Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 5===

"Ahaha! Stop that, it tickles... Aha!"

Frolicking with the puppy, she laughed happily with dog fur all over her lab coat. She must be reminded later to thoroughly clean away the fur before entering the lab.

Kirika poured the dog food she had brought into a dish. Watching the inedible owner and the edible food, the puppy seemed to be wondering which one to lick, hesitating for quite a while. Finally, he (a male) poked his snout into the dog food on the dish and started to eat heartily. Kirika knelt down in front of him, resting her chin on her hands with her elbows against her knees, watching the puppy with great satisfaction.

What about Himura? Was he happy? Or not happy?

Both. Simultaneously, he was both like and unlike her.

He took a sip from a can of coffee. He only came here because Kirika had invited him to visit the puppy during his break. However, his mind continued to work nonstop.

The research was not going well. Without marked progress, it was simply consuming time and funding continuously. Although inferior to the Lab Chief, Himura was also a young and outstanding researcher, hired with great expectations for his genius talent. Despite being a special research organization, the internal environment was no different from a university's. The higher the expectations one commanded, the greater one's funding; conversely, those who showed less promise received relatively less funding.

Although Himura really did not care, he was aware that those researchers in the "relatively less" camp seemed to regard a young upstart like him with hostility. Jealousy was truly ugly. Recognized talent received funding, that was all there was to it&mdash;However, if results were not produced, then it would no longer be a matter of jealousy but ganging up on the loser.

Himura felt cornered.

Involuntarily, he apparently gave off a sigh. Presumably hearing it, Kirika looked back at him.

"Senpai... Are you feeling troubled?"

"I suppose."

He did not even have the energy to cover up. After he answered honestly, Kirika looked forward again, gently caressing the puppy's head while it was eating. Was she at a loss now?

But then she immediately spoke up:

"Senpai, do you still remember?"

"About?"

"The first time we met... Senpai, you said this."

She turned her head around again, with that certain expression.

Honest, innocent, yet carrying resolute will at the same time&mdash;A smile very much in her style.

"You said that 'Impatience is a serious impediment to research.' You weren't lying, right?"

"...Of course."

"Then just take it slowly, step by step. My power is meager, but I'll help... So, umm... Let's do our best together!"

They were the same after all.

Smiling happily, he and she were the same&mdash;So long as he was able to see that face of hers, he would be surrounded by that feeling.

How should one put it? This was a feeling that he had never felt before in his entire life&mdash;

An unknown sense of happiness.

He wanted to research this unknown forever. Surely, this feeling was going to remain an unknown forever, impossible to research thoroughly despite a lifetime's efforts. Hence, very well. One rejected social interaction, simply treating research as his only value in living&mdash;For someone like him, this was the important nourishment. He wanted to be immersed in this feeling, all the way to the very marrow of his bones, he wanted  to experience this unknown of "inexplicable and unbelievable happiness." Forever, till eternity.

He had already had no choice but to admit.

Irrelevant to her identity as a middle schooler, irrelevant to his identity as an adult.



He...

Ever since their very first encounter&mdash;