Secretly letting out a sigh of relief, Haruyuki moved to the kitchen and got another glass, a bottle of cold tea, and a large plate of biscuits before returning to the living room. He poured tea for Kuroyukihime and refills for Niko and Pard and then sat down himself on the sofa.
“Um, Kuroyukihime, I’m really sorry for asking you over all of a sudden,” Haruyuki apologized once more.
“No.” Kuroyukihime finally let him see her usual smile. “I have some things I’d like to discuss as well. But first and foremost, I shall hear what Niko’s business is. What exactly did you want to talk about?”
“Ohh.” Niko had just bitten into a caramel-banana cookie, so she wet her mouth with tea before saying with excessive nonchalance, “So like, actually, I was thinking we’d merge Promi with Negabu.”
“……”
Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime were struck dumb for a full five seconds at least before they both threw their heads back in shock.
“S-sorryyyyyy?!” she shrieked.
“Whaaaaaaat?!” he yelped.
Five minutes later:
After listening to Niko’s explanation with additional commentary from Pard, Kuroyukihime silently ate a cinnamon-almond cookie before saying “I see.”
“Huh?” Haruyuki asked. “Um. Is that all, Kuroyukihime?”
“Mmm.” She nodded. “What do you think, Haruyuki?”
“O-oh, it’s totally nothing like that, but…I don’t know. This is too big. What am I supposed to think all of a sudden…? And like in front of me…” He turned his head and asked Niko, “Are you really sure? If you merge with Nega Nebulus, the Legions of the other Kings are going to be even more hostile.”
“I already talked about all of that with Pard. I’ve made my decision.” She glanced at the young woman in question before continuing. “I want to fight the Acceleration Research Society…and the White Legion, and the only way to do that is in the Territories with Negabu—But, bah…It’s not really a system-wise reason like that. I just wanna fight together. Thinking about it, the first time I fought with you guys six months ago, with the whole fifth Chrome Disaster thing, it was ’cause of the Society, too. I wanna see this fight with them to the end. Otherwise, neither my Legion members nor I will be able to move forward.” Her words contained equal parts Niko-like fire and a coolness that reflected her growth.
Kuroyukihime closed her eyes briefly and then slowly nodded. “Ever since I heard that you were thinking about coming to Umesato Junior High, I’ve anticipated that this might be a possible future. But…this decision came sooner than I expected. To be honest, you’ve surprised me.”
“I-it’s not like I said I was gonna go to Umesato ’cause I wanted to merge our Legions or anything,” Niko replied quickly, seeming slightly embarrassed. “That’s that; this is this.”
“Yes. I know.” Kuroyukihime suddenly turned a faint smile on her. “At any rate, I must respond to your resolve properly…” She turned her whole body to the left and snapped to attention.
“Niko—no, leader of Prominence, Scarlet Rain,” she began, her voice clear. “As Black Lotus, leader of Nega Nebulus, I shall accept your request to merge Legions. I would like to bring in the executives of both sides to discuss at a later date the conditions for the merger. I look forward to fighting alongside you from now on.” She offered her hand in a supple motion.
Niko opened her eyes wide for a mere instant and then slapped her hand against Kuroyukihime’s to shake it so forcefully it made a snapping noise. “Us, too,” she replied, her own voice equally resolute. “Looking forward to it.”
The moment he saw their two hands tightly joined, Haruyuki felt something hot welling up from deep in his chest, and he hurriedly blinked it away.
A Legion merger sounded like quite a big deal, but Nega Nebulus and Prominence had already had a peace treaty for some time now. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d fought with Niko and Pard, and maybe this was just one step forward in their cooperation. At any rate, what he could say for sure was that this merger wouldn’t have happened were it not for the presence of a common enemy, the Acceleration Research Society. But still, in this moment, a definite miracle took shape.
Kuroyukihime had once assessed her duel avatar as the ultimate in ugly. She’d said that she didn’t even have hands to clasp with anyone. Niko had in the past declared her own duel avatar to be like the spines on a hedgehog, that it was her longing to keep the world at bay given material form. They’d quarreled plenty, built up a sort of friendship and trust, and now here they were, finally joining hands.
I will definitely never forget this sight. No matter what happens to the Legion—or the Accelerated World or Brain Burst itself.
Resolving this in his heart, Haruyuki blinked firmly one last time and then looked over to Pard, at his right. There, he witnessed the ever-cool Bloody Kitty secretly wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, and his mouth softened.
But noticing the look on Haruyuki’s face, Pard returned a slight glare.
“Oh, I’ll say this just in case, Niko. Even when our Legions become one, Haruyuki is my child and student. Ensure that you do not push your way into his home so casually.”
“Huh? Huuuuh?!” Niko shouted, shaking Kuroyukihime’s hand away. “This is Negabu’s Mission Control center, yeah? But like, once we merge, it’s my Mission Control, too, y’know? That’s actually like an ‘anytime free pass.’”
“D-don’t be ridiculous! Use is off-limits unless you get my permission in advance!”
Um, this is my house, though…All Haruyuki could do was gape, the words lodged in his throat.
The detailed negotiations involving the executive members of both Legions were set for the next day, July 19, a Friday evening, while the merger ceremony and the meet and greet for all Legion members were decided for the twentieth, Saturday afternoon—immediately before the Territories. And that was the end of the merger talk for the time being.
The Territories in two days’ time would also be the decisive battle with the White Legion, so the process was a bit rushed. But they had to avoid at all costs any leak of the attack mission on Minato Area No. 3 to the Oscillatory side. They didn’t particularly expect there would be a leak from Prominence, but simply because that Legion was overwhelming in number, Niko proposed that the announcement to all members should be made immediately before the mission.
However, on the other hand, this meant they couldn’t really have anyone from Prominence on the Minato No. 3 attack team. Naturally, Niko, who was level nine like Kuroyukihime, couldn’t take part, so the support from Prominence would likely be two or three members including Pard.
Of course, this was a big ask, and they were grateful to have the assistance of Prominence members in the defense of Suginami area. But the issue of insufficient personnel on the attack team was still not resolved. Even at a bare minimum, the estimate was that there would be twelve people on the Oscillatory defense team, and at maximum, there could be as many as twenty. Meanwhile, adding in the help from Prominence to leader Fuko and members Utai, Akira, Takumu, Chiyuri, and Haruyuki, the attack team would still only be nine people. If push came to shove, they could have the three former members of Petit Paquet join in, but then only Kuroyukihime would be left for the defense of Suginami, and that was just a bit worrisome.
We really do need three more people. But I don’t have any idea of who else to ask, Haruyuki muttered to himself, counting the number of people on his fingers, and then suddenly remembered his great adventure of an hour or so earlier and clenched his hand into a fist.
No, I might be able to wrangle one person, though. But I have to wait for him to contact me…If he’d join us, I’d feel a million times more confident.
“…yuki. Haruyuki.”
He suddenly realized he was being called and hurried to lift his face. “Oh! Y-yes! How about some more cookies?!”
“I hope that I’m not that much of a glutton.” Kuroyukihime gave a smile and checked Haruyuki as he was about to leap t
o his feet with the wave of a hand. “That reminds me. You said earlier that Fuko was here? What did she want?”
“Oh…Th-that’s right. I wanted to talk to you about that…” He got that far and then shifted his gaze to the right.
He met the eyes of Niko as she bit into a macadamia-chocolate cookie and Pard while she chewed a coconut-lemon one. He screwed up his face unconsciously as he thought.
Is it okay to tell them everything Graphite Edge told us? No, that’s not a problem. I mean, they’re going to be my comrades in the same Legion and all…And we did fight the God Seiryu together…
“You’re making a weird face,” Niko remarked. “Did you want my half-eaten cookie?”
“N-n-n-no!” He hurriedly rejected her offer and cleared his throat. “Um, the truth is…Today I kinda went to the Castle…”
“Wh-what?!” Kuroyukihime screeched.
“Th-the Castle?!” Niko howled.
“OMG,” Pard muttered.
By the time Haruyuki finished telling them the secrets of the Accelerated World he had saved in his analogue memory, it was 6:40 PM. The southern sky was violet, and the evening sun, on the verge of setting, created a powerful contrast in the room. The western light reflected off the flooring to be absorbed into the girls’ eyes, making them shine like jewels.
Or perhaps this glittering light was coming from inside them. Even after Haruyuki closed his mouth, they stayed silent for a long time, but he could sense that each of them was chasing down powerful thoughts at top speed.
When the in-ceiling air conditioner started automatically, filling the air with the faint whir of operation, Kuroyukihime shuddered. She lifted her lowered eyes and looked directly at him. Her lips moved slightly two or three times until finally he heard a faint voice. “The Fluctuating Light…”
She let out a long sigh and then raised her voice slightly. “Let me say this first, Haruyuki.”
“O-okay.” Haruyuki unconsciously sat up straighter.
“Thank you.” Kuroyukihime dipped her head toward him. “You took a terrible risk for my sake…But next time, make sure you say something in advance. I can’t even count how many times you’ve gone off recklessly like this.”
Haruyuki bobbed his head up and down at this heartfelt thank-you and minor scolding.
Kuroyukihime’s mouth relaxed into a small smile, but she quickly recomposed herself and said in a severe voice, “Youkou, the final Arc. So Graphite Edge said…reaching it is the final objective in Brain Burst. It is the reason for our existence as Burst Linkers.”
“Yes. No mistake,” he confirmed.
“I see. In other words, that mission to attack the Castle that destroyed the former Nega Nebulus…We were not incorrect in our aim then…” Kuroyukihime leaned back against the sofa and looked up at the evening sky beyond the window with narrowed eyes.
Silence fell once more, and this time, it was Pard who opened her mouth. “Two…developers.”
“Mmm,” Niko groaned. “So the whosit who made the Castle and the one who designed all the other elements are two different people. So that’s why that stupid palace totally rejects us then…”
“Yeah,” Haruyuki agreed. “But Castle creator A was defeated by creator B. That’s what Graph said, so I think in practical terms, the Brain Burst developer is B alone now…”
The furrow between Niko’s brows became that much deeper. “That ‘defeated’ is a pretty vague way of putting it. This war way back in the long ago happened in a virtual world, yeah? So then didn’t A just run out of HP and log out? …Did they lose their memory, too, like with Brain Burst? Or did they really die in the real world?”
Niko’s questions were right on the money, but all Haruyuki could do was shrug helplessly. “Aah. Uh, I didn’t ask about that.”
“And what’s this war in a virtual world anyway? And what exactly is this ‘Being’ they were fighting over?”
“Oh…Sorry, I don’t really…”
“Gah! This is so annoying!” At some point, Niko had taken off her socks, and now she kicked her skinny legs as she shouted, “Hey, Haruyuki, get Graphite Edge over here pronto!”
“I—I can’t! I don’t know how to contact him or anything…”
“Huh?!” she shrieked in disbelief. “He used to be one of Negabu’s Four Elements, yeah?! You didn’t even exchange mail addresses?!”
“Oh! No! I told him mine,” Haruyuki replied quickly. “But he didn’t tell me his…”
“Ngaaah! I’ll never be able to make my new Legion thing work like this!”
Her frustrated kicking in the air grew fiercer, and Kuroyukihime, who had been in silent thought, yanked on one of her pigtails.
“Hey!” she snapped. “I can’t just let that ‘my new Legion’ thing slide, you know.”
“That doesn’t matter right now! Just let it go!” Niko howled, but it seemed that she had succeeded in cooling down at last. She let out a long sigh as she clasped her hands behind her head and looked up at the ceiling.
“Mmm. Hmmm. It’s like I get ten answers, and my questions multiply by a hundred or something. So like…to start with, that Graphite Edge, how’s he know all this stuff?”
Haruyuki didn’t have the words to answer this question, either. He turned his gaze toward Kuroyukihime, and a knowing grin came across the lips of Graph’s student.
“Apologies, but I know very little about him myself,” she said. “We’ve never met in the real, either. All that’s certain is that he’s an Originator.”
“Originator,” Haruyuki parroted as he considered the word. The Burst Linkers with no parents, also known as the first one hundred. Those were the Originators. They had received the Brain Burst program directly from the developer in 2039 and created the prototype of the Accelerated World.
“So then, like, does that mean all the Originators know the same stuff as Graphite Edge?” Niko asked, still lying back with her legs outstretched.
“No, I don’t suppose it does.” Kuroyukihime shook her head slightly. “If it was information communicated to a hundred Burst Linkers, it would have spread more. Because in the initial Accelerated World, there was no limit on the number of people who could copy and install, apparently.”
“And if they made a child, naturally, they were gonna tell ’em about the conditions to clear the game. So then, I guess that means that Graphite does have some kinda secret.”
“Oh, about that, Niko.” Kuroyukihime cleared her throat. “I know this is me saying this, but when it comes to Graph, struggling to figure out anything he says or does is a waste of your time and processing ability. He only shows up where he wants to, he only talks about what he wants to, and he only fights the opponents he wants to. Most likely, the reason Graph chose to tell Haruyuki this information was because he’s the most obedient listener in Nega Nebulus.”
“O-obedient listener? What does that mean?” Is that a compliment? Haruyuki wondered as he asked.
“It means that you are simply obediently impressed and don’t ask all sorts of questions,” Kuroyukihime answered quickly.
…That’s not a compliment, is it?
Without leaving him the chance to be disappointed, Kuroyukihime continued, “Graph intended to communicate to me through your mouth, Haruyuki, that The Fluctuating Light itself is the clear flag for Brain Burst and only that. In other words, Graph is perhaps trying to stop me from recklessly pursuing level ten.”
“……!!”
Haruyuki gasped involuntarily.
Level ten. Kuroyukihime’s final objective, one she would pursue even if it meant her own life as a Burst Linker. He could still vividly remember the words that came from her mouth in a café in Koenji the day after she gave Haruyuki Brain Burst.
Because I put it far above friendship, above honor…becoming level ten. You could even say that alone is what I lived for.
I want to know. Whatever it takes, I have to know. Isn’t…isn’t there something beyond this? This…shell called a human being…outside…s
omething more…
“Kuroyukihime.” Haruyuki ever so timidly asked his swordmaster in a hoarse voice, “If it’s like Graph says and level ten is just a checkpoint…If the final objective of Brain Burst is The Fluctuating Light in the Castle, would you stop trying for level ten?” He himself didn’t really know what answer he hoped for from her.
The path toward level ten was blood-soaked and ruthless. She would have to drive four other level niners to total point loss, and it was entirely possible that she would end up at total point loss in the process. It hurt his heart to think about Kuroyukihime incurring so much rage and enmity, and of course, he didn’t want to even think about the counterattacks against her.
But he also didn’t want to watch her throw away what she had been so desperately working toward, based on the logical judgment that it was too dangerous or that it wasn’t necessary. She cut down any and all obstacles in her path with her blades and the maddening passion within them to charge forward. Haruyuki was helplessly drawn to this powerful figure, and he was sure the other Legion members felt the same.
Conflicting feelings in his heart, Haruyuki clenched both of his hands in front of him.
Kuroyukihime blinked once at him before smoothly replying, “Impossible. Whatever the reason Brain Burst was created, I have absolutely no intention of standing still at level nine.”
“Y-you don’t?” Haruyuki wasn’t sure whether it was okay to be relieved or not.
“The system message when I reached level nine was a challenge from the developer.” Kuroyukihime favored him with a bold smile. “I am indeed interested in the reason Brain Burst was created, and I do want to know the true nature of The Fluctuating Light. And I also have the simple desire to clear this game. But above all else, I want to meet the developer and ask them directly—no, question them. What is Brain Burst? What were you thinking when you made such a thing?” Kuroyukihime opened and closed the fingers of her raised hand while Haruyuki looked on.
Abruptly, Niko chuckled. “Kuroyuki, so basically that, then? You wanna fight the developer, yeah?”
Pull of the Dark Nebula Page 9