(Before reading, there are some things I should add. This story also has similar events to the LN/anime as well as the MMZ games, so expect similar dialogue in familiar parts. It also has references to events from AW, SAO, and the Megaman Zero series. Also, Lan is an OC even though his name originates from the MMBN series. Be warned, his duel avatar is pretty... overpowered. Don't worry, he won't be the only overpowered character. Thanks and enjoy my story.)

I woke up from a long dream and rubbed my eyes. I sighed and took a glance at the time. It was 6:04 AM. I woke up a few minutes late, but whatever. I was always on time to school no matter how long I slept, to an extent of course. I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up to get ready for school. I stared at the bathroom mirror while brushing my teeth. I had dark brown hair that wasn't very long. The front barely touched my eyes. My eyes were a piercing green. A green that no one else around had. Well, at least they weren't red. On my neck, there was a Neuro Linker, a device that everyone wore in this day and age. A Neuro Linker gave you your own personal HUD with programs and windows to open. It was easily one of the most useful inventions ever created. Mine was a black Neuro Linker with red ends.

After cleaning up, I put on the school uniform for boys at Umesato Junior High. It was a white dress shirt with a green tie, indicating that I was a first year. I also wore a light blue overcoat and light blue blue dress pants. I ate my breakfast of toast and milk and put on my black dress shoes and walked out the door. My parents were still asleep and I didn't need lunch money today. They used to leave notes for me, but ever since I entered junior high, they stopped. I didn't really mind, since they didn't leave anything important most of the time.

I walked on the side of the street where most of the other kids were. I wasn't really popular, but a lot of people knew who I was. I was easy to recognize because of my green eyes. I wasn't hated for it, I was just easily recognizable. Even being in the middle of the year, I didn't make that many friends. All of my old friends from elementary school were gone. They either moved to different schools, or just faded away in this school. It was unfortunate.

I sighed and someone behind me asked me, "Are you doing alright, Lan-kun?"

I turned and found a friend, Kuroyukihime. Well, she was more a friend than anyone else. She was beautiful, with long black hair and brown eyes that had a tinge of scarlet in them. She was a year above me, indicated by her blue ribbon that she wore on her uniform, which was a darker shade of blue compared to mostly everyone else. She approached me a few weeks ago when I dodged a dodgeball in gym class with amazing reaction time. Maybe she was only fond of my abilities, rather than myself, which is why I never really tried to talk to her.

"Yes, perfectly fine. I'm just tired," I replied.

"I hope you aren't too tired for school today," she said.

"It usually passes after the first class."

"Oh? Most students pass out during the first class," she said with a smile.

We made small talk while walking to the school. Talking about our favorite things and recent events. I kind of enjoyed having her around because it made time go faster. She also had something about her that made people smile.

As we entered the school, we went separate ways, as she was a second year student and I was only a first year. We had different classes to go to and different people to hang out with. Well, she did, since she was the school's student council vice-president. I then wondered why she was really cheerful today. It wasn't a bad thing, she was just more cheerful than usual. I stepped into my first class and continued to think about it for a little longer.

Lunch-time was probably the only time I saw Kuroyukihime during school alone. Well, as close to being alone as possible. She was surrounded by upperclassmen, but she usually sat alone, wandering on her Neuro Linker (which was black with purple ends) or eating slowly in a trance. Ever since we met, I had always debated on going over to that section of the lunchroom and sitting and talking with her, but I convinced myself that she only liked me for that lucky dodge. However, I always sat alone and laughed with the people who laughed at me. Perhaps I should go sit by her today...

I got up and made my way over to the section of the lunch area where almost all the upperclassmen hung out at. I almost made it before someone was shoved into me. I fell and he landed on me.

"You lying thief!" cried the student who shoved the other one into me.

"I'm not lying and I am certainly not a thief!" shouted the student who was on top of me.

"Guys..." I called out weakly.

"It's none of your business, Lan-kun!"

"N-No, I'm just suffocating down here."

The person on top of me got off of me and the two began shouting at each other again. I don't know what they were fighting over, but it was probably something stupid.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"He stole my homework files!" cried the student who shoved the one into me. He had black hair and pale blue eyes. He was a first year, like myself. He was also a tad bit smaller than me, and I wasn't that tall myself.

"I did not!" shouted the other student. He had light brown hair and brown eyes. He was slightly taller than me and looked a lot more athletic. He was actually being pushed around by a smaller guy?

The smaller student grabbed an apple and angrily threw it at the other student. I stepped in and caught it with one hand. A teacher was called in and pulled both the kids out. I sighed in relief and turned around to go to where Kuroyukihime was sitting. I was surprised to see her standing directly behind me.

"Nice catch," she said.

"Uhm, thanks. It was nothing, really," I said modestly.

"Come here," she said, gesturing me to follow her.

I did so and followed her to the table she always sat at by herself. The other upperclassmen were looking at me weirdly. Did I look like her... love interest?

"Here, put this in," Kuroyukihime said, handing me a cable. I was very confused, but put it in anyway. Now I definitely looked like her love interest.

With this cable connecting two people's Neuro Linkers, they had the ability to talk to each other without actually moving their lips. Mostly couples did this, but people who weren't couples also did it to exchange information without anyone else hearing. What did Kuroyukihime want with me?

"Lan-kun, are you aware of the fact that your reaction time is impeccable? I have yet to see anyone else in this school, or even in this city, have that kind of reaction speed," Kuroyukihime said.

"It's no big deal. I'm not even that good at sports," I said.

"Would you like to be good at something that required that kind of skill?"

"Uhm, sure. Why not?"

"I'm going to send you a program. I hope you can install it successfully," she said.

"Successfully?"

She quickly tapped the air and moved her hand in a fashion where she was sending me something. My Neuro Linker caught it and a window opened up on my HUD. Would you like to install BB2039? Was this some kind of game? Kuroyukihime didn't seem like the kind of person to play games. Especially today's virtual reality games. She didn't seem like she had the time for them, since she was a student council vice-president. I hit yes, and the window burned away. It was replaced with the logo of the game, Brain Burst. Under it was a small installation bar.

"It took me two full minutes to decide on whether or not I should install Brain Burst. I'm surprised you accepted it without much hesitation."

"I didn't know you played games," I said.

"It isn't just an ordinary game," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

The installation was completed and the logo disappeared. It was replaced with a new message, Welcome to the Accelerated World!

"Accelerated... World?"

"I knew you would be able to do it," Kuroyukihime said with a small smile.

"What exactly is this?" I asked.

"Say the command 'Burst Link' with me."

"Burst Link!"

In an instant, I was pulled out of my own body into a somewhat different world. The world around me was now tinged blue. I looked at my hands and found that I was using my avatar for exploring the school's net. It was an all blue character. It resembled Mega Man, a character from the early twenty-first century who had his own line of video games. I looked around for Kuroyukihime and found her standing next to me in her own avatar as well, who was just as beautiful as she was. She had a long black dress on and large black and purple wings with white shoes that resembled butterflies. She herself looked like a butterfly.

"This is the Accelerated World?" I asked.

"Yes, it is." Kuroyukihime said, "We use this program, Brain Burst, to accelerate and assess certain situations. For example, if you accelerated before that student fell on you, you probably would have avoided it."

"So it's like a time freezer?"

"Yes and no. Time is not frozen here, instead, we're moving one thousand times faster than the real world. One second in the real world is 16 minutes and 40 seconds in here."

I see. So how could I use this to my advantage? Kuroyukihime asked me if I wanted to be good at something with my reaction speed. How is this relevant at all? It's not a game, it's more like a real-life hack.

"I'm glad you are able to accelerate. We're done for today; I'll show you more tomorrow." Kuroyukihime said, "Burst Out!"

"Burst Out!" I said.

And just like that, not even a second had passed. It was amazing, to spend 16 minutes in that world and come out to the real world to find that only one second passed!

"Don't connect to the global network yet. Not until tomorrow," she warned me.

"Alright. Thank you for the program, Kuroyukihime."

"You're very welcome, Lan-kun."

She smiled at me and I smiled back. The students around us were looking at us like we were crazy. A girl came over and whispered to Kuroyukihime.

"Well? Who is this guy? We've all been dying to know, Kuroyukihime-senpai!" she whispered. She wasn't whispering well enough if I could hear her.

"H-He's just a friend," Kuroyukihime replied with a blush.

"A friend, you say? Yet you two cable?"

My face grew hot as I realized what this girl was implying. Me and Kuroyukihime? Together as a couple? I tossed that around in my head for a few moments until more people started to crowd around us.

"I think I'll take my leave now!" I said, shoving people out of my way.

I made it out of the upperclassmen area and went to class, still thinking about the possibilities of Kuroyukihime being with me.