Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was stunned.
Although Kiyotaka's words earlier had set the stage, hearing him say that their father had almost become prime minister, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still took a while to recover.
How could he, of all people, almost be the son of a prime minister?
He had known for a long time that his family's background was unusual, but he never expected it to be so incredibly significant...
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still had doubts in his mind and quickly asked, "If Father almost became prime minister, then his name should be very famous. Why can't I find any trace of his name when I search online?"
"He ran for office nearly twenty years ago, and at that time, the internet was far from as developed as it is now; it was practically just starting. After he lost the election, the number of people he offended was countless, and innumerable people considered him a thorn in their side.
To avoid being 'purged,' he voluntarily withdrew from the Diet and never appeared in public again.
At that time, not many people cared about politics, and no one would discuss a failed candidate. Plus, he placed great importance on protecting his privacy, deleting all discussions about him... In the entire world, his name might only be found in old newspapers from twenty years ago."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka suddenly understood.
Indeed, although people always say "the internet has a memory," this memory is subject to constraints.
As long as someone with authority deliberately deletes it and prohibits searching for that content, even information about a person who once could have become prime minister can disappear from most people's sight, as if by magic.
"Now you know Father's identity. Do you understand why he always had bodyguards and security with him?"
In Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's memory, his father always brought several black-suited bodyguards wherever he went, and the cars he drove were always different. Even when he came to see him, he would have the bodyguards wait in the car outside the door, as if he was extremely afraid of being "assassinated."
Before, Kiyotaka had thought he had paranoid delusions, but if he had such an identity, it was not surprising that he feared being purged.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded, then looked up and suddenly asked, "Is that why he doesn't live with me? Afraid that I'd also suffer an undeserved calamity? Then why did he install listening devices in my room and not give me any personal space?"
"Part of it is for that reason, but the real reason..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka hesitated for a moment, then asked in a deep voice, "Kiyotaka, next, I'm going to talk about our background. Are you sure you want to hear it? If you do, there's no turning back."
Since he had revealed what he had kept hidden all this time, he was not going to keep it a secret any longer.
His expression was very serious, as if what he was about to say was of great importance.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded without hesitation.
"I want to hear it. I'm tired of not knowing anything. Even if I'm killed by Father after knowing the truth, I don't want to die cluelessly."
He had always been searching for the past, and now that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was finally willing to speak, he certainly wasn't going to miss this opportunity.
"...He won't kill us. After all, we are his tools to make a comeback," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said mockingly, then slowly began to recount.
"After factions formed within the Liberal Democratic Party, influential politicians and nominated candidates naturally became the objects of allegiance for party members, ensuring the continuation of their political careers and the expansion of the faction's substantive vested interests.
Although Father withdrew from the Diet, he still held many connections. After his election failure, he did not give up, but secretly carried out a plan, a plan that would allow him to make a comeback and have a chance to run for prime minister again."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said word for word, "That is the 'White Room' project."
Just as Kiyotaka was waiting for him to continue, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka suddenly threw a question at him.
"Kiyotaka, do you know Watson's behaviorist theory?"
This abrupt question almost made him think Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had realized he was a transmigrator—he had been a psychology graduate student in his previous life.
John Watson, the founder of behaviorist psychology, believed that all human behavior is learned, and that environment determines a person's behavioral patterns. Both normal and pathological behaviors are acquired through learning and can be modified, increased, or eliminated through learning.
He once said a famous quote.
"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors."
Watson recognized the genetic basis of individuals, but he unilaterally exaggerated the role of environment and education in individual development, neglecting the individual's initiative, agency, and creativity, and ignoring the internal motivations that promote psychological development...
All of the above are important concepts in psychology, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still remembers them firmly.
He answered, completely bewildered, "I know Watson's behaviorism theory, but what does that have to do with what you're going to say..."
"The project led by Father, the White Room, can be said to be the most efficient human cultivation facility in the world.
It fully adheres to Watson's behaviorism theory, placing a group of infants into a specific environment from birth and cultivating them, allowing them to begin learning from a young age.
In order to cultivate the talents they needed, they specifically instilled corresponding knowledge into these infants, discarding anything unnecessary to learn.
They were like programming code, completely eradicating human autonomy."
Listening to this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt inexplicably indignant, saying resentfully, "Isn't this plan a complete disregard for human rights?
Regardless of legal or moral implications, this is a criminal act! How could he do such a thing!"
A hundred years ago, John Watson also conducted a similar experiment.
He once performed a fear experiment on an infant, and while the results were successful, his disregard for human rights made him a target of public condemnation, nailed to the pillar of shame.
The American Psychological Association, due to Watson's experiment, had announced the ethical guidelines for psychologists: whether using humans or animals as subjects for psychological experiments, ethical principles should be followed to protect the subjects' physical and mental well-being from harm.
It's hard to imagine that even now, there are still people who disregard human ethics to conduct such cruel experiments...
"Just as you said, in order to cultivate talent, all infants who grew up in the White Room were deprived of their human rights.
Aside from time for eating and sleeping, they spent the rest of their time studying.
They were like lab mice cultivated in a sterile chamber; besides studying, they had no other recreational activities."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka continued to narrate in a calm tone.
"This experiment was extremely demanding on the infants' inherent qualities, and the failure rate was very high.
Many infants couldn't keep up by the age of three or four, becoming failures and being sent back to their parents.
In the first few years of the experiment, Father felt that the project had no hope, as the growing infants completely failed to meet their requirements.
Furthermore, the cost of maintaining the project was extremely high."
He paused, his tone still calm.
"However, just when he was about to give up, coincidentally... we were born."
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