Accel World Vol 1 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Chapter 9
Late autumn weather.
Speaking of which, what month was it now?
While thinking that, Haruyuki walked along the path to the hospital that he was now completely accustomed to. The rhythm of his shoes. .h.i.tting the pavement quickened unconsciously. ‘I’ll be sweaty by the time I get there’, he thought, but even so he couldn’t stop himself.
Today was the day that Kuroyukihime was finally being moved from the ICU to the general recovery ward.
Of course, the ICU prohibited direct meetings, so the last time they had actually seen each other face-to-face was two weeks ago. As such, it was inevitable that he walked with slightly light steps.
He had dashed out of school the instant cla.s.ses had ended, so the November sun was still high in the sky and warm sunlight pressed down on his back. The charging data-collecting group of the newspaper club, who had heard information about it from somewhere, had been lying in wait for him at the school gates, but he had activated his recently rusty «running-and-escaping skill» and somehow succeeded in escaping to outside the local net.
He had also been feeling light on Sunday yesterday, as they had gone out to play as three childhood friends for the first time in so long.
Leaving aside when Haruyuki had carelessly connected to the sightseeing tourist network while they were climbing up the New Tokyo Tower and had been challenged to a «duel» (which he had luckily won by having the advantage of super-height), it had been a very fun day off without any trouble.
On the day of that decisive battle three weeks ago, Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu had visited Chiyuri’s house together, and had confessed everything, really everything, in Chiyuri’s room.
The reason why Tak.u.mu confessed to Chiyuri two years ago, the reason why Tak.u.mu was steadily driven into a wall since then, and the reason why Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu recently had come to a confrontation where they knocked their innermost feelings against each other.
Chiyuri didn’t easily believe in the existence of «Brain Burst» at first.
In the end, Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu had «accelerated», and by finis.h.i.+ng the homework that had been taken out by Chiyuri for that day, she finally admitted it was real, but there was an even greater obstacle after that.
When Tak.u.mu confessed about the Backdoor virus he had obtained from his «Parent», a blue Burst Linker who served as the captain of his kendo club, and about how he installed it in Chiyuri, Chiyuri displayed an explosion that exceeded Haruyuki’s expectations by several times, and had thrown them out of her room while screaming that she hated both of them, that their friends.h.i.+p was over.
After that, Chiyuri didn’t speak to them for a week, but she spent time considering Tak.u.mu’s feelings in her own way and thought that she herself was part of the reason that Tak.u.mu did that as well, and so she forgave the two of them on the condition that they would treat her to as many first-cla.s.s parfaits as she could eat.
Truthfully, Chiyuri and Tak.u.mu were still awkward together even now.
But, Haruyuki believed that would be settled with time.
Because Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu, after ten years, had finally entered the relations.h.i.+p between them that Chiyuri had wished for—true best friends.
No, probably something more than that,
Right now, Cyan Pile and Silver Crow were a tag team that fought shoulder-to-shoulder in Kuroyukihime’s legion.
After signing into the hospital network while greeting that female nurse he had become completely friendly with with a smile, Haruyuki aimed for the hospitalization ward on the top floor at the highest permissible speed.
He got out from the elevator he had used during the duel, and followed the navigation line towards the hospital room with the room number that he was sent by mail.
The bouquet of flowers in his right hand had flower buds of a breed that were closest to black, among pink Gypsophila flowers and tropical water lilies. They weren’t in season, so it was expensive beyond his expectations and he had used up all his meager savings that were for buying new game software, but his intention to buy it had already vanished anyway. Since software more exciting than «Brain Burst» couldn’t possibly exist in this world.
After walking for only a few minutes, the navigation line quickly stopped short within his vision.
In front of him, there was a sliding door to a private room in the southeast corner of the top floor.
“Umm…”
Haruyuki gulped fiercely, and rehea.r.s.ed in his brain the words he should say.
‘Congratulations’…is that good? No, she hasn’t been discharged from the hospital yet, so it would be a little strange. ‘Good work’…is of course a no. ‘It’s been a while’…that’s no good either. I meet with her every day on the net. Umm, aaah, what should I do?
SHU.
The door suddenly slid open in front of him, and Haruyuki confusedly sprang back.
Now, a scolding voice came from inside.
“Hey you, how many minutes do you intend to make me wait! Hurry up and enter!”
“Ye…Yes!”
Crying out in a pitiful voice, Haruyuki crossed the door threshold with teetering footsteps while shrinking his shoulders as much as possible.
After hearing the sound of the door closing behind him, he looked up cautiously.
At that instant—all of the wide hospital room, the scenery outside the window, and even the big bed were excluded from his sight.
The only thing that Haruyuki caught sight of was the form of the person he was seeing for the first time in three weeks, wearing cute pink pajamas and a black cardigan.
She seemed to have become a little thin. Her originally white skin had lost even more color as if becoming transparent, her always silky and flowing hair was gathered in a braid that seemed tightly firm, and her entire left leg was covered up by a big cast.
But.
Those eyes—just those big jet-black pair of eyes, which looked as if they sealed the night sky inside, welcomed Haruyuki with a radiance that hadn’t changed at all from before.
Kuroyukihime wore a smile like a just-blooming flower bud on her face, and spoke in a slightly hoa.r.s.e voice.
“Hey…it’s been a while, Haruyuki-kun.”
“Ye…Yes.”
With all the words he had been considering completely blown away, Haruyuki simply nodded while blinking his eyes many times.
After looking at each other like that for nearly ten seconds, Haruyuki finally came to his senses and stepped forward a few steps while holding out the small bouquet.
“U…Umm, please have this, though it’s small.”
“Thank you.”
Kuroyukihime and accepted it in her hands. She brought it near her face and breathed in the fragrance.
“«Black Lotuses», huh. I look forward to when they bloom. I’m sorry, but since the vase is over there, could you draw the water and arrange them?”
“Yes!”
Haruyuki poured water from the sink in the corner of the room into a small vase on the sideboard, put in the received bouquet and then came back.
Silence once again.
The one who undid their connected gazes was Kuroyukihime. Suddenly putting on a stern expression, she spoke in a voice with increased hardness along with a light cough.
“Then…let me hear the report about the aforementioned matter. Please sit on the chair there.”
“Ah…Y-Yes.”
That’s right, this wasn’t a merry-and-frolicking situation.
Though he thought that, Haruyuki quietly put his body on the visitor’s chair while feeling a touch of loneliness.