Chapter 6
Friday.Haruyuki walked along the sidewalk among students who were going to school their expressions shining with the prospect of two days of weekend after the long week that had just passed with his shoulders dropped dejectedly.
"A guy... a guy like me..."
He mumbled to himself, filled with self-loathing so early in the morning.
He thought that if the dream he had on the night of installing Brain Burst was the scariest one of his life, the dream he had the night before might be the basest one. If the person he dreamed about was just Kuroyukihime, it might have been the most blissful dream he had ever had, but then number of people in the dream became two, and that person was—.
"Auu...aaa..."
He desperately pushed back the urge to grab his head and run.
The producers of Neurolinkers are said to be working towards creating a truly dream-like application called «Dream Record». It's a good thing that it didn't exist yet. Well—he couldn't say that he didn't feel disappointed that his dream wasn't recorded...
"Hey! Good morning, boy!"
Haruyuki jumped as somebody greeted him cheerfully with a slap on his shoulder.
Then he jumped again after turning around and seeing the beauty in black standing there.
"Hwuaaa?!"
"...What was that? Is it a greeting that's popular these days?"
Kuroyukihime had a dubious expression on her face. Haruyuki shook his head.
"No, it-it's nothing!! So, go-good morning, senpai!!"
"...Hmmm."
Kuroyukihime cocked her head once more, then coughed slightly and spoke again.
"Hmm—. Ahh—. Well, I... apologize about yesterday. I wasn't being very mature."
"N-no... there's no way it's like that, it's nothing of the sort. I should be the one apologizing... I went home without even saying goodbye properly..."
Students who were wearing the same uniform slowly started milling around the two who were having a conversation. Not just first years but second and third years were also waiting to greet Kuroyukihime with looks of admiration in their eyes. Soon, a line had formed.
Having seen this, Kuroyukihime shouted "Hey, good morning to all of you!" and finished the greetings in one fell swoop then tapped Haruyuki on the back and hurried off. She continued the conversation, whispering in Haruyuki's ear after he had hastily caught up.
"No... of course you wanted to get away. I had treated your precious... friend, as a cowardly marauder. It was my fault that I made you say that you would check by a direct link. I sincerely apologize."
"Huh? Ah... Well, I did it... the direct link."
"...What?"
Her face froze. She spoke even before Haruyuki could put up his guard. He had the feeling that something wasn't quite right.
"Where did you do it?"
She asked with an edge to her voice, there was no choice but to answer truthfully.
"That-that is... at her house..."
"Where in the house?"
"I-in a room... He-her room."
"...Ho."
Kuroyukihime increased her pace for some reason. Haruyuki had to chase after a person with a much longer stride than him with sweat running down his brow. It took him a couple seconds to catch up and continue the conversation.
"So, I sneaked a peek at her memory... and in her Neurolinker there was..."
"How long was the cable?!"
Kuroyukihime asked with an aura that seemed to bore in him. Haruyuki answered timidly, feeling more and more frightened.
"It-it was thirty centimetres."
"...H-hmph."
Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap.
Haruyuki could only watch Kuroyukihime's long hair shake to and fro as she walked towards the school entrance ahead of them at a frightening pace.
I don't understand. This world is just full of things I don't get.
Haruyuki paid attention in his morning classes and took a bunch of notes as a form of escape. He sat idly at ease in his seat, unable to take any sort of action even though he heard the lunch bell ring.
If he thought about it logically, he should immediately go find Kuroyukihime and talk about the backdoor that «Cyan Pile» had installed in Chiyuri's Neurolinker, as well as how to track the packet down. But if he couldn't figure out the reason behind why Kuroyukihime had been acting oddly since yesterday, there would be no way he could concentrate.
Truth be told, he made people in front of him feel disgusted quite a lot. It would be more of a surprise if there wasn't someone who got annoyed at an overly obese guy that sweated like a waterfall and mumbled almost inaudibly. The expression on the person's face would further intimidate Haruyuki and his voice would continue to get smaller until it became hard to even hear it.
Perhaps Kuroyukihime had been tolerating him until now and had finally gone past her limit.
If so, it would be better to give up talking to her face to face in real life. If they talked with their full dive avatars, he wouldn't sweat at least and the volume of his voice would be automatically compensated. Getting things done like this smoothly and efficiently would be the most desirable thing for me as well.
As Haruyuki kept telling himself this while gazing at the table. Then a loud voice suddenly blared down from above his head.
"Hello! First year second class Haruyuki-kun right?!"
He jerked his head up in surprise. Two girls whose faces he didn't know were standing in front of him. Both had a hologram tag on their shoulder that showed that they were in the middle of a club activity. [Newspaper club].
Wha?!
A new icon flashed in Haruyuki's vision as he almost fell down in surprise. [SREC]. This was an icon that told you that the other person was recording your conversation. Of course it wasn't something that was freely allowed but it was allowed in very few instances in the school.
For example, material for the newspaper club.
Haruyuki couldn't even look at his classmates who were watching with interest around him. He prepared to run away, disregarding how he would look. But, as if they were used to these sorts of situations, there was someone who stood behind him to block his escape route.
The surprise reporter placed her hands on the hologram keyboard and asked the question which struck at the heart of the problem.
"This is Umesato Real Times, «Head☆shot to that friend in the rumours» corner!! Well to get straight to the point, is it true that Arita-kun is going out with the all famous Kuroyukihime-san?!"
Haruyuki stared at the flashing recording icon, frozen in an awkward position.
He concentrated as hard as he could and managed to reply in a steady-ish voice.
"It's a lie. A rumour. There is no truth behind those words."
The reporter typed quickly on her invisible keyboard then launched a counter attack.
"But according to the information we have gathered, Arita-kun has linked directly with Kuroyukihime-san twice in the lounge and once more in a café within the school district!"
"Eh..."
The girl looked down as Haruyuki wondered how they knew and light flashed across her real glasses, which was a rare occurrence these days.
This wasn't good. I'm cornered. If I answer wrong here, the situation will become unredeemable.
Several sensational headlines appeared in his head. He could even hear the bloody judgment of the Kuroyukihime fan club coming from somewhere.
With one cheek in spasms, Haruyuki thought three times faster than he had been during his fight with «Ash Roller» and came up with an answer that seemed innocent enough.
"Eh—, w-w-well that is. I-I-I know quite a lot about neurolinker OSs, and senpai's neurolinker was in bad shape, so I fixed it for her after being asked to. The thing in the café was just compensation for that. There's nothing beyond that, nothing, not even a little."
As he shook his head with a stiff smile the newspaper club member stopped typing and frowned.
Even if they saw them linking, it was impossible to tell if they had talked through or if he had just fiddled with the neurolinker. It wasn't a great excuse but they wouldn't have anything they could say about it.
As Haruyuki calmed down, he kept talking to make his defence stronger.
"And... and if you look at how senpai acts when she's with me you'll know. She gets upset really easily when she talks with me. There's no way that she's going out with me."
And that's the end of the interview, was what he thought, but the girl cocked her head and asked as if she knew something was off.
"Upset? It didn't seem that way at all..."
"It-it's true! Even this morning, she went off by herself and was angry for some reason... was it when we were talking about Chiyu, I mean Kurashima? That time too..."
"Kurashima.....san? You mean the girl who argued with Kuroyukihime over something...?"
After blinking her sparkling eyes behind her glasses—
The club member stopped acting in her more dramatic manner and moved her finer. The recording icon disappeared from Haruyuki's sight.
"...? Has the interview finished?"
"Erm, well... there's more to it than that..."
She said that a little awkwardly and exchanged glances with her partner who was standing behind Haruyuki. She then continued to talk in what seemed to be her normal manner of speaking.
"Well to tell you the truth, we sort of half-believed the rumours. We actually came here to see if the rumour was false..."
"Yes...?"
The girl got slightly closer to Haruyuki and whispered low enough so that only Haruyuki could hear.
"Hey, Arita-kun. It couldn't really be... well this is what I think... but maybe, are you and Kuroyukihime, really well... that?"
"Whaaat!?"
"Well, y'know, if she gets upset every time you talk about that Kurashima-san who's close to you... well... yeah?"
The other club member who stood next to her continued.
"Yeah, that, the only thing it could be is..."
Then both of them told Haruyuki at the same time as if they were oracles from a temple.
"...jealousy, right?"
When Haruyuki recovered his state of mind he found himself in a cubicle in the men's restroom.
He had run away again but he didn't have the luxury of mind to feel remorse for what he had done.
Jealousy? What's that? Is it edible?
He wanted to run away from his thoughts like that but a believable explanation had already appeared on his mind like a red hot iron brand.
The reason that Kuroyukihime was getting upset when they talked of Chiyuri was because of...... jealousy.
Yes. That's what the two of them had said.
Jealousy. Envy. In other words, Kuroyukihime had not been acting or joking but really—
"It's a lie."
Haruyuki rushed ahead of himself and muttered that. There was no way that was true. It might happen to other people but to him, Arita Haruyuki, such a thing cannot happen. Don't think like that. Don't wish for it. If he did he would, without a doubt, toss and turn in his bed while regretting it two to three times more.
Haruyuki banged his head on the flush tank behind him and told himself again.
"It's a lie...a lie."
But the more he said it, the more he remembered the little actions, expressions and words Kuroyukihime had showed and told him.
That time...and that time, and that time, did she really...?
"...It's a lie!!"
Haruyuki punched the cubicle wall and hugged his head.
It was painful to even continue thinking right now. He wanted to run away from here more than ever. The moment he was going to give the command for full dive—
He remembered the crazy high score that Kuroyukihime had managed to achieve in virtual squash.
He could never exceed that score. If so, he couldn't use that game to escape from reality anymore.
"...why."
He muttered again, a little louder this time.
"...why!? Why me!?"
You have everything. Looks, brains, physical skills, social graces, and even—the one thing I really prided myself on, reaction speed in virtual games.
In other words I didn't have anything that was better than you.
Of course Haruyuki was the person with an aptitude for Brain Burst that Kuroyukihime had been looking so hard for.
But even then, there were three of them in the same middle school, it meant nothing more than that.
Onto that Haruyuki's «Silver Crow» looked like a helmet put onto a body made out of wire; it had no skills beyond kicking and punching. With a duel avatar like that, he couldn't be of any more use other than finding out the identity of the enemy—«Cyan Pile». If so, treat me with only the treatment I deserve: coldly. She could just see me as a chess piece and just give me orders.
He didn't expect anything more than that. He wouldn't have dreamed of anything more than that. But—why, why did Kuroyukihime act like that, make such expressions, why did she look at me like that?
Finally Haruyuki decided to cling onto one conclusion with the sole wish to set his mind at rest. It didn't seem as if he would be able to find any other reason now.
Nevertheless the person who threatens Arita free lunch had already disappeared, but because of the issue regarding Kuroyukihime he hasn't eaten his lunch. However, Haruyuki didn't feel hungry at all and so he went to class as usual, feeling dull as he endured the rest of his afternoon course.
It seems that their lecturer had talked about Araya and the gang, but Arita was too preoccupied with the Kuroyukihime issue and didn't catch any of the info. As he saw his classmates run out of the classroom as the school bell rang, he had only just picked up his bag and gotten out of his seat.
Just passed 3'o'clock in the afternoons. The rich red late autumn sun had already begun to shine lowly just beyond the school gates. Haruyuki slowly dragged his feet as he recognized the black outline gates that he always saw.
"Hey..."
With her blunt smile and her drifting hand raised, Kuroyukihime stopped her "Typing actions" as she saw Haruyuki walking past her. Haruyuki thought that she must have purposely brought these assignments outside in the gruelling cold wind when they were meant to be done inside her office.
In contrast, Haruyuki remained speechless and nodded his head.
An unnatural silence between the two had taken place. The cool wind that chilled to the spine had blown past their legs with the falling leaves.
Since Kuroyukihime knew that Haruyuki was being stubborn by not talking to her, she put up a fake cough and said:
"We shall talk as we walk..."
"Ok."
Haruyuki nodded hastily.
Kuroyukihime silently walked, whereas Haruyuki followed her left rear as they walked out of the school gate.
As usual, they didn't say anything to each other. After a minute or two, Kuroyukihime began to speak after clearing her throat:
"How should I start this...hmm... Nevertheless, I'm very sorry for what had happened during this morning. I shouldn't have put up such a straight attitude."
"No, this isn't the case...it didn't bother me that much. I should apologize too, for not coming to find you during lunch time." Haruyuki replied.
After hearing a smooth reply from Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime slid her head slightly, immediately she nodded her head as if she understood everything.
"That's better... the truth is that, erm... even I don't know what exactly went into me. However, upon hearing this «Cyan Pile» name, I'm unable to keep my calm."
Kuroyukihime continued to look forward as she spokes, though her tempo of speaking had quickened and started to sound endless...
Haruyuki cut her monologue off by speaking in a dull and mono-tone voice:
"Speaking of which, I have found out the connection between «Cyan Pile» and Chiyuri."
"Eh? I see... Erm... How about we establish a direct connection to communicate with each other? Surely we wouldn't want to get into trouble if this kind of information is exposed." Kuroyukihime replied.
As soon as Kuroyukihime replied, she hastily searched for her handbag for something instead of her pocket. This was unusual, as she typically searched through her pockets.
Finally, she pulled out the thing she was looking for from her handbag, a bag that had the Umesato Middle School Store label on it.
Kuroyukihime took the tape off the bag and pulled out a transmission wire.
"Um...I accidently snapped the transmission wire that we used yesterday. And... I didn't have a lot of money with me when I was in the store. So I bought this wire instead."
Kuroyukihime sounded like she was trying to make an excuse when she said this. She took out the transmission wire which is only 1 meter long. This is one of the shortest transmission wires that is sold inside the store. Haruyuki purposely ignored her real intention while she tried to explain herself for getting that length of wire. He didn't want to look at her either. All he did was grabbed one end of the wire quickly from her hand and attached it to his Neuro-Linker.
"..."
It seemed like Kuroyukihime was waiting for Haruyuki to say something. But after hesitating for a bit, she attached the other end to her Neuro-Linker as well. Like always, a "Pop-Up" message that prompted users that they were connected through a direct connection had shown. It disappeared after a few seconds and at the same time, Haruyuki gave this dry explanation:
"Chiyuri isn't «Cyan Pile». «Cyan Pile» has installed a virus in her neuro-linker, which is a backdoor program. This meant that whenever there's a challenge from him, his location will be marked as Chiyuri's location."
Kuroyukihime didn't say anything even though after hearing what Haruyuki had just said. After a brief pause, the response Kuroyukihime gave sounded as if she was deeply afraid of something happening.
"Did something happen to you?...I feel that...Ever since our talk earlier, you've been behaving strangely."
"Nope, nothing is wrong with me."
Haruyuki continued to stare forward and refused to answer her directly, even though she's just a meter away.
"Unless... You're angry with me? Is it because this morning and yesterday, I had shown weird attitude towards you?" Kuroyukihime asked.
"How is that possible? There's no reason for me to be angry at senpai. Just ignore me, we're discussing serious issue here, aren't we?" Haruyuki replied.
Just when the thin wire stream passed, another moment of silence fell onto them.
Since the tall buildings blocked the sunlight, the pedestrian crossing became dark as Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime stood at it along with other pedestrians were over shadowed as well. No one else noticed that Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime was crossing the road with them.
"...Do you have evidence that proves this?" Kuroyukihime asked.
As usual, sadness had struck Haruyuki's head once again as he heard this.
"Do you have evidence to conclude that Chiyuri really isn't «Cyan Pile»?" Kuroyukihime continued.
"Not yet, but that's because if I touched these malicious programs, «Cyan Pile» would definitely know. So I simply just looked through them."
"Oh? Your judgement is acceptable but, it's not solid enough evidence for me to accept. Using a backdoor program to connect through the burst linker network... this is the first time I've heard of this. How do you expect me to believe you?"
As the conversation continued, Kuroyukihime became more and more agitated. Haruyuki bit his lip and used a dull tone to respond.
"So... Senpai thinks that I fabricated this story? Or decided to be with Chiyuri and an ally of «Cyan Pile»? If that's the case, it's pointless for me to continue talking. In the end, it's all up to you Senpai, whether or not you believe what I'm saying."
"I never said any of that... you're thinking too much." Kuroyukihime felt slightly shaken as she said this. However, Haruyuki stubbornly stood his ground and asked:
"...Are those your heart-felt words?"
Kuroyukihime stopped her walking suddenly and replied Haruyuki warmly.
"If I were to know that you had sought refuge with «Cyan Pile», I would have killed you and took all of your burst points. I would have forced an UN-installation of your Brain Burst Program, making you unable to accelerate anymore. If I didn't trust you in the first place, I wouldn't be wasting my breath talking to you, I would have kill you outright. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
"Of course I understand. As long as Senpai is happy, I will be willing to be at your command anytime you need me to. That's because... I'm just a tool for senpai right? A tool that when Senpai no longer needs, she will just throw it away." Haruyuki answered.
"You..."
Kuroyukihime grabbed Haruyuki's left shoulder after hearing what Haruyuki had just said. She turned blue, as if she was unable to control her burning emotions.
"You're really angry with me aren't you? It's true that I'm unable to control my attitude at times, for that, I can apologize to you. But..."
As Kuroyukihime spoke, words that she wanted to tell Haruyuki all along began flowing out:
"You see... There're times that I'm unable to control my emotions too. I would feel frustrated, especially when it's about Chiyuri and «Cyan Pile»".
Kuroyukihime lowered her head as she tried to explain herself even though she felt her bottled-up feelings.
"Alright, since you want to know my true reasons for acting like this, I'll tell you... I..."
Right as Kuroyukihime was about to send her thoughts to Haruyuki, he turned his head and cut her off.
"There isn't a need to. You don't need to explain."
"Eh?...What? What did you just say?"
"Just from seeing the way you reacted, I'm already feeling sick of it. So please stop it."
"What are you talking about? What do you mean? What do you mean by this...?"
Haruyuki stood still and stared at the pieces of tiles which were located at the bottom right side of his vision as he concluded :
"Senpai, you... You hate yourself right?"
Haruyuki heard Kuroyukihime take a deep breath.
Haruyuki had known earlier that if he said these words, there's no way that he could take them back. Words had fallen into deaf ears when he thought he heard that Chiyuri was supporting him yesterday. He could no longer stop the way he was thinking.
"You hate yourself for being so perfect and special. So you try to be a normal person by ruining yourself, am I right?"
Kuroyukihime had softened her grip against Haruyuki's shoulder as she heard this.
Well this should be the last time that I will be meeting Senpai Haruyuki thought as he continued his speech.
"So just to ruin yourself, you simply found a person like me, who's fat and ugly. You held my hand and treated me nicely, but you didn't have to as I will still do your bidding. I don't expect any rewards or anything because I'm just a pawn for Senpai to use; a servant that will listen to your command. You know that this is the kind of person I am, so you just treat me like this!"
Kuroyukihime slowly released her grip on Haruyuki's shoulder.
This is the way it should be. No more meetings between us in the virtual world.
Even in the real world, we won't be meeting each other too , I'm just a pawn after all.
Haruyuki didn't know whether Kuroyukihime could handle what he had just said.
When he was about to say goodbye, a whipping sound was heard.
His cheek was red and hot and felt like it was going to blow.
Haruyuki was groaning in pain as he looked up.
"...You idiot!!" cried Kuroyukihime.
She had said it loudly enough that it drew the attention of the pedestrians who were walking past them. Haruyuki was stunned to see Kuroyukihime in tears and sorrow. She shook her head left and right like a three year old kid. Her tears became uncontrollable and heavy.
"You idiot... You really are an idiot..."
Kuroyukihime slowly calmed down and returned to her usual demeanour as she repeatedly called Haruyuki a fool several times. The tone was different each time however.
Haruyuki sat there like a log. His mind went blank for a moment, not knowing what to say.
He knew that what he just did was terrible. He completely hurt Kuroyukihime's feelings.
Haruyuki had thought that since Kuroyukihime is perfect, she should have a wonderful boyfriend who's matured in thinking and able to handle such issues. Since he himself wasn't anything like that, he felt she would have hated him. However, this wasn't the reaction that Haruyuki was expecting, as she had just cried and exposed the fact that she was a fragile person.
Haruyuki wanted to say something to comfort her but didn't know how to start.
At the same time, Kuroyukihime used her sleeve to cover her uncontrollable tears.
A cool breeze of wind blew pass them as they stood still on the pavement, feeling the burning sun that was shining brightly on them.
Shortly after that, a sound of crashing metal caught Haruyuki's attention. At first, he thought that this sound was made by the transmission wire, as it sounded weirdly.
Haruyuki's pulse rate began increasing as he turned to the right to see what was incoming. The next scene was simply too stunning, a white sports car had crashed through the safety barrier, and it seems to be purposely trying to run them over.
Did the car get into an accident? No, it didn't. Besides, there's wasn't any braking maneuverer being made by the car.
These thoughts took Haruyuki less than a second to think about. His brainwave was also sending the same thoughts as he wanted to scream those two words.
"Burst-Link!"
Everything around Haruyuki had slowed nearing to stop.
Blue. A scene that makes everything seems to be frozen. His alternate avatar topples backward as he goes into acceleration mode. He thought that the car was gone as he stood behind his own image in the real world.
Wow!
Haruyuki knew that he was just accelerating since the time didn't stop. As time passed, the car inched closer to them. The car was less than three meters away from them. So even if though they're accelerating, it'll take less than ten minutes in the acceleration world before this tragedy strikes them.
Why?!!.... Why is this happening? Haruyuki was in doubt as he couldn't find a reason for it.
In this age of technology, a normal AI car would just simply take control by itself if there's going to be an accident. So that meant that this car's AI is working well, just that it had been purposely disabled by the driver.
Haruyuki slowly concluded that there must be someone behind this accident, the reason is simple because he couldn't hear whether the car was fully utilizing its brakes. Moreover, the driver wasn't slowing down at all, he was still stepping the gas on it instead.
Finally Haruyuki began to believe that this incident was real. Therefore, he quickly rushed forward to the front screen of the car to see who the driver was.
As he looked through the screen, a familiar face that he always recognized but wouldn't ever want to look at it, has once again appeared in front of him.
"What??...What the...Ara...Araya??... But why?? Why did he show up here."
Haruyuki thought that he had just gotten suspended from the school for injuring students and even his neuro-linker was found to have the ability to hack through the school's security camera network. Last but not least, he was found to be in possession of drugs. Without any second thoughts, he should have been locked up in jail for the time being or at least until the school holidays were over.
Haruyuki still couldn't believe what he had just seen. He blinked his eyes several times, but nothing changed. The driver behind car was still Araya.
Just then, the familiar "Antenna hairstyle" , the "Butterfly features" of Kuroyukihime, convinced Haruyuki that he is Araya.
"He was bailed out this morning. I thought that he would be sent to the re-habitation for at least a year, so I didn't bother much about him. But... I didn't expect things to turn out this way."
Kuroyukihime shook her head.
"This isn't right... I should have known that this would happen and I could prevent this from happening. To be assassinated ... There isn't a need to use acceleration... A knife or a car is enough to do the job"
Kuroyukihime talks as if it's entirely her fault.
Haruyuki changed his thinking... Could this be the reason why Senpai hates herself? However, from the looks of her eyes, he's able to see that she was filled with guilt, hatred and pain.
Kuroyukihime slowly closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said softly.
"I guess this... must be retribution. After all these years, I toyed with their hearts, that was because I neither cared about how they felt nor tried to understand them. This is what caused today's tragedy. Retribution befalls me."
"Senpai... Senpai... What are you talking about?" Haruyuki asked. It wasn't easy for him to squeeze these words out from his mouth.
Kuroyukihime didn't reply him directly. Instead, she turned over and walked toward Haruyuki and kneel in-front of him.
"Arita... No... Haruyuki..."
The tone which is used by Kuroyukihime had made Haruyuki came to realize out of all the times she speak, she had spoken with the most gentle and smoothest tone voice this time around.
"I'm truly sorry about this... I brought this upon you. But... No matter what, I will not let you get hurt at all cost. I will definitely protect you." Kuroyukihime continued.
"Eh? What? What did you just say?" Haruyuki muttered slowly.
By all means, even we were to accelerate forever, there's nothing we could do. With the astonishing speed the car is traveling at and the space that separates the car from us, there's no way the both of us can go unharmed. First, the car will hit me and then hit Kuroyukihime. Since things are like this, I'll become her shield and hope that I'm strong enough to take most of the impact from the car to protect Senpai from getting hurt. Haruyuki thought.
But Kuroyukihime decided to take things into her own hands. She made a serious and surprising decision.
"I will save you at all cost. I haven't told you about Brain Burst's ultimate use, the final power of acceleration." Kuroyukihime said.
"Eh?"
"Save me? But... I'm your pawn! I should be the one saving you!" Haruyuki shook his head as hard as he could. "NO! NO! This can't be right! If there's such a skill, I should be the one using it. So let me save you! This is because... I'm your pawn... Of course I should be the one saving you." Haruyuki shouted as he tried to get her to let him save her.
"Please! Please tell me how this skill works! How do I go round about using it?!" Haruyuki continued.
"You can't Haruyuki. You have to be at least level 9 and above to use it and it also burns ninety-nine percent of your burst points, even though there aren't any limitations. Moreover, I'm your Senpai. How could a Senpai being doing her job if she's not protecting her juniors, right?" Kuroyukihime answered.
"But!... But!"
"Do not be in despair Haruyuki. Sometimes, such incidents are bound to happen and it can be a blessing in disguise."
"Eh? A blessing in disguise?" Haruyuki looked confused.
"Yes... At this point in time, I'm sure that you will believe my very last words won't you?"
Kuroyukihime closed her eyes, gently lifted her hands and kept it tight to her chest. She puts up a gentle smile and spoke slowly: "Haruyuki-kun... I like you."
Kuroyukihime slowly lifted her eyebrows as she spoke this. It grew shiny as Haruyuki saw from her eyes.
"From my entire life, this is the first time I'm feeling this way . I do not know what's going through me, I'm unable to control it. Be it in school or at home, I always think about you regardless of whether I'm happy or sad. I guess this is what you'd call infatuation? I didn't expect it to be so beautiful."
Kuroyukihime tightened her grip against her chest and put on a bright smile, a smile that can touch anyone's hear. But for Haruyuki, it tears his heart apart instead.
"I want to believe, I wished to believe, and I longed to believe." Haruyuki thought as he wipe his tears strongly and stared at Kuroyukihime. He speak in a pitiful tone then asked...
"But why?... Why me?...Out of everyone in the school... Why did you choose a weirdo ... A weirdo like me?"
"Umm... Do you really want to know the reason? Well... There's too many for me to explain them all... No... Love is unexplainable in words. However, do you remember our first meeting?" Kuroyukihime threw her hands on Haruyuki's shoulder as she spoke.
"Of... Of course I remember. We met at the school local network. The virtual squash court. You asked me whether or not I wanted to accelerate faster." Haruyuki replied.
"Exactly and for that high score, I used acceleration for it." Kuroyukihime acted like she had something up her sleeves as she answered.
"Eh?!?!" Haruyuki's filled with question marks in his head.
"You see... I simply just couldn't get that kind of high score like yours. So to make it easier to persuade you, I tried whatever I could to get your attention."
Kuroyukihime stopped for a bit and looked toward the sky of the acceleration world.
"Six years ago... When I was eight, I became a burst linker. All along I had been yearning for speed and strength. I had slain thousands of enemies including my friends to reach level nine, but somehow I'm still not satisfied."
Kuroyukihime looked at Haruyuki once again.
"Listen Haruyuki, your reactions are fast. You can be faster than anyone else, including me and the other kings in the legion. Speed is the ultimate advantage in Brain Burst. I believe someday, you can be one of the fastest burst linkers in the entire legion. I'm sure that you will be able to go beyond the limitation of acceleration and find the roots of having Brain Burst. From there, you will learn about human strength, which is our brain and soul's ultimate power."
Kuroyukihime nodded her head and continued to speak.
"When I first saw you playing squash, I couldn't imagine that a human could be that fast. At that point of time, my heart shouted "EUREKA" A Greek word which means "I've found it". The knight which is able to know the roots of acceleration."
Haruyuki did not know what to say , he could only focus on listening but nevertheless he still spoke.
"I... I can be faster than anyone else?"
In this short period of time it's too unbelievable for him to accept it. But however he thought about it, he didn’t doubt Kuroyukihime's words.
Kuroyukihime added: " Even you are strong in the virtual world, you're fragile in the real world, which tore my heart apart. I wanted to bow to the future king, and also wanted to protect and embrace you. These feelings... I guess that's love... I had realized it yesterday..."
"Yesterday?" Haruyuki asked.
"Yes, especially when you talked about Chiyuri... I felt jealous... I couldn't control my feelings so I just simply showed you my attitude. This morning too... Maybe I realized a little too late. No... Maybe not..."
Kuroyukihime tightens her grip against Haruyuki's shoulder.
"At least I'm able to confess to you in the accelerated world. If it was possible, I was actually planning to confess in the real world. But I guess it's time for us to say goodbye."
Having said that, Kuroyukihime became emotional. Her tears had gathered around her eyes and it seems they are too heavy for her eyelids to handle.
"Alright...It's about time... Farewell..."
"Senpai!! What do you intend to do?... I don't want to bid farewell to you... How could you do this...?" Haruyuki cried.
Kuroyukihime knew Haruyuki couldn't bear to leave her.
"You have to become stronger Haruyuki. For the sake of me and you. Please defeat the kings, witness the things that I yearned to see." Kuroyukihime told Haruyuki
"How could you?! How could I bear to leave you alone...? I promise I will protect you! Even if I couldn't... Please!! Take me with you at least... Please... Don't go... Don't leave me behind! I haven't fulfilled a single task for you!!" Haruyuki shouted.
Kuroyukihime kissed him as he was shouting half-way. This action stunned Haruyuki. It felt like a thousand seconds had passed in the real world unknowingly.
Kuroyukihime slowly released him and spoke softly...
"We will meet again... someday."
Her final tears gradually dropped to the ground and it faded away slowly. Even Haruyuki couldn't express anything. Then Kuroyukihime turned her back. She shouted....
"Physical Full Burst!"
Kuroyukihime shined brightly as soon as she activated Physical Full Burst. Shortly after that.. "Poof" she was gone...
"What? What just happened?" Haruyuki asked out loud.
"Senpai?!?!"
The very next moment, Kuroyukihime limbs from the real world began to glow.
"Senpai?" Haruyuki asked as he saw Kuroyukihime move.
From what Haruyuki knew, Brain Burst is a program that accelerates your heart rate and thought processes a thousand times. From that train of thought, it wouldn't affect your body. So even if you were to accelerated, your real body would remain untouched. But seeing that Kuroyukihime is able to move her real limbs in the blue world, it's a surprising for Haruyuki. Also, the security camera that tracks the traffic situation are unable to capture this movement as the speed of acceleration is unimaginable.
EH?! How could this be happening? Is this Brain Burst's ultimate power? Not that I know of, even if it's possible, It's simply outrageous. Using this skill surely it's harmful to the body.
Kuroyukihime showed a face of determination, as she tried to think about their happy times. Most of the time, she's in pain while using this power.
However, Kuroyukihime did not stop for even a breath, one step, two steps... and by the third step, she finally reached the side of Haruyuki's body. By the time she had reached there, the car which Araya was driving was only just less than eighty centimetres between Haruyuki and the car.
Kuroyukihime began to push with all her might to remove Haruyuki from the accident. At the same time, Haruyuki felt a strong push from his body and... Bam! Darkness was all he saw in-front of him. Even though Kuroyukihime pushed him lightly in the accelerated world, it felt as if she had just pushed him with the strength of a bull.
Haruyuki is back in the real world. However he did not know what was going as he's still in sub-conscious state. At the same time, the car crashes into the pavement and knocks over Kuroyukihime, tossing her onto the windscreen of the car and against it. She then bounces up to the sky. A loud "Thud" is all that can be heard.
As the evening sun began to rise, Haruyuki regained his consciousness. He felt breathless but he remembered that at the last moment, Kuroyukihime is smiling at him.
Shortly after that, he saw the transmission wire which he and Kuroyukihime was using, laid next to the fragile body of Kuroyukihime...
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