Chapter 160 – The White Room

In the special teaching building, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka followed Kamuro, unsure why someone from Sakayanagi's class had suddenly called him over.

However, as he watched Kamuro leave and then climbed to the second floor, seeing Sakayanagi and Yukio waiting for him, a ripple appeared in the depths of his usually calm eyes.

Even his usually steady heart rate quickened for a moment.

Yukio and Sakayanagi? Why were they together after the sports festival had ended? During the day, students from Sakayanagi's class helped Yukio's class break through...

Initially, Ayanokouji thought it was just Yukio leveraging a contract with Sakayanagi's class, forcing them to help during the sports festival.

From a perspective of self-interest, this seemed the most likely scenario. Yukio's class got support to stand against Nagumo, while Sakayanagi's class could escape a harsh contract that had been exploiting them.

But just looking at the outcome, it didn't seem as simple as a mere exchange of interests. The sports festival was over, so if it were just about mutual benefits, the two wouldn't still be together.

So did the two classes secretly form an alliance? Something beyond a simple exchange of interests? Not likely. Sakayanagi's class should be trying to pull Yukio's class down, which would make more sense.

Whatever the reason, whether it was an alliance or something else, what did it matter to Ayanokouji?

Even if he had agreed to help Chabashira-sensei lead the class to Class A, it was just a temporary move to buy time. Once he found a way, he'd ensure Chabashira couldn't depend on him anymore.

Classes didn't matter to him; as long as he could survive these three years without any issues, that was all he needed.

With this in mind, Ayanokouji's gaze returned to its usual calmness, like a century-old well with no ripples. His heart rate settled back to its regular, almost robotic efficiency.

Yukio observed Ayanokouji with interest. He'd met him twice before, always unassuming, but little did Ayanokouji know that he and Sakayanagi had already seen through him.

Sakayanagi maintained her elegant smile, as if anyone in its presence was a friend: "It's been a long time, Ayanokouji-kun. After eight years, we meet again."

"?" Ayanokouji's gaze was so lethargic, filled with apathy and boredom, yet he clearly showed a hint of confusion: "Sorry, did you mistake me for someone else?"

"I don't know you, Sakayanagi-san, and I've never met you eight years ago."

Now, isn't this interesting? On one hand, she's talking about not seeing each other for eight years, but on the other, she's saying she doesn't know him at all. Yukio leaned casually against the windowsill, watching to see what Sakayanagi's real purpose was.

Sakayanagi didn't seem bothered; she casually mentioned something that was difficult for others to understand: "The White Room."

It was almost like playing a guessing game, leaving others clueless about what she meant. But to those in the know, it was alarming information.

The sense of detachment that made Ayanokouji feel out of place suddenly disappeared. It was as if the boy finally integrated into the world, becoming part of it.

In simple terms, that subtle sense of indifference, as his background was revealed, faded as he fell from a higher level to this one.

This alone was enough to show that Sakayanagi had nailed down Ayanokouji's origins.

Before coming to Advanced Nurturing High School, Yukio had heard about the existence of the White Room, said to be a facility for cultivating prodigies.

It had been mentioned before that Japan had a top-heavy structure, with the upper echelons saturated and the lower levels vast, requiring a large number of middle-tier talents to support the current societal system.

Various methods emerged, with Advanced Nurturing being one of the schools excelling at this, but the White Room wasn't far behind. It had unique technology for developing learning devices, said to be capable of rapidly cultivating young geniuses, envied by many.

One of the reasons Yukio came to Advanced Nurturing was to take away the only result from the learning device, Ayanokouji. So he knew Ayanokouji came from the White Room, but how did Sakayanagi find out?

Not only did Yukio notice the change in Ayanokouji's demeanor, but Sakayanagi also pointed it out: "It's quite a powerless feeling, isn't it, Ayanokouji-kun, to be outmatched in intelligence?"

"What are you really..." Ayanokouji cautiously eyed Sakayanagi, paying close attention to Yukio standing nearby.

Compared to Sakayanagi, he felt a gut instinct that Yukio was even more dangerous, repeatedly warning him. Both of them spoke about the White Room, revealing they knew his background, something that should've been top secret.

This showed that both Sakayanagi and Yukio had exceptional personal skills, along with remarkable backing. Otherwise, how could they know about the White Room? How could he not be nervous?

His previously calm heartbeat quickened, and he was confused—he had never seen these two people in the White Room, so where did they find out about him?

Sakayanagi delicately held the cane, but her skill wasn't enough to twirl it smoothly like a pen: "Ayanokouji-kun, you don't need to worry about who we are."

"Just know that we are the true geniuses, capable of defeating 'fake geniuses' like you. We initially wanted to greet you."

"Unfortunately, I had a disagreement with Katsuragi, which took some time to resolve before I could take control of the class, causing the delay in greeting you."

True geniuses, fake geniuses? Yukio and Ayanokouji both pondered Sakayanagi's choice of words.

Compared to Yukio, Ayanokouji was considering more. After all, it was Yukio who defeated Katsuragi during summer break, allowing Sakayanagi to take control of the class.

This made Ayanokouji think more deeply—was Yukio deliberately helping Sakayanagi? If so, their relationship was even closer than he thought, and it could mean that he would face both Yukio and Sakayanagi, which would be a real problem.

If not, then dealing with Sakayanagi alone, Ayanokouji felt somewhat confident.

He decided to probe: "So even a genius can't gain control of the class in just one term?"

Noticing Ayanokouji was trying to find out whether Yukio was involved in Katsuragi's defeat, Sakayanagi immediately understood his concern: "No need for Ayanokouji-kun to probe."

"Yukio-kun won't participate in our fight. I just invited him here to be a witness."

Hearing that Yukio wouldn't be involved, Ayanokouji was relieved: "If there's nothing else, may I leave?"

Not opposing it was a silent agreement to accept Sakayanagi's challenge.

Ayanokouji didn't like trouble, especially unexpected trouble like this, but there was no avoiding it.

If it were just Sakayanagi, he could play dumb and get through it without accepting a challenge, avoiding unnecessary complications that could interfere with his plan to stay low-key for three years.

But with Yukio there, knowing his cunning nature, Ayanokouji didn't think he would just be there to watch. If he refused, he might be pushed to a point where he would have to accept.

Considering Sudo's expulsion, Nagumo's public humiliation, and all the crafty tactics Yukio had used, Ayanokouji didn't want to risk it, so he might as well agree to Sakayanagi's terms.

Sakayanagi's move to invite Yukio was a clever one.

***

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