Lucas shrugged. “I like math. I wait for my mom after work. Across the street there’s a private school. I stand behind a tree and listen through the window.”
The image hit Ethan harder than any mistake.
Mr. Tanaka reviewed the notebook carefully. “These calculations are correct,” he said. “Very well organized.”
“I don’t know finance terms,” Lucas admitted. “I just know money has to add up.”
Ethan took a breath he felt he’d been holding for years. “Can you help us fix the board?”
Lucas nodded and worked confidently, erasing and rewriting. When he finished, the numbers finally made sense.
“Perfect,” Mr. Tanaka said. “Now the project is viable.”
Ethan asked to see Lucas’s mother. Maria Moreno arrived moments later, clearly anxious.
“Your son helped us today,” Ethan told her. “He has a remarkable talent.”
“I hope he wasn’t in trouble,” she said softly.
“On the contrary,” Mr. Tanaka said. “He saved us.”
When Ethan asked where Lucas studied, Maria explained he attended a nearby public school with limited resources.
Ethan looked out the window and noticed the private school across the street—the same one Lucas had been learning from the shadows.