Accel World - Volume 26 - Chapter 4

4

“We have…two reasons for calling you here today,” Tomochika Kyobu said, once everyone was more or less finished with their cheesecake. Having at some point put on a new mask, he clasped his gloved hands together in front of his chest and looked quietly at Haruyuki. “The first is…about how to deal with you, Arita. Given that our King approved your transfer to Oscillatory Universe herself, I have no intention of arguing the pros and cons…But opinion on you is split among us.”

Haruyuki wasn’t sure how to respond to this. “O-okay?”

“You mean whether or not Arita should be put into the training course?” Tsubomi interjected.

“Well…Quite frankly, yes.” Tomochika nodded. “That’s it exactly.”

Haruyuki frowned, wondering what exactly this training course was. And then he remembered Tsubomi had said something about how Cypress Reaper and Glacier Behemoth were in charge of guiding the younger members of Oscillatory Universe.

He glanced directly across from him at Airi and Rioh before turning toward Tomochika. “Um. If that’s the problem, I’m happy to take the training course?”

If he was remembering right, Tsubomi had told him that the training with Reaper and Behemoth was nothing compared with Sky Raker’s special lessons. In which case, at the very least, he wouldn’t die. Repeatedly.

“I’ll tell you now…” Tomochika narrowed his eyes the slightest bit, as if reading Haruyuki’s thoughts. “The training takes at minimum a month in the Unlimited Neutral Field, and can even go on for six months…There have been more than a few who were unable to withstand the severity and asked to leave the Legion.”

“Whaaat? It’s not thaaaat hard!” Airi cut in unhappily, while Rioh nodded deeply next to her.

“Exactly, yes. The instruction that Sagisu and I offer is the very picture of moderate. We even provide a sufficient amount of points in advance in order to prevent players from accidentally losing all of their points should they die even ten times.”

Haruyuki seriously questioned whether dying ten times could be called moderate as Rioh continued, equitably.

“However, the issue at hand now is not whether Arita would be able to endure the training, but rather whether the training is in fact necessary at all? You may not have fought Arita personally, Kyobu, but you have certainly witnessed him fighting, and thus have a measure of his prowess, do you not?”

From the way he was speaking, it seemed like Rioh had a high opinion of Haruyuki’s abilities.

But it was hard to read any emotion in the eyes Tomochika kept trained squarely on Haruyuki.

“Arita…,” he murmured. “Silver Crow’s fights take too much of a mental toll on him.”

“That’s the same for everyone, though,” Tsubomi countered coolly. “Times when you’re in the flow, you could beat even a serious veteran. And when you’re not, you get your feet kicked out from under you by some newb. That’s just how it’s going to be so long as BB’s a contest of imagination. I mean, you don’t have a perfect win rate, either.”

Even at this merciless note, the look on Tomochika’s face did not change in the slightest.

“It’s fine to win and lose in normal duels,” he remarked. “But those who can’t control their mental state at the critical juncture don’t deserve to stand alongside us…”

Even after Tsubomi had stepped forward to back him up, Haruyuki was still unable to say anything in response himself. He could only hang his head.

He’d been painfully aware that he was unable to hold his own ever since he was a little kid. He felt like that had changed a little since he’d become a Burst Linker, but here he was, avoiding Kuroyukihime for three days now, so maybe deep down, he was still the same old “Stupidyuki” in the end.

Well, fine. If they’re gonna say I’m not strong enough, then they can just beat it into me for six months or a year or however long on this training course or whatever, he said to himself.

“Bashful. If you’re going to go on about ‘deserving,’ Crow is a level-two contractor, and on top of that, he’s also a level-three accessor,” Nanako—Snow Fairy—said abruptly, and Haruyuki furrowed his brow.

He knew that “contractor” meant a Burst Linker who had linked with a Being, but he’d never heard “accessor” before. And he also wasn’t clear on the meaning of the flags “level two” and “level three.”

He waited with bated breath for someone to say something, but the tense silence lasted for more than ten seconds. Eventually, Tomochika unclasped his hands and spread them out gently.

“Sleepy…I thought you also insisted that Crow needs training.”

“I am, but for a different reason from you,” Nanako replied.

“Specifically…?”

“Not telling,” she refused flatly, and began to type at her holo keyboard once again.

Tomochika shrugged and returned his gaze to Haruyuki, while touching the fingers of his right hand to his snowy-white Neurolinker as if checking something.

“Whether Arita is a contractor or an accessor or what have you, my assessment remains unchanged,” he said finally. “Because the sole reason for Oscillatory Universe’s existence is to guard the King and execute the King’s will…If you want to be a real member of this Legion, then you need to undergo the same training as any other hopeful and show your resolve.”

Haruyuki felt that those gray eyes, ringed with long eyelashes, shone with a deep, sharp light. Tomochika Kyobu/Platinum Cavalier clearly didn’t trust him at all. And why would he? Haruyuki was utterly and completely sincere when he vowed his loyalty to the White King, but he had no way of proving he wasn’t a spy or an assassin sent by Nega Nebulus.

He forced his clenched jaw open. “I understand. I’ll do the training or whatever’s necessary.”

“Whaaaat?”

It was the very person in charge of this training who let out this displeased cry: Airi Sagisu.

“If you really are a contractor and an accessor, Arita, then there’s nothing for us to teach,” she told him. “We could give you the final task out of the blue, and you could probably finish it in one goooo?”

“Wh-what’s the final task?” he asked with trepidation.

“Solo subjugation of a Beast claaaass.”

Nuh-uh! No way! Not a chance!!

Haruyuki just barely managed to suppress this scream. A Beast-class Enemy was right in the middle of the five Enemy classes, but since the chance of encountering a Legend- or Super-class Enemy was essentially zero so long as you didn’t deliberately go and challenge one, for all practical purposes, this class of foes could be said to be the strongest in the Accelerated World. When he had gone with Tsubomi to rescue Megumi Wakamiya at Tokyo Midtown Tower, they’d fought and defeated the Legend-class Enemy, Einherjar. But it had been weaker than the usual Einherjar because it was tamed by the White King. Even so, Haruyuki had only gotten a bit of a cut in; Tsubomi had been the one to strike the killing blow.

“Um. So do all the members of Oscillatory Universe finish that final task?” he asked, very timidly, and Rioh gave him a wry smile.

“No, no. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have such trouble here and there. Outside of us Seven Dwarves, there are only two—no, is it three now?—who have accomplished this.”

“Th-that’s plenty, though…” Haruyuki wondered if Oscillatory couldn’t have beaten Nega Nebulus with just a show of force instead of using all those little tricks, before he banished the thought. No matter what the situation, Kuroyukihime and the rest of the team would have definitely won out in the end.

Right. And they would continue to. Even if Haruyuki went over to the enemy.

He clenched his fists tightly on his lap and said, “I understand. Please let me do this final task.”

“Arita,” Megumi said in a low voice.

“Goodness.” Rioh shook his head, ever so slightly.

But Haruyuki couldn’t take back his words now.

When Tomochika heard this declaration, the pristine surgical mask moved the tiniest bit. Maybe he was going to say something and then decided against it. Or maybe he was smiling.

“If you’re killed by a Beast-class opponent,” came his quiet voice, “there is the risk of unlimited EK…What do you intend to do in that case?”

Haruyuki took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then replied, “If that happens, please leave me there.”