Chapter Text
Ranma’s side of the preparation was minimal: going over the entire plan with Nabiki, then returning to class and acting as normally as he could until school finished. Slipping in between classes meant no immediate punishment and… the others weren’t terrified. Some of them were still naturally cautious, but there were just as many sympathetic looks coming from some of the girls. Maybe nearly losing it at Kuno hadn’t been the worst thing, if he was this disliked.
Not that he took a single thing away from the lesson before lunch. Damn it, Pops, couldn’t he have waited until summer to drag them to China? Then he’d not have missed the entire start of the year.
“Ran, are you okay? You’ve been staring at your lunch…” One of Akane’s friends – Yuka or Asami or something? He hadn’t had time to memorise everyone – asked after he spent maybe a bit too long admiring Kasumi’s work.
“Oh, yeah, ‘m fine,” he answered, finally digging in on the food with all his usual enthusiasm. As expected from the quality of breakfast and dinner the day before, it was good. She’d even packed a double portion for some reason, when one day couldn’t possibly be enough time to be used to the Saotome appetite.
But more than delicious, it was also the first time he could remember anyone making him lunch. Sure, he’d met a friend’s family often enough during Junior High, but they hadn’t been in a position to prepare food for the next day. Going to school and not having to fight over cafeteria food, to have attention paid specifically to what he would like (somehow)…
It was nice.
But eating so quickly left him more time for fielding questions to the increasingly inquisitive class who wanted to know the new, giant girl in their midst. A girl with no background or history beyond Ranma’s own: she had travelled all around the country, then gone to China, and…
Sorry, could they change the topic? She did not enjoy China. It even had the benefit of being true, while being the one part of his past that Nabiki absolutely wanted to spread around. Saotome Ran went to China, and something happened that she didn’t want to talk about.
Not that he had much else of a background to share. What hobbies did Ran have? Martial Arts. Oh, nothing like the Tendo style, even if she was staying with Akane; that was very grounded and heavy, the Saotome style was all about grace and aerial combat!
He couldn’t miss the weird looks that got. It wasn’t even like being giant interfered with it! He could still jump just as well; low ceilings were just way more threatening.
But after that, and with Akane busy and out of the room, the conversation started to dry up. No, she hadn’t been able to watch any TV for… well, she didn’t remember, she might have seen a few variety shows at a friend’s in middle school. Cinema? Sorry, she’d only just gotten back in the country, she hadn’t seen any recent releases. Music? Only what pops had listened to on the radio, and her old man’s tastes weren’t really shared…
Ran Saotome was just an empty shell of a person around a hard core of martial arts.
He didn’t have much time to dwell on whether that was really different from Ranma Saotome before Akane slid in, giving him a tiny nod, and the afternoon’s lessons started – chicken scratch filling page after page as he at least tried to record what the teacher was saying.
Then it was time.
According to Nabiki, all he needed to do was reach the courtyard. Kuno should be busy with club activities but she was confident that he wouldn’t need much prodding to goad into action. Once Kuno got in his way, he would definitely act on the new information Nabiki had sold him ‘behind Ran’s back’ and then–
Then the curse would be revealed and he needed to act uncomfortable. Should be a cinch; he had plenty of practice acting when it came to getting free food. One cute little kid, hungry and without a yen to his name, coming right up. He just needed to manage some of the fake discomfort at being caught penniless.
Stepping out alongside Akane, there were clearly more people hanging around expecting something than going home. Was that… someone with an entire video camera? He couldn’t imagine what else someone would be hauling over their shoulder, but it would be weird to go over and see.
Nabiki had been right, of course. Ranma wasn’t even halfway to the exit before there was a bellowing “Saotome!”
Ranma turned around to face him, not having to fake the irritation at least. He hadn’t chosen this; he wasn’t some sort of monster.
“Yes, Kuno?”
“I have learned your true weakness!” Sure enough, alongside his bokken, the older boy was brandishing a large, coppery object. Just like Kuno to find a traditional kettle somewhere in the school.
“You’re gonna make me a cup of tea?”
“No, with this, I can reveal your true monstrous nature!” Ranma had to force himself to stay still as the kendoist rushed forwards and flung the kettle’s contents towards him. It was scalding, it would prove how strange he really was, it–
“Behold! See how this unfortunate boy was possessed by a monstrous oni!”
Possessed? If only, it wasn’t like being transformed came with a manual, he was still the same boyish martial artist, still stuck out – and now, everyone knew. Some sort of announcer was talking about the shocking twist, and there was a video camera, and all of Furinkan would know that he was even more of a freak than they had possibly thought.
“It’s still me, ya jackass!” He shouldn’t have said that, made it clear even for everyone who couldn’t hear – but Ranma had never been good at keeping his mouth shut, and it was important that people realised he was still Ran.
It also triggered Kuno to narrow his eyes and go on the attack with little more than a cursory ‘Very well’. Nabiki had said not to fight back, but he wasn’t even in a position to – if he moved too fast or let go, he was in danger of losing half his clothes, and the shoes were already a lost cause just from stepping out of the way.
His clothes. Clothes that didn’t fit at all, but at the same time showed everything about his body, either through the collar or where they draped too much, or the pants that were practically falling off.
His girl’s clothes. They might not be super girly and too tight, but that’s what they were; the best he could manage in China before they left, and now here he was in front of an entire school, returned to being a guy. A guy swamped in girl’s clothes with a super girly plait.
Crossdressing.
It wasn’t like being in private with a friend, or even being caught and that unexplained look of fear.
This was the entire school, everyone getting a good look at the boy in the wrong-sized girl’s clothes. The freak against the delusional embodiment of traditional Japanese values. The one trying to correctly strike down the deceptive monster in their midst.
The announcer voice was talking, everyone was talking, and pointing, and–
He ran.
He was supposed to wait, to give Akane time to step in – that was the whole plan. Nabiki would sell the ‘truth’ while this was happening, Akane would defend ‘the new girl’, and with her boy-hating reputation everyone would believe it.
Maybe she did, since he couldn’t run at full speed, and Kuno wasn’t on his tail, but Ranma wasn’t looking. He just wanted to get somewhere people weren’t.
He didn’t know exactly where he was or how long it was before someone found him, only that the staircase was quiet, and whoever it was poured cold water over his head before saying anything. It was a small relief, no more mismatched body and clothes, but…
Everyone knew. Everyone knew, everyone had been talking. Would he even be able to show his face at school again?
“Saotome, you there?” He wished he had to look up more to meet Nabiki’s eyes. “Sorry it took so long to get here. I needed to speak to Ichiro about the editing. But I think everyone bought it, Akane was pissed.”
“It… worked?”
“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for sure but I heard more people badmouthing Kuno,” Nabiki’s smile was more smug than reassuring but it had that effect all the same – a weight off Ranma’s shoulders to know that maybe he hadn’t confirmed the worst to everyone.
“I brought your shoes,” the brunette lifted them, “There’s some more work I need to do before I go home but you remember the way, right?”
“Yeah,” Ranma nodded, but… if he left now, loads of people would still be waiting. Wanting to see the gender-swapping size-changing weirdo, to ask him questions about how it worked. There would be the same tomorrow, but he’d have time to sleep on it, and his spars with pops were great for building mental fortitude. There was nothing like treating insults as a perfectly normal part of combat to get ready for nosy classmates.
He only noticed that he was fiddling with his plait again when Nabiki tilted her head, giving him that appraising look. “I’ve got a better idea, come on.”
Anything Nabiki had in mind seemed better than immediately going home, and she lead him through the school – not all that far from his own classroom, now that he realised it – over to a different wing that held more specialised rooms. He wasn’t sure exactly what until she opened the door, leading him into a classroom that was obviously more of a kitchen.
Or, in simpler terms, the Home Economics classroom that he would be getting a lot more familiar with as Ran.
It seemed Furinkan must have some sort of cooking-related club, otherwise there was no reason for there to still be a handful of girls hanging around in aprons at this time of day. And of course everyone in the club was a girl – what self-respecting man would be caught dead in the home economics classroom voluntarily? Present company excluded, of course, and Ranma hadn’t chosen to come here.
“Ran here only transferred in today, so she’s still looking for a club to join.”
“Hey! I wasn’t gonna–”
Once again the older girl simply grabbed a handful of shirt and pulled him down to her own level, intense expression somewhat softened. “They’re nice girls. I help their club get funds and they give me some of the snacks they make.”
“Uh…” Where was she going with this?
“You need something nice after that, Saotome,” Nabiki let go and turned away, “Sorry, she’s had two run-ins with Kuno today. Not the best introduction to Furinkan.”
There was a sympathetic murmur, then Ranma found himself given a shove in the back by the departing Nabiki, leaving him standing as the unavoidable centre of attention once again.
“So… have you ever done any baking?” One of the girls asked.
“I’ve cooked sweet potato in a campfire, does that count?” He didn’t expect that to get a round of giggles; Ranma had been entirely serious. It wasn’t like him and pops had ever had an oven, and baking would have been a frivolous use of their limited funds.
“No, no, we’re just doing some simple cookies today, it was going to be more about making cute designs,” the same girl continued, “Ai, could you get Ran an apron. Or… a few aprons?”
Tying a few aprons together into a facsimile of one appropriately sized was easy enough, and then the girls really got started. The one taking the lead was Miho, the club president, and way more enthusiastic walking a total novice through the basics than Ranma could remember his pops being about anything.
Carefully measure everything out according to the recipe – a task made only more annoying by her height and having to bend in so far to actually see what the scales said – and combine one step at a time. Even with cold butter freshly pulled out to deal with the sudden arrival, creaming butter and sugar together was still a matter of being careful; Ranma knew he could easily break the entire bowl just by pushing a bit harder.
Adding the egg was the worst part – just holding the tiny things was hard enough, and tapping hard enough to crack it without shattering it entirely took… entirely too many attempts. And yet Miho just smiled and gave him an unnecessarily reassuring pat before handing over more.
Nabiki must really be funding them well.
Mix in the dry ingredients well, then start dividing it into actual cookies… all in all, it was a simple recipe, but each step was another skill that Ranma had never had any reason to expect to learn. And at the end of it, he didn’t have aching muscles and bruises, but instead a delicious-smelling tray of baked treats.
They were uneven, lumpy, and a few were slightly burnt, but they were his, and after helping to clean up the mess – who had ever thought flour could get everywhere like that? – they were cooled enough to divide up and wrap.
And sat next to them were a few more, the other girls in the club having for some reason sacrificed some of their cookies so Ran could have more. This giant stranger they’d only just met.
“Well, we’d like to give you a reason to come back, right?”
And, strangely – even if he knew pops would find it terribly embarrassing and unbecoming of a martial artist, doubly so when this meant delaying training – he thought that he might. Making something like this was nice.
Nice enough to maybe even look forward to coming to school tomorrow.