This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

Thrust back into the limelight, I winced as everybody's attention landed solely on poor old me. Hell, even Shen was bright-eyed staring at me as if I just come to save her from embarrassment.

Which, now that I thought about it, was kind of exactly what I was getting into.

"Go ahead," Shade insisted, waving his arm towards the console as if to welcome me into my new role. "We have a mission to complete, after all."

The urge to frown was great, but I kept my cool as I strode forward.

"You think you can get us going, Moriya?"

"Why didn't ya tell us earlier?!"

Shizu and Shen both gave me looks of hope and anticipation as they visibly gave way to me. Stepping up to the metaphorical plate, the various doodads and blinking lights of the console frankly intimidated me to the point that I was having flashbacks of dealing with faulty machinery.

"Well? On with it."

"I haven't even touched anything yet, Shade," I fired back at the smarmy guy. "At least let me get situated first."

"Tell us if you're ready then~"

Shaking my head at our companion's constant needling, I took a deep breath as I forced myself to focus on the console in front of me. Being made of metal with tons of LED bulbs blinking and awaiting input, I was tempted to duck down and hopefully find a manual that could somehow teach me how to work this thing.

Then again, I could always just ask. "Uh, Guidance?"

...

...Okay? "Guidance?!"

"Y-Yes?"

I held back a sigh as I ignored the dev's fluctuating mood swings. "Do you know how to work this thing?"

"....You mean the [Rig]?"

"Yes, I mean the [Rig]," I rolled my eyes. "Look, we can sulk and be depressed later once we're actually out at sea, okay? For now, at least help me with this thing."

To my smallest hint of surprise, Guidance actually blushed at my words. Whether it was out of embarrassment or anger, I didn't know. But what I did know was that she was now walking towards me with a glint in her eye and her lips twitching like-

"I am not sulking."

Okay... That was a confirmation and a half for, well, both emotions. Still, "You were."

"I was not!" Guidance insisted, her cheeks flushing even brighter as she leaned over the console.

"Well, what do you call that then?" I challenged.

...

....

"Can we just move on, please?" Shade moaned in annoyance. "You two can act like a married couple after we're already moving towards Vestyge."

"W-Wha-"

Sure enough, that tone made Guidance stutter out of even more embarrassment. Granted, I wasn't faring much better as I felt my cheeks burning up, but I at least didn't gape my mouth like a goldfish out of water.

"T-That's it! Get us moving, Moriya!"

"Ow! No need to yell at me," I yelped just after I flinched, rubbing my left ear as I held onto the side of the console. "And how am I supposed to do that? I just told you I had no idea how to do this."

This was getting ridiculous. I have a feeling that we're all passing on the idiot ball around us like it's going out of style. Why in the world was this happening?!

"Well, I don't know either!" Guidance angrily yelled out, a few tears coming out of her... eyes.... "Do you honestly think I know everything about this world just because I made it?!"

...

.....

The silence that followed her statement was more than telling that it had reached the ears of those not in the know. Shade and Maruki were already looking at her like she was some kind of insane person and or god respectively. Meanwhile, Shen was staring at her like she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

All the while, Shizu was awkwardly moving further and further away from us as if to escape the inevitable fallout of this reveal.

"Haven't we established that we don't know shit about f*ck?! That the very Engine that this world is built on is more than likely spewing out more of my scrapped ideas as we speak?!" Guidance ranted on, her cheeks burning red as she cried. "The Vermes, the Eldritch, maybe even the Grand Abyss could be out there! And I know more than well enough that we're not built to withstand their power levels."

"W-Wait, what do you mean you created this world?" Shade stuttered, his posture faltering as the world around him was turned over its head. "Are you some sort of-"

"I'm no God! And neither is Moriya!" Guidance shouted out, pre-emptively throwing my own status into the fray as I found myself shrinking in on myself. She was just going at it without stopping now. "We're not [Eld], and we're not all-powerful despite coming from a completely different world!"

The bridge came to a stop after that. We didn't know what to say. Hell, I didn't even know where to place myself as I just stood here in front of the console. The sheer awkwardness that was enveloping the entire room was just borderline stifling.

"A-As the leader of this party, I suggest we move on from this for now," Shizu weakly suggested, her smile visibly trembling as she did her best to show a brave front. "We can talk about all this after we've set sail, right?"

...

....

"You know what?! You're right!" Guidance let out a pained laugh. "Moriya, slam whatever button you fancy!"

"Uhh, Guidance?"

"We won't know until you've tried it, right?!" the dev maniacally reasoned, her eyes still crying despite the crazed smile on her face. "Go ahead! Do-"

"[Charm]..."

My eyes widened as rose petals seemingly floated around Guidance, the dev's eyes following them around as she visibly calmed down.

"W-Wha...."

Following the obvious [Move], I raised an eyebrow as I saw Shade's rose faintly glowing red. His brows were scrunched up, and he was visibly focused on keeping his power up somehow.

"S-Such will...." he whispered out, sweat trickling down his forehead as he frowned. "Moriya, My Princess, I can only maybe calm her down. I don't know her well enough to truly defuse her right now, so I'll leave it to you both."

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