Vol 3 Chapter 2 (2/2)
”A huge one! Not even a friend, just an acquaintance suddenly staying over is no good!”
〈”But you've already lent us your bed? It's no different than that?”〉
”Unfortunately there is a huge difference! Listen, to begin with this house is a place for Brother and Little Sister to love each other without restraints——”
〈”ah, I apologize Fuyuki I finished my business, I'll disconnect for a while”〉
”Haa?! Wait, I-chan?!”
Iora ness in order to escape from Fuyuki's persistence
On the other hand, Haya lowered her face and grumbled
”indeed, there's that way as well Even if Iwet, they'll work me to death I wanted to rest properly today and I think nothing of bothering this guy”
”No, you actually should”
Although she was saying that in low voice, her face was high enough to allow them to hear it
”that's decided I'll be bothering you today You have no right of veto, take care of a♪”
As she said that, she ly nice smile
Part 3
”You're not sleeping?”
It was three o'clock in the night
A windstorm and heavy rain rattled outside the , a quiet voice reached his ear Taiga as looking at the ceiling in silence tilted his neck and looked towards the owner of the voice
On the edge of the absurdly big king-sized bed——about aat him
”let ize first If you can't sleep because of me, I'm sorry”
”?”
He shook his head to protest against her suggestive words, Fuyuki as hugging his arm moved closer
Her sweet s his body temperature to increase by itself
I'm completely done for aren't I, honestly
Because of what happened by the sea, his rationality has been bloay completely
Although he had been sleeping with her for a month, it's not that he couldn't suppress it just because she was beside hiht before either That's why he was honestly thankful for the third party that had appeared
”What about you? Not going to sleep yet?”
”That's because I slept a little bit before Also as expected, this situation makes me nervous”
This situation——in other words the three of the on the same bed, was indeed delicate Rather than unusual, it was so that normally wouldn't happen
——At first Taiga wanted to sleep on the sofa alone
However Fuyuki said 'me too', and they couldn't drive Haya away frouest In the end, they all lay down next to each other in the bed and decided to sleep like that
However——
”liar Someone who's nervous wouldn't sleep while dressed like that”
Instead of wearing pyja Haya as a male shi+rt
Since the size didn'tthat exposed her collarbone and the li any underwear beneath and everything appeared frohtly too short
Honestly, it was poison for his eyes
”This? It can't be helped, this is the only thing I could use”
”There were a lot of other things there Why did you use this of all things”
”Because this was the best thing to sleep in Also you like it better like this, don't you?”
Haya showed hi smile and raised a hem of the shi+rt
Although he ilimpse of aqua-blue fabric
”To turn red with a single piece of cloth How unseemly”
”you should learn some modesty”
”Ara, isn't that so you should tell your sister?”
He looked at Fuyuki's chilly appearance, as she clung to his arm
Certainly, because it exposed a lot, or rather it exposed her underwear coée was more erotic
However, the way Haya was dressed was erotic in a different way
It was all 'almost visible' and that 'alht Moreover, since Haya usually wore clothes that covered a lot of her skin, the destructive poas tremendous
”oh, that's right There's so I want to pass to you”
In order to change the topic, he reram from his terminal and passed it to Haya
She received it and ilia with a skeptical look in her eyes
”What's this? This is an attack-configured program I have no use for it do I?”
”As if I'd want you to This is a new prograeel》”
The moment she heard the last word, Haya's eyes turned serious at once It seemed like she was also aware of its existence
”How did you get this?”
”I got it fro into it for me”
Taiga received it fro
It seeet it since he said ”Just three tih for this!” and requested an additional reward; since he reed to increase it
”nyaaOnii”
And in response to their voices, Fuyuki leaked out a shisper and rubbed her face on him
In response to Fuyuki's 'I won't give hiesture, an indescribable expression appeared on Haya's face
”you get along well”
”Well, that's obvious The only family we have is each other”
It was a lie To be exact they no longer were just a family
But Haya wasn't deceived, she looked down and murmured
”getting along well doesn't happen just because you're family Even if you are directly blood related”
She felt melancholic and put on a sad smile
The only faa knew about was her father And the words 'directly blood related'——he understood theree
”I' and analyse this, you too make sure to rest properly”
Haya said that and turned her back to Taiga She ood since she started to breathe deeply in her sleep about ten seconds later
”I said already that I can't sleep”
Taiga closed his eyes forcibly Even if he can't sleep, he needed to rest his head in order to prepare for tomorroever, his determination has been overcome in a matter of seconds
A quiet electronic sound could be heard over the sound of wind and rain, and he saw faint light through his half-closed eyelids At the sae of his field of vision
Iora?
There, was Iora who disappeared in the ht about it, he hasn't seen her since then and wondered why did she come back now
”Iora, heey Iora”
〈””〉
She didn't respond to his calls, she continued to stare at empty space with unfocused eyes It was as if her soul was
When Taiga anxiously reached out to her, her eyes finally captured him
〈”ah, so it's Taiga dammit What is it?”〉
”That's my line Earlier you suddenly disappeared, now you suddenly co?”
〈”Where did I go”〉
She tilted her neck as if saying 'I don't remember'
Iora disappeared eight hours earlier during the power outage so he asked that but did she really not re?
〈”So that's hoas darn it I disappeared”〉
Sheher body in the air skilfully, she sat down on top of Taiga's chest Although there was no weight since she was a projected i ticklish
Seeing dark eently asked
”What is it? You have an expression of anxiety on your face?”
〈”Anxiety so Iora feels anxiety?”〉
”No, don't ask me That's just how it looked to me”
It was his intuition There was no basis for that
But it see in his words, and while her line of sight andering around, she started talking
〈”I'”〉
Seeing her serious expression Taiga listened quietly She opened and closed herfor words to say, and asked hi
〈”What would you do if you were troubling someone important to you?”〉
”another weird question from you”
He glanced at Haya as sleeping beside him The 'important person' must have been her
But with that said, since the question was quite vague, he couldn't find a clean answer to it He pondered about it for athe situation to himself
”I guess I would try to do so about it myself”
That's the kind of person Tenryo Taiga was Were he to be the cause, he would definitely solve it by himself
〈”Is that so so that's the only thing that can be done”〉
As Taiga answered, Iora put on a resigned expression Seeing her like that, Taiga added
”But taking all of it and shouldering it all would make anyone collapse”
〈”eh?”〉
He s Iora dumbfounded and continued
”It doesn't mean it'll definitely fail But people have their limits It's unreasonable to do it all alone So”
Without anyone who his path by himself was an obvious course of action to hio
But he was different now
He reunited with Fuyuki,on soth as well, as well as how precious a thing it was to support each other He was also told that it's okay to be spoiled
That's why he could tell it straight
”Your Master won't break down that easily, it's fine to trouble her to a certain extent But if you're still anxious then I'll pro about it”
〈”Taiga”〉
”Is this answer good enough?”
Iora gently put both of her hands on her chest, as if locking away so important to her in there
〈”——Yes It's all right now”〉
While saying that, a faint smile bloomed on her face
〈”I'a will deal with it”〉
”Hey wait, you gonna leave it all to me?”
〈”Can't I dammit?”〉
As she curiously tilted her neck and stared at hih and answered
”It can't be helped if I you can't do it But do your best to make sure you won't fail”
〈”Understood I'll continue my futile resistance”〉
”Futile resistance oh well, see you tomorrow”
〈”Yes See you tomorrow”〉
Taiga closed his eyes, and his consciousness was buried in darkness
Iora looked down at him, and went back to Haya's terminal soon after that
〈”I'a will stop me”〉
Quiet, very quiet words that didn't reach anyone's ear have been drowned in the sound of falling rain and wind
Part 4
Four days later, the last day of midterms
”——Yes, ti utensils”
Together with the chime's sound, the class suddenly turned noisy
The students began to talk here and there It was the recoil of the stressful four days, his 'schedule after this' was already detera fell down on the desk worn out
He looked up at Rui and Fuyuki who finished and were getting ready to stand up and leave
”You seem really exhausted〜, you okay?”
”Not at all”
”How pathetic It's been only four days Rather than that, did you e not to fail?”
”I don't think I will probably”
He couldn't affire went There were more questions than on the mock test and it was quite hard That could lead to a drastic change in his score In the end, he could only wait for the results to come
”The results will coht?”
”Yes They will coether with all the other subjects Brother can continue worrying up until then”
”how about you two?”
”What a duet a perfect score on all subjects”
”It is?!”
”Rui-san got about nine out of ten right〜”
Taiga could only sing praises for thee to feel inferior because he was surrounded by honour students
When everyone left the classroom, Rui clapped her hands
”Then let's all go and play! Where should we go?”
”Hmm Let's try some leisure facilities for once——”
”Ah, sorry I've got soo ahead without me”
He was to go and help out ia received an e hi on the first day
”is that so Then I'll go together with Rucchan the two of us”
Openly frustrated, Fuyuki saw hih he felt a little bit guilty, it was better if he distanced hi
And the few hours starting from that moment were truly hellish
First, he joined Haya and headed to the teacher's building while carrying precision equipment which was scheduled for use for the day; after that, he was taken to the Student Council Room which was located near the third year's Cyber Departether with other Student Council officers; he continued to process and fill a huge aether with Haya
The time passed as he continued to earnestly hit the keys of a virtual keyboard——
”I-it's over”
By the time it was over, outside was already dark
Taiga was exhausted after five hours of continuous work and he sprawled out on the borrowed desk The other members already went back, and the only ones left in the student council room was him and Haya
”So the student council has an absurd a well not to die fro yourselves”
”Everyone's an elite in here This much is still fine”
Since there was no one else there, Haya returned to her normal self
She quickly confira and closed the terhtly stretched
”Now then, let's go back for today There's a long weekend starting tomorrow; let's continue next week”
”Yeah”
The two finished and locked the door behind theether
Aside fro until late, no one froenuine cultural-type departh a dim avenue
”it's quiet”
”There's notat this ti in dorms have already went back”
Since Kiritou Acade for students from all over the country, it had proper dormitories
The student dormitories were lined up in the north, they were flooded by the fresha and Fuyuki also considered entering dormitories at first since it was easy on their money but it was rejected because Fuyuki said ”on't be able to live together!”
”Speaking of which, what happened to Iora? I haven't seen her today”
”Ahh, she's becaer co now”
Her eyes showed that she was quite troubled by that Certainly, she has been quite humorous recently
”No matter what for? Wasn't that why you made Iora?”
”Yes but—ever since the Reaper incident I couldn't honestly rejoice over it”
Previously, Iora was overtaken by a raa and the others called——the Griered her rapid emotional development
”speaking of which, did you find out anything about the 《Reaper》?”
”Nothing I found 《Jail》's code inside of Iora, but it was restricted so it couldn't be hacked frole lead oh, that's right Look, this”
Haya passed him a document with data
”These are the results I got after analyzing the attack-configured program froel》 in there”
Taiga looked over the document's content
The suraing fro the 《Zygote》 you told h' was marked
”《Zygote》 So that's as built in”
The parasitic prograht with it's data It infected shi+o's virtual body teeks ago and made them suffer
”It's a very advanced progra another one frora in parallel can do”
”Fuyuki said the saood as she was, if not better”
Haya was one of the senior progra them
Even she couldn't understand half of the 《Zygote》's configuration The creator was a programmer in a class of his own
”If I were to believe your testi Master Code Heor it e that now”
As she said that, a single girl came to her mind
An extraordinary programmer who perhaps surpassed even Fuyuki and someone as involved with Kiritou——there was only one person like that
But that was impossible It couldn't be Since she was already——
That's absurd
She shook her head lightly and rejected the the worst scenario she could iine
”I have reported it to the company already but honestly, I don't think they will do anything now They have their hands full with bugs at the moment and won't listen to theet itabout it'”
”I guess”
There wasn't enough infore company move
Even so, the ti hi——that's what he suspected
”Also, Haya Is there a possibility the Reaper incident and Angel are related?”
””
Haya closed her eyes in order to analyse the possibility
That possibility cael's existence Were Angel to be one of Kiritou researchers there was a possibility they could access Iora and the ti would match It was almost not possible for these incidents to be not related
”fifty-fifty, I would say”
She squeezed that out after a while, she wasn't confident despite thinking about it for a while
”50, that low? I have a feeling there definitely is a relation”
”I also feel like that's how it is But no el》's purpose is”
They got on a linear and sat opposite to each other They were about ten minutes away from the New City's central station The train was quietly running in the night, and the conversation continued
”There's a possibility the criminal did it without purpose, but that would be too far-fetched Especially ta with Iora would be too risky, and we don't knoould he eh infore it”
They didn't have enough data on 《Angel》
In Cyber World, both voice and physique could be changed and if Master Code were used, it couldn't be traced They couldn't determine it in a situation like this
Soon after, the linear arrived at the station and the two of theate
Haya was going to Kiritou headquarters which was in the opposite direction froa's house It here they parted After they entered the crowded station, Haya put on a ain
”Now then, Taiga-kun See you on Monday”
”Is it fine fortomorrow?”
”I don't have any time to spare tomorrow We're supposed to work on the probleh it's a three-day weekend, there's no time for me to rest”
Were it to be her real self she would have sighed, but she only had a meek smile that didn't disturb her façade That kind of business-like face looked to me like a stiff mask
”hey, is there anything I could help you with?”
Before he noticed, he already spontaneously said these words Surprised by what she heard, Haya turned around She closed on to him, leaned towards him and whispered
”What? You want to work?”
”I just would feel guilty if you were to fall down like you did before You seee your own physical condition”
”Ara, so you're a guy who can spout such reckless stuff with cold blood”
She laughed ht to say
At the very least he didn't want her to overdo it in the long run; that would be very risky in a lot of ways
”Help me huh certainly there's lots of simple tasks you could help me with But unless the source is dealt with, the amount of ill continue to increase”
”Can't you do so about it?”
”The counter that would hint at the solution of the problem Were Aoko to be still alive, it would have been cleaned up all at once”
〈”——Then what about Fuyuki”〉
Suddenly, Iora appeared between the tithout any warning
”that was a really sudden of you to come out Why would Fuyuki-san's name appear here?”
〈”Fuyuki possesses a considerable a skills If it's her, it can be solved”〉
”certainly that girl's skills are great It ood as Aoko's, but it's far beyond mine”
In response to Iora's proposal, Haya placed a hand on her chin and continued to think Taiga had a preave up and looked into the sky
”Yup, it's decided The date will be the day after tomorrow should be fine Take Fuyuki-san and come to Kiritou headquarters Just as you wished, I'll let you help me ork”
And like this, the sibling's visit to Kiritou's headquarters was decided
Part 5
”Now then, this h”
Inside a rooht, a quiet whisper echoed
The 《Angel》 closed ait has been tae sphere that had about ten metres in diameter and floated in the middle of the room
”Kiritou Group's headquarter's structure, the ”
It couldn't be entered without a special passkey, the very core of Kiritou Group In the cyberspace that el》
”But since they have their hands full dealing with trouble all over the place, I was able to slip in easily It orth it going out of e”
Because of the power outage happening, rather than switching to another co power source, Kiritou's headquarters were swae amount of complaints A vast flood of information paralyzed the line ten
Thanks to that it was able to move freely as well as prepare Tenryo Fuyuki's 《Prison》 All preparations were done, all that was left was to start it
”Mu”
Suddenly, it felt a discoht arm
Electricity ran through its arth
”seeo has been already smashed but that's an unexpected tenacity”
The 《Angel》 said ”Waste of effort” and grabbed its right wrist A faint spark appeared, and the control over the right arm came back
”with this, it'll be all over I won't let anyone get in the way”
Two days left until the plan is executed
After displaying boiling hot hatred, the 《Angel》 disappeared from the main server
Notes and References
↑ To be exact it refers to 'all you can eat' type restaurants