CHAPTER 535: CHAPTER 375: INSTANT HYPNOSIS (PART 2)

"Sleep!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Akimoto Masahiko seemed to lose all strength, collapsing softly with his eyes tightly shut, deeply asleep.

Arima Toshio helped him to the sofa, dusted off his hands, wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead, and teased, "This guy’s quite heavy."

Minamoto Tamako glanced at the sleeping Akimoto Masahiko, then turned to Arima Toshio, and asked in astonishment, "How did you do that?"

She really wanted to learn!

From the moment the bet was made until now, it hadn’t been three minutes, with Arima Toshio chatting with them for two and a half minutes, so the actual time spent performing hypnosis was only thirty seconds.

In just thirty short seconds, he could turn a hostile adult into a dead pig!

If Minamoto Tamako could learn it, she wouldn’t have to rely on physical strength and a handgun to capture criminals anymore! She’d just need to shout ’Sleep’, and the criminals would obediently collapse, captured without a hitch.

Her title of famous detective and police chief would need to include hypnosis master as well.

Arima Toshio adjusted his sleeves, put on his coat, and explained casually, "As I said earlier, the main method of hypnosis is imposing ’suggestion’."

He snapped his fingers and asked, "For example, what does this snap make you think of?"

This question wasn’t just directed at Minamoto Tamako, but at everyone present.

Minamoto Tamako answered first, "A street thug."

Watanabe Shun followed closely, "A sudden inspiration."

Fushimi Roku disdainfully didn’t answer, while Abe Rokuro answered after a long wait, seeing Fushimi Roku not speaking, "Desktop music."

Arima Toshio nodded and said, "This is the simplest form of ’suggestion’. Street thugs use finger snaps to draw attention, while young professionals use finger snaps to express a good idea... Your brain received this ’suggestion’ and your subconscious associates ’snap’ with other things."

He adjusted his coat, looked at the sleeping Akimoto Masahiko, and said, "I kept suggesting to Mr. Akimoto just now... Did anyone notice how many ’suggestion commands’ I gave?"

Minamoto Tamako, with her excellent memory, remembered Arima Toshio speaking five sentences and answered, "Five...right?"

"No, it was over thirteen," Arima Toshio replied.

"That many?" Watanabe Shun was startled and turned to ask Abe Rokuro, "Did you notice?" Seeing Abe Rokuro shake his head, he relaxed a bit.

"I don’t understand... When did it start?" Minamoto Tamako pursued further.

Seeing her determination to get to the root of everything, Arima Toshio patiently explained while buckling his watch:

"The first ’suggestion’ was before the bet started, when I said, ’See that? Patek Philippe, your year’s salary would only buy the dial.’"

"You can see that Mr. Akimoto looks down on my profession. When I said, ’See that?’ in a provocative tone, his subconscious instinctually rose to the challenge—this is a male instinct, especially strong in police officers due to their competitive nature."

"I immediately followed up with, ’Patek Philippe, your year’s salary would only buy the dial’, which frustrated his subconscious competitive spirit, making him instinctively feel that my social status was higher than his."

"This was the first suggestion I imposed: I am stronger than him."

"His self-awareness felt very angry, but this anger stemmed from subconscious frustration and helplessness; then, he might have thought I was just a nouveau riche, or tried to find some superiority from his police position."

"At this point, I proposed the bet, giving him a hope of ’defeating me’ or ’humiliating me’."

"During this process, I imposed two suggestions: ’Arima Toshio is very confident’ and ’Arima Toshio is likely to lose’."

"Fueled by anger, Mr. Akimoto accepted the bet, and I naturally asked him to put up the stakes, which was the fourth suggestion: ’This gamble is significant’."

"In the ensuing two and a half minutes, while seeming to chat with you all, I was constantly giving suggestions to Mr. Akimoto, using your reactions to indirectly influence him. Every time I analyzed someone’s personality and you showed surprise, it subtly pressured Mr. Akimoto."

"During this process, I imposed about six suggestions, all affecting Mr. Akimoto, but I won’t elaborate on which ones."

"In short, Mr. Akimoto felt incapable and passively waited, checking his watch more frequently, indicating his mindset was gradually becoming anxious."

"Ordinary people facing impending fear often have a notion of ’wanting it to happen’, which is a brain protective mechanism."

"For example, people afraid of needles might subconsciously wish for the needle to quickly pierce the skin; people scared of horror movies hope the ghost appears at the next corner... Mr. Akimoto was no exception, though his conscious mind did not want it to happen, his subconscious had accepted the suggestion that ’Arima Toshio will hypnotize’."

"In the last thirty seconds, his nerves were stretched to the limit, and at that moment, like a taut bowstring needing just a simple release, his emotions would rebound intensely."

Arima Toshio fiddled with his service weapon and said, "Afterwards, it became quite simple. His attention was fully on the watch, and staring at a mechanically operating object makes one tired. I asked him, ’How much time is left?’, he resisted consciously but instinctively wanted to answer, accepting another ’obedience’ suggestion."

"I observed his state and interrupted his response immediately; his thought patterns were broken, requiring time to think, but I didn’t give him time to react, continuing to ask, ’Sorry, can I have a look at your watch?’..."

"At this moment, his thinking had ceased, leaving only instinctual obedience."

"Of course, I couldn’t ask him to do anything excessive, nor impose commands against prior suggestions, or he would immediately regain lucidity."

"So, I shifted my demeanor from a dominant conqueror to a caring doctor, telling him, ’Breathe deeply, your heartbeat is a bit fast’, a common phrase heard in hospitals that everyone naturally complies with, serving as a natural ’suggestion command’ readily available for use."

"I described such a long process, but in reality, critical steps were completed within seconds. You all saw it; he should have realized something was wrong, but he couldn’t think anymore because he had already exhausted his focus and cognitive abilities on meaningless anxiety and waiting beforehand."

"This led to his stupor, or as we commonly say, ’brain freeze’, causing him to instinctively follow my cues and to earnestly breathe deeply."

"After exhaling a long breath, due to lack of oxygen, he became even more fatigued, with his mind blank, similar to a lapse in thought between sets during exercise."

"I covered his eyes, commanded him in a police-like tone to ’sleep’, and his subconscious complied, secreting a substantial amount of melatonin, plunging his mind into drowsiness."

"Technically, I should have added a few more suggestions to conclude and solidify his ’sleep state’... but he might have stayed up last night, lacking sleep, so he naturally drifted off."

To prevent misunderstandings, Arima Toshio added at the end, "Of course, the tone and actions need years of practice to master, requiring the blending of theoretical knowledge and technique to achieve ’instant hypnosis’ effects."

Minamoto Tamako, with an expression of awe, clapped her hands together. With her leading, others, excluding Fushimi Roku, also began clapping, causing the police outside the meeting room to think another meeting was happening inside.

Fushimi Roku wasn’t being disrespectful; he was contemplating other matters.

Arima Toshio’s highest skill was Level 6 ’Psychology Knowledge’, whereas Miyazaki Shizuka’s highest skill was Level 8 ’Hypnotism’, which was not just a slight difference.

Arima Toshio’s hypnosis abilities were already this impressive...

So, what about Miyazaki Shizuka?

Fushimi Roku glanced sideways at Miyazaki Shizuka, who was gently clapping along with everyone else, seeming not to flatter, but genuinely admiring the boss’s skills.

This guy’s vice is ’obsession’...

It seems she has never shown it.