University of Tokyo, Building 3. The Engineering Department.
Most students called it "The Dungeon."
Takeshi stood at the top of the stairwell leading to the basement. The air getting sucked down into the darkness smelled of ozone and burnt coffee. It was the scent of stress.
He checked his phone. 9:15 AM.
The landlord wanted her money by sunset. That gave him roughly eight hours to manifest 36,000 yen out of thin air.
"System," Takeshi whispered. "This better not be a flyer distribution gig."
[ WEALTH RADAR ACTIVE ][ TARGET PROXIMITY: 50 METERS ][ SIGNAL INTENSITY: HIGH ]
Takeshi took a breath and descended.
The basement wasn't a classroom. It was a graveyard of electronics. Old monitors were stacked like totem poles. Cables snaked across the floor like black veins. The only light came from the glowing blue LEDs of server racks and the pale screens of a dozen exhausted students.
The noise was a constant, low-frequency hum that vibrated in Takeshi's teeth.
No one looked up. They were all zombies, eyes glued to code, fingers flying across keyboards.
[ TARGET DETECTED ][ LOCATION: SERVER RACK 4 ]
Takeshi navigated the maze of desks. In the back corner, three guys in lab coats were huddled around a massive, open computer tower. Smoke—actual grey smoke—was wispling up from it.
"It's fried," one guy groaned, pulling at his hair. "I told you the voltage was too high, Kenji!"
"Shut up!" Kenji, a guy with thick glasses and dark circles under his eyes that looked like bruises, was frantically typing on a laptop connected to the tower. "We have the investor demo at noon. If this prototype doesn't boot, we lose the grant. We lose everything."
"It's a hardware short," the third guy said, looking ready to vomit. "But where? The motherboard has five thousand connections. It would take a week to test them all with a multimeter."
"We have two hours," Kenji snapped. He slammed his fist on the table. "Damn it!"
Takeshi stood behind them. He looked at the smoking machine.
[ OPPORTUNITY DETECTED ][ TYPE: HIGH STAKES REPAIR ][ REWARD ESTIMATE: 50,000 - 100,000 YEN ]
Takeshi's heart skipped a beat. Fifty thousand? That covered rent with cash to spare for a steak dinner.
But he knew nothing about quantum computing or whatever this monstrosity was. He was a Literature major.
"System," he thought. "Can I fix this?"
[ SKILL CHECK: ENGINEERING (LVL 0) -> FAILED ][ ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION: "EYE OF THE PLAYER" ][ LOGIC: A broken circuit is just a "Weak Point" in a machine. ]
Takeshi grinned. It was a gamble. A crazy one. But desperate times called for desperate hacks.
He stepped forward.
"I can fix it," Takeshi said.
The three engineers spun around. They looked at Takeshi's button-down shirt, his clean hair, his lack of safety goggles.
"Who are you?" Kenji barked. "Delivery guy? Leave the food by the door."
"I'm not delivery," Takeshi said, walking up to the smoking tower. "I'm the guy who's going to save your grant. For a price."
Kenji narrowed his eyes. "Get out. This is sensitive equipment. One touch and you owe us five million yen."
"It's already broken," Takeshi countered, leaning casually against a desk. "You have two hours. You can spend them panic-sweating, or you can let me look."
Kenji hesitated. The "current mood" tag above his head flashed [DESPERATE].
"You have five minutes," Kenji hissed. "If you waste my time, I'm calling security."
Takeshi stepped up to the machine. It looked like a sci-fi city seen from above—chips, capacitors, gold wiring. To a normal eye, it was chaos.
Takeshi closed his eyes for a second.
"System. Eye of the Player. Activate."
[ COST: 10 CP ][ REMAINING CP: 30 ]
SNAP.
The world turned blue. The hum of the fans deepened into a slow-motion roar.
The computer tower transformed. The metal casing became transparent wireframes. The electricity flowing through the circuits appeared as glowing blue rivers.
Takeshi scanned the motherboard.
Where is it? Where's the break?
The blue rivers flowed smoothly... until they didn't.
Right near the central processor, under a microscopic layer of thermal paste, a tiny red "X" pulsed.
[ CRITICAL FAILURE DETECTED ][ CAUSE: MICRO-FRACTURE IN GOLD TRACE ][ SOLUTION: BRIDGE CONNECTION ]
"Gotcha," Takeshi whispered.
He deactivated the eye. The color rushed back into the world. The headache hit him instantly—a sharp throb behind his temples—but he ignored it.
"Tweezers," Takeshi commanded, holding out his hand like a surgeon.
Kenji blinked. "What?"
"Give me the tweezers. And the soldering iron."
Kenji looked at his friends, then slapped the tools into Takeshi's hand.
Takeshi didn't hesitate. He reached into the mess of wires. He scraped away a tiny speck of thermal paste near the CPU.
"Are you crazy?" the third engineer shouted. "That's the processor! You'll short the whole—"
"Quiet," Takeshi said. His voice was absolute zero.
He touched the tip of the soldering iron to the board. His hand, usually shaky from caffeine and anxiety, was rock steady. The System's "Posture Correction" from yesterday was paying off in unexpected ways.
Tssst.
A tiny wisp of smoke. A single drop of silver solder bridged the invisible gap.
Takeshi pulled his hand back. He set the tools down.
"Try it now."
The room was silent. The engineers looked at the board, then at Takeshi, then at each other.
Kenji swallowed hard. He reached for the power button. His finger trembled.
Click.
The fans whirred to life. The LEDs flickered... and turned a solid, healthy green.
On the main monitor, lines of code began to scroll.
[ SYSTEM BOOT SEQUENCE... SUCCESS ]
"No way," the second engineer breathed. "No freaking way."
Kenji stared at the screen. Then he looked at Takeshi. The arrogance was gone, replaced by pure, unadulterated awe.
"How?" Kenji whispered. "That fracture... it must have been microscopic. How did you see it without a microscope?"
Takeshi shrugged, picking up his backpack.
"I have good eyes," he said. He held out his hand. "50,000 Yen. Cash."
Kenji didn't argue. He pulled out his wallet. He emptied it. Then he made the other two guys empty theirs.
They scraped together a pile of bills. Counted it out.
"52,000," Kenji said, shoving the money into Takeshi's hand. "Keep the change. Seriously. You just saved our lives."
DING!
[ MISSION COMPLETE: THE ROAD TO RICHES ][ REWARD: PASSIVE SKILL - "WEALTH RADAR" (PERMANENT) ][ BONUS: +20 CONFIDENCE ]
Takeshi shoved the cash into his pocket. The weight of the bills against his leg felt better than any romantic hug.
"Pleasure doing business," Takeshi said.
He turned to leave, walking past the rows of stunned students. He didn't look back. Cool guys don't look back at explosions, and they don't look back at fixed servers.
He reached the stairwell, his heart pounding. He did it. He actually did it.
Takeshi Yamada, the Mob Character, just hustled the elites.
He started climbing the stairs, pulling out his phone to check the time. 10:00 AM.
Plenty of time to pay the landlord and—
BZZZT.
His phone vibrated in his hand.
A call.
Incoming Call: SAE KIRIGAYA
Takeshi froze on the stairs. Sae? Her presentation should be happening right now. Why was she calling?
Did she fail? Did the "Revenge" concept backfire?
His thumb hovered over the green button. If she failed, he wouldn't get the 500 CP reward. But more importantly... if she failed, she was broken.
He answered.
"Sae-san?"
"Takeshi-kun," her voice came through the speaker. It was breathless. Shaky.
Takeshi gripped the handrail. "What happened? Did they fire you?"
There was a pause. A long, terrifying silence.
"No," Sae said. And then, he heard it.
She was laughing. Not the polite office laugh. A genuine, hysterical laugh of relief.
"They didn't fire me, Takeshi. They promoted me."
DING!
[ MISSION COMPLETE: THE CONSULTANT ][ REWARD: 500 CP ][ AFFECTION UPDATE: SAE KIRIGAYA ]
Takeshi let out a breath, leaning against the cold concrete wall. "That's... that's great news."
"It's all thanks to you," Sae said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The 'Revenge' concept... the CEO loved it. He said it was the boldest thing he's seen in ten years."
"I told you," Takeshi grinned. "Make them regret it."
"Takeshi," she said urgently. "Where are you? I'm coming home early. I want to celebrate. Just us."
"I'm at school, but I can be back in—"
"Good," she interrupted. "Because I have a surprise for you. A big one."
Click.
The call ended.
Takeshi stared at the phone. A surprise? From a grateful, promoted, beautiful older woman?
His imagination started to run wild.
DING!
[ SYSTEM ALERT ][ NEW SCENARIO DETECTED ][ WARNING: "SURPRISE" MAY CONTAIN ELEMENTS OF HAREM CONFLICT ]
Takeshi blinked. "Conflict? With who? It's just Sae."
He climbed the last few steps and pushed open the door to the outside world. The sun was bright, blindingly so.
And standing right there, leaning against the railing of Building 3, waiting for him... was Yuki.
The girl who rejected him on Sunday. The girl he ignored on Monday.
She wasn't laughing today. She was twisting her hands together, looking down at her shoes.
She looked up when she heard the door. Her eyes locked onto his.
[ TARGET: YUKI ][ CURRENT MOOD: REGRET ][ AFFECTION: 25 (Curiosity/Guilt) ]
"Takeshi," she said softly. "Can we... can we talk?"
Takeshi looked at his phone (Sae waiting with a surprise). He looked at Yuki (The girl of his dreams, asking to talk).
He looked at the 52,000 yen in his pocket.
The System screen flickered into existence between the two girls.
[ CHOICE TRIGGERED ][ ROUTE A: Go home to Sae (The Mature Route) ][ ROUTE B: Listen to Yuki (The First Love Route) ][ ROUTE C: "I'm busy." (The Chad Route) ]
Takeshi smiled.
"Sorry, Yuki," he said, walking past her without breaking stride. "I have a date with a steak."
[ ROUTE C SELECTED ][ CONFIDENCE +10 ][ YUKI AFFECTION: +5 (Shocked) ]
Takeshi walked away, leaving his past behind, heading toward his future.
But he had no idea that the "Surprise" Sae had mentioned involved the one person he never wanted to see again.