Haruyuki was prone to forgetting it, but only a mere two months had passed since Chiyuri had become a Burst Linker. It was a short time span a quarter of Haruyuki’s and a seventh of the time her ?parent? Takumu had been one.

However, Chiyuri, who had finished listening to the details concerning the ISS Kit from the two veteran Burst Linkers, only brooded for a few seconds, then spoke while scowling magnificently.

“Perhaps..is it those guys’ deed again? The ?Acceleration Research Society?.”

“..”

Without thinking, Haruyuki and Takumu exchanged glances, returned their gazes to Chiyuri, who was sitting on top of the three aligned mattresses, and nodded simultaneously.

“..Uh, unh, that’s what we were thinking..”

“A, amazing, Chii-chan. Even with both Haru and I, we took more time to think of that.”

“Well, you see.”

Still wearing a sullen face, Chiyuri slightly lowered her voice.

“This way of doing things resembles that person’s. The feeling of not attacking from the front, but steadily encroaching in from the sides..”

The ?person? of whom Chiyuri spoke was ?Dusk Taker?, former member of the Acceleration Research Society who already had eternally left the Accelerated World by now. When he had appeared before Haruyuki and had named himself, Nega Nebulas had already been stripped bare of all its information, and he had even grasped Haruyuki’s fatal weakness.

In this time’s incident, the Kit had also begun to circulate from the so-called depopulated areas of Setagaya, Oota, and Edogawa. There were probably a large number of people still unaware of what was happening among the Burst Linkers who had made the heart of the city their home.

At the ?Seven Kings’ meeting? to be held in four days on Sunday, the matter of the Kit would probably be raised, but there was even the possibility that by then it would have already progressed into a pandemic unable to be dealt with..

Forcibly swallowing his stinging-like apprehension, Haruyuki squeezed his two ankles tightly, which were seated in cross-legged position, then opened his mouth.

“—In the Accelerated World, how do you put it; it’s like there’s a theory, isn’t there? For strong techniques and items, without exception there’s some risk or weakness built in that counterbalances it. Like my ?flight?, which sacrifices almost all of my avatar’s other abilities; for Taku’s ?Pile Bunker? and Master’s ?Gale Thruster?, after one use, you can’t use them again until their recharge gauges are full.”

“That’s..true, I guess. My ?Citron Call? also has a huge activation motion, and since it doesn’t having a homing nature it’s easily avoidable.”

Following the nodding Chiyuri, Taku also spoke while pushing up his glasses.

“Even the ?Incarnate System?, an irregular ability outside the game system, is like that. As a rule, it’s not possible to acquire Mind Power contradictory to one’s avatar’s attributes, and if you use it too much you’ll be engulfed in the darkness of your heart; there’s a risk of losing control of its power.. —Aah, that’s right, what Haru wants to say is basically..”

“Unh. How things like the principles of the ?ISS Kit? were created, I don’t have a clue, but at the very least if the Brain Burst Program permits its existence, then in exchange for that fearsome power and limitless infectivity..I think it must have a huge vulnerability. So huge that if we pin that down, the entire network that’s been built up will crumble into pieces.”

“..That’s for sure. It’s possible..”

Takumu, whose eyes had regained their intellectual gleam even if for just an instant, continued while slightly quickening his tone.

“I thought that the Kit’s creator..probably one of the people near the top of the Acceleration Research Society, had inserted some kind of self-destruct program into it, and I had thought about seizing detailed information prepared for it to end in a double death. But there’s a possibility that..the vulnerability was inevitably contained within to begin with..in that case, if we arrive at that secret, even without possessing something like an activation key, we might be able to make the Kit self-destruct..”

In front of the face of Takumu, who had lifted his face at that point, had taken a large breath, and had been on the verge of opening his mouth again—.

Chiyuri stuck her right index finger straight out and spoke.

“You can’t do that, Takkun.”

“Eh..?”

“Any—how, right now you were thinking about using yourself as a guinea pig and having Senpai or Nee-san research the weaknesses of the Kit, weren’t you?”

“Ah..uh, unh..because you see, even if I start running amok, Master and the others would be able to render me powerless before that happened..”

“You—can’t! Our legion forbids stuff like sacrificing just yourself and undergoing painful experiences to try to accomplish something!”

To Chiyuri, who had declared that distinctly, Haruyuki and Takumu once again exchanged glances.

As for why, it was because she had ?sacrificed just herself and had undergone painful experiences? on the occasion of the Dusk Taker incident, saving the two of them.

But Chiyuri, who had silenced Takumu as if to say that she had already forgotten that, pondered something for a moment before opening her mouth.

“—Hey, Takkun. Rather, about the ISS Kit possessing you..couldn’t we erase it with my ?Citron Call Mode II??”

“..!”

The moment he heard that, Haruyuki sharply sucked in a breath. That very proposal was the idea to which Haruyuki had been warming inside his mind from some number of hours ago.

The special technique ?Citron Call? that Chiyuri’s avatar ?Lime Bell? possessed exhibited the unbelievable effect of turning back time for the targeted avatar, and it had two modes depending on the amount of special technique gauge used and her motion.

Mode I, which spent half her gauge, reversed the state of the avatar who received the technique in units of seconds. It restored one’s HP gauge and special technique gauge; in sum, in reality it was a powerful technique allowing her to serve well as a ?healer? role, of which there were only a few people in the Accelerated World.

And then the released Mode II, which completely consumed her gauge, was even more tremendous. This mode reversed the targeted avatar’s state in units of number of status changes. Status changes mainly pointed to the equipment or removal of Enhanced Armaments, loss of body parts, or shape changes for shape-changing avatars. It could make a huge breach out of the equipping of an Enhanced Armament, and since there was much equipment that could be only summoned once during a duel, if that equipment were forcibly removed in the midst of fighting, one could do nothing but retreat.

However, the absurdity of this Mode II was such that ?it could even cancel the acquisition of Enhanced Armaments?. It could not rewind one’s status forever—at its current stage, it could cancel up to four stages—so the majority of phenomena that had occurred were limited almost entirely to immediately after the acquisition of an item, but if it manifested itself it could even nullify Enhanced Armaments transferred through a direct connection or force a cooling-off period on hard-earned purchased Enhanced Armaments at the Shop. Of course, in that case the points spent to buy it would also return though.

The innate Enhanced Armament ?Pile Driver? was always in an equipped state, so there was no need for it to count. Also, its transformation from Pile Driver into ?Cyan Blade? was an Incarnate technique external of the system, so this was not included either.

In short, the act of reciting the command for ?IS Mode Activation? and equipping the ISS Kit in the battle from earlier counted as one time. Before that, he must have done the same thing in the middle of the battle against the PK group ?Supernova Remnant?, so that was the second. Before that was the fight last night with ?Magenta Scissor? conducted in the Setagaya area. He had been handed the ISS Kit in its sealed state during the fight, so that was the third. They could still make it in time for the fourth time, which was Citron Call Mode II’s upper rewinding limit.

“Taku..”

Takumu also had probably completely traced the thoughts of Haruyuki, who had called his name in a low voice. In the eyes of his close friend who had turned his head around, there was a faint glimmer of hope.

—However, Taku immediately cast his eyes down and slowly shook his head.

“..No..It’s true that the number of status changes is within four, but it’s probably..not possible to erase that with Citron Call..”

“Wh..why, Taku! Why don’t you hit Magenta Scissor back with it with cash on delivery!”

To the remarks of the assertive Chiyuri, Takumu slightly smiled. But he shook his head sideways once more and spoke gently as to admonish her.

“Chii-chan. It’s..a part of it or its body is already inside me, not just my Neuro Linker. There’s nothing that could have made that possible other than the Incarnate system. —Do you remember, when you tried to resurrect Raker-san’s legs..”

“..”

Takumu and Chiyuri together bit their lips. Takumu nodded and continued.

“At that time, although Raker-san’s ?body part loss? was still within four times, her legs didn’t return. It was due to her unconscious Mind Power that she had continued to deny her own legs. Surely the ISS Kit also will refuse destruction with its own Mind Power..”

“If that’s so! —If that’s so, I will too!”

Chiyuri looked alternately at Haruyuki and Takumu, then shouted.

“I will undergo the training for the Incarnate system too! It doesn’t matter how many years I spend in the Unlimited Field, I will acquire the power to be able just to erase the ISS Kit from Takkun!”

“You can’t do that, Chii-chan!”

Just at that moment, Takumu had shouted. Without a moment’s delay Chiyuri also retorted.

“Why not! Senpai and Nee-san both said that one day the time will come for me to find my own Mind Power and cultivate it! Why can’t that be now..!”

In opposition to that, Takumu tried to make a further rebuttal and began to open his mouth.

However, there his words were stopped. Haruyuki, who had distinctly sensed what he was about to say and why he had stopped short, leaned forward and softly touched Chiyuri’s slender yet graceful arm.

“Chiyu.”

Gazing at her large, catlike pupils, which were looking right back at him sharply, Haruyuki spoke slowly.

“..Chiyu, your Citron Call is an amazing technique. In some sense, it might be the strongest ability within Nega Nebulas. But, that’s undoubtedly..an ability that yearns for the past. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but the sound of the bell you hear when you activate the technique..it’s exactly like the after-school chime in the elementary school we went to..”

She herself probably had been noticing that. For an instant, Chiyuri opened her eyes wide, then immediately covered her face. Haruyuki spoke even more to his silent friend.

“Of course, my special technique and Taku’s too are both strongly bound to the past. However, at the very least Taku’s technique is an incarnation of the will to cut through the past and advance forward. That’s why I..and undoubtedly Taku too, want you to see the future when you undergo the Incarnate system training. Though we don’t know what kind of powers you will develop..we think that it’d be nice if it were a power like facing the future and reaching your hand out as far as you can..”

For a while, none of them opened their mouths or even stirred their bodies.

Only the thin second hand of the wall clock approaching eleven o’clock was rotating smoothly. The built-in type air conditioning on dehumidification mode hummed in a low tone; from the other side of the sound insulated glass, the noise of EV tires coming and going across the Loop 7 road at night faintly reached them.

At last, Chiyuri, who had suddenly relaxed her entire body, smiled placidly while her eyes were moistened.

“..That’s true.”

She whispered, then nodded, then moved her lips again.

“That’s true, isn’t it. If it’s a technique set by the system, then anyhow..if it’s a power that I have to find within my heart and cultivate..it’d be nice if it were something like being able to reach my hand out to hope. Something like Takkun’s..something like Haru’s.”

“Nah..my Incarnate technique isn’t something as exaggerated as that though..”

“Uh-unh, I love ?Laser Sword? just as much as ?Cyan Blade?.”

Smiling and deeply laughing, Chiyuri continued in a voice that had regained its cheerfulness.

“That’s right, I might as well have a matching ?Something Sword?! Something amazing that can blow both Haru and Takkun away!”

“Ugh..”

The two boys exchanged glances again. In truth, Lime Bell’s potential was still unfathomable. It was possible for her to be enlightened with an Incarnate technique that easily surpassed both of their techniques.

“P, please go easy on us..”

After Haruyuki said that, this time Chiyuri and Takumu exchanged glances and laughed together merrily.

Tomorrow they obviously had school, and after that the ?Imperial Palace escape mission? was waiting for them, so it would soon become time for them to sleep; the three lay down on the three high-resilience mattresses aligned on the floor of the living room in the order of Haruyuki, Takumu, and Chiyuri from east to west. Long ago when they were small, when they had their afternoon nap at somebody’s house Chiyuri was always in the middle, but tonight’s leading role was Takumu.

If there were the apprehension that the ISS Kit would interfere with him during his sleep, then the three of them could rather pull an all-nighter—that method was also considered, but Takumu had immediately dismissed it, as it would influence the ?Imperial Palace escape strategy? tomorrow. Matters related to the Kit were urgent problems, but Haruyuki’s alter ego ?Silver Crow? was in a sealed state in the Unlimited Neutral Field. He had to escape together with the purification ability user ?Ardor Maiden? by any means; if he was not purified of the ?Disaster Armor? by the Seven Kings’ meeting on Sunday, he would have a top-class bounty placed on his head in the Accelerated World.

“It’s okay; if both of us are at your side, then you can sleep in peace until morning.”

To Takumu, who had said that with his head facing sideways on his pillow, Haruyuki replied while also nodding back.

“Hey, if it seems that you’re going to see a scary dream, then tell us right away, ‘cause we’ll knock you awake.”

“I’m thankful, but how am I supposed to do that when I’m sleeping?”

“Uh, uhh..sleep talking..”

While feeling a sleepiness that caused his eyelids to gradually become heavier, as he exchanged those words, from Takumu’s other side Chiyuri snapped her fingers.

“That’s right! Hey, since you can’t block the interference anyways even if you remove your Neuro Linker, why don’t we sleep with the three of us joined by direct connection?”

“Huh..!?”

Haruyuki blinked, and Chiyuri agilely lifted her head and continued to speak.

“If we’re directly connected, even if we’re sleeping our thought voices are transmitted, right? If something abnormal happens to Takkun, we might be able to notice it with that.”

“Ahh..I see, I didn’t notice that..”

He exchanged glances for an instant with Takumu, who had let out a voice of admiration, and they exchanged their willingness to try it. They got up once, and the three of them simultaneously equipped their Neuro Linkers, which had been in the middle of charging wirelessly on top of the sofa set table. They prepared two XSB cables, and this time they lay down with Haruyuki in the middle. The reason was that only Haruyuki’s Neuro Linker was equipped with two direct connection terminals.

He made a direct connection with Chiyuri on the left terminal and Takumu on the right one. The two wired connection warnings disappeared, and only a small connection icon remained in the tip of his vision.

While pulling his blanket up until his neck, Haruyuki tasted a strange feeling.

No matter whom his partner was, with some difference in scale a nervousness always accompanied wired directions. The sense of vulnerability from canceling his Neuro Linker’s defensive walls and the instinctive sense of immorality from joining their very consciousnesses together inevitably made his heart flutter.

However, right now Haruyuki only felt a quiet tranquility. The feeling of mutually protecting and being protected by his childhood friends, with whom he had spent more time than anyone else. It was just as if from the two cables, a sense of security from the two of them flowed in, filling his heart..

Before he noticed it, Haruyuki was closing his eyelids. The home server AI detected that the residents had went to bed and automatically dimmed the amount of light from the panel lights. From the other side of the gentle darkness that had visited, two voices reached him.

—Good night.

—Good night.

Without even knowing whether those were their real voices or thought voices, Haruyuki also softly murmured.

..Good night..