Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Now I've met a lot of talented children in my career, but none have impressed me quite as much as that kid. You know when there's a movie based on the life of some famous scientist, there is this scene when their younger version stuns their teachers and classmates by doing something like multiplying two 5 digit numbers in her head? Well, imagine my shock when that exact same thing happened in my classroom. When I asked her how she was able to do that, she said that she had taught herself that because she was bored. When I told her that most other kids her age would prefer to watch television when bored, she simply shrugged and said that her house didn't have a television.

I knew then that I had to pay special attention to this kid. Talent like hers shouldn't be wasted just because she doesn't have access to the resources required to nourish it. Of course, I also had an entire class to teach, and I couldn't just focus on her alone. So I gave her plenty of books from my own home for her to read during my classes. She picked up an immediate interest in science. I still remember her coming bounding up to me the day after I lent her a junior encyclopedia asking me if I had any books that could tell her more about this 'outer space' thing that had fascinated her a lot.

I must admit, I got quite emotional on the day she transferred schools. She hugged me tight and told me I was the 'bestest sensei in the whole universe'. Oh, she must be all grown up by now. I wonder if she still remembers me?"

"I was sitting next to Ayame throughout second grade, but I have only really talked to her once, on the very first day she joined. She sat next to me, all nervous and fidgety. I heard her mumble 'find people with common interests' under her breath before she turned to me and asked if I like science. I told her I did, even though I didn't really know what it was.

Hearing that, she beamed and started going on a rant, 'Really? Me too! I haven't learned all about it, of course, but everything I learn about it is sooo cool. I think I like physics the best of all. I mean, chemistry and biology are still interesting, but physics is easily the best- it's more logical and mathematical. I've already got a good grasp on Newtonian mechanics and optics, but I am having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around quantum mechanics. Are you good at quantum mechanics?' I simply shook my head no, having never heard of quantum mechanics before in my life.

She fell silent and it was awkward for a while, before she mumbled, 'keep conversation going by asking questions', and then asked me 'Who is your favourite scientist?' I answered with the only scientist I knew, Albert Einstein. She goes off on a tangent again, 'Oh, yeah. Einstein is cool. But I think my favourite scientist would have to be Madam Curie. She is the first woman to win a Nobel prize over, and the only person till this date to have won a Nobel prize in two different scientific fields. Isn't she cool? Her discovery of radium was amazing. What is your favourite discovery of Einstein?' To that question, I simply shrugged and remained silent, not knowing any of his discoveries.

She then remained silent for a long time before I heard her mumble, 'compliment them', and say, 'I like your pencil'. Luckily, by that time the bell rang and I was free to leave the weirdo and go be with my friends. Clearly, I was not the only person who thought she was weird, as I saw her approaching a lot of other kids during recess, but none of them would talk to her for more than a minute."

"This was the one thing I admired most about Ayame. I know most people would mention her brilliance as her most admirable trait. But while her intellect had always seemed rather unattainable, her confidence was something which anyone could hope to emulate. Both of us had joined our school at around the same time. Our school was a rather prestigious one, filled with the richest of the rich kids. I had desperately tried to hide the fact that I was actually a scholarship student, with my poorer background being a source of shame. Ayame, on the other hand, despite coming from a worse financial background, never once pretended otherwise or acted as if it was something to be ashamed of.

During our earlier days, I remember her talking to Emiko, one of the most popular girls of the school. They actually seemed to get along pretty well. That was, until she made a passive-aggressive comment about Ayame's clothes. Someone like me would have nervously laughed it off to avoid losing her friendship. Ayame, however, said, 'I'll have you know that my mother worked very hard on embroidering this dress for me, and I do not appreciate you insulting it just because it is not from whatever overpriced brand you buy your clothes from.' She then walked off, and proceeded to completely ignore Emiko for the rest of the day. Emiko-san, who was used to being worshipped by everyone around her, was completely surprised at that. She even ended up apologising to Ayame, and apologising was something Emiko never had to do. After the apology, however, Ayame treated Emiko with her usual warmth."

"I don't get why literally everyone in this stupid school is always going 'Ayame this' and 'Ayame that'. She is just an arrogant little girl. Sure, she does have some knowledge and stuff, but that doesn't justify her big-headedness. And that little shit has it out for me, I'm telling you. I don't know why, I was real nice to her when I first met her.

She was reading a textbook when I went and introduced myself to her. I saw that she was reading about atoms and thought I would be helpful and explain it to her myself- the complicated words used in the text would probably go over her pretty little head. I said to her, 'You see, the nucleus is like a little sun and the electrons go around it in a circular path like planets. It's exactly like the solar system. You know what the solar system is, right?'

And instead of graciously thanking me, she said, 'Firstly, planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun. Secondly, if an electron is moving around the nucleus in a circular path, how come the electrons undergoing acceleration don't lose energy and fall into the nucleus?' Of course, I knew the answer to that. I said, 'Well, elliptical is just a fancy word for saying circular. I didn't use that word because I didn't want to confuse you. Also, an electron can't fall into the nucleus. Nucleus has positive charge and electron has negative charge- they would repel.' She actually laughed at that. She said, 'First learn about basic electromagnetism at least, sweetie, and then come and talk to me.' She then rolled her eyes and went back to her book.

See how arrogant she is?! I guess girls really don't go for nice guys like me. Nice guys always finish last."

"You see, with Ayame's prodigious intellect and an unshakable confidence in herself, one would assume that she is just breezing through life, you know? But her brilliance is not just inborn talent. She's passionate, she's so damn passionate about what she does. It's obvious that she cares a lot about science and is more than willing to put in the work for it. She does try to make enough time for her friendships, but she dedicates twice that time for science. Even in the school, more often than not you can see her either reading a scientific book or paper or tinkering with some machinery.

Her mom once complained to me that Ayame tends to pull all-nighters because she is just so immersed in her work that she isn't even aware of time passing. And not only that, her family is not doing well financially, so she works part time to help her mom with the bills as well. She usually tries to get hired as an assistant to an electrician or mechanic or something of that sort, something related to her field, you know? But they often don't want to hire any random 13 year old. She worked part time cleaning up in a restaurant for a while before she got hired to shelve books in the library.

I am honestly in awe of how she manages to do almost everything. Well, she is doing that by neglecting a lot of her personal needs like sleeping, so that's not admirable, I suppose. But really, with her intellect, confidence, and perseverance, I knew it was only a matter of time before everyone knew her name."

"Don't get me wrong, I do like that kid. But she tends to act without thinking quite a lot for someone who is very good at thinking. I had already surmised as much when I read her file while considering her for admission.

Teachers have heaped praises upon praises for her brilliance, but among them are other more concerning reports- of a seven-year-old single-handedly dismantling and successfully fixing her classroom fan because it was too hot in the room, of a ten-year-old taking apart the cafeteria vending machine to figure out how it worked, of a twelve-year-old spending weeks in detention because she called her teacher an idiot who doesn't know what he is supposed to teach, of a fourteen-year-old arguing with her principal because he assigns the science club presidency based on nepotism rather than merit.

Even in this school, she was involved in a few incidents of damage of school property (her reasoning was always, 'it's for science'), but she was able to sweet-talk her way out of major trouble. The one time she got in major trouble was when she kicked her science teacher in the nuts for behaving inappropriately with her. That science teacher, Hiroshi, was indeed a despicable man, with numerous complaints of sexual harassment against him. But attacking him like that was a reckless move, especially considering that he is the son of the school's head, and no action would be taken against him no matter how many complaints are filed against him. Ayame got a month long suspension as a result of that. However, her mother had opted to withdraw her from the school instead, enraged by the lack of action against Hiroshi.

I myself resigned from my post in protest, but it is not as if our situations are comparable. I have been working for fifty years and had earned enough money to afford a cozy retirement, whereas Ayame's family is edging dangerously close to the poverty line. She should learn to keep her head down at certain circumstances, it is not like her mother can afford to back her up for all her reckless acts in the future."

"She joined my school on the day of a surprise math quiz. She topped the class with a full 25 marks. The highest score after her was a 9."

"Our school didn't have a science club before she joined. Most of the members who she pestered into joining it were only doing it for the extra credit. And yet our club was undefeated in all the science exhibitions and contests we entered for the two years she was in our school."

"Listen, I don't like her, okay? Unlike almost everyone else in the school who were all obsessed with her for some reason. But even I can't deny that she's brilliant."

"I was her science teacher. Or at least, I was supposed to be. I don't think I've taught her much. She knew way more than me anyway."

"She had a small business in our school, repairing our electronics and other gadgets. There was this bully in our class who got his watch repaired by her, and she programmed it to give him a small electric shock any time she presses a button on an app. She then sold the app to the rest of the school. It took him about three years to figure out why he was getting electrocuted every time he cornered someone."

"She's just so brilliant and funny and pretty and kind and- huh? Yeah, I am a straight girl, why do you ask?"

"If you tell me she murdered someone, the only thing that would surprise me is the fact that she got caught."

"Do I even need to elaborate?"