Haruyuki opened his eyes with a sigh.

From the white light coming through the window, he could see that it was 6:30AM on the clock. He calculated that he had been sleeping for about 12 hours.

His entire body was full of sweat, and the remains of the nightmare made his skin feel slimy. Even so, he could not remember a single thing about his dream.

He dimly remembered Kuroyukihime’s last words to him yesterday.

‘Don’t remove the Neuro Linker over night’, was her directive, it can’t be that this has some relation to his dream?

After he idly thought about that while taking a shower, he changed into his school uniform, then ate cereal and orange juice for breakfast in the kitchen alone. He put the dishes in the dishwasher then knocked on his mother’s bedroom door for the one ritual before going to school.

“...I am going.”

Saying that to the dim room, he heard a cracking voice say something unclear from the bed. She seemed to have drunk a lot last night.

While he waited for his mother to operate her cell phone to charge his Neuro Linker with 500 yen, she suddenly said with an irritated voice.

“Haruyuki, your Linker is disconnected.”

Oh no, he put his hand to his neck. While feeling that he forgot something, he connected his Neuro Linker to the Global Net, soon with a ‘chariin’ sound effect, his electronic money balance increased.

“I am going.”

He said it again, but there was no more reply. He softly closed the bedroom door, put on his sneakers at the entrance, and left his home.

He took the elevator to the first floor, while saying hello to residents he did not remember, he went through the front entrance.

The automatic door closed, he stepped into the mansion’s front courtyard, just 3 seconds.

Bashiiiii!! That sound reverberated in all of Haruyuki’s brain.

What!? ?Accelerate?!? However - why, by itself!?

While he held his breath, in front of his eyes in the familiar burning font, was a line of alphabet.

[HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!!]

Where had he seen these words before. The words burnt out before he could remember, and on the top part of his view, something even more strange appeared.

In the center, a [1800] number. And to the left and right of that, blue bars extended. Under those is a small thin green bar which extended.

Finally, in his view’s center, with flame letters - [FIGHT!!]

The number became 1799.

Not sure what to do, Haruyuki first looked at the four digit number that was counting down.

1800 seconds. 30 minutes. Where had he heard those numbers before. Oh yes - Kuroyukihime said it, the ?Acceleration? time limit was about this long of a number.

But this time, Haruyuki did not even say the ‘B’ of ?Burst Link? that was the Acceleration start command. The world’s color also, instead of mono-tone blue, it’s full color. And, what’s the meaning of ‘Challenger’ and ‘Fight’ anyway.

In order to get a handle on the situation, he desperately looked around, and soon noticed something.

The breezy October morning had disappeared without a trace, but the surrounding area was still within his memory, he was still in front of his home. The two lane street on the left side, the convenience store and office buildings on the side of the street, and if he turned around, he would see the high-rise mansion that he just left stand with the darkness.

However, the group of cars filling the street heading to Shinjuku, and the students going to school that filled the walkways, both had disappeared. Also, the street was cracked and had sinkholes here and there, the guardrail and signs were bent, and the glass on buildings were flashily broken.

At the intersection a bit away, rubble was piled up like a barricade, and flames were flickering from a huge dome, like something was burning inside. The scares of destruction included Haruyuki’s mansion home, concrete pillars were collapsed, the outer wall with a huge hole and other awful likeness.

He wanted to go back home right now to check out his house, with that motivation, he strolled a few steps and looked in the entrance from between the rubble.

Then, his eyes widened in amazement. The building’s interior looks like a game’s polygon building that was made inside his head, it looks like the inside of a grey flat surface box. No - not looks like. It is just that.

This is real but not reality. Haruyuki is now under ?Accelerate? function, in a Full Dive in the virtual net, the surrounding scene are 3D images made from Social Camera video. Like the blue frozen world he saw yesterday in the lounge.

Even so, Haruyuki has never seen such a detailed virtual space. He could not see the pixel pitch. Each small rock near his feet was made with overwhelming detail.

If it’s like this, what has became of his body, Haruyuki looked down.

He thought he was going to see his familiar pink pig, but -.

“...Wh ...What is this.”

Amazed, he involuntarily leaked a sound.

What came into his view were legs, chest and arms that were slender like wires, a body like polished silver. It was like a robot - however, it did not have the fighting image of games or anime.

He hurriedly put his hand to his face, but instead of a nose or mouth, his fingers slid on something hard like the shape of a helmet. He took a moment to look around, and saw a cracked window on the front wall of an apartment building on the other side of the street from the mansion, with ‘cachin cachin’ foot steps he ran there.

The shape reflected by large glass was a truly full-body metallic robot. The body was slender and small, only the streamlined head was unusually large. To say it in one sentence - it’s a very small-fry look.

At least his forehead should have horns... or both eyes should shine with golden beacon.

While he was complaining to the unknown avatar designer, at that time.

Behind his reflection in the glass, on the other side of the street, a few wriggly human shadows were seen.

Shocked, he crouched his metallic body and turned around. Unknown since when they appeared, three shapes stood under a destroyed convenience store. Since they were surrounded by darkness, he could only see their silhouette, but each of them were much bigger than Haruyuki.

The shadows seemed to be facing each other and were talking. Haruyuki involuntarily tried to listen.

“...Somehow, a strangely victim-like guy.”

“I don’t remember his name, a newbie?”

“But he is metallic color. Maybe he has some ability?”

Those guys - were not NPCs[1].

Haruyuki felt that directly. That manner and speech pattern, without a doubt they are human instead of programs.

But this place was the ?Accelerate?’s virtual net. That means they are, like Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime, people who installed Brain Burst, this would be how it is.

Then, they would know what this situation is. First let’s ask those three about the circumstances, after deciding that, he timidly stepped out onto the road and got as far as the white center line.

Suddenly, he felt someone else looking at him. He stopped his feet and turned that way.

There. More than three people. Unknown where they appeared from, on roof of ruin buildings, on top of rubbles, all around were strange silhouettes watching Haruyuki. However they did not seem to approach closer, just - yes, a feeling of waiting for something.

Haruyuki was bewildered, he moved his view back to the center of the road. The count on top of his view has decreased to 1620. The bars to the left and right of that number had not changed -.

No, he did not notice it until now, under the left and right bars were lines of small alphabet.

The left side read as ?Silver Crow?. And the right side was ?Ash Roller?.

This screen structure, he felt very familiar with it.

Haruyuki had a strong sense of déjà-vu as he thought that.

This is not something new - over 30 years before Haruyuki was born, near the end of the 19xx era in Japan, it dominated amusement centers, a kind of game program. And recently, something he saw triggered this feeling. That was...

Haruyuki who was standing there searching through his memory, jumped as an explosion suddenly sounded behind him.

“...!?”

He lost his balance while turning around and fell down on his rear, in front of his eyes was a huge towering silhouette.

It was a bike. Even so, it was not a familiar motor drive type... illegal since long ago, an internal combustion engine nestled in the gut, from which a ‘Doddoddo’ heavy vibration sound came.

The front fork was ridiculously long, and the tire it connected to was jokingly fat. From the rugged grey tread, a faint burnt odor drifted over.

Haruyuki looked up, behind the excessively curved handle, his gaze fearfully captured the figure of the rider sitting on top of the leather seat.

Full body covered in black leather with tacks, two feet with boots spread apart, and both arms crossed at the chest. Head too covered in a black helmet, the face shield was a skeleton like showy thing.

From inside, a creaking voice appeared, Haruyuki listen while dumbfounded.

“A long time no see ?End of Century? stage, Luckkyy~”

From one of his crossed hands, an index finger wriggled left and right.

“You as an opponent are a shiny newbie. Mega Luckkyy -?!”

The skeleton rider lifted his right boot and put it on the handle bar, doing a skillful thing. At that moment, ‘Dobobaroruoooon!’ A roaring wail sounded, and Haruyuki jumped up again.

No matter how he sees it, this is not a friendly opponent. Instead, if his previous thoughts were right, this is a ?Fighting Stage? - and this rider is - .

“U... Uwa...”

Haruyuki inched back, and turned.

“Uwa -”

With the robot’s small legs crackling, he ran desperately.

“Whahahaha!! Run away, run away!!”

Another engine roar sound from behind him, and sounds of tire screeching continued - just one second later, his back suffered a huge hit and he felt sharp pain, Haruyuki flew high up into the dark night.

At the same time, at the top left of his view, ?Silver Crow?’s blue bar shrank.

After seeing that, Haruyuki thought as he spun in the air, ‘Ah so it really is this’.

That is, this is a ?Fighting Game?, he was a newbie that doesn’t know left from right, and his opponent was a veteran player that knows how to win.

There’s no way he can win.

“Hahaha, you got hunted right away. That was because you did not stick to our promise, boy.”

Lunch time.

Same as yesterday, Haruyuki was Direct Connected to Kuroyukihime in the lounge, under watchful eye of the healing patch below her front hair, she shook her head and skillfully laughed with thought only. Her injury, which showily bled, seemed to have left only a scratch. All his speech for thanks and apology was stopped with a wave of her right hand.

“It’s... not a laughing matter. I thought I was going to die... Well, it was my bad for carelessly connecting my Neuro Linker to the Global Net...”

Kuroyukihime looked pleasantly at the complaining Haruyuki, and took the tea cup from the table and put it to her lips. The shrimp-au-gratin that was next to the cup was left intact, it put out hot steam just like the large pork curry in front of Haruyuki.

The student council members sitting at the same table were already moving their chopsticks or spoons, Haruyuki’s stomach was making pathetic sounds, but it seems Kuroyukihime’s lecture, in other words preaching will not be ending any time soon.

“- But well, this way, it saves me some explaining. The lesson fee was a bit high, but you already understand right?”

“Understand... what?”

“The identity of ?Brain Burst? program. It’s not a grand conspiracy, just a - “

Haruyuki nodded, and continued with what the words should be from where Kuroyukihime left off.

“Just a fighting game. Using reality as a stage for encounter fights. It’s outrageous...”

“Fufu, it sure is an outrageous talk that caused false alarm.”

“Using the tremendous technology of thought ?Acceleration?, and what did they do with it, a fighting game! That’s a genre that was thrown away 30 years ago!”

Hearing that, Kuroyukihime tilt her head to think a bit, then gave an ironic smile.

“Hmm, that way of saying is a bit wrong. Haruyuki-kun, we Burst Linkers do not ?Accelerate? just to play fighting games. It’s the other way, we fight to be able to continue using ?Accelerate?. We are forced, that is this program’s unpleasant part.”

“That... what does it mean?”

“Un... what’s ahead, is better explained in practice. Go into ?Accelerate? mode.”

“Oh, ok...”

Haruyuki cut his attachment to the large curry, sat up straight in his chair, and shouted the Accelerate command silently.

Burst Link!

Bashii, that sound hit his body and consciousness, the surrounding student’s movements stopped. At the same time, many colors disappeared, replaced with a translucent blue.

Kuroyukihime in front of him stopped too, but soon from the tidy uniform, like a spirit leaving the body, a bewitching black clothed avatar stood up. Haruyuki’s pink pig avatar too got down from the chair, without looking at his real round self, moved forward.

“Then... what do I do?”

“Your view’s left side, are there any new icons added?”

He moved his focus as told, and for sure in the line of application icons, he noticed a burning B mark new icon. He raised his left hand and clicked that.

“That is the Fighting game ?Brain Burst?’s main menu. You can check your status and fighting history, and search the surrounding for Burst Linkers to challenge to a fight. Push the Matching button.”

Haruyuki nodded then clicked the button at the very bottom of the menu. Immediately a new window opened, after an instant of the ‘Searching...’ display, a name list is shown.

Even saying so, there were only two names in the list. The one he saw this morning, his own ?Silver Crow? and - the other one. ?Black Lotus?.

Haruyuki has no doubt that is Kuroyukihime’s Burst Linker name, he raised his face a little to confirm. As expected, the black swallowtail butterfly avatar lightly nodded and said.

“Now, we are disconnected from the Global Net and connected to the school local network, the list is just you and me - or should be.”

“Yes... Black Lotus-san.”

‘Beautiful name’, and, ‘fits you perfectly’, of course he did not actually say that out loud, all that happened was his pig nose trembling.

“Ok. Then, click my name, and go into a fight.”

“Wh... Whattt!?”

“We don’t have to actually fight. Just let the time run out and end it as a draw is all.”

With a light bitter smile, Kuroyukihime urged him on.

In an era where tens of thousands of people connect to have a huge battle in the same field is not uncommon, and now one on one, while thinking that, he clicked the name in the list, and from a new pop-up menu selected [DUEL]. And from the YES/NO dialogue that showed up next - [YES].

Instantly, the shape of the world changed again.

From the blue stopped lounge, all the students disappeared. The pillars and tables, while color returned to them, showed decay like it was due to age, and the glass has thick dust caked on them.

And then the sky, was dyed with a deep orange color. A dry wind blew from somewhere, moving the unknown name grass that grew here and there on the floor.

The familiar 1800 number is clearly carved at the top of his view. Blue bars extend to the left and right, and at last - the burning word [FIGHT!!].

“Oh... ?Twilight? stage. We pulled out a rare one.”

Beside Haruyuki who was looking around, Kuroyukihime’s voice sounded.

“The stage’s attributes are: burns well, quickly destroyed, and unexpectedly gloomy.”

“Ah, oh...”

While nodding, Haruyuki checked out his own body. Unknown since when, his pink pig was changed to the slender silver robot.

Then, what would Kuroyukihime’s shape be, while thinking that he moved his view, what he saw was the same black dress avatar without a single change.

“So that is your duel avatar. ?Silver Crow?, nice name. Color is nice too. I like the form too.”

Kuroyukihime extended her hand, and patted the slippery silver head.

This sure sense of touch, Haruyuki again realized that this place does not have the ?Contact Forbidden? kind of code to protect children, and that this is the real virtual reality.

“Th, thank you... but this looks like a small fry. A re-make, is not possible... right. Who designed and named this anyway? In the first place, what is a duel avatar?”

“As the name says, it’s an avatar for fighting only. - Last night, you had a very long and scary dream right?”

“...Yes.”

He did not remember the contents, but the feeling that it was a very bad nightmare was left behind. He involuntarily rubbed his robot’s two slender arms with his hard hands.

“That’s caused by the program accessing your deep image. Brain Burst uses the owner’s desire, fear and obsession to chop and mix, creating the duel avatar.”

“My... image. Fear and... desire.”

While whispering, Haruyuki looked down at his body again.

“This... small, weak and smooth body is my wish? Well, it’s true that I usually thought about being more skinny but... If it’s like this, I want to be a bit more Heroic looking...”

“Hahaha, it’s not that simple. What the program reads and uses, is not the ideal but the inferiority complex. In your case, you should feel lucky that your pink pig-kun was not used for your duel avatar just like that. Although, I like that too.”

“S... stop it. I don’t like it.”

He should make a new black knight avatar for school net use, while thinking that he asked.

“Then, does this mean senpai’s school avatar is also made by Brain Burst? That is a symbol of senpai’s inferiority complex? But it’s so pretty...”

“No...”

With a light shadow in her eyes, Kuroyukihime frowned.

“This is made by myself with the editor. I... for reasons right now, have sealed my original duel avatar. I will tell you the reason later, when the time comes.”

“Sealed...?”

“Unfortunately, my duel avatar is ugly. Ugly to the extreme. That’s not the reason for sealing it... well, never mind about me.”

Kuroyukihime shrugged, and soon returned to her normal mysterious expression. Her white hand again caressed Haruyuki’s helmet head.

“This morning, another Burst Linker fought you in the Global Net, and you used your just made avatar to fight. Then you were completely beaten and lost. Is that right?”

“...U, well, that’s it exactly. A perfect loss.”

“The result display after the fight, did you properly see it?”

Haruyuki unwillingly remembered the ?Fighting Stage? he had been in before coming to school. In that dark ruin, a skeleton helmet rider on a vulgar bike hit and bashed him flying, his HP gauge disappeared very quickly.

With a pathetic sound effect, the words [YOU LOSE] appeared in front of him, then -.

“I am pretty sure... My name and Level 1 was shown, and then a strange number came out. Burst... Point, maybe. That decreased from 99 to 89.”

“Good, you remembered well. Burst Points! That is why we go stand on the ruthless battle field.”

Kuroyukihime said that like a shout, she walked a few steps toward the glass window, then turned around. The parasol held in her two hands went ‘thud’! She stabbed it into the floor, small broken pieces of flagstone flew up.

“Burst Points, namely, are the number of times we can ?Accelerate?. One Acceleration will decrease your points by 1. Right after installation the starting point is 100, but yesterday in the lounge you Accelerated once, so your points decreased by 1. And earlier, you used another 1 point.”

“Arg... How do you charge that up? Don’t tell me it use real money to charge?”

“Wrong.”

Kuroyukihime drastically denied.

“There is only one way to increase Burst Point, winning a ?Fight?. When you win, if it was the same level fight, you gain 10 points. However losing means lose 10 points. Like what happened to you this morning.”

Kuroyukihime turned her face to look at the evening sky past the window, and continued to whisper.

“?Accelerate? is very powerful. Winning at fights is a simple matter of course, getting full marks on a test, a big win in some kind of gamble or sports is easy too. That last summer Koushien[2], the new record holder for home runs, a first year high school student, is a high level Burst Linker.”

“...Wha...”

To the dumbfounded Haruyuki, she threw a somewhat sad look.

“Thus, once we tasted the forbidden nectar, we can only forever continue to ?Accelerate?. For that we need Burst Points, so we can only continue to fight forever.”

“...Wa ...Wait a minute please.”

What, that genius power hitter is a Burst Linker.

No that’s not it - Kuroyukihime’s speech, isn’t there something strange about it?

Haruyuki desperately thought, then opened his mouth.

“Ah... well, earlier you said fighting win is 10 up and lose is 10 down. That means... there is also point decrease from ?Accelerate?, so the total points from all Burst Linkers can only decrease. That means, the points of people weak at fights will certainly become zero... What happens when they became like that...?”

“You are certainly quick at comprehension. It’s simple. ?Brain Burst? will be lost.”

Kuroyukihime’s dark eyes that had a burning like color looked straight at Haruyuki.

“The program will automatically uninstall, and it cannot be installed a second time. Even changing the Neuro Linker is useless, since the program knows the specific brain waves of each Burst Linker. The people who lost all their points, will not ?Accelerate? anymore.”

The cold feeling voice told him that, and she added.

“New people like you enter the battle, so the pie won’t just decrease. Even though now, the trend seems to be on slight decline.”

However Haruyuki almost did not hear a single word of the added speech.

“Brain Burst will be... lost.”

Having just tasted the power of ?Accelerate? two or three times, Haruyuki’s back froze just thinking about it. It was not from not being able to Accelerate anymore. For Haruyuki, it meant losing his only connection to Kuroyukihime who was originally living in another world.

Once again, he realized how heavy that 10 points hunted by the skull rider was.

“Then... what will you do, Haruyuki-kun.”

Haruyuki raised his face at this whispered question.

“Will I do...?”

“You can still go back now. To the normal world without ?Accelerate? or ?Fighting?. The idiots who bullied you won’t appear again, this I guarantee as a student council member.”

“...I ...I...”

‘- Accelerate or Brain Burst does not matter. Just, I don’t want to be separated from you.’

Of course he could not say that. In exchange, he held his silver fists tight and answered.

“...I, still have things I need to pay back to senpai.”

“Oh?”

“You gave me Brain Burst, and pulled me out of that hell. The reason for that is not to steal my starting 100 points, I understand that at least. If it is like this, there isn’t a really good way to say this. ...Then, you should want me for something. Checking my squash game high score, going to the trouble of lecturing me on Accelerate from the beginning, there is a goal. Isn’t that right?”

“...Hmm. Accurate reasoning.”

The lightly smiling, beautiful avatar looked straight at Haruyuki’s silver face.

“I... I am truly not someone who should talk to senpai like this. I am uncool, fat, a crybaby, have a grudge against my only two friends and am jealous of them, run and escape quickly, a really no-good person. The lowest.”

‘What am I saying’, while thinking that, Haruyuki could not stop the words flowing out. He was saved by the fact that his avatar’s face is like a mirror without expressions.

“Even so, that Kuroyukihime-senpai talked to me and Direct Connected with me, that I understand was because I am somewhat good with games, and there should not be any other reason, I would not be unhappy with just that, that is.”

‘What am I really trying to say, I should sort it better then say it, ah now is the time to use Accelerate, no, I am already in Accelerate mode.’

Already falling into panic mode, Haruyuki could only expose what’s inside of him.

“That’s why... why I want to answer senpai’s expectations. Your... mercy, I want to fully repay that. I don’t know what I can do, if you are in need now, I will do whatever I can. That’s why I... will not uninstall Brain Burst. I will fight... as a Burst Linker.”

‘What’s that, I should have just said the last part! What did I say anyway.’

After he finished spilling out all the words, Haruyuki felt embarrassed and shrunk his slender avatar body, cowering.

‘Anyway, aren’t you mistaken about something, you self-conscious guy.’ He was prepared for her to think like that, right after, a simply released speech shook his hearing.

“Mercy... don’t use this kind of word.”

He looked up slightly and saw the most feeling expressed in a face he'd seen in the past few days.

“I am only a foolish and powerless middle school student. Standing in the same place as you, a human breathing the same air. In this stage, we are equal Burst Linkers. You are the one who is making the distance. These mere two virtual meters, does it seem that far to you?”

She silently extended her white right hand.

It’s far.

The inside of Haruyuki’s chest murmured.

‘To be in the view of someone like you who has everything, you won’t understand how dreadful it is for someone like me. I am willing to be a servant. To move as a piece under your command, just that is unexpected happiness for me. If I take your hand here, I would have expectations that I am not allowed to have. Later certainly, it will be double the regret paid for that poisonous expectation.’

Same for Chiyuri and Takumu. With those two, he is satisfied with being happy bosom friends. Just without pity and sympathy, he absolutely did not wish for a position beyond that, but...

The sound leaked from his mouth, was as dry as the wilted tree in the virtual twilight.

“...Senpai saved me from hell. That... is my whole life worth of happiness. I do not wish for anything beyond, absolutely.”

“...I see.”

As she murmured, Kuroyukihime lowered her hand.

A hard and heavy silence took over the stage. What broke that, was a sound he thought had not changed from before.

“I gladly accept your determination. It is true right now I have a bit of a troublesome problem. I need your help to resolve that.”

Haruyuki took a small breath and nodded.

“Sure, if it’s something I can do, anything. What should I do?”

“First, learn the way to ?Fight?. Click your name displayed below your life gauge. Open the ?Install?, you can view all the commands for your Duel Avatar’s set of normal and special skills.”

“Sp... special skill?”

He stopped his extending hand and asked while repeating.

“Yes. When the Duel Avatar is created, the program will spread a certain number to different parameters according to the potential avatar’s attributes. The superior attack type, the hard defense type, and the one special skill make a turning point kind of peak type too. But, the golden rule is that Duel Avatars of the same level have about the same total potential. Your first fight was a crushing defeat, that does not mean your opponent was too strong. Just that you don’t know how to fight.”

That bike person, ?Ash Roller?, was the same level 1 as Haruyuki. He thought that was an overwhelming opponent, but in truth, he has the same fighting power as ?Silver Crow??

If that is the case, then this small and slender robot avatar should certainly have a tremendous special skill. Haruyuki excitedly extended his silver finger, and pressed his own name.

With a sound effect, a half transparent window opened.

A simple humanoid animation showed the movements, to the right is shown skill names.

First one, lower the waist and make a fist, do a thrust motion. Normal skill ?Punch?.

Second one. Pull back right leg, do a kick in front motion. Normal skill ?Kick?.

And lastly, special skill - cross both arms, open them wide left and right, thrust the head out with a swing, the name is ?Headbutt?.

Just those. Nothing else.

“...Err.”

Haruyuki murmured while dumbfounded.

“Normal skill Punch and Kick... and special skill is just Head thrust.”

“Oh?”

Kuroyukihime who heard t-->>

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