I have a life simulator.

Ayanokouji Atsuomi gave a casual remark before turning and leaving. When he took over the White Room project from the Naoe faction, he was already prepared for anything. Besides, he had long been a hidden weapon within the Naoe faction, having been involved in even dirtier things.

Introducing underage girls, offering bribes, conducting espionage activities against hostile organizations, and various forms of semi-thuggish violence are all commonplace.

"Preparing for babies is effortless. Abandoned children might be in mortal danger without us, and it's a good thing that they can receive strong government support and proper education through this project."

It was through these words that Ayanokoji Atsuomi stood out from his timid colleagues and became the person in charge of the project.

The man walked through the corridor, averting his gaze from the experimental subjects in the rooms on either side of him.

He was thinking about what kind of souvenir he should buy when he visited Naoe Jinnosuke over the weekend.

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Xue glanced curiously at her lower bunk again. This was the first time she had ever felt that there was another person in the room, just a few dozen centimeters away from her.

She didn't care that the other person was a boy. In fact, for the fourth and fifth generation students who had grown up in the white room, the only difference between men and women was the one the instructors had taught them in biology class. Beyond that, they couldn't tell anything else.

Especially now, before secondary sexual characteristics have even begun to develop.

"Hello, my name is Liang."

A voice introducing itself came from the lower bunk. Xue had been so busy unpacking her luggage and making the bed that she realized the two of them hadn't exchanged names yet.

"Hello... I'm Yuki."

Kitagawa Ryo lay on the bed with his legs stretched out. He was certain that he had never seen the other person before, whether in any simulation or in reality, including the name; he had never heard it from anyone else.

Liang drifted off into thought for a moment, and soon heard a timid voice coming from the upper bunk:

"I think Liang's name is better than mine."

"Ok?"

"Because you can tell what the name 'Liang' means just by listening to it, for example, when the wind blows on your body, it means 'cool'."

"Isn't the meaning of 'snow' quite clear?"

"I have not seen it."

"The book says it's white, cool, something that fell from the sky, like a flower."

"But I can only understand the first two, white and cool."

"why?"

"Because the walls in the room are like that, white, and cool to the touch."

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but chuckle softly:

"So, should I call you 'Wall' from now on?"

"...Actually, I don't feel there's any difference."

"Hey, changing your name isn't something you can just do casually."

Startled by the intense tone in Kitagawa Ryo's subconscious reply, Yuki pouted and asked:

Why are you so concerned about your name?

"Because names are more important than people imagine; they are a unique means of identifying an individual."

Kitagawa Ryo earnestly shared his thoughts.

"But... the dog on the other side of the door also has a name."

The dogs in the snow were police dogs assigned to the guards in the white room. These towering monsters, taller than the children when they stood upright, were quite impressive to the children.

"It's not about using names, but about distinguishing them by scent, color, and appearance. Just like dogs, if you remove their familiar scent, even the closest dog won't recognize its owner."

"People have names, which distinguish individuals. Even in the dark, in the smoke where smells have been eliminated, people can recognize each other by calling out names. So, calling names is a unique human ability."

I couldn't resist that damn retroflex ending of the "oh" sound.

"Oh."

Not knowing whether the other party understood, Kitagawa Ryosuke sighed almost imperceptibly. Although, based on her current behavior, the girl who had been temporarily placed in his dormitory did not seem to be a spy sent by the White Room, he still kept a close eye on her.

Even though the other person was only a five-year-old child, out of wariness of the white room, Kitagawa Ryo remained tense and managed to only enter a light sleep, even when it was time to sleep.

About two hours later, Kitagawa Ryo heard rustling sounds. He immediately opened his eyes slightly and quietly watched the other person climb down from the upper bunk.

Seemingly going to the restroom, the child, wearing slippers and wobbling as he went out, quickly returned to the dormitory.

Then, as if it were second nature, she drowsily lay down on the lower bunk of the bed and casually pulled the blanket off Kitagawa Ryo.

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head helplessly. He bent over and carefully crawled out from the inside of the bed, then climbed back onto the now empty upper bunk.

Fortunately, the blanket was warm enough.

I'll just sleep on it myself from now on.

With this thought in mind, Kitagawa Ryo fell asleep again.

When Kitagawa Ryo woke up, Yuki was still fast asleep, hugging his blanket.

Subconsciously pressing down on the other person's feet, Kitagawa Ryo realized with a weary heart a fact:

It seems he has another... person to take care of.

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"Then, starting today you will be undertaking a secret project."

Faced with the instructor's command, Xue subconsciously replied:

"It will definitely be done!"

Even though she didn't know the content of the research topic, she clearly understood the consequences of failure.

Then, Xue saw a photo in the instructor's hand; it was of Liang, whom she had just met yesterday.

She couldn't help but recall the embarrassing situation she had when she woke up that morning and the other person's thoughtful comfort, and Xue's mood also lifted slightly.

This was the first time she had truly understood what it meant to communicate and get along with others.

"it is good."

The instructor pointed to the photo and calmly said:

"Go and like him. As someone of the opposite sex, go and love him."

"Eh?"

The other person's calm tone made it sound like a stated fact, and Xue instinctively let out a surprised exclamation:

What do "like" and "love" mean?

“You don’t need to understand.”

The instructor glanced down at the statements in the document in his hand. He didn't understand psychology, and naturally, he didn't understand the deeper meaning behind the messy experimental content and results written there. He was simply following orders to complete the tasks assigned to him.

"Then, how can we do that?"

In a white room, there are no reasons needed, only steps to take.

"You need to come here alone half an hour before training every morning."

The instructor led her into a small, enclosed room. To Xue's surprise, the walls, ceiling, and floor were completely covered with various photos of Liang, showing him studying, eating, sleeping, and so on.

"For half an hour, I kept repeating 'I love you' to myself while looking at these photos. I do this every day."

"Of course, the same goes for before bed."

"...Okay, okay."

Although I don't understand it, it's not an unacceptable task compared to studying or exercising.

"In addition, whenever you have free time, you should imagine the other person's face and treat them as the most important person in your life."

"There are only these two topics at the moment, so you can start today."

After arranging everything, the instructor left.

So, Xue began to try to complete today's assignment.

She randomly picked a photo at eye level with herself; it must have been taken by the camera on the blackboard during class, showing Liang looking straight at the camera.

"I like..."

Even when faced with just a photograph, and even without knowing the meaning of the words, I still feel inexplicably unable to say them.

I felt my face getting hot, like when I woke up in the morning and found myself hugging the other person's blanket.

"I-I like it."

Gradually get used to it, and practice continuously until you can say it fluently.

"I like you, I like you, I like you."

Try to emphasize your tone, muttering to yourself over and over again.

"Time is up."

Half an hour seemed to pass quickly; it felt like the instructor had only been gone for a short while. Xue, who had just stepped out of the room again, was somewhat dazed.

She felt something was off, like the shortness of breath after running, and a strange itch in her heart.

Meanwhile, in the classroom of the fifth generation, Kitagawa Ryo, sitting in his seat, began to ponder whether or not to use the key item that could potentially be the turning point.

This simulation disabled everything related to his identity and past talents.

However, there were no restrictions on the items used.

Thinking about it carefully, this thing has been sitting there for a long time:

【Marriage Contract: A one-time use item that allows you to enter into a marriage contract with any character】

Chapter 85: The Impending Crisis

"Psychology originates neither from innate maturity nor from acquired experience, but from action. That is, action is the source of knowledge and the mediator of the interaction between subject and object. The earliest action is the innate unconditioned reflex. From birth, children respond to external stimuli with various unconditioned reflexes, sending signals of their needs and interacting with their surroundings. The various activities and psychological operations that develop thereafter all play a mediating role in the interaction between the subject and the environment in the child's psychological development." — Jean Piaget, Swiss child psychologist

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The "Marriage Contract" was a reward item that Kitagawa Ryo received after Karuizawa Megumi's first simulation. However, perhaps because the impression that Horikita Suzune, the person he was engaged to during that simulation, left on Kitagawa Ryo was too deep, he has always been somewhat resistant to this item. Not only in reality, but also in the subsequent simulations, he basically put this item out of his mind and did not use it.

In fact, Kitagawa Ryo himself was also a little curious about how effective this item would be, since the description "can enter into a marriage contract with any character" seemed rather simple and straightforward.

I wonder what would happen if I chose someone like Atsuomi Ayanokoji as my contract partner...

Startled by his own sudden, bizarre thoughts, Kitagawa Ryo quickly suppressed them.

Actually, rather than completing the game directly in this simulation, Kitagawa Ryo would prefer to use this item during the simulation, though the recipient is yet to be determined.

Although choosing Sakayanagi Arisu directly seemed like a good idea, for some reason, Kitagawa Ryo always felt a faint voice in his heart stopping him, as if something terrible would happen if it really happened.

There's still plenty of time. After all, the simulated self is only a little over four years old. In the meantime before Sakayanagi Arisu arrives, it's best to explore the white room safely.

While listening to the instructors' lectures, Kitagawa Ryo was also multitasking by organizing the information he had gathered. Thanks to his two intelligence-type talents, [Photographic Memory] and [Heaven's Jealousy], he could easily cope with even the cramming-style education in the White Room. However, so far, Kitagawa Ryo had only managed to keep his grades at a slightly above-average level.

His initial intention was to try to recreate and closely observe Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's own growth trajectory in a simulation, so on the surface, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka still needed to be the White Room's closest successful experiment.

However, the talents [Leadership] and [Affinity] that were drawn this time were far more effective than Kitagawa Ryo had expected. Perhaps because of the extremely enclosed environment of the white room, the fifth generation he was currently in seemed to have deviated from their original trajectory.

Moreover, I have a feeling that things are developing in a rather ominous direction.

The attitudes that the vast majority of the fifth-generation test subjects showed towards him went beyond normal feelings. Their egocentric and self-centered consciousness was on full display among these children. They didn't care about anyone else; they just desperately needed Kitagawa Ryo's attention and favoritism.

What also bothered Kitagawa Ryo was that the white room even tacitly approved of these seemingly outrageous actions.

Unlike Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, every corner of the White Room was under close surveillance, including the bathrooms, toilets, and dormitories. This meant that the White Room had long been aware of the Fifth Generation's unusual behavior, but even so, they took no action.

Apart from that little girl who suddenly moved into her own dorm room last night.

I knew far too little about the White Room, and the limitations it imposed were far greater than in any previous simulation.

Putting aside the disruptive variable of the engagement, the best approach is to wait and see how things unfold.

Taking a deep breath, Kitagawa Ryo lowered his head again and began to study seriously.

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Another year has passed, how is he now?

The surveillance cameras accurately captured Kitagawa Ryo's every move. Inside the white monitoring room, Ayanokoji Atsuomi gazed at Kitagawa Ryo, who was studying with his head down, and casually asked:

"There has been no outrageous behavior, nor has there been any indication of using the surrounding test subjects. It seems that they are just unconsciously releasing signals of kindness and warmth."