With my heart aching, I wanted to ran away, but was stopped as the door creaked opened revealing a familiar middle-aged man with orange hair waving at the pair.

"Mouzei..."

I finally remembered his name.

With time frozen between us, we both made eye contact, and the moment we did, I can see his smile I thought I could never see again.

"Mouzei!"

Extending my arms for a hug, I wanted to say to him I'm back. I wanted for us to hang out like we used to as kids. After all, those were the only times were I truly felt happy...

But when I ran up to him... He casually passed me, scattering the white particles from my body while he went towards the happy couple.

"...Huh?"

As I felt something crack, I turned back seeing him ruffling the girl's hair behind me before carried her in his arms.

Walking away from me, I can see his back getting farther and farther, I tried catching up but to no avail. Noticing my struggle, my reflection silently looked at me with pity.

As every beat of my heart felt needles poking in, I can see his contentment just being beside those two. I was worried how he was doing after I was gone, so I wanted to return to him as soon as possible, but seeing him having his own happy family, I couldn't help but hate him. I don't know why, but my envy starts running rampant.

He was like an older brother I never had, the only family I considered to have, to the point he's the only person I could ever fully trust, yet, why... do I feel betrayed when he could live well off without me.

As my heart finally shatters... A dam broke that did its best to hold down these tears.

Breaking me out of my daze, Frolic's voice of concern reached me, leaving the dream world I saw, return back to the dim eerie room in front of me.

"I-I'm okay..."

Although not fully convinced, she still decided puts her trust in me. Wiping my tears away, it took a while for me to calm down as I feel like I didn't deserve her kindness.

...

"Good girl~ Yoshi yosh~"

"Mou... I already told you I'm fine."

Wiping my tears away, I saw her hands from the screen giving me imaginary headpats, which me to feel embarrassed rather than happy.

With her knowing I already cheered up, we went back to what we came for.

"Masako, Can you find my laptop? There's something I need you to check."

"Okay."

Leaving Frolic on a small coffee table, I start searching for the possible places she left it such as under the bed, drawer, cabinet, the wardrobe. While searching for Frolic's laptop, I muttered a passing thought.

"Hey Frolic? Why didn't you turn on the computers from the 9th floor?"

"Good question. Though I can turn it on right now, it will just drain the remaining emergency power reserves too quickly. At this point we only have 2 days left remaining im this floor before it will be completely drained."

"Why not charge it?"

"I've been wondering about that too, but seeing there's no significant change in the reserves despite your minimal use of power, I could only guess it was because the solar panels had broken down at some point in time.

"I see... "

Although I'm disappointed not being able to use the computers, I momentarily moved on as I'll use her laptop when I find it. After some time of searching, Frolic remembered where she put it.

"Have you checked under the mattress?"

"No, not yet."

Going to the bed one more time, I had my arm holding the mattress up.

"!"

Seeing a familiar object, I pulled it out before my wobbly arms gave in.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah, but can you turn it on for me?"

With its entirety being the size of my arm, it glowed a cyan dot flickering light similar to the tablet. Intuitively using its mechanics I unfold it until it looked into a laptop I'm familiar with.

Immediately after hardening it's plastic film, the screen then turned on showing a picture of me, Mouzei and the woman I drew, which I instinctively knew was Frolic.

"Woah I'm surprised it's still working!"

While I looked at the picture with envy, I was taken aback by Frolic's sudden yelling.

"MASAKOMYCUTELOVELYDAUGHTER"

"W-what?"

"That's the password, masakomycutelovelydaughter. No spaces and all Uppercase."

"Okay..."

While typing the cringey password, it took me a few attempts to login because the western letters on the keyboard kept throwing me off.

"There!"

It finally logged me in before showing another wallpaper of this body's family.

"Hmm..."

"Can you try to find the app called 'HeyA'?"

"What does it look like?"

After telling me where it was, I struggled to move the mouse as it doesn't move the way my fingers wanted. When Frolic told how it moved, which it was tracking my eye movements, I was surprised how I didn't notice that until now, and so with that, all I need is to tap the left click button on the bottom.

"Wow."

"Oh right, this is the first time I let you use a computer, pretty cool right?"

"Yeah!"

While I was excited about it, she went ahead and poured cold water by telling me she doesn't have games in here. Though I was disappointed, it didn't let me down too much as I can see how easy it is to navigate through the desktop.

Getting side tracked quite a bit, she told me to contact a person called 'Livia' for help. When I asked her what's her relationship with her, she told me Livia was one of her students she trained in the Northern region.

🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶🎵🎶🎶--

{This is Livia, I'm sorry but I'm currently busy right now, Please leave a message.}

"Hmm... Can you try calling the others?"

"Okay?"

As we called her acquaintances from different cities from different regions, all we heard were pre-recorded voice messages, leaving us no one else left to call.

"Maybe... They're all busy."

Seeing Frolic's anxious expression, I can tell she didn't want me to feel scared about her contact's silence, in the end I changed the topic since I didn't want to put her in a tight spot.

"Since we're in this room, do you know which ones are my underwear?"

Going to the wardrobe I saw before, I noticed a lot of dusty clothes inside. And hearing Frolic saying this was our room, I'm not letting of this chance to wear something underneath.

"Yours is on the bottom left drawer, why did you ask?"

Even though I'm already used to the breezy feeling between my legs, ever since I met Frolic, there might still be a chance for me to meet someone else, and I don't really want to accidentally flash at them, especially its even worse imagining that said person is a guy. But explaining all that to can be quite hard, so I told her-

"... I-It's Nothing..."

"Hm?" Perking up like she knew what I meant, I can see her sighing.

Ignoring her sympathy of feeling 'freedom', I hesitantly wore a white one made with cotton from the drawer she pointed out, while it had pink frills and tiny ribbons wrapping around my waist, it didn't change the fact I had no choice as everything else had similar designs to what I'm wearing.

After wearing it, it was not too loose but not too tight either, and it was also felt comfortable to the touch, which is a plus. Though, I had expected it to be more 'mentally damaging' as a former man, but having used to be in this body for about 2 months now, I might as well forgotten about it.

With that, I took a glance at the bras.

Touching my chest, I've been feeling irritated about 'it' rubbing against the fabric, so might as well wear one since I already had nothing else to lose.

While Frolic scrolls down to her list of thing she could do, I grabbed one that pairs with my underwear, and after wearing it, which was surprisingly easy, I had curious thought that bugged me to know what I look like wearing these.

"You look cute sweetie! It pairs well with your eyes and hair."

With Frolic praising me, it didn't help as the curiosity grew.

"If you want to see it for yourself, there's a mirror behind the wardrobe door."

Looking behind me, I immediately saw my reflection.

With my petite figure, I looked really cute despite only wearing only my underwear. As the white color blends well with light peach skin, the pink frills and tiny ribbons enhanced my childish appearance, while it's simple design didn't take away all the attention from my natural adorable face.

Getting to see different angles on what I looked like, I turned around to see the back view, and when I did, I saw an opening from behind which I barely noticed due to my hair almost covering it.

Pulling my long fluffy white hair to the front, I could see the opening from my panty at full view, while I had thought it was design failure, it was too deliberate as it looked like it had some purpose.

"Hey Frolic?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"Why is there a hole here?"

Moving my hair out of the way, I turned my back to her so she could see it.

"Oh... That is..."

While waiting for her response, I rummaged through the wardrobe, which I also noticed my panties all had holes at the back, raising my suspicion that I thought I had discarded.

"Do you miss it?"

"Can it grow back?"

Clinging into false hope as I think it would be nice to have a bushy tail to hug when I sleep, Frolic had a pained expression on her face.

"..."

Taking her silence as a no, I dropped the subject as I thought there's no point in going at it any further. I was about to pick up my blanket and start wrapping it around me, but I then realized I can also wear proper clothes from inside the wardrobe.

"Frolic, which of these drawers are mine?"

Since there's no way there's going to be men's clothing inside, I might as well go all the way into fully embracing being a girl.

"Ah- I placed your clothes at the lower drawers so you can easily reach it. Your shirts and dresses are inside the bottom middle, while your skirts and leggings are on the bottom right."

"Thanks!"

Opening both drawers, thinking what I should wear, I thought about the temperature getting colder, so with that in mind, I wore a pair of black knee socks to keep my legs warm and grabbed the yellow sweater I found in the drawer.

But when I wore the sweater, the sleeves were too long as it went past my hands and the hem goes down below my waist, barely reaching my knees. I could wear a skirt, but with my sweater already acting like a one piece dress, I think this should be enough for me.

"I didn't think my sweater got mixed up into yours but somehow it turned it quite good."

"I see... Should I take it off? Since this was yours to begin with. "

"No, It's fine. You can keep it. I didn't like wearing that in the first place."

"Why?"

"Well... My stomach keeps showing whenever I wore it and it makes me feel cold despite it being a sweater."

Unconsciously patting chest, I didn't know why I felt hurt by her statement.

- - - - -

It's been yesterday since we entered Frolic's room.

After having breakfast, I miscalculated my food supply as there were some cans passed its expiration date. Recounting the cans I could still eat, the ones remaining can only last up tonight.

Though I had thought to myself about eating those expired ones when I'm desperate enough, but Frolic guessing my idea, she wouldn't let me. So in the end, I asked her if there's something else here.

"There's a freezer in the back, and I'm pretty sure there's be tons of meat inside but I think it'll be difficult for you to cook."

Shaking my head in denial in her statement.

"No, I think it'll be fine as long as you teach me."

"Hmm... Well, Cooking isn't really my expertise, but I'll do my best to teach you.

Here! I unlocked the freezer, just be careful when going in there."

"Thanks!"

As I excitingly opened the door, it unleashed the clashing foul smell of all the spoiled pork, chicken and beef attacked my nose.

"-Hurk!"

"Masako?!"

Immediately closing the door with Frolic locking it, I was careful not to puke out the breakfast I had just eaten.

"The Emergency Power Reserves must have ran out in this floor... Don't worry there might be more canned foods in the third floor."

"3rd floor?!" I exclaimed since I still haven't gotten over the fear of knowing what's waiting for me down below.

Remembering the indoor gardens, I thought I was safe but when I went back to it, all of them must have wilted due to Frolic's retaliation when I tested her patience.

"Sorry Masako..."

"No, it's okay... It's my fault to begin with..."

Running out of options, I'm forced to descend once again in search for food.

...

At the staircase leading down into the unknown. Frolic reassured me.

"Don't worry Masako, I'll check on the cameras while you go down to the third floor."

I could have went down after lumch time, but with Frolic's constant nagging, I eventually gave in.

"Thanks, I feel safer now that I'm with you."

With a bit of preparation beforehand, I brought a small knife with me as a weapon of self defense along with the sling bag so I can carry it back with me.

"Are you ready?"

"Y-yeah..."

With that, I took a step going to the 7th floor.

...

While Frolic turns on the lights, we eventually arrived at the 7th floor. Checking through the corridors, I wanted to double check with her opinion.

"Anything there Frolic?"

"There's nothing at the moment so I think it's okay to go."

"Okay."

As I walked into the cracked walls filled with thorny vines, I thought it was a good idea to explore this floor as it might have indoor gardens like the one in the 10th floor, and when I asked for Frolic for confirmation.

"I think I heard someone used to grow mushrooms as a narcotic, but I don't recommend you to eat those."

"But, is there anything I could eat in this floor? "

"There's a vending machine in the far back, maybe there still some that hasn't expired yet."

With that, my eyes shined and excitingly followed her directions. As I trot through the corridors, my ears perked up as I suddenly heard something.

"!"

"I-is there something wrong, Masako?"

"Did you hear that?"

As we silently stood there, I heard it again but this time it was closer.

"F-frolic do you see something in the cameras?"

"Uhh.. No, there wasn't anything strange at the moment."

Not risking it, I made a run towards the staircase, and when I passed by an open door, something heavy suddenly hit my sides causing to loose my footing, hitting my body to the ground.

"GAH!"

Quickly crawling my way to the bag I dropped, I tightly help Frolic while I grabbed the knife from the pocket and point it towards the thing that hit me.

"Masako are you okay?!"

Widening my eyes, I didn't believe what I'm currently seeing.

"Huh?"

In front of me was a stereotypical fantasy monster you can see in games that even dates back to beyond hundreds of years ago. A slime.

Pyon~

With its menacing presence that made me unsure how I should deal with this. It jiggled to assert its domina-

"Is that you Mr. Slime?"

Disrupting the tense atmosphere between me and the monster, she casually gestured at the pink slime telling it we're not a threat. But what bothered me the most was its name.

"Mr. Slime?"

Pyon~

"Oh, right. You don't need to be afraid, since Mr. Slime is the pet I made for you. It's pretty much harmless, though I'm surprised it survived this long."

"Are there other... Slimes... I need to remember?"

"No, this is the only slime that I named. It's also easy to remember since Mr. Slime is the only one with a core as it's main body."

"Right..."

Dropping the knife, the slime immediately bounced on my chest.

Pyon~

"Kuh-"

Hitting me with its weight, it then bounce on to my lap. Seeing it slowly deform to some degree, I tried touched it.

"It feels cold..."

Pyon~

"It's also mushy, right?"

Aside from her statement, it felt like I touching slimy water balloon that can even let my fingers poke through, and seeing its core jiggle inside the watery gelatin surrounding it, I think it enjoy me petting it.

"Anyways... I think I need a bath after this..."

Standing right back up, with my legs all slimy, I dropped it back to the ground before picking up my fallen things.

Pyon~ pyon~ pyon~

While I did that, it kept bouncing up and down hitting my legs. Though I ignored it, it kept bothering me when I start to walk to the direction of the vending machine.

"I think it wants to ride on your head."

"Eh?"

Glancing at the pink blob at the size of my head, I can only imagine it falling off the moment I take a step forward. Not only that...

Pyon~

Seeing its slimy droplets stick to the floor, I can imagine the discomfort it would bring to my hair.

"How 'bout you let it ride it, I think it just missed riding on top of your head."

Pyon~ pyon~

With both of them looking at me, there's no way I could possibly say no to it.

"Okay, you asked for this and if you fall it won't be my fault."

Picking up the slimy blob, I reluctantly placed it on top of my head. With a drop that wrapping even my ears.

"Fweehh..."

I accidentally leaked out a weird noise from that weird crawling from the base of my sensitive spot.

Crouching down feeling uncomfortable with it moving around, it finally settled as it found itself a comfortable spot for both of us.

"F-frolic... Please tell me where's the vending machine so I can quickly get over with this..."

"S-sure..."

"Masako, Can we take a detour?"

"Is there something in front?"