Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

When it was time to actually carry out the three-person sleepover that had been suggested out of nowhere, there really were a number of hurdles.

The act of obtaining permission from Tak.u.mu’s parents, who by no means held good will toward Haruyuki.

The right or wrong of lodging Chiyuri at the Arita family’s apartment, who, despite being a childhood friend, would be turning fourteen this year.

And of course, the inclination of Haruyuki’s mother.

Unexpectedly, the most easily settled matter was the third. To Haruyuki’s text mail, timidly sent to his mother still at work with the gist of “Is it okay if two friends come over tonight,” the response was “If you guys make a mess, clean it up properly. Mom won’t be coming home tonight, so I’m leaving it to you.”

Although it wasn’t certain whether she had already planned not to come home or whether she intended to vacate the apartment if her son’s friends were going to stay over out of parental affection, if his mother wouldn’t be coming home, it meant they could use the living room all night long.

The next cleared hurdle was the first, obtaining Tak.u.mu’s parents’ permission. It seemed that the phrase “doing homework” in itself really had shown some effect.

The problem was the second—what Chiyu herself as well as her parents would decide; as Haruyuki thought that, he and Tak.u.mu crossed the connecting bridge on the twentieth floor and rang the Kuras.h.i.+ma residence’s door chime—but.

“My goodness, Haru-chan, and Tacchan too! Well—Tacchan, you’ve grown so big! How tall are you now…my goodness, 175 centimeters tall!? You’re already taller than my husband; kids these days are amazing! And, I heard you three are doing tough homework together? That’s right; this year’s the first time all three of you’ve been in the same cla.s.s. When I heard that Tacchan was transferring to Umesato Middle School, I was so happy. But with this, Chiyu will also be troubled more and more; I’d rather have both Haru-chan and Tacchan as my sons-in-law…”

Dumbfounded, Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu continued to listen to Chiyuri’s mama’s specialty endless talk for the first time in a while. But at that point her single daughter in question stuck her face out from the direction of the kitchen and shouted with a facial expression like an inferno.

“Mama! You don’t have to say anything unnecessary! The pot’s boiling!”

“My, this isn’t good! Stop the heat! No, don’t stop it, set it on low, on low!”

In exchange with Chiyuri’s mama, who had dashed pitter-patter to the kitchen, Chiyuri, who had advanced down the corridor in large strides, glared at the two from the agarikamachi[1] and spoke.

“…That’s not a «we’re going to do it» face; that’s a «we’ve already done it» face, right?”

What a discerning eye. The two boys who were evidently guilty of just having been through a bout could only laugh nervously and duck their heads.

In the mail Haruyuki had sent to Chiyuri before arriving, he had written only “Today, do you want to camp over at my place?”, but she had probably immediately seen right through the fact that it wasn’t only that.

Chiyuri, who had just come out of the shower after coming home from club activities and was sporting half-dried hair, a plain T-s.h.i.+rt, and shorts, put her hands on her waist and glowered at the two for a while.

However, she finally snorted and said briefly, “Well, sure. I’ll hang out with you.” Haruyuki reflexively made a stupid verification.

“What…is, is it all right?”

“Hey there, wasn’t it you who invited me!”

To Chiyuri, who had lifted the corners of her eyes, together with Tak.u.mu he hurriedly lowered his head.

Twenty minutes later, with the basket filled with dinner for three people that Chiyuri’s mama had had them bring, Haruyuki and company moved to his apartment. When he came home alone at nighttime to his deserted, s.p.a.cious apartment with few possessions consisting of three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen, he couldn’t help but feel chilly, but if he were together with his two childhood friends, he didn’t have the time to think about that. Haruyuki, who had first put down his bag in his room and had changed into a more comfortable outfit, launched his mailer application before going to the living room.

Not only Kurasaki Fuuko, who had informed Haruyuki, and s.h.i.+nomiya Utai but also Kuroyukihime by this point probably knew that Tak.u.mu—Cyan Pile had been attacked by the PK group «Supernova Remnant» and had turned the tables on them in the Unlimited Neutral Field. It was imperative that Haruyuki transmit the situation to them, who were undoubtedly deeply worried, but he was far from able to explain the details fully by mail.

There, Haruyuki wrote just “Tak.u.mu’s fine. I’ll explain the details tomorrow during the Imperial Palace escape strategy” and sent the message. The three of them quickly responded “Understood”; Haruyuki could strongly feel their concern in their concise replies.

Kuroyukihime, Fuuko, and also Utai had probably surmised long ago that something not so simple—a state unable to be straightened up with the single word «fine»—had arisen. In short, Kuroyukihime and the others were implicitly conveying their will that they were entrusting everything to Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu’s judgment.

However, at the same time, that also meant if something irreparable happened from now on, at that time all the responsibility would lie with Haruyuki and company.

Twenty-four more hours. Especially during tonight, in order for Tak.u.mu not to lose sight of himself due to the interference of the ISS Kit, the two of them—no, with Chiyuri, the three of them would have to pull through it together. They could definitely do it. Because from the time they were very little, the three of them had been through countless adventures...

Having thought up until there, Haruyuki suddenly noticed something and stopped his hand with a twitch.

When he had invited Chiyuri to tonight’s spontaneous sleepover, he had done so on the spur of the moment, without any concrete intention. It was a result of his expectation resembling the subjective impression that «the three of us will somehow get through it».

However—. A certain «ability» that Chiyuri possessed. If it were used, couldn’t the parasitic life form tormenting Tak.u.mu perhaps be removed from the system? The situation was so irregular that he couldn’t even guess at its likelihood, but it was worth a try.

“Senpai, Master, Mei-san…”

Haruyuki softly called out to his three comrades, who were not here in this place.

“I’m sure, I’m sure that I’ll do something about this. Because Tak.u.mu and Chiyu are…my best friends.”

Haruyuki strode out of his room and with great momentum opened the door leading to the living room from where a good scent was floating.

What Chiyuri’s mama had prepared in only a mere thirty minutes was curry soup made with plenty of summer-season vegetables. If they afterward warmed the frozen food stocked in the Arita household’s refrigerator and prepared some iced jasmine tea, then they would have a dinner table extravagant more than enough.

Following their chorus of “Itadakimasu!”[2], first the three wordlessly moved their spoons vigorously. It seemed that the appet.i.te of Tak.u.mu, who had eaten nothing since morning, had returned as it was. Or it might have been due to the power of Chiyuri’s mama’s cooking, which one couldn’t help but eat, furthermore when one’s mind was carrying a large burden.

“Aah, when you deep-fry eggplant, it becomes so different…”

Haruyuki said that while stuffing his cheeks full of the round-sliced eggplant deep-fried once with olive oil and cooked quickly together with curry sauce; Chiyuri immediately raised a voice of incredulous doubt.

“Eggplant’s tasty whether you bake it or cook it!”

“No way, eggplant that hasn’t been deep-fried is just an edible sponge. Stuff like fill-and-fry is the cooking of the G.o.ds.”

“Ah, enough already, this is precisely why people with kids’ tastes are—! Why don’t they understand the deliciousness of well-done, peeled, cooked eggplant with ginger sauce—”

Tak.u.mu, who was looking alternatively at the two of them quarreling, coughed and spoke.

“Now, now, both of you. Fried eggplant and baked eggplant are both delicious, but of course it’s best pickled. Pickled eggplant soaked a deep blue for sure is the taste of summer.”

To the statement unbelievable for a middle schooler, Chiyuri and Haruyuki exchanged glances and let out a long “Whaa~t…”

“Sorry, Takkun, but to me pickled eggplant is rather…it tastes for sure like a sponge…”

“Unh, me too...Taku, as much as you’re a blue-color, you don’t have to want your pickled vegetables to be blue…”

“Wh-what, avatar color’s not part of the story, is it!”

Tak.u.mu, who had shown a genuinely hurt face, had his shoulders tapped by a laughing Chiyuri.

“Ahaha, sorry, sorry! As an apology, next time I’ll request mama to also pickle eggplant with her secret nukadoko[3]!”

While exchanging small talk, Haruyuki was conscious in a corner of his heart of the fact that this was the first time in a relatively long time that just the three of them had had a meal together.

The circle bonding Haruyuki, Chiyuri, and Tak.u.mu was preserved through means of an exceedingly delicate balance.

The relations.h.i.+p between Tak.u.mu and Chiyuri, who had begun to date in the winter of their fifth grade in elementary school, had been reset once on the occasion of the «Back Door Incident» last fall, and since then the two had been estranged for a while. However, Tak.u.mu had transferred to Umesato Middle during the third school term, and by the first semester of their second year, when even Chiyuri had become a Burst Linker, though it was awkward they had once again begun to shorten the distance between them as «friends», which included Haruyuki.

Immediately after that, they had undergone a difficult fight with Dusk Robber, who had a.s.saulted them, and their circle of three people was tightly bound once again the way it was in the past—so it seemed.

However, that relations.h.i.+p was built above the fact that they were Burst Linkers and members of «Nega Nebulas». Even if one of them lost all his or her Burst Points and memories of the Accelerated World, whether they would be able to continue to maintain their bond…Haruyuki did not know.

The one thing that was clear was that now was not the occasion to be afraid of hypothetical crises.

There was only rus.h.i.+ng through every obstacle from the front, continuing to run toward only one ultimate target. Beyond the «level 10» horizon, where their legion master Kuroyukihime was aiming—.

While resolving himself anew, Haruyuki tried to extend his fork out to his plate, which had a little curry remaining.

However, at that moment,

“Haru, if you like it that much I’ll give you some eggplant! In return, you can have this—”

While saying that with a grin, Chiyuri dropped some round-sliced eggplant onto his plate and retrieved a large lump of chicken with her reverse strike.

“A, aaaaah—! Hey you, I’ve been carefully, carefully raising…I mean, saving it aside..!”

“Hey, didn’t you say at first that you liked eggplant a hundred times more than chicken?”

“I didn’t say that! Bring it out, give it back, return it—!”

While nearly being in tears, he protested fiercely, but as he watched, the gently simmered, juicy chicken meat was chewed inside Chiyuri’s mouth.

“Ah—, delicious…I wouldn’t begrudge using the acceleration command to prolong this deliciousness…”

“D, d.a.m.n it—!”

From the neighboring seat, with a slightly amazed face Tak.u.mu watched Haruyuki, who was stamping his feet from his chair, but at last—.

“Fu, ha ha…ahaha…”

He let out his voice and laughed merrily.

Soon Chiyuri and Haruyuki also joined in his laughter. With their forks in one hand, they continued to laugh to no end.

After they had cooperatively tidied up the tableware and dining table, as per their declaration it was homework time.

They moved to the sofa set at the west side of the living room, huddled their shoulders together, and launched their homework applications. As this was exclusive software developed by the parent body of Umesato Middle’s administration, a major education-related enterprise, copying and pasting answers was wholly impossible; furthermore, even if one tried to use an ad hoc connection or a wired direct connection, the technical specifications were inflexibly set such that other people’s screens were invisible. If one dived into the Initial Acceleration s.p.a.ce/Blue World by means of the «Burst Link» command, each and every one of those limitations would be invalidated, but if one did not begin at least five minutes before the start of homeroom at school, one would not be permitted the luxury of «accelerating» and finis.h.i.+ng off one’s homework.

There, while the three shared information using the old-fas.h.i.+oned method of writing by hand on A3-sized electronic paper spread out on the gla.s.s table, they finished math and j.a.panese homework in forty minutes. If Haruyuki had been working alone, he probably would have taken several times longer.

When he looked at the clock, it was not even eight o’clock yet, so starting then and also for the first time in a while, they played a tournament of the old games that Haruyuki had been collecting. While connecting to the panel TV the hardware over thirty years old that even the manufacturer could not fix if it broke and while even enjoying the coa.r.s.eness of the 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution, they clamored over the games chock-full of expressions of violence hardly seen in more recent games.

Around half past nine, the three took turns taking a bath—of course they didn’t take it «together» as they had done so in the long-ago past—changed into their pajamas, and a.s.sembled in the living room once again. Cleaning up the game consoles, lining up three beds with folding-type high-resilience mattresses, pillows, and blankets—.

“Well then, now.”