Ch.147Chapter 147

…That’s how I started studying. Moving beyond simple letters and words to start a new type of learning felt like a major hurdle for me.

I’ve become stupid since I got younger…! At this rate…

Argh. I groaned while clutching my head. But after a moment, I stared at the open workbook and twitched my eyebrows.

“Hmm…?”

Thinking I might have seen wrong, I narrowed my eyes and stretched my neck forward. After extending my head so far that I worried about getting turtle neck, I finally saw it clearly.

I also realized that I had been needlessly afraid without even looking properly.

The reality was quite different.

“It’s… it’s easy?”

Come to think of it, skipping ahead to middle school meant receiving elementary school education. No matter how stupid I’d become, I hadn’t fallen so low that I’d lose to elementary school students.

That meant advancing to middle school was practically guaranteed.

Suddenly, confidence welled up inside me. My shoulders perked up at the thought that I just needed to finish this workbook the Professor had bought me and wait for my exam day.

I chuckled, wondering how I should brag about it to the Professor.

Meanwhile, Ouro beside me was still struggling just to learn letters, groaning with effort. Learning and memorizing characters she’d never written before seemed to be giving her a headache.

But this also gave me mixed feelings.

Going to school was fine, but I wondered if it would really be enjoyable to skip grades all by myself.

The other kids attended the Academy, so Ouro would be the only one going to school with me. If we ended up in different schools—elementary and middle—wouldn’t I have to make friends all by myself?

I needed to think about this.

At the Academy, I was treated as a Demon God inventory item, which gave me a somewhat familiar feeling, but at school, I would have to act like an ordinary human child.

If I revealed I was a Demon God, children might keep their distance. And if I tried to act mature or peculiar without explaining, I’d obviously end up friendless from day one.

Even if I tried to comfort myself by thinking “My friends are at the Academy,” I couldn’t just look away when faced with reality.

I really needed Ouro. If acting foolish was the right approach, it would be better to follow Ouro’s example…

“Ourr, I think you’re misunderstanding me.”

“No, I was just thinking how nice it would be if you could study well quickly and skip ahead to middle school with me.”

Sharp kid.

I managed to curl up the corners of my mouth into a bitter smile.

Ouro, not finding my awkward smile pleasant, just snorted.

“…No, this isn’t that character.”

“It’s hard. Don’t wanna do it. Not doing it.”

Tired of studying with just me and without the Professor, she threw down her pen and tilted her body. Lying flat on the floor, Ouro spread out in surrender and made a grand declaration of giving up.

My head throbbed. I truly felt at a loss about what to do with her. As I placed my hand on my forehead and shook my head, the Professor emerged from the room and chuckled.

“What are you two doing?”

“Ouro says she won’t study!!”

I wasn’t sure if she had come out to get water or to check on us, but since she asked, I couldn’t help but answer.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I tattled exactly what Ouro had said, which startled her into sitting up. Her body, which had been flailing like a fish, shot upward, and her small hand firmly covered my mouth.

The area around my mouth must be particularly sensitive, because even the small impact from her tiny hand made me wince in pain.

“Ack!”

“N-no! I’m going to study… I was just taking a break.”

Ouro hurriedly corrected my statement and picked up the pen she had thrown.

She rarely listens to me, but she’s trying to look good in front of the Professor. Why does she act like this?

Maybe she thinks the Professor ranks above her, but sees me as being on the same level? If that’s what she thinks, it seems a bit unfair.

Well, I don’t think I’m above Ouro, but it would be nice if there was some mutual respect between us.

Even if we both came from Ouroboros.

“Really? Should I check how hard Ouro has been working?”

“Ah, no… I’m still memorizing. I’ve only been writing. Just writing…”

The Professor approached with a gentle smile, but Ouro made excuses about not having memorized anything yet.

She probably hadn’t studied at all. Such flimsy excuses would be better saved for school.

“At this rate, Ouro will go to elementary school.”

“I don’t know what difference it makes.”

Ouro pouted. She seemed angry, as if telling me to stop saying things she didn’t understand.

I flinched. But it felt like something I needed to explain, so I quickly continued.

“If you go to elementary school, it’ll take 12 years before you can study where the Professor is. But if you skip elementary school like me, you can go to where the Professor is in 6 years, and if you skip middle school too, you can get there in 3 years.”

I raised one finger and explained step by step. Ouro stared at my raised index finger for a moment before asking me a question.

“What if I skip everything?”

“Then you could go straight to where the Professor is, right? But you need the grades for that, and right now, we don’t even know if current Ouro can skip the elementary level, so there’s no point in considering it!”

“…Ourr is mean. Always saying mean things.”

“I’m just trying to be realistic…!”

Being called mean made me feel petty.

I wasn’t trying to be mean on purpose; I was just trying to be realistic. But when she called me mean for that, I didn’t know what to say and hesitated.

I nervously moistened my parched lips.

I glanced at the Professor, signaling for help, and she promptly joined the conversation.

“That’s right, Ouro. If you don’t study and can’t skip grades, you’ll probably have to attend a different school than Ourr, and you might have to go for longer than her. I’ll teach you directly, so shall we try slowly?”

“…Okay.”

See that? She called me mean for saying the same thing.

I glared at Ouro with wide eyes, but she seemed to only have eyes for the Professor now.

I had been trying to help her study too, but she didn’t think about that. Seeing her suddenly become motivated to study only when the Professor offered to teach her made me think Ouro was the mean one.

I pouted.

Of course, depending on how it was heard, the feeling might have been different, but wasn’t the message the same—that she could do it if she tried?

It was better to just think of it as Ouro’s favoritism.

I sighed deeply and slumped my shoulders.

Since there was no need for me to help anymore, I could only hope the Professor would do a good job.

I figured the Professor would explain things better than I could anyway. Besides, Ouro seemed more motivated when she was with the Professor.

I sat down with my workbook. Thinking I should focus on my own work, I picked up my pen.

The Professor taught Ouro some letters for a while, then turned her gaze to me.

“Are you okay with that, Ourr? Can you do it by yourself?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“But those aren’t even letters, they’re numbers?”

“Yes.”

After I nodded twice in succession, the Professor looked dumbfounded. Then she quietly approached and asked me:

“What’s 4 plus 5?”

“…9.”

“What’s 7 times 8?”

“56?”

“Do you know fractions and decimals?”

“Yes.”

After calmly answering these quiz-like questions, the Professor looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask, “You understood this by yourself?”

I started sweating under her steady gaze and slightly averted my eyes.

Some gazes are comfortable to meet, while others, like this one, feel burdensome and make you want to look away.

“Once you start understanding, do you grasp things quickly? Seeing how fast you’re progressing without proper instruction…”

The Professor muttered to herself while stroking her chin, then suddenly turned her head. She stared at Ouro and gave her a hopeful look.

“Ouro will be able to do it quickly too. Since you’re from the same body, you’ll catch on fast.”

“…Huh?”

Ouro made a dumb sound.

I don’t know about other things, but hearing that she could do the same because I did must have been quite disconcerting. Right now, she was already struggling just to memorize letters.

“Come on, Ouro, let’s work hard!”

“Wait… huh? No, I…”

Somehow, the Professor’s educational enthusiasm had been ignited.

Leaving the perplexed Ouro behind, I closed my eyes gently and leaned back against the sofa. I was reminded once again that the best way to use a sofa is as a backrest.

As I took a deep breath, inhaling with a “whew,” Ouro let out a shrill cry beside me.

“N-no, not me…! It’s too difficult!!”

“No, you just don’t understand it fully yet.”

The Professor comforted Ouro, saying she would catch on quickly once she understood.