Saotome Ranma had to go. It was his name, but if he didn't want to be followed, he needed an alias, something else to go by. By itself, it wouldn't be enough... but his old name would be a dead giveaway to the old Wrecking Crew.
With that in mind, he chose the name of 'Hino Norihito', using the kanji for 'sun' in the clan name, as opposed to the Hinos of the Hikawa shrine, who used the kanji for 'fire', followed by the hiragana 'no', or 'of'. Were he to ever compare names with the Senshi of Mars, they'd find the fact that they were said identically to be an interesting coincidence, but nothing terribly unusual; it happened all the time in Japan.
Absently removing his pigtail, he figured that it would be enough. Between the name change, the changes in behavior that resulted from his epiphanies and the correction of the brain damage he'd suffered during his long training trip, and most importantly, the complete change in his fighting style, from one based on kenpo to one based on kung fu, which Ranma hadn't been terribly proficient with prior to his Enlightenment (of course, 'not terribly proficient' in this case only meant that the 'old' Ranma could 'only' defeat half the dojo masters in Japan while limiting himself to the style), combined with a few, minor changes in appearance, if the old Wrecking Crew were to stumble on him, they'd hopefully just dismiss him as faintly resembling Ranma.
Fortunately, he had prepared for this, establishing a new legal identity for himself with the Great Will while he still had it, adding another reason why the NWC wouldn't associate Hino Norihito with Saotome Ranma.
Overall, even Nabiki or Cologne would be hard-pressed to find the connection, and Cologne would likely take one look at his fighting style and dismiss the possibility.
Finding an apartment was also a necessity. Ranma held no illusions about his ability to afford a house, especially as it would conflict with his 'cover story' of living off of his parents' life insurance policy after they died in a plane crash, but a nice, if modest, apartment would do nicely.
On top of all of this, Hino Norihito was, legally, two years younger than Ranma, the result of his Great Will-enhanced mind realizing that he had missed far too much of his education on the road. Unfortunately, though, that meant that he couldn't get a job, as part-time jobs were hard enough, for various reasons, to get for high-school students.
Of course, 'Hino Norihito's' parents hadn't really existed, but their life insurance policy did, written into reality by Ranma's Great Will-enhanced mind. More to the point, however, their life insurance money also existed, giving Ranma enough to fund his education, as well as to pay for somewhat modest room and board in the, admittedly expensive, Azabu Juuban area.
So, Ranma began to unpack his, admittedly meagre, belongings in his new apartment, only to be interrupted by:
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(Posted Sun, 16 Feb 2003 20:24)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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