Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 7 (2/2)
As to why—it ar the sas kind, ephemeral, and warm to the extent where one could not possibly believe that it would produce massive destruction
However, at the saentleness of the phenoeration ination of her body and soul The slender avatar tres sometimes also wavered
Then, a faint voice
“Haruyuki-kun…your hand”
Before pondering thedrawn to her he stretched out his right hand His fingers approached Kuroyukihime’s extended sword tip and softly made contact
If Kuroyukihime’s Mind Power had been of the attack-class, at this point in tiardless of his ers probably would have fallen off
However, that did not happen Instead, a phenohtest was incarnated
The black, sharp sas softly dispelled
Its tip divided into four Slightly below, another one was born The total of five partitioned thin, slender organs took in the light shi+ning frolitter
These were—
Fingers It was a hand
Besides a faint Over-Ray, it was a slight change that produced neither a bit of sound nor radiance
After he reflexively wondered why he had lowered her offensive power on purpose, Haruyuki finally noticed it That this «applied Incarnate technique» was an extraordinary e attack technique
No Burst Linker could acquire Mind Power contrary to his or her attributes
In the past, the Red King Niko had said that that was a fundamental principle of the Incarnate system
Judging froure, whose four limbs were all swords, Kuroyukihi she touched Denial An aloof black lotus that not a single person could approach Even her sole «child», Haruyuki, still hadher No matter how much they stared at each other froed words with just the two of them, the depths of her heart were hidden by a deep darkness and could not be seen
Nevertheless, he thought that was fine Even that was a part of the beauty of the person Kuroyukihime
In spite of that—right now, Kuroyukihime had showed that she had refused her attribute of her own accord She had shown that the words of “I don’t even have hands in order to hold hands with soh her iination
There was certainly a declaration being put into this Mind Power That as the chief of Nega Nebulas, she was facing its members in a for her hand out, opening up her heart, and for true bonds not only in the Accelerated World but in the real world as well—
“…Sen, pai…”
While whispering, Haruyuki was self-aware of an acute acco about this person That he had been using the superficial phrase «aloof beauty» without knowing anything
His vision blurred and became distorted While tears spread beneath his silver surface, Haruyuki tried to entwine her five slender fingers like needles with his right hand softly The jet black and silver touched each other, and he felt atransmitted to his consciousness, but immediately after
With an ephe an unliht hand» scattered into minute crystals and broke into pieces
“Ah!”
Haruyuki leaked out a voice at the same time that Kuroyukihime’s body collapsed as if her power had been exhausted Unconsciously, he extended his right hand and supported her slender waist
Hugging her right arm, which had been lost up to near her elbow, to her chest, for a while as if withstanding the pain—no, in fact probably in that state, she took shallow breaths repeatedly However, before long she lifted her face and whispered in a placid voice
“Seventeen seconds… A new record by a wide ht”
Those words basically indicated that up until now Kuroyukihied this applied Incarnate technique and had had her right hand crushed countless times
“…Senpai”
Unable to restrain his infinitely overflowing deep emotions, Haruyuki returned that one word in a trehtly eether with all his ht
“Senpai…thank you I have the feeling that I’ve understood In order to acquire the second stage of Mind Power…one must face not one’s avatar, but one’s own real self One must continue to think about what one fears, what one desires, and what one iines: not only in the Accelerated World but in the real world as well; it’s that sort of thing, isn’t it”
“Exactly so”
The voice that had responded close to his ears was in a volu inaudible, but nevertheless it resounded coe of just the two
“It’s a process unnecessary for users of pure «negative Mind Power» As for why, anger, hate, and then despair are things inseparable fro bodies from the start However, «positive Mind Power»—to produce the power of hope, the process of «reversal of one’s trau in the real world head-on with one’s wound, which in the Accelerated World has been made into the sophisticated for it into an i It’s easy to fall into the «hole in one’s heart», but the path of cli it is steep…for me, who’s spent a vast a at the level of changing ers was beyond my reach However…”
There, she temporarily stopped her words short; Kuroyukihime lifted her face, and froht Haruyuki’s eye
“However, you can do it You, who noticed singlehandedly your «i»”
Nors like “That’s iht now did Haruyuki shake off his timidity and nod deeply Their masks bumped into each other with a clunk, but with the each other he murmured
“Understood I…, I’ll do ht’s «Iy»…despite that, I will do e of hope»”
“Ahh —I will do my best too So that next time I can maintain it for at least thirty seconds and be able to hold hands with you properly”
This tih to set Haruyuki into transition as usual
“Uh, um, well”
After blinking at high speed below his silver surface, he somehoered back
“Th, tha, that’s true Besides that, if you had hands, it’d be easy to operate the «Install» menu”
At that very ht before his own, glittered glaringly and dangerously, and her voice, whose frigidity had increased—
“…That’s true I thought aboutthis duel a draw, but since it’d be troublesouess I’ll just win normally after all”
Fortunately, with the point of her sword Kuroyukihime accepted Haruyuki’s proposed draw offer
Haruyuki, who had ended the direct connection duel, looked at the ceiling vacantly for a few seconds and then finally beca on a bed in the nurse’s office, and immediately next to him Kuroyukihime lay prone, her body stuck close to hi even for last-century roa—
“Haruyuki-kun”
A breath softly touched his left ear; after shrinking in fear, he timidly looked that way
That ht, opened his eyes wide
While facing sideways on top of the sheets, Kuroyukihiht hand Her petite nails, sleek like a pearl, shone glitteringly while reflecting the illuht panels Her black pupils blinked once and refocused on Haruyuki’s eyes
“Haruyuki-kun, do you reave you your first lecture on Brain Burst…in the «Initial Acceleration space», I reached my hand out to you, and said: «Are these mere virtual two meters that far to you?»”
There was no way he would forget it
At that time, Haruyuki had diverted his eyes from her extended hand and had answered in his heart That it was far
After he nodded deeply, Kuroyukihime wore a smile that was in some way filled with plaintiveness and continued
“In truth…those two …a truly long time since I last extended my hand out to sorasping a person’s hand The legion members hom my heart was supposedly joined…even Fuuko, Utai, Current, and Graph’s hands, Ithem in the true sense of the word However…from the day I encountered you in the virtual squash corner…no before that, fro down as if to avoid others’ eyes and running with all his ht in a cranny of the local net…”
There, Kuroyukihi that through the still-joined direct connection cable he had undoubtedly understood her unsaid words
Another smile, and a faint whisper
“Well, Haruyuki-kun Have the two meters of that day shortened?”
Haruyuki was unable to say anything As to why, the e up his chest a lot
In exchange, he screwed up all the courage he had; he lifted both his hands up and softly wrapped theht hand
It arht hand», which he had touched for a e», perh his nervous systeolden color in the center of his consciousness
Kuroyukihime lifted up her left hand too and covered the outside of Haruyuki’s right hand In his world filled ar hands and her beautiful face s placidly existed
Her long eyelashes were cast down The angle of her face changed
As if being drawn in, Haruyuki shi+fted his upper body a little forward With her eyes closed, Kuroyukihime also drew her body nearer in the same way By now, her white face—or her pink lips were only a mere fifteen centimeters away They approached each other a little bit more The distance between them dropped below ten centimeters—
Rattle; the sound of the door sliding brought their situation to a stop
Only two seconds later, with a speed like teleportation Kuroyukihime had separated her body frohted from the bed, and returned to the adjacent chair The seam between the white curtains was lifted up, and the school nurse Hotta showed her face
“Arita-kun, how are you feeling?”
“…”
After Haruyuki opened his eyes andwide and froze, the nurse furrowed her eyebrows
“Your face is red, maybe your fever’s returned?”
“…No, I’h”
There was nothing Haruyuki could do other than ansith that As for Kuroyukihiracefully in the chair, with a completely composed facial expression she didn’t have a drop of sweat on her face It was actually a fearsome mind control ability Not only that, but before he are of it her two hands were grasping the cooling bottle as they were before
With no alternative, Haruyuki sucked on the straw of that bottle, which was outstretched straightforwardly with a gesture completely natural of a «health-care committee member substitute»