The sun peeked through the half-closed blinds of Dorm C-4. Shen Yuo sat cross-legged at the edge of his bed, sipping instant coffee like it was an ancient ritual. The dorm echoed with the clatter of Gon singing off-key in the shower and Itajhi flipping pages of a manga with dramatic slaps.
Tenjo, still shirtless and yawning, scratched his abs and eyed Shen.
"Bro, it's like, 7:42. You going to that optional lecture again?"
Shen nodded. "Yeah. Professor Maeda's session on data structures and recursive logic."
Tenjo made a face. "Ew. Nerd sh*t."
Shen smirked, slipping on his hoodie. "Nerds run the world. You just don't know it yet."
---
Campus Lecture Hall D-7 – 8:10 AM
Professor Maeda was the kind of man who wore corduroy pants with conviction and spoke like every word was a measured calculation. His thick glasses sat slightly crooked on his nose, and his whiteboard was already cluttered with looping arrows and tangled nodes by the time Shen arrived.
"Today," Maeda began, adjusting his chalk-streaked sleeves, "we challenge recursion, gentlemen and ladies. The Fibonacci sequence is child's play. Let's walk into the forest of self-replicating functions."
Students groaned. The moment Shen walked in, a few heads turned — not because of his entrance, but because rumors had spread fast after yesterday's debugging miracle.
He took a seat near the back.
Maeda gestured to the board. "Anyone care to explain why this function crashes when given a depth of 10,000? No notes. No laptops."
Silence.
Shen raised a finger casually. "Stack overflow, sir. Your base case is undefined beyond depth 5k. You're not tail-recursive either, so it chokes the call stack."
Maeda blinked. "...Precisely."
Murmurs rippled through the class.
"Who is that guy again?" someone whispered.
"I think he works at the bakery down the hill."
"No way. Isn't he dating that hot prof?"
Shen didn't flinch. He just tapped his pencil rhythmically against his notebook. His mind, however, was alive with a different interface altogether.
[System Notice: Academic Engagement Detected]
[Social Credibility +5 | Professor Affinity +3 | Campus Aura Enhanced]
[Fan Economy: Student Curiosity Surge – 17% increase in silent viewers (local IP range)]
He pulled up the covert viewer list silently in his mind.
> 🔒 Private Fan View – Passive Mode Activated
▸ Viewer_88 – [Local IP, female, nursing domain]
▸ Viewer_93 – [Unknown alias: Ayaka🌸 | Ghost Mode: Active]
▸ Viewer_122 – [Unknown alias: Misaki RN🧷 – Watching quietly]
▸ Viewer_141 – [Rikka RN💉 – Rewatching archived dorm stream]
His lips curved slightly. So they were watching again.
---
Mid-Lecture – 9:05 AM
Maeda scribbled furiously as he laid out a dynamic programming optimization puzzle. "I want someone to solve this using memoization in under three minutes. Anyone confident?"
Shen stood, walked to the board without speaking, and began writing.
Lines of code poured out — recursive base case, dictionary caching, elegant exit conditions. He capped the function with a lambda closure.
The room was silent.
Maeda stared at it. "Well… it works. It's also elegant. Efficient."
He turned, scratching his head. "Young man, what's your name again?"
"Shen Yuo."
"Hm. Ever considered an assistantship position in the comp-sci department?"
Shen smiled politely. "I'm... keeping my options open."
[System Alert: Path Unlocked – "Academic Harem: Faculty Tier"]
[New Opportunity Available: "Professor's Pet" Pathway – Optional Trigger Pending]
Shen nearly coughed.
I don't need a faculty harem right now, thanks.
---
After Class — Campus Bench, Beneath the Camphor Tree
Shen sat beneath the shade, laptop on his thighs, replaying old chat logs as his inbox quietly pinged.
— Ayaka RN🌸: "I saw the class stream. Did you really solve that problem in 2 mins?? I'm starting to think you're not human."
Shen: "Might be part AI. Or just well-rested."
— Rikka RN💉: "If you weren't so busy being hot and competent, you'd be dangerous. Oh wait. You are."
— Misaki RN🧷: "You're a puzzle, Shen. I like puzzles."
He didn't reply immediately. He watched the subtle rise in his follower counter instead. Another donation pinged into his system wallet — low value, but persistent.
Then, a new message from someone unexpected:
— Dr. Lena Mizuki: "Word's gotten out that you're 'kind of a legend' in both code and… other areas. If you're free this weekend, I'd like to talk. Or test some… compatibility metrics. Professionally, of course. 😇"
Shen exhaled slowly, his lips curving as he clicked his phone off.
[System Note: Female Viewership (Healthcare Cluster): 34% Rise Since Last Stream]
[Passive Stream Mode: Visibility Limited to Verified Female Users]
[System Balance: +₱4,300 – Daily Passive Revenue]
Tenjo passed by on a skateboard, nearly crashing into a trash can. "Yo, nerd prince! Pizza night or what?"
Shen stood, stretching. "You order. I'll bake dessert."
Tenjo gave him a thumbs up. "Deal. Also, that cute girl from the hospital? She sent you a gift. It's in the lobby."
Shen blinked. Which one? But Tenjo had glided off before he could hear him.
The lobby of Dorm C-4 was unusually quiet for early evening. Most of the students were out grabbing snacks or unwinding with trashy reality shows in the common room. Shen stepped in, eyes locking on a sleek white package resting on the receptionist's desk.
A small note was attached, handwritten with looping curves:
> "For the boy who breaks code and hearts — Thought you'd need this after that Fibonacci flex. 🍰 – A Fan"
Shen raised a brow.
[System Alert: Unknown admirer signature detected. Matching handwriting style... 88% match: Ayaka RN🌸]
Tenjo leaned over his shoulder. "Dude. You have secret fangirls now?"
"Apparently."
"Maybe I should take Comp Sci."
"You couldn't even install a browser extension last week."
"Fair."
Shen peeled the package open. Inside was a small Tupperware container filled with handmade strawberry daifuku — wrapped in silk cloth, accompanied by a tiny USB stick tied with a ribbon.
"What's this, a bribe?"
[System Ping: USB contains video message. Private Playback Enabled.]
He excused himself back to his dorm room, sliding the USB into his laptop. The screen flickered to life with soft lo-fi music and a selfie video.
Ayaka's face appeared, flushed cheeks and all.
> "Hi… Shen. I know it's weird, but I watched your class stream. Twice. You made recursion look kind of... hot? That's probably wrong, but I stand by it. I figured you might need a break — so I made snacks. And, uh, I have a thing for quiet geniuses. Maybe we can 'debug' together sometime. 😳 Don't ghost me, okay?"
Shen let out a slow breath, amused.
"Debug together, huh?" he muttered, shaking his head.
[System Update: "Ayaka RN🌸 – Interest Level: 74% → 86%"]
[Optional Flirt Quest Available: 'Sweet Seduction – Daifuku & Decoding']
---
Later That Night – Dorm C-4 Lounge
The squad was gathered: Gon was browsing memes at full brightness, Itajhi was lowkey invested in a BL webtoon while pretending not to care, and Tenjo was flexing his biceps at his own reflection.
Shen, laptop in lap, chuckled softly as another message from Rikka RN💉 lit up his phone.
— Rikka RN💉: "Heard you got sweets. I bake too, you know. Bet mine would blow Ayaka's outta the water. Just saying."
— Shen: "A baking duel? I accept."
— Rikka: "Only if I get to feed you blindfolded."
Itajhi peeked over his shoulder. "You're smiling again. That nurse girl, huh?"
"Which one?" Gon chimed in. "Because from what I've seen, the whole night shift's ready to clock into Shen's pants."
"I'm not responding to that," Shen muttered, though a grin tugged at his lips.
[System Log: Fan Interaction Retention – 91% | Night Shift Segment: Peak Activity Hours Detected]
— Misaki RN🧷: "FYI, I've got access to the nurse lounge cameras. Want a private stream of us rating your class performance? 😘"
He quickly muted notifications before his phone became a public exhibit.
---
Midnight – Shen's Room
The gentle glow of his monitor cast lines of blue across his face as he reviewed code from Professor Maeda's lecture. The cursor blinked at the end of a flawless line.
Then a new window flashed open.
[Incoming Message – Dr. Lena Mizuki]
> "I saw your class performance. Impressive. Most students fumble with recursion — you danced with it. Curious to see how you'd handle more… complex loops. I'm off duty this weekend. We should chat. Professionally, of course. 😇"
Shen smirked, not bothering to reply yet.
Instead, he checked his system dashboard:
---
📱 SYSTEM DASHBOARD – STATUS OVERVIEW
Active Skill: Passive Stream (Private – Verified Female Users Only)
Harem Influence Radius (Campus Tier): 78% penetration
Recent Follower Gains: +31 (Nursing Wing Cluster)
Funds Generated Today: ₱5,700
Current Quest Suggestions:
▸ "Nurse Night Shift Banter – Keep the tension playful"
▸ "Lecture Series: Gain 2 more professor impressions for new skill unlock"
▸ "Physical Check-In – Next visit unlocks full NSFW stream eligibility in hospital sector"
---
He closed the screen.
The dorm lights dimmed as outside, the crickets chirped, the world shifting quietly beneath the weight of unspoken tension and blooming temptation.
Shen leaned back into his pillow, staring up at the ceiling fan.
"Just banter, huh?" he murmured to himself.
But soon…
Very soon…
Things would heat up again.
---