I'll admit, writing these technical stories is hard. I'm really trying to make these process a little more interesting, but I don't really know how exactly, so I'm just going with my own intuition and perception of what's interesting, so feel free to point that out to me if you feel significantly bored by some of the chapters, especially this one.

Another thing about this chapter is that the physics described in this chapter is...well my own knowledge. Forgive me if I'm wrong when describing any of it. I've tried to research it further, but that's what I could come up with. I'm unfortunately not a physics major, and not a genius in any senses, just a fairly average to good science students, with only computing being my forte. So yeah, I'll try to allow some technical explanations to show through to you guys about how Senshado armor works, but I really don't expect much realism her (as much of GuP physics itself). Again, please forgive me if I'm describing something wrong.

Enjoy the chapter and I'll see you in the next one

Disclaimer: Obligatory, but again, I don't own any of the GuP characters or settings except for my own OCs

Chapter 3: Social Complication Theory

His days had started quite early on. 4 AM in fact. Crap. It was quite early indeed. His hour difference had yet to release its tickling grip from him. It was far before his normal time of awakening, so Michael decided to sleep a little bit longer. To absolute no avail.

'They did say you'd need as many days for as many hours different."

The sandbags around his eyes were gone. The tears of the cozy darkness in his eyes vanished. He was wide awake, on his bed, even if he didn't want to. No matter how long he wanted to sleep, no matter how blissful the beds, the sheets and blankets in the All-Star University dorm was, he could not dive again into his sweet dream one more time. His clock had told him to wake up, and he begrudgingly complied. He'd not want to waste any time trying to exceed his numbers.

Silver lining though, it was perhaps not so bad after all. Today was his first official workday at this institution. It wasn't in the contract to say, but the sooner he starts, the faster he'd get it finished. And if you knew anything about the first day at work, it was mainly about familiarizing with the workplace; everything about it. And considering this was also the ladies' first day at work as well, whoever wanted to work that is, it was more the effort to be gathered.

Michael was soon out of bed, took a quick morning shower, got dressed in his dark blue collared long-sleeve shirt and black formal pants before heading out with one of his suitcases. The sun had yet to rise from the endless horizon. The long hallway was still bright with the wall lights dimly carrying whoever's inhabitant was awaken at this odd hour through the drousy lure of sleepiness that may still lurk in their eyes. And yet Michael found out that he wasn't the only one on the boat to that.

"Shimada-san?"

A squeak of a gasp escaped her lips as she was turning her back against his room's direction. To which Michael couldn't help but internally giggle.

"J-Joule-san? I-I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" She sheepishly turned around to apologize, conveniently ignoring his formality of fashion

"Do you think?" He jokingly had his two arms open to show off his gentlemanliness dress code. "No, I was already awake a while ago. My internal clock is still under maintenance. How about you though? You are up wide and early today."

"...It's our protocol." Alice said. "Monday to Friday, training starts at six thirty"

"Wow that's early." Michael's eyebrows ticked. "Though understandable. But when do you all have classes and all? You said there are normal classes here, didn't you?"

"We finish at nine thirty, then anyone who have classes attend." Alice said. "Those who don't can have the time off until three-thirty, including lunch time."

And then they continue training until five-thirty, just like Michael saw the other day. It made sense. But still, the rigorousness was simply impressive. A fair deal for such a good place to stay and a fancy reputation to boot.

"5 hours a day, for 5 days. I don't know about high school but that sounds quite a rigorous training schedule to me." Michael remarked, to which Alice was just resting her chin on her fingers.

"...I don't know either." She breathed out

"About what?" Asked Michael.

"About high school curriculum."

"You didn't-…" Michael was stopped by the fracture of info Chiyo had given him yesterday. She was only thirteen, the youngest in all of places where Michael usually thought he would be. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the girl's education resume had been quite devoid of entries.

"Oh right. Do you attend high school?" He kindly asked.

"..." Her two fingertips now gently touched each others, as her words struggled to formulate on her squeaky vocal chord. "…No. I skipped it straight up."

"Oh nice." Michael remarked - the remark that earned him a look of curiosity. Nice? To skip school?…It wasn't nice…she had heard many about it, that it was among the best years of their lives. She wanted to know more, and yet it was nice to skip straight?

"...What do you mean?" She asked.

"Oh…" Michael realized his own biases. His hand slipped into his pocket as he swung his eyes around to the side. "Sorry, that was my own feelings slipping out." He sighed slightly. "I really don't know what a girl's high school is like, or normal high school in general feels like."

"You skipped it too?"

"No, I was in AP class at a privately funded co-ed high school." He said. "It was rather…different than what it feels in normal school. And not as enjoyable either."

"Oh…" Alice suddenly had the urge to ask further but refused. "…it's too bad."

Michael shrugged. It wasn't anything academically related - he is a genius that everyone, even the teachers sometimes had to rely on. But that status alone, the creative mind, the endless depths of curiosity and the ability to never let go of questions he asked that gave him such an unfair yet perfectly legal advantage over people was sometimes the thorn in his high school life.

'Okaa-san. I cannot just spend a few years of my life where I was not looked upon like a fellow student'

Michael couldn't help but laugh inward a little. He wondered if by such a decision he missed something invaluable that he could have learnt there instead of just speeding ahead as fast as he could in life? Perhaps he did, or perhaps he didn't, and perhaps it didn't matter that much for him to stay.

"Anyway, that's already years ago. Now I've already earned two degrees and are doing the third. And I'll need your help for that."

"M-Mine?" Alice stammered. "…H-How can I help you?"

"Well." Michael promptly corrected himself. "All of you. If you don't mind that of course." He then poked his suitcase with the touch of his knee as he looked down at it. "I'll get to it later though, after your first training period. I need time to set things up."

Alice only nodded, knowing it to be an instruction, before speeding off to the training ground. Again, to gather them around after dismissal and…perhaps ask them if they could participate. Michael did not say specifically, but it looked like it was also his intention. He'd probably appreciate it if she goes the extra mile. Hopefully. He sounded kind enough, so maybe it is a good thing. Though how many people would agree to it that's the issue.

However, it came to her way before she ever needed to go that extra mile.

"Hello?"

While the tanks were on their way back to the hangar, all of a sudden, a voice echoed out in all of the tank commanders' headsets. A young male voice

"Testing. Can anybody hear me?"

This startled everyone, as Alice, Azumi, Megumi and Rumi all eyed each other while they were poking out of their hatches, all asking the same question.

"Is that Joule-san?" Megumi asked as she plugged her earphone back on while raising the mic close to her lips.

"I don't think there is someone else in this institution with such a deep voice." Azumi replied as she adjusted a switch on her radio right beside her, before her voice changed into a lollipop. "Loud and clear, Joule-chan."

The radio went dead silent for a few seconds.

"Call me sensei. That's the rule." Before came back an equally dead serious tone.

"Hey come on." Azumi couldn't help but giggle a bit at the joke the day before. "If anything, you're still four years younger than me."

"If anything, I was a graduate teaching assistant. Teaching you all basic maths that you should have already learnt in high school." Michael mirrored. "You know, those things that you all always complained about but so desperately needed to save that into that tight metal box."

"Azumi, just admit that math is an important subject already." Megumi smirked as she torrented her friend who had just been made fun of.

"Hey, you don't need like integration, derivative and all that." Azumi pouted. "Maybe guys like Joule-san need it, but I'm really just an average woman in Senshado."

"I'm surprised you still remember the name of it. Well done." Before being murdered by Megumi's sharp as nail's words. As the girl conceded defeat, the brunette continued. "Hello Joule-san. I could hear you well. What is it that you have to call us via our intercom? Could you wait until we get back to the garage?"

"Oh I was just testing my computer's connection to the institution's central mainframe." Michael replied. "Since I may have to do this often. But since we're already here, I'd kindly ask you all if you could join me for this short test of equipment."

This was a little sudden, as all the commanders were now above their hatches, looking at each other uncertainly. They had no idea what to do, and mostly just relied on their friends whether or not taking part or not.

The lack of answers were a little offsetting, so after a little minute or two, Alice spoke up.

"...I'll do it."

The call surprised almost everyone. Then almost according to a chain reaction, the three Bermuda trio spoke simultaneously.

"I'll do it as well!"

A moment of silence ensued on the intercom.

"You fellas do react like a duck following its mommy." Michael responded, as dry as a piece of sandpaper.

"Hey, we do not!" A simultaneous reply no less.

"Yeah yeah, outright denial is a huge red flag." Michael rolled his eyes before typing the information on his laptop. "You know, if I know I have so few testers, I would've just placed a chicken drumstick in a cage for easy profit, but international regulation requires what we call 'informed consent', otherwise they'd sue me to death."

Michael then switched the frequency of the intercom to the universal channel.

"Alright, if you aren't participating in this test, you may return to the hangar, or just go wherever you please. For you guys, you can head to section…" A short few seconds of pauses continued. "Where is it on the map, Taneka-san?…Ok…Section A17."

A couple of looks at each other before the four of them shrugged and headed for the designated location on the map. When they arrived, there were around three training targets painted with overlapping red and white circles. But to their knowledge from hours of rigorous training, the target looks quite weird. There were multiple wirings and a strange box behind the target extending outward quite visibly even from the front.

"This is the calibration machine, used to see how the molecules in your armor fare when objects hit them." He explained. "This is just a test, to see if it is capable of measuring the misery of those molecules when you hammer them with your live shells every day."

"We do." Megumi rolled her eyes in amusement. "So we just shoot at them?"

"Yes. Just don't shoot at the same target. I want to see them work."

"~Roger~" She obliged before turning to her two friends. Three targets, three edges of a triangle, three Bermuda members. What could be more suited?

The three training Sherman tanks adjusted their positions carefully before slowly turning the gun over to aim at their respective targets. Almost simultaneously, to the signal, the girls transmitted their order to fire to the gunners. The shells slammed onto the training targets, made up of the fraction of the tank's armor, their momentum quickly absorbed by the amazing property of the material itself, slowing down before exploding cleanly on it.

Very soon after the impacts, on Michael's computer, three line graphs popped up from the program he was opening, followed by three motion pictures of a cluster of dots moving around frantically.

"Very good. Everything seems to be working well." After a quick check, Michael soon announced. "Though for the record, you don't have to fire so simultaneous."

"So what next?" Rumi asked.

"Stay there." He replied. "For today, we'll simply try ways to shoot at these marshmallow molecules and how marshmallow molecules react to being shot at. Just one of you only. Move the tank so that the gun faces the target perpendicularly."

Looking at each other, everybody agreed it was Alice's turn, as her training Panther was fairly close to one of the targets. She commanded the tank to move right into position, quite close to the target.

"Now fire."

She complied. The shells flew right into the target and dissipated just like last time. The procedure happened without any anomalies.

"Now move your tank back fifty meters then perform the feat again."

And she did.

"Another fifty."

She did again.

"And another fifty."

Rinse repeat a few times before Michael finally called it quits and moved onto the next calibration. And by a few times he meant that it took over 20 minutes, and Alice's Panther is now nearly a kilometer away from the target. Cheers to the gunner for actually managing to accomplish the shot at such a distance, but with extreme perfectionist syndrome now injected in their veins.

"Oh my god, what the hell is all of this for?" Rumi heard a voice below her inside the tank in confusion and nervousness.

"Impressive. Please note that any appearance of impossibility is merely a device to enhance your testing experience." Michael said. "If the laws of physics fail to materialize your desired outcome…God help you. Now let's proceed."

The foundation was set for the test subjects - poor the gunners - to perform Michael's examination. The procedures were relatively similar, with only slight alteration in the rules - firing at an angle and firing simultaneously. The gunners still had to pick all their hairs out to accomplish the test, and the rest of the crew was still confused to what was happening.

"Alright, looks like you deserve a break." He said. "Thanks for your cooperation today."

Still relatively confused over what's happening in this entire thing, the entire near two dozen girls merely blinked just as Michael went completely off the intercom.

"Is it me or that these tests are really meaningless?" Rumi said.

"I don't know. I mean what is this even about anyway?" Megumi asked. "It all seems like just training but repeated several times. I know he has some sort of calibration instrument that we have to shoot at, but what does it calibrate?"

"They do say geniuses look like weirdos to commoners like us." Azumi quoted. "We probably won't get these stuffs even if he explains it to us."

"Anyway, let's not get our heads boiling in confusion." Megumi tried to stir the topics away from the whole thing and proceeded to talk about things like music or the latest movie in the cinema - typical girl's stuff. It wasn't really anything that should concern her that much. What concerned her was what it brought for her. Assuming that what Michael said about it was true, an entry in the international team resume was worth thousands of yen. It seemed worth it. It didn't seem like something she'd hate.

The switch of topic was not in Alice's preference though. Talking in groups was already not a good medium, but hearing the girls talk about something so common to girls, yet so foreign to her, it was just salt adding to her unsocial personality. If just felt unwelcome. She had always considered this institution to be her home, but sometimes it did not feel so. She felt like who she really was in this place: a guest, a stranger rather than a family. Rather than what she should really feel.

"Ahh, thank you for letting me do this today, Taneka-san." Michael told her. "All the calibration is of good condition."

"I'm glad I could help." The girl in braids beamed brightly. "And please, you're the guest of this institution. You are welcomed all the time here."

"Alright, then do you mind if I linger around a little longer?" He respectfully requested. "Then I don't have to open this again later."

"Of course."

With a nod of appreciation, Michael proceeded to input the data on his devices. A laptop right in front of him, a microphone dormantly laying beside his left hand, and the tablet on his right hand. His hands worked like two clocks, each keyboard click never half a second apart from the last one. He didn't really want to put this much burden on the logistic crew of the institution, but they didn't seem to mind. Well, Taneka-san doesn't seem to mind, so he'd finish this as soon as possible, so he could proceed onto the next testing the next day (afternoon plans are way too tiring for everyone).

"I've been wondering though, Taneka-san" He began. "Are you…like…the manager of the entire crew here?"

Her eyes blinked twice, seemingly curious.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I don't seem to need to talk to anyone else but you. And it doesn't seem like it's something illegal, so I just think so."

Aimi raised an eyebrow in great interest, though she had to politely correct him.

"Well, no. We don't have ranks here. The only higher-ups we have is our coach, Mrs. Shimada. The reason we know what to do is…well…" She paused a little, not knowing if this was appropriate. "…we talked about you."

"Oh really?" It was Michael's turn to smirk his eyebrows. His busy hands relaxed on his armrest. "About what exactly?"

"I-It's not anything bad. It's just that…well…you're a guy, we're all girls." The attempt turned out a little passive aggressive. Though that did not answer his question. "It's mostly about who you are. If they're not wrong, you're the youngest participant in Japan to participate and win the International Physics Olympiad at the age of 12."

"They're not." Michael rolled his eyes. "I'll be damned that they actually remember my face after six years."

While he did appear in a few news article, it was at the forgotten corner of the article, so Michael always find it interesting that people would actually recognize his identity, especially since during the six years since that silver medal puberty had done a lot of shaping up and down to his face. It's quite sad how science is so ignored nowadays.

"Rumors travel fast." Aimi remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if people recognize who I am."

"Who I am…" Michael repeated her. His curiosity meter went sky high. "Who are you?"

"..." Aimi zoned out for a few seconds. "…Oh! What am I saying? No no, I'm not that popular anyway."

Her poor attempt to distract him backfired spectacularly, as Michael seemed even more interested.

"I used to practice Senshado, but that was it. Nothing eventful happened." Aimi said, the last sentence her tone suddenly went over the roof.

"Hmmm." Michael flattened his lips, hummed for a few seconds long before looking back at his laptop. "Fascinating. I'd love to talk more about it, but now, I have to wrap this up. Whatever ways you want to interpret that as."

Aimi giggled a bit at the end as Michael went back to his arrays of technology before him.

But that response. Was Aimi actually not that popular at all? The fact that he did recall her accent and the way she talked from somewhere was a point of interest. It may not actually the first time the two have met. From the looks of it, a more pointy chin, the more busty figure, and the deeper voice, she seemed to be his sister's age as well. If that's the case, then she might actually be her comrade in arms or worthy rivals. Her words.

But if that's the case, then she would definitely know about it.

'Focus.' Michael slapped himself internally as he went back to work. This was not the time.

Later in the evening

"...Hmm, this is just daunting."

The rest of the day had been spent in the computer room for pure analysis of the data he had received from the girls that morning. Well, rather the compilation of the analysis that he supposedly did for the rest of the day. Michael had already seen the answer even before the question was asked. The pattern of molecules captured on the calibration machine showed a more compact and denser surface of the armor when fired at a less acute angle and at a closer distance. So it could be speculated that firing at an angle closer to 90 degrees, along with getting closer to the armor, will apply more pressure to the piece of league-sanctioned metal…which is basically the common sense of physics. All he did was basically proving it, which really served nothing. But procedure still required him to go through it rigorously, and to made sure the properties of these materials still follow basic physics. It wasn't the knowledge that daunts him, but the tiring amount of time he needed to just simply write these down that was burning his ropes.

"Working hard there, Joule-san?"

All of a sudden, two hands pinched his shoulders as someone peered over onto the tablet he was writing on. He knew she was peering on, because of how close she was to his cheeks. He could see her chestnut colored hair and strawberry aroma of shampoo from her wavering fawningly to his increasingly deepened breathe.

"Are you doing that just to impress me?" Michael was cross. "What would impress me more is that you never do that again."

"Aww, that's cold." She continued to tease him. "I thought boys like these kinds of things."

"Most do. Unfortunately, I'm a bigger person, and I'm all onto your tricks." He gloated. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"Oh we just had a notification that we're going to be participating in an exhibition match. So we're here to discuss it." Azumi turned around to the entry of Rumi, Megumi and also Alice, who just finished her Boko show.

"Good evening Joule-san." Megumi greeted elegantly. "Are we bothering you?"

"I'm almost done actually. The rest is mostly miscellaneous stuffs that I was just adding for the edge of the paper." Michael replied, as he swiped through his document pages.

"Hmmm?" Megumi now also looked over Michael's shoulders to the document, but at least she knew some decent modesty with her approach. Though the blocks of texts were more than enough to make her jump back in horror, the horror of her school days in science classes.

"You guys are curious humans." He commented.

"I'm just wondering for what purpose we're doing these tests for. Like not just for a resume entry." She replied. "I wonder if you can tell us a bit of that?"

"Hey that's a great idea Megumi. How about we talk a bit about it?" Azumi turned around and suggested with great enthusiasts.

"My work? You mean my research. What exactly?" Michael asked. "And didn't you guys have to discuss whatever exhibition match you guys are doing?"

"We still have to wait for coach to show up too." She said. "While we wait, I just wanna know what you do, and in turns what we do. I don't even have a clue of what exactly we're doing our tests for. Maybe explain what it is about. Like…what properties you're doing, or what results we can conclude from it."

"Properties? Hmm, that would take the whole night just to explain it." Michael said.

And the fact that these girls aren't STEM people either. He couldn't talk technical here, they wouldn't have a clue. It needs to be something simple. Not just college simple. Something that even a kid could understand. Otherwise he'd just run into the pitfall of so many of our current educators. One that plagued so many bright bulbs to run their curious minds into the ground.

"Don't worry, if anything, our Commander here will quickly explain what you mean." Megumi winked as she patted Alice's shoulders, to which the latter was surprisingly…uncomfortable? Her eyes were rolling around unsettled by the notion while her arms wrapped even tighter to her Boko teddy bear.

"Megumi. It's not like our commander can know everything out there. She's only thirteen." Rumi whispered, but it was loud enough for Michael to hear. They all did not escape his attention and curiosity. In fact, it rather hit home. It wasn't easy to just take it, especially if you're such a self-conscious person. The notion that everybody thinks you know everything, have to know everything and would always expect everything from you was an especially common thing among geniuses and prodigies all around. And it hurts when they realize that you actually don't. That aside from the uncommon talent in one particular thing, they are just human beings, like the people next to them.

But whether or not Alice could understand it, Michael couldn't rely on that. If he had to, then he'd already was a failure in the art of education. Or even in understanding the fundamentals of his own life work itself. Einstein is right. If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough.

"No worries about that." Michael raised his palm facing the girls. "I'd explain it like I'm writing my book 'for dummies'. And yes, that's you that I'm talking about."

With that said, he took a step back and took a deep breathe. Just imagine that they are kids. Curious kids with brilliant minds that need to be unlocked. If he gets to molecule immediately, they'd be spooked. He had a better idea.

"You've all heard of springs, right?" Michael asked.

"Mhm." All four of them nodded. "I actually just revisit it in the last chapter of my physics course." Then Megumi added.

"Hmm, good. So what have you learned so far about it?" Michael asked.

"Not much other than recapping high school knowledge, to which I really suck at back then." She rubbed the back of her head in fluster. "By the way, from that chapter I've been wondering something."

"Go ahead."

"Why does a spring…spring? Like how is it considered elastic?"

The question was clear enough, but quite thoughtful. The girls around were nodding in acknowledgment of the question.

"Good question." Michael remarked. "This is actually better when demonstrated." He then reached for the piece of the paper on the table near the printer and then handed it over to the nearest girl, Rumi.

"Rumi-san. Please fold this A4 paper seven times."

Rumi was a little confused to what he said, but a quick instruction made it clear that he was attempting an almost impossible task by hands. But she wouldn't realize until the fifth fold. The last two was a little too much that in the end she had to use her entire arm just to press the fold and couldn't even call it a success, as the paper would unfold immediately after being folded.

"A little difficult, don't you think? But impressive. Maybe that's the benefit of living in a metal box for like a quarter of your lifetime." Michael said dryly as he took the paper from Rumi's hand, unfold it one time to make it easier for him. He held in high so that everybody could see, holding the folded paper by the edge then pressed it, then released. The paper would compress when pressed, then unfold itself when his grip loosened.

"As you can see, the paper would resist harder for your subsequent folds. Now here's the kicker. Have you ever wondered why the paper would unfold unless you hold it?"

The question really seemed to strike chords in Megumi and the rest.

"Elasticity?" Megumi rubbed her hair in confusion.

"Yes, that is it." But Michael confirmed the suspicious and awed brunette. "The atoms, the bones of everything around us, holding the material are flexible matters. When you apply forces to it…" He pressed the piece of paper again. "The interconnected molecules will shift around and develop a force to resist your applied force. If your applied force is not too great, the object would automatically return to its original state when you remove the force."

Then he lifted the finger, completely away from the paper, and it unfolded once.

"The displacement is what we call Elastic Deformation. And the more you apply the force to it, the more molecules are involved, so the more resistance you encounter, according to the distance you deform it and the types and shape of material you are deforming. A spring is just a special shape that is more elastic."

"Wow, I didn't know that." Azumi nodded, her mouth still hung in process.

"But you may have heard this in high school. That notion I just described is the simple version of Hooke's law."

"That's…fantastical." Rumi was staring in awe. "I never imagine that it would be so applicable."

"Oh it goes even further than that. Just look at your skin." He placed the piece of paper down and then pinched the skin of his right arm. "The more you pull, the harder it is to. And when you release it, it goes back."

The girls did the exact thing. And their minds were completely blown. The simple thing that they always knew and took as common sense, now connected to a law that they only thought would only apply to a foreign entity that they never thought would need to be cared about. It turned out that physics was closer to home than they thought.

"And that's the closest thing you can get to understanding my work tentatively. The von Braun molecule in your armor works almost the same way."

"Wait, our armor is elastic?" Megumi asked.

"Well, everything solid in this world is elastic to a certain degree, but the Senshado armor works in a special manner, since the molecule structure is completely different. Concepts, however, remains the same." Michael explained. "But do you know what intrigues me more than that? Permanent Deformation."

"Remember what I said about the force not being too great? Now imagine what would happen if you do. In fact you don't even need to think. The term is there for you to guess."

Michael unfolded the paper entirely while the girls guess, then grabbed the identical paper from the side of the table.

"According to the rules of elastic deformation, the paper would revert to its original form…But take a look…It does not." He said. "It's no longer this smoothened paper anymore."

The four girls peered over the two papers on the table, eyes wide like their very own curiosity.

"Oh yeah, I remember now." Megumi nodded, and the three turned around to her. "It's because you've applied too much force. The paper, therefore, lost the elasticity, is then permanently deformed, like how you pull a spring too much."

"Perfect." Michael commended. "Since your tank's armor operate very parallel to the principles of elasticity, I believe there is a point where the armor would be permanently deformed."

"And what is that point?" Azumi asked.

The flow of dialogue suddenly came to a halt, as Michael finally reached the end of the line. The end of his knowledge horizon, after he had sped his entire way across in a less than five minutes quick lecture. This was where he was standing at this current hour of the day. Where the boundaries he wanted to redefine for humanity to follow.

"...I don't know." He admitted, honestly. "Science has only advanced so far."

But then he retorted with full decisiveness.

"But I intend to find out!"

And here they found a beautiful demonstration.

"Wonderful Joule-san!" Azumi couldn't help but gave Michael a round of applause, and promptly wished if her physics teacher in high school be this good.

"It's so ironic that now I'm actually curiously interested in physics now. It's extraordinary." Megumi seconded, to which Alice couldn't help but nod enthusiastically, and a pretty smile.

"...You're natural at this, Joule-san." Rumi stated, rather hesitantly but genuinely.

"Hey, maybe you should be a teacher. I swear, millions would be inspired!" Azumi interjected. "Oh wait, you're getting a PhD, right? Then become a professor. You'd be the next Albert Einstein!"

"Hahaha. Please don't smudge his legacy with such comparisons." Michael giggled, a little flustered at the barrage of compliments given to him. "But you got that right. That's one of my goal right now, since I can't be a Senshado practitioner."

"Oh hell yes, I have a younger sister in middle school right now. Her best subject too is physics" Azumi said. "I'll tell her to enroll where you work."

It seemed like he was on the right track after all.

"Well, I'll look forward." He shrugged with a smile.

The aura of curiosity and awe of the short five-minute lecture soon disappear when everyone decided to call it a day and went back to their room to rest. The next day was going to be a busy day as well for all of them. By ten o' clock, all the inhabitants of the living room had been cut in half. And strangely enough, they were both the resident's most unique individuals.

Michael had just finished compiling the result and speculation of his calibration earlier in the day when Alice approached him.

"...It was a nice presentation." She shyly said. "I like it."

"Oh why thank you." Michael nodded in appreciation. "You understand it?"

"...Yeah…I'm not too knowledgable of it myself, but I still understood and it gave me interests."

Hearing that made him smile.

"I'm glad it does."

It was never too boastful to admit being glad that you inspired people to be curious.

"...But I'm also wondering…" She suddenly glanced sideway, her tone of voice suddenly took a strange interval. "…How can you say it so…coherently?"

"What do you mean?"

"I-I'm not good at physics. Nowhere near my knowledge level but I can still understand what you say." She clarified. "…And not just that. Like how do you talk so confidently before others so casually?"

Oh it's that millennium question. He did not condemn it, really, though he wasn't really surprised himself. Simply because he was the one asking that himself. Only just about her age as well.

"I believe it's just social practice." Michael replied. "Learn by experience and observation."

"...But…" She was hesitant again. The sound of her voice faded into the background. "…I couldn't find myself fitting in with my squadmates. Their topics are so…"

"...out of your dictionary?"

She nodded. That was a different story on its own though.

"Do you think I fit in with my peers as well?" Michael asked.

"Well, you do. You never seem to hesitate out of nervousness." She replied.

"That's just normal courtesy and communication. Have I ever talked to them anything outside my thesis?"

That seemed to catch her a little off-guard.

"...No."

Michael leaned back on his chair with his arms on the armrests, looking back up to Alice, before sighing.

"It may sound surprising to you," He said "…but I don't fit in with my peers as well. Only a select few are my friends."

"R-Really?"

Michael nodded deeply.

"Why do you think I don't enjoy high school?" He asked, rhetorically, while he clasped his hands together. "It's not anything academic. I just feel unwelcomed."

"Then how do I…"

The doctoral candidate simply leaned his head a little bit over his right shoulder. He made the 'answer's right there' look.

"If you're hesitant with your friends, then come to me." He said. "I can always whip up a conversation or two."

All of a sudden, a tiny squeak came out of her, to which Michael was barely able to contain the amusement. Lack of social interaction could be a huge hassle, but it could also result in some cute situations too as silver linings.

"A-A-Are you sure?" She stuttered. "I may hinder you with your work."

"I'm not a machine, you know"

"That's true but-"

"You don't need to follow the crowds sometimes to feel welcomed." He said, with utmost sincerity. "It's only a matter of which bookshelf fits your dictionary."

She couldn't find a way to counter that point anymore. Because…he was right.

"My dictionary may rust people, but we're both grade skipping weirdos here. If you find it entertaining to you, then by all means."

And she couldn't find any counterpoints for it either. They were all right to her. It was funny how Michael was the latest person she ever met, the least she had interacted as well, yet he seemed to strike home a lot more than some of her most closest friends, or rather acquaintances, could ever do. Birds of the same feather flock together? She wouldn't know unless she tried.

"...Mhm…" She mumbled, seemingly understood. The smile on her face helped to confirm it to Michael. "I don't mind it at all."

But why not start with another genius like him?