Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 3 (2/2)

“Hah…?”

“I’ Because I was in the judo club, I was jealous of the soccer club guys who played around with girls instead”

While looking du with a ‘Uh-huh’, Haruyuki muttered in his mind

—There were at least four i that you’re good-looking, saying that all thethat all the soccer clubthat I’m unpopular

While Haruyuki added to hiree with that last point, Sugeno’s ue continued

“That’s why, I understand that boys your age have a lot of things you don’t kno to deal with I understand very well…Hey, Arita”

Here, the teacher gave off a «leave everything tonod

“If there’s anything you want to tell ht here and now I promise that I’m your ally So, how about it?”

“………”

Haruyuki stared at his face for a few seconds while beco even more dumbfounded

Eventually, he sohts and opened his mouth

“……U-Umm”

“Ooh, what it is? Please tell !”

“Errr…Before that, I’ to record this conversation…”

That had been the second thing that the retted it intensely as soon as he said it Sugeno’s gaping and wide-eyed face quickly turned red from his neck to his cheek to the border of his hair Haruyuki even felt like he heard a ‘clunk’ sound when the reliable older brother-like expression Sugeno had worn until now fell away

“What’s that supposed toyou don’t believe in me!?”

Raising his eyebrows and shouting with an angry look, Sugeno’s neck shrunk But Haruyuki didn’t drive him away anymore more after that and answered back with a mumble

“No, unized by the law that a student has the right to record a one-on-one intervieith a teacher…”

“What law!? What right!?”

Letting out a loud yell that little i

“Don’t you understand that I’ about your sake here!? If you wait until later to talk, your position will only get worse! As it is now, there’s a possibility that it will become a police matter”

His speech was suddenly interrupted as Haruyuki desperately operated his virtual desktop and activated recording mode Haruyuki wasn’t in the newspaper club, so the other person’s acceptance was needed for a recording of the conversation Right now in Sugeno’s vision, a ‘Yes or No’ button for allowing the recording should have appeared

If he pressed the ‘No’ button, then the log would record that that he had refused a legitieno scowled at a point in space with an expression that he couldn’t bear the indignation, but in the end he lifted his finger and stabbed it through the air with a jerk

A [SREC] icon along with a ‘recording starting’ e blinked in Haruyuki’s vision Even so, Haruyuki didn’t have the nerve to think “it’s over” with this, and earnestly shrunk his neck, while Sugeno spoke in a low voice which had increased in hardness

“Arita, I’ll…I will only ask you once On Sunday the 14th, why did yo…you[4], who doesn’t participate in club activities, come to school?”

—It see had had ht

“I wasa friend from the kendo club”

When Haruyuki answered feebly yet instantaneously, Sugeno kept silent Sugeno should also have known that Haruyuki was close with Takumu of the kendo club, and furthermore it was recorded in the local network that Takuone to school in order to talk with Takumu that day in the first place

But Sugeno persisted in his attack while the temple of his forehead twitched

“Is that really all? Can you affirm that there were no other reasons at all? Please look at me in the eyes and answer”

——Well, he’s not a bad person, probably We just don’t seem to be able to understand each other

While thinking that, Haruyuki looked directly at Sugeno’s clear eyes with an upward glance and responded

“That really is all I can affirm it”

“……I see, I understand Then, you can go back now”

After letting out a long sigh that sounded like the sound froeno told him that, so Haruyuki quickly stood up He responded with a “Excusethis room, and then headed towards the door over the shortest distance, pulled it open as minimally as possible and left

Escaping into the hallway, Haruyuki stopped the recording th, and headed towards the classroo that the voice file was saved normally With this, unless new material caed Nonetheless, with the exchange just now, Sugeno’s impression of hile benefit by antagonizing a teacher and it wasn’t Haruyuki’s hobby either to do so, but even so it was out of the question to adetting on Sugeno’s good side

—‘Even so’ Haruyuki thought while cli up the stairs

Even if that fatal video hadn’t been used, the trap that Nou effects like a weak poison The reason was that Noumi himself had committed a crime and hid a miniature camera in the female shower room

As a result, a real peeping atteone to school despite not being in a club was suspected Had Nous this far? No—He couldn’t have

Shaking his head, Haruyuki opened the door of his classroo

Just then, an unco for that filled the classroom went down

“……?”

He looked around in puzzleed at all fro He weaved his way between the students ere gathered in s about a net show or a sports game, and sat down in his seat

At the sah, an inco Voice Call icon flashed in the center of his vision The caller was—Takumu

Barely resisting fro in the back of the classroom, Haruyuki pushed the icon

‘Haru, so bad has happened’

At those sudden first words, Haruyuki responded with thought-speech, though he almost moved his mouth

‘Hah? Wh…what is it, all of a sudden?’

‘A strange ru around About you’

At that point, the communication was cut off without notice At the sa The first bell rang, and now real-time communication between students was prohibited The next time they could call each other was at lunchties as an exception, but school regulations prohibited the contents that were unrelated to schoolwork through these

He thought of just standing up and going directly to Takueno caive up on that He was very interested in what Taku about, but the only ht noas to talk in an «accelerated duel» Since he wouldn’t go that far, there shouldn’t be a serious problem even if he waited until the next break

But—immediately after the end of that lesson

As Haruyuki began to move his hand in order to mail Takumu, two male students blocked the way in front of his desk

He lifted his head with a start as his body reflexively stiffened They were both his classmates, but he could only reht He should have been a regular player in the boys’ basketball club, called Ishi+o if he reht

With a tall figure which didn’t seee as Haruyuki, Ishi+o spoke whilehis mature yet troubled face to the left

“Arita, sorry, but please come with me for a bit”

Haruyuki then noticed that it had become deathly silent at so of surprise in that silence Rather, there was a hint of understanding and consent, as if this was an expected scene

Facing Haruyuki who couldn’t understand the situation and was gathering himself, Ishi+o continued in a low voice that broke towards the end

“I don’t want to have a disagreeable talk in a place like this Even you feel the saht, Arita?”

At the sa as if his sto squeezed

A disagreeable talk The only subject that ca attempt incident

—In other words, before he had noticed it, Ishi+o and the guy next to him, no, the entire class had come to believe with considerable certainty that Haruyuki was the perpetrator of that incident

“Ah…I-I, didn’t…”

While aze diagonally to the left in front of hi to someone

Over there, he saw the for her eyes and clenching her hands on top her desk as if enduring so

As soon as he saw that, Haruyuki thought despite the crisis he was in

—Right this instant, the one that is causing Chiyuri pain isn’t Nouht upon this situation If I show pitiful behavior here, I’ll just be her concerns for Chiyuri Then, at the very least, I have to deal with the situation with resolution right now

Even if it’s just bravado on my part

Taking a deep breath, Haruyuki pushed back his chair with a bang and stood up

“Very well, let’s go”

After Haruyuki gave his short reply, one of Ishi+o’s eyebroitched But he nodded without changing expression and began to walk away

As Haruyuki followed after hi with theht ‘It’s like I’ escorted’, a student stood up slowly at the back of the classroom It was Takumu

His childhood friend whose height rivaled Ishi+o’s sharply narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and tried to take a step forward

Holding hiht hand, Haruyuki quickly shook his head left and right

—I’ll be fine I can get through it by myself

It wasn’t a Voice Call, so those thoughts couldn’t siritted his teeth firmly and sat back down Ishi+o forcefully pulled open the door to the dead silent classroo a loud sound as he did so

The place that Haruyuki was brought to was soe of the rooftop First period had only just ended, so there were no other students there

During his first year here, Haruyuki would make a delivery of bread and juice to delinquent students at this place practically every day While clearly reo over to the antenna tohere the acts of bullying had happened But, Ishi+o stopped him where he was and spoke

“Here should be fine”

Haruyuki blinked, and talked back

“…But, we’re still within sight of the social security cameras here”

“It doesn’t matter”

Spitting that out, Ishi+o stuffed his hands into the pockets of his uniforainst the tall stainless fence

“…Arita, you were suht?”

—Just like Haruyuki expected, that incident was already knoithin the class This was the «strange rumor» that Takumu had mentioned in the Voice Call He’d been careful, but had he been seen by other students when he entered into the counseling room? But still, it was too fast for this information to have spread like this…

While reconsidering that this wasn’t the tis like that, Haruyuki nodded slightly after staring fixedly at Ishi+o and the other boy standing a little ways away from him

“…Yeah”

“Then, it was you You were the one that planted that camera in the female shower room”

“No!”

His response was ih above at Haruyuki as vehe his head, Ishi+o just rubbed his close-cropped short hair, but the other boy spoke out for the first time here

“Well, we can’t say for sure that you did it, Arita But, I don’t think the school would summon a student at this hour without any basis If done poorly, it would lead to complaints instead”

That hot-blooded Sugeno is the exception to that! That guy who said ‘what rights, what laws!?’!

Since Haruyuki was certain they wouldn’t believe that even if he claimed that, he had no choice but to remain silent Then, Ishi+o took one, two steps towards Haruyuki, and spoke in a whisper

“Being released after being receiving a summons is suspicious, but I don’t feel like there’s any evidence But, I can’t leave it alone like this just because there’s no evidence”

Suddenly Ishi+o grabbed Haruyuki’s necktie with his left hand and pulled hier at hie

“Listen, when that cairlfriend was also in the shower room She received an incredible shock, and hasn’t come to school yesterday and today!”

At this point, Ishi+o’s actions were in clear violation of school regulations But, the regular player of the basketball club shook off the other boy’s atteht fist far back

“I can’t forgive you, Arita No matter what, I have to do this!!”

And then, he swung his brandished fist with an inexperienced movement and—

There was a possibility that Haruyuki could avoid it Ishi+o’scompared to the brawl-practiced punches of the students who had bullied Haruyuki before, were aard No, more than that, if Haruyuki used the physical acceleration coht be able to even reverse the situation and beat up Ishi+o here Ishi+o’s face was greatly warped si someone

But of course, Haruyuki neither dodged nor fought back, and si like winning in a braith the power of acceleration was the lowest act, which was even h-pitched sound resounded, and at the same time the impact itself pushed Haruyuki’s body back several steps

If it was the Haruyuki of half a year ago, his heart ing

However, the staggering but still standing Haruyuki sternly looked back at Ishi+o even while feeling a hot ache in his cheek, and shouted

“I’ll say it as many times as I need to, I didn’t do it!!”

Then, Ishi+o clenched his teeth and began to ain, but eventually he loosened it and responded back

“…If that’s proven to be true, you can hit me as many times as you like But…”

Thrusting forward his index finger instead of a fist and the basketball member with close-cropped hair declared it clearly

“If you’re proven to be the culprit, I’ll break your Neuro Linker, so you can’t look at pictures or videos or anything else”

Then, Ishi+o turned his body around, and walked towards the stairs with a long stride while rubbing his right hand with his left hand as if trying to wipe away the re sensation in it The other boy also followed after hi Haruyuki alone on the rooftop

The scene just now should have been clearly recorded by the nued a co an act of violence, despite the circumstances Ishi+o would be suspended from school at the very least, and would also lose his place as a regular in the basketball club

But of course, Haruyuki had no intention of doing that Ishi+o was just another person that had gotten dragged into this Into a whirlpool of nothingness without light or warmth that was created by the cruel plunderer known as Noumi Seiji

After tracing his cheek and confir, Haruyuki wearily headed towards the stairs and typed a e to Takumu

After writing [It wasn’t anything serious, I’ll explain the situation after school, sorry for worrying you] and sending it, he continued and started to send a e to Chiyuri’s address too

But, he stopped his hand just before he did it It was no longer possible to erase Chiyuri’s concerns with just words There was no way to take her back but to destroy the root of it all, Noumi

Takumu immediately responded back with just a word of [Understood] Feeling the worry of his best friend in that concise e, Haruyuki finally let out the tension in his shoulders and headed towards the classroom at a half-run in order to be in time for the next class

Lunch break

As soon as the chi, Haruyuki headed towards the school cafeteria alone

With the third-year students absent, the dining hall was also naturally quite uncrowded co no intention to eat on the rooftop where so unpleasant had just happened, Haruyuki lined up at the self-service counter From the s with eggplant in his pork curry, and confir appeared in front of him

The obaa-chan in the kitchen filled up the curry at super-speed, and when she put the okra out onto the counter, an exact ‘CHARIIIN’ sound rang out

Haruyuki’s gaze naturally e at the east end of the cafeteria But, he didn’t have the courage to burst into that place hite circular tables surrounded by decorative plants and with a clearly different atmosphere, and instead sat down at in the corner of one oftables that were lined up

While picking up his spoon, he looked around his surroundings a little All the students were enjoying theirat Haruyuki—they shouldn’t be

But Haruyuki couldn’t help but feel that all the people here were talking about “The peeping-camera perpetrator has come” with a telepathy-like communication method ‘No, impossible’ is what he said to himself as he tried to deny it, but the unpleasant atmosphere that wasn’t quite outspoken when he entered Class-2C thishad deeply permeated his skin

He stuffed down the curry in order to drive that feeling away, but though he usually became unconditionally happy with just that, the luo away at all

If—

If at this rate, the belief that «Arita of 2C was the perpetrator of the peeping camera incident» took hold of all of the school’s students even without any evidence

Overturning that ht be difficult for even Kuroyukihime, the vice-president of the student council Conversely, Kuroyukihiot dragged doith Haruyuki Even if that happened for argument’s sake, he didn’t think that that person would ever abandon him, but—What if, in the worst case, Kuroyukihime was also looked at with cold eyes because of him? What if that person was alienated within the school like himself last year, and at worst was harassed in some way…?

Haruyuki felt the skin of his entire body shi+ver due to his thoughts

His spoon dropped down onto his plate with a clang, and when he clutched his arly with both hands—

Suddenly feeling a presence, Haruyuki looked up

A group of four, five people that alking somewhere much further away entered his vision

In the Umesato Private Middle School, there exists a scholarshi+p student systeious sports school, so the syste school expenses for club ood results beyond the municipal tournament, but even so it was apparent that there was a clear division for the so-called «scholarshi+p students»

The group that held Haruyuki’s eyes were indeed those few athletic club elites They were regular players of the fe club, and standing a was a small-built student—

That ithout a doubt, the first-year student of the kendo club, Noumi Seiji

The U, but Nouah it should naturally take until the second half of the school year at the fastest for him to obtain scholarshi+p student qualifications, for hiroup after only winning last week’s club tourna

—But, you didn’t obtain that victory with your oer!

Haruyuki unconsciously bit his lip hard At thatat hily turned his eyes in his direction with a casual action

Haruyuki saw the innocent sirl-like well-proportioned face transform in an instant

What appeared from under that mask that came off was a sadistically joyful smile that was cold like a razor that was thinly sharpened to the utmost limit

—How is it Arita-senpai, the feeling of being covered inoff a hill noyour precious things stolen and broken one by one…?

And then Nou his previous innocent sly entered the lounge that was overflowing in dazzling light

Even after his view of him was obstructed by the decorative plants and he couldn’t see hi at the place where Noumi was

It seeer any doubt Noumi was the one who secretlysummoned by the homeroom teacher was spread around the class so quickly No, possibly, he was also the once who inforone to school on Sunday

As a huge anger and a fear that surpassed it welled up from the bottom of his body suddenly, Haruyuki desperately suppressed the urge to hit the table

No I can’t let my heart break here If I do, I’ll just return to the servile et crushed here and sink all the way down into the botto Taku with me as well

—I’ll crawl up from here

Haruyukihis spoon with all his strength

—I’ve faced this kind of adversity et up notowards only the bottom

He stuffed a heap load of curry into his wide-opened mouth, and chewed it forcefully The first-year feazed open- speed

References

↑ Reference to dream mentioned in Volume 1 Chapter 6

↑ A text typeface, like Arial or Times New Roman

↑ Honshu: Main and largest island of japan

↑ Here Sugeno starts saying the informal you ”omae”, but switches to the formal you ”kimi”

↑ Edible herb otherwise known as gumbo