8 — Twenty-three other students attended that lecture. Their avatars took the forms of anime characters, kawaii cats and other fantastic creatures. Sujimoto's avatar was reminiscent of a monk — wearing brown robes and conical hat.

9 — A text bubble appeared in the air beside the monk. “Welcome to this year's first class on number theory.”

10 — “Numbers have a purity that words cannot match.”

11 — “They are the building blocks of science. By studying them we can learn about ourselves and our place in the universe. I have created this garden to give you a chance to explore the world of numbers and their hidden beauty.”

12 — He pointed to the garden beds where different colored numbers grew. “There are transcendental numbers, abundant numbers, undulating numbers, pandigital numbers, deficient numbers, surreal numbers, happy numbers, weird numbers and my personal favorites, the

13 — vampire

14 — numbers.” A bed of numbers erupted from the ground in front of Sujimoto. It contained the numbers from 1 to 1000 arranged in orderly rows. The numbers were purple and had pale, green stems. “I want you to pick one integer. This is going to be your special number for the year. Then explore the garden.”

The secret message freaked me out after I eventually 'got it'!