Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 3 (2/2)

“I’m not kidding. Because I was in the judo club, I was jealous of the soccer club guys who played around with girls instead.”

While looking dumfounded at Sugeno who was nodding with a ‘Uh-huh’, Haruyuki muttered in his mind.

—There were at least four improper points in those words just now. Suggesting that you’re good-looking, saying that all the members of the judo club were unpopular, saying that all the soccer club members were playboys, and in addition arbitrarily determining that I’m unpopular.

While Haruyuki added to himself that he couldn’t help but agree with that last point, Sugeno’s monologue continued.

“That’s why, I understand that boys your age have a lot of things you don’t know how to deal with. I understand very well…Hey, Arita.”

Here, the teacher gave off a «leave everything to me»-type vibe around his thick eyebrows, and gave a single big nod.

“If there’s anything you want to tell me…anything you have to tell me, please say it right here and now. I promise that I’m your ally. So, how about it?”

“………”

Haruyuki stared at his face for a few seconds while becoming even more dumbfounded.

Eventually, he somehow reorganized his thoughts and opened his mouth.

“……U-Umm.”

“Ooh, what it is? Please tell me anything!”

“Errr…Before that, I’m first going to record this conversation…”

That had been the second thing that the manual said to “definitely do”, but Haruyuki regretted it intensely as soon as he said it. Sugeno’s gaping and wide-eyed face quickly turned red from his neck to his cheek to the border of his hair. Haruyuki even felt like he heard a ‘clunk’ sound when the reliable older brother-like expression Sugeno had worn until now fell away.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Arita! You’re saying you don’t believe in me!?”

Raising his eyebrows and shouting with an angry look, Sugeno’s neck shrunk. But Haruyuki didn’t drive him away anymore more after that and answered back with a mumble.

“No, umm, it’s not that I don’t believe in you…It’s recognized by the law that a student has the right to record a one-on-one interview with a teacher…”

“What law!? What right!?”

Letting out a loud yell that little improper for a teacher, Sugeno hit the long desk with a bang.

“Don’t you understand that I’m thinking about your sake here!? If you wait until later to talk, your position will only get worse! As it is now, there’s a possibility that it will become a police matter.”

His speech was suddenly interrupted as Haruyuki desperately operated his virtual desktop and activated recording mode. Haruyuki wasn’t in the newspaper club, so the other person’s acceptance was needed for a recording of the conversation. Right now in Sugeno’s vision, a ‘Yes or No’ b.u.t.ton for allowing the recording should have appeared.

If he pressed the ‘No’ b.u.t.ton, then the log would record that that he had refused a legitimate request. Sugeno scowled at a point in s.p.a.ce with an expression that he couldn’t bear the indignation, but in the end he lifted his finger and stabbed it through the air with a jerk.

A [SREC] icon along with a ‘recording starting’ message blinked in Haruyuki’s vision. Even so, Haruyuki didn’t have the nerve to think “it’s over” with this, and earnestly shrunk his neck, while Sugeno spoke in a low voice which had increased in hardness.

“Arita, I’ll…I will only ask you once. On Sunday the 14th, why did yo…you[4], who doesn’t partic.i.p.ate in club activities, come to school?”

—It seemed that the conversation recording had had more of an effect than he’d thought.

“I was meeting a friend from the kendo club.”

When Haruyuki answered feebly yet instantaneously, Sugeno kept silent. Sugeno should also have known that Haruyuki was close with Tak.u.mu of the kendo club, and furthermore it was recorded in the local network that Tak.u.mu had come to school on Sunday. Haruyuki had actually gone to school in order to talk with Tak.u.mu that day in the first place.

But Sugeno persisted in his attack while the temple of his forehead twitched.

“Is that really all? Can you affirm that there were no other reasons at all? Please look at me in the eyes and answer.”

——Well, he’s not a bad person, probably. We just don’t seem to be able to understand each other.

While thinking that, Haruyuki looked directly at Sugeno’s clear eyes with an upward glance and responded.

“That really is all. I can affirm it.”

“……I see, I understand. Then, you can go back now.”

After letting out a long sigh that sounded like the sound from a large cooling fan, Sugeno told him that, so Haruyuki quickly stood up. He responded with a “Excuse me!” with largest volume after visiting this room, and then headed towards the door over the shortest distance, pulled it open as minimally as possible and left.

Escaping into the hallway, Haruyuki stopped the recording mode after deeply inhaling with all his strength, and headed towards the cla.s.sroom at a fast pace while confirming that the voice file was saved normally. With this, unless new material came out, Haruyuki’s innocence was now officially acknowledged. Nonetheless, with the exchange just now, Sugeno’s impression of him would have fairly worsened. There was not a single benefit by antagonizing a teacher and it wasn’t Haruyuki’s hobby either to do so, but even so it was out of the question to admit to a peeping crime he didn’t commit just for the sake of getting on Sugeno’s good side.

—‘Even so.’ Haruyuki thought while climbing up the stairs.

Even if that fatal video hadn’t been used, the trap that Noumi had set seemed to be slowly displaying effects like a weak poison. The reason was that Noumi himself had committed a crime and hid a miniature camera in the female shower room.

As a result, a real peeping attempt incident had been produced, and Haruyuki who had gone to school despite not being in a club was suspected. Had Noumi predicted things this far? No—He couldn’t have.

Shaking his head, Haruyuki opened the door of his cla.s.sroom one minute before the first bell rang.

Just then, an uncomfortable feeling formed. He felt like the volume of the chatting that filled the cla.s.sroom went down.

“……?”

He looked around in puzzlement, but the cla.s.sroom hadn’t changed at all from any other morning. He weaved his way between the students who were gathered in small group and were animatedly talking about a net show or a sports game, and sat down in his seat.

At the same time as he hung his bag on his desk and let out a sigh, an incoming Voice Call icon flashed in the center of his vision. The caller was—Tak.u.mu.

Barely resisting from looking back at him who should have been sitting in the back of the cla.s.sroom, Haruyuki pushed the icon.

‘Haru, something bad has happened.’

At those sudden first words, Haruyuki responded with thought-speech, though he almost moved his mouth.

‘Hah? Wh…what is it, all of a sudden?’

‘A strange rumor is going around. About you.’

At that point, the communication was cut off without notice. At the same time, the sound of a light chime filled his hearing. The first bell rang, and now real-time communication between students was prohibited. The next time they could call each other was at lunchtime and it was possible to send text messages as an exception, but school regulations prohibited them from exchanging contents that were unrelated to schoolwork through these.

He thought of just standing up and going directly to Tak.u.mu’s seat to hear the rest, but then homeroom teacher Sugeno came in from the door, so he had to give up on that. He was very interested in what Tak.u.mu had been talking about, but the only means to communicate no matter what right now was to talk in an «accelerated duel». Since he wouldn’t go that far, there shouldn’t be a serious problem even if he waited until the next break.

But—immediately after the end of that lesson.

As Haruyuki began to move his hand in order to mail Tak.u.mu, two male students blocked the way in front of his desk.

He lifted his head with a start as his body reflexively stiffened. They were both his cla.s.smates, but he could only remember the name of the boy to the right. He should have been a regular player in the boys’ basketball club, called Is.h.i.+o if he remembered right.

With a tall figure which didn’t seem to be of the same age as Haruyuki, Is.h.i.+o spoke while moving his mature yet troubled face to the left.

“Arita, sorry, but please come with me for a bit.”

Haruyuki then noticed that it had become deathly silent at some point in the cla.s.sroom. But there was almost no feeling of surprise in that silence. Rather, there was a hint of understanding and consent, as if this was an expected scene.

Facing Haruyuki who couldn’t understand the situation and was gathering himself, Is.h.i.+o continued in a low voice that broke towards the end.

“I don’t want to have a disagreeable talk in a place like this. Even you feel the same as well, right, Arita?”

At the same time as he heard that, Haruyuki felt a feeling as if his stomach was being squeezed.

A disagreeable talk. The only subject that came to mind when he thought of that was the peeping attempt incident.

—In other words, before he had noticed it, Is.h.i.+o and the guy next to him, no, the entire cla.s.s had come to believe with considerable certainty that Haruyuki was the perpetrator of that incident.

“Ah…I-I, didn’t…”

While muttering that in a hoa.r.s.e voice, Haruyuki turned his gaze diagonally to the left in front of him—to Chiyuri’s seat with a feeling of wanting to cling to someone.

Over there, he saw the form of his childhood friend looking down deeply, firmly closing her eyes and clenching her hands on top her desk as if enduring something.

As soon as he saw that, Haruyuki thought despite the crisis he was in.

—Right this instant, the one that is causing Chiyuri pain isn’t Noumi, but me. My foolish actions brought upon this situation. If I show pitiful behavior here, I’ll just be making even tougher concerns for Chiyuri. Then, at the very least, I have to deal with the situation with resolution right now.

Even if it’s just bravado on my part.

Taking a deep breath, Haruyuki pushed back his chair with a bang and stood up.

“Very well, let’s go.”

After Haruyuki gave his short reply, one of Is.h.i.+o’s eyebrows twitched. But he nodded without changing expression and began to walk away.

As Haruyuki followed after him, the other boy went along with them from behind Haruyuki. While Haruyuki thought ‘It’s like I’m a prisoner being escorted’, a student stood up slowly at the back of the cla.s.sroom. It was Tak.u.mu.

His childhood friend whose height rivaled Is.h.i.+o’s sharply narrowed his eyes behind his gla.s.ses and tried to take a step forward.

Holding him back with his right hand, Haruyuki quickly shook his head left and right.

—I’ll be fine. I can get through it by myself.

It wasn’t a Voice Call, so those thoughts couldn’t simply be communicated, but even so Tak.u.mu gritted his teeth firmly and sat back down. Is.h.i.+o forcefully pulled open the door to the dead silent cla.s.sroom, making a loud sound as he did so.

The place that Haruyuki was brought to was somewhere he was quite familiar with—the western edge of the rooftop. First period had only just ended, so there were no other students there.

During his first year here, Haruyuki would make a delivery of bread and juice to delinquent students at this place practically every day. While clearly remembering those times, Haruyuki tried to go over to the antenna tower where the acts of bullying had happened. But, Is.h.i.+o stopped him where he was and spoke.

“Here should be fine.”

Haruyuki blinked, and talked back.

“…But, we’re still within sight of the social security cameras here.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Spitting that out, Is.h.i.+o stuffed his hands into the pockets of his uniform and continued while leaning his back against the tall stainless fence.

“…Arita, you were summoned by that Sugeno, right?”

—Just like Haruyuki expected, that incident was already known within the cla.s.s. This was the «strange rumor» that Tak.u.mu had mentioned in the Voice Call. He’d been careful, but had he been seen by other students when he entered into the counseling room? But still, it was too fast for this information to have spread like this…

While reconsidering that this wasn’t the time or place to think of unnecessary things like that, Haruyuki nodded slightly after staring fixedly at Is.h.i.+o and the other boy standing a little ways away from him.

“…Yeah.”

“Then, it was you. You were the one that planted that camera in the female shower room.”

“No!”

His response was immediate. Looking down from high above at Haruyuki who was vehemently shaking his head, Is.h.i.+o just rubbed his close-cropped short hair, but the other boy spoke out for the first time here.

“Well, we can’t say for sure that you did it, Arita. But, I don’t think the school would summon a student at this hour without any basis. If done poorly, it would lead to complaints instead.”

That hot-blooded Sugeno is the exception to that! That guy who said ‘what rights, what laws!?’!

Since Haruyuki was certain they wouldn’t believe that even if he claimed that, he had no choice but to remain silent. Then, Is.h.i.+o took one, two steps towards Haruyuki, and spoke in a whisper.

“Being released after being receiving a summons is suspicious, but I don’t feel like there’s any evidence. But, I can’t leave it alone like this just because there’s no evidence.”

Suddenly Is.h.i.+o grabbed Haruyuki’s necktie with his left hand and pulled him towards him tightly. He struck a burning gaze of anger at him from close range.

“Listen, when that camera was found, my girlfriend was also in the shower room. She received an incredible shock, and hasn’t come to school yesterday and today!”

At this point, Is.h.i.+o’s actions were in clear violation of school regulations. But, the regular player of the basketball club shook off the other boy’s attempt to restrain him and swung his right fist far back.

“I can’t forgive you, Arita. No matter what, I have to do this!!”

And then, he swung his brandished fist with an inexperienced movement and—

There was a possibility that Haruyuki could avoid it. Is.h.i.+o’s motions, which was nothing compared to the brawl-practiced punches of the students who had bullied Haruyuki before, were awkward. No, more than that, if Haruyuki used the physical acceleration command—«Physical Burst», he might be able to even reverse the situation and beat up Is.h.i.+o here. Is.h.i.+o’s face was greatly warped simply because it indicated that it was his first time hitting someone.

But of course, Haruyuki neither dodged nor fought back, and simply received the punch on his left cheek. Something like winning in a brawl with the power of acceleration was the lowest act, which was even mentioned in the laws of the Black Legion. A high-pitched sound resounded, and at the same time the impact itself pushed Haruyuki’s body back several steps.

If it was the Haruyuki of half a year ago, his heart might have broken at this point and he would be servilely begging.

However, the staggering but still standing Haruyuki sternly looked back at Is.h.i.+o even while feeling a hot ache in his cheek, and shouted.

“I’ll say it as many times as I need to, I didn’t do it!!”

Then, Is.h.i.+o clenched his teeth and began to make a fist again, but eventually he loosened it and responded back.

“…If that’s proven to be true, you can hit me as many times as you like. But…”

Thrusting forward his index finger instead of a fist and the basketball member with close-cropped hair declared it clearly.

“If you’re proven to be the culprit, I’ll break your Neuro Linker, so you can’t look at pictures or videos or anything else.”

Then, Is.h.i.+o turned his body around, and walked towards the stairs with a long stride while rubbing his right hand with his left hand as if trying to wipe away the remaining sensation in it. The other boy also followed after him, leaving Haruyuki alone on the rooftop.

The scene just now should have been clearly recorded by the numerous social security cameras. If Haruyuki lodged a complaint of receiving an act of violence, despite the circ.u.mstances Is.h.i.+o would be suspended from school at the very least, and would also lose his place as a regular in the basketball club.

But of course, Haruyuki had no intention of doing that. Is.h.i.+o was just another person that had gotten dragged into this. Into a whirlpool of nothingness without light or warmth that was created by the cruel plunderer known as Noumi Seiji.

After tracing his cheek and confirming that he wasn’t bleeding, Haruyuki wearily headed towards the stairs and typed a mail on the way, in order to send a short message to Tak.u.mu.

After writing [It wasn’t anything serious, I’ll explain the situation after school, sorry for worrying you] and sending it, he continued and started to send a message to Chiyuri’s address too.

But, he stopped his hand just before he did it. It was no longer possible to erase Chiyuri’s concerns with just words. There was no way to take her back but to destroy the root of it all, Noumi.

Tak.u.mu immediately responded back with just a word of [Understood]. Feeling the worry of his best friend in that concise message, Haruyuki finally let out the tension in his shoulders and headed towards the cla.s.sroom at a half-run in order to be in time for the next cla.s.s.

Lunch break.

As soon as the chime rang, Haruyuki headed towards the school cafeteria alone.

With the third-year students absent, the dining hall was also naturally quite uncrowded compared to usually. Having no intention to eat on the rooftop where something unpleasant had just happened, Haruyuki lined up at the self-service counter. From the menu displayed in his vision, he selected okra[5] toppings with eggplant in his pork curry, and confirmed that the holo-tag appeared in front of him.

The obaa-chan in the kitchen filled up the curry at super-speed, and when she put the okra out onto the counter, an exact ‘CHARIIIN’ sound rang out.

Haruyuki’s gaze naturally moved towards the lounge at the east end of the cafeteria. But, he didn’t have the courage to burst into that place with white circular tables surrounded by decorative plants and with a clearly different atmosphere, and instead sat down at in the corner of one of many long tables that were lined up.

While picking up his spoon, he looked around his surroundings a little. All the students were enjoying their meals while making a lot of noise. No one was looking at Haruyuki—they shouldn’t be.

But Haruyuki couldn’t help but feel that all the people here were talking about “The peeping-camera perpetrator has come” with a telepathy-like communication method. ‘No, impossible’ is what he said to himself as he tried to deny it, but the unpleasant atmosphere that wasn’t quite outspoken when he entered Cla.s.s-2C this morning had deeply permeated his skin.

He stuffed down the curry in order to drive that feeling away, but though he usually became unconditionally happy with just that, the lump that was blocking his throat wouldn’t go away at all.

If—

If at this rate, the belief that «Arita of 2C was the perpetrator of the peeping camera incident» took hold of all of the school’s students even without any evidence.

Overturning that might be difficult for even Kuroyukihime, the vice-president of the student council. Conversely, Kuroyukihime might also lose her current position in the school if she got dragged down with Haruyuki. Even if that happened for argument’s sake, he didn’t think that that person would ever abandon him, but—What if, in the worst case, Kuroyukihime was also looked at with cold eyes because of him? What if that person was alienated within the school like himself last year, and at worst was hara.s.sed in some way…?

Haruyuki felt the skin of his entire body s.h.i.+ver due to his thoughts.

His spoon dropped down onto his plate with a clang, and when he clutched his arms strongly with both hands—

Suddenly feeling a presence, Haruyuki looked up.

A group of four, five people that were walking somewhere much further away entered his vision.

In the Umesato Private Middle School, there exists a scholars.h.i.+p student system for athletic clubs just in case. This wasn’t a prestigious sports school, so the system was only to the degree of reducing school expenses for club members who put in good results beyond the munic.i.p.al tournament, but even so it was apparent that there was a clear division for the so-called «scholars.h.i.+p students».

The group that held Haruyuki’s eyes were indeed those few athletic club elites. They were regular players of the female softball club and the hopes of the male swimming club, and standing among them and chatting with them while smiling was a small-built student—

That was without a doubt, the first-year student of the kendo club, Noumi Seiji.

The Umesato Middle School kendo club was certainly strong, but Noumi who had just entered the club this month had no regular game partic.i.p.ation experience. Even though it should naturally take until the second half of the school year at the fastest for him to obtain scholars.h.i.+p student qualifications, for him to already be encroaching on that kind of group after only winning last week’s club tournament was shocking.

—But, you didn’t obtain that victory with your own power!

Haruyuki unconsciously bit his lip hard. At that moment, as if feeling the gaze that Haruyuki was shooting at him from a corner of a long table far away, Noumi fleetingly turned his eyes in his direction with a casual action.

Haruyuki saw the innocent smile that was on his girl-like well-proportioned face transform in an instant.

What appeared from under that mask that came off was a s.a.d.i.s.tically joyful smile that was cold like a razor that was thinly sharpened to the utmost limit.

—How is it Arita-senpai, the feeling of being covered in mud and slipping off a hill no matter how far you climb? The feeling of having your precious things stolen and broken one by one…?

And then Noumi returned his face to the front, and while turning his previous innocent smiling face to the senior students, unhesitatingly entered the lounge that was overflowing in dazzling light.

Even after his view of him was obstructed by the decorative plants and he couldn’t see him anymore, Haruyuki continued staring at the place where Noumi was.

It seemed there was no longer any doubt. Noumi was the one who secretly made it so that talk of Haruyuki being summoned by the homeroom teacher was spread around the cla.s.s so quickly. No, possibly, he was also the once who informed the school authorities that Haruyuki had gone to school on Sunday.

As a huge anger and a fear that surpa.s.sed it welled up from the bottom of his body suddenly, Haruyuki desperately suppressed the urge to hit the table.

No. I can’t let my heart break here. If I do, I’ll just return to the servile me from half a year ago. That’s not all. If I get crushed here and sink all the way down into the bottomless hole that Noumi made, I’ll drag Tak.u.mu, Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime down along with me as well.

—I’ll crawl up from here.

Haruyuki muttered in his mind while clenching his spoon with all his strength.

—I’ve faced this kind of adversity many times. I’ll crawl up from here once again. No, I’ll get up no matter how many times it takes. I have already stopped walking towards only the bottom.

He stuffed a heap load of curry into his wide-opened mouth, and chewed it forcefully. The first-year female student sitting diagonally across from him gazed open-mouthed at Haruyuki as he emptied his plate at a staggering speed.

References

↑ Reference to dream mentioned in Volume 1 Chapter 6.

↑ A text typeface, like Arial or Times New Roman.

↑ Honshu: Main and largest island of j.a.pan.

↑ Here Sugeno starts saying the informal you ”omae”, but switches to the formal you ”kimi”.

↑ Edible herb otherwise known as gumbo.

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