Accel World - Volume 19 - Chapter 9

9

Of all the twenty-three wards in Tokyo, the most populous was Setagaya—or so Shihoko Nago had been repeatedly taught since elementary school in her social studies lessons. In terms of area, it was just barely second after Ota Ward, but that was because the enormous plot of reclaimed land known as Haneda Airport was in Ota. If you didn’t count the airport, then Setagaya was the largest—so went the piece of trivia that had wormed its way into her brain. Thus, the thing that surprised her the most when she became a Burst Linker was the fact that Setagaya was treated as a vacant area in the Accelerated World.

“I actually still don’t really get by what logic Setagaya is a vacant area,” Shihoko said in a quiet voice as the Keio Line express train rocked her back and forth.

Next to her, Satomi Mito shrugged. “I guess maybe ’cause there’s nowhere famous. Kids who wanna duel are gonna gravitate toward Shibuya or Shinjuku.”

“It’s not true that there’s nowhere famous. Setagaya has all kinds of places.”

“Like where?”

“Like…Carrot Tower in Sancha.”

“Plus?”

“Plus…Nikotama Rise.”

“And?”

“And…Todoroki Valley and Baji Koen and the Olympic Park.” Shihoko earnestly listed the famous landmarks, and Satomi grinned as she nodded at each one.

“Next time, how about we ask the Crow and them how many of those they know?” she asked.

“Would! You! Quit! That?!” Shihoko groaned and hung her head, admitting defeat. It was true that Setagaya didn’t have a landmark that any resident of Tokyo would know instantly, like Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City or Shinjuku’s government building or Shibuya’s Ravine Square. Thus, people looking for a duel didn’t gravitate to the ward, and as a result, the number of Burst Linkers did not increase. She understood the logic, but she still wasn’t happy about it.

“Hmm, mmm. What else is there?” Shihoko muttered to herself, not knowing when to give up.

“Shiho!” Yume Yuruki, playing around on her virtual desktop across from them, suddenly lifted her face, her glasses glinting. “There is one! A famous place!”

“Huh? Where, where?”

“That massive gas tank in Roka Park.”

“…That’s gonna be taken down next year. And anyway, it’s just a big round thing.” Her shoulders slumped in disappointment, but then she straightened up again; this was no time for this sort of comedy routine. The reason they were on the Keio Line on a weekday after school when they normally walked was not to go off and have fun. It was a sortie for an important mission.

“Look,” she said. “We’re almost past Kanpachi now. You both cut your global connections, right?”

“Yup” came from Satomi.

“Courso” came from Yume.

Ring Road No. 8 that cut through Setagaya ward north-south was also the boundary of the area. The Shikishima University–affiliated Sakurami Junior High School they attended was in Setagaya Area No. 2. Riding the outward Keio Line train from the nearest station, Sakurajosui, they would be in Setagaya Area No. 5 once they crossed Kanpachi. Because they had turned the global-net connection on their Neurolinkers off once they got on the train, there was no chance of being challenged once the area changed. But the instant the express train racing along the elevated tracks cut across the main road, a nervousness rose up from the bottom of her stomach.

Their destination was the next station, Chitose-Karasuyama. But they weren’t going shopping or anything like that. The three Burst Linkers were crossing an area boundary to challenge someone for basically the first time since they’d become Burst Linkers.

“Don’t be so nervous, Shiho,” Satomi said. “I mean, it’s not like our opponent’s definitely gonna be on the list anyway.”

“In fact, it’s pretty likely she won’t be!” Yume chimed in.

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “But like, I just have this feeling. Like we’re gonna get to see her today.”

“Right. We might. You decide what you’re gonna talk about if we do?” Satomi asked.

This time, she shook her head. “Uh-uh. Not at all. But I’m sure Corvus’d say if we just go head-on with her, we’ll get our message across.”

“Heh-heh-heh.” Yume chuckled strangely. “Yeah, maybe.”

Shihoko glared at her. “I’m telling you this now. If I lose, Sato, Yume, you gotta go up against her!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Sure, sure.”

Both sounded as laid-back as ever, but only because they were trying to get the girl to relax a little. To show them her gratitude, she grabbed hold of the sleeves of their uniforms and turned her gaze out the window.

A minute later, the train gradually decelerated and slid up to the platform of Chitose-Karasuyama station. They went down the stairs out the south exit where there was a plaza in front of the station. Several benches were set out around the green space, so it looked like a good place for accelerating.

“I was thinking a café or something, but maybe the plaza’s good?” Shihoko suggested, and Satomi and Yume nodded. To replenish their energy for the duel, they each got a regular cone at the ice cream shop inside the station building and then moved out to the plaza. Once they sat down alongside one another on a bench farther in under the shade of a tree, the three wordlessly enjoyed their snacks for a while.

When Shihoko’s strawberry cheesecake, Satomi’s cookies and cream, and Yume’s dainagon azuki bean ice cream disappeared at the same time, they all nodded at one another and reached a hand toward their Neurolinkers to push the button for a global connection.

Since they’d already had a meeting in advance and determined that Shihoko would duel first, while Satomi and Yume stayed in the Gallery, it was only Shihoko who accelerated. She took a deep breath. “Burst Link!!”

Skreeeee! The sound echoed in her mind, and the summer evening froze a pale blue. She moved into the initial acceleration space of the Blue World in her full-dive avatar, modeled after Gretel from Grimms’ fairy tales, and tapped the B icon burning a bright red on her virtual desktop. Feeling equal parts excitement and dread, she opened the matching list.

Par for the course in an area that was known as vacant, there were only two names on the list other than Plum Flipper and Mint Mitten. The instant she identified the string of letters on top of the list, her breath stopped, even though she was in the middle of a full dive.

MAGENTA SCISSOR. The terrifying radical who had forcefully infected some dozen Burst Linkers, including Satomi and Yume, with ISS kits as part of a plan to level the playing field in the Accelerated World. The very person Shihoko had come to see. She’d been told her headquarters were Setagaya Area No. 5, but she supposed it was a stroke of good fortune that she had suddenly come across her like this.

But the matching list also contained some unexpected information. The other avatar name displayed right below Magenta’s.

AVOCADO AVOIDER. The supersized avatar who had paired up with Magenta. And the names of Magenta and Avocado were connected by a mark indicating that they were a tag team.

“Tag!” Shihoko murmured, her index finger hovering above the list. A tag team couldn’t challenge a solo Burst Linker, but the opposite was allowed, so Shihoko taking on Magenta and Avocado was possible in terms of the rules. But if they ended up fighting, her chances of winning would drop dramatically.

“What should I do…?” Biting her lip, she glanced to one side, but of course, she got no answer from the frozen, blue Satomi and Yume.

She could stop her acceleration for the moment and register as a tag team with one of them before once again challenging Magenta. But during that minute or so, Magenta might disappear from the list, and then it would all be for nothing.

Shihoko made her fairy-tale avatar look back and up at the northern sky. About a kilometer north of the Keio Line’s overhead tracks, the Chuo Expressway ran east-west. Beyond that was Suginami, the territory of Nega Nebulus, which Shihoko and her friends had joined three days earlier.

What would Silver Crow do at a time like this? Shihoko thought, only to abruptly giggle.

After school three days earlier, in the student council office of the private Umesato Junior High School near Shin-Koenji station, Shihoko and her two friends had come face-to-face with the members of Nega Nebulus in the real for the first time. Unfortunately, not all of Nega Nebulus was in attendance—it had only been five of them: the Legion Master, Black Lotus (aka Kuroyukihime), Ardor Maiden (one Utai Shinomiya), Cyan Pile (Takumu Mayuzumi), Lime Bell (Chiyuri Kurashima), and Silver Crow (Haruyuki Arita). But apparently, Shihoko and her friends would be introduced to the remaining Sky Raker and Aqua Current soon.

The one who made the deepest impression was, of course, Master Kuroyukihime. Shihoko couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the otherworldly beauty of the Umesato student council vice president, using her handle name (?) of Kuroyukihime even in the real world, and her seemingly indefatigable (?) mental strength. Shihoko and her friends had nodded in agreement on the way home: Of course, the Black King was no ordinary person.

And then after Kuroyukihime, the second strongest impression had been made on her by Silver Crow—Haruyuki Arita. His face and body were both round, and his image was in stark contrast to his Accelerated World duel avatar. But just like when they’d met in the Unlimited Neutral Field, Shihoko’s nervousness melted away in the blink of an eye. It quickly became clear to her soon that Kuroyukihime and the others trusted him a great deal.

If it was Silver Crow…If it was him, with the strength to always accept his own weaknesses and push forward with all his might, he probably wouldn’t blanch at his opponent turning out to be a tag team.

Right…The reason Shihoko was in Setagaya wasn’t simply to fight and win. She had come this far to share something more important than victory with her former enemy.

“Satomi, Yume. And Corvus. I…I’m gonna do it!” Shihoko shouted in the frozen-blue world and punched the matching list button.

As she transformed from her Gretel avatar into her duel avatar, Chocolat Puppeter, Shihoko fell through the darkness until she landed on solid ground—no, until her feet were swallowed up by a shallow layer of water. Aware of waves lapping ticklishly at her ankles, she slowly opened her eyes. Instantly, the powerful sunlight dyed her field of view white.

She quickly adjusted the sensitivity of her eye lenses, and color returned to the world. Blue water stretched out endlessly. It was only about ten centimeters deep, but it covered the entire field. All the buildings had been turned into skeletal concrete frames bleached white in the sun, and the wind that blew between them swept up little wavelets on the water surface.

The natural-type, water-attribute Water stage. It was quite popular thanks to the bright sun and clear water, a design that allowed players to taste a bit of the resort life. But the instant Shihoko recognized the stage, she muttered, “Oh, crud.” But regardless, the duel had started. And by Shihoko challenging. All she could do now was fight with everything she had.

First, she checked on the situation. There were two health gauges displayed in the top right of her field of view, one upon the other. As expected, the one on top was Magenta Scissor, while the one below was Avocado Avoider.

There were also two guide cursors in the lower center of her vision. But they were indicating different directions. It seemed that Magenta and Avocado were in different places within the area. The one she was supposed to meet was Magenta, but she didn’t know which cursor was pointing toward her.

Finally, she spun around to take a look at her surroundings and saw the figures of the two members of the Gallery on the roof of the station building a little ways off. Of course, it was Mint and Plum. As Shihoko raised a hand to wave, they both jumped down.

After landing gently without sending any water spraying up, Satomi and Yume ran directly over to her, shouting alternately.

“What’ll we do, Choco?!”

“You’re up against a tag team?!”

“Why didn’t you just reaccelerate?!”

“And they’re level six and five, you know?!”

As the two interrogated her, she glanced at her own health gauge. The level displayed beside her avatar name was five, the same as Avocado. The power gap from the opposing tag team was absolute. But.

“Min-Min, Pliko. Listen?! A Burst Linker! Once she accelerates, all that’s left is to fight in earnest! She must!!”

““……””

Satomi and Yume fell silent, dubious looks on their faces.

“If you would think that I would shrink in the face of a tag team of a mere five and six, then you are greatly mistaken!” she declared in an even higher-pitched voice. “I will neatly defeat them both and happily accept the many points I earn!”

“But, Choco, you didn’t come to duel—,” Satomi started, but she didn’t get to finish.

Suddenly, her friends vanished from before her eyes. They’d been forcibly moved due to the fact that a dueler other than a parent or Legion member had approached to within a ten-meter circle. Shihoko quickly looked back.

Splsh! Meager waves rippled outward from the center of the station plaza where a human figure had descended to stand. Slender and tall. The F-type avatar silhouette was wrapped in reddish-purple, ribbon-type armor. Weapons like large knives were equipped on each hip, and the only body part exposed was the mouth, where a bewitching smile played.

The duel avatar was without a doubt Magenta Scissor. But there was just one thing that was different from the last time Shihoko had encountered her. She had no jet-black eyeball-type Enhanced Armament attached to the center of her chest—no ISS kit.

Her red lips moved, and Shihoko heard a husky voice. “I was wondering who’d come to challenge us in an area like this. If it isn’t our neighbor, Choco.”

Pushing back her nerves, Shihoko returned resolutely, “Unfortunately, my headquarters is no longer Setagaya Number Four.”

“Oh my! Did you move?”

“I did not!” She took a deep breath, threw out her chest, and named herself. “I am now Chocolat Puppeter of the Legion Nega Nebulus!”

The smile on Magenta’s lips faded somewhat. “Hmm. So you came all this way to tell me of your Legion transfer?”

“To be precise, it was not a Legion transfer. Petit Paquet was disbanded, and Min-Min, Pliko, and I all joined Nega Nebulus!” Shihoko announced, and Magenta’s faint smile disappeared altogether. She didn’t know if this was because the other Burst Linker was mad or exasperated or annoyed at the way Shihoko spoke.

Her somewhat formal tone was not because she was trying to create a particular character or use psychological warfare. At some point, she had become unable to speak any other way, no matter how she tried, when she was Chocolat Puppeter. Or rather, it was perhaps more accurate to say that once this tone had sunk into her, she’d finally been able to act naturally and fight in the Accelerated World. Satomi and Yume would sometimes tease her, but Shihoko surprisingly didn’t hate this self of hers. At the very least, she was far more free to speak her mind without fear than she was in the real world.

Right. She was here to speak. The reason she’d come to that area that day, the reason she’d challenged Magenta Scissor. Shihoko steeled her will and started to open her mouth.

But an instant before she could, Magenta said in an even cooler voice, “So then, you came to warn me? To say that the three of you are members of the Black Legion now, so I won’t get off so easily if I lay a hand on you?”

“Pardon?” Surprised into speechlessness, she clenched her hands into fists and indicated her denial of this with her whole body. “Wh-why, that’s not it at all!”

“So then, is this a pilgrimage or what? Did you come to get revenge on me for the ISS kit thing?”

“Th-that is even more incorrect! You have the whole situation wrong!” Shihoko shook her head so forcefully that her bonnet threatened to go flying. “It is true that I won’t so easily forget the fact that you forcefully parasitized Min-Min and Pliko with the ISS kits, or that you tried to hunt our friend Coolu. However…Silver Crow told me how you helped him and the others in the end, in the battle to destroy the ISS kit main body.”

Magenta’s lips curled with dissatisfaction. “That story’s gotten a bit exaggerated, it seems. I wasn’t helping Crow; I was just trying to protect my comrades.”

“That’s fine, too. If you have the desire to protect your comrades…then that means you’re a Burst Linker just like us.” Shihoko had gotten that far when the water at Magenta Scissor’s feet scattered in an explosion of white spray.

With a fierce charge, Magenta closed the distance between them at once. Her hand flattened like a sharp sword cut through the whiteout of the spray and closed in on Shihoko’s neck.

Clenching her teeth, Shihoko sank down and twisted her upper body. Magenta’s strike grazed her neck with a tch and slipped past. Her health gauge dropped ever so slightly, and she wanted more than anything to leap back, but fleeing carelessly was deeply inadvisable at this stage.

She grabbed hold of Magenta’s left arm with both hands and braced her feet firmly in the water as she threw her backward with what was essentially a one-armed shoulder throw. The taller duel avatar should have slammed into the water on her back, but she deftly did a somersault in the air and stuck the landing quite magnificently.

Here, Shihoko finally stepped back and snapped a finger at Magenta. “That is very dangerous all of the sudden…indeed!”

Magenta looked back and fortunately did not pursue the attack, but now a very clear animosity bled into her voice. “It’s a duel; it’s supposed to be dangerous. Anyway, nice job standing there and evading that. I’m a little surprised.”

“I have a long history as a recluse in the Unlimited Neutral Field. I may not have very much duel experience, but I have memorized all the attack strategies in the various stages.”

As she spoke, she checked the water beneath her feet. The liquid covering the Water stage was only ten centimeters deep, but in close combat, this meager water depth was more treacherous than it seemed. Players would forget that only their feet were sunk into the water, and when they carelessly tried to jump or run, they were more likely than not to fall. When moving, you first had to lower your center of gravity and make very sure of your foothold. This was the trick Shihoko had learned through painful experience from playing tag and stepping on shadows with Satomi, Yume, and Coolu.

Meanwhile, being level six, Magenta Scissor of course was familiar with this somewhat rare stage. Even without the ISS kit, Shihoko was forced to admit that she was a worthy warrior with the sharpness of her striking hand and earlier somersault. Which was exactly why she could not lose here, of all places.

“Magenta. Given that I was the one who challenged you, I have no intention of evading the fight. However…after that, I would ask that you hear what I have to say.”

A thin smile rose up on Magenta’s lips once more. “Well then, you’ll have to try hard to keep me from taking you down. Because once this duel is over, I’m going to cut my global connection immediately.”

“All right.” Shihoko nodded, adding in a resolute voice, “I would ask that you also do not leave the battlefield so simply…please!”

At the same time as she finished speaking, she kicked off the ground beneath the water as hard as she could. The tips of her toes sliding along the surface, she closed the distance between them in a heartbeat.

Chocolat Puppeter’s armor basically only looked like chocolate; it didn’t melt in the sun or break upon impact. But even so, it was equipped with several properties based on chocolate. The most peculiar of these was the sweetness when you licked it, and her heat resistance was on the low side, but it would also repel water. Thanks to this water-repellent property, she could diminish water resistance to a certain degree in a Water stage. Dashing to close in on Magenta, Shihoko sliced through the water with a left mid-kick.

In a reaction befitting her, Magenta bent her right arm. The armor of Shihoko’s leg beat down from above this guard.

Clang! Magenta was knocked slightly off-balance.

“Hah!” Even as she staggered, she launched a left hook in a counterattack with a sharp cry.

Shihoko sank down to dodge it and drew in close to Magenta, pressing on her opponent’s neck with both hands as she stabbed her left knee into the ribboned avatar. One blow, two, and then three!

Magenta’s ribbon armor perhaps didn’t have such a high resistance to strikes; with the three Ti Khao knee strikes in succession, her health gauge dropped over 10 percent.

“Ngh.” Undaunted, Magenta threw out punches with her right and left arms, but given her long reach, her movements were awkward in these close quarters. And the strikes from above were obstructed by Shihoko’s large hat, so they didn’t manage to reach her face.

To escape from a clinch, the standard practice was to either remove your opponent’s grip from the inside with both hands or spin around to the side. But Magenta had apparently not studied that far. Still clinging to her, Shihoko took what she could of the other girl’s gauge with strikes and took the lead in the fight.

As Magenta crumpled, Shihoko was just about to drive home her fourth knee kick. But then an icy shiver caressed her stomach.

Reflexively, she released her hold and shoved on her opponent’s shoulder to create some distance. A silver flash raced upward in the gap that was created between them.

An icy chill shot through her, from her stomach up into her chest, and the bright-red damage effect chased after it. As she looked to see her own health gauge drop 5 percent in the corner of her eye, Shihoko jumped even farther back.

In her outstretched hand, Magenta Scissor was gripping a large knife. The tip of the blade, whipped out sharply from her right hip, had sliced effortlessly through Shihoko’s armor.

Regretting how she had become utterly focused on a weaponless battle, just like when she was sparring with Satomi, Shihoko dropped into position without a word.

But Magenta slowly lowered the knife of her right hand and called out with a smile, “I’m a tad surprised. I thought you were a long-range type, and here you are surprisingly accustomed to hand-to-hand combat, hmm? Where’ve you been training?”

“Min-Min—Mint Mitten—goes to a martial arts dojo on the other side. She is 1.3 times stronger than I am.”

Instantly, a voice came down from up on a nearby building—“Your numbers are ridiculous!”—but she decided to ignore it.

Magenta also didn’t react, but instead she nodded lightly, her eyes still on Shihoko. “I see. So they’re techniques you spent time learning in the real…I must apologize for not taking you seriously, then.” She also removed the knife on her left hip with her other hand and spun the two weapons at top speed before snapping into a fighting position.

At first glance, it looked like she fought with a blade in each hand, but that was actually not the case. The two knives were together a single Enhanced Armament, and by fusing them, Magenta created the scissors that were the origin of her avatar name. And then she would show what she was really made of…

But Magenta didn’t move to cross the two knives. “I’m gonna use this, so you can go ahead and summon them, Choco. Your delicious-looking puppets.”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but my special-attack gauge is still insufficiently charged,” she replied, but the truth was, her gauge was just barely full enough for her to call up one Chocopet. But sadly, she couldn’t summon it right away.

That was the reason Shihoko had muttered “Oh, crud” the instant she realized it was a Water stage—she couldn’t use the Cocoa Fountain special attack here, the prerequisite for summoning her Chocopets. In other words, she needed to move to a dry place to call her Chocopets, but the majority of this stage was covered with water. And the buildings were only concrete skeletons; there was no space there where she could create her Cocoa Pond.

Perhaps realizing the situation Shihoko was in or perhaps not, Magenta kept her faint smile as she spoke. “Well then, I’ll charge it up a bit for you.” She took a step forward, the knives in both hands glittering ominously.

Then.

The water in the plaza in front of the station rocked and surged with a wave that was not generated by the wind. Regularly, once a second, the water surface shuddered. If she listened carefully, she could also hear the showy splash, splash of the water.

“Oh my,” Magenta murmured, retreating as she lowered her knives.

Very carefully readying herself, Shihoko also glanced in the direction of the sound.

On the road—no, the waterway—connecting with the station plaza, a silhouette was slowly approaching from the south. Despite the fact that it was still quite far away, the water shuddered and rippled due to the immense size of the shadow. A Burst Linker without forehand knowledge might have mistaken it for an Enemy, although they were not supposed to exist in the normal duel field.

Two and a half meters tall. A meter and a half wide. The massive bulk wrapped in dark-green armor was perfectly egg-shaped. Running along on short, fat legs, sending magnificent sprays of water up into the air, was none other than Magenta’s partner, Avocado Avoider.

…So we’re finally getting serious here? she murmured to herself, slowly inching backward. She had almost been literally eaten by this very Avocado once before.

A few seconds later, Avocado raced into the plaza and stood next to Magenta. No sooner had he done so than his low voice rumbled out and intensified the water’s rippling. “Sorry, Magenta! I’m late!”

“It’s no big deal, Avo. You’re in the south of the area and all…And at any rate, I was planning to do this fight alone.” She hooked her fingertip through the ring-shaped knife grip—more precisely, the handle of the scissors—and spun it around.

“No!” Avocado shook his head, together with his large body. “I…I wanna fight with you!”

“Oh yeah? But our opponent’s level five, you know? And a level five and six duo attack, well, that’d be picking on someone weaker than us.”

There is no need for concern! Shihoko nearly shouted. But when she had gotten the “there” in her mouth, Avocado’s loud voice drowned her out.

“Then I’ll fight Choco by myself!” he declared, the small eye lenses on the upper part of his egg-shaped body flashing as he took a heavy step forward.

Magenta shrugged as if to say “Well, there you have it” and called out to Shihoko. “Choco, hon, sorry, but maybe you could take Avo on instead. Looks like he’s really been looking forward to a rematch with you.”

“I—I have no objection,” she replied, but in her heart, she couldn’t help thinking Whoa, indeed.

The truth was Chocolat Puppeter wasn’t so incompatible with Magenta Scissor, although only under the condition that she was able to summon her Chocopets. Because the Chocopets, chocolate in human form, were basically immune to Magenta’s blade attacks.

But it was no exaggeration to say that her compatibility with Avocado Avoider was the worst. On top of Avocado’s soft armor rendering nearly all physical attacks ineffective, his large mouth was big enough to swallow her Chocopets whole, and they were weak to biting attacks. The only way she could come up with to fight him was to blow away the soft armor with an annoying string of striking attacks and yank out the true avatar body inside. And anyway, there wasn’t any ground anywhere nearby for her to summon her Chocopets.

But if she lost here, she wouldn’t be able to achieve her main objective of talking with Magenta.

In terms of level, and in terms of compatibility with both stage and opponent, this was indeed a fierce situation. But she had to turn those disadvantages around and fight bravely—even if she couldn’t win, she had to show enough resolve to persuade Magenta at the very least. As a member of Nega Nebulus. As one Burst Linker who loved the Accelerated World.

“All right. Come, Avocado Avoider!!” Shihoko shouted, adopting an upright posture in the style of Muay Thai.

Avocado raised his short arms and shouted back, “I…tried to eat you last time! But today…I win!!”

Letting out a roar, he charged in a straight line, and each time the super-heavyweight avatar stepped on the ground, columns of water shot up like a fountain.

In the back of Shihoko’s mind, a fragment of a thought made a noise as it was given a singular shape. The battle with Silver Crow ten days earlier…He had grasped the terrain of the stage three dimensionally and defeated Shihoko with unexpected methods. Of course, Chocolat Puppeter didn’t have the ability to fly. But she should still be able to do the same thing. To do so, first of all, she had to get the upper hand on Avocado health gauge–wise.

Shihoko stood waiting in place for the massive egg-shaped bulk charging ferociously toward her.

“Hyoooaaanh!” Avocado spread his arms and jumped. Crushing the enemy with his heavyweight body protected by thick armor was his standard move. It was simple, but the attack was hard to counter. But if she started running away in the early stages of the fight, she would lose precious time.

“Ooyah!” With a single battle cry, she took decisive action, sliding directly beneath him. Slipping along the water surface, she just barely managed to pass under the falling bulk and slip out behind him.

Splooooosh! The sound of water filled the air, and a fountain of spray shot up. Showered in water droplets, she turned around and flew at Avocado, who was trying to get to his feet.

It was the perfect chance for a counterattack, but any reckless kicks or punches would be absorbed by his soft armor and do no damage. Given how short his arms and legs were, they seemed sturdy; joint techniques were also hopeless.

She took careful aim and launched a blow with all her might behind it for a direct hit on the real body of the avatar inside the armor. Avocado’s real body—she’d seen it once before—was a mere fifty centimeters around. This was buried in the center of the green shell that was a meter and a half around. In other words, to do damage to the real body, she had to pierce fifty centimeters of armor.

The gym that Shihoko’s master Satomi went to was a so-called mixed–martial arts type, but for strikes, the foundation was Muay Thai techniques. Naturally, Shihoko had also been taught these, but for some reason, she’d only been given permission to use the left mid-kick, the left jump, and the right straight in a real fight. However, she had a modest pride in these techniques, given that she had practiced essentially an infinite number of times in the time that was essentially infinite in the Unlimited Neutral Field. In the Silver Crow fight before, as well, if it had been just close combat on the ground, there was also a moment when she could see that she would have taken the lead.

The trick of the right straight punch according to Satomi: Brace your left foot like unh, twist your right heel like whup, fwwm your right hip around, bwam the force of rotation and your body weight behind it—and then kablam! Out in a straight line like you’re firing a massive gun from your right shoulder!!

Faithfully following the excessively onomatopoeiaed instructions, Shihoko launched her right straight and dug deep, ever deeper into Avocado’s back as he was getting to his feet.

The soft armor, with the viscosity and elasticity of bread dough allowed to rise once, caught her fist and tried to push it back. But Chocolat Puppeter’s armor was very smooth—almost Teflon—and her small fist gouged into the soft body, piercing it, and reached the avatar’s naked body.

The feedback was more like she had pushed rather than punched, but Avocado’s pit—or rather main body—had basically zero defensive abilities, and his health gauge dropped over 10 percent. Once she pulled her arm out, the wound was filled in, so she gave up on a follow-up attack and got some distance.

“Now I have turned the tables, Avocado!” she shouted, a sad attempt at a challenge, and made both of them check his gauge before whirling on her heel. She ran for the station building adjacent to the plaza.

“I…don’t lose!” Avocado shouted from behind as he stood and set off after her in hot pursuit.

The building was only a frame, but the stairs were there just like she remembered. She flew up the bare concrete steps, racing toward the top floor. Avocado gave chase, making the entire structure shake.

The roof was a flat surface, a latticework of gaps. Satomi and Yume were at the very far edge. She stopped to respond to their cheers by striking a tough pose and then dashed in the direction of the plaza along the lattice structure.

“You won’t get away, Choco!!” Avocado rushed out headlong from the staircase, roaring. He slipped a couple times, but given that he was bigger than the gaps in the latticework, he didn’t fall down but rather half tripped his way over to Shihoko.

The station building was about fifteen meters tall. Although there was water below, it was shallow, so if Chocolat Puppeter fell, she wouldn’t walk away unscathed. Meanwhile, Avocado would no doubt be unharmed in a fall thanks to his thick, soft armor. Which was exactly why he had chased after her without a second thought.

“Come, Avocado Avoider!!” On the northern edge of the roof, she stood on the thirty-centimeter frame and waggled the outstretched fingers of her hand beckoningly.

“I…win!!” With this simple declaration, Avocado threw his arms out and dashed toward her. His strategy was probably to grab hold of her and then fall together. This time, there was no space for her to slip underneath him, and he was nearly three meters wide with his arms out, so it would be hard to dodge to either side in front of him.

But Shihoko was calm as she stood waiting for Avocado. The massive egg filled her field of view. She could hear Satomi and Yume yelling for her to get out of the way.

Not yet. She would draw him in further. Shihoko waited until Avocado was close enough that he could no longer stop himself.

“Now!” The moment she had carefully set her sights on was here; she jumped back.

Naturally, there was no foothold there. Shihoko began to drop soundlessly. If she kept going and hit the ground, she wouldn’t be able to avoid serious damage. But her hands caught onto the edge of the frame passing before her eyes, and using the force of the reaction, she swung her feet in ahead of her and yanked herself up through a gap in the lattice with something along the lines of a gymnastics move.

Directly ahead of her feet was Avocado’s back. She used her toes to push him with everything she had, and the heavyweight avatar leapt from the roof.

“I’m falling!” he announced faithfully before disappearing from her sight.

Having climbed up onto the frame once again, Shihoko stared down at the falling Avocado. A second later, the massive body slammed into the water in the plaza, atomizing the liquid into jets of frothy spray. His soft armor was completely flattened, and just as she’d expected, this absorbed the majority of the impact so that Avocado was essentially unharmed.

However, this situation—this moment—was precisely what Shihoko had been aiming for. Avocado’s impact had displaced enough water to lay bare a circle of tiled earth more than ten meters across. It would of course be covered again soon enough, but she only needed a few seconds.

Brandishing her hand high above her head, she turned her index finger toward the dry land and shouted, “Cocoa Fountain!!”

A shining brown pond welled up immediately next to Avocado. She yanked her finger up and yelled, “From there…Puppet Maker!!”

The pond instantly contracted, and a human shape made of chocolate sprang forth from its center. Shihoko gave orders to the automatic doll, whose face shone with a flower pattern. “Chocopet! Evade attack!!”

Avocado had finally gotten back up. He had no sooner noticed the Chocopet standing in a defensive posture next to him than he was thrusting both hands out and opening his massive mouth. “I…eat choco!”

Since the Chocopet could only use striking techniques, it had no way of doing damage to Avocado. Meanwhile, Avocado Avoider could bite down on the avatar whole with his mouth, which was rumored to be filled with a void.

Thus, Shihoko had ordered the Chocopet to focus on evasion, but it wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long. If it could keep Avocado’s attention for twenty—no, ten seconds, though, that would be plenty.

From the roof fifteen meters up, she stared at Avocado chasing the Chocopet. It might have been the Accelerated World, but she was honestly afraid. She’d never once jumped of her own will from somewhere this high up. But she had been knocked down from a place many times higher up than this. And Shihoko had learned then that while there was the risk of instant death, the vast energy that a fall from up high generated could also be a powerful weapon. Next time, she would ask Silver Crow to take her as high up as he could ascend.

She stretched out her right foot, toes pointed sharply. Below, she saw that Avocado had finally succeeded in capturing the Chocopet and was opening his large mouth to devour it.

From the edge of the plaza, Magenta Scissor, who had been watching quietly up to that point, shouted sharply, “Avo! Above!!” They were a tag team, so it wasn’t particularly a breach of etiquette to give him advice. But it was too late.

“Hanga…?” Avocado Avoider made a strange sound as he started to look up at the sky.

And then Shihoko’s foot stabbed into the top of the egg-shaped avatar. Chocolat Puppeter’s slender and relatively smooth, slippery leg gouged ever deeper into Avocado’s soft armor, which had defended against even the full weight of Silver Crow’s spiral kick, and the tips of her toes touched the real body hidden deep inside. This time, she felt a definite sense of impact, and Avocado’s health gauge dropped 20 percent all at once.

“O-ow!!” Avocado shrieked and released the Chocopet to try to grab ahold of Shihoko piercing his head. But his arms were too short and couldn’t reach her. Meanwhile, Shihoko fought the peristalsis of the soft armor trying to push her leg back out and ground the tips of her toes into the main body.

“Now admit that you’re in quite the bind! Otherwise, I’ll make it hurt even more!” Shihoko thought about it, and then thought some more, and decided I kind of don’t like how that sounds.

“N-no!” Avocado was flailing out of control, but he had a surprising stubborn streak. “I…will fight Choco more. More!”

“Then I guess I have no choice!” Hardening her heart, Shihoko put every bit of strength she had into a kick to smash Avocado’s body.

“Avo! That’s enough!!” The cry echoed across the plaza. The owner of the voice was Magenta Scissor. She was walking toward them with her arms crossed, both her knives back on her hips. Avocado froze, and Shihoko hung her head, still stabbing into the top of the other avatar.

“I lose…,” Avocado announced, slumping to sit on the spot, so Shihoko pulled her foot out and jumped down from his head.

They still had half the duel time left. She stepped back together with the precious Chocopet she’d finally been able to summon and stared at the approaching Magenta. She’d managed somehow to get a victory by decision over Avocado, but Magenta was still essentially unharmed. This was the real start of the duel—or so she thought.

Magenta came to a stop next to Avocado and patted him near the top where the hole was still open as she spoke in a curt but warm voice, “You did your best there, Avo. Choco was a cut above today, but you’ll be able to fight much better next time.”

“Next time…,” Avocado murmured, whirling around on the fulcrum of his butt. “Choco. Will you come again?”

“Uh…Um.” She was unconsciously stuck for an answer, but with those tiny eye lenses staring hard at her, she got the feeling that she couldn’t just simply refuse. She cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips. “W-well, if the spirit moves me, I suppose I could do you the favor of coming again.”

“Yay!” Avocado Avoider waved both arms wildly. “Next time, I eat—no, win!!”

A transparent smile rose up on Magenta Scissor’s face for the merest instant, a smile that quickly became challenging as she turned to look at Shihoko. “Now…what’ll you do, Choco? You wanna keep the duel going with me as your opponent? Or do you want to have your chat or whatever?”

As a Burst Linker, she should perhaps reply, “I will fight, of course!” But her opponent still had plenty of energy to spare. If Magenta was willing to listen to what she had to say, then she had to take advantage of this opportunity.

“Well then, I would ask that you hear what I have to say,” Shihoko responded, and Magenta waved her hand, urging her to speak then. She took a step forward and a deep breath, but then her throat closed up like it was glued shut. She frantically tried to open her mouth, but her throat was spasming so hard that she couldn’t make a sound no matter how she tried.

There was no way for involuntary movement to happen to an avatar in a virtual world. It wasn’t her flesh-and-blood body shrinking; it was her spirit. Right. Chocolat Puppeter’s high-handed way of speaking was no doubt a mask to hide her own shyness.

Shihoko was extremely bad at handling conflict. She held her breath at school so that she wouldn’t stand out, and if she sensed trouble brewing, she left the scene immediately. She feigned an agreeable smile in front of everyone, and even if something made her mad, she would never let it show. Even with her own parents, she had gotten into the habit of being one step ahead so that they wouldn’t get angry with her. She thought that she let her true self out with Satomi and Yume, but that could have just been her deluding herself.

She had told her friends that the mental trauma that was the resource for her duel avatar Chocolat Puppeter was the fact that she had been allergic to chocolate since she was small, and she herself 90 percent believed that. But…what if…perhaps the armor with the scent, texture, and taste of chocolate was an expression of her desire not to be hated? Perhaps the mask of the friendly smile that Shihoko wore in the real world had produced her sweets avatar in the Accelerated World.

If that was the case, it was deeply ironic that she was finally able to act freely by wearing a high-handed and antagonistic mask with this avatar. Or was she actually just doing the same kind of performance as in the real world? Had she been stifling herself all this time in this world, too? What on earth was the “real” her?

“Magenta.” Before she knew it, the stiffness had vanished from her mouth, and Shihoko spoke her former nemesis’s name. “Indeed, I— The truth is: I didn’t really like duels too much.”

Magenta was staring hard at her. Taking in the powerful gaze emitted by the invisible eye lenses, Shihoko continued, without noticing that at some point she had adopted her usual real-world tone, “All this time, I thought it was enough if I could just have fun hanging out with my friends in this world cut off from reality. But…Brain Burst is a fighting game, so I can’t keep running away from the fights forever. There’s going to come a time when I’ll have to fight to stay in this world. And lately, I’ve been thinking that you’re the one who made me realize that, Magenta.”

“How incredibly spoiled you are,” Magenta said coolly, lips twisting up. “I mean, all of you, you fought any number of duels to reach level five, right? In the process, you stole plenty of points from other Burst Linkers. I’m not saying that’s bad or anything. But now you stand here, telling me you just forgot about all the Burst Linkers you stepped on so you could pal around having fun; I mean, you gotta be kidding me.”

The anger in Magenta Scissor’s words cut through Shihoko’s heart and made it ache painfully. But it was only natural that when one person and another person slammed their individual truths up against each other, there would be anger—and pain. They couldn’t communicate their true feelings if she kept avoiding that.

“I…guess…up to now, I’ve only been thinking of us. I’ve just been like, it’s fine as long as we’re having fun. But after meeting you and your friends, Magenta Scissor, and Crow and them, I understand. I was given power in order to fight, and if the time comes when I should fight, then I have to fight. In order to be a Burst Linker…and to protect the things I want to protect. That feeling…it’s the same for you, isn’t it?”

Magenta pursed her lips tightly and raised a hand with its tapered nails, as if to grab the center of her chest covered in the ribbon armor. The place where a jet-black eye had once parasitized her. “I don’t have a single thing I wanna protect in this twisted world. But if we’re talking things I want to destroy, I can’t even count how many of those I have,” she spat, her voice like ice.

“Liar!” Shihoko shouted, putting her own hand to her chest in the same way. “At the very least, you want to protect Avocado! That’s why you sought power, isn’t it?!”

“Don’t talk like you know me! You and your cute avatar and your powerful abilities, what would you know?!”

“I do know! I love Min-Min and Pliko, too! And that feeling has to be there inside you, too!!”

“If you say any more stupid stuff—!” Magenta’s hand flashed out to clasp onto the grip of her knife.

But in that instant, Avocado Avoider opened his massive mouth and roared at an incredible volume, “I…love Magenta!!” Surprisingly large tears spilled from his tiny eye lenses, and the egg-shaped duel avatar shouted, “I like Choco, too…And Crow…So I want to fight! I want to fight lots more. I want to get strong and be friends!!”

“…Avo…” Magenta Scissor called her partner’s name in a stifled voice, and the tension drained from her body bit by bit. Pulling her hand away from her knife, she gently stroked Avocado’s armor. When she lifted her face and looked at Shihoko, she asked, the anger in her voice faded, “Chocolat Puppeter, you…What do you want from us?”

“I want you,” Shihoko said, placing her other hand over the one on her chest, “to fight the Acceleration Research Society with us—with Nega Nebulus.”