Chapter Four

<You’re still going to school?> Even without any sound Ranma could pick up the incredulous tone in Ryouga’s voice.

“If I don’t they’ll ask me why, and I don’t think I could tell the truth – at least not without being committed.”

<Will you be able to act normally enough not to get asked questions anyway?>

Ranma looked confused for a moment, not understanding. His lip-reading wasn’t perfect, although he was getting better. “I’ll have to, won’t I.”

<And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?>

“I dunno. Go to the Nekohanten, see what…” Ranma finally noticed the dirty look he was getting from the highly irritated phantom. “Oh. Right.” Then he brightened. “Well, you don’t have to worry much about getting lost while you’re like that, unless that little pig thing has the same problem. I’ll just pour a little hot water and – poof!”

He just got another dirty look. <If it’s all the same, I’d rather not risk it.>

“So you’re going to follow me around more? And you think I’m going to be able to act normally with a… whatever you are at the moment following me around?”

<You’re acting more normally around me than you did around the… ‘real’ people.>

Now it was Ranma’s turn to glare. “I’ll be just *fine*, thank you.”

***

Akane handed him his schoolbag. Actually, what she did was more similar to tossing it unto his desk before taking her own seat, but he got the bag. “You were in a hurry this morning,” she remarked.

“Yeah.”

Akane tilted her head curiously. “You’ve been acting weird lately.”

“I’ve been… thinking.”

“Thinking?” Suddenly Akane got a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. “About what?” It couldn’t be…

“A bunch of things.”

While Akane worried, Ranma was doing his best to act nonchalantly. He’d managed to enter the school alright, by walking quickly past everyone else who was there early, making a beeline for the empty classroom. Ryouga leaned against the window, half-sitting on the sill, watching. This is gonna be a long day… wish I could make a bet with someone that he’ll wimp out before then end of it.

The other students filtered into the class slowly. He tried his best to ignore them, and most of them didn’t pay any particular attention to him – not that he noticed any that they might give anyway. Hiroshi and Daisuke, however were a different story.

“So here you are, Ranma!”

“Man, you musta gotten here pretty early, we didn’t see you.”

Ranma braced himself, and looked up. His two friends looked normal as ever. And they were being still, sitting at their desks, which helped. He seemed to only freak out when they moved, or were very close to him. “Hi guys.”

Hiroshi and Daisuke exchanged a glance.

“Are you feeling sick or something?”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

The pair looked at each other again. “You sure?”

“What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?”

“No one-”

Daisuke was interrupted by Miss Hinako – in child form – making her usual grand entrance into the room. Rainbows and flowers seemed to dance around her face as she announced, “Alright boys and girls, we’re all going to do lots of learning today!” She giggled, and gave a v-sign to the class before going ‘stern’ and warning them against delinquency.

Luckily she couldn’t see Ryouga, or she probably would have chided him for gagging at the display of cuteness.  

Ranma was grateful for the interruption and turned his attention to the teacher with such determination that Hiroshi and Daisuke were now even more positive that something weird was going on. And that they were being left out. They hated that.

Despite the young state of the teacher, she actually managed to keep her attention on the lesson – well, when she wasn’t distracted by a manga or a game or a pretty color of chalk – better than she usually could. She never saw a student doing something that would give her an excuse to drain their chi so she could transform into her adult form, even. She kept expecting Ranma to do something, but the boy was unusually well behaved, not doing anything even when she didn’t seem to be paying attention. She toyed with the idea of draining him for being sneaky about something, but kept forgetting.

Then there was the matter of that weird chi that was in the room, yet didn’t belong to any of the students. No one noticed the strange looks that the teacher gave the window on several occasions, but she did, always certain that /something/ was there yet never seeing anything. Ryouga grew worried, but didn’t dare go anywhere.

***

Ranma managed to get through the class well enough. He started acting legitimately normal again, almost able to forget or at least ignore what had happened that morning; the nervousness he felt around everybody and the sweating palm effect went away. If it weren’t for the spectral Ryouga lounging against the window, he would perhaps have forgotten.

When Miss Hinako suddenly yelled out the phrase that every student had learned to hate, he cringed with the rest of the class, knowing that he was the most likely target.

“Happo Five-Yen Satsu!”

She grew, filling out her previously loose dress in a manner that would make every male student in the classroom drool as soon as they had figured out who the poor sap had been to provide the energy for her transformation. But they looked around in confusion, because no one was thin, wrinkled, and half-dead from having all the energy drained out of their body.

“She’s pointing at the window,” someone finally noticed.

“She got someone *outside*?”

All the students crowded around the window, trying to see whom she had caught. That wasn’t normal at all, and so managed to get the interest of the class.

Ranma was the only one who could see what she had caught. Or rather, *couldn’t* see, at least not any longer. Ryouga was gone.

Oh shit. He barely restrained himself from saying it out loud, emitting a strangled sound in his throat instead. He looked at Miss Hinako, who was still standing, looking very confused. She drained Ryouga! But… where’d he go?

Ranma, unnoticed by the rest of the class that was still trying to figure out who had been the victim of their teacher, stood and walked over to said teacher. “Miss Hinako?”

She looked up at him, slowly. “Ranma – I – you – don’t – delinquent! – Know – you – how, - set - but - this - she - up, - sensed - didn’t - me, - you! - Ranma! - What’s - what 𔄣 wrong - happened? – With me?” She trailed off finally, looking exceedingly confused. Finally, she spoke again, understandably this time. “Ranma,” she asked evenly, somehow managing to look totally lost and stern at the same time, “Why is my voice so weird? I don’t feel so good…”

Ranma blinked. Is it possible? Did she…? “Ryouga?” he asked lowly, trying not to attract any more attention from the class, a few of whom had given up on the search and had noticed the strange conversation.

“Yes, - no! Of – why - course - did - it’s - you – me! - Call me that?” She stopped again, confused.

Ranma looked nervously over his shoulder. By this point the majority of the class had given up on the window thing, and was listening to the conversation with some considerable interest, mixed with puzzlement at the strange sentences their teacher was spouting. “Miss Hinako, can I talk to you in your office please?” Ryouga please keep quiet!

Luckily, all she did was nod, and leave the room somewhat unsteadily.

***

~Mordain

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