"I can't say that I've ever seen something like this before," the doctor told both mother and child as he stared at the nineteen year old's chart. Riaru, the daughter, shifted uncomfortably in the hard, office chair, refusing to make eye contact with the older man. "So, Dr. Yamashita referred you to me correct?"
"Hm? Oh! Yes, he thought that you might be able to help us diagnose my daughter," Riaru's mother told him almost eagerly.
"Well, honestly I'm not a psychologist like Yamashita. I'm actually just a surgeon here," the man paused. "But, I am currently in the middle of a study that's related to what your daughter may be experiencing. Which is probably why Dr. Yamashita sent you here." The man looked up from the chart catching her mother's eyes.
Riaru glanced at her from the corner of her vision , noticing that the woman's eye had grown considerably larger.
"It says here that she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. But, it also states that she doesn't display these symptoms 24/7, even when not on medication. Which is rather baffling since schizophrenia doesn't have an on and off switch," the doctor explained.
As things began to become interesting a voice emerged from the back of Riaru's mind, "Do you think that they've figured it out already? I'm surprised," the voice said, light laughter tainting the words. "It's only taken them eight years."
"I'm not sure..." Riaru replied silently to the voice. "But, as you said it has been eight years. Someone was bound to figure it out eventually."
"I believe that there is a possibility that your daughter has a personality disorder known as dissociative identity disorder. Though you may have heard it called multiple personality disorder. And it's possible that one of these personalities is schizophrenic," the man said as he paused to give the two a moment to soak in the information.
"He's using technical terms, but I believe he hit the nail right on the head, or heads so to speak," the voice laughed as Riaru nodded her head in agreement.
The doctor gave her a glance of mild interest.
Had he noticed?
"It's a condition in which two or more personality states alternately take control of an individual," he began to explain, "At the moment it is unclear as to how many personality states Riaru has, but I believe at least one of these personalities she has is schizophrenic. Which would explain why the symptoms aren't continuously displayed."
Riaru's mother was silent for a moment, "So what you're saying is that my daughter has several different people inside her head?"
"In a manner of speaking. One of these 'people' in her head is schizophrenic, and when that personality state takes over is when her hallucinations, and her other symptoms of schizophrenia come into play," the stated trying to clear things up for the mother. "This is one case where her dissociative identity disorder actually somewhat helps your daughter, it seems that one of her other personalities is helping contain it for her. Which is most likely why she's able to function normally on a day to day basis."
"Your mother seems surprised," the voice quipped. "I mean she just found out that her precious little girl is a certified psycho." Laughter echoed through the girl's mind as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
Riaru's gaze shifted guiltily towards her dress as she began tracing one of the flowers on her dress.
The voice let out an annoyed sigh, "Are you seriously feeling guilty for something you have no control of?"
Riaru remained silent.
"Move over," the voice snapped. "I think it's time I talk to this doctor that you're too afraid to even look at."
"Now?!" The girl yelped. "But we're in the middle of a conversation with the doctor!" Riaru explained, not wanting to cause a scene.
"You have to be talking for it to be a conversation, which you're not. So move."
Not one to cause conflict, especially within her own mind, Riaru retreated back a bit to make room for the voice.
As soon as control was given was the voice slouched down in the uncomfortable seat and kicked off the painful heels that had adorned their feet.
"Riaru?" My mother asked, questioning their outrageous behavior.
But Riaru wasn't in control anymore, now it was Yū. "Sooo," Yū said drawing out the word, "Dissociative Identity Disorder huh? Sounds fancy."
There was a moment of silence as Riaru's mother stared at Yū in disbelief and as the doctor's interest visibly sparked back up at the girl's sudden change in behavior.
"Mrs. Genji, may I speak to your daughter alone for just a moment?" the doctor directed the question towards Riaru's mother.
"Finally things are getting interesting," Yū chuckled in their mind.
"Please, be nice to him," Riaru pleaded as Mrs. Genji exited the room.
"May I ask who I'm speaking to?" The doctor asked calmly, making direct eye contact with the girl's grey irises.
Even Yū was surprised by the doctor's bluntness, but the more aggressive personality state was quick to recover. "See Riaru, I told you he'd found us out," Yū spoke aloud for the benefit of the older man.
Completely embarrassed, Riaru forced Yū back just long enough to apologize to the doctor before being taken over once again, "No need to be so aggressive Riaru, your good friend Yū here is going to take care of everything," Yū spoke the line out loud. The man just sat in his chair watching with extreme interest as the two personalities argued with each other."I'll be honest Doc, we were surprised that you figured it out so quickly, I mean, you're the... What? Twelfth professional that we've been to in the last eight years, and not even an hour into our session and you have us nailed! You should feel proud!" Yū said with a smile, slowly clapping in a mocking manner. They leaned in, hand cupping the edge of their mouth, whispering, "Everyone else has called my existence a mood swing." She leaned back, hand dropping. "I mean really, I'm a mood swing?"
The doctor leaned his elbows on his desk and slowly settled his chin to rest in his hands, anyone could see the extreme interest that sparked up within the doctor's eyes. "So, Yū was it?" he questioned. "May I ask how many there are like you and Riaru?"
Yū sat in silence for a moment thinking over the question, "Well seeing as to how neither Riaru or myself are schizophrenic... That means that there is a high possibility of there being at least three of us. Though I couldn't exactly tell you if that's true or not, Riaru and I share many of the same experiences, and those times when we go psychotic... Well... Those memories tend to be hard to recover," Yū answered the curious doctor as she kicked up their bare feet onto his desk, only for them to be jerked off as Riaru gained back a bit of control over their lower body. "Geeze Riaru."
"You're lying," Riaru muttered.
There was silence for a moment as Kanou watched while Riaru fought to regain control back from Yū, after another minute Yū still had control and Riaru had grown weary. "So, Doc," Yū winced in pain, "Fine! Dr... ah," she paused, "What was your name again?
The man kindly smiled at her. "Kanou, Kanou Akihiro. It's nice to meet you Yū."