You've been gone for a few days. School, probably. Maybe you just didn't feel like logging on.

But now you're back.

Your cursor hovers over the profile button. The page loads slowly, pixel by pixel, in that familiar early internet way.

Notifications pile up in the corner.

A few comments from classmates. A bulletin about someone's top eight. A message from a friend you haven't talked to in weeks.

And then—one from him.

Recent. Four days ago.