CotE: The Wandering Misfit

Prologue - Sudden Liberation

There was a strange atmosphere in the air.

Cold, sterile, white, unforgiving. None of those had changed in the White Room since yesterday. Yet today, I could sense it in the behavior of the instructors.

The pompous, always-smirking physics teacher donned a grim expression, eyes flitting nervously between me and the door as he handed out exam papers. The ruthless, conceited Muay Thai professional periodically sent glances of pity toward me during today's bout. The cold, indifferent research assistant gently pricked my skin to test my blood sample, a far cry from the stabbings of previous weeks.

Something was definitely amiss.

But what could it be? Considering that roughly eighty percent of the instructors seemed tenser or different than usual, two possibilities came to mind.

The first and more plausible theory was that many instructors had made grave blunders in their work. The temper of that man is not to be underestimated. Perhaps a mass layoff would happen soon, or maybe they would be disposed of, just like my former batchmates. If this was true, then there was nothing to be worried about. I would simply carry on with my tasks, continuing to win and grow like always.

The second possibility was a threat to the facility itself. Given the security and secretiveness of the White Room, this theory was less likely to be reality, but it could not be discounted. Regardless of whether or not the threat took down the White Room, it would at least set back the facility, meaning a high possibility of release and, by extension, a degree of freedom.

Freedom, huh...

Five years ago, that man took me to New York on a business trip. It would have been uneventful had it not been my first time outside the White Room.

The blue sky I had only read about up until that point. The Sun and its warmth on my skin, even if it was only fleeting. The color was everywhere, from the greenery to the lane markings to the billboards and buildings to the clothes people wore. The hustle and bustle, the sheer life on display so unlike what was in the White Room. Even the air, bountiful and fresh, was a revelation. To top it off, Matsuo-san, the butler who took care of me on that trip, told me stories about his family and patiently answered my questions about the world.

That man's greatest mistake was deciding to take me to New York. If he hadn't done so, my curiosity to explore the outside world potentially could have never arisen. I would have never learned just how much the White Room failed to teach me.

I am grateful to the White Room, and by extension, that man, for the knowledge and skills I have learned here, but if given a chance to leave, I will take it. There is so much to learn beyond the white walls of this place, and I want to go out and understand what I saw all those years ago. That is why I desire for the second possibility to come true.

"Subject 4-01, come to classroom 7."

I shook my head of my thoughts. Fantasizing about an unlikely event was thoroughly unproductive.

Remove anything unnecessary. Focus solely on the task at hand. Use any means necessary to win.

With those thoughts in mind, I followed the instructor to my next assignment.

~~~

It was now the end of the day. After taking a thirty-second cold shower, as usual, I returned to my room, which, apart from the white walls, contained nothing but a white, hard bed.

And like every night, I was sitting on my bed and counting down the seconds until 22:30, when the lights switch off and I go to sleep.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...