Cradle of Stars

by Reki Kawahara

  “Hiyah!!” she cried sharply as the kick hit Haruyuki hard in the head. He saw stars as he flew to one side.

  He’d taken four hits in a row, but as long as he didn’t crash into the ground, he’d be able to recover his balance. He’d get some distance from her and then his chance for a counter—

  Sproing.

  Haruyuki sank into the quilting covering the Chuo Line elevated bridge that had appeared out of nowhere. There was no collision damage, but whether he wanted to go flying again or not, he was forcefully repelled by the pressure of the cushioning.

  “Hiyaaaah!!” Chocolat launched a right straight with impeccable timing.

  His health gauge was already down nearly 30 percent. If he didn’t interrupt the succession of attacks somewhere, he might not be able to make a comeback at all.

  Chocolat was smaller and lighter than Silver Crow, so why was he being thrown around like this? It was because she was using the reaction of the ground to boost the power and speed of her kicks and punches, and at the same time kept knocking Haruyuki off-balance, constantly adding velocity. In other words, she was well versed in the ways of fighting in this Buffer stage.

  His special-attack gauge was already pretty full, but before he could spread the wings on his back and escape into the sky, Chocolat’s thrust reached him. He didn’t have time to guard with his arms or counterattack with his special attack, Head Butt.

  Staring hard at the dark-brown fist closing in on him, he desperately groped for a way to turn this around. An effective way of stopping a rush was a quick punch to a weak point. He’d only fought with Chocolat once before, and that had been as an ally, so her weak points—

  In a flash, a certain memory sprang up in the back of his mind.

  Unconsciously, he opened his mouth as wide as it would go. The bottom of his visor slid open, and his avatar’s exposed mouth awaited Chocolat’s fist. If it had been the fist of a large avatar like Cyan Pile, this strategy would have ended in his avatar’s naked face taking a hard blow and his health gauge dropping quite a bit.

  But Chocolat’s fist, small enough to slip through his cross guard, fit perfectly in Haruyuki’s open mouth. And he felt essentially no impact at all because Chocolat started to pull her fist back at the last second. It was a movement accompanied by a shrill cry echoing throughout the stage.

  “Eeeaaaaah?!”

  Her chain of hits at an end, Chocolat tried to pull her fist back, pushing on Haruyuki’s face with her other hand, but if he let her pull away now, she’d just start attacking him again. In a trance, Haruyuki grabbed the arm sprouting from his mouth and twisted Chocolat’s body to pull her down to the ground.

  “Wh-wh-what are you doing?! This is a violation of the rules in the middle of the duel!!”

  “Ooo heh ooo oon oh aah!”

  You said you wouldn’t hold back was his intended retort, but Chocolat’s fist was jammed into his mouth, so all that came out was unintelligible noise. There was also a particular sweetness that filled his mouth. To be honest, it was rather tasty.

  “Gah! D-don’t lick meeeee!!” Chocolat’s cries were nearly drowned out by the protests from the Gallery.

  “Hey! What’re you doing to Chocolat?!” yelled Mint Mitten.

  “I’m jealous—I mean, no fair!” shouted Plum Flipper.

  “That’s pervy, Croooow!” yelped Lime Bell.

  Telling himself that it was definitely not pervy and that it was in fact an intelligent strategy, Haruyuki chewed even harder.

  “Nngh! …I—I won’t forgive this…!” Chocolat squirmed as she pinned Haruyuki down, thrusting her unharmed left hand out and shouting, “Cocoa Fountain!!”

  Pink light poured from her fingertips to make a pool of chocolate bubble up from the ground nearby.

  “And now…Puppet Make!”

  A simple-shaped avatar slithered up from the pool, all narrow body and rounded head, Chocolat Puppeter’s automatic fighting doll.

  “Get that lick-happy weirdo, Chocopet!”

  At Chocolat’s command, the Chocolate Puppet aka Chocopet started running, and Haruyuki was forced to release its master’s hand. He left the puppet master on the ground panting for the time being and stood up to take care of the scion.

  He had learned in his earlier battle with Chocolat that simple physical attacks didn’t work on the chocolate dolls. Their weak point was heat or a freezing blow or…being eaten.

  Feeling relieved that there were only a few people in the Gallery, Haruyuki guarded against a Chocopet punch with one arm. The blow was ferocious enough that it was hard to believe it came from a doll, but unlike Chocolat, the mini ball of chocolate didn’t use the elasticity of the cushions, so he was able to get through it, more or less. Once the Chocopet stopped moving, he grabbed onto its arm, his mouth still exposed.

  “Hom!” He bit down on the entire fist. It wasn’t quite as good as its master’s armor, but it was still pretty tasty. And surprisingly, his special-attack gauge was replenished, albeit very slightly.

  “……”

  The mouthless Chocopet retreated silently bit by bit.

  “……”

  Equally silent, Haruyuki advanced inch by inch.

  Abruptly, the Chocopet turned around and started to run toward the chocolate pond. It was half its original size, but there was still plenty of dark-brown liquid left.

  “Stop!” Haruyuki cried, instinctively guessing the pond would heal the Chocopet’s injuries, and pushed off the cushions of the ground with everything he had. The unexpectedly strong reaction gave acceleration to his dash, but he had too much force behind him now, so rather than catch up with the Chocopet, he ended up flying into the pond of chocolate with it.

  Plrp. A viscous sensation enveloped his entire body. The liquid chocolate poured into his mouth, so he hurriedly closed his visor and then kicked and flailed until he was finally able to stand up.

  In the center of his field of view, dyed a light brown, was the Chocopet in an attack posture, her hand healed just as he’d expected. Fine, I can chow down forever here! Haruyuki readied himself, but there was something strange about his enemy. It had taken an attack posture, but it appeared to be frozen like that for some reason.

  “……?”

  Haruyuki cocked his head to one side, and the Chocopet dropped its head in the same direction.

  The reason it did not attack became clear three seconds later. Having recovered from Haruyuki’s licking attack, Chocolat dashed over at top speed, and no sooner had she put on the brakes than she was shouting, “Wh-what is going on here?! Which one is my Chocopet?!”

  Haruyuki reflexively looked down at himself. Silver Crow’s shining silver armor had turned a dark brown, coated in chocolate from head to toe. And with his round head and slender body, he looked very much like a Chocopet. Apparently, it wasn’t just Chocolat; the Chocopet running on autopilot also seemed like it was not picking up Crow as a target for attack since he looked just like it.

  “N-no fair! Show yourself immediately!”

  How am I supposed to do that?! he very nearly shouted back before realizing something with a gasp. It was indeed a little unfair, but this was his chance, wasn’t it? If he could get just a little closer, he could cinch Silver Crow’s victory.

  He slowly turned, conscious of moving like a Chocopet. He stepped out of the chocolate pond and moved briskly toward his opponent.

  “Huh? Stop right there, Chocopet!”

  The instant he was given the order, he froze in place.

  “…So then, that one is Silver Crow…?” Chocolat turned her gaze toward the real Chocopet still in the pond.

  “It was this one!” he shouted as he flew at her. He grabbed hold of the slender avatar’s hands and deployed the wings on his back. Using the elasticity of the ground, he took off.

  “N-no faaaaaaaair!” Chocolat howled, and together they ascended to an altitude of two hundred meters in an instant. Half the duel time hadn’t yet passed, but thinking about what would have t
o come next, he needed to put an end to this now.

  “L-let go! You!”

  “You don’t have to ask twice!” He snapped his hands open. Chocolat blinked in midair before plummeting downward.

  “Aaaaaaaah…” She receded into the distance, her cry fading out, and Haruyuki chased after her in a sharp descent.

  This “bring ’em up and drop ’em down” strategy was Silver Crow’s most simple and effective plan for winning. The descent to the ground seriously damaged most duel avatars. But in this Buffer stage, he probably wouldn’t be able to win just by dropping her.

  Just as he’d expected, when Chocolat plunged into the ground, she sank deeper and deeper into the cushions before being expelled with extreme force.

  “…aaaaaaaaaah!”

  The scream that had faded from earshot trickled back in. He brought his right hand down on the head of the rapidly approaching Chocolat in a chop. Pkaan! He heard the dry sound of collision, and the chocolate hat was ripped right in two.

  The impact was amplified by the synergistic effect of the rapid descent and sudden ascent, and Chocolat’s health gauge immediately dropped by half. He passed the puppet master as she descended once again to land a minute before her and catch the falling Chocolat in both arms.

  “Um, how about we call it a draw here?” he hurried to propose while his opponent was still dazed. “You must have come to Suginami because you wanted to talk, right?”

  “……”

  After a full five seconds or more of silence, Chocolat Puppeter replied, her head hanging, bereft of its trademark hat, “Well, I suppose I could do that for you.”

  The duel ended, and having returned to the real world, Haruyuki hurried to disconnect his Neurolinker from the global net. As a general rule, he welcomed challengers other than Ash Roller, but having two battles in a row first thing in the morning was sure to make him sleepy in the middle of class.

  The moment he let out a sigh of relief, a noticeably exasperated voice came to him from one side. “Haru, the way you fought there…”

  “I’m not listening! I can’t hear yooouuu!” Haruyuki tried to plug his ears, but Chiyuri caught hold of his right hand and grinned.

  “Good thing we were the only ones in the Gallery, huh? If anyone else had seen that, you’d have yourself a serious nickname right about now.”

  “Sh-shut up. Kuroyukihime and Master both say that the duel is about playing it by ear, to use whatever there is you can use.”

  “Still, I don’t know about licking your opponent in the middle of a duel, thoooough!”

  “I’m sorry, Chiyuri. Please don’t tell Kuroyukihime and the others.”

  “My lips might be sealed by a gelato from Enjiiiiya~.”

  They chatted as they walked under the elevated bridge before getting serious again.

  “But still…,” Haruyuki muttered.

  Chiyuri nodded. “That was a surprise, huh?”

  After accepting the draw, Chocolat Puppeter used the rest of the time to tell them the reason she had suddenly challenged him. And that reason was simply baffling, so Haruyuki hadn’t been able to say anything other than “I’ll tell our master.”

  He couldn’t even imagine how Kuroyukihime would react, though. He needed to report to her as soon as possible and seek her instructions.

  “All right!” Chiyuri suddenly whisper-hissed, likely thinking the same thing. “Haru, let’s run to school!”

  “Wh-whaaat?!”

  “If we get there early, we can talk to Kuroyukihime.”

  “Sh-she might be late today…”

  “And how would you know that?”

  He could only respond with “I—I just do.” He definitely couldn’t tell her that Kuroyukihime had left the Arita house a mere twenty minutes earlier. “W-we can tell her at lunch. I mean, you have practice this morning, right, Chiyu?”

  “Yeaaah, buuuut. I wanna tell her right away and surprise her, too!”

  “Yeah, I guess she’s gonna be surprised, too, huh? Anyway, if we do it at lunch, Master and the others might be able to come to the meeting, too, via remote access.”

  “Hmm. Well, that’s probably better, huh?” Chiyuri assented, and he was secretly relieved. If he ran in this humid heat, he might very well collapse of dehydration before he reached the school.

  But his childhood friend apparently didn’t miss Haruyuki’s relief, and she said with a grin, “So instead of jogging, let’s play vocabulary games until we get to school.”

  “H-huh…”

  “The words we memorize here might be on the test the day after tomorrow! C’mon! Here we go!” Chiyuri ran her hand through the air, and a request for an ad hoc connection appeared in his field of view. He had no sooner accepted it than the application launched and the word CRUNCH was displayed, while a five-second countdown began.

  “Chew up!” he shouted, and the CORRECT bell sounded, but Chiyuri erupted in laughter. Why? He glanced to his side before realizing she was probably remembering Haruyuki crunching away on the Chocopet’s hand during the duel. “C-c’mon, be serious!”

  “S-sorry, sorry. Um…” Chiyuri dropped her eyes to her own vocabulary app, and no sooner had her eyes lit upon the LICK displayed there than she was clutching her stomach and exploding with laughter once more.

  5

  The chime signaling the end of fourth period rang, and the teacher was barely out the door at the front of the classroom before Haruyuki was standing up and turning toward Takumu Mayuzumi. He quickly looked around to check that no one was listening before starting to speak in a low voice.

  “Taku, about that thing I mailed you.”

  “The emergency meeting.” Takumu nodded, his glasses glinting in the light. “Sounds like something big happened, huh?”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure you’ll be shocked, too, Taku.”

  “Can’t wait.” Smiling, Takumu stood up, his lunch in hand. “Fifteen minutes until the meeting starts. The cafeteria, right, Haru? I’ll come and eat with you there.”

  “Yeah? Thanks.” He glanced over at Chiyuri. His other childhood friend appeared to be eating her lunch with a group in class she was chummy with, but she met his eyes as if to say she was all right, so he nodded lightly in return. The meeting would take place in a duel stage with Kuroyukihime as the starter and Haruyuki as the receiver, so it would be at most 1.8 seconds long. For that length of time, even if she was in the middle of eating with someone, no one would suspect anything as long as she prepared for it mentally.

  “Okay, let’s go.” He slapped Takumu on the back and moved to leave the classroom.

  “Arita, Mayuzumi, got a sec?” A voice called from behind, and Haruyuki jumped before turning around.

  Standing there was a girl with her long hair tied in a side ponytail to her right, her forehead half exposed. Mayu Ikuzawa, the class representative for class C.

  After exchanging a glance with Takumu, given that she’d said his name first, Haruyuki replied ever so timidly, “S-sure. What is it?”

  “I wanted to speak with you. Would you mind letting me join you for lunch?”

  “H-haa…,” he replied unintelligibly, his mind racing at maximum speed. He’d experienced this kind of situation once or twice when he was in elementary school. When he was with Takumu in the plaza at the entrance to their condo building, several girls would approach them and glare at Haruyuki like he was in the way while telling Takumu they needed to talk to him. “Um, Ikuzawa, if you needed Taku for something, I can just leave you two.”

  He made the suggestion in an attempt to be thoughtful, but Ikuzawa blinked, uncomprehending, before shaking her head fiercely. “N-no, c’mon, that’s not why I’m here.”

  “Huh? It isn’t?”

  “No!”

  “Anyway,” Takumu interjected, smiling wryly. “How about we continue this in the cafeteria? If we don’t hurry up, we’ll run out of time to eat.”

  And time to prep for the meeting. Twelve minutes until Kuroyukihime challenged Haru
yuki. Taking travel time into account, they were already cutting it pretty close. “Got it. Okay, let’s go.”

  Ikuzawa agreed with an “Okay.” Looking closely, he saw that she was holding a small pouch. Her lunch and a drink were apparently inside.

  From her seat a little ways off, Chiyuri was watching them with a doubtful look, so Haruyuki threw a glance her way to say “I’ll work it out somehow!” and then followed Takumu and Mayu out of the classroom.

  The Umesato student cafeteria was fairly large for a junior high. And farther in, by the windows, there was even a lounge that could be mistaken for a stylish café. The lounge was separated by a trellis covered in decorative plants, and it was an unwritten rule that only eighth and ninth graders could use it. So Haruyuki and his group could indeed have used it, but he figured they should probably use the long cafeteria tables. Because just maybe, at the round table in the very back of the lounge…

  “Oh, lucky!” Ikuzawa said happily. “We’re here late, but there’s still a table left in the lounge! I’ll go get the table; you two buy lunch!” She bounded a step forward before trotting off and disappearing into the lounge.

  “Ikuzawa, so she’s that kind of person, huh?” Haruyuki murmured. “She’s the class rep, though, so I figured she’d be a little more serious…”

  Takumu laughed a little as he said, “I’ve heard that a certain Animal Care Club president is also very serious and formal. Okay, we better hurry, we don’t have much time. I just want a drink. What about you, Haru?”

  “…I’m apparently very serious, so curry.”

  “Okay, I’ll go on ahead of you to the lounge. Five minutes left.”

  “No probs!” He parted with Takumu, and as he got in line at the counter, he opened the menu window, which was just as the name implied, and selected the weekly curry that was always his Monday choice. Four hundred twenty yen was subtracted from the e-money charged to his Neurolinker.

  This week’s curry was a summer vegetable with batterless, deep-fried okra and eggplant, topped with zucchini. Two more weeks until summer vacation, huh? And then we’ll all go on a trip to Yamagata. I gotta call Grampa. But we still have finals before that…His mind wandering, Haruyuki took the tray with piping-hot curry on it from the counter, and after pouring himself a glass of water, hurried to chase after Takumu.