Huawei burst through the school doors just as the warning bell chimed. Her chest heaved as she tried to stabilize her frantic respiratory metrics.

For the first time in her life, she was a chaotic mess—her purple hair had static flyaways, and her signature ribbon was noticeably tilted at a hasty, unmeasured angle.

Standing by the gray school lockers, Yue's eyes instantly widened to the size of saucers. She didn't even notice the messy hair at first.

Her gaze locked entirely onto the crisp white envelope peeking conspicuously out of Huawei's unzipped blazer pocket.

Yue lunged forward, her fingers playfully doting and poking at Lu Huawei's cheek.

"Oooh! You got a love letter!" she squealed, a massive, teasing grin stretching across her face. "Did Subject B actually corner you yesterday?!"

Huawei gently swatted Yue's hand away, trying to smooth down her crooked collar.

"Calm yourself, Yue. It is not a 'love letter.' It is a high-risk data submission," she explained, her voice completely smooth despite her disheveled appearance. "I have been thinking of ways to deny him politely. My verbal script yesterday suffered a systemic bypass due to his elevated high school adrenaline levels."

Yue stopped poking her, tilting her head with an expectant look. "And...?"

"But I fell asleep watching romantic shows," Huawei admitted with a stiff, formal nod. "My biological limits overridden my analytical processing before I could finalize the optimal counter-notice."

Yue stared at her best friend's unneat appearance—the slightly wild purple hair, the crooked ribbon, the dark circles under her brilliant ruby eyes.

She let out a heavy, defeated sigh, totally bewildered by how Huawei could treat a confession like a medical thesis. But as she looked at her, she couldn't help but groan in playful jealousy.

"Unbelievable," Yue muttered, facepalming. "Even though you look a complete mess right now, you are still so cute. God must have seriously blessed your genetics!"

Huawei blinked her ruby eyes in genuine, clinical confusion. She tilted her head, completely missing the casual praise.

"Is that a compliment?" Huawei asked seriously. "Or are you currently logging an environmental anomaly regarding my facial symmetry?"

Huawei marched down the crowded hallway with the white envelope clutched firmly in her hand, her crooked ribbon bouncing with every step. Yue trailed a few paces behind, watching nervously as Huawei zeroed in on her target.

Standing by the water fountain was Chen.

The moment he looked up and saw her approaching, his eyes lit up. He stood tall, smiling and visibly excited, his heart practically visible on his sleeve as he braced for her response.

But as Huawei stopped in front of him, the cold, clinical speech she had prepared completely evaporated.

Looking at his bright, hopeful face, she suddenly felt acutely aware of her own disheveled state—her unmeasured ribbon, her wild static hair, and her exhausted brain. For the first time, her system felt entirely disorganized.

Before he could speak, Huawei squeezed her eyes shut and bowed deeply from the waist, her messy purple hair tumbling over her shoulders.

"I am so sorry!" Huawei blurted out, her voice tightly strained. "I am not fit to accept this right now. I am not attractive today, I am messy, and my mind is a complete mess!"

Chen blinked, completely caught off guard by her sudden bow.

But as he looked down at her—at the slight pink flush on her cheeks, her messy hair, and the fierce, chaotic determination in her ruby eyes—his expression softened into something intensely sincere. He didn't care about a perfect ribbon.

"What are you talking about, Lu Huawei?" Chen said softly, stepping closer.

Huawei looked up from her bow, her ruby eyes blinking in confusion.

"You're not messy," Chen continued, his voice growing passionate as a confident smile broke across his face. "Even like this, your beauty is unbelievable. Your smile, your hair, your eyes... I've admired you for a really long time, exactly as you are!"

The sheer, raw emotional honesty of his words hit Huawei like a physical shockwave.

There was no data for this. There was no formula in her notebook to calculate a boy praising her flaws. Her analytical brain completely short-circuited under the overwhelming weight of his confession.

Stunned and entirely breathless, her feet moved on their own, forcing her to take a staggered step backward just to keep her distance from his intense gaze.

Chen saw her wide, completely baffled expression and chuckled softly. He knew he had pushed her logical limits to the brink for one day.

He gently reached out, took the white envelope back from her trembling fingers, and gave her a burning, determined look.

"I understand my defeat for now," Chen declared confidently, pumping his fist slightly before turning on his heel. "But I won't give up on you!"

With that final, cinematic declaration, he jogged down the hallway, leaving Huawei standing entirely frozen in the middle of the corridor like a statue with an overloaded motherboard.

Yue slowly crept up from the sidelines, staring at her best friend's blank, catatonic expression. She poked Huawei's shoulder, but the school idol didn't even move.

Yue let out a long, slow whistle, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Well, Lu... looks like your 'systematic rejection' just got hit with a massive malware attack. Turns out, high school boys don't care about your astronomical charts when they're that far gone."