"I think you were surprised by the version of yourself from another universe. Before seeing him with your own eyes, you did not think highly of him. You believed he would be stubborn, severe, suspicious, even manic, but he was far calmer than you had imagined, wasn't he?"
The pathological voice was always exceptionally gentle. Every word landed with crystal clarity, its drawn-out endings seeming as though the sentence itself was reluctant to leave the listener's mind.
This was far too suited for hypnosis and brainwashing, Bruce thought. It was practically flawless by instinct, making everyone else seem like impatient sparrows.
"What do you think caused the greatest conflict between you and Schiller? Your mental illness? The parts of your personality that were internally inconsistent?"
Pathological continued questioning him, but unusually, he did not expect Bruce to answer. Instead, he answered himself. "Actually, no. Your greatest conflict lies in the difference in your ages and stages of life."
"The pain and struggle brought by mental illness, and the sense of contradiction caused by inconsistent beliefs, are not the main issues. The greatest reason the two of you clashed so often was that you were young—your personality was unstable, restless, and aggressive. Simply put, you were not mature enough."
"Of course, this is not an accusation. By social standards, most people would not demand that a college student be particularly mature. Boys go through a long period of self-exploration before they gradually become stable."
"The other version of yourself you saw was not without pain, nor was he free of contradictions. But the composure he possessed came precisely from his stability and maturity."
"He had long since passed through his period of self-exploration. Whether his personality was healthy or his logic consistent, the keen, fragile, sensitive spirit of adolescence would eventually