Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 36
By Chaos Orchid
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"You're a martial artist and with special techniques! Don't worry about being strange!"
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(she), (her), etc. are to indicate that while Ranma physically feels she is in a female body, psychologically (she) doesn't feel convinced she is female. Unparenthesized, it means her gender dysphoria has slipped down on her list of current concerns.
'She', 'her' means Ran's more accepting about being a girl.
She, her means she has fully embraced being a girl.
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Nao, "Tendō? Nabiki is Tendō, too. Correct?" Then her imagination flashed to what Ikko and Koko had said, You take pictures like that of your sister!? "Akane is sister? Sister is po–err, hen–, ecch–. Um, ero(?)…model?"
Images wanted to come up from 'Ran's' elusive memories. (She) was surrounded by boys. Boys(!) The only girls were on the pages of–
"Aw, man!" They were gone when (she) remembered why Tendō Nabiki thought she could be (her) PA. "Kyōha–!" Kyōhaku: Blackmail–! Would the camera girl do that to even her younger sister? Did she have to? Just how hen, strange, was this Akane?
The American had trouble with Japanese and didn't realize there was a missing syllable. She certainly hadn't learned about Kyōha, Sect, Shintō. She just realized it was a bad word to the redhead. "You think Akane pervert?"
"If she's like her big sister, she is hentai:abnormal." Geez! That would make (her) hentai, too. (She) wasn't like the girls (she) has been living with. (She) could change…but the older meaning of "hentai" was "change".
–'She' could change into a Boy! She couldn't escape from being hentai!
'She' tossed the organizer book back onto the small table, allowing it to fall onto the floor.
Noa picked it up. The binder had remained open on "Appointments". "You fight Akane this afternoon(?) Too soon?"
"A martial artist hasta always accept a challenge…no matter what" time, place and…and style? The voice in 'Ran's' head was male. The Boy? He felt different from how 'she' was feeling then. How different passed with the voice.
"Sound stupid. And danger." Looking at it again, Noa almost smiled, "Fight not in school. In Kodaira Kendō Club."
"Kendō? I don't know nothin' about kendō…do I? I don't remember. My body better."
Noa tried to be supportive, "Kendō use tool(?) MĀRG train for tools."
'Ran' nodded, "Shinai." Then became unsure, "Uh…I think one type uses wooden swords …but for practice kata…only(?) I guess I gotta be ready for both."
"And maybe real sword?"
"Fightin' with real swords is illegal. I remember that. It goes all the way back to the Meiji Restoration. You gotta have a permit to own a sword."
(She), "I ain't happy havin' to use weapons, or tools. But if the fight's gonna be at a kendō club, I guess I'm expected to use their stuff." (She) frowned, "Padding and masks."
Noa smiled, "Padding and mask(!)?"
"Won't seem like a real fight, then."
Suddenly, (she) smiled and leaned closer to the book, "It does say, majime-shōbu! A battle of true intent, not just a shōbu!"
(She) was out of the chair and headed for the door, "I gotta find Yuna!"
"Ran! Forgot things!" And Noa hurriedly collected the organizer and PDA.
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"16 o'clock?" Yuna asked.
"That's right; the fight is at 4 o'clock!" 'Ran' was looking forward to it.
In her ripped jeans and black-and-red, oversized shirt, 'Ran' had found a use for the organizer Noa (denim skirt, jacket and black turtleneck) was carrying. The map of the school showed where the archery range was. Yuna was there, and shooting arrows even though she was in her Sunday one-piece pants suit instead of her kyūdō-gi. Junko was with her and still in her baggy, dress-length black sweatshirt and leggings.
Junko, "Well, there's plenty of time to collect tools and go to the club. We'll take Yuko with us. Our Jinja miko is acting Kyōha sect and annoying visitors."
Noa, "And me!?"
Yuna, "You will make a good porter."
Junko, "You are kohai."
Noa, "Hmph! Ran more kohai!"
"I'll carry things!" 'Ran' smiled. "I'll want as many options as I can!"
"Let's not get ridiculous," Yuna said. "To be effective, a tosser must have the tools well organized and within easy reach."
"An unarmed martial artist comes organized with their weapons in easy reach!" Again it sounded like something the Boy would say. Maybe if 'she' kept saying stuff like that, 'she' might remember him? Did 'she' want to?
"We are armed martial artists," Junko reminded her.
"But not weapon!" Noa had to remind herself. "Tool." Then she gasped, "Kendo do use weapon!"
She spoke earnestly, "Akane manga fan? Manga have fight with real sword! Ran think Akane hentai!"
'Ran', "Not that kind of hentai, Noa. …I think.
"And I said they hafta have a permit!"
Junko grinned, "Hebereke has permits for swords." (Noa squeaked and blanched) "We'll take (a) katana and (a) kodachi with us!"
Noa, "Kodachi!? Why we take her!? (Who Katana?)"
Junko, "God, no! –Ā! I mean, I wasn't talking about Kodachi-dono! A kodachi is a short sword of the katana kind!"
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Among the flow of people, Yuko was out in the lobby, usually the waiting area for those called to the admin office. She was talking with the now resting Tendō Nabiki (business casual) and Suisha Katai (school uniform). But it was the low-key girl talking now, "So, you're saying kami have no identity until they enter into something(?)"
"That's right!" the girl dressed in her miko uniform said like a missionary. "Tairo tells me that we're kami in a human body, and more kami can merge with ours! We just have to do the correct rituals correctly!"
Junko, "Stop bothering them and come here!"
"I'm telling them what I learned in the Miko Club!" she explained, going to her and the rest.
Nabiki, "Are you really interested in, uh, theology?"
Katai, "No. But it's my duty to the third-ranking student leader that I side-track public disturbances."
Nabiki thought about frowning, "How dedicated are you to duty?"
Before she could answer, 'Ran' rushed up to them, "Nabiki, does Akane use swords!?"
"Oh, because the fight is at a kendō club(?) Little sister does own a shinai," and her smirk came back, "And she has a bokutō fight every school day."
"But not a katana? Or a tantō, or a wakizashi?" Junko was disappointed.
"I have access to (a) tantō," Katai said…to Nabiki.
Noa, "Why we want Tantō…. Oh!"
Junko, "Tantōs are among the oldest Japanese swords, 15 to 30 cm long. They were worn by samurai and used for seppuku!"
Yuna, "They were also carried by women and are often given as gifts to brides in traditional Japanese weddings."
Katai, "They're used in catfights." ('Ran', "C,cat(!)" Huh? Why that reaction?)
Yuko, "I hope you're not seriously suggesting that."
Katai looked serious, "My brother has manga were girls slash off each other's clothes."
Noa, "See?! Manga give bad idea!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Nabiki noticed (and misunderstood) the redhead's reaction. "Akane certainly has the skill to leave her opponent naked without cutting her." Then she took an even more casual pose, "But she prefers to use her bare hands."
Noa, "To bare?!"
Maybe Akane is a pervert, 'Ran' thought.
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When 'Ran' continued to press her, Nabiki rose out of her chair and said to the shorter girl, "If you want more info on my little sister, I can sell you photos of her to…let's say, 'study'. Akane's admirers love to study her, form." She paused as she turned towards the school's main doors. Her blackmailer's look was brief. But 'Ran' caught it.
She had ecchi photos of 'her'! 'Ran' could assume she had photos of Akane that were equally bad for a girl's reputation, if not worse. The only question was was how willing had Akane been to pose for them? Nabiki did seem to imply her little sister didn't stop her from taking them.
The (semi-)official representative of Hebereke escorted the 'official representative of Fūrinkan' out. And when away from the others, Katai said, "Psychological warfare(?)"
Nabiki smiled, "You do understand. The seed has been planted and if it grows, I will be waiting for when it blooms with my camera."
Katai, "Costume malfunction?"
Nabiki, "Plural. I have been subtly filling my little sister's head with hentai thoughts for a while now. I am only interest in gravure shots, of course. She is family.
"Yamada isn't family."
"One opening at a time."
"May I see the ecchi (hentai?) you have the Miss Petite and Voluptuous?"
"And nudes of Akane; which, of course, I haven't shared with my clientele. But."
"But: You want copies of certain files that the Morals Committee has."
"You do understand."
"You'll want those of Ran's dormmates. I can first send you a capsule bio for each. We'll need to meet again for my PDA to IrDA connect with yours."
Nabiki smiled, "Line-of-sight infrared is more secure."
They parted at the school gate.
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'Ran', "We should have followed them."
Junko, "Why? They would've known we were and wouldn't have let us hear anything they didn't want us to hear."
"Don't we know somebody with ninja skills?"
Yuko, "Yes, Kuno Ichi. Katai's dormmate."
'Ran's' opinion was, "She's not a good ninja."
Yuna, "She doesn't need to be to warn Katai. …And now Nabiki, perhaps."
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Not wanting to lug around the tools the redhead may need, the dormmates looked for something to do until they headed out to the fight. Their hot water put the beauty salon and bathhouse off-limits for the redhead. There was the arcade, but the new games hadn't been added in years and were stale to some and to 'Ran' seemed like a waste of effort. It was pretend action that didn't move anything but your fingers, and maybe your wrists.
"Library!" Noa suggested, "Books, yes, but games and puzzles and magazines." Then she showed excitement, "Catalogs! Find something and it mail to you!"
Junko, "That's how many of the girls here get their new and almost latest-fashion Sunday outfits."
Yuna, "Especially those trying to hold onto a Debutante Attitude."
Yuko laughed, "Hebereke makes them now it's just a mask."
Yuna, "But as with many, a useful mask."
Junko, "Knowing when to let it slip is the strategic key!"
("I don't have a debutant attitude," Noa, frowning, mumbled in English.)
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'Ran' and Junko thought seeing and joining girls playing pickup sports would be a good use of time. The other three disagreed.
There was the matinee and amateur time at the school theater. That could include karaoke. That idea dismissed, there were the televisions in the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was the hub of school social life even when it wasn't meal time. There were two TVs, one on opposite sides of the large – 200 girls – room and they had to be kept low enough not to be heard by those watching the other set. The tables in the middle was where those who wasn't interested in watching sat. They, too, had to keep their voices (sort of) low.
'Ran' collected most of the leftovers laid out for the taking under heat lamps and then joined the others. (Dormmates and schoolmates; the girls were still others*. Well, maybe more 'others'.) There was an other* now with them. "Oh, so-strong Shitsu ran away." Then she smiled at the redhead, "You won't runaway from your Mami(?!)"
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"...Akane, Nabiki is on the phone(!)"
"I don't want to talk to her, Kasumi!" the voice at the other end of the hall yelled out.
"She says you have been challenged to a majime-shōbu(!)"
"A battle of true intention(?)! I saw the photos she took of the redhead! I can just imagine what the intention is of that shameless exhibitionist! Sayuri tells me Hiroshi and Daisuke almost got 'lucky' with her –together!"
"Oh, my!" The eldest sister returned to the phone, "Nabiki,... Oh, you heard. I'm afraid your scheme isn't going to get the cooperation of little sister. …What?... Okay, I'll tell her.
"Akane(!) The betting is that Yamada-san will defeat Kunō(!) and be recognized as the top martial artist(!)"
"WHAT!(?)!" Akane cried out, storming towards the phone. "I've always defeated him!
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NOTES:
Bokutō is a type of bokken (wooden sword) modeled after a katana
When it comes to Akane, Nabiki's definition of "nude" is different from Katai's
'Ran's' battle with Kunō is still supposed to happen at Fūrinkan
The betting is mainly among the (wealthy) girls of St. Hebereke. Katai is their bookie