I have a life simulator.

Recalling the feeling of falling in love for the first time, the girl turned her head away.

My vision was blurred by tears, and my sobs drifted away in the wind.

Looking up at the sky, the night is almost turning into the colors of dawn.

She pressed the knife in her hand against her lover's heart, leaned close to his ear, and sang him a song of love from a young girl.

There was a sound of crying.

Whose is it? In the pitch-black world, there is a faint glimmer of light.

The prince opened his eyes, his dark pupils reflecting the confusion of someone just waking up.

The song that reached my ears felt both distant and close, just like the one I heard back then...

The sounds of storms, cries for help, screams, the long night, and the unfathomable sea.

The monsters of the sea are singing.

He remembered the desperate cries of the captain who had died in the shipwreck:

"Sirens! It is these monsters that have brought this calamity and storm!"

The prince let out a scream.

He frantically waved his hands, trying to prop himself up.

As his hands groped around, he stumbled upon the sharp blade that Shiina Hiyori was holding, which was pressing against his heart.

The prince, in a frenzy, thrust forward the knife, aiming it at his own nightmare.

The surrounding noise suddenly stopped.

The knife tip didn't feel like it was piercing into a real object.

The first rays of dawn had already begun to fall.

He pierced a ball of foam.

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

Although he already knew that Hiyori Shiina had the talent to modify scripts according to her own preferences, and Kitagawa Ryo had also co-starred with her in quite a few plays in the last simulation, plays that were so heavily modified that Shakespeare would have turned in his grave.

However, when Hiyori Shiina's rewritten script of "The Little Mermaid" was actually presented to him, Ryo Kitagawa truly felt the other party's potential.

That's the ability to control words and evoke emotions that comes from extensive reading.

"Excellent."

"If I can maintain today's performance during tomorrow's assessment, I should be able to pass."

Kitagawa Ryo played with the prop dagger in his hand and exclaimed in admiration.

"Great!"

Karuizawa Kei was the first to raise her hand and cheer, and Shiina Hiyori also joined in with applause.

"Let's take a group photo as a memento."

Because today's rehearsal was on a formal stage, the troupe's photographer also came to the rehearsal site, gesturing with his camera to the three people on stage.

"What kind of pose should we strike?"

Upon hearing that they were going to take pictures, Karuizawa Kei immediately perked up and pulled Shiina Hiyori to a corner to whisper to each other.

After a week of rehearsals together, the two became quite familiar with each other.

When the two returned, even the usually calm Hiyori Shiina had a faint, strange smile on her face.

"Then, get ready."

"Three, two, one!"

"Cheese——"

Just as the photographer shouted and pressed the shutter, the two people who were standing next to Kitagawa Ryo simultaneously and in perfect unison pulled out a prop dagger from the theater troupe from their pockets and stabbed Kitagawa Ryo in the middle from the left and right.

"What a scumbag!"

The two girls laughed together.

Kitagawa Ryo complied perfectly and fell to the ground.

He looked up at the white ceiling, but his vision was quickly filled by two small faces that had come close.

For the first time, a strange feeling welled up in Kitagawa Ryo's heart.

Outside the window, the shadows of trees were already beginning to appear, their branches swaying gently in the wind, and brilliant sunlight filtered through the gaps in the new leaves, casting dappled patterns of light on the windowpane.

Spring came earlier this year than usual.

Chapter Seven: Go Defeat the White Room

The black and white chess pieces are being directed by the players on the chessboard, going back and forth, engaging in a game of strategy and combat.

On this chess-centric gaming platform that includes various other board games, the live stream of this match attracted thousands of viewers, with dozens of new comments appearing almost every second on the chat panel on the right.

However, as the match intensified, the number of comments gradually decreased. This was not because viewers were leaving, but because more and more people were so engrossed in the exciting and rare match that they had no time to send comments to discuss it.

Fourteen-year-old Sakayanagi Arisu stared intently at the screen, gripping the mouse tightly and pursing her pale lips. She moved the cursor aimlessly across the screen, and unbeknownst to herself, her knees were trembling slightly.

The countdown seconds were ticking away, and you could almost hear the ticking of the clock urging you on.

"Check."

It's as if you can see your opponent's fingertips pushing the black pieces, as they make the final move towards Sakayanagi Arisu:

The comments on the right side of the screen were already filled with "GG (Good Game)".

It was less a good game and more a complete rout, an utter one-sided massacre.

"Your chess skills are exceptional; you must be far from an amateur."

Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't the type to dwell on temporary wins or losses, especially since she had already lost five matches to her opponent in the past few days. She let out a soft sigh and sent the following message in the chat.

To show her goodwill, she added a small smiley face at the end of the message.

"Thank you. Your chess skills are also excellent. You must have practiced specifically for this."

The other party replied quickly. On this platform, which is full of newcomers and amateurs, the two of them had become regular rivals because of their high skill levels.

"Yes, I started learning about chess systematically when I was eight years old, and it has been six years now."

Although she lost the game, Sakayanagi Arisu frankly explained how long she had been learning chess, since from her perspective, her opponent might very well be a veteran who had been immersed in the game for decades.

To put it another way, Sakayanagi Arisu was still a little unconvinced.

The other party seemed to be shocked by Sakayanagi Arisu's message and didn't reply for a long time, so Sakayanagi Arisu took the initiative to send another message:

"Do you have any more time? I'd like to play a couple more games with you."

It's not that Sakayanagi Arisu can't find suitable chess opponents. With the Sakayanagi family's resources, they could even find one or two famous chess masters in the country to tutor them. However, these masters wouldn't be willing to lower themselves to have such a pleasant match with her as a student. It would indeed be difficult to find another opponent like this one, whose playing style suits her perfectly and whose skill is superb.

"No."

The other party replied quite readily with a type, rejecting the request without the slightest hint of tact or politeness.

"Why is that? Could you please explain the specific reasons?"

"Your skills are very good, almost at a professional level, but you're still a bit too inexperienced."

Sakayanagi Arisu, sitting in front of the computer screen, stiffened slightly. The girl, who was usually known for her good manners and praised by everyone who met her for her generosity and poise, twitched slightly on her clean, fair forehead.

"Then I'm really sorry."

"It seems the master is quite pleased with himself for bullying a newcomer like me."

Sakayanagi Arisu took a deep breath and replied with the above message almost instantly, as if venting her frustration.

"Then I, a novice like me, will not bother you any longer, Master."

"...I don't deserve to be called a master."

"Actually, I've only been learning chess for two years."

For the first time, Sakayanagi Arisu stared wide-eyed in such a daze that she didn't even notice her cane being knocked to the ground beside her.

"--ha?"

Then, as if she had suddenly thought of something, she squinted and sent a new message:

"Then, how about I find you another opponent?"

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

The scene I saw through the glass that day felt like it happened just yesterday in Sakayanagi Arisu's memory.

Returning to this facility deep in the mountains after six years, Sakayanagi Arisu felt a more pronounced sense of unease than she had in her childhood.

The building's exterior, corridors, and identical rooms were all painted pure white.

Walking through the buildings, which were thickly painted pure white, almost made one feel dizzy. Sakayanagi Arisu pursed her lips, and her father, noticing her discomfort, took the initiative to support his daughter's shoulder.

"Sakayanagi, no, now I should call her Chairman Sakayanagi, right?"

A man in his forties appeared at the end of the corridor. He extended his hand in a welcoming gesture, and his sharp eyes left a deep impression.

"Ayanokoji-sensei, it's been a long time."

The father bowed slightly in greeting.

"What a nostalgic title. Ever since you took over your father's position as chairman six years ago, you've barely contacted me, let alone come here."

The middle-aged man, known as Ayanokouji, scrutinized the two of them:

"This must be your daughter. I remember she came here with you before."

"Yes."

“I know very well that your attitude towards this experiment has changed from approval to opposition over the years, which is why I agreed to let you come here, you understand?”

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ayanokouji stepped forward and whispered in Sakayanagi's ear, his tone carrying an almost morbid satisfaction:

"Because a truly successful product is about to emerge."

"If we take his training program as a model..."

Sakayanagi Arisu didn't pay any attention to the man's self-absorbed mutterings.

She pressed her hands tightly against the clear glass, staring intently into the room.

This is a one-way window; people can only see in from the outside, while those inside cannot see out at all.

The boys and girls, dressed in matching outfits, were reading inside. No one made any unnecessary movements; they just mechanically turned the pages.

"These are the children from the fifth cohort. There are a few excellent samples among them, but they are far inferior to those from the fourth cohort."

Noticing Sakayanagi Arisu's action, Ayanokouji stopped his presentation and began to introduce the topic expressionlessly.

"It sounds impressive, but this experiment has many problems."

Sakayanagi Arisu turned around, put her hands behind her back, and said with a smile.

"If you're referring to humanitarian aspects, then there's no need to discuss it further."

Ayanokouji frowned slightly. If he didn't want to demonstrate the results of his experiment and bring the Sakayanagi family back to his side, he wouldn't have wasted his time here.

"That's not what I'm trying to say, of course. After all, this experiment has been going on for so many years, and I can't stop it by speaking out."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head, and her next words made Ayako's expression turn quite ugly:

"I just think that this experiment itself is simply incapable of successfully creating artificial geniuses."

A person's potential is determined at the moment of birth, at the moment they are given life.

This is a product of chance, and it will continue to manifest itself in various fields from time to time.

This is the structure of human society.

Humans cannot transcend what is imprinted on their genes.

This could be an awakening stemming from bloodlines inherited from ancestors or from a sudden mutation.

This means that if you want to create geniuses, you can only do so at the genetic level; there is no other way.