Accel World (先飞看刀)

From the log-out portal point that was installed in the lobby of the Nerima Public Office, Haruyuki returned to the real world.

After taking a deep breath, he raised his body from the sofa. Looking beside him while unplugging the XSB cable, he saw Tak.u.mu there with his eyes closed beneath his gla.s.ses and breathing softly.

Right now, the consciousness of his friend should be doing nothing but desperate training within a different time-rate from Haruyuki. No, it couldn’t be described with simple words like training. Tak.u.mu was directly facing his heart’s scars that had been pressed down to the bottom of his heart for many years and was trying to overcome them.

“…Taku, do your best.”

Haruyuki mumbled that with the lowest volume and then stood up.

On the opposite side of the table, the girl that was dressed in an elementary school uniform there wasn’t actually sleeping with an innocent sleeping face, but—he looked over at her. Haruyuki said “Thank you” inside his mind to that figure which seemed like a true angel only when like this, and then opened the ma.s.sive door and went out into the hallway from the radio-wave isolated room.

—At that moment.

“This way. Hurry.”

A voice came down from above his head, and he raised his eyes with a start.

Standing there was, without a doubt, the shop employee that had carried the drinks and cake to the table of Haruyuki and the others a while ago.

Dark cherry-colored long skirt and coat that swelled out at the shoulders. Over that, a snow-white ap.r.o.n that was decorated with moderate lace. A white Katyusha[1] on her head, and a thin ribbon over her chest that was of a brighter crimson red than her clothes.

In short dressed in the so-called maid uniform, the shop employee was younger than he had thought when he had seen her from a distance. Though she was quite tall, she was probably a high school student. Her bangs were exactly divided at the middle and her hair was braided all the way to the bottom of her shoulders behind her head. Her features were sharp, and her eyes that were thinly turned up increased the sharpness of her impression by two-fold.

…Is it because I came out early? Will Niko and Taku be okay like this?

Even as Haruyuki thought that, he simply nodded for the time being and tried to escape to the interior of the shop from the hallway. But.

“Not that way.”

As she said that, she caught the back collar of his blazer with a jerk and his head was thrown back suddenly.

The shock of ‘What was with this poor treatment by a shop employee of a cake shop and who moreover looked like a maid-san!?’ that he felt was amplified dozens of times by her next words.

“We’re going out from the back. Follow me, Silver Crow.”

“……Wha…!?”

While screaming “ThisisbadI’vebeendiscoveredinreallifeeeeeeeeee” in his mind, Haruyuki reflexively tried to run away, but because his collar was being held tight it only strangled his neck further. Despite her slender figure, she had a frightful grip.

“You don’t have to escape, and it’s too late even if you run away now.”

As she said that with a thinly-pitched husky voice, Haruyuki reluctantly gave up on escaping and turned around.

The maid-san stared down at Haruyuki while completely expressionless, and then after finally letting go of the collar of his blazer, she spoke in a completely casual tone.

“Scarlet Rain told me to cooperate in your investigation. My name is «Blood Leopard». When addressing me, call me Leopard not Blood. If you shorten it, use Pard not Leopa.”

“Wai…t, plea…se wait a moment.”

Haruyuki somehow managed to get just those words out and tried hard to understand the situation.

—Ask the person who knows more about it.

The Red King Niko had certainly said that to Haruyuki just before he logged out. But, Haruyuki had naturally a.s.sumed that he would only meet that person in Accel World.

But, it seemed that the maid-san here that had exposed her real form before him in the real world was the Burst Linker belonging to the Red Legion that was the «knowledgeable person» that Niko had spoken of and moreover was a shop employee here at the same time, so in other words, this place was not only a cake shop but also something like the base of «Prominence»…

As he somehow thinking up to that point, the maid-san that was changed to being called «Blood Leopard» which was abbreviated to «Pard-san» spoke as if growing impatient.

“I waited two seconds. Think about the rest while moving.”

Then, her long skirt softly waved as she turned around and began to walk unflaggingly towards the door that was visible at the end of the dark hallway.

Haruyuki no longer had any other choice but to follow the command of the mysterious older woman.

The door seemed to be a back entrance, and it came out next to a garage that was built at the back of the cake shop.

The maid-san operated something with her fingers in the air, and the shutters that faced the road began to open automatically. «Blood Leopard» seemed to be quite a hasty character, and she stuck out one finger at Haruyuki as if the time to wait was also precious.

“The only information that I’ve heard from master is this. There is a Burst Linker who connects to a local network yet doesn’t appear on the Matching List. You want to see through the method he uses to do that. That’s how it is, K[2]?”

As she asked for confirmation using a shortened phrase that reduced the already short word «OK» by half, he nodded in response.

“Ye…Yeah, that’s exactly it.”

“Although this is my first time hearing of list interception, I’ve also recently heard a rumor about a «Local Net Troll».”

When the maid-san suddenly said that, Haruyuki reflexively leaned forward and asked impatiently.

“L-Local Net Troll…? What kind of person is that?”

“I don’t know much about it. It seems that, in a certain network, a Burst Linker that intrudes into there but disappears before anyone can think of challenging him to a rematch has appeared.”

“W-Where is that «certain network»!?”

“Akihabara[3].”

This time he pulled his body backward when he heard that brief response that was returned immediately.

“…A-Akihabara is, if I remember right, the territory of the Yellow Legion…”

“Yes.”

Looking at the maid-san who nodded as if it were nothing, he gulped deeply.

It was three months ago that the Red King Niko had fallen into an instant predicament due to the vicious plot of the Yellow King that controlled the Legion «Crypt Cosmic Circus», «Yellow Radio». Haruyuki and the others of Nega Nebulas who had been accompanying her had also been dragged into the ambush by dozens of other players and went through a tough time, so you could say that currently Nega Nebulas was strongly opposed to the Yellow Legion the most out of the six great legions.

Although he very much wanted to go collect information, Haruyuki also lacked a little of the courage to enter the territory of such an enemy, and so he bit his lip.

—But, this isn’t a situation where I can afford to be scared here. It’s also fortunate that I was told that there is a clue in Akihabara. Besides, if I go into the gallery of an ordinary duel there and indirectly heard about that rumor, I may not have to encounter such a scary sight…

While thinking that, Haruyuki tried to muster a tiny amount of courage.

Then, Blood Leopard, who has been silent for several seconds, said a short sentence.

“K. We’re going now.”

“Heh?”

…By “going”, did she mean to Akihabara? This person is also coming along? Surely not with that appearance…?

Once again grabbing the nape of the surprised and blinking Haruyuki’s neck and saying nothing as if to say she didn’t intend to say anything further here, the maid-san walked into the garage as her half-boots resounded on the ground.

Enshrined within there while releasing an overwhelming presence was—

A huge electric motorbike whose full length was more than two meters.

It could only be thought of as «something» completely different from an electric scooter that ran about peacefully. Its entire body was wrapped in a glossy black and red cowl, and the front and back wheels with their own in-built motors were astonishingly thick. Even though the active suspension arms were already so rugged that the armor could be seen, its whole form was so smooth and low that it seemed to crawl on the ground.

“Ama…zing……”

As Haruyuki unconsciously spoke out in awe, Pard-san threw something round at him from a rack on the wall. The thing he reflexively caught and looked down at was a red open-type helmet.

“……Yes?”

Staring fixedly at him and approaching at a brisk pace as he didn’t understand the meaning of this, Blood Leopard picked the helmet up again from him.

*GAPO* She put the helmet on Haruyuki’s head. Continuing, she skillfully fastened the harness under his jaw with a single hand.

After also putting on her own black full-face helmet over her Katyusha and shaking out her overflowing braid, she once again grabbed the nape of Haruyuki’s neck and made him sit down on the large bike’s tandem seat with a thump.

…Impossible. No way. Wait. Wait a minute.

Soon after he shouted that out in his mind, the maid-san straddled the bike while still in her maid clothes and grabbed the rough handles with delicate hands that had leather gloves on them.

“Starting.”

As she seemingly muttered a voice command, the bike’s meter panel dimly lit up. The suspension arms that extended out the front and back preloaded.

As Haruyuki’s Neuro Linker was also connected to the bike’s CPU, the speed and battery meter windows opened up in his vision. At the same time, he heard Blood Leopard’s voice, not through speech but through wireless communication.

‘Grab on.’

‘Eh, umm, no, but.’

Immediately after he thought about it, her two hands extended from in front of him and grabbed onto Haruyuki’s arms. His arms were then pulled and made to wrap around her thin waist over her ap.r.o.n. This woman seemed to follow the principle of never repeating the same command twice.

Though he had already hallway given up as escape from here appeared impossible, Haruyuki still persisted.

‘Ah…umm, are you going to drive with that appearance?’

‘Taking time to change clothes is pointless.’

‘Al…Also, will the shop be okay?’

‘My shift is till 5:00. If you have any other questions, say them all at once.’

‘………I don’t have any more.’

‘K.’

And then, the maid-san casually opened up the throttle.

*RYUUN* Along with a motor sound which felt like a bottomless torque within the silence, the huge bike easily slid out from the cake shop’s garage.

The time display at the lower right of his vision read 5:08 PM. The rain had stopped without him noticing it and the gaps between the clouds that flowed towards the west were dyed in a magnificent orange.

Ah, I left my umbrella in the store. Well, Taku will collect it later.

As Haruyuki faintly thought of that in an escapist manner, the electric bike they were riding smoothly came out from the Sakuradai town area at a nearly silent low speed pace. It seemed that Blood Leopard drove safely despite appearing to be an impatient person—

Just when he let the tension out of his shoulders, the bike turned right at the larger intersection and went onto the Loop 7.

*KYUIAAAAA!!* The in-built motors of the front and back wheels roared out, and the needle of the holo-meter suddenly jumped upwards.

*BATABATA* Her long skirt fluttered at the edge of his field of view. The wind pressure beat into his face over his helmet’s shield.

“…Ah—————!!”

Haruyuki screamed out using his real voice.

The large motorbike that was carrying a rider in maid clothes and a middle school student in a school uniform entered Mejiro Street from the Loop 7 and was flat-out speeding determinedly towards the east.

—Be that as it may, in this era, cases of bikes and automobiles breaking the legal speed limit didn’t occur. This was because the vehicle’s control system automatically places a limiter at the road’s maximum speed. If you wanted to break that limit, you would have to illegally remodel the system, or you would have to order it to enter emergency mode and temporarily stop and suspend the control AI. Of course, since it was also illegal to suspend the AI without a justifiable reason, you would have to be prepared for a policeman’s handcuffs either way.

The bike that Blood Leopard drove naturally had not been modified through either method and its limiter was placed at 80 km/h which was the exact legal speed limit of Mejiro Street, but the time it had taken to reach the maximum speed from initially 0 km/h was uncommonly short. Inevitably, huge Gs that he had never experienced before in the real world were pushing down Haruyuki’s round body and his screams rose each time, but in addition the slender body of Pard-san who he was clinging to was being pressed ‘GUNI—— ’ against his stomach, so he was already at his wit’s end.

…Thank goodness I’m sitting in the back. If our positions were reversed, I’d be feeling her front instead of her back. No, isn’t the reverse fundamentally impossible in the first place?

Which he considered such things with his dizzy-feeling head, the bike entered Sotobori Street in Iidabashi[4]. The little road they were on right in the middle of the city during the evening was filled with traffic, and the drivers of the surrounding electric automobiles and scouters were noticing the Pard-san’s and Haruyuki’s bike and widening their eyes while blinking.

That was only natural, as a dazzling maid in a snow-white ap.r.o.n was driving during dusk on a huge sports-bike that people almost never saw these days. Moreover, there was a fat middle school student sitting snugly behind her.

Unable to bare the numerous looks that were concentrated on them as they waited at a red light, Haruyuki spoke with thought-speech while ducking his head down.

‘…U-Umm, it’s amazing, how much we stand out.’

‘Yes.’

Without being disheartened by Pard-san’s reply that seemed to say it was inconsequential, no, that she really thought it was inconsequential, Haruyuki continued.

‘…I-It seems a little dangerous to plunge into the headquarters of the CCC[5] like this.’

This time her words were a little longer.

‘NP[6]. Conversely, we’re not conspicuous.’

‘Heh?’

But she didn’t answer any further, and when the light turned blue[7], she fully opened up the throttle. The motor short them out like lightning. Haruyuki choked.

He understood the meaning of her words after the bike entered into a multi-level parking lot that was adjacent to the westernmost edge of the Akihabara district and they walked on foot for several minutes.

As soon as they went into the main street that pierced through the electronics district from north to south, at least three maids jumped into Haruyuki’s sight. Of course, even if one said that, they weren’t actual maids, though speaking of which Blood Leopard wasn’t a real maid either, but anyway—they were handing out holo-papers that seemed to advertise a shop somewhere to those that pa.s.sed by while smiling. Certainly, the only outward difference between those girls and Pard-san was their smiling faces.

“…I see…”

Deeply understanding it, Haruyuki looked up once again at the majestic appearance of the Sleepless Town, Akihabara.

This district, due to redevelopments at the beginning of the 2000s, seemed to be have been reorganized thoroughly as an intelligent-looking street. But after that, the price of land fell into decline while the center of consumer electronics sales shifted to Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, the banks that became strength-deficient during the depression of those times quickly backed out, the landowners were sub-divided, and chaos covered this district in the 2020s once again just like back in the last century.

And so, in the current year 2047, innumerable small scale shops of every industry related to electricity, networks and sub-culture were crowded together in this district. Since self-indulgent neon lights shined along all the windows of the buildings that lined down the street, there was no uniformity of color, and it was like standing in the middle of a galaxy where stars of pure color were crowded together.

If Haruyuki connected to the Global Net right now and moreover accepted advertis.e.m.e.nt information without restrictions, bargain holo-leaflets like custom parts for Neuro Linkers or deferment PCs and various applications softwares would flood his vision and prevent him from seeing anything.

“How nice…”

As he let his mouth slack in bliss at the chaos of information that could no longer be thought of as reality but as the virtual world, his nape was suddenly grasped hard.

“This way.”

Blood Leopard, who did not seem to have any especially strong emotions, began to walk northwards along the sidewalk that was overflowing with shoppers while dragging along Haruyuki.

The place she led him to was a particularly noisy building that was built at a place where you had to enter it a little towards the back from the main street.

He didn’t really understand what kind of shop it was at first glance. A neon sign that read «QUADTOWER» blinked on and off at the entrance, and the interior was dim with narrow lighting. Also, countless electronic sounds of great volume overlapped and leaked out from within.

“…Quadtower? What is this shop…?”

The slightly scared Haruyuki asked that,

“A ga-cen.”

With that short answer, Pard-san unflaggingly headed towards the interior of the shop without any hesitation. While thinking ‘Ga-cen, what’s that?’, Haruyuki went after her at a trot.

The meaning of those words became clear the instant he went down the short stairs and stepped into a dark floor.

The things that were tightly lined up on the naked concrete floor were prehistoric game machines, which were embedded with outdated CRT monitors and stick-type control panels on huge units. Striking sounds, explosions and BGMs were being discharged into the air from each speaker without reservation, and the players that were sitting on oblong chairs were absorbedly striking their panels with ‘GACHAGACHA’ and ‘PASHIPASHI’ sounds.

As he watched dumbfounded from next to the wall, a player gave a victory pose on one side of two units that were lined up back to back, and the gallery people in the back suddenly sprang forward in a commotion. On the opposite side, a mortified-looking young man stood up. It seemed that they had battled each other through the two machines.

One of the gallery people immediately sat down at the vacated machine. That girl, who also had a showy appearance like an actual game character, took out a silver 100-yen coin from her pocket and dropped it into the slot in the center of the panel.

“I…I see.”

Haruyuki mumbled with a parched mouth.

“Ga-cen means game center…Those machines are the old-fashioned so-called «arcade games», aren’t they!”

He continued speaking excitedly, but Blood Leopard merely answered “Yes” as usual and began to walk forward again.

Although he understood the importance of the situation surrounding him and his goal in coming to this district, Haruyuki himself could not help but want to sit down at that battle machine while thinking ‘Just once is fine’. He hadn’t touched one of those large-type controllers before, but he had played 2D hand-to-hand combat games that were controlled with a pad on a household machine at his home so many times he was tired of it.

However, most regrettably, he didn’t have any old-fashioned material money like 100-yen coins in either his pockets or his backpack. He might find an electronic money change machine somewhere if he looked around the shop, but if he got separated from Pard-san in this dark and large shop, it might turn out terrible—rather than that, he’d probably be scolded, so he tearfully gave up on that.

While the far too late question ‘In the first place, why did this person bring me here?’ finally went through his mind, he chased after the swaying braid on the back of her maid clothes, and they eventually arrived at an elevator on the wall that was the farthest back inside the shop.

The scarily old-fashioned lift carried the two of them and went upwards while rattling. It stopped on the fourth floor.

What was on the other side of the opening door was completely different from the bas.e.m.e.nt floor and was as silent as the grave. What were lined up here weren’t game machines, but narrow booths that were divided by solid-looking panels. Next to the right wall, there were drink vendors set up in a row.

Haruyuki also recognized a place like this. A so-called «Dive Café», a shop that cheaply offered private rooms for Diving while in the town. Since the booths could be locked, the security was quite higher than leaving one’s real body in an open s.p.a.ce like a family restaurant or coffee shop.

Nonetheless, there had certainly been plenty of Dive Cafes closer to the parking lot where they had left the bike. He wondered why they had expressly come to this far away building, but Pard-san quickly finished up with the receipt at the unmanned counter in front and then briskly walked further inside the place. Haruyuki reluctantly followed.

However—

“Enter.”

What Blood Leopard indicated at was to all appearances a single person-use booth and she furthermore entered inside following after Haruyuki as if it were natural, so Haruyuki couldn’t help but question her this time.

“U-Umm, there’s only one chair.”

“There were no two-person booths vacant. If we cram in together, we’ll fit.”

As she replied with that expressionlessly, she shut the slide-type door and the st.u.r.dy-looking lock resounded out with a ‘GACHINGACHIN’. While collecting together her long skirt, she sat down sideways on the reclining chair.

When she brought her slender body near the edge, there was certainly about 40 cm of s.p.a.ce left on the chair. But even so the fat Haruyuki would just barely fit if he sat there. Rather, he would be squeezed in.

“……Um.”

As Haruyuki tried to continue to say ‘I’ll reserve another room for myself’, the maid-san beat him to the punch and spoke.

“NP. I don’t care about sticking close to a child.”

—But I care about it a lot!! Or rather, if you think about the first condition for being a Burst Linker, you can’t be more than three years older than me!!

Although he cried that all out in his mind, Haruyuki was already in a mental state of being used to this, and so sat down next to Blood Leopard while mumbling “P-P-P-Please excuse me then”. Although he tried to lean as far as possible towards the armrest, there was still only about a 2 mm gap between the nose of Haruyuki’s head and the chest covered by a pure white ap.r.o.n.

He felt faint as soon as he noticed a sweet fragrance that drifted softly in the air and that smelt of cream and strawberries, but he somehow endured it, and then a whisper came from so close by that he could feel the breath on his brow.

“First, you must set up a Full Dive-use avatar that cannot be connected to your real life self.”

“…Ah, y-yes.”

He somehow reorganized his decelerated thoughts, quickly operated his virtual desktop, and changed his avatar from the pink pig that he used on the Umesato Middle local network to a green lizard he had never used before.

“I-It’s done.”

“Then, when you Full Dive, pa.s.s into the access gate that has the shining tag «Akihabara BG».”

“U-Understood.”

“K. Counting down. One, zero.”

…One usually starts from three at least!

At the same time as he thought that, the same command came out from both of their mouths.

““Direct Link.””

*SHUWAH!* Along with that sound, Haruyuki’s consciousness and real body separated, and he fell into darkness.

A few Access Gates approached from below. Since Haruyuki was cut off from the Global Net, they all should have be local networks administered by this building «Quadtower». Among the sparkling characters that read «Read as much as you like!» and «Online Game Free Play», there was indeed an inconspicuous tag that read «Akihabara BG».

When he extended an invisible hand towards it, it drew closer within his field of vision. The moment he was sucked in by that circular gate, there was a slight lag. A sign that some kind of authentication was being performed.

But the feeling of movement quickly came on him again, and finally the soles of Haruyuki’s feet landed on the ground with a hard metallic sound.

When he lifted up his turned-down head, he saw that he was in a place that could be called either a huge bar or a club.

All the walls and floor were made of rusty steel plates and wire-mesh. The rectangular s.p.a.ce in the center looked like an atrium, and on the floor of the first floor that was created as if to surround it and the floor of the second floor, there were rough tables made of just bare iron plates lined up at equal intervals.

At the same time, many avatars that seemed to have also Dived into this bar could be seen seated at these gloomy tables. They were sunken in shadow, but the instant he saw their silhouettes, he got a shuddering feeling.

This place was not in Accel world, but in a normal virtual s.p.a.ce. Even so, Haruyuki understood. They were all Burst Linkers. In other words, this network known as «Akihabara BG» was a place where only those that had Brain Burst in their Neuro Linkers could connect to.

After gulping with his green lizard avatar’s throat, he looked around further.

The next thing he noticed was a large four-sided monitor that was hanging from the ceiling with a chain in the center of this large s.p.a.ce. Since the shop was dimly-lit, the characters projected on the virtual screen could be clearly seen.

Displayed at the top was [TODAY’S BATTLE] in Gothic font.

Beneath that was [18:00], most likely the current time.

The next line [«Frost Horn Lv5» 1.57 VS «Slate Bolt Lv4» 3.22] were without a doubt the announcement of a duel. But he didn’t understand what the numbers with a decimal point that was written after the level were supposed to be.

“……Umm, this place is…”

When Haruyuki finally stopped looking around at his surroundings, he spoke in a low voice to Blood Leopard who was standing right next to him.

Her avatar, perhaps naturally or as expected, wasn"t wearing a maid dress anymore. Her entire body was tightly covered with a black leather rider suit. However, what was on top wasn’t a human head. A beast of the feline family with beautiful dark red fur. For the first time, Haruyuki remembered that «Leopard» meant leopard[8].

The female rider with a leopard head glanced down at Haruyuki’s lizard avatar with her shining ash-gold eyes, and spoke.

“«Akihabara Battle Ground». The holy place of duels for Burst Linkers.”

“H-Holy place…?”

After repeating her words, Haruyuki suddenly thought of something and asked.

“Akihabara, that means, is this the base of the Yellow Legion or something?”

“No. This is the only absolutely neutral place within the Akihabara area…Follow me.”

Her boots made a clacking sound as she started to walk, so for the time being he followed after her.

At the very back of the bar, there was as expected a counter that was made from iron plates. Blood Leopard smoothly sat down on the center stool with a supple movement. Haruyuki also made his small lizard body climb onto the stool next to hers with a heave-ho.

“Good evening, «Matchmaker».”

Looking at the avatar on the other side of the counter that suddenly raised its face in response to Pard-san’s quiet voice, Haruyuki at once thought ‘A dwarf!’.

A s.h.a.ggy beard along with a short and stout stature. He wore metal-rimmed gla.s.ses over round, sunken eyes, and a huge b.u.t.terfly necktie was tied around his neck. Rather, it was stranger that he wasn’t holding an axe in his rough hands.

The dwarf-type avatar first looked at Pard-san’s leopard head and raised one of his eyebrows, then looked at Haruyuki’s lizard heard and made a ‘hmm’ sound, and then turned back to Pard-san and grinned.

“Why if it isn’t a rare customer. How many months has it been, leopard?”

It was a completely dwarf-like tone, complete with baritone. But, since he was connected to this network, the one moving this avatar should also be a Burst Linker, so in other words he shouldn’t be older than 17-years-old.

However, to worry about such a thing would be dumb and boorish. Pard-san shrugged her shoulders slightly, and gave a short response of “Eight months”. The dwarf that was appropriately named «Matchmaker» laughed again as his mustache twitched, and then spoke.

“Have you missed having a real fight here? Or are you here to earn more pocket money?”

“Sorry, but I didn’t come here today to duel, nor to gamble.”

Hearing those words, Haruyuki reflexively raised his voice.

“G-Gam…ble!?”

Then, the dwarf raised his eyebrows and pointed at the huge center monitor with the tip of his beard.

“Look at those numbers there. Those show nothing except the odds.”

“Odds…”

Now that he mentioned it, it was exactly as he said. The numbers of 1.57 and 3.33 that followed after the names of the announced fighters could only be the rates of betting.

In other words, this place managed gambling for «duels» between Burst Linkers.

“…J-Just what on earth do you bet? I-I-It can’t be Burst Points, can it?”

When he asked that in a hoa.r.s.e voice, the dwarf let out a grand snort.

“Idiot, if we betted something like points, hot-headed idiots would have their Brain Burst forcefully uninstalled one after another. Of course the bets are real money.”

“R-Real money…”

That was also plenty bad enough, or rather private gambling was a completely illegal act. As Haruyuki flapped his mouth open and shut, Matchmaker suddenly gave a satisfied smile.

“You, don’t you know just how much this leopard-head onee-san has earned here?”

“Don’t say things that will cause misunderstandings. You can’t earn anything by betting with just fight money, and in the first place you only get five hundred yen per game even if you win. It is much lower than a part-time job’s hourly pay.”

“……F-Five hundred yen…”

Haruyuki once again mumbled, aghast. Hearing him say that, the dwarf laughed pleasantly.

“Well, that’s how it is. The maximum you can gamble is 300 yen per game. That’s the limit with the pocket money of middle and high school students.”

“……I-I see…”

As the tension finally left Haruyuki’s shoulders just a little, Blood Leopard’s voice mentally strained him once again.

“Let’s end the greetings here, and head into the main subject.”

“You’re an impatient leopard as always. If you’re here neither to battle nor to gamble, what did you come here for?”

“I came to meet with you as an informer today. What I want to know is information about the «Local Net Troll»…the Burst Linker who can intercept the Matching List without being connected to the network.”

His reaction to that was striking.

The instant he heard Pard-san’s question, the dwarf gained a sharp glint in his eyes in shock, and quickly looked left and right over the counter. After checking that there weren’t any other Divers without hearing range, he squeezed out an even lower voice.

“…I’ve heard of the talk about list interception somewhere. The rumors that are flowing about right now shouldn’t be that detailed.”

This time Blood Leopard was the one who raised the eyebrows of her leopard head.

“The one that’s asking is me.”

“Muh…that’s true. Then, since an information fee concerning this topic is not needed, please tell me what you know as well in exchange.”

“K, to the extent that I can talk about it.”

Matchmaker nodded, then leaned his body over the counter and started speaking in a voice that seemed to twist from inside his beard.

“…The Burst Linker that intercepts the Matching List…That is the big problem that is secretly shaking this Akihabara BG right now.”

It’s nice to be young.

The dwarf said that to Haruyuki who was visiting here for the first time.

Akihabara BG was a local network that can also be connected to within the game center «Quadtower». Burst Linker that wished to appear in betting matches here would visit this bard first and register as players at the counter. Then the system selected the most suitable duel opponents based on level and affinity, and the match time and odds were displayed on the central monitor.

Those that wanted to bet money would bet up to 300 yen up until the deadline time. After that, one of the players would accelerate just before the game time started, and the opponent would be chosen from the Matching List and the «duel» would begin. The fundamental structure of it was just that. Simple, no?

The greatest rule in this local network was one must not «duel» against anyone except the players chosen by the Matchmaker. Anyone that broke this rule and picked a duel against a betting visitor or another player that was more convenient for them would be beaten up by the strong-armed bodyguards—of course, in a duel—and would be kicked out from the local network. This was a holy place for duelers that not even the «Yellow King» that ruled Akihabara could lay his hands on.

“However, then.”

Matchmaker continued after some liquid inside of a tumbler that had appeared on the counter without notice.

“About one week ago, an insolent person appeared that didn’t register as a player and started a duel against one of two fighters right before their announced match began. Because of the mechanism that automatically registers IDs for everyone that Dives into Akiba BG when they connect for the first time, the bodyguards accelerated the instant he appeared again the next day in order to beat him up. However. Even though he was definitely connected to the local network…his name wasn’t on the Matching List.”

“……!”

Haruyuki sucked in a sharp breath.

The situation that Matchmaker recounted. It was exactly the same as the situation occurring at the Umesato Middle School’s local network right now.

The dwarf drank up the amber-colored liquid, and then struck the tumbler against the iron-plating of the counter.

“That day as well, that guy intruded into a match, took down the opposing player, and then calmly logged out. And the next day as well, and then the day after that too. At present, we’ve explained to the players and visitors that it’s the fault of the game registration system, but that"s also already at the limit. Rumors of a «Local Net Troll» are also flowing around. At this rate, if that guy’s rampage is allowed to continue, it will also affect the continuation of Akiba BG itself.”

After gulping, Haruyuki timidly asked.

“U-Umm…That is, what is the name of the Burst Linker that doesn’t appear on the list…?”

The name that the dwarf spitefully spoke was—

“«Rust Jigsaw».”

—It’s different.

Haruyuki unconsciously let out a breath of relief, but it being someone different was also a problem. Because it meant that there existed multiple Burst Linkers that had the Matching List interception ability. Within the system of Brain Burst, that privilege was just too huge.

Matchmaker also voiced in a subdued tone the same kind of misgivings.

“«One cannot choose one’s duel opponent as one likes». That is the great general rule of Accel World. Even if you only choose and fight convenient opponents, there is no way to tell when those kinds of opponents will appear on the list. While waiting for them to appear, you can also conversely be challenged to a duel by someone you’re weak against. Therefore, Burst Linkers desperately try hard to polish their own special techniques and conquer their weak points as well.”

“…It’s exactly as you say.”

“But, «Rust Jigsaw» is now using the system of Akiba BG and is freely choosing the duel opponents he wants. If you look at that monitor, it’s very clear which Burst Linkers are connected at any given time. After that, he just has to choose opponents he will certainly win against and intrude just before the start of a match. That guy has already earned over 100 points here just through duels. Not only as the Matchmaker…but as a Burst Linker, I absolutely cannot forgive him.”

Finishing speaking those unpleasant words, the dwarf stared intensely at Haruyuki, and then Blood Leopard from behind his round gla.s.ses.

“My story ends here. Now then, this time it’s your turn to talk. Although currently only myself and the bodyguards here should know about «Rust Jigsaw» intercepting the Matching List, just where on earth did you hear about it?”

Haruyuki glanced up at Pard-san to his left, then moved his lizard’s mouth with a mumble.

“…Umm, I didn’t hear about the case happening here. Another Burst Linker who possesses the exact same ability appeared at a certain local network that I usually connect to…So, I thought that there would be someone from Akihabara who knows something about it…”

“What!? Another one, at the same time…!? That’s inexcusable…”

“Where is that local network?”

“I-I’m sorry. It has to do with my real life information…”

“What, then it’s almost as if I’m the only one that talked!”

—Then.

Here, Pard-san at last spoke in a quiet voice.

“Matchmaker. What is the level and type of that Rust Jigsaw?”

“Hmm? His level is 6, the same as yours. His color is just as his name says, an iron-rust color. This also bears a strong resemblance to you, but his fighting style is different. That guy’s specialty is to hunt close-range types while remaining in the middle/long range, so a mainly close-range type like you would have honestly bad affinity with him.”

…Pard-san is a close-range type? Even though she belongs to the Red Legion, and the ‘blood’ in her name is reddish?

These questions that Haruyuki momentarily had were blown away by Blood Leopard’s next words.

“K. Then, I’ll carry out the information fee like this. Register me and this kid as tag-team players, and set up a long-range type team as our opponents. In addition, if you cancel all the remaining games, Rust Jigsaw who has no other opponents to attack should choose us as his prey for today.”

“…W-W-Wha!?”

As Haruyuki fell down from his stool and then held onto the counter in a panic, the dwarf turned suspicious-looking eyes at him once again.

“…Leopard, although your name has circulated around plenty enough for you to act as a lure…in the first place, who is this newcomer here?”

Then, Pard-san gave the hint of a smile, though it was very faint, and whispered towards the dwarf’s ear.

“His name may be even more famous than mine. This kid is the «silver crow[9]» of the revived Nega Nebulas.”

*PYUU*.

What echoed out then was a low whistle that the Matchmaker let out from within his beard.

Haruyuki and Blood Leopard opened their respective Brain Burst option menus and registered each other as a tag team. With this, if either of them were challenged to a «duel», both of them would be automatically connected to the stage.

When Burst Linkers teamed up as a tag team, it was indicated at the top of the Matching List, and it was possible for solo linkers to challenge a tag team, but conversely, duel requests from a tag team to a solo linker naturally couldn’t be done.

The floor stirred up for an instant when the names «Blood Leopard» and «Silver Crow» appeared as a team on the bar’s large central monitor. Things like “Hey, the «leopard» of Promi[10] is fighting!» and “Why is she teaming up with the «crow» of NN[11]!?” were shouted here and there, and the numerals for the odds instantly began to move.

While moving from the counter to a seat at a gloomy table in the corner and waiting for the match to start, Haruyuki decided to ask some questions.

“…Umm, why are we fighting as a tag? Since the Rust Jigsaw in question is a solo, he wouldn’t intrude against two opponents, right…?”

“That’s not correct either.”

After touching a c.o.c.ktail gla.s.s to her leopard mouth, Pard-san shook her head a little.

“Since the level difference is calculated not from the tag team’s average but the sum total of their levels instead, in the case of being challenged by a solo, his points will barely decrease if he loses, and if he wins he’ll get quite a lot. Since Rust Jigsaw seems to be tenacious about points, there is a high probability that he will think of us as delicious prey. Since I have had my name circulated around as a close-range type and Jigsaw seems to specialize in hunting close-range types, he won’t have a disadvantage when it comes to affinity either. Also…”

There, she glanced at Haruyuki with her golden pupils, and after closing her mouth once, she continued.

“…The rumor that you have become unable to fly has already spread around considerably. If Rust Jigsaw knows about it, the chances of him attacking increase even further.”

Feeling both pained and happy at Blood Leopard showing consideration just for an instant towards him about the fact that he had lost his wings, Haruyuki quickly continued the conversation.

“I see…if he can take me down instantly, he’ll just have to face you normally one-on-one after that.”

After nodding slightly, Haruyuki imitated Pard-san as she carried her gla.s.s to her mouth again, and also gulped down his own virtual c.o.c.ktail. As he frowned at the strange taste, he thought.

If, for argument"s sake, that Rust Jigsaw was connected to Dusk Taker and managed to acquire information on Silver Crow from him, then Haruyuki should naturally be cautious. Because Dusk was the perpetrator who had taken Silver Crow’s wings and made him become weak.

He checked that the start of the match still wouldn’t occur for a while, and then voiced his next question.

“Next…concerning the story about the duels earlier…Although he said that Rust Jigsaw does not come out on the Matching List, since he connects to this local network, he must always be somewhere within the Quadtower building in the real world, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, can’t we find his real body somehow?”

Then, Pard-san lightly shrugged her shoulders within her leather suit.

“This building is a ga-cen from the first bas.e.m.e.nt level to the third floor, and a Dive Cafe from the fourth to sixth floors. Since there are hundreds of visitors crowded together here at the same time right now, finding someone particular is difficult. But.”

“B-But?”

“There might be a way.”

“H-How!?”

“I’ll explain after. More importantly.”

Pard-san’s body that was sitting on the sofa next to him moved flexibly, and brought her mouth close to the ear of Haruyuki’s lizard avatar. With the lowest volume that would absolutely not reach any of the other Divers here, she whispered the following words.

“Unless the enemy uses it, you must not use the «Incarnate System».”

Though his body shrunk down with a jerk and he nodded at once, Haruyuki could not help but add something else.

“Ye…Yes. The Red King also told me that. But…But, why? Certainly, I think that it’s not fair if only one side uses that overly strong power. But, if it’s against an opponent that breaks the rules of Brain Burst…”

“That’s not it, it’s not for the opponent’s sake. It’s for your own.”

“Eh……?”

‘—Speaking of which, Niko also said the same thing’, as Haruyuki thought that.

Pard-san brought her body even closer, and whispered while looking into Haruyuki’s eyes at point-blank range.

“«Mind power» is a power born from a hole within the heart. When power is pulled out from there, you also draw closer little by little to that hole. If you one day lose that tug of war, you will be swallowed up by the darkness at the bottom of that hole.”

“D-Darkness…?”

“What produced that curse of the «Disaster Armor» you fought against was the reckless rampaging use of mind power by the first-generation Chrome Disaster. Because they knew that, the Kings have hidden the existence of the Incarnate System for many years.”

“……!!”

Haruyuki’s body stiffened once again.

What produced mind power was a desire born from an absolute lack of something—. The Red King Niko had also certainly said it. That acquiring it was impossible if you didn’t face the scars within your heart.

“…But.”

Haruyuki mumbled, as if trying to persuade not Blood Leopard, but himself.

“The person that first introduced mind power to me said this. That what produces mind power is the power of a «wish». That the reverse side of the heart"s scars is «hope».”

The crimson leopard that heard that let out a quiet sigh, and responded with a whisper.

“…I also believe that is the truth as well. But, like Brain Burst itself, there are two sides to the Incarnate System. On the back side of «hope», there is «despair». If that power is pursued, something will definitely be lost as compensation. Most likely, your teacher isn’t an exception to that either.”

For an instant, the figure of Sky Raker sitting on her silver wheelchair appeared in Haruyuki’s mind. Her legs that had been lost, and would never return.

After rapidly blinking the eyes of his avatar, Haruyuki spoke the words that contained his half-formed thoughts.

“…Even so, I want to believe. In «mind power»…in the power of «wishes». No…in this Brain Burst that saved me.”

“…………”

Blood Leopard, unusually for her, kept silent for a long time while starting to say something.

Finally, her fierce eyes softened, and she whispered while placing her mouth next to Haruyuki’s ear.

“I see. It’s just as Rain said. You are…you just might, to this Accel World…”

But, he didn’t heard what she said beyond that.

One minute before the formal match time that was announced on the monitor came, the dry sound of thunder struck Haruyuki’s hearing. Next, the string of characters that announced the appearance of a challenger blazed red across his entire vision.