Chapter 232: First Contact
"Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
While she knew her cheers alone were no substitute for three hundred screaming bargoers, Akane did her best to make her soon-to-be wife and her friends feel appreciated as they stepped on the little stage that had been Ranko's home for the last year and a half.
Ranko herself blushed, waving down from the stage at her fiancee sitting alone at the VIP table. Other than Yui and Hana doing their prep work behind the bar, no one else was in the room this early, not that Ranko could easily tell. The seating portion of the room was quite dark other than the back light at the main bar and a few rays of sunlight shining in through the glass front door. Ariel dangled precariously from an aluminum ladder in the middle of the room making adjustments to the lighting mounted to the trusses in the ceiling.
"Oh, stop, we ain't even done anything yet, Akane." The songstress laughed nervously from the stage. According to Nabiki, the confrontation she dreaded could walk in the front door any day or any minute now, but she couldn't just pace the floor and wait for it. The show had to go on.
Ranko's girlfriend rolled her eyes. "Like you have to sing to be amazing to me."
Blushing, Ranko spun back to Shinji and Jacob. "You guys ready?" Ranko giggled as her twin pigtails tickled the backs of her shoulder blades, exposed as they were in the red spaghetti-strapped camisole she had paired with her favorite black pleated skirt. Jacob answered with his fingers, beginning the first rehearsal of the third new song for Ranko's second album with a soaring electric rhythm emitted from his synthesizer.
Turning back to the crowd of one, and squinting as Ariel turned a white stage light right into her face, Ranko began to sing into her handheld microphone. She hadn't worked out the choreography for the new song yet, having only heard the music Jacob had written for it once before, so her motions were limited to a light swaying of her hips to keep time.
"Can't afford a mega-mansion on what I make in rhyme, but my one-bedroom apartment's rent is paid on time. I don't have the latest fashions from the boutiques on Rodeo, but I'm cute in anything I wear, so I think that's okay, though! I might not be booking private planes to go have lunch in Paris, but I order what I want right here and never get embarrassed. Yeah, I'm still working my ass off, tryin' hard to make that dough, but I just couldn't be prouder of the way I do it, though!"
Akane chuckled darkly. Oh, you have no idea, Ranko. With all of her fiancee's other worries, Akane hadn't shared with her just how thoroughly strained their finances continued to be as they finished up planning for their wedding just a few short weeks away. Fortunately, the strains of the clinicals she'd soon be working as part of the second year of her degree program at Minato University would keep her busy enough that she'd have an excuse to skip date nights for a while. Unfortunately, however, she knew how badly Ranko needed the distraction right now.
"Not sayin' everything is perfect. Still not top of the chart. But I'm proud of where I am, and it's a damn good start. I've still got a lot of work to do. That's fine with me! I may not be where I'm going, but I'm right where I wanna be!"
And she was. She was truly happy in her life. And try though she had to hide it, Akane knew just how terrified Ranko was, because any day - any second - now, she would have to fight for it again. Their message had been delivered; she was ready to come face-to-face with the most distant, most dangerous part of her past. Well, not ready, but as ready as she was going to get.
"I don't have a giant entourage a thousand strong, but I've got someone I love who rocks me all night long!" Ranko blew a kiss to Akane as she sang the line, eliciting a blush from her fiancee.
"Guess the crowds up in America still haven't heard of me, but I'm wanted, I have worth, and I have people who love me! Sure, it's true, they might not know me everywhere I go, but I'm the hottest thing to hit one bar in Tokyo. Yeah, you won't hear me on TV, because my lyrics ain't the cleanest, but you'll always catch me Fridays, spittin' fire at the Phoenix!"
Yui smiled warmly, tossing the empty tequila bottle she'd replaced into the trash after draining the last of the bottle into a shot glass. With a loud whoop, she slammed the last shot of the bottle back. After all this time, she still remembers the mantra I taught her. Good. I'm glad it helps her.
Ranko took a few flouncing steps and kicked into a spin, trying out potential moves for the eventual performance. "Not sayin' everything is perfect. Still not top of the chart. But I'm proud of where I am, and it's a damn good start. I've still got a lot of work to do. That's fine with me! I may not be where I'm going, but I'm right where I wanna be!"
Still shielding her eyes from Ariel's adjustments to the lighting, Ranko didn't notice the front door of the bar opening, admitting a middle-aged brunette in a mint-green floral kimono. A meter-long bundle wrapped in a blue cloth was strapped over her shoulder.
Mei caught a glimpse of her as she replaced nearly-empty salt shakers on the tables, striding up to her with a smile and a wave. "Hi there! Welcome to the Phoenix! We're closed right now, but we'll be open at six if you want to come back!"
As she spoke, the singing voice raining down from the singers became more of a spoken rap over the bridge of the new song in development.
"The path that other people took to get here's not the same, and it don't make me wish for different, 'cause I'm really not ashamed of it. I got up on that stage one night, and people started noticing, and now I get the masses shakin' asses every time I sing. I'll probably never be so famous that Madonna's gonna bow to me, but everyone I care about is really fucking proud of me."
The woman in the kimono gasped. Such language, in public. And from a girl, to boot! What must her parents think? She looked up at Mei hopefully. "I'm looking for Akane Tendo?"
Mei nodded, pointing to the VIP table. "She's working with the talent right now, but I'll let her know you're here. Wanna grab a seat?" Mei turned toward the VIP table, stopping after a step and whirling again. "Oh, I forgot. Can I tell her who's asking?"
The woman in the kimono nodded with a little bow. "Nodoka Saotome. And thank you."
Returning to her singing voice, watching with some concern as Mei approached the VIP table, Ranko continued with the rehearsal of her third verse.
"If you knew me way back then, you'd think it really was surprising that the shattered girl I was somehow got up, and I'm still rising. Like a Phoenix, all my ashes sparked to life and now I'm burning. Sure, I'm still a work in progress. I'm still young, and I'm still learning. I'd forgotten how to dream when I was broken and defeated. Looking back, I realize that I have everything I needed. Yeah, I'm getting some momentum going, baby! What a feeling! I've just barely left the ground, and I am nowhere near my ceiling!"
Mei leaned over Akane's shoulder, speaking close to her ear over her wife-to-be's celebratory voice blasting through eighteen thousand watts of Electro-Voice speakers. "There's a Nodoka Saotome here to see you?"
Akane's face went ashen white. Here we go, baby. Ready or not. "Um… Thanks, Mei. Tell her I'll be with her in just a minute." Breathe, Akane. Breathe. It's gonna be okay. Time to be strong. For Ranko.
Ranko popped her hips to the side, crouching and rolling her shoulders. It was a move she picked up from Paula Abdul's music videos. "Not sayin' everything is perfect. Still not top of the chart. But I'm proud of where I am, and it's a damn good start. I've still got a lot of work to do. That's fine with me! I may not be where I'm going, but I'm right where I wanna be!"
Akane stood, turning her back to the stage, looking her ivory dress over in the mirrored wall behind the bar. Gotta make a good impression. I suspect I'm up for inspection, too. She tentatively strode to the front of the room, where the woman who had given birth to her partner sat at table eleven. She hesitated to call her Ranko's mother; that was an honor she had yet to earn, and one reserved for Hana in any case. She swallowed a mouthful of saliva and dread. "Hello, Mrs. Saotome. I'm Akane." She bowed deeply, in part to hide the worry etched on her face for a moment.
Nodoka stood, offering her a little bow in return. "It's good to meet you, Akane. I hope I'm not intruding on your work, but your sister Nabiki told me I might find you here, and that you might know something about my son, Ranma? I've been searching for him for ages. Please, could you help me?"
Ariel turned off the light he was working on, allowing Ranko the first clear view she'd had of the bar room. She saw Akane talking with a woman she didn't recognize, but yet, she knew.
I'm kinda surprised how much she looks like me, she thought with a hard swallow. I figured I probably looked more like the girl that drowned at Jusenkyo.
Ranko sighed heavily. Here goes everything. Please accept me. Or at least, ignore me. Just don't break everything I've built. Please. Please.
Suddenly, the last line of Right Where I Wanna Be meant so much more, and she belted it out with a conviction that sought to bolster her own flagging confidence.
"All my broken pieces fit together perfectly! No, I'm still not where I'm going, but I'm right where I wanna be!"
Akane nodded in response to Nodoka's question. "Yes, ma'am. We have a lot to talk about, but… we can't really do it here where I work. And where Ranko's family is. Can I please bring you back to my apartment? It's only a few blocks from here."
Crash clapped Ranko on the shoulder with his hand. "I think it's coming out pretty good!"
Ranko nodded absently, her eyes still locked on the two women conversing in the front of the bar. "Yeah. Just… gimme a minute, Crash, 'kay?" She smoothed the black skirt she wore, slowly making her way down the three steps to the bar floor with a trepidatious trudge like she had been summoned to the principal's office.
In hell.
Nodoka nodded hopefully, bending down and gathering the long blue cloth-wrapped bundle from the red vinyl bench she'd occupied in the little two-seater booth. "As you wish. Just, please, I need answers. I can't handle any more misdirection."
Akane bobbed her head, buying time until Ranko joined them, and gave a knowing, concerned glance up to her as her fiancee approached.
Ranko bowed deeply to… her mother. She almost dared not even imagine it, after all this time. "Mrs. Saotome. It's… an honor to meet you." Again. "My name is Ranko. Ranko Tendo. I'm Akane's… roommate." One bomb at a time.
The elder Saotome returned the singer's bow. "It's good to meet you too, Ranko. Akane and I were just about to head to her apartment to talk. Will you be joining us?"
"Yes, ma'am." Ranko nodded, her eyes rapidly vacillating between hope and terror.
Nodoka turned to the door, and Akane let her get a few steps ahead before reaching out and squeezing Ranko's hand tightly.
"I love you. Whatever happens next, remember that. You're not in this alone."
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