As soon as they left the house, Mamoru was led to the police car, and that was the last time she saw him for a while. Ranma herself went with Shampoo and Miss Mizuno to the nearby youth center, where she was shown her new room. After that, Miss Mizuno invited her to a small talk in her office.
Ranma decided to do what the young woman wanted from her, at least for now. She really didn't want to get into any more trouble. While she was walking through the hallways of the center, she carried Shampoo in her arms. As her advisor (strange to think of Shampoo as that) she had a right to listen to any conversation that could be important. Who knows, perhaps here they could find any clue to who the Sailor Senshi were.
"I don't really like this, Ranma," Shampoo whispered. "We should be outside and searching for the princess, like Artemis said."
"Your dear Artemis really didn't help us much," Ranma sighed. "By the way, if we run away again, I'm pretty sure Miss Knows-Better will find a way to find me again. As long as we're not able to figure out these creepy doors and corridors that keep on vanishing, we won't have an easy time."
----
"Ah, hello there, Amnar," Miss Mizuno said when Ranma entered her office. "Please, have a seat!" As she recognized Shampoo, she frowned. "Amnar, I know this cat means a lot for you. But don't you think it would have been better to leave her in your room?"
Ranma shrugged. "I won't leave Shampoo alone in this unknown place. She would be scared by herself."
Miss Mizuno nodded reluctantly. She seemed to accept this reason. "Very well! Well, Amnar... you know, you really do not make it easy for me."
Ranma huffed. "I really don't know what you mean."
"You know pretty good what I mean! Always this negative attitude. Really, this won't do you good in the long run. The more you cooperate, the earlier you will be able to return to your grandfather's house."
Ranma only listened with one ear. His attention was upon the door behind Miss Mizuno's back. Only that there wasn't a door behind her when she entered the room. Slowly, the door opened...
"I mean, I know the whole thing hasn't been easy for you, with your mother dying and all... but I really only want to help you!"
A man appeared inside the meanwhile familiar corridor behind the door. Ranma knew that she didn't see him before, but somehow he seemed... familiar. But the strange thing was... she could clearly see every detail of the man, but only as long as she looked at him. When she looked elsewhere, she wouldn't be able to remember how the man looked.
"And besides, you can count yourself lucky. That boy that helped you was a wanted criminal, even if he still was young. But he could have brought you into serious trouble, if you know what I mean."
The man raised his right hand. He didn't say anything, but Ranma could feel that he wanted to warn her about something. Maybe he warned her not to enter this corridor at any cost?
"Well, I know all of this is hard for you and that you have problems dealing with everything, maybe that's because you always see these doors. So I thought: Why not introduce you to a nice psychologist? I already talked to him and he seemed very interested in meeting you."
"Um, yeah, I think... I mean: I think it's okay with me, seeing the psychologist and everything." Ranma's mind still was in a haze. The door and man man disappeared, but it was still a weird experience to see something that other people seemingly couldn't see.
"Really?" Miss Mizuno asked. "That's great! You want to meet him now?"
"Huh?" Ranma asked. "Now? Why now?"
"Now is as good as any time," Miss Mizuno said. "I'm afraid I don't have the time to come along with you, but my secretary will accompany you. You can bring your cat along, if you like."
The day keeps getting weirder and weirder, Ranma thought. I think I'm part of some strange event without being able to do anything about it.
At least Miss Mizuno's secretary seemed a nicer person than her boss. She had red-brownish hair in a ponytail and a nice smile on her face. "Call me Unazuki," she said. "Nice to meet you Ranma! Come on, we can use my own car."
And while Ranma was sitting in Unazuki's car while being trapped in an adventure that was stranger than any of her previous experiences, she slowly fell asleep.
The last thing she thought before closing her eyes was: I don't thing that I can solve this mystery with martial arts.
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Ranma ran through the never ending corridor, still screeching like a small child while fleeing for whatever creatures followed her.
Just looking at them made her shiver in fear, even more that she did when she was pinned down by Phobos. But the really strange thing was: She could only say how they looked as long as she directly looked at them.
But she wasn't staying behind to find out if they're just part of her imagination or not.
"Quick! Into this room!" A strange voice called out. Ranma didn't think about it very long, she just headed left and entered the next room. Something fuzzy and dark appeared suddenly before her head, but it was only a bat. But she had no time to worry about that.
"Hurry! Close the door before they get in!" the strange voice said. Quickly, Ranma grabbed the door and threw it shut.
But it still wasn't enough! One of the hideous creatures managed to get inside before she closed the door. She still had no words to describe the monster, but it certainly was something that most people see in their nightmares.
"What are you waiting for? Take your transformation pen!"
Ranma blinked and grabbed into her pocket. That strange pen? She always carried it within her pocket since she found it in Amnar's things. She thought it looked pretty cool, but until now couldn't make any sense of it.
A claw swipe of the creature disturbed her thoughts. She barely managed to doge.
"Quick! Transform! Raise the pen and say whatever comes to your head."
Ranma closed her eyes.
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 21:02)
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