As Yomi shook her head and contemplated which diet method she’d try now, the phone rang. Naturally, her parents were out, since few adults are permitted onscreen under Azumanga Daioh physics. It’s got something to do with quantum. In any case, the bespectacled girl was the one who picked up the receiver and said “Mizuhara residence.”
“Oh good, it’s you, Yomi. Of course, I shoulda expected that. I called you. But I guess your mom or pop coulda picked up the phone instead…though I never really see ‘em all that much. Weird…”
Yomi sighed. “Hello, Osaka. How are you doing?” There was a pause on the other end. “Osaka? Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” came the reply. “I’m just thinkin’ about how best ta answer the question.”
“Conversation.”
“Oh, right. I’m fine.” There was another pause, both girls waiting for the other to say something. Osaka decided now was the best time to ask. “So, ya have any interestin’ dreams last night?”
Yomi raised an eyebrow, though the gesture went unappreciated. “Funny you should ask that. I had this really strange one. I think you were in it.”
“Uh huh?” The Osakan’s voice was unusually eager and alert, nearly reaching normal levels of speech.
“I don’t really remember much else, though. Just you and some weird shape that I don’t really recall. Why do you ask?”
“Oh.” The spacey girl sighed. “No reason.”
“Um… OK.” Yomi shrugged. Really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. It wasn’t like Osaka was renown for a straightforward train of thought. “So, I was thinking we could meet—” She was interrupted by a loud clicking, followed by a dial tone. “She hung up?”
In her house, Osaka snapped her fingers in disappointment. She got them to actually make a noise after a number of trials and several different techniques. Then she crossed Yomi’s name off a brief list she had compiled and moved to the next entry.
There was much excitement at Narita International, where the Senshi were soon to be reunited. Su, ever on the lookout, was the first to spot those returning from the gates. “There they are!”
Ami was chatting amicably with Hotaru. Michiru and Haruka were lost in one another’s eyes and holding hands. Motoko…was a pale, shivering husk, gait robotic, eyes unfocused, and twitches myriad.
Su, naturally, noticed none of this. “Motoko!” she cried, rushing to the group and pouncing on her favorite fuku buddy. Upon impact, both collapsed into a heap of limbs. This brought the swordswoman’s condition to Su’s attention. “Motoko?”
“So much yuri…” Motoko muttered.
The foreign girl pouted at the couple. “You broke Motoko!”
Haruka shrugged. “Hey, she agreed to switch with Ami.” Su shifted her petulant focus to the bluenette.
“I did try to warn her,” noted the Senshi of Ice. “She said she could sleep through thunderstorms.”
“So much yuri…”
Setsuna gave a smirk. “Unfortunately, Haruka and Michiru are somewhere on the level of the category 5 hurricane.”
The aforementioned blonde delivered a smirk of her own. “I resemble that remark!”
“All too true,” sighed her partner. “Now let’s go home. What meager supplies I was able to bring because of that ridiculous liquids law have been long exhausted.” She turned to Haruka, most unpleased. “And all because you can’t teleport without heaving.”
“I can’t help it!”
“Enjoy the couch tonight, dear.”
“But last night we—“
“That was to celebrate the newest member of our ranks.”
“So much yuri.”
“I think we should all go home,” said Setsuna. Having finally reached the others who had stayed, she nodded at Shinobu. “At that means the Hinata House for you three. See if you can’t jolt Ms. Aoyama out of her current state.”
“‘Jolt,’ you say?” Su grinned eagerly. “I may have just the plan.”
“So much yuri”
“Yo!” The wildcat high school girl, Takino Tomo, practically shouted into the phone. That is to say, Tomo spoke at her usual volume.
“Hiya, Tomo,” came the considerably calmer reply.
“Osaka!” Tomo decided now was a great time to use the English phrase she’d learned the other day. “[What it is, my bitch?]”
“Eh?”
“It’s English!” the supercharged girl said proudly.
“I figured,” said Osaka. “I just wasn’t expectin’ it. Um, what’s it mean?”
“I have no idea!” Tomo said with the same pride. “I heard it the other day, so I’m gonna keep saying it and see what kind of reactions I get!”
“Huh.” Seemed reasonable to Osaka. “So, didja have any interesting dreams last night?”
“Oh yeah! I was all super fast and strong, and I could outthink Chiyo-chan, and everyone was treating me like a queen! Kagura was fanning me, and Yomi was peeling grapes for me, and Kimura-sensei had been locked in the dungeon!”
“Neat. Where was I?”
Tomo paused as she recalled the dream. “Now that’s the funny thing. See, you weren’t one of my servants. I guess you were some ambassador or something. You too out this big scroll and started telling me about how I had to be a space police officer or something, and then Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo showed up and we all kinda spread our arms and we were flying in space. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah. Remember anything else?”
“Hmm… Nope, sorry. Kinda hazy from there.”
“Oh.” Osaka sounded rather down. “OK.”
“So, I was thinking,” continued Tomo, “maybe you guys could set up something like the dream in real life some time and…” She continued on, not realizing Osaka had hung up until well into her rant.
Meanwhile, Osaka sighed and crossed another name off her list. That made three. Darn it, that only left one other person she had visited with the help of Dream-sama. Still, Tomo was close. It wouldn’t be much longer until she remembered everything. At least, Osaka hoped that would be the case.
“So,” reviewed Nabiki, “we’ve got no idea why Akane got replaced with an earlier version of herself, no information that could help us reverse the process, and no way of knowing where said earlier version’s mystical relic is, on the off chance that might help.”
“That pretty much sums it up,” agreed Carmellia.
“I’ve had worse odds,” Ranma said cockily.
“When, exactly?” asked his fiancée’s preincarnation.
“Hopeless situations crop up ‘round here every two or three weeks,” the pigtailed boy said nonchalantly. “This ain’t much compared to the Phoenix Pill thing.”
“Or that possessed swimsuit,” opined Nabiki.
“Or when you had to pretend to be Ranko-chan whenever Auntie Saotome came to visit,” noted Kasumi.
“Right, just like—” Ranma paused and looked at the eldest Tendo sister, who returned the look with her usual even expression. “When did…You know what? Never mind. How much have ya heard?”
“Oh, I noticed something wasn’t right about Akane last night,” Kasumi replied off-handedly. “I just decided it was best that we wait until she felt comfortable with telling us.”
“Sis, she’s effectively in a coma while one of her past lives is in control of her body. It’s not like she got a tattoo.”
Kasumi appeared shocked. “My goodness, no!” There were signs of relief that the girl’s calm hadn’t slipped into utter vapidity. “A tattoo would be the last thing Akane needed! Think of what it would do to her reputation!” Signs of relief transitioned into ones of shock.
“OK, I’m going to just ask this,” proclaimed Carmellia. “How exactly is a tattoo more shocking than a complete personality overwrite?”
“Well, it isn’t an overwrite. You are still Akane, after all, just stripped of several millennia of karmic influences. Besides, her ego hasn’t been erased, only subdued. Once we fix whatever caused this, she should be fine.” Kasumi noted the gawking faces about the table. “You didn’t all think I just kept house all day, did you? Cooking and cleaning only consume so much time.”
“You just don’t seem like the type for psychology and metaphysics,” said Carmellia. “Er, no offense, Miss.”
“None taken. In any case, could you all please move the conversation elsewhere? It isn’t easy keeping Daddy and Mr. Saotome occupied enough to avoid overhearing anything.”
Nabiki nodded. “She’s got a point. Where to?”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” Kasumi said mildly.
“Hello?”
“Hey.”
“Ah, Osaka. How can I help you?”
“Do ya remember any weird dreams ya had last night?”
“Strange dreams?”
“Y’know, ones where I showed up and told ya stuff.”
“Actually…yes. Quite clearly.”
“Ya do!?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Everything I told ya in that dream is true. Meet me in th’ park in an hour. We’ve got a train ta catch.”
Sakaki paused. While the revelations of the dream were shocking, she felt she should say something. After a brief moment of hesitation, she opened with “Wouldn’t it be easier if we met at the train station?” The dial tone indicated that Osaka had hung up before the shy bishojo even began the sentence.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Animethropologist
(Posted Sat, 17 May 2008 03:19)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.