Ryoga's Secret Revealed

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

This poll stems from similar circumstances to the "Using Love Magic on Mousse" poll I also created. The intended scenario here is that, as part of his early manipulations, Ranma tells Akane he will tell her a secret about Ryoga- though Ryoga attacks him to try and prevent it, Ranma blurts out that Ryoga is... in love with Akane. Cue dumbstruck/dumbfounded reactions from both parties, though Akane's is motivated by denial and Ryoga's is more or less "that's it? You almost gave me a heart-attack for that!?"

Anyway, Ranma takes Ryoga aside and more or less tells him that he's not going to stand in his way anymore- but tells Ryoga that he should tell Akane the truth about the whole P-chan thing, or he's going to ruin whatever feelings he does manage to build in her. Sure enough, sometime later, though I admit I don't know at this point whether or not it's because Ryoga confesses or simply coincidence, Ryoga changes in front of Akane.

Now, here is why I made this poll; I admit I don't have the greatest grasp of Akane's character, but how is she likely to react to Ryoga's revelation, particularly given he had beforehand finally confessed his true feelings for her (albeit with a major nudge from Ranma)?

[Kilich]

Well, I think that unless Ryoga manages to show that he was doing it to abe able to protect Akane at all times and prove it by fighting for her without caring for his own wellbeing ( and, preferably, take a few severe beating along the way), he won't be forgiven.

[whatever]

I believe that she would be able to talk to Ryoga and being sympathetic with him after some time but in my opinion, she would truly forgive him if he does something to redeem himself like maybe saving her from danger again or maybe helping Ranma like in the moxibustion arc (He was trying to help him at the beginning).

[FOG3]

Too much is up in the air on who has what leverage to be honest. Kind of need a little more to lock it down.

If Ryoga's tending towards zero leverage I'd say Akane's personality is such as to not view him as a major threat leading to a rather lackluster response. If he's tending more in the direction of forcing his way ala the curshing hug business, he's liable to utterly freak her out. Her sister's reaction to all this is in many regards a bigger factor, as is how sincere Ranma is in all this.

Akane uses standardized tactics of limited complexity in manipulting and talking to people. She primarily tends to be driven by emotional reactions instead of on pure principle or otherwise. This makes how things are perceived and how other players influence her perception in many regards more relevant then the actual particulars of what really happened. Especially as Ryouga doesn't do anything major while pig to our knowledge.

I could see this running a very wide gammut depending upon her present operational state at the time, and predictions of opinions and actual opinions following that.

The really messed up part of all this is IIRC Soun knows about it as he's seen Ryouga transform very, very early on. As in he's the first to know pig=Ryouga. His not doing anything about it despite that just emphasizes how out of whack everything is, and why this cannot really be locked down without locking it down on a particular path intentionally or through factors forcing it along a particular path.

[Cheb]

I'd vote for "none of the above". I think her reaction at witnessing the transformation would be "Ryouga-kun! Where did you come from? And where's P-chan?" - and that's all.
I think she is so deep in denial of this matter she just cannot react adequately in regard to it.
She'd more likely to lose consciousness, have a short memory dropout or feel there's something very wrong with her eyes than to actually believe the truth.

P.S. Which is an excellent basis for a great comedic resolution of the tension you as an author build specifically for this purpose. The mark of battle god story arc is an example how Takahashi herself does that.

[Spokavriel]

During the Mark of the Battling God mess she had all the evidence that anyone less delusional would need to put it together. Identical marks. P-Chan going so far as drinking twice his volume in hot water to avoid getting any of it on him.

No matter how thirsty any animal is they don't tend to exceed their physical volume to quench it.

[Southern Cross]

Not quite identical-"P-Chan's" mark is white ink on black flesh on black while Ryoga's mark was clearly drawn in black ink.

[Drawde]

I'd vote for "none of the above". I think her reaction at witnessing the transformation would be "Ryouga-kun! Where did you come from? And where's P-chan?" - and that's all.

If Akane responded like that, what are the chances that Ranma would immediately suspect that Shampoo shampooed Akane again?

Also if P-chan changed to Ryoga, he'd be naked. In front of Akane.

[TerraEpon]

If Akane responded like that, what are the chances that Ranma would immediately suspect that Shampoo shampooed Akane again?

I've read at least one fic where that's exactly what had happened -- Shampoo at some unknown point (during canon) did that shampooing technique on Akane to make Akane forget the connection.

[Spokavriel]

I remember reading one place where Kodachi and P-chan were caught up in her ribbon and Shampoo had spilled a hot order of Rammen on them.

Akane missed the transformation but got a full view of naked Ryouga apparently assaulting Kodachi tied up with her. Even though just before her vision was obscured she was trying to get P-Chan back from Kodachi she still didn't make the connection.

[Ran]

That was Girl Days by Kenko