Accel World

Accel World
Volume 1: The Return of Princess Snow Black
Chapter 1

On the top right corner of the virtual blackboard, a yellow finger icon flashed.
Haruyuki, who was daydreaming in class, involuntarily raised his head and shifted his eyes’ focus.
The dark green blackboard in view blurred to translucence for an instant, and in the next moment he could see the backs of students sitting in front of him as well as the figure of the teacher standing at the front of the classroom distinctly.
Although his classroom, classmates and teacher existed in reality, the transparent blackboard as well as the dense writing on it did not. Images of the numbers and markings that the teacher wrote in the air were formed directly in Haruyuki’s mind through the neuro-linker worn on his neck.
The aged math teacher, a little unskilled with the technology, moved his fingers over the blackboard that only he could see while giving his explanation in an indistinct, rumbling tone. In reality, his voice was not loud enough to reach Haruyuki’s ears, but the neuro-linker on his neck amplified and made it more distinct such that it resonated clearly in Haruyuki’s head.
Pulling his vision back in, the blackboard re-materialized, with only a few more math formulas scribbled on it. It seems like the mail wasn’t a compressed homework package sent by the teacher. That would mean that the person who sent it was another student from the same school, given that Haruyuki was not connected to the global network.
He had given up half a year after entering middle school any form of anticipation that it was a girl sending a good-willed message at the risk of breaking the school rules. Although Haruyuki really wanted to just directly drag the mail to the recycle bin at the bottom left corner of his field of vision, he didn’t know what would happen to him afterwards if he really did so.
Very unwillingly, he lifted his right hand into the air (this is not imaginary but a real action), and tapped the mail icon, seizing the opportunity once he saw the teacher turn away.
“Bubibabolubi!”
Such distasteful sounds, together with a torrent of colors that gushed out, immediately flooded both Haruyuki’s sight and hearing. Following which, an audio message sounded in place of text.
“Issuing Porky-kun today’s directive orders! (In the background, the laughing sounds of a few people can be heard). Bring two yakisoba breads, a cream pineapple bun, as well as three cups of strawberry yogurt to the roof within 5 minutes of the start of lunch break! Show up late, and it’s the pork bun torture! If you run away, it’s the barbecued pork bun torture! (Laughter bursts out in the background again). ”
Getting the feeling that someone’s line of sight was glued to his left cheek, Haruyuki used all of his willpower to keep his head still where it was. If he looked, he would definitely be humiliated by Araya and his underlings A and B’s mockery.
Recording such a mail together with visual and sound effects in the middle of class is of course an impossible task; they had probably done it beforehand. Those guys really have nothing better to do. On hindsight, what’s with “directive orders” anyway?! You’re just repeating the same meaning… idiots… idiots!!
Even though he was cursing and swearing continuously in his mind, Haruyuki of course did not dare to let out a single protest, or even reply. If Araya was an idiot, who, like cockroaches, would not go extinct regardless of the era and progression of society, then Haruyuki who had always been bullied by him would be a hopeless fool.
In reality, if he had just that little bit of drive, he could provide the school with the ten pieces of evidence that he had gathered so far, inclusive of this mail; letting those guys receive punishment was a piece of cake.
However, Haruyuki would always think of his predicament afterwards.
Even though neuro-linkers had become so commonplace that everyone had one and half of one’s daily activities were conducted through the virtual network, humans were still limited by physical constraints. Every single day, one would still feel hungry, still need to go to the toilet, and… would still feel the pain if hit, and all the more tragic it would be if one cried from the pain.
The ability to synchronize could affect promotion at school and one’s future – making these claims was just a strategy by giant internet companies to improve their image. In the end, a person’s value was ultimately decided by primitive parameters such as appearance and strength. Such was the conclusion drawn by 13-year-old Haruyuki, whom since 5th grade had weighed over 60kg and couldn’t run 50 meters within 10 seconds.
Not much was left of the 500¥ lunch money his mother had transferred over to him this morning through her neuro-linker, as it had been used to pay for the bread and drinks that Araya and gang wanted. Though he had accumulated around 7000¥ of savings from past allowances bit by bit, if he spent it, he would not be able to purchase the online game going on sale this month.
The metabolic rate of Haruyuki’s giant body was unusually high; consuming one less meal could result in him feeling faint from having an empty stomach, but he had to endure it only for today. Besides, being able to enter a state of complete synchronization during lunch break provided a means for him to endure the hunger.
Trying his best to contract his round body, Haruyuki’s destination was the second school block, which was lined with only specialized classrooms. Because everything from science experiments to culinary practices for home economics could be conducted through virtual courses now, this block gradually became disused, and few people were around. That was especially more so during lunch time, where not a single soul could be seen.
A male toilet down the dusty corridor was Haruyuki’s secret hideout. Moving with difficulty, he fled inside. His footsteps stopped together with the sounds of him panting. He then glanced at the glass mirror in front of the basin. The image on the other end of the pale glass was the epitome of the “small fat kid who was always bullied” on television dramas, the kind that made people feel like making fun of.
His messy hair was filled with personality with tufts all over the place, while no angular edges could be seen on the curve of his cheeks. As he turned his fleshy neck, his tie and silver colored neuro-linker were engulfed in it, which made it look as if he was being hanged.
He had thought of various means and ways to change his appearance, and there was even a period where he resorted to as reckless and radical a means as fasting. However, he ended up fainting during lunch break due to anemia, resulting in the creation of a horror story that was shared amongst numerous girls once their bento boxes were empty. From then on, Haruyuki decided to give up on his real self – at least while he was still a student. 0.1 seconds later, he shifted his vision off the mirror, and entered the cubicle in the, deepest corner of the toilet. After making sure that he had locked the door, he sat on the toilet bowl without even bothering to lift the lid. The plastic lid under his body let out creaking sounds of protest, something he was already used to hearing. Leaning his back on the back part of the toilet bowl, he relaxed his body and closed his eyes. What he chanted was a spell to liberate his soul from his heavy, tormented body. “Direct Link.” The neuro-linker, which had received Haruyuki’s voice command, raised its quantum connection level from sight and hearing to all senses. The weight of Haruyuki’s body and the painful, constricted feeling in his gut due to an empty stomach disappeared in an instant. The hardness of the toilet bowl and the tightness of his uniform also vanished. The sounds of laughter coming from students a distance away in the campus, the smell of cleaning agents that filled the toilet, as well as the plain door in front of him melted into the darkness. <<Synchronization Complete>> Even the feeling of gravity was cut off, and Haruyuki fell directly down into the darkness. But very quickly, a gentle and soft floating sensation and iridescent light rays enveloped his body. His virtual avatar used when synchronized started to be formed from the front parts of his hands and feet. Black, hoof-shaped hands and feet. Plump and elastic limbs. A bright pink body, shaped like a round ball. Although he couldn't see it for himself, a flattened nose should be protruding from the center of his face, and two big ears should be hanging at the sides. Simply put, his virtual avatar was a pink pig. Where his comical internet avatar landed with a "dong" sound was somewhere in a fairy-tale themed forest, the design of which was recommended by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. There were giant mushrooms growing everywhere. In the middle of the grassland, which was illuminated by an especially dazzling sun, was a spring where crystal-like water spouted out. The periphery of the grassland was surrounded by a circle of huge, hollow trees; their interior was used as a location for people to get together and interact as well as for recreational activities. These trees were cut into different stories and joined by stairs.
This virtual space is the local network of the Suginami district’s Umesato Middle School that Haruyuki attends.1
1 Translator’s note: this line is found in the translation by baka-tsuki but it is not present in the Chinese translation of the novel on xs.178.com. I added it in for good measure. The crowds interacting in the forest were basically all not human. About half were cute, bipedal animals, while winged (albeit unable to fly) demons, robots with white metallic skin and a mage in a long robe could also be seen. All of these were virtual avatars of students and teachers connected to the Umesato Middle School network. The students’ virtual avatars were mostly customized after choosing them from stock avatars that were originally provided. If one had the will, it was also possible to use the editor to create an entirely original design bit by bit. In the end, it dependent on a middle school student’s skill and aesthetics, but when Haruyuki showcased the original black rider design he had designed in April it received quite a bit of attention. ...But that was just a moment of glory. Haruyuki sighed and lowered his head to look at his current design. His black rider design was immediately seized by Araya, and he was forced to use this default design. Of course, this pink pig design was no worse in terms of uniqueness, because no one would choose such a self-humiliating design. Trying to contract his round body like he did in real life, Haruyuki ran towards a tree. Suddenly, he noticed that a large group of people were clustered near the edge of the spring in the middle of the forest. In the midst of the crowd, he saw a rare avatar that could not normally be seen. It wasn’t a default design. A pitch-black gown studded with transparent gems. She held a black parasol in her hands. Black swallowtail butterfly wings extended from her back, with linear iridescent lines running through them. Set against beautiful long hair was a clear, snow-white face. So perfect it was that it was hard to believe that it was a human creation. It was a professional level of design capability that Haruyuki could not even hope to reach. Leaning her splendorous body over a giant mushroom, she listened to the virtual avatars around her with a melancholic expression. What Haruyuki knew was that this girl was the student council vice president, but what was astonishing was that her beautiful appearance was an almost-perfect replica of her true appearance. Hence, she was proclaimed as – <<Snow Black>>. <<Kuroyukihime>>. Even that there was just this one similarity that Haruyuki and this existence were both students of Umesato Middle School, Haruyuki found it hard to believe. Just from simply looking at her, his sense of inferiority intensified continuously under criticism by his own self-consciousness. Reluctantly, he turned his head back to face the front.
Where Haruyuki was running towards with all his might was a big tree fitted with recreation and entertainment rooms. Although simply put it was a game corner, but it definitely did not have the kind of RPGs or strategy games sold in shops. All of the games were either intellectual games such and Q&A and puzzle games, or healthy sports games. Even so, many students gathered at each of the game zones, thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Each of them was in a state of complete synchronization at their desks in their own classroom or in the canteen. At this point in time, their original bodies were in a defenseless state, but playing pranks on people who were synchronized to the network was obviously an extremely rude act. As such, no once except Haruyuki would be worried about such a thing; synchronizing to the local school network in the classroom and discovering later that his trousers had been taken off was something that happened before it had even been a month since he entered school.
To stay out of people's sight, Haruyuki had hid his real body in the toilet, and now even in the virtual world, he ran up the stairway circling on the tree branches in one breath. The higher the floor, the less popular the game installed on that floor was.
He passed the baseball, basketball, golf and tennis zones one after another, and without even stopping to look at the table tennis zone, he reached the last floor, the...
<<Virtual Squash Game>> zone.
There was not a single student around, and the reason for the lack of popularity of the game was very obvious: although squash is similar to tennis, all one was doing was hitting the bouncing ball continually with a racket in a space enclosed by hard walls on all sides in solitude. No matter how you looked at it, it was a lonely sport.
Originally, the types of games that Haruyuki liked included First Person Shooter (FPS) games where one rushed into a battlefield with a sub-machine gun, and in these games he was a notch better than professionals from their source country (America). Of course, in Japan there are fairly popular games of similar types, but such games could not possibly exist on the school network. Also, when he was in elementary school, he shot and killed all of his male classmates using just a small pistol, and the next day he was bullied to a state so appalling that one could not bear the sight of it. This painful memory still remained distinct. After that incident, Haruyuki swore that he would no longer play the same games as his schoolmates, no matter the type of game.
Entering the right end of the empty game zone, he touched the operating screen using a single hand. Haruyuki entered his own student ID and read out his level and high score archived in the game.
Ever since the middle of the first school term, Haruyuki had been relying on this game to pass time during lunch break. As a result, his scores reached am unimaginably huge number. Even though he had grown tired of playing the game, he had nowhere else to go. He grabbed the racket that appeared from the top of the display using his black-hoofed pink right hand tightly.
With the words "GAME START", a ball dropped out of nowhere. Venting today's gloomy mood on the ball, he swung his racket with all his might.
*Whack* Leaving behind a trail of light for an instant, the ball flew like a laser, bouncing back after hitting the floor and wall. To catch the trajectory of the rebounding ball which seemingly cannot be followed with the eyes, he listened to his mind, which automatically guided him to the appropriate solution: move one step to left and do a backhand swing.
Haruyuki could, of course, not move so swiftly in reality. But this was a virtual world where one was liberated from all physiological restraints. Knowing the direction of the ball’s movement and moving one’s body were all but the result of quantum signalling between his brain and the neuro-linker.
In an instant, the ball lost its material form, and only a single flash of a blurry trail of its trajectory could be seen in the court. The sound “Pa-Dong, Pa-Dong” could be heard resounding continuously within a single second, like a machine gun. Nonetheless, Haruyuki was able to jump freely and endlessly within the space using the body of the small pig, venting all his rage by hitting the ball in all directions with the racket.
Bastards… Who needs reality?
Even though he was challenging the most extreme speeds in the game, he was still unfocused; the sound of shouted complaints reverberated in his head.
Why do we still need pointless things such as real classrooms and schools? People can just solely live through the virtual world, and the number of adults who did so in reality was already uncountable. In the past, there was even an experiment where a person’s consciousness was totally converted to quantum data in an attempt to construct a real, separate world.
Even so, with the stupid reasons of learning about communal living and fostering sentiments, kids were thrown together and locked within the fences of reality. This should be rather decent for Araya and his gang - not only do they have a suitable means of relieving stress, they also can save up on their allowance. However… what should I do next?
With the sound of “Ding-Dong!”, the game level on the corner of his field of vision increased by one.
The speed of the ball increased instantaneously. The angle of reflection of the ball also became irregular and it bounced back in a surprisingly unexpected way, moving in a curved line.
Haruyuki’s responses gradually became unable to keep up.
Damn it… Faster… Faster!
Be it the virtual or real world, to pierce through all barriers, to reach places where no one has ever been before… Swiftly!
*Swish*, he missed the ball. It streaked past Haruyuki’s cheeks like a ray of light, flew behind him, and disappeared. The words “GAME OVER” dropped down accompanying sound effects that sounded both comical and dejected, bouncing on the court with a “boing boing” sound.
Without even looking at the flashing high score, Haruyuki turned his head and walked towards the control panel with the intention of restarting the game.
At this moment, a sudden voice caused Haruyuki’s sacred hidden hiding spot to shake.
“Ah!! You were actually hiding in this kind of place!!”
The loud, high pitched shout made his ears, or perhaps cerebrum, go numb. Haruyuki, whose back was tense from shock, turned around to see a student with an animal-form avatar.
Even so, the avatar wasn’t in the slightest bit as comical as the pig design of Haruyuki’s avatar. A delicate and slim body figure; a cat covered with silver fur suffused with a slight hint of purple. One of her ears and the end of one of her tails were tied with dark blue ribbons in butterfly knots. Even though it was not an avatar that was created from scratch, it could be seen that modifications were made to every part of the body.
Her glistening, golden pupils exuded anger. She opened her mouth full of small, sharp canines and shouted again.
“You always aren’t around during lunch break recently, causing me to have to go through such pains to find you! It’s fine if you’re playing games, but can you please stop playing such non-mainstream games? Wouldn’t it be good if you came down and played with everyone?”
“That’s my problem, leave me alone.”
Giving only this short reply reluctantly, Haruyuki intended to return to the squash court once again. However, the silver cat turned her head and glanced at the "GAME OVER" sign by chance, after which she let out a shrill scream:
"What's this? Level 152, score of 2.63 million? You really are..."
- - super awesome!
In his heart, Haruyuki anticipated a little that he would receive of such words of praise. However, his expectations were easily crushed.
"An idiot aren't you?? What are you doing without even eating your lunch?! Disconnect right now!!"
"I don't want to, there's still 30 minutes until lunch break ends. You should be the one leaving."
"Ah... you–you're actually giving this sort of attitude! Looks like you're forcing me to take action."
"Try it if you can."
Muttering that, Haruyuki picked up his racket once again. The virtual avatars in the school network did not have <>; with the rationale of preventing inappropriate behavior, students are unable to touch other students' avatars. Of course, using tough measures to force oneself to disconnect from a network was another topic of discussion.
The cat avatar extended her long and slender tongue with a sad sigh, and following which shouted:
"Link Out!"
The figure disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a vortex of light and the sound of bells.
Finally, that noisy person is gone. He dissipated a slight tinge of loneliness by blowing out a sigh from his nose, and that was when-
*Dong!* A heavy blow came from within his mind, and all of his surroundings disappeared. Feeling as though he was being sucked in by spots of light on the other side of the darkness, the scene of reality appeared before him.
Feeling the heavy weight of his own body, Haruyuki blinked desperately to readjust the focus of his eyes.
It was the original cubicle in the male toilet. However, in place or the bluish grey door that should have been in front of him, Haruyuki saw something unexpected.
“What are you-?!”
Standing fiercely in front of him was a female student. The green bow-tie on her school uniform indicated she was also a first year student.
She had a thin and small figure, with a weight that seemed to be only 1/3 of Haruyuki’s. She had short hair, and her fringe was combed up to the right and secured in place with a pin. Resembling a little like a cat, she had a petite figure but disproportionately large eyes, which were currently filled with anger and staring at Haruyuki.
In her left hand she was holding on to a small box, while her right hand was outstretched and clenched, extending to the top of Haruyuki’s head. Seeing this, Haruyuki finally understood why he was suddenly cut off from his state of complete synchronization. The female student had hit his head directly with her fist, and the impact caused the neuro-linker to activate its safety mechanism, automatically disconnecting him.
Normally, the safety level of neuro-linkers are set such that the safety mechanism could be activated just by shaking the person’s shoulders or by shouting at them; some neurotic girls even set it such that they would disconnect once anyone came within a one meter radius. The reason why Haruyuki did not notice the intruder until he had been hit directly on his head was because he had set the safety level to the lowest since he was hidden in the toilet cubicle.
“Yo–you!!”
Haruyuki, who was shocked to the extent that he could not control himself, started to shout at this girl – the only girl he could converse with easily in this school.
“What are you doing! This is the male toilet! And the door was obviously locked, you idiot!!”
“You are the idiot.”
Haruyuki's childhood friend, who just conquered the insurmountable obstacle of entering the male toilet in just a short skirt, was Kurashima Chiyuri. She pulled her right hand back after retorting with a scowl, reached behind her and opened the door.
With a light and quick movement, she jumped out of the cubicle. The shine of her maroon hair under the light of the sun caused Haruyuki to involuntarily squint. Chiyuri finally gave a faint smile and urged:
"Hey, come out already."
"Okay, okay."
Swallowing a sigh back into his belly, Haruyuki stood up, accompanied by the creaking sound of the toilet seat cover. While walking towards the entrance with Chiyuri, he finally brought up another question:
"How did you know I was here?"
He did not receive an immediate reply. After sticking her head out of the male toilet to affirm the situation, Chiyuri quickly bolted onto the corridor, giving a brief answer:
"I was on the roof as well, so I followed along."
That would mean--
"You saw it?"
Haruyuki murmured, stopping just after he had taken the first step onto the corridor.
Looking as if she were searching for words, Chiyuri lowered her head and leaned her back against the wall. Finally, she nodded her head.
“I won’t talk about those guys again. If you’ve decided to let things be, then there’s nothing I can do. However, you still have to take your lunch. Doing this is bad for your body.”
With a smile that looked like it was a little forced, Chiyuri held up the box in her left hand.
“I... made a bento. I can’t guarantee its taste though.”
…Tragic... This was the only word that surfaced in Haruyuki’s mind.
His heart, which wanted to search for an emotion apart from pity in Chuyuri’s words, was in sorrow.
That was because Chiyuri already had a boyfriend: another childhood playmate, who was in all aspects the complete opposite of Haruyuki.
His mouth started to move on its own, and Haruyuki heard a voice that was subtly lacking in intonation coming from his own mouth.
“These are extras from what you were making for Taku, aren’t they?”
In an instant, Chiyuri’s expression was shrouded. Unable to look directly into the eyes under her knitted eyebrows, Haruyuki turned his gaze towards the corridor.
“No, they aren’t; Taku’s school provides lunch. Here there are only sandwiches, potato salad and ham with cheese. They’re your favorites, aren’t they?”
Looking at the white basket in his field of vision, Haruyuki wanted to extend his right hand to push it back obstinately.
However, his slow, real body defied his will; with a violent movement, it smacked the box from her hands and sent it falling to the floor. The lid bounced open the moment the box hit the ground, and the triangular sandwiches fell out from their aqua blue food wrapping and became deformed.
“Ah...”
Although Haruyuki reflexively wanted to apologize, his mind was so emotionally agitated that he couldn’t control himself; even if he wanted to say anything, he was unable to spit it out. Without even being able to lift his head, he moved backwards with his head lowered, and abruptly turned his body with a loud cry:
“I- I don’t want them!”
Haruyuki really wanted to immediately disconnect from this place, but his thought, filled with pain, was of course impossible to fulfill. At the very least, he wanted to desperately run away, but his real body had to be just so heavy; he was unable to escape from the faint sobbing sounds coming from behind him.
Haruyuki went through that afternoon’s lessons and class meeting under the worst atmosphere. Once class ended, he dashed out of the classroom as though he was escaping.
To go to Chiyuri’s classroom which was two classrooms away, or wait at the school gate, or to wait for her on the way home and then apologize to her? Desperately pushing those voices which were resounding continuously in his mind out of his consciousness, he ran towards another of his secret hideouts, the library.
A place like the library had actually already completed its mission in history. However, there were some adults who felt that it was essential for schools to have paper books that matched their style so as to provide students with the necessary education. Hence, new books that were gratuitously resource- and space-wasting lined the shelves.
Of course, it was thanks to these people that he had this precious personal space, so there was nothing to grumble about. Hugging 2 to 3 hardcover books as a cover, he occupied the section of the reading area that was next to the wall. He buried his body within the narrow seat, and with the softest voice the neuro-linker could recognize, gave the command to synchronize.
Because less than a few minutes had passed since the course ended, the school network was deserted. Haruyuki took this chance to speedily run across the grass patch and up the tree branches, hiding in his usual spot. The virtual squash zone naturally remained in a deserted state. In reality, he didn’t actually want to play such a simple ball-hitting game, but rather wanted to immerse himself in an intense, bloody battle where bullets rained so as to temporarily forget the depression he felt in his chest. However, the school had restrictions on connecting to the globalnet and starting the game, and he had no choice but to comply.
Although his hunger had long exceeded its tolerable threshold, he did not want to return home immediately. If he were to meet Chiyuri on the way home, he didn’t know what expression to make or what words to use. No – actually, apologizing to her would do, but he had no confidence in making his mouth comply with his thoughts.
– It was just as such at that point in time as well.
In the past, there were also times that he made Chiyuri cry; thinking of the scenes back then made him involuntarily squeeze his eyes shut. Putting his right hand on the operating display, he logged in.
He outstretched his hand to grab the racket, and turned to face the court.
Open my eyes, aim at the falling ball, and vent all my frustration with this hit–
Haruyuki instantly froze.
The monochrome, solid letters in the middle of the court displayed a figure different from what he remembered.
“Level 166!?”
It was more than 10 levels higher than the record that Haruyuki set just a few hours ago.
Exactly what happened? The student ID logs should be managed... After a moment of thinking, Haruyuki instantly understood it. At that point in time, because Chiyuri had hit him to force him to disconnect, the game was left running. Hence, someone had continued the game and broke the record. But...
Who except himself could obtain such ridiculous results?
Haruyuki tried hard to maintain his collapsing self-confidence; After all, this was a VR game under a complete synchronization environment. Of course, besides Q&A and board games where intelligence determines who wins and who loses, Haruyuki was sure that no one could beat him in action and racing games, as well as those that relied on shooting on reflex.
But of course, he had not shown off his skills before. Even if he managed to garner people’s attention, nothing good would happen; such a deep impression had been left on him since elementary school. He had always felt there was no need to further affirm his ability, but… This frightening squash game score was...
At this very moment–
A voice came from behind his back, but it wasn’t Chiyuri. Although it was also feminine, the voice was deeper and silky smooth.
“Are you the one who got that absurd score?”
The person who stood in front of him as Haruyuki turned around on tenterhooks was...
A silver-studded dark dress. A staff-, or sword-like parasol poked the ground. Pure white skin and jet black pupils–
...<<Kuroyukihime>>
Although it was only a virtual avatar, it did not seem in the least bit unreal; it faintly revealed of a kind of sorrowful beauty. The most famous person in school approached him silently.
A faint smile might or might not have appeared have appeared on her red lips, the only colored part of her whole body as she continued:
“Do you want to accelerate further, young man?” “If you are interested, come see me at the lounge tomorrow during lunch break.” With that, she immediately disconnected, just leaving behind these words. Her virtual avatar was in Haruyuki’s field of vision for less than 10 seconds. Was it a bug in the local network? For an instant Haruyuki thought he was hallucinating. What had just happened was really unbelievable, but the frightening score that remained floating on the court was indubitable. Even completely losing his will to challenge himself to set a new record, Haruyuki disconnected and just sat in the library’s reading area blankly. Within the depths of his ear, only those few sentences resounded indefinitely in loops. She speaks with a different tone compared to other middle school students, but there was no sense of disharmony blended into her overwhelming presence. Rather, it would be better to say that with a single look at her, it was indisputable why she was extremely popular amongst both guys and girls. Finally taking weak steps out of the school compound, the route home seemed to be completed with his body moving automatically. If it wasn’t for the visual and sound interface of the neuro-linker’s traffic prediction and navigator, he would perhaps have been flattened by cars twice or thrice over.
There was no one at home when Haruyuki returned to his high-rise apartment in Kouenji2
In his dreams Kuroyukihime appeared not as her virtual avatar but as her real form, the student council vice president. Even though he had apparently only seen her on the podium of the school stage with an aloof and emotionless expression, for some reason in his dreams a . Haruyuki directly heated up a frozen pizza, and filled his stomach with it along with a carbonated drink. His parents had divorced long ago, and now he lived with his mother. However, she would not be home before midnight, which meant that the only time they could see each other would be when he obtained his lunch money from her right before going to school. After filling his stomach with junk food, he confined himself in his room. If he followed his usual routine as of late, he would first surf the net, then immerse himself in European battlefields for hours on end, use a bit of free time to complete his homework, and then finally go to sleep. However, there was nothing he wanted to do today. Perhaps because too many things happened today, his brain felt heavy, as though it was swollen. Once Haruyuki changed his clothes and took off his neuro-linker, he fell heavily and laid on his bed. He was sleepy, but his sleep was definitely not peaceful. Araya and gang’s mockery, Chiyuri’s tears and Kuroyukihime’s puzzle-like words repeatedly appeared in Haruyuki’s dreams, causing him to toss and turn.