There'

There's More Than Enough of Me To Go Round.

Ranma sighed. His parents were rowing again. It was absolutely chucking it down outside, so there was no point in venturing out onto the roof for some peace and quiet. Akane wasn't talking to him at the moment, courtesy of a friendly glomp or two from Shampoo earlier. Ukyou had closed the shop due to a bad head-cold, and Ranma was fairly sure that if he went out into the rain that he would doubtless meet trouble of one sort or another.

He turned and looked round his room. Bed, books, clothes everywhere, computer. The computer had been a birthday present from his mother, an incentive for him to study hard at school and get into university. And maybe if he went to university, he might have the chance to find out what he wanted to do with his life. Not his fiancees, his parents or anyone else.

Switching on the computer, Ranma waited until it had finished booting up and was ready and waiting for him to use. Thoughtfully, chewing on his lower lip, he logged on to the internet and his email. His email wasn't very exciting so he decided to do some web searching. What to search for?

Thinking for a few moments, Ranma entered "curses" into the search query option and hit return. His blue eyes widened at the range of options available and for a few minutes he allowed himself to be side-tracked at the thought of using some of the curses on a few certain specimens of his acquaintance. Then he shook his head. Nice ideas, but the chances were that something terrible would happen if he did so - not such a good idea.

He scrolled down the curses until a web address caught his eye.

"Nani? http://www/jusenkyo_curses.com.."

He clicked the address, and a few moments later he was presented with an all too familiar picture - the various cursed pools of Jusenkyo. Scrolling down the list to his left he clicked on the hypertext link to the Pool of Drowned Girl.

The page opened, to show a picture of his female form and the cursed pool in which the girl had drowned all those centuries ago. Ranma read the text avidly. Perhaps here there would be a link to his cure.

Ten minutes later he sighed, sitting back. The screen contained little he had not already known before, but it was interesting to see it so well laid out. Creepy.

Then he noticed something, and clicked on another hypertext link. This page was rather different from the general drivel on the previous page.

"If you have been so unfortunate as to become cursed by one of these pools, please join our mailing list. All our members have been cursed and have learned to carry umbrellas around everywhere. If you decide to join, please tell us which pool you fell into and what effect this curse is having on your life. Are there any advantages, or has your life only got worse? Several of our members have chat sessions organised for those who share their curse and you may find the support of others who share your curse helpful in dealing with your own life. If you know of others who have become cursed, please tell them about us and we may be able to help them too."

After this text there was an online application form. Ranma thought for a moment, then decided to fill it in. What harm could it do?

Name: Saotome Ranma.
Email address: SaotomeRanma@hotmail.com
Native language: Japanese
Other languages known: a little English
Age: 18
Birth gender: Male
Which cursed pool did you fall into: Pool of Drowned Girl
Do you have friends who have also fallen into Jusenkyo Pools?: Yes
Which pools have they fallen into: Pool of Drowned Black Piglet, White Cat, Duck.

Ranma clicked 'send' and waited.

Fifteen minutes went by, and then his inbox 'pinged' at him. Eagerly he sought his email.

Jusenkyo_Curses_Moderator@egroups.com
To SaotomeRanma@hotmail.com

Greetings, Saotome Ranma! Welcome to our group. Please feel free to let this group know anything at all about how you feel about your particular curse. Thank you for filling in our survey. We note that you have friends with curses and would like to offer them our support too.

What do we do here? Basically we're a self-support group, and we all have curses. Most of our members use English as a communications language but if you're more comfortable using Japanese then don't worry. We're here to chat to each other and to provide support to each other whenever possible. If you've had a bad day because of your curse, feel free to share. We know what it's like. Been there, done that.

Your online survey will be posted to the group by the time you read this note and there are several others who share your curse. Some were girls to begin with but others are guys like yourself who change into girls in cold water. You might be able to meet up with some of them in real life sometime and that can be great fun. Jusenkyo conventions are not possible for some of our members since their curse forms cannot survive out of water, or are alien to most people's experience.

On a more personal note, I'm Jane Howie and I live in the United Kingdom. I turn into a set of twins - one male, one female. I was on an exchange study programme with a Chinese university when I found myself at Jusenkyo. My guide didn't believe in curses and knocked me into a pool to prove it to everyone. They all got the shock of their lives when we emerged.

Anyway, enough from me (or should that be us?) for now. Do talk to us soon. We're here for you - all of us.(grin)

Jane, Jusenkyo_Curses_Moderator."


The next evening, Ranma sat down at his computer and logged on to receive his email. There were several messages from the Jusenkyo_Curses group, including one from another young man in the same situation as Ranma. The others were from girls who had fallen into the Spring of Drowned Girl. One of them happily told of the advantages she gained from her cursed form.

BuxomRed@hotmail.com
To Jusenkyo_Curses@egroups.com

"I don't know about you guys, but my cursed form is actually a lot of fun. I stay in my cursed form as much as I can, and I get the most amazing social life as a result. There are guys just queuing up to ask me out on dates, and I can get away with some rather daring clothes too. It's not all bad, honestly!"

Ranma was amused by that one, and wrote a message in careful English explaining some of the problems he encountered with his version of the curse. Paul, who was the other guy with the same curse as Ranma, wrote back that evening. He too found it rather embarrassing to change gender if he got caught in the rain or stepped in a puddle. Paul commented that he used his cursed form for a serious purpose.

PaulM@yahoo.com
To Jusenkyo_Curses@egroups.com

"One of my close female friends had a cheating boyfriend. So she asked me to pose in my female form and go to this bar to see if Mike would turn up and put the moves on me. And he did. Sue was there that evening, and told him where to go. So turning female can sometimes be helpful. And I'm much more sympathetic to my girlfriend when it's that time of the month. You know what I mean, don't you Ranma?"

Much to Ranma's amusement, two of the girls on the list were coming to Tokyo for a while. Both of them were going to be exchange students with one of the top schools in Tokyo and appreciated knowing that there was someone in the city that they knew. BuxomRed's real first name turned out to be Jennifer, and the other girl was called Angela. They arranged with Ranma to meet up and have some fun. Both had been appalled to learn of his fiancee problem and were only too happy to try to help if they could. Jennifer in particular thought it was terrible that the poor guy had several known fiancees and probably a bunch of others that he didn't know about.

SaotomeRanma@hotmail.com
To BuxomRed@hotmail.com

"Hi Jenny

Ranma here. Just to warn you that there's a few weirdos who'll think you're me if they see you around the Dojo. and one in particular who'll insist that you're his goddess and that he must marry you immediately. He's seen me change but won't accept that his 'Pig-tailed Goddess' and I are the same person. Be careful!

Ranma"

Several days' later there was a knock at the front door to the Tendo Dojo. Kasumi nearly fainted when she saw the two girls. "You are here to see Ranma?" she asked, her eyes wide with amazement. One redhead had her hair in a neat ponytail, while the other had a very similar hairstyle to Ranma himself. "Nabiki!" called Kasumi. "Will you get Ranma from the Dojo please?"

A few moments later, Ranma Saotome came face to face with two versions of his own female form. He grinned. This looked like fun!