Miss Holmes, the Professor Is Not a Villain

7 – Meeting Ms. Holmes Was The Worst (7)

“He meant to write ‘Rachael’, but couldn’t complete it due to inevitable circumstances. Judging by the slightly off spelling, the culprit may either be under-educated or might be using slang.”

“And?”

“That’s probably what the dull Scotland Yard guards would think. I can guarantee most of them would not have included the additional details I have pointed out or even considered that there could be a deeper meaning.”

At the girl’s reply, Moriarty smiled as if pleased. Seeing her teacher smiling at her, Sherlock also grinned innocently.

However, the mystery has not yet been solved. The answer has not come out. So as an educator, Moriarty asked again for the answer.

He didn’t rush her, nor did he urge her. But under the assurance that she could at least find most of the answer, he asked again.

“Mmm, carry on, what could it possibly mean?”

But the girl’s face turned dark for a moment. There was frustration mixed in. And yet the unique girl seemed to realise why this special teacher had presented her with this riddle.

Moriarty liked this intriguing girl even more.

“There’s definitely another meaning. So…this must be the intuition you were talking about, isn’t it?”

Sherlock, seeing the teacher nodding instead of answering, let out a small sigh and resumed speaking. Of course, the sigh was directed at herself.

There was frustration at being unable to finally give out the answer when she had almost figured out all the clues of the riddle.

“But…I’m not sure. Even though I’m furious, I don’t know what RACHE means within the scope of my limited knowledge. It must be a foreign language, isn’t it? You’ve presented me with this riddle to emphasise the importance of gaining diverse knowledge.”

“Yes, you’re right, Sherlock. Luckily, it seems like you’ve grasped what I want to say. Because you’re definitely a smart child. Right?”

Sherlock involuntarily had to resist letting the corners of her mouth rise due to a praise that wasn’t exactly a praise. This was indeed strange.

She knew very well that this teacher in front of her was a unique adult. But being praised by him had a feeling that was different from the praises she received from her mother and father, a feeling that she hadn’t experienced before, making Sherlock a little confused.

Even a girl is human and cannot help but feel good when praised, no matter how unique, smarter than adults, and sometimes able to see things unseen.

Being praised by parents was good. She loved her family. She loved her family with all her heart, even though they were sometimes average, sometimes boring, and sometimes unable to understand her.

Therefore, it was a pleasant thing to be praised by them, even though it was obvious.

But at the same time, it was also very natural. She was proud of her own brain. She knew she was smart, so the praise was, in fact, very natural.

Is that why?

The compliment she heard from the man before her – the man she admitted – felt special as if it were a compliment for some accomplishment.

Of course, Sherlock also did not forget to ask for the answer to the riddle.

“So, what does RACHE mean, sir?”

“Revenge.”

Moriarty spat out shortly. It was a word that could sound somewhat gloomy, but Sherlock nodded her head and responded simply.

“Indeed, It is. In a foreign language, ‘revenge,’ …… quite interesting. So, in what language does it mean revenge?”

“It’s German.”

“Then, it could often be the work of the anarchists people talk about. Or, it could be someone pretending to be like that.”

“…Do you know what kind of people anarchists are?”

Even though he knew of the girl’s intelligence, Moriarty unintentionally asked, as it was not a word that would come out from the girl’s mouth.

Sherlock casually shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know exactly, but I’ve learned that they are bad people. Precisely from a serial novel though.”

“Well, to some extent…depending on political and social views, opinions may differ, but what’s important is that you need to learn about those people to come to a conclusion. It’s the same with German. So, how do you feel about completing the riddle, Sherlock?”

“I was definitely able to understand what you meant. If I knew German, I would have been able to solve it perfectly.”

“Like this, accumulating a lot of knowledge is important. It also helps to some extent in sharpening your intuition. Intuition is similar to a sense, but knowing a wide range of things helps in enhancing it. If you hadn’t suspected it to be a foreign language, could you have even attempted this riddle?”

The girl didn’t immediately answer. But as if to commit to following her teacher’s instruction, she stared at Moriarty so intensely that it felt burdensome.

Of course, Moriarty did not feel burdened because the girl was doing so. Others might feel like that.

In fact, if a pretty child did so, anyone would definitely feel her gaze. If a few more years passed by and the girl grew up to be Moriarty’s age, any man might blush and avoid her gaze first.

But Moriarty smiled slightly. He couldn’t yet find the answer to why he was doing this, what purpose he had.

But guiding and leading Sherlock, this intelligent girl, was a definitely a pleasant thing in itself. The lesson continued.

“Of course, I won’t only teach mathematics for a whole year, but most agree that mathematics does help in some way to improve intuition. So, I’m going to teach you several basic principles, Sherlock.”

“I’ll follow faithfully if you say so, sir.”

Sherlock had already half-believed and followed Moriarty, but it was the recent riddle that assured her about the real need to trust and follow the man in front of her.

Now, without a word, the girl focused on Moriarty, her eyes sparkling.

Where should I start?

Moriarty contemplated for a moment. There was no need for a systematic class, really. After all, Mrs. Holmes wouldn’t particularly want such things. He only needed to teach the appropriate things.

So Moriarty decided to start freely. Of course, both Moriarty and Sherlock liked being free, so they had no complaints.

Although there were clear differences between the man and the girl, they had more in common. It might have been a fatal consanguinity.

Of course, both Moriarty and Sherlock didn’t believe in such things. At least the two of them didn’t.

But the lesson had to continue. Moriarty finally opened his mouth.

The lesson started with an introduction to the most special existence in mathematics, just like Sherlock and himself.

“Then, I will start with prime numbers. I remember it’s your first time studying with a tutor, but you do know how to do simple arithmetic, right?”

“I’m not a child, sir. I can do far more complicated calculations. But prime numbers, what are they?”

At her innocent question, Moriarty smiled.

“In many ways, they’re special numbers. So the mathematicians who study mathematics professionally often obsess and research them. They’re unique individuals that only divide evenly by 1 or themselves.”

Of course, academically there existed a slightly more complex and different definition. But there was no need to teach that to a child.

After all, the girl was not fated to become a mathematician. All he had to do was use mathematics as a tool to teach her the appropriate knowledge and lead her.

“I’m special, like only having one other person who can understand me, besides myself.”

The girl fixed her gaze on Moriarty, unknowingly. Unfortunately, Moriarty didn’t quite understand why. If he had been able to comprehend such innocent inner thoughts of the girl, maybe he would’ve reacted a bit differently.

However, Moriarty, not knowing this, continued speaking.

“I thought you might focus on that point. There’s a lot of fun to do with these primes, but we’ll learn that slowly. And the important point is, these primes exist infinitely.”

“How do you know that?”

That was a very Sherlock-like question. Moriarty, not being aware of himself, found the girl interesting and patted her head. Her inquisitive attitude was truly admirable, and every little action of this small being who gave him joy and laughter felt endearing.

Of course, only after patting her head did Moriarty regret his rash action. It was rare to see the usually emotionally distant Moriarty do something like that.

Actually, it was the same for Sherlock. If it had been someone else, even if it was her mother’s touch, she would’ve thrown a tantrum and resisted.

Because she always believed herself to be an adult and hated being treated like a child.

Moreover, even though they had found each other special, they had only known each other for three days. But Sherlock did not resist Moriarty’s touch.

She even felt a twinge of regret when Moriarty quietly withdrew his hand. To break the awkward atmosphere, and for the original purpose, Moriarty resumed his lesson.

“Our great Euclid proved it with reductio ad absurdum. Ah, of course, you will learn about reductio ad absurdum, as you will love it. However, right now just remember that they’re infinite.”

“Okay, so?”

“The problem is these primes have their own ways and don’t have rules. Of course, mathematicians trying to find rules are still struggling somewhere, but so far, none. So we have to rely on the difficult process of finding these special primes.”

Saying this, Moriarty calmly wrote down the numbers from 1 to 50 on a prepared note. Sherlock watched his every little movement keenly, not even letting out a breath.

Finally, when preparation finished Moriarty resumed speaking.

“It might be related to a method you like. In ancient Greece, there was a man named Eratosthenes, Sherlock. He devised a method which seems simple but yet is still the only remaining method…if it was detectives like you like, they always use this method.”

“What method?”

“It’s simple, one by one, erasing. First, erase number 1, neither belonging anywhere nor being a prime number. Next is 2, the first prime number and so very special. So naturally, multiples of 2 are not primes. You understand till here, right? So what should we do?”

“We need to erase all multiples of 2.”

Just as Sherlock said, Moriarty began erasing one by one the multiples of 2 among the numbers up to 50, except number 2 itself.

The unique child realized what her teacher was doing.

“Indeed, finding and erasing clues, one by one.”

“Yes, then it’s number 3. 3 is also a prime number, so we erase all multiples of 3. Then it’s 5, 7, and so on. How does it seem, isn’t it somewhat interesting?”

At his question, the girl nodded as if she was lost in her thoughts.

The girl’s heart began to pound fiercely. Although she already knew, Sherlock was confident that the upcoming year would be filled with immense joy and happiness.