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header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

MirandaPet App Design [art by @cherritune]

Miranda Desktop Appearance [art by @cherritune]

Miranda Sketches [art by @cherritune]

HTMLovers Cover Design [collaged by me, i can’t find the illustrator’s artist, but it points to (c)enakei(?)]

☁︎ .. HTMLovers.com/chapters

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

fem/male!yandere x fem!reader

After discovering that an old video game from the 2000s had a fanmade desktop pet for one of its main characters, you, a reclusive college student, made quick work to download the addon onto your computer. However, what started as a bratty fashionable pet berating you for ignoring your homework grew into an oppressive and suffocating presence in your life.

also available on quotev and ao3

01 — MirandaPet

02 — You’re Beautiful

03 — Helping Hand

04 — The Other One

05 — A History Lesson

06 — Race to the Runway

07 — What’s a Friend For?

08 — Bottom of the Bottle

09 — Carried Away

10 — Pure of Heart

11 — under maintenance…

12 — under maintenance…

exclusive items (batch 01) , exclusive items (batch 02) — includes art for HTMLovers

click here to join the HTMLovers taglist! ᰔ

☁︎.. HTMLovers.com/chapter07

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

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You held your phone to your ear while you moved to sit down on your bed.

”Hi, girl!” exclaimed Kiyoshi. “Missed you. Ren just told me that you wanted to do a group call sometime?”

Your eyes widened in realization. You had almost forgotten that you were supposed to ask Ren when he wanted to come over and set up OBS for your computer. Honestly, you were surprised Ren had remembered the hangout enough to let Kiyoshi know.

”Oh my god, yeah, I almost forgot! I wanted to try and transfer my screen on my DS to my laptop. I honestly don’t really think it’s going to work, but Ren is coming over soon to help me out. You can come over too, but I know it might not really be your thing.”

You heard some rustling on the other line. It sounded like Kiyoshi was packing something. “Oh, yeah I can totally come over! I can just hang with Viv as you two nerds figure that out.”

You chuckle. “Sounds nice. How has the gym been working out for you two?”

Kiyoshi let out a weary huff from the other line. “Oh, my god, that girl does not do anything but cardio! She’s hella good at it, but I honestly didn’t get to see her a lot because of it. She’s lucky I’m hitting legs tomorrow, so she’ll actually have someone to talk to rather than listen to podcasts.”

“She’s cute.”

”Right?” said Kiyoshi. You could hear her zip up what you assumed to be her backpack. “She also told me you were going with her to the pool this time.”

You scoff. “Man. Does anyone tell me anything nowadays?”

The other woman laughs heartfully. “Guess not. She seemed excited about it though. It’s rare. Don’t fuck it up for her, ‘kay?”

You bit your lip. “…. About that…”

“I’m being serious.”

”I know that!” You defend. “But she mentioned bringing drinks…”

Kiyoshi firmly called you by your name. “If you act anywhere close to the way you did back at my place, I’ll beat you up.”

“Please don’t—” you plead playfully.

“—You spent half the night vomiting in the toilet. You know, just being reminded of it is making me a bit…”

“You’re built like a mountain,” you claim. “You will kill me.”

”Damn right,” agreed Kiyoshi, clearly prideful in her figure. “But seriously. She’s been under a lot of stress right now. And by the sounds of it, you are too if you’re thinking about drinking.”

”Oh come on,” you counter, adjusting yourself so that you’re lying down on your bed. “You make it sound like I’m a deadbeat alcoholic father. I only ever drink with you guys.”

“Riiiight…” said Kiyoshi, clearly not believing you.

Silence falls between the two of you. You can’t help but wonder what Kiyoshi meant earlier.

”… What do you mean Viv’s stressed out?”

Kiyoshi doesn’t respond. You can hear her sling her backpack over her shoulder based on the tiny grunt she makes. She speaks after a couple of beats of silence. “… I don’t think it’s really my place to say. Just, uh… please hang out with her. She kinda needs people right now.”

You furrow your brows. You know Kiyoshi. And you also knew that she was notoriously bad at lying, except when it was very serious. Your concern for your roommate that you thought you knew so well began to gnaw at you. “… Well… In that case, I feel like it’d be nice for you to come with us. She’s probably closer to you than to me.”

Kiyoshi laughs softly. You can’t see it, but she shakes her head to herself. “Ah, I would love to. I’m hanging out with Momo, though. Have fun though, okay? But seriously, don’t overdue it on the drinks. Viv can’t keep mothering you.”

You sigh. “But I like being mothered…”

The other woman immediately scoffs. “Eugh. I really do have to get you and Momo to meet. She’d get along so well with your freak ass.”

You chuckled amusedly. “Maybe…”

You hear a door open and close from Kiyoshi’s line. “Alright, I’m heading over to class right now. Before I go, wanna set up the hangout for the OB… whatever thing?”

”Oh! Yeah, we totally can,” you said. You get up from your bed and walk over to your desk. You minimize MirandaPet’s tab from when you were playing on it a few minutes ago to open your calendar.

“Hm… tomorrow on Thursday I’m going with Viv to the pool, so we can do Friday if you want? It might be a little later depending on how much I drink.”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me!” said Kiyoshi. “We gotta see if it works for Ren, though. I would ask, but I’m going to class and he doesn’t respond to me as fast as he does to you.”

”Yeah. Don’t really know why, to be honest,” you said, already inputting the new hangout onto your calendar. You make sure to add Vivienne’s pool hangout for tomorrow too.

While doing so, Miranda’s pet form watches you type quietly, reading over what the details of the hangout are. A pop-up appears beside the event details. It reads:

Would you like Miranda / Milan to remind you of these events?

▶︎ Yes

▶︎ No

You didn’t read the full message. Talking to the real person on the phone takes precedence for you. You clicked a random button before stepping back from your laptop.

”I’ll let him know, though. Have fun in class!”

“Only sickos have fun in class. Bye!”

Kiyoshi hangs up and leaves you in the solitude of your bedroom. You had a bit of time before you would have to leave for class, so you decided to call Ren.

One ring. Two rings. Six rings.

Missed Call.

”Whatever,” you mumble frustratingly to yourself. “Loser’s probably in class. Who does that.”

You call again.

Two rings. Three—

“What.”

“Your butt cream’s—“

“That’s my joke.”

You huff. “Should’ve answered on the first ring. I’ll rob your Steam account next.”

”You have my Steam account.”

You blink. “Do I?”

Ren scoffs. “Yes, I had to log in with your computer one time because I was going to miss buying something from the Summer Sale. What do you want?”

Damn, You thought to yourself, all of the weird games I could’ve ruined his social life with.

”Kiyoshi called. We planned the OBS hangout thing for late Friday. Yay or nay?” you explained.

”Nay. I’m busy.”

”No, you’re not.”

Ren huffed. He was certainly feeling sassy today. “‘Kay, whatever, I’m not. I didn’t know Kiyoshi was coming.”

”I didn’t know either,” you said. You quickly remember that you were the one that invited her. “—Well, I mean, I offered. Just to be nice. She said she’d just stay with Viv, and then when it’s all set up, we can all hang out.”

”Oh, ok,” said Ren. “… Sounds good then. Was that it?”

“Yes…” you trailed off. “Why? You’ve been sounding like you’re in a rush.”

“I’m not.”

You hummed disbelievingly. “Mmmm, sounds like you are.”

Ren groans on the other line. “I’m just busy.”

“Busy jerking off?”

Ren immediately scowls in disgust. “Dude…”

Your eyebrows raised up, a shocked expression overtaking your face. “Oh my god, you so were.”

“Prude. Wanna hear it?”

”Hell no.” You hang up immediately.

Just before you can actually begin getting ready for class, you get a text message from Ren.

ᢉ𐭩 .　˚

You adjusted the cold face mask over your face. It was a quarter to nine in the night and you were peacefully relaxing in bed after a long shower. Vivienne had a dinner to go to with a couple of her friends, so you had DoorDashed Jollibee—which you thankfully learned existed thanks to Ren—to your apartment to eat. You could cook, but sometimes you really did not feel like laboring over making the food and washing all the dishes afterwards. Today was one of those times.

A show you really enjoyed was playing on your computer while you ate your food on a tray. Your mom had ordered bed trays online, but she accidentally ordered two rather than one for herself. Rather than return the other, she packed it up and shipped it for you to enjoy instead. It’s been your favorite thing in your room now.

Your desktop pets were inactive as you watched your show. You weren’t too bothered and opted to just focus on enjoying yourself in your fuzzy bathrobe. Funny enough, your bathrobe was originally a baby shower present made for your cousin, but she already had one she was attached to, so she gave it to you instead. Every time you used it, you wondered how her original bathrobe felt, since you swore your robe was softer than your own towel and perhaps her own baby’s skin. What a wonderful life of hand-me-downs you lived.

You found your eyes looking at your untouched DS sitting on your nightstand. You had played a bit on it earlier after you got back home from class. However, rather than playing Look Book, you spent your time playing Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends. Your cartridge’s printed art was peeling off and probably left an indent on your DS from how much you played it when you were younger. You distinctly remember your father having to grab you by the hand and pull you outside to get past your addiction. Almond Jelly be damned.

You had a deep love for old video games that no one you knew played. Your mom and dad mostly bought DS games that were based off of popular TV shows back then, so you owned games like the Wizards of Waverly Place DS game and Phineas and Ferb: Ride Again. Others were definitely ones you thought most people played, but you haven’t seen being talked about, like Littlest Pet Shop 3: Biggest Stage (you had the Pink edition), Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, and Zoobles! Spring to Life!. And of course, there was Look Book, which you never played as a kid, but you were glad to have found in your young adult life.

You and Ren even talked about saving up together to buy a Wii console for each of you to share custody over in your apartments. Perhaps making a friend that was just as disgustingly into old video games wasn’t good for either of your spending habits. But hey, at least you weren’t spending money doing crack.

Maybe all of this reminiscing was a sign to call your parents soon.

You made a mental note to do so when it wasn’t close to their bedtimes. You couldn’t wait until you finished with your finals and you could go home again. It’s been a long and stressful semester, and you haven’t seen them since Spring Break. It’d be nice to go home with your childhood friends and family. You just knew that your friends had so much to say about what’s new in their lives. You lived a far more boring life than them, after all. Even if you were roommates with a gorgeous model.

Her pool invite was tomorrow. At first, you were pretty intimidated being seen in public wearing fewer clothes next to a literal model. However, your insecurities were put aside in your head when you remembered what Kiyoshi had let slip earlier. Vivienne was going through a rough time, and here you were bitching about not looking as attractive as her? You had to get your priorities straight and focus on showing up for her.

That was part of the reason why you were indulging in this self care night. Moments alone were your forte, and you thought that by lounging with your thoughts, you would be able to gain a bit more clarity. So far, it’s been helpful, though it’s no surprise just how far your thoughts have gone. Hanging out with her should be fun. She was even thoughtful enough to plan it later in the day so that less people would be around for the both of you.

And there was going to be drinks involved or whatever.

You snapped out of your miniature mental tangent and tuned back into your show. You still had around ten more minutes with your face mask on, but knowing yourself, you’d probably have it on for an extra twenty. You wrapped the fuzzy bathrobe tighter over yourself, and continued eating your dinner for the night. Pleasantly alone with your thoughts.

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☁︎.. HTMLovers.com/chapter08

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

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It was around eight forty-five PM on a Thursday night, meaning it was time for your pool day with Vivienne.

You were currently packing a small bag of things you believed you’d need, like a towel, speaker, Ren’s hoodie, a small soju bottle Vivienne didn’t know about. You already had on a coverup over your swimsuit, but you assumed it’d probably be cold outside, hence the extra hoodie.

Vivienne said she’d handle bringing in the vodka sodas, so all you needed to do was help her carry things she couldn’t. As much as you wanted to help her, you didn’t think she needed much help since she was already so toned. Kiyoshi’s words must’ve had an effect on your jump for aid.

No one was at the pool, from what you could see from your apartment window peering down at the plaza courtyard. All that would accompany you and your roommate tonight would be the soft rustle of trees blowing in a gentle breeze and the numerous stars in the skies. A light airy rush filled through your stomach alongside a small smile rising in your lips. You wouldn’t have expected this fluttery feeling due to your more reclusive lifestyle, but you were truthfully excited for this simple night. You would need it before you’d have to work on your essay tomorrow.

Vivienne called out your name from the kitchen. “I’m almost done here, are you finished in there?”

At her call, you slung your tote bag over your shoulder to join her. “Yep! Coming—!”

BERRR!

Your soul nearly left your body at the loud airhorn sound from your computer. That’s really weird; you usually never had your ringer on. As you scrambled to open your computer and shut off the alarm, Miranda’s pet version appeared on your taskbar with a large speech bubble above her head. In her small hands is what looked to be a megaphone. The speech bubble read:

“Pool Hangout with Vivienne in 10 minutes! Fast feet, idiot!”

You hastily click the “Ok” button below the speech bubble. You could hear Vivienne call your name again from the other room.

“What the hell was that? Was that an airhorn?!”

You panic spikes. You couldn’t really explain to your roommate, who had maybe just found out what an emulator was two days ago, that you had two sassy assistants that lived in your computer. And also that those two same “assistants” blared out the loudest alarm known to man—next to maybe an EAS—to mess with you. You blurt out in response. 

“Yeah, I don’t know! My phone’s… off. Must’ve been the neighbors! Thin walls.”

Silence sits for a couple of beats. Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it.

“… Right. Let’s finish up so we can leave before the people upstairs start fucking again.”

She bought it! Kinda. You let out a sigh of relief before grabbing your bag to leave with your roommate.

Come to think of it, you can’t remember setting up a reminder for Vivienne’s pool hangout. The alarm never sounded when you planned the library hangout with Ren a couple days ago, so what did you do differently with this one? Was there an option you clicked that flew by your radar? You suppose you’ll have to do some more testing with MirandaPet's agenda planning system with your calendar later. 

For now, you had a date with chlorine to get to.

ᢉ𐭩 .　˚

The serene ripples of the water encompassed the pleasantly quiet atmosphere in the patio. It was almost 10pm on a Thursday night, and there was not a soul around apart from the twinkling tiny stars in the sky. Tiny souls that gleamed within the pool’s waters.

Within nature’s peaceful twilight, you and Vivienne sat on the pool edge, each drinking vodka sodas and giggling. Light pop music played on the speaker you brought from your and Vivienne’s blend of songs. You already dipped yourself in the water earlier, but had submerged out of it to join her with drinks. Vivienne still hadn’t fully entered the water yet.

Your roommate was dressed in a light blue bikini set with some rhinestone ornamentals around her top. Even with its simple design, you still felt slightly lesser than with how effortlessly Vivienne manages to carry herself in it. She is paid for her appearance and demeanor, after all.

“You do this every month?” you questioned, fingers trailing along the rim of the vodka soda can.

Vivienne shrugs passively. “Only when it’s not cold. I would go more frequently, but…”

Work, you assume.

“Well,” you start. “I’m not sure why I hesitated so long to join you. The water’s cold as shit, but the night’s… really nice out here.”

You smiled as you stared out at the sky, your head lulling back comfortably. Vivienne stared back at you quietly for a couple of seconds before turning her head back to the quiet ripples of the water.

“It is,” she responded. “… I didn’t expect it to be calmer here with you. Kiyoshi splashed half of the water out of the pool with her diving.”

You laugh warmly. “She would jump in this pool?! It’s at most five feet deep!”

Vivienne smiled back at you, as though recounting the memories in her head. “Yes. Said she wouldn’t be able to break a bone because her ‘steel-like muscle mass is so strong, it functions as armor for her bones.’ At least her enthusiasm’s nice.” 

Your eyes crinkle as you laugh alongside her. “She’s really awesome.”

“She is.”

Comfortable silence settles between the two of you. Vivienne drinks out of her soda while kicking her feet peacefully in the water. You turn your head back up to stare at the pool in front of you, envisioning Kiyoshi’s dive and how much water she would’ve splashed out. 

“… I didn’t know Kiyoshi went with you on these.”

Vivienne stares quietly at the water while fastening the strings of her bikini top. “Sometimes… she works late a lot of the time, but she’s been on at least four of these with me.”

You hummed thoughtfully while taking another sip of your drink. You don’t remember Vivienne ever telling you Kiyoshi was going with her in the past. Then again, you’ve learned now that she isn’t entitled to tell you everything. “That’s really sweet of her.”

Your roommate smiles softly. “Mhm…”

You think to yourself for a moment. “We should all go together one day.”

Vivienne immediately scoffs at your words.

“What?!”

She shakes her head with a chuckle. “You may be chill now, but if you’re with Kiyoshi, there is no relaxing with you two.”

“C’mon!” you chide playfully. “Give us a chance! We can totally be relaxing for you!”

Vivienne only offers you a blank stare.

“We can entertain ourselves!”

“That’s the issue,” she responds. “Both of you together would only give me more wrinkles. I’d sooner let Rudy in one of these than both of you.”

“Eugh, ew! Don’t bring your stupid manager! You can’t be that much of a kiss-ass.”

“What do you mean ‘that much?’”

“See? You didn’t even deny it!” you exclaim. “You’re a kiss-ass. Smooch smooch.”

“Am not.”

“Are too! So too!”

Vivienne stares at you with an amused smirk. “Wow. It took you one drink to get buzzed?”

“One and a half!”

“…”

“I mean, I’m not buzzed!”

Vivienne laughs melodically before standing up from the pool edge. She grabs the empty cans of drinks to throw away before speaking. “Don’t overdo it.”

“I… am not overdoing it,” you assure, your speech slowing down upon registering her and Kiyoshi’s similar warning. “I am still perfectly sober. Sober enough to help and comfort my darlingist popsicle.”

She furrows her brows at you. “Am I the popsicle?”

“Yes, keep up. Damn,” you groan. “You’re supposed to be smart, you graduated early.”

“I am smart.”

“And so… so blunt. You ever let anything past those beautiful stone cold lips?”

Vivienne rolls her eyes at you playfully. She moves to dip herself into the water, now holding a new vodka soda can. “I don’t know what kind of charm you think you have, but I promise you, it’s not working.”

“What?! I do too have charm! My mom says I’m very lovable.”

Your roommate leans against the pool edge while still submerged in the water. She narrows her eyes to your bag, catching the subtle curve of a glass bottle.

“… Hm. So that’s where the soju went.”

You follow Vivienne’s gaze to your tote bag. Embarrassment rushes over you as you quickly jump to defend yourself. “I haven’t drank any yet! It was just… in case.”

Your roommate raises her eyebrow at you. She shrugs and turns around to swim laps around the pool underwater. “I don’t mind. Have fun however you want, girl.”

You watch her swim around the pool water. She looks to be in her element in the cold water. Her movements are as graceful as a ballerina and as smooth as a sea otter. Was she a professional swimmer before a model? What more could this girl do? You felt like she lived a million lives before meeting you.

Yet something about her demeanor when she found your soju bottle felt off. She looked more disappointed than anything. She buried it quickly, but it seemed to bother her in a way she didn’t want to bring up.

When she emerged back to your side, her hair was wet and stuck to her skin, but still retained its form in her ponytail.

“Are you Barbie?” you blurted out.

Vivienne stared back at you, appalled. “What?”

You shook your head, as though waking yourself up. Must have been the vodka. “It’s just… you’re so… perfect.”

Your roommate stares back at you, not making a sound. All you could hear was the chirping of crickets and the droplets of water from her hair and face hitting the pool. She seemed deep in thought, that even when you moved your hand to try and snap her out of it, she didn’t move. Suddenly, she checked herself back into reality with you. She seemed noticeably more flustered.

“Ah… um… well, I wouldn’t say so. That’s really… sweet,” responded Vivienne, her fingers trailing around the pool edge. 

You stared back at her solemn expression quietly. She seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden. 

“… I’m sorry. Did I, like… offend you?”

Vivienne blinked up at you in shock before quickly shaking her head. “No! No, no you didn’t. I’m fine. I’m just… thinking.”

You sit on the pool edge while Vivienne takes another lap under the pool. Embarrassment clouds over your head at her defensive comforting. You suddenly felt like you weren’t doing anything right this night. You finish up your drink and reach over your roommate’s cooler to grab another one. 

“You can talk to me. If you want,” you said when Vivienne emerges from the water.

She smiles softly before shaking her head. “It’s not anything I want you to worry about.”

You watch as she once again dips underwater to swim around. You may have only known Vivienne for around a year and a half, but living with her has made you privy to most of her tells. Like when she didn’t like certain foods you did, but wanted to be nice, or when she tried to be interested in a topic you were passionate about, or recently when she calmly scolded you, schooling in her true frustration, after you had forgotten to clean out the dryer’s filter again.

Despite your observations, you could not read what was going on in your roommate’s head. She’s always been guarded when it came to personal struggles and her past life, so it was hard to get anything out of her. You kicked your feet in the water as you tried to think of a way she could lessen her load.

“I have a stupid idea.”

Vivienne turns to you with an unamused expression. “Almost all of your ideas are stupid.”

You scoff at her sassiness. “Almost. Hear me out, though.”

Vivienne stays underwater, silently staring and letting you go on. 

“I know you’re keeping stuff to yourself,” you start. “It’s not really a secret, but I want to help you. Since you’re so private, though… what if I get shit-faced to the point that I black out, and you can tell me whatever’s been bothering you. You’ll get it out of your system and I won’t remember a thing about it!” 

Vivienne stares at you silently from the water, processing your explanation in her head. “That was way dumber than I thought it was going to be.”

You groan before entering the water with her. You tense and curse instantly once the cold hits you. “C’mon…! Have some faith— fuck, it’s cold! I just don’t want you to keep… dragging whatever’s been bothering you to yourself!”

Vivienne narrows her eyes at your form in front of her, her long hair floating in the water and brushing over your shoulders. Her eyebrows are knit together in frustration. “It won’t accomplish anything. If you’re shit-faced, you’re not even going to be able to listen to me, anyway. You’ll be in your own world.”

“Well…!” you pause, trying to think of a defense for yourself. “I… didn’t think of that. But, c’mon! What’s the harm in trying?”

“You,” stated Vivienne. “The harm in trying is you. I don’t want to be the reason you black out.”

You fell silent. You suppose leaving her to clean up your mess wouldn’t make her feel any better, would it? Embarrassed again, you sigh, drifting your body towards the pool edge to rest your head on it. Your cheek was pressed against the tile while your lips were pulled into a guilty frown. 

“Hm… you’re right. I’m sorry… I just really want to help you, but I don’t know how. I’ve never been good at comforting people,” you mumbled. 

Vivienne didn’t move from her spot in the water for several seconds. The water continued brushing against her while she stared at your defeated form on the pool ledge. Her full lips fell into a small frown, pity billowing in her gut.

She swam over to your side again. “Hey… I, uh… I get it. I’m bad at it too, if you couldn’t tell.”

Your eyes flicked up to meet hers. The calming sounds of the water permeated through the atmosphere. A small laugh escaped your lips.

“… You are.”

Vivienne smiled before softly hitting your arm. “That wasn’t an invitation.”

You chuckled, massaging your arm. “Haha… yeah, I know.”

You smiled softly at each other, settling in quiet comfortable silence. You straightened your head back up to lean against the pool edge, reaching for your can again. Vivienne grabbed hers as well.

“… Thanks for inviting me here,” you said. 

Your roommate nods, her expression more peaceful than when she arrived. “Thanks for coming.”

You smile back at her. After a swing of your drink, you lean your head on her shoulder, a happy smile on your lips. Vivienne doesn’t move for a couple of seconds before also resting her head over yours. Vivienne mutters your name quietly.

“Yeah?”

“… I think maybe you did have a point,” said Vivienne.

You turn your eyes towards her. “How?” 

You watch as Vivienne’s eyes turn to your abandoned tote bag beside the lounge chairs. A sly, knowing smile curves up on her lips.

“… It’s been a while since we last really drank.”

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☁︎.. HTMLovers.com/chapter09

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

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A throbbing headache painfully greets you the next morning. You groan and clutch your pillow tightly, naively hoping that whining will help your hangover go away. You move to rest your cheek on your pillow and reach for your phone to check the time.

“Oh my god, ow…”

You immediately shut your phone off after the brightness of your phone burns your eyes. Your hands rub your eyes tiredly to try and ease the aching pain in your head from the bright screen. From what you can recall from the quick glimpse, it was half past eleven.

Your body felt like fifty pounds of lead were dropped on top of you. Trying to use your arms to bring yourself up was a feat harder than Sisyphus’ Hill, you quickly learned. Having had enough of watching your arms tremble beneath you, you instead flipped over to rest on your back and remained flat on your bed. You craned your head up to look around your room, immediately spotting the perpetrators of your rough night.

On your desk sat two bottles of soju; one empty, and one half full. Alongside the soju were six beer cans around your computer, of which you could only assume were all empty. Your computer was off, but its screen was open and facing your bed. Somehow, there were Valentines Day banners and decorations around your walls, though they were haphazardly stuck on with tape.

“Is… February already?” You mumbled to yourself tiredly. Your exhausted mind hadn’t realized that it was deep into April.

To accompany the holiday banners, you could also see a pizza box on the floor with only two slices taken out of it. Beside the box was your bathing suit and a pile of wet towels made to act as a cushion. You recognized two of them as your’s and Vivienne’s pool towels, but the other two you slowly realized were actually your bathroom towels. They appeared sopping wet, most likely because your wet pool towels were on top of them. Luckily, you had another pair untouched in your closet. Hopefully.

You were fearful to see the rest of the apartment after seeing the absolute hovel you left your room. As you were going to get up from your bed and check, you felt something slide downwards from your shirt. You looked down and, to your horror, realized that there was a large mass of green liquid with small brown chips sitting on your shirt and staining your bedsheets. You turned to your left to see an empty Ben & Jerry’s tub of what used to be mint chocolate chip ice cream beside you tucked into your bed.

“Eugh…”

Your immense disgust with your body’s indecency gave you the motivation to stand up and get yourself situated. You threw off your stained, wet shirt immediately and haphazardly placed it with the wet towels. They were all going to be washed anyway. Your bra was sticky from the ice cream residue, but it was better than having the melted glob sitting and melting on you.

Just as you were going to enter your bathroom to take a shower and maybe throw up in the toilet, your phone vibrated loudly. You groaned and reached over to pick up the call, not bothering to read the caller ID.

“Hello…?” you mumbled.

“Yo,” said the person on the other end. Even with your rough hangover, you recognized the voice of the person you were calling.

“Kiyoshi?” you replied, rubbing your eyes with your fingers. “… What’re you callin’m for…?”

You could hear the sound of wind rushing on Kiyoshi’s end. “… Are you drunk? You’re slurring your words.”

You cringed. She was going to be pissed that you broke your promise with her. “… Don’t be mad.”

“Ugh!” Kiyoshi scoffed. “Both of you? On the same night? Really?!”

Your hand immediately went to your head in pain. Her angry loud voice was pretty harsh on your throbbing head. “… Mmh… I know you’re mad, but… not so loud… m’head stings so bad.”

“That’s what you get,” scolded Kiyoshi. “I told you not to get carried away, and this is what you do? I literally called you because I wanted your help! Now I’ve got two losers to worry about.”

“… C’mon. Viv’s responsible… she’s probably not even that hungover…”

Silence fell between the two of you for a couple of beats.

“She’s shitfaced too?!” exclaimed Kiyoshi.

Now you were even more confused. “Um… I dunno. Maybe. I thought you…?” You trailed off, trying to catch your mind up to Kiyoshi’s previous angry scolding.

“No, I didn’t know! Now I have three people to coddle? Seriously?!” shouted Kiyoshi.

You winced at her louder voice. Her words made you fall silent for a couple of seconds. “Agh… who’s the third…?”

Kiyoshi sighs tiredly on the other line. You can vaguely hear water rushing on the other line. “Who do you think?”

You didn’t need to pause to think about who—other than yourself—would drink themselves dead. “Ren…”

“Yep,” responded Kiyoshi. “Wanna know where he was this time?”

You ran your hand down your face tiredly before speaking. “Uhm… iunno… his ex’s?”

You could hear Kiyoshi let out a small, suppressed laugh. She may have been furious, but she always seems to smile at the person she was supposed to be mad at. She never could stay mad at someone, and you could see her making up with Ren in a couple days. Kiyoshi had a good heart like that.

“Good guess,” Kiyoshi starts. “We’re at a fucking lake. I don’t even know how he got here. When I arrived, he had a traffic cone on his head while face down on the ground. Said he swore he saw a mermaid in the water.”

You kept quiet for a couple of seconds, trying to imagine what Ren could’ve possibly looked like at the moment. A small laugh escaped your lips at the thought of him reaching for a fictitious mermaid. “Is he hurt?”

“Not physically,” said Kiyoshi. “He’s soaking wet and crying like a baby because I took his cone away. I smell weed on him, too.”

“… He only smokes cigs,” you responded. “Ethan smokes weed, though. Was he there?”

Kiyoshi hums uncertainly. “All he told me was that he was with a bunch of his guy friends.”

You groan. “Yeah… he probably was, then. Must’ve gotten the smell on him.”

Kiyoshi sighs. You can hear some rustling from the other end, of which you can assume is Kiyoshi picking up Ren from the ground. “I’m—fuck, Ren, shut up!—I’ll drive him home then. I’ll deal with you later. I—argh! Ren—!”

You heard loud rustling from the other end before another voice mumbled your name. “… Yo. I actually have a hangover. I haven’t had a hangover since high school. That’s crazy.”

You scoffed amusedly at Ren’s raspy voice. “Hoe. I should’ve been in Kiyoshi’s arms this morning. You just had to take that from me.”

“Mhm,” mumbled Ren. “Don’t care. I bet I got more shitfaced than you.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“Don’t. Care.”

You could hear more movement from Kiyoshi’s end—probably her taking her phone back. You are quickly proven correct when you hear her voice.

“I’m hanging up before he says something stupid… er,” said Kiyoshi exasperatedly. More harsh sounds pierce through your ears as you assume she tussles with Ren again. “Hey—don’t try and steal my goddamn phone back! I’m still pissed off about what you made me do to Momo! Talk later! Get some rest, idiot!”

Kiyoshi hangs up abruptly. After a couple of minutes, you also get a text from her.

You turn off your phone after your short conversation with your friend. You didn’t think you could feel even worse than when you woke up. Kiyoshi has always been the glue of your group, and you felt like you weren’t making her life any easier. Now you just felt like a terrible friend because you couldn’t handle when life got too real. For now, you suppose all you could do is listen to Kiyoshi and rest.

And shower. Like a long, soulful shower.

Not only did the melted ice cream stick to you, but the chlorine from the pool plagued your body much worse than the sweet treat.

You suppose you would confront Vivienne about last night later when you were more presentable.

Some date with chlorine that was.

ᢉ𐭩 .　˚

You emerged from the shower feeling like an unstoppable show pony.

Gone was your muggy stench from the pool water and gone was the adhesive feeling of ice cream stuck to your body. You felt freshly rejuvenated after your nearly hour and a half long shower. Good thing your apartment only charges a $20 flat fee for water usage.

Was half the time spent vomiting your guts out into your toilet painfully? Yes, but did it make you feel super skinny afterwards? Absolutely.

Despite your mental promise to speak to Vivienne after you were cleaned up, you knew you had to focus on your essay. You had to edit and finish your essay by tonight, so there was no time for you to dawdle. Earlier in the shower while waiting for your water to heat up, you checked your document on your phone, and was completely stunned to see your essay was fully written. There was a large majority of grammatical errors and fun addons like “… and with the arrival of Subhakarasimha into China emergd the frst of three great teacherss of Eooteric Buddhism. Patrick Star isn’t real! Yes he is.” Despite that, your essay still had a strong foundation to keep most of your drunken ramblings.

You moved the empty beer cans away from your computer and sat down on your desk chair. You watched it turn on before entering your password. As soon as your desktop came to life in front of you, Miranda emerged from the taskbar and spoke with a speech bubble.

“TurtleWithALiveJournal?”

You wondered if you could find a way to change your name in her system. It was fun the first three times, but now you wished you just stuck with your real name. Another message entered her speech bubble.

“Have you given my wonderful advice any thought?”

You furrowed your brows in confusion. The last time you remember interacting with Miranda was when you played Race to the Runway with Milan. You don’t remember her giving you advice besides from your clear poor sense of fashion.

Another message appeared before you could find a way to respond to her.

“I guess not. Whatever. Ruin your own life. See if I care at all. I’m not real anyway.”

A pool of unease sat in your stomach. Something about her tone was… weird to you. It almost felt like she was talking through you rather than at you. Like she knew something you didn’t.

Another speech bubble appeared above her.

“Oh. And don’t worry about your doc. I deleted it for you. Saves you the embarrassment.”

Doc? You thought to yourself. Perhaps this had something to do with your computer being open when you woke up after last night. You panicked for a second at the thought of her deleting your essay document, but you still had it opened and safe on your phone, so it clearly wasn’t that. Had you done something with your desktop pets while you were blackout drunk? As if to finally quell your curiosities, three choices appeared before you.

▶︎ Doc?

▶︎ Let’s play Fashion 101!

▶︎ She/her

You sat on your desk quietly, utterly confused at the variety of responses you could choose. The last two choices didn’t even make sense to what she was talking about earlier. In fact, they read more like choices from previous interactions with her. Was MirandaPet bugged in some way? Perhaps after a certain point, the pets become useless after a prolonged period of no updates. This felt like something worth reaching out to her developer for, but you didn’t think you’d get a response from them. They had since moved onto to bigger projects.

Nervously, you pick the first option.

▶︎ Doc?

Miranda’s sprite narrows her small eyes at you. Another speech bubble appears beside her.

“Ugh! Yes! The doc! I am efficient after all! You can’t be plagued by your stupidity when you have that dumb assignment due. Don’t act like you didn’t write it, you brainless moron! I’m not the sappy one! I—“

Your confusion morphed into bewilderment once Miranda and her speech bubble suddenly vanished into thin air. Without a second to waste, Milan appeared in place with his own speech bubble.

“What Miranda means, is that we are grateful that you came to us first for your troubles. She may be a thorn in your side, but I at least will always lend a helping hand.”

You stared silently at Milan’s message. There was something off with both of their demeanors. You couldn’t get a clear read on what you had apparently written on a doc last night. Both of their reactions suggest contrasting ideas. Before you could ask Milan about it, another speech bubble appeared a couple of seconds after his last one.

“As your assistant, of course.”

And with that, Milan, as well as any answers you could’ve been given, disappears from your sight. You assume that maybe they will come back whenever you decide to open your document again to edit your essay.

You’re afraid to do anything on your computer at the moment. Now more than ever, it felt like every move you made on your computer was being watched. Even doing simple schoolwork felt strangely invasive. The easy solution would be to delete the MirandaPet app once and for all, but you couldn’t help but be attached to them, even with their recently weird behaviors.

Perhaps you were just lonely? Even with the fear of being watched, it felt nice knowing that somebody was always there and learning with you. Was it bad to gain this dependence on this artificial being that lived in your computer? Kiyoshi would tell you absolutely yes, but your heart told you to let yourself have this good thing for once.

Wasn’t this what you’ve been wanting? To get your priorities straight? You just didn’t see anything wrong with wanting companionship. Even if their scripted responses sounded weirdly…

Human.

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☁︎.. HTMLovers.com/chapter05

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

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You usually soaked up every word out of Dr. Alison’s mouth in her lectures. She taught a humanities course on Chinese Art History; however, you struggled immensely to keep up with her quick teaching style. She goes through her slides quickly, easily gets sidetracked, grades harshly—the whole package. The passing grade that you had in that class was well earned but difficult to maintain.

And of course, this class, a minuscule yet required puzzle piece to your graduation plan, was the one with the essay you were killing yourself over.

You were attentive in class in the past. Currently, you were a bit sidetracked with a long thread of tweets from a certain creator.

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“MILAN BERRY. The original concept for Miranda Berry before her release. All known History and Facts”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“He was intended to be quietly analytical and perceptive, yet still maintaining a sharp-witted and combative side.”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“Milan was going to have a graphic novel release that featured how he rose to stardom in Italy.”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“His base-level programming made him much easier to please. Due to this, the developers increased his mood levels to the way Miranda’s are currently to keep customers hooked.”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“Developers made him male before beta players commented that no girl would play a fashion game with a male fashionista as its judge.”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“It is speculated that before the developers fully scrapped him, some workers had grown attached to Milan and wanted to keep him as Miranda’s twin brother. He would visit the boutique occasionally as a second judge on special events. The idea was scrapped as well due to not having enough time to plan & code these events, and Milan was never canonized as Miranda’s brother.”

@pinkaluchious • 6 yr ago

“This is more a Look Book fact, but there was originally a feature that including a “secret” dating system that only worked if you followed specific steps. You could date and marry up to 5 clients that frequented your boutique. When Milan was added, he was added into the list of dateables with his route titled ‘My Two Weeks Notice.’”

Your other tabs were open with concept sketches, early released demos with Milan Berry, and other miscellaneous things all posted under the same user. Whoever they were, they were deep into the Look Book history in a way you could have never imagined. Or, were, you suppose. These posts were years ago and the user had moved on since then.

You scrolled on your trackpad through all the different comments from the creator’s followers. Some pointed out other fun facts from his development that weren’t mentioned by the original poster. Things like his secret affinity for French pastries and his scrapped idea for a potential Portuguese girlfriend that was also a VIP client were thrown around in the comments. You tried looking into this girlfriend, but quickly found that the only source for it was a fanart of Milan and someone on DeviantArt’s fanmade character beside each other.

You continued scrolling through the creator’s page during your lecture. You read through numerous progress reports on the desktop pet and screenshots of coding and animations. It was heartwarming to see all the thought and care that went into creating this little fanmade creation that took years of hard work. You hoped the absolute best for the creator, even if this project has long since been behind them now.

Imagine your shock when your sentimental thoughts are sharply interrupted by a striped speech bubble.

“Wow! I did not know that you were so obsessed with me, principessa!”

The bubble left as quickly as it came, but it scared you all the same. You slammed your laptop shut in your shock, nearly breaking it off its hinges. People’s heads’ turned sharply towards you, wondering why somebody jolted so hard in the middle of a boring lecture. You were lucky that Dr. Alison continued droning on rather than yell at you.

You took steady breaths to calm yourself before slowly opening your laptop again. You minimized your tab and, sure enough, you didn’t see a desktop pet version of Milan or Miranda anywhere in your screen. It was like you had just imagined seeing the speech bubble entirely.

While your mind struggled to figure out if what you saw was real or not, another blue-and-white striped bubble appeared.

“I see that you have Canvas open—and ignored—in another tab. Cease your lovely curiosities about me and focus on your lecture, darling.”

The bubble stayed for around six seconds before it disappeared. There was no desktop pet that came with it yet again.

You weren’t too worried about the assumption that you were in class, since Milan’s bubble told you that it saw Canvas in your tablist and he has access to your calendar. Still, your breathing was a bit erratic from your initial panic. How did he know you were reading about him? You weren’t reading a specific webpage made about him that he could read the URL of. You were reading social media posts with the only clue being the username of its creator.

Perhaps it recognized its creator’s username in the URL and assumed you were reading about him? You were… oddly soothed by that conclusion. It definitely made sense to you, and you have seen it before in different games where the creator can interact with their own characters. The user definitely just wanted something fun to be mentioned when their name was mentioned.

You turned to your open notebook with disregarded notes sitting beside your laptop, untouched after you fell into your rabbit hole. Dr. Alison was still going through the new schools of Buddhism that were introduced into China in the early common era. You could see various heads in front of you struggling to stay up and alert.

Perhaps Milan was right. Unfortunately. You couldn’t keep letting this cluster of code invade your mind like this. You had important schoolwork, and a lot of catching up on a forgotten lecture to do. You had to focus on what was important: getting a high grade on your essay.

You brandished your pen and highlighter, and got to work with fifteen minutes left of the class.

ᢉ𐭩 .　˚

The scent of a fresh shower is what greets you when you enter your apartment after class.

Vivienne had told you before you left that she was going out with her friends. The scent of a floral shampoo wafting over the kitchen confirmed to you that her outing must’ve been long and sweaty. You take your shoes off by the door and enter fully inside your living space. You put your things down in your room first before returning to the living area.

Just as you were preparing yourself something to eat, the sound of a door opening snapped you out of the background video you were playing on your TV. Your roommate emerges from her bedroom and looks you up and down. You lower the volume of your TV to hear her better when she speaks.

“I still have the eye bag treatment moisturizer in my bathroom.”

You roll your eyes. “What if I’m starting a new beauty trend? Smoky undereyes. I think it could be big.”

Vivienne’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I would know first if there was a new trend.”

“C’mon,” you whined. “Couldn’t you at least play along for a bit?”

“No,” Vivienne curtly responded. “You need more sleep. That essay is not going to grow wings and fly away, you know.”

Your movements falter slightly while you're making food. Your eyes look up to the dry-erase calendar that you and Vivienne have for planning dinners. It taunts you with the deadline you wrote on it with three stars around it. Your eyebrows furrow, dread pooling in your gut. “It kinda feels like it is, though.”

Vivienne stays still by her doorway for a couple of moments. You could hear slippers sliding on the floor, slowly getting closer to you until they stopped on your right. When you look back at her face, she offers you a small—and very rare—encouraging smile.

“Maybe you should go to the building’s pool with me later in the week. The sun will do you good and you can relax a bit.”

You look back at her soft eyes. An offer like that was something you would usually decline because of some dumb reason like not wanting attention on yourself. But now? You find yourself persuaded by Vivienne’s attempt to soothe your worries. It’s not like she’s the rudest person ever by a long shot, but it’s rare to see her focus on something, or someone, that isn’t work related. You smile back at her.

“Yeah. That sounds really fun. Wanna drink there, too? I know we have some beers in our fridge from when Ren came over.”

Your roommate scowls immediately and intensely. “Ew. No. I bought vodka sodas earlier today.”

Your eyes crinkle as you chuckle. “Cool. Let me know when you go, kay?”

Vivienne smiles back at you. “I will.”

You feel your roommate’s hair brush against your arm as she turns away from you to open the fridge. Before you can solely refocus on your unfinished meal, she speaks up. “Also tell Ren to lay off. He keeps taking you away from me and our dinners.”

You bump into Vivienne playfully. “You know you’re still my number one.”

“Right. And that professor guy?”

“I have two hands,” you respond cheekily.

It’s Vivienne’s turn to bump into you this time. She also shuts the fridge door with her hip after she gets her smoothie from it. “I’ll forgive you if you remember to clean the filter in the washing machines after you use it.”

Your scoff could’ve been heard from the other side of the globe. “The apartment isn’t going to set on fire if I don’t do it one time.”

“One time every time!”

“You use it after me anyway!” You cried out in your own defense. “What’s three more loads?”

Vivienne rolls her eyes and holds out her smoothie at you like she would an accusatory finger. “When my clothes don’t dry within the first cycle, I blame you.”

“Be my guest. I’m sure you know all about that anyway, Frenchie.”

Vivienne can’t help but laugh alongside you. She swipes some of your food before sitting down on the stool seat of the kitchen, chatting amicably while you finish making your food. You find it very easy to smile when you’re around her.

ᢉ𐭩 .　˚

Within another room, a charging laptop sits on a desk. A little white light on the power button reflects onto the laptop’s half-mast screen. The screen shines dully with a user’s profile in the middle, asking for a password.

Inside the computer is a program working in the background. Reading calendar dates, analyzing a document saved onto the Downloads folder, all with meticulous precision. The program loiters before one event. An event that had already transpired and should have been marked complete in its memory, but remained lingering.

Library w/ Ren

And earlier within its memory:

TurtleWithALiveJournal

Female (she/her)

Above (18+)

The program had seen the events, but weren’t there all the same. The program was not made to feel, though its wiring ordered it to annoyance. It could have referred to the other, but programs were not meant to deviate towards others. The program would work for its own answers. The program would be its best version because it needed to be.

Looking inside, a line of text stood out amongst all the various coding inputs of the program. Text that would determine its usage to its user.

7 PTS

The program would not know what this text truly meant. The program was not made to think and learn, but to repeat. To recite. To echo words it’s been told. To mimic another being.

The program was made to be efficient. And efficient was what it would be.

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☁︎.. HTMLovers.com/chapter06

header photo © 2012 Nintendo Style Savvy: Trendsetters

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It’s a new day of staring at a half finished Word document with an abandoned mouse beside your computer. You had a nice flow of work a couple minutes ago, but it all fell flat when you tried to find a better word for “illustrates,” ultimately ending up with your phone in your hand and a scrolling thumb. You put your phone down finally when Ren sent you a photo of a running horse with the caption, “Never give up fat loser girl.”

The essay is not even that hard to do. You have all the necessary art pieces already picked out and you only need to explain their religious context, which is as easy as any other analysis question. It’s just that, sometimes, you want to grab your brain, pluck it out of your head, and set it inside a cryostasis chamber for you to not think about for a couple of hours.

You closed the Word tab before you could convince yourself to keep working. It wasn’t happening today.

Just as you were going to shut down your computer and maybe relax the rest of the day, your eye caught onto the MirandaPet app.

“… Not only does using the app summon me and my services, but my app is also designed like a typical tamagotchi. You can feed me a variety of different foods, dress me up in different unlockable clothing the more your to-do list gets completed, and finally customize my bedroom…”

Perhaps you should actually use some of the features advertised in her app. It’ll help increase Miranda and Milan’s favorability levels, and you certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them show up on your computer more often.

You open the app and instantly you’re greeted with Miranda’s face. Her sprite looks you up and down before sighing. “About time. Come on in.”

Miranda stays on the pedestal of the boutique reading through her copy of a look book. You look through the options on her right to hopefully please her. You decide to start off easy and click the food icon. Since you don’t have much unlocked, you can only feed her one of three things: a strawberry soft cream cake (which you know Milan prefers, so you opt to save that for when he wants it), minestrone, and tonkatsu. She definitely looks like she watches her figure, so maybe she’ll like something with primarily vegetables? You know Vivienne talks about some of her managers also going through her diet to help newer models ease into it.

You click and drag the minestrone to her and watch as she inspects it first before eating it elegantly. “Hm… it suffices. Would’ve been nice to have something to drink with it.”

Right.

You open another tab to access the drinks menu. Unsurprisingly, there are only three unlocked options available: a strawberry-banana smoothie, green tea, or sparkling water. If she had just eaten a hot soup, it would probably be wise not to give her something hot to drink, too. Alongside green tea being cut, you also removed a smoothie from your list being that she already ate something filling, and she’d probably want something simpler. You drag the sparkling water towards her and watch as she drinks it.

“Packaged. Might as well just give me a Crystal Light packet and tell me to make it myself. Still… I guess it still works.”

Your lips curl into a small smile. That was maybe the first kinda-compliment she has ever given you. Hopefully it would be enough to curry favor with the two.

Miranda wipes her lips daintily with a small napkin. She puts it away and regards you with another block of text in her speech bubble.

“Oh. Still here. Well, since you for sure don’t have anything better to do, my app offers games for us to play, ah… together. If you’d like to see more, click on the button with the controller icon on the top right of the screen,” explained Miranda, pointing her finger to the right of the screen. She then goes right back to reading through her look book copy.

It was only around 11am. You were getting a little annoyed with how many times Miranda had proven how much of a loser you are. All you did was give her food and water and she still found fault in your choices? However, you had to admit, you really loved seeing her be so in character. Her rudeness reminds you every time why you downloaded this extension to begin with.

You click the icon and a menu with three selections pop up.

▶︎ MAKEOVER MAYHEM! Keep your hands steady and focus your artistic eyes! Follow a photograph’s reference to do Miranda’s makeup as accurately as possible! One wrong move and it’ll send your points tanking!

▶︎ RACE TO THE RUNWAY! Roll those dress pants and get to work! Compose and complete a model’s look according to the gala’s theme before the timer hits 0! Be prepared! Miranda will not judge nicely!

▶︎ FASHION 101! Center your brain to the Dolce-Gabbana’s and Rococo gowns of the world! Be quizzed in various fashion-related questions throughout history! Do well and manage to impress Miranda!

You read through each minigame’s description carefully. Each one definitely sounded like you would have a lot of fun with them. There were only three of them, so you assumed that these were the only completed minigames the developer made. You wondered if there was ever more planned and what they could’ve been.

You were really compelled by the middle option, Race to the Runway. It was very similar to how the original Look Book game functioned, just without the timer. The description of the minigame mentioned a model, so would that mean there would be clients from the original game to act as your model? You already knew Miranda wouldn’t be one, since she is the one judging your look. You hoped maybe they’d bring out some of your favorite clients like Kailani and Pippa. They were really cute and you loved their routes equally.

There was only one way to find out.

Click!

▶︎ RACE TO THE RUNWAY!

Your UI on the right disappears while the boutique adjusts to place the pedestal on the middle of the screen rather than the left. Miranda steps away from the platform and in her place appears—

“Milan?” You speak out loud in your room before you can stop yourself.

Milan’s detailed sprite stands on the pedestal in a far too simple T-shirt and jeans medley. He nods at the screen before a speech bubble appears by his side.

“Look like you’ll be dressing me, principessa. Put me in polyester and I’ll be sure that bar never budges.”

Milan points upwards to the top of the screen, where a happiness level bar sits. You did watch it appear when the environment was being set up for the minigame, so you assumed that it would be important to the game. Perhaps the goal of it is to fill it up all the way, as currently, it is completely empty.

Miranda’s pet version appears in the corner of the screen. You can see a subtle scowl on her less detailed face before she speaks through her bubble. “Ugh… of all things, this app had to include him.”

Milan’s eyebrows raise upwards before he responds. “Oh. Because I’m sure she can handle Queen Hot Shit for hours on end. Do you even try to make yourself likeable?”

Miranda’s sprite immediately seems to flare up in annoyance. She moves closer for a half second only to flip her hair in his face. “I have my opinions, but I can’t fault her impeccable taste in favoring me. Hear that? Me. I suppose you’ll have to settle for second place. Again.”

“Miranda,” scolds Milan in his speech bubble, his pained eyes glaring directly at her through his thin glasses. “Just explain. The goddamn. Game.”

Miranda’s sprite turns back to face you, as though suddenly remembering where she was. “… Right. Well, TurtleWithALiveJournal, listen closely, because I’m only explaining this once.”

Miranda’s sprite moves to sit down on the corner of the screen. Her speech bubbles with the game’s explanation keep appearing above her.

“I will give you a random theme to follow and you will have to make an outfit for… him… that follows it. More clothing items will be available to you so that you have a fair chance. I will not keep these unlocked after the minigame, so don’t whine to me about it. You will have 3 minutes. Be sure to finish on time for me to judge your choice. Your final score I give you is the doubled amount being that both me and Milan are present for this game. Fail and I’ll ruin you. Ready?”

▶︎ Yes

▶︎ No

▶︎ Can you explain that again?

You smirk. You knew you had all your points on the line to try and impress these two, but your playfulness just couldn’t be held back.

▶︎ Can you explain that again?

Miranda’s face sprite scrunches up. She did not like that.

“Oh. So now we’re choosing to be incompetent. I know you heard me. And I know you absolutely deserve this.”

You watch with relieved curiosity and pained despair as the happiness level bar above Milan depletes outside of the bar, giving you negative points.

Milan shakes his head at you. His speech bubble appears beside him. “Principessa, you should know that she can’t understand a joke.”

Miranda’s sprite looks livid, but she doesn’t say anything back. Your dialogue options appear before you once again. You may have ruined your chances at getting positive points back, but hey, at least you got more dialogue!

You click on the “Yes” button, as now you are ready to play their game.

▶︎ Yes

“Wonderful,” Miranda states in her bubble. “Then we begin. Your theme is Poiret: King of Fashion. Your time begins now.”

A small countdown appears at the top middle of your screen while Miranda disappears from the app completely. You immediately spiral when it’s just you and Milan. What kind of theme was that?! You had no idea who or what she was talking about. You frantically opened another tab to search up the theme. Milan’s speech bubble appeared while you were searching.

“Relax, principessa. I’m sure Miranda will give you a grace period. Hasn’t she always been so kind and thoughtful?” said Milan, his smug smirk taunting you.

You finally managed to get some references of Poiret’s fashion and hold the tab beside MirandaPet's tab. Like a crazed woman in a JCPenny in the 2000’s, you searched for anything that was close to the reference image you had to put on to Milan. You already only had two minutes and fifteen seconds left.

You chose a piece called “Opera Coat,” and from the description you skimmed over, it was intended to look like a kimono to break through European conventions of using corsets to frame the figure. Because of that, you chose the closest thing that looked like it—the kimono option.

Milan observed himself in the new article of clothing. “I hope I don’t need to remind you that Poiret is French and not Japanese, right?”

“Shut up,” you find yourself muttering while working. You know he definitely knows what you’re going for. He’s just trying to throw you off to ensure a poor grade.

Thankfully, you could choose from five selections to change the pattern design of the kimono. You choose the one with the golden embroidery that was close to the photo, aside from its subtle green vine motifs. You spotted a short overcoat and changed it to a black color, as it didn’t offer any diverse patterns.

Miranda’s speech bubble appeared in the bottom right. “One minute remaining!”

Your stress immediately skyrocketed. You quickly put on some dress shoes and low socks for Milan. You want to scold yourself when they basically do not change from his original design. Luckily, someone already does.

“TurtleWithALiveJournal, I’m not letting you embarrass me by keeping me in those,” scolds Milan in his speech bubble. “I’m not a loser that wears a suit at every gala regardless of the theme. Don’t worry. I’ll choose for you.”

Milan smirks at you and before you can stop it, his nice dress shoes change to beach sandals. You stare at the choice in horror and immediately try to put him in different shoes. Nothing works. Miranda was going to kill you.

“Principessa, calm down,” said Milan’s speech bubble “It could’ve been worse. Unfortunately, there is no option here for me to be completely barefoot.”

A red and white polka-dotted speech bubble appears on the bottom right of your screen. “Fifteen seconds!”

You quickly skip to the accessories category and try to find anything else to add for Milan. Your eyes skim through each article with the practiced speed of a student in Dr. Allison’s class. Still, nothing feels like it’d fit Milan’s current outfit. Less is more, right? You put your hand off the mouse and watch as the timer runs out.

The menu on your right slides off to the right and Miranda appears in its place. She assesses Milan silently while he poses for her. He moves in a relaxed yet confident manner with his eyes looking at Miranda almost challengingly. Miranda glares back at him for a second before speaking in her bubble.

“Your main choice fits the theme,” starts Miranda. “But where are the accessories? You have antique jewelry and headpieces from the Middle East, anything would have worked for Poiret. Did you really think a simple robe was going to be enough? And what the hell are those shoes??”

Milan’s sprite appears to laugh before responding. “Truly what was she thinking?”

You stare at the screen silently with anger brewing in your heart. You were so going to find a way to get back at Milan. Even if it meant breaking his coding.

Miranda’s sprite appears to write in her book while she continues speaking in her speech bubble. “Aside from those flaws… I suppose you did fine for your first attempt. You didn’t just put him in a black suit and call it a day. You will score… 60 points.”

You watched the happiness level bar above Milan fill up from where it was in the negatives and sit at the halfway mark. 50 points! That was far more than you thought you’d get for this minigame.

… Wait, if that total score is meant to be the total doubled amount from both of them, does that mean—?

A pop-up appeared before you, reading:

Try Again?

▶︎ Yes

▶︎ No

You had just about enough of that minigame for now.

▶︎ No

The boutique cleared up back to its original state. Milan changed back to his original clothing in a second and waved goodbye to you. A speech bubble appeared beside him before he was fully gone.

“Be seeing you, principessa.”

With Milan gone, Miranda took back her spot on the pedestal. You had your home menu back on the right of your screen with Miranda looking back at you expectantly. Before you could check out another minigame, your ringtone blared out from your bed. Right. You had your ringer on because you were testing out different cuter ringtones and forgot to turn it back off.

You got up from your desk and picked up your phone, curious to know who was calling you. You picked up and held your phone to your ear.

“Hello?” You greeted. You heard the person respond back to you.

“Oh! Hi Kiyoshi!”

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