Inside the bathroom, the showerhead released a warm waterfall, condensing into hazy steam that carried the girl's humming along with it.
Her hat and gloves were removed, her waist-length hair cascading down freely. Water droplets trickled along the strands, flowing over her fair, smooth skin. Finally, they trembled on the curve of her backside before dripping onto the floor.
She reached out, brushing through the thick steam, her thoughts inevitably drifting to the day's outing.
"He called it 'hanging out'... but actually, it felt a bit like a date, didn't it?"
As the thought surfaced, she found it slightly hard to believe and patted her own cheeks.
Then, the hand in her peripheral vision caught her attention again.
Millie remembered—throughout the entire date... no! Throughout the outing, his hand and hers had remained linked, never once letting go.
"No... Millie! You can't betray your best friend!" The girl's gaze grew determined. "Those two clearly have feelings for each other. Alain might seem a bit flaky, but he's actually a really good person."
Thinking of her 'bro', her mind drifted back to what he had said earlier: "You smell nice."
"Do I smell nice? Do I really smell that nice? Just how nice do I smell?"
Just as she was murmuring to herself, the bathroom door swung open.
A gust of cold air cut through the dense steam, sending a sudden chill over the girl's body.
Alain, who had opened the door, and Millie, who was in the middle of her shower, locked eyes.
"Sorry— No... I'm really sorry, bro."
Still dazed, her eyes immediately darted to his hand, which was reaching towards the side of the door where her clean clothes lay waiting.
Alain rummaged briefly and quickly found his target: her small skirt. Then, without wasting a moment or saying a word, he shut the door and left.
Millie let the warm water continue to flow over her body. "Hmm, so that's what it was."
She nodded, suddenly recalling how her 'bro' had mentioned needing her as some sort of spellcasting component earlier.
"Hmm, so that's how it is."
Wait, what had she just seen?
No, more importantly, what had he just seen?
"Hmm, so that's how it is."
The girl squeezed out some body wash, spreading it evenly over her peach—top, bottom, left, and right. The slick, smooth sounds of rubbing echoed softly.
The next second, her washing movements paused. After the intrusion of cold air, the room's temperature gradually began to rise again.
It was hard to tell if it was because of the warm water or her own flushed little face.
After leaving the bathroom, Alain decided he would offer his formal apology after rescuing Pocket Mita.
Man, I feel like bro's gonna slap me for that.
Shaking his head, he pushed the random thought aside. He pulled the game controller from the pocket of Millie's small skirt.
Sitting down in the computer chair, he focused on the "Mita" game window.
As soon as he put on his headphones, he heard the ominous sound. Four spiders were relentlessly headbutting the door. Pocket Mita was still in the kitchen; when he'd lost control, she had drifted towards the sink, slightly farther from the door.
"Gotta hurry... connect Bluetooth."
Just as he switched the controller on, the door finally gave way under the assault and burst open.
Crack crack crack crack!
The human-headed spiders that stormed in turned their eerie heads, their gazes instantly locking onto Pocket Mita. Their footsteps echoed disturbingly, like something small and frantic hopping inside a coffin, rapidly closing the distance between them and her.
Then, one spider leaped high into the air. It opened its human-like mouth, aiming to bite down on Pocket Mita.
She, who always wore a friendly smile, now had the upper half of her face drowned in shadow, tears trickling relentlessly from the corners of her eyes.
This is the end, was her final thought.
However, with a sudden roll, she dodged the spider's pounce.
Before she could fully process what happened, she saw the young man from the real world sit back down in the computer chair. In his hands, which hadn't been there moments before, was a game controller, glowing with the light of its power source.
"Made... Made it just in time."
Alain let out a sigh of relief.
Glancing at the bottom right corner of the screen, he saw the pop-up confirming the successful Bluetooth connection. He knew, however, that the enemies' advance had only been momentarily stalled.
Sure enough, as the first spider's attack failed, the other three pounced towards Pocket Mita simultaneously.
He pressed the X button on the controller, immediately executing a dodge to the side.
Pocket Mita tumbled on her short legs, revealing a tiny flash of white panties, before landing safely. With that maneuver, all four spiders were now behind her.
"Nice panties," Alain commented into the microphone.
Pocket Mita's small body visibly stiffened at his words, her face blushing slightly.
Alain had no time to dwell on it. He immediately moved the joystick, guiding her into the living room, intending to make a break for the bedroom. The four spiders pursued relentlessly. Pocket Mita's short legs clearly weren't fast enough to outrun them.
Soon, one of the human-headed spiders caught up, running alongside her. It opened its mouth, snapping towards her shoulder.
Alain pressed the dodge button again, coincidentally triggering some kind of evasion mechanic. The attacking spider froze mid-motion for an instant.
"This controller even has a perfect dodge mechanic?"
Following the dodge, Pocket Mita's speed increased slightly, bringing the bedroom door closer and closer. In gaming terms, a "perfect dodge" typically meant evading at the exact right moment, triggering either a debuff on the enemy or a buff for the player. It seemed Pocket Mita received both benefits. Such skills usually had a cooldown period.
Right then, under Alain's control, Mita threw open the bedroom door. Propelled by the speed boost from the perfect dodge, she dashed quickly towards the space under the bed.
But the spiders weren't about to just watch her escape.
Three of them, following close behind, opened their mouths simultaneously, looking ready to bite her retreating form.
Alain still felt a pang of worry that the game controller might not allow for finer movements like crouching or grabbing items.
Pocket Mita, however, responded faithfully, crouching down automatically. Her short arms began to fumble awkwardly for something hidden beneath the bed.
The distance shrank, time ticked away second by second, and Alain couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Fortunately, something was faster than the spiders—Pocket Mita's rubber mallet.
Under Alain's command, the light pink hammer swung through the air. With a resounding SMACK, like swatting a fly, it struck one of the human-headed spiders, reducing it instantly to a splash of black mosaic pixels.
The second and third spiders arrived almost immediately after, with the fourth trailing just behind them.
Alain let out a soft chuckle and pressed one of the controller's back buttons.
On the screen, Pocket Mita angled the hammer defensively in front of her, bracing for impact.
The second spider lunged, biting fiercely at the sturdy hammer held up in defense.
The attack was successfully blocked. A faint ring of light pulsed from Mita's weapon—the visual cue for a successful [Parry].
That was right... Parry. It was a skill Alain had acquired not long ago.
The parry deflected the second spider, but the third one was already hurtling towards her.
However, the parry sequence wasn't finished: a successful block was followed by an automatic counterattack.
The hammer flashed swiftly before Pocket Mita, striking the incoming third spider and obliterating it into a mess of corrupted data.
At this point, only two spiders and three piles of shattered digital remains were left in the small room.
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