Hi! ^_~
I figured that I might as well get as much done as I can while winter break lasts...^^;;
Again, all C&C, good/bad/long/short, is welcome. ^_^
Chapter 1 available upon request, #3 still being written.
*******
Aru Hareta Hi || A Certain Clear Day
***
Summary:
Three years after the failed wedding, Ranma and Akane are
securely, willingly engaged and on their way to a happy future
as they attend college. . .but what will happen then?
Disclaimer:
Ranma 1/2 does not belong to me. Neither do the lyrics I use.
Yukawa Himeko (as does her main incarnation, Takeno
Himeko)/Miyake/Shiroki/all other non-canon characters do
belong to me.
***
Two || Fushigi na Ougi || Wondrous Mysteries
o/~
"Melodies of Life"
Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark
For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart
To weave by picking up the pieces that remain
Melodies of life--love's lost refrain
Our paths they did cross, though I cannot say just why
We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye
And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?
Let them ring out loud till they unfold
In my dearest memories, I see you reaching out to me
Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call out my
name
A voice from the past, joining yours and mine
Adding up the layers of harmony
And so it goes, on and on
Melodies of life,
To the sky beyond the flying birds--forever and beyond
So far and away, see the bird as it flies by
Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up in the sky
I've laid my memories and dreams upon those wings
Leave them now and see what tomorrow brings
In your dearest memories, do you remember loving me?
Was it fate that brought us close and now leaves me behind?
If I should leave this lonely world behind
Your voice will still remember our melody
Now I know we'll carry on
Melodies of life
Come circle round and grow deep in our hearts
As long as we remember
o/~
[ May 2nd, Tokyo, Present ]
Himeko moaned a little when the alarm clock rang. Five-
thirty: time to get out of bed, shower, eat breakfast, and run
for the office.
She wished she had gotten just a bit more sleep, and vowed to
never stay in the lab past eleven PM if she could help it.
Certainly Miyake condoned and encouraged it by his illustrious
example, but she was not sure she could handle it just yet.
Her body needed time to acclimatize itself to the modern world
of scientific research. For example, the caffeine overloads.
Stumbling out of bed, she nearly tripped over a pile of
journals and research magazines. She mumbled something as she
went to her closet, found a matching blouse and skirt, some
lingerie, then went into the bathroom for a morning wake-up
shower. She took off her silver necklace and ring, set it in
some tissue paper on the counter, and stepped into the shower.
It felt wonderful when the warm water splashed and washed over
her smooth skin, when she washed her hair with shampoo, and
she was most sorry to leave the steamy room, her first comfort
of the morning. She breathed in the hot, moist air one more
time, before she dried herself off, put on clothes and
jewelry, then opened the door to let the mist dissipate into
the rest of her room. It was about five-fifty now. She
brushed her teeth and dried her hair, then went for the
kitchen.
She had almost been too busy to eat lately, a fact that she
recognized as "not a good thing". There had been one time she
nearly fainted at the lab table, when she realized she had not
eaten a thing that day, and only drank a glass of water. She
winced, remembering that she must not be so absent-minded in
the future.
After making some toast and hot chocolate, she sat down with a
stack of papers and looked at the time. Half an hour before
the bus--wonderful. She set a timer for twenty minutes. This
meant she had time to read over some unfinished papers from
students, mark a few, before she had to lock up and get out.
She sipped at the warm mug and bit into the toast. This would
be a good morning.
Her mood fast evaporated when she encountered the first paper.
The handwriting added a new style sample to her repertoire of
"chicken-scratch-handwriting". The marks were short and
crooked, and the person had pressed so heavily that she could
almost read the back of the first page right then and there.
She squinted, wondering if that character was an "o" or an
"a". She read the name. Batae Akita. . .yes, that student
was very intelligent and probably above the class, but
apparently his script needed a little work. She threw it
aside; she would grade that one next time she had trouble
falling asleep.
The next, and next, were easier. She marked with a red felt-
tip pen when necessary; she wrote encouraging comments to
students who were on the right track, and she penned in
equations for students who had apparently forgotten some.
When the timer rang, she had gone through four exams.
She loved mornings like this. Himeko put the papers into her
pack, then looked out the window and heard a soft, prattling
noise. It was raining outside, a soft, early-summer shower.
She sighed and went for an umbrella from the front hallway.
Then she took everything she needed--bag, file, and purse--
then left and locked the house.
Taking in a deep breath of the sweet, rainy air, she hurried
her steps to the conveniently located bus stop. She was in
luck; within a minute, the bus showed up. She closed the
umbrella and hopped into the bus. The driver, knowing her to
be regular passenger, gave a quick smile as she walked back
into her usual seat. She leaned her head back and half-closed
her eyes, relaxing for the next twenty minutes. Rain
splattered against the glass windows, making soft sounds,
soothing and gentle as they slowly slid down the panes. When
she opened her eyes and looked outside, she looked through the
streaks of rain and saw the city bathed in water.
Himeko loved rain.
~~~
[ Monday, 4:02 PM, Kyoto ]
"It's gonna rain," the boy said, looking at Himeko. "That
other bus ain't never going to show up. Why don't we just
walk into the hotel? It's not like they're gonna kick us out
and leave us in the rain to get pneumonia."
Himeko made no reply, but she closed her book and turned her
eyes to the sky. Thunderheads had gathered; their inky masses
piled upon each other angrily, threatening, jostling each
other for space in the dark slate sky. "Maybe."
"Stupid," the boy chided, though in a nice tone of voice, "are
you *tryin'* to get sick? Come on, lets go ask the teacher. .
.look at these crowds standing outside. I ain't gonna stay
here much longer. What's the freaking problem anyway? Stay
'ere, I'll go find out." Before Himeko had a chance to
formulate a reply, he had vanished into the misty crowd. She
shrugged and fought off a chill; the air had become damp and
cold.
He came back in a flash, so fast it surprised her and made her
wonder just what had happened. "There's a problem with rooms.
They overbooked, so we hafta combine some rooms." He made a
face. "This is so stupid." His face, which Himeko judged to
be fairly good-looking, turned annoyed and slightly sulky.
"It will be fine," she offered softly. "At least we have a
place to stay."
"Yeah, whatever, always lookin' on the bright side. Good luck
finding a silver lining in *that* cloud." The boy pointed
heavenwards, just as a roll of thunder sounded. The ground
shook; the trees shivered; the first drops of rain fell.
Himeko *liked* rain and was about to make mention of the fact,
but was cut off by a stream of vile-sounding curses, mostly
not in Japanese, but in something like Chinese. She was
already shocked by the language, but then her eyes widened as
the boy's form transformed right in front of her startled
eyes.
As cold water touched his black hair, the strands lightened
and turned brown, then to iridescent red in almost an instant,
melting from dark to bright. Water streaked down his face,
turning it smaller, curvaceous, into a peach-shaped face with
the same startling blue-gray eyes, but now the eyes seemed
larger and brighter. The mouth, corners tugged down, became a
smaller, slightly pouty set of full red lips. His frame
seemed to shudder and shake as bones repositioned, tendons and
ligaments molded themselves into new places, sockets ground,
and muscles tugged. The clothes sagged with the wet rain, but
the shirt was not as loose around. . .the chest area. This
*girl* had a very pretty face--beautiful, in fact, with almost
glowing red hair, and a very curvy figure. She was perhaps
two centimeters taller than Himeko was.
Himeko was not given to fainting, but she was surprised enough
that she nearly did. She took a hesitant step backward, but
she was sufficiently numb from the cold and shock that she
slipped. In an instant, the red-haired girl had a slender arm
around her waist, and had grabbed her and set her back on firm
ground. The girl smiled, and Himeko could see that she had
smooth, toned muscles, and was just as strong as the boy had
been. "I'm Saotome Ranma, sorry 'bout this mess." She gave a
rather sweet smile, somewhat feminine, but her movements and
speech were distinctly male.
"I see." Himeko did not see, not at all, but she was polite to
everyone, so long as the person did not attempt harm on her.
"Ranma?"
"Some call me Ranko," the girl added sardonically. "Same guy
as before, I swear it. It's a Jusenkyo curse. Some springs
in China. . .if you want to hear the explanation, I'll give it
to ya. But first, we get inside. I am *not* stayin' in this
stupid rain any longer. And neither should you." He--she--
took Himeko's hand and practically pulled her towards the
entrance. Himeko gave in and ran along, her shoes tapping on
wet concrete and nearly slipping more than once.
Her life had just become rather interesting, Himeko thought
wryly. Perhaps Ranma or Ranko would not object to a few tests
conducted on his or her body? Himeko banished the thought.
She might love science, but she was hardly cold-hearted or
soulless. Jusenkyo, she thought. Now where had she seen that
name before? Oh yes, in that article in "Nature" magazine--
something about legends and curses in the revered landscape.
Somebody claimed it was an elaborate hoax, but there were
stories about certain scientists--a revered naturalist, a
population ecologist, and a field biologist--who had gone
*missing* on that trip. . .
Now *this* was *really* worth further investigation on her
part.
The teacher nodded, almost in fear, as the red-haired girl
shouted her argument for letting the two girls into the hotel.
The teacher said something which made Ranma step back--Himeko
recognized the teacher as being from her school. Toyama-
sensei was known for. . .well. . .being a quasi-lecherous
teacher. Every girl steered clear of him--and Ranma clearly
did not know of that. Himeko winced and ran forward.
Unfortunately, it was too late, as Toyama also pointed to
Himeko and shouted something. Ranma screamed back and tried
to slug the teacher, who dodged.
"Saotome-san, ignore him," she said when she had reached the
girl. Ranma turned around. "What?! The ol' pervert wants me
to share a room with you and your original room partners!"
Himeko turned to stare at the accused.
"C'mon, what's wrong with the concept?"
Ranma pulled back a fist.
*WHAMWHAMWHAM*
"It. . .was just. . .an idea. . ."
Himeko got an odd feeling in her chest.
This could not be good.
~~~
[20 minutes later]
"Tokyo University." The recorded voice on the bus called
softly, accompanied by some pleasant-sounding chimes. Himeko
stood and quickly walked down the aisle, off the steps, and
hurried onto the sidewalk. She set her things on a relatively
dry bench and opened her umbrella. The campus shimmered like
a small city underwater. Students ran about holding colorful
umbrellas or under plastic raincoats. She winced when one
student slipped and fell on his face. Two classmates helped
him up, and they had a good laugh over the incident. She
smiled to see it, and started walking towards the biology
department. If Miyake-sensei was there, they could have a
good discussion on some topics before she ran for her first
class of the day.
She was engrossed in the thoughts--until someone bumped
against her from behind and sent her flying. Her arms
clutched at her books, but her umbrella went flying and she
slipped, barely keeping her balance. As she carefully stood
straight again, she looked back to see who the offender was.
Himeko raised an eyebrow. "Saotome-san?" Then she took
another look. There was a girl next to him, a girl half a
head shorter than he was. She had dark hair in a very short
style, dark brown eyes, and an athletic build. The girl was
wearing a green t-shirt and *short* white shorts, along with
some sneakers. She was also clinging onto Ranma's arm. Ranma
held a black umbrella over the both of them.
Ranma cringed as he realized what had just happened. Of
course, Yukawa-san did not know this, but Akane had give him
an accidental little push, which resulted in his stumble and
collision with her. "Sumimasen, Yukawa-sensei! Mornin'!"
"Good morning. Why are you here so early?" She looked at him
with surprise. Few students--except those who had research or
some intensive work--were up around this time of day.
Ranma gestured at the girl. "My. . .fianc�e and I go to
different schools. This is the only time we get to spend
together." The words, which were automatic to him, sounded
right to most people, but to Ranma, they were pretentious.
"Darnit," he thought. He had not meant to say it quite that
way, but the words had just come flowing out--that was what he
said to everyone in order to stave off unwanted interest.
Silently, he berated himself. "I didn't want to make her
think. . .well, too late. Now she knows I'm engaged. So much
for my thoughts towards her. . ." At any rate, despite being
joined physically, the two were not acting quite like the
typical affianced couple.
Then the girl detached herself and bowed. "I'm Tendo Akane."
"Yukawa Himeko," Himeko replied with a bow. Plenty of
students were dating each other, going steady, and she already
had a married couple in one of her other classes. She smiled
at the couple and waved. "I must be going. See you in class,
Saotome-san."
As she walked off, Akane turned to Ranma with a slightly
questioning look, then admonished with a soft "baka" for
running into someone. Ranma grunted a reply.
"She's your professor?" Akane stared after the slim woman and
turned back to Ranma. "Awfully young, isn't she?"
"She's the TA, and she's also a child prodigy." Ranma replied,
fingering his umbrella. "I gotta go, Akane."
"But *you* came to *my* campus just to find me," Akane said,
her voice slightly hurt. "What's up now?"
"We had the whole walk from there to here and then around my
campus, not like you haven't seen it before," Ranma said,
trying to rationalize. "I got homework to catch up on, and
tons of stuff to do. And didn't you say you had a chemistry
test today?"
"That can wait." Akane pouted. Some days it seemed like Ranma
was more eager to pull the relationship back together, and
some days Akane was. "I haven't seen you all week. Just
because those stupid teachers gave us ten labs to do in a
week." She had barely completed the assignment, and was eager
for some fun, seeing as the torture was over. "It's Friday,
and the weekend starts Wednesday night. C'mon, you can afford
to slack a little and have some fun."
Ranma gave a dry smile. "In Yukawa-san's class, you don't get
to slack off. You have pages upon pages of homework all the
time, and she won't collect the stuff, but half the exams--and
there are many--take questions off the homework. And if you
don't listen in class, you are just *screwed*."
"And the actual prof? Where is he in all this?"
"He's nuts. If you want anything, you try the TA first.
He's. . .good, he's smart, but really hyped up, busy, and
can't explain most things. He teaches right outta the stupid
book." Ranma shrugged. He looked at a beat-up watch on his
left wrist. "Like I said, Akane. . ."
"All right." She gave him a light squeeze. "The umbrella's
yours. Don't want your teachers freaking out that there's a
new student in class. . ."
"Shut up, Akane," Ranma said with a smile. "See you later."
When Akane had gone, Ranma realized that her umbrella was
lying in a muddy puddle where she had slipped. He walked up
to it and gingerly took it out. The umbrella was white, with
a silver handle. He looked at it, then at the science
department building, and smiled.
He started walking towards the building, when suddenly, a gale
blew through the campus. Ranma's grip on the umbrella was
very strong, but the rain pattern shift and blew sideways,
effectively soaking the young man. . .turned buxom woman. She
looked at herself in the reflection of a rainwater pool. The
face was more mature now, but still beautiful, quite capable
of attracting young men on campus. The build was as curvy as
ever.
Sighing, he--she--decided to go back to the dorms and
transform back. It would not to do show up to class as
another person. It had happened twice last year. The first
teacher had nearly had an aneurysm form *and* explode all at
once. The second had actually fainted. Ranma did not want to
cause the same things again.
As she entered the coed dorms and walked through the male
floor, she got looks from the people who were unaware of her
secret--most of the dorm's population, in fact. Ranma in girl
form did not too often go through the halls. Usually she went
to a girl's bathroom, waited until everyone was gone, and
transformed there. With the morning rush, though, there was
little chance of enough privacy to pull that one.
"A girl's goin' in *there*!"
"Oh, she's hot!"
"Hey, look! She's headin' for Saotome's room!"
Ranma tuned them out, and resignedly walked to *her* room.
Gender and rooming often caused problems.
~~~
[ Monday, 5:30 PM, Kyoto ]
"Hey, girls." Toyama-sensei grinned, a smile full of mischief,
a smile that all girls of Ichiban high had learned to fear.
"You only have three in the room, right?"
One girl nodded. "Mikihara Megumi-san got really sick
yesterday, so she's missing the trip."
"Okay then, here's your new roommate--and she's a real cutie!"
Into the room came a pretty girl, with bright red hair tied
into a perky pigtail. Her slate-blue eyes were downcast and
she looked to be blushing. The teacher disappeared.
"Your name is?" A second girl waved. "I'm Yoshikawa,
Yoshikawa Raiha." She pointed to a familiar face. "That's
Yukawa Himeko." The talking girl had shoulder-length brown
hair, brown eyes, and looked to be athletic. She pointed to
Ranma. "Your name? I assume you're from Furinkan High."
"Yes. I'm. . .Saotome Ranko," Ranma replied, deciding that
she might as well stay female for the purposes of the room.
She might as well also try to speak more politely--to a point:
darned if she was ever going to use "atashi"!
"And I'm Koshiki Chiyo." The tallest girl sauntered over. Her
dirty-blond hair was cut close to her face, even shorter than
Akane's, and her pale green eyes had a wicked gleam to them.
"Ranko?" Himeko looked slightly surprised. "But. . .but. . ."
"But what?" Raiha looked at her friend. "You two know each
other? Ranko seems like a nice enough girl." She bobbed a
quick bow.
"Well. . .okay. . .you might as well know something about me."
Ranma stepped into the bathroom. The girls followed.
Ranko grabbed the showerhead, then turned on the hot water and
sprayed the hot liquid over her head.
[ Monday, 11:19 PM, Kyoto ]
Ranko silently vowed to beat the stuffing out of Toyama-sensei
next time she encountered the pervert.
The closet was *not* comfortable. It was clean and free of
dust. Nice. But it was cramped and small. Ranko had padded
the hard floor with some extra towels from the bathroom, but
she was sleeping in a sitting-up position, and it irked her.
She had slept in far worse during training trips, but *this*
she had not bargained for.
She had been in "bed" for thirty minutes, and was nowhere near
asleep.
Still, with two girls sleeping on the beds and one already on
the floor, and the discovery that Ranko was a *boy*. . .well,
they couldn't very well beat him up and toss him out the
window, so they settled for stuffing the miscreant inside the
closet.
Raiha had mentioned that she had asthma, and Ranko could hear
her scratchy breathing even from the closet. Ranko was a
little afraid that something might happen during the night,
but Raiha assured her that she knew fully well how to take
care of herself. She looked to be quite the athlete, so Ranko
knew it would probably be all right. She knew that most
normal people were capable of governing themselves. Usually.
Raiha looked sensible.
Ranma--Ranko, for now--silently went over the events of the
day.
Himeko had spent the afternoon reading. Raiha was sleeping
because she had been up all night finishing homework. Chiyo
was gone--and when she came back, she said that she had been
making out with her boyfriend. Ranko, after a while, had
become bored and went downstairs to use the workout room.
Dinner was a nice affair in a nearby Chinese restaurant. Of
course, the roommates sat at the same tables. Himeko and
Raiha chatted softly the whole time. Chiyo kept running back
and forth, probably with her lover. Ranko was completely,
utterly bored--but the food had been commendable.
Ranko sighed. Now she knew that she would probably be alone
for the trip. The girls did not appreciate having a male in
their room, and she could not blame them. Having Himeko as a
partner might be interesting. . .she was quiet and fairly shy,
but Ranko didn't mind. She also did not seem to mind that
curse terribly much. She had even mentioned reading about
Jusenkyo somewhere, and Ranma felt a little better. At least
he would not be getting in fights with her, or getting beat up
all the time. No Shampoo, no Ukyo, no Kodachi. . .and very
little of Akane. This would be a peaceful week--something he
could enjoy.
~~~
"Why are you late?" Fujisawa-sensei frowned at the student.
Ranma cringed. Being late for his sociology class was simply
not a good thing. "Sorry, Professor." He took a seat and
pulled out his notebooks and pens. Not his fault that Akinori
had spent more than his allotted time in the shower.
The lecture continued, and Ranma dutifully took his notes.
The two umbrellas lay at his feet, and when he glanced at the
white one, his lips started to curve into a smile. Then he
shook himself back to reality and looked up at the projection,
where terms and a graph were trying to explain something about
the death rate in Europe. Ranma winced at the morbid topic,
and took stock of the different reactions. Some were actively
ignoring the lesson; others were studying it with
indifference.
". . .while the incidence of cancer in general has changed by.
. ."
Ranma winced in disgust. This was not med school!
". . .and the incidence of smoking-related deaths follows this
pattern. It covers lung cancer, emphysema, and lung disease,
as well as smoking-related pneumonia. Now we look at the
reported vs. the estimated suicide rates."
He wanted to gag. This was totally disgusting. Ranma took
good care of himself, thank you very much, and he was more
likely to die in a challenge than in a hospital room,
connected to twenty IV tubes and on a respirator. Silently,
he vowed never to let that happen.
Ranma forced himself to ignore his disgust and to focus on the
topic at hand. Then the graph switched to a "general morale
and feelings of fulfillment" poll. Ranma studied it, then
made a quick, crude sketch. The teacher started to expound on
the apparent relationship between deaths, causes of deaths,
and morale. Ranma made a face. As if it was not obvious, he
thought. Death lowers morale. Unless it was honorable
suicide. . .and even then, somebody gets hurt.
"Screw this," he thought, annoyed, as he scribbled down what
the professor was writing on the transparency. How much
longer of this did he have to take? He glanced at the watch
and muttered a soft curse. Another two hours and seventeen
minutes to go.
***
"Thank you, Saotome-san." Himeko put the umbrella behind her
desk and gave Ranma a faint smile.
He looked at her. Her hair seemed slightly damp, probably
because the rain had not yet stopped, and she had to walk
between several buildings. "No prob. I thought that you'd
want it back."
"Indeed I do." She pushed some papers around, then looked at
him. Before she said anything, Ranma went to search for a
seat. He was early; few students were here five minutes
before class started. Ranma sat down in his usual seat and
pulled out a paper folder stuffed with notes and papers from
class. He stole glances at her every now and then. She was
apparently engrossed in grading some tests. He winced,
remembering that he had just taken the exam a week ago. He
was also sure that he had scored one of the lower tests.
There was a generous curve, since this *was* physics, after
all, but he was a bit upset at his below-par performance.
The bell rang all too soon, and Ranma kicked his brain into
physics mode. Ryoga sat next to him, occasionally pointing
out something or asking Ranma a question, which Ranma usually
could not answer.
Today's topics were reviewing Lyapunov functions and a quick
introduction to spatiotemporal dynamics, with a focus on fluid
dynamics. Ranma and Ryoga were completely blank--they had
never studied the aforementioned functions. When they viewed
the "review" papers, nothing made sense except some of the
calculus. This was reminiscent of his confusion last year on
Gaussian distributions--except he had eventually understood
*that* topic. This had a little less hope. Maybe. . .no, not
Yukawa-san this time. He would have to go to Ryoga, for the
sake of keeping his fianc�e. Whether or not he *felt* like
keeping Yukawa-san company like that, he had an honor-bound
obligation to Akane. He swallowed at the thought. Stupid,
cursed honor. It was not as if she wanted it much more than
he did.
But they had *promised*, and that kept them together about as
much as anything else could have. He would not mind so much
if Akane simply dumped him--it would have been a nice way to
slip out of things. However, it was not going to happen.
They had too much to live up to now.
He knew that he was starting to like Yukawa-san just a tad
more than he should, and that to allow the affection to grow
would lead to, in the end, little more than trouble for him
and Akane. He did not want to go down that path any more than
he had done so already.
Ranma swore to himself. This was so *wrong*.
He should not have to suppress his own emotions to *himself*.
To deny his own wants, despite there existing no true reason
for him to do so, other than empty promises and useless words.
If he told Akane "Marry me, Akane, right now," she would most
likely say yes, then they would marry, have a kid, carry on
the dojo, and live on in a way that was dictated but detested.
They would not necessarily *die* of misery, but they would
probably wallow in it. The home would be a cold place, where
they would not fight, but neither would they kiss. A home
where none knew each other, understood each other, or felt at
all close to one another. They were already so separate and
distant that forcing them together would be as useful as
forcing oil and water to mix. Sure, if you shook things up
enough, they would appear to be together. But let time pass,
and they always separate again, unwilling to touch each other.
It was so *selfish* on the one hand, to go after his own
desires and disregard all else. But it was so *stupid* to be
a slave to tradition, propriety, and the dust-covered ideas of
his parents and future in-laws. The only question was, which
one was worse?
He had no answer to *that* question. He looked up and watched
Himeko brush back some loose strands of hair as she explained
some fundamental equations and started to derive a certain set
of them. Ranma's hand moved pencil over paper, taking notes in
auto-pilot mode. His eyes were glued to her form as she
moved, then she raised her head and gestured at something she
wrote.
Ryoga nudged him. "Ranma, what's that there say?"
"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "Um. . .I think it says the gradient of
something or other. Can't tell." The overhead was out of
focus. Burashu came over and adjusted it. Then he gestured
to Himeko to move. She did so, sitting down in a seat, and he
took over. Ranma winced and his hand started to cramp as
Burashu fired away at the physics concepts.
"But now, Yukawa-san knows that I've got a fianc�e." Ranma was
leaning on his chin, so that luckily, the slightly mumbled
words were audible to no one. "And I. . .can't just dump
Akane. It's gonna bring everyone in the family into a big
fight again, and I can't have that. Besides, Mom. . .what
would happen to her?" Ranma forced back memories of the
Saotome matriarch. "Can't do it. . .just can't do it at all."
"EYES ON THE OVERHEAD!"
Every student jumped and stared, looking for the offender.
Burashu pointed to Ranma with a meterstick. "YOU! EYES UP
HERE!"
"Sorry, professor!" Ranma sat up straight again and took some
more notes. Darn, he thought. That guy's sure got sharp
eyes. . .he noticed that Himeko had turned at the shout, and
had given Ranma a quick glance, before turning back to her
papers or whatever she was doing.
"And now I've given her a bad impression. Oh, well." Ranma,
back to work, sketched several graphs and labeled the
important points. Burashu paused in his ramblings and asked
if there were any questions. After taking two questions on
the algebra and calculus involved in the equations, he moved
into a deeper part of the theory. Ranma, swimming in a sea of
symbols and sinking, decided to tune out and ask Ryoga later.
Just to make sure, he turned to Ryoga. "Oi, Ryoga. I'm not
gettin' this at all. You mind helpin' me with this tonight in
the dorms? After we spar in the gym, of course." Ranma and
Ryoga's every-other-day trysts in the gym attracted quite an
audience every day. "What do you say, around eight tonight?"
"No prob--assuming that *I* get all this," Ryoga said as he
nodded. "This is kinda heavy stuff. The book covers a lot of
it, though."
Ranma shrugged. "Okay." He looked up at the projector, but
his eyes kept flickering over to the large wooden desk and the
girl working there.
"Darn," he thought silently. "How can she keep this up for so
long? I'd be bored out of my mind already."
Then slowly, he forced his eyes up to the screen again.
It didn't matter. It was over. He had told her that he was
taken.
Besides, the voice of practicality whispered in his ear, who
ever said *she* was interested in the first place?
***
Akane flopped onto her bed, clad in a new gi she had bought
just the day before. In her hands were some heavy weights.
Heck, it was Friday afternoon! She was going to work off some
stress and get in better shape. She had a nice enough figure;
she had to make sure she kept it up.
Mio opened the door and walked in. She was a bit taller than
Akane, with long hair tied into a single braid to keep it out
of her way. She was somewhat bookish, and always wore her
large wire-framed glasses. She was carrying a huge text that
was written in Russian--the original text of "Anna Karenina".
"Hey, Akane! Working out?"
"Hey there, Mio-chan. Mm-hm, I need to shape up a bit." Akane
properly positioned herself before starting to pump the
weights. "What's that monster you've got in your arms? It
looks almost as heavy as this weight here."
"This really awesome book! It's the untranslated version of
'Anna Karenina'. It's a classic of Russian literature, you
know? I've read it in Japanese, but never in the original
Russian." Mio sat down on her bed.
Akane smiled. Both girls were in training to be pharmacists,
but just about every student had interests beyond chemistry
and biochemistry. "I never read that much, even in high
school. Nothing really beyond what they assigned to me. I
was always doing my martial arts."
Mio arched an eyebrow at the heavy weights in Akane's hands.
"Wow, Akane-chan. That's quite impressive."
"Ah. . .thanks." Akane, a bit unsure of how to take the
praise, kept working. She was friendly with many of the
martial arts students in the school, especially those in the
kempo club. "Our whole club works out together sometimes, but
this week we're not meeting because of Kempo Kinenbi."
Constitution Day was a big deal, especially since Tokyo was
right in the midst of the entire hubbub. "Probably, the
entire school's gonna be at the festivals tomorrow, including
me, so there's no way we're meeting." She switched positions
and continued pumping.
Mio nodded as she settled onto her bed, propped herself up
against a comfortable pillow, and put the book on her knees.
"I'm definitely going with some friends."
"Mm." Akane nodded. "Actually, the rest of my family's
probably going to show up as well. Good chance that I'll wind
up with them." She half-smiled and half-winced; the mixture of
emotion reflected her mixed feelings towards the matter.
"That's kind of good, I guess."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Akane knew that Mio did not get
along particularly well with her parents. "My brother will be
there, so that's the nice thing." Mio's parents wanted her to
be in business, actually, and Mio fought years of intense
pressuring to study pharmacy. Her family felt rather
disgruntled, but they had enough sense to let their child
pursue what interested her. However, her younger brother Daio
was friendlier, and she was quite fond of him.
"I'm glad to hear that." Akane murmured. Her thoughts moved
to seeing *her* family. Well, not all of it. She hadn't seen
Nabiki for three years now--Nabiki had left just after Akane's
formal engagement to Ranma, and kept in touch using email.
She was ambitious and talented; Akane knew she was making good
use of her time. Nabiki had not had any romantic incidents;
that was only to be expected from the prudent sister. Nabiki
said she wanted to marry America--not because she was ashamed
of her Far-Eastern roots, but because, Nabiki claimed, that
there was a greater chance of the Japanese husband making her
stay home and drop her plans. Akane did not know just how
accurate this thought was, but who was she to interfere in her
sister's love life?
Email--speaking of which, Akane needed to check it. She was
not very good with technology; her use of the internet was
limited to email and occasional posting in a mailing list for
kempo enthusiasts. She ran a rudimentary web page for her
club as well, but the last captain had actually set it up.
Akane's knowledge was limited to <a href=""> and <img src="">,
and even then, she tended to mess up because she forgot to
close a tag or used the wrong extension.
After thirty minutes of working, Akane reapplied some
deodorant before going to her computer, which she had
inherited from Nabiki when her older sister left for the
States. She opened her student email account and found a
message waiting. Nabiki wrote about every week, so her emails
were more than dropping a note. Akane knew that Nabiki did
miss her family to some extent, and wrote these messages to
help stem the loss.
######
Date: Mon, Apr 29 11:19:28
From: Nabiki Tendo <ntendo@ugrad.uchicago.edu>
To: Akane Tendo <takane@ug.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Cc:
Subject: hi again
Hey there, little sister! How's it going at TouDai? Bet
you're having lots of fun. . .man, I'll never get used to
Chicago weather. This is the only place I know of (so far)
where I can be wearing two sweaters in the morning and have
to switch to a tank top and shorts by noon. Winter sucked,
I was sick for, like, a month, that's why I didn't mail you
in December. I hear summer's infamous here too. . .should
be lovely, ne?
How's Ranma these days? I don't hear about him in your
emails a whole lot. Hope nothing's wrong with him. He
doesn't have my email address, does he? Tell him Nabiki
says hi.
This place is nuts sometimes; I love it! I met this cool
guy yesterday (he's already got a girlfriend, just so you
know), he's hilarious. Three of us (me, him, his gf)
talked together for about two hours before we all had to go
to bed. This was two in the morning in the library, I'm
lucky no one threw us out. Apparently, UC has this
reputation in the States for being a unique place to study.
Three years, and I love it. I'll be going to grad school
here too, I've got the money and support for it.
Spring break's over, I know, but summer's coming. If I can
pull together the funds, I'll come visit. Not sure, but. .
.what the hey. Anyway, TTYL Akane!
--Nabiki
######
Akane laughed and considered a reply. She noticed that her
sister had become accustomed to writing the family name last.
How odd. . .having a somewhat Americanized sister seemed
strange to her. But she had seen this coming for years, she
supposed she should not be surprised that after three years,
the process was finally showing its effects on her sister.
######
Date: Fri, May 2 18:42:09
From: Tendo Akane <ntendo@ugrad.uchicago.edu>
To: Tendo Nabiki <takane@ug.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Cc:
Subject: ^_^
Hey Nabiki. Nothing much is here, tomorrow's Kempo
Kinenbi, so all of Tokyo's gonna be crowded and watching
the stuff. I'll go--yes, with Ranma, I guess, if he's not
working his butt off. I can't believe he's taking a
physics elective this year. Yeah, he's in business too,
you know that. He's passing, more or less, don't worry
about him. We're doing fine. If I need any advice I'll
zip over an email to Dr. Love.
Nothing much to tell you. I hate organic chem, bio
sucked wastewater and this isn't much better. The prof is
this laid-back guy who thinks we all know what we're doing,
and basically two tests and a final are my grade. Pray for
me! I wanna graduate, you know!
Too bad the guy's taken! It's okay, there are more
out there. Sounds like you're having fun. Stay healthy!!!
I hear health insurance in the US isn't like it here. When
I get that license, we'll see what I can do for you.
Okay, I gotta go--stuff to be done, going to a party
tonight. No, I'm not a party-girl. But my friends are
throwing it; it's Nozaki-chan's birthday. No drinking! ^_^
Love,
Akane-chan
######
Akane browsed through a few more sites before she closed the
browser and glanced at Mio. Mio, true to form, had not
stirred since she opened the book-covers. Akane made a face;
she had never cared much for the language arts. She liked to
hear stories, but to read and analyze was beyond her.
She glanced at the clock. Six-forty-five, and the party was
supposed to begin around seven-thirty. Nozaki was a swimmer,
and Akane guessed that the party would probably involve some
water tricks. She shrugged. It was an all-girl party; no
perverts would be around to make things nasty, she hoped.
Akane and Kasai Matsuya, who was well trained in kendo, were
to act as bouncers for the party. They would keep things
under control.
Akane noted that Mio was still deep in la-la land, so she took
a shirt and shorts from her half of the closet before running
into the bathroom. Two dorm rooms shared the bathroom, and
Akane considered herself lucky that it was clean, empty, and
had no waste from previous users anywhere. She stripped off
the gi and threw it in the sink for a quick soak in water,
then jumped into the shower for a nice, cold soak.
~~~
[ Tuesday, 6:37 AM, Kyoto ]
Akane turned on the water, only to find that there was no hot
water, only cold. The schools had not gone cheap on the
hotel, had they now? Well, that was all right. Chilly water
provided a good wake-up call, and Akane was a bit sleepy.
Where was Ranma?
She knew that the room assignments were very disorganized, to
put it nicely. Since her room had an extra couch, she had
four roommates, two from Furinkan and two from Ichiban. She
knew the Furinkan girls fairly well--Satsuki and Tomomi, and
the Ichiban girl were mostly friendly. One, Tanimoto Ikuko,
was an artsy sort of girl, and she was very friendly and
lively. The other, Tsugami Haname, was not so lively, but she
was very sweet and helped to organize the roommates. Akane
felt quite lucky to have such a nice set of people.
Perhaps Ranma would be lucky, or perhaps not. They had not
sat together on the train ride, and after they arrived in
Kyoto, every person had to find his or her partner and stick
with the person. Akane was paired with Ikuko, fortunately.
She had heard that many of the made-over pairings tried to put
the partners together.
Cool water sprayed over Akane, washing away last night's
weariness and some of the stiffness from sleeping in a hotel.
She rubbed the shampoo through her hair, then soaped her body
and felt her skin turn silky under the fragrant liquid. She
rinsed the suds from hair and skin, then turned off the water,
grabbed a towel, and started to dry off. The weather was
balmy, perfectly suited for sightseeing and museum visiting.
Akane would have to check the itinerary to see just what was
planned for the day.
She was the first and only person awake in her room, so Akane
shrugged, went back into the bathroom, and blew-dried her
hair. Somehow, the noise did not awake anyone else. It was
surprising, but very convenient for her. It meant she could
go exploring all over the hotel. From her backpack, she took
out the itinerary. Today was a museum visit, lunch there,
continued exploration of the museum in the afternoon, dinner,
then back to the hotel. Fair enough, Akane thought. A museum
visit would not be tiring, and she was sure that many students
were slightly worn out from the train ride.
Akane folded her items neatly, then slipped out of the hotel
room. She did not intend to catch early breakfast or
anything; she wanted to see if Ranma was fooling around with
his practice in the courtyard or something. The problem was,
the hotel had two separate sides accessible by two separate
lifts, and for the purposes of this trip, males occupied the
first half of the building, females the other. Akane also
knew that technically, the two were off-limits to the opposite
gender. This was the difficulty: how to find Ranma? Akane
was a reasonably obedient student who did not want to break an
obviously well meant rule. Ranma was a heavy sleeper; either
he was wide awake or he was dead asleep. Her only chance was
finding him in the courtyard, or perhaps the exercise room.
She took the elevator and went down, only to find that the
exercise room was open, but only one girl, whom Akane did not
recognize, was inside, riding on an exercise bike. She went
outside the hotel and got a breath of clean, fresh air--but
Ranma was not there either. She frowned, sighing in
frustration. That jerk. . .here she was, in her efforts to
find him. Then again, reason told her, he didn't know Akane
would be searching. He had every right to sleep.
Well, it was a nice morning. Akane decided that she might as
well go back to the room and organize her things before
breakfast.
~~~
"Heeey, Akane-chan! Bouncer #1, come on in!" Nozaki lived in
an all-girl dorm, and was a bit overly suspicious of males in
general, but Akane understood and therefore bore it well.
Akane waved, grinned, and entered the room. As she expected,
the room was decorated in shades of blue and silver, with some
amusing paper cutouts featuring swimmers. There were some
bikini models, complete with amusing speech-bubbles saying
some slightly off-color things. Nozaki was helping her
friends set up some glasses, and some blue-tinted drink that
Akane assumed was some variant of Gatorade. Nozaki was among
the more prudent students; no boozing at this party. Several
students were connecting speakers to a huge audio set. Nozaki
had mentioned that a friend at TouDai, an EE major, was coming
over as well. Perhaps this was the girl. Akane smiled, as
she was popular and loved to mingle at a party. She waved to
Nozaki, who shouted a greeting. The other bouncer, a tiny-
looking girl with shoulder-length brown hair and startling
gray eyes, came over and waved her bokken. Akane admired the
wooden blade, made a few jokes about the "bouncers", and then
went to join the starting party.
***
"No, that is *not* amusing." Himeko smiled at Raiha. "It
makes one feel unwanted when the students are clearly not
listening, but it is worse to have the student brought up in
that fashion." They were, of course, discussing Burashu.
Raiha shrugged and looked at her thick engineering textbooks.
"You wouldn't think that I'd need all this just to design what
the darned house looks like."
"Maybe they want you to stick to reality."
"Perhaps." Raiha kicked her rolling chair back, and by
Newton's Third Law of Motion, flew back against her bed.
Himeko winced at the audible crash, then hid a smile with her
hand. "Was that a physics demo for my sake?"
"Yeah. Calculate the wave nature of it, Himeko-chan." Raiha
mocked her witih a wave of her hand, laughing loudly.
"I'd rather not. It would be too small anyway." Himeko tilted
her head. "You know that as well as I do."
"Yeah, from prolonged exposure to you!"
"Is that a terminal condition?" Himeko raised an eyebrow, and
laughed as well. "Ah. . .it's the weekend, I can't wait to
get home and relax a little. Next week I actually have to
start the research project--the real work."
"Doing it?"
"No, planning it. You have to do that, or else you might end
up wasting a *lot* of grant money, and nobody appreciates
that. . .well, the suppliers, maybe." Himeko considered the
point. "Anyway, for the physics project I'm doing a study of
dark matter with three other grad students. For the
biochemistry one, I'm not sure yet--too much to consider." She
leaned her head back and said, "Someone asked me to help out
on a stem-cell project. There is also a graft-vs.-host offer.
. .I don't know. It also depends on who wants me. They're
not all open to anyone, some are filled, and not everyone
particularly wants me on the team."
"Himeko, any one would be lucky to have you. Honest." Raiha
smiled.
"I'm flattered." Himeko laughed. "Half the people in there
are at least as intelligent as I am." Then she shrugged. "I
was seriously considering researching a certain class of
proteins."
"Ooh, amino acids." Raiha never enjoyed biology that much.
"Well, yes, at a basic level."
"Right. Hmm. . .you lead such an interesting life, Himeko. .
." Raiha sighed. "Then again, I'm happy with my blueprints
and photos." She smirked. "If you ever need some comic relief
in your life, you know who to call. If your work gets too
heavy for you."
"Thank you, Raiha. . .and speaking of work, I need to get
going. I'm meeting with my supervisor tonight, at his house.
We have to go over some protocol and decisions for the
project."
"Nice. When do you need to deliver your actual proposal?"
"I'm working over the summer--hey, nothing else to do, and I
have until July first." Himeko grinned. "That's not too much
time. Especially since I have to teach a class--and I'm
working on *two* degrees at once. One's mostly math, the
other's mostly experimenting."
"Sounds fun. . .you leaving now? See you later." Raiha got
out of her chair and hugged her friend. "Stay safe, okay?
The rain's still falling, don't slip and break your back or
something."
"I won't. See you tomorrow, maybe!" Himeko returned the
squeeze and left.
***
"Geez." Ranma kicked the table as he slammed the telephone
down.
Akinori, absorbed in replaying "Chrono Trigger", winced as the
screen image wavered. "Saotome, what's the problem?" The
screen froze, then a battle screen came on. He paused the
game and turned to Ranma. "Havin' trouble with that phone?"
"No. Akane ain't in her dorm." It was somewhat of a relief to
Ranma, but also annoying: now he couldn't get in his
obligatory telephone call before the festivals tomorrow.
"Darnit."
"It's okay. What'cha doing tomorrow, anyway? Going to the
festivals?"
"Maybe. It oughta be somewhat fun." Ranma thought about going
with some friends. "It depends on who else is going."
"The great majority of people in Tokyo, Ranma."
"Well then, I'll round up the martial arts club and go with
them." Ranma's engagement was an afterthought to most people,
since he hardly acted like a romantic fianc� on his part.
"I'll see who I run into."
"Tendo-san?"
"Maybe." Ranma wasn't sure how much he wanted it. Akane had
not brought it up in the morning, and if Ranma was lucky, she
would not bring it up the next day. "I can't get a hold of
her anyhow, so I guess not by planning."
"She's probably out partying," Akinori suggested just as he
started thrashing a villain. "It's Friday night. What else
is there to do besides partying and playing video games? I
mean, she's not the real studious type, is she?"
"She doesn't haunt the library, if that's what you mean."
Ranma laid himself down on the bed, crossed his legs, and
stared at the ceiling. "It ain't like she always has to tell
me where she's going or anything. I ain't some control freak
or obsessive criminal."
"That's right, and it's a good thing. Hold things loosely,
man--ARGH! That stupid thing *killed* me!" He whacked himself
on the head as the "Game Over" screen came on.
Ranma watched in amusement. "Take it easy, Aki. It's just a
stupid game."
"A game it is; stupid it is not!" Akinori fired back as he
pressed "reset" and started to play again. "Ah, here it is. .
.darnit, I shoulda saved half an hour ago. Now I hafta go
through that maze again. And it's chock-full of those stupid
frickin' dungeon ghosts!" Akinori began to show the telltale
symptoms of video game rage, so Ranma tuned him out and tried
to take a nap. Sleep, however, eluded him. Then he
remembered why: the spar and Ryoga's promised help in the
library. "Oops. See you tonight, Akinori. I *know* you'll
be up till about three playin' those games of yours."
"Yeah, whatever, see you later too, Saotome!"
***
"So then," Akane continued, "Maybe we can go in a group
tomorrow?"
"Sounds good." Nozaki glanced over at the girls who were
dancing to some soft rock music. "Although I would wonder how
crowded it's going to be and everything. I wasn't planning on
going, myself."
"Hmm." Akane poured herself some soda and sipped at it.
"Yeah. . .maybe we should do something else. It's just a nice
day to hangout and do stuff, besides, the whole campus is
gonna be empty or doing stuff, and we shouldn't waste a day
like that."
"Sure we should." Yukari came up to the two and offered her
suggestion. "I say, since our roommates might be gone, we get
some peace and quiet in those dorms." She smiled and made a
motion with her hands. "I might actually get some knitting
done!" Yukari was fond of the handcrafts, especially sewing
and knitting, even a little embroidery. Her partner, however,
looked upon her hobbies with derision. "I won't have that
jerk laughing at me every time I make a stitch."
"If you want," Nozaki said, amused, "get Akane to beat her up
for you, then she definitely won't laugh at you anymore."
"Sure she would. Anyway, she's not mean enough to deserve a
thrashing, and if she was, I'd have to do it somehow. Maybe
break the sewing table over her head?" Yukari sighed.
"Anyway, I'm staying home. I'd love to get out with you all,
but it's not gonna happen."
"S'okay, Yukari-chan." Akane played with her cup. "Hey, let's
play some games, guys!"
"We are!" Three voices chorused. Nozaki turned to see three
girls crowded around a console, while playing a video game.
She rolled her eyes. "Not like that!. . .well, okay, didn't
somebody bring that dancing game? Minako-chan!" She turned
back to Akane. "Yukari has a good point. I think I'll stay
on campus and see if I can get some extra laps done in the
pool."
"I'll stay too, then," Akane decided. "You know what?
Nozaki, can I borrow your weights for the day tomorrow? I
read about this new thing in a martial arts magazine, and
you've got the equipment for it."
"Help yourself! Hey, guys! Let's go play DDR!"
***
"Hah, that barely dented the mats!" Ryoga dodged a slam from
Ranma. "I tell ya, you're aim's not here tonight--" he tried
to do a backflip, and Ranma's fist greeted his leg.
Unperturbed, Ryoga finished with his feet ramming into Ranma's
back, sending him flying.
Back in their first year, the girls on the gymnastics team or
the dancing groups used this area the most. Since Ranma's
discovery of the many padded mats, including a nice, soft
sting mat, it had become a good site for his training. The
girls who did come were better than he was at tumbling and
their aerial stunts had much more grace. Ranma had fun
watching them, and once or twice, he did speculate about
changing forms and trying his hand on the same things--but
then he reminded himself that *he* was not a gymnast. Let
them do their artsy things; tumbling for him was a last
resort. He was good, sure, like how he could twist during a
fall or whirl around the uneven bars, but he could not set up
a routine like those girls did, or dance on his toes and look
good while doing it. It was just lack of training in those
areas. He knew that with his training and physique, he
probably *could* do it. . .but now was not the time to
consider such silly issues.
"It wasn't supposed to break the floor, you clumsy oaf," Ranma
retorted as he came back with his fists in s blur. Ryoga was
out of range for some, dodged some, and took the rest of the
hits. Ryoga countered with a swing and a kick, managing to
force Ranma back by a slight distance. Ranma tried an aerial
series on Ryoga, and Ryoga flinched under the assault. He
jumped up for a counterattack, when they noticed that the
gymnastic team was coming in. Since *they* had the rights to
the equipment, the two stopped, bowed to each other, and
headed for the locker rooms.
***
"Ah, yes. I see how that works." Himeko nodded. Miyake-
sensei was pointing out some of the nuances of researching.
It was decided: Himeko was writing up a formal proposal to
study certain characteristics of protein transport and their
intrinsic markings. She was lucky in one sense--she would be
working under Miyake-sensei. This was what she wanted; she
would stay within a familiar environment, but since there was
on more professor and two other students doing different
aspects of related projects, she would still have a chance to
branch out a little.
It was almost ten at night. The house was quiet, and the
fluorescent light buzzing and the two people's soft talking
were the only sounds in the area. They sat at the kitchen
table, going over papers like old friends helping each other
study. Himeko liked it here: it was so cozy, so homey, unlike
her own clean, well-kept, but empty house.
"Good. Now, the proposal can wait a little. And, by the way,
do you know how much time you have for the entire project?"
". . .seven years?"
Miyake paused. "Well. Just get it done, don't worry about
the time constraints. . .I'm sure you'll manage it all. Have
you discussed your other plans with Professor Burashu? I
believe he is your advisor for physics."
"Yes. It will be on dark matter; we've already figured that
out. I don't think he grades homework anymore, he just plans
out stuff for his grad students." Himeko laughed a little.
"At any rate, yes. Now both are settled."
"That's great!" Miyake smiled at her. "Well, we can break for
tonight. You had a good week? Anything get you down?"
She shook her head. "It was good. I finished many things, so
I'm in a very good mood." She smiled, and twirled her ring a
little. Miyake noticed the silver flash around her neck and
on her finger.
"You used to be the only girl I knew who didn't wear makeup or
jewelry," he remarked. It was a well-meant enough comment--he
had known her for four years, and she was almost a daughter to
him and his wife. In all that time, she had never worn so
much as a bracelet, lip gloss, or nail polish. Himeko put her
hand to the jewelry, showing Miyake-sensei the ring and
necklace, both of which were sterling silver. She had worn
the jewelry since July. "It was a gift."
Himeko smiled, her dark-blue eyes twinkling, a faint blush
creeping into her usually pale cheeks.
Miyake grinned and nodded, knowing full well what she implied,
but he couldn't recall who she was talking about. "Oh? From
whom?"
Himeko laughed softly.
"I thought that you�d remember Connell-san?"
End Two
******
Thanks for reading! ^^ What do you think?
---Irene
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