Mission 3, Part 4
Fushimi closed his eyes to bring back his memories, associating finger movements to the Rubikâs Cubes spinning in his mind. He might have forgotten how to work the keyboard, but the rule of solving a Rubikâs Cube was deeply rooted in him.
âIf the world bores you, why not construct it yourself? Reconstruct the order, principle, and framework of the world with your own hands.â
What I can use is but the rules established and passed down by predecessors, Fushimi thought.
But the Blue King boasted that heâs going to create them himself. He didnât think itâs boasting at all, and said it nonchalantly like itâs a matter of course.
âAmazingâ¦â To be fascinated this wholeheartedly, as long as Fushimi could remember, had only happened twice in his life.
When he was little, that man played an actual Rubikâs Cube for him to see. In little Fushimiâs eyes, the cube spun round and round in those big hands, then magically the six faces were completed. Feeling competitive, he studied the rules of Rubikâs Cube and practiced. But by the time he can complete a cube at the same speed, that man already lost interest in this toy.
That man, Fushimi Niki, was truly a genius.
His wife Kisa, a successful career woman, exerted herself to reach her goal. But Niki was simply born with talents. Fushimi family lineage was gifted, yet he stood out even among the relatives. However, he never did one single thing that benefits the human society.
The only hobby heâs enthusiastic in was meddling with his young son, and then rolling on the floor laughing after he made his child really angry. Itâs a sick amusement from any angle.
Taking a deep breath, Fushimi opened his eyes.
Combo attack of âlightningâ attribute came from the green faces the opponent just completed. On the verge of death, Fushimiâs avatarâs life gauge flashed in red. NIKIâs avatar jumped up with arms in the air like cheering âhooray!â
How obnoxious. Fushimi felt irritated somehow.
No ordinary person is capable of imitating that insane genius. Ghost or whatever, if itâs the real him on the other side, he canât be so ordinarily strong.
Donât you dare underestimate Fushimi Niki!
At this instant, Fushimiâs ten fingers tapped on the keyboard with high speed. Spinning all five cubes at once, it took him less than a second to complete the white face of all 5 cubes. Five combo ârecoverâ restored his HP back to 90%. His HP gauge returned to normal, and so was NIKI avatarâs expression, since theyâre even now.
Once he got the feelings back, his fingers can continue controlling the cubes, even if his brain hadnât recall all the keyboard commands. Whatâs left to do was to spin the cubes in his mind, and move his fingers accordingly.
Rather than attacking by completing one by one, a 6x5 combo attack would be more efficient. Not sticking to the white faces he finished, he scrambled them, and aimed to complete all six faces at once. His opponent seemed to noticed this, and changed the tactics as well. Both of them completed all six faces of five cubes at about the same time. Light waves of six colors collided and nullified each other with dazzling graphic effects.
While he clicked his tongue, he felt a bit amused, and burst out laughing. âHeh. Not many players can enter play-off match against me. Oh well, since youâre pretending to be that man, this is the minimal requirement.â
Since their 3x3 tiles match ended in a draw, they entered the advanced stage. Only those top-ranking jcube players had seen this: Rubikâs Cubes of 4x4 tiles dropped from above.
The difficulty of 4x4 and 3x3 werenât in the same league. But that didnât slow Fushimi down. Firstly he greeted his opponent with a five combo attack of âearthquakeâ attribute by completing yellow faces of all 5 cubes. NIKI no longer spun his cubes quick-witted like before, but tardy like a small fry. NIKIâs avatar began wiping sweat in a troubled expression, and then waving his arms in a crying face as his HP gauge flashed in red after Fushimiâs next attack.
âWhatâs with that face!? You never showed that expression in front of me!! If you are doing that now, you should have knelt and apologized before you die!!â Fushimi stared wide eyed at the screen and shouted in anger, with emotions that even himself didnât quite understand raging inside of him.
4 rows x 4 columns, of all 6 faces, on all 5 cubes were completed at the same time. Graphic effects of six colors roamed throughout the screen, shaking so hard that he can almost feel the blast wave on his face. The opponentâs cards shattered as the HP went down to zero. With the light waves still storming in the background, the âwinnerâ message appeared on Fushimiâs side, while âloserâ appeared on the opposite side.
The battle stage faded out. Their avatars were sent back to an open space in a forest, where other playersâ avatars were hanging around leisurely.
Already calmed down, Fushimi looked coldly at the hologram screen. His avatar was jumping victoriously, while NIKIâs sat in depression. Although feeling it didnât matter anymore, he started typing on the keyboard again. Comic style speech bubble appeared above his avatar, showing the words he typed one by one.
ãNow then, care to explain? Oogai Aya.ã
NIKIâs avatar stood up, changing back to normal expression.
ãYou noticed? Unendearing as usual. You are cuter when you were frightened by the ghost and hid in bed shaking.ã
Cheeky words appeared in the speech bubble above NIKI.
Like you are any less unendearing than me. Fushimi thought.
ãYou canât have made a virus this complicated by yourself. Who sent you? For what reason?ã
The Fushimi Niki which haunted him was a computer virus planted in his PDA.
He had to admit, even though he didnât want to, the cue was Munakataâs hint, âYou might have caught the flu.â Flu was caused by viruses. Now to think of it, Niki only appeared when he held his PDA. Since he barely leaves his PDA, it was hard to notice the difference.
Of course this sounded crazy. In common sense, a computer virus canât affect human, giving him hallucinations and nightmares. But howâs common sense defined? Around him thereâs this man whoâs inferno himself, and this man who can memorize the shape of ten thousand puzzle pieces. Seven kings ruled the world behind the stage. In this side of the world, common sense can be thrown out the window.
Among the seven clans of the seven kings, thereâs a clan which can reach into the real world through internet. Fushimi knew this too.
On the night Kusanagi and he returned from Scepter 4, he saw light at the doorway of Fushimiâs old house. It was Ayaâs flashlight. Then a silhouette at the window of his old bedroom on 2nd floor gave him the creeps. That was the only illusion of Niki which wasnât created by the virus, but his own misapprehension. Considering the time, that silhouette should be Aya too. That high class one-piece dress was the uniform of Tsubakigahara Academy, which Aya attended. Fushimi didnât care about high schools back in 9th grade, so he didnât recognize it at first. But her bunny ears backpack, and how it bounced with her movements, were characteristic of his cheeky second cousin.
What was she doing sneaking into Fushimiâs old house and into his bedroom on 2nd floor? Taking pictures for creating the background for the hallucination. The flickering light that Fushimi saw at the window was the flash of her PDAâs camera. Later that night when he opened the blank email from Aya without thinking, the virus it carried infected his PDA.
That explained everything.
ãAre you still involved with Jungle?ã
ãWhatâs wrong with that? You are with Homra yourself!ã
ãHomra huh? Then what is your purpose in alienating me from Homra?ã
Until now she had been replying right away, but this time she remained silent for a while.
ãAnswer me!ã
As Fushimi pressed, words appeared like water gushing out of a broken dam.
ãThe king is interested in you, and has been watching you all the time. Now donât be mistaken. Itâs not like you are special. The king can see everything. The mission given to Aya was, to make sure you canât stay in Homra anymore. Stubborn Misaki-kun was in the way. Finally even Misaki-kun doesnât care about you anymore. This feels great!ã
ãIs it that much fun to set me up?ã
ãAya is NOT having fun!!!!ã
Like emphasizing her lines, the speech bubble inflated, shaking. Fushimi drew back from the screen unconsciously. Her avatar shouted with an angry face, jumping up and down.
ãWhy is it always!!? Always!! Always ALWAYS ALWAYS you!! Aya became the kingâs comrade first!! Thatâs why I hate you andã
It seemed like she had more to say, but her line ended abruptly.
ã ＮＩＫＩ has logged out.ã
With this system message, her avatar and speech bubble disappeared.
âLogged out? Is she running away?â
Fushimi winced and muttered. At this moment, another avatar walked in from the other side of the screen. It was an avatar in plain default clothes. Its hair style, eyes, and nose werenât unique either. It certainly didnât look like an avatar with powerful skills or cards. Howeverâ¦
A stinging feeling like static electricity ran through Fushimiâs spine, giving him goose bumps. This was not the first time he got this feeling. Itâs the same as what he felt in that winter night 2 years ago.
Itâs him - the king of ãjungleã!