Story: Hinako Tendo

 

 The eye of the storm. A metaphor for calm, while all around is chaos and anarchy. The actual eye of a storm isn't an especially safe place to remain, incidentally, as the storm will shift too quickly and unpredictably to stay there for any useful amount of time.

Still, Kasumi Tendo had made it the habit of a lifetime to stay in exactly that location without any repercussions. She wasn't doing it on purpose or anything, it was simply a knack that she'd picked up unconsciously. Call it a byproduct of living with that family. Of the sisters, she was the Nice One. Being able to casually avoid all harm was a skill she would need to properly survive.

"Oh, they really are making a frightful mess..." Kasumi tsked, the closest she would get to making an open criticism of that nature.

"Are they? Li'l Azusa hasn't noticed."

That might be because Kasumi's partner for this contest was a little bit preoccupied in getting lost in Kasumi's eyes. As in, Ryoga Hibiki level lost. Kasumi should be careful here or this klepto cutie might decide to name her eyes and - let's not finish the thought, it's quite unpleasant.

"Some tea?" Kasumi asked. She grabbed a boiling kettle from a passing server, and some cups as well. "Ah, it'll have to be Western style tea, I'm afraid."

"It'll be fine so long as you make it," Azusa said. A comment that Kasumi roundly ignored. She was quite fascinated with the contest around them, watching how every single couple was flaunting the rules and blatantly interfering with one another's dates.

Then, without her even noticing, she held up her cup and used the gap between it and the handle to drain the chaperones on the next table over, right as they were dropping marbles under another couple's feet. Oh dear. She'd drained them without even noticing she'd done so. Azusa didn't notice either because, again, far too lost in Kasumi's eyes to notice something trivial like her entire body transforming from the sudden influx of energy.

Not that Kasumi had noticed Azusa's adoration. Likely inherited from her father's side of the family. Soun was pretty dense like that. It had taken Hinako a lot of work to get through to him. To the point where she had to break into his bedroom, lie on his bed in her mature form in sexy lingerie, then wind up having to quickly drain someone passing by outside when she got caught up in a conversation about newspaper comics for a good hour.

"Oops, sorry about that Ranma!" Akane said a little too loudly. "Didn't mean to almost trip you there."

"That's okay Akane, I don't have two left feet so I didn't wind up stumbling over."

Oh, but Kasumi noticed what they were really up to. While Akane had Ranma's attention, Ukyo was sneaking an okonomiyaki onto Ranma's table. No doubt it had something nasty in it. The purple mushroom placed on top of it separate from the rest of the dish was probably the trap. Ah, and on top of that, Akane was holding a coin under the table, trying to drain Ranma's energy away, while Nabiki was doing the same thing, holding a coin in each hand. Using one to feed energy to Ranma, while the other was draining it from a chaperone.

"Uh, by the way Akane, what's going on with you and your sisters? You look a bit different from before," Ukyo said to Akane's boobs. This got Akane's attention away from Ranma - giving him the chance to quickly swap around Akane's salt shaker with one Ranma had pre-prepared. Probably sugar. Kasumi was pretty sure she'd seen him emptying a packet into a salt shaker a minute ago.

"If you're a good boy, I'll tell you later," Akane said, tickling under Ukyo's chin. "If you're a bad boy, I'll still tell you... but I'll have to punish you first."

In that moment Ukyo resolved to be the worst boy that she could possibly be. Which almost made it fortunate that she was really a girl, but that wasn't so important right now because she was still reeling a bit from the fact that Akane could shoot laser beams and transform into a Super Hot Domme that had awakened something in Ukyo that she never knew about herself.

Meanwhile, Kasumi could plainly see that Nabiki was enjoying herself immensely. Just the act of trying to trip up the other dates was enough fun for her. She casually pulled the mushroom right off the top of Ranma's okonomiyaki and tossed it onto a plate on the table next to hers.

And while that was going on Akane had upended her salt shaker right into her tea. Which made sense to Kasumi - that girl could never quite grasp the difference between salt and sugar. She wasn't allowed to cook, because she simply... becomes far too focused. On the wrong things.

"Wait, Akane!" Ukyo yelled, trying to prevent her from drinking from the cup. Only to get flicked back into her seat by Akane, who delicately took a sip, unaware that Ranma had inadvertently saved her from drinking salty tea.

"A refill, Azusa?" Kasumi asked, her peripheral vision noticing that she had finished her cup. "Terribly sorry that it's so bitter. Oh dear."

"No, no! It's perfectly fine!" Azusa beamed. "Since you're the one that poured it, I'll treasure it inside me forever and ever and ever..."

"That's very nice of you Azusa, just so long as you don't name the cup -"
"Lilian! Oh, what a lovely flower pattern you have!"

Kasumi couldn't say anything to that. She did pat Azusa on the head though. It was like taking care of an overexcited puppy. Still, that had a charm to itself, and Azusa was very adorable when she wasn't stealing your things.

Oh, but what was this? Both Nabiki and Akane's tables were being approached by two chaperones. One tall and muscular, the other small and skinny. They seemed familiar to Kasumi for some reason, but she couldn't quite -

"E-Excuse me, I'm afraid you're both disqualified for breaking the rules," the smaller one said.

"Yes, 'tis a shame, but such flagrant flaunting of the rules of this contest cannot be abided by," the taller one said. "We shall have to ask you to leave before you cause trouble for the other -"

Akane held up a coin and shot a blast at the larger one's chest, sending him flying across the room. Oh dear. "Oops, how did that happen?"

Meanwhile, Nabiki finished off her drink and picked out an ice cube, dropping it in Ranma's waiting hand. He flicked it into the air, and it landed down the collar of the smaller one.

"Leave the crummy half disguises to an expert," Ranma said. He jabbed a finger at himself as if that was something to be proud of. "Nobody can half ass a disguise like Ranma Saotome, got it, what'syourname?"

"Gosunkugi!" the smaller one said, jumping around in desperation trying to shake the cube out. "If you're going to see through my disguise at least remember my name!"

"I rise!" Tatewaki Kuno roared. "Fair Akane, do not be bewitched by this new student! While it is true that his handsome features and slender form awaken strange feelings deep within me, do not be swayed by his alluring charms!"


"For real?! How is pretending to be a chaperone not a real actual disqualification?!" Akane yelled. Who is running this thing again?"

<hr>

"Yay, my little Akane saw right through that dummy's ploy and sent him flying with a pow, pow, pow!" Hinako yelled, fistpumping the air triumphantly and proudly.

"That's nothing compared to my little Ranma so expertly making that ice cube land down that boy's back," Nodoka sighed, all but swooning over her own son's antics. "That takes skill, not some inherited freaky superpower."

Hinako's eyebrow twitched, then she quickly drained an audience member so she could properly put Nodoka in a headlock and use her elbow to rub up against her scalp.

"Ohohoho! How playful my broadcast partner is feeling today!" Hinako, now adult form, cackled quite immaturely - right before getting to experience a bridging back suplex first hand. "Guh! She likes to play rough!"

"Unlike my broadcast partner, I don't play anymore, because I'm a full time adult!" Nodoka chipperly announced. "Which is why my Ranma is going to be the MVP of this contest -"

"Nonsense, when my sweet Kasumi is showing Azusa the time of her life!"

Meanwhile, not far away, the husbands of these two bickering announcers were sitting in stunned silence, watching the interplay and conflict both inside and outside.

"Saotome... do you think they're deliberately ignoring the extremely blatant cheating of our children, or is it more that they actually are not noticing somehow?" Soun asked.

Genma, being in panda form, shrugged and started to play with a tire so that he didn't have to think about it anymore.