At the time, Sakayanagi Narumori had believed they were kindred spirits.
But looking back now, he realized the plan was likely far more complex than it appeared on the surface.
From what he knew, Ayanokoji Atsuomi had been subordinate to a certain political faction.
Later, due to conflicts and pressure from his superiors, the White Room was temporarily shut down.
During its operation, the White Room had taken in many children of politicians and capitalists.
Once they reached adulthood, these children could influence their fathers.
Of course, this was a behind-the-scenes secret—never openly acknowledged.
Sakayanagi Narumori could only speculate.
In the beginning, naturally, few people trusted the White Room.
As a result, it had to rely on abandoned infants, gradually refining its methods through trial and error.
The so-called "experience" was benchmarked against elite education, aiming to cultivate children who surpassed elite standards in every way—thereby attracting the support of politicians and capitalists.
Sakayanagi had once visited the White Room and reviewed some of its records.
He found Ayanokoji Atsuomi's methods for handling children utterly ruthless.
Practices like "cry-it-out" training—something even modern Western societies would find appalling—were used on these children without hesitation.
The goal was to strip away their emotions, preserve their rationality, and force-feed them knowledge far beyond their age.
By two or three years old, they could solve elementary-level math problems.
Children who failed to meet expectations were punished.
Only the top performer received rewards—all to instill an obsession with being first.
To convince politicians and capitalists of the White Room's effectiveness, Ayanokoji Atsuomi even threw his own newborn child into the program, subjecting him to the harshest training standard—dubbed the "β Curriculum," a superhuman regimen.
What exactly did it mean to surpass humanity?
Sakayanagi Narumori recounted that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could solve high school-level math problems independently by age seven.
By nine, he had defeated seven or eight instructors in hand-to-hand combat.
Out of over seventy children in his cohort, he was the only one left in the end.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was the White Room's greatest masterpiece to date—so much so that even Ayanokoji Atsuomi could no longer gauge the extent of his abilities or design further curriculum for him.
When the White Room was shut down, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka followed the adults into the outside world—only to slip away unnoticed by his father.
After wandering for a year, he submitted his profile to an elite school, passed the entrance exam, and enrolled.
Now, of course, Ayanokoji Atsuomi had come knocking—demanding that Sakayanagi Narumori hand over his son.
Sakayanagi Narumori refused to let Kiyotaka go.
He felt that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had suffered too much in the White Room, deprived of a normal life, and wanted him to stay at ANHS to experience more of what ordinary life had to offer.
Thus, Ayanokoji Atsuomi began mobilizing his connections to pressure Sakayanagi Narumori, intending to install his own proxy as chairman and expel Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from the school within its rules.
Hearing all this, Kaoru had only one thought—utter nonsense.
In Kaoru's eyes, this so-called White Room seemed like pure fantasy.
Forget about adopting abandoned infants—the Japan he knew wouldn't even bother with such things.
The survival of Ayanokoji Atsuomi's White Room likely relied on the backing of certain wealthy individuals, helping them take in children who couldn't be acknowledged publicly.
If any of them showed talent, those benefactors wouldn't mind restoring their status as legitimate heirs.
The neon world has no concept of a legitimate firstborn; as long as one possesses talent, they don't even care about blood ties.
Even a son-in-law can inherit the family business, as long as they can preserve it.
Kaoru pondered that Ayanokoji Atsuomi was likely a subordinate of someone, and he probably had the other party's hints.
With the connection of having children, they could help each other in the future and become a source of support.
As for the White Room's curriculum, aside from being fanciful, Kaoru had to add one more thing.
Insane.
The educational experiments aimed at young children weren't exclusive to the White Room; across the ocean in the last century, it was even more deranged, ultimately ending in dismal failure.
Not to mention its reliability, just the psychological issues of children alone made Kaoru question whether the White Room was running a pyramid scheme, as it perfectly aligned with parents' psychology regarding their children.
As long as they teach diligently, the children will surely learn; if they don't, it's the child's fault.
Moreover, the methods employed by the White Room to deal with children were as simple and brutal as dog training, with punishments for mistakes.
The only difference was that when a child did something right, there was no guarantee of a reward; it was taken for granted.
The so-called greatest masterpiece was filled with the unique one-sidedness of the neon people, sacrificing a heap of manpower and resources to create something they believed could end everything, which in the past was called a "one-man charge," and in modern times, the "Ultimate Decisive Weapon."
Sacrificing dozens, even hundreds of children, to produce a single greatest masterpiece nearly made Kaoru laugh in anger.
However, despite his disdain, Kaoru held a significant regard for Ayanokoji Atsuomi.
Being able to have Ayanokoji Kiyotaka defeat a bunch of instructors with the strength of a child likely indicated some capability.
Furthermore, under pressure from his superiors, the fact that Ayanokoji Atsuomi could regain momentum and even force Sakayanagi Narumori to step down was undeniably impressive.
Not only Ayanokoji Atsuomi, but Sakayanagi Narumori's current attitude was also somewhat intriguing.
As a chairman, he actually shared this matter with a student.
Although Kaoru held the identity of the Shinomiya Financial Group at this moment, it felt too polite to say so; clearly, he was being treated as an equal conversational partner.
When they first met, he did not have the identity of the Shinomiya Financial Group.
"Excuse me, Chairman Sakayanagi, does Ayanokoji-san currently hold significant influence?"
To be able to push Sakayanagi Narumori off the stage, Kaoru felt that it wasn't solely Ayanokoji Atsuomi's achievement; there might be other reasons involved.