Program 5: Logical operation of a Reticence Genius ~ && || !

Upon opening his eyes and processing the existence of being alive, Sora turned over on his side and picked up his phone. Taking note of the time, he stood to his feet and took a second to stretch his arm. His shoulder felt a bit stiff and needed to relieve his bladder. After dealing with the various tasks at hand, he could see that his sister was still sound asleep on the couch. I wonder if she has any books on programming in her backpack, he thought as he quietly unzipped the fastener.

Digging around in the pack, there was little sign of anything remotely being in the shape of a book. Using his phone to shine some light into the pack, he noticed four medication bottles. Upon closer examination, he could see the labels on the bottles: escitalopram, fluoxetine, sertraline and citalopram. Each of them warned against taking over 200 milligrams as an overdose would be fatal. As he placed them back into his sister’s pack, he recalled that she had a pill bottle in the nurse’s office and was about to take one before he had interrupted her.

Standing to his feet Sora suddenly felt intense pain that dropped him to the floor with a thud. In that instance, he had figured out what had hate him and wished had not stood up.

“Did you drop something, little bro?”

Sora looked up to see his sister who had just woken up.

“Something… dropped…”

Making his way to the couch slowly, it was clear to Hime what had happened.

“Sorry. My skills in programming can’t fix that.”

“I think I truly became a girl today,” Sora said as he tried to stop the pain by rubbing the area gently.

“Guess we need to change your gender. You’re my imouto now.”

“You owe me big time, sis.”

“I’ll buy you a book on computer science. How about that?”

“Sounds good. I may have to skip school today though with this pain.”

“Is that so? And here I was going to teach a good lesson on video games for our mathematics class. But if you’re not feeling well—”

“Actually, I’m feeling better. Let’s go!”

Sora quickly jumped to his feet and was ready to head off to school.

“We still have time before we have to get dressed. I know you’re ready to learn but take it slow. You don’t want your life to past you by and miss all the good things,” Hime said as she laid back down on the couch.

“Like my sister kicking me in place that caused an error?”

“Exactly. It is these moments that will be written down in history and make people want to study you.”

“So you’re saying we are only famous when we die?”

“More or less,” Hime said as she looked at the time on her phone.

“Do you have any lessons you could teach me?” Sora asked as he looked to his sister with excitement in his eyes.

“Head to UTube and check out Mr D Bananas and his S++ learn in one video. I don’t expect you to know all that but it will give you something to do and help you get an idea of the programming language we will be using when we create our game.”

Hime closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep while Sora headed back to his room. Grabbing his phone and some headphones, he opened the UTube application which allowed users to watch videos. There were many different types of videos from cute cats playing the piano to streamers that played various games for entertainment. He mostly used the application to enjoy videos about video game lore and interesting facts that were not common knowledge. Another hobby of his was to study vocabulary and learn ostentatious words which the common layperson did not know. The only other videos he watched on a near daily basis was Neiko~ who was a popular cosplayer and foot model who never revealed her face. He had noticed she had a few new videos posted and he was extremely tempted to watch them. No, I should watch the video my sister told me about. I can just watch her videos later, he thought as he entered the name of the video into the search field. Upon finding the video, he clicked on it and was greeted by sound of a passionate educator and a light blue postcard design with the title on it.

“Well, hello Internet and welcome to my S++ programming tutorial.”

Even if Sora was unsure about what was going on throughout the tutorial, he could feel the passion behind what was being taught. In a matter of minutes, he was engrossed in the whole one hour and ten minute video. Before long, a notification popped up at the top of his phone. It was a text message from Riku asking if he was up. Opening the message he read the whole thing to find that it was more than just asking if he was awake. Reading further, the message was asking if he had done the homework in his sister’s class. Leaving her on ‘read’ as per the usual status quo, he quickly stood to his feet and headed into the living room. His sister was still sleeping soundly on the couch, one leg out stretched and the other hugging her chest. She appeared peaceful and there was a part of Sora that did not wish to wake her up.

“Come on, sis. Wake up or we will be late,” Sora said as he gently shook his sister’s shoulder.

Seeing her barely managing to open her eyes, Sora headed back into his room and started to get dressed into his school uniform – styling up his hair in his typical cute pigtails fashion. Grabbing his phone, he made his way back out into the living room and noticed that his sister was just barely started to get her top on.

“Let’s go, sis. We don’t want to be late.”

Putting on her skirt, Hime yawned as she looked as if her body was going to fall back into a state of hibernation. Sora rushed to the door and started to slip on his shoes.

“Come on, get your shoes on and let’s go.”

“Can we stop and get some coffee first?” Hime asked in a sleepy voice as she made her way over to the front door.

“We can grab coffee if it’s quick.”

Moving with haste, Sora looked at his phone and took note of the time. Hime was barely managing to trail behind him as they turned a corner to make a stop at a local small coffee shop. He ordered Hime her coffee to go while he stopped at a vending machine to get a soda. Downing his soda fairly quickly, he looked at his phone to see that they would just barely make it to school in time. After making it to the main school building, Sora removed his shoes.

“I’m glad you started teaching here, big sis.”

Hime could not help but smile.

“Dr Tokisaki.”

The sudden voice from behind that he did not sound familiar to him, startled him a bit. Turning to see who was speaking, Sora was met with a short girl who had long platinum blond hair and blue eyes. She seemed to be only thirteen years of age due to her child-like face and various features. Her outfit was a simple white tank-top and denim jean shorts while her legs were flawless and showed off her pink ankle socks and low-top red converses. Yet, he felt something was off about the girl’s legs – as if they seemed a bit too perfect.

“Reina, I told you not to call me that. I hate being called by my title.”

“Sorry, Hime. I have those questions and answer sheets you texted me about last night… or two nights ago? I forget,” Reina said as she handed the sheets over to Hime.

“Thanks, Rei. I appreciate it,” Hime said as she looked over the sheets.

“What are those, sis?”

“Oh, is this your brother?”

“Yeah, I teach mathematics so I’m trying to incorporate my education, with his passion while also helping the order students learn real-world problems and teach them the important skills they will need.”

“And so you’re using game theory to demonstrate various concepts applied in different mathematical fields?”

Hime nodded and looked over to Sora.

“Oh right, bro. This is Doctor Reina Ibarazaki. She holds a degree in economics. That question I gave the class and the one I told you to think about, remember those?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she uses them and studies the various problems for game theory. And before you say anything, game theory is not actually what you think it is.”

“We do study games in game theory but it is more about mathematical models of strategic interactions of various rational agents. Mostly, I study it for finance and economics but I have used it in a bit of cryptography.”

“Hey, Reina. What would you say to having our classes join together for a group study session. Oh! Maybe we should get Ryeichi and the Doc to join us too.”

“Interesting. Perhaps a class trip of some sort?”

“Keep thinking about it and see what Ryeichi thinks. I’ll ask the Doc,” Hime said as she pulled out her smartphone.

Hime took note of the time.

“Oh crap, Sora, you need to get to class and I need to prep for the lesson.”

Sora watched as his sister rushed off and turned a corner, disappearing from his sight. He turned to Reina and bowed slightly.

“Thank you for helping out my older sister, Miss Ibarazaki. Sorry, Doctor Ibarazaki.”

Reina waved her hand as if to say it was not important.

“Personally, I also hate when people use my title. I don’t want to feel like I’m above others. Of course, it is a pain in formal settings because it is considered the ‘polite’ thing to do.”

“Did you attend the same university as my sister?”

“No, I did not attend Harvard. I got my doctorate from Stanford University.”

“Is… that a really good school?”

“Depends on who you ask, I guess. Princeton University, Brown University, Columba University, Cornell University, Darthmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Yale and such are consider the top Ivy League schools and the most prestigious universities in the world. Still, there are many that will say universities like MIT, Caltech, Stanford and such are prestigious. In my opinion, I believe anyone who continues to study and learn is worthy of education. The university they graduated from should not matter, only their passion for attaining new understandings and the accomplishments they gain in their education.”

Before Sora could say anything, the sound of the bell rang out.

“Oh no, I’m late!”

Grabbing the slippers from his locker and putting his shoes in their place, Sora rushed down the hallway and into his classroom. Hoping to sneak his way into the back of the classroom, he quietly opened the door and tried to make his way to his seat.

“Glad you could join us, Sora,” Hime said in a teasing tone.

All eyes in the class were on him, standing there holding his slippers like he had committed an affair and was trying to sneak back into the house.

“Sorry, I was talking to Miss Ibarazaki.”

“I see. So, you engaged in lustful relations with a teacher? How lewd, little brother,” Hime giggled as she continued to tease her brother.

The classroom was filled with a joyous laughter of the light-hearted atmosphere.

“Hey! Don’t get the wrong idea. We were like talking about universities overseas.”

“I believe you but as your home-room teacher, I have to be fair. I am in such as dilemma,” Hime said in an overly sarcastically and dramatic fashion.

“You could just let me off the hook for once.”

“Hmm. Class, what do you think I should do?”

The class debated among themselves as to what should be done. Sora could see that even Riku was thinking about what should happen. Looking over to Aruto, he could tell that she was the only one who did not wish to engage in the discussion. Before a decision could be reached, the sound of the door opening startled the class as everyone turned to see what it was. Standing in the doorway was Takashi with his usual flamboyant theatrical presence.

“Sora, my love! I have come to ask for your hand in matrimony.”

The room fell silent. Hime could only tilt her head in confusion by the sudden appearance of Takashi while Sora was unable to process the words that had come out of his mouth.

“Who… are you?” Hime asked.

“I, Takashi Fujiwara, wish to marry the beautiful Sora Tokisaki and take his hand in the holy sacrament of a grand union that is proof of our bond.”

Hime giggled loudly as her eyes started to tear up from Takashi’s overly dramatic speech.

“Care to buy Sora’s slippers for ten thousand yen?”

Without any hesitation, Takashi slammed a one hundred dollar bill down on the podium and grabbed Sora’s slippers from his hand.

“I shall always remember you forever more my beauty!” Takashi said as he gently kissed Sora’s hand.

Without another word, Takashi left as the classroom descended into silence once more. After a few minutes, Hime finally interjected.

“Okay, well, that happened.”

Sora headed to his seat as his brain tried to process everything that had just happened. Laying his head down on his desk, he realised he was defeated by the final boss.

“He… took my slippers…”

“What did you learn today, Sora?”

“That this world is cruel.”

“Close enough. Okay students, there is a lot that is happening but today in my class we will learn some interesting concepts used in mathematics so be ready for that,” Hime said in a cheerful tone.

Enthusiasm rang throughout the classroom about the lecture while Sora continued to groan. While he enjoyed going without shoes around his dorm, the thought of being without shoes during school was a bit embarrassing to him. He recalled once a girl who walked around the school hallways barefoot. She was considered an idol of the school when Sora had first enrolled at the academy. On her last day before graduating, she had graced his presence for only a brief moment but he could never forget the image ingrained in his mind that day. Her petite beautiful feet and indigo painted toenails left an impression in his mind. They appeared soft and smooth as if he could glide a finger down them without the feeling of any cracks or blemishes. The size of her feet were so small that she could have made tons of cash just from her feet alone.

Yet, she had graduated before Sora could ever get to talk to her. The only thing that remained as her feet. He could barely remember her face or even her hair colour. While there was no way of knowing if they could have been great friends, he did know that from the talk of most students she was a wonderful person that could get along with anyone, no matter the person. There was a story that she once gave a student one-thousand yen to buy a quality meal that he had always dreamed of indulging in. Another talked about how she modelled for the art students. According to what he had heard, she even showed off her feet to be drawn but the pictures were soon lost when some paint had been spilled on them. Sadly, he never got to see those drawings. A part of him wanted to talk to her that day and wished he could have just said something. She was a kind girl from what he could tell but he would never get the chance again.

“I think you should date Takashi, Sora.”

The sound of Riku’s voice jarred Sora from his idol fantasy.

“I’m not into guys.”

“Come on, with your beautiful hair, feminine body, enticing thighs and legs, and those petite feet, you could have all the boys spun around your pinky finger.”

“I’d rather not. I just want to enjoy playing video games. Maybe if I could find a girl that enjoyed them too I would fall in love with her.”

“So, your older sister?” Riku teased.

“This is not a hentai anime,” Sora said as he looked to Riku with a half-moon gaze of annoyance.

“Right, right,” Riku waved nonchalantly as she looked down at Sora’s feet.

“Why are you staring at my feet?”

“I’m curious as to how much Takashi would pay for your socks.”

“You even try anything and I will get my sister to hack into your family’s bank accounts and ruin you.”

Riku laughed as she tried to play off her joke like she was not serious.

“Don’t worry, I would never actually do that,” Riku said with a smile.

Once the bell had rung for the first period class to start, Hime took her leave. Sora continued to groan silently in his head as he tried to focus on the lectures and work the teachers were giving. Throughout the lectures, none of the teachers said anything about him being without slippers. The academy was fairly loose on its dress code to the point the only thing students truly needed was to have their dress shirt and either trousers or skirt. Other than that, the academy was based around merit and hard work – appearance played only a small role if the student had the skills to backup their worth.

Classes continued on until it was time for Hime’s lecture. Everyone in the class remained attentive as they waited for Hime to speak. She commanded full control of the classroom due to her unorthodox teaching methodologies. While it was likely she was branded as heretical in the eyes of some teachers, Sora knew that she did care about any of that. The fact was, even if some did not like it, his sister’s methods did show results and merit.

“I’ll be handing out these worksheets to each of you. Today’s lecture is going to be exciting.”

Hime passed out the worksheets to each student until she reached Sora’s desk.

“I have a job for you, Sora. I need you to go to the art room and get some paint and brushes. Just ask Ryeichi and she will know what to do.”

“You don’t actually need them… do you? This is just punishment for being late.”

Hime giggled as Sora sighed. Standing to his feet, he made his way out into the hall and hoped that he could avoid running into anyone. Feeling the wooden floor under his feet, he started to realise why they wore slippers. The wood flooring was usually polished and waxed to keep it free of damage while also being cleaned to the point of perfection. In general, the floors were so clean that students could eat off of them. Yet, this did not help him with traction. If he was not careful about how he walked, he would end up falling on his rear-end.

As Sora turned a corner he could feel something bump into him with the force of the average child. Upon trying to steady himself, he lost his footing and quickly fell atop whatever had hit him. Everything happened so fast that he did not have time to process what had happened. After taking a moment to gain an understanding of the situation, he realised he was on top of a girl. She appeared only to be thirteen years of age with blond hair and pale blue eyes. Her hair was tied in a pair of pigtails with a black skull hair clip that held back her bangs on the left side.

“Verschwinde von mir, du Plebejer!”

At the sound of the angry girl’s voice, Sora immediately got off the girl. He could see that girl was heavily into the Gothic-Lolita style by her outfit and accessories.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to like hitchu.”

“Nein, alles in Ordnumg. Es war meine Schuld.”

The girl coughed for moment as if to clear her throat.

“Sorry. I mean, it is fine. You should be more careful though,” the girl said as she spoke to Sora so he could understand.

“Anyway, sor’y for what happened happened girl. Laters.”

Sora made his way past the girl and down the hallway before turning another corner. He was surprised the girl did not say anything about him not wearing shoes but decided not to think about it as he approached a door with the label ‘art room’ on it. Hopefully, I can get what I need and get out, he thought as he placed his hand on the door handle. Upon opening the door, he was greeted by the unusual sight of a girl laying down on the floor in the centre of the room.

The girl had long pink hair that was tied off on the right side with a big yellow ribbon. She had on a long sleeve black-and-white striped sweater with a red pleated skirt. Sora was unsure of what to say as the girl laid there looking up at the ceiling.

“Um… excuse me, are you Ryeichi?”

Ryeichi turned to Sora and for a moment their eyes locked. He watched her sit up as if she was mesmerised by the sight of him.

“You are…”

Crawling over to him on her hands and knees, he could see that she was covered with various colours of paint on her clothes and skin.

“I need you.”

Sora tilted his head in confusion.

“I’m sorry… huh?”

“Lately, my art inspiration has been deteriorating into a liminal state of non-existence beyond apathy.”

Ryeichi stood to her feet and stared intently at Sora – her square-rimmed glasses somehow making her feel more intimidating. He averted his gaze from her eyes and stared down at the floor. For a moment, his eyes could not help but be mesmersied by the fact Ryeichi was not wearing any sort of shoes or socks and revealed her petite feet that were flawless without blemishes. The accent of her rainbow coloured toenails were unique and something that he had not seen many girls do. Her toenails were perfectly polished and manicured to the point that he found himself feeling a bit hot.

“I’m just here get some art supplies my sister, Hime, needed. I can’t help you with your problem, sorry.”

“Oh, you’re Himechi’s brother?” Ryeichi asked as she gently poked Sora’s stomach.

“H-Hey, don’t touch me there!” Sora yelped in a girly tone.

“So, what was it Himechi needed?”

“Paint and brushes was all she said.”

“Ah. Right, I think I talked with her about…”

Ryeichi’s voice trailed off as she became lost in her own head. Sora waited for a moment before he decided to break the silence.

“I hate to kill your thought process but I need to get the supplies before class ends.”

Sora waited only for Ryeichi to point off to the side. Looking to his left was a table with a single cardboard box sitting on top of it. On it was a label in a black marker that read ‘art stuff… probably’ on the side. Grabbing the box, he quickly headed for the exit.

“Thanks. I’ll see you around.”

Before he could leave, Sora felt Ryeichi grab onto the sleeve of his jacket.

“I want to draw you after school. No one else. Just you.”

“Something tells me I do not have a choice,” Sora said with a sigh.

With no choice but to agree, Sora assured Ryeichi that he would return once school was over. As he made his way back to the classroom, the students were all abuzz about the lesson that Hime had in store for them.

“You’re late again, Sora.”

“In my defence, you set me up with that strung out art teacher. She wanted to draw me and would not take no for an answer,” Sora said as he placed the box down on the podium.

“I’ll join you when the time comes then. I can talk to Ryeichi and save Reina the trouble.”

“So, what are we going to do with these art supplies?”

“I’m glad you asked. Today class, we will be doing a fun art project for class!”

#

Sora had many questions running through his mind. How had he gotten himself in this? Where did he go wrong in his life? What did Takashi do with his slippers? Various thoughts roamed around in his conscious while he sat there with one leg held to his chest on top of one of the desks. Ryeichi was sitting with her legs hugging her chest and a large notebook with a drafting pencil in hand. Standing beside her was Hime who was leaning slightly on her shoulder as if the two were close friends.

A few minutes passed as Ryeichi remained silent. She had an intense focus in her stare as her pencil moved with a fluid motion. Sora realised that she had never once looked down at what she actually drawing and continued to keep her eyes glued to him. Before look, she stopped drawing and looked over what she had so far.

“Wow. You are truly amazing, Ryeichi. Then again, you do have an MFA from CalArts.”

“What’s an MFA?” Sora asked as he continued to sit still.

“Master of Fine Arts. Basically, it’s like a focused career path. You gain more hours in your chosen major.”

Ryeichi stood to her feet and made her way over to Sora. Upon seeing the drawing, he was amazed by just how well the art was drawn. She had captured every detail from his head to his feet. He was unsure about what to say but before he could say anything, Ryeichi spoke.

“Thank you…”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh yeah, Ryeichi, you care to do a special class project with me, Reina and the Doc?”

Ryeichi simply nodded as she closed her sketch book.

“Cool. I’ll have us all get together sometime and work it out. Later, Ryeichi.”

Sora took a moment to stretch his legs and noticed Ryeichi was staring at him with an expressionless gaze.

“Sorachi, next time don’t wear…”

Before Ryeichi could finish her sentence she began to fall asleep. Laying down on the floor with her sketchbook resting against her head like a pillow, Ryeichi closed her eyes as Sora wondered what she was going to say.

“Don’t wear what?”

“Probably that skirt,” Hime giggled.

“Don’t wear what?! Finish your sentences.”

“Well, judging by the options, there is: shirt, skirt, socks or underwear.”

Hime made her way over to Ryeichi and gently removed her glasses before placing them on the nearby easel.

“Let’s let her sleep. We have some game programming to learn.”

Sora and Hime made their way to the shoe-lockers. He had realised that he still did not have his slippers and was beginning to wonder if he would ever get them back.

“Sora, mon amour, I wish to be-prose upon thee my fair maiden a token of my undying heart. Pray tell will doth hear my cries of passion?”

There was no denying the odd wordplay and flamboyant tone of the person behind him. Sora turned to see Takashi with a smile on his face and being his usual eccentric self.

“Yo, ’fer real? Can you like speak human speak, gah.”

“Says the femboy gyaru who talks like teenage girl,” Hime said in teasing tone.

“Je voudrais vous rendre vos pantoufles en échange d’un rendez-vous.”

Hime giggled as Sora tilted his head. He could see that Takashi was holding out the slippers as a gesture of giving them to him.

“Do you speak whatever that is?” Sora whispered as his leaned closer to his sister.

“French? Nope. Just say ‘yes’ and agree.”

Sora looked to Takashi and sighed. Even if he did not understand he had a feeling something was off.

“Sure. Whatevs. Just give me back my slippers and I hope you didn’t like do anything weird,” Sora said as he took the slippers and placed them in his shoe-locker.

Slipping on his normal school shoes he could see that Takashi was extremely happy. A bit too happy.

“Magnifique! I await the day of which we may explore our deep desires. Au revoir.”

Like lightning, Takashi ran off as Sora tried to understand his words.

“Translation: you have a date on Saturday with Takashi Fujiwara,” Hime giggled.

“Oh… I have a date… with Takashi Fujiwara. The creep that bought my slippers and did—”

“Want to learn some programming, bro?”

“I want to die…”

“I don’t recommend alt+f4 route. You’ll live longer,” Hime teased.

“This isn’t the time for jokes, Hime! I have a date with a weirdo.”

Sora could feel everything around him breaking. He never had any sort of sexual attraction to guys and only enjoyed girls. Yet, he enjoyed cute girly clothes at a young age and realised that he loved dressing in them. Still, he had never seen guys in any sort of light beyond friends.

“Says the boy with a foot fetish,” Hime teased again as she headed for the exit.

“At least I’m not attracted to plants.”

Making their way back to the dorms, Sora slipped off his shoes once inside while Hime did the same. The two of them changed out of their school clothes and into the causal outfits they wore around the house. Both of them had managed to finish changing in roughly the same time and sat down together in the chair. Hime turned on the computer as the two of them waited for it to boot up.

“Okay, now we can begin the lesson.”

“I can’t wait! What are you going to teach me today?” Sora asked in excitement.

“First, how much of that video did you watch and understand?”

Once the computer had booted up, Hime began opening up various files. Before long she had the text editor on the left side of the screen and the terminal on the right.

“Honestly, I did not understand most of it. Near the ending I definitely got confused.”

#include <iostream>

int main() {

std::sout << "Game over!" << std::endl;

return 0;

}

Hime turned to Sora as he recalled the code that she had ran to make a blank box appear with the words ‘game over’ on the screen.

“Do you understand everything here?”

“I don’t understand it, no.”

“Okay, let’s look at it line by line. First is the ‘#include <iostream>’ on line one. Care to take a guess what that does?”

“Includes something called ‘<iostream>’ in the code?”

“You have the right idea. Anything with a hashtag character is a preprocessor directive. Basically, this runs before the complier starts. The <iostream> is a standard library in S++ which…”

Hime thought for a moment before continuing.

“Okay, maybe the best way to describe it is like a template for a power point. You have used them before, right?”

“I have played around with a few.”

“Good. So, that is the basic idea of what we call the standard library. In S++ and other programming languages, these standard libraries help us save time with various code. That line, in this case, is for displaying output.”

Sora nodded as he stared at the code on the screen intently.

“The next line is ‘int main() {}’ which is a function. In simple terms, a function is just a group of commands that return a value.”

“Okay, but why is the parentheses part empty and what is ‘int’. I can assume those curly looking braces contain the code that’s indented there.”

“Mhm. So, the parentheses are empty because that is where any arguments go. Parameters might be a better word but regardless, do not worry about that for now. The ‘int’ is just short for ‘integer’ which is what we are passing through this main function. With me so far?” Hime asked as she looked over to Sora.

“I think so. Should I be writing all this down?”

“Well, understanding the rudimentary functions of how the code works is better than trying to memorise the code. For example, do you think I can remember all those lines of code I did for that project I did?”

“I would be impressed if you could.”

“I didn’t. I do remember how all the fundamental function code works. Things like arithmetic operators, variables, conditional operations, logical operators, relational operators, loops, strings, arrays, vectors, classes and so on.”

“So, is programming more about just understanding the function of the code than memorising all the different things?”

“Exactly. Just like any craft, you drill the fundamentals which serve as a foundation to more advanced knowledge. Look at how houses are built. The foundation is first… okay, technically planning and a blueprint but anyway, you start with a base foundation and build on top of that until you finally get the finished product. Same thing here.”

“Are all programming languages the same?”

“Well, they have the same concepts but they are all different in their own right. Most have similar functions but in theory, if you understand one programming language you can understand the others – usually.”

“How many programming languages do you know?”

“Focus little brother. Do you understand the next line here?”

“I get that is has something to do with the text we see on the screen but I’m not sure what the other stuff is.”

“Okay, so the ‘std::sout’ is just an object that is defined in that S++ standard library. This is defined in that ‘iostream’ that we included at the top of the header there. Those less than signs are call the output operator. It does exactly what you think.”

“So, does the output operator act like a funnel?”

“Yeah, you can think of it as a funnel. In this case, we are sending ‘Game over!’ into ‘sout’ which is how the text is output on the screen. Finally, that ‘std::endl’ is just the end of the line. It basically breaks to a new line.”

“Then what exactly is the ‘std::’ in the code there. It isn’t short for ‘Sexually Transmitted Disease’ is it?”

Hime nearly made the two of them fall back in the chair as she giggled loudly. Sora held onto the desk to stop them from falling over. For a moment, Hime could not seem to breathe until she finally regained her composure.

“No, no. It is the standard library again. The ‘std’ is a namespace and the ‘::’ is the scope resolution operator.”

“What is a namespace?”

Taking a minute to think, Hime tried to figure out the best way to explain the knowledge within her head.

“If it helps, you can think of it as an area code of a phone number. I’ll show you a way to get rid of that but for now it helps to keep it in there. Just so you are aware, at least in S++ and other languages like it, you terminal a statement with the semi-colon. It is important to do this or you end up with errors.”

“Okay, what about that last part?”

“The final line indicates that the program ended without any errors. If you notice, the function is an integer because of that ‘int’ and so we need to return some type of integer. In this case it is always best to return zero. This is basically how we understand the program was fine. Of course we will never actually see that in the program but it is helpful for us programmers so we can understand what we are compiling and executing.”

“I think I got it.”

“Right then, I’ll now show you how we can get rid of that ‘std::’ prefix. All we do is add a single line in the header and refactor the code slightly.”

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

sout << "Game over!" << endl;

return 0;

}

After refactoring the code slightly, Hime turned to Sora.

“Do you see what I did there?”

“If I got this right, you are basically saying you are using ‘std’ and it removes the need for that prefix code. Or maybe the correct way to put it is, the stuff is still there but stored in that single line of code.”

“Exactly. It is like saying, append the area code to that phone number. I know it seems small but when you are doing big games with hundreds or thousands of lines of code, it does help.”

“Do you plan to give homework on this stuff?”

“I can certainly give you homework if you want it. For now, I want you to process everything we went over and do the homework in your other classes.”

“Do you think I will be able to create a game that impacts others all around the world?”

“By yourself? No. The fact is, no single person is behind one major game. When a video game – and I mean a professional quality video game – is created, there is always various people who work on it behind the scenes. There are artists, voice actors, designers, engineers, producers, programmers, managers and so much more. Those credit scenes that people often skip are the true unsung heroes that work in the shadows of the game.”

“Did you ever work for any big video game company overseas, sis?”

“Last job I worked at a company called R3dc0de for a bit as their lead programmer. I wrote the source code in S++ for their games, researched and collected data on tends, defined mathematical reasoning for the game designs, and developed theoretical proofs of mathematical models. Some days it was boring but seeing those games come to life was truly worth the hours of work.”

“When I graduate, where should I go to university?”

Hime smiled and hugged Sora gently. It was clear that he was starting to take his education seriously beyond just playing video games.

“For now, don’t worry about it. Enjoy learning and what life brings you. When it is nearing that time, I can provide you with some insight about different universities.”

“But what if I want to go overseas and attend Harvard like you, sis?”

Standing to her feet, Hime could not help but giggle a bit.

“Getting into Harvard is tough, you know? It is expensive, there is only a four percent acceptance rate and it will mentally destroy you at the core.”

“I can get in if I work hard, right?”

“Even if you work hard, it is still brutal. Let me put it this way, when you get to Harvard, you need to be better than elite. Basically, if you score a perfect A+ on a test, you need to score an A++, metaphorically speaking,” Hime said as a sadness started to show on her face.

“How is that possible?”

“It’s okay if you don’t understand but my point is you cannot just skate by on barely passing classes. In order to be accepted into Harvard, you need to bring two hundred percent of yourself to the school, in your work and even your extracurricular activities,” Hime said as she made her way over to the couch.

“Why did you decide to go to Harvard for your doctorate, sis?”

Hime laid down on the couch and stretched out her legs.

“That’s a good question. I had just turned nine when I received all the different acceptance letters stating I had gotten into the eight Ivy League schools. Alongside that, there were the others that were considered top-tier universities.”

“I remember Miss Ibarazaki talking to me about different schools overseas.”

“Yeah, there are some big ones. While I could have probably gotten degrees from various universities in different fields, I just did not feel like moving around too much. I knew online classes would have been a pain for me because I enjoy being in the classroom with the professor. Besides, I met so many good friends that I still keep in contact with. Plus, there is the fact I have connections with others like Reina, Ryeichi and the Doc,” Hime said with a yawn.

“Are you about to sleep? It’s only 9:00 pm, sis.”

“What?” Hime asked.

“It’s only 9:00 pm.”

“No, I mean when is that?”

“What do you mean?” Sora asked with a confused look on his face.

Hime pulled out her phone and took note of the time.

“Oh, you mean 21:00. I was so confused there for a second.”

“What?” Sora asked.

“Hmm?”

“What did Harvard do to you, big sis?”

“Nothing? I have always used the 24-hour clock.”

“You’re weird, sis.”

Sora grabbed a pair of headphones and plugged them into the input jack of his computer.

“Says the boy who wears girls clothes,” Hime giggled as she laid back down on the couch.

“At least I look cute in my clothes.”

“I can look cute if I try. In fact, I’ll dress so cute tomorrow that you will stare.”

“Careful, Riku might attack you and tie you up in a dungeon.”

“Kinky. I can just hack her Chaos;Chord and expose her. Destroy her life here at the academy, oh and steal her other private information.”

“You truly are evil, sis,” Sora said as he put the headphones on.

“That is actually benevolent compared to what I would do if someone harmed you, little brother.”

Even though the words were muffled, Sora could make them out and smiled at how much his sister cared. Starting up an RPG, he decided to try and think about the game he was playing in terms of simple components. Even though he was unsure about the code that would be used, he continued training his mind to think like a programmer. After few hours had passed, he noticed the time on his computer. Shutting everything down and making his way into his room, the sound of his phone vibrated from inside his jacket. Fishing it out of his jacket the notification was from Aruto. The text was about she would be going to the beach for the weekend and asked if he wished to come along. I’ll probably just say that I can’t and leave it at that, Sora thought as he sent out the text message.

Aruto replied back after a few minutes saying that she was sad he could not come. As a consolation for not being able to go, she had sent him a picture. Upon opening the text message with the image, Sora was unable to process what he was seeing. Aruto was wearing her swimsuit and posed laying on her stomach with her legs up and ankles crossed like a model. She was smiling and her cleavage just barely showed while she held up a peace sign that was common for most teenage girls to do in pictures. Her slender figure was ever present before his eyes and the soles of her feet were perfectly positioned in the picture. He knew that she did not know about his fetish as if she did, she would have never sent the picture showing her feet in such a way. There was a part of Sora that felt bad for feeling the heat swell up from between his thighs; yet, he wanted to release all the stress he was feeling after today.

For a moment, Sora tried to take the enlightened path and control his urges. He was about to delete the picture but something stopped him. I wish girls understood just how hard guys have it. We have to deal with massive problems, he thought as he made his way over to his bed. Sending a simple reply back, he continued to look at the picture and debate what to do. Before he could decide, another message graced his notifications. The message was from Riku asking him if he had done his homework. He replied with ‘I am battling a boss right now’ only to receive another message from Riku saying: ‘If that is code for masturbating then that is gross, Sora! Stop being horny and just do your homework’.

Sora sighed and replied back with a snarky text: ‘Maybe if you actually helped me I could be a pure maiden like you’. After a few minutes, he was greeted with another reply, a simple aposiopesis from Riku. Leaving her on ‘read’ like he always did, he noticed another text from Aruto which was just an image of her laying on her back. The pillows of her chest felt warm and inviting – like a cloud that could be slept on for days. He could see her flawless stomach and cute bellybutton which appeared soft to the touch. Her thighs were a land of dreams that could shattered them without fail while her toes continued to entice his lower body like a succubus under the sheets. I… need a cold shower, Sora thought as the heat continued to rise and the swelling between his thighs grew beyond the American average.