Ranma let out a relaxing sigh as she ran the towel through her hair. She had worked up a serious sweat in her morning training and took longer in the bath than usual to make up for it. She looked around the empty dining area, noting an absence of the usual suspects.

Her pops wasn't on the deck playing games with Soun. Kasumi wasn't cleaning up around the house. The lack of clamor meant Akane wasn't around. Ranma squinted her eyes and looked around. While she could never be too certain of Nabiki, Ranma had learned to spot the glint of a hidden camera lens to a fifty-percent probability. Or that was at least what Nabiki wanted her to believe.

Her eyes drifted towards a small note resting on the table.

Ranma,

Our fathers went out to see the new Lupin III film. My sisters and I went to accompany them, mostly to ensure they do not get into trouble. There are sandwiches in the fridge if you get hungry.

-Kasumi.

"Mmph." Ranma raised her eyebrow, her mouth already stuffed with tuna and bread. She swallowed, already grabbing another neatly cut triangle, before placing the piece of paper off to the side. "Maybe I should've checked if that was for me in the first place."

She shrugged. Ehh, it worked out in the end.

Ranma strolled through the empty house, taking in a deep breath. It had been a while since it had felt as calm as this; normally there would be some sort of impending tingle on the back of her neck — often causing her pigtail to reactively raise in anticipation — but instead, there was a lull in the air. Ranma closed her eyes and focused; even as she expanded her senses, a technique honed through years of training, she felt nothing.

No bickering fiancés.

No screams of 'pervert!' in the air.

No explosions occurring in the distance.

Ranma opened her eyes and stuffed her mouth — today was gonna be a good day.

Beepbeepbeepbeep Beepbeepbeepbeep

The telephone started to ring from the other room. Her pigtail raised and a soft tingle ran along the back of her neck. Ranma turned her head left and right, instinctively looking for someone to pass the buck onto.

She used a phone a few times, yeah, but it wasn't something she was particularly confident in. Usually, Akane just handed it to the pigtailed girl to answer if someone was looking for her, and in the cases where Ranma needed to make a call, she just asked one of the sisters to help her dial it in.

What if it was urgent?

Beepbeepbeepbeep Beepbeepbeepbeep

Shoot.

"Alright alright! I'm coming! Geez," Ranma swore as she stomped over towards the phone. She looked at the offending console and grimaced. It was rectangular and large, seeing as it took up a small hallway table on its own. It looked particularly fancy and probably doubled as a fax machine.

Of course Nabiki needed a fax machine.

Beepbeepbeepbeep Beepbeep—

Ranma grabbed the receiver, their grip on it like they were grasping a weapon, and practically swung it to her ear.

"Ah. Hello? Is this the Tendo house? Did I get the right number?" The voice was familiar. There seemed to be heavy rain in the background and it made the voice a little bit hazy.

"H-h-hai hello t-this is—" Ranma stuttered, instinctively raising their voice up a pitch. Ranma usually thrived in new and unfamiliar situations. But this seemed different somehow.

"Is this Kasumi?" The voice apparently knew Kasumi. "I was wondering if I could speak to Akane right now."

Ranma's eyebrow quirked.

"What do ya want with Akane?" She sounded more irritated than she intended.

"What, uh oh nothing r-really. I just— uh." The voice stuttered. "S-sorry, Kasumi. I uh, got the number last time I was over. This is my first time being on the phone. I'm a little nervous."

Ranma visibly relaxed and she untensed shoulders she didn't recall tensing up. Whoever the person was, they were just as nervous as she was. Knowing they were in the same place made the whole situation a little bit better.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. I don't usually use the phone either." She laughed, her pigtail lowering a tad. "New technology makes me a little nervous. I'm used to more traditional ways."

"Oh?" The voice sounded curious. "I'm the same honestly. But I figured it would be easier to learn to use the telephone than trying to train a carrier pigeon again."

"A carrier pigeon?" Ranma laughed loudly. "Why not use the mail like everyone else?"

"I would but I'm a bit... challenged when it comes to addresses. I sort of just find my way to the Tendo Dojo rather than knowing where it actually is. Call it a curse." The voice sighed but seemed to be in a good mood. Ranma could imagine them smiling.

"You remind me of a..." she paused, lips trying to form the word 'friend', "...guy I know. He pops up in the dojo in the weirdest ways sometimes."

"I don't doubt it. I've seen what goes on there."

"I'm surprised I haven't seen you around honestly. I think we would have gotten along great."

"I'm guessing you're not one of the sisters then? I don't really recognize your voice."

"Really? I'm pretty sure I'm speaking normally," Ranma coughed into her fist a couple of times, attempting to clear her throat.

"Is that better?"

"Still sounding the same. I think I heard about this actually. Everyone sounds a little bit different on the telephone compared to in person. Something about how the air vibrates."

"Vibrating air, huh? That could be a really interesting technique..."

Brzzzt

"A what? Sorry? I think I cut out there for a moment."

"Don't worry about it. Just talkin' to myself. I do that a bit when I'm alone."

The voice laughed. "I don't count?"

"Oh!" She was starting to sound a little like Kasumi. "No that's not what I meant, no. Just..." She looked about her area. The house was still empty. "It's weird. I kind of feel like I'm by myself, but also not, y'know?"

"Kind of. There are a bunch of people nearby for me." Listening in carefully, Ranma could hear some voices in the background between the rain. "It's sort of like... I'm surrounded by people, but at the same time, I'm having a private conversation with you. It's a weird feeling. Definitely different from pigeon or mail."

"You mentioned you didn't want to train a carrier pigeon again. What happened to the others?"

There was a pause on the other end.

"...A guy gets hungry when you're on the road all the time."

Ranma couldn't help it. She laughed, practically bowling over with laughter, as she held her hand over the receiver. She tried her best to muffle the noise and not hurt the sap's feelings but she was having too much fun.

"Uh, hello?" The voice said, coming from the handset. "Is everything okay?"

"S-sorry, I'm alright. It's fine." Ranma wiped a tear from her eye and tried to wipe the smile off her face. This was the longest she had spent just talking with someone so frank. Heck, this was the longest she had spent just talking with someone at all. At least in a manner where they weren't trying to coerce her into something or ended up leading into a fight.

"Just uhm," Ranma continued, "just a bit of a cough. I had a sandwich earlier and my throat was a bit dry."

The voice sighed. He sounded relieved.

"Well, that's good. I was worried for a moment. I'm not exactly in a position to help you out anyways. What kind of sandwich?"

"Oh! It was tuna-mayo," Ranma said, coiling her finger around the cord. "It was actually really good. Normally I have it in rice-balls so it was really nice to have it in something different. Western isn't all that bad."

"This town I'm in actually has authentic pizza from America. I'll give it a try while I'm here." The guy seemed to cough as if quickly remembering the purpose of the call. "Anyways, I was calling to see if Akane was available to talk, but I assume she's busy?"

Ranma frowned. They were having a good conversation and he seemed quick to cut it short.

"Yeah, she's busy. The whole family went out to see a movie and I stayed behind for lunch."

"Shoot," the voice made a clicking noise, as if frustrated. "Sorry, it just took a lotta effort to learn how to use this phone. I was wondering if you could tell her I called?"

"Sure," Ranma said, grabbing some pen and paper. "What's your name anyways?"

"It's Ryoga."

The pen stopped.

"Hibiki Ryoga."

Ryoga. Ranma just had one of the most pleasant talks she's ever had and she had it with Ryoga!? She raised a hand to her face and wiped it in frustration. Of course, it had to be him. The jerk was just looking for another way to connect and talk with Akane without having to be near her. Heck, over the phone was probably the only way he could talk to her without stumbling over his feet and chronic nosebleeds.

Of course.

Ranma couldn't just have another good thing without it being ruined by some enemy, fiancé, or both(sometimes the same person). It had to be due to some ulterior motive.

Ranma frowned.

Well, she wasn't going to let that happen all willy nilly.

"That's Ryo- as in 'good' and -ga from 'fang'?" She said, trying to keep a chipper, helpful tone despite her mismatched facial features.

"Yeah, that's right." Ryoga sounded relieved.

"Well perfect," Ranma said, with fake cheer. "I'll let her know you called." 'In a thousand years, pig-for-brains.'

"Could you tell her not to call this number? I'm in some place near Aomori, and I'll be traveling. So I won't be sticking around."

"Don't you worry about that." Ranma's strained grin looked like it could've cracked teeth. "Now if that's all I must be—"

"Oh! Before you go," the voice called out just as Ranma was about the slam the headset down.

"What is it?"

"Could I get your name, miss?" Ranma paused, her eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. "It's well— uh..." Ryoga paused as well, letting the awkward silence hang.

Ranma tapped her foot as she waited for him to continue. "If that's all, then—" she moved to slam the phone down again.

"This was the nicest conversation I've had with someone!" Ryoga yelled through the receiver so clearly that Ranma could practically feel him right next to her. "I uhm—, I'm not really good at talking with people and this was the first time I've ever well... Had a chance to just talk a bit. If I call again and you pick up, I'd like to talk more."

"I'd..." Ranma paused, biting her lower lip anxiously. "Yeah uhm. Call me uh..." She racked her brain, trying to figure out something that wasn't either super obvious or something she used before. Yoiko seemed like a good one before she remembered her last Ryoga-scam. She grimaced, a pang of guilt hitting her stomach.

"Uhm... Call me... Sao... Sayoko," Ranma said, her voice mumbling and quiet. "I'm staying with the Tendos for now. And I'd..."

On one hand, Ryoga had some sort of long con and definitely wanted to use the phone to gain Akane's favor in some way. If she wasn't careful, he'd get his pig claws into and would try to take advantage of her or something.

On the other hand, this was sincerely the nicest conversation she had in a single setting.

She gulped nervously.

"I wanna talk to you more."

Notes:

Leave any comments, questions, or concerns below!

I'm personally a little concerned myself at perhaps writing these two a bit OOC cause they're a little too mature, but I don't necessarily think it's entirely unreasonable. Ranma and Ryoga are constantly placed in a setting of conflict, where even the few times they're working together they're constantly at each other's throats.

I wanted to see more stories like Kirinin's Happily Married, where they're mostly removed from major conflicts and can allow their interactions to blossom a bit more organically and a little more sincerely.

I wanna see some Ranma 1/2 with metamodernism up in this.

So I did this.

Hope you enjoy!

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