Shrine Maiden of the Sacred Fire by Reki Kawahara

Author:Reki Kawahara [Kawahara, Reki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction
Publisher: Yen Press
Published: 2017-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

The promenade bench on which Haruyuki and Utai sat was at the real-world address of Icchome, Omiya, Suginami Ward, and in an area known as Suginami Area Two in the Accelerated World. Because it was neighbored by the “duel spots” of Shinjuku in the east and Shibuya in the southeast, it was on the sparsely populated side. But the hours from six to eight in the evening were the time of day when the most duels happened, and nearby Kannana Street housed several large dive cafés, so there should have been at least twenty or so Burst Linkers on the matching list.

Connected to Utai by a meter and a half of XSB cable, Haruyuki watched the wired connection warning appear and disappear as he clenched his hands on his knees and straightened his back. The girl five years his junior fiddled with her virtual desktop in a relaxed manner, the expression on her face essentially unchanged. She was likely launching the BB console and setting Haruyuki—Silver Crow—as her tag team partner.

UI> ALL RIGHT, THEN: I’LL SELECT AN APPROPRIATE TAG TEAM TO GO UP AGAINST. I’LL TAKE A SUPPORTING ROLE IN THE OPENING, SO PLEASE, ARITA, FIGHT HOWEVER YOU SEE FIT. IF YOU’RE PREPARED, WE CAN BEGIN.

“O-okay! Go ahead!” he replied, mouth dry, and turned his full gaze on Utai’s glossy lips. Naturally, he wasn’t doing this as some kind of harassment, but rather to shout the “acceleration” command at the same time as she did.

But then Haruyuki came up against a question he hadn’t previously considered. Utai Shinomiya had expressive aphasia. She couldn’t speak using her physical voice. How on earth could she say the command for the Brain Burst program?

The answer was exceedingly simple.

Utai abruptly closed her eyes. A narrow valley was carved out between her eyebrows, and her slightly parted lips shook, almost convulsing. Teeth clenched beyond those lips creaked. One and then two beads of sweat popped up on her forehead. It was a feat of strength. She was goading her body to force out a voice that couldn’t come.

Haruyuki desperately swallowed the word—stop—that tried to leap out of his mouth. If Utai was such a high ranker as to be one of old Nega Nebulus’s Four Heavenly Kings, then she would have had to have been through an almost uncountable number of battles to claw her way to that position. And they couldn’t all have been from Standby mode. This girl had to have done this thing that looked so absurdly difficult over and over, an infinite number of times.

It probably didn’t take more than five seconds, but to Haruyuki, the struggle felt like it went on for minutes, until in the end, Utai’s lips opened two centimeters. They were then pursed and farther opened to the sides. Finally, she pointed them slightly once more.

Bur. Ssst. Lin. K.

Although completely soundless, Utai’s actual mouth did in fact carve out those syllables. At the same time, Haruyuki muttered the words with his usual awkwardness.

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