“Why shouldn't we get Akane's help,” Daisuke said, as soon as they stepped into the next-door classroom. “”She-”
“We can,” Sayuri said. “As long as we stay in charge. Remember what the priest said: we have to complete our tasks through our own hard work.”
“What's the problem?” Daisuke asked, looking puzzled.
“Akane wouldn't just do what we said,” Hiroshi said, “so it wouldn't count, and she'd get the rest of that lot involved.”
Sayuri nodded, then frowned, confusion flickering across her face.
“We could explain,” Yuka said. “She's my friend. I don't want to lie to her.”
“We can't tell her everything,” Daisuke said quickly. “If she finds out about my mind-reading-”
“Wait a minute,” Sayuri said. “Hiroshi, we don't want Akane going off fighting evil mind controllers on her own because it won't get us the credit we need with the kami, right?”
Hiroshi nodded thoughtfully. That was true, but it didn't quite feel right.
“Do you really think the kami would approve of us stopping other people fighting evil just so we can hog all the credit? Doesn't it help the other side?”
“You really shouldn't have mentioned that,” Hiroshi said, after a moments thought. “If the kami care about our motives, they're not going to be impressed by us thinking about what gets us the most credit with them. If they only care about results, well, we ought to be able to do anything, as long as it works.”
It was probably more complicated than either alternative, but none of them were priests.
“Which is it?” Daisuke asked. “I liked some of the stories, but I never paid much attention to the rest.”
Hiroshi nodded. “Another question for our priest friend, but I think he'll answer in riddles.”
“And we can't talk to him now,” Sayuri said, “so what do we do about Akane.”
“You're her friends,” Hiroshi said, thinking. “If we cut her out completely, what will she do?”
“She'll frustrated, and angry,” Sayuri said. “She could-”
“Kuno,” Yuka said. “She'll go after him next time she sees him. I don't think she'll hunt him down, but-”
“She'll be a loose canon,” Hiroshi said. “We're going to have to tell her something.”
“OK,” Sayuri said. “What?”
“Akane,” Hiroshi said, a few minutes later, “we have come to a decision. First, you need to know who we are.”
Akane sat down, her eyes eager.
“We offended the kami a few days ago,” Sayuri said. “They gave us a mission to appease them, and some magic to help.”
That wasn't the only mission they'd got, but telling Akane about their orders to put all the fiancées on the path to true love could not end well.
“So you're not recruiting,” Akane said, disappointed.
“We let the kami do that,” Daisuke said, “but you might still be able to help.”
“The kami told us to get rid of all the evil mind controllers in Nerima,” Sayuri explained. “They said we need to do that ourselves, but we can get backup and training from other people.”
“OK,” Akane said. “How can I help. Kuno needs to be stopped.”
“We're pretty sure he's a puppet of someone else,” Hiroshi reminded her. “Learning Anything Goes would be a bad idea. Happosai would be able to tell, and we don't want to get him involved.”
“Imagine what he'd do with the kind of power Kuno has,” Yuka added.
Hiroshi nodded. “We'll go to a normal dojo to learn the basics, but if we practice them with you, that'll help us. You can also spy on Kuno, discreetly, and tell us anything you learn.”
“But don't let Ranma know,” Daisuke said, “He'd want to take charge.”
“He would,” Akane said sourly. “I'll do all that, but you better get Kuno.”
“It's not all about him,” Daisuke said.
“I suppose,” Akane said, “but he thinks it is. How can I contact you?”
“You don't,” Hiroshi said. “We'll know when you want to talk.”
“OK,” Akane said. “I need to go and find my friends, make sure they didn't get any of the side effects you talked about.”
Hiroshi watched her go, then took off his mask. “That's one problem solved.”
There were still several others though, and more piling up behind them.
“Good,” Yuka said. “What next?”
See other episodes by Stibbons
(Posted Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:50)
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