Chapter 6: 1.6

I imagined science and engineering students wearing white lab coats and conducting experiments all the time, but the first semester seminars were just classroom lectures. In the first half of the year, you will obtain a Class B heavy element handling license. If you don’t pass the exam in July, you won’t be able to undertake the experiments in the second semester and will be automatically retained, according to what I’ve heard. It’s a scary system.

    “Why bother with a national certification? It’s not even dangerous materials.”

    Shinozaki said. I guess this big guy and I had a strange bond because we were the furthest pair and often worked together shortly after starting school.

    Other departments in the Faculty of Science and Engineering require radiation and virus handling licenses, but these are all internal qualifications, whereas only the license for handling heavy elements is regarded as a “national qualification.”

    “That’s because it’s rare. The state controls all heavy elements in circulation, and they do not want to be handled by someone unknown.”

    I shared the information I had read while preparing for my exams.

    “If we can get a national certification, we can use that as an advertising slogan for our department. Six years of medicine, six years of pharmacy, and six months of heavy element engineering.”

    “It won’t happen.”

    “I don’t know.”

    A Class B license is issued to around 150 persons every year. This is about comparable to the capacity of Japan’s three heavy element engineering departments. I’ve also heard that folks in the physics and earth science departments occasionally acquire them, but I can’t think of any other purpose for them except filling up the credentials area of their CV. Maybe a certification fanatic?

    We discussed this while eating “Daidai Gyudon,” a specialty of ODAI cafeteria. The name sounds stupid, but it’s bowl of rice nearly double the size of a standard bowl at a chain restaurant, stuffed with fried beef, onions, spinach, burdock root, carrots, and other veggies that may have been left over from the school lunch for a for a wholesome 400 yen. I ate this mind-numbing bowl of rice after the first period since I lived alone and had given up on cooking breakfast early.

    The issue with university is that, unlike high school, you do not have your own seat, thus there is no defined area where you may “just be here” in your spare time. Personal lockers are available in Building 4 of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, which contains the Department of Heavy Element Engineering, so I can put my heavy textbooks there, but I’m not sure where to store my body. Despite this, I have a lot of spare time. I understand that the body is an unneeded appendage for academics. Who was the person who said that? Plato, I believe.

    That’s why Shinozaki and I spent so much of our spare time at the cafeteria. Unless it was lunchtime, the cafeteria was mostly vacant, so it wasn’t a bad spot to hang around and chat.

    “What is the next class?”

    As Shinozaki said this over a cup of the cafeteria’s Eternal Hojicha tea(served free of charge, as much as you want), I took out my notebook . The timetable says “Introduction to Heavy Element Engineering I.”

    An academic discipline, like a university, has a history, and the first lecture of every semester comprises the field’s history (which few people are interested in) and the credit approval process (which people listen to with great interest). The history of heavy element science is explained in the first lecture of the required unit “Introduction to Heavy Element Engineering I.” Most science and engineering students enroll in science and engineering courses because they are uninterested in history, yet they are subjected to historical discourse on a regular basis.

    The “father of chemistry,” the 18th-century French laboazier, was the first to appear. He was a remarkable man who brought chemistry, which had previously had a strong alchemical and magical flavor, into the realm of science. The oxygen was separated from the air, the heavy elements from the rocks, the volatile elements from the fire, and what had been considered to be elements were found to be complex compounds and mixtures, and finally his neck and body were separated by guillotine. Long live the French Revolution. Long live democracy.

    According to modern science, oxygen is neither a “source of acid,” nor is fuel a “source of combustion.” As Einstein demonstrated, baryons are not exactly a “source of gravity.” However, once a name is established, it is difficult to alter it, and it is still known by this name today.

    Then, in the nineteenth century, heavy element conversion was discovered, which was utilized to develop anti-weight plates and invent the aircraft. It was a major source of conflict in both world wars, as well as a key weapon. In the 1930s, Britain and Nazi Germany competed to launch military satellites. And then there’s the postwar expansion thing. And so forth.

    Well, I feel like I’m learning this a bit late because it’s generally taught in high school, but that’s how it is in any school’s first class. I wonder how Watanabe-kun is doing, who told the teacher who taught him in first grade, “Teacher, everyone knows that.”

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    The department’s sole required courses are “Introduction to Heavy Elemental Engineering” (I and II). There are also common science and engineering courses such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, earth science, English, and general education. Surprisingly, there is also a “Physical Education” class, although it is a sloppy class in which you may obtain credit for merely playing volleyball or tennis.

    “General education is good.”

    Shinozaki said.

    “As with the humanities department, there is a high percentage of girls.”

    I was ready to tell him that his motivations for studying were too impure, but it was evident that I was the most impure person on earth, because I wanted to study heavy elements engineering only to travel to Tokyo in the first place. I asked as to why he had entered the Department of Heavy Element Engineering.

    “Because this seemed like the easiest place to get into.”

    He said. Well, that’s a good match for me.

    The deviation of the admission exam for the Department of Heavy Element Engineering is usually low, ranking among the bottom three in the ODAI Science and Engineering Department. As the societal demand for heavy element engineering decreases, so does the quantity of job opportunities, and the divergence of entrance examinations. We work in a highly methodical manner as a science and engineering department.

    “Did you have a thing for ODAI?”

    “Not really, but it’s a national university, and well, there’s a lot of other family stuff.”

    “What’s your father doing?”

    “He’s running an engine related plant in Hamamatsu.”

    He said. So it’s not unconnected to heavy element engineering, I see. At the very least, more than a city hall employee (my father).

    “So, what about the future of aircraft manufacturing? I’m not sure if a new aircraft can be built in Japan now.”

    “Who knows. There may be an opportunity to take the anti-weighting board out of the existing machine and manufacture a new body. Some teachers have recommendation slots at heavy industry companies.”

    I see. I had never looked into such things. In the first place, I haven’t thought about employment in concrete terms yet. Rather, I can’t really feel that I will eventually become a member of society.

    “You’re taking this very seriously.”

    I said, and he gave me a puzzled look. He looked at me as if to say, “Of course I do.”

    That’s true, isn’t it?

    That may be true, but I was simply looking to get away from it all, so I never really considered what I would do with heavy elemental engineering. Rather, when I successfully obtained the application form for this university, I felt that the role of  heavy element engineering was done. I hardly thought about the future.

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