Chapter Text
“You knew too!?” Akane bellowed from downstairs, causing Ranma to jump and hit their head against the window frame they were climbing in through.
Maybe they should have just run off to Ukyo’s, but, well, they wanted at least one change of clothes. Who knew how long Akane would stay angry now that the P-chan secret was out? It usually took Akane a while to get over declarations of the engagement being cancelled. They needed some back up outfits, in case it was more than a few days.
The pigtailed teen also wanted to grab their secret cash store, in case Genma found it while they were out. Maybe 25 000 yen wasn’t a huge amount of money, but for a 16 year old Ranma figured those were halfway decent savings, and it had taken them months to save it all.
Grabbing the essentials, they heard a gentle pair of footfalls, followed by angry stomping about twenty seconds later.
“This is a new low, Nabiki!” Akane’s voice shouted, and Ranma swore they could hear her tears.
It twisted their gut, knowing that her pain was completely justified. They’d been an idiot, putting their own neck ahead of her privacy and dignity. It had just been so easy to let the situation spiral out of control. Ranma didn’t even want to think about how Akane had found out... Ryoga had been lucky she’d been in shock long enough for him to beeline out of the furo.
Ranma turned and slipped out the window again, and hopped up onto the roof. They could head off to Ucchan’s now, but... they were curious what Nabiki was up to. She surely had a plan, and, as much as she scared them, it was fascinating seeing how her brain worked.
Slinking across the roof, Ranma popped their head down to find Nabiki ruffling through her desk. Nervously, Ranma lightly rapped on the window. Nabiki froze, then turned to them, her eyes narrow. The pigtailed boy briefly contemplated fleeing, but Nabiki had reached the window and opened it during the moment where their self preservation warred with their curiosity.
“And what are you after?” Nabiki asked, an eyebrow raised.
“I, uh, I was just curious about your... I think the term’s ‘contingency plan’?” Ranma asked.
Nabiki opened her mouth, ready to reply, when an idea apparently hit her. Ranma shivered at the shark-like grin that spread across her face.
“I was going to just head to a friend’s for a weekend. However, with you still around, what do you say to a nice little trip to an onsen?” Nabiki asked.
“P-pardon?” Ranma asked.
“I’ve got a coupon on a two for one deal at an onsen up in the mountains. Someone offered it as part of a debt repayment, and I’ve never had a chance to use it,” Nabiki replied casually, stepping over to produce the coupon in question and grabbing her bag. “It’s honestly set to expire by September, so I was worried I’d have to let it go to waste.”
Ranma let out a sigh of relief. “For a moment I worried you had other motives. Been dealin’ with Shampoo and Kodachi too much lately.”
“Hey! Who are you talking to in there? Is that Ranma!?” Akane shouted from just outside Nabiki’s door. “I told him that I didn’t want to see his face!”
Nabiki turned back to her door. “Well, you can’t see him right now, can you?”
Both teens swore they saw the door rippling, and could almost feel Akane’s angry aura from the other side. Nabiki stepped backwards fearfully. Ranma grabbed the bob haired girl by the collar and yanked out her window. She had only managed to start to properly protest after Ranma had already begun to bound across to the next roof.
“Give a girl some warning next time!” Nabiki protested.
“You’re the one who decided ta taunt Akane while she’s ready to murder somebody!” Ranma hissed as they bounded along the rooftops. “I swear, ya’ve got a death wish or something.”
Nabiki looked ready to argue, when Ranma launched the pair into a particularly large leap, causing her to gasp and clasp onto them.
“You did that on purpose,” she said with narrow eyes as the pair landed near a bus stop.
“What can I say? I like messin’ with the ice queen,” Ranma replied with a grin.
Nabiki slipped her way out of their arms, adjusting her clothes a bit and shifting her backpack onto a proper position.
“If I didn’t need you to make my coupon mean something, I’d ditch you right now for that.”
“Yeesh, you love to dish out sass, but really can’t take it,” Ranma muttered.
Nabiki shot Ranma an icy glare, the sort that would cower even your average martial artist. Ranma, however, with mastery of the calm of the soul of ice required for their signature technique, simply smiled and shrugged. Even if they were terrified on the inside.
The pair walked in awkward silence from the bus waiting area up to Ekoda station, catching the Ikebukuro line in towards more central parts of Tokyo. Ranma watched the endless city of Tokyo slide past for a while, having had enough arguing with an angry Tendo for one week already to want to prod Nabiki any further, before something struck them.
“Where is this onsen anyway?”
“Takasaki, up in Gunma prefecture,” came the flat reply. “Near Haruna-san.”
Ranma blinked. “Huh, that’s a pretty decent little trip out of town.”
-b-
It had rained while Nabiki and Ranma had walked from the train station to the onsen, and the redhead was relieved to be two girls sharing a room, rather than a boy and a girl. It led to a lot fewer raised eyebrows by the receptionists, Ranma acting the part happily.
A few minutes of paperwork and a short elevator ride and walk to their room. As the pair unpacked, Ranma almost jumped when Nabiki spoke to them, they’d had so little conversation the whole day.
“You know, you were really over the top at playing a girl when you first arrived. Now... I’m not sure anyone would be able to tell you’re actually a boy.”
Ranma shrugged. “I’d have to be a pretty terrible actor if I didn’t figure out what girls were like after livin’ with you and your sisters. And dealin’ with Shampoo, Kodachi, and... all the rest.”
“I suppose that’s fair,” Nabiki said, pouring herself a little green tea.
Ranma went back to unpacking a bit before walking over and joining Nabiki for tea. The pair sat quietly for a few moments, casually enjoying the view of the mountains, before Ranma took their turn to break the silence.
“You’d better not take any pictures of me while I’m here,” the redhead muttered.
“Don’t want anything to remember our little vacation together by?” Nabiki asked, her tone smug.
“You know the type of pictures I’m talkin’ about.”
“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Nabiki muttered. “I...”
Ranma turned, surprised by the sound of genuine emotion in the ice queen’s voice.
“I didn’t think Akane was so hurt by everything,” she continued. “Maybe I should add a rule about not making money at family’s expense.”
“If ya did that, you’d have a stronger moral code than pops. Though, I ain’t sure that’s saying much,” Ranma replied.
The redhead took another sip of tea, before something struck them. “Wait, are you counting me as ‘family’ for that rule?”
“You’re going to be sooner or later. I’m sure Akane’s going to accept you back after a few days if you manage a decent apology,” Nabiki said, her tone once again flat and devoid of any emotion beyond smugness.
-b-
Soun stared at the bottle of beer on the counter, generally ignoring the bar around him. He’d run off downtown, hoping to find a cheap hotel to spend the next night or two in (whenever Kasumi phoned him to tell him it was safe to go home).
“If only I’d known,” he muttered.
“Known what?” a man beside him at the bar asked.
“I... it’s a long story,” Soun replied, not looking up.
“Eh, I’ve got a few hours until I’m going home. Lost more on the horses today than I want to admit... Want to drown those sorrows a little,” the other man said.
“Well... my daughter doesn’t get along with boys very well. There was one she was being nice to though, and seemed to trust, and so... well, I figured he had to be gay,” Soun explained. “And, I—one time I found out he was doing something that would be inappropriate for a normal boy, but...”
Soun felt the tears starting to run down his face. “I thought she knew and that he was gay and so it wasn’t anything to worry about. She found out what he’d been doing today, though, and I opened my dumb mouth and revealed that I knew... and she threw a table at me...”
“Oof,” the other man replied.
“She’s got such a temper, sometimes... maybe I shouldn’t have taught her martial arts,” Soun said, before muttering, “and now she’s better than me...”
The other man placed a hand on Soun’s shoulder. “I feel your pain. My Ran is downright scary with her karate sometimes, and has broken more than a few desks in anger.”
“Really?” Soun asked, finally getting a proper look at the other man. His slicked back hair and clean moustache proved he was a stylish fellow.
“Captain of her school’s karate club,” the man replied. “What do you say we trade some stories over beers?”
“That sounds like a good way to kill some time,” Soun replied. “The name is Tendo Soun, by the way.”
“Mouri Kogoro.”
-b-
Ranma and Nabiki had gotten a bit bored in their room, there being nothing good on TV. They ended up down in the lobby where they found a pool table. When Nabiki found out Ranma had never played she insisted they go a round or two. So, now, the short redhead felt their blood pressure going up as Nabiki kept a steady lead.
“This is almost as bad as skating,” Ranma muttered as they missed another effort to sink a ball.
“Only almost?” Nabiki asked, as she lined up her own shot.
“Less public, and I don’t actually fall over, so... yeah. Not as bad,” Ranma replied, trying to balance the pool cue on their open palm.
Nabiki managed to sink a ball of her own, and was preparing to take another shot, when a couple of guests stepped off the elevator. Normally she’d just give newcomers a glance, but...
“Are those Vizeron Evolution cameras?” Nabiki asked, eyes locked on the works of beauty hanging from both women’s necks. “I’ve been saving up for an Evolution 4 or 5, but those look like the latest models.”
“Ah, yeah,” the brunette woman said. “My boss bought me the E-8 last month, so I gave Miaka my old E-7.”
“Aspiring photographer, are you?” Miaka asked.
“You could say that,” Nabiki replied. “Is it really worth the money?”
“Ooh, yeah. The zoom on these alone is amazing, right Chiyo?” Miaka said, turning to her friend.
“Mhm. The light settings are excellent too. I’ve done some night sky photography with the E-7 for fun and it came out beautifully,” Chiyo replied.
“If anything is going to let me photograph the Yukinba up on the mountain, it’ll be one of these babies,” Miaka said with a determined look in her eyes.
Suddenly, the quiet chatter from the receptionists and one maid when silent, all turning to Miaka with fear in their eyes.
“Don’t go up there, looking for her!” the one receptionist said.
“Not if you value your life,” the maid added in.
“I’m prepared, don’t worry,” Miaka replied with a wave of her hand. “I bought a bunch of charms over at the shrine this morning.”
The other receptionist shook her head slowly. “My brother had charms on. And he was a skilled climber. Still died in an avalanche up on that mountain.”
“It’s July right now, though?” Nabiki pointed out.
“Mhm. I figure she’s got to be aestivating or something,” Miaka replied, nodding to herself. “The pictures will be worth a mint.”
Chiyo just shook her head. “You should stick to normal news photography, Mia-chan. Much more stable paychecks than chasing Yokai and UFOs... speaking of, I’d better get going, if I’m going to make the press conference in time.”
Nabiki watched the two women head off for a moment, before turning back to the pool table. Ranma was visibly trying to hold down a smile.
“Alright, how did you cheat?” Nabiki asked, leaning in to examine the pool balls.
“How did I—I take offense to that! Why would I cheat?” the redhead countered.
“Because you’re trying not to smile and you’re a Saotome,” Nabiki explained.
“W-well, you’re a Tendo,” Ranma protested.
“Fair, fair,” Nabiki offered. “So, why are you not-smiling, then?”
The smile finally broke onto Ranma’s face and they fluttered their eyelashes up at her. “You just looked ssoooo adorable, getting excited over those cameras. I’ve never seen anything other than money get your eyes glittering half as much.”
Nabiki struggled to hold down a blush, hating how attractive she found either of Ranma’s forms. Especially when they couldn’t be hers. “I have a few interests other than money, Saotome.”
She went back to beating Ranma at pool. It didn’t take too long, and the pair soon ended up wandering over to the air hockey table instead. That was more even. Nabiki didn’t find anyone else who passed by the lobby all that interesting, though she did swear the one fellow who headed out looked just like that touring ‘scientific magician’ fellow. She couldn’t remember his name... something with a ‘Hi’... he’d be on tv a couple times, and visited her middle school.
Further digging in her memory was cancelled when Ranma scored on her, forcing her to return her attention to the air hockey.
-b-
Ran had finished checking over Conan’s homework (not that he really needed her to check answers, but, sometimes he got distracted and just forgot to do any of it), and was getting ready to make something to eat, when the door slammed open. Stumbling in was her father and... well, the man could pass for her uncle, with the degree he resembled her father. His moustache was one solid band and his hair was significantly longer, but they had similar enough long faces, each with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a drunken flush on their cheeks.
“Ran! I made a friend!” her father proclaimed.
“Oh wonderful,” Conan muttered with that strangely mature sass he showed sometimes.
“Oy! Watch yer mouth, ya little freeloader,” Kogoro grumbled.
Ran let out a sigh and massaged her temples. She didn’t want to deal with this at 5:30pm.
“He’s a cute little lad,” the mysterious man said, scooping up a confused Conan. “A young boy like yourself needs some... Moustache hugs!”
With that the man pulled Conan into a hug, and proceeded to rub his moustache along Conan’s cheek and neck. The young boy squirmed and yelped, but couldn’t escape.
“Who-who is your friend, dad?” Ran asked, eyeing him nervously as Conan continued to squirm in vain.
“His name’s Tendo Soun! He’sh gonna to be staying the night,” her father replied.
“WHAT!?” Ran blurted. “You’re letting a random stranger stay here?”
“He can crash on the couch down in the offish. It’s fiiiine,” Kogoro drunkenly explained.
“I don’t have enough food to cook dinner for a whole extra adult,” Ran protested.
Soun dropped Conan and turned to her. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay for delivery. Chinese? Sushi? Pizza? It’ll be cheaper than a hotel.”
“He’s a city councilor. It’s good to help him out,” Kogoro replied.
“A city councillor?” Ran asked, not sure why she was debating actually agreeing to this... (well, okay, no, she was sure why. She’d had a long day and didn’t want to cook dinner.)
“Well, Nerima-ku’s regional council. Not a full Tokyo Metro level,” Soun replied, blushing a bit on top of his drunken flush. “I just need somewhere to crash for the night while my one daughter calms down.”
Ran’s eyes narrowed again. “And what did you do to upset her?”
“He wash the victim of a perfectly innocent misupper—mis—misundershtanding,” Kogoro declared, holding a swaying finger up in an attempt to be authoritative.
“I could go for pizza,” Conan offered.
Ran let out a sigh. “Sure, yeah. Pizza.”
-b-
Nabiki and Ranma had eaten their dinners fairly quietly. The restaurant’s food was well priced, with large portions. Ranma had still ordered two meals though, as they were hungry. They’d both generally ended up looking out the window, at the sun setting amongst the mountain, not really having anything to say. Today was, in Ranma’s mind, more of a ceasefire than anything. There’d been hints of potential friendship for brief moments, but Nabiki had kept shutting those down...
“Going to get any dessert?” the bob haired girl asked.
“Why do you think I’m still in girl mode?” Ranma replied.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. “You realise guys can eat ice cream too, right?”
“Not manly ones,” Ranma explained.
“So, it’s more manly to be a girl and eat ice cream than to be a guy and eat ice cream?” Nabiki asked, her eyebrow raised and a smirk that looked genuine on her face.
“Yes?”
Ranma stared at her, confused. Nabiki just shook her head.
“Like you make any more sense, pushin’ everyone away all the time, just to make money,” Ranma countered, feeling annoyed at the judgmental edge to Nabiki’s look. “Some things are more important than cash.”
“People might abandon you,” Nabiki muttered. “Money won’t.”
Ranma opened their mouth, the redhead ready to shout something, when she noticed that Nabiki’s eyes had shifted. The judgment had been replaced with loneliness. At that moment, Ranma was struck by how much Nabiki looked like Akane.
Then it was gone, replaced by smugness. “So, I stick to the resource I can rely on.”
Ranma just nodded. They wanted to prove her wrong, but... actions spoke louder than words. They had to find something to do to show her trust was valuable.
An awkward silence hovered for a moment, Ranma reaching for the dessert menu. There was an option for brownies, ice cream, and chocolate sauce that looked pretty good.
“Nope. I’m not buying you fugu when you already owe me money!” a loud voice announced.
Ranma’s eyes drifted over to see the two photographer women from earlier. They didn’t remember the women’s names, but did know it was the more grounded one who’d shouted.
“C’mon, I want to celebrate. The pictures I took today are going to be worth a mint, for the right buyer. I can pay you back everything I owe on Monday,” the UFO chaser replied.
“Don’t buy fancy food until you have the money in hand, Miaka.”
“Fiiine.”
-b-
Ranma eyed the third can of iced coffee Nabiki was working on as they made their way down to the proper natural onsen the next morning. It was still dark (in part due to the mountains), so Ranma was amazed Nabiki was up at all, even with so much caffeine in her system.
“You didn’t have to get up when I did,” the lad said (back to their birth form for the sake of entering the right part of the onsen without hassle).
“It’s quieter first thing in the morning,” Nabiki muttered. “I like my space. Even if it means waking up at this ungodly hour.”
“It’s only 7am,” Ranma replied. “Almost quarter after by now.”
“Like I said: ungodly.”
“Well, gimme a shout when you’ve had enough. Eating breakfast alone at a restaurant is pretty depressin’,” Ranma replied.
-b-
Nabiki hummed happily to herself as she walked back to her room. The onsen had been delightful, and nearly abandoned so early on an off-season day. Then the breakfast had been delightful, the croissants fresh and warm for her French style breakfast. She could almost forget whatever nonsense she’d come back to when she got home. (Ranma had been rather less thrilled about the idea of French cooking, and had gone for the English style breakfast instead.)
“Oy, wake up, Miaka!” a voice called out, accompanied by the sound of pounding on a door.
Turning, as the sound had been from the opposite direction of their room from the elevator, Ranma and Nabiki saw Chiyo from the day before.
“We’ve got to check out in another hour, Miaka!” Chiyo shouted.
One of the other rooms on the floor opened up, a bleary eyed middle aged man glaring at Chiyo. “Oy, it’s been ten minutes! How long do you plan to keep up that racket!?”
“I... I don’t know?” Chiyo muttered. “Mia-chan can be a heavy sleeper, but... this is ridiculous, even for her.”
“We could go get a concierge or somethin’ to unlock the door?” Ranma offered.
“What do you mean ‘we’?” Nabiki asked.
“It’ll take, like, five minutes, Nabiki. Ain’t hard or anything either,” Ranma replied.
“Ah, thank you.” Chiyo replied with a quick bow. “I’ll stay here, in case she’s just being slow or whatever.”
Nabiki followed Ranma down on the elevator, feeling her chill seriously disrupted by this pointless selflessness. They got to the front desk about a minute later. An employee was free to help a few moments later, and, on the elevator ride back up, Nabiki had to reluctantly admit it hadn’t taken too much effort or time. She still didn’t like pointless charity, though.
“Ah! Thank you!” Chiyo called out, as they emerged from the elevator.
“Room 204,” the employee said, flipping through her keys. “Ah, here.”
The lock opened with a click, and the employee opened up the door.
That was when Chiyo screamed.
Which was a logical reply to what was in the room. Miaka was lying there, on the floor, covered in what looked like frostbite. It was very obvious she wasn’t breathing, the way her eyes just stared up.
The hotel employee fainted, being caught by Ranma.
Nabiki pulled out her phone, and dialed 110.
-b-
Soun woke up more than a little disoriented. He was... on a couch? He didn’t own a couch? And his head was pounding.
Deciding to avoid angering whatever had taken up residence in his cranium, he kept himself lying down as he tried to remember the day before. The sounds of the city outside were not appreciated.
Apparently it was garbage day, judging by the racket, which was just making him extra miserable.
Right, Akane had been ready to kill him. And Ranma. And Nabiki. Possibly Genma... Saotome had been out working his part time job at the clinic when Soun had run off so he wasn’t sure what had happened to his old friend.
He needed water. Then he’d try actually thinking.
The bathroom on this level was... located in the back, right.
What a miserable start to a day.
-b-
Inspector Yamamura Misao crouched down next to the body, studying it over. The victim, Kawasaki Miaka, aged 31, was in pretty gruesome shape. He didn’t understand how someone ended up frostbitten in July. In Gunma.
“The security cameras confirm only two people have left the hotel since the victim was last seen alive, sir,” one of his subordinates replied. “Both were security guards, and they’re both cooperating.”
Misao nodded. That was a good sign, but... this death did not feel natural.
“Maybe she really did find that yukinba,” the employee who’d opened the room said. “I thought it was just a myth.”
“Yu-yukinba?” Misao asked.
Kawasaki’s friend, Yamada Chiyo, stepped forward a little. “She, uh, she was going up to hunt for pictures of the one said to live in the mountain near here. She does cryptid photography. N-not that I believe in yukinba.”
Misao nodded. “O-of course. Yes, it’s a silly thing to believe in.”
“I’ve seen weirder,” one of the two other witnesses said. The other witness elbowed him.
Misao swore there was something familiar about those two. He just had no idea where from.
It probably didn’t matter. He met a lot of people with his job.
“The doors here lock automatically, right?” Misao asked, turning to the employee.
The employee nodded.
“Was there anything unusual about the room when you all arrived?” he asked.
“Well, there’s her computer, phone, and camera being shattered. Plus the toothbrush and soap in the bathroom,” the teenaged female witness said, gesturing into the room.
Turning, Misao was greeted by the sight of shattered electronics. “They... they’re broken like glass... the soap and the toothbrush too!”
“Or ice,” the employee muttered.
He felt a chill run up his spine. This... how did you go about arresting a Yukinba? Especially one that could apparently handle a Kanto summer just fine.
“Maybe I should call a shrine and a temple,” he muttered, poking the camera.
“Shouldn’t you be sending your men to check alibis first?” the girl witness asked.
“What was you name, again?” he asked, standing up and glaring down at her.
“Tendo Nabiki, age 18.”
“And the boy... your boyfriend?” Misao asked.
“Saotome Ranma, age 17. And I’m... I’m not...”
“He’s a friend of the family,” Nabiki replied sharply, glaring at him.
They really were so familiar, somehow.
“Well, Tendo Nabiki, age 18... my men already know to check alibis,” Misao snapped back, before turning to the hotel employee. “Your name?”
“T-Takashi Yuki, age 20, sir,” the woman replied.
“Yuki? As in snow?” he asked, leaning in.
“J-just hiragana, sir. No kanji,” Takashi Yuki replied.
Misao nodded. “A likely story.”
As the forensics gang checked the body and prepared to move it, Misao tried to think of other clever things to say. It was hard under the judgmental glare of the Tendo girl... and her friend, Saotome, was giving him a bit of a look too.
“How do you all know the victim, anyhow?” he asked.
“Miaka and I w-were high school pals,” Yamada Chiyo replied. “We went to the same university too. She was always a little more eccentric, chasing ghosts and aliens, but... we shared a love of photography all the same.”
Misao nodded, writing down ‘friends’.
“You three?”
“I—I just opened the door because they asked me?” Takashi Yuki replied, looking quite terrified. “I wasn’t even working yesterday or last night. I never saw this woman alive.”
Misao nodded again, writing down ‘irrelevant’.
“I talked to her briefly yesterday,” Nabiki said. “I thought her and Yamada-san’s cameras were nice. Then we found Yamada-san knocking on her door this morning. Hadn’t known we were on the same floor.”
“I, uh, I didn’t talk to her,” Ranma added.
Misao nodded one more, writing down ‘possibly relevant’.
“Did she seem unusual yesterday?” Misao asked.
“She seemed a little stressed?” Ranma offered.
“How do you know? You said you didn’t talk to her!?” Misao shot, glaring at the boy.
“I didn’t, but I was in the room when Nabiki was chattin’ with her,” Ranma countered.
Nabiki nodded. “I agree, she seemed anxious when we first met her. She was rather jovial later, though, when she and Yamada-san were in the restaurant for dinner. Wanted to order fugu... on Yamada-san’s tab. Which was refused as she apparently owed her money still.”
Misao spun round, pointing a finger at Yamada Chiyo. “Ah! A motive!”
“It was, like, 25 000 yen. I’m not killing one of my best friends over 25 000 yen!” Yamada Chiyo shouted back, tears in her eyes.
“Do you have bank statements proving that was the amount? Did you mention that amount beforehand to anyone?” Misao countered.
“I’m not the kind of jerk to keep written records when a friend down on their luck borrows a little cash,” Yamada Chiyo replied.
“It’s always good to have receipts,” Nabiki said.
“Are you on his side!?” Yamada Chiyo shouted.
“N-no. I’m just saying, in general, I like to keep receipts,” Nabiki replied.
“She’s a jerk like that,” Ranma added with a nod.
That bought him a glare.
Misao found himself deep in thought. Owed money could be a motive, if the amount owed was more than she was claiming. But... the way the woman had died... that still screamed some sort of snow yokai. A human couldn’t freeze someone to death. The door locked automatically, but the window was open. They were three floors up, though, and the wall was smooth... whatever broke in must have had the ability to fly.
Could yukinba fly?
“Sir, we’ve finished questioning the other guests,” an officer said, stepping up. “There was only one other individual without an alibi.”
The officer gestured to a well dressed man of about 40, “Higashi Hikaru, age 38.”
“I don’t really see how I’m a suspect. I was on a different floor and don’t know the victim,” Higashi Hikaru protested.
“So that was him, yesterday,” Nabiki muttered, just barely audible.
“We need to engage in due diligence,” Misao replied haughtily, ignoring the muttering teenaged girl. “What do you do as a career, anyhow?”
“I’m a science educator,” Higashi Hikaru replied. “I entertain and educate kids from about age 8 to age 14 with a mixture of chemistry and basic sleight of hand. Been on TV once or twice. I’m going to be touring a few schools in town before summer vacation starts.”
“Ah, such a pillar of the community,” Misao said, smiling happily. “Don’t worry, I don’t really suspect you anyhow. This was clearly the work of a yukinba.”
“A yukinba? As a man of science, I really should object to such a ruling... even if it is nice to not be a murder suspect,” Higashi replied.
“It’s clearly not the work of human hands... in order to cover the victim in frostbite like that, you’re need to bury her in ice, and that would leave a puddle. There was no puddle. Besides, no amount of ice would lead to the camera and laptop shattering like they did. That would take supernatural cold,” Misao explained.
“Or liquid nitrogen,” Nabiki offered. “Good for shattering apples or roses, if I remember your routine correctly?”
Nabiki smiled, having seen the way Higashi had briefly paled at her suggestion.
“W-well, yes. You’d need rather a large container to fit the camera in there, though, to submerge it. It evaporates quickly too, so I doubt you could manage the frostbite the victim had by pouring it on her,” Higashi replied sharply.
“No, no... maybe dry ice would work there?” Nabiki offered. “Rather well known for not leaving puddles. Hence the name.”
Higashi glared at her.
“If you want to accuse me, young miss, then say so,” he replied. “Either way, I think it better to leave these things to the police, rather than relying on some rambunctious high schooler.”
“Mhm, mhm,” Yamamura added, turning to Nabiki. “You might not know this, being young and naive and sheltered, Tendo-chan, but murders tend to have three suspects. As there’s only two people without alibis in this hotel, Higashi and Yamada, that means it’s probably not a murder. Thus, the yokai attack theory gains more credibility.”
Ranma lifted up their hands, counting something on their fingers with a confused expression on their face. “Wouldn’t the Yukinba make it three suspects, though?”
Yamamura blinked, proceeding to count matters on his own fingers, confusion and a crisis of confidence on his face. “I...”
“Higashi has the means. I’ve seen his show. There’s plenty of dry ice and liquid nitrogen used,” Nabiki announced confidently.
“Even if I have the means, what motive would I have to kill a woman I’ve never met? Do you think I’m some monster who just kills for fun?” Higashi countered, glaring down at her.
“Blackmail,” Nabiki replied. “She must have taken a picture of you doing something incriminating. That’s why her photos were worth so much, but she wasn’t showing them off. If she’d found the yukinba and had proof of it, she’d surely want to prove to Yamada-san that she’d not just been chasing a dead end.”
Yamada Chiyo gave a quick nod. “It’s... it’s true. She loved to show off her UFO pictures. Or ghost pictures. Challenging me to debunk them.”
“Well, that’s a very nice hypothesis, Tendo-chan, but to make it anything more than that you’d need evidence, and any proof you had was among the things shattered,” Higashi replied, a smirk on his face.
Nabiki replied with her sharpest grin. “She was using a Vizeron Evolution 7. All Vizeron Evolution line cameras after the 3rd model have automated cloud backup. Her photos are safely stored and accessible online. I’m sure the Vizeron corporation would be happy to cooperate with the police and hand over whatever photos she took.”
“Oh! That’s true!” Chiyo added, her eyes lighting up.
The colour drained from Higashi’s face as he took a few shakey steps backwards. “No. No. No... this isn’t happening... that greedy little... she’d wanted three million yen to pad her pocket. I... I thought... everything I’d worked for.”
Nabiki’s aggressive grin softened into a more genuine smile. This felt good. Catching a criminal was way more exciting than pulling her own little blackmail schemes at school.
Especially when the lead cop present had apparently been oblivious to everything, and she’d thought circles around him.
“Spoiled brat,” Higashi said, his eyes narrowing. “If I’m doomed anyway...”
The man grabbed the standing lamp beside him, yanking it unplugged as he charged at her. There was pure murder in his eyes, and Nabiki felt herself freezing. The mood whiplash had been too fast. He was swinging it at her. She should dodge...
There was a sickly mix of a thud and a crunch as the metal lamp collided with human flesh, and it took Nabiki a split second to realise the human it collided with wasn’t her, but Ranma’s arm, raised in a block. A moment later, Ranma had pulled the lamp from the man’s grip, dropping it on the ground before springing forward.
The next instant Higashi was on the ground, groaning in pain while Ranma was kneeled on his back, bending his one arm behind him at an angle that was painful to look at. Nabiki decided it was best not to imagine what it actually felt like.
“Be a good man and accept yer defeat, got it pal,” Ranma said, eyes narrowing as they bent Higashi’s arm further.
“Aack!” Higashi bellowed.
Yamamura blinked a few times, clearly trying to process Ranma’s lightning fast assault. “I... uh... someone handcuff that man?”
Nabiki wondered if her heart was still racing from adrenaline, or if it was from the way Ranma had defended her. And the glare in their normally soft eyes.