I packed up my items and stared at the board, a raging debate going on within my head. To go and speak with Zhuyu Long or wait? But the homework was due tomorrow and I really didn’t have any other classmates to ask. Rather, they were stuck in the same predicament as me. I sighed and decided that I might as well just go. It couldn’t hurt to at least try. Something Staccato said interested me. He mentioned that Zhuyu Long was competent enough which gave me hope.
Knocking on the usual classroom door for math tutoring, I opened the door and saw a student already inside. If I recalled, her name was Kelly Yang, a classmate of Emma Steinhart. Oh, she was in my math class. You would think that after being in the same classroom for at least two months, everyone would get to know each other at least as acquaintances. But in a school like ours, there was always some kind of divide and few people really tried to know everyone.
“Okay, I think I get it. But this method seems a little slow. Isn’t there a faster way to do it?” Yang questioned, checking her own work.
“Yeah, there is. Here’s how my friend, Jin, might do it. Keep in mind that I’m not familiar with what he’s thinking so I might not be able to fully reflect his view,” Zhuyu explained, writing down a solution within four lines.
Yang stared at it, a difficult expression on her face as she contemplated the shorter solution. Zhuyu didn’t say a word, waiting for the girl to work through her thoughts. I took a seat at a table near him and took out my homework. If Yang was already here, it should be fine for me to ask Zhuyu about this stuff.
“Oh, that’s how he did it. That’s really smart, I never thought about it like that before,” Yang wrote down notes on the short solution.
“Yeah, he’s really good about stuff like that. Do you need help as well?” Zhuyu directed his eyes over towards me.
“Yes… I was wondering if my approach was correct… for this one,” I handed him the work I already started on for one of my homework assignments.
Zhuyu tapped a red pen against the surface of the table as he looked over my partial solution. Kelly Yang gave me an encouraging smile and I saw she already completed most of the problems on the homework due tomorrow. Zhuyu finally uncapped his pen and then draw an arrow on one of my steps.
“I want you to consider when exactly that formula can be used. It’s okay to memorize formulas but it’s also good to understand the limitations of it too. Were you given a short review on the derivation or background of that before?” Zhuyu inquired.
“I don’t recall the teacher ever doing it,” I shook my head.
“You’re both in the same class, right? What about you? Do you remember the teacher ever going over how exactly this formula was figured out?” Zhuyu asked Yang.
“No, I don’t think so. He usually is really good about giving examples but doesn’t go much into theory,” Yang replied.
“I see. Well, that’s understandable. Theory can get pretty complicated especially when you’re making the transition from calculations to actual useful formulas. Okay, here’s a quick rundown on why it exactly works,” Zhuyu snapped open his briefcase.
There were numerous spiral bound notebooks and compositions books all stacked up inside. At the top of the briefcase, there were five books strapped to it. The university student pulled out a notebook with a worn cover page and random pen marks across it. He checked the front and I saw a table of contents handwritten there. What kind of dedicated student was this? Certainly not the type of man that Mr. Mill assumed him to be.
“This is it. It’s kind of messy but it should give you some kind of basis for how it exactly all it works. I think once you read it, you might know where to go from there,” Zhuyu tapped the page with his finger.
I stared at it, amazed by the dedication that the man put into this notebook. These were definitely lecture notes but Zhuyu went back and highlighted a few things, adding in some more details. On the other page, there were examples for the formula but not marked up. Seemed like he was selective about what he focused on.
After Zhuyu handed my work back, I understood where I went wrong. That’s right, I couldn’t apply the formula just yet. No wonder I kept getting stuck. I had to do a few conversions and then the conditions for the formula were met.
“Yeah, you got it. If you remember to keep that in mind, it’ll help a lot for future formulas which build on this one,” Zhuyu checked my work, confirming the solution.
Zhuyu Long, he was a bit of a strange person. He didn’t seem too sociable but chose to come here and fill in for our sick math tutor. Something about this was a little bit off. That would prove correct, to a certain extent, with something later.
Yang finished up the homework and after speaking to Zhuyu about it, she left. She was pretty busy. I heard that she participated in sports too which made her commitment to classes more impressive. There was a knock on the door and a person I didn’t ever expect to see walk in.
“Hey, I want an explanation for what happened back there,” Steinhart demanded, glaring at Zhuyu with angry eyes.
“What do you mean?” Zhuyu blinked, not backing down from Steinhart’s piercing glare.
I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t succumbed to what my classmates termed as the “Frigid Freeze”. Usually, most people would have just accepted her words or made their escape. Yet, Zhuyu stared back at the girl with rather cold eyes of his own. Too scary, he must be hiding something. Steinhart flinched a little bit and looked around the room. Perhaps she was evaluating whether or not it was worth it to pursue her little vendetta.
“You know what I mean. I felt something, something that isn’t…. normal. It’s too similar to what happened after meeting….,” Steinhart accused, her words trailing off at the end.
“I can’t really help you with that then. However, if you do need help with math, then I would be more than glad to. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to show you that solution. Though, your classmate doesn’t seem to mind,” Zhuyu shrugged, tapping the cap of his pen against the table surface.
Their exchange distracted me from the reason I was here in the first place. I continued working on my homework, gaining confidence. Steinhart seemed to have calmed down, checking on her homework. Zhuyu read a book when no one asked him anything. Kind of rare to see people read these days. Out of curiosity, I peeked at the cover of the book and saw a sigma summation sign. The title was “Suugaku Hito”. Or quite literally, “Math People”. He read about math even in his free time?
Zhuyu suddenly placed his book down. His facial expression grew more serious than before and his eyes sharpened. He stood up, walking over to the window. I saw Steinhart’s face tighten and she directed her hands toward her back. What was going on here? Zhuyu gave a quick glance over at Steinhart and he heaved a small sigh.
“Who’s the person behind it?” Zhuyu looked straight at Steinhart.
Steinhart stumbled over to the door and twisted the doorknob. Instead of the door opening, the door remained shut despite her turning it all the way. Steinhart’s expression of pain subsided and she stood on her own power.
“It’s not going to work. Look, I don’t know if it’s someone you know but whoever they are, we’re trapped here. Don’t know how long though,” Zhuyu said, pulling out a key from his belt.
The key dangling from Zhuyu’s right hand glowed with a faint yellow light. The university student stared at it for a few seconds and then hooked it back onto his belt.
“How long?” Zhuyu questioned, staring at Steinhart.
“What? Stop asking questions like that. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Steinhart shook her head.
Zhuyu nodded to himself and then inspected the door. Please tell me that this was a dream I’m experiencing right now. I packed all my stuff, sitting at the table with anticipation. Steinhart finally recovered, her expression back to normal.
“Why…,” Steinhart uttered but was cut off by something appearing in the room.
It slithered out from the floor, a bright circular circle surrounding the creature. How to describe it? Its head was that of a crow except the feathers were a golden color. The body was that of a human’s except covered in feathers and a pair of angelic like wings was on its back. Okay, the simplest way to put it was a human with a crow mask. I didn’t even know why I bothered mentioning so many details if there was a more concise way.
Steinhart stared at the creature but no fear was on her face. Zhuyu sighed for the third time and a sheathed sword appeared in his right hand. What? I blinked, making sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. Did that sword just appear out of nowhere and appear in his hand?
“Come on, Tess, now would be a good time to break through,” Zhuyu muttered.
What, he had an accomplice? All of this was becoming a bit too much for me. How could Steinhart remain so calm in this situation?
“What’s this? An outsider, this was not within my plans,” the crow mask man positioned his head in Zhuyu’s direction.
“Looks like you’re not connected with the Traveler. So, who are you then?” Zhuyu ran through his hair using his free hand.
“It appears that you are not of this world. Then this creates an issue for me. I initially came for these two but it appears that you must be eliminated,” the masked man took a step toward the math tutor with heavy footsteps.
“And I could say the same for you,” Zhuyu muttered, remaining stationary at his position.
The crow mask man flapped the wings on its back and feathers flew straight at Zhuyu. Zhuyu’s eyes turned more serious than before and with quick flicks of his wrist, deflected all of the feather projectiles. As he knocked away the feathers, the masked man appeared behind him. He reached for Zhuyu but the college student reacted immediately. Pivoting with his left foot, Zhuyu stabbed upward with his sheathed sword, striking the mystery man right in the chin.
Meanwhile, Steinhart stared at the locked door. Kind of strange her composure was so collected. I was glued to my initial spot, too scared to go anywhere. All of a sudden, Zhuyu went flying and crashed right into the door. The crow mask man dusted his hands off, satisfied with his handiwork. Zhuyu’s sword dropped to the floor with a clang. I stared at the weapon, no courage to pick it up.
Zhuyu clicked his tongue and raised his right hand in the air. His assailant froze, not moving. His head bobbed up and down yet he didn’t take another step.
“Look, I don’t know how much you know but I assume that you have some basic powers. Other than her,” Zhuyu looked back at me.
“Powers, you don’t mean the masks, right?” Emma murmured to herself, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Zhuyu stared at the crow mask man who remained still. He walked behind him and then with one swift strike knocked the man down to the floor. He sighed and then someone unexpected showed up.
“Hit him while he’s distracted! Emma, let’s go!” Staccato’s sister commanded.
Staccato Jessica, a well-known name in the city and probably worldwide. Zhuyu, still preoccupied with the crow mask man, turned around at her appearance. Steinhart, with incredible speed, shot her knee straight up into the college student’s stomach. I blinked, not sure how to react. Zhuyu clutched his stomach but didn’t fall. Jessica then grabbed me by my hand, dragging me out. What in the world….?
“Long, are you okay?” Tess questioned, checking up on me.
“Yeah, I was just caught off guard by that girl,” I responded.
“It appears that someone here is operating a similar mechanism as the artificial dimensions. But that’s not exactly the issue on hand,” Tess revealed.
“Guess it has something to do with this guy, huh?” I pointed at the crow mask man.
“Yes, it does. We must track down those girls and at least warn them. Although, they seem competent enough to at least survive within such an environment,” Tess said.
“Okay,” I nodded, following Tess.
“Hmm, just as a precaution,” Tess snapped her fingers and golden chains bounded the crow mask man.
“Jessica, what’s going on here?” Steinhart questioned, looking at Vincent’s older sister.
“A little misplay on my part. I wanted to come in and save you but didn’t expect something like that to show up,” Jessica gave a coy laugh.
“You got her mixed up in it too,” Steinhart pointed at me.
“How strange. No one else should be able to enter unless….I doubt that’s the case. It’s probably just a coincidence,” Jessica shook her hand.
“What’s up with the math tutor having powers? He didn’t have a mask either,” Steinhart remarked, looking over at Jessica.
After running away from the room, Jessica led us upstairs to the third floor. She briefly explained the situation but I was too dazed to take in every word. Something about masks, another world, gods. Why me out of people? I knew I shouldn’t have gone to tutoring today.
“As for the guest math tutor, I didn’t expect him to have powers. He’s not one of ours. The only reason I can think of is…,” Jessica paused, not saying anymore.
“Can’t you normally exit really fast? What’s going on this time?” Steinhart inquired.
“I think I made a little mistake. Tee-hee,” Jessica offered a ditzy laugh.
I leaned back on the classroom chair, rubbing my eyes. Of course not, still pretty real. Guess I couldn’t pretend that it was a dream.
A similar circle appeared again and another masked creature emerged from it. This time it wasn’t a crow mask. It appeared to be a woman this time. Her mask was similar but not quite the one I saw before.
“It’s a raven, not the standard crow from before,” Steinhart observed.
“Vincent, I know you’re here!” Jessica shouted.
Huh, her brother was here too? What kind of people were these? I sunk down in my chair, just staring at the scene unfolding in front of me. Vincent appeared, giving his sister a cold glare. Jessica, in response, reached for her brother’s head. Vincent sidestepped her and then with one punch, knocked the raven mask woman onto the ground. The raven mask woman had a quick recovery time though, leaping up. Wings also sprouted out from her back and she flew up. Vincent eyed a desk but before he could jump, the door to the classroom fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“I assume that you are the one responsible for creating this artificial dimension,” a woman with black hair entered.
She had five hairpins arranged in a star, her hair dropping close to her shoulders. The woman wore black jeans and a white winter coat. Something about her eyes bothered me. They weren’t emotionless but… I guess the best way to describe it was an endless pit.
“Don’t get any bold ideas. She’s on a totally different level. Vincent, don’t you… and he goes ahead and does it,” Jessica sighed, holding her right arm up to block Steinhart from proceeding forward.
The raven mask woman flew out the window and Jessica’s brother pursued it. After a minute, he returned, an angry expression on his face. The woman who entered pulled out a golden key, letting the string attached to it descend down.
Lantern Dragon Works 