Hello fellow FFMLer's! I got to get my stuff to the RAAC someday so why not start slowly at a time? I'm going to re-relase monthly my old fics for pre-RAAC beta testing. So here is that infamous fic, "Berserker." (You old ffml people remember this? Oh yeah, hehe) And guess what? Yes C&C - good. No C&C - bad.
-begin-
Bile Studios Presents:
Ranma 1/2: Berserker
by Jang Choe
Author's Prenote:
In this story, you are a male student. If you're a female and reading
this, try to use some imagination. Also, if he doesn't have your type of
personality, then use your imagination again. Try to enjoy it, I know
it's hard.
***
Your name is Matsumoto Ikari, the new student at Furinkan High.
You just arrived yesterday and hope to make some new friends there.
You go into the main office to register as a new student. You see this
weird looking Hawaiian man, wearing sunglasses and playing a ukeley,
sitting on the principal's desk. You think, "Who is this weirdo?" Alas,
after a grueling registration process, you are finally registered into
Furinkan High.
You leave his halls with his annoying laugh ringing through
your ears. You go through the school halls to your new class, eager
and nervous. You open the door and go in, you see a Japanese man in
his late thirties, sitting at his desk. The man notices you through his
glasses and says, "Ah, so you must be the new student."
You nod and go over to the teacher and give him the note. The
teacher looks at it and you are seated next to this kid named
Gosunkugi Hikaru. You look at your classmate; he is very skinny and
pale. You notice his bags under his eyes. Hmph, he should get some
more sleep. You don't like how he looks, but he does seem harmless.
Well, the class starts.
The teacher's name is Mr. Takazawa. Leisurely, Takazawa goes in
front of the chalk board and tells us to open our books. "So, the
problem on page 143, can anybody solve it?" Takazawa says.
You look at page 143 and look at the problem. "In a race, a race
car reaches the quarter-mile (402 m) marker with a speed of 80 m/s.
What is his acceleration and how long did the run take?"
"Well, does anyone know?!" The teacher asks again. We all stare
at him in silence. You hope that he doesn't call on you and shrink into
your chair. "I think I know it sir." You hear. You look around and
see a short haired, cute girl who said that remark.
"Okay Miss Tendo, come up here and do it." Takazawa says.
You put your hand on your chin and watch her do the problem.
After a few minutes, she gets the answer of 7.96 m/s^2 for the
acceleration and 10.1 s for the time. You have no idea what she did.
Physics was never your strongest subject.
Mr. Takazawa thanks her and tells us to look at page 144.
Takazawa makes us read the next chapter. You try to read it but
reading text books is not your thing. Your mind wonders off. You are
reading it, but the words escape through a hole in your head
immediately after your eyes pick it up. Suddenly, you realize that you
are daydreaming about what will be in store for the next class.
"AND FURTHERMORE!"
You jump and look around. Mr. Takazawa is continuing his lecture.
Everyone is taking notes. Well, you shouldn't daydream too long.
Pay attention!
"Projectile motion," Takazawa says. "As you read the book you
should know what it is. But let me elaborate on this. What is a
projectile? Well, it is an object thrown that follows, and the direction
is the trajectory. The trajectory is always the shape of a parabola. For
those of you don't know, a parabola is . . . "
You try to write down everything he says but fail. You can't
believe how fast he is talking, and he doesn't pause either. You look
at the other kids and notice that they are having a hard time also.
Finally, the class/hell ends and paradise begins. Well, you hope
that paradise begins in the next class . . .
Physics class and the other classes are the same, boring. You are
glad that school is finally out and start to leave. As you go out,
cracking your back, you see a few familiar faces from your class. As
you turn, you see some arguing between a guy with a red, traditional
Chinese shirt and a girl with short hair. You go in closer on what
they're arguing about. You are always nosy.
"I told you, why didn't you eat the lunch I made for you?" The
short haired girl screamed at the boy.
"Hey, I told you, I was full. If I had known, I probably have eaten
it." The boy talked back.
"You knew about it, but you ignored me and took Ukyo's food."
"Yeah, well . . . " Before he finished, he noticed that you were
listening in. "Will you mind?" That boy asks rudely.
"Ummm," You manage to say. "I'm sorry."
"Oh don't be sorry." The short haired girl said. "Ranma here is
always obnoxious."
"What? You're the one who is obnoxious, you tomboy!" The boy
named Ranma screamed.
As you look around, you see everybody is minding their own
business. You assume that this stuff happens every day. So you
decide to leave them alone and go on your way.
You walk for a while and begin to feel hungry. You hear your
stomach growl with dissatisfaction and you start digging into your
pocket. "I wonder if I have any money." You think as you feel inside
your pocket. You fish out about 500 yen.
As you look around for a place to eat, you see that same short
haired girl walking down the street with her head down. "I wonder
what's wrong?" Well, who cares? You ignore her, and you start
looking for the nearest restaurant. Suddenly, you feel someone
tapping your left shoulder.
"Hello," Someone said.
You turn back and you see it's that girl. "Um, hi." You murmur.
"I'm sorry on how Ranma acted earlier; he's just so immature." She
says.
"Um, not to be nosy, but what did he do?"
"Oh, Ranma just made me upset. I sometimes sulk by myself when
I get mad."
"And?"
"Ranma simply doesn't want to eat my cooking, after worked so
hard to make it for him."
"Why?"
"I don't know . . . "
"Well, would . . . would you like to have lunch with me?" You
say, without knowing why you said that. You assume that it's the
loneliness of being the new student, or maybe because you find her
somewhat attractive. Maybe because you never had any friend because
of your . . .
"Sure, if you're hungry, you can eat Ranma's lunch I made for
him."
"Umm no, I really can't."
"Well, I can't let it go to waste."
You think for a moment and say, "Well, oh right," and you take
the lunch box from her. You don't want to do this, but hey, it's a free
lunch. You open the lunch box at where you're standing. You take the
chopsticks from her and start probing at the food.
As you look at the lunch, you start noticing weird combinations of
various foods. "This . . . looks amusing." You say.
You take a small green-red rice clump on your chopstick and start
chewing it. All of a sudden, your eyes bulge out. You can't believe it.
"Do you like it?" The girl asks with a smile.
"Ug," You say. "HOTTT!" You start breathing heavily and drop
the whole lunch. You start gagging and screaming, "Hott! Water!"
"Oops, I guess I accidentally put too much washabi and red
peppers. Hold on, let me get my tea I made."
You quickly grab the thermos and gulp the whole contents down
your throat. Come to think of it, the green tea had this sickening taste
to it. On the other hand, the hot, tingly sensation covers up that taste.
Even though you have a slight, horrible aftertaste of the tea.
"How's the tea?" She asks.
"Ummm," You say and think for a moment. You don't want to
make her feel bad so you give a thumbs up.
"Well, at least you're honest. I'm Akane, Tendo Akane."
She says.
You look at her. Boy, she IS cute. "I . . . I'm Matsumoto,
Matsumoto Ikari." You say.
"Nice to meet you. Well, sorry about the food. Anyway, I gotta
go. I just remembered that I had to help my sister with something.
See you tomorrow!" She says as she runs off.
"Tendo Akane," You whisper. "What a lovely name." You then
walk off to your house.
You arrive at your house and you go to your room. As you open
the door, you see Akane sitting on the bed.
"Huh? What are you doing here?" You ask. "I thought you said
you were doing something for your sister or . . . something.
She seductively brushes her bangs back. "I saw how you were
looking at me earlier. You seem to like me, is it true?"
"I uh . . . I . . . Uh . . . Well . . . uh . . . " You stud, you really
know how to be cool in front of a girl.
"Well," She says putting her arms around you. "If you do think I'm
attractive, then I want you to kiss me."
"Ki . . . kiss you?!"
"Yes," She says and closer her eyes.
You look at her face, waiting for the kiss. She is surprisingly
beautiful for some reason. Like a magnetic attraction, you draw your
face near hers. Then your lips touch that sweet . . .
She opens her mouth and sings.
"HUHHHH?!" You scream as you wake up. "Damn alarm radio."
You curse as you drag yourself out of the bed and shut the damn thing
off. "Man, that green tea she gave me yesterday still has that stink
aftertaste." You say as you scratch yourself and go to the bathroom.
You do that wash, dress, eat, and run off to school routine you
always do. You realize that it's still early so you slow your pace to
school. As you reach the school, you see Akane and Ranma walking
toward the school from the opposite direction.
"Hi Akane!" You say as you wave to her.
"Hi Ikari!" She waves back.
As you get nearer, you hear Ranma say, "Who is he?"
"This is Matsumoto Ikari." She says.
Ranma looks at you carefully, and quietly says, "Hi."
"Hi," You say.
The three of you walk into the school, quietly. You turn your head
and look at Akane. She wasn't incredibly beautiful as you remember in
your dream, but oh well, she still looks cute. You turn the other way
to look at Ranma. Ranma is walking, carrying his bag over his
shoulder. It looks like he is really fit, maybe a martial artist you
assume.
Suddenly Ranma notices you looking at him. "What are you staring
at?" Ranma asks.
"Uh nothing." You say, averting your eyes. Sheesh, what a rude
person. Maybe you should teach him a lesson.
"Well, what's on your mind?" Ranma says.
You can't think of anything and just ignore him.
"You aren't one of those types are you?" Ranma says.
"Ranma!" Akane scolds him.
Well, your blood starts boiling to a dangerous degree, but for your
benefit, you keep your cool. Since he won't leave you alone why not
just say what's on your mind? "Hey, Ranma."
"What?"
You point toward Akane "Why don't you like to eat your older
sister's food?"
"WHAT?! OLDER SISTER!?" Ranma says furiously.
You hear Akane giggle behind you.
"You think I look like a kid?!" Ranma snarls.
"Oops," You think. "bad mistake."
"I'm sorry, it's just that . . . " You try to say.
"Ranma, calm down." Akane says in between laughs. "Ikari,
Ranma is about the same age as I am."
"Oh, is he your cousin or something?" You ask.
"No, we're fiancees." She says. "Our parents made this arranged
marriage."
A fiancee . . . "Oh." You feel like you been crushed by a huge
boulder. Fiancee . . . so she's taken. You sigh and walk to your class.
It's lunchtime, and you realize you forgot your lunch. "Damn," you
curse. "and I don't have any money either." You look around instead
and see bunch of people eating. This makes you feel hungrier. You
notice Ranma and Akane. You think about what she said this
morning. You look at them, looks like she packed another lunch for
him. Well, you guess you would go talk to them. You rarely had any
friends in the old school. You know why, it's because of your . . . you
forget about it and walk to their table.
"Hi, mind if I join you?" You say to them.
"Umm, yea sure." Akane says.
"Ranma- honey, here's a new okonomiyaki I made for you!" This
long haired boy? you just appeared out of nowhere said.
"Thanks Ucchan." Ranma says as he takes the okonomiyaki.
You wish you had one. Mmmm, that looks good. The aroma is
enticing. Your mouth is drooling, so wipe it off.
"Ranma! I made this lunch for you!" Akane screamed at him.
"Akane, Ranma-honey wants to eat mine." The long-haired boy or
girl or whatever it was said.
"Ohh . . . " Akane fumed.
"Ranma!" You hear somewhere and see a girl in a Chinese
shirt running. "I made good kung pow chicken for you Ranma."
"Uhh thanks Shampoo." Ranma says.
Gee, he sure is popular with the ladies.
"Hey, bugger off. Ranma- honey wants to eat my okonomiyaki!"
That brown haired girl, you think, says.
"No, he no eat your okonomiyaki. Ranma eat my chicken."
That cute girl says. You assume, with her accent, that she's
Chinese.
"Ranma, I thought you'll eat mine!" Akane says.
You look at the commotion and decide something. Even though
Akane is his fiancee, it's by their parent will as you recall. That means
you might have a chance to have her. It seems that Ranma doesn't
care for Akane anyway. "Akane, I'll eat your food!" You say.
The four looks at you in surprise. "You want to eat Akane's
food?" The Chinese girl says. "You die if you do."
"Uhhh, I forgot my lunch. And I'm really hungry." You say slightly
chuckling. Why would you die if you eat her food? You're sure that
her foods are not all hot.
"Okay . . . " Akane sighs giving you her food.
"Thanks," You take the food and take a bite out of it. and notice
it's very good! "Hey, this is great!" You say as you scarf down the
rest.
"Are you joking?" Ranma says in surprise. "Akane's food, good?
Impossible!"
"I told you to try it Ranma" Akane says.
<->
Lunchtime passes . . .
<->
You are walking down the halls for your last class of day.
Dragging your feet, you "eagrly" drag yourself to your last class. Like
a warm, fuzzy sweater in a snowstorm, you hear Akane call your
name. You turn to greet her. "Hi."
"Hello, thanks for eating my food even though what happened
yesterday." Akane said.
You chuckle. "Oh you're welcome. I was really hungry."
"Actually, I hate to admit that I am a terrible cook. I got my sister
to cook it for me. I wanted to surprise Ranma."
"Do . . . you like Ranma?" You ask suddenly.
"What?"
"Ranma's your fiancee, do you love him as one?"
"Well, he's rude, obnoxious, stubborn, and . . . " She says bitterly.
You assume that she doesn't like him. Even though she never did
answer the question. That means that you might have a chance for her
to be your girl friend! You are excited but that excitement fades
quickly as you hear the bell sound.
"Crap, the bell!" You say as you run off to your last class. "See
you later Akane!"
She too runs off.
All thorough your class, you dream about Akane. I mean, you
have this major crush on this girl. You miss everything that is said in
your history class as the bell brings back to reality.
You walk out of the class and the school looking for Akane.
All of a sudden, you bump into someone. It is Ranma.
"Look, I want to say this nicely." Ranma begins. "Akane is my
fiancee got that?"
"I know."
"Then why are you being friendly with her? Saying her cooking is
good and stuff? It tasted bad didn't it?"
"Well, no."
"You lie, and I saw you talking to Akane before the last class.
Were you trying to ask her out?"
"No, I . . . "
"Look, just stay away from her. I hurt too many people and I don't
want to hurt you."
"Jealousy," You think. "I guess he really loves her. But as long as
Akane doesn't love him. I wonder if he can really hurt me?"
"Hey!" You hear as you turn around and see Akane. You decide
to test this out.
"Hi Akane," You say. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"
"Well, uh . . . " She says looking at Ranma, who looks pissed.
"Hey, I told you to stay away from her!" Ranma yells.
"Ranma, leave him alone!" Akane says. "Are you jealous?"
"No, of course not! Fine, have your little date, what do I care?"
Ranma says walking away.
Akane sighs, "Well, I guess I will. To teach Ranma a lesson and I
haven't been on a date . . . ever."
"Great!" You say. "Uhh, how about tonight at eight at
at . . . "
"How about the EFGF*? They have some great food there."
"Okay, sure. The EFGF at eight." You say excited as she walks
off. "I'll see you there."
(*EFGF is pronounced as "efugefu." Like ABCB is pronounced
"abucabu," or however it's pronounced.)
Your first date. With the girl of your dreams too. You literally
skip to your house.
You are extremely excited about this. You don't know what to do;
you never went on a date before. You go into your room and look for
what to wear. As you rummage through, you finally find something
you think that is right.
As you walk down the street, you notice that people are staring at
you in a funny way. You don't care, you have a date. You buy some
flowers and start towards her house. Her house . . . where in the
world was it? She never told you where her house was. You don't
want to start asking people, but you have no choice. Wait a minute,
random people don't know who Akane Tendo is. You are about to
give up when you see some girls from your school.
"Hey!" You yell to them.
They all walk to you and wave. "Wow, what are you so
dressed up about?" One of them says.
"Uhhhm, any of you know where Tendo Akane lives?"
"You have a date with Akane?" The other one says while the
others giggle. "And where are you going? The prom? You're kinda
over dressed."
"Uhhh, you think so?" You say blushing.
"Where are you going?" One of them says.
"To . . . umm EFGF."
"EFGF? That's three blocks away. Maybe she's waiting for you
down there." She says giggling with her friends.
You thank them and head toward the EFGF. You are kinda cross
that they are making fun of the way you dress. You finally arrive at
EFGF and look at your watch; it says 7:46.
You wait for a few minutes but she does not show up. "I'll wait
another five minutes." You say to yourself as you wait some more.
You look at your watch again; it says 8:10. "So she's ten minutes late,
so what?"
You finally leave the EFGF alone, flowers in hand, dropping.
You look at your watch and it says 9:02. You waited more than an
hour for her to show up. You clench your teeth and feel the wrath
building inside you. "I've been stood up." No really. You crush the
roses you hold in your hand. Blood drips from your hand from the
thorn. I can't believe this. It's probably that Ranma's fault."
You head toward the school the next day. You avoid the others
and go to your class. You try to forget what happened yesterday and
wait for the class to start. Amidst the talking in the class, you
accidentally notice Akane and Ranma come in. Akane sees you and
gives a little wave and a smile. You shift your eyes elsewhere. "How
dare she do this to me?" You think as you look down at your desk.
The bell rings and the class starts. Physics class, you hate that
class. You now hate it more with Akane and Ranma in the room.
"So, this is how you approach a problem like number 12 . . . "
You hear the teacher say. But you don't concentrate on him, you
think about what Akane did to you last night.
You ignore them for the rest of the school day and you head for
home. All of a sudden, Akane runs up to you and says, "What's wrong
Ikari? You are ignoring us the whole day."
You avoid looking at her in the eye, but you slowly, quietly say,
"Where were you?"
"What?" She asks.
"You know, at the EFGF, why weren't you there?"
"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot. I . . . Why don't we go out another
time?"
"You were going to go out with her?" Ranma asked. "Why do you
want to go out with this uncute tomboy anyway? You should be glad
that she didn't show up."
"Ranma! You jerk!" Ranma screamed angrily.
"Ranma . . . " You say to yourself. "You still love her but you
can't show that in front of her. You dare call her names?!"
"Oh shut up, what are you going to do about it?"
Then you relase him, or you release yourself.
You grab Ranma's collar and start pounding him. "You don't say
that about Akane!" You pound his head onto the pavement. "You
want me to do something about that you piece of shit?!" Then that
was the last thing you remember.
You come back to reality. "Not again," you say panting.
"How can this happen again!?" You slowly wipe your tears and go
off. You were cursed from the beginning. You had the spirit of Hyuri,
the berserker demon, since the day you were born. Those petty fake
shamans couldn't do anything to exorcize the demon. You moved
twelve times already in your life, result of seriously hurting at least one
person. You never had any friends because of this curse. They were
afraid to go near you because you might relase Hyuri.
Nerima was different, this town was pretty far away from where
you last lived. Therefore, they never heard of you nor your berserker
curse. You and your family wanted to start again. You had some
great successes in holding in that berserker rage. However, as you
figured out right now, certain unexpected things can still trigger it.
The people at your school were surprised to hear you actually put
Ranma, the martial artist, in the hospital. You have no control over
the berserker, you can't control its rage. People say your strength and
speed increases a hunderedfold when Hyuri takes control of you. You
don't know that, you always black out when the berserker takes over.
Ranma, Akane's fiancee, is in the hospital. You saw Akane's face,
a face of terror, as she watched Ranma lay on the ground, bleeding.
You are now, once again, an outcast. When you go to the school the
next day, everybody is avoiding you. You hang your head in
depression.
You hear whispering every time you pass a group of students. This
alone could have brought out Hyuri, but you learned to control that.
But your peers don't know.
You notice that Akane was not at class today. The teacher is
giving his lecture on Mechanics, and, once in a while, somebody turns
his head to give a reassuring look that you're still calm. You can feel
the nervousness in the room. But the teachers seem not to care. Mr.
Takazawa treats me the same as he treats the other students. Maybe
because he doesn't know, maybe he has a heart in that fierce body of
his, or maybe he doesn't care if you can kill him, he just want to do his
job.
As the school ends, you walk out alone, again. You assume that
it's time to move. Maybe to America, or some other country. You
walk a few blocks and as you turn the corner, you come face to face
with Akane, holding flowers. You look into her eyes this time, and
you whisper very quietly, "I'm sorry."
She drops the flowers and looks at them. She then looks back at
you and her face becomes lifeless. She then walks passed you,
without saying a word. You want to follow her, you want to tell her
about the berserker and how he's inside you. You want to call out her
name, but she runs.
You feel the world in crushing down. You feel very alone, in
darkness. You've been rejected by almost all your peers. Even by the
girl you like, that is a major stab at the heart. You shake your fist as
you try to hold in Hyuri. You calm down and walk a little farther to a
bridge. You look down to the creek. It is not a big drop, but if you
hit the rocks head on, you might be able to finish yourself, protecting
others from the berserker. Or would it? Maybe his sprit will be
released, possessing other people.
You decide not to do it, you never had enough courage to do it
anyway. You walk towards your house and decide. You don't want
to move away anymore. No matter how far you run, your tormentor
will always be inside you. You decide to call Akane and tell her what
is exactly happening with you. You decide not to move this time.
You don't have the courage to kill yourself but you somehow
have enough courage to do this. You go to a public phone booth, put
in your Sailor Moon phone card, and look inside the phone book.
There are about 20 or 30 Tendos in the phone book. But you look at
the address that is near your district. You find about twelve of them.
You call the first two and they are wrong numbers. You call the third
one and a young woman's voice answers. "Hello, this is Tendo
Nabiki speaking." You hear.
"Uh may I speak to Akane?" You say.
"Akane? You just missed her, she went out to buy flowers for
Ranma. She should be at the hospital with Ranma right now."
"Uh thanks." You say as you hang up.
"The Hospital," You think. "I'll . . . visit her there." You quickly
run towards the hospital, stopping to get some flowers. "I'll give this
to Ranma." You say as you head for the hospital.
You ask the nurse where Ranma is, and she tells you. You go to
his room and open the door carefully. You hear Akane talking and
you stop. She doesn't seem to notice you left the door ajar, with you
standing behind it. You hear her say things like how she won't leave
him. She tells him that it's her fault for this to happen. "Nonsense,"
You think. "This was all my fault."
You can't stop but listing to Akane talking to Ranma. All of a
sudden, you thing you hear her say, "I love you." It doesn't matter,
you just head out of the hospital, throwing the flowers in the trash. Of
all the people, you finally got a girl to like you, but she loves someone
else.
Can you still get Akane? Can you still make her love you? Heck,
even to mildly accept you? No, you can't. Why? becase when Ranma
became better Akane started to come to school again. She still
ignores you. You call her but she hangs up on you. You finally
realize that it's near impossible to get to talk to you again. You give
up, and you are tired of people still staring at you and walking away
from you.
You decide to move even though you swore that you never will.
You left Nerima, to Okinawa this time. You never had the chance to
tell Akane goodbye.
-fin
***
Weee! A happy fic!
Hyuri the berserker spirit is from Record of Loddoss War. I was
going to intend this to be my usual first person prose fic, but I tried
something different. I hope you liked being the berserker.
:)
Please C&C to Yinyang@altered.com
Bile Studios is a trademark of Jang Choe
Ranma 1/2 (C) Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty Fuji TV. 1996
all rights deserved.