Numbers
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After Sirius's presentation, Miss Fletcher takes a bunch of papers from her desk and starts handing them to the students. She has her translator with her as well.
Miss Fletcher: "Alright kids, we will do an IQ test today. Don't worry, this doesn't count for your final grade. All you have to do is answer A, B, C, or D. If you don't know the answer to something, you can leave it blank, there is no problem. Also, please wait for my instruction to turn to the next page."
Sirius was surprised when handed the IQ test due to its number of pages.
Miss Fletcher: "The test has 32 pages, and you will have 3 hours to complete it. After 1 hour and a half, you will have a 30-minute break. Any questions?"
The class stays quiet, and Sirius thinks, "But I don't know how to read," he remains silent anyway and doesn't complain about it.
Miss Fletcher: "Alright, kids! I'll give you 1 minute to see the test, and then we will start."
Sirius opens the test, noticing that this "IQ test," a thing he's never heard of, mainly comprises images and sequences. He immediately understands that the purpose is to choose the correct series continuation. When he turns to the second page, he hears Miss Fletcher saying:
Miss Fletcher: "Alright everyone, let's start. Exercise 1: Please choose the correct continuation of the sequence."
Sirius immediately selects what he thinks to be the answer, and without waiting for the teacher, he starts filling the rest of the first page on his own, finishing it in a couple of seconds. He then waits for the teacher to order him to flip to the next page.
Miss Fletcher: "Exercise 4: Please choose the correct continuation of the sequence.....
Exercise 6: Please choose the correct continuation of the sequence......
Exercise 9: Please choose the correct continuation of the sequence.......
Turn the page...."
After waiting patiently, Sirius turns the page, noticing a little sentence with a single image. He waits for the teacher to speak and for the translator's response to understand what it says.
Miss Fletcher: "Exercise 10: How many triangles do you see?"
Sirius understands the type of exercises on the second page and starts rushing through them again, finishing earlier than everyone else. He is so focused that he turns to another page and continues doing it, then another one, and another one. Miss Fletcher notices this, thinking it was just a little 4-year-old kid rushing the test to go to his break faster. She doesn't mind it and proceeds with her job.
An hour and a half later, Ahr, Isabella, and Neveah finish half of the test and prepare for their break. Cord enters the room when Miss Fletcher is about to let them go to recess.
Cord: "Hey Jenny, can I have a word with you?"
Miss Fletcher: "Sure, Cord, how can I help?"
Cord and Miss Fletcher start whispering outside the room.
Cord: "So today is the day we are vaccinating the kids. Is it okay for me to take Ahr, Neveah, and Isabella for a few minutes? It will be fast."
Miss Fletcher: "They were about to go on their recess, so sure. I will give them an extra 15 minutes to rest."
Cord: "Thanks. Can you keep an eye on Sirius while we're gone?"
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Miss Fletcher: "Wait, you're not gonna vaccinate him?"
Cord: "He did exams yesterday, so Margaret already vaccinated him."
Miss Fletcher: "Alright, I'll get breakfast with him then."
Cord: "Splendid, thank you."
Cord and Jenny enter back in the room.
Cord: "Alright, you three with me. Time for a quick health check-up."
Ahr: "What? But we did one last month."
Cord: "Yeah, but you three didn't get vaccinated. Sirius already did. So be a big boy and follow his example."
Ahr tries to sneak out of the room to avoid the vaccine, but Cord, Isabella, and Neveah grab him and take him with them to get vaccinated.
Isabella: "You heard the old man, let's go."
Neveah: "That's right, it's for your good."
Ahr: "I hate y'all."
(Sirius smiles a little bit, finding the situation funny.)
Miss Fletcher grabbed the translator on her table and walked towards Sirius.
Miss Fletcher: "Well, Sirius, that leaves just you and me. Wanna go grab something to eat?"
Sirius nods yes.
Miss Fletcher: "Alright, then let's go!"
Sirius grabs his translator from the table, and Miss Fletcher takes him by the hand; together, they go to the school's cafeteria. They both get a cheese and ham croissant with some mango orange juice. They sit down and start eating. When finished, Miss Fletcher asks:
Miss Fletcher: "So, are you going to tell me why you were rushing through the answers on the test?"
Sirius: "Oh, I wasn't rushing."
Miss Fletcher: "Really? Then let me ask you, did you already finish the test?"
Sirius: "Yes."
Miss Fletcher: "Then you rushed it."
Sirius: "Yeah, but it looked so easy, so I continued doing it."
Miss Fletcher gets quietly shocked and says:
Miss Fletcher: "I see..."
They start walking together to class while waiting for the other three. Miss Fletcher looks at what the kids answered on the test, surprised by their results. They weren't excellent results, but they were good ones. But when she gets to Sirius's test, she is mesmerized. Almost every single question until page 27 is correct. She stays quiet, thinking that Sirius might be some genius or that he has already done the test before and memorized it. Either way, both possibilities would be impressive for a 4-year-old.
Miss Fletcher: "Did you ever do one of these before?"
Sirius nods no.
In the meantime, the other three kids return to the room. Ahr comes whining about the vaccine he got in his arm while the girls enter as if nothing had happened.
Isabella: "Hey, teacher, we are back."
The three of them sit down and remain quiet. Miss Fletcher notices a change in the kids, as if they were more focused, but ignores it.
Miss Fletcher (Doesn't speak to the translator.): "Alright, kids, let's start the second part of the test."
Neveah: "Miss Fletcher, you forgot to talk to the translator."
Miss Fletcher: "Oh, There´s no need for it honey. Sirius already finished his. He will just be drawing now while we finish the test."
Neveah: "Oh, okay."
Miss Fletcher proceeds to finish the test with the other kids. She picks up the tests and puts them on her desk to review and grade them later.
Miss Fletcher: "Alright kids, that will be all for today. I will have your test results tomorrow, okay? Well, see you tomorrow, you're dismissed!"
The class says goodbye to Miss Fletcher and leaves the room, noticing Cord waiting for them outside to take them to the elevator. In the meantime, Miss Fletcher takes a look at the drawings Sirius had made. It seems he made three of them.
One of him with his new friends and cord.
The other was strange and abstract. It was full of black-and-white spots and circles.
The final one was a simple drawing of him, his mom, dad, and brother.
Miss Fletcher feels attracted to the drawings, so she puts them on her desk and takes them with her to keep a tiny reminder of Sirius. Her gut told her that she had found someone extraordinary.
The scene shifts to Cord and the kids.
Cord, when reaching the elevator door, asked the kids:
Cord: "So what did y'all learn today?"
Ahr: "We did an IQ test."
Cord: "An IQ test?!"
Neveah: "Yeah, the first part was complicated, but the second one was easy!"
Cord: "Oh yeah? What was it about?"
Isabella: "Numbers and images!"
Cord: "Hmm, numbers? I see..."
Cord starts talking to Sirius.
Cord (In Japanese): And you, Sirius, did you like your first school day?
Sirius (In Japanese): Hum hum! It was fun.
Cord and the kids enter the elevator.
Cord (In Japanese): Well, I'm glad you liked it!
Sirius (in Japanese): And how was your day?
Cord (In Japanese): "... It was good kiddo... [Switches back to English] It was really good..."
[The elevator door closes.]