Classroom of the Elite, I Have a Life Simulator 24

["If you feel confused, please dial the phone number of psychiatrist Sakayanagi Arisu." After falling into a state of immense panic, you subconsciously recalled the information you obtained this morning. You scrambled to dial the memorized number in the living room, hands trembling. At first, you were worried that Ichinose Honami might have blocked the number along with the phone, but the call went through, which made you heave a sigh of relief.]

["Hello, this is psychiatrist Sakayanagi Arisu." A cold, clear female voice came from the other end of the receiver. Although she seemed to be intentionally trying to make her tone sound more mature, you still judged that she couldn't be older than eighteen. In other words, this was a high school student—or perhaps even younger—claiming to be a psychiatrist.

This reality made the words you wanted to say get stuck in your throat again. You decided to test how much she knew about you:

"May I ask who I am?"

"Hmm?"]

[Sakayanagi Arisu seemed interested in this. She pressed her mouth closer to the phone, and the sound of her light breathing became more distinct in your ear, creating a pretentious and mysterious atmosphere. Influenced by her, your own breathing grew heavier as well.

"You are my patient number 1, Kitagawa Ryo. I am very happy to receive your call again."

She seemed to be rummaging through some documents.

"It has been two years and one hundred and twenty-eight days since we last spoke."]

["Two years and one hundred and twenty-eight days? What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like."

Sakayanagi Arisu on the other end sighed. She seemed to have found your medical record and was reading it to you line by line:

"Kitagawa Ryo, twenty years old, symptoms manifest as amnesia."

"You should be grateful that because your condition is quite unique, I specifically kept a file for you."

The sound of typing on a keyboard and clicking a mouse came through the receiver.]

["There are two main types of amnesia," Sakayanagi Arisu explained to you.

"The most common is when the patient cannot recall past events, with the most recent events being the most affected. For example, if a patient is in a car accident, they might not remember the accident itself, or the days or weeks leading up to it, but—for instance—they remember everything that happened six months before the accident perfectly clearly."

"The other type is quite rare," she said. "Sometimes, short-term memories cannot be converted into long-term memories. People who experience this can only live in the present; they can only recall what just happened, and the memory only lasts for a very short time."

"Unfortunately, both symptoms are manifesting in you."

"You have lost your past memories, and at the same time, you are unable to form new ones."

She seemed to be drinking something; after clearing her throat, she continued with interest:

"What is even rarer is that your method of memory storage is different from most amnesia patients. To put it another way, many amnesia patients cannot hold a continuous conversation with me because they forget the topic after a moment, but you are able to remember things for a long period."

"Twenty-four hours?"

You recalled what Ichinose Honami said about you losing your memory every morning.

"Yes, twenty-four hours."

Her voice revealed a hint of confusion, and her professional tone had already made you subconsciously ignore her age.

"Twenty-four hours. It indicates that you are fully capable of converting memories from short-term storage to long-term storage, but I have never understood why you cannot retain them."]

["Do you have a way to help me?" you asked, as if clutching at the last straw. This reality of having no memory was driving you to the brink of madness. You couldn't trust anyone; those three types of handwriting were like three spears thrusting deep into your brain, with all sorts of conjectures floating and sinking within.]

["Of course, after all, you are my patient."

Sakayanagi Arisu let out a lazy yawn and stated with extreme confidence:

"Actually, if it weren't for your girlfriend three years ago adamantly refusing to let you undergo psychiatric treatment, you might have recovered your memory long ago."

"Three years ago? How old were you three years ago?"

You caught the suspicious point in her words and asked subconsciously.]

["Asking a girl's age is impolite, Mr. Kitagawa Ryo."

The voice on the other end chuckled. The words she uttered next left you frozen in place.

"Next, I am going to say some keywords that might trigger your memory. Please try your best to think about them."

The receiver in your hand clattered to the floor like a skeleton hitting the ground. The sound was crisp, yet it felt incredibly desolate in the empty room.]

["White Room."]

[She said.]

Chapter 27: Waking from a Dream?

[You have no memories of the past, just like this room where the four walls and the ceiling are painted snow-white—it is complete nothingness and a blank slate.

But later, someone told you that you had a younger sister. She was not related to you by blood, but having grown up with you since childhood, she was no different from your actual family. Your memories suddenly awakened.

Yes, you remembered the girl who always followed behind you, calling you "Brother."

Under the teacher's arrangement, you saw her again. She was as beautiful as ever.

After that, you stroked her head countless times, but every time you ran your fingers through her silk-like hair, your heart would surrender to it, and your entire soul seemed to be immersed in the tenderness transmitted from those fingertips.

On the feather-soft bed, the young girl lying there quietly was so lovable and yet so fragile, like the finest porcelain.

Even the best apple will become ugly due to oxidation if left exposed to the air for too long, so she must be protected at all times, placed in this white world that is insulated from the outside and contains no one else.

"Brother."

Whenever this word was whispered from your sister's lips

"I heard that you got the top score on your test today, big brother."

Your younger sister possesses absolutely no talent, especially when compared to you, who is being raised as a genius even here; the gap between you is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.

She is clumsy due to her physical condition, hopeless at academics, tone-deaf, possesses the lowest level of physical fitness, is clueless about the rules of board games, cannot draw, and is completely inept at interpersonal relationships.

If she were alone, she would likely never survive in this world filled with cruel competition.

"I'm working hard for your sake."

You always say it like that.

Therefore, you put in double or even triple the effort for your sister, acting as her protector so that she can survive properly.

"Mm."

You whisper softly, at a distance where your breaths intermingle.

You originally thought such days would continue forever, until—

Black and white pieces are commanded by the players on the board, locked in a fierce struggle.

Your fingers tremble, nearly unable to hold the piece in your hand.

You want to close your eyes and escape, but the ticking clock urges you on.

You want to stand up and flee, but your whole body feels as if it has been nailed firmly to the spot.

The pure white room dissolves like a dream, like pure white snowflakes falling onto a scorching red furnace, shattering with a soft, drizzling sound.

The deep purple pupils of your opponent are like a bottomless abyss, yet also like a gaping, bloodthirsty maw roaring a greeting.

"Geniuses cannot be manufactured, just as mortals cannot stand shoulder-to-shoulder with gods."

Her offensive is like a violent storm.

"Just like Oedipus, or perhaps Icarus."

She shakes her head, her silver-white hair swaying along with the movement.

"If you fly too close to the sun, your fake wings will be scorched, and you will fall—fall from a great height."

Her pale, slender fingertips push a jade-like piece, and she makes the final move against Kitagawa Ryo:

"Burying a fake genius is a task only I am suited for."

"Check."

The sweetness and purity painted over your dark memories are torn apart wantonly; Kitagawa Ryo has lost his seventh match against her.

The zero-to-seven result is less of a match and more of a crushing, one-sided slaughter.

The incandescent light on the ceiling looks like stars that shine brightly only to vanish in an instant.

The boundary lines on the chessboard seem to sway, becoming blurred and indistinct.

Everything before your eyes feels as if it is separated by a thick film, and the surrounding sounds cannot be heard clearly.

Something surges up from your chest, making your heart feel incredibly stifled; something is lodged in your throat, leaving you unable to speak.

"Well then, game over."

Absurdity sings loudly; the truth revealed after tearing through hypocrisy is often even more cruel.

Your sister looks down at you from above:

"Failure."

[You stumble.

Like someone in a dream giving a sudden kick, you seem to hear the sound of glass shattering; the image in front of you disappears, as if the film reel has reached its end, and the image on the screen turns into flickering light and dancing dust particles.

You open your eyes again.]

[There is no sound from the receiver dropped on the floor, but it hasn't been hung up either; it is as if the person on the other end anticipated your abnormality, and like a seasoned hunter, she has cast her bait and is quietly waiting for you to take it.

You close your eyes, trying to recall the images in your memory once more, trying to see the snow-white walls, the black pieces, and trying to see the face of that girl clearly, but there is nothing; the faint memories have evaporated without a trace, as if they never existed, or perhaps they were burned to ashes by reality.

"I remembered something."

You pick up the receiver and reply.]

["Oh my, isn't that something to be happy about?"

Sakayanagi Arisu responds to your words immediately:

"What did you remember?"

"A white room, I was inside... studying... a younger sister... being defeated."

The words are broken and incoherent; perhaps you don't even know what you are saying yourself.]

["Her name?"

Sakayanagi Arisu continues to guide your thoughts; her voice is both hazy and dreamlike, as if it comes from another realm.]

["I can't remember." You wonder if that girl could be Ichinose Honami; after all, according to Ichinose Honami, you are her childhood friend, but if you try to overlay the impression of Ichinose Honami onto the blurry girl in your dream, it always feels incongruous.]

["Then let's start with the next word." Sakayanagi Arisu chuckles, as if a child who has discovered an interesting toy, and she continues to whisper to you from the other end of the line:]

"Matsuo Eiichiro."

"You're truly amazing."

You hear the boy sitting next to you, who is the same age as you, offer this praise. You are currently sitting on a high hillside, and the blood-red sunset covering the mountains at dusk awakens your consciousness. You look around, wondering where you are and when you arrived here.

"You must be the first person to ever come out of there."

The boy reaches out to pluck a blade of grass nearby, and he lies back with it between his teeth, continuing:

"I heard from my dad that this is supposed to be the first case."

"Hey, hey, tell me what it's actually like inside. I'm really curious, and we're friends now, aren't we?"

Seeing that you remain silent, he unceremoniously wraps an arm around your neck and pulls you down to lie beside him. He props his head up on his right side and gestures toward you with his chin.

"It's fine if you don't want to say anything. I'll never have anything to do with a place like that in my life anyway."

"But since you're my friend, doesn't that mean you're already involved with it?"

You hear yourself say this.

"Ah... I guess that's true."

The boy lets his hand drop and lies back down, staring up at the sky:

"I don't know how long it will take them to find you, but until they do, you should just hide here."

"Mm, thank you."

The boy turns his head to look at your sincere expression and can't help but chuckle:

"What's this? I thought everyone who came out of that place was a robot."

"Have you seen others before?"