Chapter Text
Ranma let out a breath as she slipped out of the Tendo Dojo undetected. It was already sunset as she leapt away from the house and vanished over the roofs of several houses in mere seconds.
She had only started going on these ‘training trips’ as she called them for about a month at this point but even with her only doing them every weekend it didn’t become any less nerve wracking that she would be followed one day by her father or anyone else who seemed to always want to butt into anything she was doing.
Though that was one of the reasons Ranma had decided to start doing these ‘training trips’ in the first place. She just wanted some peace and quiet for once away from all the chaos that the life of Ranma Saotome always seemed to attract.
And if that meant lying by hastily writing a chicken scratched note every weekend saying she’d gone to some undisclosed location to train her skills in private while actually just going out to enjoy her time alone like any regular person her age would; then so be it she thought.
Another reason for starting these outings was so Ranma could simply enjoy her girl body without the judgement that came from the people who knew her. Ranma knew that no one in her life would really understand her inner thoughts and feelings right now if she tried to explain anything. After being stuck with the ‘curse’ for as long as she had she had slowly but surely came to the realisation that she liked her girl body way more than her boy body.
Her boy body was the most connected thing to the Ranma Saotome identity and that was just one of the reasons she hated it, alongside the constant feeling of discomfort she now felt whenever she was either forced to change back or when she had to continue playing up the ‘man amongst men’ persona just to appease the people in her life. It just felt like she was wearing a suit made of the most uncomfortable, itchy material known to humans that only the magical relief of being splashed by cold water could fix.
Which is why she was so thankful to her girl form, not only did it give her that relief of being in a body she actually liked and actively enjoyed doing even mundane things in but it was also as far as she could get from the Ranma Saotome identity as she could. Sure people knew that the redhead was Ranma but as a girl but outside of that? The red headed girl was a blank slate! She could really be anything, she could do anything because no one would be expecting Ranma ‘macho man amongst men’ Saotome to run around and enjoy time as a simple, red haired girl who just wanted to be left alone.
Ranma took another deep breath as she bound across the rooftops of Nerima while taking her bright red hair out of her signature pigtail and allowing it to freely blow out behind her from the wind.
Ranma scanned the streets below before seeing the primary place that she found as an escape from her life as Ranma Saotome. A cosy little bar tucked away in the far streets of Nerima that essentially boarded Itabashi. No one from her usual life would ever venture out this far looking for her, or at least she hoped that would continue to be the case.
She landed in front of the bar and strolled in happily. She had discovered this place on her very first outing when she originally planned to simply leave the Nerima ward entirely but decided that this was a good place to use as some midway point if she ever truly needed to enact that plan.
And this place was perfect for what she wanted! Despite her unwanted famous reputation around Furinkan; out here on the outer edges of Nerima? She was as much of a blank face as anyone else who walked these streets.
No expectations, no honour bound contracts, no martial artists hunting her down for things outside of her control. Here in this little out of the way bar? She was just a cute, short red haired girl with nothing to prove to anyone.
Ranma looked around the bar for a moment before simply ordering a coke before she strolled over to one of the empty cushioned booths and sat down, she was still unable to drink but that didn’t mean she was just going to sit here doing nothing all night.
It was fairly populated tonight which shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering it was a Friday evening.
The main people around the bar were mainly business workers who had clocked off and were now determined to drink their weekday worries away with their buddies. Though one group did stand out more than the rest.
Sat in an entire booth to themselves and looking like they were a bit squished together was a group where each member had some crazy coloured hair—minus one lady with a simple brown bob cut—and had their hair styled in ways that was guaranteed to make anyone looking at them to remember them for how much they stood out.
Ranma stared at the group of brightly coloured individuals from her booth and couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be a part of that group. Honestly her bright red hair would fit right in, hell there were three people there with bright yellow hair, one with pink hair, one with blue, one with cyan and finally bright green! How much more stand-out-ish could you get?!
Ranma shook herself out of the ‘what if’ scenario she was slowly falling into while staring at that group. She didn’t want to stand out! That was the whole point of these outings in the first place! She just wanted to blend into the crowd and not be noticed!
Right?
Honestly, Ranma wouldn’t mind being as ‘popular’ as she was now, having people recognise her and know her face, but that all came attached to what Ranma Saotome was. People knew the genderswapping martial artist who always won whatever challenge was rocketed in front of them. People knew her as the boy who could turn into a girl with a single glass of water, people knew her as the guy with multiple fiancées and multiple people trying to kill her every week, people knew her as the guy who was so outspoken about her ‘manliness’ that they assumed she didn’t care how they spoke about, looked at or even tried to feel up her girl body because a guy like her would surely let all the virgins in the locker room give them a favour if they just asked nice enough.
Ranma growled as she shook her head to rid her mind of all those thoughts. If she could be popular in a way that meant people actually respected her in a way she liked? That people liked HER instead of Ranma Saotome the Martial Artist? She would jump at the opportunity in a heartbeat.
But that would never happen, good luck doesn’t happen to her and she had to accept that.
After a minute or so of quietly thinking to herself, a waitress wandered over and deposited Ranma’s drink onto her table with a smile. Ranma gave a polite nod back before taking a long sip of the fizzy drink. She let her eyes wander over the bar for a minute or so before spotting a karaoke machine in the far back corner with a set up TV display for the lyrics to pop up on to sing along to.
Ranma raised an eyebrow at the machine, it certainly wasn’t there last week. It must’ve been a new addition by the owner for any of the younger patrons who happened to come in here. Or maybe it was to attach younger patrons in the first place.
Ranma stared at the machine longer than she realised she would. Karaoke was never an activity she got to do or wanted to participate in before. The main reason being she hated how her guy voice sounded when she tried to sing, if you could compare broken static with a blown out speaker to singing that is. It was just one thing that Ranma never did from the combined dislike of her voice and the fact it was ‘unnecessary to The Art’ as her Pops would put it. But she’d started to rarely try singing in her girl body a few times since being cursed. Mainly in the privacy of when she was alone and bouncing through the air above the Nerima rooftops but that was mainly small things with lots of humming.
To actually sing properly? And in a populated building of all things was something she didn’t expect to want to do.
But she did.
After all she was just a regular girl that no one recognised apart from being a weekly regular at the bar. If she went up there and sang even just once then there was no harm even if she ended up being crap. No one here actually knew her. All they would know is that the red head girl who is here sometimes used the karaoke machine one time and then move on with their lives.
With a determined nod, Ranma downed her drink in one go and stood up to march confidently towards the machine.
Most people paid her no mind, either being too caught up in their own drunken worlds and conversations, however she did notice that the long cyan haired girl from the colourful haired group looked at her with curiosity as she walked past their booth and towards the karaoke machine.
Ranma stood in front of the karaoke machine and began looking through the song list. Ranma didn’t know any musical artists by name or even many songs by name for that matter so anything that may have been popular right now didn’t jump out to her. As she continued to scroll through the list she suddenly saw a song name that seemed to stand out to her.
It was simply titled ‘World is Mine’ by an artist she didn’t recognise but the name of the song seemed to hit something within Ranma’s heart. She could do anything right now, right? She could break away from the Ranma Saotome name and be someone else entirely. Right now, the world truly was hers to do whatever she wanted.
With a smile, Ranma clicked play on the song and picked up the microphone, ready to sing along to the song.
—----------------------------------
Miku didn’t know why her eyes were drawn to this girl with bright red hair; she and the rest of Vocaloid simply came here to enjoy a celebration of a successful new song launch after two weeks of hard work. But something about this bright red haired girl who confidently strolled over to the karaoke machine like she didn’t care what anyone thought of her intrigued her.
Miku simply stared at the girl as she scrolled through the list of songs available to her. ‘She must not be much of a music listener if she's taking this long to decide.’ Miku thought to herself with a small, quiet giggle.
While the rest of Vocaloid simply continued with whatever conversation they were engaged with, Miku made a point to watch and listen to see how this girl did with whatever song she would end up picking.
Miku’s eyes widened when she immediately recognised the lyrics of one of her earliest hits sing out from the speakers.
“I’m the number one princess in the world, so make sure you know by heart how to treat meeeeeeeeeeee! Got it? ” The red head sang out with all the confidence and passion as she could before seeming to break into the dance routine Miku had done when she performed World is Mine live for the first time.
The karaoke machine must’ve had some video to go along with the lyrics that was playing on the attached screen because the red haired girl looked to be doing her routine perfectly while singing away.
The rest of Vocaloid stopped any conversations they were having to listen to this girl sing out and dance along to Miku’s song like a pro idol.
“Number one, notice when I have a different hair style from usual. Number two, make sure you look down at my shoes closely, okay? Number three! Answer in three letters ‘I love you’ when I open my mouth to speak to you.
If you understand, do something now about my right hand, it’s not like I’m being selfish and bothering you. I just want you to feel from the heart that I am the best to you.”
Now the red head had everyone in the bar watching and listening to her, even the bartender and waiting staff had stopped their work to watch this girl sing out her heart and dance like she was on a stage for an entire crowd.
“Because I'm the number one princess in the whole wide world! You will notice me, hey, hey. It’s quite impossible to make me wait, who do you think the hell I am? Now I want to eat something sweet right now. Right now, you hear?”
Miku was slack jawed, this girl was amazing! She danced and sang like the best of the best and she looked to be enjoying it more and more as she sang through the song, HER song!
Miku didn’t even bother to stop the smile that grew wider across her face as the redhead sang. If this girl wasn’t already being eyed up to be an idol by someone else, then by the very concept of music itself Miku was going to make sure this girl got that opportunity with them if she wanted it.
“Shortcake with strawberry on top. Premium creamy egg pudding. Okay, okay, I’ll try to contain myself—Don’t write me off as selfish because hey, I can make it on my own. You’re gonna regret it later.”
The red head winked at the crowd to mimic the dance routine but the patrons of the bar cheered in support of this mysterious girl that was essentially giving them a full on concert within the bar.
“Holy crap…” Gumi said with a wide eyed expression.
“Yo Miku, she could give you a run for your money on your own song.” Len said while gently elbowing Miku in the arm.
Miku simply nodded, not taking her eyes off the redhead for even a single second.
“No doubt! ‘Cause you know I’m… the number one princess in the whole wide world! You’d better keep your eyes on me, or I might not be here one day. Out of nowhere, you pull me from behind, ‘what are you… huh?’. ‘Look out you almost got run over!’ You say as you turn away—Maybe it’s you I should be looking out for!”
The red head had such a bright smile as she approached the end of the song that it only made everyone cheer louder for her, including the members of Vocaloid.
The group has seen many fans and even other artists perform their songs and dances before but the girl in front of them now? She did it with such fluidity and confidence it was like SHE was the one who had written and choreographed the song instead of the cyan haired leader of Vocaloid.
Miku knew however that the ending note of World of Mine was what tripped many fans and fellow singers up too many times to count, and right now she was hoping with everything she had that this girl had the proper vocal range to hit it.
“Ah! Hey baby!” The redhead then took a deep breath and leaned her head back enough to suck in plenty of oxygen. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” She had hit the note perfectly.
With several deep breaths the redhead gave a final pose as the entire bar erupted into cheers and clapping. Even though most of the patrons were in a drunken mindset even they knew what they had just watched and listened to was impressive and something most people would have to pay for.
The redhead’s cheeks blushed at the amount of praise and gave a modest wave to everyone before placing the microphone back into its holder and stepping away from the karaoke machine. She made her way back to the booth she was previously sitting at while the patrons of the bar continued to clap for her. Miku even watched the bartender instruct one of their wait staff to bring another Coke to the girl, free of charge.
“I’m going to talk to her.” Miku said suddenly, already standing up without a moment for the rest of Vocaloid to be able to respond to her.
Miku excitedly walked over to the redhead’s booth while she was mid-drink. “Hi there!” Miku said with a wave. The redhead looked at her with surprise, clearly not expecting to be approached like this. “That was an amazing performance you just did! Do you mind if I sit?”
The redhead blinked a few times before gesturing to the empty boot he’d seat across from her. “Uh, go ahead. I don’t mind. You really think I did good?”
“Thanks!” Miku said as she slid into the seat across from her. “And do I think it was good? Girl, that was literally perfect! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone sing and dance to World is Mine as good as you did! Well, apart from me that is.” Miku giggled as the redhead squinted at her before suddenly realising that she was the one on the video she was singing and copying the dance off of.
“Oh shit! You’re…”
“The one who made the song you just sung your heart out too? Yes I am.” Miku said with a proud smile. The declaration however made the redhead’s cheeks go as bright red as her hair.
“Oh god that’s embarrassing…” She said as she covered her blushing face. “I just sang your own song in front of you…”
“Hey hey! No need to get all embarrassed about it! Like I said, you did amazing!” Miku tried to soothe the currently embarrassed girl. “Why don’t we do some introductions to make this less awkward huh? I’m Miku! Miku Hatsune! It’s nice to meet you!” Miku gave the other girl a bright smile that she hoped would further calm down the girl.
The redhead finally removed her hands from her face as she looked at Miku. “Oh uh… it’s nice to meet you I’m uh…” the girl seemed to hesitate before looking down at the booth's table. “Well… I guess who I am is… kinda complicated right now.” The girl grumbled out before letting out a heavy sigh.
Miku furrowed her brow in concern while staring at the other girl’s face. Miku eventually gave the girl a soft, understanding smile. “Trying to get away from a life that doesn’t fit you huh?”
The redhead’s eyes widened as she instantly looked up at Miku, shock showing all over her face. “H-How did you…?”
“Trust me, I know all too well what a situation like that looks like.” Miku’s smile turned more sad as she turned her head to look out the window that the booth was next to. “I went through something similar a long time ago. People who wanted me to be one thing and one thing only. Do what I was told and never stray away from what was already planned for me.”
Miku brought one hand up to glide her fingers through one of her massively long pigtails. “But I managed to break away from it. I found out who I was through something I truly loved doing. Making music, dancing, performing, making people happy.”
Miku turned back to look at the redhead who was now staring at her in disbelief and awe. “I even chose the name I have now for myself because it matches who I am now. And sometimes that’s just what you need to do. Start over, choose for yourself who you are and who you’re going to be. Everything from your name can be yours to choose if you want to.”
Miku smiled warmly as she looked over towards the rest of Vocaloid, causing the redhead to also look over at the group. “That’s one thing that makes our group truly special. We’re just a bunch of people who wanted to break away and find what made us happy, be someone and something that WE choose to be, not something anyone else tells us to. Sure we’re all idols, we all sing and perform but that’s what we chose and we love every second of it. We get to show everyone who we are everyday through our music because we’re proud of the people we built ourselves up to be.”
“…Huh” Was all the redhead responded with as she looked back at Miku.
Miku gave her a shy smile while brushing her fingers through one of her pigtails again. “Heh, sorry. You probably weren’t expecting some life lesson from someone you just met huh?” Miku chuckled awkwardly at the current situation the two girls had found themselves in.
The red haired girl couldn’t help but give a small smile back with a chuckle of her own.
“But the way you sang just now? Danced like nothing else in the world mattered? I saw the way your face lit up, up there. It reminded me so much of when I first started out with my music.” Miku couldn’t help but let out another giggle that was filled with nostalgia.
“Yea?” The redhead said with a small tilt of her head.
“Yea! Which is why I want to ask you something. I know this might be a bit sudden but, do you want to hang out with us?” Miku asked the other girl.
“H-Huh? You… want me to hang out with your group? But you’re all… famous or whatever right? I wouldn’t exactly fit in…” The redhead blinked in disbelief at what was being offered to her.
Miku simply shrugged as she held out her hand to the redhead. “Well, right now we’re just a group of friends hanging out on a Friday night having a good time. And we’d love it if you joined us. And even if you don’t have a name to tell us right now, that’s completely fine, we want to know the person who you are, or the person you want to be.” Miku giggled again as the redhead stared at her hand. “It’s completely your choice, and if you don’t want to then that’s okay! It was lovely to talk to you even for this short while!”
She sat there silently just staring at Miku’s hand until finally she took Miku’s hand and gently shook it. Miku blinked down at their conjoined hands in surprise. “Woah, strong grip you got there girl! That’s seriously impressive.”
“…Teto.” The redhead suddenly said, catching Miku off guard.
“Huh?”
“Teto. Teto… Kasane. Yea. Teto Kasane. That’s… that’s my name. The name I… the name I want to have.”
Miku gave a bright smile as she clasped her other hand over their still held together hands. “Well then Teto, it’s great to meet you! I hope we become great friends!”
Teto smiled back as she nodded. “Yea… yea! I hope we do too, Miku!”