"As the assistant lady revealed, there is a weirdo among you who tries to recommend water otters to novices in a strange way. To be honest, I don't think this is a crime. I asked Dr. Yew before, and it is true in the institute. There's no rule against taking certain types of Pokémon out for fun on a regular basis, so in theory, this kind of weird behavior doesn't warrant sanctions."
Hugo explained to the researchers in a friendly manner.
"Did you know this technique back then?" Dr. Yew was surprised in a strange way. It seemed that her previous surprise when faced with Bilan's reasoning was not an act.
"I'm surprised that even after being reminded to that extent, doctor, you still haven't discovered the truth." The detective looked like he was in control, shook his head at the doctor, and then faced the assistants again.
"At the very beginning, I suggested that the doctor initiate a normal exchange of researchers. As long as you are all packed up and sent to other places, the strange events that occurred here will disappear naturally. Unfortunately, this Dr. Yew did not hesitate. The ground refused.”
"This is not possible. All the research work they have at hand has reached the intermediate stage. It is too unreasonable and cruel to interrupt their research indiscriminately." The doctor on the side reiterated seriously.
"But I remember that there was a classmate named Furuya who didn't set a topic." The detective put his index finger on his chin and recalled.
One of the youngest researchers present quickly explained: "Although I have not set a topic, I have been doing field research here in Luzi Town for a while. If I were transferred to a distant place, my work would cause a lot of trouble. By the way, I The next topic will be the traces of legendary Pokémon in the surrounding areas."
"Rejected. Even if we go back five hundred years in Luzi Town, we can't find such ruins." The doctor rejected the student's project without mercy.
Hugo helplessly looked at the doctor-lady who was having a headache and Furuya-san who was in despair, and had no choice but to speak loudly and bring the topic back to the case at hand——
"Dr. Yew Shan asked earlier why no one discovered it during the follow-up investigation, right? This matter is actually easy to understand."
The doctor once again pretended to be attentive.
"In the study of human psychology, there is a phenomenon called selective amnesia, that is, people will consciously forget some experiences they do not like. And among these forgotten things, there is an order of difficulty in forgetting. , from difficult to easy, they are - things you have done but don’t want to remember, words you have said but wish you could take back, things you have seen but wish you ignored, thoughts that have occurred but were rejected in your heart – there is no doubt that, The reasons for choosing water otters are among the last and most forgotten.”
"Could it be that Mr. Detective thinks that the reason why no one remembers that he chose the otter is because everyone has forgotten about it?" A student wearing glasses asked in surprise.
"You are Matsubara-san, right? Trainers do think a little differently from ordinary people. As the second son of a rich man, you naturally cannot empathize with this as you choose to develop as a scholar." The detective replied.
"For trainers who are determined to hone their fighting skills, no one of them wants to fall into the quagmire of regret at the first step of their journey. They must create a conscience worthy of their choice of water otter. A reason, a reason full of dreams and hopes.”
"This behavior is not so much forgetting as it is deliberately concealing one's true motives when choosing elves. These lying trainers concealed their hasty choices out of self-esteem. Of course, as time continues to pass, the lies and The truth will eventually become blurred and replaced until they themselves forget the reason for choosing the truth.”
Everyone in the institute was not so easy to fool. An uncle named Eric shook his head and questioned: "But this only happened in half a year. I still don't believe that all sixty-three trainers have had such a situation." ideas.”
"Your suspicion is completely valid. Psychological factors cannot make people start lying with one voice. Just like novice trainers make choices in Yusan's family, whether they tell the truth or not depends entirely on their own vague and uncertain minds. However, In actual situations, there are countless small pushing forces that make these trainers finally choose to seal their memories."
Next to Bilan, who was a little panicked in the face of doubts, the detective talked with ease.
"First of all, these novices after embarking on the journey are still in the stage of being very dependent on their initial partners. Now these trainers have established a friendship with the original water otters that is far beyond what they were at that time. If their partners are around when they are interviewed and surveyed, , it is naturally impossible for today’s trainers to admit frankly that they chose a partner for boring reasons like ‘I saw two other initial elves on the roadside’.”
"This situation is really embarrassing." The assistant thought of his own water arrow turtle, put himself in his shoes, and nodded in agreement.
Hugo walked up to the water otter that had been released from the ball before, squatted down, and looked straight into its bright black eyes: "Water otter, if a trainer said that he selected based on the elimination method, and finally reluctantly chose you, How would you feel.”
After hearing this, the little blue and white otter held his head and thought hard for a while, then shook his head desperately.
"Are you saying that this is an unacceptable insult? Instead of taking you away like this, why not stay in the institute?" Hugo used his acting skills to communicate as if he could understand the elves.
The otter, who understood the general meaning of the detective, nodded again.
However, even after seeing this scene, some people still find it unbelievable. The doubter was Yamashita, the tallest of the researchers.
This classmate Yamashita, who was also a member of the trainers, spread his hands: "Mr. Detective, your guess is indeed refreshing, but the trainers' partners are not always with them, right? Based on this alone, more than sixty people The trainers can’t all lie.”
"Of course it's not just that." The detective replied immediately and firmly.
"There are many reasons besides this - the institute's questionnaire is not a police officer's interrogation. How many trainers are really willing to recall memories from long ago? Besides, your questionnaire does not fully cover all sixty people. Three trainers, right? Maybe a trainer who remembers the situation and is unwilling to lie happened to be unavailable for contact, so he was ignored by you. In addition, there are also trainers who have completely forgotten the incident, right? After all, before entering the institute What they saw and heard has long been overwhelmed by the great joy of receiving the first Pokémon, and they may really regard the result of their choice of one of the three as God's will or intuition."
The mysterious detective pointed the round end of his wooden cane at everyone present, as if he were a magician performing an evil ritual——
"No one remembers that the situation at that time was just an accident. However, various subtle circumstances increased the probability of this accident to a counterintuitive level. So, you have witnessed a continuous training of sixty-three people. It’s a miracle that teachers choose the same Pokémon.”
"Boring, uninteresting, and extremely meaningless. The miracles of human manipulation are just exaggerated accidents. Just like those eye-catching statistical conclusions written by third-rate statisticians." Hugo sighed.
"Now, my patience has been exhausted. Please tell me your dark motive! This Yamashita classmate who was once a trainer is now useless."
