“Your boyfriend, hmm?” Nodoka said, maintaining her pleasant mask while surgically dissecting the ruffian boy with her eyes.
“Yeah, I know!” Ranko said with what Nodoka recognized as the enthusiasm of a naïve teenage girl finding what was needed to fulfill her obligations to society. “Isn’t he just the greatest!”
“Oh, he is certainly something,” Nodoka replied. Yes, it seemed as though her daughter was following in her own footsteps of latching onto the first homely looking martial artist that would allow her to achieve her duties as mother and wife. This would certainly require further discussion. “Still, no student of mine should be out in public in such a disheveled state. Come now, let’s go to my home so you may get cleaned up.”
“Yes, Sensei. Hey, would it be alright if Ryoga comes with?” Ranko asked with a pleading expression on her face.
“Hmmm.” Nodoka paused to give the impression she was actually giving the matter some thought. “There are some things we will need to discuss. Perhaps it would be better if he went to his own home. You can go see him at a later time.”
“Oh, um…” Ranko responded, suddenly looking nervous. “That going home thing might be a bit of a problem.”
“Oh? You mean to tell me this boy does not have a home?” Nodoka asked. This was reminding her more and more of her own past.
“No, no, he definitely has a home. It’s just that he has a little problem finding his way around places. Heh, you could say he really gives a new meaning to ‘wandering martial artist’. Isn’t that right, sweetie?”
“Uh, y-yeah, that’s true,” said the boy who at the very least had the decency to look at the ground in shame.
“Right, and his house is kinda out of the way,” Ranko continued while wrapping an arm around one of the boy’s. “So he’ll probably get turned all around and lost and I won’t be able to see him for days! Maybe even weeks! You wouldn’t let that happen to him. Would you, Sensei?”
Nodoka’s immediate response was stifled by the look on her daughter’s face and as much as she didn’t like it, she knew she had no choice but to give in. “Very well, Ranko dear. I will let him come over for dinner. However, once we are done, I would like you to immediately take him back to his home.”
Ranko looked like she wanted to object, but Nodoka managed to keep up her stern look until the girl also gave in. “Yeah, I got it.”
“And mind your speech, dear.”
“Oh. Yes, of course. I understand, Sensei.”
There was a quick detour to pick up the boy’s things from where he was currently staying, which turned out to be at an abandoned lot. A fact which did less than nothing to ease her judgment of the boy she was keeping a close eye on. It also did not help his case that he did not look anywhere near as apologetic as he should have been about the way her daughter was currently latching onto him. Per Ranko’s request, she waited patiently outside the lot while they packed up all of the boy’s camping gear and had a quick discussion she couldn’t make out. Most likely her daughter making sure this boy would keep on his best behavior.
Soon they were off to her house, Nodoka still closely watching the two slightly ahead of her as her daughter cheerfully chatted with the boy she was attaching herself to. The oversized travel pack ended up blocking most of the boy so she couldn’t confirm any inappropriate facial expressions she knew were occurring with him. Fortunately, the trip didn’t take too long and they quickly arrived at her home.
“Alright, Ranko dear,” she said with a cheerful veneer over her formalness. “Please go and get cleaned up. I have a nice surprise for you hanging up in the guest bedroom that I think you may enjoy.”
“I understand, Sensei!”
Once her daughter headed off, she turned and addressed the boy with the veneer fully removed. “You may place your things in our storage room over there for now, then wait patiently in the family room while I go and get dinner ready. Understood?”
As the boy nodded and then proceeded to do just that, Nodoka got to work putting away her purchases except for what would be needed for dinner. As she was beginning on the prepwork, a voice called out from the family room.
“Oh, Sensei! This is absolutely perfect!”
Nodoka walked out of the kitchen to find Ranko with an almost giddy grin on her face, clad in a beautiful white dress. The moment Nodoka saw that particular dress displayed in a store window a few days ago, she knew she had to get it for her daughter, not the least of which due to the resemblance to one of the dresses her child happily pointed out to her so many years ago.
“You look quite lovely, Ranko,” Nodoka confirmed with a pleasant smile.
Ranko gave an enthusiastic nod before turning to the boy. “What do you think, Ryoga sweetie? Isn’t this outfit just divine?”
The boy was at least giving the typical teenage male reaction: complete shock with mouth hung wide open. Well, he was until he seemed to notice Nodoka’s presence and partially recovered. “Um…y-yeah. It looks really nice,” he managed to mumble out, looking down at the floor. “Like, uh, a princess or something.”
If Ranko actually noticed the boy’s nerves, she didn’t show it, instead going over and wrapping her arms around him. “Awwww, you always know how to say just the right thing,” she cooed before leaning over to try and give him a kiss.
“Alright, that’s quite enough of that,” Nodoka chastised, while making sure to keep a jovial tone for her daughter’s sake. “Ranko dear, would you be so kind as to assist me with making dinner?”
Ranko turned to her, at first looking annoyed at being interrupted, then giving a little smile at the offer to help with cooking. “Yes, I’d love to, Sensei!” She turned back to the boy, who now was staring straight ahead and seemed to be sweating slightly. “Okay, sweetie, just stay here and don’t move. I’d be rather upset if you go and wander off,” she said, leaning forward and whispering something in the boy’s ear that Nodoka couldn’t hear before letting go of him. True to her request, he managed to stay frozen in place.
Mother and daughter went into the kitchen, Ranko donning an apron of her own and helping chop up the vegetables (after a polite reminder to wash them first). Nodoka was quite happy to have her daughter cook with her again and it really would have been proper to just leave it as such. However, this new question now burned hot at the front of her mind and she very much wanted it properly addressed, especially now that the two of them were alone.
“Ranko dear, I cannot help but notice just how attached you are to this boy.”
“Oh yes, Sensei.” Ranko said with a wistful tone in her voice. “Ryoga is just completely perfect.”
“So you really believe he would be the best choice for your future husband and father of your children?” Nodoka asked, trying her very best to accept her child’s judgment on the matter.
Ranko stopped her chopping, setting the knife down on the cutting board. “Children, huh?”
“That’s right. Taking care of a child is the greatest thing a mother can do,” Nodoka said with a smile, allowing her sins to bleed out into the room.
“Oh, a mother,” Ranko said with a wistful smile on her face as she placed one hand on her lower abdomen, an action which took Nodoka back slightly. Was there a surgery now that could give her a womb? She never heard of such a thing, but then again medicine always seemed to advance so rapidly.
“Ranko dear, are you actually able to bear children?”
Ranko paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, before turning to her with a slightly pained expression. “I…I’m not sure.”
Nodoka went over and gave her child a hug. “It’s alright, dear. Even if you can’t bear your own, there are other ways for you to become a mother, and I know you will be an amazing one.” That was yet another reason her plan had to succeed. If Ranko was properly adopted on the registry as her daughter, it would make it much easier for her to adopt her own child later on.
She gently released the hug and playfully patted Ranko on the head. “Of course, that’s something for the future. You still have about two years before you can get properly married, and I would definitely recommend a couple more before you think about children.”
“But, but, but…Sensei, that’s such a long time! What if I can’t hold on to Ryoga for that long? What if he wanders away and I lose him forever?!”
“Now dear, if that boy is really as nice as you make him out to be, I’m sure he will have no problem waiting for you. Ranko, I want you to remember that you have plenty of time before you need to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. You are still a child and you should enjoy your childhood while it lasts.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I, um…”
“What is it, Ranko?”
“Well, it’s just…I haven’t really had much of a childhood. At least, not like a lot of other kids had.”
“Yes, that is certainly understandable, which is why this is even more important for you to do this now. It is so good to see you spending so much time with Akane and getting to experience the flower of your teenage years.”
“Akane. She…” Ranko started into the distance, her thoughts focused on things Nodoka could only speculate on. The moment was quickly broken, though, as Ranko shook her head and scratched at an apparent itch on her upper chest. “Yeah, I guess she’s okay, you know, as far as being my rival and all.”
“Your rival…oh my!” Nodoka’s eyes widened slightly as she brought a hand up to her mouth. “That is certainly an interesting scenario. How do…no, no, I apologize. It is most inappropriate for me to pry like this. Especially about my…my student. I am just happy to know you are experiencing a very healthy adolescence now. At any rate, we should go and get dinner completed before your friend starts to get restless. You know how boys can be.”
“Yes, you’re right, Sensei. I certainly do.”
A while later, Nodoka went to find the boy, only to see him still standing in the exact same spot, unmoving. “Uh, I just wanted to say dinner will be ready soon.”
“Thank you very much for your hospitality, Ma’am,” the boy said, turning his head as much as he could towards her while still not moving the rest of his body.
“Wouldn’t you prefer to sit down and relax?”
“No, Ran…Ranko said to stay right here.”
Nodoka gave a quick glance back to the kitchen, knowing Ranko would be able to take care of the rest with the instructions she gave. She went over and sat down on the couch at the far end of the room, patting the seat next to her. “Come, sit down.”
“Um, thank you, Ma’am, but Ranko said-”
“It’s fine. I’m your host and I will take responsibility for my request. Please, have a seat.”
“O-okay.” The boy hesitated a moment, before cautiously walking over and sitting down next to Nodoka, who gave a light smile at the action while keeping her gaze straight ahead.
Nodoka allowed an uneasy silence to permeate for a few seconds before speaking up, still not turning towards the boy directly. “Tell me what exactly your intentions are towards my daughter.”
The boy quickly scooted as far to the end of the couch as he could. “N-no! I would never…wait, your daughter?”
“I don’t know just how much Ranko told you. How her parents abandoned her. How they couldn’t accept her for the young woman she really is. How lonely she must have been for so long. That is why I am going to adopt her, be the mother she was never truly allowed to have. I swear she will never experience the pain of abandonment ever again. So, once more, I ask you.” Nodoka turned to face the boy at the other end of the couch. “What exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?”
The boy managed to maintain eye contact with her for almost two full seconds before he looked away and began nervously poking his index fingers together. “Um, well, Ma’am, you see…the truth is that I-”
“Dinner’s ready everyone!” Ranko cheerfully called out as she bounded into the family room. Seeing the boy sitting on the couch, she gave an overdramatic huff and shook her finger accusingly in his direction. “Now Ryo,” she said in a playfully chastising voice. “What did I tell you about moving from your spot?”
“It’s alright, dear,” Nodoka quickly intervened. “I asked him to sit with me so we could have a little chat. I should go and set the table now though.”
Nodoka started to get up, but the boy quickly got to his feet first. “Actually, Ma’am, you stay here and relax, I can get it.” That response caused her to be taken back slightly. Looking over to her daughter and seeing the pleasant shock on her face, it was clear that she didn’t need to very politely request that he do this sort of action. Yet this boy was so quick to make the offer of his own accord. Based on her own experiences, it was something she never expected. Still, the proper response would be required.
“Thank you for the offer, but it’s not necessary. You are a guest in this house after all.”
“No, I insist, Ma’am,” the boy responded, bowing deeply towards her. “You’ve been so generous to let me stay here. Let me at least try and pay you back for it.”
This time, she couldn’t help but have a genuine smile on her face. Perhaps her daughter made a good choice after all. “Yes, I think I would appreciate that very much, Ryoga.”
The two teenagers did a very splendid job in getting all the food and dishware on the dining table, in Nodoka’s opinion. Sitting proper seiza style at the low table, she observed the two teenagers sitting more casually, Ranko once again almost hanging onto the Ryoga boy while using her chopstick to feed him directly. More and more she found herself warming up to the one her daughter seemed so determined to perform her societal duties with. Still, as she calmly ate her own meal, she knew it wouldn’t be proper to let herself become lax in confirming for certain that Ranko’s choice was indeed correct.
“So, how exactly did the two of you meet?”
Ranko looked over to her while not missing a beat in feeding the Ryoga boy. “Oh, it feels like I’ve known him for an eternity, since before the first stars began to shine in the night sky.”
“We met in middle school, Ma’am,” the Ryoga boy managed to get out between bites.
“That was such a wonderful time. Every day, I would hold hands with my darling Ryo as we went to and from school. It was like something out of a fairytale book.”
“Oh, that does sound lovely,” Nodoka commented. Ranko really was planning for the future if she had already set up for her future obligations that far back.
“Honestly, Ma’am, if I wasn’t being led by the hand, I would have probably never found the place,” the Ryoga boy admitted, somehow able to get his words out despite Ranko increasingly feeding him more and more food. “And school really felt more like a battle manga most of the time, especially during lunch. It was an all-boys school after all.”
“Yes, I suspect that must have…” Nodoka’s eyes widened slightly and she paused in her eating to look over at the other two, in particular her daughter. “All-boys school?”
“Yeah, that’s-” Anything else the Ryoga boy was trying to say was muffled by a particularly large meat bun.
Ranko gave a large and very noticeably strained grin over to her. “Oh, Sensei, my darling Ryo is such a kidder. What he meant was…uh…”
Nodoka nodded as understanding struck. “Ah, of course. You must have been stealth moding back then.”
“Um…” Ranko blinked a few times and the Ryoga boy turned towards Nodoka with a confused look as he continued to chew.
“Yes, I do believe that is the correct term for when you need to hide your true self from public eyes. Oh, that must have been such a hard time for you, dear. Needing to act like a boy for so long. Not only weren’t you allowed to be who you really are, you did not even have any other girls around you could relate to.”
“Yeah, having to act like a boy. It was…I was…” Ranko paused and looked down at herself, apparently lost in thought again. After a few moments, she scratched at that same itch from before on her chest and looked up with a big smile and sparkles in her eyes. “I was the luckiest girl in the world to have my darling Ryo there with me. He was always so supportive.”
“I see.” Nodoka gave a warm smile to the Ryoga boy. “So you helped her out even back then.”
The Ryoga boy took a moment to take a big swallow before flashing a smile. “Of course, Ma’am.”
“It broke my heart when I was taken away and we were forced to separate,” Ranko lamented as she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. “I know he felt the exact same, for he immediately went off in pursuit. Even with his horrible condition hindering him, he would not give up in his tireless quest to find me once more. The efforts he went through, crossing mountains, deserts, oceans, never once wavering in the slightest. The day we were finally reunited, that was the day he restored my happiness.”
Nodoka once again found herself taken aback. This boy not only didn’t try to leave Ranko, he actually went and chased after her? That level of loyalty. Perhaps this Ryoga really was worthy of her daughter’s obligations. “Oh Ranko, that’s wonderful.”
“Yes, and I am never going to let him go ever again.”
“Well, far be it from me to get in the way of your goals. Perhaps we can arrange to have the wedding on your birthday.”
“W-wedding?” Ryoga asked.
“Do we really have to wait that long, Sensei?” Ranko whined. “I mean, my darling Ryo is a few months older than me, so we can have our wedding on his birthday.”
“Very well. If that is what you wish, dear.”
“Thank you, Sensei! You hear that, sweetie? I get to give you the greatest 18th birthday present ever! Now, we only have a year and a half to make this perfect, so we better start planning right away.”
Nodoka looked over at the shelf and the now empty spot on it. While the contract had been removed from sight to keep her child’s mind at ease, she still hadn’t destroyed it. Not yet anyway. But now, at last there was a definitive deadline. Even if the adoption plan somehow did not come to fruition, once her daughter fulfilled her societal obligations and was properly married, that would be enough to end the contract and save her from its potential stain upon her soul. After all, a promise made for ‘Ranma Saotome’ wouldn’t apply to ‘Ranko whatever Ryoga’s family name is’.
“Here, Ma’am. I refilled your rice bowl for you.”
She turned to her future son-in-law with a warm smile. “Thank you very much, Ryoga. You are such a sweet and respectful boy.” As she started to eat the food offered and watched as her future son-in-law turned and started to feed some food to Ranko, she finally felt the underlying stress from the past several days begin to fade and the tension in her body started to melt away. The relief and relaxation she could feel start to course through her veins was certainly a sign that her daughter was definitely making the proper decision. Yes indeed, everything was truly starting to-
BANG!
Nodoka quickly sat up, vaguely aware of the blanket falling off her shoulder and pooling in her lap. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes and looked around, noticing the darkness now outside the window. Oh dear, she must have passed out at the dining table. How improper! It seemed that her late nights worrying and planning had finally caught up to her. She looked down at the blanket, once more impressed by the consideration of her daughter and future son-in-law. Then, she looked over at the table, finding the dishes were left there. Well, I suppose there still is some room for improvement.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It took a couple of seconds for her to realize the sound was coming from the front door and then a few more seconds to notice that no one else was here to answer it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Slowly and carefully, she got to her feet, the drowsiness still not fully out of her system. She steadied herself and walked with practiced grace to the door. Opening it, she was surprised to find her other student, looking quite haggard and out of breath. “Oh, good evening, Akane.”
“Sensei…is Ran…Ranko…is she here?” the girl managed to wheeze out.
“Well, I did have dinner with Ranko and that nice Ryoga boy, but-”
“Ranko!” Any visible fatigue Akane had was tossed aside as she rushed into the house. Nodoka thought a moment towards stopping her before quickly dismissing it for the proper action of first confirming that her future son-in-law’s pack was gone and that Ranko indeed was taking him back to his own home. As she walked over, she couldn’t suppress the smile from the sounds of Akane running around upstairs calling out her daughter’s name. This was also important for her daughter to have in her life. A young woman that she could rely on and turn to, especially during times when her husband was-
Nodoka stopped and blinked at the sight in the storage room. Her future son-in-law’s pack was indeed gone. However, the contents were not, instead strewn out in a large pile on the floor.
“Sensei, I can’t find Ranko anywhere and…is that Ryoga’s stuff?”
“Yes, I have the feeling this might be Ranko’s doing.” Nodoka gave a wistful smile while looking back towards the entryway of her house.
“Wait, what’s this?”
“Well, if I were to guess, I would say that Ranko is determined to prove her womanhood and following through on her duty to society would be a substantial affirmation indeed. Part of her plan, I suspect, is the old trick to leave some of her chosen future husband’s things behind at her…at the house of the person she’s definitely not related to but still frequents.”
“So then…th-they’re both really serious.”
“Indeed. Our sweet little Ranko has started her wedding plans. So-”
“We have to stop them!”
“Now Akane, I understand your concerns. I was hesitant about Ryoga too when I first met him, but he’s actually a very nice boy. Ranko is making this choice of her own free will and we need to accept and support…what are you holding there?”
As she turned back towards Akane, she saw the girl was holding the broken halves of a bamboo fishing pole. Oddly, there was a suction cup on the end of the line in place of a hook.
Akane was looking around everywhere in the room, avoiding making eye contact with her. “Sensei, when you were with Ranko today, did you happen to notice if she had a mark on her upper chest? Like a hickey in the shape of a carp?”
Nodoka tilted her head slightly at such an odd question before something did click in her mind. “Yes, I remember Ranko having a strange bruise on her chest. She was also scratching at that spot a few times.” She looked at the strange fishing pole again. “Akane, is there something terrible affecting her?”
“Sensei…I…” Akane looked away again, worry fully etched over her face.
“Akane, please.” Nodoka put her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Ranko is…she’s important to me. If something bad is happening to her, I need to know.”
Akane paused a moment before wordlessly handing a pamphlet over while still keeping her gaze away. Nodoka quickly took the item and read the words on the cover. “Fishing Pole of Love Owner’s Manual.”
A sudden chill began to seep into the small storage room. Without a single twitch in her expression, she started to read through the manual, letting the memories of the day run through her mind and giving occasional glances towards the fishing pole that was in the pile of items which belong to…
Closing the tome of the accursed item, she calmly turned to look back once more towards the entranceway, the words uttered from her lips cool, smooth, and proper.
“I am going to murder that boy.”
