"So, what I told you back then came true, didn't it?"
A familiar voice reached his ears. He froze for a moment and looked over. It was Professor Faltings.
"Professor!"
Shinichi Mochizuki quickly stood up and bowed to the old man.
No matter what, he had always maintained respect for Professor Faltings.
Whether because of his respect for teachers or the help Faltings had provided during his student years.
His most important achievement, the Mochizuki Theorem, had also been developed using the p-adic Hodge theory advanced by Faltings.
"Let's talk over there."
Faltings pointed toward a corner nearby.
"Yes!" Shinichi Mochizuki nodded.
What Professor Faltings and Shinichi Mochizuki discussed was probably known to no one.
However, when Shinichi Mochizuki returned to the crowd, he had regained his spirits. He seemed like the young man he had once been, unchanged in the slightest, with complete confidence in his mathematics.
He walked to the front and solemnly bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
"Hontou ni sumimasen."
"The past eight years have caused the mathematical community far too much trouble. Though it was due to my personality, I would now like to offer my apologies to all my friends."
"From now on, I will seriously reflect on this and do my best to bring more useful theories and knowledge to mathematics throughout the second half of my life."
"My teacher, Professor Faltings, will supervise me."
Beside him, Professor Faltings nodded with satisfaction.
The applause that had already died down in the conference hall began again.
This time, the applause was finally for the former master of Far Abelian Geometry.
At the main table, the Belgian mathematician Bart Brunn stepped forward and said to Shinichi Mochizuki, "I forgive the way you treated me before. But I also hope you will live up to your