On her first day, Akane wasn't expecting to find out too much. They'd be a little too wary of her. Their guard would be up. As much as she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, she needed to be careful. Deal with these perverts leering at her in this maid outfit, wait for the staff to drop their guard, then find out what they were really up to.
That was the plan. It was a good plan. It was a <i>good plan</i>. A good plan that she was increasingly losing patience with every time she went from kitchen to table. Every step of the way some perverted customer would leer at her, or make a lewd comment. Or flip her skirt in one notable case. Yet somehow the rest of the staff <b>never noticed.</b>
It was as if the regular customers here were experts at this. Trained through years of experience. Her paranoia was whispering that the staff enabled, nay, encouraged it - but she had no evidence of this as of yet. On her next break she'd ask how the other girls dealt with it, because she simply couldn't take it any longer. At least it couldn't get much worse than -
"Hey, I thought this place was advertising cute maids?"
Oh <b>no.</b> It got worse. With great dread she turned around to see her fiance, Ranma Saotome, back on his feet and seeming no worse for wear after his mysterious 'injury' from earlier on. He cockily walked up to an empty table, smugly sat down, then stared at her with this big smile on his face that made her already tremendous dread all that much worse.
Without even looking Akane could already tell. The others weren't free. Which left her smiling (forcing it, so much forcing it) while approaching his table to politely and sweetly ask, "How may I help you today?" while trying not to grit her teeth.
"Hrm? Aren'tcha forgetting something?" Ranma innocently asked, cupping his ear.
"How may I help you today?" Akane couldn't help it. Her teeth grit, and the next word choked out like a bitter pill. "Master?"
He'd never been happier in his life until that moment, probably. Ranma was positively sparkling with joy. He was probably sucking the happiness out of her by sheer proximity. Akane could see the sparkles and colorful lights floating above his head.
"Will you be cooking?" he asked.
"Why would I-" stopped herself and through sheer force of will got back into character, “As much as I’d love to cook for you Master, tee hee, they don’t let new maids like me cook until I prove myself!” Akane said in a far cutsier voice than she would normally sue. He nodded, as if it was the most intelligent thing he'd heard in his entire life.
"It would be best if you didn't at all, safest for the sake of their business," was his answer to that.
Urge to slap... rising... Sharply! But she had to keep up the kayfabe! Otherwise she’d get fired! And never solve the mystery of this stupid place! Which meant that it could continue getting away with... whatever it was they were doing!
"I'll have one of those glazed donuts, and some lemonade. Diet. Woah? Is that your handwriting? It's a wonder even you can read it."
The smile on Akane's face became a mask of frustration concealed beneath a fragile happy exterior. She turned around, almost robotic in demeanour, and stomped her way back to the kitchen while ignoring all the eyes on her as she went.
"Glazed donut and lemonade," she said. "Table five."
"Woah, Tendo, is that the guy you like?" one of her colleagues whispered. "Nice. You must have to fend them off with a stick."
"You have no idea," Akane groused. Then her brain caught up with what had just been said. "I don't like him! Really, I don't! He's rude, and he teases me all the time and -"
"He's drop dead gorgeous, so if you don't want him, I'll give him a try. Oh? See? You're giving me the death glare of a jealous girlfriend~..."
"This isn't jealousy," Akane protested. "I'm just... frustrated with girls throwing themselves at him all the time. It makes me sick seeing everyone fall for his rugged good looks and his easygoing charm, where he makes you fall for him by accident."
All of a sudden she had to rest up against a wall. This feeling in her chest from before. It had come back. Not suddenly, but gradually. She'd been so annoyed with Ranma that it hadn't even registered, but - She risked a glance out at him, sitting at the table and the feeling spiked. Hard.
"Okay, look. I'll take that table instead," her colleague said. "It's not really appropriate to serve someone you know on your first day. You take table six, and I'll give your lover his donut and lemonade."
Normally the idea of another girl giving Ranma food wouldn't sit well with her, but this one time she'd make an exception. It felt like, if she did give him that food and called him "master" again, it would cause something... big to happen. It also felt like, if that something happened in front of Ranma then he'd work out this cafe's quirk. And if he found out about this cafe's quirk then he'd assume the wrong reason for her being here!
"Macaroni and cheese, table six!"
Akane took the tray and walked out, making a point of ignoring Ranma while he was served by someone else. Hrmph! Knowing him, he'd become a regular as well and start teasing her before and after work.
"Here you go," Akane said to the customer on table six. She leaned in and gave him her biggest smile. "Master."
Let Ranma stew on - Ah. A hand touched her butt. Once again, all the other staff were busy looking elsewhere. Akane clenched her fists. She couldn't take this. She couldn't take this! Perverts like this who touch girls without their permission are the scum of the earth, and must be taught a lesson!
But this place might be an even bigger pervert. If she lashed out now, she'd never be able to bring it down. It was a strange line of thinking for her, but she backed down, continued on her way, and -
"Hey buddy, I know there's no accounting for taste, but do you have a thing for bigger butts?"
Oh no. The staff hadn't seen anything... but Ranma had. He was already sitting at table six, sitting backwards on the chair while staring the other customer dead in the eye.
"What's it to you?" that customer asked.
"Oh, not much, it's just that she's my fiance. Even if she's uncute and sexless, it bothers me when people do that sorta thing to her. You know?"
Then he put his hand on the customer's shoulder, and Ranma's battle aura filled the cafe from top to bottom. Even a non-martial artist could probably feel a chill, even though Ranma's face wasn't showing any sign of anger at all there was still a deeply threatening vibe around him.
"If you put your hand on my fiance again, I'll put the rest of your body in a coffin. Got it?"
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the manager said. "Threatening other costumers is quite against our rules."
The jerk (and for once she didn't mean Ranma) stuck his tongue out and jeered. "Serves you right! Violent lunatic. I bet you're abusive towards her. Maybe she should get with a real man?"
"Oh yeah?" Ranma scoffed, but he turned to leave without raising a hand. He was nonchalant about it. Too nonchalant. "So it's not against the rules for a customer to grope a member of staff?"
"It is, but it's your word against mine, and I say... I didn't touch her. So nya!"
As Akane watched Ranma leave, that feeling in her chest started to get worse again. Her heart must be racing. Like she'd run a marathon. While wearing a suit of armour. It reminded her of the time they fought the Golden Pair, when Ranma threatened Mikado.
<i>"You touch her and I'll kill you!"</i>
In front of all those people, he'd said something like that! It had been embarrassing! Humiliating! How dare he say something stupid like that! She had ended up dreaming about it for weeks!
<b>Badumf</b>
What was happening to her? Why did she feel this way? It must be the magic of the cafe at work, but she still didn't fully get it yet. Her frustration over Ranma? Her feelings towards him?
The bell over the door rang, and in strode a very familiar, damp looking girl who was dressed in a certain red chinese shirt and baggy trousers and an equally familiar pigtail. For a second, Akane didn't recognise her fully for some reason, probably because her vision was weirdly hazy... But it was weird, because in that few seconds she had a quite unusual thought.
'That girl is exactly my type.'
"Hi there!" Ranma said, returning to table six and fluttering her eyelashes. "I saw you while walking by the cafe, and I just <i>had</i> to speak with you." Flutter, flutter.
"Y-You did?" the customer replied. "W-well, it's only natural that you'd fall for my manly charisma."
Gag her with a spoon, that's not what manly charisma looked like. He didn't have rippling muscles, a slender physique, a winning smile or a cute pigtail. Anyway, the point is that Ranma was leading the creep out of the store, turned to wink at her, then pushed him outside...
And the sound of violence quickly followed.
<b>Badumf. Badumf. Badumf. Badumf.</b>
That strange feeling in her chest hit new heights. She rushed to the back and had to rest against the wall. She was burning up. Like she might faint at any moment. It was building. Pressure. So much pressure, building up, like a hose with someone standing on it, and any moment now it was going to -
"Ranmaaaaaa!" Akane moaned, and then it happened. A sharp intake of breath, and she felt the change hit her. Akane's breasts grew by a full size in a matter of seconds, swelling up as if - as if they'd been merely balloons having air blown into them. Yet on an experimental squeeze, it was definitely not that. Flesh. Warm, yielding, firm flesh.
"Wow, girl! You've got it bad! I've never seen someone go up a size on their first day!"
"G-Got it bad?" Akane asked.
"Well, yeah! That's the way it works," the other maid said. "The more you love someone, the faster they get bigger, and the bigger they get by the end of the month. At this rate, you'll have the biggest knockers in Furinkan before the end of the month!"
No way! Impossible! That idea was... it was a fraudulent one! A fallacious idea! That she could be attracted to Ranma Saotome that much?! It was ridiculous! Except, you know, that stupid statue had apparently thought a whole bunch of him being around doing stupid sexy things would distract her, and - And - You know what, never mind!
"I think I'd like you to tell me a little more about how this place works," Akane said.
<hr>
This had seemed like such a good idea. Ask the statue how she could seduce her one true love. The statue had thought it over. Asked "Are the techniques I taught you not enough?" then sighed, and gave her directions.
Said directions had led her out of the city, and into this nearby dense forest. Unless Ranma was training out here, she could hardly see why the hell this would be necessary, but...
"Turn right here, we're almost there," the statue said from within her backpack.
"Almost where, exactly?" Ukyo grumbled. This was ridiculous. They were in the middle of nowhere, how could this possibly help with her love life?
Ah, but then they found it. A building in the middle of the forest. Ukyo tilted her head from side to side, and scowled. Terrible place for a business. No footpath, nobody would come by and go 'hey, I wasn't coming this way for food, but now that I see it I can spontaneously go in' which helps a lot more restaurants than you'd expect.
"Red hot house tea club?" Ukyo read. Then shrugged, and made sure that her backpack was secure. Last thing she wanted was for a bunch of guys to accidentally see it and turn to stone... "Doesn't seem like the place Ranma honey would ever visit. How the heck is this meant to help me with my one true love?"
Funny thing really. Ukyo hadn't noticed yet. She had only assumed that Ranma was her one true love. How wrong she was...
- After work, Akane is quizzed by Ranma about her new job - and fairly obvious growth.
- Actually, Ranma doesn't seem to notice... though he is being weirdly nicer to her.
- The adventures of Ukyo and her soon to be relationship with a gender confused Kunoichi
- Shampoo tells Ranma about the cafe.
- Something else
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