“If you don’t want to work with that, then figure out something else! This discussion is over! Back to your work!” Mr. Karin now expressed himself more firmly.

  We had no choice but to follow.

  “That camera, if modified, could be a project of something entirely else. However, you can’t change partners anymore. Figure out how to use her skills for the project! If not, you will fail!” Mr. Karin warned me.

  “I will figure out something!” I nodded unwillingly.

  My eyes shifted to that broken camera my project partner held.

  Yuji went back to his project and Mr. Karin moved on to walk back towards his desk.

  I stopped staring and got up, walked toward the end of the classroom. I opened the closet and took out a waste bag and a broom.

  “Are you going to throw this all out?” My partner's green eyes flashed painfully, expressing the wasted effort.

  It was her second day being alongside me.

  I didn’t answer her. Simply took the time to clean everything up.

  If we can’t calculate our future. Does that mean this thing called destiny is a real thing? People are bound to live their lives just accepting that whatever happens is the fault of something else. A universal entity that we can’t even know is real? How can we believe in something so inconclusive? Deep in thought, I cleaned and threw out the rubbish I created. I walked back to the closet and put everything back inside. Then I gathered a bunch of materials and sat down in my seat.

  “Athena Keth!” Mr. Karin called out a name at the same time I sat down.

  The name of the person sitting beside me, my development project partner.

  She was still holding the small camera, looking at it intensively but hearing her name she put it back on the table and stood up. The scent of vanilla perfume filled my nose, lingering in the air ever so slightly.

  A cheerful smile she wore. She skipped towards the professor.

  Mr. Karin had an electronic notepad in his hand. He gave it to her.

  “Thank you for reading this!” Athena thanked him.

  I had a screwdriver in my hand and in front of me a bunch of parts that I decided to put together to calm and distract myself from the disaster I was facing with my project.

  “This is very good research material! Have you spoken with your classroom professor about it?” I could hear Mr. Karin speak with the Athena Keth girl.

  “No, but with your encouragement now, I will!” She said happily, retrieving her notes.

  “This also could be used in your project with Rory…” Mr. Karin was thinking loudly, mentioning my name.

  “Do you think so?” Athena seemed very happy to hear that.

  “Yes.” Mr. Karin smiled.

  Athena nodded and turned back towards me.

  She had long blond hair in a big ponytail swaying wildly in the air as she turned and walked back. This person did not seem to belong to the class she was in. She is a psychology major student…

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Miss Aisaka!” Mr. Karin called my name.

  I glanced up, my hands busy connecting the small parts.

  “Please reconsider and read her material. That is your homework till the next class!” Mr. Karin instructed me.

  I turned the screwdriver lazily looking back at the teacher.

  “Aha!” I answered by putting on a false smile.

  “Mr. Karin, I need some advice!” A student in front called before Mr. Karin could respond. His attention was taken away.

  Athena Keth came back and sat right back in her seat next to me. Her eyes carefully shifted my way, but she wasn’t saying anything.

  I turned my head towards her.

  She immediately looked away.

  I looked away, focusing my attention back at my hands, finishing and connecting the parts with the screwdriver. I took the small wires and started to form a figurine. Small different wires that I ended up connecting to a miniature plate that I positioned on the back of the small figurine. A mini human-shaped wire connected to a mini plate with a switch. My finger flipped a switch and the small prototype turned on. Slightly shaking, somehow it managed to jump up in the air and fall right at the girl beside me.

  Athena screamed in a surprise.

  The figure fell on the ground and her feet stomped on it.

  I watched it all happen. Something that I made got destroyed again.

  “You broke it!” I narrowed my gaze at her.

  Athena looked under her feet terrified. Then up at me with an open mouth about to say something.

  “Miss Aisaka. Miss Keth. What’s the matter?” Mr. Karin looked up. Stopping himself in a mid sentence of explaining some details to a student who asked his help. The student also looked our way.

  “Nothing! All is fine!” I said with an innocent tone.

  I crouched down and picked up a flat figure…and placed it in front of myself.

  Mr. Karin stared at us for a long second but seeing me starting to work on the small piece he turned his head back to the student.

  Yuji at the next table made a sound of silent laughter.

  I didn’t even look at him, turned my head towards my project partner.

  “I am so sorry!” She apologized her voice barely audible. Her hands together like she was doing a prayer and her eyes down in embarrassment.

  I extended my hand to take the notepad from her side of the table.

  “Break anything else and your presence won't be needed!” I warned her.

  Noticing I was taking the note pad, Athena helped and slid it towards me.

  I took the thing.

  “I am sorry! I didn’t mean to break it!” She told me ashamed again.

  I ignored her second apology. Instead I turned on her notepad to look at the contents that I was given as my homework today.

  Seeing the title, I unintentionally eyed the girl.

  Emotional intelligence used in real-life situations.

  “Make sure you don’t do it again. Things like that happen all the time here.” I said to her as she nodded at me timidly. I raised an eyebrow at the reaction but decided to not pay my mind to it and went back to her notepad and immersed myself in reading her material. I didn’t even notice time passing, silently reading till the end of the class.

  “Can I borrow this notepad?” After a long silence, I asked.

  “Huh?” Athena raised a confused question.

  I turned my head to look at her.

  She was immersed in reading, passing time in the same manner as I.

  “Oh, yeah, sure! Take as long as you need!” she answered smiling at me, and I nodded.

  “Thanks!”

  It was time to finish today's technology development class with Mr. Karin. Students left their projects aside; closed their laptops and went on with a day of studies. Yuji walked out before me. Athena at the same time as me but we turned away from each, heading in complete opposite directions. She wasn’t from my class but was brought in as a partner. Mr. Karin said that her knowledge will help with my project so he managed to assign her as an assistant. Not everyone had it. Yuji worked by himself. A couple other projects had different students welcomed. It’s due to a specific nature of the idea. I am a technology student that wanted to make a robot that recognises and learns emotion. Athena was a psychology student studying her craft to read people and emotions. Her input would help my project to be more in depth. Mr. Karin saw it as an opportunity for me to prove I can work with others. Or maybe he felt sorry for me who always lingered alone.

  It didn’t matter the reason, what matters is the result.

  The perfect model of a project outperforming other projects is what I would seek. Normally, that would be the case with me. Though how I felt was not it. Something was amiss here. Abnormality that I was ignoring. Who guessed that the Rory that used to be called the prodigy child would fall like this and be less normal compared to another. At least it felt like it was the case here in University of Akasia.