Accel World Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1
“Welcome home, Onii-chan!”
When he got holy walked half way down the hall to his roo fro room
Haruyuki automatically responded with a slur
“I am back”
He walked another one, two steps, then, on the third step he suddenly put on the brakes
‘- Huh?’
‘What was that just now?’
In Haruyuki’s awareness, for Arita Haruyuki’s 13 years and 10 months of life from birth up till now, he should be an only child Instead of feeling displeasure, he was supposed to be thankful for being lucky, was he actually unconsciously very lonely, and started hearing things?
Even so, it would not be ‘Onii-chan’ Even in a cute girl’s voice Is this an urban legend of «Imouto» or what?
While Haruyuki was having self doubts in an unnatural pose, he again heard an improbable sound
‘Funfuun’, kind of huht slipper sounds Not just those, sorant smell too Illusion smell? Do such words exist?
He dropped his school bag frorees, and then stiffly walked towards the living room
Then he saw a e too
At the left side upon entry, usually, its original purpose was not put to much use, at that kitchen space
Around 10 years old A surprisingly sli some elementary school uniform that consisted of a white blouse and a navy blue skirt with shoulder straps, and above those was a pink apron Reddish hair with stails on both sides, under a smooth and round forehead, the face could only be said to be «innocent» Maybe of slight mixed blood, the e eyes were reddish-brown To say the full impression in one word -
‘Angel? Spelled like that?’
Having lost his thinking ability, Haruyuki was just staring while spaced out, the girl glanced at him then said with a cute smile
“I aht now, please wait a bit more, Onii-chan”
“Uwaa!”
Haruyuki did a delayed screa room door While unable to understand the situation, he just poked the top part of his face out
The girl tilted her head in wonder, soon after she gave another smile, and turned around to peek into the oven Her red hair with two pigtails swung softly, and shone fro from a
After co this far, Haruyuki finally detere
For daydreairl’s existence ay too real This rah detailed model layered on Haruyuki’s view, information like sounds and smells were fed to him It is unknoho did this imitation for whatever reason -
Since, there could not be an «Imouto»
There was no need to be afraid of a polygon fake While Haruyuki was thinking that in his ht hand to the «I
Then, he pinched the freckled cheek, and pulled
For the Neuro Linker that conals, at sight and sound level limit, virtual reality that’s hard to tell from reality can bethe whole human is the best it can do
However, for the other senses, especially the sense of touch, it is hard to digitize, or research is slow So like a «Human cheek», the skin texture, muscle resistance, and contraction in reaction type of complicated virtual sense is impossible to perfectly recreate So, if he did that, then his fingers will return a lifeless gu -
“Wh, wha ar yo doin ~”
“Uu, uwaaaaa!?”
Haruyuki shouted, let go of his hand, juerator
It’s perfect
Soft, s and vivacious, that can only be said to be perfect «feeling of pulling a 10 year old girl’s cheek» - up till now he had never experienced this - occurred on his fingers
While being stared at by the suddenly outraged girl with round cheeks, Haruyuki extended his right hand towards the Neuro Linker at his neck, reht off
From his view, time, calendar, application icons and AR information disappeared
The girl did not disappear
‘Haruyuki, sorry’
That starting e from his mother, he finally noticed that it was left in the home server, he put the Neuro Linker back on, and stood there listening
[- sorry, but ill be taking care of a relative’s child for two or three days You know right, Nakano’s Saitou-san, ency overseas trip, like I just said, I too will be going to Shanghai today I will return three days fro happens, send an email, see you]
Hisdepartht, once in a while she flew overseas and left his For that, howwith the man she went out with, he did not know If the divorce 7 years ago wasn’t because his father cheated on her, Haruyuki would have thought that it was strange that he was left in her care
So, since Haruyuki was in elementary school, he was continually left in the care of the Kurashi+ma house two floors down in the same apartment complex - that is Chiyuri’s home
Chiyuri’s mother and father always kindly welco bothered even once, he would have felt very bitter Without any place to go, he would have grown up and become a child ten times more bullied than he was now
While thinking about those, Haruyuki peeked at Saitou-san’s childbusily in the kitchen
After the oven tiirl opened its door and pulled out a ly It seerance were cookies
She carefully e plate covered with cooking paper, then she relaxed with a sigh
Holding the plate with both hands, she turned around, and looked up at Haruyuki
“Uht Haruyuki onii-chan would be hungry when he returned so”
A ht
‘I see, this child too, felt uneasy about whether the «onii-chan» she was left in care of showed a bothered face or not I airl I met for the first time, there’s no reason for me who is older to feel scared’
While feeling some pain inside, Haruyuki tried his best to put up a smile and said
“Th thank you I a”
Doing so, the girl too, s
“Umm, I am, Saitou Tomoko Elementary school 5th year We haven’t seen each other for otten I think onii-chan and me are second cousins Umm I am unworthy, but please look after me”
While holding the plate, she bowed, that lands open wide
However he soon reed to return a barely understandable greeting
“Yes, err, I I am Arita Haruyuki, h-here also, p-please take care of me, Saitou-san”
The instant reply of ‘Tomoko is fine’ and s far away back to normal
Nakano’s Saitou-san, about that, all he re this kind of relative For a parent’s cousin, that was normal
“Y, you are also a single child?”
Hearing that, Tomoko nodded
“There is just father and o on a business trip, I said I was fine by ht me here from school, and then left for Narita”
To the plate of cookies on the table, which confir for Haruyuki
“Ah, then, you haven’t met my mother”
“No I have only been given an instant key for onii-chan’s house”
That was very fortunate If it was that mother, she would have shown Tomoko a 100 bothered face without hesitation
- However
‘Then, if it’s like that Thatalone with this girl’
‘No no, you don’t need to panic, you fool The opponent is just an elementary 5th year child She and I are a whole two years apart Two years Whole? Is that whole?’
Without noticing Haruyuki’s panic attacks, Tomoko said ‘Please wait till it cools’, then after another ss in the sink, at the sa some water, and after just a few minutes, she returned with a tea tray Clearly, she’s already more familiar with this kitchen than Haruyuki
Girls are incredible, after thinking that, Haruyuki shook his head A child, the opponent is just a child
However the cookies, were so delicious that they could be sold just like that in a shop
After eating nine of the so-so big cookies, Haruyuki wondered how many years it had been that he had eaten someone’s handmade sweets, and sipped the tea Tomoko poured for him
On the other side of the table, his red-headed second cousin blew on her cup with a serious face Each of those gestures, were si feeling
“Thanks for the food They were d-delicious”
Haruyuki soe smile of relief
“Really, I a, I orried”
“S-sorry I was eating in a daze”
“That’s true”
With ufufu laughter, she extended her hand in a half-raised posture, and took a cookie crumb that was stuck to Haruyuki’s cheek
Then she threw it in her ain
Zing, noticing a strange sound effect in his brain, Haruyuki wiped around his mouth in panic
“W, well then, err th, that is, what should we do now? Wa, want to play ga froo”
After saying so, he remeraphic type
However fortunately, Tohtly shook her head
“Well, I don’t play too ames I have a bit of trouble with Full Dive”
“I, I see”
Haruyuki looked at her after saying so, on her small neck above the top blouse button, he belatedly noticed that the current era's absolutely necessary social tool, the Neuro Linker, was not there
Indeed, there are fa the Neuro Linker permanently The unlimited Global Net is a hothouse for many different kind of crime Even with the parental control functions, it’s difficult to block 100 of the harmful information
If they only use sight and sound mode for daily school classes, it’s reasonable for them to be scared of full dive that cut all five senses Then what should they do, while desperately thinking, his eyes finally stopped at the large panelroom, Haruyuki pointed to that
“Th then, want to watch a movie on that? Even for old 2D software, they are pretty fun”
However, this tihtly, and shyly said
“Umm Instead of that, can we talk? I want to learn about onii-chan’s middle school”
She then stood up, walked around the table, and sat beside him
Anurtured anti-female field activated at that moment, and Haruyuki moved back in reaction His chair leaned, about to make him fall to the left, he flapped both arms to balance himself
Toinal position with a bang
“Onii-chan, you have a pretty cute side to you”
‘- Uwaa’
While blowing bubbles from his mouth, Haruyuki lowered himself deeper into the bathtub
On hisThe bathtub is big too, so Haruyuki’s huge body fit in it with no proble whiff of the bathwater soap scented steas, then exhaled it slowly
Even though his speech ard, his rare long speechwith the curry rice dinner Tomoko cooked, he calculated that he had spent four hours total speaking He was strangely impressed that he had so many stories to talk about from his everyday life
In the end, starting with the Umesato middle school’s different systems, various episodes with his two childhood friends, to his «most important person», that is the black clothed upperclasss he did not mention, was the bullied incident that continued till a few o, and - the «other world» related information
To those talks that he thought certainly were not interesting, Tohed with a comment
Is this the feeling of having a sister? Haruyuki tried to get a hold on it
At the sa a certain doubt
It’s just - too perfect One day after returning home from school, a little sister suddenly appeared, baked cookies andto talk with onii-chan’ Beyond that, they will be living with just two of them for three days?
Haruyuki was not brought up in such a pure way that he could accept this rare event that fell on him
However, even if this incident had a back side to it, ould have done it and for what reason? And how should he go about to check it?
After thinking for a while, Haruyuki raised his top half from the bath, and took the aluminum silver Neuro Linker from the corner rack
Even though it ater proof, he wiped his neck of water just in case, and put it on froether, and locked around his neck
After turning it on, the start-up logo shone in front of his eyes, and after twenty or so seconds of brain connection check, the virtual desktop opened Moving his right hand finger quickly, he opened the Arita home server
In the data storage, Haruyuki thought of going into the family album, but he hesitated In recent years they haven’t taken any family photos, but in there before Haruyuki became so rounded - when his father and ether, there were lots of their fas, he would rather die than look at
Going back up to the home server lobby, he opened the connection to the external net
A few solid access gates popped up These were all of the Arita relatives’ home nets Of course you cannot fish for data as you like, but you can leave es or check the relatives’ public schedules
However, the access gate with «Nakano’s Saitou-san» hoes only showed recent reports of fa pictures, he checked them out, but the only connections were from his mother’s family, a few uncles and aunts, it did not cover their cousins
For a moment, Haruyuki looked away from the desktop towards the bathrooht sounds fro roo faed hio out If the reason for his long bath was due to doubt if she was his real second cousin, even more so
He looked back to the desktop again, the access gate that was floating in the center - his mother’s family home net, he opened it
He ignored the faate connecting to the internal net Of course a login confirers
There, he entered the ID and password he got froed, if the other side asked histrouble after his mother found out that he stole her ID, but he did not think that his village born grandparents would check their hos
But of course, he must quickly finish what he had to do Haruyuki hurriedly dived into his mother’s family home net, and opened the album folder
He was overwhelmed by the number of pictures from all the years, but he found the era and nuue randfather’s birthday, a lot of Arita fareeted «Nakano’s Saitou-san» at that time If it’s like that, then five years or so old Tomoko should be there
His search was soon over, and a few thumbnails were stacked
He flicked each with his finger
Not this, not this either ah, around here The next one was bingo
“Onii-chan♪”
Suddenly, a song like voice caht side, Haruyuki turned his head in reaction
Then, he froze with his right finger in the air
Not sure when, the bathroom door was opened a crack, on the other side, Toht shoulder shown
From the reddish hair head that arped in a towel, to the slightly shy looking face, then the slender neck and shoulder skin, his view moved down -
“Wha ha”
To Haruyuki as htly pink smile
“Onii-chan, can I join you?”
“To gether that”
“Since, onii-chan is taking so long I got tired of waiting”
With an ehehe s for an answer Haruyuki lowered his body in panic, and shout with his eyes shut tight
“S, sorry, I a out soon so wait a bit more!!”
“It’s okay, we are second cousins”
‘It’s absolutely not okay - !!’
While his brain screaical optical observation system, that is his eyes, betrayed his command and opened When the small bare feet on the ivory tiles entered his view, his breath stopped
Both of his eyes’ focus autoly slender calf draith slippery lines Ss
The end of the legs were barely covered by a pink bath towel, Haruyuki ’, he blamed himself as his eyes moved further up The towel covered a body that did not have too many bumps, his eyes moved pass the cloth that could come off at any moment, and saw smooth skin covered a delicate collarbone
“B but, please don’t stare at me so much”
And finally, the shyly lowered face
Haruyuki co picture shown on his view’s left side
The front line was a group of children including himself Now, he would not knoas who, but fortunately, the pictures in this era used technology that contain embed data
Moving his focus, made names appear and disappear in front of the children
This name, appeared on the 6th person «Saitou Tomoko»
When he stared at it, the child’s face auto the same size as the Tomoko in front of him
Five years old then It is said that girls change, but beco this face in five years
No way
Haruyuki took a deep breath, held it, then let it out
He faced the girl that said she was his second cousin with a vacant expression, and called with a sad smile
“Tomoko-chan”
“What is it, onii-chan?”
“You, are a «New Burst Linker» right?”
The reaction was immediate and real
Tomoko’s cute face, instantly became blank with a surprised look
That face probably was dyed red with soht eye jerked
But as iirl, tilted her head and said with a normal cute voice
“What, onii-chan, what did you say? Burst? What is that?”
“Tan line”
Haruyuki replied with a murmur
“What?”
“Around your neck, there’s a nice tan line Siet it unless you often worn it since birth the Neuro Linker”
Toirl, covered her neck with both hands Then, Haruyuki continued
“There’s a picture frorandfather’s hoh I a it in this situation, you are 10 times cuter”
The girl’s face jerked again, showing a complex expression
Eventually that ht year from the naive face till now
“Geesh”
With her hands on her waist around the bath towel, she clicked her tongue strongly
“I checked the farandfather’s home net, you have too much distrust”
The sharp dig ed to retort
“Y you are too unreasonable You probably faked an email from Saitou-san to my mother, ould you do if my mother checked with them?”
“The email and call from your mother’s Neuro Linker to Saitou-san were all interrupted and redirected to me It took three days of preparation”
“That must be hard work”
While holding the edge of the bathtub, Haruyuki let out an amazed sound
To put a virus in someone’s Neuro Linker, it could only be done with a cable direct connect Probably this girl checked his mother’srooym that his mother frequent
Of course, having a faood, but before that, he was impressed This world has many self proclaimed Linker hackers and wizards, but to leave their safe ho others to do offline extre ones like that
Hearing Haruyuki’s words containing ad smile
Seeing that, Haruyuki continued to voice his guess
“For you to go this far, youto hack my supporter, «that person», that’s too naive For that person, one look and she will know you are a fake, unlike me who took 5 hours I can understand that you cannot win fighting face to face as a Burst Linker since the opponent is that «Black Lotus»”
‘Would you hurry and leave’, while thinking that he said up to that point -
At that moment
The girl’s presence, again changed sharply
Her eyes shot out strong light, with a hint of red like her hair Her glossy lips twisted into a bend, showing pure white teeth
An expression that can only be described as arrogance looked down at Haruyuki, and the girl said in a low voice
“Hey you, what did you say?”
“Eh? Th, that is even if you challenge her face to face”
“Cannot win? Me? That’s why I sneak around and go about this bothersome real hack?”
‘- That’s not it?’
At the sairl’s right hand moved, and took off the towel that was around her head She threw that towel to the floor with a loud thud, then pointed her index finger at him
In the foggy air, he seemed to see that her near deep red hair stood up on ends With her short hair waving like fla voice
“It’s too bothersome, I will force you to listen todown on this «Scarlet Rain»-saet my Neuro Linker!!”
With her index finger waving, she stuck out her thu around in a big move
Then, her right foot that took a step, stepped on the towel that she threw earlier, and slipped
“Nyaa!?”
A high pitched screa in an almost perfect back flip, Haruyuki also shouted
“Uwaa!?”
He hurriedly opened both are However his feet slipped inside the bathtub, so he also fell backward
Splash
With a huge splash sound, a water pillar went up high, that blew up most of the bath towel
When Haruyuki hit the wall behind, he shut his eyes to wait for the pain to pass, then lifted his head to check the situation
He was sitting in the wide bathtub
A red haired girl was riding his flabby stomach as cushi+on Her slender body was held by both of his arms
And also, both of them were completely naked
“U, uwaaaaa!?”
Haruyuki shouted that, then,