Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 12 (1/2)

Chapter 12

“…Arita, hit me!! Please, hit me!!”

As those words were said over and over again, a shaven head stuck out in front of Haruyuki

The owner of that voice was Ishi+o of the basketball club He was the student who had called Haruyuki to the roof several days ago and given hile punch there

“N-No, it’s fine already Since you understand now”

While also repeating the saain, Haruyuki desperately looked for a way to escape

However, with the location in front of the Class-2C podiu hoht side, there was no path of retreat Further opposite Ishi+o, and had his arms folded with a meek face He was cornered like this

Ishi+o brought his face even closer, and argued vehe his eyebrows in the shape of the character 八

“No, until you hit h there was no proof, I arbitrarily decided that you were the culprit of the peeping video attempt…What’s e even if I was punished for that! Yet, you didn’t say anything to the teachers As things stand, I cannot forgive myself!!”

…Then please hit yourself with your own hands!

While screa that out inside his mind, Haruyuki looked over at Chiyuri and then Takurinning They were enjoying the situation from the bottom of their hearts

—The reason the «peeping caital camera was discovered in the locker room of the female shower room last week, had taken such a sudden reversal of events was all due to Kuroyukihime’s ability

Her plan, which she had executed with a skill and idea that could only make one think of a Network Witch, was actually very simple and ied the records of the peeping ca the exact same as a camera that she had found on the school’s Lost Equipment List

Haruyuki had naturally asked ‘Is it really all right to do so like that’, but Kuroyukihi, ‘The ca will simply become even more unrelated’

If even the serial number was made to match it, there was no room to suspect the fact that that cao And Haruyuki hadn’t been attending this school two years ago Thus, the suspicions that had been laid against hieno had reported that in hoed Haruyuki over to the podium—and so it became this scene

“Come on, hit me, please!”

Gazing at Ishi+o as he shouted that again, Haruyuki murmured in his mind

—Even if you say that, there are Social Ca to ain Rather, Sugeno-sensei, you should be the one to stop this! Why have you been looking at e face!?

However, Ishi+o, ouldn’t stop unless he received a punch, seee

Sing down a sigh, Haruyuki responded in a whisper

“…T-Then, I’ll do it if it’s to the belly instead of the face”

He inwardly added, ‘And if it’s a body blow frole, it won’t be captured by the cameras’

Ishi+o gave a huge s with a ‘Alright, bring it!’

While carefully calculating the caht hand

When he launched a punch with an aard motion, his round fist collided with trained abs, and rebounded back with a ‘POYON’

Showing a seely dissatisfied face for a rinned, said ‘You really are a good guy’, and returned to his seat

…It wasn’t that I held back, rather, I really did put all th into it

Although he was dejected inside his heart, Haruyuki let out a sigh of relief, and also tried to return to his seat

Then, he heard Sugeno’s solemn voice from behind him

“…Arita I am truly sorry I don’t mind, so please hit sensei too!!”

——Please give me a break!!

Haruyuki let out that unvoiced scream

Nonetheless

He still couldn’t say that everything was settled with this There was still a big and also far tooHaruyuki

That is, the negotiations with Nou video from in front of the shower rooo to school with peace of mind

As soon as lunch break came, Haruyuki went to the third floor where the first-year classrooms were

He waited near the stairs, and after severalhair that he ree

Nou cheerfully with several of his classmates As the distance between them shortened, Haruyuki’s hand sweated and his heartbeat sped up

—Three days ago, I fought a battle with him where we threw all our hate at each other to the utmost limit

—And then I mercilessly took away his Brain Burst I co he persisted in

Even while Haruyuki thought that, Nou eyelashes blinked, and his eyes caught Haruyuki standing in a corner of the hallway—

And then, his eyes passed over him

“……!?”

Haruyuki’s breath was taken away To be ignored, even though he had expected a glare or insults

No, it was also different fro him either

It was as if Nou As if Haruyuki were only just another of the hundreds of students that attended the same school as him

Haruyuki unconsciously took a step forward, and called out to Noumi as he was about to pass by in front of him

“U-Umm!”

After stopping and looking at Haruyuki once again, Nou face

“Uht?”

“Yes Did you need ?”

What is this? What’s happened to you?

Sing down his confusion with difficulty, Haruyuki moved his stiffened mouth

“Umm, I just want…to t-talk”

Nouain put on a face that seemed suspicious, and then he turned to his friends and told theo on ahead to the cafeteria without him

He looked at Haruyuki again, and—

“What is it?”

“Eh…err…”

The short-statured first-year student before Haruyuki, who he didn’t think was putting on an act, merely looked in curiosity at this second-year student that had called out to him There wasn’t any other emotion on his well-featured face at all

Could this be a different person? So?

While thinking that, Haruyuki gave his na

“Umm, I’m Arita Arita Haruyuki, in second year…”

Then, Nou to re

“…Arita, senpai…Ah, yeah, that’s right You played a net game with me…”

“…T-That’s…right, but…”

Strange Soe here

Looking at the stock-still Haruyuki, Nouh his memories even harder—

Spoke

“Err…That gaain…?”

The intense fear and dread that Haruyuki felt at this reatest since he had become a Burst Linker A shudder, colder than the tiain the Ars had been stolen by Dusk Taker, crawled violently down his back

—His memories have been suppressed!

There was no other way to think of it than that

Noumi Seiji had had h some kind of means

He didn’t remember anymore That he had been the «plunderer» Dusk Taker That a death roup And even the existence of Accel World

Perhaps grasping whatever expression was on Haruyuki’s face, Noumi smiled as if troubled

“Ah, did you possibly come here to invite ames anymore…”

Haruyukian earnestly apologizing face

Just before a puzzled expression appeared on Nouain, Haruyuki moved his mouth into the form of a smile with difficulty

“Is…Is that so? Then…it’s fine Umm…also About the video of me…”

“Eh, video…? I’m sorry, what is that?”

“……No, sorry, it’s nothing”

After shaking his head a little, Nouain and quickly bowed his head

“Is that so? Then, I’ll be going now”

And then, the boy who had once been called by the name of Dusk Taker turned around, went down the stairs at a fast pace, and disappeared from Haruyuki’s view

Stu his sweat-covered back on the hallway’s wall, Haruyuki shut his eyes strongly

Ex-Acceleration Ability Users cannot interfere with Accel World in any way

Now, Haruyuki finally understood theof those words from the mysterious avatar Black Vise

Burst Linkers who lost Brain Burst lost all memories related to Accel World Therefore, they couldn’t do anything They wouldn’t try to do anything

Nou driven his «Parent», his real life older brother, into going through the forced uninstallation Yes, he recognized it at the ht Field That hiserased That, in thatan «ex-Burst Linker»

“That…That’s just…”

As Haruyukia pale face in front of the first-year student classrooely

After school

At the usual table in the student’s dining lounge, Haruyuki explained what he had learned to Takumu and Kuroyukihime There were no students in their vicinity at all

He could still feel his fear and dread even as he explained it Because he feared that the Brain Burst progra all his speech, and would also erase Haruyuki’s memories the instant it detected keywords such as «uninstall», «memory», and «erase»

Therefore, afterall of the rapidly

Even after they finished hearing everything, the other two did not speak for a while

After being silent for a full thirty seconds, Kuroyukihi her lips, she spoke in a whisper

“…You two must have alondered about it About why Accel World’s existence had continued to be completely hidden over the span of seven years”

“……Yeah”

Haruyuki nodded

“If it were me and I lost Brain Burst, I would beco about it on the net or thewith me…”

“Hey, hey, are you talking about me?”

Kuroyukihiave a faint wry smile, put her cup down, and continued

“But, well…there would always be those who think like that…and those ould put those thoughts into action But various reasons for why that doesn’t happen have been conjectured Because a child won’t be believed by the mass media no matter what they say without proof Because a system that deletes all information about Brain Burst is encroached into all networks And there is one more conjectured reason…I also heard about it on the rumor level”

Her black pupils narrowed sharply A voice that was even quieter flowed out from her

“…That Brain Burst, when it vanishes, takes along with it the memories of it as well But…I didn’t believe it unless I could see it with my own eyes, no, I didn’t want to believe it However, to think that it really is…the truth”

Once again, silence

Taku his kendo clothes as he was in the middle of a rest time in the kendo club’s activities, asked in a stifled voice

“However, master In the first place, is it even possible? That…one application could erase the user’s, no, people’s memories…”

“—Theoretically, it’s not impossible, or so I’ve heard”

Kuroyukihi at their three devices placed on top of the table

“The Neuro Linker[1], strictly speaking, does not access brain as a biological organ”

“Eh…t-then, how does it connect to it…?”

She turned her gaze towards the frowning Haruyuki, and looked straight into his eyes with her jet-black pupils

“I don’t understand it perfectly either, but In our brain cells, there are soht that is the essence of human consciousness is confined in there The Neuro Linker reads and rewrites the data itself that is preserved by the spin and vector of those quantuhts At that level, sensory information and memory information are no different than a form of data”

“……In other words, the Neuro Linker reads and rewrites our memories in the same way as it lets us see and touch the virtual world…is what you mean”

When Haruyuki said that as if groaning, Kuroyukihily

“It’s all hypothetical Besides, I cannot believe, even if it is theoretically possible, that such a function would be equipped into the Neuro Linker, which is a commercial device —I can’t believe it, but…”

—Noumi Seiji has actually lost his memories

No one voiced it out loud, but the three of the that

After another span of silence, Kuroyukihime spoke decisively

“It’s pointless to discuss this any further If ant to know the anse have no choice but to reach Level 10 and ask the developer of Brain Burst”

“…That’s true That was our goal fro, after all…”

After nodding, Haruyuki then timidly asked Takumu