Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 08
By Chaos Orchid
"Martial arts requires you to get to know your body from the outside in. Only then can you effectively use it."
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The Secret of the Curse?
"My, you really do have an unusual body, Ran. Your measurements changed by centimeters," Kasumi-san said, looking at the body measuring tape. Her thumbs where at two marks almost 3cm, over an inch apart. "Your cup size changed from a C to a D even as I was measuring your bust. Your hips became a little wider, while your waist narrowed. How very peculiar."
"I think you got shorter, too," Mao told her. Whether that was true or just her mischiefing, the dormmates couldn't agree. Height was the least interesting measurement for the girls. Every one of them, except Mao and Yuna, had a B cup they could pad out to a C. Mao's B was closer to an A and she had accepted her fate in the bust department. Yuna did have an honest C and hated it. Large breasts were a disadvantage to an archer. (And even to a beautician, she would claim.)
"No wonder I don't like my body! It really is weird! Why can't it be like other girls'. Better, why can't it be like Mao's!"
("That's the first time a girl wanted my body!" Mao said.)
"I think her thinking is weird, too" Yuko commented. "Would you like a body like hers, Junko?"
"It would have some tactical advantage."
"You youngsters a still too young to be thinking of your tactical advantages," Ryōma-san said. (But he was gay, wasn't he? He didn't seem to be reacting too much to Ran's still nude body. Of course his back was turned away.)
"It isn't an advantage!" 'Ran' told them. "It means my martial arts movements hasta keep adjusting in the middle of battle all because…," and (she) hefted her nude boobs, "...these gain and loose mass!"
("And your ass gets bigger, too," Mao smiled, getting down near her buns and pretending to heft them.)
"You're exaggerating!" Junko told her. "It hasn't affected your martial arts moves. You'd be less effective if they did change when you fight."
"And boy, are you effective! It took a dozen Hebereke girls to get you to the salon!" Yuko reminded her.
"Hmm," Yuna pondered, her hand to her chin. "Now that I think of it, Ran could be right."
"I don't wanna be right! I wanna be told my body isn't weird!" She had a hard enough time accepting her gender.
"When I was weaving your hair in the salon, you protested by constantly fidgeting and shifting around," Yuna said. "Or so I had thought. Perhaps your sizes and weight change when you are not engaged in martial arts."
"That makes no sense!"
"Unless it's a curse," Yuko said. And explained, "The Miko Club has been sharing what arcane lore we have. A curse would give you the opposite of what you want. Just now, you wanted to be told your breasts were small and just wanting them to be small, made them large."
"Why don't they do that while she's fighting?" Room captain Junko asked. "Our team needs info."
"Uh…?"
"Because a curse wouldn't be a curse if it ceased to exist?" Yuna posed an answer. "Even letting you become handicapped would make you less appealing."
"That sorta makes sense, I guess.
"Hold on! That means I'm supposed to be appealing(!)?! I don't wanna be that!"
"A curse gives the opposite of what you want, remember?" Yuko said.
"My, my. Why don't you wish to be attractive, Ran," Kasumi-san asked.
"Because martial arts is my only real interest! I wouldn't've gotten as good as I am at it if I had to think of other things!"
"Did you just hear what you just said?" Ryōma-san asked.
"What did I say? It was something I just said without thinkin' about it." Was it a clue from her lost memory?
"That explains Ran's curse!" Yuna said, hitting her hand, nailing it. That received nods.
"It might even be a blessing," Yuko told her. "A reverse blessing! You were given it to make you more than just a martial artist!"
"That does sound almost logical," Ryōma-san said, looking like a teacher thinking.
"My, my. It does sound like you are now meant to, at last, bloom into womanhood, Ran-san," Kasumi-san smiled as if giving her own blessing.
'Ran' laughed. It was a wicked, calculated laugh.
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The jinbei wearing 'Ran' was the first to leave Apt. 13. The other side of the door bumped against the head of Oto, the Head of School Security. He had had his ear pressed against the door. Stepping away from the door, he warned them, "They'll be none of that appealing and attracting! Not on my watch!"
"What?!"
"He means with the faculty," Yuna clarified.
"The staff only. He's under orders to leave us students alone," Junko informed the new team member. "We're allowed to brawl almost as much as we want."
"It counts as martial arts practice," Yuko told her.
"But you're going to cross the line one day, one hour, one minute and we're ready !" He said this with his hand on his holstered taser. "We have countermeasures for all the scenarios you may throw at us! Be warned!"
He escorted the six students to the door that separated the apartments from the dorm rooms, faculty from students. He buzzed them out.
But as the door was opening, he gave a hard stare at the new girl, the only red haired student. "You haven't met the Headmaster, yet, have you? He you can hurt. We don't care."
The door closed, Noa said, "Hard believe rumors he and Ryōma-san once date."
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Most of what went on after 'Ran' had laughed out loud was lost on her. (She) now had only a wicked grin.
And (she) was wiggling, (her) shoulders twisting, (her) boobs swaying. One hand was on one hip.
"Ran, act like that, you attract wrong attention!" Noa told her.
"And you are doing a poor example of even that," Yuna critiqued. "I shall lend you my "Zen and the Art of Archery."
"I just started! I'll get better at it! I always get better at techniques!" As before, it was just something spontaneous that came out of (her) mouth. (She) had no idea on what (she) based the claim on.
"Don't become good at that!" Noa pleaded.
'Ran' was the first out of the side hall and into the main dormitory hall. Still walking like a….
"I formally introduce myself, I am known as the Green Storm! And I, Nōryoku-sama Tsuyoe-chan challenge you! When I win, you must let me date Ran-kun!" (Behind her, her Room 12 mates were observing. Along with other girls.)
"Aw, man! I don't need this now, I –Hey! I do need this!
"Junko, the rest, look at my body and tell me if my boobs or something change!"
Motivated, 'Ran' turned back to 165cm, 5'5" (is her boobs bound?) Tsu-chan. Though it was green (the school's color?), she was in the traditional kendō-gi and gear, minus the mask. What weren't traditional were her 'swords'. "Why are you fightin' with a broom and umbrella!? ?"
Junko told her, "Martial arts rhythmic gymnastics–"
"Just call it MĀRG!" Mao grinned.
Noa agreed. "Other Japanese words already too long!"
"Except those borrowed from Chinese." But Yuna and Yuko agreed to abbreviate the mouthful to MĀRG, or how the Japanese would pronounce the acronym: mārugu.
Junko ceded. "MĀRG permits only tools to be used. No unarmed combat or weapons. A sword would obviously count as a weapon."
"Well, I'm still goin' with anything goes! You got a problem with that, Stormy?(!)"
"Then you agree to the wager! And I will win a date with the male Ran!" And she charged.
'Ran' let (her) trained instincts read (her) opponent. She moved her weap–tools in two different fashions and in a way that kept them from interfering with the other. She made sweeping motions with the broom. That was her defense. Her offense was the umbrella she used like an epee sword. "Aw, come on! You call yourself a kendōist and ya don't even use none of its techniques!?(!)" She wasn't sure she was right, but it seemed (she) could be.
"Did not you yourself say it was anything goes, Ran-chan?"
"Only special people can call me that!" And (she) jumped over her head and away from the end of the hall where (her) maneuvering was more limited. (The girls near where she landed screamed and ran.) "And you're not special to me!"
The double-tool user easily pivoted and faced her. "I will be, once I have dated your better half, Ran-kun."
"Ran-kun, Ran-kun, …" (She) forgot to keep her defenses up as she tried to understand why 'Ran-kun' didn't get the same reaction from her as 'Ran-chan'...
Then it hit (her): A real stab in the heart! Well, (her) left boob, actually.
"Touché! " Tsuyoe claimed. "Date won!"
No sooner had 'Ran' felt the hurt, than (she) had jumped back, well out of the reach of the umbrella. "Does that count for something?(!)" she frowned, appealing for a ruling.
"It counts! It counts!" little Tantō-sama cried, leaping up and down in excitement. "That is a win in the Olympic sword sport!"
"This isn't fencing !" Junko told her. "This is MĀRG Rules."
"No, it's not! We refuse to recognize any judgment under MĀRG Rules, because there are none ! MĀRG is a made-up word! There is only Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics," and she flipped her hair sideways again.
"There is the ruling, Ran," Yuna told her. "It really is anything goes. You win by winning."
"Good! Suits me. Here I come, Green Squall!" And (she) charged. Tsuyoe was fully prepared!
Or thought she was. The 150cm(?), 4'11"(?) redhead, pushed the umbrella down away from her face, back to her heart. She then rolled off of the sharpened tip before Tsuyoe could thrust. She rolled under the broom. The small girl was using her disadvantage as her advantage! The Green Storm rapidly turned, protecting her back! The redhead was there, waiting for her next attack. She did attack!
And almost had her!
But her opponent evaded the hit again! And again, the defense-heavy girl tried to get behind her and attack from the rear. The little minx was without honor! Only the cowardly would not meet her adversary head on! ( Even Kodachi the Black Rose let her victims see her face before she ambushed them!) The Green Storm turned and rapidly spun, aiming to knock the unprincipled cheat to the floor with the broom so that she could stab the vermin with the epee disguised as an umbrella!
(She) jumped over the broom handle. Again and again. Then over and over her opponent's head once more and again. Each time (her) opponent had to make a violent turn in an offense that was constantly out balanced by her need for defense.
Finally, the action was over. The skilled warrior fell, overcome by the ignobility of dizziness. And Nōryoku-sama was humiliatingly defeated when the small redhead claimed the umbrella and broom as her own. No weapon, uh, tool, no MĀRG victory.
But satisfaction evaded (her). Because only (her) body had been thinking of the battle. (Her) mind wanted to know, "Well? Well? Did my body change!? Did I get smaller? Did my boobs get bigger?"
"Did your ass get bigger?" Mao grinned. (And 'Ran' put (her) hands to (her) buttocks. (She) felt the tools.)
"Nothing changed as far as I could see." Junko turned, and the others agreed. (Except Mao. But she was usually interested in making mischief.)
"I don't know if that's good news or bad," 'Ran' grouched. (She) headed for Room 13. And going back to wiggling her butt, leading with one shoulder then the other, letting her boobs move however they wanted, putting her hand on a hip–
(She) was still holding the umbrella and broom. (She) shoved the broom at pretentious Tantō-sama. Shitsū grabbed it instead for her ladyship, glaring at (her). (She) was about to try and give the umbrella to the boss-girl-chan, when (she) noticed her reaction to (her) forgetting (her) manners–if (she) had any manners–and presenting it point tip first.
On impulse, 'Ran' broke the umbrella and tossed it to the floor at the Room 12 leader. "No weapons ! That's martial arts rhythmic gymnastics and MĀRG rules!" And she walked away from the losers.
Of course, (she) knew (she) was the real loser.
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NOTES:
Unable to find canon measurements for Ranma, he or she. I decided to make the measurements of the cursed body cursed as well.
With no knowledge of her past, the roommates are assuming Ran is a girl who has been cursed.