Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 8 (2/2)

While staring fixedly at Hou, allowing the ht absent too, huh”

Though he was of a species that did not inhabit japan and was only sold with the intention of being a pet, he was not artificial protein synthesized in a factory, on object Within this four , sleeping, and then feeling so…

Possibly having caught wind of the sign that he had slightly bit his lip, Utai turned round and tilted her head Haruyuki hurriedly tilted his head and spoke in a small voice

“Ah, I, I’ It’s just that, uuy you are,’ maybe it was a little rude…”

There, he noticed that this tiht have been rude not to Hou but to Utai, and he became flustered even further

“Uh, u that it’s a misfortune for hi, if anything I want it too…nooo, that’s not what I meant, um”

Around there, Haruyuki’s «wanting to escape running meter» had risen quite a bit, but in a situation where he was holding meat with both hands that was not possible either; he joined words together with all his effort

“Uh—, so I think that froe, but…however, he’s a bird Birds want to fly in the sky…possibly Ah, of course I’ either that this situation’s a ood for us to arbitrarily decide what he should feel…”

Thebecame, so there out of necessity Haruyuki shut his mouth

However, it seemed that some extent of his intention had been conveyed to Utai She nodded once and resu on her face The four pink mice’s worth of meat slices disappeared in succession inside his beak, and the Eurasian Scops-oho in the end had his head petted and sees and took off fro a counterclockwise arc

No ure, it was so beautiful as to azed on, enthralled, and with a discreet sound effect words flowed in the chat

【UI> I believe the thing of which you wish to speak, Arita-san, is called «respect»】

The instant the emphasized word came into his view, Haruyuki nodded furiously several ti that Haruyuki was feeling a moment earlier

Hou was; no, all pets, including him, were not existences just «kept» by humans One could also say they were «at the side» of humans That hy it was amiss to measure their happiness or unhappiness with a human scale All they could do was approach them with respect

No, it wasn’t just pets Earlier, Utai had used not scissors but a properly sharpened pocketknife and had dressed the pink otten to respect even theto be the feed…

While looking up at Hou, who had returned to his perch, Haruyuki was struck by that deep eain cohtly slow manner

【UI> I also believe that it’s very is Respect is basically not disdaining Even oneself is included as a target of that respect, no doubt】

“Eh…, respecting oneself?”

Haruyuki drew his gaze away fro at the side

“Isn’t oneself…different? Because isn’t that, so like narcissism, isn’t it like tha…”

Haruyuki, who far fro at hiently, Utai paused slightly and then ers

【UI> If one overdoes it, itoneself is also looking down upon the path one has walked until now, the time one has passed, and the people to whom one is related Inside you, Arita-san, there’s undoubtedly a «flame» that will not disappear by any means no matter how much water is poured on it or how much the wind blows】

The girl reached her right hand straight out and applied it precisely to the center of Haruyuki’s breast—right above his heart

【UI> That flame burns with your experiences and memories…with even your sins and errors as firewood In the final analysis, people’s consciousness and thoughts cause neurons ignite…for both an instant and an eternity, that flame is the essence of all life I hold the conviction that not forgetting respect toward others and yourself and continuing to let your flame burn the proper ill illuminate the path you should walk 】

Without even looking at the holo keyboard, shi+noed to type that difficult to decipher as well as lengthy text with her left hand alone During that period, her pupils, which concealed deep crimson sparks, had been fixed continuously upon Haruyuki’s eyes It see his chest, surely so e into his heart

“My flame…the path I should walk…”

The heat in his blood vessels ran through his entire body and at last gathered at his back—at his two shoulder blades

In real life, Haruyuki of course did not have wings Far froht low, and his physical ability was at the extent where if he tried a little bit in PE class, he would collapse

However, he could advance forward He could kindle the slight flaht his way, and take a step forward Not facing backward, solely running—forward Forward Everything was the proble his feet forward in this real world, without a doubt his pace would have becoreater in the Accelerated World

“…My ie…my, Mind Power”

After softly ed, clear voice, Haruyuki spoke

“Thank you, shi+nomiya-san Somehow, it see about has come”

Upon which Utai softly separated her right hand frolimpse of her teeth like drops of pearls from her lips, and showed one of her rare articulate smiles

Having left the caretaker shed, the two of thened the co they had completed their activities, and submitted it to the school local net

The tia Nebulas’ temporary headquarters, aka Haruyuki’s house, was six in the afternoon, so they still had some leeway before they had to move

—For the ether with shi+no room and wait for Taku’s and Chiyuri’s club activities to end while chatting with Senpai…

While thinking in thatput at the flank of the sink—but just beforehand

Utai, as using a handkerchief at his immediate side, stiffened her body with a twitch Immediately after, Haruyuki also sensed so in at his back

—A thirst for blood!

Quickly, he tried to look back, but even quicker than that Two ar next to hihtly seized her body Simultaneously, a cheerful voice

“Ui-ui, I—got—you!”

Page 223

【UI> Stopm, itd paonful】

The two hands of Utai, who had been hoisted into the air, tapped the keyboard in a struggling way, but the line of words flowing in the text box a All Haruyuki could do was catch the white handkerchief that had slipped out in midair

The assailant who had succeeded in a splendid backstab whipped Utai’s shtly into her own chest, and raised a nasal voice

“Aah, Ui-ui, you’re so cute as always! At this rate, would it be fine if I put you in my pocket and took you home! Or should I make you into a mascot and decorate my dashboard!”

The one who fired in succession those questionable lines of which it was dubious whether they were expressions of love or not was a fe a uniform not from a school in this area She was quite taller than Haruyuki, clad in a blouse with a too-ht blue and a checker-patterned skirt, and had thin overknee tights covering her legs up to an area fairly high above her knees Her hair was naturally long hair that seemed fluffily soft—

Utai’s right hand, which was clawing even more at the air, cath

The captor, who checked that her target had been suppressed, at that point finally looked at Haruyuki and sently

“How do you do, Karasu-san Good job with the caretaker committee work”

“Ah…th…thank you, how do you do, Master”

Whileto his «a Nebulas and level 8 Burst Linker «Sky Raker», Kurasaki Fuuko Following that, he inquired timidly

“Um, hy are you here at Umesato Middle, Master?”

“What I needed to have was a friend with power Sacchan gladly issued me a one day visitor’s pass”

In this day and age, the security at K-12 schools kept getting stricter; even if the outsider were a child of the sao as one pleased At the school gate, a certification test would be carried out through one’s Neuro Linker; if one had not been issued a pass, in the wink of an eye a security guard would co

“…I see”

After nodding deeply, Haruyuki immediately shook his head

“N, no, I’ about the systeht?”

“My, even if I don’t have pressing business, is it not all right if I only «wanted to meet Karasu-san more quickly»?”

If he were smiled at with those words, as a robustpoof, but at a precarious point Haruyuki remembered the fact that his conversation partner was «in fact a scary Raker-sensei» He tightened his cheeks, which see, and shook his head minutely

“N-n-no, such a thing, of course it would be all right, I-I-I-I’m pleased about that”

It was not the situation to be getting carried away here As to why, currently Haruyuki was keeping an important secret from Fuuko That he had to teach the basics of Mind Power secretly to her «child», Ash Roller

As he stood bolt upright and wore a stiff srabbed Haruyuki’s right cheek

“Ha…hahi?”

“…Karasu-san Is it perhaps a fig as if you’re keeping a secret from me”

Desperately restraining hiain he shook his head sideways

“N, no, such a thing, there’s no way I would hide a hecret from Mafter!”

“Is that so? For the ”

While gently squishi+ng Haruyuki’s grabbed cheek, Fuuko wore all over her face a s as the finest fresh creaet it The fact that a first victim was already buried limp in her chest

Fuuko put both her hands right on her legs, stood up, and continued to shake her head slightly; her fingers moved from Haruyuki’s cheek to the area around his ear This tiertips played with his earlobes, she drew her face closer and softly whispered

“Then, was ‘that’ perhaps ?”

“Wh…hat do you mean by ‘that’?”

“It’s not anything of much consequence Today, I left school and had a bit of tiallery of a duel In doing so, by chance I found Ash in the gallery of the sa with him, but…”

“…”

“For some reason or another, his attitude was a little weird Therefore, after I apprehended the real hiently cross-examined him…”

“……”

“So aside ht so whose name people even hesitate to utter in public spaces, so veeee-ry important, the…”

There, Fuukoout her voice: In-car-nate

“…system’s way of use?”

—Ash Ro~llerrrrr~!!

You readily spilled the beans! Well, if you’re going to spill the beans there, you ht by Raker-san in the first place! What on earth will beco over, and rather first what are you going to do about this situation!

Though he had shouted that inside his head, it was too late to rewind the situation Haruyuki stopped his head, which he had been exercising up until now in the horizontal direction, resignedly moved it profoundly in the vertical direction, and spoke

“U…a secret, from you, Master…”

“Is that so?”

What was terrifying was that without letting her smile fade ahich could not have been any kinder, Raker also nodded once

“You’ve said it well If you had played du both you, Karasu-san, and Ash together in a full course of special training, but I’ll forgive you with half”

“…Ha, half?”

“That’s right Depending on whether today’s «Imperial Palace escapein the Unli that soon it would be a suitable tie, Karasu-san”

“…To, today?”

After asted hile also sensing the dependability of Fuuko, who had readily put «mission success» into words, Haruyuki looked around restlessly at his surroundings However, needless to say there was not the figure of anyone in the dim backyard other than Haruyuki, Fuuko, and Utai, as slumped senselessly in Fuuko’s bosom

“B, but, hoill Ash-san meet up with us? If we don’t meet up at considerably close to the same time, won’t the rendezvous in the Unlimited Field be difficult…”

In response to Haruyuki’s question, Fuuko replied exceedingly readily

“No problem, because I’ve had Ash confined…no, stand by in my car, which I’ve parked nearby In that state, I’ll take Ash to your apartether Of course, not froh”

“Eh…is Ash-san going to come there? In real life?”

Mo even his punishment-like situation, Haruyuki opened his eyes wide —That meant basically, if Haruyuki desired it, he could meet with him in the real world By his prediction, that end-of-century rider’s physical body would also be in riveted leather jeans, with mohawk hair

However, regrettably—if that was the right word, Fuuko slightly shook her head

“Ash will come, but it’s probably better for now if you two don’t meet each other’s real selves yet Because that child’s one way or another a ions, «Great Wall»”

“…Tha, that’s…true, I guess”

While exhaling his bated breath, Haruyuki nodded Sure enough, no matter how much they were fellow brother disciples, he was a subordinate of the Green King, as an opponent of Kuroyukihime There existed a line he had to draw

Lifting his head and finally looking at Fuuko head-on, Haruyuki nodded deeply Before he had known it, Haruyuki was not teaching Ash Mind Power; the flow of things had becoht side-by-side by Fuuko, but rather than feeling regret his elation was greater

“—Understood I was also just having a feeling as if I’ve found a new hint It’s ain by Master!”

“You’ve said it well That’s the spirit”

He saw the face of Raker, as sht, “Maybe I was a little hasty…”; as he did so, the two hands of Utai, as still seized in her chest, moved in a feeble manner and typed on the keyboard

【UI> I too will acco 】

After Fuuko, who had finally released Utai, greeted Hou in the caretaker shed—it was their first tiet along quite well—Haruyuki along with the two of the room

Though there were few students re with an eleh school student on the other lined up was quite an ordeal for Haruyuki While slipping his way through the stunned gazes that bombarded him one after another, he moved from the entryway to the end of the first floor of the first school building and let out a long breath the h the door

However, once he entered the locked roo room, this time he could not help but feel yet another type of nervousness In adding Kuroyukihime, who had received the one dullan evenaura would inevitably show up What was hest executives of the fora Nebulas that had in the past occupied a seat of the Accelerated World’s seven great legions; Haruyuki did not have a reason to be able to relax

…Now that he thought about it, even with Chiyu and Taku added the current Nega Nebulas had four females and two males If the number of new male members didn’t increase soon, then they wouldn’t be able to balance it out However, if possible it’d be good if they weren’t that scary That’s right, I wonder if he would join…if Ihim…

While thinking that, in a nook of the sofa set he sipped the black tea that Kuroyukihime had brewed for hi to five in the afternoon

“Oh my, it’s already this time, isn’t it”

Fuuko, who had stood up as if in a hurry, clapped her two hands together and spoke

“I can’t keep ignoring Ash, whom I’ve shut in the ca…whom I’ve had wait in the car, I’ll move one step ahead I’ll park my car near your house, Karasu-san, and only I will intrude at six o’clock”

“…Really, I have the feeling that you’ve been thoroughly neglecting Ash, though…”

In response to what Kuroyukihih mixed in, Fuuko answered with a composed face

“I told Ash to earn ten points in free duels for the dive into the Unliuy probably isn’t bored With that, everybody, see you later”

With tihtly and had withdrawn fro room, Chiyuri and Takumu, who had finished club activities, appeared Theythe showers, as their hair was still wet, and their company, which had become five in nuh-rise apart in Koenji

Sorateful was that things had become such that the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today successively, Chiyuri’s ht supper, so they only stocked up on drinks at the shoppingand rode the elevator In order to transport the provisions, Chiyuri and Takuot off at the twenty-first floor, and just Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime, and Utai proceeded ahead to the twenty-third floor—

While also dealing with those actions of preparation, Haruyuki felt his nervousness growtime of seven in the afternoon

Currently, Haruyuki’s other self, the duel avatar «Silver Croas deserted in the depths of the «Imperial Palace» enshrined in the center of the Unlimited Neutral Field If he did not escape from there, not only would the purification of the «Disaster Armor» be unable to be carried out, but also the question of whether he would continue to be a Burst Linker would become doubtful

Takumu and the other had declared that they would continue to provide Haruyuki with the necessary points even if he were designated with a bounty in the naelse, but he could not take advantage of that He did not want to do so to «acceleration» to the point where he becaion’s burden…

“Do not be seized by negative ies now”

Theroo, someone whispered in that manner at his ear; taken aback, Haruyuki raised his face

The owner of the voice was Kuroyukihiht hand on Haruyuki’s chest, and before he are of it, his body, which had developed the habit of facing doard, arched backward

“It’s important to hypothesize about every possible situation However, at tile-e on Now is that very time”

【UI> It is as Sacchan says Now, let us only believe and advance forward 】

If even Utai, who had popped her face out from behind Kuroyukihime, typed thus, then he could not look down any le word

“—Understood!”

With just that, curiously enough even the cold sweat soaking his hands withdrew

On the dining table for six people, at the point where the chirashi+zushi+4 and norimaki5 into which Chiyuri’s ma served, with good tiion members, ere lined up in the same rows as the day before yesterday, and inquired timidly

“…U Ash-san behind in the car…”

Chiyuri and Takumu, to whom the details had already been explained, and Kuroyukihihed forcedly; as usual Fuuko wore a composed expression

“Ash was souy here, right?”

“…Then, Nee-san, at least deliver this sushi+ to him afterward”

While laughing, Chiyuri proposed that, brought a plastic container fro thenori kappamaki6, Haruyuki unintentionally let his mouth loosen, and with a serious face Kuroyukihime made an unexpected proposal

“How about it, Fuuko Why don’t we recruit him to our side?”

“Huh…eh, say what-!?”

The one who had shouted that was naturally Haruyuki However, the other ns of surprise As for Taku, he was nodding cal like “That’s a possibility too”

As he opened his eyes wide, dued her expression and tilted her head slightly

“—I too have thought of that, but…that child unexpectedly has a strong sense of duty in a unique way… Will Ash be fine or not with lowering the once-hoisted flag of the green legion Great Wall? Moreover, of course there’s also the fear of whether the Green King Green Grandee would use «Judg Ash’s secession”

“…Uh—uy Grandee’s thinking, just his’ personalities to an extent, but just that shi+eld-wielding male…”

Kuroyukihime folded her arms with a troubled look on her face

At last week’s «Seven Kings’up close, but he didn’t know a single thing other than that «he seeinning to finish, and even on the occasion where the conclusion to grant Silver Crow a one-week postponement was reached, he had only nodded once

He’s able to coion of over a hundred members well in his oay, huh…Haruyuki hurriedly returned his thoughts, which had begun to digress along those lines, to where they were before

Ash Roller, coht about that event at all, but he didn’t particularly dislike it either He was an eternal rival hoht countless times from the first day he had becos and had lost heart he was also the benefactor who had fervently chastised him and had introduced him to his parent, Sky Raker Froine, but he was in his oay a considerate « men»…

And then, having thought that far, Haruyuki noticed so and abruptly raised his face

“Uh, um, Senpai, Master…I believe that at the least, for now Ash-san won’t accept a legion transfer”

“What’s the reason for you to state that positively?”

“—It’s Ash-san’s younger blood brother, «Bush Utan»…”

There, Haruyuki te to be long, why don’t we discuss it while eating”

After Fuuko, who had parked her car—though it was not in her nae-sized parking underground the apart the improvised norimaki bento that Chiyuri had prepared, they chanted “Itadakimasu” aneith everybody there

While Chiyuri’s reatest forte was Italian cuisine such as pasta and lasagna, that skill was also amply flourished in japanese food; Haruyuki, who normally had no opportunity to eat chirashi+zushi+, shoved it into his mouth in a state of ecstasy Everyone else also undauntedly e plate’s contents had been reduced to half, conversation finally resumed

“An’ then…a’out Fush Uhan…”

While chuckling, Taku to chat with norimaki in his mouth

“Allowdeeply related to me myself as well…”

Startled, Haruyuki opened his eyes wide and hurriedly tried to chew his sushi+ rice, but while he was still chewing Takuun to explain, so reluctantly he switched to the role of listener As expected of the legion’s finest intellectual, the briefing was easy to understand, but Haruyuki could not help but be kept on tenterhooks As for why, true to his words from earlier Takumu explained to Kuroyukihi any details

How the day before yesterday, he had left on a solo investigation after hearing of the «ISS Kit» froenta Scissor in the Setagaya area and how the Kit in its sealed state had been transferred to him

And then yesterday, how he had been assaulted by the PK group «Supernova Reainst and annihilated them in the Unlimited Neutral Field with the power of the ISS Kit The subsequent direct connection duel with Haruyuki And then the strange «drea the wee hours of today—

Haruyuki had only let Kuroyukihi this string of events by mail The reason was that it seemed impossible to put why Takumu had yearned for power and how he had overcome that precisely into written words Of course, it was iive an explanation sometime; in that sense