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Akane’s day with her friends was supposed to be the get-together of a lifetime! They were supposed to see a concert, enjoy a trip to Shinjuku, and even watch a baseball game! But alas, it was not meant to be, as Tomoyo had an unexpected family visit, Hiroko forgot she had a doctor’s appointment today, and Noriko was arrested for supposedly burying Kuno alive, though it’s unlikely the charges would stick.
So without anything to do, Akane walked back home, expecting to spend the next 6-8 hours home alone. Kasumi said she’d be out keeping Shampoo ‘busy,’ whatever that meant. Nabiki was apparently making a business deal with Okonomiyaki Ucchan’s, what the deal was eluded both her and Ranma. The dads were being dragged somewhere by Happosai, and hopefully they’d be the only ones to return. Lastly, Ranma was going to be in the woods all day training, meaning Akane will have the house all to herself-
As Akane got near the premises, she heard an upbeat, surprisingly pleasant sounding, singing voice coming from inside the house. Which Akane found odd, since no one should be home. Akane quietly opened the front door so as to not make a noise, put her shoes away, and walked towards the source of the singing in the living room.
To say the sight in front of her shocked her would be the understatement of the millennium. Ranma, in girl form, her striking pink hair out of its pigtail, with a pair of circular glasses on her face. Wearing an outfit consisting of a pastel blue jacket, white blouse, and pastel pink skirt, a fox ear headband, and Akane swore there was a clip on fox tail flailing around as Ranma danced and sang to whatever pop song was being played.
Akane didn’t know how long she stood there without being noticed, long enough for Ranma to get through the rest of the song she was singing. The cursed girl let out a cheerful giggle before she grabbed a piece of pocky to munch on.
It was then, mid way through her pocky, that Akane was finally noticed. Ranma’s face paled faster than Akane ever thought was humanly possible, and just as impossible was how fast Ranma bolted out of there and into her room.
“Ranma, wait!” Akane said, giving chase.
She was about to open Ranma’s door when she heard her yell. “Don’t come in!”
“Ranma…” Akane said, “I thought you said you’d be out in the woods training?”
“Well… Y’know… I just… uh…” Ranma sounded as if she was trying to come up with an excuse. “AHA!! I was just uh… challenge to a… sing and dance martial arts challenge!”
“Was the outfit part of the challenge?” Akane said, playing along.
“Um… uh…” Already, it looked as if Ranma’s excuse fell apart.
“Ranma, you weren’t planning on training, were you?” Akane asked.
Her question was only followed by silence. “Ranma, do you mind if I come in?”
More silence met her for a bit, but an answer was eventually given.
“Fine…” Ranma said. Akane could tell without looking that she was pouting when she said it.
Opening the door, Akane was greeted to a massive lump under the covers of Ranma’s futon. The only sign a person was there being the fox ear headband sticking out. Akane walked around it until she saw said lump’s face.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Akane asked.
“Why would I talk to you about it, tomboy!” Ranma said in her usual snark, but for some reason, it sounded forced.
Akane wasn’t amused, but continued with the question, “Is there a reason for… all this?” she said as she poked one of the plush fox ears.
Ranma looked away from her, blushing, “N-no! None at all!”
“Really~?” Akane knew that Ranma wasn’t going to budge unless she pressured her a little more. “Then you don’t mind me talking to Nabiki about this?”
That caused Ranma to stop pretending to be a lump and sit up, panicking. “N-NO! No one must know about this!”
“Then could you tell me what’s wrong?” Akane said, worried. If Ranma was trying to glare at her, it failed and looked more like she was pleading to her with looks alone.
Eventually, Ranma relented. “I… I don’t know… but lately, keeping up all the manly man stuff has gotten too hard.”
“What do you mean?” Akane asked.
“Like… the more I try to live up to my parents' expectations, or rile up my rivals, or keep up my bravado among our classmates, the harder it is to stay that way,” Ranma explained. “So lately, I’ve been trying to find time away from everyone so I don’t have to be all that.”
It made sense to Akane, on a surface level at least. She knew Ranma was never the ‘Man Among Men’ that her parents wanted her to be, but it didn’t explain everything from earlier.
“The outfit?” Akane asked.
“The glasses are prescription,” Ranma said, “I never wore them around people I know, since I didn’t want them to lead me into being associated with pops at all.”
“Well, good news, you already don’t look like him, if anything the glasses are-” Akane cut herself off. “Anyways, the rest of the outfit?”
“Oh… yeah…” Ranma said, not happy to have to explain it apparently. “So… the first day I decided to… take a break from everything, I went to a store away from here and decided I’d just pick whatever items piqued my interest. Hence this… monstrosity.”
“I don’t think that at all,” Akane said. “Sure, I could probably make a few suggestions to improve it, but it fits your exaggerated fashion sense. Plus those fox ears make you look absolutely adorable.” Akane decided to admit, causing Ranma to blush.
Ranma smacked herself on the cheeks, before resuming her story. “Anyways, the singing and dancing thing, I wasn’t entirely lying about the challenge thing. Though it already happened. Soon after I got the clothes, the next day I got a chance to get away from everyone, actually, I was challenged by some wannabe popstar martial artist to a sing and dance off. Not much to say about it, I won, but it was through that where I found out that I really do enjoy it, my opponent even asked if I wanted to join her agency afterwards.”
“Really?” Akane said in shock. “Well, did you accept it?”
“Nah! As much as I enjoy it, I can’t let Pops and Mr. Tendo down about the dojo,” Ranma replied. “She did give me a business card though, if I later wanted to take her offer.”
“Ranma, I know how much the dojo matters to our fathers, it matters a lot to me too,” Akane said, “but I think you should consider if the dojo is something you want to do because you want to, or because our fathers want you to. Besides, nothing says you can’t do both, even if it would be a lot of work.”
Ranma looked at her as if she’d told her the meaning of life, then thought about it. “I… guess it doesn’t sound too bad when you put it like that, but I need more time to think about it.”
Akane scooted up to her fiancee, sitting right next to her, “Well, while you do that… if you don’t mind, maybe… maybe next time you need time away from everyone, I could join you?”
Ranma looked away, a smile creeping up her face alongside a blush. “Yeah, sure… just don’t…” Ranma then suddenly fell over, laying her head in Akane’s lap, causing Akane to blush. “Ah whatever, I don’t have the energy to tease you right now. Not on a day like this. But yeah… you can come with me.”
Akane smiled, trying to collect herself, but her blush refused to fade. Instead, deciding to pet the little fake fox girl’s head. “Then it’s a date, you fluffy little fox.”
“I just wish the ears and tail were real,” Ranma said.
“Maybe we can call the guide and ask if there's a Jusenkyo curse for that,” Akane said, slipping into the futon with her fiancee, resuming her pets afterwards, “That way they can be real next time.”
“Yeah…” Ranma said, snuggling up to Akane like the fluffy little fox she was. “That’d be nice.”