Author's Note

I gloss over certain things at the beginning of this chapter, so I felt the need to reassure some of you that I'll get around to those elements later. There's a lot for me to cover in the early portion of the story, and I don't want the story to stagnate with a massive set of dramas and information dumping right off the bat, so everything will have its time and place.

The Best Way to A Man's Heart?

The following week was not wholly pleasant for Ranma as he came to terms with the new circumstances of his life and tried to adjust to them, which had not been made easier with the knowledge that Akane was avoiding him. While he hadn't intended to speak to her about what had happened during his last visit at the Tendo's place, when he had gone to help with the process of moving Kasumi into his own house, it hadn't sat well with him to be separated from her like that. He could only hope that she wouldn't go out of her way to avoid him once he was ready to vocalize whatever he wanted to say to her.

Of course, word had quickly spread about what had happened, so it hadn't been long before he had begun to receive visitors. Many of them weren't a surprise, considering his relationship with them, but what concerned him the most was how many of the visits ended without anything being resolved, which left him uncertain as to what to expect from them in the future.

The first person to visit him had been Ukyo, who had not been very happy despite understanding — once given an explanation — why things had turned out the way that they had. It wasn't difficult for him to figure out why, since she had spent a decade of her life preparing to get her revenge on him and his father, and now her options were to either: wait another decade; find a way to join him as a child, give up on the business that had grown to surpass her father's and still wait a decade before marriage would be possible; or, give up on him entirely. Given those choices, she had needed some time to think about what to do, and had thus left without deciding anything.

Shampoo and Cologne had been the next to pay him a visit. Rather than being upset, they were more bemused than anything else. Apparently, there wasn't any precedent for those given the kiss of marriage being regressed well beyond the age where one could even begin to consummate it, so there was no law that dictated what to do in such a case. While Cologne didn't really seem to care about what could be done either way, aside from telling her great-granddaughter that maintaining her commitment to him should not be a decision made lightly, Shampoo appeared to be determined to pursue him yet was unsure if she would do so as a child or not. Since his mother had disposed of the mushrooms that had remained, however, Shampoo hoped to have the option to regress her age open to her before she made a decision on that front.

Kodachi had been one of the later arrivals, after hearing about his condition from her brother, who had been under the impression that the pigtailed girl had been the one responsible for his regression in age. Predictably, Kodachi now believed him to be the victim of her redheaded rival, apparently done just to spite her. He had tried to enlighten her about the truth of the matter, but she hadn't allowed him to say much before she was bounding away to find a cure for him. Well, after he had steadfastly refused her offer to raise him. Just the thought of what might happen while under her care made him shudder.

Hiroshi and Daisuke had dropped by for a bit, which had been a somewhat awkward experience that had yet to repeat itself — nor did he ever expect it to. They were more acquaintance than friend, after all, which was why they had mostly asked about things to sate their own curiosity, or that they could relay to others. One of their questions was whether he would still attend school or not, probably because he was handy for the various sports teams to have around, and the one good thing about his situation was that he wouldn't.

Fortunately for him, his mother was understanding enough to not force him to continue his high school education, or otherwise go through the same grades all over again. High school wasn't mandatory anyway, so he could always get back to it once he was the proper age. While his age suggested that he should attend primary school, since that level of education was mandatory, his mother had managed to arrange an exemption for him. While he hadn't known about it before, it wasn't surprising that there was a special department in the government that handled such matters, what with the frequency of supernatural things that happened in plain view of ordinary people. The real question was how his mother had known about it, since she didn't really seem to be the type that would, much less with familiarity.

He wouldn't have to worry too much about his scholastic knowledge degenerating over time, however, because of one visitor that he hadn't expected: his former homeroom teacher, Ninomiya Hinako. Apparently, she was still worried about reforming him, and about his education, although her invitation to come and play games at her home made him suspect that there had been an ulterior motive behind her offer. Still, he didn't mind keeping himself prepared for high school, and playing around wouldn't hurt every once in a while, so he had decided to not cut his ties with her.

The last notable visitor had been Happosai, who had been less than pleased about being denied a return to youth. Fortunately, he had been reluctant to strike him as a child, which had probably been facilitated by the fact that he had been a girl at the time. Instead, Happosai had acted much like a child himself and declared that he couldn't train a child before running off, as if that were supposed to be some kind of punishment. Despite having named him his heir, Happosai had never really done anything to make him an heir in any martial arts-related sense.

Aside from all of that, and having found little to do with himself so far, his biggest issues concerned two of the constants within his new life: Kasumi and his mother. Kasumi took to being a child like a duck did to water, which — while not all that surprising to him — was somewhat enviable, especially with how easily she interacted with his mother and how well they got along together. In contrast to that, he and his mother were both quite awkward in their dealings with each other, between him not being accustomed to his status as a child and his mother often needing to remember that he was older than he appeared to be and having to restrain herself from treating him like a little boy.

While he hadn't been able to approach his mother about the issues that he had been having with her and Kasumi, since he didn't really know what could be done about it other than to deal with everything until they — hopefully — worked themselves out, his mother didn't seem to have the same problem. At least, between Kasumi spending the weekend with her family and his mother arranging for them to have a talk while she was away, he couldn't figure out what else they could talk about that required privacy.

So, he was confused when his mother entered the living room while carrying a tray with an odd assortment of items on it, which she set upon the table while she sat down across from him. The only thing that he could have expected to find on the tray was the glass of water; joining it was a jar filled with a clear liquid, a mortar that had some kind of green vegetation already ground up inside of it, a small cauldron on top of a butane stove, and a wooden stirring paddle.

Looking up at his mother questioningly, he asked, "What's this?"

"This," Nodoka calmly replied, as she gestured at the items before her, "is a test. I gave you a similar one once you were old enough to perform it, which had decided whether you would pursue your father's art or my craft."

"You have a craft?" Ranma inquired with some confusion, as he tried to figure out what it could be by scrutinizing the items on the tray more closely. While he was doing that, he followed up his question with another. "Why am I being tested again if the last one already decided that I'd be a martial artist?"

Nodoka took the glass of water from the tray and placed it before her son. "You were only a boy at the time. While my craft can also be taught, if you don't have the... aptitude for it, shall we say, then you won't have much potential for achievement. Since you're no longer just a boy, I wish to see if you have the aptitude for my craft as a girl."

His curiosity piqued, Ranma figured that it wouldn't hurt to take the test, since nothing would change if he didn't test positive and he might get to do something interesting if he did. So, after dousing himself with the water from the glass, he asked, "What do I do?"

"Simply turn on the stove, add the water from the jar, put the crushed leaves from the mortar into the cauldron once the water is heated, then stir until you feel like stopping," Nodoka directed.

Ranma looked at his mother with a dubious expression on his face before he followed her directions, wondering what she hoped for him to accomplish. Still, since it was supposed to be a test, he figured that the only way to find out was to give it a try, so he focused on stirring the contents of the cauldron once he got to that part of the test. Even though he hadn't known how long to stir, he hadn't expected to stop as soon as he did, but somehow felt that it had been the right time to do so.

Right when he had turned off the stove and looked up at his mother, with the intention to tell her that he had finished, he had enough time to catch her proud smile before a glow drew his attention back to the contents of the cauldron. He leaned forward so he could see what was happening inside, just in time to see the faintly-glowing liquid transition into something else, which turned out to be a viscous, white substance once the glow faded away.

Nonplussed about what he had just witnessed, he returned his attention back to his mother and asked "What just happened?"

"You passed the test," Nodoka replied, still smiling.

Ranma looked at her oddly. "But anyone could have done that..."

"If they were extremely lucky," Nodoka breezily agreed, "or were provided with precise directions. However, considering how unlikely it would be for you to accidentally stir these ingredients clockwise with the right amount of revolutions, followed by the right amount counter-clockwise, chances are much more in favor of you having an aptitude for this."

Ranma spared the cauldron a glance before he asked, "What is this, anyway?"

"That," Nodoka replied, her gaze having shifted to the cauldron, "is a skin ointment for minor injuries." Knowing what the real question was, she regarded her son with a significant look and added, "It is a product of alchemy."

"Alchemy?" Ranma responded incredulously. While it was true that he'd seen enough out-of-the-ordinary stuff in his life, so much so that they might not even be out-of-the-ordinary to him in particular, this would be the first instance that he had ever encountered something that was being directly attributed to alchemy, rather than something like chemistry, magic, strange flora, or the supernatural. While he had some idea of what it consisted of, he didn't know enough about it to identify it without aid.

"Come," Nodoka instructed, as she rose to her feet. "I'll show you."

Seeing no reason not to, Ranma proceeded to follow her to the center of the room. Once there, she stopped and produced a weird, fancy-looking key. However, rather than procuring it from somewhere on her person, it appeared over her open palm as if by magic. In most circumstances such an action wouldn't have provoked much of a reaction from him, if any at all, but seeing this from his mother made him gape and begin to re-evaluate her.

Upon glimpsing the expression that was on his face, his mother smiled at him with amusement before she thrust the key forward and turned it. As she retracted the key, a swirling vortex appeared in the air before her, looking much like mist that was being illuminated by a myriad colors. His mother stepped through it without word or ceremony, and seemingly disappeared, so he threw caution to the wind and rushed after her after taking a second to steel himself.

He hadn't known what to expect on the other side of the portal, but it wasn't entirely beyond what his imagination could have come up with. From the alcove that he had appeared in, he could see a spacious room that was at least twice as long as it was wide. Toward the far end was a large cauldron within the recess of a platform, which was underneath a sizeable range hood. Along one wall were benches that contained enough equipment for a chemistry lab, as well as metal storage cabinets. Opposite of that were tables and shelves with all manner of things on them, in containment or otherwise, and much of what he saw were either hard to identify or unknown to him. All in all, if this was the workspace of an alchemist, on the surface they appeared to be a marriage between a (mad?) scientist and a witch — of science and magic.

Aside from the aforementioned contents that seemed to be related to his mother's work as an alchemist, the room was rather austere, meant more for work than for comfort. While there was a mat near the cauldron, to make standing for long periods of time more bearable, and a few chairs with reasonably-plush seats situated around the benches and tables, there were no rugs on the floor, pictures hanging on the walls, or other such touches of personality elsewhere. When he considered the dead-serious side of his mother, however, he wasn't really surprised that it would turn up in a place like this.

Still, it was quite dreary how the floor, walls and ceiling were the same, as if cut out of the same rock — at least, as far as he could tell, that's what they appeared to be made out of. The room's one saving grace were the lights, which were glass-like spheres that hung from the ceiling, providing the room with an adequate amount of light without being difficult to look at directly.

While her son had been busy taking in the new surroundings, Nodoka had used her key to close the portal behind them, since it wouldn't be wise to leave it open for just anyone to find the place where she practiced her alchemy. Once she felt that she had given her son enough time to absorb what he was seeing, she began to walk into the room proper and said, "What I want to show you is right over here."

She led her son over to the tables and swept a hand across the various items that she had set out upon them earlier, in order to illustrate the point that she wished to convey to her son. "These should give you a fair idea of what is possible with alchemy."

Ranma looked over the items with an incredulous expression on his face, as he tried to believe what he was seeing. It wasn't so much that the existence of any of the items seemed impossible, due to personal experience, but that his mother was capable of making some of them, let alone having the knowledge and skills to make all of them without being much older than she was. Among the few dozen things present, there was something that looked like some kind of thick soup, and an elaborate, shimmering dress that he could easily see his mother making, but the sword and the television that was displaying a show with alien creatures on the screen — without an obvious power source — was pushing it. However, there was also an orb that seemed to contain a ball of fire with electricity arcing all over its ever-shifting form, whose use and method of creation he couldn't even begin to fathom.

Thinking that it would be best to approach his inquiry with something that he was familiar with, he hopped onto a nearby chair and reached for the sword. Expecting the kind of weight that he would have normally felt from a large, scimitar-looking weapon, he was caught by surprise when he lifted the sword as if it were no heavier than a feather. After scrutinizing it for a bit, he turned to his mother and asked, "So, you're a smith, too?"

Nodoka shook her head and smiled slightly. "No. Everything you see here is exactly how it looked when it was taken out of the cauldron."

Ranma spared the cauldron in question a glance. "Seriously? How does that work?"

Having planned for the explanation that she was about to give, Nodoka pulled up another chair and sat down before she began, and her son — in response — set the sword aside and sat down on the chair that he had been standing upon. "Imagine that everything has a number, like a code. Alchemy takes those numbers, puts them together, then combines, rearranges or discards them until the desired result is achieved. Everything has a code that's unique to itself, so even electricity will have a different code depending on the nature of its source."

Ranma's brow furrowed as he digested that. "I didn't see or feel a code, though."

"That comes with training or talent," Nodoka informed her son. "Also, how the code is felt or visualized depends on the individual. Once you have enough experience you can tell the different components of what you're working with apart, which will give you a better idea of what you can make with it, but creating something new is ultimately trial and error. Fortunately, we have a vast library of what alchemists have made in the past, so it's not necessary to do that anymore."

After considering everything that he had learned for a moment, Ranma decided to raise the next obvious question. "So, since I passed that test, do you want me to become an alchemist or something?"

Nodoka shook her head. "You don't have to, but I've been thinking about our situation for the past few days, especially yours, and thought that it would be a good idea."

"Oh?" Ranma voiced his interest, who began to wonder about the kind of scheme that his mother was capable of, and whether it would be any better than his father's. "Why's that?"

Instead of answering her son's question, Nodoka posed, "First, how would you feel about being my daughter for the next ten years?"

Ranma stared at his mother for a moment, in both disbelief and confusion, since the idea seemed to come into conflict with him being raised to become a man among men. "Um... What?"

"Well, there are a number of reasons for why I ask," Nodoka began, as she gazed upon her son with calm resolve. "To start with, I thought that practicing alchemy would be a good way to pass the time while you grow up, now that you don't need to attend school, and because you haven't devoted most of your free time to martial arts since your training journey ended."

Ranma was no less enlightened by those words. "What does that have to do with being a girl all of the time?"

"I'm getting to that," Nodoka admonished, although her son's impatience was understandable considering the nature of her suggestion. "Now, I'll admit that it's been awkward having you back at this age, because I hadn't really wanted to be separated from you in the first place and spent a lot of time imagining what it would have been like had you stayed home. It's been a little difficult not treating as you appear to be."

Ranma could sympathize with that, so he nodded his head in understanding. It helped that he didn't want to be treated like the young boy that he appeared to be, either.

"However," Nodoka continued, her gaze becoming a bit more penetrating, "I've also noticed how often you keep your distance from Kasumi-chan and myself when we're doing something together, and how you look at us during those occasions."

Ranma flushed with embarrassment and looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about, mom."

"You don't have to deny it," Nodoka stated, her expression softening. "I can understand your feelings, but you have to realize that you're in a unique position."

Ranma looked at his mother questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Nodoka made a gesture toward Ranma with her hand, indicating that the subject was about his body. "Not every boy can become a girl. What would appear strange or wrong for a boy to do would not look out of place for a girl."

"How does that help me become a man among men?" Ranma queried.

Nodoka smiled with an, "I'm glad you asked," expression on her face. "Well, regarding the subject at hand, I just want us to feel happy and comfortable within our own home. While there are different expectations of men and women, the core virtues expected of us are very similar. For instance, as a man it might feel strange to prepare a meal with the women, but no one would find it wrong for a man to be self-sufficient as a cook. So, I won't find you any less manly if you decided to join us in the kitchen; or joined us for many other things, for that matter."

Ranma was relieved to hear that, to the extent that he relaxed and leaned against the back of his chair. Ever since he had learned about the seppuku pledge, he had been a lot more worried than usual about presenting his manliness to the world, but he was glad to know that his mother wouldn't be making judgements based on such superficial things. While he had figured that out a week ago, he hadn't truly grasped the extent to which it would apply.

"As for your question," Nodoka went on, becoming more solemn, "I feel — by your own admission, and after making some inquiries elsewhere — that focusing so much on martial arts and attending all-boy schools up until recently, at the expense of interacting with the opposite sex and society in general, has had a significantly negative impact on your ability to be manly. You lack assertiveness, handle relationships poorly, and your other failings have given you a rather low standing in the community. Why, I even heard that it wasn't that long ago that you had molested an older woman, in broad daylight, and before many witnesses."

Ranma felt small in the face of his mother's assessment and the account of when he had tried to press the pressure points of his teacher, with his head squeezed between his shoulders, but he nonetheless felt the need to defend himself on that last point. "But that wasn't intentional..."

"I know," Nodoka acknowledged, her voice taking on a slightly softer tone, "but that's beside the point. A man needs to have more common sense and discipline than that, so such situations don't ever occur in the first place. Not only is it important to embody the qualities of a man within, but to make it recognizable without; only then can you become a man among men."

"That said," she continued, getting back to the point, "I only suggest acting as my daughter because it could prove to be useful in a number of ways. Mainly, I think that living as a girl — and being in a position to socialize with other girls so naturally — could not only make up for how your father raised you, but provide enough insight for you to surpass other men as a man in that regard. Second, your image as a boy — and as my son — will require a lot of mending. Removing your male appearance from the public eye will be of some help after a decade, but it will ultimately be best to attend to your image once you've grown into a man who can undertake such a task successfully. Third, remaining one sex will avoid the issues that come with a changing body, and avoid embarrassing accidents in public. Finally, if you do decide to become an alchemist, you'll risk being exposed to hot liquids and vapors, and it can be dangerous to lose control and make a mistake during the transmutation process."

Ranma stared back at his mother quietly as he considered her idea. Normally, he might have dismissed the idea outright, but the usual stigma associated with accepting such an idea was pretty much being nulled by the one person whose opinion on manliness mattered the most. True, others could make an issue out of it, but that wouldn't be any different from before, aside from the fact that he was no longer so attached to their views on the matter.

Still, a decade was a long time. While being a girl didn't bother him as much as he would have others believe, he didn't particularly like it either. He wasn't even sure if he would have much in the way of common interests with girls, because a lot of the typical activities that he associated with them — that he could think of — were not the kinds of things that he could enjoy, or might even consider a form of torture. While it was nice that he could enjoy sweets as a girl without looking out of place, and could even get discounts or free stuff that way, it wouldn't be worth devoting ten years of his life for.

He glanced over at the various items that had been laid out on the table beside him, intrigued by the notion of "cooking" stuff up like that. What were the limits of what could be created with alchemy? Plus, between gathering the materials necessary for making things, and the mode of transportation that his mother had demonstrated earlier, he suspected that being an alchemist might also involve some traveling and/or adventuring. Since he had been raised as a nomad of sorts, roaming about was more normal to him than the sedentary life, so exploring new — and potentially strange — places was an appealing prospect, especially if he couldn't get much mileage out of his martial arts at his current age.

Seeing her son's struggle to come to a decision, Nodoka helpfully said, "You don't have to do it: what needs to be done can still be managed; it will just be less convenient."

Whether intended to be taken as a challenge or not, Ranma didn't want to appear like he couldn't handle it, so the scale finally tilted in favor of his mother's suggestion. So, with a serious expression on his face, he stated, "Okay. I'm going to do it."

"Are you sure?" Nodoka inquired out of concern, while suppressing the desire to smile in delight.

Despite being wholly and truly devoted to helping her son become the manliest of men, her idea was not entirely unselfish. Although her husband had tried to provide her with a second child after Ranma's birth, on the rare occasion when he could get away from his master, he had ultimately left with Ranma before he had been able to do so. It had been devastating because — much like her husband — she had hoped to raise a child in her own ways, especially the ones that were passed down from mother to daughter.

Ranma nodded his head resolutely before a thought occurred to him, one which inspired him to ask, "But how will I stay like this?"

This time Nodoka did smile, who stood up from her chair before she said, "Allow me to show you," and put some space between herself and her son.

Ranma shifted in his chair and leaned on its arm so he could watch what his mother was doing, who soon found where she wanted to stand before facing him once more. Upon doing so, she stretched out her arm, as if to grab something, and something that could have been either a staff or a magic wand materialized within her grasp. It appeared to be made out of some kind of translucent crystal, and was about as long as his mother was tall. It was the color of azure at its base, but transitioned to a paler shade of blue from the middle up, where it branched into two and swirled about the same focal point in opposing directions, becoming ever wider, thinner and further apart as they went, until they took on the appearance of something that was between a ribbon and a wave of water at their apex. Near the apex, and enclosed within the twin tendrils, was a cobalt blue orb that was nearly the size of a person's head, which seemed to float in place rather than being secured by its confines.

"What's that?" He queried, his curiosity piqued.

"This," Nodoka said, as she presented her family's legacy with a mixture of fondness and pride, "is Astraea, a product of our family's amassed knowledge and the skill of an alchemist whose talents remain unmatched." She quickly sobered, as she privately recalled another part of its history, but thought better about mentioning it for the time being. "It is the unification of a multi-purpose tool and a homunculus."

"A what?" Ranma inquired, his brow furrowed, having never heard of such a thing.

Instead of giving her son an explanation, Nodoka decided to show him what a homunculus was. With her attention focused on Astraea, which she had drawn her hand away from and left to float in place, she ordered, "Astraea: assistant mode."

"Understood," came the monotone acknowledgement, much to Ranma's surprise.

Astraea's form began to glow, until it appeared to be a silhouette of light to those watching. Then, the shape began to transition into another, shrinking to nearly half of its original height, growing thicker in the middle, and gaining extremities like limbs and a head. It looked like a naked and crudely-shaped doll for a second, until the details began to be refined, as long hair sprouted from its head, fingers could be distinguished on its hands, and other areas abandoned simple geometric shapes for those belonging to the figure of a human. Finally, its hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, and the shape of its silhouette changed further, in a way that suggested the appearance of an outfit.

Once the glow was gone, it revealed a girl who appeared to be a few years older than Ranma, with dusky skin, long, pale blue hair, and cobalt blue eyes. Like her mother, she wore a kimono, although this one depicted small waves gently lapping at a sandy shore beneath a starry sky. It was quite a sight, overall, though it was offset by by the utterly blank expression on its face, and the dullness of its eyes.

Ranma looked at his mother questioningly, having picked up on the nature of the words that his mother had used but not being so familiar with their usage to be confident about his impression. "So, a hunk-thing is a shapeshifting robot?"

"Homunculus, dear," Nodoka corrected, with a wry smile. "And it's more accurate to call it an artificial lifeform. It's not exactly organic, or entirely machine, and there's plenty of magic involved as well. Homunculi by themselves are usually a lot more straightforward, if still complicated, but this one is also integrated with a very sophisticated tool, so..."

Ranma didn't really understand all of that, so he pressed on with the next most relevant subject. "So, how's, um, Astraea going to solve my problem?"

Turning to Astraea, and knowing that it will know her intent, Nodoka simply commanded, "Astraea, modify the trigger to my son's curse so that it can't be activated in any way for the time being."

Astraea turned to regard Ranma, and its eyes glowed for a second before it flatly stated, "It is done."

Ranma blinked his eyes incredulously, between not having felt anything happen and being aware of his lack of success every time he had tried to do something about his curse in the past. "...That's it?"

"That's it," Nodoka confirmed with some amusement. "Astraea is very useful. In fact," she added, as she realized something, "it's so useful I think I'll lend it to you."

"Huh?" Ranma voiced, who was trying to follow his mother's train of thought and failing to do so.

Nodoka had the decency to look embarrassed about her mistake and asked, "I suppose I haven't told you about our family's atelier, have I?"

Ranma shook his head in the negative.

"Well," Nodoka began to explain, "that's how I make a living. I've more or less kept the shop closed ever since I began to look for you and your father, so I'll have to take care of the backlog before I return to regular business. That will keep me busy for a while, but Astraea can help you if you wish to spend more time improving yourself as an alchemist than I can be available for."

Ranma looked over at Astraea with some reservation, since it was somewhat unnerving how it continued to stare in his direction unblinkingly and without emotion. That, and he had some misgivings over the fact that it had a human appearance while its role was pretty much that of a slave. Still, if it could modify his curse so easily, he couldn't help wondering what else it might be capable of, and that would most likely require using it.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his mother said, "If you'd like, I can show you the shop later. For now, how about I take you to your new workshop?"

Ranma was a bit surprised by that. "I get my own workshop?"

Nodoka smiled and nodded her head. "Of course. Our family was quite large at one time, so we have an overabundance of workshops here. I cleaned one of them up and prepared it for your use last night, in case you passed the test and decided to practice alchemy. Would you like to see it now?"

Ranma simply nodded his head, since he was a bit distracted by the curious bit of information that his mother had mentioned, for which he asked, "So, there aren't many alchemists in the family anymore? What happened to them?"

Nodoka's smile faded. "Themselves." She turned her head to regard Astraea. "Over that."

"Oh..." Ranma quietly voiced, who had an idea of what that probably entailed.

Nodoka shook her head. "I can go into more depth, if you want, but let's save that for later." With that settled, and what she intended to do right then, she perked back up and eagerly added, "Right now, I'd like to show you your workshop."

Without further delay, Ranma watched as his mother dismissed Astraea, probably back to wherever she had come from, and summoned a key that looked a bit different from the one that he had seen her use before. After his mother opened a portal and stepped through it, he took a moment to wonder how this latest turn in events would affect his future before he kicked himself into gear and followed her.

Crossover: The Atelier series of video games, in the abstract, but Atelier Ayesha especially.