“That... what does it mean?”
“Un... what’s ahead, is better explained in practice. Go into «Accelerate» mode.”
“Oh, ok...”
Haruyuki cut his attachment to the large curry, sat up straight in his chair, and shouted the Accelerate command silently.
Burst Link!
Bashii, that sound hit his body and consciousness, the surrounding student’s movements stopped. At the same time, many colors disappeared, replaced with a translucent blue.
Kuroyukihime in front of him stopped too, but soon from the tidy uniform, like a spirit leaving the body, a bewitching black clothed avatar stood up. Haruyuki’s pink pig avatar too got down from the chair, without looking at his real round self, moved forward.
“Then... what do I do?”
“Your view’s left side, are there any new icons added?”
He moved his focus as told, and for sure in the line of application icons, he noticed a burning B mark new icon. He raised his left hand and clicked that.
“That is the Fighting game «Brain Burst»’s main menu. You can check your status and fighting history, and search the surrounding for Burst Linkers to challenge to a fight. Push the Matching button.”
Haruyuki nodded then clicked the button at the very bottom of the menu. Immediately a new window opened, after an instant of the ‘Searching...’ display, a name list is shown.
Even saying so, there were only two names in the list. The one he saw this morning, his own «Silver Crow» and - the other one. «Black Lotus».
Haruyuki has no doubt that is Kuroyukihime’s Burst Linker name, he raised his face a little to confirm. As expected, the black swallowtail butterfly avatar lightly nodded and said.
“Now, we are disconnected from the Global Net and connected to the school local network, the list is just you and me - or should be.”
“Yes... Black Lotus-san.”
‘Beautiful name’, and, ‘fits you perfectly’, of course he did not actually say that out loud, all that happened was his pig nose trembling.
“Ok. Then, click my name, and go into a fight.”
“Wh... Whattt!?”
“We don’t have to actually fight. Just let the time run out and end it as a draw is all.”
With a light bitter smile, Kuroyukihime urged him on.
In an era where tens of thousands of people connect to have a huge battle in the same field is not uncommon, and now one on one, while thinking that, he clicked the name in the list, and from a new pop-up menu selected [DUEL]. And from the YES/NO dialogue that showed up next - [YES].
Instantly, the shape of the world changed again.
From the blue stopped lounge, all the students disappeared. The pillars and tables, while color returned to them, showed decay like it was due to age, and the glass has thick dust caked on them.
And then the sky, was dyed with a deep orange color. A dry wind blew from somewhere, moving the unknown name grass that grew here and there on the floor.
The familiar 1800 number is clearly carved at the top of his view. Blue bars extend to the left and right, and at last - the burning word [FIGHT!!].
“Oh... «Twilight» stage. We pulled out a rare one.”
Beside Haruyuki who was looking around, Kuroyukihime’s voice sounded.
“The stage’s attributes are: burns well, quickly destroyed, and unexpectedly gloomy.”
“Ah, oh...”
While nodding, Haruyuki checked out his own body. Unknown since when, his pink pig was changed to the slender silver robot.
Then, what would Kuroyukihime’s shape be, while thinking that he moved his view, what he saw was the same black dress avatar without a single change.
“So that is your duel avatar. «Silver Crow», nice name. Color is nice too. I like the form too.”
Kuroyukihime extended her hand, and patted the slippery silver head.
This sure sense of touch, Haruyuki again realized that this place does not have the «Contact Forbidden» kind of code to protect children, and that this is the real virtual reality.
“Th, thank you... but this looks like a small fry. A re-make, is not possible... right. Who designed and named this anyway? In the first place, what is a duel avatar?”
“As the name says, it’s an avatar for fighting only. - Last night, you had a very long and scary dream right?”
“...Yes.”
He did not remember the contents, but the feeling that it was a very bad nightmare was left behind. He involuntarily rubbed his robot’s two slender arms with his hard hands.
“That’s caused by the program accessing your deep image. Brain Burst uses the owner’s desire, fear and obsession to chop and mix, creating the duel avatar.”
“My... image. Fear and... desire.”
While whispering, Haruyuki looked down at his body again.
“This... small, weak and smooth body is my wish? Well, it’s true that I usually thought about being more skinny but... If it’s like this, I want to be a bit more Heroic looking...”
“Hahaha, it’s not that simple. What the program reads and uses, is not the ideal but the inferiority complex. In your case, you should feel lucky that your pink pig-kun was not used for your duel avatar just like that. Although, I like that too.”
“S... stop it. I don’t like it.”
He should make a new black knight avatar for school net use, while thinking that he asked.
“Then, does this mean senpai’s school avatar is also made by Brain Burst? That is a symbol of senpai’s inferiority complex? But it’s so pretty...”
“No...”
With a light shadow in her eyes, Kuroyukihime frowned.
“This is made by myself with the editor. I... for reasons right now, have sealed my original duel avatar. I will tell you the reason later, when the time comes.”
“Sealed...?”
“Unfortunately, my duel avatar is ugly. Ugly to the extreme. That’s not the reason for sealing it... well, never mind about me.”
Kuroyukihime shrugged, and soon returned to her normal mysterious expression. Her white hand again caressed Haruyuki’s helmet head.
“This morning, another Burst Linker fought you in the Global Net, and you used your just made avatar to fight. Then you were completely beaten and lost. Is that right?”
“...U, well, that’s it exactly. A perfect loss.”
“The result display after the fight, did you properly see it?”
Haruyuki unwillingly remembered the «Fighting Stage» he had been in before coming to school. In that dark ruin, a skeleton helmet rider on a vulgar bike hit and bashed him flying, his HP gauge disappeared very quickly.
With a pathetic sound effect, the words [YOU LOSE] appeared in front of him, then -.
“I am pretty sure... My name and Level 1 was shown, and then a strange number came out. Burst... Point, maybe. That decreased from 99 to 89.”
“Good, you remembered well. Burst Points! That is why we go stand on the ruthless battle field.”
Kuroyukihime said that like a shout, she walked a few steps toward the glass window, then turned around. The parasol held in her two hands went ‘thud’! She stabbed it into the floor, small broken pieces of flagstone flew up.
“Burst Points, namely, are the number of times we can «Accelerate». One Acceleration will decrease your points by 1. Right after installation the starting point is 100, but yesterday in the lounge you Accelerated once, so your points decreased by 1. And earlier, you used another 1 point.”
“Arg... How do you charge that up? Don’t tell me it use real money to charge?”
“Wrong.”
Kuroyukihime drastically denied.
“There is only one way to increase Burst Point, winning a «Fight». When you win, if it was the same level fight, you gain 10 points. However losing means lose 10 points. Like what happened to you this morning.”
Kuroyukihime turned her face to look at the evening sky past the window, and continued to whisper.
“«Accelerate» is very powerful. Winning at fights is a simple matter of course, getting full marks on a test, a big win in some kind of gamble or sports is easy too. That last summer Koushien[7], the new record holder for home runs, a first year high school student, is a high level Burst Linker.”
“...Wha...”
To the dumbfounded Haruyuki, she threw a somewhat sad look.
“Thus, once we tasted the forbidden nectar, we can only forever continue to «Accelerate». For that we need Burst Points, so we can only continue to fight forever.”
“...Wa ...Wait a minute please.”
What, that genius power hitter is a Burst Linker.
No that’s not it - Kuroyukihime’s speech, isn’t there something strange about it?
Haruyuki desperately thought, then opened his mouth.
“Ah... well, earlier you said fighting win is 10 up and lose is 10 down. That means... there is also point decrease from «Accelerate», so the total points from all Burst Linkers can only decrease. That means, the points of people weak at fights will certainly become zero... What happens when they became like that...?”
“You are certainly quick at comprehension. It’s simple. «Brain Burst» will be lost.”
Kuroyukihime’s dark eyes that had a burning like color looked straight at Haruyuki.
“The program will automatically uninstall, and it cannot be installed a second time. Even changing the Neuro Linker is useless, since the program knows the specific brain waves of each Burst Linker. The people who lost all their points, will not «Accelerate» anymore.”
The cold feeling voice told him that, and she added.
“New people like you enter the battle, so the pie won’t just decrease. Even though now, the trend seems to be on slight decline.”
However Haruyuki almost did not hear a single word of the added speech.
“Brain Burst will be... lost.”
Having just tasted the power of «Accelerate» two or three times, Haruyuki’s back froze just thinking about it. It was not from not being able to Accelerate anymore. For Haruyuki, it meant losing his only connection to Kuroyukihime who was originally living in another world.
Once again, he realized how heavy that 10 points hunted by the skull rider was.
“Then... what will you do, Haruyuki-kun.”
Haruyuki raised his face at this whispered question.
“Will I do...?”
“You can still go back now. To the normal world without «Accelerate» or «Fighting». The idiots who bullied you won’t appear again, this I guarantee as a student council member.”
“...I ...I...”
‘- Accelerate or Brain Burst does not matter. Just, I don’t want to be separated from you.’
Of course he could not say that. In exchange, he held his silver fists tight and answered.
“...I, still have things I need to pay back to senpai.”
“Oh?”
“You gave me Brain Burst, and pulled me out of that hell. The reason for that is not to steal my starting 100 points, I understand that at least. If it is like this, there isn’t a really good way to say this. ...Then, you should want me for something. Checking my squash game high score, going to the trouble of lecturing me on Accelerate from the beginning, there is a goal. Isn’t that right?”
“...Hmm. Accurate reasoning.”
The lightly smiling, beautiful avatar looked straight at Haruyuki’s silver face.
“I... I am truly not someone who should talk to senpai like this. I am uncool, fat, a crybaby, have a grudge against my only two friends and am jealous of them, run and escape quickly, a really no-good person. The lowest.”
‘What am I saying’, while thinking that, Haruyuki could not stop the words flowing out. He was saved by the fact that his avatar’s face is like a mirror without expressions.
“Even so, that Kuroyukihime-senpai talked to me and Direct Connected with me, that I understand was because I am somewhat good with games, and there should not be any other reason, I would not be unhappy with just that, that is.”
‘What am I really trying to say, I should sort it better then say it, ah now is the time to use Accelerate, no, I am already in Accelerate mode.’
Already falling into panic mode, Haruyuki could only expose what’s inside of him.
“That’s why... why I want to answer senpai’s expectations. Your... mercy, I want to fully repay that. I don’t know what I can do, if you are in need now, I will do whatever I can. That’s why I... will not uninstall Brain Burst. I will fight... as a Burst Linker.”
‘What’s that, I should have just said the last part! What did I say anyway.’
After he finished spilling out all the words, Haruyuki felt embarrassed and shrunk his slender avatar body, cowering.
‘Anyway, aren’t you mistaken about something, you self-conscious guy.’ He was prepared for her to think like that, right after, a simply released speech shook his hearing.
“Mercy... don’t use this kind of word.”
He looked up slightly and saw the most feeling expressed in a face he'd seen in the past few days.
“I am only a foolish and powerless middle school student. Standing in the same place as you, a human breathing the same air. In this stage, we are equal Burst Linkers. You are the one who is making the distance. These mere two virtual meters, does it seem that far to you?”
She silently extended her white right hand.
It’s far.
The inside of Haruyuki’s chest murmured.
‘To be in the view of someone like you who has everything, you won’t understand how dreadful it is for someone like me. I am willing to be a servant. To move as a piece under your command, just that is unexpected happiness for me. If I take your hand here, I would have expectations that I am not allowed to have. Later certainly, it will be double the regret paid for that poisonous expectation.’
Same for Chiyuri and Takumu. With those two, he is satisfied with being happy bosom friends. Just without pity and sympathy, he absolutely did not wish for a position beyond that, but...
The sound leaked from his mouth, was as dry as the wilted tree in the virtual twilight.
“...Senpai saved me from hell. That... is my whole life worth of happiness. I do not wish for anything beyond, absolutely.”
“...I see.”
As she murmured, Kuroyukihime lowered her hand.
A hard and heavy silence took over the stage. What broke that, was a sound he thought had not changed from before.
“I gladly accept your determination. It is true right now I have a bit of a troublesome problem. I need your help to resolve that.”
Haruyuki took a small breath and nodded.
“Sure, if it’s something I can do, anything. What should I do?”
“First, learn the way to «Fight». Click your name displayed below your life gauge. Open the «Install», you can view all the commands for your Duel Avatar’s set of normal and special skills.”
“Sp... special skill?”
He stopped his extending hand and asked while repeating.
“Yes. When the Duel Avatar is created, the program will spread a certain number to different parameters according to the potential avatar’s attributes. The superior attack type, the hard defense type, and the one special skill make a turning point kind of peak type too. But, the golden rule is that Duel Avatars of the same level have about the same total potential. Your first fight was a crushing defeat, that does not mean your opponent was too strong. Just that you don’t know how to fight.”
That bike person, «Ash Roller», was the same level 1 as Haruyuki. He thought that was an overwhelming opponent, but in truth, he has the same fighting power as «Silver Crow»?
If that is the case, then this small and slender robot avatar should certainly have a tremendous special skill. Haruyuki excitedly extended his silver finger, and pressed his own name.
With a sound effect, a half transparent window opened.
&nb
sp; A simple humanoid animation showed the movements, to the right is shown skill names.
First one, lower the waist and make a fist, do a thrust motion. Normal skill «Punch».
Second one. Pull back right leg, do a kick in front motion. Normal skill «Kick».
And lastly, special skill - cross both arms, open them wide left and right, thrust the head out with a swing, the name is «Headbutt».
Just those. Nothing else.
“...Err.”
Haruyuki murmured while dumbfounded.
“Normal skill Punch and Kick... and special skill is just Head thrust.”
“Oh?”
Kuroyukihime who heard that, put her right index finger to her chin, and tilted her neck. He thought that her expression did not change, but he could not keep watching, so he cowered. Just thinking of the disappointment flowing in her dark eyes, made his whole body heat up.
He unconsciously moved his mouth.
“No, that’s fine. This is within expectations. This avatar looks like it is full of uselessness. I am sorry it’s not what you hope for. It’s ok, you can just leave me alone. Just think of it as a missed lottery.”
“You... fool!!”
That shook his body, Haruyuki raised his face. Unknown since when, Kuroyukihime was right in front of him, her eyebrows raised, and her burning eyes looked down at him.
“I won’t say anything about your way of living, since I am just a similar middle school student. However in regards to Brain Burst, I am over six years your senpai. I already said it before, different Duel Avatars have equal potentials. Have you already forgotten?”
“B... but, my only skills are Punch, Kick, and Head thrust...”
“Then, there is a strength to supplement that somewhere for sure.”
Her stare softened a bit, Kuroyukihime continued like admonishing him.
“That Duel Avatar was born from your heart. What happens if you don’t believe in it?”
‘The person I do not believe in the most, is myself.’
While he murmured in his chest, Haruyuki nodded.
“...I am sorry. I will believe... not sure about myself, just your words.”
Hearing that, Kuroyukihime’s face twisted slightly - maybe it was just a bitter smile - Haruyuki’s shoulder relaxed slightly.
Accel World: Return of Princess Snow Black Page 6
