With the defeat of the over-encumbered robot, Franklin, a blue circle begins glowing in the center of the room. Franklin's remains that sit there glow a faint blue before disappearing. Must be some kind of teleporter, whether it be magical, technological, or some combination of both.

I reappear in the gym area, and face-to-face with Thomas. The man himself, for some reason, is breathing heavily even though I suspect he doesn't even use his lungs anymore.

"Oh. Hey, Alice. I, uh, forgot that I was banned from the entire west coast, for various undisclosed reasons, so when I showed up there, well, they were NOT happy to see me. I, well, I didn't get to do anything while there, so… You defeated Franklin? Good. I, heh, I made him to be a figurative wall. Slow, but hard." Thomas flaps his hands about while talking and pacing back and forth, eyes darting around wildly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Thomas? Should I, uh, do the other challenges now?" I eye the doctor with a weary eye.

Only a single eye looks at me while the other continues staring forward. "Hmm. No. You've spent three days in my challenge. You can attempt the others at another time, so I'll have to notify them of that. Uhh, hold on. I'll teleport you back to somewhere near your apartment. Actually, do you want to change into your hero outfit first?"

Hmm. The way he words that means I might not appear in my apartment. If it's night, then I don't want to be in the middle of the street in my workout clothes. If it's day, then…I could make the same argument.

"I'll change," I say. Thomas nods in response. A chair appears behind him with a glow and he sits down, closes his eyes, and crosses his arms.

After a quick change, I gaze at the almost-sleeping form of Thomas. I wonder…can I mess with him? This'll probably fail, but it's worth a shot.

I silently walk up to Thomas, and…

Kick the chair out from underneath him.

Thomas stands up abruptly, picks up the airborne chair, and swings it onto my head with a loud smash.

The fragments of the chair fall off of my head. I don't think I'm bleeding, but damn! That hurt! Note to self: Don't mess with Thomas. It'll only bring pain.

With a final glare, Thomas teleports me back to my apartment. Or the ground floor, at least. I may have pissed him off a little. Ugh, alright. Time to deal with the consequences of my actions.

My apartment is on the fourth floor. The building has two elevators used for going in-between the floors. It's just my luck though that both happen to be out of order, meaning I have to climb four flights of stairs. For some reason, I feel like this is Thomas's fault too. And…my assumption was correct. It's nighttime.

I drag myself up the stairs. One step after another repeating in monotony. Every few steps or so, there's a window that allows some moonlight to pierce through the frozen sand. Hmm, don't I have a skill that allows me more strength at night? Yeah, Lunar Power was its name. I can feel myself becoming stronger under the full moon's gaze. A two-times multiplier every 28 days.

I climb onto my floor when I see an ice-blue haired elf standing at my door. She's staring directly at it with such an intensity that she might burn a hole through it. I sneak up behind her and say,

"What are you doing?" I attempt to shift my voice down a little, so that she doesn't recognize it. I fail miserably, but the mask modulates my voice for me with the help of Aria.

Annabel stiffens up and slowly turns to face me. I cross my arms, looking impatient and expectant of an answer. She looks left and right, trying to find an escape, but it's futile. So instead she smiles.

"I was waiting for my friend to come home. You see, she hasn't been here in days, so I was getting worried."

I'm worried about several things in that sentence.

"Do you live here?"

"Ahh. Ah—No. No, I do not," she sheepishly admits.

"Uh-huh. Okay, umm, how long have you been here?"

"Hmm, about three days? Yeah, that seems about right. Alice has been gone for a while and I haven't seen her come back, so I decided to watch her door in case anyone wants to break in."

Alright. That is a major concern. Umm, I may have met a stalker. I may have saved her too, which put me into an idol position from her perspective. This situation has already turned messy.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," I command. Annabel blinks a few times while her pupils dilate heavily. This silence continues on for almost a full 30 seconds.

"Okay," she cheerfully says and skips down the hall. I use Presence Detection to see if she's gone. I don't sense anyone so I think I'm good.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Presence Detection(Minor, Passive) has ranked up to Presence Detection(Medium, Passive) ]

[ Through repeated actions skill: Observe(Medium, Passive) has ranked up to Observe(Major, Passive) ]

Yeah, I think I'm good.

I unlock the door to my apartment and slip inside. I see all of my stuff, thankfully, untouched. I change out of my hero outfit and into my pajamas. I make sure to wire my tail through the hole in the back carefully. Wouldn't want the hairs to catch on something. You know, my tail is a lot fluffier after my evolution.

My thoughts are rambling.

I shove the hero outfit into a drawer and slip under the covers. The warmth of a familiar bed hugs me like a loving embrace—an unfamiliar thing.

————————————————————————————————————

I wake up the next morning with crust in my eye. I wipe my eye with my hand, but it instead smudges the mucus, temporarily blinding my left eye before I wipe it again.

I go through my usual morning routine of bathroom, then breakfast, then bathroom again to brush my teeth. However, at one point, I see something ice-blue out of the corner of my eye. I look through my window to see Annabel standing outside my door again.

I open the door with a tired expression.

"Oh! Hi! You're back, but I didn't get to see you come back. Ugh! I knew I shouldn't have left for two hours after that hero showed up. Why was she even here? Well, you're back. That's all that matters." I just stare and blink at the girl ranting to herself with crusty eyes. I'm still wearing my pajamas too. Do I have work today? Hmm, I should call Sophia. Oh, she's about done.

"—and that's what I've been up to. What about you?"

I blink slowly. "Working," I reply.

She huffs heavily. Her cheeks inflate as she pouts and she crosses her arms. "You shouldn't have to work for three days straight. Even sleeping there! That's just overwork."

"It's fine. Umm, do you parents know you're here?"

She stops pouting and her expression becomes blank surprisingly fast. Every emotion just vanished like cotton candy in water. "They don't know and they wouldn't care anyway. Not until weekend nights, anyway."

That's slightly worrying. Umm. Okay. Let's keep tabs on that.

Annabel decides to turn and leave with no peep leaving her mouth after that statement. I see her go down the stairs before closing my door. When I turn around I come face to face with a masked person.

"Hello," greets Sophia.