Chapter 26 5.5 Debug?

Letting out a silent sigh, I found myself absently looking around as I let Shizu do her thing. Letting myself take in my surroundings, the abject presence of nothing beyond standard shrubbery was kind of boring to look at now. So instead, my eyes took in the next best thing, and it was Shizu and her-

[sHIIzuU lElvVElL: 94017]

Oh... Oh no...

"Shizu?"

"I.... I'm me... My name is Shizu..."

Wait... What was happening to her?! "What the-"

[BBRRZZZTT]

I almost let out a pained yell as a screeching sound rang inside my ears, my palms almost burning as I quickly moved away from her. In front of me, Shizu's body was covered with some kind of pixelated squares from head to toe. Her custom kimono shimmered back and forth, as if it was confused on whether to become something billowy or if it wanted to be what she currently wore. Her emerald hair blinked constantly between being let down and being in a bun, her face confused on whether it wanted to be casual or full of makeup. All the while, the area around her looked like time and space were being ripped asunder from reality.

"ii()4I'm Shi94ziu! W94ait-"

[BBRRZZZTT]

"What the hell is happening?!"

The screeching sound of electronic static rang in my head once more as Shizu became more and more encased in what I could only describe as pixelated glitches in reality. I would say that it was kind of ironic considering that I was in a game right now, but looking at something like this happen face to face was actually horrific enough to make my head hurt!

"Shizu!"

"*3uufs6SSt00raAngere?!! 32HHelpp!#tef"

I could barely make out her voice among the garbled lines of static that I was hearing. Looking at her now, reality itself seemed to come apart as green lines of ones and zeroes seemed to coalesce around her. The air around her warped in on itself, practically shielding her from my view as I could only watch the scene unfold. I mean, what was I to do?! I had no power to fight against something like this. Wait, was this the actual first quest? Please don't tell me this was the first quest for the entire game! This was too horrific!

"*5723hASI"m ShSIizhuU!"

Her mangled voice screamed out from the patch of unnatural geometry floating in front of me. Images of various women seemingly flashed by in an instant, merging into some unholy patchwork of nothingness that could only amount to nothing.

"Hang on!" I yelled out. "I-I'll think of something!"

I blinked. Why the hell did I even say that? I obviously didn't know squat about this whole mess, and I doubt Guidance was still awake to sort this mess out. If anything, she probably would've already popped out and given out her own explanation for-

[BZZT!!]

"Ughh..."

I lurched as I felt the telltale sign of the world around me being changed. However, that shouldn't be possible with Guidance still asleep. But then...

"Moriya..."

I froze. Her voice wasn't as energetic as before, but it was unmistakable in the fact that it came from the woman that was just clinging onto me piggyback-style a while ago.

"I... I feel different..."

Looking up, I couldn't help but gape at the "Shizu" now standing before me. Wearing what was clearly a bigger and more elegant version of her previous kimono, she arguably looked like an Imperial Princess just from the way she was standing in front of me. Any signs or traces of her previous immaturity were long gone, replaced with a calculating elegance that seemed to suit her bigger and more mature body. And boy do I mean that when I say that she was now bigger.

She was already gorgeous before, but now she was downright stunning.

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

"Shizu?"

At her name, my grown-up tour guide casually turned her head to look at me. Giving me a small smile, she hummed as she addressed me. "Yes?"

I almost swooned. She sounded like Guidance, but actually dignified. Elegance personified, I wouldn't put it past anyone to think that she was royalty from some kind of ancient Asian civilization.

"Is... Is that you?" I found myself stupidly asking.

Shizu blinked at my question, "I am myself if that's what you're asking."

I returned her stare of confusion with one of my own as I pointed out the obvious, "You don't feel anything different?"

At my words, my tour guide slowly began flexing her fingers. As if sensing something was different, she then finally began to move her body in earnest. Her eyes slowly widened as they quickly roamed her own features, the look of utter confusion on her face returning the more she began to check herself out. To my surprise, the elegance that she once oozed slowly made way for her former innocent and energetic tone, the usual expressions that I usually associated with her coming back out into the forefront as she stared at herself.

"W-What happened to me!?"

Yep... This was Shizu, all right. "Don't ask me. I was hoping that you'd know, seeing as you're the one that experienced it."

The new Shizu gaped at me wide-eyed as her confusion bled off of her in spades. "I don't know either, Stranger! I look just like Mother!"

I watched as the flash-aged woman constantly looked and turned herself over as if observing to see what kind of damages she sustained from the event. Not that she even sustained any. If anything, the mad smile on her face was all the confirmation I needed as she practically- What the hell was this woman doing!?

"Hey! Stop that!"

Shizu froze, her hands already midway from stripping off her top as she stared at me like nothing was wrong. "S-stop what?"

Now it was my turn to freeze. Did she seriously not see the problem of what she's about to do? "You're stripping in front of me."

"How else am I supposed to see how big my chest got then?" Shizu innocently asked. "If Mother is any indication, I should be-"

"That's not the point," I quickly cut her off, turning my head away out of courtesy to the idiot's chastity. "You're a grown woman. I'd think you'd preserve your decency better than practically removing your clothes in broad daylight."

At my words, the silence that my guide was giving me was ringing off more alarm bells inside my head against terminal airheads.

"Is... wait..."