The Devil in Miss Tendô

“Speech”
Thoughts
‘Titles / Quotes in speech or thoughts’
EMPHASIS
Sound effects
(Script Directions)

There was once a young man on the ‘net,
Who thought-up a fanfic on a bet.
His friends said, “Hey, you fail!”
Did he pout, scream or wail?
No, this work’s posted with no regret!
---
He hoped that this fic’s one you’ll enjoy;
Though it’s not fit for young girl or boy.
He thought nonesuch would find
Smutty ones of this kind;
Since an “M” rating he did employ.
---
He had asked all of you to review.
This is what some of you then did do.
Though most said it was fine;
Flaws did some others find.
And re-post this fic then he did too.
---
This disclaimer’s put here to proclaim
That no character’s here in his name.
Should some shysters then sue,
There’ll be aught they can do;
As he’s getting naught from this but fame!

(Anapestic foot - a metrical foot of three syllables with stress on the THIRD syllable: short-short-long.)

Summary: The Ice Queen melted and admitted part of her secrets to Ranma. Namely that if this project works then she’s in line for a fair bit of swag. Actually she, Ranma and Akane; since she had to use their wedding money to help pay for a full third in the company. As to why she did such a thing - it would seem that things are more dire than she had let on. But doing these movies might just pay-off big time… IF they could get the first one finished in time.

Previously: “The timing is also good in another way,” Kimiko offered. “The original movie is being re-released in the U.S. this winter. That always gets the interest of the hentai otaku. If we can get the first part of the movie produced by the end of the month, investors will flock to finance the rest of the series.”

“How are you gonna get the movie done that soon? With only Ronichiro-san and Nabiki doin’ the artwork, you’ll need Amaguriken to draw that fast!”

Ronichiro ignored the cryptic reference and answered Ranma. “One word: rotoscoping.”

Part I:

They all gathered at the studio for the next morning’s taping session. The Nekohanten and Ucchan’s contingents had agreed on rotation and combination schedules for the martial arts and ‘bridal’ training that would commence that afternoon. Nabiki had informed them that a very important demonstration was also to take place that morning.

Mousse had his first speaking part. Ronichiro electronically altered his voice to suit a much older role as Mousse read aloud what was apparently a ‘Dear Jane’ letter to Kasumi’s character. It only took three takes. The first to get the tone and pitch correct, the second to correct the pacing and some mispronunciation’s in Mousse’s otherwise fluent Japanese. Ronichiro and Nabiki then spent half an hour on their graphics workstations merging Mousse’s lines into previously completed animation work. Their finished work made-up the bulk of the demonstration.

“Thank you for waiting,” Kimiko started out. “After you had left yesterday, Ranma asked some questions that we feel are better answered by showing rather than by telling you. As you may have noticed, we have a rather hectic schedule for the next few weeks. This is because we will be rushing to finish about a third of this movie by the end of the month. The re-release of the original ‘The Devil in Miss Jones’ this December will create a window of opportunity for us to attract investors to this company and to this project.

“We are a small company and a brand-new one. While Ronichiro and I have almost two decade’s worth of experience between us, and if I may be modest, very good reputations in the romance and ero anime industries; this does not mean anything to the financiers who would otherwise support us. To them, our lack of a track record as independents is a liability. Until we can present them with a finished sample of our work, this company, and your futures are on borrowed time.

“Traditional hand-drawn animation is too time and cost-intensive a process for us to employ for this project. Digital animation will greatly speed-up this process and is almost as good as the hand-drawn for a much lower cost. However, it would take too much of Ronichiro and Nabiki’s time. As your summer vacations will be ending next month, your school schedules will also cut into the time we have to work on these movies.”

“Fortunately,” Ronichiro took over, “there is a technique that we can use to produce this work in the time available, AND present a unique effect that will distinguish our videos from the rest of the ero anime on the market. It is called rotoscoping. And before I explain the process, I would like to demonstrate the finished product using a few scenes Kasumi, Nabiki and I worked on late last week.”

Nabiki dimmed the lights as Ronichiro turned-on a projector screen monitor. A synchronizer sequence was followed by a scene marker. This was followed in turn by a pastel-shaded scene of two lovers walking and laughing in a park while a piano solo of the theme from ‘Love Story’ played in the background. The third stanza coincided with the scene of a tender and very chaste goodbye. The refrain started as an envelope was then seen handed over to the female figure, whose face was still obscured with a bright halo effect.

She opened and read the letter as the music faltered and came to a crashing silence. Mousse’s altered voice was heard as the camera slowly zoomed into the still obscured face. “My dear Kazumi-chan. I must inform you that my mother has recently arranged an omiai with the daughter of one of her old schoolmates. Mizuho is a lovely young woman, and…” Mousse’s voice trailed-off into the background as the light in the woman’s face faded to reveal brown eyes lined with tears. The pastels and bright lights were now replaced with dark colors and chiaroscuro effects as the camera zoomed back to reveal the weeping face of Tendo Kasumi.

“Th-- that’s onee-chan’s face!” Akane blurted. “That’s a very realistic drawing of onee-chan’s face!”

“Yes,” Ronichiro replied as he paused the video. “That is the result of rotoscoping. In essence, we take a film or video of a real scene and ‘paint’ over it. We then use that painted scene and reshoot or replace it for the original scene as a rotoscoped animation. This is the secret to the realistic and anatomically accurate rendering of some of the early Walt Disney movies and the 1940’s Superman cartoons. Only now we use digital images and computer software to work faster and more cheaply than they used to.”

He resumed the video and continued to comment as the camera zoomed further back and panned down to show Kasumi in all her glory seated in a half-empty furo. Tears dripped from her chin, onto her breasts and then into water that was slowly turning red from blood flowing from her slashed wrists.

“As you can see, we are able to capture Kasumi’s face in near-perfect detail, and please observe the way we have drawn her in a completely natural pose.”

“Also take note of the way the breasts jiggle in time with her sobs. Oh, and I’m very proud of the way we depict the blood spreading through the water…”

“That’s not the point!” Akane shouted. “You’re drawing Kasumi naked! I thought that you would use some pictures that you just made up!”

“Waitaminute!” Ranma put his two-cents into the discussion. “Do you mean to say that you took video of Kasumi naked? Are you tryin’ to tell me that you’re gonna take videos of all of us naked? Or havin’ sex?”

“Of course not!” “Honestly, Saotome…” Kimiko and Nabiki’s quick comments forestalled the explosion on the parts of Ranma, Akane and Mousse. Interestingly, they also led to expressions of disappointment on Ukyo, Shampoo and Nodoka.

“Nabiki-chan,” Kimiko asked, “please play the actual footage that we used as reference for that scene.”

The screen blanked and then showed video footage of Kasumi seated in the exact same pose in a half-empty furo… wearing a two-piece swimsuit.

“As you can see, Akane,” Nabiki drawled.”Onee-chan is in fact modestly dressed… for a porn star.”

“You will all be dressed in a similar manner during your scenes,” Ronichiro stated. “Rotoscoping will require us to pose your bodies. Nudity is not actually required.”

“Except,” Nabiki observed, “for the full-body nude shots that we will need for drawing references. You know… so that we get all the proportions right when we rotoscope out the clothes you’ll be wearing during shooting.”

“What’s the problem, Saotome? The only ones who will see those shots are Ronichiro and myself.”

“Yeah, right, Nabiki.” Like you wouldn’t sell THOSE pictures to Kodachi!

“Ronichiro is a GAY man, Akane,” Kasumi said with a chuckle as she finally joined in.

“No, no, no!” Akane answered while quickly waving her hands in front of her. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Ranma, Shampoo and Ukyo turned quizzical looks at Akane; who silently mouthed, ‘Later,’ in reply.

“And if any of you boys feel uncomfortable about being around Ronichiro,” Kimiko offered with a dry smile, “rest assured that all he’ll do is look and NEVER touch.” She took a sip of coffee before continuing. “My brother, Haruko, is the jealous type.”

“All for no reason, I can assure you,” Ronichiro sniffed. “Ranma-san, while I might otherwise find you attractive, I hope that you’ll take no offense if I say that I’m very happy in my relationship with Haruko and have no interest in another man.”

“However,” Ronichiro continued, “while I’m sure that Haruko knows that he’s the only man for me and that I will never stray… He has been known to bump heads with any good-looking males that come into my presence. He will likely be dropping by here from time to time, and since you WILL be the man spending the most time here….”

“Wadda I do then? I can beat him up if he gets in my face… But I don’t think that any of you two will like that.”

“That won’t be at all necessary, Ranma-kun. My brother only gets jealous about good-looking GAY males who hang around Ronichiro. All you have to do is pay attention to and flirt intimately with Kasumi-chan, Nabiki-chan and any of the other girls when they’re here.”

"Er-- Better not, Ranma-kun. Onii-chan can really get into the overprotective big brother bit sometimes." Besides, I don’t think the girls will like that!

Shampoo and Ukyo’s expressions were halfway between a glower and a goofy grin as they imagined Ranma flirting with the others, then with themselves. Akane was definitely frowning and was about to get started on an aura when Nabiki nudged her and drew her attention back to Kimiko.

“…mode of dress might be a problem, Ukyo-chan. I’m afraid that you’ll have to stop wearing your chest bindings when you come over here. Konatsu-kun, I’m just not sure what we should do about you. You look enough like a girl at casual glance to fool my brother, but if he were to find out the truth… It would be just as bad if you adopted male clothes. You would probably look too bishie to play a straight male.”

“That will not be a problem, Kimiko-sama. Should your brother, or anyone else drop by, I can easily make myself disappear like so…” Konatsu blurred and disappeared.

“That was nothing, Kimiko-sama,” Konatsu’s voice said from the ceiling. “But I thank you for your kind appreciation,” he finished as he re-appeared before them.

“Well then, I guess that will only leave Mousse-san,” Ronichiro said as he brought the conversation back on-topic.

“Mousse be no problem,” Shampoo stated matter-of-factly as she poured some of her tea on Mousse. Her ICED-tea. “No need for man’s-lover be jealous of duck.”

In the short break that followed the explanation of the Jusenkyo curses and the demonstrations thereof. Ranma, Shampoo and Ukyo cornered Akane and grilled her about Kasumi’s earlier comments.

“It happened in her freshman year at Furinkan High,” Akane explained. “A junior student transferred in the middle of that year. Onee-chan went gaa-gaa over him. It got so bad that Nabiki had to do some of the cooking.” I offered to help her. I honestly don’t know why she didn’t let me cook after that one time. “When Kasumi confessed after offering him honmei-choco that Valentine’s… Let’s just say that Nabiki and I wanted to use him as a training dummy at the dojo for what he did.”

“Nothing like that, Ukyo. He just laughed at her when he told her that he was gay. The jerk then told her that he probably wouldn’t be interested in her even if he wasn’t gay. Kasumi never ever confessed to a boy after that. She did develop very accurate gaydar though. She could always tell, even if they pretended to themselves.

“That was the start of a lot of things for us. When Kasumi bloomed later that year, she had boys hanging all over her; but she never paid them any attention. I guess she was still hurt by that jerk’s comments and just got into the habit of ignoring them.

“Nabiki started looking into those boys’ backgrounds, sort of her way to protect Kasumi. She probably liked the power over people that kind of knowledge brought and just kept at it.”

“And yourself?” Ranma asked softly, amazed at how little he still knew about the people he had spent most of a year with.

“Me? I-- I started to think that there was something weird about boys. Kuno’s speech last year only made me sure that most if not all of them were perverts!”

“I-- I don’t know, Ranma. Maybe not as much.” But if you are a pervert, then you are going to be MY pervert!

That morning ended with the taping of Kasumi and Cologne’s scene. It was fairly straightforward. It only differed from the previous day’s scenes with Happosai and that morning’s session with Mousse in that two high-definition video cameras were used, as were props.

Cologne sat behind a desk in a pose very reminiscent of Ikari Gendo. Kasumi sat before her and acted nervously, as she was directed to by the script playing on a teleprompter just off-camera. The NWC members watched in wonder as Kasumi and Cologne tore through their lines. Cologne’s experience on the Joketsuzoku’s Council of Elders gave her just the right slant to properly interpret her role as Kasumi’s interrogator and tribunal.

But Kasumi was AWESOME! She brought life and fire to Miss Jone’s lines of a damned soul, denied her place in Heaven for her very last act in life, bargaining with a devil for a chance to deserve her place in Hell, by engaging in every carnal debauchery that she had denied herself while she was still alive.

Kazumi:
(Stands and leans over desk.)
“Please, Lonkuh-sama! If I am to be damned to Hell, let it be for something that I truly deserve!”
---

Lonkuh:
(Leans back and points to a file entry.)
“Oh? And I suppose you think that suicide doesn’t count? Surprise, surprise! It does by your Christian rules.”
---

Kazumi:
“I do not dispute that!”
(Shakes head and stands straight.)
“What I mean is what good is a prize that you have won only by default?
Wouldn’t Hell rather receive a soul that had willingly damned itself?
Especially if that soul would have otherwise gone to Heaven?”
---

Lonkuh:
(Hops onto the desk. Walks to the edge. Stares into Kasumi’s eyes.)
“Interesting. What exactly are you proposing?”
---

Kazumi:
(Looks down. Takes a deep breath. Glares back at Lonkuh.)
“What I propose is to completely destroy the image that I have made of myself in other people’s minds.
They see me as some kind of saint. A selfless, forgiving, kind-hearted fool
who would wait obliviously for some man to finally get-up the courage to ask her out on a date.”
---

“Onee-chan’s a good actress,” Akane whispered back. “She played Juliet in middle school before I did. I always wanted to be as good as her.”

Kazumi:
(Starts to cry.)
“The kind of fool who would let that man leave her with some vague promise of returning after visiting his mother.”
---

Kasumi spun away from Cologne, the camera and the teleprompter. However she continued to speak clearly despite very loud sobs. "Only to find out that he has married another woman who now carries his child… THAT is the image that I want to destroy!"

She took deep gulping breaths, wiped her eyes and turned back to face Cologne and the camera behind her. She continued speaking, not even bothering to glance at the script scrolling before her.

"I’ll destroy that image by presenting them with another. That of a licentious, wanton libertine! No more of the nice-girl act. If I’ll go to Hell despite living like a saint, then I want to go back to Earth and raise some Hell before I do! I want to have sex! Sex with all the people I never even thought I’d have sex with. I want to do it with men and women. I’d do it with my sister! I’ll make that prude just as wanton as I will soon be. I’d do it with the ugliest man I know just to shock my family. I’d do it with demons. I’d even do it with you!"

Lonkuh:
“THAT won’t be necessary. But before I grant your request, tell me. Just how experienced at sex are you?"
---

Kazumi:
(Blushes. Looks down.)
"Not very. Some kissing. I’m a virgin."
---

Lonkuh:
(Sits back down. Closes File.)
"Well then. That means that you will have to go to ’THE SENSEI’ for training now, won’t you?"
---

"And... Cut! That’s a print!" Kimiko called-out. "Fantastic work, people! And that ad-libbing was spot-on, Kasumi-chan!"

"Arigato, Kimiko-chan," Kasumi weakly returned. "THAT was a little too intense."

Ranma nudged Akane. "A VERY good actress indeed. Are you sure she was still acting?"

“That’s why Kasumi is perfect for this role," Nabiki said as she joined them. "It’s practically her biography up to shortly after you arrived, Saotome.”

Author’s Note: Kazumi... Mizuho - Yet another tribute to Inoue Kikuko; who played Kazami Mizuho in ‘Onegai Sensei’.

Just as the seniors and the NWC were about to leave for the Tendo’s, Nabiki and Ronichiro called Ranma back into the studio.

“Ranma-san,” Ronichiro stated in a clinical voice, “we must take those nude reference pictures that Nabiki mentioned earlier. Let me reassure you once again that these pictures will NOT leave this studio.”

“Do we gotta, Ronichiro-san? Can’t you just film me in a t-shirt and boxers then roto-thingy using your imagination?”

“I’m afraid not, Saotome,” Nabiki chuckled. “It would not be fair to the others, especially onee-chan.” She smiled as Ronichiro handed her 2000 yen.

“A shirt is definitely out of the question, Ranma-san. The human back has so many muscles that drawing them in motion, with the detail we will be using, is very difficult. Likewise boxers will also make it difficult to draw the motion of the gluteal muscles. For your nude scenes, we will have to film you in as little clothing as possible.”

“As little as this, Ranma-baby.” Nabiki giggled as she handed Ranma a… well… I guess it could be called clothing of some kind.

“Wh-- What’s this supposed to be, Nabiki?” Ranma examined it. IT was made of Lycra, of a solid blue color. There was a wide loop of elastic material whose ends attached to the sides of the base of the item. A shorter loop that ran from the middle of the first to just below an opening at the back of what looked like small sacks. The opening led into the sacks, one of which was long, narrow and located above the other which was short and wide.

“It’s called a ‘cock-sock’, Saotome. See? The cock goes in here; this other sack will contain the rest of your dangly-bits. Think of it as a kind of athletic supporter. It’s also going to be your costume for most of this movie.”

“It came from Chippendales, Ranma-baby. And you don’t have to wear it… So long as you don’t mind Akane finding out that you’re going to flash Kasumi and myself for the rest of this film.”

“…Can’t I just wear it this once for the photos and then have you use those for the rest of the movie? I’d really rather wear boxers.”

Ronichiro sighed as he gave Nabiki another 2000 yen. “That wouldn’t work, Ranma-san. The rotoscoping software will identify this blue color and mark it as places for us to digitally composite the pictures of your privates. And we NEED those pictures. We can’t just use our imaginations as you suggested. The difference in appearance from one scene to another is one of the first things that viewers will notice.”

“This? Oh, I also bet her that you wouldn’t refuse to wear it. I must say that you disappoint me, Ranma-san.”

If Kasumi can do this, then I can too! Ranma thought to himself as he pulled his boxers down then wrapped a yukata around himself. Just gotta remember, ‘Soul of Ice!’ He then walked out of the dressing room and into the studio.

There did seem to be a lot more lights than necessary to take a few pictures. More, in fact than were used in the entire scene that morning. The lights made it hot enough that he thought it was a good thing that he’d decided to employ the ‘Soul of Ice’. He knew though, that he’ll start feeling nice and breezy soon enough.

He stumbled his way into the middle of the studio just as Nabiki called out from behind some of the lights, “Finally! What kept you, Saotome? Another two minutes and Ronichiro-kun would have won our latest bet.”

“Oh, you know me, biki-chan… I always make a grand entrance!” Ranma said a little too brightly. ‘Soul of Ice!’

“Whatever, Ranma. Let’s just get this over with. Stand half a meter to your left, face me and drop the yukata.”

Click, click, click. “Good, now all the way to a right profile.” Click, click, click.

“Whatever, Ranma. Let’s just get this over with. Stand half a meter to your left, face me and drop the yukata.”

“Oh my! I don’t see why Akane wouldn’t want this engagement.” (Glurkle!)

“Why shouldn’t I be here, Ranma-kun? We do have some scenes together in half an hour.”

“And she’ll soon be wearing little more than you are now, and you’ll be touching eachother for the rest of the afternoon. Think like a professional, Ranma-baby! And if you can’t, remember that you gave us your word!”

Ranma slowly straightened from his crouch and dropped his hands to his sides. His blush threatened to out-shine the studio lights. ‘Soul of Ice!’

“Hmmph! As if YOU’d seen him more than once! Although come to think of it, the pervert does seem to be less ‘perverted’ than I recall too.”

“Perhaps the groom should stop his ‘Soul of Ice’ technique? I’ve heard stories of how cold could cause ‘shrinkage’.”

“That may be, elder. But in any case Ranma is definitely more manly than his father.”

“Really, Nodoka-chan? I can’t wait to see how big Ranma-kun gets when he finally has an erection. Perhaps we should get that IMAX camera, ne, Ronichiro? You’re so lucky, Kasumi-chan!”

Click, click, click. “That’ll do for the first set, Ranma-san. We’ll continue as soon as you’re erect.”

“As impressive as that is, Ranma-baby, you can’t seriously expect us to animate any man approaching a woman as hot as onee-chan with a ‘weapon’ as soft as yours. Unless he’s gay?”

“Oh my, I don’t think it’s nice to tease Ranma-kun like that, Nabiki. I mean, he DID check us out in our bikinis during our last trip to the beach.”

What does she want me to do?! It’s not like I can just stand here and fap myself in front of the three of them!

(Sigh) “This is getting us nowhere. You’re going to owe me for this, Saotome.”

Nabiki stepped out from behind the lights and sashayed her way before Ranma. She gazed at Ranma, who looked back with eyes widened to the classic ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ expression.

“That did it, Nabiki-san!” Click, click, click. “Pull your head back a bit… Hmm. Maybe a few more licks, Nabiki-san!”