The next morning

Olivia Booker

The eldest Booker sibling had every intention to sleep in. However, her lifetime of early training routines meant she was wide awake by 6:30. She leaned up in bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She did not remember the previous day's events for a few precious moments.

However, this all changed when she opened her eyes. As she looked down upon herself, it took her a second to process what she was looking at. Then, it all came crashing back.

She was still a relatively fit young woman, but her curse had robbed her of the muscles she had spent a life building. The biceps, which she had always displayed so proudly, had been drained of their mass, and the skin, hardened by nonstop training, had become soft and smooth.

A strange and unfamiliar type of sadness fell over her. Some of her still hoped this show would be an elaborate hoax. Perhaps everyone else had been highly talented actors, and the transformations she witnessed others experiencing had been the work of special effects and stage magic.

But now, it was obvious that she had been deluding herself. Magic had stolen years of training in a single night. Worse still, she knew this was just the beginning.

Before she could fall too far into depression, however, she slapped herself to focus. 'Get it together. You're not going to let this stop you. It doesn't matter if some bitch took my strength. She'll never break my spirit.'

She would not let Azure get to her. She vowed to continue living as she always did, starting with her morning workout. Finding room on the floor a few steps from her bed, she began her traditional warmup with some pushups.

She could immediately tell the difference. While she was fit enough to do the exercise, what had once been an effortless warmup made her sweat. By the time of her second rep, she misjudged her strength and crumbled to the ground. "FUCK!" she shouted.

"Wow, so they did take your strength, huh?" a familiar voice said. Olivia looked over to see that Lauren was also up.

"I was going to ask if you'd use those gorilla arms for something, but I guess that ship has sailed," added the goth.

Olivia sat on the edge of her bed, glaring at her roommate in disdain. "Are you trying to get people to hate you?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Lauren looked away. "I was calling you strong. It was a compliment."

"Oh, cool. Thank you very much," Olivia replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Your generosity shattered my mental image of how bitchy you are."

"How dare you. You don't know me," Lauren spat.

"I know everything about you. You're some rich cunt whose only life skills are how to A: Boss around teenagers, or B: Get her dad to do everything for her. But you're so stupid that you think that makes you talented, when you’re really not shit outside your little bubble."

"FUCK YOU!" Lauren shouted, throwing her pillow at Olivia, storming to her feet and leaving the room.

"Oh god, pillows. My one weakness. How did you know?" Olivia yelled after her. She then muttered to herself, "fucking teenagers."

Sophia Maoulin

When Sophia awoke, she found herself on the couch instead of her own bed. With her laptop on her chest, it was apparent she had once again fallen asleep doing work. The screen was black due to sleep mode or lack of power.

Grabbing her glasses from the side table, she filled the opening with her computer. She then looked over to her roommate's bed, finding it empty.

"Kaitlyn? You here?" She called out, only to be greeted by silence.

Seeing she was alone, she turned her computer back on, confirming it was, in fact, sleep mode. It brought her back to the catalog. But that wasn't what she was interested in, instead switching to the other application she purchased.

Greeting her was a video of a girl with wild green hair, a black crop top and jeans, a leather choker, and a wristband. She floated gently through the starry expanse of space, a radiant glow illuminating her silhouette.

The video girl's smile widened as she saw Sophia through the screen

"Hey, Sophia. What's up?"

As she spoke, text appeared at the bottom of the screen, like a visual novel.

Sophia smiled back at the digital avatar of her friend and roommate back at college, Katie Miller. "Not much. Just got up," she replied.

"Cool, me too. You have any good dreams?"

"Mostly nightmares," Sophia muttered. "I kept replaying all the stuff Azure could do. It's scary that anyone can have so much power." She decided to leave out how it also turned her on a bit.

"Just remember I'm always here for you, Sophia," the avatar reassured her. She then laughed. "I literally will be here. It's not like I'm going anywhere, right?"

Sophia didn't laugh. "I'm sorry. You're stuck in there. I can help if you like."

'Katie' shook her head. "Hey, don't worry about it. I like it in here. I am just an app anyway, so it's not like you trapped Katie."

"I thought you weren't supposed to acknowledge that. It breaks the illusion, right?" Sophia said teasingly. "You're failing the Turing test."

Katie took on a robotic voice and did the robot. "Beep. Beep. Does not compute."

The two laughed. As Sophia did so, she remembered how this conversation was possible. It was thanks to her first purchase, even before the database. While she had spent several hours looking for purchases that would give her an edge in the game, she had dropped everything once she read the description for this item. She still had the card for it, which read:

Cyber Companion App

Cost 5 BP

WARNING: Requires a smartphone or computer to install.

The app can replicate a digital approximation of someone from the purchaser's past to speak with. Accuracy is guaranteed to be greater than 50%. The app comes with a single save slot for a companion.

Allows for in-app purchases:

• 1 BP: Allow for perfect replication of anyone user provides a soul for.
• 6 BP: Increase Accuracy by 10 percent. Can be purchased multiple times.
• 10 BP: Increases save slots. Can be purchased only once.
• 10 BP: Allows the digital 'ghost' of the companion to follow the user around in the real world. Only the user can see.
• 15 BP: Allows the digital 'ghost' of the companion to track the user everywhere in the real world. Everyone can see.
• 40 BP: Digital companion gains physical body.
• 80 BP: Digital Companion gains physical body and can achieve, or lose, VP for the user.

She hadn't hesitated to pick Katie when she loaded up the app. She needed a friend to talk to. The same friend who helped her when she was feeling social burnout in college.

Sophia didn't care that it was not the honest Katie. Their conversations together had immediately revealed that. The application had exaggerated her friend's extroversion and often missed the more subtle details of her personality. Plus, her way of speaking was often too wordy and the visuals could have been better, with the hands constantly not looking right. Still, the illusion was good enough for her.

"By the way, how's it feel rooming with another Kate?" Katie asked, bringing Sophia back to reality.

"She seems... nice..." Sophia replied, not quite sure how to feel about her. While Sophia had enjoyed their time last night, she was now wondering if that was just because she had someone to show her laptop to.

The digital Katie also looked unsure. "That Kaitlyn seemed creeped out by me when you showed her."

"She was? I didn't notice," Sophia replied, completely missing that social cue.

"Well, I guess it is a lot to take in," the digital entity sighed. She laughed, "Or maybe she's just worried people will get our names mixed up."

"LOL," Sophia said, stating each letter individually. "Maybe I should give you a nickname. Like Cyber-Katie."

"A bit on the nose, isn't it?"

Sophia thought about it. "Ok, how about C-Katie? Or CKT?"

"You just said the same thing twice," CKT said, confused.

"No, they are spelled differently, but they sound the same when you say them out loud. Cause one is just the letters, and, uh... hold on, let me get some paper and show you."

"You don't need to..." CKT called out, but Sophia ran out of the room, looking for a pen and paper.

Ji-Woo Summers

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ji-Woo told herself.

The newly 'employed' secretary observed herself in the mirror and the outfit she had constructed. Her dress shirt was only buttoned up halfway, exposing the top and bottom of her breasts, making it abundantly clear she wasn't wearing a bra. She had combined it with a short business skirt, pantyhose, and high heel shoes. Behind her, she held her intended business jacket, which was equally low cut.

She couldn't help but look away in humiliation. This was the most embarrassing thing she had done since arriving, and had to fight her every instinct to change. At least when Azure had puppeteered and stripped her, it had been out of the businesswoman's control. However, actively choosing to dress like this made it so much worse.

Still, she was willing to bear it if it meant she could be freed from this hell and reunited with her husband. After all, she still didn't know how strict her job requirements were. They had told her to dress provocatively, and despite her outward defiance of her tormentor, she was secretly terrified that Azure would find any excuse to punish her if she didn't.

She had come to this decision when she had spoken to Tomoko the previous night. However, at the moment, Ji-Woo was having doubts. As she thought of her, the secretary looked at her roommate, who was still fast asleep. She couldn't help but feel envious of how peaceful she looked.

Sighing, Ji-Woo put on her business jacket and went for the exit. Waiting for her was a tiny envelope which someone had slipped under the door. It was labeled "Master Schedule: Day 2."

"Well, at least that answers the question of what I'm doing," she muttered as she bent down to open it. Then, after ten minutes familiarizing herself with everything, she left for the master's tower.

However, the moment she stepped out, she was greeted by a fellow contestant.

"Oh, hey Mrs. Summers. Do you have paper and a pen I can borrow? I need to explain a pun," Sophia asked, much to Ji-Woos bewilderment.

BONUS IMAGE