From: deloura@noaapmel.gov (Robert DeLoura)
Subject: TRANSLATION:  Ranma 1/2, Love-predicting Sakura-mochi story, Part 3/3
Keywords: Volume 21, Chapter 6
Organization: NOAA/PMEL, Sand Point Way, Seattle, WA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 06:55:28 GMT

Well, here it is -- the 3rd (and final) chapter of the translation for the
"Love-predicting Sakura-mochi" story.  Comments, as always, are welcome at
<deloura@noaapmel.gov>.  If anyone wants to put any of the chapters on an
FTP site, that's fine with me.  Just let me know where you're putting them,
in case I update one of the chapters.

If you missed part 1 or 2, drop me an email message.  They were posted about
1-2 weeks ago, so they might still be available if you dig through all the
old messages in the newsgroup, but I know they expire news in a week or less
here, so....

Anyway, enjoy!  [or not :-)]

----------------[CUTTING HERE WILL SEVERELY DAMAGE YOUR TERMINAL]--------------
Ranma 1/2, Volume 21, Chapter 6
English translation by Robert DeLoura (deloura@noaapmel.gov)
Assistance on the tough lines by Hitoshi Doi  [thanks, Hitoshi]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A Storm of Flowers"  (A Flower Storm, whatever.)


(Page 86)
Ranma has bitten into the sakura-mochi and is chewing on it.  Akane drops
Ryouga's flowers in surprise.  Suddenly, the flavor hits Ranma.

Ranma:		Ugh.

Ranma falls to the ground and beats his hand against his forehead, as Akane
continues to watch, shocked that he's actually eaten the sakura-mochi.

Ranma:		Horrible.
Akane:		The... sakura-mochi... he's eaten it!


(Page 87)
Ranma's on his knees, facing away from Akane.  He's finished eating the
sakura-mochi, and the moment of truth is upon them.

Akane:		(thinking)  If cherry-blossom marks appear, then we are
		destined for each other... but....

Akane gets nervous, worried that it may not turn out the way she's expecting.

Akane:		(thinking)  If an X-mark appears.....

Ranma stands up, still facing away from Akane.

Ranma:		Ok, Akane?
Ranma:		On the count of 3, I'll turn around....

Akane's still worrying about how it will turn out.  What if they're NOT
destined for each other....?

Ranma:		1, 2....


(Page 88)
The possibility of finding out, beyond a doubt, that Ranma is not destined
to be hers, turns out to be too much for her.  Akane punches Ranma away before
he can turn around.

Akane:		No!  I don't want to see it!!
Ranma:		Eh!?

Ryouga is by his tent in a vacant lot, grinding ink for a letter he's writing.
He puts the finishing touches on it, by addressing it to Akane.

Ryouga:		Heh.  A perfect love letter.

Unfortunately, Ranma chooses this moment to "drop" in, coming down from Akane's
punch... face-first into the middle of Ryouga's inkwell.  Ink splatters
everywhere, ruining Ryouga's letter and putting little ink spots all over his
face.  Ranma's even worse off, with his entire face covered by ink.  He sits
up, a man with a mission.

Ranma:		A mirror!!

He runs off, without a word to Ryouga.


(Page 89)
Ryouga sits there for a moment, while the fact that his love letter has
been ruined sinks in.

Ryouga:		Hmph.

Ryouga runs off, in hot pursuit of Ranma, who is in even hotter pursuit of
the nearest mirror.

Ryouga:		Wait, Ranma, damn you!!
Ranma:		Shaddup!!

Ranma reaches the gate of the Tendou household, and runs in.

Ranma:		Mirror!

Ranma dashes past Kasumi on his way down the hallway.

Ranma:		Mirror!!

Ranma reaches the bathroom, where he finds a...

Ranma:		Mirror!!!

He puts his face to the mirror to see the results of eating the sakura-mochi.

Ranma:		Cherry-blossom marks or an X...
		Which is it!?


(Page 90)
Unfortunately, his whole face is covered with ink, so he can't tell.
He pulls away from the mirror, shocked.

Ranma:		Solid black!?
		What's THAT mean??

Ryouga finally arrives, and gives Ranma a boot to the head.

Ryouga:		It means you dove into my ink, you idiot!!

Ranma stomps on Ryouga's head, sending him to the floor.  Then he washes the
ink off his face.  (and the sakura-mochi marks, though he doesn't know that)
He lifts his newly-washed face to the mirror and sees.... no marks.

Ranma:		Hm!?

He looks a bit more closely at his face.

Ranma:		No cherry-blossom marks AND no X-mark...!?


(Page 91)
He stands there with his foot on Ryouga's head, thinking.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Damn, the marks disappeared while I was running
		around!

Ryouga gets out from underneath Ranma's foot, and stands up, a bit irked.

Ryouga:		Hey!!

Ranma sighs.  Ryouga wants to know just *what* in the hell is going on.

Ryouga:		Cherry-blossom marks and X-marks... what the hell are you
		babbling about!?

Ranma holds his hand under the faucet while the cold water is running,
sending a stream of it across the room to douse Ryouga.  Ranma looks tired
of all this.

Ranma:		Damn, you're noisy.  Be quiet for a minute.

Akane comes into the house, and hears angry squeals coming from the bathroom.
She calls to him from outside the closed door.

Akane:		P-chan, are you back!?

P-chan is chewing on Ranma's elbow at the moment, and can't answer.  Ranma
gets worried that Akane will see him, and notice that he doesn't have any
marks.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Akane....


(Page 92)
Ranma hides on the ceiling.  Akane comes in and calls to P-chan, holding out
her arms for him.  She doesn't notice Ranma.

Akane:		P-chan.

P-chan leaps into her arms.

Ranma:		....

Ranma hangs onto the ceiling nervously, waiting for Akane to leave.  When the
door shuts behind her, he starts thinking to himself.

Ranma:		(thinking)  But after all that trouble...
		(thinking)  Are we destined for each other, or not?

Akane's in her room, sitting on her bed, holding P-chan.

Akane:		P-chan....

She looks (a little sadly) off into the distance, thinking to herself as she
talks to P-chan.

Akane:		Do you think I'm really destined for Ryouga-kun...?
Akane:		The cherry-blossom petal marks that show on the person I'm
		destined for...


(Page 93)
Akane remembers what Ryouga's face looked like when she saw him outside the
public bath.

Akane:		Definitely showed up on Ryouga's face.

Ranma's sitting on the roof, dejectedly.

Ranma:		Hmph.

Ryouga comes up and sits on the roof next to him, clapping a hand onto Ranma's
shoulder.

Ryouga:		I've heard the story about the love-predicting sakura-mochi.
Ryouga:		I understand how YOU feel about this too, but...
		I've got a problem of my own.
Ranma:		Whaaat?


(Page 94)
Ryouga thinks about his upcoming (ha ha ha) wedding with Akane.

Ryouga:		About the wedding....

Ryouga looks at Ranma, eagerly waiting to hear his opinion on a few things.
He's pretty excited about this whole idea.

Ryouga:		Should it be a Western-style wedding, or traditional?
		What should I call Akane-san?
		Do you think one boy and one girl will be enough [children]?
		Huh?  Huh?  Whatcha think!?
		Come over and have fun at our place once in a while!  Ok?  Ok?

Ranma wasn't really in the mood to listen to Ryouga babbling about such
nonsense.

Ranma:		....

Ranma punches Ryouga in the face.

Ranma:		One small problem, Ryouga....
Ranma:		We still don't know whether I had cherry-blossom marks or not.
Ryouga:		Hah.  Ridiculous.

Ryouga stands up and points a finger at Ranma, who stands up to confront him.

Ryouga:		Akane-san isn't the sort of woman who'd go after TWO men.

Ryouga figures that since he's already destined for her, and Akane couldn't
love two men, that Ranma obviously *can't* be destined for her.

Ranma:		Grrrrr.


(Page 95)
Ranma thinks about it for a moment, and realizes Ryouga is right.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Akane definitely isn't that kind of person....

Ranma imagines Ryouga and Akane in Western-style wedding clothes, and hears
wedding bells.

Ranma:		(thinking)  ...Which means that,
		(thinking)  Akane and Ryouga will definitely....

Ryouga suddenly gets an idea.

Ryouga:		It's gotta be Western-style.  I've decided!

Ranma's had enough of this conversation, and throws a bucket of cold water on
Ryouga.  He and P-chan glare at each other, and then P-chan leaps for his face,
kicking/punching at him as fast as he can.

Ranma:		Ow, ow, ow, ow!


(Page 96)
Akane's around the corner of the house, and hears them fighting up on the roof.

Ranma:		Dammit, you PIG, that hurts!!

They fall off the roof while fighting.

Akane:		(thinking)  Ranma?

Akane walks around the corner and sees Ranma, crouched on the ground, with his
back facing her.

Akane:		Ranma....

Ranma is surprised for a moment, as he realizes that Akane is behind him.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Akane....

Ranma's visibly shaking, for some reason.  (Anger at P-chan?  Sorrow because
he thinks he's lost Akane?  You be the judge.)

Akane:		Um....

Ranma loses his temper, and snaps his head around to address Akane.

Ranma:		Shaddup, you don't need to trouble yourself with ME any more!!

To Akane's surprise, Ranma's face is covered with...cherry-blossom petal marks!
She opens her mouth in shock.

Akane:		!


(Page 97)
Akane:		....

Akane holds a mirror up to Ranma's face, so he can see himself in it.

Ranma:		Hm!?

Ranma takes the mirror and examines his face more closely.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Cherry-blossom marks...?
Ranma:		(thinking)  ...No!!  They're....

Ranma realizes that P-chan's hooves are exactly the same shape and size as
the 'cherry-blossom petal' marks.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Marks from P-chan's hooves!!
Ranma:		(thinking)  Th... that's it!  That explains the whole thing!!


(Page 98)
Ranma remembers beating his hand against his forehead after eating one of
Akane's sakura-mochi.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Akane's home-made sakura-mochi were so bad that I
		hit myself in the forehead.

Ranma imagines P-chan doing the same thing.

Ranma:		(thinking)  So right after Ryouga ate them, he probably hit
		himself with his hooves, leaving obvious marks when he returned
		to human form....

Ranma remembers that the marks on Ryouga's forehead looked exactly like
hoofprints from P-chan.  He and Akane look at each other for a moment, and
then she turns her head away.

Akane:		Hmmm.
		*Ranma* had cherry-blossom marks appear too....


(Page 99)
Akane turns her back to Ranma, and continues talking.

Akane:		*Now* what?  I thought we were going to be able to cancel our
		engagement....

Ranma doesn't seem to like the way the conversation is going, so he tries to
explain things to Akane.

Ranma:		You idiot!  Ryouga's and my cherry-blossom marks are both
		P-chan's....

Akane turns around to face Ranma again, not having even heard him.
She has a stunningly cute smile on her face.

Akane:		But since you had so MANY of them [petal marks] appear,
		We can't very well call off our iinazuke, can we?

Akane's smile stops Ranma in mid-sentence.  He just stands there for a moment.


(Page 100)
Akane walks away, humming.  Ranma stands there and watches her leave,
incredibly moved by what he just saw.

Ranma:		(thinking)  She's sure cute, isn't she....

That night, Ranma's thinking to himself.

Ranma:		(thinking)  Oh well.
		(thinking)  I'm the only one who'll know the truth....

Later that night, at the dinner table, Akane's happily humming to herself as
she serves some of her own cooking to Ranma.  Soun, Genma, and Kasumi look on.

Soun:		Isn't that great, Ranma-kun?  Akane's own cooking....
Kasumi:		Akane, did something good happen?
Akane:		No, not really.
		I'm just being nice to him.

Ranma slaps his hand against his forehead as he chokes down Akane's cooking.
P-chan is giving him a whole shirtful of new "cherry-blossom petal" marks,
in anger.

Ranma:		If I don't tell her the truth soon, I'm going to die....


                                THE END