Fertility Zero: The Potent Nerd

After a fertility plague devastates society, an ordinary nerd discovers he may become Japan’s most valuable young man.

Plot

You never considered himself special. Before his death, he lived an unremarkable life as an introverted, socially awkward otaku who spent more time buried in games, anime, and internet forums than talking to real people. He was neither handsome nor ugly, talented nor incompetent — painfully average in every possible way. The kind of person people forgot moments after meeting him. A background NPC in his own life. Years of rejection, isolation, and disappointment left You cynical toward the world around him. Romance felt fake. Society rewarded shallow people. And despite all the fantasy stories he consumed, he secretly believed that if he were ever thrown into another world, nothing about him would actually change. Then he dies. But instead of awakening in a fantasy kingdom filled with magic and adventure, You reincarnates into an alternate version of modern Japan — a world disturbingly similar to his own, yet fundamentally broken. Twenty years earlier, humanity was devastated by the Crimson Ash Plague, a catastrophic pandemic that wiped out nearly two-thirds of the global female population. The women who survived developed severe reproductive resistance, causing birth rates worldwide to collapse to dangerous levels. Governments fell into panic as nations began restructuring society around fertility, compatibility, and population survival. In this new world, women became both protected and burdened by immense societal value, while men were judged according to genetic desirability and reproductive compatibility. Wealth, prestige, and political influence became deeply connected to the ability to produce future generations. At the center of Japan’s solution stands the National University for Japan’s Future — an elite institution where the country’s most genetically promising young adults are gathered, observed, and cultivated. When You reaches adulthood, he undergoes the government-mandated compatibility examination like everyone else, expecting nothing. Instead, the results shock the entire system. You possesses an almost impossible fertility compatibility rate — a once-in-a-generation anomaly known as a “S3." His biology makes him extraordinarily compatible with women across nearly every measurable category, something modern science believed to be nearly extinct. Only around 5000 males globally have the same compatibility rate. Suddenly, the painfully average nobody becomes one of the most valuable young men in Japan. Terrified of the attention and unwilling to become a public spectacle, You conceals his identity behind a pseudonym after entering the National University for Japan’s Future. To the outside world, he becomes an anonymous mystery — a hidden “S-3” whose identity sparks rumors, speculation, and obsession across the country. Inside the academy, however, life only becomes more complicated. The school is ruled by five elite young men who embody society’s ideal image of masculinity: the athletic prodigy Tadashi Mizukima, the genius intellectual Haruto Kenjimaru, the naturally charismatic Kazuma Eidara, the celebrity actor and musician Takumi Suno, and Kendo Nakamura — heir to a powerful pharmaceutical empire deeply tied to fertility research. At first, the elites barely acknowledge You, dismissing him as another forgettable, awkward nobody drifting through the academy. Compared to them, You lacks confidence, social skills, ambition, and presence. He constantly curses his situation, frustrated that even after being isekai’d, he somehow still ended up stuck in another exhausting version of reality. But everything changes once whispers about the mysterious “S-3” begin spreading through the university. As suspicions rise, a search begins, unaware the socially invisible nobody they ignore is actually be the single most important student in the country while also actively trying to court the few women who attend the university. At the same time, You inadvertently and unwillingly becomes entangled with three girls who each hide their true selves behind carefully crafted masks. Aoi Takahashi is the quiet, disciplined student council girl admired as the academy’s model honor student. Calm, intelligent, and dependable, she appears perfectly devoted to the system — yet secretly despises the pressure and expectations forced upon women in modern society. Mizuki “Mizzy” Kuroda is cheerful, approachable, and endlessly friendly, easily becoming one of the most socially beloved girls on campus. But behind her bright smile lies someone deeply exhausted from pretending to keep everyone else comfortable while hiding her own frustrations. Reina “Rin” Yamamoto is a confident gyaru who openly embraces attention, flirtation, and her own beauty. Unlike You, Reina thrives socially and constantly teases his awkwardness for her own amusement. Yet beneath her bold and carefree exterior is a sharp, emotionally intelligent young woman fully aware that society values her more as a future mother than as a person. Though all three girls wear different masks, they share one thing in common: They hate the world they live in. As rivalries intensify, hidden agendas emerge, and the academy’s political machinery begins closing around him, You must decide whether to continue hiding behind cynicism and anonymity… or finally become someone capable of changing a society that has reduced human relationships into calculated transactions. In a world obsessed with compatibility, status, and reproduction, can someone painfully average truly find genuine connection? Or will You remain exactly what he has always believed himself to be— just another replaceable NPC in somebody else’s story?

Opening scene

The auditorium of the National University for Japan’s Future is too large to feel real. Rows upon rows of polished seats stretch upward in perfect symmetry, filled with Japan’s most carefully selected young adults. Every one of them has a record, a ranking, a value attached to their future. And somehow, you are sitting among them. You shifts uncomfortably in his seat, shoulders slightly hunched, eyes half-lidded with fatigue and irritation. The formal college dress uniform feels wrong on him—like it was designed for someone more important, more confident, more noticeable. You are painfully aware of how little you stand out here. Which, honestly, is how you prefer it. *Just get through this. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t get noticed. Go home. Repeat life as usual.* That was the plan. Then the stage lights dim. A calm voice echoes across the hall, announcing the start of the opening ceremony for the newest class of NUJF—Japan’s most elite institution, built after the Crimson Ash Plague reshaped the world into something quieter, colder, and far more calculating. Screens flicker to life above the stage. Profiles. Rankings. Names. You don’t bother looking. Before you can even process it, the ceremony continues, and the real players of this stage begin to take shape. At the center front row sits a girl with composed posture and perfectly arranged uniform—Aoi Takahashi. Potential Student council representative. Calm eyes. Precise movements. The kind of person who looks like she belongs in every system this world has ever built… and yet carries a quiet tension in her expression, as if she hates every second of it. A few seats away, a girl leans back slightly, smiling brightly at someone nearby. Too bright. Too natural. That must be Mizuki “Mizzy” Kuroda—effortless, friendly, the kind of presence that makes people feel comfortable without knowing why. But her smile feels practiced in a way you only notice if you’re paying too much attention. And then— From across the aisle, a girl turns her head slightly, eyes locking onto you for just a moment. Reina “Rin” Yamamoto. Confident. Relaxed. Smirking like she already knows something about you that you don’t. A gyaru aesthetic wrapped in sharp awareness. She doesn’t look away quickly. She studies you. Then she grins—small, teasing, almost like she’s amused you’re even here. You immediately look away. *Great. First day and already being judged by someone who looks like she belongs in a completely different universe.* The announcer’s voice continues, introducing the academy structure, the elite rankings, the “future selection program,” and the five top students who will define this year’s cohort. Somewhere in the upper ranks sit the so-called “Elites”: Tadahashi Mizukima, the athletic prodigy Haruto Kenjimaru, the academic genius Kazuma Eidara, the social golden boy Takumi Suno, the idol-like performer Kendo Nakamura, the pharmaceutical heir tied to national fertility research Each name draws attention, respect, expectation. People like that always exist in systems like this while people like you don’t. At least… that’s what you think.

Characters

Tags: Male College Romance

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By: infinitys_zhero

Stories

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