"The reason why we are all here today is that Mrs. Saotome thinks that you should all learn how to better get along with each other and pursue Ranma without fighting. So when I prepared this evenings entertainment I thought to myself: 'Why not include something that will help achieve this goal?'," Nabiki revealed.
"That does not really tell us anything," Ukyou pointed out.
Nabiki meanwhile had picked up a small bag that she had brought with her and took out several sheaves of paper.
"Why don't I simply show you?" she asked handing them out to the curious girls.
From his perch high up in the doujou roof Ranma tried to peer down onto the table to read what was written on these papers but the printing was far to small for him to make out. He would have to wait for the girls to comment on their contents.
"I, the undersigned hereby pledge not to interfere, impede or interrupt one (1) date between the holder of this document and Ranma Saotome provided that certain conditions enumerate below are met throughout it," Ukyou read from one of the papers incredulously.
"The date contract would only be good for a single rather short and uneventful date," Kodachi summarized the same paper. "It does not even allow for a real good night kiss or anything more intimate than holding hands and the fact that the others are still allowed to monitor the date unobstrusively from out of sight would put a cramp on anyone's style."
Overhead only the fact that he had actually expected something bad to happen prevented Ranma from loosing his hold on the wooden beam he was lying on in shock. The girls were really considering gambling with him as the stake.
"Shampoo think she likes this one," the Amazon declared holding up a small business-card sized piece of paper.
"Oh yes, the 'Uninterrupted Spontaneous Public Display of Affection Card.' I thought you might like that," Nabiki commented with a grin. "You hold it up for the signee to see shortly before a spontaneous display of affection is initiated to stop them from interfering with it. Please carefully read the restrictions on the back about maximum duration and inappropriate touching."
Ranma was staring down at them in stunned disbelief. They could not possibly be serious about this. Would they really stand by and let another girl monopolize him just because they had lost a game of cards. And what about him? Didn't he get any say on who he dated or got hugged by? He never really had in the past but this blatant dismissal still irked him.
"This 'Agreement to allow the holder of the document to be sole provider of one meal for Ranma' sounds interesting," Akane pointed out another type of document.
"Just remember to give notice at least 24-hours in advance to prevent scheduling conflicts," Nabiki reminded her.
Ranma starred down in horror. The girls wouldn't really idly stand by and allow Akane to feed him one of her home-cooked meals because of some piece of paper they had signed, would they? This wasn't fair!
"This one is rather lame," Ukyou said holding up another small card. "The one who signed it has to make a positive comment about whoever holds it up in Ranma's presence. It's really no biggie to say 'nice dress' to someone even if Ranma is there to hear it."
"There are some clarifications on the back of the card on what does and does not constitute a compliment," Nabiki pointed out. "But you are right this is one of the lowest stakes I had prepared. So what do you all think?"
"Shampoo might like to win some of these from other girls," the Amazon declared confidently.
"I have to admit that these idea does show some promise," Kodachi agreed.
"The stakes aren't too high," Ukyou mused carefully. "There are all these conditions and requirements. It would not be that bad to actually lose. Not that I expect to lose of course."
"I don't really want to go on a date with Ranma or anything," Akane made clear. "But if I have to win a few rounds of poker to keep him from doing anything perverted with you I am game."
Ranma suppressed a groan at this reasoning. If Akane wanted to prevent any dates between him and any of the girls all she had to do was not sign anything that said that she would not interfere. Ranma strongly suspected that she was actually agreeing to play this stupid game because of the prospect of feeding him some of her toxic cooking unimpeded.
Whatever reason the girls might have had. In the end they all agreed to play the game with the new stakes Nabiki had provided. They each signed one of the little compliment cards and put them in the pot as ante. And with that the game was started.
While below him he was gambled with Ranma was now thinking hard. He had already spotted several interesting points about this set-up Nabiki had worked out.
Unlike the photos Nabiki had given them earlier none of the papers she had given them actually held any value to themselves. Only the ones they managed to win of the others would be actually worth anything to them. And winning just one contract from another girl often would not be enough either.
In order to have an uninterrupted date with him the girls would have to collect one contract signed by each of the other suitors. If Shampoo managed to win a promise from Akane and Kodachi not to interfere then there was still nothing stopping Ukyou from interrupting them. There was also nothing in the contracts that would prevent the date from being interrupted by a third party.
The contracts that decided who would cook for him similarly required a complete set to be effective, which filled Ranma with some small relief.
The little cards for spontaneous PDAs that Shampoo liked so much on the other hand did not require a complete set. She only needed on card from anyone present when she initiated one of her Amazon glomps. Ranma figured that this would probably mean trouble for him later on if nothing was done.
The smallest stakes that could compel the girls to compliment each other apparently could be played independently and completely by themselves, but Ranma had not yet figured out how this might end up hurting him and wasn't to worried about them.
He was more concerned with Nabiki. She was acting like she was one of his suitors. Promises from her not to cook him anything or interfere in dates meant little since she was not really in the habit of normally doing so. Nabiki had actually nothing to lose the way she had set the game up. Ranma suspected that she planned to later sell or auction of anything she won. She had somehow maneuvered the girls into a position where she could make huge profits without risking anything herself.
The situation was potentially bad, but not too bad. The girls needed to collect sets of contracts for any of the real dangerous stuff and he figured that as soon as everyone had gotten comfortable with betting with these stakes Nabiki would start clearing them out. Ranma would just have to visit her later and find a way to buy or beg Nabiki's winnings of her.
Ranma decided to wait moderately reassured by his own reasoning, but the expected turn in the game did not come. The girls continued to play more or less as they had before without any of them changing her style to much. Nabiki won a few rounds here an there but she did not dominate the game or amass large collections of winnings.
When he realized that Nabiki would not oblige him Ranma started to get worried. If he had kept track correctly both Ukyou and Kodachi had already managed to obtain one complete set of dating contracts. Shampoo had several contracts from each of the girls except for Kodachi who kept either folding or wining against her.
Shampoo did not seem to mind to much because she had already won a large stack of Spontaneous PDA Cards. Especially Akane was risking and losing these "Amazon Glomp" guarantees with abandon. She seemed to be concentrating on accumulating as many sets of "Free Lunch" cards as possible.
This was not how things were supposed to go. This was bad and wrong. Ranma was considering how things might possibly get even worse when he noticed that Kodachi and Shampoo were about to take things to another level.
"If you are so confident, Foreigner," the Kunou girl asked. "Why don't we take things a bit further."
Putting deed to word she retrieved the date contract she had thrown in the pot earlier and with a flourish strook out the clause specifically prohibiting a good night kiss after the date.
"Remember to initial any changes," Nabiki reminded her cheerfully before she could put it back into the pot.
Ranma who could see both their hands from his position was silently screaming for Shampoo to fold instead of following Kodachi's raise, but it was to no avail. The Amazon fell into the trap and Kodachi won her first date contract allowing kissing. She would still need to get a similarly modified contract from each of the other girls, but now that there was blood in the water he did not doubt that they would hold back.
And even worse, Ranma suddenly realized, was the fact that the no kissing clause was not the only part of the contract that could be easily modified. With none of the girls likely to back down and admit that enough was enough anytime soon things were only going to get worse.
What new development might possibly add to that already very dangerous situation?
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(Posted Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:36)
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