Caltech.
A woman with short curly blue hair, with a streak of red running through the hair at her forehead, finished her classes for the day and returned to her personal laboratory.
The moment she arrived at the laboratory, a female assistant walked over with a troubled expression and handed her a report.
"Professor, the experimental data from this session differs quite a bit from what we expected. We may need to revise our detection plan for the Sea of Quanta."
Hearing this, the blue bird's-nest-haired woman—or rather, the great scientist named Einstein—remained composed.
"That's alright. I'll draft a new plan shortly. For now, just file the experimental results."
"Every piece of experimental data has meaning. Even if it's wrong, it helps us rule out one wrong path."
"Understood!"
The assistant's face showed admiration.
This round of experiments had required considerable investment and had taken a long time.
But the professor always seemed to have everything under control, never once seen to be swayed by emotion—except for...
"Oh, Professor, there's also one more matter."
"What is it?" Einstein looked at her gently.
"The school's board of directors has assigned you a student. They'd like you to serve as her advisor."
"That's not too much trouble." Einstein's expression remained gentle. "Have her come check in over the next few days."
The school had provided her with quite a few conveniences lately. This was simply returning a favor to the school.
Hearing Einstein's reply, the assistant quietly breathed a sigh of relief, then handed her another document.
"Professor, these are the requirements put forward by the board. Please have a look."
Einstein took it, but after scanning it for a moment, fell silent.
Then her expression began to contort, and the streak of red in her hair at the top of her head actually stood straight up.
"The board, I @#¥!!!"
"You want me, in three months, to have a university dropout pass a doctoral dissertation in interstellar navigation dynamics?"
"Do you people even listen to the nonsense that comes out of your own mouths?!!"
Watching Professor Einstein suddenly fly into a rage, the assistant clutched her documents and shrank to one side, trembling.
Only after Einstein had thoroughly sent her regards to every relative of the school board did the assistant raise her hand like a timid student and say weakly:
"But Professor, the board people said the big patron making this request wants to donate a research building to you..."
Einstein's regards to the school board came to an abrupt halt. The streak of red hair that had been standing upright suddenly drooped down limply.
The contortion on her face vanished, once again returning to that gentle expression. She nodded and said:
"This is indeed quite a challenging task, but you know me—I like solving difficult problems."
The assistant had long since grown accustomed to Einstein's personality and no longer found it strange. Seeing her agree, she quickly said:
"Professor, that patron has already arrived at the school. He'd like to have a word with you."
...
When Einstein finally met the so-called patron, she found he was vastly different from what she had imagined.
She had originally thought the person coming might be a mature, middle-aged or elderly individual. She hadn't expected them to be far too young.
But looking at the white streak running through the black hair at the front of their head, and comparing it with the red streak in her own hair, she felt a sense of having found common ground.
The ones who had come were none other than Lucius and Shigure Kira.
Since they had introduced themselves immediately upon meeting, both parties skipped the formal introductions.
Einstein looked at Shigure Kira sitting beside Lucius, who was glancing curiously around the laboratory, and asked:
"Mr. Lucius, is this the student I'll be taking on?"
"No. She's just a test subject."
Hearing this, before Einstein could say anything, Shigure Kira flared up first.
"Hold on! Why am I a test subject?"
In response, Lucius looked at her and asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Without having been a test subject, how can you properly portray a test subject?"
"I..."
Shigure Kira was just about to refute his twisted logic, when she saw Lucius's lips move. She read the lip movement and understood its meaning.
What Lucius had mouthed were the two words "Eden."
And so, Shigure Kira wilted like a frost-bitten cucumber.
After sending Shigure Kira off to tour the campus, Lucius handed Himeko's personal information to Einstein.
"Professor Einstein, this is the student you'll actually be taking on."
Einstein took the file and flipped through it page by page, then furrowed her brow.
"Forgive my frankness, Mr. Lucius."
"Unless Miss Himeko has considerable natural talent in interstellar navigation dynamics, completing the coursework in under half a year will be extremely difficult."
Extremely difficult was an understatement. If any other doctoral supervisor had heard Lucius's requirements, they would likely have declared it outright impossible.
Only a scholar of her caliber—standing at the pinnacle of human intellect—could dare claim any confidence in having a university dropout complete doctoral studies within half a year.
Sitting across from Lucius, Einstein interlaced her fingers and spoke with great seriousness:
"Mr. Lucius, before Miss Himeko begins her studies, I hope we can reach some mutual understanding."
"If all you want is a doctoral degree, it's entirely possible to fudge through with superficial work."
"But I won't do that. That's my bottom line."
Lucius nodded, affirming Einstein's words.
"Of course. Only a doctorate grounded in genuine knowledge and ability can meet our requirements."
"I hope you won't go easy on her, Professor. Pile on the coursework as heavily as possible. As long as it doesn't kill her, work her to the bone!"
Seeing the seriousness on Lucius's face, Einstein knew this was his genuine thinking. This improved her impression of Lucius considerably.
"If I may ask—completing a doctorate can actually be done gradually over time. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Is it for prestige? But somehow that doesn't quite feel right either..."
Rather than concealing anything in response to Einstein's confusion, Lucius answered honestly:
"It's for filming."
Hearing this, Einstein tilted her head in puzzlement.
"I'm sorry, I may have misheard. You said it's for... what?"
Lucius answered with a serious expression: "Filming!"
"Our goal is to make a film worthy of going down in history. Miss Himeko is the lead we've chosen."
"Her character's setting is a student in Caltech's interstellar navigation dynamics program."
"In order for her to properly portray this role, we need to have her complete the entire interstellar navigation dynamics curriculum."
"After all, without actually becoming a top student at Caltech, how could she properly portray one?"
After listening to Lucius's explanation, Einstein had an urge to retort but didn't quite know how to go about it.
The other party's approach clearly respected both the film and the discipline of knowledge—and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow utterly absurd.
In the end, she could only open and close her mouth, and reply: "You're all... quite dedicated."
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