9

Haruyuki glared intently at the steel holes created by the eight spiraling grooves of the rifling.

Saturday. Four PM.

He was in the middle of the public Territory Battle to protect Suginami Area No. 3, controlled by the Black Legion, Nega Nebulus.

A three-person team with a balance of blue, red, and purple had come to challenge them. It was a lineup that had often been coming to attack for a while now. Which was to say, they were also the opponents to whom Haruyuki had clumsily lost repeatedly.

The one he was particularly bad with was a sniper-type avatar in a dark red cloak, equipped with a large antiaircraft rifle. It would conceal itself on the rooftop of a building quite far from the front line and launch incredibly powerful bullets with terrifying precision.

Since of the three members of Nega Nebulus, Kuroyukihime and Takumu were actively close-range types, Haruyuki necessarily had to take on the enemy sniper, being a high-maneuverability type. That said, because he didn’t have any long-range attack power, he needed to fly in close once he’d determined the sniper’s position.

But in the Territory Battles up to that point, Haruyuki had been ignobly shot down time after time, unable to dodge the enemy sniping in the course of closing the distance. To compensate, he was forced to join up with Kuroyukihime’s powerful battle abilities, and every weekend, he fell victim to fierce bouts of self-hatred.

And now again from the roof of a building a kilometer ahead, the black gun muzzle was precisely trained on Haruyuki flying hard.

Since approaching in a straight line was the equivalent of saying Please shoot me, Haruyuki carried out maneuvers as randomly as possible to escape the enemy scope, sometimes even entering the shadow of some cover on the ground. But no matter what the technique, at the end of it, the large-diameter rifle always snapped back onto Haruyuki without the slightest delay.

When are you going to shoot? Now? Now?

Here and there passing before his eyes at high speeds were the figures of people in the gallery. Especially right after he started playing, Haruyuki had been pretty popular as the possessor of the sole flight ability, but now that walk-throughs had been studied, the gallery was mostly exposed to scenes of him crashing awkwardly. And they were disappointed—that would have been better, actually. Lately, he thought they had gotten past that and likely reached the sneering stage, and everything got hot inside his head.

And on top of that, in the battlefield to the rear, Takumu and Kuroyukihime, taking on the enemy close-range types, were probably casting their eyes his way during the pauses in battle. Wondering if today would be the day he took care of the sniper or if they would have to follow up yet again.

Just when are you going to fire? Hurry up and shoot already. And set me free from this ridiculous pressure. In desperation, Haruyuki unthinkingly started to drop into a headlong advance.

His eyes popped open.

This is just a repeat of last week. Didn’t I learn anything?

Obviously, no one gets stronger overnight. And just because I practiced a bit doesn’t mean I can suddenly dodge bullets now. But I can totally change the way I think anytime.

It’s not like I’m fighting to look cool for the gallery. And it’s not for Takumu’s approval or Kuroyukihime’s praise.

It’s for me. I’m fighting because I want to like myself, the menial, weak, thickheaded me I hate so much, just a little more than I did yesterday.

In which case—

“You’re not running!!” Haruyuki scolded himself in a low voice and focused more on seeing with his eyes.

Don’t look at the gun barrel. That antiaircraft rifle’s not the enemy. The avatar holding it, finger on the trigger. The Burst Linker moving the avatar. The will to attack itself, sent out by that brain—feel it!

Haruyuki mustered every drop of willpower, took his eyes off the gun, and stared straight at the right eye of the enemy sniper peering through the scope.

And for some reason, he got the sense the enemy was shaken.

Immediately, a flash of orange light flickered from that direction, and a glittering bullet was released from the rifle’s maw.

Before he even saw it close in, drawing out its spiral vortex, Haruyuki shifted the angle of his right wing slightly and twisted his body. The bullet lightly grazed his right side with a whine and flew off harmlessly behind him.

One-point-five seconds later, before his enemy had finished pulling the rifle’s bolt handle, Haruyuki was driving a Punch into its jaw.

“Well! Nice work avoiding that!”

The instant he returned to the real world, his back was slapped, and Haruyuki leaped out of his chair. Turning around, he saw the smiling face of Kuroyukihime, who had burst out a step ahead of him.

It was their usual table at the back of the lounge, adjacent to the student cafeteria at Umesato Junior High. Late on a Saturday afternoon, there were no other students to be seen. Takumu had apparently dived into the game from the roof, so he wasn’t there, either.

“Oh yeah. Probably just lucky.”

Tucking his chin in as he spoke, he got the usual “What am I going to do with you?” face.

“That wasn’t luck. It was superb timing. You must have had some trigger to anticipate it?” Kuroyukihime sat up on the table, crossed her arms, and stared him down.

After faltering a moment, he replied. “A trigger…I guess it was just, the moment I looked at the scope instead of the muzzle of the rifle, I got the sense that the sight shook. And then it was like my reflexes took over and I dodged,” he mumbled, and Kuroyukihime snapped a single eyebrow up.

“Oh? Hmm…Yes, I see…It was that, then, was it?”

“What do you mean, you see?”

“Oh, well, that sniper. I had thought he was just too good at maintaining a line of sight. Most likely having an ability you could call ‘eye tracking,’ perhaps.”

“Eye tracking…?” Haruyuki asked in response, blinking furiously.

“Mmm. That is to say, track the eyes of an enemy looking at the gun muzzle and automatically sight.”

“What?! Th-then, that means that up to now, I’ve been getting shot down precisely because I’ve been staring so intently at that gun muzzle?”

“It does.”

“Th-that’s…”

Seeing Haruyuki slumping back into his chair, mouth hanging wide with shock, Kuroyukihime laughed gently.

“Don’t be so discouraged. Regardless of any tricks, being able to dodge a bullet moving that fast is clearly the result of your efforts. This last month or so, your reaction speed has visibly improved. Have you been doing some kind of practice in secret?”

“Oh. Y-you can tell?”

As he shrank into himself even further, the slender, black-stocking-wrapped legs were nimbly crossed in front of him, and Kuroyukihime moved her beautiful face, where neatness and cleverness coexisted, into a faint smile.

“Naturally. I’m your ‘guardian.’ What kind of practice have you been doing?”

“Uh, umm, well.” Haruyuki resigned himself and explained the specifications of the training room he had constructed.

Instantly:

The crown of his head was struck, and Haruyuki let out a cry. “Gaah?!”

“Y-y-you idiot!! Avoid a bullet with no one pulling the trigger at that close range?! And with pain at maximum?!” Kuroyukihime shouted, her expression fiery, and her right fist trembled momentarily.

She studied Haruyuki, who was sprouting tears and frozen solid, let out a long breath, and abruptly grabbed his head with both hands and pulled it close.

“Wh-wha—?! K-Kuroyukhime, wh—” When he started to hyperventilate at the softness communicated from the other side of her uniform, she changed suddenly, and he heard a calm voice above his head.

“I told you, didn’t I? That no matter what happens, I have no intention of harming my relationship with you. Trust me. That is an order.”

“O-okay.” When Haruyuki went limp and simply nodded, she released his head and grinned.

“I’ll say this because it’s now, but the reason I accepted the Red King’s request this time was because I thought perhaps it could show you that winning or losing isn’t everything. Don’t push yourself too hard. Get stronger for me bit by bit. I prefer it like that. Now. Shall we be on our way?”

Haruyuki stared at the figure dressed in black as she stood up, retrieving her bag from the table, and nodded deeply once more.

“Me, too. No matter what happens…I won’t hurt you again.” He didn’t say it out loud but made sure to mutter it under his breath.

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“N-no, nothing!”

And then he pulled himself up from his chair and hurried to follow after his guardian, his king, his classmate—the person he loved.

Opening the door to his condo, a tiny trace of sweetness lingered in the air that enveloped Haruyuki.

Although the dim hallway, returned to silence, was a sight he should have been used to, it made him sad somehow. The two Kings had only stayed here two nights, but it didn’t look like he’d be forgetting the experience any time soon.

“I’m home,” he murmured, taking off his shoes before opening the door to his deserted living room.

His mother was supposed to be back from her overseas business trip that morning, but she’d apparently just dumped her suitcase and headed to the office. She had unbelievable energy.

Taking off his uniform jacket and hanging it on the back of a chair along with his tie, Haruyuki noticed an icon blinking in the corner of his visual field. As usual, his mother had left a message on the home server.

He played the message back with a voice command while he pulled a bottle of oolong tea out of the refrigerator. An indistinct noise reached his auditory system, followed by his mother’s voice.

“Haruyuki, I’ll be late today, or I might not make it home at all. Send the clothes in my suitcase out to the cleaner’s for me, would you? Oh, and sorry, but we’re babysitting again. This time, it’s my coworker’s kid, and it’s just for one night, so watch out for her, okay? Please? She should already be there by the time you get home. Okay, thanks.”

What did she say? Haruyuki froze, glass of oolong tea still tilted. No way. It can’t. I mean, come on.

He took a gulp from the glass and then put it down. He held his breath and looked around quietly.

The living room, the kitchen, completely deserted. The lights were even off, and the air was still. Haruyuki had frantically cleaned up last night, so there wasn’t a trace of the terrible spectacle of the retro gaming tournament of two days prior.

Holding his breath and letting his eyes race around, he heard—

It was faint, but it was definitely a voice laughing somewhere.

“No. Way.” He moaned as he flew out of the living room at lightning speed, dashed down the hall, and pushed open the door to his own room at the end of it.

And then Haruyuki took a deep breath and let out a scream. “Waaaah?!”

On his bed.

Flopped back, legs crossed, buried in a mountain of paper manga from the last century smuggled out of his hiding spot, and flipping through one of them—a girl in a pure red outfit.

“N-n-n-n—”

The girl glanced at the trembling Haruyuki, lifting her head. It made the hair tied up on either side swing, and she smiled.

“Welcome home, big brother!”

“Wh-what are you—?!” Haruyuki shouted and crumpled on the spot, pointing at the girl—Immobile Fortress, Bloody Storm, the Red King Scarlet Rain, Yuniko Kozuki—mouth flapping before he finally manage to get words out. “Niko. Why are you here?”

“Don’t make me explain the whole thing again. The whole fake-mail thing.” Abruptly returning to her other tone, Niko raised her torso. She flapped a volume of manga—definitely not educational, the kind with people dying and explosions—and grinned. “And this is some good taste you got here.”

“O-oh, thanks—No!!” Panting frantically, Haruyuki slumped over and shook his head from side to side. “This is seriously too much! The exact same social engineering in one day, I mean…”

“Come on. I figured I should at least say thanks, so here I am.”

He hurriedly bobbed his head at Niko, who was pursing her lips sharply. “W-well, that is very thoughtful. Thanks.”

He would definitely be roasted whole in her overwhelming firepower the next time she was in a bad mood that erupted into a duel. “You’re welcome,” Haruyuki quickly managed, his lips spasming into a smile. “So that’s all you needed, then? You can make your way out through that door—”

“Oh, is that your attitude? Hmm. And here I was thinking I’d give you a follow-up report, and this is how you are?”

“I-I’m listening! I’m listening!” Haruyuki dropped to his knees to sit formally; after glancing down at him from up on the bed and bringing the slender legs stretching out from her cut-off jeans up to sit cross-legged, Niko gave him a sharp look. But luckily for him, she continued to speak without making trouble.

“It’s about Chrome Disaster.”

Haruyuki swallowed hard and switched tracks. He would have to report back to Kuroyukihime on everything she said henceforth.

“Last night, I notified the Five Kings, including the Radio jerk, that I had executed Disaster. And so anyway, that’s the end of that. Although personally, I’d like to make some kind of fuss about Yellow swiping the Armor. Unfortunately, I’ve got no proof, so…”

“Right.” Haruyuki nodded slowly. Timidly, he continued, “So then, um, what about Cherry Rook?”

Niko fell silent briefly and looked up at the winter evening sky peeking through the south window. Narrowing her deep green eyes, blinking her long lashes once, she answered quietly. “He said he’s moving next month.”

“What?”

“Some distant relative stepped up after all this time saying they wanna take him in. All the expenses at our school are covered by taxes, so students can’t say no to offers like that. He said he’s moving to Fukuoka.”

“He is? That’s far.”

“Yeah, I guess. So he was in a hurry. Once he moves, his only connection with me would have been Brain Burst. And on top of that, there are almost no Burst Linkers outside Tokyo. If you can’t fight, you can’t level up. And then his impatience got eaten up by the Armor…” Making a gesture like she was swallowing something back, Niko smiled faintly.

“But maybe because Brain Burst is gone, today he was…he looked like the old him, from when he first started talking to me. Even though he hadn’t been coming to class lately or talking to anyone, today he actually chatted with me. And, you know, I was thinking. Even if he’s not a Burst Linker anymore, even if he’s moving to Fukuoka, the VR world isn’t just the Accelerated World, right?”

She turned her gaze on him, and Haruyuki nodded deeply.

“Y-yeah. Of course.”

“So, like, I hadn’t thought about it before now, but…I figured I might try some other VR game. One I could play for a long time with him. If you know any good ones, let me know.”

“Right, okay.” He nodded, again repeatedly, and then replied: “Well, you can take whichever ones you want that I have here. Although I am kinda biased when it comes to genre.”

“Ha-ha-ha!” Niko smiled and abruptly turned away, digging around in a small backpack off to her side. She pulled out a brown paper bag and tossed it up, and Haruyuki hurried to catch it in both hands.

“Wh-what’s this?”

“Yeah…It’s, uh, a thank-you. You scarfed it down the other day, all ‘so gooood,’ right?”

Craning his neck and opening the paper bag, the smell of sweet butter wafted up. He could see the faces of several golden discs from under the white paper towel wrapping.

Dazed, he pulled out one of the cookies, still a little warm, and timidly asked Niko, “What? A-are you sure—?”

“What? If you don’t want ’em, give ’em back!” She glared at him, and he hurriedly shook his head.

“I want them, I want them! Th-thanks. I was just a little surprised.” Turning his face down, he bit into the cookie in his hand.

It was sweet and fragrant and a little salty.

The taste of reality, he thought. This is the flavor symbolizing something in reality. And that something’s the fact that me and Niko can be friends in the real world, for real.

“Hrng.” A strange noise slipped out of his throat.

Curling up his body as best he could, desperately hiding his face, he took another bite of the treat. He heard a high-pitched cry from on top of the bed.

“Y-y-you’re crying! I-idiot! Go to hell!!”

He lowered his face into the bed, and listening to Niko’s voice continuing to berate him, Haruyuki kept chomping down the cookies, a little saltier now.