I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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Ed tilted his head.

Just calling his name, and yet to see such an intense reaction of “I didn’t do anything!?”

It was somewhat absurd from Ed’s perspective.

“Ah! Sorry, I just mumbled in my sleep! Haha, I must have dozed off a bit early!”

Enya hurriedly tried to cover for him.

He just mumbled a little.

‘You fool! Who falls asleep just 30 seconds after lying down!?’

But realizing too late that her hurried excuse was weak, Enya bit her finger with a pouty face, silently screaming “Die! Die!”

Now it was clear that Edgar would definitely treat her as a weirdo.

“Ah… really? You must be tired. Maybe it’s because you sweated a lot.”

Fortunately, Ed seemed to take it lightly.

He assumed it was just that she was tired and quickly dozed off.

With a sigh of relief, Enya promised to herself to not make a real mistake anymore.

And in the midst of making such a promise, Ed spoke again.

“By the way, are you worried about something? Your expression looked serious earlier.”

…That expression from earlier.

Enya understood what he meant.

The gloomy expression that came from feeling increasingly distant and alienated from Ed.

He was asking about that expression.

“Oh, no~ Don’t worry about it. I guess I was just tired.”

But Enya didn’t want to reveal her pathetic feelings.

The so-called genius of swordsmanship couldn’t have such insecurities, could she?

She wanted to show nothing but a cool and sophisticated side to the person she liked.

‘…Should I just be honest and say it?’

But on the other hand, she also wanted to reveal her worries.

Ed was a dependable person who showed outstanding abilities in many ways.

Rather, she had a desire to share her worries with him and resolve this stuffy situation.

Enya needed a counselor who would listen to her troubles.

“Um… Ed, are you awake?”

“…No.”

So, after about 20 minutes, Enya called Ed again.

And she spoke honestly about her feelings as they were.

Ed replied.

“Hmm. You seem to think highly of me. But honestly, I’m not that different from others.”

“…?”

But Ed’s response was unexpected.

He said he wasn’t that different from others?

If he, who fills his stats in many areas, is not different from others, then there would be no one in this world who could be considered special.

“Hehe. You look like you don’t believe me?”

But as if he had read her mind, Ed chuckled and pinpointed her thoughts.

And he continued.

“In fact, I’ve made a lot of failures. So many that I can’t even count.”

For all the time he spent playing ‘El Pandor Runtera’, Ed experienced nothing but thorough failures.

The reason he was where he was now was because he kept challenging himself even through all those failures.

Those challenges piled up and allowed him to reach the top spot in rankings, earning absurdly OP items called ‘Mechanic Blueprints’ and ‘God’s Hammer’.

“I may be invisible to you, but I’ve also suffered devastating failures. I’ve faced despair and frustration.”

“…That you could feel that way is surprising.”

But Enya couldn’t even imagine that.

Ed facing despair and frustration?

Ed smiled and replied.

“Honestly, what I do is a continuous string of failures. Research and experimentation inevitably come with failures.”

“Ah… your work too…”

“Yep. Do you remember the entropy I mentioned before?”

Entropy.

She couldn’t possibly forget it.

Enya had never once forgotten that conversation shared in Ed’s laboratory.

“Yeah. I remember.”

“Then do you remember this? The universe is designed to continuously increase entropy.”

“Of course, I remember.”

“Right. Then it’ll be easy to understand. The fact that this universe is designed to keep increasing entropy means that we are thrown into an environment where we can only fail. The level of disorder will keep increasing.”

“……….”

…But maybe because it had been a while since she heard such a concept, Enya honestly didn’t understand.

Because this universe is continually increasing entropy, we’re thrown into an environment where we can only fail?

What on earth does that mean?

“Haha, a bit difficult, huh?”

But noticing her confusion, Ed asked.

Enya scratched her cheek and replied.

“Yeah. I still… don’t quite get it.”

“Hmm… Then let me give you an easier example. What do you think are the standards for a beautiful face?”

…Beautiful face?

This was an easy question.

Enya started listing the standards she thought were beautiful.

Finally, Ed, who had listened to all her conditions, replied.

“Yeah. There are a lot of conditions, huh? As a result, beautiful faces share some similarities. The faces we perceive as beautiful have many stringent conditions, so those who meet all those conditions end up looking somewhat similar. On the other hand, ugly faces can be ugly for really diverse reasons. Eyes, nose, mouth, face size, proportions, condition, hair volume… etc. If even one condition deviates, we can’t help but perceive it as ugly.”

…Thinking about it, that was true.

Ugly people were indeed ugly for many different reasons.

All beautiful people were beautiful for pretty much the same reasons.

“Families are the same. Happy families are happy for similar reasons, but unhappy families are unhappy for their own reasons.”

“…That’s true.”

“Making my suit is the same. If I miss just one screw or miscalculate a spell slightly, the suit won’t function at all. It only becomes a fully functioning suit when all the hundreds of screws and joints work without even the slightest issue.”

Ed spoke like this and took a breath.

Since Enya seemed to be following his words, it was time to conclude.

“So what I’m saying is, the ways to fail are virtually limitless. Because this world is moving toward disorder. Success is, in the end, a process of trying to find order.”

“A process of trying to find order…”

“Right. But the process of trying to find order isn’t easy. Even if one manages to find some order, time will pass, and entropy will increase, leading to disorder. For example, even if you reach the order of marriage, many couples end up in ruins shortly after. This is because as time goes by, the disorder between them increases, leading to the loss of that form of marriage. My suit will eventually not function as time passes due to parts wearing out and corroding. No matter how great an invention is, it will inevitably flow in the direction of losing order.”

Enya suddenly felt a deep fear.

It felt as though the universe held a deep malice toward humanity.

That everything humans achieved, every glorious civilization, would inevitably lose its form and scatter chaotically, doomed to disappear.

She could feel a sense of her motivation and will being crushed by such nihilistic thoughts.

“But there’s one thing that goes against the disorderly progress of the universe.”

But at that moment, Ed spoke a meaningful line.

Something that goes against the disorderly progress of the universe.

Enya asked what that was.

Then Ed replied.

“The human will. The human will to seek order.”

“……….”

“Take the couple I mentioned earlier that lost the form of marriage. Would that couple end there? No, they would never end up like that. Humans cannot tolerate disorder. They will collide, break, and despair before ultimately seeking order. Perhaps they may even rejoin and form a stronger bond.”

Enya’s mouth slowly opened.

She began to understand a little more why Ed was such an outstanding person.

He was talking about the importance of an unwavering will that doesn’t waver in front of her!

It was precisely the spirit of perseverance that doesn’t bend no matter what trials come!

“So, as long as you don’t give up, you’ll find a way. Even if you fail dozens, hundreds, or thousands of times, in the end, it only takes one success.”

Enya clenched her fist.

She reflected on how she had been comparing herself to those around her and feeling small.

Ultimately, it was as Ed said; it was about walking her path unwaveringly.

No matter how far ahead others got or how she couldn’t catch up to Ed’s achievements, as long as she found her own order, everything would be resolved.

There was no need to waver.

“Thank you. I feel like my mind has cleared a little.”

“Cough. I’m glad it helped. To be honest, I felt a bit awkward thinking I was just showing off.”

Enya smiled gently.

The more she learned about Ed, the more fond she became of him, and she began to feel respect for him too.

Though their weapons and swordsmanship were different, Enya felt that ultimately, Ed and she were heading in the same direction.

“Wow. It’s already past 1 o’clock. Should we sleep now?”

“Yeah.”

As they talked about various things, the clock had already crept past 1 AM.

After about 20 more minutes, Ed began to sleep soundly.

However, Enya’s heart was still pounding, unable to fall asleep.

Because the feelings she had for Ed, ignited by their conversation today, could not be quelled.

“Ed……”

Enya hugged the remaining pillow on the bed tightly.

She pressed this pillow that Ed might have slept on, possibly still holding his scent, tightly against her body to calm her boiling heart.

Though the position resembled a fetus curled up in its mother’s womb, Enya felt as if she was being reborn.

‘I like you…’

For the first time, she had a crush on a man.

A man she wanted to resemble, be with, and respect enough to follow.

She had that kind of man in her life now.

“Ha… ha…”

Enya squeezed the pillow tightly.

On his bed, wrapped in his blanket, clutching his pillow tightly,

In a space entirely filled with his presence, she felt an ecstatic sensation as if she was being reborn into his values, holding onto his pillow tightly…

“Our entropy…”

And Enya thought.

That she wanted her and Ed’s entropies, which were unpredictable, to bond in the form of ‘love’.

And that she wanted to protect it with all her might and will, so it wouldn’t collapse for a long, long time.

With such thoughts, she clutched the pillow tightly.