9.2 Old ways

For the first time, I, Rahul Prajapati met Asura. He came out as a rude, selfish and self-centred guy but it felt like he was lonely. In the beginning, he had no idea about college or the exam, and he didn't look like the type to ask for help. He didn't care about his studies and did reckless things that a student would never imagine. But after the suspension he changed, he had begun paying attention to the lectures. He is still a little reluctant to ask for help and doesn't open up to anyone. I wonder if he even considers me as a friend. Though the reckless part of him is still the same. But now there's a fire in his eyes. He has this mysterious aura around him and his actions are totally unpredictable...

But this! Challenging Reyana to a quiz right after she defeated Abed is going way beyond unpredictable and reckless. What is he even thinking!? He doesn't stand a chance against her. There's no way he can defeat her with his current level of knowledge and practice. She just declared that she has been studying twenty hours every single day. Her speed of solving the questions is on a completely different scale.

And what was with the 'I can save you' deal? Even Reyana seemed to be taken in by surprise by what he said and she didn't deny his proposal. I don't understand the things he does and the way he sees things...

The quiz was about to begin.

"Are you ready?" the Qmaster asked.

Rustle. Asura slid the pages away from him. He hadn't even picked up his pen. He crossed his legs, put his hands behind his head and laid back on his chair.

"To make this match fair for you. I'll let you have the first question." He declared boldly.

Has he lost his mind? What is he thinking? Every question is crucial in the quiz with three right answers being the criteria for winning. Giving away a question like this is ludicrous! Shouldn't he try his best to at least attempt it? Has he already given up?

"Tch." Reyana glared at him, "Do whatever you want. You are going to lose anyway."

"Hahaha. We will see who's gonna win in a couple of minutes." Asura chuckled with confidence.

"My my, this is the first time I have seen someone give their opponent a lead. Is he really that great? Let's begin the quiz to find out!" Qmaster.

"Which of the enzyme is.."

"Fwoo fwoo..." Qmaster stopped to the noise of someone whistling. It was Asura looking up at the ceiling, swinging on the rear two legs of the chair. He wasn't joking earlier. He didn't even intend on listening to the question.

Qmaster continued reading the question"... Not included in the secretions of the brush border cells of the mucosa?"

Reyana watched Asura as he fooled around.

"Option one Maltase

Option two Dipeptidase

Option three Nucleosidase

Option four Carboxypeptidase"

Reyana didn't answer immediately and observed Asura, to check whether he was just pretending, but to no avail. Asura didn't even show any sign of trying to think about the answer.

"Tch… annoying," Reyana tapped on the table, "Option number four Carboxypeptidase."

"That's the right answer!"

The audience showed no reaction. No one understood the reason behind Asura's actions.

"Asura is at zero and Reyana has one point." The Qmaster announced the scores.

Crack crack. Asura cracked his fingers, "Now that you have somewhat of a lead, I think it's time to get serious. Not that it will be of much help to you." He said with a smirk on his face. Reyana didn't retort back to his taunt.

He held his left hand just a centimetre above the table, with his right hand holding the pen pressed against the paper. He leaned forward and smiled at her. "Let's get started."

"Question number two

A projectile is moving on a xy plane such that its horizontal and vertical directions are along the x-axis and y-axis respectively..."

A physics question. She defeated Abed in physics. How could he possibly think of defeating her? But the expression on Asura's face wasn't of someone who looked afraid. He had fearless eyes looking down on Reyana and everyone around him. His smile scared me but at the same time, it gave me hope that he could win.

"...The projectile is fired from the origin at a large height with an initial velocity (50î + 20j) m/s. The time after which instantaneous velocity of the projectile becomes perpendicular to its initial velocity is?"

Asura began solving the question as the Qmaster read out the question. How is he solving the question, the factors required to solve the haven't been read out yet?

"…."

Bang! Asura slammed the table the moment the qmaster finished reading out the question.

Reyana looked at him in shock. She had just begun solving the question and he had already solved it. It must be the first time for her to see someone solve a question faster than her.

The qmaster and the audience also looked at him with an astounding look but it was not due to the awe of how fast he solved the question but because what he had done was a foolish mistake.

"Oh god! What am I going to do with this guy?" I cried out as I slapped my forehead.

Asura looked around at the confused people staring at him, "What's going on?"

"You fool! Answering before all the options are read out is against the rules." I yelled at him. Just when I felt that he is taking this seriously, he goes and does something stupid. Putting aside his idiotic blunder, the fact that he solved the physics question so rapidly was still amazing. When did he get so good at solving questions?

"Due to the violation of the rules, Reyana gets the point. With this, the current scores are - Asura still at zero and Reyana with two points!" The Qmaster announced.

"Ahhhhh I completely forgot about that rule," Asura wailed and let out a theatrical sigh, "What a shame. It was such an easy question too. You got lucky." He said to Reyana.

"Lucky? I got lucky!?" Reyana snapped, "Don't you dare use that word to describe my wins?"

"There is no need to get so riled up. I know people like you, who want to prove that their methods are better than the rest. If you really want to compete that way I will show you how inferior you are to me. I went a little too easy on you. Letting you score two points against me. I should be ashamed of myself for letting something like this happen. At least now you know that I am faster. Now, all I have to do is win in the next three rounds, which is easy peasy demon sleazy." He looked her in the eyes once again. Whenever he did that, Reyana turned into a vulnerable and fragile being.

"Y..you are just b..bluffing." She tried to fight against Asura in his word battle, but she seemed to be losing in that part. He sure knows how to intimidate his enemies.

"Look at my face!" Asura spoke up, "Does it look like the face of someone who is going to lose? I am just faster and better than you. Make sure you keep that in mind before you answer the next question."

What is he talking about? How can he be better than Reyana? When we visited him a week ago, he couldn't even tell which topics belonged to which subjects. But looking at his face, I can't help but feel that he isn't lying. What happened during this last week that changed him so much?

"Reyana is just one question away from winning. Can Asura turn the tables or this is going to be an easy win for Reyana?" said the Qmaster.

"Question number three

Mass loss of 1.0 g of the AgCl on repeated washing with 10L of water is (Ksp of AgCI = 1.0 x 10-10 and Ag = 108 , Cl=35.5)"

This question was comparatively easy. All one needs to know is the valency of the elements and the formula. This is going to be a showdown of speed. The result of this question could end the quiz.

Asura began solving the question. This time he didn't tap directly and waited for the options. On the other hand, Reyana took a second to start solving.

"Option one 1.43 x 10-2 g

Option two 1.23 x 10-3 g

Option three 1 × 10-4 g

Option four 1.34 × 10-3 g"

Tap

' … '

Tap

It was once again Asura who had tapped first. Reyana's eyes were wide open in surprise. She appeared to be baffled by the fact that he answered before her twice in a row.

"He defeated Reyana in speed?" Even Abed who had been gloomy till now was astounded.

"Option number one," answered Asura.

"Damn it!" Reyana hit the table with her fist in frustration which could only mean one thing, that his answer is correct.

"That's the correct answer." confirmed the Qmaster.

"Hey don't go hitting your hand on the table. What if you hurt your hands? It will further slow down your sluggish hands. Don't make this match any more easier than it already is." Asura didn't leave this opportunity to taunt her.

For a second it looked like Reyana quickly wanted to retort but she averted her gaze, avoiding looking into his eyes. She gripped her pen tight and bit her lips. Is she accepting that he is faster?

"What a turn of events! Asura has finally scored a point, which brings Asura to one and Reyana at two points." The Qmaster announced the scores. Reyana was still in the lead but Asura seemed to be having the upper hand.