Sightless Spark

[KLSymph]

Writing on a schedule: sometimes exhilarating, mostly tedious.

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At the girl's question, Ranma shook his head.  "I don't need anybody's permission to fight off people who bother me.

If he wanted to direct his time and energy, he'd rather find a worthier goal.  As for Konoe, why bother?

"And," he said, "the people in this school annoy me. Helping people I don't like would be--"

He searched for an acceptable word, but couldn't find one better than what he started with.

"--insincere."

It was accurate, though.

After rejecting the girl's invitation, Ranma returned his attention to finishing lunch.  His chopsticks were falling apart, and Ranma wondered if he should've sprung for more durable plastic ones rather than the dirt-cheap wood sticks he originally bought for cooking.

From the seat on the lunch table's other side, Ranma began hearing girlish sniffles, and as he continued to shovel boiled rice into his mouth, the sniffles turned into sobs.

Ranma could feel the heavy gazes of nearby students, while the girl continued to sob for a minute before stopping.

Ranma handed her a napkin.

He didn't know how real her sobs were, but either way, she deserved to cry for recruiting him so poorly.

The girl stared at the napkin in silence, but the next words came from a voice behind him.

"Well, if you're not going to join the disciplinary committee, then we won't tolerate your fighting."

Ranma swallowed his mouthful of rice, turned around, and gazed at Nanoha Takamichi in her white school uniform, which he noticed now also included a red disciplinary committee patch, the same patch that the girl on the other side of the table wore.

That patch hadn't been on her sleeve two days ago in the courtyard.  Then again, her hand hadn't been bandaged back then either.  It still was today.

Ranma's amused but disapproving eyes raked Nanoha up and down, until she felt uncomfortable enough to demand, "What?"

"You joined them, I see."

"Yes.  And?"

"No, nothing."  Ranma turned back to his lunch.

It made sense.  He saw Nanoha's meddling tendencies from the first day, so he felt no surprise that she joined a club devoted to meddling.

Nanoha walked around the lunch table to stand in his line of sight again.  She loomed over the girl--

Okay, now that there were two girls, he had to label the other one instead of calling her "the girl".  She might have already introduced herself but Ranma didn't remember it, so Ranma put her picture on his mental corkboard and labeled it "Recruiter".

Err... not a girl-sounding label.

--over Recruiter's shoulder.  "What's with that reaction?" Nanoha said.  "Do you have a problem with me joining the disciplinary committee?"

Ranma lowered his eyes toward the compartment of his lunch box from where he was scooping rice.  "Of course not. If you want to help others, what can I say against it?  More power to you.  Do your best."

Nanoha narrowed her eyes at what she probably thought was his sarcasm.  "My best is what I'm doing," she said. "Again, if you don't join us, we're going to take you to the principal and have him reprimand you for all the injuries you've caused this week."

Ranma opened his mouth to remind her that the school already knew about those injuries and did nothing, but on Nanoha's cue, another five students with red sleeve patches appeared around Ranma, and he--

Ranma glanced up.

"Wait, you're all girls?"

--he was surrounded by gray skirts.

Ranma blinked.  "So your committee is all girls?  Good thing I didn't join you, then."

Kidding aside, he didn't see how they could drag him anywhere, since the lot of them were all rather tweedy.

"No, we're not all girls."  Nanoha crossed her arms.  "I just called them here because I know you're going to be difficult, but I don't think you'll resist girls like you would guys."

Ranma opened his mouth, then closed it and tapped his chin in thought.

"It's true," he said at last.

Nanoha smiled a small smile of triumph.

Ranma realized something.  This was the first time he had seen her smile.  While it wasn't the innocent smile he wanted her to show, it was still a rather nice smile to see.

Ranma put his chopsticks down.  "What's with the rape face?"

Nanoha's smile folded like a paper crane.

Or maybe that was the impression it gave Ranma, and the way her unwrapped hand balled into a fist made Ranma worry she wanted to arrange his own face the same way.  Ha.  And why did he say those words?  Because she hadn't earned triumph on him.  Not even close.

"Just because I won't fight you," he said while the disciplinary committee girls glared at him in outrage, "doesn't mean you've won.  For one thing, I should warn you that sending so many girls to subdue one guy who won't fight back will look just as embarrassing for your club as it will for me."

But before Nanoha or any of the girls Nanoha brought could retort, Recruiter spoke up.  "Wait!  We don't have time for this!"

Recruiter didn't seem to be crying anymore.  Instead, she directed her words toward Nanoha and the rest of her peers in the disciplinary committee.  "We're trying to win him to our side, remember?  We need as many fighters as possible, so we can't afford to be on anyone else's bad side right now, especially someone who can fight as well as he can."

Ranma heard her words, but the committee's reason for recruiting him didn't interest him.  He began packing up his lunch, because if the girls demanded a confrontation then he wouldn't have time later.

"This guy," said Nanoha to Recruiter, "will be just as much trouble if we go soft.  I know you said there's more trouble coming, but while we have some time, we need to deal with him."

"We can't afford to bother anybody," said Recruiter.  "Since he doesn't want to fight, we're better off leaving him alone."

Yeah, nothing he needed to hear.  Ranma tuned out the discussion as he picked up his lunch box and moved to slip past the surrounding ring of girls.

Unfortunately, the five girls stood against him like a fragile and feminine wall, and he couldn't get past without also getting physical.  Nor could he jump over them without attracting attention.  He certainly didn't plan on persuading them to move, since talking with girls hasn't worked well lately.

But before he could focus his mind on the problem, Nanoha said, "Alright, then I guess we have to let him go."

Huh.  Recruiter convinced her while Ranma wasn't listening. He didn't know how Recruiter did it so fast.  Maybe it was a girl thing?  Whatever, the outcome was what mattered.

Nanoha turned her burning glare toward him, but before she could speak again, a student ran yelling into the lunchroom.

"Hey!  The suspended guys just got back, and they're already at each other's throats!"

Ranma was looking at Nanoha and Recruiter when he heard this news, so he saw the surprise on Nanoha's face and the ill resignation on Recruiter's.  Both reactions were overshadowed by the other students in the cafeteria.  The bulk of them sprang up noisily and stampeded towards the lunchroom doors.

Recruiter hurried out with that same ill look on her face, and the five girls Nanoha brought went with her.  Nanoha lingered to glare at him some more.

Ranma gave her points for not succumbing to the rest of the room's herd mentality, but after a moment she stalked out all the same.

He didn't know why everybody was leaving so eagerly, but Ranma decided it had nothing to do with him.  As far as he was concerned, he got through lunch without a problem, even if he had to annoy the disciplinary committee.

As the students left the room for whatever reason, Ranma looked down at his lunch box.  He had already closed it up, so instead of opening it again to enjoy the sudden solitude, he went back to his own homeroom to finish his lunch there.

He didn't find peace in homeroom.  A handful of his classmates at lunch without leaving the class, and today they were all staring out the windows, speculating in fearful mutters about what they saw.

Hmm.  Although Ranma knew neither his classmates' interests nor their outlooks, and therefore knew nothing about why they'd be worried, he felt he should keep up with local news.

His homeroom was on the first floor, and it looked out into the school courtyard.  In fact, Ranma hadn't even noticed the view before, because nothing pleasing sat outside to look at.  He could daydream through a boring class just fine while staring into his textbook.

His desk was in the middle of the room, and as he sat on top of his desk with his lunch, Ranma swung his gaze toward the windows.

Outside, kids were fighting.

And that's it?  A fight didn't seem very noteworthy.  The kids in his homeroom could see fights every day just by watching him.

Ranma continued to eat while his classmates fearfully ooh-ed and aah-ed at whatever they found so interesting.

He found his rice to be rather bland.  Sure, he never made plain rice fancier than it should be, but if he had to bring his own meals then maybe he should garnish it with something.  Fry it, perhaps.

A rock smashed into one of the windows with a loud crack. It didn't break through the glass, but it shocked the students and drew Ranma's attention in that direction again.

From his vantage point on top of his desk at the center of the room, he watched the fight progress for a few moments.

Pff.

Maybe he was too far away, but the fight outside was as boring as his classes.  He could see a dozen kids with red sleeve patches, versus many more without.  The patched kids fought to keep the unpatched kids from moving further past the gate into the courtyard, but plenty of unpatched kids already stood inside the courtyard.  Those were the ones throwing stuff.

An entire group of bystanders seemed to cower in the middle of the fight, trying not to draw attention.  The lunchtime courtyard crowd, if that's who they were, didn't seem to be fighting.

It was just a brawl, and in the midst of it, Ranma could follow Nanoha's white hairbows.

The fighters without disciplinary committee patches were fighting with sticks and basic weapons, while the patched committee members Ranma saw were empty-handed, even Nanoha. She must've not brought her sword, since that was against school rules, but Nanoha seemed to fight well enough without it.  She wasn't giving an ass-kicking, but she wasn't receiving one.

The unpatched kids, probably from some of the delinquent cliques Konoe talked about, weren't focused on the committee.  They seemed to spend just as much time kicking around the students cowering on the ground.

That wasn't nice, Ranma thought.

Besides the three sides, Ranma couldn't see anyone else.  So the kids in the lunchroom didn't run outside to watch the fight?  Running away was better than running toward, but the evacuation was still a herd response that Ranma couldn't approve of.

Ranma watched Nanoha in the distance.  He knew her a little, so her movement held his attention more, but while her unarmed skill was good enough to fight with, it was inefficient.  Melee didn't look like her best environment, but of course an injured hand couldn't be helping.

"Hey, Saotome," said a guy at the window.  Ranma didn't remember his name, but then he didn't remember any names in his class.  "Why don't you go out there and help them?"

Ranma looked over at the guy who interrupted his train of thought.  It was the same guy who ate near him in the lunchroom on the first day of school.

Umm, what's-his-face.

Ranma found the guy's question a little weird.  Why would he, Ranma, be the right person to help?  But first things first.  "Them?  Who's them?"

"The kids who're caught in the middle, duh!  Who else would I be talking about?"

"Okay."  Ranma shrugged, and moved to his real question. "Where are the teachers who're supposed to take care of this?  If a fight's going on, shouldn't they come out and deal with it?"

For that matter, where was their homeroom teacher?

Ranma looked around, but since he knew the teacher usually left for lunch, he wasn't surprised by the man's absence. Still, surely the staff would stop the fighting before he, a student, had to act.

"Don't you get it yet?" said the guy.  "The teachers are never around to deal with fights among the students.  We can't depend on them."

But Ranma had seen teachers deal with problem kids.  The teachers did act when they were there.  Were they just not around?  And nobody told them about the fight?  Huh.  When Konoe said this school was understaffed, he wasn't kidding. How understaffed do you have to be so that kids can brawl in broad daylight, in front of the school no less, and no adult is available to notice?

Maybe the teachers all hid in a bunker beneath the school from the dumbass kids they dealt with.

"Well," said Ranma, "that's what you have the student council disciplinary subcommittee for, right?  They seem to be on top of things."

"Are you nuts?" said the guy.  "You think they'll make anything better?  They're no better than the thugs they're fighting!"

Ranma sat up a bit straighter.  Now this was new.  "You mean nobody likes the disciplinary guys any more than I do?"

"Hell no we don't care about them.  The disciplinary committee just makes everything worse by pissing off the bullies, which makes things miserable for regular kids like us.  Everybody stays away from them, especially when they act like they're on duty."

Ranma looked around and saw no disagreement upon the faces around the room, so it seemed this was a widespread opinion. This opinion was one-sided, but even so it came from a neutral bystander with more experience in school politics, and that had some value.

"Okay," said Ranma, "if you want me to help, you'll have to give me the story."

The guy looked a bit put out at having to explain, but he didn't stop talking.  "What's going on right now is that the bullies and the committee had a big stink last semester over territory, and a bunch of people on both sides were suspended.  They're just coming back to school right now and clashing again."

"And what's the problem," asked Ranma, "with fighting as soon as they come back?  It sounds like a good time to do whatever they have to do."

"Because it's horrible for everybody else.  The disciplinary committee is made up of former troublemakers, so they don't care if the normal guys are hurt as long as the complaints stay quiet.  That's why we never go to them for help."

Oh?  Ranma didn't think the disciplinary committee agreed. As far as he could tell, the Recruiter girl seemed to believe in the ideal of helping others while she hawked it, and Nanoha probably wouldn't want an uncaring image.

Then again, Nanoha had people in the club to support her, even if nobody she helped liked her efforts.  Hell, the first day she was trying to help Wrinkles, who didn't appreciate it.  She already had experience with that.

"Then what's the point of me going outside?" said Ranma. "The normal kids wouldn't like me stirring up the delinquents either, so my contribution wouldn't be appreciated."

"Because you're a fighter and you're not attached to any of the cliques here.  You're strong enough to do something about all this stupid fighting.  We're just sick of it.  We want to get through school without all the abuse."

Ranma found that reason suspicious and more than a little self-serving.  "You want me to be your hero and clean up this mess for you?  If it bothers you normal guys at this school so much and you're in as much agreement as you make it sound, why don't you do something about it yourselves?"

"What can we do?  We're just average kids.  We can't fight all the bullies."

That attitude was faintly disgusting, but Ranma didn't care about the students at this school nearly enough to try convincing them to change it, so as tempted as he was, he didn't point out that the normal kids outnumber everybody else, or call the guy in front of him a coward.

Gah, was there a vending machine around here?  He should've brought something to drink.  Ranma wondered if he should go buy milk from the lunchroom, since it was empty of students and had no lunch lines.

Get a drink, or go out and deal with the fighting outside. Huh.  What a choice.

Ranma pulled a 500-yen coin out of his pocket and flipped it into the air.  It fell to the floor, displaying a picture of branches and leaves on the small exposed face.

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[KLSymph]

I got a 5/6 on the GRE essay portion. Bah. It's not a bad score by any means, but it's not what a person whose hobby is writing hopes to get.

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Ranma walked out to the courtyard, and it was a dismal sight.  The ground was strewn with uniformed bodies, some trying to rise, others blinking up at the sky or face down on the concrete.  The sound of flesh being struck came every so often.

In truth, the heated brawl had already dragged on into a tired chore.  The regular students had already fled, those who cared about the fighting were already beaten, and everyone else will shortly become too bored to continue.

He could've told his class that the fight would end this way, but they wouldn't want that answer.

Ranma savored the sight in front of him and the cool spring breeze.  Not long, though.  While he hadn't seen any brawls lately, he didn't need to enjoy this scene.

He strode on through the courtyard, and as more and more people recognized his clothes and face, the fight ground to a dead stop.  All of the fighting had ceased by the time Ranma came to the school gate.

Even a bad reputation among middle-school rabble had a plus.

"Why are you here?" said Nanoha as Ranma walked by the ring of injured and groaning delinquents she stood inside.  Her clothes were rumpled and she was panting hard, and her right hand still looked bad, but it seemed she had enough energy for suspicion.

Hmm.  That was a hard question.  Saying he wanted to stop the fighting for his classmates would sound like a lie.  How could he explain to this stubborn girl?

Ranma said, "I am here to save the day."

He owed her no explanation.

Nanoha's mouth worked through responses until she decided on the obvious: "A little late, aren't you?"

"Bought milk first."

Ranma opened the hand-sized bottle of chocolate milk he was carrying, which he took from the cafeteria after leaving the classroom.  The bottle had a picture of a smiling cartoon cow painted on its side.  He reached into his pocket, and at the same time he looked out of the school gate at the empty street beyond.

Oh, to be out there doing something.

When Nanoha didn't respond, and Ranma heard the grunts of people being shoved aside behind him, he turned back.

No, it wasn't a teacher.  Why was he still waiting for one to show up?

The noise came from one of the delinquents.  Nanoha was watching the delinquent's approach, pushing people aside with one hand and clutching a claw hammer with the other. Out of the corner of Ranma's eye, he saw the delinquents in the courtyard start to circle them.  Hmm.

The delinquent with the hammer walked to maybe twice the range he could swing at Ranma, which was enough to threaten with that weapon.  He asked Ranma, "Are you Saotome?"

Ranma withdrew his hand from his pocket and patted the other side of his pants.  Where was his straw?  Ah, there it is.

This guy was taller and buffer than the rest of the delinquents, and Ranma supposed he could be their boss.

Ranma pasted "Hammer" onto his mental corkboard, and said, "Sure."

Unlike the kids who've confronted Ranma at school, Hammer didn't start out by attacking him.  Instead, Hammer turned to the other delinquents.  "I thought you said this Saotome guy was supposed to be real tough.  This is it?"  He turned to Ranma, tossing the hammer between his hands.  "Look at him, standing there like he don't give a damn.  I bet he likes thinking he's better than everybody else."

Ranma looked at Hammer's own scruffy uniform and bleached hair.  He sighed, pulled out the pink bendy-straw he had gone into his pocket for, and inserted it into the milk bottle as if he was in elementary school.

He said, "Guilty."

Hammer must've been used to respect, because after the reply sank into his brain his face screwed up in fury, while the ring of delinquents surrounding Ranma also started cracking knuckles.  There were quite a lot of them.  Fifteen, in fact.  Ranma doubted Nanoha could fight them all while tired.

Ranma drew a sip of chocolate milk through his bendy-straw. It tasted like dirt.  He'd never buy this again.

Ranma swished the milk around his mouth and swallowed. "Putting that aside, I've been asked by my class to stop your fighting.  Telling you not to fight won't solve your problems, but..."

Did he really want to say this?  He took another sip of milk.  Ah, there's no point second-guessing himself.

"...I can't let you fuckups disturb my day anymore, so from now on I forbid you all from fighting."

He didn't raise his voice, but a few people caught his words, and dark muttering began spreading through the courtyard at once.

Well, it was easy to say, but Ranma knew it'd be harder to enforce.  People who've clashed with him every day shouldn't surrender at his mere declaration.

He expected the crowd to ponder his outrageousness, but to his profound irritation, Nanoha started yelling immediately.

"What kind of diplomacy was that?  How can you convince everybody to stop fighting if you insult them in the same breath?"

Ranma turned his head to look down on Nanoha, because she was a child.  "You think good manners would get better results?"

Nanoha gaped, but she fell quiet.  And why not?  Etiquette would persuade nobody, nor should it.  Why would he sugar-coat his words?

Reactions varied.  The committee members had been staring at him in silence since he walked into the courtyard, and nothing changed there.  The delinquents wavered from grumbling anger to mocking laughter.

Hammer laughed, and with a smooth movement that spoke of practice, he dashed the small distance to Ranma with his weapon upraised.

In the same instant, the rest of the delinquent ring lunged for Ranma as well.  They stopped themselves when a blow struck Hammer in the chest so hard that the boy was flung onto his back.

Hmm.  Ranma took another sip of milk, his hands not having changed position.

Hammer clutched his chest, but he shook off the pain and scrambled to his feet.  His second charge at Ranma wasn't supported by his clique.

A blow to his leg sent him sprawling before he took two steps.

The crowd could see that Ranma hadn't visibly moved, but there was Hammer so easily laid low.

Ranma continued to sip milk slowly, because if he finished drinking he'd have to hold an empty cow bottle with a bendy-straw, and that would look stupid.

Hammer yelled with a strangled voice and crawled to his feet again, and this time he drew back his arm to throw his weapon at Ranma.

The next blow could only be described as crushing.  From the sound, it involved nothing less than broken bones, probably in the jaw or cheek.

The other delinquents stood before this bloody spectacle, utterly uncomprehending.  So did the rest of the crowd. Nobody said a word except Nanoha, who stood there as dumbfounded as the rest.  Ranma once again noticed she liked to interject her opinions a tad much.

"What did you do?" she said.

They weren't even smart opinions!  Ranma couldn't help snapping at her.  "It's not me doing it, you idiot!"

The shout made everyone unfreeze and look beyond Ranma, and the next expression that found its way onto each delinquent's face was jaw-dropped fear and resignation.  It left Ranma to wonder why nobody noticed Takamichi Takahata, even though the man stood at the gate behind him no more than five meters away.

Ranma knew why everyone was afraid, though.  This was Mahora's district disciplinarian, Takamichi Takahata. Takamichi had a strong reputation, according to Konoe, for keeping the peace in the schools.  Konoe even said that Takamichi defeated an entire evil organization, though he provided no details on that claim.  Whether it was doublespeak for "Takamichi is Konoe's enforcer", and the man goes around breaking power groups that threatened Konoe, Ranma didn't know.

It didn't matter, since Ranma knew that Takamichi was strong.  The man did clobber him pretty badly the first day. That took power.

Ranma glanced over a shoulder at Takamichi as Takamichi walked into the courtyard with a benevolent smile.  Why was this man here?  Did one of the absent teachers call for him? Did Konoe send him, knowing that some expelled troublemakers would be returning to school today?  Or did he come on his lunch hour to make sure Ranma wasn't getting into trouble?

Takamichi walked past both Ranma and Nanoha, apparently unbiased towards acquaintances when on the job.  Fair enough, Ranma hadn't done anything worth criticizing.

The crowd looked on in awe.  Clearly they bought into Takamichi's reputation.

Takamichi stopped, and began to speak loudly and clearly as befitting a teacher.  He was smiling, but Ranma could feel an undercurrent of irritation.  "I hope everyone has calmed down," he said, "and we won't have any more problems.  If so, everything will be fine."

At this turn of events, the delinquents began squirming, while the disciplinary committee--and Nanoha--looked altogether too relieved at Takamichi's appearance.  That was interesting.  Were the disciplinary committee so confident that Takamichi would help them, when his classmates said that some committee members received suspensions along with the delinquents for fighting last year?

Finally, Takamichi turned back to Ranma and Nanoha.  He looked at Ranma for a bare second, then away.  "Nanoha, can you fill me in on what's happened?"

Ranma continued sipping his milk as Nanoha stumbled forward to explain. "We're fighting," she said, and gesturing to the clique delinquents, "because these formerly suspended students were allowed to return today, but when they did they immediately started raising trouble."

He had hoped for a new perspective on what he heard, but Nanoha didn't deliver.  Well, he couldn't expect that much of her.

The rest of the crowd made no effort to clarify or contradict Nanoha's summary.  Takamichi's eyes wandered over the patch on Nanoha's arm, then over the collected crowd. "I see," he said to Nanoha, "you've joined the school's student committee?"  Takamichi was all teacherly goodwill. "That's very good!  Leadership experience is important."

Ranma saw Nanoha beam at the approval.  Yeah, yeah, he had encouraged Nanoha too.  He considered pointing out that Nanoha joined the disciplinary subcommittee instead of the council, since that recruiter girl told him yesterday there's a difference... but that would mean ruining Nanoha's smile twice this lunch period, and there was a limit to assholery.

"Still, Nanoha," said Takamichi.  "You should take care not to overdo it.  Helping people is great, but if you're still always fighting, you won't learn anything or improve yourself."

"I wasn't trying to fight," said Nanoha in protest.  "Before the fighting really started, I tried to get everyone talking things over calmly."

Oh?  Ranma could believe Nanoha would try such a thing, meddler as she was--

"I see," said Takamichi.  "But it didn't work out."

Nanoha looked down.

--and given Nanoha's track record, Ranma could believe she failed.  Badly.

Takamichi looked over at Ranma, and gauged Ranma's mood as if he wanted to ask Ranma something.

Ranma drew noisily on his straw.  The bottle was running empty.

"I see," said Takamichi again.  "I suppose it might be too much to ask of you kids, but I don't have a problem with you trying."

Nanoha looked up in surprise, as did the discipline committee members nearby, and Ranma could almost see the thought in their minds.  Did Takamichi just sanction Nanoha's work, and by extension the committee's?  Ranma noted that the nearest delinquents did not like where the conversation just headed.

Before Ranma could consider this development, Takamichi was charged by three of the delinquents from Hammer's clique. They came close, but Ranma wasn't surprised to see them fall before touching Takamichi.  Takamichi's face was full of surprise, but Ranma didn't believe for a second that the surprise was real.

Now that Takamichi defended himself with those invisible blows, the rest of the clique could only back off and feign harmlessness.

Nanoha apparently knew Takamichi well enough to put Takamichi's display of prowess from her mind.  "Is that really alright, to leave it to us?"

"I don't know how it will work out," said Takamichi.  "But you can try."

Seriously, thought Ranma, will nobody demand the teachers take care of the school?

Nanoha nodded to Takamichi's reply.  "Then we'll do everything we can to maintain the school's order."

"I'm sure you will," said Takamichi.  "If you can work everything out by yourselves, I'll leave the peace of this school to its own students."

Suddenly, Takamichi ducked away from an object flying toward the back of his head.

The crowd flinched as the object, a bottle with a smiling cartoon cow on its side, broke upon hitting the ground in a crash of glass.

Ranma glared at Takamichi, who straightened and looked back as if he had been expecting an attack the entire time.

"Ranma, do you have something to say?"

"I said I forbid these people from fighting."

On Nanoha's face, and those of everybody else, the same question appeared: what was he doing?  Ranma ignored the rabble.  Only Takamichi's understanding mattered.

Takamichi frowned, and the people nearby backed away.

"Why make that sort of declaration, Ranma?  Are you saying you won't let the student council handle student affairs?"

"Of course I won't.  Isn't it obvious?  This school doesn't suit me the way it is, so I'll change it.  That means whatever peace this place should get, I'll make.  Not the student council, not the delinquent cliques, not the students or the teachers, and not you."

Takamichi turned to fully face Ranma, though he was only a few steps away.  "You want to force what you dislike to fit your preference?  Principal Konoe didn't put you here to promote such thinking.  It's not what he had in mind for you, and as a teacher, I can't condone that mentality either."

"I don't remember asking your opinion."

The courtyard's breathing stopped.

This way was best, Ranma thought.  The crowd didn't know it, but Old Man Konoe wanted him to learn about a normal life, so Ranma couldn't shape his environment to his liking without negating the lesson.  That was what Takamichi meant.

On the other hand, did Konoe want Ranma to learn obedience over normality as well?  He didn't know, but if Konoe wasn't trying to crush his independence then Konoe wouldn't allow Takamichi to block him every time he approached a line, especially without just cause.  Konoe knew better than that.

Ranma would learn something from how Takamichi reacted.

Takamichi frowned.  "I'm afraid I don't understand what it is you want."

"Then why don't I make it easy for you?  I give this challenge: fight me, and when you lose, never set foot on these grounds again."

If the onlookers stopped breathing at his outrageous declarations before, they dropped halfway into the grave with this one.  Their thoughts were obvious: how can a kid challenge Takamichi Takahata, who could beat everyone in the courtyard without becoming winded?  Even if Ranma's could reputedly do the same, Takamichi's reputation was greater, and maybe some onlookers happened to know that Ranma's limp, the origin of all of Ranma's school troubles, was dealt by Takamichi.  How could Ranma propose a fight with Takamichi, then?

At this moment, Ranma knew there was only one person in the entire school who wasn't looking at him like he was a fool. One person who didn't laugh.  Who didn't looked forward to or cringe away from the impending confrontation.  Everyone else did those things.

Takamichi didn't.

Nanoha was nearest, so she saw Takamichi's expression first. She tried to choke a word out, but Takamichi's silence spread until the courtyard mutters died away, and that left her nothing to say.

Maybe Nanoha remembered, maybe she didn't, but Ranma knew Takamichi would.  Takamichi had heard, even if nobody else did, what Ranma left unstated.

Ranma told the two of them only yesterday, didn't he?

"If I was fighting for a real purpose, I'd be willing to hurt other people, and I'd fight on the spot.  I wouldn't give my opponents the choice of fighting me."

Ranma took the first step toward Takamichi, and the moment he did so, Nanoha mustered the courage to jump between them.

"What are you saying," she shouted at Ranma, "in front of the entire school!  Are you insa--"

But before she finished, Takamichi yelled, "Don't!"

It came too late, because Ranma had already burst through the space he shoved Nanoha out of with one arm.  He heard the scrape of her body sliding across concrete a moment before Takamichi blocked his fist, and after that he didn't think about Nanoha anymore.

Ranma landed punches on Takamichi's shoulder and side before Takamichi managed to take his hands from his pockets and grab Ranma by the jacket.  Takamichi threw Ranma back, but not far, because throwing left Takamichi open and Ranma launched a hook into the man's elbow.  The throw only gave Takamichi a few steps of distance, but then again, Ranma's punches didn't seem to do much either--

An unseen blow hit Ranma in the cheek, knocking him back two paces.

Was this the man's attack?

Ranma saw Takamichi standing there with his hands in his pockets again, a placid look on his face.

Another blow almost pushed out his knee, but Ranma stayed standing.  The impacts were about as strong as a normal man's punches, so they were nothing worth worrying about. Ranma raised his forearm and blocked the next blow that reached across the steps between them toward his chin.

The placid look on Takamichi's face vanished.

Ranma stepped forward, then crouched under the next blow that flew in a line over his head and rustled his hair.  The blow smashed against the metal gate with a dull rattle. Ranma couldn't see these blows and he didn't know the technique's basic nature, but he saw enough of Takamichi's usage to guess Takamichi's tactics.

Takamichi's frown looked more grim now, and his blows became a barrage of three, then four, shaking Ranma's timing.  More blows struck Ranma when he didn't dodge, but Ranma continued forward.  As he advanced toward grabbing range, he took another two blows in full before Takamichi's rear leg shifted back to keep him at range.

Takamichi stopped before he took the step, and his frown faded in realization.

Ranma smiled just a little.

After all, he didn't care about beating Takamichi.  Victory was achieving the goal, and Ranma had no reason to spend time, energy, patience, and health to achieve his.  Ranma wanted to force the school to heel, and Takamichi's awe-inspiring reputation and confidence-inspiring approval would give the disciplinary committee an obstructive willfulness.  To remove the obstruction, all Ranma needed to do was remove that awe and confidence.  He didn't need to dominate his opponent, because forcing Takamichi to retreat was enough to crack the image of power, and therefore the force of his approval.

Ranma saw the light of realization on Takamichi's face, which turned back into a dark frown as Takamichi stopped retreating.  Takamichi seemed smart enough to realize this plan, or maybe Konoe predicted Ranma would make this play. Either way was fine, because things would be harder if Takamichi wanted to fight.

Takamichi's frown darkened further, and he stepped forward.

Ranma had no compunctions whatsoever about hopping back, or watching with that small smile as Takamichi glanced at the crowd.  The conclusion was obvious: Takamichi had to carefully decide how to act, to project an image that's neither too strong nor too weak, while Ranma could act however he pleased.  Ranma could retreat whenever he wanted, because nobody considered him the powerful one and nobody looked up to him as a dependable authority.

Unable to retreat and unable to advance, Takamichi instead asked, "What are you trying to accomplish, Ranma?  This is going a little far just to establish yourself in the school."

Ranma didn't respond.  He didn't come here, challenge Takamichi, or put on this clown show to play at questions and answers.  Let Takamichi flap his mouth.

As Takamichi tried to continue speaking, Ranma shot forward and punched the man with all the strength in his body.

A harsh thud, then silence.

And nothing.

Takamichi's shirt remained unruffled, and his face showed only puzzlement.

Ranma's strike hadn't even reached its target, but the unexpected hardness of the impact on nothing had fractured the bones in his right hand.  That injury would take days to recover, but Ranma stifled the pain.

What force defended Takamichi?  Iron-shirt technique? Aerial shield?  Ranma didn't have time to think it, because Takamichi reached for his outstretched arm.

That was another problem he had with Takamichi, besides the man's talking.  It was insufferable that Takamichi could stand there basking in his invincibility, when that invincibility came only from using extraordinary abilities, while Ranma had restricted himself to mundane martial skill the whole week despite the daily inconvenience.

Ranma didn't intend to humor such contempt.

When Takamichi grabbed Ranma's right arm, Ranma punched the man in the chest with his left, and did so with more than all the strength in his body.

Force born from Ranma's will flowed through Ranma's left hand, erupting against Takamichi's chest, battering through invisible defenses, and sending Takamichi staggering. Takamichi doubled over from the impact and fell on his knees, hacking up red from internal bleeding.

The crowd's gasps were about as pathetic.

Ranma examined his left hand.  It had inflicted more damage than necessary for victory, but he had taken his moment of satisfaction, and now he'd take the consequences.

Takamichi stood up.  He could already move, and where normal people should be laying still inside an ambulance, his coughing had already stopped.  He wobbled, but he might even be able to fight.

Well, good for Takamichi, but Ranma would have to deal with a broken right hand for quite a lot longer.

With his broken hand, Ranma caught a large rock coming toward his temple.  It struck his palm with a slap, and yes it hurt, but not so badly that he couldn't use it.  More importantly, what were those delinquents doing, butting in now?

Ranma looked to the side where the rock came from, but the kid who threw it wasn't one of the delinquents.  Instead, he had a red shoulder patch.  Ranma frowned.  What was this supposed to mean?  Were the committee members bothered about Ranma hitting Nanoha?  Takamichi?

Ten disciplinary committee members had moved toward Ranma and Takamichi while Ranma fought, and they now surged up as an enraged group.

No.

Before they could move forward, Ranma flung the rock back to its origin, and the crack of stone hitting bone left the kid lying on concrete, bleeding from the gash in his head.

The wave of committee members stopped before it started.

Ranma wondered why they intruded on his fight, but before he could think about it, the delinquents who were standing around acted.  These twenty weren't rising up against him though; instead, they moved toward everybody, committee and Ranma and Takamichi alike.  They probably thought this was a great chance to deal with all their enemies.

Without a glance, Ranma's uninjured left hand met the side of one attacker's head, knocking the kid aside.  He looked over at Takamichi, and saw the few attackers nearby on the ground, clutching their sides.  The delinquents backed off in favor of easier targets, and even as they slunk away from Ranma and Takamichi, Ranma saw them gleefully turning to stomp the disciplinary committee.

So much for forbidding anyone from fighting.  This entire affair was turning into a giant farce, and he still needed force Takamichi away before dealing with it.

Too much distracted musing gave Takamichi time to recover. "What are you thinking?" Takamichi said as he straightened. "The principal will punish you for this.  Attacking me to this extent is far more than just a prideful tantrum."

Ranma looked at the man.  "Takamichi, you talk too much.  If you have the breath, fight.  I'm not interested in your blabbing, and what happens afterwards is nothing I'm concerned about."

"I see," said Takamichi.  Around them, the disciplinary committee and the delinquent clique continued to beat each other up, just hard enough that they didn't seem to notice Ranma and Takamichi talking.  Everybody would focus on them if Takamichi got violent, but Ranma didn't think Takamichi would start anything.

And as Ranma thought that, he heard a click.

What?

Ranma jumped back, but a hard pressure around his left wrist jerked him to a stop mid-jump.  He looked down, and saw a bracelet of cold green metal locked around his wrist.

Did Takamichi approach and put it on him, after faking injury and exploiting his distraction?  Or did it have some enchantment--

Ranma expected Takamichi's next ranged strike to come and capitalize on his confusion, but when he tried to protect his face, the bracelet stopped his left arm from rising as if it was anchored by an invisible chain to the ground before him.  Takamichi's strange attacks were too weak to knock him out even if he didn't block, but over the course of the fight he's probably already bruised in a few places, and sacrificing a hand was better than leaving the face open.

Ranma defended his face with his injured right hand, and ground his teeth together at the sharp pain of impact.

Maybe he should give Takamichi another few punches in the chest.

Even as Takamichi attacked him while wearing that placid face again, Ranma tried to escape.  He didn't have time to look at the bracelet closely so he tried to slip his hand out, but the bracelet was like a handcuff, too narrow and sturdy.

He was wrong.  He had underestimated Takamichi.  Takamichi could escalate the fight just fine, and probably brought this restraint just in case Ranma got out of hand, and that meant everything so far was still within Takamichi's expectations.  As long as Takamichi was in control, he'd have no reason to retreat, and to force Takamichi to retreat, Ranma would have to raise the stakes far above what Takamichi expected.

He shouldn't have to resort to this, but Ranma didn't know what would scare the man.  He couldn't hope that anyone who saw this would later forget to ask questions.  Consequences will come, one way or another.  Oh well.  If Takamichi brought out tools, Ranma would just have to respond in kind.

Just as Takamichi was about to attack again, Ranma reached with his injured and unrestrained hand into the left sleeve of his uniform jacket.  From inside, he pulled out the short, thin steel rod he kept there.

Takamichi saw it and stopped, and not in a general confusion way, either.  He stopped cold at Ranma's threat.  It was understandable--Mahora was Old Man Konoe's territory, and Ranma was confident that that Konoe's habit of hiding the supernatural from the common people hadn't changed since they first met years ago.  Konoe's employees would know not to expose extraordinary abilities in front of the public. Takamichi might justify using attacks no one could see, but what would happen if Ranma threatened to expose both of them?

Obviously, Takamichi would fall back to the bargaining table, because without knowing what Ranma could do, giving up would be more reasonable than continuing--

Takamichi frowned.

--unless, of course, Konoe decided Ranma was too big a danger after how things went that time years ago, and permitted Takamichi to handle Ranma as Takamichi saw fit.

Ah.  Well, that wasn't what Ranma wanted, but no matter, he'll deal with it.

As Ranma watched, Takamichi straightened and force flared from his body, blasting the courtyard as invisibly as his other attacks, but with the pressure of a flash flood.

This force was called ki among martial artists, and it had a distinctive presence which living creatures could perceive. How individuals perceived it differed by sensitivity and context: some heard it as a rumble, others felt it as a pressure, and the most focused could see it as a shining glow even if the outburst wasn't strong enough to create a real sound or push or light.

Even animals had some primal sense for ki, and enough of the kids in the courtyard felt it that the fighting ceased instantly.

Takamichi's fighting spirit--his ki--rolled over the crowd, but there wasn't very much to see, as Takamichi drew attention but didn't fully display his power.  To the crowd, it might be a smothering blanket of air or a flash of vertigo, but at that speed it was enough to knock the closest observers on their backs.

Ranma felt it as a flicker of displacement, as if his body had moved a step closer to Takamichi than it was.

Takamichi's fighting spirit was tainted with anger, and he looked mighty pissed.  The crowd stood in positions stiff with fear and anticipation.  Ranma sighed, and rolled up his left sleeve.

Takamichi stepped forw--

Ranma stabbed the rod into the bracelet on his left wrist, then shook the bracelet's unmelted body and the tiny splash of actually red-glowing liquid from his skin.  Yes, the burns hurt, but like the rest of his pains, he could ignore them.

Now ready to continue, Ranma extended his arm and pointed the rod's glowing red tip at Takamichi.

"Alright, alright," Takamichi said.  "Let's do it your way." He spread his hands in surrender and smiled a little painfully, while the displacement Ranma felt shrank away.

Ranma blinked, and his rod stayed level.  "What are you doing?"

"Giving up, of course.  Since you feel so strongly about it, I'll leave it alone."

That's--

Ranma searched for the word.

--lame.  Even if Takamichi backed down, Ranma couldn't feel good about it, now that everybody was once again viewed the man in bewildered awe.  Ranma also knew that he wouldn't escape Konoe's ire just because Takamichi surrendered.

"Of course," said Takamichi, "you'll have to enforce your rules by yourself, since I won't be around to help you."

"I know that," said Ranma.  "What game are you playing?"

"No game, but the principal was worried about how to make a strong connection between you and this school, and I think if you're willing to fight this hard for the place you want here, then that should be enough."

The crowd watched the two of them in confusion, and Ranma knew he just got tricked.

************************************************************

[KLSymph]

Eight episodes in seven months. What a horrible writing pace. Sadly, it's probably my best consecutive record ever. I really got to stop slacking off.

************************************************************

Ranma stood there for a few seconds to ponder this revelation.

Konoe wanted connections between him and the school?  What does that mean?  Did Konoe want Ranma to feel protective of the school?  Make lasting friends?  Become so attached that he didn't want to leave?

Those reasons sounded redundant and meddlesome since Ranma already promised to attend, so Konoe must have one Ranma couldn't think of.

Ranma slipped the rod back into his sleeve and turned toward the school gate.  He couldn't put off dragging out Konoe's motive anymore.

"Where are you going?" said Takamichi with a concerned frown.

"To Konoe's place," said Ranma.

"What about school?  You have the entire afternoon left."

Ranma glanced at Takamichi.  Was the man trying to stall him?  Allowing Konoe to find out what happened today might make a difference, one that wouldn't benefit Ranma at all.

Ranma turned and waved a hand at the sad scene of injured students still scattered across the courtyard.  "You think there'll be any teaching for the rest of today?"

Takamichi didn't look as Ranma indicated.  "Even if there won't, a student has to attend class while school is in session, or else you'd be a truant."

Ranma's face darkened.  He didn't promise to go to a school where teachers wimped out of their jobs and his schoolmates spent their time fighting and cowering instead of learning.

"And also," said Takamichi quickly when he saw Ranma's expression, "Principal Konoe is working, and can't meet with you."

As soon as Takamichi said that, he must've realized Konoe's inability to meet Ranma wouldn't stop Ranma from storming into Konoe's office, and added, "And more importantly, if you leave, who will keep the students from fighting?"

Dammit.  Ranma couldn't argue that.  The kids watching this might be smart enough not to challenge him, but he didn't need to imagine hard to see them returning to their usual clashing in his absence.  No, he'd to keep these idiots quiet.

Ranma sighed, and this time he turned to go back in the school to find a teacher.  He'd wring an explanation for the lack of discipline in this school out of them soon enough.

"And don't talk to the teachers," Takamichi said behind him.

Ranma whirled back.

"Damage control is my job," said Takamichi before Ranma could speak.  "Not yours.  You don't want to have to explain what just happened to everybody, right?  That means keeping the teachers in the dark, and even your classmates, but I'm sure Principal Konoe explained that to you before."

Konoe hadn't bothered to remind Ranma, but Ranma's common sense told him to shut up about his abilities.  He didn't want any more attention.

But avoiding the subject of his abilities didn't equal avoiding the subject of the fight, or the teachers' absence.

"What do you mean, don't talk?  How am I supposed to deal with the stupidity in this school if I can't force the teachers here to do their jobs?"

Takamichi blinked at the subject, and hesitated.  "It's politics, and how things work at Mahora."

Ranma wanted to punch Takamichi again.  Maybe coughing up a little more blood would teach the man not to hedge.  "Don't give me that.  I know the teachers will come out and deal with fighting.  I've seen them."

Ranma searched his memory, and added, "Once.  When I called them."

"It's more complicated than that," said Takamichi.  "And it's not something you can deal with yourself."

Ranma stopped himself from yelling at Takamichi, because what was the point of abusing one of Konoe's pawns? Instead, he turned and walked off for real this time.

Takamichi called after him, but Ranma left without listening.

The bell for the next period had already beeped while they talked, but Ranma spent the next fifteen minutes in front a restroom mirror instead of going to his first afternoon class.  Going back to class on time was pointless, because the looks he'd get for his injuries would just delay any lesson.

Injuries for the sake of making Takamichi leave was fine, Ranma concluded.  The man might be talking to the school officials, but Ranma didn't care as long as Takamichi didn't loiter afterwards.

He had a six major bruises.  Five were hidden under his uniform on his chest, both forearms, leg, and hip.  The important one was the one on his left cheek, where the red puffiness was hard to hide and probably off-putting, but it would shrink soon enough even without ice.  The most trouble the bruises would give him was the temptation to rub the tenderness all the time.

His hands were in worse shape.  The melted drops of Takamichi's cuff burned a small area on top of his wrist before he shook them off.  The burn hurt, but he knew his way around burns, and he didn't think much of it.  It would heal at its own slow pace.

The bone fractures across his right knuckles were a problem though, because while their throbbing actually hurt less than the burn, the inflammation and bruising that would start soon would make holding anything impossible.  Writing too.

At least the skin wasn't broken, so if he didn't do anything stupid the pain would fade in two days at the latest.  Ranma sighed.  Not good, but still a cheap price for shooing Takamichi away.

He cleaned his burn with water and wrapped his handkerchief around that wrist.  He couldn't do anything about his knuckles, since going to the nurse would only invite questions, so he just resolved not to shake any hands until he got home and... put ice on it?  Whatever, he'd figure it out later.

Ranma left the restroom and walked down the empty hall back to class.  He slid his classroom door open, and there in front of his eyes was his math teacher writing arithmetic equations on the board.  The teacher and his classmates turned their heads at the sliding door, and upon recognizing him, they stopped.

As expected.

The teacher didn't ask him where he had been or why he was late.  She looked too stunned to say anything, so Ranma went to his seat.  The jittery energy from the kids close to him suggested they wanted to shift their desks away, but didn't want to risk attention.

The teacher tried to continue class, but she kept looking over at Ranma instead of concentrating on her lecture.  Her distraction would've been worse had Ranma not moved his attention away.

The classroom window still had a crack in it from the rock somebody threw there.  Outside, all the injured students had been cleared away.  As Ranma watched, Takamichi walked by on his way out the front gate, accompanied by the school's principal.

Ranma figured Takamichi had been hammering out an agreement with the school staff, or maybe spreading lies.  Neither mattered to Ranma, as long as Takamichi went out and stayed out.

Class ended half an hour later, and Ranma expected the people near him to flee.  The teacher sure did so.

Not his classmates though.

"What the hell happened out there?" said the boy who wanted Ranma to go and fight in the first place--

And whose face Ranma now graced with a spot on his mental corkboard.  The boy's label: Pants.

Because Pants wore some, Ranma supposed.  Clothing description was a shallow well.

--while the rest of the class gathered around Ranma, but not within arm's reach.

Ranma glanced from the window to Pants.  "What?" he said, while hoping he won't call anyone by label on accident.

"Why did Death Glasses let you go?  I thought you were going to get your ass stomped."

Ranma's expression stayed the same while his mind raced through possible misinterpretations that the people inside could've come to.  Were they too far away to see things through the crowd?  Well, the important thing was Takamichi not interfering with his decree, and everybody else's thoughts were secondary.

"I showed him conviction," said Ranma, "and he agreed that I should preserve the school's peace by myself."

The rest of the crowd murmured excitedly about that.  Pants didn't join in, and instead looked down at Ranma's right hand, which was already swelling and purple.  "He sure messed you up before agreeing, huh?"

Ranma pulled his right hand into his jacket sleeve and turned back to the window.  "Nothing's free."

"What you did is just gonna piss off the bullies even more," said someone else in the crowd.

"So what?" said Pants.  "Saotome's decreed that nobody is allowed to fight.  That means he'll protect everybody else, right?"

Ranma almost shrugged.  That was... one interpretation.

"How will he be around enough to stop all the fighting?" said someone else.

"If he could fight off Takahata, who's gonna take the chance and get on his bad side?"

Ranma doubted that even in a middle school, keeping peace was that simple.

The afternoon went by, and even though Ranma made a note to glare at every teacher he saw, his hostility only managed to unnerve the school staff instead of inciting them to defend their inaction.  Oh well.

He had to sit out physical education because of his hands, but the P.E. teacher didn't even look at his injuries before agreeing.  Ranma wanted somebody to show a little spine, but Takamichi's influence must've spread around the school by then.

Or maybe facial bruising scared people.  He had no idea.

As Ranma sat on the sidelines, watching his class practice baseball while himself not spending time productively because he couldn't do homework and got nothing out of reading textbooks, a girl ran up nearby, looked around, saw him, and approached him with hands clasped.

If Ranma had been reading a textbook, he would've clapped it shut, heaved a sigh, and demanded what this girl wanted. Since he wasn't reading, and he didn't want to go through the motions because that would make people think he liked pantomiming, he didn't.

As for why a bruise would scare off a teacher but not a girl, he had even less idea.

"Hey," said the girl, "can you do me a favor?"

Ranma turned to look at her, and immediately concluded that he didn't know her, and she was dressed in casual clothes instead of the girls' school uniform, so he didn't know if she went to this school.

"What favor?" he said, since not being acquaintances was not enough reason to refuse a girl's request.

"People are looking for me," said the girl, "so I need somebody to hide me."

Her clothes were pristine, Ranma noted, so he figured she wasn't being chased by delinquents out to collect on a debt. The culprit was likely the student committee then, and if she wasn't a student here maybe they wanted her for trespassing.

Ranma really didn't care, as long as they didn't fight.

"Alright," he said.

The girl blinked.  "So you'll help me?"

"Sure," said Ranma.

Then without any elaboration, he sat there and looked at her.  She looked back in confusion, or maybe it was shock. Nothing happened for a few seconds.  Did she really have time, Ranma thought, to stare like that?  He sort of assumed she had a plan for hiding before asking for his help, because he certainly didn't know enough about her situation to make one.

"Uh, okay," said the girl.  "Then first--"

"Sonozaki!"

Ranma looked past the girl at the posse of three teachers coming their way.  The man in front was that teacher from the lunchroom two days ago, Necktie.

The girl wasted no time darting around him, then pulling him up from his seat by the arm and standing him between her and the approaching teachers like a makeshift wall.

The teachers recognized Ranma, and while he found their sudden stumbling halt amusing, Ranma turned his gaze to look askance on the girl behind him and... wait, she didn't just reach under his jacket.  She's not actually going to--

Oh, no.  Her hand left his back.

...Okay.  Ranma glared forward at the teachers.  "What do you want?"

In the same pathetic display as the other times he made that face, the teachers flinched back.  Necktie at least managed to remain calm, even if it wasn't as calm as when he forced Wrinkles's gang from the lunchroom.

"We're here to take that girl," Necktie said.

"Obviously," said Ranma.  "Why?"

"To make sure she's not carrying weapons."

Uh... Ranma hadn't expected that response, but on the other hand, so what?  "Plenty of kids carry weapons," Ranma said. "Why worry now?"

"That girl," said Necktie, "supplies them."

Huh.  A good answer.  Ranma turned around to look at--

Incidentally, while he didn't need to know her name, if she played arms dealer for the school he probably should distinguish her.

Err, what was her name again?  Somebody said it already, Ranma remembered, but he hadn't been listening.

Oh well, he'll label her instead.  Ranma looked at the girl. Hmm, he already did too much clothing descriptions.  The next option was... hair color.

The girl's hair was green.

Ouch.  Ranma had to keep the wince out of his face.  The last person he gave this label still left bad memories.

Ranma almost sighed, but stereotyping was bad, so he decided to go with it anyway.

--at Green.

"Are you dealing weapons at school right now?" he asked Green.

"Of course not!" said Green with an indignant frown.  "I don't sell weapons!"

"Okay," said Ranma, narrowing to Necktie's complaint.  "And are you carrying any?"

"No!"

Ranma narrowed his eyes and scanned Green up and down.  Then he turned back to the teachers.  "She's not carrying weapons.  Is there anything else?"

The teachers regarded Ranma with, understandably, far more concern than they regarded Green.  As the rest of his class slowed their practice to watch the drama unfolding, Ranma could see unwillingness to deal with him in the teachers' twitchy postures.

"Fine," said Necktie, visibly straining.  "Then we'll let it go this time.  As long as she keeps them out of school."

The teachers left.  What a bunch of pansies.  He didn't know what Takamichi told them but it must've been accompanied by a swift punch to the groin.

Green breathed a sigh of relief, while Ranma reached behind his back for whatever the girl had slipped into there.  She didn't respect personal space, apparently.

"Thanks," said Green with a very big and pretty smile.

Ranma ignored that in favor of widening his eyes at the scalpel he now found in his left hand.

A scalpel?  Yes, he expected something when he felt metal, but a scalpel?

Green saw his face, and correctly guessed what was going though his mind.  "I bet you didn't think I'd hide something like that on you."

"No," said Ranma as he turned the tiny blade slowly, "I thought you were going to hold me hostage."

"Oh?" said Green.  Her good humor shined forth.  "But I couldn't do that to somebody who promised to help me."

"Yeah," said Ranma with no humor at all, "that would've ended miserably.  Good thing you just tucked it in my belt, but I would've liked a warning."

Green laughed nervously.  "I'll keep that in mind next time."  She reached for the scalpel.

"Whoa there," said Ranma as he pulled it out of her reach. "What do you plan to do with this?"

Being deprived took some of her happy expression away. "It's for defense," said Green.

Really?  Ranma couldn't agree, as the only reason he'd wield a wood-cutting scalpel instead of a knife for defense was because it would usually be cheaper to get, easier to hide, and came with a built-in excuse if found.  Those were suspicious priorities for someone worried solely about defense.

"I'm keeping this," said Ranma.  "It's too dangerous for you to walk around with."

"Hey!  You can't just take it!"

"Think of it as payment for lying for you.  Besides, you won't need this kind of defense around here anymore, and even if you did--"

Ranma gave Green a flat look.

"--I'm sure you'll be fine carrying that many cans of pepper spray."

"What?"  Green gave Ranma a rather impressive glare, at odds with her previously pleasant demeanor.  "Who made you judge over how I should defend myself?"

************************************************************

[KLSymph]

And now, I go back to getting killed by Imperishable Night normal difficulty.

************************************************************

Ranma stood there in silence, and Green didn't wait long before putting her hands on her hips and demanding, "What, you don't have an answer?"

Why would he have a good answer to such a dumb question? Ranma almost sighed.  "Does it matter?  I'm not giving it back."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you might stab yourself, and that would make me sad."

Ranma pondered the question a bit further.  "And because you might stab me.  That would also make me sad, but in a different way."

Ranma saw Green's hand clench and move toward her pocket. She didn't look willing to accept his non-answers or leave without her weapon.  "Since I'm holding a scalpel," he said, "I hope for your sake you're not planning anything stupid, liking spraying me."  He accompanied his statement with a wave of the scalpel.

Green watched the scalpel's path warily.  "And how do you know what I'm carrying?"

"I guessed," said Ranma, "from the weird pocket bulge.  I doubt you're carrying tubes of lipstick."  Ranma resisted the urge to scratch the side of his head with the scalpel. "And where did you get them, anyway?  Do they sell pepper spray now?"

Green said nothing, but Ranma didn't press.  Compared to getting an answer, he wanted this conversation to end much more.  His classmates had already gone back to their baseball after the teachers left, and he'd like nothing better than to sit down and rest by himself again.

But he couldn't have people bringing weapons into the school.  "So, are you sneaking weapons?"

Green planted her hands on her hips.  "If I say yes, are you gonna tell me to stop?"

"No," said Ranma.  "I'll just tell you this school won't have any more fighting, so don't bother anymore."

"With a face like that, I don't think I believe you."

Ah, right.  His bruises wouldn't convince anybody that weapons weren't necessary.  "You must not know about what happened at school today.  Are you a student here?"

"Are you?  You don't even know who I am."

Was she known at school?  He supposed she had a point. "I'm new."

"And I've been out of school all week."

If she was known, Ranma decided, and one of the reasons so many of the students had weapons, then he could let somebody else fill her in.  "I'm sure you'll learn soon enough."

Green's eyes narrowed as Ranma sat down on the bench, and Ranma could see the suspicion swirling in her mind.  "Why? What happened?"

"I'm too tired to talk about it."

"No, tell me!"

Green looked like she wanted to step closer, but maybe a quick summary would satisfy her.  "There was a big fight today," said Ranma, "and some guy from the second year declared he wanted the fighting at school to stop."

A long second passed.

"And?" said Green.  "Who cares if somebody wanted to stop the fighting?"

Was this girl going to make him talk about himself?  Ranma frowned.  "He beat the hell out of a lot of people too, and smacked around one of the teachers.  Since the staff didn't punish him, I figure if the guy said he wanted people to stop fighting, people will listen."

Green thought over this information, but skepticism stayed on her face.  "And who is this guy?"

"I dunno.  I'm new.  He's about this high—"

Ranma raised a hand to half a head above his own.

"—and talks about himself a lot.  Go ask around.  I'm sure somebody'll point you to him."

Green shrugged.  "I might, after I confirm this with my own sources."

She began to walk off, muttering to herself, and Ranma readied himself to forget this entire conversa—

Green spun around.  "You wait right here!"

With that command, Green turned and walked away again, leaving Ranma to his own confusion.

—conversation.

By the end of the day, Ranma was exhausted.  Not by physical exertion, since his fight with Takamichi was so short it was more stimulating than tiring.  No, he was exhausted from all the quiet, ill attention directed at him through the afternoon.

And no, he didn't wait for Green.  If she ever came back, or remembered he still had her scalpel, he was long gone by then, and happy to put off considering the issue of Green dealing weapons.

Ranma heard many rumors spreading through the school, but he lacked the energy to pay attention.  All that mattered was nobody else showed up to trouble him further.  Something went right for once.

Now that school was over, he had to yell at Old Man Konoe.

When he trudged through Konoe's office door, Konoe was full of cheer.  "So what would you like to talk about?" the old man said.

With his left hand, Ranma stabbed Green's scalpel into the center of Konoe's desk hard enough that half of the blade sank into the wood, ruining both desk and tool. 

Ranma took a seat, and said, "Why am I in a school so bad that these are lying around?"

Konoe looked at Ranma face and hands for a moment—Ranma didn't even go home to fix up his hands first—before reaching forward and pulling the scalpel out of his desk. The old man tapped the wound in the wood with two fingers, and Ranma watched in annoyance as the wound slowly began closing up.  In seconds, the desk was repaired.

Whatever, as long as Konoe answered the question.

"It is as you heard before," said Konoe as he sat back into his chair.  "Your father put you into my care, so that you would learn to control your temper and familiarize yourself with how kids your age behave.  I placed you in Fukuzawa Middle School because that was where space was available, given your placement score.  It is no more complex than that."

Ranma grimaced at the reminder of his test score.  "I've seen what the people at my school are like.  If you want me to learn how to act like everyone else, why put me in a school regular kids can't fit into?"

"As I see it," said Konoe, "your education not about whether you can fit in, but rather that Genma wants you to control your emotional outbursts."  The old man steeped his fingers together.  "Fitting in is your father's request, but from my view, asking you to fit into a normal child's mold will not work in a mere year of schooling.  Your talents and your upbringing are too different.  The best I can do is ensure you can still your temper, and for that reason, Fukuzawa is proper.  A place with conflict will test you, and accurately reflect your own actions."

Okay, thought Ranma.  So far it was reasonable.  If irritating him was expected, then compared to somewhere peaceful, putting him in a violent school would be far better.  He could blend more easily at a bad school, and pragmatically, a bad school would give Konoe deniability. "But if you had it so planned out," said Ranma, "why didn't you explain this to begin with?"

"I didn't think it was necessary," said Konoe.  "You should've realized it yourself after a while, and besides, you've been in no mood to chat with me.  Even when you didn't know, things proceeded well."

"Proceeded well?  In case you don't remember, old man, I hurt a lot of other kids this week.  Since you sent me into this school while knowing what kind of temper I have, while deciding I don't need to know what I'm getting into, are you taking responsibility for all the damage I did?"

"Not merely kids," said Konoe.  "You even attacked one of my staff."

"Takamichi's a teacher, and I heard he deals with discipline too.  You pay him to get smacked around, and he can quit when he wants."

Konoe smiled.  "True.  Yes, I am responsible for everything you do while in my city.  I accept the consequences too, but I need to take a broader view, and Fukuzawa is a problem for me.  That is why I won't punish you for the trouble you've caused.  Takahata told me what happened today.  Despite your audacity, I am fairly pleased with the outcome."

Ranma leaned back for a long interrogation.  "He said you wanted some sort of connection between me and the school."

"Yes, but that isn't what I meant.  I am pleased that you took steps to better your school's situation.  Most of the schools on this island are private and under my governance, but your school is publically financed and I have no authority there.  Your actions, though questionable, are beneficial."

"If I can do something beneficial," said Ranma, "then why aren't the teachers doing anything?  It's a whole lot more their job than mine."

Konoe sighed.  "As I've said before, the school has funding and staffing shortages.  For whatever reason, they cannot govern themselves very well, and I have no power or influence to contribute aid."

"Politics?" said Ranma, remembering Takamichi's hesitation on the subject.

"In part."

"Yeah right.  What kind of money or political problems are so big the teachers can't stop their own kids from fighting and bringing weapons to school?"

Konoe laughed.  "I'm afraid that information is too volatile to share with someone your age.  And yet it's precisely because you are nothing more than a student that I can leave the situation to you.  There are greater repercussions for adults who injure children the same way you do, and Takahata has too many other things to do to patrol one school rigorously enough."

"If the place is so bad," said Ranma, "why don't you just get it closed down?  I doubt somebody who administers the whole island lacks that much power."

"Where would those students go?  They don't qualify for any other school on the island, whether based on their academic ability or their families' finances.  Are you saying we should simply force their parents to quit their jobs and move away their households away?"

"There's a thing called commuting, but sure, why not force them to move?"

Konoe shook his head.  "That is not so simple to demand. Nor is it kind to ask families to give up their lives for such a reason."

Ranma scoffed.  "Are you asking me to pity other people who give up what they have and move away?  Who do you think you're talking to?"

Konoe started to say something, but silence reigned as he seemed to realize Ranma's point.  Konoe knew that Ranma moved all the time.

"Besides," said Ranma, "all this means is you and everybody else have problems, but making things better is up to me. How is that fair?"

"I do admit," said Konoe, "that asking you to fix the situation is beyond your duty as a student.  And I suppose I have no right to ask for favors."  Konoe nodded to himself. "So be it then.  Shall I compensate you for your efforts?"

Ranma clenched his fists, not minding the pain of that movement.  "Why would I want that?  I already told everybody I'd make people stop fighting at school.  By offering me things, are you trying to call my motives into question?"

Konoe looked at Ranma's face.  "Then at least let me get you some healing for your injuries, since you took them in the course of...."

The old man trailed off at the bloody murder in Ranma's eyes, and sighed.  "Alright, if that is your wish."

Konoe sat back with a disappointed face, but Ranma could sense smugness behind that facade, smugness from getting Ranma to act as Konoe wanted.

That irritated Ranma, but he got the answer he came for. There was nothing else for him here, and he had injuries to tend.

"You always look so stressed," said Konoe as Ranma rose from his seat.  "You should calm down more.  Perhaps find yourself a girlfriend."

"Yeah," said Ranma as he walked away.  "That couldn't possibly add stress."

Konoe smiled.  "That would depend on whether you find the right girl, wouldn't it?"

<hr />

Damn Konoe.  Forget the weird remark about girlfriends&mdash;if the old man had told Ranma he didn't need to fit in, he wouldn't have gotten the haircut.  What a waste of hair.

Anyway, Ranma figured, if Konoe was going to support his efforts, then he might as well expand from stopping school fighting to actually fixing the school.  That would be a long and grindingly tedious campaign, but he could do it.

He'd just have to change his perspective.  Instead of training and learning new martial arts with Pops, he'd shift back into applying what he already knew.

Sunrise at Mahora was around 5:30 in the morning during the spring months, which gave Ranma around two hours to devote to morning training before school.  He intended to put that time to use, since today was the first time he could do so; every previous day had seen him with too many injuries to train.

As it was, he had a busted right hand, a blisters on his left wrist, and bruises on his face and torso, but after proper care of those injuries, he could at least run.

Ranma sprinted up and down the steps in front of Mahora's giant-honking tree.

Maybe he was too harsh on this place.  Mahora wasn't the most interesting city he had ever seen, but any place with its skyline more dominated by a single tree than by skyscrapers had to be special.

He wondered how much the tree was worth in lumber.

Sometime around an hour of sprinting, Ranma noticed the girl in the exercise clothes while running down the steps, and when he came back up Nanoha was still standing there as if she had something to say.

Ranma continued past, because he was in the middle of training and had no intention of stopping to talk.

Up the stairs he went, then down again, thinking idle thoughts all the way.

The teachers have chosen to be absent, so the best he could do was collect information on the history of the school, and maybe provoke the teachers until they act.

Up.  Down.

He'll have to defend the regular students after all, and prevent them from blundering into his plans.  Should he bother to sway the public opinion?

Up.  Down.

He has been keeping the delinquents down with violence too much, which won't work in the long run.  They had no solidarity though, so if he observed them, he should find rivalries and other weaknesses to exploit.

Up.  Down.

The student council... well he didn't know how they reacted to Takamichi's influence among the teachers.

After all that running, Nanoha was still standing there, and each time he passed her her expression lightened a little bit more.  At first it was flat, and then she began smiling, then a bit wider.

Her smile was as warm as the morning sunlight when Ranma passed her on the way up again, whereupon she stepped forward and kicked him in the shin.

That crazy bitch!

Ranma managed not to fall onto his knees, instead hobbling to a stop and glaring at her.  "You lack discipline, Nanoha Takamachi."

Okay, fine.  He shoved her for jumping into a fight.  It was her own fault, but if she wanted some kind of payback, she was welcome to it.  Disrupting somebody else's training just because she was too impatient to wait was impolite though. And for that matter, interrupting her own exercise just because she saw somebody she wanted to hit showed lack of temperance.

Still smiling, Nanoha spoke.

"I'll be your bodyguard as you deal with the trouble at school."

Ranma's face went from angry to flat like a snarling tiger running into a wall.  Nanoha looked to him for a response, and the only question Ranma could think to ask was:

"What."

Wow, that didn't sound like a question at all!  He knew exactly what was going on here, of course.  Old Man Konoe needed to be found.  Maybe beaten.

No, first of all, he had to ask Nanoha, "Don't you have anything better to do?  Why would you agree to Konoe's requests?"

Nanoha folded her arms.  "Rent."

Ranma's irritation lessened a little.  He knew what that was like.  "Oh.  Okay, I'll fire you."

"You can't.  I'm not working for you."

Dammit.

"I don't need a guard," said Ranma.  "There's no fighting when I'm around."

"It's easy for you to say that after one day, but people are still going to attack you."

"Maybe," said Ranma, "but more importantly, I'm not letting you fight, even to guard me."

"Uh huh," said Nanoha in a voice Ranma knew meant she didn't care about his permission.  "Since you bring up the subject, I also want something else."

"I'm not fighting you," said Ranma.

Nanoha frowned.  "There was that, but I'm talking about something else.  I know you're a better fighter than me.  If you can fight Mr. Takahata like that, I know I can't challenge you and make it matter."

Ranma looked at Nanoha.  "I don't think you'll end with 'I'm not going to challenge you anymore'."

"I want to learn how to be as good as you.  I want to learn your special techniques."

This was exactly why Ranma avoided fighting above normal skills.

"I have no special technique."  Ranma waved a hand toward the stairs.  "As you can see, my skill comes from training. Long, early-in-the-morning, boring training."

"Yeah, sure.  I already asked Principal Konoe and Mr. Takahata, and they say you're far above normal.  Are you going to lie about not knowing any special fighting or training techniques?"

Maybe this was Konoe and Takamichi's revenge for threatening to expose them.  Ranma wanted to lie, but Nanoha wouldn't hear his denial.  Instead, he said, "Why do you want to know about that kind of thing?"

Nanoha uncrossed her arms and puffed up her chest.  "As a martial artist myself, I want to learn and improve myself."

"I can't help you," said Ranma immediately.  "I don't know any special techniques.  The only way you'll be a better martial artist is with hard basic training."

Nanoha's puffing ended and her eyes narrowed.  "You're trying to blow me off."

"If that's your reason&mdash;"

"I have others.  My family's business is protecting people. I want the skill to do that."

Ranma didn't know if he truly cared less, or just felt that way this moment.  "You're on your own."

Annoyance spread over Nanoha's face.  "I know you've spent years learning martial arts.  Isn't it hypocritical that you learned them from other people but refuse to teach?"

Ranma could almost feel the veins in his head throbbing in time with the counterarguments floating through it, but the only counter he could use was simply: "I've never learned anything without paying the price.  What are you offering?"

Nanoha brightened.  "So you're going to teach me?"  When Ranma didn't say a word, she continued on her own.  "I'll give you thirty thousand yen if you teach me how you fought Mr. Takahata."

That probably didn't sound like a bad price to Nanoha.  It was indeed more money than he expected her to pony up, enough to feed him for a month.

But no.  "If you think you can buy me with money," said Ranma, "I'll point you to to a neighborhood dojo where you can pay a fee and learn some karate."

Nanoha didn't look as disappointed as he hoped.  "Then what kind of price do you want?"

Ranma didn't want to answer, but he considered the question. If she was offering to pay....

"You want training to protect other people?"

"Yep."

"I can teach you if you're willing to betray that sentiment when I tell you."

As expected, that jarred Nanoha's thoughts.  "What?  What does that mean?"

"It's not complicated.  Let's say sometime you're protecting somebody important to you.  I'll tell to hurt that person. If you're willing to do that, I'll teach you."

Nanoha didn't seem to deliberate that price.  "I would never do that."

"How about instead of whenever I want, just once?  One time, you betray someone you're protecting without question."

"There's no way I'll accept!"

"Fine.  No deal."

Ranma began to turn back to his training.

"Wait," said Nanoha.  "There's got to be something else you want!"

Ranma sighed inwardly.  Since she was begging something of him, her want was more important than his, but she probably didn't think her approach very far.

What could he do with her?  Maybe she would make a good ally.  He didn't need to deal with the school himself. "Okay, how about this.  Instead of someone you're protecting, I'll ask you to specifically betray Konoe.  Say, for example, if someday he asks you to keep me under control under the guise of protecting me, and I'll tell you to disobey him and let me do whatever I want."

Nanoha didn't seem to deliberate this price either.  "I won't betray Principal Konoe's trust.  Ask something else."

Well, she's not all that useful.  How about....  "I'll tell you to give me information from the disciplinary committee."

Nanoha didn't seem&mdash;oh wait, she actually thought this one over.  "You mean like what they're talking about in meetings?"  Nanoha looked unconcerned about this for a second, but then became suspicious.  "Wait, is this another betrayal request?"

Ranma spread his hands.  "For example, if I'm going around beating people up and they want to secretly ambush to make me stop, you'll warn me ahead of time."

"No!  What is with you and all the betrayal?  What kind of person are you?"

Ranma chuckled at Nanoha's funny glare.  "The betrayal isn't important to me, but you got nothing to offer that I find valuable, so I'm asking for whatever's valuable to you."

"So you're asking things that you know I won't like on purpose?"

"Sorry to break the bad news, but that's what a price is."

Nanoha's glare intensified.  "I'll never compromise myself this way."

Ranma smiled, and said, "Good for you.  You succeeded in not betraying your character and I succeeded in not giving you anything.  Everybody wins!"

A pause later, he stopped smiling, and said, "Will you go away now?"

Nanoha refused to budge.

"Then what?" said Ranma.  "If you're going to keep asking for a price, I'll get more lewd."

************************************************************

[KLSymph]

************************************************************

Nanoha took two deep breaths, muttered something to herself, and looked up to see him walking off.  "Hey, don't leave!"

"Alright," said Ranma.  He turned back and put out his hand. "Take off your shirt and hand it to me."  Ranma watched Nanoha redden and back away despite herself.  "Too much?  I could pay that, personally.  Must be different for girls."

Nanoha's twitching made him want to poke her more, but Ranma restrained himself.  He wanted to make her angry, but if anger overwhelmed her pride, she'd really take off her shirt.  That would be terrible.

"What do you want with it?" said Nanoha, probably to stall for time to think.

Ranma worded his response carefully.  "Nothing especially wholesome."

Nanoha clenched up her body and forced herself to stop shaking.  "I didn't know," she said with a calmness Ranma hadn't expected, "that you were such a pervert."

"Ouch," said Ranma without a blink.  "I've been called a perv.  I better watch out."

"Why else would you want my shirt?  You just want to see my chest!"

Ranma eyebrows flew upward.  "You have one?"

His surprise must've sounded genuine, because Nanoha's fists tightened.  "Yes I do!"

"Prove it."

"I will!"

Ranma felt his eyes bug out as Nanoha reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her navel.

Only the call of gulls broke the early morning silence.

Nanoha lowered her shirt in defeat.  "Why didn't you back off?!"

"You choose to take the price," said Ranma, then he sighed in relief.  "Wimped out though, which means no blackmail material for me, but I don't get struck blind either.  Let's leave it there."

Nanoha grabbed her hair in frustration.  "Principal Konoe said you would be nice to girls.  How can you be so ungentlemanly?"

Now she questioned one of his life principles?  Ranma frowned.  "I'm nicer than I have to be."

"If you were nice, you wouldn't be treating me this way."

Ranma wordlessly pointed to where Nanoha kicked his shin.

"I'm sorry," said Nanoha with no apology in her voice. "Besides, it's when others treat you badly that niceness means the most, right?"

Ranma's frown deepened.  "True.  And how should I demonstrate niceness towards girls, since you're so smart?"

"Teach me," said Nanoha in triumph.

"No.  Teaching you is not a kindness."

He could feel his frown deepening even more, but if Nanoha noticed, she didn't let it bother her.  "Yes it does."

"No, it doesn't.  My view counts."

Nanoha crossed her arms.  "If you're trying to be nice, you're not doing much of a job."

"You're stupid."

The two of them glared at each other.

---

"If you have my support," said Nanoha later that morning as she followed Ranma to school, "I can get the council to back you.  Otherwise, you won't have any pull with anybody."

Ranma turned and yelled, "Will you go away?!"

Nanoha continued to energetically ignore Ranma's irritation.

"I don't want your support," said Ranma.  "You work for Konoe, so you're not on my side."

"Yes I am."  Nanoha pointed to the red patch on her shoulder.  "It's my duty to preserve the peace, and if you're improving the school then being on your side is my job."

Is she saying that all they needed was the same goal?  Ranma spoke slowly and with much emphasis: "You're an idiot!"

Ranma turned and walked toward school again.  Why did Old Man Konoe tell this girl where he lived?  How would he have any privacy?

"Stop muttering," said Nanoha from right next to him.  "It's creepy."

Case in point.

"Maybe if you're creeped out," said Ranma, "you'll go away."

"I'm not that easy to--"

"You almost took off your shirt right in front of me.  How not easy are you?"

The bruise Takamichi put on Ranma's cheek was already healing, but still sensitive enough to feel Nanoha's burning glare.  "I can't believe you actually asked for that," she said.

"I didn't get out of bed planning it."

"And what if I did take off my shirt?"

"Then today would be the first of many days in which I greet you with 'Nanoha, you whore'."

He waited for a kick to his shin, or maybe a knapsack to his head.  To his puzzlement, Nanoha's only response was a flat, "You're sick."

"I'm also not teaching you.  Profit!"

Nanoha gave an exasperated huff, but she didn't press the point.

As they approached the school gate, Ranma heard a commotion more and more clearly, and as the courtyard came into view he saw what the crowd there did: a two-person-deep pile of kids punching, biting, and yelling their heads off.

"My day continues."

Ranma ignored Nanoha's dark look and walked into the courtyard, where bystanders saw him and backed off, no doubt expecting the unholy ass-kicking he promised for crap like this.  Ranma didn't want to beat anybody up, though.

Okay, maybe a little.

He strode up to the pile and kicked off the top row of kids--some with red arm patches--onto the courtyard concrete.  When the kids saw him, they stopped fighting immediately, and Ranma noticed they all stood quite focused on him.  "I'm guessing," Ranma said to the green-haired girl from the bottom of the pile, "that you were waiting for me."

Green stared at him.  "You mean you're Ranma Saotome?! You're the guy everybody's been talking about?  The one who got in a fight with Takahata?  You lied to me!"

Ranma invested a whole second of thought into his reply.  "I do that."

"Move," said the boy from the pile's bottom who had been fighting Green.  He shoved her aside and walked up into Ranma's face.

Ranma looked at the unfamiliar boy, who was a bit scruffy but not much injured despite brawling with Green.  Maybe she didn't bring weapons today.  Ranma watched Green recover from the boy's push, but she said nothing.

"Hey!" said the boy.  "I'm talking to you!"

"Did you have to shove a girl," asked Ranma, "just to talk to me?  Couldn't you walk around her?"

"Shut up," said the boy.  "I'm only here to tell you that the student committee won't work with you, even though you have support from Mahora's private schools."

Ranma noted the red patch on the boy's shoulder.  Bravado and rudeness he could overlook, but not obstruction from the whole student council.  "Why not cooperate?  It'll hurt less."

"Because even if you told everybody not to fight, you're new here.  You know nothing about this school.  More than that, you're violent, and nobody trusts you to make things better."

He didn't care about the student council's trust, and he didn't care for their opposition or their attitude.  "Your council has to disappear, then."

Before the boy could answer, Nanoha jumped unwelcome into Ranma's business as if she didn't learn the lesson last time.  "Stop!  Stop!  You don't need to go that far!"

Ranma looked at Nanoha, which she took as permission to contribute.  She turned to the boy.  "Don't worry about Saotome.  I'm keeping an eye on him and making sure he doesn't do anything bad."

"Why are you doing that?" said the boy in clear suspicion.

"I was hired to guard him by Konoemon Konoe."

The boy snorted at that name.  "The student council is empowered by this school.  We don't take orders from outsiders, and we don't need anybody to watch Saotome, because he's not going to do whatever he likes anyway. You're one of us, Takamachi.  Whatever you've got going with the people from the private schools, drop it."

Ranma had a bad feeling.  It would be great if Nanoha bent under peer pressure, but--

Nanoha frowned.  "I can't do that.  I've already accepted this job because I think it'll work out, and I stand by that decision."

--he didn't think so.

The boy looked taken aback by Nanoha's reply, and considered a moment before saying, "Fine then, you're out of the disciplinary subcommittee."

The other red-patched kids murmured quietly at the news, and Ranma groaned.

Nanoha took a deep breath, and Ranma wondered if she was already prepared for this.  He was puzzled enough that she didn't start crying immediately.

He was close enough to see Nanoha tremble, but instead of speaking, she put a hand on her red shoulder patch.  For a second Ranma thought she would pull it off--not a good move, since it looked securely stitched on--but all she did was cover it with her fingers.

The boy narrowed his eyes at this gesture, then shifted his gaze to Ranma.  "You better prepare yourself, Saotome."

"If you want to attack him," yelled Nanoha to everyone's surprise as she stepped in front of Ranma, "you'll have to go through me first!"

---

It was an amusing paradox.  People will get used to a condescending jerk, but if that jerk smiles and hums and acts cheerful, they soil themselves.

Ranma smiled and hummed and cheerfully cut white construction paper into confetti bits, while his classmates stared at him as if he was cutting confetti bits from fresh baby skin.

Ah well, people avoided him.  What else was new?

The final bell beeped.  Ranma gathered up his handiwork, and with a busy afternoon on his mind, he jogged through the school, arriving at the second floor just in time to catch Nanoha leaving her homeroom.  Nanoha stopped in surprise, which gave Ranma the pause he needed to take out his handkerchief and go for her face.

Nanoha batted his hand away like it was an attack, but she lacked the energy to fend him off before he wiped her eyes.

"It's been a whole day," said Ranma.  "Brighten up."

Nanoha glowered at him with reddened eyes.  Even though she didn't bawl this morning in front of all those people, Ranma could only imagine how much she did in private.  "What are you so cheery about?" she said.

Ranma smiled wide.  "I'm very happy.  You stood by me even though you lost new friends and whatever you've gained this week."

"This morning you told me to go away, but now you're happy I'm sticking with you?"

"Happiness is mysterious."

"If you were happy I'm around," asked Nanoha with an exasperated look, "why did you ask them to take me back?"

"Why didn't you?" said Ranma.  He folded up his handkerchief and put it back into his pocket.  "Well, I'm sure you had reasons, but I wanted to try.  And when it didn't work, I had an excuse to punch that guy in the neck."

"What do you want?" said Nanoha angrily.  "Did you come to gloat?  About how I didn't betray the committee, but they dumped me?"

Ranma shook his head.  "You don't need that right now."

"Yeah, you're so sensitive about other people's feelings."

"It comes, it goes."

"What do you want?" said Nanoha again.

Okay, he could see she was focused.  Ranma tried another way to distract her.  "I want you to take me to the teachers' room."

Nanoha gave him a weird look.  "You don't know where it is?"

"Sure I do.  I want you to take me."

"Why?  To waste my time?"

"You're going to hang around," said Ranma as he smiled. "Why not be useful?"

Nanoha couldn't refuse.  They arrived at the first floor teachers' office, and Ranma barged in without a greeting.

Among the aisles of paper-covered desks, a few teachers stopped talking and stared.  They must all know him, because they didn't protest his presence.  That speeds things.

Ranma walked across the room, scanning the desks and cabinets until he reached the windows at the end of the aisle.  They opened towards the sports field, where some kids stood smoking.  Ranma watched those kids for a moment, then focused on the white-painted windowsill and ran his hand over window lock.

Abruptly, he turned around and fixed the teachers in his gaze.  "Where do you people keep records of student behavior?"

None of the teachers answered.

Ranma sighed, and walked back across the room and out the door.

"What was that?" said Nanoha as soon as he entered the hallway again.

"I'm hungry," said Ranma with no sign he heard Nanoha's question.  "Didn't have lunch today.  You want to get something to eat?"

Nanoha's eyes narrowed.  "No.  No, not really."

Ranma turned and looked at the girl for a very long second, and Nanoha managed the first two letters of "why are you grinning" before Ranma's left hand clamped onto her arm.

"Wh--"

Ranma's left hand clamped onto her arm, and he began walking down the hall toward the school exit.  "It's a good thing I'm not sensitive about other people's feelings," he said as he dragged Nanoha like a stubborn mule.  "It's so easy to ignore you."

"Let go of me!"

Nanoha's struggles were hard, but Ranma's grip was harder. "Don't shout.  You'll make a scene."

"I said I don't want to go with you!"

"I don't give a damn.  Besides, what would you do with your afternoon anyway?"

The students in the hall averted their eyes as he continued to advance, and Nanoha was too embarrassed to resist for long.

---

Nanoha had a very angry face, and Ranma distracted himself with the coffee shop menu instead of meeting her eyes.  He rolled a 500-yen coin back and forth across the fingers of his right hand, but that was less about looking nonchalant and more about exercising his knuckles.  They still hurt.

Once again, Nanoha asked, "What do you want?"

"I think," said Ranma without looking at her, "I'll try this strawberry-lemon parfait."

He could almost hear a nerve snap.

"That's not what I meant!"

"I know," said Ranma, which just made Nanoha crack even more.

"Didn't you say you'd be busy today?" said Nanoha after the nervous glances from other customers all turned away.

"Oh, don't you worry.  This won't take long."  Ranma turned back to the pictures on the menu.  "Parfait does looks nice nice.  What do you think?"

When Nanoha didn't answer, he looked up.  The girl's glare was still unpleasant.  "Parfait," Nanoha said when he met her eyes at last, "is too girly for you."

Ranma chuckled, and he continued chuckling until Nanoha said, "I don't know what you're laughing at, but I didn't say anything so funny."

"No," said Ranma.  "That's the sort of thing easy people worry about."  When Nanoha's glare deepened, he realized what he said and quickly amended himself.  "Wait, not easy people.  I mean it's what people used to ease worry about."

"Used to ease?  I don't remember having much ease since starting school with you.  Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm not," said Ranma.  "I'm just reminded that your perspective is different."

Nanoha looked like she wanted to question him, but the waiter arrived first.  "What would you like to order?" said the man.

"Item number three will do it for me," said Ranma as he pointed to the parfait on the menu, and turned to Nanoha. "You?"

Nanoha eyed the menu.  "Dorayaki, please."

"Really?" said Ranma.  "You can get something better than that.  I'll treat you."

Suspicion flared in Nanoha's eyes.  "You're being weirdly generous."

"Konoe'll give me extra cash to pay for a girl."

Nanoha considered that, then turned to the waiter.  "A slice of vanilla cream cake."  The waiter left with their order and Ranma sat back with a grin that Nanoha didn't like. "What's the look for?"

Ranma rolled his 500-yen coin over his fingers and pondered how Nanoha was shaping into a materialistic woman, but he couldn't say that out loud.

"If you're not answering me, I'm leaving."

"I won't stop you," said Ranma just a little mock-sadly. "But if you leave, I'll eat all your food."

Nanoha didn't go, though she grumbled a bit as she watched him fiddling with his coin.

"Do you have to do that?" she said after a minute's wait.

"It's important," said Ranma.  Then he leaned in and loudly whispered, "It's magic!"

Nanoha voice was deadpan.  "Magic."

Ranma placed the coin onto the tabletop and both hands flat on the table, covering the coin with his right hand.  He rubbed that palm over the coin, then with fingers still extended, he lifted both hands.

The tabletop was empty.

Ranma curled both hands into fists, then planted his elbows on the table with fists held up and knuckles forward. "Guess which hand."

"You palmed it," said Nanoha, and pointed to his right hand.

"On the right track," said Ranma as he opened his left hand instead.  "But didn't pull into the station."

Nanoha blinked at the 500-yen coin that fell onto the table.

"Ha!" said a new voice.  "I see through that trick.  You're holding two coins!"

Ranma looked up at Green's smirking face and opened his right hand, sending a tiny snowfall of white confetti onto the table.

Green gaped, which gave Ranma a little satisfaction.  He blew the rest of the paper off his hand, wondering if he should've cut them smaller.

"You're Mion Sonozaki," said Nanoha to the interloper, and Ranma resigned himself to losing Nanoha's interest.  "Why are you here?"

Green--

Ranma hurriedly replaced her label with her name.

--Mion recovered her thoughts in a snap.  She leaned over the table and grabbed Nanoha by the shoulders.  "Are you okay?"

"Yes?" said Nanoha in confusion.

Mion smiled and let go.  "Great.  Those council guys are assholes like that."

Ah, Ranma remembered.  Mion witnessed Nanoha's dismissal this morning.  Weapons dealing aside, she seemed the nice sort.

Ranma looked Mion over.  Nice sort aside, she was carrying a gun on a shoulder holster.  It was a plastic toy, but... Mion gave mixed signals.

Mion turned to Ranma, but before she could speak, Ranma asked, "Want something to eat?  I'll treat."

"Err, no.  I want to beat you up for lying to me."

Ranma grimaced.  "I lied for you too.  Call it even?"

Mion's hand went to her holster, and without any warning she pointed the gun at Ranma's chest and pulled the trigger.

The gun released a slight puff and launched a small metal ball from the barrel, which bounced off Ranma's jacket with a glassy plink.

"Plink?" said Mion in the following silence.  She stared at Ranma's face.  "Hmm, y--"

She got no further before Nanoha grabbed her by the back of the head.

Ranma flinched from the sound Mion made slamming into the table.  He flinched again when Mion twisted free and threw Nanoha into the next table.  Nanoha stood up with livid eyes focused on Mion and grabbed the table knife nearby.

Wow.  Okay.  That devolved fast.

Should he do something?

************************************************************

[Jason_Miao]

Ranma turned and yelled, "Will you go away?!"

Nanoha continued to energetically ignore Ranma's irritation.

"I don't want your support," said Ranma.  "You work for Konoe, so you're not on my side."

"Yes I am."  Nanoha pointed to the red patch on her shoulder.  "It's my duty to preserve the peace, and if you're improving the school then being on your side is my job."

Is she saying that all they needed was the same goal?  Ranma spoke slowly and with much emphasis: "You're an idiot!"

This felt at odds with Ranma's previously displayed character.  Of course, since you have an oddly acting Ranma in the first place, that may be perfectly fine with your goals, but thought I should point that out anyway.

It may be the exclamation points.  Ranma's dialogue up to the arrival at the school uses a great number of them.

He could almost hear a nerve snap.  "That's not what I meant!"

If he'd actually heard a nerve snap, it probably would have sounded something like "OHDEARGODOWDAMNITTHISHURTSKILLMENOW!!!"

[KLSymph]

Thanks for the criticism. I was wondering if I'd ever get any again.

This felt at odds with Ranma's previously displayed character.  Of course, since you have an oddly acting Ranma in the first place, that may be perfectly fine with your goals, but thought I should point that out anyway.

Well, there is a slight jump.  I hoped it would transition from the previous passage smoothly and represent Ranma's patience fraying at last.  The jump mostly comes from Ranma discovering that Nanoha knows where he lives (as mentioned a few paragraphs later). Fully writing out that discovery as a part of a scene isn't very entertaining, though, but I'll rethink it.

It may be the exclamation points.  Ranma's dialogue up to the arrival at the school uses a great number of them.

I count... four? I suppose that's a bit much. I'll remove the one that isn't vital.

If he'd actually heard a nerve snap, it probably would have sounded something like "OHDEARGODOWDAMNITTHISHURTSKILLMENOW!!!"

But of course Nanoha wouldn't say all that. And the almost-nerve-snapping is in Ranma's mind, and Nanoha might not actually be as angry as he thinks.  But he's probably in the ballpark.

On review, that line needs a linebreak between Ranma's thought and Nanoha's speech.

Thanks again for the comments.