Accel World Vol 7 Chapter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 2
Feeling the touch of delicate fingers brus.h.i.+ng across his cheek, Arita Haruyuki slowly opened his eyes.
His blurred vision gradually improved as his eyes slowly refocused. He saw hands enclosed in pure white armour. Wrists draped in kimono sleeves of the same colour. A charming face mask with beautiful ardor eye-lenses.
Through his white-silver helmet, Haruyuki saw the figure of Ardor Maiden — the Level 7 Burst Linker and former member of Nega Nebulas’ «Elements» — processing the purification ability, reach out while kneeling over him.
A s.h.i.+ning droplet of water hung from Maiden’s delicate fingertip. She looked down with a look of worry. Haruyuki tilted his head, puzzled, and only then realised that the droplet had actually come from tears flowing down his cheeks.
‘Eh……ah……’
He cried out hoa.r.s.ely as he attempted to wipe away the tears with his right hand, closing the half open face mask at the same time. The Duel Avatar «Silver Crow» bowed his head under the silvery one-way mirror (TL Note: A mirror that is partially reflective and partially transparent. When one side of the mirror is brightly lit and the other is dark, it allows viewing from the darkened side but not vice versa) mask and anxiously attempted to explain.
‘Ah, sorry. I’m fine…… It’s just that when I was asleep, I felt like…… I had a really long dream……’
Here he paused and frowned.
He had a — dream.
In that long dream, Haruyuki was not Silver Crow. Though very similar, his Metal Colour was slightly different. But that was all he could remember. Where he went, what he did, what happened in the end, all these details had been seemingly covered by a layer of white and soft floss silk, completely preventing him from remembering.
The sense of having a hole opened up deep in his heart, however, was still fresh. This piercing pain in the void was…… a sense of loss?
………… I… love you…………
A seemingly unfamiliar voice flowed through his mind, and would have caused another outbreak of tears if not for him holding them back with all his might. He shook his head as he gulped down the freezing air to clear this intriguing sorrow, then he began to survey the surroundings.
The sky has already darkened without him noticing. Above them was a sea of stars, unattainable in real world Tokyo. The reason they were able to see the sky was because they were not inside a building but rather a place akin to a courtyard.
He sat with his legs stretched out, his back against a pillar roughly a meter in diameter. To his right was a set of walls rising to touch the heavens.
The terrain is unchanged from before he went to sleep, but a final inspection between his legs made him realise that the ground had changed from a layer of thick ice to white pebbles, which was quite puzzling. He turned around hastily. The pillar behind him was no longer one of pale-blue ice, now it was a wooden one painted vermillion.
‘Huh…… Had a «Transition» occurred while I was asleep?’
He asked Ardor Maiden in front of him softly. The red-white dual coloured Avatar nodded her head. She replied softly as well, in a tender yet firm voice.
‘That seems to be the case. But I was also asleep next to Kuu-san (TL Note: Kuu-san is Ardor Maiden’s nickname for Silver Crow), so I didn’t notice.’
The so-called «Transition» was the periodic field attribute s.h.i.+ft phenomenon of this world — the «Unlimited Neutral Field» created by the Brain Burst program. When Silver Crow and Ardor Maiden had fallen asleep here, it had been the fully-frozen «Ice and Snow» Stage, but every trace of ice and snow had now vanished.
It was as if the seasons had suddenly run backwards. The red leaves hung from the tree branches, the pillars were also wooden and the walls were painted white. Purely j.a.panese in style, the field attribute that best fit that description was……
‘It appears to be the «Heian» Stage.’
As she said so, Ardor Maiden spread out her crimson armour skirt in order to sit straight (TL Note: Ardor Maiden is sitting in the traditional seiza 正座 style. Any mention of Maiden’s seated position throughout the chapter refers to seiza.). She matched the surroundings so perfectly, it was as if the scene was a piece of art. He couldn’t help but gawk in wonder. The delicate maiden lowered her head in embarra.s.sment, and his seeing this made him avert his gaze.
The one who controlled this lovable yet fiery Duel Avatar, was a girl four years the junior of Haruyuki — Haruyuki being a second year high school student — s.h.i.+nomiya Utai. A fourth year in Umesato High’s sister school — Matsunogi Elementary School — she was well and truly a proper young lady (TL Note: Ojou-Sama嬢様, a phrase that usually describes young ladies of refined up-bring.) who probably never had the experience of being stared at intently by a boy who was much older. Upon realising this, he turned his gaze onto the surroundings.
Endless vermillion pillars ran parallel from south to north. A road paved with stones travelled further in. Countless orange bonfires flickered and swayed. To the north was the grand silhouette of a gigantic citadel.
This location couldn’t fit the «Heian» Stage better.
Because here in the real world was Chiyoda Ward, Chiyoda Ichibancho (TL Note: Wards in j.a.pan are further split into plots of land, bancho 番, referred to by a number. In this case, the first plot.), the Imperial Residence, which is in the center of the Accelerated World — within the impenetrable «Imperial City».
Today — 2047, June 18th, Tuesday, at 7:20at night — the members of Haruyuki’s Legion, «Nega Nebulas», began the largest mission they had ever attempted since the current team was a.s.sembled.
This ultra-difficult operation was to rescue Ardor Maiden, sealed at the altar of the Super Enemy that guarded the south gate of the Imperial City, «Sacred Beast Suzaku». However, the means to do so was extremely simple.
The vanguard, Kuroyukihime/Black Lotus, with her long distance attacks, would make herself the target of Suzaku, supported by Chiyuri/Lime Bell who possessed the Psuedo-Healing Ability. As Suzaku advanced across the bridge that extended from the south gate, Haruyuki/Silver Crow would fly over it at top speed with Fuuko/Sky Raker as a booster, and Tak.u.mu/Cyan Pile would give the signal to synch Utai/Ardor Maiden’s dive so that she could be retrieved the moment she appeared, before a one-eighty turn over the bridge to escape —.
The operation was on the verge of success.
But something beyond their initial expectations occurred at the very end. Although Haruyuki had done absolutely nothing, Suzaku changed its attack target from Black Lotus to Silver Crow and subsequently unleashed a torrent of super powerful flame breath behind him.
The intense flames were almost upon him when Haruyuki picked up Ardor Maiden. Unable to turn, he could only charge straight ahead. Desperately, he decided to kill himself in a collision with the south gate of the Imperial City — a gate that couldn’t be opened unless Suzaku was defeated — yet for some reason, a gap opened up at that exact moment in time. Left with no other option, Haruyuki and Utai could only charge straight through.
Falling as he heard the sound of the gate shutting behind him, starting to black out, holding Utai closely in his arms, he asked her one thing.
‘Um…… Are we, still alive……?’
The shock from hearing Utai’s response echoed in his head even now.
‘……We are still alive. Although……, ahhh, but…………’
‘………… This…… this place is inside of the «Imperial City»’
‘…… Even now, I still can’t believe it. That we are within that «Imperial City»……’
Haruyuki moaned as he leaned against the round pillar. Utai, who was sitting in front of him, nodded as well.
‘Coming inside is surprising enough, but surviving for more than six hours is even more so.’
‘Eh…… I, I slept for that long? It’s this dark here not because of a field characteristic but because it’s already night……?’
He asked in panic. While it was possible to bring up the menu window in the Unlimited Neutral Field and find out your acc.u.mulated play time, there were relatively few ways to find the correct inner time — that was to say «exactly what hour and what minute it was in this world». Supposedly there was a great clock somewhere in this field that had started spinning with the birth of this world, but that thing would be rather creepy to behold. That thing would have recorded a thousand times seven years of time, meaning that more than seven thousand years of history should be shown on it.
Utai nodded her head slightly and pointed towards the night sky above with her small hand.
‘The stars can be seen in the «Heian» Stage. From the positions of the constellations, it should be close to midnight.’
‘Ha,hahaha…… I see……’
Haruyuki murmured as he lifted his head to gaze upon the sky.
About six hours ago — in accelerated times of course — the two of them landed in a corner of the courtyard close to the south gate. They held tight to each other as they clenched their teeth to stifle their shock and feelings, yet were unable to remain like this for long. The reason being that the northward road from the south gate, the citadel sitting further in and the Enemy mobs moving slowly along the road were now all within their sight.
These Enemies were around three meters in height at most, relatively small compared to the «Sacred Beasts», they all wore Sengoku period warrior-esque heavy armour, carried great long tachi. Their form exerted a force that made Haruyuki s.h.i.+ver. Moreover, they all moved in groups of at least three.
Along the outdoor corridor inside the south gate citadel wall, more figures of these Warrior Enemies could be seen. The clattering of their armour heralded their gradual approach and called for immediate action. That said, to clash with them was much too reckless a move. Suzaku’s flames had already roasted Haruyuki down to half his HP, Utai too did not lack injury.
That’s why the two of them had left the road and corridor for now and hid in the middle of the maze-like courtyard area, where they found a place of rest under the shades of a seemingly safe round pillar. As the sun set, despite being concerned about how worried Kuroyukihime and the others might be on the other side of the gate, the mental strain caused him to lean back against the pillar and just doze off — which led to the current situation.
When they had found this safe haven, the twilight had dyed the cloudy sky of the «Snow and Ice» Stage purple. Now even the purple had disappeared, leaving only the radiance of the cl.u.s.ter of stars upon the pitch black dome.
As Utai had said, these stars perfectly re-enacted the constellation arrangements he had seen during full dive lessons. Leaning against the pillar, he looked to the east where an especially bright and purely white star caught his eyes. That one, should be……
‘Lyra’s…… Vega? (TL Note: Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. It’s also one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle)’
Utai heard him speaking to himself and nodded as she continued to gaze upon the sky while sitting.
‘That’s correct. In j.a.pan it’s also called Orihime.’
Knowledge learnt from school that was once considered utterly useless became unexpectedly useful here, Haruyuki couldn’t help but feel pleased as he pointed at the starry sky and continued on.
‘That means, to the lower right that should be Aquila’s A…… Altair (TL Note: Altair is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky and is one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle. In j.a.pan it’s also called Hikobos.h.i.+) ……and to the lower left should be Cygnus’ Deneb (TL Note: Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and one of the vertices of the Summer Triangle.). Uh…… where is Hikobos.h.i.+……’
Utai laughed slightly and pointed up with her shrine maiden formed arm.
‘That would be Altair. These three form the Summer Triangle (TL Note: The Summer Triangle is an astronomical asterism involving an imaginary triangle drawn on the northern hemisphere’s celestial sphere, with its defining vertices at Altair, Deneb, and Vega, the brightest stars in the three constellations of Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra, respectively.) . Because it’s only June, their positions are somewhat lower.’
‘I see. That means the constellations are modelled off the seasons in the real world.’
Haruyuki kept looking up at the sky completely awestruck, forgetting the fact that he was still in the midst of a perilous situation.
To have used the social camera network to reconstruct the terrain may perhaps be meaningful for tactical and strategic elements in the game. The night sky however, couldn’t be anything other than just background decoration. No player would complain even if it was just a still print with randomly generated points of light on top.
Nevertheless, the stellar arrangements had replicated the really world so perfectly, even the seasonal adjustments were recreated. There must be a goal behind all this. Perhaps to emphasize that — this is not just the game, nor just a virtual world……
‘The earliest group of Burst Linkers…… those who were once called «BB Players», they too……’
Utai suddenly placed her hands on her knees and began to recount softly.
‘The night sky in the Accelerated World is a perfect match to the real world’s…… no, the artificial lighting in real world Tokyo outs.h.i.+nes the starry sky. They must have felt that when they saw these beautiful stars so clearly. That is why the main Legions all have names a.s.sociated with the universe.’
‘Eh… are there really so many names a.s.sociated with the universe……?’
The young maiden revealed a wry smile on her affectionate face mask as she watched Haruyuki tilt his head in puzzlement.
‘All of the Seven Kings’ Legions are named so. Our «Nega Nebulas», Ankoku Seiun (TL Note: 暗黒星雲 in Kanji)…… strictly it should be Dark Nebulas in English, was named because of that. The Red Legion’s «Prominence» represents solar flares. The Blue Legion’s «Leonids» are the meteor showers from Leo.’
‘Oh……oh……indeed……’
— Chiyu and Taku must have known from the start and just kept quiet. It’s so good that I learnt this before I got asked by a ‘You didn’t know that!?’.
Haruyuki secretly sighed in relief and asked again.
‘In other words, the White Legion…… Uh, so «Oscillatory Universe» doesn’t have anything to do with the Legion Master named s.h.i.+ratori (TL Note: Oscillatory, p.r.o.nounced in j.a.panese as Os.h.i.+ratori 御白鳥, contains s.h.i.+ratori 白鳥, a common j.a.panese surname), it’s also a name a.s.sociated with the universe?’
His question made Utai put on that slightly stunned smile again, though she quickly regained her composure. She then lowered her head and answered in a strained voice.
‘Yes, «Oscillatory Universe» means…… trembling universe. But I haven’t learnt this much in school yet. I’m not too sure about the correct meaning.’
‘Trem……bling, universe……’
— The universe shouldn’t sway and tremble, right?
Haruyuki tilted his head from side to side while in thought. He was a second year high school student and yet he also had no recollection of hearing this word in science cla.s.s, so it was very likely that this word was beyond the compulsory education level. He made a mental note to search it up later if he could still remember it and raised his head towards the sky once more.
Above the Summer Triangle, close to the pinnacle hovered a group of stars radiating weakly. Those should be the ones that made up Hercules. To the left was Draco, the likeness of the hundred headed dragon Ladon, which had been slain by the hero Hercules, soaring into the sky (TL Note: Kawahara Reki got the dragon and the hydra mixed up. Though both were slain by Hercules, it was the hydra that was supposed to have a hundred heads.).
Lined up even further to the left was a group of stars comparable to the Triangle in radiance.
It was Ursa Major, with the tail portion especially bright. He was taught during lessons that that was why in ancient China those especially bright stars were treated as a separate constellation.
The shape of a ladle with a long handle.
The Big Dipper.