Chapter Twenty-Two (Ranma 1/2)
It is only through pain that we are reborn anew. Strength comes from surviving hardships, from tempering the steel of life in the forge of despair, we grow our souls to withstand even the harshest blows. I was of that belief, and most definitely, it wasn't the mere decision to watch Yuuki Rito suffer for the sin of his existence. I wasn't that petty. No, to be honest, as the clear sky over Furinkan took a change and became slightly cloudy, a nearby apartment found itself some new tenants.
It was a short distance away from the Tendo Dojo, but again, I wouldn't want Rito to have to walk a long distance to get to his new source of pain, or well, training. It was a dojo after all. They were supposed to have students. Also, I was going to pay in whatever form of currency they desired, be it in money, gold or women panties. I could fabricate them out of thin air, so money wasn't going to be an issue.
"You ready?" I asked as I glanced at Yuuki Rito's new school uniform, the one that he would need for Furinkan's high school. He was wearing a dark, long sleeved short collared jacket and matching pants with a white collared shirt, which was the default uniform for males. This was Nerima, one of Tokyo's districts that perhaps Rito had visited once or twice with his family, and now was viewing as something completely different.
He had slept for a while after our arrival, and when he had woken up naked, well, he had the choice of putting on that school uniform or simply suffer going out naked as mother nature had intended him to. He most wisely picked the option of getting dressed.
"Ready for what?" Rito asked warily, nervousness beaming off his frame by the score as he sat down at the table in the kitchen, which shared the space with the living room.
It wasn't a spartan apartment at all, there was enough space for a big television screen, a sofa, a nice fluffy carpet, some chairs, and the kitchen counter had every single utensil needed in a properly functional kitchen. If I said so myself, the pleasantness of an all-white living room brilliantly contrasted with the night areas being painted in pure pitch-black agony darkness, a type of color native of another plane. Technically lethal to anyone not a Planeswalker, but if someone wished to creep into my rooms at night, then death was the least of his problems.
"Your first day of school, of course," I said with a smile as I flipped open a newspaper which appeared out of thin air. "Furinkan high awaits you. I've drawn you a map on where to go," I filched from the paper a large enough piece, and twisted it in mid-air until it became a masterwork drawn map of directions. "You can't get lost this way."
He stared at the map, and then at me. I waited patiently for some words to come out of his mouth, but none did. I raised an eyebrow. "You have twenty minutes to get there," I added. "You should get going." I inclined my head to the side, pointing at the door. There, a student briefcase stood in wait of its new owner, the school books already inside. "The principal knows you're coming."
He stood up from the table, and as he neared the door, I flipped the newspaper once. "Also be advised," I said. "You are in another Plane. Should you leave it, I will know. I will not, however, pursue you." I glanced at his face. "You will simply regret it forever." I smiled, and then resumed reading my newspaper. Rito opened the door, and as he was about to step outside, I threw him a couple of keys. He caught them, if not deftly at least with an exclamation of surprise.
"Thanks," Rito said.
"Don't thank me yet," I replied, humming to myself as I flipped another page of the newspaper. "Good luck, and god reflexes."
"Shouldn't it be god speed?" Rito asked, scrunching his eyebrows up in thought.
I laughed gingerly. "Off to school, or you'll be late," I waved him goodbye with a talon that sprouted from my shoulder, and the moment the door closed behind him, I swirled and twirled into the shadows to follow him silently.
Honestly, this was actually kind of fun. It was like crafting Crossovers. I suppressed a giggle threatening to escape my lips as my eyes as I watched Yuuki Rito step out of the apartment complex and head down the street, following the map with his right hand.
I could have brought him to Dune and cut and dry taught him everything he needed to know to lay low, avoid Phyrexians and Eldrazi, and live a long and prosperous eternity. Yet, I didn't. I realized it after travelling with Fuuka that, sometimes, a second perspective was nice. Even if he was everything I despised in a character, he was still his own human existence, and he must have had something interesting going on when the lights weren't shining on him.
Still, this world would also be a nice wake-up call, because as true as the fact that this was Nerima, and that he had to walk down the street in front of the Dojo Temple, so too was it true that on this particular morning, Ranma Saotome had taken a cold shower and was in her female form from the get go, and Akane Tendo was running late together with her.
I did not need to engineer anything.
I simply had to watch, and wait, and take notes as Rito slipped on a pebble, too busy looking at the map, and ended up flying something like twenty meters right into the bosom of Ranma's female form, before twisting in mid-air right against Akane's lap.
I scoffed, and when the inevitable happened, a small smile settled on my lips.
Pain, thou are the greatest teacher.
So learn well, Yuuki Rito.
Learn well...or suffer.