The Bottle

By: Aviantei

An Accel World One Shot

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Second Raid 11-I/12]

The fact of the matter was that getting clonked in the head with a book hurt, no ifs, ands, or buts. And that was even with the contact endurance Takumu had built up between kendo and the Unlimited Neutral Field. But even a few hours after being chased out of Chiyu's place, the knot on his head was still throbbing.

She was really angry at us…

Takumu hadn't expected otherwise. He had Haru had been keeping secrets from Chi, and Takumu was supposed to be her boyfriend. On top of that, Takumu himself had been nothing but awful ever since he had gotten Brain Burst, and even Haru's reassurances couldn't change that.

"Somewhere…we have to start over."

As if starting over would be that easy. Even if Brain Burst was technically a game, it wasn't something you could just reset. It was as much of a part of the real world as anything else, especially when you let it bleed into everyday life. Everything Takumu had cheated on…he couldn't take it back. His test scores, his championships, the backdoor program, spying on Chi, none of it.

Takumu blinked, then dropped an arm over his eyes, as if the fabric absorbing them made it so that the tears didn't actually exist.

"We're through forever!"

She actually…broke up with me.

He pressed his head farther into the bed, his injury protesting from the added pressure.

"She deserves better than me anyways."

He wanted to skip kendo practice but didn't quite have the guts to do it. He got roped into a practice match, and, for the first time, he didn't Accelerate while doing it. He lost, but it was close, even though Takumu really felt like he was just half-assing the whole thing.

Usually, doing drills turned his brain off. This time however, as he swung down the sword repeatedly, he couldn't stop thinking. About the fight with Haru. About Chi. About everything. About how when it came down to it, he didn't deserve his club, his school, his position as a starter, his grades.

Really, I should just quit.

His parents would be furious. He couldn't tell them about Brain Burst, so that wouldn't help. They would just yell at him, tell him not to sacrifice his success for anything. Ask him why he wasn't pushing to the top, remind him that anything below a certain percentile in his performance would just exclude him from the rest of the world.

But none of that's mine!

The child his parents had tried to raise had actual talent.

The one they had gotten was just a cheater.

Immediately after getting home from practice, Takumu went for a run. He wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish. Not thinking? Wearing himself out so he could maybe sleep easier? Hoping someone would drag him into a duel so he could wipe out what was left of his points?

He didn't know. All he knew was that his legs and chest hurt and that was fine. It was okay for him to get hurt, even if it was just a little. All of that was fine. Really, he deserved so much worse than this and all he was getting was a book thrown at him and—

"Taku?"

He had gone back by the condos without even thinking about it. Haru had called his name, the only person left that Takumu could count as willing to still talk to him.

And Takumu couldn't understand why.

He stopped running anyway, approaching his former best friend. He couldn't talk just yet, trying to catch his breath. It was probably better, since Takumu wouldn't know what to talk about. All he could think of when he looked at Haru was apologizing again and again.

I'm sorry.

"Hey, man, you okay? How long have you been running for?" Haru looked concerned, and Takumu didn't know what to think of it. Just the other day they had fought, and Taku had tried to take away Brain Burst from Haru, from the Black King, too. "Just stay here, I'll grab you something to drink."

His legs were whining for rest, for the chance to sit down. There was even a bench nearby, but Takumu ignored it. He didn't need to sit down. He needed to keep running until he collapsed—from exhaustion, from dehydration, anything—

"Here," Haru said, holding up a bottle of water. Against his better judgement, Takumu took it, shaking a bit as he unscrewed the cap. He didn't want to drink but Haru was staring at him. "You're always working so hard, you know. I know you gave all the credit to Brain Burst but…you're a lot more than just that, Taku."

The water felt good, bring life back into his throat.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry—

"I don't get it, Haru," he said. How can you forgive me? How can you be okay with everything I did? "I don't get you at all…"

His breath caught in his throat. Every fluid in his body had been pushed out through sweat. His eyes just stung instead, but he didn't even deserve that. If anyone deserved to cry it wasn't him—

"Taku?" He didn't have the words to explain. "Taku, what's wrong? We don't have to hide from each other anymore, you can talk to me."

But Takumu knew he didn't even deserve that kindness.

Even though he couldn't understand, Haru rested his hand on Takumu's arm.

God, I'm sorry for everything, I—

I actually love Taku. I promise.

This was written for the [Twelve Shots of Summer: Second Raid] challenge. This is actually one of two submissions for week eleven (last week), this one focusing on the prompt "Flower Blooming in the Slums." I couldn't find a good way to take this one literally, so instead my brain (according to my notes) went slums = Taku's self view, and the flower = Haru's hope and trust in him.

It's just- I- Taku has such an interesting psychology and character and he kind of plays the background support role so I figured I'd take this opportunity to look more at his self-depreciating attitude and how hurt and confused he would be following book one (and still continues to be after-I do appreciate how Kawahara doesn't gloss over it, especially in book two).

I'm planning on writing a longer fic about him someday and it'll be awesome (at least it is in my head).

Anyway, this is actually the last week of [Twelve Shots of Summer] for this year. Do go check out the forum and community for a collection of great one shots. Some of us are finishing (I still have my last one to write for week twelve) and some of are just starting. Check them out and show support (also happy late Fanfiction Writer's Appreciation Day!).

I'll be recovering from this morning by writing something happier now.

Thanks for reading!

[POST] 082215