Accel World - Volume 19 - Chapter 8

8

The long mail from Kuroyukihime was sent to all the Legion members immediately after the last homeroom of the first term had ended.

I wonder if she wrote it during class…The report was so detailed and easy to read that it sent a powerful chill up Haruyuki’s spine. With a dual-part structure, the first half was about the proposal to merge with the Red Legion. The latter half was written on the topic of the Castle and the secrets of Brain Burst. It was all information that Haruyuki already knew, but even so, he read it in his seat as if in a trance.

And then someone was standing in front of his desk. When he looked, he saw it was Chiyuri Kurashima, already finished getting ready to go home.

“Haru.” She leaned over. “You read Kuroyukihime’s mail yet?”

“I’m just in the middle of it now…You?”

“Just the first half,” she said. “And I was so surprised— Ah! Maybe you…”

“Wh-what?” he asked.

“Since you’re not shouting ‘Automagetting!’ and falling out of your chair, I’m guessing you already knew.” She stared at him. “About the merger.”

“Th-that’s, well…I mean, don’t you have to go to practice?” He tried to change the subject.

“No practice today or tomorrow!” she yelled. “Now, come on! Come clean!”

Suddenly, Takumu was standing at her side. He also looked surprised—

Unsurprisingly—but given that they had the meet in two days, the kendo team would naturally have practice that day, so he didn’t have the time to talk.

“Chii, make sure you ask Haru about everything for me, too.” He raised a thumb as if to say he was leaving it all to her. “All right. I’ll talk to you later.” Takumu waved a hand and then trotted off.

Haruyuki watched him go before turning his face back to Chiyuri.

“’Kay,” she said. “Let’s get this story out of you then, hmm?”

“But basically everything I know’s in the mail…”

“Then tell me about everything outside that ‘basically’!”

With his childhood friend snapping this order at him, Haruyuki couldn’t very well say no.

When they went outside, he found the rain had stopped at some point. After they walked around to the animal hutch in the rear courtyard, Haruyuki got out two bamboo brooms and pushed one at her.

“…What?” Chiyuri said, looking doubtful, and he grinned at her.

“In exchange for me telling you stuff, help me clean.”

“…Well, fine. I guess.”

Once they had finished cleaning up around the hutch, his Animal Care Club colleague Reina Izeki and the club super president Utai Shinomiya appeared.

“Oh!” Reina cried, noticing Chiyuri. “Um. Kurashima, right? Are you a new member—I mean, of the club?”

“No, just helping out today,” Haruyuki replied for her.

“Oh yeah?” Reina looked disappointed.

“I’m sorry, Izeki,” Chiyuri apologized. “I don’t have practice today, so this guy made me help him.”

Haruyuki started to feel like he was in the wrong somehow. No, but it’s not my fault at all. He shook his head from side to side.

UI> EVEN IF IT’S JUST FOR TODAY, I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HERE, CHIYURI! HOO IS ALSO VERY HAPPY! Utai announced in the chat app.

The three looked over at the hutch, and the northern white-faced owl Hoo flapped his wings in a welcoming way—or so Haruyuki felt.

“Ha-ha-ha! Thanks, Hoo! So what should I do next?” Chiyuri asked.

Haruyuki thought for a second and then frowned. “Dig in the ground over there and gather worms for Hoo to eat.”

“W—! W-w-w-w-worms?! N-no way! I’m not touching worms!!” Chiyuri inched backward.

“Oh! Look!” Haruyuki suddenly pointed at her feet. “There’s one there!”

“Eeeeyaaaah!!” Chiyuri leapt up in an impressive power of legs from her many hours of sports practice. But once she confirmed there was nothing on the ground, her face turned beet red and she charged forward to yank Haruyuki’s cheek. “You—! I’m going to rip this cheek off and feed it to Hoo!!”

“H-how-ow-ow-ow?! Horry, horry! Horhibe me!!”

Reina and Utai watched, dumbfounded, and then erupted into laugher, while Hoo called out loudly, “Hoo-hoooo!”

When the hutch was clean and Hoo fed—the food was, of course, not worms nor Haruyuki’s cheek but the mouse meat Utai had prepared—Reina waved good-bye, and then the three Burst Linkers sat down next to one another on the bench near the hutch.

The fingers of Utai’s hands flashed above her adorable kneecaps. UI> DID YOU BOTH READ THE MAIL FROM SACCHI?

“Yeah, mostly,” Chiyuri said. “But like, Ui, listen to this! Haru here apparently already knew about the merger!”

UI> IS THAT TRUE, ARITA?

Chiyuri and Utai turned to stare at him, and Haruyuki hurriedly shook his head.

“N-no. I mean, knew, like, I only heard about it twelve hours ago! Uh. Last night, Kuroyukihime and Niko and Pard came to my house, okay…”

“Hmmmm.”

UI> HMMMM, INDEED.

“N-no. I mean, came, like they weren’t staying over. We made supper together and ate it, and then everyone went home.”

“Hmmmmmm.”

UI> HMMMMMM, INDEED.

Their eyes were getting cold on him, so he decided it would be best to just get right to the point.

“S-so that was the first time I heard anything about the merger, either. I guess it took Niko and Pard until yesterday to convince the two other members of the Triplex. And after that, it’s just like in Kuroyukihime’s mail. We won’t know the details until tomorrow.”

“I see. Mm-hmm,” Chiyuri hummed deeply, her face finally resuming its normal expression. “But I wonder if Blaze Heart and Peach Parasol and them are going to get on board after they came and attacked Suginami that time in the Territories…I didn’t actually fight them, but they were pretty serious, weren’t they?”

UI> YES. I DON’T THINK THEY WILL SO EASILY FORGIVE SACCHI FOR DRIVING RED RIDER TO TOTAL POINT LOSS.

“So then,” Chiyuri started. “Maybe Blaze and them’ll leave the Legion when they find out about the merger.”

Haruyuki nodded silently before asking the youngest and yet most senior Legion member there, “Shinomiya, what do you think about the merger?”

Without so much as appearing to think for a moment, Utai tapped away at her holokeyboard. UI> I HAVE NO PARTICULAR OBJECTION. WHEN I BECAME A BURST LINKER, IT WAS QUITE NORMAL FOR A LEGION TO MERGE WITH OR SPLIT FROM A NEARBY LEGION. THE REASON THE SITUATION IN THE ACCELERATED WORLD HASN’T SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED RECENTLY IS BECAUSE THE SIX LEGIONS CONCLUDED THE MUTUAL NONAGGRESSION PACT. BUT

Her fingers stopped there for a moment, and then she continued, typing a little slower.

UI> IF THE LEGION NAME NEGA NEBULUS DISAPPEARS DUE TO THIS MERGER, I DO THINK THAT WOULD BE UNFORTUNATE. I’M SURE EVERYONE IN PROMINENCE FEELS THE SAME WAY.

“Mmm. I guess so.” Chiyuri looked up at the sky, where the clouds were gradually thinning. “It’s only been three months since I was let into Nega Nebulus, but even so, I seriously love the Legion. I do think we have to defeat the Acceleration Research Society, and I’m happy to have a whole bunch of new comrades, but…But I guess I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. I want to have fun with people I love in a comfortable place forever. It’s just this feeling I have…”

Haruyuki unconsciously stared at the face of his childhood friend in profile. He had once told Chiyuri that the energy source for Lime Bell’s special attack Citron Call was her longing for the past. The sound of the bell when she activated her technique was exactly the same as the bell at the elementary school she, Haruyuki, and Takumu had attended. Most likely, even now, she held the desire deep in the depths of her heart to return to the days when the three of them would get all sweaty running around and playing every evening, back when she wasn’t afraid of a recurrence of her father’s illness. Large changes like a Legion merger or a decisive battle with the Society probably made her feel more overwhelmed than he could imagine.

“It’ll be okay, Chiyu,” Haruyuki said. “Even if the name changes when the Legions merge, none of the important stuff’ll change, y’know? We’re gonna join forces with Promi, take down the Acceleration Research Society, crush their plans, and clear Brain Burst together with Kuroyukihime. That’s the goal, just like it’s always been.”

“Mmm.” Chiyuri blinked several times and then showed him her usual grin. “Right! You and I gotta get way stronger still, Haru!”

“Y-yeah, right.” Haruyuki’s response was somewhat inarticulate.

Utai snickered before moving her fingers. UI> ARITA, I THINK IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT IT TOGETHER AND DECIDED ON YOUR LEVEL-SIX BONUS!

“Unh! …R-right…Graph said the same thing…”

UI> WHAT DID GRAPH SAY? Utai had already read Kuroyukihime’s report, so she should have known that Haruyuki and Fuko had encountered Graphite Edge in the Castle. So Haruyuki left out the preamble and just told her what the man had said.

“Um. He said if I wasn’t satisfied with how I am, I can get stronger with more training or level-up bonuses. I don’t know if I’m actually unsatisfied with Silver Crow’s status, though.”

Chiyuri shook her head as though exasperated, while Utai smiled once again.

UI> I DO RECOMMEND THAT YOU LET 90 PERCENT OF WHAT GRAPH SAYS SLIDE, BUT THAT ADVICE IS POSSIBLY PART OF THE REMAINING 10 PERCENT. IF YOU FEEL A WALL IN THE GROWTH OF YOUR DUEL AVATAR, ONE IDEA IS TO CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF YOUR BONUSES. I’M ALSO THINKING OF ENHANCING MY CLOSE-RANGE FIGHTING ABILITY NEXT.

Haruyuki read the words Utai tapped into the chat window with great interest and sank into thought. The reason he had poured all of his level-up bonuses into enhancing his flight ability was because he had been following Kuroyukihime’s advice. His resolve had been shaken when he was presented with an appealing special attack as a choice at level two, but ever since, he’d chosen to enhance his flight ability without hesitation. And yet, when it came to his level-six bonus, he felt this insurmountable reluctance…

“Graph and Master Fuko said that if it’s an enemy you can’t beat alone, beat with two. And if two can’t win, you just have to win with three,” Haruyuki murmured, looking down at his own hands. “But I want to win alone, whatever it takes. I think there are some places where you have to win. And for those times, I want just a little more power. Maybe it’s wrong to think like that.”

UI> THAT IS THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE FOR ALL BURST LINKERS GIVEN SUPPORTIVE-TYPE DUEL AVATARS, Utai announced without a moment’s delay.

Haruyuki yanked his face up. Utai was smiling, and Chiyuri was grinning. When he thought about it, Ardor Maiden was a support-type duel avatar that specialized in long-distance firepower attacks, and Lime Bell was a completely supportive type with only a simple smashing attack as her direct attack.

“Ah. S-sorry, Chiyu, Shinomiya.” Haruyuki hurriedly dipped his head.

Chiyuri sputtered with laughter. “You don’t have to apologize. I mean, it’s like Ui said. Sometimes you wish you had more attack power. I like my avatar, and it’s way more fun fighting together with everyone than it is to solo fight. I get plenty of fighting on my own in the real world at track, so I’m fine with going all out with team fights in the Accelerated World.”

Utai moved her fingers nimbly. UI> YOUR WAY OF THINKING IS VERY SOLID, CHIYURI!

“When you say stuff like that, it’s like I’m going in circles here,” he muttered before slowly nodding. “But I totally get what you’re trying to say, Chiyu. Basically, that’s what I’m looking for…And I feel like Kuroyukihime also told me way back in the beginning to ask my own avatar for the answers.”

UI> THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT. I THINK IT’S BEST IF YOU CONSIDER ALL YOUR OPTIONS, STRUGGLE WITH THEM, AND THEN MOVE FORWARD THE WAY YOU TRULY DESIRE.

“Yeah, thanks, Shinomiya, Chiyu. I’ll decide on my bonus before the Territories tomorrow. And…this wasn’t in Kuroyukihime’s report, but Graph had a message for you, Shinomiya.”

Utai cocked her head to one side, and Haruyuki gave her the message entrusted to him by Graphite Edge immediately before the escape from the Castle.

“‘When I escape from the Castle’s north gate, I’m counting on your help, Denden’…is what he said.”

Utai looked at him with wide eyes for a moment until finally she pursed her lips. UI> I DO WISH HE’D STOP CALLING ME DENDEN ALREADY. She typed only that before clenching her small hands into tight fists and turning her gaze upward.

When Haruyuki also looked up at the sky, a ray of golden light stretched out through a gap in the clouds to make the humid sky glitter and shine.