Megane snorted as he looked away. "This is NOT Lum-san!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"So what's the proof, Megane?" Momoe demanded.
A laugh. "Easy enough to explain, Marubeya!" Megane spat before he pointed at Lum. "Look at her eyes! Look at her face! Where is the spark in her eyes?! Where is the glow of innocence that always surrounds her?! Nothing that we know of when it comes to Lum-san is in this&hellipWHATEVER she is! SHE IS NOT LUM!" He then spun on Ataru, who had watched Megane's latest tirade with a bored look on his face. "Where is Lum-san, Moroboshi Ataru?!" he demanded as he stormed up to glare into the other man's face, his whole body shaking as the anger that had been washing through him since the Second Tag Race and "Lum" being chased off Earth by alien DRAGONS at Ataru's request began to bubble over. "What have you done with her?! How DARE you separate us from Lum-san?!"
Ataru remained silent as he stared into Megane's eyes, his bored look now replaced with the faintest of a knowing smirk. Seeing that, the latter snarled as he lunged over to grab the former by his jacket and shake him. Megane then jolted as his hands failed to shift the other man's body not even a centimetre. "Wha-…HOW DARE YOU?!" he yelled as he moved to grab Ataru, this time by the throat. Again, there was no movement from the other man, not even any giving away around the neck as Megane tried to choke off his windpipe. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" he demanded.
"The Stone-Body Shield Defence, asshole," Ryūnosuke said. "Soon as Ataru, Hiromi or Tariko start using that, you can't move them. They're as solid as mountains. And good luck in trying to punch them! They're as tough as battleship armour now!"
Snarling, Megane jumped back, then lunged with a punch right at Ataru's face. His fist hit, but the leader of the Stormtroopers then screamed as he staggered back, now nursing a hand with shattered finger bones. As the bespectacled student collapsed to his knees as a pained wail escaped him, Ataru shook his head. "Hope your health insurance'll pay for that, four-eyes. Lucky thing for me I've got witnesses here that'll report the truth of what just happened if the police get involved."
"Oh, yes, Onii-san," Hiromi came up to stand beside him as she glared at the moaning Megane. "This pitiful traitor to the human race won't get away with what he did back during that incident with the space-taxi just after we met Hensō."
Megane exploded. "LUM!" he bellowed loud enough to make many people stagger, though the Moroboshi siblings and Ataru's lovers weren't affected. "ENOUGH OF YOUR DISGUSTING LIES, ATARU! LUM-SAN IS LUM-SAN! SHE IS THE GUIDING LIGHT OF OUR LIVES! SHE IS THE ONE THING ABOVE ALL OTHERS THAT WE WORSHIP! SHE IS NOT SOME MONSTER THAT IS TO BE DESTROYED! YOU ARE!" he roared as he pointed at Ataru, and then Hiromi and Tariko. "AND YOU AND YOU, TOO! NOW WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS LUM-SAN?! ANSWER ME, YOU BASTARDS! ANSWER ME!"
WHACK! "QUIET!"
Megane collapsed to the floor, now nursing a giant lump on his head. Ataru sighed as everyone straightened up on seeing that Onsen Mark had walked into the room. "Ohayō, Sensei," he said as people bowed to the vice-principal. "My apologies for being gone for a week, but I had some personal business to deal with."
"So I was told by your sister," Onsen stated before he turned to gaze on Lum. After a moment, he took a deep breath, and then he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What happened to you, Redet-san, was wrong. I'm glad that Moroboshi managed to learn the truth and put a stop to those replicas once and for all." He then focused on Oyuki and Benten. "To you ladies as well. Will you be coming to classes, too?"
"While I believe such would be quite interesting, there is the need to ensure that we can support our extended family until such time as Darling is able to access the trust fund his grandmother left him, Onsen-sensei," Oyuki explained. "Benten and I will be going to Kamekichi Tampopo-san's establishment to seek employment there."
"As soon as we get Kamen and Mienai straightened around — maybe Damasu and Hensō, too — we'll make them do tables as well," Benten added.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Perm snapped. "Who are these people you're talking about?!"
People gazed in exasperation at the tallest of the Stormtroopers. "Haven't you been paying damned attention, Shitto!" Onsen snarled. "Those girls are the ones we all believed were Redet-san, Aruka-san, Shigaten-san and Oyuki-himesama until Moroboshi finally discovered the truth, then sent his sister here after last week's stupid event to tell us all the truth!" He thumbed Hiromi in emphasis. "It's not their fault that you and your three friends are too damned thick in the skull to listen!"
"Why aren't you listening to US?!" Kakugari then bellowed. "Can't you see…?"
"Because you're traitors to the human race, dumbass! We don't listen to you!"
Hearing Chigaiko's lancing words, the other Stormtroopers shuddered. "Dōmo, Inu-kun! Now let's get to our seats so we can properly welcome Redet-kun, Ebisu-kun and Moroboshi Tariko-kun amongst us finally!" Onsen said before he stared at Hiromi. "Though I DO trust there won't be any problems today!"
"We will endeavour not to see classes interrupted, Sensei," Hiromi vowed.
The vice-principal beamed. "Excellent."
Later…
"Do I HAVE to do this?!"
"Now, that's enough, Tariko-chan!" Momoe scolded. It was the break between first and second morning classes. Many of the girls were now gathered around Tariko, they giving her appraising looks. "Yes, we know the reasons you were made to act like you did before people on Okusei discovered what was going on inside your brain! We accept that! We forgive you! BUT since you're a girl now…"
"You need to know everything about what being a girl's all about," Kumiko cut in.
"And that includes makeup and how to dress right," Yamagata Masako, one of the girls that had once been on the list of the most beautiful members of Class 2-4, said.
"Hiromi-chan did it," Chigaiko advised her as she gave Tariko a sympathetic look.
Tariko blinked, and then she sighed. "Well…"
"It'll be a great way to impress Shikuko-san," Shinobu advised her.
Tariko perked, and then she breathed out. "Oh, alright!" As the other girls all grinned, she then gazed on them. "Sleepover?!"
"Is Tampopo-san going to allow it?" Rumiko asked.
"We'll have our new place ready to go within a couple days," Tariko advised, and then she perked before she looked over her shoulder at Ataru, who was tenderly kissing Lum. "Hate to interrupt the smooch parade, Ataru, but how does a housewarming party sound?"
Ataru and Lum sighed as they parted, and then they gazed on her. "Sounds great! Now, can I please NOT be interrupted while I'm whispering sweet nothings to my girl?!" he demanded, though his eyes were twinkling with mirth.
"Go back to your girl," Tariko advised as the girls around her laughed.
They then swooned romantically as Ataru and Lum returned to their lip-to-lip conversation. "That is SO romantic!" Obinata Hiromi — "the first Hiromi-chan," the other girls called her to differentiate her from Moroboshi Hiromi — breathed out in awe as the couple continued to kiss away.
"And so brave!" Masako added.
"Pity certain idiots couldn't leave it alone," Ryūnosuke noted.
Shinobu sighed as she kicked back with her foot. That slammed into a desk that instantly tripped up Megane and sent him crashing face-first into the floor. The other Stormtroopers all stopped as they sensed many pairs of angry eyes lock on them, and then they slowly shuffled back to their seats. "Morons," Tariko spat out.
"You can say that again, Tariko-chan," Chigaiko muttered…
"So what the hell do we do about this now?!"
It was now fourth period, the one before lunch and a study hall for the members of Class 2-4. The Stormtroopers had relocated themselves to their favourite haunt — the clock tower belfry — so they could be alone and talk uninterrupted about the total disaster their lives had become over the last week and more. "What can we do about it, Megane?" Perm groaned. "Ataru's got those girl doubles of his and all the girls in his class on his side! And we don't know what happened to Mendō!"
"We can't give up, though!" Kakugari snapped as he got up and paced around the room. "This whole crazy story of Lum-chan actually NOT being Lum-chan is that! A STORY! It's just another plot by Ataru to make Lum-chan go away and leave us behind!"
"Agreed, but what do we do?!" Chibi asked. "Megane tried to punch him and nearly broke his hand! That one double of Ataru's a freakin' tōshi of all things! And who knows what that other double can do! And what about the doubles of Lum-chan, Ran-chan, Benten-san and Oyuki-sama?! They're probably clones of some type!"
"Which means they'll have the same powers as the originals!" Perm warned.
The others all shuddered as they recalled the many times they had seen Lum unleash her lightning or Oyuki make use of her cold-generating powers. To confront versions of that — versions that were steadfastly loyal to MOROBOSHI ATARU of all people and who wouldn't give them the time of day! — was the ultimate nightmare.
Megane then perked. "Wait a minute…"
The others gazed at him. "What?!" Perm asked.
"We can use what Hiromi's said over the last week against them!"
"How?" Kakugari demanded.
A sinister smirk crossed their leader's face. "Here's what we'll do…"
Later…
"It is as you feared, Hiromi-sama," Enjō said as she bowed low to Hiromi. "Megane and his crew intend to give in to you to try to gain some advantage and force you to reveal the truth of what is going on. Of course, they hope that…"
"The 'truth' would prove them right instead of seeing rāmen flung into their faces," Ataru finished for the ninja-trained tōshi. The Moroboshi siblings and Ataru's lovers now attending Tomobiki High School — along with Mōki and Enjō — had moved out onto the front lawn to enjoy their lunch on a blanket Ran had provided.
A nod. "Hai."
"Not surprising," Hiromi noted. "Sit and relax, Kyoko-san. Enjoy your lunch."
Enjō nodded as she took her seat, and then picked up one of the covered bowls of tonkotsu rāmen that had been pre-prepared on Haida before being brought down to Tomobiki. "So why can't you just pound those four idiots into comas and be done with it?" Mōki asked as she gazed on Hiromi. "I just got a headache LOOKING at them! I can't imagine what you all go through every day LISTENING to them!"
"We endure, but hopefully not for much longer, Mikoko-san," Hiromi said as she gave the younger tōshi a knowing look. "Besides, Onii-san has something on Kōsuke-san that, should he become too obstinate, can be used to bring him to heel. And deliver such a blow on 'Lum's Stormtroopers' that they will most likely never recover."
Lum and Ran giggled when they heard her mention that. Tariko and Ataru exchanged a smirk before they turned back to their food. They then perked on hearing a sneeze escape one of the opened windows of Class 2-4. Hearing THAT, everyone looked over, and then they fell over laughing before they turned back to their food.
"Ara! Kota-chan! What happened to you?!"
Everyone perked on hearing the Principal's shocked cry, and then they turned to gaze towards the front gate, where the elderly school administrator was now tending to Kotatsuneko. Seeing the ghost cat, jaws then dropped as they saw that his white-and-brown fur was messy and lumpy, a pained look on his face as he tried to stagger onto the grounds to an awaiting kotatsu, where Cherry and Onsen were currently seated having lunchtime tea. "Holy…" Tariko breathed out. "What the hell happened to him?!"
Ataru sighed. "I think I know," he muttered before looking up. "KYECH!"
"Ah! Pretty kitty!"
Kotatsuneko jolted on hearing that passionate cry, and then he yowled in fear as he moved to stagger clear of the human now soaring right at him. He didn't move fast enough for She Who Speaks To Dragons as she caught him in a hug that could shatter a boulder — and even if he WAS a ghost, it didn't do him any good, either! — and then she flipped through the air to land crossed-legged right between and behind Ataru and Lum. Seeing that, both of them sighed before they exchanged a look, and then they looked back to see Kotatsuneko in Kyech's lap, the latter throatily purring as she rubbed her cheeks and hands over his fur and the former now wide-eyed with fear. "Um, Kyech…" Ataru breathed out as he gave the ghost cat a pitying look.
Kyech sighed contently. "Pretty kitty…"
Kotatsuneko gave a moaning meow, as if he was saying, "Why me?"
The others stared at this, and then they shook their heads…
"Who the HELL is that woman?!"
"That is the Dragonspeaker, Megane."
Megane jolted, and then he glared at Shinobu. "And just WHO is that?!"
"The woman that helped Ataru-kun reunite with the REAL Lum, of course," the latter said as she moved to return to her lunch. "By the way, Megane, keep this in mind. I can lift cars. Asuka-san can lift tanks. That girl out there can bench-press MOUNTAINS and she doesn't break a sweat doing it!" As Megane jolted, Shinobu gazed at him. "And she doesn't particularly like people like you! So don't push your luck with her."
Megane shuddered as Shinobu sat down at her desk while we…
(Posted Sun, 30 May 2010 20:02)
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.