48 - Can I Cry Now?
48
Another professor’s class?
Professor Maless’s eyes widened. What was this supposed to mean?
He suddenly felt as if the sky was falling and the ground was sinking. His hands trembled, and he felt breathless.
Then, Professor Maless realized an important fact.
‘That’s not Ibi’s voice.’
Yes, this was definitely another student’s voice.
‘Did a child come to the wrong classroom?’
That made sense.
An child who had come this way by mistake must be wondering if this was the right place.
‘I have to chase them away quickly.’
What if Ibi inside heard this and got shaken up?
Professor Maless regained his composure and immediately burst into the room.
As he thought, Ibi was sitting at the desk.
And next to Ibi sat a student he had never seen before.
Right next to Ibi, at that.
‘No, was that student trying to get our Ibi to change classes?’
His eyes blazed with fire.
Ibi was a child who inspired him so much that he felt like he had to write a new mathematics book for the first time in decades.
A child who strives to understand the beauty of that world made up of numbers and rules, a world that exists but people do not yet know.
She even enjoyed it, and she followed what he taught very faithfully and correctly!
But to take such an Ibi to another professor?
‘Do you think I’ll stand still?’
He would make her his student no matter what and make her a big star in the empire’s mathematics world.
Professor Maless steeled his will and burst open the door.
‘Get away, you devil!’
Stay away from my student!
With that in mind, Professor Maless entered the classroom.
Ibi was sitting in the seat closest to the blackboard among the few desks.
Maless found even that admirable.
Since he would be sticking right next to her to teach her anyway, the front seat didn’t mean much.
But even the adult students at the Academy for the Gifted, who were all scholars, sat in the corners to avoid the professor’s eyes… To sit so close because she wanted to study!
“Hello, Professor!”
Seeing him enter, Ibi stood up abruptly.
“Oh, my. Yes. Good morning.”
For a moment, Professor Maless forgot why he had rushed in and smiled broadly as he greeted Ibi.
“Did you have a good breakfast? Was the homework I gave you last time difficult? No, more than that, the part I’m going to teach you today…”
As he was rattling off what he had been thinking, Irene stood up next to Ibi.
“So this is him. Hello, Professor Maless. I’m Irene Terrence.”
“Ah.”
Professor Maless came to his senses at that voice.
Then he looked at Irene with wary eyes.
“Who are you?”
“A student.”
“No, I’m not asking because I don’t know that.”
As Professor Maless and Irene glared at each other, Ibi hurriedly intervened.
“Um, Professor! Irene is my… friend!”
Ibi hesitated for a moment before saying that and grabbing Irene’s hand.
Irene smiled contentedly at the word friend.
“Yes. You heard that. I’m Ibi’s friend. Her best friend.”
Irene emphasized the word friend as if to make sure he heard.
“Y-yes. I understand that… But I heard from outside, why are you telling Ibi to take another class? What’s wrong with my class! What’s! So bad about it!”
“I’ve never taken your class, Professor, so I can’t say anything about it.”
“Then why…”
Just as he was about to press her about why she had said such a thing, Irene glared at him and said firmly.
“It’s too far.”
Gasp.
Professor Maless gasped at those words.
Wasn’t that what he had been worrying about all along?
“Ibi, can you stand up?”
At Irene’s words, Ibi jumped down from the chair and stood next to Irene.
“Here, this. You see the scratch on Ibi’s knee, right? And here, her palm is scraped too. When I asked her, she said it’s because this place is too far from the other classrooms, so she got them while running.”
“No, that can be avoided if you’re careful…”
“Besides, math books are heavy. There will be more and more books, how hard would it be for a small child like Ibi to carry them all and walk around?”
“N-no, but…”
Every word was right.
Professor Maless contorted his face like someone who had been hit in the bone.
But Professor Maless remembered an important fact.
“But it’s impossible to change it now. The application period is over.”
But Irene said calmly.
“There was a notice posted on the dormitory bulletin board this morning. They said everyone wasn’t familiar with the Academy for the Gifted’s rules yet, so there were a lot of mistakes, and they extended the correction period, right, Ibi?”
At Irene’s words, Ibi, who was holding her hand, nodded.
Professor Maless rummaged through his memory. He thought there was something new posted in the administration office, could that be it!
Maless bit his lip.
Irene muttered, looking at such Maless.
“But since I like that there are only me and Ibi in the class… How about you somehow get a classroom closer to the main building, Professor?”
“I was thinking of doing that anyway! No, but you. I never said I would teach you. Can’t you just go take another class by yourself?”
“Huh? Where does that exist? A professor is supposed to teach a student if they don’t know something! I came here to study!”
“Of course, that’s true, but can you keep up with my class as well as Ibi can?”
Irene’s face hardened slightly at those words.
After coming to the classroom, she had asked Ibi how far she had gotten in math class.
Then Ibi took out a book from her bag with a proud face.
“This is… Advanced Mathematics?”
“Yes. Professor Maless uses this for class.”
“With this? Math class? Right away?”
No way. The class content Irene had looked at clearly stated that they would be learning intermediate math books.
But advanced? Moreover, listening to Ibi, she had already made quite a bit of progress.
What was even more surprising was that Ibi was keeping up with the progress without difficulty.
‘Even I, who studied like crazy at home, didn’t find it easy…’
She could somehow keep up with the beginning now, but if she continued at this pace, it would definitely be difficult.
“It seems like it would be difficult, so how about you just take another class by yourself?”
“Where does that exist? A professor is supposed to teach a student if they don’t know something! I came here to study!”
“No, if there are other children, it would be okay to teach according to the overall progress. But if it’s just you, it would be better for you to move to another class that suits your level…”
That’s when Maless said that.
Suddenly, there was a loud, clattering sound of footsteps coming from the hallway.
“……?”
Not only Maless but also Ibi and Irene looked at the door with puzzled faces.
Staff members didn’t come to this building often. There shouldn’t be anyone else coming besides the three of them, so who was coming up so noisily?
The sound of footsteps approached the classroom where the three were. Then.
Creak!
The door opened with a loud noise, and the person who came in greeted loudly.
“Hi, Ibi!”
The person who came in was Ruska with red hair.
And behind her, Arcel was standing with a resigned face.
Professor Maless realized.
The dream of a quiet, one-on-one class that he had imagined was quickly fading away.
\ \ *
‘What is this all about?’
Arcel sighed inwardly as he watched Ruska’s carefree appearance as she greeted Ibi happily.
Since yesterday, Ruska had been talking about taking this class, and she had begged Arcel, saying that it would be a betrayal if he took another math class alone.
Frankly, this was a foolish thing to do.
The math class the two had originally applied for was fine. No, it was satisfactory.
The professor was kind, the progress was good, and it was a class full of children who were willing to study.
There were also many children they had known since childhood and had a friendly relationship with.
But to change classes because of a small child they had only seen a few times.
But even though he thought it was a foolish choice, Arcel also submitted a class correction application with Ruska.
‘Why on earth?’
Watching Ruska run excitedly, Arcel couldn’t understand why Ruska or himself were becoming so weak to Ibi.
It wasn’t just because she was small and young.
Was it because she was a commoner chosen by the Emperor?
If so, it might be better for them to ignore her.
Nevertheless, just as Ruska was showing such interest, he too couldn’t take his eyes off Ibi Elden.
Then, a person flashed through Arcel’s mind.
Someone who had eyes similar to Ibi Elden’s…
‘Lilian.’
Strangely, seeing Ibi kept reminding him of her.
