Playing House

Futari de o-rusuban (二人でお留守番) is the 371st chapter of the manga. It is also the first and only chapter of the Playing House Arc.

When Ranma ruins Nabiki's chance to go to a concert of a lifetime, he spends the entire day with her to repay the debt.

Repaying the Debt
Nabiki shows Akane and Kasumi an expensive concert ticket, which she claims she bought with her own money from her business. Suddenly Happosai and Ranma run into the room going through their usual routine. As Happosai bounces around Ranma throws a spoon in his direction, but Happosai dodges it and the spoon instead snatches the ticket out of Nabiki's hands. The ticket flies straight into the stove and burns away in front of her eyes. The next day, as the rest of the household prepares to leave, Nabiki stays behind saying she would rather stay home if she can't go to her concert. Ranma also stays behind to keep her company and repay his debt.

The guilt tripping begins immediately as Nabiki starts talking about how the concert ticket did a number on her bank account and Ranma is coerced into modeling in lingerie as a girl for her. Nabiki is touched that Ranma would go to such lengths to repay the debt and clicks away with her camera. After getting enough rolls of film to pay for the ticket, Ranma asks if the debt has been repaid. Nabiki agrees, but sorrowfully says that the ticket was more expensive than just the price itself.

Ranma's conscience gets the better of him and decides to buy Nabiki a treat using his own money. He buys expensive sushi and some ice cream, and before he can eat some for himself Nabiki snatches it all. As he he thinks about how she's taking advantage of the situation Nabiki sees a way that Ranma can repay the debt: by helping her with her business.

Blackmail
Nabiki's business apparently involves selling handkerchiefs, which confuses Ranma since he doesn't see what the big deal in selling handkerchiefs is. Just then he notices that all handkerchiefs come with a picture of topless girl-Ranma. He snaps when Nabiki tells him that she's selling them worldwide and slams the table, hurling the ink bottle in her direction. Not wanting to pay her back even more, Ranma quickly gets in front of her so the ink lands on him while they both fall to the floor. It's only then that he sees that Nabiki had taken a picture of them on the floor. The picture appeared to show Ranma trying to embrace Nabiki, and she decides to use the picture to further take advantage of Ranma.

Ranma's new goal becomes obvious as he pursues Nabiki to get the picture from her. But before he can get too close Nabiki holds out a cat, which is enough to make Ranma run away.

Later, Ranma sneaks into Nabiki's room to search for the picture. While he doesn't find the picture, he finds something else of interest: an envelope written to Kuno and sealed with a heart sticker which he assumes is a love letter. He goes to the living room and presents her with the letter. He notices that Nabiki is visibly shaken and feels that her grip on him has loosened when suddenly Kuno drops in and reads the letter. Far from being a love letter, the envelope contained an invoice of 5000 yen for pictures of the pig-tailed girl she sold.

When Kuno is kicked out of the house, Nabiki decides to use the picture to punish Ranma for attempting to blackmail her. He begins chasing her around the house until he finally corners her. Nabiki begins crying as Ranma rips the photo apart. When he's done, Ranma notices that Nabiki had been concealing a cassette recorder, which unfortunately makes the chase sound like Ranma was forcing himself on Nabiki. Included in the tape is the ripping noise that came from the photo, which sounds like he was ripping off her clothes.

Ranma chases her again, this time to get his hands on the tape. As Nabiki turns a corner she uses a nearby broom to trip him. He trips, but lands on her head and knocks her out. He sees the recorder and destroys the tape. Once he's sure that the tape cannot be recovered, he turns to Nabiki to check if she's alright, but sees that she wrote that Ranma is her attacker on the floor. He frantically scraps away the note so there can be no evidence against him.

But as he's doing this, Nabiki's blouse lands on Ranma's head. He sees that Nabiki undressed in the next room in a last ditch effort to get him in trouble. Just then they hear everyone else back from their trip. Nabiki tells him that if they are caught like this he is likely to be blamed. However, she's unwilling to put her clothes back on and begins demanding money to get dressed. She finally agrees to 3000 yen and takes her clothes.

When Akane comes to the room Nabiki calmly explains that Ranma asked her to model an outfit, which Akane accepts. Ranma tells Akane that Nabiki got better while Nabiki tells Kasumi about the great day she had.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Akane Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Nabiki Tendo
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Happosai
 * Soun Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Tatewaki Kuno