# include GENOM presents A Miracle Discordian production of A St. Suika Roberts not-film Sailor Moon 1/6 episode 3 Opening shot, out the doors over the Tendou dining table, looking over the pond at twilight. From offscreen one can hear Tendou Akane's voice, `Hey, Akane, you free this weekend? Good, I'd like you to meet my arranged iinazuke. No, she's kinda cool, actually. It's a long story, I'll tell you about it then. Bye. Yeah, I miss you too.' Fade to black. OP: Same as the first ep. `Sensei! Wake up!' I dodge the half-teasing attack, glad I'd at least managed to get her to give up on "master." `I'm up, Molga-kun. We're going to go work out at Fuurinkan today. You eat breakfast yet?' `No, Kasumi-san isn't up yet, and she told me not to use her kitchen after the mess I made last time.' The mess hadn't been that bad, and the stuff she'd cooked up was better than what Oyaji probably woulda made, but I think the accidental finger dents in Kasumi's flour tin bothered her. `OK, I'll make breakfast, then we can go.' I lever myself up, gather my clothing, and get dressed. Molga-kun, of course, is already dressed. `Oh, wait; Kasumi-san said that she'd make Onigiri for us, since we'd be getting up early.' I smile gratefully, glad that I don't need to take the time. Molga-kun steps out the door first, disappearing for a moment, then returning with the dozen baseball sized balls of rice. She holds them out to me after I get my shoes on. `Let's go.' I hand back her six after she gets her own shoes on, then lead the way out the door. `This eating thing,' she says, as we eat quickly, skimming along the fence-top at a steady trot, `is very useful. Direct energy replacement, without any real effort. It's wonderful.' `Glad you approve. It'd be hard to keep you fed if you were a pure energy vampire.' She laughs following me easily across the final street and over the still-closed gate to the school. I come to a stop about four meters from the building, spinning to look at her. `What's on the agenda for today, sensei?' I look back at the young person, still amazed at how much she's learned already. It's been not quite a week since I started teaching her, and already she is as good as Akane. Molga-kun has some inate advantages, true, but even with those advantages no human could improve that fast, no matter how often I wished I could. She doesn't need to sleep, can see farther, hear more clearly, and her reflexes react faster. If the Dark Kingdom had utilized her properly . . . I fight the thought off, they hadn't, and hopefully we will be able to beat them before they have time to realize their mistakes and correct them, and if not there is nothing we can do about it right now. `How do I jump great distances?' Molga blinks at me, considering, `You've trained very hard, and have the muscular strength to manage feats that an untrained human could never accomplish.' `Yep, but there is more to it than that. Watch, and tell me what you see.' I center, bend my knees a tiny bit, and fling myself into the air, turning a single backflip at the top of my arch to land lightly on the top rail of the fence about the roof. I look down at Molga, and make a full-handed "come here" gesture. She centers, leaping after me, using her ki to increase the power of her leap, reduce her inertia, and lessen the accelerating curve of space. She misses the fence, but manages to catch it with a desperate hand, looping her fingers through the chain link and slapping painfully against the building. The shaking of the fence makes me bend my knees and grab the top rail in one hand before asking, `So?' `You use your life-force to change the rules, as well, in order to accomplish feats impossible to duplicate, except by another student of the Art.' `Exactly. Last one to the ground has to kiss Nabiki.' I fling myself out into space, fighting the acceleration until Molga-kun has jumped as well, then flinging myself full strength at the ground. Even with the last-moment flare to slow myself down, I hit in time to catch Molga-kun as she approaches the ground, taking her greater-than-human mass with a slight bending of the knees. Molga-kun smiles at me. `Do I have to?' Molga-kun whines piteously. `Yes, my student, you have to.' Molga-kun's smile gets even bigger. `Shall we see how you've improved overnight?' `Of course, sensei.' Molga-kun bows politely, then adopts a studiously casual stance, and the match is on. SM 1/6 `Nabiki-chan.' Nabiki looks up, startled, at Molga-kun's voice. Molga-kun takes advantage of the taller girl's momentary distraction, slipping inside her guard, and gripping her lightly by the shoulders. Nabiki starts to react, but before she can do anything more than look startled Molga-kun has gone up on tip-toe and firmly kissed her. It isn't a terribly long kiss, but I notice that Nabiki's relaxed by the time Molga-kun breaks it off, and almost seems dissappointed that it has ended. `Molga,' Nabiki murmors. Molga-kun just smiles, running off towards our classrooom. SM 1/6 `Where're you going, sensei?' I look up from my helmet. `Oh, I've got an appointment. I've got an offer to serialize _Reconstruction_ in _NewType_.' Molga-kun looks at me blankly, and I realize once again that despite her skill in the Art, she is a terribly young person, `I'll explain it when I get back, OK?' `Of course, sensei. Thank you.' I shake my head at her. The bike starts on the first kick, and I let her warm while I get my helmet and gloves on. SM 1/6 I pull her to a stop in front of the building, looking around for a few moments before I spot someplace safe to park. I kill the motor, turn off the ignition, put her in first, bring the bars over full lock to the left, then flip the last kill-switch to the open position. I put my gloves under my arms and unstrap my helmet as I walk towards the door, then stuff them in my helmet as I walk up to the receptionist. `May I help you?' She asks. I unzip my jacket as I reply, `My name is Saotome Ranma; I've got an appointment with Kadokawa Haruki-san and Hirano Toshiro-san.' `Oh, the Mangaka!' the receptionist almost gushes, exagerating my status, `I just love your work! I've got a first printing copy of that lovely little junior high romance piece,' she blushes quite prettily, and I wonder whether she's like me in that way, or just has a soft spot for sappyness, `Could I get you to sign something for me?' `Sure, that would be nice. Are you going to be here long?' The young woman shakes her head, `No, my shift's over in another fifteen minutes. Maybe I could take you out for tea or something?' The hopeful look in her eye seems to support the first possibility. `That'd be nice. Here's my card, and don't feel shy about bringing any friends who might want to come along with you.' I set my helmet down so I can hand her the card properly, and she takes it with both hands as well, smiling broadly. `Thank you so much! Kadokawa-san and Hirano-san are in conference room twelve, on the fourth floor, to the left and across the hall from the elevators.' `Doumo,' I reply, almost letting a smirk escape at the very pretty blush the single word engenders. I find the stairs easily enough, right next to the elevator bank. I wonder about the significance of the chosen floor as I skim up the stairs, the fourth floor being genrally considered unlucky. Conferance room twelve is almost exactly opposite the door to the stairwell, and I let myself in. The man at the head of the table stands, `Saotome-san?' he asks. I bow, `Hai. Kadokawa-san desu ne.' `Un. Kochira Hirano Toshiro-kun.' He indictates the man seated a couple places down the table to his right. I bow to him too, and am surprised to note he bows a little lower than I had. Kadokawa-san gestures me to an empty seat on his left, and I sit. `Saotome-san,' Hirano-san begins, `I feel that I should thank you, for in a way, you have done what I wish I had the courage to do with _Iczer-one_. I hope we can come to a satisfactory agreement to allow us to publish it officially.' I blink, this was a good deal more than I had hoped for. SM 1/6 `This looks very good to me. I hope you don't mind if I have a couple friends look it over first, since I do not have as good a grasp of legalities as I sometimes think I should.' Kadokawa-san looks at the person who'd handed me the papers, who nods slightly, then replies, `Of course you should have someone with legal training look them over for you. We only ask that you bring them back with an answer within the next two weeks, if we are to publish the first part in the January issue of _NewType_.' I flash through what I've learned of publishing, and realize that is a very short schedule indeed. I bow my head in acknowledgement, `I should be able to accomplish that. Thank you very much.' The appropriate pleasantries are made, and I take my leave, carefully filing the paperwork in my school bag. I contemplate, again, the interest having Kadokawa Haruki-san himself at the meeting shows in my work as I walk more slowly down the stairs. Outside I notice a couple of older men in suits admiring my bike, one appearing about thirty, and the other a little older. I walk past them, zipping my jacket. `Is she yours? Not often one sees an R-50 anymore, especially not one in such good shape.' the younger man says. `Yeah. She belonged to a friend's late wife who, like me,' I make a quick gesture across the modified motorcycle, `was kinda small. She gave her to me almost a year ago, before she died.' I swallow around the lump in my throat, still saddened by her absence, `You guys ride?' I ask, changing the subject. `Yeah, a little. We've got a club, meet up by Toukyou-eki on Sunday mornings. Maybe you could join us, bring your girlfriend.' The tickling sensation I'd been feeling about the two finally manifests fully, and I realize why I'd felt they were so . . trustable. I smile at them, `Maybe I will, thanks.' `Nice meeting you. Oh, I'm Yamamoto Haruhiko.' `Saotome Ranma.' `Nakayama Akio.' `Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu!' all three of us chourus as we bow. I frob the switches, make sure she's in neutral, and kick her over on the second try, leaving her to warm as I say goodbye to the two, then get my helmet and gloves on. `That's a nice thing about living in a city, one occasionally meets the nicest people on the streets,' I murmor to the inside of my helmet as I carefully work the great beast into traffic. SM 1/6 `Hey, Ran-chan, I'm kinda worried about Umino-kun.' I look up at Naru-chan's face, then go back to watching her form. `Ran-chan?' I murmor, quirking an eyebrow, and tapping her behind one knee with my toe. She bends it a little more, into the proper possition, and I continue, `What's up with Umino-kun?' `He was acting really weird during school today, and he never misses one of these classes.' Naru-chan finishes her kata properly, then relaxes, slumping for a moment before I glare at her, and she picks herself back up into proper posture. `I was wondering where he is. What was he doing?' `It was like he was a totally different person; he mouthed off to the teachers, threw rocks through school windows, beat up on some kids who asked him to stop,' that was when I really knew something was wrong. `What?' I take a quick look around the room, checking that all of my students are doing well enough on their own, then turn back to Naru-chan, `I'll go make sure he's OK. Finish class for me OK? Just make sure everyone cools off properly, then lock the room when you leave.' Naru-chan nods, and I take off out of the room. How am I going to find Umino-kun? It seems very likely that the Dark Kingdom has somehow gotten its mitts on him, but . . . A splash of warm water smacks me from somewhere, but I just keep walking, adjusting my clothing as I go. I look up at the not-cat sitting on the wall by the school gate as I arrive, `Luna, I think the Dark Kingdom may have one of my friends.' The not-cat just sits there, blinking at me, and I suddenly realize that she doesn't know of the curse. `It's me, Ranma. I turn physically into a girl, like oyaji does into a panda.' Luna just blinks at me again, so I reach up and gather her off the wall, settling her on my shoulder. `Is there any way of finding out where he is without turning into Sailor Moon?' I ask her as I walk down the street, following the trail of shattered upper-story windows. `I can sense some sort of dark force down this way,' the cat finally offers, so I start running, glad I stopped to pull on my jacket. `There,' she points with her chin. The building indicated is across the street from where my friend the palm-reader normally sets up shop, and is labeled "Uranai House." This close I can feel it myself. I fade back, out of line of sight of the building, check for watchers, pull out the broach, and then look at Luna. `What were those words again?' `Moon Prism Power Make Up.' Luna's look matches the way I feel. `moon prism power make up.' I say, feeling the change wash over me as I notice I can see my reflection in the plate-glass window of the closed bakery I'm standing in front of. Swirling magic hides my form, clothes me, and restyles my hair into odango, my hair writhing as it grows franticly, and I realize I'd just made a mistake. I stare in fascination until it reaches ankle-length, and then stops, the swirling magic fading, my hair pale as cornsilk and neatly bound into odango. I reach up and tug lightly at it, hoping against hope that the dragon-hair rice soup had just burned out, rather than I'd run out of hair. It doesn't come out, so I hope it'll be fine. I turn, glad to note that certain parts have been squashed properly out of place, rather than squished flat where they were. `Shall we go?' I look down at Luna, who looks up at me in shock. SM 1/6 Jikai: Sailor Moon confronts a new foe, an old friend is met again, and maybe Ranma gets a haircut. -- log: 1999 May 29: started. 1999 May 30: log added. 1999 May 30: draft finished 2002 Jul 27: edit. 2004 Jan 16: Fixed a stupid mistake. 2010 Jul 10: Tiny edits