"Three! How… how is that even possible?"
Ah, there it was; that long familiar look of incredulity. He'd managed to avoid seeing it for a good four months now, but it was bound to show up again just as soon as someone went digging for any specific details about his life.
"Ya know, I'm not even really sure myself anymore. It's all got somethin' to do with suicide contracts, honor duels, an illiterate panda, and okonomiyaki."
The girl across from him began to twitch one of those big, pretty, violet eyes of hers. Ranma wanted to smile at her reaction, really he did, but there just wasn't any humor in this whole messed up thing for him any more. Instead he slurped down another mouth full of noodles.
"You… you're joking, right?" She began her own sickly chuckle. "It's a joke." The poor, sweet girl was looking at him, pleading with her eyes, begging for him to tell her it was all just some twisted gag.
"If it is, then the joke's on me, 'cause it's all true." Poor girl, right now she's probably thinking that she's eating dinner with a mad man. "Look, 'taru, I know it sounds a bit nuts, but that's just the way my life's been… nuts. Everyone I know, everyone I meet, they're all crazy; every last one of 'em. Hell, I'm probably a few kicks shy of a kata myself by now."
And wasn't that the truth. A wise man once said that the only common element in all his dysfunctional relationships was himself… Well actually he read it on a tee-shirt a couple months back, but it still reeked of too much wisdom. Sure, he couldn't see it, but that didn't mean the crazy wasn't there. After all, nobody else seemed to be able to see their own particular brand of wacko… just look at the Kunos.