“Anyway.”
Several minutes later, as they were walking on the walkway holding hands, Asuna asked a question she suddenly thought of,
“So you think the Soul Translator you’re helping with its experiments isn’t the successor of the FullDive technology? Brain Chip interfaces with brain cells at the same level as the Nerve Gear, but STL is ahead of that, and interfaces at the quantum level, doesn’t it?”
“Hmmm……”
Kazuto was diligently poking the brick using the metallic ferrule of the umbrella in his other hand as he answered,
“……Its design concept is certainly more advanced than the Brain Chip. But, how to say it…… maybe too advanced. In order to downsize that machine for practical use, it wouldn’t be years, but it would need tens or twenties of years to do so. I have a feeling that the current STL isn’t a machine for humans to FullDive into the virtual world……”
“Ehh? Then what is it for?”
“Maybe it’s the machine to understand the human’s consciousness…… the Fluctlight.”
“Hmm……”
It means the STL isn’t the goal, but the method? As Asuna was wondering what the understanding of human’s soul could lead to, Kazuto continued speaking,
“Besides. I think STL is his…… the extension of Heathcliff’s idea. That man, for whatever reason he created Nerve Gear even with the sacrifice of thousands people, fried his own brain, and on top of those, spread over «The Seed»…… I don’t know if he even had a goal in the first place, but I felt his presence is floating somewhere in STL. Even though I want to know what he aimed for, I don’t want it to affect my own direction. I don’t want the feeling like I’m dancing on his palm.”
Asuna had the face of the person appeared in the back of her brain in that instant, as she nodded.
“……I see…… ……Hey, the consciousness of Guild Leader, the thought emulation program still exists somewhere on the sever, right? As Kirito-kun mentioned about it before.”
“Yeah, but it was just once. The machine that the guy used for suicide was the original prototype of STL. In order to read the Fluctlight, it required a high-powered beam that was enough to fry the brain cells. Perhaps, he had to suffer much more intense and long continuous pain than the brain stem being destroyed by the Nerve Gear…… For the purpose of making a copy of himself, I don’t think it’s unrelated to what RATH is doing with STL now. Maybe somewhere in my heart still continued thinking…… that I want to see some kind of conclusion, which was why I accepted Kikuoka’s offer……”
As he said that, Kazuto’s gaze turned toward the sky fading into a reddish orange. As she looked at his face for a while, Asuna put more strength into her hand grabbing his, before whispering,
“……Promise me, just one thing. Don’t do something dangerous.”
Kazuto, who turned to her, gave a smile as he nodded deeply.
“Of course, I promise. As I’m going to America with Asuna on next year summer already.”
“Before that, shouldn’t you worry about studying to get a good score on the Scholastic Assessment Test?”
“Uu……”
Kazuto was at a loss for words for a moment, before he lightly coughed and changed the topic,
“Anyway, I need to properly greet Asuna’s parents first. Although I had exchanged email with Shouzou-shi from time to time, but your mother’s memory of me is quite bad……”
“No problem, no problem, recently she became very understanding. Ah, yes…… why not just go now?”
“Ehh!? N-No…… maybe it’s better after the final test, yeah.”
“Really…”
They had arrived in front of a small park near Asuna’s house as they talked. This was where Kazuto usually said farewell before sending her off. Asuna stopped as she felt reluctant before turning around. She looked at Kazuto’s face, his gaze was also fixed on her.
The gap between them reduced to fifteen centimeters, at that time. Heavy footsteps could be heard from behind, reflexively, Asuna stepped back.
She turned her head, a human figure appeared jogging from the T-shaped road. It was a short man dressed in black. His gaze stopped at Asuna and Kirito before saying “Excuse me,” with a high-pitched voice.
“Erm, do you know where the station is?”
The young man lowered his head as he asked, Asuna then pointed to the east with her left hand.
“Follow this road for a while, and turn right at the first traffic light…… then…”
Suddenly, Kazuto, who was behind, forcefully pulled Asuna’s shoulder. Then he stepped forward while pushing Asuna behind his back.
“W-What’s……”
“You…… were following us from Dicey Café weren’t you? Who are you?”
With a sharp tone, Kazuto said what Asuna didn’t notice. She held her breath as she looked at the man’s face again.
He had a spotty mesh of long hair. The outline of his thin cheeks were densely covered by a stubbly beard. There were silver earrings on his ears, on his neck was also a thick silver necklace. He was wearing a discolored black T-shirt and the same color leather pants, a metal chain hanging on his waist made a jingling sound. His feet were wrapped in high laced boots which looked heavy in this season, he gave off a dusty overall impression.
The narrowed eyes glanced from the crack in his untidy forelock, as if he was smiling. The guy frowned and tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand what Kazuto was talking about —— suddenly, the small pupils shone with an unpleasant light.
“……So surprise attacks don’t work, huh.”
The edge of his lips tightly bent, Asuna didn’t know if he was smiling or irritated.
“Just who are you?”
Kazuto repeated his question. The man shrugged, shook his head two, three times, before purposefully made a big sigh.
“Hey, hey, that won’t do, Kirito-san. Did you already forget my face…… oh, over there I wore a mask, didn’t I? But… I never forget about you even a single day.”
“You……”
Tension built up on Kazuto’s back. He pulled back his right hand as he lowered his waist slightly.
“——«Johnny Black»!”
At the same time with his low shout, Kazuto’s right hand flashed like a lightning and grabbed the air over his shoulder. It was once where the «Black Swordsman»‘s beloved sword, «Elucidator» was.
“Bu… Ku… Kuhahahahahaha! Nope, no sword!!”
The man who was called Johnny Black twisted the upper part of his body as he gushed out a high-pitched laugh. Kazuto lowered his right hand as his entire body was still tense.
Asuna knew that name. It was an active murderer in the old Aincrad, a well-known name even among the red players. Belonging to the PK guild «Laughing Coffin» and forming a duo with «Red-eyed XaXa», which required more than ten players to capture.
…………XaXa. She heard that name just half a year ago. The mastermind behind that terrible «Death Gun Incident».
She heard right after the incident that XaXa himself, Shinkawa Shouichi was arrested along with his younger brother, but the remaining comrade was on the run. The third person, whom she thought was caught long ago, his name was probably Kanemoto…… in other words, the man standing in front of her was————
“You…… still keep running away?”
Kazuto said in a hoarse voice. Johnny Black, Kanemoto grinned as he protruded both his index fingers.
“Of cour——se. Do you think I’ll show no guts after XaXa was caught? I am the last of the Laughing Coffin. I discovered that coffee shop five months ago, and I was on the lookout nearby for a month…… every day was filled with hatred—”
As he spoke, Kanemoto inclined his head to the left and right.
“But, Kirito-san, without the sword…… you’re merely a weak brat, aren’t you? Even though the face is the same, but it’s hard to think you’re the same Swordsman-sama who beat me up badly.”
 
; “It’s the same to you…… What can you do without your proud poisoned weapons?”
“Hey, that’s so unprofessional to judge the armament by its appearance.”
Kanemoto moved his right hand behind his back at a snake-like speed, and pulled something off his shirt.
It was a strange object. From the cylinder made of smooth plastic, there was a toy-like grip protruding out. Asuna thought it was a water gun for a moment, but she held her breath as she saw Kazuto’s back became intensely stiff. Her confusion turned into fear once she heard Kazuto’s voice.
“That’s…… the «Death Gun»……!”
His right hand projected to the back, encouraging Asuna to withdraw. At the same time, he pointed the tip of the folded umbrella in his left hand at Kanemoto.
One step, two steps, as she unconsciously moved backward, Asuna eyes were still attracted to the plastic «Gun». That was not a mere water gun, but a syringe utilizing a high-pressure gas, filled inside was the frightening chemical which could stop the heart.
“I have—, I have the poisoned weapon— I’m sorry it’s not a knife though—”
As he was shaking the tip of the syringe, which was its only metal part, Kanemoto made a creaking-like laugh. Kazuto grabbed the umbrella with his both hands while directing it cautiously at Kanemoto, then called out in a low voice.
“Asuna, run away! Call someone for help!”
After a moment of hesitation, Asuna nodded, then turned around and started running. From behind, the voice of Kanemoto could be heard,
“Oi, «The Flash»! Make sure to let everyone know….. that the one who took the «Black Swordsman»‘s neck, is this Johnny Black!”
The interphone of the nearest house was about thirty meters away.
“Someone…… help!!”
As she ran and called with her utmost voice. Isn’t this a mistake to leave Kazuto and run away? ……If we both jumped on him at the same time, shouldn’t we able to suppress that weapon? She passed the halfway point as she thought so, at that time, a sound reached her ears.
Like when a cap of a carbonate drink was opened, or a hair spray was blew; a short, sharp compression sound. Yet, she understood its meaning right away; Asuna, with too much fear, twisted her foot, staggered, she leaned her hand on the damp brick.
Asuna slowly turned and looked over her shoulder.
A violent scene entered her vision.
The ferrule of the umbrella in Kazuto hand stabbed into Kanemoto’s root of the right thigh.
And the syringe in Kanemoto hand was pushed against Kazuto’s left shoulder.
At the same time, their bodies separated from each other, before collapsing violently on the road.
The several minutes after that was unreal, like she was watching a black and white movie.
She ran up to the side of unmoving body of Kazuto. She pulled Kazuto off Kanemoto, who was holding his right leg in agony, “Hang in there,” as she was calling, she pulled out the mobile terminal from the pocket and opened it.
She couldn’t feel anything from her fingers, as if they were frozen. Her stiff fingertips desperately operated the touch panel, then she told the current location and situation to the operator of the emergency center in a panting voice.
The curious spectators gathered. Then a police appeared from the crack of the crowd. Asuna just shortly answered his questions as she kept on tightly hugging Kazuto.
Kazuto’s breath was short, and shallow. Under the pained breath, he whispered two short words. “Asuna, sorry.”
The several minutes afterward felt like an eternity, Kazuto was brought into one of the two ambulances which had arrived, Asuna also boarded the same car.
As Kazuto lay unconscious on the stretcher, a paramedic put his face close to Kazuto’s mouth to check his air duct, he then immediately called the other rescue member,
“Respiratory failure! Give me the Ambu bag!”
To hastily support his breathing, Kazuto’s mouth and nose were covered with a transparent mask.
Asuna somehow managed to suppress her urge to scream within her throat, she informed the paramedic the name of the chemical she miraculously recalled,
“Erm, s-succinylcholine…… he was injected with that medicine. In the left shoulder.”
The paramedic looked at her in amazement for a moment, then he gave new instructions in rapid succession.
“IV inject epinephrine…… no, use atropine! Make sure it’s IV!”
A transfusion needle was put into the left arm of Kazuto, who had his shirt taken off, the electrodes of the ECG monitor were placed on his chest. In addition to the voices fluttering about, a siren ripped the air apart.
“Heart rate is dropping!”
“Massage the heart!”
The face of Kazuto, with his eyelids shut, looked terribly pale under the car’s internal LED light. “No… no… Kirito-kun… not something like this…” the small voice continued to spill out of Asuna’s mouth without her noticing for a while.
“Heart stopped!”
“Keep massaging!”
Kirito-kun, it’s a lie, right? You aren’t going to leave me, right? You said we’ll be together forever…… didn’t you say that?
Asuna dropped her gaze to the mobile terminal held firmly in her hand.
The pink heart displayed on the monitor throbbed slightly once, before it stopped pulsing.
The digital figure cruelly changed and stayed at zero, everything became silent.
Chapter 1
Underworld, The Third Month of Human World Calendar 378
Part 1
There were scents in the air.
My fragmented thought had sensed as such just before I woke up.
The air which was flowing into my nasal cavity contained large amounts of information. The sweet scent of flowers. The scent of bright green grasses. The refreshing scent of trees which felt like it could cleanse my chest. The scent of water which stimulated my thirsty throat.
As my consciousness leaned toward listening, the flood of the sounds information surged into me. The sound of numerous leaves rubbing against each other. The sound of small birds cheerfully twittering away. Below them were the occasionally buzzing sounds from the insects. The faint murmuring sound of a small river from far away.
Where am I? At least it is obviously not my room. Usually, when I wake up, there is always a sunny-like scent of the dry sheet, the groan of the air-con, and the sound of the cars running on the Kawagoe bypass slightly further away, but all of these aren’t present. Furthermore —— the green light which irregularly brushes my closed eyelids until now isn’t the book light I forgot to turn off, but sunlight filtered through the foliage, isn’t it?
I pushed aside the desire to return to the deep sleep which still lingered, before finally opening my eyes.
I repeatedly blinked several times due to the sudden shot of numerous swaying beams of lights. As I rubbed my eyes, which were blurred with tears, with the back of my right hand, I slowly raised my upper body.
“……Where am I……?”
I unintentionally muttered.
What I saw next were green bushes. There were small white and yellow flowers at various places on them, the shiny light blue butterflies were flying back and forth between them. About five meters away, the carpet of grasses was cut off, from there on, was a stretch of deep forest, lined up with the huge gnarly trees which should have aged for tens of years.
As I focused my sight to the gloomy gap between the tree trunks, the grove of trees seemed to continue until the limit where light could reach. The rugged ripping tree bark and the ground were covered with thick moss, shining with green and gold under the sun.
I glanced to the right, then turned around, I was greeted by old tree trunks from all directions. In other words, it seemed I was lying in a small circle of grasses in the opening of the forest. Lastly I looked upwards, and from the gap between the gnarled tree-tops stretching in all directions, it was the blue sky where t
he scattered clouds were drifting, like I had expected.
“Where is…… this place?”
I muttered again as I sighed. But there was no answer.
I cleaned every nook and corner of my head, but I couldn’t find the memory of how I came to take a nap in this place. Sleepwalking? Amnesia? As those dangerous words crossed my mind, no way, I quickly denied it.
I am…… my name is Kirigaya Kazuto. Seventeen years old and eight months. I live at Kawagoe, Saitama prefecture with my mother and little sister.
I felt somewhat calm as my related data came out smoothly, then I pulled out more memories.
Currently, I’m a second year high school student. But as I’d meet the graduation requirement in the first semester of next year, I was thinking about entering a university in fall. Yes, I had consulted with someone about that. On the last Sunday of June, when it was raining. I went to Egil’s shop, «Dicey Café» in Okachimachi after school, and talked to my friend Sinon, Asada Shino about Gun Gale Online.
Then, Asuna —— Yuuki Asuna joined up, the three of us talked for a while before leaving the shop.
“Asuna……”
I have a lover, I softly uttered a name of the girl, who was the partner I could leave my back to with full confidence. I looked around my surroundings many times, tried to search for the figure of her, who existed clearly in my memory, however, I couldn’t find a single human’s figure on the grass floor or in the deep forest.
While fighting with a sudden strike of loneliness, I went to retrace my memories.
Asuna and I separated from Shino after we went out of the shop. After coming out of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line in Shibuya, we switched to Tōyoko line to go Setagaya, where Asuna’s house is.
The rain had already stopped when we exited the station. As we walked side by side on the brick tile footpath, we talked about entering the university. I spoke openly about my desire go to the university in America, and made an unreasonable request for Asuna to come along, at that point, she gave her usual tenderly bright smile, and then——