Accel World: Dusk Robber

by Reki Kawahara

  Prologue

  The largest network called «Global Net», transcended the name Global five years ago. In the Eastern Pacific, a space elevator was built to a stationary orbit space station, that also connected to many bases on the moon, and now anyone who wishes, can dive from their home to the moon's surface in true real time image.

  Of course, numerous networks other than that exist. Countries and businesses with their firewall protected large scale Closed Nets, schools and apartments with their Local Nets, or personally operated Private Nets, and many more are built on top of each other. If you could see the internal communication signals flying around, the world would be seen as covered by a thin shining white mesh.

  Compared to those, it's very small scale, however for Arita Haruyuki, it's a net that holds a very important meaning, which is occurring in Haruyuki's room right now.

  "...Th-Then, connecting, Chiyu."

  He announced it in a low voice, and Chiyu, that is Kurashima Chiyuri, answered with a voice that had none of his tension.

  "Why are you trying to be pompous. Just do it quickly."

  Not understanding other's feeling.

  While moaning in his heart, Haruyuki inserted the plug held in his left hand into the Neuro Linker on his neck.

  At the same time, two Wired Connection warnings lit up red in the center of his view, then disappeared.

  Chiyuri who sat on the bed, from her light purple Neuro Linker, two XSB cables extended from left and right side, one of them connected to Haruyuki who sat on the floor. And the other one, was connected to Taku that is Mayuzumi Takumu who sat on a mesh chair.

  This connection situation should not be filled with such tension. No, before that—

  "...You don't really need to direct connect with me..."

  After he complained, Chiyuri's cat like eyes gave him an once over.

  "No. If the copy from Ta-kun fails, I have your promise that the next install will be from Haru. I won't let you get away."

  "...Yes."

  He nodded, and took a glance to the right, where Takumu returned a wry smile while pushing his frameless glasses up.

  Haruyuki, Chiyuri, and Takumu were all born in the same year in this south Kouenji large apartment, that is they had childhood-friends relationship.

  The long time old friends played together everyday, sometimes they had silly quarrels, and then made up, which continued till three years ago— when the three of them were 11 years old, Chiyuri and Takumu started going out with each other, so Haruyuki backed off. The result, was that the equilateral triangle they had till then, one corner moved far away and it became an isosceles triangle.

  However last year, with a certain incident's trigger, their relationship was fully reset once, and now half a year later, it continued to be in a delicate state.

  For Haruyuki, he wished they would quickly make up. However Takumu who started the incident, still continued to blame himself, and with him not taking any proactive action, the triangle's sides expand and shrink unstably day by day. Just like— right now, the uneven sway of the two cables between the three Neuro Linkers.

  "Then, you are ready right, Chi-chan?"

  With a soft sound that did not show his inner feelings, Takumu said so.

  Chiyuri nodded as her short hair swayed, and her hands held tight above her small knees which peeked out from her skirt.

  Takumu also returned the nod, then his long finger moved in midair— he must be manipulating the virtual desktop that only he could see, and while his middle pressed on a file, a slight hesitation showed on his well featured white face.

  "...Chi-chan. For the last time, let me again make sure... the «Brain Burst» that I will send you, it is a game but not a game. In exchange for tremendous privilege, pleasure, and thrill, it requires many different kinds of compensation. Someday... you might regret it."

  Those words, easily represented Haruyuki's misgivings in his heart.

  With the installation of the mysterious game application «Brain Burst», people that became accelerated ability users called «Burst Linkers», can no longer go back to what they were before. Completely captured by the unknown net of the accelerated world, and to keep the rights to connect to that, «Duels» must be repeated forever. That pressure sometimes distorted the personality. The incident in which Takumu placed a backdoor virus in Chiyuri's Neuro Linker and was given a 'friendship break off' announcement for a while, was due to his fear of losing accelerated ability being pushed to the limit.

  However, for Chiyuri who was faced with worried looks from left and right, she puffed up her cheeks and said in a sharp voice in return.

  "Look here! I want to become that Burst whatever, is not that I want that accelerated ability, nor that senpai coming to our home! Ta-kun and Haru being that deep in it is what I can't stand! For a game, if you don't play it with more fun it's no good, I want it so I can clearly teach that to you!"

  While he involuntary leaned back, Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other at the same time and had wry smiles.

  "U-Understood, Chi-chan. Then... ready right? Sending."

  "Please."

  Lifting her sharp jaw up, Chiyuri prompted with her wink.

  Towards that face, Takumu slid his finger in midair.

  Chiyuri's large eyes locked onto a point in the air. Right now, there should be an installation confirmation dialog open for the application «Brain Burst 2039».

  Lifting her right hand from her knees, Chiyuri did not show any sign of hesitation as she used her index finger to poke where the YES button was supposed to be.

  "Ah...!?"

  Right after, sitting on the bed's edge, the slender body wearing the pink knitwear jerked. Her wide eyes looked left and right. Haruyuki remembered half year ago, the time that he accepted Brain Burst. At the moment he pressed the button, lots of virtual flames erupted in his view.

  Those flames, were shown to the person installing the program to check their «acceleration aptitude».

  There are two aptitudes required to become a Burst Linker. First, to wear a Neuro Linker since birth, which Chiyuri cleared without any doubt. However the problem is the second one, the brain's reaction speed.

  The Neuro Linker communicates with the wearer's brain using wireless quantum signals. But, the flesh and blood organ's, that is the brain's, response rate differs from person to person. Either born with high reaction nerve circuits, or increased through long training, anyway if the Neuro Linker and the brain's response speed is not beyond a certain level, the illusion flames will be extinguished in the middle, and Brain Burst will not successfully install.

  No... maybe, failure is better.

  While holding his sweaty hands tight, Haruyuki thought like that.

  In the accelerated world, the feelings of people who fought there— hatred, resentment, envy, lust and other different malicious feelings can be trapped in the whirlpool. He absolutely did not want to see the shape of the innocent Chiyuri being hurt after exposure to that.

  "...Haru."

  Suddenly, Takumu's sound echoed inside his head. It was a thought voice sent only to Haruyuki.

  With a quick glance to his right side, he saw his childhood friend's mouth lightly biting his lips while sitting on the chair.

  "I am.. afraid. That Chi-chan... might change..."

  His finger quickly manipulated his virtual desktop, setting his thought voice to be sent only to Takumu, Haruyuki answered.

  "We... no, you protecting her will definitely be okay, Taku. Also, we still don't know if the install will be successful for sure. On the other hand... too bad for Chiyuri, it's probably not possible."

  "W...Well yeah. She said she went through some kind of amazing training, but with just two months,
I don't think she can gain enough «aptitude»..."

  Then, at that time.

  Chiyuri's face that was turning as she looked around, became fixed to right in front of her.

  As she winkled her sort of big eyebrows, her pupils moved from left to right.

  Her mouth opened slightly, and the raw sound that dripped from there, Haruyuki and Takumu listened while holding their breath.

  "What is, this? W...Welcome To The... Accelerated World?"

  Chapter 1

  The intense howl of the wind, as if it was knocking on the window, woke Haruyuki from his shallow sleep.

  In the darkness, as he listened while under the mattress, he could hear numerous water droplets carried by the wind bouncing off the glass window. It seemed to have started raining sometime ago.

  For sure, during the night, this wind would blow away most of the cherry blossoms from the trees around the apartment. However, unrelated to this wind, spring was a season of melancholy for Haruyuki.

  There were two reasons for that. First, the humidity and temperature would rise. For Haruyuki, whose sweat function was double that of normal person's, even around 25°C, his forehead began to become moist.

  And then there was the other reason: his school year would change. His long suffered days of being bullied were finally over, and he had somehow obtained a neutral position, so at this point, having his class shifted is nothing other than harassment. For unfamiliar student opponents, he had to Ping[1] them again to determine their relationship from the beginning, and thinking about it made him feel faint.

  At the very least, for the last few hours of Spring break, trying to extend it a little wouldn't warrant any punishment.

  While thinking like that, Haruyuki searched on the bed's top panel and got hold of his Neuro Linker. He put it on from the back of his neck and turned it on, and with the sound of a light motor drive, the lock arm closed. The startup stage began, then after the five senses connection check was completed, a half transparent virtual desktop appeared in front of his eyes.

  At the bottom right of his view, he took a look at the time display, «2047/04/08 AM01:22», and sighed, then took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

  "Burst..."

  Link.

  He was going to sing that magic spell, but right before that, with a faint 'message received' sound, a voice call icon lit up blue white.

  He touched it with his right index finger without thinking, and realized at the same time that the call was from his childhood friend two floors below.

  "...Haru, are you awake?"

  When the soft voice echoed in his head, Haruyuki was slightly shocked. Chiyuri who normally sleeps at 10pm and should not wake up no matter what till 7am, what was she doing up at this hour? And for what?

  While pushing the tangled thoughts to a corner of his mind, Haruyuki mumbled an answer with his thought voice.

  "Just now, I woke up..."

  "The wind, is pretty amazing. But, the reason for me being unable to sleep is something else."

  "Unable to sleep!? You!?"

  As he blurted that out, Chiyuri immediately shouted "Hey!".

  "You, who do you think I am. In the first place, the reason I can't sleep is Haru's fault!"

  "Huh...? M-Me...?"

  "That's right. You, today... it's already yesterday, in the evening before I went home, didn't you say something strange? 'Tonight you might have a scary dream, but absolutely do not remove your Neuro Linker, or turn it off', you said. After being told that, being uneasy and unable to sleep is a matter of course!"

  To be truthful, around 10 hours ago, Haruyuki did say that to Chiyuri.

  The reason was simple. The duel fighting game software «Brain Burst», after its install was completed, on the first night, used a nightmare-like method to search the user's memory, looking for scars in the heart like trauma and inferiority, straining them to create their battle field alter ego, the «Duel Avatar».

  Half a year ago, Haruyuki himself had the biggest nightmare in his life on the night that he obtained Brain Burst. The details were scattered so he could not remember, but the result from the software creation, was a spindly slender body with a huge helmet headed silver avatar, «Silver Crow».

  While remembering his sore disappointment fondly at that time, Haruyuki answered Chiyuri.

  "N...No choice. If you don't have that dream, then your crucial duel avatar won't be created. Also... I just thought of it, do you actually have any emotional trauma..."

  "That, you dare say it! I have traumas at least. Long ago, in our elementary school excursion trip, someone played games in the bus and messed up his sense of balance, became badly car sick, and finally, on my lap,"

  "Excuse me. I am sorry. Please don't say anymore."

  Provoked by his own trauma, Haruyuki moaned as he apologized. However Chiyuri's pursuit didn't stop, and she continued to complain as if her puffed up face could be seen.

  "Ah, now that I remember it, Haru did not properly apologize that time. Perfect, you can return what you owe now."

  "Wh...What!? How many years ago was that... the statute of limitations is over!"

  "The 'statute of limitations' will become obsolete words soon, was what the news said the other day."

  To be truthful, after all of Japan's public spaces were set up with «Social Camera Net», the statute of limitations for criminal cases were eliminated a few years ago. However if they followed this trend, then Haruyuki didn't know how much he needed to pay Chiyuri back for what he owed her.

  "The «Special Law of Childhood Friends» makes anything have a one year statute of limitations."

  After he mumbled that complaint, Haruyuki sighed with his real mouth, and sent out the question from his mind at the same time.

  "...So then, how do I pay you back? Again, the «Enji Shop» jumble parfait?"

  "I feel that the taste at that place got worse recently. It might be because their cow's milk had been changed to a milk mixture... hey, that's not it. It's troublesome to explain by mouth, so dive into my Home Net right now. I will open the gate."

  "Huh...?"

  While he was still blinking from the unexpected order, Chiyuri had already cut the voice connection at her end. As he watched the icon fade, Haruyuki wondered what she wanted at this time as he tilted his head, but he did not have the guts to disobey either, so as ordered, he sang the command with his flesh voice.

  "Direct Link."

  At that moment, with a *slush* sound effect, the dim scene of his room melted away radially and disappeared. The feelings of his body surface and weight were also cut, and then Haruyuki slowly fell into the darkness. With the Neuro Linker's «Full Dive» function, only his consciousness was released into the net.

  In the view of Haruyuki, who was enjoying the floating feeling, a few round access gates came near him from below. Those, were net entrances that could be dived into. The Global Net VR spaces recorded in his favorites list, his apartment's home Local Net, and Kurashima's Home Net tag was there as well. Haruyuki extended his unseen right arm that way.

  Soon a virtual pull occurred, and Haruyuki's consciousness was drawn to the small gate. When he went through with a *Supon* sound, in front of his eyes, a calm lemon yellow ring of light expanded—

  "U...Uwaaa."

  The scene that appeared made him involuntarily shout out.

  Usually, a normal Home Net's VR space was mostly based on the house's design. The Living Room, Parlor, and family members' «Single Rooms» exist, with different things not possible in the real world like large space or decorations being customized as mostly fun places.

  However right now, what spread out wide under Haruyuki's eyes were, objects with many different shapes and sizes— a sea of cushions.

  Square walls did not seem to exist. Under a lovely blue sky, the pastel-colored cushions were piled up as far as the horizon. Haruyuki fell right into the middle of that, bounced up once, then again landed on his behind.

  "...Wh-What is this."


  While looking at the yellow giraffe cushion lying flat right in front, the elephant cushion beside it, and also the strangely shaped one beside it and murmured that once again.

  "That is an Anomalocaris. A creature from the Cambrian Period."

  Suddenly Chiyuri's voice echoed from behind him, and Haruyuki turned around.

  Standing on top of probably an Acanthaster like black star-shaped cushion, was an elegant avatar. Its whole body covered in soft looking light purple fur, dressed in a small one piece, the cat-evolving-into-a-human kind of design, was Chiyuri's avatar that she also used in the Umesato middle school Local Net.

  With a 60% cat-like face, Chiyuri blinked her large bluish green colored eyes as she snorted.

  "You are still using that avatar. It's about time you changed it to something better."

  After being told that, Haruyuki glanced down at his own body.

  What was there was what he used at school, a pink pig-type avatar. With an almost ball shaped body, and round limbs. A flat nose stuck out from the center of his face, and although he could not see it himself, there should be large ears growing out of his head.

  It was a shape that you could not call cool or cute, and actually it was not an avatar that Haruyuki himself selected, but somehow he continued to use it. As Haruyuki moved his nose, he responded as if it was an excuse.

  "I have already gotten used to the sensations of this body, and changing it now will be troublesome. Instead of that... earlier I said, 'What is this', was not referring to this strange creature, it's about the whole VR space. What is this cushion hel... heaven."

  To be sure, Chiyuri liked cushion type stuffed animals from long ago, and he remembered different ones lying on her bed, but this scale was way beyond anything. 'What is the total number of objects', he inquired as he thought about it, then the cat avatar wiggled her tail with a ribbon and smiled proudly.

  "Nihihi, isn't it great. Recently, as a present for going to the next grade, I got a Home Server expansion and my own user memory space. Even at this resolution, from edge to edge it is about 15km."

  "Re...Really!"

  At that moment he leaned back in reaction, his round behind slid, and Haruyuki fell in between the elephant and the Anomalocaris. While he fumbled around, he thought. With that much capacity, if it was him, he would recreate the battle field around Kursk in 1943. With a mountain of Tiger tanks and T-34 tanks placed everywhere, and in the sky BF109 fighters. You would cry out, 'What a blood tingling spectacle'.