This didn't look like the usual set-up in The Store of Doom stories--How did he know that, anyway? The way his pop had brought him up, he'd seen very little movies or even TV, and he really didn't like to read. It must have been stories he overheard the other kids told each other. But even then, he hadn't paid much attention.
Anyway, Ranma was on edge and decided not to tempt Fate, even if Destiny was shoving him. If the guy who looked like a male, manga angel was benevalent super-soul, he ought to give him time enough to figure out what is best in his own way. If he thought he really could help someone as a martial artist, he would. But there was no rush. Not if he could be sent in time at any time, right?
All of this thinking happened in the seconds it took for Ranma to reach the door he'd come in.
The door opened. And in came Ranma.
Not the "girl-Ranma"; not "Ranma from another time"; not even the "Ranma who's already tried to Take a Chance. No, by the identical stains on his clothes, and the nick on the face he'd gotten this morning, it was the Same Ranma that Had Just Moments Earlier Come into the Store.
"You don't think I'll meet myself again if I try to leave again?" both of them said at the same time.
Wed Apr 20 12:06:09 2005