The note read: (Because I'm not a creator of detective novels!)
When Ai saw this sentence, her blood immediately rushed. She looked up and glared fiercely at Hiko, cursing in a low voice, "Scoundrel…"
Hiko wasn't angry at being cursed; instead, he found the sound pleasant, because Ai's curse was too soft. Her tone wasn't heavy either.
Hiko took out his notebook, turned to a blank page, and wrote: (What did you think after hearing the story just now?)
After finishing, he handed her the notebook.
Ai, wanting to express her thoughts, placed the notebook in front of her. She held the pen in her right hand, tapping the tip against the paper as she pondered, recalling her earlier feelings.
After thinking for a while, she picked up the pen and wrote down her immediate thoughts, then handed the notebook back.
Hiko took the notebook and saw what was written: (The story started normally, but then gradually became bizarre and absurd. Even though the plot was outrageous, I don't know why it still made me feel distressed and sad.)
Hiko only found the story he had adapted to be ordinary and lacking, unable to stir much emotion in him. Instead, the images that flooded his mind when he recalled it made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
This made him realize that having too good a memory wasn't always a blessing.
Seeing Ai describe the plot as outrageous, absurd, and distressing, Hiko once again recalled the 'infamous scene' and quickly interrupted his thoughts, writing on the paper: (Actually, this story has a prototype; I only adapted it a little.)
After finishing, he quickly handed the notebook to Ai, then hurriedly pulled out Grammar of the Film Language and began reading it intently.
He read the content of the book in his mind, forcing his thoughts not to wander.
Ai took the notebook and saw Hiko's focused expression. After reading the text, she wrote: (There's an original? What's the original called?)
After writing, she saw Hiko intently reading, so she didn't hand the notebook back.
She also tried to focus on the lecture, but because she had been distracted and chatting with Hiko earlier, she now had no idea where the lesson was.
She wanted to ask Hiko, but seeing his serious expression as he read, she didn't disturb him. She could only start by copying the content the teacher wrote on the board.
Hiko read for a while. After his thoughts calmed, he looked at Hoshino Ai.
'She's studying, huh? Oh? Why does she look so troubled? Shouldn't this be easy?' Hiko thought she should have been boosted, 'Didn't the aura enhance her learning ability?'
'Could her foundation be very poor?' Hiko guessed.
"Ai, you seem troubled. What did you not understand?"
Ai nodded, then pointed to an exercise in the book.
"Let me see where we are now." Hiko looked at the place Ai pointed to.
(3. As shown in the figure, in △ABC, ∠A = 36°, ∠C = 72°, D is a point on AC, and BD is the bisector of ∠ABC. Find the other angles in the figure that are 72°.)
Hiko thought about it for a moment and then said, "The answer is ∠ABC = ∠BCD = ∠BDC = 72°."
"Since the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180°, and the corresponding angles are given in the figure, we can calculate the rest…"
Hiko felt the problem was very simple, but to avoid discouraging Ai, he explained it normally.
"So that's how it is…" Ai suddenly understood after listening.
"Is there anything else you don't understand?" Hiko asked casually.
"I'll try it myself first. If I can't, I'll ask you," Ai replied.
But perhaps due to differences in schooling, Hiko noticed Ai only answered the very simple parts, skipping over slightly more complex sections.
"Were her original grades not good?"
Hiko thought these problems were all very simple.
But then he remembered the curse of knowledge.
Once you've mastered something, it's hard to imagine what it feels like not to know it. When explaining, the gap in understanding makes it difficult to convey everything clearly.
It was much like information asymmetry in markets, when one side knows more than the other, misunderstandings and mistakes are bound to happen.
So even if the questions seemed simple to him, he couldn't be sure how they appeared in Ai's eyes.
Hiko watched Ai work through problems for a while. Seeing her frown, he felt that letting her study alone was too inefficient.
Today was January 22nd, and the exam was soon.
If her grades ended up similar to her old school, or even worse, she wouldn't be able to act as freely as she wanted with Ichigo in the future.
'I have to teach her.'
So he picked up the math book and said, "Your foundation is too weak. I'll teach you again from scratch."
"Mm." Ai nodded.
Hiko quietly taught her, pointing to the textbook, but after a while, he realized she wasn't good at memorizing.
After just a few pages, she wanted to go back and review.
This distressed Hiko.
He taught smoothly, but she couldn't remember much.
"It's a bit difficult."
Hiko then thought of the false rumor that fish only have seven seconds of memory.
Although untrue, it implied that fish had poor memory. Even so, they could still learn.
Since fish could learn, Ai could do so even more.
As long as she practiced enough, even without recalling, she would become proficient through sheer repetition.
"But… is this really okay?"
Hiko decided to let Ai choose.
After all, she would shine on stage in the future and achieve dazzling success.
From a realistic perspective, her gains from studying weren't as great as those from being an Idol.
"You're struggling so much with studying, and you also need to practice after school. It seems you can't balance academics and being an Idol. What do you plan to choose?"
Hiko asked her.
"I don't feel that studying is difficult; I just can't remember too much content."
Ai looked at the math book. "My Idol activities haven't started yet, so I don't know if I can balance them."
"But I want to try my best." Ai smiled at Hiko and said firmly, "If I don't try, how will I know if I can't do it?"
"That's right, only by trying can you know the result. But don't worry, I'll help you plan your study schedule."
Hiko secretly resolved that if studying still wasn't going well, he would organize the exam material himself and teach her directly.