Smile (P5/Royal Story x OC/Male reader)

Councillor Confidant Rank 5

No one's POV

Currently, Nhazul is sitting in the nurses office with Maruki as they're having another session, as Nhazul is eating a big sugar cookie with pieces of candy in it.

Maruki: Well, today's just going to be another back and forth us usual...And I take it you're enjoying the cookies?

Nhazul: Very much yes.

Maruki: I found them in the underground mall. I thought I'd get a surprise for, since you've been kind enough to indulge me all this time.

Nhazul: Much appreciated.

Maruki: Oh, I know. As long as we're talking about cookies...They actually reminded me about this psychological experiment. The scientists prepared two containers, and put the same kind of cookie in both of them. In one container, they put only one cookie. But the other one was filled with cookies, ten of them. So then they had their subjects try cookies from each container, and asked how their tastes compared. Which container's cookies were marked as tasting better? Any guesses?

Nhazul: I'm just going to assume the one cookie.

Maruki: Correct. Easy to guess, huh? There's something called the "law of scarcity ". It's about what you'd imagine from the name. People are drawn to thing that are more scarce. You can see this law in action just by observing how excited people get over limited edition merchandise.

Nhazul: Interesting, I see where it comes from.

Maruki: It's a strange prospect, right? But also really intriguing! In becoming aware of scarcity, we trigger our own desires, and cause a change in our cognition...Not only that, the effect spreads to our senses and creates a subjective, observable difference in our reality. Basically, your perception can be changed by your cognition or preconceptions. It's all below the conscious level, but it's really incredible! Incidentally, now that you've heard that story...How do you feel about thar idea? That your unconscious desire may have changed the taste of the cookie?

Nhazul: I mean...as long as it tastes good.

Maruki just chuckled at Nhazul.

Maruki: That's definitely not the usual response. But it's one I can understand. It's probably sounds like an exaggeration, but something about that seems so beautiful to me. Maybe the human heart can falter, or be unreliable sometimes...But if this experiment proves anything, it's that even w single preconception can be enough to bring someone joy. For example, take that story I just told you. What if you'd eaten that one cookie, and it had been the best cookie of your life? Say I never revealed the trick behind it. That cookie would have remained more delicious then usual. It would have been a subjective truth of your reality.

Nhazul: Well, not" truth" exactly...

Maruki: Well, point taken. I can see why you'd say that. Basically, what I wanted to say was...if this idea of preconception could be studied further, and actually applied to treating people...I feel like it could help a lot more people even more then I could help though counseling. Then again, it relies so heavily on perspective. Some people might call it a lie, or see it as running from problems. Still, even if that's true, I still believe that method could save a lot of people.

Maruki then stood up shocked.

Maruki: Oh, yikes! I'm so sorry! We wound up getting into a academic conversation after all...I really need to watch myself. Whenever I'm taking to you, somehow I always end up going back to my research. I'm truly grateful for everything you've done. Not just because I can get your opinion on these things, either...it's more like ...it's as if I'm talking to an old friend. Ah, but maybe that's too personal. After all, this is all for the sake of our deal, right?  So we say, anyway.

Nhazul: Yeah, so we say.

Arcana Councillor Rank 5