"Master! Have you seen that video of Momo going around the Net? She suddenly became so popular! Have you actually heard her sing? She's great! And she's so cute! Ah, but not as cute as me, of course, no one can beat this cyber girl in cuteness-"

Shintaro should never have opened that email.

That fateful day was meant to be just another of his idyllic days, staying in his room, chugging soda can after soda can. There was a strange email amidst all the Nico Nico and Youtube notifications, and he should have known, should have known after almost a year of doing nothing but using the Net, not to open strange emails. But he opened it, and the pixel-y girl who called herself Ene appeared like a pop-up and never left his computer since.

Here the girl was, dragging a web browser, with a video of his sister singing one of those peppy idol songs so popular nowadays, across the screen.

"Master, when was the last time Momo sang to you?" Ene was saying. "I bet it was before you stuck yourself here, right? Look, I bet her voice has changed a lot too! And in ways better than yours has!"

"Shut up already," he said, feeling and hearing his voice crack. He winced.

Ene only gave him a smug grin.

Shintaro clicked on the pixel girl and dragged her to the side with the cursor, all the while ignoring her indignant yells. He mumbled 'trying to do my work here', and Ene yelled back that "Master has no work, he's a NEET!" She stayed at the side, however, watching the song Shintaro was trying to write.

After a while, Ene remarked, "This is kind of a sad song, isn't it, Master?"

Shintaro mumbled something similar to "Is it?" and made the tempo faster. He waited for a jibe from Ene, but the cyber girl only smiled.

"At least you're letting it out of your system!" she said. "Sometimes there's just so much sadness and regret and loneliness in your room it suffocates me!"

His hand quickly moved the mouse to jab at the cyber girl. He knew that she knew the taboos, and he knew that she knew she just crossed a line.

Everyone had things they never want to talk about; everyone had regrets that slowly kill them day by day. Shintaro had both, and the alarm clock that woke him each day was a constant reminder. He didn't know why he was still alive, he didn't deserve it.

Other people had things to live for, and he lost it when she left with her bad grades and her smile and her insistence that red was the color of heroes. Which was, fundamentally, the reason he became a shut-in, rotting away in his room with nothing but his computer.

Until the cyber girl came into his bubble of privacy and pretty much broke it with her sharp pixels and her shrill voice.

"One of these days, you'll have to go outside, Master," Ene said. "When that day comes, you won't regret it! The outside world is a fun place, see!"

She proceeded to open a new tab and search images of the city they lived in, but Shintaro immediately closed it. He'd had enough of the outside world for a lifetime.

yeah I'm not sure where I was really going with this (seems to be the norm for me nowadays) but I just wanted to write some Kagepro...