Lab Tour (1)
The chilly autumn wind of October cut through the air. One week before midterms, I graduated from Academia and transferred into the preparatory college course. It had only been eight months since I’d enrolled.
“Hey! Hey!”
I was just about to step onto the orbital elevator, diploma in hand, when someone called out to me. It was Zernya.
“Are you insane?” she shouted, planting one foot on the ascending platform. “Who graduates without even taking midterms? You’re supposed to finish a full year!”
I scratched the back of my head. I knew it wasn’t normal to graduate from the high-school equivalent with a Cosmos degree. That was why I handed her the official document tucked behind my diploma. It stated, in dry bureaucratic language, that my exceptional research record had earned me special permission to advance immediately to upper-level schooling.
Zernya’s face hardened the moment she read it.
“Is this a joke?”
“It’s not.”
“This is completely unfair.”
“The professors helped a lot.”
“It’s corruption.”
“Are you Kristin now?”
I never expected the word “corruption” to come out of Zernya’s mouth.
“Your family definitely pulled strings. You think the Adelbeins can’t do that? Just wait.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get my diploma.”
And with that, Zernya vanished somewhere.
“Young master, it is time to depart,” Sonia said, hands clasped neatly in front of her as she looked up at me.
I followed her gaze toward the sky. A massive banner hung from the docking joint that connected the orbital elevator to the ascending ship.
We sincerely congratulate student Idel von Rheinland on his early graduation.
— Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Stellarium
What the hell is that?
“To receive such immense interest and affection from the professors… This Sonia is truly envious, young master.”
Sonia chuckled softly and gripped my shoulder.
“Shall we go?”
“Wait! Waaaait!”
Someone else came running.
“Idel!”
This time it was Rustila. In just a few strides she reached the edge of the ascending platform. Looking up at me, she cried out at the top of her lungs.
“Idel, I won’t forget what you said! I’m going to do what I want!”
She clenched her fist tight.
“Even if my parents oppose it, even if the Outer Deities interfere, even if that thieving cat Zernya throws a tantrum!”
“?”
Thieving cat all of a sudden?
“I will seize what I desire, no matter what—!!”
Rustila leapt onto the ascending platform. The distance between us vanished in an instant. She stepped right up, threw her arms around me, and whispered.
“……If you need me for your papers, call me anytime. You don’t even have to list me as a co-author. I’ll be happy just to appear in the acknowledgments. I’ll help you every single time.”
“Hold on.”
I was momentarily flustered. According to the bet we’d made on Alcatraz, she was only supposed to help me once more and then stop. But every time? She’d help every single time?
“Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”
“Yes.”
Rustila nodded and looked up at me. Her eyes were as vast as the sky and as deep as the ocean. They shimmered like gentle waves, as if waiting for an answer. I could only stand there, frozen like I’d been hit by petrification.
“…….”
No matter how dense I was, even I could recognize a green light when I saw one. I gently pried her off me and answered.
“How many publications would be good?”
“P-pu-publications… that’s……”
Rustila’s sky-blue eyes spun like spinning tops. Her cheeks flushed faintly, and her lips trembled as if an earthquake had struck them. Unable to speak, she answered with her fingers instead.
Ten.
“……About that many would be good.”
Was that straightforward or metaphorical? While I tried to calibrate my thoughts within that ambiguous boundary, I quickly concluded there was no need to rush. Either way, I’d still have to live diligently.
I patted her shoulder.
“I’ll be busy from now on, so we won’t be able to meet often.”
“That’s fine. Just call me and I’ll come running anytime.”
“Then contact me through Seti.”
“Y-yes!”
We smiled at each other. But there was something… slightly sinister about Rustila’s smile.
I won.
Rustila was certain of her victory. By securing this kind of connection, she could keep in touch with Idel while preventing other women from getting entangled with him. The one person she needed to watch most right now was Zernya von Adelbein. Sharing stew in the infirmary for an indirect kiss, purring like a cat in unconscious seduction—honestly, she really was a thieving cat.
Until now, Zernya had been a rival to surpass with the sword. From today onward, she would be a romantic rival. There was no need to lose composure. Rustila firmly believed she held the advantage.
“Big sis, did you give him a good send-off?”
“Of course.”
Rustila exchanged smiles with Seti.
“Big sis, I’ve thought of you like family since we were little. If things go well, we might actually become family. I’m so excited I can barely stand it.”
“……Still, we don’t know yet. We don’t know how our parents will negotiate it.”
The story of the political marriage. She had only told Seti who the other party was. For the first time in her life, Rustila genuinely hoped her parents’ interference would reach the Rheinland family properly.
But there was still a long way to go. Seti patted Rustila’s shoulder. Rustila let out a small laugh. How could siblings be so alike?
“By the way, your parents said that if they saw a grandchild, they’d consider letting you become a soldier… Why is that?”
“Because the family line must continue.”
“Is that really all?”
“……You already know. I’m an only child.”
Seti nodded.
“When do they want a grandchild by…?”
“Hmm. Before I turn twenty-five at the latest?”
Rustila was currently seventeen. That meant she had roughly eight years to get married and have a child. Normally, Rustila would have hated having her future planned out by her parents. But when it came to Idel, she found herself thinking it was fine. After all, he was her benefactor.
The person who had shown her that her dream of becoming a swordmaster wasn’t a futile hope. A grateful man. Rustila looked up at the sky. The orbital ship carrying Idel was leaving the Academia satellite. It would be goodbye for a while.
“Rustila von Kersil Rheinland. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t say that…!”
“Why not?”
“I-it’s embarrassing.”
Seti giggled. The two of them basked in the clear sky, lost in sentiment.
Ding!
At that moment, a new window appeared before Seti’s eyes.
Investment Result Arrived
📍 You have received the results of your 50,000 C investment in ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity.’
🎁 Would you like to claim it now?
A sly grin twisted her lips.
“In the end, the final victor is me.”
“What?”
“Just talking to myself.”
I unpacked my luggage and organized my new lodgings. Moving from broad daylight until nightfall had completely drained my stamina. Of course, Sonia had helped quite a bit.
“Young Master Idel, the family head has asked you to visit soon.”
“Tell him I’ll go when I have time.”
“Understood.”
There was a mountain of things to do. First, my thesis… but before that, I should check out the lab again. I sighed and opened my mail window.
Congratulations on your college admission, student Idel.
[Stellarium] Regarding the schedule before formal enrollment procedures.
Southern Galactic Sector National Research Institute Internship Offer.
Callisto Applied Particle Physics Colloquium Notice.
Stellarium Space Simulation Seminar Schedule.
Regarding Lab Assignment in the Physics Department at Iryuel Academy.
The subject lines varied, but the message was the same: Please join our lab. It was almost miraculous that professors were making such offers to a student. However, I couldn’t live up to everyone’s expectations. There was only one of me, and dozens—hundreds—of professors.
Besides.
[This is Professor Feynman.]
I already had someone. Let’s translate Professor Feynman’s email below.
Hello, student Idel. This is Professor Feynman.
= Look at me.
I sincerely congratulate you on your early graduation from Academia.
= So you’re a college student now?
I would also like to apologize that you have been placed in the college course rather than the graduate course you were hoping for.
= I tried my hardest to keep you in my lab.
The reason you could not enter the graduate course is, first, because the government did not permit it, and second, because the other professors wanted fair opportunities.
= But the others opposed it.
Student Idel is receiving tremendous expectations at Stellarium. However, the only person with a ‘personal connection’ to you is me. The other professors only encountered the papers we wrote without knowing anything about your background.
= The other professors lobbied hard to contact you.
They hope you will experience many fields and broaden your perspective.
= There are a lot of hyenas after you, so be careful, dear.
I will do my best to help you graduate from the college course as quickly as possible.
= I’ll keep working hard.
I look forward to seeing you healthy on campus.
= You’ll come to our lab, right?
Thank you.
= Thank you so much.
— Feynman
The appeal was almost on the level of Zhuge Liang’s memorial to the throne. I nearly shed a tear. Could there be a better advisor than Feynman? I didn’t know. Honestly, I didn’t even want to know. No matter what happened, I would become this man’s student.
I spent the rest of the day reading most of the emails and sending polite rejections. By the time I finished, the sun had already set.
“Young master, please go to bed for today,” Sonia said, fluffing the blankets and patting the bed.
“Just a moment. Let me finish this.”
Only a few were left.
[Professor Whose Paper Was Scooped by Student Idel 2]
“This person……”
It was an email from Professor Calis Stranoff of Iryuel Academy. If my memory served, she was the one who had been spectacularly rejected by Professor Feynman during her school days and subsequently gone dark. We had exchanged emails before, and dealing with her was no ordinary task.
“……”
It was far too late to reply. The content was roughly an invitation to visit her lab for observation. An observation, huh. Since I didn’t know my schedule yet, I decided to put off replying for now. More than anything, I was sleepy.
“Young master, come in.”
Sonia, now in her pajamas, patted the blanket again, urging me.
“There’s only one bed.”
“Correct.”
“So we have to sleep together tonight.”
“Think of it as a long body pillow and sleep comfortably.”
I closed my laptop and slid under the covers.
“A new day begins tomorrow.”
“Indeed.”
“This Sonia will follow the path you walk, young master, for as long as you wish.”
She smiled faintly and stroked my shoulder.
“……A fool who forgets even his own meals needs a domestically capable android like me. Do you understand?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Entering sleep mode.”
Sonia slowly closed her eyes.
“Sonia.”
“……What is it.”
“Can’t you take off that headband when you sleep?”
“I cannot.”
“Why the hell not.”
“It’s cute.”
“There’s no one watching right now.”
“There is, actually……”
Sonia trailed off and fell into complete sleep mode.
“Tsk, whatever.”
It was better to sleep comfortably tonight and continue thinking tomorrow. I closed my eyes as well.
And that night, I dreamed of being chased by tentacles.
“Why… why isn’t he replying……?”
Late at night. Professor Calis Stranoff was biting her nails while obsessively refreshing her inbox.
“It says he read it……”
Being read-and-ignored? By a professor?!
No. Maybe he was still thinking about it. He could be adjusting his schedule. Some professors disliked receiving emails in the early morning. Calis wasn’t one of them, but she decided to wait for the freshman who might not yet be used to academic life.
And so the sun rose.