Naru's jaw dropped. "Keitarou?"
Motoko's eyes spiralled. "Urashima?"
Drool dripped from Mitsune's lips. "Keitarou-kun?"
Shinobu was trying desperately not to faint. "Sempai?"
Kaolla looked ready to choke on her banana. "Onii-chan?"
They then pointed to the third person that had accompanied the transformed Urashima Keitarou and Courtesan into the living room. "WHO'S SHE?!"
Keitarou, who currently sported the worn corduroy pants, button shirt, flyer's jacket and fedora hat of the Archaeologist, grinned as he gazed on the other woman. "Why, dear ladies, this is my twin sister," he declared.
"You may address me as Urashima Taiko," the woman then introduced herself, she politely inclining her head. "On Yiziba, I would be better known as Stone Mountain. Yoroshiku onegaishimashita, Narusegawa-san, Aoyama-san, Konno-san, Maehara-san, Kaolla-himesama." She gave them a deep bow before clapping her hands. "Custodial Units, come into the house now. You have a mission."
Everyone save Keitarou and Courtesan awked on seeing four silver-plated robots fly in to join them. "Hey!" Muoti gasped as she bolted to her feet. "You actually took a couple of the maintenance bots from Yiziba to use here?!"
"They were in storage, Muoti," Taiko stated as she winked at the other woman. "There's no fear for any damage not being repaired back home. But given that Onii-san and I are technically responsible for the upkeep and welfare of Hinata-sou, I felt it was only right to bring some help here to ensure this place doesn't collapse on our heads." To the custodial robots. "Units, proceed with a full repair and upgrade of all facilities in this domicile."
"Compliance, Mistress," the robots chanted as one.
They then warped into nearly invisible blurs that started to whiz here, there and everywhere! "Whaaaa!" Kaolla cheered as she tried to leap on one. "I wanna play with Onii-chan's new toys . . .!"
SNAP-CRACK!
The Terrans gasped on seeing the Molmol princess snared by a whip of all things, trussed up in a perfect hojoo-jutsu restraint, and then she was yanked right into Keitarou's outstretched arm. Kaolla screamed in shock and delight before she found herself staring into the landlord's face, and then, on finding that her arms were effectively pinned against her sides, she gave him a pouting look. "Onii-chan . . .!" she whined.
"Kaolla-chan, you can't play with the toys," Keitarou calmly told her.
Hearing that, her eyes instantly welled up with tears. "Why . . .?"
"Because Onee-chan hasn't taught you how to play with them."
The young girl took that in, and then she snapped over to look at Taiko. "Onee-chan . . .!" she whined as she gave her a puppy dog-eyed look.
Taiko shook her head. "No, Su-himesama, you cannot play with them."
"But Onee-chan . . .!"
Taiko raised a finger to wag it in a "no-no" gesture. "If you try to play with them now, Hime-sama, you'll be badly hurt if not killed by them."
"WHAT?!" Motoko shrieked as she bolted to her feet. "Urashima, how DARE you bring such dangerous devices into this place?! If you . . .!"
"Euphoria, PLEASE!" Keitarou shrilled.
"You got it, man!"
Before Motoko could draw forth her sword, Euphoria came to her feet to exhale right into her face. The Shinmei-ryuu kendou-ka gasped before her whole body seemed to loose all its strength. "What . . . pretty stars . . . " she mumbled as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped back on the couch.
Naru and Mitsune gaped in disbelief on seeing Motoko brought down so quickly, and then they stared fearfully at Euphoria. The dark-skinned girl was shaking her head as she returned to her seat. "Man, and we thought Miss Naru had problems with high blood pressure! Miss Motoko's even worse!"
They took that in, and then they exchanged a worried look. Both then jolted on seeing Shinobu cry out, "LOOK AT THE KITCHEN!"
Everyone looked -- to see the kitchen in utterly pristine condition, with shiny counter-tops, a thoroughly cleaned stove, sparkling cooking ware, a clean and disinfected sink and squeaky-clean silverware and china. The blurs marking the passage of the custodial robots had already moved off to deal with the hallways and the individual rooms. "The whole building should be restored to new condition within about fifteen minutes," Taiko announced. "I recommend that you stay out of the robots' way while they finish work; as you can see, they move very fast when they're doing their duties." She then gazed on the four Yizibajohei females. "Once they're done, you ladies can move into your rooms."
"Thanks for getting them ready first, Stoney," Muoti said with a grin.
"No problem," Taiko said as she moved to head off. "Matron, please keep an eye on Su-himesama. She tends not to listen to anyone when she's given good advice and I don't want her death on my conscious."
The Matron nodded. "Of course, dearie. The whip please, Archy?"
"Hai," Keitarou said as he handed the whip and the still-bound Kaolla over.
With that, the Urashima siblings headed off to the manager's room.
Sometime later, at Haruka's teashop, after another long explanation . . .
"KEITAROU'S GOT A SISTER NOW?!"
Shinobu's, Mitsune's and Naru's heads bobbed up and down. Motoko was in a nearby booth, still passed out from her exposure to Euphoria's cannabis breath. Since all the repairs on Hinata-sou had been finished, Kaolla had been freed of Keitarou's whip. She was currently running around the refurbished building to try to locate the custodial robots so she could find out how they ticked. The four Yizibajohei women who had helped Keitarou become the Archaeologist -- and given him a sister in Stone Mountain, known also as Urashima Taiko -- were busy moving into their new guest rooms. Keitarou and Taiko were in their shared room. "It's true, Haruka-san," Naru affirmed. "When I punched him into the sky this morning, he ran right into this ship from this alien planet where everyone has a superhuman power of one sort or another. One of them took pity on him, then took him back to their planet -- it's called Yiziba -- and exposed him to the thing that gives them their powers in the first place. He became this super-explorer of lost places and when all that bad luck energy got morphed into his sister, she became . . . " A shrug. "Well, she became something called 'Stone Mountain,' whatever that means. And right now they're settling into his room."
Mitsune stared at Naru. "Just like I thought this morning, Naru-chan. I saw a star in the sky where you bashed him. That must've been those girls' ship."
Haruka took that in, her cigarette barely hanging onto her lower lip as the amount of information she had just been given threatened to overload her brain. "A planet of superhumans . . .?" she muttered. "Keitarou's one of them now . . .? He got a sister who's one of them, too . . .?" She slapped her forehead. "Oh, great! Kanako's gonna freak when she hears about this!"
Three women blinked in confusion. "'Kanako?!'"
"My adopted sister."
They gasped, spinning around to see Keitarou walk into the shop, he still dressed in the "uniform" he would wear as the Archaeologist. "Greetings, beautiful cousin!" Keitarou hailed with a smile and a wave as he stared at her, and then he gazed on the others. "Lunch should be served sometime soon; I have one of the custodial 'bots preparing it now. The other ones are working on the hot springs."
They jolted. "You're having a robot make lunch, Sempai?" Shinobu cried out. "I could've made lunch for you!"
He gave her a look. "Shinobu-chan, enough. You've slaved yourself in that kitchen since you came to Hinata-sou in the first place. You need time to be with your friends and enjoy life on your terms, not everyone else's."
Shinobu stared at him, her cheeks colouring. "Sempai . . .!"
"What are you having done to the hot springs?" Naru asked.
"Expanding them, of course, plus putting in a privacy divider so my guests and I can enjoy them," Keitarou responded matter-of-factly.
Everyone jolted. "WHAT?!"
"Of course," he said. "I've no intention of bowing to your female chauvinism anymore, Naru-san, much less Motoko-san's borderline androphobia or Mitsune-san's comical attempts at seduction just to skip out on paying the rent."
"HEY!" Mitsune and Naru cried out.
"Oh, don't worry about it, girls!" Keitarou said with a chuckle as he winked at them. "I've got a whole brand-new planet whose historical secrets are unknown to all the experts on Yiziba. I'll just be spending a whole season introducing them to Terran culture and society."
"But what about Toodai?!" Naru demanded.
Keitarou blinked, and then he frowned. "What about it?" he asked. "My blinding obsession with that place, when you combined it with my endless run of bad karma and my other blinding obsession towards finding my so-called 'promised one' . . . " -- he decided this wasn't the time to reveal the name of the person he suspected that to be -- " . . . only lead me to grief, heartache, too much pain and no clear answers. Well now, Naru-san, I have my answers. There were ten Archaeologists before me, men and women who went forth to search for truth, help the Yizibajohei keep track of their own history from before the Dawn of Power and later expand into a study of neighbouring races so we could see the parallels and differences between us and them. That is a far better dream for me than going into a school whose academics -- when compared to institutions in other countries -- is really not up to par, has an overblown reputation, whose alumni are snobbish and think they're kings of the world . . . " A shrug. "Personally, if you wish to pursue that place, Naru-san, don't let me stop you. My destiny lies elsewhere."
Naru stared wide-eyed at this total stranger that had somehow wormed his way into the heart and soul of Urashima Keitarou, and then she collapsed to her knees, her eyes welling in tears. Mitsune and Shinobu are shocked speechless. Keitarou sighed, and then he nodded politely to Haruka before turning to leave. Before he could reach the door, his cousin/"aunt" then called out, "What about your family, Keitarou?"
Keitarou stopped, and then he gazed evenly on Haruka. "My family?" he asked, a wry grin crossing his face. "What family, Haruka? Parents who kicked me out of the house because I failed my entrance exams. A love-obsessed adopted sister whom I treat as my sister and not as a future mate as she would want of me. Who doesn't realise that the very concept of my being intimate with her makes me sick to my stomach. A grandmother who decided to drop the ownership of her hotel on me without any warning as to what to expect, all just so she could see the world in the twilight of her years. A cousin who legally IS my aunt and won't recognise that my calling her that is just being respectful. Some family!"
With that, he walked out. Haruka's jaw dropped, allowing her cigarette to tumble to the floor. "Keitarou . . . "
"Don't you think you were being a little harsh to them, Archy?"
Keitarou stopped, he glancing up to see the Matron gazing at him, a knowing look on her face. "Reality is far harsher," he said before heading inside. "You know that much better than anyone else, Masako-san."
She watched him go, her eyebrow arching. "And how did you guess that, Keitarou-kun?"
He smirked. "Courtesan told me."
With that, he headed inside as we . . .
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(Posted Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:08)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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