The roar of the motorcycle engine gradually died down as it pulled up beside the wall. Satoru took off his helmet, shook out his head, and realized that since returning from the death game, he had not gone out of his way to cut his hair. It still hung to his shoulders with a very eighties feel. Put him in sunglasses and a jacket, and he could have passed for a rock frontman.
He hooked the helmet on the handlebars, locked the bike, and walked straight toward the little shop that, at a glance, did not seem to get many customers.
When he pushed the door open, the bell hanging from it rang out, alerting the owner that someone had come in.
"Oh, welcome. Are you the milk-drinking boy type, or the whiskey-drinking older-brother type?"
The deep, powerful voice sounded oddly familiar and warm. Behind the counter stood a burly, dark-skinned man, carefully polishing a glass in his hand.
He no longer looked like the shady merchant with the small black apron, either. Now he wore a fitted waiter's uniform, the thin white shirt outlining his muscles and somehow lending him a strange touch of elegance.
The owner got a clear look at his visitor, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
"Looks like the whiskey-drinking older-brother type."
"A cafe and a bar are two completely different business models, aren't they? No wonder this place is so empty. Look, it's about to grow mold." Satoru glanced around the lonely little shop and ran a hand over the nearest table, though in truth it was perfectly clean.
"Hey, at night this place is packed. So? You're different from the kid sitting over there. Want to come by tonight and experience the adult world?"
He was referring to the only other person in the shop, Kirito, who sat at the bar holding a glass of milk. Apparently, that earlier greeting had been meant to tease him too.
"The adult world?" Kirito seemed a little shaken.
"Interested?"
"Forget it. It's just a bunch of rough guys sitting around talking, with the occasional joke that would make someone like you blush. And with that clean-cut face of yours, if you really came, they'd tease you to death." Satoru laughed and sat beside Kirito. "Uh... Emilus? A dark beer?"
"It's Andrew Gilbert Mills."
"Who remembers a name like that the first time?"
"Remember it properly! It's basic manners!" The bald, burly man turned back to pour the beer. "But since it's you guys, Agil is fine."
"Yeah. Now that we're back, hearing people call me Kirigaya actually feels weird," Kirito said with a wry smile.
"What about you, then? Great hero. What should I call you?" Agil set the beer in front of Satoru.
"Call me by my real name, Satoru. Yurnero... died together with that floating castle." He lifted the large glass and said with nostalgia, "And this is what she wanted for me too. No matter what, I have to live in the world where I belong."
Agil murmured, "I see," and poured himself a drink as well, showing absolutely no waiterly spirit. He sat across from them, and the three of them clinked glasses.
"What are you planning to do after this?"
"I'll have to find something to do. Also, this beer's on you. I'm broke."
"Damn..."
Kirito could not help bursting into laughter.
"This place used to be run by Agil's wife. She worked hard to keep it going for two years. You probably didn't see him before he shaved his head. It was enough to kill you laughing."
Satoru paused and carefully looked the big man across from him up and down.
Hmm... shoulder-length hair like his own, bright piercing eyes, thick eyebrows, strong cheekbones and nose, full lips, firm and surprisingly sexy pectorals.
He could not imagine it. He refused to imagine it.
"My wife even took a picture," Agil said with a long sigh. "She said she'd show it to the kids one day."
"You've already reached a lot of people's ideal life, you know. A beautiful wife and a little shop."
"Sigh... management fees, utilities, money set aside for the kids in the future." The old merchant started muttering to himself.
"Do you really want to talk about that in front of two guys whose girlfriends are both gone?" Satoru gave a quiet laugh, finally arriving at the real subject. The smile Kirito had been wearing slowly faded when he heard those words.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
"Agil, can I smoke in here?"
"At this hour, sure."
Once he had permission, Satoru placed his cigarette pack and lighter on the bar. Agil brought over an ashtray, and Satoru quietly lit one, then looked at Kirito.
"Want one?"
Kirito quickly shook his head.
"One of these can ease the pressure when you're feeling like this... That said, I've always believed you shouldn't push cigarettes on people who don't smoke. It's not a good habit."
"So, Asuna still hasn't woken up?"
Kirito furrowed his brow, then slowly shook his head.
"Have you found the cause? Is it an illness from long-term FullDive, or...?" Agil's expression turned more serious too.
"It doesn't seem to be an illness. I've visited her at the hospital many times, but Asuna's family rarely tells me much." Kirito clenched his hands a little tighter. "After all, to them I'm probably only 'their daughter's new friend.'"
"But Asuna doesn't seem to be the only one. I heard there are still a small number of Aincrad players who haven't woken up." Kirito's voice was heavy with worry.
"They weren't fully released? But even so, I saw on the news a few days ago that Kayaba is already dead," Agil said.
"After I defeated Kayaba at the end, I spoke with him for a minute or two." Satoru tapped ash from his cigarette and said slowly, "That man said that, excluding the players who had died, everyone else would be withdrawn, and that Aincrad's data would be wiped. He had no reason to lie."
"I fought him in a battle to the death... so I can at least make that judgment."
"So today is a reunion after all this time, and also an information exchange where we each answer a few questions." Agil thought for a moment. "I've got something useful here too. I'll leave the judgment to you two swordsmen, since both of you were famous in SAO."
He handed over a photograph.
"This was taken inside ALO, the online game everyone's talking about right now. Kirito, take a close look. And Satoru, look at this."
He also handed over a small palm-sized box that was clearly game software. Its cover was a bright, vivid illustration. Satoru took it and looked carefully at the AmuSphere logo printed in the upper right corner.
"I've never heard of this hardware. Is it new?"
"Yes. It's the successor model to the NerveGear, developed while we were still in that world."
Satoru froze. Only then did he realize why that little box had felt so familiar at first glance. It was just like the Sword Art Online game software he had snatched out of the crowd two years ago.
"I knew about it from a few game magazines, but it still feels ridiculous and depressing. Ten thousand people were taken hostage. The NerveGear was called a demon machine. And even after that, demand for FullDive consoles is still this terrifying. Humans really don't know fear," he muttered.
"Right. These days, its market share has already surpassed stationary consoles, and several SAO-like games have strong followings around the world."
"As for ALO, it launched only half a year after the SAO incident, backed by a well-known company guaranteeing that it posed no danger at all. While we were brushing shoulders with death in Aincrad, ALO players were comfortably enjoying VRMMO life."
"Fairy Dance... is it a peaceful sort of game?"
"You'd be completely wrong there." Agil shook his head. "It has a high skill floor and a high ceiling. It emphasizes player technique, encourages PvP, and its biggest selling point is that it supports flight and even aerial combat."
"So levels and skill proficiency are less important. That really isn't much different from reality. Living people don't get a convenient growth path where leveling up and assigning points makes them stronger." Satoru flipped the box over and looked at the back. "Several racial factions fighting each other... so it's a pure PvP game?"
"Looks attractive, right? And the in-game visuals are no worse than Sword Art Online's."
Satoru made a soft sound of acknowledgment and casually tossed the box onto the bar.
"The world that mad genius spent his entire life creating... could other people really catch up to it that easily?"
He muttered that to himself, thoughtful.
"So, Kirito, since you and Agil both went silent the moment you saw that photo, what exactly is going on with it?"
Kirito silently handed him the photograph.
The unusual composition and lighting made it clear that the image did not show the real world, but the virtual one where he had spent two years. In the foreground were blurred golden bars. Beyond them stood a white table and chair, and on the chair sat a woman in a white dress. Through the gaps in the bars, he could faintly make out her profile.
The pixels were rough, but that distinctive chestnut hair still gave him a clue.
A woman with a gloomy expression, with what looked like wings behind her back.
"..."
Satoru's expression turned strange.
"It's a screenshot taken inside the game, and whoever took it did so in a hurry, so it isn't clear. But for us, it's enough to recognize that girl, isn't it?"
"A game... Is it this ALO?" Kirito asked bitterly.
Agil picked up the game box, opened it, and took out something like a manual. He spread it open in front of them. It appeared to be a world map, with several races radiating out from different corners, while a massive tree-shaped structure stood in the center. He pointed at the image.
"This is called the World Tree, and the top of the tree is the ultimate quest of the game. Supposedly, the first race to reach it earns the right to unrestricted flight. If I had to compare it, it's like what Aincrad's hundredth floor meant to us."
He continued explaining.
"Flight alone can't even reach the bottom of those branches. But games always have plenty of fools. Five people stacked themselves into a human pyramid and used a rocket-style launch to keep blasting upward."
"Pretty clever," Satoru praised without hesitation. He had always appreciated shrewd methods that exploited gaps in game rules.
"The plan was workable. They were just a little short. To prove they had reached that height, the last person took a screenshot. And when that last image is enlarged, this is what you can see. In the original picture, it was a birdcage."
"That's troublesome, isn't it...?"
He ended his explanation with a question.
"The theory is that they didn't fully get out because they were restricted inside another VRMMO. Is that it?" Satoru said in a low voice.
'Sheeta's data was removed, but no one should have been able to manage it.'
Kayaba's words surfaced in his mind again.
Maybe...
"No Aincrad player who hasn't woken up has been found besides Asuna. Otherwise, the police would have been called long ago. A photo and a theory alone aren't enough to open a case," Agil said.
"The people from the Virtual Division might be able to help, but I really don't want to get involved with them again right now." Satoru rubbed his forehead.
"RECT Progress Inc. is a subsidiary under Asuna's family." Kirito bit his finger as he looked at ALO's operator, then said quietly, "After the incident, Argus, the company that operated Sword Art Online, collapsed under debt and public backlash. The company entrusted with maintaining the SAO servers was the FullDive Division of RECT Progress Inc."
"So their own people are maintaining the server where their daughter is trapped?" Agil froze.
Kirito lowered his head, but the fists clenched at his sides made his inner struggle plain.
"Sounds like it isn't that simple. Do you know something?" Satoru asked.
"The current head of RECT's FullDive Division is a man named Nobuyuki Sugou... He gives me a very bad feeling."
The conversation among the three of them stopped for a while, each drinking what sat in front of him.
After the second cigarette was finished.
"That's all the information we have right now," Satoru said. "What should we do next?"
"Agil... can I have that game?" Kirito suddenly asked.
"Huh? You're going in?" Agil paused. "Ever since then, I haven't dared put that helmet on again..."
"I'll be fine..."
"I see. If you want it that badly, take it. As for the hardware, the old NerveGear can run it."
Kirito nodded firmly, grabbed the box, and hurried out.
Agil watched Kirito leave, then glanced at Satoru.
"What about you?"
"Of course I want to keep looking into this. It concerns me too, after all." Satoru smiled, took out a hair tie, and tied the hair at the back of his head into a short ponytail that would not get in the way.
"You're entering ALO too?"
"Not through the game this time. The positions of player and developer are unequal and unfair from the start. This time, I want to use something more direct and forceful. After all, I'm alive in the present now."
"One of you goes into the game, and the other runs around outside? You two make a pretty good team." Agil took a sip of dark beer and nodded with a smile. "Then I'll leave it to you. Go finish the responsibility you left unfinished."