Chapter 82. Personality Correction Fist
"Stop.
Do you… want to be trapped here for the rest of your life?" the doll spoke.
As if she had Natsume figured out, she held out her hand.
"Give it back."
"Thump!"
Without another word, the doll's head was flattened again.
"Pat—pat—pat—pat!"
A flurry of smacks rang out.
After a long bout of head-patting, the doll finally restored her head to normal.
She looked up and found that Natsume had already stitched a crooked smile onto Sabrina's little doll.
"See, a smile looks like this—heh-heh-heh—ha!"
"Ah-hahaha—"
Outside, Sabrina suddenly burst into laughter, and Sage Hart blinked, then a hint of relief appeared on his face.
He sensed it.
Natsume seemed to have entered Sabrina's main world.
He didn't know what Natsume did, but it worked.
"It's hideous.
Give it back!"
In the main world, the doll stomped her foot.
"Thump!"
The doll smacked her head.
"See, crying looks like this—heh-heh-heh—ha!"
Natsume displayed the doll in his hands, still the same crooked smile.
"Even uglier.
Give it back!"
The doll was livid.
"Thump!"
The doll smacked her head.
"See, blushing looks like this—heh-heh-heh—ha!"
"See, pain looks like this—heh-heh-heh—ha!"
"I'm done with you!"
The doll couldn't take it anymore.
No matter the emotion, every expression this man sewed turned into the same uniformly ugly grin.
Outside, Sabrina laughed and laughed.
At first Sage Hart was excited, but now he was starting to get scared.
What was happening?
"From now on—for your whole life—don't even think about leaving here!" the doll threatened.
"Thump!"
Natsume drew back his fist.
The doll was flattened from head to toe.
"Aaah—!"
Irritated smacking sounds followed, along with Natsume's gentle voice:
"You know, before I came, I read several psychology books and arrived at a treatment that's widely applicable, though the effect is uncertain."
The doll froze mid-pat, a bad premonition rising in her heart.
Natsume leaned in with a kindly smile.
"Hit.
Just hit and you're set.
If once doesn't work, do it twice.
If twice doesn't work, three times.
If there's a chance to hit, you hit every time."
The doll's body trembled.
She suddenly realized that, right this moment, more than Natsume, she herself didn't want to stay here.
"The younger the child, the better the Personality Correction Fist works."
The doll began to shake violently.
"Alright.
The other expressions—stitch them on yourself."
Natsume patted the doll's head to soothe her.
The doll blinked and looked at Natsume.
"Me?"
A trace of confusion crossed her face.
"Will Sabrina like childhood emotions?" the doll muttered to herself.
"Don't worry.
Didn't Sabrina already stitch a lot of expressions onto you?
Give it a try," Natsume encouraged.
When she was little, Sabrina seemed rather withdrawn and indecisive.
Perhaps it was the lack of parental company—no one to refer to.
"But…"
The doll hesitated.
"If you won't, I will."
Natsume reached out.
"No—
I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Thinking of Natsume's atrocious aesthetic sense, the doll panicked.
She hurriedly turned around and clumsily picked up the needle and thread.
She had hesitated for many years, and now she was finally going to start.
Even if it was under someone's coercion.
Outer world—condense an organ-like construct to sense the world.
Inner world—merge oneself and telekinesis completely to feel the world deeply.
Main world—let telekinesis blend into the world.
I—telekinesis—world.
This was the most essential linkage Natsume had summarized for the three stages.
Sabrina had hit a snag at the main world stage.
Her telekinesis failed to merge into the world and got stuck in the middle.
This situation was what Sage Hart meant by Sabrina being trapped in her own main world.
There are many factors behind being trapped—nothing you can generalize.
Sabrina's case belonged to the relatively complicated kind.
Watching the doll bowing her head and working, Natsume narrowed his eyes.
Helping Sabrina—besides the system giving him an assignment—he also had his own selfish motive.
Mm.
If he ever stepped into the main world stage and ran into trouble, he could have Sabrina come help him out.
"Um… does this look good?"
Reluctant, the doll raised the Sabrina doll in her hands for Natsume to see.
He was the only outsider here who could serve as a reference.
Natsume looked and found that the doll had sewn on a sorrowful expression.
Hidden stitchwork fused the thread with the fabric seamlessly.
Three-strand gradient floss twisted into crystalline teardrops, and curved lines along the cheekbones traced ripples of half-falling light.
"An absolute eyesore.
Feels worse than my heh-heh-heh—ha."
Natsume shook his head.
"Then it's probably pretty good," the doll sighed in relief.
Sometimes, a negative example can also serve as a reference.
What the negative example dislikes is, in all likelihood, acceptable.
With Natsume's "authoritative" certification, the doll worked even harder.
In no time, crying, sorrow, bitterness, pain, melancholy, joy—
All kinds of expressions were stitched one by one, appearing on Sabrina's little doll's face, then fading.
Natsume watched quietly from the side.
He noticed that with each expression the doll stitched onto Sabrina's little doll, the facial contours became more like Sabrina's.
In the end, the doll's round cheeks vanished, replaced by Sabrina's facial outline.
From afar, the doll now looked like a super-deformed mini Sabrina.
Strange.
Why hadn't the system shown the assignment as complete?
Natsume glanced around and fixed his eyes on the super-deformed mini Sabrina.
Maybe the Personality Correction Fist hadn't hit hard enough?
The mini Sabrina's body trembled.
She turned back with a frightened look at Natsume.
The next second, the world spun.
What entered his vision was Sabrina's icy face.
"Huh?
How did I get out?"
There was even a hint of reluctance in Natsume's tone.
Sabrina was silent for a moment, then looked at Natsume and said:
"You're a real weirdo."
"You're a person now?"
Natsume started.
Although Sabrina still barely had any expression and her voice was faint, Natsume could clearly feel the "human" warmth on her.
Before this, Sabrina felt to Natsume like the instruments in a lab.
No—at least instruments make sounds.
And if they blow, Professor Oak will ad-lib a stand-up routine.
Sabrina before was different—someone who wouldn't bat an eye even if you slapped her across the face.
"Woo!"
Outside, Dragonite staggered back in, scaring all those reporters away.
Only then did Natsume notice that he had stayed in Sabrina's main world for a long time, yet in the outside world scarcely any time had passed.
"Natsume!"
Not far away, Sage Hart was in tears.
"Natsume, you're practically Sabrina's second parent!"
Snotty and teary, Sage Hart moved in for a hug.
"Then how about having her acknowledge me as her godfather?"
Natsume tested the waters.
"…"
After a beat of silence, Hartmont Sage's outstretched hand froze in mid-air.
"Mm… that might not be age-appropriate."
Sage Hart paused, then added:
"But Natsume, if you have any request in the future, I will make it happen!"
Sage Hart looked Natsume in the eye, earnest and sincere.
"Ten billion Pokédollars."
Natsume blurted it out.
"…"
Are you that short on money?
Sage Hart really wanted to ask.
Natsume only joked and didn't say more, his eyes already searching the room.
After all, his assignment wasn't complete yet.
Weird.
Where did that doll go?
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