CH #8 - Control and Plot

"Okay... Right... Look very strictly at this pendulum that's being suspended by my hand..."

"Hah? Do you really believe you can hypnotize me with this?"

It was lunchtime. In their usual place, the abandoned multi-sports court of the school, were Cast and Lira. The two were alone there, and would never be interrupted by any other student. The two were so far away from the focus of movement in the rest of the school that no sound of dialogue, however small, would be heard.

Only the wind interspersed the dialogues, carrying all those conversations away, even if they weren't overheard by anyone else.

The two already finished their lunches, and unoccupied for the rest of the time, both needed some kind of entertainment. As a result, Cast suggested a rather peculiar challenge.

"I can do this, okay?" He said, sounding a little annoyed. "Just have faith in my talents!"

For that, the girl just raised an eyebrow in clear mockery.

"How can I have faith in a talent you don't even have, and that if you did, would be used for nefarious ends?" Lira replied, raising important points. "I can see you're a little too excited about being able to 'control me', and I don't even need to read your feelings for that."

"I'm just a little anxious, okay?! It's just that I'd like to test if it really works." He tried to mask his intentions as best he could.

Deep down, Cast just didn't want to admit that Lira's reasoning was correct. If it were possible, he would do things that no human being would imagine and reach horizons that only exist in dreams.

... Or at least that's what he was convinced of when he picked up that book on hypnosis at the library a week ago.

It was undeniable that childishness would always accompany him wherever he went. It was like a curse that was eternally doomed to haunt the Cravache boy.

Seeing how he simply refused to grow old, Lira shook her head in denial, sighing wearily.

In his right hand, Cast held a small stone used in construction, rolled up and tied with a piece of white thread. He asked Lira to focus her vision on the object. The young man had great faith that he would be able to accomplish the feat of entering another person's mind after his extensive and interested reading, and he smiled inwardly at the possibilities that would open up once that happened.

Lira, on the other hand, was skeptical and just entertained what she saw as a joke because of a mixture of the pity she felt for Cast's unattainable dream and the sheer lack of what to do. The girl faithfully believed that hypnosis was a farce, a mere talk to justify corruptions. In her mind, nothing could dominate the human mind so directly.

After all, not even [Control Over Feelings] was capable of that. Lira's power did not directly dominate, but only influenced the decision-making of those affected in a favorable direction. A person with ample willpower could ignore their altered emotional state and overcome the influence.

"Okay, look over here… I'm going to swing this pendulum, and you're going to follow its movement with your eyes, and with your eyes only! Don't move your head, okay? Use only your eyes."

"Alright... Alright... I'll prove to you that this is all bullshit after all."

And with that, Cast began to swing the pendulum. Lira acted as agreed and followed the movement of the stone with her eyes. She wanted to prove her point correct as faithfully as possible in the experiment.

After a few seconds, the boy started to say a few things.

"You are starting to feel tired and somewhat helpless... Your ability to deny is slowly deteriorating... Your mind is opening up to my suggestions a little more every second..."

However, to Cast's dismay, Lira proved otherwise.

"Cast… The only thing about me that's tiring and becoming helpless is my eyes. It's too tiring to look at that rock, and you're making a big fool of yourself about it. When you talk, you sound like one of those cartoon characters."

Lira wasn't wrong. Even he was starting to lose faith in his success with the techniques of hypnosis after that comment.

"Well... Maybe hypnosis is more complicated than it sounds..."

Cast lowered the pendulum, thinking about the facts he knew about it.

"Or maybe it's just a lie." Lira countered.

And then, a rather unexpected sound filled the court. Looking toward the wall where the locked metal gate stood, painted in an already rather decayed shade of dark blue, they noticed that a familiar figure had emerged, having just leapt through the relatively low concrete wall that separated the spaces.

"Oh, it's you, Ryan." Cast said, not looking all that impressed.

Ryan approached with rather quick steps, keeping upright in their vicinity.

"Anything good going on around here?"

By this point in context, the two of them had gotten used to the fact that Ryan was the most dispersed of the group. He didn't usually hang around with them, and preferred to have some freedom of space.

They were supposed to act like the trio they are, but reality showed them to be more like a pair plus a solitary individual. Lately, Lira thought about the possibility of opening a private club to discuss the city's supernatural events and skill users, however the idea proved impractical due to the lack of members. It would take at least four students together to create the club and satisfy the core condition.

That thought gone, Cast tried to answer the question.

"I'm trying to apply some knowledge about hypnosis that I saw in a book... But it doesn't work."

"Of course it doesn't work. It's all a lie after all." Lira cut him off aggressively. She wanted to get that idea out of Cravache's head as soon as possible.

Ryan rested his chin on the initial fingers of his right hand, placing his arm over the left hand joined to his body. That was a sign they both already knew well.

"Hypnosis, huh?"

After a few seconds of silence, Ryan resumed his speech.

"First of all, what do you want to do with Lira if you succeed, Cast?" Ryan questioned, sounding more like some kind of detective than anything else.

"Well, nothing much... I mean..."

Ryan managed to recognize Cast's true intentions, and soon questioned Lira next.

"And Lira, how receptive to the experience of being hypnotized are you?"

Lira responded immediately. There was nothing to hide in her thoughts.

"I don't believe in that kind of thing. I'm completely skeptical."

Ryan closed his eyes, absorbing the explanations, then prepared an answer.

"Very well… Where should I start? First of all, hypnosis exists and can be performed, however some factors are necessary... The first one is consensus. The person who will be hypnotized must consent and be open to the experience of having their mind invaded, so no matter how hard you try, Cast, you can never make it until Lira doesn't agree and fully accept being hypnotized."

His dispersion manifested itself for a moment when he saw a bird pass through a large gap of light on the sports court. He soon returned to giving the matter due attention, however.

"And secondly, hypnosis takes practice and study. Reading things from a book is certainly exciting, but it all ends there. A hypnotist or hypnologist is someone who has immense knowledge about the human mindset and has studied enough to acquire expertise in it. And finally, forget about that idea... Hypnosis does not mean complete mental control of the person. A person who is hypnotized is still in a position to deny, although they are mentally more receptive to commands. No asking for illogical or overly complicated things. It will not work."

"You seem awfully knowledgeable of that…" Cast spoke, rather sourly.

"I know of the basics. It's not that much."

At the end of the explanation, a huge difference in facial expressions was noticed in the two. Cast was disappointed and noticeably upset, while Lira smiled proudly, aware that, if it were up to her, Cast would never invade her mind, no matter how hard she tried.

At the peak height of his disappointment, Cast let out an almost-disguised squeal of speech in Ryan's direction.

"Oh, is that so? But… Can you show us anything cool with that mind-altering skill of yours?" He questioned not enraged, but in a state that resembled great disappointment.

Ryan snapped the vertebrae in his neck. The sound spread like an echo across the open space. One would wonder if something like a piece of the wall would be about to fall if they listened in the distance.

"I can't. Hypnosis is more of an art than a science. Unless I take the memories of a hypnotist or something, but first I'd have to find one, and that would be difficult as hell."

However, that speech did not end. Ryan again assumed his thoughtful demeanor before providing an answer.

"Although… I would like to test something I've been practicing and theorizing lately…."

In fact, Cast and Lira were considerably more curious and ambitious about the uses of their abilities when compared to the third member. Ryan possessed the frightening power of manipulating memories, which basically means that, on some scale, the 17-year-old can manipulate the very will of society. Unlike his partners, however, he lacked strong ambitions, and as a result, was not used to exploiting the full potential of his unique supernatural talent.

In the hands of someone with a less thoughtful mindset, the world would become a great chessboard. Controlling memories means controlling history, which in turn means controlling the course of an entire group of people, a nation or even more. This is the power every tyrant wishes to possess.

The world could only be infinitely grateful that such dangerous ability fell into the hands of a simple-minded person like him.

But as a result of previous events, the boy saw the need to expand his horizons. Predicting movements and reading superficial thoughts would not help significantly against people who move objects with the power of their minds or who teleport, for example.

"I have an idea! Could you guys come outside with me for a bit? There's something I'd like to test." Ryan said, looking a little more excited about the opportunity to show off the results of his experiment. "And by the way, I'm going to need your help, Cast."

"Okay, let's go. I want to see how this works!" Cravache jumped to his feet, also eager both for the demonstration and the possibility of learning more about the Savoia boy's enigmatic ability.

"It doesn't hurt to pay attention to this." Lira was also quick to agree, responding with her characteristic coldness.

The truth was, the Suzuki girl also wanted to find out more. Her strategist's mind couldn't rest until she formulated perfect strategies in which Ryan's skill could be put to use, so such an opportunity was like the shining star that would guide her path.

Not to mention that Lira was interested in the results of the experiment, and in comparing how different her abilities would be if they dealt with the same context.

The three leapt through the low wall while using one of the metal structures that held the roof of the court up like a ladder to climb to the top of the low wall. Arriving at the other side, they accompanied Ryan to a spot in the wooded area of ​​the campus where there were a few students, merely living their lives and having normal routines.

"Great, now we need to choose our guinea pig… And that didn't come out nicely." Ryan said, inspecting the place. "It would be interesting to find someone who is accompanied, but not by many people. Preferably, a small group of two or three people would be ideal for what I'm thinking of doing."

Cast had to look around just a little, until he found something that looked promising.

"Like those two over there?" He pointed with his face to the couple of students who were leaning against a tree. "Look at them - two lovebirds! ... Lira, care to do some vibe-checking?"

"Well, doesn't look like it." Lira cut in. "The guy likes her, but he is only being used as an ego-filler. It is not mutual."

"Oh, so this is really perfect, then!" Ryan nodded, slamming a closed fist into his palm. "These two are really ideal! Fire it, Ryan."

Ryan called for the two, who soon joined him. Before that, however, he requested something specific from Cast. Aside from doing the experiment, he was about to save that guy from impending humiliation in the future.

"But before that, Cast..."

... ... ...

"Dude, Morrison's class sucked today…" Spoke the girl. "Don't you hate that guy? Biology this, bacteria that, photosynthesis... All that nonsense that we never understand and will never use in life...!"

The girl complained incessantly about everything and everyone in which she found some kind of lack or made a negative judgment, showing everything she thought was "sincerity".

And even if she was just being overly rude to everyone, the boy couldn't deny it, both due to of the fact she sometimes got it right – even if rarely – and because of another specific reason.

He wanted to 'get along' with that girl – if the meaning of the expression is easily understood.

So to get to that level of intimacy, he decided that he should only agree with everything she said about things, after all, her beauty managed to be worth a little more than all those words that sounded disrespectful.

And although in a way he felt he was subjecting himself to something he might regret, he had already made up his mind, so he wouldn't back down.

And so, she kept complaining.

"I also don't understand what everyone sees in that purple-haired Junior! Is she really that good?! Because, like, everybody in the Junior classes talks about her like she is some angel! Looks like her name is Abigail or something... And her little ways seem so fake to me! Always helping everyone, being charitable and distributing affection all around like the wind spreads dust... It irritates me...!"

Just by looking, he realized that she wouldn't stop complaining about every single thing that bothered her in the slightest degree. The truth was that was getting a little too tiring.

He just waited for her to keep talking, and planned to keep agreeing until the need to say something might arise. The point was just to listen, listen, and...

... ... ...

"Ow...!"

Coming out of his trance, the boy touched his cheek as he felt an intense spasm of pain. The girl, having stopped complaining, looked at him in a somewhat surprised way.

"Why did you do that?!" He asked, awakening to the reality that maybe she also thought he had a horrible way of being. "Why did you hit me?!"

The girl was as confused as he was, and watching her own palm, questioned the actions she herself had caused.

"I…I don't know…" She said, hesitating.

"What do you mean you don't know?! You just slapped me in the face...!" He countered, noticing that the area of ​​his cheek that had been hit was warm and perhaps reddened.

"I... I just felt an overwhelming urge to do this... I just felt like I had to hit you, so I went and did it." She said in response, making him even more revolted. "I don't know where this came from, I swear! It just popped into my head and I did! I'm sorry!"

"You know what? I'm tired of your bullshit, Mandy! I'm tired of entertaining your pointless complaining of everyone and everything! Never talk to me again!"

"Wait...!"

He got to his feet, feeling that he had been truly hurt by that wide, intense blow, which tingled in small spasms of shock and pain. He would never want to hear from her again.

... ... ...

"I think we can stop the experiment now. Once we've gotten away, you can undo your illusion, Cast." Ryan signed, smiling a little at the success of what appeared to be something horrible, but that in fact saved a young man's heart from being cruelly smashed to bits by the wrong person.

Walking away, the Cravache alternated his vision between Ryan and the girl who was left alone and didn't seem to cease complaining. He knew his methods weren't the most orthodox, but seeing that from someone like Ryan was a whole new experience.

"Uh, Ryan... What was that...?" He asked, incredulous at the result. "How did you do that?"

The instant Ryan, in a state of invisibility generated by the [Perception Manipulation] gently touched the back of the girl's head, she immediately reacted and delivered a strong slap to the boy's cheek.

He understood what happened, but still doubts remained, especially about the precise way in which it happened.

"How did I do that? Simple enough. I just implanted that memory in her mind in the form of an unconscious command." Ryan replied.

Already far away, Ryan took the opportunity to explain everything to the other two.

"It was a memory. As soon as I touched her, I implanted an unconscious memory that said 'I'm going to slap him in the face'. As she was unconscious of it, Mandy didn't realize that she was influenced to do that, so she couldn't stop herself."

He looked down at his own palm, and held it for a moment towards the sun, as if he wanted to grab the star that that day shone with special force over all of Elderlog.

"I just found out that I can do this a little while ago. I don't need to implant only superficial memories and memories in people, but I can also put some suggestions and commands in the form of deep memories." He finished. "People who receive these commands are bound to try to complete them, as they are not aware that those ideas and thoughts are not theirs, but implanted by me."

Ryan then looked at Cast.

"I could essentially order anything, and the affected person would attempt to make it real, since in their mind, that idea came of their own free will." He finished. "Pretty useful, isn't it?"

"How did you manage to do this? It's not even hypnosis anymore... You've reached the level of mind control, man...! And that's scary!" Cast said, amazed at the whole elaborate explanation.

"Well... The truth is I've been thinking a lot lately, because whether you like it or not, a person is made of memories, so just thinking about it would open a lot of doors."

Cast didn't like the course this conversation was taking. Ryan approached something too dangerous, and it was a thing he couldn't ignore.

"Imagine then that you can mold a person by altering their memories. If I could implant an appropriate number of unconscious memories in someone, then I could 'program' them to be exactly who I want them to be, and as such, control that person!" He spoke excitedly. "And the person whose memories have been altered would never notice, as they would imagine those ideas are theirs."

"...So you mean you created each part of this sick theory out of thin air?" He continued to ask, taking cautious steps back.

"Not exactly. I've done this a few times, but never on such a deep level. It's not very easy, contrary to what you might imagine. I need to practice more and improve on this."

Cast was both amazed and terrified by the whole sea of ​​revelations. The simple fact that the boy beside him was able to literally nullify one of the greatest human traits – free will – was capable of making anyone shiver on their legs.

"Ryan, just warning you that if you decide to play Hitler and start plotting world control, I will be forced to stain my hands...!" Cast pointed a shaky finger at him.

"I don't plan on doing anything like that!" He tried to show himself as innocent. "I promise I won't use this unless it's really necessary."

"I hope I can trust this...! I truly do!"

While the two argued, Lira, who remained silent, thought about what she had just seen. That power was useful – in fact, way too useful.

It wasn't a natural reaction for her, but for the first time in a long time, the Suzuki realized that fear was creeping up her back.

"This is too dangerous. I must remain cautious."

The young woman couldn't imagine being controlled by someone else – Lira was too prideful to even consider losing control of her actions, which made her distrust of Ryan only grow.

"I will observe more, and under no circumstances should I allow myself to be touched by him."

***

"I see you've been thinking a lot about what we discussed last time. Good to see you've made up your mind about our little deal."

The voice appeared from behind him. At that point, the surprise caused by such sudden communication no longer existed.

"And I also see that you haven't changed a bit, which is also very nice. Having someone so devoted is almost a dream."

He descended from the tree he was in with a jump, and after connecting his feet to the ground, approached the bulkier boy who was watching from that corner.

"Soon you won't need to just watch anymore. As we agreed, I can guarantee that the girl will be yours by the end of it all."

The answer he received was a satisfied smile on the part of the observer of that girl who was chatting so animatedly with a relatively massive group of friends that she amassed. Wherever she went, she would be the focus of attention, the point where everyone would focus. Her brilliance was unparalleled and immeasurable.

... But he only wanted her for himself. She must only shine before his eyes, and no others.

"I will be very clear. I only agreed to this plan of yours because of the possibility of having her all to myself." He said. "Once I get that, I'll go my own way."

"Of course, of course. That's what we agreed, after all." The young man whose eye was covered with dense black bangs waved his right hand, as if to expel any hostility from the second part. "You help me, and I help you. Let's do that and we'll be even."

The second just ignored it, looking back at the perfection he so wanted to continue to see. Noticing his lack of interest, the first smiled, letting out a light, insipid laugh.

"As much as I'd love to keep talking, I get the feeling that's not what you want." He said, pretending to be frustrated. "And besides, it could be said that I have something else I need to check... Or rather, someone else."

He didn't want to take his attention away from the one he watched so lovingly in his heart, but hearing that made him curious enough to allow himself to ask more about it, even if it wasn't for long.

"Did you find anyone else to help with your plans? Not that it interests me. I just want you to keep this person away from her… Way away from my Abigail." He announced, putting extra emphasis in the possessive.

Jacob Egan then turned back, sending him a look of pure hatred mixed with warning.

"If anything – and I do mean anything - happens to my Abigail... I'll turn against whoever did the thing and against you too."

He then walked towards the boy, and in a quick movement, caught him by the collar of his coat.

"And I will personally kill you if even one scratch that shouldn't have been there appears on her body, got it? It doesn't matter what kind of power you have or what you can do. I'll find a way to make it happen."

... ... ...

Just a laugh. The same dry, lifeless laugh was heard in response to that threat. He freed himself from the grip with one of his hands, laughing more after that.

"...And that was one of the reasons I believed you would be just perfect for this." He said, still a little smiling. "Unlike most, you are a person who knows what you want, Jacob Egan, and above all, someone who is willing to do anything to achieve that goal."

He spread his arms like wings in the air, in an almost megalomaniacal gesture.

"It's hard to find someone who has no impediments, you know? Finding people like you is like looking for gold in the middle of a road. It's a truly appreciable feature."

As if he had achieved true inner peace, the thinner boy cracked the vertebrae in his neck in a characteristically excessive gesture.

"No need to worry about anything. Your cooperation is important, and it's something I really care for. Chaos is the greatest manifestation of phenomenal beauty, and that's all I want. What you want is something only you can get, and there won't be any interruption in that."

He then proceeded to walk away, aiming to leave Jacob alone.

"That said, you can continue what you were doing. As soon as the moment is given, I will come back to speak with you and discuss it deeply. For now, I have more important matters to deal with, so I'll say goodbye." He finished. "Until the agreed date."

Without another word, his figure instantly vanished into the daylight. Jacob didn't fully trust him, but he knew that cooperating might be his only way out.

... And by the way, it was just that same cooperation that allowed him to obtain the necessary tool to be able to get all the love he most wanted.

"Ah, my Abigail...! Soon... Soon only I will be able to see your cute little face...!"

And he proceeded to observe the girl who, not knowing she was being watched, communicated excitedly with those she called "friends".

"Not even if I have to kill every single one of them... Not even if I have to get rid of this school or this entire town! You will be mine and mine alone... Ahh, my Abigail...!"