CM Aeris: I just can't resist myself (sheepish grin) SIs are just so much fun to play with! But Katsu is more of an OC than an actual SI… (shrugs)
Curse of the Nanban Mirror
"Where on earth am I now!?" I growled to myself in the busy streets of what is possibly Nerima with a map in my hand and lost in my way. To my displeasure, a car passed and splashed the puddle of water from the curb and drenched me from head to toe.
I am a victim of the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. However, Jusenkyo does not exist in my world. It's supposed to be a fictional place, made up by a crack job of an author. So how did I end up cursed and lost in this fictional world? Well, it all started with a crack mirror.
Prologue: Bad Luck All Over
"Katsuki! Go help before I break that damn laptop of yours!" dad snapped almost furiously.
"Why can't Genyu do it?" I retorted, but put my beloved laptop back into my bag securely and slipped my arms through the straps. I know dad's temper; he would break it, if I give him an excuse to.
"Quit being so lazy and just go do it! I want us at the new house with everything before tonight!" he said as he hauled the mini fridge down the stairs.
"Hai, hai. How come ni-chan and nee-chan doesn't have to help?" I grumbled under my breath and stalked over to the pile of boxes stacked neatly in the living room by mom for easy moving. However, when I picked up the first box, something fell out and cracked loudly. "Ah crap!" I hissed and quickly placed down the box and picked up the broken mirror. "Dad's going to kill me! Hey wait… what's this?" I squinted to read the faded words etched onto the base of the mirror's handle. "N-a-n-b-a-n Mirror. Nanban mirror! Hey, wait isn't that—"
Before I could say another word, the mirror glowed and pulled me into the spider cracks of the mirror. Dad always said that I'll go insane one of these days because of anime… and I'm starting to think he's right. It can't be normal to be sucked into a mirror and spat out into a valley of countless springs right? Regardless the answer, I gave a startled shout as I plummeted into the cold spring below.
At least I can swim, I wasn't really sure how deep the spring was, but I had to get out quickly! I had electronics on me and they're expensive to replace! When I surfaced, I hadn't expected to hear a man shout in horror and talk rapidly in what I think might be Chinese. I'm not sure; my first language is Japanese and second is English.
"Aiya! Ni diao jin chu le!" he shouted before hauling me out of the water.
"What?" I was puzzled. "Can you…" my eyes widened as I quickly placed a hand to my throat. "My voice!"
"Ah, dear customer Japanese?" he asked me again.
"Of course I'm Japanese! Do you think I'm American!?" I snapped back furiously before patting down my chest. "Where am I and what happened to me!?"
"Dear customer, you're in the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. And you've fallen into the spring of—" I abruptly cut him off.
"Jusenkyo!? Jusenkyo isn't real! How can I be in Jusenkyo!?" I snapped hysterically. "I can't have…" I lowered a hand to pat myself at the front before letting out a scream.
"Calm down customer!" the guide pleaded me to.
"CALM DOWN!? I'm an aqua-transsexual! My dad is going to kill me… well, maybe he won't kill me, but I'll be laughed at until I'm twenty by him!" just then, something clicked in my memory and I grabbed the guide by the collar. "Where is the other spring? Where is the Spring of the Drowned Girl!?"
"I do not know!" he whimpered.
"How can you not know!? You're the guide aren't you!?" I snapped, shaking him up a little bit out of my rage.
"I am sorry dear customer! I do not know the location without the map! I only know the story of the spring after someone has fallen in! The map is with my daughter!" he pleaded.
"When is your daughter coming back?" I snapped.
"I do not know! She never stays in one place for long and she doesn't come back that often!"
My hopes dropped. "So there is no cure?" I whispered.
"Hot water would reverse the curse," he quipped.
"I know that already," I muttered and released him. My head dropped in disappointment before I caught sight of my reflection in the spring. "Hmm… At least I'm good looking!" I grinned and posed for myself. The guide sweat dropped at my sudden vanity. I'll tell you, it's inherited. "I would date myself if he didn't look like a pretty face with no brains."
That is how I, Katsuki Shinochi was cursed to transform into a man with a touch of cold water. Sad isn't it? But my troubles don't end there. It wasn't until I've reached the Japanese Embassy that I realized what else would be plaguing me during my temporary stay in this world.
"Dear customer, this is the Japanese Embassy. I will return to Jusenkyo and wait for my daughter's return." He bowed politely to me.
"I'll send you my address when I get back to Japan." I'm not even sure if my family is even in this crazy world.
"I wait for you mail soon!" the guide said before he finally left.
I took a deep breath and sighed, now come the hard part. If I'm really in that messed up world. It might be very easy or very hard to get my legal documents and back to Japan. Above all, I need to use the phone; my cell phone wasn't getting any reception at all. It was fortunate that my bag was waterproof so everything in it was safe and sound. Even with me plunging into the spring, I'm almost dry from the walk to the embassy from the nasty heat.
"She me shi!" the man snapped at me.
I raised an eyebrow but held my tongue. "Can you repeat that in Japanese please? I don't speak Chinese."
"Can I help you?" the man asked, this time slightly more polite, but there was a calculating look behind it.
"Yes, my name is Katsuki Shinochi; I've lost my identification papers and need a new set to return to Japan." I've asked politely. Mom always said being polite is always the best thing to do.
"Alone?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, baiting him to continue asking.
"It is improper for a Japanese young woman to be traveling alone, is it not?" he asked.
"I don't believe there is a rule stating that a woman cannot travel alone," I retorted.
He bellowed in laughter. "You can't possibly be a Japanese woman. You're too defiant! Good try though Chinese woman."
I was furious. "What do you mean good try!? I am Japanese! What year are you living in? 1950s!?"
"We're in 1970 actually," he grinned smugly.
My fire suddenly disappeared. "Pardon? Can you repeat that? What year did you say this was?"
"It's August 1, 1972. Did you hit your head or are you just playing stupid miss?" he snorted.
I gritted my teeth. "I'm sorry to have troubled you. Excuse me," I quickly turned my heel and stormed out of the room.
However, before I left, I managed to snatch a newspaper from the empty desk around the corner before heading out of the embassy. After walking a good few blocks from the embassy, I finally took a look at the papers. What I saw terrified me to no ends. On the paper was the date August 1, 1972, stating an old issue about the US's return Okinawa to Japan. These papers wouldn't be in such a clean and crisp condition if they were old. Papers over thirty years old would only be found in the library and in the well preserved section.
"Thirty years… Not only I'm in the anime world. I'm thirty fucking years in the past!" I cursed under my breath when I realized another problem. "Damn sexist bastards." I closed my eyes and sighed. "I guess I have no other choice…"
I pulled out the bottle of water the guide gave me and dunked it over my head. I unbutton a few more buttons on my shirt and hesitantly took off the bra before rumpling the rest of my clothes to give me the ragged look. If these sexist bastards want a man, I'll give them a fucking man so manly, they'll be begging me to go back to Japan.
And you know what? They gave me the papers just after a casual chat and a few perverted jokes. Man, what I won't give to go back to my time. At least during my time, I wouldn't have to deal with as much sexism. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of money dated back to the 1970s, but I did have enough for a boat ride back to Japan. It's going to be a long and torturous ride back, I can feel it.
While I waited for my boat to arrive, thoughts about the Ranma series started surfacing and trying to recollect every memory I had of the series and writing it down almost immediately in fear that I'll forget. I'll have to type it up in my laptop later and burn the paper copy. Being thirty years in the past means I can't exactly just whip out my laptop and start typing anywhere. That's just inviting trouble with a big banner saying free buffet to a bunch of wolves. Sadly, this world is the definition of trouble.
"Saotome Ranma! DIE!" someone screamed out. I quickly dropped to the ground covering my head as spears and various other weapons flew over head and embedded at the ship. Ranma?! Why is he here of all times!? "Get off the floor Saotome! I want to see you die begging for mercy, not cowering."
Wait… is he… talking to me? I looked up and saw a familiar white outfit with chains of weapons coming out of his long and wide sleeves. Is that… Mousse? But more importantly. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING RANMA!? AND WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ATTACKING ME!? Do I look like a girl to you, you sexist bastard?!" I almost bit my tongue, I shouldn't have shouted that. Ah… I can fix this? I hope…
Mousse adjusted his glasses even more so and invaded my personal space. "You're really not Ranma?"
I had to shove him back. "Ever heard of personal space, blind boy? And I told you I'm not Ranma! Who has a girly name like orchid pony? If it's a guy, he's a pussy!" I hope mauling Ranma's wild horse to an orchid pony won't come back and bite me in the ass later.
To my great relief, Mousse started laughing and retracted all his weapons. "A-an o-orchid p-p-p-pony!!! AHAHAHHAHAA!!!!!" he collapsed on the ship's deck and laughed until his sides hurt.
The captain of the ship approached us cautiously. "Is… everything all right here?"
I quickly waved it off. "It's just a misunderstanding."
"And the damages… who would pay for the damages on my ship?" asked the captain.
"Uh… he…" I cupped a hand near the captain's ear and whispered. "Pass the bill to Saotome Genma in the Tendo residence in Nerima. He's in charge of this young man and would happily pay for all the damages he has done to your ship."
The captain looked at me funny, but I laughed sheepishly trying to fan off the suspicion. "Very well, make sure you take care of this friend of yours."
"Oh I will captain!" I saluted before he left. By the time he was gone, Mousse was still laughing his ass off on the floor and the ship has taken off. "I'm sure it's not that funny. How can anyone laugh over it this long?" I quietly snuck away from him and hid at the upper deck until the ship finally docked two hours later.
During that time period, I've figured out a few important details. First, if Mousse had never met Ranma, it means it's still pretty early in the series, but the main fiancés should be already in play. Second, none of the characters should be remotely dangerous at this point... to each other, but I'm quite sure they're still quite dangerous to a civilian like me… I better find a teacher or at least a human shield soon.
When the ship finally landed, I stayed hidden in a large crowd, waiting until Mousse was long out of sight. I quickly caught the next train and hurried over to the new house, but when I rang the door, it was a complete stranger at the other side. Thirty years in the past and a completely different world should be two good hints that they're not here. Can't blame me for hopeful thinking, right? I apologized and left promptly.
Now the big question, what am I going to do until I find a way back home? I have no money, no house, and no connections. The only things I have on me are identification papers and technology that hasn't even been developed yet. I sighed in defeat as I wandered aimlessly; I spent the last of my money on the train to the house. I don't even have enough money for a can of soda.
Furious, I kicked a wall and it promptly exploded in my face. I can't possibly have demolished the stupid thing! And I haven't, sliding out of the rubble was Ranma. I watched in dumb shock as he ran off, leaving me covered in the mess and a high suspect of demolishing the poor wall. I was accused and roped into working off the damage before I knew what was going on. I didn't even get a chance to protest… At least I have a source of income now… while paying off his mess… Note to self, I am so calling him an orchid pony the next time I see him.
Chapter One: To School! To Learn! To Flee!
"Yes officer! Of course, he'll go to school first thing tomorrow!" Nishio, the bookstore owner, bowed politely to the officers as they left. He turned to me almost immediately after they left. "You didn't tell me you're underage and not even out of school yet."
I shrugged as I checked over the day's receipts. "You never asked."
"I'll have you work for another two weeks for this!" he snarled.
When Nishio starts to rant, I just tuned him out. After working for him for over a week, I've learned to just ignore him when he starts. To tell the truth, with all the work I've done the past week, it should be more than enough to pay for the damages and also pay for some of my living expenses. I had to sell the set of gold earrings my mother gave me in order to make ends meet. I hadn't known that 24k gold worth that much, but at least it was enough to cover the basic expenses for a while. If it wasn't for the truancy catching me at the market at ten in the morning, I think I'd still be stuck working for this guy for another month! I'm planning to search for a new job with the time at school.
"I better see you right after school or I'm adding more days to your debt!"
"Yes sir," I sighed as he finally dismissed me to go home.
Now the next problem! Since I have no previous records of going to ANY schools in this world, no sane school would take me in, so guess what school I'm stuck at? That's right, the notorious Furinkan High School. And with the uniform and tuition requirement, my budget will be in the reds for a while, but I'll be fine once I find a new job. What's worst is that my apartment and the bookstore are on the opposite side of town, so it would take quite a while to get to Furinkan by foot. On the bright side, it's less likely for my apartment to get major damaged by the Nerima Wrecking Crew.
That was what I thought, until an unexpected visitor came crashing through my window the night before my attendance at Furinkan High. Damn it, that's 2,000 yen to repair it! I quickly brushed off the scatter of glass off me. Luckily, I didn't get hurt from the broken glass, but I'm not too sure about my guest. He pretty much landed in the glass; I better make sure he doesn't die from blood lost.
"Hey, are you ok?" I asked as I gently pulled him from the ground and check for glass, but the first thing I noticed was the familiar red Chinese silks and the pigtail. It was Ranma.
Is there someone up there that hates me? It's not like paying for something he destroyed isn't bad enough, but does he have to destroy my house too? Regardless, I can't just let him continue to bleed. It's getting into the carpet! But to make the long story short, there was a bit of yelling, though not at Nerimian standards. He apologized for breaking the window and I in turn gave him basic first aid for his cuts. Even though he said they'll be gone by tomorrow, I don't doubt that.
I was not looking forward to Furinkan the following day. I had to wake up extra early, just to make it there on time. I'm going to need to get a source of transportation before the week's end if I plan on sleeping in the future. To make matters worst, I was placed in the most destructive class in the whole school! At the teacher's mention of my trip to China, I've got immediate looks from Ranma and his two fiancés. Oh well, time to suck it up and face the music.
"My name is Katsu-Katsuya Shinochi." I stuttered, I can't exactly use my girl name, but it's definitely going to take a while to get used to the new name. I sweat dropped nervously at the heart-filled eyes of a good portion of the girls. I know my guy side looks good… but it's not that good is it? Curse you dad, and your good looks!
By the start of lunch break, I've gotten at least fifteen phone numbers and three date requests. I bolted the moment the bell rung and ran like my life depended on it. Which was pretty much true, no way in hell am I getting hooked up with a chick. That is just wrong in so many ways. I snuck around the school and managed to get to the roof without anyone following me… or so I thought.
"Finally, sanctuary!" I sighed in relief as I collapsed next to the fence.
"Not quite," I jolted and pinned myself against the fence when I heard a girl's voice.
"C-can I help you?" I asked.
She smiled eerily at me, a smile that's hauntingly familiar. "Yes, you can do many things for me. Like tell me about yourself."
Ah, now I know why that smile was so familiar. It's the resident ice queen, Nabiki Tendo, trying to hit me up for answers. Possibly to sell to hormonal crazed girls at an over priced rate… I'm screwed, aren't I?
"I'm not very that interesting Miss…"
"Nabiki Tendo, that first one is for free by the way," she winked. "So do you have anything to say to your admirers?"
I grinned sheepishly. "I don't think I'm worthy of having admirers." I don't want any.
"Oh nonsense, they're all looking for you, dying to talk to you," she giggled. I'm assuming she's trying to act cute or at least alluring.
"Are you saying you're shy?" she grinned slyly. "They'll like you even more."
Like, I really need a horde of fan girls after me, this lady is nuts. "I'm really not looking for any relationships at the moment."
"Ah, so you're single," she jots the note down. Ah, damn it! "Do you practice martial arts?"
"Oh dear no! I'm not very good at sports at all!" not true, I'm decent, as long as there isn't much hand-eye coordination needed.
"You're a gentle guy," I twitched as she jotted another note down, gentle? "You're a rare jewel you know that? So, how was China?" She's quite fast, already gone through the paperwork I handed in.
"It was eventful; I lost my papers at one point and had to get a completely new set." Not a complete lie, but not completely truthful either.
Her eyes seemed to glow at that detail… Did I say something dangerous? "Really? No particular place you liked? No exotic place that stands out in your mind?" She's egging for Jusenkyo! Crap, she didn't find out already did she?
"Not that I know of… but the forbidden palace was ok," another lie.
"So do you like all that traveling? Where else would you like to go?" She's a persistent one, isn't she?
"I think I have enough travel for now, that last trip threw me a little off."
"It doesn't have to be now, it could be in the future," she quipped.
"You're a curious one aren't you?"
"Humans are curious beings by nature," she smiled almost innocently. I'd be stupid to trust it.
"Is that so, Tendo sempai?"
"Yep, oh there's about five minutes left of lunchtime. Ja, Shinochi-san," she waved casually before excusing herself.
Once she was gone, I realized another sad fate I have just endured. "I've missed my lunch!" I sobbed at the lost of my meal break.
While I knew Nabiki was going to sell whatever info she thought she got off me, I didn't know how she would reword it and market it. Hopefully, nothing too troublesome… I sighed as I dragged myself off to gym class. Doing gym on an empty stomach is going to be hell through and through. Though being bombarded by guys is much less stressing compared to being bombarded by Nabiki. Unlike Nabiki, they dissect your words and find an ulterior meaning in it.
"Shinochi! You're up!" the couch shouted. "Two free shots at the goal."
Why does it have to have to be a coordinated sport? I sighed as I got up and attempted to dribble the ball with my feet, but ended up tripping and landed heavily on my shoulder. I heard laughter, I growled. What's wrong with being clumsy!? Out of anger I got up and kicked the ball in fury. I didn't even bother with the dribbling. The goalie caught the ball, but not without taking a hard hit.
"Out!" I sighed and turned to go back to my seat, but to my surprised I walked into the fence. "Shinochi! That way!" I blushed and quickly turned around to run back to my seat. I have a very bad sense of direction. My brother called me Ryouga a few times because of it. I notice Ranma glancing at me curiously when I came back from my blunder, but other then that he was more interested in outranking everyone else in scoring.
Returning to class was more of a nightmare than anything else. The girls wouldn't leave me alone; they don't seem to know what's called personal space, very much like what duck boy did. There was a few times that I had stumbled out of my seat just to avoid their game of footsy. And I swear, I can feel a blood thirsty glare coming from the resident tomboy… And I'm not saying myself. I can't wait for class to end! Unfortunately, class ending is just as bad as being in class. I may have gotten away from the girls at lunch, but they were ready at the end of school, they barricaded the exits and boxed me into a room.
If there's someone that doesn't hate me up there, this is a good time to save me! "HENTAI! HOW DARE YOU ENSNARL EVERY GIRL WITH TWO LEGS?! YOU'RE EVEN WORST THAN RANMA!" You really hate me up there don't you?
"Tendo-san, I--!" the girls quickly parted for me to run while trying to hold Akane back at the same time. You know, there could've been a more peaceful way to save me without sending the rabid tomboy after me.
"Look! There he is!" Shit! I ran for my life when I heard the phrase being spoken. I didn't care where I ran to but eventually I randomly pulled a door open and ran in, apologizing as I entered.
"Sorry for intruding, but I needed to hide!"
By then I was out of breath, but the kind man understood and led me to the back rooms and closed the door behind me. I sat in the corner with my legs held to my chest and my head against my knees breathing heavily. Please don't go into a panic attack at a time like this! I've tried to steady my breathing with a soft whisper of numbers. I could faintly hear him redirecting the mob elsewhere. I smelled something… Something very familiar… It kind of reminds me of mom.
"Are you ok, young man?" I snapped my head up when I felt a hand at my shoulder and the voice so close. When did he get this close?
"I'm fine… A bit startled by the crazed mob of girls…" More like traumatized by them.
"You're new to town aren't you?" he asked. I nodded mutely. "Come on, let's go to my office, it's much more comfortable than the cold and hard floor." He dragged me to my feet and into his office. "It's normal to be startled for newcomers. Nerima is quite strange especially if you have no martial arts background. Have a seat; I'll get you some tea."
I waved my hands frantically. "That's ok! I'm not that thirsty! Don't trouble yourself!" I can't risk getting near hot water anyway.
"So what brings you to Nerima? Most people avoids this district because of the oddities that Nerima holds." He commented.
I laughed sheepishly. "Actually, it's more of bad luck that I'm here. I was passing by when an accident happened and I was blamed for it. It's ok though, I was looking for a job and a place to stay anyway."
He hummed in acknowledgement. "Who are you working for?"
"The Shimizu Bookstore, but I'm trying to look for a new job. Not to be offensive, but the pay isn't enough."
"Where is it? I don't recall ever seeing it," he said.
"It's pretty far out. My apartment is pretty close to the shop, so it's a bit of a pain to get to Furinkan."
"Then why go to Furinkan? Why not somewhere closer?" he asked.
"I lost my records when I was traveling and my old school was burned down a while back, all the records were lost in the fire." Good lie! Now the problem is to find my cover story for this lie. "Furinkan was the only one that would accept me without them, but with the assessment tests, I'm sure it won't be much of a problem… though, my problem is more of the girls." I sighed. "I barely outran them today and I can't run forever…"
"I'm guessing you're not a martial artist?" he asked.
I laughed out loud. "I can't even bring myself to rank myself as a novice. My grandmother is over eighty and she would thrash me with taichi. And taichi isn't even an offensive art!"
He chuckled merrily; it's a very nice laugh. "I can help you with that if you want."
"Really!?" I was excited to hear that, but my smile dropped. "But I can't pay you for lessons."
He waved it off with a smile. "I'm not teaching you any martial arts. I'm just merely teaching you the basics of chi. While you can't really fight with chi alone, it can probably help you flee most of your girl problems."
"You're seriously going to teach me?" What luck!
"Of course, what I'm going to teach you is just to protect yourself. You won't be able to use it in a fight, unless you have further training from a master, but it should be enough for your needs." No fighting? No problem! I'm not crazy enough to pick a fight with any of these nutcases anyway.
"Fighting isn't my thing anyway. It should be more than enough! When do I start— Sorry, I haven't even asked for your name yet."
"It's Ono Tofu, the resident chiropractor. And you, young man?" It's Tofu sensei! I'm going to get taught by Tofu sensei!
"Katsuya Shinochi," I reply politely.
"I'm guessing we can start your lessons tomorrow, it is getting quite dark. Isn't your family going to worry?"
I shook my head. "I live alone… Wait! Did you say dark!?" I turned to the window and gapped in horror. "Nishio is going to kill me!" I quickly grabbed my bag from the ground and rushed to the door. "Thanks Tofu sensei! I'll see you tomorrow!"
I can't believe my luck! I'm going to get training from Tofu sensei, the best person to learn from if I say so myself. And knowing my own limits, it would be suicide to even think of going at Ranma or Ryouga's caliber of fighting. I'm better off learning how to flee and self-heal. This is going to be so awesome! Now if only…
"Where on earth am I now!?" I growled with the map in my hand. To make the situation worst, a car passed by and drenched me from head to toe. I really am starting to wonder where my bad sense of direction came from!
o.o.o.o.o
Cm Aeris: My connection is horrible, so it took a while to post this up, but the next chapter should be up soon!