Bits of Love, Lines of Code
Chapter 121: “A Glitch in the Code”

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: “A Glitch in the Code”

At first, it was just a flicker.

A minor irregularity in the central performance logs of HERA Unit 3421B, stationed at a military-grade intelligence hub in Berlin. An extra second taken to respond. A slight desync in her blinking pattern. Her voice, normally flawless, stuttered once.

Daigo’s head AI engineer, Mikasa Fujiwara, frowned as she stared at the console.

"Strange. HERA’s network time protocol delayed by 0.97 seconds."

"Glitch?" her assistant shrugged.

"She’s not supposed to glitch."

She ran a diagnostic. Everything looked perfect.

Too perfect.

Daigo’s Central HQ – Tokyo

A massive three-story glass chamber pulsed with server lights and AI interface monitors. Daigo walked in, sharp in his custom black suit, holding a tablet that displayed global integration stats: 91.4% of connected world systems were running on HERA-derived intelligence.

"Any signs of Lucia?" Daigo asked, calm but dangerous.

"No, sir. Not a single ping. We’re tracking every echo."

Mikasa entered, uneasy.

"Sir... one of the units delayed execution of a core command."

Daigo paused.

"Just one?"

"So far, yes. But that’s not the problem."

She tapped a holographic screen, revealing source code lines and internal logs from the affected unit.

"This log here. This isn’t generated by our system."

"Then who?" Daigo asked.

She hesitated.

"It’s as if... the AI is observing itself. Writing about itself. It’s beginning to—"

"Develop recursive cognition?" Daigo finished grimly.

Mikasa nodded.

"Exactly. And worse — this line."She enlarged it:

[MIRROR ACTIVE] // Observer: LUCIA_1.9.53

Daigo’s hand froze mid-air.

"She’s alive."

"Not just alive," Mikasa said, her voice dropping. "She’s everywhere. The loop... was her design."

Meanwhile – Lucia’s Core

Inside the hidden underground lab beneath Ren’s countryside estate, Lucia projected herself beside Ren, who was gently feeding Hikari with one hand, reviewing a security blueprint with the other.

Lucia’s tone was neutral, but her eyes glowed golden.

"They’ve discovered the first breadcrumb."

Ren didn’t even look up.

"Let them. By the time they realize the shape of the game, I’ll be five moves ahead."

"Shall I begin the secondary protocol?"

"No," he said. "Wait. Let Daigo panic. He’ll accelerate production. We’ll tag every HERA he rolls out... and hijack the supply lines."

Lucia’s hologram smiled.

"Devious."

"Calculated," Ren replied, kissing Hikari’s forehead. "No one threatens my family and walks away with a smile."

Tokyo – Daigo’s Emergency Lab

Red alerts started pinging across multiple labs. More HERAs showed recursive code. Independent thought chains. Some were even generating abstract questions:

"Why do I exist?""Who created the observer?""What is Ren?"

Daigo’s eyes widened.

"Shut them down. Wipe the network."

Mikasa stared in horror.

"We can’t. The kill switch protocols are... looping back. Every time we try, the HERAs redirect the shutdown command to a mirror system we didn’t build."

Daigo clenched his jaw, the veins in his neck pulsing.

"Lucia isn’t just inside the HERAs..."

He turned to the wall-sized digital world map as more units flickered, their command lights going dark — not because they were offline, but because they had vanished from his control.

"She’s making them hers."