It was probably nothing, Hitomi told herself, reclining back and letting her hair float in the rising water. The splashing sound of the faucet filling the tub was relaxingly ambient to Hitomi. It's not like the day was that bad.

Juli seemed nice, if a little weird and intense, but nice. It had thrown Hitomi for a loop, the interest the girl had shown in this mess, but it probably wasn't relevant anymore.

Hitomi took a long breath, her chest rising with the water line and filling with the citrusy scent her bath bomb was infusing the air with. The water just about covered her now, except for her knees which had to be raised. The tub wasn't quite big enough to really stretch out in, but it could get a bit fuller.

She'd talked with Juli a bit more after that, and found out she had just finished highschool and was going to be going into a nursing program.

In fact, once they started talking about something other than the… incident… it had become much easier, to Hitomi's amazement. She didn't think she was much of a conversationalist.

She lifted herself up and made some waves in the tub turning off the water. The warm water washing over her skin was just what she needed, sinking into it.

She didn't have any inclination that Juli and her might be friends now, of course. Things don't happen like that in real life, but she had told her to let her know if she was going to be stalking James again. Which, remembering that, made Hitomi sink further into the water, holding her breath and pretending she was covering her face with a pillow.

But that wasn't likely, probably, she hoped. The stupid thing hadn't worked. Not only had it not worked, it wouldn't turn on now! Even now, hours later, it was just showing that charging icon every time she tried to boot it up and check.

She had a hope, a small hope that was crushed under the sinking feeling she was just being optimistic, that it meant it was over and she wouldn't have to do anything weird now. Maybe failing that stalking quest meant she hadn't made any progress in the game.

Maybe, but probably not. The way it had gone so far, she'd finish her bath and there'd be a notification waiting on her phone telling her to go rob a bank. She sighed and curled up in the tub. Even if something like that happened, she was at least free for now.

That thought consoled her as she lathered up her sponge with body wash. The clean feeling of soapy suds caressing her skin would wash away all that stress she had built up getting sick, almost missing a test, receiving a bribe from a suspicious computer, spending all that time in a public space. Yeah, not really, there was a lot more stress than she had bubbles for, but it helped.

And she consoled herself again as she cleaned around her shoulders that she had probably been imagining things when she saw that light in Juli's eyes. Just like she'd imagined those lines on her arm. It was just a trick of hallucination.

Getting hacked, that happens. Getting a weird game program installed from being hacked, okay, that was plausible. Weird glowing lines and flashes of light coming from people, that was impossible.

She soaked her sponge in the soapy water and wrung it out over her back, the almost hot water pouring down eliciting a squeak. Whatever happened with the game, she'd given it some thought and the rewards seemed worth it.

If it was just going out and tagging people with a program, if it even worked this time, while it was questionable it was not a particularly hard thing to do. Maybe it was someone else showing an interest, but if even normies weren't that creeped by it maybe she'd just been overreacting. She could do that sometimes.

She spent the next few minutes thinking about idle things and washing herself. Eventually she stood up so she could get to her legs and get out. She always hated that because it meant she had to suffer the chill of getting out.

She rushed to get it done and get to the towel waiting for her. There was the warmth again. Not as warm as the bath she'd just had but it felt a hell of a lot better than the chill of drip drying. Hitomi rubbed herself down of the water still dripping off her skin and wrapped herself up in the fluffy embrace.

She didn't wipe the steam off the mirror because honestly there was no need, she just combed her hair straight down and left it at that. She made sure she wasn't dripping anymore before she left the bathroom, so she wouldn't get the carpet in her room wet, and went to go get some clothes.

She stopped in the doorway when she saw her phone sitting on her dresser with an active screen. She gulped. Okay, so she had the thought, but she didn't want to be right about it! She… hastily ignored that and pulled some things from her closet to get dressed up in.

While she was doing so, she heard the noise of her phone vibrating on her desk. She glanced over. There wasn't any incoming call. She ignored it and finished getting clothed. She then went and made herself a drink. It "rang" again when she came back. Still not a call.

It stopped shaking as she went to pick it up. It was worryingly well timed, she realized as she picked it up and read what the popup on it was saying.

The message was telling her she had unlocked two new Features in Lavender Dungeon.

"Charisma Booster" and "Weakness Tracker"

Clicking the screen away, the Eye icon took over her homescreen and the computery voice greeted her.

"Good Morning Hitomi! I have new Information for you!"