The cheerful emoticon only made Neville's eye twitch harder.
"What morning?!" Neville pointed at the system's holographic screen with an accusatory finger, his other hand gripping the edge of the table.
"What the hell is that?!" he grabbed a fistful of his silver hair, "Why is this permanent?!"
Shelly floated over to the screen, her movements lazy and unconcerned.
[Host, I warned you not to defy the system. That's that.] She pointed at the holographic screen as if presenting it, complete with a little shrugging emoticon.
"When did—" Neville started, then stopped.
His mind began recalling what happened a few days ago. He remembered how desperately he ordered Shelly to stay, and Shelly stayed. He didn't know why, but it seemed to be the answer.
Oh.
Oh no.
