VR Stress Management Virtual Reality Experience Program
In the dead of night, when the cold air stabbed at the lungs like a blade, Peko's proposal slipped into Sonia's ear like a sweetly refined poison and clung there, refusing to leave.
Beneath the eerie violet dusk cast by the city's artificial lights, the wreckage of collapsed buildings and shattered shards of reinforced glass from autonomous vehicles lay scattered in chaotic heaps.
The lingering stench of ozone left by combat and the acrid tang of scorched metal still hung in the air, yet only Peko's voice cut through it with unnatural clarity.
"Hmm… Really? Just in case, why don't you at least take my card? You might change your mind later. Right, Sonia?"
Peko's tone carried a playful note of regret, thickly laced with the leisurely temptation of a predator who already knew her prey had nowhere left to run.
That invitation—to follow her to another district of the city still reeling from the mysterious drone terrorist attack, and help with her work.
It was more than a simple request. It was a proposal that pierced straight through to the deepest core of Sonia's desire: the secret she never wanted anyone to discover, and yet desperately longed for someone to find and force open.
Sonia swallowed hard and barely managed to shake her head. Her lips had gone bone-dry, and her heart hammered wildly beyond any control.
"I-I'm fine! Miss Peko! Thanks to you I got out safely… Thank you so much for helping me… I'm Sonia, a hero of Sky City! I'm sorry…"
She tried to hide the faint tremor in her voice, but her cheeks were already flushed and burning. Even the mere imagination sparked by Peko's offer was enough to make her body heat up—she could feel it clearly.
Peko pushed out her full lower lip in an openly disappointed pout.
"Truly, truly a shame… but if that's what you say, there's nothing I can do. Tch."
With a light click of her tongue, Peko stopped pressing the matter.
Her gaze, however, continued to rake with open interest over Sonia's wavering pupils, her flushed cheeks, and every trace of excitement the girl was desperately trying to conceal.
It was the confident look of someone who knew that if she simply reached out again, her prey would collapse without resistance.
The regional patrol mission she had reluctantly accepted just to receive the basic issue gear from her newly joined hero association. That trivial assignment had been thrown into chaos by an unexpected large-scale terrorist incident—yet at the same time it had left Sonia with a sensation so intense she would never forget it for the rest of her life.
The Slave Walker. The memory of climbing inside that enormous four-legged walking weapon shaped like a spider sent another electric shiver racing through every inch of her body.
The narrow, dark cockpit. The pleasant pressure of the restraints locking her body firmly in place. The dizzying rush the instant her nerves linked with the machine.
Slave Walker… becoming a Slave Walker Unit inside one…
Sonia shook her head hard, trying to drive away the dangerous thoughts blooming like smoke inside her mind.
The sensations that had risen were far too vivid. The moment her own body ceased to matter and a massive steel frame moved according to the external pilot's will. Sonia's own will completely shut out, every scrap of resistance rendered meaningless, reduced to a living component that obeyed only her "Master's" commands—the absolute pleasure of it.
In that brief span she had tasted complete liberation paired with a viciously sweet excitement.
It felt… good, but… if I got used to that sensation, I don't think I could ever go back to being ordinary me…
It hadn't been simple machine operation. Once connected to the Slave Walker's system, Sonia's consciousness had gradually faded; rational judgment gave way to pure instinct that answered Peko's orders with waves of pleasure.
It had almost felt as though she were reclaiming some long-forgotten essence of herself she had spent years trying to ignore. If she had simply accepted Peko's proposal a moment ago, what would have become of her by now?
Perhaps she would have fallen for those sweet words, her reason paralyzed, and followed Peko without a second thought.
In some dim space that looked like Peko's private workshop, Sonia would have been seated—naturally, as if she had always belonged there—on a cold metal chair. The chill of a mind-control crystal pressing against her forehead.
At first she would have tried to resist. But the periodic electric-shock conditioning that rattled her brain, followed each time by the sweet reward of pleasure pulses, would have gradually tamed both body and mind.
Even as she felt the new identity of "Slave Walker Unit" slowly devouring the old shell of "Hero Sonia," she might have accepted it gladly—ecstatically, even.
The story of Sky City's D-class hero, the golden-eyed girl who loved potato chips and cola, fading away until only a perfect component remained: a faithful Slave Unit that responded solely to Master Peko's commands.
She might have pressed her fingerprint to a permanent Slave Walker Unit contract and, at first, felt supreme satisfaction every time she earned her Master's praise for outstanding achievements.
Or a string of strange coincidences might have led to her capture mid-battle, sold on the black market as a nameless sex slave, subjected to every conceivable humiliation…
Just imagining it made Sonia's lower belly throb and something hot surge upward. Beneath her thin blouse her nipples hardened into sharp points, announcing their presence without shame.
Of course, there was no need to think that far. Sonia chose the safe, ordinary path over the dangerous, sweet road her instincts urged her down.
Politely, yet in a trembling voice that still managed to sound firm, she refused Peko's offer and left the scene.
At the very least, the regional patrol request she had accepted was now complete. All that remained was to return to her newly joined hero association, collect her basic issue gear, and head home to her cozy nest. Today's chaos would finally be over.
~♪
A cheerful little hum slipped out on its own. Having escaped the site still littered with the wreckage of the drone attack, Sonia sat on the nearest bus-stop bench and waited.
A hero with a voluptuous E-cup bust yet only a D-class ranking. Sonia felt the cold plastic of the bench against her thighs and swung her legs lightly.
She could have walked the dark streets of Sky City to save the pittance of bus fare.
If she had trusted the faint streetlights and taken the shortest route down an alley, she might have run into unidentified combatants clad head-to-toe in skin-tight black latex bodysuits, rings fixed over their nipples. Or she might have stumbled into some bizarre incident involving a naked girl who had just dimension-hopped from another world. But today's Sonia chose stability over adventure. Safely, she boarded a humanoid bus operated by Sky City's own transit company.
"One passenger!"
A cold synthetic voice confirmed the fare. Sonia tapped her card against the terminal and sank into the soft seat. The bus interior smelled of disinfectant mixed with faint plastic. Outside the window, the city's scenery slid past—a strange coexistence of glitter and decadence.
All of this had begun because the association she once belonged to had pulled off a massive scam and then vanished into thin air.
Suddenly unemployed, Sonia had received offers from several associations before accepting the invitation from Megacorp, the one that looked most promising with its cybernetic technology.
To fulfill the condition of "complete one request" required to receive her basic issue gear, she had gone out on a regional patrol mission, encountered the drone terrorist attack, and resolved the incident alongside a Slave Walker.
Now Sonia sat on a quiet neighborhood bus driven by a humanoid, heading toward her new association. Everything seemed to be falling neatly back into place.
"Um… is this… really all right? I thought usually they check CCTV footage and citizen testimonies and everything…!"
Sonia glanced back and forth between the report she had just submitted and the association staff member in front of her, voice laced with unease.
At her previous association, processing a single report had taken days and required every scrap of supporting evidence imaginable.
But here… this Megacorp Hero Association was completely different. The staff member had merely skimmed what Sonia wrote and asked no questions at all.
"Yes. The very idea of doubting a report that Miss Sonia has written truthfully is a regulation our association simply cannot tolerate. Is there anything you omitted or forgot, Miss Sonia?"
When the giant multi-level marketing hero association collapsed, countless new associations had sprung up like weeds to fill the vacuum.
Among them, the one Sonia had newly joined—"Megacorp"—boasted a distinctive concept that put cutting-edge technology front and center.
The theme of the Megacorp Hero Association was immediately obvious from the staff uniforms alone.
Not the sort of outfit an adventurer's guild receptionist in a fantasy world might wear, but a glossy black bodysuit that sheathed every inch of the body from head to toe. The material was thin and smooth as skin, revealing every curve of the staff member without mercy—even the precise location of the navel stood out clearly.
Every time light caught it, the sheen flowing along the body's contours gave an almost unreal impression.
An opaque black visor Sonia hadn't seen on her first visit that morning now completely covered the staff member's eyes.
Apparently the ordered equipment had arrived while Sonia was out on patrol. Because of the visor, the staff member's expression was impossible to read; only mechanical, precise movements entered Sonia's field of vision. Every human trace had been perfectly erased.
The moment Sonia stepped into the underground association entrance lobby, the staff member snapped a perfect salute at an angle so exact it looked drilled into a special-forces unit.
"Thank you for visiting, Miss Sonia!"
The clear, emotionless voice bounced off the artificial marble walls.
Sonia fumbled a little but still managed to state her business accurately: first mission report and collection of basic issue gear.
The staff member said, "Please follow me this way," and guided her inward. The instant the words ended, a section of the pure-white metal wall split open without a sound, revealing a clean, minimalist corridor.
As they entered the passage where cold air drifted out, the staff member strode ahead with a wide, unhesitating gait.
On her first visit Sonia had been flustered by that pace, yet this time she felt a strange, powerful urge to match it.
That stride, that speed, that complete lack of hesitation somehow felt like the correct way to move.
Sonia did her best to keep the same stride length and tempo as she followed. It felt awkward at first, but after only a few steps it became natural.
Hearing her own footsteps and the staff member's ring out in perfect rhythm—tap, tap—down the corridor filled her with a peculiar sense of stability and belonging each time.
While they walked toward their destination, not a single word passed between them. The silence itself was comfortable.
The place they arrived at was a private consultation room: a secluded space used when a hero needed to make a special report, confirm a named request, or submit a suggestion to the association.
There, Sonia had just finished writing and submitting her report on the terrorist incident—now officially yesterday's news—using the association's official form.
Because some unscrupulous heroes falsified or downplayed facts in their reports, most associations only recognized a request as complete after thorough verification via CCTV and witness statements.
This association was different. The staff member's declaration that they would accept Sonia's report without the slightest doubt made the heart of a girl long treated as a worthless D-class hero swell a little. The Megacorp Hero Association trusted her.
"Of course we can trust any hero who has completed the 'Association Regulations Training,' Miss Sonia. Shall I explain the association's basic issue gear now?"
At those words Sonia nodded as if something had clicked into place. The video training she had received right after joining.
Lying back in a comfortable chair, watching sparkling lights while a gentle voice spoke. She remembered dozing off because it was so boring.
That training, she believed with pure sincerity, must have turned her into such an honest, trustworthy hero without her even realizing it. Completely unaware of the seed of obedience planted deep in her subconscious.