Chapter 9: Numbers Lie
“Nabiki!”
At the
call, Nabiki stopped and turned. “Ran-kun?”
The boy
caught up with her at last, breathing heavily to catch his breath. “Yeah.
Hey, I was curious about something…”
“Oh. Is
it okay if we walk and talk, then? I promised to meet Kasumi…”
“Sure.”
“So, what
did you want to ask me?”
“Well,
I was reading the files you left in the computer for us. It said that this
place was called the Heptagon, because…”
“Because
of the building’s shape as an irregular seven-sided polygon and its status
and the seventh outpost to be established.” She stopped in front of a sturdy-looking
metal door and quickly typed a code into the keypad that barred entry. “Now
if you’ll excuse me, this is a restricted area. See ya.”
The door
slid shut behind her with a slight hiss. “But…” Ran-kun went on softly, then
stopped. That’s odd… maybe the data in the computer was wrong about the
third reason…
He shrugged
and started making his way back to the kitchen/dining room. It was lunch
time…
***
“And she
wouldn’t say anything about it?” Ranma asked his twin curiously around bites
of his lunch. They and Ryouga were the only ones in the room; the others
were all busy or asleep, like Ryo-kun, who was completely exhausted from
earlier.
Ran-kun
shook his head. “She didn’t say anything and then left. But she cut me off,
as if she knew what I was going to say and didn’t want me to say it…”
Ranma shrugged.
“Are you sure that the computer was right? That seventh person could be Mousse,
after all.”
“I don’t
think so. Look, it says that this place was founded just over three years
ago, and that Mu Tsu joined it just over one year ago. That’s hardly early
enough to make him a ‘founding member’…”
Ranma blinked,
thinking. “Hey, wait… they must have gotten the dates messed up. Or did
they recruit a bunch of kids?”
“Oh, you
didn’t catch that? This place is about two years ahead of us, time-wise.
I figured that out when the date they gave for the deaths of their Ranma and
Ryouga was eleven months from now. Or at least now for me, I have no idea
if you’re temporally dislocated from me as well or not.”
“Temporally…
dislocated?” Ranma took a moment to figure out what that meant, then shook
his head. “I don’t think so… you’re sixteen, right?”
Ran-kun
nodded. “Yeah. Not that it matters much. I just want to get home… get all
this over with.”
Ranma raised
an eyebrow at him. “You’re the one who started it…”
That elicited
a wince. “I know, I know… but I never wished for this. What am I supposed
to do here? How am I supposed to help, when I can’t fight like you and Nabiki
doesn’t need my help?”
“You’re
the nexus.”
They both
looked at Ryouga, surprised that he had spoken.
“But what
does that *mean*?” It had been bothering Ran-kun. This is all my fault…
dragging other people around and putting them in danger without helping at
all. But it’s not like I wished for *this*…
Ryouga
shrugged. “That’s what she said. It sounded important to me.”
Ran-kun
looked incredulously at him for a moment, then threw his hands into the air.
“So? There’s no point in me being here!”
Ryouga
just turned away again. “I’m more worried about what you said before than
that.”
That got
Ran-kun to stop for a moment, and think. “What… I said what?”
“That ‘Ranma’
and ‘Ryouga’ died eleven months from now.”
The other
two froze, blinked in union.
“I don’t
think that that’s a prophecy or anything, Ryouga…”
Ran-kun
laughed somewhat falsely. “Yeah, I don’t think that just because something
happens in one dimension means it’s going to happen in others. After all,
that would mean that you two…”
Finally
noticing the glares that were being pointedly directed at him, Ran-kun utilized
his self-preservation instincts, coughed, and shut the hell up.
***
After
all, that would mean that you two… The sentence had been left unsaid,
but still it crawled through Ranma’s mind, leaving an aftertaste that made
his previously enjoyable lunch go sour. Don’t think about that, don’t
think about it… damnit.
Of course,
all trying not to think about it did was insure that it was kept in the forefront
of his mind. He dug into his food with a distinct viciousness that went
unnoticed, luckily. Of course. Just because something happens in one
doesn’t mean that it happens in the others. I have no intention of dying
anytime soon, and Ran-kun’s not cursed. I’ll never get straight A’s in school
– not if I keep getting snatched away like this – and he’ll never learn the
Hiryu Shoten Ha. The logic was impeccable, and it consoled him immensely.
He couldn’t
help a quick, furtive glance. But most of all, I’ll never fall in love
with *him*.
Lunch gone
sour in his mouth, he stood and left, suddenly feeling tired.
***
Ranma stared
at the bottom of the top bunk, letting the ache he felt in every portion
of his body seep away into the mattress, his mind clear as he concentrated
to systematically relax every single stubborn muscle in his body. Instinctively
he jerked his wrist back quickly, causing the joint to crack loudly and the
obstinate muscle there to finally loosen.
The sound
was loud, but short, in the quiet room, drawing attention to the only other
sound, the considerably softer one of Ryo-kun’s breathing, gentle and regular
in sleep.
Ranma twisted
his neck to give it the same treatment as his wrist. It didn’t crack, but
it did cause him to look over, to the other boy who was curled in sleep founded
in sheer exhaustion. Ranma’s lips twitched, ever so slightly. Ran-kun had
told them about what had happened, about Ryo-kun’s success in creating something
similar to the Mouko Takabisha. He must not be so weak after all,
Ranma mused. Come to think of it, we never did find out how strong he
was. They seemed interested in me, but he just kinda… hovered in the background.
Quiet guy…
The new
position was so comfortable that he didn’t bother to move out of it. He fought
off sleep, wanting to stay awake, but the meager three hours he’d gotten
that ‘night’ hadn’t really been enough. His body hadn’t caught up to the
new timeframe, and it demanded rest, especially after such a workout.
He tried
to keep his mind focused. He analyzed his form on each of the fights, analyzed
those of his opponents, even tried to work out the puzzle that Ran-kun had
brought up, but it was futile. His mind fuzzed, his eyes started to close…
A loud
noise and a sudden bright light on the edge of his fading vision startled
him into befuddled wakefulness.
There was
a loud exclamation of pain as Ryo-kun woke and sat up so suddenly that he
hit his head on the bottom of the upper bunk of his bed.
The figure
that had tossed open the door was in shadow, overwhelmed by the much brighter
light streaming in from the hallway, but Ranma recognized the silhouette.
“Sorry if I woke you,” Kasumi apologized, “but could you please get up? This
is important.”
Ranma jumped
up, shaking his head to clear the lingering desire for rest, and followed
Kasumi out, glancing over his shoulder as he did so. Ryo-kun stood, yawning
and rubbing his eyes and a violently red patch on his forehead, where an
impressive bruise was in the process of forming. He slowly followed as well,
albeit sleepily.
***
They, along
with Ryouga, Ran-kun, and Akane, ended up in the strange-looking room that
they had first appeared in. Ranma examined it curiously, and he wasn’t the
only one. It was totally empty, with plain metal walls that were occasionally
decorated with some sort of pattern. Kasumi walked to one of the shapes a
large reddish square about two meters on each side, and touched a barely
visible green patch to one side of it.
Without
any fanfare, the red square promptly slid silently up into the wall above
it, revealing an extension of the room that was considerably more interesting
than the main portion.
Seven recesses
lined the opposite wall of the smaller annex. Four were empty, but blinking
bits of electronics in one and several obvious loose connectors indicated
that they hadn’t always been. The other three, though, contained something
straight out of a futuristic anime.
Whatever
any of the newcomers had been expecting, they certainly hadn’t counted on
mechanical bodysuits.
“*Damn*.”
Ryo-kun summed up their opinion on the matter as a furious round of shocked
blinks circulated through the four. Akane and Kasumi simply stood back, smirking
either inwardly or outwardly.
O-kay…
so now I’m stuck in an episode of Bubblegum Crisis. Terrific. What’s next?
Ran-kun covered his eyes with one hand and sighed. “You’ve got to be kidding
me…”
“Does this
look like a joke?” A new voice from behind them said smugly.
After turning
and staring for a moment, Ran-kun reflected that the armor didn’t look quite
so excessive when it was being worn. The one Kuno was sporting was pale
blue and sliver in color, and quite thin for the most part, it seemed. The
design was simple, lacking excessive intricacies in design, but it looked
very aerodynamic. Ran-kun could see the rounded shape of some sort of jet
on the back. An opaque black visor on the front of the helmet was lifted,
revealing most of Kuno’s face. He smirked, seemingly taking personal pride
in the looks of shock on their faces.
His smile
lessened somewhat as he lifted his weapon which they hadn’t noticed before.
It was a katana, wickedly sharp and slightly wider than the typical
blade, formed from a gleaming bluish metal. However, no katana ever made
before had a green wire protruding from the handle and connecting with the
armor at its wielder’s wrist. He turned it slowly in his hand, demonstrating
that it was otherwise loose in his grip.
Another
round of blinks made it’s way around the group.
“In-ter-es-ting…”
Ranma commented thoughtfully. I could get used to this. “Got any
spares?”
Akane grinned
and tilted her head to one side. “That’s why we brought you here.”
***
~Mordain
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