April 12th: Evening

"You're home," said Sojiro. "I take it you actually went to school today?"

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Huh? I'm the one asking the questions here. Eh, so long as you're not getting into trouble, it's fine by me. I don't know what you've been up to but trust me, you'll be gone if you start causing problems. In case you forgot, your life is not a free one right now."

My phone went off.

[Ryuji: Hey, I decided to go ahead and message you.]

[Ryuji: Can you see this?]

[John: Yep.]

[Ryuji: I'm gonna be counting on you, tomorrow, OK?]

[John: What about?]

[Ryuji: C'mon, don't play dumb.]

[Ryuji: We've come this far, so you gotta stick with me to the end.]

[Ryuji: Let's save those guys who've been getting physically abused. You and me.]

"Sheesh, are you even listening to me?" asked Sojiro. "Just stay away from bad influences, okay?"

A I walked past, Sojiro spoke to me again, "Hey, I'm gonna head home for the night. I'll lock the store up. Don't go wandering out."

As I was about to go to bed, my phone went off again.

[Ryuji: That thingy on your phone was some red eyeball icon, right?]

[John: The what?]

[Ryuji: That weird nav thing! The app that took us to some weird place.]

[Ryuji: I found it on my phone too.]

[Ryuji: I don't even remember installing it!]

[John: That's creepy.]

[Ryuji: For real. What is this thing?]

[Ryuji: Think it's being downloaded on it's own somehow?]

[Ryuji: It's dangerous to use something without knowing what it is.]

[Ryuji: But with it, we can go to that weird place, right?]

[John: Seems like it.]

[Ryuji: Basically, it's gonna depend on how we use it.]

[Ryuji: But first we gotta find evidence for the beatings.]

[Ryuji: I'm counting on you, alright? Don't go ditching school on me.]

I felt exhausted, maybe because of the Metaverse.