Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 13
by Chaos Orchid
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"The Secret Special Technique to End all Special Techniques! Use it only when you have to. But USE IT!"
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Classmates
The middy blouse didn't reach (her) hips and left a small gap at (her) midriff (another term (she) didn't know then). That was fine by (her). "I like loose clothes."
"When you wear clothes!" Mao grinned.
And, of course, the martial artist just had to test out (her) new outfit. "They shift! But my boobs don't much! Still gotta get used to the starchiness pressin' against me. Or by bod pressin' against it when I –*grr*– get bigger butt and...
"Hey! Did I lose a centi off my boobs?" (She) wanted to smile(!) But the centimeter was added back by (her) just wanting it to be true.
(She) went back to testing the limits of her school-approved non-reg uniform. (She) kicked high. That that made (her) sports panties clearly visible didn't bother (her). (She) didn't even think much about it. When (she) did, (she) could give it a mental shrug. Who would care? (She) was in an all-girls school. A boarding school, where they saw each other in more revealing things. Or, as the maybe-pre-amnesia-nudist preferred, no things.
Okay, check: the midi (she) had to wear was not as loose on (her) as the maxi skirts the others had on them. Theirs had a little more leg-movement potential. But theirs also could more easily get caught on something low to the ground. A tactical piece of info.
Now for the jumps. "Aw, man!" Both the skirt and middy caught the air and were pushed up on (her) way down! The higher the drop, the more of the tan panties and bra would show. But more importantly, the blouse and its red tie could interfere with her vision! (She) had to see what (her) opponent was going to do! And even the skirt could be a handicap if (her) hands had to be used close to (her) hips.
From as high as the 244cm, 8 foot, ceiling allowed (her) to jump, (she) purposefully landed as hard as (she) could without being injured. (She) was very much reminded that "I hate hips."
(She) didn't hate (her) boobs as much as (she) had before (she) was wearing the sports bra. And with that approval, (her) boobs went from a D cup to a C cup.
It was just (her) ass that got larger. "Stupid hips…stupid butt…stupid thighs," (she) mumbled.
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Noa hurried into the dorm room and told somebody, "Lock it! Lock it!" She said, trying to point while holding tote bags of school breakfasts. "They stalk me! The girls! They want get Ran through me!"
'Ran' locked the door. (She) had been waiting by it the whole time the American had been gone. "Gimme a bag," (she) said even as (she) was grabbing the nearest one. (She) didn't care what (she) ate, only that (she) ate something passably good!
And her roommates approved. Better a rude glutton than somebody with violent mood swings. And this small redhead with the French braid knew how to be violent!
"We'll have to do something about the stalkers," room-team coach Junko said.
"There's something else you should know and a reminder to those who do," Yuko spoke, finding her place on the sectional coach and setting her take-out box on the coffee table. "Anybody who knows how to draw on the loose ki others shed…"
"The Reservoir technique(?)" Noa thought she had an idea of how it worked. Maybe.
"…can become an emotional vampire."
"vampire(!)" Noa squeaked.
"An emotional vampire, only," Yuna assured her. "Almost all the ki energy usable for a martial artist carry an emotional charge. If the user can not neutralize that charge, they are effected by the emotion. Some emotions demand more of their kind or of the counterbalancing emotions."
"Like Sad wants Happy!" Mao grinned.
"Or the sad might want to wallow in its misery," Yuko reminded.
"Which emotion the sadness or whichever would reach out for depends on the would-be emotional vampire themself," Junko told her and Ran, the girl with amnesia. "It's their emotional response that decides which emotions they steal from others."
'Ran' nodded as (she) ate on the floor (the midi skirt pulled entirely above (her) hips). "I don't remember the words, but they sound familiar. I guess my body knows all that," and (she) went to paying more attention to (her) omelet and rice. (For some reason, (she) was eating a slower rate than (her) impulses said (she) should? Because all of (her) roommates were eating leisurely?)
"But if the Reservoir user can neutralize the emotional charges others' ki energy has, they can replace it with your own…," Yuna continued the lesson. "...they have great power. Power realized in greater ability in martial art techniques."
"Oh, not like comic book superhero?" Noa tried to learn.
"There are advanced techniques that draw on the power directly," Junko told her. "Like the Mōko Takabisha, Pride of the Fierce Tiger."
"Or the Shishi Hōkōdan," Yuko said. "The Lion's Roar Shot."
"You should learn that one, Yuko!" Mao smiled.
"I don't get that depressed. Yet."
"Well, I don't know if I know them, but I haven't seen a reason to use them if I have them." (She) looked to see if there was scraps of food that others would let (her) have.
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"Aw, man! Why do I gotta wear martial arts makeup, again!?" 'Ran' protested. "You just put it on me a few hours ago! It's dye! It shouldn't've faded yet!"
"I am lightening it for daytime use. It would not do for you to have a too harsh makeup in the daytime. Especially during class time.
"No! Leave my face alone. What do I care about whatever you're jawin' about!"
"So you want a stick-on tattoo as punishment. Let's see…maybe a panda?"
"No! No, no, no! Not a panda!"
(She) soon ended up wearing the school-approved makeup. Daylight version.
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Girls were waiting for them out in the hall. Dorm rooms were safety zones and everybody at school recognized the value in that. The one who didn't, lived off campus. One in particular.
"Ran, Ran! Date me." , "No date me!" , "Be the judge in our tournament!" , "Winner wins the privilege of dating you!" , "Don't listen to them!"
"What?" 'Ran' was totally confused. "You girls wanna date a girl? Me?"
"They want to date you, because they want you to recommend them to the boy Ran," Junko explained.
"She might be a lesbian!" Mao mischievously pointed one girl.
"I am not! You've insulted me, Mao –Again!" The girl's main distinguishing features were her black socks and black armband that read, Jajjimento-kai, Morals Committee.
"And how do you know this, Mao?" Yuna stepped in. "You are childhood friends."
Another girl laughed at the implication. Then said, "I think a competition to cool the heat that's melting the girls at St. Bacchus is a wonderful idea!" Her white armband read, Morale-kai, Morale Association. Her makeup was on the flashy side. Nighttime version, still?
"Ran, Ichibangase Ikko and Gogatsu Koko," Yuna made the introductions. Both were 160cm, 5'3" to Ran's 150cm, 4'11".
"What about me!" the third girl challenged. 162cm, 5'3½".
"I do not know your name."
"You will when I win Ran for my very own!" Then she bowed and said, "Nice to meet you, please take good care of me." The standard polite greeting over with, she straightened up and said, "My name is Kurīmī Mami."
"Mommy!?" Noa was startled!
The girl frowned at her. " 'Mami' is quite common in Japan."
"I would think that right. There many mommy."
"Mami is written, "True Beauty"," she said proudly. Ignorant American! She had very long, black hair, slim eyes and had her skin was chemically made paler. Together, they were the very definition of beauty by traditional Japanese standards. Except for the nose. Hers wasn't as straight as those in antique pictures of geisha (or even those of modern kabuki male actresses).
"We don't have time for this," Junko told the trio. "Homeroom begins soon!" The coach had delayed them leaving the dorm room so they wouldn't have to spend any more time with others than they had to. "Come!"
Yuna spoiled her tactic by saying, "You do realize those three are in our Ran's homeroom."
Again, as they had at suppertime, 'Ran's' teammates formed a phalanx around (her).
Koko proved she had skills: She was inside the outer defenses and touching 'Ran' in a non-suggestive manner. "I have the morale-boosting plan all worked out! We tell everybody that only those who have not tried to put hot water on you gets to be in the tournament! Then–"
Noa was the weak link in the defenses. Before she knew it, somebody had reached past her, pulled Koko out and replaced her as the one closest to Ran. "It is simpler just to date somebody from the Morals Committee," Ikko told the 10cm, 4 inches, smaller girl. "Everybody has to respect the Morals Committee members."
Noa was still the weak link. "Just chose Mami! After all, everybody should love their Mami." This girl did touch 'Ran' in a suggestive manner. She only knew the techniques for appealing to boys. And that was why she was in an all-girls boarding school that heavily restricted access to the opposite sex.
"I like competition," (she) told her.
"Then I guess we'll just have to have a beauty contest. I, of course, will–"
Noa pulled her out! "We've reached homeroom!" she told her…and the other two!
"I thought it usually took longer(?)" said Koko to Ikko. She thought so, too.
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"Class," Ōno-sensei Kasumi-san smiled, "to any who might not yet know, this is our new student, Yamada Ran!" She then turned to the girl 14cm, 5½ inches, shorter than (her). "Take a bow and introduce yourself, Ran-chan."
"Don't call me …." the protest died in (her) throat. For some reason, (she) couldn't be mad at the woman. Okay, maybe (she) could allow her to call (her) 'Ran-chan'.
(She) bowed. "My name, I'm told, is like what the teach said, Yamada Ran. I don't remember where I'm from, when I was born, what's my blood type, or who my favorite boy band is. All I know is I'm a martial artist. But I don't even know what style and school.
"But I'm here on a MĀRG, I mean martial arts rhythmic gymnastics scholarship. I will do my best to support my room team and the school team." (She) bowed, saying, "Please take good care of me."
"Oh, we will," several girls murmured.
"Alright, then!" Kasumi-san beamed. Looking at her seating chart, she said, "Ran, you will be sitting next to Akane.
"Oh, I don't see Akane(?)"
"Hagiwara Akane is in the hospital. In a coma." There was a tear in her eye.
"I, I am really sorry to hear that. Was it because of anything that happened here at school?"
"No. No, it wasn't," the girl choked, unable to go on.
"That's very good to hear. Ran, you will sit next to Gogatsu-san Koko."
"Of course I would," (she) muttered under (her) breath. It could have been worse(?) She might've been next to too proper Ikko or touchy-feely Mami.
"Welcome, neighbor(!)" Koko spoke low as the teacher began her lecture (about "Shakespeare, iambic pentameter and the rhythm of English"). "I'm the hostess with the mostest partying idea!"
"Don't listen her, Ran!" Noa whispered harshly on the left of (her). "I think she think, way of good grade go through before-test cram!"
'Ran' leaned back in her chair, feeling that (her) body didn't want to think but to do. Cramming seemed more familiar. Though, even then, (she) really didn't feel the need to study all that much. Only what got (her) by. Having a forgotten history of being different schools' star athlete probably, maybe, by a hair, had gotten (her) by. Or was that (her) imagination? What (she) wished would come true? It would, if true, give (her) time to think about other things.
"Okay, Koko; what kind of parties?"
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NOTE:
Summarizing: Chinese medicine says chi (also spelled qi) flows through the body in different channels (meridians). Emotions can pull the chi out of the body. The chi then becomes ki energy. A martial artist trained as Ranma has been can use the ki energy to perform extra-ordinary feats.
The Reservoir is a ki aura that surrounds people and will float free if the ki is not used by them. A person like Ran(ma) can add that ki to their own, boosting their power. But ki energies still carry their emotion spark. If Ran(ma)'s own emotions aren't able to neutralize the outside emotions, they will influence her own emotions. Her personality will determine how those internalized emotions are dealt with. Memory determines a large portion of a person's personality. And Ran has amnesia.