The Black Dual Swordsman

by Reki Kawahara

  He’d looked up the English word strife in the dictionary once and discovered it meant conflict. So then, what was conflict? How was it different from a contest? So he looked that up and learned that contest meant fighting an opponent to complete an objective, while strife was conflict born from one side refuting the ideals of the other.

  At the time, he’d felt that strife was not a great name for a shield meant to protect a person. But he understood now, having experienced its special power of returning a hit twofold. Reject any and all attacks, reflect, destroy. There was no ability that more purely manifested this concept of “refusal.”

  Refusal. When he thought about it, Green Grandé himself had fought to refute the Brain Burst 2039 system. By hunting Enemies solo in the Unlimited Neutral Field and freely sharing the vast sums of points he earned with middle-rank Burst Linkers, he was rejecting the end of the world.

  Grandé had explained his reasons for doing this before. Most likely, Brain Burst 2039 possessed whatever element that was missing from the already abandoned Accel Assault 2038 and Cosmos Corrupt 2040. The world could not be allowed to close until that element was made manifest.

  Haruyuki still didn’t entirely understand what Grandé had meant by this. But one thing was certain: Grandé’s will was rock-solid, and now he was standing in Haruyuki’s way. In which case, Haruyuki too had to prove his own will right until the very last moment. Even if he was attacked by Suntan and the others, even if the twofold energy was activated and smashed his avatar to pieces, he could not give up before the moment that happened.

  Sparks shooting from every red-hot joint of his body, Haruyuki pushed ahead with his final onslaught. And then he heard it—

  Corvus, fight just a little longer!!

  He didn’t know if it was a voice or just a thought. But Haruyuki flicked his eyes up to the right for a mere instant while his fists and feet were on full rotation and saw it.

  A blue comet flying against a dark-purple gas nebula. A red shooting star in the comet’s arms. “ICBM” Sky Raker and “Testarossa” Ardor Maiden.

  “Flame Torrent!!” Maiden shouted as she drew her bow, hanging in the arms of Raker and hurtling through the sky.

  The arrow she launched was not shrouded in flames. But the special attack itself was activated, and instantly, the arrow split into dozens of arrows to become a silver rain and pour down on the battlefield.

  “Nngh!” Suntan raised her arms and took a defensive posture as Utai closed in from above, and Pound and Ash, coming in from behind Grandé, did the same.

  Ka-lak-lak-lak-lak-lak! The arrows clanged against armor.

  Haruyuki was also caught in the range of the special attack, but any arrows that might have fallen onto him were deflected by Suntan overhead and the great shield before him. Although Suntan, Pound, and Ash took directs hits from any number of arrows, their health gauges did not decrease in any significant way, and Grandé took no damage whatsoever, despite the fact that he took no defensive action at all.

  But the aim of Maiden’s special attack was not damage. In the instant of quiet generated by the rain of arrows, Sky Raker silently separated from Maiden and flew. Flames jetted from the Gale Thruster with ten times the force they had thus far. Blue lines ripped across the night sky.

  Haruyuki opened both eyes wide as he dug deep for whatever strength he had left to keep up his attack. But even in the midst of his hyper-acceleration, he could barely catch sight of Raker as an afterimage.

  The blue light hit Suntan Chafer, and she didn’t get the chance to so much as cry out before she was knocked flying again and disappeared into the darkness of the bottom of the stage.

  The light tightly cornered and blindsided Ash Roller and Iron Pound. Ash was just sent flying like Suntan, but Pound, with little left in his health gauge, turned into steel fragments and exploded outward.

  Having dispatched the three green team members, Raker turned again and danced up behind Haruyuki.

  Corvus!!

  The instant her voice rang out in his brain, Haruyuki beat at the great shield in front of him with a roundhouse kick and used the force of the reaction to leap backward. Normally, the successive attack would have been judged to have ended there, and the physical damage accumulated in the Strife would have been returned twofold. But something plunged into the center of the shield with exquisite timing.

  Kaboooom! The pointed toes and narrow heel of Sky Raker’s right foot slammed into the great shield.

  His mental reserves exhausted, Haruyuki floated with arms and legs splayed and tried to burn this image into his retinas and his memory.

  The Gale Thruster equipped on Raker’s back was turned completely around on her shoulders, so that its injection flames jetted back above her head. Her long silver hair flapped violently, and her slender torso and long right leg transformed into a lance to dig into the Arc of ultimate defense.

  Pale sparks gushed from the surface of contact between Raker’s sole and Grandé’s shield. The sky around them rippled, perhaps because of this fearsome amount of power concentrated in one spot.

  Master. Raker. Clenching his still red-hot fists, Haruyuki called to her in his heart. You…You alone were born to fly in this starry sky, the sole duel avatar built for space battle. In this place, no one can beat you. Even if that someone is a King.

  Therefore…Therefore!!

  “Pierce it, Raker!!”

  It wasn’t Haruyuki who shouted, but rather Kuroyukihime, who was off fighting Graphite Edge on a floating island in the distance. As if her voice was fuel, the blue flames jetting from Gale Thruster instantly burned brighter and hotter.

  Suddenly, a low, heavy sound rumbled and shook the core of his body, and the Strife broke up into the four parts that comprised its shield. Haruyuki gritted his teeth in anticipation of a new attack.

  But it wasn’t.

  Massive plumes of steam erupted from the sides of the four pieces held together with a brace. The shield was discharging the stored damage, having reached its limits for energy accumulation.

  In the next instant, the equilibrium crumbled. The sound of a collision, several times more powerful than the earlier impact, shook the entire stage. The light of the impact became several concentric circles spreading out from the bottom of Raker’s foot.

  “…Impressive.” Leaving only this word behind, the Green King was sent sailing into the stars, the separated cross shield still equipped in his left hand. Haruyuki had to take off his hat due to the fact that the King’s health gauge did not drop even from such a powerful impact, but still, Grandé would be unable to return to the main battlefield for the time being.

  Sky Raker did a nimble somersault and returned Gale Thruster to its usual position before turning toward Haruyuki and floating in place. “You fought well, Corvus,” she said softly.

  Haruyuki’s eyes blurred with tears he didn’t understand. “No, if you hadn’t come, Master, he would’ve sent it back to me twofold and done me in…”

  “That’s not true.” Fuko gently shook her head. “Because you didn’t give up, because you kept attacking, Maiden and I were able to get here in time. And because of the damage you built up there, we broke through Grandé’s shield…However, the battle’s not over yet.”

  He bobbed his head as he took the proffered hand. He couldn’t relax just yet.

  From Great Wall, Viridian Decurion and Iron Pound had left the field together. But Suntan Chafer, Lignum Vitae, Ash Roller, Graphite Edge, and Green Grandé were still active. All seven members of Nega Nebulus were still alive, but Cyan Pile had been severely injured, and Black Lotus had also taken serious damage. There was still the possibility of the green team turning the tables when its members returned from the abyss into which they’d been flung.

  “Now then, he will prove troublesome if he stays in the field, so shall we go remove the one who’s more sword than person?” Fuko said with a smile, lightly firing Gale Thruster while gripping Haruyuki’s hand.

  Surrounded by
Lotus, Raker, Current, and Maiden, it was a mere thirty seconds later that Graphite Edge announced his surrender.

  4

  As soon as sixth-period homeroom ended and the teacher disappeared, the eighth grade’s class 2 was filled with an animated buzz. Apparently, even the fact that it was Monday couldn’t kill the excitement for the summer vacation that started in a week. The rainy season had only just ended, and the July sky was cheerfully bright at three thirty. Students on sports teams were scrambling to be the first ones out the door.

  Shihoko Nago waited until the chaos had died down before standing up, schoolbag in hand. She cut across the back of the classroom and walked down the hallway, trying to avoid the eyes of the students laughing and chatting here and there. She steered clear of the crowded central stairs and raced up to the fourth floor via the stairs at the end of the building. When she reached the deserted floor where the special classrooms were concentrated, she let out a long sigh.

  When had school become such a trial? It wasn’t as though anyone was bullying her or she didn’t get along with her classmates. Her grades were slightly above average, and she wasn’t particularly bad at sports; at a glance, she seemed pretty average. In other words, in the Shikishima University–affiliated Sakurami Junior High School’s eighth grade, Shihoko was firmly in the same place as the majority of students, and yet, for some reason, it was painful to her. She didn’t feel like she belonged.

  And maybe each of the students felt more or less the same. Maybe they were all desperately trying to read the room, go along with everyone around them, and work hard to keep from being deemed an outsider. Maybe this was just what it meant to be in junior high.

  If that’s the case, then I’m one of the lucky ones. The room might be small, but at least I have a place at school where I can relax, Shihoko told herself as she opened the door to the home ec room. Two people were already seated on the bench against the wall, and a wry smile rose unbidden to her lips. “You two are pretty fast, huh?”

  “Oh!” The girl with the bobbed hair raised her sharp eyebrows slightly. “What’s that about? You’re the one who told us to come early for a meeting, Shiho.”

  The girl with glasses and shoulder-length hair pursed her lips. “And here I went to all the trouble of making you some brownies, Shiho.”

  “What?” the first girl cried. “Really? All right! I’ll put on some tea!”

  “Ooh, not for you, Sato!”

  “Sweet Yume, there’s no way you wouldn’t have not made some for me, too!”

  “There’s that twisted grammar of yours again.”

  The corners of Shihoko’s mouth loosened once more at this exchange as she closed the door of the classroom.

  The relatively tiny room—about seven and a half square meters—was the office for the cooking club that Sato (aka Satomi Mito), Yume (aka Yume Yuruki), and Shihoko Nago belonged to. The club had only been launched the previous year by Yume, so the three of them were the club’s only members.

  Dropping her bag in the square woven basket in one corner, Shihoko headed toward the mini-kitchen to the rear. As Satomi got the container of tea down from the hanging shelf, Shihoko filled the electric kettle with water and turned it on. By the table behind them, Yume pulled brownies from the fridge.

  Once they had prepared the tea, moving in a perfectly coordinated dance, they sat down at the table. The room was long and narrow, so Satomi and Yume had their backs to the cupboards, while Shihoko had hers almost up against the wall. They were allowed to use the kitchen classroom next door for club activities, but it was too big, and they were never quite comfortable in there. This room, however, was the perfect size for the smallest club at Sakurami Junior High.

  Shihoko raised her cup and took a sip of the orange-flavored black tea, and the tension in both her body and her heart gradually melted away. School was a trial, but she had this brief time after classes with these two in their tiny sanctuary, so she somehow managed to drag herself in every day.

  This was enough. She didn’t want anything more.

  That’s what I’d always thought, at least.

  Satomi stuffed her cheeks with a large bite of brownie and chewed away happily while Yume pushed up the bridge of her glasses neatly and said, “So, Shiho, have you decided when we’re going over there?”

  “Mm-mm,” she hummed in response, before biting into her own brownie. The rich, full flavor of chocolate filled her mouth, a perfect complement to the orange tea. “You’re getting so much better, President. It’s like real chocolate. Although I haven’t eaten the real thing in eight years or so.”

  “Right? The trick is to melt carob powder into butter and then really knead it— Wait!” Yume started to go along with Shihoko’s conversational turn before snapping back to her point. She leaned forward across the table. “I am the club president, but you’re the team leader, Shiho! Just suck it up and make a decision!”

  “Uh, unh…It’s just…,” Shihoko mumbled, poking at her brownie with a fork.

  “Honestly, quit dawdling already,” Satomi interjected, having finished her brownie in the blink of an eye. “I mean, you’re always so prim and proper on the other side, sounding all high and mighty. You need to get some self-confidence!”

  “Nngh, nngh…It’s just…” Half turning her eyes up at the ceiling, she looked at Yume and Satomi in turn.

  Even in Shihoko’s eyes, they were cute. Boyish Satomi and intellectual Yume were different types, but they were fairly high rankers even among the eighth graders. There was no way she could have much confidence in front of the two of them.

  As if reading her thoughts, Yume pulled a tabletop mirror from the shelf behind her and stood it on the table. “Look, you’re cute, Shiho! If you met in person, that bird boy would be knocked out in a single blow!”

  “Th-that’s not the issue!” She hurriedly shook her head, but her gaze was nonetheless pulled into the reflection of herself in the mirror. Her face was the very definition of the word average. Her hair, too, was very junior high, parted in the middle and tied back. Her height and weight were also normal for her age. Everything about her was just average.

  “No way. No. Way,” Shihoko groaned, flopping forward onto the table. “If they find out Little Miss Polite avatar has this inside her, they’ll think I’m this painful loser and kick me out of the Legion.”

  “Huh. So you’re aware you’re a los—,” Satomi started, rather mercilessly.

  Yume jabbed her sharply in the ribs to shut her up as she smiled brightly. “It’ll be fine, Shiho! You can’t be any more pitiful than that king, after all!”

  “You. You can never say that to her,” Satomi warned. “Well anyway, yeah. I think you’re cute, too, Shiho.”

  “So then tell me how I’m cute,” she demanded, raising her face marginally.

  Satomi paused before answering. “You’re cute like the dried apricots in the anmitsu at Mizunoya.”

  “What’s that even supposed to mean?” Dropping her face to the table again with a thump, Shihoko muttered, “And the reason my duel avatar’s Chocolat Puppeter is because I can’t have chocolate thanks to a cocoa allergy. It’s just too obvious…”

  “If we’re going to get into that, I mean, my last name’s Mito, and my avatar name’s Mint Mitten!” Satomi argued with puffed cheeks. “It’s not even like I care one way or the other about mint! On top of that, Mito Satomi’s a palindrome!”

  Yume patted her shoulder with a smile. “I’m sure it’s just because you have no mental trauma, Sato. So the BB system created your avatar from your name.”

  “You think? But, like, I do too! I mean, I got, like, ten or twenty mental scars, easy!”

  “Huh. Like what?”

  “Um…well…I mean, you’re one to talk! You became Plum Flipper just because you had the nickname Plum in elementary!”

  “I did not!” Yume protested. “It’s because I almost died when a dried plum got stuck in my throaaat!”

  “Whatever!” Satomi rolled h
er eyes.

  Listening to her friends bicker, Shihoko munched on the last bite of brownie and let the flavor melt in her mouth.

  Instead of chocolate chips or cocoa powder, the brownie was made from the powder of Mediterranean beans. Shihoko could not have any kind of chocolate whatsoever because of her allergy, so Yume and Satomi had developed this recipe for her.

  Chocolate was used in all kinds of treats and drinks, so the allergy had been fairly difficult to cope with when she was small. She’d eat some chocolate without realizing it and then have trouble breathing and be whisked off to the hospital. But to be honest, she had a hard time believing that those memories were sufficiently traumatic to be the mold for her duel avatar. She just came off like some kind of weird glutton.

  “But, like, just ’cause we’re meeting in the real doesn’t mean they’re gonna suddenly start talking avatar origin stories,” she muttered as if trying to convince herself. “That’s like the most private of private…”

  Satomi and Yume turned toward her at the same time and nodded in agreement.

  “That’s totally right, Shiho!” Satomi agreed. “I’m telling ya, there’s nothing to be freaked about!”

  “Right, exactly,” Yume chimed in. “I’m sure they’re nice people, probably!”

  “And they won that tough fight against GW! Seriously amazing!”

  “And they were up against five of the Six Armors, too!”

  “Are you that psyched to meet them?” Shihoko asked, and her friends exchanged a glance before giggling awkwardly. She flashed them an exasperated smile and looked around the small, comfortable cooking prep room.

  The name Petit Paquet, the Legion the three of them had formed, had, of course, come from this room. Here, they made treats, chatted, and dived into the Unlimited Neutral Field to see her friend Coolu. They didn’t duel much, and the Territories didn’t matter to them at all, so other Burst Linkers might have assumed they were not very serious as a Legion. But the Legion meant everything to them. The time they spent together was precious.