Ch.112Your Student Was Awesome (4)

The final exams were over.

“This is ridiculous. Why is my answer wrong?”

The Creative Engineering Building, one of Stellarium’s landmarks, was bustling with students filing grade complaints. The first victims of these protests were none other than the graduate students.

“If you look at the answer key, you’ll see it’s completely different from what you wrote. So when grading…”

“That’s exactly my point—why is only that considered the correct answer? Couldn’t what I wrote also be correct?”

The teaching assistant scratched his head awkwardly. I pulled away Zernya, who was throwing a tantrum in real-time.

“Either regrade it or call the professor… mmph! Mmph!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

I had to cover her mouth to stop her nonsense.

“Ugh, ow!”

She bit my hand. This is driving me crazy!

“Are you a child? What’s wrong with you?”

“That problem—I definitely got it right. The TA doesn’t know anything and graded it terribly!”

I pressed my forehead, feeling dizzy.

She feels like a headstrong tomboy who’s still wet behind the ears. Where did the charismatic Zernya from the novel go?

“If I just got that one right, my math score would be the same as yours. It was such a small difference. But that TA ruined it.”

“Whether you get everything right or miss one, it’s still an A+ either way.”

“But the ranking is different, the ranking!”

“We’re in different departments.”

“…? Oh.”

Ugh, this idiot. I told her not to get so obsessed with grades.

“But there are still subject-specific results. It was my chance to prove I could beat you in calculus, and now I’m upset. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Sigh.”

It was frustrating, but I had nothing to say. Second place can’t receive sincere consolation from first place. Once you’re branded as second, the filter of inferiority comes as a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

“Give it up. The professor rarely changes grades for things like this.”

“Wait. If I use the power of the Adelbein family, surely…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I flicked Zernya’s forehead. She let out a cute “Ouch!” before belatedly displaying a question mark above her head. I guess she didn’t expect to get hit on the forehead so suddenly.

“Let’s just enjoy the break. We get three months off, right?”

“Medical students only get two weeks.”

“…Hmm.”

“Be honest. You’re saying this to mess with me, right? Come on, it’s on purpose. Answer me.”

“No, I really didn’t know…”

“Do you want to die?”

Zernya kicked my shin with all her might.

“Ow, my shin!”

“Yes, it’s the end of the semester. Let’s celebrate with a little pain. How dare you flick the future head of the Adelbein family? You’ve really messed with the wrong person today.”

Now I had no good options left.

“Where are you going? Get back here!”

I ran away with all my might.

This is truly pitiful. As if getting beaten by Sonia wasn’t enough, now I’ve been reduced to Zernya’s punching bag.

Looking back, I was being chased at a terrifying speed. Zernya’s face was bright red. She must be really upset about having lower grades than me.

To survive, I darted into a crowded area.

“How cowardly, running into a café.”

Zernya followed me in.

After finding seats, we entered a temporary ceasefire. A chilly atmosphere lingered between us. So I quickly ordered some tarts.

Plus a sweet latte. This is the combination that the Zernya in the novel goes crazy for. It should reduce her anger gauge by about 30 points.

[Seti: Are you insane]

[How many coffees are you drinking in one day]

[Over your limit you jerk]

[You bastard]

…I should buy something for Seti when I have time.

“Eat, Zernya.”

“Why should I?”

“Because the semester’s over. Party time.”

“Hmm.”

As Seti’s anger energy increased, Zernya’s expression softened. This is what we call the law of conservation of energy.

She devoured egg tarts, cheese tarts, and carrot tarts. And then enjoyed a sweet coffee. Zernya smiled with satisfaction.

“Sugar really is the best when you’re tired. Not good for health, but…”

Thud.

The medical student collapsed.

***

After being examined by my father, who works as both a university professor and a hospital specialist, we learned about Zernya’s condition.

“Overwork.”

That’s what he said.

For reference, the medical fee was 0 credits. That’s what you call the dad advantage.

“Let her rest for a few days. Don’t make her do anything strenuous. Make sure she sleeps and wakes up at regular times.”

“Father, do medical students go through this every semester?”

“The physically weak ones do. Building stamina is the only way to endure it.”

My father declared that Zernya should not drink sweet coffee or touch bread at all.

Her expression immediately crumbled at that. It was somewhat surprising to see such a childlike reaction.

The next day, Zernya came looking for me with her worn-out body.

“What are you doing during the break?”

“Having fun.”

“Then I’ll have fun too.”

“Go ahead.”

Just then, I had messages from two professors at the same time.

Professor Feynman requested a meeting, which I declined again, while I sent an OK to Professor Stranov’s DM.

So I was about to take the shuttle to Iryuel Academy.

“Why are you following me?”

“Our paths just happened to cross.”

I looked at Zernya. Zernya looked at me.

“I’m about to take the shuttle now.”

“What a coincidence. Me too.”

“Which shuttle are you taking?”

“Why should I tell you that?”

I started walking again. Coincidentally, Zernya came in the same direction.

Coincidentally, we took the same shuttle, coincidentally got off at the same stop, and coincidentally walked up to Iryuel Academy together.

What an amazing coincidence that our destinations matched.

“Hey, I thought you said you were going out to have fun?”

“This is my vacation spot.”

“It’s a college!”

“It’s a college, but I’m still going to have fun here.”

Zernya’s expression buffered.

“I-I see. The night view is pretty nice. The old-style architecture has a good atmosphere too. Perfect for walking around together to soothe the mind and body.”

“What are you talking about? I’m going inside the building.”

“What?”

“There’s a nightclub inside.”

Buffering ON, round 2.

“Are you mentally ill? Or did you fall down some stairs? A nightclub in a college? You need to start making sense…”

Seeing is believing. I shrugged my shoulders instead of answering.

I walked toward the science building where lights were coming on. Zernya hesitated but followed me.

“It’s cleaner inside than I expected.”

“Of course. It’s a club.”

[Quantum Gravity Resonator Development Laboratory]

“So this is what you call a nightclub…?”

“Night, meaning evening. Club, a place where people with specific purposes meet. Together, nightclub.”

“It’s just a research lab!”

Zernya started backstepping. But it was already too late.

“Damn it, why won’t this open!”

The last door we came through had a fingerprint lock, so no one except club members could leave freely.

“Why is the door lock installed on the inside?!”

“That’s how graduate school is.”

“What does that have to do with graduate school?!”

Click, click!

After frantically pulling at the door handle, Zernya soon became exhausted.

“It’s no use. It won’t open.”

She realized she couldn’t leave on her own no matter how much she struggled. I never thought I’d witness “learned helplessness” from psychology in real-time.

Anyway, it was a satisfying result. I may have lost yesterday afternoon, but I won tonight.

“Oh my. Is that Rheinland?”

Professor Stranov emerged from the lab and greeted us with a bright expression.

I took out well-organized papers from the bag I had brought.

A total of 300 pages. It was the result of my research on how to arrange the “Virgo” crystals from the Southern Processing Plant for optimal efficiency.

“You already finished all this while preparing for your final exams?”

“Once I got into it, it was so interesting that I caught fire.”

Thank you, Cartesia. I’m always indebted to you.

[— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity shrugs.]

“Rheinland always exceeds my expectations. Like how you stole my dissertation topic at first… Of course, I’m joking. No need to look so serious.”

“…Please review it and let me know if there’s anything strange or insufficient. I’ll help with your research throughout the summer break.”

“My, that was almost cool just now.”

Professor, you really do joke well. The person you’re interested in is elsewhere, isn’t it?

So, let me tell you.

From now on, I’ll be Cupid for the two of you.

***

Zernya was currently witnessing a very strange scene.

“Now, please state your name and student ID for the camera.”

“Eidel von Rheinland, Stellarium College, class of ’24. I’m interning at Professor Stranov’s lab at Iryuel College.”

“How long have you been interning?”

“Umm, four months.”

“That seems like enough time to understand the lab atmosphere. How do you like our lab? Is it fun?”

“It’s fun. However, I think I need to do more research before I can be certain.”

“Great. Now let’s make a gravity resonator with Rheinland. Come on, take off your clothes.”

“Yes, Professor…”

What kind of vlog is this?

Her mind was going blank.

What was even more absurd was that she was in charge of one of the auxiliary cameras. Zernya felt strange as she directly filmed Eidel’s undressing (of his coat).

“Clean room uniform change complete.”

“Good. Let’s go inside.”

She swallowed the nauseating feeling. Despite being exhausted from overwork, she couldn’t run away now that she’d come this far.

Eidel von Rheinland.

The only rival she acknowledged.

How could she not be curious about what kind of external activities such a rival was involved in?

“What did you make that’s causing all this fuss?”

Zernya, now wearing a hastily donned clean room suit, also entered the research area.