Haruna, Weren’t You Supposed to be a Genius or Something? – Part 01
Mathematics I. I figured the reason I didn’t want to open this book had something to do with the title. If there was a I, then odds were there’d be a II. Why anyone thought this needed to be a series was beyond me. A zombie, creatures with low intelligence, couldn’t possibly understand.
While I was lost in thought, sixth period ended.
Goodbye, Mathematics I. You have a place to go home to. Now, back into the desk.
With the same fresh feeling as releasing an injured wild animal back into the forest, I looked out the window. The summer sky was once again scorched by the sun.
It was Friday, June 30th. Four days had passed since we lost track of Kyouko.
Kyouko, the serial killer, had completely vanished without a trace. I thought Big Teach would’ve found her in no time, but it looked like the search wasn’t going so well.
I heaved a sigh. Thinking about her really dragged me down. I didn’t want to think about the person who killed me.
I shifted my gaze to clear my head. In the back of the classroom, Orito, who normally left his textbooks in the locker, was frantically stuffing them into his bag. That’s when it hit me: exams were next week. There was no other reason to take textbooks home.
I stared at him like he was some rare creature I didn’t know the name of. Noticing my stare, Orito sighed and walked over, shaking his head.
He had that smug look on his face, so I reached up and messed up his perfectly spiked hair.
“Yo, Aikawa. You sure you can afford to look that relaxed?”
Fussing over his hair like it was sacred, Orito looked dead serious.
“What?” I asked, frowning.
He slowly shook his head and pushed up his glasses with his middle finger. “They’re saying if you score badly on this exam, you lose your summer break.”
“They wouldn’t actually cancel it, would they?”
“You seriously have no clue, huh? You sleep through every class.”
He gave me a condescending look. Was he trying to get punched?
Losing summer break meant remedial classes. That would be bad.
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling, then turned to the window.
I didn’t care about getting a bad score. Honestly, as long as I graduated, I didn’t give a damn.
Back when I first enrolled, I was ready to take whatever extra classes they threw at me, but… yeah. Being dragged out in the daytime was a problem because of the whole sunlight thing.
I let out a deep sigh and pulled the textbook back out from the desk.
Welcome back, Mathematics I.
Like a responsible high schooler, I brought home textbooks for every subject, ready to study. The problem was, I had no idea where to start.
I tossed my overstuffed bag into my room, changed into casual clothes, and headed to the living room.
The usual gang was there.
First, a girl with chestnut hair down to her shoulders, catlike eyes, and a perpetually smug look—our resident Magiclad Girl.
Next, the Vampire Ninja with long black hair tied into a ponytail, jade eyes, and a sharp mouth set in a firm line.
And last, a girl with silky silver hair in plate armor and gauntlets, an outfit that would stand out even in medieval Europe, the blue-eyed Necromancer.
You wouldn’t find a more suspicious, bizarre bunch anywhere else.
The girls were sitting around the table, eyes on a variety show blaring from the plasma TV. It aired during prime time and was popular enough that people talked about it even at school, but it didn’t seem to land here. Not one of them cracked a smile.
Eu sat there calmly sipping from her teacup.
Perfect. I decided to study here.
Eu, the Necromancer, looked like she knew her stuff, and Sera the Vampire Ninja seemed smart. As for Haruna… well, she was that. A Magiclad Girl… yeah. She looked exactly like what you’d expect.
I went back to my room and grabbed the math workbook, easily the hardest subject on Monday. I figured the key to math was just grinding through as many problems as possible.
I opened my pencil case, flipped the workbook open, and clicked my mechanical pencil.
“Ayumu, what are you trying to do?” Haruna asked curiously. The cowlick on top of her head twitched like it was eager to know too.
“Studying. Exams start next week.”
“Exams? For what?” Haruna cocked her head.
Eu downed the rest of her tea in one go, then tapped the table twice. She placed her favorite ballpoint pen on one of those detachable notepads, and like magic, words appeared.
“Probably endurance.”
In my head, the peppy little sister version of Eu was saying, “They’re probably testing his toughness!”
“A crash test, huh?” Haruna said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m the only one who could even take that test.”
“It’s a written exam,” Sera said, the only one who understood how this world worked.
With everyone staring at me curiously, I turned to the page Orito told me would be on the exam and tackled the first question.
Short thought. Long pause. Nope. Pointless.
To me, the first problem already looked like an impossible riddle. Left without much of a choice, I figured I’d go through the pages in order from the beginning, only to hit a wall at square roots. Seriously? We did this in middle school.
“Sera, can you help me—”
I tried asking the Vampire Ninja, who looked like the smartest one here, but before I could finish, Sera caught on and replied, “If it’s classical literature or geography, I think I can be of some help. But math and science… not so much.”
I always thought ninjas were supposed to be well-versed in academics too, but oh well. Language and social studies were on the second day of exams anyway.
I decided to ask Sera for help another time. For now, maybe Eu—wait, hold on.
“Haruna, weren’t you supposed to be a genius or something?”
I was pretty sure Haruna’s whole Magiclad Girl thing came with a genius tag.
“Are you mocking me? I’m not supposed to be a genius. I am a genius!”
She bared her teeth, her cowlick bristling like she’d spotted a monster.
“Relax. I need your help on this. Just take a look at this first problem.” I showed her the first question to test her out.
“Oh, that’s square root of 3 minus square root of 2, obviously,” she answered instantly.
Wait. Was she actually a genius?
“How do you solve it? Like, a step-by-step solution.”
“Huh?” She inclined her head, confused.
“I mean, how’d you get to that answer?”
Haruna let out a sigh. “What’s one plus one?”
“Huh?” Now I was the one tilting my head.
“I said what’s one plus one! Answer me!”
“Two.”
“Two times two?”
“Four.”
“Show me your work.”
Wait a second. Did she just memorize all the answers?
“I… don’t have any.”
“Exactly,” she said, smirking triumphantly.
Geniuses, I swear to God.
“But I don’t get credit if I don’t show my work,” I said.
“What?! But I got it right. That’s stupid!”
Like yelling at me would help. Haruna slammed the workbook against the desk like she was swatting a bug.
“Teachers might think I just guessed,” I explained. “Besides, I actually want to learn how to solve it. Teach me from the start, step by step.”
“F-Fine. It’s a pain, but… I guess I’ll do it.”
Oh? I thought she’d throw more of a fit. She was more cooperative than expected.
At the time, I completely underestimated just how much of a genius Haruna really was.
Comment (0)