Spring Comes to Ryoga

Ryoga no haru (良牙の春) is the 312nd chapter of the manga. It is also the first chapter of the Akari Unryu Intro Arc.

When Ryoga defeats a fearsome pig, its owner Akari falls in love with him.

Pig Terror
Four students are walking in the town when a giant pig comes running, charging into them and sending them flying. In Furinkan High School, Hiroshi and Daisuke reveal that they too have been attacked, along with many other students in the class. Ranma and Akane wonder about the nature of the pig.

Near a shop in town, Ryoga has come back from another trip. This time he brings back three items as present for Akane: dried squid (surume), woodear mushroom (kikurage), and s. He then kneels next to a frog statue and practices his confession while nearby people watch with curiosity. He states that by taking the first character from each items in Japanese reveals the secret phrase "suki da" ("I love you" in Japanese) that expresses how he feels about her. His practice confession baffles the onlookers and even the statue shatters as he rises. Ryoga is suddenly surprised when Akane happens to greet him from behind. Fortunately for him, she wasn't among the crowd that had heard the cheesy confession.

Now that he has Akane's attention, he is suddenly unable to carry out his brilliant plan. He begins poking the wall next to him to spell out "surume" when she sees the gifts. Akane accepts the gifts and moves on without any idea about Ryoga's true intention. Ryoga has failed his confession yet again and turns his head in tears.

Ranma takes this opportunity to jump on Ryoga's head to greet him. Ranma then tells him that there has been a pig going around attacking people. Ryoga thinks Ranma is talking about him and begins attacking him with his umbrella.

Smitten
He chases Ranma down the back alley. Behind one of the telephone pole, a girl was watching the chase and orders Katsunishiki, the pig, to attack. The pig then charges toward them. Ryoga takes his umbrella and flings it into the air with a single hand. Ranma comes down from a fence but Ryoga places a banana peel under him causing him to fall. The pig then falls on Ranma and crushes him as Ryoga walks away.

The girl looks on with wonderment and approaches him. She hands him an envelope then runs away with the pig. Confused Ryoga opens the envelope to find it to be a love letter. Ranma gets up and asks him about it, and Ryoga blushes and punches him away. Ranma is quick to return and questions him again. Ryoga says that his heart is only set on Akane, but as they turn the corner they see the girl again, and Ryoga pushes Ranma out of the way as they talk.

The girl shyly introduces herself as Akari Unryu. Ryoga does the same in an equally timid manner. He asks why she chose him and Akari tells him that her grandfather told her to marry someone who was strong enough to beat her champion pig, Katsunishiki. Ranma is confused and asks if it's really okay for her to be marrying just anyone who beats her pig. To prove that she has loved him for a long time, she hands them her diary, filled with Ryoga's name with a heart next to it. While Ranma soon realizes that all the names were written that day, his voice is ignored by Akari who was expressing her love and Ryoga who had become wide-eyed and flushed. Ryoga sees this as the magical moment in which the first flower breaks through the harshness of winter to bring spring. He grabs her hands and they are both overjoyed at having found each other.

Akari then begins describing all the ways in which Ryoga is great, but his dream of being with her is crushed when Akari begins comparing Ryoga's traits to all those of a pig (strength, robustness, gentleness, intelligence, handsomeness, refreshing and cool) and says that it was her dream to meet such a pig-like man. This disappoints Ryoga who walks away, telling Akari he has to go on a long journey. Akari begs Ryoga to at least tell her why, she then turns to Ranma and asks if her compliments offended Ryoga, to which Ranma retorts by being surprised that those were compliments.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Katsunishiki
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Hiroshi and Daisuke
 * Akane Tendo
 * Ryoga Hibiki (human)
 * Akari Unryu
 * Akari's grandfather

Trivia

 * This chapter introduces Akari Unryu to the series.