Shin2 Dan: Chapter 32: Secrets Behind the Exam (5)
Chapter 32 - Secrets Behind the Exam (5)
Kamiki walks into the headquarter. Exhausted, he collapses on to the couch.
“Can't find them?” A voice causes him to jump. Sitting up, he looks around. On the table full of computers, Fukuda is typing away furiously as the texts on screen continuously scroll; disappearing as fast as they appeared. It's a miracle to Kamiki that anyone is able to read them to their full context.
“Yea, it's like they vanished into thin air right after class.” Kamiki nodded, though that's probably not the whole reason why he's tired. Through the rest of the day, thoughts of Shida constantly occupied his mind, to the point that he didn't even realize the time passing and classes are over until Shida called him to say her good bye.
As if not listening, the girl didn't say anything. She continues to types on her keyboard. It's typical of her to ignore him until she needed him, so Kamiki didn't expect anything like a reply. He stands up and walks toward the refrigerator to get himself a drink, hoping the cold liquid will cool down his curious thoughts.
Taking a can of soda out, he pops it open and pull the sizzling liquid into his mouth. It was refreshing.
“Ahhhh~!” He said. The sweet taste suddenly reminded him of something. He quickly walks back to the couch and search inside his schoolbag. After a while, he takes out a carefully folded piece of paper. Quickly unfold it and flatten it on the coffee table as much as he can, he turns to Fukuda, her head still toward the monitor screen while her fingers quickly move across the keyboard.
“Fukuda-san.” Kamiki cautiously called.
“What is it?” Fukuda answered, though not at all interested in what he has to say.
“I have a favor to ask.”
The girl's full attention is now on him. It's rare to see him ask her of anything. Well, most people in their right mind wouldn't since her information are not for free, and what she want back is not something a normal person can provide. Yamada is an exception, he is too confident to be a person with a right mind. Or perhaps, he understands her a tiny bit more than the others, and yet doesn't want to understand her at all.
Kamiki slowly steps toward the girl and shyly hands the piece of paper to her. She takes it and scans it. Her eyes quickly furrow and her expression darkens.
“I was wondering if you can find what happen to the people living in this address 10 years ago.” Kamiki requested.
“What are they to you?” Fukuda looks up at the boy, clearly curious.
“I guess you can say a family friend.” Kamiki answered, though he's not sure why he's being so honest to her.
Her eyes shift back toward the paper as if thinking about something.
“No.” Fukuda curtly said as she hands back to him the piece of paper.
“What? Why?”
Her brows wrinkle but she instantly answers, “I'm busy enough as it is. And your reason isn't good enough for me to waste my time.”
Kamiki sighs, he'd thought she'll refuse, at least he tried. He walks back to his seat. Staring in a daze at the sheet of paper, Kamiki heaves a sigh.
“On the other hand,” taking a break from her work, Fukuda stands up, “It's better to focus on your studies instead. The exam is in a week. We'll start our tutoring session today.”
Kamiki's back straighten up as he watches the girl approaches.
“What are we studying today?” He wondered.
“Instead of that, lets me see your exams that sensei gave back today.” Fukuda instructs. She takes her own seat and watches as Kamiki nervously looks through his book bag. After a while, he takes out the mock exam. Fukuda flips through them, wrinkles her eyebrows each time she reads his answer.
“Well?” Kamiki curiously asked, waiting nervously for her to ridicule him for his false answers. But instead, she just puts the papers down on the table and swiftly walks toward the bookcase. Looking through the files, she takes out a binder and then proceeds to put it in front of Kamiki. But before he can open it, Fukuda stops him.
“Before we start,” Fukuda said, “There are 3 points you will need to know.”
Kamiki slowly nods, anticipating her words.
“First,” The girl begins, “You need to learn the basics. It will acts as the foundation. As more information are added and build on, you will be able to grasp it better. Most people usually just find the difficulties first when they face with a problem. After realizing its complexities, they'll think to themselves that it's too hard and they don't know where to start. That's when they give up. But if you ignore the complicate things and just focus on the things you know, as you build up from your knowledge, things will be easier to understand.”
Pausing to let the idea shimmer, Fukuda continues, “People may think they understand the basics, but yet, they can't explain something as simple as why 1 plus 1 equals 2. When you think about it, wouldn't their knowledge become useless? The second point is that you need to understand it well enough so that you can teach another person that concept.”
“That's true.” Kamiki nodded, “There are times when I thought I understand it, but when someone asks me about it, I can't properly explain it to them.”
“Right!” Fukuda smiles, “If you can use your own word to explain it to another, and they understand the concept, then you know you understand it. Most of the written exam questions always involve you explaining a concept.”
“I see.” Kamiki smiles, “What's the last point then?”
“The third point is repetition.”
“Repetition?” Kamiki asked, “Wouldn't that just the same as studying?”
“It is the same as studying, but it's also crucial to learning.” Fukuda nodded, “If you're not willing to learn the material yourself, then no matter how many times I explain about the Pythagorean Theorem, or the principle of evolution, that information will not stick. Of course, it depends on each person's learning references, but I found the best way for repetition learning is to have a friend asking questions and you answer, and the other way around.”
“Why is that?”
“Human are very prideful. They hate making mistakes or making a fool of themselves in front of others. That's why, when you are answering another's question, your mind become sharper and allows you to be quicker in getting the answer. Even when you gave the wrong answer, you'll be able to remember it faster in order to not make a fool of yourself the next time.”
“But then, only the person answering the question will benefit from that.” Kamiki shrugs.
“Not true.” Fukuda shakes her head. “The person asking the question will also benefit. Having the questions and answers in front of them, while waiting for your answer, they will memorize the information. Whether you say the wrong or right answer, their brain will compares the right answer with your answer and reacts accordingly to that. This way, the question giver also learns.”
Kamiki is deep in thoughts.
“If you understand these three concepts, you will be able to pass the exam with no problem.” Fukuda concludes, “I've been using these concepts to learn materials for years.”
“By yourself?” Kamiki curiously asked. From being around her for so long, he is positive that outside of headquarter, Fukuda doesn't have any friends. And of course neither Yamada nor Kamiki helps her with her studies; or rather, it's unthinkable that they help her.
“Of course not.” Fukuda chuckles, “Socks helps me all the time.”
'She converses with a sock puppet?' Kamiki wondered, a confused expression appears on his face, but he dares not say it out loud.
Not caring about explaining things further, Fukuda points to the binder in front of him. “Take that home and memorize the information. I'll test you tomorrow.”
With her approval, Kamiki quickly opens the binder. It contains many problems and detailed explanation on all the subjects of the first year. The stack of papers is mostly old pages in faded yellow as if they have been there a few decades old. Inserted in between are some white pages for the newer or changed information. It almost seems as if someone back then must've expected that there will be people in Shinrichi secret organization failing their classes, and prepared this to help the members pass their exams. Though the explanations seem easy to understand, the stack of paper must have been at least 300 pages.
“There are too much to memorize.” Kamiki protested.
“It's not as bad as what you have to memorize when you just become a member.” Fukuda shrugs and heads back toward her computers, “We used the same concepts on you when you just started.”
Thinking back to those times, Kamiki suddenly remembers the times when Fukuda and Yamada asked him random questions about Shin 2 Dan and expected him to answer. At first he was struggling, but somehow, later on, he managed to memorize them. With nothing else to argue back, he finally sits down and carefully read through the papers, ignoring Fukuda to go back to her furious typing before.
After reading through the seventh page of the math section, he suddenly felt a vibration in his pocket. Taking out his keitai, he puts it on his ear.
“Hello?”
“It's me.” The voice on the other side answered, in which he recognizes it right away as belonging to Tsutsumi-san.
“I was in the neighborhood and was wondering if we can walk home together.”
“Alright!” Kamiki's face spreads to a smile at the idea, “I'll be right out.”
With that, he quickly hangs up and gathers his stuffs.
“Fukuda-san, I'm leaving for today. See you tomorrow.” In a hurry, Kamiki called to the girl and closes the sliding door as he rushes off to the front of the school to meet up with Tsutsumi.
With Kamiki left, the room fall into a silence, only the humming of the computers and tapping of the keyboard can be heard. Fukuda heaves a deep sighs, whatever she’d been doing seem to not be working. Even with the short break, hoping to refresh her head was clearly useless against the stubborn program. She decides to give up for the day and head home. Turning off the computers and takes up her schoolbag, she turns back to the table where Kamiki sat just a few minutes ago, only to see the binder she gave him before was forgotten in his hurried.
Without a minute to spare, she hastily scoops up the binder on her arms and rushes toward the gate of the school, hoping to catch up to Kamiki before he leaves for the day.
As Fukuda near the school gate, she notices him, standing there chatting happily with someone. Breathing in relief, she calls to the boy. Hearing his name, Kamiki and the person he's talking to quickly turn to her direction.
Fukuda runs up to them, holding out the binder in her hand. But as she gets closer and closer, the features of the man become clearer and clearer, causing her steps to slow down and soon, coming to a complete halt.
Seeing her stop midway, Kamiki rushes up to her side, while the man follows.
“I totally forgot about that.” Kamiki smiles gratefully as he takes the binder from her, “Thank you Fukuda-san.” Looking back at the man, he quickly turns to Fukuda, “Ah! Let me introduce you. This is my father's best friend, Tsutsumi Shinichi.” Then, turning to Tsutsumi, he points to Fukuda, “And this is one of the ones I told you about...”
“Who I am is none of anyone's business!” Fukuda quickly cuts in before he can complete her introduction. Her facial expression darkens, and before Kamiki or Tsutsumi can reply, she quickly walks away.
Before Fukuda reaches the school gate, she stops short as she notices someone waiting. It was Tanaka Kei, her guardian, looking as if he was watching her the whole time. An unreadable expression plasters on his face.
“Kei?” Running up to him, Fukuda called, “What are you doing here?”
“I'm worried about you.” Kei answers. He turns toward the two at a distance from them, “What's wrong Mayu-chan? Who are they?” He proceeds to bow to them, while they awkwardly bow back.
“Nobody I know.” Fukuda promptly said. She quickly pulls him away, though with some resistance from Kei.
“But that boy was one of the boys at the hospital the other day.” Kei protests, “We should properly greet them. It's only polite.”
“I said you don't have to.” Fukuda angrily glares at Kei, “If you're not going, I'm leaving you.” With that she stomps off.
Kei quickly runs to catch up with her. Watching her reactions and the scene before, with a gentle voice, he takes a guess, “Is he your father?”
Fukuda abruptly stops. She turns to Kei, “Didn't I already told you? My father is already dead!”
While Kei is trying to catch up to the stubborn girl, Kamiki turns to Tsutsumi with an apologetic expression for Fukuda's weird behavior.
“Usually, she's like this, so don't put it to heart.”
“Say, Ryu...” Tsutsumi gazes at the direction where Fukuda left with thoughtful eyes.
“What is it?” Kamiki asked.
“What's her name again?”
“Fukuda Mayuko.”
“Fukuda... Mayuko...” Tsutsumi repeated her name slowly. His heart suddenly felt heavy as he uttered each syllable.
Kamiki turns to the man, confused, “Tsutsumi-san, do you know her?”
Tsutsumi nods and with a sad smile, he softly answers, “Yes, she's my daughter.”
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Author's Notes: A pretty long chapter. x__x;; This chapter may be the climax of the whole series, which is kind of sad, because it's so cliche. D:
The revelation, which everyone has already guess. lol
My secret technique to studying, like I mention, was used once before in this story. Hehe.