Artificial Affection

Don't waste time.

The voice from the side pulled the man back to reality.

"Councilor Ayanokoji, these are the test data for the partners of the Fourth Generation."

"Um."

Nodding to indicate that he understood, Ayanokoji Atsuomi reached out and took the documents.

Three months ago, he took his assistant's advice and randomly divided the fourth batch of test subjects in half to serve as a control group. Three months is neither a long nor a short period, but it did produce visible changes:

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's performance was outstanding in any group, but the average data of his own half of the group was significantly lagging behind. In particular, his assistant thoughtfully included a comparison of the average scores after removing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's data, making the gap between the two groups even more obvious.

Moreover, the test subjects in Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's group all showed some degree of regression compared to themselves three months ago.

"Come out with me and let's take a look."

After reviewing all the documents Ayanokoji Atsuomi stood up decisively, and his assistant immediately opened the office door for him.

The two walked quickly, without any intention of chatting along the way, and arrived at the room of the Fourth Generation Ayanokoji group in just a few minutes.

Inside, a Chess training session was underway. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was overwhelmingly defeating one opponent after another. Despite being a child, he showed no smile when he won, defeating each challenger like a machine.

What caught Ayanokoji Atsuomi's attention was that the defeated children didn't show any signs of frustration or resentment. They accepted their defeat with equanimity and then left as if nothing had happened.

This is a manifestation of learned helplessness.

The assistant standing next to Ayanokoji Atsuomi explained softly, and seeing that Ayanokoji Atsuomi did not intend to interrupt, continued:

"In the 1960s, Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania United States a classic psychological experiment: dogs were confined in cages, and whenever a buzzer sounded, they were given a strong but non-lethal electric shock. The dogs, unable to escape the shock, could only endure the pain, howling and banging on the closed cage door. After repeating this process several times, the cage door was opened before the shock was administered. At this time, the dogs not only did not escape, but also lay down on the ground and began to groan and tremble in pain before the shock was even given."

"Like [love], feelings of helplessness and loss of self-esteem are learned, gradually developed through countless repetitions and setbacks; this is learned helplessness."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi frowned, and said with his hands behind his back:

"You mean Kiyotaka's problem?"

"While this conclusion can be drawn from the current situation, it's only because Ayanokoji's offspring are exceptionally outstanding. And... I think, perhaps a more benign case will emerge in the future..."

"The catfish effect?"

The assistant quickly wiped the sweat from his brow and explained that although he didn't know the details of the relationship between Ayanokoji Atsuomi and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, this was, after all, his boss's biological son.

"You're right, being excellent is never a mistake."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi turned around, waved his hand, and said:

"Let's take a look at the control group."

"Yes."

As the two walked towards the other end of the corridor, the assistant took the opportunity to explain to Ayanokoji Atsuomi:

"After establishing the decision to separate the Fourth Generation, we also selected a [Cloth] mother in the control group."

"This was because the Fourth Generation had already grown to five years old, and it would be very ineffective to deliberately cultivate a relationship with one of the staff members. Therefore, the final selection was made from within the fourth generation members."

"A girl?"

Noticing the pronouns used in his assistant's speech, Ayanokoji Atsuomi casually asked a question.

"Yes, her name is YUKI (雪)."

A single-character name that perfectly complements the White Room; Ayanokoji Atsuomi scoffed.

"Snow and coolness, their names do sound quite similar."

The two stopped again in front of another large room, and the assistant pointed to one of the little girls:

"It's her."

"In order to enable her to quickly become a [Cloth] mother figure within the group, we also granted her some implicit privileges and assistance."

"The story begins three months ago..."

Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his temples as he lay on his bed, facing the ceiling, and began to ponder the simulation.

In fact, after drawing the White Room talent, Kitagawa Ryo lowered his expectations for clearing this simulation. According to the information he had, Sakayanagi Arisu would only come here once when she was about seven years old. Apart from that, as someone born in the White Room, he had virtually no contact with the outside world until he was sixteen.

If I follow the story step by step, I might be able to take advantage of the chaos when Ayanokoji Kiyotaka leaves, or use the excuse of chasing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to leave. But whether it's the former or the latter, I will undoubtedly miss Sakayanagi Arisu's childhood, and naturally I will not be able to meet the conditions for clearing the game.

As for more extreme actions, such as voluntarily being eliminated or actively seeking an opportunity to defect, both carry considerable risks. Although Kitagawa Ryo has many golden talent bonuses, he doesn't think these will help him escape from this secret organization.

Although he still has one last trump card up his sleeve, Kitagawa Ryo's current plan has become [exploring the White Room].

The White Room remains a facility that Kitagawa Ryo has never truly understood.

The mysterious plan to train Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is said to have the potential to overturn the future of the country if successful.

So...

"Cool!" "Brother Cool!"

Dozens of four- or five-year-old children crowded together, their noise deafening. Still losing their baby teeth, their pronunciation was unclear, and their babbling sometimes even the instructors couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Hug."

"Mmm, hug me."

With a perfectly gentle smile, Kitagawa Ryo reached out and hugged the little girl in front of him, gently stroking her back and hair.

"I want my hair to be cool and styled."

Another girl, her eyes sparkling, approached Kitagawa Ryo and eagerly offered him two hair ties:

"The same as last time is fine."

Amasawa, you really are from the White Room!

"No problem."

With a koala hanging on her body, Kitagawa Ryo skillfully tied two pigtails for the other person while mentally complaining.

With her two short ponytails swaying back and forth, Amasawa Ichika hugged Kitagawa Ryo's arm from the side.

"It's best when it's cold!"

Kitagawa Ryo twitched the corners of his mouth, but when he looked down and saw the other person's familiar fluorescent blue eyes, his smile softened again.

"Let's work hard today too, and make sure no one gets eliminated!"

Don't get eliminated!

Eliminated.

Oh.

A playful retroflex consonant.

Am I some kind of health-conscious older brother or confidante on a parenting show?

Kitagawa Ryo fell into deep thought.

Matching the rigorous, almost militaristic training, the White Room provides top-notch logistical support for every child. From the nutritional meals carefully prepared daily by a nutritionist to the individual dorm rooms, the almost extravagant display of the Naoe Faction's high investment in this project is evident.

Xue had seen her classmates being severely reprimanded by their instructors for not being able to bear sleeping alone at night. Even before she could understand the word "independence," those two words had already been deeply imprinted in her mind through those constantly repeated phrases.

Although she still harbored doubts, she tried her best to adapt, because in this monotonous White Room, not adapting would result in disappearing.

One morning you might find familiar faces gone; for these White Room, which represent the children of the entire world, this is disappearance.

I thought this unchanging routine would continue for a long time, just like the victory of the boy in my year of high school.

But the situation changed quietly.

The little girl stood in front of the unfamiliar room, clutching her bedding. She had been informed by her instructor that morning that she would move to another dormitory after today's classes.

No reason was given; in fact, the instructors never gave a reason.

Why read books? Why exercise? Why stay here every day?

There will be no answers; the instructors only care about the results, and they will use that to determine everyone's fate.

To stay or to disappear.

She shook her head, banishing all those chaotic thoughts, and just as she mustered the courage to knock, the door opened first.

Startled by the creaking sound of the door opening, Xue instinctively took a step back. But she quickly realized she should greet them first since it was their first meeting. However, the tall blankets she was holding completely blocked her view. No matter how hard she tried to peek to the side, she could only see a small part of the top of her head.

Because of the excessive force of her movements, the girl, swaying and unable to maintain her balance, fell heavily forward while still clutching the blanket.

So, Kitagawa Ryo had just opened the door and was still unaware of what was happening, saw a blanket with two legs sullenly pressing down on him.

Thanks to his super-fast reflexes, Kitagawa Ryo adjusted his posture in time, but his four-year-old body still couldn't withstand the weight of a whole rolled-up blanket and a child, and he was cleanly and neatly pressed onto the floor.

Then he saw a small head pop out from under the blanket, and a girl he had never seen before gave him an apologetic smile:

"Um, excuse me, and... good evening?"

Chapter 84: Artificial Love

"Children aged five to six are in the preoperational stage of thinking. One characteristic of this stage is the lack of perspective-taking ability—the ability to see things from other people's perspectives. This also indicates that children in this age group still employ an egocentric, self-centered way of thinking." —Jean Piaget, Switzerland child psychologist

Why was it chosen to let Yuki interact with that child?

Ayanokoji Atsuomi interrupted his assistant's rambling speech, staring directly into the assistant's eyes as he spoke.

The children in the White Room, especially those from different experimental phases, were strictly forbidden from meeting or even communicating with each other. So, although there have been eight phases and hundreds of children living together in this facility so far, they have never known the names or appearances of anyone other than those from the same phase.

"Because there was no other way."

The assistant adjusted his glasses and explained somewhat helplessly to Ayanokoji Atsuomi:

"That girl did show some traits similar to Ryo among the Fourth Generation, but because of Kiyotaka's presence among her peers, she couldn't actually establish the same status as Ryo among the fifth generation very quickly."

"If Ryo is the perfect wild [Cloth] mother, then she's only half-baked, so she has to learn from, or rather, imitate."

"In fact, in some ways, Yuki is no different from the other children in the Fifth Generation. She is also a child who depends on Ryo, even though she is a year older than him."

"What we hope for is that she can pass on the [love] she learned from Ryo to the Fifth Generation, and the foundation of all this is what I mentioned earlier—[contact]."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi's eyes flickered for a moment before he finally spoke:

"I see."

Although he said that, Ayanokoji Atsuomi's expression still seemed somewhat indifferent, as if he found the action rather unnecessary.

Seemingly sensing Ayanokoji Atsuomi's feelings, the assistant pondered for a moment before raising his head again and saying:

"I just remembered an interesting psychological experiment. Would Representative Ayanokoji be interested in hearing about it?"

Ayanokoji Atsuomi nodded casually, observing everything in the room with his hands behind his back.

After a moment of silence, the assistant, having carefully organized her thoughts, quickly began to introduce:

"In the last century, child psychologist Piaget conducted a psychological experiment on children. He prepared a model of three artificial mountains of different heights, sizes, and colors. First, he asked the children to observe the three mountains from four different angles. Then, he asked the children to sit facing the model, and placed a toy doll on the other side of the mountains."

"Then, children were asked to identify which of the four pictures depicted the 'mountain' seen by the toy doll. After several experiments, it was found that the vast majority of young children were unable to complete this task. They could only describe the shape of the 'three mountains' from their own perspective."

"Based on the results of this experiment, Piaget later proposed the preoperational stage in his research on child psychology. He believed that this was the second stage of child development, between the ages of two and five or six. This was a period of leaps in children's thinking abilities, but they also retained a strong sense of egocentrism. They were unable to, and could even be said to be unable to, see things from the perspective of others."

The assistant, who had spoken so much in one breath, paused briefly to catch her breath before adding:

"Unlike the fabricated 'Cloth' mothers in the Harlow's Monkey Experiment, creating such a role in humans requires the individual to possess a detached, self-centered awareness, and the ability to think and care from another's perspective."

"That is, just like a real mother."

"This is exactly what Xue needs to learn from Liang."

"Of course, we also assigned her other tasks afterwards."

Ayanokoji Atsuomi chuckled with satisfaction, but only for a moment before turning to his assistant with a hawk-like gaze:

"So, what about insurance measures for these [Cloth]?"

The assistant humbly lowered his head and quickly offered two solutions:

"Brainwashing, drugs."

"Sometimes they can be used together."