BLACK BUTLER Short Story: THE GIFT

Breakfast for the Phantomhive's was a casual affair and Sebastian had prepared a wonderful meal of poached salmon, eggs, toast, with a choice of orange juice or milk.

Ciel chose Earl Grey tea instead.

Tea for Ciel was a normal thing and he was a creature of habit. Lukas chose orange juice while Renny had milk.

But as of late, Renny's digestive system had been in acute distress and it produced highly unfavorable results.

A low but muffled rumbling sounded as the trio sat in the Dining Hall, the silence of the moment giving it an even louder reverberation.

Ciel looked up from his plate, he was seated at the head of the elongated table as Lukas and Renny were on the sides seated next to him.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"What was what, cousin?" Renny said.

"That sound - " Ciel smelt it. "Renny!" he scolded. "That is disgusting!"

Renny's stomach also grumbled unfavorably. His face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, cousin Ciel. My stomach...hasn't been feeling well."

"I have been conducting research, Master Renfrew," Sebastian said, and stepped forward. He had been standing aside next to a meal trolley. "And I am most assured that you may be lactose intolerant, or rather, Johnny Lazarus's was. I suppose this is one of the many surprises with your new body Altima said would arise."

He went on to explain how dairy products such as milk, eggs, and others can affect the digestive tract of a person susceptible to such a thing and that there really was no explanation for it. "It is like an allergic reaction to certain foods," he said. He suddenly waved a hand in front of his face. Renfrew obviously had attempted to "hide" another attack, albeit in silence. "I believe it will be best to eliminate such foods from your diet, my lord. I will need to make up a list of what foods you can and cannot eat to avoid further occurrences of such a nature."

"Thank you, Sebastian," Renny said, then suddenly had another unavoidable digestive attack and a loud one. What did commoners call it: farting?

Lukas snickered.

Ciel said, "What childish nonsense."

Renny's eyes went wide. "Oh no..." he muttered.

Sebastian stepped away. "Oh no is right, Master Renfrew. I will need to disinfect this chair and add a scented candle in this room to dissipate the smell."

"That's not it. I, um..." He waved Sebastian over. Sebastian covered his nose. Renny whispered something.

"Oh dear," Sebastian said. Then whispered back, "I shall prepare a new change of clothes for you..."

Renny returned to his quarters after a few minutes of privately washing up.

He had been discreet and had excused himself from the dining table to use the toilet, but it was much more than that. He had accidentally soiled his underwear with his last digestive attack and had to clean-up and change.

Indeed there were difficulties with his new body, surprises he never expected. But how could anyone have known Johnny Lazarus in his life had been lactose intolerant and that diary would affect his body in such a way?

Wrapped in a towel from the waist down, he walked to his quarters from the visitor's toilet closet. Here, Sebastian was waiting for him with new pair of trousers and underwear.

"This is very embarrassing, Sebastian," he said, red-faced. "I have never, ever, soiled myself like that."

"There is always a first time for everything, Master Renfrew," Sebastian replied with an understanding smile. "Do not dwell on it."

"I love milk and eggs and now...I will never be able to have them again without digestive distress. I'll have to watch what is served at parties as well."

"I'll have to adjust the menu as well for your stomach," Sebastian mused. Then smiled. "But I do not believe it will be a bother. Soy milk and foods processed with soy beans can be very tasty if prepared properly."

"Does Bardroy know how to prepare soy beans to make edible food?" he asked, getting dressed.

"Bardroy is a mediocre cook, but what he doesn't know, I shall show him."

"Thank you, Sebastian. I would be simply lost without you."

Sebastian smiled. "Analogy inferred, Master Renfrew?" Knowing without Sebastian to help him, Renfrew would still be a ghost. "But take heart, my lord. We will nip this in the bud."

Renfrew nodded. "School in fifteen minutes in the Study?"

"Yes sir."

"I'll meet you down there."

"Very good, my lord." And Sebastian left.

A quarter past ten o'clock am, home school began. As the Phantomhive boys would be too much of a target in a regular school and too valuable, Sebastian had become their educator.

For this, Sebastian adore professor attire, including a long brown jacket and spectacles with chains attached at the sides. Atypical like a college or university Prof, and separate from his butler attire.

School was held in the Study. Ciel sat at his usual place behind his desk, while a couch was situated next to it for Lukas and Renny. Near the wall was a large chalkboard for the lessons to be conducted on. However, each boy had a lined-paged notebook in which work in.

"Now, everyday we engage in an arithmetic teaser that stimulates the mind analytically but also helps us think outside the box," Sebastian started. "Today's teaser will be tricky. You will have until the end of the lesson to come up with an answer, and I will give you time to do so."

"Get on with it," Ciel said impatiently. "Your teases are often a bore. They are much too easy."

Sebastian smiled. "I admit, I have gone easy on you as of late, but I assure you, my lord, today's will be trying."

"I'm eager to try, sounds like fun," Lukas said.

"So am I," Renny said. "Even though I have only been attending this home school for a short time, I have indeed learned quite a lot. Being a ghost, you don't need intelligence to walk through a wall."

"But you do need intelligence to open a door," Ciel said smirking slightly, knowing how often Renny forgot he was human now and walked into a door instead of opening it.

"You're too cruel, cousin Ciel," Renny said.

"Anyway," Sebastian said. "Ready? Here we go. Write this down into your notebook and work it out amongst yourselves, or all together, if you wish. However, show your work. I will be checking each answer in turn.

11 x 11 = 4
22 x 22 = 16
33 x 33 = ?

"I am told some of the top college and university students have failed to ascertain the correct answer."

"So do you think we can get the answer?" Ciel said annoyed.

"It is tricky, but if you can not devise an answer, you need not worry. I will show you how to obtain it."

"Thirty-six," Renny suddenly said.

Lukas looked at him. "How on earth did you get that answer?"

Sebastian lightly gasped, blinking twice. "My word, he is correct."

"Whaaaaat?" Ciel and Lukas said in unison.

"How?" Ciel then said.

"I was always good in math," Renny said.

"But Sebastian said even some college and university students failed to get an answer," Lukas said. "How on earth did you instantly come up with an answer?"

"Care to explain your answer, Master Renfrew?" Sebastian said, gesturing to the chalkboard, handing Renny a piece of white chalk.

Renny stood and started. "The answer...to each question is in itself a teaser, which means, you must backtrack in order to come to the answer. Hence, in order to come to the answer: 4, the answer to the first question, you must ask yourself, What numbers make 4? The simplest answer is..." He wrote as he spoke. "...2x2. But seeing 11x11 fools the mind. So, using 4 as a bases, 1+1=2 and 1+1=2, then multiply 2x2, and it makes 4."

"I think I understand," Lukas said. "Then you use that same principle for 2+2=4x4=16. So, using that: 3+3=6x6=36."

Ciel scratched his temple. "So, why is the question then written 11x11?" he asked.

"Because it is a mathematical teaser," Sebastian explained, as Renny went back to his seat. "It looks illogical and makes you believe it is unsolvable."

"It looks as such," Ciel said. "If it were merely 11x11, that would equal 44."

"Correct. However, the answer being merely just 4, it makes the mind think outside of the box, to say: How can I get 4 with just what I have? In fact, the equation itself makes irrelevant sense and has no true bases in mathematics. The teaser is just devised to think alternatively. And Master Renfrew apparently has this gift, in a matter of speaking."

Ciel folded his arms across his chest. "Indeed. Well, he did render you unconscious for a time making you relive your past. Anyone who can incapacitate you definitely has an advantage. I would imagine nothing less than from a Phantomhive."

"I...may be good in math, cousin Ciel, but...I am not a good linguist like you or cousin Lukas. I can't speak German or French. Way back when, there was no need. English was and is my foremost language."

"Then this is where you must concentrate your studies," Sebastian said. "And I will help. However, as for rest of your studies, you are very well versed in chemistry, geography, history, and other important areas. Some of which even Master Ciel and Master Lukas lack in."

Ciel scowled. "Well, he is quite older than either of us. In fact, much older than even my and Lukas's ages added together."

"True. Notwithstanding, he is working as a collective mind with young Johnny Lazarus now, and we have no way of knowing what his intelligence was. He too could have been quite intelligent in these subjects as well."

"Does this make me a genius?"

Sebastian smiled crookedly. "Not quite, Master Renfrew. But you do have a gift."

Suddenly, a low muffled rumbling reverberated through the leather of the couch.

"Oh, Renny! Not in the here too?" Ciel chided.

Lukas waved a hand over his face. "He certainly does have a gift. One I hope to never master."

"Sorry, cousin Ciel, cousin Lukas. It must be all the excitement."

And Renny smiled.