The old man deciding that NOW he had to go to school and take it seriously?
So yes, Ranma knew darn well there was something afoot. He was expecting it to be like Junior High - all male school and a rough-and-tumble crowd where fights broke out almost hourly and the teachers and security were just going to make sure that the violence didn't spill out of the school grounds.
Yes, he had some fine memories of Buronson Junior High School. Getting into fights in the school yard, mob combat on the way to class, battling it out over the curry bread, duking it out with the hall monitor while trying to go to the bathroom, kicking the butts of the 'bad boys' hanging around IN the bathroom, fighting his way out the door after final period. Oh yeah, he was really anxious to get into that routine again. And if you believed that last, his father had a slightly used suspension bridge to sell you.
Which was why he was eyeing the place and looking around for ambushes and spiked pit traps and gangs of leather-and-chain wearing toughs.
Because he was so preoccupied with this, he didn't notice a lot of details that he otherwise would have.
"Ah, Mister Saotome, you're right on time," said the principal, sitting back behind her desk and smirking. "So, are you ready to begin?"
"I dunno, my Pops was handlin' the details, and..." Ranma frowned. "I don't got any school books or nothin'."
"Oh, that's all right," said the principal, waving it off. "As the assistant PE teacher, most of your supplies will be provided."
"Well, that's good, I - ?!" Ranma shut his mouth with a click. "Say what?"
"You'll be attending classes here, but assisting the physical education teacher on the side," said the principal. "Frankly your resume is quite impressive, can you back it up?"
"I'm gonna TEACH?" asked Ranma. "But I'm only sixteen!"
"You're going to ASSIST," stressed the principal, still smirking.
"What am I gonna teach? It ain't like I'm up on much sports," said Ranma, trying to figure out what sports he'd actually done back at Buronson.
The principal tapped a sheet on her desk. "It says here that you're qualified as master rank in Hwarang Do, Jiu Jitsu, Shotokan Karate, Greek Pankration, Howling Wolf style Karate, Nanto Hakurou Ken, Nanto Gosha Wind Style, Tae Kwan Do, Aikijutsu, and Anything Goes Style Indiscriminate Grappling."
"Well, yeah. Oh," said Ranma, getting it. "I'm gonna teach martial arts?"
"Well, there's a test prior to placement," said the principal, "if you can demonstrate your skills - you can start tomorrow at 7:30am."
Ranma relaxed quite a bit. Instead of dealing with a female principal and an unfamiliar situation, this involved martial arts and challenges. Something he was a LOT more familiar and thereby comfortable with. "Right. Who have I gotta beat?"
"A student with considerable promise," said the principal. "She's one of the best of the first years, and if you can easily deal with her - you'll have no problems establishing your credentials as a martial artist. Take too long, go too easy, or worse - lose - and the word will get out and absolutely no one in this town will take you seriously as a martial artist. Among other... penalties."
"It sounds like Oyaji really set me up," said Ranma. "Audience, huh?"
The principal nodded. "Everyone is assembled in the main gym. As soon as you arrived we began the preparations. Are you ready? Or will you forfeit?"
"Hey, Ranma Saotome don't lose," said Ranma, smirking himself.
He felt a little less confident when he got to the gym. "Uhm. Where's the guys?"
"This is an all-girls school, Mister Saotome," said the principal.
"WHAT?!"
"Your father made quite the deal," said the principal, walking past the stunned Ranma towards the ring. "If you lose, he signed the papers so that you'll attend school AS a girl. I wonder how you'd look in the school uniform?"
Ranma took one look at the short skirted, ribboned, school uniform and came to a conclusion. "Pops. I am so gonna hurt you."
The principal reached the ring and realized her potential teacher had come to a halt. "Well, Mister Saotome, are you forfeiting?"
"HELL NO," said Ranma, leaping the intervening distance and then bounding into the ring. He'd just beat this opponent, then go home and take out this idea on his old man. What had that idiot been thinking?!
"In this corner," said the principal. "Wagering his manhood, reputation, personal honor, and dignity - Ranma Saotome."
"It was my stupid oyaji's wager, NOT mine," said Ranma as there were a few catcalls and scattered applause.
The principal gestured to the other side. "In this corner, representing the school, is-"
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(Posted Tue, 23 May 2006 20:44)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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