Chapter 16
February 22nd, 2025
(3 months later)
On November 7th, 2024, at exactly 2:55 PM JST, a player by the name of Shiraki dueled and defeated Akihiko Kayaba, clearing Sword Art Online. In the process of doing so, he saved the lives of 5,926 players who were trapped in the death game., allowing them to return to the real world.
It had been three months since then. The freed players were all still trying to transition back into normal life, however, the clearing of Sword Art Online wasn't the end.
During the first two months of our freedom, players were bombarded by the media. We were dubbed the SAO survivors. Despite all the buzz, due to government intervention, we were unable to share much information as to what occurred in Aincrad.
The families who were affected by the 'SAO incident' as it had been named, were compensated by the Japanese government in exchange for our silence on the matter. Special schools were set up around Japan for players who were still students when they logged in. The survivor schools were set up as observation and rehabilitation facilities; to help us children adjust to the real world again. It was because of these schools, and the help of my contact within the Japanese government that I was able to find and meet up with all my friends from SAO in one way or another. Even Kuram moved from the US to Japan and opened his own cafe.
One launch day, the police began a manhunt for Akihiko Kayaba, however, they were unable to locate him. The day SAO was cleared, he revealed his location to the police and they went to arrest him. Unfortunately, Kayaba was in no state to be arrested upon locating him. His brain had been completely fried, but not from dying in SAO. The reports stated that he was found with a heavily modified NerveGear rig on his head, so naturally, theories began circulating.
The first and most universally believed theory was that rather than being arrested, he committed suicide by destroying his brain so it couldn't be studied for science. It was likely, seeing as how the modified rig would have easily had enough power to completely turn his brain into paste.
The second theory, and the one I chose to believe was that he was trying to do something greater than anybody could have possibly imagined and do the impossible for a second time. That the modified NerveGear wasn't created to destroy his brain, but upload it. Some people believed that Akihiko Kayaba had somehow uploaded his consciousness into the network. Unfortunately, there was no evidence suggesting that was the case, besides the modified headset with an unclear purpose. Even so, I believed that he was successful. Akihiko Kayaba was a genius, and in my mind, there was no possible situation where he'd simply give up and die.
I strutted down the uncrowded streets, taking in all the sights and smells of the town that I had become accustom to. I arrived at the large brown building with a wooden sign out the front sporting a flask as its symbol. The entrance bell run out as I stepped inside and I was greeted by the owners warm smile.
"Osaka. What a pleasant surprise." Marcus said,
"Hey, Kuram," I smiled. "How are you?"
The man behind the counter towered, at a whopping two metres tall. Through his long, golden hair, I watched as a smile formed across his rugged face.
"I'm alright. Business is a little slow, he replied. "Can I get you a juice?"
I climbed up onto one of the stools at the front bench, trying to get a better angle so I didn't need to strain my neck. "Ooh, yes please," I answered.
He began listing flavours. "Orange? Apple? Mango?"
"That's a silly question," I replied with a grin. "Apple, please."
"Of course," he nodded. "I'll get you your juice, but first, you have to try and remember my name. My full name."
That was one of the many things I still struggled with after getting back to the real world. Remembering names. For the past two years, I'd known everyone by completely different names, and since they looked practically identical to their avatars, it was difficult to remember to use their real names.
I groaned. "Ugh! Again! It's so long!"
"Well, you need to exercise your brain. You've been asleep for 2 years. What better way that to remember a long name. Come on. Give it a shot."
"Umm. It was Marcus...Stacey...Warren?" I replied, unsure of my answer.
"Stacey? I... You know what, close enough. Marcus Stanley West, but because I like you, I'll give it to you."
I giggled, swinging my feet backwards and forwards. At that moment, another man walks into the cafe, taking off his hat with his right hand, which was covered by a leather glove. Wearing a dark suit with neatly brushed hair that seemed to reflect the sunlight, he gave me a warm smile. I immediately jumped off of the stool and rushed him. Shouting "Uncle Raigen!" I leapt off the ground and he caught me, pulling me into a hug and spinning me around a few times before placing me back on the ground.
"Haha! Hey, little lady! Good to see you!" Reuji said.
"Hey, Reuji. Perfect timing." Marcus said. "Do you know where the apples are? I'm making a fresh batch of juice for our friend here."
Reuji make, overexaggerated face and looked down at me. "Sounds weird, huh? Reuji. Re-u-ji. What do you think? Think I should just change it to Raigen?"
I giggled at his unserious question. "No, silly. It's your name. You have to keep your name."
"Good point," he nodded. "Anyway, yeah. Third shelf on the left in the store room. I'll make it some juice for her."
With that said, he walked off into the kitchen and I once again climbed onto the stool. When it was just me and Marcus, the mood quickly shifted to a more serious tone.
I crossed my arms. "You said you wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. I've been doing some digging for you like you asked, and I think I found something you'll want to see." He said, placing a small, printed photograph on the table in front of me. The image was blurry, but I could clearly make out a large tree branch with what seemed to be a giant golden birdcage hanging from it. It was obvious that this photo wasn't taken in this world.
"A giant birdcage?" I asked. "What game is this?"
He replied, "RECT's own VRMMO. ALfheim Online."
A few months after SAO's launch, ARGUS was shut down and a company called RECT took over the management of the SAO servers. That's when they had the idea to try and create their own, safer VR headset using Kayaba's FullDive technology that they called the AmuSphere, as well as a new VR game. ALfheim Online. ALO for short. ALO and the AmuSphere were brought to the market just six months before SAO was cleared. At the time, they were rather unpopular. Many people claimed that it was in poor taste, but the AmuSphere quickly took over the market. After SAO was cleared, many survivors picked up an AmuSphere to continue their VR journey. Some people, despite everything that had happened, simply couldn't stay away from the virtual world for very long.
"That birdcage isn't the main focus of the picture. I zoomed the photo in and cleared it up as best I could. Take a look."
He placed another photo on the table. I adjusted my small bronze glasses and squinted. It didn't take long to realize what he was trying to show me, but when I spotted it, my eyes widened. Two figures sitting alone in the cage. It was still really blurry, but I could tell it was them. It had to be them.
"What the-?! Where was this taken?!" I shouted, becoming increasingly impatient.
"It's a picture of the top of a place called the World Tree. Players managed to snag a glimpse at it. Now, it could be a coincidence, but-"
I cut him off. "They're trapped in another game!"
"I knew you would say that. Before you go jumping the gun-" he started.
Once again, without letting him finish, I cut him off. "I've got to tell Yoshikawa!"
I grabbed the photos and jumped off the chair and rushed for the door...
"What about your juice?" Reuji called out.
...but quickly backtracked to the counter, drinking the juice in a single gulp before once again running to the door.
###
(A few minutes later)
Things didn't completely go back to normal after the game was cleared. For some still unknown reason, 200 SAO players didn't wake up after everyone else was logged out. Included in that group of 200 were Shiraki and Rizea. I occasionally visited them at the hospital, but still to this day, nobody knew why they hadn't woken up, and if they ever would.
After SAO, the Virtual Reality Crime Division, or VRCD was formed by the Japanese government. Like their name suggested, they dealt with all things related to VR. Leading the government branch was a 34-year-old man by the name of Yoshikawa Higaroshi. He was there when the government came to our school and informed us of what we were and weren't allowed to say about the game. After the VRCD lecture was finished and he was informed on how the game ended, he asked to speak to the man who took down Kayaba. Unfortunately, none of us had seen him yet, so Yoshikawa asked for the next closest person involved, but as with Shiraki, we hadn't seen Rizea either, which left me as the final backup, being the only one who was there with Kayaba at the end who had woken up.
We made a deal. He could ask me questions about the game and I would become the core source of information relating to Sword Art Online, and in exchange, he'd help me find my friends, and let me keep my NerveGear while everyone else's was recalled. There was something about the headset that I just couldn't let go yet. Now, Yoshikawa and I helped each other out occasionally.
I followed all of the signs in the building, walking along the tiled floor until I finally reached his office. As I walked in, I saw the rather well-kept man with his nose in a pile of papers on his desk. Without looking up at, he said "You wanted to see me?"
"This!" I slammed the photos down on the table, over the top of his files.
"It's...a big birdcage? Do you want a pet parrot?" He chuckled.
"Look inside the bird cage."
He sighed, picking up the photographs and holding them closer to his face. He gasped, lowering the photos and looking me in the eyes.
"Is this..." he started.
"The two I asked you to find that didn't wake up? Yes. You want the ones that killed Kayaba? That's them. Shiraki and miss Rizea. This was taken inside of ALfheim Online."
"Inside of another game? I... I don't understand. How could they be logged into ALO? They didn't wake up. They couldn't have bought the game and then somehow gotten trapped."
"That's what I don't understand either. They must have been trapped right after SAO was cleared, but I don't know how. It doesn't matter. What does it that I'm telling you that they're trapped inside of another game. You've got to report RECT!"
Yoshikawa let out a loud sigh, rubbing his thumb on his forehead. "So, you want me to report a multi-billion-dollar company over a blurry photograph of what may or also may not be your friends? That's not how the world works."
Frustrated, I shove the photo closer to his face. "What do you mean?! It's clearly them!"
"Yes, I am sure it is, but I can't go and break down the door of a trusted company over this. It's not solid evidence."
I leaned back in my chair and groaned, spinning around in circles. Yoshikawa once again went back to his papers. That's when an idea pops into my head. A very, very bad idea.
"...What if I were to go in and find out for myself?" I asked.
"I was hoping you'd suggest that. Do I need to give you the rundown of ALO and RECT?"
"No. I know all about them. Big company ran by Fujio Uchima. Helped fund the making of the NerveGear. Decided to create their own safer, cheaper FullDive headset and VR game. Hired a bunch of ex-ARGUS employees after the shutdown. My brother was one of them. Now he works for RECT."
"Does he?" Yoshikawa raised his eyebrow.
"Yeah," I answered. "He used to work for ARGUS. He still blames himself for helping make the NerveGear, so he sees this as some kind of way to earn forgiveness."
"Now your problem is getting an AmuSphere. They're all sold out, and a new batch of them isn't set to go to the market until next month."
People were buying AmuSpheres left and right due to its increased safety measures that weren't present in the NerveGear. It automatically logs a player out when they fall asleep in VR, and it forcefully logged players out if their heartrate got too high. Due to it not having an internal battery and needing to be plugged in all the time, it was way cheaper than the NerveGear was.
"I can't wait that long! Will ALO work with my NerveGear?"
"Well, like I said, it was made for the AmuSphe-'
"Will the game work on my NerveGear or not? I don't have time to talk about it." I argued.
"Watch your tone, young lady," he snapped. "Remember, I am the one who keep you keep that death machine. I can just as easily take it back. Anyway, about your question, hypothetically yes, it should work. The AmuSphere is just a NerveGear with lowered microwave signals and more safety features. They run using practically identical software. The NerveGear should work fine with it."
"I guess I just need to buy ALO. Any idea how much it is? I've kinda got no money," I laughed nervously.
Yoshikawa sighed, "I take it you expect me to pay for it?"
"It's your own fault for deciding to keep my survivor pay from me until I'm 16."
He reached into his wallet and tossed a few thousand-yen notes on the table. "I trust that will suffice?"
"Thank you." I smiled.
"To think, the best source of information we have is from a 13-year-old girl from the middle of nowhere."
"Don't worry," I reassured him. "When I get them out, you'll have miss Rizea and Shiraki to give you info."
"I don't think we really need them at this point. You've pretty much provided all the info we need. We will have to go over it again one day with a tape recorder."
"Maybe when the real heroes are safe," I answered.
"I shouldn't need to tell you to keep this on the down low. If the wrong people hear these rumours, you're spreading..."
"I'll be careful."
"Appreciate it, kid. Keep this up and you'll end up working for me one day."
My face clenched up at the thought of something so uncomfortable. "I...don't think so, sir."
###
(An hour later)
I ran up the stairs of our house and into the hallway, passing my brother's room and heading into my own. I racked through my 'I'll clean it later' drawer, pulling out many things I'd forgotten I had until I finally found the VR game dock and power cable. I plugged the power cable into the wall socket and placed the dock on my bedside table. After disconnecting the LAN cable from my laptop, I ran both the LAN and power cables along the floor to my bed. Everything was going smoothly. I opened the case of the ALfheim Online game and retrieved the cartage. This one was far more interesting than the SAO game. The cartage was a beautiful shade of aqua, and the front label displayed a picture of what looked to be insect wings with the worlds ALfheim Online plastered above them. Just like last time, I placed the cartridge into the dock and was almost ready. There was just one more thing I needed.
I sat on down on my bed for a moment, staring at it. The large, sun faded helmet on my shelf in the corner of my room. The sole cause of all the pain I experienced over the last two years. It used to be a shiny, navy-blue colour when I first got it, but it had worn down over the years. The thick plastic that was the base of the headset was full of paint chips and scuff marks, and even the plastic visor was cracked from when I dropped it in the hospital. With so much damage, I wasn't even sure if it worked anymore, and after I took it off, I wasn't going to put it back on and test it any time soon. That was until today.
I looked directly at the front of the headset, right at the visor as if it were a person. I took a long, deep breath before speaking. "Look. I don't like you, and since I took you off, I'm sure you don't like me either, but I need your help, this one last time. I can't do this on my own. Please. I'll make you a deal. I'll put you on again, but you need to promise not to kill me, ok?"
What am I doing? I thought to myself. Talking to a helmet? Begging it not to kill me? Was I really that terrified? Who was I kidding. Of course I was. I didn't know how easily it could trap me again. Putting the headset on would be the equivalent of putting a bomb that may or may not be active on my brain.
I shook my head, dispelling the thought. I couldn't psych myself out now. It's what Shiraki would have done if it were me in that cage.
Cautiously, I picked up the helmet. It was a lot heavier than I remembered. The majority of the weight was the giant internal battery inside, which brought the total weight of the rig to about two and a half kilograms.
I once again took a deep breath. "I can do this. Come on. I can do this."
I plugged the LAN cable in, jiggling it a little so that it would go into the slot. I must have damaged the socket at the hospital. As I connected the power cable, the headset came alive, powering up with a sound similar to high voltage electricity charging up. All the LEDs on the headset activated. Green on the LAN (Local Access Network) indicator, meaning it was connected to the internet. Green on the CTD (Connection To Dock) lamp, yellow on the PWR (Power) light, indicating the headset was connected to a charger but wasn't fully charged, and red on the BLK (Brain Link) indicator, meaning there was no brain activity, since I hadn't put it on yet.
I removed my glasses and the entire world became a blur, once again reminding me of my ever-deteriorating eyesight. I suffered from severe near-sightedness, though the doctors didn't know why. Without my glasses with their specially crafted custom lenses, I was practically blind.
With trembling hands, I slipped the deathtrap of a headset on over my head and laid down in my bed. The clock on the broken visor was just close enough for me to read. 12:59. My mind flashed with memories of SAO. All the pain. All the fear. All the death. My breathing became more rapid as my throat felt like it was closing up. I clawed at my throat with my nails, trying to breath as the walls closed in around me. 'I can't breathe! Why can't I breathe?!' My mind spiralled and my heart pounded in my chest. What if I passed out? Keishi wasn't due home for hours. What if I couldn't take it off after I woke up again?
I closed my eyes tightly and clenched my teeth, trying to find any way to calm myself down. I thought about the importance of my mission. About saving Rizea and Shiraki. I thought about all the times Shiraki had saved me in the past, and my throat opened up once more, allowing me to gasp for air. Slowly, the panic faded away and I was once again left alone with my thoughts and a bomb strapped to my head. I lowered my hands when I was sure I was ok, dropping them into the fresh puddle that had formed on my newly dampened sheets. As I placed my hand between my legs, I felt a dampness and an uncomfortable warmth spreading down my legs. My face burned with embarrassment as I took of the headset. I sat up in bed and covered my lower body with my hands. Thankfully, the humiliation drew my focus away from my fear, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing. I had to clean this up before continuing.
###
(A few minutes later)
After changing my sheets and clothes, I once again removed my glasses and put on the headset. This time, without giving myself the chance to worried, I called out the phrase that got me stuck in the first place. "Link, start."
My body felt both incredibly heavy and weightless at the same time as my vision went white. I passed through the familiar rainbow spiral of shapes and colours and quickly felt the weight come back to my body. When I opened my eyes, I couldn't see anything except my own body. A female voice spoke and the room came alive.
"Welcome player, to ALfheim Online!" It said in a happy tone. "Please enter the name of your avatar."
As it finished its sentence, a holographic keyboard appeared before me, similar to SAO, but this time, I had a body to interactive with.
The thought of coming up with a cool name like Shiraki had entered my mind for all of half a second, but 'Osaka' worked for me in SAO. Why change it?
I pressed enter. "Wonderful!" the voice said. "Please select your race."
"My what?" I questioned.
A large console appeared before me with a holographic projector displaying different species of fairy. Beside each was a race name, capital city and racial skill. There were eight in total. Most looked rather similar to each other, only with different shaped ears and a different colour schemes. If not for the wings on their backs, I'd have assumed they were elves. I scrolled through a few, mostly just dismissing them by their colour scheme and how hard their names were to pronounce. I wasn't even reading their abilities. Eventually, I spotted one at the end of the list that filled me with excitement. One that was significantly more recognizable than all the rest. Rather than elf ears, this race had cute cat ears atop its head and a tail. I clicked select without reading anything about it and then clicked confirm. As I did, the voice made an announcement, and floating text appeared above me, saying exactly what the voice said,
"You have selected Caithsith. Please select your starting location."
Though the word was spelled strangely, according to the voice, it was pronounced as 'Catzi', which made it easy for me, because I got a little worried when I saw all of those letters.
A list of strange names appeared before me, many of with I was unable to pronounce. Confused, I clicked randomly. My entire body began glowing white and the floor beneath me opened up, dropping me out of the sky.
"What the heck?! What do I do?! What do I do?!" I screamed.
I felt my body morphing and changing as the glow began to fade, but that was the least of my concerns. The ground was fast approaching.
"No no no no no no no no NOOO!"
I slammed through the trees, falling onto every branch before finally making impact with the ground. My vision was blurry at first, but it quickly became easier to see. At the top of my peripheral vision was a green bar labeled 'HP'. Not only was it full, but it was really high for some reason. 40,200/40,200. A lot more than I expected a starting player to get, but maybe the damage was scaled in a way that made it make sense. Beneath the HP was another bar that looked the same, but blue. It was labeled as MP. From my prior gaming experience, it was safe to assume that was Magic Point.
"Owwwwyyy!" I groaned. "That...didn't actually hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would. Hmm."
The fall still very much hurt, but nowhere near as much as it should have. A fall from that height in SAO would have had me in tears. Well, probably dead actually.
Standing up, I quickly glanced the area for any sign of danger. I was in a dense forest, so if there was anyone nearby, I probably wouldn't see them anyway. The sun was mostly blocked out by the tree cover, but a few stray rays found their way through, penetrating the leaves and warming my skin. It didn't take long for reality to set in.
"I..." I paused. "I really did it."
Only three months from escaping one, and now I was already back in another VR game. I had expected fear to be the most prevalent thing I would feel, and though it was certainly present, I felt more excited than anything else. Excited to explore a brand-new world. Glad to be back in one. I inhaled, taking in the smells of fresh pine and blooming flowers, filling my lungs with the virtual air of yet another fantasy world. Since the majority of the team that worked on ALO was comprised of ex ARGUS employees who previously worked on SAO, I assumed the menu would have been the same. I swiped both my index and middle finger down directly in front of me, drawing a line in the air, but nothing happened. I tried again, this time a little slower, but still, nothing. I tried a few more times, frantically swiping to no avail.
Panic set in. "No no no! This isn't happening! Not this again! WORK! LET ME OUT!"
I tried with the other hand, making the same gesture, and lo and behold, a mean opened before me. I let out the largest sigh of relief I had ever done in my life, surprised I didn't knock over trees with it.
The menu looked practically identical to the one in SAO with only minor changes. Mostly colour differences and the shapes of buttons. The first thing I did was race to settings tab and locate my escape.
"OH THANK GOODNESS! THE LOGOUT BUTTON!" I fell to my knees and laughed, so happy I could cry.
I felt silly for worrying about something that should now be technologically impossible. If Shiraki were here, he'd tell me not to worry. Then he'd tell me that everything was going to be ok. Then he'd tell me what to do next, just like he always did. Unfortunately, I had to make do on my own with the last one.
"Ok, umm... What to do. What to do," I pondered. "I guess I'll start with my stats."
Just as I usually did at the start of a new game, I opened my stats menu to stare at my pitiful stats to get an idea of how far I'd progressed later down the line, but this time, my reaction was far from a disappointed one.
"Was zum Henker?! What on earth is this?! Why is everything so high?! Is this some kind of bug?"
My stats were incredible, with points specced into each skill. Especially my speed, which was by far my highest stat. Then I noticed my level. I was near the very end of my progression through level 68. It may have been a mistake, but it certainly was no mistake.
"Th-These are my stats from SAO." I muttered in disbelief.
From a technological standpoint, it would make sense to some extent. The NerveGear saved all data to the helmet itself so you could take it with you and play elsewhere, but it wasn't meant to apply that data to other games. Was the coding of ALO so similar to SAO that my headset got confused and converted my stats over to this game? Both SAO and ALO were run on the CARDINAL system, which was a self-repairing program, so if it detected stats similar to, but not the same as ALO, it would likely see it as a mistake and convert as much data as it could to fit in with ALO's code.
Curious if it was just my stats, I navigated to my inventory to see that it was full of items, but none of them were usable. They were all marked as ������. My items did in fact travel over, but the code was far too foreign for the CARDINAL system to interpret. Likely because none of the items existed outside of SAO.
"Ah," I pouted. "Well, bye bye items."
I selected all of my items and clicked the small bin icon at the bottom, discarding them.
I looked around my surroundings one more time in awe. The world was so lifelike. I'd forgotten I was in a game for a moment. It was easy to forget with how far technology had come.
A strange sensation on my head interrupted my thoughts, so I scratched it, but my nails caught on something that cause a sharp pain.
"Ow! What the-?"
I quickly realized that I had scratched my ear, or rather, my animal ear on top of my head. I felt the other side of my head and sure enough found another one. I ran my hands down my face to where my human ears would be, but to my surprise, there was nothing there. Just when I thought that was going to be the strangest feeling, I felt a similar sensation to the one on my head on my lower back. Turning around, I smiled as I spotted a long, light brown tail, though the strangest part was that I could feel it. It was like another limb I didn't actually possess. I swished it around a little, somehow controlling the appendage as if it had always been a part of me. It was like nothing I'd felt before. How did the game do that? How was I able to control a muscle that didn't exist in the real world? How could I feel it?
I ran my finger through my mouth, finding two pointed fangs, confirming that I was without a doubt, 100% a cat. I shook my head, throwing the distractions from my mind and remembering why I was here. The stakes were different than last time. This wasn't about my own life or death. This was about saving my friends.