In a daze, Ranma Saotome walked out of the administrative office at Furinkan High School. Currently pink-haired with rust-colored eyes and battle damage to his red tangzhuang exposing some of the sarashi wrap he was using as a binder, it was clear he was in his cursed girl form.

  Additionally, he was staring at the folder of documents he’d gotten from the school secretary. He didn’t seem to notice Akio or Naoki Tendo standing just a few feet away. The younger boy was about to say something when Ranma’s face split into a huge, pearly white smile and she jumped , twirled , and giggled . Instead Akio gawped and stared with his mouth open.

  Naoki, with a roll of his eyes, cleared his throat. Ranma froze mid-air with her back to the boys, landed, and very slowly spun around. Her face was a pale mask of embarrassed fear, which shook Akio out of his paralysis. He raised a hand high enough for her to have to jump to give him a high five. “Did you make it in?” Asking would hopefully distract from the fact they caught her… him doing something kinda girly. Apparently that was embarrassing for him.

  Fortunately, it did the trick. After only an instant’s hesitation, he stretched and leapt up to smack Akio’s hand with his own, grinning. “Hell yeah I did! Looks like I’m gonna start on…” He half-mumbled some pop song as he thumbed through the papers in his hands. “Friday!”

  “Okay, kids, c’mere,” Naoki grabbed each of their wrists and dragged them back to the stairwell. “I don’t think we should have this discussion right outside the office.”

  Akio knew why Naoki was so irritable right now: Kodachi came out of the office minutes before Ranma, and unlike the pink-haired martial artist, she noticed the Tendo boys.

  Any hope Akio had that Kodachi's intensity was mollified vanished as she approached him without a trace of warmth or camaraderie. “Tendo-san, on my honor I have renounced my claim on you. Saotome-san is a fearsome warrior, but it is my obligation as her fellow woman to warn you: if you hurt her or fail in your duties as her future husband I will subject you to suffering the likes of which no man could ever imagine.”

  All he could do was squeak and nod in response, and Kodachi nodded to his older brother. “Naoki-san, see you in class later.”

  Granted, Akio felt like he should be the one who was irritated, but Ranma’s enormous smile and the way she'd jumped for joy replaced the icy ball in his gut with a swarm of butterflies and he knew he would never do anything to hurt her.

  …Because she was actually a guy, and they weren't actually engaged or in a romantic relationship! Akio couldn't do anything to hurt her— him like that anyway.

  Naoki clearly still took Kodachi’s threat seriously though, which Akio had to admit was probably smart, and once the three were on the roof he let go of their wrists, whirled around, and dramatically pointed at Akio and Ranma.

  “What are we gonna do about this?” His question was something between a demand and a plea, not that Akio knew how to answer. Nor did Ranma, from the looks of it. He just blushed and scratched the back of his head.

  “I’ll be honest, Naoki, I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about it for too long.” Akio’s wait-and-see approach worked for him more often than not, no reason to try and fix what wasn’t broken. “We’ll be the big gossip for a little while but people will forget and move on to the next scandal or whatever.”

  The furrowed brow and frown on Naoki’s face told Akio that he remained unconvinced. Akio looked to Ranma to back him up, but the pink-haired boy also looked angry for some reason. Why was he the bad guy all of the sudden?

  “A martial artist doesn’t just let his problems fade away, Tendo!” The spark in Ranma’s eyes flashed like lightning as he proudly pulled himself up. “He faces them head-on!”

  “And a good martial artist doesn’t leave himself open to an attack!” Akio countered, defiant embers smoldering in his eyes. “We’re not running away from anything, we’re letting our enemy tire themselves out!”

  As the two argued they kept getting closer, which made Akio realize just how short Ranma was as a girl. She had her hands on her hips and was giving him the most intimidating glare she could, but he was practically looking straight down at her. Especially since, as far as he was concerned, their fight record was 1:1. She beat him in the dojo, he beat her in the bathroom, and their spar-turned-brawl last night ended in a draw because their parents had to drag them apart.

  Him. He beat him in the bathroom, because Akio understandably thought he was a pervert. It was an awkward, slippery fight that Akio knew he would have won if not for the interruption of their families.

  Arms shot through the small gap between them and spread them apart. Naoki snapped his fingers to get their attention. “Not now, lovebirds, this is serious. Akio: that’s not a plan, that’s literally the opposite of a plan, and it’s not gonna work. As far as the school’s concerned you two are the new couple of Furinkan High. It’s got everything you need for a really cheesy romance manga: ancient vows made between warriors, noble families, a mysterious foreign princess, and you’re both hot as hell.”

  Ranma sputtered and scoffed, but Akio heard that from Naoki all the time, usually to get his self-esteem up. He’d heard it a lot this past year due to how lonely he’d gotten, especially around the holidays.

  “Even after the novelty wears off, people are going to be all over you. Jealous suitors, people who are gonna get way too invested in your relationship, and just plain old nosy busybodies.” He shook his head. “If we don’t figure out how to walk this back we’ll have to get out in front of it and control the narrative.”

  When he realized Naoki had launched into his “I know better” teacher mode, Akio rolled his eyes. “This is your fault, though! What are you gonna do to help us ?” Unconsciously, Akio reached out and pulled Ranma next to him as he indicated the two. “Ranma beat Kodachi twice yesterday, I bet she would have backed off soon anyway.”

  He felt a small, soft hand wrap around his side as Ranma pulled him closer to her, reinforcing their unified front. “Yeah! And I bet we woulda been rivals soon! I coulda talked to her about leavin' Akio alone or somethin’!”

  Akio imagined a projection of lightning and flame behind the two of them as he felt their auras combine. Naoki stared at them, cogs turning in his head. Placing his index fingers and thumbs together in the shape of a rectangle, he held it out and framed the two martial artists. A grin slowly split his face open.

  “Oh…oh this is perfect.” Akio knew that smile. That was Naoki’s scheming smile. On the one hand, his schemes usually worked out. On the other hand, his schemes never felt like they were going to work out until the very end.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. First, no telling the parents. At least not until after Friday. If you think you can’t handle keeping that a secret from he—them,” Naoki glared at Akio for a minute, knowing what a mama’s boy his younger brother could be. “At least tell the rest of us first so we’re not surprised. Then, on Friday, we have a big announcement .”

  Akio felt Ranma inhale to interrupt him, so Akio gently squeezed her shoulder and whispered. “He’s got a vision, let him get it out of his system first.” He felt her nod in response.

  “But it’s not really an engagement announcement, is it? No no no: It’s for the new martial arts school you two will be developing! We’re not even gonna mention an engagement unless someone asks, and if they do? We shrug. Yeah, technically there’s an engagement. The whole plan rests on you two behaving like boring, normal friends. It gives the rumor mill something to focus on other than the engagement while simultaneously downplaying the romantic angle.”

  His energy faltered a little, but he persisted. “Yes, it’s still a romantic situation , and people will talk, but as long as we keep the focus on you two being, yanno… jocks or whatever, it’ll be less of a fairy tale romance and more of a sports power couple thing. And we’ve already got one of those with Konjo and whoever she's dating right now, so you’ll be competing for the same audience.”

  To Akio’s surprise, Ranma was almost shaking with excitement. “Exactly! Yes, Naoki- sensei , we need to talk about this kind of thing more often!”

  Confused, both Tendos looked at him. “Really?”

  Stepping away from Akio, she thrust a finger into the air as if pontificating to the heavens themselves. “That's what I tried to do this morning! I slipped up and let Kodachi take back the story after the fight, but I'm not gonna make that same mistake again!”

  “You get it!” Naoki exclaimed as he clapped a hand down on Ranma’s shoulder. The two grinned at each other before turning to Akio, hoping he'd get it as well.

  For some reason, Akio felt a twinge of jealousy as the two shared a moment. He knew didn't have to worry about anything though: Ranma didn't like guys, so even if Naoki fell for her she wasn't going to reciprocate. Which, yes, was a shame for Akio, who was also a guy, but that was fine because Ranma was a guy too, not a girl, and therefore Akio didn't want to be into him. It was just that simple.

  No, the jealousy was just for platonic closeness, because Ranma was a martial artist who could handily beat Akio. If anything he wanted to train under her— him , so it was disappointing seeing him train under someone else.

  Was it a little selfish? Sure, okay, he wasn't perfect. But it wasn't pining for another boy or getting jealous that his older brother — who had a much better track record with romantic relationships — was interested in the same person, because, again, he wasn't interested in Ranma to begin with.

  Plus this whole scheme was about faking an engagement between Akio and Ranma. He'd probably have to spend lots of time with her, be introduced to her friends, make the occasional public appearance with her, there'd be plenty of time to develop a non-romantic friendly relationship together.

  And since they'd both be in on it they wouldn't mistakenly develop feelings for each other. Obviously anything they did while “in-character” would be part of the act, and they could just go back to being normal friends afterwards.

  “You okay man?” Ranma’s voice broke through the web of thoughts that ensnared Akio’s mind. He blinked, and realized that while Naoki’s eyebrows were cocked in a gesture of judgy confusion, Ranma was looking at him with genuine concern and worry. He felt heat behind his cheeks and waved his hands in front of him to distract from the blush.

  “Y-yeah! S-sorry? I was just thinking about…” He scrambled to come up with something that sounded good and was related to the discussion. “The…exhibition. On Friday. That we'll do.”

  Now both of them were giving him confused stares, so all he could do was press on. “Well, if we're gonna be announcing that we're uniting the schools it makes sense to show off what we can do together, right?”

  “Choreography!” Naoki practically shouted, his face aglow with excitement. “A martial arts demonstration from both halves of the Anything Goes school! Great idea, I knew we were related.”

  Ranma had a light dusting of pink on her cheeks but smiled in relief. “I'm just glad you're in.”

  The bell for the end of first period rang, and Naoki panicked. “Already? Okay, we gotta get to class. Ranma, we’ll see you later.” The older Tendo dashed away.

  Akio knew he needed to get going as well, but he was grateful for the few seconds of privacy with Ranma. He needed to thank him.

  “Hey, Ranma, right quick…” He didn't know why this was suddenly difficult, he was just thanking a friend for doing him a favor. Though when said friend was looking up expectantly at him with those enormous, rosy eyes he got flustered for some reason.

  “I know you tried to fix the engagement thing, but I do really appreciate you getting Kodachi off my back. She made my whole year suck.” He chuckled to relieve some of the tension. “I know it's weird but I'm looking forward to the hell we'll raise during our ‘betrothal’.”

  He would have seen Ranma turn beet red, had he not spun around at that exact moment to head to class and hide how red his face got. “I'll see you tonight, yeah?” He grinned over his shoulder.

  “Y-yeah…” was all she could sputter before he slipped inside.

  Ranma stared at the kitchen counter in front of him, desperately wishing he hadn't opened his big mouth on Sunday evening. Was bland food really that big a deal? It wasn't worth insulting the host who made it for them, or more specifically the punishment she'd cooked up for him.

  Despite finally being back in his male form, he was looking at an apron. It wasn't frilly or embroidered or shapely or anything like that, just a simple black rectangle with straps to loop it around his neck and waist. Apparently it was Naoki’s, each boy had one.

  Even knowing they were for a boy did little to assuage Ranma’s fear that he was crossing a line into girliness that turning into a girl, wearing binders, and signing up to go to school as a girl didn't, for some arbitrary reason.

  Aprons were inherently girly. Cooking in a kitchen was, somehow, inherently girly. Not like cooking outside over a campfire that you'd built yourself with your dad, with meat you'd hunted or stolen that day.

  …Mrs. Hana warned him he'd probably have to wear an apron in home ec, which he was gonna be required to take. When he complained about the double standard, his dad reminded him that schools were moving towards requiring home ec for every student regardless of gender.

  He still probably wouldn't have had to wear the uniform . That's what was really bugging him, had been all day.

  When he got back to the Tendo house after talking with Naoki and Akio, his dad and Mrs. Tendo congratulated him on the fight and went over his administrative paperwork. That's when the uniform came up.

  Of course, Furinkan High being in the middle of a somewhat traditional ward, girls didn't get a shirt and pants option. And the uniforms were so frumpy! Even if Ranma was positive he could have pulled it off, gorgeous as his female body was, he shouldn’t have to. Hana warned him that girls were typically scrutinized and judged more harshly than boys and expected to behave themselves, so what would be considered delinquent but acceptable behavior at his old school probably wouldn’t be tolerated here.

  His argument that Kodachi wore kimonos to school instead of the uniform did little to convince her. She offered up a compromise though:

  Naoki, Ranma, and she would go find Ranma a suitable new wardrobe tomorrow. They'd get him a uniform but he wouldn't have to wear it on the first day. If the staff made a stink about it, he'd have it as an option.

  Ranma swore to never take that option. As soon as Naoki got home this afternoon Ranma was gonna ask him how to get in touch with Kodachi and figure out how to get a waiver or have her pull some strings as a favor or something.

  Sighing, he knew he wouldn't be able to do that for the apron if it was class equipment. Plus Hana told him home ec could get messy on cooking days, and he'd be glad to have something to protect his nice silk clothes. Accepting his fate, he reached out and grabbed Naoki’s simple rectangle and almost immediately started struggling.

  Tying a knot backwards was surprisingly difficult, and Hana came over when she noticed. “Ranma, would you like to know a trick for aprons?” She asked sweetly.

  “No, I got it, it's just…a little weird reaching behind myself like this to tie instead of untie something.” Hana watched him struggle a little bit longer. Certainly his flexibility wasn't the issue, nor his manual dexterity. He'd get it before long, probably, but she wanted to move on to actual food prep.

  Grabbing her own apron she wrapped it around her waist backwards so she could tie the straps in front. She made sure to do this right in front of Ranma so he'd see her. Once secured, she spun it around and pulled the loop over her head.

  Pretending she hadn't done that for Ranma's sake, she looked at him and said “Let me know when you're ready and we'll start,” before she approached the counter.

  Stubbornly, he struggled a little bit longer but did manage to tie it behind his back. “Hah! Knew I could do it!” Shooting Mrs. Tendo a grin only to be met with a smug eyebrow raise, he sheepishly chuckled.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It was just the two of them in the kitchen: despite Genma’s offer to help, he'd gotten a call from Dr. Tofu to come demonstrate his first aid skills and he rushed away to prove himself. Ranma hoped that meant his dad would have a job soon. If Genma was bringing in money, maybe he’d get an allowance.

  “Okay martial arts master chef, can you handle thinly slicing some veggies?” Hana took out cutting boards, knives, eggplant, carrot, radish, and cucumber. “Ever make tsukemono?”

  “Nope.” Ranma took one of the knives and started cutting into the cucumbers. He was so fast that by the time Mrs. Hana got him to stop he’d sliced two into perfect quarter-inch thick coins.

  Hana was impressed at his consistency and speed, but frustrated by his impatience. “Thin slices, child, thin. Watch.” Holding her knife at an angle, she sliced one of her cucumbers into paper-thin oblong sheets. Ranma nodded and managed to reslice his coins thinner, but followed Hana’s lead for the rest.

  She made a point of showing her method for slicing the rest of them and the work went quickly. Ranma was tasked with cutting up a few sheets of kombu while Mrs. Hana prepared jars and pulled a bottle of dark homemade brine out of the fridge. It was practically the color of soy sauce, and Ranma gawked. “Isn’t brine supposed to be a little…clearer?”

  “Hmm? Oh, this is a concentrate. We’re going to dilute it with a lot of water. Here, try this.” She poured a few drops on a spoon that she offered to Ranma.

  As soon as the elixir hit his tongue his mouth felt like it was going to collapse in on itself. “Gah! That’s…that’s so salty! Blah!”

  Mrs. Hana chuckled and handed him a glass of water which he drank sloppily. “I use Taiwanese and Japanese black vinegar. The former can be expensive so I make a strong batch like this to dilute.”

  Ranma nodded while he vigorously swished his mouth, hoping to clear it of intense flavors.

  Once the veggies were pickling, they moved through the rest of the meal. Hana was particularly impressed by Ranma’s familiarity with all the ingredients and his technical skills. She expected his cooking to be rustic, sloppy, and overseasoned, but he had a firm grasp of how to handle each task with very little guidance or assistance.

  What he didn’t expect was how much fun it would be. Nothing was so difficult they couldn’t chat and joke while they worked, mostly about food. Hana shared stories about cooking with her sons and warned Ranma against accepting anything made by Akio.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a sensitive question, Ranma?” She asked while rinsing salad greens.

  “Oh, uh, sure thing Mrs. Tendo.” He was busy whisking a miso vinaigrette.

  “Do you have any family recipes or dishes you’d like me to make?” At all costs, she avoided using the word ‘mother.’ She couldn’t imagine that was an easy subject.

  “Chicken curry!” He said without hesitation even while whisking. “It was the first thing I ever learned to cook and we made it a lot on the road. Pops says he got the recipe from Ma.”

  If that topic bothered him she couldn't tell. “Oh, what a coincidence! That's Akio's favorite dish too.” She turned just in time to see Ranma blush while he focused on the dressing.

  Hana once again remembered that pink-haired girl who walked into their lives barely two days ago, who Hana promised she would stop fantasizing about marrying her baby boy. Of course, she hadn't expected to need mental defenses against the image of coddling pink-haired grandbabies while she and her daughter-in-law enjoyed each others’ company in the kitchen. The escalation from wedding bells to grandchildren shocked her so much she almost dropped the salad.

  Before Ranma looked up, Hana deflected back to an earlier topic. “Be careful, he loves it but he still can't cook it.” Tittering to disguise her nerves, she took the well-mixed dressing from Ranma and tossed it into the greens.

  As if on cue, they heard the front door open and Akio shouting “We're home!” In a panic, Ranma tried to remove the apron and in his haste rattled the shelf behind him and knocked his glass of water onto his head. The smell of tonkatsu brought the teenage boys right to the kitchen, just in time to see the freshly drenched girl.

  Akio, ever gallant, even managed to catch the glass before it shattered on the ground. “Dropped something.” He flashed a sarcastically overconfident grin and posed like he’d just rescued her purse from a mugger, and despite her frustration and the embarrassment of boys seeing her in an apron all she could do was mumble her appreciation.

  Doing her best to ignore that adorable interaction, Hana embraced her sons. “Welcome home, boys! Did you have a good day?”

  Ranma felt a bit of schadenfreude as the teenagers squirmed in their mother’s arms but it was tinged with yearning and envy. It was time to shift focus to the food and he took his position at the stove to oversee the pan-fried breaded pork cutlets.

  There were only a couple left once he flipped the currently-sizzling one out of the pan. It needed a little more oil so he splashed some in and waited, readying a clean chopstick. Earlier, Mrs. Hana showed him how wood utensils would sizzle in hot oil. If you put food on the pan too soon it wouldn’t be hot enough and it would stick. If you waited too long it would burn before anything inside was finished cooking.

  It worked: Ranma tossed the last of the cutlets into the skillet and proudly sighed when they immediately sizzled. He’d thank Mrs. Hana later, when she wasn’t catching up with her sons.

  He almost jumped when a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders as Mrs. Hana leaned over to inspect her progress. Her sons followed her and Ranma was surrounded by brown-eyed giants. His internal critic, emboldened by how small and isolated he felt, started pointing out every possible thing he could have been doing wrong. He put too many cutlets in the pan at once, he sliced the cucumber too thick, he overwhisked the dressing…

  “Ranma has been a most dutiful student in the kitchen today, I should get all of you together in here soon. Akio, you could learn a thing or two from him.” Hana was beaming at him, Akio and Naoki enthusiastically complimented how good everything smelled, and suddenly all his self-criticism vanished as he was wrapped up in a blanket of familial support.

  “All right boys, that includes you, Ranma, I’m going to take care of the last few things before your brother gets home. We’ll eat in, say, a half hour.” Mrs. Hana expertly swapped places with Ranma. “Go enjoy being teens for a little while. Punch each other in the dojo, whatever it is you like to do.” She said cheerfully.

  “Perfect, we’ve got something big to discuss anyway. Come Ranma!” Naoki commanded as Akio started pushing the pink-haired boy along with them to the stairs.

  “Gah! I’m goin’, lemme take this apron off first, geez!”

  As their footsteps receded into the house, Hana began to hum.

  Akio laughed when Ranma’s jaw dropped at the sight of Naoki’s work. Papers were spread out all over the floor of Naoki’s room, each depicting a maneuver or sequence for Akio and Ranma’s “exhibition” on Friday. Though at this point it more closely resembled a dance routine.

  “I went a little overboard, but that’s what the editing process is for,” Naoki assured his brother and fake future sister-in-law. “Feel free to suggest something or veto anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

  Frankly, Akio was proud of the effort his older brother was making. Obviously part of it was a desire to choreograph a routine involving high-level martial artists, but his willingness to work with them indicated his sincere desire to make up for putting them in this situation in the first place.

  And given how excited Ranma had been earlier, he’d probably be just as enthusiastic about—

  “No way am I getting thrown around like some sort of…cheerleader!” Ranma practically exploded, his intensity shocking both Tendo brothers.

  He held up two pages depicting Akio throwing Ranma into the air and then catching him. Naoki went pale. “I…sorry Ranma, you or your dad said something about how aerial the Saotome school was, and you remember how high you jumped when you fought Kodachi?” Naoki was shaken, spurring Akio’s protective little brother instincts.

  “Naoki said we could veto anything we wanted, you don’t have to be an asshole about it.” Akio winced internally as soon as he said it, but it was too late now. At least Ranma’s anger shifted to a target who could handle it.

  “That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one he wants to get out and pretend to be a damn doll!” He jabbed a finger into Akio’s stomach, then did a quick double take when the taller boy didn’t even flinch. “I’m strong enough to throw you, too. Why don’t we trade places?”

  Naoki tried to interrupt, but Akio started getting stubborn. “I’d actually be fine with that, except I don’t know how to do a lot in mid-air. If you just wanna throw me and watch me spin a little I’d be happy to .”

  “Hey guys—”

  “And have you ruin the good name of the Saotome School? Like I’d let you do somethin’ like that.” Like this morning on the roof, they tried to intimidate each other but that just ended up with Ranma craning his neck to look up at Akio, even on his tip-toes. Akio had to bend down slightly to look him in the eyes.

  “Listen—”

  “I’d do a better job of representing your school than a violent tomboy like you!”

  Naok’s jaw dropped, it wasn’t like his brother to intentionally try and rile someone up.

  “Who are you calling a tomboy you gangly ogre?”

  “Hey! Both of you!” Naoki clapped his hands before the fiery sparks flying between Akio and Ranma’s eyes caught his room ablaze. “If you’re gonna fight, please at least do it in the dojo. Out, outta my room.” He grabbed his camera and started herding them. They bristled as he squeezed them through the door together.

  Akio couldn’t believe how quickly Ranma was set off. Obviously he wasn’t happy with his curse, but Akio figured if he was willing to go to school as a girl he wouldn’t be that bothered by something as innocent as a suggestion.

  That wasn’t worth hitting him, but Ranma and Naoki both were practically racing to the dojo, bringing Akio along for the ride. As they passed by the kitchen, his mom called out, “Where are you going?”

  Naoki shouted back, “Punching each other in the dojo!” with far too much excitement for Akio’s comfort.

  By the time they started setting up, Akio realized that Ranma shouldn’t even be mad at him anyway: Naoki was the one who suggested the throw-and-catch maneuver, all he did was defend his brother. But now Akio was the one with a diminutive pink-haired martial artist threatening to kick him in the face.

  Ranma somehow kept that furious look on his face through his stretches. Akio tried to walk things back, partly because despite his earlier confidence that he could handle Ranma, he knew the other boy had the advantage in a big space when he could move, but also because he didn’t like the idea of hitting someone who looked like a girl. “L-look, we don’t have to do the throw thing, Ranma, let’s not fight about it.”

  “Oh we’re not fighting about that anymore, you called me a tomboy .” Akio winced. He’d make sure never to use that word again if this is how he was gonna respond. “So now I’m gonna show you what this tomboy can do.”

  Naoki, who was ready to capture their impromptu fight on camera, gave a thumbs up. “Ready on my end, you guys start whenever.”

  “Are you even paying attention?” Akio’s older brother apparently didn’t care that he was responsible for this, and Akio didn’t know why he had a camera.

  “You ready for this, fiancé ?” The venom in Ranma’s voice as he spat the last word sent a cold shiver up Akio’s spine, but it was quickly replaced by anger. He couldn’t be upset at Akio about that, right? That definitely wasn’t Akio’s fault, that was entirely on Naoki and Ranma.

  “Whatever, one hit and this’ll be all over I bet, you're built like a twig no matter what form you're in, sweetie .” Did he have it in him to actually go all out against Ranma, especially in girl form? As long as Akio remembered he was actually a guy, that they weren't actually engaged, that as martial artists they both liked this stuff…maybe.

  “Oh you’re gonna pay for that! ” Ranma dashed forward, losing the battle of composure against Akio and falling into the taller boy’s trap. Akio feinted a sweep but pivoted to an overhead chop that Ranma jumped right into. The force from the blow knocked him back, but he bounced off the ground and flipped up to his feet to charge again.

  Making sure not to rely on the same trick twice, Akio waited until the last second before hopping back, catching Ranma’s leg as he tried to pull off a jumping kick and slamming him face first into the ground. Ranma gasped in pain as Akio put him into a leg lock.

  Akio leaned down and hissed “Got my hands on you. What’re you gonna do now?”

  The answer was as painful as it was effective, as Ranma whipped his head back and bashed Akio’s face. The searing pain in his nose sent him staggering back, but Ranma hooked his now free foot around Akio’s and the taller boy crashed to the floor.

  Ranma was on him in an instant, straddling Akio and hammering with his fists and elbows. “Had enough yet?” He spat through gritted teeth, and Akio realized he was way more angry than he’d let on, and Akio still wasn’t sure exactly why.

  His blows hurt though, Akio had to lock the fight down. “Why would I? You hit like a girl! ” He bluffed, but Ranma got sloppy when he wasn’t focusing.

  “ Why you—!? ” With a snarl he swung both fists together in a double axe handle at Akio’s face. He bucked his hips and rolled to the side, taking Ranma with him. The blow overshot his head and Akio slammed the pink haired boy onto his back, driving the air out of his lungs in a wheeze.

  He grabbed one of his arms and pulled it to the side, securing it with his body weight, then put his free elbow in his solar plexus just enough to be noticeable.

  Ranma squirmed and Akio increased the pressure on the smaller boy’s torso. Unfortunately for Akio, this required he pick up his hips. He wasn’t prepared for Ranma’s flexibility: as soon as there was space, he pulled his feet under Akio’s torso and kicked straight up.

  “Told you I could throw you around!” Ranma roared as Akio felt, for the first time in his life, the sensation of weightlessness. Were they outside, he would have gently slowed until he began falling back to the ground, but they were inside, so after a very brief ascent his back crashed against the dojo ceiling and bounced him back to the floor.

  Ranma was on the offensive and punted Akio through the open doors into the yard. He crashed and rolled in the dirt but still managed to get back up on his feet in time to receive his diminutive opponent’s charge.

  During their first fight, when Ranma was a girl, he never actually attacked. Akio at the time thought this was because he was weaker in that form, but he discovered that Ranma was definitely not weaker like this, “her” strikes just hit a smaller surface area. The result was that “her” blows stung even when he blocked.

  “You hit like a hornet or something, aggh!” He was wholly on the defensive, hoping to grab one of Ranma’s limbs but his attacks came so fast all he could do was deflect or roll with them.

  “Not bad for a girl , right?!” Ranma sneered back, but Akio heard a little bit of the “fun” Ranma in his voice, that same cockiness Akio found so cute on Sunday.“I wouldn’t know, I don’t hit girls!” Akio timed his rebuttal with a hail mary, letting one of Ranma’s punches through so he’d take the full force of a forward snap kick. It worked, and Akio got the brief satisfaction of seeing Ranma’s eyes bulge as he was rocked back across the yard and landed in a heap.

  Steam rose from their bodies in the cool Spring air. The wind chimes and water clock played nostalgic notes for Akio, who really wanted to be done with the impromptu fight. Ranma coughed and got back up, but Akio could tell it took effort.

  “I just remembered you fought Kodachi this morning .” Akio panted. Was Ranma fatigued before the fight started? Was Akio benefiting from a handicap the whole time? Their new house guest was scary good.

  “That’s right, and I spent the last hour on my feet helping your mom,” Ranma wheezed. He wasn’t taking a defensive stance, though he was still tense.

  “Speaking of which,” Hana stood on the engawa, mildly irritated. “Katsumi called a moment ago and said he and Mr. Saotome are on their way home. Dinner will be ready by the time they get here, but you two had better clean up.” She gestured at their now-filthy clothes.

  Naoki watched Ranma and his brother march off to the bathroom in a huff, his stomach roiling around anxiously.

  Part of it was jealousy that Akio would be in there with Ranma, alone. It was hard for him to deny his attraction to the fiery, black-haired, blue-eyed boy, but the kid was way too close to home for that relationship to work. Maybe once Naoki graduated and moved out, but that wasn’t for another year at least.

  The rest was guilt over Ranma’s explosion. He should know better, he’d cradled sobbing friends going through the same gauntlet of nonsense gender expectations as Ranma, they just had their whole lives to figure out how to cope. Ranma had only had his curse for, what, two and a half weeks? He probably wasn’t even finished recovering from the shock of it.

  Dashing up to his room, he started looking for a well-hidden little black book. It was time to make some calls.

  Had they more time, Ranma would have insisted on going first, but he didn't want to argue. Instead, he glared at Akio in the tight space of the outer bathroom. “Here's what we do: I'm gonna go scrub and wash an’ all that, then get in the furo, then you can do you. But you stay in here until I change, got it?”

  Akio's eye twitched, probably out of irritation, but he relented. “Yeah that makes sense, just be fas—AH!” Ranma started taking off his clothes and tossing them in the basket, forcing Akio to look away. “Warn a guy first, would you?”

  Rolling his eyes, Ranma slipped into the inner bath. “We're both guys, don't be such a baby.” Truth be told, he was glad Akio wasn't looking at him because then he'd see Ranma blushing. He'd get to— have to see Akio in a minute anyway.

  It didn't take him more than a couple minutes to wash himself off, but that was long enough to reflect. The fight against Kodachi was amazing, he couldn’t wait to fight her again. Everything after that, though? It was like a slow-moving train crash. The engagement, his meeting with Akio and Naoki, then talking with his dad and Mrs. Tendo. He had a slight reprieve after lunch when he did some yoga and a light workout to relax his body from the fight…and the cooking was fun.

  The cooking was more than fun, he loved the time he got to spend with Mrs. Hana, swapping stories about food. He couldn’t wait until they did it again tomorrow. Maybe they’d make curry!

  …Oh, right, tomorrow they were going shopping for clothes! It was a little frustrating that Mrs. Hana insisted they buy things for his female form, but she assured him that properly-fitted clothes would work best for whatever type of presentation he wanted, and Naoki would back her up on that.

  He didn’t understand why everyone kept helping him with this. It wouldn’t be that hard to just coast through high school as a girl, his grades weren’t going to be great or anything, and after he graduated it wouldn’t matter anyway, it wasn’t like he was going to college.

  Finally he finished and hopped in the tub. “C’mon in,” he drawled, letting the warmth wash the pink out of his hair. Then Ranma got his first good look at Akio since Sunday, when he’d been too panicked to process anything. He was smaller than Katsumi with broader shoulders, but skinnier everything else. They’d have to work on that, his shoulders and arms would throw off his center of balance, they needed to fill in his core and legs.

  Neither of them spoke even after Akio got in the tub, they just soaked and glared at each other, the emotions from the fight not having completely worn off. Ranma…realized that as a guest it would probably be a good idea to apologize first. Plus he was the one who freaked out over something so minor. He didn’t even really know why it bothered him so much now.

  “Hey, uh…sorry. About what I said earlier, an’ I’m sorry I called you an ogre.” No amount of hot water could disguise the red on his cheeks.

  Akio just laughed. “Honestly, out of all the things I’ve been called, ogre ain’t bad. If anything it’s pretty cool. And I’m sorry about what I said too. I just got defensive about Naoki, I’m used to looking out for him. You should apologize to him, too.”

  Ugh, why’s this guy so nice? Ranma nodded. “Yeah for sure. Thanks for understanding.” They both relaxed a bit after the short exchange, though Ranma could tell something was still bothering Akio.

  “Do you…can I ask what got you so upset?” Ranma leaned back and stared at the ceiling when Akio finally asked the question. Despite preparing for it, he didn’t feel ready to answer, so he started winging it.

  “I’m not even sure myself. I found out I might hafta wear a stupid dress, an’ your mom wants ta take me an’ Naoki shopping for new clothes tomorrow, and I know once I get there I’m gonna hafta put up with people thinkin’ I’m a girl all the time…y’all’ve just been doin’ such a good job not doin’ that it kinda got to me.”

  What he didn’t say was that the idea of Akio holding him like a bride after the throw embarrassed him, just like when Akio called him beautiful yesterday morning, the same sense of fluttery weightlessness spread through his core. And that embarrassment, of course, made him feel ashamed and he lashed out. What he said sounded better.

  Of course, he wasn’t expecting Akio to look so hurt. “I’m so sorry, Ranma, we didn’t mean to make you feel that way. Naoki especially, he’s been really good at explaining how much that kind of thing can hurt.”

  Ranma tilted his head. “What would he know about how I feel?”

  “He’s got some friends, I’ve never met them, who were, uh…born in the wrong body? That’s one of the ways Naoki explained it to me.” He gesticulated entirely unhelpful shapes while he spoke, which Ranma thought was a little cute. “They didn’t realize it until later and they have a hard time getting people to respect them because of it.”

  Oh, right, the guys Naoki mentioned on Sunday . Ranma nodded. “Okay yeah, that does sound right.”

  “Anyway, Ranma, if you’re ever feeling, yanno, overwhelmed by the girly stuff at school, just let me or Naoki know, we’ve got your back.” Akio smiled and that stupid fluttering feeling came back.

  Ranma had to choose between riding it out or lashing out again, and he didn’t want to start something in the bath, so he just smiled back. “Thanks, I appreciate it, man.”

  Ranma helped Mrs. Tendo bring the food to the living room, and everyone was visibly excited by the bounty on display. “Ranma, thank you so much for your help today. It was a joy having you in my kitchen, and I hope you got something out of it as well.”

  Thanks from everyone else warmed his cheeks, and he deflected the enthusiastic support with some well-placed arrogance. “A martial arts master chef like me doesn’t back down from a challenge.” Which for some reason generated a chuckle and he lightly pouted.

  Once everyone started digging in the compliments kept coming, and Mrs. Hana kept gushing about his help, especially complimenting how knowledgeable he was. “Honestly it was less like training a new student than it was comparing notes with another veteran of the kitchen,” she praised him with the utmost sincerity.

  He was about to protest, to say that cooking like that felt like something girls and women should do, that he was only good at it ‘cause of the things he had to learn when they didn’t have the luxury of a kitchen, like perfectly dicing food to make sure it cooked evenly and none was wasted.

  But then Mrs. Hana disrupted his thoughts. “Ranma, thank you for indulging me. Don’t worry about the rest of the week, you’ll be starting school in a few days and I know you’ll want to enjoy your freedom a little longer.”

  Genma gave him a supportive clap on the shoulder, the Tendo boys all looked a little disappointed, but Ranma felt like she’d punched him in the gut. Had he done something wrong? Was he actually really annoying? He was looking forward to cooking with Mrs. Hana again, and as…awkward as it was that people were celebrating his food he liked being praised for something other than martial arts for once.

  But he couldn’t just admit that, he had to maintain the illusion of casual indifference. He scanned the table for something he could latch on to, something to…seeing his dad’s face made the idea click. “Oh no, the Saotomes aren’t freeloaders. And we always keep our word,” he raised his nose and crossed his arms, projecting haughtiness. “I said I’d help for the week, and that’s what I’ll do.”

  The boys all lit up, Mrs. Hana looked like she was about to cry, and his dad…his dad looked pensive. Like he was trying to solve the puzzle of Ranma.

  Meanwhile, Ranma was trying to solve the puzzle of how to keep cooking even after the week was up. Mrs. Hana was very thoughtful, and would probably insist he stop once the week was over.

  Katsumi must have been reading his mind, because the eldest Tendo knew exactly what to say. “Technically, Ranma, you agreed to help with dinner every night you stay here .” His smile was tinged with only the slightest smidge of smugness, but Ranma didn’t care: that was a perfect excuse.

  Hana blushed and tried to walk that back. “Of course I was just teasing when I said that, you don’t really have to—”

  “No, you’re right, I don’t hafta help every night. I’m startin’ school an’ all, so I won’t have too much time, and I gotta keep my martial arts sharp. But after this week it would be dishonorable to not at least help, say, on Sundays?”

  Now everybody was staring at him, and it took every ounce of willpower not to reveal how he felt, though he knew his dad could probably see sweat forming on his brow. He had to keep it going, if for no other reason than to break the awkward silence. “I mean y’all ain’t even tried my chicken curry yet, ain’t that right, dad?”

  Thank goodness Mrs. Hana either caught on or just didn’t see the need to ask questions. “Well, all right, if those are the terms that will satisfy your honor I’d be happy for the help, Ranma.” She bowed with a huge smile and turned to his father. “You’ve raised a very responsible boy, Mr. Saotome.”

  Grinning like an idiot, Ranma looked at his dad and saw…a strangely sad smile. “Very responsible indeed, Ranma.” Genma said softly.