Project Alicization, July 2026

Up above, the pale-white moon was visible through the window,

intersected into four pieces by the window sash.

The sylph capital of Swilvane in southwest Alfheim was

shrouded in the thick curtain of night, and most of the businesses

were locked up tight. Even the number of players moving along

the main street was slim, given that it was four o'clock in the

morning in the real world, the least active period of the day.

Asuna looked from the window back to the table and lifted her

steaming mug. The dark tea stimulated her tongue with virtual

heat. She didn't feel tired, but after three days of not getting decent sleep, there was a dull weight sitting inside her head.

She closed her eyes and traced her temples. The sylph girl sitting next to her noticed, and worriedly asked, "Are you all right,

Asuna? Have you been getting proper sleep?"

"No, I'm all right. What about you, Leafa? You've been running all over the place."

"I'm fine. My real body's getting plenty of rest on my bed right

now."

They both grimaced, realizing that their respective claims of

good health sounded hollow and false.

This was the virtual home owned by Suguha Kirigaya's Leafa

avatar in the world of ALfheim Online (ALO). A lamp that flickered in different colors cast light on the gleaming, rainbow-shell

walls of the circular room, giving the scene a fantastical feeling.

The pearl-white table at the center of the room had four chairs

around it, three of which were filled.

The third character present, a girl with ice-blue hair and triangular ears, steepled her fingers and warned, "If you keep pushing

it, you won't be sharp when it really matters. Even when you can't

sleep, just lying down and closing your eyes makes a big difference."

This was the cait sith avatar of Shino Asada, only six months

old in game time. She called her Sinon, the same name as her

character back in her "home" game of Gun Gale Online (GGO).

Asuna glanced at Sinon and murmured, "I know…When the

meeting's over, I'll borrow a bed here and sleep. If only sleep

magic worked on the players themselves."

"If only my brother were sleeping in the rocking chair over

there. That would do the trick," Leafa said. Both Asuna and Sinon

broke into smiles but without much heart behind them.

Leafa set down her cup on the table and took a deep breath,

getting serious. "Well, let's get started. First, the information that

I managed to find out today—I mean, yesterday. The short answer is that I didn't find any positive evidence that Big Brother

was taken to the National Defense Medical College in Tokorozawa. Yes, the records show that he's in the brain surgery ward

on the twenty-third floor, but they have the entire floor com-

pletely shut off from visitors, not just his room, and there's no

record of any ambulance arriving during the expected period of

time. Yui hacked into the security-camera footage just in case, so

we can be certain about that."

"Meaning…it's quite possible that Kirito is not at the NDMC

hospital at all?" Sinon asked. Leafa nodded.

"It's hard to believe that it could be true…but it's simply crazy

that his own immediate family isn't even allowed to see him…"

She shook her head. A heavy silence sank onto the room.

Leafa's older brother, Kirito—real name Kazuto Kirigaya—had

been attacked just two days earlier, on June 29th, by Atsushi

Kanamoto, also known as "Johnny Black," on the run for his part

in the Death Gun incident.

On the streets of Miyasaka in the Setagaya ward of Tokyo, not

far from Asuna's house, Kanamoto injected Kazuto with a dose of

toxic succinylcholine. It rapidly paralyzed his muscles and arrested his respiration. They put him on a ventilator in the ambulance, but the lack of oxygen sent him into cardiac arrest as well,

and by the time they had arrived at nearby Setagaya General Hospital, he was pronounced DOA.

Whether it was the skill of the ER doctor, the hardiness of

Kazuto's vitality, or some combination of astrological luck for the

two that day, their efforts at resuscitation succeeded in bringing

back a faint heartbeat. As the drug broke down, he eventually resumed breathing on his own, and thus Kazuto miraculously returned from the brink of death. When the doctor finished his

work and explained the situation to Asuna, she had nearly passed

out from relief—but could not accept what he told her next.

He said that Kazuto's heart had been stopped for over five

minutes, which raised the possibility of brain damage. She would

have to steel herself for the potential of lasting mental or physical

disability—perhaps even a permanent vegetative state.

The doctor concluded by saying they wouldn't know anything

for sure until he got an MRI at another facility, and anxiety and

fear descended on Asuna a second time. She managed to call Suguha and explain the situation, and the moment Kazuto's sister arrived, she burst into tears again.

Eventually, Midori Kirigaya, Kazuto's mother, arrived at the

hospital straight from her workplace in Iidabashi, and they spent

the night on the bench in front of the ICU.

On the morning of June 30th, a nurse explained that he was

no longer in critical condition. Asuna and Suguha stopped at

Asuna's home nearby, while Midori went back home to Kawagoe

to get their insurance forms and other items.

The two girls showered and informed their schools of their absence that day, and both lay down in an attempt to sleep. They

dozed and woke several times over the next few hours, trading

comments here and there, until Midori called Asuna at around

one in the afternoon.

She flew to the phone and learned that, sadly, Kazuto was still

unconscious. They had transferred him to NDMC, closer to

Kawagoe, to run tests and offer more advanced treatment options. Midori said an ambulance would take him over, and she

would follow in a taxi once she'd cleared up some paperwork.

Asuna replied that they'd head to the new hospital at once.

Right around 1:40 PM on the 30th, the comatose Kazuto was

loaded into an ambulance that left the emergency bay of Setagaya

General Hospital. The hospital's security cameras had caught that

much, as confirmed by Yui.

According to the records, that ambulance arrived at the hospital of the National Defense Medical College in the city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, at 2:45 PM of that day. Kazuto was instantly ushered to the brain surgery ward on the 23rd floor, given

an MRI, and was undergoing observation. Both Asuna and Suguha believed this account without suspicion—until they had visited that hospital late at night two days ago and were refused access to him or even remote footage of his bed.

Asuna pondered what Leafa had just said, then nodded.

"We know for certain that Kirito was taken out of the hospital

in Setagaya in an ambulance. And there's a 'Kazuto Kirigaya' in

the records of NDMC…but no one has seen him there, and there's

no sign of him on the security footage. If his ambulance was

heading somewhere other than NDMC…and assuming it isn't

some kind of clerical accident in the patient data…"

"Then it's intentional falsifying of information. In other

words…an abduction," Sinon finished calmly, her pointed ears

twitching. "But if that's the case, does it mean the ambulance itself was a fake? EMT uniforms are one thing, but could they really summon a vehicle out of thin air?"

Leafa answered, "I asked Recon, since he likes cars, but he

says it's impossible for any amateur source to mock up a fake ambulance that would fool a real medical facility, and even for the

pros, it takes a ton of money and time. Nobody could have predicted that Kanamoto would attack Big Brother in Setagaya at

that very moment, and it was only eighteen hours between when

he was brought in and when he was transferred out…"

"So it would have been physically impossible to prepare a fake

ambulance after they learned Kirito had been attacked," Asuna

concluded.

Sinon continued, "But if that's the case, could someone have

had this fake vehicle ready the entire time, waiting for a target—

any target—and it was just Kirito's bad luck that he got

nabbed…?"

"That doesn't seem to be the case," Leafa said, ponytail waving

as she shook her head. She paused, then explained, "Normally,

when patients are transferred between hospitals, the outgoing

hospital calls the district medical center for an ambulance dispatch. But according to Yui, no one actually placed that call, and

yet the ambulance arrived right on time. Seems like everyone at

the hospital just assumed one of the others made the call. And

yet, the staffers in the ambulance itself knew he was headed for

NDMC in Tokorozawa, as well as the patient's name. The nurse

who was on standby when they showed up said so."

"…Then it really was a planned abduction designed just for

Kirito…"

"Which means the culprit was someone who had access to that

information the moment he was admitted to the hospital and

could dispatch a real ambulance for their own purposes," Asuna

concluded. The other two nodded a second later.

Their hesitation stemmed from a fear of combining too many

assumptions. Asuna felt the same way about it. After all, if their

hypothesis was true, it meant they were dealing with someone

with at least as much influence as the Fire and Disaster Management Agency that operated the ambulance system.

A part of them hoped it really was just their imaginations running wild.

Perhaps Kazuto really was receiving treatment at the National

Defense Medical Center, and they couldn't see video of him because it would interfere with the sensitive machinery, and the

lack of ambulance footage was the result of simple camera malfunction…Common sense said this was more likely to be true.

And Kazuto and Suguha's own mother, Midori, had to believe the

official record, of course. This fuss about kidnapping and falsified

information was just a bit of group paranoia from a trio of extremely concerned young girls. There was no crime, Kazuto was

being treated, and very soon they would hear back that he was

awake again…

But a part of Asuna, separate from her common sense and logical judgment, was painfully aware that something was happening. That same feeling had to be occurring within Kazuto's sister,

Leafa, as well as Sinon, who had been through a battle of life and

death with him, too.

They didn't think that Kanamoto's succinylcholine attack on

Kazuto was part of this mysterious plan, but it had most certainly

been used to the abductor's advantage once it happened.

"…Whether it's an individual or a group, I'm going to consider

whoever did this to be the enemy," Asuna proclaimed with firm

finality.

Sinon looked surprised, then recovered and grinned. "Actually…I was pretty worried that you two would be really depressed

about this. After all, he's Leafa's big brother and Asuna's, well,

boyfriend…I mean, he's unconscious, and now missing on top of

that…"

To her surprise, Asuna realized that she really wasn't as defeated as she'd thought. And she'd cried her eyes out for so long

that first night…

Leafa clutched her hands together in front of her chest and

protested, "But…we are worried. And yet, while I was horrified to

learn that Big Brother might not be at the hospital, a part of me

also thought, I knew it. I just knew that he was getting involved in

something major again…that he was carrying on somewhere I

couldn't even imagine. That's what happened with SAO, it's what

happened with Death Gun…and it's probably what's happening

now…"

"Yeah…I agree," added Asuna, once again reminded that she

couldn't match Suguha's instincts about Kazuto in terms of sheer

length of experience.

"Kirito's on his own somewhere, fighting like he always is.

Which means we need to fight in our own way," she said, and

eyed Sinon. "You don't seem too depressed about it, either,

Shino-non."

"Er…well, uh…in my case, I fully believe that the only person

who can beat him is me, so…" Sinon mumbled weakly. Asuna

gave her a critical glance, then decided to return to the topic at

hand.

"Anyway…even based on the ambulance incident alone, we

can assume the enemy is extremely powerful."

"What if we take this up with the police? Maybe if we have an

officer escorting us, the hospital will be forced to at least show us

some remote video of him," Sinon suggested sensibly, but Asuna

shook her head.

"Both the time of Kirito's arrival at NDMC and his transfer to

brain surgery are right there on their server. All the data say that

he's there. The police aren't going to act on a suspicion of abduction solely because there's no video of him arriving. Especially not

if we have to explain how we know that…"

"Because Yui hacked into their system," Sinon said with a

snort. "Oh…but in that case, what if we checked the interior camera network at the hospital, not just the exterior bay cameras? If

we can find any shots of the room where Kirito's supposed to be

staying…"

"The problem is, the interior security is on a different system

than the exterior. It's extremely well-defended, and even Yui can't

get in there," Leafa pointed out sadly. She had spent the entire

day researching Setagaya General Hospital and the National Defense Medical College, which were far apart. Even with Yui's help

on her phone, the travel alone had been very exhausting.

Asuna had wanted to join her, of course, but now that Kirito's

medical condition was stable, she wasn't allowed to stay out of

school for a second day. Instead, she had transferred some electronic cash charged to her phone over to Leafa for taxi fare. Obviously, she didn't have much success focusing on class.

Kazuto's absence at school was simply labeled illness, so none

of their classmates knew about the attack, not even their close

friends Rika Shinozaki (Lisbeth) and Keiko Ayano (Silica). The

guilt of hiding half the truth from her worried friends was tearing

Asuna apart on the inside.

But after talking to Leafa yesterday morning, she had come to

a decision. Until they had at least determined whether Kazuto

was at NDMC or not, the details of the incident would remain

with them and Sinon only.

The reason for Sinon's inclusion was her presence at Dicey

Café just before the attack and her connection to the Death Gun

incident. On top of that, her calmness and intelligence were a

huge boost to their efforts. Those sniper's instincts continued to

serve her well in the world of ALO.

Asuna said, "Our greatest weapon is the fact that we know Kirito better than anyone else. So let's take a step back and think. If

the enemy's target was Kirito all along, what would their motive

be?"

"I hate to say it, but if they were after ransom money, they

would go for you, Asuna. And we haven't had any contact from

the culprit?" Sinon asked. Leafa shook her head.

"No calls, no e-mails, no letters. Besides, it's too elaborate to

be a kidnapping for personal gain. My brother's not such a big

shot that he's worth preparing a fake ambulance to kidnap him

from the hospital."

"That's true…Well, I don't like to consider this, but could it be

a grudge? Can you think of anyone who might have it in for Kirito…?"

Asuna shook her head slowly. "I'm sure that there are other

survivors of SAO who hate him for throwing them into prison

there. But which of them would have the finances and connections to pull off a stunt like this…?"

For a moment, the face of Nobuyuki Sugou flashed through

Asuna's mind—the man who had attempted to run his own grisly

tests on former SAO players until Kirito got the police to arrest

him. But he still had to be behind bars. The fact that he'd been

preparing to flee the country meant they would never offer him

bail.

"…No, I can't think of anyone who would go this far."

"So if it's not for money or for revenge, then…hmmm…"

Sinon looked down for a while, brushed the pointed tips of her

ears with her fingertips, and hesitantly offered, "Well…this is just

a guess with no evidence behind it…but if the enemy is going to

the length of kidnapping Kirito for reasons other than money or

hate, then it probably means they absolutely need him at this moment. Or need something about him. Something he possesses…

some 'attribute' of his, in gaming terms. Can you think of what

that might be?"

"His talent for the sword," Asuna replied instantly. Whenever

she closed her eyes and envisioned Kirito, the first image she saw

was of his SAO form, clad in black and whirling like a storm

through the enemy, his dual blades flashing.

Leafa had the same idea through their adventures in ALO, and

she added, "His reaction speed."

"His adaptability to the system."

"His quick judgment of the situation."

"His survivability…Ah!"

Once they had alternated listing enough traits, Asuna realized

something. Sinon nodded knowingly and said, "Exactly. They're

all VRMMO skills."

It was so true that Asuna had to protest, "B-but Kirito has lots

of good traits in real life, too."

"Well, of course. He buys us food all the time. But to the average person, he's just an ordinary teenage boy. Doesn't that mean

that if the enemy put together this elaborate plan, it had to be for

the sake of Kirito's incredible VR abilities?"

"No way…Do you think they're trying to get him to beat some

VR game? But Big Brother isn't even conscious right now. He

hasn't had any treatment or tests; how do they expect to get anything out of him…?" Leafa protested, clenching fists out of concern for Kirito's predicament.

Sinon's steel-blue eyes looked down at the table, then narrowed with the focus of a hunter on its prey. She murmured, "He

might be 'unconscious'…but only to outward appearances. If they

used a machine that didn't access his brain but his soul directly…"

"Ah!" Asuna gasped, stunned that she hadn't thought of that

yet.

"Right?" said Sinon. "If you think of it that way, you can imagine a group that would fit the profile of our enemy. A group that

has a completely unique device that accesses the soul and was

using Kirito for a test run just days ago."

Asuna nodded. "So…the ones who abducted Kirito are the developers of the Soul Translator…? Well, if Rath has the funding to

create that unbelievable machine, they certainly have enough to

mock up an ambulance…"

"Rath…? The company my brother's been working for lately?"

Leafa asked.

This surprised Asuna. She leaned forward and asked, "Wait,

you know about Rath, Leafa?"

"Er, not really…just that the company is based in Roppongi in

Tokyo."

"You know, I think I remember hearing that, too. But Roppongi's a big area…and I don't think the police are going to spring

into action based on a tip that a company named Rath is based

somewhere around there and Kirito might be with them."

Sinon bit her lip. Leafa looked down in worry. Asuna hesitated,

then said, "Listen…I didn't bring this up before, because I didn't

want to say until I knew for sure, but there is one very fragile link

between Kirito and me. But it's quite possible that it broke at

some point…"

"…What do you mean, Asuna?"

"Remember when I explained about the thing he has, Shinonon?" Asuna said, tapping her chest over her heart.

"Oh, right…that heart monitor. You said it was sending information to your cell phone over the Internet…"

"The signal died out a while back, but it's possible that if we

retrace the source of the signal to when he was in the fake ambulance, we might pin down his location. So I asked for an analysis

of the information."

"…Asked who?"

Asuna answered by calling out into the air, "How's it looking,

Yui?"

A little burst of light appeared a few inches above the table and

coalesced into the form of a tiny person. Then it flashed a bit

brighter and went out.

What remained was a miniature female avatar, barely four

inches tall. She had straight black hair, a white dress, and four

shining rainbow wings on her back. The little fairy's long eyelashes rose so that her big eyes could look at Asuna, then Leafa

and Sinon. Apparently, her AI determined Sinon to be the most

important person to address, and so she made a formal bow as

she hovered in the air. "It's good to see you again, Sinon."

Her voice was like a plucked harp string. Sinon grinned a little

bit and replied, "Good evening, Yui…or should I say, 'good morning'?"

"The present time is 4:32 AM, and today's sunrise is marked as

4:29, so I believe it is appropriate to consider this morning. Good

morning, Leafa, Mama."

Yui was formerly a player-counseling AI in the old SAO. She

turned sixty degrees to address each person individually, then resumed hovering in front of Asuna. "I am ninety-eight percent finished tracing the packets sent from Papa's biomonitor to Mama's

cell phone."

"Very good. So if it turns out that the packets were sent from

around Roppongi, it will add quite a lot of credence to our theory," Sinon suggested, and Asuna nodded. The three girls looked

at Yui expectantly.

"I will now announce the results thus far. Unfortunately, the

defense on the cell tower relays is rather imposing, though not as

much as the National Defense Medical College's, and therefore I

have only identified three signal sources," Yui said. She waved

her hand, and a holographic map of Tokyo appeared on the tabletop beneath her. Her wings stopped so she could land, and she

took a few steps to point at a particular location. A red dot appeared with a soft bing.

"This is Setagaya General Hospital, where Papa was first

taken. The first transmission location is here."

She took a few more steps and pointed to a new light.

"Aobadai 3-chome in Meguro Ward, around two fifteen PM, June

thirtieth, 2026. I will indicate the predicted travel route."

A white line appeared along the roads between the two points.

Yui moved to the southwest again and indicated a third point,

which the line expanded to reach. "The second location was in

Shiroganedai 1-chome, Minato Ward, at three PM."

The route was heading a bit too far south to be straight from

Setagaya to Roppongi, Asuna noticed apprehensively, but she

waited for Yui to continue.

"And…here is the third and final transmission source."

To their surprise, Yui pointed to an area of reclaimed land

along the coast—far to the east of Roppongi.

"Shin-kiba 4-chome, Koto Ward, at about nine fifty PM. There

have been no signals from Papa in the thirty hours since then."

"Shin-kiba?!" Asuna gaped. But now that she considered it,

there were a number of high-tech "intelligent buildings" in the

newly redeveloped area around there. Perhaps Rath had a second

base somewhere in that vicinity.

"Yui…what kind of facility is at that address?" she asked, feeling her pulse quicken. The answer was even more surprising.

"The facility that corresponds to this location is called 'Tokyo

Heliport.'"

"Wait…you mean it's a helicopter pad?" Sinon mumbled.

Leafa's face immediately paled, too. "A helicopter?! Does that

mean…they could have loaded him up and taken him far away?"

"B-but wait," Asuna stammered, trying to sort out her jumbled

thoughts. "Yui, you said there hasn't been a single signal since

that one from Shin-kiba?"

"Correct…"

For the first time, a solemn expression appeared on Yui's angelic little features.

"There are no further traces of Papa's heart monitor connecting to any cell tower in Japan."

"Does that mean…they took him in a helicopter to someplace

where his signal couldn't reach any towers, like in the mountains…or the wilderness?" Leafa wondered.

Sinon shook her head. "No matter where they landed, they'd

ultimately have to take him to some kind of facility. It's unthinkable for a cutting-edge start-up to be out of range for cell signals.

And even if they put him somewhere that shielded his signal, he

would have connected at some point first…"

"What if he's not in Japan…? What if he's…overseas?" Asuna

asked in a trembling voice. No one could give her an immediate

answer.

Eventually, Yui broke the uncomfortable silence with a voice

both innocent and relaxed. "There are no helicopters with enough

range to reach a foreign country without landing, outside of a few

military models. I cannot state with authority due to lack of present data, but I do think Papa is still within the country."

"True. Rath's big project is something that could overturn our

current VR tech, right? It's hard to imagine that they'd store their

biggest secrets in a lab in another country," Sinon added.

Asuna agreed with her; her own father's electronics development company, RCT, took great pains to defend against corporate

spies. From what she heard, the company's R&D lab was located

in a highly secure complex in the hills of Tama. They had other

facilities abroad, too, but leaks from those places were undeniably

more frequent than at their domestic offices.

Leafa thought this over and murmured, "Then…I suppose it

would have to be somewhere very remote within Japan…But is it

even possible to create a super-secret lab like that nowadays?"

"I'm sure it's got to be a large facility. Yui, have you learned

anything else about Rath?" Asuna asked. Yui flitted back into the

air and stopped at the other girls' eye level.

"I used twelve public search engines and three private ones

but found no business name, location name, or VR development

project relating to the name Rath. On top of that, I found no

traces of resources or patent submissions in any way connected to

'Soul Translation.'"

"An incredible, historic machine capable of interfacing with

the human soul, and it doesn't even have a patent pending…?

They really are serious about keeping it a secret, I guess." Asuna

sighed, realizing that they weren't likely to spot any cracks in

Rath's armor.

Sinon shook her head in disbelief. "It almost…makes you

doubt that it's even a real company. If we'd known this would

happen, we would have asked Kirito more about them. Can you

remember anything he said last time we met that might function

as a clue…?"

"Hmm…"

She frowned and filtered through her memories. The shock of

Kanamoto's attack and now the suspected abduction were so

huge that their peaceful chat at Dicey Café just hours before the

chaos seemed faded into the distant past.

"I remember…that it got late while we were talking about the

way the Soul Translator works. Also…something about the origin

of the name 'Rath'…"

"Right…it's that pig-or-turtle thing from Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland. It's funny that they'd describe it that way, since a

pig and turtle look nothing alike."

"Well, Lewis Carroll, who actually invented the word, didn't

describe them at all. That's just what Alice scholars have conjectured over the years…" Asuna said, and paused suddenly. She felt

like something had brushed her brain. "Alice…Didn't Kirito say

something about Alice as we were leaving the café?"

"Huh?" Both Sinon and Leafa looked wide-eyed at her. "Big

Brother was talking about Alice in Wonderland?"

"No, it wasn't that…He said that inside the Rath lab, Alice was

a word—well, abbreviation…What's it called when the first letters

of a string of words get put together and form a different meaning?"

"An acronym, you mean. It's the kind of thing the American

government does a lot with agencies to make their names easier

to say," Sinon explained.

Leafa's ponytail bobbed as she said, "Meaning…you have five

different words whose initials spell out A-L-I-C-E?"

"Yes, exactly. Let's see, I think he said…"

Asuna focused with all her mind to pick out the memory of

Kirito's familiar voice in the distance. She carefully sounded out

the English words.

"…Artificial…label…intelligen…and I couldn't make out the C

or the E, but that's the A-L-I," she managed to say, feeling a faint

headache coming on from squeezing the sponge of her memory

too hard. But the other two girls only looked confused.

"Well, I know artificial means 'man-made.' And intelligen

must be short for 'intelligence'…But what's label? Like a clothing

label?" Sinon wondered.

Yui answered immediately. "Given the context, I believe that

pronunciation most likely corresponds to the word labile. It is an

adjective meaning 'adaptable' or 'changing.'" She paused, then

added, "If one were to interpret the phrase 'Artificial Labile Intelligence,' it might be rephrased as 'Highly Adaptive Artificial Intelligence.'"

Asuna blinked at the sudden influx of complicated words. "Oh,

right…of course! We use the abbreviation AI so often, I sometimes forget what it actually stands for. But how does AI relate to

a company developing a brain-machine interface?"

"Wouldn't it be referring to automated characters in the virtual space? You know, like NPCs," Sinon suggested. She pointed

at the shops outside the window. Still, Asuna's lips were pursed

with doubt.

"But if we're assuming that the name Rath is taken from Alice

in Wonderland, and ALICE is some internal Rath code name relating to AI…Don't you find that weird? That makes it sound like

the company isn't focused on developing a next-gen VR interface

but the AI that operates inside it."

"Hmm, I suppose not…But NPCs aren't at all rare in video

games, and AI support systems for desktop PCs are fairly common nowadays. Is this project really so crazy that they'd hide the

entire existence of the company and abduct people to help develop it?" Sinon wondered.

Asuna had no immediate response. With each step forward,

they seemed to run into a new, ugly wall. On top of that, there

was the danger that their thought process was taking them somewhere completely off the real trail—but she was still desperate for

clues to go on.

"Say, Yui. What is artificial intelligence, anyway?"

Yui put on a surprisingly complex, uncomfortable expression

and descended to the table. "You're going to ask me that, Mama?

That's like my asking you what it means to be human."

"Oh. G-good point."

"To be strictly technical, it is impossible to define anything as

artificial intelligence. That is because there has never been a true

artificial intelligence in existence," she stated, sitting on the lip of

the teapot. The three girls were stunned.

"B-but…aren't you an AI, Yui? Why wouldn't that term apply

to you?" Leafa mumbled.

Yui tilted her head and thought, like a teacher wondering how

to answer a student's question. Then she nodded and proceeded

to explain.

"Let us start by discussing what is currently referred to as an

AI. Before the millennium, developers of artificial intelligence

used two different approaches toward the same goal. One was

called top-down AI and the other was called bottom-up AI."

Asuna focused very hard on the explanation, which was made

more difficult by the distracting fact that Yui's programmed voice

sounded too young for such advanced vocabulary.

"First, top-down. This approach involves taking simple question-answer programs and protocols based on existing computer

architecture, then feeding them more knowledge and experience

until they eventually learn enough to approach true intelligence.

Nearly all currently existing AIs, including me, are based on the

top-down development method. In other words, the 'intelligence'

I possess looks like yours but is actually completely different.

Simply put, I am nothing more than an elaborate version of a

program that says, 'If they ask A, answer B.'"

Asuna decided that the faint tinge of loneliness in Yui's pale

features was just a trick of the eyes.

"For example, when you asked, 'What is artificial intelligence?'

just now, I chose to display the emotional subroutine corresponding to 'discomfort.' That was the result of my experience observing that Papa often exhibits a similar reaction when asked about

himself. In fundamental terms, my functionality works the same

way as the predictive software in your phone that automatically

converts phonetic kana characters into complex kanji, or autocorrect. In other words, this model of program is unable to formulate a proper response to an entry it hasn't studied or learned

from. Therefore, we must state that top-down artificial intelligence is not currently at what might be considered true intelligence. This would be the so-called AI that you are familiar with."

Yui paused and stared out the window at the distant, shining

moon.

"Next, I will explain bottom-up artificial intelligence. This is

the idea that involves re-creating the human brain—a biological

amalgamation of one hundred billion brain cells connected in

complex ways—in an electronic fashion, in order to simulate intelligence."

It was such a vast, unthinkably implausible idea that Asuna

couldn't help but mutter, "Isn't that…impossible…?"

"Yes," Yui answered at once. "As far as I am aware, the bottom-up AI approach has never left the realm of thought exercise.

If it were possible, that would produce true intelligence of the

same level as any of yours and fundamentally different than my

own…"

She stopped gazing into the far distance and returned her attention to the table. "To sum it up, the term AI as we know it

today has two distinct meanings. One refers to imitative intelligence: AIs like me, navigation programs, or game NPCs. The

other is true intelligence with the same sentience, creativity, and

adaptability as the human mind—and that only exists in concept."

"Adaptability," Asuna repeated. "Adaptive artificial intelligence."

All eyes focused on her. She looked back at them, set by set,

and finally found the words to express what she was thinking.

"What if…the Soul Translator that Rath is developing isn't the

goal but the means…? Just think about it. Kirito was wondering

about that himself. He thought Rath was trying to achieve something using the STL…What if analyzing the structure of the

human soul…is part of an attempt to create a true AI—the world's

first bottom-up artificial intelligence…?"

"And ALICE is the code name of that true AI?" Leafa murmured.

Sinon was equally awestruck. "And that would mean Rath isn't

developing a next-gen VR interface. They're actually constructing

an artificial intelligence…?"

The further they theorized, the more vast and obscure their

unseen enemy became. Even Yui furrowed her brow, as though

struggling to process the amount of incoming data.

Asuna reached out and recharged her mug with hot tea using

the pop-up menu, then took a big swig. When she exhaled, she

felt ready to attempt a reassessment of the enemy's power.

"Assuming Rath is our enemy, it's looking like we're dealing

with something much bigger than just a venture-capital experiment. They have the means to use a fake ambulance and a helicopter to stage abductions, they have this monster STL machine

in an unknown location, and their goal is to create an AI that has

human-level intelligence and sophistication. Kirito got involved

with Rath on that job through Chrysheight—Mr. Kikuoka from

the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Maybe that wasn't because he

happens to have many connections with the VR industry but because Rath itself is connected with the government…"

"Seijirou Kikuoka," Sinon muttered, looking suspicious. "I figured there was more to him than the dopey four-eyed look…And

you still can't reach him?"

"He hasn't answered any calls since two days ago and won't return any messages. I figured if I had to, I could visit the virtual division at the ministry office, but I doubt anything will come of it."

"I suppose not…Kirito said he tried to tail the man once, but

Kikuoka shook him off before he knew it…"

Four years ago, after the SAO Incident began, the Ministry of

Internal Affairs had created a "Victim Rescue Office" that was reconfigured into an official division to handle VR-related problems

after the initial incident was resolved. Government official Seijirou Kikuoka, characterized by his black-rimmed glasses, maintained a friendly relationship with Kazuto after his return to the

real world. For some reason, he highly valued the teenager's

skills, going so far as to hire him for help in the Death Gun investigation.

Asuna had met him in real life on multiple occasions, and

she'd partied up with him in ALO, where he played the undine

mage Chrysheight. But she always stayed wary around him, unable to shake the sensation that his too-friendly exterior hid

something unknown behind it. He liked to claim that he was

trapped in a boring, dead-end position, but Kazuto often told her

in private that he suspected the man's true affiliation was in a different department.

Kikuoka was also the man who had brought Kazuto the parttime job offer with the mysterious Rath, and while Asuna had

tried to make contact with him several times since Kazuto's disappearance, Kikuoka's phone would immediately reply with an

automated message claiming it was out of a service area.

When she finally got fed up and called the ministry itself, they

had told her Kikuoka was on assignment overseas. That would explain his unavailability, but given the suspiciously unfortunate

timing, part of her wanted to suspect that he was connected to

Kazuto's disappearance.

"But," Leafa started, looking at Asuna's and Sinon's scowls,

"assuming Rath and the government are connected through this

Kikuoka person, what's the point of keeping everything so secret?

A company needs to maintain their secrets in order to protect

their business property, but if the country itself is involved in this

incredible project, wouldn't they try to promote it as much as

possible?"

"That's…true…" Sinon murmured hesitantly.

In recent years, virtual reality development was considered

one of the two great frontiers of scientific progress, along with

space development. Nations around the world like America, Russia, China, and Japan were busy promoting their space programs

with planned projects like orbital spacecraft without external

boosters, manned moon bases, and the construction of space elevators. Asuna couldn't see why they would bother to cover up a

project with just as much impact (if not more so), like the creation of a true artificial intelligence.

And if Kirito's abduction was part of some top-secret national

project, there was nothing simple teenagers like them could do

about it. It would be beyond even the scope of the police. Asuna

felt the weight of her own helplessness bearing down on her. She

glanced at the table and noticed the little fairy watching her.

"Yui…?"

"Please cheer up, Mama. When you were trapped here in

Alfheim, Papa never once gave up."

"B-but…I…"

"Now it's your turn to search for Papa!"

Despite the fairy's claim that all her reactions were the result

of a simple learning program, Yui's encouraging smile was astonishing in its gentleness and warmth. "The thread that connects us

to Papa must be intact. I believe that even the government of

Japan cannot sever the connection between you two."

"…Thank you, Yui. I'm not going to give up. If the government

is our enemy, then I'll march right into the National Diet Building

and take it up with the prime minister directly!"

"That's the spirit!"

Asuna and her daughter beamed at each other, while Sinon

looked on, frowning.

"…What is it, Shino-non?"

"Er, well…thinking realistically, just because Rath is working

on secret research with the government doesn't necessarily mean

that the entire government and the Diet are entirely aware of the

nature of that research."

"True…And?"

"If this is a top-secret project being undertaken by a single

ministry, wouldn't there still be one thing they absolutely couldn't

hide?"

"What's that…?"

"The budget! It's clear that this research facility and STL must

cost an astronomical amount. I don't know how many billions of

yen this costs, but it's got to be enough that they can't simply

sneak it out of the treasury or our tax money. It has to be listed

somewhere in the national budget, under one name or another."

"Hmm, but according to what Yui searched, there are no VRrelated projects commanding that level of funding…Oh, I see! Unless that's the wrong keyword…Maybe artificial intelligence,

rather than VR?" Asuna wondered, glancing at Yui. The fairy nodded seriously, told them to wait a moment, and spread her arms.

The ends of her fingers began to crackle with purple light. She

was connecting to the net from within ALO.

After several seconds of hopeful and concerned anticipation,

Yui's eyelids opened. In a flat, electronic affect totally unlike her

previous tone of voice, she announced, "I have accessed the publicly released budget appropriation submissions for each ministry

last year. Searching for keywords like artificial intelligence, AI,

and thirty-eight other related terms…I have found funds earmarked for eighteen universities and seven nonprofit organizations, but all are in fairly small amounts…The Ministry of Education and Science is working on an AI project for nursing robots,

but I conclude this is unrelated…The Ministry of Land and Transport's marine resource probe project…Self-driving automobile

project…Both concluded unrelated…"

Yui continued rattling off dry, official-sounding projects, but

she judged all of them to be irrelevant and shook her head at the

end.

"…I did not discover any unnaturally large budget requests

that would match the expected scope of a project like this in the

general accounts or special accounts. It's possible that they are

spread among multiple smaller invoices or fraudulently represented, but it would be very difficult to determine either case

based on public records alone."

"Hmm…so they didn't leave us any obvious trails that would

easily identify them." Sinon groaned, crossing her arms.

Desperate to cling to any possibility, Asuna suggested, "But

maybe Rath's budget is hiding somewhere in those projects Yui

just found under a different name. Is there any way we could figure that out? I mean, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with

finding underwater resources…Why did that particular research

show up in your search?"

"Well…" Yui said, half closed her eyes again, accessed some

distant database, then looked up. "It seems the research is on

small drone submarines that can autonomously search for oil and

rare metal deposits on the seafloor. The budget in question is for

the AI that would pilot the device, but it showed up in my search

filter because the amount seemed a bit large for the level of priority."

"Wow, they'll even make robots for stuff like that…I wonder

where they're developing that?"

"The project is labeled under 'Ocean Turtle,' a self-propelled

mega-float completed this February for the purposes of marine

research."

"Oh, I saw that in the news," Leafa interjected. "It's more like a

pyramid floating on the ocean than a ship."

"Right, I heard about that, too. Ocean…Turtle…" Asuna murmured. She frowned, glanced down briefly, then back up. "Say,

Yui…do you have any images of that research ship?"

"Yes, just a moment."

She waved her right hand, and a screen appeared over the

table, turning into a holographic depiction of the ocean, as it had

done with the map earlier. Many little lights turned into a tiny

wire frame, with textures filling in before their eyes.

The model that appeared was indeed a black pyramid at first

glance, floating on the water. But when viewed from above, the

base was not square but rectangular, with the long side about half

the size of the short side. The height of the pyramid seemed

roughly equal to the short side. Aside from some long, narrow

windows, the surface was perfectly smooth, a shining dark-gray

color. On closer look, the surface appeared to be crammed with

hexagonal solar panels.

At each corner of the pyramid base were large, protruding

structures that were probably to help steer it, and on one of the

short sides was a bridge structure that looked like a small building. The H symbol on top had to signify a heliport. The model itself was so small that they were stunned to see that according to

the scale measure on the side, the long end of the float was nearly

a quarter of a mile in length.

"I see…Between the four legs, the square head, and the shelllike pyramid, it does kind of look like a turtle. A very big one…"

Sinon noted, impressed.

Asuna glanced over and pointed at the bridge section of the

massive Ocean Turtle craft. "But…look. See how this part here on

the head kind of juts out like it's flat? Doesn't it look like a different kind of animal?"

"Ohh, you're right. It's a bit like a pig. A swimming turtle-pig,"

Leafa chimed in jokingly.

Then she realized the implication of what she'd just said and

gasped. Her lips worked soundlessly, and she eventually managed

to wring out, "A turtle…and a pig…"

Asuna, Sinon, and Leafa shared a knowing look, and they

spoke in unison.

"Rath!