Ch.16Written Exam (1)

[— I’m investing additional stats in ‘Thought Acceleration’.]

[— Congratulations! You have reached ‘Thought Acceleration (+1000%)’!]

[— Acquired derivative skill ‘Parallel Thinking’!]

I hit exactly 10,000 fron. Now it looks much better.

Today is the long-awaited Stellarium written exam. I chewed on the calming pill (or something similar) that Sonia gave me to soothe my nerves.

“Little sister, if you don’t come out soon, I’m leaving without you.”

I flung open Seti’s door. Busy packing her things, Seti scrunched up her face when she saw me and threw a pillow.

“Get out of my room.”

“Little sister.”

“Just go away already!”

Hmm.

It didn’t seem like she was angry simply because she disliked me.

Well, everyone gets sensitive on exam day.

“Even so, little sister. Besides the service androids, we’re the only Rheinlands here. We should be supporting each other, not fighting. How sad would our parents be if they saw us like this?”

“Probably not as sad as when they lost 2 trillion credits.”

“Ouch, that cuts deep.”

Seti stuffed her error notebook into her bag, pressing it down firmly. Dark circles hung under her eyes. She must be quite exhausted.

She grumbled, “I couldn’t sleep at all because of you.”

“Why?”

“Don’t try to find out.”

“Actually, I don’t really want to know.”

And so, we boarded the spaceship, bickering with each other.

Even when fighting and squabbling, siblings remain siblings. Faced with the enormous hurdle of entrance exams, we end up clinging to each other.

Especially siblings with parents who not only don’t show up on such important days but don’t even send a single encouraging message—we ought to rely on each other.

“Do Mom and Dad even know we have our written exam today?”

I didn’t answer.

From the moment we boarded the spaceship, Seti remained motionless. She carelessly fastened her seatbelt and hugged her legs.

Her face was full of worry and anxiety.

This won’t do.

“You know, I’m looking at the Black Blossom art section again, and it’s difficult.”

“……”

“How do you understand all this?”

As I spoke, I rolled my eyes slightly. Seti, who had been sitting still like a statue with her head buried, looked up and responded.

“…Idiot. You just need to memorize everything.”

As expected, she reacted to talk about the entrance exam.

Seizing the opportunity, I continued, “That’s the hard part, memorizing.”

“The academy teaches memorization rules. Oh, but you wouldn’t know, would you?”

“I’m not good at memorizing. Look.”

I showed her my art history workbook that I’d gone through ten times.

It was tattered. There were tears scattered throughout. It had only been three months since I bought it, but the book was already in this state.

“You really treat books terribly.”

“It means I’ve studied hard.”

“You can’t memorize those few simple things?”

Seti chuckled, unbuckled her seatbelt, and stood up. She flipped through my book randomly, then found a section with particularly heavy underlining and began to read.

“As stellar cluster manipulation technology developed, some upper classes began creating pictures with constellations. This is called ‘Star Art,’ and representative artists include…”

She then taught me the artists I needed to memorize in a rhythmic pattern. True to its creation by a top instructor from a major academy, it stuck in my head perfectly.

“Thanks. This is really easy to memorize.”

“Since I helped you with one, you help me with one.”

Seti frowned and handed me a physics workbook. Her hands trembled as if she had palsy. She seemed quite embarrassed to be learning something from the delinquent Eidel.

“…T-this one. Number 157.”

“Is it difficult?”

“I tried everything looking at the answer key. Still couldn’t figure it out.”

“Ro pi squared divided by epsilon…”

“Hey, you bastard-! Don’t tell me the answer first!!”

***

After a long journey, we arrived at our destination.

“Wow.”

Seti and I exclaimed in admiration at the sight of Stellarium.

It’s round.

Tall and large.

The surface gleams.

The true identity of the Stellarium Academia campus was an artificial celestial body floating in the middle of space.

And three rocky planets surrounding it.

“Those must be the colleges.”

While Academia is where high school students study, the colleges are spaces for university students.

But the size of these university campuses is equivalent to three Earths.

After gazing at the colleges for a while, I shifted my gaze back to the Academia campus.

In the novel, all kinds of descriptions and settings were used to express it. Something about titanium refined with Aether. Something about being 1/3 the radius of the moon. Something about rotation and revolution speeds. It took up three pages with such setting details.

Well, forget all that setting play.

Visually, it’s just the Death Star.

“Freaking awesome.”

It was such an eye-feast that I felt grateful for being possessed for the first time.

[We are entering Stellarium orbit. Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts.]

As we were drawn in by the gravity of the artificial planet, many thoughts crossed my mind.

The reason Seti wants to enter Stellarium is to solidify her position in the family. To put it more simply, she wants to receive love from her father and mother.

Only then can her situation as a child born from a political marriage improve. She’s more than just a connection between two families; she can exercise influence as a member of the Rheinland family.

Compared to Seti’s grand dream, mine is nothing special.

Fuck, I just don’t want to get pregnant.

At last, the arduous landing process ended. I pressed down on my trembling eyelids, dizzy, and stepped out.

“Hey, you forgot your bag.”

“Ah. Thanks.”

We double-checked our exam tickets and other items before moving on. Seti took the lead, and I followed behind. We walked about 50cm apart. However, since androids filled the space between us, it didn’t look particularly awkward.

“L-look, it’s the Rheinlands.”

I could see people whispering when they saw our eye color.

A familiar gaze by now.

I ignore it and move on.

Since everyone takes the written test together, seats are assigned according to exam numbers. Seti and I registered almost simultaneously, so our exam numbers differed by exactly 2.

That difference was quite significant.

“Different row.”

Seti sat in the second-to-last seat in the third row, and I was in the front seat of the fourth row. When I turned around, Seti shrugged and blinked.

And an unexpected person ended up sitting between us.

“Oh, big sister?”

Seti exclaimed in surprise and hugged the person who was about to sit behind her. Even without turning around, I could tell who it was from the joy in her voice.

“Rustila is sitting right behind me? Oh my god, this is amazing. Today’s my lucky day.”

“Hello, Seti. Have you been well?”

“I’ve been well… No, it’s been hard without you, big sister.”

Seti buried her head in Rustila’s chest. Perhaps because of this, they immediately drew the attention of the examinees. At the same time, I finally understood what literature teaches about the visualization of touch.

Rustila looked even more tired than Seti. Her face was milk-white, and her eyes were murky like an unfinished latte.

I’m sure she was held captive by her parents.

It seems they heard about my threats to the Kersil family’s androids. I had only helped Rustila breathe a little, but it had backfired in some ways.

Of course, I had anticipated this when I tried. Rustila’s face back then looked like she was about to go insane. If I could have seen her sanity level, it would have been about 1 out of 100.

This is exactly why I need to pass Stellarium.

[— Reward: SAN Parameter Unlocked]

When I pass Stellarium, I’ll receive a new parameter as a reward from the outer god.

Once this SAN parameter is unlocked, I’ll be able to see others’ mental health in real-time. Then I can determine who has been visited by an outer god and who needs mental care first.

I can’t make a gravitational bomb alone. I need help from future companions. Mental care for them is something only I can do, unaffected by PN values.

Anyway.

“Big sister, no. Rustila. Let’s both pass.”

“Yes…”

To help these two worn-out girls, I first need to save myself. As I keep reminding myself, failing here means I’m neither fish nor fowl.

While I was gathering my thoughts, it happened.

“My, fancy seeing you here.”

An unfamiliar yet somewhat recognizable voice pierced my ears.

I turned my head.

Silver hair contrasting with Rustila’s blonde. Amethyst-like purple eyes. The girl approached me in a strange trajectory. The intimidating atmosphere unique to prestigious families felt menacing.

“It’s been what, a week? What a coincidence.”

Yes, what a coincidence.

“You know my name, right?”

“Zernya.”

“I’m somewhat honored you remember.”

The girl settled her things at the seat right next to mine, row 3, column 1, and plopped down. Despite the moderately warm indoor air, she didn’t completely unwrap the scarf she was wearing.

Zernya placed only her writing utensils on the desk and crossed her arms. Then she slightly turned her head to look at me.

“About bullying Seti… well, that’s enough now. It’s not like I had any real ill feelings.”

“……”

“Instead, I’ve become interested in you.”

She finished with a spine-chilling smile.

“This time, I’ll crush you properly.”

Oh.

I’m really looking forward to it.