Accel World - Volume 5 - Chapter 11

11

“The previous Chrome Disaster’s…‘wire’…?”

The glass that was halfway to her mouth stopped moving abruptly, and Kuroyukihime repeated Haruyuki’s words, taken aback.

“Yeah…That’s all I can think of anymore…” Haruyuki nodded, almost hanging his head, after looking in turn at the equally speechless Fuko, Takumu, and Chiyuri.

Sunday, June 9, 12:15 PM. Not even ten minutes had passed since the five of them had all returned to the real world at slightly different times on the sofa set in the Arita living room.

Naturally, first off, they had all grabbed one another’s hands with delight at having overcome so many difficulties to so wonderfully win the Hermes’ Cord Race—although they did have to split the prize points three ways with the red and green teams. They had all praised one another’s fighting prowess and raised a toast with glasses of oolong tea.

However, after some chatter about their victory, inevitably, they were forced to address the elephant in the room: Silver Crow’s transformation into Chrome Disaster.

That said, none of them reproached him for having summoned the Armor. Kuroyukihime was the first to acknowledge that in that situation, if possible, she might have done the same herself. But there was one point at least that had to be clarified. And that was the mystery of how on earth the Armor had appeared, or rather, returned.

Five months earlier, Haruyuki, Takumu, and Kuroyukihime had accepted the Red King Scarlet Rain’s request and fought the fifth Chrome Disaster in the Unlimited Neutral Field. As a result of the fierce battle, the Armor had finally been destroyed, and Cherry Rook, who had summoned it, was Judged by the hand of the Red King.

After it was all over, immediately before they returned to the real world through the leave point in Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, every one of them had then and there opened their own item storage and confirmed that the Armor of Catastrophe had not been transferred to them. And, of course, Haruyuki also had a vivid memory of seeing absolutely nothing in the open window.

So there should have been no way that Silver Crow could summon Chrome Disaster at this late date. However, in reality, Haruyuki had dispatched the formidable enemy Rust Jigsaw in an instant with the fearsome power of the Armor.

In trying to explain this seeming contradiction, Haruyuki miraculously remembered, in the middle of the conversation, a single insignificant event in the intense fighting in Ikebukuro, something he had paid absolutely no attention to before now.

“Ummm…I thought you’d remember, Kuroyukihime, since you fought the fifth Disaster yourself.” Clutching his glass of now–thoroughly lukewarm oolong tea, Haruyuki haltingly put his thoughts into words. “He had the ability to use those superfine hooked wires he shot out from his hands to pull opponents or objects toward him. Or the opposite: to affix the wires to some surface and pull himself along, like a fake flying ability. And you totally couldn’t see it coming…I had no other choice. To stop him from escaping through the portal, I deliberately caught that wire on my own back.”

As he spoke, Haruyuki remembered the shock and metallic krnch when the wire hit his back, and even the sensation of the cold, sharp hook.

“Once we were connected by the wire, I yanked Chrome Disaster up high and then finished him off with a dive kick. And I’m pretty sure that’s when Disaster’s main body was destroyed. The wire was cut in the impact. And one end of it somehow…stayed in my back? When I came back through the portal, I didn’t check what happened to it.”

Haruyuki clamped his mouth shut there, and Kuroyukihime murmured, dumbfounded, “The previous Chrome Disaster’s…‘wire’…?”

“Yeah…That’s all I can think of anymore…” He hung his head, and Takumu’s voice crept into his ears, edged with the same shock.

“B-but, Haru…Is it even possible for some part to drop off one duel avatar and stick to another one, staying with you even after you burst out?”

“I-I’ve never heard of anything like that, either.” Chiyuri shook her head, scowling so hard, she nearly pulled her face into itself. “I used to end duels with a broken sword or lance or whatever stuck in me all the time, but they were all gone by the time I went into my next duel!”

“But…there’s no other explanation. A-and when I summoned Disaster before, the first thing was that long tail growing out of my back. And it grew basically from the same place where the hooked wire got me.”

And when the mysterious voice had spoken to him those many times over the last few months, he had always felt a throbbing in the same place on his back.

This thought alone he did not give voice to. It was just too terrifying. If that throbbing was indeed the wire Chrome Disaster had left behind, then that meant…wounds he got in the Accelerated World continued to have an impact on his flesh-and-blood body. No matter how he thought about it, that at least had to be impossible. It defied all logic.

The three childhood friends sank into silence, staring at one another, and it was Fuko, silent until that point, who opened her mouth hesitatingly.

“Actually…residual foreign objects straddling duels is a phenomenon that’s possible system-wise.”

“Huh?”

Three sets of eyes were turned on her abruptly. Raker met each in turn and explained. “In other words, an attack with a parasitic attribute. It’s exceedingly rare, but there have apparently been cases of obtaining this attribute, a power that goes beyond curse types. However, I only know of abilities that would allow you to parasitize small animal objects and steal their vision and voice, or to get into explosives and blow them up using some kind of trigger…”

Kuroyukihime picked up where she left off in a quiet voice. “An Enhanced Armament making part of itself a parasite to escape destruction…I’ve never heard of anything like it. But if what Haruyuki’s telling us is true, then that explains part of the Disaster legend.” The Black King set her glass down, clasped her fingers above crossed legs, and connected the dots. “With a probability of one hundred percent, the Armor of Catastrophe moves to the storage of the person who banished its owner. This rate is impossible under the normal rules for transfer of ownership, but those times when it can’t move as an item, it makes part of itself a parasite and lives on…Thinking about it like this, it’s not unconvincing.”

“R-right, that’s true.”

Parasite. A shiver running up his body at the disgusting images the word brought to mind, Haruyuki nodded. Something else popped into his mind then, and he hurried to ask, “B-but if the parasite is a system ability, there has to be a way to get rid of it, right?”

“Mmm, there is. A normal parasite attack will disappear after a length of time has passed, but it should also be possible to cancel it with a purification ability. However, the ability level has to be the same or higher…And a master who could purify a parasite that’s able to regenerate an entire body from the broken end of a wire…”

Here, Kuroyukihime and Fuko glanced at each other, their mouths stiffening in sync. Their faces soon returned to normal, however, and Kuroyukihime said in a clear tone, “All right, then. I’ll handle this. Give me a little time.”

“Thinking about it now…” Fuko opened her mouth next. “That time Corvus stayed at my house—”

Immediately, Kuroyukihime, Takumu, and Chiyuri all had the same question in reply. “Stayed?”

“This was in the Unlimited Neutral Field. When I stroked Corvus’s back there—”

“Stroked?”

“This was with our avatars. Honestly, you have to let me tell the story. That time, I felt it, too, faintly. Something abnormal in one spot on his back. If we investigated that more closely—”

“C-come now, Raker! What do you propose when you say investigate?” Kuroyukihime’s right cheek twitched, and Fuko grinned.

“Well, that’s obviously a secret.”

At this exchange, the mood in the room finally lightened, and Haruyuki exhaled heavily. He lifted his face and announced in a firm voice, “Uh, I know I did give in to that temptation once here, but the Armor disappeared thanks to Chiyu’s power…and even if it’s still parasitizing me right now, all I have to do is not call it again. Of course, I want to be ‘purified’ sooner rather than later, but…”

“Mmm, that’s right. I believe in you. Naturally, you were assisted by Chiyuri’s ability, but at the same time, you yourself rejected the armor with your own will. And that’s something that none of the others the Armor took over was able to do,” Kuroyukihime said with a smile, before her face clouded intently in the next instant.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Kuroyukihime?”

“Mmm…It’s just…This might end up being not just our problem. Haruyuki, more than a hundred members of the Gallery watched from the stands as you summoned the Armor and fought Jigsaw, yes?”

“Y-yes…”

“In which case, regardless of the fact that it was only one battle, word that Silver Crow of Nega Nebulus is the owner of the sixth Chrome Disaster has likely already spread throughout the Accelerated World. From now on, we’ll likely have people expressing strong opinions coming forward.”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘strong opinions’?” Chiyuri cocked her head to one side, and Takumu explained quietly.

“People saying Haru should be Judged or punished.”

“What?! Th-that’s crazy, though!! I mean, Haru didn’t even do anything wrong!!” Chiyuri shouted indignantly, and Fuko sitting next to her gave her a gentle pat.

“Bell, all of us here believe that. But, well…in the Accelerated World, there are many forces that have a very hostile view of Nega Nebulus.”

“But, I mean, that’s just awful.” Chiyuri furrowed her brow tightly, as if saddened to her core.

Haruyuki flashed her his best smile, feeling something welling up in his heart. “It’s fine, Chiyu. I mean, we’ve been up against the Kings other than Promi up to now anyway. This now is basically just another log on the fire.”

“Mmm, that’s precisely it.” Kuroyukihime nodded firmly and stood up fluidly.

Smoothing the skirt of her school uniform, she moved over to the large southern window. She turned around and looked at each of her four subordinates in turn with glittering eyes before the Black King announced resolutely, “Most likely, in the coming days, a meeting of the Seven Kings will be called for the first time in two and a half years. The first item on the agenda should be countermeasures for the fact that efforts to keep the Incarnate System concealed have been utterly ruined by Rust Jigsaw and the Acceleration Research Society, but there is no doubt in my mind that the topic of Haruyuki’s transformation into Disaster will be brought up, likely by Radio, the Yellow King. But regardless of the demands they might make of me, I will protect you, Haruyuki. All-out war is what I seek, after all. Are there any objections to this policy?”

“None!” Fuko, Takumu, and Chiyuri sang immediately.

Haruyuki could only murmur in a trembling voice, “Thanks.”

I’m so glad I can be here now. And I’m definitely going to protect this place, these friends. I’ll protect them from any enemy, in the face of any adversity.

It was then as he etched these words into his heart. Chiyuri’s curious voice found its way into his ears.

“Anyway, Kuroyukihime. Why are you wearing your uniform when it’s Sunday?”

Gulp.

Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime froze.

“That’s,” Fuko said, the usual Fuko Smile popped onto her lips after she shot off a Raker Wink attack, “because Sacchi’s closet is crammed with nothing but uniforms.”

After that, they replenished their supplies of snacks and drinks at the shopping center on the ground floor and held a formal victory party. By the time they had laughed and chatted and all finished cleaning up together, the hands of the clock had rolled around to six PM.

Takumu and Chiyuri, with their early curfews, were the first to head home, and a few minutes later, Kuroyukihime, with Fuko in tow, turned toward the entryway.

“Sacchi,” Fuko said in a quiet voice, just as Kuroyukihime was bending down to put on her shoes.

“Mmm?” She stretched out and looked back, black hair swinging. “What is it, Fuko?”

Fuko took a step forward from Haruyuki’s side, who had come to see them off, and clasped her hands in front of her, as though she were looking for the right words.

After a moment, she began to speak hesitantly, in a tone with an unusually childish edge to it, almost as though they had gone back to being elementary school students. “Um…Um. At first, I was thinking I’d stay quiet until the next duel and then I’d surprise you, but…then I figured I should really tell you right away, so…” She took a deep breath.

The girl who had spent such a long time as the recluse of the Accelerated World lovingly enunciated each of the words that announced the end of those days.

“Um. My legs came back.”

Obsidian eyes jumped up. From between slightly parted lips, a short breath slipped out. This surprise transformed into an expression that was half sob, half smile.

“I see,” Kuroyukihime murmured and nodded. “I see…So you found it again. What you lost that day.”

“Mm-hmm.” Dipping her head lightly, Fuko took a step, then another, toward Kuroyukihime. She stretched out her arms, pulled her frozen friend toward her, and hugged her gently.

Unlike the time they had hugged at Shinjuku Southern Terrace two months earlier, the pair said nothing more than this. They simply, silently, warmly, held each other. Haruyuki felt that they were no doubt having a deeper spiritual exchange than even connecting their Neurolinkers directly with a cable. He could hear the glass wall that had been separating them break and crumble away.

Finally, Kuroyukihime slowly raised her head, looked straight at Haruyuki with damp eyes, and smiled. “The size of this miracle you have brought about…I can’t even begin to express it in words. Thank you, Haruyuki.”

Fuko looked back and grinned broadly, trails of tears glistening on her cheeks. “Corvus. You found the road to Hermes’ Cord, you invited me, and then you took me to the other side of the sky…I will never forget this.”

At their words, Haruyuki pulled into himself and shook his head fiercely. “No. I mean, I…It was just this thought that popped into my head…It was everyone in the Legion and Ash and Pard, too, who made it actually happen,” he mumbled in a voice that was hard even for him to hear as he tried to sink into the wall behind him. Gah, I’m ruining everything.

Kuroyukihime and Fuko exchanged looks and grinned at the same time before suddenly walking toward him.

“Huh? Uh, um!”

He looked up at each of their faces in turn and tested his wall-walking skills again, but before he could succeed in that endeavor, Kuroyukihime’s right arm and Fuko’s left snaked out to wrap around him from both sides—

He had no memory of anything after that.