On the other side of the Earth.
On the Princeton University campus, shrouded in night, it was already late.
Only the lights in a few libraries with overnight study rooms were still on.
In the activity room of a library near the apartments, Vera placed a stack of papers on the table.
She opened to a certain page, her slender index finger tracing line after line of equations before finally stopping in the middle. She spoke softly.
"...Page 27, line 11. There's a problem with this equation."
Compared to three years ago, her height had not changed much.
The only difference was that her short ponytail, which had always resembled a little squirrel's tail, had grown long enough to hang to the crook of her arm and was now braided into an elegant, easy-to-manage Greek princess braid.
If she wore a long dress trimmed with lace, she might even be mistaken for a real princess. Unfortunately, all that wrapped her slender shoulders was an ordinary campus outfit, which often caused people to mistake her for a high school student attending an academic summer camp...
"Let me see... Oh god, you're stricter than my doctoral advisor." Molina, dark circles beneath her eyes, rubbed her brow, grabbed a pen from the table, stretched, and slowly sat up straight.
Pulling all-nighters like this felt awful. It was a burden on both her shoulders and her spine.
Although she had entered university early, after earning her doctorate and becoming a lecturer at Princeton University, she could no longer really be considered young.
At least, that was true compared with the girl standing beside her.
Having been praised by her partner, Vera smiled shyly and said awkwardly.
"Not at all. I'm still far behind Ms. Sophie Morel."
When Molina had still been a doctoral student,