The New U chain of bimbo creating magical salons had not quite made it to Japan. The chain had needed major adaptations since ‘bimbo’ in Japan was still an English loanword from the last century that meant ‘poor’ and there was plenty of competition as Japan had its own distinct variants of perversion.
The Japanese variant was named Shin Kai Ai, ‘New Version Love’, essentially a love hotel that in addition to a magical salon also offered quick temporary changes. It wasn’t unusual for a man go in, turn into a woman, have some fun, then go home a man. Indeed, some salary men would instead of seeking a prostitute for the night, spend the night as a slutty party girl.
The sign for the store caught Ranma’s eye as it had a type of magic on it that made most people ignore it, yet showed the proper signage to interested people. He had enough spiritual presence to read it anyways, which was why he didn’t end up visiting strange magic shops as often as Ryouga and Kuno. Normally he would have ignored it anyways, but it said something about magical sex-changing convenience. Sex changing was rarely convenient for him.
Always looking for a cure for his curse, Ranma headed in, finding a somewhat typical love hotel lobby. It was something like a big vending machine, requiring no personal interaction and allowing individual privacy. He instead went to the door that would allow him to talk to the manager and ask some questions. After navigating a few blind corners, he came to a counter manned by a plain glasses-wearing young man. “Uh, hi, your sign said something about magical sex-changes?”
The attendant nodded pleasantly. “Yes, it’s part of our services.”
Ranma decided being blunt was the best here since they might not be able to help anyways. “I’ve got a curse that turns me into a girl. You think you could do something about it?”
The attendant perked up a bit. “Oh, yes, we can sometimes reverse unwanted sex changes. How does your curse work?”
Ranma hoped they weren’t going to pull something stupid on him. “Jusenkyou curse, splash with cold water and I turn into a girl. Hot water to change back.”
The attendant nodded. “I see. So switching between two forms. Our salon should be able to alter one form to your preferences, or we could study your curse to figure out how it works.”
Ranma considered his options for a moment. “How about studying it? Changing back and forth randomly is annoying.”
The attendant came around the counter, standing next to what was essentially a door frame sticking out of the wall at a ninety degree angle. Tapping the frame once, he went through, turning into a long haired woman in a sexy skirt-suit. She turned to Ranma with a sexy grin. “This is our main way of letting customers enjoy themselves for a few hours in a different form. The change is temporary, and going through the door in the other direction reverts it early.”
She went back through the door in the other direction, coming back as her original male self. “As you can see, it’s fairly simple.” Tapping the frame a bit more, he got the vertical banner along the frame stating ‘transformation’ to shift to ‘diagnostic scan’. “This isn’t a mode we use often, but if you’ll go through in both of your forms, I’ll see what it can tell me.”
Ranma merely grunted. He’d seen stranger. Far stranger. “I need a cup of cold water, tap water cold. ”
The attendant nodded and went back into the break room. “Certainly.”
After the attendant came back with the cup of water, Ranma went through the door. Waiting a moment for the attendant to stop looking at whatever was so interesting behind the counter, he young man glanced up and offered him the cup of water. “Okay, I’m ready to scan your girl form.”
Splashing himself, Ranma paused the adjust her clothes after losing nearly sixty pounds in the transition from athletic guy to petite girl. Now that her pants weren’t going to fall off, she stepped through the doorway again. After waiting patiently for a moment, the attendant finally looked up again. “Okay, the scan worked. It’ll take some time to figure out everything, but we already have some results.”
As the attendant went to go get something, Ranma tugged on her shirt, letting it dry quicker and stop clinging to her breasts to much. After a few minutes of waiting, he came back and offered her a bracelet that looked vaguely like a ladies watch. “What’s this for?”
Holding up his own wrist, the attendant showed off a similar bracelet. “It’s an employee item, but it should help for testing, so I’m letting you borrow it for the moment.”
Wary of something strange happening, Ranma snapped the bracelet on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Setting something up, the doorway switched back to transformation mode, the attendant making his way back to his station before gesturing towards it. “If you’ll step through, I have a test transformation set up.”
Seeing the petite redhead stare at him, he gave her a slightly encouraging smile. “I can’t guarantee nothing strange will happen, but it should be safe.”
Content that at least he was trying, Ranma stepped through the doorway, wondering what strange new shape she’d be in.
Blinking, she glanced down, taking in some bits faster than others. Same height, flat-chested, blond hair, her clothing was different, as was her voice. “What kind of form is this?”
The attendant smiled at the new blonde. “Everything checks out. You’re a blond trap right now.”
Ranma felt something shift between his legs, allowing him to realise he was now a petite boy. “What trap?”
The attendant blinked, wondering how someone that frequently changed sex could be unaware of transgender terms. “Trap means a cute boy that looks like a girl.”
The new blonde pouted at the attendant. “And why would you change me into something like this?”
Beckoning him over, the attendant smiled in amusement at the little cutie. “Everything seems to be working.” Once Ranma was in range, he tapped on the bracelet, causing it to light up. “Do you have a cellphone?”
Ranma paused, wondering what that would have to do with things. “No, I’ve never needed one.”
The attendant stared at him for a moment, surprised that someone in Tokyo didn’t have a cellphone of some kind. “Ah, well, normally we control these via a smartphone interface.”
Returning to his terminal, the attendant brought up Ranma’s bracelet, going for the new options particular to this client. “I’m going to activate your hot water transformation now.”
Ranma was about to object when he suddenly got taller, a lot taller. Still a blonde, long blonde hair was streaming in curly locks over her shoulders, framing a rather large pair of breasts and spilling down her back. She was taller than her male form, fairly athletic with some muscles and wearing a pair of modest heels. “What? Then why am I a woman now?”
The attendant looked up at her, smiling appreciatively at her sexy form. “Sex change transformations are common here, so the test form sex-swapped your two forms. Additionally, the bracelet seems able to control your curse a bit, the changing mechanism specifically. You can use the bracelet to change instead of water.”
Taking it in for a moment, it sounded great except for one detail. “But this isn’t me!”
The attendant pressed his bracelet, shifting immediately into his sexy female form again. “These bracelets can also do the standard transformation, so it should control your curse in your original form too. The main problem is that is an employee item, so you’ll have to work here to keep it.”
The confused young woman didn’t want to imagine what working at a magic love hotel could mean, so she asked. “Work here doing what?”
Looking over her terminal, the sexy female attendant looked over something before answering. “Ah, well I should explain a bit of what sort of business we do here. Say there is a maid cafe in Akihabara that needs a sexy blond waitress. A guy in another district needs a job. He goes into his local branch, transforms into a blonde, then comes out at the Akihabara branch and goes to the job. He gets work, they get their employee and we get a cut for arranging it and making it possible. Everyone is happy.”
Currently blonde and having some waitressing experience, Ranma raised an eyebrow as she considered it. “So, you’re saying I could work as a waitress somewhere else?”
The attendant blinked in surprise before shaking her head, sending her loose black hair swishing. “Oh no, not exactly. You could, you will get some part time job offers you should find interesting. What I meant was that sometimes our branch exits get blocked, say some young punks that are harassing the pretty girls that keep passing through a certain alley. Are you not someone that could persuade them to bugger off?”
Ranma stared at realizing how simple that would be for her. “Yeah, I can do that.”
The attendant nodded, closing the window over her station and beckoning Ranma to follow her back into the staff break room. “Well, working here is fairly simple. First of all, we keep it a secret. You can use that blonde form as your work form, so no one realizes you’re working. The same goes for everyone else, we partially use the transformations to allow for secrecy.”
The blonde nodded as she followed the shorter woman. “Right, so no one finds out I’m this blond babe?”
The attendant nodded. “Right, you would use another name for that form too.” Pointing Ranma towards a couch in the lounge, the she started making tea for them. “Our in house currency is credits, which can be used to buy services at a discount, or cashed out. The conversion rate is generally one credit for one US dollar or one-hundred yen, and we prefer weekly payments to giving out lump sum payments. The pay is generally quite good. You will get a cellphone so you can use your bracelet, and after working for us long enough, you’ll get to keep the bracelet plus all of your pay.”
Ranma took the tea mug when it was offered, wondering what the downside would be as this sounded a bit too good. “So, what would I be doing?”
The attendant paused to enjoy her tea break. “We have a lot of branch offices spread throughout Tokyo, each as a different sort of business. One might be a love hotel, another a clothing boutique, another a beauty spa, another as an employment agency. They are connected by a network of portals, so they also serve as a transport system, with each office having multiple discrete entrances. Your main task would be to use the travel network and help keep them clear of trouble. Since they tend to be in quiet, out of the way spots, delinquents like to squat on them.”
The black-haired woman undid a button on her blouse, grinning as she showed off her cleavage. “We have a lot of part-time work too, a lot of it somewhat sexual in nature. You will get some job offers that suit you and it will be your choice on whether you take them or not. Again, we value privacy, so with our transformation services, people are free to enjoy themselves for a moment and relieve their stress.”
Ranma drank her tea, noticing that the attendant was merely being teasing instead of pressuring her into sex. “So, that’s it? I help with the delinquents and I keep the bracelet and get paid?”
The attendant nodded pleasantly, considering seducing the blonde. “Yes, you’ll get a few credits an hour for being on call, whereas dealing with obstructions will bring a bounty payment related to the trouble. It won’t be much money, but you can always take part time work for that. You’ll need to be here and on call a few hours most days, about twenty hours a week, but there are amusements here to help pass the time.”
Currently a busty tall blonde woman, Ranma had a few things she had to be clear about first. “Well, I wanna get back to normal and see if this bracelet really does help with my curse.”
The attendant unfolded a cover off of her tablet display, scrolling through options until she found the form control option. In a flash, Ranma was back to his normal male form, wearing his original clothing.
Checking to make sure everything was in place, Ranma raised an eyebrow.
Amused by his reaction, the attendant kept the tablet handy. “We’ll need to set you up with a phone as a controller for your bracelet. Also you should choose a form to use for work and a name. The system suggests Sora for the blonde form, which I think would work nicely.”
With that said, she resumed her work using her tablet, keeping up with things remotely as she only needed to be at the service window when someone was there. After checking on the store, she glanced back up at the martial artist. “So, in addition to changing from Ranma to Sora or other personas, you would be able to change sex at will and lock out the water change.”
Ranma gulped, realizing that this was in many ways far superior to a mere cure. The big drawback was that it would apparently mean wearing that bracelet, but it didn’t preclude finding another cure that would be more permanent. “Is there a way to stop me changing with water without the bracelet?”
The attendant looked at him for a moment in thought. “There might be, we’re always researching such things, which is why there is no charge for investigating your curse. Obviously there is a control mechanism of sorts, but I’m not in research, so I can’t tell you how likely it is to find something other than the bracelet.”
More than a little suspicious, Ranma tried to conceal it and act casual. “So, is this all really so nice?”
The attendant grinned at him. “This started as a match-making service at a love hotel. At the core, our system is about matching people, so if you get a waitressing job offer, it will suit you. The more people available to our system, the better we can find someone to fulfil a role, which is why everyone here finds work that is pleasant for them.” She chuckled again, as this wasn’t the first time she’d broken in a newbie. “Which isn’t to say some of the stuff won’t shock you or be unpleasant, so do take care about accepting jobs. The ones few people want tend to pay well. Speaking of which, clearing out the delinquents is such a job, but the system recommended you for it.”
Ranma found something potentially telling in that admission. “You don’t know why it picked me?”
The attendant shrugged, not particularly bothered by it. “It says you’re a martial artist, so I assume that’s why you’re suitable for the job. The system does gives me some general info, but your privacy is rather guarded here. Apparently you’re good at part-time work like waitressing but don’t have much need of money, so you’re unlikely to work much unless it amuses you. It seems you’ll be valuable to have on hand if something comes up though.”
Getting back to enjoying her tea break, the attendant checked her tablet again. “Someone is bringing over a phone for you, so just wait a bit and we’ll be ready to move on.”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Valor Phoenix
(Posted Thu, 23 Oct 2014 06:16)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.