And so, that one time, when the princ.i.p.al told me to come to his office after the cla.s.ses were over, I was rather nervous and curious as to what the reason for it might be.

It was winter back then. As such, days were shorter. By the time school ended, a little crimson was already visible in the sky. It was a rather beautiful sight, if I do say so myself. Though, back then, I had become numb to its beauty, because I was seeing it every day.

"Princ.i.p.al Sir?" I asked as I open the door and looked inside. I saw the aristocratic middle-aged man sitting in his chair and smiling at me as he saw me.

"Come in, Grimma Glice." He said. And so I entered the room. But, in that room that day, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar person.

Opposite to the princ.i.p.al's chair, a slightly short-heighted boy of my age with a birdlike face was sitting. He turned back to me but didn't really show any reaction. His face had a stern, cold demeanor that seemed pitiable to me, for whatever reason.

"Grimma, meet Mr. Hopkins." The Princ.i.p.al said. "He is going to transfer over to this school from the next academic year. You both are in the same grade by the way."

It was January. The next academic year was about to begin in 3 months. Therefore, it wasn't anything strange to see the students who will be transferring over to our school in that upcoming year. What was strange was –

"Nice to meet you, I am Cartel Hopkins."

Him. He had an aura about him that clearly indicated his disa.s.sociation with things, as if he didn't care about anything at all.

"Yeah, I am Grimma Glice. Likewise." Even as we shook hands and I introduced myself, I didn't feel that I was talking to someone of my age, at least not someone normal of my age.

"So, um," The princ.i.p.al deliberately cleared his throat to draw our attention and upon succeeding, said, "Mr. Hopkins is transferring over from a different city. He is completely new here and well,"

"You would like me to show him around?" I could guess that because the princ.i.p.al had asked me for this kind of thing many a times in the past. I usually accepted doing it too but that day, I couldn't say yes.

"I am sorry, sir. I really need to be at home today as soon as possible. It's a special day." I said in an apologetic voice.

"Oh? What is it?"

Cartel seemed disinterested in the whole conversation and only stared out the window as we continued.

"It's my little brother's birthday."

"Is it?" He asked in a confused voice, "Isn't Jason's birthday around March?"

"Well," I said with somewhat of a mischievous voice, "It's Irium's birthday today."

Hearing that, the princ.i.p.al's face seemed to have lit up. "Ah, it's the little twerp's birthday today, huh?"

"Don't call him that!"

I chided him in a weirdly playfully tone. He made an apologetic expression as I did that.

The princ.i.p.al had good relations to me and my family. He wasn't particularly close to us as my family and he only interacted at parents-teachers-meet kind of events but, when they did, they got along pretty well. Therefore, he knew everyone in my family of six and was rather friendly towards me.

But, as the two of us got along so well, I started feeling guilty for the boy who was showing no enthusiasm or interest in our conversation, or anything else for that matter.

"Well, I won't keep you if that's the case. I know how much you love spoiling that little twe- I mean," deliberately coughing, he said, "you can go."

I did my best to ignore the fact that he called my precious little twerp a little twerp and put up a smile. No one was allowed to call him a little twerp. No one except me, that is.

Before going though, I took a last glance at Cartel Hopkins. His expressions had not changed a bit. I didn't know if he even cared about anything that happened back there.

*****

As soon as I stepped out of the princ.i.p.al's office, my mathematics teacher, Georgia Falcon, grabbed me. She was a gla.s.ses-wearing mathematical wizard who everyone in the school started off disliking but had grown to like her antics within just half of year. It surprised me that someone as easy-going as her had a troubled expression on her face.

"Did you see him, did you?" She asked.

"W-who?"

"T-that boy w-with a birdlike face."

"Y-yeah, I saw him. What about him?"

"He … he just …"

She showed me a paper with some kind of mathematical problem on it. The thing was – the problem had been solved.

"Now don't tell this to the princ.i.p.al but I gave him this problem to solve since and it is a really high-level problem."

I looked her as if I was looking at a convict, "You tried to do THAT again, huh?"

That woman was infamous for always trying to flex on students and teachers alike and show them how much of a genius she is in mathematics. She had apparently done that with Cartel too.

"Yeah, I know, I know. Don't start giving me lectures."

It's quite sad that it was a norm for students like me to lecture a teacher like her. But, more importantly,

"You won't learn how to solve these kinds of problems until you are in college. And that boy solved it without batting an eye."

"…"

"What's more is that even before solving it, he just took one glance and told me what the answer was going to be."

We were in 8th grade at the time. And even if you consider that we were about to enter the 9th grade, it still was d.a.m.n amazing that Cartel could solve something like that. Seeing his demeanor and this fact right before my eyes, I had become genuinely interested in that boy's capabilities.

However, what I was interested in having was an academic rival. I never expected that things would go the way they did. This is the story of one of the biggest parts of my life – a story full of secrets, secrets that I took to my grave.

*****