Chapter 24 Part 4: Shine’s Favorite Things

What am I doing now?

Why am I solving meaningless problems?

I absentmindedly move my pen and solve various math problems in an instant.

Shine, sitting next to me, is still fidgeting and solving problems.

I rest my chin on my hand and look at Shine.

Her face, concentrating on something, looks very cute.

As I roll my pen around with a small smile, Amy takes my math problem book away.

“Did Jeff solve everything?”

“Of course.”

What does she think of me?

Isn’t that level of problems a piece of cake?

As I look at Amy with a confident smile, she gives me a subtle smile and starts grading my problems.

Of course, I expected it to sleet, but what fell on the problems I had solved was a heavy rain.

My gaze wavers.

I open my mouth blankly as I look at the red raindrops falling.

“This too, this too, this too.”

Words keep flowing out of Amy’s mouth.

She stops her red pen on the last problem.

“You got it wrong.”

“Yes…?”

I ask back with a trembling voice.

Really?

Is it really wrong?

I look at the workbook in disbelief.

Where I wrote the correct answer.

There was a red brushstroke drawn over it.

That fact flew deep into my heart.

With a bitter feeling, I grabbed the workbook Amy gave me back and held it.

“Really…. Is it wrong?”

“Then, try again.”

I looked at Amy with a dubious face.

She just nodded and patted my head.

After receiving the workbook, I sat down weakly.

“Jeff. Should I tell you?”

A voice came from the seat next to me.

Shine was looking at me with a subtle, sly smile.

Her workbook wasn’t even half-finished yet.

“No…!”

That couldn’t be.

I must have made a mistake.

I erased all the answers with the eraser.

Then I moved the pen again.

These were simple problems that I could solve with mental calculation.

What on earth did this mean?

A completely different answer than the one I had written down earlier came to mind.

I must have made a mistake.

Hands that move without hesitation.

I, who was looking at the problems that I solved in an instant, put down the pen in my hand.

“Jeff, you’re not joking, are you?”

Amy says, looking at the speed at which I solved the problems, as if she doesn’t believe me.

I shake my head.

Are you sure I really solved this properly?

“It’s true. I worked hard.”

I say, hugging my workbook tightly.

I couldn’t stand the fact that my answers were being denied.

Shine, who was watching me from the seat next to me, looks down at her workbook.

There was still more than half of the space left.

She shut her mouth and moved her pen again.

“Shine, I’m done.”

I look at her and smile in triumph.

“It’s too early to be proud.”

Amy says that and takes out the workbook that was in my arms.

I look at Amy with a nervous heart.

The workbook in her hand.

And my gaze turns to Amy’s face.

“Pfft…!”

Amy lets out a laugh.

“Amy?”

I call Amy’s name in an anxious voice.

Why are you laughing?

Why?

“Look carefully, Jeff.”

Amy opened her workbook.

Then she moved her chair, came next to me, and picked up her pen.

“This is wrong.”

This time, the red pen didn’t move.

She kindly started to explain to me how to solve the problem.

I looked at it with confused eyes.

I clearly knew it, but I knew how to do it.

Why?

Why is it wrong?

“Yes….”

I nodded and followed her calmly.

I wrote down the answer on paper, solving the process that I would have done in my head.

The answer I got was a number that was far different from the answer I had done in my head.

I touched the paper with my trembling hands.

“This is….”

“I’ll tell you, Jeff.”

While I was holding onto the paper and looking confused, Shine, who had solved all of her problems, approached me.

“Did you solve it, Shine?”

“Yeah.”

Shine nodded confidently.

I also shifted my gaze and looked at her workbook.

A page with only the answers written neatly.

It seemed that she had also solved the problem in her head.

“Where should I look?”

I look at Amy and Shine, both skeptical and a little hopeful.

I was wrong, I was wrong, but Shine can’t be all correct, right?

Right?

I’m not weird.

“Oh~”

Amy exclaims in admiration.

I open my mouth wide.

That’s because my round eyes kept falling on Shine’s workbook.

Something fills my eyes at that unbelievable fact.

“You got them all right?”

“How’s it?”

“Amazing. You did really well.”

Amy praises Shine.

Shine looks happy as she receives Amy’s praise with a bright face.

She proudly shows off her workbook.

I look at the answers written on it and start comparing them to the answers written in my workbook.

None.

None.

There wasn’t a single correct answer.

I got them all wrong.

Twice at that.

“Ugh…”

My tightly clenched hands start to tremble.

An unbearable sadness surges.

Why am I wrong?

A drop of water runs down my cheek.

The hot warmth cools down, leaving behind footprints.

“Jeff, are you crying?”

Shine asks worriedly.

I shake my head and wipe my cheek with my hand.

I’m not crying.

It’s so weird to be dragged out like this.

“Don’t… cry…!”

I gasp.

I hide my tears, calming my rapidly rising and falling heart.

“Was it too hard?”

Amy asks worriedly.

She takes a handkerchief out of her pocket and hands it to me.

I blankly accept her hand.

The handkerchief she carefully moves slightly presses down on my eyes.

After the handkerchief disappears, my blurry vision returns to normal.

“No!”

It’s not hard.

Really.

I swallow my breath and pick up my pen again.

“I’ll tell you, Jeff.”

Shine pulls her chair over to the side and sits close to me.

“I can do it by myself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Shine gives me a small smile at my refusal and gets up from her seat.

“Amy, I’ve solved everything, so do you want some juice and a snack?”

I raise my head at Shine’s words.

Amy, who had been watching me solve the problem from her seat, gets up from her seat at Shine’s words and starts preparing snacks and drinks.

Impatience comes over me.

Me too.

I want to eat too!

My head is spinning.

The problem that I had easily solved with mental calculations is now a huge wall.

It feels like standing in front of a huge wall.

I can’t see a way to get over it.

But I don’t stop.

“Why can’t I solve it?”

Was it because of impatience?

My thoughts started to spill out of my mouth little by little.

Shine, who was drinking juice and eating snacks next to the desk where I was solving the problem, smiles playfully.

“I’ll tell you.”

“No.”

I finally refuse.

I can definitely solve it on my own.

If it were normal, it would have taken less than 10 seconds per problem.

My face heats up.

My tongue gets dry.

The rustling sound of snacks next to me.

The sound of Shine drinking juice with a straw.

It all flies and sticks vividly in my ears.

My vision becomes blurry once again.

“Ugh….”

A small hand covers the problem book.

Why can’t I solve it?

“I’ll help you.”

When did she come?

Shine grabs my arm as she drags the chair next to me and sits down.

I nod.

The tears that had gathered in my eyes begin to disappear.

“It’s like this…”

As she continues her explanation, the wall that blocked my way crumbles in an instant.

My eyes widen.

This?

Like this?

Really this easy?

Problems that are so easy to solve.

However, before Shine finishes speaking, when I try to move on to the next problem, a huge wall blocks me.

“Jeff. You’re still explaining this.”

“Ugh…”

I nod my head obediently.

“You’re really close.”

Amy, who was watching us from the front, smiles happily.

I diligently move my pen to solve the problem.

However, I wouldn’t have been able to solve the problem without Shine’s explanation.

It feels really amazing.

“I’m done…!”

I solved the last problem.

I feel a great sense of liberation and accomplishment and raise my hand.

It feels so refreshing that I even laugh.

“I’m done!”

Shine, who was sitting next to me, did the same.

We raise our hands and look at each other.

Bright smiles appear on each other’s lips.

“Thank you, Shine!”

I wouldn’t have been able to solve the problem without her.

I really thought that.

“Jeff needs me.”

I nod at her words.

“Where should I look?”

Amy, who was looking at us, picks up the workbook.

I look at the workbook Amy is grading with a nervous heart.

At that moment, Shine gently holds my trembling hand.

I feel a warm warmth.

When I look at Shine in surprise, Shine smiles gently.

It’s as if she’s telling me to trust myself.

I gain confidence from that smile.

The trembling disappears in an instant.

I wait for the grading with a confident expression.

“Wow~”

Amy finishes grading with a small exclamation.

The results are all correct.

After receiving the grading results, I immediately shouted to Amy.

“I want some snacks too!”

Shine and I run to the table where the snacks are placed.

Our small footsteps echo throughout the room.

The workbook moving away behind me had long since disappeared from my mind.

I sat down at the table and filled my mouth with delicious snacks.

The rustling and crumbling snacks wrapped around the tip of my tongue.

A sweet sugary feast.

The waves of juice that followed softened the hard snacks and guided them down my throat.

“Delicious!”

While we were enjoying our snacks, Amy seemed to be pondering something and asked us a question.

“When is your birthday?”

“Birthday…?”

Shine tilted her head and asked back.

“Birthday. You mean your birth date.”

Shine and I looked at each other at Amy’s words.

I didn’t know Shine’s birth date.

Neither did I.

Having been born in District 23, I didn’t know exactly when I was born.

“I don’t know.”

“Me either.”

“Hmm….”

Amy mumbled slightly at our answers.

It seemed like she had something to say.