Accel World - Volume 24 - Chapter 6

6

The impromptu send-off party ended at eight. Fuko drove home the three members of Petit Paquet, who lived farther away, and Utai the elementary student, while the similarly aged Niko rode off north on Pard’s large motorcycle. When Rui and Akira went home by train and Chiyuri and Takumu returned to their condos on the lower floors, the only guests left in the Arita home were Kuroyukihime, Rin, and Seri.

“I am sorry about that, Haruyuki,” Kuroyukihime said as she got her things together.

“Huh?” Haruyuki blinked a few times. “About what?”

“We said it was a send-off party, but in the end, we just got all carried away as usual. I hope it did cultivate at least a little courage in you.”

“I-it cultivated! I’ve got a full tank of courage!” Haruyuki flexed a bicep at her, and the sword master giggled.

“In that case, make sure to get a good sleep before the mission starts.”

“I will! Kuroyukihime”—he paused—“we’re definitely going to rescue you from Inti!”

“I have faith that you will. But don’t push too hard. If you feel it’s too dangerous, you have to get away from the spot immediately. We can make the attempt again any number of times,” Kuroyukihime told him, placing her hands on his shoulders and squeezing. She nodded deeply before taking a step back and looking at Seri and Rin. “You’re by train, too? Let’s walk to the station together.”

But Seri shrugged and declined. “I’m not going home. I came over to train Crow.”

“…What?”

And then Rin smiled shyly. “Um. I also thought we were all going to be together until morning, so I…”

“……What?!”

A dumbfounded Kuroyukihime gradually shifted toward anger as Haruyuki watched and shrank into himself. Finally, the tote bag dropped from her hand. She walked over to the sofa, threw herself down on it, and smoothed the skirt of her black dress as she crossed her legs.

“Then I’m not leaving, either.”

“Y-you’re not leaving?” he asked slowly.

“What? Ruthless and Kusakabe can stay, but you’re chasing me out?”

“N-no, no! That’s not— It’s totally okay with me. But I was just thinking you don’t have your stuff, so…” He let his sentence trail off.

“I’ll work something out.” Kuroyukihime rose to her feet again and turned toward the entryway, where her bag was. “I’m going downstairs to pick up a few things, so you just be good!”

Kachak! Chak!

A few moments after the lock sounded, Seri shook her head. “Nega Nebulus is a pretty interesting Legion, hmm?”

“Y-yes.” Haruyuki could only nod in agreement.

The three girls took turns in the bath, leaving Haruyuki to take his last. When he returned to the living room, it was nine o’clock. The Sun God Inti mission was scheduled early, for five in the morning, so they still had eight hours—no, they only had eight hours left.

Kuroyukihime, now in a long T-shirt that nearly reached her knees, and Seri, looking sporty in a tank top and shorts, occupied the sofa, while Rin, wearing actual pajamas, was plopped down on a cushion on the floor. A sweet fragrance wafted off them as he awkwardly approached, and Rin poured him a glass of barley tea from the insulated pitcher on the low table.

“Here, Arita.”

“Th-thanks,” he said as he accepted it, and he sat down formally on his knees on the cushion next to her before taking a sip. The chilled tea sank into his heated body, and he let out a sigh, but he was definitely not going to be able to fully relax in this situation. Fuko had stepped in as a buffer between them earlier, but Kuroyukihime and Centaurea Sentry seemed to have a relationship that was the very definition of cutthroat, so they weren’t going to make nice on their own so easy as all that. In fact, not only were they not talking as they sat next to each other, they weren’t even looking at each other.

How exactly am I supposed to explain Sentry’s comeback from total point loss when they’re like this? Haruyuki wondered anxiously.

“Should I call you by your first or last name?” Kuroyukihime asked suddenly, having up to that point stuck with calling Seri “Ruthless.”

With her long—although not as long as Kuroyukihime’s—hair up in a ponytail, Seri replied with an amused look on her face, “Seri’s fine. I should just call you Kuroyukihime?”

“You can leave the hime off.”

“Okay, Kuroyuki it is. Still twice as long as my name, though.”

“Do what you want.”

Having reached a consensus, the two sipped their tea in tandem. Haruyuki prayed the détente would continue, but the next question Kuroyukihime asked abruptly touched on the crux of things.

“So then, Seri. How long is this training or what have you with Haruyuki going to take?”

Seri thought a moment before replying, “It depends on Crow, but three hours ought to do it.”

“That’s not…inside time, is it?”

“Of course not.” Seri laughed. “We’re talking four months over there. Even if he can’t quite get to mastering the secret of Omega style in that time, he’ll be able to get a bit of a handle on the basics…maybe.”

Haruyuki’s shoulders slumped at this, but Kuroyukihime’s expression softened for some reason.

“Omega-style Whole Blade,” she mused. “That takes me back. Many Burst Linkers considered it evil, but I didn’t hate it.”

“That’s ’cause your limb swords are kinda like that—or, even worse, pure evil.”

“Hey, my Terminate Sword is a respectable ability. But Omega style is just a bit of flash in the pan, barely a technique at all.”

“Uh! Um!” Growing concerned about what exactly it was he was about to study, Haruyuki interrupted the conversation. “What do you mean by ‘barely’…?”

Seri crossed her long, lean legs and dangled a slipper from her toes. “You likely already understand this a bit, Crow, but with my Omega style, in the extreme, you don’t cut with a sword.”

“Th-then with what?”

“Logic. By giving real form to the logic of the maximum on the minuscule, your attack power becomes infinite instantaneously. You can cut whatever it might be—rock, steel. But that’s where people find fault with the technique.”

“Find fault?” he asked. “How?”

“They say it stinks of Incarnate.” Seri sniffed indignantly and rattled on at top speed. “Disgustingly rude. The Incarnate System forces a result by overwriting an intense image for something that would normally be impossible. It works on a foundation of charging through any impossibility and forcing the world to go along with you. Omega style is the polar opposite of that, as it cuts with logic—i.e., truth. The proof of that is that your sword doesn’t blink with flashy lights when you cut.”

Indeed, when Haruyuki and Takumu had sought Incarnate guidance from Seri, the Red King, Niko, had told them that the difference between a special attack and an Incarnate one was the fact that there was no gauge decrease and no light. Of course, there was also a reason for the light: this “overlay” was a light effect generated by the system when it processed the powerful signal spilling over from the user’s imagination into the duel avatar’s control system.

But not too long ago, Haruyuki had seen an Incarnate technique that had basically no light to it. That was, yes, the master swordsman Graphite Edge’s…

“B-but, Seri, doesn’t this ‘cut with logic’ idea resemble the third level of Incarnate technique? And I’m pretty sure that doesn’t make any huge light, either?”

“You really hit where it hurts.” Grimacing, Seri waved a hand dismissively. “It’s true that absolute logic, the crux of level-three Incarnate techniques, follows the reasoning that the most powerful thing is to overlay the impossible on the real. So it’s not that it has nothing in common with the gist of Omega style. But they’re fundamentally different. I’ll explain how once you’ve progressed a certain amount in your training.” She looked to one side. “Kuroyuki, Crow’s still only level six, and you’re instructing him in level three already?”

“I’m not. It was Anomaly who showed him.” Kuroyukihime scowled and crossed her legs like the other girl had. Haruyuki caught a glimpse of pale thighs poking out from the hem of her long T-shirt and automatically averted his eyes. The previous night, he had seen her thighs and everything else, too, but this absolutely did not mean he had developed a resistance to her.

Fortunately, none of the girls seemed to notice this, and Seri’s voice soon mixed with a wry smile.

“Of course. Looks like he didn’t come today, but I’m glad he’s doing good.”

“That’s because right now, he’s one of GW’s Six Armors and paying his debts,” Kuroyukihime informed her.

“Oh my,” Seri said. “Looks like a lot’s happened while I was gone.”

Since Kuroyukihime didn’t seem to be responding, Haruyuki looked up at her from his position at the low table. She swirled the ice in her glass of tea for a while, but eventually, she turned her whole body toward Seri.

“Sentry,” she started. “What exactly happened to you three years ago? I simply assumed you were beaten down by Knight and lost all your points. And why would a master like you reach for the Armor of Catastrophe to begin with?”

This time, it was Seri’s turn to be silent. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, opened her mouth slightly, and then closed it a few times. “I’ll leave answering your first question until the problem of Cosmos is resolved. I have some things there I’d like to think about myself. But I can answer your second question, although I can’t tell you everything.” She paused briefly.

“If there’s darkness in the heart of the one who defeats it, the Armor of Catastrophe will drop directly into their storage, and if there’s no darkness, it’ll parasitize them with a piece of itself and wait for the time to fuse. When we subjugated the second—Magnesium Drake—it was indeed possible for me to cut out the fragment that tried to parasitize me. But I couldn’t. Because, in a certain sense, the Armor is something I produced.”

“What?! What do you mean…?” Kuroyukihime gasped.

“Huh?! You did?!” Haruyuki shouted. “But you weren’t there. Where the White King and Black Vise set a trap for Saffron Blossom and forced her to total point loss with an Unlimited EK.”

“No, I wasn’t there. That was my crime,” Seri half whispered and dropped her face to her knees.

Haruyuki couldn’t understand what she meant. Did she have some connection with Saffron Blossom and Chrome Falcon? Even if she did, though, Saffron’s murder happened in the very earliest days of the Accelerated World. No matter how much of a veteran Sentry was, she couldn’t have been as strong as she was now. If she had charged in, that would have only increased the number of sacrifices.

Kuroyukihime looked perplexed as well, but after hesitating several times, she finally placed a gentle hand on Seri’s back. “I’m sorry, Seri. It appears I asked you an insensitive question. I won’t push you any further about your reason for accepting the Armor. But tell me just one thing. Why did the Armor shift to the fourth, Devourer, when you were subjugated by Knight?”

Although this was the first time he’d heard the label Devourer, he understood it was likely the nickname given to the host of the fourth Chrome Disaster.

Seri slowly raised her face and let her gaze wander before shaking her head slightly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why, either. I can’t believe there’s darkness in Knight’s heart, so the Armor should have tried to parasitize him. But Knight evaded that, and the fragment contacted Devourer somehow, I guess.”

“Mmm. And then Devourer was subjugated by a team that included me, and the Armor dropped into the Yellow King’s storage,” Kuroyukihime said. “I have no desire to know what darkness lies in Radio’s heart, but rather than equip the Armor himself, he kept it hidden for a long time until finally, he gave it to Prominence’s Cherry Rook, and Haruyuki defeated Rook when Rook became the fifth. And then Haruyuki was parasitized. There, at last, the chain of tragedy, six generations of grief, was broken.”

Haruyuki felt a shiver run through him. He was belatedly aware that the fact that he’d been able to escape the Armor’s control was really the most miraculous of miracles. If it hadn’t been for Kuroyukihime, who’d risked her life to stop him, and Saffron and Falcon, who’d guided him inside the Armor, it would have been impossible for him to crawl out of that darkness.

He didn’t ever want to experience it again, but the Armor of Catastrophe had established a powerful link between himself and Seri, and it had brought about the miracle of recovery from total point loss…probably. Haruyuki couldn’t truly hate the Beast inside the Armor of Catastrophe. This Enhanced Armament was born out of the scheming of the Acceleration Research Society and shouldn’t have existed at all, but he was glad it hadn’t completely disappeared even after it was purified by Ardor Maiden. He couldn’t help feeling that way.

“Hey, about the Armor. What happened to the Disaster in the end?”

He lifted his head and discovered Seri staring at him. He panicked briefly but then realized there was no need to keep it a secret. “Um. The Disaster was purified and returned to its original form, The Destiny, so we sealed it in a player home with the longsword Star Caster. The key to the house was sealed in there with them, so no one will be able to touch them now.”

“Yeah?” Seri nodded, and the warmest smile since her memories returned grew on her face. “That’s great. Now I can train Crow without worry.”

“Hyeh?!” Haruyuki shrank into himself.

But Kuroyukihime looked worry-free. “Haruyuki, I won’t say anything further about your decision to learn Omega style. But if you’re going to do it, then I won’t allow half measures.”

“O-okay…”

“Seri, take care of my child. Will you start right away?”

“Right…” Faced with this question from Kuroyukihime, Seri stared at Haruyuki for a moment before shaking her head. “No. We’ll sleep for a bit first. A lot happened today, so I’m sure Crow’s tired.”

“Mmm, that’s true.” Kuroyukihime nodded and checked the time. “Well then, how about we sleep until one thirty and then do the training? Haruyuki, my apologies, but…”

“R-right!” Haruyuki leapt to his feet. “Um, two of you can use my mom’s bed, and sorry, but the sofa—” He made this suggestion with the expectation that Rin and Kuroyukihime would end up using the bed, but he was interrupted halfway through.

“No, it’s fine if we just sleep in a pile here,” Kuroyukihime told him. “Although I would appreciate it if you would lend us something to throw over ourselves.”

“What? A-are you sure? Okay…Just wait a minute.” He left the living room and went into his mother’s bedroom on the other side of the hall. He pulled four light blankets out of the massive closet and hurried back. “Here you go.” He handed each girl a blanket and set the reserve blanket on the low table before retreating once more.

“Okay, so I’ll sleep in my room. If you need anything, please call or mail me.” He was about to finish with “good night,” but Kuroyukihime interjected once again.

“No, you sleep here, too.”

“Oka— Wait, whaaaaat?! Why?!”

“Security reasons.”

“B-but that’s…”

He looked at Seri and Rin, seeking help, but they were both perfectly calm.

“Well, that’d make things faster when we’re diving,” Seri said.

“It’s more fun. Together,” Rin said, and he had no further route of retreat.

Good thing I got four blankets, he said to himself.

He’d thought that it would have been good if at least one of them slept on the sofa, but when each of the girls set a floor cushion on a corner of the square rug, they formed a U around the low table. So Haruyuki had no choice but to make camp in the empty corner and turn the U into an O. Fortunately, the rug was large, so he was able to get the bare minimum of distance, and the thick core of the rug was soft and didn’t seem likely to hurt his back.

After checking that everyone had settled into their positions, he opened his home server window and turned out the lights. All the curtains were closed, but since it was still only 9:30 PM, the lights of the town from the direction of Koenji Station slipped in through the slight gap so that it wasn’t pitch-black in the living room.

Even so, when he laid his head on the cushion and relaxed, his thoughts began to scatter gently. He realized he still had on his Neurolinker, but it was too much of a hassle to take it off and set it on the nearest table. He was only going to sleep for four hours anyway, so he figured it was fine like this as he pulled the blanket up to his neck and closed his eyes.

Seri had said it, but a lot really had happened that day. Going to rescue Orchid Oracle with Rose Milady already felt like the distant past. But the long series of events would end very soon.

If they could defeat Inti in the mission that was to start at five AM or at least move it from its current location, the five kings, including Kuroyukihime, would be freed from the Unlimited EK. After that, the general attack on the White Legion would begin, and they could finally put a stop to the machinations of the Acceleration Research Society, who had already carried out so many evil deeds.

That reminds me. I wonder what exactly gulab jamun is.

His thoughts wandered without end and popped like bubbles until at last Haruyuki’s mind sank into warm darkness.

But a mere ten minutes later, he opened his eyes at a somehow creeping sensation. Something was moving under his blanket. His half-asleep brain wondered if the cat had gotten in there before he remembered that they did not have a cat in the Arita house.

In which case, what?! Haruyuki lifted the blanket and looked down to find not a cat or a dog or a lizard, but rather a girl with short, fluffy hair—Rin Kusakabe.

“R—”

Instantly, his brain was completely awake, and he started to shout Rin, what are you doing?! But a slender index finger blocked his mouth. With a smile that was shy but also mischievous, she approached his head from below. Clutched in her hand was an XSB cable.

He felt a slight clicking, and then a wired connection warning was displayed in his field of view. At the same time, a voice echoed in his head:

“I’m sorry for waking you. Up.”

Haruyuki replied immediately in neurospeak: “Th-that’s fine, but, Rin, what exactly…?”

“It’s just. I didn’t get to talk to you. At all. Today.”

She was exactly right. During the send-off party, they had been sitting far apart, and even when it was only the three girls left, the business talk had continued without any breaks for Rin to speak. All that said, however, he wasn’t sure about an eighth-grade girl crawling into his futon…

Before he could put this thought into neurospeak, Rin plastered herself to his side and brought a hand up to this shoulder. “I…I decided. I was definitely going to talk to you today. Just the two of us.”

“T-talk? About what?” He stammered even though it was in his mind, but Rin only snuggled against him. He was just wearing a T-shirt, and her pajamas were thin, so there was basically nothing between them where they were touching, and an indescribable softness attacked his nervous system.

I thought girl Burst Linkers weren’t comfortable with flesh-and-blood boys, though?! he shouted to himself in his mind, but Rin simply pushed herself closer to him.

She pressed her forehead to his chest and then looked up at him. “Haven’t I already told you…that I like you…?”

“…”

Haruyuki froze. It was true. She had told him that.

A little over a month ago, Haruyuki had equipped the Armor of Catastrophe of his own will in order to save Ash Roller and Bush Utan when they were attacked by ISS kit users, and he’d become the sixth Chrome Disaster. After he returned to the real world, he’d told Kuroyukihime and the others, then locked his friends in his house and fled. Just as he was about to go outside via the shopping mall on the first floor, Rin Kusakabe had appeared before him.

She’d told him she was Ash Roller, and then they’d moved to Fuko’s car, which had been parked on the second basement level of his condo building. After that, Rin had told him she liked him. Even though a month had passed since then, Haruyuki hadn’t really given her any kind of proper response to this declaration. True, he’d been dealing with one thing after another, but this was unacceptable behavior for a boy.

“Rin,” he murmured, and she put a finger to his lips.

“It’s okay…I’m not trying to. Push you. For an answer.”

“But…I…”

“Arita, you have a very important role. I can’t. Get in the way of that. It’s just…” Rin paused for a minute and then a smile spread across her face. “It’s just, I don’t want you to forget. That I told you. That’s all I wanted to tell you. Today.”

“I won’t forget!” Although he very nearly cried out in his real voice, Haruyuki just barely managed to channel the words into neurospeak instead before tentatively placing his hand on her shoulder. “I…I was really happy you told me you like me. That’s the truth. Right now, I can’t really manage to like myself. But someday, if I can get over that…”

Here, his linguistic abilities were exhausted, but a few tears bled into Rin’s wide eyes as she nodded firmly.

A slender hand slipped around his back. She shifted about ten centimeters to bring her face in front of his. Her lips trembled as though she were going to say something in her real voice, but no words were uttered. Instead, she slowly, slowly brought her face closer. Her sweet, hot breath tickled Haruyuki’s cheek.

All the recessed lights embedded in the living room ceiling flashed to life. The blanket covering them was ripped away, and Haruyuki jumped as a scolding voice thundered down on them:

“What are you two doing?!” Kuroyukihime stood in a daunting pose above his head. She bent at the waist and launched a second attack as she peered at their faces. “I had us all sleep in the same room to guarantee security, and yet I can’t let my guard down for a second! Do you really think this is acceptable behavior for junior high students?!”

Wait, Kuroyukihime. What about your bath attack yesterday?!

Unable to actually voice this question, Haruyuki froze in position, while Rin laughed. “Heh-heh-heh.”

Here, finally, Seri popped her head up on the other side of the low table and asked sleepily, “Mmm, what? Night attack?”

Under Kuroyukihime’s instruction, to ensure further security, the low table was moved aside, and the four of them repositioned themselves in parallel alongside one another, in the order of Rin, Kuroyukihime, Haruyuki, and Seri. On top of that, they were also very close to one another, and Haruyuki felt like he’d never be able to sleep in such a sardine-like formation.

But perhaps his brain really had reached its limit; the second he closed his eyes, his consciousness floated off somewhere, and Haruyuki slept without dreams until 1:30 AM.