The act of Crushing is an ability able to be used in Pet. It is weaponized by the Company to have its users target those that can interfere with its goals.
Description[]
A state of shock usually accompanies the person within a memory. Upon being crushed the physical body enters a seizure like state, before outwardly becoming fully unresponsive. Depending on the extent of the crushing, a person can still be guided to retain certain information as Satoru's grandmother was. Image users such as Tsukasa and Hayashi, whilst externally inactive, could still have their images reach out to others within a limited timeframe before the crushing became permanent.
Method[]
Crushing can be performed by destroying a person's Peak. Once their most happiest memories are altered, usually for the worse, and no longer correspond to the reality they live in, the mind can collapse. Crushing can be done within Valleys as well. Slight verbal changes can be all that is required to tamper with an important concept that can render someone crushed.
Known People Who Have Been Crushed[]
Yokota[]
In his Valley comprised of multiple huge feet, Yokota may have seen Katsuragi in the place of his younger brother. Struck by a foot himself resulted in Yokota's crushing. At that point Yokota was physically deceased but the existence of him in Katsuragi's memory could no longer be interacted with either.
Satoru's Grandmother[]
Within Satoru's grandmother's mind, she remembered her son initially assuring her that he was fine using his college fund to pay for her medical bills. The sudden and drastic change to him angrily and spitefully deriding her over such a decision when she was at her happiest resulted in her crushing. Satoru's grandmother was still able to be communicated with to some extent, she was told to explain to others that Satoru was adopted.
Tsukasa[]
Using a back door to reach Hayashi's Peak, Tsukasa caused all the water to rise up and then have a torrent of blood come down. Tsukasa was caught up in the destruction he wrought on Hayashi's Peak and as that collapsed, so did Tsukasa. Physically Tsukasa had a glazed look in his eyes, drooled and was unresponsive to outward stimuli. His water image reacted in the presence of Hiroki, with droplets floating upward to show some degree of consciousness remained. Inwardly, his crushed state of mind involved Tsukasa lying in a sea of body parts. His torso from the chest down was split and he could only think of what Hayashi said to him.
Hayashi[]
With his Peak destroyed, Hayashi was rendered in a comatose state but kept alive in a hospital mortuary on the orders of the CEO. Although it was assumed that he was powerless, his wind image was able to signal and lead Hiroki down several floors of the building to where his body was being kept.
Ambassador[]
This ambassador has his Peak crushed when it was modified to have the memory of his father change his answer to a reply that he was not his son. The ambassador promptly entered a seizure like state where he did not react to his wife, or others around him.