Shirone's Encounter: The Eccentric Genius of Class Five

"Ah, Shirone. Let me introduce you. This is Iruki. He's an outsider from Class Five."

A month had passed since Shirone advanced to Class Five, but this was his first time having a direct conversation with Iruki.

It wasn't that he had deliberately avoided him, but Iruki was absent from class more often than he attended.

"Ohh, Aryan Shirone. The genius that the school has its eyes on, huh? I should write about this glorious moment in my journal."

From those words alone, Shirone immediately understood why others kept their distance from Iruki.

"Hello. I'm Shirone. Looking forward to working with you."

"Heh, what's a genius asking favors for? Actually, I've been watching you since Class Seven. When you succeeded in the Separation-Type technique, and even when you crossed the 'Uncrossable Bridge.'"

"Huh? You've been watching me?"

At that moment, Shirone realized something.

'This voice…'

A thin, sharp voice, like metal scraping against metal.

Back in Class Seven, when the Spirit Zone wavered under the weight of his classmates' ridicule, this was the voice that had encouraged him.

"You were the one who cheered for me back then?"

"Cheer for you? No way. I just said something because it was frustrating to watch. I didn't like how you let others push you around."

Iruki spoke as if he couldn't care less, but to Shirone, that memory was something he cherished.

"No, you really helped me a lot."

Hearing that, Iruki stared at him blankly.

"You're… really boring."

"Huh?"

It was the first time in his life he had been called boring, and oddly, it annoyed him.

Nade hastily intervened.

"Hey, hey, Iruki! Even if you think that, it's rude to say it to someone thanking you."

Iruki twisted his head slightly and turned away.

"Is that so? I meant it as a compliment. Anyway, good luck. It won't be easy, though. Class Five is full of troublemakers. Heh."

Nade called after him as Iruki walked away.

"Hey, where are you going? Let's practice together."

"Too much hassle."

Shirone's jaw nearly dropped.

Hearing a student at a magic academy call classwork a hassle…

He couldn't fathom how someone with that attitude had made it to Class Five.

"He's got a strange personality."

"Sorry about that, Shirone. Once you get to know him, he's not that bad."

"But…"

"I know what you're thinking. But it's best not to dig too deep. We'd only tire ourselves out. He's a genius, too, just a different kind from you."

"A genius? Iruki is a genius?"

"Ah, you don't know yet, do you?"

Nade explained more about Iruki.

Despite being labeled a genius, Iruki's academic ranking was only mid-tier in Class Five, about the same as Nade's.

However, no one looked down on him because he was a textbook example of an extreme specialist.

Subjects requiring creativity or emotional interpretation, like literature and the arts, were absolute zeros for him. But when it came to subjects demanding calculation and logic, he could get a perfect score with his eyes closed.

At first, many teachers were eager to mentor him, fascinated by his raw talent.

But his eccentric personality soon drove most of them to give up on him entirely.

Still, rumors swirled that even some graduates had been surpassed by his mathematical prowess, leading many to believe it was only a matter of time before he advanced further.

To put it simply, while Shirone balanced all subjects equally, Iruki covered his weaknesses with overwhelming strengths.

And Iruki's greatest strength was computational physics, a field said to be possible only for those with uniquely structured brains.

For instance, he could calculate phenomena occurring at absolute zero or at temperatures exceeding a hundred million degrees with precise numerical accuracy.

In the academic world, individuals with such capabilities were often said to have 'Savant Syndrome.'

He could determine the exact date 40,000 years into the future within a minute.

If he never slept, he could recite the digits of pi for an entire lifetime.

A human with the computational ability of a machine—that was Iruki.

After hearing all of this, Shirone was left speechless.

If it was all true, then his abilities were truly extraordinary.

"Then why is someone like him still in Class Five? Even without talent, wouldn't guessing at least a few answers prevent a perfect zero?"

"Heh. You see, this is how things usually go with him. Just a month ago…"

Nade recounted an incident during one of Iruki's exams.

He had scored perfectly in natural sciences, but a mishap during a literature exam had caused quite the commotion.

One of the questions involved analyzing a verse from the poet Gilberto's work: 'Oh, the falling leaves that drift in zigzag.'

The expected answer was an emotional interpretation, linking it to the fear of death.

But Iruki's response was as follows:

[Due to differential air resistance acting on the leaf's surface, the summation of force vectors from varying air pressure results in a non-linear trajectory. Attached below is an equation based on a standard leaf model.]

The rest of his answer sheet was filled with incomprehensible symbols and formulas.

Most teachers, familiar with his peculiarities, let it slide.

But the literature teacher, Adelia, did not.

Fuming, she stormed into the lecture hall, slammed Iruki's test paper onto his desk, and demanded an explanation.

"Iruki! What is this?!"

"A test paper."

"Not that! Look at your answer! This is a literature exam, not a math test!"

"Isn't distinguishing literature from mathematics proof of literature's subjectivity?"

Adelia's face turned red as a roasted apple.

"You're acting like you know everything! You're just a student! The world has depths that cannot be defined by numbers!"

"No, it doesn't. If the world contained even a single instance of illogicality, I'd be too terrified to exist in it. My face might explode at any moment."

The argument escalated, ending with the faculty unanimously deciding that his answer ridiculed the educational authority, resulting in all his humanities scores being marked as zero.

"Wow… He's really something else."

Shirone, still trying to wrap his head around it, found it hard to believe that Iruki was only seventeen.

"Right? He's got a personality that makes it impossible to get close to him."

But Shirone was intrigued.

'Maybe I should try talking to him more.'

Just as he was looking around for Iruki, his eyes widened.

"Oh? Nade, look over there."

Iruki was walking toward the Image Zone with an expression of sheer boredom, while students instinctively stepped aside. Not out of fear, but more out of a silent anticipation for chaos.

Nade scowled.

"Damn it! What is he up to now? Let's go check it out."