Ranma turned towards the old man, now sitting on a tabletop that he assumed served as a checkout counter, and shuddered as he met the friendly smile of a sadist. Painfully repressing all of his survival instincts, one 'man among men' dipped his free hand into a pocket for his funds as he approached those upturned lips. Attention torn from current dreadful thoughts, Ranma found only three thousand-yen notes and 104 in loose change. Unexpectedly short on cash and fighting down images of living his life out in this hellish store, he asked for the price, fearing the worst, and was interrupted.
"Not to worry, lad. I already took what I needed."
"So that's why I only have-" Ranma stopped upon noting the smug smile bob in a nod. He heard the owner explaining things to him as his own thoughts turned towards Ukyo. The owner had only charged him five thousand yen, only three thousand yen. A real bargain for jusenkyo water, what kind of crap gift can I get for her now? He thought it would be best to leave Ranma enough to buy his 'friend' a gift, maybe if I get her a card and explain things she'll give me an extension. Might the young man be interested in another purchase perhaps, it's always the important days that turn- "No," Ranma cursed as he interpreted the old man's line of thought. "No more purchases. One is too much already."
Backing off, the wizard settled down to watch his customer puzzle over his purchase. His glee intensified as Ranma cautiously snapped the neck off, forgoing the flask's cap, and held it by the base. The old man considered sitting on his hands to quell the urge to rub them together with a grin, knowing what would soon pass. Surprise widened wizened eyes as Ranma, in an unanticipated act, casually flung the magical water at the old man. As the water fell upon the owner, Ranma let up on his act as a smile of satisfaction openly bloomed upon his face.
Ranma's eyes closed on instinct as water was flung against his face and chest. Disoriented from going from 'standing over there' to 'sitting over here' without actually doing the necessary action inbetween the two positions, Ranma could only wipe at his face and listen to the old bastard hoot and howl with laughter.
"Well done Ranma, I never thought you would do that."
Fear and irritation bubbled in his throat, lifting a strange brew of sharp and shaky notes from his mouth. Ranma said, "What did y-" swallowing. "How did you do that?"
"Switch spots you mean?" A nod. "You said it yourself. I'm a wizard."
His tactical gamble a failure; Ranma sat in silence, staring at the spot that had one minute ago been his. The old man whom had taken his place was the recipient of a sad and sullen stare for Ranma's inability to glare at the moment. Shaking off shock and fighting through dread, Ranma asked the most important question. "What did I turn into?"
"I mean, I look the same from my point of view and my face feels normal." The wizard provided the answer by stating, "that's because you didn't change." And Ranma chose to remain quiet, knowing by now that there was always more.
A sigh dropped softly from his smirk as the old man said, "I won't disappoint you. Of course there's more." He settled into a more comfortable stance as he prepared himself for the explanation. "The bottles were not mislabeled, as I am certain you entertained the idea. The water truly was 'spring of drowned something else.' You are now cursed to, when splashed with cold water, turn into 'something else.' As far as I know, the resulting form has everything to do with the victim's thoughts at the moment of transformation. Although, I'm fairly certain that inanimate forms are impossible"
Ranma took this in and slowly slid from the table to stand upright. A smirk well known in Nerima made itself increasingly known as he made his way to the door. The cursed-again martial artist flippantly replied, "you call that a curse? More like a cure. All I gotta' do is think of myself when I change and goodbye girl-side."
"You fool." The surprisingly heated response caught Ranma off guard, efficiently halting his progress. Calming his voice and features, the aged wizard quickly continued. "Spring of drowned something else. You are cursed to turn into something else. That implies that you change into something other than yourself. It would be no change if you 'transformed' into the 'you' prior to said transformation." With a meaningful pause the storeowner lowered his voice and completed his thoughts. "And with jusenkyo, you always change," the heavy 'always' leaving no room for interpretation, "whether you see it in the mirror or not." The freshly forming implications of the last statement replaced Ranma's limbs with rubber and the aged voice continued. "I warn you, the human mind and its thought process can still only be theorized about. No one truly understands even their own mind's interior."
The young man fought to keep a steady pace despite his shaky mental state and resumed his flight from the spell shop's walls. At the door, he placed hands upon the frames and stopped in apparent thought. The wizard's eye's turned thoughtful at the image and wondered whether the martial artist might cause a cave-in. The young man turned his searching eyes to the elder's and asked, "Me and pops, we both fell in separate springs at jusenkyo. Hell, as far as I know, everyone who's touched the stuff immediately changes." A nod. "So how come I'm still myself?"
"Are you?" Noticing the panic that crept into the youth's eyes, the old man added, "I think you are." Making his way back to the makeshift checkout counter he continued. "I have my thoughts as well on the matter, but they're nothing more than guesses. Who can know for sure? That would imply that we understood the nature of jusenkyo." Reclaiming his slouch upon the counter's surface the wizard broke eye contact and began to read a dusty book, signaling the end of their acquaintance. "It's called magic for a reason lad."
Exiting the shop Ranma considered his options. Then he considered what options there were to consider. And when the door clicked shut, the ways of jusenkyo resumed their games with cheer. As the story often seems to go, that phantom splash of water was already heading young Saotome's way. Fortunately, the water halted for a moment in its descent, because the author decided to split his post into two segments. So, how's it going to go?
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(Posted Wed, 09 Oct 2002 09:30)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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