Lesson with William part 2

"Professsor William ,I think this whole lesson started because I can't read characters"Kyle said in a troubled voice.

Oh, that's right. So you can do the calculations, but you can't read the

numbers?"

"That's correct."

"Well, that's a little odd... But I suppose it's not unheard of? Paper is

expensive, after all..." William muttered to himself in thought and looked at kyle with scrutiny. He remembered what Harry had said to him.

All right, I guess that means I just need to teach you the numbers. That

should make things pretty simple — and much easier for me. I'm going to write

down the numbers from zero to nine here. Can you remember them?" William asked as he smoothly jotted the numbers down.

"Sure."

From the left, it goes zero, one, two, increasing as such. Tell me once you're

done remembering them and I'll give you some arithmetic problems."

"Okay." Kyle nodded. He used his finger to trace the numbers as he memorized

them. They were very simple in shape, so he was able to finish memorizing

them in a short amount of time.

"I've remembered them."

"Eh? Already? Okay, then write the numbers from zero to nine here." William turned the paper over and handed it to Kyle. Kyle wrote down the characters with

ease.

Correct. Your handwriting is really neat, too," William commented in awe.

"Okay. Next, let's jump straight into addition and subtraction problems. I'll

teach you the symbols as well."

Okay. Could you give me questions that are on the same level as the class

right now? I want to see how well I can keep up."

"At the same level as the class... That'd be the four basic operations, which

includes multiplication and division. Wouldn't that be too hard?"

"It's fine, I think. Multiplication is where you figure out how many apples you

need to give seven children five apples each, right? And division is how many apples you can give to each children if you have certain number of apples."

"Y-Yes, that's right. Where did you learn that?" Celia wondered out loud.

"...From my dead mother."

That was a lie. He had learned the basic operations long ago through his

education in his other life. All William needed to teach Kyle was how to read the

numbers and symbols — but he couldn't tell him that. Kyle decided to simplify

things by saying he had learned it from his dead mother, since there was no

way for the truth to be unearthed and proven..

"I see. Your mother must have been very educated." Feeling bad for asking

such a thing, William's expression clouded over.

"Yes. She was a very warm and kind person..."

Rio's expression faintly

darkened, too.

"Umm, okay... so if that's the case, then that means you can do the basic

operations. I'll create some problems for you at the same level as the rest of the

class. You can give that a try."

At Kyle's inclination of his head, William pulled over a new piece of paper. He began to write question after question on it, until there were roughly fifteen questions utilizing the four different operations.

"The symbols at the top are the four basic mathematic operators. Starting from the left, it's addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Now begin."

At William's signal, Kyle glanced over all the questions. From his perspective, the sheet was full of questions that were far too easy for him.

"I'm done."

Kyle solved all the questions in less than half a minute. His concentration on

the paper had distracted him from noticing William's look of astonishment.

"They're all correct..." He'd probably been checking his work as he went, as

he was able to give him his assessment immediately.

"Then that means I won't have any problems with arithmetic. I need to learn

the letters next, but there are more of those than numbers, right?"

"Eh? Ah, yes. Right..."

"Is something the matter?" Kyle asked, puzzled at William's short answer.

"Nothing's the matter... You're just really fast at mental calculations."

"Is that... so? Isn't everyone else in the class at this level?"

"No. Only His Highness, Prince Nathan, is at this level. Princess Annora and Collete are also

rather fast, but not as fast as you," William said with a stiff smile.

That was when Kyle realized the mistake he had made.

He had assumed that the most prestigious academy in the kingdom would

have students of fairly advanced academic abilities. After all, the students

themselves had bragged about their prowess and how they had already learned

the basic operations for the entry examination. That was why Kyle had

mistakenly thought that this much was easy for their level.

"Well, I used to do calculations in my head often. My mother said it would

come in handy someday." Kyle faltered for a second before making up an excuse

on the spot.

"Is that... so..." William looked at Kyle doubtfully, but Kyle ignored his stare.

"Do you know if there are any books for children learning to read, Professor?"

he asked instead.

William pondered for a moment before answering. "...There are. I'll give you a list; you can borrow them at the library on your way back," he answered with a

small sigh.

"Thank you very much."

"It's fine, this is part of my duty as your instructor. So... how was your first day

at the academy? Let me know if there's anything you're unhappy with," Williamasked with a teacherly look of concern. The events that happened during

today's break flashed in Kyle's mind, but he didn't feel the need to report it to

William. It was only his first day here, and the others involved were only children,

in the end.

In Kyle's perspective they were nothing more than some little brats.

"No, it was fine."

"Really?"

Kyle nodded his head plainly, which seemed to surprise William. He looked as

though he had more that he wanted to ask, stumbling over his next words.

"Umm. I was just, you know, wondering if you made any friends..." he

eventually asked, hesitantly.

"Friends? No, I didn't want to overstep myself by acting overly familiar with

the nobles,"Kyle stated calmly. William seemed a little upset at that.

"Well, yes, I suppose... you're right. That would make things difficult," he

sighed. Kyle tilted his head in confusion.