It was Sunday morning.

It was time to implement the course of action that Jay and Sorrow had devised yesterday.

In the spirit of formality, they had agreed to name the upcoming activity 'Operation Joybringer.'

As for why they settled on that name, they planned to siphon people's sadness away, which was roughly equivalent to bringing joy into their lives.

There were many cemeteries scattered across the city, but he decided to head toward the nearest public one.

There was no point in choosing a specific place, as the emotion of grief is common to all, regardless of faith or socio-economic status.

He planned to use Identification on other people, attempting to have Sorrow make contact with them on a metaphysical level.

They had hypothesized that the ‘sight’ mode of his ability might be considered a form of touch from a metaphysical perspective.

To be fair, they didn’t have to go to a physical location, and could’ve used the ‘image’ mode instead.

However, this presents several issues on its own, which they would rather avoid.

They would have no way of knowing whether the ability actually worked as intended, as they couldn’t possibly determine the aftereffects of usage without observing the target in person.

Remote observation wasn’t feasible at the moment, as his ability couldn’t retrieve information about a target’s mental state for now.

There was also a chance that they might unknowingly interrupt a target’s activity, potentially causing a host of problems.

As for the use of the ‘touch’ mode, it was even more impossible for obvious reasons.

In the past, Jay would be quite reluctant to do this initiative, as he had no way of knowing if the supposed target was metaphysically-inclined only by basic observation.

However, after the recent enhancement to his ability, he could now feel some sort of premonition regarding the intentions of others and the possible outcomes of a contemplated course of action.

This could possibly be an embryonic form of the metaphysical senses.

Nevertheless, it was enough to give him assurance that he wasn’t likely to step on anyone’s toes as long as he listened to his instincts and didn’t act hastily.

He had already instructed Sorrow as to what type of people they were going to single out, based on the considerations he had made beforehand.

Sorrow expressed that the matter was quite easy for it, so he had no worries about this aspect of the operation.

What he was worried about was the aftereffects on the target after their sadness had been siphoned away.

There was a slight chance that it might adversely affect the target in some ways, although they had no way of knowing exactly unless they tried it at least once.

He truly hoped that nothing would go wrong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he inadvertently ruined the life of an innocent person.

If possible, he would have experimented on himself, but there was no point to it.

He would become both the performer and the target, not to mention that he was the host of the one doing the extraction. He just wasn’t a reliable sample.

The conditions for Sorrow’s growth also required variety, which he couldn’t provide on his own, even if he wanted to.

As for cancelling the initiative, he was quite reluctant to do so. He couldn’t possibly stunt the development of Sorrow just for his own peace of mind.

-

He soon arrived at the cemetery.

There weren’t too many people at the moment, as the season for mourning was still quite far away.

The people in the vicinity were just here to visit their dead, and perhaps clean their graves while they were at it.

Jay walked around the area, hoping to find a suitable target without arousing suspicion.

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Based on their arrangements, whenever one was found within the immediate vicinity, Sorrow would manifest in the physical realm for a split-second, effectively sending him a pulse of sadness that would serve as a signal.

He would then use his Identification ability on every person around him, one by one.

Of course, he would still have to trust his instincts in this regard, lest he unknowingly Identify a metaphysically-sensitive ascendant, possibly leading to an unnecessary confrontation.

Sorrow would send another pulse when he targeted the right person, and he would focus on that person until he received another signal.

If he received another pulse shortly after locking onto the target, it meant that their hypothesis about 'sight' had proven to be false, and they would have to adjust their strategy in the next meeting.

However, if he received the signal only after a while, it meant that Sorrow had successfully extracted negative emotions from the target.

If so, he would then observe the changes in the target, the visible ones at least.

Before the commencement of the operation, they had tested that Sorrow could manifest without noticeably affecting Jay’s mental state, as long as the duration didn’t exceed a quarter of a second.

This split-second pulse of sadness felt akin to a strong heartbeat, which was quite noticeable, but not detrimental to his mental state in any way.

It only took a few minutes for them to find a suitable target, which wasn’t unexpected considering their current location.

After locking onto the target, Jay found a convenient spot to stand around, looking as if he was waiting for someone.

Of course, he didn’t need to stare at the target to use his ability on them, as a single glance would usually be enough as long as the line of sight was unobstructed.

To his relief, the ‘sight’ mode of this ability did indeed allow Sorrow to metaphysically connect with the target.

Since they had already succeeded with the most crucial step, the test could be considered to be half done.

The current target was an old man, standing in front of a small grave that seemed to belong to a child.

Since Sorrow had deemed him to be a suitable target, the level of negative emotions in the old man’s psyche must have been enough to be worth extracting, but not enough to induce a jarring contrast after the extraction.

Jay had to wait for about ten seconds until he felt the pulse again, which meant that the extraction was successful.

He didn’t leave immediately after the deed, but observed the old man for a while in the corner of his eyes.

As expected, the somber expression on the old man’s face had eased not long after.

Even so, a trace of sadness still remained, as sincere grief could never truly disappear in its entirety no matter how one heals.

After confirming that there were no adverse aftereffects on the target, he then proceeded to walk somewhere else, as if the person he was waiting for had already moved to another location.

As the initial testing had proven to be successful, they performed the rest of the operation without any problems.

In the earlier meeting this morning, they had decided on ten targets for the meantime, as they still had to observe the benefits and consequences of the activity in question.

As they were in a public cemetery, they had reached their quota in only about an hour, after which they went home to consolidate their gains.

They had made an exception today to meet after the operation, a detour from their previous arrangement that they would only convene in the morning after he woke up.

Operation Joybringer ended up being somewhat uneventful, which seemed unbefitting of the seriousness they had attached to the activity by giving it a name.

They completed the operation according to their tentative plan, without any strange encounters or interludes.

Although it was the best scenario he could have hoped for, Jay still felt a tinge of disappointment regarding the event.

Perhaps this might have been a subconscious manifestation of Nosiness, as he normally had no business inviting unnecessary trouble to himself.

Before leaving the cemetery, he ignited a pile of dry grass and leaves, walking over it many times until he was satisfied.

This was a local custom he had seen his elders perform for as long as he could remember.

Although one might argue that it was mere superstition, he didn’t want to take any chances, especially now that he had already been exposed to matters beyond the mundane.

There might really be some esoteric explanation regarding this custom, one that was beyond his current knowledge and understanding of the metaphysical world.

-

Jay returned to his room in roughly the same time it took him to go to the cemetery, as the traffic wasn’t as congested compared to the weekdays.

Sensing that Jay was feeling comfortable in his own home, Sorrow manifested into the physical realm once again, bringing with it an infectious aura of despondency.

Jay was somewhat getting used to it after already being exposed a few times.

Although he still had to expend some effort in balancing his mental state, it wasn’t as burdensome as before.

“Hey there, Sorrow. How was it?”

“Good, good. Now that I think about it, this seems to be the first time you had many flavors to partake in, right?”

“Oh. Then let’s just double the quota next time.”

It seemed like Sorrow was still quite far from its limit, which as good, as it meant that the corresponding pace of its improvement would be much faster compared to their initial assumptions.

“Anyway, did you notice anything strange on your perspective?”

“Nothing? What a pity…”

“Well, as they say, the grass is greener on the other side.”

It was quite strange when one thought about it.

Jay had once been subjected to an anomaly when his ability interacted with Sorrow, which was an experience he didn’t like.

Even now, he was still reluctant to use his ability on himself, especially when he was bound to interact with Sorrow more frequently from now on.

Despite that, he actually wanted an unaccounted variable to appear during their recent activity. A better way to describe it would be courting death.

Perhaps this might just be another form of the concept of consent.

Although he didn’t like being subjected to matters beyond his understanding, it was a different story if it was his conscious decision in the first place.

“Hmm. I won’t be available tomorrow, though. It’s Monday. I have classes, you know.”

Sorrow had taken a liking to this activity, and wanted to do it more often.

Unfortunately for it, Jay still had a strong belongingness to the mundane world, and was quite reluctant to neglect it in favor of metaphysical adventures.

“Right, right. That could work. Well then, I guess it’s time to adjourn for the day.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow morning.”

It seemed like he had overlooked the fact that finals week starts tomorrow, which was a good chance to catch a couple of easy targets here and there.

Although he would technically be taking advantage of their plight, it was still worlds apart from the grief experienced from the loss of loved ones.

As such, he had no problem targeting his peers. In fact, he would be doing them a favor by regulating their mental state on such a stressful week.

Now that he had made up his mind about the matter, he was eagerly looking forward to 'helping' his fellow students tomorrow.