Belldandy hesitated as this situation seemed to be wrong. That feeling proved right when information came from above that the situation was changing, indicating that something really was wrong with Yggdrassil.
“Ah, it would seem you are correct about the situation being strange. Kuno-san’s wish was stated that marriage to the pig-tailed girl be a possibility, the wish however was for the destruction of Ranma Saotome. Because the wish mentioned the pig-tailed girl continuing to exist, a female Ranma should continue to exist, but not as Ranma Saotome. This is already processing.”
Ranma waited as Belldandy still seemed to be mentally conversing. Eventually she seemed to reach a consensus. “For now, you’re a girl with no name or family. An orphan, no one will recognize you as Ranma Saotome. There seems to be some sort of bug in the system, so once it’s sorted out somewhat, I can help you change your situation to something else.”
Ranma was glad to have a bit of good news. “So this can get sorted out?”
Belldandy continued to look troubled by the situation. “Yes, hopefully. You’ll need to choose a name for yourself, a girl’s name. You will have an apartment in Nerima and will likely encounter Kuno-san often so he has chances for romance, but other than that you’re free. Since the defining characteristics of the pig-tailed girl are martial arts and being a tomboy, the wish will not make you feminine, simply the persona of Ranma Saotome ceases to exist.”
Ranma tried to wrap her head around all of that. “So... it’s kinda like in Kuno’s head, where my girl form is a separate person from the guy Ranma Saotome, but now everyone just thinks of me as this girl they don’t know the name of?”
Belldandy nodded. “Yes, that is roughly how it works. Everyone that knew you will think Ranma Saotome was destroyed in the wish and will be unable to believe you are Ranma Saotome. As you surmised, they will think of you as the red-haired girl until you decide on a name.”
Letting it sink in she continued on, wanting to reinforce the silver lining. “At least until we get this bug sorted out.” Belldandy seemed to realize something. “Oh, I’ll need to create a wardrobe for you, your old clothing won’t work I’m afraid. It’ll be somewhat like starting a new life as a girl until we get this bug sorted out.”
Belldandy did her magic, causing the apartment to shift until it looked somewhat like a tomboy or sporty girl’s room.
Frowning at the thought, Ranma wanted to clarify something. “You mean I’ll have to wear girl’s clothes?”
The goddess had little trouble talking while rearranging the room for a tomboy. “No, your wardrobe will have a variety. The pig-tailed girl was known to wear male clothing, but you simply can’t use the wardrobe you used as Ranma Saotome is all. You wardrobe has male clothing typical for Japan, while the Chinese outfits are for a girl. It was the closest I could arrange your wardrobe to what you’re familiar with.”
Ranma looked around, noting the room was rather well furnished now. Somewhat like Akane’s room, but not as girly. It was a nice room, well furnished and modern, rather androgynous in gender tone. There were no personal items like photos, trophies or school books, but it had some nice modern stuff like a laptop.
Belldandy finished and seemed incredibly awkward about the situation. “Ah, well, you’ll find an envelope with cash on the desk. There will be a weekly allowance arriving in the mail as long as this lasts.” Looking around, the goddess was fretting she was forgetting something, feeling a bit flustered. “Oh, you have until today to choose a suitable name, otherwise one will be assigned to you.”
Ranma spoke up without delay. “Hikari, written as shining.” She didn’t care for the name Ranko and didn’t want to leave the name thing up to chance. Hikari was just a name that wouldn’t be easily confused for others in her life.
The goddess paused, mildly surprised. “Ah, yes, that will do.” A bit flustered, she realized there was more she could do now that the red-head had a name. “I can register you with school now.” Further realizing that wasn’t important, Belldandy thought of what she really wanted to say. “Oh, is there anything else I can do for you? If not, I’ll go help resolve this bug issue.”
Ranma considered the issue. She’d felt the magic settle in place and knew she couldn’t claim to be Ranma Saotome, there was something preventing her from doing so. On the other hand, it seemed she wasn’t being forced into marriage with Kuno, which was a plus.
This was because of a wish, which would hopefully be fixed. Until then she couldn’t do anything but make the best of her current situation. She’d had experience with the annoyance of people being unable to remember her from the shampoo incident, so she was considering avoiding Nerima entirely or at least going with the new persona angle to prevent that sort of awkwardness.
Ranma had one question at the moment, hoping this got resolved quickly. “I’m guessing you don’t expect this to get fixed quickly, so about how long and what happens?”
Belldandy pouted, not enjoying this situation at all. “It may take some time. If it takes more than a few weeks, reality should revert and everyone except you should forget this happened. At this point, I have no idea how it might work out.”
See other episodes by Valor Phoenix
(Posted Sun, 25 Aug 2013 03:41)
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.