Resonance Harem: I Level Up Through Sincerity

Ch 5. High RSN Potential

We both listened to someone down the hall drop something heavy, followed by an apology in German and a door slam in French.

I risked it. “So… what’s a capture card? For capturing… cards?”

She blinked slowly. “It’s for ingesting video. PCIe. Bypass OS-level bottlenecks. Hardware encode.”

“Right, right. I totally knew all of those words separately.”

“You can go,” she said. “Thanks for not… porch pirating.”

“Anytime,” I said. “Preferably after the elevator is fixed.”

Her gaze narrowed. “You used to be a delivery driver.”

“Yeah. Fired yesterday. I mouthed off to someone with neck muscles.”

“Mm.”

“Now I freelance as a box mule. Startup idea: Mule+. We carry, we complain, we cry.”

“You’d need funding.”

“I’ll raise a sob seed round.”

That ghost of a smile tugged again. It slipped away just as fast.

The chain didn’t move. The door didn’t open wider. She wasn’t inviting me in. She wasn’t going to. Fine. I wasn’t ready for “inside” anyway.

“Okay, I’ll—”

“Wait,” she said. “Does your unit’s router bleed into this hallway?”

“Bleed?”

“SSID. FBI_Surveillance_Van_12. Is that you?”

“Oh God, no. I renamed mine DropItLikeItsHotspot, then panic-switched to ‘ItHurtsWhenIP.’ I regret both.”

“As you should.”

“And your network is the one called sudo_get_off_my_LAN?”

She stared. “You read that through a door.”

“It was funny.”

Another tiny RSN ping.

[RSN +1]

I kept my face straight.

“Do you… need help setting anything up?” I heard myself ask and wanted to smack my mouth. I did not know how to set up my own life.

“I do not let strangers touch my machines.”

“Good policy. I once fixed my Bluetooth by yelling at it. It did not help.”

“Obviously.”

“But if you need someone to carry heavy things,” I added quickly, “or scare away porch pirates by being very sweaty, I am… around.”

She gave me the look you give a pop-up that says “Allow Notifications?”

Then: “I can carry my own things.”

“I believe you.”

We stood there and stared through the door gap like in an awkward indie movie.

“Goodbye, Evan Cross.”

I lifted a hand in a weak wave. “Bye, Clara Voss.”

She started to close the door.

Mira breathed in my ear. “Banter logged. RSN spiked. Nice and clean.”

“Is she—” I whispered.

“Shh,” Mira said. “Don’t spook the cat.”

The door paused halfway. The chain clinked. Clara’s voice came softer. “Did you really move my boxes when the lobby was sketchy?”

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t, like, sniff them or anything. I just didn’t want someone to—”

“I didn’t assume you’d sniff them.”

“Cool. Great. Because I didn’t.”

Her eye did a thing I think was a laugh refusing to come out. “Thanks.”

“Any—”

Door. Close. Soft but final.

The UI in my vision winked, then flashed:

[High RSN Potential]

My pulse jumped. “Mira—”

“Don’t be weird,” she said, sing-song. “You have high potential resonance with her because both of you are weird. But don’t sprint back in there like a creepy guy.”

“I wasn’t—”

“You were.”

I stared at the closed door like it might unlock if I thought polite thoughts at it. The chain rattled once, like she was testing it, then went quiet.

I turned around to leave and almost ran into Mr. FBI_Surveillance_Van_12, who was juggling a laundry basket and a six-pack of off-brand energy drinks.

He peered at me, peered at Clara’s door, peered at me again. “She talk to you?”

“I am blessed,” I said.

He whistled low. “She never talks to anyone.”

“Lucky me.”

He shrugged and shuffled off.

I took three steps, and Mira chimed. “Check your Link panel.”

I opened the UI with a thought I was starting to get used to. Panels slid into place like a fancy HUD.

Stats:

Presence (PRC): 6

Adaptability (ADP): 7

Endurance (END): 10

Links:

Jade Kwon — Combat Path

Resonance (RSN): 7 → 9

Status: Stable

Decay Timer: 14 days

Skill: Iron Will (Active)

[Scanning…]

“What about Clara?” I said.

Mira made a little happy beep.

Clara Voss — Tech Path

Resonance (RSN): 9 → 9

Status: Stable

Decay Timer: 14 days

Skill: None

“Tech Path. ADP and RSN buffs, hacking subroutines later. The link with her bumped your RSN with Jade too, even if no skill activated yet. Skills don’t come from the first meet, no matter how many sparks fly.”

“I offered to help set up her stuff and then admitted I yell at Bluetooth.”

“That was… on brand.”

“Am I a brand?”

“Unfortunately.”

I started descending the stairs I had barely climbed just a few minutes before. My fridge was empty and my stomach was growling.

“Game plan,” I said, half to Mira, half to myself. “Keep Jade warm. Don’t push and don’t fake it. Try not to die. Nudge Clara without being… me.”

“You can be you,” Mira said. “Just the version that isn’t begging to be muted.”

“Ouch.”

“You asked.”

“Do I ping Clara now?” I said. “Like a follow-up?”

“Don’t text a stranger you’ve spoken to once,” Mira said. “You have proximity. Use it. Next time you see packages at her door, knock once. Short joke, sincere intent. Leave. Let her lead.”

“Less is more.”

Downstairs, at the mailboxes, two more parcels sat with VOSS in bold. One was a small padded envelope. The other looked like a pack of weird USB cables. I checked timestamps. Arrived an hour ago. Lobby traffic low. Porch pirates minimal.

I hovered.

“Don’t overdo it,” Mira said.

“I’ll move them to the cage as I’ve done before,” I said. “Note under the door so she knows I didn’t sniff them.”

“Why is that your thing?”

“It’s a bit now.”

“Stop it.”

I grabbed the packages, logged them into the building app, and locked them in the wire cage with the key the super pretends he lost but actually trusts me with because I once fixed a leaking washer by turning it off and on again. It was the building’s proudest moment.

I scribbled a note: Moved your two packages to the cage. Locker camera was glitchy. Code is your WiFi name. —Evan, 6D.

I stood at the pen for seven seconds debating drawing a tiny skull like her Post-it, then decided I wanted to keep my fingers.

The night air hit my face. The city hummed. Someone yelled about a parking space. I limped to the corner store, bought a protein bar that tasted like sweet chalk, and thought about Link math.

If I kept Jade stable, I kept Iron Will. If Clara became a Link, I could stack ADP and RSN, which might make training less like kissing a train. If I ever met this “Influence Path” lady, I might stop sounding like a human buffering wheel.

But that was future me. Present me had stairs.