Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Chapter 4

Up until the clock hand reached 2 PM, Haruyuki felt like he was sitting on seat that as sharp as a horseradish grater. It could be said that he was slightly lucky that, thanks to Is.h.i.+o of the basketball club confronting Haruyuki directly, there was an atmosphere of reserve from interacting with him any further than that.

Even so, the gazes of the girls were 30% colder than usual, and certain boys seemed be in the middle of deliberating over what nickname to give to Haruyuki right away. Before they could finish deciding between the last two choices of «Cameari[1]» and «Papayuki[2]», Haruyuki grabbed his bag and umbrella and escaped from the cla.s.sroom.

He came out into the front yard where it was blackly pouring rain that had begun to fall since the afternoon just as forecasted, and let out a deep breath after stepping across the school gate. After he was cut off from local network while also receiving a message of «Please be careful heading home», all kinds of online messages from the Global Net appeared in front of him in exchange, and he quickly felt his heart soothed by that feeling of connection.

While he was attentively looking at the headline news along with the BGM sound of rain hitting his umbrella as he stood next to a wall about twenty meters from the school gate, familiar footsteps approached at last.

“Wait up, Haru.”

As Tak.u.mu suddenly lifted up a navy-blue umbrella, Haruyuki also moved his hand slightly. They lined up with each and began to walk along the sidewalk towards the east.

A few dozen seconds later, Haruyuki began to speak first.

“Is it really okay for you to be absent from club activities for two days in a row?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. The club president and advisor don’t think anything of me who only joined hallway through while they’re in a daze over the genius rookie.”

“…That’s also a complicated talk, huh. Well, thanks to that Noumi attracting attention to himself, Taku is on the other hand able to move easily, is what you mean, right…?”

They both gave bittersweet smiles, and returned to walking in silence for about a minute.

Once they saw the intersection where the Oume highway crossed with the Loop 7[3], Haruyuki finally began to talk on his own again.

“Today, I was summoned by Sugeno for the matter of the peeping camera incident …Of course, I’m not the culprit.”

“Obviously. That Sugeno, to summon you without any evidence…”

Stopping Tak.u.mu as he began to speak in an angry tone, Haruyuki added something else as if groaning.

“But, I’m in a position where I could easily be the culprit. That entire incident was a trap that Noumi Seiji put together. And I completely fell into it…”

It unexpectedly took a long time to explain the whole story of Noumi’s trap.

Several minutes later after they boarded the EV bus of the Loop 7’s outer circ.u.mference and sat next to each other on the back-most seats, Haruyuki had finally finished recounting almost the entire situation he had gotten caught in. The only two points he didn’t speak of were the source of the visual masking program that had been prepared by Noumi, and how he had run into Chiyuri stark naked in the shower room.

However, it seemed that the turning power of the wheels in Tak.u.mu’s head perfectly displayed itself this time as well and he instantly deduced the source of the program. Almost immediately after Haruyuki closed his mouth, his best friend took off his blue gla.s.ses and pressed hard against the friend with his hand.

“……I see.”

The voice he let out was terribly smashed up due to strong self-reproach.

“It was that photo, wasn’t it? The group photo of the new kendo club students…So there was a virus attached to it. I’m sorry, Haru, I was negligent in checking it…”

“N-No, it’s not your fault.”

Haruyuki frantically shook his head many times.

“Most likely, that virus was set to self-destruct the instant the picture was read by the system with the kendo club’s enrollments tags. Even if you noticed it, I was the only target. Because from the beginning he was aiming at not Taku, but me…”

“No, I should have thought it was suspicious that the file size was so large. Despite that, I barged into your house when you were suffering and said such awful things to you…Moreover, I even hit you!”

Suddenly, Tak.u.mu put back on his gla.s.ses and lifted up Haruyuki’s right hand with both his hands.

“Uwah, hey, what are you?”

“Haru, hit me. If you don’t hit me, I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine, really!”

Haruyuki was fl.u.s.tered and switched his gaze between Tak.u.mu’s face and the front of the bus. The housewives and students that were riding along with them were looking at the two of them at the back while either wide-eyed or giggling. Since they couldn't hear their conversation, how on earth did they interpret this situation where the tall and handsome Tak.u.mu is bending over and clasping the hand of the small and fat Haruyuki?

However, Tak.u.mu kept slowly bringing his face even closer without worrying about the eyes around them at all, so Haruyuki whispered reluctantly.

“Wait, wait a minute, Taku, umm, I too…I too deserve to be hit by you.”

“Eh…? What is it?”

Looking at Tak.u.mu doubtful and frowning eyes, Haruyuki whispered “Sorry, Chiyu!” in his mind. She had told him to never talk about it, but Haruyuki didn’t want to close his mouth and act as if he were looking down on Tak.u.mu ever again.

“Umm…When I was tricked by the visual masking and intruded into the female shower room…I ran into Chiyu there.”

He needed another two minutes to explain about that matter.

Returning his back to his seat with a thump, Tak.u.mu squeezed his brow with his fingers and made a comment that was mixed with a sigh.

“I see…So that’s how Chii-chan was related to this…”

“…That’s right…”

While suddenly changing and giving a fixed sidelong glance, Tak.u.mu raised one finger.

“…For now, I won’t ask what you specifically saw, Haru. For Chii-chan’s sake as well.”

“Ooh…you really are a gentleman, Taku.”

“Thank you. —In any case, if that happened, then it would be good to think that that’s the contents of Noumi’s threat. The video of Haru peeping would certainly be effective against Chii-chan as well.”

“Yeah. Rather, it would be even more effective against Chiyu than me…If he saw through that and threatened Chiyu, Noumi really must be a genius in attacking the weak points of others.”

Lightly hitting Haruyuki’s knee as he let out a sigh, Tak.u.mu muttered in a voice that was slightly sharper than before.

“But, that’s where his weak point is as well.”

“Eh…?”

“Isn’t that so? Even if he steals, threatens and makes other people do as he says, that’s not the true meaning of having comrades. Even if he temporarily makes Chii-chan…«Lime Bell» obey him, Noumi, «Dusk Taker» is essentially alone.”

“……Yeah, that’s right.”

This time Haruyuki grasped Tak.u.mu’s hand that was still placed on top of his knee. Its cool and bony texture was indescribably reliable, and Haruyuki was thankful from the bottom of his head that Tak.u.mu—«Cyan Pile» was next to him right now.

As soon as they crossed beyond the New Oume Highway and entered the Nerima district, the two of them got off the bus.

They opened their umbrellas, and looked at the line of cars flowing by in front of them for a short while. On the other side of those cars that pa.s.sed by while emitting low driving sounds from their motors and hydrogen-engines, was the territory ruled over by the Red Legion «Prominence». Currently, though they were in a ceasefire with the Black Legion «Nega Nebulas», that was only in relation to the weekend territory battles, so if the two of them crossed that intersection right now while having their Neuro Linkers connected globally, they would without a doubt be challenged to a duel before even five minutes pa.s.sed.

After Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu nodded at each other, Haruyuki took a deep breath and spoke a voice command.

“Command, Voice Call, Number Zero-Five.”

As he listening to the ringing, sweat slowly spread over his hands.

‘Calm down’, is what he thought to himself, but he couldn’t suppress his nervousness. After all, the person he was calling was a Level Niner who controlled Accel World’s strongest long range-type duel avatar, a crying child that was also the silent «Immobile Fortress», the Red King «Scarlet Rain»—

'Long time no see, Haruyuki-oniichan♪'

Completely surprised by that high voice in his brain, Haruyuki’s knees jerked down. He somehow remained standing, and then responded out loud instead of with his thoughts for the sake of Tak.u.mu next to him.

“Ah, w-we haven’t talked in a while, Yuniko-cha…”

'Just Niko is fine, geez-. So, what’s wrong, for you to be calling all of a sudden-?'

The Red King Niko only responded to Haruyuki in her «angel-mode» like this on a whim when she was in a good mood. But she was certainly easier to talk to like this, so Haruyuki replied back while speaking fast in order not to miss this chance.

“Eh, umm, there’s something we want to talk about…rather, we want to consult with you on something, Niko…If we could possibly meet with you today, right now and talk, that is…u-umm, of course we’ll go to Nerima ourselves.”

'Hmm16:01, 30 September 2012 (CDT)~. In the rain? Ah, but, I do feel like eating a little cake, one with lots of strawberries on top♪'

“I-I’ll treat you, I’ll treat you. How many should I treat you to?”

'Yay-! In that case, I’ll meet you at this store.'

Along with those words, a map opened up in his vision with a whoosh. The flas.h.i.+ng dot on it was in the vicinity of the Sakuradai station on the Seibu subway line, which was fairly close to Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu’s current location.

“S-Sure, I think we can get there in about fifteen minutes from here.”

'OK, then see ya later-.'

And then the communication was cut. Raising his head while blowing out a breath at having broken through their first barrier for now, Tak.u.mu spoke with a meek expression.

“…I’ll take care of the tip.”

“…No, it’s fine if we split the bill.”

“No, today we’re meeting with her for my sake, after all…”

The next bus arrived as they argued over it, so they stopped and got on. As soon as they sat down, the two of them severed their Neuro Linkers from the Global Net together.

As it began to moved forward with the spinning of its large motor, the bus crossed the New Oume Highway and intruded into the Nerima battlefield where the Red Legion reigned.

The designated store was a cute cake shop that stood within a small-scale shopping area. Seats and tables were placed in one half of the store, and it also seemed like you could eat-in here.

As they closed up their umbrellas in front of the store and brushed off the drops of water, the splas.h.i.+ng sound of someone cheerfully stepping in puddles approached them from behind. As Haruyuki turned around, a small fist plunged into his round stomach without giving him any time to avoid it.

“Ugu…”

The one that looked up at the groaning Haruyuki from beneath a bright red umbrella while grinning was a cute girl with large green eyes that twinkled on her small and freckled face. Her soft-looking red hair was thinly tied up on both sides of her head, and she carried a school bag on her back over her deep-blue school uniform. The Neuro Linker attached to her neck was a jewel-like transparent red color.

The girl took a step back and spoke while spinning her umbrella.

“Long time no see, Haruyuki-oniichan. You’re as fat as usual! And…”

She turned her face to the left.

“Long time no see as well, professor. You’re as gloomy as usual-.”

Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu both gave stiff smiles and greeted her with a slight bow.

“L-Long time no see. Sorry Niko, for calling you out like this…”