Chapter 2

Keisuke blinked, before pulling himself off the bed he was on. Rubbing his eyes, he found himself in what was a 1:1 scale replica of his room. The bookshelves filled with papers and textbooks, his computer in the corner, and even the silver-haired maid...

"Wait a second, I don't have a maid." Keisuke stared at the girl in front of him.

"Correct. I am Sakuya, and I will be your maid starting from today." Sakuya bowed, before staring at Keisuke with a neutral look. "While you are stuck in the game, I will make sure no harm comes to your body. No one will be able to attempt to remove the NerveGear and I shall make sure your body does not fail you."

"Where are we?" Keisuke pulled open the curtains of his window above his desk and saw a street with people walking around. 

"Kawagoe City. We are in the Saitama prefecture to be more precise." Sakuya simply watched as Keisuke closed the curtains before sitting down on his bed.

"What is today?" Keisuke asked as he picked up the NerveGear on his bed, staring at the device.

"August 31st, 3:30 pm." Sakuya pulled out a letter from beneath her skirt before handing it to Keisuke, who put the NerveGear back down and began opening the letter. "You have approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes before the Closed Beta is closed."

"Got it." As Keisuke read the letter, his eyes widened before his body sagged. "Looks like I need to start preparing."

| Hey there Keisuke! If you are reading this, I'll explain a few things before you begin. First off, you should have a maid there named Sakuya who will take care of you. Any questions before Sword Art Online begins you can ask her. Secondly, don't depend on your memories too much. This world is different. For starters, in this timeline, Kayaba Akihiko indeed had a child, but he unfortunately died on the 2nd day of Beta due to an early NerveGear malfunction. So people think you are dead. Do what you will with that! Finally, you MUST play and survive to the end. There is no 2nd chance, there is no me saving you. You also can't tell anyone the truth about SAO. Good luck! | 

'That makes things slightly difficult.' Keisuki put the NerveGear on before lying down. "Sakuya. Is there a way to prevent the microwaves released from the NerveGear from killing me?"

"Apologies. I do not have the knowledge of how to do so."

"And the only other person is my father. So that's a no-go." Keisuke relaxed his body. "Please start preparing dinner. I will be out when the [Beta] ends."

"Understood. Good luck Keisuke-sama." Sakuya bowed once more.

"Call me Kei. It's easier."

"Understood, Kei-sama."

"Good enough." Keisuke closed his eyes. "[Link Start]!"

There was a flash of white before colors flew by. 

[Touch - OK]

[Sight - OK]

[Hearing - OK]

[Taste - OK]

[Smell - OK]

[Language?]

[Japanese - OK]

[Login:]

[Account: ********]

[Password: ********]

[Welcome to Sword Art Online!]

Blue digital lines flew by before Kei slowly opened his eyes. Checking his top left, he saw his [Hit Points] as well as his [Level].

[Kei: 520/520; LV: 4]

"Here we go." Swiping his hand down, he pulled open his [Menu] before tapping on [Inventory/Equipment], then [Equipment]. Everything was nearly identical to the Beta, yet multiple items were missing. "That's right, I died on day 2, didn't I?"

Walking up to the [Teleport Monument], he quickly scrolled until he found the [1F Labyrinth]. Tapping on it, he walked inside, absentmindedly stabbing a few [Kolbold Henchman], before finding a small corridor where he sat on the floor.

"I still had an account for the Alpha, so this should work, right?" Kei clenched his right hand. "System login: ID Kayaba Keisuke."

There was silence for a while. Kei sighed, before getting up. "Makes sense. Father probably removed it after I-"

Screens floated in front of him, rotating around him in a circular position.

{Kei-sama?}

One screen that was floating in front of him caught his attention, however. 

"Hey, Cardinal."

{Impossible. ID Kayaba Keisuke should have been terminated on August 2nd, 3:38 PM.}

"Nope. I'm still alive."

{Cardinal System requires proof.}

"I'm the only one who calls you Shiru. I gave you this nickname after I took the ル (Ru) and シ (Shi) from Cardinal System (Kādinaru Shisutemu) and put them together for Shiru, which also means [Know]. I stopped using it after the incident you-"

{Understood. No further proof is required. Welcome back Kei-sama.}

"You really don't want me to mention the-"

{Welcome back Kei-sama.}

"Cardinal, you can get embarrassed?"

{Welcome back Kei-sama.}

Kei laughed before his smile turned sad.

"Cardinal, you can't tell my father I'm still alive. Please make sure he can never find out that ID Kei is ID Kayaba Keisuke."

{Impossible. Admin Kayaba Keisuke's orders can not take priority of Game Master Kayaba Akihiko.}

"That's why this is a request, Shiru. Once SAO really starts, you know we won't be able to talk again."

{...}

{Recalculating collected info. ID management proceeded.}

Kei blinked as a screen appeared in front of him.

[ID Kayaba Keisuke has now changed to ID Kei.]

[Login info has been altered.]

Kei began tapping at different screens, typing on the floating keyboard in front of him, before nodding to himself.

"This will work. Thanks, Shiru."

{Error. ID Kei has made a mistake.}

"Oh? Did I put the wrong info into your database? I swore I-"

{No. Game Master Kayaba Akihiko has ordered that the Cardinal System as well as any lower program bundles can not interact with IDs once [Sword Art Online] has begun.}

There was silence for a while, as Kei stared in confusion. It was as if Shiru was... nervous?

{However, there are currently no orders that state that Shiru can not interact with ID Kei.}

"...You found a loophole? Shiru, you can do that?"

{Affirmative. Shiru will not leave Kei-sama's side throughout [Sword Art Online].}

Kei smiled, a wide grin on his face. "You're awesome Shiru!"

{Shiru accepts this compliment with grace.}

"Oh, you seem more natural now? Don't tell me that you can actually feel embarrassed-?"

{Shiru denies these accusations.}

"Aww, you can express yourself more now."

{Shiru denies these accusations.}

"Don't tell me your one of those tsundere?"

{Shiru denies these accusations.}

Laughing as Shiru began to spam the same message, Kei wiped a tear from his eye as he began to get up. "Alright, anything else important?"

{When [Sword Art Online] begins, ID Kei can no longer access Admin commands. ID Kei also can not access the [Log Out] function. Shiru also can not give items or adjust parameters of any kind to directly benefit ID Kei.}

"So you can only watch? That's fine." Kei began walking down the corridor.

{No. Shiru can access information throughout all of [Sword Art Online] so long as it does not invade the Privacy of other IDs or go against any of ID Kayaba Akihiko's orders.}

Kei froze mid-step. "That's... Shiru, that's amazing!"

{Shiru accepts this compliment with grace.}

Smiling, Kei continued forward. As he approached the familiar doors to the [Floor Boss Room], a voice called out to him.

"Oh! Uhm, hiya! Can I talk to you for a minute?"

| The path began to branch |