Jeffrey "oneShot" Wong Just Won't Die Spinoff 8 "It's rather astonishing how much ignorance there is to this world," Asuka heard her professor say, "Most people are quick to judge without bothering to find out the facts. That is the worst form of ignorance. If people out there are more open-minded about their surroundings and attempt to find the truth before casting judgment on something, we would live in a much less ignorant society," The professor looked at the clock and noticed how late it was and it was time to dismiss his class for the day. "For our next lecture, I'd you all to write a four page report dealing with ignorance," the professor said, "Go out into the world and find the truth to something that you never knew before," "Isn't that rather general?" one student asked. "Yes, it is," the professor nodded, "However, it's not as easy a task as you believe. The project entails you finding out the truth to something on which you had already cast judgment," One student jokingly said, "What if you're like me, where you already know all the truth to everything?" The professor laughed, "Well, judging by the Christian crucifix necklace you're wearing, I have a funny feeling you, of all people, have a lot of truths discover for yourself," Asuka snickered at the comment. "Class, I'm looking forward to reading your reports," the professor said before leaving the classroom. Asuka proceeded to pack her books, a smile on her face. She knew exactly on what she was going to write her report, religion. After having seen what she had seen, she knew that the entire concept of religion was wrong. It would make for quite an interesting read. "That site is awesome," Asuka heard a male classmate say. Finishing packing up her books, she approached the small group of boys gathered just outside the classroom while they were in mid- conversation. "What site?" she asked curiously. "That Random Encounter site," one of them answered, "Y'know, the one containing all those videos of that guy walking around striking conversations with random women basically hitting it off with each and every one of them?" Asuka winced when she heard mention of that site. She knew the site all too well. The site had been coined as 'A Random Encounter' and was about Ranma as he walked around town. "I really wonder who the guy is," one of the boys asked, "I'd really like to meet and learn from him," Asuka snorted in contempt. She was all too familiar with that site. Run by that idiot Shinji, the site got more daily traffic than any site that ever existed. As much as she hated to admit it, it was rather ingenious of Shinji to have come up with a site like that. The site generated tremendous traffic, most of it from male population. "I don't know what guys think's so great about that site," Asuka said in annoyance. "Because the guy in the video is the fuckin' man," one boy said, "He's got crazy skillz. His game is amazin'," Asuka gritted her teeth, "Well, I like to think otherwise. To me, it's a cheap form of entertainment at all those women's expenses. What makes you think all those women on those site want to have their faces on the Internet like that?" With that said, she walked off. She needed to cool off. Asuka found herself almost fuming at the thought of that website as she walked home by herself. So caught up in being annoyed, she was momentarily startled when she felt a hand place on her shoulder. "Asuka," came Ranma's voice. "Ranma," Asuka was surprised. "Heading home?" he asked, "How was school?" Asuka eyed Ranma for a moment before she shrugged, "It was fine," "Y'sure?" Ranma asked, "Seems like something's upsetting you," Asuka said, "You're mistaken," As she regarded Ranma for a second, her gaze passed over the small pin on the lapel of his shirt. After a moment, she asked, "So, find any more 'random encounters' to string along?" Ranma was confused at the comment for a second before it finally dawned on him what was bothering Asuka in the first place. "Ah, so that's what's bothering you," Ranma said, touching the lapel of his shirt, "You don't like that site that has those videos of me talking to girls," "I said no such thing," she stated. There was a moment of silence. "Since we are on that subject, why are you doing that anyway?" Asuka asked, genuinely curious, "You do know that what you're doing is basically exploiting women for entertainment purposes," Ranma shook his head, "No, I'm not," "And what makes you say that?" she asked. "Because, what I'm doing is for charity," he said, "Sure, it does entertain people, but the main focus of the site is for charity," Asuka was surprised to hear this, "Really? You're kidding me. How's that work?" Ranma said, "No, I'm not kidding. I dunno the details. You're gonna hafta ask Shinji about it," Asuka thought about it for a moment, "You know what? I think I will," "In the meanwhile," Ranma placed an arm around Asuka's should, "C'mon, let's go get some food. I'm hungry," Oddly enough, Asuka found herself no longer angry and going with Ranma to get some dinner. "Shinji," Asuka knocked on Shinji's bedroom door. "It's open," came his voice. Asuka opened the door and peered into Shinji's room. Shinji's room was rather neat, consisting of a well-made bed and a large table containing several computers. Shinji was sitting in front of one of the many computer screens. She regarded the many computers and couldn't help but feel a bit angry with herself. When the heck did Shinji become such a computer wizard? Shinji was now the webmaster of the most popular webpage on the Internet, an incredible feat. Then again, if she thought about it, Shinji was only considered a computer wizard because Nene taught him everything that he knew. "Um, hey," Shinji said, swiveling around in his chair to face Asuka, "What's up?" She regarded Shinji for several moments, just long enough to make him feel a bit uncomfortable. Shinji had come along way from the awkward fourteen year old boy she once knew. Much like Asuka, Shinji was now grown up, an adult by today's society. "I have a question about your site," Asuka said. "What about it?" he asked. It was common knowledge among Ranma and the others that the site was Shinji's site. "Ranma mentioned something that the site is for charity, is that true?" she asked. "Why do you ask all of a sudden?" he scratched his head. "Just answer the question," she said in a harsh tone. "All right, I'm sorry," Shinji held up his hand defensively. Asuka sighed before she said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell or anything. I was merely curious," Asuka wasn't quite the young girl she used to be. Sure, she still had a fiery temper from time to time, but she was no where near as quick to anger. Besides, her and Shinji's relationship was a lot closer now. Rather than an annoying pest, Asuka considered Shinji a pretty close friend. The fact that Shinji turned out to be a pretty good person earned him her respect. "So, the website is for charity?" Asuka asked. Shinji nodded, "Yeah," "How so?" she asked, "How much money does the website generate?" Shinji reached over and pulled out a piece of paper from a nearby stack of papers and read it, "Um, let me see. This month, the site generated a little over nine billion yen," "N-nine billion yen?!?" Asuka was stunned, "You've got to be kidding me!" Shinji shook his head, "No, not at all," Asuka sat down on Shinji's bed, shocked at what she heard. She had no idea a site like that could generate that much money. She was no idiot when it came to computers, but something like that was beyond her comprehension. "How the hell does it make that much?" Asuka asked, "How can you make that much money just on advertisements alone? Even if it gets millions upon millions of visitors a day, there's no way it can generate that much money," "Well, most of it is thanks to Nene of course," Shinji said. "Why, what did she do?" Asuka asked. "Nene wrote some kind of script unique to the site," Shinji said, "I'm not too sure exactly what kind of script it is, but it prevents ANYONE from EVER being able to view the video without paying," "How much do these visitors get charged to view a single video?" she asked. "Ten yen per viewing," Shinji said. Asuka quickly did the calculations in her head, "Wait, that means, over the course of the month, the videos must have been viewed nine hundred million times," Shinji nodded, "Yeah, give or take," "How can your site handle that much bandwidth?" Asuka asked. Shinji shrugged, "I have no clue. You're going to have to ask Nene about that," The next day, Asuka, not having any classes until later in the morning, went to visit Nene at her workplace, AD Police Headquarters. "Nene, you have a visitor," Nene heard her co-worker say as she was walking by her. Nene looked up from her work terminal, "Me?" It was the middle of the week. Ranma usually dropped in on her from time to time, but it was usually around lunchtime. "No, it isn't Ranma," her co-worker teased her, "Too bad, huh?" Nene blushed, "Um, who is it?" "I'm not too sure," the co-worker said, "I've seen her a few times before. I think her name was Asuka if I remember correctly. She's downstairs in the lobby," "Asuka? Hm, I wonder what brings her here," Nene asked herself. Asuka had only visited Nene a few times at work so this came as a surprise. While they were close friends, there were no reasons for Asuka to visit Nene while Nene was at work any more than Nene visiting Asuka while Asuka was at school. Nene looked at the clock and noticed that it was a bit early, still too early to take an early lunch break. "Don't worry, I'll cover you," her co-worker smiled. "Thanks," Nene said as she got up from her terminal and began heading for the elevator that led down to the lobby. A few minutes later, downstairs in the lobby, Nene met up with Asuka. "Asuka, what brings you here?" Nene smiled warmly. "Well," Asuka said, "I was talking to Shinji about something and he said to come to you abut it," Nene asked, "What is it?" "It's about his site," Asuka started off, "That Random Encounter site of his," Nene smiled, "What about it?" "Is it a charity site?" Asuka asked. Nene nodded without a second thought, "Yes, it is," "But why?" Asuka asked, "Doesn't it annoy you that Ranma's basically exploiting, well, women for entertainment purposes?" Nene started laughing. "What?" Asuka was confused, "What's so funny?" "You're aware of what that site is, right?" Nene asked after a moment, a big smirk on her face. "Yes, it's a site containing videos of Ranma hitting on random women," Asuka said. Nene scratched her head, "Well, I guess it does seem like that, doesn't it?" "If that's not the case, then what is it?" Asuka asked. "It's a site that has videos of Ranma striking up conversations with random people," Nene answered, "Of course, since Ranma tends to strike up conversations with women more often than men, it's easy to jump to conclusions, that he walks around purposely approaching women and talking to them so that he would have videos for Shinji to put up on the site," Asuka said nothing, surprised that she had jumped to the exact same conclusion Nene had mentioned. "Have you ever followed Ranma around?" Nene asked, "Have you ever watched what he does when he leaves the house and heads out to town?" "Well, not really," Asuka stated. "Well, he does the exact same thing that you see him doing as on the site," Nene answered, "He walks around and just strikes up random counters with strangers," "Why does he go and do something like that?" Asuka asked. Nene shrugged, "Well, no one really knows. I assume it's to pass the time. That's just the way Ranma is," Asuka silently agreed. Ranma was a very social person, a very odd trait considering the kind of past he possessed. "How did Shinji come up with an idea for that site?" Asuka asked, changing the subject. Nene pointed to herself, "I suggested it to him," "You did?" Asuka gasped, "You mean you're the reason why the site exists?" Nene smiled, "Yes, more or less," "Why would you go and suggest a site like that?" Asuka asked. "Well, as I said earlier, if you ever follow Ranma and watch him, you'll realize that he's always striking up conversations with people," Nene stated, "I suggested a site be created on it because I saw the potential for money being made from Ranma's gregarious nature," "That would make the site a form of exploitation," Asuka said. "Yes, it would, if the money made from it was for profit," Nene answered, "But all the money made from it goes to charity, every cent of it," "You have any idea how much money that site makes?" Asuka asked, "It's mind boggling," "I have a rough idea," Nene said. Asuka scratched her head, "What confuses me is this, considering how much money the site makes, if the site is, in part, yours, shouldn't you get some of the money? If you keep even a tiny fraction of the money the site makes, you'll never have to work again," Nene smiled warmly, "Yes, that's true. But what you might not realize is that I love my job. Even if I was able to keep all the money from that site for myself, I'd still work. Besides, with people like Ranma around, if I'm ever in a situation where I'm in desperate need of money, money I can't come up with on my own working where I work, I can always rely on friends," "Oh," Asuka said. She then asked, "Exactly how does the site make money anyway? Shinji mentioned something about you writing some special script for it that prevents anyone from ever being able to download it," Nene nodded, "That's almost correct. Mokoto and I created those scripts. All the videos on the site can only be watched through the site and no where else. The videos can't be downloaded whatsoever," "Aren't there ways around it?" Asuka asked. "No, there isn't," Nene grinned, "Mokoto possesses hacking abilities not even from this world. And I'd also like to say I'm not all that shabby when it comes to hacking as well. Well, with us working together, preventing any form of hacking of the site is a breeze," "Oh, I guess you have a point," Asuka said. Nene giggled, "Let's just say, with a site like that, Mokoto's pride is on the line. Should anyone from this world get pass her anti-hacking methods, she knows that none of us will ever let her live it down," Asuka asked, "Didn't you hack through some of her anti-hacking methods before?" "Oh, that was a long time ago," Nene waved a dismissive hand, "That was because, when Ranma and I were on her world, I was using her world's technology against her. The method I was using, which would be considered somewhat advanced, was so primitive by her world's standards, that it was like, in a world of nothing but bullets, I was basically using a knife to slice through a bulletproof vest," "That's a rather odd analogy," Asuka said. "That's the best way to describe it," Nene shrugged. "How does the site provide the bandwidth to support all that traffic?" Asuka asked, "If people can only view those videos through the site, that must be a tremendous amount of traffic," "Ritsuko provides it," Nene answered. "Ritsuko?" Asuka asked, "What does she have to do with it?" "Ritsuko's computer company provides the bandwidth," Nene answered. Ritsuko created the MAGI computer for personal use in this world. More than ninety percent of the world's computers were MAGI computers, and because of that, her company needed to be on the cutting edge of Internet technology to accommodate the amount of traffic it received on a daily basis dealing with upgrades and patches and such. "It can handle that much traffic?" Asuka asked. Nene laughed, "Yes, pretty easily, all thanks to Ritsuko's competence in creating MAGI for personal use," Asuka seemed confused. "When Ritsuko created the very first MAGI computer to this world, she did such an amazing job," Nene answered, "So amazingly that she overestimated the amount of traffic her company website would receive for patches to her computer. Because her MAGI ran basically perfectly, no one really needed to go to her company's website to get patches and such," "Wow, I never knew that," Asuka stated. She couldn't believe how much she was learning. "Actually, neither did I until not too long ago," Nene laughed, "It's actually funny if you think about it. For the longest time, her company possessed the necessary bandwidth to support traffic from what could possibly be at least half of the world's population accessing her company's website at the exact same time, but only had to deal with a few thousand visitors a day, most of them just there to read up on their newly bought MAGI computer and not even there to download patches or such," "Wow," Asuka was genuinely impressed. "You're okay with all of this?" Asuka asked, "You're okay with the site?" Nene nodded, "Yes, more or less. As much as I dislike Ranma constantly chatting it up with random women, I can't say anything bad about the site. Ranma's constantly going to do what he does so I believe the site's a good thing because it helps charities out. Why bother letting a good thing go to waste?" "What about all those women on the videos on the site? Don't they have a say in anything?" Asuka asked. "Oh, I have no real idea about that stuff," Nene shrugged, "That has to do with legalities and such and that's not really my area of expertise," "But you work for the police," Asuka said, "Of all things, I figure you'd be the one person to know more about laws and such than anybody else," Nene said, "That deals more with privacy laws and such, and I'm no expert in that. Sylia knows a lot about that legal stuff. You're going to have to ask her about it," "Okay," Asuka said, "I'll go ask her," "Just curious, how come you're asking about the site anyway?" Nene asked. Asuka shrugged, "I was merely curious," "Does it have to do with school? Is it part of some kind of paper you're writing?" Nene asked curiously. Asuka shrugged, "I'm not too sure. I might write something about it but I'm not positive that I will," The professor had simply planted a seed in her mind to ask questions and seek the truth and that was what she was doing. It never really occurred to her that she could write a paper on her findings. "Well, good luck on your research," Nene said, looking at her watch, "I don't mean to cut our conversation short, but I need to get back to work now," Asuka smiled, "It's no problem. Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it," She watched as Nene headed off, disappearing into the elevator from where she had emerged earlier. She then checked her watch and noticed what time it was as well and decided that she should start heading off to class now if she wanted to get there in time. She would pay Sylia a visit after she was done with her morning class. Sylia was about to call Ranma's house to ask if he was interested in getting some lunch with her when Asuka, finished with her morning class, entered the shop. Sylia owned several chains of lingerie stores around Japan but actively worked in the MegaTokyo branch, checking up on the other stores every now and then. "Asuka, what brings you here?" Sylia greeted the young girl. Asuka cast a gaze in the general direction of the sexy panty section. "Here for some underwear?" Sylia asked innocently. Asuka blushed a shade even more red than her hair, "No!" Besides, if Asuka were to ever buy such risque panties, she would never let anyone know for fear of being horribly teased by everyone about it. Sylia laughed, "What can I do for you?" "I was talking to Nene about something earlier and she suggested I come ask you about something," Asuka began. "What is it?" Sylia seemed interested. "It concerns Shinji's website," Asuka said, "I'm curious about the legalities of such a site," Sylia smirked, "Taking an interest in Ranma's daily activities, I see. What brings this up all of a sudden?" "I'm just curious," Asuka said truthfully. She was genuinely interested in finding out about how that site worked. Her initial impression of what the site was seemed to be completely off from what it really is in the first place. "Well, what about it?" Sylia asked. "Well, the site contains a bunch of videos of Ranma hitting on women and such," Asuka began. "Have you seen the videos?" Sylia smirked. "Well, yeah," Asuka nodded, "I've seen several," "I guess you don't look carefully enough," Sylia stated, "In none of those videos do Ranma 'hit' on any of the women," Asuka was surprised at the comment, "What?" "Watch the videos on the site more carefully next time around," Sylia grinned, "I'll just leave it at that," Asuka was silent for a moment, making a mental note to browse the site more carefully. "So, what's this thing about the legalities of the site in which you're interested?" Sylia asked. "Oh, yeah, that," Asuka remembered, "Isn't there some kind of law against what Ranma does. Isn't it against the law for candid videos like that to be put on the Internet? Isn't there some kind of privacy issue being infringed upon there?" Sylia shook her head, "No, not at all," "None whatsoever?" Asuka asked. "None," Sylia said, "There were several incidents way back when the site first went up," "What happened?" Asuka asked. "This was before the site really took off, before it made a noticeable amount of money for charities," Sylia continued, "Several individuals filed suit against Shinji," "Really, that's interesting. I never knew that," Asuka said. "Shinji was all scared about getting in trouble," Sylia laughed, "It was pretty amusing. Since you talked to Nene, I'm pretty sure you realized that the site was actually Nene's idea, right?" Asuka nodded. "Well, Nene was the first to realize the potential of the idea," Sylia said, "The problem was that, because she works, she doesn't really have the time to focus on her idea and make the idea a reality. Besides, Nene is pretty whimsical and I'm pretty sure she predicted that she would grow bored of maintaining such a site over time. Well, that's where Shinji comes in. He took it upon himself to basically make Nene's idea a reality. Where the site is now is Nene's initial idea fully realized," "What does that have to do with someone filing a lawsuit against Shinji?" Asuka asked. Sylia said, "I was getting to that. Well, because the site was basically Shinji's creation, even though it was Nene's idea, Shinji was liable to lawsuits filed against that site. Well, several women were seriously peeved about finding themselves on the Internet and filed individual suits against Shinji," "And?" Asuka asked. "Shinji knew nothing about law so, of course, he was all in a panic about the trouble he might get in," Sylia said, "He never thought that something like this could lead to lawsuits being filed against him. He was scared that he would end up having a criminal record and such," "Those charges were dropped, right?" Asuka asked. Sylia nodded, "Yes. Against websites, most law firms use intimidation to get people to take down certain content that they believe infringes on a person's rights. What Shinji was doing was perfectly legal. You see, the videos on the site belonged to him and he could do whatever he wanted with them. Of course, the problem is that most people would assume otherwise, that he needed to get permission first to place those videos on his website," "Well, that's what I figured," Asuka said, "I figured a site like that did indeed infringe on a person's rights to privacy and such," Sylia smiled warmly, "The exact opposite actually. You see, if you watch every video, you'll notice that they all take place around town or wherever Ranma is when he ends up chit chatting with the person in the video. They're public areas so the person that believes their rights to privacy are being infringed upon doesn't have such rights at all," "That's very interesting," Asuka said. "You see, you learn new things every day," Sylia smiled, "A little bit of information can be very helpful if you keep an open mind and allow yourself to listen and take in information before making a judgment call," Asuka nodded, "You're right. Over the course of the past two days, I'm learning quite a bit," "For your information, concerning those lawsuits filed against him, Shinji was just like you and assumed what you assumed, that upon the people in those videos' rights where infringed," Sylia said, "With a little bit of information, he now no longer worries about a lawsuit being filed against him. Also, this was a while ago. The site has no form of malice so the videos were taken off anyway simply because it bothered the women that found themselves on the site," "So in the end, they won and managed to get those videos on them removed," Asuka smirked. Sylia shook her head, "Exact opposite actually. A few individuals didn't grasp what I just told you and continued to attempt to sue Shinji. That led to us countersuing against the law firms, for filing a frivolous lawsuit against Shinji. In the end, they lost," "So what you're telling me is that someone tried to sue Shinji but got sued in return for trying to sue him?" Asuka asked. "You can put it that way," Sylia said, "However, it was the law firms that were sued in return, not the individuals that filed suit. This all happened behind closed doors and all were eventually settled out of court," "What was your role in this?" Asuka asked. "I was basically Shinji's lawyer," Sylia smirked. "But you own a chain of lingerie stores," Asuka began. Sylia smirked, "So, let me get this straight, because I currently run a chain of lingerie stores, that means it's perfectly okay for you to assume I know nothing about law? That I know nothing else outside running a chain of stores?" Asuka said nothing, feeling embarrassed. Ranma usually preached that one should never assume anything yet here Asuka was, assuming something she shouldn't be in the first place. "Um, so, what happened to all those videos and such?" Asuka asked, wanting to change the subject. "Well, they were removed," Sylia said, "Because Shinji wanted to, not because he had to. He felt badly for all those women and removed them. That funny this is that Shinji would have removed those videos if they had just asked in the first place," "What happened to the money from the countersuits?" Asuka asked. Sylia said, "The money we won from all those countersuits was given to charities. We had no intention of keeping the money. It was all based on principles. They tried to intimidate Shinji by threatening to sue him to get him to remove those videos. I helped him out. Eventually, they either backed down or lost. Sure, I could've had Shinji remove those videos to save himself and myself the trouble of all that legal stuff, but there was a reason why I had him fight those lawsuits," "And what reason was that?" Asuka asked. Sylia said, "Well, this happened right in the beginning of the site's inception, before it became popular. Well, Nene knew the site would eventually become extremely popular and would generate an incredible amount of revenue. I took Nene's word for it and fought on Shinji's behalf to basically make it known to all those law firms that the Shinji will not be intimidated or back down from a fight. That's because I knew that, over time, when the site became extremely popular and started generating lots of money, more and more greedy people would come out of the woodworks and will attempt to sue him since they now believe that Shinji's rich and could afford to give out some of that money to save himself the grief and trouble of dealing with suits filed against him. Well, every suit filed against him was met with a countersuit against those law firms that originally filed against him. In the end, every one of them lost and eventually realized that it was a lost cause to even attempt to sue him. Nowadays, every law firm within a fifty mile radius learned the hard way to leave the site alone and will no longer help out whoever comes to them in an attempt to file suit against the site," "So let me get this straight," Asuka said, "There is nothing illegal going on on the site. However, because the site is popular and generates a lot of money, there are people out there who want some of that money and will always try to sue him for some of it, right?" Sylia nodded, "Yes, that's the gist of it. Well, I knew this would eventually happen so I fought for him so now all the law firms are basically terrified to take someone's case against the site. The thing is is that Shinji CANNOT be sued for what he's doing but there are always going to be people out there that think otherwise, most of them greedy for some of that money that site generates. Well, unfortunately for them, law firms will not take their cases since they realize that they will lose at the end," "Ah, I understand," Asuka said, "That's rather ingenious," Sylia shrugged, "Nowadays, to save ourselves the trouble of ever having to deal with lawsuits, since I'm sure there are some up-and- coming law firms in the area that never dealt with us before, every video on the site has the consent of the person being filmed," "Really?" Asuka was shocked to hear, "That I never knew," "Yes," Sylia nodded, "Of course, it's not seen in the videos because it's edited out. Ranma usually asks at the end of their conversations and most of them accept. From what I recall, only a few of them ever declined, especially after they find out what the focus of the site is," "Charity, right?" Asuka asked. Sylia nodded, "Right. Of course, despite knowing about it, I guess to some people are too shy to let themselves be recorded, even if it is for the good of mankind," "Good of mankind?" Asuka asked, "Exactly what charity work does the site do?" "Random charities," Sylia said, "I lost track of all the charities that that site had donated to. Actually, I was on my way to lunch. If you want, you can join me and we can discuss more about this during lunch,” Asuka checked her watch for a moment, and then sighed. As much as she wanted to go have lunch with Sylia, she didn’t have the time to do so. "Sorry, I can't. I won't have enough time to get to class in time. Maybe another time. Thanks for your help,” Asuka said. "It’s no problem," Later that day, Asuka stopped by AD Headquarters and managed to catch Nene just as she was leaving work to head home. They quickly greeted one another before Asuka started asking questions about the site again. "There's no possible way for anyone to download those files into their computers?" Asuka asked. "No," Nene shook her head. "There are a lot of brilliant people out there," Asuka stated, "I'm sure you're one of the best if not the best, but there's always that one chance that you might've missed something," Nene smiled, "That's where Mokoto comes in. Mokoto's specialty is hacking. While the people out there aren't necessarily trying to hack into the site, there are hackers out there that I'm sure wants to get those files off these sites simply because they want to know if it's possible. Well, I'm confident that no one in this world has the know-how to grab those files. There is no way anyone can get some kind of physical representation of those files off those sites. They are up against other-worldly anti-hacking methods," "But would our technology be considered a bit ancient to someone like Mokoto?" Asuka asked, "Even if she has much more advanced anti-hacking methods, doesn't this world's technology limit those methods? It's it like having someone that knows advanced racecar driving techniques but limited to using applying those same driving techniques on some horse-driven carriage since a carriage would be considered this world's version of technology?" Nene was impressed at the question, "That's a very good question. Well, that's not the case. It's not this world's technology she's using to prevent hacking. She's using her world's technology. Her cyber brain has a direct connection with the site and her cyber brain is beyond this world's technology," "What if someone steals the server that's running the site?" Asuka asked. Nene laughed, "Well, that is possible. Of course, the problem is them finding out the site's location, getting in there and stealing the physical, and extracting those files. To actually break into Ritsuko's company and steal it, you need someone like Ranma or Ryoga to pull it off without getting caught. In terms of getting those videos, they can't even watch the video on their computer monitor and actually record it using a video camera they place in front of the screen. The point is is that there are so many obstacles preventing anyone from hacking those sites and downloading those files that even the most hardcore hackers will eventually give up and just pay the measly 100 yen to watch the videos like every other non-hacker out there," "I understand," Asuka said. "And let's not forget those nasty things barriers Mokoto put up," Nene said, "For people who try to actually hack into the site to get those files, there are millions and millions of false paths for a hacker to find. Go down one path and a virus is sent back and your computer is corrupted beyond repair," "You don't think someone like Ranma can accidentally hack the site, do you?" Asuka asked. Nene said nothing for a moment. "Okay, maybe ONE person in this entire world has the ability to hack into that site. Knowing Ranma's insane luck, he might actually accidentally hack into while looking for porn. That can't be helped," Asuka giggled. "Seems like you've been doing some research about the site," Nene asked, "Did you find out what you're looking for?" "Yes, I found out that I basically knew nothing about the site and things turned out completely differently from what I had originally thought," Asuka said truthfully. Nene smirked, "Have you ever talked to Ranma before about some of the stuff he knows?" "Why do you ask that?" Asuka asked, "What do you mean?" "Well, if you ever have a deep conversation with Ranma about some of the stuff he knows, you'll realize that we, as a human race, have no idea about basically anything in the first place," Nene said. That evening, Asuka entered the living room where she found Ranma lying on the couch watching some Anime she didn't recognize while he waited for dinner time to roll around. "Ranma," she asked after a moment. "Hm?" Ranma looked up from the television and at Asuka. "I have a question," Asuka began. "Sure, what is it?" Ranma was curious. While Ranma and Asuka talked to one another all the time, this time around, it seemed like there was something important she wanted to ask. "Do you think humans are ignorant?" she asked. Ranma seemed confused, "Huh?" "Do you think we are an ignorant race?" she asked genuinely, "Considering, for a short time that is, when you were God and knew everything, did you form any opinion about the human race?" Ranma shrugged, "Does it matter?" "I'm just curious," she asked. "Well, first off, I didn't know everything, so to speak," Ranma began, "I simply had the ability to know the answer if I wanted to. There's a big difference between knowing everything and having access to knowing the answer. Think of it as like that of a library. If I wanted to know something, I'd just hafta look it up. That's very different from that of a person with the knowledge of an entire library in his head," Asuka nodded, "I know. You mentioned that before. That's why there's a lot of stuff you don't know about simply because you never bothered to let yourself know about it," Ranma smiled, "Yep," Asuka smirked, "This might seem like some kind of play of words, but, from what you know or remember from the time when you did know what you knew, do you think the human race is stupid?" Ranma scratched his head, "Huh? Know what I knew when I knew what I know?" Asuka sighed. For a man that once knew or had the ability to know all the answers to every and any questions that could possibly be asked, Ranma seemed rather stupid. She was getting nowhere. She thought for a moment on how to rephrase the question. "Do you think humans are stupid?" she asked again. "Now what makes you bring up a question like that?" Ranma asked. "It's for one of my college classes," Asuka said, believing there was no harm it telling him that, "I need to write a paper about something and, well, I figured you'd be helpful," Ranma's face lit up as he gave her a hug while still sitting on the couch, his face pressing into her slender stomach, "Really? You think I'd be helpful? Aw, how sweet. I'm so flattered. Smart girl, Asuka, is asking Baka-Ranma for help," For a short time, Asuka called Ranma by the nickname of 'Baka-Ranma' because he had a tendency to do some extremely stupid things from time to time. However, the nickname disappeared before long since Ranma, despite the tendency to do stupid things from time to time, was a lot smarter than he usually let on and she picked up on it. Asuka blushed a deep shade of red as she shoved Ranma off her, "Hmph, forget it. If I knew you were going to act like that, I would never've asked you," "C'mon, I was just teasing you," Ranma smiled before patting the empty space next to him on the couch, "Have a seat. I'll help you," Asuka glared at Ranma for a short moment before sighing and sitting down on the couch next to him. "Now, how can I help you?" he asked, smiling. "Do you think the human race is ignorant?" she asked. Originally, Asuka wanted to write a report about the 'Random Encounter' website but decided against it. Ranma shook his head, "No, not really," Asuka wondered about that for a moment. He seemed to be saying that genuinely. She had a tendency to believe Ranma over anyone else and that made her wonder what her college professor would say if he met Ranma. It seemed like they would have quite a debate on their hands since her professor thought otherwise, that the human race was very ignorant. "What makes you think that?" she asked. "Because, ignorance can usually be fixed with information about something," Ranma said, "The human race isn't ignorant. It's downright stupid. Extremely stupid actually," "What? Why do you say that?" Asuka felt almost insulted. Granted, Ranma was human as well, but his words seemed so condescending that it gave the impression that he wasn't part of the same race. Ranma said, "Because, stupidity can't be fixed. We are stupid because we don’t even realize how ignorant we are," "Then that's ignorance," Asuka corrected him. "No, it's stupidity," Ranma retorted, "We are so stupid, we don’t even realize we are ignorant even though the information is laid right out in front of us to reveal to us how ignorant we are," "So what you're saying is that we're too stupid to realize we are even ignorant?" Asuka asked. Ranma nodded, "Yep," "Care to elaborate?" Asuka was looking forward to what Ranma was going to say. Perhaps it would be akin to one a 'Ritsuko Explanation'. 'Ritsuko Explanation' was the term Ranma and the gang used to describe a mind-blowing explanation that usually revealed a truth to something or a chain of events that no one thought would have ever figured out. "Okay, here's an example, there is no such thing as Good or Evil," Ranma smirked, "There exists no one that is evil," "What? What about people like Hitler?" Asuka quickly retorted, "He's considered Evil," "This is why humans, from my point of view, are stupid," Ranma said, "You see, many years from now, humans will discover the truth behind all this. Keep in mind that humans have yet to fully understand human genes. Well, one day, everything will be revealed when humans finally figure out human genes. Once that happens, they will realize that EVERYONE that ever existed that would be considered 'evil' has certain genes that resulted in them doing 'evil' things," Asuka was stunned into silence. "Basically, when that correlation in genes is discovered, they will realize there is no such thing as 'evil'," Ranma said, "However, despite finding this out, they will refuse to fully accept it. Now, here we are, humans presented with the information to reveal to us that we have been ignorant about this thing called 'evil', yet what do we do? We are too stupid to realize that we have been ignorant in the first place. We are too stupid to realize we are a very ignorant race," "Sounds to me like how humans found out the universe doesn't revolve around the Earth," Asuka said. Ranma smiled, "That's a very good example. You see, to people that know the universe doesn't revolve around the Earth, they look back in time at those people that truly believe otherwise, 'Those humans back then were simply ignorant of the truth'. Fast forward a few centuries to a time where humans now know 'evil' doesn't exist. They will look back to our time, or at least close to our time, and go 'Those humans back then were simply ignorant of the truth'. You see a pattern here? Forward a few centuries from there and humans will find out that the universe isn't as old as they originally thought. In that future, the humans that now know the universe isn't as old as it was originally believe will think back to back then and go 'Those humans back then were simply ignorant of the truth'. Humans will continue to down this path. They will never realize they are a forever ignorant race despite being given the information to cure our ignorance," "So you mean to say we will never figure it out?" Asuka asked. "Right, the human race is eternally stupid," Ranma nodded, "At every point in time, they think they know the truth to something when they're too stupid to realize, based on history, that what they currently know is probably a crock of shit," Asuka said nothing, deep in contemplation. "Back to the subject of 'evil', here's a question," Ranma grinned, "Do you think it's appropriate for humans to believe someone could truly be evil while totally excluding the fact that there could very well be some kinda genetic link that leads people to do what they do?" Asuka shook her head, "Not really," "Don't you find it odd when someone considers a person 'evil' and basically 'fucked up in the head' when the person doing the name calling have no grasp as to the human mind?" Ranma asked, "Where we are right now, we barely even understand how the human mind works. Do you think we have the right to make such a diagnosis about someone being 'evil' or 'messed up in the head' where we have no qualification to make such an assessment?" Asuka said, "I understand what you mean," "The problem is that most people aren't like you or me," Ranma said, "There aren't many people around that will realize that they part of a race that is too stupid to realize their own race is basically eternally ignorant. There will be a few people that will think realize this. They'll say something like 'Hey, man, I betcha what I know right now, this very moment in time, is a crock of shit. Eventually, sometime in the future when the truth is revealed, someone will look back and just shake their head is disappointment at how ignorant I was'," "I-I've never thought of it like that," Asuka said. Ranma leaned back in his seat and smiled, "Don't worry about it. Most people never thought of it like that before," "Are there people who have thought of it like that before?" Asuka asked. Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure there are. Unfortunately, they'll most likely be seen as crazy for thinking such crazy ideas. They'll probably disappear from history or seen so as insane for thinking such insane ideas. Afterall, what do you think happened to the guy who went 'Hey, I don't think the Universe revolves around the Earth' back then during the time when everyone KNEW the Universe revolved around the Earth?" "I don't know," Asuka said. Ranma shrugged, "Exactly," Asuka said nothing. "Do you think I'm evil?" Ranma asked. "Well, no," Asuka said. "Why not?" Ranma asked, "Don't worry, there's a meaning to this question," "Well, because you've done many good things and have even saved worlds," Asuka stated. Ranma shrugged, "Well, if that's the case, then how come I'm seen as absolute evil in Asuka-chan's world? Afterall, I'm viewed as a person that tried to destroy her world," "That's because her world isn't aware that you had actually succeeded and recreated it making it think that you failed," Asuka said. She paused as it finally dawned on her, "Oh, I get it," Ranma said, "Let's take America, is it good or evil?" "I have mixed feelings about America," Asuka said, "To me, that place tries to do good for the world by bullying. However, they have been known to liberate many countries and save many lives from oppression," Ranma smiled, "Hm, sounds to me that that's very good. I'm sure America isn't 'evil', just ask the Indians. If someone came into your home, kick you out, and use your home to do charity work to the world, that shouldn't be considered 'evil', right? Should you let them off with doing that since the ends justify the means?" Asuka said nothing. "Here's something amusing," Ranma chuckled, "Ask any American where the best place to live on Earth and they will most likely say America. Ask anyone outside America and there is a chance they will say America as well. However, if you ask any American what they think of someone saying America isn't the best place to live, they'll most likely say 'screw off' or something. Afterall, they have this believe that most countries don't even know what to think since they believe many countries are ignorant to just how good America is," "You have a point there," Asuka nodded. "You know why they think this?" Ranma asked, "It's because they can't see the big picture. You know where the best place to live on Earth really is? It's right here, MegaTokyo. That is absolute. Why? Because if you ask God, she will say so. Now, don't you find it funny that all these Americans think that America is the best place to live when in reality, MegaTokyo is the best place to live? This is why the human race is stupid. If Skuld came down here and told the world that MegaTokyo is the best place on Earth, I'm pretty sure everyone in America will cry bullshit and not believe that she is God in the first place. That's where stupidity comes in, we are too stupid to realize that we are mostly ignorant about things in the first place," "Okay, let's say Skuld does come down and make that claim," Asuka said, "I'm sure there are people in America that will believe her. Therefore, they will realize they were ignorant to realize that America wasn't the best place to live on Earth," Ranma said, "That's not the point. The point is, given this circumstance, they will still not be aware that they are ignorant about lots of things in the first place. That's the point. Here's a better explanation, let's say you believe one plus one equals three. Along comes someone that reveals to you that you were ignorant of the fact that one plus one is actually two. Okay, so you accept this to be true and go only your merry way now believing one plus one equals two. The problem is that the information provided to you, the information that you were ignorant about something in the first place, doesn’t seem to get through to your mind that you might be ignorant about a lot of things besides one plus one equaling three," "I understand," Asuka said. "That's pretty good," Ranma smiled, "You should be very proud of yourself. You know how many people won't understand at what I'm getting? A good majority of the world won't. You know how many people will never think 'Hm, maybe, just maybe, I'm ignorant about lots of things, even the things that I hold to be the absolute truth'? A lot," "So how much stuff do we not know about?" Asuka asked. "More than we can possibly comprehend," Ranma chuckled. "But doesn't it drive you nuts that are so many people walking around that don't know the truth to something?" Asuka asked. Ranma shook his head, "No, not really. They can live their own lives the way they see fit while I live my own life the way I see fit. Even if I wanted to show people the truth, it's not worth it since we humans are opposed to change and would rather live a life of ignorance than that of truth. Being perhaps the only person that know what I know, I sometimes wish I was ignorant as well because it would most likely make my life all the more simpler," "I never realized you thought that way," Asuka said. "If you wanna consider this some kinda life-lesson, the best thing you can do is ask yourself 'Maybe, just maybe, what I know to be truth really isn't the truth'," Ranma shrugged. "Well, actually, yesterday and today has been pretty enlightening," Asuka said, "Um, as much as I hate to admit it, I realized I was ignorant about that 'Random Encounter' site in the first place," "Huh? Whatcha mean?" Ranma scratched his head. "Well, I just thought it was some stupid website that exploits women," Asuka said, "But over time, I found out there was more to it than just that," "Oh, so that's why you're asking me these questions, because it sparked some kinda flame that made you think 'Hey, maybe I don't know as much about things as I originally thought'?" Ranma smirked. Asuka let out annoyed breath, "You don't have to quite put it that way," "Well, whatever the case, the best way to live to keep an open-mind," "Do you think the human race is stupid?" Asuka asked Urd. Tonight happened to be Asuka's lucky night because Urd had decided to visit the house and say hi. While she resided in Heaven, she tended to drop in at the house every few days. Even though she was now immortal, Urd always enjoyed being in company of mortals. She was mortal for a short period of time but that didn't last long for Skuld figured out how to restore Urd back to her Pre-God powers, the powers Urd possessed before she took on the role of God for a short period of time. Nowadays, the only person more powerful than Urd was your younger sister, Skuld but that was almost debatable simply because Skuld, while infinitely more powerful, had yet to fully understand and control her own powers. "Without a doubt," Urd said without hesitation. "What makes you say that?" she asked. "The human race is stupid because they are ignorant yet never realize it despite all the clues indicating it," Urd said, "They were put on here to learn and to grow. If they realized this, they will be free of these confines that make them a stupid race to begin with. You see, you're hear to learn. If you learn, you will grow. If you grow, you will become a better person," "Does it have anything to do with them not learning that they're, well, ignorant?" she asked. Urd nodded, "It has everything to do with that. It's the only race that readily accepts something without trying to find the truth," "Got any examples?" Asuka asked. She was eager to hear what Urd had to say. Perhaps she might bring up other examples that Ranma hadn't brought up. Urd thought for a moment, "Hm. Oh, I have one. Superstition. Humans are superstitious," "What about it?" Asuka asked. "Most of the people that have some form of superstition aren't even aware of why it's a superstition in the first place," Urd said. "Oh, you mean like how the number 13 is considered an unlucky number?" Asuka said. "That's an excellent example," Urd said. "Many cultures consider that number to be unlucky. In Christian culture, it coincides with the Last Supper in where 13 people were hosted and one betrayed Christ, resulting in his crucifixion. The Hindus and Vikings believe in this myth where 12 gods were invited to a gathering and Loki, the god of mischief, the 13th and uninvited guest, crashed the parted and caused a riot. In Egyptian culture, 13 represented death because they believe life unfolded in 12 stages, the 13th stage representing death. While Egyptians didn't consider it an unlucky number, most cultures considered death to be unlucky. The number also stems from Friday the 13th, a day in that occurred back in 1307 where the Knight Templar, a very powerful group of secular knight that were originally mandated to defend Catholic pilgrimages to the Holy Land, were rounded up and tortured and killed," "It seems like there are a lot of origins to the number 13 being considered unlucky," Asuka said. "This is why the human race is considered stupid," Urd grinned, "You see, 13 is actually a good number. The number 13 coincides with the number of menstrual cycles a woman has as well as the number of lunar cycles in a year. Menstruation represents the proliferation of the human race. Lunar cycles represent the changing of time, the supposed growth of the human race. Those are actual physical representation of the number 13 existing in this world and that number's significance. Humans are stupid in not seeing the obvious clues and instead, choosing to adopt that number as unlucky by associating it with human created phenomenon as opposed to seeing it through Godly created ones. That is yet another good example of how humans are presented the obvious clue to cure their ignorance that they are an ignorant race yet being too stupid to realize it," Asuka said, "Man, hearing all of this makes me feel almost ashamed to be human," "You humans live in the age of super information," Urd said, "Humans have quick and easy access to an almost infinite supply of information. However, no one seems to take advantage of that and learn. You see, the age you humans are living in is very different from centuries before, when illiteracy was rampant and the poor was working non-stop to provide food for their family and had no time to sit down and learn something. Do you realize how easy it is to access information in this day and age? Sadly enough, the percentage of people that actually use this information to learn about things is the exact same percentage as people from well before the Internet age," "Really?" Asuka asked. Urd nodded, "Yes. Nowadays, you can just ask a computer to find out the origin to something you're not too sure about, but do you? Most likely not. It certainly can't be laziness since it doesn't even take a full second to get the information you need. You know what it is? Once again, it's the stupidity of one's own ignorance. They too stupid to realize that they're ignorant of many things around them even there are plenty of things around pointing this out, that they're ignorant in the first place," "Do you have other examples?" Asuka asked, still interested in hearing more. "There are plenty of things to find out," Urd shrugged, "Just research into the origins of something you're not too sure you understand and see what you come up with and you'll be surprised at what you find out," "What's the meaning of life?" Asuka asked, changing the subject. Since Urd seemed to not mind answering a few of Asuka's questions, she figured she might as well ask for an answer to the age-old question everyone had asked themselves. Urd asked, "Don't you know already?" Asuka shook her head. "Didn't Ranma tell you?" Urd said, "I figured that Ranma would've told you," Asuka said, "I asked him what it was but he said he forgot to write it down," Urd started laughing, "Ranma forgot? That's amusing," "So do you know what the meaning of life is?" she asked. "Uh huh," Urd nodded. "Can you tell me what it is?" Asuka asked curiously. "You sure you want to know?" Urd smirked. "What, you don't want to tell me?" Asuka asked. "No, it's not like that," Urd replied, "It's just that there are some questions best left unanswered. This question happens to be one of them. A question like that has a definite answer, but an interpretive answer is probably better. What do you think the meaning of life is?" "Well, back then, I figured the meaning to my life was to pilot Unit-02," Asuka said, "Obviously, that was not the case," Urd smiled, "So what does the new you think the meaning of life is?" "I have no idea," Asuka said, "That's why I'm asking you. I'd actually like to know what the definitive answer to what life is," "You really want to know, huh?" Urd asked, "Well, the answer's pretty simple. It's to learn," "To learn? To learn what?" Asuka was surprised at the answer, "I hope your answer isn't something like 'The answer to life is to learn the answer him or herself'," Urd laughed, "No, it's not like that. It's to learn and continue learning and to grow from said learning experiences," Asuka found that answer to be a little too simplistic. Could that be really the answer to life? Since the beginning of mankind, Man had always wondered what the meaning of life was and could never find the answer. Now here she was, hearing the answer. "Seems like a ridiculous answer, huh?" Urd grinned, "Don't worry, I understand. You live in a world where it's believed that there is no definitive answer to such a question. That's why hearing the answer, and trying to accept such an answer as truth, seems a bit weird," "You can say that again," Asuka said. "It's funny that you mention that," Urd said, "That is one of the reasons why the human race is considered stupid in the first place. They were basically put here to learn yet they don't seem to learn even thought they're constantly being given answers to help them learn and grow. They have their own beliefs and stuff and end up doing anything but learn," Asuka sighed, rubbing her head, "Man, all this stuff I'm learning, I'm learning about for the very first time and it's giving me a headache. There's so much stuff I'm finding about that seems preposterous," Urd smiled warmly, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, there's no need to try and learn too much. It is inevitable that over the course of your lifetime, you will never learn everything there is to learn. You will die having learned basically nothing about how everything works," "How's that supposed to make me feel any better?!" Asuka asked, "Now I'm going to go around knowing that I will die not knowing anything!" Urd scratched her head. Perhaps she had been in contact with Ranma far too often that some of his quirks had started to rub off on her, such that she now had a tendency not bother to think before she spoke. "Um, you want me to erase that part of the conversation?" Urd asked, "If it really bothers you knowing the truth, I can always erase it and you will never know," Asuka held her hands up, "No, there's no need. After having talked to Ranma and you, as much as I would rather not know the truth to some things, I think I'm better off than just being ignorant about it," Urd shrugged, "Actually, that's quite the opposite. If you live without knowing the truth, you'll live a happy life. You see, you're better off knowing the truth, but being better off doesn't necessarily mean you'll be happy with knowing it. In actuality, you'll be much happier not knowing about some truths. Afterall, ignorance is bliss," "Ranma mentioned that saying as well," Asuka said, "No, don't worry about it. I would much rather know the truth than not, even if the truth is a bit disconcerting," Urd smiled, "That's good. You're well on your way to distinguishing yourself from that of the stupidity that is the human race," "Doesn't it bother you that the human race is so stupid?" Asuka asked. Urd shook her head, "Not really. You can't cure stupidity. How come you're asking me all the questions? I don't seem to understand a correlation with all these questions you're asking me," "I'm supposed to write a report about something I found out that I never knew before," Asuka said, "Well, I've been finding out a lot of truths to things I didn't know, and, frankly, I'm not too sure what to write about since there so much to write about," "Oh, so you're basically doing research for a paper which you have no idea what you're writing about?" Urd asked. Asuka gave a shy smile, "More or less," "Is this paper supposed to be something for everyone in the class to hear about and hopefully learn from?" Urd asked, "Are you trying to find a subject for the class to hear that they had no idea about as well? If that's the case, write a report about how God is a female. That should be an interesting read," Asuka said, "No, that's not quite what the report is about. I have to write about something I didn't know about. I know your sister is God," "Hm," Urd said, scratching her chin, "Well, I can probably tell you a few things that you don't know about, but if you write about it and your professor reads about it, that person will probably think you made the whole thing up since your professor will probably not believe it since it seems so unbelievable," "Actually, perhaps that would be a good idea," Asuka said, smiling slightly, "My professor claims that most people are very ignorant of things. Perhaps something like this would might make him think that he is not one to talk about people being ignorant," Urd smirked, "Sounds amusing. So you basically want to hoist your professor with his or her own petard?" "Do you think that would be a good idea?" Asuka asked. Urd said, "Sure. Sounds rather amusing," "Is there anything in particular that you tell me about that would be pretty unbelievable?" Asuka asked "Hm, let me think for a moment," Urd scratched her chin, deep in thought. After a moment, she snapped her fingers, "Ah, I've got one. First off, do you like Christmas?" Asuka nodded, "Of course," "Why?" Urd asked. "Because, it's a fun time of festivities, to give and receive presents, and such," Asuka said, "I myself don't really know Christmas' origin, but hey, it's a very fun time of the year. Why do you ask?" "Have you heard of a guy named Adolf Hitler?" Urd asked. Asuka nodded, "Of course. He's a man that rose to power in Germany during the late 1920s and early 1930s and was basically the main cause of the World War II and The Holocaust, the death of millions and millions of innocent people," "Do you know anything else?" Urd asked. Asuka said, "Most people would consider him 'evil' but since 'evil' doesn't exist, I'm not too sure what to think. He wrote a book called Mein Kampf which argued how the German race was the superior race to all others and how it was the German race's obligation to control the world. He especially disliked the Jews and blamed the degradation of the German race and all the faults that exist in the world on the Jews. What about him? What, you're going to tell me a truth about him to write about that my professor would most likely not know? My professor is a pretty well-read person and I wouldn't be surprised if he read Mein Kampf and such," Urd said, "Here's something interesting, what many people didn't know was that the Nazi regime, Hitler's regime, celebrated Hitler's birthday, that being April 20th," "Okay, I still follow you," Asuka said. "That day was called Hitlerday," Urd said, "It was a time when the Nazi celebrated his birthday by giving gifts to one another, drinking, and feasting until everyone was basically full and couldn't eat anymore. It was a time to be happy and enjoying one's company in the name of Hitler," "Okay," Asuka said, "I still follow you," "Well, a few centuries from now, Hitlerday will be become celebrated holiday," Urd said, "It'll actually become one of the most celebrated holidays after quite some time," "What?!" Asuka gasped, "A few centuries from now? You mean people are actually going to celebrate his birthday? Why? Why in the world would people do something like that?! Even though Ranma said 'evil' doesn't exist in the world, Hitler, of all people, would be a good example to argue against that. Some of the things he did and preached lead do some of the most atrocious things humanity had ever witnessed," Urd nodded, "Yes. A few centuries from now, Hitlerday will be celebrated. At the current moment, only White supremacist within Germany is celebrating Hitlerday. Over time, those that celebrate it will grow in numbers where it'll eventually spread across to neighboring countries. Before long, it will be celebrated by the entire world," Asuka's jaw dropped in shock. "Why?!? Why would this world do something like that?!" Asuka gasped, "How can this world be so heartless to celebrate such a day?!" "That's because, a few centuries from now, the people of that time will have long forgotten about the Holocaust and the death of millions and the horrors of war that occurred during the time of Hitler," Urd shrugged, "They will never have heard of gas chambers and death marches and such. They will not know exactly who Hitler was or what he had done since it was so long ago. Knowledge of what happened will have disappeared over the course of time. It's inevitable. What would you do if you existed during that future?" "What else? I'll tell them that what they're doing, celebrating Hitlerday, is absolutely wrong," Asuka said, "I'll remind them of what really happened during Hitler's regime, of that day's real history and what happened to their ancestors because of that one man. I'll tell them about the Holocaust and the death of millions of innocent people," "What kind of reaction do you think you'll get if you tried?" Urd asked. "They'll be disgusted with what they hear and will most likely cease to celebrate that day out of homage to all those that suffered and died," Asuka replied confidently. Urd shook her head, "Sorry, but that will not happen. They'll just brush off your statements and say they're not celebrating the death of millions of innocent people. They'll say something like 'We're just following tradition'. Afterall, Hitlerday has been celebrated many years beforehand and they're simply keeping up with tradition," Asuka could find herself getting angry, "But that's a complete travesty for them to do that!" "Well, the human race is a stupid race," Urd shrugged, "Do you really think that you, alone, can convince an entire world not to celebrate Hitlerday? Do you think you can convince everyone to throw away tradition?" Asuka could be seen visibly shaking with anger at the comment, "N-no, but I'm positive I would try," Urd smiled, "That's good to hear," There was a moment of silence as Asuka could be seen taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Man, I can't believe something like Hitlerday will be celebrated in the future," Asuka felt sad for humanity, "I'm just glad I'll be long dead by the time that happens. I would not want to live in such an era where people don't know the truth behind Hilterday," Urd smiled, "Don't worry, that will never happen," "Of course not, I'll be long dead by then," Asuka sighed in relief. "No, not that," Urd said, "Hitlerday was just a story I made up," "Y-you did?" Asuka said, feeling a great sense of relief, "Why'd you go and make up something like that? What's the meaning behind that?" "Well, the next time you're preparing to celebrate Christmas, and someone comes to you and tries to explain Christmas' real significance, and you ignore that person and go on thinking your celebration has nothing to do with such a horrible history, you might think twice about saying 'We're just following tradition'. That's because you are no different than a person celebrating Hitlerday should that day be celebrated in the future. That's because you don't know of its origin, yet celebrate it because it's seeped in tradition," Asuka said nothing. The next day, Asuka read her paper in front of class. It turned out that the report wasn't meant to be handed in. The professor wanted the class to think it was a hand-in report when his original plan was to have it read aloud in front for everyone to hear. Asuka had written a paper about Christmas and its origins and how she would no longer be celebrating Christmas ever again now that she knew the truth behind Christmas. She hadn't gotten thirty seconds into reading her report, using the example of Hitlerday, before several students expressed outrage. Asuka knew she had a battle in front of her but was ready to stand her grounds and debate if need be. "Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ," one student said in anger, "Jesus was nothing like Hitler and they should not be even associated with one another. Christ was a savior while Hitler led to the deaths of millions of innocent people," "Perhaps you should let me finish my report," Asuka retorted, "This has nothing to do with birthdays of two individuals. This has to do with the celebration of a day with an origin people know nothing about. Just because you know the origin of Hitlerday, that doesn't mean everyone will know of it as well, especially several centuries from now. Also, what makes you think December 25th is the date of birth of Jesus? Because someone told you so? Because mankind knows this? Gee, isn't this the same mankind that used to know that the Universe revolved around the Earth?" "There is documented proof that he was born on that day," the student argued. Asuka laughed, finding amusement from that student's conviction. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus' real birthday fell on September 11th, a day that was considered horrible in American history. She had read about that day in her history books about how two large American buildings were destroyed and a few thousand people were killed in the process. Beyond that, she knew nothing else. That was a good indication of how history of the past seemed to slowly be forgotten over the course of time. She made a mental note to ask Ranma more about who this Jesus person was since Ranma seemed to know him. She remembered Ranma say he owed Jesus some money. Of course, as to how or why money existed in Heaven was another story. "So, there's also documented proof that the Universe revolved around the Earth," Asuka said, "There's also documented proof that he wasn't born on that day. There's documented proof that the sun revolved around the Earth. There's many things we think we know the truth to when in reality we know nothing about. And for your information, more people died because of Jesus than Hitler. Millions were killed in the name of Nazism. Even more millions were killed in the name of religion," "You sure have great conviction in what you believe," Asuka commented, smirking, "Conviction in something is a precious thing. Not many people have such convictions. To be able to believe in something with absolute conviction is something not often seen in this world," The student smiled, "Thanks," "That's not a compliment," Asuka said, "Conviction without knowledge one holds conviction to is a dangerous combination," She didn't really know why she said that in the first place. Perhaps it was Ranma's ability to taunt someone and push a person's buttons rubbed off on her. "What did you say?!" the student seemed angry. The student looked visibly angry, as if he wanted to get up to slap some sense into Asuka. When Asuka cast the student a gaze that basically said 'Go ahead, just try and do something and you'll be in a world of hurt', he backed down. Everyone in class knew not to really mess with Asuka. Trained by Ranma, Asuka possessed an aura of martial arts that indicated she should never be physically crossed. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?" the student said, "You're basically bad mouthing Jesus. What, you some kind of Anti-Christ? Why would you fend for Hitler?" The professor quickly stepped in, "It's obviously that this is a touchy subject that will result in a very heated argument," Even though he didn't hear Asuka's full report, he knew he was going to give her an A. "Well, it seems like you can't seem to view a situation from a different perspective than the one you want to see," Asuka said, "If you're not even open enough to attempt to see something from a different perspective, it's a waste of my time to try and argue you. Also, judging by your reaction to my statement, it has confirmed what I learned to be true," "And what might that be?" the professor was curious. "It's up to you to seek your own answers," Asuka entered the house that evening. Looking around, she noticed no one was home. She shrugged before heading up the stairs for her bedroom. Inside her bedroom, she sat down in front of her computer, ready to begin researching material for an upcoming report she needed to hand-in. A student's work was never done, afterall. Not two minutes before she started browsing the Internet for suitable reference sites for her report, a window popped in the middle of her monitor. It was a message from a messenger program. Asuka's eyes widened in pleasant surprise as she realized as she realized it was a message from her friend Naomi. Naomi was a very close friend of hers from a few years ago and had gone to the same high school. They had to part ways when Naomi had to move to America. Naomi was Asuka's very first friend ever since Asuka came to this world. For some reason, the two of them got along real well and basically became instant best friends. They still remained best friends even though they hadn't seen each other in a few years and the Pacific Ocean separated the two of them. 'hey, hows everything going?' Naomi's message began. 'naomi! its been a long time! hows everything going?' Asuka typed. Neither girls bothered to type capitals letters at the beginning of every sentences. It seemed like both girls were too lazy to bother with proper punctuations. 'everythings fine. and you?' Naomi wrote. 'fine here as well' Asuka wrote back. 'i have good news. great news actually' Naomi wrote. 'what, youre coming back to japan?' Asuka wrote, feeling hopeful. 'yep, ill be moving back before the week' Naomi wrote. Asuka felt this great sense of excitement. Her friend was moving back to Japan. It was a joyous occasion. Her joy was only short lived as reality set in. 'how come?' Asuka wrote, 'why all of a sudden?' 'what, havent you been reading the news?' Naomi wrote. 'not really, why?' Asuka asked, feeling a bit annoyed with herself. The past few days, she had been learning about how she should be more aware of her surroundings and what was going on, and she had forgotten about current events. 'japan found the cure to cancer' Naomi wrote, 'i can come back to japan now' 'what?! really?' Asuka felt like her heart was going to explode with joy. Naomi had moved to America a few years ago for cancer treatment and attend college. It was a very sad day in both girls' lives when Naomi had found out she had cancer. 'yeah, its all over the newspapers and television over here' Naomi wrote, 'the cure was discovered two days ago' The comment made Asuka realize she had been too caught up talking to Ranma and the other for her upcoming report to have noticed something like that. How she had missed something like that was shocking. 'how is this possible?' Asuka wrote, 'i thought a cure was at least four years away' 'what makes you say that?' Naomi wrote. 'i read about it somewhere' Asuka wrote. Asuka felt bad for lying to her friend. She was aware of that it wouldn't be for another ten years before the cure for cancer was discovered. She knew this because she had spoken to Urd about it back when she was God and stopping by for a visit. "Can you please cure my friend of cancer?" Asuka had begged Urd. "Sorry, can't do that," Urd said, "I have to let nature take its course in this world," "But can't you spare my friend's life? She's my closest friend," Asuka asked, "I have no idea how much longer she has to live," "I don't mean to sound cold, but your friend will not live long enough to see the cure," Urd said, "She will have died three years before the cure is found." Urd had no problems in telling Asuka future dates of when something will happen because Asuka was human and completely tied to fate. No matter what she did, even if she knew of the knowledge, she could not change the course of events. Time flowed in a fashion where, even if there is a deviation in the true timeline, it will eventually deviate back to its original course. For instance, if it was God's will for someone to be poor for a person's entire life, and Asuka intervened and gave the person the winning numbers to win the lottery, a series of coincidences would occur that will result in that individual losing all that money and becoming poor again. "Why won't you cure her?!" Asuka shouted at Urd, "She's my closest friend! Can't you just save just one person's life?" "No," Urd wasn't budging, "It's my Will. I don't intend to explain my actions simply because the true meaning behind what I'm doing and why I'm doing it is beyond your comprehension," "Why don't you just try me?" Asuka had to hear a reasonable answer for Urd's actions. "Look, what I'm doing can be best described as a 'necessary evil'," Urd said, using that term to make it somewhat understandable to Asuka, "The cure for cancer will not be cured for several years from this point in time. Unfortunately, you friend will be one of the casualties. If I were you, I'd spend as much time enjoying the time you have left to spend with you friend. It'll only be a short time from now before your friend moves away to America to seek cancer treatment," Asuka said nothing. For a long time, Asuka blamed her friend's suffering on Urd. But over time, she learned to forgive her and accept it. While she still didn’t understand why her friend had to die, Asuka knew that she had to look at the big picture, that being the course of human evolution. She could not dwell on the here and now, that being her friend's life, and needed to see beyond that and eventually went on with her life. Asuka thought back to that conversation she had with Urd a while back and became sad again. Even though a cure had been found, it seemed like it was just wishful thinking on humanity's part. Based on the conversation she had with Urd a long time ago, the cure will not be found for another few years. A came down one of Asuka's cheek as she felt this great sense of sadness at knowing the truth, at knowing that this discovery was nothing more than humanity jumping the gun and actually thinking they had found the cure when they really didn't. 'thats great to hear' Asuka wrote back, pretending to share her friend's enthusiasm, 'do you have an exact time when youll be getting back? Ill be more than happy to meet you at the airport' 'ill be arriving back in japan at noon on Sunday' came the reply 'don’t worry about meeting up with me. My parents will pick me up. But as soon as I get unpacked, ill be sure to give you a call' 'okay' Asuka wrote. 'im sorry, but ive got to run' Naomi wrote 'i have to get ready for class. Ill talk to you later' 'okay, talk to you later' Asuka wrote back. Asuka saw the window display that her friend logged off. For several minutes, she saw there, nearly on the brink of tears. She was sad that she could not feel the sense of joy and happiness her friend was experience because she knew the truth, she knew that the real cure for cancer had not been found. At that moment, Asuka realized that perhaps knowing the truth was a double edged sword. She recalled the statement Urd had made the other day 'If you live without knowing the truth, you'll live a happy life. You see, you're better off knowing the truth, but being better off doesn't necessarily mean you'll be happy with knowing it. In actuality, you'll be much happier not knowing about some truths. Afterall, ignorance is bliss' Asuka felt sad as she truly wished she was ignorant of the truth, so she could feel happy for her friend and take part in the excitement in knowing that her friend's life would not end prematurely. Unable to contain her tears, Asuka flopped down on her bed, burying her head in her pillow, breaking out in sobs. "Why does it have to turn out like this?" Asuka cried, "It's not fair! I want to be happy for my friend!" She cried for several minutes, the tears flowing freely. When she basically cried out all of her tears, she sat upright and wiped her face. For several minutes, she just sat there, wondering what she should do. After a moment, she came up with an idea. She would ask Urd manipulate her memories and erase the conversation she had with Urd a while back. That way, if Asuka didn't know that the cure for cancer will not be discovered for a few years from now, she would be able to feel happy for her friend and take part in the excitement. Taking a few deep breaths, she left her room and began heading downstairs. The phone in the hallway had Urd's phone number in Heaven. She would give Urd a call and ask if she could stop by so they can talk. Heading down the stairs, she heard cheering coming from downstairs. "We did it! We did it!" she heard Ranma cheering, "Bwahaha, who's the man? I'm the man! Who's the man? I'm the man!" Curious as to what Ranma was cheering about, she looked into the living room where she saw Ranma doing a little dance in front of the television. It seemed like he had gotten home while she was upstairs in her bedroom. "Ah, Asuka, come in, you're just in time for the celebration," Ranma had a big smile on his face. "What's going on?" Asuka asked, momentarily forgetting her sadness. Ranma spun around toward Asuka and picked her up in his arms, "Today's a great day! The cure for cancer was found!" Asuka blushed, a bit embarrassed at being embraced like that, "I-I know. I just found out," "This rocks! All that hard work finally paid off!" Ranma had a big smile as he placed Asuka back down on her feet, "I can't wait to tell the others. Then again, I'm pretty sure they already know. We need to all meet up and go out and celebrate this awesome day!" "What are you talking about? What hard work finally paid off?" Asuka asked. "We've discovered the cure cancer," Ranma said, "This is a huge step forward for mankind. This is one of the biggest discoveries ever. All the work we've been doing has finally paid off," "'We've been doing'? What work?" Asuka asked. "The Random Encounter site," Ranma said. "What about that site? What does that have to do with it?" Asuka was confused. "Haven't you been doing asking question about that site the other day?" Ranma asked, "Dontcha know what that site is about?" "Yes, it's a site for charity," Asuka answered. "The money the site makes, where do you think all of it went?" Ranma said, "It went toward discovering the cure to cancer. The site's main focus was in the field of medical research and it seems like it has finally paid off," "What?! Really?" Asuka's eyes widened in surprise, "That's the true purpose of the site?" Ranma nodded, "Yeah. The site's main purpose was for the good of mankind. What better good can you do for mankind than finding the cure for cancer?" For a moment, Asuka felt very happy, until she remembered the conversation on how the cure for cancer would not be found for another few years. This discovery was nothing but wishful thinking and it seemed like Ranma had no idea. She regarded him with a sense of sadness as she realized she could not take part in Ranma's happiness in such a discovery. Extremely loud thunder suddenly crackled in the background. Strong gusts of wind could be heard loudly coming from outside the house. "Oh boy," Ranma said, "It seems like she found out about it," "Who found out about what?" Asuka asked, confused. "Skuld," Ranma smirked. "Skuld?" Asuka asked. "You know, Skuld, AKA God," Ranma answer. "I know Skuld's God," Asuka retorted, "What about her?" "It seems like she found out about the discovery and it seems like she's really PISSED," Ranma gave a shy smile, scratching the back of his head. "What do you mean?" Asuka asked, "Why would Skuld be angry?" "Oh, I guess you don't know the full story," Ranma said, "A while back, while I was in Heaven, I was using Yggdrasil for porn...um....for the heck of it. While snooping around, I found out that the cure for cancer wasn't supposed to be discovered for a while. Not too long ago, I noticed you were depressed and found out that you were depressed that your friend had cancer and had to leave for America for treatment. When this Random Encounter idea popped up, I went along with it because I believed in Nene's idea that the site would generate a lot of money for donating to charity. Most of the money went to medical research and it has finally paid off. Since the cure for cancer wasn't supposed to be discovered until way down the line, this is going to really piss of Skuld because I basically single-handedly threw a monkey wrench in the machine that is this world's timeline," "I'm still confused," Asuka said, "How does this affect this world's timeline?" "People can't alter the flow of a world's timeline, even if they know exactly what's gonna happen and tries to change it," Ranma said, "That's because they're tied to fate where certain things are predestined to happen to them. Therefore, if someone aware of what's going to happen to this world and makes an attempt to change the timeline and succeeds, a series of events occurs that eventually brings the world back on to its intended timelines. I, on the other hand, am not tied to fate so I can actually, um, directly or indirectly change a world's intended timeline through my actions or just by being there," Asuka's eyes widened, "Oh my God! I completely forgot about it!" Ranma grinned, "Heh, Skuld's gonna be really pissed since what I did basically means she needs to either completely write a new timeline for this world or recreate everything back to the way it was before this sudden deviation in the timeline," "Which do you think she would choose?" Asuka asked. "She'll most definitely create a new timeline that stems off this one," Ranma said confidently, "It's too much trouble to recreate world up to a certain point. Besides, considering the timeline was originally Urd's when she was God, this will be a good chance for Skuld to take a crack at creating her own timeline," Asuka started to understand what Ranma was saying. "Wait, you mean this discovery of the cure for cancer, it's totally legit?" Asuka asked, "You mean they really found the discovery for cancer and it isn't some kind of wishful thinking where mankind is jumping the gun?" Ranma nodded, "Yep. Because I had a direct connection with this discovery, it basically means the expected future discovery of the cure no longer exists. Basically, I killed two birds with one stone, I helped save your friend's life because, if I recall correctly, I remember reading she was supposed to die before the cure was discovered, and I also helped mankind take a giant leap forward in prolonged life," Asuka, realizing what that means, burst out in tears of joy as she jumped up and hugged Ranma, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're the greatest!" Ranma blushed as he gave her pat on the top of her head, "Don't mention it," Asuka looked out the window where it was now storming outside. "Um, Skuld seems really angry," Asuka seemed genuinely worried for Ranma, "What are you going to do now that you completely messed up this world's timeline? Skuld's going to be after your head for what you've done. Exactly how do you intend to avoid the wrath of God?" Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror, a grin on his face. "What else? I'm gonna go hide on another world,"