[Brain Drain, Hypnosis]

Life had been rather tough for the young Sakura Futaba. But it was starting to turn around, ever since those friends of hers managed to pierce through her internal issues and free her heart. It was natural that she'd join them as their digital expert after what they had done, and lend her skills to try and undo the conspiracy that had been brewing below the surface.

But that didn't mean that her life had completely turned around. She was still adverse towards going outside. Even having her leader by her side wasn't enough, she just refused and preferred to stay inside. That also made sense, considering it had been years since she last went outside. The world outside her room was a dangerous one.

So here Futaba was. Casually scrolling through the web as she tapped away on her keys until she felt the veil of exhaustion overwhelm her. With any luck, she'd fall asleep before she'd dwell too hard on previous happenings...

"Come on, there has to be something fun on here. I can't just have gone through it all already." The nerdy young girl said to herself as she kept pouring through the net. Unfortunately, the fact she had been a shutin for so long did mean she had way too much time on her hands. She had watched nearly every video that was available to her, read so many trashy articles that she could probably replicate a valley girl's speech patterns from reading the stuff they wrote, and played every single game to some amount of satisfying completion.

What was a girl like her, who had basically mastered the act of staying inside, going to do when she ran out of stuff to do? She was going to keep searching for an outlet to her emotions, of course. She couldn't just text Joker, he was probably off at school right about now. And that was the same for all the others, so...

Futaba sighed as she slumped into the back of her chair. She really just wanted something to do. Something to kill her boredom so she could have a bit of fun while everyone was out. Maybe she should replay one of those games she hadn't finished completely...

As the ginger-haired girl started shutting off her computer to try and focus on her gaming setup instead, she noticed something flashing out of the corner of her eye. An ad, obnoxiously bright and everything. Strange, she thought she had set up her adblocker to prevent those things from slipping in. Guess they updated their code so it didn't get caught automatically.

Still, what did she have to lose by clicking a single link? It wasn't like there was any data to steal from this computer. She used a different one whenever she did work as a Phantom Thief, so...

Futaba looked at the ad a bit closely, before rolling her eyes in mild disbelief. It was one of those ads that claimed to be able to help you through some sort of scam. Usually it was powder for those that needed to get stronger faster, when it was really just going to result in those very same suckers getting fat after they continued their usual routines.

This one? She didn't really know why, but it sounded a bit more appealing than the rest. Maybe it was because it appealed to her problem, one that wasn't nearly as easy to solve as 'get fit'.

"Looking for a way to solve your social anxiety and other social issues? Watch this informative video, and you will take the first step towards being a social butterfly!" She read off the ad, adding her own exaggerated tone to really make the ad hit home. Honestly, if these things were even half as effective as they claimed to be, she would've been a hulking maniac just a scant few weeks ago...

As she carefully pushed that awful memory out of her mind and focused on the ad at hand, she clicked and strapped herself in. Making sure the audio balance on her headphones was perfect, in case the video had some sort of supportive vocal track, while also making sure that the video was going to play back at the highest quality. She wanted to give the thing the best chance it had at working. Just so she could ignore other ads like it in the future.

Of course, Futaba wasn't stupid. She knew that these sorts of videos really weren't worth anything. They were just feel-good placebo videos that made you think that you did something to improve your life, when in reality you just pushed your worries to the side for a few days and then they came back and broke you again.

So imagine her absolute lack of surprise as the video opened with words that sounded right out of a sappy self help book. In fact, she swore she had bought that very same book once. It didn't do anything but leave her remorseful over shelling out cash for such a stupid piece of literature.

"To be social is to be part of the flow. To be part of the flow, you need to be empty. This video will help you be empty and help you understand how to better maneuver through situations you wouldn't be able to when you still had your worries filling your body. Just follow the instructions, and you too will succeed at being the center of attention."

Futaba rolled her eyes. This 'empty' schtick was one she had tried before. But all she got out of that experience was a sense of complete self doubt, and a couple of weird looks from her dad when she tried to talk to him. How was this going to be any different?

And yet, despite the fact that she didn't believe in the video, she still sat there. Watching as the text slowly started to stretch out and stitch itself into a spiral, spinning around on the white background as the letters became thicker and thicker until they became proper lines instead of disconnected splots of black on white...

Now that it was just turning into a bunch of spirals, it was getting a bit harder to concentrate. She was familiar with this kind of video too, she had made a couple of them herself for the sake of trying auto-hypnotic suggestions to get past some of her problems. Unfortunately, since she knew that they were fake, they didn't really work. And since she knew that this was a bunch of fake nonsense too, then it shouldn't be working either..

So why was her breath growing hotter, and her thoughts getting harder and harder to piece together? Was something happening to her mind? That shouldn't be possible though, manipulating the mind wasn't a thing that hypnotic videos could do. All that they could was slightly nudge the subconscious in the right direction.

Did Futaba want to be empty, like the video implied? Well, she wanted to be better at social situations, but she didn't like the sound of being empty. At the same time, as the thoughts inside her mind lessened, she could herself giggling more and more. Slowly but surely...

Maybe she should've thought harder about the dangers of hypnosis. Especially to one that had become aware of the Metaverse. Now that her subconscious had become stronger, it meant that hypnotic attacks were all the more effective on her, because she knew that techniques like those could truly be real...

And what better way for them to prove their power than to drain her mind of everything and anything she could possibly need? Her ability to think, her ability to move, her ability to speak... All of it slowly draining down through her body, stripped away by the hypnotic video in front of her. She wasn't going to be able to do anything without the video telling her, and she was blissfully unaware of how quickly she was becoming a puppet held up by the flimsiest of strings.

The more the knowledge and independence drained out through her mind and down into the depths of her body, the more Futaba's form started to heat up. Especially between those thighs of hers. She was growing heated in a matter of moments, leaving her to pant and moan as her lower lips craved some sort of attention...

"To be empty is to feel pleasure. To be empty and to be social, you must indulge." The video on the screen said, as the words continued to spiral around. It was hard to read them, but for an empty viewer like Futaba, it was easy to understand.

Her fingers dove down towards her crotch, and she slowly slid those fingers into the lips that were drooling so vigorously. She immediately felt the wonderful pleasure that came with masturbating, and her moans left her lips.

If she had still been able to perceive herself, she would've realized what she was doing. Being hypnotized into masturbating to satiate a need that had been implanted inside her. But the emptiness that had consumed her thoughts made it far too difficult for a girl like her to even come close to caring about the truth.

What mattered to somebody like her was that she was enjoying herself. And the way to enjoy herself was to listen to the video and read the words displayed on the screen. Even if they weren't legible, her mind understood thanks to the helpful spiral. She understood that she needed to be empty. She understood that she needed to keep playing with herself, until the very end.

More and more moans slipped out from Futaba's mouth as she pushed her fingers in and out. At first she had only used two fingers to make sure she stimulated her inner walls enough. But as the pleasure ramped up and the need to satiate herself grew, she used three, four, even the whole fist. She was pushing it and out repeatedly like a piston smashing into her.

It felt good. It felt divine. She was obeying the commands that the video was imprinting into her mind, and letting the emptiness wash everything else away to make sure she focused on nothing but that delightful sensation. The sensation that would leave her emptier and emptier, so she could be...

What was she supposed to be doing again? Did it really matter, compared to the pleasure of pleasuring herself? She didn't think so. She didn't think in the first place, her cheeks flushing brighter and brighter red as she slipped into a continuous loop of shoving her hand deeper and deeper.

She wasn't even really focusing on the video at this point. Just as it had told her to. "To empty is to indulge. Indulge eternally. Masturbate and stay empty, until somebody finds you. Then share this." Was what it had told her before she lost complete and utter focus.

It felt really good. It felt good to push in and out again and again and again. It was such a boring and repetitive way to act, and yet it felt so fantastic. Nothing felt as good as this did. To just brush against her inner walls, hitting every sweet spot to drive her further and further into an aroused sense of madness...

Even as she climbed towards her orgasm, Futaba didn't slow down. In fact, she pushed past it. She could feel her moan leaving her lips and the way her body trembled in response to the climax, but she just kept on pushing in and out. She wanted more. She wanted to pursue that pleasure that would leave her the emptiest she could be. And this orgasm hadn't been it. She needed more...

She only stopped once she heard the sound of her door opening, as she slowly turned her head to look at the black-haired youth that had entered. He looked familiar, but her empty mind couldn't register him properly.

All she saw was somebody that deserved to be empty, as her eyes took on the same spiralling shape as the video that had consumed her...