1 The White Room

When the boy opened his eyes for the first time, he was greeted by only one thing. It was neither the warmth of his mother's touch nor the joyful cries of his father. No, what lay there waiting for him when he opened his eyes was simply a color.

White, a room of the purest white that appeared to be boundless in length. As per the regulations of children, the boy cried as he was meant to, but to his chagrin, no one came to his aid. After several failed attempts, the boy eventually stopped crying. Perhaps it was an instinct that he developed at his tender age, a realization that nobody was coming to help him.

Within this white facility, there would occasionally be adults who would appear to provide him along with the other children with the essential nourishment they required as well as make the necessary assessments of their health.

However, that would be the only interaction they made with the children. It was a cold and callous procedure, one that was repeated daily until the children learned to perceive methods of communication as a language.

At the age of two, the boy sat in front of one of the facility's instructors and stared at him blankly. Without a hint of emotion, the man sitting in front of him placed a gummy bear into his right hand, closed both hands and extended them in front of the boy.

A gummy bear, a snack containing a minuscule amount of sweetness that had no nutritional benefits. Such sweets were non-existent in the diets of the children which subsequently led to them valuing the gummy bears when they were given them as rewards.

"I'll give you three chances to choose correctly," the instructor muttered.

The boy, with his undeveloped vocabulary, was barely able to discern what had just been said. It was only through reasoning and logic that he was able to understand what was asked of him.

He was to guess which hand the instructor had hidden the gummy bear in and touch it. If he guessed correctly, he would be rewarded. If not, he would be made to try and guess again. If he failed the remaining two attempts, he would be given nothing.

Following what his eyes had just observed, the boy slowly touched the instructor's right hand. The man calmly opened his hand, revealing the concealed gummy bear. The boy was correct. At the same time, the other children who were given the same task had just finished making their choices. It seemed they had all correctly chosen the right hand as their answer as well.

"Next!" called the instructor, signaling the start of the next level of the trial.

The man once again put the gummy bear in his right hand but then suddenly switched it to his left hand. The boy was once again asked to choose and without hesitation, he chose the left hand. Correct once again.

The procedure was repeated two more times, earning the boy a total of four gummies. They weren't particularly sweet but they were valued immensely by the children in the facility and the boy was no exception.

"Next!" the instructor called again, signaling the start of the fifth sequence.

This time, the instructor placed both hands behind his back and grabbed a gummy bear, and then extended both hands in front of the boy. Both hands were similar in demeanor, they were both clenched with the same amount of force and positioned almost parallel to one another.

The only thing the boy could rely on was probability and his instinct. He decided to bet on the right hand. It was wrong. The number of children that chose the right hand seemed to be higher than those who chose the left but there was no discernable reason for this. However, it was clear to the boy that it was prearranged for all the instructors to place the gummy bear in their left hand.

"Next!" The process was repeated again.

The instructor placed his hands behind his back, grabbed a gummy bear, and extended both hands for the boy to choose. In the boy's mind, assuming which hand was correct was already pointless. He dared to bet on the left hand because of the previous sequence but he stopped.

Rather than making a hasty decision, the boy chose to observe his surroundings and watch the other children to see which hand they chose. A wise choice. The other children were so immersed in making their decisions and receiving a gummy bear, that they neglected their surroundings and the information that could be obtained from it.

From his observation, the boy noticed that the majority of the children chose the left hand but on the contrary, this time the gummy bears were in the instructor's right hand. After witnessing this, the boy decided that the gummy bear must have been in the instructor's right hand and so that was what he chose. He was correct and was rewarded with a green gummy bear.

"Next!" The new sequence began.

The instructors reached for a gummy behind their backs as usual but this time they didn't bring their hands forward, instead they kept them behind their backs. What's more is that even after the children had chosen a hand, the instructors didn't reveal which hand held the gummy bear, this was what the boy had observed.

"You're the final one," said the instructor, indicating that the answer wouldn't be revealed to the children until all of them had answered.

The boy pointed to the man's right hand and simultaneously, all the instructors revealed their hands. All groups had guessed incorrectly. The gummy bear was neither in the left hand nor the right. This was also several children's third chance at guessing the correct hand which meant they wouldn't be given another try.

The boy now only had one chance left. Once again, the instructor clenched his hands behind his back and the boy was made to choose which hand held the gummy bear inside it. The boy pondered which hand it could have been in given his lack of resources to draw a conclusion.

He wasn't able to see any movement from either hand in his position and he wasn't able to guess which hand it was from the other instructors because they didn't open their hands after the children gave their answers. At this point, it didn't seem to matter which hand he chose so he was prepared to make a final decision based on pure luck but that was when the realization hit him.

What if the gummy bear wasn't in either of the instructor's hands? From the beginning, the children were only asked to point to where the gummy bear was, not choose which hand it was in. Therefore, it was possible that it might have been concealed somewhere else other than the instructor's hands.

After receiving such a revelation, the boy decided to stake everything on this possibility. He pointed behind the instructor indicating his answer. The instructor responded with a puzzled look on his face.

"What are you pointing at, boy?"

With what little words he could muster, the boy answered.

"Gummy, hand, no."

Understanding what the boy meant, the instructor opened both his hands at once revealing a gummy bear sitting in his right hand.

"Unfortunately the correct answer was the right hand," said the instructor before placing the gummy into his mouth.

In the background, one of the two remaining children answered correctly and was given a gummy bear.

"Hmm, you know what? I'll give you one more chance just for the fun of it." said the man.

After saying this, the instructor took out another gummy bear, clasped it in his hands, placed them behind his back, and then extended his clenched hands forward.

The boy reflected on his previous error. He had thought that the instructor's hands were empty and that he placed the gummy bear behind his back, but it was in fact, hidden in his right hand. Was it an error in his judgment? Could it be that the gummy bear was never hidden to begin with? Could the instructors have intentionally placed this thought into the minds of the children by placing their hands behind their backs? These were the thoughts that ran amok within the boy's mind.

As he was lost in his analysis, a child had just chosen the left hand as their answer. Now he was the last one remaining. Was it the right hand or the left hand? Or could it possibly be hidden behind? The boy closed his eyes, opened them again, and uttered his final choice.

"Behind."

The instructor opened his hands impartially and revealed a small gummy bear sitting in his left hand.

"How unfortunate. Another incorrect answer. Does this upset you?"

The boy nodded. Although it was not the loss of the gummy bear that upset him, it was the frustration of being incorrect.

"I suppose this child is different after all," muttered one of the instructors who had gathered with the rest.

"Unlike the other children who were hyper-fixated on the answer being left or right, Kiyotaka acknowledged and advocated the possibility of there being a third option, which was the gummy bear being hidden behind our backs. What's more is that even after he was proven wrong, he didn't abandon the possibility and pursued it. That definitely isn't the thought process of a two-year-old."

"You're overthinking things again," said one of the instructors.

"I'm not. In all the tests that I've done, Kiyotaka is the only one who has demonstrated the ability to think differently and have a different perspective."

Not being able to comprehend the slew of incomprehensible words being exchanged between the instructors, the boy simply sat and stared at them blankly.

"The way he looks at us is so creepy. Hey, you don't think he knows what we're saying do you?"

"No way, he's only two years old. He doesn't even understand the bare minimum of what we're saying."

"That's true but I can't help feel that-"

*BZZT* *BZZT*

A buzzer sounded indicating the end of the test. The instructors gathered the children, ordered them to stand by, and then exited the room. Ordinarily, such a sight would be met with an uproar of screams and cries but these children had long been conditioned to being left alone, it was ingrained into their bones at the age of two.

The boy sat down and finished processing the conversation that had taken place earlier. It was true that he was unable to comprehend the dialogue of the instructors but unbeknownst to them, the boy wasn't trying to process their conversation. He was simply recording it in his memory for when he was older and could make use of the information. This was the birth of the anomaly known as Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, the boy who would soon come to be known as the pride of the White Room and the demon of the Fourth Generation.