St. Hebereke is the canon name for Kodachi's school. The English anime chose to translate it as St. Bacchus. "Henereke" means getting super drunk. Bacchus was the god of wine, drunkenness, rowdiness, outrageous behavior and orgies! He and his followers were also known to crossdress.
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Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 01/?
by Chaos Orchid
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"Marry me off to a stranger, will he?! I don't know no Tendōs! Let's see if the panda notices me going over this wall and…"
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I am using different ways to distinguish those pronouns for Ran(ma) from those that aren't. This makes for easier referral, but also makes descriptive words and phrases more contextually meaningful.
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The Road Not Taken, Taken
Two young women were alone in a high-walled vacant lot; one was in a baggy hanfu suitable for martial arts shows; the other was in a brown sailor fuku middy with red neckerchief. The first, pigtailed, red-haired girl, lay paralyzed but struggling on the wet grass next to half a dozen black roses; the bedraggled, side-ponytailed girl was kneeling in a disarray of gymnastics tools. After breathing hard, she was at last able to stand up. With an instep, she kicked up a spiked indian club and caught it. She limped over to the stranger until she could point the weapon centimeters from the too, sickening cute face. She lowered herself so she could savor the terror that the creature must be feeling, though not showing. "You will not be moving to Nerima; you will not attend Fūrinkan High School; you will not meet my Dear Brother.
"But you will, my little lab rat, be testing my latest poison. In the name of Hebe the Curly Haired: Die to you former life!"
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(She) woke up in a room she did not recognize. It was bedroom? (She) looked and saw there were other beds there besides the one she was laying on. And furniture beyond them. "Hey! The new girl's awake!" And there were other…. For some reason, (she) felt (she) wasn't an another. 'Another' of the others or even….
"My head!" (she) groaned while sitting up. (She) looked down and saw something unfamiliar. (Her) boobs(?), …um, they were in a green, gauzy something with green leaves over (her) nipples and other places. (She) knew what the something not worth being called clothes was, but couldn't bring (her)self to acknowledge that–
"Welcome to St. Hebereke, Yamada Ran!" said a girl with hair short enough to be on a boy. (She) immediately felt more comfortable with her than the long-haired girls coming up to (her) bed. In a foreign accent, she bowed and said, "I am Ohara Noa. I am your learning partner." She was in a jinbei, looking like she was ready for bed.
"Yes, she is learning to be Japanese," said a girl almost as tall as Noa. She had on a kyūdō-gi, though she didn't have the bows or arrows. She had cloth covering her updo that reminded (her) of somebody (she) was not fond of.
"And you'll be learning from her, too," a girl said then grinned in a way (she) disliked. It reminded her of a cat's mouth. She was in her underwear (her bra and panties had little cat heads that had no mouths).
"Be afraid; be very afraid!" She had some white side bangs of the ponytailed, black hair. She was wearing a sailor fuku that was tan except for the white middy with red neckerchief.
"Be more afraid of Kodachi." This girl had short, odango ponytails held by bobbles. She was wearing a green with black trim leotard.
"I ain't afraid a nothin'!" (She) frowned at them.
"You should be. Be always fearful of the Black Rose," and the other girl in a green leotard, but with a side ponytail, went from stating to laughing in the most irritating way. It was an over-the-top execution of a noblewoman's laugh.
"Oh, yeah !" (She) leapt out of bed, her nightie pressed against her, then swishing as she had to grab hold of the piece of furniture that was the footboard and lean on the mattress. Her brain wasn't ready to make rapid movements! But, stubbornly, (she) said, "I can do it. I, I just hafta heal myself!" If (she) could only remember how.
Now that she thought about that, (she) found (she) couldn't remember much of anything. Like who these girls were. Where (she) was. Who (she) was. Was (she) even a she? Stupid question: Those boobs that didn't want to stay still told her she was. Not to mention the other soft, curvy shapes (she) now had. "What's goin' on?"
"St. Hebereke High, one of the most prestigious–"
"The most prestigious," the Black Rose interrupted Ohara.
"Yes, Kunō-sama," Ohara-kohai bowed in acknowledgment.
"And do not refer to me as a Kunō. I do not wish to be associated with the Blue Dunderhead any more than is necessary. Refer to me either as Kodachi or the Black Rose. Continue."
"Yes, Kodachi-sama. Well, Yamada Ran…."
"My name is Yamada Ran…? That don't seem right." (She) tried to think why it didn't, but couldn't. There was nothing to take its place. But it still did not feel right to (her). "How do you spell it? What kanji?"
"Uh…," Ohara looked at the index card she was taking her prompts from. Reading the name on it, she thought somebody had made a mistake. " `Mountain', 'Rice', 'Paddy', uh, what? Shouldn't 'Ran' be spelled 'Orchid'?"
"No," Kodachi-sama sneered. "It is spelled 'revolt'." Against her!
"Or 'war' or 'riot'!" odango hair said, using synonyms.
" 'Chaos'," black-and-white hair said melodramatically.
" 'Wild'!" grinned the lingerie girl.
"Wild! Yes! " Ran called out. It wanted to trigger something in her memory. "That should be my name!"
"It suits you well," Kodachi said before speaking softly but determedly, "Until I tame you."
'Ran' heard, " Nobody tames me!" Do they?
"Let me finish this class assignment! I have hard time reading this kanji!" Ohara protested. Then more to herself she muttered, "I already have hard time know where word begin and end; stupid writing with no word spaces."
"What did you say, Foreigner?" the archery girl challenged. But not with her weapons. This time?
"I say: 'Yamada Ran, St. Hebereke, the most prestigious high school of Japan and Asia', Eurasia?, 'has awarded you a scholarship' Did it!"
"A scholarship?(?) I'm gettin' free schoolin'?" Memories wanted to come. She (she?) had gotten some free schooling before, maybe. But there was always a catch. What was it?...
"The scholarship is for Martial Arts…"
"Martial arts!" That may be it! (She) associated it with memories (she) no longer had.
"...Rhythmic Gymnastics."
The very vague memories (she) was getting vanished again. Those last two words didn't carry any sense of familiarity.
"And I, the Black Rose Above the Blue Thunder, am your captain general! You will take your orders directly from me, kohai Underling !"
"So you can tame me?! I don't think so!"
Ohara was speaking for herself now, when she said, "Free room and board come with scholarship!"
"Free?" (She) liked free! Room? It'd be a place to stay. And (she) didn't remember if (she) could live on (her) own. Maybe after (she) got (her) memories back, (she) could leave. Board? That meant "–FOOD! I haven't had a meal in I really don't know how long!"
"Supper will be in a few hours."
"I gotta have food now!"
"A coin!" Kodachi demanded. And received one from black-and-white hair.
Kodachi addressed Ran, "You have I to thank for your scholarship, Urchin! And your benefactress deigns to also provide you with a stipend. But you must earn the coins!" And she flipped it towards her.
'Ran' easily caught it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Why spend it, of course."
The other girl, odango hair, in the leotard told her, "Out in the hall is a row of vending machines."
"Yes!" Ohara smiled. "Vending machine is so Japanese!"
'Ran' looked past the six girls around (her) and saw the door out of the dorm room. Forgetting (her) earlier unsteadiness, (she) leaped over beds and furniture to the way to food! Slam!
There they were! On this side of the hall between other dorm room doors, were coin-operated machines! First was one that specialized in drinks. The next one had ramen. (She) could have seen if there were better options, but (she) was too hungry and impatient for that! (She) put the coin in and punched (her) selection. Then realized (she) had to continue to be impatient as the machine poured hot water into the cup of noodle and pieces and re-covered the container to steam the meal for the recommended 3 minutes!
"Come on, c'mon!" (she) told it, leaning (her) arm against the vendor while looking down at the door that didn't want to open yet. (She) pressed the nightie to (her) so (she) didn't have to look through it or have it get in (her) way when (she) snatched it out. (She) even leaned forward more than (she) had to so those dangling boobs didn't block (her) view.
*Shutter*, *Shutter*, …
Ran's senses were suddenly activated, (she) turned her head and saw the odango in the leotard holding a camera, obviously taking pictures of (her). Why would (she) want to do that? Was it because (she) was in a see-through thing? Oh, that was right. Guys liked seeing girls in stuff no self-respecting guy would wear. Maybe girls liked to, too? Well, they had the best chance at seeing other girls in stuff like this. Even nude.
"Ah! The door opened!" (she) smiled, taking the hot cup out and ripping off the lid to gulp the chicken-and-veggies noodle soup down. (She) was so careless; (she) almost spilled some of the hot liquid on (her)self. Only (she) felt reflexes that seemed trained not to waste food. Only a couple of drops escaped her slurping and fell past her onto the loose end of the nightie.
"What atrocious manners!" Kodachi said, leading the rest of the girls out of the doors. "We shall have to teach you etiquette!"
"I got the blackmail photos, Kodachi-sama," the odango ponytailed girl said, holding up the Polaroids for the other girls to see. "But they're hardly gravure quality. She's got a nice body, for a shortstack."
"Especially in that baby doll nightie!" cat-face girl smiled.
"The pose is almost acceptable. It is, at least, spontaneous." archery girl critiqued.
"The hair ruins it," the black-and-white haired girl panned.
"She only needs is a real hairdo," Ohara pointed out.
"Take her to the school's beauty salon!" Kodachi commanded.
"Beauty salon?!" There was some reason (she) didn't like the idea. Really didn't like it. Really to the point it disturbed her!
"After her!" , "Don't let her get away!" , "At last, some action!" , "Catch the lackey!"
Kodachi stayed back, watching, evaluating. "The girl cannot even be a girl! Once you do, I will own you. Nobody wins against the Black Rose!"
"Mao!" called out black-and-white to the lingerie girl running on top of a rolling gymnastics ball.
"Thanks, Yuko!" cat-face said, catching the two indian clubs. She immediately threw them at the opening fire doors. They hit with enough force that the handles of them left the redhead's hands.
"Noa! Grab hold of this ribbon end!" said the leotard girl, now halfway down the hall.
"Hai, Junko!" But the she barely hung on as she was flung its length of the 6 meters, barely missing the ceiling! She almost stumbled on her landing! But it did bring her that much closer to the pigtailed girl.
'Ran' turned to begin an offense! And saw Ohara stumble-running, out-of-control, for (her)! (She) could take her. Any and all of them! But (her) first priority had to be to escape! "A window!"
Practically in one motion, (her) foot lifted an indian club while turning Ohara around so smoothly she was kept stumbling on, but away from her. (She) tossed the club and knocked the ball out from under the girl in the lingerie. She, too, had a stumbling landing. The two girls crashed into each other!
While the other girls were racing down the hall, others came out through different doors to see what the commotion was about, 'Ran' had just enough time to turn the latch and push up the window sash! (She) leaped for the ground three stories below!
*Twang!*, *Thunk!* An arrow had gone into the window frame through the nightie. 'Ran' pushed against the outside sill and felt the nylon ripping.
Then (she) screamed! Black-and-white and another girl had hold of the back of (her) panties's elastic: The indignity! The humiliation! This was not the way martial arts bouts are supposed to end– Especially (hers)! (She) didn't ever remember being given a wedgie! Especially when (she) had what a girl had down there !
But, then, (she) didn't remember really anything. (Her) moves had come from somewhere out of touch with her conscious, and perhaps more distant.
"Come on, girls! Let's all see the reluctant pinup princess get a real makeover!"
"Ugh! Starting with a shampoo!"
"Shampoo?!" Now she was really panicking!
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NOTES:
When the story leads to it, Ran(ma) will meet Tatewaki, Akane and the rest of the canon personalities! By the way, Junko and Yuko were the only one-off characters named among St. Hebereke's rhythmic gymnastics team in the anime version, S1E13. All of the other characters besides Ranma and Kodachi are my own creations.