know what I'm doing. I'll just go home,
I guess." He swung his backpack around and walked
towards home slowly. He was trying hard not to
look suspicious.
Akane wasn't paying much attention. She ran
inside the school gates, thanking God that there
was soccer practice today, or the gates would
have been locked.
"Tadaima," Ranma called when he got to the dojo.
He went directly to his room and threw his books
down, then changed into a gi. He wanted to work
off some of his nervous energy, and sparring was
one sure way to do so.
He thought about Himeko yet again. It wasn't his
imagination, he decided. She'd looked crushed when
he mentioned that Akane was his fianc�e. Ranma
frowned. He didn't need another girl going after
him. Shampoo and Ukyo were already more than he
could handle. Was this new girl going to be more
trouble?
But, a voice reminded him, you had no say in any
of those girls. Don't you want to marry a girl
that you know you'll love? Don't you want to pick
for yourself?
"I'll probably never see her again, and that's
best for my health and well-being," he thought
to himself. Walking into the dojo, he started
practicing jumps and midair moves.
"Tadaima!" Akane called from outside. The gates
slammed shut. Ranma went through several kata,
and then Akane joined.
"Hey, I saw that girl at school," Akane said.
"What's her name?"
"Takeno. . .something. . .Himeko," Ranma replied
absently. "Wait, she doesn't go to our school,
does she?"
"No, she was there for some science club deal.
I saw her mixing something. I recognized her hair
and the uniform she was wearing," Akane explained.
"She seemed like a nice person, but she was the
only girl in there. We chatted for a bit before
I left."
Ranma nodded as if he understood. "Science club?
A real nerd, then?" He laughed. "She did say that
she was into science. . ."
"Be nice!" Akane chided. "Not everybody likes
martial arts, you know."
"That's true. She told me that she used to study
kempo, but she quit. Now she's into science."
"That makes sense, considering she blasted a giant
hole in the science room with something she cooked
up," Akane said with a grin. "I was in there,
talking with Hindono-sensei, when BANG! We all
turn around, there's this huge flash of light, and
next thing we know, there's smoke everywhere and
one lab table is blown to smithereens. Very
entertaining to watch."
"Yeah, I bet," Ranma replied. "Heh. Oh, well.
Science isn't my thing anyway. Wonder what she
made. Here, I'll spar with you."
"You got it!" Akane shouted. She lost, as she
always did against Ranma, but she didn't feel
bad. Rather, she pushed herself, willing herself
to last just a little longer.
Ranma won in the end. Both were tired, but Akane
was near total exhaustion. "What. . .what a great
. . .workout!" She panted as she got up from the
floor. Ranma was breathing heavily as well, but
not as much. He brushed himself off and went to
take a shower.
Akane was already in the bathroom. Ranma shrugged.
Akane usually didn't take very long. He went into
his room and got a new shirt and some pants ready.
Sighing, he went to his schoolbag. He might as
well do some homework as long as he was waiting.
Ranma was a bit behind in all his classes. He'd
never gone to the same school for more than a year,
and there were huge gaps in his education thanks
to all his training trips. He was good at history,
and had an interest in Japanese because there were
ancient scrolls of techniques. Ancient Japanese
was a pain to read and sort through. Ranma couldn't
write much kanji, but at least he was learning to
read it. Math, science, and foreign languages,
including English, held no interest for him.
However, Ranma was in chemistry and biology class-
-not by choice, he thought angrily.
He looked at the books and groaned. Instead, he
fished out a manga.
***
One hour later he was still reading. Akane was
knocking on his door.
"Ranma! I said, I'm done with my bath! Didn't
you want to shower after the workout? Well?
Open up!"
Ranma looked up to see Akane standing over him in
a t-shirt and shorts. He slid the book under the
pillow in a hurry. "Oh, hi, Akane. Um. . just.
. .reading some stuff, you know!" He laughed,
trying to fake it.
Akane's low opinion of him kicked in. "Yeah,
I figured that. You better start working harder,
if you want to graduate," she said. "Do you
realize that? We're seventeen!"
"You're seventeen, I'm still sixteen," he reminded
her.
"Whatever. My point is. . ."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I will." Akane left the room
in a huff. Ranma got up and pulled the book out
from under the pillow. He looked at it.
"Oh, great. And there's a bio test tomorrow to
boot. . ." He thought. "Well, better study at
least a little."
***
Even though Ranma usually liked Fridays, he was
in one bad mood.
The biology test had gone horribly. Chemistry
wasn't much better; he'd nearly burned off the
tabletop just lighting a Bunsen burner. Math
had been one huge drag. He couldn't remember
if it was "for every epsilon greater than zero,
there is a delta" or the other way around. His
head was spinning from all the information the
teachers tried to cram into him.
"I hate school," he muttered. He buried his head
in his folded arms and tried to will away the
memories of school. The bell rang, prompting a
wave of students to jump and start rushing out of
the rooms.
"Ranma, school's ended. Aren't you coming home?"
Akane tapped his desk. "Hey. I said, school is
over."
Ranma stood up. "No. For some reason, Motsuko-
sensei wanted to speak to me after school today.
I have to stay late."
"Motsuko-sensei? The bio teacher?" Akane asked in
surprise.
"Yeah, and so does Hindono-sensei."
"The chemistry teacher? What did you do?"
"Um. . .something about my grades. . ."
"I don't want to know," Akane mumbled. "Well,
I'll see you later." Honestly, she thought to
herself. You'd think he would try a little harder
in school, considering that we're going to have
to take college exams soon.
Ranma watched her leave, then picked up his things.
It was not going to be a pleasant conversation with
his teachers. He was on the verge of failing every
class except history and gym. He knew it, too, and
Genma didn't really care. Therefore, Ranma didn't
care. However, his teachers sure cared, to his
annoyance. He sighed as he walked to the science
room.
"Saotome-san," Motsuko-sensei said with a serious
tone. Ranma nodded. His teacher, dressed in a
suit and tie, was sitting in the corner grading
papers. Ranma shrugged. He might as well get
this stuff over with.
"Yeah?" He asked, trying to feign indifference.
Motsuko-sensei had a way of intimidating even the
most disrespectful student. Maybe it was his seven-
foot-high stature, or perhaps it was his gruff
tone and personality. Either way, Ranma wasn't
very confident when he stood there.
"Your grades are unsatisfactory." He said bluntly.
Ranma nodded. Was this supposed to be new to him?
He'd failed the last five or six tests. You'd
think Ranma was aware of his grades.
"I have an extra credit report for you. Turn it
in by Wednesday. If it's good, I'll let you off
the hook. If it's not so good, we'll have another
chat. Wakatta?"
"Hai, sensei," Ranma said with a little bow.
Extra credit. . .what a bunch of junk. He'd
probably just pull something off to save his grade.
Then he could go back to sleeping through class.
Thinking that, Ranma took the assignment and ran
out of the room.
"Wait. Hindono-sensei left something similar
for you."
"Shimatta. . ." he thought.
"Here you go."
Ranma took his work and put the papers in his
backpack, cursing as he did so. This was not
how he wanted things to be. He didn't have time
or the patience or the desire, even, to do any
stupid extra credit for classes. Nevertheless,
he knew he was in no position to complain about
it. Instead, he walked out the door and down
the hallway, wondering what the heck he was
going to do.
***
"Ja ne, Amaiko-chan!"
As Himeko and Rie walked down the hallways,
Amaiko waved to them. Smiling, they returned
the wave. Students were crowding all around
them, making it hard to move anywhere.
"Baka!" Rie yelled as a boy shoved her. She
followed up with a book bag to the head of the
unfortunate offender. Himeko looked at her mildly.
"You shouldn't do that," she said.
"Huh, he deserved it," Rie replied. "What's with
you? You've been quiet all day. Something wrong?"
"No. I'm fine." Himeko laughed to prove her point.
"Science club went kind of badly, that's all.
At least the teacher didn't make me pay for the
damage I caused."
"There you go again. That's why I stick to tennis."
Rie smirked a little. Himeko laughed and playfully
bonked her friend on the head. "Hey, some of us
like science, all right? I have fun doing that."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't you remember your last
experiment in the chemistry lab? I was shocked
that nothing burned down."
"That wasn't my fault. Matome-sensei contaminated
the sample," Himeko said in self-defense. "It
would have gone fine except for that."
"Well, that's true." Rie considered her friend's
point. "Is that it? That's why you're down?
Himeko, I know you. You're never depressed.
Stubborn or very angry, yes, although rarely,
but *not* depressed. That's not how you are."
Himeko swallowed. Her friend knew her a little
too well. "Uh, yeah. Well, I'm a human being,
too. I can feel emotions," she said half-jokingly.
Then she went back to staring at the clasps on
her schoolbag.
"Oh, guess what? I talked to Kenji-san today!"
Rie squealed in excitement. She peered at her
friend's face, trying to elicit a favorable
reaction.
Instantly excited, Himeko laughed. "Hey,
congratulations! What did he say? Did he ask
you out or anything?" She dodged anther student
as they walked down the stairs.
"He might as well have! He asked if I wanted
to have some ice cream at lunch today. So we
sat and we just talked and talked. . .it was
wonderful." Rie didn't say much more. Her eyes
were half-closed, as though she were trying to
recall more of her blissful experience. "It
was heaven. . ." she murmured. Then she looked
up at Himeko. "You should find a boyfriend,
Himeko-chan," she laughed. "Maybe you'd be
less depressed."
"You know I don't want one." Himeko said moodily.
"I don't have time." She wondered if that was true.
She'd never been interested. No one had ever asked
her out on a date in her entire life.
"Time? Yeah, you have time to go to juku and to
do every single assignment you get, plus extra
credit. You don't have time for this?"
"No. And frankly, I don't care. You know that.
If you know me so well, you should. . ."
Rie held up her hands. "Hai, hai, hai. Yes, I
do know you, and I know that you're telling the
truth." She shook her head. "But I never
understood why all you care about is school."
"You know my future plans." They were outside the
school door by now. Rie glanced at the school
clock. "Hey, you wanna come over today?"
"I can't. I've got juku."
"I meant before that. I go to juku too, just
not the same one as yours."
"Yeah, I know. Okay, why not?" Himeko smiled.
"Maybe we'll run into Kenji-san. Won't you like
that, Rie-chan?"
Rie laughed. Her short black hair fluttered in
the breeze. "Yes. Oh, it's so cold out here. . ."
"Hmm. I'll bet it's warmer when you're with
him, ne?"
Rie turned red. "As a matter of fact, yes.
Something wrong with that?"
"No, not at all." Himeko brooded a little more.
She couldn't believe that she was jealous of
Rie having a boyfriend.
"Hey, you washed your shirt," Rie said, peering
at her friend's uniform.
Himeko jumped. "Oh, yeah. I got it dirty. Well,
it was due for washing anyway. Thank goodness
for bleach. And the skirt wasn't too hard to
clean."
"What happened? You fell in the mud or
something?" Rie asked. "I didn't think you
were that clumsy or anything."
"I'm not. No, I just. . .dropped something.
Never mind." Himeko tried to avoid the subject.
Looking at her freshly laundered blouse, Himeko
thought back to the events of Wednesday. She
couldn't remember much about the boy anymore,
except that he somehow replaced a girl, was
a martial artist, and was tottemo kawaii. She
grimaced. Memories like that were better left
alone. But when she thought of how he held her,
albeit unintentionally. . .she shivered. She
couldn't believe herself. She shouldn't be
thinking this way. She knew it.
But she couldn't stop herself.
"Come on, race you," Himeko said cheerfully.
"Yo-i, don!"
End of Chapter Two
Thanks for reading!
Irene
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