Accel World Vol 5 Chapter 1 (2/2)

An astounded voice he was used to hearing followed after Haruyuki as he jumped into the train.

“Hey, there are only two stations, you know!”

Arriving at the government office after walking on the pathway that extended out from the underground west entrance of s.h.i.+njuku Station, the two of them jumped into the direct connect elevator that went up to the viewing platform on the highest floor.

*GUGU* A momentary feeling of acceleration hit them, then disappeared. The digital floor indicator on the wall changed numbers at a staggering speed. The wall outside soon changed from concrete to gla.s.s, and Chiyuri immediately flew forward and raised her voice in exclamation.

“Uwah…amazing, it’s all grey…”

“You can’t really see well with the rain…”

It was expected, but the view of the evening landscape of the huge metropolis that spread out to the south was obstructed by the incessant curtain of rain and mostly wasn’t visible. Moreover, something like a haze coiled around the gla.s.s as they went farther up and further obstructed their view.

The elevator slowed down as a floating feeling gently went through his body, and then finally it stopped with an announcement of arrival. The other side of the opening doors was dyed all in white.

Rebuilt in the 30s, the Tokyo Government Office Building reached up to 500 meters in height. The only other building of such a height in Tokyo, or rather in all of j.a.pan, was the Sumida Ward’s Tokyo Sky Tree. But since the viewing platform there was the second-highest at 450 meters high, the highest floor here at the government office was actually the closest to the sky in the center of Tokyo.

Running out of the elevator, Chiyuri spoke as she placed both her hands against the huge window gla.s.s at the front of them.

“Uwah……Amazing, it’s pure white…”

“Rather than raining, this place is already within the clouds.”

While smiling bitterly, Haruyuki stood next to Chiyuri. The window simply shone a milky white color as if the other side was covered in thick cotton.

“It’s unfortunate that we can’t see the sky.”

Saying that, Chiyuri became even more resigned and scowled out through the window, but she soon turned around and smiled.

“Well, it’s fine. Thanks to this, we have this place all to ourselves.”

Certainly, no one would care to go up to the viewing platform in the middle of such bad weather and furthermore on a weekday evening, so there was no sign of anyone on either side of the pa.s.sage. Chiyuri suddenly latched her left arm around Haruyuki’s right arm, and pulled him forward while shouting.

“Since it’s rare to have it empty like this, let’s do a once-around!”

“Uh, s-sure.”

Recently, Haruyuki was also able to somehow talk normally with Chiyuri in person like he used to in the past, but whenever she got a little too close, his mouth and tongue became fumbled. Laughing as she saw Haruyuki like that, Chiyuri began to walk clockwise along the pa.s.sage that ran along the circ.u.mference of the viewing floor.

Naturally, the view outside the window didn’t change no matter how far they went. Beyond the drops of water that clung to the gla.s.s, there were only surging lumps of white clouds. Even so, Chiyuri did not make a dissatisfied face, and moved her feet rhythmically.

His relations.h.i.+p with this childhood friend of his had been hard to grasp for a while now. Immediately after the absurdly tough and painful battle two months ago had finished, Chiyuri had wrapped her arms around Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu’s necks, and shouted out while crying, ‘I love you two’.

Since then, she had continued trying to talk carefreely and come into contact with both Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu just as she declared. It was as if she was trying to rewind time back to those days when the three of them played every day until it became dark.

“Ah, that’s right, Haru.”

Haruyuki raised his head when she suddenly called out his name.

“W-What?”

“If we’re going to duel anyway, let’s connect globally. If we do that, the sightseeing guidance tag will appear on the other side of the window.

“Ah…I see.”

The two of them were currently cut off Neuro Linkers from the Global Net. They did so because, since the s.h.i.+njuku Ward was the territory of the Blue Legion «Leonids», they didn’t know when other Burst Linkers would suddenly intrude on them while they were connected.

For example, it would be dangerous if they «waited for a duel» while on the road, but now that they were in the viewing platform where no one was present, there wouldn’t be a problem even if they automatically accelerated from a challenge. Haruyuki nodded, and first opened the console for «Brain Burst» and made a team with Lime Bell. With this, it would be clearly written on the matching list that the two of them were a tag team, and the opponents that could challenge them were also limited almost exclusively to two-player groups. After that, he connected his Neuro Linker to the Global Net simultaneously along with Chiyuri.

Immediately, countless small holo-tags appeared in his vision. These were the guidance markers of famous places and large-sized building that would have commanded the view outside if the weather had been clear. When the two of them turned towards the east, the names of the nearby s.h.i.+njuku Station and Southern Terrace, and Kabukicho[6] beyond them also appeared.

“…Like I thought, it’s no fun to see only the tags.”

When Chiyuri said that with a bitter smile, as if the G.o.d of weather sympathized with the two of them, the thick clouds broke apart for a moment, and the evening view of the center of Tokyo spread out suddenly beneath their eyes.

Letting out a shout of joy, Chiyuri flew over to the window. Haruyuki also hurried over next to her.

As they looked down from an alt.i.tude of 500 meters high with their naked eyes, the metropolis was laid out chaotically beneath them as if it were a tapestry with 500 years of history woven into it. As he thought of how the laminated-structured streets s.h.i.+ned dazzlingly, the s.h.i.+njuku Gyoen National Garden and the Akasaka Estate[7] that hadn’t been changed at all since the last century were sunken in dusk within those streets.

And furthermore, over towards the west, there was, like a large black hole that existed in the center of that galaxy, a vast s.p.a.ce that was an even deeper black—the Imperial Palace.

It was a place that, of course, Haruyuki and Chiyuri couldn’t enter in the real world, and they hadn’t experienced virtual images of the palace’s interior as Burst Linkers either. That was because that s.p.a.ce’s security system was not connected to the social camera network, a very special exception in present-day j.a.pan. As a result, the Imperial Palace in Accel World’s «Unlimited Neutral Field» couldn’t have its actual appearance reproduced from the camera images like other place, and instead it always existed as an evil fortress-like original structure.

However, what if the opposite was done?

The Brain Burst Program was, for the time being, confirmed to be able to hack into the entire social camera network in j.a.pan, and generate a field from it. It extended as far as even the Okinawa prefecture that wasn’t connected to the mainland, and Kuroyukihime had once even covered the whole distance from Okinawa to Tokyo on the Unlimited Neutral Field. —In that case, what if there were also places under social camera surveillance outside of j.a.pan as well? Would Burst Linkers be also able to «go» there…?

“…Hey, Chiyu.”

Haruyuki whispered while gazing absentmindedly eastward.

“Hmm, what is it?”

“About the recent talk on the export of social camera technology on the news…”

Did you hear about it?

Haruyuki was not able to finish saying the question at the end of his sentence.

*BAs.h.i.+* A familiar sound effect struck his ears, and at the same time his vision blacked out. Automatic acceleration—in other words, some Burst Linkers in the s.h.i.+njuku area had discovered the tag team of Haruyuki and Chiyuri on the matching list, and had instantly applied for a «duel». Within the darkness, the flaming characters of [HERE COME NEW CHALLENGERS] blazed brightly.

The excitement of a duel in an outside area for the first time in a while immediately washed away his earlier thoughts.

References

↑ ”Arcade” here refers to overhead arches or ceilings that are placed above a street, not the gaming establishment.

↑ Ossu: j.a.panese greeting that basically means “Hi”, but it sounds better when left in the original.

↑ The “Kuroyuki” here is not a mistake; Chiyuri leaves out the “hime” (princess) when she refers to Kuroyukihime, thereby calling her “Black Snow” instead of “Black Snow Princess”.

↑ Piano black is basically a very glossy kind of black.

↑ Basically means “good grief” in English.

↑ Kabukicho: Red light district in s.h.i.+njuku, Tokyo.

↑ Akasaka Estate (Akasaka Goyouchi): a large forested tract of land that contains the Akasaka Palace.

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