One thing I realised about Kite is that he probably doesn’t have any degrees at all.
I don’t think in his childhood Kite was a “young Sheldon” type doing higher formal education. He makes way more sense to me as someone who was basically homeschooled by Dr. Faker instead. Kite became knowledgeable enough to make Orbital 7, a ridiculously advanced nanny robot, using Barian crystal with the knowledge he gained under Dr. Faker’s tutelage. That kind of education was probably not normal schooling at all, but direct specialised teaching from Faker himself.
I also think that probably stopped after the death of his mother, when he made Orbital 7 and then with Hart they were moved to that house on the hills. That would explain a lot about Kite and how he is clearly highly intelligent and technically capable, but he does not have any “Dr.” title or signs of a conventional academic path. And honestly, why would he bother with a doctorate and post-doc training when his life was already that insane and he was already too good anywa— (psstt being a nepo baby)
The Dr. Faker homeschooling idea is also backed by the fact that Kite already has extensive knowledge about Astral World and Barian World, including their materials. That is the same kind of knowledge he used to give Orbital 7 “life,” and it is also the kind of knowledge he later applies to things like Yuma’s Emperor’s Key to get to Astral's airship. I really do not think such bizarre, niche research about other worlds would be incorporated into formal education in any normal way, so the idea of fast-track private learning under Faker makes much more sense to me.
There is also that final manga panel of Hart being present in Kite and Luna's research of energies of other worlds, and the anime points in the same direction as he's seen with his father, Vetrix, Chris and Kite.
I would even say Orbital 7 and Obomi’s “kids” being made by Hart fits this pattern, he was standing right closer to them. Hart is only about 7 or 8, but that actually tracks when you remember Kite himself made Orbital 7 when he was around 11. At that point it starts to feel less like random genius and more like a family pattern of accelerated private learning. And if Hart was learning that fast, it was probably largely from Kite, because Kite was the person most present in his life, learning a lot from him, maybe with Orbital 7 helping too!
I also like to think Kite did his own research on Hart’s condition in his own time after they were dragged back to Heartland Tower. It probably went nowhere, because in the end even Dr. Faker had to search for a cure outside their world, but I still think Kite would have tried his best to understand Hart’s condition himself. He feels exactly like the kind of person who would throw himself into research first, then realise how futile it was, and only then give in to his father’s intelligence and desperation in using the Number cards.
That is also why I like the detail in the fanmade doujin Heartland Pandemic, where Kite is quick to make a machine to keep Hart alive. It feels very canon to me. It builds on something that already seems true about him, that he is not just smart in a general anime prodigy way, but specifically the kind of person who would try to engineer a solution for Hart with his own hands.
The reason I started thinking about any of this at all is because in the final two episodes of Zexal I, Kite is shown seriously contemplating his future. He feels the weight of needing a purpose in life that is outside of Hart, now that he's cured instead of simply being joyous upon his recovery.
And I kept thinking "Bro, what the hell does he have to be worried about? Just do research and invent stuff with your father". That future seems so obvious. But then it hit me that maybe it is only obvious to the outside viewers.
Kite essentially has nothing except highly specialised knowledge and the strength he gained from duelling for Hart, and that being his sole reason. He is brilliant, but not in a way that is formally anchored to the world. He is not “a scientist” by default in the normal social sense. He did not necessarily grow up on a path with recognisable stages, qualifications, institutions, or a standard career route. He learned through an extremely unconventional form of homeschooling, then his mother died, then he became fixated on Hart, and suddenly his whole life had a different centre. If he was already isolated as a child, and then spent years living almost entirely through protecting Hart, it makes complete sense that he would later stop and wonder: if I am not living for Hart anymore, then what exactly is my purpose now? What is my life actually supposed to be?
So yes, practically speaking, he could apply that knowledge by working under Dr. Faker and continuing research. And that is basically what he does. But emotionally and socially, that future would not necessarily come naturally to him at all. He has the intelligence, the tools, and the facilities, but not the conventional background that tells someone who they are outside of the role they were forced into. Which is why his uncertainty in the final episodes actually makes more sense to me now.
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