Chapter 2 Part 2

Though she didn't like to toot her own horn, Leafa was one of

the very fastest among the sylphs. She'd honed her reflexes over

many years, and twelve months of experience in ALO had taught

her that no one could get the jump on her in a one-on-one fight.

But this shattered that preconception.

As Leafa and the airborne salamander leader watched,

stunned, the boy got to his feet and turned around, sword at the

ready.

The other remaining salamander was still baffled as to what

had happened. He was swiveling around, looking for his foe in

the wrong direction.

The boy didn't wait to be found. He prepared another brutal

attack, one that Leafa swore she wouldn't miss this time.

His first motion was easy, lazy, unhurried. But as soon as his

first step hit the ground—

He blurred as another shock wave ripped the air. She actually

saw it this time. It was like watching a movie in fast-forward, unconnected frames burned into her vision. The boy's sword shot

from below to above, severing the salamander's torso. Even the

flash of the visual effect was a split second late. He traveled forward a few extra yards and ended with the sword brandished high

over his head. Another burst of flame announced a new fatality,

and the second salamander was gone.

It was the speed that had originally caught Leafa's eye, and

now she belatedly realized what incredible damage he was inflicting. Those two salamanders hadn't been at full HP to start with,

but they'd had a comfortable majority of their health remaining.

A single blow eliminating them was simply abnormal.

The equation to derive damage in ALO was not very complicated. It only took the weapon's power, hit location, attack speed,

and target's armor into consideration. In this case, the weapon

damage would be minimal, and the salamanders' armor was formidable. Which meant, by the process of elimination, that this

boy's accuracy and speed had to be off the charts.

He raised himself easily to his feet again and set his sights on

the salamander leader, still hovering in the air. He rested the

sword on his shoulder and asked, "What's up? You want a turn?"

The stunned salamander regained his composure and responded to the boy's matter-of-fact challenge with a pained

smirk.

"No, thank you. I know I can't win. If you want my items, I'll

leave them for you. My magic skill is nearly at nine hundred—I'd

rather not suffer the penalty for dying."

"At least you're honest." The boy grinned. He turned to Leafa.

"And how about you, lady? If you want to fight that guy, I won't

interfere."

She had to laugh at this display of restraint, given his previous

utter lack of it. Suddenly, her determination to take down at least

one of the salamanders with her seemed a bit pointless.

"I'll pass. But next time, I'll beat you, salamander."

"Well, I doubt I could beat you one-on-one anyway," the red

warrior said, spreading his wings. With a flash of fairy dust, he

flew off. A brief rustle of branches sounded overhead, and he disappeared into the black night sky. Only Leafa, the boy dressed in

black, and two red Remain Lights were left. Within a minute,

both flames were gone.

She turned to the boy, slightly nervous again.

"So…what should I do now? Should I thank you? Run away?

Or draw my blade?"

He sliced his sword back and forth quickly before sliding it

back into the sheath over his back.

"Personally, given that I'm kind of the heroic knight who saved

the princess from the villain in this little scene"—he smirked—"I

could go for a tearful, smothering embrace from the grateful

princess—"

"What? Are you crazy?!" Leafa screamed, her face suddenly

hot. "I'd rather fight you!"

"Ha-ha-ha, I'm just kidding."

She ground her teeth in disgust at his obvious delight, but before she could come up with a snappy retort, a third voice piped

up out of nowhere.

"Th-that's right! She can't do that!"

It sounded like a young girl. Leafa looked around the clearing

but didn't see anyone. The boy hastened to respond.

"Hey, I told you not to come out!"

Looking closer, she saw something glowing, trying to escape

the boy's tunic pocket. It spun free and danced around his face,

making petite jingling noises all the while.

"The only ones who get to hug Papa are Mama and me!"

"P-Papa?"

Leafa had to take several steps closer to see that it was a little

fairy, small enough to perch on the palm of her hand—a Navigation Pixie, the kind that could be summoned from the help window. But those were only supposed to give prepared answers to

basic game questions.

She forgot her suspicion of the boy for a moment and stared at

the circling fairy.

"Uh, no, it's not what you—"

He hastily tried to cover the pixie with both hands, smiling

nervously. Leafa peered around his hands. "Hey, is this one of

those private pixies?"

"Eh?"

"You know! The kind that were given out by lottery to those

who preordered the game…Wow! I've never seen one before."

"No, I'm not a—mghf!" the pixie piped up before the boy covered her up again.

"Y-yeah, that. I just got lucky in the draw."

"Hmmm…"

Leafa gave the boy another appraising look, this one from

head to toe.

"Wh-what?"

"Just thinking…you're pretty weird. For someone who's been

into the game since before it opened, your equipment sure looks

starter level. And yet you were super tough back there."

"W-well, I made the account ages ago…but only started playing recently. I was busy with…a different VRMMO."

"Oh?"

This didn't entirely answer her suspicion, but if he'd gotten

used to the AmuSphere with a different game, that would at least

explain his incredible reflexes.

"But what's a spriggan doing so far out here? Your territory is

supposed to be way, way to the east."

"B-because…I got lost…"

"Lost?!" Leafa couldn't help but burst into laughter at his pathetic excuse. "Come on! No one's sense of direction is that bad!

You're such a character!"

Now a real belly laugh came bubbling up at his affronted expression. Once she'd had a good chuckle at his expense, Leafa returned her long katana to its sheath.

"Well, I suppose you deserve some recognition. Thanks for

saving me. My name's Leafa."

"I'm Kirito, and this is Yui." He spread his hands to reveal the

pixie. She bowed and fluttered up to land on his shoulder.

Leafa was somewhat surprised to realize that she actually

wanted to sit and talk with this boy named Kirito. It was especially rare for her—she wasn't particularly shy, but she didn't

make friends easily in this game. He didn't seem to be a bad person, so she summoned up her courage and asked, "What are you

doing after this?"

"Uh, nothing in particular…"

"Oh. In that case…why don't you let me treat you to dinner?"

The boy named Kirito gave her a face-splitting grin. Leafa was

inwardly impressed. VR games still hadn't gotten fine emotional

simulation down quite right, and few people could make a smile

look so natural.

"That'd be great. I'm looking for someone to teach me things."

"About what?"

"About this world. Especially"—he stopped smiling and turned

to the northeast—"that tree."

"The World Tree? Sure. Believe it or not, I've got seniority here

myself. It'll be a bit of a trip, but I'd recommend going to the neutral town to the north."

"Are you sure? Isn't there a town called Swilvane that's

closer?"

Leafa looked at him, exasperated. "True, there is. But you really don't know anything, do you? That's sylph territory."

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked innocently.

She was stunned. "Well, you can't attack any sylphs within a

sylph town, but they can attack you."

"Oh, I see…But they're not going to rush out to whack me all at

once, are they? You'll be with me, Miss Leafa. Plus, I'd like to see

the sylph land; I hear it's beautiful."

"Just 'Leafa' will do. You really are weird. Well, if you insist, I

don't mind, but…I can't guarantee you'll leave alive," she said,

shrugging. She loved the sylph home territory herself, so it didn't

hurt to hear him compliment it. She was also drawn to the idea of

shocking all of her acquaintances by escorting a rare spriggan

around town.

"Okay, I'll fly you to Swilvane. It's about time everyone logs in,

anyway."

She checked the window to confirm that it was just past four

o'clock in the afternoon. She had a bit of time left to play.

Leafa's wing power was mostly refilled by now; she beat her

glowing wings once or twice. Kirito spoke up, curious.

"Wait, you can fly without a controller?"

"Sure I can. How about you?"

"I barely just learned how to use this thing." Kirito made the

grasping motion with his left hand.

"Ahh. Well, there's a knack to using Voluntary Flight. Some

people pick it up right away; some never figure it out. Let's give it

a try, shall we? Turn around and don't pull out the controller."

"Uh, okay."

Kirito gave a half turn, and she extended her index fingers to

touch just above the shoulder blades of his slender back. The

pixie on his shoulder looked on in curious fascination.

"Can you tell what I'm touching?"

"Yes."

"They call it Voluntary Flight, but you don't just start flying

with your imagination. You have to assume that there are virtual

bones and muscles sprouting out of this spot, and move them."

"Virtual bones…and muscles…"

He repeated the words vaguely and twitched his shoulder

blades. In response, the intangible gray wings sprouting through

his black outfit began to tremble with his movement.

"Yes, that's it. First you just want to move all the muscles in

your shoulders and back until you get the hang of which ones are

connected to your wings!"

As soon as she said that, the boy's back crunched inward. The

vibration of his wings rose in pitch until it reached a high-pitched

hum.

"Yes, that's the way! Try that again, but harder!"

"Hrrm…"

Kirito tucked in his arms, grunting with the effort. Once she

sensed that he'd built up enough thrust, Leafa slapped him

heartily on the back.

"Wha—?"

Suddenly, the spriggan shot directly upward like a rocket.

"Aaaaahhh—"

Kirito's wail grew distant as his body got smaller and smaller.

A brief rustling of leaves above, and he was already beyond the

forest canopy.

"…"

Leafa and the pixie who'd fallen off of Kirito's shoulder looked

at each other.

"Uh-oh."

"Papa!!"

They both quickly took to the air after him. Once out of the

forest, they scanned the night sky until they noticed an unsteady

figure careering left and right against the background of the

golden moon.

"Aaaaaahhh…let me ooooofff…"

The piteous wail echoed through the wide, open sky.

"Pfft!"

Leafa and Yui shared another look and burst into laughter together.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"I-I'm sorry, Papa, this is just too funny!"

They hovered side by side, holding their sides with laughter.

When their mirth subsided, a fresh lament from Kirito came

floating on the wind, and they fell back into more chuckling.

Legs kicking helplessly, Leafa wondered when she'd last had a

laugh as good as this one. Certainly not here in this game.

Once she'd gotten the giggles out of her system, Leafa caught

Kirito's collar to halt his wild flight path. She gave him another

primer on the knack of Voluntary Flight, and after just a tenminute lesson, he was already managing to fly unsteadily on his

own.

"Whoa…this is…great!" he exclaimed as he tried making wide

turns and loop-the-loops.

"Isn't it?" Leafa laughed.

"It's just so…I dunno, moving. I wish I could keep flying like

this forever…"

"I know!"

In her excitement, Leafa flapped her wings to fly in parallel

alongside Kirito.

"No fair! Me, too!" the pixie chirped, taking a spot between

them.

"Once you're used to it, practice those back and shoulder blade

movements so they're as small as you can make them. If you're

too big and sloppy, you won't be able to swing your sword properly during an air battle. Well, are you ready to fly to Swilvane?

Follow me!"

She did a tight turn and checked her bearings before setting

off for the far side of the forest. She kept her speed low, knowing

that it was Kirito's first time, but he soon caught up to her side.

"You can go faster, ya know."

"Oh yeah?" She grinned and folded her wings sharply, picking

up her pace. She went faster and faster, hoping to hear Kirito

change his tune. The air buffeted her entire body, the wind howling in her ears.

But surprisingly enough, even at 70 percent of her maximum

speed, Kirito was following along. Normally, one would slow

down well before the actual maximum flight speed designated by

the game system, due to the sheer mental pressure. The fact that

he could achieve such a range in his first attempt at Voluntary

Flight spoke to a very firm willpower.

Leafa gritted her teeth and hit her highest acceleration. She'd

never gone this fast with a partner before—nobody else could

keep up.

The forest below her was a messy blur. The high-pitched violin

whine of sylph flight was blending harmoniously with the

whistling woodwind of the spriggan's wings.

"Aaah, I can't take anymooore…"

Yui the pixie zipped back into Kirito's shirt pocket. He and

Leafa shared a look, then laughed.

Soon the forest thinned out ahead, and a jumble of differentcolored lights came into view. In the center stood a radiant tower,

brighter than the rest. They had reached Swilvane, capital of the

sylph region, and its iconic Tower of Wind. As they grew closer,

the main streets and a variety of players going about their business came into view.

"Hey, there it is," Kirito shouted over the howling of the wind.

"We're going to land at the base of that tower in the center!

Uh…wait…" The smile froze on Leafa's face as something occurred to her. "Kirito, do you know how to land…?"

"…"

He froze up as well.

"I do not…"

"Umm…"

The enormous tower already took up half of their field of vision ahead.

"Sorry, too late now. Good luck!" Leafa smiled apologetically

and prepared to slow down. She stretched out her wings to catch

the air and began the descent to the square, legs held out in front

of her.

"Wha…? You've gotta be kidding meeeee—"

The spriggan plunged straight toward the outer wall of the

tower, still screaming. Leafa watched him go and said a silent

prayer in his honor.

Several seconds later, the air shook with a tremendous crash.

"That was messed up, Leafa…I'm going to be afraid to fly now."

Kirito glared at her vengefully as he sat in the wildly colored

flower bed at the base of the jade-green tower.

"I got really dizzy!" exclaimed the pixie on his shoulder, her

head swaying in a circle. Leafa leaned over, hands on her hips,

trying not to laugh.

"That's what happens when you get too carried away. Consider

yourself lucky to have survived at all. I was sure you were dead."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence."

He had slammed face-first into the wall at top speed, but Kirito still had more than half of his HP remaining. He truly was a

mysterious newbie. Was he just lucky, or did he know how to

brace himself against impact?

"Don't worry, I'll heal you," she reassured him, chanting the

healing incantation with her right hand held out to him. Glowing

blue dewdrops sprayed out from her palm onto Kirito.

"Oh, cool. So that's magic, huh?" Kirito watched her with intense interest.

"You can't use high-level healing magic unless you're an undine. But the more basic stuff is totally essential, so you ought to

learn it."

"So the different races have different magical affinities, huh?

What about spriggans?"

"They're good at treasure hunting and illusion magic, I think.

Neither of which is very useful in battle, which means they're actually the least popular race."

"Yikes…this is why you should research first," Kirito groaned,

getting to his feet. He stretched widely and cast a glance around

the area. "Wow, so this is what the sylph town looks like! It's really beautiful."

"Isn't it?" Leafa surveyed her familiar hometown with him.

Swilvane was also known as the "Jade City." Delicate towers

were connected by a series of complex midair pathways, and

everything in the city shone with one shade of jade green or another. When the entire place was illuminated by the glowing

evening lights amid the darkness, the sight was nothing short of

pure fantasy. In particular, Leafa believed the splendor of the

lord's mansion behind the Tower of Wind was unmatched by any

other building in Alfheim.

They both stood in silence, watching people pass through the

city of lights, when a voice suddenly called out from the right.

"Leafa! You're all right!"

She turned to see a young sylph with yellow-green hair running up and waving wildly.

"Oh, Recon. Yeah, I'm fine."

He came to a halt in front of Leafa, his eyes shining. "That's

just amazing. If anyone could escape from such a large group of

enemies, it'd be…uh…"

Recon belatedly noticed the dark figure standing next to Leafa,

and he froze for several seconds, his mouth agape.

"Wha…y-you're a spriggan! What are you doing here?" He

leaped backward and put a hand on his dagger, but Leafa quickly

interceded.

"It's okay, Recon. He saved me."

"Uh…"

She pointed to Recon, who was still confused. "This is Recon, a

good friend. He got wasted by those salamanders just before I

met you."

"Sorry I didn't get there sooner, then. Hi, I'm Kirito."

"Um, nice to meet you." He grasped Kirito's outstretched hand

and bowed deeply. "Wait, no!" Recon leaped backward again.

"Are you sure about this, Leafa? What if he's a spy?"

"I had my doubts at first, too. But he seems a bit too airheaded

to be a spy."

"Hey, that's messed up!"

Recon watched Leafa and Kirito laugh, suspicion in his eyes,

then cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Sigurd and the rest are already sitting down in Daffodil Hall.

They're going to divvy up the items there."

"Oh, I see. Umm…"

When killed by an enemy player, any character had a 30 percent chance of his or her equipment being stolen. However, when

in a party, insurance slots were available to hold items of particular value. If the player was killed, that item would automatically

be transferred to another party member for safekeeping.

Anything of value from the day's hunting party was tagged as

insurance, which meant that as the last survivor of the group,

Leafa wound up with all the spoils. The salamanders knew that,

hence their persistence in chasing her down. Thanks to Kirito,

however, she was able to bring the entire haul back to Swilvane.

Normally, the party would rendezvous back in a tavern so that

all members, surviving or slain, could redistribute the loot. Leafa

considered for a moment before answering Recon.

"I'll pass. None of the items fit my skills, anyway. I'll leave

them with you to split up among the others."

"Uh…you're not coming?"

"Nope. I promised Kirito a free meal."

"…"

Now Recon gave Kirito an appraising look of an entirely different sort.

"Don't get any funny ideas, okay?" She gave the toes of Recon's

boots a kick, and then opened up a trade window, dumping all of

the day's spoils into his inventory. "Just shoot me a message

when the next hunt is scheduled, and I'll participate if the time

works out. See you later!"

"Um, Leafa…"

But she was growing uncomfortable under the scrutiny. After

forcing a premature end to the conversation, Leafa grabbed Kirito's sleeve and pulled him away.

"So was that guy your boyfriend?"

"Was he your lover?"

"Excuse me?!" Leafa tripped on the paving stones at the simultaneous questions from Kirito and Yui. Her wings spread wide as

she caught her balance. "No way! He's just a party member!"

"You two seemed pretty close for in-game acquaintances."

"Well, I do know him in real life—he's a classmate at school.

But that's it."

"Playing a VRMMO with your classmate, huh? That sounds

fun," Kirito said wistfully, but Leafa grimaced.

"It's not all great, actually. Sometimes it reminds you of the

homework you need to do."

"Ha-ha-ha, good point."

They made their way down an alley as they chatted. The occasional passing sylph did a double take at Kirito's black hair, but

the sight of Leafa accompanying him kept them from voicing any

suspicions. Leafa wasn't the most active player in the game, but

she was well known around town for winning Swilvane's regular

fighting tournaments on multiple occasions.

Eventually, a cozy tavern-inn came into view. It was the Lily of

the Valley, a favorite of Leafa's for their excellent dessert selection.

She pushed open the swinging door and surveyed the room

finding there were no players inside. In real time, it was early

evening, so there would be some time yet before people finished

their adventures for the night and came back to celebrate with a

drink.

She and Kirito sat down at a window table in the back.

"It's all on me, so order whatever you want."

"In that case…"

"Just don't eat too much, or it'll be rough after logging out,"

Leafa said, eyeing the tempting dessert menu.

Mysteriously enough, the virtual feeling of fullness after eating

a meal in Alfheim did not disappear for a while once out of the

game. The ability to eat all the sweets she could stand without

worrying about calories was one of the biggest draws of a

VRMMO for Leafa. The downside was her mother's scolding

when she showed up for dinner without an appetite.

It wasn't uncommon to see news articles about people suffering from malnutrition because they used the system as a dieting

aid. Even worse were the heavy players who spent their entire

lives in the game and starved to death because the in-game food

tricked them into forgetting to eat.

Leafa ordered a fruit bavarois, Kirito a nut tart, and Yui a

cheese cookie, to Leafa's surprise. For drinks, they had a bottle of

spiced wine. The NPC waitress set their orders on the table as

soon as they'd placed them.

"Well, let's make it official: Thanks for saving me."

They clinked their glasses of odd green wine, and Leafa threw

the cold liquid down her parched throat. Kirito refilled her glass

just as quickly and grinned at her.

"Eh, it just happened that way…Those guys sure were eager for

that fight, though. Do you get lots of those PK gangs here?"

"Well, salamanders and sylphs are at odds to begin with. Our

territories are adjacent, so there's constant clashing in the hunting grounds between us, and there's been lots of competition for

power. It's only recently that there have been organized PKs like

that, though. I'm pretty sure they must be planning an assault on

the World Tree soon…"

"Speaking of which, I need you to teach me about the World

Tree."

"That's right, you mentioned that. But why?"

"I want to get to the top of it."

She gave him an exasperated look. But he wasn't joking—his

black eyes were shining earnestly.

"Well…that's what every player in the game wants to do. In

fact, it's the greatest quest in the game of ALfheim Online."

"Meaning?"

"You know about the flight limits, right? Every race in the

game can only fly for about ten minutes at a time, max. But

whichever race reaches the floating city atop the World Tree first

—and meets Fairy King Oberon—will all be reborn as a new,

higher race called alfs. After that, you'll be able to fly as long and

far as you want."

"I see," Kirito murmured, taking a bite of his nut tart. "It's an

enticing story. Does anyone know the way to get to the top of the

tree?"

"Within the roots beneath the tree is a giant dome. There's an

entrance in the roof of the dome that lets you climb up the inside

of the tree, but the NPC guardians that watch over the dome are

superpowerful. A bunch of the different races have tried to challenge them, but we've been wiped out every time. The salamanders are the most powerful race at the moment. They're probably

mustering forces now, gathering money for equipment and items,

thinking the next time's the charm."

"So these guardians are that strong, huh?"

"It's insane. ALO opened a year ago. What game has a quest

you can't beat even after a year of play?"

"Good point…"

"Well, last autumn, one of the major ALO fan sites started a

petition to have RCT rebalance the quest."

"Oh, really? And…?"

"They gave us this canned response. 'The game is properly balanced according to the team's specifications.' Lately, a lot of peo-

ple are saying that our current strategy is never going to work."

"Could it be that a major story quest's been missed, or that it's

simply impossible for a single race to conquer on its own?"

Leafa was about to put another spoonful of bavarois in her

mouth but stopped to give Kirito a surprised look. "That's a very

sharp idea. As it happens, that's what we're doing now—checking

around to make sure we haven't missed any quests. But if it's the

latter, that'll never happen."

"Never?"

"I mean, it's a contradiction. The quest is only beatable by the

first race to complete it. Who's going to help another race complete the quest if it just means losing out on the prize?"

"So you're saying…the World Tree is essentially impossible to

climb…?"

"In my opinion. I mean, there are other quests, and you can always raise your crafting skills…But it's hard to give up on it once

you've learned how fun it is to fly…Still, I'm sure we'll get it someday, even if it takes a hundred years…"

"That'll be too late!" Kirito muttered darkly.

Leafa looked up with a start and saw a deep furrow in his

brow, his lips twisted as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Papa…?" The pixie put down the cookie she'd been holding

two-handed and flew over to land on Kirito's shoulder. She

rubbed a tiny hand on the boy's cheek to comfort him. A few moments later, he slumped down in resignation.

"I'm sorry to startle you," he said quietly. "I have to get to the

top of that tree."

Kirito stared right into her, his eyes as sharp and shining as a

finely honed blade. Leafa suddenly realized that her heart had

begun to beat much faster. She took a quick sip of wine to hide

her fluster.

"Why is it…so urgent?"

"I'm…looking for someone."

"What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain…"

He gave her a weak smile. But his eyes seemed to be hiding a

deep pool of despair. They were eyes that she'd seen somewhere

before.

"Well…thanks for the grub, Leafa. I appreciate all the advice.

I'm glad you were the first person I ran into." He made to get up,

but Leafa unconsciously reached out to grab his arm.

"W-wait. Are you going…to the World Tree?"

"Yeah. I need to see it for myself."

"That would be reckless of you…It's so incredibly far, and

there are tough monsters on the way. I can tell you're strong,

but…" And before she could stop herself, the words tumbled out

of her mouth. "Tell you what. I'll take you there."

"Huh…?" Kirito's eyes grew wide. "No, I couldn't ask you to do

that. Not when we just met…"

"It's fine! I've made up my mind!"

Leafa turned her face away to hide the blush that had snuck

over her cheeks. Because everyone in ALO had wings, there was

no fast-travel system. The trip to Alne, the city at the center of

Alfheim that sat around the World Tree, was equivalent to a reallife journey. The offer she'd just made, to this boy she'd met just a

few hours before, was simply unfathomable.

But…she just couldn't let him go alone.

"Will you be on tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Meet here at three o'clock PM, then. I've got to leave for now.

Go to the inn upstairs to log out. See you tomorrow!"

Before she had even finished speaking, Leafa was waving her

hand to bring up the game menu. She could log out instantly anywhere in sylph territory, so she smacked the button at once.

"H-hey, wait!" Kirito blurted out, and she looked up to see him

smiling at her. "Thanks."

She did her best to smile back, and then nodded before hitting

the OK button. The world flashed into a rainbow of light, then

blacked out. The sensations of Leafa's body faded away, until only

the burning of her cheeks and racing of her heart remained.

Her eyes opened slowly.

The first thing she saw was the familiar ceiling of her room

and the large poster she'd pinned to it. It was a custom-made

poster of an in-game screenshot blown up as large as she could

get it. The picture was of a flying fairy with a long ponytail in the

midst of a flock of birds and endless blue sky.

Suguha Kirigaya raised her hands and slowly removed the

AmuSphere. The device was two simple rings in a crown-like

structure: much more fragile than the original NerveGear but

without the same sensation of being clamped into place.

Even back in the real world, her cheeks were still ablaze. She

sat up in bed, slapped her face, and raised a silent wail inside her

chest.

Aaaahhh!

Waves of belated embarrassment crashed over her at her boldness. Recon (her classmate Shinichi Nagata) once said that when

Suguha was Leafa, she was at least 50 percent bolder. Today's escapade was well above that mark. She writhed in agony, her legs

flopping on the bed.

He was such a strange boy. Well, there was no saying whether

the player was actually a boy, but Suguha's instinct told her he

was quite close to her age. But between his relaxed demeanor and

his occasional mischievous remarks, it was hard to tell for sure.

His personality wasn't the only mystery, though. Where did

that incredible strength come from? In her year of playing ALO,

he was the first person she'd come across who didn't seem beatable in a duel. She spoke his name very quietly.

"Kirito, huh…?"

The first time that Suguha had felt the urge to see a virtual world

for herself was just about a year after the SAO Incident began.

Until then, the concept of a VRMMO was nothing but a target

of loathing to her, the tool that had literally stolen her brother

from her. But the more she held Kazuto's hand as he slept in his

hospital bed, the more she spoke to his deaf ears, the more she

began to wonder what his world was like. It was up to her to

bridge the distance that was now between them, she had thought.

Midori had given her a long, hard look when Suguha said she

wanted an AmuSphere, but she eventually granted her daughter's

request, asking only that she be mindful of the time and her

health.

The next day at lunch, Suguha visited the desk of Shinichi Na-

gata, the biggest gamer in class—for better or for worse—and

asked him to come up to the roof with her to discuss a serious

topic. The absolute silence and subsequent frenzy of the class

after this scene was still the stuff of legend.

Leaning against the chain-link fence around the roof, Suguha

asked the hopelessly anticipatory Nagata to teach her about VRMMOs. After several seconds and an entire emotional spectrum

of facial expressions, he asked her what kind of game she had in

mind.

When Suguha told him that she couldn't take any time away

from her studies and kendo practice, Nagata pushed his glasses

up on his nose and muttered some gibberish like, "You'll want a

skill-based entry rather than a grindfest time-sink, then." Ultimately, his best recommendation was ALfheim Online.

She hadn't been expecting him to start playing ALO with her,

but with the help of his thorough tutorials, Suguha found that she

was surprisingly well suited to this virtual world game. There

were two main reasons.

First, Suguha's years of diligent kendo study translated extremely well into the game.

When players squared off in battle, evasion was a foreign concept. It was a foregone conclusion that both sides would hit the

other; as long as your total damage was higher, the battle was

won. But Suguha's well-trained reflexes and instincts meant she

could easily avoid most attacks. In a way, her almost unfair skill

at the game was a natural outcome.

If ALO had been a level-based MMO like so many others, the

lack of time to invest in her character meant she would never

match the core players. In fact, among the veterans of ALO,

Leafa's stats were actually below average. It was only because

ALO was such a skill-based game that she was powerful enough

to be considered one of the Five Great Sylphs.

The second thing that drew Suguha to the game was something entirely unique to ALO: the flight system.

She could still easily remember the sensation of absolute joy

the first time she got the knack of Voluntary Flight and was able

to fly of her own free will.

Suguha was small. Her lack of reach in kendo bouts was a constant thorn in her side, and as a response, she had learned from a

young age to always go faster, farther. So the way that ALO let her

use that long katana in an overhead stance—impossible when one

hand was holding a flight stick—and then slash through foes at

extreme long range was bliss beyond compare. And beyond that,

there were the sharp dives that threatened to shake her to pieces;

the long, gentle cruises at high elevation among the flocks of

birds; and so much more. With the act of flying, Suguha was

deeply in love.

So while slow, clumsy Recon called her a "raging speedaholic,"

Suguha couldn't imagine playing ALO without the joy of flight.

After a year of experience in the game, Suguha was a fully dedicated VRMMO player. She'd started this experiment to grow

closer to her brother, and now she loved it for what it was.

Several times a day since Kazuto had come back, Suguha had

desperately wanted to talk to him about ALO—to share the pains

and pleasures of the virtual world she'd finally come to understand with him. But the sight of the shadows behind his eyes kept

her from ever broaching the subject.

She was certain that even after the horrors of the SAO Incident, Kazuto still loved the idea of a virtual world. All the

NerveGears were supposedly recalled, but he'd gotten his back

somehow, and the Sword Art Online ROM card was stuck in the

photo stand on his desk.

But the SAO Incident wasn't over for Kazuto. Not until she

woke up.

The thought tore Suguha's heart to pieces. She never wanted

to see him cry in such terrible despair again, the way he had last

night. She wanted him to have a smile on his face at all times.

And for that reason, she wanted his lost love to wake up.

But she knew that when it happened, Kazuto's heart would be

forever beyond her reach.

If only they'd been actual siblings. She'd never have come to

feel this way. She'd never desire to keep Kazuto all to herself.

As she lay back in bed and stared at the poster of the Alfheim

sky, Suguha wondered why people didn't have wings. She wished

she could fly as far as she wanted in the real sky, until the tangled

web around her heart was blown away.

I stared at the seat that had held the sylph girl named Leafa just

moments before, still a bit shaken.

"I wonder what got into her," I muttered. On my shoulder, I

could feel Yui tilting her head in confusion.

"I don't know…I don't have my old mental monitoring functions anymore."

"Figures. Well, it's nice of her to offer to show me the way."

"If a map is what you need, I've got one. But the more on our

side, the safer we'll be. On the other hand…" Yui stood up to

speak directly into my ear. "You shouldn't cheat on Mama, Papa."

"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.