2026-01-02: You've Got a Really Logical Mind, Don'cha
- Log: You've Got a Really Logical Mind, Don'cha?
- Cast: Hitomi Mandai, Aigis
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory
- OOC Date: January 02, 2026
- IC Date: September 04, 2012
- Summary: Hitomi happens upon Aigis in the SEES dorm, and they talk about horror movies, games, and Buddhism. Hitomi realizes just how literal Aigis takes things.
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(|============================ Iwatodai Dormitory ============================|)
-================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====-
A large four-story dormitory used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution
Squad, only five minutes from Iwatodai Station. Upon entering, one passes a desk
with a sign-in book for guests to find a large carpeted common room that's well
appointed for co-ed gatherings.
A TV is usually on with the local news or a movie that's been loaded into the
DVD player for a student to enjoy. A table for shared dinners, or more often
study sessions, takes up the other half of the dorm, as well as a kitchen should
one dare to show off their skills to their fellow students.
There are two winding staircases on either side. The one on the left simply says
'Boys' while the other on the right states 'No Boys Except By Invitation.' The
implicit threat of execution need not be written down for those who violate
these rules. The second and third stories are living spaces divided by gender
with common spaces that have study areas and bookshelves available.
The fourth story is the command center with surveillance capabilities for not
just different parts of the city but each room within the dorms. The Chairman
has assured all who live here that this capability is strictly necessary.
BGM - Dormitory Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-FrFI0qnM
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
IWATODAI DORMITORY
1:22 PM
There is no school in session. Try not to get sent to prison.
The Dark Hour is a long way away... chronologically, anyway. It's actually right beneath the skin of -- yeah, it's a long way away.
Hitomi Mandai emerges from the kitchen space carrying a treasure in her hand. What is that treasure? It's a sandwich: one on a lovely crusty bread roll, one of the several survivors from a sack of something fresh-baked and vaguely authentic sourced from a bakery in town! (Hitomi didn't buy them.) It has been cut open and filled with a little bit of cold yakisoba and some leftover thin-sliced griddled beef along with a dollop of kimchi and some brown sauce.
Hitomi wanted lunch, you see, and she had been working on something upstairs in her room. Now, though, she is downstairs; she is wearing that sundress again, the one she brought to Yakushima -- no, this one's slightly different. That one was more cool-toned, this one's shading towards something warmer. Still; the cut is near identical. There must have been a sell at UNIPLO.
Raising the roll to her mouth, Hitomi takes a savory cool bite and contemplates the common room before her.
It's pretty empty, but she can see one person.
Hitomi's footsteps cross the space as she approaches that one person, taking another bite of her sandwich as she goes.
She doesn't speak with her mouth full, but there might have been a certain amount of *chew* in the immediate moments before she speaks.
"So," Hitomi says, followed by a slight delay, enough to be awkward without being a full stop: "Hey. Ah - are you settling in alright? Everything OK? I realized we hadn't really... talked."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
During daylight hours, Aigis has largely kept to the confines of the dormitory, despite now having the start of a normal wardrobe so she can actually blend in with other people out in the open. Today, donning a dark teal dress, she sits on one of the common area couches, reading a book she has placed in her lap.
This is what she's chosen to occupy herself with while she tries to figure out the right balance between staving off what Minato calls boredom and overstimulation. While she can look normal to others without them immediately taking notice of her, that illusion still requires her to act normal when under closer scrutiny -- that is, her conversational skills may need some practice.
Aigis glances up from her book and smiles politely at Hitomi after she's addressed. "Good afternoon, Mandai-san. I hope the day finds you well." This smile is practiced, but stiff: more the result of a team of Kirijo Ergo engineers and programmers than it is a reflection of her actual self.
"We have not spoken much, yes," Aigis replies. "I believe I have been acclimating well enough. My charging unit in my room is functional. Arisato-san and Aomori-san have shown me Drake Adventure, and we've begun discussion of the series. I accompanied several girls on a shopping trip in order to obtain some clothing. Incidents during the Dark Hour have been mostly under control, including Amada-san's safe return. Aragaki-san made some lunch the other day, and we shared a meal together."
She waits for a beat after having rattled off that list. "However, eventful as that may sound, I still find plenty of time remaining in the day."
It takes her some consciously deliberate effort to connect the dots rather than simply leave it there -- had she not done so, Aigis would have left Hitomi's statement as a simple observation and agreed that it's accurate and said nothing more without additional prompting.
Aigis looks up at Hitomi as she continues, awkward but earnest. "Would you perhaps like to start by telling me a bit about yourself, Mandai-san? Or do you have any questions for me?"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
It is good, to not be a robot in public. Society has yet to learn that robots are the future.
Hitomi looks down. At the girl, and at her book.
She's reading a book? thinks Hitomi, who takes another smaller nibble from the sandwich. The smile comes. Is it forced? Automatic? Hitomi's eyes meet Aigis's for a moment.
Are they even eyes?
These questions cross Hitomi's mind, while she's chewing, and then she swallows. "Oh, hah," she says. "That game's a classic... there's a lot of entries in it, too, if you get bored or anything." She steps around. "Are you... going to be joining us in class and stuff?"
Another long pause.
"Aah," Hitomi half-laughs, with something like nervousness. "A self-introduction... that kinda answered a couple of questions, I think." She takes a deep breath and rests her sandwich-free hand over her heart: "I'm Hitomi Mandai, I'm a second-year who transferred in last year. My favorite hobbies are games and watching horror movies. I like spicy food and love Korean flavors, and I grew up in a temple!"
At this point Hitomi moves to sit on the armrest of one of the adjacent couches -- perching, as it were. Still facing Aigis.
"... I do," she continues, "have questions, I mean, but uh... I don't want to be rude or anything. When everything happened it was honestly really quick and I was sort of trying to navigate everything with my game face on, if that makes sense... I felt like people were really affected. Thank you, by the way; uh, for bailing out Takeba and everyone."
Hitomi laughs. It's rather morbid, more of a chuckle. "I was scared it was gonna be... just me, pretty much. That would've..."
Hitomi trails off and takes a bite out of her sandwich, watching Aigis. Her posture is alert, though not terrified.
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
The book that Aigis was reading seems to be a novel of a roaming motorcycle gang set in post-war Japan, full of disaffected roughnecks and rowdy young men. The content stands in stark contrast to the gentle appearance of the young woman reading it.
She doesn't strain to smile, at least. It's automatic, but it lacks some spark to it. While her outward smile does, in fact, align with her actual inner response, there is still a disconnect present, a bicameral split between her faculties, a failure of something to properly translate from feeling to motion.
Should Hitomi look too closely at Aigis' eyes, she might see the 'iris' occasionally rotate and adjust focus around the 'pupil', accompanied by the faint sound of mechanical whirring, betraying its true construction as part of a camera lens.
Aigis listens intently to Hitomi's self-introduction and questions. "I will be in the second year, as well," she comments, "despite not having gone through the previous years of schooling."
Internally, she notes everything down (the mention of flavors especially after her discussion with Shinjiro the other day). "Games and horror movies ... do you have any particular favorites of either?" There it is, that earlier smile breaks into something which looks more genuine.
She remains quiet while Hitomi mentions the events on Yakushima. "I feel as if thanking me for such a thing is the same as thanking a clock for keeping time or an air conditioning unit to regulate a building's temperature, but you are welcome, all the same. I was merely acting in accordance with my mission. A Shadow was present and an imminent threat to at least one human being. Their elimination is the express purpose I was designed and constructed for for."
Hesitantly, she adds, "I had not noticed that it had affected others so. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." She glances aside. "A good number of others came to the aid of Arisato-san and Takeba-san, as well. Collectively, together, you are all still quite formidable."
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
They are cameras, thinks Hitomi. But then another thought crosses her mind: Aren't *mine* cameras, too?
"Oh," she says, when another question comes, and it has a smile that seems a little less like Smile.mov, and Hitomi answers, "So horror MOVIES I kind of go back and forth but I'm usually sort of mixed on the ones that are really bloody. Since on the one hand, like," Hitomi gestures with her sando, "you CAN just get an effect that's amazing with hardly any blood at all. There's a western film, Psycho, and just like the name it's kind of the strongest. You ever see it?"
Hitomi munches for a moment.
"They did," she says afterwards, "but I kind of have a responsibility in situations like that and I try to take it seriously? I mean, nobody told me to do it, I just figured it out."
Another beat. "Oh... for games I usually like... physical ones. Like cards and stuff. Or Blade World; do you know about Blade World?"
It feels awkward. Hitomi keeps talking.
"And, uh. I guess it's kind of a relief to know your purpose, huh. I mean, a lot of people really struggle with that, and there's a lot of ways you can get into a cycle of suffering and everything, ask me how I know, hah... But I guess you can probably just..."
She exhales.
"What's it like for you, if you watched a movie or a show or something?"
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis shakes her head. "I have not seen Psycho, no. I am aware that people often find the sight of blood horrific, but I do not share that quality." She briefly glances down in consideration before returning her gaze to Hitomi. "If this Psycho film presents more abstract elements, however, I believe I might find those unsettling."
Her expression falters at the mention of 'responsibility.' "We share a similarity in that regard, then."
They told her to eliminate Shadows. No one told her to protect Minato and Minako.
"I am not familiar with Blade World, nor any games which are not video games. I have found some video games to serve as a means to simulate interaction with other people with ample opportunity to learn from mistakes in a controlled environment." She leans forward with keen interest. "Tell me more of this 'Blade World.'"
She glances away when Hitomi mentions getting into a 'cycle of suffering and everything.' "I may have some idea of what that is like. Imagine having a purpose, but failing to meet it."
Aigis takes Hitomi's invitation to 'ask her how she knows' literally, as she's prone to do. Completely deadpan in this game of call-and-response, she asks, "Okay. How do you know?"
The last question yields a look of confusion from Aigis. "What is ... what like, precisely?"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
Psycho gets Hitomi talking. "The thing about that movie is - okay - I won't tell you the plot. But there's a scene where a lady gets stabbed in the shower. BUT."
Hitomi raises her hands, including the sandwich. "Here's the thing. They've gone through it, frame by frame, shot by shot. The sequence is really disorienting and terrifying, which, makes sense, because that's what it would be like to get stabbed in the shower, but at no point do you actually see the knife go into her body. It's just this unbearable tension, then this dizzying away, then SOMETHING - it's dark so you ASSUME it's blood - going into the drain."
She munches a little more sandwich material.
"... Blade World's... hm. It's like an imaginary game... basically, it's like you're talking about something that's happening. So for instance if I"m the game mistress, 'GM,' I'm like: You've come inside of an elven temple, ruined but peaceful. You can see signs of tracks to the north, but there's also a golden box to one side, weirdly well preserved."
"Then you'd say 'I follow the tracks' or 'I open the box, what's inside?' and I answer that - it actually is kinda like being the director of a movie, now that I think about it."
Hitomi then falters.
"Oh -- um -- well, I... I don't know if you have the files but I'm here because I kind of messed up incredibly badly. And, you know, suffering! Plus Buddhism and everything, you know?"
And now another question. The robot outmaneuvers her!!
"... I mean, um... do you experience as a sequence of events in the story? Or is it just like flashing images you have to thread together? Or... if it was a DVD or something, could you just-- download it, and it'd be like you watched the whole movie? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, hah--" Another bigger bite of the sandwich. You don't have to talk when you're eating! SAFETY.
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Hitomi describes Psycho's most pivotal scene, much to Aigis' growing dismay and intrigue. Horror of horrors (at least to her): implications. "I see ... that does seem quite unsettling. That is the purpose of a horror movie, is it not?"
"So Blade World is a more open-ended experience than Drake Adventure?" She tilts her head as she considers this, then places her hands together as she smiles. "I would very much like to play it sometime!"
Aigis shakes her head about 'the files.' "I am completely unaware of such events and have no access to any files regarding your history." More somber, she adds, "We are both here because we 'messed up', as they say." She scrunches her face up about the rest, though: "I do not know what you mean about 'suffering' or 'Buddhism', however."
Hitomi clarifies her question. "Oh, I see. While I am capable of instantly experiencing media in that way, I prefer not to do so. It risks causing ..." Aigis glances to the side, away from Hitomi, as she searches for the words. "A disconnect, a drifting, a ... hm."
She finds them, and states them bluntly. "Loss of Persona synchronization. There is a more complex explanation, but I feel it would be best to leave it at that for now."
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"It is," Hitomi says about the horror movies. "It's really sick! ... In a positive way I mean, like, it's thrilling. But you're safe, because you aren't actually in the shower there or anything."
Blade World, however. "Oh, sure. I've been running stuff for people, I'll... tag you, next time if you're interested. Do you have a phone number or anything? Sometimes it's easier to text people even if they're just..."
DOES Aigis have a phone number?
A different question.
But first, an answer. Hitomi blinks, twice, when Aigis speaks of 'Persona synchronization'. Theories, thoughts, cross her mind; she takes a bite of her sandwich as much to cover over the awkwardness she was feeling as anything else. Most of the theories drift away. A couple linger.
Her eyes seem to gleam differently now. As she nudges her glasses up her nose, Hitomi swallows. "Then I guess if we're both screw-ups we'll be great comrades, right?" It's somehow a sweeter tone than her normal voice, though the gradiation is subtle.
And it doesn't really last. "For suffering, uh... so I could tell you temple stuff all day, but the really short version is -- Suffering is real, suffering is inevitable, suffering *can* be escaped though, and there's a path you can follow to escape the suffering. Suffering here is like... it's everything."
Hitomi fumbles. Then: "You don't want to have that disconnect from watching a movie with the -- whatever thingy, because it makes you feel bad. That's suffering, and you're already going towards a right action because you wanna avoid it. A lot of people, though, are sometimes like 'oh, this makes me suffer but I'm going to do it anyway,' which is one thing if you're like... rescuing people, but it's another if it's like ordering food you hate at a restaurant."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
"Experiencing something vicariously ..." Aigis nods before she announces, "I comprehend." She briefly looks at the TV and DVD player before she asks, "Would you like to watch it later today?"
Aigis brightly smiles again. "I would like to! So please do contact me."
"Oh." Aigis blinks. "A phone number, no, but I have several instant messaging accounts." Aigis looks to the side as she tries to figure out the process involved in acquiring a phone and plan.
Her smile in return to Hitomi is warm. "We will." She listens to Hitomi's talk on suffering, but doesn't quite 'get it' at this moment. "I see ..." she says, mostly out of politeness, but Hitomi's explanation only causes the look of confusion on Aigis' face to become even more apparent.
The reason why she's confused: "If loss of Persona synchronization is also suffering, then I may be doomed to suffer either way. What is my path, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
Hitomi is quiet for a moment, as if shocked. Then: "Sure. We might have to keep Amada out, though." This makes her chuckle, for some reason, maybe a sense of the mild absurdity. 'Sorry kid, no murders on film for you'
After this she takes another bite out of her sandwich - no, before she does, Hitomi says, "Oh, that's cool, LINE? I'll give you mine when I get my phone out, it's lame." Her username, presumably. After that, munch: she's down to the last bits of the sandwich, now, pressing it together with her fingers.
'What is my path, then?' asks the robot.
Hitomi looks momentarily surprised, eyes wide.
"Oh... you..."
Her lips are about to part, but she hesitates then. They purse for a moment. Her eyes turn, for some reason, towards the stairwell and the entrance door past it, before returning to Aigis.
Hitomi leans forwards slightly. "There's one way that I always heard about... you have to follow right action, and a bunch of other 'rights.' It's not that hard once you get used to it, but there's just one problem with that method. It works, don't get me wrong, but..."
Her lip quirks up. "It's kinda boring..."
"So what you ought to do is to find out what it is that you desire," Hitomi says, "and chase after that. Chase it as hard as you can, and you'll definitely catch it... or at least you're gonna have fun racing after it. If you're really lucky, it'll be something you can catch and keep catching. But..."
Hitomi straightens up, her head lifting up a little. Her eyes turn to the side, a side-wise look at Aigis as her little glint of intensity fades. "Well... that's the kind of thinking that got me in trouble. So you probably shouldn't listen to me on that one."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis is willing to accept this. "I suppose it would be inappropriate for a child his age to watch, yes. I cannot use my own discomfort levels with material as a basis to extend to others."
She nods. "LINE is one such application, yes. Bear in mind that I do not have wireless communication capabilities, and will have to access it from an external device, the same as anyone else."
Can you imagine the security concerns of someone potentially hijacking an armed robot over wi-fi? Kirijo Ergonomics did, thankfully, especially since the state of wireless technology was still new in 2002, when Aigis was manufactured. WPA wasn't even available yet! It's a whole can of worms, and keeping Aigis air-gapped was just a safer option overall.
The start of this explanation seems to make sense to Aigis. "In other words, to minimize overall suffering. What I chase after is to undo the consequences of a sin that I've committed in pursuit of my original mission. If it's boring, then ... I can endure boring."
A curious look crosses her face as Hitomi asserts that she'll 'have fun racing after it.' Having fun isn't her intent, but admittedly, it has been.
Hitomi's last statement brings up confusion on Aigis' face again. "A paradox. Am I also to disregard your advice on disregarding your advice?"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
Hitomi pops the last bit of the sandwich into her mouth.
"Mm," Hitomi says, while chewing, because it's more of a sound. Then she swallows.
"Well," she says, afterwards, still with that sideways smile. "That's one way you can look at it, 'minimizing overall suffering.' I suppose you mean everything with Takeba's dad...? That was frightening," Hitomi says, straightening out her head, "but I have weird reactions to stuff. So, I don't know if that's normal."
the origin of the dark hour?? a company breaking time?? that might be like really normal to be scared of
Hitomi then takes in a breath at the paradoxical question.
"You've got a really logical mind, don'cha," Hitomi observes. Then her eyes crinkle up as a wide, sunny smile dawns.
"I like you."
After this, she opens her eyes and messes with her glasses, folding up the papertowel she was using to keep the crumbs under control. She does it one handed. There aren't any spilled crumbs.
"You should look into Zen stuff sometime... but maybe when it gets cold, I don't wanna overload you. Anyway, that's really interesting that they did it like that," Hitomi continues. "So you're just completely separated from cellular data and stuff? It'd be really convenient if you could just open websites in your -- I guess in your mind," Hitomi considers.
"But would it be like having a second monitor?"
"It'd actually be fun to kind of explain the cinema stuff in Psycho if you want," Hitomi muses. "I can just go get it right now, but it might be better if we waited til it got dark. The nights are so short now!"
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis tilts her head at Hitomi's mention of Yukari's father. "I suppose that fits within the category, but it is not what I originally had in mind." Precisely what was, however, she does not say.
At Hitomi's description of what she finds 'normal', Aigis nods. "I believe we have that in common. Granted, I have good reason to be less afraid of some things which people normally fear." She smiles calmly -- the same initial smile that she had given at the start of their conversation. "All the better for a weapon to serve its purpose, is it not?"
Aigis has had to reconstruct some facsimile of socio-emotional skills from first principles. Hitomi's correct in this. A simple "Yes," is all Aigis provides in reply, and a subsequent pleased "Thank you," at being told that Hitomi likes her.
Zen. Are the principles of Zen similar to the foundations behind Orgia Mode, which also causes her system to overheat? She takes Hitomi's warning dead seriously and intones, "I will wait until the seasons have progressed to winter before I research this."
"That is correct," Aigis confirms about Hitomi's guess as to her connectivity. "I am intended to be wholly autonomous. The possibility of a cyber-attack would have devastating consequences for many, and this outweighs any such convenience. As for internal mental displays, I am ... capable of doing so, but rather than a second monitor, it is more accurate to describte it as having multiple frame buffers in memory that I can write to and read from in parallel, limited only by mental and processing capacity, not by the number of physical displays."
As it comes time to consider watching Psycho, Aigis comments, "We can wait until it's dark, but I strongly suggest that we account for its runtime in relation to the Dark Hour. I would like for our viewing to end at least half an hour before midnight so that I may begin my usual nightly sweep of the vicinity for Shadows. In the meantime, is there anything I would need to prepare for Blade World ..?"
<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.
"That's so cool," Hitomi says about the memory.
She smiles, then, and says, "It's one hour, forty-nine minutes, unless you want to watch the extended features? So call it two hours, since I'm sure we'll get distracted or have to pause sometime."
The smile brightens more.
"I'll get you my copy of the book and you can check it out overnight, if you want. You just have to think of a character, the instructions are super straightforward!"
The smile becomes somehow more menacing.
"Just be prepared for anything, alright?"