Vol 2 Chapter 2 (2/2)

“Haruha, is strong in this game”

──This kid is nuts And, apparently he had angered that strange kid

Under their united awareness, all the vanguard swordsicians shoot 《Bolt Dash》 ht are blocked; there was no way for Haruha to avoid the inco 《Bolt Dash》

That hat it should have been But

The next moment, the swordshs and their posture broke, and the swordsht side wondered── what just happened, all of them were defeated, their calves were torn, their waists were pierced, and their throats were slit[8]

The ene Just that her swift ap of his senses, exactly like that of a well-executed ic trick…… as such

All the lightning bolts lost its se The srass like a snake Then the second tied, she pierced one of the bent swordsman’s throat with a knife and pulled out another knife froh, then she hit the pommel of the knife that was in his throat with a palm heel strike and further added to the number of mannequin she made

“Kugh……”

He instinctively groaned, 『４』 switched his skill It’s a e] than the one he had used earlier, but the rectilinear and poor to changes 《Bolt Dash》 won’t be able to catch that kid

Other masked ic attacks on Haruha in order to buy time

There was no need for words in their cooperation Their absolute trust and genuine camaraderie makes a world without lies possible

Haruha had shown extraordinary poise so far, but as expected she couldn’t handle the siradually retreated as she stained the chasing masked swordsmen with blood

Meanwhile 『４』‘s skill finally charged It’s a high-level attack 《Lightning Whip Attack》[Lightning Whipper] healone As the na whip and wrapped itself onto the enemy Not only does it have a wide area of effect, no et was, it’s impossible to avoid

It rests on his hand, the band of lighting released the sound of heated oil Simultaneously his allies retreats fro it up

“Nngh!”

Along with a silent yell he swung it at Haruha Above the young girl, the phantas approach!

That moment, Haruha

Thrust a knife into the sto swordsman──

And threw it

Naturally, it wasn’t, the swordsman’s body

It was soled with the lighting whip, and while e sled with the lighting, it was thrown in a rough and unexpected direction

──Huth of the person’s height

“Wha……!?”

Seeing his trump card avoided in the most unexpected way, for a ht have been able to hit Haruha if he shook it off by force But, he failed to do that

──Through the gap he irl approached with frightening speed Stepping on 《Fireball》that she casted, she shot forward through the air, she used the recoil of the explosion and came at him like a storm caused by devil

The last thing 『４』 recognized was the gooseflesh chill co from his entire body when the tip of the knife that was thrust through the eye hole of his mask hit the surface of his eyeball

Around the same time Clamp and Mifa who ran into the battlefield had failed to prevent Haruha’s recklessness

But they were also attacked by the nored Haruha fro posture she rushed at Clamp

The nuh AR Mode, her avatar na for parity since her level is equal to Clamp

“Wait, we have no intent to……”

Fight, but even if he said that she wouldn’t listen After all, at that tihtered scores of the masked men There is no way she would spare Clamp and Mifa ere clearly connected to Haruha

Sure enough, no questions asked, the masked Yusra attacks Unlike other ic, but rather her fists

Claed to avoid it, but his cheek was hit and the blood splashi+ng fro skill known as 《Meteor Fist》[Knuckle Shoot], it created bullet of fists in succession It has speed equal to a professional boxer’s jab, there is no other way to avoid it other than using his intuition to work out where the bullet was aile it was fired

“Kugh……”

There is no rooerous opponent such as her, holding backHaruha alone in this situation

(There is no way I can leave Haruha all alone!)

By the time he noticed he was told off by Haji you back here” ── and such Do you want to let other player get killed by Haruha!?

He clicked his tongue inside his ed Sword[Scaramax] from his waist── at the same time, he blocked the second fist with the fuller part of his sword Yusra’s fist seen up close, her shi+ning red gauntlet cracked

As it is, Clae They’re both too close to each other for Mifa to enter the fight or provide support Mifa spoke from afar

“Aaagh co or so?”

“Mifa, you stop Haruha and learn about the situation fro whether it’s good to fight them or not like this!”

The only thing certain here was that the avatar who had the face of Kanna Sakura is Sakura herself That would explain her reaction when she saw Haruha Why she’s a “Ghost”, and why she was being attacked by suspiciousthey don’t knohy they won’t able to settle this matter

They are not “Husband and Wife” for , Mifa i Haruha Yusra did not chase after her For so

“──You!!”

She took a back step away froh the repelled attack Just like her opponent’s, it’s a high speed piercing skill that is impossible to perform manually Either to avoid or block, it forces her opponent to break their posture and retreat ── such a underhanded trick

“Uuowaa!?”

And he fell along with the goofy scream of his own His arm was taken, and he was throhat you would call a Judo one-ar hit with an unexpected counterattack, he was helplessly thrown to the ground

The reason why he couldn’t expect that was because skills with specification of “Once the requirenore the law of physic and automatically catch your opponent and throw hi technique skill-specific preli a fixed stance── did not occur It was completely manual, in other words, he was thrown by the player’s martial arts

Getting hit by weapon-less manual action won’t decrease his HP, but he will still receive the i a nasty blow on his back, he tried to wake up while enduring his clogged breath, and once again faced Yusra who charged at hih speed strike

That time Clamp── smiled

(She is a style, not even mother who created the system would possibly expect this!)

A hybrid of the gah speed strike and flexible martial arts the player herself h level skills in harmony Like a new type of martial arts

(Discovery! This is a discovery! With this, one can revolutionize the game even if they aren’t one of the developers! Furthermore, her Kinetic visual acuity and reflex are way beyond nor 『CtG』 player!)

Wearing the face of a suspicious person, while dedicating a feeling of gratitude he was driven by the desire of wanting to get beaten by her No, he’s not a pervert For hiht hiai Yuu’s awareness of “Must play through 『CtG』” is that strong

But, he can’t stay happy froht now Cla on the identity of those “Ghosts” it possibly won’t be a play[Game] anymore

“I’o to where that kid is I’ll have to defeat you now”

He tightened his expression and provocatively declared Yusra re his sith his right hand──

And he cut off his own left wrist without hesitation

“Kugh!?”

Froushed out The splashes hit Yusra’saway her vision

Clamp came close to Yusra who reflexively stopped her movement, and struck her ered and bent down he brutally kicked her He then stepped on Yusra’s shoulder as she lay on her back, and pressed the point of his sword to her neck

By that ti turned black and started recovering while consu his HP He was able to retain his consciousness froize unfitting for the current situation

“Haruha…… our child, I apologize for what she has done I’m sorry And do me a favor, shall we make a deal here?”

Yusra, the 『44』, ignored his offer But, for the first ti any trace of her feeling

“Like always…… that crazy fighting style of yours”

Certainly it was a “crazy” way to fight Even though senses of pain is decreased in this virtual world, one would usually feel hesitant to cut oneself just to take away their opponent’s vision It’s exactly because Yuu, who could separate this aa in advance However

“Like always, you mean……?”

Without answering, Yusra took away her mask And as under the easily taken off mask was

The face of Kanna Sakura that he saw earlier

“Eh……?”

Bewildered, he instinctively pulled his sword “Yusra” did not auntlet and stood up, as expected while he was still being hesitant she took distance

Then once again Yusra created a fighting pose── then lowered her arm When she looked at it, all the masked men were already wiped out by Haruha’s tyranny Those several re then retreated Haruha was held by Mifa, it appeared she was stopped fro after them

“……I will back off for now”

Yusra then followed the other h it was muffled by the mask, her voice was that of Sakura But, her scarce voice intonation brought a severe sense of discomfort

“Again, let’s play again”

And, eventually

Until her figure disappears froe, Clamp just stood there stunned

◆Part 4◆

“So……Hoas it?”

“Well…… I think ot in the intermediate test”

One dawn after the bizarre event at the green sea of trees── Kasugai Yuu and Kugi a rest in their classroom

After that incident, all the “ghosts” had vanished froo after the masked men or not They searched for theot no luck and it was already ht them back to real world

After that while listening to the sounds of her breathing, Yuu carried the half-asleep Haruha to bed Then, he instinctively held her lonely-looking hand which resulted into hio of his hand Thanks to all that, this youthful high school student seriously lacked some sleep

The first day of year-end test For whatever reason, the subject that day was math which was too much for the current two to handle Miharu who had just transferred to the school, received soree

“You sure have it nice, Kasugai-kun You’re good at science right?”

“Well, not much At least not, much compared to those who actually are”

Thanks to the fact that various incidents were happening in 『CtG』, his head were going nuts for constantly thinking about thedown a yawn, Yuu stood up froo ho

“For dinner I’ll──”

“Master~ Let’s go home~”

Miharu was about to say so over his shoulder However, the moment she heard the voice she immediately shut her mouth and faced away into the opposite direction

The voice belonged to her classirl and had taken liking to Miharu ever since the day she transferred in Although it was still aMiharu her “Master”

“Aah, Tsukami-san”

“Let’s study for test at 『Ruso Garden』 Nogi and Rokkaku said they will come too”

Actually, Nogi Sunao and Rokkaku Renko aiting right behind Tsukami By the way, 『Ruso Garden』 is a well-known chain of restaurants famous for its delicious omelet rice

“Forgive o back home early today……”

“Eeeh~…… Master’s faether”

The reality is, she just wanted to go home early just to play with Haruha So she told her classh, from what Yuu heard, Miharu’s mother is a pretty strict person anyways So technically speaking, it’s nothing new to her

In reserved manner, Miharu bowed down to Yuu Then Tsukami raised her hand at the same time

“Well, goodbye, Kasugai-kun”

“Bye then, idio… I ai-kun”

Since this past week, there have been irls hadthe bizarre chain of events, sauchi-sensei once as the hoet to hi because he didn’t think about it

(Kugih……)

Girls in Yuu’s class are considerably nice people But for a shy person like Miharu to maintain her relationshi+p with them, it wouldn’t be easy if they learn about her secret with Yuu or Haruha

A person with two lives It’s not that rare in this Rube Goldberg’s[10] construction of human society

Will he thinks all that, he exits to the hallway At thatthat been on the back of his ht

“As le person split into two?”

“Sakura” and Yusra Not only they have the sanized Haruha’s face and Yusra recognized Yuu[Clamp]’s There was no way that it could be just a mere coincidence

But by allowing them to escape, he had lost a valuable clue However, there was still so Yusra said

『Let’s ain』

Yuu felt a strong premonition in those words

Right in the afternoon, his legs led hihtly above But it didn’t take him more than 20 minutes to reach that place from school

The first time he came to this place was shortly after the day he was enrolled in high school Worried about Yuu as depressed and still hadn’t blended in with the class, Kouta had dragged hie of pace Unlike the arcade where Haruha had all her aer stores facing the national hallway

On the second floor of that shop, Yuu hadcorner and had achieved a narrow but a miraculous win

“So you came”

Kanna Sakura Her appearance was practically the sa with Haruha However, she wasn’t wearing her boyish jumper and instead was in a neat and clean sailor uniform

She sat on the hard sofa that was near the entrance of the shop and then looked up at Yuu with an equally hard gaze

After they logout froate about her But froot, in real world Sakura didn’t show any suspicious behavior and she’d been attending school for the past ithout absence However, that day she left school early and ended up there

“Yesterday, you were our only clue”

“As for me, Haruha was the only clue in order for uys So I waited But then I realized that you will eventually come here anyways”

There were no signs of roughness and lacking of composer like the last tih, she did sounded a bit emotionless which made him miss the cheeky side of her

There was an aura of Discoht with Therefore, his conviction deepened

“Does that mean…… that you will tell es, about those your 『Ghosts』 that look like you?”

“Yes Ikui Librium wishes to meet you That means I want to you to rant your wish”

“Ikui…… you say?”

“She’s our leader By the way, are you alone today?”

“……I just wanted to deal with you myself”

Yuu did not wanted to have Haruha and Miharu involved in problems related to 『CtG』 His sense of duty as the son of theto be Niiro’s puppet, are what drove him to think that way

“Is that so?”

Sakura simply replied and stood up Then she walked inside the shop── not exactly, but she headed towards the net café and Yuu hastily followed her

“He-Hey What do you want?”

He was taken to a private room by Sakura who had already secured a place for both of them It was the first time Yuu visited this type of store where it felt like a self-study space in the library equipped with a si sofa and table for two and a big TV connected to a laptop and──『CtG』 terminal[Ramiel]

Sakura, who had taken a side on the sofa, had already started attaching her Ramiel Her appearance with a headset visor and a choker looked like the attire of a slave receiving some punishment

Since he recognized her as Haruha’s friend, he saw her as a kid Still, he couldn’t help but be nervous being alone with her in a sht clothes, it was evident that she was doing some sort of sport, as her faintly muscled limbs shone on the black sofa

Regardless if she are of Yuu’s subtle consciousness of her or not…

“Please wear yours too and login I’ll be waiting for you at the Raiankarydi church”

…Sakura pressed her Ramiel’s poitch and jumped into the world of 『CtG』

◇Part 5◇

There’s no need to wait, Claout As a result, he shows up directly inside Rainankarydi church

The one who faced hiht, Yusra She wore a 『44』 mask with beak-like nose and a plain cloak

Today she doesn’t appear to have any intent to fight, so he decided to ask her as a greeting

“……That clothes, won’t you get confused with your comrades?”

“There aren’t er”

She replied with auous answer That’s certainly true, and come to think of it he’s not really sure how his brain can distinguish a finger from another, but as a ers independently without trouble

Clamp remained silent, and as a respond, Yusra quietly walked away Without hesitation, she exits the church and traverses her way to the inside of the green forest away from the yellow brick road

Claether with her in this ehosts” or another “Sakura”, everything will be answered once he arrives to where Ikui-so is — that’s why…

“May I ask?”

Cla completely different

“Kanna Sakura, why are you so obsessed in doing reai Yuu?”

It’s so all this time Her relentlessness wasn’t normal, just like Yuu’s obsession with 『CtG』

“………………”

After a considerably long silence, she replied

“If I’m not desperate, my lie will be exposed”

“Lie?”

“I do Judo”

She suddenly went out of topic, but he continues to listen in silent As so he wanted to know

“When I ay younger than Haruha, I trained in a Judo dojo where my father was in when he was little At first, I’ able to er than me, and turned out that it seemed I have talent and everyone praised me and was proud of me because of that Eventually, I start to think I’ those in elementary school level

Then, as special person, I must work hard to meet others’ expectation

As a result, blessed with luck, I was able to win in a national tournament individual match when I was still a freshman in middle school”

“A……”

“──Many have said the sa to live up to it But, it all ended one day

During practice, when I was tired and at lost in focus, I got injured… and it’s incurable I was able to recover enough to the extent it won’t cause a hindrance in er do harsh exercise

My life ended once at that point”

“……That……”

It’s easy to line up words of denial but, it’s not a proble about

While he’s still wondering, Sakura[Yusra] indifferently continues the story

“For exauys, itI ht be able to be proud of it But, it’s different I just si too ht sense of disco normal… then just from a little mistake, it broke

I reap what I sow…… such plain, co but a stupid careless mistake, only worth of a faint sympathy, and there’s no one to bla left”

All Sakura wished for was ain her crushed dream

It’s not like he doesn’t kno she feels Yuu himself was dumbfounded when he lost his mother all of the sudden There were ti proper procedures before dying Lacking any of that, won’t that ht

But if there isin it, it is…… no, it’s about Sakura now

“What strange was, everyone else, did not change

Even though I’er the same person as I was before, my parents, my friends from school, and everyone from the dojo, still treats me the same”

“Well, doesn’t thatconsiderate of you?”

“Yes But, to put it the other way, it’s just simply that My near 10 years of hard work and everyone’s expectation… it’s not their business so it can’t be helped, but my own sense of loss didn’t match theirs

I don’t hate them for that Just, my oorth that I believed in and other people’s expectation is completely different froives ”

……Just ize She wanted someone to look more heavily on her failure and blame her

The face of Memento Coppelia who defined herself as an error and naively continues to commit sin to receive punishment flickers in his head

“Ever since, I start to skip school and go outside playing games

My father orried about ht me a Ramiel, and I was moved the first time I played 『CtG』 I was able toinjured I was hooked for a while, but, exactly because it’s so realistic I was able to feel its faint different with reality It clearly reminded me of the fact that I won’t able to freely move my body like this in the real world I iradually lessens

After that, I start to play fighting game”

Finally it all connects…… But on other hand, Clamp felt oddities in her calm and objective manner of speech up to this point Let alone the fact that it’s co from Sakura who let her emotion taken better of her in past

Yusra’s voice continues to flow indifferently

“It has the right sense of distant It’s way different froht, and I was able to vigorously use my eyes and hand

And, just like Judo, it seeured out the rule and theory of it I’m undefeated, and people will start to praise reat It was a perfect replacement

But, for it to be a replace but a lie

That’s why, in order to not notice that lie, in order to feel good, I desperately play gaaht, I’ll be able to think the two as the sa

Yet, one day, I lost to a person who lacks of motivation”

“Eeerr about, it’s not like I’……”

“Then that means, I lost to a both tiuy”

……If I apologize here ht, so he continue to listen silently

“Ever since, every day I go to the arcade and do CPU fight using Push Yaoskichi, fight Push Yasokichi using Push Yasokichi, analyze Push Yasokichi, and train myself with Push Yasokichi toall went to waste”

“Sorry…… really, sorry……”

“It’s okay I didn’t want to meet you either way”

“Eh……? But, you──”

“The truth is I was afraid of losing again I was afraid to lose the 『replacement』 I just found But, even so, if I run away from you, then I will notice my own lie

I was looking for you while hoping to never ain

In other words, I was lying”

Kanna Sakura, the girl who had lost the thing she devoted her whole life to froames in order to fill the emptiness in her heart

As result she became timid and was afraid to lose it once more, and it makes her obsessed in and lose… and Yuu had threatened that by fluke That’s why she must pretend to chase after Yuu

“……If we fight oncemy main character, you will surely win”

Even though he doesn’t think so, he had no option but to say it

“You’re a genius Your great Kinect visual acuity, reflex, area grasping ability…… you have talents that norainst you because I just happen to have a nice ti One out of thousand chances, you in

Your skill blows andYou’re… even if you’re not obsessed with games, you’re still a person who can open the new door to unlimited possibilities”

That’s why there is no reason for you to think so hard That hat he wanted to say

“Don’t mind that anymore”

Easily

“It’s already over, after all”

She cut it off As if, the story of the girl known as Kanna Sakura, never existed to begin with — she cut it off

In fact, the current Yusra, had severed herself away from the past she has spoken of Her behavior and tone of voice were nothing like those coirl he e so much in merely a week Is she still even connected to her, that one more “Sakura”?

After that, Clamp finally reached the place where he can find