"It seemed to me to be more of a misunderstanding. Time will tell if they see past it, not that my investment in the friendships of others is particularly high."
Wanting people to distrust Hikaru was a different story.
She poured herself some more tea and sipped slowly as she listened to Andrew speak. Her eyebrows raised slightly at the description of getting ill in Emily's projection, though she already knew about the drowning situation.
"I have been, shall we say, 'lucky' enough not to be seriously injured in a projection yet, as I only witnessed three: Gikou-san, Suzuki, and the Yoshida sisters. Gikou-san's projection had us hiking through a forest for an entire day, which I did not appreciate in the slightest, but the other two were relatively tame until the balcony incident. I have a similar sentiment, with regards to keeping others informed of what that machine has aired to the world, as much as I am not fond of invading others' minds with such force."
She shudders at the memory of how violating it felt. She doesn't look forward to the prospect of going back.
"All I have heard regarding Mr. McCay's was that he managed to assault a warden following his projection. It is hardly reassuring that the three of them clearly know nothing about what they are doing, nor the capabilities even of the machine we are being subjected to. How can they even be certain everyone will emerge fully unharmed?"
She took another slow, contemplative sip.
"If I may, my theories are that these projections are not intended to show merely the crime itself. Mine was utterly filled with symbolism regarding my motivation, with only loose references to how I actually killed my victim. Gikou-san's, similarly, was symbolic of…shall we say, her overall mindset regarding the position she was put into, which led to the event in question. The Yoshida sisters demonstrated the event itself, but left very little in terms of motive. Suzuki's, to me, was a somewhat cagey reflection of who, and how, but kept much concealed otherwise. It would be somewhat easy to interpret his as an 'unfortunate accident' if you were not attentive. And, from what Ellie told me, hers sounded far more referential to her motive and events leading up to the crime rather than the crime itself. Perhaps, in your case, something about what was shown reflects very little of what you did, but instead illustrates why it was possible for you to do it at all."
