Episode Title:
Acceleration.
Episode Description:
Haruyuki "Haru" Arita is a short, overweight boy with low self-esteem due to frequent attacks by Araya and his group of delinquents at Umesato Junior High School. To vent his frustration, he resorts to playing squash in the school's virtual world network where he always gets the highest scores. Haruyuki's childhood friend, Chiyuri Kurashima offers to have lunch and suggests that he report the delinquents to the school board, but he rejects her pity, knocking her lunch basket to the ground. Later, on returning to play squash, he discovers that his highest score was beaten by Kuroyukihime, the Student Council Vice-President, who invites him to lunch the following day. Haruyuki meets with Kuroyukihime, who offers to cable with him, shocking the other upperclassmen. She then transfers a program called Brain Burst to him. After it successfully installs, Araya shows up and Kuroyukihime provokes him into punching Haruyuki at which point she shows him how to activate the potential of Brain Burst, virtually accelerating their cognitive processes to the point at which time around them seems to stop. While in the accelerated mode, Kuroyukihime advises Haruyuki to let Araya's punch connect with him, knocking himself at her so that the school's cameras and nearby witnesses will catch Araya violently attacking them, ending Haruyuki's ridicule. Haruyuki complies which ends with Araya and his gang being detained by security. After school, as Haruyuki and Chiyuri head home, they meetup with Takumu Mayuzumi, Haruyuki's other childhood friend, but Haruyuki runs away after thinking that Chiyuri told Takumu about the delinquents. Later that night, Haruyuki has a nightmare of encountering delinquents and Chiyuri and Takumu pitying him which he wishes to fly free from his torment before waking up. Despite being told by Kuroyukihime not to connect to the globalnet, Haruyuki forgets and steps out of his home where he is transported into a war-torn world with a new robotic avatar body.
