Last upgrade: 06-Mar'02

All synopsis are by Zahara Medina, and cannot be used anywhere else without her permission. As she is just a student of Japanese, any help, comments or corrections are more than welcome! ^^;
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Chapter 4
Back in home, Ranze's parents wait anxiously for Ranze to wake up from the unconcious state she fell into after being hurt by Sheera-wolf. They wonder what kind of horrible thing will come out of it, and of course they end up fighting for who is at fault, so Morli just shuts Sheera up in his coffin... (^^; ) Meanwhile, Shun is training in Youko's father's gym (and being pestered by her as well). In one of his rests, he can't help thinking about Ranze and wondering if she is all right (since Sheera kicked him out when he attempted a visit...). He is suprised at having these kind of feelings towards Ranze and tries to shake himself out of it (KOing Youko in the process!). In home, poor Rinze wonders if his sister is ok, since it's been three days already and she is still sleeping. Sheera and Morli explain that since she is not human per-se, they don't know what kind of consequences Sheera's attack will have... will Ranze grow hair all over? Will she turn into a dog? Will she just turn crazy? (Poor Rinze...) Morli and Sheera decide to speed things along and consult their ancestors for their wisdom in the matter at hand, so they go down to the secret passages in their mansion and step into the family's pantheon. Sheera then proceeds to wake up her own grandmother! (Who looks as good as the day she bought it, and doesn't even recognize her own family...) Rara (the grandmother) does manage to wake up Ranze from her trance, and Sheera tells her how very sorry she is (but she is not forgiving her for going around with a boy). Ranze meets her grandmother and they all start to celebrate. Morli also tells Ranze that Shun did come around to ask about her, and Ranze is really happy about it. At the dinner table, Ranze is going to start eating, when she notices the round form of her dish... and suddenly a set of wolf ears pops up on her head... followed by a tail under her skirt! Sheera is really sorry she did that to poor Ranze, and until grandmother Rara remembers how to fix this problem, the poor girl will grow ears and tail every time she sees a circle. Ranze goes to bed praying that Shun won't hate somebody as odd as her. Next day, Ranze goes to school followed by Rara, who is there in case something happens... like say, Ranze seeing the traffic lights and growing ears! But before Rara can give her her hat, somebody stops her from being run over by a car. It's Shun! Rara is very impressed by this cool (and good looking) boy, who also takes her on his back and helps her cross the street. Shun wonders where she is going, and when she says to the school, he says so he is. Rara wonders if he then knows about Ranze Etou. Shun's expression changes and he replies that she is one of his classmates. Rara asks him to tell her how Ranze is, but Shun says he shouldn't talk about these things, so Rara explains that she is actually Ranze's granmother, and wants to know more about what other people think of her. Shun starts saying that she is bad at sports and bad at... pretty much everything (^^; ), but then remembers about the moment when she saved him from the wolf's (Sheera) attack... Rara asks for his name, and is shocked when she learns that this is the same boy who Sheera wanted her to help with in the matter of breaking him appart from Ranze. Ranze finally arrives to her class and everybody is happy to see her. Shun's expression grows sober as he asks her if she is all right, and says he is sorry she got hurt because of him. Ranze is very happy that he is so concerned about her, and tells him that she is prefectly all right, and not to worry. Ranze says she is sorry her mother didn't let him visit, but he says she shouldn't worry about that. (And Youko is spitting fire by now.) Later on, Youko shows a photo of Ranze to some guy, telling him to go out with her, and kiss her at least once. Back in class, the teacher has them make a surprise test, but to her utter amazement, Ranze discovers she can understand and answer everything! Unfortunately, she can't put the correct answers because that would mean writting circles (*)! Latter in a break, his teacher spanks her for putting triangles instead of zeros, and Ranze sheepishly answers that it's because she likes onigiri (*2) so much... Still, all the answers are wrong, so her grade is a ZERO! Ranze fights for her life and manages to make the teacher write "zero" instead of putting the number itself. (^^; ) Ranze and Rara walk around the school while Shun and some of the other guys are playing soccer. Of course somebody kicks the ball her way, and she returns it with her tail, assisting Shun into making a goal (and the poor man is not very sure of what just happened ^^;;; ) As if things weren't bad enough, Ranze learns from her classmates that in the evening they will have their phisical examinations. The display for the scales is round, the eyesight test has circles in it, the doctor for the ears has round glasses... everything has circles in it! Finally Ranze manages to get to the final test, but the doctor has a round light! "What is that?" "... Ears." "Take them off!" "Aaaaauch!" *silence* "Doctor, I also got this!" *smiles and shakes tail* The poor doctor looks in horror, but Ranze is fast and manages to bite him before he cries for help! She then hides the doctor under the bed and calls for the next student to enter, who is already knocking on the door. Youko! Ranze uses this opportunity to do evil things to Youko, like telling her she looks like a crab, and show her total lack of human anatomy knowledge! After Ranze-doctor manages to make Youko run away, she tries to escape the room through the window, especially since they tell her that it's now boy's time and there is 250 to go! However, she is not fast enough, and the next student enters the room. Shun Makabe! Shun takes off his shirt and Ranze is about to explode. She keeps on touching Shun's body with her finger, as poor Shun starts to have a really bad feeling about this doctor! Finally Shun runs away, and Ranze gets to escape as well. Poor Ranze is really tired of it all... After school, Ranze finds a note in her shoe box (*3), asking for a meeting, and thinks it's from Shun. She is really happy and runs for it, while poor Rara is torn apart between her nice experience with Shun and Sheera's ire. While Ranze is waiting at the meeting point, the ugly guy Youko was talking with before shows up. Ranze tries to get away from him, be he just tries to grab her and kiss her. Even poor Rara can't do anything because she is too old and has no power left! Ranze tries to bite her attacker, but is too sickened at his ugly fact to even think about it. Fortunately, she does notice that his nostrils look just like two circles, and grows her wolf ears, scaring the hell out of the guy! Somebody heard the noice and asks what happened, and poor Ranze has just enough time to cover her ears before... Shun appears! Shun looks around and sees the guy knocked out, as poor Ranze starts to cry from the scare. Shun kneels at her side and tells her that it's ok, and not to cry, that he will accompany her home. Meanwhile, Youko, who has been around to see the outcome, is shocked to see Shun with Ranze as they sit together on a bench. Shun comments on the fact that so many bad things happen to Ranze, and she uses the opportunity to rest her head against Shun's shoulder. Unfortunately, Ranze is so happy that she forgets herself and looks at the pretty full moon... just as Youko is looking at them! * - For Japanese, a circle (or zero) is good, and a check is bad. *2 - Onigiri are those triangular "balls" of rice, served with a piece of seaweed, and that often contain some nice food inside, like meat, fish or vegetables. *3 - In Japanese schools, just like in Japanese houses, one doesn't use their street shoes. Instead, special shoes are used, which are stored in rows of shoe boxes (small lockers) at the entrances of the schools (which are also used to store the street shoes while one is in school, of course).
Chapter 5
Ranze just grew fox ears and tail... and everybody is looking! Ranze's grandmother reacts fast, however, and stops time through a spell. She then makes Shun swallow a special pill which will delete his memories of Ranze's problem. Grandma Rara then ends the spell and takes Ranze home as if nothing unusual had happened. Except that they didn't realize Youko had been looking, too! Back in home, Rara attempts to cast a spell on Ranze that will end her ears+tail problem... to no avail. Next day in school, Ranze greets Shun and is very happy when he greets her back (it's the first time!). During the whole day, Youko is constantly following Ranze to see if she can see her ears again. Finally, Ranze does grow ears because of a round pan, and Youko runs in horror to tell Shun that Ranze is in reality a... a Japanese racoon dog!! Shun laughes pretty hard and tells Kamiya that if Ranze is that, then she gotta be a fox (following Japanese legends, foxes are famous for appearing in woman form). However Ranze has heard the exchange and knows she is in big trouble... she even dreams about Shun abandoning her and going away with Youko because he prefers humans... No joke! Ranze decides she has to do something, she is going to the Makai! Rinze and their talking parrot friend-pet decide to join in the adventure, and so, without their elders' knowledge, the three of them slip into the secret door to the basement and step into the road to the Makai world. At the end of the long road with very high cliffs at either side, there is a gigant closed door with a small opening at the base. The moment they enter it, the opening closes behind them and in front they can see the Makai kingdom! There is still a long way to go, and eventually, they reach the library. Inside there are all type of monsters busy studing and consulting books (^^;; ), including a pretty blond guy about Ranze's age in a medievalesque dress. When the boy sees Ranze, he seem to fall in love right away... she is so cute! Ranze ends up helping him with some simple sums he seems to find horribly difficult (^^;;; ). Ranze tells him they are looking for a book called "Kindan no Sho" (Forbidden writtings), and after getting serious for a second, he tells them he knows where the book is, though he is not very sure if it's ok to say... but it's ok, he will because she is so cute! The guy takes them to a special room, and the librarian seems to be in awe of him. The guy finds the book for them and wonders why they need it. Ranze shows (^^;; ) her problem and he thinks she looks cute with the ears and the tail. As Ranze starts studing the book, he asks for her name and starts to flirt, but she kicks him away and he is shocked she can use such a language with him... Suddenly, an alarm interrumpts them as it's been noted that somebody is using the book in question. The guy drags Ranze, Rinze, parrot and book outside the building as they are followed by lots of monsters in close pursuit, but they manage to hide behing some rocks. Ranze happily agrees to be the guy's friend, and he gives her some nice things in exchange, including several magic items. Before they leave, Ranze asks for his name, Aron. As they run away again, Aron realizes they aren't from the Makai world but the human world, while Ranze and Rinze are pushed by the parrot into some sort of water... Back in home, Morli and Sheera realize that the three are missing, just in time to see Rinze and the parrot appear out of nowhere! Back in school, it's sport's festival day and Youko is waiting for Ranze, ready to show her true identity to the world! (Or in this case, the school) Shun still doesn't believe a single thing, even though Youko has a witness (the guy she sent to attack Ranze). Ranze herself happens to go back to the human world in the school fields, but while she reads the book, the letters in it disappear! Fortunately as Youko shows her a beisball, Ranze screams what she remembers from the book, and nothing happens! No ears, no tail. Youko and her helper start trying to make Ranze grow the ears and tail, and Ranze just laughes at her while the rest of the class go away bored. After this, Ranze goes to change into her sport clothes and takes a look into one of the items Aron gave her, a magic mirror. Suddenly, Ranze exclaims in surprise! In home, Sheera explains Rinze that they came back by teleportation. Rinze says that he wanted to return to his dad and mom (and dad is very stupidly happy ^^;; ) so that's why he appeared in front of them back in home, so he wonders where did Ranze end up. Sheera and Morli know, of course: school! (Because of Shun) While Morli suffers because Ranze didn't wish to return to her dad, Rara goes to check on Ranze. After she is gone, Morli explains about the contents of the book disappearing outside the Makai world as to protect its secrets and wonders if perhaps the Great King took offense... and the door to the Makai in their basement starts to open misteriously. At school, Youko and Ranze cheer Shun when it's his turn to compete in track, and then fight with each other to his shame. During the other games, Ranze and Youko keep on trying to best each other as they keep on fighting, to the amusement of everybody else. In the back, Shun scares one of the students with an evil smile when he thinks Ranze is pretty cool. Rara watches Ranze from afar, as Ranze and Youko enter another game obstacle race (*). Unfortunately for Ranze, she is so obsessed and angry at Youko, that when the time comes for her to bite a bread hanging from a rope, she forgets herself and uses her powers, turning into the bread! Everybody blinks and wonders where did Ranze go, while Youko opens her big mouth and eats Ranze-bread in a single gulp! (*: In Japanese schools there are some "sport festival" days, in which students have to compete in different track sports such as races, and also obstacle races as their families and friends look from the sides. These obstacles are usually games such as crawling under a net, running or walking with things in your mouth, having to pick a piece of food with your mouth, etc... . My favorite is the one where ones has to go to the goal line with a person named in a secret note you find depending on your position in the race, such as "your father," "your best friend," or, the most used in shoujo manga to create really ackward moments, "the person you like most." ^^;; )

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All images © Ikeno Koi (except backgrounds).