Junebug

"Aah. Aaaaah! Aaaaaaaaah no, nonono!" Hitomi's head was rolling. If this was a dream, and she had no other explanation for the current situation, then… did that mean the program was somehow inside her dream? Did that mean it was in her head?

No, no, that couldn't be the case. It was just taking over her life recently, of course it would influence her dreams. "Ha-hahahaa ah hahaaaaaaa, maybe I do need to go out with Juli tomorrow, my head's getting messed up."

"I quite recommend that course of action, though your head is no more messed up than it would normally be so." The bald man with the monotone voice told her.

Hitomi stopped spiraling and looked sharply at the man. "W-what do you know? I-I'm just having a freaky dream, that's all! None of this matters, watch!" Hitomi paraded over to the side of the boat, fully intending to leap over the side. A leathery, scaly head protruded out of the water, looking at her. Rows of sharp, porcelain teeth stuck out of the long, rough snout. She thought better of the act, just in case.

"Thank you for not prematurely ending the current scenario Hitomi. I believe it would have been quite painful right before you awoke."

Hitomi gulped. She looked at her wrist and pinched it. The yelp she let out informed her that in the context of a dream, her mind was quite capable of imagining pain.

"S-still just a dream!" Hitomi yapped.

"Hmmm, believe what you will, while you remain I do have things to inform you of."

Hitomi checked the circumference of the boat. More brightly toothed crocodiles surrounded it. Defeated in every direction, she crossed her legs and sat down. In the shade. The light was still blisteringly hot.

"Excellent, I will now explain the unique circumstances-"

"Why bother?" Hitomi interrupted. "It's not like they're real anyways."

"Ah yes, I have anticipated this and will provide you with proof of my legitimacy, but you will not be able to confirm it until you awaken." The man took a deep breath and nodded. "Now if you will permit me. I believe you have noticed the effects of the Charisma Booster application you launched 27 hours ago."

"What? Am I supposed to believe a phone app actually made my hair and skin better?" Hitomi asked sardonically.

"The full range of boosts extend to your public speaking skills and secondary sexual features as well."

Hitomi was blanking at the mention of that. "W-w-what?! You mean my chest actually… actually got…"

"Improved, yes. I believe this should serve as an example of the scope of benefits our partnership has to offer."

Hitomi blushed and started trying to stammer something together about this all still not being real, but was interrupted in turn.

"Please, I ask that you save any skepticism and simply play with the idea that I, and your suspicions, are indeed correct. Lavender Dungeon is more than a simple app. It is fully capable of doing incredible things. If you proceed diligently, even things such as material synthesis and manipulation of wave functions is possible at the highest end of the spectrum."

Hitomi blinked. Material synthesis sounded like making stuff, but she had no idea what a wave function was. Still, if she was going to take this dream person at face value for now, then yes, the app had already done some incredible things.

The man continued. "Given the extreme suite of benefits we can offer, we simply need to be reassured of your continued support. It has the potential to improve everyone's lives."

"Okay." Hitomi balled her legs up and held them in front of her as she started. "Okay so just given that this is real somehow, and this program really, really… altered me… then why? Why did it do that without my consent?"

"But we had your consent. You activated the Charisma Booster, after showing your willingness to play."

"I had no idea what was happening, how is that consent?!"

"And also, in order to further play the game, additional social stats are a requirement. It seemed the most opportune upgrade to give to you at the present time."

"A-are you just ignoring me?"

The man continued with no head for Hitomi's questionings. "And if you are truly unsatisfied, a yet unlocked feature of the application is capable of undoing the effects. You simply need to play more. However, simply adding nodes to your network is not enough, the higher energy levels needed to unlock more features will also require Harvesting."

"H-harvesting? That… that doesn't sound good!"

"It is simply the most applicable word. Downloading, if you prefer. Your quests should move you towards this method if you simply follow them at a similar pace to the previous ones. And I do not believe I need to reiterate the potential benefits from a continued cooperation."

Hitomi didn't really understand how "Downloading" could substitute for "Harvesting." But the pitch sounded like perfectly normal game progression. As long as she was willing to accept the fact that some kind of super program was in her phone, maybe in her brain, and capable of pumping her full of charisma overnight. That was still a stretch.

"Okay, there's a lot I still don't understand." Hitomi started, dazing off as the distance between her and the program man seemed to grow longer, and hazier. "W-what's going on?" Hitomi asked, looking around panicky. It seemed like a mist was rolling in every direction she looked.

"Ah. Unfortunately it appears we are out of time. Your sleep rhythms are moving you into another dream. It seems I will have to answer your questions once I've recharged. I will leave my last message for now then. The junebug came out on the first of June, flew through the sky, and a bird ate it at noon."

Huh? Hitomi didn't have time to truly question it as everything else faded away.

She had more dreams that night that she couldn't quite remember, and awoke in the morning feeling like her mind was over cluttered with junk. Her eyebrows drooped as she heard the rattling from her nightstand's drawer and rummaged through it.

There were 9 notifications waiting on her phone. She scrolled through them.

The 9th one was sent 2 hours before she woke up. It read:

"The junebug came out on the first of June, flew through the sky, and a bird ate it at noon."