On the Importance of Having an Emotional Pillar / So I'm Just a Tool Controlled by a Twisted Personality

The bell, with Big Ben as its backdrop, rang as if it couldn't wait for class to end. Ichinose said goodbye to me and quickly left.

Her destination was the Special Building, where Horikita's plan was to be carried out.

I picked up my shoulder bag and decided to head in the opposite direction.

"Leaving so early today, Raku?" Okabe and the other two lounged lazily across their desks and chairs, looking at me in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm a little tired. I think I'll turn in early today."

"Don't tell me you saw Ichinose hurrying off and want to follow her."

"Why would I do that? People would think I was a pervert."

"We wouldn't mind if you were."

"...You guys are disgusting."

"You're the boring one. And calling us disgusting? You're way too heartless."

"Being called a pervert would hurt my feelings too, so let's drop the jokes."

"Hey, are you not coming to tonight's get-together either?"

"In Okabe's room? I think I'll pass. Those games look really hard to play."

"You haven't even tried them..."

"Sorry, I'm just really tired today. You can roast me next time. Well, I'm off." With that, I casually waved over my shoulder.

"See you tomorrow."

That's right. I had no intention of joining the plan. I was heading straight to Room 301 in the first-year dormitory. I wasn't staying out of the plan because I was lazy; there was no need for me to take part. In other words, if I joined in, I might only make things more complicated.

The first-year dormitory was still some distance away, so I used the walk to go over Horikita's plan.

Until yesterday's meeting ended, our thinking had remained focused on finding evidence that the Class C students had started the fight, and using it to prove Sudo's innocence. Even if we found such evidence, both sides would still lose, and it would also mean Horikita's failure.

But Horikita's proposal was different. Her plan aimed to make the Class C students withdraw their complaint. That would completely eliminate the factors working against Sudo while securing victory in the competition. The key was to make the Class C students feel guilty enough to admit they were in the wrong. Every action that followed would revolve around that goal.

After yesterday's meeting, Horikita borrowed a large number of points from Ichinose, Class B's leader. She did it to buy enough cameras and circuit boards to plant in the Special Building, making it look as though the entire incident had been recorded. This had to be completed before school let out today.

Then we would use Kushida Kikyo, Class D's goddess and a popular girl, to lure the Class C plaintiffs out under the pretext of a date. We set the time for about ten minutes before the meeting began, at 3:50. There was no need to worry they wouldn't take the bait. As Kanzaki had said, boys that age were like monkeys in a zoo during mating season. Timing was crucial, too, because we had to carry out the plan while they had no chance to catch their breath.

After that, all we had to do was assume the school knew the whole story, reason with them, and break them down psychologically. Then we would bring them straight to the meeting room and have them withdraw their complaint.

So? Doesn't the plan sound ridiculous?

Let's start with the cameras. Since Ishizaki and the other two Class C students had dared to provoke Sudo first, we could be sure they had checked beforehand and confirmed that there were absolutely no cameras in that area on the third floor. It would be easy to expose the lie.

And if the school already knew the whole story, why would it go to the trouble of delaying the hearing and giving Class D time to find evidence?

With only those two points, our plan would look laughable and utterly foolish.

Presenting the truth in the face of the truth is folly.

But was it really that absurd?

Chapter 35: On the Importance of Having an Emotional Anchor

[Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's Perspective]

Herd mentality.

It refers to how individuals change their thoughts or behavior under the influence of a group. Scholars have applied this idea in various fields and developed related concepts, one of which involves a key principle: "informational pressure."

The issue of the cameras could easily be handled through this kind of pressure.

If we installed just one camera at the "crime scene," the other side would suspect we were trying to deceive them. But if we installed several cameras, including in unrelated areas, the situation would seem off. Combined with the informational pressure created by the assumption that Ichinose, Ayanokoji, and the school had all been there, Ishizaki and the other two would start doubting whether they were right.

This happens all the time in everyday life, and almost everyone has experienced it.

Think back to your school days. Have you ever answered a teacher's question clearly and confidently, only for the teacher to challenge you?

"Are you sure?"

It's a common tactic among teachers, and just a simple question.

Yet those few words can stir up far more fear and doubt than the question itself contains. The words Ayanokoji and Ichinose used to pressure the other side could have the same effect.

On top of that, the third floor of the Special Building housed staff offices and science classrooms. It was also where valuable items and chemical supplies were stored. That gave us a perfectly reasonable basis for claiming there were cameras there.

You might think that such a one-sided psychological attack wouldn't be enough to break someone's defenses. And, as you say, if that were all there was to it, people's minds wouldn't be described as unfathomable.

But our goal wasn't to break them. It was to confuse them.

The ground absorbs solar radiation and then transfers heat into the air through radiation, convection, turbulence, and other processes. In our area, between two and three in the afternoon, the sun was slanting west, but it was still high in the sky. In other words, the ground was still storing more heat than it was releasing. After that period, when we would carry out the plan, the ground would release a great deal of heat, pushing the temperature to its peak for the day.

The closed windows and hallways, the unrelenting sunlight, the heat rising from the ground...

In that stuffy, uncomfortable environment, even simple thoughts could overwhelm the human brain, let alone deep reasoning like this.

Anxiety over what was certain and what was uncertain would ebb and flow under the strain.

How many people could think clearly under those circumstances?

As for the school's delay, we could easily brush it off with some excuse about wanting to test the students' ability to resolve conflicts on their own.

From the moment they began to doubt whether the cameras were there, they had already fallen into our trap.

Does it still sound foolish to you?

I stopped beside a vending machine on the street, wondering whether to buy a can of coffee and taste its bitterness. Just then, a female student hurried past me with a bundle of documents and letters in her arms. I watched her for a while, and only after she disappeared around the corner did I remember that the plan had one fatal flaw.

I'd mentioned this flaw earlier, too: the existence of an emotional anchor.

1

"If you do something like this, you'll be expelled. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

Under Ichinose's pressing words, the three of them could barely even grasp the predicament they were in.

The winner had already been decided—

"Hey, hey, what are you saying to my classmates?"

"R-Ryuen!" At the brink of despair, Ishizaki and the other two looked at the man who did whatever he pleased as if he were a ray of light in the darkness.

Ryuen, huh...

"Well, well. Who would've thought that Ichinose, who's always been so friendly with everyone, would bring some nobody along to threaten students from my class?" The man stood in front of us with a sarcastic smile, shielding the three behind him.

"Ryuen, so you were behind this after all. You were the one who gave the Class B students trouble earlier, too, weren't you?"

"Huh? I don't remember ever giving Class B students trouble. Besides, a Class D student hit a Class C student this time. I didn't expect you to take the side of the guilty party. Was all that kindness of yours just a fake act?"

"You're the ones lying about this incident, aren't you? Are you still going to deny it? The school—"

"Stop, stop. Enough." Ryuen shook his head impatiently. "I'm not going to be threatened into admitting I was wrong. And I'm not stupid enough to let you push me around, either. Right, you guys?"

"..."

So he was the source of the violence?

"Threatened? Ishizaki and the others told me themselves that you ordered them to lure Sudo out and stage a fight, then play the victim. Isn't that the truth?"

"You've got no shame, Ichinose. After all this, you're still trying to threaten us? Since you're the ones at fault, we're not going to let you do whatever you want to us."

His logic was clear. It would be difficult to get them to withdraw their complaint now.

"Threaten you? Your classmates told me all of this on their own. And I still have the recording." Ichinose took her phone out of her pocket and waved it in front of them.

Everyone except Ryuen started to panic.

"Does giving in under threat mean anything? I don't acknowledge what we said earlier. If you want to use that recording as evidence, go ahead. Who knows what you might've done to it?"

"You—"

"I'm sorry, Ichinose. Your plan isn't going to work anymore. I'm not going to give in to you. And besides—"

"I don't remember telling you to meet anyone at this time." Ryuen glared angrily at the three of them. "I told you, didn't I? We're absolutely going to win this complaint. Get back here!"

"W-We're going." At Ryuen's shout, Ishizaki and the other two fled.

"Wait!" Ichinose tried to stop them with her words, but Ryuen stopped her with a smile.

"Too bad, Ichinose. You were only a little bit away from pulling off your plan."

"So you really were behind everything. Why are you here at this time?"

"Thanks to you, I was planning to go back to the dorm and rest while I waited for the results. But our homeroom teacher told me that the three students who were supposed to attend the meeting had gone missing. Good thing the message came in time."

"Too bad, Ichinose. I never thought you'd use such a despicable tactic, too. I think you're better suited to being that harmless little rabbit. If you really have what it takes, I'll deal with you properly next time."

With that, the student named Ryuen left the Special Building without looking back, leaving Ichinose and me standing there, facing each other in silence.

Chapter 36: So I'm Just a Tool Controlled by a Twisted Personality

Material civilization has advanced by leaps and bounds, people's living standards have continued to improve, and the introduction of various social welfare programs has sent people's happiness levels soaring. The country's political system is sound, the rule of law is well established, the cultural standards of the people have risen, and the environment is gradually changing...

All these realities prove that society is progressing.

At the same time, we grow in the shadows, our humanity becoming increasingly warped. Twisted personalities corrupt society, while the cities turn sick and perverse.

So society isn't dark, and humanity isn't sick.

The only thing that's truly twisted is your perception.

After hanging up, I drained the coffee I'd bought a short while earlier, tossed the can precisely into a trash bin on the street, and set off toward the dorm again.

But after I'd taken only a few steps, the phone in my pocket vibrated again.

"Hello." I immediately answered Ichinose's call, but the other end remained silent for a long while.

So I waited quietly in the silence, wondering if there was a problem with the phone signal.

"Is Raku free right now?"

The signal was fine.

"My schedule is usually pretty packed. Either I'm going to sleep or I'm—" I was about to make a joke, but the mood on the other end of the call felt subdued. "...What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"The result seems to have turned out a little differently from what we expected... Where are you now, Raku?"

"The meeting's about to start, isn't it? Are you sure you still need me to come help?"

"Could you come over? I've contacted Kanzaki, too."

"I see. Is it the Special Building, or the meeting room?"

"The Special Building... If you can, please come over, Raku."

"Got it. I'm on my way." With that, I hung up.

15:59

The time stood out in the center of my phone screen.

There wasn't any time left. What could I possibly do now?

Seriously, I'd been just a little short of taking the shoulder bag off.

I looked at the dorm building, now so close, and let out a deep sigh.

In the middle of July's sweltering heat, running back and forth wasn't exactly a good idea.

Well, I was already dreading the arrival of August. Why did humans have to endure these bizarre temperature extremes?—

0

"Raku."

I'd only just poked my head out from the stairwell when Kanzaki waved to me. Ichinose turned to look.

"So, what happened?" I asked, intending to get things settled as quickly as possible, but the bitter smile on Ichinose's face told me the situation was unusual.

"The plan failed."

"...They managed to think clearly in this oppressive heat? That's pretty impressive."

Losing to opponents like that wouldn't be shameful. Their willpower was simply too strong.

"No, that's not it. There was another reason it failed."