How Do You QA Test a Tsundere Android!?

Test 21: Office Risks

Just as I think that, she stops a meter away and crosses her arms.

"H-hmph, it's not like I was waiting for you or anything."

Realizing her earlier dere slip up, Lily quickly dons the tsuntsun mask. I'm relieved that she's exactly the same as yesterday, acting tsundere and remembering me as her papa.

It's probably a good idea to visit Eric and ask what's on today schedule. But my phone currently displays 8:50; I could spend at least ten more minutes with Lily without appearing "late" for work.

I walk to the sofa and sit down.

tap tap tap

Lily follows after me with small steps and sits down beside me.

"Want to play word chain again?"

Let's check if she remembers this game from yesterday.

"Okay, let's play! I'll definitely beat you!"

She clenches little fists with a spirited smile. Hopefully her confidence isn't just for show and she really remembers how to play.

"I'll begin then: Rabbit."

"... Talking!"

"Garage."

".. Egg!"

"Ah, er... garage."

Her swift responses catch me unprepared, so I accidentally throw a word which was used just a moment ago. She's as good as she was yesterday, if not better.

".. Elephant!"

Sadly, same as yesterday, she fails to notice my cheating. She has blind faith in me and assumes that my answers would always be truthful.

We finish two long sessions, both ended with my triumph. To the very end, she couldn't expose my cheating.

Currently, the reason she keeps losing lies in her flawed memory. After playing for a while, she tends to forget a word which was used before and recycles it - leading to her own demise.

Interestingly, her memory seems to "expire" at bigger and bigger intervals between games. She must be somehow allocating more memory to the game after each defeat.

"Yes! I won!"

I hand her the third game, just because I'm tired and rather see her smile. I pat her on the head, a gesture which she accepts happily and sincerely.

"H-hmph."

... almost sincerely.

Since I'm already fed up with word chain by now, it's time to bring in the REAL stuff.

"Wait here a second."

"Hm?"

She tilts her head and looks at me with curious eyes. I skip toward my backpack and fish for the ultimate plaything. Behold, the Lego!

"Say, have you seen Eric?"

"W-wah!"

W-who?!

I immediately stuff the lego back into my bag and turn around. The one standing at the door is Gary, with his plastic, friendly smile.

D-did he see it? N-nah, the plastic bag is red and all, he couldn't see the insides... he definitely didn't, did he?

"E-Eric? N-nope, haven't seen him."

"Man, where's that guy? Thanks for the help anyway."

Gary sighs and leaves.

"Hah... hah..."

My heart is beating violently and my breathing is unstable.

He almost caught me with Lego. I almost became the laughing stock of the whole department.

Yesterday, nobody passed by this room other than Eric. It made me forget an important factor: humans.

If someone here sees me playing Lego with Lily, what would they think? Would I be able to convince them that I'm just QA testing...?

Fat chance.

They wouldn't understand my genius QA testing strategy. One part of me wants to dump the suicidal lego idea, but another part is too curious to back down.

"Papa...?"

Lily tilts her head and blinks a couple of times.

F-fine, I'll muster courage and give it a shot. For the sake of teaching my cute daughter how to play the masterpiece that is lego, I'll put my neck on the block.

The office's door can be closed from outside, but can it be closed from inside? I approach the door and check the two walls on its sides.

The wall to my right has a card reader.

BEEP

I pass the card and the door closes.

BEEP

I pass the card again and the door opens. Perfect.

Next, I need to secure a playground for Lily where she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself. Naturally, the rear of the office and its partitions draw my attention.

As I examine the first two office tables, I spot computers on them; pretty sure they weren't here yesterday.

I walk further into the room and check the two partitions in the rear. This area behind the partitions is great, it's impossible to see what's happening all the way out here from the entrance.

Now that I have all the chess pieces in my hand, I shall begin executing my masterplan.

"Hey."

"E-eh?!"

A voice creeps to me from the entrance.

"O-oh, hi."

I quickly turn around and try to smile. Nothing to see here! No Lego schemes are being crafted!

The one at the door is Eric, looking as worn out as yesterday.

"I had an early meeting on another floor, but now I can spare you some time."

He walks into the room and throws Lily a look.

"Already started working? Didn't expect you to turn this brat on of your own accord."

Of course I'd wake up my daughter, what is he even talking about?

"As you probably have already noticed, they installed your comp."

"Yeah, I saw. They installed two of them."

We walk toward the partitions and then toward the desks.

"You haven't turned them on yet?"

"I first wanted to confirm whether I should touch them."

"I see."

He boots the computer and sits down on the chair.

"Bring a chair, I'll show you the basics about Anomalia's portal and what you can find in there."

I drag a chair from a nearby partition, toward the desk which was determined to be mine without my consent.

"..."

While carrying the chair, my eyes meet Lily's gaze. She's still obediently sitting on the sofa, waiting for me to come back.

Her face wears a rather complex expression, which I can't help but interpret as dissatisfaction. No doubt this little brat is pouting because I abandoned her without saying a word.

I feel like I should go over there and explain her the situation, but... would Eric think that's odd? Why would the owner need to give excuses to his own android?

I dodge her eyes and sit down beside Eric. I think I heard a small "hmph" going in the background, but I pretend to not notice.

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