Accel World (先飞看刀)

April 17th, Wednesday.

Before the dawn of the day when the Umesato Middle School field trip for new third-year students would finally be halfway done, Haruyuki saw a dream of Kuroyukihime who he hadn’t seen in so long.

However, it wasn’t the kind of dream that he’d seen countless times until now which he regretted not being able to record[1]. Rather, it could be called the exact opposite.

In the dream, Kuroyukihime wasn’t in her true form, but in her school avatar form with black swallowtail b.u.t.terfly wings on her back. The lace-decorated hem of her likewise black dress fluttered, and she dashed lightly between the trees within a deep forest.

Haruyuki was also in his pink pig avatar form, and moved his short feet desperately as he chased after the black b.u.t.terfly. The fairy princess gradually went further and further away from him while softly half-flying, even while extending out her right hand as if beckoning to him.

—Senpai!

Haruyuki’s shouting voice was tinged with a strange echo that resounded through the bottom of the forest.

—Please wait, senpai!

But Kuroyukihime’s feet didn’t stop. Sometimes she would look over her shoulder and give a mysterious smile on her red lips, but her form would quickly be obstructed by a large moss-covered trunk. Eventually, Haruyuki could only see the ruby-colored pattern that colored her jet-black wings. That radiance which flickered like a blaze also melted into the dim light very quickly.

—Please don’t leave me. Please…Please don’t abandon me.

Though he cried that out, there was no response.

—Because my wings disappeared. That’s why you’re abandoning me? You don’t need me anymore?

No response.

Suddenly, a point on his back hurt with a sting. It quickly gained substance and squirmed intensely.

*ZURURI* He felt something pierce through his avatar from the inside. It wasn’t wings. Something like a darkened, long and narrow tail grew out from his back. It surged into the air, raised its snaky-form over his shoulders—and then extended straight ahead like a spear.

A damp and heavy sound resounded within the forest.

Haruyuki unsteadily continued walking as he chased after his tail.

After he went around the knot of trees, that scene spread out before his eyes. On the rough and bony surface of a remarkably think trunk, the black swallowtail b.u.t.terfly was being kept in place by a thin pin. The wire-like tail that had extended out from Haruyuki’s back had pierce through one of Kuroyukihime’s large wings, and fixed her there like a crucifixion.

Guided by strangely obstructed thoughts, Haruyuki stood in front of the b.u.t.terfly and looked up. On that beautiful and ephemeral white face, there was nothing like an expression. She simply frowned a little, and motionlessly looked back at Haruyuki.

—Because you have those wings.

From his own mouth, Haruyuki heard a dark and warped voice leak out.

—Because of those wings, you fly as you please.

He involuntarily lifted his right hand. That hand, before he had realized it, was no longer the comical hoof of his pig avatar, but had changed into blackish silver claws. His sinisterly shining and sharp fingertips grasped the edge of one of her powerless and fluttering jet-black wings.

With just a light squeeze, he cut off from the base one the lower-right of the four wings. It at once changed into dry black sand and spilled down from Haruyuki’s hand.

Another wing.

And another wing again.

Unnoticed, Kuroyukihime turned her face down deeply, and hanged her limbs languidly. While extending his hand to the last wing, Haruyuki spoke.

—With this, you can’t go anywhere anymore. You’ll be locked up on this dark ground eternally. Together with me. Just like me.

As soon as he cut off the last remaining wing, Kuroyukihime’s thin body fell into Haruyuki’s arms.

Haruyuki strongly embraced her body with his dark silver claws.

But one second later, even her body within his arms became ink-black particles and dissolved away. It flowed down while making noise, and became a pile of small sand at his feet—……

“……aaAH!”

Haruyuki jumped up in bed along with a blurred voice.

Inside his chest, his heart was ringing like an alarm bell. His whole body was covered in cold sweat, and yet his mouth was parched and dry.

He blinked his blurred eyes many times, and desperately looked at both his hands within the gray light shining through the curtains. Of course, there weren’t any ominous claws there, but just ten swollen fingers. He clenched them tightly, and pushed them against his forehead.

Unlike the night half a year ago where he first received Brain Burst, his memory of this nightmare was vivid right to every nook and cranny. Still frightened from before, Haruyuki slept without wearing his Neuro Linker. In other words, the dream right now wasn’t due to the intervention of the program. It was purely spun from Haruyuki’s memories and feelings.

While slowly shaking his head, Haruyuki muttered in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

“Senpai…I, don’t want to do such a thing to you…I, I just…”

I just want to be with you forever.

Haruyuki impulsively grabbed his Neuro Linker from the bed’s tabletop, and attached it to his neck. It was 6:15 AM, much earlier than his usual wake-up time, but there was no fragment of sleepiness left in him. Exhausting his whole body, he spoke the Full Dive command.

“Direct Link.”

The view of his dimly-lit room vanished, and darkness spread out from the other side of radial lights. Haruyuki was pulled down by virtual gravity, and soon alighted down on a cold and gray level surface. Many semi-transparent windows with tags like «Partic.i.p.ation in public utility rates» and «apartment management a.s.sociation» emerged around him with clear sound effects. This s.p.a.ce that was completely devoted to pure function was the main console of the Arita family’s home network.

After looking at the roundish right hand of his pink pig avatar for a while, Haruyuki spoke a voice command with a murmur.

“Command, Dive Call, Number Zero-One.”

Before his eyes, a holo-dialogue appeared that read [Transmitting full-sensory telephone call to registered address 01. Is this okay?]. He shook off a moment of hesitation and pressed the Yes b.u.t.ton.

There are several modes of two-way communication using Neuro Linkers.

The mode that is most used is the sound call that communicates using only voice like old cellular phones. The next most popular method is the video call, where you detach the camera part from the tip of the Neuro Linker and talk while projecting your face.

Compared to those methods, the full-sensory call, where the two parties talk using their avatars in a virtual s.p.a.ce, isn’t used in as many situations. The reason was, simply, because the person being called may not be able to Full Dive immediately at the place they were at. At the very least, it was required to make an appointment through mail or voice call beforehand, so that ordinary tasks could be satisfied by the time of the conversation.

Therefore, that Haruyuki would be requesting a Dive Call right now to the other person so early in the morning, and moreover without warning, could be said to be a considerably thoughtless act. Even so, Haruyuki wanted to meet with that person right now no matter what. Not just through voice or a 2D video, he wanted to touch her with all five senses. If he didn’t do that, it felt like a part of him would change into something different.

The Ming-cho font[2] of [Currently Sending] blinked eight, nine times, and just before it switched over to voice message, it changed into [Received].

All the surrounding windows vanished with a whoosh. A grain of white light appeared in the cold gray s.p.a.ce. It quickly increased in numbers, changed form, and created a single avatar.

The front tips of her high-heel shoes touched the floor with a ka-thunk. After slowly blinking twice, three times, the fairy princess with black swallowtail wings on her back noticed the pig-type avatar standing a little away from her and smiled gently.

“Hey, good morning, Haruyuki-kun.”

Even after having being greeted like that by that smooth silky voice, Haruyuki couldn’t say anything for a while. He was frightened by the feeling that the slender form in front of him would collapse into sand, and so just stared at her fixedly.

But of course, no matter how many seconds pa.s.sed, her avatar didn’t disappear. Suddenly coming to his senses, Haruyuki started talking in a rush.

“U-Umm, go…good morning, Kuroyukihime-senpai. Err…s-sorry, for suddenly requesting a Full Dive Call at this hour…”

“No, I had just opened my eyes and I was hesitating whether to fall back asleep.”

Smiling once again, Kuroyukihime then looked around at their surroundings.

“…In any case, this is quite a simple place. Such a light maximum preference of data, well, it is like you…”

“Ah, n-no, that’s not.”

In the initial configuration setup, Dive Calls would summon the person being called to the VR s.p.a.ce where the caller was. Because Haruyuki called without moving from the main area of his apartment’s home network, Kuroyukihime had been invited to this world without even a single chair.

“S-Sorry, I’ll change the location immediately!”

He quickly took out the menu window and tried to call out object sets that he had made and stored himself, but all of them were places that had no emotions or feelings, like ruined battlefields or the deck of a battleship.

As Haruyuki continued scrolling through the list while sweating greatly, Kuroyukihime watched him with a wry smile, but eventually clapped her hands and spoke.

“If it’s like that, though it may be a bit slow, may I load my own set? I’d like to try the one I bought yesterday.”

“Ah, yes, please do, please do, please do!”

After Haruyuki nodded as if jumping up and down, Kuroyukihime moved her right hand after smiling once again. She manipulated her menu with high-speed finger movements as if playing a piano.

In front of Haruyuki, a progress bar appeared with a ‘PON’. An object set was being sent over via the Global Net from Kuroyukihime’s Neuro Linker in Okinawa.

Though she said it would be slow, it needed only five seconds to be received, and two seconds to decompress and unfold. At the same time as the bar vanished, intense lighting, no, sunlight poured down from overhead and made the surrounding cold nothingness disappear.

What appeared was a tropical landscape with colors that woke up his eyes. They were at what appeared to be a Shinto shrine, and moss-covered Okinawan lion stone statues were enshrined on both sides of the short path to the shrine. There were surrounded by trees to the left and right, and at the end of the shrine path, down-slope stone steps and in the background the blue sea could be seen.

When he turned around, there was a small shrine painted deep scarlet. Standing next to him, Kuroyukihime opened her parasol with a tapping sound, and held it over both her and Haruyuki’s heads. Then, as if that acted as a switch, countless cricket chirping surged forth from around them, and Haruyuki deeply breathed in the sun-scented air into his chest.

“Let’s sit down over there and talk.”

Kuroyukihime pointed at the small stairs arranged in front of the shrine. After nodding with a “Yes” and moving while stepping on the gravel, Haruyuki lowered his avatar’s waist alongside Kuroyukihime. For a short while, he was satisfied by the exotic though somehow nostalgic scenery spread out right before him.

This was of course a VR s.p.a.ce built through digital data, but it wasn’t simply arranged from ready-made polygons. All the objects such as the see-saw images or hemp palm trees were generated based on a real landscape that had been photographed with great time and effort using a personal high-resolution camera. An object set that reproduced a scenic area in such minute detail was currently a standard item for travel souvenirs.

Having foolishly never left Honshu[3] to go to Okinawa, Haruyuki also forgot this was a call on his own, and continued gazing at the scenery as if he had become senile. Kuroyukihime was patiently letting him do that and following his example, but finally she gave a small cough.

“Umm, I have no objection at all to just looking at the scenery with you like this, but…”

Once she said that, Haruyuki, after blankly looking up at the lovely face of the fairy princess next to him, finally remembered that this situation continued from his ridiculous early-morning Dive Call.

“Hauah…s-so, sorry!”

“No, there’s no need to apologize. I just thought that you might have some urgent business with me.”

He stared at the patiently smiling Kuroyukihime, and—

Haruyuki realized another terrible fact. That is, he had no real reason that could be called business.

That’s right, I simply saw a dream right before dawn, a very scary dream…

Suddenly recalling in his hands the feeling tearing off Kuroyukihime’s wings from her back within the dream, Haruyuki’s face became distorted. He tightly clenched his fists, and turned down his gaze.

The words that came out of his mouth next resounded quietly as if the Neuro Linker wasn’t taking it from his brain’s language field, but from the bottom of his deeper soul.

“Umm…umm, I, was lonely.”

While not being clearly conscious of what he was saying, Haruyuki continued letting his facsimile body mutter.

“That I can’t meet with senpai…that you’ve gone somewhere so far away, it’s tough, and so…”

It felt like the virtual forest was silent. Whether the sound effects of the crickets had actually stopped, or his brain was blocking off the environmental sound information, Haruyuki didn’t know.

At the end of the following long silence, a short reply was given with a sigh.

“Me too.”

The shoulders of the pig avatar trembled slightly, and before his cautiously upturned gaze, there was a distorted white face.

“I’m also lonely, Haruyuki-kun.”

Without trying to suppress her tearfully smiling expression, Kuroyukihime lifted her hands and strongly tucked Haruyuki’s cheeks between them.

“It’s the first time that a single week has felt so long to me…Even though I’ve dived continuously in Accel World many times…I want to return to Tokyo quickly and meet you.”

Somehow, just by mentioned that just now, Kuroyukihime bit her lip intensely, and suddenly hugged Haruyuki’s head to her chest within her arms.

Unlike in the Umesato Middle School local network, where the sensation of contact for avatars was impossible because it was diluted to the limit, her clear warmth, softness and fragrance coursed through Haruyuki’s nervous system. Despite it being a situation where he would normally panic and stiffen up, just now only Haruyuki was stirred by an overwhelming longing, and in a daze he reach out his hands and clung to Kuroyukihime’s slender body as well.

—Please come back.

He wanted to say it. To say, ‘Please come back, and save me like you always do.’

At this instant, Haruyuki was clearly aware of just how far he was corned in a deep abyss right now. No matter how much he desperately resisted, the enemy—Dusk Taker, who kept clocking his way as if laughing at his effort, was like a wall of deep black steel. The wish of piercing a hole in that wall with Silver Crow’s slender fist and overcoming it didn’t seem like it would come true.

But, he couldn’t say it.

It wasn’t just for Chiyuri’s sake. For his own sake as well, he had to fight that enemy with his own power till the very end. If he lost to despair here and clung to Kuroyukihime who was in the middle of a school trip, that would be an act essentially no different than what he had done in that dream.

“……We’ll meet again soon, just three more days.”

Haruyuki somehow muttered that with a hoa.r.s.e voice.

“Yeah…that’s right.”

Kuroyukihime also responded, and after putting all her strength in her arms around him one more time, she released her embrace. With those black pupils that shined as if wet, she looked fixedly at Haruyuki’s eyes from close-range, and—

“Haruyuki-kun…”

As if sensing something from him, she called his name in an anxious-sounding voice.

Haruyuki mustered all his mental power to force a smile, and spoke before Kuroyukihime could say anything further,

“Umm, please enjoy the remainder of your trip. Sorry for suddenly calling you.”

“No, if you hadn’t called, I would have. I’m happy that we could meet, even if only as avatars. I’ll be buying a gift for you as a souvenir, so please look forward to it.”

Smiling pleasantly, Kuroyukihime stood up and got off onto the gravel. She spun and closed her parasol, and then called out the menu window.

Even when she pressed the disconnect b.u.t.ton and her figure vanished into grains of light, Haruyuki kept standing there for a while. The voices of the crickets, which had increased once again, washed away the lingering memory of the nightmare that remained in Haruyuki’s mind.

After Haruyuki finished a breakfast of cereal and milk, said “I’m heading out” to his mother in her bedroom and opened the front door to his home, Haruyuki was greeted by a dull and cloudy lead-colored sky.

He focused his gaze on the icon to the left of his virtual desktop and pressed on the shortcut for the weather forecast. The chance of rain was 70% from 12:40 PM onwards. He went down a step and took out a light grey umbrella from next to the s...o...b..x and then went outside.

This tool known as an umbrella was one of the articles of daily life whose basic structure hadn’t changed for the longest time. It had only changed in that it was now made of the best cloth from undegrading water-repelling material, and its frame was now made of hymonet joule carbon.

While thinking that if it had had an automatic folding gimmick like the parasol used by Kuroyukihime’s avatar a raining day might also be a little fun, Haruyuki walked along the hallway and got onto the elevator.

When the lift, which had begun to descend towards the ground, stopped a little two floors down, Haruyuki held a certain prediction that was close to conviction.

The one who stood on the other side of the door as it slid open was, as he expected, Kurashima Chiyuri.

When their gazes met each other directly, Chiyuri’s big cat-like eyes shook as if hesitating. Though she should have just given her usual “Ossu!” and cheerfully jumped in, her black shoes didn’t move while she collected herself.

The instant the door tried to close after several seconds pa.s.sed, Haruyuki reflexively pressed the «Open» b.u.t.ton with his right hand. He kept looking obstinately looking at Chiyuri’s face as he held the b.u.t.ton.

Just before the alarm rang, Chiyuri turned down her eyes and quietly boarded the lift.

“…Thanks. Good morning.”

While she spoke in a low voice, Haruyuki released his hand from the b.u.t.ton.

Within the moving elevator, he responded absently while casting a side-glance at Chiyuri’s left hand holding a pink umbrella, as she stood with a little more s.p.a.ce between them than usual.

“…Ossu.”

The words he should have said after that flooded his mind one after another.

No matter what she had been told by Noumi Seiji, there was no need to obey him. Even if she had been threatened by him and the basis was the peeping video in front of the shower room, Noumi couldn’t actually use that. Because the instant he ruined Haruyuki with that video, there was the possibility that Haruyuki would also distribute Noumi’s «real world information» in Accel World and take him down along with him.

However, it was also clear that Chiyuri didn’t understand that kind of «nuclear deterrent due to mutually a.s.sured destruction»-type talk. If there existed even the slightest chance of Haruyuki being expelled—or at worst, arrested due to an extremely shameful crime, Chiyuri would do all she could to avoid that. Even if she was, for example, forced to become Dusk Taker’s exclusive healer and face Haruyuki and Tak.u.mu as enemies in Accel World.

Because they were friends. Because there were childhood friends who had spent a long, long time together in this real world. To Chiyuri that was the most important thing to be protected above anything else.

“…Chiyu.”

In a voice so small that it almost vanished in the faint driving sound of the descending elevator, Haruyuki called out his childhood friend’s name.

Chiyuri’s small shoulders trembled with a twitch, but her lips were still obstinately pulled tight. Turning his gaze to Chiyuri’s left hand which was tightly the handle of the umbrella, Haruyuki began to lift his own right hand as if to grasp that hand and make her face him.

But, the words he should have said after that became a crumpled hot lump and remained jammed in his throat.

Unable to move any further and standing stock-still, Haruyuki’s body was wrapped in a gentle feeling of deceleration. Without looking behind her, Chiyuri briskly stepped forward towards the entrance.

Separating in the blink of an eye from his childhood friend who belonged to the track-and-field club, Haruyuki walked to school while looking down the same way as he had on the way home yesterday. On Wednesdays, he always bought the package-version of a comics magazine he loved at a convenience store, but today he simply pa.s.sed by the store without stopping.

After following the route to school, which had a population density of a third less than usual with the absence of the new third-year students, and while alternatively feeling joy at having had a Dive Call with Kuroyukihime and regret at having said nothing to Chiyuri, Haruyuki stepped into the gates of Umesato Middle School that he eventually saw while curling up his back. Once he connected to the local network within the school, things like the log of the time he arrived at school, today’s schedule and messages from the school were listed on the right side of his vision.

At the end of those, Haruyuki saw a sentence that read «Important Transmitted Matter: Addressed as Personal», making his face twist.

After changing to indoor shoes at the entrance, he touched that string of characters with his finger while biting back an unpleasant feeling.

*SHUU* The message text opened and words in grim Ming-cho font were lined up in Haruyuki’s visions.

[To 2nd Year Cla.s.s-C, School Register Number 460017, Arita Haruyuki: As soon as you arrive at school, you are to promptly present yourself at the career-counseling room on the first floor of the general education building: From the teacher in charge of 2nd Year Cla.s.s-C, Sugeno Kouji]

Instantly, his heart shrank with a start. He thought that Noumi really had submitted that video to the school authorities. But he quickly noticed that the sender of the message was his homeroom teacher Sugeno. If they had gotten that much clear evidence, it should have been handled by the administrative department without it ending at the level of an interview with his teacher. Most likely, he was being summoned based on Sugeno’s personal prediction.

Even though it was just a guess in his head, Haruyuki pa.s.sed by the stairs up and headed towards the career counseling room on the first floor inside the school building while sweating plentifully within his clenched hands. While walking, he opened the student-exclusive database of the local network in his browser and uselessly searched for something like a «manual for when you’re summoned by the teacher», which likely didn’t exist.

Then, he actually found it within a school newspaper from a few years ago, and Haruyuki read it thankfully while amazed.

When he arrived in front of the counseling room, he immediately followed the first thing within the manual and confirmed left and right that no students were in sight just in case. He took a single big, deep breath in front of the gray door, and then pressed the room enter b.u.t.ton indicated within his vision. Student authentication was performed, and the lock was released with a click.

When he pulled open the as expected non-automatic door and peeked inside, he saw that Sugeno was already within the not very wide room. Sitting down on the window-side seat behind a long desk, Sugeno had his arms crossed in front of his chest as if displaying the thickness of his arms.

“So you came. Come in.”

The first words from the young j.a.panese History teacher weren’t that friendly. Suppressing the urge to just close the door, Haruyuki stepped into the room quietly and greeted him in an indistinct voice.

“…Good morning.”

Sugeno sucked in a breath as if he was going to voice a complaint just then, but he seemed to reconsider as he closed his mouth for a moment, and then spoke once again.

“Good morning. Please sit down there.”

Though the seat he indicated was only one seat away from Sugeno, Haruyuki couldn’t say “No, I’ll stand here” and so reluctantly obeyed by sitting down.

The teacher had carved a single line of deep wrinkles on his often-tanned forehead and seemed to be staring directly at Haruyuki with more of a «looking» than «scowling» gaze, but suddenly the corners of his mouth finally lifted up.

“Arita. Though I may not look like it, the truth is, I was also not very popular during middle and high school.”

“Hah…?”

“I’m not kidding. Because I was in the judo club, I was jealous of the soccer club guys who played around with girls instead.”

While looking dumfounded at Sugeno who was nodding with a ‘Uh-huh’, Haruyuki muttered in his mind.

—There were at least four improper points in those words just now. Suggesting that you’re good-looking, saying that all the members of the judo club were unpopular, saying that all the soccer club members were playboys, and in addition arbitrarily determining that I’m unpopular.

While Haruyuki added to himself that he couldn’t help but agree with that last point, Sugeno’s monologue continued.

“That’s why, I understand that boys your age have a lot of things you don’t know how to deal with. I understand very well…Hey, Arita.”

Here, the teacher gave off a «leave everything to me»-type vibe around his thick eyebrows, and gave a single big nod.

“If there’s anything you want to tell me…anything you have to tell me, please say it right here and now. I promise that I’m your ally. So, how about it?”

“………”

Haruyuki stared at his face for a few seconds while becoming even more dumbfounded.

Eventually, he somehow reorganized his thoughts and opened his mouth.

“……U-Umm.”

“Ooh, what it is? Please tell me anything!”

“Errr…Before that, I’m first going to record this conversation…”

That had been the second thing that the manual said to “definitely do”, but Haruyuki regretted it intensely as soon as he said it. Sugeno’s gaping and wide-eyed face quickly turned red from his neck to his cheek to the border of his hair. Haruyuki even felt like he heard a ‘clunk’ sound when the reliable older brother-like expression Sugeno had worn until now fell away.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Arita! You’re saying you don’t believe in me!?”

Raising his eyebrows and shouting with an angry look, Sugeno’s neck shrunk. But Haruyuki didn’t drive him away anymore more after that and answered back with a mumble.

“No, umm, it’s not that I don’t believe in you…It’s recognized by the law that a student has the right to record a one-on-one interview with a teacher…”

“What law!? What right!?”

Letting out a loud yell that little improper for a teacher, Sugeno hit the long desk with a bang.

“Don’t you understand that I’m thinking about your sake here!? If you wait until later to talk, your position will only get worse! As it is now, there’s a possibility that it will become a police matter.”

His speech was suddenly interrupted as Haruyuki desperately operated his virtual desktop and activated recording mode. Haruyuki wasn’t in the newspaper club, so the other person’s acceptance was needed for a recording of the conversation. Right now in Sugeno’s vision, a ‘Yes or No’ b.u.t.ton for allowing the recording should have appeared.

If he pressed the ‘No’ b.u.t.ton, then the log would record that that he had refused a legitimate request. Sugeno scowled at a point in s.p.a.ce with an expression that he couldn’t bear the indignation, but in the end he lifted his finger and stabbed it through the air with a jerk.

A [SREC] icon along with a ‘recording starting’ message blinked in Haruyuki’s vision. Even so, Haruyuki didn’t have the nerve to think “it’s over” with this, and earnestly shrunk his neck, while Sugeno spoke in a low voice which had increased in hardness.

“Arita, I’ll…I will only ask you once. On Sunday the 14th, why did yo…you[4], who doesn’t partic.i.p.ate in club activities, come to school?”

—It seemed that the conversation recording had had more of an effect than he’d thought.

“I was meeting a friend from the kendo club.”

When Haruyuki answered feebly yet instantaneously, Sugeno kept silent. Sugeno should also have known that Haruyuki was close with Tak.u.mu of the kendo club, and furthermore it was recorded in the local network that Tak.u.mu had come to school on Sunday. Haruyuki had actually gone to school in order to talk with Tak.u.mu that day in the first place.

But Sugeno persisted in his attack while the temple of his forehead twitched.

“Is that really all? Can you affirm that there were no other reasons at all? Please look at me in the eyes and answer.”

——Well, he’s not a bad person, probably. We just don’t seem to be able to understand each other.

While thinking that, Haruyuki looked directly at Sugeno’s clear eyes with an upward glance and responded.

“That really is all. I can affirm it.”

“……I see, I understand. Then, you can go back now.”

After letting out a long sigh that sounded like the sound from a large cooling fan, Sugeno told him that, so Haruyuki quickly stood up. He responded with a “Excuse me!” with largest volume after visiting this room, and then headed towards the door over the shortest distance, pulled it open as minimally as possible and left.

Escaping into the hallway, Haruyuki stopped the recording mode after deeply inhaling with all his strength, and headed towards the cla.s.sroom at a fast pace while confirming that the voice file was saved normally. With this, unless new material came out, Haruyuki’s innocence was now officially acknowledged. Nonetheless, with the exchange just now, Sugeno’s impression of him would have fairly worsened. There was not a single benefit by antagonizing a teacher and it wasn’t Haruyuki’s hobby either to do so, but even so it was out of the question to admit to a peeping crime he didn’t commit just for the sake of getting on Sugeno’s good side.

—‘Even so.’ Haruyuki thought while climbing up the stairs.

Even if that fatal video hadn’t been used, the trap that Noumi had set seemed to be slowly displaying effects like a weak poison. The reason was that Noumi himself had committed a crime and hid a miniature camera in the female shower room.

As a result, a real peeping attempt incident had been produced, and Haruyuki who had gone to school despite not being in a club was suspected. Had Noumi predicted things this far? No—He couldn’t have.

Shaking his head, Haruyuki opened the door of his cla.s.sroom one minute before the first bell rang.

Just then, an uncomfortable feeling formed. He felt like the volume of the chatting that filled the cla.s.sroom went down.

“……?”

He looked around in puzzlement, but the cla.s.sroom hadn’t changed at all from any other morning. He weaved his way between the students who were gathered in small group and were animatedly talking about a net show or a sports game, and sat down in his seat.

At the same time as he hung his bag on his desk and let out a sigh, an incoming Voice Call icon flashed in the center of his vision. The caller was—Tak.u.mu.

Barely resisting from looking back at him who should have been sitting in the back of the cla.s.sroom, Haruyuki pushed the icon.

‘Haru, something bad has happened.’

At those sudden first words, Haruyuki responded with thought-speech, though he almost moved his mouth.

‘Hah? Wh…what is it, all of a sudden?’

‘A strange rumor is going around. About you.’

At that point, the communication was cut off without notice. At the same time, the sound of a light chime filled his hearing. The first bell rang, and now real-time communication between students was prohibited. The next time they could call each other was at lunchtime and it was possible to send text messages as an exception, but school regulations prohibited them from exchanging contents that were unrelated to schoolwork through these.

He thought of just standing up and going directly to Tak.u.mu’s seat to hear the rest, but then homeroom teacher Sugeno came in from the door, so he had to give up on that. He was very interested in what Tak.u.mu had been talking about, but the only means to communicate no matter what right now was to talk in an «accelerated duel». Since he wouldn’t go that far, there shouldn’t be a serious problem even if he waited until the next break.

But—immediately after the end of that lesson.

As Haruyuki began to move his hand in order to mail Tak.u.mu, two male students blocked the way in front of his desk.

He lifted his head with a start as his body reflexively stiffened. They were both his cla.s.smates, but he could only remember the name of the boy to the right. He should have been a regular player in the boys’ basketball club, called Ishio if he remembered right.

With a tall figure which didn’t seem to be of the same age as Haruyuki, Ishio spoke while moving his mature yet troubled face to the left.

“Arita, sorry, but please come with me for a bit.”

Haruyuki then noticed that it had become deathly silent at some point in the cla.s.sroom. But there was almost no feeling of surprise in that silence. Rather, there was a hint of understanding and consent, as if this was an expected scene.

Facing Haruyuki who couldn’t understand the situation and was gathering himself, Ishio continued in a low voice that broke towards the end.

“I don’t want to have a disagreeable talk in a place like this. Even you feel the same as well, right, Arita?”

At the same time as he heard that, Haruyuki felt a feeling as if his stomach was being squeezed.

A disagreeable talk. The only subject that came to mind when he thought of that was the peeping attempt incident.

—In other words, before he had noticed it, Ishio and the guy next to him, no, the entire cla.s.s had come to believe with considerable certainty that Haruyuki was the perpetrator of that incident.

“Ah…I-I, didn’t…”

While muttering that in a hoa.r.s.e voice, Haruyuki turned his gaze diagonally to the left in front of him—to Chiyuri’s seat with a feeling of wanting to cling to someone.

Over there, he saw the form of his childhood friend looking down deeply, firmly closing her eyes and clenching her hands on top her desk as if enduring something.

As soon as he saw that, Haruyuki thought despite the crisis he was in.

—Right this instant, the one that is causing Chiyuri pain isn’t Noumi, but me. My foolish actions brought upon this situation. If I show pitiful behavior here, I’ll just be making even tougher concerns for Chiyuri. Then, at the very least, I have to deal with the situation with resolution right now.

Even if it’s just bravado on my part.

Taking a deep breath, Haruyuki pushed back his chair with a bang and stood up.

“Very well, let’s go.”

After Haruyuki gave his short reply, one of Ishio’s eyebrows twitched. But he nodded without changing expression and began to walk away.

As Haruyuki followed after him, the other boy went along with them from behind Haruyuki. While Haruyuki thought ‘It’s like I’m a prisoner being escorted’, a student stood up slowly at the back of the cla.s.sroom. It was Tak.u.mu.

His childhood friend whose height rivaled Ishio’s sharply narrowed his eyes behind his gla.s.ses and tried to take a step forward.

Holding him back with his right hand, Haruyuki quickly shook his head left and right.

—I’ll be fine. I can get through it by myself.

It wasn’t a Voice Call, so those thoughts couldn’t simply be communicated, but even so Tak.u.mu gritted his teeth firmly and sat back down. Ishio forcefully pulled open the door to the dead silent cla.s.sroom, making a loud sound as he did so.

The place that Haruyuki was brought to was somewhere he was quite familiar with—the western edge of the rooftop. First period had only just ended, so there were no other students there.

During his first year here, Haruyuki would make a delivery of bread and juice to delinquent students at this place practically every day. While clearly remembering those times, Haruyuki tried to go over to the antenna tower where the acts of bullying had happened. But, Ishio stopped him where he was and spoke.

“Here should be fine.”

Haruyuki blinked, and talked back.

“…But, we’re still within sight of the social security cameras here.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Spitting that out, Ishio stuffed his hands into the pockets of his uniform and continued while leaning his back against the tall stainless fence.

“…Arita, you were summoned by that Sugeno, right?”

—Just like Haruyuki expected, that incident was already known within the cla.s.s. This was the «strange rumor» that Tak.u.mu had mentioned in the Voice Call. He’d been careful, but had he been seen by other students when he entered into the counseling room? But still, it was too fast for this information to have spread like this…

While reconsidering that this wasn’t the time or place to think of unnecessary things like that, Haruyuki nodded slightly after staring fixedly at Ishio and the other boy standing a little ways away from him.

“…Yeah.”

“Then, it was you. You were the one that planted that camera in the female shower room.”

“No!”

His response was immediate. Looking down from high above at Haruyuki who was vehemently shaking his head, Ishio just rubbed his close-cropped short hair, but the other boy spoke out for the first time here.

“Well, we can’t say for sure that you did it, Arita. But, I don’t think the school would summon a student at this hour without any basis. If done poorly, it would lead to complaints instead.”

That hot-blooded Sugeno is the exception to that! That guy who said ‘what rights, what laws!?’!

Since Haruyuki was certain they wouldn’t believe that even if he claimed that, he had no choice but to remain silent. Then, Ishio took one, two steps towards Haruyuki, and spoke in a whisper.

“Being released after being receiving a summons is suspicious, but I don’t feel like there’s any evidence. But, I can’t leave it alone like this just because there’s no evidence.”

Suddenly Ishio grabbed Haruyuki’s necktie with his left hand and pulled him towards him tightly. He struck a burning gaze of anger at him from close range.

“Listen, when that camera was found, my girlfriend was also in the shower room. She received an incredible shock, and hasn’t come to school yesterday and today!”

At this point, Ishio’s actions were in clear violation of school regulations. But, the regular player of the basketball club shook off the other boy’s attempt to restrain him and swung his right fist far back.

“I can’t forgive you, Arita. No matter what, I have to do this!!”

And then, he swung his brandished fist with an inexperienced movement and—

There was a possibility that Haruyuki could avoid it. Ishio’s motions, which was nothing compared to the brawl-practiced punches of the students who had bullied Haruyuki before, were awkward. No, more than that, if Haruyuki used the physical acceleration command—«Physical Burst», he might be able to even reverse the situation and beat up Ishio here. Ishio’s face was greatly warped simply because it indicated that it was his first time hitting someone.

But of course, Haruyuki neither dodged nor fought back, and simply received the punch on his left cheek. Something like winning in a brawl with the power of acceleration was the lowest act, which was even mentioned in the laws of the Black Legion. A high-pitched sound resounded, and at the same time the impact itself pushed Haruyuki’s body back several steps.

If it was the Haruyuki of half a year ago, his heart might have broken at this point and he would be servilely begging.

However, the staggering but still standing Haruyuki sternly looked back at Ishio even while feeling a hot ache in his cheek, and shouted.

“I’ll say it as many times as I need to, I didn’t do it!!”

Then, Ishio clenched his teeth and began to make a fist again, but eventually he loosened it and responded back.

“…If that’s proven to be true, you can hit me as many times as you like. But…”

Thrusting forward his index finger instead of a fist and the basketball member with close-cropped hair declared it clearly.

“If you’re proven to be the culprit, I’ll break your Neuro Linker, so you can’t look at pictures or videos or anything else.”

Then, Ishio turned his body around, and walked towards the stairs with a long stride while rubbing his right hand with his left hand as if trying to wipe away the remaining sensation in it. The other boy also followed after him, leaving Haruyuki alone on the rooftop.

The scene just now should have been clearly recorded by the numerous social security cameras. If Haruyuki lodged a complaint of receiving an act of violence, despite the circ.u.mstances Ishio would be suspended from school at the very least, and would also lose his place as a regular in the basketball club.

But of course, Haruyuki had no intention of doing that. Ishio was just another person that had gotten dragged into this. Into a whirlpool of nothingness without light or warmth that was created by the cruel plunderer known as Noumi Seiji.

After tracing his cheek and confirming that he wasn’t bleeding, Haruyuki wearily headed towards the stairs and typed a mail on the way, in order to send a short message to Tak.u.mu.

After writing [It wasn’t anything serious, I’ll explain the situation after school, sorry for worrying you] and sending it, he continued and started to send a message to Chiyuri’s address too.

But, he stopped his hand just before he did it. It was no longer possible to erase Chiyuri’s concerns with just words. There was no way to take her back but to destroy the root of it all, Noumi.

Tak.u.mu immediately responded back with just a word of [Understood]. Feeling the worry of his best friend in that concise message, Haruyuki finally let out the tension in his shoulders and headed towards the cla.s.sroom at a half-run in order to be in time for the next cla.s.s.

Lunch break.

As soon as the chime rang, Haruyuki headed towards the school cafeteria alone.

With the third-year students absent, the dining hall was also naturally quite uncrowded compared to usually. Having no intention to eat on the rooftop where something unpleasant had just happened, Haruyuki lined up at the self-service counter. From the menu displayed in his vision, he selected okra[5] toppings with eggplant in his pork curry, and confirmed that the holo-tag appeared in front of him.

The obaa-chan in the kitchen filled up the curry at super-speed, and when she put the okra out onto the counter, an exact ‘CHARIIIN’ sound rang out.

Haruyuki’s gaze naturally moved towards the lounge at the east end of the cafeteria. But, he didn’t have the courage to burst into that place with white circular tables surrounded by decorative plants and with a clearly different atmosphere, and instead sat down at in the corner of one of many long tables that were lined up.

While picking up his spoon, he looked around his surroundings a little. All the students were enjoying their meals while making a lot of noise. No one was looking at Haruyuki—they shouldn’t be.

But Haruyuki couldn’t help but feel that all the people here were talking about “The peeping-camera perpetrator has come” with a telepathy-like communication method. ‘No, impossible’ is what he said to himself as he tried to deny it, but the unpleasant atmosphere that wasn’t quite outspoken when he entered Cla.s.s-2C this morning had deeply permeated his skin.

He stuffed down the curry in order to drive that feeling away, but though he usually became unconditionally happy with just that, the lump that was blocking his throat wouldn’t go away at all.

If—

If at this rate, the belief that «Arita of 2C was the perpetrator of the peeping camera incident» took hold of all of the school’s students even without any evidence.

Overturning that might be difficult for even Kuroyukihime, the vice-president of the student council. Conversely, Kuroyukihime might also lose her current position in the school if she got dragged down with Haruyuki. Even if that happened for argument’s sake, he didn’t think that that person would ever abandon him, but—What if, in the worst case, Kuroyukihime was also looked at with cold eyes because of him? What if that person was alienated within the school like himself last year, and at worst was hara.s.sed in some way…?

Haruyuki felt the skin of his entire body shiver due to his thoughts.

His spoon dropped down onto his plate with a clang, and when he clutched his arms strongly with both hands—

Suddenly feeling a presence, Haruyuki looked up.

A group of four, five people that were walking somewhere much further away entered his vision.

In the Umesato Private Middle School, there exists a scholarship student system for athletic clubs just in case. This wasn’t a prestigious sports school, so the system was only to the degree of reducing school expenses for club members who put in good results beyond the munic.i.p.al tournament, but even so it was apparent that there was a clear division for the so-called «scholarship students».

The group that held Haruyuki’s eyes were indeed those few athletic club elites. They were regular players of the female softball club and the hopes of the male swimming club, and standing among them and chatting with them while smiling was a small-built student—

That was without a doubt, the first-year student of the kendo club, Noumi Seiji.

The Umesato Middle School kendo club was certainly strong, but Noumi who had just entered the club this month had no regular game partic.i.p.ation experience. Even though it should naturally take until the second half of the school year at the fastest for him to obtain scholarship student qualifications, for him to already be encroaching on that kind of group after only winning last week’s club tournament was shocking.

—But, you didn’t obtain that victory with your own power!

Haruyuki unconsciously bit his lip hard. At that moment, as if feeling the gaze that Haruyuki was shooting at him from a corner of a long table far away, Noumi fleetingly turned his eyes in his direction with a casual action.

Haruyuki saw the innocent smile that was on his girl-like well-proportioned face transform in an instant.

What appeared from under that mask that came off was a s.a.d.i.s.tically joyful smile that was cold like a razor that was thinly sharpened to the utmost limit.

—How is it Arita-senpai, the feeling of being covered in mud and slipping off a hill no matter how far you climb? The feeling of having your precious things stolen and broken one by one…?

And then Noumi returned his face to the front, and while turning his previous innocent smiling face to the senior students, unhesitatingly entered the lounge that was overflowing in dazzling light.

Even after his view of him was obstructed by the decorative plants and he couldn’t see him anymore, Haruyuki continued staring at the place where Noumi was.

It seemed there was no longer any doubt. Noumi was the one who secretly made it so that talk of Haruyuki being summoned by the homeroom teacher was spread around the cla.s.s so quickly. No, possibly, he was also the once who informed the school authorities that Haruyuki had gone to school on Sunday.

As a huge anger and a fear that surpa.s.sed it welled up from the bottom of his body suddenly, Haruyuki desperately suppressed the urge to hit the table.

No. I can’t let my heart break here. If I do, I’ll just return to the servile me from half a year ago. That’s not all. If I get crushed here and sink all the way down into the bottomless hole that Noumi made, I’ll drag Tak.u.mu, Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime down along with me as well.

—I’ll crawl up from here.

Haruyuki muttered in his mind while clenching his spoon with all his strength.

—I’ve faced this kind of adversity many times. I’ll crawl up from here once again. No, I’ll get up no matter how many times it takes. I have already stopped walking towards only the bottom.

He stuffed a heap load of curry into his wide-opened mouth, and chewed it forcefully. The first-year female student sitting diagonally across from him gazed open-mouthed at Haruyuki as he emptied his plate at a staggering speed.