As Shining recounted his patchy account, the Vegapunks sank into profound self-doubt.
"...Shining, are you sure Bondrewd is researching these things?"
Vegapunk pressed his forehead and took a sip of pure coffee.
The jumble of information was far too fragmented, with no coherent system behind it. The problem was that it at least sounded plausible.
"That's all I know. I really don't know the specific principles."
Shining had shown some restraint, at least, and hadn't dragged in anything beyond a planetary civilization.
This time, "Sephiroth" had gone all in with the power of his past life's adolescent fantasies.
Edison had already crashed. The three-foot-tall green cyborg girl lay slumped over the table, muttering unintelligibly, with a huge pile of manuscript pages scattered beneath her.
"..."
Shaka was also starting to lose it, but had assumed a commander's contemplative pose, hands clasped in front of his mouth.
What he had heard from Shining felt like a science enthusiast rattling off a disorganized heap of... popular science.
Much of it consisted of conceptual frameworks, but there was no way to disprove them yet.
If asked whether these things were possible, even the Vegapunks could only answer, "possibly, probably, maybe, perhaps."
"...Little Sparkles!"
Lilith looked as though her soul had left her body. She swayed over to Shining like a vengeful ghost and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't call me that... you'll make people think I'm the Glint-Glint Fruit user."
Lilith's nickname for Shining was far too sugary.
"Tch..."
Feeling that she couldn't count on Shining, Lilith could only sigh, then ran off to argue with Shaka, caught somewhere between speechlessness and excitement.
As "Evil," she was still very interested in these things.
Next came the time for the Vegapunks to organize this fragmented information. They hadn't let Shining leave yet