As they left the restaurant, Akane’s mind was racing going over everything that just happened. It really was something they haven’t done before. Sure, there were times when Ranma would talk about some strange adventure he got involved in, but this felt different. An actual friendly back and forth conversation. No real insults. No arguments. No fighting. She even got to learn some new things about Ranma.

And all it took was for him to pretend to be a completely different person.

No, Akane admitted to herself, that wasn’t quite accurate this time. In the past whenever he would put on some disguise while in his female form (and it always seemed to be while in his female form), he would tend to go all out in his performances, at least until something would fluster him and the arrogant jerk would again shine through. 

Even during that time he hit his head and actually thought he was a girl, it was ridiculous. Whoever that girl was, she definitely wasn’t Ranma. She wasn’t even-

“Hey, what are you thinking about?”

Akane turned her head towards the red-haired girl who had an inquisitive look on her face. Really don’t want to bring that up. Besides, it’s not like he remembers any of it. “Oh, nothing really,” she said as nonchalantly as she could.

Ranma didn’t say anything, but was failing to suppress a smirk. “Oh, very funny,” Akane stated with faux annoyance, which she found very easy to pull off. “I was just, uh, wondering where we’re going next.” And how do I sneak my own idea in there?

“Well,” the redhead pondered as they stopped for a moment, “I figured we’d go see a movie first. Then we could try some karaoke and maybe hit an arcade or something. That’s stuff that girls do together, right?”

Akane decided to respond with a simple shrug. “Yeah, that will work. Don’t forget about the shopping though.”

Ranma let out a small laugh. “Oh, don’t worry. I just thought we’d save that 'til the end.”

“Makes sense. Let’s get moving then.” Especially if I want to pull this off. 

As they continued down the sidewalk towards their next destination, Akane took the time to examine the person that was with her today. While it wasn’t like those other times that he would dress up and pretend to be a girl, today Ranma still seemed different from the boy she was used to. That talk during lunch was definitely part of it. There was just something about the current redhead that she couldn’t quite pinpoint yet.

It was definitely still Ranma though, albeit one that wasn’t throwing a bunch of insults her way. Kasumi must have offered more than only outfit advice. Apparently it wasn’t only her fiancé that wanted to try and cheer her up. She’d have to make sure to thank her older sister later for that. 

Politeness aside, there was still something the youngest Tendo just could not figure out. She did believe now that Ranma set this up to make her feel better, and it was admittedly working. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else. Something that was being hidden from her. How could she figure out what it was though? Straight up asking might ruin the rest of the day, like what almost happened at the train station. But she wouldn’t be able to relax until she knew what was going on.

“So, are you having a good time so far?”

Akane snapped out of her contemplations and turned towards the one that asked the question. “Oh yes, it’s been fun. What about you though? I appreciate what you’re doing, but spending all day as a girl probably isn’t your favorite thing.”

“Yeah, about that.” Ranma started to scratch the base of her ponytail.

“What is it?” Akane asked, hoping to get a clue about what’s going on.

“Well, um, it’s just...look I’ll explain everything later tonight, okay?”

Akane was being stubborn though, and couldn’t just drop the subject when she was so close to figuring out the truth. “Come on, you can tell me. Is it a bad thing? Wait, is it about us?” A million thoughts started to race through her mind. 

Ranma started frantically waving her hands in front of her. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. Let’s just say there’s gonna be some changes with me. Well, I guess that might be about us a bit then. Don’t worry though, it’s a good thing. Trust me.”

Akane let out a sigh. “Okay Ranma, I trust you,” she said while giving a smile to the other girl.

“Thanks Akane,” Ranma replied, giving her own smile back.

Still, even with the reassurance, Akane couldn’t help but continue to speculate, as well as try to avoid being distracted. Changes? What kind of changes? What does that mean? And why does she have to look so cute when she...no, get your mind out of the gutter and focus. It’s just a smile to cheer you up. It’s not a big deal.

Akane looked over at her girlfriend (well, girl friend technically) and saw a big grin plastered on the redhead’s face. As well as…

Humming?! Is she humming now? Okay, this is definitely huge. Lunch was nice, but not that nice. Heck, most of the time that Ranma is this happy is when…

Wait.

It couldn’t be.

Did Ranma find another cure? 

But if that’s the case then why- 

Akane’s thoughts were interrupted by their arrival at the movie theater as they got into a debate about what movie to see. Ranma turned down any of the romance options, saying it wasn’t something she wanted to think about at the moment, and Akane just straight up refused the suggestion of the latest Jackie Chan flick. Eventually, they just settled on the most recent Godzilla film that was showing. It didn’t really matter that much, as the brunette barely spent any time focusing on the screen in front of her.

Am I right? Is that the change Ranma was talking about? A cure for his curse? Is that why he got rid of all his girl stuff? Hold on, this doesn’t make any sense. What about those things we talked about at lunch? And if he has a cure available, why even wait? Why bother with today at all? 

Akane’s eyes narrowed as she let her mind wander to the worst case scenario. Oh, that jerk! So that’s why we’re out in Shibuya. Some stupid cure he’s trying to get his hands on. And he drags me into whatever scheme he’s got planned. How dare he…

“It’s for you!”

How dare…

“I was hoping it would make you happy.”

How…

The look in the redhead’s eyes from earlier in the day flashed through Akane’s mind as her anger dissipated in an instant. What is wrong with me today? Ranma’s trying to help me feel better. I should be having fun out here, but instead I keep looking for things to accuse him of, getting myself angry and-

“Not enjoying it?”

Akane looked over at the concerned face of her companion. “Oh, um well…”

“Nah, that’s fine. Not really getting into this one either,” Ranma said while getting up. “How about we go and find something better?”

Akane looked at the offered hand for a moment before accepting it. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

As they exited the theater towards their next destination, Akane allowed Ranma to ramble a bit about her thoughts of the movie they just left. She was more concerned with pushing back those nagging thoughts that refused to leave her mind, as well as hoping that the other girl wouldn't notice they were still holding hands.

---

Unfortunately, Akane still couldn’t get the questions out of her head. As she sat on the couch of the private karaoke room half listening to the melodic sounds, she once again let her mind wander, this time making sure to keep her anger in check.

Remember, don’t jump to any stupid ideas. It won’t do you any good. Okay, so he’s got some cure that he hasn’t used yet. He’s probably just unable to use it until later tonight. Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, why is he here then? It’s nice and all, but shouldn’t he be guarding whatever that cure is, or at least be out celebrating?

“Okay Akane, it’s your turn now.” 

She lifted her head to see the microphone being shoved in her direction. “Oh, right.” Akane leaned over to the console to make a selection, only to see a song was already queued up.

“Yeah, I picked something out for ya. Um, that is a song you like, right?”

Akane looked again at the screen, seeing it was actually one of her favorites to sing. “Yes, it is.” Ranma remembered how much I like this song? Since when does he-

The Tendo girl quickly focused on the song that was starting up. However, as much as she wanted, she wasn’t able to put much emotion into it. She still found herself distracted by thoughts and questions swirling through her mind. As the song finished, Akane looked over trying to figure out what to do. “Ranma, I’m not sure-”

“Wait, hold that thought. It’s my turn now.” Akane found the mike snatched from her hand as Ranma quickly entered something into the song selection and dashed to the other side of the room. The redhead gave an overly dramatic pose while proclaiming, “Okay, the warmups are done. Now, let’s really get into this!”

Akane looked at the song that was chosen. Dream Balloons? What kind of song is that?  

Suddenly, she was hit with a cheerful and somewhat silly tune that came in over the speakers. Then the Saotome girl started to sing. Well, only in the most generous of terms could one call it that. Now, Ranma did have a very nice singing voice, at least while in his female form. However, this time she seemed determined to carefully dance around the tune while never actually touching it directly. It wasn’t that she sounded bad though. It was more that she was trying to be as ridiculous in her performance as possible. 

On top of that there was the, well it couldn’t really be called dancing. Ranma seemed more content to bounce and flail around to the beat, as well as go into whatever silly pose she could contort into in between verses. If that wasn’t enough, she started to move all around Akane, like an inebriated lounge singer interacting with her patrons.

All this became too much for the brunette and she finally broke down into a giggling fit close to the end of the song. The cheesy grin on Ranma’s face grew even wider as she somehow put more flourish into her act, belting out the last lines before joining the other girl with her own laughter.

“Okay Akane, it’s your turn again.”

“What? Ranma, there’s no way I could do something like that!”

“Oh, you don’t hafta, but I heard this one song the other day and I think you’ll love it.” Ranma then casually tossed the microphone over her shoulder to Akane and went through the song selection again.

Akane juggled the tossed mike between her hands as she tried to catch it. Finally securing the microphone, she looked over to see what Ranma was selecting. “Joan Jett...Wait, is that an American song? Ranma, I don’t know this one.”

“Come on Akane, it’s karaoke. They give the words for you. I thought you knew how to read English.”

“Well, mostly. But what about the tune though?”

“Oh, that’s the best part. It’s a rock song. I think this one they call punk rock? Anyway, all you have to do is yell the words as they show up. Don’t worry, you got this!”

Akane tried to protest more, but was interrupted by a loud and fast guitar riff that came over the speakers as English words appeared on the screen. At first, she panicked, just trying to follow along with the lyrics while figuring out where the tune was. After the first couple of lines, Ranma’s advice came to her and she started to yell out the lyrics in front of her. Suddenly, everything seemed to click for the girl and she let herself get fully into it, standing up and belting out the words and even moving around a bit to the beat. 

As she reached the end of the song, she closed her eyes and screamed out the last lyrics while striking a pose that she imagined all the big rock stars do. With the last of the guitar chords dying down, she was shocked by the sudden noise of clapping. She turned and looked at Ranma, who was applauding and cheering like she was at a rock concert. “Wooo! You go girl!”

Akane’s face turned red. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.”

For her part, Ranma did let out a laugh. “No, I’m serious. That was great! You did amazing, Akane!”

“Oh, you really think so? I mean, I’m not sure I could really call that singing.”

“Yeah, that’s the point. It’s karaoke. We’re not supposed to sing the best. We’re supposed to have fun!”

“Fun huh? Okay then. It’s your turn now, isn’t it.” Akane then went over to the console and tossed the microphone over her shoulder, not noticing Ranma having to take a diving leap to reach it.

“What are you putting in Akane?”

“Oh, you’ll see. You do know how to read English, right?”

“Well, yeah mostly.” Anything else the redhead was going to say was drowned out by the suddenly electronic keyboard riff from the speakers.

And so, for the next hour a game formed between the two. One would pick a song and the other would try to perform it as over the top as possible. Everything ended up being fair game. Love ballads. Pop songs from America. Heavy metal riffs from Europe. Anime theme music. The only rule was to give it your all. Finally, they ended with an overly long piece by some guy named after food and collapsed on the couch, utterly exhausted.

“So,” Ranma asked while trying to catch her breath, “feeling better now?”

“Yeah.” Akane managed to gasp out while also trying to recover. “You know, I forgot how good of a singing voice you have. Well, half of the time anyway”

“And what’s that supposed ta mean?”

“Oh face it. Your guy form couldn’t carry a tune with Ryoga’s strength.”

Ranma looked ready to protest more, but then just let out a sigh. “Yeah, I guess. Heck, I don’t think I’d be able to even try that stuff we just did as a guy.”

“Right. We’ll it’s a good thing we got it done today, since after tonight you…” Akane felt the remaining words die in her throat as the realization of what she said fully struck.

“Akane? What is it?”

“Um, don’t worry about it. Hey, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure. It’s sort of supposed to be your day after all.”

“Can you sing one more song for me? And sing it for real this time.”

“Um, why do you-”

“Please, Ranma! Just, let me hear that voice of yours sing, one last time.”

“I...yes Akane. I’d love to. Can I pick out the song though?”

“It’s going to at least be a nice song, right?”

“Oh sure, it’s...you’ll see.”

After entering the song in, Ranma leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, not bothering to look at the lyrics on the screen. The low, almost haunting sounds of a slow ballad came on and true to her word, the redhead gave the song the full respect and gravitas that it required. 

Akane sat back in rapture, trying not to let the full weight of everything crash down on her. The powerful melodic sounds that she suspected she would never hear again, as well as some of the lyrics involving saying goodbye to one’s past self, made that quite difficult though.

That’s what this is, isn’t it. A farewell party to his girl side. And she invited me along because I was feeling down and she knew this would be the last time she could try to cheer me up before she…

Before she…

She…

“Ranma as a girl.”

Oh.

Akane looked over at the girl who was reaching the end of her song. The same girl that showed up at the Tendo house so long ago. The girl she offered friendship to, only to almost immediately throw back in his face. The girl she, for so long, dismissed as the illusion of some jerk who admittedly also has a little bit of a sweet side. 

The girl who was sitting right beside her and had been with her almost all day. 

The girl she might never see again.

As the final notes of the song faded, Akane went over and embraced Ranma in a tight hug, burying her head in the other girl’s shoulder to hide the tears forming.

Why? Why now? Why did I have to find her just before...no, I can’t lose her again. Not this time. What do I do, though? Ranma’s been looking for a cure for so long. I can’t just tell him not to do it. I don’t want to lose him either.

“Akane? Are you okay?”

“Y-yes I am, Ranma. It’s just-”

A loud ringing sound shocked both teenagers and they quickly separated and jumped to opposite sides of the couch. It took a few moments for them to realize the noise was coming from the telephone on the wall.

Ranma was the first to respond, going over to answer. “Guess our time’s up. Unless you want to stay a little longer?”

“No, I think I’m ready to go.” 

“Yeah, me too.”

As they left the karaoke place, Akane decided to test something out. “So, did you have a good time singing?”

“Sure. I’d say that was pretty fun.”

“Even though you’re a girl?”

Ranma paused in thought for a few seconds before replying. “Yeah, even though I’m a girl right now. What about you? Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Oh, that was fantastic. I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much.”

“Even though I’m a girl?”

Akane looked over at the girl she was with and smiled. “Yes, even though you’re a girl.”

“Oh. Well I hope so. This is a girls’ day out after all. Race ya to the next place!”

“Hey!” Akane called out while trying to catch up to the laughing redhead. “No fair! I don’t know where we’re going!”