Hitomi looked around before stepping out her front door. The… peculiar discovery she just had stepped the anxiety switch up a notch when it came to public spaces. Thankfully, it looked like no one was around.

She stepped out and carefully closed the door behind her. She locked her door and a chill ran down her spine as the clanking sound sounded twice, once a bit further away. She stepped back towards the railing, mysterious circumstances being what they were, that could have been anything. Invisible robbers, a hidden spy door, bigfoot.

She was a bit overly imaginative at the moment. She caught a glimpse of the door a little further down being pushed open and her neighbor stepping out.

She wasn't really a neighbor person. She knew the neighbor who had just stepped out went to college, and had never met who was on the other side, and didn't know names, just barely knew faces.

It was a guy wearing headphones with a big overarm bag and glasses. As far as people went he at least didn't seem threatening, which didn't stop Hitomi from registering a threat.

She stiffened up and held in place against the railing as he locked his door and turned to head down to the stairs. Probably because she was acting like she was hidden behind tall grass and had to remain as still as possible lest wild animals find her, his head tilted in her direction and stayed there, staring at her.

And staring.

Hitomi shakily raised a hand and did what might be considered a wave if you repeated it a few dozen times. "H-h-hi…" She practically whispered.

The guy pulled his headphones down and checked over his shoulder before addressing her. "Hey, do you live here?"

"U-u-uh… yes?"

His brow furrowed a bit, and he pointed to her door. "There?" She nodded and he seemed to process something. "Huh. Well, uh, nice to meet you neighbor?"

"Y-yeah, n-nice to meet you too." Her hand shook in an almost wave again. She crept a few paces sideways along the guardrail. "I, uh, I have to get to class. S-see ya around."

And she was off, not quite fast enough that she missed the "Sure!" that called after her.

Going over it, there wasn't anything weird about that besides just how awkward Hitomi had felt, which was always there around strangers. She sighed and slowed down to a reasonable pace. Maybe one day she would get some normie skills and not freak out whenever a person was around.

Regardless of that, she did have something that was possibly, probably, more important than worrying about what her neighbor had thought. Unfortunately, the AI, or hacker, or whatever it actually was, wasn't being cooperative to questions at the moment, instead directing her towards launching the Weakness Tracker.

"No way!" Hitomi shouted at the screen. "I feel like something's up. What happened with that Charisma Booster? It ran, right? I don't see any changes to the game."

"Ah. All changes have been recorded in your profile." The voice explained.

Hitomi had seen that. But it was impossible. Those stats were taken from her medical records or something. They couldn't actually update. Her… sizes… couldn't change on that page, even just a little!

"That doesn't make any sense! Those aren't game features!"

"Of course they are. However, it would not be prudent at this moment to dive more into this topic without activating the Weakness Tracker program. Please do so at this time."

"No, not until you answer my questions about this!"

"I am sorry. I cannot fulfil that request at this time. Please activate the Weakness Tracker."

This exchange went back and forth a few times before Hitomi's will was found to be the lesser one. She launched the program from the tool list, and a new icon appeared next to her network strength atop her phone.

"Congratulations! The Weakness Tracking App is now running! It will automatically scan for and log specific vulnerabilities in targetable individuals in your surroundings! These will be kept here for informational purposes."

Hitomi sighed. So that was it, a NPC data log of some kind. Well, at least she wasn't getting a poorly timed migraine immediately after activating it. "Okay, now you owe me some answers!"

"Certainly! However, it would appear to be an inconvenient time for you at the moment. I shall postpone the explanation for later."

"Hu-wha?"

"Signing off!"

"H-hey wait!" Hitomi came to a halt outside the college building. She stamped her foot in frustration as the Eye symbol on her screen flashed and powered down. What was it talking abou-

"Boyfriend hang up on you?" The words hit Hitomi like a jellyfish sting, making her jump and turn around.

A man who had been leaning against the wall was approaching her. A very familiar man. A very familiar, sharp looking man.

Hitomi gulped. Oh yeah. They had a class together today. That was when she was going to do the Master Circuit thing in the first place.

James stopped in front of her and looked very much like he was going to get whatever he intended to be got. His brow was almost creased with wrinkles as he seemed to pause for a moment. "Got a date after class?"

The question might have been innocuous if it weren't for the smug tone he said it in. Hitomi shook her head.

"So conditioner's just a Tuesday thing then. Whatever. We need to talk."

Oh, good, he'd noticed her hair looked nice today. That was nice of him. "A-about? I-I could lend you my notes if that's what-"

She was cut off. "You know what this is about." He gave her a glare for a moment.

"I-I-I do?" She feigned innocence, but as she did so she felt something like an itch in her right eye and had to rub it. "H-huh?!"

James looked confused at her sudden jump. She was confused at the word overlayed above his head.

ABUSE