"You are overworrying. New jobs would be created soon. Just because I was fired doesn't mean it's over." A woman in her early 40s said with a neutral face. Her face betrayed no emotions.
"Mom, you are being delusional. You come under like top 1 per cent of people, yet you lost your job. Have you seen the news? People are already on the roads. The government is more incompetent than a school's Student Council." A boy, nearly 14 years old, said with frustration. He felt like he was talking to a wall.
"Your dad still has his job, right? Moreover, our savings would last us for a few years. Let's bid our time." The woman sighed.
Kyle frowned, but he didn't say anything. "Well, that's beside the point. I was saying that it's pointless to continue education. At least the traditional education. In this new world, I believe that I won't be able to help me distinguish myself. If AI could do everything, then why would it care if a human expert is present or a layman?"
The woman frowned. "We have talked about this, but the reason you are taught most of the 'useless' subjects is so that your cognitive abilities grow in that phase—in an all-around fashion, which won't happen if you just fixate on just one thing."
"It can!" Kyle just shoved a tablet at her. The woman frowned, but ignored his disrespectful action and looked at the screen.
"You have come prepared, haven't you?" She sweat dropped as she looked at the research articles related to experts in one field and cognitive development.
"It's pretty easy to gather information in this age." Just as Kyle said that, he instantly regretted it.
He glanced at his mom, who still had her poker face on. "It's fine. It indeed is a wonderful tool. You haven't even seen the real thing in person." Her grip on the tablet tightened.
She took a deep breath before scrolling through the articles.
"Mom, how can you control your emotions so well?" Kyle furrowed his eyebrows.
"It's a skill one naturally picks when they become an adult."
"That's Cap."
The woman narrowed her eyebrows. "Didn't you say that you don't waste too much time on the internet, yet you know this slang?"
Kyle blinked. "I just picked it up on the times when I do."
"Why do I feel that you are hiding something?"
"False alarm. What about you? How do you know this term? Aren't you too old—OUCH"
The women pinched Kyle's cheeks, stopping him from speaking.
"Just heard it from an intern. Anyway, why do you think I am lying?"
Kyle touched his cheeks slowly. "Well, you and dad always fight, so I don't think you have good emotional... regulation? If that's the word."
The woman frowned. Then her expression turned sad. "I see... So, that's what you think about me." Tears bubbled in her eyes.
"Wait, that's not what I mean." Kyle quickly waved his hands. 'Shit. Did I say something wrong? She must have been sad about losing her job.' He started panicking.
"Hahaha... Look at your face. That was so easy."
Kyle froze. One moment, his mom was almost crying, and the next second... laughing?
"Wait, that was a prank? You are such a LIAR, MOM! Hmph." Kyle puffed his cheeks as he looked away. He felt embarrassed that he fell for it.
"Aww, I am sorry. Will you forgive me?" She asked while poking his puffed cheeks.
Kyle didn't say anything. He glanced at her Mom, who was looking at him with an amused expression.
"Well, I guess I will. So... Did you do this to demonstrate that you have good emotional regulation? But isn't this... like acting?" He furrowed his brows.
The woman smiled. "Well, that's not exactly correct. This won't come under acting, but rather with how you manipulate your emotions."
"So, you can make yourself feel fake emotions?"
The woman's smile froze. "Fake...Nope, they are as real as when I naturally feel it."
"Wait, what?" Kyle tilted his head.
His mom said nothing and continued smiling. She stretched out her hand and held the corner of Kyle's lips. She then curved them upwards—in a smile.
"Do you feel happiness now?"
Kyle blinked. His eyes widened as he noticed a slight feeling of happiness bubbling inside him.
"Huh...?"
"Some physical actions like this can induce certain emotions. Like you normally smile when you are happy.
But if you force yourself into a smile, you will feel a certain level of happiness, too. Our brain is conditioned to do that. So... will the happiness you felt now, would that be fake?"
Kyle felt himself confused. This was a completely new perspective.
"...I don't know?"
"Well, to ponder on it if you have time. My point is that you could learn to condition yourself to feel certain emotions. This is a skill."
"So, when you and dad fight..."
"Well, we still fight 'coz there's a point of conflict, but we are not that serious about it. You might find this skill to be pretty rare, which it is, but in corporate life, this isn't that uncommon. Well, it's rare too, but most people learn to numb their emotions." The woman shook her head.
"I see..." 'Well, I wonder if I would be even able to feel corporate life.'
"Wait, if you could artificially induce emotions, then isn't that similar to how some fap addicts—" Kyle quickly shut his mouth. He forgot that he was talking with his mom, not some random person on the internet.
He hesitantly glanced at his mom.
She was smiling.
Yet, Kyle didn't see any ounce of happiness in that smile.
Anger.
He felt scared at that smile. 'Wasn't she telling something about smiling should make you happy or something? Isn't this the opposite of what she said?'
"You had given such a big ass lecture about why I should remove the parentence guidance from your devices last year. I wonder what current 14-year-olds do on the internet."
"M—Mom, I do nothing. This is a misunderstanding. Just because I know these things doesn't mean I actually watch any of that stuff. This is just normal 14-year-old general awareness."
His mom's smile widened. "Really? Well, but you have now piqued my curiosity. Didn't you always complain that you get bored at home? Now, you can rejoice as I will be staying at home with you... supervising you."
Kyle gulped. 'Shit.'
Suddenly, the temperature in the room increased.
Kyle felt himself getting a deja vu feeling.
'Wait, this wasn't supposed to happen until a few months later.'
His eyes widened in horror as he saw his Mom vaporising in front of him.
Her smile softened just before she was gone.
"MOM!"
Kazu opened his eyes as he found himself in a dark room.
Hospital ward.
He looked around, finding the surroundings bizarre.
He then looked down and found Ethernano leaking from his body.
It was blue.
Dark blue.
Kazu had never seen a shade of blue darker than this.
He placed his hand on his chest.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
His heart was drumming in his chest.
He then placed his other hand on his face.
Wet.
It was wet due to the tears coming from his eyes.
'I thought I found new parents. Parents are better than my previous life. Those guys were just selfish, neglecting their child while chasing after money. Excuses of parents.' He clenched his fists.
'I should have forgotten about them. Forgotten about those good-for-nothing people....So why? Why do I seem to care? Why is my heart aching? Why do tears not stop coming?' Kazu's fist tightened even further.
He felt the reality betraying his expectations for the nth time.
Suddenly, a random thought popped into his head. It made him pause.
"I wonder..." The Ethernano leaking from his body paused before receding inside Kazu's body.
"...if there's any corn in this world."
---
"And, then that happened." Kazu absentmindedly listened to Cana's chatter as he sat in the cart.
Master had left last night only, saying something about not wanting to leave the guild unchecked for this long.
"Ohhh! I just remembered. I noticed when you were fighting that crazy lady, you mumbled something in the end."
Kazu blinked. He shifted to Cana. "I mumbled something?" He tilted his head. 'I don't remember doing that.'
"What did I mumble?"
"Uhh... Something about torturing children. What did she do?"
"..." Kazu's face went blank. 'This is going to be hard.'
---
They soon arrived at the Magnolia in one piece.
"Kiddos, I heard you had a difficult mission, even making Master go as backup. What happened?"
"...Nothing happened. It's confidential information." Kazu decided to save himself the mental pain by lying.
Suddenly, a commotion happened in the entrance. Kazu turned towards it and saw a person in robes entering.
"I am from the Council. I need to ask some questions."
Kazu blankly look at that person. 'Smile. I need to smile. It would be otherwise too hard for me to control my emotions.'
His lips curved up, yet the smile on his face didn't belong to somebody happy.
***
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