Accel World - Volume 19 - Chapter 6

6

“All right then, Master. Thank you so much again today.” Haruyuki bowed his head after walking her to the doorway, and Fuko shook hers with a laugh.

“No, it was a good experience for me, too. I should thank you for bringing me along, Corvus.” She slipped on her shoes to the faint sound of motors whirring and set her hand on the door handle. But then she let go and turned back with a serious look. “It’s just…I think it’s going to take me a little time to process what we learned today. Corvus. When are you going to tell Sacchi?”

“Oh. Right.” He paused. “I was thinking today if I could…”

“Were you…? Well, yes, that’s fine. All right, I’m sorry, but do you mind if I leave you the job of telling her first?”

“No, of course not.” Haruyuki shook his head slightly.

“All right.” Now Fuko did actually push the door open. She bowed lightly with the twilight-colored sky behind her. “I’ll be on my way then. Have a good evening.”

“Thank you. You too!”

She waved with a smile, and once she had disappeared beyond the door, Haruyuki let out a small sigh.

The time was 5:25 PM. It hadn’t yet been half an hour since they’d dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field. But in Haruyuki’s subjective reality, he had been over there for more than ten hours, so he had ten hours’ worth of exhaustion. With the round trip, it had been quite an adventure, slipping past the fierce attacks of the God Suzaku not once but twice.

After he returned to the living room and cleared away their glasses, he flopped down on the sofa and sank back.

“Aaaah,” he groaned. “I feel like Suzaku’s initial Hate is gradually increasing.” He raised one hand to count on his fingers. The first time he encountered Suzaku had been a month earlier, on the outward journey of the mission to rescue Ardor Maiden. With the trip back after that and then that day’s return trip, that made four times he had charged across the large bridge to the south, and he keenly felt each time the growth of the God’s rage.

And the escape that day—his fourth—was a terrific battle on par with his second close call with Suzaku. They had flown out of the south gate with Lead wedged in between Haruyuki and Fuko, but even still, Suzaku’s manifestation was a beat faster, and the three of them had just barely made it out, using Incarnate techniques to defend desperately against the inferno Suzaku rained upon them from overhead.

If they hadn’t had Lead’s defensive Incarnate technique Genuine Specular, which turned his sword, when brandished horizontally, into a large mirror shield, and the support of Graph’s dual swords striking at random with Vorpal Strike from inside the south gate, it would have been utterly impossible to break through. Right from the start, Lead had said escape was impossible without the flight speed of Silver Crow and Sky Raker, and when they managed somehow to flee to Sakurada Street, all three of their health gauges were colored bright red. If they tried that mad dash one more time, it was entirely possibly they’d be wiped out.

“The fifth time, we’re gonna have to actually fight and not just sneak past,” he muttered to himself, before sitting up and switching mental gears with an “Okay!”

He had taken Fuko on the sudden mission to the Castle and exposed them both to serious danger, but they’d obtained information that was plenty worth it: the origin of the Accelerated World and the reason for the existence of The Fluctuating Light. And one more thing—an unexpected, trustworthy ally.

Thanks, Lead…and Graph. He dipped his head to the east and then stood up. First, he had to get in touch with Kuroyukihime and tell her everything they’d found out. He did some flicking on his virtual desktop, until— “Whoa?!”

Suddenly, the incoming mail icon flashed before his eyes, and he fell back onto the sofa in surprise. He hurried to open it; the body of the message had only the four words: “Arrival in thirty seconds!” And before he could check the sender’s name, the door chime sounded, announcing a visitor.

“……”

With a strange look, Haruyuki hurried to the entryway where he had only just seen Fuko off a few minutes ago.

“’Suuuuup!” A red shadow jumped inside and slammed a fist into his side.

“Hrngh!” he groaned. “Wh-what’s with the sudden jab?”

“A friendly greeting aaaand angry-sad punishment!” a girl in a red T-shirt and shorts shouted. This was the head of the Legion Prominence, the Red King, Scarlet Rain, aka Yuniko Kozuki.

“Angry-sad?” he asked, stepping back.

“Yup.” Niko glared at him, striking a daunting pose on the step into the condo. “You didn’t take me to Shibuya on Sunday or anything.”

“W-we had the negotiations with Great Wall,” he protested.

“And you took forever to tell us the results,” she sniffed.

“A-a bunch of stuff happened…”

“Welp, suck it up. That’s what that gut punch was for.” A grin broke through her sullen expression, and a slender figure appeared in the half-open door.

“Hi,” said Blood Leopard aka Pard, dressed in riding leather.

“Hello, Pard.” He bowed lightly. “What’s up all of a sudden?”

“SRY. We have something urgent to talk about.”

“Yup. I’m coming iiiin!” Niko walked into the living room, overly familiar with the house, and Haruyuki hurried after her.

He sat them on the sofa, poured cold tea in the glasses he’d just washed, and brought them out to the living room again. He took a sip of his own tea to calm himself down before turning to Niko, who was now sitting directly across from him. “So. What did you want to talk about?”

“Ohh, about that…” Perhaps thirsty, Niko drank down the cold-brew green tea in a single go and turned a slender finger toward the floor of the living room. “You’re not calling Kuroyukihime over?”

“Huh? Kuroyukihime?” It was an unexpected demand, but Haruyuki had been about to get in touch with her anyway. “Um. Okay, I’ll just send her a mail.”

He launched the mailer he had been about to start up before the two girls arrived and quickly sent her a message; the response came right away. It seemed that Kuroyukihime had just left school. She would be there in ten minutes.

The chime rang eight minutes later, in fact.

A uniformed Kuroyukihime followed him into the living room. “Oh-ho?” she said, the moment she caught sight of Niko and Pard on the sofa, her voice containing all kinds of nuance. Her gaze shifted to Haruyuki, and a smile of ultimate chill—well, not that far, a coolish smile rose up on her face. “Haruyuki, mind telling me what the situation here is?”

“O-oh! Um! …Oh! M-Master Fuko was here before, but—!”

“Oh-ho-ho?”

“Uh! Um! But I guess Niko and Pard are here for something else…!”

“Oh-ho-ho-ho?” Kuroyukihime’s smile grew increasingly broad.

“Hey, Black,” came a voice from the sofa. “C’mon, sit.”

“This isn’t your house, Red!” Kuroyukihime whirled around to shout before stepping over briskly and throwing herself down next to Niko.

Secretly letting out a sigh of relief, Haruyuki moved to the kitchen and got another glass, a bottle of cold tea, and a large plate of biscuits before returning to the living room. He poured tea for Kuroyukihime and refills for Niko and Pard and then sat down himself on the sofa.

“Um, Kuroyukihime, I’m really sorry for asking you over all of a sudden,” Haruyuki apologized once more.

“No.” Kuroyukihime finally let him see her usual smile. “I have some things I’d like to discuss as well. But first and foremost, I shall hear what Niko’s business is. What exactly did you want to talk about?”

“Ohh.” Niko had just bitten into a caramel-banana cookie, so she wet her mouth with tea before saying with excessive nonchalance, “So like, actually, I was thinking we’d merge Promi with Negabu.”

“……”

Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime were struck dumb for a full five seconds at least before they both threw their heads back in shock.

“S-sorryyyyyy?!” she shrieked.

“Whaaaaaaat?!” he yelped.

Five minutes later:

After listening to Niko’s explanation with additional commentary from Pard, Kuroyukihime silently ate a cinnamon-almond cookie before saying “I see.”

“Huh?” Haruyuki asked. “Um. Is that all, Kuroyukihime?”

“Mmm.” She nodded. “What do you think, Haruyuki?”

“O-oh, it’s totally nothing like that, but…I don’t know. This is too big. What am I supposed to think all of a sudden…? And like in front of me…” He turned his head and asked Niko, “Are you really sure? If you merge with Nega Nebulus, the Legions of the other Kings are going to be even more hostile.”

“I already talked about all of that with Pard. I’ve made my decision.” She glanced at the young woman in question before continuing. “I want to fight the Acceleration Research Society…and the White Legion, and the only way to do that is in the Territories with Negabu—But, bah…It’s not really a system-wise reason like that. I just wanna fight together. Thinking about it, the first time I fought with you guys six months ago, with the whole fifth Chrome Disaster thing, it was ’cause of the Society, too. I wanna see this fight with them to the end. Otherwise, neither my Legion members nor I will be able to move forward.” Her words contained equal parts Niko-like fire and a coolness that reflected her growth.

Kuroyukihime closed her eyes briefly and then slowly nodded. “Ever since I heard that you were thinking about coming to Umesato Junior High, I’ve anticipated that this might be a possible future. But…this decision came sooner than I expected. To be honest, you’ve surprised me.”

“I-it’s not like I said I was gonna go to Umesato ’cause I wanted to merge our Legions or anything,” Niko replied quickly, seeming slightly embarrassed. “That’s that; this is this.”

“Yes. I know.” Kuroyukihime suddenly turned a faint smile on her. “At any rate, I must respond to your resolve properly…” She turned her whole body to the left and snapped to attention.

“Niko—no, leader of Prominence, Scarlet Rain,” she began, her voice clear. “As Black Lotus, leader of Nega Nebulus, I shall accept your request to merge Legions. I would like to bring in the executives of both sides to discuss at a later date the conditions for the merger. I look forward to fighting alongside you from now on.” She offered her hand in a supple motion.

Niko opened her eyes wide for a mere instant and then slapped her hand against Kuroyukihime’s to shake it so forcefully it made a snapping noise. “Us, too,” she replied, her own voice equally resolute. “Looking forward to it.”

The moment he saw their two hands tightly joined, Haruyuki felt something hot welling up from deep in his chest, and he hurriedly blinked it away.

A Legion merger sounded like quite a big deal, but Nega Nebulus and Prominence had already had a peace treaty for some time now. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d fought with Niko and Pard, and maybe this was just one step forward in their cooperation. At any rate, what he could say for sure was that this merger wouldn’t have happened were it not for the presence of a common enemy, the Acceleration Research Society. But still, in this moment, a definite miracle took shape.

Kuroyukihime had once assessed her duel avatar as the ultimate in ugly. She’d said that she didn’t even have hands to clasp with anyone. Niko had in the past declared her own duel avatar to be like the spines on a hedgehog, that it was her longing to keep the world at bay given material form. They’d quarreled plenty, built up a sort of friendship and trust, and now here they were, finally joining hands.

I will definitely never forget this sight. No matter what happens to the Legion—or the Accelerated World or Brain Burst itself.

Resolving this in his heart, Haruyuki blinked firmly one last time and then looked over to Pard, at his right. There, he witnessed the ever-cool Bloody Kitty secretly wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, and his mouth softened.

But noticing the look on Haruyuki’s face, Pard returned a slight glare.

“Oh, I’ll say this just in case, Niko. Even when our Legions become one, Haruyuki is my child and student. Ensure that you do not push your way into his home so casually.”

“Huh? Huuuuh?!” Niko shouted, shaking Kuroyukihime’s hand away. “This is Negabu’s Mission Control center, yeah? But like, once we merge, it’s my Mission Control, too, y’know? That’s actually like an ‘anytime free pass.’”

“D-don’t be ridiculous! Use is off-limits unless you get my permission in advance!”

Um, this is my house, though…All Haruyuki could do was gape, the words lodged in his throat.

The detailed negotiations involving the executive members of both Legions were set for the next day, July 19, a Friday evening, while the merger ceremony and the meet and greet for all Legion members were decided for the twentieth, Saturday afternoon—immediately before the Territories. And that was the end of the merger talk for the time being.

The Territories in two days’ time would also be the decisive battle with the White Legion, so the process was a bit rushed. But they had to avoid at all costs any leak of the attack mission on Minato Area No. 3 to the Oscillatory side. They didn’t particularly expect there would be a leak from Prominence, but simply because that Legion was overwhelming in number, Niko proposed that the announcement to all members should be made immediately before the mission.

However, on the other hand, this meant they couldn’t really have anyone from Prominence on the Minato No. 3 attack team. Naturally, Niko, who was level nine like Kuroyukihime, couldn’t take part, so the support from Prominence would likely be two or three members including Pard.

Of course, this was a big ask, and they were grateful to have the assistance of Prominence members in the defense of Suginami area. But the issue of insufficient personnel on the attack team was still not resolved. Even at a bare minimum, the estimate was that there would be twelve people on the Oscillatory defense team, and at maximum, there could be as many as twenty. Meanwhile, adding in the help from Prominence to leader Fuko and members Utai, Akira, Takumu, Chiyuri, and Haruyuki, the attack team would still only be nine people. If push came to shove, they could have the three former members of Petit Paquet join in, but then only Kuroyukihime would be left for the defense of Suginami, and that was just a bit worrisome.

We really do need three more people. But I don’t have any idea of who else to ask, Haruyuki muttered to himself, counting the number of people on his fingers, and then suddenly remembered his great adventure of an hour or so earlier and clenched his hand into a fist.

No, I might be able to wrangle one person, though. But I have to wait for him to contact me…If he’d join us, I’d feel a million times more confident.

“…yuki. Haruyuki.”

He suddenly realized he was being called and hurried to lift his face. “Oh! Y-yes! How about some more cookies?!”

“I hope that I’m not that much of a glutton.” Kuroyukihime gave a smile and checked Haruyuki as he was about to leap to his feet with the wave of a hand. “That reminds me. You said earlier that Fuko was here? What did she want?”

“Oh…Th-that’s right. I wanted to talk to you about that…” He got that far and then shifted his gaze to the right.

He met the eyes of Niko as she bit into a macadamia-chocolate cookie and Pard while she chewed a coconut-lemon one. He screwed up his face unconsciously as he thought.

Is it okay to tell them everything Graphite Edge told us? No, that’s not a problem. I mean, they’re going to be my comrades in the same Legion and all…And we did fight the God Seiryu together…

“You’re making a weird face,” Niko remarked. “Did you want my half-eaten cookie?”

“N-n-n-no!” He hurriedly rejected her offer and cleared his throat. “Um, the truth is…Today I kinda went to the Castle…”

“Wh-what?!” Kuroyukihime screeched.

“Th-the Castle?!” Niko howled.

“OMG,” Pard muttered.

By the time Haruyuki finished telling them the secrets of the Accelerated World he had saved in his analogue memory, it was 6:40 PM. The southern sky was violet, and the evening sun, on the verge of setting, created a powerful contrast in the room. The western light reflected off the flooring to be absorbed into the girls’ eyes, making them shine like jewels.

Or perhaps this glittering light was coming from inside them. Even after Haruyuki closed his mouth, they stayed silent for a long time, but he could sense that each of them was chasing down powerful thoughts at top speed.

When the in-ceiling air conditioner started automatically, filling the air with the faint whir of operation, Kuroyukihime shuddered. She lifted her lowered eyes and looked directly at him. Her lips moved slightly two or three times until finally he heard a faint voice. “The Fluctuating Light…”

She let out a long sigh and then raised her voice slightly. “Let me say this first, Haruyuki.”

“O-okay.” Haruyuki unconsciously sat up straighter.

“Thank you.” Kuroyukihime dipped her head toward him. “You took a terrible risk for my sake…But next time, make sure you say something in advance. I can’t even count how many times you’ve gone off recklessly like this.”

Haruyuki bobbed his head up and down at this heartfelt thank-you and minor scolding.

Kuroyukihime’s mouth relaxed into a small smile, but she quickly recomposed herself and said in a severe voice, “Youkou, the final Arc. So Graphite Edge said…reaching it is the final objective in Brain Burst. It is the reason for our existence as Burst Linkers.”

“Yes. No mistake,” he confirmed.

“I see. In other words, that mission to attack the Castle that destroyed the former Nega Nebulus…We were not incorrect in our aim then…” Kuroyukihime leaned back against the sofa and looked up at the evening sky beyond the window with narrowed eyes.

Silence fell once more, and this time, it was Pard who opened her mouth. “Two…developers.”

“Mmm,” Niko groaned. “So the whosit who made the Castle and the one who designed all the other elements are two different people. So that’s why that stupid palace totally rejects us then…”

“Yeah,” Haruyuki agreed. “But Castle creator A was defeated by creator B. That’s what Graph said, so I think in practical terms, the Brain Burst developer is B alone now…”

The furrow between Niko’s brows became that much deeper. “That ‘defeated’ is a pretty vague way of putting it. This war way back in the long ago happened in a virtual world, yeah? So then didn’t A just run out of HP and log out? …Did they lose their memory, too, like with Brain Burst? Or did they really die in the real world?”

Niko’s questions were right on the money, but all Haruyuki could do was shrug helplessly. “Aah. Uh, I didn’t ask about that.”

“And what’s this war in a virtual world anyway? And what exactly is this ‘Being’ they were fighting over?”

“Oh…Sorry, I don’t really…”

“Gah! This is so annoying!” At some point, Niko had taken off her socks, and now she kicked her skinny legs as she shouted, “Hey, Haruyuki, get Graphite Edge over here pronto!”

“I—I can’t! I don’t know how to contact him or anything…”

“Huh?!” she shrieked in disbelief. “He used to be one of Negabu’s Four Elements, yeah?! You didn’t even exchange mail addresses?!”

“Oh! No! I told him mine,” Haruyuki replied quickly. “But he didn’t tell me his…”

“Ngaaah! I’ll never be able to make my new Legion thing work like this!”

Her frustrated kicking in the air grew fiercer, and Kuroyukihime, who had been in silent thought, yanked on one of her pigtails.

“Hey!” she snapped. “I can’t just let that ‘my new Legion’ thing slide, you know.”

“That doesn’t matter right now! Just let it go!” Niko howled, but it seemed that she had succeeded in cooling down at last. She let out a long sigh as she clasped her hands behind her head and looked up at the ceiling.

“Mmm. Hmmm. It’s like I get ten answers, and my questions multiply by a hundred or something. So like…to start with, that Graphite Edge, how’s he know all this stuff?”

Haruyuki didn’t have the words to answer this question, either. He turned his gaze toward Kuroyukihime, and a knowing grin came across the lips of Graph’s student.

“Apologies, but I know very little about him myself,” she said. “We’ve never met in the real, either. All that’s certain is that he’s an Originator.”

“Originator,” Haruyuki parroted as he considered the word. The Burst Linkers with no parents, also known as the first one hundred. Those were the Originators. They had received the Brain Burst program directly from the developer in 2039 and created the prototype of the Accelerated World.

“So then, like, does that mean all the Originators know the same stuff as Graphite Edge?” Niko asked, still lying back with her legs outstretched.

“No, I don’t suppose it does.” Kuroyukihime shook her head slightly. “If it was information communicated to a hundred Burst Linkers, it would have spread more. Because in the initial Accelerated World, there was no limit on the number of people who could copy and install, apparently.”

“And if they made a child, naturally, they were gonna tell ’em about the conditions to clear the game. So then, I guess that means that Graphite does have some kinda secret.”

“Oh, about that, Niko.” Kuroyukihime cleared her throat. “I know this is me saying this, but when it comes to Graph, struggling to figure out anything he says or does is a waste of your time and processing ability. He only shows up where he wants to, he only talks about what he wants to, and he only fights the opponents he wants to. Most likely, the reason Graph chose to tell Haruyuki this information was because he’s the most obedient listener in Nega Nebulus.”

“O-obedient listener? What does that mean?” Is that a compliment? Haruyuki wondered as he asked.

“It means that you are simply obediently impressed and don’t ask all sorts of questions,” Kuroyukihime answered quickly.

…That’s not a compliment, is it?

Without leaving him the chance to be disappointed, Kuroyukihime continued, “Graph intended to communicate to me through your mouth, Haruyuki, that The Fluctuating Light itself is the clear flag for Brain Burst and only that. In other words, Graph is perhaps trying to stop me from recklessly pursuing level ten.”

“……!!”

Haruyuki gasped involuntarily.

Level ten. Kuroyukihime’s final objective, one she would pursue even if it meant her own life as a Burst Linker. He could still vividly remember the words that came from her mouth in a café in Koenji the day after she gave Haruyuki Brain Burst.

Because I put it far above friendship, above honor…becoming level ten. You could even say that alone is what I lived for.

I want to know. Whatever it takes, I have to know. Isn’t…isn’t there something beyond this? This…shell called a human being…outside…something more…

“Kuroyukihime.” Haruyuki ever so timidly asked his swordmaster in a hoarse voice, “If it’s like Graph says and level ten is just a checkpoint…If the final objective of Brain Burst is The Fluctuating Light in the Castle, would you stop trying for level ten?” He himself didn’t really know what answer he hoped for from her.

The path toward level ten was blood-soaked and ruthless. She would have to drive four other level niners to total point loss, and it was entirely possible that she would end up at total point loss in the process. It hurt his heart to think about Kuroyukihime incurring so much rage and enmity, and of course, he didn’t want to even think about the counterattacks against her.

But he also didn’t want to watch her throw away what she had been so desperately working toward, based on the logical judgment that it was too dangerous or that it wasn’t necessary. She cut down any and all obstacles in her path with her blades and the maddening passion within them to charge forward. Haruyuki was helplessly drawn to this powerful figure, and he was sure the other Legion members felt the same.

Conflicting feelings in his heart, Haruyuki clenched both of his hands in front of him.

Kuroyukihime blinked once at him before smoothly replying, “Impossible. Whatever the reason Brain Burst was created, I have absolutely no intention of standing still at level nine.”

“Y-you don’t?” Haruyuki wasn’t sure whether it was okay to be relieved or not.

“The system message when I reached level nine was a challenge from the developer.” Kuroyukihime favored him with a bold smile. “I am indeed interested in the reason Brain Burst was created, and I do want to know the true nature of The Fluctuating Light. And I also have the simple desire to clear this game. But above all else, I want to meet the developer and ask them directly—no, question them. What is Brain Burst? What were you thinking when you made such a thing?” Kuroyukihime opened and closed the fingers of her raised hand while Haruyuki looked on.

Abruptly, Niko chuckled. “Kuroyuki, so basically that, then? You wanna fight the developer, yeah?”

“Aah.” Kuroyukihime looked like Niko had caught her with her guard down and then also laughed briefly. “Perhaps. If I could ball up and pummel the developer with everything I’ve experienced since I became a Burst Linker, it would certainly be a relief.”

“Let me jump in when ya do. Once you’re done chopping ’em up, I’ll burn ’em to ash.”

The two kings had innocent looks on their faces during this dangerous exchange, and then they burst into bright laughter. The corners of even Pard’s mouth loosened, so Haruyuki allowed himself to be swept up in the laughter. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

Later, the four went to pick up some things in the ground floor shopping mall before making supper together. On the menu was chilled tantan ramen with plenty of black sesame seeds, decided upon by Niko and Kuroyukihime because the colors were black and red. He thought this might have been a bit of a cooking challenge with this lineup, but Pard showed a surprising chef’s flair, and their dinner turned out exactly like the photo on the recipe site they had referenced.

The main topic of conversation while they ate was the trip to Yamagata planned for the beginning of August, and they filled the table with holowindows, chatting excitedly about how they wanted to go here or see that, which was a lot of fun. And the black sesame chilled tantan ramen was shockingly delicious. The time flew by in the blink of an eye.

After Haruyuki saw Niko and Pard, who would be going home by motorcycle, and Kuroyukihime, returning home in a taxi, to the sidewalk of Kannana Street, he didn’t feel like going back to his empty house right away, so he bought a drink from the vending machine and then set himself down on a bench in the shopping mall galleria on the first floor.

Eight o’clock came and went, and shoppers carrying multicolored paper bags and residents of the condo returning home passed back and forth along the large galleria. As he stared absently at this scene, Haruyuki heard Graphite Edge’s voice in his ears once again, his reply to Haruyuki’s question about what would happen if The Fluctuating Light was freed.

But if there was one thing I could say…I think the outcome will change the world.

What did that mean—the real world would change? Would a technology that surpassed the standards for the current year of 2047 be revealed just like with the Brain Burst program itself? Or would something happen with the social camera network, given the close connection there with BB?

Haruyuki threw his head back and looked up at the black sphere placed basically in the center of the ceiling. The social camera, red indicator light blinking slowly inside the shell, was almost like the eyeball of a large Enemy.

Now that he was thinking about it, how could Brain Burst so easily hack into the social camera network, with the most critical security infrastructure in the country? Graphite Edge hadn’t explained that, either. Kuroyukihime said she would type up the information from Graph, together with the matter of the Legion merger, and distribute it to the other Legion members, so Takumu might figure out a bunch of things from that. In fact, if it had been Takumu who heard Graph’s story, there was no way he would’ve been “simply obediently impressed.” These thoughts running through his mind, he continued to stare at the black camera.

“What are you doing, Haru? Sitting here like this.”

He heard a voice from outside his field of view and jerked his head back down.

Standing in front of the bench was his childhood friend, shouldering a bamboo sword case—the very Takumu Mayuzumi himself, in his school uniform.

“Oh, Taku. Hey, you’re home.” Haruyuki hurriedly moved to stand, but Takumu checked him with a hand and then sat down to his right.

“Yeah, I’m home.” He slipped the sword case off his shoulder and let out a sigh. “Aah, practice was tough today. I don’t want to get back up again.”

“Ha-ha! It must’ve been seriously hard if you’re out of energy. Oh, here! Have this.” Haruyuki handed him the bottle of rooibos tea he’d bought but still hadn’t opened.

Perhaps Takumu was quite thirsty; he accepted it with a simple “Thanks,” twisted the cap, and gulped about half of it down immediately. “Aah, this is giving me life…Sorry for taking it from you.”

“NP. You think you’ll win at the meet?”

“Ha-ha! Won’t know until I get there. Well, since I’m making a showing, even if I don’t win the individual fights or the group fights, I still want to go for a spot in the national meet. And…” Here, Takumu cut himself off and gripped the bottle with both hands.

“And?” Haruyuki prompted.

“Oh, uh…It’s kinda embarrassing to say, but I have to win as many matches as I can in front of Nomi without relying on acceleration.”

“…Right.” Haruyuki relaxed his mouth and nodded.

The Twilight Marauder Dusk Taker, aka Seiji Nomi, had lost all his Burst Points in a decisive battle against Haruyuki and Takumu three months earlier, leading to the loss of the Brain Burst program and any memory related to it. Now that he was an average seventh grader again, he adored his older teammate Takumu and worked hard on the kendo team. The Nomi of the present didn’t know anything about acceleration, so Takumu’s efforts were perhaps one-sided. But there was no doubt something in those efforts that would reach Nomi.

“For his sake, too, we totally have to win in the Territories on Saturday and crush the Acceleration Research Society,” Haruyuki said.

“Yeah, we do.” Takumu nodded deeply. “I’m actually feeling more pressure about that than the meet the next day.”

“What? The next day?”

“Yes! The Territories are the day after tomorrow, and the meet’s on the twenty-first. So I keep telling myself that if we can win against the White Legion, I can win at the meet, too.”

“Huh,” Haruyuki said. “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, the kendo meet’s not all easy or whatever, but I seriously doubt there’s a school team out there scarier than Oscillatory.”

“Right, exactly. And the Green King the other day, too. After fighting a real high ranker in the Accelerated World, I can actually relax at something like a kendo meet. So although I’m scared that some fierce Oscillatory warrior’ll show up in the Territories, I’m also excited about it,” Takumu said, pushing up the bridge of his glasses.

“I get that.” Haruyuki looked at his handsome face in profile with admiration. “Okay! When I’m nervous about something in the real world, I’ll just try remembering when I fought a king or a super-class Enemy or something.”

“So, like, when would you be nervous?” Takumu asked, and Haruyuki sank into thought.

Right before a test, he would get so nervous that his palms would sweat, but once it actually started, he would inevitably get so desperate he’d forget he was nervous. And he was a lot less nervous talking with students other than Takumu and Chiyuri in class now that they were at the end of the first term of eighth grade.

A few hours earlier, when Niko and Kuroyukihime had been together at his house, that had made him pretty nervous, but if he told Takumu that, he didn’t know what kind of reaction he’d get, so he decided to keep quiet. Now that he was thinking about it, though, the Haruyuki who belonged to the Animal Care Club would never actually have the opportunity to be in a sports meet of any kind in the real world, so he guessed that it was basically just when he had to speak in front of a lot of people.

Here, Haruyuki remembered he had an important proposal to discuss with Takumu and briefly cried in dismay, “Ah!”

“Wh-what’s wrong, Haru?” Takumu wondered in surprise.

Haruyuki scratched his head for a second before opening his mouth. “Um. This has nothing to do with what we’re talking about—well, maybe it does a little bit, but…Taku, so like, I…I think I’m gonna do it.”

Even though Haruyuki had left out the object of that sentence, Takumu being Takumu had apparently understood exactly what he meant with the psychic power of a childhood friend. He opened his eyes wide for a second before grinning and nodding forcefully. “You are? Then you gotta go talk to Ikuzawa right away tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah. I do…right?”

“Of course. This is gonna be fun, Haru.” Still smiling, Takumu patted Haruyuki’s shoulder.

Ten days earlier, Mayu Ikuzawa, the class representative for eighth grade class C, had sounded Takumu and Haruyuki out about running for election for the student council in the new term. He’d put off giving her an answer for a fairly long time, but this was the second most important decision of his life—the first, of course, being when he accepted the installation of the BB program Kuroyukihime sent him—and he’d absolutely needed this much time to firm up his resolve.

But once he told Mayu Ikuzawa yes, there would be no taking it back. Ikuzawa admired the current vice president Kuroyukihime, and she had confessed that her motivation for running in the election was because she wanted to live like her. For Ikuzawa’s sake, too, Haruyuki would have to expend every effort until the election in September.

“I’m going to do everything I can to win,” he declared, although his voice was just a little wobbly.

Takumu squeezed Haruyuki’s shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go hard, Haru. In the Territories on Saturday…and in the second-term student council election.”

“And you in the meet and then at nationals!” Haruyuki added.

“Of course,” Takumu replied with a smile.

After saying good-bye to Takumu in the elevator hall and returning to his own condo, Haruyuki took an hour to finish his homework and then washed up with a quick shower instead of a bath before getting into bed.

It had been a very long day. Given that he’d spent over ten hours in the Castle, it was only natural, but he’d jammed far too much information into his head during the long hours as well, and he still hadn’t finished processing it all. Staring up at the ceiling in his dark room, it seemed that words like The Fluctuating Light and Legion merger and student council election were whirling around in the corner of his vision.

If I fall asleep like this, I’m probably going to have weird dreams, he thought as his exhaustion finally forced his eyelids down, and Haruyuki dropped into sleep, forgetting to even take his Neurolinker off.

And then, as predicted, he had a strange dream.

The entire sky was filled with stars. Above his head, where he stood on an invisible horizon, the countless points of light formed clusters like spherical galaxies, shining brilliantly. It wasn’t as though the stars were standing still; one would move randomly, collide with another, and then that star would move and hit yet another star. There was something almost organic about their activity.

He had seen this before.

“The Main Visualizer?” he murmured. There was no one there to answer him, but Haruyuki was certain.

It had been on June 19—exactly a month ago. Although Takumu had annihilated his enemies when given an ISS kit by Magenta Scissor, he had been taken prisoner by the dark power. That night, Haruyuki had fallen asleep with a wired connection between himself, Takumu, and Chiyuri, and had visited this space, dragged along by the unconscious Takumu.

This was the central server for Brain Burst, also known as the Main Visualizer, where all calculations in the Accelerated World were performed. If the Highest Level was the place where the entire world could be seen, then this space was perhaps the place where the true nature of the Accelerated World could be glimpsed.

But it wasn’t like he was equipped with an ISS kit, so why would he have wandered in here during his sleep once again? Or was this…?

“A real dream?” he muttered as he looked down at himself and patted at the hazy, transparent avatar of Silver Crow with both hands.

“This is not a dream.” He heard a voice from behind and whirled around. “Although I do not know exactly what these ‘dreams’ you little warriors have when your mental circuits are made to rest are…I know—you will show me right here and now, servant.”

There could only be one person making such absurd demands in such a haughty tone.

“M-M-M-Metatron?!” The reason Haruyuki squealed was not only because the Legend-class Enemy crowned with the name of an archangel had surprised him there. Rather than the usual small, 3-D icon shining faintly before his eyes was instead the figure of a girl so beautiful it was divine, with snowy-white wings and clad in a long dress. “Th-that form…Metatron, are your wounds healed?! So you’re okay now?!”

Unconsciously, he stretched his arms out to embrace her slender shoulders. Silver Crow’s hands and Metatron’s body were both semitransparent, but even so, he felt a hazy warmth from her, and he was so deeply moved that he started to hug her with all his might.

Eyes still closed, Metatron swiftly raised a hand and thrust a fingertip into the middle of Haruyuki’s face. “Wh-what manner of behavior is this, servant?! Do you consider this sort of insolent action to be appropriate for a servant?!”

“Hyah…I-I’m sorry…I was just so happy, I just…”

“And the recovery of my true form is not yet complete! Most likely, this space is a different phase from the Highest Level…If the phase I visited with you could be expressed as the data positioning, then this shows the data movement. Thus, I am depicted in this form, I suppose.” Although she had refused Haruyuki’s embrace, the Archangel didn’t try to move away from him as she looked up at the oscillating galaxy.

“If you still don’t have your power back,” Haruyuki said, “then how did you call me to this space?”

“To use the words of you little warriors, it was ‘the result of training.’”

“Tr-training?! What kind of training?” Haruyuki stared at Metatron, dumbfounded.

She opened her eyes the slightest bit and cleared her throat. “I have spent long hours enhancing the link that has been established between you and me in order to make it more certain. As a result, when all the conditions are met, I am now able to call you like this…That’s all.”

“W-wow…”

“Well, the enhancement is still needing much more improvement.”

“W-wow…” After being obediently impressed, he started reeling. “Uh, um, that’s, when you’re done enhancing the link, I wonder what’ll happen.”

The Archangel chuckled proudly. “My ultimate objective is to be able to visit the Lowest Level where you live.”

“Wh-whaaaaat?!” He threw his head back even farther, and this time, it was Metatron grabbing hold of his shoulders.

“What is that reaction exactly? Are you expressing your overabundant joy, servant?”

“O-oh, uh…I-I’d definitely be happy if you could come to my house, Metatron. Very.” As he spoke, he imagined running into his mother and shuddered all over.

The look on Metatron’s face grew even more suspicious, but eventually she laughed again. “It will take much more work to enhance the link before that becomes possible. I permit you to look forward to the day, Silver Crow.”

“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it. Totally,” Haruyuki replied obediently, before moving away from Metatron to look up at the galaxy of information once more.

When he sat down on the spot, the Archangel also lowered herself down next to him. For a while, they stared wordlessly at the flickering stars. Right around the time when he’d lost track of how long they’d been sitting there, Haruyuki asked, “Metatron? What do you think about the stuff Graphite Edge said in the Castle?”

Unusually, it took a while before her response came back to him. “I am deeply grateful that you could lead me into the Castle. However, the information input in that space is much too fragmentary, so I have not yet reached a conclusion. No…perhaps I should say that there is still insufficient data required to reach a conclusion.”

“Insufficient…Yeah, I get that. And I feel like Graph didn’t tell us the key parts. But…in that case, why didn’t you ask Graph anything yourself?”

“Mmm.” She paused again before murmuring, “I shall admit it. I was on guard against that little warrior.”

“O-on guard?”

“It’s not that I felt malice or ill will…He is different from the enemy who dragged me out of my palace. But something…Something—including that warrior—put me on guard. Even to simply name myself required some courage, albeit only a minute amount…It is impossible, but that warrior is…perhaps even greater than a Divine such as myself…” Metatron’s voice gradually faded until she broke off entirely.

When he turned his gaze toward her, the Archangel grabbed his head with her hand and roughly pushed it down, as if to say Don’t look at me. This inevitably set his head on her knees, but for some reason, the usual “Insolent creature!” did not come down on him, so he stayed where he was.

He could feel her soft warmth even through the helmet of his duel avatar, and a powerful desire to sleep came over him. But I wanted to talk more about stuff, he thought as his eyelids became so heavy he could hardly stand it.

“Someday, I will visit the Castle with you and meet him once more, I suppose. At that time, all mysteries will be revealed, and we will learn the meaning of our existence.” Metatron’s words echoed softly like a lullaby. “Go to sleep now, Silver Crow. And ready yourself for the fight to come…”

Listening to the stars’ faint orchestra of bells from Metatron’s lap, Haruyuki was consumed by a dark sleep.