Accel World - Volume 18 - Chapter 6

6

The tag-team duel ended in a mutually agreed-upon draw, and the instant he burst out and returned to the bus in the real world, Haruyuki slid down into his seat. He held down the button on his Neurolinker to cut off his connection to the global net, while Utai, next to him, typed out her impression of the fight with a cool smile.

UI> JUST AS YOU’D EXPECT OF THE LEONIDS’ DUALIS, THEY WERE VERY STRONG.

“They really were. That Rangeless Scission special attack has way too wide a field.”

UI> IT’S MOST LIKELY THE SAME TYPE OF GUN PERFORMANCE AS TRILEAD’S SWORD. I SUSPECT THAT THE LONGER THE SWORDS ARE SHEATHED BEFORE THE SPECIAL ATTACK ACTIVATION, THE GREATER THE RANGE THEY CAN REACH.

“Oh. M-makes sense.” Nodding, Haruyuki remembered the mysterious young male samurai they’d met in the Castle. He’d given his name as Trilead Tetroxide—or Azure Air—and was in possession of the straight sword that was the epsilon of the Seven Arcs, the Infinity. The special feature of this sword was that the longer it was left in its sheath, the greater the power of the blow after it was unsheathed.

So then, if things went wrong and one of the twins got ahold of the Infinity, the force and range of the special attack Rangeless Scission could easily be infinite if left sheathed long enough, a totally crushing technique.

Scary, so scary.

He was still shuddering as he heard a bell chime. Utai had touched the next-stop button in the AR display.

UI> NOW IS THE START OF TODAY’S REAL MISSION, ARITA.

“R-right. I hope we can actually find them,” he said, worried.

UI> I’M SURE THEY ARE VERY SAMURAI-LIKE. NOW LET’S GET OFF THE BUS! Utai stood up without waiting for the bus to stop and moved toward the door.

Impressed at how she was always full of energy despite her small stature, Haruyuki followed the brown leather backpack.

They got off at the bus stop at the intersection of Shinoume Highway and Nakano Street and headed north on Nakano. After they had walked seven minutes, an orange sign came into view on the right, the family restaurant Coba-Manga had set as the meeting place. If they were simply going out to eat, they could have accessed the restaurant site beforehand and checked for open tables or made a reservation, but since they were meeting people whose faces and contact info were unknown to them, their only choice was to just go inside.

If Haruyuki had said he wasn’t feeling a little awkward about this first meeting with the twins in the real, given that the flesh-and-bone body of Haruyuki Arita didn’t resemble Silver Crow in any way, he would have been lying. But he told himself that now was not the time to be worrying about things like that and climbed the stairs to the restaurant.

When he pushed open the glass door, cool air-conditioning and a voice calling “welcome” greeted them. He told the waitress they were meeting someone and then stood up taller to look around the restaurant.

Since it was the inconspicuous time of four thirty, there weren’t very many patrons. But all the ones he could see were housewives on their way home from shopping and businessmen on breaks; he couldn’t spot anyone who seemed to be that particular pair. Or so he thought, but then a hand appeared from the other side of a smoked-glass partition that hid a table deeper inside, beckoning Haruyuki and Utai over.

“……”

He and Utai exchanged a look before timidly starting forward. He stopped in front of the partition and steadied his resolve before taking another step and turning ninety degrees to the right.

Two earlier arrivals were seated on one of the benches surrounding the table. Their sailor-style uniforms were a slightly bright navy blue with slender white ribbons, collars, and cuffs, a summery and refreshing color combination. Both Neurolinkers peeking over the collars were a deep-sapphire blue.

Haruyuki took in their outfits first and foremost not because he had a particular uniform fetish, but because he couldn’t see their faces. It wasn’t the angle—the two junior high school girls before him both had brown paper bags yanked over their heads.

“…………”

He was at a loss for words. Utai moved her index fingers briskly, and a string of ellipses appeared in the chat window.

UI> …………

Finally, one of the paper bag people pointed wordlessly toward the opposite side of the table.

Haruyuki came to his senses and sat down, at any rate. When Utai took a seat next to him, the waitress brought over glasses of water and hot towels for them both and told them to press the button when they were ready to order. “Or you can order directly from the holomenu. Enjoy!”

She must have seriously strong nerves to maintain her smile, he thought.

But Haruyuki was very much unable to produce a smile himself. He simply stared hard at the paper bags across from him, his eyes wide. When he looked closely, he could see there were two small holes on each, so apparently, they could see him.

These paper bags—I mean, these people, are Manga and Coba…right? What’s the point of the bags? Maybe they’re on guard about having their identities discovered in the real, but it’s pointless if they don’t hide their uniforms, too. And anyway, they were the ones who suggested talking in the real…

His mind racing, he continued to stare, when the paper bag directly across from him brought her head over to the paper bag beside her.

“Hey. This is actually too weird.”

“You were the one who was worried about them seeing our faces, Yuki!”

“Aah! Don’t say my name!”

“O-oops. Aah, come on. This is exhausting, okay?”

“This isn’t my fault. Like, let’s just take them off.”

“No choice, I guess. I mean, they’ve got their faces exposed and all.”

The pair apparently reached a consensus and grabbed the tops of their paper bags at the same time to yank them off, fortunately revealing the faces of real human beings.

They did, in fact, look very much alike—or rather, they were so identical that Haruyuki couldn’t tell them apart. The defined eyebrows; the clear, crisp line of the nose; the classic Japanese features. Utai also had that kind of look, but she was cute, whereas the two girls in front of him were the very definition of beautiful. Neither was wearing anything in the way of accessories, so the only difference between them was that the one across from Haruyuki had her glossy hair pulled into a ponytail, while the one across from Utai was wearing hers in pigtails.

Seeing these hairstyles, Haruyuki was finally convinced that they were the ones he and Utai had come to see, and he bowed his head as he gave his name. “Um, nice to meet you. I’m Silv—I mean, Corvus. This is Shrine Maiden.”

Introduced with Haruyuki’s impromptu fake name, Utai placed her hands together in her lap and bowed deeply. Perhaps in reaction to the composure of this child of a Noh family, the pair in their sailor uniforms snapped to attention as they bowed.

He lifted his face, and Pigtails opened her mouth first. “I’m Koto Takanouchi. Ninth grade.”

Followed by the Ponytail across from him: “Yuki Takanouchi. Same.”

“Uh. Um.” Haruyuki froze up again for a couple seconds before he hurried to ask, “Those names are your real…?”

“It’s all the same once your face is out there!” The one with pigtails who’d given her name as Koto furrowed her brow. “Tell us your names, too.”

“R-right. Um. I’m Haruyuki Arita. I’m in eighth grade.”

They turned to Utai, but he quickly explained the situation and had them accept the chat app’s ad hoc connection.

Utai immediately tapped at her holokeyboard. UI> MY NAME IS UTAI SHINOMIYA. I AM IN FOURTH GRADE.

Once they had introduced themselves with their real names, they all spontaneously bowed again.

It was the sound of Koto tapping an AR button on the table that broke the strange silence. She quickly scrolled through the holomenu displayed and opened the dessert page.

“Oh! You’re gonna have dessert, Koto?”

“The fight was exhausting. I’m starving.”

“No fair. I’m having some, too, then.”

Listening to them bicker shook his conviction that they were, in fact, the Dualis of the Leonids, aka Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade. But considering their appearance and names, they were definitely twins, and their hairstyles were the same as in the Accelerated World. The twin-tailed Koto was likely Cobalt, while the single-tailed Yuki was Manganese. When he looked at them with those eyes, he could somehow see something sharp, reminiscent of soldiers, in their auras.

Anyway, I should order something, too. He shook his head, called up the menu himself, and flew to the dessert page. He moved it to a position so that Utai could see it as well and asked quietly, “What’re you having, Shinomiya?”

UI> I WILL HAVE THE CREAM ANMITSU.

“Okay, then I’ll get the double scoop of ice cream.” He tapped the menu, and the Nega Nebulus order was completed in five seconds.

The Leonids team, however, still seemed to be undecided. They stared at the menu with serious expressions and then suddenly opened their mouths. ““Strawberry brûlée parfait.””

Their harmony was exactly the same as during the duel, and he felt a rush of admiration for this incredible duo, while, for some reason, the twins glared at each other.

“I said it first.”

“I was faster. You change your order, Koto.”

“Yuki, I changed mine last time. It’s your turn today.”

“Nuh-uh. I worked really hard in the duel today.”

“And yet, it was a real struggle against Crow, who’s a level lower.”

“What about you? You were beaten black-and-blue by Maiden, and she’s long-range.”

“Uh, um,” Haruyuki hurriedly interjected now that their avatar names were being tossed about. “That’s good there. Like, why do you have to change your order? Can’t you both have the strawberry parfait?”

Now Koto (Cobalt) was glaring at him. “Yuki and I have a rule that we get different things and share.”

“Uh-huh. But if you’re going to share anyway, then does it matter who gets what?” he asked, and this time, Yuki (Manganese) rebutted him.

“It’s totally different. With the strawberry parfait, whoever eats it first gets the strawberry half on top!! From the middle down, I mean, it’s just ice cream and sherbet and cookie.”

“And if this is a yogurt parfait, then the bottom’s only yogurt and cereal. That stuff’s not a treat; it’s like a meal.”

“I—I see. I completely understand.” He raised his hand and bobbed his head.

Suddenly, Utai giggled, albeit in an extremely restrained way. Given that she had aphasia, it was quite unusual for her to laugh out loud, so he gasped unconsciously. Finally, she sent her fingers racing across the tabletop. UI> PLEASE EXCUSE ME. YOU’RE JUST SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM HOW YOU ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

Reading this, Koto and Yuki looked slightly uncomfortable.

“That’s how it is, though. I mean, Burst Linkers,” Koto muttered.

Yuki smiled. “Just today, we could both order the same thing, right?”

“A celebration of meeting other people for the first time in the real.”

The twins tapped the picture of the strawberry brûlée parfait at the same time and closed the menu.

As he brought the cold water in the glass to his mouth, Haruyuki considered the fact that both Koto and Yuki’s Leonids and Great Wall from the battle three days earlier were technically Negabu’s enemies. If they hadn’t all had an overly powerful shared enemy like the Acceleration Research Society, they definitely wouldn’t be able to meet and talk in the real like this.

Trial Number One, Accel Assault 2038, had fallen into ruin due to excessive fighting; Trial Number Three, Cosmos Corrupt, had also failed due to excessive harmony—or so said the White King. This was coming from their most powerful enemy, but as a gamer, he could get on board with what she was saying.

Trial Number Two, aka Brain Burst 2039, the version Haruyuki and his friends played, had been going for eight years, regardless of the activity of the Green King, because it somehow struck a balance—albeit an imperfect one—between fighting and harmony. This spontaneous meeting was perhaps a one-time miracle brought about by that precarious balance. The chance to meet Koto and Yuki Takanouchi in the real world might never come along again.

But even still, we can show our faces, name ourselves, and eat sweets together like this, so we’re already friends. I want to believe that.

He watched as the faces of Koto and Yuki lit up when their enormous strawberry parfaits were brought to the table.