"Celestial Choir" turned out to be in a tightly packed area of luminous gases and stars, with a central brilliant point that they all converged at. Ranma had listened at the window and almost heard a singing - something that caused his spirits to soar and his heart to feel like it was swelling.
"Valhalla" turned out to have a lot of guys fighting and feasting and such - and his companion had just looked up long enough to say "Not yet, Mister Saotome."
"Kachina Plane" turned out to be grassy fields and tall odd-looking mountains. Ranma noted that nobody seemed to get off at this particular station, and the station itself looked old and run-down.
"Nevernever" looked like some European farm country as it might have been in some old movie.
There were places that hurt his eyes, things that were folded into each other and seemed to have an arbitrary up-down direction. There were places that made his heart leap and he felt a sense of longing and wonder at. There were places that made him shrink back from the window and vow that whatever he did - he wasn't getting sent THERE. That "Sairen" place for example.
"Borderlands. Next Stop. Borderlands."
"This will be our stop, Mister Saotome," said Susanoo, putting his gadget away.
"This is a 'border' of what, exactly?" asked Ranma.
"Between Good, Evil, Light, Dark, Sanity, Insanity, That Which Is, and That Which Might Be," answered Susanoo.
The train seemed to home in on a particular asteroid, a jagged shard of stability out in the darkness, and was at the station almost before Ranma could fight down the "we're gonna crash" reaction he'd gotten from several other of the destinations.
Susanoo got up and left, Ranma following along behind because it beat wondering what to do.
It seemed to be dawn, or twilight. Not really day or night. Most things around him were in shades of gray, exceptions being the various neon-looking signs, the dull red of bricks, and the pale white phosphorance of the street lamps.
"So where are we going?" asked Ranma as he splashed through a rain puddle and noticed he wasn't transparent any longer.
"The decision was made to alter your past, giving you a chance to prove your mettle a bit more," said Susanoo. "We're going where that is possible. Ah, here's the place."
Ranma glanced at the sign.
"Looks like a bookstore," said Ranma.
"Books, videos, games," said Susanoo, waving at the proprietor. The old man adjusted his visor and then turned his attention back to a game of Solitaire, apparently uninterested.
"I thought I was going to alter my past?" asked Ranma.
"You are," responded Susanoo, gesturing at the shelves stuffed full of little boxes and books. "This is where you choose what element to add to your life. Here you can choose a life of swashbuckling adventure, or epic fantasy. You can get involved with violent tomboys, sweet-hearted girl-next-doors, yamato nadesico, or mercenary gold-diggers. You can decide on a celibate life of aesthetic devotion, become a master chef trying to perfect a uniquely Japanese bread, or pilot giant robots in defense of the Earth."
"What's these close to the door?" asked Ranma, checking out the manga in a wire rack.
"Oh, those are familiar elements which can still be added in new ways, perhaps entirely twisted ones," said Susanoo. "Also the degree of use, whether as a spice or a side dish, secondary ingredient or part of the broth."
"Oh," said Ranma, flipping through a book.
"You damage it, you buy it," said the old man, apparently not ignoring them after all.
"Oops," said Ranma, dropping what he'd been looking at.
"Interesting choice," said Susanoo.
"HEY! I didn't choose it!" complained Ranma.
"Now you have," said Susanoo. "Let's see, you chose -"
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(Posted Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:49)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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