But there had been absolutely no warning of this phone call, and that meant one of two things: either it was another telemarketer, or the call came from Nerima, and only one person ever called her from there. Since the mid-80’s, Nerima had been so chaotic that even glancing at it through the Time Gates put incredible strain on the artifact. It had gotten so bad, that Setsuna had been forced to procure the services of the ward’s most capable and efficient information broker—one Nabiki Tendo. This had turned out to be both a blessing and a curse—several curses, in fact.
Those curses could, at times, be the bane of the Senshi of Time’s existence. First of all, there were Nabiki’s prices. True, the information had always proved reliable enough to warrant her fees, and Setsuna was certainly not hard up for money, but the green-haired senshi had built up her fortune over the millennia by pinching every penny (or yen, or florin, or virgin goat, or whatever the currency was at the time) that she could, so her grumbling was pretty much an ingrained response.
Secondly, and far more irritatingly, Nabiki had turned out to be quite skilled at investigation and logical deduction. When the Senshi first became public figures/urban legends, Nabiki, responding to the overwhelming demand for information, had looked into the group of magical girls. Maybe it was because she was from Nerima, or maybe it was because she was so damn persistent, but the disguise magic that caused most people to put two and two together and come up with mayonnaise as an answer seemed to crumble when she had started snooping around, and because Nabiki stayed in Nerima most of the time, Setsuna hadn’t learned of her activities until the helmet-haired mercenary had called her to inform her of her discovery (and to gloat). When she realized just how much Nabiki had figured out (practically everything about their present incarnations, and more than a few hints about the Silver Millennium and Crystal Tokyo), the green-haired senshi had been… miffed.
Fortunately, Nabiki did not try to extort any money from the superheroines (though they did pay a hefty sum to hire her as a consultant to review their security procedures). She’d kept their secret, clearly understanding the importance of their mission. Still, Setsuna had been caught completely off guard—and Nabiki loved rubbing it in.
Every. Single. Time.
*Ring.* Setsuna sighed. She didn’t want to pick up the phone (among other things, if it wasn’t Nabiki, then it was almost certainly a telemarketer), but Nabiki rarely called when there wasn’t something important for her to know.
“Hello?”
“Yes, could I speak with the Lady of the Underworld?”
Setsuna tightened her grip on the receiver. “What is it, Nabiki?”
“I’ve got some information for youuuu…” came the singsong reply.
“How much?” Setsuna hated it when people weren’t forthcoming with information (and yes, she was fully aware of the hypocrisy of that sentiment).
“For this? Nothing.”
That got the green-haired senshi’s attention. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. You’re just going to entertain me while I leave you in suspense.” Nabiki was also aware of the hypocrisy of Setsuna’s views on sharing information.
“Nabiki, I don’t have time for your games.”
A loud guffaw issued from the telephone. “Why Setsuna-chan, I’d think you of all people would be able to make time for everything.”
The Guardian of Time nearly slapped her forehead at that—she’d walked right into that one. And she loathed it when Nabiki called her “Setsuna-chan,” even though the two of them were certainly close enough friends for it not to seem unusual—especially after recent events.
Nabiki continued on, pressing every button she could (mostly because it was fun, and the Inner Senshi paid her plenty of cash for transcripts of the phone calls where she did this kind of thing—turnabout is fair play, after all). “You know, Setsuna-chan, I’ve been wondering…”
Oh, goddess, what now?
“How exactly can you be that powerful if Pluto isn’t even a planet? It isn’t even the biggest hunk of space debris in the Kuiper Belt.” A little knowledge of astronomy went a long way. Setsuna started grinding her teeth—this information had better be worth the indignity.
“Nabiki-chan,” she replied, putting as much sarcasm as she could into the suffix, “we’ve been over this. I draw my power from all of the objects in the Kuiper Belt, and the only thing that makes Pluto special is the fact that the Time Gates are located there.” Actually, the Time Gates were on Charon (giving its Senshi the title of “Sailor Pluto” was a bit of strategic misinformation that predated the Silver Millennium) but that was beside the point. “Now, have you finished mocking my inability to detect anything happening in Nerima, or have you thought of a new way to make fun of me?”
“No, I’m done.” Setsuna could hear Nabiki’s Cheshire Cat grin over the line.
“Good. Now, what did you have to tell me that was worth insulting my ability as a Sailor Senshi?”
“Ranma’s coming back.”
A minute passed.
“Hello? Setsuna? Are you there?”
“I-if you’re trying to trick me…”
“Would I do that about something this important?”
“No… no you wouldn’t. Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“He’ll be arriving at our dojo relatively soon, possibly today.” She didn’t bother asking if Setsuna could make it there; after all, the Senshi could teleport fairly easily. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“Good. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.”
Setsuna didn’t bother hanging up the phone, even after she heard the dial tone. She just stood still, with a wistful smile on her face.
Her husband had returned.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Kwakerjak
(Posted Mon, 16 Jan 2006 19:08)
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.