"Who was it, anyway?" asked Tezuka.
"Happosai," answered Matsudera.
"Ah, that explains it," said Tezuka, nodding. "I thought I saw a few police in the procession."
"Waitaminute, I saw that name," said Daniel Jackson, flipping through his folders. "He's one of the suspects."
Everyone else from the SGC started going through the papers as well with the exception of Teal'c who merely looked in the direction of the crowd and looked inscrutable.
"Here we go," said Samantha Carter before she began to read aloud from the folder - only sparing a glance at the photograph of some shriveled little man.
Happosai.
Occupation: Thief, Scoundrel, Grandmaster Of Anything Goes School Of Indiscriminate Grappling
Height:3'1"
Weight:45 pounds
Hair:Gray
Eyes:Brown
Birthdate: April 1, 1784
Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
"This is a misprint, isn't it?" asked Doctor Frazier. "This age can't be right."
"Happosai? Yes, there have been a few changes in the government since his birth, and so there could be some inaccuracies in that part of the data," admitted Tezuka. "Yet he was born sometime between 1769 and 1801 - that much is likely from his description in certain texts. Even if one discounts such, he is at least one hundred and eleven years old - there are accurate representations of him in the Imperial Theatre and he was known to have ransacked the Palace at least once in 1895. He has been a thief and assaulting women for the entire time of his life, and it was our investigation turning up his criminal record that has the police eyeing him and his associates now. There are some who feel the Plague is likely his fault if not creation, and he has been the subject of much speech."
"So why not simply use a sniper?" asked Jack, looking over the list of suspected crimes and noting that it ran for four pages. Single space. Small font.
"Without due process?" asked Captain Carter, ears flicking.
"Alas," said Tezuka, "Happosai's crimes are mainly petty and in the main have run out on the Statute Of Limitations. Much as we would like to quietly eliminate this embarassment to Japan - he is hardly the worst criminal we have ever produced and there are some who view him as more pathetic than truly villainous."
"What about the first case of the disease?" asked Doctor Frazier, finding something disturbing about this 'Happosai'.
"Tracking which was the actual first is difficult," said Tezuka. "As you know, it becomes communicable within hours of exposure. The first outbreak was at Furinkan Senior High School. We're heading towards an observation post set up to investigate the school and determine the origins of the disease."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 08 May 2005 10:40)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.