Tough Boy, Eh? [Noharu, Ranma]

A little rattled, yes, but Noharu was quick to put him back on track before Hōkamaru’s voice could throw him even further off the topic. He didn’t think that someone like that grumpy Spirit would want living things in their Inner World, anyway… it just didn’t make any sense. They were still, tangible images, if anything.

Now, Ranma’s entire complexion, figure and form shrunk into a chibi-like state with the looming shadow of Noharu’s spiked-up seriousness glaring down at him with laser-burning eyes. She meant what she said, from the bottom of her heart – he was sharply prohibited from fighting Shura again, and since Ranma wasn’t able to watch the battle until the end, he was bewildered at first, his face contorted into cower at just how quickly Noharu switched. “Y-Yes, ma’am…”

But she explained things right after, and… wh- what? “What?” Shura almost murdered their precious Seated superstar in a damn duel?! And here Ranma thought that Shura, at least, had her reasons to push him of all people a little, but to… nah, his gut feeling was on point. It was written on his widening eyes, shocked enough to manifest red blood vessels. An order was an order, and Noharu didn’t even need to draw upon her authority – Ranma did not enter that fight ready to die. “… Y-You, uh, you alright, then? Right? No fatal wounds left…?” Well, dumb question – Noharu was literally talking to him right now, but… he couldn’t tell why, but he had a very strong urge to ask her again, just to make sure… yeah, just to make sure…

Still, man. To think that there was a lesson to be learned from all of this – probs to Noharu for handing out these gold nuggets. Ranma… had felt a little high on his horse after achieving Shikai, so he naturally assumed that he was on his way to achieve Bankai soon as well. With the likes of Hōkamaru, he wouldn’t be surprised if it’d take another 100 years to achieve that state, but Noharu made it very clear that Bankai wasn’t an obligatory goal for every Shinigami present – that achieving Shikai of all things was no easy feat – that Bankai was powerful enough to even kill its own wielder- wait, what the hell? Was that true?!

He was good at expressing his shocked state and confusions with eye gestures alone, but thankfully, Noharu ended her lesson on a good note, which made Ranma’s eyes bubble up in tears all… childishly, almost. Comically, in a sense, too. “D-Damn… *sniff* ‘s kinda what I really wanted to hear, but didn’t know I needed to hear it until I heard it,” he expressed his gratitude while wiping his tears off with his sleeve, “Maybe I should roll back to the basics… take a break from Zanjutsu stuff. You were using martial arts for the most part – how’d you do all of that? You even stood still for a moment, and, and, and there were two of you when you used that Hohō trick then! Like this.” He’d stepped up on his feet and began dashing from side to side, accelerating until he… well… he couldn’t replicate what Noharu did, but it was the thought that counted.

“I should’ve paid more time to Hohō back at the Academy if I could do shit like that! All I was good at was Zanjutsu stuff…”

Actual doubles? That meant that he was attempting a futile task at the moment, which he promptly ceased from doing by standing still again. “No shot! You actually cloned yourself? That… that’s terrifying,” he expressed, suddenly turning pale with realizing the potential behind such an ability.

So there was Kidō, Hohō, Hakuda and Zanjutsu… and Ranma was excelling in Zanjutsu. Had he taken the wrong steps in the path, he could’ve likely turned into another Shura, but the fact that he joined the Eighth might’ve saved him from blowing holes in people’s chests as a sore loser. Thank the heavens for that. “Kidō, Hohō, Hakuda and Zanjutsu… Kidō, Hohō, Hakuda and Zanjutsu… Kidō, Hohō, Hakuda and Zanjutsu… Kidō, Hohō, Hakuda-“ he mumbled to himself, not noticing that he was uttering words out loud but thinking that his thoughts were concealed for himself, cupping his chin and almost pinching it off with how deep in thought he was, “But I suck ass at Hohō, though… I think I’m doing pretty well with Kidō for now, but… hey, Noharu, quick question – who’s the fastest Shinigami around? Is it the Captain-Commander?”

Noharu made a weird statement, but… it made sense. Wait, how was it weird, then? What she said was basically this – make good use of what you have, no reservations. He told her that he was bad at stuff like Hohō, but… was there an opportunity out there where it could still come in handy outside of trolling? If he just used his brain a little more… maybe there was. And maybe he’d just been too scared to reap the consequences of relying on a skill he genuinely believed was wasted on him…

Having a bad skill was still better than the absence of the entire skill tree to begin with. He’d make sure to remember that.

“Maybe you’re right… it’s just creepy to think about falling behind when I use Shunpo, s-so I kinda just left it alone,” he admitted with a shameful feeling souring his appearance. That was it, damn it – from now on, he’d try and use Hohō much more than before, and sooner or later, he’d reach Noharu’s level… then, he could maybe challenge her to a fight.

…

Nah. He’d rather have a toast with her.

Unfortunately for his assumption, Noharu wasn’t the fastest soul in the Society – while Ranma could easily accept that the Captain Commander was faster, the Captain of the Stealth Force also exceeded her. Ranma wanted to support his Squad’s Seated speedster, but… a Captain, ye, that sounded reasonable too. Ranma’s expressions changed a lot during Noharu’s answer, saddened that she wasn’t at the top, frustrated at not knowing who was really at the top, and curious about this Captain of the Stealth Force and how they ran their shit.

“!”

With how expressive Ranma was, it was almost tangible – the light bulb that lit up above his dome. “Noharu, I just… got the sickest idea. Holy crap, I just got an awesome idea – thank you so much for your input, I fucking love you,” he expressed with a straight face, void of any clouded confusions veiling his eyes that were almost digging right through her. He almost wanted to kiss her feet. “… I gotta go, I got to figure out a few things. Hey, I’ll hit ya up later, need ya help with trying out something, so stay in form!”

And with that, he pretty much speeded his way out, as if his wounds had already healed… and with impressive speed too, given that his Zanpakutō was active. The use of Hōkamaru’s Shikai might’ve even given Noharu a hint to what he was planning to do, given their conversation, but right now Ranma was inspired to mix one technique up with another… and once he was done, Noharu was in for a ride.

[le fin]