Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 14
By Chaos Orchid
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"The martial arts are an art! There are many arts, but none like the arts!"
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Which Girl Will Date the Redhead?
The class structure here at St. Hebereke was like that of other Japanese schools. And Noa found that strange. It was the teachers who moved from period to 50-minute period. The students remained in the same classroom all day long, except for classes that required special equipment, like PE, lab or theater. English class was over, the teacher had left, the next hadn't arrived, the class was free to do what they wanted.
What they wanted was a who: Yamada Ran!
What Yamada Ran wanted was to sit on the sill of an open window. "Ran! Don't jump!" Noa, of course, got the wrong idea. She had heard stories about how ready Japanese were to commit suicide. Especially students!
'Ran' (her)self wondered if (she) would end up killing (her)self. (She) didn't know how well (she) could survive the two-story fall. But jumping as an escape route was the impulse (her) body was giving (her). (Her) body had shown it knew what it was doing better than (she)(her)self did. –Stupid mind! Don't dislike–hate–the body! It's yours, after all, isn't!
(She) was looking at the white middy blouse-covered bust, brown midi skirt, bare lower legs, anklet socks, and 'Mary Jane' slippers. "I ain't gonna kill myself, Noa. Probably." Ugh! (The) Clothes.
Though terrible at it, Noa still took up guard duty, standing by her roommate, ready to defend her against hot water, and eyeing girls who…were trained in using dangerous tools…. She must be crazy!
If only the other Room 13ers were here! All roommates were supposed to be divided and scattered to different homerooms. It didn't help Noa's bravery any to think the only reason her and Ran were in the same class was because admin didn't think she was a threat. They didn't think she could effectively team-up with Ran and cause the brawls and mayhem the St. Bacchus girls regularly engaged in before, after and *gulp* between classes.
"Hear me! Hear me!" Koko announced from her place on the other side of Ran. "We're going to have a tournament!"
"Another?" , "We're tired of always having tournaments." , "Get a new idea!" , "How about martial arts tag!" , "Is it going to be a tag teaming?" , "As if; then the two girls would have to share Ran!" , "Martial arts hide-and-seek with eliminating the competition, first!" , "I know! Let's go Japanese traditional: Rock, Paper, Scissors!" , "With real rocks, real paper, real scissors!" , "And maybe not with the paper." …
"We'll consider the options!" Koko told the other girls. "Ran decides!"
The girl was looking to (her) for some reaction. The first thing on (her) traitorous mind, though, was how much makeup dye with its light-reflecting crystals was on Koko's face. And on her own face(!)
And on the faces of the other(?) girls(!) "Uh, um," 'Ran' went back to staring at the clothes (she) was wearing over (her) uncomfortable body. "Okay. Whatever." Would (she) be more comfortable in that other body of (hers)? (She) couldn't find out until (she) had (her) dragon whisker back! Or the soup that cured (her) of it. Without either,...
'Ran' got back on the floor. "But I ain't gonna date no girl who tries to hit me with hot water! Understand!(?) I'm gonna remember your faces! Find out your names! You're then gonna have to face me in a battle! Justice!"
That got the reaction (she) was looking for. (Her) mind and body began to sync up: Confidence! And the satisfaction that came with it.
"See, ladies? And the Morale-kai will be body guarding Ran-san, carrying security cameras,..."
"Matsu-matsu! Wait-wait!" Noa cried. "That like have date with Ran but not have fight for Ran like other girls! Right, Ran?"
"Nobody's guardian' me but me!" 'Ran' told them, hiking up (her) knee-length and actually swinging a leg out of the window.
"That will be enough of those antics," Ichijō-sensei Ryōma-san said with his baritone voice raised. "Back to seats, girls. Time for your lessons in Japanese history."
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The lesson was about 10th century Heian period and the emergence of the traditions that made Japanese culture in many ways unique. Many examples were given. Ryōma-san was an otaku about many things.
'Ran' only went otaku over martial arts. Maybe(?) that was why (she) was unhappy with (her) body. Sure, it was great at fighting, but there had to be more to life than just one thing, right? Maybe? Ryōma-san was giving (her) examples: tea ceremonies, flower arrangement, calligraphy, bonsai, kabuki,...
But (she) was in an all-girls school. A boarding school that didn't like its girls to leave the campus. To do any of those things, (she) would have to join a club. There would only be girl members. Girl members would expect (her) to be girl enough for them not to…well, not having memories meant (she) didn't know how girls treated girls they didn't like. (Her) body didn't even give (her) a clue, a hint of a feel.
What if (she) did learn from the girls around her how to be more girl? Maybe (she) could train (her) mind into at least accepting of (her) body. And– Hey! –weren't girls opposite of guys!? Not that (she) had the memory over what that really meant, but the girls knew! Maybe if they liked (her) as another girl, they would not be so quick in wanting to see (her) being boy and the opposite. Going girl would keep (her) from becoming bald!
It was a plan!
"And that ends today's lesson in Japanese history," Ichijō-sensei Ryōma-san said. "I leave you girls to go back to what you doing before it."
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'Ran' looked around the classroom at the girls getting out of their chairs, sizing them up, looking to see which girl to target. (She) would mirror the girl with the most girl potential!
"Ran, do you not think your Mami would win a martial arts beauty contest?"
(She) would not mirror this girl! This girl was too over-the-top girl!
"The Morals Committee objects to the objectifying girls, especially when it is girls doing it to themselves!" Ikko protested.
"You're just jealous because your only distinguishing features are your black socks and armband," Mami laughed. It was a mean laugh, but at least it wasn't a noblewoman's laugh – Ouch, talk about an earache.
Come to think what shouldn't be questioned, Where was the girl who gave (her) this scholarship? Kodachi the Black Rose, right? She didn't live in the dorm, but she did take classes, didn't she? Was she just in another classroom? Lucky (her) if she was. That was another girl (she) didn't want to be like.
"I know the contest!" 'Ran' spoke before (her) mind had a chance to think beyond the premise. "I'll date by club! I'll date the girl most girl in it."
"Do you know just how many clubs there are!?" , "And it's unfair to the girls who come later in your dating!" , "It's unfair to girls who are not girl enough for you, too." , "How are we supposed to know what is "girl" enough for you?" , "Do you know(?)" , "Yes, that's right. She seems to act more like a boy than a girl!" , "Then the girl most girl to her is the girl who a guy thinks is most girl."
"Hah!" Mami said. "All other girls have lost."
"You're just a china doll of a Japanese doll. Ran's got to prefer a gyaru over you!" said a tanned skinned girl with bleached blonde hair, the opposite of traditional beauty. On purpose.
"And you're not even good at being traditional," said a girl in the regulation middy-maxi school uniform but with a geisha hairdo.
"The most girlish club has got to be the Lolita Club. We wear the most lacy, frilly, colorful clothes in the world!"
"The Man-pleasers Club! We take turns playing a guy and practice pleasing him."
"Hmph! That's just playing a teen version of the kids' game of playing House. We at the Home Ec Club…"
"CLASS!" shouted the next teacher to enter the classroom.
"The Home Ec teacher!" , "How could the Home Ec Club forget it's the next class!?" , "Not the next class, this class time!" , "We're all late! "
The only one not rushing off to the Home Economics classroom was 'Ran'.
Noa soon returned when she noticed her roommate was missing. Other girls tried to skip class, too. The ones afraid that the 'girl most girl' to Ran was a foreigner, the American.
Ran was gone. Where could she have– Noa ran to the open window! "Not suicide!"
She collapsed to her knees in relief when she saw the redhead sprinting away from the building.
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"Gotta stay away from hot water. Gotta!" Home Ec was definitely going to be a class (she) would be skipping. Maybe (she) could get a note and form excusing (her). (She) eyed large, deep, concrete sinks with three faucets. Hot water wasn't going to come out of them. But, still, (she) was in no mood to trust anything that had to do with water.
(She) was near one of the school's playing fields. It was PE time for some classes. Maybe (she) could join in and play whatever game the girls were playing. It had smaller nets than sakkā, soccer, and the girls were playing with sticks they kept near the grass
–No! (She) would get (her) turn at playing a sport or whatever at (her) own PE class. (She) wanted something different! Something that might help (her) like being a girl better.
(She) leaped away, searching! The height and length of the bound surprised (her)! It would have shocked (her) if (her) body weren't so happy to be doing and doing it again… "Man! This is really lettin' me know I got a stretchy bra and panties on!"
(She) was near a building with open garage doors. By the equipment inside it, (she) saw that it must be a maintenance building for keeping the outside of the buildings looking good. "I'm gonna see if I can jump onto its roof!"
No sooner had (she) landed on the roof, but another building got her interest. It was two-story building!
Just as (she) was about to test (her)self, (she) bothered to read its marquee: "Peking Opera". In smaller letters were: "Student Version". The window cards were posters from a real Chinese opera company. And featured them using martial arts!
The doors were open and on impulse 'Ran' dashed into the Theater Kunō Santa .
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Dress rehearsal. The girls certainly weren't wearing the tan & white of the St. Hebereke uniforms. Their costumes were colorful and elaborate. At least, they seemed to be to 'Ran', who couldn't make any comparison to anything else (she) had seen. And their makeup! It couldn't be dyed on like that on (her) face. (She) was sure none of the girls (she'd) seen looked so…. Yes, the makeup was weird, but the costumes were weird, too. That meant they went together, right? It meant they were for stories that weren't set in the real world, but a fantasy world. Interesting.
One girl had to be playing the hero. She sang, in a very high voice, "Guimen, I am Wu; I will rescue you!"
"Xiaosheng, please do! I await my hero Wu!" This voice was a very high falsetto!
Wu attacked a wall of girls, three standing on top of the shoulders of two. Wu leaped and 'toppled the wall'. The girls landed with their hand and feet, backs down, and immediately rolled and jumped on their feet with a theatrical flurry! They were now not the fortress wall; they were its guards. The play-acting martial arts battle went on.
Until the choreograph became too complicated and the hero was attacked by two of the guards at the same time! And Wu was knocked off her feet.
"That's enough rehearsing for today," Guimen the heroine told them. In a tenor voice. 'She' was really a guy? And now that 'Ran' was paying attention to female role, (she) could see that the 'she' probably was an adult male.
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NOTE:
Seiji Hebereke guards the girls because most of them are from elite families and could be used as blackmail or revenge. But the school is also to guard the girls' purity so they may be more readily married in business and political deals, where inheritances are involved.