The trip had taken far longer than Ranma had thought. First, the man had taken him to his office, two prefectures over. There, the solicitor had presented Ranma with the papers and explained how the estate now belonged to him. Thankfully, his 'excentric uncle Jiro' had left behind several patents and sizeable holdings - nothing major, but enough to support Ranma and his new property indefinitely unless he decided to splurge it all or rack up some major debts.
A quick question regarding Nabiki's extortion, blackmail and photographic sales had the advocate quite flustered and ended up forcing Ranma to promise not to sign anything without consulting an impartial third part first. A few examples of people who had essentially given away everything or sold themselves into debt-slavery by not being cautious gave enough incentive to penetrate the martial artist's skull - he had absolutely no desire to end up enslaved to anyone, nor did he wish to throw away his unknown uncle's legacy.
The trip out to the house had taken almost an hour with the Shinkansen, and another hour of driving into the Japanese countryside. The travel had been both faster and more comfortable than Ranma was used to, and he silently debated the merit of getting some kind of vehicle for himself - not all the time, he wasn't lazy, but sometimes it would be nice to not spend hours or days walking. Emergencies would also be more difficult, living so far out in the countryside, and since he, for the first time in his life, had more money than he knew what to do with, he found himself wondering about the merits of bike vs car, economy vs ability. Unknowingly, he had just taken a major step toward understanding normal teenaged boys, the first of many to come.
He was pretty far removed from the mainstream to begin with, after all.
In the end, they had arrived at a gate in a stone wall - nothing Ranma couldn't have jumped over, but definitely more than enough to stop anyone without equipment or supernatural martial art skills. Unlocking the gate, the man in the suit had led Ranma up to the house, where he'd handed him the keys and told him to have a look. Upon asking why the man wouldn't follow, he replied something about the last will of Ranma's uncle, though he didn't elaborate.
Thus, Ranma was currently looking through a mostly empty home. The house wasn't particularly big by western measures, but for a Nihonjin living on his own, it was beyond spacious. It lay on top of a small hill, in the middle of a field surrounded by a small lake to the west, a mountain to the east and forests to the north and south.
The home itself was a strange mix of a classical japanese house mixed with a modern, western-style home - like someone had taken an existing house and modernized it without bothering to make the changes inconspicious.
Ranma had been through most of the home, merely looking, when he spotted a cellar door. Since curiousity killed the furry things from hell, Ranma decided to indulge, and opened the door. The stairs leading down were darker than expected, and went much further than Ranma had thought. Interest piqued though, he descended into the darkness, not noticing as the doors silently slid shut behind him.
As he descended down the stairs, Ranma found himself wondering exactly how deep his uncle's basement was. After a few more minutes, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel - literally, as the light came from where the tunnel opened up into a virtual cave.
Ranma could only stare in confused awe at the equipment that filled the cave-like room. Along one wall there were several tables of chemistry equipment, enough that he could probably by the Furinkan Chem-Club's souls. The opposite side seemed like some kind of machine shop, with great big frames and cranes for lifting and moving heavy parts. At the far end, there was a dark alcove, the contents of which he couldn't quite tell from a distance.
There was a small work station in the middle of the room, upon which lay something that caught Ranma's eye. Quickly walking up to the desk, he noted the kanji on the envelope. It was a letter - addressed to him, from his dead uncle.
With steady hands (not trembling, no sirree!) Ranma picked up the cream-coloured paper. In an unusually solemn silence, aided in no small part by the lack of company (which in Ranma's case inevitably meant 'trouble'), he unfolded the epistle and began to read.
To My Dear Nephew, Ranma:
If you are reading this, then...
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(Posted Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:09)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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