Accel World Vol 5 Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 6

After using the command “Burst Out” to return to the real world from the territory battle field, Haruyuki hesitated before opening his eyes as he felt gravity press down on his body

He stayed still like that for about 10 seconds, but then finally raised his head up

Currently 6 PM, his ho roohter that he exchanged with the others just a o on the other side seemed like an illusion

The roo was off The sliver of the evening sky that could be seen frohtly opened curtains was a dull lead color The only thingwithin his field of vision was the thin second hand -type clock on the wall, which was practically just an accessory in this day and age

Haruyuki let out a sh and slumped back his body on the sofa

Their legion tried as much as possible to Dive for the weekly territory battles on Sunday after gathering together in real life, but when they didn’t have the spare time to do so, they instead participated froh a single battle in Brain Burst took only 18 seconds to finish, having to fight defensively in more than ten consecutives battles, at the very minimum, made it come out to closer to ten minutes when you included the intervals between battles Today had turned out to be one of those days they each Dived separately, due to Kuroyukihi unable to leave the student council room —Of course, Sky Raker was the only one that participated from a separate location al close to shi+buya

Haruyuki could never co in the territory battles from his home by himself The reason was si been absorbed in fighting ten consecutive fierce battles and sharing the joy of victory or regret of defeat with his friends, he always felt an intense loneliness when he suddenly woke up alone in his empty home

It wasn’t the kind of extre completely alone that he’d felt before he’d ra if it were so Back then, when he ran out of school as soon as school finished every day and returned ho hia with others in the real world—no, just being in the same place as other people was painful to him back then

Alht months

It had only been that long since he had become a Burst Linker And yet, Haruyuki now felt from the bottom of his heart that he wanted to ion that he had just parted with a few o No, he didn’t care if it ith Niko, Pard-san, Ash Roller, or even Frost Horn He wanted to exchange fists in a «duel», to coallery, to s

“……What’s happened to me?”

Mur that, Haruyuki buried his face in a sofa cushi+on Suddenly, so with the default sound effect of his hoht hand right aithout looking at the contents It was probably an autoe froain He quickly forgot about it and iined the continuation of the question he’d asked within his mind

—Have I becoer, or weaker?

Considering how his fear towards other people had decreased, it could be said that he had becoer However, that had also increased his dependence on others at the same time

When he’d been alone every day, there was nothing else he could lose

But now, Haruyuki feared from the bottom of his heart that the personal relations he had obtained in these last eight months would break

In particular, the one thread that was firmly connected to the very bottoht outwards fro like black silk—

Even though he knew this kind of thinking was dangerous, he couldn’t stop hi face-down on the sofa within his gloo with his arms folded over his head

What the end of the thread connected to was, of course, the person that had saved Haruyuki and was his «Parent», Kuroyukihime

Kuroyukihime was currently a third-year at Umesato Middle School And half of this year’s first semester had already passed In other words, there were ten months left After only 300 raduate fro about which high school she would be going to after that He was too afraid to ask

Haruyuki could feel the actual ti by little by little even at this very ht froht processes a thousand ti ten months in Accel World with Kuroyukihime On the other side, ti up to 820 years for the eight months to pass by his sih to him

“……Senpai”

He let out that whisper and grasped the ends of the cushi+on harder

“Hmm, what is it?”

He i face-down, Haruyuki repeated the sainary Kuroyukihiain

“Senpai…”

“Like I said, what is it, Haruyuki-kun?”

Her voice was extre a sense of realism, and Haruyuki heavily turned his body to the left, in a mood to see how far the limits of his delusional poent

And there, right before his eyes, were two legs wrapped in black stockings, just fifty centimeters away from the sofa

After blinking several times, he shi+fted his vision upwards There was actually a superb knee-length skirt there Above that, there was a jet-black short-sleeve shi+rt with a damp luster and a dark-red ribbon

Her slender neck with a piano-black Neuro Linker attached, her long black hair that flowed doitchingly, and even her slightly tilted white face that possessed a beauty detached fro sense of reality as they filled Haruyuki’s vision

……Wow, I really can’t ht of my mind’s delusional power To think I would see such a clear illusion Or was this developed froe data in my memories while I was unconscious? But, do I really have such a high resolution photo of her entire body…?

While thinking that, Haruyuki nonchalantly held out his right hand and used it to grab and pull on the hem of her pleated skirt

Even the realistic texture of the cloth and the mass and elasticity of the body beyond that were transht ‘Let’s see now’

“Nyaaah!?”

He heard that screaht hand was smacked away And then

“Wha…Wha are you doing, you idiot!!”

A thunderous reprimand rained down on him, and at the same tirasped his cheek with three fingers each andpower

“Hii…Hafueh!?”

At the same time as he let out a scream and exclamation of shock, Haruyuki realized

This was the real person Not an illusion, not a photo, and not a solid AR ie either The actual Kuroyukihi rooer But why, and how? Did she teleport here? Or maybe even quantum coherence[1]?

After about thirty seconds of pulling on Haruyuki’s cheeks, Kuroyukihian lecturing him

“Hey now, I properly rang the door chime, you know! And since you unlocked the door without even saying hello, I had no choice but to sireeted you by voice when I was at the door!”

“……Hah?”

Certainly, when he buried his head into the cushi+on and thought about this or that with his ar his ears, he had sensed that soht it was surely a mail from his mother and had pushed the confir at what it said, but apparently it had actually been a notificationfor the intercom

After sus on the sie chie the ringtone without fail, Haruyuki then straightened his back and opened his ain

“E-Err……W-Welcome, senpai”

“H”

Still pouting so the heood that he had pulled it doards just then, since if he had lifted it up, his punishment would definitely not have ended at just a cheek pull

As he thought that to hiht processes were still turning strangely That wasn't the problem, nor was how Kuroyukihi he had to solve first was,

“……S-So, umm…why did you suddenly come over to my place…?”

He timidly asked that question

Based on her unifor on the floor, Kuroyukihime seemed to have coive hi theirafter the territory battle earlier, and she could have send him a mail or called him as well So it h those means

“…Is it about…soree of security to talk about?”

He went ahead and guessed that, but Kuroyukihied her shoulders

“It isn’t soht to coh Takumu-kun and Chiyuri-kun seem to visit you quite frequently?”

As his cheeks started swelling again, Haruyuki shook his head back and forth at high speed

“N-Nononono, that’s not it, that’s not it at all! I-I-I-I’m very happy You can come every day if you like, rather you could even ht I’ht away so please sit doait you’re already sitting I’m sorry!”[2]

Since he was speaking of things that couldn’t be recovered by talking any further, Haruyuki stood up as if rolling off the couch and escaped by dashi+ng to the kitchen From behind him, he heard her say “Please don’t hter, and the instant he heard that, his htly

She hadn’t co the legion, but had si a fellow classuest in his home Like an ordinary middle school student

The instant he thought that, Haruyuki barely held back the smile that tried to break out fro of coffee beans his hly put it into the coffee percolator

While the cloudy sky outside thechanged froht sky, Haruyuki continued talking in an engrossed state

About today’s territory battle About recent information on Accel World About tomorrow’s race

They didn’t stop at topics concerning Brain Burst; ruinami, and in the end even about the 2047 summer model Neuro Linkers announced by all the Neuro Linker-producing co about it all

“…But, I think that the large and high functionality-type Neuro Linkers recently are putting the cart before the horse In the first place, isn’t it meant to be a device that’s et you have it on your neck? And yet, the new Hitas model that came out just recently has an extra carry-use external unit made to attach to it!”

“Fufu, I understand how you feel But, can you say that just by looking at the specs? According to ru the connector and slot connection placed outside the device itself”

“Uuh…N-No, regardless of how ae for Brain Burst duels, right?”

“Hossip that the effect processing is rather gorgeous for players that use the newest Linker…”

“Seriously!? Unfair, that’s unfair!”

“What, it’s not like their percentage of victories go up due to the beauty of their visuals By the way, I’ve also decided to change over to the new Recto model next month”

“Uwah, that’s ay too unfair! S-Senpai, can’t I also use yours a bit…?”

“Hey, hey, you can’t use the Linkers of other people Even if I did lend it, I don’t think it’d fit on your neck, hahaha…”

So much fun

Just thinking of having Kuroyukihi and laughing with a coffee cup in one hand, Haruyuki could taste a feeling of happiness that rose all the way to the heavens

Haruyuki continued engrossing himself in the joy of communication known as a face-to-face conversation in the real world, which was a great luxury nowadays and was also so he still hadn’t been able to do well out of nervousness half a year ago That’s why he wasn’t able to notice it The faint hint of sadness that ran through Kuroyukihime’s eyes every once in a while

After two hours

This span of time that Haruyuki wished would continue forever was interrupted by a low gru sound from his stomach

“Ah…It’s already this late I overstayed my visit all the way to dinner time”

After Kuroyukihime said that, Haruyuki shook his head frantically

“N-No, it’s fine! My story at all”

GUUH

His body betrayed his‘This is why I hate this body!’, he covered his sto with the involuntary actions of his internal organs was quite difficult

“Fufu, it’s only natural Since you participated greatly in today’s territory battle, you probably used up a lot of energy You should replenish yourself fully for tomorrow”

Sh he very much wanted to say ‘Then, at the very least, how about we have supper together?’, the only things he could prepare were frozen pizza, frozen Doria casserole, or five servings of frozen Chinese fried rice He really couldn’t call it a uest

While Haruyuki agonized over this, Kuroyukihih the living room

Her footsteps—

For an instant, her footsteps seeait A needle of sharp discernh Haruyuki’s brain

—Could she have co else she wanted to talk about?

—And yet I sis and used up the tirossed in onlyimportant…?

Forgetting his intense hunger as well, Haruyuki opened his mouth

But no words ca, like an afterthought, in this kind of situation? He should have noticed it an hour, or at least thirtymouth and waited for her to speak

While staring at her back as she approached the glass door to the hallway, Haruyuki prayed ‘God, please give me just one more chance’

It was then that a low-pitched ru sound resounded from far away

Of course, the source wasn’t Haruyuki’s sto room ith a start, he saw that the interior of the thick clouds that dihts of Tokyo were two or three times whiter than before Shortly after, there was another roll of thunder frohtly closer this time

While looking at the raindrops that started instantly striking theand the blurring color of neon lights, Haruyuki spoke in a hoarse voice

“…U hard”

Kuroyukihi

“The forecast said there was a less than 10 chance of rain until 12 o’clock, though…This kind of mistaken prediction is rare”

“U-Umm…do you have an umbrella?”

“Unfortunately, it’s just as you see I’m sorry, but…”

As she held out her empty hands Haruyuki co ‘Can I take shelter from the rain here for a little while?’—however

“…Can you lend me an umbrella?”

“Eh…Yeah, sure, of course”

After nodding stiffly and heading reluctantly towards the door, Haruyuki’s feet were held back by a second phenomenon

A ith a yelloarning mark attached to it popped up in the left side of his vision

“Ah…There’s a lightning warning and network aya”

“You’re right I don’t think I would get hit by an actual bold of lightning, but…I hate the connection lag on the road…”

Kuroyukihi through traffic, it was convenient to have AR[3] inforht—froation line towards one’s destination, to the distance walked and to one’s calorie expenditure—displayed by the Neuro Linker, but when lags occurred frequently due to the network being in bad condition, it insteadvery difficult

“Hmm……But, the time is already this late…”

Although she was usually the kind of person who made quick decisions and took swift action, Kuroyukihime looked at the time with an unusually indecisive tone of voice Haruyuki also followed suit and turned to look towards the lower right corner of his virtual desktop It was 8:07 PM It was a delicate period of ti

As the sound of rain and thunder reached them dimly from the other side of the , the two of the still with aard postures in theroom

Haruyuki inhaled and opened his mouth several times However, no words came out in the end each time No, he shouldn’t have needed to feel pressured like this ‘You should wait until the rain stops and the thunderclouds pass at least’ Wasn’t it actually a harmless and natural request? Yet, as his heartbeat skyrocketing like this suddenly?

He couldn’t read the expression on Kuroyukihi, or listless, or …

PIPOON

A default beeping sound suddenly rang, and Haruyuki shrank back in surprise

Thethat appeared in the center of his vision was a text e sent via the home server this tiht The contents—I can’t co at home

The third gerated Half the time, Haruyuki’s ed at night, and the other half she would not return at all However, to Haruyuki, thisHe closed theand forcibly pushed out his voice from his constricted throat

“U-U-U a-a-at all That is, umm, ah…”

As Haruyuki agonized over how he should tell her about the contents of the estive way, Kuroyukihime touched precisely upon the crux of the matter

“No, yourback hoo now…”

The instant he heard that, several of the safety valves in Haruyuki’s brain were bloay and the folloords simply flew out of his mouth by themselves

“No, i-i-it’s fine! Because ht!”

The thought ‘Oh no, that ay too blunt, it’s like I’ I want her to take shelter here froh Haruyuki’s reater panic, but—

Even after she heard that, Kuroyukihime’s upper body merely twitched Eventually, she did a half-turn in the opposite direction to face Haruyuki, and then she whispered while looking at hi

“…I see Then, sorry for intruding further, but I’ll take you up on your proposal”

“I-I-I-It’s p-p-perfectly all right!”

While nodding frantically, Haruyuki thanked hispolicy within his mind After that, he simply prayed for the thunderclouds overhead to reer If possible for an hour, no, at least thirty minutes…

Then, as Kuroyukihih speed

“Now that I think about it, since we’ll all beup here tomorroell, it’d be a waste of time for me to leave now”

“T-That’s right That would be really inefficient…”

——Huh?

It’d be troubleso over tomorroay? Wait, what did she mean by that?

As Haruyuki froze with an unnatural posture and expression, Kuroyukihi room, and then,

“Then, I’ll go down to the mall below for a little while”

Leaving those words, she went out the door

Haruyuki should have next cooked the best-class frozen uerita pizza that he treasured within the freezer for dinner, ht news progra all that

By the ti room alone

However, it see hadn’t been a delusion, as the faint sound of a hair drier came from the bathroom across the hallway

At this point, his brain trans for over two hours finally entered first gear, and Haruyuki’s thoughts resumed from where they had broken off

‘It would be troublesome to return’ In other words, would it be correct to interpret that ashome before the time of the race tomorrow? Then, didn’t this inevitably lead to a Kuroyukihiht? To put it another way, she was “staying over”? Was the occurrence of such a situation legally and h they were middle school students? But, her words couldn’t be interpreted otherwise, right?

—No, don’t let yourself be shaken, me! Even if that’s the situation, you should be able to cope with it calmly! After all, this wasn’t the first ti, but that time Niko was also here, and furtherame marathon…

“Thanks for letting me use the bath”

The living roo up and looked at the owner of the voice with a speed that almost seemed to dislocate his vertebrae

She wore a siray paja round floor While rubbing a towel over the hair behind her head, Kuroyukihime spoke with a faint smile

“For so one after another”

“Y-Yes…Then, you should just leave a pair here”

After he automatically said that, he realized belatedly what he’d said

“No, I-I-I didn’tlike hoanted to you stay over again due to the thunder like today, n-n-no I’, not at all, that is, err, err——”

As Haruyuki shook his ar wry smile and offered some help

“How about you use the bath too before the water gets cold?”

“Yes! I’ll do that!”

Getting off the sofa as if rolling off, Haruyuki escaped fro room at full speed

While finishi+ng up his bathing despite being hit by confusion again at stea into a sweatshi+rt and sweatpants instead of pajamas, Haruyuki very carefully considered his next course of action that he would have to choose fro the available options

The answer he came to in the end was—

“Umm, senpai, please use my mother’s bedrooht!”

He babbled out those words fro room, and after that shut himself into his roohtly, no, a very pitiful thing to do

He had vaguely guessed that Kuroyukihi she wanted to talk about However, under these circumstances, Haruyuki didn’t think he could re her in pajamas After all, since his brain had already overheated a while ago, he would undoubtedly talk about a hundredNo, before that, it wouldn’t be strange if he broke down from hyperventilation, dehydration or arrhythmia first

If it was going to end up like that, he should put his head under the covers in his room like this instead At the very least, he would not have to carry memories, permanently saved in his brain, that would always make him cry out “Wah!” or “Gyaah!” when he recalled it afterwards

Activating his mental shut-in mode at full-throttle back pedal for the first ti up in his bed while gritting his teeth in self-loathing with the thought ‘Thinking that I had gotten stronger was just ination’ in his mind

That’s why, about ten minutes later, when he heard the faint words “Can we talk a little?” along with a light nock on his door, he was greatly surprised that he didn’t pretend to be asleep

Instead, Haruyuki sat up on his bed and took a deep breath He chased away the weakness inside him with the breath of air, and then answered “Come in” in a hoarse yet clear voice

Opening the door and co in without a sound, Kuroyukihi cushi+ons frole look around the rooe of his bed

“I thought you would say no”

After Kuroyukihime said that in a low voice with her back turned to him, Haruyuki also answered back quietly

“…I also thought I would say that”

“Why did you change your mind?”

“Hmm…err…”

His emotions were unexpectedly calm Instead, Haruyuki even felt a tranquil coht have been due to his relief at not having e error at the last minute here

“…It’s because I believed that you surely had so truly important to talk about, senpai”

“What, so then you tried to swiftly go to sleep even though you noticed that?”

Seeing her slender back twitch and go stiff, he apologized while scratching his head

“S-Sorry”

“…Well, I’ll forgive you since you let me into your room like this”

Letting the tension go out of her shoulders, Kuroyukihime turned her body a little and looked at Haruyuki as he sat in the entle, but just as he thought, the sadness that had wavered over her face all day long still hadn’t disappeared from her eyes

She raised her slender fingers and stroked the piano-black Neuro Linker attached to her neck At the same time, she whispered quietly

“«Those that use up all their points and have Brain Burst forcefully uninstalled lose all their memories connected to it at the same time»”

Haruyuki’s breath caught in his throat That was the Brain Burst program’s secrecy protection systeo It was a form of absolute salvation, but ultimately a merciless punishment for losers