Akane stepped off the train at Shibuya Station and took a look around for any sign of bright red hair. One definite advantage of Ranma’s cursed form was that he was quite easy to spot in a crowd. She still couldn’t figure out how he was able to pull off disguising himself so much. Ryoga should know there’s just not that many redheads in Japan, right?

She brushed off the skirt of her floral dress and did a quick appraisal of herself for the seventh time since leaving her house. Okay, enough. You look fine. You’re just hanging out with Ranma. It’s not a big deal. Just spending the whole day together. Away from Nerima. With the guy you almost got married to. And no one else to bother us. It’s not like it’s a date though. He’s going to be a girl the whole time after all. 

“Hey, there you are Akane!” A familiar soprano voice called out from the other side of the platform. Akane turned to see Ranma in familiar red and black running over and waving at her. She gave a grin and lifted up her hand to waive back. See? Even when he would go on a fake date for whatever reason, he’d still try and dress up a bit. So there’s no way he’d go on a real date wearing his normal stuff. He’d have to…

Akane froze as the redhead got closer and she got a better look at what he was actually wearing. The colors were similar, but this was definitely not what he left the house in this morning. Instead of his regular Chinese style shirt, there was a v-cut striped black shirt with a red bolero jacket. Rather than the loose kung-fu style pants, it was a dark pair of jeans that was actually cut for his currently feminine figure. In place of the normal slippers were red and black sneakers.

As Ranma approached, Akane noticed the long red hair bouncing back and forth behind his head. Hair that was very much not in any sort of braid. Instead it looked to be tied back in a low ponytail. He undid his pigtail? But he never does that. He even sleeps in the thing. What’s going on? And what is about it that seems so familiar?

“Uh, hey there. Ready to go?” the redhead asked with excitement and a slight tinge of nervousness. 

Akane snapped out her musings to reply back while trying to hide her own suspicions. “Oh, yes. Let’s go. By the way, I like your outfit.”

“Oh, thanks. Your dress looks nice too,” Ranma replied as they started to head out of the station together.

“Thanks.” Akane paused, hoping that he would elaborate on his change in wardrobe. When nothing came, she decided to press a bit more. “Your hair looks nice,” she said looking over, noticing for the first time that his long red hair was tied back with a white bow. “It’s different.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Ranma grinned while looking back. “Your hair looks nice too. It’s...well the same I guess.”

Akane stopped in frustration. “Ranma, why are you dressed like that?” she bluntly asked with a tinge of irritation in her voice.

Ranma halted in his tracks and slowly turned to face her. “What? I thought you liked it?”

Akane let out a huff. “Yes, it’s very nice, which is exactly the point isn’t it? What are you up to?”

Ranma blushed slightly and looked down at his feet. “Um, up to? What do you mean?”

Ah! I knew it! “Alright, what scheme do you have planned? Or is it some kind of stupid challenge you have to do?”

Ranma shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. “No! It’s nothing like that!”

Akane crossed her arms and gave a knowing glare. “Oh really? Name one time you dressed up as a girl where that didn’t happen.” She suddenly hoped he wouldn’t remember the answer to that.

Ranma paused and thought for several seconds before responding back. “Okay, you have a point, but that was before. It’s different this time!” He then looked down at himself and muttered something she could barely hear. “Oh wow, it really is different this time.”

Akane was not about to let this go though. “Okay, then what exactly is this for?”

Ranma blushed slightly and started to tug at the sleeves of his jacket. “Um, well...you see…”

At this point, Akane was ready to just clobber the idiot and be done with it, trip be damned. “Fine then, if you won’t tell me I may as well just head home.” She proceeded to spin on her heels to head back inside the station.

“It’s for you, ya dumb tomboy!”

Akane stopped and turned back, looking at the redhead’s face which went from anger to surprise and then nervousness.

Ranma started to tug at the end of his ponytail as he continued. “Well, Kasumi thought that since me and you were gonna spend the day together, I should try something new.”

“Wait, Kasumi said that?” Akane asked as the words from earlier in the day came back to her.

“...whatever Ranma might do today, she is doing it for you.”

“Yeah,” Ranma continued as he gestured to his outfit. “She helped me pick out what to wear and even gave me some of her old stuff to borrow.”

Akane looked again at what the redhead was wearing. While not really something one would call ‘girly’, it definitely was feminine enough that Ranma would never try to wear it as a guy even if it could fit his larger male form. Still, there was something about the outfit that just seemed to say ‘Ranma’.

“She’ll still be Ranma, just Ranma as a girl.”

“I was kind of hoping it would make you happy,” Ranma continued with a sad look in his eyes, “but if it bothers you like that, I can go change.” As he turned around to leave, she could hear him mumble, “I guess it was a dumb idea after all.”

Akane recognized that tone of voice, that look, that posture. It was the same that she saw at Ryugenzawa. Only this time it wasn’t a dying boy she needed to protect causing a misunderstanding. This time, she had no excuse. All of her promises to not get mad and to actually listen first, and she was again falling into old habits.

“Akane, have you ever heard me out before you clobbered me?”

“Ranma, wait!” Akane ran up and grabbed his hand while trying not to think about how small that hand felt. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry like that. It’s just...please don’t go.”

For a few minutes, the two just stood there. Not moving. Not facing each other. Not paying attention to the crowd that was moving around them. Finally, Ranma spoke up, his voice so soft. “You know Akane, I really meant it when I said that your dress looks nice. You look really...cute.”

Akane gave a smile and felt her cheeks flush slightly. “I meant it too when I said I liked your outfit. You look-” beautiful “-nice. It really suits you.”

Ranma turned to Akane and she could see a shy smile on the redhead’s face. “You really think so?”

Akane was momentarily stunned by those blue eyes looking back at her. Wow, he’s really getting into this. It’s almost like...no, it couldn’t be. Not with the number of manly declarations he’s made. Don’t go jumping to conclusions again. He’s just trying to cheer you up and get your mind off of all the craziness that’s been going on. Well if that’s the case, there’s no harm in joining in on the fun. Remember to pay attention and actually listen to him first. Although just for today, I guess it would be ‘her’, wouldn’t it.

The brunette giggled a little at her own private joke before remembering the question that was just asked of her. “Of course,” she replied, letting go of her companion’s hand and taking a small step back. “Now, we have the whole day ahead of us, so what’s the plan, girlfriend?”

Ranma had a shocked look as she stammered out, “g-girlfriend?!”

Akane tried her best at a Nabiki-like smirk as she continued. “Well, it is a girls’ day out after all. I mean you did say it would be two girls just hanging out, having fun and being friends, right?”

“Oh, right.” The red-haired girl chuckled slightly, with a small amount of nervousness. “Girl friend, huh?”

Akane gave a reassuring smile back. “Oh, don’t worry. I know you’re still the big ‘Man Among Men’. It’s just that since we’re away from everyone else and you’re pretending to be a girl for the day, we might as well enjoy ourselves, right?”

“Oh yeah, pretending. Right, of course,” Ranma responded, then muttered under her breath, “I’m a real manly man, aren’t I?” The redhead looked up at the slightly taller girl. “Akane, I -”

Whatever was about to be said was interrupted by a large gurgling sound coming from Ranma’s abdomen.

The red-haired girl gave an embarrassed grin and rubbed the back of her neck. “Um, I guess the first thing we should do is get something to eat, huh?”