Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 7 (2/2)

However, at the same time, in contrast to the gentleness of the phenomenon, Haruyuki also knew that Kuroyukihime was without exaggeration mustering up all the imagination of her body and soul. The slender avatar trembled bit by bit, and her legs sometimes also wavered.

Then, a faint voice.

“Haruyuki-kun…your hand.”

Before pondering the meaning of her words or becoming perplexed, as if being drawn to her he stretched out his right hand. His fingers approached Kuroyukihime’s extended sword tip and softly made contact.

If Kuroyukihime’s Mind Power had been of the attack-cla.s.s, at this point in time an override would have occurred, and regardless of his metal color armor hardness Haruyuki’s fingers probably would have fallen off.

However, that did not happen. Instead, a phenomenon he had not predicted in the slightest was incarnated.

The black, sharp sword—was softly dispelled.

Its tip divided into four. Slightly below, another one was born. The total of five part.i.tioned thin, slender organs took in the light s.h.i.+ning from the large hole in the wall and shone with a glitter.

These were—

Fingers. It was a hand.

Besides a faint Over-Ray, it was a slight change that produced neither a bit of sound nor radiance.

After he reflexively wondered why he had lowered her offensive power on purpose, Haruyuki finally noticed it. That this «applied Incarnate technique» was an extraordinary miracle that outcla.s.sed any large range attack technique.

No Burst Linker could acquire Mind Power contrary to his or her attributes.

In the past, the Red King Niko had said that that was a fundamental principle of the Incarnate system.

Judging from her figure, whose four limbs were all swords, Kuroyukihime’s attribute was clearly «cutting». She cut everything she touched. Denial. An aloof black lotus that not a single person could approach. Even her sole «child», Haruyuki, still had many things he did not know regarding her. No matter how much they stared at each other from a short distance or exchanged words with just the two of them, the depths of her heart were hidden by a deep darkness and could not be seen.

Nevertheless, he thought that was fine. Even that was a part of the beauty of the person Kuroyukihime.

In spite of that—right now, Kuroyukihime had showed that she had refused her attribute of her own accord. She had shown that the words of “I don’t even have hands in order to hold hands with somebody” that she had once spoken had been negated through her imagination.

There was certainly a declaration being put into this Mind Power. That as the chief of Nega Nebulas, she was facing its members in a form different from that of the past. That she was extending her hand out, opening up her heart, and forming true bonds not only in the Accelerated World but in the real world as well—.

“…Sen, pai…”

While whispering, Haruyuki was self-aware of an acute accompanying pain. That he really knew nothing about this person. That he had been using the superficial phrase «aloof beauty» without knowing anything.

His vision blurred and became distorted. While tears spread beneath his silver surface, Haruyuki tried to entwine her five slender fingers like needles with his right hand softly. The jet black and silver touched each other, and he felt a momentary warmth being transmitted to his consciousness, but immediately after.

With an ephemeral, hard sound like that of ringing an unlimited number of tiny bells, Kuroyukihime’s «right hand» scattered into minute crystals and broke into pieces.

“Ah..!”

Haruyuki leaked out a voice at the same time that Kuroyukihime’s body collapsed as if her power had been exhausted. Unconsciously, he extended his right hand and supported her slender waist.

Hugging her right arm, which had been lost up to near her elbow, to her chest, for a while as if withstanding the pain—no, in fact probably in that state, she took shallow breaths repeatedly. However, before long she lifted her face and whispered in a placid voice.

“Seventeen seconds… A new record by a wide margin. It was because you were here…right.”

Those words basically indicated that up until now Kuroyukihime had challenged this applied Incarnate technique and had had her right hand crushed countless times.

“…Senpai.”

Unable to restrain his infinitely overflowing deep emotions, Haruyuki returned that one word in a tremulous voice. Being driven by impulse, he tightly embraced the avatar in his bosom and stringed words together with all his might.

“Senpai…thank you. I have the feeling that I’ve understood. In order to acquire the second stage of Mind Power…one must face not one’s avatar, but one’s own real self. One must continue to think about what one fears, what one desires, and what one imagines: not only in the Accelerated World but in the real world as well; it’s that sort of thing, isn’t it.”

“Exactly so.”

The voice that had responded close to his ears was in a volume almost equivalent to being inaudible, but nevertheless it resounded commandingly in the duel stage of just the two.

“It’s a process unnecessary for users of pure «negative Mind Power». As for why, anger, hate, and then despair are things inseparable from their own living bodies from the start. However, «positive Mind Power»—to produce the power of hope, the process of «reversal of one’s trauma» becomes necessary by any means. Meeting in the real world head-on with one’s wound, which in the Accelerated World has been made into the sophisticated form of one’s duel avatar, accepting it, and subliming it into an image of hope… That is not an easy thing. It’s easy to fall into the «hole in one’s heart», but the path of climbing it is steep…for me, who’s spent a vast amount of time as a Burst Linker, even a thing at the level of changing my sword into fingers was beyond my reach. However…”

There, she temporarily stopped her words short; Kuroyukihime lifted her face, and from a distance so close their masks touched each other, she caught Haruyuki’s eye.

“However, you can do it. You, who noticed singlehandedly your «image of something».”

Normally, this would maybe be a scene where he would say things like “That’s impossible” or “Not me, such a thing.” However, only right now did Haruyuki shake off his timidity and nod deeply. Their masks b.u.mped into each other with a clunk, but with them still touching each other he murmured.

“Understood. I…, I’ll do my best. Though I won’t make it in time for tonight’s «Imperial Palace escape strategy»…despite that, I will do my best, and I will find it. My «image of hope».”

“Ahh. —I will do my best too. So that next time I can maintain it for at least thirty seconds and be able to hold hands with you properly.”

This time for sure, the whispered words concealed a power enough to set Haruyuki into transition as usual.

“Uh, um, well.”

After blinking at high speed below his silver surface, he somehow answered back.

“Th, tha, that’s true. Besides that, if you had hands, it’d be easy to operate the «Install» menu.”

At that very moment, her violet-blue eyes, which were right before his own, glittered glaringly and dangerously, and her voice, whose frigidity had increased—.

“…That’s true. I thought about making this duel a draw, but since it’d be troublesome to operate it without hands, I guess I’ll just win normally after all.”

Fortunately, with the point of her sword Kuroyukihime accepted Haruyuki’s proposed draw offer.

Haruyuki, who had ended the direct connection duel, looked at the ceiling vacantly for a few seconds and then finally became of the situation again. He was lying on a bed in the nurse’s office, and immediately next to him Kuroyukihime lay p.r.o.ne, her body stuck close to him, a situation surprising even for last-century romantic comedy manga—

“Haruyuki-kun.”

A breath softly touched his left ear; after shrinking in fear, he timidly looked that way.

That moment, Haruyuki, who forgot both his nervousness and his fright, opened his eyes wide.

While facing sideways on top of the sheets, Kuroyukihime was staring hard at her snow-white right hand. Her pet.i.te nails, sleek like a pearl, shone glitteringly while reflecting the illumination of the light panels. Her black pupils blinked once and refocused on Haruyuki’s eyes.

“Haruyuki-kun, do you remember. The day I gave you your first lecture on Brain Burst…in the «Initial Acceleration s.p.a.ce», I reached my hand out to you, and said: «Are these mere virtual two meters that far to you?».”

There was no way he would forget it.

At that time, Haruyuki had diverted his eyes from her extended hand and had answered in his heart. That it was far.

After he nodded deeply, Kuroyukihime wore a smile that was in some way filled with plaintiveness and continued.

“In truth…those two meters were far to me too. It was because it had been a long…a truly long time since I last extended my hand out to someone of my own accord. I had always continued to fear grasping a person’s hand. The legion members with whom my heart was supposedly joined…even Fuuko, Utai, Current, and Graph’s hands, I might have been refusing them in the true sense of the word. However…from the day I encountered you in the virtual squash corner…no before that, from the day I noticed the figure of a small pink pig looking down as if to avoid others’ eyes and running with all his might in a cranny of the local net…”

There, Kuroyukihime closed her mouth. However, Haruyuki had the feeling that through the still-joined direct connection cable he had undoubtedly understood her unsaid words.

Another smile, and a faint whisper.

“Well, Haruyuki-kun. Have the two meters of that day shortened..?”

Haruyuki was unable to say anything. As to why, the emotion welling up was too great and was blocking up his chest a lot.

In exchange, he screwed up all the courage he had; he lifted both his hands up and softly wrapped them around her still-raised right hand.

It was warm. The same warmth as that of Black Lotus’ «right hand», which he had touched for a mere instant in the «Steel stage», permeated his palms, circulated through his nervous system, and sparkled in a golden color in the center of his consciousness.

Kuroyukihime lifted up her left hand too and covered the outside of Haruyuki’s right hand. In his world filled with warm light, only their four mutually touching hands and her beautiful face smiling placidly existed.

Her long eyelashes were cast down. The angle of her face changed.

As if being drawn in, Haruyuki s.h.i.+fted his upper body a little forward. With her eyes closed, Kuroyukihime also drew her body nearer in the same way. By now, her white face—or her pink lips were only a mere fifteen centimeters away. They approached each other a little bit more. The distance between them dropped below ten centimeters—.

Rattle; the sound of the door sliding brought their situation to a stop.

Only two seconds later, with a speed like teleportation Kuroyukihime had separated her body from his, pulled out the direct connection cable, alighted from the bed, and returned to the adjacent chair. The seam between the white curtains was lifted up, and the school nurse Hotta showed her face.

“Arita-kun, how are you feeling?”

“…”

After Haruyuki opened his eyes and mouth gaping wide and froze, the nurse furrowed her eyebrows.

“Your face is red, maybe your fever’s returned?”

“…No, I’m fine-gh.”

There was nothing Haruyuki could do other than answer with that. As for Kuroyukihime, who was sitting gracefully in the chair, with a completely composed facial expression she didn’t have a drop of sweat on her face. It was actually a fearsome mind control ability. Not only that, but before he was aware of it her two hands were grasping the cooling bottle as they were before.

With no alternative, Haruyuki sucked on the straw of that bottle, which was outstretched straightforwardly with a gesture completely natural of a «health-care committee member subst.i.tute».

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