4

For the two hours of the afternoon, he wouldn’t go so far as to say he was sitting on a bed of nails; the prickliness was more on the level of a cheese grater. The one thing that could be said to be lucky for him, if only just barely, was that now that Ishio from the basketball team had faced off with him, the classroom seemed to have put any further reaction on hold.

However, the girls’ eyes were about 30 percent colder than usual, and some of the boys were already in the middle of deliberations on which nickname to present to Haruyuki. Before they could decide between what were apparently the final candidates—“Camerita” and “Papayuki”—Haruyuki grabbed his bag and umbrella and left the classroom.

He cut through the schoolyard in a straight line, the concrete wet and black with the rain that began falling in the afternoon just as the forecast had said, and breathed a sigh of relief once he had passed through the gates. With a TAKE CARE ON YOUR WAY HOME, he was disconnected from the Umesato JH local net. Global net information popped up in his vision, and he felt soothed in his heart, somehow, at this sense of connection.

He leaned against a wall twenty meters or so from the school gate and stared attentively at the headline news, the sound of the rain against his umbrella as background music. Finally, he heard familiar footfalls approaching.

“Sorry to make you wait, Haru,” Takumu said, navy-blue umbrella hoisted in greeting.

Haruyuki returned his brief wave, and they fell in step with each other, walking east on the sidewalk.

A few minutes later, Haruyuki was the first to open his mouth. “Are you really sure it’s okay for you to miss practice two days in a row?”

“It’s fine; it’s totally fine. The captain and the coach are both totally obsessed with the genius rookie; a transfer player like me isn’t even on their radar.”

“That’s a mess, too, huh? But at least with everyone focusing on that jerk Nomi, you’re free to move a bit more easily.”

Bitter smiles crossed both of their faces, and they walked another minute in silence. When the intersection where Oume Kaido met Kannana Street came into view, Haruyuki finally broached the subject himself.

“Sugeno called me in today, about the hidden camera thing…Of course, I didn’t do it.”

“Obviously. Sugeno calling you in even though he has no proof of anything—” Takumu started indignantly, but Haruyuki stopped him.

“But I’m in a position where I could very easily be turned into the bad guy,” he continued, almost groaning. “The whole thing was a trap Seiji Nomi set up for me. And I walked right into it…”

It took a lot longer than he had expected to explain the whole of Nomi’s trap.

By the time they got on the electric-engine bus and settled down next to each other in the back, Haruyuki had finally finished giving Takumu an overview of the situation he had gotten dragged into. He left out only two things: the infection route for the visual masking program Nomi used on him and the fact that he had run into Chiyuri totally naked in the shower room.

However, the computational power of Takumu’s brain was in perfect working order at a time like this, and he appeared to have immediately understood the program route. As soon as Haruyuki clamped his mouth shut, his good friend took off his blue glasses and pressed his hand firmly against his forehead.

“…Right.” His voice was broken with a powerful sense of self-reproach. “It was that picture, huh? The kendo team photo with the new members that I sent you. So it was infected with a virus. Sorry, Haru. I totally forgot to check it—”

“N-no, it’s not your fault!” Haruyuki hurriedly shook his head several times. “That virus was probably set to self-destruct the moment the photo was read in a system with a kendo team register tag. If anyone should have been more careful, it was me, the target. He’s been gunning for me, not you, right from the start.”

“But I should’ve noticed something was up when I saw the file was a little too big. Instead, I go and charge into your house, when you’re having to deal with something like this. I said all those things to you…I even hit you on top of that!” Takumu shoved his glasses back on, grabbed Haruyuki’s right hand with both hands, and yanked it up.

“Whoa! Hey! What—”

“Haru, hit me. You have to hit me or I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

“I said it’s fine! It’s fine!”

Flustered, Haruyuki sent his eyes racing back and forth between Takumu’s face and the front of the bus. The housewives and students on the bus with them were staring with wide eyes or giggling. If they couldn’t hear their conversation, how on earth were they interpreting this situation: tall, handsome Takumu grabbing the hand of small, round Haruyuki and leaning into him?

But Takumu didn’t seem to even notice the eyes around them. He gradually brought his face even closer, so Haruyuki was forced to whisper, “Wait, hold up, Taku! Uh, I…You have to hit me, too.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Takumu furrowed his brow doubtfully.

Haruyuki returned his look and apologized—Chiyu! Sorry!—in his mind. She had told him that he was under no circumstances to talk about this, but with Takumu at least, Haruyuki was no longer interested in simply keeping quiet and letting things happen while he hung his head and stared at the ground.

“The thing is…When I was tricked by the visual masker and I went into the girls’ shower room…Chiyu kind of showed up.”

It took another two minutes to explain this incident.

Dropping heavily back into his own seat, Takumu pressed his fingertips between his eyebrows and sighed. “Is that it? So that’s how Chi’s involved in all this…”

“…It is…”

A totally different expression on his face, Takumu gave Haruyuki a sidelong glance and raised a single finger. “Anyway, let’s leave this for now. I don’t need to hear the specific details of what you saw, Haru. For Chi’s sake, too.”

“Right…You really are a gentleman, Taku.”

“Thanks. Anyway, if that’s the case, then I guess we can assume this is the basis of Nomi’s threat. The secret video of you would definitely be an effective card against Chi, too…That has to be it.”

“Yeah. If he’s managed to see through Chiyuri like this to threaten her, Nomi is a serious genius at attacking other people’s weak points.”

Takumu let out a long breath and patted Haruyuki’s knee lightly. “But that’s also his own weak point,” Takumu said in a slightly sharper voice.

“Huh?”

“I mean, it is, right? Taking, threatening, making people do what he says—that’s not friendship in the real sense of the word. Even if he is making Chi, Lime Bell, obey him now, Nomi, Dusk Taker, is essentially alone. How can we lose to a guy like that?”

“…Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

This time, it was Haruyuki grabbing Takumu’s hand, which was still resting on his knees. The cool, bony touch gave him more hope than he could say, and he was grateful from the bottom of his heart that Takumu/Cyan Pile was right there next to him.

They crossed Shinoume Kaido and got off the bus just as they were about to enter Nerima Ward.

They opened their umbrellas and watched the stream of cars flowing before them for a while. On the other side of the vehicles driving along, motors and hydrogen engines purring, was the territory controlled by the Red Legion, Prominence. Even though they had a truce with the Black Legion Nega Nebulus, that was only for the weekend Territory Battles. If they crossed the street now with their Neurolinkers still connected to the global net, there was no doubt that they’d be challenged to a duel in less than five minutes.

After meeting Takumu’s eyes and nodding, Haruyuki took a deep breath and spoke the command. “Command: voice call. Number: zero five.”

As he listened to the sound of the call being made, sweat oozed from his hands. He told himself to calm down, but he couldn’t curb his nervousness. After all, the person he was calling was none other than the level-niner controlling the strongest long-distance duel avatar in the Accelerated World, the Immobile Fortress who struck fear in the hearts of those around her, the Red King Scarlet Rain.

“I haven’t talked to you in ages, big brother Haruyuuuki!”

The high-pitched voice filled his brain, and Haruyuki’s knees started to buckle. Somehow managing to stay on his feet, he replied out loud rather than with neurospeak for the benefit of Takumu next to him. “Oh, s-sorry I haven’t kept in touch. Yuniko—”

“Ugh, Niko’s fine, okay? So what’s up, calling me out of the blue like this?” The Red King Niko was in angel mode, which was nothing more than a whim when she was in a good mood. But it did make things easier for him, so he spoke quickly to keep this chance from getting away.

“Uh, um, there’s something I want to talk—or, I guess, get your advice on. If you can, it’d be great if we could meet now in the real. Uh, of course we’d come to Nerima.”

“Hmm. It’s raining, you know? Oh, but I was feeling kinda like having some cake. One with tons of strawberries!”

“M-my treat, my treat. You can eat as many pieces as you want.”

“All right! In that case, meet me here.”

A map whooshed up in his field of vision as she spoke. The flashing dot was in the neighborhood of Sakuradai Station on the Seibu Line, not far from where they were.

“O-okay. We can probably make it there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Okay! See you soon!”

And then the call was disconnected. But they had pushed past the first barrier at least. He sighed heavily as he lifted his face.

“I have money,” Takumu said with a slightly meek look.

“Nah, we’ll split it.”

“But we’re getting her to meet us today because of me, so…”

While they were having this little back and forth, the next bus came, so they cut it short and jumped on. The moment they sat down, they disconnected their Neurolinkers from the global net. The bus raced along, large motor roaring, and crossed Shinoume Kaido to plunge into Nerima, the area reigned over by the Red Legion.

The shop they had been directed to was a cute little cake place tucked neatly among a row of shops on a small commercial street. Inside, half the room was taken up by chairs and tables, which he assumed meant that you could also eat in.

They had just closed their umbrellas and shaken the water off when they heard energetic splashing—feet jumping in puddles, approaching from behind. Haruyuki started to turn, only to find a small fist dug into his round stomach before he even had the chance to attempt a dodge.

“Hng!”

The grin looking up at the groaning Haruyuki from under a red umbrella belonged to a sweet-looking girl with large, greenish eyes, glittering in a small face full of freckles. Soft red hair was tied up in thin bundles on each side of her head, and she carried an elementary school backpack on her navy-uniformed back. The Neurolinker peeking out on her neck was the transparent red of a gem.

The girl took a step back. “Long time no see, big brother,” she said, twirling her umbrella. “You’re round as always, huh!” She turned her face to the left. “And you, Professor. You’re gloomy as always!”

Stiff smiles rose up on their faces, and they bowed briefly in greeting.

“It has been a while. Sorry for calling you out like this, Niko—”

“Totes fine! Let’s just get to the cake already!” The girl—ruler of the Nerima area, the Red King Yuniko Kozuki—shoved her umbrella into the umbrella stand and dashed into the store. The two hurried after her.

They sat at the table farthest back, and once they had a piece of cake outfitted with some serious strawberry resources and the somewhat frightening name “Strawberry Labyrinth,” an iced milk, and the two coffees they had ordered before them, Niko immediately picked up her fork and used it to stab a large strawberry that was glittering and shining at the very top of the concoction. She popped it into her mouth, filling her cheek, and grinned happily.

She stared at Haruyuki, who had gotten carried away watching her and had started to move his own mouth sympathetically. “You can’t have any!” she said, the purest of smiles on her lips.

“Th-that’s fine.”

“Aaw. Just kidding! Here, open up!”

She speared another berry and thrust it out in front of Haruyuki, so he reflexively opened wide. But with a heartless “kiiiiidding,” she rotated the strawberry one hundred eighty degrees away from him and Haruyuki’s teeth came down with a klak on empty air.

Thanks to a purposeful cough from Takumu, who was watching this play out from his side, Haruyuki returned to himself. Right, this isn’t the time for that. He drew himself up straighter. “A-anyway, Niko. What we wanted to talk to you about today…We wanted to meet in the real like this because we had a little favor to ask you.”

“Fay-fer?” Gulp. “Ten strawberries and you got my ear.”

“I—I don’t know how that’ll work exactly.” He glanced at Takumu, scratched his head, and got right into the meat of this audience. “Um, we want you to teach the Professor here—I mean, Takumu—about…how to use the Incarnate System.”

Niko froze just as she was about to scarf down her sixth strawberry. Blinking her deep green eyes repeatedly, she cocked her small head to one side, only to return her fork to her plate, strawberry still stabbed on its tines, and then leaned back in her chair.

Haruyuki could practically hear the snap of her circuits switching, i.e., the sound of Niko’s angel mode ending.

The innocent smile, so suited to the face of a sixth-grade girl, disappeared, and her eyes narrowed sharply. “What?” she barked in a dangerous voice colored with fire.

Sweat dripping down his forehead, Haruyuki began to explain, but she held a single finger up to silence him. Niko stood up. “Just gonna borrow the back room for a minute,” she called to the clerk behind the counter.

The young woman in a grape-colored pinafore nodded silently, and Niko started to walk briskly, the plate of half-eaten cake in her right hand and the glass of milk in her left. Haruyuki and Takumu looked at each other and, having no choice, grabbed their coffee cups and followed her.

A thin hallway stretched out from the back of the eat-in corner, in the middle of which was a thick door with a sign that said PRIVATE. Naturally, it appeared to be locked, but Niko raised the hand with the glass up into the air and hit a single point, after which came the sound of the lock opening.

On the other side of the door was a chic Western-style room about nine square meters in size. The walls and the floor were covered with a blackish paneling, a large sofa set sat in the center of the room, and beyond that was visible a door to what appeared to be a bathroom.

Niko gently placed her plate and glass on the sofa set’s coffee table, flicked a finger around on her virtual desktop to check something, and then turned toward them abruptly. “Idiots!!” she shouted. “You don’t just start running your mouth about Incarnate in public!!”

“Ah! S—! Sorry!”

Haruyuki and Takumu stood ramrod straight and Niko glared at them both with eyes that looked like they might shoot fire. Finally, she heaved an enormous sigh, threw her small body down onto the sofa, and crossed her legs tightly.

“Well, I’ll let it go this time. Sit.”

“O-okay.”

They also placed their cups on the table and sat down on the sofa across from her. Niko grabbed another strawberry with her right hand and popped it in her mouth. “This room’s sealed, so it’s safe,” she said in a low voice. “First off, tell me where you guys even heard about the Incarnate System. I know it wasn’t your girl—Black Lotus. Because then you could just get her to teach you, and anyway, it’s too soon for that. Way too soon.”

Before he answered that question, Haruyuki had a few of his own. What was this shop exactly? Why would a cake shop in the middle of town have an electromagnetic isolation room?

However, the look on Niko’s face indicated she was very much not in the mood for any detours, and he was forced to shelve his own questions. Taking a deep breath, he looked right at the Red King and began to talk.

“Umm, it’s kind of a long story, but the whole thing started when a Burst Linker started at Umesato Junior High—the school we go to—as a freshman seventh grader…”

Working hard to summarize the key points with utmost brevity, Haruyuki continued his explanation: that although this new student Dusk Taker was connected to the in-school local net, he wasn’t registered on the Brain Burst matching list. That he had toyed with them in the real world with a variety of tricks to back them into a corner. That he had used the special attack Demonic Commandeer to take Haruyuki’s wings in the Accelerated World. That to fight back against this difficult enemy, Haruyuki had trained long hours in the Unlimited Neutral Field and studied how to use his will. That although they had been one step away from driving Dusk Taker into his own desperate corner thanks to this power, they had lost in an upset because of Lime Bell’s sudden breakaway. And then, finally, that the Black King, Black Lotus, was on a school trip and would be away until the following Saturday.

He left out only Lime Bell’s healing abilities and Dusk Taker’s real information—i.e., the name Seiji Nomi.

The whole thing took nearly fifteen minutes, and once Haruyuki was finished, Niko still kept her mouth mostly shut. She stuffed her cheek with the final strawberry from the cake she had eaten as she listened, taking her time with it. Finally, she hummed nasally.

“Right, I get it. Dusk Taker…He’s a duel avatar with a plundering ability. Add in the fact that he uses the Incarnate, and he really would be too much for you two to handle as you are now.”

“Unfortunately, it’s just as you say,” Takumu said quietly. “Even in a situation where I should have the advantage, like close combat inside a building, once he started to use the Incarnate System, I couldn’t fight back at all. I’m nothing more than baggage right now. I’m in the way. And…I hate that more than anything.”

Niko shot a sharp look at Takumu as he pressed his clasped hands against his forehead in supplication, and then she let out a thoughtful sigh. “Which is why you came all the way to Nerima to ask me to teach the two of you—or rather, Pile—how to use the Incarnate System.”

“That’s exactly it, Red King.” Takumu nodded deeply.

Niko deftly twirled her fork between her fingers and pointed the handle at each of them in turn. “Well, it’s not like I don’t sympathize with the situation you guys are in. But…to be honest, this is someone else’s fight, another king’s Legion’s. And if I decided to, say, ignore this instead, Nega Nebulus’d be destroyed for me, and that’s a future pain in my ass gone. That’s the rational conclusion here, yeah?” Unable to contain himself, Haruyuki tried to butt in. But Niko still had more to say. “So let’s say I say that. And then Crow there’s gonna say something like, How can you say that when you came to us for help when your own Legion was in trouble? I think you still seriously owe us one. Or something. Right? That’s the gist of it?”

Haruyuki had been about to say exactly that. Beaten to the punch, he simply flapped his jaw.

Niko returned the fork to her plate, pushed the whole thing to a corner of the table, thumped her rain-boot-free feet up in the now-empty space, and clasped her hands behind her head. “Aaah, I knew something like this would happen one of these days! Lecture on the Incarnate Systeeeeem, that’s some pretty steep interest on that debt.”

As he watched Niko sighing and shaking her head, Haruyuki leaned forward unconsciously. “What? So, so then…you’ll do it?”

“Got no choice, do I? Pretty annoying to have people thinking I don’t pay back my debts, right? Honestly, if I knew this was what was up, I would’ve gotten the Royal Palace instead of the Strawberry Labyrinth,” she grumped, and Haruyuki couldn’t suppress the warmth expanding in his chest.

He knew that people in the Accelerated World did not exist just to fight as duelers. Even if they stood against each other as enemies, there was something more important than that. There was friendship, bonds.

Not knowing how to express the emotions overflowing inside him, Haruyuki grabbed one of the bobby-sock-clad feet that had been thrown up on the table in front of him. Instantly—

“Eeaah!! Wh-why do you always grab my feet, you total perv!!” she shrieked in anger, and kicked with her other leg to bury that foot in Haruyuki’s cheek.

Steam rising from her head, Instructor Niko’s first command was, “Get the plugs from under the table and connect them to your Neurolinkers.”

They twisted their necks and groped about to find that there were in fact several XSB plugs protruding from a hub-like contraption with a winding device. At any rate, although he pulled one out at the same time as Takumu, he felt a slight resistance to directing with an unknown connection.

“No tricks or anything in here!” Niko roared, casually inserting the plug. “This room’s isolated, so the only way to connect globally is with an actual cable, all right?”

So he hurried to obey. The connection warning popped up in his field of vision and then disappeared.

After running the fingers of both hands through space for a while, Niko looked at each of them in turn. “All right, it’s almost five,” she said in a more severe tone. “I have to be back at the dorm by six, so the time I can spend with you two is thirty minutes, up to five thirty, five hundred hours in the Accelerated World…about twenty days. In that time, you’ll learn an Incarnate technique you can use in an actual battle. And if you can’t do it, well, I can’t watch out for your sorry asses any longer than that.”

“No,” Takumu replied immediately to the Red King’s cool words. “One week inside. That’s enough.”

“Oh ho! Big talk, Professor. I’ll just see if you’re as ready as you think you are.” Grinning, Niko leaned her slim body, clad in a navy blazer and a pleated skirt, back on the sofa. “Okay, then. When I count to zero, we all dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field. Ready?”

Haruyuki and Takumu also pressed their backs and heads into the sofa. “Yes.”

“Here we go. Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A second after he heard Niko’s count reach one, he shouted the command to fly into the true Accelerated World.