I have a life simulator.

“He doesn’t remember anything now and poses no threat to you at all.”

Sakayanagi Arisu leaned her cane against the bedside table, smoothing a strand of hair behind her ear. Her silver-white hair had a remarkable texture. The petite girl looked up at Matsuo Eiichiro with a half-smile, her deep purple pupils as still as a deep pool, making it impossible to discern her thoughts.

How can you be so sure that I don't know him, or that he doesn't know me?

Sakayanagi Arisu paused for a moment. She had recognized Matsuo Eiichiro's identity long ago, and it was even more than two years ago that she had deliberately leaked Kitagawa Ryo's information to his father. So she smiled:

"His life didn't just begin at fourteen, and you're not his only friend."

[Matsuo Eiichiro, sensing that the girl's tone seemed harmless, calmed down and frowned as he asked:]

"You know that Ryo came from the White House?"

"The White House?"

Sakayanagi Arisu tilted her head slightly. Her posture was extremely upright, and this slight swaying made her look more lively.

"You could say that, but there are still differences in essence."

"The White House's purpose is to cultivate a group of emotionless robots... Oh, it seems there's someone else involved. Is it alright if she knows?"

Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at Nanase Tsubasa beside her and asked with interest.

"She is someone I can trust."

Eiichiro Matsuo responded immediately.

"If you really know anything about Liang's past, I beg you to tell me."

He then took a step forward, bent slightly, and said with pursed lips:

"Please."

"Well, it looks like he'll have to wait quite a while anyway, but who knows, he might never wake up?"

Sakayanagi Arisu mischievously poked Kitagawa Ryo's cheek with her right index finger:

"...You can't be that pathetic, can you?"

She said in a low voice.

How much do you know about the White Room?

"I only knew that it was an organization that cultivated geniuses... I didn't dare to ask my father any more questions."

Matsuo Eiichiro's father, Mr. Matsuo, was a butler who worked for important figures in the upper echelons of society, which is why he knew a little bit about the matter, but only a little bit.

"The White House is indeed similar to what you imagined. It uses a closed management and education system to mass-produce artificial geniuses, or rather, emotionless robots?"

Sakayanagi Arisu explained to him:

“I went there once when I was little. In the huge white building, five- or six-year-old children sat there receiving education. It was very depressing.”

The girl shook her head:

"Even if there are successful cases of this kind of education, it is not suitable for promotion, or the plan was wrong from the beginning."

Sakayanagi Arisu gently touched the boy's face in front of her:

"Things created like that are not human at all, and even if they are the work of a genius, they are useless."

"Humans learn what warmth is through contact with each other. This is very important; the warmth of skin is by no means a bad thing."

【"so what?"

Matsuo Eiichiro seemed to have a bad feeling, but he tried to strengthen his wavering heart and continue listening to Sakayanagi Arisu's words.

"So I want to prove that their method is wrong."

Sakayanagi Arisu's smile remained unchanged:

"If their philosophy is that humans can become stronger by removing their emotions."

"Then all I have to do is create a being who acts out of emotion, and then have him defeat the White House's 'greatest masterpiece,' isn't that enough?"

"Is that person Liang?"

"It just happened."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head:

"In fact, Kitagawa Ryo's situation was quite special at the time. His parents died in a car accident and he lost all his memories. Although he was ten years old, he was no different from a newborn baby. This was the reason why almost all of his relatives refused his adoption request."

"Sending such a child to an orphanage is not a good option either."

“I overheard the nurses’ conversation in the hospital and then asked my father to ‘adopt’ him.”

Suppressing his anger, Matsuo Eiichiro asked:

"Does that mean bringing the cool food there?"

"Ah."

"What's the deal with Ichinose Honami and his communications?"

Upon hearing this topic, Sakayanagi Arisu covered her mouth and chuckled softly for some reason before continuing:

"Actually, we later learned that Kitagawa Ryo still remembered some things, such as his childhood friend Ichinose Honami. Oh, he called her Honami-neechan back then, and Ichinose Honami called him Kitagawa Ryo-nii."

"Before the people following us left, he secretly went to Ichinose's house to see her again, and presumptuously left a fake mailing address. In fact, that address was a vacation home of the Sakayanagi family in the United States. We don't know when he memorized it."

"Sure enough, Ichinose Honami started sending him letters to that address after that, and of course, they all ended up in our hands."

Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to be recalling those days, and her tone seemed lighter:

"Actually, what we wanted to do back then was to instill a concept in Kitagawa Ryo who had amnesia: 'You must work hard for someone.'"

"Later we found out that we didn't actually need to implant it; it already existed in his subconscious."

"Do you mean Honami Ichinose?"

Matsuo Eiichiro took a deep look at Ichinose Honami, who was lying on another bed.

"Correct answer, but unfortunately there is no reward."

Sakayanagi Arisu spoke in a flat tone, perhaps because, to her, casually exploiting the feelings between two complete strangers was no big deal, or even like finding some fun toy:

"Kitagawa Ryo readily accepted our guidance. With his past memories as a foundation, he quickly came to believe that he did indeed have a younger sister. Then, in that enclosed white room, he worked desperately for this fictional 'younger sister'."

"They really work very hard."

She spoke as if in praise, her eyes lowered as she looked at the unconscious Kitagawa Ryo:

"Despite not having any particular talent, Ryo was determined to become stronger for her younger sister. In the first three years after entering the White Room, she transformed from a blank slate into one of the best. Ryo was so adorable back then that it was heartbreaking."

"As long as you say 'Brother, do your best today,' he can study tirelessly until he collapses. If you just pat him on the head, he can beat someone with better physical fitness than him in the afternoon physical education class, and then run back to his sister covered in injuries and say: 'I did it!' He's just like an obedient little dog."

"Oh dear, are you angry?"

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Matsuo Eiichiro, whose fists were already clenched, and laughed:

"I'm willing to endure the coldness myself."

"That's because you've brainwashed him. You're just exploiting his will!"

"is it?"

Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to have thought of something interesting, and she didn't seem to notice Matsuo Eiichiro's somewhat rude tone:

"Unfortunately, his will wasn't that strong either."

"It was in the fourth year, well, around the age of fourteen, that Ryo seemed to reach his limit."

She looked up and recalled very seriously:

"Whether it's academics, physical fitness, or the cultivation of other knowledge, he suddenly couldn't keep up with the pace."

"It's a terrifying thing to regress in a place like the White House."

"He began to lose large parts of his memory. Not only could he not remember what he learned today, but he would even forget what he learned last month. As a result, his grades gradually dropped to the bottom of that class."

"Thinking back to his expression after he realized he had been eliminated... it was so desperate, but he was crying and begging to stay for his sister. His failure was ugly."

A cruel smile curved Sakayanagi Arisu's lips:

"So in the end, I had no choice but to eliminate him as a scapegoat."

-------------------------------------

You rolled over in a sea of ​​dreams, these bubble-like dreams enveloping you as softly as the finest sofa. You waved your hand, and a dream flew over, beginning to play before you like a movie.

[You realized you could see into other people's dreams when you were thirteen. From then on, you intentionally sought out various dreams in that area during your nighttime dreams. At the time, you didn't realize the immense pressure this behavior would put on you later; for you, it was merely a pastime to pass the time.]

"But these people's dreams are so boring."

You yawned. Most of the dreams of your contemporaries in the white room were blank, as empty as the vast white room itself. These empty dreams entered your mind without even making a ripple.

"Should I see what my sister is dreaming about?" You struggle with this question every night. On one hand, you are indeed incredibly attached to your sister, but on the other hand, you feel that prying into the dreams of someone close to you is not the right thing to do.

"But I really want to see it."

Such thoughts pop into your mind, spreading like wildfire through your heart.

"How about we just take a look?"

Driven by your desire, you slowly search for your sister's dream within this area. Soon you find her, for unlike other white dreams, this one is crystal clear and radiates a rainbow of colors.

"If my sister says something bad about me in my dream, I'll just treat it as a dream."

"If my sister speaks well of me in her dream, I'll take it as her subconscious true thoughts!"

Having reassured yourself beforehand, you cautiously touched upon the dream, and the next moment, your consciousness was sucked in.

-------------------------------------

"Dear brother, Kitagawa Ryo! This is Ichinose Honami. It's been two weekends since you moved away. I'm very unhappy right now, so I don't want you to be happy when you see this letter. If you're happy, you won't know how unhappy I am."

"Actually, what makes me even angrier is that when I'm unhappy, I can't just go to your house and tell you I'm unhappy. Instead, I have to write you a letter. By the time you receive the letter, I might have already forgotten about it. And when you reply, I might have something new to tell you."

“I really don’t like writing letters. I’d rather look at your face, look into your eyes, and say these words to you.”

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at the letter from Ichinose Honami in her hand and covered her forehead, feeling somewhat exhausted.

"So why do you want me to reply?"

“Because you yourself took the initiative to ask to be the ‘younger sister’ role, I think that having you reply to this letter would allow you to better understand the other person’s thoughts and better play the role.”

The old butler, dressed in a suit and tie, bowed and said.

"Is this so...?"

Sakayanagi Arisu, who considers herself a genius, hasn't been interested in anything for a long time. The recent "Kitagawa Ryo" barely qualifies. She read the whole letter again. By literary standards, the letter is appropriate for the recipient's age of ten. Various typos and occasional grammatical errors fill the entire letter. However, if you only consider the emotions, it is still quite sincere.

"As compensation for taking your place, let me create a beautiful dream for you."

Sakayanagi Arisu grasped the pen:

"Don't wake up."

She quickly wrote a reply to Ichinose Honami under the alias Kitagawa Ryo, expressing her longing for Ichinose Honami, subtly hinting at her hope to increase the frequency of their correspondence, and finally stating bluntly, "I really love Ichinose Honami the most!"

For the next three years, she continued to correspond with Honami Ichinose in this manner.

"You're at a loss because a boy in your class confessed to you? Oh, he should be in middle school by now, so it's about time."

Sakayanagi Arisu unfolded the letter, and a mischievous idea suddenly popped into her head:

"I like you. Although we've been apart for three years, it's precisely because of this separation that I've become aware of my feelings."

"Although I can't meet you right now, could you please ask Ichinose Honami to be my girlfriend, and to become Kitagawa Ryo's girlfriend?"

Sakayanagi Arisu stopped writing, propped her head up with her hand, and chuckled as she tapped the table with her pen.

For some reason, she wasn't as happy as she had imagined.

But as I wrote the last sentence, my heart skipped a beat.

It's an illusion.

That's what she thought.

Chapter Thirty-One: Like Waking from a Dream

"Hello, this is psychologist Arisu Sakayanagi."

"I am Kitagawa Ryo."