“Gesundheit,” Haruka said as her lover finished wiping her nose with her handkerchief. The two of them were driving home (with Ranma and Hotaru in the backseat, of course). For all of its buildup, the actual “rain” part of the thunderstorm wasn’t much—not that Ranma minded this one bit. Quite frankly, he was glad that they’d managed to get back into Haruka’s car before it started (though Michiru never did get that dress).
Haruka returned to the conversation at hand. “So, Ranma, you got to see some of our local superheroes in action, huh?”
“Yeah, though I was a little surprised that they showed up in Nerima.”
“Still, I’m sure it was a good thing they showed up—though I was rather surprised from the nonchalant way everyone in the mall reacted to the youma,” added Michiru.
“Well, folks in that part of Nerima are kinda used ta seein’ weird crap happen. Takes a lot ta faze ’em, if ya know what I mean.”
“I guess so,” said Haruka. Since that particular subject had been drained, the androgynous blonde moved on to a different topic. “Well, tell me, as a martial artist, what did you think of the Senshi?”
“Ya mean, what do I think of their fightin’ ability?”
“Yeah.” Haruka was curious about what an expert would say about her alter ego.
“Dunno. I didn’t exactly see ’em fightin’ anyone, except for that attack that… Neptune…?” Ranma looked at Hotaru for confirmation. When he received her nod, he finished his sentence. “—that Neptune got off. From what it did ta that Bob guy, I’d guess it’s pretty darn effective…”
Michiru couldn’t resist a little bragging, even if Ranma had no reason to identify it as such. “Well, Sailor Neptune is supposed to be one of the more powerful ones… though not as powerful as Saturn, of course.”
“Which one was that?”
“She wasn’t there, though I’m not quite sure why.”
“Maybe she just couldn’t get away from what she was doing at the time,” Hotaru offered meekly. Michiru responded with silence.
“Well, anyway, considerin’ that that thing Neptune threw looked like it was water-based, I’m certainly glad she’s got a good aim. But like I said, other than that, I didn’t see much of what they can do—though they certainly seem ta have got teamwork down.”
Having exhausted Ranma’s professional opinion of the Sailor Senshi, Hotaru turned the conversation elsewhere. “Ranma-papa?”
“Yeah?”
“That glowing ball you threw at Kuno…”
“Ya mean my ki blast?”
“Yes… what exactly is that?”
“It’s actually pretty simple ta describe. I concentrate a bunch of my ki inta a ball, then I throw it… though for larger ones it’s usually more effective ta use even more ki ta push it forward, like a cannon—that’s why I call it a ki blast.”
“How big can you make them?” asked Haruka, who had been curious herself (but unable to ask since as far as Ranma knew, “Haruka” hadn’t been around to see his little performance.
“Right now? About the size of a basketball, maybe a little smaller. Reason the one I threw at Kuno was so small was ’cuz I only wanted ta knock the wind outta him so he’d shut up, not actually hurt him.”
“Well, how did you learn how to do this?” Michiru hadn’t really given Ranma’s demonstration much thought, but when she realized that it wasn’t magic, she began to become interested herself.
Ranma sighed. “I’d tell ya, but it’s kind of a long story, and ta really understand it, I’d need ta tell ya an even longer story first.”
“Perhaps another time, then?” suggested Michiru.
Gosunkugi was ecstatic as he walked down the street toward his home. His plan had actually worked! Granted, it didn’t work quite the way he’d expected it, but he’d achieved his goal: Kuno was out of commission for the time being, which meant he had a chance to make his moves on Akane. And best of all, no one would ever know it was him! This was turning out to be—
The apprentice mage’s self-congratulations were interrupted as a nearby pay phone started ringing. With some trepidation, the teenager picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“What you did today was very irresponsible, Gosunkugi.”
“M-Max?!”
“Of course it’s me. Who else would know exactly which pay phone to call at the exact moment you walked by it?”
“But… how did you know…”
“Do you really think I’d just leave a novice under my tutelage to his own devices for any significant length of time without some way to monitor him?”
“Look, I-I’m sorry, I just thought…”
“Ugh. Don’t grovel. I hate groveling. There’s no reason to apologize, since you technically haven’t disobeyed any of my orders.”
“I haven’t?”
“No, though that’s more due to you being extremely lucky and stumbling upon an unusually competent youma than from anything you did. Still, this shouldn’t call anyone’s attention, provided that you not give any indication to anyone that you knew anything about this in advance. I trust you’re smart enough not to do that?”
“Yes sir, I mean, no sir, I mean—”
“‘Yes’ is what you want to be answering.”
“Oh. Then, yes sir.”
“Good. I must say I’m impressed with you——but in the future, don’t do anything like this without my approval.”
“Yes sir.”
“Then I’ll be getting back to my business now. And let me be clear——if you do anything this reckless again there’ll be hell to pay. But before I go, I’ll leave you with a question: did you have a plan on how to romance this girl if this scheme of yours actually worked?”
“Uh…”
“Goodbye, Gosunkugi.”
“But anyway, it’s been a pretty good day,” Ranma said as he stepped out of the car.
“What do you mean, Ranma-papa?”
“Well, not only do me and Akane have a plan ta get our dads ta accept my marriage, I didn’t fall inta that fountain, that water attack of Neptune’s didn’t hit me, an’ I was inside the car during the whole rainstorm. Think about it. The whole day’s been totally chaotic, but I still managed ta get through it without getting w—”
Ranma’s walk up to the house was interrupted by a sudden whirring as the front lawn’s automatic sprinkler system started up.
The redheaded martial artist pulled at her annoyingly clingy shirt. “I just had ta say it.”
“C’mon, Ranma, let’s get you inside.”
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(Posted Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:26)
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