IF this trip to Nerima was about the old Tendo-Saotome union, it was going to screw things up. Okay, maybe Akane would make a good sidekick with a little training. Maybe not. Doing the secret identity and crimefighting with Nabiki in the same house would be problematic at best, a full fledged disaster at worst. She rarely had to deal with consequences, and therefore rarely considered the potential problems that might come visiting.
Admittedly, he had his cover identity well established. He was Ranma Saotome, heir to his father's martial arts style, and he just acted a bit stupider than he needed to. His grades would reflect that, though when he really needed to (like exam week) he'd seem to suddenly do a lot better. If he was to go to Furinkan, it wouldn't be a problem. He was relatively certain he could just go with the flow and not be connected with the returning Torajin.
American newspapers and Hero Magazine™ had long established the Japanese presence in the Justice League and groups he'd tarried with like the Titans. Never with any single group for an excessive period, and sometimes he bowed out during a lengthy convalescence. Like the time he'd crossed paths with General Zod and fought Sinestro. Neither battle had gone particularly well, at least from Ranma's point of view. It seemed to impress some people that he'd survived, but he knew it was more that he'd been swatted and dismissed.
It had been repeated in those newstories that he was a Japanese superhero, and the Japanese press had picked it up. Japanese superhero returning to his homeland, having studied abroad, and so on and so forth. It wasn't a secret by any stretch of the imagination. Of course there were those less than happy with his pending arrival, scheduled for one month from the present by a remark "accidently" blurted in the presence of a reporter.
Of course, during his career, he'd crossed paths with a few supervillains who'd claimed oriental heritage. Most worked strictly in the West though, very few would even consider going to Japan.
More than once, he remembered in the altered past, he'd heard one or another of his team-mates complaining about supervillains trying to take over the world from New York or Washington DC. Why couldn't they go to Bermuda or Cancun or Tahiti or somewhere like that? These complaints usually occurred during winter or when the weather was less than nice.
Whatever the cause, other countries might have their heroes and their villains, but it was all rarer than in certain areas in the States. Ranma figured it was because of the emphasis on personal freedom versus civic responsibility as compared to Japan.
Not to say that Japan didn't have its villains, they just tended to go after the small haul. A bank robbery here, a train holdup there, a little Yakuza war over there, and so on. As far as Ranma knew, nobody had ever tried to take over the world from Shinjuku. Well, other than demonic overlords and how common were THEY?
Somewhere, something sneezed.
As the train sped him towards Nerima, Ranma was soon to discover:
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(Posted Mon, 10 Oct 2005 08:12)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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