Reborn in the White Room: Akash Chaturvedi's Ascent

Chapter 6: Manipulations and Calculations

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Atsuomi’s Monologue

The sterile, unfeeling environment of the White Room was a monument to my ambitions. Every wall, every machine, every test represented the culmination of years of planning, research, and determination. And at the center of it all stood Kiyotaka—my son, or rather, my perfect creation.

In many ways, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji embodied everything the White Room stood for. His performance was beyond flawless, almost inhumanly so. From his physical abilities to his intellectual prowess, he far exceeded what even I had expected when I set out to create the perfect human. But perfection, I had come to realize, was a double-edged sword.

He lacked something that most would consider essential—emotions. Kiyotaka moved through the trials and tests of the White Room like a machine. He executed every task with precision, never faltering, never hesitating. He was efficient and cold, detached from everything and everyone around him. That made him the pinnacle of what the White Room was meant to produce. And yet, that very detachment was also his greatest flaw.

For the White Room, Kiyotaka’s lack of emotion was ideal. Emotions cloud judgment, create hesitation, and weaken resolve. But if I ever wanted him to step out into the world, to debut as a politician, a leader, there would be problems. In politics, perception is everything. No one would follow a leader who seemed so unfeeling, so coldly perfect. The masses wanted charisma, passion, and humanity in their leaders, even if it was a mere façade. And that was where Kiyotaka fell short.

I couldn’t allow that weakness to persist, not if I had plans for him beyond the confines of this sterile facility.

That’s why I had come to a decision. I would manipulate Kiyotaka into enrolling in the Advanced Nurturing High School. The school was run by Kijima-sensei, one of my political rivals, and heavily backed by Neo-sensei. It was an institution designed to foster brilliance among Japan’s future leaders. But it wasn’t the brilliance I cared about—it was the political game that would be played out there.

If Kiyotaka enrolled there, it would serve two purposes. First, it would allow me to destroy Kijima and Neo-sensei. Once Kiyotaka surpassed their brightest minds, their entire system would be undermined. The Advanced Nurturing High School would be exposed as a farce, a failing institution compared to the White Room’s successes. Kijima-sensei’s credibility would crumble, taking down Neo-sensei with him.

And second, this change in environment would force Kiyotaka to confront something he hadn’t experienced in the White Room—human interaction, real-world chaos, and the unpredictability of others. In the White Room, everything was controlled, every outcome measured. But in the Advanced Nurturing High School, Kiyotaka would be faced with peers, instructors, and situations he couldn’t predict with absolute certainty.

I didn’t doubt for a moment that Kiyotaka would surpass all of them, but this was about more than just proving superiority. It was about shaping him into something more than a mere product of the White Room. If I could push him into a leadership role, into a position where he had to manipulate others, where he had to teach and guide, he would learn something far more valuable than any test could offer. He would become an instructor in his own right, capable of producing others like himself.

Kiyotaka had a fascination with observing people—something I had noticed early on. It was from watching others that he had learned to adapt, to evolve. He had figured out the curriculum in the White Room far earlier than anyone else, and once he understood how the system worked, he had deliberately held back his performance. He allowed his peers to adapt, to catch up, so that the level of difficulty wouldn’t increase too quickly.