Artyom’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing the ritualistic incantation of the modern student: .

On his desk lay the Fifth Grade Mathematics textbook by Dorofeev, its cover depicting a cheerful set of geometric shapes that felt increasingly like personal enemies. Page 142, Problem 12—a multi-step equation involving fractions and parentheses—had become a wall he couldn't climb.

Artyom paused. He looked back at the screen, then at his own messy attempts. For the first time that night, the numbers didn't look like a wall. They looked like a bridge. He didn't just copy the last two lines; he traced the logic of the denominator, finally understanding why the "3" became a "12."