Ranma was indeed surrounded by quiet, as he’d requested; granted, he probably would have preferred to be awake so he could actually enjoy the silence, but at the moment, he wasn’t really complaining, and Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi had their attention occupied by someone else. The four girls were almost as surprised by the sudden silence in their minds as they were by the appearance of a curvy blonde with tanned skin and a stereotypical Arabian “harem girl” outfit. Kodachi was the first to state the obvious: “I assume you’re the genie whose shenanigans got us into this predicament.”
“Uh-huh,” the newcomer replied, nodding vigorously. “My name’s Mihoshi. So, are the links working okay?”
“They’re definitely ‘working,’ but they certainly aren’t ‘okay.’”
“Well, what’s wrong with them? Do you need me to make them stronger?”
“No!” chorused the girls with looks of panic in their eyes.
“No? But what else could be wrong with them?”
“Well, the fact that they even exist, for one — none of us want them at all.”
“But you said Ranma needed to communicate with you better. Surely this will do that.”
“Humph,” grunted the Amazon. “Shampoo think it make whole thing worse.”
“Oh, that’s just because you haven’t gotten used to it yet. Give it some time, and it’ll get better.”
“How much time?” Kodachi asked with a glare.
“Oh, I don’t know if I could give you an exact number (math was never really my strong suit). But considering that it’s going to last for the rest of your lives, I’m sure you’ll get used to it before you croak.”
Ukyo sighed again. “Look, can you at least tell us why you’re here this time? You told Ranchan and me that you had to leave.”
“I did, but now I’m back.”
“To fix this mess?” Akane asked hopefully.
“Nope. I’m here to grant Ranma’s wish.”
“Huh?”
“Well, like Ukyo said, technically, Ranma’s wish was never made. So, my superiors on the Council of Djinn told me I had to come back and grant him an actual wish.” The four girls’ faces brightened; might this be the escape from a lifetime with virtually no privacy whatsoever? Mihoshi continued, “I just never expected it would be so easy.”
This did not sound encouraging. “What Genie Girl mean?” Shampoo asked.
Mihoshi smiled cheerily. “Ranma just wished that someone would take care of the noise in his head for a few minutes, so I punched his lights out. I didn’t even need to use any magic!” The scatterbrained genie dusted off her clothes and prepared to leave. “Well, bai bai!” she said, waving her hand.
“Wait!” shouted Ukyo. “That one couldn’t possibly count!”
“Um, I’m pretty sure it does. He used the word ‘wish,’ after all.”
“But he didn’t know you were there — he wasn’t serious.”
“Actually, the Official Genie Handbook says that wishes made without thinking have even more force than normal ones. Also known as the ‘Careful What You Wish For’ clause.”
“But… but he gave his wish to me! Remember?”
“Oh… that’s right. So I guess you have to make the wish, then — do you think Ranma will be angry with me for punching him in the face for no reason?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it; he forgives people really easily,” Akane replied. “Heck, he’s forgiven my sister for swindling him out of every yen he owns more times than I can count.”
“Oh, that’s good. So, do you know what you want to wish for?”
“You bet your ass I do. I’m going to put everything back to normal.”
“Alright, but you need to use the word ‘wish.’”
“No problem. I wi—”
“Stay your wish for a moment, chef,” Kodachi suddenly interjected.
The food service technician in question rolled her eyes at the unmistakable tone of presumed superiority in Kodachi’s voice. “My name is ‘Ukyo,’ not ‘chef.’ And why shouldn’t I wish these links were gone?”
Kodachi simply raised an eyebrow and responded in her most patronizing tone of voice: “Is it not obvious? If you ask this genie to undo her earlier work, that means you shall be placing our collective well-being into her hands again. Do you really think this wise?”
“Shampoo hate to say it, but Flower Girl has point. Genie Girl not exactly kind of person to trust with something like this. No offense.”
“None taken,” Mihoshi answered.
“So, what do you think I should wish for instead?”
“Well,” Akane spoke up, “didn’t you say that Ranma wanted you to get rid of some of his problems?”
“Yes, he did — that’s why we’re in this mess.”
“Well, maybe if you can’t solve all of them, you could try solving just one.”
Ukyo put her hand to her chin and thought about this suggestion for a few minutes. Finally, however, she reached a decision. “Okay, I’ve made up my mind,” she announced before glaring at Mihoshi and adding, “And if you so much as think about granting anything until I say the ‘W’ word, I’ll grind you into genie paste. Got it?”
Mihoshi swallowed hard. “Loud and clear.”
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(Posted Tue, 09 Jan 2007 02:01)
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