Upside Down – Alternate Destiny

[Monday 1:00]

Lunch would have been enjoyable since the food was excellent, but some boys kept staring at us. I’m grateful to get out of there when we finish. Just another reason why I want all of this to go away, and then maybe I can be more normal.

When we arrive back in Dr. Sasaki’s office, she’s waiting for us. Wasting little time, she gestures for Chinatsu and me to go in ahead of her. Once she closes the door, she tells us, “Take a seat, and make yourselves comfortable.”

We take a seat together on the loveseat as she walks over to the desk. There, she picks up a digital recorder and a small metallic-looking item about 1cm in diameter, then comes over to me. Setting down and turning on the recorder, she returns her attention to us.

“You two can call me Airi.” She holds up the metallic item. “Sora, this is a Delta wave inducer. All this does is help you relax and slip into a hypnotic state.” She pauses and looks at Chinatsu. “You can continue to hold her hand, but once we start, you’ll have to stay quiet and not move around, alright?”

Chinatsu nods, and replies, “Okay, sure. Those aren’t dangerous, are they?”

Airi chuckles for a moment. “No, they aren’t. Inducers have been in use for a long time. We’ve never seen any side effects from their use.

“Sora, I need you to lean back, relax, and get comfortable. I’m going to place this on your temple. It won’t hurt, and you probably won’t even notice it after a few moments.”

I lean back against the loveseat and take a deep breath. I glance at Chinatsu, who smiles at me and squeezes my hand. I smile back and return my attention to Airi, who places the inducer on my temple and taps it. I can feel a faint, momentary vibration, and then nothing.

Moments later, my eyelids begin drooping…

[Airi’s POV]

After I sit down, I ask, “Sora, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she replies without inflection.

“Sora, I want you to make a place for yourself. It’s a completely safe space, and you’ll be relaxed and calm while you’re there. Nothing other than my voice can reach you there. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I want you to go there now. While you’re there, you’ll become increasingly more relaxed and at ease. You’ll also immediately go to your safe place if I, and I alone, ever tell you the word ‘Camarilla.’ Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Sora, the whole time we’re talking, you’ll be like an outsider looking at your memories. They will not be able to affect you. You will remain calm and emotionally detached throughout all of this. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“Sora, do you remember the incident with Mr. Akiyama on Saturday evening?”

“Yes.”

“Was that the first time you’ve ever met Mr. Akiyama?”

“No, I’ve seen him many times before.”

“Do you know why you were so frightened of him?”

“Yes. When I was six, he choked me and threw me into a wall. I thought he was going to kill me.”

I see Chinatsu begin to react to what Sora just told us and make a shushing gesture to her. I understand her reaction because I’m horrified, myself. In this world where children are so precious, he did something like that to a 6-year-old. Saying that it’s sickening is putting it far too mildly.

“Could you tell me more about that incident?”

“Yes. One evening, when Mother, Father and I were watching TV, Mr. Akiyama came over. He began arguing with my Mother and Father. He claimed they were destroying research. Mother tried to ask him how they could do that since all the labs and offices have security cameras. Then he accused them of trying to take over the company and oust him as the CEO. Mother and Father denied trying to do anything like that. He ignored them and then began screaming about them needing to work longer hours and stay over at the labs more. They tried to explain that they couldn’t because they needed to be here for me at night, and he picked me up by my throat. He choked me as he screamed that he would kill me right then and there and they wouldn’t have to worry about ever coming home if they didn’t obey him.”

I glance at Chinatsu and see she has tears streaming down her cheeks. Thankfully, she’s continuing to do her best to stay still and not interrupt the session. I get it since I feel like crying, or screaming and breaking things, myself.

I return my attention to the placid Sora. After hearing this, I’m surprised that Sora’s even remotely functional in any capacity. Many people would have completely sealed themselves off from everyone. It’s no wonder that her mind repressed the memory of the incident.

Sora continues telling us about that night, “When they agreed to do what he said, he threw me into a wall. It dislocated my shoulder and gave me a concussion. He then told them that if they ever disobeyed him, he heard that they were hiding anything from him, or they ever told the police about this, he would kill all three of us. That was the last time I saw him until Saturday. I rarely saw my parents after that incident.”

“Sora, how did that make you feel?”

“I was terrified.”

“Sora, did that change how you saw people?”

“Yes. I thought all people would be like him, except for Chinatsu and her parents. He had always been nice to me up until then, so I learned to never trust people because they would eventually hurt me.”

“Were there any other incidents like that that made you feel that way?”

“Not like that one, but lots of other people reinforced my belief that it was true. Every time it happened, I became more insecure and timid, and soon, I was afraid of almost everyone.”

“Sora, are there any other reasons that caused you to be so afraid of people?”

“No, I just became more withdrawn and less willing to interact with people every time something happened.”

I’ll have to tell Sora’s parents what we just found out, and if they allow it, I need to call the police. This has just gone on for too long and is too deeply ingrained in her psyche at this point. Then add her gender change on top of that mess and the additional trauma from Saturday, and I’m fairly sure that standard therapy will be of little help. Thankfully, I’ve got a couple of ideas about how to deal with this.

“Sora, I’m going to count down from 3 to 1. When I reach 1, you will wake up, but you will remember none of what has happened in this session until I tell you to do so. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

I pick up the box of tissues beside me and hand them to Chinatsu. “Chinatsu, please, don’t tell Sora what we found out. I know it’s going to be hard, but act as if you know nothing about what happened, okay?”

Chinatsu nods while wiping away her tears. I wait, giving her the time she needs to compose herself.

“Thank you, Chinatsu. I’m certain that you and your parents are the only reason that Sora is even this normal. Most people in her situation would have completely withdrawn into themselves.”

She nods again.

“3… 2… 1.”

Sora opens her eyes, straightens her posture, and looks at me when I ask, “How do you feel?”

“Fine. Actually, great.”

I smile for a moment. “Good. Would you two mind going out to the waiting room? I need to speak to your parents for a few minutes.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you.”

I go to the door and let them out, then ask their parents to come in. After they walk past me, I close the door.

Stepping over to the chair, I sit down, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and slowly let it out. When I open them, they’re looking at me curiously.

“Alrighty, let’s just dive right in. I’ll play back the recording I made of the session I just had with Sora. That will be a lot easier and more convincing than anything I could say. By the way, I made sure that Sora won’t remember the session until I tell her to, and I’ve asked Chinatsu to not tell her about it either. I believe it would be far too traumatic for her to remember it if I hadn’t done it that way.”

I lean forward and begin the playback of the recording. As it plays back, Mrs. Kobayashi cries, and going by the look on his face, Mr. Kobayashi wants to kill Akiyama, not that I don’t understand how he feels. Anyone who would do that to a child doesn’t deserve to live, in my opinion.

After the recording finishes, I lean forward and press stop. Leaning back in my seat, I take a breath and slowly let it out while waiting for them to compose themselves.

It takes a while for Haruka to calm down. I can easily see that Eiji is still furious, but he isn’t letting it control him.

“First, let me start by saying that I realize how hard this revelation must be for you. Second, I’m required by law to report this, but I also know this case is far from ordinary. Even so, I hope you’ll allow me to report this. That man needs to pay for what he’s done.”

“Dr. Sasaki…”

I hold my hand up to stop him. “Airi, please. I’m not much of one to stand on titles and such. They tend to get in the way in my line of business. If you don’t mind, I’ll call you Eiji and Haruka as well.”

They both nod.

“Airi it is, then. Please do call the police. Sora’s parents’ deaths were suspicious in the first place. The police told me as much after the investigation, but they couldn’t find anything that would allow them to dig deeper. This will allow them to do that, in addition to putting him on trial for what he did to Sora.”

He takes a deep breath and continues, “That said, what do we do to help Sora now?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. At this point, I believe the damage is too deeply ingrained to be dealt with by normal means. What I’m going to recommend may seem slightly radical, but you’re welcome to seek other opinions if you wish. I believe we should separate Sora. She will still have all her memories, she just wouldn’t have to deal with the trauma they would normally induce.”

“I’m sorry, but I guess I don’t follow what you mean.”

“It’s okay, Haruka. What I mean is, I think we should separate him and her. He will be the one with the trauma and the fallout from that. Basically, we’ll be disassociating her from all of this. She’ll still know that it happened because she’ll have all the same memories, but it will be like it happened to someone else, with no emotional impact on her. The fear of people, timidity, and everything else that developed from the trauma will be something that happened to him, not her.”

I pause to take a deep breath, then continue, “She’ll still have the issues concerning redeveloping her sense of self, but even that should be far easier for her without the other issues overwhelming her. One of the main reasons I’m making this recommendation is that that’s how she’s dealing with redeveloping her identity. She’s already working to disassociate from her old self. In our session, she told me: ‘I have to become a new me.’ She’s been doing a fair job at it.”

“Just how radical is this?”

“Well, Eiji, it’s not as radical as you might think. It’s been in use for over forty years but is usually only used in very few, extreme circumstances. I think this qualifies in that respect.”

As he looks at Haruka, she asks me, “Are you sure this is the right way to do this?”

“I believe so, or I wouldn’t have made the recommendation. To be frank, if we try using a traditional approach, it may take decades for her to be able to live a somewhat normal life, and that’s a huge assumption. As I said, this is far too traumatic to be dealt with easily.”

She looks at her husband and nods. He sighs and turns to me. “Okay, Airi. All we want is for Sora to be happy and safe. If this is the best way to help her, let’s do it. What time were you thinking of?”

I glance at my watch and think for a moment.

“It’s 2:15 now, and I’ve already cleared my schedule for the day, so if you’re willing, we can do it today.”

“We’re fine with today if Sora is too.”

“Even after I do this, I should see her regularly to verify that she’s adapting and make any minor adjustments, if necessary, or at any time if she’s having issues. Alright. Let’s get them back in here, explain everything, and then we’ll go from there.”