The Inner Self, The Unconscious
Saran slipped into a trance far more easily than I had expected.
She had already been subjected to my ability several times, and besides, people tend to get drowsy after a bath, don't they? On top of that, I had even blow-dried her hair for her. It was only natural that her mind and body would settle into a state of ease — and so it was even more natural that she would fall under hypnosis so readily.
"From now on, Saran, you can speak your innermost thoughts very, very freely, without any resistance at all."
"Mm..."
Saran answered me with a slightly vacant, almost foolish air. Sitting beside her, I continued in a gentle, soothing voice.
"Let's talk honestly. What do you most want to do, ordinarily?"
"...I want to resolve things."
"Resolve what?"
"The things I'm curious about, the things that won't come undone... even the things that feel stifling... all of it..."
"Hmm..."
Saran's answer caught me a little off guard. I had been certain her reply would be something like wanting to sleep more, or wanting to take a break from work. It felt a bit more serious than I had anticipated. Of course, I was speaking to her unconscious, so any answer would be serious — but even so, I couldn't help being surprised when the result didn't match my expectations. I pressed on with another question.
"Is what you want resolved the sense of frustration you feel in your everyday life?"
"...Yeah."
"The things your counselor Charlotte is trying to help you resolve, right?"
"That's right."
I see.
Saran had been thinking far more about her own condition than I had given her credit for, and she had wanted to resolve those things. That was rather admirable, actually.
"Is there anything else you've wanted to try recently, aside from that?"
But that was a separate matter. Simply wanting her condition to improve wasn't what mattered right now. Wanting to resolve a problem state was a relatively broad concept. What mattered now was something more definite — a powerful emotion I could actually call a desire.
"Getting closer to Charlotte..."
"...Huh."
Wait. What?
An unexpected answer made a weird sound slip out of me before I could stop it. But Saran's answer really was the kind of thing I hadn't seen coming. The very statement that she wanted to get closer to me felt... admirable, and strange, and surprising all at once.
"Pfft..."
To think that this woman five years my senior — Saran, who never seemed to think all that much — would have such an adorable thought. Even if Batori had given this same answer, I would have found it cute. That it had come from Saran's mouth instead only made the corners of my lips climb higher, and so I slowly considered my next question.
"Why do you want to get closer to Charlotte?"
"Because she's a different kind of person from me."
"In what way?"
"She's someone who sparkles."
"Hmm..."
Was she looking at me as some kind of role model? I didn't know where she had seen that quality in me, but there was probably a reason for it — she wouldn't have given this answer for no reason at all. We were counselor and counselee, after all. Maybe the fact that I kept helping her and offering her advice made me seem like someone impressive.
"Why do you think you and Charlotte aren't close right now?"
"Because I'm a hero, and that's why she helps me. If I weren't a hero, there wouldn't have been any reason for her to help me, or any reason for us to meet..."
"...Mm."
Saran's words weren't something I had expected, but at the same time, they made sense. We really were a hero and a Welfare Bureau employee, after all. In the end, I was someone whose job was to help heroes, and just as Saran said, if she hadn't been a hero, there would have been no occasion for me to help her. It was simple logic.
But... I didn't think that made it a problem at all. Saran was a hero, and I was the employee assigned to help her — that was an undeniable fact. If anything, that was precisely why I could keep helping her on a regular basis like this. There was no reason to think of it so negatively.
"Then, Saran, what do you want to do once you and Charlotte are close?"
"I don't know."
"You just want to get closer?"
"Yeah."
I see.
She had a surprisingly pure side to her. Every time I spoke with someone's deep inner self — their unconscious — through hypnosis, I was reminded that people were purer than you'd think. Even Saran, who was normally so taciturn and cool, felt this innocent right now. The fact that I could so easily see sides of people I normally never would made hypnosis feel like a truly wonderful ability.
"Is that something you truly want, Saran?"
"Yeah."
I see.
...It felt a little strange, but if I boiled it down, Saran's desire was simply to get closer to me. And the reason... was that I was someone who sparkled, a kind of role model.
I had originally planned to make it easier for her to act on her desires, so she would try more things — but of all things, this was what came out, and it left me a bit at a loss. Getting closer to me was something I could accomplish just by meeting her privately more often.
...Did I even need to plant a suggestion?
It was only natural that this thought would occur to me. I could give her what she wanted without planting any suggestion at all. Did I really need to?
"...Hmm."
For now, I would set aside the tedious pondering. I had gone to the trouble of putting Saran into a trance. Rather than just sitting there, asking her various questions I hadn't been able to ask before would at least be somewhat useful.
"Saran, what do you usually do on days when you don't meet with your counselor?"
"Once a day, I go to the convenience store and back. And... I rest at home..."
"...I see."
...Not much different from what she had told me last time. Yeah, that was fair enough. If anything, I was grateful she had answered so honestly.
"Ah, and how was today? You spent a lot more time with your counselor than usual. Did you enjoy it?"
And so my next question was about the day we had spent wandering around, starting from the place Saran herself had chosen. I couldn't deny there had been a bit of coercion involved. I couldn't help wanting to know how she truly felt about it. If something negative came out here... I figured I would just pick the next location myself.
"It was good."
"Mm..."
It was a short answer, but this was her unconscious speaking. I decided to take it at face value. If anything, such a simple, clear answer from her unconscious could be interpreted as meaning she had genuinely liked it. At the very least, it meant spending time with her like we had today wasn't a problem at all.
"I see..."
How should I put this. The situation had shifted a bit from my original plan. In my original plan, Saran would reveal a desire to do something, eat something, go somewhere — and I would affirm it and plant a suggestion granting her permission. But what had come out was about a relationship between people, and the other person in that relationship just happened to be me.
It was a rather awkward situation, but I had already decided to go through with it, hadn't I? And besides, doing something would be more helpful than doing nothing. If Saran made an effort to get closer to me, she would end up trying things outside, contacting me, making plans — all sorts of things. In that case, I could say her desire had been expressed and developed into will.
"Ahem."
And so I decided to change my approach a little. At first I had planned to simply instruct her on a specific action or method... but I no longer felt that was necessary.
I planted a suggestion so that Saran could treat me a little more comfortably, so that she could think of getting closer to me as something ordinary rather than something difficult. I knew Saran genuinely wanted to get closer to me. But that didn't mean hypnotizing her into becoming my friend, or demanding she take specific actions to become my friend, was the right approach. That wouldn't be natural — it would be far too artificial, and it might not even reflect Saran's true thoughts and feelings.
People, in the end, moved more easily once you lowered their psychological barriers just a little, and Saran was no different. She thought of our relationship as purely professional, and that was why she wanted to get closer but couldn't bring herself to take the first step. If I just made those things a little easier for her... that would probably be enough.
And from my perspective, there was absolutely no reason to refuse when someone as beautiful as Saran wanted to get closer to me. If anything, I was happy that Saran liked me.
...So, was that enough of a suggestion?
I wasn't entirely sure myself. In the end, you could only be certain of a suggestion's effect by the results that followed. Once I carved a sentence into her mind... it would influence her subsequent thoughts and actions. That was just how it worked.
For now, I figured the suggestion was sufficient, and that would be the end of the hypnosis...
"...I'll just take a little look at her fangs today."
I had decided to take a tiny bit of compensation before I was done.
"...Is it over?"
"Yes, it's over."
"...I always think this, but after the hypnosis ends, there's this slightly strange sensation."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
After I released her from the trance, Saran was still lying down as she said this to me. I had never been on the receiving end of my own hypnosis, so I wouldn't know. There had never been any reason for it, either.
"...So, what desire did I talk about?"
"Hmm..."
Should I tell her?
I hadn't actually planned on telling Saran about the desire she harbored. I had amplified her inner desire and granted her permission to act on it, increasing the odds that she would actually do something. If I just told her... that would be a kind of spoiler, wouldn't it? Separate from the suggestions I had just planted, it would influence how naturally she acted going forward.
"Hehe. Why don't you try figuring that out yourself? It probably won't be that hard."
I gave that answer to the woman lying on my bed. Well, even if I didn't tell her... I had a feeling she would figure it out on her own before long.
Well, regardless of what I thought, Saran stared right through me, her expression full of thought. I was quite looking forward to seeing what kind of Saran I would meet next time.
"Hehe."