Kasou Ryouiki no Elysion

Chapter 2 - First SuppressionPart 1

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Chapter 2 - First SuppressionPart 1

*chiririririririri*

"...fuahh?"

A loud sound filled the air, the moment he realized it was the sound of an alarm clock, his consciousness quickly returned.

"Morning, huh."

He felt the sleepy atmosphere after waking up early, and stared at the sun that still hasn"t risen fully yet already brilliantly illuminated the sky.

A soft and warm body lying on the inside of his arm moved in response to the his words.

"Geez, really, sleeping with me..."

He stroked the head of his little sister, she had a very cute expression as she slept.

Even though she was the perpetrator who disturbed his heart last night, the new environment has tired her out and she quickly fell asleep.

But, Taiga whom she was hugging the entire time, was endlessly troubled by her sweet breathing and ended up falling asleep only just before morning came.

I"ve only slept for about an hour... well, I"ve gotta do my best.

He left the bedroom while making sure he doesn"t wake her up.

Even though it was April, the morning air was still chilly. Taiga went through the living room heading to the large garden that was a privilege which came with the top floor, it was already the second day but he still didn"t feel like his new life properly started.

"Fuwa〜, it"s a good weather."

After going outside in his training uniform he looked around from the fifteenth floor. The area was entirely comprised of tall buildings, no matter where he looked it was all the same.

He breathed in deeply, inviting cold air into his lungs.

One, two, three... counting in his mind he woke up all cells in his body, shifting into a state where he could show the best performance within three seconds.

"Okay, let"s start the morning training."

Drawing the practice sword from its sheath, Taiga started working out in the tranquil morning.

"Good morning, Brother. You"re lively right after waking up."

"Nn? Ah, Fuyuki. Good morning."

His little sister"s voice welcomed him after he did around a thousand swings. It was already daytime, the city that spread out below was full of people and vehicles.

He sheathed the sword, pausing.

"...that"s a lot of sweat, there"s even steam rising."

"Well, it is training. So, what time is it now?"

"It"s seven o"clock sharp, we don"t have to hurry yet. Please take a shower, Little Sister has to dress herself as well."

"Got it."

Certainly, it was cold. Fuyuki who put on a jacket on top of her negligee returned to her room.

After wiping his sweat with a towel, Taiga headed straight to the bathroom. He threw his dōgi[1] in the washing machine, set it to to mist mode before pushing the start b.u.t.ton, and quickly washed away the rest of the sweat in the shower.

It took him five minutes to finish his shower.

After changing into the uniform that was prepared beforehand, he fixed his hair while looking into the mirror.

"...this uniform looks like it would suit just about anyone."

A gray shirt, black pants and blazer, a tie. He already knew it, but it was a really ordinary uniform.

He fixed his tie to make it look better, and moved away from the spot. When he checked the time on the terminal, it was a quarter past seven.

"Looks like I took a little too long."

If they want to eat breakfast they"d better hurry. Thinking that, he grabbed the bag and headed to the front door hurriedly.

"Sorry, I made you wait."

"Little Sister changed her clothes just now as well. Let"s go."

Waiting with a bag in her hands was Fuyuki ver. school uniform.

A dark navy blue blazer and a ribbon instead of a tie in the centre of her chest accenting it. Dazzling thighs could be seen between the black kneesocks and the skirt that was about 10 centimetres above her knees.

Also, a brand new hairstyle, her long black hair were split in two and tied with red ribbons.

"I tried going with twin-tails. How is it?"

"Mm. It really suits you."

He openly complimented her, thinking that the long black hair and twin-tails combo had a great destructive power.

"I see. A great destructive power, is it."

"...do you read minds or something?"

"Yes, but only Brother"s."

"Eh, seriously?!"

His sister said something really scary.

Since they didn"t have time to dilly-dally, they left their home side by side, and after confirming that the auto-lock worked they boarded the elevator.Part 2

It was still too early to go to school, so there weren"t too many people on the road. Rather than towards the station, the siblings went together towards the café 《Paradise》 for the moment.

"Welcome, you two. Breakfast is ready."

Rui greeted them after the "closed" tag was taken down and the door opened. She wore the same uniform as Fuyuki, but its size was much bigger. Her big b.r.e.a.s.t.s were highly accentuated, and a glimpse of her s.e.xy legs could be seen.

"Umm—Taiga, it"s a little embarra.s.sing when you stare at me like that..."

"Ah, no... ouch!"

"Brother... do you want me to hollow out your eyes?"

Fuyuki"s shoe strongly pressured his toes. Although it was stronger than he expected from her small body, it wasn"t that effective on Taiga"s trained body.

"Yahaha, Fuyuki really loves Taiga a lot doesn"t she〜."

"Of course. However, Brother is different. He has guts to stare at other women."

"It was unavoidable!"

Whether Fuyuki or Rui, the two of them were unusually beautiful girls. What"s wrong with admiring their uniforms.

Taiga somehow calmed down the pouting Fuyuki, and they sat on the counter seats of Paradise, it was still in middle of the opening process. The order they were sitting in was the same as the previous day. From the right, Fuyuki, Taiga, and Rui.

"Come on, eat up. It"s all made by the beautiful Rui-san!"

Rui urged them to start eating.

"...oh—did you really make this by yourself Rui?"

"It"s really delicious. Honestly, this is unexpected."

"Grr, what"s unexpected?!! Fuyuki!"

Rui"s image was somewhat outdoorish, she was surrounded by a cheerful atmosphere. That a girl like her could make a brilliant pot-au-feu with golden omelet and plenty of vegetables was quite unexpected.

"That"s because I"m the only daughter of café owners, I was taught how to cook. But I"m still not at a level where I can work in the café"s kitchen."

The two of them, decided to eat breakfast at 《Paradise》 receiving Rui"s invitation.

Last night, after they came back from 《Aries》, Fuyuki contacted Rui through her terminal and that"s when she was approached with a proposal - 『"Why don"t you come by for breakfast tomorrow?"』.

Her purpose was to get a third party evaluate her cooking. Even so, the siblings being conveniently offered a breakfast, took her up on it instantly.

"Yeah, it"s delicious."

"Really? I"m glad."

The three of them ate the breakfast, and cleaned everything up at 7:45. After being shouted at by Master who was preparing in the back, they headed towards the station.

Unlike the other day, the platform was full of people in Kiritou Academy"s uniforms waiting in a line. The column of people who commute to school first increased, and soon after it started decreasing at fast rate. Before long the trio boarded the linear. To avoid overcrowding, the train had a seat arrangement like a bullet train allowing a number of people to sit down, but there was no dissatisfaction since the trains came every two minutes.

Inverting the seats to face towards each other, three of them sat in place for four people. Fortunately, no one particularly complained about the last seat.

"You two, these will be your first cla.s.ses. Cyber department"s teaching speed is fast, so pay attention."

"Little Sister has room to spare."

"I... well, I"ll manage somehow."

Although Taiga"s grades weren"t great, they were not bad either. But after enrolling in Kiritou with this department selection, he couldn"t let his guard down, since it"s mainly people with good grades who gather in cyber department.

There are three departments——the general studies department, sports department, and cyber department. The cyber department had capacity for five hundred students per grade, and the other two had capacity for two hundred and fifty each Sports department was based on recommendation, and grades were irrelevant in it. The students with good grades chose either the general department or the cyber department. The majority of prospective students come to Kiritou in order to enroll in the cyber department, in fact there was usually only around two hundred and fifty people smart enough enroll in it.

In the first place, Taiga only entered the Cyber department because he followed Fuyuki.

"Somehow you say... that"s unsettling."

"Little Sister is there so it"ll be alright. Also, Brother is good with memorization, so I think if he uses it well, he can get average grades."

"What about Rui"s grades?"

"Fufufu... you better not——underestimate Rui-san! Studying is her speciality."

"You really can do anything."

"Anything, is going too far."

As they chatted, the linear reduced its speed as it arrived at the destination. Upon exiting through the ticket gate the wave of uniforms divided into three.

The south was general studies department, east was sports department, and the three of them headed west. The third years" building was the closest to the station, second years" was in the middle, and inevitably, the freshmen had the longest distance to walk.

It was like a baptism that awaits first years upon entering.

"This way, hurrey hurrey."

"Why are you excited..."

"Let"s go, Brother."

He looked at his little sister that was pulling him, and made a few steps. He wondered if she was excited with the first day of school as well——and so, suddenly students around them started to make noise.

"Mm?"

"What is it?"

The siblings looked around, all of the students were looking in the same direction.

There, was a girl with characteristically long black hair on whom their gazes were focused.

"Good morning, everyone."

The figure and features of the girl replying to their greetings one by one with a modest and faint smile was one that reminded you of a yamato nadeshiko. Even her way of walking suggested she was brought up very well.

"Who is that?"

"Cyber department"s third year, Kiritou Haya-senpai. She"s the one who serves as student council president for this term."

"I see, student council president huh. But even so, a 『Kiritou』..."

"Ahahaha, right? She"s the only daughter of Kiritou group"s head."

In short, she"s a genuine ojou-sama. However, what concerned Taiga was neither the fact that she was the 『Student council president』 nor 『Kiritou』, it was her appearance.

"...similar, heck, is that the same person...?"

He was reminded of the previous day. The woman who was complaining to a hologram in an empty cla.s.sroom.

But the personality and image she gave off was completely different. Although the appearance was beyond the level of identical twins, and more like two peas in a pod. But, since the image was far too different, Taiga wasn"t confident about it. As he observed her while tilting his neck, Fuyuki who stood next to him grabbed his ear strongly and pulled.

"Brother, don"t ogle cute girls whenever you see them."

"Y-you"re wrong, wa—, that"s not how it is so don"t pull!"

"I recommend not to chase after that person〜, because she"s always busy with a lot of things."

"Rui, don"t just say whatever you want!"

Their cla.s.sroom was on the first floor of the first grade building, and located in the corner. After opening the door, there were desks and chairs for twenty-five people, a mixed group of girls and boys in uniforms met up inside.

"Good morning, everyone—!!"

Rui greeted everyone in high spirits, almost everyone returned the greeting, their gazes shifted to the siblings right after that.

Of course, the duo would stand out. Coming to school a week after enrolling, in addition to that, one of them was a girl with twin-tails.

"...Little Sister is not a freak show."

Fuyuki hid behind Taiga"s back. Rui seeing her best friend like that clenched her fist tightly.

"Ah〜 everyone! I"ll introduce them to you, the cla.s.smates who are going to learn together with us from today onwards!"

Rui pushed the two of them in front, and raised her voice. Her chestnut fluffy hair bounced as she drew the attention of their cla.s.smates.

"This cool boy over here is Tenryo Taiga, and this insanely cute girl is Tenryo Fuyuki. They"re twins that have beautiful sky-blue eyes as their characteristic. Because of some circ.u.mstances they ended up coming to school a week late. Please do get along well!"

"...ah〜 we were just introduced, but I"m Tenryo Taiga. This is my little sister, Fuyuki."

"Greetings."

Her manners never change, no matter what, even when she was pushed in front (to be exact Fuyuki already hid behind him).

Taiga started a conversation.

"We don"t really know our left from right since we just moved here, but my little sister and I would like to get along with you all."

"...yes."

After the self-introductions were over, the cla.s.sroom filled with applause that started with Rui. For a while already, the gazes gathered at Fuyuki who was hiding behind her brother"s back (it was mainly boys), seeing such a beautiful girl people moved closer little by little.

Seeing his little sister Fuyuki being very reluctant to speak, Taiga sighed with relief. Although he was anxious to come to such a special school, seeing that. he was relieved.

A lunch break after four periods finished in the morning.

The siblings went up the stairs, heading to the roof of the first year"s building. Rui went ahead and waited on them with a thin blanket spread out. In their hands was a number of bread products bought in the store.

"Welcome back〜. the preparations are done."

"I didn"t expect the store would be this crowded. This little sister was really tired out there."

"Even though I was the one to buy it."

It was close to the second year"s building, in other words, the store and the dining room was located between first year and third year buildings. The crowded state of the stores wasn"t odd, there were around seven hundred and fifty students in total from all three cyber department grades, it would be crowded even if only half of them used it.

While bathing in April"s warm sunlight, the three of them ate their lunches as they sat on the blanket.

Taiga ate his food heartily, and Rui ate her well balanced boxed lunch (self-made) and spoke.

"Oh, right. I didn"t hear from you, so I wondered, what are you two"s specialized courses?"

"...specialization?"

"Courses?"

Swallowing loudly the last portion, and drinking tea from a pet bottle. Fuyuki finished eating her BLT sandwich and started listening.

"Didn"t you know there are cyber-related specialized lectures?"

"Of course I know that. It was the very reason I entered this department."

Fuyuki seemed like she knew about it beforehand.

"Yup. First years need to attend these courses, and I hear that selection ends today."

"Eh, is that so?"

Taiga was surprised hearing that bit of information.

"Last week was a trial period, they guided everyone and allowed them to experience a lesson. Rui-san has already decided. What are you two going to do I wonder〜"

Specialized courses are held three times a week, they were split between Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In other words, the siblings are to attend specialized courses after the break ends.

"Little Sister knew about it roughly, but the subject application hasn"t been delivered yet."

"Are you going for the same course as Rui-san? It seems like it"s worth taking."

"Since there"s no time to choose, that"s how it"ll be."

"Then, what are you going to do, Taiga?"

"...going for the same one is impossible. I definitely won"t be able to keep up."

Taiga chose cyber department because of his little sister, the one more appropriate for him would be the sports department. Applying without having basic knowledge was quite dubious.

He expanded the terminal in a hurry, entering the Kiritou Academy"s structure, skimmed through the scattered windows and looked at the student a.s.sistance syllabus, but——

"I don"t get it at all. What"s the difference?"

"Is that alright, brother? Shall Little Sister choose for you?"

"No, I have to decide on my path by myself. In the end, it"s my responsibility."Part 3

He spent the rest of lunch break thinking about it, and in the end he decided right before the deadline.

After finishing his lunch he parted with the two girls and headed towards the building where specialized lectures were given.

Unlike normal lessons, specialized course lectures involved using various equipment, and there was lot of it. That"s why, a total of eleven buildings were a.s.signed for specialized courses to use.

"...of all places, it had to be here."

The place Taiga arrived at by relying on the map, was the same one in which that Kiritou Haya person was screaming at the day before. It was exactly the same cla.s.sroom. It was soundproofed as well, it was the same one without a doubt.

The afternoon lessons were supposed to start soon. The main school buildings were quite noisy, but this place was eerily quiet. He checked if it was really the place specialized course was held at, but once again, it matched.

Even though he hesitated, there was no choice. He gathered determination and opened the door.

"Oh?"

There was one female student inside. She sat on an unusual cla.s.sic couch and closed her terminal"s window. She made a slightly surprised smile.

There was no doubt this time, it was the yamato nadeshiko he saw in the morning.

...now that he got that far it was impossible to pa.s.s it off as a coincidence. He thought that, but he still continued.

"Umm... student council president Kiritou-senpai, was it?"

"Yes. I"m serving as student council president in this term, my name is Kiritou Haya. What"s your name?"

Kiritou Haya had a modest smile on her face, one that was impossible for the girl he saw yesterday.

No matter what, she didn"t look like the girl who screamed at the hologram yesterday.

"Umm, is there anything on my face...?"

"Ah, no. I"m cyber department"s first year, Tenryo Taiga."

"Tenry—— ehem, are you the freshman who was absent for a week without notice?"

Her appearance changed for a split second.

"Uh... did it cause a problem for the student council after all?"

She was bothered by the fact that her appearance changed for a moment, but Taiga was the one who was more worried about it. He didn"t care about himself, but he wanted to avoid any bad rumours about Fuyuki who was the grade"s top student.

"Really, I would lie if I said it wasn"t a problem at all, but the circ.u.mstances were such that you were sick, teachers were also convinced."

Of course, the illness was a flat out lie.

"By the way, did Tenryo-kun come here for Takiha Yori-sensei"s lecture 《Configuration of virtual personality》?"

"Yes. It"s this cla.s.sroom, isn"t it?"

He chose a lecture that was on the very end of the syllabus, looking as if it was hidden. Although he chose more by intuition than anything else, he didn"t think it would be this room, and that the student council president would be there.

"Yeah. It is without a doubt this cla.s.sroom... but in fact, this lecture is no longer there."

"Ha?"

No longer there... even though it was listed in the syllabus?

"Takiha Yori-sensei who was appointed this year was supposed to be responsible for this lecture, but due to various circ.u.mstances it was impossible. The fact that it didn"t disappear from the syllabus is a system mistake."

"Then, why are you here, Chairman?"

"I was waiting here because there are students like Tenryo-kun who would come here by mistake. In fact, there were a lot of people who came here throughout last week."

"Hee—, so that"s how it is... eh?"

That"s when he thought of something and began feeling uncomfortable.

It"s about time the countdown for cla.s.ses to start begins. No students will come even if she waits like that until the last minute, at this rate she won"t get to cla.s.s on time either.

There were other suspicious things about this as well.

First of all, she doesn"t need to wait. A notification on school"s page is enough. Also the reaction she had when Taiga identified himself——

So that"s how it is after all, it can"t be but... really?

The yesterday"s ranting, and this pristine yamato nadeshiko definitely don"t match. But, it still bothered him.

For this, a straightforward approach would be the best, and so he asks her a question head-on.

"Umm, Senpai? In fact, I came to this cla.s.sroom yesterday around noon. Although I"ve seen Senpai at that time——"

"Didn"t you mistake me for someone else?"

She denied it completely. Although it might be like she said, he felt it had a feel of "Don"t step into it any further".

"No but, weren"t you shouting something about the vice princ.i.p.al?"

"You"ve got the wrong person. You saw wrongly. There"s no use, so go back——please go back right now."

Feeling vulnerable in such situation, the student council president repeated those words as she broke in cold sweat. However, her tone was no longer one of a yamato nadeshiko. Although it felt as if he was accusing her of something——

〈"I"m back. Master... oh that"s rare, got a visitor? Though it"s the person who showed his mug here yesterday."〉

Haya"s terminal suddenly lit up. With a timing as if she did it on purpose, a fairy girl appeared in the mid-air... and everyone froze.

"Uwoah?! The hologram from yesterday?!"

While Taiga was surprised by the girl"s sudden appearance, Haya cracked a crystal clear, good looking smile.

"........................eh, Iora? Yesterday, what?"

〈"Yesterday at 3:45 o"clock this person looked at Master when she was about to bawl. He"s been there for three minutes."〉

"...seriously?"

〈"Yah, it"s true."〉

*creak* *creak* ...like a machine, the girl cautiously faced towards him.

"........................"

"...u-mm, the lecture for 《Configuration of virtual personality》, wasn"t it?"

"No no. It couldn"t be, since that"s impossible."

Where does she intend to start over from.

Haya faced away from him and held her head for a moment. It took her a minute, when she faced him once again she had an expression indicating she gave up, and a forced smile.

"That"s how it is——, it"s just a façade, an especially thick one! Got any complaints?!"

Suddenly she had a desperate coming out.

"I don"t really mind it... but is the Student Council President fine with that?"

"Ah shaddup! In the first place I was in trouble because you guys were absent without notice for a week! If you are sick then bring in a medical certificate! Also Iora! I told you not to appear in front of others!"

After being exposed she changed too much.

Because Taiga saw her like that before, he wasn"t that surprised, but when he thought it was the same person who had an appearance of a lady-like yamato nadeshiko in the morning, he got scared somehow.

〈"Since I was already seen, I decided not to give a s.h.i.t."〉

"It"s not up to your discretion to decide that! If I knew it would be like this I would have cut the terminal"s power off!"

〈"Wasn"t it not Master the one who instructed me to project from the terminal?"〉

"Sharrup! If you reported to me that you were seen in the first place, such a thing wouldn"t——!!"

Ignoring Taiga, the Student Council President faced the hologram and completely dropped her façade/

The hologram girl spoke indifferently while hardly changing her expression, he felt a little uncomfortable seeing that.

The clothes are weird, and she somehow doesn"t feel like a human... what"s this?

That"s when an electronic sound of the school"s bell started ringing. It seemed like afternoon cla.s.ses have started.

"...hey, so what now?"

The specialized courses were essential. If he doesn"t decide on a course it would be determined early that he has to repeat a grade. It was inevitable that he had to select a specialized course in a hurry, but it was better than repeating a grade. He launched the terminal in a hurry looking for a different course.

"What are you doing?"

"I"m looking for another specialized course instead. I can"t afford to stay here any longer——okay, I"ll be there in a minute if I run at full power."

〈"It"s better to stop that now."〉

Just as he was about to run after checking the location, he was stopped by strange words and looked up from the window that displayed the syllabus and met the fairy girl"s gaze.

"...U〜mm, why is that no good?"

〈"Together with yer application for that specialized course, a.n.a.lysis of yer academic ability based on entrance exam results is considered."〉

"My academic ability... that information, where did you——"

A window floated in front of her answering his question. It was detailed confidential information from the school"s database on 『Tenryo Taiga』, it was projected there as if it was something everyone had access to it.

"Ah, hey, Iora! What are you doing! It"s the confidential information I use when I"m in a pinch!"

"Wait a sec! Is this your doing, façade woman!?"

〈"I recommend this specialized course instead. It"s very basic and easy to understand."〉

With a flat emotionless voice and no expression, like a noh mask. The doll-like girl ignored Haya"s protests and approached him while gripping a window in her hand.

"...it"s surprising. To think this girl would get involved with others on her own... yeah, it"s a good opportunity, if I use this guy..."

While giving off a somewhat unpleasant feel, Haya started grumbling to herself, and it seemed like she got a little interested in Taiga. His knowledge about cyber related things was no better than that of an elementary schooler, and he somewhat treated a hologram and the window as a material that had existing substance.

AI... a presence incorporating virtual personality in an electronic form, was it.

AI——an auxiliary program that acts like support for humans and does various ch.o.r.es for them in the cyber world. It"s very popular among working people, a cyber world"s existence projected from the terminal——he was reminded of the lecture he heard in the cla.s.s today.

Not a human...

But a virtual 『Personality』, should have been unable to talk back——

However, this girl, even though it wasn"t much, it felt like she had emotions. Although it"s so little, it could be cla.s.sified as a margin of error by a human.

In any case, her suggestion was worth considering. As he tried to check out the window immediately, it suddenly disappeared before he could touch it with a finger. So that was it. It was just a human error to a.s.sume she had emotions.

"That"s unnecessary, Tenryo-kun."

He heard Haya"s voice. Even though he knew her true nature, she made a graceful smile trying to deceive him as she proclaimed that, and deployed another window in front of Taiga.

"《Configuration of virtual personality》 course permit? Wasn"t it supposed to be gone——"

"That was a lie."

Being told that, he was at a loss for words. Haya quickly ran up to Taiga, grabbed his hand and made it contact with her terminal"s window, handing over the permit. *pikon*. A procedure transferring brain wave information started together with that sound.

"Yes, the registration"s complete——"

"Wai—, what are you doing!?"

Even though he tried to move his hand away in a hurry, a word 『Complete』 was already displayed on the window. And as he tried to correct it immediately after, it said 『It"s been five minutes since cla.s.ses started』, and didn"t accept the correction.

"Fufu... just as planned."

〈"Master—, what the h.e.l.l ya doin"?"〉

"Rejoice, Iora. I have found a perfect person to help with the experiments."

"Wait, wait! What do you mean by "just as planned" and "experiment"!"

The dispute started to go in a direction he didn"t understand, but he couldn"t pretend not to hear it.

"Shaddup. Just be quiet and get along with this girl. Specifically, chat with her."

"A fragmented explanation like that isn"t enough!"

"You can hear the full story from Iora. I"m tired so I"m going to sleep."

Haya decided to ignore Taiga"s words, and with a great momentum, she curled up like a cat on the couch and closed her eyes. Peeking out from the flipped skirt was her thigh, it gave off a really voluptuous feeling.

"...do you usually go to sleep in front of a guy you just met?"

〈"That"s because Master works every night to improve Iora."〉

Taiga was amazed by her selfish behaviour, he looked at the girl who floated beside him and their eyes met.

〈"Shall I tell ya "the full story"?"〉

"...please do."

He bowed his head obediently. There also was an option of not listening to it, but he agreed and listened to "the full story" over the next ten minutes, and then Taiga summarized the complex contents in his head.

"...in other words, you are the new model of AI that façade has developed, 『Code Name: Iolite』 nicknamed Iora, and unlike conventional AI"s you can learn emotions."

〈"That"s roughly correct. Master said that to learn emotions, I"ve to engage in conversations with people."〉

"And I was the one chosen as your conversation partner?"

〈"It looks like dat"s what Master intended."〉

He thought it would be more dangerous when she said it was an experiment, but it was surprisingly decent. 《Configuration of virtual personality》 was already written firmly on his timetable, and it didn"t allow him to change it.

"No matter what I do, I can"t quit this specialization... no choice, let"s go along with it."

Even though it felt like it was just what Kiritou Haya intended.

"But, an AI learning feelings... I don"t really get it, but... drones developing feelings? What is that façade trying to do by developing such a thing?"

"To be precise, Master is one of the developers. The other one has disappeared, it was Master"s best friend, Asumi Aoko——."

Iora"s words were suddenly interrupted.

As he glanced at her suspiciously why didn"t she say anything else, he noticed her staring in empty s.p.a.ce and her pupils disappeared.

"...Iora?"

A dark emptiness of abyss could be seen in her darkened eyes. Faint light within her eyes looked like a number of circuits.

Because he had a bad feeling, he reached out to touch her. But since it was a hologram his hand just slipped through the presence that had no substance in it.

But that action caused some noise in the projection and it focused once again.

〈"...apologies. An unexpected error appeared in the operation area, I"ve dealt with it."〉

"Error? Are you all right?"

〈"The internal scan result indicated that there is no problem. There"s no need to worry."〉

He thought about waking Haya up, but if she said it"s all right, then it was all right.

"Is that so. ...but what about this lecture? Is there no teacher in charge of it?"

〈"No, in the first place that a.s.sumption is wrong. 《Configuration of virtual personality》 is a specialized course Master prepared fer herself."〉

Iora opened a window with Kiritou Haya"s name, and changed it to roman alphabet. The sequence of characters gradually changed as she traced it with her finger.

In other words, from KIRITO HAYA to TAKIHA YORI.

"........................it"s beyond the level of "abusing power"."

What the h.e.l.l was she playing at by making a fictional lecture, is what he wanted to say but didn"t. He moved his line of sight and stared at the AI: Iolite. Her clothes looked very fantasy-like, thin and fluttery, and she tilted her head cutely.

〈"Do ya want to talk?"〉

"Well... I have nothing else to do."

While sighing, Taiga sat on the couch preparing for a conversation.

For about an hour and a half Taiga enjoyed his chat with Iora. During that time, the yamato nadeshiko continued to sleep on the couch.Part 4

After he rejoined Fuyuki "How were your lectures?", even though he was asked that, he didn"t answer and evaded the subject. In fact he just talked with Iora the entire time.

And after they returned home, the two of them dived in the Elysion for the second time.

"Now then, let"s go at full force!"

"From now on it"s the real thing. Little sister is excited for it as well!"

Taiga stood on a hill sandwiched between his remodelled-kimono wearing little sister, and Rui who was wearing a lab coat.

The empty sky of 《Aries》 structure was fiery red. The view they have seen with their eyes was also dyed crimson.

"...so, from today onwards we"re going to fight strong guys?"

"Yes. The target Little Sister chose for suppression is this guy."

What appeared in a window looked like a scarlet flaming ball about two meters in diameter, its name was written overhead.

"《Kathartí̱rio》? I"m sure it meant "purgatory" in greek, right?"

"Ahh... yeah. That"s its name."

"You really know a lot Taiga. But isn"t it a pretty minor name?"

"There was a guy in Renjou who knew a lot.... so, if we defeat this guy we"ll get a reward, right?"

"Yes. The amount was previously set too low, but recently the management increased the bounty. That"s why we"re going to aim for it now."

"Are we going to walk?"

"No way, that would take a week. We"re going to jump, are you prepared?"

"Eh, wait, what——"

"System code, move!"

Just like his first dive the other day, he was caught by a surprise attack that twisted his body in the s.p.a.ce. He felt like a cat that was put in a washing machine. Together with his human thoughts, his vision began to dim.

When his brain stopped shaking as if he was in a roller-coaster, the three of them were already in a different location.

It was a barren land with traces of green in just a few places. As they walked, the temperature they felt gradually increased, he reviewed the data Fuyuki presented to him as they did so.

"It looks like it"s a virus whose entire body is made out of flame. But its strength is split into seven."

"...yeah, that"s why it"s named 《Kathartí̱rio》."

The seven burning sins, the place for purifying those sins. The purgatory.

"What"s this, 『Raises virtual temperature and interferes with environment』? Amazing〜 it"s really hot. It feels like it"s over 40°c."

"It feels like staying in bath at all times."

"Wait, is there even such a thing as temperature in this world?"

"There is. It"s one of the elements to enjoy, but."

If it goes up to the level of feeling pain, the sense is shut off. For the same reason, the pain sensation was turned off as well. Otherwise it wouldn"t feel like it was a game.

Also, stamina of the virtual body was displayed in percentage. The acc.u.mulated value can be subjected to interference of bugs and viruses, and the virtual body collapses when it reaches 100%.

Because the electronic body is made with special technology by suppliers, it takes time and money to reconstruct it. That was another risk to consider in addition to connection fee, it"s another benefit professional artisans from cyber-related companies get from developing games.

The three of them walked weakly until they finally arrived.

"...so it"s that."

"...yup, that"s it."

"It"s amazingly red..."

All of them took a deep breath at the same time.

"""It"s hot!!!"""

It was already past the level of ground burnt by summer heat. They shouted angrily towards the scarlet flame sitting in the centre like a king.

The crimson ball had no nose, no eyes, and no mouth. A red skull icon indicating it was a Boss Monster floated above its head.

"Let"s beat this guy within three minutes."

"If we continue staying like this we"ll collapse."[2]

They didn"t sweat because of the temperature. But it was unpleasant.

Sensing as their skin baked up, their thinking was blurred because of the warmth and the visibility——everything was swaying because of the heat radiating from the ground.

Then, Taiga noticed a change in the scarlet ball of fire.

Shrunken ball of flame started to expand, increasing its volume a few times. Swirling inside amplified as the flame searched for a solid form to use. After mutating for several seconds, it turned into a scarlet lion.

"Lion, is it. The symbol of the first sin — 《Pride》."

Its mane burned fiercely like the sun, it had a strong and flexible physique.

Kathartí̱rio"s first form, 《Lion》.

Taiga made a single step forward towards the growling flame lion while unsheathing his sword. He stood in front while clothed in a contrasting black and white outfit.

"It"s a good opportunity, Little Sister will be the vanguard this time."

"Rui-san will do it too, otherwise her body will dull!"

Taiga admired his j.a.panese clothing-clad little sister"s arrogant smile, and the girl clad in a white coat that twirled around while laughing happily. He hesitated for a bit before, but now made a smile full of confidence.

"Who will start first?"

"Let"s start with Little Sister. Rucchan, you"re up next."

"Okay—!"

Then, the two of them held out their weapons.

*snap*——Fuyuki presented a folding fan with bright autumn leaves printed on it. It made a good harmony together with the black kimono that had red peonies printed on it, her figure was like that of a dancer.

And what Rui has presented was——

"...pebbles?

"Non non, this is creative stone."

Kimono-clad Fuyuki being armed with a fan made some sense, even though it wasn"t a weapon at all. However, for this (fake) scientist"s weapon to be stones... it should be at least something like drug ampoules.

"Let"s go, Rucchan!"

"Aye, aye〜"

When Fuyuki raised the fan to as high as her chest, b.a.l.l.s of light appeared. There were two of them, they looked like blue crystals. They sparkled like a prism——and she smashed the two of them with a sloppy fan folding technique!

They shattered like gla.s.s, and the shining particles melted into the atmosphere. Then, as the sky turned cloudy above the flame lion, a snake made out of water appeared from the clouds and attacked the lion.

That was Fuyuki"s attack-configured program———Elemental Sphere.

It was a small program constructed in a spheric shape, the program was activated by its destruction. Because it"s small it can hold one property each——If red, then a flame. If yellow, then lightning——and it wasn"t just manifestation, it was a program rich in diversity of uses.

The water snake entangled the lion"s body binding it. But together with the lion"s roar, it flared up and stretched, burning out without a trace.

Purgatory had a strong skin. However his body was suddenly pierced by several sword blades. The swords that hit it like arrows, they were launched from the stones Rui had between her fingers.

Rui"s attack-configured program———Creative Stone.

It was a unique program of Rui who"s an excellent creator. It"s a program that makes a small stone change into weapons like spears or swords after being thrown, it had a lot of applications like crushing target under a huge weight for example.

"——Eh, what"s that. Isn"t that unfair?"

That"s the impression Taiga had.

It was an irresistible ranged attack. Although Taiga who was an onlooker described it as 『Unfair』, their weapons were in entirely different league.

"What is it, Brother. Is there anything about Little Sister that you"re dissatisfied with?"

"Nono, your weapons, their appearance and performance have nothing to do with each other!"

"Please don"t group normal weapons and Rui-san"s special programs together. Ah, by the way, Taiga"s one has a special setting as well you know?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Your weapon has elemental attributes just like your little sister"s. The more familiar you get with it, the easier it will be for you to use them."

So it can release something like that as well——, crossed Taiga"s mind.

The attacks of the girls seemed to work, and Kathartí̱rio howled as electromagnetic waves pa.s.sed through its body. The body of the lion started to shake and returned——to being a flame ball.

Purgatory violently started bubbling as it changed. The figure it changed to, was a snake with ten to twenty heads and clad in blue flames.

"The Second sin 《Envy》 huh. Isn"t its model Yamata no Orochi..."

"With this much heads it turned into something disgusting."

"In any case, let"s end this quickly. It"s too hot."

The second out of seven, there was still a lot ahead.

After that was a three-headed wolf, a pegasus, a nine tailed fox. The three of them defeated the mutated forms of 《Purgatory》 one after another. Next, was a body with six eyes.

gyuwan ———The black flames radiated towards the crimson sky, and bullets of black flames. .h.i.t the earth.

He used all of his strength to draw the nodachi and stood in front of the girls protecting them by cutting the black flames.

The burning flames dominated the sky. An enormous fly clad in black flames, that was the incarnation of the sixth sin 《Gluttony》.

They were attacked by loud noises from the four blade-wings flapping loudly several times already. The sweeping flames increased gradually, Taiga crouched and lowered his sword.

"d.a.m.n, come down here already, so I can cut you down!"

"Come on, calm down, it"ll be down soon."

"Together, Rucchan!"

Using her remaining strength Rui created multiple creative stones around them, and Fuyuki produced wind by destroying a white sphere and sent the stones into the sky, above the lord of flies who was hovering in the sky.

Composite creation———the creative stones connected with each other while in circular motion and doubled their ma.s.s, and fell from above as a huge ma.s.s of steel.

The fly crashed from the sky screaming in agony. Dealing a final blow Fuyuki destroyed three yellow b.a.l.l.s summoning lightning from the sky.

Thor"s Hammer.

Fuyuki and Rui boasted of having the strongest anti-air powers.

"...another flashy technique."

"It"s a bold move that can"t be used continuously. But it worked pretty well."

Rui responded to him.

The 《Gluttony》 burned with a pale flash of light while it was st.i.tched to the ground, and started shaking like a heat haze.

And after black, silver appeared.

The silver flame dissolved the steel ma.s.s in an instant, and its appearance hardened.

Eight feet supporting its huge body, both of its arms were steel blades made to reap lives, a three p.r.o.nged spear at the end of the tail.

The seventh sin 《l.u.s.t》——a scorpion.

"It"s finally the last one. I was getting tired of it."

"Brother, please don"t let your guard down. The final form is the strongest."

It"s alright——just as Taiga was about to say that, he lost the chance to do so.

The silver scorpion that seemed to have dull movements, suddenly jumped as the speed of a bullet.

"Uwoahh?!"

As the heavy strike of the sickle swung down on him, he instantly poised with the nodachi to block it. A tremendous impact of the blow hit the arms supporting the nodachi and Taiga made a pained expression.

He slashed the scorpion in response, however, it was repelled by the silver armour together with a high-pitched metallic sound.

Hard——

Surprised by a completely different sensation from before, Taiga was blown away after receiving the strike.

"That"s why I told you not to let your guard down!"

Taiga rolled for a moment on the ground and managed to rebuild a defensive posture after getting up. Fuyuki destroyed two white b.a.l.l.s with a fan, and even though a few wind blades attacked the enemy, they dissolved after reaching the enemy"s robust armour.

So this will not work either, Fuyuki clicked her tongue as she thought. Silver flames were rising from the entire body of 《l.u.s.t》 up to the tip of it"s three-p.r.o.nged tail.

As fire bullets increased in size and density rapidly, Fuyuki and Rui moved together.

"Rui-san will create an opening, so try to break it down!"

"I leave it to you!"

Fuyuki created three elemental spheres that had brown colour, and Rui threw a total of eight swords.

The swords were unfortunately deflected by the armour, Fuyuki"s fan waited for that moment and struck. The ground under the scorpion swelled and a fist of rock suddenly disrupted its balance.

Immediately responding, bullets of silver flames that were shot enlarged.

The lump of fire missed the two people and landed far behind them, a fierce flame that erupted was enough to cause a scorching wind, and the flame spread widely.

"Kuh... it has amazing power doesn"t it. If we were hit directly we would be done for."

Rui said that while grimacing as the hot air hit her entire body.

While the sixth form, 《Gluttony》 used fire bullets, the power of this form was on an entirely different level. With such insanely destructive power, the electronic body would collapse from a single blow.

This is a virus Boss Monster. An enemy powerful enough to have the bounty on its head manually increased.

"If it"s like that, to win we have to make our move first!"

Rui rushed forward to stop it before the next bullet is shot.

She lightly avoided the sickle that was swung down, leaped on the scorpion and hit the back of 《l.u.s.t》 with creative stones. The blades that were thrown in the gaps between the armour pierced brilliantly, and exploded all at once on Rui"s signal.

Kathartí̱rio"s cries resounded. And the armour changed mutating like liquid, sharp thorns appeared on its back covering the gaps.

"Wai- isn"t that a foul play?!"

The moment its only weakness was found, it was covered. The next blades that followed were repelled. At the same time it moved its body like a snake and 《l.u.s.t》"s sickle attacked Rui who had nowhere to escape in the mid-air.

"RAAaah!

The sickle and Taiga"s sword clashed, and after a few seconds of struggling 《l.u.s.t》"s big frame was blown away. The scorpion retreated in the middle of a dust cloud, its howls reached the heaven, from the entirety of the steel body silver flames emerged.

"Are you two alright?"

"Rui-san is alright. You were the one who intercepted the strike, are you okay Taiga?"

"It"s not like it was a direct hit. Heck, this guy, isn"t he completely different than the forms up until now?"

"From now on it"s the real thing. The opponent is a virus with a price on his head, it won"t go down that easily."

A speed that didn"t suit such a big frame, intense flame bullets shot from its tail, a robust armour repelling attacks... it was clearly very strong. Sins from the first up to the sixth seemed like they were just a sideshow compared to it.

"If possible we should avoid close combat but... if we get hit by those fire bullets, we"ll be done for."

"Yes. Also, it looks like we can"t take too long."

Fuyuki responded to him and opened a window. The status of the virtual body was displayed on it, the value corresponding to the body"s interference increased at a fast pace.

"Apparently this hot air isn"t just unpleasant.. It also continuously interferes with virtual bodies damaging them."

Fuyuki"s total value was already over 30% even though she wasn"t hit even once. If they keep receiving damage, at this rate they may collapse in few minutes.

"First we need to do something about that armour. How about we destroy it with a simultaneous attack?"

"Let"s go then... here I come!"

Just after Fuyuki and Rui decided on the next course of action, 《l.u.s.t》 charged at them with tremendous speed, all three avoided it spreading out in different directions. Fuyuki and Rui sandwiched it from both sides, and Taiga jumped, diving on it from above.

"Haaaaaaaaa!!"

Violent sparks appeared as steel met steel. Not allowing it to recover, Taiga continuously dealt powerful blows with his blade. They were evenly matched, and his fast slashes were intercepted by a flaming blade.

Taiga had a number of weapons, like superior skills, a strong physique allowing him to deal heavy blows, sixth sense obtained during his military service——and the greatest weapon of them all was, this speed.

G.o.dspeed reflexes going beyond the limits of the human race, dynamic vision surpa.s.sing common sense allowing him to see rifle bullets in slow motion, overwhelming agility allowing him to reach top speed instantly.

But even if he used them to the very limit, he couldn"t endure forever and was blown away by a strike that came from both sides at once.

Just as planned.

"Thanks for buying us time! Let"s go, Rucchan!"

"It"s the special move!"

The two of them gathered strength and launched their attacks at 《l.u.s.t》 who immediately tried to pursue Taiga.

Red, blue, and white, Fuyuki struck the three orbs, and Rui threw two spinning ma.s.sive Creative Stones into the sky above. The stones divided into tens of smaller fragments, and then further into hundreds of fragments, and each one of them changed into a sharp lance.

"Parallel Creation 《Spear Rain》!"

A rain of spears poured down one by one, and repeatedly pierced the armour one after another.

But even though many holes appeared in it, the broken parts continued to recover. That"s where Fuyuki followed up.

"Triple Spell 《Steam Flare》!

A shining white ball emerged on 《l.u.s.t》"s back and burst expanding all at once. An attack bearing a name of steam explosion hit the silver armour causing intense vibrations and pushed the spears further in.

"——Boom it goes♪."

Rui who stopped moving snapped her fingers, and a huge amount of spears immediately exploded.

The armour that was crumbling because of multiple shockwaves, turned to pieces together with that explosion.

Kathartí̱rio"s 《l.u.s.t》 form"s screams filled the air loud enough to rupture their eardrums.

The fight wasn"t over with just the destruction of its armour, as if having a grudge on them, all the flames converged on its tail.

But——it was too slow.

Taiga rebuilt his posture and started running towards the scorpion with his sword pointed to the ground. His body reproduced the movements he did tens of thousands times before without thinking and performed,

"Renjou sword technique, fourth form——"

That moment, an anomaly appeared on the sword"s blade. It began buzzing with electricity and flashing intensely. A purple flash dyed the s.p.a.ce around Taiga.

He raised his wrists as a blade was swung down on him and cut, disconnecting the scorpion"s sickle at the base, after that he continued slashing diagonally. Furthermore he twisted his body without killing the momentum and swung once again drawing a cross shape!

"——— 《Raijyuji》!!"

A skill that allows the user to dodge the enemy attacks while aiming for their weak points with G.o.dspeed strikes.

Twin strike clad in purple lightning easily cut through the silver body that has lost its armour, and disa.s.sembled it into four pieces.

With a scream reverberating in the air, the Boss Monster, virus Kathartí̱rio disappeared.

Silence dominated the wilderness.

The flames lost their source and disappeared, the uncomfortable temperature went down like it was all a lie. Taiga looked for a moment at the afterglow of the disappearing purple lightning, and sheathed his sword. Together with its cool sound, the time that stopped started to move once again.

"We won... it"s our first victory, Brother!"

"Ah, yeah. We won."

The excited Fuyuki jumped around spontaneously. And he looked at the sunset dyed with the battle"s afterglow.

"...a win huh."

"It"s an undisputed complete and perfect victory."

Rui smiling from ear to ear came up to him and grasped his hand and shook it strongly.

At that time her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s shook as well, moving up and down. His eyes were drawn to them——

"Seems like brother doesn"t learn."

Stab.

"Gyahh——!! Eyes...my eyesssssssssss!!

He rolled on the ground after getting stabbed and blinded.

After he saw Rui"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s at extremely close range he couldn"t help but admire them. It wasn"t reality so he didn"t sense a crisis. In fact, there wasn"t any pain.

"Ahh—I thought I"ve gone blind... so, what was that in the end? Like electricity or something."

"That was Taiga"s program, its name is 《Heavenly Sword》."

"It"s not just electricity, it can release things like wind, flames and water as well. In Brother"s case, it seems like with familiar movements it should be easy to get fixed types. ——Well then! Let"s pick up our reward. Please log out brother."

"Nn? Is this the end for today? Isn"t there still time?"

"Nyaah, since it"s our memorable first suppression we should celebrate, there"s a lot of things to prepare."

"Oh, I see... is the location Paradise?"

"Yup. Come over around eight o"clock."

The memorable first battle of the trio ended with a victory.Part 5

A few hours after coming back to the real world, the siblings aimed for 《Paradise》.

"A celebration party means there will be food and stuff right?"

"That"s exactly what preparations meant. Fortunately the war funds are ample, also the shopping is easy since she"s the only daughter of the store owners."

"...by the way, how much was the reward?"

"Five thousand yen for each of us."

"Eh, seriously? We"re getting that much for just that?"

"It was reckless to face that enemy with just three of us in the first place, and also because of the virtual body reproduction costs the reward is higher. By the way, the reward is even bigger if it"s a new species."

With that pricing it was worthy being called bounty hunting. If done efficiently, living just by bounty hunting wasn"t impossible.

"It was not all used on the party, I pa.s.sed a lot of money to Rucchan for our future meals in 《Paradise》. Although I"m asking you for approval in retrospective, but you don"t mind right?"

"Not at all. I don"t need any money now."

It was exactly eight o"clock p.m., the siblings left their home and walked through the city that wasn"t asleep yet. Although it was not a downtown it wasn"t too bright, there was no brightness and huge flow of people that was characteristic to big cities.

"Welcome, oh, it"s you guys. It isn"t time for kids to walk around now."

When they entered the café 《Paradise》, it completely turned into a bar.

In a modern atmosphere customers were tilting their gla.s.ses, and standing by the counter was Saionji Jyugo dressed like a barman. The last of the café atmosphere that was there during the day completely disappeared.

"We know. Didn"t you hear from Rui, Master?"

"Now that you say it, she left earlier. Is there something?"

"Just a little party."

Fuyuki followed Taiga and sat on the counter seat naturally. Unlike his little sister, Taiga was used to it and didn"t feel any discomfort.

"So, where is Rui? She doesn"t seem to be here."

He could see there was no maid in the bar with a single glance.

"Oh, it seems like she went out to the town... that said, I thought she was kinda slow not coming back yet, I can"t leave the store and look for her."

"I"ll go then. Master, do you have a place Fuyuki can wait at?"

"Our home is above. Customers don"t enter it."

"Well then, go and wait there."

Even though Master was there, something still could happen. He didn"t want to leave his sister with people who drank alcohol. Fuyuki guessed her brother was worried, and with a happy face went up instructed by Jyugo. Taiga went out to the city at night to check on Rui.

Since shopping wasn"t intended for the store but a party. Rui finished the work early and went out twenty minutes ago, she left the store while still wearing maid clothes.

"A maid walking in the city at night, eh?"

It was beyond the level of standing out.

The nearby supermarket is quite far away by foot. If she gets involved in some trouble——

"Hey, don"t ignore us〜 play with us a little."

"I told you NO! You"re annoying!"

"I found you."

On the opposite side of the road, the voice that reached him from between the noise made by cars wasn"t the same as usual.

What was seen in the light, was a neatly dressed maid with chestnut brown hair.

She had both of her hands on a shopping bag, and was surrounded by frivolous men who didn"t allow her to move.

The men surrounding her seemed to be pretty drunk, their faces were tinged with red. One man angrily stretched his hands towards the girl. The moment a hand forcibly tried to grab Rui——

"Hey you. What are you doing to my friend."

Taiga walked through the road cars were driving to and from, and twisted the man"s hand.

"Ta-Taiga... ?"

"H-hey Rui. You were late so I came to pick you up."

"It hurts! Y-you f.u.c.king brat! What are you doing!"

Because he twisted his joint perfectly, it was quite painful when the man tried to move. While the man was acting violently and screaming in pain, at that moment Taiga wasn"t merciful enough to care about it.

The men around went crazy because a boy suddenly appeared and had their comrade

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