A Side Order Of Tofu
Dr Tofu Ono sat back and collected her thoughts, tapping the pocket recorder that usually was used to make the patient's chart notes (after Kasumi typed them up) as she did so.
That was ONE benefit of this latest development. Tofu no longer went completely hysterical around Kasumi, but the price was a bit high.
"Today is the fourth day since Happosai went on a rampage with something that resembles Jusenkyo cursed spring water. The patient load is not as overwhelming as it was for the first three days, so I'm finally making a few records and observations about the whole thing.”
"Uhm, yeah. Happosai's curse water mimics the effects of a Jusenkyo transformation curse except that hot water does NOT reverse the change. At least for now. Today, for the first time, I noticed a slight tingling sensation when I reached into some near-boiling water when my glasses fell off into the pot.“
"I digress. The curse most approaches the effects of 'Spring Of Drowned Bishojo Bride' - listed on page 343 under the heading of Central Section, in Lawson's Guide To Jusenkyo and Other Cursed Springs Of The Orient. (English text, $49.95 from Amazon Books). This 'Spring Of Beautiful Young Girl Bride' was supposedly created 1,500 years ago when a young newlywed was chased by bandits into the Jusenkyo area after her husband was killed. Note that this is a case where there actually WAS a tragic story associated with one of the springs.”
"Those who fall into the Spring normally gain the Cursed Form of a young girl of around 17 years, extremely attractive, who may only bear a faint resemblance to the uncursed form. Also normally, the personality changes when in the cursed form to fit the template of a somewhat demure and feminine though old-fashioned young lady of the victim's culture. With nonpermanent individuals this becomes a form of schizophrenia with physical transformation thrown in.”
"Happosai's permanent version has accelerated the personality changes. The following is a set of observations from some of the patients who've been coming by.”
"Those who were mentally unbalanced to begin with have been affected the fastest. Principal Kuno is a sterling example of this, who has taken to wearing floral print skirts now and is pushing for a tanning booth for the Phys Ed department.”
"The next group to be affected are the various women who were born that way. It seems the closer you started to the template, the faster one reaches it. In the case of a vast majority of the girls, they are well into the mental transformation aspect. A few, such as Nabiki Tendo, seem to have more resistance to this change. In the case of Nabiki, she's taken an extreme interest in baking cookies and wants to start a business selling lines of gourmet cookies and snack packs.”
"Side note: indications are that a LOT of the original personality survives. Tatewaki still spouts poetry, Nabiki is still a shrewd businesswoman and has a yen for yen (though she seems to have changed her normal modus operandi significantly), and Kenji is still a race car otaku who will happily ramble on about engine displacements and performance ratios at any given opportunity.”
"There are former boys who are nearly at the same stage of mental transformation. Those cases that I've personally observed indicate strength of will or ability to adapt to change are a factor. Those unable to adapt went home the first day, locked themselves in the bathroom, and came out over the next day with a nearly full attitudinal change. Daisuke Honda is the example of this that I've appended. Now calling herself 'Suki' or 'Daisuki' she's acting almost like a caricature of a female persona. Girlish to the point of ludicrous.”
"There ARE those who are fighting the changes, at least the mental ones. Hiroshi Hyojun is one such. Despite his best friend changing to such an extent, and considerable pressure by his mother, he continues to remain largely himself. One of the few not attending the now crammed courses on Cooking, Family Planning, Flower Arranging, and Sewing over at Furinkan.”
"The next group would be the ones fighting the transformation tooth and nail. They refuse to wear female clothing, are acting more 'macho' than they did when they were male, and frankly look haunted. You can see them flinch whenever they pass a reflective surface. I expect some of these to completely switch over as with the group like Daisuke.”
"There are some who have taken the 'be like Ranma' attitude. They seem to be resisting any mental change, are wearing altered versions of their boys' school uniform and fairly androgynous clothing at all other times. They tend to congregate in small groups of their own, reinforcing their male identities by such male-bonding.”
"Finally there are those boys NOT present at the time of the transformation who find themselves in what is almost an all girl school. Akira Futaba and Tetsuo Tsukiku being primary examples. Tetsuo is nearly climbing the walls, due to some bad experiences in Juuban with seifuku-clad vigilantes, manifesting itself in a distrust for the entire female gender especially those wearing anything resembling a fuku.”
"I noticed during one of the Counseling sessions at Furinkan (I'm a natural since I'm going through much the same thing myself) that Tetsuo Tsukiku is almost as shellshocked as the worst curse victims despite having escaped being cursed himself. Reasons for his reactions can be found in the accompanying file.”
"Ryouga was apparently away from Tokyo recently, and only got back to Nerima yesterday. He still seems to be waiting for someone to show up and tell him that this is all some elaborate practical joke devised by Ranma to humiliate him.”
"The teachers, well, they seem to fit the same general categories as the students. There are SOME problems caused by a number of the formerly male teachers having been married, and these marriages seem to be in the process of disintegration. Two exceptions. One, the Shop Teacher Isao Hageshii is fighting the psychological changes very well and is not trying to outdo Kumiko Hageshii in homekeeping. Two, the Art Teacher who used to be Moju-kun, but frankly Tazuko Moju has always been a bit strange even for Nerima.”
"The most interesting case is Hinako Ninomiya, whose child form was splashed. Apparently her strange metabolism and the curse reacted to each other. The result is that her adult form has the general mindset of the 'Bishojo Bride' while her child form is now about fourteen years old with the emotional maturity of someone half her age.”
"The tourists affected by the Curse have mostly stuck around. It seems that the shared calamity has seen some of the locals open their doors to these people to some extent. The original crowd hit by Happosai outside the Nerima Animate store was of twenty young men and one young woman. Now twenty one young women, though eight have gone home to face whatever personal paradigm shift they must on their own.”
"Of the remaining thirteen, six proudly call themselves otaku and have taken to some truly strange behavior." Tofu rubbed her eyes as she remembered the one wearing a Morrigan costume, or the other one wearing the Eternal Sailor Moon costume and actually doing all those strange gestures and "in the name of the Moon" speeches. Even when ordering a hamburger. Tofu shuddered in remembrance. She made a mental note to not vacation in America. Ever. Nerima was quite strange enough.
"Ah. The remainder fit the general profile of the transformed boys well enough. More appear to be resistant to the change, possibly the well-known American individualism coming to their advantage." Tofu didn't want to use the phrase he'd heard others use in referring to that streak. It wasn't ladylike.
"The ones sticking around have found local jobs while they try to see this thing through and come to terms with the change. One is working as a waitress at the Nekohanten, another at Ucchan's, and three more are working at the very same Animate store that they were ambushed at."
Tofu thought a moment before she clicked the recorder back on. "Meanwhile, there have been sightings but no capture of the perpetrator of this mess: the man called Happosai."
In the roof of the Tendo dojo, someone sneezed.
end side story one: Tofu's observations.