"I was asleep," said Ranma, glaring at the woman. "Suddenly I'm in the office."
Principal Miyuki looked at the redheaded girl and slumped. "Why?"
"Why what?" asked Ranma.
"Why didn't you take the fight seriously?" asked the principal. "I saw your chi level. I saw your skill level. It would have been just like 'The Field Of Love' but with martial arts."
"The whozee what?" asked a befuddled Ranma.
"A shojo manga," explained the principal. "Young teaching assistant with a sordid past goes to an all girl school, followed by the young ladies in question trying to heal the wounds inflicted on him by a stupid father and uncaring society... It's in its 34th volumn."
"I don't read shojo manga," said Ranma. "I'm a guy."
"Instead you THREW the match," said the principal. "Something I never expected."
"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW SHE COULD DO THAT?!" yelled Ranma. "WHAT KINDA SCHOOL IS THIS ANYWAY?!"
"It's a school for magical girls," explained the principal, "it even says so right on the school sign." She pulled a book off the shelf and placed it out where Ranma could reach it. "Here. Take a look at this."
Ranma was expecting her to show a picture. Once she opened the book though, a swirling image filled an empty place near his chair. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
Huge it was. The ceiling was a good 12 feet up, and the thing was crouched over anyway. Skin that was a dull red, orange tufts of hair, slitted eyes, an open mouth filled with three rows of shark teeth, and a... male organ that was overly long and had bony PRONGS jutting from it.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" asked Ranma.
"THAT," explained the principal, "is a Type IV Shikima. A demonic being that is empowered by sexual pain and humiliation. It is one of the many things that the girls trained here fight."
Ranma looked at the disproportionate thing and back at the principal. "That's real?"
"The fact that many of those girls out there will eventually have to fight things like that, and some aren't going to survive, weighs heavily on me and those of my administration here, Mister Saotome." The principal closed the book, dispelling the image. "There are several 'weak points' in the fabric of reality, and things like that can cross over into our world across those points. The girls training here get a normal high school education but also learn to control their special abilities and fight things like that."
Ranma got his heartrate back under control. Not that he was frightened by the sudden appearance of that thing. Not at all. Just a little... startled.
"Would it have been so bad to have a young man involved in their lives?" asked the principal. "A little harmless lighthearted romance going on?"
"Yeah, it worked out so WELL," said Ranma, hefting one of the breasts he'd so recently acquired.
"I've noticed," said the principal. "Okay. You're a student here until you graduate and we can't give you any special dispensations despite your original gender."
"I gotta wear the uniform," translated Ranma.
"Ribbons and all," agreed the principal. "There's also the usual having to keep your grades up. You don't want to be held back a grade or flunk out."
Ranma hung his head. "Great. How could it get worse?"
"It can ALWAYS get worse, Mister Saotome," said the principal with the air of one who knew. "We need to get you to your first class though. If you have any ideas on how to get out of your current situation or make it easier to handle, please make an appointment to see me."
"One question," said Ranma. "How the hell did AKANE manage to beat me?"
"Her Rock Me Anataeus attack? You got her angry, she lost control of her strength and how much energy she was channeling," answered the principal. "When she grabbed your ankle and started slamming you into the concrete, her strength rating was such that she could easily lift forty-five tons. Why DID you try to get her so angry?"
"She's gotta... control problem," realized Ranma.
"And you tried to get her to show more control by making her lose control?" asked the principal, sounding completely puzzled.
Ranma just growled and looked around as if he wanted to find something to hit.
Many of those present had read 'The Field Of Love' and knew exactly what the principal had been planning. Some had disapproved, some had approved, and more had taken a wait-and-see attitude. Substitute martial arts for softball and they could see the principal's point, and they also knew WHY the principal had that attitude.
Some of the girls kept the world at arm's length, others were almost desperate to make friends. It was a dangerous world out there and most of the mundanes didn't know what danger they were in every day. Some of their classmates likely wouldn't survive to their tenth year reunion. Some would even end up going to the Dark Side.
However, this young redhaired girl that looked VERY self-conscious was actually a fairly cute guy who wouldn't be expected to fight supernatural menaces after graduation. That put things a little differently.
"Class, you all know... miss Saotome," said Nyamo, practically choking on the 'miss' part.
"Hey, I'm a GUY," insisted Ranma.
"Not for the next three years," noted the teacher. "what a waste"
Watching him/her carefully was:
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(Posted Mon, 04 Sep 2006 09:37)
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