As if the seasonal rain front was taking a brief recess at last, Tuesday was the first clear and pleasant day in a long while.
With only a few fleecy clouds floating in the sky when 6 o’clock classes ended, Haruyuki hurried to Kouenji Station at a quick pace as the rays of the setting sun hit his back.
His destination was, of course, on the opposite side of Tokyo—the New Tokyo Tower in Oshiage, Sumida Ward, whose official name was the «Tokyo Sky Tree». In about two hours, a door to the space elevator «Hermes Cord» would open up at the special viewing platform there…maybe.
It had all started from Haruyuki’s almost dream-like idea. In reality, even when he went among the duel galleries in Suginami and Shinjuku, there hadn’t been any other Burst Linkers talking about the Hermes Cord either. At the end of their Dive Call two days ago, even Kuroyukihime, who had guessed the time and place of the portal opening, had added ‘Well, we shouldn’t be too disappointed even if it’s a hit-and-miss’.
Therefore, at the very least, he would have liked to incorporate the sub-theme of «an expedition to the East Tokyo Area» that they didn’t normally visit, but unfortunately Takumu and Chiyuri were busy with club practice, and Kuroyukihime had a busy schedule in the student council in order to prepare for the upcoming cultural festival. And so, Haruyuki had to pluck up the courage to risk being challenged to a solo duel in an unfamiliar territory.
“…If it really is a hit-and-miss, it’ll be fine if I go to the retro game store in Akihabara as well.”
Comforting himself in that lonesome manner, Haruyuki got on the Chuo Line.
Haruyuki changed over to the Hanzomon Line and got off at Oshiage Station, where the rows of buildings were increasingly dyed in the color of sunset.
Haruyuki circled around on the sidewalk, and after finally finding it in the sky, he let out a breath of relief.
Despite living in Tokyo, he didn’t often get the chance to go to «famous Tokyo sites», and so this was only his second time visiting the Sky Tree. Shining golden on its west side, the huge truss-structured tower rose up high sharply like a ladder reaching up to the heavens.
A length of 634 meters, and a base of 70 meters. Although 35 years had passed since it had been built, this communications tower was still the highest building in Japan even now. After standing there and staring up at its majestic appearance for a little while, Haruyuki hurriedly headed towards the tower.
He paid the middle-schooler fee at the entrance gate, and then got on the high-speed elevator. As the elevator lift began to go up with a feeling of acceleration, he was gripped by a sensation of lift different from taking off vertically in Accel World, and he unconsciously stuck himself to the glass wall just like when he ascended the Tokyo Government Office the day before yesterday. If Chiyuri were next to him, she would undoubtedly say “You really love high places don’t you!” in an amazed voice.
A few dozen seconds later, the elevator reached the viewing platform, and Haruyuki stepped out along with several tourists.
He restrained himself from immediately running up to the window, and first gave a look at his surroundings. It was a weekday evening, so there were very few non-adult figures on this floor. There were only college students who seemed to be in the middle of a date, and small children accompanied by their parents. From what he could currently see, there wasn’t any middle or high school students wandering around here by themselves with no apparent objective—in other words, there weren’t any «people who seemed like Burst Linkers».
Of course, he could also connect his Neuro Linker to the local network here, accelerate and check the matching list directly, but doing that in such a closed network would bring on the slight danger of his real identity being exposed. Besides, if he found the name of other Burst Linkers here, he would have no choice but to «duel», and that wasn’t his objective today.
Therefore, Haruyuki stopped scanning around the large viewing platform and stepped towards the window on the western side once again.
Although it was no match for the viewing platform of the Government Office in Shinjuku in terms of pure height, the view of the capital spread out under the clear evening sky was, in a single word, breathtaking. The way large laminated buildings struck upwards here and there on the ground among smaller grain-sized buildings looked like an outdated electronic board.
When he turned his gaze straight forward, the magnificent figure of Mt. Fuji lay stretched out there just beyond the demonic city[1].
To its upper left was the sun, currently sinking down towards the horizon. It was followed by a belt of deep black clouds, so it would probably rain again tomorrow.
He raised his head further up. The sky filled his field of vision as its color changed from dark red to light purple. A jet flew above with lights on its wing-tips blinking. A sightseeing craft floated leisurely in the sky.
—At this instant, a 4000 km-long artificial object was approaching far above in that sky at the hypersonic speed of Mach 10.
The instant he thought that, Haruyuki let out a sigh.
—The world is vast. It’s big. It’s way too macroscopic in scale.
The reason I like to look up at the sky is surely because I want to experience this sensation. This feeling where my chubby, menial and tiny self seems truly microscopic in comparison. In other words, it’s a way of temporarily escaping.
The times when I become Silver Crow and fly are also surely like that. At that instant, I feel the absurd scale of Accel World with my whole body. Compared to the «infinity» of space and time there, even the mountain-sized troubles I have are just momentary sparks that burst meagerly on the ground. I believe that only when I’m touching the sky.
……But.
In that case, why did you aim, no, why do you continue to aim even now for the sky? Just like me, you should want to taste that ephemeral release. If that’s your goal, you can fulfill it plenty with your current abilities as well. Why…? Is there something you want there in the sky…?
The question that Haruyuki whispered in his heart was of course directed to his other «teacher», Sky Raker.
And Haruyuki could also vaguely guess the answer. Of course, he didn’t know if it was correct or not. No, the problem wasn't whether it was correct. When the time came when Raker would once again flapped her wings and dashed through the sky, the answer would appear then.
That’s why, visiting the Sky Tree and waiting for a portal to appear might be a completely useless action on Haruyuki’s part right now. If Raker-san simply gave her usual gentle smile and shook her head to say she wouldn’t go, that would be the end of it.
‘But’, thought Haruyuki. No matter how deep the scars she held were, Sky Raker was also a Burst Linker. Therefore, if a new field and moreover a 4000 km-long bridge to the sky appeared in Accel World, she will surely feel excited.
Like how Haruyuki’s own chest was swelling unbidden at this instant.
As he continued staring at the evening landscape of the heart of Tokyo, the time display reached 5:30 without him noticing it. The predicted time of the portal’s appearance that Kuroyukihime had accurately deduced was 5:34:42[2]. At that instant, the Hermes Cord, which was flying on a wave-like trail along the equator, would be at its closest to Tokyo.
After waiting for several minutes while continuing to fret, he connected his Neuro Linker to the Global Net five seconds before the designated time.
Three seconds before, he took a deep breath. Two seconds before, he shut his eyes tight. And then one second before, Haruyuki cried out in a voice only he could hear.
“Burst Link!!”
*BASHIIIIH!*
The sound of acceleration struck his entire body.
When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw that he was in the frozen blue «Initial Acceleration Space». The metropolis spread out outside the window, the floor and pillars of the viewing platform, the sparse number of tourists, everything had become like transparent crystal and remained stock still.
Haruyuki quietly separated from his real world body in the form of a peach-colored pig avatar. After taking one or two steps backwards, he turned around resolutely.
The central area of the viewing platform should, originally, be a space filled with coffee and goods shops. But now, those shops had completely disappeared, and only a deserted floor was left there.
No matter how hard he looked, there wasn’t even a switch there, let alone a portal. After standing there stock still for almost ten seconds, Haruyuki let out a sigh.
—As I thought, the idea that a «Space Stage» would appear was just a childish fantasy.
He whispered that within his heart, and tried to sit down on the very spacious floor, but at that instant.
An intense light and vibrating sound suddenly struck Haruyuki’s entire avatar’s body, making him jump up. When he raised his face up with a start, there was a huge object gushing out now in the center of the wide empty floor.
A staircase gradually rose up from the floor step by step in a wide arc through the air. A circular stage appeared at its tip while spinning, and furthermore six thin pillars rose up at its sides in a hexagonal arrangement.
The transparent pillars contained a blue light inside them. As if synchronizing with the pulsation of those lights, shining particles rose up perpendicular to the center of the pillars, and glittered beautifully as they extended almost all the way up to the ceiling.
“…This is…the Hermes Cord’s portal…”
Whispering in a hoarse voice, Haruyuki stood up. He completely forgot about his disappointment from a moment ago, and tightly gripped his pig avatar’s right hand. His guess was not wrong after all. Who was it that said it was just a childish fantasy?
He rushed up to the stairs in that state, and without feeling any fear or hesitation, he ran up the stairs with his hooved feet.
He passed through the gap between the six pillars, which were emitting a low vibrating sound, and went to the center of the circle.
On his last step, he gathered his feet together and jumped forward. However, his legs did not touch the floor again.
“Uwah…!?”
Haruyuki shouted as he saw his pig avatar start decomposing into countless light particles. No, rather than decomposing, it was returning to its original form. All the white particles were composed of detailed digital code that served as proof that his virtual proxy body was being returned to its essence as information.
The instant after he realized that.
Haruyuki’s consciousness felt as if he were rising vertically at a violent speed. But there was none of the Gs that accompanied takeoff. Having merely become light without mass, he shot through the Sky Tree’s superstructure, flew up to the sky—
And then his vision whited out completely.
The sensation of stopping came just a few seconds later.
First, Haruyuki felt his feet touch on a level surface, and heard a hard ‘GATSUN’ sound. Weight suddenly returned to his body, and he involuntarily struck out one knee.
While in a crouched posture, he timidly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a HP gauge at the upper left corner of his vision. Thinking ‘Eh?’, he held out his hands and looked at them. They each had five sharp fingers that shined silver. Without a doubt, these were the familiar arms of «Silver Crow».
Since he had transformed into his duel avatar form without having started a duel, he panicked over whether this was the rule-less «Unlimited Neutral Field», but he quickly noticed something. The English word [LOCKED] was displayed in the center of the green HP gauge.
Unable to immediately grasp its meaning, he tilted his puzzlement for a while, before pushing it aside for the time being. After sucking in a deep breath, Haruyuki finally raised his head and looked straight in front of him.
And then, he shouted.
“Uu…uwaaaaaah!?”
He bent backwards and fell on his backside from the momentum. Without being conscious of his awkward pose, he stared at the spectacle before his eyes.
The metal floor that Haruyuki sat on cut off just one meter in front of him. Beyond that was—the sky. And clouds. And beneath that, the surface of the Earth.
For Haruyuki with his flight ability, it was a familiar spectacle. However, the scale was completely different. It was way too high. Just how many times…no, how many tens of times higher was this higher than the 1500 meters altitude that was Silver Crow’s flight limit? The sky was dyed a deep ultramarine, the clouds were shaped in thin streaks and huge swirls far below, the sea was an indigo blue, and the land was a blurry brown and green. If he fell from such a height, he would probably burn out from air friction in the atmosphere before receiving damage from the fall.
He unconsciously drew back, and when he was about three meters away from the edge without handrails or anything else, he finally let out the breath he’d been holding in. He stood up with weak knees, and then finally looked to either side of him.
The grey metal terrace seemed to be shaped in a wide circle. While following the line of its edge, he automatically turned around. And then—
A curved wall stood in the center of the ring-like terrace.
No, it wasn’t a wall. It was a pillar. An absurdly thick pillar, probably 100 meters in diameter, extended up vertically. Haruyuki was standing on a floor surface that spread out in the shape of a flange up to the base of the pillar.
“This is…the Hermes Cord……?”
Murmuring that in a whisper, Haruyuki dumfoundedly looked up at the structure that was like a huge tower where gods lived. Shining dully like stainless steel, the metal tower stretched up infinitely towards the sky which changed from ultramarine to deep indigo, and its tip wasn’t visible at all as it faded away into the vanishing point.
The space elevator in the real world should have been built by tying together several cables that were also twisted together from CNT fibers. Its diameter was two meters at most, so it was more accurate to describe it as a rope than a pillar.
But, the thing that had been reproduced from it in Accel World and rose high above before Haruyuki’s eyes right now could no longer be called a mere pillar. Floating at a high altitude, it was an incredibly large-scale tower of 100 meters in diameter and several thousand kilometers in height. Just why on earth had it been enlarged to such a size?
He probably wouldn’t find the answer no matter how much he thought about it, but he thought it was a trifling question. The important thing was that the «space elevator» actually existed. No, the place he was standing on right now should perhaps still be called a «Super-High Altitude Stage». In that case, was real space waiting just beyond where this huge tower ascended…?
“It’s way bigger than I expected.”
Haruyuki nodded in response to the voice that spoke to his right.
“Yeah…Compared to this, even the Sky Tree is a toothpick…”
“On the other hand, there is also no detail on its surface. Is there an internal structure inside it?”
“But, I can’t see anything like an entrance either…—Wait.”
*BIKUUN*
His whole body stiffened, and after skillfully jumping up like that, Haruyuki cried out while rotating 90 degrees to the right.
“Waah!? Wh, w-w-w-w-whowhowho, w-w-w-w-whenwhenwhen.”
Who’s that, when did you!
He tried to sharply ask the other person’s identity, but only a strange series of sounds came out from his mouth. The silhouette that expressionlessly looked down on Haruyuki from right next to him was—
A thin dark red body. Robust thighs and forearms. Hands with sharp claws. A tail that flexibly swayed around. And with mask that projected triangular ears from the backside of the head and shining golden eyes, it was, without a doubt, the strongest class close range-type duel avatar that Haruyuki personally knew.
“Pa…P-P-P-P-Pard-san!? W-W-Why are you h-h-here!?”
«Pard-san», the Level 6 Burst Linker «Blood Leopard» that belonged to the Red Legion «Prominence», answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
“The same reason why you’re here.”
“Heh…”
Finally settling down since the other party was much too calm and composed, Haruyuki belatedly realized.
The transport to this place was never a privilege granted to only Haruyuki. If a Burst Linker knew of the news on the social camera installation in the Hermes Cord, conceived of the possibility of a new stage being added to Accel World, and furthermore could guess the time and place when the portal to it would appear, anyone could manage to come here.
Slightly happy that there was another player that thought of such a reckless fancy and actually came to the Sky Tree like himself, Haruyuki smiled. However, he immediately realized something, and stiffened his body.
In other words, it wouldn’t be strange if new avatars appeared one after another here right at this instant. He frantically looked around at his surroundings, but he saw no signs of a third person appearing.
As Haruyuki started becoming scared only now, Pard-san spoke in a slightly amazed voice.
“The reason you entered the portal first is because you boldly accelerated at the viewing platform itself. I Dived inside the toilet on the floor below, so I was slightly late. Since other people will probably come from the ground with the prevention of having their real identities exposed as their top priority, there should be a margin of several minutes before they get here.”
“Ah…yes, I see, that is true…”
While feeling belatedly scared at his own recklessness, Haruyuki once again greeted her.
“H-Hello, good day.”
When Leopard nimbly held out her right hand, he did likewise and bowed his head to her.
“Umm, I’m seriously indebted to you for the other day. I’m sorry for only sending you a mail afterwards and not thanking you directly…”
Those words were thanks to Pard-san for the great help he had gotten from her in solving the huge trouble that assaulted Haruyuki two months ago. The leopard-headed avatar shrugged and replied with an unusually long response.
“NP[3]. You also helped me a lot that time. Your information was very useful in finding the security hole within Akiba BG. More importantly…”
She struck Haruyuki’s back with a slap and urged him to move.
“We should effectively use the time advantage we went to the trouble of earning. Let’s investigate around the pillar.”
“K, K[4]!”
Although the person that had appeared after him belonged to another legion, Haruyuki was seriously glad as he walked that it was Blood Leopard who he had made friends due to certain circumstances. If it had been Frost Horn, he would have definitely grabbed Haruyuki from behind without speaking first and thrown him down to the ground below.
They crossed over the approximately twenty meter wide flange and approached the main pillar of the Hermes Cord, but even when they touched it with their hands, no change occurred on its shining alloy-like surface. Even though there were details like seams between metal plates, there were no handholds for climbing at all.
Pard-san scratched the pillar with her sharp nails, and after confirming that it was so hard that it didn’t leave even a scratch, she began walking around it clockwise. Haruyuki also followed after her. Since the diameter of the pillar was about 100 meters, they had a hard time going around the curving surface. When they could finally see the opposite side from where the transport location was, Haruyuki noticed that there was something there and raised his voice.
“Ah…There’s something here!”
The sound of their footsteps rose and they ran up to it.
The objects there seemed to be, at first sight, cars or ships. Streamlined vehicles about six meters in length were orderly lined up next to each other on top of a slanted rack installed at the bottom of the pillar, staring straight up towards the top of the Hermes Cord. There were ten of them.
The vehicles didn’t have a roof, and instead the seating areas were completely open. At the front, the one-seater cockpit was equipped with a transparent windshield. There were two rows of two-person seats placed behind it. The lower section was equipped with four big discs instead of tires, which seemed to be some kind of propulsion device. Its slender smooth body-line was fitting for the original meaning of the word «shuttle».
“W-What are these…?”
Murmuring that, Haruyuki climbed atop the slanted rack and approached one of the vehicles at the left end with the symbol «1» painted on its side. The cold iron-colored body remained coldly inactive, and there were no signs that it contained fire in its engine.
He timidly extended his hand forward, and at the instant he poked the smooth line of the door.
*PIPON* A purple holo-window popped up with a light sound. After being startled for a moment, he peered at it frantically. Pard-san also brought her face close next to him.
On the topmost part of the window, inscribed in robotic font were—.
The characters [3D 18H 25M 18S (JST)]. These digits, which appeared to indicate days, hours, minutes, and seconds in order, clearly seemed to be some kind of time count.
“Hmm. If this is a countdown, then when the digits will reach zero in 3 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes in Japanese Standard Time…in other words, at noon on Sunday.”
After Blood Leopard muttered that, Haruyuki also spoke following her train of thought.
“Will something happen at that time…?”
However, instead of answering his question, Pard-san pointed at the lower part of the window with her feline beast-of-prey-like claws. There was a short sentence displayed there as well. Saying, [DO YOU DRIVE ME?].
And beneath that, there was only a YES button. He understood that the meaning of the simple English sentence was “Will you drive me?”, but even so Haruyuki wavered over what to do, and the ever-hasty Pard-san whispered in his ear.
“If you won’t press it, I will.”
“Ah, I-I’ll press it, I’ll press it!”
Answering frantically, Haruyuki raised his right hand and, after resolving himself, pressed the YES button.
Instantly, a short fanfare SE[5] resounded and the English characters changed. [YOU ARE MY DRIVER!] —You are my driver.
Several seconds later, the string of characters changed again and became the single word [RESERVED]. At the same time, an object appeared as if oozing out from the window surface.
It was a transparent clue card. Besides the marking «1» on its surface, it also had the same countdown displayed on it as on the window. The instant Haruyuki took it, the next and final phenomenon occurred.
Along with a sound, the body of streamlined machine made changed from a cold iron color to a dazzling silver color. Haruyuki immediately noticed that its mirror-like tint was exactly the same as his, or rather, Silver Crow’s armor.
“I see.”
Pard-san murmured as if understanding something, and walked over to the shuttle marked with «2». When she touched its body, a window appeared, and she touched the YES button without hesitation. After she took the card that appeared between two of her fingers, the body color of the shuttle immediately changed to Blood Leopard’s deep red armor color this time.
Haruyuki walked over to Pard-san while holding his card and asked a question once again.
“U-Umm…Me and Pard-san have been registered as the drivers of these cars or ships…I understand that much, somehow. But, what is this countdown about? There’s still more than three days remaining, but…”
“That's self-explanatory. The shuttles won’t move until the countdown becomes zero at noon on Sunday.”
After hearing that clear reply, he nodded in understanding, and immediately after his next question sprang forth.
“H-Haa…B-But, why is there such a long waiting time…?”
In response, Pard-san unusually opened her mouth that was hidden by the lower portion of her artillery shell-like mask, and grinned with her sharp fangs shinning.
“That is also obvious. The given three and a half days are the grace period for preparing one driver and four passengers for each of the ten shuttles. At noon on Sunday, we’ll all step on the accelerator in a race and aim for the top of this pillar. In other words.”
Lifting up her right hand and pointing towards the far-off top, the deep crimson leopard-headed avatar said as if singing.
“We have acquired the right to participate in the «Hermes Cord Traversing Race».”
It took about a full five seconds for Haruyuki to understand the meaning of those words.
“Then…i-in other words…the goal is the top of this tower, in other words, s-s-s-space!?”
In response to Haruyuki voice which was turned inside out, Pard-san nodded ‘Of course’.
However, before he can say anything else, he heard a series of transport sounds from the opposite side of the pillar. Most likely, Burst Linkers that had accelerated on the ground level had arrived at the viewing platform’s portal.
Pard-san waved her long tail once, and then whispered to Haruyuki while touching his back.
“It’d be better for us to scatter before they find us.”
Certainly, since there were only ten shuttles, the remaining limit of people that could do the driver registration was eight. It would be troublesome if the people that were excluded suggested something like deciding the right to use it through a duel.
“That’s…That’s true.”
As Haruyuki pushed away the surprise inside him and agreed with her for the time being, her next words jumped into his ears.
“When you cease your acceleration, wait at the ground parking lot exit. I’ll carry you to Suginami on my bike.”
“Eh…”
He once again stiffened in surprise. The violent power of that large electric motorbike with Pard-san at the wheel was clearly revived in his mind.
However, he of course couldn’t say no and decline, so Haruyuki nodded.
“T-T-Thank you that’s a big help.”
“NP.”
And then, the two of them recited the command with their voices in sync.
““Burst Out!””
The real world Pard-san, who he hadn’t met in a while, was fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately, dressed not in her maid-style uniform from the cake shop, but in a T-shirt and slim jeans.
His gaze unconsciously wandered to the unexpected volume that pushed up her tightfitting clothing, which he hadn’t been able to perceive when she had worn her loose apron. Expressionlessly, Pard-san took out a spare helmet from the maintenance space underneath the seat, put it on Haruyuki’s head with a plonk and straddled the motorbike. After putting on the helmet harness himself this time, he frantically climbed onto the passenger seat and timidly put his arms around the thin waist in front of him.
At first she withheld the amount of power she put into the engine, but after coming out from the Sky Tree’s parking lot, the motorbike’s in-wheel motor instantly howled and raged with a ‘KYUIIIIN!’.
“……Ah——!”
Just like last time, Haruyuki had to thoroughly cling to Pard as he let out a scream. Though, as he did his best to endure the extreme stop-and-go that was repeated at every light, he didn’t have the time to care about the sensation of touching anything.
When they got out of the Sumida Ward, to Okachimachi, Ochanomizu and then Iidabashi, Pard-san’s voice reached Haruyuki’s ears.
‘It’s before 6:30, but do you have some time right now?’
‘Eh, ah…Yes.’
Since the curfew that Haruyuki’s mother had set was 9:00 at night, he still had time. As for the reason why she allowed a middle school student to be outside until a somewhat inappropriate time like that, he couldn’t say whether it was because she trusted her son or because she found managing him troublesome. Haruyuki might know the answer to that if she scolded him if he were to seriously break the curfew once, but he didn’t have that kind of courage, and so he added ‘It’s fine if it’s only for two hours’.
Pard-san then murmured in an unexpected tone.
‘If we went to go have tea for such a long time, it’d likely stop dissolving.’
Huh, t-tea?
Soon after he thought that, the large motorbike rode up to a fast food restaurant along the road while blinking its flashers.
Over the past eight months, Haruyuki had gone into shops like this twenty times with Kuroyukihime and once with Sky Raker. However, there was no indication at all that he was getting used to this kind of situation, and he always got a cold sweat when he felt himself exposed to gazes that said ‘Just what the heck is with that mismatched pairing’ from his surroundings every time.
Persuading himself that he was just self-conscious about that kind of thing and that anyone would worry about other people as he sat down in a boxed seat facing Blood Leopard, Haruyuki tried to block out the surroundings customers from his mind by concentrating with all his power on the hamburger set he was being treated to.
‘It seems like I’ll succeed’, is what he thought for a brief instant.
Pard-san took out a red XSB cable from her belt pouch, leaned forward and thrust one of the plugs at the end into Haruyuki’s Neuro Linker. Expressionlessly, she connected the other end to her own.
The Wired Connection warning that appeared in his vision couldn’t hide the spectacle of the middle and high school students within the shop clearly looking at them and whispering amongst themselves, and so Haruyuki found himself in an awkward situation as he ducked his head down and felt cold sweat run down his skin.
The length of the Direct Connect cable expresses the degree of progress between two people going out with each other—that kind of custom was clearly something that Pard-san didn’t care about at all, but Haruyuki wasn’t able to be that free of worldly cares, and asked in thought speech with half a scream.
‘Ah, u-u-umm, w-w-why Direct Connect?’
Her answer was very simple.
‘We can talk while eating this way.’
Besides replying with ‘……That’s true.’, Haruyuki couldn’t say anything else.
Pard-san displayed the high-level technique of talking via the cable while eating her hamburger with relish just as she had declared. This seemed simple, but the risk of biting one’s tongue while unintentionally trying to talk with one’s mouth as well was high.
‘Do you understand how to Dive into the stage for the race on Sunday?’
After she suddenly asked that, Haruyuki stopped his mouth in the middle of chewing a fry and spoke.
‘Eh…don’t we just use the Sky Tree portal again?’
‘That isn’t necessary. The card we got when we registered as drivers is a «transporter» item. It transports up to ten Burst Linkers who we Direct Connect with at the same time.’
‘H-Heee…Then, if we gather in Suginami and use it, we’ll instantly go to the Hermes Cord?’
‘Yes.’
That was a feature he was really grateful for. Because, if Kuroyukihime also participated in the race, it would be dangerous if she, who was a Level Niner that was bound by the sudden death rule, connected to an external network as far away as Sumida Ward for even an instant.
After letting out a sigh and biting into his hamburger, Haruyuki felt his original question rise up within him now. Since he had jumped into the portal at the Sky Tree, he had been caught up in the flow of the situation all the way until now, but in the first place—
‘…In the first place, why did it suddenly turn into a race? Those machines were prepared not by some player, but by the system’s…in other words, Brain Burst’s administrator. I’ve been a Burst Linker for about eight months already, but I don’t think there’s ever been even one GM event like that up until now…’
In response to Haruyuki’s question, Pard-san answered after thinking for just 0.5 seconds.
‘Certainly, signs of the presence of BB’s administrator are usually not felt at all. But, when there is a large-scale update in Accel World, there are also cases where one-time events occur like this time. Like when the «Tokyo Glass Castle» opened up the year before last…’
The Glass Castle was a large-scale theme park that had been constructed in the bay area. According to what he knew, it had been built as a Medieval European-style fortress city made of real stone with the theme of being «realistic», at the time when the Full Dive technology was at the height of prosperity.
‘…The day when the social camera network there began operating, an event based on breaking through a group of monsters that crowded the city and aiming for the throne inside the castle occurred. My team regrettably got swarmed by a large heard of them along with the blue team and we all got mutually annihilated.’
As Pard-san’s eyes burned with fire, Haruyuki somehow managed to respond while unconsciously drawing back his head.
‘I…I see. Then, the race this time is also…so to speak, a «New Stage Connection Commemoration Event»? In other words, it is a race that will occur only once…?’
‘Definitely.’
In that case, he really was extremely fortunate to have been able to reserve one of the only ten machines. Haruyuki cried out ‘Mega-Lucky!’ inside his head, but he then frantically drowned out that thought. Going to the Hermes Cord had never been about obtaining the right to participate in an open event. It was because there was something that Haruyuki had to tell that person—Sky Raker no matter what, that he was aiming for the top of the space elevator.
—Then, there should also be that.
Ostensibly because he should also learn as much preliminary knowledge as possible, Haruyuki nervously asked a question through the Direct Connect circuit.
‘Umm…Pard-san. Since it’s a race, umm, if one comes in first or second place, will there be something like, umm…’
‘Of course there will.’
Without letting Haruyuki finish speaking, Blood Leopard nodded.
‘It will probably give out an appropriate amount of Burst Points. Or prizes such as an Enhanced Armament or some other item will be prepared.’
“He…Heeh, is that so.’
As if roughly understanding that his throat was moving a lot despite his attempt to pretend being calm, Pard-san gave a faint wry smile. While carefully folding the wrapping paper of the hamburger she had eaten in the blink of an eye, she spoke in a completely calm state.
‘You shouldn’t raise your expectations too high. There’s no way the prizes will be so great that they could break the power balance between legions, after all. More importantly…’
Pausing for a moment there, the senior member of «Prominence» asked Haruyuki a question as her ponytail swayed.
‘Will your legion participate with all five of your members?’
‘Eh? …Err, the capacity of the shuttle is five passengers, so…’
As he was about to nod, Haruyuki paused the movement of his neck.
No matter how well they got along, or how she had let him ride on her bike and treated him to a hamburger, Pard-san was ultimately not a «comrade». She was a core member of the Red Legion, which might one day turn against the Black Legion. Was it alright to tell such a person about the movements of Kuroyukihime, who was under the Sudden Death rule?
Most likely immediately seeing through Haruyuki’s hesitation, Pard-san quickly shook her head.
‘I’m not really asking in order to take advantage of this opportunity and take the Black King’s head. In the first place, since the HP gauge is locked inside the event, it’s impossible.’
‘L-Locked…?’
After repeating the word, Haruyuki finally remembered. When he had transported over to the Hermes Cord earlier, there had definitely been the word [LOCKED] distinctly inscribed on his HP gauge.
‘E-Err…in other words, during the race event, nobody can receive damage?’
After pretending to think for a moment, Pard-san immediately nodded to his question.
‘Yes.’
‘Then, why is it necessary for there to be four other crewmembers in the shuttle? Is it because just me isn’t enough to attack and defend against other teams…?’
‘Yes to that as well. Most likely, the shuttle’s body is also configured with a HP gauge, and if it becomes zero it will be destroyed. The event at the Glass Castle I spoke of before was also like that. It was a game where you had to properly carry jewels given to each team up to the throne room on the top floor of the castle. The players couldn’t die, but it was setup so that the HP of the orbs would wear out from attacks by monsters or other teams.’
Haruyuki nodded in admiration at Blood Leopard’s words. If it was like that, then it would definitely turn into a hot race even in the slightly nulled situation where the HP gauges were protected.
‘I see…so it has that kind of setup. In that case, I’m all the more certain that all five members of my legion will participate. But…why are you asking me about that?’
As Haruyuki turned her gaze towards her, Pard-san displayed the rare sign of hesitating to say something.
However, her hesitation disappeared in just one second, and—
‘In Accel World, there are two people whose existences are important to me.’
Her quiet thoughts flowed through the red cable.
‘One is the king I serve. A person I want to protect no matter what. And the other is my eternal rival. Someone who became a Burst Linker at almost the same time as me and who I fought against countless times, known as «Strato Shooter[6]» and «ICBM[7]»…’
Haruyuki immediately guessed who those two names belonged to.
‘…Sky Raker-san…?’
In response to Haruyuki’s whisper, Blood Leopard softly nodded.
‘I was very happy when I heard that she had returned. But since she’s only been participating in the territory defense battles, I haven’t met her yet.’
‘Ah…I-I see. That’s true.’
Currently, the Red Legion «Prominence» and the Black Legion «Nega Nebulas» were under an indefinite ceasefire. Therefore, as one of the Red Legion’s core members, Pard-san couldn’t participate in attacking the Suginami area.
Haruyuki sucked in a deep breath, and then spoke while unusually looking at his conversation partner right in the eye.
‘The truth is, I also have a reason for wanting to take Raker-san to the Hermes Cord no matter what. That’s why, even if she isn’t interested in it, I’ll do my best to persuade her. I think that you’ll definitely meet her on Sunday.’
‘I see.’
Her answer was short, but Blood Leopard gave a light smile, and slowly gave a deep nod.
‘Thank you, Silver Crow. I’m glad I talked with you…Perhaps I have three important people now instead of two.’
—Whatever the meaning of those words were, Haruyuki could unfortunately not understand it at all. Therefore, he naively asked about it. But.
‘H-Huh? What…who is the third?’
It’s a secret.
As if saying that, Pard-san quickly disconnected the Direct Connect cable.
After being transported to Suginami again on the motorbike and seeing Pard-san off until her tail-light disappeared far away, Haruyuki thought absentmindedly.
The total number of Burst Linkers was about 1000. Almost all of them lived in the center of Tokyo. There were so many that it was impossible to memorize all of their names, and most of them were in a relationship where they scrambled for Burst Points amongst each other, but—even so, if they continued to duel over a long period of time, a relationship other than as «enemies» was sometimes born eventually. Thinking about it, even Takumu, «Cyan Pile», who was now his irreplaceable tag partner, met him as a genuine enemy at first…
In Haruyuki’s mind, the faces of his comrades in the legion starting with Kuroyukihime, of his friends Niko and Pard-san, of his rivals Ash Roller and tentatively Frost Horn appeared one after another and then disappeared.
Aiming for Level 10 as a Burst Linker was, in principle, equal to continuing to bring down other Burst Linkers. That was probably exactly what the game’s mysterious developer intended. To make 1000 young people fight amongst each other, and select only one person as the victor.
However, despite that, even the developer shouldn’t be able to stop feelings other than hatred from being born and exchanged in the process. The way Blood Leopard worried about Sky Raker who she shouldn’t have been friends with was proof of that.
—I also want that.
Haruyuki strongly thought that as he walked towards his home.
—Even if I’m beaten black and blue, even if I’m so mortified I shed tears, I won’t simply hate my opponent. Because I love this game…Accel World. Because I consider myself more fortunate than anyone for having become a Burst Linker.
——Really? Is that really all?
Suddenly, a voice asked him that.
At the same time, several silhouettes flashed quickly through his mind’s screen. A rust-colored avatar that seemed to be combined with a steel frame. A laminated avatar made of parallel jet-black thin membranes. And—a dusk-colored avatar with a spherical visor and huge talons, who no longer existed. They were members of the group that judged Brain Burst not as a duel fighting game but as a thought acceleration tool and who aimed only at acquiring and using points, the «Acceleration Research Society».
They hadn't carried out any public activities over the past two months. However, that did not mean that they had vanished. They were probably hiding somewhere in Accel World and waiting with vigilant hostility for the chance to invade again.
——Can you also forgive those guys? Can you throw away the hatred you feel towards them, who cruelly wounded and tormented you and your friends?[8]
Haruyuki did not notice that the voice echoing in his mind had at some point become not his own, but instead carried a shadowy and twisted metallic echo in it. While grimacing at the aching feeling at the center of his back, he stepped towards the location of his apartment building with rough steps.
——It’s natural to hate guys like that. It’s natural to crush them with hatred. Release all your anger, resentment and hatred, and destroy them. You have that power. The power to tear off their limbs, devour their flesh, and drain their blood. Yes—
Devour them. Devour them. Devour them. Devour them. Dev…
“……Shut up!”
He shouted that in a stifled voice as he hanged his head down deeply. Residents and shoppers avoided Haruyuki as he stopped in front of the entrance of a shopping mall.
Feeling as if he could see talons shining with a dusky purple color among the countless shoes that passed by on either side of him, Haruyuki shut his eyes tight. Inside his mind, he strongly spoke to himself.
—If they appear again, I’ll fight them. But not because I hate them. It will be because I love Accel World. Because I believe that there exists bonds besides that of hostility in there. I will fight to protect those bonds.
——Really?
Leaving that single word along with a creaking laughter, the voice went away. The pain on his back also faded away soon and disappeared.
After letting out a long breath and rubbing his sweaty palms against his trousers, Haruyuki headed towards his empty home with heavy footsteps while hanging his head.
As if the seasonal rain front was taking a brief recess at last, Tuesday was the first clear and pleasant day in a long while.
With only a few fleecy clouds floating in the sky when 6 o’clock classes ended, Haruyuki hurried to Kouenji Station at a quick pace as the rays of the setting sun hit his back.
His destination was, of course, on the opposite side of Tokyo—the New Tokyo Tower in Oshiage, Sumida Ward, whose official name was the «Tokyo Sky Tree». In about two hours, a door to the space elevator «Hermes Cord» would open up at the special viewing platform there…maybe.
It had all started from Haruyuki’s almost dream-like idea. In reality, even when he went among the duel galleries in Suginami and Shinjuku, there hadn’t been any other Burst Linkers talking about the Hermes Cord either. At the end of their Dive Call two days ago, even Kuroyukihime, who had guessed the time and place of the portal opening, had added ‘Well, we shouldn’t be too disappointed even if it’s a hit-and-miss’.
Therefore, at the very least, he would have liked to incorporate the sub-theme of «an expedition to the East Tokyo Area» that they didn’t normally visit, but unfortunately Takumu and Chiyuri were busy with club practice, and Kuroyukihime had a busy schedule in the student council in order to prepare for the upcoming cultural festival. And so, Haruyuki had to pluck up the courage to risk being challenged to a solo duel in an unfamiliar territory.
“…If it really is a hit-and-miss, it’ll be fine if I go to the retro game store in Akihabara as well.”
Comforting himself in that lonesome manner, Haruyuki got on the Chuo Line.
Haruyuki changed over to the Hanzomon Line and got off at Oshiage Station, where the rows of buildings were increasingly dyed in the color of sunset.
Haruyuki circled around on the sidewalk, and after finally finding it in the sky, he let out a breath of relief.
Despite living in Tokyo, he didn’t often get the chance to go to «famous Tokyo sites», and so this was only his second time visiting the Sky Tree. Shining golden on its west side, the huge truss-structured tower rose up high sharply like a ladder reaching up to the heavens.
A length of 634 meters, and a base of 70 meters. Although 35 years had passed since it had been built, this communications tower was still the highest building in Japan even now. After standing there and staring up at its majestic appearance for a little while, Haruyuki hurriedly headed towards the tower.
He paid the middle-schooler fee at the entrance gate, and then got on the high-speed elevator. As the elevator lift began to go up with a feeling of acceleration, he was gripped by a sensation of lift different from taking off vertically in Accel World, and he unconsciously stuck himself to the glass wall just like when he ascended the Tokyo Government Office the day before yesterday. If Chiyuri were next to him, she would undoubtedly say “You really love high places don’t you!” in an amazed voice.
A few dozen seconds later, the elevator reached the viewing platform, and Haruyuki stepped out along with several tourists.
He restrained himself from immediately running up to the window, and first gave a look at his surroundings. It was a weekday evening, so there were very few non-adult figures on this floor. There were only college students who seemed to be in the middle of a date, and small children accompanied by their parents. From what he could currently see, there wasn’t any middle or high school students wandering around here by themselves with no apparent objective—in other words, there weren’t any «people who seemed like Burst Linkers».
Of course, he could also connect his Neuro Linker to the local network here, accelerate and check the matching list directly, but doing that in such a closed network would bring on the slight danger of his real identity being exposed. Besides, if he found the name of other Burst Linkers here, he would have no choice but to «duel», and that wasn’t his objective today.
Therefore, Haruyuki stopped scanning around the large viewing platform and stepped towards the window on the western side once again.
Although it was no match for the viewing platform of the Government Office in Shinjuku in terms of pure height, the view of the capital spread out under the clear evening sky was, in a single word, breathtaking. The way large laminated buildings struck upwards here and there on the ground among smaller grain-sized buildings looked like an outdated electronic board.
When he turned his gaze straight forward, the magnificent figure of Mt. Fuji lay stretched out there just beyond the demonic city[1].
To its upper left was the sun, currently sinking down towards the horizon. It was followed by a belt of deep black clouds, so it would probably rain again tomorrow.
He raised his head further up. The sky filled his field of vision as its color changed from dark red to light purple. A jet flew above with lights on its wing-tips blinking. A sightseeing craft floated leisurely in the sky.
—At this instant, a 4000 km-long artificial object was approaching far above in that sky at the hypersonic speed of Mach 10.
The instant he thought that, Haruyuki let out a sigh.
—The world is vast. It’s big. It’s way too macroscopic in scale.
The reason I like to look up at the sky is surely because I want to experience this sensation. This feeling where my chubby, menial and tiny self seems truly microscopic in comparison. In other words, it’s a way of temporarily escaping.
The times when I become Silver Crow and fly are also surely like that. At that instant, I feel the absurd scale of Accel World with my whole body. Compared to the «infinity» of space and time there, even the mountain-sized troubles I have are just momentary sparks that burst meagerly on the ground. I believe that only when I’m touching the sky.
……But.
In that case, why did you aim, no, why do you continue to aim even now for the sky? Just like me, you should want to taste that ephemeral release. If that’s your goal, you can fulfill it plenty with your current abilities as well. Why…? Is there something you want there in the sky…?
The question that Haruyuki whispered in his heart was of course directed to his other «teacher», Sky Raker.
And Haruyuki could also vaguely guess the answer. Of course, he didn’t know if it was correct or not. No, the problem wasn't whether it was correct. When the time came when Raker would once again flapped her wings and dashed through the sky, the answer would appear then.
That’s why, visiting the Sky Tree and waiting for a portal to appear might be a completely useless action on Haruyuki’s part right now. If Raker-san simply gave her usual gentle smile and shook her head to say she wouldn’t go, that would be the end of it.
‘But’, thought Haruyuki. No matter how deep the scars she held were, Sky Raker was also a Burst Linker. Therefore, if a new field and moreover a 4000 km-long bridge to the sky appeared in Accel World, she will surely feel excited.
Like how Haruyuki’s own chest was swelling unbidden at this instant.
As he continued staring at the evening landscape of the heart of Tokyo, the time display reached 5:30 without him noticing it. The predicted time of the portal’s appearance that Kuroyukihime had accurately deduced was 5:34:42[2]. At that instant, the Hermes Cord, which was flying on a wave-like trail along the equator, would be at its closest to Tokyo.
After waiting for several minutes while continuing to fret, he connected his Neuro Linker to the Global Net five seconds before the designated time.
Three seconds before, he took a deep breath. Two seconds before, he shut his eyes tight. And then one second before, Haruyuki cried out in a voice only he could hear.
“Burst Link!!”
*BASHIIIIH!*
The sound of acceleration struck his entire body.
When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw that he was in the frozen blue «Initial Acceleration Space». The metropolis spread out outside the window, the floor and pillars of the viewing platform, the sparse number of tourists, everything had become like transparent crystal and remained stock still.
Haruyuki quietly separated from his real world body in the form of a peach-colored pig avatar. After taking one or two steps backwards, he turned around resolutely.
The central area of the viewing platform should, originally, be a space filled with coffee and goods shops. But now, those shops had completely disappeared, and only a deserted floor was left there.
No matter how hard he looked, there wasn’t even a switch there, let alone a portal. After standing there stock still for almost ten seconds, Haruyuki let out a sigh.
—As I thought, the idea that a «Space Stage» would appear was just a childish fantasy.
He whispered that within his heart, and tried to sit down on the very spacious floor, but at that instant.
An intense light and vibrating sound suddenly struck Haruyuki’s entire avatar’s body, making him jump up. When he raised his face up with a start, there was a huge object gushing out now in the center of the wide empty floor.
A staircase gradually rose up from the floor step by step in a wide arc through the air. A circular stage appeared at its tip while spinning, and furthermore six thin pillars rose up at its sides in a hexagonal arrangement.
The transparent pillars contained a blue light inside them. As if synchronizing with the pulsation of those lights, shining particles rose up perpendicular to the center of the pillars, and glittered beautifully as they extended almost all the way up to the ceiling.
“…This is…the Hermes Cord’s portal…”
Whispering in a hoarse voice, Haruyuki stood up. He completely forgot about his disappointment from a moment ago, and tightly gripped his pig avatar’s right hand. His guess was not wrong after all. Who was it that said it was just a childish fantasy?
He rushed up to the stairs in that state, and without feeling any fear or hesitation, he ran up the stairs with his hooved feet.
He passed through the gap between the six pillars, which were emitting a low vibrating sound, and went to the center of the circle.
On his last step, he gathered his feet together and jumped forward. However, his legs did not touch the floor again.
“Uwah…!?”
Haruyuki shouted as he saw his pig avatar start decomposing into countless light particles. No, rather than decomposing, it was returning to its original form. All the white particles were composed of detailed digital code that served as proof that his virtual proxy body was being returned to its essence as information.
The instant after he realized that.
Haruyuki’s consciousness felt as if he were rising vertically at a violent speed. But there was none of the Gs that accompanied takeoff. Having merely become light without mass, he shot through the Sky Tree’s superstructure, flew up to the sky—
And then his vision whited out completely.
The sensation of stopping came just a few seconds later.
First, Haruyuki felt his feet touch on a level surface, and heard a hard ‘GATSUN’ sound. Weight suddenly returned to his body, and he involuntarily struck out one knee.
While in a crouched posture, he timidly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a HP gauge at the upper left corner of his vision. Thinking ‘Eh?’, he held out his hands and looked at them. They each had five sharp fingers that shined silver. Without a doubt, these were the familiar arms of «Silver Crow».
Since he had transformed into his duel avatar form without having started a duel, he panicked over whether this was the rule-less «Unlimited Neutral Field», but he quickly noticed something. The English word [LOCKED] was displayed in the center of the green HP gauge.
Unable to immediately grasp its meaning, he tilted his puzzlement for a while, before pushing it aside for the time being. After sucking in a deep breath, Haruyuki finally raised his head and looked straight in front of him.
And then, he shouted.
“Uu…uwaaaaaah!?”
He bent backwards and fell on his backside from the momentum. Without being conscious of his awkward pose, he stared at the spectacle before his eyes.
The metal floor that Haruyuki sat on cut off just one meter in front of him. Beyond that was—the sky. And clouds. And beneath that, the surface of the Earth.
For Haruyuki with his flight ability, it was a familiar spectacle. However, the scale was completely different. It was way too high. Just how many times…no, how many tens of times higher was this higher than the 1500 meters altitude that was Silver Crow’s flight limit? The sky was dyed a deep ultramarine, the clouds were shaped in thin streaks and huge swirls far below, the sea was an indigo blue, and the land was a blurry brown and green. If he fell from such a height, he would probably burn out from air friction in the atmosphere before receiving damage from the fall.
He unconsciously drew back, and when he was about three meters away from the edge without handrails or anything else, he finally let out the breath he’d been holding in. He stood up with weak knees, and then finally looked to either side of him.
The grey metal terrace seemed to be shaped in a wide circle. While following the line of its edge, he automatically turned around. And then—
A curved wall stood in the center of the ring-like terrace.
No, it wasn’t a wall. It was a pillar. An absurdly thick pillar, probably 100 meters in diameter, extended up vertically. Haruyuki was standing on a floor surface that spread out in the shape of a flange up to the base of the pillar.
“This is…the Hermes Cord……?”
Murmuring that in a whisper, Haruyuki dumfoundedly looked up at the structure that was like a huge tower where gods lived. Shining dully like stainless steel, the metal tower stretched up infinitely towards the sky which changed from ultramarine to deep indigo, and its tip wasn’t visible at all as it faded away into the vanishing point.
The space elevator in the real world should have been built by tying together several cables that were also twisted together from CNT fibers. Its diameter was two meters at most, so it was more accurate to describe it as a rope than a pillar.
But, the thing that had been reproduced from it in Accel World and rose high above before Haruyuki’s eyes right now could no longer be called a mere pillar. Floating at a high altitude, it was an incredibly large-scale tower of 100 meters in diameter and several thousand kilometers in height. Just why on earth had it been enlarged to such a size?
He probably wouldn’t find the answer no matter how much he thought about it, but he thought it was a trifling question. The important thing was that the «space elevator» actually existed. No, the place he was standing on right now should perhaps still be called a «Super-High Altitude Stage». In that case, was real space waiting just beyond where this huge tower ascended…?
“It’s way bigger than I expected.”
Haruyuki nodded in response to the voice that spoke to his right.
“Yeah…Compared to this, even the Sky Tree is a toothpick…”
“On the other hand, there is also no detail on its surface. Is there an internal structure inside it?”
“But, I can’t see anything like an entrance either…—Wait.”
*BIKUUN*
His whole body stiffened, and after skillfully jumping up like that, Haruyuki cried out while rotating 90 degrees to the right.
“Waah!? Wh, w-w-w-w-whowhowho, w-w-w-w-whenwhenwhen.”
Who’s that, when did you!
He tried to sharply ask the other person’s identity, but only a strange series of sounds came out from his mouth. The silhouette that expressionlessly looked down on Haruyuki from right next to him was—
A thin dark red body. Robust thighs and forearms. Hands with sharp claws. A tail that flexibly swayed around. And with mask that projected triangular ears from the backside of the head and shining golden eyes, it was, without a doubt, the strongest class close range-type duel avatar that Haruyuki personally knew.
“Pa…P-P-P-P-Pard-san!? W-W-Why are you h-h-here!?”
«Pard-san», the Level 6 Burst Linker «Blood Leopard» that belonged to the Red Legion «Prominence», answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
“The same reason why you’re here.”
“Heh…”
Finally settling down since the other party was much too calm and composed, Haruyuki belatedly realized.
The transport to this place was never a privilege granted to only Haruyuki. If a Burst Linker knew of the news on the social camera installation in the Hermes Cord, conceived of the possibility of a new stage being added to Accel World, and furthermore could guess the time and place when the portal to it would appear, anyone could manage to come here.
Slightly happy that there was another player that thought of such a reckless fancy and actually came to the Sky Tree like himself, Haruyuki smiled. However, he immediately realized something, and stiffened his body.
In other words, it wouldn’t be strange if new avatars appeared one after another here right at this instant. He frantically looked around at his surroundings, but he saw no signs of a third person appearing.
As Haruyuki started becoming scared only now, Pard-san spoke in a slightly amazed voice.
“The reason you entered the portal first is because you boldly accelerated at the viewing platform itself. I Dived inside the toilet on the floor below, so I was slightly late. Since other people will probably come from the ground with the prevention of having their real identities exposed as their top priority, there should be a margin of several minutes before they get here.”
“Ah…yes, I see, that is true…”
While feeling belatedly scared at his own recklessness, Haruyuki once again greeted her.
“H-Hello, good day.”
When Leopard nimbly held out her right hand, he did likewise and bowed his head to her.
“Umm, I’m seriously indebted to you for the other day. I’m sorry for only sending you a mail afterwards and not thanking you directly…”
Those words were thanks to Pard-san for the great help he had gotten from her in solving the huge trouble that assaulted Haruyuki two months ago. The leopard-headed avatar shrugged and replied with an unusually long response.
“NP[3]. You also helped me a lot that time. Your information was very useful in finding the security hole within Akiba BG. More importantly…”
She struck Haruyuki’s back with a slap and urged him to move.
“We should effectively use the time advantage we went to the trouble of earning. Let’s investigate around the pillar.”
“K, K[4]!”
Although the person that had appeared after him belonged to another legion, Haruyuki was seriously glad as he walked that it was Blood Leopard who he had made friends due to certain circumstances. If it had been Frost Horn, he would have definitely grabbed Haruyuki from behind without speaking first and thrown him down to the ground below.
They crossed over the approximately twenty meter wide flange and approached the main pillar of the Hermes Cord, but even when they touched it with their hands, no change occurred on its shining alloy-like surface. Even though there were details like seams between metal plates, there were no handholds for climbing at all.
Pard-san scratched the pillar with her sharp nails, and after confirming that it was so hard that it didn’t leave even a scratch, she began walking around it clockwise. Haruyuki also followed after her. Since the diameter of the pillar was about 100 meters, they had a hard time going around the curving surface. When they could finally see the opposite side from where the transport location was, Haruyuki noticed that there was something there and raised his voice.
“Ah…There’s something here!”
The sound of their footsteps rose and they ran up to it.
The objects there seemed to be, at first sight, cars or ships. Streamlined vehicles about six meters in length were orderly lined up next to each other on top of a slanted rack installed at the bottom of the pillar, staring straight up towards the top of the Hermes Cord. There were ten of them.
The vehicles didn’t have a roof, and instead the seating areas were completely open. At the front, the one-seater cockpit was equipped with a transparent windshield. There were two rows of two-person seats placed behind it. The lower section was equipped with four big discs instead of tires, which seemed to be some kind of propulsion device. Its slender smooth body-line was fitting for the original meaning of the word «shuttle».
“W-What are these…?”
Murmuring that, Haruyuki climbed atop the slanted rack and approached one of the vehicles at the left end with the symbol «1» painted on its side. The cold iron-colored body remained coldly inactive, and there were no signs that it contained fire in its engine.
He timidly extended his hand forward, and at the instant he poked the smooth line of the door.
*PIPON* A purple holo-window popped up with a light sound. After being startled for a moment, he peered at it frantically. Pard-san also brought her face close next to him.
On the topmost part of the window, inscribed in robotic font were—.
The characters [3D 18H 25M 18S (JST)]. These digits, which appeared to indicate days, hours, minutes, and seconds in order, clearly seemed to be some kind of time count.
“Hmm. If this is a countdown, then when the digits will reach zero in 3 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes in Japanese Standard Time…in other words, at noon on Sunday.”
After Blood Leopard muttered that, Haruyuki also spoke following her train of thought.
“Will something happen at that time…?”
However, instead of answering his question, Pard-san pointed at the lower part of the window with her feline beast-of-prey-like claws. There was a short sentence displayed there as well. Saying, [DO YOU DRIVE ME?].
And beneath that, there was only a YES button. He understood that the meaning of the simple English sentence was “Will you drive me?”, but even so Haruyuki wavered over what to do, and the ever-hasty Pard-san whispered in his ear.
“If you won’t press it, I will.”
“Ah, I-I’ll press it, I’ll press it!”
Answering frantically, Haruyuki raised his right hand and, after resolving himself, pressed the YES button.
Instantly, a short fanfare SE[5] resounded and the English characters changed. [YOU ARE MY DRIVER!] —You are my driver.
Several seconds later, the string of characters changed again and became the single word [RESERVED]. At the same time, an object appeared as if oozing out from the window surface.
It was a transparent clue card. Besides the marking «1» on its surface, it also had the same countdown displayed on it as on the window. The instant Haruyuki took it, the next and final phenomenon occurred.
Along with a sound, the body of streamlined machine made changed from a cold iron color to a dazzling silver color. Haruyuki immediately noticed that its mirror-like tint was exactly the same as his, or rather, Silver Crow’s armor.
“I see.”
Pard-san murmured as if understanding something, and walked over to the shuttle marked with «2». When she touched its body, a window appeared, and she touched the YES button without hesitation. After she took the card that appeared between two of her fingers, the body color of the shuttle immediately changed to Blood Leopard’s deep red armor color this time.
Haruyuki walked over to Pard-san while holding his card and asked a question once again.
“U-Umm…Me and Pard-san have been registered as the drivers of these cars or ships…I understand that much, somehow. But, what is this countdown about? There’s still more than three days remaining, but…”
“That's self-explanatory. The shuttles won’t move until the countdown becomes zero at noon on Sunday.”
After hearing that clear reply, he nodded in understanding, and immediately after his next question sprang forth.
“H-Haa…B-But, why is there such a long waiting time…?”
In response, Pard-san unusually opened her mouth that was hidden by the lower portion of her artillery shell-like mask, and grinned with her sharp fangs shinning.
“That is also obvious. The given three and a half days are the grace period for preparing one driver and four passengers for each of the ten shuttles. At noon on Sunday, we’ll all step on the accelerator in a race and aim for the top of this pillar. In other words.”
Lifting up her right hand and pointing towards the far-off top, the deep crimson leopard-headed avatar said as if singing.
“We have acquired the right to participate in the «Hermes Cord Traversing Race».”
It took about a full five seconds for Haruyuki to understand the meaning of those words.
“Then…i-in other words…the goal is the top of this tower, in other words, s-s-s-space!?”
In response to Haruyuki voice which was turned inside out, Pard-san nodded ‘Of course’.
However, before he can say anything else, he heard a series of transport sounds from the opposite side of the pillar. Most likely, Burst Linkers that had accelerated on the ground level had arrived at the viewing platform’s portal.
Pard-san waved her long tail once, and then whispered to Haruyuki while touching his back.
“It’d be better for us to scatter before they find us.”
Certainly, since there were only ten shuttles, the remaining limit of people that could do the driver registration was eight. It would be troublesome if the people that were excluded suggested something like deciding the right to use it through a duel.
“That’s…That’s true.”
As Haruyuki pushed away the surprise inside him and agreed with her for the time being, her next words jumped into his ears.
“When you cease your acceleration, wait at the ground parking lot exit. I’ll carry you to Suginami on my bike.”
“Eh…”
He once again stiffened in surprise. The violent power of that large electric motorbike with Pard-san at the wheel was clearly revived in his mind.
However, he of course couldn’t say no and decline, so Haruyuki nodded.
“T-T-Thank you that’s a big help.”
“NP.”
And then, the two of them recited the command with their voices in sync.
““Burst Out!””
The real world Pard-san, who he hadn’t met in a while, was fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately, dressed not in her maid-style uniform from the cake shop, but in a T-shirt and slim jeans.
His gaze unconsciously wandered to the unexpected volume that pushed up her tightfitting clothing, which he hadn’t been able to perceive when she had worn her loose apron. Expressionlessly, Pard-san took out a spare helmet from the maintenance space underneath the seat, put it on Haruyuki’s head with a plonk and straddled the motorbike. After putting on the helmet harness himself this time, he frantically climbed onto the passenger seat and timidly put his arms around the thin waist in front of him.
At first she withheld the amount of power she put into the engine, but after coming out from the Sky Tree’s parking lot, the motorbike’s in-wheel motor instantly howled and raged with a ‘KYUIIIIN!’.
“……Ah——!”
Just like last time, Haruyuki had to thoroughly cling to Pard as he let out a scream. Though, as he did his best to endure the extreme stop-and-go that was repeated at every light, he didn’t have the time to care about the sensation of touching anything.
When they got out of the Sumida Ward, to Okachimachi, Ochanomizu and then Iidabashi, Pard-san’s voice reached Haruyuki’s ears.
‘It’s before 6:30, but do you have some time right now?’
‘Eh, ah…Yes.’
Since the curfew that Haruyuki’s mother had set was 9:00 at night, he still had time. As for the reason why she allowed a middle school student to be outside until a somewhat inappropriate time like that, he couldn’t say whether it was because she trusted her son or because she found managing him troublesome. Haruyuki might know the answer to that if she scolded him if he were to seriously break the curfew once, but he didn’t have that kind of courage, and so he added ‘It’s fine if it’s only for two hours’.
Pard-san then murmured in an unexpected tone.
‘If we went to go have tea for such a long time, it’d likely stop dissolving.’
Huh, t-tea?
Soon after he thought that, the large motorbike rode up to a fast food restaurant along the road while blinking its flashers.
Over the past eight months, Haruyuki had gone into shops like this twenty times with Kuroyukihime and once with Sky Raker. However, there was no indication at all that he was getting used to this kind of situation, and he always got a cold sweat when he felt himself exposed to gazes that said ‘Just what the heck is with that mismatched pairing’ from his surroundings every time.
Persuading himself that he was just self-conscious about that kind of thing and that anyone would worry about other people as he sat down in a boxed seat facing Blood Leopard, Haruyuki tried to block out the surroundings customers from his mind by concentrating with all his power on the hamburger set he was being treated to.
‘It seems like I’ll succeed’, is what he thought for a brief instant.
Pard-san took out a red XSB cable from her belt pouch, leaned forward and thrust one of the plugs at the end into Haruyuki’s Neuro Linker. Expressionlessly, she connected the other end to her own.
The Wired Connection warning that appeared in his vision couldn’t hide the spectacle of the middle and high school students within the shop clearly looking at them and whispering amongst themselves, and so Haruyuki found himself in an awkward situation as he ducked his head down and felt cold sweat run down his skin.
The length of the Direct Connect cable expresses the degree of progress between two people going out with each other—that kind of custom was clearly something that Pard-san didn’t care about at all, but Haruyuki wasn’t able to be that free of worldly cares, and asked in thought speech with half a scream.
‘Ah, u-u-umm, w-w-why Direct Connect?’
Her answer was very simple.
‘We can talk while eating this way.’
Besides replying with ‘……That’s true.’, Haruyuki couldn’t say anything else.
Pard-san displayed the high-level technique of talking via the cable while eating her hamburger with relish just as she had declared. This seemed simple, but the risk of biting one’s tongue while unintentionally trying to talk with one’s mouth as well was high.
‘Do you understand how to Dive into the stage for the race on Sunday?’
After she suddenly asked that, Haruyuki stopped his mouth in the middle of chewing a fry and spoke.
‘Eh…don’t we just use the Sky Tree portal again?’
‘That isn’t necessary. The card we got when we registered as drivers is a «transporter» item. It transports up to ten Burst Linkers who we Direct Connect with at the same time.’
‘H-Heee…Then, if we gather in Suginami and use it, we’ll instantly go to the Hermes Cord?’
‘Yes.’
That was a feature he was really grateful for. Because, if Kuroyukihime also participated in the race, it would be dangerous if she, who was a Level Niner that was bound by the sudden death rule, connected to an external network as far away as Sumida Ward for even an instant.
After letting out a sigh and biting into his hamburger, Haruyuki felt his original question rise up within him now. Since he had jumped into the portal at the Sky Tree, he had been caught up in the flow of the situation all the way until now, but in the first place—
‘…In the first place, why did it suddenly turn into a race? Those machines were prepared not by some player, but by the system’s…in other words, Brain Burst’s administrator. I’ve been a Burst Linker for about eight months already, but I don’t think there’s ever been even one GM event like that up until now…’
In response to Haruyuki’s question, Pard-san answered after thinking for just 0.5 seconds.
‘Certainly, signs of the presence of BB’s administrator are usually not felt at all. But, when there is a large-scale update in Accel World, there are also cases where one-time events occur like this time. Like when the «Tokyo Glass Castle» opened up the year before last…’
The Glass Castle was a large-scale theme park that had been constructed in the bay area. According to what he knew, it had been built as a Medieval European-style fortress city made of real stone with the theme of being «realistic», at the time when the Full Dive technology was at the height of prosperity.
‘…The day when the social camera network there began operating, an event based on breaking through a group of monsters that crowded the city and aiming for the throne inside the castle occurred. My team regrettably got swarmed by a large heard of them along with the blue team and we all got mutually annihilated.’
As Pard-san’s eyes burned with fire, Haruyuki somehow managed to respond while unconsciously drawing back his head.
‘I…I see. Then, the race this time is also…so to speak, a «New Stage Connection Commemoration Event»? In other words, it is a race that will occur only once…?’
‘Definitely.’
In that case, he really was extremely fortunate to have been able to reserve one of the only ten machines. Haruyuki cried out ‘Mega-Lucky!’ inside his head, but he then frantically drowned out that thought. Going to the Hermes Cord had never been about obtaining the right to participate in an open event. It was because there was something that Haruyuki had to tell that person—Sky Raker no matter what, that he was aiming for the top of the space elevator.
—Then, there should also be that.
Ostensibly because he should also learn as much preliminary knowledge as possible, Haruyuki nervously asked a question through the Direct Connect circuit.
‘Umm…Pard-san. Since it’s a race, umm, if one comes in first or second place, will there be something like, umm…’
‘Of course there will.’
Without letting Haruyuki finish speaking, Blood Leopard nodded.
‘It will probably give out an appropriate amount of Burst Points. Or prizes such as an Enhanced Armament or some other item will be prepared.’
“He…Heeh, is that so.’
As if roughly understanding that his throat was moving a lot despite his attempt to pretend being calm, Pard-san gave a faint wry smile. While carefully folding the wrapping paper of the hamburger she had eaten in the blink of an eye, she spoke in a completely calm state.
‘You shouldn’t raise your expectations too high. There’s no way the prizes will be so great that they could break the power balance between legions, after all. More importantly…’
Pausing for a moment there, the senior member of «Prominence» asked Haruyuki a question as her ponytail swayed.
‘Will your legion participate with all five of your members?’
‘Eh? …Err, the capacity of the shuttle is five passengers, so…’
As he was about to nod, Haruyuki paused the movement of his neck.
No matter how well they got along, or how she had let him ride on her bike and treated him to a hamburger, Pard-san was ultimately not a «comrade». She was a core member of the Red Legion, which might one day turn against the Black Legion. Was it alright to tell such a person about the movements of Kuroyukihime, who was under the Sudden Death rule?
Most likely immediately seeing through Haruyuki’s hesitation, Pard-san quickly shook her head.
‘I’m not really asking in order to take advantage of this opportunity and take the Black King’s head. In the first place, since the HP gauge is locked inside the event, it’s impossible.’
‘L-Locked…?’
After repeating the word, Haruyuki finally remembered. When he had transported over to the Hermes Cord earlier, there had definitely been the word [LOCKED] distinctly inscribed on his HP gauge.
‘E-Err…in other words, during the race event, nobody can receive damage?’
After pretending to think for a moment, Pard-san immediately nodded to his question.
‘Yes.’
‘Then, why is it necessary for there to be four other crewmembers in the shuttle? Is it because just me isn’t enough to attack and defend against other teams…?’
‘Yes to that as well. Most likely, the shuttle’s body is also configured with a HP gauge, and if it becomes zero it will be destroyed. The event at the Glass Castle I spoke of before was also like that. It was a game where you had to properly carry jewels given to each team up to the throne room on the top floor of the castle. The players couldn’t die, but it was setup so that the HP of the orbs would wear out from attacks by monsters or other teams.’
Haruyuki nodded in admiration at Blood Leopard’s words. If it was like that, then it would definitely turn into a hot race even in the slightly nulled situation where the HP gauges were protected.
‘I see…so it has that kind of setup. In that case, I’m all the more certain that all five members of my legion will participate. But…why are you asking me about that?’
As Haruyuki turned her gaze towards her, Pard-san displayed the rare sign of hesitating to say something.
However, her hesitation disappeared in just one second, and—
‘In Accel World, there are two people whose existences are important to me.’
Her quiet thoughts flowed through the red cable.
‘One is the king I serve. A person I want to protect no matter what. And the other is my eternal rival. Someone who became a Burst Linker at almost the same time as me and who I fought against countless times, known as «Strato Shooter[6]» and «ICBM[7]»…’
Haruyuki immediately guessed who those two names belonged to.
‘…Sky Raker-san…?’
In response to Haruyuki’s whisper, Blood Leopard softly nodded.
‘I was very happy when I heard that she had returned. But since she’s only been participating in the territory defense battles, I haven’t met her yet.’
‘Ah…I-I see. That’s true.’
Currently, the Red Legion «Prominence» and the Black Legion «Nega Nebulas» were under an indefinite ceasefire. Therefore, as one of the Red Legion’s core members, Pard-san couldn’t participate in attacking the Suginami area.
Haruyuki sucked in a deep breath, and then spoke while unusually looking at his conversation partner right in the eye.
‘The truth is, I also have a reason for wanting to take Raker-san to the Hermes Cord no matter what. That’s why, even if she isn’t interested in it, I’ll do my best to persuade her. I think that you’ll definitely meet her on Sunday.’
‘I see.’
Her answer was short, but Blood Leopard gave a light smile, and slowly gave a deep nod.
‘Thank you, Silver Crow. I’m glad I talked with you…Perhaps I have three important people now instead of two.’
—Whatever the meaning of those words were, Haruyuki could unfortunately not understand it at all. Therefore, he naively asked about it. But.
‘H-Huh? What…who is the third?’
It’s a secret.
As if saying that, Pard-san quickly disconnected the Direct Connect cable.
After being transported to Suginami again on the motorbike and seeing Pard-san off until her tail-light disappeared far away, Haruyuki thought absentmindedly.
The total number of Burst Linkers was about 1000. Almost all of them lived in the center of Tokyo. There were so many that it was impossible to memorize all of their names, and most of them were in a relationship where they scrambled for Burst Points amongst each other, but—even so, if they continued to duel over a long period of time, a relationship other than as «enemies» was sometimes born eventually. Thinking about it, even Takumu, «Cyan Pile», who was now his irreplaceable tag partner, met him as a genuine enemy at first…
In Haruyuki’s mind, the faces of his comrades in the legion starting with Kuroyukihime, of his friends Niko and Pard-san, of his rivals Ash Roller and tentatively Frost Horn appeared one after another and then disappeared.
Aiming for Level 10 as a Burst Linker was, in principle, equal to continuing to bring down other Burst Linkers. That was probably exactly what the game’s mysterious developer intended. To make 1000 young people fight amongst each other, and select only one person as the victor.
However, despite that, even the developer shouldn’t be able to stop feelings other than hatred from being born and exchanged in the process. The way Blood Leopard worried about Sky Raker who she shouldn’t have been friends with was proof of that.
—I also want that.
Haruyuki strongly thought that as he walked towards his home.
—Even if I’m beaten black and blue, even if I’m so mortified I shed tears, I won’t simply hate my opponent. Because I love this game…Accel World. Because I consider myself more fortunate than anyone for having become a Burst Linker.
——Really? Is that really all?
Suddenly, a voice asked him that.
At the same time, several silhouettes flashed quickly through his mind’s screen. A rust-colored avatar that seemed to be combined with a steel frame. A laminated avatar made of parallel jet-black thin membranes. And—a dusk-colored avatar with a spherical visor and huge talons, who no longer existed. They were members of the group that judged Brain Burst not as a duel fighting game but as a thought acceleration tool and who aimed only at acquiring and using points, the «Acceleration Research Society».
They hadn't carried out any public activities over the past two months. However, that did not mean that they had vanished. They were probably hiding somewhere in Accel World and waiting with vigilant hostility for the chance to invade again.
——Can you also forgive those guys? Can you throw away the hatred you feel towards them, who cruelly wounded and tormented you and your friends?[8]
Haruyuki did not notice that the voice echoing in his mind had at some point become not his own, but instead carried a shadowy and twisted metallic echo in it. While grimacing at the aching feeling at the center of his back, he stepped towards the location of his apartment building with rough steps.
——It’s natural to hate guys like that. It’s natural to crush them with hatred. Release all your anger, resentment and hatred, and destroy them. You have that power. The power to tear off their limbs, devour their flesh, and drain their blood. Yes—
Devour them. Devour them. Devour them. Devour them. Dev…
“……Shut up!”
He shouted that in a stifled voice as he hanged his head down deeply. Residents and shoppers avoided Haruyuki as he stopped in front of the entrance of a shopping mall.
Feeling as if he could see talons shining with a dusky purple color among the countless shoes that passed by on either side of him, Haruyuki shut his eyes tight. Inside his mind, he strongly spoke to himself.
—If they appear again, I’ll fight them. But not because I hate them. It will be because I love Accel World. Because I believe that there exists bonds besides that of hostility in there. I will fight to protect those bonds.
——Really?
Leaving that single word along with a creaking laughter, the voice went away. The pain on his back also faded away soon and disappeared.
After letting out a long breath and rubbing his sweaty palms against his trousers, Haruyuki headed towards his empty home with heavy footsteps while hanging his head.
