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Faced with Kaito's stunned silence, Aponia arched an eyebrow, looking somewhat surprised.
"You've probably had the answer in your heart for a while now, haven't you?"
Aponia pushed a fresh evaluation form toward Kaito.
Elysia was definitely sick; to Aponia, the diagnosis was crystal clear.
Under the distortion of time, the weight of the dreams would only grow heavier. Currently, Elysia was the protagonist of those dreams. She was bound to pay in blood for blood—she had to kill Kaito, even though... well, she simply couldn't.
"I had my suspicions... but hearing the conclusion officially is still a bit sudden."
Even though Kaito had considered this possibility and was mostly certain of it, his instinct was still to ask the doctor: Are you legit?
But the "Einstein Certification" immediately quelled all doubt. Teacher Einstein's judgment could never be that far off.
"I understand. After all, she is the sister you've leaned on for so long. Accepting this reality requires a significant amount of courage."
Aponia nodded. The reality of a loved one having a mental illness was indeed a bitter pill to swallow.
"Is there any way to treat it?" Kaito blurted out, before adding tentatively, "...Even if it's just to alleviate some of the symptoms."
He felt that fully curing a psychological condition like this was likely an uphill battle.
Technology was advancing, and for symptoms like delusional disorder, there were indeed "forced treatment" methods. But much like the internet addiction boot camps from decades ago, modern forced treatments were... somewhat cruel. They could destabilize a person's psyche further, causing irreversible damage.
Though, one couldn't exactly call a delusional patient's mental world "stable" to begin with.
"Currently, the most gentle and widely accepted effective method is to continuously strengthen the patient's 'anchors' in the real world."
Aponia's tone was sincere as she lightly tapped the table. "From my observation, the bond between you and your sister seems to be one of her most vital tethers to reality."
After all... everyone else in the group was fine. At the end of the day, Elysia's problem was that the weight of her reality was too light.
Of course, it also had to do with the fact that while the others were truly just dreaming, Elysia possessed subjective agency within the dreams. This was the same level of control Aponia was trying to reach by constantly hypnotizing herself.
"Is that the only way? Doesn't she need medication to assist the recovery?"
According to Kaito's research over the past few days, there were plenty of anti-psychotic drugs in the world. Most were used to stabilize the mind and aid therapy.
Aponia hesitated for a moment. "There are medications, but based on my observation of this specific patient, the benefit of taking them would be outweighed by the trauma of discovering she needs them."
Kaito: "..."
He wanted to defend his sister, to say she wasn't that fragile—that while she looked easygoing, she had a stubborn core. But with Elysia... anything was possible.
Kaito rose heavily from his seat.
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Kaito. I haven't finished yet."
Aponia's voice rang out again.
Kaito's body went stiff, his heart let out a silent wail. Aargh!!!
"W-what else is there...?"
His voice betrayed him with a slight tremor. Dammit, the first twenty-five years of my life were smooth sailing; is it finally time for the downhill slide?
"She's a bit of a Yandere."
Aponia was, as always, short and sweet.
"???"
Kaito stood frozen for a long time. Hearing such "explosive" news actually made him heave a sigh of relief.
Just that?
That's it?
Compared to a severe mental illness like delusional disorder, "Yandere" sounded... like playing house.
As for how Aponia saw it? She saw it in the group chat. She had been immersed in the dreams for so long that she'd developed a curiosity toward Kaito, but Elysia was the "roadblock" standing in her way.
"How do you treat that?"
Kaito's tone lightened considerably. This didn't matter as much, even if Yanderes were technically terrifying...
To this day, he couldn't forget a story he'd read online about a guy whose Yandere girlfriend cut off a segment of his pinky finger while he slept and ate it. When he screamed at her, she sweetly told him he could eat her pinky finger too, so that parts of them would be together forever.
Yes, that was a real-life Yandere.
"Why treat it?"
Aponia looked slightly puzzled. "Romantic inclinations are perfectly normal, and the level of possessiveness one feels is often rooted in the deepest layer of their personality."
"Changing the 'base color' of a person's character usually takes years, even decades. This exceeds the scope of psychological therapy. In reality, we usually call that long-term companionship 'family bond'."
She shook her head and added: "I only mentioned it out of professional ethics, so you can be mentally prepared."
"Oh... okay."
Kaito mumbled a response and sat back down. His mind was a mess; he didn't know what to say.
"So, do you still want to treat it?"
Kaito disliked the idea of a Yandere, but: "Didn't you say it's very hard to cure?"
Changing a person's core character sounded like an incredibly long process. If it was going to take that long... there was no point in "treating" it. He might as well just try to adapt and deal with it himself.
"Yes, curing it is difficult."
Aponia agreed, but then her tone shifted. She crossed her slender fingers and rested her chin on them, wearing a meaningful expression:
"However, I can help you intensify those tendencies in her."
"Cough-cough-cough?!"
Kaito broke into a fit of coughing, even though he hadn't been drinking any water. He looked up at the seemingly gentle and calm doctor with a look of pure disbelief.
Is this clinic even legal?
"Doctor, stop joking. Even though we look like we're from the same generation, I really can't handle stuff this 'out there'."
Besides, that was too much. It was like his sister tricking him into signing a marriage certificate, only to tell him that very afternoon: "Our relationship has crumbled, we're getting a divorce, and by law, I get half your stuff."
"In the process of intensifying it," Aponia explained calmly, as if stating a rigorous medical protocol, "I will do my best to weaken the 'sickness' part of the disorder. I'll help suppress her violent tendencies for you..."
She leaned forward slightly, her gaze locking onto Kaito's face. "What do you think?"
Her reason? Aponia's rationality told her that until she figured out if the dreams were a revelation from God or a whisper from the Devil, it was best not to change the status quo between Kaito and Elysia.
But Elysia's habit of being over-cautious and indecisive made it easy for her mental state to jeopardize their relationship. Thus, Aponia needed to use "special means" to lock things down first and ensure the foundation of their bond remained intact.
At least until she understood the nature of the dreams herself.
Kaito remained silent, his lips twitching, but in the end, he gave no answer.
He just wanted to go home and play video games. Games were better. Compared to fishing or playing cards, gaming was cheaper and didn't require leaving the house.
Seeing this, Aponia shook her head and stopped pressing him, turning instead to Kaito's own evaluation sheet.
"As for your results..."
"The evaluation shows that you've been feeling somewhat repressed lately. Your mood is at a rather low level."
Aponia fell silent as soon as she finished speaking. She thought of Elysia's situation.
Elysia was so uninhibited in that strange dreamscape, yet in reality, she was somewhat repressed. Was she being constrained by her "anchors"?
Aponia uncrossed her hands, her fingertips tapping the desk as she tried to piece together the relationship between the two, but she simply lacked enough information.
"Let's exchange contact information, Mr. Kaito," Aponia suggested.
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