...🎓 Character Introductions...

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🌸 Main Couple:

Nobita Nobi (19)

Major: Physics

Personality: Clumsy, overly emotional, has a soft heart and terrible luck. Thinks he’s average but is surprisingly smart when motivated (especially when Dekisugi’s around to show off in front of).

Style: Baggy hoodies, oversized glasses, always carrying a beat-up sketchbook or crumpled class notes.

Secret strength: Artistic eye for detail, visual learner, emotional intelligence.

Conflict: Constantly feels inferior next to Dekisugi—never confessed the feelings he's buried since middle school.

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Dekisugi Hidetoshi (20)

Major: Theoretical Mathematics & Engineering

Personality: Polished, charming, sharp-tongued when annoyed. Used to being admired, but deep down, kind of lonely and secretly very observant of Nobita.

Style: Clean-cut, sleek black hair, neutral tones, expensive watch, smells faintly of cedarwood and arrogance.

Secret weakness: Has always been fascinated by Nobita’s unpredictability and sincerity. Keeps his feelings repressed under layers of pride.

Conflict: Doesn’t know how to express emotion without sounding clinical—his rivalry with Nobita hides a deep affection he never resolved.

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💥 Side Couple 1:

Gian (Takeshi Goda, 20)

Major: Performing Arts

Personality: Loud, protective, outwardly rough, surprisingly poetic. Trying to be more vulnerable but hates being laughed at.

Style: Tank tops, big hoodies, pierced ear, lowkey soft boy core when no one’s looking.

Secret: Writes romantic lyrics in a hidden notebook.

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Suneo Honekawa (19)

Major: Business and Fashion

Personality: Flirty, snarky, vain—but also deeply insecure under his confidence. Has always had a weird thing for Gian but masks it with teasing.

Style: Designer fits, rings on every finger, always smells expensive.

Secret: Collects polaroids of Gian doing “cute things” from afar.

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🤖 Side Couple 2:

Doraemon (??? Looks 21)

Identity: AI-powered humanoid prototype from the future, still loyal to Nobita but slowly evolving emotionally.

Major/Role: Works as a research assistant in the Robotics Lab.

Personality: Kind, logical, always puts others first. Now… starting to question what it means to want something for himself.

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[OC] Kazuki (21)

Major: Experimental AI Research / Café Owner’s Son

Personality: Quiet, mysterious, likes talking to machines more than people. Thinks Doraemon is “more human than most humans.”

Vibe: Cozy sweaters, coffee-stained fingers, quiet smiles.

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...🌸 INTRO: Equation of the Heart 🌸...

There are equations that can be solved on a whiteboard.

And then there are equations like Nobita Nobi vs. Dekisugi Hidetoshi—where no formula, no logic, and no amount of late-night cram sessions can explain why a heart races when the person you hate the most walks into the room.

Nobita never expected to end up at Tokyo’s top university. He certainly didn’t expect to share a major—and half his lecture schedule—with his childhood academic rival, Dekisugi.

Dekisugi, the perfect boy. Golden boy. University heartthrob. Smart, elegant, unbearably smug.

But behind passive-aggressive jabs and sarcastic quips, something has always lingered between them. Something that feels like—

Long stares that last too long.

Jealousy that doesn’t make sense.

Dreams that shouldn’t involve each other, yet somehow… always do.

Throw in some nosy best friends, a glitching robotic cat from the future, two surprise side romances, and a storm of unspoken feelings—and college life is about to get a lot more complicated than final exams.

To be continued...

...Tokyo University – First week of fall semester...

Nobita Nobi was not emotionally prepared for 9 a.m. Advanced Mechanics.

He wasn’t emotionally prepared for anything at 9 a.m., to be honest, but especially not for the moment when Dekisugi Hidetoshi strolled into the lecture hall like he was walking onto a runway.

"You're kidding me," Nobita muttered under his breath, adjusting his foggy glasses with one hand while clutching a half-crushed energy bar in the other.

Same neatly pressed blazer. Same confident stride. Same stupidly symmetrical face.

Even after three years apart—Nobita having clawed his way into university, Dekisugi having gone abroad for early-entry scholarships—it felt like no time had passed.

Except now, Dekisugi had grown taller, leaner, with a jawline that could slice through ice and a voice a few octaves deeper than Nobita remembered. His hair was longer, pushed back in a way that revealed too much forehead and too much charm.

And the worst part? He looked good. Better than before. Unfair.

Dekisugi didn’t even look surprised to see him. No, he looked like he expected this—like he knew he’d be at the top of the class again, and Nobita would be right there behind him, huffing and puffing like some underfed academic rival in bad sneakers.

Their eyes met.

Dekisugi tilted his head, smirking.

"Still slouching, I see," he said smoothly, sliding into the seat right in front of him.

Nobita felt the tips of his ears burn. "Still nosy, I see."

A few nearby students chuckled at their exchange. The professor hadn't even started the lecture yet, and already the childhood rivals were back at it.

“Wow,” someone behind them whispered. “Are they always like this?”

Nobita sighed. Great. Day one, and they were already the spectacle of the semester.

It was always like this.

Dekisugi would glide into a room, and Nobita's self-esteem would take a dive off a cliff. They weren’t exactly enemies, but they weren’t friends, either.

At least… not anymore.

There were moments. Quiet afternoons under sun-dappled trees, solving math puzzles with half-melted ice cream in hand. Afternoons Nobita had tried to forget. Afternoons that lingered like fingerprints on old homework.

There had been a time, right before Dekisugi moved away, when Nobita almost said something. Something stupid. Something like, “You make me want to try harder.” Or maybe, “I like you. A little too much.”

But Dekisugi changed schools overnight. No goodbye. Just absence.

Now he was back. Older, colder, and—somehow—more beautiful.

And Nobita hated how fast his heart was beating.

Class began. The professor scribbled equations across the whiteboard, launching straight into tensor fields and nonlinear dynamics like he assumed half the class had solved gravity before breakfast.

Nobita tried to focus, but Dekisugi’s presence was magnetic. The back of his neck, the subtle way he tapped his pen when deep in thought, the tilt of his head when he was seconds away from raising his hand with the exact right answer.

He hated it.

But he also kind of loved it.

“Can anyone explain the reasoning behind step three?” the professor asked, glancing across the room.

Dekisugi’s hand shot up. Nobita’s followed on reflex.

The professor blinked. “Nobi-san?”

Oh no. That wasn't the plan.

Nobita gulped and stood, voice cracking slightly. “Uh—because it’s a coordinate transformation. You're rewriting the second-order differential equation in terms of generalized coordinates… to, um… simplify the boundary conditions?”

Silence.

Then: “Correct.”

Nobita blinked. “Wait. Really?”

He sat down quickly, heart hammering.

Dekisugi glanced back over his shoulder. His eyes held something unreadable—curiosity? Surprise?

Or worse… approval.

After class, Nobita tried to slip out quickly, head down, when a familiar voice stopped him near the door.

"You’ve improved," Dekisugi said casually, holding a sleek notebook and an even sleeker smirk. "Your problem-solving approach. Less chaotic."

Nobita blinked. "Are you… complimenting me?"

Dekisugi’s lips twitched. "Don’t get used to it."

Nobita rolled his eyes. "You’re still a smug jerk, you know that?"

Dekisugi leaned in slightly, his voice lower this time. “And you’re still predictable.”

The words weren’t cruel—they were almost fond. That made it worse.

Their eyes locked. Too long. Too intense. Too… something.

Nobita looked away first, his breath catching.

“See you tomorrow, Nobi-kun.”

He hated how good that sounded coming from Dekisugi’s mouth.

Nobita trudged across campus, muttering under his breath and trying to mentally erase the way Dekisugi had said his name. His legs carried him toward the quad, but his brain was still replaying the way Dekisugi’s voice had dipped, almost intimate.

"See you tomorrow, Nobi-kun."

It sounded less like a threat and more like a promise.

He plopped down on a bench under a gingko tree and buried his face in his notes.

"You look like you just failed your entrance exam," came another voice—sharp, teasing.

Suneo Honekawa.

Nobita groaned. “Don’t start.”

Suneo sat beside him, swirling his iced coffee with a straw in that annoying way he always did. “Let me guess. Dekisugi?”

“Ugh.”

“I saw the two of you earlier. That tension could’ve melted steel beams.”

“That wasn’t tension,” Nobita grumbled. “That was lifelong mutual contempt.”

“Yeah, sure,” Suneo said with a wink. “Keep telling yourself that.”

On the other side of the quad, Gian was tossing a football to a group of theater kids and shouting instructions like a drill sergeant. Suneo’s eyes flicked toward him for a moment too long.

Nobita narrowed his eyes. “What is going on with you two?”

Suneo smirked but said nothing, sipping his drink in a way that looked suspiciously flustered.

That night, Nobita lay in bed in his cramped dorm, staring at the ceiling.

He had three assignments, two unread emails, and one very dangerous realization:

Dekisugi Hidetoshi had looked at him today. Really looked at him.

Not just as a rival. Not just as some nuisance from the past.

There was something else in his eyes.

And Nobita didn’t know if he was ready to find out what it was.

To be continued...

The second time Nobita saw Dekisugi that week, he was holding two coffees and trying very hard not to cry.

It was Wednesday. The sky was overcast. The vending machine had eaten his card. Again.

As if on cue, Dekisugi appeared like the physical embodiment of every unfair thing in Nobita’s life—looking sleek in his long black coat, hair perfectly parted, flipping a leather-bound notebook like he was born to carry heartbreak.

Nobita squinted at him from across the hallway and cursed under his breath.

“Let me guess,” came Dekisugi’s annoyingly smooth voice. “You tried to get coffee without checking your balance again.”

Nobita jumped, nearly spilling both drinks. “How do you even—were you watching me?!”

Dekisugi arched a brow. “You’re loud. And predictable.”

“You’re smug. And condescending.”

They stood in silence for a beat. The hallway buzzed with other students, but all Nobita could focus on was how close Dekisugi was standing.

He smelled like rain and cedarwood shampoo. Unfair.

Dekisugi reached forward suddenly—too suddenly—and Nobita flinched.

But instead of insulting him, he took one of the coffee cups from Nobita’s trembling hands.

“I’ll take this. You obviously didn’t buy both for yourself.”

Nobita blinked. “I mean—technically I did, but…”

Dekisugi sipped it without waiting for permission.

And Nobita hated—hated—the way his heart fluttered.

---

They ended up walking toward the campus commons side by side. Not together, but not exactly apart, either.

Dekisugi walked like someone who knew where he was going. Nobita walked like someone who didn’t want to trip over a pebble and die of embarrassment in front of his childhood rival.

“So,” Dekisugi said casually, “you’re really majoring in Physics.”

Nobita bristled. “Yeah, why?”

“I expected something more… artistic.”

“Why? Because I suck at math?”

“No,” Dekisugi said, eyes flicking to him. “Because you always had a way of seeing things differently. It’s a compliment.”

Nobita’s brain short-circuited.

“Are you—are you being nice to me?”

Dekisugi smirked. “Don’t get used to it.”

---

They sat near a cherry blossom tree, mostly out of habit from middle school days. Nobita watched as Dekisugi typed effortlessly on a tablet, legs crossed, brows furrowed in concentration.

“You look like a model,” Nobita blurted, immediately regretting it.

Dekisugi paused. Looked at him. Slowly, a smile curled at his lips.

“You think I’m good-looking?”

“I didn’t say that—! I mean—objectively—like, for someone who’s into that kind of—ugh, never mind.”

Dekisugi chuckled. It was quiet, almost warm.

“You haven’t changed much,” he said. “Still flustered. Still dramatic.”

“Yeah?” Nobita shot back. “Well, you have changed. You’re taller. Ruder. Even more full of yourself.”

But his voice cracked at the end.

Dekisugi looked at him then—really looked at him. His expression softened. “You’re not as weak as you think, Nobita.”

That name. That voice. It made Nobita feel fourteen again.

Vulnerable. Seen.

---

Later that day, disaster struck—again—during their shared elective class.

Group presentation. Last minute partner shuffle. Professor's words: "Nobita and Dekisugi, you're paired together."

Dekisugi didn’t react.

Nobita wanted to melt into the floor.

The moment the class ended, Nobita bolted out, papers fluttering. Dekisugi caught up in three strides.

“You’re avoiding me,” he said.

“Observation skills on point, Sherlock.”

“Nobita.”

The way Dekisugi said his name was unfair. Like a promise. Like something he'd say in a dream.

Nobita turned around too fast, colliding with Dekisugi's chest.

His glasses slipped. Dekisugi’s hand shot out and caught them.

His fingers brushed against Nobita’s cheek. Too soft. Too long.

Neither of them moved.

"You okay?" Dekisugi asked, voice oddly gentle.

Nobita nodded. Couldn’t speak.

Dekisugi fixed his glasses for him. The touch lingered.

"You're still bad at taking care of yourself," he murmured. "Let me help."

Nobita’s throat tightened. “Why now?”

Dekisugi’s eyes were unreadable.

“Maybe because I’m tired of pretending I don’t care.”

And just like that, he walked away—leaving Nobita with two racing heartbeats, an untouched coffee cup, and no clue what the hell just happened.

---

To be continued...