Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 7 (2/2)
Identify Identify who? —Of course, it’s Rust Jigsaw’s real self
But, he shelved aside the question ‘How on earth do we do that?’ and followed after the braid which swayed on the back of her maid outfit
Blood Leopard headed towards the elevator at a fast hile paying close attention to their surroundings As soon as she pushed the Down button and they got into the lift, she talked on rapidly in a low voice
“Earlier, I inflicted continuous dasaw’s neck When the sensation of pain has been sti ti Burst Out We’re looking for a person who is displaying behavior that indicates such pain in the vicinity of the shop’s entrance”
“……U-Understood”
That was a very terrifyingmethod But certainly, that may be the only possible method to strike some kind of mark onto an enemy’s real body while within Accel world
Once the elevator stopped on the first floor, Haruyuki walked out while gulping a theaze flew left and right with minimum rossed as they stared at the old-fashi+oned screen monitors
Haruyuki and Pard-san escaped fro into the busy congestion of people on the street After quickly exchanging glances, they silently separated left and right
Heading left down the street, Haruyuki concentrated all of his nerves on the dozens of people passing by in his field of vision
A woa at the roadside and absorbed in their chatting Ahurryingly—
Haruyuki’s eyes were drawn to the back of a boy that was visible just for a moment on the other side of the crowd
The reason for that was because he could see the boy’s white neck without a Neuro Linker equipped to it As Haruyuki focused his eyes on hily pressed his raised left hand down on the right side of his neck
—Is that him!?
Quickening his pace, Haruyuki ran after the boy as receding away froray stadium jacket Faded-colored jeans A leather cap on his head Overflowing hair that was a dark brown
The boy was hanging his head doards and heading in the direction of the station at a quick pace While applying his left hand to his neck, he suddenly swiped out his right hand through the air in order to push aside a passerby
Haruyuki looked over his shoulder for an instant in order to call out to Blood Leopard, but her maid outfit was blocked by the crowd and couldn’t be seen The instant he reluctantly turned to look forward again—
“Please come to our shop[4]!”
Along with that cute-sounding voice, a palht before his eyes and his path was obstructed As he raised his head with a start, he saw in front of hi a shop so holo-leaflets, but Haruyuki couldn’t see any of them since he wasn’t connected to the Global Net
Haruyuki shook his head with a ‘No thank you’, and pushed forward in order to avoid her palm However
“Ah…Huh…?”
He couldn’t see hiray stadium jacket had disappeared
He picked up his pace while biting his lip with the thought of ‘daaze in every direction But, the boy appeared to have turned down some corner, and no matter how far Haruyuki went, he couldn’t see him He retraced his steps in a panic and this time looked down the narrow alleyways on either side, but he couldn’t find him as expected
“……”
As Haruyuki reluctantly stopped and bit his lip, the passerbys pushed him aside as if he was in the way But their expressions didn’t register in Haruyuki’s eyes either Only the self-reproach and regret of having lost the clue that he had finally grasped spread bitterly through his chest
“It’s still a good job even if you only saw his back”
Although Blood Leopard told hiether, Haruyuki was not able to raise his face for a while as he leaned against the wall of a building
“…I’h you did so much, Leopard-san”
Self-loathing over not being useful at all during both the duel and the subsequent pursuit weighed heavily on Haruyuki’s shoulders
Then, Haruyuki felt a hand get placed on top of his ruffled hair
“You also worked hard”
“…Eh…”
As he unconsciously raised his head, this older woave soht smile on her face, and whispered to him
“That was a splendid battle…I’ll tell the characteristics of the person whose back you saw to the Matchmaker If we can identify his real self when he comes next time, we may be also to find out the secret of the list interception through surveillance of hiic of hoorks, I’ll immediately send the information to you as well”
“…Y-Yes…”
If I consider it like that, a ray of hope has been connected…Is it okay to think that?
While co himself in this way, Haruyuki also finally returned a sh it was perfectly pitiful Pard-san moved her hand from Haruyuki’s head to his shoulder, and then returned his expression and added so else
“Jigsaill definitely not appear again today Besides, it’s tio home soon”
Though she said that, Pard-san also had to be in the eleventh grade at the most, but he still obediently nodded
“Yes”
Then, Blood Leopard brought this night’s adventure to a finish with her usual abbreviated way of speaking
“K, let’s return”
The time had reached 8 PM, and after they left the electronics district which getting increasingly bustling and got onto the bike in the parking lot, the two of the here
After suddenly returning to the Loop 7 fro, Pard-san then took hiinami
After he got her to let hi “Here is fine” once they could see the overhead structure of the Chuo Line[5] and he returned the helain bowed deeply
“Umm…Thank you very much, really…I ion…”
Then, Blood Leopard sihtly shook her head
“Since Akihabara BG is an important place to me, this is already my problem as well Also…”
After she stopped speaking and looked away for an instant, the Burst Linker wearing aexpression
“…I wanted to givethe Chro», thank you…”
“Eh……”
“I want you to always stay as her friend from now on as well”
And then, Blood Leopard gave a clear smile for the first ti herself with her hele bike suddenly made a U-turn to the opposite lane and left towards the north with a frightful energy and vigor
After seeing her off until her bike’s taillight was indistinguishable from the other cars, Haruyuki bit his lip hard with a welled-up feeling that had been delayed by a ti, and once more bowed very, very deeply
When he returned to his e on the floor of his roo himself down
—I wonder how things went on Taku’s side
As he thought that, he consideredit was also tough The physical and hed down on his back
He remained motionlessly like that for a while, but his eyelids were becoot up He couldn’t sleep here He needed to talk with Takumu while memories froiven today was completely untouched as well
For the ti a shohile he was at it, he warmed up a frozen seafood casserole in thefor it to cook, he connected his Neuro Linker to the Global Net, and made a Voice Call to Takumu
‘Hey, Haru’
The voice that replied back was no different from usual, so Haruyuki let out a relieved breath for the ti
‘Hi…Are you okay? Did perfectly learn and acquire the thing today?’
When he tiht speech, a hint of a bitter sh the connection
‘Hey, hey, whatever the circu tih I say that, I did stay there for a full week, though…’
‘T-Then, did you successfully acquire mind power…?’
‘Hmm’
A short mumble
‘It's still far fro said Even so, I’ve grasped the gist of it’
‘I see Since you follow the principle of perfection, you would probably dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field alone and self-train for many years!’
Haruyuki said that while letting out a sigh of relief, and Takuain
‘I really don’t have that kind of energy left More irasp so about the secret of Dusk Taker’s list interception?’
‘There was kind of an unexpected development on that…’
Haruyuki recounted the series of events that occurred after he left the cake shop’s radio-wave interception roo Blood Leopard as simply as possible Even so,
‘……H all by ain on a date with an older woman’
After Takuitatedly
‘I-It wasn’t like that at all! B-Besides, even you were together with Niko for an entire week…’
‘Sorry, but she only coached h great pain, she toldthe Enemy and then disappeared on me’
‘Is…Is that so…’
Before the conversation went in an even stranger direction, Haruyuki forcibly returned to the subject at hand
‘More importantly, back to the topic of the list interception Since I blundered in those circusaw», noe can only wait for inforer’
‘The holy place of duels…huh I’ve heard ru field’
‘Neither the around prices, though’
‘If it weren’t for this situation, I’d also like to go there and fight, but…’
Pausing a little, Takumu then sent over a sympathetic voice
‘Regardless of the result, I think you did well, Haru Good job today Noe just have to hope that the saw uses soon’
‘That’s…right Thank you’
‘Since I brought Haru’s uht? Then, see you at school tomorrow’
Letting out a sigh as the communication was cut, Haruyuki took out the casserole that had finished heating and ate it by himself
He then tidied up the table and began doing his homework in his rooht away
After having defeated Noule day yesterday and then dueled right away the next day, he was co with Takumu who had mastered mind power He had expected—no, anticipated such a development somewhere in his heart
However, regrettably, taking tilected the situation for a single day, just that would increase the time that Noumi was connected with Chiyuri It was unbearable for hi with each other, even if it were only a conversation of a feords
Haruyuki shook his head repeatedly and tried to focus his mind on only the holo- in front of hireat pain and trouble, the thing that eighing heavily on his heart wouldn’t go away
As ifHaruyuki’s impatience—
That day, on the evening of April 17th, the tag teaed debut in Accel World Haruyuki was told about it the next day by Takumu
The two of theinami, but instead in the shi+njuku area, thetea ability» to Dusk Taker who possessed the ultie firepower», was literally invincible and crushed all types of duelers one after another
Nouical type that actively used Chiyuri as inferior in offensive power as bait and then the enehtered by his flamethrower There were no blind spots in his cold-heartedness as he didn’t e attacks sometimes either, and the Burst Linkers that first dueled the
After two of the ed the team, Dusk Taker’s name became famous in Accel World with a shock that exceeded the appearance of Silver Crow half a year ago
References
↑ Here Haruyuki stutters over the ”K” abbreviation, which he copies from Pard-san
↑ Good Job
↑ Good Game
↑ What she actually says here is よろしくお願いしまーす!, but I changed the lish
↑ One of the major railway lines in japan