"I'd like to be expressive and passionate. I'd like a wild, passionate affair where we reveal all of our fetishes and kinks unashamedly and strive to achieve as many as possible without worrying what anyone else might think."
"Really? What makes your fantasy so appealing?"
"The ability to say or do anything. I get embarrassed too easily and am too concerned over what others think to ever go that far."
"Would you like me to make you less concerned about propriety?"
"No."
This stopped Ranma in his tracks. He was already trying to work out how he could manage Kasumi's desire, and expected to receive the go-ahead. "Why not?"
"My family needs me like this."
"If it weren't for your family, you'd want to change?"
"Yes."
"What if you could act one way for your family, and another way in private? Would you like that?"
"Yes."
"How many more years do you need to behave this way for your family?"
"Until Akane can graduate college or Akane and Nabiki find husbands."
Ranma felt a pang of guilt that he had been even indirectly holding Kasumi back. "So, Akane graduates college in six years? That would leave you stuck until you're twenty-five."
"Yes."
There was a saying in Japan, that even the more enlightened times hadn't eradicated. An unmarried young woman was sometimes referred to as a "Christmas Cake," no one wanted her after the 25th. Most people were no longer so closed-minded, but enough were that a woman's chance of finding a boyfriend dropped sharply when she hit 25. Since even if only 10% of the men believed it, that meant that ten percent of all men, plus the majority of under-25 men who want a woman equal or younger than them, were all pursuing the younger girls.
That, by itself would explain a sudden drop to a half of dating opportunities at twenty-five. Unfortunately a large component of desire and attraction is trying to get what everyone else wants. A woman whose popularity dropped is suddenly inexplicably less attractive even to those men who aren't constrained by outmoded sexist beliefs.
Kasumi had to know all of this, if Ranma did. Yet she'd agreed to it anyway.
Ranma had originally started hypnotizing Kasumi for selfish reasons. To see if the book worked and because to some extent he fancied Kasumi. He started questioning her because he felt that if he made her happy it in some way forgave the liberties he took in taking control from her. And if he was able to be involved in fulfilling her fantasy, he wouldn't complain in the slightest.
Well, he'd probably complain if Kasumi had turned out to be lesbian, but even then the complaint might turn out to be mostly pro forma.
Ranma was extremely thoughtless about others. He never learned when growing up to think of how others felt before acting. But once he did notice, he was very considerate, often to the point of putting others before himself.
He was convinced that the book was at least partly genuine; Kasumi's trance bore that out. It was time to use the book to directly help Kasumi. If he had planned this out in advance, he might have done it differently, but he chose to improvise.
"Kasumi, for years now, you've been living a double life. Everybody knows Kasumi Tendo as a proper young woman who provides a good role model for her younger sisters. But almost nobody realizes this is a disguise for the real Kasumi."
"The real Kasumi is a passionate young woman who's unembarrassed by anything. She's confident and sexy. Nudity doesn't embarrass her because every square inch of her is beautiful. Sexual desires don't embarrass her because they are a natural part of every human. The only reason she could possibly get embarrassed would be if it hurt someone else."
At this point Ranma started to improvise. "She's confident because she knows she's the most beautiful and sexy woman in the world. If anyone ever turned her down there must be some other reason. She's not even bothered by other pretty girls boasts because she knows that the best they can achieve is second best. She's so beautiful and sexy she's willing to let others delude themselves that they look better than her."
Then Ranma started improvising wildly. "It was because she realized at such an early age how strong her appeal was that she developed her disguise as a proper young lady who always wore plain clothes to try and mask her stunning beauty. Acting naturally would have hurt her family so she developed a disguise of an ordinary girl with ordinary embarrassments."
It would do Kasumi no good if she didn't get opportunities to relax her inhibitions, and she'd never get a husband if she couldn't be honest with him. She'd have to be able to share her new self with anyone she trusts. "Only when you're alone or with someone who shares your secret can you drop your disguise and act naturally. When you get a boyfriend, the more you trust him, the more you can act naturally around him until you're ready to marry him, when he has to know all about you.
"But until you choose a husband the only times you can drop your disguise is when you're sure you're alone or with Ranma. Ranma already knows your secret and won't tell anyone. You can trust Ranma not to tell anyone.
"In seven years you'll merge the two Kasumi, the real one and the disguise. The differences between the two will diminish until you act the way you think best all of the time. This process will happen faster if you get married, or if both Akane and Nabiki get married.
"When you're wearing your disguise of a proper young lady, you won't consider anything you did while behaving naturally as unusual. You'll avoid thinking about what you've done, and if something happens where you're forced to think about it, you won't find it odd. Your disguise will consider any discrepancies as natural.
"And if you start to worry or become uneasy because of your dual life, I want you to come to me for help.
"When you have dropped your disguise and are behaving naturally, you will remember everything except this conversation. You will remember the time you spent in disguise; you will remember whatever you did while undisguised. You will remember that you created the disguise to protect your family, and you will remember when and how the disguise and the real you will merge. You will remember that I know your secret and have promised to never tell anyone what I've seen; but you will forget I ever gave you these commands unless I put you back into this trance.
I'm going to count backwards from three. For every number I say you're going to feel more alert and full of energy as if you had an extra hour of sleep until I snap my fingers and say zero when you will wake completely and be fully alert and feeling wide awake. Three. Two. One. Zero!" Ranma snapped his fingers and Kasumi looked around like she'd come out of a strong day dream.
"Oh, my. I seem to have drifted off there for a moment. Is everyone still out? Has anyone come back?"
"No."
Kasumi's grin deepened. "I'd better get back to the laundry. Thanks for the tea, steel buns."
S.E.
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(Posted Fri, 24 Feb 2006 01:26)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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