Setsuna sifted through the Saotome’s records to make sense of what was right in front of her. It was hardy an easy task, for it turned out that the life of a martial artist is full of much aimless wandering. There were many gaps in the records that, without the now destroyed timegate, she simply did not have the resources nor the time to properly fill in. Yet she gained a broad overview and managed to track everything down to a key point some twenty-odd years before present.
Genma Saotome had been a handsome young man of heroic girth suffering under a cruel master for the sake of the Art; at least in his own mind this was so. That cruel master oft times set him upon perilous and ill-conceived tasks, such as a panty raid on a bath house visited by Sidhe descended to Earth from the Avalon Orbital Installation. Which was how Genma met Nodoka.
Nodoka Zephyr was a member of one of those races; those whose visits to prehistoric Earth had sparked many myths and legends. That had happened quite a lot back during the age of innocence; long before the Galaxia Wars had so decimated the galaxy. In more recent history, a space colony had been established in High Earth Orbit. It was fairly self sufficient, for the Sidhe were quite aloof and aristocratic in demeanor; yet they still needed to come down to Earth from time to time for supplies and to allow their symbiontes to recharge in the planet’s telluric energy field. Besides, they enjoyed the ritual break.
So it was on one of these holidays that Nodoka’s ‘winged garment’ was damaged in a scuffle with a rough young man; preventing her from returning to the orbital station. For such a vital piece of technology, the fabric symbionte was amazingly fragile under certain circumstances. Accepting that it had indeed been an accident, she none-the-less demanded that the youth make amends by sheltering her until her symbionte healed.
One thing had lead to another, which was how Setsuna’s hand had come to hold a copy of a marriage license between Genma and a wife who seemed much younger, and way hotter, than he deserved; one who’s Seelie ideas of the appropriate didn’t quite fit into the norms of Earthly society and thus, for instance, she had been quite prepared to allow her mortal husband to separate her from her son for a mere decade of hard martial arts training.
Setsuna could not figure out why the current version of Ranma had not turned out differently with such an alien parent in this alternate history. She would have expected the aberrant and neglectful upbringing to have had some affect on his development by at least curbing his overbearing confidence.
Shrugging it off as an example of how the more things changed, the more they stayed the same, Setsuna turned to other matters. She had access to the documents because, after all, Ranma was currently being enrolled as a student at the Megumi Academy; and she was, apparently, the head mistress.
She could attempt to ‘protect’ the Senshi from his influence by barring the application but frankly, and without the threat of a techno-organic infection, one half-alien martial artist was going to be the least of her worries. Besides, she had no reason at all to make his life easier.
“Very well; the application for enrolment is approved.”
“You can’t do that!” Ranma objected.
“Of course I can,” Setsuna observed while rubber stamping the form. “What’s your objection?”
“This is a girls’ school! Nobody told me this was a girls’ school. You can’t enroll me in a girls’ school!” The scattered complaint seemed directed at all three adults in the room, only one of whom seemed on the verge of agreement.
“It’s a magical girls’ school,” Setsuna corrected smugly. She inspected Ranma critically, up and down, then observed, “I fail to see the problem with that.”
“I’m a guy!” Ranma asserted vehemently despite the visible evidence to the contrary.
“You are not the first Starlighter to attend the Megami Academy,” a bemused Setsuna stated. Though she wasn’t certain this was so, it sounded authoritative. “You’ll adjust soon enough, I’m sure.”
Ranma protested, “I don’t want to adjust!”
“Which brings us to the matter of the school uniform,” Setsuna blithely continued. “Given the circumstances, there will be no problem with Ranma attending classes in the faerie gown.”
“I have a problem with it!” Ranma objected.
“I don’t see why,” Setsuna remarked. “It’s a perfectly stylishly gown that flatters your feminine charms most attractively and it is entirely suitable attire for either a magical girl or a shrine maiden.”
“I’m a guy!” Ranma repeated.
“Not for as long as you attend the Academy,” Setsuna insisted firmly, hiding her amusement. “This is a Magical Girl Academy, and thus you are here to learn to be a magical girl. You must get used to being addressed as such, and you really must start using female language.”
“Now wait one minute now!” Genma started to object.
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(Posted Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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