Accel World: Dusk Robber

by Reki Kawahara

  "Three years above? As far as age goes, that barely fulfills the first condition..."

  With the first condition of a Burst Linker aptitude being «Wear a Neuro Linker right after birth» fulfilled, then he must be a child that was born in the year when the first Neuro Linkers became available in the market. That is to say, the «First generation», is in the current 2nd year high school— that is looking from Haruyuki's point of view, three years above.

  "However, if that Yuuichi-shi[6] is a Burst Linker, then he would be in the school with Master for one year. But, I never heard Master mention having any of her senpai being Burst Linkers."

  "Is that so... that's right."

  After mumbling "Uun", Haruyuki said as to change the topic.

  "Well, let's leave that Yuuichi-shi alone. For now the problem is the 1st year Noumi... Taku, that guy... «Accelerated» during the match with you right? If it wasn't for that, then you would not have lost like that..."

  Hearing that, the edge Takumu's mouth had largely distorted smile.

  "Not really, I am not that great. It would not be strange that I lost after the 2nd match. Without acceleration, I am like that."

  "That's not true. You were a lot stronger than the captain during the semi-final match!"

  After Takumu's self deprecating speech, Haruyuki became irritated and retorted, then lowered his tone of voice.

  "Instead of talking about that, what happened? I for sure saw Noumi sing something like the acceleration command."

  After a long silence, Takumu lightly nodded.

  "...Aa. I also saw it..."

  "What~!!"

  That high pitched shout, was from Chiyuri who returned to the living room after having finished washing dishes. She put the bottle of green tea and three glasses on the table roughly, then continued.

  "No way, that guy is a Burst Linker too!? Then, but, Haru and Ta-kun also said that this year there wasn't one in the 1st year!"

  "There wasn't. That's why we are troubled."

  After replying while pouting, Haruyuki scratched his head.

  "I also accelerated at the instant when I thought that guy accelerated, and checked the matching list. But Noumi was not there... Taku, that guy was connected to the Local Net right?"

  "He did. In the first place, if he did not, then he could not be in the match."

  "I thought so... But, that kind of reaction without acceleration... that guy, Taku's first hit towards the face, and second hit towards the body seemed to be avoided as if he knew ahead of time. Especially the second hit, how to say it, it was as if he moved his real body while accelerating... That kind of thing, could not be possible."

  "Ah."

  Takumu made a strange sound, and Haruyuki also responded with "Huh?".

  "Wh-What is it?"

  "No... Haru, perhaps you did not know?"

  —That way of speaking and expression, created a strong sense of Deja Vu in him.

  "Wait a minute... Stop that, it's as if there is more «Accelerated World common knowledge» that I did not know about. Like the «Unlimited Neutral Field» and «Judgement Blow», while asking my face is red with embarrassment you know."

  "Yeah. Then, this is the third time."

  While snickering, Takumu seem to think for a bit, then he took one glass and filled it half way from the bottle of green tea.

  Then he lifted his right hand up, and stared at the yellowish green colored liquid—

  "...«Physical Burst»!!"

  Right after the shout of a command that pulled at Haruyuki's memory from somewhere, Takumu threw the tea in the glass straight up.

  "Wha..."

  "Kyaa..."

  Haruyuki and Chiyuri shouted in surprise at the same time, then right after, they were doubly shocked as their eyes opened wide.

  From high in the air, the green tea that came down drawing small curved paths, was caught without loss in the glass held in Takumu's right hand!

  His right hand moved slightly while matching the uneven liquid, going from top to bottom then jumping back up. One second later, with a *Thump*, the glass bottom landed on the table, with almost the same amount of tea that was poured from the bottle sat in it and swayed. The droplets that fell onto the tabletop, was just four drops.

  "No way..."

  After hearing that whisper from Chiyuri, Haruyuki finally remembered where he heard a command similar to the one now.

  There was no way he could forget it. Half a year ago, to save Haruyuki from being hit by a runaway car, Kuroyukihime used the forbidden command «Physical Full Burst». It could only be used by level 9 Burst Linkers, with a cost of 99% of the user's Burst Points, its effect was to «Accelerate the real flesh body movement by 100 times».

  The command Takumu used now, was without a doubt a lower ranked version. «Physical Burst» without the «Full». That should exist at an earlier level, he suspected.

  "That means... it's an acceleration command while the consciousness remains in the flesh body?"

  With Haruyuki's quiet question, Takumu slowly nodded with a serious face.

  "That's right. The rate is 5 times, duration is 3 seconds, cost is 5 points. The acceleration does not include the physical body movement, but for avoiding the fighting opponent's attack, and getting in counter attack it's easy."

  "If it is baseball, you can hit all home runs. I see... Noumi actually «Moved while accelerating» to avoid Taku's hit on his body..."

  After adding that, Haruyuki blew out a breath.

  He now understood the reason why Kuroyukihime did not teach him this command. Different from the basic command «Burst Link» that is required for duels, «Physical Burst» is only a function of acceleration ability that is needed for a user who desired fame or wished to be noticed. Above that, if you used it once there was no stopping, and if used often, he could imagine a fearful situation where many points would be used up.

  At the edge of his lips, with a self deprecating smile as that situation was fully mixed in, Takumu said.

  "Noumi Seiji is, exactly the same as I was last year. Everything. Winning matches with the power of acceleration, with the reparation of risk in existing duels, and using some kind of method to avoid detection. That's why I, even if I lost to that guy, have no right to say anything"

  What broke that speech, was—

  Chiyuri who was, not sure since when, standing behind Takumu. She knocked on his head with her knuckles.

  To Takumu who dropped his glasses and had his mouth open wide, Chiyuri snorted then yelled.

  "Wrong. It's not the same. Ta-kun wanting to win matches is for me right. Ta-kun, after winning always waved to me first, right?"

  "Y...Yeah."

  "But, it's different with that guy. That Noumi kid, did not look at anyone after the match. He just looked at himself and smiled. That's why Ta-kun is totally different!"

  From the face of Chiyuri who said that frankly, Haruyuki moved his eyes to Takumu, and also gave a big nod.

  "That's right, Taku. You are no longer your old self. More than anything, if that guy is a Burst Linker, then he's already committed reality intrusion on us. In this situation, we can't allow him to break our rule of no illegal use of acceleration ability in our base... no matter what, we have to find out why he does not appear on the matching list, and then «Duel» him as a slap on his head."

  "Yeah! It's okay, no matter how you are beaten up, I will heal you up with gusto!"

  "..."

  With his eyebrows deeply wrinkled, Takumu hung his head for a while.

  However, eventually his lips moved with the words "Thank you" leaking out lightly.

  When he lifted his head, he had returned to his usual calm expression. After one nod, Takumu said in a low voice.

  "...Understood. I will somehow try to check during club activity. You can leave that guy to me for now, Haru."

  Chapter 6

  However, two days passed without any noticeable changes to the situation.

  Haruyuki was desperately trying
to grasp the names, faces, and personalities of the students of 2nd year C class he was put in, so he did not have any extra time to think about the Noumi Seiji incident.

  For Haruyuki who was uncomfortable dealing with other people from long before, and the only people who talked to him were bullies, he could not believe that Chiyuri soon became friendly with a few girls, and started eating lunch with them. Even Takumu who transferred into this school, had already mixed into the smart group, and during lunch break, while surrounded by somewhat difficult formula on the 3D display, talked about this and that.

  Of course, if he ever said 'Let's eat lunch together' to those two, they would probably reject the invitations from their new friends, and eat lunch with Haruyuki. However, he absolutely did not want to depend on Chiyuri and Takumu like that.

  Like he had in the accelerated world, he had to break his shell in the real world, and at least make new friends. Thinking like that, he desperately listened around trying to find male students with similar conversation topics, and hung around the local net, but everyone talked about sports, music, and fashion mostly, with him not able to hear even a single microsecond of conversation about games and anime.

  —Well, I should try hard at it slowly. Even I have someone to eat lunch with. Furthermore, she's the school's most popular person.

  Even though he encouraged himself with that, since that person is the student council vice president, she was extremely busy with the school field trip in a few days, and danced around different classes, so the continuing situation was that he could not even meet her in the net, much less during lunch time.

  With that, the time when Haruyuki was finally able to speak to Kuroyukihime, was in the duel battlefield of the weekend «Territory Battle».

  "Iii...Yaaa!"

  In front of Haruyuki's view, the jet black avatar «Black Lotus»'s right leg, trailing a bluish purple color shaft of light, kicked straight up.

  With a *Bang* sound, the close range type enemy was cut apart from the waist to the shoulder in a straight line, and was blown away while spinning around, then hit a far away building and stopped moving.

  Looking up at the team winning display floating in his view, he saw that today their battle win ratio was over 80% and while feeling at ease, he walked towards his legion master.

  "Hey, good work, Silver Crow. Cyan Pile."

  "Good work!"

  "Good work."

  After Haruyuki, Cyan Pile's huge body appeared from the entrance of the fallen building nearby with a greeting, and then continued in a low voice.

  "Sorry, I am on a break during club activities, so if you will excuse me. Master, in the field trip from tomorrow at Okinawa, have fun, and take care."

  Watching Takumu leave with Burst Out command in a hurry after leaving those words, Kuroyukihime lightly laughed with 'fufu' sound.

  "He became a proper kendo club member already. Did he immediately become a member of the regular lineup?"

  "Ye...Yeah well. About that... Concerning that kendo club."

  Haruyuki quickly glanced around, confirming that the enemy team of three, and the over ten members of the gallery had already disconnected, still continued in a low sound.

  "There is still no proof, but... somehow, the new first year student that got in the regular lineup with Takumu, might be a Burst Linker..."

  "...Say what?"

  Haruyuki turned towards Black Lotus, who held up her two swords as if to cross her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her violet eyes to slits, and explained about the match the day before yesterday.

  Even after the explanation was finished, Kuroyukihime continued to be silent for a few seconds. Eventually she glanced up, and whispered "That's still not close enough", as she leaned her elegant back on the nearby rubble, and Haruyuki also hesitantly sat near there.

  "Noumi... Seiji huh. His brother Yuuichi's name, is not in my memory. Last year, and the year before, there was no Burst Linker amongst the upperclassmen. That's why even if that Yuuichi was Seiji's «parent», he had already lost Brain Burst when I entered Umesato middle school."

  After chewing on Kuroyukihime's smoothly released words, Haruyuki mumbled "Yeah".

  "That means... If Noumi Seiji is a Burst Linker, then his «parent» would be going to another school."

  "That is rare, but it is not unheard of. Actually, it is the case for me. However before that... Is that for sure? About that first year student called Noumi «Accelerating» during matches."

  "We have no proof. But... for other sports maybe, but this is kendo. For Taku who used «Physical Burst» command himself in kendo, I don't think he would be mistaken about that..."

  "Fumu..."

  Black Lotus who lightly nodded, leaked out a sigh there as if she had a wry smile.

  "However, with that you learn of the existence of the physical acceleration command. I won't tell you not to use it, but becoming a ball sports hero with that is prohibited by Nega Nebulas."

  "I-I won't use it! Paying 5 points for just 3 seconds, then it would be way better to dive into the «Unlimited Neutral Field» with 10 points. ...Instead of that, the problem is with the reason why Noumi did not appear on the matching list."

  "For sure, it's hard to believe."

  With both eyes narrowed, Kuroyukihime whispered.

  "After the «Backdoor Program» incident half year ago, similar type of inside trick should not have been able to be used after the patch. If Noumi is a Burst Linker, and he is connected to the Umesato middle school local net, then he must absolutely be recorded in the matching list. If he was not on the list, then that means Noumi was not connected to the local net."

  "B-But, while inside school, a student not connected to the local net, is that even possible? Furthermore during class, and in a kendo match too!"

  "...To be truthful, that is not possible..."

  To Haruyuki's rebuttal, the black mirror goggles swung sideways.

  "If the school local net base server was invaded, or... No, no matter what that is way too risky. If it was discovered, then even for middle school, he might be expelled. After all... with some kind of illegal program, he might be masking himself from other Burst Linkers..."

  "That had happened before, right. I too, felt that is the most likely case... as well."

  While lowering the silver helmeted head, Haruyuki answered quietly.

  "However, even if that was the case, what would Noumi's goal be? If he really wanted to hide the fact that he is a Burst Linker, then using commands like «Physical Burst» would have the opposite effect. Actually due to that, we are already majorly suspicious of him. Even saying so, he should have complete grasp of our real information, but he had not used it to challenge us to «Duel». What does he really want to do?"

  For Kuroyukihime's questions, of course Haruyuki could not answer them. After thinking for a bit, he said in an uncertain tone.

  "...That, we have to find out why he does not appear on the list, and «Duel» him to ask about it, I think..."

  "Well... Yeah. For Burst Linkers, nothing will start without duels. I want to begin the fight, but unfortunately from tomorrow on I will be away from Tokyo for a week... Hmm, maybe I should fake sickness and remain..."

  "No, no way, don't do that!!"

  Haruyuki hurried shouted, and shook both arms to push back Kuroyukihime's outrageous lines.

  "Middle school field trip, isn't that once in a lifetime thing! Please go, we will deal with the Noumi incident somehow!!"

  "Nn... is that so? But, don't be too unreasonable. That's right, have you decided what you would like for a gift?"

  "Aa, that is... I will feel bad asking for something too bulky... so something like let me watch video or whatever that senpai takes..."

  To be precise, video that has senpai in it.

  To be more detailed, something like high definition video of senpai in a swimsuit.

  Furthermore, add in the territory defense without the master reward, sent those through a 30cm direct connect c
able.

  Hearing the request that Haruyuki added a lot to inside his heart, Kuroyukihime tilted her head and said.

  "What, are you fine with just that? Then, I will take lots and send them with email. Of all the Okinawa food that I eat during my vacation."

  And then Kuroyukihime, on the next day, Sunday morning, boarded an airplane at Haneda with 120 Umesato middle school 3rd year students, and flew to the far southern part of the country.

  Of course, it was still possible to contact her with voice call or full dive anytime, but thinking of a few thousand kilometers of physical distance between them made Haruyuki feel uneasy, and he continued to roll around on his bed as he tried to sleep again after waking up.

  —Why am I not in the same school year as that person.

  If that was the case, then he might have been able to see her swimsuit with his own flesh-and-blood eyes during the field trip, and they would graduate together, going to the same school... no, being able to go the same high school or not might be a problem...

  While he was thinking of many round and about things, he noticed the icon lit in the center of his view about receiving a voice call message. After realizing that was from Takumu, Haruyuki jumped up, and tapped the icon with his fingertip.

  "Haru, good morning. About the Noumi incident, sorry for the late report. I wanted to somehow get hold of that guy's Neuro Linker to check if the Brain Burst program is there or not, but did not get a chance... I finally managed to get only a picture, I've attached it. This morning I also have club practice, and if I find out anything I will contact you, see you."

  At the time the message replay was finished, the attached file icon lit up.

  After noticing the large data size, he wrinkled his eyebrow, but soon understood the reason after opening the file. What was displayed, was the kendo club's new 1st year all member group photo.

  The Neuro Linker contains a camera inside, so it is technically possible to take a static picture or video anytime. However, that is also much easier to take hidden pictures than old cell phones.