Aptitude

As time went on, Alex found to his surprise that adding Isaura into their little group made school life much more interesting. At least, the passage of time wasn't as dreary as it had been and each day gave him something interesting to observe.

Isaura was like a magician's hat. Just like you would never know what sort of magical creatures - or things - that would be pulled out of it, you never knew what would come out of her.

As in, what she would say, or do, or act.

The only two things that were constant were her adoration of Alex, and her unrelenting attempts to hug Alex. She didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her doing so, nor was she perturbed by the fact that Alex always tried to avoid her.

The scene of her running up towards him and Alex avoiding her was so common now that people in school didn't bat an eyelid anymore - and everyone also seemed to accept the fact that Isaura was being taken care of by the Fantastic Four.

Teacher Krauss was also happy at this development, as he had been slightly worried over the fact that Isaura might be lonely or ostracised in the classroom. He had been prepared to be her anchor, but would have preferred her to be amongst her peers.

Though in this case, 'peers' would be those of the same ability rather than same age.

Just like that, six months passed by.

Today, was a momentous day for two reasons.

The first was that the Fantastic Four, and their pet - okay, correction, their charge - had finished the syllabus of their year. So, now, they were free to do what they wanted. The only condition was, it had to be something academic.

Anything to cultivate what they were good at and hopefully, it would be something that they were interested in. One would always do better when one was doing something one enjoyed.

This was something Alex was particularly interested in - not for himself, but to find out what Isaura was going to be doing.

What was her skill? Or rather, what was her aptitude? What was she inherently good at?

Sure, she was bright - the fact that she could do her Primary 1 schoolwork easily was proof of that but it was only Primary 1 school work after all. There wasn't much challenge there and it didn't really showcase her true strength.

Asking Isaura was pretty useless because she would look at you, blink blink her eyes in total confusion, and couldn't answer.

Yes, Alex had tried asking her.

All he got was a real total confusion on her face and she shrugged. She genuinely did not know and no one had told her.

Was it something one needed to be told, Alex wondered but did not question her again.

He could have asked Teacher Krauss, but felt that it was inappropriate to do so. It felt like he would be invading her privacy.

Worse, his question may be misconstrued.

Imagine going up to the teacher and asking, 'What is Isaura good at?'

Wouldn't that be tantamount to either looking down at her, or wanting to know in order to determine whether she was worthy of being friends with?

[A/N: No, Alex. Normal people would think such a question would mean you're interested in her]

Alex preferred to keep things simple.

And he was patient.

[A/N: At this point, Author is struggling to not roll her eyes. Alex. Being patient. *snorts*. Yes, Author has a lot to say in this particular chapter…]

So he decided to simply wait and was careful not to show as if he was interested or curious. For he knew, he would be able to find out naturally by simply waiting for this day.

When they would have done all their syllabus for the year and would focus on sharpening on what they were good at.

Or exploring that particular aspect.

Coming over to her table, Alex asked casually, "So, Isaura, what are you going to be doing today?"

Isaura clapped her hands excitedly, her little legs swinging as she sat on the chair, "I'm going to be playing a game!"

"Game?"

"Yes!" Isaura replied enthusiastically, "Teacher Krauss showed it to me the other day. It was so interesting."

Alex looked at her and surmised that the 'game' must be an application of some sort that tested her on her abilities.

"What's it about?" Alex asked carefully, not really expecting a clear answer and figured he would actually see her 'playing' it later.

Isaura put a finger on her chin, tapping it and replied, "Well, it's just puzzles."

"Puzzles?" Alex repeated then prodded more, "You mean, like word puzzles?"

Isaura shook her head.

"No words, just pictures! And numbers," Isaura told him, "I like numbers. I don't quite like to read though."

Pictures? Numbers?

She couldn't be painting by numbers, could she?!

Alex shook his head, dispelling that thought immediately - even if that was what it sounded like, it couldn't be.

But there was the clue there.

She liked numbers.

There were pictures, and numbers - so it must mean diagrams?

So, was it mathematics … or physics?

Alex wasn't quite sure what was the difference between the two but he knew that both required advanced mathematical knowledge - and that physics was more 'lab' work. It was something that he had touched upon previously but not delved into it as he was not interested in either.

Well, that was not completely untrue as he would use maths and some basic physics of motion in order to achieve the best speed and results for an attack.

In short, as long as it helped him fight better, Alex would learn it - and just like his father, he could learn and understand quickly.

While he looked at Isaura who was obviously holding back her excitement as she anticipated playing her game, Alex decided not to probe any further. It didn't look like she would be able to explain to him either, so it was best that he simply observe her.

He figured out that the game was most likely mathematics, but whether she was more inclined for maths, or physics, would remain to be seen.

He went back to his seat when Isaura was called over to Teacher Kraus's table. He had set up a laptop there and she was to play her game under his supervision.

Thus, today was not a good day for him to sneak over and find out exactly what sort of programme it was and how high the level of maths she was doing.

There was time, after all.

Five years in his case.

He could wait.

[A/N: Author calls for bets to see how long Alex can actually wait. /heh]

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

While Isaura was happily playing, Alex and the other Fantastic Four had been given their own task.

That is, to do what they were interested in.

Teacher Krauss didn't specify what they had to do, but rather, he left it to them. This was because unlike the others, the Fantastic Four's test results didn't show what they were strongest at.

They had been rather equal in most areas and the IQ test showed that they were extremely intelligent. That meant that as long as they were interested in it, and focused on it, they would excel in it.

So he wanted to see what they were interested in and hoped to be able to cultivate them in that area. After giving them the instructions, he chose to supervise Isaura first and let them be. Once enough time had passed, he would go and view what they were doing.

After what he deemed to be sufficient time, Krauss left Isaura to play by herself and walked over to the Fantastic Four 'section'.

What he saw made him frown a bit, his mind in a slight mess as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Fleur was looking through cooking websites, her computer showing multiple tabs of various cooking channels and blogs.

Ziad was looking through the tourist sites of some countries, and he had three tabs open. Though he did not have as many tabs open as Fleur, just the one site Ziad was looking at was quite detailed in terms of the place's history, culture, food, and so forth.

Aurora … her computer only had one tab open, and that was on a particular popular idol group.

She was actually watching their music videos. With her headphone on, she wasn't disturbing anyone but Krauss could see her mouth moving, and he assumed she was singing along.

Krauss felt like a headache was coming.

Then, he looked at Alex's computer - and he, too, was watching a video.

One that he was studying quite intensely from the look of his face. Krauss could even see the way Alex moved his hands, which mimicked the movement of the people in the video.

Krauss didn't know which was worse.

Aurora watching music videos … or Alex watching a video of people fighting.

The title of the video?

'Real Combat Knife Fighting for the Street'.

Seeing the fluid movements of Alex's hand, Krauss felt the hairs on the back of his hand rise up.