A young man and a little girl were surreptitiously making their way along the side of a building. Though it was broad daylight, the two of them were sidling sideways on the wall, as if hiding in nonexistant shadows. They were garbed in dark clothing, a dark blue shirt and black pants for the boy, a deep violet blouse and skirt for the girl. They also had neckerchiefs wrapped over their heads, as some sort of disguise.
The people passing by on the streets paid them no heed. A pair of juvenile delinquents dressed up like house burglars out in the open? What are you talking about? Nothing to see there. Especially if one of those imaginary persons kept making sound effects for what they were doing. Nothing to see there at all. Move along.
"Sneak sneak sneak. Stop. Peeeeek."
"Ssshhh! They'll hear you!"
"Hee hee hee!"
Ranma Saotome and his new daughter had been criss-crossing his stomping grounds for the past couple of hours. So far, he'd been lucky in avoiding the usual suspects. He hoped his luck would hold.
Earlier, from a nearby alley, he had pointed out the bustling business being held at the Nekohanten during the lunch hour. He had told the kid about the people who lived there, about the bouncy girl who liked to grab people and call them "Airen,"about the near-sighted boy who liked to grab people and call them "Shampoo," about the mummified monkey who hopped along on a stick and whacked people with it, and about the girl's old man who served up some of the fastest bowls of beef ramen in all of Nerima. The two of them had made tracks from the place when a free-wheeling Shampoo coming back back from a delivery had nearly spotted them.
They had then stopped by a beef bowl place for lunch, scammed some free scoops from an ice cream parlor, drooled over the smell of octopus puffs, hid under a bridge when the Amazon delivery service passed by, skipped some stones at the flood channel, hid under the bridge again when Ryouga Hibiki passed by on his way to the shops at Shinjuku, ran along some backstreets and alleyways, climbed onto the wall surrounding a sprawling estate, tried to find out how many traps they could spring at the Kuno home by throwing stones, waved at Midorigame as they ran off, jogged along some more alleyways to make their way towards an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Hotaru Tomoe crouched beneath her new father as they both peeked around the corner of the building. Down the street, they watched as people walked into "Ucchan's" for dinner. She's been having lots of fun with her Papa today. Like learning how to skip stones on the water, setting off pit traps that were hidden in the grass, being heaved onto her Papa's shoulder as they ran away from a flying bicycle. She saw a lot of neat stuff, too. Like a real-life mummy that walked and talked and a giant crocodile that lived in someone's backyard. Her grandfather never did this kind of things with her; he was too old and needed a housekeeper to do everything for him. She was so happy she got a new Papa.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by The Masked Lurker
(Posted Sun, 23 Nov 2003 09:15)
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.