Side Story Bug in the Library, Bug in the Rain, Bug in My Chest
Bug wasn't a fan of books.
Which made it suspicious when I found him in the library.
He was sitting in a corner, glitching slightly, flipping through a giant tome called "Narrative Loop Theory for Broken Code."
I slid into the seat across from him.
"Looking for hobbies, or answers?"
"Neither," he muttered. "Looking for me."
I stared.
"That's either extremely deep or extremely sad."
He ignored me.
"Did you know there's a file on me in here?" He shoved the book across. "Appendix C. 'Class: Companion Entity—Beta.' That's me."
I flipped it open.
I looked up. "Sacrifice scenes?"
He nodded. "I wasn't supposed to last."
"...Oh."
"And then you said no to everything," he added, eyes flickering. "You broke the world. And for some reason, I didn't vanish. I just... stayed."
Outside, rain began to fall.
"You think if we keep breaking things," he said softly, "there'll still be a place left for us?"
I looked at him—half-system, half-something-else—and said, "If there's not, we'll make one."
He blinked.
"Do you mean that?"
"I just offered to fight fate and punch code in the face. So yeah."
And then he smiled.
Not a glitchy grin or smugness.
Just... warmth.
Even as he flickered at the edges.
Even as the rain dripped through the library's illogical ceiling.
Somehow, he was still here.
So was I.
And maybe—just maybe—we were starting to matter.