Persona 5 Royal: New Game Plus (P5RNG+)

Begin!

6/3, Akira went to Maruki for some therapy.

Maruki: Oh? Are you heading home? Do you have any time today? Actually, I've been planning a little—uh, well, I should just ask: are you free today?

Morgana: Maybe a break wouldn't be so bad... Are you gonna help Maruki with his research?

Akira: I'll help you out.

Maruki: Ah, great! Well. Come on in. Make yourself at home...

Maruki and Akira go to the nurses office.

Maruki: Well, today's just going to be another back-and-forth as usual... Or will it!? Today's your lucky day! Please take a look at what's on this table!

Akira: ?

Akira looks at the table and sees some cookies on the table.

Maruki: I've been making you listen to all this tough stuff about traumas, pain, and grief lately, so... I found these cookies in an underground mall! Now we can have a little break! They're kind of fancy cookies, too...

Akira: Nice

Maruki: I thought I'd get a surprise for you, since you've been kind enough to indulge me all this time. Go ahead, enjoy!

Akira: This looks great!

Maruki: Go on, don't be shy! I've got enough for seconds, too!

Akira looks at the cookies.

Maruki: Oh, I know. As long as we're talking about cookies... They actually reminded me about this psychological experiment. The scientists prepared two containers, and put the same kind of cookies in both of them. In one container, they put only one cookie. But the other one was filled with cookies—ten of them. So then they had their subjects try cookies from each container, and asked how their tastes compared. Which container's cookies were marked as tasting better? Any guesses?

Akira: The one-cookie container?

Maruki: Correct. Easy to guess, huh? There's something called the "law of scarcity." It's about what you'd imagine from the name: people are drawn to things that are more scarce. You can see this law in action just by observing how excited people get over limited-edition merchandise.

Akira: You know, you're right.

Maruki: Ahaha, I know, right? Don't you think it's really fascinating? In becoming aware of scarcity, we trigger our own desires, and cause a change in our cognition... Not only that—the effect spreads to our senses, and creates a subjective, observable difference in our reality. Basically, your perceptions can be changed by your cognition or preconceptions. It's all below the conscious level, but it's really incredible! Incidentally, now that you've heard that story... How do you feel about that idea? That your unconscious desires may have changed the taste of the cookie?

Akira: Hey, as long as it tastes good.

Maruki: That's definitely not the usual response. But it's one I can understand. It probably sounds like an exaggeration, but something about that seems so beautiful to me. Maybe the human heart can falter, or be unreliable sometimes... But if this experiment proves anything, it's that even a simple preconception can be enough to bring someone more joy. For example, take that story I just told you... What if you'd eaten that one cookie, and it had been the best cookie of your life? Say I never revealed the trick behind it. That cookie would have remained more delicious than usual. It would have been a subjective truth of your reality.