<code 1>: Infinite Loop;

Chapter 2

"ulol, utang yan. babayaran moko" Hexine backfired at him while taking a seat.

"Huy tama na yan, may sasabihin ako about sa— Oh!" I exclaimed sadly, and disappointed, without finishing what I'm going to say.

Dahil tapos na ako mag evaluate ay nakita ko na ang grades ko kaya naman ay nakakadis appoint.

"Huy teh anong nangyari sayo?" tanong ni Aunix sa akin.

I didn't speak, I just stared at the screen of my tablet until my twin brother gets it from me.

"Girl bakit? Mataas grade moo oh, look" she happily told me. Siya masaya siya, pero ako? Ako hindi, kulang pa yan.

"Syn..." my brother just called my name. I just ignored him, but I know he knows what's inside my head. what's running inside of it.

He's my twin, of course he knows it. And he can feel it.

"Grabeee, dalawa lang 3.5 niya, samantalang ako dalawa lang yung kwatro ng sakin" Hexine said in an amazing tone.

He's smart, knowing that his grades are all 3.5, still high. Knowing na ang hirap makakuha nang ganoong grades sa mga courses nila.

"Let's forget about that, let's focus now for the incoming Hackathon," I said, trying to mask the disappointment weighing on my chest.

"Miss May already told us the theme of the event, and it's about mental health tech. We should think of a system now that can help with mental health, since it's a major concern now."

"Mental health tech, huh?" Ariseki repeated, now sipping his coffee with a more serious expression. "Like... emotion journals?"

"We need a thorough research about this," Sylrax added, his voice calm but firm. "And we might also need a psychologist or a psychiatrist on board." He glanced around the room.

"This is not just a system we're talking about—this needs to be accurate and backed by professionals. We can't afford to be careless with this theme."

I leaned my back in the chair, and my eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Yeah. If we're touching people's mental health, we need to make sure what we build doesn't do more harm than good."

Aunix, who had been doodling aimlessly on my tab, suddenly lifted her stylus. "Wait... what if we build something like... a neural web? Like, a mental health support net that maps a user's mood patterns?"

"A mood map?" Ariseki asked, with his brow raised.

"No, more like—" she paused dramatically, "—MindMesh." with matching action, she's like making magic. What an OA gesture.

There was a beat of silence.

"MindMesh?" Hexine echoed, intrigued. "That sounds so... cyberpunk therapy."

"I like it," I nodded slowly, already imagining the interface inside my head. "Something interactive, something that visualizes emotions like constellations or synapses. You input your feelings or behaviors, and it responds. Not in a cringey chatbot way, but through micro-interactions that help ground you."

"Gamified grounding and emotional self-awareness," Sylrax murmured. "That could work—if it's backed by actual methods like CBT, exposure therapy, breathing techniques..."

"We need a psych major in this," seryosong sabi ni Sylrax habang nakakunot-noo. "Did Miss May say anything about collaborating with a professional?"

Tama naman siya. We're tech majors — coding, systems, UI/UX — but mental health is a whole different battlefield. Hindi puwedeng basta-basta lang.