Your Student is Awesome (1)
After midterms ended, Zernya and I compared answers. She spread out the general physics exam paper, lifted her head, puffed out her chest, and declared, "I won."
"Yeah." When I admitted it without protest, she tilted her head at an angle. Zernya soon puffed up and started grinning from ear to ear. She picked on me the entire time we ate lunch. "A physics major who can't do physics better than a student from another department"—that was the title I earned today.
Actually, it was fine. If Zernya was better at physics than me, she could just switch majors. She could do the graviton research in my place. When I voiced that opinion, her reply came back sharp.
"Get lost. Scram."
I swallowed my disappointment. Career paths weren't something I could dictate for her. After we finished eating, a long stretch of free time followed. Zernya left first, saying she had a pop quiz. With nothing else to do, I was reading a paper when a message arrived.
A sudden summons to the lab. That was usually the kind of thing professors with rotten personalities pulled. But I knew better. Professor Feynman was a wise and benevolent ruler. If he called me to the lab, it had to be good news. I replied that I understood and headed straight there.
"We received research funding!"
Just as expected, it was welcome news.
"It seems your reputation has reached the nation, Eidel. They've offered a full hundred million credits. Now you'll be able to conduct your research a little more comfortably. Thank you so much."
Professor Feynman took my hand and shook it. A bright smile bloomed across his face. I smiled along on the surface, but my thoughts were different. A hundred million? That kind of pocket change wouldn't cut it. What I was planning was the discovery of the graviton. I'd need at least several thousand fellow researchers. Just feeding them would probably eat through a hundred million. And experiments cost money too. A massive particle accelerator was required, and even running it once would melt the national treasury.
Professor Feynman wasn't unaware of this. Either he had something up his sleeve, or his insides were burning while he kept it to himself. I hoped it was the former, but the latter seemed far more likely.
"Junior, I believe in you."
After my meeting with the professor, the lab's resident workaholic seniors appeared and grabbed my hands.
"This research is going to be an enormous project. It might take years."
"We desperately need the help of a junior who has two first-author papers in The Universe!"
"Please let us graduate! Aaaagh."
The three seniors pleaded as if clinging to me. It gave me an oddly poignant feeling, like watching puppies about to be abandoned. I had no particular hobby of holding hands with other men, but I couldn't bring myself to push them away. I felt a sense of kinship.
"Understood. Let's make it work somehow."
"Waaaah!"
"Then you'll handle the co-work proposal, right, all three of you?"
"Huh?"
The graduate student trio blinked and asked back.
"Doing that together would be..."
"I'm an undergraduate."
The lab members' expressions collapsed one after another like dominoes. They all seemed to think I was the lab head, but that was never going to happen. You all get to do the grunt work. Besides, with this little funding, I couldn't join right away. To secure more research money, I would train and return. Professor, please don't look for me for a while. Well then, adios.
"Ah, is there a good training hall for inner energy cultivation?"
They found me right away.
***
By the time evening arrived, I reached Iryuel Academy. Just like last time, Professor Stranoff was waiting for me at the main gate.
"The weather's been quite fickle, hasn't it? Come inside."
She gently pushed me forward by the back. I examined her complexion with a flounder's eye. Her gaze was more radiant than usual, and a triumphant smile curved sharply at her lips. It looked like she had something prepared.
"If you have time, there's something I'd like to show you, Reinhardt. Would that be all right?"
When I nodded, the professor gestured. She led me to a secluded building. A basement painted white. It was dim, and the musty smell of asbestos lingered. The lights installed here and there flickered as if screaming.
"It's here."
When we reached a certain room, she turned around. With a click, the lights came on, revealing a massive spherical structure. Roughly fifty meters in diameter. It was clearly no ordinary apparatus.
"Professor, this is..."
"Let me introduce it. It's a gravitational resonator."
My jaw dropped.
"You already built this?"
"It's still a prototype. We've only completed the framework."
"Even so, it's incredible."
I had thought it would take at least this year to build. The speed was faster than expected. Watching the sphere sway back and forth like a pendulum according to the non-inertial guidance device made my heart pulse. Wow, this is seriously hot. So this is what love feels like.
"As soon as they heard my research topic, various corporations sent money. Don't be surprised. The total came to a whopping fifty trillion credits."
"F-fifty..."
The amount was on a completely different scale. It was overwhelming.
"If this research succeeds, the Maxwell and Descartes-type Outer Gods will all be finished. Even if we can't kill them, we can trap them so they can't harm us. Can you even begin to imagine the economic profits that would generate?"
"I can't even guess."
"That's why I've staked everything on this research."
This time, she was determined to prevent anyone else from scooping it. The radiance in Professor Stranoff's eyes meant exactly that.
"There are still many shortcomings. What material to use for the resonator mirrors, how to operate it, whether it's even safe. There's a mountain of things to test."
She looked at me and said,
"I need one excellent theoretical physicist."
"......"
"If the project goes well, I think we could secure hundreds of trillions more in credits."
"......"
"Then we might be able to buy even more experimental equipment."
"......"
"What do you think, Reinhardt?"
My thoughts were wiped clean. When faced with such a large and beautiful piece of experimental equipment, a theoretical physicist would—
"Reinhardt."
"Y-yes, Professor."
"Do you have a lot of free time during summer break?"
"O-of course, Professor."
"Then how about we sit down and talk slowly again then?"
She whispered into my ear. It was a proposal as sweet as honey and as melting as cotton candy. I was about to nod under some unknown force, but I barely managed to hold onto my senses and answered.
"......I think I need to check my schedule first."
"Is that so......"
For a brief moment, Professor Stranoff looked disappointed. She soon regained her usual expression and said,
"Would you like to have dinner before you go?"
***
"That was almost a disaster."
Only after returning to Stellarium past midnight did I let out a sigh of relief. Fifty trillion. Just hearing the number made my heart race. With that kind of funding, I could probably carry out most experimental research. I had originally planned to collaborate with Professor Stranoff, but I hadn't realized she was this formidable. I nearly became a master's student in that lab. But my heart still belonged to Professor Feynman. Discovering the clue to developing the Graviton Bomb was ultimately his achievement. I couldn't choose a lab just because of research funding. Absolutely not.
For once, Cartesia was looking after me. Since it wasn't wrong, I walked slowly along the campus park. Then I ran into someone.
"Eidel, what are you doing here?"
It was my father. Why are you here?
"Father, what are you doing in such a secluded place?"
"I was on my way back after lectures. If you have nothing else to do, follow me."
So I walked after my father. Father-son conversations weren't particularly special. What did you do today, how's your studying going lately, are you doing well at school? Only the usual questions came back. Even those got single-word answers like "Yes, yes," and the conversation died. Only footsteps and the sound of crickets lingered for a while.
Along the way, we found an unmanned café and stopped in. I inserted my card and got two iced coffees.
"Is that your card?"
"It's Seti's."
"You still haven't come to your senses. No matter how much family you are, there are lines that must be respected. If you keep using your younger sibling's money..."
"She gave it to me to use, though?"
"Pfft!"
Father spat out his coffee. He seemed to have choked, so I patted his back.
"Your sister gave it to you?"
"Seti earns money. It's for tax deductions."
It was my sister's struggle to avoid all sorts of ridiculous taxes like monthly pension and health insurance premiums, and the rich-only tax. Father muttered,
"Your sister really does have a businessman's instinct. I never taught her, yet she already knows all that."
"Wouldn't she manage assets really well if she became the family head?"
I probed my father subtly. As expected, he showed signs of discomfort.
"If she brought home a skilled doctor husband, that might be another story."
"That's a difficult problem."
"It's not just about money."
My father and I moved to an outdoor table. In the tranquil campus atmosphere, bridges spanned an artificial stream. Admiring the scenery, I could hear nature's harmony. I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the frogs' prelude. Being like this helped me regain some calm.
"Eidel."
"Yes, Father."
"How are things going with the Adelbein family girl?"
"You mean Zernya? What about her?"
"Marriage preparations."
"Ugh, ack, keck, cough...!"
Coffee went up my nose.
"Since we're on the topic of the family head, let me be clear. If you don't marry that girl, this father has no intention of passing on the family head position. Know that much for certain."
"Y-yes. Understood......"
Marry Zernya? This was the first time I'd heard such words from Father's mouth. Why had the conversation gone in that direction? "Let's talk about that next time." I deployed an evasion maneuver for now. Marrying the College Chapter boss? No need to ruin both families at once. Rehabilitation came first. If I couldn't change her personality this year, I'd have to stop Zernya from running for student council president next year at the latest. It was truly an endless series of tasks. Yeah. An endless series of tasks.
"Wait, I got a DM."
After asking Father's permission, I checked my phone and saw messages had arrived from two different people at the same time.
This is driving me insane, seriously.