Ranma Half Moon chapter 41, A Star is Borne of Sorrow, part 4
Author's note: This episode is on the same day as Sailor Moon episode 26, Bring a smile to Naru's Face! Usagi's friendship.
Author's note: Bishoujo means pretty girl, although Ranma is a little too old to really qualify.
Author's note: Lyrics from Katagoshi ni Kinsei ("Venus Over My Shoulder") are clumsily adapted from a translation on sailormusic dot net.
Minako combs her hair in front of a mirror. Just two more weeks before the musical opens and I will be able to dance and sing as Chitose Fujinomiya from Goldfish Warning.
Minako sighs. I remember when I was a twelve-year-old girl and decided that I was, without fail, going to become an idol. Since that time I have gone to countless auditions, read hundreds of magazine articles looking for tips, spent way too much money practicing in karaoke parlors, and spent way too much time practicing my posing.
But, soon the two years of hard work will pay off! And, even though I now have responsibilities as a Sailor Warrior, there was nothing to say that my adventures as an idol couldn't help me as a warrior.
Minako hears a knock at the door. "Come in."
Andrew, the assistant director, enters. Andrew is a senior at the high school attached to her junior high and is the "it" boy among Minako's friends at school. Handsome, athletic, artistically gifted and well spoken, Andrew was the very picture of an idol.
Andrew was also Minako's first crush. Minako had met Andrew before she became a Sailor Warrior, through a friend of hers on the volleyball team.
"How are you tonight, Minako-kun?"
Minako gets goose bumps hearing Andrew refer to her as an equal.
"Really good."
"How did that recording come out?"
"In fifteen minutes it's going to be on the radio."
"Outstanding!"
"It's just a college radio, but in a couple of weeks every radio station will play it."
"I'm looking forward to it." Andrew leaves to continue his rounds.
...
Ranma-ko mops around in her room. I don't want to transform back into a guy yet, partially because I am having boy issues, and partly because I want to listen to Minako's song as a girl.
Moe!. I'm a guy and I'm starting to hate guys.
Ranma-ko starts tuning the portable radio she had borrowed from Nabiki.
"I have run through the fields ..."
...
"Only to be with you ..."
Mamoru looks at his clock. I wonder what sort of dedication Ranma left me? Mamoru cringes. After punching Ranma-ko in the face as Tuxedo Kamen, a nice cheerful dedication will feel like getting smacked with a giant wooden mallet.
I will have to find some way to make it up to her. But Ranma was also Sailor Moon. It's not like I can just hand her the Rainbow Crystal.
...
"But I still haven't found ..."
Artemis turns the knobs of Minako's radio with his paw. Artemis sighs. I have long given up on standing in the way of Minako's passion for performance. Even if it means that Minako wasn't being the best Sailor Warrior that she could, I have decided that I would be happy for her success in singing and acting.
Artemis looks at a picture of Minako and him. This is your moment, Minako.
...
"... what I'm looking for."
The other members of the cast had gathered around a radio. Minako wrings her hands in anxiety.
Mio looks on, slightly away from the group.
"Ninety-one seven, Juban top forty." A catchy jingle plays.
"This is Juban top forty, and tonight we have ... wait a minute. Stop the tape. Why am I giving the show id here? This part's going to come right after a station break, right? Don't we id the show there? Come on guys, what's with this ponderous text? Why does everything on here have to be repeated? I don't understand why this is going on. Can't you underclassmen get your act together and write me some text that doesn't make me look like a stupid idiot?"
A disc jockey chuckles. "Yes, this is Juban top forty, and that station id, created by Jadero last year, never gets old. Don't quite know what happened to Jadero and his friends. One day they were here, the next day they had vanished without a trace. I even had to cover Jadero's slot. You can't imagine how hard it was to fill those shoes. I guess it's one of the school's seven mysteries."
"But, before we get to playing the hottest releases in Japan, we have a special treat. A pretty young girl came by today with a tape of a really cool song. The staff have been listening to it non-stop, and it's pretty impressive."
Minako's heart jumps. It is finally going to be played.
Mamoru puts his head between his hands. How am I ever going to make it up to Ranma?
Artemis stares at the radio in intense concentration, waiting for his partner's song.
Ranma-ko lies on her futon. Is Minako going to become too busy to help me fight Yoma Monsters?
"The song comes with a special dedication, that I would like to read now. This is from Ranma to Mamoru. I know you have a secret, and I'm going to find it out."
"Who knows what Mamoru's secret is? Maybe his secret is that he likes this Ranma girl? She was quite a bishoujo."
"Anyway, let's give a listen to this song, called Venus Over My Shoulder, by Aino Minako."
"In the clouds, before daybreak, the two of us found Venus. Will our secret love vanish into the sky unsung?"
Minako gets light-headed. It is finally coming true! I feel like I am in heaven.
"With a sigh, the wind moves another way, and takes my feelings towards the stars."
Artemis blushes. I have already listened to this song twenty times, but this was like hearing it for the first time.
Mamoru broods. She thinks I have a secret? Does she suspect that I am Tuxedo Kamen? Maybe she has that women's intuition thing.
Ranma-ko smiles. This should make a nice impression on Mamoru. Maybe he won't be as angry when I have to do it.
"Awkwardly, my feelings dim and fade, only to be reborn in another shape by the dawn."
Mio Kuroki smiles an impossibly evil smile, made even more grotesque by her pink wig and cutesy make up. "Check mate." She whispers.
"I was often watching you ..." The music fades to silence.
"Whoa. This is weird. The tape was working a half hour ago. Let me rewind this." Silence. "Dang it. How does a tape erase itself?"
To Be Continued!