6 – The Meeting with Young Holmes Was the Worst (6)
That marked the beginning of their first lesson, a monumental first between a girl who was to become a world-renowned detective and potentially her greatest enemy, a Napoleon of Crime by birth.
However, there was a brief silence unlike the grandeur of their title. It wasn’t uncomfortable. This was due to the girl and the man’s temperaments.
Coincidentally, the two were once again observing each other. Though it was for a very brief moment, there was a definite presence of silence, and the two were aware of it.
They could tell what the other was doing. Of course, Moriarty still had the upper hand. Because objectively speaking, he was older than Sherlock and had experienced at least 13 years more.
Did the girl know this? Of course she did. The child was intelligent and clever enough to realize her own shortcomings.
Yet, she still retained a side of her that was unwilling to fully accept this, a residual childish spirit. That’s understandable. No matter how much Sherlock considered herself smarter and more mature than the foolish adults around her, she was still only 8.
They might have read into each other. Perhaps so. Yet when the moment of silence ended, the two quietly began their seemingly ordinary first lesson as if nothing had happened.
Sherlock frowned unknowingly but tried her best not to show it. She knew that Moriarty was still monitoring her. Still, it was clear that revealing her discontent was exactly what he wanted.
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Uncharacteristically, a slight competitive drive irritated the girl. It was a first-time experience for Sherlock.
Was she upset? The girl was not. In fact, she was quite pleased. She enjoyed it despite knowing that she was losing to the man before her. She found herself eagerly anticipating what amusing words would come out of this strange teacher’s mouth.
Such a strange thing. Though they had known each other for only three days, Sherlock felt as if she had known this man for as long as her own family.
Of course, the girl did not yet know the precise reason. No one could be certain about the reason, not even if it were presented to her as an answer. Some might consider this as a mere seed that might be a turning point.
However, from Sherlock’s perspective, her new tutor was a man worth paying attention to. And so, she had stubbornly pestered her father to let her study under Moriarty, in a truly childish and unreasonable way.
Remembering that time tinged her cheeks with the color of embarrassment, but despite this, she never once regretted the decision.
This was because the man standing before her was evidently special.
Fulfilling her expectations, Moriarty opened his mouth again. Each and every word of his was so intriguing that she couldn’t help but focus even more than when she was engrossed in her favorite thrilling novels.
“Being a home tutor is a first for me too, but it seems that there is no need to teach you basic things such as reading and writing. Clearly, you can read well enough if you are consistently reading magazine novels without your mother knowing.”
“Of course. I can read better than all the fools around.”
“Yes, I’m sure. There is no need to teach foreign languages, like Latin or French.”
Sherlock interrupted Moriarty and opened her mouth like a nightingale. To interpret her statement, it would all boil down to this: You’re special, so special that I recognize your worth, so teach me something special.
Moreover, the expression “like a nightingale” was meant literally. In an instant, the girl spouted off French with fluent speed, but due to the nature of French, her rapid speech and the girl’s unique high-pitched voice sounded like a bird chirping.
Moriarty, being fluent in several foreign languages, understood the girl’s words and briefly responded in French.
“You already know?”
The girl then responded in English.
“My grandma is a French, she’s also the younger sister of the French court painter, Verne.”
“I see. But honestly, your capabilities as a child are not that important, are they? As you probably already know, you don’t need to invest so much time learning a foreign language. If you study by yourself for about three weeks, you can easily learn it.”
“Well, yes.”
“So, there’s no need to teach you boring things like Latin.”
The conversation seemed bizarre to ordinary people, but for them, this was perfectly commonplace.
Moriarty himself had managed to self-study German, Italian, and Russian in just about three weeks.
Although Sherlock hadn’t attempted this yet, if Moriarty said so, she was fully confident she could as well.
“Well, I plan to teach you some mathematics. It’s my job, after all. I’m currently teaching your brother, Mycroft.”
“Math, huh? Doesn’t seem fun. You must like math, Moriarty?”
“Not at all.”
“Why not?”
The girl was taken aback by her teacher’s unexpected frankness and asked again. Recognizing her confusion as a faux pas, Moriarty casually shrugged and responded.
“It’s simply for survival. I have the aptitude, you know. The position as a professor of mathematics, which you might not fully understand, provides an adequate social reputation and status. I don’t particularly enjoy mathematics itself. I…I’m not really interested in solving problems, actually.”
“If solving problems is the point of mathematics, then it could be a bit interesting. You see, I enjoy such things.”
“Ah, so we see problem-solving differently, Sherlock.”
There was a brief silence again. The answer was nothing out of the ordinary, but intuitively both felt the need for a moment of silence. Sherlock could not yet understand why.
However, she found the silence uncomfortable and, feeling that it was too wasteful to be learning such mundane things from this extraordinary man, she carefully opened her mouth again.
“So… do I really need to learn something? Actually, simply having these conversations with you is fun. Don’t you think so?”
“Well, I also enjoy it. I’m not lying.”
“Right? So instead of learning something so dull, yes, I’d rather learn about intuition. How do you develop intuition?”
She’s young. Truly, she’s still young.
Moriarty thought while looking at the chattering girl. Of course, it made sense when considering her age. However, the girl was Sherlock Holmes.
Why was he paying so much attention to this girl before him? He found the reason strange and remained uncertain.
However, there was one thing he was sure of. The girl in front of him was certainly one of the entities that could alleviate his boredom.
How boring and mediocre were the past 20 years of his life? In that sense, a year spent teaching this special girl in front of him would surely be worthwhile.
However, she was not enough. He couldn’t specify what he was comparing it to, but in his opinion, the girl was still lacking.
It was natural because she was a child. But to grow up into a world-class detective, he felt the need to provide appropriate guidance. Of course, he couldn’t teach her everything.
But the girl was certainly exceptional compared to anyone he had met, and if he gave her a little direction, she was the kind of child who would find her own way.
Moriarty was certain. He didn’t understand why he, a professor of mathematics living a mundane and boring life, was doing all this, but he was sure.
In fact, the reality was that he had not thought so far ahead.
Logically, there was certainly no reason to engage so much with this girl before him. But still, he didn’t stop.
“Learning can indeed be boring, but it would be best to learn a lot if you truly want to develop intuition and make use of it.”
“What do you mean?”
Moriarty pondered over her query. Then, he served her a riddle that she was compelled to be intrigued by.
“A murder scene was discovered by our detective, Sherlock. It was clear that the victim was shot to death, and you started finding clues at the scene that the dullard Scotland Yard guards had missed.”
Even as Moriarty felt Sherlock’s gaze streaked with curiosity and astoundment, he continued spinning his tale.
From time to time, he would glance at the girl, but he had to refrain from laughing at the sight of her head turning in response to his every gesture, so like an inquisitive fox cub.
“Then Sherlock, you find a new clue. Apparently, the clueless guards forgot to even check the walls. It’s easy to miss a corner, but you discover a phrase written on the wall in the victim’s blood, surely left by the perpetrator.”
“What phrase?”
Listening to Sherlock eager to hasten the completion of the story made the proceeding more enjoyable for Moriarty, who slowly opened his mouth.
“Five alphabets. R. A. C. H. And E. RACHE. Now Sherlock, why do you think the culprit left this clue?”
Sherlock’s eyes gleamed. Moriarty was indeed truly special. She had never known an adult who suited her tastes as much as him.
Some may argue that it is only natural for such a young girl, who has experienced a mere 8 years of life, not to have met many people.
However, she was sure. In the life that awaited her, the man in front of her would remain one of the most extraordinary people she would ever remember, until her last breath.
And so, for the sake of the teacher who had posed this enigma to her, she applied herself rigorously to solve the riddle. Of course, only a few seconds had passed, but the extraordinary girl’s mind rapidly calculated all possibilities.
It was definitely something a regular person couldn’t accomplish.
Slowly, but cautiously, the girl opened her mouth.
