Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

“…Uwaah! W, we’re falling..!”

While yelling, Haruyuki abruptly picked himself up.

Just at that moment, both sides of his neck were lightly pulled.

“Eh…what…”

While feeling his heartbeat ringing like an alarm bell, he looked several times left and right. An off-white wallpaper. A super-thin panel TV. A large dining table and a kitchen counter beyond it.

It was his living and dining rooms, which he was accustomed to seeing. He had been sleeping on the mattresses laid on the ground.

The home server, which had sensed the motion of Haruyuki raising his upper body, illuminated the ceiling panel lights at a low lux1 setting. In the dim gray light, he looked at what had pulled his neck; it was two XSB cables extending from his Neuro Linker, which he had been wearing. He traced the cable on the left side with his eye; only fifty centimeters from his side, the sleeping face of his childhood friend—Kuras.h.i.+ma Chiyuri, who had peeled off her blanket and was sleeping with her tummy sticking out from the hem of her pajamas, dived into his view.

—Surely, it wasn’t all a dream?

Becoming a duel avatar in a strange place; pa.s.sing through a long tunnel and seeing the light of the galaxy; meeting that bright golden yellow girl again there…it was all just a dream..?

While Haruyuki was taken with that bewilderment, at almost the same time Chiyuri lifted her eyelids with a momentum that nearly made a sharp sound.

Chiyuri exchanged glances with him for only a mere second, then shouted in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

“Haru…where’s Takkun!? Was he able to come back safely from there!?”

Those words indicated she had also shared the same experience as Haruyuki.

That was right; there was no way it had been just a dream. What they had experienced in that world, what had happened was all real. The two had pa.s.sed through «imagination circuits» and had entered the Brain Burst central server, had discovered the «main body of the ISS Kit», and had awakened Tak.u.mu, to whom it had been trying to connect, with Haruyuki’s Incarnate technique, and then…

“—Taku!”

While raising his voice Haruyuki turned his body toward the mattress laid on his right side.

In the dim light, in contrast to Chiyuri, Mayuzumi Tak.u.mu was in a proper upward-facing position with a straightened back and was closing his eyelids.

“Takkun..!”

While Chiyuri also shouted thinly, she climbed over Haruyuki’s two legs and knelt at Tak.u.mu’s immediate side. At the moment when her extended hand tried to touch his shoulder, Tak.u.mu’s eyes opened with great momentum.

His slightly brown pupils caught sight of Chiyuri and Haruyuki in order, who were holding their breaths and had stopped still. His left hand came out from beneath the blanket and touched the Neuro Linker equipped to his neck and the cable extending from his direct connection terminal connecting him to Haruyuki.

At last his childhood friend spoke in a distinct voice that did not seem like that of just having woken up.

“…It wasn’t a dream, was it. No, it’s different. Haru and Chii-chan destroyed my nightmare for me. That’s how it was, right?”

And then he wore the exact same unchanged gentle smile he always had on his lips.

That moment, Haruyuki extended his right hand; while seizing Tak.u.mu’s left shoulder with all his might he shouted.

“Taku, you, you…if we tell you to run away, then run away! There it’d normally be impossible to counterattack!”

“That’s right! If you got caught by those nasty tentacles, what would you have done!”

While also drawing near Tak.u.mu as if to lean on him, Chiyuri too raised a shrill voice.

Tak.u.mu, who, at the last scene of the «dream» a moment ago, far from escaping from the raging main body of the Kit had counterattacked with his Incarnate technique immediately after having escaped its mind control due to Haruyuki’s Incarnate technique and was being reproached for that, answered while changing his smile to a seemingly regretful one.

“W, well you see, I thought of it right off the bat…That thing’s to blame; it’s the root of all evil. And I had the feeling that I had to return the favor with a blow by any means…”

“W, well, as for me too, if I could’ve then I would’ve liked to give it a hard knock with all my might though…”

After unconsciously nodding, Haruyuki abruptly raised his face and inquired hurriedly.

“Th, that’s right, besides that…what happened? How’s ‘the thing’ inside you..?”

Inside the «dream», with his new Incarnate technique «Laser Lance» Haruyuki had definitely pierced through and destroyed the ISS Kit, which had broken off from Tak.u.mu’s right arm. However, if that were an occurrence in the imaginary world, even if it weren’t an actual dream he still did not know how much influence he had exerted.

The questioned Tak.u.mu lowered his eyes and then tightly closed his eyelids.

His right hand rose up and touched the area around his brow. His furrowed eyebrows trembled little by little. Tak.u.mu, who was in that state for a while, at last lowered his hand, and with his snapped-open eyes he stared straight at Chiyuri first, then at Haruyuki—.

He emitted a subdued voice.

“…It disappeared.”

“Eh..?”

“It disappeared, Haru. That thing, which had been staying in a place deep inside my head since yesterday night and had always been whispering to me…it disappeared…”

At the same time as his words were petering out, the home server, which had judged that the inhabitants had risen from bed, raised the degree of illumination further.

The daylight color of the panel lights shone on the face of the widely smiling Tak.u.mu. It was no different than his smile since they had become the power forwards of Nega Nebulas—no, than the smile of his old friend always at his side if Haruyuki looked there while they played as if in a trance since their childhood days.

—It was Taku. He had returned. To my side. To a place I could reach if I extended my hand out.

The moment he believed that, the smile of Tak.u.mu before his eyes was covered in a boisterous dance of white light and became blurred.

The instant he was aware of a hot something overflowing from his own eyes, out of embarra.s.sment Haruyuki b.u.mped his forehead into Tak.u.mu’s broad chest with a thump.

“Y…you caused us to worry..!”

While shouting roughly on purpose, Haruyuki tried to hold back his tears with all his might, but on the contrary they welled up endlessly. With clenched teeth, from his throat he leaked out something, a sob like that of a child.

“Uh…nn…kk…uh..!”

A large, warm hand gently slapped the back of Haruyuki, who, unable to stand it all, was causing his shoulders to tremble.

“Just…just a moment, Haru, no matter how you think about it that’s my role, isn’t it!”

The voice of Chiyuri, who, aghast, had shouted that, was however also clearly wet. Immediately after, around Haruyuki’s left shoulder Chiyuri also heavily b.u.mped her body with a thump.

While feeling the body warmth of his two childhood friends with his whole body, Haruyuki only continued to be filled to the brim with hot tears.

And then, suddenly, in the far depths of his head he heard a faint voice.

…I’m glad for you. That you were able to save your friends.

That was unmistakably that strange bright golden yellow girl avatar. While bearing his sobs, Haruyuki replied with his thoughts.

—Thank you, it’s all thanks to you.

…Fufu, I didn’t do anything. The light of your heart shone upon the darkness. I want you to keep walking the path in which you believe. If you continue to gather lots of light, one day for sure the time when that person’s deep despair will also be healed will come…

At this time he did not really understand the meaning of those words.

However, as if being led by something Haruyuki murmured.

—Unh. I promise. One day, I will definitely free you…free you and him from the cycle of the «Disaster»…

…Thank you. I believe in you…

With those final few words, the voice faded and disappeared.

With the sleeve of his pajamas, he roughly wiped his tears, which he had finally begun to get under control, and he lifted his head; to hide his embarra.s.sment Haruyuki shouted with great force.

“It…it seems like after running till we were about to die my stomach’s hungry. I’m going to see if there isn’t anything in the fridge…”

Chiyuri’s stunned voice overtook Haruyuki, who had pulled out the direct connection cable, had stood up, and was running with heavy footsteps toward the kitchen.

“Hey there, even if you’re talking about running, wasn’t it in the middle of a dream!”

Following her was also Tak.u.mu’s laughing voice.

“Ha ha ha…Haru, I’m counting on you for my share too!”

After heating three people’s rations’ worth of frozen cubes of clam chowder and pouring equal amounts into their soup cups, Haruyuki carried them to the dining table.

He looked at the wall clock; it was already close to six in the morning. If he released the window gla.s.s’ light s.h.i.+elding mode, the morning light from the east would probably s.h.i.+ne in. It was an hour earlier than his regular waking time, but he considered getting up today as he was and stretched enormously.

At the same time the two who had cleaned up their beds came to the table, they first took a sip of the soup from which steam was rising. After puffing out their breaths, their gazes met.

The first to open her mouth was Chiyuri, whose expression had become serious.

“Takkun. Um…with this, it’s okay to think of the problematic «ISS Kit» as having completely disappeared, right?”

“Unh, I believe so. I don’t have data backing me up, but my intuition says so.”

There was no hesitation in the voice of Tak.u.mu, who had come to that conclusion immediately. Haruyuki also nodded and spoke while thinking.

“It’s not about reducing its degree of endurance in the duel stage, how do you put it…we destroyed some save data in the server. If it survived that, on the other hand that’d be surprising…”

“«Server». —Haru, basically that place was Brain Burst’s..?”

To Tak.u.mu’s inquiry, he nodded softly.

“Aah. The «Brain Burst central server»…That person had said so…”

To Tak.u.mu, who had awakened on the brink of leaving the server, Haruyuki and Chiyuri alternately explained what they had experienced in that world.

The long, dark tunnel and the infinite s.p.a.ce in its depths. The wavering light of the galaxy and the jet black lump of meat. And then, the strange bright yellow golden avatar who had appeared from inside Haruyuki and explained various things to him—.

“…I see…”

Tak.u.mu, still with his gla.s.ses removed, was silent for a while with his completely regular «professor mode» expression. After probably having had his head revolve furiously for a number of seconds, he lifted his head and emitted some words crisply.

“Haru, do you remember? What we discussed regarding the vulnerability of the ISS Kit, last night, before sleeping.”

“V, vulnerability…um sure enough, what we said about since it has a power that formidable, it must also have a weakness to counterbalance it?”

“That’s right. At first, you had struck that very vulnerability. While its equipper is sleeping during the night, the ISS Kit automatically opens its imagination circuits and connects the equipper’s consciousness to the central server. There, with other equippers, it executes a so-to-speak…«nightmare parallel processing»-type of operation, strengthening the Kit’s main body as well as its terminals…”

At Tak.u.mu’s words, Haruyuki and Chiyuri simultaneously caused their bodies to shudder.

“Some…somehow, that’s absurd…Isn’t a thing like that already out of the limits of what players can do..?”

To Chiyuri’s whisper, Tak.u.mu lightly bit his lip.

“Aah, truthfully, I also have no clue how one would be able to make an Enhanced Armament that could do that kind of thing. But…if I could say one thing, then it would be that the Brain Burst program undoubtedly had that function from the outset. The one of «opening the imagination circuits as a dream and connecting to the central server».”

“Eh…that means that..?”

“Haru, you remember too right? What had happened the night of the day you installed Brain Burst.”

“Ah…”

After lightly raising his voice and exchanging glances with Chiyuri, Haruyuki deeply nodded.

There was no way he could forget it. He did not remember the details, but in the fall of last year, Haruyuki, who had received the program from Kuroyukihime, had seen a long, long nightmare. The program had filtered that dream and created Haruyuki’s other self, the duel avatar «Silver Crow». The avatar data must have also been registered simultaneously in the central server—rather than that, it was more natural to think of that process as having occurred in the interior of the central server. That night, sure enough Haruyuki had communicated with the server while sleeping. It was basically completely the same as what had happened to Tak.u.mu’s self tonight—.

Taking a sip of his soup, while being lost even further in thought Tak.u.mu continued.

“The nightly parallel processing, that’s the very heart of the strength of the ISS Kit, but…however, at the same time it also has a humongous opening. Because no matter what, it’ll call Burst Linkers right up to the side of the main body. Although if everyone’s under its control like I was, it wouldn’t become a problem…”

To Tak.u.mu, who had lifted his head and had laughed meaningfully, Haruyuki also returned a wide laugh.

“The guys who created the Kit also probably sure didn’t imagine there were Burst Linkers who make direct connections and sleep with its equippers in real life.”

“On top of that, all the more because it’s a user who can attack with the «range expansion Incarnate technique» outside the sphere of influence of the Kit’s main body.”

Watching the two boys laughing together with a “fufufufu,” Chiyuri shook her head with an “oh dear,” but she spoke immediately in a half-smiling, half-displeased manner.

“In short, this time’s the victory of our bonds! That’s what it is! Aah, enough already, I want to meet the mastermind right now and say ‘Serves you right!’ to him!”

Gulping down her soup to the last drop, she vigorously returned her cup to the table, and after a shake of her short hair disheveled from sleep she opened her mouth again.

“…Hey, Takkun. At the end of that «dream», you chopped up the Kit’s main body with «Cyan Blade» right. With that, were you able to destroy the main body..?”

“…No.”

The interrogated Tak.u.mu changed his expression and slowly shook his head.

“It’s unfortunate, but it didn’t have the effect of being able to destroy it completely. —However, I ought to have dealt some adequate damage to its acc.u.mulated «malice» and its transmission circuits. The clones belonging to the same cl.u.s.ter as I do probably lost quite a bit of power.”

The «cl.u.s.ter» of which Tak.u.mu spoke was a group consisting of the same ISS Kit’s source of reproduction—in Tak.u.mu’s case, «Magenta Scissor»—shared by some Burst Linkers and from there the people who possessed further copies of the Kit. At the last of last night’s duel, if they had not been able to stop the Kit, which had broken off from Tak.u.mu and had tried to parasitize Haruyuki, Haruyuki also would have become a member of that cl.u.s.ter.

While remembering the figure of the gra.s.s green avatar walking next to Tak.u.mu’s side inside the nightmare, Haruyuki murmured.

“…That means, if we think about releasing «Bush Utan» and «Olive Glove» from the Kit, then now’s our chance.”

“Unh. If it’s now, then even if we don’t enter the central server, we might be able to destroy it in a normal duel. Of course, with normal techniques it’s of no use, but if we use Incarnate techniques I think there’s a possibility.”

“Understood. Convey this matter to that guy’s «big brother». If we could do something we would, but today we can’t make a move…”

At Haruyuki’s words, Chiyuri and Tak.u.mu looked at the clock on the wall.

The date and time displayed was June 20th 2047, Wednesday, 6:30 A.M.

At seven tonight—that was to say, after twelve hours and a little bit later, Haruyuki would have to challenge a mission of high difficulty. Namely, the «Imperial Palace escape strategy».

Currently, his other self Silver Crow had been left behind in the depths of the «Imperial Palace» existing in the center of the Unlimited Neutral Field together with the purification ability user «Ardor Maiden». If the two did not slip through the fierce attack of «Suzaku, one of the Four Divine Beasts» and return alive from there once more, as a Burst Linker Haruyuki had no future. As for why, if he were not purified of the «Disaster Armor» lurking in the depths of his avatar, at the next Seven Kings’ meeting a bounty of the highest price would be placed on his head.

The night before the mission when he was really supposed to have slept soundly and fully he had braved an unexpected adventure, but on the contrary Haruyuki unusually felt br.i.m.m.i.n.g with energy. He had a real sense that the duel with Tak.u.mu, who had been violated by the ISS Kit, and the experience in the central server after that had given him a definite something.

The three, who had turned their faces back from the clock, nodded firmly and deeply at one another. Chiyuri, who was at his left, with a smile slapped Haruyuki’s back with great force.

“Haru, you own that bird easily and come back right away!”

“That’s right, Haru, compared with fighting me on IS mode, that’s easy isn’t it?”

“Oh, look who’s talking Mayuzumi-sensei2.”

At the point where the two boys again grinned widely, this time’s spontaneous sleepover event was wrapped up for the time being.

Chiyuri, the brave warrior who was going to return to her home two floors downstairs in her pajamas, proceeded to the door first, and Tak.u.mu, who had changed into sweats, followed afterward. Haruyuki, who had gone out to see the two off, noticed by chance Tak.u.mu’s small gesture.

He was holding up his right hand and was softly holding the area of the outside of that wrist with his left arm. It was the exact spot where the ISS Kit had parasitized Cyan Pile.

Approaching a step, from behind Haruyuki called out to Tak.u.mu in a small voice.

“Taku…I have to apologize. For destroying your «power»…”

His old chum who had looked back smiled, but in its depths Haruyuki felt there was a faint plaintiveness after all. However, Tak.u.mu greatly shook his head and spoke distinctly.

“—To be sure, if I said I didn’t feel any attachment to that terrible power altogether, it’d be a lie. However, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because I want to be how I am now after all. No matter how much I worry or hesitate.”

“…Taku…”

“Besides that, I obtained something much bigger than that power. That’s why there’s no need for you to apologize, Haruyuki.”

At Tak.u.mu’s words he blinked his eyes; while tilting his head to the side he inquired.

“Eh…does that mean some amazing special technique-like..?”

Whereupon quicker than Tak.u.mu could reply, Chiyuri, who had finished wearing her shoes, turned her head round and shouted.

“Ah—enough already, why are you so dull! What Takkun wants to say is…”

There for some reason Chiyuri cut her words short and grinned broadly.

“…You should think about it yourself after all. It’s your homework for tomorrow!”

Haruyuki, who had tidied the table to its original state, bolted down a breakfast of cereal and milk, changed into his uniform, and left the house.

While riding the elevator down, he typed a short text mail to his mother. The content was a report saying that he had properly gotten up and went to school and thanks for having let Tak.u.mu and Chiyuri stay over last night. Now that he thought of it there was also the plan tonight to a.s.semble all legion members at the Arita residence, but they ought to disperse before his mother returned home, so he omitted that. When he had descended to ground level he sent it.

Some seconds later the reply was the single word 【Understood】, but precisely five hundred yen’s worth of money code was attached. Haruyuki smiled in spite of himself and gratefully charged it into his own account.

Haruyuki’s mother, the person Arita Saya, was a rather mysterious woman even from the view of her biological child. She would be thirty-seven this year, so she had given birth to Haruyuki when she was twenty-three. He had not asked the person herself the particulars about her personal history, but at that time she still must have been a student attending a graduate school in the Tokyo metropolitan area. While at school, with a man three years older working at a network-related enterprise she had entered her name in the family register and had borne a child. However, the details of that area’s time series were unknown, and no wedding ceremony had been held either. That seemed to be the reason why they were still estranged from his maternal grandparents’ house in Yamagata.

While rearing a baby—granted, she had depended considerably on the Neuro Linker—she had completed her master’s coursework, obtained her MBA qualifications, and had secured a post in a j.a.panese subsidiary of an investment bank whose head office was in America. Distinguis.h.i.+ng herself by being a.s.signed to the training department and working on some large-scale projects, in a number of years she had been promoted to a.s.sociate—.

In truth, Haruyuki had heard that story from Chiyuri’s mama Momoe-san. She and Haruyuki’s mother seemed to have been fellow friends since their university years. However, Momoe-san also would not tell him about certain matters. Namely, regarding why Haruyuki’s parents were divorced.

Their divorce establishment was seven years ago. His mother was thirty, his father thirty-three, and Haruyuki seven. He hardly remembered anything at the time.

However, there was one scene that had stained a corner of his memory and would not disappear by any means.

The young Haruyuki, feeling that he had heard voices talking in the middle of the night, had woken up. Straining his ears, sure enough from the other side of the door he could hear some conversational exchange. Why he did not fall asleep again there was because the two voices were sharp with disquiet.

Alighting from his bed, he softly opened the door. Back then, it was not his current eight-tatami-sized room3 but a 4.5-tatami-sized room that was Haruyuki’s room. Dead ahead in the dark corridor, the gla.s.s door shone dimly. Haruyuki moved so as not to raise any footsteps and squatted at the side of the door.

His parents’ voices, which leaked through and could be heard, were restrained in low tones, but it was clearly a venomous quarrel. The two were violently arguing about something. He could hear words like “looking after,” “promise,” and “been used,” but he didn’t understand their meaning. However, the young Haruyuki intuitively realized his parents were arguing over himself…

There, suddenly as if running into a wall with a clash, his memories were interrupted, and Haruyuki blankly lifted his face.

Before he realized it he had cut across the apartment house’s s.p.a.cious front garden and had come to right before the Loop 7 road. He lightly shook his head and switched his thoughts. He did not like to remember things of the past too much.

At any rate, the person Arita Saya was a woman who kept advancing only forward, forward as if driven on by something. Showing the depths of her heart to no one, not even looking back at her immediate feet—.

He had sometimes thought that was lonely, but right now he didn’t particularly mind it. She didn’t find fault with his grades; without forgetting she gave him his five hundred yen lunch money; she also let his friends stay over at home. With this if he complained, he would incur divine punishment.

He took a deep breath, replacing the air built up in his chest; Haruyuki glanced at his virtual desktop’s AR display.

Today’s weather forecast was cloudy, and around noon a drizzle would sprinkle but would end by evening. The forgotten item warning hadn’t come out either; thanks to having left the house considerably earlier than usual, his estimated time of arrival at school was thirty minutes before the bell. He probably had the leeway to complete one of his missions before going to school.

Haruyuki, who at present had come out onto the Loop 7 line sidewalk, swung his shoulder bag around to his back and began to walk briskly heading south.

At the intersection under the central line overpa.s.s to where he would normally turn right, he went straight today. Climbing the south slope of Koenji, he rode the elevator-style pedestrian bridge crossing Ome Highway. At its apex he turned left and stopped directly above the wide main highway with four lanes on one side. While looking down at the flow of coming and going EVs, he muttered inside his mouth.

“Burst Link.”

A roar of thunder resounded, and the world froze blue. He promptly clicked the letter B icon wrapped in flames in the lower left hand corner of the virtual desktop. From the launched «Install Menu» he opened the Suginami second area matching list, and after running his eyes over the not-too-many avatar names he touched a name somewhere around the middle. Without hesitating he pushed the DUEL b.u.t.ton in the small window that had popped up.

The blue transparent Blue World transformed while emitting a creaking sound. The road became a gravelly dry valley. The buildings became reddish-brown rocky mountains. The sky became a dusty light yellow. It was the «Wilderness» stage.

Haruyuki, who had confirmed that the guide cursor was pointing to the south side of Loop 7, vaulted his body, which had transformed into his duel avatar, from the pedestrian bridge. He landed swiftly and awaited the rumble of the gasoline engine approaching from the far distance.

Just the morning the day before yesterday as well, Haruyuki had «intruded» at the exact same time and same place on the same opponent. For that reason this time as well his opponent had probably surmised his intention—not a duel, but the desire for a conversation. Having come to that conclusion, while raising one hand while facing the silhouette that was coming into view,

“Ah, h.e.l.lo, good morn…”

Haruyuki, who had begun his greeting, halfway through changed those words into a scream.

“Now just wait a momennnnnt!?”

Narrowly throwing his body to the right, he dodged the hunk of iron rus.h.i.+ng at maximum speed—the last-century large-cla.s.s American bike.

Before Haruyuki’s eyes, the bike, which had settled its pistons while magnificently scattering sparks from the disk brakes of its front and back wheels, left a rut that smell burnt in the gravel-mixed ground and came to a stop. Haruyuki jumped up, and facing the rider on the vehicle, he shouted while being fl.u.s.tered.

“Uh, um, excuse me, today I also have something to say in «closed mode»…”

But the rider—«Ash Roller», the level 5 Burst Linker belonging to the green legion «Great Wall», waggled a finger on his right hand and cut off Haruyuki’s words.

“I understand that. I got it, but today let me start today with my turn!”