3 Chapter 3 - Judgement

It's always cold and hard. I can barely sleep. For the past few days, I never had a second, where my stomach wasn't growling.

Hunger, pain, and chills are the only feelings I had recently. I almost can't think straight.

Being convicted for a crime that you don't even know how you commited, is just harsh. Even for this world. And not getting a trial even? What is the government thinking?

Even if I did, wouldn't it be just? Wouldn't he deserve it? I mean he's - was - not the most morally sound person on Earth.

Growl

Why do I have to be here? Why can't that fucker Justin be here? Or Claire? Did they ever do anything good?

Chill

What about other people, huh? What about my parents? They didn't even come visit once for an entire week. A normal parent would've.

Growl

That's true. Normal parents would have. Not mine. Not my high-and-mighty hero parents. They probably think that they never even had a son. They wouldn't acknowledge a murderer.

Chill

That's right. No matter what I say about not knowing how I did it, I'm still a murderer. I should accept that. Accept my new fate.

But that's not as easy, as it sounds. I might be a murderer, but I'm still just a new graduate.

Did they even send out my papers? Did I officially graduate? Or was I expelled?

Who cares. Whatever.

Sitting in this cold room, I have plenty of time to think. I mean sure, I live on the bare minimum, but I still get food, have a toilet, I can take a shower once a day, and I have a bed to sleep on. I have every need of a human covered.

Well, except for company. I'm not allowed to meet anyone for now. Procedures, I guess.

But the problem I have with that, is that my power seems to be dependent on human contact. How can I figure it out? I don't seem to have many options to test it.

Let's recap, what actually happened there? The main points I remember are the fact that I told him to "Stop," and "Why don't you just die?" After that, he loosened his grip, dropped to the floor, as he was choking himself, probably, and at some point, his eyes turned to this purple-haze color. If I assume that the eye color has anything to do with me, than that could be an indication for my power being active. If that's the case, than it would be easy to test it effectively.

So my "original" power is [Charm], which lets me to influence others to some extent. Although, from what I know, read, and experienced, it's just swaying people to my opinion, and it doesn't work on strong-willed people. Now, sure, Kevin isn't - khm, wasn't - the most unbreakable person, but I've never seen him budge from Justin's orders. From that, I can deduce, that something happened to me, that changed my ability, which isn't unheard of, but it's till a rather rare phenomenon. Was it the fact, that I was about to be robbed of something, that's rather important to me? If that's so, then wouldn't anyone just level up their abilities every day?

I guess it could have anything to do with the fact, that [Charm] is a [Low-Tier] power? But then again, I never heard of a Low-Tier to suddenly become exceedingly more powerful, like this. No Charm can make someone commit suicide. That's unthinkable.

So would it be some sort of commanding ability? Like I tell something to someone, and they'll do it? If that's the case, I have to be careful from here on out-

Wait a moment. Isn't a prison the perfect place to test this? Not a single soul in the world would be too sad, if someone accidentally died here. We're all criminals in here. And the guards - well, I have some piled up emotions to realease on them.

Actually, that sounds like a sound idea. I'll wait for the guard who brings my food, and I'll rather daringly will ask for an extra set of meal. Worst case scenario, I'll get beaten up, and that I'm used to. So there was nothing to do, but to wait for the guard to stroll up with my dinner.

And so he came, on schedule, as per normal. He slid in my tray, in a small hole on the door, and just before he'd close the lid, I stopped it with my hand.

"'Scuse me, could I have another set, please?" I delibaretly positioned myself in a way, that I'd see his eyes. For a second, it seemed like they were hazing up, but just after a second, or so, he closed the lid on me.

"What an idiot," he muttered.

Welp, that didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but I didn't come away from there empty handed. I took the tray, and as I was preparing to eat my "delicious looking" beans and ham, I started putting things together.

Thing number one, the purple hazy eyes were definitely part of my ability, I'm entirely sure of it now. I don't know if they serve any purpose, other than an indication I wasn't sure of. Just putting these two situations together, it didn't take a nuclear physicist to figure this one out.

As for why it didn't work, I have absolutely no clue. Well, I guess it has to do something with MY mental stability, or will, or something, but I didn't have any problems with that. So, what about HIS mind? I guess he could have had some sort of mental stability training. That's probably not out of the question, given that Kevin didn't seem to have any levels of resistance. If it's influenced by the will of my opponent, then that would make more sense, as the guard wouldn't want to feed me more, than necessary, but if that's so, Kevin must have had some horrible shit on his mind.

Let's try it from another perspective. What about my phrasing? "Stop" is a rather straightforward thing to say, but then the second half of that time wouldn't make sense. "Why don't you die?" is just a question.

Although, if it is a suggestive thing, then maybe it's more about controlling someone before I can command them. If I go that route, maybe it could work.

Let's wait for my next meal, until then, yummy beans. Yay.

---

The next day I was waiting early for the guard to come along. I really had nothing to do, since I didn't need to show up for rollcalls, and my shower time wouldn't come until the evening, after the others were finished. No one told me anything, so this is just me guessing, but it feels like I'm in solitary confinement. The only possible reasons that came to mind, were either that they are trying to break my "murderous intent", or they greet every single new inmate like this. Both of which sound utterly ridiculous, but those were my best guesses. I mean I don't even know where I was. Which country this was, or even which continent I was on. All I knew where the walls, the shower, and the corrider connecting them.

Well, eventually the guard arrived, bringing me my food. I thought up a plan, as I was trying to be inconspicuous, but I still had to somehow command him in a way. I knew the word "stop" works, so maybe, if I go with something similar...?

"Wait!" I said, again as he was closing the lid, "Would you bring me another set?" I asked this time in a more commanding manner.

"Sure-" he started, his eyes almost turned purple this time, but something stopped him halfway, "Wait, of course not, idiot."

Well, that didn't work either. Something I noticed though, is that usually, if I just don't comply here, I get beaten up. For some reason, this guy was different, I felt there was something we could arrange here. What was the feeling I had back then...?

"Wait!" I started again, this time I could see the haze in his eye forming, so I continued, "What if I made it worth your while?" Finally, he stood there, in silence. He seemed to think, but he didn't reply.

Temptation.

That's the feeling. I felt tempted to do it. I wanted to. I knew it would feel good.

"I just don't... don't want to... to be a jerk. I had enough. This job is horrible." His eyes were entirely purple. Wait, was he actually a nice person? "I'll get you some."

Finally! It seemed to have worked.

From that time on, he seemed to comply. Once I said a word to him, his eyes turned hazy every time, and he'd bring me extra stuff. Sweets, drinks, extra pillows for the shitty bed, some soft drinks here and there, whatever I asked for really.

He seemed to do every single one of my commands.

I think it's time I moved out of this cell.