Isekai Skill Mechanic Episode 11

Maintenance of Failure ―The Correct Procedure Destroys the City―

Morning light slanted through the windows of the Maintenance Bureau (provisional).
Stacks of paper lay on the desk.
Record books, request forms, city maps.
The remnants of yesterday's meetings were gone.
This was no longer a place for discussion.
It was a place for action.

I flipped through the manual.
The official procedures of the Maintenance Bureau.
Node standards, emergency operations, recording formats.
And—maintenance procedures.

Node confirmation.
Load measurement.
Synchronization correction.
Flow rate equalization.

The "words" that ensure maintenance is the same no matter who performs it.

“...This should make it run.”

A chair creaked behind me.
Reina was standing with her arms crossed.
“The paperwork has increased.”

Gran snorted.
“The work on the ground hasn't decreased.”

Celis was glued to the desk.
“We can't perform maintenance without records!”

Mirei said quietly.
“It is records that keep the city running.”

I closed the manual.
“Today is different.”
I tapped the papers.
“We will perform maintenance with this.”

“Maintenance Bureau! North District 3, street light circuit malfunction!”
We rushed outside.
A crowd had gathered on the street.
The lights of the stalls were flickering unsteadily.

A child was crying.
“I'm scared...”

The mother pulled the child close.
“It's okay, it's going to be okay...”

I touched the street light.
Lines appeared in my field of vision.
Nodes. Connections. Flow rate.
—They were aligned.

It was an unsettling alignment.
But.
“I will follow the procedure.”

Celis nodded.
“Yes!”

Node confirmation.
Load measurement.
Synchronization correction.
Flow rate equalization.

I shut off my own intuition.
I followed the procedure.
To the “maintenance anyone can do.”
The lines aligned.

《Stabilization》

The streetlights turned on all at once.

“They’re on!”

“Thank goodness!”

A child laughed.

The mother bowed her head.

Reina shrugged.
“See? No problem.”

I nodded.
“Naturally. Just as the procedure dictates—”

In that instant.
The light intensified.
White, searingly bright.

“...Hey.”

The lines in my vision overlapped.
Everything aligned into the same shape.
There was no escape.

“Get back!!”
Reina’s voice.

It was too late.
The streetlight exploded.
Light burst forth, sparks flew.
The fire spread to the stall’s fabric.

The child screamed.
“Nooooooo!!”

Reina dove in.
She deflected the sparks with her sword and shielded them with her body.

Gran shouted.
“Bring water!”

Celis yelled with a trembling voice.
“The synchronization is spiking!!”

I—could not move.
“...Why?”

It was by the book.
I hadn’t made a single mistake.
And yet.

“Why did it break?”

The Maintenance Bureau.
The smell of burning still lingers.

The inspector says.
"Explain yourself."

I could not answer.

Mirei looks at the records.
"The procedure is accurate."

Inspector
"And the result?"

Silence.

Reina
"We contained it on-site. There were no deaths."

Inspector
"This time, at least."
A beat.
"It is a failure of the system."
Those words sting.
"The Maintenance Bureau's operations will be suspended."

Night. The Maintenance Bureau. Only one light is on.

I was looking at the procedure manual.
"...I wrote this."

My fingers tremble.
"It was supposed to result in the same maintenance regardless of who performed it."

I grip the paper.
"That's why I—"

My words catch in my throat.
"I abandoned the site."

Silence.

"Even though I saw it."
That alignment.
That instability.
"Even though I knew."
I followed the procedure.
"...I ran away."

Reina is standing there.
"No."

"It's the same."
I say.
"I broke it."

"That's not true!"
Celis enters.

She is holding papers.
"I saw everything!"

Gran follows.
"Something is wrong."

Celis spreads out the paper.
“This is the procedure.”

Gran taps it with his finger.
“Load balancing.”

I mutter.
“I created that.”

Gran denies it.
“No.”
He taps the paper.
“You didn't include this threshold.”

Celis adds.
“The settings are too uniform.”
“There's no room for error.”

I look at the paper.
It is indeed different.
Only slightly.
But fatally so.
“...Tampering.”

Gran groans.
“No, it's not just that.”
He brings out another paper.
Same format.
Same ruled lines.
Same ink.
“They're all the same.”

Celis supplements.
“The paper is the same, too.”
She traces it with her finger.
“These fibers are from the same paper mill.”

Furthermore.
The edge of the paper.
A small mark.
Same position.
Same shape.

Gran says in a low voice.
“It's one person.”
“No—it's one source.”

I gasp.
“Are they distributing it?”

Celis replies.
“Yes.”

Gran taps the paper.
“It's not that someone is spreading it.”
“It's spreading naturally as a ‘good procedure’.”

Silence.

I say while thinking.
“...Is someone leaking the procedure manuals?”

Gran shakes his head.
“It's even worse than that.”

A beat.

“Mechanics are choosing to spread it themselves.”

I finally realized.
I wasn't the one who broke it.

But.
My maintenance work was used.

The procedures have been rewritten, distributed, and are spreading throughout the city.

The enemy is not inside the circuits.
They are inside the procedure manuals that were supposed to be the 'textbooks' for maintenance.

And that
has already
taken root within the city.

Episode 11 End