Science and engineering research labs are broadly divided into two types.

One is the theory lab.

The other is the experimental lab.

In theory labs, they research theories. It doesn't matter whether you work out equations by hand or run computer simulations.

On the other hand, experimental labs focus primarily on experiments, as the name suggests. They create things, mix substances, and analyze materials.

"As you know, Eidel, our lab is a theory lab."

"Does that mean financial support will be difficult?"

"Oh my."

Professor Feynman rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Black Spheres are being discovered one by one these days. I hear they've found roughly twenty so far."

"That's welcome news."

"Indeed. Anyway, analyzing the physical properties of those Black Spheres isn't our lab's job."

The theoretical scientist's role is to identify data that can't be explained by existing theories and then build theories that encompass it.

"Is there nothing else to do until then?"

"Haha, student. The analysis is already complete."

Professor Feynman handed me a bundle of printed papers.

"Read this."

It was a report summarizing the Aether Belt and Black Spheres.

The document was 60 pages long. I read it all instantly using thought acceleration.

"Have you finished reading?"

"Yes."

The professor smiled contentedly and asked:

"What did you find most noteworthy?"

I quickly calculated. Among the theories that I wished I'd known earlier during the final stages of "External God's Murder," one clue was in this report.

"...The radiation phenomenon."

I said.

"When Aether was fed into the Black Sphere, it absorbed everything and then re-emitted it. But looking at the emission capacity, it's not in electromagnetic wave form. Something else is being radiated."

"My goodness. You can see that?"

"Yes."

I nodded.

"Looking at the pattern, they're gravitational waves."

"You know that much?"

"I've been interested in the subject."

Enough to have earned a doctorate in it.

"These aren't ordinary gravitational waves. There's noise mixed in."

"And we need to explain that noise."

Feynman nodded at my words.

What needed to be done was now clear.

***

The four fundamental interactions in the universe.

Gravity, electromagnetic force, weak force, and strong force.

Among these, the electromagnetic and weak forces have been proven to be unified as the 'electroweak force.'

In other words, contrary to popular belief, there are strictly speaking only 'three' fundamental forces in nature.

Subsequently, the strong force and electroweak force were unified. Now the forces existing in nature could be classified into two types.

What remained was gravity.

This one stubbornly refused to mix with the other three forces. In short, it couldn't be unified.

Gravity: Um, excuse me... I think the unified field theory is wrong.

Gravity, what are you saying?

Despite the invention of various theories like string theory, experimental evidence still couldn't be found.

Why?

The reason is obvious.

To verify a grand unified theory including gravity would require a particle accelerator at least the size of the solar system.

In other words, they couldn't conduct experiments due to lack of funding.

All humanity here could do was collect the scraps falling from the External Gods.

The Black Sphere, a miniature version of a black hole, exhibited radiation similar to yet completely different from Hawking radiation.

If we could figure out why this radiation occurs, it would be a breakthrough in developing graviton bombs.

This had to be shared with the world.

With that mindset, I skipped school for a week and commuted to the lab instead. (Of course, I sent survival reports to Seti and Rustila via DM.)

I clearly remember waking up in the morning, but after working intensely, it was suddenly evening.

"How does it look when plotted on the computer?"

Lab meeting without even eating.

I sipped my coffee and answered the question.

"The radiation pressure drops dramatically after a certain point. It's completely different from our predictions."

"What's the pattern?"

"It decreases inversely proportional to the sixth power of distance."

"Do you know what that means?"

"It suggests the External Gods live in the seventh dimension."

"Oh!"

Professor Feynman exclaimed in admiration.

"Your intuition is remarkable. You become more fascinating the more I observe you."

"You think so?"

"Yes. Even for Stellarium, I've never seen an Academia student this brilliant."

Despite his words, the professor didn't seem overly surprised.

That's natural.

Because he's a genius.

Only a genius would conceive of using a high school student as a lab intern(?). Or rather, only a genius could.

Thanks to him, I was doing research during Academia that should have been done in college.

A high school student as first author on an SCI paper?

At this rate, I might earn a doctoral degree by the time others graduate from college.

The results came soon enough.

"Eidel... I think this is correct."

After a month of not attending school, the professor and I worked until our underwear rotted and completed a Hamiltonian describing the gravity-Aether entanglement of the Black Sphere.

A theoretical model that would become the signal flare for future graviton bomb development.

The birth of the 'Feynman-Rheinland Model (FR Model).'

***

"He's not coming to school?"

Zernya gritted her teeth.

Seti shrugged her shoulders, while Rustila just sighed.

"Why? Missing my brother?"

"Miss him? As if."

"Then why are you looking for him?"

"That's..."

She was at a loss for words.

Yeah. Why am I looking for him anyway?

"You didn't come to school the week after midterms either. Probably for similar reasons."

Zernya glared at Seti's blunt remark.

After midterms, Zernya had skipped the following week of classes out of embarrassment. In truth, since there wasn't much to learn in school classes, missing them wasn't a big deal.

But that didn't mean she was just goofing off.

She locked herself in her room and devised plans to defeat Eidel. She reviewed her study methods. She examined how to allocate her time.

The score difference wasn't that big anyway. With proper effort, she could completely overturn the results in the final exams.

After fully recharging her self-esteem, she returned only to find him gone?

Why?

He was definitely avoiding her.

"..."

Zernya shot a sharp glance at Rustila.

If it weren't for that girl, she might have ranked first. The points lost at the end were too significant.

"Sigh."

What's the point of being angry at someone who wasn't even first? Zernya dismissed her intention to pick a fight with Rustila.

More importantly, she was curious about Eidel's whereabouts.

Why on earth wasn't he coming to school?

Even if she wanted to find out, she could only ask Seti or Rustila. The homeroom teacher only said he was on sick leave, not where he had gone.

However, her meager pride wouldn't allow her to ask them.

And fortunately, she didn't have to.

"Everyone, Eidel will be returning to school today."

At homeroom teacher Kendra's announcement, Zernya jumped up from her chair.

"Adelbein, why did you stand up?"

Oh, damn it.

"...Bathroom."

"O-okay. Go ahead."

She heard Seti and a few others snickering. Zernya fled the classroom.

"Annoying, annoying, annoying..."

She clenched her teeth. Somehow, nothing had gone right since meeting him.

Finishing the first semester in second place would be a major humiliation.

She could still get into medical school, but that was it.

All the top students go to medical school anyway. Eidel would surely enter pre-med too, and she'd have to face him there as well.

"Hmm, hmm."

It might not be so bad.

Having someone who could keep up, even slightly, might help improve her drive for achievement rather than dominating alone.

She realized having a competitor was enjoyable.

But.

She should always be the one at the top.

There was no need to be discouraged by losing once or twice. She just needed to reclaim her position.

As she was pacing the hallway, thinking of Eidel's face...

"What are you doing?"

Black bob cut. Yellow eyes. Tall for his age.

Eidel himself appeared.

Momentarily flustered, Zernya coolly retorted:

"What are YOU doing here?"

"Going to school."

"I can't believe this. It's homeroom time right now. You're late."

"Class hasn't started yet, right?"

"So?"

"Then I'm not late."

Zernya's mouth fell open. Who was this irresponsible person?

He wasn't even wearing the school uniform. Just a dress shirt and slacks. A simple sweatshirt that didn't give off delinquent vibes, but the important thing was that his attire was different. It was attention-grabbing enough.

"Let's go in, student."

"No way..."

Carrying only a lightweight laptop, Eidel boldly opened the back door. After giving a slight bow to the dumbfounded classmates and homeroom teacher, he sat down next to Seti.

"I'm sorry I couldn't attend school. Teacher."

"No, that's not... Are you feeling better?"

"Yes. I've recovered."

Others might not notice, but Kendra, who liked to fuss over students, could tell. Eidel's eyes didn't look good. There were faint shadows under his eyes.

He hadn't fully recovered yet.

As soon as homeroom ended, Kendra came to Eidel's desk and asked:

"Eidel. If you're tired, wouldn't it be better to go home and rest today?"

"I'm fine."

"Really? You don't look well."

Eidel smiled wryly while typing on his laptop. A decadent smile.

"I'll probably need to take sick leave again in the second semester. Since there are required class hours, I need to attend school to graduate properly."

"Even so..."

Only then did Zernya begin to notice.

Eidel's voice was quieter than usual.

Even after Kendra left, Eidel continued working on something while looking at his laptop screen.

Pretending to get water, Zernya secretly followed behind Eidel.

[Stellarium Academia Homepage]

[Graduation - Early Graduation]

Wait a minute.

What on earth is he looking at...?