Hitomi was glued to her screen, reading through dozens of posts and pictures that were pulled up by the app in the “target’s” information page. According to the… she still wasn't sure if it was actually an AI, but according to the tutorial the program had scanned and accessed his social media profiles during the brief encounter outside the elevator.

He had a lot of friends. Obviously not famous level, but a lot of friends. A whole lot. Apparently his name was James Ryan Donaldson the Second. She wasn't quite sure where the second came into play since she had never heard of James Donaldson the First.

It was his mom who was the famous one, actually. Semi famous. She seemed to be a pretty decent fashion designer, but Hitomi had never heard of her. Which meant practically nothing since Hitomi couldn't even tell you what CK stood for, but still!

He had apparently also been an amateur model for a while. Figures. Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief, figuring that it made sense where that flashy attitude came from. She really hoped that wasn't natural, because if it was, that would make her feel even more insecure thinking about all those friends and posts.

The tutorial had also explained that the game primarily functioned as a form of social gathering system, and that upon analyzing his media accounts determined he would make a perfect target. She had had some questions about the stalkerish concept of that but… well… It's just activating the "Master Circuit" thing around him. Not a big deal. She could do that tomorrow, or some other day when she sees him around campus.

After all, it's not like she had a time limit on getting those rewards or anything-

BEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!

Oh, what the hell was that? Hitomi shrunk into her seat as the blaring alarm went off, muffled only by her hand covering it on impulse. People were staring. Of course they were. Well, not starring starring, but people had looked her way for a few seconds when it happened.

She quietly excused herself from the vicinity and made to check what the bleeping hell was going on now.

The screen opened directly to the eye icon that was synonymous with… whatever the program that talked was called.

"Greetings player! I have casually reminded you that you only have three hours remaining on your first quest! Have you advanced your progress?" It rattled out in a cheery tone.

"W-wh-three hours? There's a time limit?!" Hitomi struggled to remind herself that there was no way this thing could read her mind. "I can't do anything in three hours, he left and, and I don't have the class he's in till tomorrow."

"Hmmm, I see. That certainly is a conundrum." The circular lines making the icon spun in consideration. "I have a solution. You can simply view the target's latest social media posts and determine their location that way! Three hours should be plenty enough time to locate them and get close enough to activate the Master Circuit in their vicinity! Shall I scan their accounts now?"

"What, no! That's stalking! That's totally stalking, and I don't need any label like that put on me!" Hitomi stamped her foot. No matter what kind of design or reward tempted her she was putting her foot down at doing anything actually criminal.

"I see. According to my scan the target is at a Cafe roughly 45 minutes away from our current location. Shall I plot a route?"

"No, no! I just said I didn't need to be called a stalker! I'm not doing it!" She turned in a huff, which would have been more dramatic if she were not holding the thing she was talking too.

The eye whired. "Postulate. It is not 'Stalking' if you simply arrive in the same area that the target is located in via your own compulsions. Therefore, might I suggest-"

"No, no way, no how. You're not going to convince me with shaky logic like that."

"I see. I will therefore take this opportunity to inform you that while failure to complete a quest will break any ongoing chain bonus in the rewards system, denial to participate will lead to penalties applied to you going forward."

"I don't care. You, you waved that money in my face earlier and made me go along with your game but-"

"Postulate: Through careful personality analysis and a deep dive into the data provided by a person's digital fingerprint it is possible to determine many, many factoids about anyone so desired."

Hitomi paused after the interruption. This sounded new.

"For instance, it would be easy to determine what kind of person an individual is attracted to. Such as your deep seated romantic inclinations to a Mr Takemi Sh-"

"What?! I-I-I don't know what you're… really? You could figure that out?"

"Affirmative."

***

Hitomi could not believe she was stalking someone. Well, she could believe it because she was there when she was convinced but still, the principle was there.

She blew into her coco. Just a few minutes ago she'd burned the tip of her tongue on it and that wasn't helping her current stress.

He was RIGHT there, two tables over. And three tables down. On the other side of the dining floor. What if he recognized her from this morning and accused her of stalking him, which, okay, did happen to be what she was doing, but still.

He was with a girl too. Was she stalking a guy on a date? That was somehow even creepier. She blew into her drink again, even though she hadn't taken another sip yet. Good thing they WERE on a date, because if he had just been here to have a drink or something he probably would have left by now.

Slow to overcome anxiety, Hitomi had been sitting there, alone, for 20 minutes already. She had to order another drink so it didn't look weird. All the while every glance to her phone reminded her of the alert telling her the target was close.

She took a big sip of her drink, gulped too soon when it made her burnt tongue sting, and had a minor coughing fit. But she was ready. Time to get this done!

According to the voice speaking to her about the system all she had to do was activate the Master Circuit system, aim her camera at the target like she was taking a picture, and hit Capture. The only catch with that is that she had to be within five meters of the target for the capture to succeed.

Well. Now or never. She got up and walked to the edge of the dining area towards the bathroom. That would get her close enough. Just casually going to the bathroom. Pulling out her phone like she was checking something. Perfectly normal stuff going on here.

Activating the system opened up a pop up that displayed the video feed from her phone’s camera and looked a lot like some sci-fi targeting reticle.

This would have to do. From this vantage point neither of them were looking right at her, so they wouldn't notice if she just casually looked around like she'd lost herself in her phone.

Just line up the shot and activate the program. Simple.

Her Target's profile centered in the reticle. Press the capture button. Do it! NOW!

And for a second, nothing. The program closed to her home screen, and a stock shutter sound effect played through her phone's speakers.

Loudly.