Chapter 6

Out in the yard dusted with snow, the embrace of the chill morning air was biting, but even that did not drive all of the fogginess

from my head.

I shook my head a few times and headed resolutely for the

wash station in the corner of the open space. I twisted the oldfashioned silver faucet and held out my hands to catch the falling

water.

It was so cold, it seemed like the pipes should be frozen. But I

splashed water on my face nonetheless, an attempt to force all of

my nerves into activity. They screamed in protest, but were

splashed a few more times before I tilted my head down and

drank directly from the spigot.

As I was drying my face with the towel around my neck, the

glass door to the house opened, and Suguha stepped out in her

tracksuit. She was normally an excellent morning person, but

today she looked as miserably half-asleep as I felt.

"Morning, Sugu," I said. She tottered over to mumble a greeting, blinking heavily.

"Morning, Big Brother."

"You look sleepy. When did you get to bed last night?"

"Umm…around four, I think."

I shook my head in disappointment. "C'mon, kids shouldn't be

staying up all night. What were you doing?"

"Ummm…the Internet…and stuff…"

This took me by surprise. The old Suguha would never have

stayed up until all hours on the Internet. She really must have

changed in the two years I'd been gone.

"Just don't overdo it. Not that I have room to talk…"

The second half of that came out as a quiet mumble. Remembering something from last night, I said, "Hey Sugu, turn

around."

"…?"

She did a half turn, her face confused and still half-asleep. I

put my hand under the faucet to get it nice and wet, then grabbed

the back collar of her suit and shoved a half-dozen freezing-cold

drops down her unprotected back.

"Pyaaaaa!!"

Her screech echoed throughout the yard.

Suguha was still in a huff throughout all of our morning stretches

and swinging practice, but her mood improved instantly when I

promised to buy her a raspberry cream parfait drizzled with green

tea and sweet-bean syrup from our local diner.

We'd both slept in a bit this morning, so once we'd finished

our showers after training, the clock said it was already past nine.

As usual, our mom was fast asleep, so Suguha and I cooked our

own breakfast.

I was washing and cutting tomatoes into sixths, and Suguha

was dicing lettuce, when she leaned over and asked, "What's your

schedule for today, Big Brother?"

"Well, I've got something to do in the afternoon…so I'm think-

ing of visiting the hospital before then."

"I see…"

Once I'd learned of Asuna's plight, visiting her in the hospital

every other day was my most important custom.

As a sixteen-year-old in real life, there was very little I could

do for Asuna—basically nothing, actually. Holding her hand and

praying was the best I could manage.

The screenshot Agil had sent me flashed through my mind.

Thanks to that picture, I'd made my way into the virtual world of

Alfheim and, after two days, was very close to the location of the

girl in the photo, but I had no proof that it was Asuna. I could be

searching for her in the wrong place entirely.

But there was something to that world—that much was certain.

Sugou wanted Asuna to stay under forever. His company was

involved in running ALfheim Online. The character data for Kirito and Yui the mental-care AI, both from SAO, fit right into the

server…I didn't know how all the pieces added up, but there was

something there.

When the ALO server maintenance finished this afternoon, I

would be challenging the World Tree in that land of fairies. Just

the thought sent shudders of impatience down my back. It would

be nearly unbearable to sit in my room, waiting for the maintenance to finish, wondering to myself if I was any closer to Asuna

than when I started.

So before I did any of that, I wanted to touch the real Asuna, to

feel her warmth. Sugou had warned me to stay away from her,

citing her condition, but there was nothing he could do to stop me

from visiting.

Once they were cut, we tossed the tomatoes, lettuce, and watercress in a bowl and stirred in some dressing. Suguha was quiet

throughout, but she eventually gave me a serious look and asked,

"Hey, Big Brother. Can I go to the hospital with you…?"

"Huh…?"

I paused, bewildered. Suguha had never actively tried to learn

more about my experience in SAO before. I'd told her a bit about

Asuna a while back, but nothing beyond that, not even my character's name.

I panicked slightly when I remembered that two nights ago,

shocked by the story of Asuna's engagement, I'd broken down

and cried in front of Suguha, but this time, I managed to keep my

expression cool.

"Yeah…okay. I'm sure Asuna would like that."

Suguha nodded happily, but there seemed to be a shadow behind her smile. I gave her a close look, but she only turned

around, carrying the bowl to the table.

Nothing odd happened after that, and I soon forgot about Suguha's awkward reaction.

"What's up with your school situation now?" she asked,

crunching her veggies across from me at the table.

It was a reasonable question. At age fourteen, the fall of my

second year of middle school, I'd been taken prisoner by SAO and

had not escaped for two years, making me sixteen now. This

April, I should have been starting my second year of high school,

but I hadn't taken any entrance exams, and even if I wanted to,

most of my memory was now stuffed with a vast amount of data

related to SAO. It would take a long, long time just to forget all

those item prices and monster attack patterns so that I could replace them with historical dates and English vocabulary words.

The fellow with glasses from the Ministry of Internal Affairs

had actually mentioned something about this, but I'd been so

concerned with Asuna that I didn't take in most of that information. I strained to recall the fragments that remained.

"Let's see…I think they said they were going to use an old

school campus that was left empty after some recent consolidation to make a special temporary school for the students that

came back from SAO. No entrance tests to worry about, and if

you graduate, you'll qualify to take a college entrance exam."

"Ohh, I see. That sounds nice…right?" Suguha smiled for a

moment, then scowled and mumbled, "I guess it does seem a little too convenient and unified, though…"

"Well spotted," I said, smiling. "I think that's exactly what the

government wants. We were locked inside a game for two years

with the threat of death. They're worried about the effect that

might have had on our mental health. So I'm guessing it's easier

for them to manage the situation by putting us all together like

that."

"Aw, I dunno," Suguha mumbled, scrunching her face up.

I hastily added, "Well, regardless of any overmanagement, at

least they're offering a safety net. If I tried to get into a regular old

high school now, I'd have to spend the whole year studying all

over again at a cram school. Of course, they're not going to force

us to attend this temporary school, so I have the option of trying

on my own, if I want…"

"I'm sure you could do it. You have very good grades."

"Had, past tense. I haven't done any schoolwork in two years."

"I know! I could be your tutor!"

"Oh? Maybe I should have you teach me math and information

processing."

"Umm…"

I grinned at her look of awkward hesitation and popped the

slice of buttered toast into my mouth.

In truth, I hadn't been in any state to think about school recently. With everything that had happened and Asuna's current

plight, it was hard to think of myself as an ordinary student.

Even now, two months back into the real world, I sometimes

felt lonely and vulnerable without my beloved swords at my back.

There were no more monsters lurking, waiting to pounce, but I

still felt that sense of anxiety. It would take a while to get rid of

the sensation that I was actually Kirito the swordsman, while

Kazuto Kirigaya—who attended school, took tests, and grew older

—was only a persona.

Or perhaps it was because inside my head, I still hadn't seen

the ending of SAO. I couldn't hang up my swords until I'd seen

Asuna returned to this world. I had to get her back. Nothing

could start until then.

I paid for two tickets at the terminal and we stepped off the bus,

into the street. Normally I rode my bike to the hospital, but today

I decided to give the workout a rest and take the bus instead.

Suguha blinked as she stared up at the hospital.

"Wow, it's so big!"

"You should see the interior. It's like a hotel."

I waved at the guard as we passed through the gate. The walk

up the tree-lined hill to the hospital itself was surprisingly long,

and it took several minutes for us to finally make our way into the

dark brown building. Suguha, the very picture of good health,

looked around curiously at the unfamiliar setting, so I had to drag

her over to the desk for our visitor passes before making my way

to the elevator. We got off on the top floor and walked down the

empty hallway to the last room.

"This is it…?"

"Yeah," I nodded, sticking the passcard into the lock on the

door. Suguha stared at the metal nameplate next to the door.

"Asuna…Yuuki…So her character name was her real name?

Most people don't bother to use their own name."

"I'm surprised you know that. As far as I can tell, Asuna was

the only one using her real name…"

I slid the card back out, and with a quiet beep, the orange LED

turned green and the door opened. Instantly, the thick scent of

flowers flooded out. I stifled the sound of my breath and walked

into the chamber of the serene, sleeping princess. I could feel the

tension in Suguha's body as she stayed right next to me.

I put a hand on the white curtain and said the same quick

prayer I always did.

Then I slid it aside.

Suguha forgot to breathe when she saw the girl sleeping on the

spacious bed.

For a moment, she thought it wasn't a person. It must be a

fairy—one of the Alfs, the true fairies that lived on the top of the

World Tree. Such was the otherworldly beauty of the sleeping girl

before her.

Next to her, Kazuto watched in silence, until he finally took a

short breath and whispered, "Let me introduce you. This is

Asuna…Asuna the Flash, vice-commander of the Knights of the

Blood. Even at the very end, I could never match her speed and

precision with a blade…"

He trailed off and looked down at the girl.

"Asuna, this is my sister, Suguha."

Suguha stepped forward and said timidly, "It's nice to meet

you, Asuna."

The sleeping girl did not respond, of course.

She looked at the navy-blue headgear stuck to the girl's head.

It was the same NerveGear that Suguha had looked at nearly

every day, often with hatred. Only the three glittering lights on

the front face of the apparatus gave any sign that Asuna was alive.

The deep, terrible pain that Suguha had nursed while Kazuto

was locked in the game for those two years was something he was

grappling with now, she realized. Suguha's heart quavered like a

leaf floating on water.

It was too cruel that this inhumanly beautiful person's soul

should still be locked away in some other, hidden world. She

wanted to bring this girl back to Kazuto's side—to bring a true

smile of joy to his face.

But at the same time, she couldn't stand to see the look on his

face as he silently gazed down at Asuna on the bed. She was starting to regret having come here.

When she had asked to tag along today, Suguha had wanted to

know what her true feelings were, once and for all. Ever since Midori told her the truth, an itch had developed within Suguha, underneath all of the regret and longing of the last two years. Was it

the close love she felt for her brother, or the romantic love she felt

for her actual cousin? What did she want from Kazuto?

I just want to be with him forever…as a close sibling.

But was that really all there was to it? Could she truthfully

claim that she wanted nothing more than to train with him and

eat at the table with him every day?

These were questions she had asked herself over and over

since Kazuto's return two months ago.

She'd thought that by meeting the person who owned the innermost part of his heart, she might discover the answers. But as

she stood in the golden, quiet hospital room, Suguha felt herself

growing scared. She was afraid to learn those answers.

She was about to say that she'd just be waiting out in the hallway, trying not to look at Kazuto's face, when he suddenly took a

step forward and she lost her opportunity to excuse herself. He

circled around the bed and sat down in the chair on the other

side. Now he was front and center in her field of vision.

He grabbed up Asuna's small hand, which was poking out of

the white sheets, and stared silently at her sleeping face. When

Suguha saw the look on his face, a sharp pain pierced her heart.

". . ."

That look in his eyes. It was the look of a weary traveler in

search of his fated lover after many long years…perhaps a journey

that had begun in his previous life and that would continue into

the next. Behind the gentle, caring light in his eyes, she sensed a

deep, mad longing. Even the colors of his irises seemed different.

In that moment, Suguha realized what her heart truly desired,

and that it was in a place she could never reach.

She couldn't even remember what she and Kazuto talked about

on the way back home.

The next thing she knew, Suguha was lying on her bed, staring

at the blue sky in the poster on her ceiling.

Her cell phone was beeping happily atop the headboard. It

wasn't an incoming call, but an alarm she'd set last night before

bed. The time was three o'clock, the end of the ALO server maintenance. The gate to the other world was open again.

She didn't want to shed any real tears. If she cried here, she

knew she'd never be able to give up on this. Instead, she'd cry a

bit in the fairy world. Leafa was always peppy and energetic;

she'd be back to laughing in no time.

Suguha stopped the alarm and picked up the AmuSphere sitting next to it. She put it on, lay back down again, closed her eyes,

and sent her soul soaring.

When the sylph girl awoke, she was in an inn room on the edge of

Alne, central city of Alfheim.

Last night—actually, early this morning—Leafa had at long last

escaped the underground realm of Jotunheim. When she'd

climbed the stairs carved into the roots of the World Tree, she

was right in Alne where she'd hoped to be. The knothole she'd

climbed out of closed up behind her in seconds, and there would

be no turning back.

After that, she'd checked in to the nearest inn, rubbed her fatigued eyes, and then rolled into bed. She fell asleep immediately,

logging out of the game automatically. She didn't even have the

strength to bother with reserving a second room.

Leafa sat up and went over to the edge of the bed. The bustle

of town, the smell in the air, and even the color of her skin were

different, but that stabbing pain deep in her heart had not vanished. She stayed hunched over, waiting for the pain to turn into

liquid so it could drip from her eyes.

After a few dozen seconds, a smooth tone announced the appearance of another person next to her. Leafa slowly raised her

head.

The boy in black's eyes went wide when he saw her, but he recovered quickly and asked, "What's wrong, Leafa?"

Something about that gentle smile, like a breeze in the night,

reminded her of Kazuto. As soon as she saw it, tears sprang into

her eyes and fell through the air like glittering beads of light. She

tried to put a smile on her face.

"Well, Kirito…I…I've got a broken heart."

He stared at her with his midnight eyes. She was struck by the

urge to tell this strangely old boy with the very young features

everything—but she clenched her teeth and held it in.

"S-sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this personal stuff. I know

it's against the rules to talk about real life here," Leafa hastily

added, trying to keep the smile on her face, but the trail of tears

did not stop.

Kirito reached out and put his gloved hand on top of Leafa's

head, tenderly rubbing it back and forth a few times.

"You're allowed to cry when it's hard—there or here. There's

no rule that says you can't express your emotions in a game."

There was always a bit of awkwardness around moving and

speaking in the virtual world. But Kirito's soft, sympathetic voice

and gentle hands were smooth as butter. They enveloped Leafa's

senses and made her comfortable.

"Kirito…"

She gently laid her head against his chest. As each of the tears

silently dripped onto his clothes, they evaporated with tiny glimmers of light.

I love my brother, she told herself, as if just confirming what

she already suspected. But I can't speak this feeling aloud. I have

to keep it trapped deep in the deepest part of my heart. That

way I might actually forget about it one day.

Even if they really were cousins by birth, Kazuto and Suguha

had been raised as brother and sister for years and years. If she

revealed her feelings, Kazuto and her parents would be shocked

and troubled. Not to mention that Kazuto's heart belonged to that

lovely girl…

She had to forget everything.

Suguha, in the form of Leafa, let herself sink into the chest of

this mysterious Kirito, and hoped that day would come soon.

They stayed that way for quite a while, Kirito rubbing Leafa's

head without a word the entire time. Eventually, a bell began

ringing in the distance, and Leafa straightened up, looking at Kirito. This time she was able to give him a proper smile. Her tears

had stopped.

"…I'm fine now. Thanks, Kirito. You're very nice."

He scratched his head and smiled shyly. "I've heard just the

opposite plenty of times. Gonna log off for today? I think I can

manage on my own from here…"

"No, I've come this far. Might as well finish the job."

She leaped up off the bed, did a spin and a half to face him,

and extended her hand. "C'mon, let's go!"

Kirito nodded and took it, that usual slight smile playing

across the corner of his mouth. Then, as though remembering

something, he looked up toward the ceiling. "Yui, are you there?"

Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, the familiar

pixie appeared with a sparkling of light between them. She

rubbed her eyes with a tiny hand, yawning majestically.

"Fwaaaa…Good morning, Papa, Leafa," she said, plopping

down on his shoulder. Leafa took a good look at Yui and greeted

her with a question.

"Morning, Yui. I've been wondering…do Nav Pixies sleep at

night like everyone else?"

"Oh, of course not. But when Papa's gone, I shut off my input

systems and organize and analyze my collected data, so I suppose

you could consider that a form of sleep."

"But the way you were just yawning…"

"Isn't that a part of the human start-up sequence? Papa does it

for an average of eight seconds every time he—"

"Enough of that nonsense." Kirito jabbed Yui's cheek with his

finger, then opened his item window and placed the large sword

over his back. "All right, let's go!"

"Okay!" Leafa agreed, slinging her blade across her waist.

As they left the inn side by side, the sun was just reaching its

apex overhead. Most of the numerous NPC businesses were open,

and the nighttime bars and mysterious item shops had CLOSED signs

hanging from their doors.

It was just after three o'clock on a weekday, but because monsters and items were particularly well replenished after weekly

maintenance, there were plenty of players active.

Leafa had been too tired this morning to notice, but with fresh

eyes now she saw a score of surprises among the crowds.

The variety of races and players strolling around and chatting

happily was stunning anew—she saw short, squat gnomes covered in metal armors and lugging huge battle-axes; tiny, harpcarrying pookas that barely reached her waist; and even mysterious Imps with purple skin under black-enameled leather. At one

of the stone benches throughout the city, she found a red-haired

salamander girl and a young, blue-haired undine man staring

deeply into each other's eyes as a cait sith with a massive wolf

meandered past.

The sight was much wilder and more chaotic than the uniform

green theme of Swilvane, but that liveliness was full of a buoyant

cheer. Even Leafa momentarily forget the throbbing in her heart

and let a smile steal across her face.

She noticed that part of her was hoping the two of them would

look like a natural couple here, then hurriedly squashed that feeling. Looking ahead down the street, she was greeted with a sight

that beggared the imagination.

"Wow…"

Alne was a many-layered city, jutting up out of the ground in a

conical shape. Leafa was only in the outermost ring, far from the

center, but she was still able to see virtually all of the city in its

many-ringed wonder.

Looming over the exterior of Alne, and made of something obviously different from the light gray rock of the city, were numerous incredibly thick, moss-green cylinders. Each one was nearly

as wide around as a two-story building was tall.

These giant cylinders snaking all over the center of Alne were

actually tree roots. Headed downward, they pierced all the way

through the thick surface layer of earth to the underground world

of Jotunheim. But as seen upward from Jotunheim, they wriggled

into fatter and fatter lines until, at last, breaking free of the surface, they all met at a single point hanging above the center of

Alne. In other words, the city of Alne aboveground and the giant

ice crystal jutting from the ceiling of Jotunheim were in symmetrical locations, with similar designs.

Leafa looked farther up, her back shivering with electricity as

she did.

The roots met to make up the base of a tree so large and thick

that any attempts to capture its essence with mere words would

fail. From that confluence, the trunk shot straight upward, its

bark gleaming a golden green from colonization by moss and

other flora. And yet, the entire tree seemed to grow more and

more bluish as it stretched deeper into the sky. Even higher than

the sky's blue, the branches were shrouded in a white haze—not

mist, but clouds. Said clouds were a visual representation of the

flight altitude limit, but the branches shot straight through them

and far above.

Just before they turned invisible against the blue and white of

the sky, the limbs could be faintly seen sprouting into a wide radial pattern. Each branch grew thinner and thinner until lace

seemed to cover the sky, all the way over to the outer edge of the

city where Leafa now stood. Based on the width of the lower

limbs, the canopy of the tree had to extend through the atmosphere and into space—if such a thing even existed here.

"So that's…the World Tree," Kirito said beside her, his voice

faint with awe.

"Yeah…It's amazing…"

"And there's another city on top of the tree? Which is where…"

"We'll find the fairy king Oberon and the alfs, spirits of light.

Supposedly, the first race to have an audience with him can be reborn as them."

". . ."

Kirito stared silently up at the tree, then turned to her with a

hard look on his face.

"Can you climb the exterior of the tree?"

"The area around the tree is off-limits, so apparently not. Plus,

if you tried to fly, your wing power would run out long before you

got up there."

"I thought you mentioned some people who stood on each

other's shoulders in an attempt to reach the branches…"

"Oh, that," Leafa chuckled. "Apparently they got pretty close,

but the GMs panicked and put in a fix to prevent it from working.

Now there's a hard-coded barrier just above the cloudline."

"Oh…Well, let's go see the roots."

"Roger!"

They nodded in agreement and headed down the main thoroughfare.

After several minutes of weaving through the mixed parties on

the road, a large stone staircase leading up to a gate came into

view. Through it lay the center of Alne, which made it, in turn, the

very center of the world itself. From here, the view of the World

Tree towering above was nothing but a giant wall.

They were climbing the steps with awe, about to walk through

the gate, when suddenly Yui's face appeared from the top of Kirito's pocket. She was gazing upward with an unusually intense expression.

"H-hey…what's the matter?" Kirito muttered, trying not to tip

off anyone around them. Leafa watched the little pixie curiously.

But Yui simply stared silently toward the top of the tree, her eyes

wide. After several seconds, her tiny lips parted and croaked.

"It's Mama…Mama's there."

"Wha…?" Now it was Kirito's turn to stare. "Really?!"

"I'm sure of it! That's Mama's player ID…Her coordinates are

directly overhead!"

Kirito turned a burning stare up to the sky. His face was pale,

and his teeth were clenched so hard, Leafa could practically hear

them grinding.

Suddenly, his wings spread. The clear gray surface flashed

white for an instant, and with an explosive bang! he disappeared

from the spot he was standing.

"Hey—wait, Kirito!" Leafa called out hastily, but the boy in

black was rocketing upward and accelerating. Leafa hurriedly

spread her wings and took flight after him, completely bewildered.

Vertical zooming and diving were Leafa's forte, but even she

couldn't catch up to Kirito, who seemed to be equipped with

rocket boosters. The black shape grew smaller and smaller before

her eyes.

It took only seconds to thread through the countless spires

that towered over the center of Alne and into the sky above the

city. Players lounging on the high terraces followed the sight with

curiosity, but Kirito merely darted past their noses on his way

ever higher.

Eventually there were no more buildings in sight, only the

greenish-gold cliff that was the trunk of the tree. Kirito raced parallel to the surface like a black bullet. The white clouds enshrouding the trunk were growing closer and closer. Leafa chased desperately, bracing herself against the wind pressure on her face.

"Be careful, Kirito! The wall's coming up!"

But Kirito didn't seem to hear. He was like an arrow attempting to split the sky, flying with enough force to tear a hole in the

fabric of this virtual world.

What drove him to do this? Was the person atop the World

Tree really this important to him? Yui had mentioned a "Mama."

Was it a woman, then? Was the person Kirito sought so desperately actually his—?

Suddenly, Leafa's chest twinged. It was a similar but distinct

pain to the one Kazuto made her feel.

She lost her concentration, and her ascending speed dipped.

Leafa shook her head to clear her thoughts, and put all of her

mind into her wings.

A few seconds behind Kirito, she reached the thick cloud layer.

Her vision went white. If the story she'd heard was correct, the

unbreachable altitude was set just above the clouds. She raced

through them, slowing only a little.

Suddenly, the world went blue. There was endless sky above in

a perfect cobalt-blue shade that just wasn't visible from the

ground. Overhead, the World Tree stretched its branches as

though supporting the heavens. Kirito was going even faster than

before, heading straight for a branch.

An explosion of rainbow color erupted around him.

Just a few moments later, a shock wave ripped through the air

like a peal of thunder. Kirito had slammed into the invisible wall

and now plunged lifelessly through the air like a black swan hit by

a hunter's shot.

"Kirito!" she screamed, rushing in his direction. If he fell all

the way from this height, not only would he lose all his HP, the ill

effects would plague him in the real world for quite a while after

logging out.

But before she reached him, Kirito seemed to have snapped

out of it. He shook his head a few times and began rising again.

Another collision with the barrier, and another impotent burst of

light.

Finally at his level, Leafa grabbed Kirito's arm and shouted,

"Stop, Kirito! It's impossible! You can't get any higher than this!"

But his eyes were filled with a mad light, and he attempted to

charge yet again.

"I have to do it…I have to go!!"

A thick branch of the World Tree split the sky in the direction

he was looking. It was certainly in much clearer view than it

would be from the surface, but the system's level of detail made it

clear the object was still quite far away.

Yui darted out of Kirito's pocket. She sped upward on her own,

leaving a trail of sparkling light behind.

Of course! A Nav Pixie's part of the system, Leafa thought momentarily, but the invisible barrier repelled even her tiny body.

The spectrum of light rippled outward like the surface of water,

pushing Yui away.

But with a sense of desperation that seemed totally unlike a

programmed object, Yui pushed against the surface and shouted,

"I might be able to reach her with a warning mode alert…Mama!

It's me! Mama!!"

"…!!"

A faint shout reached Asuna's ears, and she lifted her head

from the table.

She looked around frantically, but there was no one else in the

golden cage. The sky-blue birds that came to frolic at times were

nowhere to be seen. There was only sunlight shining through the

bars of the cage, casting shadows.

She put her hands back on the table, certain it was a figment of

her imagination.

"…Mama…!"

That time it was clear. Asuna leaped to her feet, kicking the

chair backward.

It was the voice of a young girl, as delicate as the plucking of a

fine harp. The sound struck Asuna's distant memories and reverberated throughout her mind.

"Y…Yui, is that you?" she whispered, then raced to the wall of

the cage, clutching the golden bars and frantically searching the

vicinity.

"Mama…I'm right here…!"

The voice seemed to echo directly inside of Asuna's head, so

she couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. But, instinctively, she could sense that it was coming from below. No matter

how hard she stared, she could see nothing through the white

cloud layer surrounding the tree below, but that was the source of

the voice.

"I…I'm up here!" Asuna shouted with all of her lungs. "I'm up

here, Yui!!"

If Yui, her "daughter" from SAO, was here, then he must be,

too…

"…Kirito!!"

She had no idea if she was loud enough to reach them. Asuna

looked around the cage, desperate to find something aside from

her voice that would signal her presence.

But she already knew that every object in the birdcage was positionally locked into place and couldn't be thrown out of the

cage. Long ago she'd attempted to send a message to the players

below about her presence using teacups or cushions, but it hadn't

worked. She clutched the bars in frustration and desperation.

No…

There was one thing—one object that hadn't existed here before. An irregularity in the otherwise pristine prison.

Asuna ran back to the bed and reached under the pillows,

pulling out the small silver keycard. She returned to the edge of

the cage and hesitantly reached out, clutching it in her hand. Previously, she'd been rebuffed by an invisible wall that refused to let

anything through.

"…!!"

Miraculously, her right hand felt no resistance as it passed out

of the cage. The clear silver card glittered as it caught the sunlight.

Kirito…please notice me!!

She opened her hand without hesitation. The card dropped

through the air silently, glinting as it fell straight toward the

clouds.

I slammed my fist against the invisible wall, writhing in frustration. My hand shot back as though rebuffed by a powerful

magnetic field, and a rainbow ripple extended through the air

from that spot.

"Damn…What the hell is this!" I rasped through gritted teeth.

I'd come so far—I was so close. The cage that held Asuna's soul

prisoner was just beyond my reach. And now my way was blocked

by the unfeeling, unassailable wall that was the system's programming.

A terrible, destructive urge pierced straight through my entire

being, and then burst forth like white-hot fireworks. Two days of

logging in to ALfheim Online, religiously following its rules in my

quest to reach Asuna…It was as though all the frustration and

panic I'd built up exploded at once. I bared my teeth and reached

over my back, intent on the handle of my sword.

That was when it happened.

Through the rage burning up my vision, I saw a small light,

flickering above.

"…What's that…?"

I stared at the light, anger momentarily forgotten. The glittering object was slowly, slowly falling toward me. It was like a lone

snowflake fluttering in midsummer sky, or a wafting feather of

dandelion fuzz settling down after a long journey.

Still hovering in midair, I let go of the sword hilt and reached

out toward the light with both hands. After several endless seconds, the silver object fluttered down into my grasp. I clutched it

to my chest and carefully opened my grip, sensing a somehow familiar warmth.

Yui looked over from the left, Leafa from the right. Like them,

I could only gaze silently at what I held.

"…A card…?" Leafa murmured. It did indeed appear to be a

flat, rectangular card. The translucent silver surface bore no

words or markings to identify it. I glanced at Leafa.

"Do you know what this is, Leafa?"

"No…I've never seen anything like it in the game. Try clicking

it."

I followed her suggestion, tapping the surface of the card with

my fingertip. But unlike any other object that appeared within the

game, there was no popup menu.

Yui leaned forward to get a closer look and gripped the edge of

the card.

"This looks like…a system administrator's access card!"

"…?!"

I held my breath, squinting at the card. "So…I can exercise GM

privileges with this?"

"No…In order to access the system from within the game,

you'll need the console this corresponds to. Even I can't call up

the system menu on my own…"

"I see. But there's no way something like this would fall down

without a reason. I have a feeling…"

"Yes. Mama must have sensed us and dropped it down to us."

". . ."

I clutched the card. Just moments earlier, Asuna had been

holding it. It was almost as though I could feel her will within it.

Asuna's fighting, too. She's doing her best to resist, to escape

this world. There must be more that I can do.

I fixed Leafa with a stare. "Where's the gate that's supposed to

lead to the interior of the World Tree? Show me."

"Um…that's in the dome beneath the roots of the tree," she

said, looking concerned. "B-but you can't go. It's protected by

guardians, and even full-size raid parties haven't been able to get

past them."

"I still have to go."

I slipped the card into my chest pocket and took Leafa's hand.

The sylph girl had saved my behind on many occasions. I came

to this world full of panic, not knowing left from right, and I'd

never have come so far, so fast, without her knowledge and her

energetic smile. I knew that someday, I ought to tell her the truth

in real life and thank her properly. It was with this thought in

mind that I said what came next.

"Thank you for everything, Leafa. I'll tackle what comes next

alone."

"…Kirito…"

She looked ready to cry. I squeezed her hand and let go, backing away with Yui on my shoulder.

With one last look at Leafa, her long ponytail swaying in the

air, I bowed deeply and turned around.

By folding my wings, I put acceleration into my drop and

headed for the very bottom of the World Tree. After a few dozen

seconds of almost-blinding descent, the complex shape of Alne

came into view at the foot of the tree. Spotting a particularly large

terrace between two roots in the city's top section, I prepared to

land.

I spread my wings wide to catch the air and slow my descent

as I gauged where to land. Despite my best efforts to cushion the

impact, my outstretched feet hit the stone hard enough to cause a

small blast. The other players lounging on the terrace turned to

look at me with startled faces.

When they had all turned back to what they'd been doing before, I inclined my head toward my shoulder. "Yui, can you tell

how to get to this dome?"

"Yes, it should be just up the stairs ahead. Are you sure you

want to do this, Papa? Based on all the information, it should be

nearly impossible to break through the gate."

"I've got no choice but to try. Besides, it's not like failing will

be fatal."

"That's true, but…"

I rubbed her lightly on the head. "Besides, if I have to waste

another second not trying, I'm going to go crazy. Don't you want

to see Mama?"

"…Yes," she responded meekly. I poked her cheek and started

heading for the large staircase ahead.

The area at the top of the wide stone steps seemed to be the

very top level of Alne. The roots of the World Tree, which snaked

up and over the massive conical bulk of Alne, all converged directly ahead, into one titanic trunk. But the diameter of it was so

vast that from here, it merely looked like a curved wall.

But a stretch of that wall was decorated with two massive statues of fairy knights, ten times taller than any player. Between

them was a stone door adorned with fine carvings. For being the

starting point of the game's final story quest, it was remarkably

absent of any players. By this point, the supposed impossibility of

the quest must have been common knowledge throughout the

population.

But I had to get past this door and its guardians to the gate.

Hang on, Asuna. I'll be there soon, I told myself, etching the

words into my heart.

A few hundred feet later, I was standing in front of the massive

door when the stone statue on the right began to rumble with

movement. I quickly turned around, taken aback, and saw that

the eyes beneath the helmet were glowing palely. The statue

opened its mouth and a voice like rolling boulders emerged.

"O warrior ignorant of the celestial heights, dost thou seek

entry to the castle of the king?"

At the same time, a yes/no prompt appeared, asking if I

wished to initiate the final quest. I pressed YES without hesitation.

This time, it was the statue on the left that boomed, "Then

prove thy wings can encompass the very sky above."

As the distant thunderfall of its voice died away, the large door

split down the center. Its two halves slowly rumbled open. The

ominous sound made me think of the terrible memories of fighting floor bosses in Aincrad. The unbearable tension of those battles came back to me, stealing my breath and sending a chill

down my back.

I had to tell myself that dying here was not permanent. Now

that Asuna's freedom hung on the outcome of this battle, it was

truly the most important task I'd yet tackled.

"Here we go, Yui. Be sure to keep your head low."

"Good luck, Papa," she squeaked from my pocket. I gave her

one last rub and drew my sword.

The rumbling finally stopped when the thick stone door was

open all the way. Only darkness lay beyond it. I took a step inside,

wondering if I should use my night-vision spell, but before I

could raise my hand, a brilliant beam of light shone down from

above, causing me to squint.

It was an unbelievably enormous round dome. The shape reminded me of the boss chamber on the seventy-fifth floor of Aincrad, where I'd fought Heathcliff, but this was several times larger

across than even that.

I was apparently inside the tree now, as the floor seemed to be

made of a lattice of tightly woven roots. At the outer edge of the

space, the vines grew over the walls and stretched upward to form

the ceiling. They grew more sparse the farther overhead they

went, forming stained-glass patterns that allowed in light from

above.

And at the very apex of that dome was a circular door. The

ring-shaped gate was carved with delicate reliefs and composed

of four wedge-shaped wings of stone that met at its center to

make a cross. The route up into the tree was clearly through

there.

I hefted my sword with both hands. Took a deep breath.

Tensed my legs. Spread my wings.

"Go!!" I shouted to brace myself, and leaped with all my

strength.

Not even a second into my flight, the luminescent spots in the

ceiling began to morph. One of the shining windows bubbled

forth as though giving birth: before my eyes, the light seemed to

drip downward into the form of a human being, complete with

arms, legs, four wings, and a roar in its lungs.

It was a gargantuan knight clad in silver armor. Its face was

hidden behind a mask like a mirror. And in its hand was a sword

even larger than mine. This was clearly one of the guardians

Leafa had warned me about.

The guardian knight's mirror face turned to look at me as I

raced upward, and with another gutteral roar, it dove.

"Outta my waaaay!!" I screamed in response and swung. As

the distance between us closed to nothing, I felt the cold sparks in

my head return—that familiar feeling of all my senses accelerating that I'd tasted so many times in SAO's death matches. At the

reflection of myself in the guardian's mask, I swung the

broadsword with all my strength.

When our blades collided, a brilliant light ripped through the

open space like lightning. My foe attempted to recover his balance and brandish the sword for another overhead slash, but I

followed my blade's momentum and plunged it into his chest. I

grabbed the neck of the massive knight twice my height and

pulled in close.

When fighting CPU-controlled monsters, the common strategy

was to keep an eye on the damage-causing reach of the enemy's

weapon and maintain a distance at least that wide, but against

such a large enemy, even a so-called safe distance would leave me

with blind spots. Staying in my current location was dangerous,

but I could at least buy enough time to regain my footing.

I pulled back the sword with my right hand and put the tip

against the guardian knight's throat.

"Raaah!!"

Thrusting my wings at full force, I shoved the sword with all of

my might. There was the heavy chunk! of a hard object being

split, and the blade thrust deep into the knight's neck.

"Grgaaah!!"

For the guardian's divine appearance, the scream that erupted

from its throat was positively bestial. Its entire body froze,

wreathed in pure white End Flames, and shattered.

I can do this! I screamed to myself. Statistically, this guardian

was far from a proper floor boss in SAO. In a one-on-one fight, I

had the advantage.

I brushed the white flames away and looked up to the gate—

then felt my face grimace. Nearly every one of the countless

stained-glass windows scattered throughout the still-distant

dome was producing its own white knight. There were dozens of

them—hundreds.

"Aaaaah!!" I bellowed, more to whip my frightened wits back

into shape than anything. I would cut them all down, no matter

how many there were. I beat my wings and raced upward.

Several of the new guardians descended to block my path. I set

my sights on the closest one and swung again.

This time I focused on the point of the enemy's sword as it

slashed diagonally down at me. I stretched to evade its path, trying to avoid a collision of our blades, which would knock me motionless for precious moments. The maneuver wasn't perfect, and

I felt the sensation of damage suffered as it clipped my shoulder,

but I ignored it and trained my every nerve on counterattacking.