t felt like being in the sea of emerald green. It was the color of the sunlight pa.s.sing through the transparent leaf, shining down from the cloudless sky shrouded by only the tree branches. Depending on the location, the color would change to blue, red or green, and strengthen the effect of elemental magic that shared its color.

“──In green places like this, wind and thunder elemental magic will be stronger.”

They were in the square right before the entry point, the church, which was one of 10 worlds in 『CtG』. While looking up at the spreading sea of leaves above them, Clamp began to describe this bizarre sight.

──This is a world sphere with mysterious plants throughout the land, “Wizards’ Glaive”

It was a world of magicians where most magic-cla.s.sified skills were banned. However, it was filled with difficult quests and dungeons that could only be cleared by mastering those remaining available magic spells.

The light pa.s.sing through the layer of tree leaves gave many complex shades of green depending on the thickness of the leaves. As a consequence, it hypnotically attracted visitors. The world itself was literally a natural kaleidoscope of a fantasy world.

Kasugai Yuu’s avatar was Clamp, the adventurer. The group, which he was the leader of, had arrived to one of the town in Wizards’ Glaive, Raiankarydi.

Clamp was wearing swordsman-like equipment, just like he did in Dragons’ Glaive, but instead of armor that favored physical defense, he was dressed with a cape. He was a bit depressed after being compared to as “A Snufkin[1] but without the coolness” by Mifa.

And while looking at Clamp’s whole body from head to toe,

“Ahahaha, Daddy turned green. Like a poison slime.”

Haruha let out cheerful peals of laughter.

“But Haruha, it’s the same with you.”

He looked down at his daughter as he pointed it out. For her, she was wearing the same equipment when she fought in Gunman’ Glaive, but by dyeing it black through color edit, she now looked a lot like a small young witch. Naturally, Haruha, the witch girl, was also lightly dyed green.

“It’s true! We all green, we all great!”

While saying it like a slogan, Haruha rubbed together her ‘green’ hands. For Haruha, who was born from inside the game, her avatar in this world was literally her ‘real’ body. She was able to move her body more smoothly compared to the time she was Kasugai Haruha in real world.

From behind, someone placed a hat on Haruha’s head. It was a large brim pointy hat often used by witches in fairy tales. Looking through expanded mode, he saw the tag 『The Wicked (replica)』 marked on it.

“Ehehe, they sell this area-limited item here so I bought it”

The one who bashfully said that was Mifa, who, all of sudden, had bought the hat in question out of impulse from a nearby stall.

Mifa is Miharu’s avatar, but compared to Clamp and Haruha who behaved similarly to their own self in reality, Mifa behaved very differently, giving a very different impression.

Her blonde hair blended in with the sunlight pa.s.sing through the canopy as if she was like an idol on stage. Furthermore, her avatar’s bright expression and lively way of talking was nothing like the real Miharu. At first, Yuu was puzzled by the gap between Mifa and Miharu.

Today in particular, she edited her costume black to match Haruha’s own black and it made her look more mature…… somewhat.

Haruha loosely opened her mouth and looked up at Mifa.

“Mommy, you look like NP Witch.”

NP Witches were computer-controlled witches and one of the enemies appearing in the game. They wore a black mantle and the matching pointy hat which “really” fit their real life counterpart.

“We’re match now”
-Mifa

“That’s right, you look cute, Haruha”
– Clamp

“Haruha look like a witch right?”
– Haruha

“This is a world sphere with mysterious plants throughout the land, “Wizards’ Glaive”── The world of magicians.”

“We’re match now.”

Mifa then put on the same hat and 《Equip》 it. With this, the hat would never fall off on its own unless she received above a certain level of shock or deprivation effects.

Haruha 《Equip》 the triangle hat as well and checked her own appearance through the status window in front of her ──In there, she’s not dyed green──. Comparing her image with Mifa, she blushed. Whether in game nor not, the girl loved to imitate her parents.

Then Clamp who had just perused the map screen and confirmed their current location suddenly got pulled from below.

“Daddy, Daddy, Haruha looks like a witch right?”

“That’s right, you look cute, Haruha”

‘Ehehe’ giggled Haruha as she produced a smile, and then returned to Mifa in a good mood.

“He said we cute, Mommy!”

“Eh? Ah……”

They unconsciously looked at each other── Clamp and Mifa couldn’t say anything.

Yuu did think that Mifa in a witch outfit looked cute, but to say it that bluntly to the person face-to-face would have given off a very different meaning compared to the meaning when said to Haruha.

They had been able to comfortably talk to each other during the time when they only knew each other through their avatars over the internet. But now both of them are living in the same place.

The first to open their mouth was Mifa. She covered her eyes with her hat and stammered,

“Tha, thank you……”

“No…… unn, well…”

……………………

“──W-Well then! What is the thing we’re trying to investigate here?”

“Aah. They were often witnessed in the forest in this area──”

Knowing full well that she just blatantly tried to change to topic, Clamp gladly followed suite. In reality, their reason to be here wasn’t just to play around.

“They’re 『Ghosts』 that aren’t recognized as either player or NPC.”

◆Part 2◆

Over a week had pa.s.sed since the day Miharu started to go to the same school as Yuu. It was also the day Haruha met Kanna Sakura.Their lives began to change little by little. That was, the nature of their uncommon daily life.

While preparing for the upcoming test, Yuu visited the nearby arcade during his way home from school at least once a day. Somehow he felt the need to be Kanna Sakura’s opponent, but it’s not that simple to meet her again.

Despite going to the same place and at the same time when they first met, he couldn’t find her. All he got was just the feeling of guilt when he discovered the name SKR, a Push Yasokichi-user, in the game’s high score list.

Why did he search for her like this? It might have been because, Sakura from that time── looked like himself before he met Haruha and Miharu. A game was not something to be played with such a grieving face; he wanted to say to that face of her.

And commenting on Yuu’s behavior,

“I don’t mind about the thing with that middle school student, but what are you going to do with that Kodzuchi-girl? ……The two of you look awkward in front of each other.”

The one who said that was Mifa.

Miharu tend to refrain from saying too much, but in 『CtG』and as Mifa, she showed no hesitation to say what she wanted to say. To add on top of that, she didn’t even try to hide her hostility towards Fuyufu. And yet, she was always interested about Yuu and Fuyufu’s development in their relationship.

(Kugimiya-san did say “I’ll support you”, but……)

Miharu herself had no intention in getting along with Fuyufu. It also appeared that Fuyufu felt the same way. In short, they had bad chemistry with each other. They always glared at each other every time they met in the hallway or on the way to school. Unfortunately, Yuu was in a delicate position where he couldn’t support either of them.

His childhood friend who had always been by his side from afar versus his “daughter’s mother” whom he 《Married》 inside the virtual world. For Yuu…… having either of them as enemy was not an option.

That’s why── all he can do was to prevaricate the topic.

“Like always. But, that’s okay. Being suspected by her…… is common practice”

“Mmnnn……”

Mifa appeared to show a lack of interest. At first glance, she appeared to be acting normally in front of Yuu despite his relationship with Fuyufu…… but, somehow she seemed to be regretting something.

“More than that, are you going well with the cla.s.s? From what I see, you seem to be liked a lot.”

“…………Somehow they recognize me as a romance master…… Ah, I’ve restored your point up to 50.”

He had absolutely no idea what she meant by that, and she said nothing more. Miharu herself appeared to be occupied by her weird t.i.tle.

It seemed that she got along well with the girls in the cla.s.s, but it looked like she still didn’t have a friend whom she could talk to casually.

“Haruha is stronger than a raging whale!”

“This is the pulling overarm throw[2]!”

“Kyaaaa~~”

Meanwhile, Haruha was happily doing sumo practice with the NPC Nanny, Payakino. Haruha happily screamed as she was thrown by Payakino, the giant mushroom stuffed doll. It’s Haruha’s favorite activity recently. (By the way, ever since Hajime hurt her hip from playing sumo with Haruha, doing it in real world is now forbidden.)

“Next time Haruha meets Sakura-chan, Haruha will show her Haruha’s sumo skill!”

“First of all, you need to solidify the basic and enhance your skill.”

For the sake of her reunion with Sakura, Haruha was fired up. She sure liked her a lot despite having only played for a few hours together. Although, it’s still a mystery as to why she called her Sumo-san.

Believing the person whom she only played with once as a friend── such childish innocent thought. Her belief that she will meet Sakura again reminded Yuu of his own childhood self that he had forgotten.

(Since when have I become this tactless……?)

Right now, his only friend whom he could talk to comfortably was just Kouta. It’s not like he wanted to become popular, but he felt that his current lifestyle forced him to avoid others.

(No wonder Fuyufu got irritated.)

Ever since he started taking care of Haruha, he was able to view things objectively by himself.

And in the middle of such fresh and peaceful days, that man had appeared out of the blue.

Niiro Mansei, a high-ranked researcher of “Human Equilibrium Inst.i.tute” who used 『CtG』 to create Haruha and entrusted her to Kasugai household in the real world. He’s a mysterious slim man in black who wore fake smiles below his round sungla.s.ses.

“Well, actually regarding 『CtG』, we have a potentially problematic topic at hand.”

While sitting straight and entwining his hands together, he brought out the ominous topic. He was well aware that he made Miharu his enemy during his last “favor”, so he came in when Miharu and Haruha went out for shopping.

“……So what do you want by telling us this?”

“Well well, please listen to me first. You will know soon enough.”

Niiro remained calm, but his forcefulness wouldn’t take no as an answer. He had easily crushed his escape option of saying “I don’t want to get involved so I won’t listen”.

“For starters, the first problem. It is something reported by the players.

In the vicinity of Raiankarydi in Wizards’ Glaive, we’re hunting an unknown group.”

“Unknown……?”

“Yes. Their appearance is that of a normal avatar, but when inspected through extended mode, the texts were all garbled up and we couldn’t get anything. ──Aah, by the way do you happen to know what this is about?”

“Why do you ask me that?”

“Aren’t you the best person to ask about 『CtG』 bugs?”

“……I don’t intent to be one, and I don’t know any such bug.”

“As expected, this is quite a problematic matter. They are neither a player’s avatar nor an NPC, an existence uncontrollable by the system. We have the duty to immediately clarify their ident.i.ty and to find out what created them. You understand why right?”

Of course. If such unknown existence went rampant in large quant.i.ties and interfere with the game’s controls, it will certainly harm Haruha who must periodically log-in into『CtG』to sustain her life. However, Yuu yelled in an irritated voice,

“Then…… why do you tell me all of this? You people should just──”

“Yes. About that, I’ll explain to you after I talk about one more thing.

Well then, the second problem. This was brought up by the user’s family, not the user themselves. I wonder how to say this……. it’s more abstract compared to the previous one.

Their personality changed. Immediately after playing 『CtG』”

“…………It’s not just their imagination?”

“The changes are extreme. One day their personality changes all of the sudden. And each one of them changed differently, there are those who become more cheerful and there are those who became gloomier. Amongst them, there was also a kid who had locked himself inside his room for 3 years suddenly becoming sociable.

We’ve received over 10 reports of these cases, and considering the potential crisis we may have to face, we can no longer ignore this.”

“You are saying 『CtG』can modulate a person’s mental state?”

“Needless to say, normally it can’t. In order to prevent itself from making any chemical changes to the user’s brain or spinal cord, Ramiel is equipped with many layers of safety mechanisms.

But still, Kasugai-kun. You know there are exceptions for this.”

“Memento Coppelia……”

A personality created in the virtual world like Haruha. Memento was a prototype who failed in the real world and ended up with a corrupted mental state. She had the ability to bring physiological impact to the player’s real body in the real world. However, she was eventually defeated by Clamp.

With her ability to bring divergence in an instant, she managed to kill Yuu once.

“That’s right, an ability that Hadzar acquired on their own── we call it the Absolute Unit Evolution[Man-Mod].

In Memento’s case, she activated the activity of the person’s mirror neurons, and exploited their communication strengthening ability and caused them to experience strong reactions towards pain. Just like hers, if it’s something that causes a non-existing phenomenon then there was a possibility it was able to bypa.s.s the safety lock.

Therefore, there is a possibility of the existence of another team experimenting Hadzar possessing a Man-Mod that we are not aware of.”

──Finally.

Finally he got to the heart of what it was about.

“Are you planning to have Haruha face another Hadzar?”

Only a Hadzar could defeat other Hadzars as both possessed overwhelming fighting power in the virtual world. Therefore, he had used Haruha to deal with Memento. But.

“The one who defeated Memento was me. If there is a need to fight other Hadzars, from the start, you should have let me──”

The boy tried to place his hand on his chest, but the man in gla.s.ses stopped him.

“Just calm down for a second. It does not necessarily mean you have to fight. First of all, we’re still not sure whether it’s the work of a Hadzar or not, and it’s not like all Hadzar is like Memento, we might be able to talk this out.

For the time being, we ask you to investigate this matter.”

“It doesn’t have to be us right……”

“──Sure, we can just leave the management to our staff. You’re right. However, we have a promise to be not be directly involved in cases with a Hadzar’s involvement. On other hand, people from the inst.i.tute are forbidden to blindly interfere until we confirm the involvement of a Hadzar.

Therefore, we request Kasugai-kun and others, who’s on the boundary line of general users, to investigate this case.”

Niiro Mansei adjusted his sungla.s.ses with his middle finger and it casted off a faint ── very faint, close to non-existence ── smile for the very first time.

“Do you understand?”

◇Part 3◇

──Like h.e.l.l I know you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! He thought, but it’s the truth that he has no option but to accept his proposal if he wanted to consider Haruha’s safety. And even if it’s not, it doesn’t change the fact that this is urgent.Haruha should be a precious sample for Niiro, but even so he still tried to have her fight Memento despite her questionable chance of winning…… In the end, Yuu and Miharu had no option but to protect her by themselves.

Later he talked about it with Miharu and she replied with “Just investigating right……” while making a frown and agreed.

As he reminisced the event, Clamp was walking through inside the forest where the “ghosts” were reported to be seen. As he had expected, the landscape was stained by the green light pa.s.sing through the semi-transparent leaves clouding[3] above. As he pushed through the cotton-like soft undergrowth, he advanced to the center coordinates of the sightings.

It was like a mirror maze where all you see are just trees, leaves, and gra.s.s, but fortunately this is a game world. No worries about getting lost since you can just simply open your map and check your current location there. Even their footsteps are recorded.

Throughout the Wizards’ Glaive, Yellow Brick which is a shining yellow brick road spreads across the place. Just by walking on that road, your Spirit Point[Skill Point], which you use to use skill and magic skill, recovery rate will increase, therefore this in this World Sphere where the usage of magic is essential, most adventurers chose to travel on this road.[4]

However, the “Ghost” Niiro talked about seems to be hiding deep in the woods, far away from the road, which enforces the strangeness in the situation.

In such a sinister forest,

““Payapayapayapaya Gyafun♪ Gyafun♪

Toady’s lunch is… what, hoi♪ (hai♪）””

There was the happy and carefree singing voices of Mifa and Haruha under the sky of the sea of tree.

““After the rain, the mushrooms go boom♪ (boom♪)”[5]

While holding Mifa’s hand, Haruha pushed her tempo and loudly sang, following Mifa. Haruha loves to imitate MiharuMifa, and she used the guitar case she got from Miharu when Miharu ran away from home and made it into her toy box. Among all thing, to sing along with her is her favorite. With a strong infectious smile, she lightened Clamp’s stiff legs.

By the way, the song that they sang was 『Ugo☆Ugo Fever』. It’s a funky soulful song written by Payakino by making full use of its songwriting routine.

At first glance, they look like a pair of mother and daughter witches ──Or more like, sisters── enjoying a picnic. But, set aside Haruha, Mifa was actually exercising her skill. She used magic using a singing voice called 《Curse Song》.

《Curse Song》 is about singing to match the fixed songs ──It doesn’t matter what the lyrics are, but like a Karaoke rating system, depending on your voice volume and intonation, the effects subtly changes── as such, the desired effect achieved from simply singing is divided into two types. The one Mifa was currently using is the latter, to detect presences depending on the range of her voice──

“Nn!　……《Soundwave Search/Song》[Active Sonar] reacted to something!”

Mifa and Haruha’s carefree song abruptly stopped and changed into a tense voice.

“This reaction…… large numbers of people are currently fighting!”

Following the direction of Mifa’s line of sight, he saw a flash on the other side of the dense forest.

Just like what Mifa said, the plaza-like woodland they arrived at was filled with lots of people. However, the sight in front of them weren’t exactly what you would call a fight.

It was like a dispute between same or equal numbers of people ──around one, two, to three people──, if you look at it like that it looked like unilateral violations.

Both sides have strange appearances. Those on the winning side were wearing matching masks and cloaks that covered their whole body, making it hard to distinguish between them. The only obvious characteristic distinguishing them was just the numbers drawn on their mask.

Meanwhile those on the losing side each wore different individual mantles and a hood that covered their faces. The only common point between them was just their covered faces.

While the masked man went forward, defending themselves from the swordsman’s counterattack who was aided by defense magic, they overwhelmed the hooded group with magic attacks by the rear guard.

The hooded group tried to do the same and made a counterattack but the gap between their cooperation was far too huge. The attacking big swordsman was. .h.i.t by a lighting attack and defeated; his legs were instantly cut off and rolled on the ground. And the b.l.o.o.d.y letters Cut Off! Stained the green world.

As he watched over the battle from a distance under the shade of a tree, Clamp leaked a puzzled voice.

“……Bingo, it’s the 『Ghosts』. But, what is the meaning of this?”

Once he changed his vision to AR mode, he abruptly reached half of his goal. They’re the strange group with garbled name and simple status window. The problem is,

“The losing side is the one with corrupted display…… a bit unexpected”

As Mifa just said, the one getting defeated easily was the “Ghosts”. No matter how you look at it, the suspicious ones were those people in masks, but at very least they’re just normal players as seen through the display.

To be honest, it felt a bit anticlimactic. In the worst case, he thought that he would have to face a group of Hadzar. The movements of the people wearing hoods have too many individual differences and none of them surpa.s.s the power of a normal human player.

In that sense, the masked group’s bizarrely rounded tactics[Manuver] was way more eerie.

(……Are they just a simple bugged NPC or a player with a broken display? If that is the case I would like to leave it to the administrator, but…… who the heck are those people in masks?)

It’s hard to decide. At this rate, the hood group will likely be ma.s.sacred, but it’s hard to imagine one will die simply from being killed in game, so it’s not a big problem. It won’t become a reason for Clamp and his family to intervene.

As he felt Mifa’s gaze of agreement, he will decide their next move── But then.

“Aa…..”

The Sound of a small voice from the side. It wasn’t Mifa. Along with Mifa, Clamp lowered his line of sight.

It was Haruha watching the masked group curiously. But now, the only thing in her eyes was one of the members of the hooded group. No, that hooded person was. .h.i.t and blown away by the masked group’s attack, and she was looking into that person’s face.

That face.

That was the face of Kanna Sakura, the person Yuu had been looking for a while now.

The moment she realized that, Haruha’s figure had already disappeared from their protection.

The masked man marked with the number 『４』 had a duty to carry.

As the man who had mastered large varieties of magic attacks, he was the rearguard and attacked with 《Electric Arrow》[Bolt Dash], a magic attack with excellent power and a fast cooldown that surpa.s.sed its cost performance. Its only weakness was that it had a short and narrow attack range, but he compensated for that by having the vanguard swordsman to trump the enemy. As a result, his enemies amusingly fell onto the ground.

Once again, the lightly-armored girl was blown away and her hood fell. It revealed the face of their enemy. Naturally, it’s a familiar face, and the man delivered the final blow without hesitation.

They are “Ghosts”[6]. An existence that must be erased.

However.

“Saaaakuuuuraaaa-chaaaaan~~!!!”

The targeted girl was pushed down by a little girl who jumped at her and the man’s light bullet missed its target and hit a tree behind them.

『4』 wasn’t the only one who was taken aback by the strange intrusion. Everyone who partic.i.p.ated in the fight stopped their movement. A kid appeared all of a sudden in the midst of combat. Not only was her presence out of place, but the fact that they didn’t notice her until she approached them confused them.

“You, you’re… Haruha, from that time?”

From the way she called her name, it also appeared that the “Ghost” also knew about the kid. Meanwhile the kid rubbed her cheek against the girl’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s as if she wanted to crawl into them.[7]

“We finally meet! Haruha has mastered Sumo!”

She uttered nonsense, but one thing for sure, it’s okay to ignore what she just said. No matter how you look at it, she’s just a child who wasn’t even 10 years yet, if that was the case, she should be a Travel PC who can’t interfere with combat.

My attacks won’t be interfered with by her, so I can just ignore her and mop the floor with these “Ghosts” ── 『4』 thought. Naturally, the other masked men thought the same.

The masked swordsman 『22』 then swung his sword at the “Ghost” who was occupied with the little girl. There is no need for him to aim in this position.

“Wait! That kid is──”

The sound of a voice was heard from afar. This time, the presences were clear. Two people were running desperately pushing through the gra.s.s. They’re a swordsman-like guy and a girl who was wearing the same triangle hat as the earlier kid. Looking through the AR Mode, their names and simple stats were displayed; they’re just common players.

“I beg you, please back off for a moment! Don’t lay a hand on that kid!”

The witch-like girl was begging, but the words from the guy after her was a sincere urgent warning.

“Do you all want to get killed!?”

『22』 ignored him and swung his sword. But, his blade missed its target.

His wrists that were unprotected by his gloves started sporting blood. Because of that, he lost his strength and his attack missed. Since when did he get cut, both 『4』 who was slightly away from him and naturally 『22』 himself had no idea.

If only they knew, they would have at the very least, put more effort into their defense.

But in the end 『22』‘s body was ripped to shreds and he went down on his knee above a pool of blood that was flowing from his own body. If you got seriously injured in 『ＣｔＧ』 you will continue to recover like a vampire in an anime as long you still have Endurance PointHit Point left, but you will still lose your strength temporarily when you bleed from injuries on your vital points. And then.

His fallen head was. .h.i.t with a roundhouse kick, as his head twisted in a strange direction 『22』 turned into a Corpse[Mannequin] in an instant. Under Ramiel specification, no matter how many HP you have left, if your brain or spinal cord was damaged and can no longer maintain its connection, it will be treated as a game over.

It just felt too unsatisfying, hollow, and shallow to call it a fight── like an unfortunate accident that is overwhelmingly common. Like a pointless disaster.

In other word, just an unreasonableness commonly referred to as fate.

The one who accomplished that was the little girl who released herself from the “Ghost” girl all of a sudden── the kid known as Haruha.

She indifferently swung the knife stained with 『22』‘s blood and tainted the green ground with red droplets. Seen through the shadow from underneath the brim of her hat, was the glow of her pupils.

Then, she turned her back to the confused the “ghosts”, and spoke to the masked men.

“Hey”

It was said in a light voice, lacking of any kind of hostility or malice.

“Why did you hurt Sakura-chan?”

『CtG』 is a game that allowed battle between players, so there was nothing wrong── to answer like that is common sense. But, 『17』 who was in front of Haruha did not answer. Because it would be a lie. That’s why, he gave an honest answer.

“They are not human.

They are not supposed to be he──”

He failed to finish, 『17』’s tongue was pierced with a blade deep into the base of his tongue and into his mouth, sewn down to his throat. Haruha who threw that knife then climbed up 『17』’s bended body like a flight of stairs then produce a red light ball with her left hand and hurled it into 『17』’s open mouth.

It was 《Exploding Fireball》[Fireball], elemental magic that will create an explosion upon landing. Its power is not a big deal, but when it explodes in narrow s.p.a.ces, it will create an impact that was multiple times stronger.

Before 『17』‘s back landed on the ground, he had already turned into a mannequin. His head swelled up all over the place and its insides was blown to shreds, there was no trace left of its former shape.

“Y…..you, are you really that kid from that time……?”

After she expressionlessly defeated the second guy, Haruha faced the “ghost” girl who spoke in an idiotic voice, smiled.

“Haruha, is strong in this game”

──This kid is nuts. And, apparently he had angered that strange kid.

Under their united awareness, all the vanguard swordsmen gathered around the girl and 『４』 and the other magicians shoot 《Bolt Dash》 magic all at once. Her left and right are blocked; there was no way for Haruha to avoid the incoming 《Bolt Dash》.

That was what it should have been. But.

The next moment, the swordsmen on Haruha’s left side were struck by knives on their thighs and their posture broke, and the swordsmen on the right side wondered── what just happened, all of them were defeated, their calves were torn, their waists were pierced, and their throats were slit.[8]

The enemy’s agility was not unusually high or anything. Just that her swift movements, pa.s.sed through the gap of his senses, exactly like that of a well-executed magic trick…… as such.

All the lightning bolts lost its small target and disappeared once it pa.s.sed its maximum range. The small Haruha’s figure disappeared into the gra.s.s like a snake. Then the second time she emerged, she pierced one of the bent swordsman’s throat with a knife and pulled out another knife from her thigh, then she hit the pommel of the knife that was in his throat with a palm heel strike and further added to the number of mannequin she made.

“Kugh……”

He instinctively groaned, 『４』 switched his skill. It’s a magic that took longer to chant[charge] than the one he had used earlier, but the rectilinear and poor to changes 《Bolt Dash》 won’t be able to catch that kid.

Other masked men connected to his will concentrated their sword and magic attacks on Haruha in order to buy time.

There was no need for words in their cooperation. Their absolute trust and genuine camaraderie makes a world without lies possible.

Haruha had shown extraordinary poise so far, but as expected she couldn’t handle the simultaneous attacks from all sides and gradually retreated as she stained the chasing masked swordsmen with blood.

Meanwhile 『４』‘s skill finally charged. It’s a high-level attack 《Lightning Whip Attack》[Lightning Whipper] he mastered when he was still adventuring alone. As the name implied, it’s a magic that created a lightning whip and wrapped itself onto the enemy. Not only does it have a wide area of effect, no matter how small or agile the target was, it’s impossible to avoid.

It rests on his hand, the band of lighting released the sound of heated oil. Simultaneously his allies retreats from the rays, and then he swung it up.

“Nngh!”

Along with a silent yell he swung it at Haruha. Above the young girl, the phantasmagoric lighting approach!

That moment, Haruha.

Thrust a knife into the stomach of the falling swordsman──

And threw it.

Naturally, it wasn’t, the swordsman’s body.

It was something thin, long, crimped, and wavy. That’s why it entangled with the lighting whip, and while emitting a nasty burning smell it sealed the whip’s movement. While entangled with the lighting, it was thrown in a rough and unexpected direction.

──Human’s guts, are said to have five times the length of the person’s height.

“Wha……!?”

Seeing his trump card avoided in the most unexpected way, for a moment, 『４』 couldn’t decide on the next move to take. He might have been able to hit Haruha if he shook it off by force. But, he failed to do that.

──Through the gap he made to use 《Lightning Whipper》, the triangle hat little girl approached with frightening speed. Stepping on 《Fireball》that she casted, she shot forward through the air, she used the recoil of the explosion and came at him like a storm caused by devil.

The last thing 『４』 recognized was the gooseflesh chill coming from his entire body when the tip of the knife that was thrust through the eye hole of his mask hit the surface of his eyeball.

Around the same time. Clamp and Mifa who ran into the battlefield had failed to prevent Haruha’s recklessness.

But they were also attacked by the masked swordsman. It was just one person; she had ignored Haruha from the very beginning, like a boxer, using a leaning posture she rushed at Clamp.

The number marked on her mask is 『44』. Looking through AR Mode, her avatar name is Yusra, gender ♀[Woman]. She must be aiming for parity since her level is equal to Clamp.

“Wait, we have no intent to……”

Fight, but even if he said that she wouldn’t listen. After all, at that time Haruha had already slaughtered scores of the masked men. There is no way she would spare Clamp and Mifa who were clearly connected to Haruha

Sure enough, no questions asked, the masked Yusra attacks. Unlike other masked men, she was not using swords or magic, but rather her fists.

Clamp managed to avoid it, but his cheek was. .h.i.t and the blood splashing from the impact took form; Graze Hit !. It was a fighting skill known as 《Meteor Fist》[Knuckle Shoot], it created bullet of fists in succession. It has speed equal to a professional boxer’s jab, there is no other way to avoid it other than using his intuition to work out where the bullet was aimed according to the angle it was fired.

“Kugh……”

There is no room for negotiation as expected. And against a dangerous opponent such as her, holding back meant death. And it’s not like he can log-out leaving Haruha alone in this situation.

(There is no way I can leave Haruha all alone!)

By the time he noticed he was told off by Hajime. “Well well, if you feel danger I can bring you back here” ── and such. Do you want to let other player get killed by Haruha!?

He clicked his tongue inside his mind and unsheathed Single-edged Sword[Scaramax] from his waist── at the same time, he blocked the second fist with the fuller part of his sword. Yusra’s fist seen up close, her shining red gauntlet cracked.

As it is, Clamp and Yusra began a fierce face-off at close range. They’re both too close to each other for Mifa to enter the fight or provide support. Mifa spoke from afar.

“Aaagh come on! What should I do here!? Do you want an a.s.sist song or something?”

“Mifa, you stop Haruha and learn about the situation from that middle school kid! There is no way of telling whether it’s good to fight them or not like this!”

The only thing certain here was that the avatar who had the face of Kanna Sakura is Sakura herself. That would explain her reaction when she saw Haruha. Why she’s a “Ghost”, and why she was being attacked by suspicious masked men, as long they don’t know why they won’t able to settle this matter.

They are not “Husband and Wife” for months for nothing, Mifa immediately understood and headed towards the rampaging Haruha. Yusra did not chase after her. For some reason, she aimed for Clamp alone from the very beginning.

“──You!!”

She took a back step away from the barrage of fist, and shoot through the repelled attack. Just like her opponent’s, it’s a high speed piercing skill that is impossible to perform manually. Either to avoid or block, it forces her opponent to break their posture and retreat ── such a underhanded trick

“Uuowaa!?”

And he fell along with the goofy scream of his own. His arm was taken, and he was thrown with what you would call a Judo one-armed shoulder throw. Being hit with an unexpected counterattack, he was helplessly thrown to the ground.

The reason why he couldn’t expect that was because skills with specification of “Once the requirement is met and activated, you will able to ignore the law of physic and automatically catch your opponent and throw him/her” does not exist in the game command. Throwing technique skill-specific preliminary action ──taking a fixed stance── did not occur. It was completely manual, in other words, he was thrown by the player’s martial arts.

Getting hit by weapon-less manual action won’t decrease his HP, but he will still receive the impact from it. Receiving a nasty blow on his back, he tried to wake up while enduring his clogged breath, and once again faced Yusra who charged at him with semi-auto high speed strike.

That time Clamp── smiled.

(She is amazing! This fighting style, not even mother who created the system would possibly expect this!)

A hybrid of the game system skill’s unrealistic high speed strike and flexible martial arts the player herself mastered in the real world. She mixed those two high level skills in harmony. Like a new type of martial arts.

(Discovery! This is a discovery! With this, one can revolutionize the game even if they aren’t one of the developers! Furthermore, her Kinetic visual acuity and reflex are way beyond normal level. She can become an amazing 『CtG』 player!)

Wearing the face of a suspicious person, while dedicating a feeling of grat.i.tude he was driven by the desire of wanting to get beaten by her. No, he’s not a pervert. For him, she is the benefactor who thought him a “Way to enjoy this game” that he didn’t know. Kasugai Yuu’s awareness of “Must play through 『CtG』” is that strong.

But, he can’t stay happy from finally meeting a worthy opponent forever. Right now Clamp is not a unresponsible[Solo] adventurer, depending on the ident.i.ty of those “Ghosts” it possibly won’t be a play[Game] anymore.

“I’m sorry but…… I must go to where that kid is. I’ll have to defeat you now”

He tightened his expression and provocatively declared. Yusra remain unshaken and rushed in. Clamp swung his sword with his right hand──

And he cut off his own left wrist without hesitation.

“Kugh!?”

From the wound on his wrist an excessive amount of blood gushed out. The splashes. .h.i.t Yusra’s mask, and the blood formed the word Self Hit!, taking away her vision.

Clamp came close to Yusra who reflexively stopped her movement, and struck her mask with the pommel of his sword. Furthermore, as she staggered and bent down he brutally kicked her. He then stepped on Yusra’s shoulder as she lay on her back, and pressed the point of his sword to her neck.

By that time his left wrist’s bleeding turned black and started recovering while consuming his HP. He was able to retain his consciousness from the rapid blood lost, and he delivered words of apologize unfitting for the current situation.

“Haruha…… our child, I apologize for what she has done. I’m sorry. And do me a favor, shall we make a deal here?”

Yusra, the 『44』, ignored his offer. But, for the first time she spoke. Her voice was dry, not showing any trace of her feeling.

“Like always…… that crazy fighting style of yours”

Certainly it was a “crazy” way to fight. Even though senses of pain is decreased in this virtual world, one would usually feel hesitant to cut oneself just to take away their opponent’s vision. It’s exactly because Yuu, who could separate this amazingly real virtual world as “just a game”, this can be done without preparing in advance. However.

“Like always, you mean……?”

Without answering, Yusra took away her mask. And what was under the easily taken off mask was.

The face of Kanna Sakura that he saw earlier.

“Eh……?”

Bewildered, he instinctively pulled his sword. “Yusra” did not miss that chance and held the point of his sword with her gauntlet and stood up, as expected while he was still being hesitant she took distance.

Then once again Yusra created a fighting pose── then lowered her arm. When she looked at it, all the masked men were already wiped out by Haruha’s tyranny. Those several remaining then retreated. Haruha was held by Mifa, it appeared she was stopped from chasing after them.

“……I will back off for now”

Yusra then followed the other masked men and retreated with a back step. Although it was m.u.f.fled by the mask, her voice was that of Sakura. But, her scarce voice intonation brought a severe sense of discomfort

“Again, let’s play again”

And, eventually.

Until her figure disappears from ExtendAR vision effective range, Clamp just stood there stunned.

◆Part 4◆

“So……How was it?”

“Well…… I think my grades will drop more than what I got in the intermediate test.”

One dawn after the bizarre event at the green sea of trees── Kasugai Yuu and Kugimiya Miharu were taking a rest in their cla.s.sroom.

After that incident, all the “ghosts” had vanished from their sight while they were unable to decide on whether to go after the masked men or not. They searched for them for two hours, but in the end, they got no luck and it was already midnight outside by the time Hajime brought them back to real world.

After that while listening to the sounds of her breathing, Yuu carried the half-asleep Haruha to bed. Then, he instinctively held her lonely-looking hand which resulted into him end up studying on the bed because she wouldn’t let go of his hand. Thanks to all that, this youthful high school student seriously lacked some sleep.

The first day of year-end test. For whatever reason, the subject that day was math which was too much for the current two to handle. Miharu who had just transferred to the school, received some “consideration”. But only to some degree.

“You sure have it nice, Kasugai-kun. You’re good at science right?”

“Well, not much. At least not, much compared to those who actually are.”

Thanks to the fact that various incidents were happening in 『CtG』, his head were going nuts for constantly thinking about the masked men and numbers all at the same time. While holding down a yawn, Yuu stood up from the seat. Since it was a test day, students were free to go home in the morning.

“For dinner I’ll──”

“Master~. Let’s go home~”

Miharu was about to say something to Yuu, who had already held his bag over his shoulder. However, the moment she heard the voice she immediately shut her mouth and faced away into the opposite direction.

The voice belonged to her cla.s.smate, Tsukami Yatoko who was a cheerful girl and had taken liking to Miharu ever since the day she transferred in. Although it was still a mystery to Yuu on why she was calling Miharu her “Master”.

“Aah, Tsukami-san”

“Let’s study for test at 『Ruso Garden』. Nogi and Rokkaku said they will come too.”

Actually, Nogi Sunao and Rokkaku Renko were waiting right behind Tsukami. By the way, 『Ruso Garden』 is a well-known chain of restaurants famous for its delicious omelet rice.

“Forgive me. But I must go back home early today……”

“Eeeh~…… Master’s family sure is strict. Then, let’s go to the station together.”

The reality is, she just wanted to go home early just to play with Haruha. So she told her cla.s.smates that the curfew at her house is strict. Although, from what Yuu heard, Miharu’s mother is a pretty strict person anyways. So technically speaking, it’s nothing new to her.

In reserved manner, Miharu bowed down to Yuu. Then Tsukami raised her hand at the same time.

“Well, goodbye, Kasugai-kun.”

“Bye then, idio….. I mean, Kasugai-kun”

Since this past week, there have been many cases where girls had mistakenly called him “idiot”[9]── Following the bizarre chain of events, same thing happened with Higuchi-sensei once who was the homeroom teacher ── but Yuu decided not to let it get to him. He didn’t feel like crying because he didn’t think about it.

(Kugimiya-san sure has it tough……)

Girls in Yuu’s cla.s.s are considerably nice people. But for a shy person like Miharu to maintain her relationship with them, it wouldn’t be easy if they learn about her secret with Yuu or Haruha.

A person with two lives. It’s not that rare in this Rube Goldberg’s[10] construction of human society.

Will he thinks all that, he exits to the hallway. At that moment, he murmured the thing that been on the back of his mind since last night.

“As matter of fact, can a single person split into two?”

“Sakura” and Yusra. Not only they have the same face but somehow, “Sakura” recognized Haruha’s face and Yusra recognized Yuu[Clamp]’s. There was no way that it could be just a mere coincidence.

But by allowing them to escape, he had lost a valuable clue. However, there was still something to gain. It’s something Yusra said.

『Let’s meet again』

Yuu felt a strong premonition in those words.

Right in the afternoon, his legs led him to the arcade as the sun shone brightly above. But it didn’t take him more than 20 minutes to reach that place from school.
The first time he came to this place was shortly after the day he was enrolled in high school. Worried about Yuu who was depressed and still hadn’t blended in with the cla.s.s, Kouta had dragged him there for some change of pace. Unlike the arcade where Haruha had all her money sucked dry by a crane game, this one had a net café installed at the larger stores facing the national hallway.

On the second floor of that shop, Yuu had met that girl at the compet.i.tion housing corner and had achieved a narrow but a miraculous win.

“So you came.”

Kanna Sakura. Her appearance was practically the same as around a week ago when she was playing with Haruha. However, she wasn’t wearing her boyish jumper and instead was in a neat and clean sailor uniform.

She sat on the hard sofa that was near the entrance of the shop and then looked up at Yuu with an equally hard gaze.

After they logout from the game the other day, Hajime went to investigate about her. But from the info she got, in real world Sakura didn’t show any suspicious behavior and she’d been attending school for the past week without absence. However, that day she left school early and ended up there.

“Yesterday, you were our only clue.”

“As for me, Haruha was the only clue in order for me to contact with you guys. So I waited. But then I realized that you will eventually come here anyways.”

There were no signs of roughness and lacking of composer like the last time. Her voice was simply calm and polite. Although, she did sounded a bit emotionless which made him miss the cheeky side of her.

There was an aura of Discomfort. But, she really was the Yusra with whom he fought with. Therefore, his conviction deepened.

“Does that mean…… that you will tell me about what had happened, I mean about your changes, about those your 『Ghosts』 that look like you?”

“Yes. Ikui Librium wishes to meet you. That means I want to you to meet Ikui Librium. I’m certain that she will be able to grant your wish.”

“Ikui…… you say?”

“She’s our leader. By the way, are you alone today?”

“……I just wanted to deal with you myself.”

Yuu did not wanted to have Haruha and Miharu involved in problems related to 『CtG』. His sense of duty as the son of the man who created 『CtG』 and his simple wish of not wanting to be Niiro’s puppet, are what drove him to think that way.

“Is that so?”

Sakura simply replied and stood up. Then she walked inside the shop── not exactly, but she headed towards the net café and Yuu hastily followed her.

“He-Hey. What do you want?”

He was taken to a private room by Sakura who had already secured a place for both of them. It was the first time Yuu visited this type of store where it felt like a self-study s.p.a.ce in the library equipped with a simple slide door. Just with a big sofa and table for two and a big TV connected to a laptop and──『CtG』 terminal[Ramiel].

Sakura, who had taken a side on the sofa, had already started attaching her Ramiel. Her appearance with a headset visor and a choker looked like the attire of a slave receiving some punishment.

Since he recognized her as Haruha’s friend, he saw her as a kid. Still, he couldn’t help but be nervous being alone with her in a small s.p.a.ce. Dressed in summer light clothes, it was evident that she was doing some sort of sport, as her faintly muscled limbs shone on the black sofa.

Regardless if she was aware of Yuu’s subtle consciousness of her or not…

“Please wear yours too and login. I’ll be waiting for you at the Raiankarydi church.”

…Sakura pressed her Ramiel’s power switch and jumped into the world of 『CtG』.

◇Part 5◇

There’s no need to wait, Clamp was at Raiankarydi the last time he logout. As a result, he shows up directly inside Rainankarydi church.

The one who faced him unsurprised was the girl he fought last night, Yusra. She wore a 『44』 mask with beak-like nose and a plain cloak.

Today she doesn’t appear to have any intent to fight, so he decided to ask her as a greeting.

“……That clothes, won’t you get confused with your comrades?”

“There aren’t much people who would mistake an index finger as middle finger.”

She replied with ambiguous answer. That’s certainly true, and come to think of it he’s not really sure how his brain can distinguish a finger from another, but as a matter of fact he can easily move his five fingers independently without trouble.

Clamp remained silent, and as a respond, Yusra quietly walked away. Without hesitation, she exits the church and traverses her way to the inside of the green forest away from the yellow brick road.

Clamp couldn’t help but to feel uncomfortable being together with her in this empty forest. Even if he tries to ask her about those “ghosts” or another “Sakura”, everything will be answered once he arrives to where Ikui-something is — that’s why…

“May I ask?”

Clamp asks something completely different.

“Kanna Sakura, why are you so obsessed in doing rematch with me…… Kasugai Yuu?”

It’s something he had been wondering all this time. Her relentlessness wasn’t normal, just like Yuu’s obsession with 『CtG』.

“………………”

After a considerably long silence, she replied.

“If I’m not desperate, my lie will be exposed.”

“Lie?”

“I do Judo.”

She suddenly went out of topic, but he continues to listen in silent. As someone who was thrown by her yesterday… it’s something he wanted to know.

“When I was way younger than Haruha, I trained in a Judo dojo where my father was in when he was little. At first, I’m simply happy being able to move my body and roll people who were bigger than me, and turned out that it seemed I have talent and everyone praised me and was proud of me because of that. Eventually, I start to think I’m special among those in elementary school level.

Then, as special person, I must work hard to meet others’ expectation.

As a result, blessed with luck, I was able to win in a national tournament individual match when I was still a freshman in middle school.”

“Amazing……”

“──Many have said the same thing. I was happy — being expected and trying to live up to it. But, it all ended one day.

During practice, when I was tired and at lost in focus, I got injured… and it’s incurable. I was able to recover enough to the extent it won’t cause a hindrance in my daily life but, I can no longer do harsh exercise.

My life ended once at that point.”

“……That……”

It’s easy to line up words of denial but, it’s not a problem that a mere 16 year-old kid can say something about.

While he’s still wondering, Sakura[Yusra] indifferently continues the story.

“For example, like getting injured from protecting a friend from bad guys, it might be nice if my injury have that kind of cool meaning. I might be able to be proud of it. But, it’s different. I just simply getting injured from practicing too much. I felt it that time — a slight sense of discomfort, but I optimistically think it’s something normal… then just from a little mistake, it broke.

I reap what I sow…… such plain, common, and nothing but a stupid careless mistake, only worth of a faint sympathy, and there’s no one to blame…… just from that one failure my life crumbles, nothing left.”

All Sakura wished for was a meaning in her crushed dream.

It’s not like he doesn’t know how she feels. Yuu himself was dumbfounded when he lost his mother all of the sudden. There were times when he thinks of intangible things like following proper procedures before dying. Lacking any of that, won’t that make her death completely meaningless? He thought.

But if there is meaning in it, it is…… no, it’s about Sakura now.

“What strange was, everyone else, did not change.

Even though I’m no longer the same person as I was before, my parents, my friends from school, and everyone from the dojo, still treats me the same.”

“Well, doesn’t that mean they’re being considerate of you?”

“Yes. But, to put it the other way, it’s just simply that. My near 10 years of hard work and everyone’s expectation… it’s not their business so it can’t be helped, but my own sense of loss didn’t match theirs.

I don’t hate them for that. Just, my own worth that I believed in and other people’s expectation is completely different from each other, my head went black. Everything that gives meaning to my life were all…… just misunderstanding.”

……Just maybe, Sakura just wanted to apologize. She wanted someone to look more heavily on her failure and blame her.

The face of Memento Coppelia who defined herself as an error and naively continues to commit sin to receive punishment flickers in his head.

“Ever since, I start to skip school and go outside playing games.

My father who was worried about me, bought me a Ramiel, and I was moved the first time I played 『CtG』. I was able to move my body as much as I want without worrying about getting injured. I was hooked for a while, but, exactly because it’s so realistic I was able to feel its faint different with reality. It clearly reminded me of the fact that I won’t able to freely move my body like this in the real world. I immediately feel empty, and my play time gradually lessens.

After that, I start to play fighting game.”

Finally it all connects……. But on other hand, Clamp felt oddities in her calm and objective manner of speech up to this point. Let alone the fact that it’s coming from Sakura who let her emotion taken better of her in past.

Yusra’s voice continues to flow indifferently.

“It has the right sense of distant. It’s way different from reality, there’s always someone to fight, and I was able to vigorously use my eyes and hand.

And, just like Judo, it seemed I have a talent for it. As long I figured out the rule and theory of it I’m undefeated, and people will start to praise me as I rise up my rank── to sum it up, it felt great. It was a perfect replacement.

But, for it to be a replacement is nothing but a lie.

That’s why, in order to not notice that lie, in order to feel good, I desperately play games. Just like Judo that 『I must absolutely do』, by playing games with all my might, I’ll be able to think the two as the same thing.

Yet, one day, I lost to a person who lacks of motivation.”

“Eeerrmm…… if it’s me you’re talking about, it’s not like I’m not motivated or anything……”

“Then that means, I lost to a both timid and frivolous person, or should I say, to a servile guy.”

……If I apologize here my image in her mind will get worse, Clamp thought, so he continue to listen silently.

“Ever since, every day I go to the arcade and do CPU fight using Push Yaoskichi, fight Push Yasokichi using Push Yasokichi, a.n.a.lyze Push Yasokichi, and train myself with Push Yasokichi to master Push Yaoshiki… but everything all went to waste.”

“Sorry…… really, sorry……”

“It’s okay. I didn’t want to meet you either way.”

“Eh……? But, you──”

“The truth is I was afraid of losing again. I was afraid to lose the 『replacement』 I just found. But, even so, if I run away from you, then I will notice my own lie.

I was looking for you while hoping to never meet you again.

In other words, I was lying.”

Kanna Sakura, the girl who had lost the thing she devoted her whole life to from early age, play 『CtG』 and other compet.i.tive games in order to fill the emptiness in her heart.

As result she became timid and was afraid to lose it once more, and it makes her obsessed with win and lose… and Yuu had threatened that by fluke. That’s why she must pretend to chase after Yuu.

“……If we fight once more using my main character, you will surely win.”

Even though he doesn’t think so, he had no option but to say it.

“You’re a genius. Your great Kinect visual acuity, reflex, area grasping ability…… you have talents that normal person won’t able to beat. I won against you because I just happen to have a nice timing. One out of thousand chances, you will win.

Your skill blows and manual throwing technique was amazing. You’re…. even if you’re not obsessed with games, you’re still a person who can open the new door to unlimited possibilities.”

That’s why there is no reason for you to think so hard. That was what he wanted to say.

“Don’t mind that anymore.”

Easily.

“It’s already over, after all.”

She cut it off. As if, the story of the girl known as Kanna Sakura, never existed to begin with — she cut it off.

In fact, the current Yusra, had severed herself away from the past she has spoken of. Her behavior and tone of voice were nothing like those coming from the girl he met before. Whatever happened, there’s no way she could change so much in merely a week. Is she still even connected to her, that one more “Sakura”?

After that, Clamp finally reached the place where he can find