The next day at school, the air was thick with humidity. Yuri walked through the crowded hallway, fingering the sphere in his pocket, feeling its presence like a secret friend. He had grown accustomed to fiddling with it in his pocket, as he enjoyed the cool sensation it emitted.
Suddenly, Rex and his cronies appeared, blocking the hallway with their broad frames. "Hey, Yuri! Did you wash your bag with your tongue or with sewage water?" Rex said, winking at his friends before reaching out to shove Yuri's rounded shoulder.
Yuri stopped. Normally, he would have bowed his head and apologized for "being in Rex's way," but now he felt a different kind of curiosity: Why is Rex wearing such a tight shirt that prevents him from breathing deeply? And why does the corner of his left eye twitch when he shouts? As soon as he asked himself this question, the sphere in his pocket pulsed.
Yuri felt a strange calm. He looked at Rex and said with naive spontaneity: "You know, Rex? You look tired today. Maybe it's because you strain your neck muscles too much when you try to look scary. My brother Greg says that causes headaches... do you want a piece of candy to feel better?"
A deathly silence fell over the hallway. Yuri's response wasn't an insult; it was a "medical observation" wrapped in innocence that made Rex look like a child in need of care rather than a bully to be feared. A student in the back burst into a muffled laugh. Rex's face turned so red it nearly exploded. He felt humiliated because "Idiot Yuri" had started talking to him like a doctor. He roared recklessly: "What book did you read that garbage in? Since when have you been using your stupid head to give me advice, fatty?"
Rex shoved Yuri hard, but this time Yuri didn't fall. He stumbled back two steps with a strange balance, as if his body knew exactly how to absorb the shock. "I was just worried about you," Yuri said as he walked away slowly, leaving Rex fuming in his place amidst the bewildered stares of everyone.
***
At the end of the school day, as Yuri passed the weathered wooden bulletin board, he stopped. There was a massive, bright yellow poster with bold lettering:
"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE AN ADVENTURE THAT MAKES YOU FORGET THE DULL SCHOOL ROUTINE?! YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE! 'THE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION CLUB OF THE BACK QUARTER' IS WHERE YOU WILL LIVE YOUR BEST DAYS!"
The content of the advertisement featured a picture of a complex mechanical clock movement full of gears, with a provocative question underneath: "Two gears are not touching, and one nut is missing... Can you find the error in 10 seconds?"
Yuri stared at the picture in confusion. "Why would they put a clock up if it's broken? That's sad," he thought innocently. As soon as curiosity regarding the flaw gripped him, the sphere in his pocket gave a warm pulse. Suddenly, the gears in the picture began to "move" in his imagination like a real machine. He tilted his head slightly and saw the mechanical void with piercing clarity.
"Oh... the nut isn't missing; it's stuck behind the third gear from the right," Yuri muttered, pointing his finger casually at a spot on the poster.
"What did you say, boy?"
Yuri jumped. Standing right behind him was Professor Hamilton، the head of the Science and Innovation Club—a man with thick glasses that made his eyes look as wide as an owl's. He was known as a "talent hunter" obsessed with perfection.
"I said... it's there," Yuri stammered, trying to back away. "But I was just joking, I'm not an engineer, I'm Yuri."
Professor Hamilton grabbed Yuri's shoulder with a grip of iron Yuri hadn't expected from a man his age and pulled him closer to the poster. "Look closely... are you sure? Even the advanced students took two minutes and didn't notice the nut was stuck in the back; they thought it fell out!"
"I... I just saw the little shadow it leaves," Yuri said fearfully, trying to pull his hand away. "Please, Professor, I have to go home. My mother is cooking cheese today."
But Professor Hamilton wasn't about to let him go. He pulled him by the sleeve with manic enthusiasm: "No leaving today! You have what we call the 'Keen Eye.' You will enter this competition in our school's name. We need someone who sees the flaws others miss."
"But I'm not smart, Professor! I fail math all the time!" Yuri cried out as he was dragged behind the professor toward the registration office.
"Math is just numbers, but what you did just now is 'Vision'!" the Professor replied, placing the registration form in front of Yuri and grabbing his hand to sign. "Sign here, Yuri... or I'll have to call your father and tell him you're hiding engineering genius behind that quiet face!"
At the mention of his father, Yuri froze. He imagined the look of pride in his father's eyes—the one he usually only saw for Greg. Yuri signed with a trembling hand, feeling the cold sphere in his pocket as if it were laughing at him.
"Excellent!" Hamilton said, slapping his back with a force that nearly toppled him. "You are now a member of the Investigation Club. Get ready, for the world needs those who see beyond the crooked nails... Ha ha ha!"
The Professor laughed merrily as his massive frame moved away, leaving Yuri standing there in utter bewilderment