Up until the clock hand reached 2 PM, Haruyuki felt like he was sitting on seat that as sharp as a horseradish grater. It could be said that he was slightly lucky that, thanks to Ishio of the basketball club confronting Haruyuki directly, there was an atmosphere of reserve from interacting with him any further than that.

Even so, the gazes of the girls were 30% colder than usual, and certain boys seemed be in the middle of deliberating over what nickname to give to Haruyuki right away. Before they could finish deciding between the last two choices of ?Cameari[1]? and ?Papayuki[2]?, Haruyuki grabbed his bag and umbrella and escaped from the classroom.

He came out into the front yard where it was blackly pouring rain that had begun to fall since the afternoon just as forecasted, and let out a deep breath after stepping across the school gate. After he was cut off from local network while also receiving a message of ?Please be careful heading home?, all kinds of online messages from the Global Net appeared in front of him in exchange, and he quickly felt his heart soothed by that feeling of connection.

While he was attentively looking at the headline news along with the BGM sound of rain hitting his umbrella as he stood next to a wall about twenty meters from the school gate, familiar footsteps approached at last.

“Wait up, Haru.”

As Takumu suddenly lifted up a navy-blue umbrella, Haruyuki also moved his hand slightly. They lined up with each and began to walk along the sidewalk towards the east.

A few dozen seconds later, Haruyuki began to speak first.

“Is it really okay for you to be absent from club activities for two days in a row?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. The club president and advisor don’t think anything of me who only joined hallway through while they’re in a daze over the genius rookie.”

“..That’s also a complicated talk, huh. Well, thanks to that Noumi attracting attention to himself, Taku is on the other hand able to move easily, is what you mean, right..?”

They both gave bittersweet smiles, and returned to walking in silence for about a minute.

Once they saw the intersection where the Oume highway crossed with the Loop 7[3], Haruyuki finally began to talk on his own again.

“Today, I was summoned by Sugeno for the matter of the peeping camera incident ..Of course, I’m not the culprit.”

“Obviously. That Sugeno, to summon you without any evidence..”

Stopping Takumu as he began to speak in an angry tone, Haruyuki added something else as if groaning.

“But, I’m in a position where I could easily be the culprit. That entire incident was a trap that Noumi Seiji put together. And I completely fell into it..”

It unexpectedly took a long time to explain the whole story of Noumi’s trap.

Several minutes later after they boarded the EV bus of the Loop 7’s outer circumference and sat next to each other on the back-most seats, Haruyuki had finally finished recounting almost the entire situation he had gotten caught in. The only two points he didn’t speak of were the source of the visual masking program that had been prepared by Noumi, and how he had run into Chiyuri stark naked in the shower room.

However, it seemed that the turning power of the wheels in Takumu’s head perfectly displayed itself this time as well and he instantly deduced the source of the program. Almost immediately after Haruyuki closed his mouth, his best friend took off his blue glasses and pressed hard against the friend with his hand.

“....I see.”

The voice he let out was terribly smashed up due to strong self-reproach.

“It was that photo, wasn’t it? The group photo of the new kendo club students..So there was a virus attached to it. I’m sorry, Haru, I was negligent in checking it..”

“N-No, it’s not your fault.”

Haruyuki frantically shook his head many times.

“Most likely, that virus was set to self-destruct the instant the picture was read by the system with the kendo club’s enrollments tags. Even if you noticed it, I was the only target. Because from the beginning he was aiming at not Taku, but me..”

“No, I should have thought it was suspicious that the file size was so large. Despite that, I barged into your house when you were suffering and said such awful things to you..Moreover, I even hit you!”

Suddenly, Takumu put back on his glasses and lifted up Haruyuki’s right hand with both his hands.

“Uwah, hey, what are you?”

“Haru, hit me. If you don’t hit me, I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine, really!”

Haruyuki was flustered and switched his gaze between Takumu’s face and the front of the bus. The housewives and students that were riding along with them were looking at the two of them at the back while either wide-eyed or giggling. Since they couldn't hear their conversation, how on earth did they interpret this situation where the tall and handsome Takumu is bending over and clasping the hand of the small and fat Haruyuki?

However, Takumu kept slowly bringing his face even closer without worrying about the eyes around them at all, so Haruyuki whispered reluctantly.

“Wait, wait a minute, Taku, umm, I too..I too deserve to be hit by you.”

“Eh..? What is it?”

Looking at Takumu doubtful and frowning eyes, Haruyuki whispered “Sorry, Chiyu!” in his mind. She had told him to never talk about it, but Haruyuki didn’t want to close his mouth and act as if he were looking down on Takumu ever again.

“Umm..When I was tricked by the visual masking and intruded into the female shower room..I ran into Chiyu there.”

He needed another two minutes to explain about that matter.

Returning his back to his seat with a thump, Takumu squeezed his brow with his fingers and made a comment that was mixed with a sigh.

“I see..So that’s how Chii-chan was related to this..”

“..That’s right..”

While suddenly changing and giving a fixed sidelong glance, Takumu raised one finger.

“..For now, I won’t ask what you specifically saw, Haru. For Chii-chan’s sake as well.”

“Ooh..you really are a gentleman, Taku.”

“Thank you. —In any case, if that happened, then it would be good to think that that’s the contents of Noumi’s threat. The video of Haru peeping would certainly be effective against Chii-chan as well.”

“Yeah. Rather, it would be even more effective against Chiyu than me..If he saw through that and threatened Chiyu, Noumi really must be a genius in attacking the weak points of others.”

Lightly hitting Haruyuki’s knee as he let out a sigh, Takumu muttered in a voice that was slightly sharper than before.

“But, that’s where his weak point is as well.”

“Eh..?”

“Isn’t that so? Even if he steals, threatens and makes other people do as he says, that’s not the true meaning of having comrades. Even if he temporarily makes Chii-chan..?Lime Bell? obey him, Noumi, ?Dusk Taker? is essentially alone.”

“....Yeah, that’s right.”

This time Haruyuki grasped Takumu’s hand that was still placed on top of his knee. Its cool and bony texture was indescribably reliable, and Haruyuki was thankful from the bottom of his head that Takumu—?Cyan Pile? was next to him right now.

As soon as they crossed beyond the New Oume Highway and entered the Nerima district, the two of them got off the bus.

They opened their umbrellas, and looked at the line of cars flowing by in front of them for a short while. On the other side of those cars that passed by while emitting low driving sounds from their motors and hydrogen-engines, was the territory ruled over by the Red Legion ?Prominence?. Currently, though they were in a ceasefire with the Black Legion ?Nega Nebulas?, that was only in relation to the weekend territory battles, so if the two of them crossed that intersection right now while having their Neuro Linkers connected globally, they would without a doubt be challenged to a duel before even five minutes passed.

After Haruyuki and Takumu nodded at each other, Haruyuki took a deep breath and spoke a voice command.

“Command, Voice Call, Number Zero-Five.”

As he listening to the ringing, sweat slowly spread over his hands.

‘Calm down’, is what he thought to himself, but he couldn’t suppress his nervousness. After all, the person he was calling was a Level Niner who controlled Accel World’s strongest long range-type duel avatar, a crying child that was also the silent ?Immobile Fortress?, the Red King ?Scarlet Rain?—

'Long time no see, Haruyuki-oniichan?'

Completely surprised by that high voice in his brain, Haruyuki’s knees jerked down. He somehow remained standing, and then responded out loud instead of with his thoughts for the sake of Takumu next to him.

“Ah, w-we haven’t talked in a while, Yuniko-cha..”

'Just Niko is fine, geez-. So, what’s wrong, for you to be calling all of a sudden-?'

The Red King Niko only responded to Haruyuki in her ?angel-mode? like this on a whim when she was in a good mood. But she was certainly easier to talk to like this, so Haruyuki replied back while speaking fast in order not to miss this chance.

“Eh, umm, there’s something we want to talk about..rather, we want to consult with you on something, Niko..If we could possibly meet with you today, right now and talk, that is..u-umm, of course we’ll go to Nerima ourselves.”

'Hmm16:01, 30 September 2012 (CDT)~. In the rain? Ah, but, I do feel like eating a little cake, one with lots of strawberries on top?'

“I-I’ll treat you, I’ll treat you. How many should I treat you to?”

'Yay-! In that case, I’ll meet you at this store.'

Along with those words, a map opened up in his vision with a whoosh. The flashing dot on it was in the vicinity of the Sakuradai station on the Seibu subway line, which was fairly close to Haruyuki and Takumu’s current location.

“S-Sure, I think we can get there in about fifteen minutes from here.”

'OK, then see ya later-.'

And then the communication was cut. Raising his head while blowing out a breath at having broken through their first barrier for now, Takumu spoke with a meek expression.

“..I’ll take care of the tip.”

“..No, it’s fine if we split the bill.”

“No, today we’re meeting with her for my sake, after all..”

The next bus arrived as they argued over it, so they stopped and got on. As soon as they sat down, the two of them severed their Neuro Linkers from the Global Net together.

As it began to moved forward with the spinning of its large motor, the bus crossed the New Oume Highway and intruded into the Nerima battlefield where the Red Legion reigned.

The designated store was a cute cake shop that stood within a small-scale shopping area. Seats and tables were placed in one half of the store, and it also seemed like you could eat-in here.

As they closed up their umbrellas in front of the store and brushed off the drops of water, the splashing sound of someone cheerfully stepping in puddles approached them from behind. As Haruyuki turned around, a small fist plunged into his round stomach without giving him any time to avoid it.

“Ugu..”

The one that looked up at the groaning Haruyuki from beneath a bright red umbrella while grinning was a cute girl with large green eyes that twinkled on her small and freckled face. Her soft-looking red hair was thinly tied up on both sides of her head, and she carried a school bag on her back over her deep-blue school uniform. The Neuro Linker attached to her neck was a jewel-like transparent red color.

The girl took a step back and spoke while spinning her umbrella.

“Long time no see, Haruyuki-oniichan. You’re as fat as usual! And..”

She turned her face to the left.

“Long time no see as well, professor. You’re as gloomy as usual-.”

Haruyuki and Takumu both gave stiff smiles and greeted her with a slight bow.

“L-Long time no see. Sorry Niko, for calling you out like this..”

“It’s fine already! More importantly, let’s quickly get to the cake, the cake!”

The two of them hurriedly chased after this girl—the ruler of the Nerima battlefield, the Red King Koudzuki Yuniko, as she snugly threw her folded umbrella into the umbrella stand and rushed into the store.

After they sat down at the back-most table and a cake called the ?Strawberry Labyrinth? that was prepared with a dreadful amount of strawberries was placed on their table along with a milk and two coffees, Niko immediately picked up her fork. She stabbed at one of the glossy and glittering strawberries that were placed at the top of it, and stuffed it in her mouth with a single bite while smiling in apparent happiness.

Looking at Haruyuki who was unconsciously moving his mouth in envy, Niko gave a pure smile and spoke.

“You can’t have any!”

“..I-It’s fine.”

“Aah, just joking, just joking! Come on, say ‘aah’.”

She stabbed another one with her fork and held it out right in front of Haruyuki’s eyes, so he reflexively opened his mouth. However, the strawberry was moved back in full reverse along with the heartless words of “Just joking~”, and Haruyuki’s teeth only chewed air.

Haruyuki came to his sense thanks to a forced cough from Takumu who saw the scene from next to him, and straightened his back as this was not the time for this kind of thing.

“S..So, Niko. About today’s main subject..we called you out in real life like this because, umm, we have a small favour to ask..”

“A svissh? *SWALLOW* Shall I listen in exchange for ten strawberries?”

“I’m not sure that’s a fair trade, but..”

After briefly looking at Takumu, Haruyuki scratched his head and cut right to the main topic of this conversation.

“Err, I’d like for you to teach the professor here..no, rather, Takumu. Umm..about how to use the ?Incarnate System?”

As soon as she heard that—

Niko’s movements suddenly stopped as she was trying to bite into her sixth strawberry.

Her dark green eyes blinked incessantly. She tiled her head slightly and put her fork that was still holding the strawberry back down on the plate, and leaned back against her seat.

In an instant, Haruyuki felt like he heard the ‘GACCHIIIN!’ sound of her circuit switching over. That is, the sound of Niko’s ?angel mode? ending.

As her innocent smile of a sixth grade elementary school student vanished and her eyes suddenly narrowed, she spoke shortly in a dangerous voice as if tinged with flames.

“....you what?”

After shutting up Haruyuki with a single finger as he tried to explain the situation while sweating all over, Niko stood up and spoke to the shop employee that was standing at the counter a little further away.

“We’re borrowing the back room for a while.”

The young female employee who was wearing a grape-colored apron dress silently nodded, and then Niko started briskly walking with the plate of half-eaten cake in her right hand and her glass of milk in her left hand. Haruyuki and Takumu stared at each other, and reluctantly ran after her while similarly holding their coffee cups.

A narrow corridor extended out from behind the eat-in corner, and halfway done there was a massive door with a tag reading ‘PRIVATE’ hanging down from it. Naturally it seemed to be locked, but when Niko hit a spot in the air with the hand holding her glass, an unlocking sound rang out.

On the other side of the door was a chic western-style room 6 tatami mats wide. The walls and floor were made of black-colored wooden boarding, a large sofa set was placed in the center, and a door to what appeared to be a toilet could be seen.

After quietly putting her plate and glass onto the low table and operating her virtual desktop in order to check something, Niko suddenly turned around to face Haruyuki and Takumu and shouted.

“Are you idiots!! You don’t blurt out about something like the ?Incarnate System? all of a sudden in a public space!!”

“Hah, s-sorry!”

Niko glared with eyes that seemed to let out heat rays at Haruyuki and Takumu who were standing bolt upright for a while, but eventually she threw her small body down onto the sofa with a grand sigh and crossed her legs high.

“..Well, you can ease up now. Sit down.”

“Y-Yes.”

They similarly put their coffee down and sat down next to each other on the sofa facing hers. After picking up another strawberry with the fingers of her right hand, Niko spoke in a slightly lower tone of voice.

“This room is safe ‘cause it’s sealed. First of all, where did you guys hear about the Incarnate System? It wasn’t from that woman..Black Lotus, right? It’s still too soon for you to have learned about it directly from Lotus. Much too soon.”

Before answering that question, there was something that Haruyuki wanted to ask as well. That is, what on earth was this store, and why was there a radio wave-insulated room in a downtown cake shop?

But Niko’s expression didn’t seem like it would permit him diverting the topic at all. Haruyuki reluctantly shelved the question, took one big deep breath, and began to tell the truth straight to the Red King’s face.

“Err..It’s a bit of a long story, but..The beginning of the matter started when a Burst Linker entered the Umesato Middle School that we attend as a new first-year student..”

While making an effort to summarize the main points as concisely as possible, Haruyuki continued to explain.

How the new student ?Dusk Taker? wasn’t registered on the BB matching list even though he was connected to the school’s local network.

How he used various schemes in the real world and cornered Haruyuki and the others, and furthermore stole Haruyuki’s wings using his special technique ?Demonic Commandeer? in Accel World.

How Haruyuki trained for a long time in the Unlimited Neutral Field in order to oppose this strong enemy, and mastered how to use ?mind power?. How, even though they were just a step away from cornering Dusk Taker thanks to that power, they lost in a reversal of events due to the sudden betrayal of ?Lime Bell?.

And finally, how the Black King ?Black Lotus? was absent on a school trip until next Saturday.

The only things that he didn’t mention were Lime Bell’s ?healing? ability and Dusk Taker’s real information—that is, his real name Noumi Seiji.

Even when Haruyuki’s explanation ended after nearly fifteen minutes, Niko didn’t speak right away. She stuffed her cheeks with the last piece of the cake she had been slowly eating while listening, and after spending time gulping it down, she finally gave a single snort.

“..I see. Dusk Taker..A duel avatar with a robbing ability. If he can use mind power in addition to that, he certainly is beyond your power to deal with.”

“Unfortunately, it’s just as you say.”

Takumu muttered quietly.

“Even though the situation should have been favorable to me in an indoor close-combat fight, I couldn’t oppose him at all after he began to use the Incarnate System. As it is, I’m nothing more than burdensome baggage. That..I don’t like at all.”

Looking at Takumu with a sharp gaze as he pushed his clenched hands against his forehead, Niko let out another sigh.

“So the reason you two personally came out all the way out to Nerima..was for the sake of asking me to teach Pile here how to use the Incarnate System, right?”

“Precisely, Red King.”

When Takumu deeply nodded, Niko skillfully twirled her fork around her finger once and pointed its handle at the two of them in turn.

“Well, I also sympathize with your situation. But..frankly, it’s the trouble of another legion and moreover the legion of another ?King?. Instead, wouldn’t letting the ostracized ?Nega Nebulas? collapse like this and decreasing the number of future troubles be one of the logical decision here?”

Unable to endure this, Haruyuki tried to get a word in edgewise. But Niko’s speech still continued.

“..Let’s assume I said that. Then next, Crow next to you would say this. ‘Even if you say that, didn’t you request for us to help settle the trouble in your own legion? I think you still owe us a large debt for that.’ Or something like that. That’s the outline of it, right?”

As he was indeed going to say exactly that, Haruyuki was beaten to the punch and gaped at her.

Niko returned her right hand to her plate and pushed it to a corner of the table, and then put her legs with her rain boots removed on top of the table with a stomp and put her arms behind her head.

“Geez, I thought that such a development would come some day! Even so, to want a lecture on the Incarnate System, that’s taking a lot of high interest for payback..”

After staring fixedly at Niko’s face as she sighed, Haruyuki unconsciously leaned his body forward.

“Eh, t-then, you’ll do it?”

“Can’t be helped. If I don’t, it’ll be a cause of offence that’ll make it seem like I go back on my debts. Damn, if I’d known it’d be like this, I would have ordered a ?Royal Palace? instead of a ?Strawberry Labyrinth?.”

Though he heard such abusive language, Haruyuki couldn’t suppress the hot thing that spread within his chest.

As he thought, Accel World didn’t exist simply to fight everyone else as ?duel opponents?. Even if they were in the position of enemies, there was definitely something more important than that. That’s right—the bonds of friendship.

Not knowing how to express his overflowing feelings, Haruyuki threw himself down onto the table before him and tightly hugged the feet wrapped in white socks there in a daze. As soon as he did so—

“Gyaah!! Hey, why do you always grab my feet, you hentai!”

Her other foot kick out as she angrily said that and buried itself into Haruyuki’s cheek.

The first order from the instructor Niko who had steam coming out of her head was [Take out the plug underneath the table and connect it to your Neuro Linkers].

While tilting his head in puzzlement, he groped with his hands, and there were indeed several XSB plugs sticking out from a hub-like device with a winding mechanism there. For the time being, he pulled one out at the same time as Takumu, but he felt a little resistance towards connecting to an unidentified circuit.

But Niko spoke while casually inserting a plug as well.

“There’s nothing much I can simply teach you. Since this is sealed off from radio waves, we have no choice to but use a direct cable to connect globally!”

She was angry, so they hurriedly followed her example. A connection warning appeared in Haruyuki’s vision, and then vanished.

After running the fingers of both her hands in the air for a while, Niko looked at Haruyuki and Takumu in turn, and spoke in a stern tone.

“Alright, it’s almost 5 PM. I have to return to my dormitory at 6 o’clock, so the amount of time I can stay with you guys is about thirty minutes until 5:30, which is five hundred hours in Accel world..about twenty days. You’ll have to acquire the technique to use mind power only in actual combat. If that isn’t possible, I won’t be able to look after you any further than that.”

Takumu immediately responded to the Red King’s cool-headed words.

“No..just one week in internal time. That will be enough.”

“Ho-oh. You talk big, professor. I’ll properly test to see if that resolution is the real thing.”

Grinning, Niko leaned her delicate body that was wrapped in a blue jacket and pleated skirt against the sofa.

“Then, we’ll dive into the Unlimited Neutral Field at the count of zero. Ready?”

Haruyuki and Takumu fixed their backs and heads against the sofa just as she did, and answered “Yes”.

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

Haruyuki closed his eyelids and took a deep breath, and then—

One second after he heard Nico’s count reach one, they shouted in a loud voice the command to fly into the true accelerated world.