“I’m not, I’m not!”
I shook my head furiously. Yui leaped off my shoulder with a giggle and landed on the table, resuming her two-handed cookie feast.
“Sure, it’s all funny to you,” I grumbled, taking a swig directly from the bottle of herb wine.
She had a point, though. Not about “cheating” on anyone, but the simple fact that Leafa wasn’t just a character in a game. There was a player on the other end, a stranger with an entirely different personality.
For a very long time, the virtual world had been my reality. It was pointless to ponder the differences between player and character there—all emotion, whether malicious or friendly, was real. It was the only way to survive.
But that didn’t apply here, of course. All players were acting out a persona; the only differences were in the degree. There was no stigma against playing as a thief— attacking, stealing, killing; if anything, it was recommended.
“This VRMMO stuff is tricky.” I sighed, then grimaced at my words. I put down the empty bottle and dropped Yui—still challenging the cookie as big as she was— onto my shoulder. It was time to leave this world for a bit.
The particulars of logging out in an MMORPG were a delicate balance between player convenience and game fairness.
For example, there were many times when one needed to leave abruptly to handle a pressing personal matter or attend to physical needs, which was fine. But if logging out were instantaneous across the board, what was to stop a player from abusing the feature in the midst of a losing battle or during a chase after committing theft? Most MMORPGs therefore placed limits on logging out. ALO was no exception: instant log-out was only possible in one’s own territory. Anywhere else, and the player’s soulless avatar was left in place for several minutes, openly susceptible to attack or theft.
Logging out of the game safely outside of racial territory required the use of a special camping gear item or taking out a room at an inn, so I decided to follow Leafa’s advice and leave the game from the second floor of the Lily of the Valley.
I checked in at the counter and climbed the stairs. Behind the door with the number I’d been given was a simple room with just a bed and table. I was struck by a powerful sense of déjà vu. Until I’d earned enough money to buy my own room in Aincrad, I’d stayed many a night in rooms like this.
All I needed to do was open my window and hit the log-out button, but I decided to remove my equipment and lie down in bed to try a “sleep log-out.”
There was one other issue with logging out, specific to full-dive VR games. If the signals from the virtual in-game senses and the real senses were too different over the short interval of leaving the game, an unpleasant dizziness could result. For example, going from a standing position to sitting could cause a brief lightheadedness. Before I ever played SAO, I’d tried a flight game and logged out during a severe nosedive. Even after recovering my normal senses, I was plagued by the sensation of falling for some time, an experience I had no desire to repeat.
The ideal solution to this issue was called a “sleep log-out,” which was to enter sleep inside the virtual world, log out automatically, and wake up from sleep in the real world.
I sprawled leisurely on the bed and watched as Yui finished her cookie and came flapping over. She spun around once and landed on the floor in her original form. Her long hair and white dress rippled, and a whiff of perfume floated on the air.
Yui pulled her arms behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and said, “Good-bye until tomorrow, Papa.”
“I guess you’re right. Sorry, Yui. You waited so long to see me again…I’ll be right back for you, okay?”
“Umm…”
She cast her eyes down, her cheeks reddening slightly. “Can I lie on the bed with you until you log out?”
“Huh?”
An embarrassed smile floated onto my face. I was nothing but Yui’s “papa,” and she was simply an AI seeking a greater range of data from her surroundings, but she also took the form of a very cute girl, and her words were enough to make me feel self-conscious…
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
I had to suppress my shyness and roll toward the wall to give Yui room. She smiled happily and hopped onto the bed.
As she rubbed her cheek against my chest and I stroked her long hair, I murmured, “We need to rescue Asuna quickly so we can buy another home somewhere. Do you think there are player homes in this game?”
Yui looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. “They seem to be quite expensive, but they’re available.” She paused. “It would be like a dream, wouldn’t it, you and me and Mama, to live as a family again. Just the three of us…”
Nostalgia gripped my chest like a vise as I remembered those fond days. It was only a few months ago, but it seemed like a product of the long-distant past, never to be regained…
I hugged Yui tight and closed my eyes.
“It’s not a dream…I’ll make it real soon enough…”
I was suddenly struck by a deep sleepiness, perhaps after the mental rigor of my first dive in quite a while.
“Good night, Papa.” Yui’s voice rang like a dainty bell, caressing my mind as I sank into the warm darkness of sleep.
3
The pair of birds spread their wings on top of the white table, chirping morning songs.
She held out her hand. As soon as her finger traced down the brilliant jasper, the birds took flight without a sound. They danced up in an arc and spun off in the direction of the light.
She stood from the chair and followed them for several steps. But before very long, the thin golden bars blocked her path. The birds flitted through the gaps into the outside air—higher, higher, and off into the distance…
Asuna stood in that spot for several moments, until the birds had melted into the color of the sky, and then slowly turned on her heel back to the chair.
The round table and chair were made of white granite, chilly and hard. To the side was a magnificent covered bed, also pure white. Those were the only items in the room…if you could call it a room.
It was perfectly round, with enough space to take twenty steps across the—you guessed it, perfectly white—tiles before reaching the gleaming metallic bars. The space between the bars was just wide enough that Asuna could have squeezed through if she tried, but the system prevented her from doing so.
The intersecting golden bars stretched vertically before meshing together overhead in a dome. At the top was an enormous ring with a frightfully large branch running through it that supported the entire massive structure. The knobby, winding bough cut through the view above until it joined the trunk of the gigantic tree, so large it blotted out a section of the otherwise endless sky.
Which made this room a giant golden birdcage, hanging from the branch of an impossibly large tree—but no, that description wasn’t right. The birds who came to visit could come and go freely between the metal bars. It was a cell designed to hold a single prisoner: Asuna.
A fragile, elegant, beautiful, but cruel cell.
Sixty days had already passed since Asuna woke up here, but she wasn’t sure of that number. There was no way to write down the count, so she had to remember it herself. On top of that, the game did not run on a full twenty-four-hour clock, so even if she slept and woke based on her body’s circadian rhythm, the mornings and nights didn’t match up.
Every time she woke, she told herself what day it was, but she was losing confidence in her number. What if she was just repeating the same day over and over? What if she’d already spent years in here? The more she fell into the haze of confusion, the further back in her memory slipped those precious days she’d spent with Him.
The last moment they’d been together…
As the floating castle Aincrad had crumbled into dust and the world melted into light and nothingness around them, Asuna had held him close, waiting for the moment it all ended.
She’d had no fear. She’d known that she’d done what sh
e must and lived the life that she needed to live. She was almost happy to die, as long as it was with him.
The light had enveloped them, their flesh disappeared, their souls intertwined, and they had flown up, up, up…
Then his warmth was gone. In an instant, it was dark all around. She’d reached out desperately, calling his name. But the cruel, relentless current had grabbed her, pulling her away through the darkness. There were intermittent flashes of light. When she felt she was being taken somewhere unfamiliar, she’d screamed. Eventually, a spray of rainbow light had swelled in front of her, and she’d plunged through it—to land in this place.
The wall that supported the gothic canopy over the bed also held a large mirror. The person she saw in it was slightly different from before. Her face and long, chestnut-brown hair were the same. But she was dressed in an uncomfortably sheer one-piece white dress. There was a ribbon red as blood adorning the breast. Her bare feet were cold against the chilly stone tiles. She had no weapons to speak of, but there were strange transparent wings on her back. They were closer to an insect’s wings than a bird’s.
At first, she thought she was in the land of the dead. But now she knew that was not the case. There might not be a game window when she waved her hand, but this was clearly another virtual world apart from Aincrad. It was a digital prison created by a computer. And she was being held against her will by an act of human malice.
Which meant she could not give in. She couldn’t submit and crumble before evil. So Asuna bore the terrible loneliness and impatience that hounded her every day. Even that was becoming more and more difficult, however. She could feel the poison of despair slowly tainting her heart.
She sat on the cold chair, folded her hands on top of the table, and, as she always did, said a silent prayer to Him.
Hurry…Hurry and come save me, Kirito…
“That’s the loveliest look on your face, Titania,” the voice said, echoing through the birdcage. “The look right before you burst into tears. I wish I could freeze it and put it on display.”
“Why don’t you do it, then?” she answered, turning to face the voice.
On the side of the cage that faced the World Tree was a small door. A smaller branch running off the large one extended to the door, stairs carved along its length.
A tall man was entering through that doorway.
He had wavy locks of rich golden hair, with a crown of platinum around his brow. There were wings like Asuna’s on his back, but they were more like a butterfly’s than translucent. They were as lustrous as black velvet, with brilliant emerald-green patterns running across them.
His face was so perfectly elegant that it screamed artificiality. A shapely nose extended down from his smooth forehead, and his long, slender eyes glimmered with the same green color of his wings. The illusion of beauty was ruined only by the sneer plastered on his narrow lips. It was twisted and spiteful.
Asuna looked at him for an instant before turning away, as if avoiding an unpleasant sight. She spoke flatly, without inflection or emotion.
“You’re the system admin; it’s well within your power.”
“Why must you be so cold, my dear Titania? Have I ever placed my hands on you against your will?”
“Does it matter? You’ve locked me in here. And stop calling me by that stupid name. I’m Asuna, Oberon…I mean, Mr. Sugou.”
Asuna looked again at the face of the Fairy King Oberon, the avatar of Nobuyuki Sugou. She did not avert her glance this time. She gave him the full brunt of her gaze.
His mouth twisted in distaste as he spat, “How very unenchanting. In this world, I am Oberon, King of the Fairies, and you are Titania, my queen. We are the rulers of Alfheim, the object of envy to every player in the game. Isn’t that good enough for you? When will you open your heart to me and be my proper partner?”
“You will be waiting until the end of your days. All I feel for you is scorn and disgust.”
“How headstrong of you.” He smirked with one cheek again and then stretched out a hand to Asuna’s face.
“But these days I wonder…”
She tried to turn away, but he caught her under the chin and pulled her face straight toward him.
“…if it might be more fun just to take you by force.”
Asuna’s head was fixed in place as though by an unseen omnipotence. The fingers of his left hand snaked forward to touch her. From cheek to lips, his slender fingers lingered on her skin. The somehow slimy sensation of his otherwise-clean fingers sent a chill down her spine.
In her disgust, she shut her eyes and clenched her teeth. After several rubs of her lips, Oberon ran his fingers down the nape of her neck. In time, they arrived at the red ribbon tied just over her cleavage. He tugged ever so slightly at the end of the ribbon—once, twice—as if enjoying her shame and fear.
“Stop,” she said hoarsely, unable to bear it.
Oberon chuckled, deep in his throat, and released the ribbon. He pulled his hand away and waggled his fingers, his voice mirthful.
“I’m only joking. I said I wouldn’t take you against your will, didn’t I? You’ll come around to me soon enough. It’s only a matter of time.”
“If that’s what you think, you’re truly insane.”
“Ha-ha! You won’t be singing that tune for long. Very soon, I will control your emotions in the palm of my hand. Look, Titania.” Oberon placed both hands on the table and leaned over it. He swiveled his head around the birdcage, leering widely. “Can you see them? Thousands and thousands of players, diving into this expansive world, enjoying the game. The thing is…none of them has any idea that the full-dive system isn’t just a tool for mere entertainment!”
Asuna’s mouth clamped shut at these unexpected words. Oberon spread his arms theatrically.
“Of course it’s more than that! This game is nothing but a by-product. The NerveGear and AmuSphere, these full-dive interfaces, focus their electron pulses into very limited regions of the brain’s sensory regions, meaning that we’re only providing them with virtual environment signals. But…what would happen if those shackles were released?”
There was a dangerous, unhinged gleam in Oberon’s wide, emerald-green eyes. Asuna felt an instinctual fear grip her insides.
“It means we can access much more than the brain’s sensory fields. Thought, emotion, memory: We can control all of it!”
Asuna could find no response to the madness of his statement. She had to take several breaths before any words came to her lips.
“But no…you can’t get away with that…”
“Who’s going to say no? Research is advancing in several countries around the world. The problem is, what the research really needs is human subjects. After all, one must be able to put their thoughts into words for us to understand them!”
He practically leaped from the table, cackling in high tones, striding in circles around Asuna as he spoke.
“And there is great variety in higher brain function among individuals, which necessitates a great number of subjects. However, this is the brain we’re tinkering with. One cannot snap one’s fingers and obtain human test subjects. Which means human progress in this field has been woefully slow. But then…what should I see when I’m watching the news but a story about ten thousand ideal test materials!”
Asuna’s skin crawled again. Finally, she could see where Oberon was taking this.
“Mr. Kayaba was a genius, but he was also a fool. How could he utilize that incredible potential just to create a stupid game? I couldn’t touch the SAO server itself, but it was quite easy to tamper with the router such that when the players were released, I was able to seize a number of them before they got away.”
The fairy king made a large cup with his hands, running his tongue over them as though savoring an invisible liquid.
“Oh, how I waited for that damnable game to be beaten! I didn’t get all of them, but I did get a good three hundred, at least. Certainly more than any real hospital or
laboratory could hold. Long live the virtual world!” he ranted, the heat of his delusions driving him to a soliloquy of madness. She had always hated this tendency of his.
“Thanks to you former SAO players, my research has progressed in leaps and bounds in only two months! I’ve embedded brand-new artificial implants within human memory and, in doing so, succeeded in creating a rudimentary form of direct emotional control. How fabulous it feels to control the human soul!”
“You can’t…You won’t get away with this. Father will never let you continue such mad research.”
“He will if he doesn’t know a thing about it, of course. The project has been undertaken in absolute secret, with a tiny team answering directly to me. We can’t commercialize it otherwise.”
“Commercial…?”
“There’s a major business in America eagerly awaiting our results. We’re going to make a fortune selling them the research—along with RCT itself, at some point.”
“…”
“Soon I’ll be a member of the Yuuki family. I’ll only be a son-in-law at first, but eventually I will be the rightful heir to RCT in name and fact. With you as my wife. So what’s the harm in doing some dress rehearsals in preparation for the big day in real life?”
Asuna stifled the shivers running up and down her back, and then shook her head quickly but firmly.
“No…you can’t. I won’t let you do this. Once I get back to the real world, I’ll expose all of your wicked deeds. The world will know.”
“Oh, come now. You still don’t get it? The only reason I told you about the experiment is because you’ll be forgetting everything right away. And all that will remain is your devotion to…”
Oberon stopped talking mid-sentence, his head cocked in silence. He held up his hand and opened a game window, then spoke into it.
“I’m coming. Wait for orders.” He closed the window and resumed his leer with a soft purr. “I hope my point has sunk in by now: You are going to love and serve me with a blind, devoted passion. But naturally, I have no desire to use your brain as my first test subject. So I’ll be praying that you are already more subservient at our next meeting, Titania.”