"Now Himiko Toga. I will ask you some questions..." I said in a monotonous sound that lacked any emotion.
"Why should I answer you? There is nothing I will gain from that and I am currently captured by you." She replied in a tone similar to mine.
It was like two robots trying to talk to each other through voice and sounds. No emotions were involved in the conversation. And it was all because of >>Mind Stabilizer<< in the highest setting >> Ultra <<.
I used to call Mind Stabilizer as calming effect of the system. The main feature of the function was to repress any emotion which is in my mind in excess, destabilizing the equilibrium of emotions of my mind. It repressed pain, anger, and various other emotions but to a minimal level where I still felt a bit of that feeling but not too much.
And after getting the {Settings} Function from the Rewards, I found out that Mind Stabilizer was at >> Low << all the time. So I tried the highest setting possible >> Ultra << before entering the Hidden Interior Dimension as I didn't want to get into a moral dilemma while handling Himiko. And after changing the Settings, what I felt was mostly indescribable.
I felt like all the emotions were sucked out of me through a straw and all that left was an empty shell that was capable of thinking. Only Thinking not feeling. Everything that I tried to think had an answer or a conclusion that was the result of analyzing the various contexts and things connected to it.
There was no interruption from the emotions in the entire process of thinking which is commonplace when I am thinking without Mind Stabilizer. There are a lot of answers to subjective questions but the answer varies from person to person because of the principles and the bias they possess. Maybe Morals and Values were a part of my current thought process but emotions were definitely not.
I thought about what to do with Himiko and I had an idea what to do with her.
....
"If you answer my questions, I will let you go and let you live however you want. It is the thing that you want right? But if you refuse to answer my questions, I will have to put you in prison or kill you here."
My threats were monotonous and had no threatening sound but emotions are unnecessary now. I had fused my hand with her neck, connecting her to me ultimately bringing her under the effect of the system. Therefore, the Mind Stabilizer is also affecting her which led to Himiko becoming a 'doll'.
Ideally, she should be in the same 'No Feeling, Only Thinking' mode same as the condition that I am in. So she would weigh the outcomes before taking any action rather than taking emotions into account in the process of decision-making and there will be no emotions that will be forcing her to do rash actions. But what she really is in, is an illusion of Rational Thinking without emotions.
In her mind, Raw thoughts will appear which are not influenced by any emotions but she will not be able to refine them or ponder more about these thoughts as her brain is busy trying to cope up with the drastic change in the thought process which is the sudden lack of emotion which are completely blocked off by the Mind Stabilizer. So her brain will present these raw thoughts as the final outcome of her thought process and she will speak them out.
Long Story Short. She will speak whatever comes to her mind first. So She will speak the truth...Mostly.
But if enough time is given, her brain will adapt to the lack of emotions and she will be able to think properly. This happened to me too when I changed the settings from Low to Ultra. I don't know how much time she needs to adapt so I will have to make it quick.
...
Currently, I offered her the two extremes of the spectrum of her interests. One is that She wants to live life however she wants without any interruption from society and the social norms it has; the other is She doesn't want to die. Well Anyone will detest dying but her idea of death is different. In her opinion, not being able to live freely is death. And if anyone is unable to live their life freely, she considers them as dead.
I know this because in the Forest Training Camp Arc When Izuku and his friends try to help Ochako and Asui who were attacked by Himiko. Being alone, she decided to retreat and she mentions that she doesn't want to die. It was clear that she was going to be captured not killed by the students but she mentioned that. And from her true reaction while being tied confirms the theory.
I took the extremes of the spectra of her interests and juxtaposed both the extremes in front of her to show the difference between the two outcomes of the actions that I have presented to her. If she chooses one action, she gets what she wanted the most but if she chooses to do the other, then she gets the things she hates the most. The position, importance of reward, and the punishment that I have put forward are very clear and distinct. There is no intersection of interests in these two choices which will make her falter from choosing one.
And in her current 'rational thinking' mode, I can guess to the point where I am sure I know what she is going to choose.
"I will answer your questions but on one condition. I want you to stand by your words and let me go and live however I want."
"You are in my captivation right now so I hope you know you don't have the right to make any conditions. But I assure you that I will stand by my words or I wouldn't have said that in the first place. Let's start.
From when you were conscious and what did you see or sensed from the time you were conscious?" I put forward my question to Himiko.
"I was conscious when you were walking in the forest after cleaning the warehouse..."
"And what did you see or sense?"
You are reading story MHA: ‘Serene’ Life in Another World. at novel35.com
"You teleported to someplace where most of the people that you came in contact with, spoke English to communicate. Then you teleported back, walked for some time, and teleported again. And now we are here. I was not able to see much as I was trying to play unconscious most of the time."
'It is good that she mistook me going to GTA World as teleportation. And I think it was not her fault. The thought of teleportation is more believable than accepting the concept of the existence of another World.'
"Why do you kill people? If you need blood to sate your bloodthirst, you could have used animal blood or blood from blood banks to do that."
It was a genuine question I had when I was watching the anime. What compels her to resort to killing when she could have chosen any of the alternatives, then she could have lived her life easily without much hassle.
"I don't kill people. I just make them wounded and take blood from it. It is a different thing that they die from blood loss. And Why do I not use Animal blood or blood bank? You are asking it because it is normal for you but for me, it is like asking why don't you eat only bread and drink water for the rest of your life? You can still stay alive with that."
About her bloodthirst, I cannot do anything about it, but she doesn't even accept that she killed the victims of her bloodthirst and blames the blood loss for their death.
...
As my questions were all done, I don't have any more purpose to talk to her. So it is my time to leave.
I took back the fusion between my hand and her neck, after that I put her on the bed and stood beside the bed for a while. As I retracted the fusion, she was out of Mind Stabilizer's effect and now her emotions started coming back. I was waiting for Himiko's brain to adapt to the sudden disappearance and return of the emotions.
After some time, She started making small movements and she slowly stood up.
"Don't do that again to me. And Since I have fulfilled my part, so you do yours."
"I already did."
"WHAT?..."
"I said I already did what I promised. I said 'I will let you go and let you live however you want.'"
"Yes... So let me go as you said. You said you will stand by your words right? Then do it."
"I said I have already done that. I let you go - of my grasp and now you are now free to live however you want - in this house."
"No... No... You didn't.." She stood up on the bed and jumped on me to attack, but a dazzling light shrouded me and I disappeared from the room. The place from where I left, now had various food packets on it.
Seeing me 'teleport' out of the room, Himiko started scrounging the room for an exit. She saw the main door of the house and ran towards it.
She tried to turn the knob and pull the door, but it was locked. So she took a hairpin from her tied bun and started picking open the lock with the hairpin. After some time, she was successful and she pulled the door but what she saw crushed her hopes to escape this place.
What she was... Nothing. She saw nothing in front of her. No ground, no sky, not even colors. Everything in front of her was only a blank. Devoid of everything, Possessing Nothing.
She still tried to move out of the door but couldn't take a step out of the door, like something was pushing her inside the interior of the house. She tried again and again and again but all she met was the void in front of her and failure to escape.
Exhausted by the continuous failed efforts to escape, she gave up and lay on the bed. Tears started trickling down her cheeks as she started thinking about living in this 'cage'. She was most afraid of one thing and that was death.
And now she is 'dead'.