I was sitting in my development class with Mr. Karin staring at me.

  “Have you decided?” The professor stared at me down, eyes sharp.

  It was obvious. He was losing patience with me.

  I put down the small gadget I was tinkering with.

  “I think I have!” I answered positively.

  My hands reached for that same notebook. Opening the page where my most recent notes had been written.

  Mr. Karin took it from me and started reading.

  I patiently waited.

  After a moment of reading through the pages. Mr. Karin looked at me.

  “Can you pull it off?” He was concerned about my previous failure to deliver.

  “Probably!” I answered. Flashing a reassuring smile.

  He stared at me for a long moment. Then looked over at Athena.

  “Miss Keth. Please watch over her. If you feel like you or she are stuck at any point. Please let me know!” He said to Athena, who eyed me carefully, nodding her head of each word said to her.

  My eyes shot up. “Are you asking her to babysit my project?” I couldn't believe this!

  “I don’t want you to do this a second time.” Mr. Karin looked at me sternly. Then he looked at the next student ready to move on. “Good luck! Both of you!” He put my notebook in front of me.

  “Thanks..” I murmured. Noticing Yuji in the corner of my eye snickering.

  I picked up the miniature human-shaped figure I made the other day. My hands reached for a laptop in my bag and opened it. Then I started typing. Before I issued a command. My fingers stopped to look at Athena.

  She looked up at me.

  “Please, don’t break it if it jumps on you again.” I said to Athena.

  She immediately nodded. “I won’t! Sorry!” She promised and apologized again.

  “That research of yours is good.” I turned my head towards her.

  Athena's stare was so wide. Her green eyes twinkled brightly, an appreciative expression on her face. “Really?”

  “But not enough for what I require.” I said in a monotone voice.

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  She opened her mouth to say something but I turned my head back to the computer screen. My fingers swiftly typing out a code.

  “What is that you require?” Athena asked.

  The question felt carefully picked. She wanted to avoid any conflict.

  “I am not sure if you will understand this but here. Have a look at this!” I pushed my notebook in her direction.

  I have finally figured out what I am going to do with this project. And it might even be better than my original idea. Athena was looking at it for a while. My fingers typed on the laptop. A long minute passed as she helplessly looked at me.

  “I am not sure I understand this…” Athena looked helplessly at my notebook.

  “What do you want to build?” She asked me a question.

  Of course she couldn’t figure it out from just that. I didn’t answer her question right away. Instead, I turned on the small prototype I was tinkering with. It started to move on its own. Walking on the table like a small soldier stepping one long step after another. A small doll-shaped object that was made from wires connected to even smaller sensors. It walks like a small soldier. Moving its arms up and down.

  Athena’s eyes went wide when it approached her side of the table. She watched it, still. Her expression frozen and her body unmoving. Just before the small gadget reached the end of the table. It turned around and marched back to my side.

  I picked it up as it kept moving its legs marching in the air.

  “Imagine this small object is a camera.” I pointed at the little guy. Then my eyes shifted to the computer screen. “And this is your research…” I pointed at the computer screen. A bunch of numbers of equations showed. It was a program that controlled the small shaped soldier.

  Athena raised her eyebrows in surprise staring at me.

  “You will make it recognize human emotion?” She was a little too excited.

  I slowly nodded.

  She guessed it from me showing this. I was glad. I did not want to explain every detail to her but did appreciate her trying to understand my point. I took the small gadget away. Ready to build the actual thing.

  “I will make a server that hopefully translates human emotions and a camera that is able to recognize it. All I need from you is information, do research on human emotion, give me examples and send me in batches. I will translate it into a code.” I said to her in a way she would easily understand.

  “Oh? That’s…” She started to say but stopped lost in thought.

  “Don’t worry! Write the same way you find works best for you!” I gave her a reassuring smile. “Translation is just another way of doing math, and my numbers are never wrong!” I said confidently.

  Athena’s concern washed off and she smiled.

  “Okay!”

  My eyes slightly glanced up at Mr. Karin. He was attending to another student.

  In the end. It’s not entirely about this project only. If one can’t work with others. No one will be able to understand your ideas. Different fields have different ideas. Psychology and understanding emotions aren’t a major I am in. I would admit that it might not be my strong suit. I’ve always been treated as a prodigy. That’s the environment I was under. When I met with people they looked at me with proud amazement of my abilities. Though my dad never once treated me like it. It made me work harder and learn even more things. And when I met with people again more amazement came. He knew how to teach a pupil and I will always be grateful for his lessons.

  Rory Aisaka is certainly a prodigy in Ryui.

  That’s the name of my hometown. It was also a city near the sea, similarly to Akasia but the atmosphere there was not the same. The world back then looked different than it looks today. Probably because I was with Sano back then. Being with him every day was fun. I do miss him a lot.

  The world today feels a bit lonely and challenging at times. Here in Akasia I wasn’t a prodigy anymore. No one looked at me twice or praised me. In Akasia I appear ordinary. That’s the kind of city this was. Full of people with the potential to be greater. That included Athena. She may not understand math on a level I do but she is good at her craft. I could tell that much from just being next to her.