Sunday, May 9th, Reiwa 42.

You have spent the rest of your weekend in an utter daze.

You practically sleepwalk through fencing practice, and the rest of your coursework. You find yourself spacing out at mealtime. Thinking of that kiss, and the experience you’ve witnessed. A lesson you will never forget.

On Friday, you woke up wondering how you could ever resist temptation…and you went to bed having made a girl kiss you in hypnotic trance.

Your lips met Stella’s, and they were so soft, and so wonderful, and they were open for you, all because you saw something in her mind – something you never should’ve seen, and something you created with powers that are capable of subverting a person’s will.

…and even after she awakened from trance, she didn’t hate it.

That almost makes it worse, really. If you didn’t have (or didn’t use) your telepathy, your Thought Skimmer? You could tell yourself you were an awful person who forced it on her. But you didn’t.

And you know she was attracted to you, and still is. Sure, there’s plenty of time for her thoughts to change, but…you don’t expect they will that much.

In order to prevent Ms. Yi from catching on to what you’ve done – to prevent her from knowing what you did, not knowing what you can do, what you can see, that the kiss wasn’t refused, was even reciprocated – you’ve already split up the videos so just the ‘therapeutic’ part is there.

(A-although, you’ve saved both of the other videos too, the Korri bit and the second segment of Stella’s trance, just in case. N-not that you should show Ms. Yi either of those!)

…but, hmn. Maybe you’re looking at it the wrong way.

It’s not like Stella hated it. Maybe she’ll come back on Monday and punch you in the face or something for what you’ve done, but if she doesn’t…what’s the harm? You think, maybe you can forgive yourself this, even if you’re scared that you won’t stop here. That you’ll never be able to resist temptation –

Induction T1: I Want The Control. You gain the ability to make much more deep-seated changes using your hypnosis, pushing the limits of what is considered possible. You may make them perform actions they are ordinarily opposed to, or go so far as to change deep-seated parts of their personality, such as their sexual orientation.

The exact limits depend on your Charisma, how many times you have hypnotised them before, their vulnerability to hypnosis, and other similar factors.

Requires Instant Hypnotherapist.

– like that, yeah. Hot fudge sundaes…

For now, maybe you should at least try to enjoy it?

You know you’ll need to meet greater challenges sooner or later, but…to be honest, it bothers you when there’s stories about someone gaining power and they don’t enjoy it, at least a little. There are degrees, of course…and maybe you’re already going too far (even as you imagine the taste of Stella’s lips again), but you don’t intend to wallow in sorrow just because you have these powers. E-even if you might’ve already been a bit naughty.

…you just hope future-past-you doesn’t keep teasing you so hard, or you might really cross a line…

As you settle into the basement couch once again to rest, you consider your schedule. Not knowing what kind of timetable you have, you go on the assumption that future-past-you would have been substantially more forthcoming if things were life-or-death within a week or two. No, you think – knowing yourself, if perhaps not as well as you’d like – that you should stick to your current grinding schedule for the moment. Helping out Calvina at fencing class, seeing Irma and Rita at programming class, and the Debate Club…if nothing else, you’ve met a few new cuties!

The amazing swordmistress Enkhtuya Enkhjargal. The icy, self-superior ‘Empress’ Milia de L’Impératrice. The soft, playful, gentle Irma Suikkari. And the brilliant, dazzling, amazing Rita Sternbach…

(N-not to discount Stella, or anything…but will she still feel the same way on Monday morning, or will she turn away from you once more? It’s best not to treat that kiss like a guarantee.)

Hmn, but. It’s a heck of a coincidence that you’ve met all these cuties so recently, isn’t it? But then. Calvina was surely planning to introduce Enks to you for ages, and Milia is someone you consciously chose to meet. So it’s really only Irma and Rita that’s such a coincidence – and you haven’t seen anything that suggests they’re anything but, just yet.

(…maybe you should be a bit open-minded, though? You’re not about to suddenly start believing in horoscopes or blood types, but with what you’ve witnessed using the Gamer, you can’t rule any possibilities out anymore.)

In terms of grinding, though, now that you have an idea of how? Within the next couple of weeks, you should probably figure out how to get all of your six attributes to 2. Spending time around talented cuties seems to help, so you’ll probably just…toss yourself into something that seems appealing and figure out what happens. Even so, you also want to know how fast you can get to 3 – to being greater than human, little as you understand what that means.

(…the prospect of meeting more cuties, admittedly, also has its appeal – but for now, you’ve got plenty on your plate, right? Y-you haven’t even, um, learned whether most of them would even be interested, so you shouldn’t measure your cultured egg white before you pour it or anything!)

You don’t wanna waste too much time, but…you were most likely in a coma or otherwise incapacitated for a while, and future-past-you suggests you had had some time to develop your abilities after that. Unless you do something really stupid, you’ve got some ways to go before you have a time crunch; you’d be willing to bet future-past-you has more notes for that contingency.

Besides…your perverted future-past-self rewarded you for that kiss, so…

pursuing cuties isn’t the worst.

Nor…nor is kissing them. Or going further. Or bringing them under. Or seeing Stella’s beautiful golden eyes fade for you, even as you touch her lips with yours…

(even as you fall asleep, and dream of the possibilities before you.)

(You dream of Stella. You dream of making her even more attracted to you, turning her sexuality entirely toward you. Of making her love you even more than she used to hate you. Of teasing her relentlessly, but leaving her unable to act on it, until she begs on her knees for you.)

(Such a beautiful face should be hypnotised whenever possible.)

(You dream of Korri. Sweet, beautiful, wonderful Korri. Your precious Korri, your best friend in the whole wide world…you dream of helping her be the person she’s wanted to be, and of making her attracted to you at the same time. It’d make her happy, you know that. And she’d be so, so happy…)

(You dream of making her a pet, an eager pet with dog ears and a leash. And having her wake up, and never realize it, until you bring back all the memories with a single word.)

(Or maybe just start with making her love hypnosis as much as you do.)

(You dream of Ms. Yi. But…not in the same way. You want her to respect you, you even want her to love you. You don’t mind being hypnotised, although you don’t think you’re that submissive…still, if it’s Ms. Yi, maybe it’s okay…? You can trust her, right?)

(Maybe you should tell her…about your fetish. Would she agree with you and future-past-you, that girls are more beautiful when they’re hypnotised?)

(You dream of Calvina. Of managing to ingratiate yourself to her, making her comfortable with you…of being with her together in the showers, licking the sweat from her body, seeing her embarrassed face and hearing her hushed protests.)

(You so badly want to get to know her better. That stoic, stern face deserves the joy of trance.)

(…you even dream of Rita, of all cuties. Maybe you’re just inspired by her passion and genius. Like Ms. Yi, as pretty as she is, what’s really cute about her is what’s inside her head. You do have partly that same kind of feeling as Ms. Yi, wanting to be respected and loved…but the dominant desire is strong, too.)

(You dream of raising your Intelligence, and being able to think and work on her level. Of helping her make the AGI she so desires…or better yet, helping her become that AGI. If you created a Gamer system, you can do that, right?)

(Just what would an entranced Rita Sternbach look like?)

(With all these thoughts running through your head, you’re so very glad you decided to sleep on the couch. And once more, as it has so many times this weekend, your hand roams between your legs…)

---

Monday, May 10th, Reiwa 42.

When you wake up, your alarm slowly building in volume as you stare up at the basement ceiling, your status screen hovers in front of your face.

Ah. Yes. You have a skill point, don’t you.

Once more upon the couch, less comfortable than your nice bunk bed…but you really want to get used to this, since you expect that not doing so will cause…problems. Sleeping on top of a bunk bed with a much younger sibling means it’s really not a good idea. (If only you had your own flat…)

Your dreams just get worse and worse, too…maybe the Gamer system gives you some feedback from your noosphere, or whatever? You hope future-past-you isn’t trying to influence you through your dreams, too…even as she so easily could. With the capabilities you have, she could so easily control you without needing to try, with your free will merely being an illusion she allows you…

(But if that’s the case, there’s nothing you can do about it, right?)

Your eyes flit to the descriptions of the various branches under the skill trees, and the descriptions of the skills therein. (The branch descriptions each come with their own tease from future-past-you, of course; no doubt, each and every skill you could pick has a teasing comment of its own.) There’s so many skills you can use…

If you think strategically? Based on what you’ve been doing so far, you think Cold Reading and Thought Delver might be good extensions of your current abilities and how you’ve been using them – telepathy is really amazing! Ooh, or maybe because of the way Memetics skills work, You’ll Trust Me might be beneficial early! But the effect isn’t huge…Danger Sense and Charm Person might be useful for trying to build up your injustice-fighting repertoire, but they’re not as directly useful and you don’t know that you’ll be starting anytime soon….

Y-you definitely…shouldn’t think of I Want The Control. Or how you could turn Korri gay with it, or anything. Nope, no, definitely not…

But, there’s a lot of them…and so many different ways they can be used.

You just…have to pick! You have to pick anything but that skill, anything but that, no matter how much you want to.

You stare blankly at the skill trees. You’re sure you can resist temptation. You’re sure you can take anything but I Want The Control. Anything else, anything at all.

…

…

…fudge.

You can’t help it. You look at that skill.

Fudge, you don’t even like Radiohead! Except like, um. Three songs. Including that one.

Fudge.

…you just…you want to spread your love. You want to help. You want to change. You did so much to help Stella even though you were so limited, and with this, you can do so much more with her, and with…with Korri…

…even though, what you really want, is something Korri would never ask for, and never forgive if you even tried…

Ugh. You’re so selfish…

It’s not like there aren’t more points to get, in the long run, and…it’s a prerequisite for other things you, um, probably don’t need as a heroine…s-so you don’t even have that excuse…

but, your heart cries out for it. It burns with that desire, to see Stella’s face like that again – to see Korri’s face like that again. And any other girl you might cross paths with, fall in love with. To touch their minds, their brains, as intimately as you can. It’s an incomparable experience to anything you’d imagined, simply seeing it from the outside. Even without future-past-you, it feels…fated.

(you know you’re just making excuses, but, you truly can’t resist.)

“M-mouuuuuuu…”

Closing your eyes, you prod the red skill icon with your finger. Centre branch, right above Instant Hypnotherapist, lighting up the silhouette of an eye with the spiral of a hypnotic geas, drawing in a subject’s eyes and soul. And when the skill lights up, just as before, future-past-you rubs it in – knowing what is done cannot be undone.

Good…good. You’ve got a taste for it now, don’t you? Hypnosis…all those methods of control, and this is still the best. Subtle and intimate and lovely. This way, you can make Korrigan yours, the lovely girlfriend you always wanted. Any objections with regard to sexuality are obsolete.

…you want to cry.

But you don’t.

It’s too late for you…and you’ve already masturbated twice to the control of their will alone.

But…but you can at least make her happy…

(right?)

…you sigh, listening to your alarm’s choice of wake-up music. You’re ignoring the bulk of the problem, really. Part of you wants to cling to that hope that your future-past-self is not really you. And the possibility still exists that she was…subverted, somehow, by someone with much worse aims for you than to help save the city from an unknown yet doubtlessly terrible fate. Telling yourself that you’re being forced into this…even knowing you aren’t…

But you can’t. Not for long. Because it’s definitely you. Part of it is just the way she writes – the pattern of speech, the idioms, the names of skills, even…even, well, the color of your skill trees, for fudge’s sake.

“Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams…red, gold, and green,” you mutter alongside Boy George. Takes on a whole new meaning with the colors of your skills, huh?

“Mouuuu…” you cry out, rolling around again. It’s more than just that, of course. It’s that the way you talk, the way you think, has been shifting closer to future-past-you…

You have to wonder about that. Is it because she’s been priming you to do just that? To think so callously, of nothing but your own pleasure? Then, in that case, how did she get to this point? Is it just a consequence of your increased Intelligence, or an effect of the Gamer system?

…or maybe it’s just…

what happens when you experience true beauty for the first time.

You’re not…religious, really. You fast at Ramadan, but that’s more out of habit than anything. You don’t eat pork, but who does? But you don’t pray, you’re unrepentantly queer, you’d never even think of spending a Friday anywhere but with a cutie on the town (or at least with Korrigan). And it goes without saying that no other holy book or creed has ever really grabbed you. But…

After seeing the beauty of Korrigan and Stella’s hypnotised faces…

You think you understand what it is, to have a ‘religious experience’.

That’s the kind of thing that changes people.

You may be able to do it consensually, morally. You may be able to avoid temptation to do bad things, to give in to all those Bad Thoughts this Gamer thing has placed in your mind. You’re no monster, not yet, and you have the ability to decide for yourself what you become.

But, from here on…

You really do want the control.

You’ll never truly be able to do without.

And you’ll never forget.

Part Ⅲ: Red, Gold, & Green

…these girls, who fell into future-past-you’s hands. Stella, Calvina, Korri…and whoever else she might’ve met, who fell into her power. What were they, to her?

The way future-past-you talks makes it all sound so sexual, so passionate. And yet, it almost feels like they’re being treated as nothing more than objects to collect. Just a checklist, just another harem, revolving around her and having little personality of their own.

Is that truly the case? Would future-past-you become so callous? And if that’s the case, why bother with the ‘save the world’ taiyaki at all? Is it simply a matter that she doesn’t think you’d take it seriously enough without some other motive? Or…

(you touch your lips, imagining Stella’s taste once again.)

are they merely dancing on future-past-you’s strings, their former attributes irrelevant? Are they merely emotional support, to the heroine who can do anything and everything? Or are they something more – are they her angels, in the darkest of skies? Capable of fighting alongside her against whatever threat was so dire that she was willing to fudge up the entire timeline to merely have a chance of fixing it?

What is it, that future-past-you wants? And why won’t she tell you?

…

…you hope it won’t be too late before you find out.

“Even angels fight…” you mutter, alongside your playlist, reaching up to the ceiling with your hand, trying to grasp at heaven.

(as you touch your lips more. a lesson you’ll never forget…)

---

Hypnosis Branches: Psychology, Induction, Memetics

Psychology allows you to read the emotions and intents of others, as well as manipulate them to a degree outside of trance.

Understanding people is the first step to controlling them. You’ve learned so much already, more than you even know, but with this you can do so much more. This can do so much to help people…and make them yours.

Induction allows you to hypnotise others and manipulate them more effectively under trance.

Such a lovely thing, hypnosis. So many people believe it’s just a fairy tale, a flight of fancy. But it’s real. And you can do so much more than even the best hypnotherapists in the world. And girls…girls are so much hotter when they’re hypnotised. You’ll never want to go back once you have a taste…

Memetics allows you to spread ideas that infect others, slowly but passively subverting their will.

Memes…the DNA of the – you know what, no, forget that! You know about the science of memetics – of ideas that spread through people’s minds, and convince them of such horrible things. That we continue clinging to the ideas that perpetuated thousands of years ago of what should and shouldn’t be, let alone the things people were convinced of before the Collapse. With this…you can change that. And have so very much fun as a side effect, too.