Solar King

[Dd101]

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. This story is my idea and writen using AI. I had an idea and I wanted to place it down. If anyone wants to take it up and flesh it out fully, PM me.



Solar King

A Ranma ½ / Sailor Moon Crossover Fanfiction



Prologue

The Cat Pit

Pain.

Pain became the world.

Claws tore across his skin again and again as hundreds of shrieking cats flooded the narrow pit. Small bodies slammed into him from every side. Fur. Teeth. Blood. Panic.

A boy screamed.

Not Ranma.

Not entirely.

Something older screamed with him.

Genma Saotome stood above the pit with crossed arms and hard eyes.

"Overcome your weakness, boy!"

The cats surged again.

Ranma curled tighter against the wall, trembling violently as instinct and terror consumed him. His vision blurred. His heartbeat thundered in his skull.

And then—

Memories.

A different life.

Neon lights reflecting off rain-soaked streets.

A computer screen glowing at 3 AM.

A man in his thirties staring blankly at anime clips and martial arts documentaries while exhaustion hollowed his eyes.

Meditation techniques.
Breathing methods.
Visualization exercises.
Stories about spiritual energy, enlightenment, inner worlds.

Fiction.

Except right now fiction was all he had.

Ranma gasped through the panic and forced himself to breathe.

Slow.

Measured.

A rhythm.

He visualized still water.

Breath became movement.
Movement became awareness.

Pain sharpened into clarity.

He remembered fragments:

• Bene Gesserit pain control.
• Jedi meditation.
• Nen focus.
• Chakra circulation.
• Ki refinement.
• Total concentration breathing.
• Observation instinct.
• Muscle mastery.
• Spiritual reinforcement.

Not as powers.

As principles.

The cats attacked again.

This time Ranma moved.

Not wildly.

Efficiently.

A shift.
A breath.
A strike.

Hours passed.

Then night.

Then hunger.

Then thirst.

Then hallucinations.

Something inside him cracked open.

For one impossible moment, Ranma felt the entire world breathing around him.

The cats slowed.

Their movements became predictable.

Fear no longer ruled him.

Understanding did.

When dawn finally broke, a bloodied child climbed from the pit alone.

Genma stared in shock.

Ranma looked at him calmly.

For the first time in his life, he felt disappointment instead of fear.



Chapter 1

Wandering Boy

Ranma ran away three days later.

Not because of the training.

Because he finally understood:
Genma would never stop.

The wilderness swallowed him quickly.

By the fourth day, fever consumed him. Infection spread from claw wounds across his back and shoulders. He collapsed near an isolated forest hut hidden beneath towering cedar trees.

An old woman found him there.

She never asked questions.

She simply treated his wounds, fed him broth, and let him sleep.

For the first time in years, Ranma rested somewhere without fear of ambush.

During the week he recovered, the old woman taught him silence.

Not martial silence.

Living silence.

How to listen to rain.
How to feel the rhythm of breath.
How to notice the weight of emotion without drowning in it.

Ranma remembered those lessons for the rest of his life.

Genma eventually found him.

The reunion nearly ended in violence.

But Ranma was still a child.

So he followed.

For years afterward they wandered Japan:

• mountain temples,
• crowded cities,
• hidden dojos,
• abandoned shrines,
• public libraries,
• underground martial circles.

While Genma chased reputation and schemes, Ranma studied.

Everything.

Religion.
Folklore.
Meditation.
Biology.
Combat.
Psychology.
Spiritual traditions.

He trained constantly.

Not for strength.

For control.



Chapter 2

The Shrine Maiden

At ten years old, Ranma entered Juuban for the first time.

The city felt strangely familiar.

He wandered until he found a shrine atop a hill.

There, sweeping stone steps beneath the afternoon sun, stood a black-haired girl glaring at him suspiciously.

"What are you staring at?"

Ranma blinked.

"…Nothing."

"You're weird."

"You noticed fast."

The girl snorted.

"My name's Rei."

"Ranma."

That should have been the end of it.

Instead, he returned the next day.

Then the next.

He volunteered around the shrine while quietly studying spiritual techniques under Rei's grandfather. Nothing secret. Nothing dangerous.

Just discipline.

Purification.
Focus.
Awareness.

Rei eventually stopped pretending she disliked him.

A few days later Ranma encountered another girl crying in an alley after tripping over her own feet while chasing a cat.

Blonde hair.
Ridiculous odangos.
Too much energy.

Something in his fractured memories stirred.

"…Usagi?"

The girl blinked.

"How do you know my name?!"

Ranma stared for several long seconds before slowly realizing why she felt familiar.

Anime.

Sailor Moon.

"Oh no."

"What does that mean?!" Usagi demanded.

Ranma introduced her to Rei shortly afterward.

The two girls immediately started arguing.

Somehow they also became inseparable.

Before Ranma left Juuban months later, Usagi grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"You better come back someday!"

Rei crossed her arms.

"You still owe me a rematch too."

Ranma hesitated before giving a small nod.

"…Yeah. I'll come back."

For reasons he did not fully understand, leaving felt harder than it should have.



Chapter 3

The Girl Who Couldn't Find Her Way

At fourteen, Ranma entered middle school briefly during one of Genma's longer city stays.

That was where he met Ryoga.

Except Ryoga was not a boy.

The short-haired brunette dressed like one, fought like one, and glared at the world like it had personally offended her existence.

But Ranma noticed immediately.

He also noticed something else.

She was lost.

Constantly.

Hopelessly.

Painfully.

Ranma found her sitting on the wrong rooftop after school one afternoon.

"You know the entrance is the other direction, right?"

Ryoga nearly kicked him off the building.

A week later they were friends.

Two months later Ranma quietly began teaching her observation techniques.

Breathing.
Awareness.
Environmental sensing.

For the first time in her life, Ryoga—Makoto—could navigate intentionally.

The gratitude in her eyes frightened Ranma more than any fight ever had.

When he finally announced he was leaving again, Makoto challenged him to one last duel behind her house.

Rain poured around them as fists collided.

Ranma won.

Barely.

Makoto grabbed his shirt before he could step away and kissed him hard enough to freeze his thoughts completely.

"I really like you," she whispered, cheeks burning fiercely. "So when you finally settle down somewhere…"

She grinned shakily.

"…I won't lose next time."

Then she ran inside before he could respond.

Ranma stood motionless in the rain for nearly ten minutes.

Genma eventually found him still staring blankly into space.

"…Boy, what happened to you?"

Ranma slowly touched his lips.

"I have no idea."



Chapter 4

Jusenkyo

At sixteen, Ranma reached Jusenkyo.

He already knew what it was.

He also knew Genma was planning something.

So when he fell into Nyannichuan, he did not resist.

Cold water consumed him.

When he emerged, a red-haired girl stared back from the water's reflection.

Ranma studied the curse calmly.

Interesting.

Genma looked far too satisfied.

That was the moment Ranma knew.

The fight afterward shattered half the valley.

Genma finally screamed the truth beneath Ranma's fists:

• the seals,
• the cult,
• the kidnapping,
• the dead royal family,
• Endymion.

Ranma took Genma's travel bag after the battle and discovered the sealing records hidden within.

Memory seals.

Soul seals.

Magic seals.

His hands trembled.

Back in an isolated mountain cave, Ranma broke them himself.

Agony followed.

Then memory.

Silver cities beneath moonlight.

A kingdom destroyed.

A car crash.

A child stolen from wreckage by a greedy martial artist.

Prince Endymion.

Ranma collapsed screaming as multiple lives crashed together.

When he finally woke days later, the world felt different.

Larger.

Connected.

And terrifying.

He also realized something else.

The Jusenkyo curse destabilized the seals.

Genma's attempt at control had accidentally set him free.

Ranma laughed for nearly five straight minutes after realizing the irony.

Then he buried the sound before it became grief.



Chapter 5

Home

Months later, Ranma entered Nerima.

And accidentally walked back into destiny.

The Tendo household greeted him with confusion, sympathy, suspicion, and one extremely stubborn arranged marriage proposal.

Kasumi Tendo alone treated him like a tired human being instead of a problem to solve.

So when she quietly asked him to stay one week longer—

he did.

That single decision changed everything.

Because at the end of that week, Kasumi revealed her secret.

"I'm Sailor Terra," she told him softly beneath the evening sky.

Then she looked directly into his eyes.

"And you are Endymion."

Ranma closed his eyes briefly.

"…Yeah."

Kasumi smiled gently.

"I thought so."

For the first time in years, Ranma felt seen.

Not examined.

Seen.

And that frightened him more than battle ever could.



Chapter 6

The Quiet Place

Juuban became home slowly.

Ranma rented an abandoned upper-floor apartment above a closed appliance store near the older district. The building was cheap because people claimed it was haunted.

After one night there, Ranma concluded the "haunting" was a harmless wandering spirit annoyed by loud tenants.

They reached an understanding.

The apartment itself remained sparse:

• a futon,
• bookshelves,
• training mats,
• medical supplies,
• hidden emergency caches,
• sealing notes,
• maps of Tokyo,
• and too many notebooks filled with observations about supernatural incidents.

Ranma preferred it that way.

Temporary.

Safe.

Easy to leave behind.

Still, for the first time in his life, he deliberately established roots.

He visited city offices and quietly leveraged both his education and frighteningly broad knowledge base to emancipate himself legally. Several administrators walked away from interviews deeply unsettled by the composed sixteen-year-old speaking like a graduate student.

He tested out of standard coursework shortly afterward.

Then he acquired work.

Not official police employment.

Something stranger.

Consultant.
Recovery specialist.
Missing persons retrieval.
Occult incident response.

Tokyo law enforcement quickly learned two things:

1. Ranma Saotome solved impossible cases.
2. Asking too many questions about how he solved them was a mistake.

Rumors spread quietly through certain departments:

• the red-haired martial artist,
• the ghost hunter,
• the boy who walked into gang hideouts alone and came out carrying survivors,
• the teenager who occasionally vanished from camera footage during supernatural incidents.

Ranma ignored the rumors.

He was busy building stability.

The first person he called after settling in was Kasumi.

The second was Makoto.

The third stop was Hikawa Shrine.



Usagi tackled him before he reached the stairs.

"You came back!"

Ranma staggered half a step under the impact before steadying automatically.

"…Good to see you too."

"You were gone forever!"

"It was six years."

"That's forever!"

Rei descended the shrine steps moments later and stopped abruptly.

For one brief instant, her expression softened with unmistakable relief.

Then she crossed her arms.

"You got taller."

"So did you."

"I was already taller than you emotionally."

"You're still terrifying spiritually."

"Hmph."

A third girl stood near the shrine entrance watching the exchange curiously.

Blue hair.
Sharp eyes.
Quiet posture.

Rei gestured lazily.

"This is Ami."

Ami Mizuno adjusted her glasses slightly.

"It's nice to meet you."

Ranma paused.

His instincts sharpened immediately.

The rhythm around the three girls felt different now.

Awakened.

Connected.

The Sailor Scouts had begun gathering.

Ami studied him carefully.

Within seconds she noticed:

• controlled breathing,
• hidden scars,
• unconscious threat assessment,
• the way he positioned himself between exits and civilians automatically.

Interesting, her eyes seemed to say.

Dangerous too.

Ranma decided immediately there was no point pretending ignorance.

"You've awakened," he said quietly.

All three girls froze.

Usagi blinked.

"…What?"

Ranma sighed softly.

"My name is Endymion."

Silence.

Then Usagi pointed dramatically.

"I KNEW YOU WERE IMPORTANT!"

Rei pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That was your reaction?"

Ami continued staring at Ranma with growing realization.

"…You already knew about us."

Ranma nodded once.

"Yes."

"And you told no one?"

"Yes."

"…Why?"

Ranma's answer came instantly.

"Because your lives belonged to you first."

That was the moment Ami truly trusted him.



Chapter 7

Jupiter

Makoto arrived in Juuban one week later.

She rented an apartment close enough to visit easily, but not so close that it seemed intentional.

Ranma noticed immediately.

He said nothing.

Makoto also pretended not to notice that he noticed.

Their reunion lasted exactly four seconds before she punched his shoulder hard enough to crack concrete behind him.

"You disappeared!"

"You said you'd find me."

Her cheeks turned bright red instantly.

"…Shut up."

Ranma smiled faintly.

Makoto stared.

Then stared harder.

"…You smile now."

The observation struck harder than any punch ever had.

Ranma looked away first.



The encounter between Makoto and Usagi unfolded almost exactly as destiny intended.

Usagi defended the intimidating transfer student from gossip.
Makoto protected Usagi during the Youma attack.
Lightning exploded.
Power awakened.

Except this time, when Sailor Jupiter emerged—

she already knew how to fight.

Not perfectly.

Not magically.

But with discipline.

Ranma arrived moments after the battle ended.

Makoto immediately relaxed upon seeing him.

Usagi noticed.

Rei noticed harder.

Ami noticed everything.

"We're meeting at the shrine," Rei declared.

Makoto crossed her arms.

"I know where it is now."

Ranma looked mildly impressed.

Makoto smirked proudly.



The conversation at Hikawa Shrine changed everything.

The girls slowly realized they all knew different versions of Ranma.

To Rei:

• disciplined,
• spiritually strange,
• calm.

To Usagi:

• dependable,
• mysterious,
• comforting.

To Ami:

• hyper-observant,
• emotionally guarded,
• dangerous.

To Makoto:

• teacher,
• rival,
• first love.

When Ranma finally arrived, Makoto looked directly at him and smiled.

"I won't lose."

The others interpreted it as a challenge.

Ranma understood exactly what she meant.

That made it significantly worse.

His composure faltered for half a second.

Ami noticed immediately.

Rei narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Usagi looked delighted despite understanding absolutely nothing.

Ranma cleared his throat.

"…Starting tomorrow, your training begins."

Usagi groaned dramatically.

Makoto grinned.

Rei looked eager.

Ami pulled out a notebook.

Ranma suddenly questioned every life decision that had brought him to this moment.



Chapter 8

Warrior Princesses

Training transformed everything.

Ranma did not turn the Sailor Scouts into martial artists.

He taught them how to survive.

Usagi learned:

• emotional centering,
• fear control,
• recovery meditation,
• instinctive movement.

At first she struggled horribly.

Then suddenly adapted faster than anyone expected.

Because Usagi learned emotionally instead of mechanically.

When she stopped overthinking, miracles happened.

Rei advanced rapidly through:

• purification forms,
• breath control,
• spiritual precision,
• combat meditation.

She and Ranma argued constantly.

Their spars became legendary.

Ami developed frightening battlefield awareness.

Within months she could:

• predict movement,
• track breathing,
• analyze attack rhythms,
• read emotional instability.

She became terrifying quietly.

Makoto thrived physically.

Ranma focused most of her training on restraint rather than strength.

Lightning became cleaner.
Movement became grounded.
Power became controlled.

Then came Venus.

Minako Aino arrived smiling brightly and immediately saw through Ranma completely.

Not Endymion.

Not the hero.

The exhaustion underneath.

"You've been fighting alone a long time," she said quietly one evening.

Ranma looked at her sharply.

Minako only smiled sadly.

Because she understood.

She had been Sailor V.

She knew what isolation looked like.

Kasumi moved to Juuban shortly afterward.

And somehow, without anyone noticing exactly when it happened, Ranma's empty apartment slowly became a home.

Usagi left snacks behind constantly.

Rei added wards.

Ami reorganized his bookshelves alphabetically.

Makoto repaired his kitchen table after breaking it accidentally during training.

Kasumi quietly replaced worn towels and fixed damaged clothing without mentioning it.

Minako stole his couch during movie nights.

Ranma noticed all of it.

He just did not know how to say thank you properly yet.



Chapter 9

The World Wakes

The world could not stay blind forever.

At first:

• blurry videos,
• impossible explosions,
• rumors,
• conspiracy forums,
• whispered sightings.

Then came undeniable attacks.

Youma activity increased worldwide.

And worse—

other hunters emerged from hiding.

Exorcists.
Spirit mediums.
Government occult divisions.
Freelance demon slayers.
Temple guardians.
Mercenary mystics.

Humanity slowly realized monsters were real.

The Mau support network finally intervened publicly.

Luna explained it grimly one evening.

"If secrecy fails completely, controlled disclosure becomes necessary."

Governments began acknowledging:

• "metaphysical incidents,"
• "hostile spiritual entities,"
• "specialized response operations."

But the deeper truths remained hidden:

• the Silver Millennium,
• reincarnated guardians,
• cosmic royalty,
• ancient planetary wars.

Society changed slowly.
Messily.

Some people panicked.

Some denied everything.

Others adapted disturbingly fast.

Ranma watched the transition with uneasy calm.

The girls eventually realized something unsettling.

Ranma had been preparing them for this long before any of them understood why.



Chapter 10

The Fall of Endymion

The Dark Kingdom stopped underestimating Ranma after the seventh failed operation.

Before, they had viewed him as:

• dangerous,
• disruptive,
• unusually skilled.

Now they understood the truth.

He was the center holding the Sailor Scouts together.

Remove him—

and the system destabilized.

So they stopped attacking recklessly.

Instead, they studied.

They learned:

• his patrol routes,
• his response timing,
• his habits,
• his emotional weak points.

Most importantly:

they learned he would always choose to protect others before himself.



The trap sprang during a civilian evacuation near the industrial district.

Three simultaneous Youma manifestations forced the Sailor Scouts to split up.

Ranma realized the mistake almost immediately.

Too late.

Dark energy erupted beneath his feet.

Sealing pillars activated around the alleyway.

Chains of corrupted magic wrapped around his limbs before he could fully evade.

Ranma shattered the first two instantly.

The third detonated spiritually.

Agony exploded through his soul.

The cat-fist conditioning screamed awake.
The Jusenkyo curse destabilized violently.
The fractured remains of old seals cracked open again.

And then—

Queen Beryl smiled.

"Finally."

Darkness swallowed him.



Chapter 11

Ranko

The corruption ritual should have failed.

That was the problem.

Ranma's soul was too unstable.
Too adaptive.
Too fragmented.

The Dark Kingdom poured corrupted energy into him anyway.

The magic latched onto:

• the female curse,
• the cat-fist trauma,
• lingering soul fractures,
• survival instincts,
• buried rage,
• suppressed pain.

Then something unexpected happened.

The corruption separated.

Tore itself free.

And was born.



When the Sailor Scouts finally breached the Dark Kingdom fortress, they found Ranma unconscious within a shattered ritual chamber.

Alive.

Breathing.

Unresponsive.

Usagi nearly collapsed with relief.

Then the air changed.

A figure stepped from the darkness beyond the broken chamber.

Red hair.
Blue eyes.
Ranma's face.

Female.

But wrong.

Not softer.

Sharper.

Stillness wrapped around her like a blade.

The new Youma tilted her head slightly.

"…Interesting."

Ranko smiled faintly.

No warmth existed in it.

Only understanding.

And hunger.



The battle became a massacre.

Ranko moved exactly like Ranma—
except without hesitation.

She knew every technique.
Every weakness.
Every habit.

She flowed through the Sailor Scouts like water through cracks in stone.

Rei's attacks were redirected before completion.

Makoto's momentum got used against her.

Minako's feints failed instantly.

Ami could predict Ranko's movements—

but not react quickly enough.

Even Usagi's purification struggled because Ranko was not fully corrupted.

She was partially Ranma.

That made the magic unstable.

Personal.

Terrifying.

One by one the Scouts fell.

Not dead.

Broken.

Bleeding.

Exhausted.

Ranko stood over them silently.

Then finally looked toward the unconscious boy nearby.

"…So this is what held me back."



Chapter 12

The Sun

Ranma dreamed.

No—

he traveled.

The solar system unfolded around him in impossible silence.

Mercury.
Mars.
Jupiter.
Venus.
Earth.
Moon.

All connected by rivers of light.

At the center burned the Sun.

And there—

he finally understood.

The planetary guardians were never meant to stand alone.

Each Sailor Scout balanced overwhelming power through emotional harmony.

But there had always been one central existence.

Not ruler.

Anchor.

The Sun.

A guardian supported by every orbit around him.

A male guardian could exist.

But only if connected.

Only if trusted.

Only if loved.

Ranma looked down at himself.

The fractures inside his soul were visible now.

Trauma.
Fear.
Isolation.
Survival instinct.

The curse had not merely burdened him.

It had stabilized him.

The cat-fist.
The female transformation.
The emotional compartmentalization.

All coping mechanisms.

All survival structures.

And now Ranko carried part of them instead.

For the first time since childhood—

Ranma saw himself completely.

And wept.



Chapter 13

Acceptance

Ranma awoke to destruction.

The fortress trembled violently around him.

His body felt lighter.
Clearer.
Raw.

Nearby, the Sailor Scouts struggled to rise while Ranko watched them calmly.

Not angry.

Not cruel.

Simply inevitable.

When Ranko noticed Ranma standing again, her expression shifted slightly.

Recognition.

"…So you came back."

Ranma looked at her quietly.

Then nodded once.

"I understand now."

Ranko attacked instantly.

The battle that followed shattered entire sections of the Dark Kingdom.

Neither held back.

Two martial prodigies moved with impossible precision:

• strikes,
• counters,
• throws,
• ki bursts,
• corrupted magic,
• spiritual pressure.

Ranko fought like pure survival.

Ranma fought like acceptance.

Slowly the Sailor Scouts rose again.

Together they pushed Ranko backward.

Not overpowering her—

supporting Ranma.

Anchoring him.

Just as the vision had shown.

Finally Ranma seized Ranko directly.

Locked her in place.

Usagi understood immediately.

Moonlight erupted across the battlefield.

Healing.

Purification.

Not destruction.



Chapter 14

Ranko Smiles

White light filled everything.

Ranma stood within endless brightness.

Ranko stood before him silently.

No corruption remained now.

Only exhaustion.

She looked smaller somehow.

Younger.

Lost.

Ranma finally understood the truth.

Ranko was not his enemy.

She was every part of himself he had abandoned in order to survive.

The fear.
The pain.
The instability.
The loneliness.

All given form.

Slowly, Ranma walked toward her.

Ranko did not retreat.

When he wrapped his arms around her, she froze completely.

Then trembled.

"…Idiot," she whispered weakly.

Ranma laughed softly despite the tears in his eyes.

"Probably."

Ranko smiled up at him.

A real smile this time.

Warm.
Fragile.
Relieved.

Then her body dissolved into countless motes of light.

Most returned to Ranma.

The remaining fragments gathered nearby—

forming a tiny red-haired girl made of soft glowing light.

Not entirely physical.

Not entirely spirit.

The child looked at Ranma curiously.

Then giggled.

Ranma smiled gently.

"…See you later."

The child waved happily.

Light consumed everything.



Chapter 15

Dawn

The final battle against Queen Metalia nearly killed all of them.

But this time they did not fight alone.

Not emotionally.
Not spiritually.

The Sailor Scouts moved with terrifying coordination.
Ranma stabilized entire battlefields through martial and spiritual control.
Usagi's power amplified through the emotional bonds surrounding her.

Together—

they won.

Not easily.

But truly.



Several days later, everyone gathered inside Ranma's apartment.

Which no longer resembled a hideout at all.

Books cluttered every surface.
Usagi's snacks filled the cabinets.
Makoto had completely taken over the kitchen.
Rei's wards covered the windows.
Ami's notes occupied half the table.
Minako was asleep on the couch.
Kasumi quietly served tea like this had always been normal.

Ranma looked around the room silently.

Then realized something terrifying.

This was home.

Usagi stretched dramatically.

"So what now?"

Silence settled briefly.

Then Ami adjusted her glasses.

"The public knows supernatural activity exists."

Rei crossed her arms.

"The Dark Kingdom won't be the last threat."

Minako nodded grimly.

"There are stronger enemies out there."

Makoto looked toward Ranma.

"So we prepare."

Everyone's eyes shifted toward him.

Months ago that attention would have felt unbearable.

Now—

Ranma breathed slowly.

Steadily.

And for the first time in either life—

he did not feel alone.

Outside, beyond the city lights, the solar system continued turning silently around the rising sun.

To Be Continued…..

 

[zeafiyr]

It's definitely interesting to see stories where Ranma makes a harem out of the Sailor Scouts. Ranko and Ranma becoming one is definitely my favorite moment. If she becomes part of the harem, I'd be interested to see that as well LOL. It's captivating to see a different version of you which are your negative emotions given form. It's a good recipe for a different kind of character dynamics rather than just being relegated to Ranma's character development.

In terms of pacing, it's a bit fast. I get that this is a high-level summary but that might be an AI quirk that you will have to fix. It's definitely doable if chapters are like 30K-40K words to flesh out the story beats further. I suggest keeping it under 5k, the fewer it is, the more focused it will be. In the end, it really depends on how you prefer to tell the story.

Honestly, you've got the outline for the story there. At that point, why not just go write it yourself?

 

[Dd101]

Poll to decide the fate of the story is open.