The Seven-Thousand-Year Prayer

  Of course, at some point, he would have to leave the Unlimited Neutral Field and face Chiyuri, Takumu, Fuko, Utai, and Kuroyukihime in the real world. But Haruyuki had no idea what he should do or what he should say to his loved ones when that happened, to the point that he even had the thought that his only choice was to simply continue to wander in the Unlimited Neutral Field, where time flowed accelerated by a factor of a thousand. Attack anything that came into sight without discrimination, Enemy or Burst Linker, and defeat it. Wear himself down during the long, long hours, until he was on the verge of disappearing.

  Then he might be able to get through it without feeling too sad. Even if he had to say good-bye to those very important people only halfway through their journey.

  “Looks like we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, huh, partner?”

  All Haruyuki got in reply was a brief, displeased roar.

  I can’t believe I can chat like this with that terrifying Beast now. And animals don’t usually really like me… As this thought wandered through his mind, he decided to head east for now, toward Ginza. He walked toward the edge of Mori Tower.

  At that point, Haruyuki didn’t bother to concern himself with two important facts.

  One was that if he had truly become one with the Armor of Catastrophe, aka the Disaster, then he wouldn’t be able to hear the Beast’s voice to start with. In fact, for a while after he summoned the Armor an hour earlier in the northern part of the Shibuya area, Haruyuki had been basically unaware of the existence of it—because he himself had become “the Beast” and had been rampaging.

  He had become able to hear the consciousness’s voice in his head in the instant he tried to fight the control of the Armor with his own will—in the middle of the fierce battle with Iron Pound. Ever since, Haruyuki had fought while communicating at super-high speed with the Beast. In other words, battle power aside, this could actually be seen as proof that his level of fusion with the Armor was low on the mental side…but the Haruyuki of that moment wasn’t able to recognize this.

  And the second fact, which Haruyuki had completely forgotten:

  An hour earlier, as he had been about to leave the members of Nega Nebulus in front of the southern gates of the Castle and fly off to look for Ash Roller, Chiyuri had said, Haru, if you’re not back in an hour, we’ll pull the cable on the other side, okay?

  As he prepared to fly off aimlessly from the eastern edge of the roof as a wandering mercenary, a reddish-purple system message flashed fiercely in the center of his field of view. DISCONNECTION WARNING. He was being disconnected.

  It took a few seconds for him to realize what was happening. His friends had returned to the real world ahead of him through a leave-point, and now they were physically pulling out the XSB cable connecting him to the Unlimited Neutral Field out of his Neurolinker. The bloodstained scene of the Deadly Sin stage began to disappear, stretching out vertically like toffee. On the verge of being cut loose from the Accelerated World, he heard the brief howl of the Beast.

  In addition to the usual rage and annoyance, the voice seemed like it also held the slightest note of some other, unfamiliar emotion.

  3

  The first thing he felt was not the dull weight of his real world body, nor the elasticity of the sofa up against his back, nor even the cool air emitted by the air conditioner. It was the sensation of someone’s hand squeezing his left shoulder tightly, the faint scent of something sweetly minty, and hair like silk tickling his cheek.

  Before even opening his eyes, Haruyuki knew there was someone right in front of him. Even still, the instant he saw Kuroyukihime barely thirty centimeters away, eyes like the starry sky wide-open, he couldn’t stop himself from trembling at the feelings that filled his heart.

  Kuroyukihime was gripping his shoulder with her right hand, and in her left, she held the XSB plug she had just pulled out of his Neurolinker. Apparently, she had been the one to carry out the physical disconnection, rather than Chiyuri.

  “Haruyuki.” She parted her smooth, faintly cherry-colored lips, and a slightly strained voice came out. “We waited for an hour, but you didn’t come back, so apologies, but we took the liberty of activating the emergency disconnect safety.”

  “…Right.” He somehow managed to produce that much of an answer, but his voice was so raspingly hoarse it surprised even him. The inside of his mouth was completely dried out; his tongue wouldn’t move properly.

  A glass of iced oolong tea was swiftly proffered from his right. Holding it was Fuko Kurasaki, looking as worried as Kuroyukihime, if not more so. Bowing his head slightly, Haru accepted the glass and drank the chilled tea down in one gulp. The pain in his throat finally subsided, and he let out a small sigh.

  As if she had been waiting for him to relax a little, Kuroyukihime opened her mouth once more. “Did something happen? Right before we moved to exit through the leave-point at the police station, the closest one to the Castle’s southern gate, we saw a tremendous explosion in the south, probably in the direction of Akasaka. You couldn’t have actually…”

  Oh, right, he thought. All he had said to Kuroyukihime and the others when he left them at the Castle’s southern gate was that he was going to look for Ash Roller, so naturally none of them knew anything. Nothing about the many—too many—events that had happened in the following hour.

  Still holding the now-empty glass with both hands, Haruyuki quietly looked away. Kuroyukihime was directly in front of him, one knee on the sofa, almost bending forward. To her right, kneeling on the carpet, was Fuko. Farther to the right, sitting on her knees alongside Haruyuki on the sofa, was Utai Shinomiya.

  When he turned his eyes to the opposite side, Takumu Mayuzumi and Chiyuri Kurashima were leaning forward, shoulders almost pressed together. All the members of the second Nega Nebulus had a shared look of sincere and deep concern for Haruyuki on their faces.

  And yet.

  And yet, their faith in me, I…

  Forcing that momentary thought out of his mind, Haruyuki somehow succeeded in bringing an awkward smile to his face. He looked at Kuroyukihime again. “Oh, uh, I’m okay,” he said, clumsily, still unable to meet her eyes. “I wasn’t pulled into that explosion. And I didn’t die. I was pretty close to a portal before I logged out, so it’ll probably be easy to leave normally.”

  Once he had gotten this much out, a hint of relief rose up on the faces of everyone present. However, the moment he saw that, a feeling of guilt like a sharp needle plunged into Haruyuki’s heart. He had to tell them. Everything. What he had done. That he had given himself over to anger, lost his senses, and destroyed something precious—something called possibility. Not just for Haruyuki, but the future of the Legion Nega Nebulus itself.

  Suppressing the urge to sob and wail like a small child, Haruyuki focused on keeping a smile on his face as he gently pushed Kuroyukihime’s hand away from his shoulder. His beloved swordmaster leaned back, brow furrowing slightly, and didn’t quite stand while rearranging herself on the sofa.

  He reached a hand out and placed the empty glass on the coffee table before lifting his face. “Um, I’ll start at the beginning, okay?” He looked at Fuko first and gave her a nod. “Master, I found Ash Roller a little north of Shibuya Station. Apparently, before meeting with all of you, he planned to pick up Bush Utan in Shibuya and bring him along. But they were attacked by a group wearing ISS kits.”

  “What?!” Fuko gasped, her eyes flying open.

  Haruyuki nodded briefly again. “It’s all right. It looks like the attackers stole points from them a few times, but neither Ash nor Utan got to total loss. They should be leaving normally through the portal at Shibuya Station right about now.”

  “I see.” Fuko let out the breath she’d been holding and furrowed her brow. “Even though I knew it would be far too late, I was this close to running down to the parking lot and pulling off Ash’s Neurolinker. Honestly, no matter how many times I say not to, that child’s habit of running off cannot be corre
cted…I must make sure I give Ash the superspecial course from the Incarnate training menu.”

  UI> DON’T BE TOO HARD ON ASH, Utai replied in the chat window, pulling her shoulders in for some reason, and Kuroyukihime, Chiyuri, and Takumu laughed together.

  “Um.” Haruyuki worked intently to relax his cheeks and somehow put something resembling a smile on his face as he recommenced his story. “So after I managed to beat back the kit users, I saw one of the ISS kits fly off to the east, so I went after it. It moved to the area around Roppongi Hills, but I ran into members of another Legion there, so I got into another little fight, but I managed somehow…And then right after they left through the Mori Tower portal, you pulled the cable out for me, Kuroyukihime, and I burst out, too. The explosion you guys saw was caused by this massive Enemy nearby, but it wasn’t like it was targeting me, so…”

  Haruyuki closed his mouth here, but given how many details his explanation omitted, it was no surprise when his friends exchanged looks that said something didn’t quite click for them. Kuroyukihime gave voice to the questions.

  “The most important thing is that you’re safe, Haruyuki. Just now, you said you…beat back the group of ISS kit users, yes? Does that mean that you defeated several IS mode users by yourself? Oh, I don’t mean to cast doubt on your actual abilities, but…”

  “Uh, um…”

  “Kuroyukihime, when Haru does something, he really does it, you know!” Chiyuri spoke up brightly, perhaps keenly sensing that Haruyuki was hard-pressed to answer. “Lately, if you let him use a sneaky trick or two when he’s down, he’ll come out better than the Yellow King!”

  “…Chiyuri, was that a compliment?”

  Takumu, Fuko, and Utai all smiled at this exchange between the two girls. Haruyuki tried hard to join them and push something like a laugh out of his throat. But at the same time, the feelings he had been desperately trying to dam up in the bottom of his heart were about to burst forth.

  The cheery voices of his friends were just too warm, their faces too dazzling. Until the instant they dove into the Unlimited Neutral Field together—mere minutes before, according to the clock on the wall—Haruyuki had been a part of the small but strong circle of Nega Nebulus. He had believed that he would rescue Ardor Maiden from the mouth of the God Suzaku, be purified of the parasitic element of the Armor, and then fight alongside all of them forever. And yet…And yet…

  “Haruyuki…?” At the sound of Kuroyukihime’s bewildered murmur, Haruyuki finally realized that a tear was sliding down his own right cheek.

  “I-I’m sorry.” He hurriedly wiped at it with the back of his hand several times and put a smile on his face once more. “It’s nothing. I’m just relieved now that the mission to rescue Shinomiya’s over, and…” He managed to quickly push this out, but then his real-world body rejected his control, and large drops began to spill from both eyes, one after another. His face screwed up, and his chest heaved.

  “Haruyuki.” Kuroyukihime said his name in a clear voice, and reached out with a pale hand.

  He gently, but still with some force, pushed back with both hands. Kuroyukihime’s slender body had no sooner moved away from him than he was springing up from the sofa and running heavily toward the living room door. With his hand on the doorknob, Haruyuki looked back and said to his wide-eyed friends, “I’m sorry, guys. I’m really sorry.”

  “Wh-what’s wrong, Haru?” Takumu shouted. “At least tell us first. We promised not to hide things from each other anymore, didn’t we?!”

  Haruyuki started to reflexively lower his eyes, but then stopped and endured their gazes at least. To these people he loved, sitting about in the center of his blurry, hazy vision, he said hoarsely, “I’m not Silver Crow anymore. I’m the sixth Chrome Disaster.”

  He felt them all gasp as one, but he couldn’t make out the details of their faces through his veil of tears. Thanks to that, he was able to string a few more words together.

  “The Armor’s totally become one with my duel avatar. It’s too late to go back or to purify it…I’m sorry, Kuroyukihime. I…I…you…”

  I wanted to see the farthest reaches of the Accelerated World with you. Swallowing this, Haruyuki turned without waiting for Kuroyukihime’s reaction. He pushed the door open and flew out into the hallway.

  Behind him, he heard the footfalls of what was probably Takumu and Kuroyukihime. Running toward the front door, Haruyuki accessed his home server and opened a holowindow to press his finger down on the FORCE LOCK button in the security settings tab.

  “Haru!!”

  “You have to wait, Haruyuki!!”

  As if fleeing from their voices, he shoved his feet into his sneakers at the same time as he pushed open the entryway door. He had no sooner stepped out through the gap into the shared hallway outside than he was pushing the door shut again with his body and hitting the LOCK button.

  Chak! The sound of the lock rang out like something had been severed. Immediately after that came the sound of the handle of the door being pushed down several times, and then that of the dead bolt being turned, but the door did not open. No one but Haruyuki, with his administrator privileges on the Arita home server, could unlock that door.

  Flicking around in the window, he set the maximum fifteen minutes for the time to maintain the lock and then started talking to Kuroyukihime, who was still calling his name on the other side of the five-centimeter-thick door.

  “Kuroyukihime. I—I summoned the Armor of Catastrophe of my own will. Just when—just when all of you were working so hard to purify the seed parasitizing me…even though Mei made it out of the Castle alive…I made it all worthless…”

  How could it be worthless?! Do you think I don’t at least understand you would do that to save a friend you care about?! I will cut that Armor away from you in a single blow! So open the door, Haruyuki!!

  Even separated from him by the layers of aluminum, Kuroyukihime’s voice reached his ears very clearly. And the vibrations of her pounding steadily on the door with all her might felt like they came directly through his back and into his heart.

  “If we go on like this, you and everyone in the Legion might end up being investigated, too, at the meeting of the Seven Kings on Sunday. And if everyone gets a bounty put on their heads…Nega Nebulus will disappear. I have to make sure that doesn’t happen, at least.” The vibrations stopped at this. In the brief silence, Haruyuki focused on giving voice to his last words. “I’ll finish things with the Armor of Catastrophe myself. Please wait…I know I’ll come back. To you…to everyone.”

  That was the first big lie Haruyuki had told since he’d become a Burst Linker as Kuroyukihime’s child. The Armor could no longer be cut free. Even now, while he was in the real world, he felt that Beast breathing somewhere deep inside him. There was only one thing he could do: disappear along with it. After fighting countless battles, wear his existence itself out.

  I’m sorry. Good-bye, Kuroyukihime. Good-bye, Master. Sorry, Taku, Chiyu. And…Shinomiya.

  Whispering this in his heart, Haruyuki peeled his back off the door. He clenched his hands into tight fists and started running for the elevator. The time display in the lower right of his field of view said 7:20 PM, still a time when a junior high school student would be allowed to be walking alone outside. If he went back into the Unlimited Neutral Field again right away from a dive café somewhere, he should be able to finish everything before he was chased out of the café at ten.

  Even in the midst of his confusion and worrying, the thought did indeed cross his mind that perhaps his own actions were a little too rash. But he could not forget the fact that the Armor of Catastrophe gradually ate into even the personality of the Burst Linker wearing it in the real world. Haruyuki could not repeat the tragedy of the fifth Disaster Cherry Rook trying to eat his own child and Legion Master Niko. At least that, he could not allow. Absolutely not.

  In his last dive, Haruyuki had only lost himself and attacked Olive Grab and the other ISS kit wearers. I
n the fighting with Iron Pound and the Green King, he had started to rampage twice, but fortunately, it hadn’t reached the level where he lost his reason or his memory. He would settle this while he could still be himself.

  Carving this into his heart, when he went to get into the elevator, his VOICE CALL icon began to flash, accompanied by a light synthetic sound. The caller was…Chiyuri.

  Haruyuki clenched his hands as tightly as he could and rode out the desire to push the icon. He apologized in his heart as he cut all network connects from his Neurolinker. And then, instead of using the now-disabled AR button, he specified the first floor with the control panel in the elevator, something he had no memory of ever using.

  The basement up to the third floor of the multi-use high-rise condo in northern Koenji where Haruyuki, Takumu, and Chiyuri lived was taken up by a large shopping mall. Even though it was a weekday evening, the central walkway on the first floor was quite busy with families and couples. As he trotted ahead, ignoring all the smiling faces and the fun these people were having, Haruyuki felt a little sense of déjà vu.

  Right. It had been in April…the day Haruyuki’s lone power, his flying ability, had been stolen by the Burst Linker who suddenly appeared at Umesato Junior High, the Twilight Marauder, Dusk Taker. After he had been ordered to pay a tribute of burst points every day, Haruyuki had raced through the shoppers, holding back tears just like this.

  In the end, he’d been saved by Ash Roller, when he had challenged him to a duel on Kannana Street. Ash had taken Haruyuki to meet his parent Sky Raker, and she had given him the two powers: that of the Incarnate system, as well as that of the Gale Thruster, all so that he could defeat Dusk Taker in the final battle.