After a few minutes, Akane arrived back in class looking a lot more relaxed.
“Feeling better?”
Blushing a little, the tomboy gave the red-haired girl a small smile. “Yeah, a little. This is really uncomfortable though.”
“Mhmm, tell me about it.” Beckoning Akane forward, Ranma shifted through her supplies. “C’mere for a moment.”
Akane came over and waited as indicated despite being unsure what this was about.
Ranma slapped her on the forehead. “Begone foul spirit!”
Sighing at Ranma’s usual antics, Akane suppressed a stronger reaction as she stared at the paper seal hanging down to her nose. “...and what was that for?”
Ranma simply rolled her eyes. “Duh, what do you think? Look at what the talisman says.”
Peeling the paper off of her forehead, Akane looked at the jumble of symbols on it. “Male, pervert, possession.” Confused, Akane held it out towards Ranma. “And what does that mean?”
Sighing, Ranma tried to calm her irritation at the situation. “It means you messed with a stone marker along a road and afterwards you couldn’t swim.” So saying, Ranma turned the curse guidebook towards Akane so she could read that particular entry.
As she read it Akane became increasingly nervous as the implications began to sink in. “Is this... what’s wrong with me?”
Ranma shrugged and closed her book as it wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss opening with students starting to filter in. “Maybe, I can’t be sure, I didn’t train to deal with stuff like that. Best guess right now, but it seems like it. Probably laid dormant until you and Nabiki decided to play around and gave it an out.”
Picking up on Ranma’s cue that other students were coming in, Akane made sure to phrase her question to avoid spilling any embarrassing details. “So what should I do?”
Taking the divination seal and putting it away to hide the rest of the evidence, Ranma considered a simple answer. “Just try to control yourself. There might be a shrine that can help, but self-control is the most important.”
Akane nodded in reply to Ranma, blushing at the reminder of self-control or her lack thereof so far. Letting it drop there, she went to her own desk before the students noticed them together and started asking uncomfortable questions.
As students started filling in, Ukyou arrived, going immediately to the person that seemed to be Ranma. “Ranchan? Is that you?”
Grinning in amusement, Ranma fluffed her ponytail. “Hey Ucchan. Guess you noticed I changed my hairstyle. Does it make me look different?”
Ranma’s teasing ploy flustered Ukyou so much she couldn’t help but shout a bit. “Your hair? Everything about you looks different!”
The red-head sat back in her chair, thrusting her chest out and posing a bit. “Oh? You don’t like it?”
The chef froze up at that, knowing Ranma could be oddly prideful of her female form’s looks. Not a can of worms she wanted to open. “Nabiki said some potion got used on you to trap you as a girl!”
Hearing that made Ranma realize she’d forgot to check to see what Akane and Nabiki might have said at school previously. Pondering whether to confirm or deny, Ranma realized the part she was most worried about wasn’t mentioned. As long as it didn’t get out that Akane of all people had taken her virginity and made her a woman, she could publicly deal with being stuck as a girl. “Ah that, yeah. And just to keep this from being a game of twenty questions, I got an offer while clothes shopping to be a part-time magical girl, so I’ve got something to keep me occupied while I’m stuck as a girl.”
Hearing gasps of surprise, Ranma kept herself from grinning, maintaining her casual smile instead. With the magic bracelet she could fake a magical girl transformation and pull the rest of the act off with her own abilities. She could explain her different figure and everything else with that, keeping her seals a secret only Kasumi and her mother knew about.
Akane was as surprised as everyone else, perhaps more so. “Magical girl?”
Ranma played it cool, acting like it wasn’t a big deal. “Oh, just part time if they need some combat support. Hoping I’ll get some good fights out of it.”
Part of Akane said Ranma was lying her ass off. The other part said that sounded exactly like something Ranma would do. Either way, she wasn’t about to argue with Ranma if she could help it.
Ukyou was a lot like everyone else with her reaction. The idea that Ranma was stuck as a girl because of a stupid potion and had decided to get into fights as a magical girl both made sense in a strange way and made her completely forget to ask about the other differences. Shelving such questions since Ranma seemed a bit annoyed by them, she went with the one more important to her. “So, how long will this be for?”
She could tell immediately that it was the wrong question to ask, Ranma’s mood dropping like a rock. “Who knows?” Perking up a little, Ranma turned a mischevious grin on her childhood friend. “You wanna go on a date with a red-headed babe sometime?”
Being friends, Ukyou could translate that to, “I’m stuck as a girl, so what are you gonna do about it?”, which was a good question for her. It wasn’t a difficult question for her at least. “Well, should I wear a cute dress for our date?”
Enjoying the exchange, Ranma’s smile returned with a hint of amusement. “Oh, dress up as much as you want, I don’t care if people stare. It’s not like I want to be the prettier one.”
Ranma couldn’t help but flush a bit as she realized that felt like a lie. Under normal circumstances, he knew what kind of girl he liked and his pride in his female form’s looks combined with that sometimes caused him to go in an awkward direction as a result. Now however it felt natural to be a girl and certain inhibitions that kept her feminine pride tamped down to a certain level were no longer there, leaving her caring more about her looks than she would care to admit.
Well, now that she was aware of the impulse, perhaps she’d be able to control it a bit. Some pride in her looks wouldn’t hurt, but she didn’t want to allow herself to do something silly over it.
Ukyou only picked up on Ranma’s slight blush, enjoying Ranma’s reply. “Ah, do you want to go on a date soon?”
Pondering the option, Ranma tried to keep control of the situation. “Mhmm, sure, we could go out and have a bit of fun, would be a nice change of pace. We could go this afternoon.”
Ukyou quickly did the calculations and since it was a weeknight, she could afford not to open up shop today. “Oh, yes, is this afternoon good? I just need to know by opening time sugar.”
The red-head smiled at her, pleased with her quick reply. “Alright, I’ll let you know if something crazy happens and I have to cancel. Don’t want to hurt your shop after all.”
Almost forgotten, Akane held her tongue. Ukyou was a friend, so she really didn’t have any right to stop them spending time together, especially if it might help Ranma deal with everything. They would just be two girls hanging out after all, despite calling it a date.
On the bright side, perhaps she’d be able to ask for a date later.
Third period was gym, which left Akane with something of a quandary as the moral guardian of the girls and defender against perverted boys.
Ranma was usually in the perverted boys category and to be kept far from the girls’ lockerroom.
At the moment however, Ranma was a curvy girl the boys were drooling over, especially the prospect that she’d stay a sexy girl even under a steamy shower.
Several of the boys stood around Ranma, Hiroshi speaking up for them. “So, Ranma, you going to be okay in the showers today?”
Conflicted didn’t begin to describe Akane’s feelings as her desk creaked under her grip, loud enough for a few classmates to pick up on.
Ranma stood up and strutted away from the boys before turning back to them with a grin. “And what makes you perverts think I’ll be showing off in the showers today?”
If anything her teasing only made the boys happier, grins spreading on their lecherous faces. “Oh, so are you going to show off for the girls instead?”
Ranma simply grinned and raised one hand over her head, striking a pose. As soon as a sparkling glow formed a ring of light around her braceleted wrist, Ranma snapped the hand down to her side, flinging the ring of light to the floor around her.
Just like that, Ranma was suddenly clad in a gym outfit. Blue and white running shoes, flat black kneesocks that came to mid-thigh with bright blue stripes up the outsides, a pair of black bloomers stretched across her wide hips like a pair of spandex bikini panties, and a small light blue shirt that was so loose the black sports bra underneath was easily visible, the shirt ending above her stomach.
Ranma spun around and checked herself out before posing again. “Tell the teacher I’m doing individual study this period, ‘kay?”
With that said, Ranma vaulted out of an open window and was gone before anyone could properly react.
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(Posted Wed, 07 Aug 2013 07:06)
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