==Chapter 2 - Project Alicization==
===Part 1===
Upon looking up, the silvery white full moon that was divided into 4 by the cross-shaped window frame could be seen.
In the southwest side of ALFheim, the streets of the capital city Sylain in the land of the Sylphs was covered by the thick night screen.
Most of the shops had their sturdy metal shutters pulled down and few players moved around the main streets. That was because the time was 4am, and this was the time the least number of people would be connected.
Asuna turned her eyes from the window to the table and picked up the still steaming cup. She brought the thickly-colored tea to her lips and the imaginary heat agitated her tongue. She did not feel sleepy, but her brain was slightly fuzzy as she practically had not slept for the past 3 days.
She closed her eyes and used her fingers to tap her temple slightly. The other Sylph girl who saw this asked worriedly,
“Are you alright, Asuna-san? You almost never slept.”
“Uun, I’m fine here. You too, Lyfa. It must be tiring for you to walk around everywhere, right?”
“My body in reality is resting properly on the bed, so I’m alright.”
They said that they were fine to each other in unison, but realized that both of them did not sound very energetic at all and gave wry smiles.
This place was the player home of Lyfa, the avatar of Kirigaya Suguha in ALFheim Online. The walls surrounding the round room had glossy shell-like things on it, and there were white table and chairs as well. The color looked a little delicate as the place engulfed the trio.
“If you force yourself too much, your minds won’t be able to work well during crucial moments. Even if you can’t sleep, it makes a whole world of difference to close your eyes.”
The owner of the calm voice was Asada Shino in the Cath Sith avatar who had been diving for half a year. The character name was the same as the user Sinon from Gun Gale Online. Asuna looked over and nodded.
“Un…the meeting ended, so please allow me to use the bed here. Really, if only hypnosis spells are effective on players.”
“I think you can sleep well if onii-chan sleeps on that rocking chair there…”
Lyfa nagged what Asuna and Sinon were muttering vaguely, but they did not have the strength to smile.
Lyfa placed the cup she was holding with both hands back on the table, took a very deep breath, and showed a change in expression.
“Then…we’ll talk about the information we managed to investigate today, no, from yesterday onwards. In conclusion, we can’t find any specific evidence that onii-chan was taken to the Tokorozawa National Defense Medical College Hospital. The data showed that he was definitely transferred to the Neurosurgical department on the 23th floor, but they denied all access, and all the wards at that level can’t be accessed. There was no signs of the emergency ambulance reaching at the supposed times. Yui could check it out as she hacked into the surveillance cameras to investigate.”
“In other words…there’s a high chance that Kirito may not be in the Defense Medical Hospital…something like that?”
Lyfa nodded, agreeing with what Sinon said.
“It’s really hard to believe…but I’m rather surprised that even family members can’t meet him.”
In such a situation, they could only shake their heads to replace words. At that moment, the room descended into deep silence.
Lyfa’s brother Kirito—Kirigaya Kazuto was attacked by the fugitive from the Death Gun incident ‘Johnny Black’ —Kanemoto Atsushi just two days ago, on the 29th of June.
Kazuto was injected with the highly toxic succinylcholine by Kanemoto near Asuna’s house on the streets of Setegaya area Miyasakai 1-chome in Tokyo, and the effects of that drug caused his muscles to numb rapidly, inducing a state in which he could not breathe. Even after CPR and drugs were administered in the ambulance, the introduction of oxygen caused his heart to stop soon after. He was classified as Dead on Arrival (DOA) the moment he was sent to the Setagaya General Hospital.
Perhaps it was the expertise of the doctors in the ER or Kazuto’s own will to live or that luck on both accounts were at the best as he finally regained heartbeat, and he started breathing normally once the drugs broke down. He managed to escape from the claws of death in a miraculous manner. Asuna heard this outcome from the doctor who came out from the ER, and relaxed her distraught look, but was left speechless again.
The doctor told her that as Kazuto’s heart stopped for more than 5 minutes, the likely outcome would be that his brain was damaged to some extent. There had to be ample consideration over the long term damage on both thought processes and movement ability, and in the worst case scenario, there was a chance that he would never wake up again—and,
The doctor concluded that they had to investigate the details through an MRI, or it would be impossible to tell, and they would probably transfer him over to a hospital with better facilities. Asuna fought with the anxiety that struck again and contacted Kazuto’s little sister Suguha to explain the situation. In the end, she started crying the moment she saw Suguha.
That night, Kazuto’s mother, Kirigaya Midori came running over from her workplace in Iidabashi and spent the night on the bench in front of the ICU.
The next day, on the 30th of June, Asuna and Suguha were convinced by the watchperson that he was already ‘out of danger’, and went back to Asuna’s house that was nearby, and Midori went back to her house in Kawagoe for the time being to check on his health insurance scheme.
After both of them had a shower, they each contacted their own schools about a leave of absence, started chatting for several hours, then entered a light sleep. About an hour later, Asuna was woken by Midori’s phone call.
She dashed toward the portable terminal, and Midori told her that unfortunately, Kazuto’s consciousness still had not recovered, but he was to be transferred to the Defense Medical College Hospital that was closer to her house in Kawagoe for better observation and better equipped facilities. After that, the ambulance arrived to sent Kazuto over. Midori said that she would head over in a taxi once she was done with the procedures, and Asuna told her that they would soon arrive at the new hospital.
The unconscious Kazuto was definitely moved from the Setagaya General Hospital through the emergency exit and into the ambulance at around 1.45pm on the 30th. Yui clearly investigated it from the clear visuals of the surveillance cameras of the hospital. The records showed that the ambulance reached the Defense Medicine College Hospital in Tokorozawa in Saitama. Kazuto was immediately admitted into the neurosurgical department on the 23th level for intensive care, and was under observation—Asuna and Suguha all believed it without a doubt, and they went to visit him two days ago late at night, but they were not allowed to meet Kazuto or even see him from afar.
Asuna analyzed Lyfa’s words as she nodded slightly and said,
“It’s true that Kirito-kun was sent from the hospital in Setagaya by ambulance and the destination was National Defense Medical University Hospital. There’s an admission record of ‘Kirigaya Kazuto’…but there’s no sign of how Kirito-kun looked, nor were there records on the surveillance camera. If the ambulance Kirito-kun rode on went to some place other than the hospital…like a mix up of patient or some accident—most likely not…”
“There’s an intent to lie, which means that it was planned by someone…abduction?”
Sinon said with a calm voice as her triangular ears jerked sharply.
“But in that situation, the ambulance in question would be disguised, right? Leaving aside the paramedics, the vehicle itself can be faked, right? I don’t think anyone could have predicted that onii-chan would be attacked in Setagaya by that guy called Kanemoto or something and be hospitalized. Also, it was only 18 hours after he had been hospitalized.”
“It’s physically impossible to make a fake ambulance after they knew that Kirito-kun collapsed.”
Asuna’s doubt again overlapped with the question Sinon raised.
“But in that case, if there’s an abduction of a certain patient under the disguise of an ambulance, if that person who planned this right from the beginning and targeted Kirito simply out of coincidence…”
“To put it simply, it doesn’t really feel that way.”
Lyfa swung her ponytail sideways and started to explain in a surging manner,
“Fuu, when the hospital transfers a patient, it should make a call to request for an ambulance from the emergency control command area, but according to Yui’s investigations, nobody made a call that day, and the ambulance in question appeared at that moment. Then, it would be the same for the paramedics who rode on the ambulance, and the situation with the Tokorozawa Defense College Hospital should be the same as well. Not only that, they even knew onii-chan’s name. The watchperson who was in charge of it did say that they did not make a mistake.”
“…Then, they were targeting Kirito right from the beginning in a ploy to abduct him.”
“Yeah, the culprit got news once Kirito-kun entered the hospital and sent a real ambulance for their own purposes.”
Both of them nodded in a hesitant manner in response to Asuna’s words.
The reason why they were so hesitant was because it was too scary to deduce everything and link them together. Asuna herself had the same feeling as well. If everything was true, the opponent who abducted Kazuto was someone influential enough to mobilize the fire-fighting department that could use ambulances.
To be honest, those thoughts may all have been excessive thinking on their parts.
Kazuto was being treated in the Defense Medical University Hospital, and the visuals of the hospital room could not be seen at all because of the sophisticated machines, and at the moment he arrived, there, the image did not exist because the surveillance cameras seemed to be faulty…no, one could not say that that line of consideration was normal. In fact, Kazuto and Suguha’s mother Midori did not suspect the hospital’s current explanation. The abduction and falsified information was just the imagination of the three girls who loved to worry. The culprit in real life did not exist, and Kazuto’s treatment was a success and they would definitely be notified with news that he regained consciousness…
However, a certain part of Asuna’s derailed common sense had an aching-like feeling within. That must be the same with Kazuto’s little sister Lyfa and Sinon who nearly crossed the line of death with him.
They were not assuming that the third ‘Death Gun’ Kanemoto’s attack when he injected the toxin succinylcholine into Kazuto was part of the plan. However, it was the person who made use of this incident to abduct Kazuto.
“Whether it’s an organization or a person, that guy can be considered an ‘enemy’ in this situation.”
Asuna said in an adamant voice. Sinon blinked, and then showed a slight smile. “Before I arrived here…today, I thought you two would be very disappointed and I was rather worried. To Lyfa, it’s because he’s her most important brother, to Asuna, it’s because, well, he’s her boyfriend…and that guy disappeared like this while unconscious…”
''Speaking of which, I wasn’t as shocked as I thought I would be after hearing these unexpected words. I was crying so hard when I saw Kirito-kun collapse that night…'' Asuna felt some sense of disbelief as she thought about this, and Lyfa, who had both hands clasped tightly in front of her chest, said,
“Well…I’ll definitely be worried. However, when I realized that onii-chan may not be in the hospital, I felt somewhat uneasy and yet had a little feeling that it was like this. Onii-chan definitely got involved in some unbelievable incident again…I really can’t imagine how chaotic the places were since I wasn't there. It was like that in the SAO incident, the same with that Death Gun incident…so this time, I’ll definitely…”
“Un…I see.”
''So I can’t compare to the little sister who has lived with him for a long time.'' Asuna muttered inside her heart and she nodded hard.
“Kirito-kun is definitely fighting like that somewhere as usual, so we have to carry out the fight we can handle.”
''Of course.'' Sinon glanced aside for a moment and continued to stare at them.
“Sinonon doesn’t look too disappointed either.”
“Eh…that’s because…to me, I strongly believe that I’m the only one who can beat him…”
After exchanging doubtful looks with the stuttering Sinon for a moment, Asuna went back to the original topic.
“Anyway…just by looking at the ambulance, I guess the power of the enemy is rather large.”
“How about we report this to the police? If we’re together with the police, the hospital will at least have to provide us with some information, right?”
Sinon’s suggestion had some sense in them, but Asuna shook her head lightly to disagree.
“In that Defense Medical College Hospital’s server, the time Kirito-kun arrived and the time the neurosurgical department took him in were all recorded. The records showed that Kirito-kun was definitely in that hospital. The basis of our assumption that he was kidnapped was that ‘there were no images of him reaching’ that place, and the police won’t mobilize with such a reason, I guess…and also, the one who checked the visual records was…”
“Yui-chan who hacked in.”
Sinon gave a slight grimace as she muttered, and seemed to think of something else as she continued,
“Ah…but in that case, can we hack into the camera network inside of the hospital through the surveillance cameras outside the hospital? If we can check the images in Kirito-kun’s room…”
“But the internal hospital’s security system is different from the outside. It’s most likely protected by a very powerful wall that even Yui-chan can’t break through.”
Lyfa weakly shook her head.
Yesterday, she went to carry out all sorts of investigations on Setagaya General Hospital and the National Defense Medical College Hospital which were far away from each other. Even though she had the help of the AI Yui who was attached to the portable terminal, just moving along was really hard.
Of course, Asuna herself went along and it seemed like Kirito’s condition had already stabilized, but by then she had already skipped school for 2 straight days without permission. The electronic money payment terminal that was supposed to be backup power was left with Lyfa when they rode on the taxi, and naturally, she was not able to concentrate on her classes at all.
In school, Kazuto’s absence was explained by a critical illness, and the same was told to their classmates. Amongst their friends, Lizbet/Shinozaki Rika and Scilica/Ayano Keiko did not know about the attack at all. The guilt of hiding the truth from the two of them who were both worried about Kazuto ripped at their hearts.
However, this had been discussed with Lyfa yesterday morning. Before they knew the actual situation—whether Kazuto was really in the National Defense Medical College Hospital, they would keep this secret between the three of them, including Sinon.
The reason why they only contacted Sinon was that she met Kazuto at the ‘Dicey Café before the attack and because she was someone important in the Death Gun incident. However, it was thanks to this that her calmness and intellect boosted everyone’s confidence. Asuna stared at the side of the sniper Sinon’s face, a face that never changed in ALO, and said,
“I feel that the greatest weapon we have is that we understand more about Kirito-kun than anyone else. So, let’s take a step back and discuss. The enemy targeted Kirito-kun, but for what reason?”
“If it’s for the sake of money, the one who would be kidnapped would be Asuna. The culprit never contacted us, right?”
“Telephone, mail, letters, there were none at all. Besides, this kidnap was too reckless. They even prepared a fake ambulance to kidnap onii-chan specifically, who isn’t someone important, from the hospital.”
“Then… I don’t really want to consider this, but what if it’s because of a grudge…? Do you know any opponent who hates Kirito…?”
This time, Asuna shook her head slightly.
“Even though there are people amongst the SAO survivors who hate Kirito for sending them directly to prison and for clearing the game, the only opponent who has such financial strength and organization ability is…”
Asuna recalled the face of Sugou Nobuyuki, the ambitious person who once trapped the SAO players as test subjects in his hated research and was handed over to the police by Kirito. However, that person was locked within the walls of the detention barracks, and his attempt to escape overseas caused his appeal for bail to be rejected.
“…Un, we still haven’t thought of who can do such a thing.”
“It’s neither for money nor a grudge, huh…uun…”
Sinon lowered her head for a while, used her fingers to tap the tip of her ears, and said in a not-so-confident manner.
“…Well, I guess it was just completely baseless imagination…the motive isn’t for money or a grudge, but he was still kidnapped. That means that to the enemy, Kirito is an existence who still needs to be kept alive. To put it more specific, this Kirito himself, what he has…in game terms, it’s ‘element’, right? What can we think of?”
“Swordsmanship.”
Asuna immediately answered without hesitation. Whenever she closed her eyes and imagined Kirito’s silhouette, the first thing that would appear was the normally black-clothed Kirito of old who would wield two swords and slash at enemies like a hurricane. It seemed that Lyfa had the same impression on him after travelling with him in ALO as she immediately continued,
“Reaction speed.”
“Ability to react to a system.”
“Situation assessment.”
“Survival ability…I guess.”
[[Image:Sword Art Online Vol 10 - 025.jpg|thumb]]
Asuna and Lyfa each raised so many examples and seemed to realize something as they kept quiet. Sinon seemed to realize something as she too nodded,
“Hey, those are all situations in VRMMOs…the virtual world, right?”
Sinon said, and Asuna was tentative as she gave a wry smile,
“Actually, Kirito-kun in real life has lots of good points.”
“Of course he does, like when he treats us to meals. But from a perspective outside of ours, the him in real life, I would say, is a very ordinary high school student, right? In other words, the motive behind that unreasonable action is the outstanding ability Kirito has in the real world, right?”
“How can that be…in other words, they want him to clear a certain VR game…but onii-chan is currently still unconscious. He hasn’t even gone through a check up, let alone a treatment. They can’t do anything if he’s abducted like that, right…”
Lyfa clasped her hands tightly as she again worried about Kirito’s current condition. Sinon’s blue eyes that fell on the metallic table surface seemed to be aiming for a certain moment as she narrowed them sharply before answering,
“Vague motive…even though you say that, that’s only what we can see from the outside. If it’s not the brain, but by a machine that that can connect directly to the soul…”
“Ah…”
''Why didn’t we think about it?'' Asuna was shocked as she sighed hard.
“Well, if we consider it that way, the organization of the ‘enemy’ should have some clues. There’s only one organization in the world that has a machine that can be connected to the soul, and Kirito acted as a test-diver for it a few days ago.”
Asuna agreed with Sinon’s words as she nodded her head and said,
“…The organization that kidnapped Kirito-kun is the organization RATH that developed the Soul Translator…? It’s true that our opponent might be able to mobilize an ambulance if they had the finances to make such a machine…”
“RATH…is that the company onii-chan was working with for the past few days?”
On hearing Lyfa’s words, Asuna couldn’t help but stiffen her body up,
“Lyfa-chan, do you know the situation about RATH?”
“Ah, no, the details is that…I heard that the company itself is in Roppongi.”
“Since you said that, I think I have heard about it. But even when you say it’s in Roppongi, isn’t that big…RATH’s research center is in a certain place there, and Kirito may be over there. The police won’t take action on their own, right?”
Asuna watched Sinon bite her lips and Lyfa lowering her eyes in an uneasy manner, and said in a hesitant tone,
“…Well, I wanted to say this later, so I didn’t say it. in fact, there’s still a small link of communciation that’s in contact with Kirito-kun, but there’s a high chance that they broke ties sometime ago…”
“…What is it, Asuna?”
“You said it before, didn’t you, Sinonon. Kirito-kun that.”
Asuna used the fingertips of her right hand to point at the center of her own chest.
“Ah, I see…it’s the heart rate monitor, right? It’s true that the information is sent through the net in realtime to your terminal, Asuna…”
“Even though the signal is already broken, if we can track the fake ambulance’s whereabouts during the time it delivered Kirito-kun, we might be able to figure out where he is now. That’s what I’m thinking, so I’m requesting for it to be analyzed.”
“…Who?”
Asuna looked up at the sky and called a name out in place of an answer,
“Yui-chan, how is it?”
Immediately, particles of light appeared several millimeters above the surface of the table to form a little humanoid silhouette, and after glowing stronger for a moment, it dissipated.
What appeared from it was a girl that was less than 10 millimeters tall. She had long black hair and a white one-piece skirt on, and the 4 rainbow wings on her back jerked slightly. The girl—a pixie, widened her eyes that were under the long eyebrows, and moved her adorable eyes slightly as she first turned towards Asuna, and then to Lyfa and Sinon. Of course, once she deduced that she was to answer Sinon first, she floated in the air and bowed.
“Long time no see, Sinon-san.”
Sinon was asked by the silver thread-like clear voice as she showed a slight smile and nodded back,
“Good evening, Yui-chan…no, I should say ‘good morning’ here.”
“The time now is 4.32am. Sunrise is 4.32am today, so it can be assumed to be morning. Good morning, Lyfa-san, mama.”
The player assistance AI that originated from the old SAO, Yui turned 60 degrees to the side, greeted, and again floated in front of Asuna.
“The signal tracking on papa’s pulse that was sent to mama’s terminal is 98% complete.”
“I see. If that signal came out from near Roppongi, the basis behind our guess will be strengthened…that’s how it is, huh?”
Asuna nodded hard at Sinon’s words. Including Lyfa, the trio stared at Yui with very expectant looks.
“Then, I’ll pass my current analysis to everyone. It was hard to defend the portable end of the terminal, especially against the National Defense Medicine College hospital, Unfortunately, I can only tell that there were only 3 signals sent out.”
After saying that, Yui quickly waved her right hand, and on the surface of the table that was right under her bare feet, a watercolor hologram appeared, showing a detailed map of the center of Tokyo. Yui’s wings stopped flapping as she landed, took a few small steps over and pointed to a part of the map. Pon. A red dot of light appeared.
“This is the Setagaya General Hospital papa was sent to at first. Then, this is the place where the first signal was released.”
She moved a few steps to a new spot of light again.
“Meguro Aobadai, Sanchome, the time was around 2026 29th June, 20.50pm. We can predict the path they took.”
Two light spots were connected on the road as a white light extended over. Yui moved a few steps to the southwestern side again, and the third spot of light indicated the location. The trail of light then stretched over.
“The location where the second signal was fired was at Shirokanedai Minato-ku Ichome, and the time was around 21.10pm that day.”
''Isn’t that a little too far south from Setagaya to Roppongi?'' Asuna thought with some uneasiness, but could only close her mouth and wait for Yui to finish.
“And then…the third place where the signal was launched is here.”
The trio’s expectations’ were severely defied—Yui pointed at an artificial construction site far to the east from Roppongi.
“Shinkiba, Koutou, Yonchome, the time was 21.50 that day. It was around 30 hours ago, the last time, before papa’s signal was cut off.”
“Shinkiba…!?”
Asuna couldn’t help but utter out, but after thinking about it, there were many new intelligence buildings developed nearby there. There might be a second base of RATH located somewhere over there.
“Yui-chan…what kind of facilities are there?”
She asked as she felt her heart race, but the answer she got defied her guess.
“The facility located over there is called the ‘Tokyo Heliport’.”
“Eh…isn’t that, the launch site for helicopters?”
Sinon muttered with a shocked expression, and Lyfa immediately changed her expression.
“A helicopter!? …That means…onii-chan was taken somewhere further away…is that it?”
“But…wait.”
Asuna continued to try and clear the confusion in her mind as she said,
“Yui-chan, the signal was completely cut off after it was sent from Shinkiba, right?”
“Yes…”
At this moment, for the first time, the pixie Yui’s adorable face was showing a melancholic look.
“There’s no sign of papa’s monitor device connected to any of the terminal stations in the whole of Japan.”
“In that case…after he was taken in the helicopter from Shinkiba, he landed in some deep mountain where the electric signals of the terminal can’t reach…or the wilderness or something like that, right?”
Sinon shook her head to deny Lyfa’s words.
“Even if it landed somewhere, there has to be some facility for them to transport to. They can first enter an area with the most advanced electronic interference and connect at a certain point…”
“What if it’s not in Japan…but outside…”
No one could immediately give an answer to Asuna’s trembling voice.
The only thing that broke that short silence was Yui’s naïve and calm voice.
“There’s only one military helicopter that can fly from out of Tokyo to the outside of the country. I can’t be certain due to the lack of current data, but I feel that papa should still be somewhere inside the country.”
“Yeah. RATH is researching on something that can override the current virtual technology, right? It’s an enterprise of the highest classification, so it’s really hard to imagine the research facility being located outside the country.”
On hearing Sinon’s words, Asuna nodded in agreement. The combined Electronics Maker her father lead was in turmoil because a corporate spy switched sides. The important research facilities were guarded very tightly like the Tama Hills. It was said that there had to be strict security on research facilities. If there were a lot of bases outside the country, the chances of their information being revealed would definitely be greater than if it was within the country.
Lyfa showed a look of deep thought, lowered her head and muttered,
“Then…it’s definitely somewhere inside Japan, far away from people, is it…but can they really build such a secretive research facility in the current Japan?”
“And it’s not just on the scale of doing so secretly…Yui-chan, is there something you know about RATH?”
The moment Asuna asked, Yui again floated into the air, stopped at the height of the trio’s stares, and said,
“I used 12 public and 3 private search engines to begin my search, but I couldn’t find any suitable match regarding the enterprise’s name, facility’s name or even VR technical related items. Also, I couldn't find any information regarding the technology on the ‘Soul Translator’, including the completion of the patent request.”
“They didn’t even submit a patent of such a great invention that can read a person’s soul and record them…it’s really a tightly guarded secret…”
''It looks like we won’t be able to find any openings from outside of RATH.'' Asuna sighed, and Sinon shook her head blankly.
“For some reason…it’s like we’re wondering whether the enterprise actually exists. If I had known, I should have asked Kirito more about it…did he mention any hints that might help us the last time we met…?”
“Un…”
She frowned and tried desperately to rummage through her memories. Kanemoto’s attack and the suspicion of abduction shocked her really hard, and the peaceful conversation she had in the Dicey Café before that seemed to be covered by a fog, like the distant past.
“At that time, it’s true that…we were talking all the time about the Soul Translator, and before we knew it, it was evening. After that…I think he did mention a bit about how the name RATH came about…”
“Ahh…there’s a monster that’s either a pig or a turtle in ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It’s a little weird to say that though, since a pig doesn’t look like a turtle.”
“This Lewis Carroll who created this name didn’t seem to specify what that thing was, and the analysts on Alice that came after him seemed to deduce it that way…”
Asuna sensed something flash by her mind, and as she spoke, she suddenly stopped.
“Alice…did Kirito-kun say anything about Alice when he came out from the shop?”
“Eh?”
Sinon and Lyfa, who had been keeping quiet, widened their eyes.
“Does onii-chan have something to do with Alice in Wonderland?”
“No, that’s not it…at the RATH research facility, isn’t Alice some sort of shortened form or something…well, it’s common, right? Take out the first alphabets of each related term and combine them to form another meaning…”
“That’s the so-called ‘Acronym’, right? The departments related to the American government often do that to make it easier to read.”
Sinon quipped in with extra tidbits of information, and Lyfa shook her ponytail as she said,
“In other words…if we combine the 5 alphabets, we’ll get A, L, I, C, E…like that.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Un, Kirito-kun did mention…”
She gathered her concentration with all her strength, and deep within her ears, the ever-familiar Kirito’s voice rang again. She cautiously described,
“…Aateifisharu…Reibiru…Interijen…C and E aren’t recorded, but I think that’s what A, L and I.”
Asuna finally squeezed out the words as she felt her head ache slightly, perhaps because she squeezed out the membrane of her memories. However, the other two continued to think while looking like they did not notice it.
“Aateifisharu…that would be ‘artificial’. Interijen…ce, that would be ‘intelligence’…then what’s an English term for Reibiru?”
Sinon raised her question, and Yui, who was in the air, immediately answered.
“From the pronunciation, I think the most suitable term should be ‘labile’, very adaptive.”
After a short pause.
“‘Artificial Labile Intelligence’. If we translate it, it would mean ‘A highly adaptive Artificial Intelligence’.”
“Artificial…Intelligence.”
Asuna could not help but blink as this term popped out without a reaction.
“Ahh I see…that means Artificial Intelligence would mean ‘AI’, something related to your existence, Yui. But what has a company that’s developing a brand new Brain-Machine Interface has anything to do with AIs?”
“Doesn’t it refer to characters that can move within virtual space? Like that NPC over there?”
Sinon lifted her right hand and pointed at the window as she said that. Asuna spoke her mind that did not grasp the main point.
“But…if this company RATH originated from ‘Alice In Wonderland’, if the term ‘Alice’ RATH uses is a codeword for something related to Artificial Intelligence…won’t it be weird? That means that company’s aim isn’t to develop the next generation VR interface, but to produce AIs while doing so?”
“Un—is that so…but the NPCs inside games aren’t really valuable…the disk-use AI programs are mostly sold. Is it something really special such that there’s a need to hide the enterprise and even abduct someone?”
The moment Sinon asked that, Asuna could not answer immediately. For every step she took forward, there was an annoying feeling of hitting a wall. ''Is our guess a complete mistake?'' Terrified, Asuna still hoped to find some sort of a clue as she lifted her head to ask Yui,
“Hey, Yui-chan. What are ‘Artificial Intelligence’ anyway?”
Yui then showed a rare bitter smile on her face and landed on the table.
“Are you sure you want to ask me, mama? To mama, it’s like asking ‘what are humans’..”
“That’s true.”
“Strictly put, such a definition like ‘this is an Artificial Intelligence’ is impossible. In this world, a real Artificial Intelligence had never existed, whether in the past or the present.”
Yui leaned slightly on the edge of the teapot, and her words caused the trio to all blink their eyes in shock.
“Eh, bu, but…you’re an AI, right, Yui-chan? That means you’re an Artificial Intelligence, right?”
Lyfa stammered as she said, and Yui tilted her head, keeping quiet like a teacher who was thinking of how to explain to her students, nodded a bit, and started explaining,
“Then, let’s start from what we call an AI before—in the last century, the people who developed AIs were aiming for a common goal through two paths. One of them is the ‘top-down-type AI’, and the other is called the ‘bottom-up-type AI’.
Asuna pricked her ears, trying her best to understand the content of the innocent and naïve voice the delicate girl spoke in.
“First, regarding the top-down AI, it’s a kind that purely relies on the existing computer architecture to accumulate experience through simple questions and answers, ultimately becoming a real intellectual through learning. Including me, most AIs are all top-down-type, so that means…the ‘knowledge’ I have now may look similar to yours, mama, but it in fact is something completely different. To put it directly, an existence like me is just a collection of a system that can only ‘hear a question A and reply with B’.”
Yui said that as her clear white cheeks showed some signs of loneliness. ''Are my eyes playing tricks on me?'' Asuna thought.
“If, like how mama asked me ‘what are AI’, and how I immediately showed a ‘bitter smile’ or some variation like that, that would be because papa mostly made such an expression, and I gained experience and learned it when I am asked about myself. The basis itself is not really different from the dictionary forecast program in mama’s portable terminal—because of this, the top-down-type AIs in their current situation are nowhere near the level of being a real AI. This is the ‘so-called AI’ I just explained to Lyfa-san, so please understand it like that.”
After saying that, Yui turned her eyes to the distant moon outside the window.
“…Then, I’ll explain about the other kind, the ‘bottom-up AI’. It is like your brains, mama, everyone…billions and billions of brain cells are all interconnected in a biological organ and recreated through artificial electronic devices to create knowledge, or something like that.”
''That’s really too ambitious…an imagination that’s completely ridiculous.'' Asuna could not help but muttered.
“Is…isn’t that too preposterous…?”
“Ehh.”
Yui immediately nodded her head in agreement.
“As far as I know, the bottom-up type was a path that was given up before they even planned the experiment. If it actually happens, the knowledge that actually reside in it will be different from my kind, an existence that should really be on the same level as humans like you, mama, everyone…”
Yui diverted her stare back from afar, took a deep breath, and concluded.
“As I said, right now, there are two meanings to the term Artificial Intelligence—AI. One of them would be like me, an NPC that is part of the navigation program and the game, a pseudo-AI. The other kind would be the kind that exists in concept, those that have the ability to create and adaptability of students, a true Artificial Intelligence.”
“Adaptability…”
Asuna muttered as she parroted the word.
“‘A highly adaptive Artificial Intelligence’.”
She took the stares of the duo and Yui, stared at each of them one by one, gradually formed a conclusion in her mind, and slowly turned it into words.
“Wha…what if RATH developed the STL not as an aim, but as a means…? Well, it's true that Kirito-kun had such a doubt before. RATH wanted to do something with the STL, so...if through the analysis of the human soul, the first real...bottom-up AI in the world, if that happens...”
“Then, the real codename of the AI is ‘Alice’…is it?”
On hearing Asuna’s words, Lyfa muttered. Sinon had a similarly lost expression as she continued,
“In other words, RATH isn’t an enterprise that develops the next generation of VR interfaces…but in fact, an enterprise that aims to develop Artificial Intelligence…is that it?”
As they continued to discuss, the situation with the ‘enemy’ and the severity of it gradually became apparent. Such development caused the trio to quieten down. It seemed that Yui herself could not handle all the information as she frowned.
Asuna reached her hand out at the mug and pulled a pop-up menu. She took a large gulp from it, houu, sighed out, and said as she intended to rectify her opinion on the enemy’s strength,
“If RATH is the ‘enemy’, this won’t be any ordinary enterprise we’re dealing with. From the method they used to abduct, sending a fake ambulance to a helicopter, and there’s a monster-like machine called the STL in that research facility we don’t even know of with the aim to create an AI that’s on the same level as a human—the one who introduced Kirito-kun to work for RATH was Chrysheight…Kikouka-san of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. That guy has many links with the VR-related world, and speaking of which, RATH may have some relations to the country…”
“Kikuoka Seijirou. As I expect, he’s not just a bespectacled man who’s pretending to be stupid like I saw…can we still contact him?”
Sinon, who was frowning away, nodded weakly.
“Since two days ago, we couldn’t reach him by phone, and he wouldn’t even send a message in return. During this time of emergency, I wanted to charge into the virtual division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but it would most likely be futile.”
“Yeah…even though Kirito had once tried to track that guy down, that guy easily shook him off, or that’s what Kirito said…”
4 years after the SAO incident, the <<SAO Incident Victims Rescue Countermeasure Team>> was placed within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Technology, and after the incident was resolved, it was left behind as a division to deal with virtual related problems. One of them was the civil servant with black-framed spectacles, Kikuoka Seijirou, who seemed to have established contact with Kazuto after Kazuto returned to the real world. For some reason, he paid a high price to buy the services of the ordinary high school student in the real world, Kazuto, and requested him to investigate the Death Gun Incident.
Asuna met him several times in the real world as well, and she partied with his avatar in the world of ALO, the Undine Chrysheight. However, she felt that under his relaxed and friendly attitude, there was something unknown about him, an impression that she could not ignore no matter what, even until now. He called himself a civil servant that had no permanent place and was often treated coldly, ''so perhaps he was from a department that was more unique''—Kazuto had doubts about this as well.
That Kikuoka once introduce Kazuto to the mysterious enterprise called RATH for a part-time job. Asuna had tried many times to contact him once Kazuto disappeared, but his portable terminal was always set to auto-reply and he could not be contacted.
She angrily called the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Technology, only to be told that Kikuoka was working overseas. It was reasonable that he could not be contacted because of that—but thinking about it the other way, was Kazuto’s disappearance related to that man? One could not help but wonder.
“But…”
At this moment, Asuna and Sinon stared at each other’s frowning faces, and Lyfa said slowly,
“If we use this Kikuoka to link RATH and the country, why must he still work secretly like that no matter what? There’s a need to protect secrets for the benefit of the enterprise, but if it’s some sort of amazing plan the country is pushing forth, wouldn’t it be better to promote it greatly under normal circumstances?”
“Now that you say it…that’s true…”
Sinon turned her head around nimbly, nodded and answered.
In recent years, this, together with the development of the virtual space technology, were two brand new frontiers. While each country was rapidly developing, America, and later Japan announced the construction of a spaceship that did not use external boosters, an artificial base on the moon, and the construction of a space station elevator. The impact of the development of real Artificial Intelligence was unprecedented, and each country had their reasons to protect their secrets, which Asuna had not thought of.
But if that were true, if Kirito’s abduction was something related to a country-level classification, then it would be impossible to think that they could do anything as ordinary high school students…besides, that was an area that could not be accessed without police interference. Asuna drooped her shoulders as she was beaten by her weakness, and her eyes met Yui’s as Yui looked up at her from the table.
“Yui-chan…?”
“Pull yourself through, mama. Papa never thought of giving up or anything when he was searching for you in ALFheim here.”
“Bu…but…I…”
“It’s your turn to look for papa, mama!”
At that moment, Yui, who concluded her responses to be part of a simple learning program, showed a kind and warm smile that could not be imagined with her words.
“There’s still definitely a way to contact papa. Even if the enemy is the Japanese government, I believe that it definitely won't break the bond between mama and papa.”
“…Thank you, Yui-chan. I will never give up. Even if the country is our enemy…I’ll barge into parliament and grab the necks of the prime minister and the officials.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Asuna and her daughter stared at each other and smiled. Sinon smiled as she looked at them, and suddenly frowned hard,
“…? What is it, Shinono?”
“No, well…the current problem is that even if RATH is a research organization that’s related to the country, I guess the government or the parliament still doesn’t know the specifics about the research.”
“Un…and then?”
“If this were a secret plan of a certain hidden department, I don’t feel that it’s easy to hide something in particular, right?”
“What…?”
“The budget! Whether it’s a research facility or the STL, there’s definitely a need for a huge budget. I’m not sure how many millions or billions or more, but I think it’s impossible to extract such a sum secretly from the treasury…taxes. In other words, they need to account for it as part of the country’s budget under some name, right?”
“Yes, but…according to what Yui-chan searched, regarding those related to VR technology and requires such a large budget is…ah, I see…it’s the wrong term…? It’s not VR technology, but Artificial Intelligence…?”
Yui looked over at Asuna and nodded with a serious expression, telling her to hold on for a moment before opening her arms wide. Her fingertips glowed purple, and she connected to the network from within ALO.
The trio spent several seconds full of expectations and uneasiness. Yui opened her thin eyes and said in an unrestrained cold tone that was like an electronic pixie-like voice which was completely different from several seconds ago.
“Connected to the budget information data of each ministry and agency. Artificial Intelligence, AI, 38 other similar networks are being searched now…confirmed 18 universities, 7 third-party departments, sums used for each research project are all small…Land infrastructure and maritime exploration development projects…automobile development project…deducing it to be unrelated…”
After that, Yui again raised a few items that were hard to comprehend, but deduced that they were unrelated, and continued to raise examples before finally shaking her head slightly.
“…I can’t find any suitable and unnatural large budget sum through normal searches and special searches. Maybe it’s divided into many small sums and disguised, which makes it hard to find out from the revealed reports.”
“Un…as expected, we can find out that there are no openings left behind by them…”
Sinon folded her arms as she groaned. Asuna sounded like she was grasping at straws as she raised her voice to shout, “But.”
“—There might be a hidden budget of RATH amongst the items Yui-chan found. Why aren’t we finding it? Well, I think that marine resources has nothing to do with this…so why must they carry out such a research?”
“Erm…”
Yui again widened her eyes slightly, connected herself to a certain database, and immediately lifted her head.
“…I guess it’s some form of research like searching for oil underwater or precious metal deposits on the surface of the seabed and letting a small submarine navigate on its own. There would likely be a slightly large amount of budget filtered for those submarines that house such AIs as priority.”
“Heh…that sort of thing has to be robotized…where are they developing it?”
“The project is located in the…<<Ocean Turtle>>. It was finished this year, a mega-float that aimed at researching on the ocean.”
“I, I saw it on the news before.”
Lyfa interrupted.
“It feels a little like a ship with a pyramid floating on the sea.”
Asuna shut up and frowned. She lowered her head for a while, and suddenly lifted her head,
“Speaking of which, I did hear about this before. Ocean…Turtle…”
“Hey, Yui-chan…do you have a picture of that research facility?”
“Yes, please hold on for a moment.”
Yui waved her right hand, and a screen appeared on the table like the map just now before immediately forming a 3-D image of the sea. What appeared was a complicated wire frame that was drawn on the center of the picture and a refined texture.
What appeared on the small sea was truly something that one would immediately call a black pyramid.
But, looking down from above, it was not a square, but a rectangle that had edges in the ratio of 2 to 3. The height of the pyramid was approximately of the same length as the short side. If one removed the long and narrow windows, the exterior would look like it was giving a dark grey glossy glow. If one looked at it, one would get the feeling of an equilateral hexagon that had solar panels put tightly together.
There were protrusions reaching out from the four corners, and on one of the short sides, one could see a small bridge on that building. The H-logo on the roof would be the helipad, but it looked rather small. There was a scale to explain the calculation of the length, and it was a shocking 400m.
“I see…the four legs, four sided head, the pyramid-like shell, this does look like a turtle. But isn’t that too big…”
Sinon said in near amazement. Asuna swayed around to look, and pointed at the bridge of the Ocean Turtle with her right index finger.
“But, look, the head here looks like a bump on the flat part. Can you tell what kind of animal it is?”
“Ah—that’s true. It really looks like a pig. A turtle pig that can swim.”
Lyfa said with an innocent voice.
And then, seemingly shocked by her own words, she widened her eyes, moving her lips continuously before squeezing out with her hoarse voice.
“If it’s a turtle…and also a pig…”
Asuna, Sinon and Lyfa exchanged looks with each other silently, and then shouted,
“—RATH!”