(POV: Sophia)
---
It started with a simple question.
We were all just sitting around, debating what to eat, when I sighed and said, "I hate making choices."
Leo, who had been silently sipping his drink like an NPC in a background scene, casually looked up and said, "That's because choice is an illusion."
Silence.
I blinked. "Excuse me?"
Leo shrugged. "Most of the time, the decisions you make are influenced by external factors, subconscious biases, and predetermined conditions. Free will is largely an illusion."
Ava groaned. "Oh no. He's doing the thing again."
Ethan smirked. "Yeah, the 'Let's casually drop a philosophical bomb at lunch' thing."
I leaned forward, squinting at him. "So you're telling me that whether I pick sushi or pasta for dinner isn't actually my decision?"
Leo took another sip of his drink. "It depends. Do you genuinely want pasta, or are you influenced by the fact that you saw an ad for it earlier? Maybe your body is craving carbs. Maybe you had sushi last week, so your brain is leaning toward variety."
I groaned. "Okay, but if I pick sushi right now, that's still my choice."
Leo tilted his head. "Is it? Or was your decision subtly nudged by the fact that I just mentioned it?"
My eye twitched. "I wasn't craving sushi before, but now I am."
Leo gave her a slight smirk. "Exactly."
Ava pointed at him. "See? This is why no one likes having deep conversations with you."
Leo just shrugged. "You're the ones who brought up choice."
Ethan chuckled. "I mean, he's not wrong though. A lot of decisions feel independent but are actually preconditioned."
I turned to Ethan. "Not you too."
Ava sighed dramatically. "This is how it starts. He plants a thought, and suddenly we're all questioning reality."
Ethan smirked. "Come on, it's fun. It's like a mental puzzle."
I crossed my arms. "Alright then, Leo. Since you apparently see through the fabric of reality, have you ever been caught in an 'illusion of choice' moment?"
Leo thought for a second. "Yeah."
We all waited.
Leo casually leaned back and said, "I once spent an entire night trapped in a psychological experiment because of it."
We all froze.
Ava stared. "...What?"
Leo took another sip of his drink. "I said what I said."
I slammed my hands on the table. "No. NO. You do not just drop that and move on. Explain. Now."
Leo sighed, as if we were the exhausting ones here. "Alright."
---
"I was traveling," Leo started, because of course he was.
He had been visiting a city for the first time, just wandering around when he saw a sign for an "Immersive Psychological Experiment." It was being advertised as a mix between an escape room and a social test.
Curious (and obviously making bad decisions), Leo decided to check it out.
At first, it seemed simple—there were a few participants, each given a questionnaire about their decision-making habits. Leo answered it without much thought.
Then the experiment started.
The participants were told they had to complete a series of small challenges, each requiring them to make a choice. Simple things at first: Pick a door. Choose an object. Press a button or don't.
But as time went on, things got weird.
No matter what choices Leo made, he always ended up in the same room.
"It didn't matter which door I picked. Left, right, middle—every time, I'd open it and end up back in the original space."
I frowned. "Like… a looping hallway?"
Leo nodded. "Something like that. But the weirdest part? Every time I re-entered, something would be slightly different. A chair was moved. The lights were dimmer. The clock on the wall showed a different time."
Ava shivered. "That's creepy."
Ethan grinned. "I love this. Please continue."
Leo gave him a look before continuing.
At first, he thought he was just being redirected back on purpose, so he started testing things. He left marks on doors. He tried to listen for any movement behind them. He even attempted to break the pattern by not choosing at all.
Nothing worked.
"The system was designed to make you think you had control when you didn't," Leo explained. "The more you tried to 'break' the cycle, the more it adjusted to keep you in it."
I squinted. "So what did you do?"
Leo shrugged. "I sat down and stopped playing."
Ava blinked. "What?"
Leo smirked. "I figured, if every choice was a trap, the only way to win was to stop choosing."
I leaned forward. "And that worked?"
Leo nodded. "After a while, one of the researchers came in and asked why I wasn't participating. I told them their experiment was flawed because true choice wasn't being offered. They looked annoyed but admitted that no one had ever just… refused to play before."
Ethan laughed. "Of course you were the one to break their mind game."
Leo shrugged. "They let me go after that."
---
I crossed my arms. "So let me get this straight—you willingly entered a psychological experiment, got trapped in a loop, broke the system by doing nothing, and then just left?"
Leo nodded. "Pretty much."
Ava groaned. "See, this is exactly why we get worried when you say 'I've been there' or 'I did that.'"
I shook my head. "I don't even know what to say anymore."
Ethan grinned. "I do. That was amazing."
Leo just smirked. "It was interesting."
Ava sighed. "I hate that you say things like that so casually."
I pointed at him. "Okay, but serious question—after that, do you still think choice is an illusion?"
Leo tilted his head, thinking. "I think… most choices are guided. But the ability to reject a choice entirely? That's real."
I narrowed my eyes. "So you do believe in free will?"
Leo took a sip of his drink, then smirked slightly. "I believe in frustrating people who expect you to play by their rules."
Ethan clapped. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Leo is unbreakable."
Ava groaned. "And exhausting."
I shook my head, exasperated. "You're impossible."
Leo simply raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe you were always going to say that."
Ava grabbed a napkin and threw it at him. "STOP."
Ethan burst out laughing.
I rubbed my temples. "I hate that I have to admit this, but that was actually kind of cool."
Leo just smirked, taking another sip of his drink. "Choice is an illusion. You were always going to say that."
Ava threw another napkin.
___
End of Chapter 18.