"The Decimation of the High Schools

With the decree of the New Engine Standards, Bulkhead Act, and Ammunition Safety Regulations amongst the other measures of the 1993 Reformation it fell to the men and women of the various Sensha-do teams to implement the decrees and upgrade their tanks to the new standards of the Sensha-do Federation. This would prove to be a costly and time-consuming process that required nearly stripping entire tanks down to their treads in order to apply all of the upgrades required to permit the vehicles to be used in the upcoming National Tournament that summer.

Speed, low cost, quality. It is said that you can only pick two of these when dealing with anything involving vehicles such as the Tanks on which Sensha-do teams relied. With the summer tournament just around the corner, many teams were forced to compromise on one or the other of this trifecta. Yet even when teams decided to seek lower costs either at the cost of speed or quality prices for the new parts required by the federation were, for many schools, utterly prohibitive due to the low supply of these parts many of which had only been greenlit for production weeks or even days before the decrees were issued.

For many smaller schools, they were unable to find the funds to upgrade their vehicles to the new standards and shut down their programs until funds could be raised to upgrade the vehicles to the new standards. Of those schools who shut down one in five would never again reopen their Sensha-do programs.

Previous giants in the field such as Oarai, Anzio, and Jutland have remained shuttered even at the time of this writing with Oarai, in particular, having sold off the entirety of its formerly all-star collection of vehicles.[88]

In total, one in ten of all schools shut down their programs and have remained shut to this day, and those who did reopen have shown numbers of participants far lower than previous numbers. It is only the higher turnouts among audiences and the slow uptick in participation over the years that has prevented many from condemning the Reformation as an entirely ill-considered action." ~ A Reflection on the Sensha-do Reformation of 1993, By Totoro Nishimura; Circa 2008

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With Grace and Elegance

A Girls Und Panzer/Ranma ½ Crossover

Chapter Four

School on the Sea

By: Grounders10

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The ferry slipped into the dock in the bowels of the colossal school ship an hour after the vessel had come into view. The slip where the ferry docked was halfway along the port side of the vessel. Ranma could tell that the dock was intended to be enclosed while moving from the gates large enough to allow cargo ships through that were being held up and away by hydraulic arms the size of several school buses strapped together. On approach she had spotted several more like it in the side of the ship, including one that had a cargo ship being escorted inside by several tugs.

As the ferry reached the dock several hydraulic arms reached down and clamped onto the vessel, holding it in place as ropes were tossed down and the ferry was tied tightly to the pier. Only then was the ramp dropped and the first cars began to drive off the ferry.

Their driver glanced back at them. "You should strap yourselves back in ladies. Rules of the road are the same here as back on land." He said.

Both of them followed the instructions, sliding back into their seats and buckling up. A few minutes passed before it was their turn and the car smoothly accelerated off the ferry. The car bounced as it drove onto the school ship. The docks were wide and deep, though once beyond the outer hundred feet the height dropped sharply to about the height of a three story building and continued to drop as they followed the paved road towards the exit from the docks.

The way out of the docks was a four lane road, two coming in and two going out, that passed from the spacious dockyard through an archway of red brick into a fairly high ceilinged tunnel whose walls and ceiling made of more red bricks. Lights in the style of victorian street lamps lit the roads with bright orangish light from where they hung on the walls and stood between the opposing lanes. Signs hanging from the walls announced the locations of food, lodging, toilets, and even gas stations.

The road curved as it went inward and split into several turning lanes. Signs hanging above the road proclaimed them to lead to 'Aft Interchange', 'Gaslight District' and 'Deck 14 Throughway'.

As they turned onto the next road, following the sign for the interchange, the place seemed to come alive. The ceiling lifted up another two stories and along the sides of the road were cobbled sidewalks lit by more victorian street lamps. Stores lined both sides of the roadway and Ranma could spot small alleyways barely big enough for a truck that led off between the stores. Walkways of steel crossed above the street and she could see a few people stopping to watch the traffic for a few moments before moving on.

The stores and offices continued for a bit, but after a few stoplights the road reached its end and let out into a far larger room. A sign hanging over the road informed them they were 'Entering Aft Interchange'. Ranma and Kasumi both pressed against their windows trying to get a better look as they waited at the stoplight.

"Oh, oh wow." Kasumi said softly.

"It's… big." Ranma said.

Their car had turned onto a road leading up and around the outside edge of a vast cylindrical room that passed through every level of the vessel, from the depths below all the way to the top where a skylight formed the ceiling. On every level roads crisscrossed the empty space in a tangled web that, this far down, neatly blocked most of the sunlight from above. Large tv screens and billboards advertising hotels, movies, and the latest electronic gadget hung from the walls, lighting up the interchange in a da zzling display of technicolour lighting.

As they passed through the levels, their car circling the edge of the interchange, the style of the bridges slowly changed, from red brick and mortar to white painted steel and concrete walkways. The signs grew less frequent, though no smaller than before. Windows appeared in the walls of the interchange, though the glass was the distinctive reflective surface of one way mirrors.

Through it all walked thousands of people along the sidewalks headed in as many directions. On the roads beside them there were buses and taxis, garbage trucks and sportscars and so many other vehicles. Ranma spotted an ambulance crossing one of the spans below and a firetruck, sirens blaring, forced them to the side of the road as it sped up a level passed them.

"This place is so much larger than I thought it was going to be." Kasumi said as she leaned against the window.

"No kidding… I thought this was just a school ship?" Ranma asked the driver.

The man chuckled. "The Ark Royal is host to St. Gloriana's but it isn't the only thing it does."

Ranma nodded, then blinked as she spotted a large stretch of glass wall holding back water on the far side of the interchange. "Is- is that an Aquarium?" She asked.

"Deck 48 Ark Royal Aquarium. Nice place. I'd suggest making a trip at some point." He said.

Their ascent continued, around and around and around the interchange. After a bit more Ranma looked away, the constant spinning was making her dizzy. Closing her eyes she leaned back into her seat, and tried to pretend she couldn't feel the constant pressure from the slow turn. It wasn't even a minute before Kasumi spotted something.

"Ranma," The other girl said, tapping her on the shoulder. "Look."

"Hmm?" Ranma opened her eyes and followed Kasumi's finger to a dark blue bus with white lettering on the side announcing 'St. Gloriana's Boys Naval College'. "Boys Naval College?" She read aloud. "I thought St. Gloriana's was a girl's school."

"The Campus you're attending is." Their driver said, "You'll be attending the deckside campus of St. Gloriana's Girls College. Very expensive and very exclusive."

"Different campuses? How many are there?" Kasumi asked.

The driver shrugged. "Not sure. St. Gloriana's is responsible for all of the schools on the ship. You've got the ones for the locals, then you've got the big ones for students from off ship. The one the ship is famous for is the campus you'll be going to, it covers a good third of the top deck." The two girls exchanged a look. This was a lot bigger than they expected.

It was still a sunny day when their vehicle rolled out of the off-ramp beside the skylight onto the topside of the ship. The interchange let out into a traffic circle. The side towards the bow of the ship, judging by the direction of the command tower which loomed over everything from the starboard side, were homes and stores while the section towards the aft was fenced off except for a four lane road for the airport. As Ranma watched a 747 commercial airliner with the large red letters JAL on the tailfin roared down the runaway and into the air.

The car took a right onto the road running down the length of the vessel and stayed on it, passing homes and stores for several blocks before everything on the right hand side gave way to grassy parklands and large marble Victorian-styled buildings mixed with a few small parking lots. A large pond took up the center of the large plot, which stretched from the road to the edge of the vessel, and in the center of that pond was an island with a beautiful manor house painted in blue, gold, and silver. A wooden bridge led across the pond to it and a wrought iron fence eight feet high circled the manor and its gardens. Even from the road Ranma could see a manned guard hut on the bridge.

"St. Gloriana's Girls College." Their driver said, nodding to the campus. "Absolutely beautiful. This is where you'll be attending when class starts."

"Ooh, I can't wait Ranma." Kasumi said, holding her phone up to take a few pictures are they sped by.

"You know you'll get a better angle tomorrow." Ranma sighed as she leaned over Kasumi's shoulder. The school's parkland had a few people walking the paths and even a couple sitting at a cluster of tables. Busier than she would have expected for a school before classes began.

The other girl shrugged. "Not going to get another chance at seeing it for the first time, though." She said. Ranma shrugged and sat back in her seat as the car passed the school and continued on.

"Just a bit left to go." Their driver said, tapping on the tablet that had been set up on the dashboard. There was the sound of a phone ringing and a moment later a woman's voice answered.

"I was starting to wonder where you were." The woman said sharply.

"Traffic was heavy." Their driver replied.

"It always is. How far out are you?" She asked.

"Five minutes, possibly less." He replied.

She said something unflattering. "You know to call sooner. We'll be waiting." The call hung up with a final click.

"Charming." Ranma said dryly.

"We have a history miss. My apologies if that came off too informal." He said as the car turned a corner onto a street lined with three story townhouses. Ranma shrugged, she personally didn't care for the formality, but it was something that she would be expected to expect. Rather than reply she looked out the window at the homes. It was a rather nice area with most of the buildings being in the same white marble and wrought iron style as the school. Parks were frequently interspersed between blocks of homes, though many were fenced off with the only ways in being the back doors of blocks of townhouses.

Eventually they pulled onto another street. Immediately Ranma could see the net worth of the owners jump from the previous street. The homes weren't townhouses crammed together in an effort to stuff as many people into as little space but large three story homes, six homes to each side of the street with small yards to the front and sides with a red brick and wrought iron fence separating them from the street. Wrought iron gates, most of which were closed, stood at the end of the front footpath.

Halfway down the street on the left hand side was a home with a large blue Matilda Tank painted above the doorway. Around the entranceway, painted on the wall, were vines with pink roses that arched up and beneath the tank. Outside the building were a few people assembled in a line on either side of the gate. A short bob-cut grey-haired woman wearing the same style of dress as Michiru stood in between the two lines in the center of the footpath.

Their car came to a smooth stop on the curb in front of the house. Ranma reached for the door handle, then stopped. With an irritated sigh she let her hand drop as she waited for their driver to get out first and let her out. It was one of those annoying little things that had been drilled into her during her lessons on etiquette. Never let yourself out, wait for the driver to let you out. Apparently it had started as a protection thing and eventually turned into another bit of etiquette. For most people the protection bit would have at least held some weight still.

For Ranma it was just annoying.

The driver popped open the door and stood aside. "Young Miss, we have arrived." He said, bowing slightly.

Grumbling internally, Ranma stepped out of the car as, on the other side, Kasumi hopped out as well and quickly hurried around the car to join her.

The woman in the center of the line walked forward to greet them. "Miss Ranma?" The older woman asked, stopping a few feet away.

"Yes?" Ranma replied.

The older woman smiled. "Tsuya Homura, The Butler, here at Matilda House. I am pleased to finally meet you." She said, bowing deeply.

Behind her the maids, cooks and others bowed. "Welcome to Matilda House, Miss Ranma." They chorused.

Ranma stared at them, surprised at the synchronous greeting. "Um, thank you." She said after a moment.

Tsuya stood straight and looked to Kasumi. "Miss Tendo I assume?" She asked.

"Yes." Kasumi bowed to her, "Kasumi Tendo. I am pleased to meet you Mrs Homura."

Tsuya smiled. "Welcome, both of you, to Matilda House. The home away from home for everyone of the Hayashida family attending St. Gloriana's." She said.

"Thank you, Miss Homura." Ranma said, remembering her lessons. "Shall we?" She asked, gesturing to the door.

"Of course. Ladies, please bring the young misses things up to her rooms." Tsuya ordered the maids. As they moved towards the car their driver quickly walked around to the trunk. As he passed Tsuya the older woman's eyes narrowed and she snagged his arm. "You on the other hand are late. Get the car into the parkade then meet me in my office." She said, getting a grimace and a 'yes ma'am' from him.

That done she turned back to Ranma and smiled. "This way, young miss." She said, leading the way into the house.

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The Matilda House, as Tsuya had introduced the home, was a three story Victorian-style home with a two story addition on the starboard side. The name Ranma recognized from the British tank of the same name, a vehicle that was particularly popular with St. Gloriana's Sensha-do team. It was immediately apparent, from the moment she walked through the front door, just how appropriate the name was.

The front entrance was a fair sized room with a hall leading further in, a door to the dining room on the right, and another leading to a much larger room with coffee tables, couches, at least one very large TV and several desks with computers. A door in the back of the room apparently led to an exercise room of some kind.

It would probably never get used.

Stairs leading to the second floor were in the entrance hall with another set of stairs that Tsuya said led into the second floor guest quarters.

It was all in the same conversative style as the mansion had been, and every inch was covered in something involving tanks. Pictures and paintings of tanks blasting across deserts and dueling in towns hung from the walls, busts of tank turrets sat in corners, the ends of the banisters were scale models of matilda tanks, and even the rug in the entrance hall had a beautifully sewn image of a churchill tank rolling up a mountain under fire. There was even a miniature matilda tank chassis without a turret being used as a vase on the dining room table.

"There are a lot of tanks." Kasumi whispered to her as the maids walked passed them and up the staircase with their bags. Outside the car could be heard starting back up before pulling away from the curb.

"Yeah…" Ranma frowned at a smaller picture hanging beside the door to the dining room of a group of matilda's with the tea kettle and cup motif on their turrets fighting in a forest. Whoever had taken the picture had managed to get the timing just right so that the muzzle flash of the center tank had been captured.

Honestly, a few pictures, or even a lot if she thought about it, wouldn't have been too bad if they'd been mixed in with some ordinary landscapes or pictures of people. Or if everything else hadn't also been a tank. She had thought she understood how important sensha-do was to her family, but this was a bit much.

"Excuse me, Miss Ranma." Tsuya said from by the stairs. "If we could continue the tour?"

"Of course." Ranma followed the Butler up the stairs, Kasumi on her heels.

The second floor was just as tank obsessed as the first floor with a large brass statue of a matilda tank on display in a sitting room by the kitchenette. The rest of the space was taken up by six fairly large, though nothing on what Rama's had been at the mansion, bedroom suites. This setup was apparently mirrored on the second floor of the guest wing, though with a small sitting room and smaller bedrooms.

When they stepped off the stairs on the third floor Ranma had to sigh with relief at the distinct absence of nearly anything tank related. The bannisters were still decorated with tank turrets, and there was a large painting of a churchill on the wall across from the stairs, but other than that it seemed remarkably barren.

Actually… Ranma tilted her head to the side as she turned on the spot. Other than the furniture and the single painting at the top the walls were bare and there wasn't a single bust of a tank or weirdly shaped vase.

"I am sure you have noticed the lack of decoration young miss." Tsuya said as they stepped aside to allow a couple of maids to scurry downstairs.

"It's a little barren compared to downstairs." Ranma said, getting a nod from Kasumi.

"Your grandmother ordered the decorations taken down before you arrived. She felt that you would find them perhaps a touch oppressive. Much like your mother did when she lived here." The old woman said with a melancholic smile.

Ranma glanced about the landing. To the right an open door led into a small dining room. Another door, closed this time, beside the painting of the churchill was closed. A small crystal chandelier hung over the stairs. A hallway ran left down the length of the building until it hit the end where a window let sunlight into the hallway.

"As per tradition," Tsuya continued, "the decoration of Matilda House falls to the Heiress."

Ranma considered that. "So my mother is the reason everything looks so…?" She gestured downstairs.

Tsuya chuckled. "As I am sure you are aware your mother has a tendency to be quite stubborn about things. Even with herself." She said.

"Oh dear." Kasumi sighed from where she was standing by the churchill painting. "She thought she needed to show her enthusiasm then?"

"I can only guess what her thoughts on the matter were Miss Tendo. I am a butler, not a mind reader. And even if I were such things would remain within the family." Tsuya said politely, "Now, let me show you to your bedroom Young Miss. This way please." She strode off down the hall. The two girls followed, peeking into the open doors as they went.

On the left they passed a sitting room, and then what appeared to be a tea room right after it. On the right they passed a small kitchenette with a single table and another door with a golden book shaped sign hanging near the top.

It was near the end of the hallway on the right that they reached an open door leading into a bedroom. The room was large, though not as big as Ranma's back at the mansion it was still the largest bedroom in the house. A large four poster bed with soft pink sheets and curtains sat at the far end. A walk in closet, through which she could see the tiles of a bathroom stood to the left side of the bed. She could see a couple maids unpacking her bags into the closet.

There was a small table with a couple of heavily padded chairs by one of the windows, a short bookcase across the way, and a writing desk in the corner with another bookshelf above it.

It was the walls that drew Ranma's attention. Like the third floor hallway, the walls were barren of any form of decoration. No paintings, no pictures, just wood paneling and a dark floral wallpaper. She could see a few lighter spots where a painting or picture had been.

"Your bedroom Young Miss." Tsuya said with a small bow.

"It's nice." Ranma said, stepping up to one of the windows. It looked out over their backyard and into a small park that sat behind the homes on this block. A small waist-high hedge ran along the property line between the house and the park. She flipped open the latch and pushed the windows open, letting in a cool breeze that ruffled her hair.

"Matilda House is located on the bow edge of the topdeck." Tsuya said, peering over her shoulder. "The park behind the homes here is common property with the rest of the homes on our side of the street."

Ranma nodded, leaning a bit out the window to look about. The park was forested with small tiled paths running into the treeline from the back gates of each house. In the backyard beside them she spotted a girl with black hair pulled up into twintails reading a book in a lounge chair. A cup of tea and a teapot rested on the side table beside her. The girl paused in her reading and picked up her cup raising it to her lips, in the process, spotting Ranma hanging out of her window. They stared at each other for a moment before, on impulse, Ranma waved to her. The girl raised her teacup in reply before taking a sip and going back to her book.

"Who is that?" Ranma asked.

"Who?" Tsuya leaned to the side. "Oh, That would be Rin Kibe, her family owns the largest companies responsible for bringing food onto the ship, amongst other things. She is a well behaved girl, about your age I believe."

"So we might see her at school then?" Kasumi asked, elbowing Ranma in the shoulder as she leaned out the window herself.

"Possibly. It depends on what your grades were. St. Gloriana's Girls College sorts classes by their average grades. If your grades are similar than you may find yourselves in her class." The older woman said, "Now, on the topic of school. Did Mrs. Oto inform you of the schedule for tomorrow?"

Both Ranma and Kasumi shook their heads no. "She said the staff here would tell us." Ranma said.

"As I expected. That has traditionally been the job of the Matilda House Butler. You have your uniforms and materials at least, yes?" Tsuya asked. Seeing their nods she smiled. "Good. Then please follow me and we will go over what shall happen tomorrow." She turned and walked slowly out of the room.

Kasumi followed quickly, but Ranma spared a glance out the window at the park. A breeze ruffled her hair and carried the scent of flowers to her. She sighed and turned away, brushing a loose lock of hair back over her ear. As much as it would be nice to just take a few minutes and relax she could do that later. Maybe out in the back garden? They had to have something out there for enjoying the weather.

Deciding that lounging in the sunlight sounded like a wonderful idea she put it aside for the moment and followed Kasumi and Mrs. Homura out of the room.

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Later that night Ranma was lying on her bed, flipping through the book 'Tiger, Elephants, and Mauses, Oh My'. The book was a guide to the heaviest tanks and tank destroyers legal for use in Sensha-do and included significant analysis of their greatest successes and failures since the reformation. The Book was filled with enough technical terms that Ranma had filled a dozen pages of the notepad next to her with a list that she'd need to look up later. Despite the use of words she lacked context for she was finding it rather interesting in the same way she would find discussions of ancient battles for history class.

There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in." She said, looking up from her book.

Tsuya walked into the room, a small silver box in her hands. "Good evening Young Miss." She said, bowing slightly. "How are you this evening?"

Ranma marked her page and set the book down on her pillow. "Fine, something wrong?" She asked, wondering what was in the box. She had her books, office supplies, and even her uniform. She was of mixed feelings regarding the uniform. On one hand it had a rather conservative blue sweater with a white blouse and darker blue necktie. On the other hand it required pantyhose and a rather short skirt. She could never think of pantyhose and not think of that arrogant bastard Taro.

So what was in the box?

Tsuya shut the door behind her and crossed the room to Ranma's bed. "Nothing is wrong, there is something that you need to have before school tomorrow." Settling on the side of the bed she pulled an envelope from a pocket. "From your Grandmother." She said.

Scooting over to sit beside the older woman Ranma accepted it, popped the wax seal on the envelope and pulling out the letter within. Unfolding the paper she noted that it had been written entirely by hand. Her Grandmother's calligraphy was a lot better than her own.

Dear Granddaughter,

There are some traditions which cannot be ignored, regardless of how we may feel about them. Inside the box that Tsuya should have brought with this letter are several necklaces and the earrings that belong with them. All of them belonged to previous Heiresses of the Hayashida family. Each one was, in its period, worn as a sign that its bearer was the Heiress of our family.

Normally I would be there when you receive this, in fact I would be the one to give it to you. However, there are matters I cannot leave unattended at the moment and the box was stored at Matilda House after your mother ran off and left them there. Tsuya has served our family for years and knows the history behind each piece, which I do expect you to learn. This is our history after all.

Ranma frowned at that. Another thing to learn.

As the Heiress of the Hayashida family you will be expected to wear the current token of the Heiress, Tsuya knows which one it is, when attending school or public events. While I'm sure your mother will be annoyed with me this is one of those things that cannot be avoided. There are expectations for our position after all.

I am sorry I could not be there to deliver this to you, but the world rarely waits for when we have time. Enjoy your first day of school, and good luck Granddaughter.

Sincerely,

Himawari Hayashida

Grandmaster of the Hayashida

Letting the letter rest on her thigh her looked ot Tsuya. "Can I see it?" She asked.

"Of course." Tsuya handed over the box. It was a small silver box, about a quarter the size of a shoe box, with delicate filigree of gold. The lid flipped back on a hinge as she opened it. The insides were well organized with small compartments on the right with rods around which the simpler necklaces were coiled. On the left, and taking up most of the box, were slots were the jeweled necklaces laid. Only the one on the far left was empty.

"The ones on the right," Tsuya began, "are older than the rest." She pointed to a somewhat rough looking braided silver necklace. "This was the first."

Ranma fished it out. It was clearly old, the silver braids were crude and quite simple. "How old is it?" She asked.

"Only six hundred years, there were a couple earlier ones, but they were lost with the original family home during the firebombings." Tsuya said, leaning over her shoulder to point at the next. "It was replaced by this one after the Hayashida Family was raised from merchants to Samurai."

Ranma replaced the silver necklace and lifted out the one Tsuya was pointing to. It was of much finer work than the previous one, though still silver except for a single strand of gold that had been woven through it.

So it went for over an hour as Tsuya explained to her the history of the thirteen different necklaces that were in the box. Or as much as they had time for that night. As they at last reached the last necklace Tsuya paused.

"This is the current necklace of the Heiress." The old woman said after a moment as Ranma carefully lifted it out of its slot. "It replaced the previous one worn by your Great Grandmother when your Grandmother began attending St. Gloriana's. She was the first to attend the School in the early seventies, once it moved from land to a school ship. This was meant to be a new era, though I don't believe anyone realized quite how far she would take that. My, the nineties were quite exciting."

Ranma turned the necklace over in her hands. It was made from gold, the chain intricately braided together. From it hung several smaller chains of gold on which sat several disc-shapes pendants of gold with many small sapphires mounted in circles around large rubies.

Tsuya lifted the slot it had been in out and removed two earrings with blue sapphires hanging from gold chains. "The blue of the sea, and the eyes of that are so common amongst the Hayashida." Tsuya said, pointing to the sapphires on both the necklace and earrings, "and the Rubies, though not the same shade they are meant to be reminiscent of the hair colour all Hayashida women have."

The redhead ran one hand through her hair as she toyed with the necklace in her other hand. "This was my mother's as well." She asked. It was a beautiful necklace and Ranma would be lying if she claimed that there wasn't a part of her that enjoyed dressing up a bit. Or a lot, come to think of it. Sure she had practically no experience with it, but dressing up on occasion had always been rather fun…

Unless it was being done to her by Nabiki and Kasumi. Come to think of it she still owed both of them for stuffing her in those outfits.

"It was." Tsuya confirmed, "She left it here along with everything else when she took off." She frowned, a truly sour expression on her face. There was little doubt what she thought of that decision.

Carefully pretending to not notice the turn in mood Ranma handed the jewelry box back to Tsuya she unlatched the clasp on the necklace and put it on. She had to brush aside her braid as she snapped the latch shut before accepting the earrings and carefully, as it had been quite a while since she last had to wear earrings, fastened them into her ears. Standing she walked over to the nearby full length mirror, Tsuya closed up the box and followed her.

Standing there, dressed in her recently acquired pajamas, she ran a hand across the necklace. It felt strange, to be wearing jewelry at all. She could almost hear her father's annoyed condemnation of those men they came across who wore earrings. More than once they had encountered a gangster or Yakuza who wore an earring in their ear. The endings of those fights always left Ranma with a lingering ringing in his ears from the ranting about how dangerous jewelry, especially earrings, were to wear in a fight.

Honestly, Ranma hadn't seen the point. She had been in more than a few fights with people wearing jewelry, including herself on a few occasions, and there had never once been an issue. Most people would prefer to punch you in the face rather than rip your earring out of your ear.

"Well Young Miss, what do you think?" Tsuya asked, looming behind her.

"It's…" Ranma looked down at the necklace and held it up to look at closely. "I don't normally wearing jewelry." She admitted.

"Your Grandmother informed me you were something of a tomboy." Tsuya said, nodding.

Ranma glanced at her in the mirror. "Is that all she said?" She asked.

"I know there is soap you must use everyday. She offered some interesting evidence about why." Her butler informed her.

"Hrm.." Ranma frowned and toyed with one of the disc-shaped pendants, holding it up beside her braid beside the earring on that side. "Then you know that tomboy is a bit of an understatement."

"Is it? Young Miss, I have seen men who are more feminine than most girls and girls who are easily mistaken for men." Tsuya said firmly, "I have yet to see where you fall on that line, but I think we both know you wouldn't be standing there comparing the colouring of a necklace to your hair if you minded it that much."

Ranma let go of the necklace like it was on fire and blushed a brilliant red. Behind her the older woman nodded. "My point is made. Now, do you like it Young MIss?" She asked again.

Not trusting her voice she nodded. "Yeah…" She admitted.

"Excellent, since whether you liked it or not, you are expected to wear it to school and social events." Tsuya said nodding firmly before holding out the box, lid open. "Now if you don't mind, I believe you should have been lights out thirty minutes ago."

The necklace and earrings went back in the box and the box went onto the vanity before Tsuya excused herself and Ranma found her way back to bed, face still burning a bit. It took a while before she got to sleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Their car pulled into the parking lot of St. Gloriana's Girls College at eight ten am the next morning. Ranma nodded to the driver as he let opened the door fo her, slipping her book bag over her shoulder as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Kasumi bounced out of the other side of the car with a yawn.

"Ugh," Kasumi groaned, "I-I-" She yawned again, stretching as she did. "Oh, god I forgot how much it sucked to get up for school." Letting her hands fall she adjusted the blue sweater of the uniform she was wearing.

Ranma rolled her eyes. "It's not that bad." She said, idly toying with her necklace. It still felt strange to wear a necklace to school without some scheme or wacky series of events.

"Have a good day Young Miss." Their driver said, getting back into the car.

"You to Mr. Furuta." Ranma said, waving to their driver. The man tipped his hat to them

"See you at the end of the day Young Miss." He said, rolling up his window. A moment later the car signalled and pulled out into the road, sliding easily in front of a red honda.

Ranma watched the car disappear around the corner before turning back to Kasumi. "So, where to now?" She asked the other girl.

"W-well," Kasumi stifled a yawn as she pulled out her phone. "Give me a second." She fiddled with the device for a few seconds before another car pulled up. Taking her by the shoulder Ranma pulled Kasumi away from the curb. The vehicle disgorged a couple of chattering girls a couple years older than them, one of them, a girl with pink hair, gesticulated wildly about something. Ranma was fairly sure she heard the words 'run them off the road' at least once.

They found a spot on a bench under a small oak by one of the footpaths to sit. "Okay." Kasumi said after a couple minutes, "We are… Where exactly?"

Ranma rolled her eyes. "The front parking lot." She said dryly.

Kasumi shot her a look and sighed. "There we go." She said finally, "Okay we are here." She showed Ranma the phone, pointing at a blue dot on the map of the campus. "We need to be here." She said, pointing to a building off to their right.

"Not far." Ranma commented, digging out her own phone. A few taps brought up the map program that they had come with the attendance information handouts that Tsuya had shared with them that morning. "It was the Auditorium right?" She asked as it booted up.

"Yep. Which would be down… that path I think?" Kasumi pointed to their right down a path that disappeared between a copse of trees and some tall hedgerows.

Glancing down at her phone Ranma nodded. "Looks like it. Come on." There was plenty of time before the assembly, but that only meant being late would probably look worse. The two of them hurried across the plaza to the path.

The moment they passed into the hedge lined walkway it took an immediate turn to the left, then the right and once they were around the corner the sound from the road seemingly disappeared. Not that the walkway was quiet. There were a lot of students flowing in from the drop-off and the air buzzed with dozens of conversations.

The hedges eventually shrank down to just a bit higher than Ranma as they walked. "There are so many flowerbeds." Kasumi said as they passed another gap in the hedgerow.

Ranma shrugged. "It's a fancy school." She said, thinking back to her family's manion. The grounds were immaculate gardens with flower beds everywhere. That a school for the rich was equally as prolific with its flower beds didn't surprise her in the least.

Kasumi sighed. "More than just fancy Ranma." She chided, stopping to take a picture as they passed another gap in the hedgerow.

The redhead rolled her eyes at her friend and waited patiently as Kasumi snapped a few pictures. The brunette hummed as she checked the pictures on her phone before walking over to join Ranma without looking up. "Okay, lets go." She said.

What should have been a couple minutes walk took much longer as they stopped a few times so that Kasumi could snap pictures of flowers, trees, a bench, and a picture of several girls fussing over a corgi. At that point Ranma looped her arm through Kasumi's and dragged her down the street.

"Ranma!" Kasumi complained as she tried to dig her heels in.

"We're going to be late if you keep this up." Ranma said.

"It's only a few pictures. We've got a half hour at least before we'd have to rush." Kasumi grumbled, finally walking beside Ranma as she slipped her phone into her bag. "Meanie." She pouted.

Eventually the hedgerows on either side disappeared as they entered an area with what looked to be small european homes surrounded by flower beds. "Homes?" Kasumi said, "Why are their homes here?"

"Might be for staff I guess." Ranma said, "I bet even the best paid teacher would have issues finding a place around here." Tokyo had ridiculous housing prices at times, a ship with no ability to expand housing had to be even worse.

"Maybe." Kasumi shrugged, then dug out her phone again.

"Really?" Ranma sighed as the Kasumi snapped a couple photos.

"Yes really." Kasumi said, checking the photo on her phone before dropping it in her bag. "Let's go~" Humming she practically skipped down the path, drawing a few glances as Ranma followed her.

Eventually the path, after winding around a couple more houses, emptied out into another plaza. In the center of the plaza was a fountain with a statue of a woman in an elaborate eighteenth century dress with the smiling greek comedy mask held up to her face. Standing at her back was a man, dressed in clothing from the same period, with one hand held up to the sky while the other held the sad Greek tragedy mask up to his face. Water sprayed from the mouths of the statues into the pool below.

Storefronts ringed the plaza including several cafes, a restaurant, and a school supply store. Groups of students were enjoying tea and snacks at the tables out front of the cafes while others simply walked passed towards the six story building that made up one entire side of the plaza.

That, Ranma assumed, was the auditorium. It had the look of a theatre or opera house from england anyway with heavy wood doors flanked by white marble stonework on either side and a half-circle glass window above the doorway. Posters of upcoming events, including a performance of hamlet the by local theatre club, could be seen hanging in the first floor windows.

Ranma and Kasumi ignored the cafes and shops, and headed straight for the for the door. They quickly climbed the stone steps that led up to the doors that had been left propped open so that the hundreds of students could easily enter the building. What must have been one of the teachers, a greying woman who stood head and shoulders above most of the teens flooding into the room.

"Welcome girls, this way!" She called, gesturing to the stairs behind her. "First years, to the right, take the entrance at the end. Second years, turn left. Same thing. Third years, up the stairs and straight ahead. Make sure to get your hand outs from the professors. This way girls…"

Following their instructions they went with the flow and walked up the stairs. As they climbed Ranma looked around. The bottom floor had dark hardwood floors while the walls were papered in a Royal blue wallpaper with gold flowers. Wood paneling ran along the baseboard. Pictures, all labeled, hung from the walls showing past students and school teams. A lot of them featured the school's Sensha-do Team and their tanks.

Cresting the stairs onto the second floor landing they turned right down a hallway with the same wallpaper with white carpet. The walls were lined with trophy cabinets and at the far end were two sets of steel fire doors, currently held open by teachers who were taking names and giving directions to the girls as they entered.

Taking a moment Ranma stopped at one of the cabinets. Inside was a golden trophy of a mark VI tank, a picture of that year's Sensha-do team, and a plaque with the names and positions of each member of the team. She walked along the row, each cabinet held two or three such trophies. Six cabinets down she stopped as she spotted something right at the top of the roll of names.

'Himawari Hayashida - Team Captain'

It was the trophy for the 1972 Sensha-do nationals and she could see a much younger version of her Grandmother standing with St. Gloriana's flag in the center of the team photograph. Her grin was wide as she held the flag high despite the two girls on either side of her practically hanging off her arms. Behind the team was a churchill and several Matildas. A crusader just barely peeking into the right corner of the picture.

She looked like she couldn't possibly be happier.

"Ranma?" Kasumi tapped her on the shoulder.

Ranma turned back to Kasumi. "Yes?" She asked.

"Coming?" Kasumi asked, gesturing with her phone to the line that was slowly backing up the corridor.

"Oh, right." She spared one more second on the award before hurrying after Kasumi.

It took them ten minutes to make their way up the line, but eventually they reached the leftmost set of double doors. The teacher, a balding man, checked their IDs against the list on the tablet he had. "Miss Saotome and Miss Tendo. Welcome to the school." He said with a smile. "For the two of you… Box 421. Take the elevator on the right up three floors and follow the hall around to the right."

"Box?" Ranma asked. This was an assembly wasn't it? Why would she be getting a box?

"Only the best for the Heiress of the Hayashida family." The teacher said, ushering them both through. "Make sure you grab the handouts on the table to the left."

"Box?" Ranma repeated to Kasumi, who shrugged as they gathered the handouts, a pair of thick stacks of stapled together paper, and stepped into an opulently appointed hallway. They hurried down the hall to the elevator and joined a few older students who were headed up. They earned a few curious looks as they stayed on even after the last of the other students got off on the floor before their stop. They hadn't even made it to class and they were already attracting attention.

The hallway on the fourth floor of the auditorium, what would have been the fifth floor of the building, was oddly enough less obviously opulent than the first floor. The decor was more understated and reserved, showing wealth without being obviously decadent.

Waiting for them as the elevator doors slid open was a tall woman in a precisely tailored black suit. A small brass name tag announced her as 'Naomi Watanabe'. "ID please." She asked politely, looking at them expectantly over the top of her frameless glasses. Ranma produced hers from within her sleeve to a bemused look from the woman while Kasumi fiddled with her bag.

"Welcome Miss Saotome, and Miss Tendo." She said once Kasumi had pulled her ID out. "Your booth is prepared and we are ready to take any requests you have. Please hurry, there remains only a few minutes before we begin." She gestured down the corridor to the right.

Thanking her they hurried along, passing the doors of boxes 416 through 420 at not quite a jog before slowing to a sedate walk as they reached box 421. Like the rest it was a heavy looking wooden door with a wrought iron handle.

Exchanging questioning looks they walked over and Ranma opened the door, stepping out onto a balcony. The box was decorated much like the hallway outside, darker colours and high quality furniture without being obviously opulent. A small table with two plush armchairs sat by the railing. On the table was a mounted tablet, its display lit up with the words 'Welcome Miss Saotome' in blue.

Closing the door behind them they sat down in the chairs, dropping their bags beside them. Ranma tossed her stack of handouts onto the table, they slid across to hang just off the edge.

"Well," Kasumi sighed looking about. She leaned forward to look over the edge of the box. "This is not what I was expecting."

Ranma snickered. "Well we're not in Furinkan anymore." She said with a grin. Kasumi snorted.

"That was obvious a while back." The brunette said dryly.

Grabbing the tablet's Ranma found its cables were long enough to lift it several feet from its cradle without unplugging it. She tapped the greeting on the screen and a small jingle played before St. Gloriana's coat of arms appeared on screen, the teapot pouring tea into the teacup before settling down behind it. Then the screen folded away to reveal a menu with the options: 'Snacks', 'Tea and other Drinks', and 'Breakfast'. The options 'Lunch' and 'Dinner' were greyed out.

"Want something to drink?" Ranma asked Kasumi as she played with the tablet.

"What do they have?" Kasumi asked, leaning over to see. To make it easier Ranma set the device back into its cradle. "Oh, wow that's a lot of tea options."

"Over three hundred I think." Ranma said, watching as Kasumi scrolled down the alphabetic list of teas.

"Hmm… Jasmine perhaps? Or maybe earl grey… ooh I haven't tasted that one before… hmmm…" Kasumi frowned at the tablet. "I think Darjeeling today." She decided after a minute, placing the request. The screen flashed 'Thank you, your Tea will be served in five minutes' before returning to the main menu.

Taking the tablet back Ranma placed an order for her own tea, something with a decidedly Chinese name she couldn't pronounce, but recognized from her time over there. Then she ordered quite a few pastries and cookies. Moments later a notification appeared informing her that all orders would be delivered in ten minutes, except for the tea. That was apparently already on its way.

Setting the tablet down Ranma stood up and stepped over to the railing. The railings were low, probably to make sure someone sitting in the chairs could see the stage, and only came up to her hips. Leaning against it she leaned out to take a look around. Down below, in the floor seats, hundreds of students were still flooding into their seats. The balconies to her immediate right and left were empty, though she could see others that had girls sitting in groups chatting as they waited. There were a couple rows of them, the top row which she was part of that wrapped around the entire auditorium, and a second row immediately below them. A few more were on the level of the second level gallery of seats to either side of the stage in the gap between the stage and gallery gallery seating.

On the same level as them, on the opposite side of the auditorium, she could see the black-haired girl from next door, Rin, sitting by herself in one of the boxes sipping tea and looking thoroughly bored.

"The idea of getting a box seat in an auditorium is just… Are all rich schools like this?" Ranma asked Kasumi, who shrugged.

"Why would I know?" She asked, flipping through her hand outs. She paused to stare at a page. "Ranma…"

"Yeah?" Ranma turned from watching the crowds that were filling up the low level seats.

"They have a music intermission half way through." Kasumi said flatly, turning the papers around.

"What?" Ranma grabbed her own handouts and started flipping through. Sure enough, on the backside of page five, she found the schedule for the assembly. Slapped in between a speech by the Student Council President and announcements concerning new school rules was a forty minute 'musical intermission' by a local singer.

"Well that's weird." Ranma said, raising an eyebrow at the page.

"Welcome to the standards of St. Gloriana's I guess?" Kasumi offered, getting a sigh from Ranma.

She folded up the hand out and set it down with one hand, the other toying with the earrings she was wearing. "I guess we're going to have to get used to them." She frowned. It felt strange to be wearing jewelry to school of all places, and not for some scheme or prank. Hell, she was probably wearing more in jewelry right now than Nabiki had ever made by scamming people. Unless Nabiki had managed more than she had realized… Well there was Kuno…

A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and, waving Kasumi to stay seated, she walked over and opened the door. "Hello?" She greeted the well dressed young man with a serving cart covered in teapots and cups.

"Miss Saotome?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Your teas and cups have arrived. My apologies for being late." He said, bowing slightly to her.

She blinked. He was late? She hadn't noticed. "No problem. Put them on the table." She said, stepping aside and letting the man into the box. Kasumi cleared a spot on the small table to the teapots as the man brought them over, then went back for the cups. In moments he was gone, leaving a steaming pot of tea, a plate of sugar and cream, and four cups. Why he thought they needed four cups she had to wonder.

As Kasumi poured out the tea Ranma sat back down, sighing. She rubbed the side of her forehead out of habit as she stared down at the stage, presently empty except for a single stand and microphone. This was…

"Tea?" Kasumi offered, holding out a teacup on a small plate.

"Thank you Kasumi." Ranma sighed, accepting the cup of darjeeling tea and sipping it. She straightened up and crossed one leg over the other. "It's good tea."

"If it wasn't I'd be disappointed." Kasumi replied, sipping her own as she flipped through the hand out. "So we have the assembly, then a break for lunch, then homeroom for… until the end of classes apparently. Well that's a bit long."

Ranma retrieved her hand-out and began flipping through it as she sipped her tea. "I guess they do things differently here." She said, finding the schedule for the next few days. The rest of the week was listed as Homeroom which was… odd to say the least.

The next ten minutes passed with them flipping through their handouts before there was another knock on the door. One trip to the door and back again ended with their small table being buried under plates of pastries and cookies.

Kasumi sighed and dropped her booklet back into her bag. She gave Ranma a look. "If it was anyone else I'd be asking how you were thinking of eating all of that." She said.

Ranma pushed a plate of cookies towards Kasumi. "I have no idea what you mean." She said, taking a bite of a strawberry jam stuffed roll.

Rolling her eyes Kasumi pulled out her phone and powered it up. A moment later Ranma heard the tell-tale noises of a game being played on her phone. Deciding to ignore the beeps and boops coming from Kasumi's phone she continued to go over the hand out. Most of it was a reminder of school rules, expectations, and a schedule of upcoming events at the school.

Eventually the flood of people coming into the room came to a close and the lights around the auditorium dimmed. Ranma looked up her booklet as the room, every box, balcony, and the entirety of the floor seats, fell quiet as the older woman from the front door walked out on stage. Ranma could just barely make out the mic of the wireless microphone the woman was wearing as she strode confidently out onto the stage.

"Welcome," She began, her voice warm and rich. "Another year has just ended, and yet another has begun. To all of you returning for another year, I am happy to see you again. To those just joining us, welcome! My name is Mitsuko Takei, but you can call me Tieguanyin, I am the Headmistress here at St. Gloriana's."

"That name sounds Chinese." Ranma commented to Kasumi as the Headmistress continued with her greetings.

"It's one of the most expensive teas in the world Ranma." Kasumi replied as she shut down her phone, "I think it would make a dent in even your family's finances."

"Ah."

Down below the Headmistress had moved on from her greetings. "Let us start today with some announcements. I'm sure some of you have seen the signs around the chemistry building. It is still off limits after the incident at the end of the year and will remain so until next week." She paused. "I hope I don't have to remind our chemistry club as to why our rules exist after this incident."

Ranma snickered. It seemed that chemistry clubs were a problem everywhere, not just Furinkan. Announcements continued for a while and included, amongst other things, new restrictions for science clubs, a new cafe opening by the auditorium,

"Finally, let me hand the microphone over to our very own Student Council President Ginsing and Student Council Vice-President Qi Lan." The headmistress applauded as she stepped aside to allow the two girls to come forward from the wings of the stage. There was a heavy applause from the floor, but somewhat lighter applause from the boxes.

The first girl, a tall brunette with her hair in pair of buns on either side of her head, politely accepted the microphone from the Headmistress. "Hello everyone, welcome back for another year. I am Ginsing, your student council President." She said raising her other hand to wave. "And this is Qi Lan, your student council Vice-President." She gestured to the shorter blonde with long straight hair beside her. The blonde girl waved to the crowd, getting somewhat more applause than her companion.

Ranma sipped her second cup of tea as she watched and listened. "Well they're getting quite the reaction." Kasumi commented.

"Yep." It was clear that both of them were popular with the larger student body.

"To start today off we're here to go over some of the upcoming events leading up to the summer. Starting with our annual Club Fair!" She called raising both hands up. The cheering was loud enough Ranma winced a bit. Once it died down a bit the president continued on. "Yes, I know everyone loves the fair." She said.

"This year we have a few stand out features. First, our Sensha-do Club under Orange Pekoe has something new they'll be sharing with us this year! You can find them at their usual spot in the pavilion on the sports fields." Ginsing continued.

Ranma shot a glance at Kasumi. "Think those are the tanks?" She asked.

"Unless they have something else they were planning on showing off." Kasumi replied, "I mean, it's entirely possible that it's something else."

"I guess." Ranma said sipping her tea. She nibbled on a pastry as the president continued on her list of features.

"The Library will be hosting an art gallery featuring the works of some of our recently graduated alumnae." She continued, "The culinary arts club has recently acquired three more food carts and two food trucks, all of which will be serving food around campus throughout the entire Fair. I've had a chance to try some of their new dishes and I think all of you will love them."

Ranma tuned the president out as she continued her spiel. She poured another cup of tea, added a touch of sugar and cream to it then took a sip. It was alright, but Darjeeling really wasn't her favourite tea.

Eventually the president moved on from the club fair to other events that would take place before the summer. None of it was on the same level as the fair ranging from tournaments to a couple of small concerts and a play.

"And now," The President said after a full half hour of speaking, "Allow me to pass the microphone back to our Headmistress Tieguanyin!" The room applauded as Ginsing passed the microphone back to the Headmistress as she came back on stage before quickly departing into the wings.

"Thank you ladies for sharing with us the amazing events that our school will be playing host to over the next few months." The Headmistress said, "Now, I know that was a lot of information, and we do have a bit more to share, but before we get to that I'd like to invite onto the stage our own English Folk Music Club, and their star singer Miss Oka-Moe."

A five girl band walked out onto the stage, four of them carrying instruments as a few people dressed in black quickly brought out stools for them to sit on and several additional microphones.

The performance took up the next forty minutes and to Ranma it was… Well, the singing was good, far better than some things she had been subjected to, but the style… maybe it would grow on her, but at the moment it just wasn't her thing. By the time the forty minute performance had finished Ranma was only managing to hang onto wakefulness, due to the lessons on etiquette she had been given over the last couple of weeks. Getting caught sleeping during the assembly would look rather bad.

Eventually though the band wrapped up to enthusiastic applause, so they seemed to be popular with the school at least. Ushering them off stage the Headmistress smile widely at the gathered school. "Thank you everyone for showing your support for that beautiful performance." She said as the stools and extra microphones were cleared away, "Now, I have a few more things to bring up before I send you off to lunch. If all of you would turn to page fifteen of your hand outs, which you should have remembered to pick up."

There was a loud ruffling of paper as everyone in the auditorium fished out their booklets and flipped to the correct page.

"Everyone good? Excellent." Tieguanyin nodded to the students in the front row. "Now, there have been a few changes to the rules as a result of several incidents last year. First, anyone caught trying to synthesize explosives in the chemistry lab without a written letter of permission will be getting suspended for a week. Two if it happens again. If this happens three times it won't be suspension you will have to worry about, but something far worse."

According to the booklet 'parents would be called and further punishments would be decided up to and possibly including expulsion'. Ranma snorted. Well, it seemed they took explosions taking out part of the campus more seriously than Furinkan High had at least. She'd put money on this being a response to the chemistry building exploding.

The Headmistress looked over the crowds of students with a stern expression, and Ranma was fairly sure her eyes lingered on a small group of girls wearing red bows in their hair before moving on. Finally, her expression softened. "Of course after last semester I'm sure everyone here is disinclined to experiment that way. I would hate to be let down on this fact." She said.

A shiver ran through the group of bow wearing students.

"Now, other changes to the rules include…" The rest of the announcements were rather dry, though informative. You were not, for example, allowed to bring blue rabbits near the aftward port kennels near the library. How you would get blue rabbits in the first place Ranma didn't know, but they were now banned. Ranma had the feeling there was probably a strange story behind it.

Other odd things included a ban on red motorcycles on property, which was apparently in addition to having banned motorcycles entirely the year before; a requirement that all fish tanks be inspected on a monthly basis by staff; and the apparent outlawing of a hairstyle that Ranma had never heard of before. Judging by some of the dismayed noises down below it might have been one of those strange fads going around.

"And that is it for the major changes to our policies at this time." Tieguanyin finished, "To anyone new you can find the full rulebook either in the library, on our website, or available in the school supplies store. Now, with that out of the way I know many of you are getting hungry, it is now time for lunch. Welcome back everyone, please remember your homeroom number and enjoy the rest of the day." A deafening applause broke out as the Headmistress finished and headed off the stage.

Standing up, having finished her tea, Ranma stretched as she stepped up to the balcony railing and looked out on the auditorium. To her left Rin had already left. Whether the girl had waited for the Headmistress to finish or had simply left when she got bored she had no idea, but her box was already empty.

"Well that was long." Kasumi yawned, stretching herself like a cat that had gone too long without moving.

"A bit." Ranma agreed, pausing as she spotted a shock of red hair in one of the lower boxes. An older girl with hair that was almost the same shade as Ranma's was chatting with a small group on the lowest level of boxes across the way. She watched as the girl left the box with her friends.

"Ready to go?" Kasumi asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Hm? Oh. One sec." Ranma swept her booklet into her book bag and picked up the bag. "Alright. Let's go... Though, what are we doing for lunch?" She mused as they left the box.

Kasumi sighed. "You ate enough to put a full grown man into the hospital, and you're still hungry." She shook her head and dug out her phone. "Let me check the app and see what's on campus."

A few minutes later they had found a bench by the fountain in the plaza and were debating the options. There were, to their surprise, quite a few options for food on campus, though that only seemed to apply if 'English Food' was what you wanted.

"We could go here." Ranma pointed over Kasumi's shoulder at a spot on the map.

"We already decided no to three fish and chips places Ranma, why would suggest another one." Kasumi sighed.

"It looks better than the other three." Ranma shrugged.

"Hrm.. I'm just surprised there are four of them on campus in the first place." Kasumi muttered loudly.

An amused laugh broke them out of their deep contemplation of the map. Looking up from Kasumi's phone they found a girl barely taller than Ranma with cherry pink hair wearing the St. Gloriana's uniform standing with a hand on her hip.

"Having issues deciding what to have?" She asked.

"A bit." Kasumi confessed.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked.

"Rosehip, commander of St. Gloriana's Crusaders." She bowed exaggeratedly. "And you are the Hayashida Heiress, Ranma Saotome right?" She asked Ranma.

"That's me." She admitted. The other girl grinned.

"Great, how about I show you and your friend a few of the good places around campus then? Sound good?" She asked.

Ranma looked to Kasumi who shrugged. Looking back at the older girl she shrugged. "Sure." She said, getting up. "Just you?"

"Pekoe decided she'd rather have lunch pouring over those tanks we got, left me with no one to go with right now since everyone else went with her." Rosehip shrugged. "C'mon, this way." Humming the rosette set off at a fast pace out of the plaza.

Sharing a bemused look Ranma and Kasumi followed the hyperactive 'older' girl.

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Hello everyone~ How are you doing? Good I hope~ *Waves Fluffy Tails* Here we go, the latest chapter of wGaE~ I hope you enjoy it~

Thank you to Gekkou_Yoko for your help with editing once again my adorable assistant~

I've recently started up a , link in my signature, if you feel like helping me out a bit please feel free to donate. *Hopeful Kitsune* The money goes towards freeing helping me with long term expenses and once it goes over a certain point I'll be putting the funds towards artwork for my stories.

To the people who have already backed me, thank you so much~

Have a great day everyone and I hope you liked the story~ *Fluffy Tails Wave again*

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