After finishing her studies with her mentor, Lacus tossed Garfield into the garden to stay with her mentor and happily ran back to her room.
She turned on her communicator and called her friend Athrun.
"Hey, Athrun, are you there."
"Yes, it is Athrun. Lacus, what is up."
"I have discovered a big secret."
"Secret."
"It is a secret."
"Oh, what secret."
"Garfield is not an ordinary cat."
"I know. A fat orange cat."
"That is not what I meant. While I was studying, I discovered that Garfield seems to understand human speech. Could you find a detector to test Garfield's intelligence."
Testing a cat's intelligence.
Athrun on the other end of the communicator looked completely bewildered.
How could he test a cat's intelligence.
Athrun initially intended to refuse, but then thought better of it and decided to agree.
"Okay, give me some time."
"I knew you were omnipotent."
Lacus happily hung up the phone.
On the other end of the line, Nicol Amalfi, Yzak, and Dearka surrounded Athrun.
One has to understand that Athrun's generation of Coordinators have their genes modified from the moment they are born.
Do not be fooled by their age of five or six.
Their intelligence is no less than that of a normal human of ten years old.
"Athrun, you agreed so easily."
"As expected, Athrun is always so nice to girls."
"Unlike us, you will not even lend us something we ask to borrow."
"You value girls over friends."
"That is exactly how it is."
"So heartbreaking."
Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka teased Athrun with friendly banter, and Athrun's face flushed slightly.
"Nicol, Dearka, Yzak, alright, I am scared of you guys. I will give you whatever you want, okay. Spare me. But you will have to help me with testing a cat's intelligence."
Nicol shook his emerald green hair, patted his chest, and assured Athrun, "No problem, as long as you do my homework."
Yzak glared at Nicol and lectured him, "Nicol, you should do your own homework."
Nicol looked helpless. "These are for three year olds. I am six and do not need them."
Dearka mocked them, "You two sound like you are ten."
The three then started arguing again.
Athrun looked helplessly at his three friends, opened his personal terminal, and began searching the database for information on how to test a cat's intelligence.
After searching, Athrun found several convenient and simple methods that did not require any equipment.
The first method was the sock method.
Put a sock over the cat's head and see how quickly it can remove it.
The shorter the time, the higher the cat's intelligence.
Of course, this did not apply to cats that ignored the sock and continued playing as usual.
The second method referenced children's IQ tests.
Half of cats have the intelligence of an eighteen month old child, so use a child's toy to test the cat's reaction.
Show the cat a toy it likes, then cover it with something opaque, such as a kraft paper folder.
Most cats can remove the obstruction and find the toy easily.
However, some cats might spin around in circles, wondering where the toy is.
The best result is if the cat finds the toy immediately.
A second best result is if it needs some time to think.
A lower result is if it needs guidance.
Four or five consecutive attempts either indicate the cat is ignoring you or its intelligence is questionable.
There were other methods as well, which Athrun recorded and then messaged Lacus.
Athrun wrote, "Lacus, I have found a way to test a cat's intelligence."
Lacus replied, "What is the method, Athrun."
Athrun wrote, "I have compiled some information on simple cat intelligence testing methods. I will send it to you right away, so please receive it."
Lacus replied, "Okay."
After receiving the information from Athrun, Lacus carefully reviewed it and then gave Athrun an approving response.
Lacus wrote, "Athrun, you are so great. You found the information so quickly. I need to prepare some props now."
Athrun wrote, "It is alright, Lacus. Do you need my help."
Lacus replied, "Sure, sure. With Athrun's help, we can definitely finish it quickly."
Athrun wrote, "Then let us do it tomorrow, which is Sunday. At two in the afternoon, I will bring the prepared props to your house."
Lacus replied, "Okay. I will tell the butler to prepare some snacks for you."
Athrun asked, "You guys."
Lacus wrote, "Are you not taking Yzak, Nicol, and Dearka with you."
Turning to look at the three children, who were tangled up and had not helped at all, only making a mess of their room, Athrun replied to Lacus with a helpless expression. "I understand. I will take them with me."
The communication ended, and Athrun reached out and turned off his communicator, then grabbed the three children, who were tangled up in pairs, and pulled them up one by one.
"Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka, you three stop fooling around. You are all six or seven years old. I have a task for you, and as a reward, you can play my game console."
Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka exchanged glances.
The goofy Nicol suddenly shouted, "Tonight, you can play the game console. But my homework is yours, Yzak."
Yzak was furious. "Why me."
Before Nicol could answer, Dearka patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are the smartest, so mine is yours too."
"Okay then."
Dearka and Nicol put their arms around each other's shoulders.
Yzak did not react for a while.
A few minutes later, while doing his homework, Yzak suddenly realized he had been tricked.
Throwing his homework on the table, Yzak roared, "Dearka, I did not expect you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, to turn bad too."
Despite his anger, Yzak finished the three's homework by himself and then went to find Athrun and the others who were preparing their props.
It must be said that Yzak was indeed an excellent student.
He finished all three of their homework by himself, while Athrun and the other two still had not collected all the props needed to test the cat's intelligence.
After an afternoon of hard work, the four friends finally gathered everything and looked forward to tomorrow afternoon's activity.
However, compared to the happy faces of Athrun, Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka, a certain so called academic master at Lacus Clyne's house was furious.
This master thinker, educator, and philosopher had actually been looked down upon by a cat.