THE STORY · EPISODE 02
Many bridges spanned Update Canyon.
Mana had never thought bridges could be so busy. Even as people crossed, surface panels were replaced one by one, guide lights renewed, and old railings quietly carried away. Here, the city repaired itself while still moving.
Now all of it had stopped.
At the entrance, a young woman about Mana’s height was splitting the flow of people into two lines. Her red hair was tied high, the sleeves of her off-white and dark green jacket rolled up. Freckles flashed into the sunlight whenever she moved.
“The inner route is blocked. This way! Hold the railing if you can walk!”
“I’ll help.”
The young woman looked up at Mana’s voice.
“Thank you. I’m Yuki. And you?”
After they introduced themselves, Yuki noticed the mark on Mana’s encyclopedia.
“You’re a Secure Star. I’m still preparing for the test. I can’t give battle commands, but I can guide people.”
Before she had finished saying what she could not do, her hands were already doing what she could. To Mana, that quickness was almost dazzling.
White bands wound around the bridge in layer upon layer, tangling the legs of people trying to move forward. The same words repeated along them.
“Critical update required.”
Beyond them stood a red button.
“The instructions said pressing it would release the bands.”
The attendant at the bridge entrance looked troubled.
Mana spotted a little hand sticking out between the bands. Someone was clinging to the railing. Another band was about to wrap over that hand.
“Hold on!”
She ran toward the red button.
A shield slid into her path.
“Have you forgotten yesterday’s domain, don?”
There was no accusation in Securidon’s voice. That was precisely why Mana stopped.
“But they’re in pain.”
“I can see that too, don.”
“Securidon, use your shield to hold a gap so they aren’t crushed. I’ll check the notice!”
At her instruction, Securidon slipped his shield beneath the bands and lifted the white layers away from the small hand. His arms soon began to shake. Yuki pulled the trapped person through the opening and guided them to the safe side, where the doctor waited.
“Mana, you handle getting these undone, don.”
It was not that there was no need to hurry. They were dividing the work that needed to be done urgently.
Episode 2, Illustration 1 | Rescue in Update Canyon
While the doctor and the attendant helped people evacuate, Mana noted the product name and version listed in the notice.
She opened the official advisories. The product really did have a problem that needed fixing. The notification was not entirely a lie.
“It’s borrowing the part that really is dangerous...”
Point to a genuine problem, pretend to solve it, and lead someone through a different door. That was what made people rush—especially when they were told their delay would get someone hurt.
But the version in the notice did not match the official distribution information. The button did not lead to the legitimate store either.
Mana showed the attendant her screen.
“The update really is necessary. But that doesn’t mean this button is the right one.”
“Then what do we do?”
Yesterday, she would have looked to the doctor at that point.
Today, she looked at her notebook first. Check outside the notification. That part was the same as yesterday.
An Attack choice lit up in the encyclopedia. Destroying the red button alone would leave the bridge’s weak points unfixed. The question was what action she would ask her companion to take.
OPTIONAL QUESTION · 02-A1Update source and versionAn urgent update notification appears. Official information confirms an update is needed, but the source and version in the notification do not match. How should you proceed with the bridge administrator?Open illustration & choices
Interactive answer checks and saved progress load with JavaScript. You can continue reading without answering.
“C. We’ll get the correct update for the target from the official source. I also want to check with the responsible staff first how we could return to the current state.”
The attendant nodded and brought out the stored work records. The bridge repair staff returned and compared the last saved configuration with the recovery procedure.
“So just saying there’s a backup isn’t enough.”
“If you don’t know how to restore it, it’s rather like an umbrella left on the far side of the bridge.”
The doctor’s answer made Mana smile for a moment.
“Have you done that, Doctor?”
“We’ll discuss umbrellas another time.”
By the time the correct update was ready, a small puddle had formed around Securidon’s feet. Sweat.
“Let me take a turn.”
As Mana approached, he shook his head.
“If I pull the shield out now, it’ll tighten, don.”
“Then don’t pull it out. I’ll help support it from the side.”
Together they held the shield’s edge. When their hands touched, Mana thought Securidon felt colder than she did. He was not unafraid. He was staying there despite being afraid.
The patch for the correct target was applied from the official source.
One of the white bands lost its strength and drooped.
“Apply the patch from the official source.”
Mana read the sentence on the screen aloud.
“Use the proper source for the fix. This time, we’re actually repairing the bridge.”
“Securidon, push the shadow’s bands back from the edge of the repaired section!”
At her command, blue light raced from his shield. It was their first attack using ground made secure again by an update. The false button disappeared and the bands unwound. The trapped person’s arm was freed, and the stalled guide lights came on in sequence.
They did not all light up at once. One came on, was checked, and then the work moved to the next. To Mana, that slowness looked far more dependable than the earlier countdown.
Beneath the last band crouched a black shadow. Moving as though trying to wrap something protectively, it had bound itself as well.
When Mana offered Securies, the shadow stirred once. Light passed through gaps in the bandages and untied the knots from within.
A small brown companion wearing a yellow helmet emerged. A green cross, a large adhesive bandage, a first-aid kit. The moment he opened his eyes, he looked at Securidon’s arm before looking at Mana.
“Let me see that hand.”
“I’m fine, don.”
“Then if the hand is fine, showing it will be fine too.”
Mana could not help laughing. Securidon seemed to search for an argument and fail to find one.
“Patchron. That’s my name.”
With that brief introduction, he treated the hand reddened by the shield’s rim. COL-022: Patchron lit up in the WS Encyclopedia. Two companions registered. Only after seeing his face did Mana write his name in her notebook too.
Episode 2, Illustration 2 | Patchron’s first treatment
Before they left the canyon, Patchron stopped beside a streetlight that was still dark.
“This one isn’t fixed yet.”
“They said the repair staff would come later.”
“Yes. I’ve told them. But I’ll make it visible.”
He carefully placed a marker at the unrepaired spot. He would not finish by pointing only to what was done. Watching his back, Mana found herself liking the word repair a little more.
Patchron’s first-aid kit tapped softly as they set off.
Yuki joined them. She had finished handing over the evacuation work, she explained. Learning that Mana was also twenty-two softened her previously tense expression.
“May I travel with you for a while, starting today? I want to see how you check things in practice before I take the test.”
“I don’t know enough to teach anyone yet.”
“Then we can figure it out together.”
Mana smiled. Apparently, friendship in this world did not require a perfect introduction.
“Your notebook has a hole too, Mana.”
“Huh? Where?”
“The corner of the cover. You scraped it earlier, didn’t you?”
Patchron applied a little repair tape.
“Thank you. I was going to write my new companion’s name in it.”
“Then it should last a long time.”
Securidon peered in and proudly puffed out his chest.
Patchron closed the repaired cover, then opened it again, checking whether the tape was so tight that it made the pages difficult to turn.
“So fixing the cover isn’t the end of it.”
“It’s a notebook. It needs to open.”
He said it as though it were obvious, and Mana nodded. Streetlights, bridges, this notebook—all were things people used. They did not exist merely to receive a mark saying they had been fixed.
Securidon found the page with his name.
“My name is at the top, don.”
“That order has nothing to do with treatment priority.”
Patchron answered so quickly that Mana laughed again.
Before the laughter faded, the doctor’s device chimed.
An unknown login had been recorded in the Log Archive District just after the update was applied.
Patchron stopped.
“Was it because we fixed things?”
Mana almost said no at once, then swallowed the words. Wanting to reassure him was not enough to determine a cause.
“I don’t know. Let’s go check the order of events.”
She wrote down the time in blue pen.
END OF EPISODE 02