Chapter Text
“Home” Ranma thought in his head.
Ranma was walking home with Akane on a Friday summer after a busy day at school. For some reason, today everyone was talking about it. This ranged from the homes they came from, lived in, and currently live in. The word eventually got stuck in his head and began to ring as he began to pass by more homes down the road. He began thinking about how he never really had a “home” since he and his father would never stay long in a place during his training journey. Ranma turned his head to the side to look at the houses more as he and Akane walked by them. While Japanese houses had their charm and were a lot more clean. It was nothing compared to the neighborhood houses he’d seen around the southern region of China. The homes and apartments there were even more compact and varied in colors, shapes, and cleanliness in certain cities. All of which were exemplified in the walled city of Kowloon. The compact living quarters, tiny alleyways where black mold grew, or water from sewage would drop on your head. Despite how terrible that all sounded, there was an appeal to Kowloon. How people could live in such a city, and how everyday people managed to live their entire lives living there. Another realization that popped into Ranma’s head was that the squalor in Tokyo was nowhere near as bad as Kowloon’s. So naturally the city was going to be more clean.
Right as Ranma and Akane were supposed to take a left turn at an intersection that led into a shopping district. Ranma found himself walking forward anyway. The nostalgia of Kowloon began to get into his head more as more memories flooded back of his time there. Walking through the busy streets. Food stall vendors, jewelry vendors selling their goods on rugs, clothing stores, and many more. Ranma then began to imagine he was there again. All the homes and nearby shops began to look exactly like the streets he and Pa took in Kowloon. Suddenly, Ranma noticed a clothing store that was selling qipaos and other dresses. He stopped to look at them quickly. He knew it wasn’t a very “manly” thing to be doing, but he couldn’t help it. A memory began to be played before him when he did the same thing years ago, when he was a young boy in Kowloon. He stopped just like how he did just now, but the shop owner came out and greeted him. Upon hearing him respond in Japanese, the owner then asked him in Japanese if he liked what he saw, and the younger him nodding and said they looked very pretty.
“Well, young miss, you can’t wear these now, but when you grow up, a woman like you would eventually be able to wear these all the time”. Ranma turned his head back forward, and just in time before young Ranma could say anything else, he was grabbed and yanked away by Genma.
“Boy, we don’t have time to be looking at these clothes. Besides, it’s unmanly of you to be doing so and distracts from the art!” He shouted at him as the two continued walking down the street.
Ranma continued walking while following his younger self and Genma, while hearing a “Oh, that was a boy?” from the confused shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper muttered something else in Chinese right after, but Ranma couldn’t focus on it as he walked and kept watching his younger self be dragged for a bit before being able to walk himself forward. As he continued walking forward. A delicious smoke came by from the building next to him and passed through his nose. Another memory played before his eyes as he looked on ahead.
“But, Pa, I’m hungry!” Genma then looked down at him and scowled.
“Boy, we can’t stop for food. We don’t have a lot of money, and we can’t even communicate with the locals.”
Ranma then stood there as he watched his younger self cry as the smell began to drive him and his younger self crazy. As his younger self cried more, a crowd started to form and watch the two foreigners making a scene. However, just at the peak of his crying, the restaurant owner came out of his building with a small plate of fried chicken bits coated in a light sauce with lemons garnishing it.
“Don’t cry little one! Here, have some food for your tummy!” the store owner said in perfect Japanese as he handed the plate with chopsticks to a young Ranma. “You speak Japanese?” Genma said in surprise.
“Indeed, I have some relatives that live in japan so I took to learning it at a young age.” the store owner replied back.
As the crowd began to disperse, the store owner then looked down and saw the plate completely finished by young Ranma. “What is this? It was nothing like I have ever eaten before!” the young Ranma exclaimed.
The store owner then replied in Cantonese, “níngmèhng gāi”. “Ningamheng?” Younger Ranma tried copying. “Lemon chicken” the store owner clarified in Japanese.
Ranma stood still as he watched the three converse more. Ranma found himself second by second losing himself to the memories of Kowloon and lemon chicken. He then heard “Ranma” being said, but he ignored it until a louder “Ranma” was shouted behind him, and he felt his shoulder grabbed and flung him around.
“Ranma! How long are you going to keep standing there!” Akane said to him. Ranma then blinked and saw his surroundings return to normal. “Akane, I was just umm?” Ranma said as he started to lose his words. “Are you okay? Not only did you just suddenly continue walking forward instead of taking the usual left. You also kept stopping in front of shops and just stared at them.” Akane said to him.
This was a complete surprise to Ranma. Akane was showing concern for him, not annoyance or getting upset with him? It’s not that she’s never shown concern for him before, but every time she had, Ranma never knew entirely what to say or do. Just looking at her and seeing her face without a frown, and instead a genuine worry. She was too damn cute.
“S-sorry, Kane. I guess I got too caught up in my own world hehe.” he sheepishly replied back to her.
Just as quickly, Akane went from concerned to angrily shouting, “Well, now because of you we’re going to be late getting home!”.
“Just as when you were starting to be cute, you start acting like an uncute, not sexy, tomboy again! Besides, you didn’t need to follow me either!” he shouted back at her.
“Well, if I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have been able to make excuses for you as you just stared at women’s dresses that were on display at a clothing store like some pervert!”.
Before being able to respond. Ranma took a deep breath, but just as he did, he inhaled more of the delicious-smelling smoke. The joyful memories of lemon chicken returned to his brain. After a deep exhale Ranma replied in a defeated voice, “I wasn’t looking at them like that Akane. It just brought back memories. That’s all.”
Seeing how defeated he looked and how his mood changed after being called “pervert” this time around, Akane quickly relaxed, and the same concerned look came back.
“Ranma I-” but before she could say anything more. A man with glasses wearing an apron rushed out of the restaurant where the smoke still lingered, hands waving in front of him.
“Hey, would you two like to come in for a meal? We’re doing a lemon chicken special tonight. It’ll be on the house! He exclaimed.
Before Akane could say anything, Ranma quickly injected, “You serve lemon chicken!?!”.
“Why of course! Although we only do it as a special some nights here.”.
“Okay, I’m convinced lets go Akane.” Ranma told her.
“Wait but-” and before she could say anything more, Ranma grabbed her wrist and the two started walking in.
“We’re already late. It wouldn’t hurt to be home even more late now.” Akane, in shock at Ranma not only grabbing her wrist, but also how quickly Ranma accepted the offer of a “lemon chicken”, prevented her from protesting any further. And before entering, Akane saw a sign near the door that read “chūka ryōri”.
Entering the restaurant, the two teens found themselves sitting at the bar counter where they could see much of the kitchen from where they sat. After the man served them their drinks, Akane made a quick glance around herself to see that the inside of the restaurant to be small and empty aside from a few people and one family sitting at some cheap quality tables in the middle of the restaurant. That being said, it was still quite cozy, and the heat coming from the kitchen brought a nice warmth to the area.
“Not too busy today?’ Ranma asked the man whom just entered the kitchen area and began washing his hands at a sink.
“We’re usually more busy in the morning and afternoon. We do get a little dinner rush later, but it’s not as big as the breakfast and lunch crowd.” he hollered over.
The same man, right after washing and drying his hands, handed them both one-page menus, and with a smile said, “I’ll start working on your lemon chicken. However, in the meantime, feel free to take a look at our menu in case anything else catches your eyes.”
“Oh, right, names Ueki Motochika, but feel free to call me Motochika. So if you need anything, feel free to holler.” he said as he turned around and quickly began to prepare a chicken he had out.
Looking down the whole menu, the teens found it to be surprisingly simple, containing only the aforementioned lemon chicken, along with Hiyashi Chuka (cold ramen), and other dishes typical of Chinese-style restaurants found in Japan.
After skimming down a little more, Akane noticed a very odd combo on the side of the menu. “Macaroni soup with ham, and eggs with toast combo?” she said out loud, raising her eyebrow.
“It’s a popular breakfast item here. It also happens to be very popular back in Hong Kong, China.” Motochika said, turning his head back to her with a smile, before turning back around to continue preparing a fry batter.
“Listen Kane, I know it sounds unusual, but believe me, you’ll fall in love with it too once you try it!” Ranma gleamed.
“Is that so?” Akane said in response. Not entirely believing either of them.
“You’ve had it before?” Motochika said as he chirped back into the conversation.
“Yeah, my pops took me on a training journey to China when I was younger, and we got to try some at the diners in Hong Kong city and Kowloon.” Ranma replied back.
“Well, we make and serve it just like how those Cha Chaan Tengs do it!” Motochika said with a smile as he bent over a little and lifted up a few cans of cream of chicken soup.
“Che chaen tangs?” Akane said with a confused tone.
“Cha Chaan Tengs are Hong Kong-style diners that come from Hong Kong, but despite that, they are first and foremost a tea restaurant that serves Hong Kong styled milk teas”. Motochika informed Akane.
“So that’s what they were called. Pops and I didn’t really speak any form of Chinese, but we occasionally got food from there since it was really cheap and they served it really quickly.” Ranma piped in.
“Indeed, and why charge so much when it’s just noodles, canned soup, toast, and eggs?” Motochika said with a laugh.
“It still sounds strange to me.” Akane said
“Really, tomboy? That is weird compared to all our adventures and people we’ve met?” Ranma sassily told Akane.
Akane quickly turned her head to face Ranma just to see his dumb smirk. The sass and that smirk really made Akane boil, but before she could smack Ranma or shout at him, she glanced to her side and saw Motochika with a concerned expression. When Motochika saw she noticed him, he quickly put on a smile and waved his hands in front of him in an attempt to calm her down before another fight between them possibly happened. Which caused Akane to calm down.
“But I guess with all the shenanigans that happen in Nermina. A macaroni soup made with cream of chicken with some eggs and toast isn’t all that weird.” Akane admitted, as Motochika breathed a sigh of relief and went and massaged the chicken he had prepared with some other ingredients, Akane couldn’t quite make out.
“Oh, Motochika, if you could, and it’s not too much trouble. Can we also get some fried rice?” Akane asked him.
“Sure thing!” he said with a quick turn and gleefully gave a thumbs up. After adding the fried rice to their order, Akane looked back at Ranma just to see the boy with his hands on his cheeks, smiling at the chicken being prepared and Motochika getting pre-cooked rice out to make their fried rice.
There was something about how Ranma smiled right there that made Akane’s heart flutter a little. It wasn’t the usual sassy, sarcastic, and demeaning smile he would give, but one of actual happiness and joy. Seeing such a smile could only make Akane smile too, as the sound of the lemon chicken and rice being fried was heard.
The two continued watching their food being made, as just a few more chairs within the restaurant were filled. And before long, Motochika served them the plate and bowl of lemon chicken and fried rice, along with a couple of small bowls of white rice.
“Please enjoy!” Motochika told the two as he then started working on the other customer orders.
Fresh steam was pouring out of the fried rice and lemon chicken. The smell from both was strong. The two teens began to dig into their food, and right as Ranma lifted the lemon chicken with his chopsticks and took a whiff of the steam, he was completely captivated. The smell was intoxicating to Ranma, smelling almost exactly like the lemon chicken he ate when he was in China.
With one good bite into the food, he was instantly in love. The taste was perfect. Very lemony, but not too sour. The texture of the fried chicken had the perfect bite and crunch mixed with the soft moistness of the chicken. The sauce having the perfect amount of soy and umami to it without being too salty.
With a grin, Ranma quickly turned from where he was sitting to face Akane and said, “Kane! You have to try this chicken!”
Maybe a little too quickly, as there was a bit of sauce dripping from Ranma’s lips, which Akane couldn’t help but notice when she turned to face him, which caused her to smirk and let out a little giggle.
“Ranma, you have some sauce below your lips.” Akane told him.
“Whoops, sorry bout that.” he said back as he took a napkin and wiped his face. Although Akane would be lying to herself if she didn’t find his goofy grin with the sauce under his lip cute, which was more than enough to convince her to try the chicken.
“I’ll give it a try. Although it sounds like to me you really liked it.” She said with a smile.
When Akane picked up a piece of lemon chicken and mixed it with the white rice, she could feel the soft but firm texture of the chicken through the grip of her chopsticks. Then, with a bite, she also tasted the same heaven of lemon chicken that had also entered Ranma’s mouth.
“This is really good!” Akane exclaimed after taking a swallow.
“Glad you liked it, tomboy. How’s the fried rice?”
“It’s nice and on the slightly drier side than what I’m used to, but not too dry. Although I am a little unfamiliar with what this is?” Akane said as she then pointed at some sliced meat in the fried rice.
“Ye mind if I take a bite?”
“Go on ahead.”
Ranma quickly plucked some of the meat with his chopsticks and took a bite. The taste and texture was at first unfamiliar, but after some more bites, Ranma deduced the meat to be Chinese sausage, based on the texture’s dense chewiness.
“That’s definetely chinese sausage right there.” He told her.
“Chinese sausage, huh? That’s not something I can say I’ve eaten a whole lot of.” Akane told Ranma.
“It took me a bit to recognize it. Last time I had Chinese sausage was when me and pops were still back in China.”
“How is everything?” Motochika asked as he chimed in, having just finished serving a customer next to Ranma.
“The lemon chicken is amazing! It tastes almost the same as the lemon chicken I ate in Kowloon, although I don’t remember it being this saucy.” Ranma told the chef.
“I’m glad to hear you like it. And as for it being more saucy, I make it more saucy since I like to add a little bit of my own twists in it while adjusting around for the locals here.” Motochika answered.
“Although you mentioned Kowloon and being in China. I gotta ask, are you Chinese or at least part?” Motochika further inquired, as he multi-tasked, talking and organizing orders.
“Nope, I’m Japanese, but pops took me to China on a martial arts training journey, and we only got back over a year ago now.”
Motochika gave a bit of a surprised look and said, “I see, at first I thought you were like me a bit.”
Now it was Ranma’s turn to have a surprised look in return.
“L-like you?” Ranma stammered out to Motochika, whose face quickly returned to its usual smiling self.
“Indeed, I am both Japanese and Chinese,” Motochika explained to Ranma and Akane.
“That might explain why you make great Chinese food!” Ranma laughed.
“Ha, possibly, though I have more Japanese in me than Chinese at this point. My family on my father’s side came from China and moved to Shikoku during the Kofun period.” Motochika said as he explained a bit of his family history.
“Were your family always cooks?” Akane curiously asked while tilting her head slightly.
“Yup, pretty much! Being a cook runs in the family.” Motochika exclaimed.
“Did ya always stick with more Chinese-style cuisine this entire time?” Ranma asked him.
Motochika quickly took a hand to his chin to ponder. “Hard to say what my ancestors stuck to, but much of my family back in Shikoku do more Japanese-style cuisine, while my great-grandfather decided to take a trip to meet with more family in China and learn Cantonese cuisine, before finally settling in Tokyo and opening this restaurant up.”
“Any idea why he decided to do Chinese food here?” Ranma further inquired.
With an even wider smile, Motochika replied, “Probably since he thought it would sell.”
The response caused the trio to lean back while having a hearty laugh. After which The two teens resumed eating while Motochika went back to focusing on other customers. Time flew by quickly as the two laughed, shared each other’s food more, talked, playfully bickered, and enjoyed each other’s company. Before they knew it, they had both finished their plates, leaving them completely spotless.
After realizing they had finished their food, the young couple looked at each other and smiled. Time paused for Ranma as he was taking everything in. Eating good food, not having to worry about said food being stolen from him while he ate, the cheap furniture very reminiscent of the cheap cha chaang tengs pops would occasionally take him to, and having a good time and laughing with Akane. It all made Ranma feel safe and relaxed.
It really made him feel at “home”.
That word caused Ranma to be lost in thought again. “Home” is supposed to be a safe place, where one can relax. “Home” is supposed to be a safe place where you can eat without the worry about having your meal stolen or surprise attacks happening. It all felt so much better than what he was used to. If only he could enjoy this longer. However, Ranma began to notice time starting to slowly speed up around him as Akane began to open her mouth and say something he couldn’t quite make out in his trance.
Outside of Ranma’s frozen time world, Akane began to wave her hand in front of his face. After no reaction, she began snapping near his nose to no avail. Normally, Ranma’s reflexes would kick in, but he hadn’t even moved an inch to it all, let alone even blink.
Akane let out a large sigh as she said his name, and again, and again. Before long, she found herself groaning and letting out a much louder “Ranma!” which caught the attention of Motochika.
‘Everything good over there?” Motochika hollered while pouring some water into a glass, worried about another fight.
“Sorry, after finishing our food, I noticed the time, and I’m trying to get Ranma moving, but he’s just in some sort of trance.” Akane explained to him.
Motochika walked over with the glass still in his hands and tilted his head when he noticed Ranma in some sort of trance. An idea popped into Motochika's head once he realized he was still holding that glass of water.
“Here, let me try this.” Motochika said a little deviously as he began to lightly pour water on Ranma’s head.
“I-Wait! Don’t pour that, oh no.” Akane said as Ranma’s height shrank, and his hair went from wet black hair to wet red hair.
Ranma began to feel a cold spot in the middle of his head, which caused him to blink a bit and return to his senses to find a worried look on Akane’s face.
“Oh, that’s something you don’t see every day.” Ranma heard to his side as he looked at where the voice had come from and saw Motochika with his arm noticeably higher over his head with a two-thirds glass full of water over his head.
Noticing Motochika’s arm being higher, the wet, cold feeling in the middle of his head on his hair, all caused Ranma to realize what was going on.
Ranma’s brain went into overload as he was trying to figure out what to say or do. This wasn’t the first time he’s turned into a girl in front of other people, and it certainly wasn’t as embarrassing as when the rest of Furikan High found out about his curse. But the sudden return of his senses, and his cursed form, for some inexplicable reason feeling oddly more comfortable around the warmth and smells of the restaurant. It was causing a huge rush of feelings in Ranma that his brain could not process at the moment.
After some more awkward silence and even some stares from nearby customers. Ranma finally came to and angrily shouted “Hey! Do ya normally pour cold water on customers?”.
“Not usually, but I felt it was needed at the time. Sorry about that.” Motochika said sheepishly as he rubbed his hand behind his head in embarrassment.
“W-well, at least you didn’t get my clothes wet.” Ranma said with a sigh as he relaxed. There wasn’t much point in getting mad at Motochika, seeing how bashful he was and how he was at least considerate about not getting his clothes wet.
“Of course, I wouldn’t want to get the clothes of my customers wet if I can’t help it.”
Seeing the situation calm down, many of the other customers returned to their own business, while Motochika quickly ran and grabbed a towel and handed it to Ranma.
“Although I need to ask, does this mean you are a boy or a girl?” Motochika said while trying to sound as polite as possible, while Ranma dried the top of his head.
“Boy, I fell into a cursed spring in China that causes me to turn into a chick when I come in contact with cold water.” Ranma explained to him.
“If you have any hot water you could spare, that would return him back to normal.” Akane added in.
“Well, I do have some hot water going to cook some more noodles for our cold ramen that I could lend to you.”
Ranma thought about it for a moment, but the enhanced feelings from the restaurant he felt in his current form made him reconsider.
“It’s fine, actually, I don’t need it.” Ranma quickly said.
“Are you sure?” Akane asked with a concerned look on her face.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Besides, we don’t want him to waste any hot water he’s using, and look at the time tomboy it’s pretty late, and we should really get going.” Ranma said as he got up and slowly made his way to the door.
“Why, you jerk! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time while you were in that weird trance of yours!”. Akane angrily said to him as she got up to follow him.
“Bye! Have a good night and come back soon!” Motochika hollered to them as they both got halfway to the exit.
“Wait, I know the lemon chicken was free, but what about the fried rice? Don’t we still need to pay for that?” Akane turned and asked Motochika.
“It’s fine, don’t worry, it’s on the house as an apology for activating your friend’s curse. Not to mention, I was going to let you guys have it for free along with the lemon chicken anyway.” Motochika told Akane.
After the two left the building, Ranma was feeling conflicted about how comfortable his current form felt in there compared to his male one. He always knew that girls felt more than guys did, but at least getting out of there had mostly calmed him down and gotten him out of it.
It did make him feel a bit sad to leave the place, but he could always come back. It then hit Ranma that he could literally come back and try out Motochika’s macaroni soup with eggs and toast tomorrow, since it was a weekend. And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to come back in his female form just to feel those extra feelings and comfort that he felt earlier.
A sly smile began to appear on Ranma’s face until he and Akane reached the entrance of the Tendou household.
“Do you think Kass would be upset we skipped out on dinner?”
“Knowing her, she’s likely going to make us do all the dishes the moment we go inside.” Akane replied.
“Do you remember how late chūka ryōri stayed open? Maybe we could go ba-”
“Let's just get inside already and get it over with”.