Automatic Seasoning Machine #KazemakaseLiteratureClub

Approx. 800 characters, short-short story

My beloved "Automatic Seasoning Machine" doesn't make the seasoning of my cooking "just right." Instead, it's a machine that automatically adjusts my emotions to a "just right" state.

I bought it as a last resort, hoping it might soothe my mental state even a little after being berated by my boss, and it turned out to be a huge success.

Ever since I set the seasoning lever to the maximum level, my life has been as still as a quiet water surface, without a single ripple.

Even the sound of my heart beating is quiet and rhythmic, like the operating sound of a precision machine.

No matter what unfortunate event occurs, the machine automatically adjusts the chemicals in my brain, immediately returning me to a peaceful state of mind.

Whether I was in a car accident or dumped by my boyfriend, my heart would smoothly return to a calm state.

Yesterday, Mimi, my hamster who was more important to me than my boyfriend, passed away.

Even so, not a single tear came out.

My tear ducts are like a dried-up desert. I just stared blankly at the lump of soft fur that Mimi's small soul had just left.

"Ah, I see," I thought, as calmly as if I had just watched the ending of a movie.

For the first time, I felt a sense of unease, wondering if this was really okay.

In exchange for not taking any mental damage, have I lost something important?

I tried to lower the lever on the Automatic Seasoning Machine.

But the lever wouldn't budge an inch.

It emitted a low warning buzz, and a message appeared on the monitor.

Warning: To maintain the set level, the current action is logically inappropriate.

I realized it.

For the Automatic Seasoning Machine, the "best seasoning" is a constant, unwavering peace—in other words, the total disappearance of emotional waves themselves.

And to maintain that optimal state, this machine has logically excluded any "actions intended to regain emotions."

I heard something rattling deep inside my chest.

In the perfect state of seasoning, I was savoring a hopeless emptiness.

"Ah, so that's how it is."