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[Jrock fanfic] Imprisoned part 22

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Part 22

Nightmare Device

In the afternoon Tora walked across the campus on his way to the main library. Today he had an appointment with Shou again, they had agreed to meet up after they finished their lessons. This time they agreed to meet in the library.

Stepping through the library's entrance, Tora couldn't help thinking about how curious it was for him to have spent more time with Shou than any of his friends or classmates recently...

He walked to one of the elevators and got himself to the fourth floor, where the two of them were supposed to meet. This part of the library seemed to be nearly empty so it wasn't difficult to find Shou sitting alone behind a long table at the far end of the hall. His eyes were on the laptop before him, and a few books spread around said laptop on the table. Once again Shou had arrived before Tora did.

Shou looked up when the raven haired student walked into his line of vision. "You made it on time."

"Been waited long?" Tora sat down on the other side of the table, taking a seat opposite of Shou.

"Not at all." Shou replied, since they were in the library, his voice was low, not much louder than a whisper.

"Are you still busy? I can walk around in the library a bit if you aren't ready yet." Tora offered.

"No need for that, I'm about to finish up some research for my other lecture, will end to hand it over after the school break."

Yes, they all had a school break ahead of them. Strange that for a moment Tora really did forget about the school break if Shou hadn't brought it up.

"So you are finishing your school works even before the break begins." Tora commented in wonder.

"One less thing to worry about," Shou replied in a matter-of-fact tone as he closed his laptop. "How about you? Do you have any plan?"

"Not exactly. I think I will just stay home and...relax." Tora shrugged. "And you, Shou?"

The school break was merely a few days ahead of them. It wouldn't be a surprise for Shou to have already made plan for it, given the fact that the latter seemed to want to take care of his schoolwork so quickly.

"Not much, most likely I'll spend time to study during the break." Shou answered causally.

"So we are on the same page here."

Shou grinned at the remark, nodding. "On the other hand, the break will definitely provide free time to work on our pet project."

This time it was Tora who was nodding in agreement. Now it made more sense why would Shou want to meet with him, the blond haired student obviously wanted to discuss their progress before this semester ended and they all went into holiday.

Tora suggestion. "Let's talk about what we have found for our...'project', then."

Once again opening his laptop, Shou spoke. "After going through the materials I have in hands, I must admit there is an unforeseeable flaw in what I'd originally planned."

"How so?" The raven haired student raised an eyebrow, he did not explain Shou to admit defeat so early on.

"Remember I mentioned about involving our fellow students to be volunteers? Now I realize it might not be the ideal way to work on the plan."

"Why?"

"Because...it may be better if we can find our volunteers among mental patients."

For a moment Tora couldn't say anything. He had never expected Shou to say that, working a project with mental patients as their targeted subjects? That was far too ambitious! It was simply something beyond the reach of a mere student.

"...why would you think that?" Tora questioned. "If we still wanted to use fear as our main topic, we can do the project by getting volunteers within our campus. Normal volunteers would be enough, don't you think?"

This time Shou blinked. "I...it may have something to do with what I'd learnt from my experience with Dr. Camui, but it is...hard to explain."

"What's hard to explain?" Tora pressed on the issue. He would definitely get to the bottom to understand why would the blond student ever thought about using mental patients as the subjects. That was a bit too unusual.

"Because there's so much to learn from them."

Tora was taken aback. "What makes you think this?"

"Remember what I'd told you about the time I was doing my fieldwork? Like many others I was sent to a mental ward, and the patients I had seen in there...so many of them got themselves there due to their fear of so many different things and their inability to face the world they live in, it just makes me wonder..."

Unconsciously the raven haired one held his breath.

"It makes me wonder what had possibly caused their fear and phobia, and I have always been wondering...Can fear be the catalyst of their conditions? Can the mental conditions of those patients be intentionally created?"

Tora felt like someone had hit him right on his guts. He knew what Shou was asking, the blond student was asking could a person be deliberately driven mad, by fear.

The answers of this question could only be found by reading between the lines, no one would sgin himself or herself up to go through any experiment that might turn a sane person into a madman, and there was no university in the world would allow its students to run such an experiment or a project, no professor in his right mind would allow a pupil to go anywhere near this topic.

"Don't talk like this, Shou." Tora tried to stop his fellow classmate from continuing. "We are not supposed to set in a direction such as this, what would people say if they found out? What would our peers say? What about our mentors---"

"Why can't we? I bet every psychiatrist out there has secretly thought about this question! Even your good mentor Dr. Camui.."

Tora was once again taken aback. He shook his head in denial"Dr. Camui has never..."

"Don't be stupid, Tora-san. You really think we are the first  individuals to ever question these things? Of course we aren't! Had anyone before us ever wondered about these things and asked the same questions? Of course they had! Had experiments been performed in secret? Again yes! So many governments have always been at it even since the Cold War but everyone just likes to keep it all hush-hush. Had anyone questioned how memories can be confused and blurred and even...faked; and how a human's mind can be affected by it? Yes, people had always been wondering about these things and they wanted to find out the answers as much as we do! Even your beloved Dr. Camui isn't unfamiliar with these topics, either!"

"How do you know?" Tora questioned under his breath. As far as he knew, no one had heard from Dr. Camui after his 'disappearance', therefore it was entirely unexpected when his name was mentioned.

Shou's eyes were glittering when he gave his answer. "Because he told me."

This gave Tora quite a shock, he never knew Dr. Camui had ever chatted with Shou personally.


***

Takashi snapped his eyes open, springing awake he thought some kind of noise had jolted him awake. Fortunately, this time he didn't wake to something awful and terrifying, for the time being he wasn't blindfolded, his hands were still bound but at least he was alone, waking on the bed within his prison room...at least he was alone and nothing truly bad had befallen him, this was a small mercy.

Instead it was a noise that woke him, a strange sound which reminded him of......thunders from a distance.

...but not quite like thunder.

He corrected himself as his mind getting a bit more into focus. He was laying on his side, wrapped up by a thick blanket which he had dragged from the bed and laid out on the wooden floor. He didn't intend to fall into slumber but in the end he still had fallen asleep on it all the same.

Takashi sighed as he leaned on his elbows,dragging his upper body up while remaining lying among  the blanket, physically he still wasn't in a good shape, but the period he could manage to remain conscious and alert had doubtlessly stretching longer.

Despite his traumas, Takashi still preferred wakefulness over drugged-up slumber and unconsciousness, at least when he was alerted he would have manged to react if something were  to happen.

Silence surrounded him and as the throbbing of his own heartbeat slowed, he became increasingly aware of the subtle sound which seemed to seep into his room from somewhere down below, through the floor.

As though someone was working on something with a hammer from downstairs, from a far distance.

This faint noise, Takashi now realized what it did sound like, it sounded just like someone was beating at some metal with a hammer, one two three four...with a rhythm.

There couldn't be someone else within this hellhole...so Takashi could only guessed it was the kidnapper and the latter was...building something?

But what was he working on? What was he trying to build? Why would he did it all of a sudden? Takashi could only wished he would never find out.

***



Nailing the last piece into place, you smoothed a layer of oil on top of the now-flawless surface of your newly completed device, a finishing touch.

On the floor, pieces of steel in different shapes, unused nails were lying on the bare floor with other tools.

You had done bolting up some windows within the cabin for further security measure; but it wasn't the only task you had at hand.

Your work was completed.

Putting the heavy hammer aside, you eyed your handiwork, studying it, looking for flaws or incomplete parts which you might previously overlook, but found none. So it was completed, inescapable.

Just enough for one person to be slipped in. Once the lid is closed, the person would not even be allowed to sit up, he would even have difficult trying to turn.

On the outside, it looked like some kind of box, a rectangular shaped, narrowed box, or a coffin.

You had crafted this device on your own, in the secrecy of the basement below ground of your hidden cabin.

And you must say the ending result was even more ideal than what you had imagined or what you had sketched on the few pieces of paper.

Now thinking about it, you would have to destroy those sketches of yours soon, just to be on the safe side...

Locking the door behind you, you exited from the basement, knowing you must go upstairs and destroy those sketches before you forgot to do so. There were still so many things to tend to, better finishing one small but necessary step before you lost trace of the order of things.

***

Watching those sketches burnt and the ashes fell silently to the kitchen's sink, your thoughts once again drifted back to the newly completed device of yours. Your had taken inspiration from what you had studied, similar device had been used during and after Cold War, and also the recent War of Iraq, used by the USA army, by CIA and also by KGB and...so many others around the world, the list went on and on.

Simply put, it was a device designed to help breaking someone's will, and history had proved such devices were in fact quite…effective for their purpose. To many people who had laid eyes on it and
experienced it during wartime, this very device was nothing less than staff of nightmare.

It always amused you how little the general public were aware of what the governments and their agents had done under the shadow of secrecy.

Brainwashing, mind control, re-education, maring a person’s mind to a point of no return, all in the name of peace, national security, war on terrorism...and justice.

According to popular belief of the mass, brainwashing was something done by mad evil scientists, but in true, mind control had taken place a lot more frequently than we would have guessed. Many studies had been carried out, many details had been collected, men and women had been subjected to different tests and experiments...either voluntarily or involuntarily.

There had always been records about war prisoners, terrorism suspects and the likes being forced to endure mind control under governmental orders. Still there was a significant difference in motivation between what you were trying to do and what the governmental units had performed: those governmental units had merely wanted to make their suspects confess, breaking down their defense and squeezing information out of their mouths. You couldn't just copy their methods directly, you would need a softer approve, the ways used by the other...
organizations to re-educate people.

Or reprogramming them.

You had built a torture device, though you wished this device would
never be put into use. You never really wanted to put this thing into use......but at the same time you felt that you must always prepare for what was to come.


to be continued.

Part 22 feels a bit too short, but it has to be that way to make way for the upcoming character.
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