52 Late

As the math quiz was slowly being worked on by the students, Ensen kept a close eye on Warren to check if he was having trouble focusing on math too.

Just like he suspected, it seemed like Warren had trouble focusing on quizzes at the very least.

As the first math class slowly passed by, Ensen noticed that Gerhardt left the classroom at some point, most likely to look at the quizzes to help understand the classroom better.'

While there was not much they could do in the first class, there were still some small things they could start.

Like this, the class ended.

"Alright everybody, so that was the first math class. There will now be a break before your last class of the day, Music. Gym class will start tomorrow as you can see on your schedule." Ensen said.

Walking towards the door after grabbing the now completed math quizzes, Ensen held it open while the students began to get out of their chairs slowly.

"Let's go exploring, Brian! I bet there's a bunch of cool stuff around here." Warren said in excitement.

"Hold up Warren. Don't go too far in the forest, I don't want you guys getting lost. Understand?" Ensen said with a strict tone.

Surprised that Ensen had overheard his conversation, Warren said in defeat "Fine, we will stay close to school. I bet there are cool things near school anyways."

'There are cool things in the school though!' Ensen thought in his head as he held back from shouting.

"That's good to hear. Also, remember to keep an eye on the time with your watch." Ensen said as he began to walk towards his office once again.

Resting in his chair, Ensen placed the quizzes on the table as he leaned back in his chair and slowly began to read them.

'Hmm… so Anabella, Brian, and Stephen all completed the quiz with a little time to spare, which is nice. While a few questions are wrong the majority aren't, so it seems like there will be no problems with that.' Ensen thought as he read the papers.

Slowly getting up out of his chair, Ensen opened the blinds that had been blocking both the sun and the view from his office.

Looking outside for a moment, Ensen noticed that he could see Brian and Warren walking around the edge of the forest, seemingly looking around.

'Well as long as they don't go in, right?' He thought after staring at them for a moment.

Remembering to keep an eye on the two, he began to move onto the following two papers, Warren and Leah.

Leah seemed to struggle with the questions quite a bit, evident by the scribbled out answers that littered the paper. While she did through an okay amount of questions, it left much to be desired.

Warren's quiz, on the other hand, was quite different compared to the others. The majority of the quiz had not been answered or even gave the signs of the question being attempted.

Instead, drawings on an s with straight lines were drawn throughout the quiz.

'What an odd drawing. Warren will definitely need help with focusing in class. Leah seemed to be trying her hardest on the quiz, she just needs a bit more knowledge to get there.' Ensen thought.

Now that he had a decent understanding of his student's mathematical abilities he could begin to make a plan.

As time quickly passed, Ensen looked at the current time and realized that the break was about to be over. Slowly getting up from his chair, Ensen looked outside only to see that Warren and Brian had disappeared at some point.

Hoping that they had already arrived at the music room, Ensen began to make his way there with hastened steps.

Noticing that only Leah was currently in the room staring at the piano intensely did Ensen truly begin to worry.

Leaning against the wall close to the door, he shut his eyes as the clock began to slowly count down towards when class would start.

With a slight vibration from his pocket, Ensen knew that class had just begun as he had set timers for it.

Opening his eyes, he looked around the classroom to only see Stephen, Anabella, and Leah who was still intensely staring at the piano.

Ignoring Leah's odd behavior for the moment, Ensen looked outside the music room door into the hallway to see if Warren and Brian were walking down, but there was no sign of them.

"Does anybody know where Warren and Brian are? The class has just started." Ensen asked in a serious tone.

Seeing the others in the room shake their heads, Ensen quickly excused himself for the moment as he walked into the hallway and began making his way towards the front entrance of the school.

Arriving at the front door, Ensen quickly opened it and looked towards where he had seen them previously.

Surprisingly, Ensen could see Warren and Brian walking towards the front door.

As they noticed Ensen at the front door, staring at them they both felt embarrassed as they hastened their pace slightly.

As they arrived in front of Ensen, he asked "Where were you guys? The class has already started."

"Umm… we… we got lost." Warren said in shame.

Looking at Brian nodding in agreement to the side, Ensen sighed.

"Were you guys hurt?" Ensen asked in concern.

Seeing them shaking their heads no, he continued.

"I told you guys to not go far into the forest. You're lucky you made it out this quick. What were you guys thinking?" Ensen said in a strict voice that Brian and Warren had never heard before.

"We saw a big rock that looked comfy to lay down on but…" Brian said in a soft voice.

Mentally face-palming at the reason, Ensen audibly sighed.

"You guys need to be more careful. I don't want you to go into the forest anymore unless it's with a teacher. Understand?"

Seeing both of his students nodding, Ensen continued "Alright, let's head to class now."

After walking for a minute they had arrived at the music room.

Seeing everybody in the room look at them, their cheeks flushed in embarrassment as Ensen slowly walked up to the front of the room.

"Alright, let's begin class now. Unlike the other classes, there won't be a quiz here so you can relax." Ensen said.

Hearing an audible sigh of relief engulf the room, Ensen felt his mood become slightly better.

"Now who has played an instrument before?" Ensen asked.

Looking at the five students who were scanning the room in curiosity, Anabella slowly raised her hand and uttered one word "Triangle."

Seeing everybody's puzzled face, Stephen raised his voice to clarify. "We did a little play at the orphanage when we were younger, and she played the triangle. Warren was a tree."

'I don't think that last part was necessary but… oh well.' Ensen thought as he nodded.

As everybody in the room nodded their head in satisfaction after Stephen's answer, Ensen spoke.

"Impressive. There is nothing wrong with playing the Triangle as an instrument. Believe it or not, the Triangle is rather old and has been used for centuries. But anyway, the main instrument we will be learning in music class is the piano, although the music theory learned here can be applied in most places." Ensen said before pausing for a moment.

"Is anybody interested in playing the piano?" Ensen asked, trying to gauge the general interest.

As he asked the question, he prayed in his heart that Leah would raise her hand, otherwise, it put a fork in his plan as it was a rather important chain mission.

However he was not too worried that she wouldn't, after all she was staring at the piano for at least 10 minutes which was… something.

Just as he suspected, Leah raised her hand as straight as she could in a swift motion. Surprisingly, Stephen also raised his hand after a few seconds and it seemed rather hesitant.

As a bright smile emerged on Ensen's face, he continued. "That's good to see, I'm sure you guys will be great at the piano. While learning the piano takes a lot of hard work, it is definitely worth it. Even if not the piano, learning an instrument, in general, would be great."

Taking a short pause, Ensen saw Leah raise her hand.

"Yes Leah, do you have a question?" Ensen asked.

"Umm yeah. I don't know how to say this but… I feel like the piano is trying to speak to me." She said after thinking for a moment about how to word it.

'That's… interesting. I guess it wouldn't be impossible considering the item I imbued into it, but I'm not sure. System! Help please.' Ensen thought in his mind.

[While an item trying to communicate with a normal human without a system is not unheard of, it is relatively rare and only happens in a few situations because of the universe's restrictions. However, the combination of the Music generalist and Songwriting skills that Leah has may be able to slightly bypass the restrictions. Because of this slight bypass she is able to sense that the piano is trying to speak to her but not the actual words.]

Nodding in understanding after taking all of the information in for a moment, Ensen asked another question. 'Why didn't it try to communicate with me then?'

[Because it only talks to those who are talented in music.]