Chapter 195: Beyond Expectations

It was barely past 3 p.m. when the front door burst open.

"We're home!" Kazuki shouted, slinging off his bag like a tiny whirlwind.

Kazumi followed behind with more grace, her pink sneakers barely making a sound. "Mama, Papa—we're back!"

Yumi peeked her head out from the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. "How was it? Did you have fun?"

Kazuki jumped onto the couch. "It was easy!"

Kazumi nodded thoughtfully. "They gave us crayons. I drew a bird flying through space."

Just as Riku stepped out of his study, his phone buzzed on the table. Then Yumi's rang. The caller IDs flashed the same thing:[Northside Elementary School — Mrs. Hanabira][Northside Elementary School — Mr. Taigen]

Riku and Yumi shared a glance.

"...Both teachers at once?" Yumi murmured.

Riku furrowed his brow. "You don't think they got into trouble already?"

A few moments later, Yuki arrived to babysit. "Go on, I've got them! Kazuki's already trying to teach me math again anyway," she joked.

Riku kissed both twins' heads, then stepped outside with Yumi. "Let's see what's going on."

Later, at Northside Elementary...

The two were ushered into the small but neat faculty office. Sitting across from them were the twins' homeroom teachers — Mr. Taigen and Mrs. Hanabira — and the school's principal, a tall woman named Principal Nomura, who had years of experience and even more restraint.

Riku sat calmly, but alert. Yumi folded her hands in her lap, quietly nervous.

Mrs. Hanabira began first, gently but with clear surprise in her tone. "We just want to start by saying — your children are remarkable."

Riku blinked. "Remarkable… how?"

Mr. Taigen gestured to a stack of colored papers. "At first it was just a casual observation during art. We asked everyone to draw their favorite place. Kazuki drew a moving diagram of an ancient mountain village—with depth, shading, and multiple perspectives."

Mrs. Hanabira nodded. "And Kazumi drew a swirling constellation of stars forming an entire narrative arc. We thought… maybe they had been trained?"

Yumi shook her head. "No formal training. Just their own creativity."

The principal continued, laying out some test sheets. "We were curious, so we gave them some puzzles during break. Logic grids. Riddles. Then we gave them IQ pattern tests—just for fun, nothing official."

Mr. Taigen leaned forward. "They finished them in under five minutes. Scored nearly perfect. So we checked their math, reading, linguistic breakdowns—"

"They're performing at levels above even some of our staff," the principal said softly.

Yumi's mouth fell slightly open. Riku, however, stayed calm.

Inside, though, his thoughts moved fast.The AI. The Celestial Nexus... No doubt. Some fragment of that power passed into them.

He met the principal's gaze. "What are you saying?"

The principal gave a small smile. "We'd like to recommend them for a special accelerated path. Not just academically advanced, but emotionally grounded too. It's rare."

Mrs. Hanabira added, "And no... they didn't cause any trouble. Quite the opposite."

Riku exhaled with a smirk. "Good. I was ready to lecture them."

Yumi chuckled under her breath, her nerves dissolving into relief. "They've always been sharp, but I guess we didn't expect this."

As they stood to leave, the principal gave one final thought. "You have truly exceptional children, Mr. and Mrs. Hayashi. Please consider carefully—there are academies that would fight for minds like theirs."

Outside, walking back under the evening sky, Yumi looked up at Riku.

"You think this is...?"

Riku nodded. "The AI. It's in them, somewhere. But so is heart. And that's what matters."