While Asuna was carrying out the taiji formation, the commotion in Centoria—the capital of the Human Empire in Underworld—had finally begun to die down.
In truth, the news of Administrator's death had not caused much upheaval among the common people.
Another Pontifex had appeared to take her place, and Cardinal had demonstrated miraculous powers bestowed by the gods. Because of that, most people simply continued living as they always had.
The nobles of the Four Empires, however, reacted far more violently.
Now that Cardinal had assumed control of this world, she had no intention of allowing the nobility to remain so corrupt.
The nobles who refused to surrender their privileges—and those facing execution for their crimes—launched a rebellion.
Yet their resistance was so feeble that Cardinal never needed to intervene personally. A handful of Integrity Knights was more than enough to crush them completely.
In a single day, nearly every noble guilty of serious wrongdoing had been arrested and imprisoned to await a public trial.
A few of the worst offenders were killed on the spot.
"I'm sorry, Yui. I brought you into this world because I wanted to show it to you properly, but instead, you had to witness something so terrible. It must have frightened you."
Alice had intended to give Yui a pleasant tour of her world. She had never expected some of Centoria's nobles to stubbornly create such chaos.
It was deeply embarrassing.
Although Yui appeared even younger than Alice's little sister, she had actually developed a genuine sense of self before Alice had. In a way, that made Yui older than her.
Even so, Alice could not help treating her like a child. After spending some time with Yui, she had found that the girl truly did possess a childlike personality.
Surely witnessing such unrest would frighten her.
"It didn't," Yui assured her. "I saw plenty of terrible things when I was in SAO."
"SAO..."
Alice quietly repeated the name.
She did not know much about the SAO Incident.
However, during her visit to the real world, she had seen news reports explaining that more than ten thousand real-world players had been imprisoned inside the virtual world of Sword Art Online.
The only way to escape was to clear the game.
If someone died in that world, they would truly die. Their brain in the real world would be destroyed.
More than three thousand people had died in little over a year.
To Alice, that number was horrifying.
The Human Empire's entire population amounted to barely more than eighty thousand people.
Asuna had also been one of the victims of that incident. Despite that, she had continued fighting on the front lines, joining the Clearers as they conquered floor after floor and defeated one boss after another.
Asuna's experiences had been no less terrible than Alice's—perhaps they had been even worse.
Alice had only gone on one true adventure.
Asuna, meanwhile, had fought her way through dozens of floors, participating in one deadly boss battle after another. She had spent more than a year walking along the edge of a blade.
Alice decided that she should find an opportunity to learn more about Asuna's experiences.
And then there was Kain.
His origins were even more unbelievable.
Alice found herself recalling her encounters with him, including the misunderstanding caused by her missing memories—and the moment he had restrained her in an almost intimate embrace.
"Alice? Ali...ce?"
"Huh?! W-What is it?"
Alice's reply was noticeably flustered. Her gaze wandered because her thoughts had strayed much further than she wanted to admit.
"What's wrong?" Yui asked suspiciously. "Your face suddenly turned red, and you look guilty. Back when I served as a mental-health counseling program in SAO, I saw girls react like that whenever they started thinking about someone they liked."
Alice's body stiffened at Yui's deduction.
"I wasn't."
"That's a lie. Your face became even redder, and now you won't look me in the eyes. Were you really thinking about someone you like? Who was it?"
"I-I wasn't! Stop making things up. Oh, Cardinal? What is it?"
The moment Alice saw Cardinal appear, she hurried over, eagerly seizing the opportunity to escape Yui's questioning.
"I need to alter some of the terrain," Cardinal explained. "I would like Asuna to log in and assist me."
Although Cardinal had inherited the highest level of administrative authority, she feared that personal desires might one day influence her judgment and cause her to lose control.
As a safeguard, she had divided some of her permissions among others.
The super account Asuna used—Stacia, Goddess of Creation—possessed terrain-alteration authority. Cardinal had permanently entrusted that permission to Asuna.
"Oh, I see. Yui, could you contact Asuna?"
"No!"
Yui's unusually forceful reaction made Alice blink.
"I mean... It's the middle of the night in the real world," Yui hurriedly explained in a more natural tone. "Asuna is sleeping. We should wait until daytime before contacting her."
Her initial reaction had been far too intense. If she was not careful, the others would realize something was strange.
"Oh, that's true."
Alice nodded in agreement—then her smile grew considerably brighter.
She leaned down until her face was almost pressed against Yui's.
"Little Yui, are you hiding something from me?"
"No."
"Then why won't you look me in the eyes?"
Alice was now using Yui's own words against her.
"I am looking at you."
"But you seem guilty. Never mind. I'll log out and take a look myself."
"W-Wait!"
"No. Now I definitely want to log out!"
"You can't! You'll interrupt Asuna and Big Brother Kain!"
In her panic, Yui accidentally blurted out the truth. She immediately covered her mouth with both hands.
Alice froze.
An inexplicable restlessness stirred inside her chest.
"All right. Now I'm definitely logging out!"
However—
"Yui, what did you do? Why can't I return to my android body?"
Alice glared at the adorable little girl.
Yui had somehow physically prevented her from logging out.
"I didn't do anything."
That was actually true.
Yui had not interfered with Alice's connection. Operator 6O was probably responsible.
Either way, Alice would not be able to interrupt them now.
...
The private taiji ritual had already gone through two rounds.
More precisely, they had reached the final participant of the second round—and that participant was Asuna.
Asuna had gone first during the opening round, followed by 6O and then 2B.
For the second round, they reversed the order, beginning with 2B.
The three girls' android bodies reproduced human reactions with astonishing accuracy. Kain could tell that 6O and 2B had undergone special preparation for this occasion rather than relying solely on their factory settings.
Their responses were far too lifelike.
Two exchanges had already been completed, first with 6O and then with 2B.
Now it was almost time for Asuna's third and final turn.
Once this round ended, they would proceed to the true purpose of the ritual.
Kain's attention settled on one unfamiliar feature of the android body's design.
His curiosity continued growing.
Like a cat discovering some strange and irresistible object, he found himself wanting to reach out and investigate it.
Well, one quick touch probably wouldn't hurt.
What followed remained private among the four of them.
(End of Chapter)
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