“We're agreed then,” Hiroshi said, ninety minutes later. “Peel off Ukyo first, for practice. The other three will have to be done near simultaneously, or the last one left might get too close to Ranma, and we'll still be fighting assorted mind controllers at the same time as this manipulation.”
“Don't call it that,” Yuka said. “Manipulation sounds so sinister.”
“Because it is,” Sayuri said. “It's OK for us to do it, since the kami have given us a mission, but it's not really OK.”
“I still think we should do Kodachi first,” Daisuke said. “We might be able to get rid of all her family.”
“Daisuke,” Hiroshi said wearily. “We agreed. Like Cologne, Principal Kuno isn't safe for us to cross. He's not as dangerous-”
“I know,” Daisuke said. “I'll go along with the majority, but I still don't like it.”
“Good,” Sayuri said. “We've got to make Ukyo split up with her father, right?”
“And abandon both his arts in favour of academia,” Hiroshi said.
“What's Nabiki got on her? Anything useful?” Sayuri asked.
“She doesn't have much on Ukyo's family. There's an even chance her father has some ulterior motive, but Nabiki hasn't been able to pin it down. Her test scores aren't anything spectacular, but the teachers think she'd only going through the motions. All her energies go into martial arts and cooking. So, any suggestions?”
“Any ethical suggestions?” Sayuri corrected. “We want to use the Master PC as little as possible.”
After a few seconds, Yuka smiled. “We set her up with a special private tutor, a couple of years older than her, and her physical ideal. She gives up her old life, and starts studying, so she can get closer to him.”
“She's too focused on Ranma to fall for anyone else,” Sayuri said, “and wasn't that the plot of-”
“Anyway,” Hiroshi interrupted. “She's supposed to find her one true love outside Nerima. If we get her to fall for someone else, the kami won't be pleased, but you've got the germ of an idea. We do need to show Ukyo a life outside Ranma and her restaurant.”
“Make her choose between her father and Ranma,” Sayuri suggested. “Whoever she picks, we'll be one step closer.”
“We can make them fight over her,” Daisuke said, smiling. “Girls like that.”
“Sometimes,” Sayuri said. “Remember Akane?”
“They don't actually have to fight,” Hiroshi said thoughtfully. “Suppose her father forbids Ukyo to marry Ranma. She defies him, so he disowns her, and she has to – no, wait: she's got to be the one who does the rejecting. Having her father prohibit her from practising the family school wouldn't count.”
Sayuri smiled. “If we make her angry enough with her father, she renounce him and his family schools too. We'd need to make sure she didn't change her mind in the morning, but-”
“I think you've got it,” Hiroshi said, smiling back at her. “That's a workable plan. Where do we start?”
“By bowing down before your one true master,” a voice boomed.
“Another Master PC user?” Hiroshi guessed, one who'd noticed their activities.
“I am no mere user,” the voice said. “I am the god that shall be, supreme ruler of the world, and sole arbiter of the destiny of all mankind.”
“You're probably some idiot, sitting in his bedroom,” Sayuri said. “We know about the voice of god feature.”
“I am the favoured child of destiny,” the voice said. “That I alone was chosen to receive the Master PC programme is proof enough of that.”
”And how do you explain us getting a copy?” Hiroshi asked.
“A minor glitch,” the voice said dismissively, “but I can be magnanimous. Accept my dominion, and I will permit you to retain your copy.”
“After you made a few minor adjustments, I suppose,” Sayuri said. “No.”
“It is no less than you deserve, for interfering with my pawn.”
“Noboru?” Yuka guessed. “How could you control him? He had-”
“I was making arrangements,” the voice said. “He would have recognised his rightful place soon enough, as shall you.”
“Galloping megalomania,” Hiroshi said, glancing at the others.
“Thanks to the Master PC,” Sayuri added.
“I am not insane,” the voice snapped. “I am destined to become supreme ruler of the world and sole god of all mankind. On my worshippers I shall bestow a body without flaw.”
“Let me guess,” Yuka said. “The same body for everyone but you, and it'll be female.”
“Of course,” the voice said. “It will be a very physical form of worship.”
“Not interested,” Hiroshi said. “And you can't touch us. We're all protected.”
“Fools,” the voice shouted. “Do you not know I am the god to be? Tomorrow, I shall transform this very school into a temple to my glory. You shall look upon my works, and know yourself mastered. So I have said; so shall it be.”
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(Posted Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:11)
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