Strange as it may sound, I found myself invigorated with new life the following few days. Seeing the fact that my old hobby was finally going somewhere, even if it was just in its nascent stage was- for lack of a better word, giving me hope.

Up till that point, I had mostly been just drifting through life. I was still focused somewhat on my degree because of course, I knew I I couldn't afford to not graduate but I didn't really care that much. I just wanted to get out and get a job. This, however, was something I could truly be passionate about.

As a consequence, I had ended up spending waaaay too much time staying up late at night editing a video. I actually ended up missing my first lecture the next morning because I had overslept

But, what can I say?

For once, I felt like I had a purpose- as corny as it may sound.

I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I don't think I noticed anyone stalking me that day. Granted, that could very well have been because no one was actually stalking me and it was just a manifestation of my paranoia, but the fact that Raphtalia had also felt the same way did make me think that there might have been something more to what I'd been feeling.

I was never really the best student even when I was fully motivated. And now that my motivation was completely gone, I ended up skipping another period later on in the day just so that I could work on the video for a bit longer. It was not a very productive use of my time- quite honestly, given the amount of money we were making at the time, I would have made around ten times the same amount if I had worked just two or three hours part-time, but in the end, the mightiest of oaks always starts as an acorn, right? I would never be able to move up or reach any kind of streamer fame, if I didn't start at all.

Anyway, everyone starts from the bottom at one point so I had no problem working like this.

Raphtalia wasn't going to come over that day and I thought that the video was almost complete by the time I went to sleep. That night, I didn't end up pulling an all-nighter mainly because I couldn't miss sleep two days in a row- that would have been way too much.

The next day I had class again of course, but this time I actually went to school on time. I didn't notice anyone following me that day either so again, I was starting to feel that maybe I had just been overthinking. And then maybe Raphtalia had been overthinking too. She had of course, just recently been harassed by someone at her old job. So perhaps that had led to her thinking that there was something... unsafe in an unfamiliar environment like around my house.

Well, I didn't miss a lecture that day. I didn't really pay that much attention to them though because I was trying to be active on social media on my phone.

Once one of them was over I was in an argument with someone over the Internet (It was over something quite stupid. I'd actually drifted away from my original aim of just promoting Raphtalia's Channel and so I had basically delved into an argument with someone else regarding move sets on Champions in Eryentiu Online. It was so pointless I didn't even remember what it was later on) but I was interrupted in this discussion as someone tapped on my shoulder.

"What is it?", I asked, not even looking up from my screen.

"Will you tear your eyes away from that for even five minutes?!" an annoying voice reached my ears.

Ah right, that was Melty, that whiz-kid. I looked up from my phone screen. "So, what do you want?"

"I wanted to discuss how we should start working on our project together!"

I gave her a very confused look. "Project?"

She made a face that I did not think was cute at all and pouted. But, I guess some people might think it was cute.

But definitely not me.

"Were you paying any attention in class?" she asked.

"What are you, my mom?" I responded.

"We have a group project together," she said. "We need to work on it together. So, I just wanted to know when I can drop by your house."

"Wait, what?" I said, now extremely concerned.

Well, it would be normal for classmates to drop by each other's houses if they were in a group project together.

It would feel extremely creepy to have a small girl visit me though.

As a matter of fact, the nightmare I had had earlier where everyone was calling me 'Pedo-fumi' Immediately began playing in my mind again.

No, no. This can't be happening!

"Professor, could I have another partner?" I asked him. He didn't even bother looking up and said,

"Your partner has been selected already and will not be changed."

I asked him again but I got the same response. Drat!

I turned around to see Melty glaring at me.

"Is the idea of working with me really that abhorrent?" she asked.

"What? Of course not," I said, not looking at her directly in the eye while I said so.

"Hey, why don't I come over to your house rather than the other way around?" I asked her.

"That um, won't work," she suddenly averted her eyes as if she was hiding something while saying that.

"Yeah, what, am I not good enough for the big mansion that you live in?" I asked her, I didn't even know if she actually lived in a mansion but she seemed to come from a family with money, so I didn't think I was too off the mark.

"Oh, it's not like that" she said. "We're just um... there's something going on in my house and I don't think I can, I mean I don't think we can have visitors for now."

She looked away while saying this and did not elaborate

"So I said, why don't we just work on it while we're here in college together?"

"Oh, my father wouldn't like that at all. He wants me back home as soon as college ends."

And is he fine sending his daughter to a grown adult's house?!

I nearly screamed that in response, but didn't.

"So I was going to ask you for your number as well as your address so I could drop by sometime tomorrow," she said.

A/N: Hey- just hope you're all enjoying this, but I wanted to say here that I'm running into two main issues while plotting out this series. One thing- many of the character's hair colors and looks don't fit into a realistic Japan- I don't want to completely change them, so I'm going to have to come up with excuses for them that may not be totally realistic.

On that note, while this is a college AU, given the age of many of Shield Hero's characters, I may once again need to think of some contrivances to bring them all together. I've already kind of done that with Melty- but very soon we will also be adding Filo and Atla to the equation. I could age some of them up- I've done so already with Raphtalia given she will be the main love interest, but I think it's difficult to do too much with the other characters without losing something about them. Raphtalia is at her 'adult' age so it's acceptable for her but not really for everyone else not to mention it would be unrealistic for all of them to be at the same college so I will have people meet him in other ways. I think Melty's explanation of being a child prodigy makes sense even with her LN characterization, and I hope to find a good enough explanation for Filo.

Though no one has mentioned it in the reviews yet, one point of contention I can see coming up is that up till now this story isn't really about Naofumi's college life- it seems to be more about his career as a streamer, and we haven't even met any named characters at his college save for Melty. Him and Raphtalia don't even go to the same college. What gives? Well, this is supposed to be the 'first arc' so to speak where Naofumi's college life is trash and not too much is spent on it, and once Naofumi deals with his trauma a bit more I plan to have the streaming aspect fade away and focus much more on the college life aspect in the next arc.

Lastly- would you guys be okay with me adding some 'fantasy' elements to the story later down the line? I do want it to take place in actual Japan and we're kind of already pushing the boundaries of logic already with many things- and I don't plan on Raphtalia or Naofumi to get magical powers or anything- but I was considering adding possible borderline supernatural elements like 'The Spirit of the Shield' watching over Naofumi and influencing events indirectly. Would that be fine- or would you guys prefer for the story to be as grounded in reality as possible?