Why So Slow
Why So Slow
After drawing a single yellow underline, the boy made no further move.
'Acting all high and mighty... was it all just hot air?'
The instant that thought crossed her mind, as if he'd read it, the boy's lips curved into a subtle smile.
It was closer to a sneer directed at something contemptible. As though he was silently telling the formula written on the Agora Board, "How dare the likes of you."
'Huh?'
Becky's eyes went wide before she knew it.
There wasn't the slightest trace of irritation in the tap, tap, tap of the chalk striking the board or in his pupils darting busily about.
If anything, he seemed to be finding nothing but the utmost enjoyment in confronting the opponent before him.
Soon his wrist swept wide and drew another underline. Without the aid of any tool, the line he drew was perfectly straight, without a hair's breadth of deviation.
Now there were two underlines. Plan murmured.
"You still haven't solved the first formula."
The girl felt a shock as if she'd been struck in the back of the head.
Come to think of it, she'd been so mesmerized by the spectacle that she'd already forgotten the boy's statement that he would only pick out the vertices for her.
At the same time, a question arose. No matter how precisely he pinpointed the vertices, calculating each one demanded immense focus and mana.
What if this turned out to be a wild goose chase?
However, the moment she tentatively laid her hands on the formula, Becky felt her doubts melt away.
'This... has to be a vertex.'
A mage is a being who adds intuition to the path of pursuing truth.
Even though she had only just begun her calculation, she felt her intuition responding.
Like finally discovering a long-sought groundwater vein, among all those malicious and foul-tempered formulas, this one alone felt friendly.
Every part of it was strongly asserting that it was a core component.
Becky immediately spread a sheet of paper out in midair and began to write.
This was definitely a vertex. Her heart raced at the thought that she might actually be able to reach the correct answer.
"These formulas, which seem innumerable, actually boil down to only 64 possibilities once you sort them out."
"64 possibilities..."
But wasn't 64 an absurdly huge number? Becky silently swallowed those words.
Anyway. The derived value of the first formula was A1.
She swiftly moved on to the next formula.
But naturally, it wasn't easy. The calculations were so extensive that a single mistake meant starting over from the beginning, and her concentration was quickly exhausted.
Still, by hook or by crook, she managed to calculate three more after that. A8, H1, H8.
"Ah!"
Becky let out an exclamation of admiration. A1, A8, H1, H8 — these were far too familiar.
"It's a rectangle! Eight squares across, eight squares down! Like a chessboard!"
So that's why he said there were 64 formulas in total. Because with eight across and eight down, there would be 64 possible coordinates.
Becky was utterly pleased with herself, but Plan shook his head as if he found her pitiful.
"Well done figuring out that much, but obviously it doesn't end there."
"What? Then what?"
"You've only just gauged the size of the canvas. Figuring out the picture starts now."
"Ah... I see..."
Becky had confidently accepted the proposition, but having just calculated four, she was already completely drained.
'Isn't he tired at all?'
Becky was already wiping the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead, but Plan was calmly resting his chin on his hand with perfect composure.
He showed absolutely no sign of finding the process difficult. He remained entirely composed.
He drew another underline.
Well, what choice do I have? Gotta do it. Swallowing a silent scream, Becky launched into the next calculation.
So engrossed that they even lost track of time, the two threw themselves into their respective tasks.
D4, D6, C3, E3, B4, F4...
This time, it was Becky who put the chalk down.
"Correct!"
Plan casually sent a glance toward the girl. She shouted confidently.
"It's a star shape! It really is convenient just calculating only the vertices you plucked out."
She stretched out long in a gesture of victory, but the response she got back was unexpectedly cold.
The boy tapped the chalk against the board. Tap tap.
"Only now you've realized that? Continue calculating."
"You know the answer is a star, but you still want more calculations?"
"Just do it."
Grumbling complaints, Becky reluctantly tried to calculate a new formula.
And then she came to a spectacular, sudden halt.
"Hey. Uh."
"What is it."
Confronted with such an utterly unflappable reply, the words she was about to say died in her throat.
'What the... No matter how I look at it, this is weird.'
But Becky felt a strong sense of dissonance.
All the coordinates she'd received up until now had sparked her intuition, letting her feel they were major core points.
But the coordinate she received this time had none of that at all.
A formula that anyone would feel was a trap. A completely nonsensical spot. The moment she tried working on it, that was all she could feel.
She agonized whether to keep solving it or not, and in the end, mustered the courage to ask.
"Is this one you just pointed out correct?"
"It's not the correct answer, but I picked it out brilliantly, exactly as I intended."
So you're saying it's wrong.
But despite that, Plan confidently drew one more underline.
Following it with her eyes, this formula also felt like a trap.
"As you intended? What on earth is that supposed to mean...?"
Weren't you supposed to solve the problem according to the test-maker's intent?
Yet there wasn't even a speck of the feeling that they were the submissive party who had to solve the problem from this boy.
"Simply handing back the correct star picture isn't satisfying enough. We're not amateurs."
"So... what else are you planning to give them besides the correct answer?"
At that, Plan smirked.
"We'll throw a problem right back at them. For the test-maker to solve."
"And what comes out if they solve what you throw back?"
"A picture that's been flipped exactly upside down. A heart."
"Flipped upside down... No, you're going to flip the picture upside down?"
"That's right."
While others agonized over the correct answer, the boy was already contemplating the dimension beyond it. The 'correct answer' was simply such an obvious premise to him from the start.
"Why do it that way? That's a wrong answer no matter what. Nobody will even know we solved the problem."
"That's what makes it fun."
Such a short answer. The boy continued.
"Nobody else will know. Only this test-maker will know. The fact that their problem was completely and utterly seen through by someone else."
Becky was now certain. This guy is not normal.
At the same time, he's not in his right mind either.
'But... wouldn't that be kind of fun?'
But the feeling quietly budding inside her was somewhat rebellious and audacious.
Had she ever thought the way Plan did in her entire life?
Whenever she was given a problem, she only ever agonized over solving it so she could be praised. She had never once considered the notion of throwing one right back.
Is he really even a new student like her? The first impression of a frail-looking junior was erased completely from her mind, leaving no trace behind.
Tap tap. He pointed at the new underline he'd drawn with his chalk.
"The derived value is."
"W-Wait. I'm working on it."
A succession of formulas came pouring out at Becky.
The new formulas she had to solve were of a much higher difficulty.
It made sense. In order to flip the picture, they were now solving only the formulas of coordinates that were originally traps.
'...What kind of guy is this?'
While calculating, Becky couldn't help but stick her tongue out in disbelief.
He was the same age. That left her no choice but to think his talent was innate.
Who on earth could make Becky feel so breathtakingly surpassed?
Becky prided herself on having diligently chased the path of a mage throughout her life so far.
So, when she'd submitted her application to Märchen Academy, she did so without a moment's hesitation, and she passed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That wasn't all. At the new student orientation, a few students had even recognized her.
'But this guy... I don't remember seeing him at the new student orientation at all?'
Becky glanced sideways at him with bewildered eyes.
But this time, the boy wasn't looking at the board. He was staring right at her with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
"What's taking so long."
◈
"Hwaaaaah..."
It was only around the time the moon hung in the sky that Becky, finally finished with her calculations, lay flat on the floor in a spread-eagle.
The correct answer to the problem was, as predicted, a star shape, and Plan had skillfully inverted it, then detached the stem and transformed it into a heart shape.
They wrote that answer on a memo in the format of the problem and stuck it in a corner. The test-maker would examine it, probably.
If things went according to plan, it was practically at the level of toying with them. Was it bad-natured of her to honestly admit she'd found it a little enjoyable?
"Fuhaha..."
But despite that, she burst out laughing first. It was fun. That much was definitely certain.
"Are you satisfied?"
The boy asked.
To even ask that. Becky, still lying flat, nodded her head.
Even though she hadn't approached the problem purely under her own power, the sense of accomplishment from having done it was enormous.
"Hey. You. Well..."
Only then did Becky examine the boy's nameplate on his uniform. Under the moonlight, a gleaming name card read 'Plan'.
"Plan. Can I just call you by your name casually?"
"Suit yourself. We won't be running into each other anymore anyway."
"Why wouldn't we run into each other? You're going to keep attending the academy, aren't you?"
"Who knows. The interest has faded now."
The girl sprang up from the floor where she was lying. And for a moment, her mind whirred busily.
'Has he been scouted somewhere already?'
Well, from what she'd just witnessed, it wouldn't be the least bit strange if he was already receiving scouting offers.
If that's the case, it can't be helped.
She'd been planning on becoming friends if they continued attending the academy together, but it was a shame it ended like this.
She picked up the bag lying on the floor and held it out to the boy.
"So, are you heading home now then?"
"Home..."
The boy thought for a moment.
Even if he had fallen into another world, he still needed a place to stay. It was already night outside.
This physical body was desperately craving recovery from fatigue. If there was a place he could sleep, he needed to go and get some sleep.
Then suddenly.
"Speaking of which, why aren't you going home?"
If he thought back, girls around this age usually had a curfew as a basic rule, didn't they?
"Me? I... I'm fine. I don't have to go in yet."
He nodded toward Becky, who was mumbling her answer evasively.
"Then you can escort me home."
◈
Becky shook her head from side to side.
"Your address is printed clear as day on your student ID, so why can't you go there...? I just can't understand it."
"I don't know."
"No, that's what I mean. How can a guy who knows every complicated formula not know his own house."
Even while grumbling, Becky complied with his request.
If she had sensed any ulterior or impure motives in that request to be taken home, she would have refused him like a knife, but this guy really didn't seem to know his home.
No, it wasn't just his house he didn't know; he seemed completely unfamiliar with this entire area. The way he was looking around everywhere as if it were fascinating was proof of that.
"How much further left?"
"We're almost there, just a little... Wait, is it right for me to be hearing this from the homeowner? You should know better than me."
"I don't know."
"This is truly absurd... Whoa."
Becky, who had been walking while glancing back and forth between the address and their surroundings, dropped her arm without thinking.
And then her small mouth hung open.
"Plan, do you... live here?"
What spread out before her eyes was an incredibly huge mansion.