Chapter 18: Ideal Human to Prodigy - Part 1
Eventually, we made our way back to the apartment.
"Kanako, have you heard of the Ideal Human Project?"
"Huh...? Yes... I have; Father used to talk about it a lot."
"Do you know what type of kids were taken in?"
"The smart ones?"
"No... the only kids there were ones who had lost all hope."
The two of us sat down on opposite sides of her kitchen table.
"But..."
"Did you know that they called the Ideal Human Project a success?"
"Yeah... I heard about that."
"Do you know why it was classified as a success?"
"Um... I would assume it was because they made really intelligent kids."
It seemed she knew a little about it, but she was still missing most of the key parts.
"No, in fact, the Ideal Human Project was a complete failure in that regard."
"Then..."
"Kanako, I'm telling you because I want you to understand," I pushed some books over to her, "you can't make a genius. However, there are people... hidden in the shadows, who are capable of something amazing."
"What are you saying...?"
"I'm saying, I can see with my own two eyes that you're a genius."
"But..."
"Your chess skills, they don't just come to anyone."
"But you beat me..."
"You'll understand in the future," I took a breath, "Kanako, listen to me... and follow my instructions. You will pass your next exam."
...
A gave her a few more minutes to decide whether she wanted to study with me or not. At this point, if she were to reject me, there would be nothing else I'd be able to do. If she were to decline, I would leave and suffer the consequence.
"Fine, I'll listen to you for now."
I circled some questions in her textbooks and had her attempt them. I could tell that she was racking her brain trying to figure them out. Still, it appeared that she was struggling to no avail—that was to be expected, after all.
After attempting a series of questions, she showed me her responses—they were all wrong. As I looked at her working out, I noticed something very interesting.
I decided to rewrite the question I had her do, this time changing their layout ever-so-slightly. All of a sudden, as she looked down at the new questions, something seemed to have clicked within her. After another attempt, she managed to get 50%.
"Did you see what I changed?" I asked her.
"I don't know... they seemed easier for some reason."
Once again, I gave her a new set of questions. To no surprise, she once again answered them all wrong. However, once again, I changed the questions ever-so-slightly and handed them back to her. Upon completing the altered questions, I saw that she managed to get a majority correct.
"Did you see what changed this time?"
"Um... I don't really know..."
"That's fine. We'll do it again."
For the third time, I handed her another few questions that I had chosen. She then again struggled with the original questions, failing to answer a single one correctly. She looked over at me, already expecting what I was doing.
I then changed the questions, altering only several words.
She finished the altered set, and this time, she managed to achieve an 80% score.
"Do you see what the difference is?"
"I... they're simpler...?"
"Not quite."
After seeing her thinking to no avail, I decided to call it a day.
"That's all for today. I'll come back tomorrow."
"Huh? But we've only been going for a little while..."
I pulled over a few of her textbooks and began circling questions. I looked specifically for one type of question, a type of question which would significantly improve her understanding of the concepts.
"Look in the textbook if you don't know the answer. I want you to keep looking until you manage to get the correct answer, no matter how long it takes."
I pulled out my phone.
"Give me your number."
She hesitantly typed her number into my contacts.
"Whenever you think of an answer, I want you to send it to me. I will tell you whether you are wrong or right. You will keep redoing the question until you get it right."
"But... what if I can never get the right answer?"
"Then you will keep going, even if it means staying up all night."
"Huh."
"Tomorrow morning, I will come back and check on you."
I got up from my chair and began making my way toward the front door.
I still hadn't quite put my finger on what the problem was. I still didn't quite understand how she was so good at chess yet so poor at academics. It wasn't logical, at least from the point of view I was thinking. However, nothing is without reason—it is merely that we have yet to find the reason.
All this just to keep my secret from being leaked.
Then again, in the words of Jean-Paul Satre, 'it is therefore senseless to think of complaining since nothing foreign has decided what we feel, what we live, or what we are.'
Since I believe that there is something to lose, there must be something that I care for. Years ago, no one would have ever been able to hold something hostage about me. Years ago, no one would have been able to threaten me.
You can only be threatened when you have something to lose, after all.
Ah, I'm working so hard.
But... I had to admit that this was just a little fun.
As the door locked behind me, I walked down the well-kept, soft carpet toward the elevator. There were various plants and other decorations keeping company by the walls. The bright lights lit up the area to such an extent that there were hardly any shadows.
I walked into the elevator before scanning the keycard that I had been given.
Ground floor.
The elevator rumbled slightly before I felt the momentum of my body heading downwards. A few seconds later, with a little tune, the door opened, and I made my way back out into the reception area. It was starting to get a little late in the afternoon.
As I walked out through the automatic glass doors, the cold breeze brushed up against my skin. I was once again reminded of how alive I was.
Ah, my life was such a mess.
Chapter 19: Ideal Human to Prodigy - Part 2
Missions.
Every single Outcome of the Ideal Human Project had one.
It was one that was decided by the 'higher ups'—with a little input from ourselves. Each Outcome had a different 'mission'.
Although we couldn't really be controlled by the 'higher ups', most of us accepted it, only for the purpose of holding onto our humanity. Even we don't want to be serial killers—destroying the world, so all of us hold the 'mission' we're given quite close to our hearts.
—It was like the only sign that we were still human.
Most of us only kill or even just use our abilities to the fullest when either our lives are threatened or if it would further us in completing our respective missions. We also had an unspoken rule not to interfere with each other.
\\
—I only cared about my mission in the end.
\\
I wonder if I will meet another Outcome at some time in the future. Ever since the Ideal Human Project was dissolved, we haven't contacted each other at all.
Well, there was also The Incident That Ruined the Outcomes.
• ────────────── •
The next day, I woke up pretty early in the morning and began making my way to Kanako's residence. It wasn't too far away from the school boarding facilities, so I just walked like I did the previous day. She had texted me a few times the previous night, with various answers, after a little while. However, it seemed that she had stopped completely.
I was somewhat curious to see what she was up to.
I scanned my keycard at the entrance of the grand apartment complex and made my way inside. I was suddenly blasted by a wave of warm air. It was a nice transition from the chilly morning atmosphere. Before long, I was standing at the door of her apartment. I decided to ring the doorbell to see if she'd open the door for me without me having to force my way in.
I heard a few footsteps in the distance before her voice began travelling through the door.
"...don't you have your own keycard to this apartment?"
"I wouldn't want to walk in on you while you're changing."
"...you think I get changed out in the hallway or something?"
"I don't know that much about you."
"...you don't need to know a lot about me to know that I don't just get changed in the hallway!"
This conversation was getting a little pointless.
"Well, are you going to open the door for me?"
After a brief moment of silence, I heard a slight click before the door slowly slid open.
"Come in, I suppose."
As I started to walk in, she suddenly began pushing at the door.
"Wait... I didn't finish all of the questions from yesterday..." she appeared to be visibly sorry.
"I guess I'll have to spank you then."
"Huh?!"
"I'm kidding."
Well, I've done it now.
Before I could take another step, the door slammed in my face.
"...don't come in, you pervert!"
"Ah, I said I was kidding, didn't I?"
"...how can I know for sure? You were threatening to kick my door down yesterday!"
"I didn't actually kick it down, did I?'
"...I can't trust you at all!"
Well, this was awkward.
"I promise I won't do anything. Can you let me in so I can tutor you?"
"...you barely did any tutoring yesterday; you might as well just stay home and assign me questions. You're just doing this for the money, aren't you?"
Well, money wasn't the entire equation.
"It doesn't really matter why I'm doing this, does it?"
"...of course it does! If you're only going to tutor me halfheartedly, I might as well just study by myself and keep a pervert out of my house."
Now, what am I supposed to say here?
"I'll actually tutor you, so just let me in."
There was another period of silence.
"...only if you play me in another game of chess."
"Fine."
Eventually, I managed to convince her to let me in. The door slowly opened for the second time as I stepped foot into her apartment. I noticed that some of the mess strewn around the doorway had been cleaned up. She turned around and began making her way towards the lounge room. I followed behind as she picked up a chess board.
"So, how did you go on the questions I gave you last night?"
"Um... I didn't finish them... sorry," she seemed to be moving her body away from me as she responded.
"That's fine. Did you complete any?"
"I managed to answer seven of them."
That was actually more than I expected.
I had assigned her ten math questions to do with the expectation that she wouldn't be able to complete a single one.
The end game was in sight.
"Can you show me your working out for the questions?"
"Only after this game of chess..."
"Alright."
She set the pieces up on the board before taking two pawns into her hands.
"Which hand?"
"Left."
She giggled.
As she opened her palm, I was shown a white pawn.
"Same as last time, it seems."
As the two of us looked down at the board, I played my first move.
Pawn to E4.
Pawn to C5.
Ah, the Sicilian—this was going to be problematic for me.
I played a pretty standard Knight to F3.
She responded with Pawn to E6, beginning the French Variation.
As the two of us continued to play, I noticed that she was playing a lot less aggressively and a lot safer than yesterday. Now that the board was getting rather congested and it was quite difficult to make long calculations. I could tell that her experience was easily getting the upper hand in this position.
With basically no understanding of chess theory, I struggled to keep up with her momentum. I constantly found myself blocked and in sub-optimal positions.
A few more moves later, she had taken several of my pieces and held a decent positional advantage. I stood no chance in this closed game. With too many variables to calculate, I was unable to make the best moves.
"Check," she said with a smug face.
Ah, I was in zugzwang now.
My loss was inevitable.
A few more moves later, she had managed to gain immense momentum, and I found myself constantly in check with only bad moves to play in response. Slowly, my position was whittled down until...
"Checkmate."
Well, that was to be expected.
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