Amazingly enough, once the pain receded, there seemed to be some silence… for all of about thirty seconds.
Ranma was the first to recover, managing to get to a seated position before focusing his attention on what had happened. Aw, man — what the heck was that? Like a spark from a sparkplug, this was enough to set of veritable explosion of information—most of it was in a disorganized murmur, and though Ranma caught bits about aspirin and hot ramen and rhythmic gymnastics and stupid blonde genies from the crowd, four complete thoughts stood out almost immediately:
| Ranma? | Ranchan? | Airen? | Ranma-sama? |
Ranma had been a telepath for less than a minute, and as such didn’t have very much knowledge of any of the specifics of his new “abilities,” but he did know two things: One, hearing voices in your head that was generally not a good thing, and two, when those voices belonged to your fiancées, (and one fiancée wannabe) that was probably worse. Crap.
| You got that right, Ranchan. Looks like the blonde was the real deal. How in the world do you get into these messes? | Wait… huh? Is that really you? What are you doing in my head? Is it something perverted? I bet it’s something perverted. Pervert. Get out of my head! | “Crap”? Well, that certainly seems like something Ranma-sama would say… and more to the point, it’s not the sort of thing I often imagine him saying… which means… could it be that this truly is the voice of my beloved? | That is you, isn’t it, Airen? At the very least, it sounds like you. But how can a voice sound like yours when I’m not hearing it in my ears? And why are you speaking Mandarin—or rather, how? |
The martial artist clambered onto a chair and grabbed both sides of his head in a futile effort to quell the chaos currently swimming around in it. Obviously, now he could tell what Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo, and Kodachi were thinking, but the information was being rushed to him all at once, and he couldn’t make sense out of it. In desperation, he tried “talking” to them: Look, I can’t talk, or think, or whatever, ta all of ya at once. Can you take turns or somethin’? Please?
| You can’t talk to all of me at once? I don’t understand, Airen — I’ve never heard you use a figure of speech like this before, and it obviously doesn’t work as well in my tongue as it does in yours. And you still explained how you’ve suddenly learned Mandarin. “Yes, Grandmother, Shampoo is okay….” | Sigh…. Nonsense, just like all the other voices. And here I was hoping that the kami had seen fit to approve my union with Ranma-sama by providing a medium through which we could privately converse. | I don’t understand, Ranchan — I don’t hear anybody but you, assuming I haven’t gone crazy. I wonder if there’s a decent psychiatrist in the area? The market sure as hell exists for one. Maybe I could get a recommendation from one of the Kunos…. Great, now I’m seriously considering asking those weirdos for help. At this rate, I’ll be in a straitjacket by the end of the week. | All of me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? What did you do to me, you pervert? Oh, great, now Daddy’s crying again… why does he always overreact like that? “I’m fine, Kasumi—but I think the baka’s somehow gotten me into another one of his messes.” |
Ranma had even more difficulty sorting out this cacophony than last time. Wait… are you tellin’ me that yer all only hearin’ me in yer heads? Not each other?
| I must have been exposed to a bit too much jimsonweed while I was tending my garden. I wonder how long the hallucinations will last this time? | I’m not certain what you mean by that, Airen. Perhaps you should switch back to Japanese… I’m a bit more used to your language than you are to mine. | Others? Who else’s head would you be sick enough to pry into, except… the fiancées! You got Shampoo and Ukyo involved?! Why you… you… pervert! | Each other? What do you… wait, that ditzy genie did say that the wish involved “other girls…” Oh, no…. |
Ukyo finally managed to get to a standing position. As she continued to massage her temple, she turned to the pigtail martial artist, who was still seated with his head in his hands and spoke aloud, “I think you’d better tell the others to come here, Ranchan. We need to figure out what happened.”
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(Posted Sun, 31 Dec 2006 02:15)
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