Ranma of St. Bacchus, Chapter 18
by Chaos Orchid
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"The more you stand out from others, the greater a target you become. Then you find out how much the martial arts matter to you."
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Lingerie and Other Challenges
"Don't listen to Noa!" Junko rushed to tell Ran.
"Don't ever go on a diet!" Yuko wished to order her.
"Noa, if Ran doesn't eat, her body will draw its energy from us and others," Yuna explained.
"Oh! That correct. Ran can become vampire! Feed on emotion."
"I still hate bein' pudgy." (She) then ran her hand up her left arm. "And I hate bein' puny. I wish I could have muscles like Shitsū."
"Get you mind off of it!" Coach Junko told her. "Think about your homework!" Her hands on (her) shoulders, she turned (her) to the desk at the end of (her) bed. (Her) trained senses automatically scanned her as a possible opponent. (She) felt the girl's body heat. It merged with (her) own, so similar they were. (Hers), though, was more curved. And 10cm, 4 inches shorter. (She) was the smallest in the room. Maybe the school.
Except when it came to boobs. Only Yuna in her yakata robe could be bigger. But only when (she) got to have C cups at their smallest. The lucky one was Mao, now in her–Erk!–Hello Kitty lingerie. Her boobs barely filled her bra cups. The rest had, uh, B cups(?), (she) assumed. Noa, in her jinbei, was an American and they were supposed to have bigger boobs. Or was that stereotyping(?) Yuko had on a nightgown. Junko wore only a sweat shirt that read "Coach" on it in English. It also read "University of Hawaii at Manoa".
The still nude 'Ran' especially didn't like sitting in (her) high performance body. There was how (her) feet couldn't comfortably reach the floor; there was the padding around her thighs and buttocks; there was the odd 'V' her knees and hips wanted to make; there was the pelvis itself! It all seemed…wrong? Not to a part of (her), though. Only to an overlay on the body. Not that (she) could define it that clearly.
And if that wasn't enough to annoy (her), there were how (her) boobs could come down on the desk top(!) They always seemed to want to get in the way! To interfere!
But Junko was right! Distract the mind with homework! Where to begin. English. Japanese History. Home Economics–Nope: tossing that last book! Japanese Grammar, Word and Character Building. Health and Hygiene. Well, she didn't have to open that book until it came around again next week. What other not-everyday classes was the homeroom scheduled to take?...
A knock came to the door. Everybody tensed, ready to go into action. Mao went to the door. When she head the voice of the other side, her face broke out in a wide grin. "It's Kasumi-san!" Everybody could relax. It was the school's favorite teacher. They all greeted her. (And saw security officer Oto before the door closed. He was holding his taser. He would be eavesdropping.)
She had tote bags. "These are for Ran-san," she said, barely flinching at the sight of the nude.
"You made me a uniform that fits?" Ran said, welcoming a chance not to have to sit.
"I'm sorry, Ran-san," she bowed, before giving her the tote bags. "I thought of something more important for a young woman."
"More important?" Well, (she) was given permission not to wear the standard uniform. Out of the totes were gift-wrapped boxes. ("So Kasumi-san!" was the approving comment.) Ripping open the first ("My, my" was the woman's the slightly critical comment.), the box indicated it came from Ginza Mitsukoshi and looked to be a high class and expensive store. "You went shoppin' for me?"
"My, no. I did think what's inside was special enough to be presented as special." ("So traditional Japanese?" Noa wondered.)
Sitting the box on the coffee-tea table and (her)self on the floor, (she) saw what was inside.
"A bra?" (She) didn't want to touch it. It wasn't at the same level as the sports bra and panties, or the Sanrio-themed ones of Mao, or the plain ones of Junko, or colorful ones of Yuko or the silk ones of Yuna. Theirs didn't just have a lace trim; theirs weren't brocaded. Like these, uh, gifts.
"I know how important lingerie can be for young women," Kasumi-san smiled, assuming Ran wanted her* underwear to be feminine. "School regulations require you to wear the lingerie interlined with elastic-mesh. But they are rather…unattractive. And tan,as well."
It was her that pulled the bra out and held it near her own bust, giving Ran an idea how it will look on her when the young woman did the same thing. The 164cm, 5'4½" tall woman did have to step back for the sitting girl's viewing. "In normal skirts and blouses, these will remind you that you are an attractive young woman. You have seem to still have adjustment problems in going from a girl to a woman and these will aid in that process."
"Adjustment. Gong from. To a woman." For some reason, that felt ominous to (her).
(She) tried to shake it out of (her) head.
"Adjustment! That's right: I can't wear that! I have adjustment problems! Remember. My measurements don't want to stay one size!"
Kasumi-san beamed and hurried over and knelt down to give her a closer look at the bra. "This idea excited me and I just had to see if I could accomplish it! See? I have cut the bra into pieces and treated the frayed ends and attached bits of different kinds of elastic to those ends. Then I assembled the bra back together."
"It seems like an awful lot of work." And it would make 'Ran' shamefully ungrateful for the effort the good teacher had put into it. All for (her).
"I was excited! It seemed like fun," the sewing hobbist smiled. "See?" she said stretching the bra straps and band and even the cups. "The added elastic acts like springs, countering the normal force of the other elastics. In other words, it better adjusts to your changing figure." And the cloth parts were no longer sewn onto its neighboring fabrics.
"That's what I need for bloating!" Yuko said, a little envious.
"It will be a great boon for pregnant women," Yuna nodded wisely.
Hearing 'bloating' and 'pregnant' did not make being a woman any more appealing to young 'Ran'. Or welcoming a bra.
"I assume that there are panties similarly altered in the other tote?" Yuna asked.
"My, yes! There are matching sets, bra and panties. Though only one set are this feminine, I'm afraid."
"Try them on! Try them on!" Mao urged 'Ron'.
The others wanted to see her in the lingerie. And so, of course, did (her) gift-giver. 'Ran' was trapped by politeness. Giri, obligation. (She) also knew they didn't like (her) acting like a nudist. Also giri. Or girly? Their emotions?
The panties came – step in, pull up and on – first. They were skimpier than (she) thought they should be. And only just covered her butt crack. So snug. Back and…front.
The delay could not continue and (she) had to put the bra on.
Only, (she) was finding it a little hard figuring out how to put a bra on.
The others were glad to explain it to her. "It can be fidgety, Ran-san. Even grown women can still have difficulty with it," Kasumi-san assured.
It was a little more complicated than (she) would have thought it would have. If (she) had ever thought of it. If you can't latch the hooks in back, you latch it in front and slide it around to the their place in the back and ease the boobs into their cups. You then hold an adjuster slide in one hand and use your other hand to hold your bra steady.
"Practice and you'll be able to latch it in the back. It'll save time," the experienced woman told her.
"When you go into a ladies room, adjust the slides," Yuna told (her). "Activity will loosen them."
"And nobody gets as active as you, Ran," Junko said.
"Aw, man! Geez! " Fidget! Fidget! (She) wanted to not to have to think about her boobs. It was only going to increase their size! (She) also had to pull on the band and push her boobs into place inside their cups.
Still, (she) was getting good vibes from the girls. They all thought (she) looked good in 'her' undies. "So very much the image of a young and beautiful woman!" Kasumi-san complimented. "Enjoy the lingerie for today. But, remember, this one is your fourth of the three-bra rule."
"She means it's your fanciest!" Mao said. "It's not part of the wear-spare-wash cycle!"
"I'll wear it," 'Ron' told them for them. But (she) muttered to (her)self, "I'm gonna go back to bein' a nudist when I can." In the meantime: fidget, fidget…feeling antsy.
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(She) had to look over the lacy, fancy bra as (she) did (her) homework. And the didn't keep her boobs off the desktop.
Homework was something else (she) seemed unused to. But team coach and tosser, Junko and Yuna, were always nearby to help her and, worse, check to see how far along (she) had gotten. That, too, was getting annoying. Had (she) ever had to live with this many people?(!) And all girls(!)
Did (she) like boys better? Was (she) really a tomboy at heart? Did girl girls get on (her) nerves?
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They still didn't trust going to the cafeteria. The most kohai wasn't sent this time. Instead of Noa, Mao was the kohai sent. She was late getting back with the take-out. 'Ran' went to the vending machines in the dormitory hall. (She) came back with a couple of boxes of Leanmeal and a Diet Cola.
(She) had made the mistake of going out in 'her' Kasumi-san Special. That drew the attention of those out in the hall. "Lovely!" , "So elegant!" , "Real woman's lingerie!" A couple of them even wanted to know where (she) had bought them. "The store must full of wonderful ladies wear!" , "They must be expensive!" Of course, 'Ran' couldn't give Kasumi-san extra work. "They were a gift. You don't ask what a gift costs. …do you?"
When Mao came back with the totes, she reported. "They're talking about Ran's extreme parkour!"
"Extreme parkour?" coach Junko looked at the redhead.
"I didn't use no parkour today. All I did was see how high I could jump."
"And how high can you jump?"
"Two stories. Maybe more."
Noa almost choked on her mouthful. Mao spit her drink out. Yuna stopped eating. And Yuko's mouth stayed open. Junko gulped, then said, "Don't. Don't do that. If you don't have to, don't! "
"Why?"
"Don't you realize how. much. energy. that requires?! You have to go the Reservoir! You have to risk taking in the emotions of others!"
"Hormone monster!" Mao warned.
"More than just that," Yuko said. "There's Kodachi."
"Kodachi? Black Rose?" 'Ran' snorted her laugh. "If she can drink in ki energy from the Reservoir, I can still take her!" Again, boasting about her marital arts abilities seemed natural to (her).
"It's not as simple as that," Junko said. "As we've told you, Kunō-sama Kodachi-sama doesn't like competition."
"Perhaps the explanation should wait," suggested Yuna, Junko's chief advisor. "After all , Ran is finally showing herself to be a more refined young woman. Though not a lady. Not yet."
"And you haven't heard what the girls are going to do now that they know about Ran's jumping!" Mao said. "Since they now know of Ran has extreme skills…"
"...they are trying devise extreme strategies to hit her with hot water!" Coach Junko finished the sentence.
"More than that, I bet," Yuko said. "Ran herself is now a great challenge to them."
"But nobody can jump as high and far as I can – That's what you said!" (she) said, now self-satisfied and smug.
"Try to remember that challenges are defined on their own terms," Yuna said.
"Right! Your opponents will try to find ways to limit your options," Junko reminded her.
"And they will bring out their own extreme abilities and skills!" Yuko did, too.
"The more frustrated they become, the more chances they'll take!" Mao knew that could go beyond mere mischief.
"Everybody already use dangerous tool!" Noa wanted to scream. "Weapons!"
"But you have a backup, Ran," Junko told (her). "You're on a team, now!"
"Uh…." Had (she) ever been on a genuine team?