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

Shen only stood by as she let the adults talk, silent as she struggled to understand what exactly was even happening.

"So you mean to tell us that you've been keeping it to yourself?"

Moriya's accusing tone almost made her want to jump in and defend her newest best friend in the whole wide world. Shizu was like the older sister she never had, and she always believed in her despite what even the guy that hired her thought about her.

And here she thought that he'd be the first to believe in her skills.

"It didn't look too important at the time," her friend explained herself with a frown. "But Guidance's words kind of gave me an inkling of an idea..."

Guidance's words... That the world was falling apart, right? But.... it didn't make any sense? How was the entire world supposed to be falling apart when they were still there standing and healthy?

"Let's hear it then."

The finality in Moriya's tone almost made Shen shrink in on herself. Somehow, despite not being the one scolded, it still felt like she was being talked down to by an adult. It made her remember some choice memories from back in the scrapyard... Memories both good and bad that she really didn't want mixing with one another.

"Alright," Shizu nodded before she began. "Earlier, for some reason, I lost control of my [Code Watcher]."

"What?!" Moriya gasped out. "Are you okay?!"

Shen almost winced at that particular memory. She had been too busy fiddling with the engine that she hadn't even noticed that her new best friend was already on the ground screaming in pain. By the time she had noticed it happening, it was already over.

Then again, her memories of the event were hazy for some reason.

"I'm fine now," Shizu let out a small laugh. "Soon enough, I regained control of [Code Watcher] and everything was fine after that. Although, what I saw in the ambient numbers looked off for some reason."

"Eh?"

It was Guidance's turn to gawk at what her friend just said. Shen really didn't know what was wrong with all of it, however, and it was honestly getting annoying. Maybe if she knew how to read, she'd be able to relate and actually use her brain to show them all how it's done.

"Like I said, it didn't look important at the time."

"What do you mean 'Not important?!' Any kind of changes to the code is important!" the moody woman yelled out, her arms spread out as she waved them around like she was scolding someone. "Hell, even if it's not changing, it could still be important!"

"Hey now, don't be too harsh on her, Lady Guidance," the two-faced prick changed his tone yet again, defending her friend as if he wasn't just doing the same just a few seconds ago. "My Princess isn't-"

"Will you stop calling me that?" Shizu suddenly cut him off, her tone sounding almost exactly like that old lady Guidance. "Just call me Shizu like everybody else. Same goes for Maruki over there."

Shen's eyes opened wide as Shade, and to a lesser extent, Maruki, promptly stiffened in response. She hadn't heard her newest friend use such a menacing tone before, and it was kind of cool that she was somehow commanding everybody in the room despite Moriya and this Guidance lady, well, goddess, clearly being at the top of the list.

She almost shivered in fear. She should really start putting more respect for the Goddess.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, Guidance. But at least I'm telling it to you right now, right?" Shizu pleaded with a smile. "In terms of what I saw, it was just the usual numbers, but in the periphery of my vision, there was some kind of... black and white distortions? It kind of clashed with all the green I'm used to seeing."

"Some kind of static then?" Moriya guessed, his hand on his chin as he leaned on the console. "It's like a distortion, right? With a weird sound that's like loud raining?"

"Yes?" Shizu answered, almost in wonder. "How'd you know?"

Shen almost wanted to blurt out that it was because he had a goddess on his side. Better yet, maybe he was a god too? From what little she knew, the Eld were always up to something. It was just a part of life that some people might just suddenly go flying just for stepping on a pebble back in the scrapyard.

"It's something that we're used to back in our world," Moriya explained. "It usually happens when something isn't... working as it should be... Guidance?"

"...It's really all just falling apart, huh..." the older woman sighed, looking more down than usual as she whipped out that [Manifest] of hers. "Anyway, is it something that I can fix?"

Shizu pensively hummed before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "[Code Watcher]..."

For the... second? time in a row, her friend's eyes turned black and green, the work of her [Manifest] willing itself into existence as she then stared out into the distance. Absently, her own hand lingered on her trusty old wrench. She didn't think that she was doing anything special with how she fixed things, but apparently, she also had a [Manifest]? Well, that was what Shade and Guidance told her earlier.

"I'm not really seeing anything changing," Shizu sighed as she blinked those cool eyes of hers. "It's still just numbers and that static you just mentioned."

"Really? I find that hard to believe," Guidance let out a self-defeating scoff as she moved closer. "Tell me what you're seeing."

Once again, Shen could only watch as her friend and the ol-goddess shared information like earlier. The further they went though, the bigger the frown that appeared on the goddess's face. Was something wrong?

"That's... That's not even binary anymore..."

"But nothing's really changed?"

"No, Shizu," Guidance hauntingly answered. "Everything has changed... We just don't know how far and reaching it was yet..."

Shen felt a foreboding feeling wash over her. Somehow, despite not understanding a single thing that they just said, she had a feeling that the worst was yet to come.

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