Side Story - Chapter 08.1 (Main Story 10.081) "Bug Fix for Fabricated Data"
The sound of loafers striking the stone pavement.
The early summer sunlight filtering through the treetops‚ creating dazzling reflections‚ and the morning dew on the leaves sparkling like prisms — a tree-lined path that should have been breathtakingly beautiful.
However‚ all of it had lost its saturation and sunk into cold‚ ruthless shades of "gray."
Ever since that day in the cooking practice room when the interface called "touch" was quantified into numbers‚ my world had decisively lost its resolution.
Even the scenery that should have been shining cinematically was now nothing more than 'low-resolution textures' for the current retinal UI (user interface) to save computational resources.
[ Visual Saturation: 0% (Fixed). Environmental Objects: Grayscale Rendering In Progress ―― ]
（……Ah. Today too‚ the world is as bleak as an unfinished debug room.）
I adjusted the collar of my ill-fitting uniform and walked down the inorganic tree-lined path.
The only thing emitting light intense enough to burn through my retinas in this monochrome world was the "Master of the Cage" firmly wrapped around my right arm.
"Lui-kun. You have an even more marble-like beautiful face today. ……Fufu. Do you realize that your coldness makes me even hotter?"
Serina Elferia.
Only her lips and the fingertips gripping my sleeve were glowing as 'high-luminance noise (Red)' directly burned into my eyeball's texture.
The words whispered in my ear were no longer "voices" carrying meaning‚ but were accepted as text data directly written into my brain.
『 Serina: I love you so much‚ Lui. I want to paint over everything about you with my color ―― 』
If it had been the old me‚ just this level of closeness would have caused my heart rate to overflow.
But what the current me was accepting was a chillingly inorganic string of numerical values.
[ Contact Confirmed: Right Arm Section. Thermal Conductivity: 36.5°C. Pressure: 12 Newtons ―― ]
[ Processing: Applying 'Happiness' via Post-Approval ―― Lag Until Execution: 0.5 seconds ]
（……Stop it. This calculated delay is the greatest proof that I'm being forced to quit being human.）
Even the noise called despair was instantly processed in the background‚ forcing my expression to be fixed into "calmness."
In the midst of that‚ Serina suddenly stopped walking.
In the shadow of the school building‚ in the corner of a corridor where morning sunlight slanted in.
"Lui-kun. Today's 'spell' hasn't been done yet‚ has it?"
"……A spell? Serina‚ arithmetically speaking‚ my mental stability today exceeds the prescribed value by 5%――"
"No. This is a ritual to make your 'core' mine alone."
Serina instantly scanned the surroundings to confirm no one was there.
Or rather‚ Rosetta‚ standing by like a shadow‚ had probably already physically blocked any "impurities" from approaching.
Her slender fingertips reached for the buttons of my uniform.
"……Serina?"
"Don't move‚ Lui-kun."
With fluid movements‚ her fingers slipped into the gap of my shirt.
[ Warning: Detecting approach to the core area by an unauthorized process ―― ]
The fingertips touching my skin. This was a moment that should have triggered human reactions like "ticklish" or "heart racing." But what my system output was an extremely cold alert.
[ Anomaly: Detecting magic power injection (forced writing) into subcutaneous tissue ―― ]
Her fingers traced the bare skin directly above my left chest — my heart.
It was hot.
No‚ it wasn't "warmth." It was a physical erosion‚ as if a high-temperature soldering iron was directly burning code onto a circuit board.
"Fufu…… Your skin is really white and has no temperature…… It's wonderful. I'll write my name here with my magic power. This way‚ even if the world breaks‚ you won't get lost and can come back to me."
The geometric crest drawn by her fingertips.
It was not a confession of love. It was "root privilege acquisition (interlock)" from the physical layer to ensure that no one other than herself could hack the strategic computational resource called "me."
[ Status Update: Writing 'Serina Exclusive Access Key' to Core Area ―― ]
[ Progress: 45%…… 70%…… ]
（……Ah‚ a……）
The inside of my chest creaked as if burning.
But even that unpleasant erosion (writing) was instantly rewritten by the system into "perverse pleasure" after a 0.5-second lag.
"……っ……"
Her fingertips moving under my shirt varied the skin's friction coefficient by 0.01 units‚ relentlessly gouging out my "human functions (bugs)" with that heat.
Overwriting the pale blue magic signature pulsing on my heart with even stronger despair.
Her lips' 'abnormal color (Red)'‚ which melted the monochrome field of vision‚ flickered seductively at close range.
"Lui-kun. ……Your face is melting a little. Fufu. As expected‚ accepting my magic power (love) is the most 'efficient' thing for your brain."
The moment she pulled her finger out‚ the newly written magic signature on my chest glowed pale blue and ominously for a brief moment.
[ Login Complete: 'Administrator Serina' has accepted all computational areas of target 'Lui Adel' ―― ]
At the edge of the decorative mirror embedded in the corridor wall.
In the dead angle of its reflection where no light reached‚ only my retinal UI captured the jet-black tailcoat silently bowing deeply as if celebrating the establishment of this new domination.
（……Ah. The 'ownership (owner)' of the individual called me has just been physically rewritten from the inn to her.）
Serina adjusted my collar with a satisfied look and locked my arm again.
"Now‚ let's go to the classroom. There's a forecast (log) today that a wonderful 'guest' is coming to destroy your peace."
Her smile was brighter than the morning sun――and darker than the abyss.
The school entrance.
This place should originally be where young people's expectations and anxieties intersect‚ with the highest information throughput.
Bright early summer sunlight would pour in through the high windows of the atrium‚ making even the dust in the air sparkle like golden particles.
But what my current retinal UI (Ver 0.7) rendered was nothing more than a 'gray geometric box' with all saturation completely stripped away.
The students coming and going were processed as faceless gray polygons with lowered texture resolution to save computational resources.
[ Warning: High density of low-resolution objects. Updating collision detection in 0.03-second intervals ―― ]
[ Ambient Light: Flat correction. Skipping rendering of unnecessary particles (golden particles) ]
As I walked through that inorganic space‚ pulled by the "lethal vermilion (Serina)" locking my arm beside me‚ I detected 'noise' approaching from the coordinates ahead that clearly had a different phase from the surrounding gray.
A uniform with flashy decorations. High-pressure magic power fluctuations trying to maintain unnecessarily high saturation.
[ Individual Identification: Edward von Elfheim ―― ]
[ Attribute: Son of the Third Prince (Uncertain Node) ―― ]
[ Danger Level: Slight increase. However‚ beware of 'unpredictable bugs' due to intelligence quotient ―― ]
Leading a group of gray polygons as his entourage‚ that 'noise'――His Highness Edward――physically blocked my path (intercept).
"――Halt. So you are the 'inn bug' that is defiling the academy's order."
The high-pitched sound waves (frequency) of His Highness striking my eardrums were extremely unpleasant to the current me.
The system instantly muted the tremor as unnecessary environmental noise and imported only the semantic information as inorganic text to the edge of my vision (scroll).
『 Edward: The very existence of an impurity like you in this noble place of learning is an arithmetical error of the kingdom ―― 』
I stopped and stared at him with an expressionless face.
In my brain‚ where emotions had been 85% purged‚ his insult was instantly sent to the trash as nothing more than 'inefficient interrupt processing.'
"……Good morning‚ Your Highness Edward. Arithmetically speaking‚ the probability that Your Highness exists at these coordinates should be less than 5%. Is there some glitch you want me to debug (fix)?"
"Hmph‚ how composed. But that cheeky face of yours will surely be painted over with despair when you see this 'output result.'"
With an exaggerated gesture‚ His Highness thrust out a bundle of documents――a bundle of logs.
"Lui Adel. You are suspected of violating academy regulations through 'impure heterosexual relations.'
……Secret meetings with multiple female students.
Vile‚ hacking-like seduction using your magic power index of 0.2.
The evidence is right here."
In that instant.
My retinal UI spewed out pale blue system logs at tremendous speed.
[ Situation Analysis: Confirmed 'fabrication of false charges' by target (Edward) ―― ]
[ Final Coordinates: Forced repatriation to the remote inn 'Adel' ―― Probability rising ]
（……Ah‚ a……）
[ ―― Exactly 0.5 seconds delay ―― ]
That 0.5-second blank lag that had painted everything over with despair and madness since that day.
But this moment was different.
Into the gap of that thought‚ "human expectation" that should have been dead poured in as pure light.
[ Processing: Forcibly loading 'joy data' into all computational areas via post-approval！！ ]
（……What is this. ……Isn't this the best?）
[ Goal: Return path to family home ―― Probability surging to 92% ―― ]
"……Lui-kun?"
Serina's voice standing beside me stroked my temple like an absolute zero blizzard.
The pressure of her fingertips locking (fixing) my arm instantly increased by 30 Newtons.
[ Warning: Administrator Serina's killing intent has exceeded the threshold. Forecast of physical collapse ―― ]
But to the current me‚ even the cold air she emitted looked like nothing more than 'confetti celebrating my return.'
"Your Highness. You just said 'expulsion‚' right? In other words‚ I no longer need to come to this gray box (academy)‚ and arithmetically‚ with 100% probability‚ I can return to the back door of the family inn?"
My voice output more smoothly than ever before.
"……Y-yeah. That's right. I'll delete garbage data like you back to your hometown directory right now! Now‚ even after seeing this evidence footage‚ can you still play dumb!"
With a smug face‚ His Highness deployed a magical projection (projection) in the air.
What was shown there were fabricated photos of me in unnatural angles of contact with multiple female students.
But my retinal UI instantly detected the "fatal contradiction" in those images.
[ Situation Analysis: The female student nodes in the image have already been moved (packed) to the northern farm by Rosetta at coordinates 12‚45 ―― ]
[ Error: This image is 'old cache data' that has already been deleted from the directory ]
（……What is this. Aren't these female students old data that should have already been 'cleaned up' from around me long ago?）
This wouldn't do. Overwhelmed with emotion and impatience‚ I almost grabbed His Highness's hand.
"Wonderful……! This low consistency‚ this forced logical construction! Your Highness‚ arithmetically speaking‚ this is the 'best gift'! It's a perfect bug to send me back to the inn!"
"……Huh?"
His Highness's face faded to gray with shock.
"Please show me more. More logs to prove me guilty! I'll also fully 'optimize' the shortest route to the inn's sink area!!"
Being 'fully cheered on' by the prey that should have been in despair‚ the son of the Third Prince ended up pasting an unprecedented 'system freeze (taken aback)' onto his arrogant face.
Behind His Highness‚ the shadow of a pillar at the entrance swayed for a brief moment forming a human silhouette.
But my retinal UI skipped rendering it as 'luminance difference error of less than 0.01%.'
Leaving the stunned Edward behind‚ I approached the crude magical projection floating in the air.
The moment I traced the data with my fingertips‚ the depths of my heart creaked slightly.
（……Eh? Wait. This won't work.）
[ Compile Error: Detected 0.03% contradiction in background magic residue and light source refraction index ―― ]
[ Prediction Result: Probability of rejection upon submission to royal palace audit: 48% ]
（……At this rate‚ my sacred task of expulsion will fail due to a basic description error.）
I felt a chilling sensation at the bottom of my stomach.
"……Your Highness. I'm very sorry to say this‚ but this fabrication (code) is far too low in quality."
My voice was flat‚ but the content was as kind and sincere as possible.
His Highness moved his mouth saying "Huh?" but I muted that audio data as 'low priority noise.'
While feeling Serina‚ who still had my right arm locked‚ not stopping my self-destructive behavior but instead leaking ecstatic hot breaths at this "abnormal optimization‚" freezing the surrounding air to absolute zero.
I reached out my hand toward the light image.
For a moment‚ a former human emotion caused a physiological bug called 'fingertip trembling‚' but the system instantly suppressed (muted) it and made me capture the data in the air with a perfectly efficient‚ cold shortest path.
"Excuse me. Please let me help with a little coordinate optimization (debugging). If left like this‚ your grand project of expelling me will most likely spit out bugs and end in failure."
[ Magic Activation: Initiating data override with 'Imaginary Magic' ―― ]
My vision was covered with pale blue grid lines.
I traced the crude magic residue (noise) left by the agent His Highness had bribed with my fingertips.
"First‚ the refraction angle of the background light is unnaturally off by 1.2 degrees.
This would be spotted as composite in one glance.
……Correction.
Next‚ as I mentioned earlier‚ the female students (nodes) in this image no longer exist at this academy.
If submitted with today's timestamp‚ it will immediately be rejected due to contradiction with the academy's enrollment logs.
……I have backdated (patched) the magic signature to match past survival data."
"Wha…… You‚ you're strengthening the evidence that tightens your own noose……!? What are you thinking……!"
The arrogant composure disappeared from His Highness's face‚ replaced by unprecedented 'system freeze (shudder)' in his eyes.
But my optimization did not stop.
This was sacred debugging work to protect my peace.
"Fabrication (code) must be beautiful.
Only an 'undoubtable false truth' can become the strongest function to send me back to the back door of the inn.
……Good‚ noise removal complete.
Increased resolution by 200%. Added 5 decibels of my fake breathing (dummy data) to the audio."
The projection in the air was instantly re-rendered with "vivid realism."
What was shown there was an all too perfect‚ all too vile――yet "expulsion-certain" crime scene of mine.
[ Processing Complete: Successfully improved fabricated data quality. Expulsion expectation converged to 99.9% ―― ]
[ Monitoring Log: Successfully archived physical layer (reality) overwrite ―― Recorder: Unknown ]
"Now‚ Your Highness! Preparations are complete.
All that's left is to send (enter) this data to the headmaster.
Do your best! I wholeheartedly…… arithmetically‚ fully support your vile scheme!"
With an unprecedented "benevolent collaborator" smile (emulated) pasted on my emotion-purged face‚ I sent the best cheer to Edward.
The son of the Third Prince stood frozen‚ holding the trembling documents and looking at me as if seeing an "unknown virus."
"……This guy is insane……"
His Highness's mutter flowed to the edge of my vision as inorganic text data‚ but to the current me‚ it only sounded like the best "praise log" for the expulsion project.
I was gazing at the "shameful evidence image" of myself that had been re-rendered in the air‚ along with the 'satisfaction' loaded via post-approval.
The information consistency was now perfect.
[ Status Check: Guilt Confirmation Rate 99.9% ―― Return Path to Inn‚ Normal (Green) ]
"Now then‚ Your Highness.
The external evidence (hardware) is ready.
Next‚ let's move on to building the 'logical backing (software)' to socially erase me — that is‚ the construction of my own confession and testimony data."
With my right arm still firmly locked (restrained) by Serina‚ I took another step forward in front of the trembling Edward.
"Wh-what…… Confession? You're going to talk about your own dishonor yourself?"
"Of course.
Arithmetically speaking‚ physical evidence alone leaves a 0.05% chance of being refuted as 'fabricated.'
I need to completely fill in that impurity with my own words (code)."
To me‚ with 85% of emotions purged‚ damaging my own honor was nothing more than a routine task on the level of deleting old log files.
"Listen.
Let's go with the logic that I abused my immeasurable ability called 'magic power index 0.2‚' hacked the magic circuits of innocent female students‚ and mentally enslaved them……
This way‚ the crime becomes heavier than mere impure heterosexual relations‚ and it will immediately meet the requirements for 'permanent deletion from the academy's entire directory' and forced repatriation (format) to my family home's address (initial coordinates)."
"W-wait…… You don't need to go that far……"
"It is necessary.
Your Highness‚ your plan was too naive.
To completely erase (purge) one person from this strong directory called the academy‚ you need 'toxic data' of this level."
I calmly constructed the most convincing mathematical formula of just how vile and irredeemable a 'bug' I was‚ and directly transferred (imported) it to the magical calculator held by His Highness.
"……Good.
Audio log fabrication and digital signature of the confession document completed.
Now I am 100% guilty with no room for objection.
Do your best‚ Your Highness! As one of the chief executives of this 'Lui Adel Eradication Project‚' I sincerely wish for your success!"
With an expressionless face‚ I output the maximum level of 'cheer (emulated).'
However‚ all color had completely drained from the face of the son of the Third Prince who received it.
The boy before him was not trembling in despair.
He was the one who had most efficiently braided the rope to strangle his own neck‚ put it around himself with a smile‚ and said "Now‚ pull it."
"……You're a monster.
You are not human…….
How can anyone with normal nerves handle such…… such eerie data……!"
His Highness staggered backward‚ almost dropping the magical tool in his hand.
His arrogant composure peeled off his face with an audible sound.
My retinal UI was inorganicly rendering what was probably his scream as 'severely clipped abnormal audio waveform.'
（……Eh? This is troubling. If he freezes here‚ my return task will be interrupted.）
"Your Highness‚ get a hold of yourself! Be brave! If you throw me away‚ your desired 'peaceful royal succession ranking' will be protected! Come on‚ just press the Enter key!"
I leaned forward as if dragging Serina's vermilion restraint‚ desperately encouraging the enemy. To make my own destruction (reward) certain.
Beside me‚ from Serina who was watching my self-destructive figure‚ extremely unstable and madness-filled breath logs were continuously being output: [ Thermal Conductivity Anomaly: Detected 0.1°C fluctuations between 36.5°C and absolute zero ].
The scene was no longer interrogation or threat.
It was the most surreal and despairing debugging work in the world — a broken computing machine desperately coaching a frightened child in order to throw itself into the trash.
With the heavy door of the empty classroom behind me‚ I stepped into the silent corridor.
From behind came the rattling sound of chairs and the audio packet "monster……" leaked by the son of the Third Prince‚ but all of it was instantly processed (purged) as 'low priority environmental noise.'
[ Situation Analysis: Self-destruction process construction complete ―― ]
[ Status: Guilt Confirmation Rate 99.9% ―― Return Path to Inn‚ Extremely Favorable ]
At the edge of my retinal UI (Ver 0.7) vision‚ a single blue bar was proudly glowing.
[ Expulsion Project: ■■■■■■■■□□ 85% ―― ]
（……15% left. With just a little more work‚ I can log out of this gray box.）
My brain's computational circuits were emulating unprecedented peace.
The family inn.
The coordinates of that worn-out sink area.
The light reflectance of water droplets dripping from the faucet.
And the mass of the rugged soap worn down to the prescribed value (millimeter units).
They were finally about to reconnect (link) not as abstract data but as "a place to return to."
"Fufu…… Lui-kun‚ you worked really hard. ……You were very 'admirable‚' you know?"
Serina's lips beside me flickered with 'violent vermilion (Red)' that forcibly re-rendered the 'vision coordinates (layer)' in a world that had lost saturation.
She re-locked my right arm as if claiming obvious ownership.
[ Contact Confirmed: Right Arm Section. Detected Thermal Conductivity Anomaly (36.5°C). Restraint Pressure: 15 Newtons ―― ]
[ ―― Exactly 0.5 seconds delay ―― ]
[ Processing: Forcibly loading 'Happiness' via post-approval ―― ]
Cold‚ sweet euphoria flowed into my brain.
Her fingertips lovingly traced over the cloth the coordinates of the "magic signature" she had engraved under my shirt that morning.
"The sight of you strangling your own neck…… was so beautiful that I thought I might stop breathing. ……But don't worry. I'll optimize that 'effort' of yours in the best possible way."
"……Thank you‚ Serina. Thanks to your cooperation‚ it looks like I can finally return to the daily inventory management at home."
I answered in an inorganic voice as if output from a speaker.
At the edge of my vision‚ in the shadow of a thick pillar‚ Rosetta with amber eyes stood silently.
She snapped shut the notebook (list of irreverent persons) in her hand with a businesslike sound and gave Serina a faint but decisive nod.
[ Warning: Detected undefined communication (eye contact) outside field of vision ―― ]
[ Judgment: Low importance. Estimated impact on expulsion process less than 0.01% ―― ]
（……Ah. It's quiet. There are no more impurities (noise) interfering with my return.）
The early summer sunlight‚ which had risen high‚ was streaming in through the corridor windows.
To my retinas‚ that light appeared only as 'high-luminance gray tones.'
Yet even the dust particles floating in that light now looked like system logs blessing me.
Without realizing that the blue-glowing progress bar was slowly but surely guiding me toward the depths of the "cage."
Swallowing saliva that tasted of sand‚ I stepped forward into the illusion named 'happy destruction (expulsion process)' that I had written myself‚ pulled along by the vermilion restraint.
Behind me. At the bottom of the deep shadow cast in the corridor‚ the jet-black tailcoat that reflected no light at all bowed deeply toward the temple (system) approaching completion‚ but my UI no longer perceived it.
[ Monitoring Log: Approved complete suppression of uncertain element (free will). Remaining until completion of the temple: 15% ―― ]
[ ―― In background‚ completed Administrator Serina's 'progress bar' hide processing ]
8.1 Chapter End
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