Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 16
by Chaos Orchid
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"Are you qualified to be a dōjō-master? Should you be?"
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Enter the Pig!
The French braided, dyed-madeup redhead just had to go to the building that looked like a gym. Not having taken Health and Hygiene, (she) got there before anybody else. (She) just had to wait until (she) recognized somebody from (her) class. It wasn't Noa. Unlike (her), the American did not look forward to PE. Then, again, she had actually experienced the kind of dangerous activities St. Hebereke specialized in.
The first girl (she) recognized wasn't from (her) homeroom. "Yamada Ran! You have the same PE time as me? I look forward to continuing with our match!" 159cm, 5'½" Shitsū was very muscular for a girl. If 'Ran' remembered anything about steroids, (she) could well believe the girl with the headband took them.
There was one reason (she) was glad to see her. Out of uniform, she seemed to prefer to wear bloomers. That meant to (her) that she had to know the way to the girls locker room. "Sure, I'll give you another match.
"But first you gotta pay up."
"What?" Shitsū blinked.
"You challenged me. The wager was I hadda help you have a date with the "Ran" guy, right? You lost. You have to give me what you owe me before our next match. You don't wanna be a welsher, do you? I don't fight nobody who don't honor a bet."
"I have honor! Sure, I'll pay what I owe you!" Then a questioning express came to her angular face. "What do I owe you? I don't remember your wager."
'Ran' felt like giggling. The buff girl was too stupid to know or remember that (she) hadn't given her a wager. Shitsū was debt free. Though she wouldn't be if she had given (her) the chance to make one. Only then could (she) claim by the Rules of Martial Arts Honor whatever from the girl. "Let me see…Ah! When I say 'Pay Up Time', you gotta do what I say."
"I'm not going to do anything perverted!"
"Why would I want that!?"
The girl blushed and looked more feminine. "It's because my muscles are big enough for girls to imagine me as a guy."
"Yeah, I guess they're right." Ugh? They weren't a turn on for (her). They didn't seem ugly, exactly, but…('familiar' was the idea 'Ran' couldn't acknowledge). "So they're real? Poor girl. I guess."
Mood swing shout: "How can you be so strong and look weak!?"
(She) opened her mouth, tried to tell her why…and had to give up. Somehow, (she) knew it wasn't just 'luck'.
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The label on her gym t-shirt said Basshi Shitsū and seeing her nude did make (her) think she was too boyish for (her) taste. (She did also have a very hairy bush and maybe legs she had to shave.) Perhaps there was something wrong with (her)? Was it just because Shitsū was missing something?
Don't think of that! (she) told (her)self. (She), instead, looked at the other girls getting undressed. Did they have nude bodies (she) liked seeing naked–
"Yamada! I see you really are a simple girl." And the laugh followed had 'Ran' know immediately who was talking to her: The Black Rose, whatever her name was. Oh, yeah: Kodachi. Family name, Whatever. Kuno, maybe. Ha! "Bring somebody to a place". She did that.
"You are here on the scholarship I blessed you with. These plebeian rags are for lower-tiered athletes. You are a gymnast and must let the whole world know it."
"Oh, it's a role." Putting two and two together, 'Ran' forgot to see how the 163cm, 5'4" girl would look naked (Brrr! As if her body was more important than her attitude) and saw that the Black Rose was in a green leotard; only its trim was black.
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The only other girl remaining in the gymnasts locker room was Noa. It wasn't her choice (she seldom had any at the school). Since day one, yesterday, she had been assigned to assist Ran in any way Kunō-sama Kodachi told her to. And everybody higher than her, the second lowest kohai, had to see that she did or risk being punished, as well.
The 168cm, 5'6" girl was already in her green-and-black leotard. The only one 'Ran' would get to see nude in here was (her)self. And (she) avoided looking into mirrors (and even (her) clothed body when (she) could). Out of uniform, (she) asked, "I hafta…"
" "Atashi," Noa corrected.
"What?"
"You speak male Japanese. Say, 'ore'."
"Matsushiba-sensei said I:buko should say, I:watashi."
"You Japanese and not know formal and informal?"
"Oh, right (heh, heh). The teacher wanted me to be formal with her."
"Please try talk like girl, Ran! Matsushiba-sensei demand me make you lady."
"Lady?" (She) shook off the impulse to reach for that lady emotion+ki. "More important, now. This leotard-thing's gonna, that is going to show my panties and bra. Look how high-up above the crotch the sides goes; and how much the upper chest shows. The school-issued bra doesn't show this much of the tops of the boobs."
Detailed descriptions made Noa even more uncomfortable in her own leotard. Still, she assisted: "Leg hole call 'French-cut'–"
"The French again!?(!) The French braid wasn't enough for them?!"
"French-cut perfect for gymnastics. Allow more leg movement freedom."
"And showin' your girl butt."
"There are worse things that reveal our asses," Noa mumbled in English. Back to Japanese and trying to assist in her naive way, "School leotard have elastic weave under cotton. We not need full school panties and bra. They are for brawls."
"Yeah, I:ore, I mean, I see," 'Ran' said, testing how stretchy the costume was. All but the crotch and sleeves it turned out. (She) didn't know about girdles yet. But (she) would be familiar with the idea of them before (she) did know they existed.
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Running the fingers of both hands along the especially elastic hem where the leotard met (her) merely firm butt, (she) walked into where the (other) martial arts rhythmic gymnasts–MĀRGers–were. Most of them were in the stands, looking like an audience. The Black Rose was center 'stage' of the gym floor. She was not happy. "Sasuke! The spotlight!...The spotlight, I say!...They're still not on!..."
A very short man–at 35cm, 14" shorter by half than 'Ran' (her)self–, swung out on a gym climbing rope, slipping on it and burning his hands from the friction, and letting go when it became too hot for him. He did manage to drop within striking range of the Black Rose's gymnastics ribbon. "I'm sorry, Mistress! I'm sorry, Mistress Kodachi!" he cowered on his knees, bowing. "But the spotlights are on."
The regal Kodachi frowned. She had been so self-centered and assured of her power over some people that she hadn't bothered to look at the spotlights overhead. That would have acknowledge that there were people and things above her. "Then turn out the other lights, Imbecile!"
"All of them, Mistress?"
"ALL of them!" She, then, collected herself, saying, "All eyes should be on the light of the rising young star of high school martial arts rhythmic gymnastics, Kodachi: The Black Rose!
"–Sasuke! How dare you leave the presence of your mistress before she has finished her banner nom de guerre! "
"Sorry, Mistress," the man's voice came from a trap door in the gym floor that had now opened again. "I thought you wanted the spotlight for that sentence."
"Go! Go before I reduce your salary! Again!"
"Yes, Mistress." But as the trap door closed, he muttered, "I already live on a pittance."
"Kodachi's going to turn out the lights?" , "She's never done that before." , "I wonder why?" , "It's because she's the Black Rose! " , "She loves to leave people in the dark." , "The Mistress of Dark Magic!" , "No, I think's already been taken." , "Were they a 'Mistress'?
"Oi! Ran, Noa" Mao smiled. Yuko, Junko and Yuna also greeted their teammates. The roommates found a place to sit together.
"You, there!" Kodachi pointed with her ribbon. "French braid redhead. And the American. Come here. Your team captain-general orders you to."
"She is captain-general and commands all of the teams," Yuna reminded them. "And she the daughter of the owner of this private school."
"You don't want to meet her father," Junko said.
Taking an exasperated snort, 'Ran' walked toward her. Noa meekly followed. After a few paces, Kodachi held up her hand. They halted.
The lights went out. The spotlights shown brightly. And only on Kodachi.
'Ran' and Noa were able to get some of the afterglow. "Okay. We're here."
"Too informal! Use the most formal level when speaking with your better."
'Ran' noticed there was a murmur going through the audience. It was something they didn't expect to hear, even from Kodachi. Apparently, weirdly, she normally didn't require sonkeigo-kenjougo, respectful-humble language, from her kohai underlings.
"...I am, after all, the scion of the noble samurai family that owns the fiefdom of Nerima."
Again there were murmurs. Fiefdoms had been abolished by the 1947 constitution.
As far as that other part, 'Ran' remembered, "But not this place. This suburb is, uh, um, Kodaire(?)?"
"This school is an extension of Nerima, an enclave. That makes me your noble lady and you, my subjects!" She couldn't keep herself from laughing in the noblewoman-trope style. But more gratingly.
"That's good to know,...Onna-musha," 'Ran' bowed, but it was less than formal.
Being called a Woman-Warrior comparable to those that had once fought alongside samurai (before Confucianism took root) thrilled (the Shorter Sword=)Kodachi! It was enough for her to overlook the girl not being sonkeigo-kenjougo with her. That enforced training could come later.
"Yes! Yes: The Seiji Hebereke Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnasts will rise to become women-warriors! With I – naturally ordained by karma to be born to my rank – as your general! Another Mullan!"
("Girls like to talk, but this one does it too much of too much," 'Ran' said in (her) rough, vulgar and abrupt male vernacular.)
"We will begin our battle training with these two!"
"Me!? (!)" squealed Noa! "I not battle before!"
"Then it's about time!" 'Ran' told her. "And it's not 'battle', it's sparrin'!" (She) looked at the boss-lady. "It is just sparrin', right?"
"In the future, I shall act as referee and umpire! I will rule against you for infractions of Japanese grammar and eject you from the match!"
There were no murmurs. The audience of gymnasts wanted to protest(!) Wanted to, but felt how useless that would be. At least for now. The loudest were probably those that didn't get good grades in Japanese. And after 'Ran's meeting Matsushiba-sensei, (she) was sure there could be many.
"Now, a rank-one demonstration of your skills, Yamada-san. Remember, we do not wish the novice to be hurt. Too badly."
Kodachi shifted her head in their direction just enough to give the signal. She was pleased when the toady ninja actually did what he was warned to do. And at the correct moment, as well. While she received the majority of the spotlight,
some of it shifted over to the two sparring partners. 'Ran' understood that the limits of her mobility was now marked by the light. Noa didn't and immediately wanted to step out into the darkness. Find the hole; be invisible.
'Ran' pulled her back in! Noa squealed! "Noa! Look at ME! This is the basic stance: Offense-Defense-Retreat! Most moves can come from this position! Here!" And (she) posed her as if she was a doll with movable joints. Success! Only she was as stiff as one. This was going to take many sparring sessions just to come close to graduating her into the next rank/dan.
There was a further disadvantage. 'Ran' did not yet know anything about MĀRG. Every martial art recognized ranks differently. (She) would have to find out what Noa had to be able to do before she could move up to the next dan!
Suddenly the crowd went wild! 'Ran's' Reservoir-linked reading told (her) there was a variety of emotional reactions. Most…amused?(?)
Suddenly, out of the black of the darkness leaped a little, black pig. And it had a yellow bandanna round its neck. "BWEEE!"
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NOTE:
Shitsū is a parody of Ryōga. The scene in the locker room is to show that 'Ran' isn't interested in this stand in for boys. Yet!
Kodachi has several tactics in mind to make 'Ran' weaker than her. But the captain-general still wants the redhead to be a tool in wining against teams from other schools. Like Fūrinkan.