"Hello, Suzuki-kun. I am Shouichi Shinkawa.
"You and I have known each other for six years, but until now, we only ever spoke online. Speaking to you like this in the real world, even if it is only through a thin sheet of paper and even if I am the only one talking, feels strange to me.
"Even now, I am glad I practiced calligraphy. Those lessons used to bore me, but because of them, I can at least write this letter in handwriting that does not disgrace me too badly."
In the cold interrogation room, watched by the police officers around him, the thin man slowly moved his pen across the paper.
Harsh white light fell over him. On his pale face was a faint smile, almost relieved.
"Once I began writing, I found there were so many things I wanted to say. The game worlds we passed through, one after another, came back to me in all their colors. But whenever I tried to write about them, one enormous thing stood in the way.
"Aincrad.
"Sword Art Online.
"I will not write much about myself. The person named Shouichi Shinkawa is not worth that many words.
"But I am glad I met you.
"We were not friends. We may not even have been anything except enemies. But in you, I saw what I wanted. Not just strength, but the shape of someone who kept moving forward.
"Someone once told me that a single identity is enough to occupy a person's whole life. But you changed identities across countless game worlds and kept living through all of them. To me, that was true strength.
"I wanted that strength too.
"Even if I felt weak and inferior in the real world, I wanted to be strong somewhere. Even if that strength was false.
"The things I said to you in Aincrad, on the First Floor, on the Plains of Night, when I was Morte... those words came from the heart. But looking back now, I suppose I was already twisted back then. You probably thought so too.
"We fought again and again. From those simple, pointless sparring matches at the beginning, all the way to the killing just a few days ago.
"You changed too. I know that.
"You pitied me. You felt sorry for me.
"I do not resent it. At the very least, knowing that you worried about me made me happy. For so long, my life had nothing in it but my parents' disappointment and the isolation of someone who could not belong with people his own age.
"Facing reality was not as frightening as I imagined it would be.
"Was it?
"It was all still me. And yet, once I looked at the real world with these real eyes, I realized how many chances my old self had let slip away.
"What if I had chosen to become your partner instead of your rival?
"What if I had brought Didos with me, and the three of us had tried to clear Sword Art Online together?
"What would have happened then?
"You must think I was unbelievably foolish. I think so too.
"Now that I have written this far, I no longer know what else to say. This may be my last message. I know nothing about criminal law, so I do not know what punishment is waiting for me. But I am a murderer. I never expected it to be easy.
"Kyoji, my younger brother.
"In the middle of all that chaos, I failed to think about him. Now the only thing I can do is take all the blame onto myself. His hands have not yet been stained with blood. I am glad of that.
"Truly.
"I will end this here.
"Suzuki-kun, if one day I regain my freedom in the real world, I am going to Santorini.
"An older man once told me about it. A beautiful place on the Aegean Sea. It may be years from now, or decades from now. Or maybe I will never have the chance in this life.
"But if I can, I would like to invite you to come with me.
"That is the path I long for now.
"...Real tears.
"It has been a long time since I tasted this bitterness. I will stop here.
"May your own days become bright as well.
"Shouichi Shinkawa."
...
Satoru folded the letter in silence.
"If he ever gets the chance to be free... let me know."
"I can do that," Kikuoka said. "But what are you planning to do?"
"I'll pick him up. Drive him to the airport. Then take him to the place he mentioned."
"It may take a very long time. The verdict has not come down yet. He could spend years in prison."
"Then when we're both middle-aged, we'll go to an arcade together and play games." Satoru's voice was quiet, but steady. "The score between us won't be settled that easily."
Kikuoka looked at him.
Then he nodded.
"All right. If Shouichi Shinkawa ever regains his freedom, I will let you know."
He watched Satoru let out a long breath.
A faint, knowing smile touched Kikuoka's lips.
...
About ten minutes after Kikuoka left, still wearing that smile, Satoru and Shino stepped out of the coffee shop and walked toward the parking lot.
"Who exactly is that man?" Shino asked. "He says he's a civil servant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but somehow..."
He was hard to read.
That was what she meant. Satoru only shrugged.
"At the very least, there's no doubt he belongs to the Ministry's VR World Monitoring Division. Right now, anyway."
"Right now?"
"It's only been two days since the incident. Don't you think he knows too much about an active police investigation? Even with Japan's usual interagency mess, that is a lot of information."
"...What do you mean?"
"I think his real affiliation is somewhere else. The National Police Agency, maybe. Or..."
"...?"
"After I ran into him before, I followed him."
Shino looked at him in surprise. Satoru went on with an expression of studied innocence.
"After that, I saw a large sedan waiting for him in a nearby parking lot. The driver didn't look ordinary either. Short hair, black suit. I had a hard time keeping up. I figured following by car would stand out too much, so I rented a bicycle on the spot."
He paused.
"I'm fairly sure they noticed me anyway. Kikuoka got out near Ichigaya Station and disappeared."
"Ichigaya? Not Kasumigaseki?"
"Yes. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is in Kasumigaseki. The Ministry of Defense is in Ichigaya."
"Ministry of..."
Shino fell silent, blinking several times.
"You mean... the Self-Defense Forces?"
"It's only a guess. Besides, the police probably get along even worse with the Self-Defense Forces than they do with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications."
Shino suddenly remembered something from earlier.
"Oh... now that you mention it, Kikuoka's glasses had a very weak prescription. Maybe none at all. The lenses barely refracted anything."
"...I see."
Shino looked at him.
"But even if he is connected to the Self-Defense Forces, why investigate VRMMOs? They have nothing to do with that, do they?"
"Apparently, it's for something else. There may be a plan to use FullDive technology for military training."
"Wha—what!?"
This time, Shino was the one who stopped in shock.
Satoru stopped as well and moved his right hand slightly.
"Are you all right talking about guns?"
"Yes... if we're only talking about them."
"I see. Then suppose someone handed you a real sniper rifle right now. Could you load it, aim it, and fire?"
"..."
Shino remembered firing the model Colt Government only a few hours earlier, then nodded.
"I think... yes. If all I had to do was fire it. I don't know if I could handle the recoil, and of course I would never hit the target."
"But I don't even know how to load one. Even if a person can learn basic weapon handling in a virtual world, I have no idea how much fuel or ammunition that would actually save."
"Well... telling me that doesn't really..."
Her gaze dropped unconsciously to her right hand.
Satoru's line of thought was too far removed from ordinary life for her to feel any reality in it.
"Even if it's only a possibility, FullDive technology has found new uses in the span of a single year," Satoru said. "It wouldn't be strange for more to appear. In any case, being a little suspicious of that man won't hurt."
After that, Satoru spoke in a rare, awkward mumble.
"Um... well."
"What?"
"Do you have time after this...?"
"I have nothing to do, and I don't feel like logging into GGO."
"Then... could you come with me in a few days? There's somewhere I want to go. It may be a little far, and we probably won't be back the same day, so you should pack a change of clothes."
Satoru scratched his head.
"Oh. Uh? Wait... what?"
...
"The transfer arrangements are complete. But are you really going through with this? That boy finally managed to face reality."
A sigh came through the phone.
"We don't have the right to restrict someone's freedom like that, do we?"
"What are you talking about?" Kikuoka said mildly. "He is a criminal now. Through our transfer, he won't have to spend his days in a cold prison or a lonely psychiatric ward. Isn't that a good thing?"
"You have a nasty sense of humor sometimes..."
"Never mind that. How is Rinko Koujiro doing?"
"She seems to be keeping her promise and staying in the United States. Well, she has no reason to get involved with us anymore, does she?"
"I see."
"Speaking of which, about Satoru..."
"What are you talking about? He is an excellent Japanese citizen. We would never lay a hand on a good, law-abiding civilian."
"I mean he may have been in contact with Rinko Koujiro."
"It's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Sooner or later, Suzuki-kun will come to us himself."
Kikuoka smiled faintly.
"If that happens, we won't have broken our promise to Rinko-san."
"Why are you so sure?"
"He doesn't have much time left."
Kikuoka paused.
"I'm sure he knows that too."
"And when he runs out of options, that's when we cooperate?"
"Exactly."
Kikuoka lowered his voice.
"Because for the dead, a coffin can be a cradle."