Amaterasu sat in her garden, awaiting Ranma’s return from his bath and with it (hopefully) a decision. Sure, there was a reasonable chance that Ranma would take her seriously as a result of having his curse modified, but that was still no guarantee he’d agree to be the Taiyohime—not after what his mother did. Thus, she was trying to come up with some alternative plans.
On the one hand, she could just start up a new line of magical girls with someone completely new, but that would mean she’d have to train one herself, and as she’d told Ranma, she was a very busy deity. On the other hand, there was also the possibility of contracting the work to a pre-existing magical girl, but the trouble there would be finding a magical girl who could handle the Squatters. Perhaps the promising youngster from Juuban that she’d heard about would fit the bill—though if Nodoka found out about that, she’d likely flip, seeing as how her relationship with that “upstart” was rather contemptuous. Besides, there were apparently rumors flying around that that one actually had aspirations of world domination, which would certainly call her status as a hero into question. Of course, that brought to mind a third possibility: recalling Nodoka to active duty. Amaterasu didn’t doubt for a second that Nodoka would accept; in fact, she half-suspected that this was the ultimate purpose behind her alienation of her son, though that was highly unlikely. Still, as talented as Nodoka was, the ravages of middle age were rapidly approaching her, and the sun goddess had doubts that she could maintain the level of physicality necessary to combat the invading horde.
Ultimately, however, Amaterasu just wanted Ranma’s answer, so she could move forward with whatever plan she decided to put into action.
“Um, Amaterasu?”
The goddess turned to see the teenaged martial artist standing before her, a towel wrapped around his waist, leaving his well-defined chest and abs open for viewing (which Amaterasu gladly did). “Yes, Ranma, are you finished?”
“Uh, I guess. Ya said I only needed ta stay there for fifteen minutes, right?”
“Right…. Is something wrong? Were you not able to change your form?”
“Uh, no, it works just fine. It’s just…”
“Yes?”
“I can’t seem ta find my clothes, that’s all.”
“Oh, right. They seemed a little dingy, so I took the liberty of having them cleaned.”
“Uh-huh… an’ in the process, ya get ta look at me not wearin’ anything.”
“I’d say that’s adequate compensation, wouldn’t you?” the sun goddess asked with a sly smile. “But seriously, I’ll get your clothes for you.”
“Uh, actually, there’s somethin’ else…. I, uh, made up my mind on the magical girl thing. Well, almost made up my mind is probably a better way ta say it. Could I just ask ya a few more questions?”
“Go ahead.”
“Is there some reason I gotta be a girl ta do it?”
Amaterasu thought about this for a bit before answering: “Well, I suppose that the magic could still work regardless of your gender—but I doubt the Taiyohime’s costume will be very flattering on your male body.”
Ranma blanched at the thought of a female costume on his male body—he’d gotten into enough trouble for that over the years as it was. Soon, however, he regained his composure and rephrased his question. “No, I mean, why couldn’t I just be a completely different magical… uh, guy?”
“Well, that would mean creating a magical superhero from scratch, and that’s just not as easy with men thanks to their DNA.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“Well, you see, X chromosomes are larger and contain more data than Y chromosomes, and it’s this size difference that makes it much easier to create an effective magical girl than to create a similar magical boy.”
“Oh.” Ranma didn’t know all that much about the human genome, and even less about how it interacted with magic, but that seemed reasonable enough to him. “Well, then, if I accepted this—an’ I ain’t sayin’ I will yet, but if—would I hafta provide, ya know, the next one in line?”
“It would be helpful.”
“Yeah, but would I hafta, um…” Ranma blushed as he stumbled over his words.
Fortunately, Amaterasu was able to guess what the young man was trying to get at. “You wouldn’t have to actually conceive this heir and carry her to term, if that’s what you mean. She need only be your biological daughter—through whatever method you prefer.”
“Right…”
“Is there anything else you need to know to make your decision?”
“Not really. I mean, I don’t particularly like the idea of bein’ a magical girl, but for some reason, I feel like if I say ‘no,’ I’m just gonna end up regrettin’ it anyway.”
Amaterasu seemed genuinely surprised by this. “Really?”
“Well, yeah, I mean, I am a guy—”
“That’s not what I was surprised by, Ranma. It’s the part about feeling guilty that I was referring to.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because that’s your sense of honor and tradition talking—but I was certain that Nodoka had inadvertently obliterated them, at least in this context.”
“Oh, that. Well, I mean, I was mad at her—still am, I guess, but I was thinkin’ about it in that bath, an’ it sorta occurred ta me that Mom didn’t really have much reason ta think that I’d have that much of a problem with all that she did.”
This flat-out dumbfounded the goddess. “You’re… going to need to explain that one.”
“Well, I figure it’s just bein’ fair. I mean, sure, my Mom did somethin’ real bad, but when ya really think about it, it ain’t that much worse than all the bullshit I’ve let Pops pull on me over the years. She probably didn’t have much reason ta think I’d be that put out, ya know?”
“Uh, no, I don’t know. So, have you reached a decision, then?”
“I guess… I just wanna make a few things clear, though. Once this is all said an’ done, I never gotta be a girl ever again, right?”
“Right.”
“An’ if I accept, an’ change my mind later?”
“Not a problem. You can leave at any time—just be sure to give me two weeks’ notice so I can make plans to replace you.”
“Well, when ya put it that way, it don’t seem like I got all that much ta lose. Okay… then I, uh, I guess I’ll do it, then. May as well give it a shot.”
“You have my eternal gratitude,” the deity said sincerely.
“Uh, no prob… so, can I have my clothes back now?”
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(Posted Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:19)
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