“Alright, kiddo, spill it.”


    Ranko looked up from the dishwasher into Yui’s inquisitive face. “What?!”


    Yui gestured with her head over the packed bar room of Friday revelers to the table closest to the stage and its lone occupant. “That girl. You haven’t stopped looking at her since the second she came in.”


    Ranko’s skin spontaneously invented a new shade of red. “She, umm… I told ya, she’s a friend of mine, from before I came to the city.”


    Yui bit her lip, pretending to go along with the explanation for the moment. “Uh-huh.” She walked to the other side of the redhead, ringing the sale of a pair of Dragonfires into the cash register for a duo of harbor workers still in their uniforms. “She’s cute.”


    Ranko smiled dreamily. “Yeah, she… wait, what?!”


    Yui giggled, a bright grin crossing her lips. “Gotcha, little sister.” She continued speaking over her sister’s voice, ignoring the redhead’s stammered protests. “You should go talk to her.”


    The redhead’s cheeks still burned, and she turned her face away from the bartender to focus on the soda she was pouring for a customer at table eleven. “I did, before we opened.”


    Yui shook her head, nudging Ranko’s shoulder with two fingers. “I think you know what I mean, blockhead.”


    Ranko looked up, gasping and letting her jaw fall slack as she realized what Yui meant. “Naw. I couldn’t! She’s a girl!”


    The blonde bartender nodded. “So?”


    Ranko threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “I’m a girl!”


    Yui flashed her a little smile that was somewhere between wistful and devious. “Soooo?”


    Ranko glanced over at Akane. The girl who had once been her betrothed was looking around the room, sipping her soda and just taking in the environment that had been Ranko’s home for the last few months. “I couldn’t do that to her. She deserves so much better than me.” She sighed, a downtrodden glaze falling over her eyes.


    Yui clasped her hands on Ranko’s shoulders, physically turning the younger girl’s body until it faced her. “Listen to me. We’ve talked about this. There is no better than you, Ran-chan. You’re as good as they come, and if she deserves you, and she makes you happy, then don’t you dare miss the chance.” She looked down at the floor between her outstretched arms. “Trust me on this one.”


    Ranko sighed, looking over at Akane again. Even if I did want to be with her, there’s way too much bullshit in the way. Our parents. The dojo. My new life here. Re-introducing all of the nonsense of everybody back home back into my life. We’d never find a way to make it work. It’s just too much, and that’s before you even get into the whole ‘I’m a girl now’ thing.


    As certain as she was that it was impossible, something inside her desperately wished it weren’t. What I’d give if we could just get past all the bullshit and just be two gi… two people, being together because we care about each other.


    The sound of a little service bell from the kitchen pierced Ranko’s thoughts. As the redhead looked back toward the saloon door, Hana called out to her. “Ranko! The burgers for table eighteen are getting cold!”


    Ranko snapped herself back into the present. No time for daydreaming on a Friday night, dummy. She rushed back, picking up the plates with a brief apology for Hana. Moving quickly to make up for her delay, she delivered the entrees to the designated table, putting on a stage smile as best she could. Ranko turned her head to gaze at Akane again, finding that she was no longer sitting alone, as Izumi had taken the chair opposite her. What the hell is that all about? What are you up to, Izzi?


    “Excuse me, miss?”


    Ranko whirled to face the customer at table seventeen who had summoned her. “Yeah?”


    “Could we also get three more Dragonfires and a beer, when you get a minute?” The young woman grinned up at Ranko drunkenly.


    The young server nodded with a smile. Last round. After this, we’re gonna have to cut her off. She’s pretty far gone. “Sure thing!”


    Back at her table, Akane bit into a fried cheese stick. “So, how is she, really? When she isn’t putting on a brave face for me and telling me everything is great?”


    Izumi sighed. “When she got here, I’m not going to lie, she was pretty broken. All of us were at one point or another, when we first found this place. Thing is, this place is sort of equal parts nightclub and orphanage, in a weird sort of way. Me, Yui, Ayako, Mei, all of us girls had our reasons to end up here. Even our mama, the lady who owns the place. But because all of us have been broken over the years, we’ve learned how to put each other back together again. We’ve done our best to help Ranko out. There’s a lot she still won’t talk about - we suspect it’s too painful for her - but we are here for her whenever she’s ready.”


    Izumi sighed, stealing one of Akane’s cheese sticks. “The poor kid’s had it rough, though, even since she’s been here. This is only her second night all the way back, after some jerk tried to force himself on her in the middle of the bar. She ended up hitting her head and getting a pretty nasty concussion.”


    Akane gasped. She sometimes had a hard time remembering that Ranko’s condition severely hindered her ability to be the invincible martial artist she once was. She also dreaded Ranko - any girl, but especially someone who grew up as a guy - being in that position. How terrifying it must have been for her, and how alone she must have felt, not being able to tell anyone the truth.


    Izumi continued. “But, she’s resilient. She’s trying so hard, and getting so much more confidence. She told us she was raised as a tomboy of sorts, because her father really wanted her to run his family business. Poor thing didn’t even know what bra size she wore. We’ve been trying to help her. She’s a quick study, but being a teenager, especially as a girl, is a lot when you don’t have someone in your life to help.”


    Akane nodded knowingly - after her mother had died, she had no idea what she’d have done if it hadn’t been for Kasumi. “Has she talked about me at all?” There was a hopeful timbre in her voice.


    Izumi frowned a little. “She doesn’t talk much about her past in general, and when she does, it’s usually kept pretty vague. About the only thing we’ve ever gotten out of her about people in her past, other than her parents, is that her father tried to make her get married – to more than one person, even.”


    Akane sighed, her shoulders drooping. She’d often wondered, especially since Ranko had left her home, just how different their relationship might have been if Soun and Genma had just let things take their natural course.


    “She also told us that because of all that pressure, she never had an opportunity to tell the person she really cared about how she felt.” Izumi bit into the cheese in her hand, pulling it away from her teeth until the strand of stretchy mozzarella finally broke.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Akane blinked, her eyes rocketing from her basket of fried cheese back to her brown-haired companion. Could it be?! No. No way.


    “Anyway, all that is to say that she’s come a long way. She works hard, and she’s finding her footing in the world. We’re thrilled to have her in our little family, and we’re damn proud of her.” Izumi grinned up at the redhead darting between tables, balancing three baskets of chicken tenders on her forearm. She found it interesting that Ranko refused to carry warm dishes that way without first covering her arm with a bar towel, as if the teenager were afraid of being burned by food that wasn’t even too hot to bite into.


    Akane smiled, looking across the room at the redhead in the yellow dress as she laughed with her customers, darting off to fetch three orange-and-yellow-tinged glasses with little wisps of smoke rising off of them on a cork board serving tray. “So am I.”


    <hr>


    The music blaring from the sound system faded, and Mei’s voice took its place over the speakers. “Okay, everybody. We know what you’re really here for, so… who’s ready?!” The crowd roared enthusiastically.


    Akane looked around, her eyes wide as she took in the scene. Wow. I teased her about it, but… these people really are excited to see her. I’m glad. She deserves it.


    Izumi stood quickly from her chair. “That’s my cue! Gotta get ready. There’s always a huge rush at the bar after she sings. It was good talking to ya, Akane.”


    Mei sighed vocally over the microphone in her hand. “Clearly, you guys haven’t had enough to drink yet! Loosen up! It’s Friday night! I said, who’s READY?!” The crowd cheered nearly twice as loudly as they had before, and this time, Akane joined in with them.


    Ranko took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her mouth, her microphone clenched tightly in her trembling hand as she peeked out from the side door of the kitchen just behind the pool table. I haven’t been nervous like this since the first time Mei made me get on stage, and I’m deluding myself if I pretend like I don’t know why. I’m gonna feel like such an idiot singing in front of Akane like this. Doing all the things I… normally do on stage. She’s just gonna laugh at me. She glanced over at Akane’s table, her eyes filled with shame, but when she did, she found Akane on her feet, watching the stage, her hands clasped in front of her. She looked – excited?


    Ranko took another deep breath. Well, okay. Then I guess we’re doing this. This is my life now, she thought furtively. I hope you like it. I hope you accept it. But I can’t change it for anybody this time. I’ve worked too hard for it. This is who I am, Akane. The first note of a high-energy Japanese pop song blared, despite the stage still standing empty. The crowd looked around, confused.


    With a hard swallow, Ranko pushed through the door behind the pool table and jogged her way toward the stage, making a point to pass less than a meter from Akane as she made her way to the back corner of the bar room and stepped up onto the triangular wooden platform, switching her microphone on with her thumb as she ascended.


    “Hey! How’s everybody doing tonight?!” She smiled widely, waving to the assembled revelers. A loud whoop came from every direction at once. “Alright, that’s what I like to hear! We having a good time? I know I am! Who’s with me?!” As the crowd roared, Ranko powered her voice into the first verse. She moved with an extra level of energy and an exuberance that infected the crowd immediately. Every snap of her hips and every note she sang seemed to be possessed of extra precision and purpose.


    Mei leaned into Yui’s torso from behind the bar, watching the stage. As Yui was more than thirty centimeters taller, the top of her head came barely to Yui’s armpit. “What’s gotten into her tonight?”


    Yui beamed, putting her arm around Mei’s shoulders and squeezing her from behind. “Mei, honey, I think our little sister’s in love.”


    Ranko started the chorus, performing it call-and-answer style with the crowd. There wasn’t an eye in the building focused on anything but her. The louder the crowd got, the more energized she seemed to become, darting across the two-meter-wide stage with her head on a swivel to ensure different areas of the bar were engaged. She whipped her head around, catching a glimpse of Akane standing in front of her table, clapping her hands. Holy crap! She actually looks like she’s enjoying herself! Ranko smiled sweetly at her, pointing to her and wiggling her fingers in a cute wave as she sang.


    Akane blushed, but didn’t seem to mind. Rather, she stood mesmerized, witnessing a transformation she could not begin to explain. The girl that commanded that tiny little stage was not the person she’d been forced to beg to sing backup at last year’s Christmas party. Nor was not the broken husk of a person that came back from that mountaintop without a Phoenix Pill to show for their efforts. Nor was it the martial artist she once sparred against a few times a week, though some of the precise agility could be glimpsed in her dancing if Akane looked hard enough. The singer could not have been the same person who begrudgingly accepted her feminine form when she had to or when there was benefit in it for her, and who had always seemed distant and sad even as a guy.


    It couldn’t be.


    What Akane saw on that stage was, purely and simply, joy.


    The song ended and the bar’s patronage roared, but there was only one voice Ranko cared to hear. She turned to face Akane’s table, but found it empty. Her brow furrowed in a disappointed frown. Did she leave? She bowed politely to the crowd and stepped down from the stage, and as soon as she did, Akane emerged from the throng and wrapped her arms around Ranko’s waist in a tight hug. The singer giggled as Akane squeezed her tight and lifted her a little off the ground, just for a second, before setting her down and giving her enough space to make eye contact.


    “You…” Akane shook her head in disbelief. “You are incredible. Just… wow.”


    Ranko blushed, averting her eyes a little, but unable to fully hide her thousand-watt smile. “Aww, c’mon, Akane. You’re embarrassin’ me.”


    Akane clasped her hand on Ranko’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “No, I mean it! It’s so good to see you doing something that makes you so happy.”


    The redhead smiled coyly. “I’m just happy you got to see it. I was so afraid you’d find me, but now that you did… I’m just really glad you came, Akane.”


    Akane grinned, her own cheeks reddening. “Me too.”


    <hr>


    After her fifth performance of the evening, Ranko stepped off the stage to again find an applauding Akane waiting for her at its edge. Ranko walked with her back toward her table, grinning playfully. “Now, time to get back to waitress mode. So, can I get you something to drink, ma’am?”


    The girl in the Furinkan school uniform giggled as she slipped back into her chair. “Can you hang out for a minute?”


    Ranko turned, scanning the bar room with her eyes and surveying her tables. Finding that Izumi was still covering them, she nodded. “I think so, yeah. Just for a few minutes, though. Nobody gets too many breaks on a Friday around here.” She pulled out the chair across from Akane and sat, crossing her ankles reflexively.


    Akane reached for the last mozzarella stick in the red plastic basket in front of her, spreading it apart with her fingers and offering half to the redhead across the table. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you…”


    Ranko nodded. “Anything.”


    The raven-haired girl craned her neck, ensuring none of Ranko’s coworkers were within earshot. She lowered her voice, leaning across the table to be heard over the karaoke stylings of a drunken pharmacist who clearly thought he was Whitney Houston. “When you gave them your name… you could have picked any name you wanted. Why Tendo?”


    Ranko blushed brighter than she thought possible, looking down at her hands and picking at her fingernails. “I… I think you know.”


    It was Akane’s turn to blush. “I… well, uh, yeah. I, um… Oh, shit! Look at the time! I should probably get home! It’s really late.”


    Ranko shook her head, smiling softly. “It’s almost one o’clock, dummy. The trains stop at midnight.”


    Akane looked at her watch, a panicked expression crossing her face. Shit. Now what do I do?! “Oh! Well, umm, I guess I’ll need to call a taxi or something.”


    Ranko reached across the table for Akane’s hand. “Y… ya know, you could stay here tonight, if you want.”


    Akane blinked in surprise. “You mean, with… with you?!”


    Ranko bobbed her head, a bright smile forming on her lips and a hopeful glint sparking to life in her eyes as she felt Akane squeeze her hand in return. “I… I mean, only if you want. You don’t gotta, or nothin’.”


    The girl in the school uniform nodded, her cheeks aflame.


    “I’d… really like that, Ranko.”