fAy, exploited, trapped in the facsimile of bliss, fetting all traces of our identity, to chase the intoxig cycle of upward bliss and downward crash to the unfiving ground, shedding tears only to make the iable asd to happiness all that much sweeter.

  Nothihan a mockery of our way of life, all to serve them, to repay them for their unwanted aid, and then, they dare fancy themselves in self-satisfa fing the most savage realm to their knees.

  Self-serving hypocrites, nothing but sces of the world, all ed ieo justify their owence.

  --

  The st thing Izabel remembered was a flood of white, and uhe same flood of white did she opened her eyes.

  Likely a medical facility, sidering what had happened. She sat up, and as her vision clears, she saw the door leading outside, the walls all around the room decorated with something she could only describe as a colorful, Primeras-inspired artwork. To Izabel, it looked a little juvenile, but then again, it was said that those who chose to take the Primeras’ side would be granted happiness, ohat would surpass anything else they would have ever experienced, until none of their senses would taste anything else.

  Blissful, the world had always made her sick. Did no one else realize the cage they were locked in?

  On a more thh look, the pce seemed undamaged. The usual, ing perfe she was familiar with was all there, and not even a speck of dust marred the pce.

  A little disappoi welled up, much as she tried to suppress it. Of course, the dream of unshag herself from this dreary existence prioritized on happiness was a farce.

  “Tempering your expectations is all well and good, but do be careful, or you’ll risk destroying your own motivations.”

  Izabel’s train of thoughts ehere, repced by shock as she almost jumped back before she could slip into a downward spiral. Hunter eeking from the er of the bed, intangible body passing through everything else. In this state, though her digone remains, the same could not be said about her appearance as half a head poking out of the bed.

  “Wait, you really are real—”

  “Yes, I am, and for your information, what we both saw was real, though from the looks of it, they’re quick to up.”

  Hunter g the door, still closed for the time being.

  “They likely have some ways to track your current state, so ces are, they’ll be ing soon. Remember, I read your thoughts, so o talk directly.”

  Izabel looked at the door for a few seds, and when nothing walked in, she asked Hunter, “So, what are you?”

  “A panion assigo you by the developer of Heart Mirror, or as the app stated, I am a Mirror Avatar. My assig is to guide you and provide you with the means to fight the Primeras. If you still remember holding my on,” Hunter jured a familiar-looking pistol in her hand, “That is the base form of the pave you. There’s more, but this is not a good time for a demonstration. Maybe ter.”

  “No, that is not my question. I get it, you are my panion, but what kind of thing are you?”

  “That is… a difficult questio me see… I think the closest description in yuage would be ‘a colle of thoughts and power ected to you’. Mirror Avatars are simply panions assigo assist by the creator of the app, and we have a simir goal, that is, defeating the Primeras. I assist you with powers and abilities, while you i with the world in my stead. A beneficial agreement for us both, don’t you think?”

  “Fair point. As for you, I think sidering what I know, you’re likely simir to one of those robots, except with a human form and you only speak to me.”

  “That is a reasonable guess.” Hunter nodded.

  “Are there really a thousand people with this app?”

  “As far as I know, yes, and most likely all share the se of disliking the Primeras’ rule. No wonder, sidering their modus operandi,” Hunter replied, then she looked at the door. “Oh, it looks like they’re here. Pretend like you don’t remember about what happened before you lost sciousness. I’m not sure on how they do things here, but that should be a safe bet…”

  Hurailed off, and her form faded from Izabel’s view. Before she could ask, the door ened, and a familiar-looking mae ehe room. It was one of the maes assigo monitor the happiness of the popuce, and a few would be dispatched to the area of someone whose coeffit dropped below a certain threshold.

  Aside from its head, which was desigo mimic a cat plete with decorative expressive eyes and ears, Izabel hat rather than think it was cute, she thinks it looked rather uny, though, she here was an attempt of making it somewhere close to cute.

  [Hello! I see that you are feeling well, but it never hurts to ask. Do you experieny disforts or pain?]

  Here goes. How about you check it yourself?

  …

  Wait. Izabel remembered the numbers, and out of habit, she g the device strapped to her wrist.

  [Happiness: 91/100]

  [You seem happy, there is o worry!]

  Another message appeared in front of her eyes, clearly sent by the robot.

  “I’m not in any pain, nor am I feeling any disfort.”

  [Are you sure? Then, perhaps I be of assistance?]

  “Get me some cake, then?”

  [Your tracker indicates that 215 system days have passed since your st treat. Request approved.]

  With that, the robot exited the room, leaving the two of them alone again. As the door closed, Hunter reappeared, her expression serious, “Seems like they didn’t notice.”

  “Notice what?”

  “That tracker on your wrist. I noticed that it tracks your current feelings, and I’ve observed it fluctuate after yesterday’s i. I don’t know how the numbers ge while you are unscious, but yesterday, it goes up and down with your feelings, while now, despite what you were thinking about, it was retively stable. The lowest I saw it go down to was 88 as of now.”

  “You ’t check while I was asleep?”

  “No, it seems that when you fall asleep, I follow suit. Makes sense, sidering my sciousness is lio yours.”

  “So, in other words, we know your… existence have several rules. One, I’m the only one who could see and hear you, two, you read my mind, three, you ’t know what happens while I am unscious, and four, your only form of physical iion with everything around us is providih a on?”

  “Precisely.” Hunter said. “Back to the matter at hand, it seems like they’re unaware that you didn’t fet the events of yesterday. For now, it seems we’re safe, but I don’t think we linger here.”

  “True, we still don’t know a lot, but on the plus side, looks like her do they. Though, what’s up with the i yesterday?” Izabel asked.

  “I have a theory, but there is not enough evidence or information. Perhaps ter.”

  Right as the two were thinking, Izabel felt a beep from the devi her wrist. The moment she touched on the mail i dispyed on the s; a message rojected in front of her.

  [Subject: Wele!]

  [From: CORDIS#404]

  [Wele to Heart Mirror! Have you familiarized yourself with the app, and perhaps talked with your assigned Mirror Avatar? I uand that you have some questions, and I will do my best to ahem. Please opeat as soon as you are ready.]

  [Attat: CORDIS-app]

  [PS: Do not opeat while you are in a public pce, or that will be the st thing you ever did. You have been warned!]

  Izabel stared at the warning.

  “Are they sure this kind of warning will prevent people from doing just that? Personally, I would have tried it if this situation wasn’t so...”

  “Strange?” Hunter offered, “I ’t say for sure, but I think the other Mirror Avatars would disce su experiment. After all, there must be a reason for such a warning.”

  Izabel supposed that was a reasonable expnation.

  Their versation was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. As Izabel requested, she was given a cake by one of the assisting robots, though as she had expected, there was only a little frosting and chocote. Knowing that pining would send the robot on a spiel about the importance of health and how long lives would give us happiness. That wain, it’s almost like the Primeras wao make her puke with one word.

  “Heh, that makes two of us, but since I don’t have a physical body, I have nothing to expel.” Hunter said. Her form was not visible, it seems like she preferred not to appear when the care mae is here.

  Izabel tried to ighe ent as she took a bite of the cake, and then asked, “sidering I’m pretty alright now, I be returo my habitation unit?”

  The robot’s eyes lit up, literally, and a beam of light passed over her.

  [Sing… Please wait]

  [Izabel Viator: dition currently stable, and a return to the habitation unit is permitted.]

  [It seems that you have missed your living space. We will arrange for a transportation unit to e pick you up as soon as possible. You bring your treat back, just deposit it to your habitation unit’s system chute when you are finished.]

  “That was quick, thank you,” Izabel replied.

  With that, the robot turned around a out of the room, leaving the two of them alone again.

  “Holy, ces are they have eyes back at the unit too, but oher hand, I think it’s still a better pce to open that file than here,” Izabel said.

  “No, I agree that we should move. Look at the lights.” Hunter replied. “Look at it closely, did you see the device they pced on it? It’s the same white as the light, and the gre from being so close to a light source might make it a little less effective, but ces are, if they are pg it in that spot, that factor is not going to hihem.”

  It was tiny, almost unnoticeable due to the colors being like the light around it. However, following Hunter’s line of sight, Izabel saw a small device, its color simir to the room and the light that, were it not for the tiny lens, she would not notice. Izabel remembered that this wasn’t her first time in this room, as she had been taken here when her happiness number went too low, but this was the first time she had noticed the device.

  Now that she thought about it more, even her living unit always has some kind of listening or surveilnce device. It would be odd if this room, where they brought in people who were decred as troubled, didn’t have one.

  [Transport unit for Izabel Viator will arrive in approximately 1 minute.]

  “Let’s go, we shouldn’t linger.”

  As Izabel walked into the waiting transport, she noticed that, as Hunter said, the area all around them had turned back to normal. There was no trace of destru, no trace of talks about it, and all the damage has been repaired.

  If Hunter was not here, perhaps, she too would have sidered the events of yesterday a mere dream.

  --

  As she arrived at her living unit, the room lit up, along with the devi her wrist.

  [Heart Mirror system is synizing with your living quarters, please wait…]

  “Oh? Talk about ve,” Hunter nodded and gave a small smile of approval.

  Izabel noticed that there was somethiiful, something genuine in that smile. After all, so far, she had never seen Hunter smile before.

  “What is it, Hunter?”

  “You’ll see in a bit.”

  Izabel got her answer in the form of the whole space darkening, bck spots bleeding out from ers until the room ainted in pure, solid, and glossy bck. For a few moments, the solid bck remained, painting over all the light and everything else in a featureless, dark mass.

  Uling erhaps the most accurate word to describe it.

  In a few seds, the dark mass crept bato the ers of the room.

  [Synization plete]

  [Maskiure added. While you are in this unit, any data derived from your presence will be spoofed]

  “Basically, it’s a feature to let you hide from the stant watch of the Primeras. A simple, but ve feature regardless,” Hunter said. “For example, even if you talk to me out loud here, they ’t hear it from their pervasive systems. Why not open the message here too, while you’re at it?”

  Right. Izabel opehe message again, and then, she stared at the provided button for a moment. There was a feeling of thrill, an alluring sweetness from a sembnce of freedom, the breaking of invisible shackles that bound her since she was old enough to remember.

  As the feelings swelled with each sed, she pressed the button.