Miss Bersha looked at Kallen very earnestly. In her heart, she already more or less believed him, because his reasons were very detailed.
Kallen looked calmly at Bersha. In fact, he had merely changed a name in the reasons Bersha had given him and repeated them back to her.
"Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Kallen," Bersha said with a smile.
"I should thank you for your honesty, too." Kallen picked up his ice water and took a sip. "I think honesty is the foundation of mutual trust. At least as colleagues, we can get along more comfortably in the time ahead."
Deception was a psychological contest between two parties, and the fundamental aim of "deceiving" was not to make one's "lies" more airtight and logical, but to make the other person willing, and actively want, to believe.
Clearly, Miss Bersha had come with just such a "preconceived notion," and in her words, she had already told him what she was willing to believe;
it was the equivalent of sticking a piece of paper on her forehead that read:
"Please deceive me according to these requirements!"
Kallen felt there must have been some misunderstanding here. For instance, Miss Bersha had mentioned his attitude toward her yesterday, when the truth was that he had mistaken her for Piaget in disguise.
Of course, there was another possibility: as someone who believed in Light, she might be somewhat emotional. Perhaps she had sensed that he was "harmless" to her, and he indeed had no aggression toward her. On that basis, even a "lie" was merely a way for both sides to back down gracefully.
"I think nature is something beautiful, too."
As Miss Bersha spoke, she stood up, walked over to Kallen, and leaned her body toward him.
"It signifies purity just the