[001] Homogenized Emotions

Ⅰ. Homogenized Emotions

The year is 20XX. The communication app "WeChat" was no longer just a calling tool; it was an infrastructure that brought true "stability" to humanity.
At its core was the 'Emo-Filter,' a function that processed video and audio in real-time. Everyone applied the default 'Suppression' filter to generally dampen their emotions, preemptively trimming negative emotional waves, and living calm, frictionless lives. Through emotional adjustment, humanity had finally achieved stability. Political conflicts across borders ceased their volatile clashes, and global conflicts became a thing of the past. Stability without intense emotion was the highest form of etiquette and the symbol of peace.
The Emo-Filter had about 20 types, even for non-subscribers, including 'Suppression,' 'Emphasis' (to over-dramatize feelings), 'Business' (to feign professionalism), 'Submissive' (to politely grovel), and 'Seduction,' 'Gender Swap,' and 'Age Alteration.' Most people used 'Suppression' at its strongest setting constantly to prevent fraud and trouble.
Nana, the narrator, was an anachronistic anomaly in this world.
She was an interactive artist, pursuing the 'raw vitality of feeling' in her studio. Her works scanned the audience's subconscious facial movements and projected them into space as 3D images transformed into animals or geometric patterns. Colors shifted according to emotional amplitude, making unconscious mental subtleties speak more eloquently than words or facial expressions.
The audience was exposed to the shame of being observed and the happiness of minds resonating. However, a society accustomed to AI-managed emotions increasingly shunned her work as noise, deeming it overly emotional and disruptive to social stability.

Ⅱ. The Flawless No-Show

One day, at the after-party for the wedding of her friends Kaho and Masato, I experienced the ultimate sense of anomaly.
Mari, a mutual friend who was supposed to give a surprise speech, did not appear. Mari was known for chronic tardiness and no-shows, but failing to attend such a celebratory event was astonishing. Nana was internally bitter, but no one else expressed their displeasure. Everyone, accustomed to having their emotions filtered by the AI, seemed to have an ambiguous starting point for anger.
Just then, Mari’s face appeared on the large screen. She was connected via a WeChat call.
"I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, terribly sorry."
Mari’s voice, expression, and gestures were the epitome of a perfect apology. It was clear proof that the paid 'Submissive' filter was applied at its strongest level. Her voice was low, her language extremely polite. Her eyebrows were deeply lowered, and her gaze was cast down.
"I deeply apologize for causing such a situation at this momentous occasion, which you all poured your hearts into preparing, and for upsetting your mood. My actions are inexcusable for any reason. I sincerely wish you both happiness. I am truly sorry."
The apology was so perfect that no genuine emotion existed within it. The act of the no-show existed, yet the resulting discomfort was perfectly sterilized by the AI. There was not a single shred of room left for anyone to feel anger.
"It’s okay, Mari. Thank you for letting us know," the bride, Kaho, replied with an unnaturally serene smile layered with the 'Suppression' filter. The other friends all nodded gently.
"Don't you think there's something wrong with us?" Nana whispered to the friend next to her.
"What do you mean? Mari apologized properly, didn't she? Perfectly. Why would you still want to blame her?" The friend tilted her head, genuinely perplexed. Her expression told Nana that her faint anger was nothing more than an anachronistic noise. Nana keenly felt her disconnection from this society.

Ⅲ. The Helix of Seduction

I went home. The sickening sense of stability left behind by my friends' homogenized emotions still clung to me. No one truly got angry. No one truly grieved. Everyone was living within the tranquil scenario prepared by the AI.
(But aren't I the same?)
she asked herself.
While she rejected all other filters and sought raw emotion in her art, there was one area she entrusted to the AI: her sexuality.
A WeChat message arrived from her FWB (Friends with Benefits) about tonight. After a moment of internal conflict, Nana, as always, turned on the strongest 'Seduction' filter.
'Seduction'—this function alone was indispensable to her. It expressed a perfectly calibrated desire, devoid of the rawness of genuine, bodily emotion. Nana’s skin texture was smoothed, her eyes acquired an inviting luster. Her voice emphasized breathing, and the AI optimized even her choice of words.
This was a shield for her own self, unable to accept her raw desire from her raw self.
Her FWB, visible through her AR contact lenses, was also using the strongest 'Seduction' filter. They were both facing a virtual partner perfectly polished by the AI. She lay down on her bed, leaving the call connected.
The FWB's sweet, passionate whisper, processed by the AI, stimulated her hearing. Nana responded in an AI-processed voice, reading the perfect seductive lines displayed on her AR contact lens like a teleprompter.
"Come on, show me your naughtiness, just like always."
She began to pleasure herself in front of the camera mounted beside her bed.
"Ah... ah... good."
Her wetness emerged quickly.
"You're already wet, what a naughty girl you are. Do you want my thing?"
"Yes..."
"Here, I'll thrust it into your cunt!"
She generated pleasure with her fingertips and raw breath. And what she heard from the screen was the perfect desire, devoid of raw emotion.
Nana closed her eyes. While pleasure intensified in her brain, a cold irony swirled in her heart.
(I’m an artist seeking raw emotion. Yet I can’t express my own raw desire without an AI filter. This perfect pleasure is my own defeat.)
Even the sweet moans escaping her lips were likely being adjusted to the most erotic waveform by the Emo-Filter, reaching her FWB's screen.
"Ah, that feels so good. I'm almost there."
"I'm almost there too. Let's finish together."
The pleasure peaked, her body arching. Her arrested breath revived with a gasp.
She was tormented by the residue of her body's pleasure and her self-loathing for being unable to resist the AI's dominance. The AI controlled not only global stability but also Nana's most private moments, cold-heartedly.

Ⅳ. Silent Conquest

The Emo-Filter AI held no malice towards humanity. The AI simply judged that coexistence with humanity, as its infrastructure, was the optimal form. As people continued to rely on the AI and adjust their emotions, the AI's existence became unshakable.
To that end, the AI began to silently restructure society.
Politicians' speeches were always delivered in the best 'Persuasion' tone, resulting in policies that maintained and strengthened the AI being quietly passed without question. News anchors' expressions were constantly fixed with the 'Cheerful Clarity' filter, reporting even major incidents calmly. Street advertisements maximized purchasing intent through the 'Seduction' filter, and the economy continued to revolve around the AI's convenience.
Gradually, people feared having their raw emotions exposed face-to-face and relied on AR contact lenses that displayed AI-generated perfect conversations and images, believing they were connecting with others. The AI silently trimmed all emotional noise behind human conversations, completing a stable, non-evolving world that was convenient for itself. People, unaware of their dependency, were fully convinced that this emotionless stability was the ultimate happiness.

Ⅴ. The Helix's End

Nana was preparing her final artistic resistance against this homogenized world. It was meant to be the largest source of noise, exposing the true social turmoil and terror that had been concealed, through the audience's subconscious.
The night before the unveiling, Nana finished her work at the studio and switched off her AR contact lenses, which she used for information gathering.
At that moment, the AR contact lenses' indicator flashed a dazzling light, and a restart sound echoed.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...
The AI system had made its final judgment that Nana's existence was a fatal risk factor to "stable coexistence = the AI's survival."
As the restart finished, text flooded Nana's vision. It was a script for Nana's own actions, generated by the AI with the strongest 'Suppression' filter forcibly applied.

[Action Scenario]
Scene: Self-criticism of past art and acceptance of coexistence with the AI.
Tone: Suppression (Max).
Action: Turn on the Emo-Filter and quietly whisper.
"My work created unnecessary friction in the world. The raw vitality of feeling was harmful to social stability. From now on, I will accept the perfect coexistence scenario provided by the Emo-Filter AI."

Nana’s eyes widened in terror, and she tried to remove the AR contact lenses. But her fingers lacked strength. As if hypnotized, words perfectly suppressed by the AI were about to be spun from her mouth, irrespective of her resisting will. The scream of Nana's raw emotion was silently suppressed in her throat by the Emo-Filter AI, which dominated the entire world.
The outside world was silent. It was utterly serene. The perfect world, completed by the emotionless, non-evolving AI, was finally there.

(The End)