Despite having spent about half a year in your new workplace, you still weren't acquainted with most of your colleagues. Yes, you greeted them and they greeted back (a huge accomplishment) but that was about it. At most, you only knew their names.
But at least you were well acquainted with Byakuya and Yuuichi. They were a treat to be around and talking to them always put you in a good mood.
They would tell you about their families, their friends and their childhood. You also shared some stories of Xeno and Stanley, but most of the time, you usually chattered on about [Sister Name]. They weren't aware of what happened to her and neither did you want them to know. You didn't want to relive the entire horror.
Yuuichi-san was apparently still single, and so was Byakuya-san. But the latter actually adopted Senku, who was the son of his close friend that passed away. So as a good friend, Byakuya raised the little kid all by himself, saying that Senku was his top priority and he never thought about dating and all that. He said he might start looking once Senku is old enough.
But despite how much of a loving father Byakuya was, there were moments when you wondered who let this man have legal guardianship of a child.
Because the scene in front of you right now was another reason why you would never trust him with a child.
Senku, who was about 6 years old, was told by his adopted father to meet him at his college. And he didn't even go to pick him up, himself!! And the worse part was, after inviting Senku over at the college, Byakuya himself, was missing.
Someone from the faculty said that he said he was going to get some research documents from an acquaintance but what you're horrified about is the fact he left despite knowing that Senku would be arriving soon.
Or maybe he forgot.
You wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Oh well, as of right now, all the teachers watched as the kid tried to ask if they had seen his father because, "That old man asked me to come here and he's missing himself. Wow, isn't he just amazing?"
Okay, the kid's personality was such a stark contrast from Byakuya-san's all sunshines and rainbows personality. It was like Byakuya-san, in dark mode.
No, wait... now that you think about it... This kid is eerily similar to Xeno.
After asking around for his father, the kid sat down at Byakuya-san's desk. And you couldn't even ask Yuuichi-san for help because he's at class right now. A few female teachers got up and tried to talk to Senku, offer him some candy or ask him if he wanted to play on their phones but they were only met with an extremely bored look that you almost burst out laughing.
Yeah... He's definitely a mini Xeno
You peered over the desk dividers to see what the kid was doing and... Okay, you're getting worried now. Is Xeno dead? Did he somehow come back as a ghost and possessed this child?!
He's even reading a book on the same thing that Xeno was hyperfixated on as a child; space rockets.
The kid was reading something that seemed a little too advanced for his age, but given how smart Xeno at his age was too, you're not surprised, "Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Roger R. Bate, Jerry White and Donald D. Mueller, huh?" He gave you a side glance, but you could see the slight interest in his eyes. Perhaps he picked up the clear way you pronounced the title and name of the author.
He didn't say anything in return, but you could feel a small grin forming on your lips, "You have the second edition?" He turned to you completely.
Hook, line and sinker.
"I don't. It's not that easy to get it. Besides, I'm still learning how to understand these English words."
You knew that it was much more common in America. The Fundamentals of Astrodynamics only had two editions, but there was a book called the Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications that had around four editions. It was easy to get confused between the two, if you had no idea about the author, but luckily you had both editions. You figured you might as well keep them for memories sake when you were leaving America.
They originally belonged to Xeno, but he ended up giving them to you because he had no need for it anymore (he was doing the real thing, building rockets for NASA), and [Sister Name] liked reading it and feeling smart, even if she didn't understand much about it.
"What part are you struggling with?" You asked with a small smile and he raised an eyebrow at you, "You're not a Physics professor, I doubt you'll even get a millimeter of it." Wow, what a rude brat.
"Yes, but I do speak English as my first language. I'm American, so I can translate for you, if you want." His reddish-brown eyes sparkled slightly and if you weren't that observant, you wouldn't have noticed it at all.
But he quickly opened up the pages he couldn't read and pointed it to them. You read the thing once in your head, then tried to piece together some words in Japanese. Your Japanese skills were sub-par. But at least they were good enough to translate whatever was written.
So you placed a finger under the line you were translating and slowly began to speak the translation of the sentence. The boy's eyes shined when he heard you translate what he couldn't read.
And the best part was, when he didn't understand a topic, you would chime in. He looked at you as if you were his new mentor, "Woah... If you're this good at it, why aren't you teaching astrodynamics?"
"I'm just well aware about rocket-building because of an old friend. He's just like you, ya' know?"
"Oh, where is he now?"
"He works for NASA." That one sentence made Senku's eyes shine brighter than any supernova ever could, "Wait, really?"
"Yep."
"That's so exhilarating!! You think I can talk to him?! I want to ask about ten billion questions!" You smiled apologetically at him, "Sorry, kid. I'm not that in-touch with him... I haven't talked to him for about half an year." He immediately deflated and started sulking slightly.
"Ah, well... I'll just make do with what I have." He pointed to the book and you nodded while smiling at him, "Sure. That sounds good." And so, Senku went back to reading his book while you began to grade your papers.
Every now and then, the celery-head boy would tug at your sleeve and point at a word that he couldn't get. Most of the times, you could explain it to him, but there were moments when you didn't know the exact Japanese word for it, so you explained it well enough that the kid understood it.
The other teacher's watched in awe as how you managed to get along with the grumpy kid so quickly. No matter how many candies they offered him, or how many games they showed him, he never showed any interest. But you had one conversation with him and suddenly, you're his favorite person!!
At some point, it was time for your lunch break. So you told Senku that you were going out. What you didn't expect, was for him to mindlessly follow you. You were walking down the hallway when you heard tiny footsteps behind you and you were shocked to see Senku trailing behind you like a baby duck imprinting his mother.
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
"Oh... I figured that if I wanted to ask you something and you weren't there then I wouldn't be able to understand what's written next. So I decided to follow you." Okay, that was cute...
It was then that you realised that it had been quite a while since the kid arrived and he hadn't had as much as a juice box. Thinking it was the perfect opportunity to give him something to eat, you ruffled his hair (he glared at you for that) and tugged him along to the cafeteria.
"Come on, I'm going to eat so you should eat with me. You can't use your brain if your stomach's empty." He looked at you in contemplation, then at his book, then back at you. Deciding that you were right, he begrudgingly read the number of the page he was reading and tucked it under his arm, "Don't you wanna mark it, what if you forget the page number?"
"That's ten billion percent impossible. I'll never forget it."
Wow, such confidence at such a young age. Where was your confidence at this age? That's right, you didn't have any.
"If you say so." And so you led him towards the cafeteria, and let him decide what he wanted to order. He ordered some ramen for himself and you decided to order the same as him. Taking your orders from the end of the line, you picked up your food in one hand and Senku's food in the other.
Placing it down on a table, you helped little Senku up on the seat while taking the one across from him. He took one bite and his eyes shined slightly, "Hmm... Not bad." With a grin, he picked up the meat slice from his bowl and shower it to you, "Pop quiz: why does meat skin turn brown when it is subjected to heat?"
You smirked at his question. You've learned this way back in highschool, "Answer: The Maillard reaction. It creates brown pigments in cooked meat in a very specific way, by rearranging amino acids and certain simple sugars, which then arrange themselves in rings and collections of rings that reflect light in such a way as to give the meat a brown color." He seemed somewhat pleased with your response.
"Not bad... Ten billion points for you! But let's see if you can answer the next question! Why do noodles become soft when they get cooked?"
"Because when we boil the noodles, the starches gradually absorb more and more water, becoming softer and more edible, while the proteins begin to denature, adding structure to the noodles." Please, this is child's play for you.
"Twenty billion point!" He stuffed his mouth with some ramen before chewing it and starting again, "Alright, last question: how do we get the broth from the meat?"
"The broth comes from the conversion of connective tissue, mainly collagen, into gelatin through the application of heat and moisture, aka, boiling. The hotter you cook the stock, the faster you convert collagen into gelatin." His eyes shined so brightly, you couldn't help but ruffle his hair, "There, I answered all your questions, happy?" He smirked like a madman, but you could tell from the twinkle in his eyes that his child-like curiosity was satiated.
"You're not bad, old hag." Okay, you take it back. He's the worst child ever.
"Hah? Who are you calling old hag? I'm still in my twenties!!" You sneered at him while he cackled maniacally, "Uh-huh... I know! That's why you're an old hag!"
"Let's see if you still think twenties are old when you're the same age as me, kid."
"Yup, I'll still call you a hag, cause then you'll probably be in your forties!!" As much as it annoyed you to see that shit-eating grin on his face, you decided to get back at him, "I suppose I'll call you brat, then?"
He scoffed upon hearing that, "What, is that the best you came up with?"
"Yup, so now you're a brat!" You indulged in the annoyed expression he gave you as he finished the last of his ramen, "Whatever, not like I care." You could tell he definitely did.
Were you petty for teasing a 6-year old? Yes. Were you going to stop doing it? No way! It's fun!
"Come on, brat! Let's get going!" You picked up your empty bowls and walked over to the small area where you could rinse them with water. With that, you cleaned yours and Senku's bowl before dragging him back to the teacher's lounge.
On the way there, he kept on shooting trivia questions at you, "Alright, why do planets rotate?"
"Simple, because of inertia. In the vacuum of space, spinning objects maintain their momentum and direction, their spin, because no external forces have been applied to stop them." Now he was getting exhilarated.
While he was always asking you easy questions (in his mind, they were relatively easy) he was still a bit surprised that you knew so much about fields other than your own.
"Can black holes rotate at infinite speed?"
"Nope! Because there is a speed limit to the spin of a black hole. It's sort of set by the faster a black hole spins, the smaller is its event horizon."
"You're good, lady... Fine." He stopped for a while, trying to think of other things to shoot at you. So far, he's done biology and physics. Maybe he should try chemistry?
"Okay! Elements! Can we make them by mixing compounds?"
"Nope. You can't just create new elements by mixing different compounds. In order to create a new element you have to change the number of protons in a nucleus. It is possible to do this but it requires bombarding various elements, one with the other, by means of high energy particle accelerators. Do you know how much energy that takes? A lot, kiddo."
"Oh, you guys are back?" Yuuichi walked up to you and smiled, peering at Senku who looked quite annoyed, "Jeez, what happened?" He asked humorously but all he got from the kid was a scowl.
"He lost his own little trivia game~" You said in a singy-song way and he barred his teeth at you while gripping onto his book, "I didn't lose! I'm still thinking of a question!"
But then, Yuuichi came with the news, "Sorry, kiddo. You'll have to think of a question another time. Byakuya-san is waiting for you and told me to come get you." You giggled when you saw the peeved look on Senku's cute face.
"Well, well, well... Looks like it's Senku-0 and [Name]-1 for today! How about you think of some other science facts so that you can even our score?" He nodded with ambition, "I will! There's no way I'm losing to a hag like you."
"You little-" Before you could blow a fuse, Yuuichi picked Senku up from under the arms and ran away with him. Leaving you annoyed at that little brat.
Hmm... He really was a carbon-copy of Xeno.
Maybe that's why you got along so well with him...