Cradle of Stars

by Reki Kawahara

  In the midst of all this, Takumu, who seemed to have been thinking about something the whole time, asked calmly, “Master, may I?”

  “Of course, Takumu.”

  Cyan Pile stood up from his mushroom and stepped forward into the center of the meeting space. “I also have no objections to the action policy Master just announced. Because the road to eliminating the Acceleration Research Society cannot be passed without a general attack on the headquarters. But…I will take the opportunity to say this in my role here. I think there are two major issues that we must overcome in order to attack Minato Three in the Territories.”

  “Mm. Go on.”

  “All right. The first is…the fact that any Legion that is already in possession of a domain may only attack areas adjacent to that domain in the Territories. It goes without saying that our domain here in Suginami and the Society’s headquarters in Minato Three are quite far apart. Nega Nebulus cannot currently issue a declaration of war on Oscillatory Universe territory.”

  “Oh…” Haruyuki had completely forgotten about this basic rule. The other members had apparently long ago realized this, however, and only waited silently for Takumu to continue.

  “And the second is what we are going to do about defending Suginami area.”

  Haruyuki nearly cried out again but somehow managed to contain himself this time. It was exactly as Takumu said. To launch a general offensive against Minato area, all members of the Legion would have to move to Minato Ward in the real world on Saturday night when the Territories were held, and there would be no one left to guard Suginami area that week.

  “It’s true, those are two enormous issues.” Kuroyukihime nodded slowly. “But, Takumu, you of all people must have realized the solutions, yes?”

  “Yes.” He lowered his face mask slightly. “There is just one method to resolve both issues at once. And that is to abandon Suginami area. If we lose all our territory, then we will be free to attack any area, and there will be no need to split our battle power on defense…But…”

  Here, he lifted his face and asserted in a bold tone, “But I’m opposed to this method! Suginami area is where you and Haru declared war against the six major Legions that day eight months ago. We haven’t had territory taken once since then; we’ve managed to protect it together. I think the reason Raker, Maiden, and Current came back to the Legion was because we have continued to fly the black flag in Suginami. Even for the sake of a great cause like defeating the Society, if we abandon our territory without fighting, even if it’s only for one week, I just know we’ll lose something crucial. This place, here in Suginami, is our place, Master!”

  His passionate will turned to flames in his voice and echoed through the large hall at length.

  Haruyuki realized how much Takumu actually cared about Nega Nebulus and Kuroyukihime, even though he was always so rational and practical, and he felt something stop in his throat. Chiyuri, Fuko, Utai, and Akira all seemed to feel the same; each nodded deeply and purposefully.

  The one who broke the intense silence was the pure-white 3-D icon sitting on Haruyuki’s left shoulder. “That blue one speaks well.”

  The arrogance lingered, but this was still the greatest compliment from Metatron. The most powerful Legend-class Enemy flapped her small wings as she continued.

  “If this Suginami or what have you is your territory, then to abandon it for whatever reason is a shameful act. If you require soldiers to protect it, then you must simply acquire them. And if you cannot attack a territory unless it is adjacent to yours, then you simply overthrow the intervening territories and make yours adjacent.”

  Makes sense, Haruyuki thought before crying out in his heart, No, no, no!

  Separating Suginami and Minato areas was the intimidating Shibuya area, the territory where the Green King reigned, leader of the largest Legion in the Accelerated World, Great Wall. He couldn’t even joke about Nega Nebulus taking it down.

  But then, in a surprising turn, Kuroyukihime nodded again. “Mm. A valid argument. A frontal assault.”

  “Wh-whaaaaaat?! Are you serious, Kuroyukihime?!” Haruyuki shouted in disbelief.

  “No need to be that surprised.” The Black King bobbed her shoulders up lightly. “That GW lot comes and attacks us basically every week, don’t they?”

  “Th-that’s true, but the teams that come are always just mid-level members…I don’t think they’re holding back, but it’s not like they’re coming in here serious about bringing down Suginami.”

  “Then perhaps I’ll have your team charge in on them?”

  “Wh-whaaaat?!”

  “Ha-ha! I’m kidding.” Kuroyukihime raised her hand lightly and sat Takumu and Haruyuki down before stepping forward again. “Metatron is indeed correct, but to put that plan into action would take far too much time. I doubt the Society will sit quietly forever, and if possible, I’d like to put an end to them this month. I want to go into summer vacation feeling unburdened. So I’d like to resolve the issue through negotiation.”

  “Negotiation? Oh! Is that why you and Master wanted to see the Green King?!” Haruyuki finally remembered that Kuroyukihime and Fuko had already set up a meeting with the Green King, Green Grandé, and he cried out in surprise yet again.

  “That was half our objective, yes.” Fuko nodded, and her wheelchair moved silently forward to bring her next to Kuroyukihime. “Just as you said, Corvus, our meeting with the Green King is scheduled for next Sunday—three in the afternoon of the fourteenth. Everyone who can join us will go together to Shibuya Area Two. We intend to discuss an attack on the Minato area with their executives. I do not believe we’ll be able to secure their assistance as easily as that, but that depends on the negotiations, hmm? Does anyone have any questions?”

  Fuko let her eyes wander over the assembled group, and Chiyuri’s hand shot into the air with incredible force.

  “I do! Me! I do! I dooooo!”

  “Wh-what, Chiiko?”

  “Shibuya Two—that’s, like, around the station, right?! So like, Center-Gai and Dogenzaka and Shibuya Ravine Tower!”

  “I—I suppose so.”

  “So then, after the meeting— No, that’ll be too late. I propose that, before the meeting, we all go shopping or sightseeing or have tea or something!”

  “…Wh-what do you think, Sacchi?”

  Submaster and master exchanged a look.

  “…W-well, I suppose it’s fine?”

  “All right!!” Chiyuri bounded up into the air. “This Sunday, right? I’m so excited!!”

  “Look, Chiyu, we’re not going there to play,” Haruyuki warned just in case, since his childhood friend was all smiles. “And don’t you have a track meet next weeke—?”

  “My event’s on Saturday! I’ve got the whoooole day off on Sunday!”

  “Oh, y-you do…”

  “By the way, Haru,” Takumu immediately interjected, “my kendo tournament’s also on Saturday. I know I shouldn’t say this after all that talk before, but Chii and I will have to miss the next Territories again. So we’re counting on you out there.”

  “Y-you are…” Haruyuki was a little disappointed—not because defending would be difficult, but simply because he’d be lonely. But he immediately corrected his thinking; he had to root for his friends at all their respective tournaments.

  Kuroyukihime nodded coolly and thanked Takumu and Chiyuri. “We’ll make sure to defend all three areas, so you relax and go to your tournaments, Takumu, Chiyuri…But it sounds like the two of you will be quite busy. In a mere two weeks, you have the school festival, final exams, and tournaments all in a row.”

  “It really is rough!” Chiyuri nodded her pointed hat. “If you had used your powers as student council vice president to at least move the school festival back a little, it would’ve been way easier to prepare for exams.”

  “Yes, tests ten days after the festival also seemed a bit much to me, but unfortunately, it’s the end of my term. I can only stay on the student council unti
l the elections for the next term in September.”

  “Oh, right…Soon you won’t be vice president anymore, huh, Kuroyuki?” Yes, that was true. Haruyuki nodded, too. He had a hard time imagining a Kuroyukihime who wasn’t the student council vice president, but at the very least, in daily life at the junior high, there was nothing that lasted forever. In just nine more months, that day would come. The day Kuroyukihime left Umesato…

  His shoulders started to sink in dejection, and Metatron’s thoughts, gentler than usual, echoed in the back of his mind.

  “You little warriors do all sort of things on the Lowest Level, hmm?”

  “…Yeah. In the real world, there’s this thing called school, and we all go there every day to study.”

  “I see. Is it like a training facility?”

  “W-well, I guess,” he replied, before bracing himself for the “Take me there” that would inevitably follow.

  “I am aware that there is no way for me to descend to the Lowest Level.”

  “……”

  “But, Crow, I am able to ask you about it. As your master, I order you, my servant. The next time you visit the Mean Level, tell me about it. What kind of place the Lowest Level is, how you pass the time there each day, everything.”

  “Huh? E-everything?! Um. I feel like that’ll take a super-long time, though…”

  “Do you think I am concerned with how much time it might take?”

  …Right. This Being is eight thousand years old, he remembered belatedly. “U-understood. So I’ll try to come to the Unlimited Duel Field as soon as I can.”

  “See that you do not make me wait too long.”

  “O-okay.”

  The conversation continued at length, but apparently, it took less time than if they had been speaking out loud, thanks to Metatron’s thoughts, and when he lifted his head, Chiyuri and Kuroyukihime were still talking.

  “…So that is Chiyuri’s lone wish. Shall we go to Shibuya early on Sunday and recharge our batteries for the meeting with GW?”

  “All right! Aah, I’m so excited!” Chiyuri was all worked up.

  “Chiiko, our main objective is still the negotiations with the Green King,” Fuko said, a smile in her voice. “That said, Shibuya is my neighborhood. Looks like I’ll have no choice but to guide you.”

  “What? You’ll show us around, Sister?!”

  “Even just going for fun, you really need a solid plan to get the most out of your time,” Fuko noted proudly, raising a finger.

  Haruyuki didn’t miss the whispered conversation between Utai and Akira.

  “Fu’s really all on board,” Utai murmured.

  “When Raker gets like that, no one can stop her,” Akira agreed.

  “Did you say something, Uiui?”

  “I-I’m really looking forward to this!” Utai yelped.

  Everyone laughed brightly at this perfectly timed exchange between long-time teammates ICBM and Testarossa.

  As their cheerful laughter died down, Kuroyukihime glanced at the clock to check the remaining time and started to bring the meeting to a close.

  “I said this before, but I believe the battle with the White Legion will be harder and more painful than we can imagine. Simply in terms of numbers, currently, there is a gap that would be difficult to overcome. On top of that, the White King, White Cosmos, and her executives, the Seven Dwarves, have unfathomable power in battle. They also still hold the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II, in their hands. From the way Cosmos was talking when she appeared on the day of the school festival, it’s certain that they intend to use the recovered Armor for some purpose.”

  Haruyuki clenched his teeth together tightly. Just thinking about Wolfram Cerberus still in that armor and being used once more by the Society made his whole body shake. They had to free him before that. This was Haruyuki’s mission now, after becoming friends with Cerberus through the four duels they’d had.

  “But we have come out victorious in any number of fierce battles before. If we join together, I believe there is no wall we cannot smash. We’ll fight together…for the things we love and believe in!!” Kuroyukihime thrust the sword of her right hand high up into the air, and the others also threw hands up, shouting with all their might.

  The meeting ended, and the instant he returned to the real world, the taste of curry once more registered in Haruyuki’s mouth. Still gripping the spoon in his right hand, he remembered that, oh right, he was in the middle of lunch.

  Before his eyes was the still-piping-hot summer-vegetable curry. The place was the lounge of the cafeteria on the first floor. In the chair next to him, Takumu was about to dig into the lunch box in front of him. And also in front of him…

  “Is the curry that good?”

  Haruyuki blinked rapidly. Before him, a girl with her hair tied to one side was smiling. The class representative, Mayu Ikuzawa.

  That’s right. Ikuzawa invited us to the lounge with her. Still, why Taku and me all of a sudden? It’s not like we’re close. I mean, I’ve barely spoken to her before.

  As these thoughts rolled through his mind, the class representative continued, grinning and holding a small sandwich in one hand.

  “It’s just, when you took a bite of the curry, Arita, you closed your eyes and just sat like that. So I was just wondering if it was so great.”

  “Oh! Y-yeah. It’s pretty good.”

  “Hmm. Maybe I’ll try it next time.”

  …Was he supposed to offer her a bite now? But Ikuzawa didn’t have a spoon. Should he go get a fresh spoon from the counter? No, no, if he went that far, it’d actually be weird, right?

  As Haruyuki fell once more into the labyrinth of his thoughts, Takumu spoke up. “Haru, let me have a taste. I’ll give you my fried egg and mini croquette.”

  “Huh? Sure. But you don’t have a spoon…”

  “I do, though.” Takumu grinned and pulled a strangely shaped spoon and fork out of the lid of his lunchbox. They were the good kind, normally thin plates, but when you held them, they detected the electrical current of the body and changed into a proper shape. Instantly, he felt like his thoughts had telepathically reached his friend or something, he realized with a gasp.

  “Oh…Ikuzawa, did you want to try it, too?”

  The class rep smiled brightly. “You sure? Okay, I’ll give you one of my sandwiches. Ah, but I don’t have a spoon…”

  “Here, you can use this.” Takumu immediately held out an emergency spoon.

  As Haruyuki marveled at how he’d never in his life best Takumu when it came to responding in these sorts of situations, he pushed his curry plate forward. After thanking them both, Ikuzawa spooned a little curry onto the lid of the recyclable container with her sandwiches and set out a cute square sandwich in an empty space on his plate. When the trade with Takumu was finished, the three dug in.

  “Oh! You’re right!” Ikuzawa exclaimed. “It is good. It’s spicier than the usual pork curry.”

  “It goes really well with the fried eggplant,” Takumu remarked.

  “Taku, you really do love eggplant, huh?” Haruyuki grinned as he took a bite of the thin chicken, lettuce, and cheese sandwich Ikuzawa had given him, a little flustered.

  And then suddenly sensing eyes on him, Haruyuki turned his face in that direction and met the eyes of Kuroyukihime staring at him, her face half hidden in a hardcover book at a table some distance away.

  Reflexively, a stiff smile crept onto his lips, and he had the thought You’ve got the wrong idea! But Haruyuki didn’t know himself what the wrong idea was. To start with, he still hadn’t heard what the class representative wanted to talk about. Instinctively understanding that it would be best to get down to business right away, Haruyuki finished the sandwich with his next bite and went to broach the topic. But.

  “Arita, how was the sandwich?”

  The question came at him first, so he immediately bobbed his head up and down.

  “I-it was supergood. The flavoring isn’t the usual mayonnaise, huh?”<
br />
  “Yeah. It has some herbs cut up and mixed into it,” she told him. “They’re fresh, so they have a nice fragrance, you know?”

  “Wow. Do you grow them at home?”

  “I do. In planters, though. Sweet basil, Italian parsley, rosemary…”

  While they were chatting, he could feel Kuroyukihime’s penetrating gaze growing sharper. She’s not gonna wait anymore! Haruyuki understood intuitively and nudged Takumu’s foot with his own.

  Fortunately, Takumu had apparently also noticed Kuroyukihime glaring, and he cleared his throat lightly. “So, Ikuzawa, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?”

  “Oh! Right. Um. I know this is super-sudden, and you might be surprised, but…” Sitting up perfectly straight in her chair, Ikuzawa looked directly at Takumu and Haruyuki as she announced in a clear voice, “I have a favor to ask. Would you maybe stand as candidates with me in the next student council election?”

  Whaaaaaat?! Haruyuki just barely managed to stuff the scream that leapt into his mouth back into his throat. Stewdent cownsill elekshuns? Is that the name of an herb?

  He was basically given no time to let his thoughts run off evasively like this because Takumu got back on his feet after a mere two seconds of shock and calmly confirmed, “So then, Ikuzawa, you want us to be the executive members in your standing for student council president?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.” She nodded, looking utterly serious.

  The Umesato Junior High student council elections were a little different from other schools. Normally, candidates ran for each of the four executive positions of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, and students also voted for each of those four positions. But at Umesato, four people ran as a set. Specifically, the student running for president collected her three staff members, and then the four campaigned as a team. In other words, Mayu Ikuzawa was saying she wanted Haruyuki and Takumu to be vice president or secretary or treasurer. But.

  “I heard that usually people run together with trusted friends, though,” Takumu pointed out, and Haruyuki bobbed his head up and down.

  “I don’t really think that’s so great,” Ikuzawa replied, still looking serious. “Student council shouldn’t be about hanging out. You should pick people you can trust as staff first and foremost, right? I heard the current executive board was put together like that, too.”