A/N: It's been a while. Sorry. University got in the way! I can't believe that last time I posted a chapter, I hadn't even started at uni! A year's gone by in what seems like the blink of an eye, but now I'm at home for the summer, I have nothing but spare time in which to write. I thought I'd lost this chapter when my netbook crashed, but luckily I'd put it on google docs, so all I had to do was finish what I'd started! I hope this bumper chapter of just under 10,000 words makes up for my uselessness at any kind of regular updates. Enjoy!
Chapter Eight: Of Dead Ends and Data Bugs
Mid-morning sunlight streamed through the window, causing the vase full of water to shine blindingly and the spider lilies in it to almost glow a vibrant red. Next to the vase was a large English-Japanese dictionary, with a reference of Celtic mythology terms placed haphazardly on top. To the right of this was a keyboard and behind it a monitor that was on standby. At the desk holding these items sat a woman with shoulder-length brown hair staring mindlessly down at a notepad full of bilingual scribbles. Screwed up balls of paper were strewn around and she came to slowly, realising she hadn't made any more progress on her work. Sighing and closing her eyes, she leaned back for a few minutes before reaching under the desk and fishing out an FMD. More paper was littered around, and as she brushed the sheets from her FMD and video game controller, she exhaled tiredly,
"Yare yare..." Setting them on her desk and considering what she was about to do, she smiled mischievously-
"You're procrastinating again." A deep voice made her jump out of her seat,
"Yaaah!" She spun around to see the emotionless demeanour of a tall, slim man with short black hair, hand on his hip.
"Not concentrating, hm." Then he edged closer to her, and as their proximity made the woman's cheeks slowly redden, he leaned over her shoulder to eye the notepad on the desk. She managed to murmur,
"Y-you're nosing about?" He examined it before stepping back and shaking his head disapprovingly, yet his face was still devoid of any expression.
"You're almost three-quarters of the way through the chapter. If you keep going, you'll be done by dinnertime." She nodded, her cheeks still a healthy pink, and he reached past her to seize the controller, brushing past her. As she nodded, slightly stunned, he pulled back and took the controller. "I'm taking this until you finish." She began to protest when he suddenly leaned in yet again and gave her a swift peck on the cheek, a small grin as mischievous as the woman's previous one spreading across his face. "Get working, dear." Then he turned on his heel and was gone, controller in tow.
"..." The woman raised her hand to her burning cheek before smiling coyly. It had been just over three years since they had moved in together and in that time, she had managed to influence her partner. He had gradually lost most of his sternness and seriousness (although Christmas was still a hard time for him, after she died) and she had become slightly more diligent. Only slightly. She eyed the FMD wistfully before turning to look out the window distractedly. The weather was pleasant and she could see people passing by in the streets below. She liked this apartment because it had a good view (in addition to the fact that it was quite spacious for an apartment and she could live with the man whom she had developed an infatuation with back then), and she admired the view, eyes roaming idly over passers-by. Then she spotted a girl with short brown hair dragging along a boy with spiky hair. She smirked as she watched the pair go. She recognised them from a previous time when she had dared to go and talk to them. After the legendary Descendents of Fianna came the dot hackers, and with some bribing she had discovered that one half of the main pair lived quite locally, so she liked to watch her inspiration go through city life when she was sat at her desk writing instead of translating. That boy resembled the other half of the pair, and she pondered whether they had successfully met up and started an offline romance reminiscent of her own. Returning to her place, she sat down with a newly-content mindset, picking up her pen and rereading what she had written earlier.
"Pleased to meet you, Kenji-kun." The woman smiled pleasantly, giving away no hint that she was a shrill, excitable treasure-seeker in another realm. Kenji struggled to keep his breath even and calm as he replied,
"Pleased to meet you, Kurokawa-san." Akira, oblivious to the awkwardness, happily grabbed a drinks list from the table. It was not that she was not observant- quite the contrary, Mayumi's eyes held no spark of recognition and Kenji's growing hysteria was tightly regulated by a face permanently stuck in "pleasant but detached" mode. The woman looked keenly at Kenji then at Akira, and Kenji inhaled sharply.
"Huh?" Akira looked up from the drinks menu, missing Mayumi's regard that could be taken as a secret signal. Kenji quickly apologised,
"Ah, sorry, knocked my elbow on the edge of the table." Akira shrugged and passed him and Mayumi a drinks list. Kenji watched carefully as the two females started to peruse the list before the gears in his mind whirred frantically. If Akira knew who Helba was, chances were that she played 'The World' on a regular basis. If she played that game on a regular basis, she would know who the PC 'Kite' was. If she found out, she would pester him and it would all be over. Either she would pester him to play again to get his member address and reap the fame and benefits of knowing such a famous character, or she would turn into Natsume (he shuddered) and cease to see him as her friend Kenji and only envision the bright orange clothing and red wave markings of the Twin Blade hero. And he couldn't cope with that, not after such a promising start.
"Ne, Kenji-san, how did you meet Akira-chan?" Mayumi enquired, charming and polite. Kenji shot her a look of desperation laced with the anger of a caged bird of prey. Akira frowned in confusion at the way he glanced at Mayumi and he hurriedly answered,
"Well, at a New Year's party-" Then he fell silent, remembering with horror that he had met Mayumi at the same place. He was waiting for her to spill the beans- they had already met and she knew who he was. With that concern invading his mind, he could only worry about what would happen. Mayumi nodded, appearing interested.
"I see, a new friendship at the start of a new year." Kenji nodded, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead. Akira blithely nodded, a self-deprecating grin on her face,
"But it's like we've known each other for ages, at least, that's how I feel. He...he reminds me of someone." She raised her eyes to Mayumi and the older woman tilted her head enquiringly.
"Oh?" Kenji felt his heart hammer in his chest. Any minute now, it would be over. Akira would be pestering him for his member address. Akira laughed, embarrassed.
"It's stupid, I know. He reminds me of...him." Mayumi's eyes widened. Kenji frowned- Mistral was a straightforward Wavemaster who probably didn't even know what deception really was, and here was Mayumi acting as if she'd never set eyes on him before. The contradictions jarred in his mind and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Mayumi turned back to Akira and he felt left out.
"It is true." Mayumi nodded, but added, "But all the boys these days have hair like his." The poor boy couldn't continue to sit and watch the conversation. Excusing himself, he dashed outside to take in some air, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down it, sitting against it, head tilted up to the sky as if it would help him breathe more easily.
Mayumi fanned herself with a hand, "It is certainly warm in here. Looks like he went to go and get some fresh air." Akira settled, concerns allayed. Then Mayumi changed tack, "Speaking of Kite, we've finished gathering people. Any day now everyone will be ready to search for him. The first stage is Orca." Akira looked down at the table, speaking at length.
"...Do...do you think I'm a coward, not searching for him? It must seem like I've abandoned him." Mayumi shook her head.
"You didn't abandon anyone. We all got that email from him. Wiseman described the person he thought that Kite had become, and from that picture, it was Kite that abandoned 'The World', not we who abandoned him. In choosing not to follow him, you're respecting what he wants. That takes a lot of courage, not to reach out to a drowning person because they will adamantly refuse to take your hand and even bite it." Akira looked up sharply, her eyes full of anxiety,
"Drowning person? You think he's at that stage?" Mayumi reached out, touching Akira's hand reassuringly.
"Not necessarily. It was just an analogy. But if or when people find him, or if he becomes aware that he's being searched for, it may throw him into the ocean, so to speak. I guess that the most that can be done is to offer a rope if he needs one. That's the most you can do, BlackRose-chan." Akira managed a wavering smile,
"Ah, we've neglected Kenji-kun. I'll go find him."
By the time Akira emerged from the cafe, Kenji was on his feet, eyes still locked on the blue expanse of sky. He lowered his head to meet her gaze, a lot more relaxed. He was about to give himself up when she spoke first,
"Sorry, me and Mayumi-san started gossiping and forgot you were out here. Are you still overheated?" Kenji shook his head,
"I'm okay now. It's just that sometimes it gets too warm for me." He assumed that Mayumi had come up with that excuse. He came in, sat down and the trio had another round of drinks. The conversation meandered through many topics until mid-afternoon, when they rose to leave, firmer friends than before. Kenji left, relieved that his secret hadn't been divulged. But when he reached the train station, he realised that Mayumi had been following him all the way. As he waited for a train, he turned to her, "Are you following me on purpose?" Then, realising how defensive he sounded, he apologised, "...Sorry." Mayumi waved a hand brightly,
"No, no, I live near you, I think. That's why I saw you at the party." Then he filled the ensuing silence,
"Thanks. For not telling Akira who I am." Mayumi seemed caught off-guard and she stared into Kenji's eyes, bewildered.
"You know that she-"
"I had a feeling she played 'The World', and I don't need another person pestering me for a member address or to play the game. I don't know about now, but chances are in the past a lot of people recognised my username, so newbies would pester me now." Mayumi's expression fluctuated before finally settling on unreadable.
"So you aren't interested in her username?" Kenji shook his head wildly,
"Absolutely not, no. I don't play the game anymore, I'm not going round making new friends. You know that." She nodded slowly, contemplatively. They caught the train in silence and as the train passed through station after station, Mayumi seemed to reach a decision.
"Kenji. Kite." Kenji winced at the name,
"Yes?" She spoke resolutely, turning to face him, holding onto a pole tightly to stop her from falling if the train was too turbulent,
"You should know." She took a deep breath, "Your friends online are looking for you. They've decided to try and track you down after you sent that email to everyone." Kenji froze, paralyzed with panic. "Now, I don't know where you live, but I have a rough idea and I know what you look like. If you do not want me to tell them, I won't. It's as easy as that. I respect your right to privacy and to lead your life. You are your own person and the game doesn't have the right to have ownership over you." Kenji felt faint with gratitude, his knees weakening. But before he could thank Mayumi profusely, she continued, "But if they find you or they are on the right path, I won't nudge them astray. I'm not interfering." Kenji closed his eyes, steadying himself.
"...O...okay. If that's how it is, that's how it is." Then he thanked Mayumi, "Kurokawa-san. Thank you. For today. You could easily have bragged about who I was or told everyone where I was. I'm...I'm sorry that you had to lie for me and pretend you hadn't met me. I'm sorry for making you do that." Mayumi listened raptly. "I should have known that you were wise and that you'd do whatever was best. Even though you were Mistral..." She laughed and he chuckled quietly at the thought of the PC Mistral being anything like Mayumi. "Anyway, thanks." The following warm and heartfelt smile he levelled at her reminded her so much of Kite that she momentarily lost track of the conversation, lost in reminiscing. "Is...is BlackRose joining the search?" Mayumi blinked,
"Hm?" Kenji repeated himself softly and she shook her head slowly,
"No. I think she got the message that you preferred to keep yourself to yourself." There was no accusatory tone or language involved in the statement and he felt a little better about his choice. As the train juddered to a halt and the doors opened, Mayumi's voice echoed through the largely empty carriage and he paused in the middle of stepping off of the carriage. "Kite is not only a friend, but a protector. His Bracelet brought salvation to 'The World' and could root out Data Bugs. Consider that if needs be." He disembarked from the train in a daze, turning to watch the doors close. After a few minutes, he came to and realised that the next station was on the outskirts of Tokyo's main district, so Mayumi hadn't missed her stop. He made the rest of the journey home in uneasy silence.
In the Aqua Capital, the sky was nearing the dusky shade of twilight familiar to most players in the game. A lonely Wavemaster stood by the bridge, sighing every so often. Nobody had been online today except Moonstone, and it seemed that the scary-looking PC had been left to idle in Fort Ouph while the player behind it was occupied with other matters. Somehow, the FMD mirroring the Wavemaster's expressions in this realm managed to transmit the depression in his blood-red eyes, causing the odd player to stop and look at him before leaving him to his discontent. He didn't have the heart or courage to explain to them what was wrong anyway, and as he turned to watch the water flow unceasingly through the canals, his spirit continued to sink further. He hadn't even done anything today, just sat in Mac Anu waiting for anyone. BlackRose had contacted him to let him know that she couldn't help out today, so at least he knew that she wouldn't be around. Suddenly a Twin Blade rushed towards him, sounding slightly flustered,
"Elk, Elk, is that you? I'm here!" She stopped before him, turning to him and sounding enthusiastic about helping him, "I have some spare time tonight so I'm free to come with you." He looked at her, figuring out who she was. Her green-haired fringe almost covered her permanently-shut eyes and she was clad almost entirely in blue. Elk nodded, remembering that this was the Twin Blade who liked to hang around with Kite in root towns and on the odd adventure.
"Ano...Natsume, thank you." He timidly showed his gratitude. She smiled all too happily,
"It's what friends do, right? And we're friends!" Elk frowned- there was something off about her attitude. It was an infinitesimal thing to notice, but his instincts made him slightly edgy. But he forgot it soon enough as Natsume was raring to go and there seemed to be nothing wrong, "But we need a third member just in case we run into monsters, I mean, it makes sense tactically. If I get KOed by a monster, it'll go straight for you and if you can't resurrect me, that's game over. If we have another fighter, it can draw the monster's fire, so to speak, while you can resurrect me and then we survive." The Wavemaster understood the logic and nodded in agreement. "But nobody on my friends list is online...I guess it's the holiday lull. People are busy spending time with their families because it's New Year. What about you?" Natsume asked, hand on hip. Elk shook his head,
"N-nobody's online for me either." Natsume seemed quite agitated at this, pacing to and fro. She seemed impatient to get going and and Elk shrank back, nervous at how frenetic all her actions and thoughts were. Normally she was easygoing and didn't talk a lot, at least from what Elk had seen. Then she paused, probably checking her friends list-
"Ah! Here, let me invite you and this other person into the party." Elk obediently accepted her party invitation and then attempted to check the party details-
L37'5 PL4Y, N4T5UM3-CH4N~
Elk looked to Natsume, sweatdropping as a figure literally bounced towards them energetically. He had a microphone, whoever it was, but for some reason the voice recognition software the game used transcribed whatever he was saying into some unreadable cipher. Perhaps it was one of those custom hacks that some of the more advanced computer users liked to use just to annoy other players. Natsume shrugged apologetically,
"He was the only other person online." Finally he bounced right up to them, grabbing them in headlocks with each arm. He was taller than them, with the stature of a full-grown adult. He grinned maniacally, the scar on his cheek distorting slightly as he cried,
"Why, aren't you two cute little thiiiings~!" Before they could react he suddenly withdrew, jumping to stand in front of them, his back to them. Lifting a finger to his chin in thought, he murmured, "But I expect they'd be stuck if PKing was allowed." Then he shook his head, bangs of muddy green hair obscuring his face. "No good." Natsume, temper roused, shouted at him, shaking her fist,
"Oi! We're not useless, we're high-levelled!" He tilted his head, crimson eyes widening as he was distracted,
"Ohoho?" Then he leapt up into the air again almost quicker than the eye could follow, landing behind Natsume, katar blade at her neck. Elk gripped his staff and stumbled backwards as the PC toyed with her. "Boing~ Lighten up, Naaatsume-chan, the only fun I have now they've taken away my favourite part of the game is teasing people like you!" As she turned around in irritation, he jumped back and stood next to Elk. Then the new party member looked Elk up and down as if sizing up prey. The Wavemaster felt uncomfortable. "...Tsukasa?" The PC asked and Elk shook his head mutely. "No... Well, nice ta meetcha." Looking toward the Chaos Gate, hand shielding his eyes from the sun, he pointed at it with his other hand, "Onward, my rookies~!" Then he frowned. "...where are we going?" Natsume slapped her forehead in annoyance and Elk sighed. "Geez, rookies, lighten up! We're going on an adventuuuuure~" Natsume turned to Elk and Elk explained,
"We're l-looking for my friend Mia. Helba tried to track her down and found traces in a number of fields. The keywords...it's on the Dun Loireag server." Then Elk explained, "Oh, you probably don't know, Helba is-" The other Twin Blade suddenly was next to Elk, throwing a genial arm around his shoulder,
"Ahhhh, that old lady is still going? Well, good for her!" Then he lost interest, "Your friend, is she pretty? 'Cause it'd be good to get her member address, oho!" Elk was unsure what to say,
"Ah...w-well...she's a cat..." The black and purple-clad third party member tilted his head.
"A cat..." He opened his mouth as if to remark, but said nothing for a few moments. Natsume was about to ask if he was lagging when suddenly his PC reset. "Dun Loireag, my favourite town! ...Apart from Carmina Gadelica of course," he counted them on his fingers, "And who can forget good ol' Mac Anu!" His attention span immediately gave way, "Let's go already! Come on, slowpokes, boing!" He bounced to the Chaos Gate and Elk blinked. He had never met anyone quite like this player...but the name at the bottom of the screen was corrupted, and he couldn't quite read it. Natsume looked sorely annoyed.
"Urgh...what is wrong with him? He won't keep still, he almost attacked me and the whole time he's typing in that stupid numbers thing that they use on Internet forums! I can't believe he's coming along with..." Then she exhaled, muttering to herself, "No, no, no, that's now how to see it. I'm helping a friend and we're going to a field, don't have to think about Ki- him..." Elk ventured,
"H-how did you meet h-him?" Natsume shrugged, distracted by the distant form of their team-mate dancing around the Chaos Gate acrobatically,
"Kite's friend, he wanted my member address so we exchanged them." Then she began to go to the Chaos Gate when Elk dared to go further,
"U-uh, I didn't c-catch his name..." Natsume didn't seem to know the answer.
"He's called...well, it's been a while since we've played together. Something to do with the sky?" Then she groaned as the other Twin Blade ran away from an incensed Heavy Blade who had been provoked somehow, "At this rate, we'll be calling him baka."
Kenji sat on the park bench, hands behind his head, mulling over the events of the past few days. A lot had happened and his previously improving attitude towards everything was now muddled. He didn't know what to think or how to feel. Closing his eyes and leaning back, he reflected on the fact that Mayumi was a friend of Akira and that there was more to Akira than he currently knew about. She knew of the name "Helba" and Kenji realised that he hadn't asked how Mayumi knew Akira. Could it be that they had met in-game? It would explain the age gap between the pair. He felt his stomach flutter unpleasantly- did Mistral have many friends outside of his own circle, or could it be that Akira was behind a PC that he knew? Shuddering, he got up suddenly, remembering what Mayumi had said. They were out there...looking for him. He then proceeded to race home, throwing glances over his shoulder every few steps out of paranoia.
The student drew up to the school gates slowly, bag in one hand and soccer ball in the other. He stopped to wait for his friends, turning his back on the exit.
"Yasuhiko-kun, slow down!" He sighed as a boy in creased uniform ran towards him, tie loosened and blazer crumpled.
"You're always a slowcoach, Eiji." Eiji shrugged, strands of his fringe getting in his eyes. He brushed them out of the way as he met Yasuhiko's gaze.
"Maybe, but I don't see Tarou yet, so I'm not last!" He then grinned as Yasuhiko's demeanour changed from slightly irritated to resigned and as they waited for the third member of the group, he began to bounce the soccer ball off the tarmac ground almost like a basketball. After a few more minutes, a tall and stocky student wandered over to them at a leisurely pace.
"Sorry Yasu, Eiji, had to clean up a science experiment." Then he smiled smugly, "My partner was the one who caused the mess, but he was the one kept behind by sensei. He's going to get shouted at a lot." Eiji nodded somewhat restlessly,
"OK, that's good, good story. We should get going now, the new season of Space Ship Super Nova starts today and I have no intention of missing one second of it! Not even the new opening..." Yasuhiko shook his head as Eiji's eyes grew unfocused and he began to chatter about his favourite anime at length. Tarou looked across at Yasuhiko over Eiji's head with a wry smile.
"You heard the man, let's go." They walked out of the school gates shoulder to shoulder and as Eiji obsessed over his favourite character, Tarou continued to talk over him to Yasuhiko. "Doing much tonight?" Yasuhiko continued to bounce the soccer ball as he walked,
"Homework and more homework. Might see if anything's going on in 'The World'." Tarou seemed to grow more attentive as Yasuhiko caught the soccer ball.
"'The World'?" He repeated and his friend nodded. "Don't suppose you could help me level up? My Heavy Axeman could do with some refining...spirit resistance is terrible..." Tarou grimaced and as Yasuhiko raised an eyebrow, he added hurriedly, "Yes, I know your PC is one of the Descendants of Fianna, probably maxed out stat-wise, level ninety-nine, I was just hoping you could be a meat shield for me while I go pummel some monsters in a field way too tough for me to solo!" Yasuhiko grinned. If they had been in the school playground and around a lot of his peers, he would have frantically shushed Tarou for spilling his secret- that he was the player behind Lord Orca of the Azure Sea, one of the most famous characters in the game. His peers would have mobbed him and demanded his member address. Yasuhiko had only let Tarou in on the knowledge because he trusted his usually-taciturn friend not to tell everyone else or brag, and only after the Twilight Incident.
"Uh, I don't mean to poke holes in your plan, but I'm a Blademaster, not exactly a tank class. You're a Heavy Axeman, so shouldn't you be taking all the damage?" Tarou looked less than pleased with the idea and Yasuhiko let him stew in his unimpressed state for a minute or two before finishing, "Just kidding! If you want to head to a high-level field, I'd be happy to let monsters chase after me. It'll be a nice break from all this homework and soccer." Tarou shook his head disapprovingly as Yasuhiko's joke but smiled nonetheless, amused by it. Eiji looked up at all the talk of the game,
"Hey, you're doing some training? Mind if I join you?" Yasuhiko had initially had a lot of trouble with Eiji, swearing him to secrecy multiple times after Eiji found out that his best friend was a Descendant of Fianna. He had wanted to boast to everyone about his connections in-game, but thanks to Tarou's reasoning and Yasuhiko's intimidation and threats, he had kept it quiet. Yasuhiko looked to Tarou, who nodded,
"Sure. I was thinking of going to a field way above my level and taking Yasu of the Azure Sea here along to throw at the monsters while I gain lots of experience points." Eiji glanced upwards thoughtfully,
"Sounds awesome, but I'm a Heavy Blade and you're a Heavy Axeman. I think it'd make more sense for us to deal with combat and leave Yasuhiko-kun as healer." Yasuhiko nodded, enjoying this strategizing,
"A good point. You'll probably have more fun hacking away at the monsters, and it just so happens that I have a lot of powerful healing spells at my disposal...oh, and the one that revives people." His friends turned to glare jealously at him, wishing they owned equipment that bore the aforementioned highly useful magic. He merely smirked at the pair for a short time before Eiji started suddenly,
"We're wasting time! Let's go!" They had become engrossed enough in their discussion of 'The World' that they had stopped walking. Tarou nodded and they turned towards the road that they'd come to, waiting for the traffic to pass so they could cross. Suddenly, there was a distant roar and as they watched cars pass (Eiji bounced on the balls of his feet impatiently), it grew louder. Before long, the source of the noise appeared- a motorcycle thundered along the road and Tarou admired it as it came into view. Yasuhiko watched Tarou, recalling that the student was a fan of motorcycles and was always talking about learning how to ride one as soon as his parents would let him. What neither of them were expecting was for the motorcycle to slow as it reached them and pull over right in front of them, the rider not missing a beat. They both jumped back and Eiji blinked in confusion. The rider, decked from head to toe in leather, pushed up the reflective blue visor with one hand, other hand gripping the handlebar of his motorbike. Cool, bright blue eyes met the students' own as a male voice asked,
"Are you students of Tokyo East High?" They nodded wordlessly. "Tell me, do you know Nakano Yasuhiko?" Yasuhiko's eyes widened as the stranger named him and both Eiji and Tarou turned to look at Yasuhiko nervously. Then they stepped backwards in unison and as Yasuhiko cursed them mentally, the rider turned to look at him with a piercing gaze.
"...So where are we going again?" Natsume sighed as the other Twin Blade asked sheepishly. His attention span was so short that she wondered how on earth he'd managed to focus long enough to get to such a high level. Fighting monsters and trawling dungeons over and over took some concentration. She explained as patiently as she could,
"We're looking for Elk's friend Mia, so we're going to fields to find clues." The Twin Blade lifted a hand to his chin thoughtfully.
"Hum...she's a cat, right?" Natsume nodded and his PC was motionless again. Elk approached and as Natsume frowned, commenting to the Wavemaster,
"If he lags like this in dungeons he's going to be a liability-"
"Boing! Where are we going, cap'n?" The Twin Blade's PC jolted as it reset and he leapt forwards, landing in a crouch just in front of Elk. Elk, taken by surprise, stumbled backwards as his party member stood up. To his credit, he managed to force out some words,
"I t-thought that we should go and look for c-clues." At the Twin Blade's expectant nod, he ventured nervously, "There was a field that I thought we should check...but it's d-dangerous." He watched his team's reactions carefully. Natsume raised her eyebrows, curiosity shown in her expression and the other Twin Blade grinned demonically. Twirling around hyperactively on one foot, he exclaimed,
"Ah, how fun~ Where there's danger, there's me, and where there's me, there's danger, or my name isn't Sora!" The other two party members noted their ally's name before Natsume asked,
"What do you mean, dangerous?" She was aware that the Wavemaster wasn't merely referring to a high-level field. Most, if not all of the dot hackers had become stronger while working with Kite and could fell the strongest monsters 'The World' had to offer without putting in too much effort. Elk explained,
"After everyone defeated Corbenik-" Sora twitched oddly at this and Natsume glanced at him. His PC had frozen again. "-Kite received an email from Aura." The Twin Blade continued to lag, twitching at various points in the explanation. "There were keywords, and we went to that field..." Then Elk began to stutter again, the memories of the field unnerving him, "B-but it was full of Data Bugs...all f-fifteen floors of the d-dungeon..." Natsume inhaled sharply.
"Fifteen floors?" Elk nodded, worry etched on his face.
"S-some monsters were normal, but some weren't...we couldn't have found Mia at the bottom of the dungeon without Kite." At the mention of Kite's name, something occurred within Natsume's mind and she growled,
"And he's abandoned us." Suddenly she started to stride briskly towards the Chaos Gate, "We don't need him. Let's go." Elk stammered in protest but Sora sprung into life once more, bouncing towards the Chaos Gate playfully,
"Let's play, newbs~" When the whole party had caught up, Natsume looked at Elk expectantly and he input the keywords miserably, feeling pressured by her sudden ugly turn of mood. However, neither of them expected what ensued- a harsh warning sound and a message that appeared to them, 'PROTECTED: You cannot warp to this area'. Elk seemed at a loss, turning to Natsume,
"W-when we went there with Kite, the field was open..." Natsume stood in silence for a few minutes, contemplating the situation before walking backwards to the steps leading down from the area containing the Gate and taking a seat there, disheartened. Elk hurried after her and mimicked her movements. With elbow resting on knee and head resting on her hand, Natsume sighed and murmured,
"I don't know what to do..." Elk had no idea either. They sat in depressed silence for a short while before-
"Boing! Come on kids, time's a-wastin'!" Sora reached down and ruffled Natsume's hair with his left hand and Elk's with his right. Natsume spoke angrily through gritted teeth,
"What are you doing? You saw the message, we can't go to the field we wanted to search for clues!" The ninja-esque Twin Blade shook his head,
"Tch, so narrow-minded! Where there's a will there's a way, ne?" He vaulted over them, landed in front of them and knelt down. His crimson eyes met those of his party members' and he probed, "Don't suppose any of you rookies have any...special items?" He winked. Natsume was about to raise a comment at his lack of subtlety concerning illegal items and the absurd assumption that everyone walked round with hacked possessions when Elk stood up suddenly,
"...!" Sora smiled victoriously. "I forgot! Helba gave me something!" The Twin Blade slowly rose to his feet, aura of curiosity detectable even to Elk.
"How interesting...you rookies must be pretty important or special to be friends with that old lady. I take it back, kids, you're not rookies after all!" Then he remembered what he wanted, "Now, yes, what did she give you?" Elk held out a hand and a luminous green hexagon appeared, floating above his palm. Natsume watched with bated breath. Was this one of the Virus Cores that Kite used to go on about all the time? Sora nodded happily. "Bingo~ Mind if I?" Before Elk could ask what he meant, the Twin Blade swiped it from him, ran between him and Natsume and came to a halt at the Chaos Gate.
"Hey!" Elk called and the pair followed him. Grinning at them like the cat that had just stolen the cream, he lectured them as if he were a distinguished professor teaching his students.
"Alright you two, listen up!" His eyes flicked sideways to check they were indeed listening before he continued, "In the world of computers...in this virtual world, for every locked door there is a key. It's impossible for there to be a lock that's key-proof, right? Right!" Natsume was very close to losing her temper- her current reserves of patience was small enough and this annoying character's lecture was the final straw. But Elk, perceptive enough to notice that Sora was about to help them along somehow, shook his head at her. She quelled her anger for his sake, surprised that for such a timid player he was so perceptive and that he'd suddenly become brave enough to command her rather than vice versa. "Sometimes, they try to throw away the key so we can't open the door, see? But if you can find it then it's just a matter of figuring out how to use the key! Do we turn it clockwise? Anticlockwise? How many degrees do we turn it?" Then Sora's uncharacteristic moment of concentration and more mature behaviour was over. "Okay Tsukasa, what're the keywords?" Elk, though confused by Sora getting his name wrong again, supplied them and Sora nodded. "Team, stand back! Here goes, hiyum!" He moved to stand in front of the rotating Gate as Natsume and Elk stood back, exchanging nervous looks. He held out both palms and the Virus Core appeared, hovering above them. "Omega, Hidden Darkside Holy Ground~" Sora spoke the keywords in a sing-song voice. Suddenly their surroundings grew dark, with the glowing Virus Core their only source of light. Natsume turned to look at Elk, who was bathed in sickly green light. The Wavemaster seemed hypnotised by the odd event, watching Sora closely. Without warning the walls that the Gate was enclosed by vanished. Mac Anu faded and they were suddenly left in a plane of pure darkness illuminated by the Virus Core. Natsume gasped at the sudden change. Was Sora...like Kite? The Virus Core vanished in a flash and the only thing remaining from Mac Anu, the Chaos Gate, began to glow in front of them. "Hold on to yer hats, team!" The light from the Chaos Gate grew to blinding levels and Elk shut his eyes fearfully. As Natsume raised an arm to shield her eyes, they gated out.
The leather-clad motorcycle rider wheeled his vehicle onto the sidewalk out of the way of traffic, putting on a parking brake to ensure it wouldn't topple over. Then he turned to Yasuhiko, reaching up and pulling off his helmet. Under the helmet was short jet-black hair which framed a slim face and further emphasised the rider's icy blue eyes. Leaving the helmet on the seat of the cycle, he looked down at Yasuhiko. There wasn't a huge height difference between them as Yasuhiko was somewhat tall for his age, but it was enough to leave the student intimidated.
"You're Nakano Yasuhiko-san?" Yasuhiko nodded nervously. He glanced at his friends. Eiji was watching intently and Tarou had a suspicious expression, ready to help out if anything happened.
"Excuse me, but who are you and how did you know my name?" The rider stood still, making no move as if to show he wasn't hostile or a threat in any way.
"My name is Aonama Takehiro, but you know me as Balmung." Yasuhiko stared in shock at the adult in front of him as Eiji exclaimed,
"No way!" Tarou looked from Yasuhiko to Takehiro several times before shooting a sharp look at Eiji. Eiji fell silent and realised what Tarou was hinting at. "Sorry!" He apologised sheepishly for his outburst and Tarou commented delicately,
"We can go." While Eiji had little knowledge of the past, Tarou had been told after the Twilight Incident and Yasuhiko's awakening that Balmung and Orca had been investigating the strange occurrences that led to the event, and assumed that the sudden appearance of the player behind Balmung was connected to possible in-game happenings. He guessed that they might want privacy while discussing whatever it was Balmung wanted to tell Yasuhiko. Turning to Tarou, Yasuhiko frowned. Balmung wouldn't have crossed the boundaries of the virtual world into reality unless it was serious.
"Why are you here?" Balmung- no, Takehiro understood why Yasuhiko demanded to know the reason for his presence in such a stern way. He was aware that Yasuhiko had never expected an offline meeting, especially not in this manner.
"It's about Kite." Takehiro spoke quietly. When Yasuhiko's eyes narrowed and he folded his arms in a way that suggested his mood had changed abruptly to confrontational, Takehiro was somewhat surprised, though he kept it well hidden with his stoic demeanour. Orca had mentioned on various dungeon runs that he and Kite had fallen out, but mostly the conversations consisted of him being nostalgic about when he and Kite used to do dungeon runs just after all the coma victims had awoken. He'd expected some kind of negativity in Yasuhiko's reaction to the name, but not an adverse reaction like this. He waited until Yasuhiko told his friends to go home without him until explaining, "He sent an email to everyone warning them about the game and trying to get them to quit. It worried some of us because it was uncharacteristic of him. It was the catalyst for the decision. All of the dot hackers want to find Kite and try and persuade him to return." Yasuhiko nodded, seemingly disinterested. "Or at least talk to him about his decision to quit."
"And you came to me because you wanted to find him." Takehiro nodded, but when Yasuhiko opened his mouth again to unleash rage, his in-game partner cut him off.
"I assume that you're unhappy about this situation. I realise that by sending me to talk to you about this, it's effectively emotional blackmail. Send Balmung to coax his most trusted friend into helping the cause." Yasuhiko seemed taken aback by this and Takehiro continued. "In truth, I volunteered, partly because I also have a desire to find Kite, but also because I wanted to find the truth. I know you two had a disagreement, you mentioned it to me at some point when we were in 'The World'." Yasuhiko shrugged nonchalantly. "But it's evident to me now that this disagreement was quite something by the way you reacted." Yasuhiko stood his ground initially, but as Takehiro waited, the teenager crumbled, hanging his head.
"OK, OK. It was a pretty bad fight. We stopped hanging out or even talking after it." Takehiko pursed his lips. So the argument had been more serious than he'd guessed. However, the man behind Lord Balmung of the Azure Sky had overcome tougher obstacles than this before.
"Well, we're all Descendants of Fianna, you, me, Kite. I may not have been so in the past, but I like to think that I've learnt how to be diplomatic. I'm sure we can work something out between you two." Takehiro then smiled encouragingly at Yasuhiko, who was surprised at this display of emotion. Then he recalled how Balmung had loosened up since the Twilight Incident, gradually beginning to joke around and relax with his closest friends.
"That'd be great...but there's a problem. I can't...find Kite." Yasuhiko watched the man's smile fade and his expression change into one of confusion. He had decided when Takehiro first mentioned Kite that he wouldn't give away the Twin Blade's offline identity, if only for the reason that a certain moody teenager would get really angry at him for leading the dot hackers to his door. Even a name could spell trouble for him. Hell had no fury like Kenji scorned. "The thing is, a while after we argued, his dad got a pay rise and then decided to buy a bigger house. They moved to another part of Tokyo, Ke- Kite transferred to another high school and...well, we didn't swap contact details." Takehiro took this in slowly, eventually nodding and Yasuhiko hoped that the Descendant of Fianna hadn't noticed him slip and almost reveal Kite's real name.
"So you don't know his new address or phone number?" Takehiro pressed him and he shook his head unhappily.
"Sorry." Takehiro looked up at the azure sky from which he gained his epithet in 'The World', musing over this development. As he turned back to his motorcycle, picking up his helmet, he looked over his shoulder kindly at Yasuhiko.
"It's alright. Not your fault. In fact, I should be apologising to you. I got your personal details from Helba without your permission, so in effect I stalked you. I'm sorry about that." Mood buoyed by Takehiro's confession and apology, he grinned back,
"Well, that would explain a lot. I'd hoped that Lord Balmung of the Azure Sky was more than a creepy stalker!" Takehiro paused for a moment, grimaced and then laughed heartily. Yasuhiko suddenly turned serious, "I hope you'll understand why I'm not getting involved in your search for Kite." Takehiro nodded slowly.
"I understand." He paused to pull the helmet over his head and hopped onto his motorcycle, wheeling it back out into the road. Turning to Yasuhiko once more, he spoke, "I'll email you my cell number. If you ever want to talk, I'll be at the end of a phone as long as I'm not shut away in the library writing essays." Yasuhiko smiled softly at the gesture. For a player as private as Balmung and still slightly distrustful, it was quite something. Then something occurred to him.
"Balmung...Takehiro-san...how old are you?" Takehiro chuckled at the question.
"I'm twenty, still at university. Do I really look that old?" Yasuhiko smirked.
"Well, yeah." Then something occurred to him and he began to laugh. At Takehiro's inquiring gaze, he explained through his laughter, "I bet you weren't expecting me to be this young! My PC-" He dissolved into laughter again before regaining control of himself, "-looks like he's thirty or something, and the voice changer makes him sound all gruff!" Takehiro nodded wryly.
"At first I didn't believe the information Helba sent me. I really did think you were my age at least!" With that amusing discussion finished, the leather-clad motorcyclist closed his visor and revved up his motorcycle. Yasuhiko waved as he zoomed off into the distance.
The trio appeared and as the golden rings encircling their PCs faded, the tall, green-haired Twin Blade looked around.
"Hmm...looks like fun!" Natsume shuddered, ignoring him as she studied the field. It was a night-time field and in the distance the grisly dungeon entrance stood, showing it was a flesh-wall dungeon by the bones adorning the opening that led down into it. She winced- 'The World' was so immersive and realistic that she had come to hate that type of dungeon with a passion. Who could enjoy the sickening squishing sounds that the player experienced when they ran over what seemed to be the fleshy stomach lining of some kind of creature that seemed as if it had swallowed them upon their entry into the dungeon? The way the walls pulsed as if the dungeon-creature was breathing... She looked to Elk to see how he was faring. He was gripping his staff in a very tight hold and biting his bottom lip, he took a step forwards.
"L-let's go straight to the d-dungeon." Then he began to run towards it and Natsume easily caught up, swiftest of the classes that the game had to offer. Sora pouted,
"No fun." However, he ran after them, catching them quickly. After a short while they had dodged Monster Portals and arrived at the dungeon entrance. Then Natsume turned to Elk.
"We have to have a strategy." Elk looked at her obediently, waiting for her to offer one. "I think Sora might be a hacker..." The Wavemaster nodded quickly, agreeing. The way they had bypassed the lock on this field seemed to suggest so. Sora had done it differently than Kite. Kite wasn't a hacker, but merely gifted with an item that allowed him to break system rules. There was no static or flickering and sudden teleportation to the field with Sora- he had a different method, one that seemed more sophisticated, visually at least. "If we should get into any trouble, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get Sora to do something about it." Natsume turned to Sora to negotiate with him about his 'talent'- he had vanished.
Some way away, a Monster Portal glowed and activated. "Uh oh." Something emerged. "'sgoingtokillyouuuuu!" Sora ran towards them speaking very quickly. He passed them and continued to run.
"...what?" Natsume frowned in confusion and tried to decipher his words. Elk turned in the direction that Sora had appeared from and his eyes widened in fright.
"Natsume...N-Natsume...!" She finally figured out what Sora had gabbled and looked to Elk,
"What?" A sand-coloured mass stopped before them and Elk took a step backwards, now terrified. It was shaped like a barbell and in the middle of the barbell hung a strange golden bracelet. "...Oh." Natsume realised what was going on and twin daggers appeared in her hands. "Elk, get back and heal!" The Wavemaster reclaimed enough of his wits at Natsume's orders and lack of fear to retreat to a safe distance and stand by for when she needed healing. Ploughing forwards, she crossed the gap and began hitting the creature.
Sora watched the spectacle unfold, bewildered. How were those two newbs fighting that monster without even batting an eyelid? Didn't they know about it? Didn't they know what it could do to PCs and even the players in reality? He watched Natsume pummel it and the Guardian's tentacles lash out, striking her mercilessly. He watched Elk wave his staff and heal her. It was taking a while for the Twin Blade to whittle down the monster's health, but sure enough the monster was dying. Darting forwards cautiously, he drew level with Elk and called over to him,
"You're telling me this thing isn't invincible?" Elk shook his head mutely, eyes locked on Natsume's battling form and waiting to heal her again. Occasionally she would dodge a tendril but mostly she was taking hits as she was too busy slashing away at the monster to dodge. Then the bracelet in the middle of the creature began to glow, forming a spear. The only thing preventing Sora from running forwards to protect Natsume was his own sense of self-preservation, which for some reason screamed at him not to get killed, despite the fact that he was in a party so he would simply turn into a ghost and despite the fact that Elk could revive him with minimal effort. The completed spear was launched at Natsume and Sora closed his eyes- there was no scream, simply the sound of spells being launched. He opened them to witness Natsume unharmed and still fighting. The attack had taken a large chunk out of her health and landed her with some kind of status effect, but Elk had begun to cast a spell before he opened his eyes and as a result he didn't get to see which one it was before Elk's remedial spell rid Natsume of it. "...it's not invincible..." He whispered. As the Wavemaster cast another healing spell, he repeated himself slightly louder, "...it's not invincible..." Finally, Natsume felled the monster and the sandy gel-like substance that the barbell was made of faded. The bracelet fell to the ground, bounced once and then vanished too. "It's not invincible!" Sora shouted, throwing his head back and laughing at the sky like a madman.
"...Good job...Elk?" Natsume praised Elk hesitantly, staring at Sora. The Wavemaster shrank back from him as he finally stopped laughing. He lowered his head slowly, looked at the pair with narrowed eyes and then grinned like a serial killer.
"...Looks like it's playtime!" Then he ran towards another Monster Portal. Before Natsume could stop him, he'd activated it and was toying with another one of those monsters. At every strike of the tendrils that emerged from the circular parts of the creature, he simply leapt out of the way. His acrobatics were marvellous to behold as he struck the creature every so often, taunting it.
"He's completely mad..." She shook her head, exasperated. Elk ventured,
"He s-seemed really scared of that monster. I don't k-know why, but he asked me if it was invincible. It seems like he knows the monster..." Natsume noted this for future reference and let Sora bat it around a few more times before yelling,
"Oi! We're on a mission, we don't have time for you to play around with that thing!"
"It's a Guardian!" Sora's voice echoed back to them over the field smugly. Natsume clenched her fists and stormed over to him. Elk watched, wondering whether or not to warn Natsume to be careful as the Guardian continued in vain to try to attack Sora. She stopped behind him and as he bent his knees, about to vault over the Guardian, she grabbed his collar and ignoring his startled protests, dragged him back to Elk. The Guardian hovered after them, sending out tendril after tendril. Sora could only lean to either side or duck to avoid them, complaining that Natsume was leaving him a sitting duck. She motioned to Elk to follow her and dragged Sora with her into the dungeon mouth.
"...but I was having so much fun!" Sora grumbled and Natsume tuned back in as he finished. She'd been ignoring him for a few minutes as they stood in the first room of the dungeon and Elk was beginning to get fidgety.
"Sora, I don't care about how fun it is to mess with the Guardians or whatever it is. Listen." He sulkily folded his arms as she continued, "We're about to go through a tough dungeon. It's got fifteen floors. Not three. Not five. Not even ten. Fifteen. Understand?" He nodded. "We need you to work with us." He nodded again, still pouting. In hushed and cold tones, she hissed, "This is important. We are going to fight our way to the bottom of this dungeon and we are not getting killed. Understand?" He snapped out of it immediately, raising his hands defensively.
"Whoa, okay, scary lady, I get it. Teamwork!" Natsume exhaled slowly, attempting to calm herself.
"Good. Let's go." She took the lead and Elk followed, trying to ignore Sora lest Natsume shout at him too.
"She's so bossy...and temperamental..." Sora complained.
The three arrived in a large room, footsteps sounding squishy against the soft fleshy ground. Before them hung a Monster Portal. Sora made a move as if to run towards it but Natsume grabbed his collar again, holding him back.
"Look before you leap! This could be dangerous!" Sora looked at her, eyebrow raised quizzically.
"What's it going to be, ten of those Guardians? Sure, they're tough nuts to crack but they're killable!" Then he sprinted towards the Portal. It activated and a large monster appeared, leaving Sora dwarfed by its size. He took a fighting stance, only to pause as he heard his team mates inhale in panic from somewhere behind him. Looking up slowly at the strange form of the monster before him, he tilted his head, perplexed.
"That's no normal Astro King..." Natsume murmured as Sora began to notice the feature of the monster that had thrown his teammates. This monster was covered in patches of translucent, green hexagonal armour that had a sickly glow about it. Sora shrugged, took a step back and then leapt at the monster, slashing at it wildly with his katars in mid-air before landing in a crouch where he had started. The garbled HP display of the creature changed, but not to a figure that Elk or Natsume could read. Sora paused and seemed to take note of the HP. He stood motionless for a while, seemingly calculating and a strange thought occurred to Natsume. Sora's name display at the bottom of her screen was corrupted and she'd only found out his name because he'd spoken it. Was it possible that the corruption there was linked to the corruption of this Data Bug's name and HP? Could it be possible that he could read it? As Elk's frightened breathing grew ragged, she shook her head, clearing it of distractions. "Sora!" The Twin Blade, who had been content to dodge the corrupted monster's strikes and keep it away from his team, answered without so much as taking his eyes off the Data Bug.
"Hm?" He conserved his energy for dodging rather than forming sentences.
"Can we kill this thing?" After dodging a strike by the monster's bladed limb by less than a hair's width, he answered,
"His HP is weird...like it keeps changing...it's one number this moment then changes the next!" It seemed that Sora could see more than Natsume and Elk, but even he couldn't quite see through the corruption. "But the PKer of Carmina Gadelica refuses to be beaten by this thing!" Ignoring the fact that Natsume had never heard of anyone titled thusly, he was confident enough for her to believe that victory was possible. Laying a hand on Elk's shoulder, even though he couldn't feel it, she coaxed him out of his state of terror gently,
"Come on Elk, you heard him. We can win this. You just need to keep us alive." Elk's dilated pupils slowly returned to normal as the worst of his fear vanished. Nodding, he watched Natsume charge forwards and readied himself to heal her and Sora. The pair hacked away at the monster, occasionally taking a hit and as soon as they did, Elk cast restorative magic. While it seemed as if they were making progress at taking down the Data Bug, they had no way of telling whether they'd harmed it at all. Suddenly the area darkened and a red arcane circle appeared beneath the monster. "It's casting a spell!" There was a terrible roaring sound as a bulky being appeared above the monster.
"Vulcan!" Elk identified the summoned elemental deity as it spewed fire, seriously harming the entire team. As he hurriedly raised his staff to heal the party, the Data Bug swung a bladed limb at Natsume. "No!" He cried. Natsume froze as the Data Bug moved to attack her. The Data Bug was about to kill her and without Kite's protection, it would doubtlessly place her into a coma. All she could do was watch as time seemed to slow and the monster swung at her.
Sora's eyes narrowed.
"Bingo."
