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There was one memory that Emmy was always fond of in her youth. And with how much she cared for the professor, it came as a surprise to her that it wasn't when they met that made her think of him. No, it was a humble beginning of acquaintanceship, at least to her.
She was young, almost seventeen when they had initially met. They hadn't seen each other since then and she remembered it being sometime after her eighteenth birthday when she found him once again. The man, as enigmatic as he was, sat alone just outside a cafe while pondering over a chessboard in front of him. Presumably, he must have been playing it alone.
She bit her lip as she contemplated walking up to him. What if he didn't remember her? Would she be considered weird for just waltzing up to him with a "Hello, I'm the girl you saved a couple of years ago"? The words that she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. Fate seemed to work to her favor though, as he took notice of her after a few minutes.
"Ah. Good day, young lady. Might I help you with something?"
"Oh! Uh… Having a nice game there?"
She felt like driving a fist into her face soon after. How stupid of an opening could she have possibly made?
But he smiled and even chuckled.
"Ah, in a manner of speaking. I was just coming up with a puzzle and finally got an answer after testing it out. Would you like to try?"
Emmy held up her hands. "No, no, no! I um...I'm not good at chess, really."
"It only involves the knight piece. If you're familiar with how it works, you'll have no problems solving it."
"I don't...I mean, I'm not that smart—"
"Nonsense! You seem to be a very smart young lady. I would assume…. you must be just starting college, is that correct?"
Her eyebrows raised as she felt her cheeks get warm. Her, a lady? She recalled him saying she was a lady once before, and even then she didn't believe it. What was more was that he was right on the money, she had just graduated high school and was just about to transfer to college.
"Yeah, but how'd you know?"
He hummed.
"Intuition, one might say. You should give it a try, puzzles help young minds develop, you know."
"Alright, I guess I could give it a try."
She sat at the opposite end of the round little dining table and looked at the board with interested eyes.
"Ok, now what?"
"Using this one knight, see if you can move it to where it visits every square on a 5x5 grid I made here."
Her brows furrowed and she took her time, slowly moving the piece around in L shapes to each spot she could. It was a while of moving and restarting until she finally succeeded. She looked up to the older man with a toothy grin.
"I did it!"
"That you did. Good job! This puzzle is known to many as the 'Knight's Tour Problem'. There are a multitude of ways to solve this. So much so that it can be considered an exercise for mathematicians."
"Huh…"
Emmy stared at the board, enough so to where a bit of wonderment filled her chest.
"Would you be interested in another puzzle?"
"Yeah! I never was really into solving these, but… they're pretty good to pass the time with."
He gave her a gentle smile.
"I have something that might be more to your liking then. Try this puzzle on game pieces for instance…"