schoolingfish | Inbox (Kaisou)

[ Alberto cocks a brow, having of course learned only rudimentary maths from his father — so he's not really sure how much else there is to be learned... He has no concept of anything beyond basic arithmetics. His father certainly wasn't even quizzing him on square roots and exponents, let alone anything more complicated like Luca's probably learning in school. But nevertheless, he's supportive and glad for Luca's sake. And hesitant (read: resistant) as he is about joining any kind of formal education, his father's hodgepodge lessons not really leaving the best impression on him, there is a growing part of him that wonders how different it might be... He's interested in what human kids their age should know by now, curious what all Luca is studying — and maybe a tiny part of him that feels some competitive need to keep up with him. Even if Alberto doesn't have any intention just yet of joining Luca in school, he also doesn't want to be left in the dark behind him.

He offers a wan but encouraging smile after a beat, then lifts a leg out of the water lazily, stretching his muscles with both hands tugging against the sole of his finned foot. Even snugly relaxing in a bathtub, Alberto's not able to keep still for more than a second. And unconsciously, it also sort of helps distract him from his many looming question marks... ]

Yeah? I didn't think math stuff could be fun, ha... Is it real different than Giulia's school in Genova? Or are you learning pretty much the same stuff?

It's similar stuff. I mean, of course there are some differences in what they're teaching us, but it's similar. It feels a bit easier than Giulia's school? But that might just be because I've had a couple of weeks to learn the basics before I got here. Oh, and the building is way bigger.

[ Alberto sits up at attention at that last bit, lowering his leg into the water again, causing a little splash to spill over the edge of the tub. ]

Wha—? How big does the building need to be? How many kids are there?! I mean, this is just the practice school, cuz real school's broken in the summers, right? So that means there'll be even more kids in an even bigger building when the real school starts...!

[ Because Alberto got the impression Giulia's school in Genova was pretty big! Big enough to have a giant telescope, after all. And Kaisou's so huge in general, in Alberto's eyes, with massive buildings compared to any he'd ever seen — he's having a hard time conceiving just how big the school would need to be... No idea yet that they're only talking about one cram school, and one middle school — let alone other elementary schools, the high school, private schools... As far as he knows, it's all the kids and teenagers of the city all in one school. So his mental image of how big this building needs to be is more staggering than it actually is in reality. ]

Edited 2022-08-22 20:49 (UTC)

Oh, no. It'll be in the same building. There's like...a small section of the building that gets used for summer school while the rest of it's closed off. But even if we're just in a small section I can see how big the rest of the school is!

How many kids you think will be there...? Is it for every kid in the city? From little kid age to like— Ercole-not-so-kid age, or what?

[ Because Ercole is hardly a kid, surely seventeen, maybe even eighteen, yet spent his time picking on preteens for no reason. And going to school with someone like Ercole along with every other age group at the same time just seems... overwhelming. Alberto doesn't even realize how he's already physically shying away from the thought of it, doesn't hear the skepticism in his voice, as he idly pours another bowlful of water over his head. ]

I'm not really sure...but everyone in my summer school class is the same age as me. There are kids of other ages in the building, but they all seem to go to different rooms. So maybe that's why the school is so big? To divide up the different ages?

[ This draws a short silence from Alberto, who swishes the tip of his tail over the side of the tub, fidgeting as he's reconsidering his preconception about human school a bit. If it's not all the kids, all at once, all the time — maybe that's not so bad. His idea of human school seemed maybe more overwhelming than it actually is, from the sounds of it — not that that's necessarily any more convincing that he should attend... At least at this juncture. He dumps another bowl of water over himself. ]

...So everyone's the same age— learning the same stuff, at the same time— and everyone's human... yeah? By the time real school starts, you'll be all caught up with the rest of the humans, then, huh. ...Nice.

[ He's glad for Luca, he is; but still, there's the faintest hint of something not quite dejected in his tone, but a certain familiar resistance — jealousy? — apprehension. Some mix. Nothing at all surprising, nor new, even in this world. But just in engaging as much as he is: it's progress? ]

Well, everyone but me is human. But yeah.

[And it's not like the people at the school knew he wasn't human.

[ Alberto gives a twitch of a smile in the corners of his lips, gazing at Luca with sly narrowed eyes. ]

Heh. Yeah— everyone but you. ...Aaand any other secret monsters you don't know about yet, ehhh~? Bet you're not the only one, ha!

[ After all, if there's one, why not two? That was true in Portorosso in their case, technically. And if there's two, why not three?! He wants to be optimistic here. Aaand crack a joke to cover up anything that makes him even the slightest bit uneasy ever, of course... Because far be it for Alberto to be "the other secret monster" in this scenario and go to school with Luca. Oof... ]

Oh, right!

[Thinking that there might be other secret monsters at school is pretty exciting and makes him look forward to school that much more. After all, why would he necessarily be the only monster there? He's met other non-human kids in this place, after all.]

I bet there's plenty of other monster kids there! I wonder if I'll be able to figure out who they are.

Well, not if they're as good at human-ing as us, you won't! Ha!

[ He flashes Luca a smug, conspiratorial grin. He has full confidence they can keep this up as easily as they have so far... Little does he know, tomorrow starts a whole domino effect of exposure and discovery. But for now he can enjoy his last ego trip about his "human-ing" for a while. ]

Oh, right. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how good at humaning they are, won't we?

[Assuming, of course, that they weren't the only monsters there, but at this point he's fairly certain they won't be now that the idea's gotten into his head.]

Inbox (Kaisou)

oof, sorry for the long delay!

That's okay. I sometimes lose track of and later find threads.

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