After her talk with Artemis and Luna, Ami decided to explore the campus some more. There had been several more open questions such as how the Mau had heard of the academy in the first place, but she had decided to leave that for another time. The two cats had started to argue about store names when she left and Ami really had no wish to get involved in a cat fight over whether "Familiars'R'Us" was a good name for a shared consulate of two alien races.
Strolling down the Main Street she kept a look out for any interesting shops she might have missed earlier. Stores like the strange one a few buildings down the road which she could have sworn had not been there earlier when she had first walked this way with Ranma. Perhaps she had overlooked it before because they had simply only just mounted the big sign reading "Neo-Gokuraku" while Ami had been up at the castle. She had to wonder though about the benefits of having a video store in a shopping district specialized in magical girl school supplies. Then again her friends always told her that you could not be learning all the time and had to relax on occasion. Who knew? Maybe watching a few fantasy themed anime might even prove to be educational for her future students.
As she continued to walk down the central road without making any more new discoveries she quickly realized that most shops were not yet open for business. Many buildings were little more than empty shells waiting to be furnished and decorated. Even the ones that were already completely renovated and set up only seemed to be open for a few hours a week and by appointment. It made sense without any students there was only a really limited pool of customers for them to carter to. Ami made a note of the posted business hours of the book shop and several others that looked interesting so that she could visit them later.
Turning away from Main Street Ami started to explore the rest of the campus. Many of the former amusement park attractions appeared to be in a state of disassembly and it was not always immediately apparent what was being demolished, repaired or repurposed. Unfortunately the abundance of building and construction sites made navigating the areal a bit more difficult then it must have been back in the time when it had been an amusement park.
The paths were frequently blocked by materials and equipment lying on the ground and vehicles that had been parked in the way. The occasional pit or trench that had been dug into the ground only added to the adventure.
At a crossroads she found a signpost that some unknown worker had helpfully updated with black maker but it did not really help Ami much in deciding where to go since the way was blocked in all but one direction leading from there. It did give her some ideas about places she might like to visit though if she ever found out how to get there.
After a few more turns into increasingly smaller and less inviting footpaths she finally found herself in an apparent dead end in the form of a rather squalid looking paved lot surrounded by dense shrubbery and the backsides of several buildings. It must have been an employees only area back in the day.
She was beginning to wonder if she would have to turn around and walk all the way back when she saw some movement in the corner of the lot that was filled with various large trash and recycling containers. Hoping that there would be someone capable of showing her the way she approached the area where she thought she had seen somebody.
"Excuse me," she called out politely as she rounded a large trash container and finally came into view of a person who was secretively busy with his back to her.
The person now identified as Ranma Saotome, the PE teacher, jumped up in shock and turned around in a defensive posture and with a guilty look on his face.
"It is not what it looks like," he immediately exclaimed.
"It looked like you were disposing of the contents of you bentou box in the hazardous waste bin," Ami observed amusedly.
"Oh, it's only you," Ranma realized sighing in relief. "I thought you were somebody else. Please don't tell anyone what you saw."
Ami decided not to question Ranma's eccentrics to closely.
"You throwing away some trash will stay our little secret," she promised. "I was just trying to have a look around on the campus but I somehow got lost and ended up here. Could you perhaps show me the way?"
"Sure I have nothing else to do at the moment and I still owe you a tour anyway," Ranma agreed. "Where do you want to go?"
Remembering what had piqued her interest when she had read the corrections and updates on the sign-post Ami answered:
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(Posted Wed, 14 Jun 2006 16:11)
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