Chapter 2

Get off at Exit C-10 of the Chiyoda Line, in Otemachi Station.

Glance at watch, on left hand.

Five minutes left until three in the afternoon. Asuna Yuuki was

about to lower her hand when she caught the date in the little

windows in the watch face.

Sunday, December 7, 2025.

It was not a special date or anniversary. But something meaningful and emotional filled Asuna's chest. She raised her head and

began walking down Eitai Street in the direction of the Imperial

Palace and thought to herself:

Very soon, it'll be a year…

She didn't bother to include the other part of that sentence: …

since I came back to this world.

Asuna had gone from the iron fortress of SAO to the birdcage

of ALO before she was finally freed into reality in the middle of

January. What happened to her in the virtual world was slowly

shifting from recent experience to more distant memory, but

there were moments like this when she was filled with wonder

that she was actually in the real world.

The orderly placement of paving stones in the wide street. The

rustling of the trees as the chill wind brushed them. The passing

crowds, faces tucked into coat lapels or scarves. And Asuna herself, as she passed through this flow.

These were not 3D objects modeled with digital code, but real

minerals, plants, animals.

But what did real mean, anyway? If it meant "clusters of

atoms and molecules," then they were no different from those virtual polygons. The polygons were real, they just existed in the

memory banks of a server somewhere. The only difference was

the type of particles they were.

Was it just a matter of reversibility? Everything in the real

world, organic or not, could not be restored to its previous state if

destroyed. But objects in the virtual world could be replicated

from the same information down to the very last byte.

…No.

That was not necessarily the case. In Aincrad, there had been

loss, unrecoverable and permanent. The things that Asuna had

touched, felt, gained, and lost in those two years in the virtual

castle were undoubtedly real.

But if that was the case…

"…What is the difference between the real world…and the virtual world…?" she mumbled to herself.

"Only the amount of information," came the answer from right

next to her. She jumped up with a start.

"Wh-wha?!"

She turned to see a boy, blinking in surprise.

Longish bangs in front. Slender, fine features with just a hint

of sharpness. A plain black shirt with a black leather jacket and

faded black jeans.

It was so close to the look of his old avatar that it seemed

strange not to see sword pommels over his shoulders. Asuna took

a deep breath to sooth the sweet, lonely pain in her breast, and

beamed.

"…Oh, you startled me. You came out of nowhere! Did you use

a teleport crystal or something?"

Kazuto Kirigaya smiled wryly.

"I didn't come out of nowhere. I made it to the meeting place

just in the nick of time."

"Huh…?"

She looked around and realized he was right.

The gentle afternoon sun warmed the street and glittered off

the surface of the moat. The bridge just ahead led to a heavily

guarded gate. They were just before the gate to the Imperial

Palace, as Kazuto had suggested. She'd been lost in thought as

she walked, and came upon their meeting place without even realizing it.

Asuna's grin turned shy and she shrugged.

"Ha-ha, I guess I was on autopilot. So, um…hello, Kirito."

"Better watch out, there's no nav function in real life. Hey,

Asuna."

Their greetings exchanged, Kazuto suddenly narrowed his eyes

and stared at her.

"Wh-what's up?" she asked, arms crossed in front of her.

Kazuto hastily shook his head and mumbled, "Er, um…well…

just thinking, that outfit looks good on you. Makes me remember…"

"Huh…?"

She looked down at her clothes, and in two seconds, Asuna understood what he meant.

She was wearing a coat for the first time this winter: white

tweed, with an ivory white knit sweater and a red skirt that

sported an argyle pattern.

In other words, she had dressed herself in the colors of the old

Knights of the Blood guild. It occurred to her that she'd probably

worn that white-and-red knight's uniform nearly every day in

Aincrad. No doubt Kazuto was reminded of those times by her

outfit today.

She ran her left hand up and down her waist and grinned

again.

"…You're right. I don't have the rapier, though. And I can't

help but notice you've chosen black for yourself, Kirito."

He smiled bashfully. "I don't have the dual blades, though. I

usually do a better job of avoiding an all-black outfit, but Sugu

washed all of my clothes this morning, so this was all I had to

wear."

"That's what happens when you let your laundry pile up," she

noted, jabbing him disapprovingly on the shoulder, then slipping

her hand around his arm.

"So it just so happens that we're both in our old colors today.

What are the odds?" she asked, looking up just slightly so she

could see into his eyes. He coughed gently and answered without

much emotion.

"Well, if we keep meeting up regularly for a year, such things

will happen eventually."

"Oh, come on! You're supposed to say, 'I know, right?' not get

all logical on me!" She pursed her lips and tugged on his jacket

sleeve. "C'mon, let's not just stand around here all day. It's going

to get dark soon."

"Um, yeah."

She sidled up next to him and started crossing the bridge over

the waterway.

The imperial gate, white and traditional, was lit by the already

reddish western sun, throwing black shadows over the bridge.

Though it was a Sunday, the cold weather kept the tourist crowds

away.

They passed a police officer in a heavy coat and went through

the gate to a little checkpoint, where they took plastic entrance

tickets. After the silver fence they were in the midst of a tiny

woods so peaceful, it was hard to believe they were smack in the

center of Tokyo.

It was Asuna's idea to go somewhere on Sunday, but it was

Kazuto's suggestion that they meet outside the Imperial Palace

gate.

The palace itself was off-limits, of course, but the northeast

section of the East Garden, which was within the moat's ring, was

actually open to the public on Sundays—a fact that Asuna didn't

know until today. Naturally, it was her first time visiting. As they

made their way along the wide path, she was struck by a sudden

curiosity, and turned to the boy at her right.

"Why did you choose the palace as our date spot, anyway? Are

you actually a history buff?"

"Um, not really. The main reason was…well, because I was just

busy with an errand nearby before this…"

He snorted briefly, remembering something, then returned to

his ordinary gentle smile.

"I'll tell you more about that later, but for now, don't you think

the Imperial Palace is kind of a fascinating place?'

"…Fascinating? How so?" she wondered. He reached out with

his right hand and pointed at the thick trees surrounding them.

"It's about one and a quarter miles north to south, and just

under a mile east to west. If you add in Kitanomaru Park and the

outer gardens, the total area is about 1.3 square miles, which is

twenty percent of Chiyoda Ward all on its own. It's way larger

than the Vatican or Buckingham Palace, though not as big as Versailles. It's not just the size, though—there are no subways or tunnels underneath it, and a no-fly zone over it. Basically, this is like

one giant vertical area of no-entry smack in the middle of Tokyo."

A map of Tokyo materialized in Asuna's mind. She spun her

finger around in the air absently as she thought, then nodded in

understanding.

"Now that I think about it, the major highways around the

center of the city are either circular routes or radial routes

stretching outward. I guess this must be the center around which

they all stretch…"

"Exactly. Tokyo isn't a grid pattern like Kyoto, it's a city built

in concentric circles. And the very center of it is completely shut

off from the rest, not just physically, but also insofar as information. In a way, it's like the World Tree in the old ALO…oops.

Didn't mean to drudge up bad memories."

"It's okay, I'm fine."

Asuna had been trapped for many months atop the giant tree

at the center of that world. She shook her head to show that it was

all right and asked, "I understand that it's physically off-limits…

but what do you mean, informationally?"

"Oh, well…"

Kazuto looked around the woods, and briefly pointed out a few

spots.

"See the security cameras there, there, and over there? That's a

completely stand-alone security system. There's a closed network

here with zero connections to the outside."

"Ohh…And they're rather strangely shaped cameras, too,

aren't they?"

Kazuto's finger was pointing to a pole, atop which sat a black

sphere. If he hadn't pointed it out, she would have assumed it was

just a light pole.

"I've heard they're testing out next-gen security tech here…At

any rate, it's smack in the middle of Tokyo, but it's also its own

little isolated world. That's a fancy way of putting it, though."

"Ha-ha, just a bit."

As they talked, the path wound around an enormous stone

wall and rose up a sudden hill. They walked in silence for a few

moments and the view opened up before them. Over the wall was

an enormous grassy field so large it was hazy. The grass was dried

and dead in the midwinter cold, and the trees around it had lost

all of their leaves, but it was sure to be a splendid sight in the

spring.

"This is where the old Edo Castle used to be. The great hall

that you see in all those historical dramas was apparently on the

northern end of that grass field."

"Let's go see!"

Asuna squeezed Kazuto's hand and picked up her pace. There

were still very few other visitors, and nearly all of them were foreign tourists. On the way, they were stopped by a couple with two

adorable blonde daughters, asking for a picture to be taken, so

Kazuto politely obliged. The wife offered to take a picture of them

in exchange, so they bashfully lined up for a photo of their own.

Once the photo file was sent to their phones, they waved goodbye to the little girls. As the family walked away into the orange

setting sun, Asuna heaved a heavy sigh.

"…You tired?" Kazuto asked. She shot him a dirty look.

"Ab-so-lute-ly not! I was just thinking about us being like that

in the fut…erm…Oh, forget it!"

Her cheeks burned when she realized what she was about to

say, and raced ahead.

"H-hey, wait up!"

She and Kazuto raced a short distance until they reached the

little path that split the field into north and south. They found a

bench near a fork in the path, and plopped down.

She still had her head turned away from him in a huff. Eventually, he found something to say.

"Well, um…I'm sure Yui would be happy to have a little sister."

Despite the fresh rush of blood to her face at such a direct acknowledgment, Asuna couldn't help but chuckle.

"Y-yeah, right."

"What? Why would you laugh? That's mean…"

"Ha-ha, sorry, sorry. It's really a shame that we can't live with

Yui over here, too…"

Yui was the name of a girl they'd met on the old SAO server. In

reality, she was just a mental health counseling program—an AI—

but she accepted Asuna as her mother and Kazuto as her father.

As Aincrad was collapsing around them, Kazuto managed to

sneak her core program out in his NerveGear so that she didn't

get deleted with everything else. Now she "lived" in a desktop PC

Kazuto had prepared just for her in his room.

But the only way they could interact with her directly was

within a full dive—in other words, within ALO. They could contact her in the real world using their cell phones, but that was

limited by battery power, and wasn't the same as being "with"

her.

No matter how much Asuna loved Yui as a daughter, and no

matter how much Yui loved Asuna as a mother, there was always

a wall between them—the wall that separated the real world and

the virtual world.

Kazuto suddenly squeezed her hand.

"It's all right. We'll be able to live with her someday, once fulldive tech evolves more, and augmented reality functions are commonplace."

"Yeah…I'm…I'm sure you're right."

"As time goes on, the distinction between reality and the virtual world will get even more blurry. The only major wall between

us right now is the amount of information…"

She savored Kazuto's words and squeezed his hand firmly,

then looked up.

"You mentioned that earlier, Kirito. Something about the difference between the real world and virtual world being the

amount of information. What does that mean?"

"Well…"

His eyes wandered for a moment, then glanced down at their

hands, intertwined atop the bench.

"There's still a difference between holding our hands like this

in reality, and doing the exact same thing in ALO, you know?"

Asuna concentrated on the sensation of her left hand.

The pressure of the palm pressing against hers. The warmth

that kept away the winter chill. Those sensations still existed between the fairy avatars of ALfheim Online. But even the most advanced full-dive technology couldn't replicate the adhesion that

seemed to suck the skin together, the friction of the fingerprints,

and the faint pulse of blood flowing through the veins.

"Yeah, you're right…You still feel more with your real hands.

So that's what you mean by 'the amount of information'?"

"Yes. But as the AmuSphere evolves and becomes able to emulate skin sensations and pulsing, what then? Will you be able to

tell the difference between a real hand and an avatar's hand just

by touch?"

"I will," Asuna said instantly. Kazuto blinked in surprise. She

stared directly at him as she added, "I'll be able to recognize your

hand, at least. Probably not other people's."

In that moment, the temperature of Kazuto's hand rose

slightly, and its pulse quickened. She grinned in satisfaction.

"There's still more information you get in reality from all the

senses, not just touch: sights, sounds, flavors, and smells. So…

even if the current AmuSphere gets AR functionality…"

"I know. The instant you see or touch something, you'll know

if it's real or not."

AR, or augmented reality, was a feature that would use the

AmuSphere to combine digital information with the user's real vision and hearing. If that became possible, there would be no need

for desktop PCs or cell phones anymore. You could display a virtual desktop in front of your eyes, browse the web and send email, even navigate roads and attach info tags to people or objects. The possibilities were endless.

For the moment, RCT and the other major IT manufacturers

were hard at work, but there were still major barriers to usability

—the electron pulses went out of focus with the movement of the

body, extra batteries were required, and so on.

"Sadly, there are people who think constant AR will never be

applicable with the current headgear model. But I'm sure that if

there's a breakthrough on the technical end, and we can get massive sensory data here in the real world…we might be able to experience an instant full dive without lying in bed while plugged

into a wall."

Asuna nodded and continued where he left off.

"Then we can cross the wall between worlds and be with Yui

all the time. I'm sure that day will come."

"Yeah, it will."

Oddly enough, the words they exchanged were nearly the

same as what they said after leaving Yui behind on the twentysecond floor of Aincrad. When Asuna realized this, something

warm flooded into her heart, and she rested her head on Kazuto's

shoulder.

The promise of that reunion was fulfilled just months later.

So what they said just now was sure to come true as well.

As close as they were to the winter solstice, the sun plummeted behind the trees to the west as if it had been dropped.

Birds flocked against the brilliant red sky as they returned to their

nests.

Centuries ago, the people living in the castle here atop this

vast grassy field must have looked up at the same sunset. Centuries later, freed from the flow of time, would someone look

upon the same red sky…?

"Ahhh…"

Asuna murmured, feeling a nostalgic, melancholic urge escaping her breast. Kazuto looked over at her. Their eyes met, and she

smiled.

"I think I understand why you brought me here."

"Uh…y-you do?"

"Yes. If the world is built from the axis of time and the plane of

space, then the center of Tokyo, the real world where we live now,

is this place right here. And the central axis of the virtual world,

which is even now expanding thanks to The Seed, was that old

castle. That's why the color of this sunset feels so nostalgic…"

Kazuto blinked a few times, then beamed widely.

"I see…Yeah, good point. Actually, I hadn't thought about it

that hard. But…what you just said did help me realize one thing."

"What's that?"

"The shape of Aincrad. Maybe that spherical cone shape was

meant to be a symbol of the axis of time and plane of space."

Asuna thought it over and eventually agreed.

"Yes…maybe you're right. But if that's the case, the world that

our guild leader sought to create eventually tapers down to a

point and disappears. At least, until a certain someone blew the

entire thing up."

"G-geez, I'm sorry…Vice Commander."

They shared a silent chuckle. A few seconds later, Kazuto

sucked in a deep breath and stood up from the bench, still holding her hand.

"Well, time to get going. This place closes at five."

"Okay. We should bring Liz and Leafa next time. I bet it would

be fun to have a picnic on the grass."

"Yeah. Maybe in the spring."

Using his grip to get to her feet, Asuna took one last look at the

sunset in all directions.

She wanted to go home. Not to the Yuuki household, in the

Miyasaka neighborhood of Setagaya Ward. To their little forest

cottage that had temporarily existed on the twenty-second floor

of the old Aincrad.

The little log cabin was obliterated in the destruction of the

floating castle, but Asuna had a secret plan percolating in her

heart. Until that plan came to fruition, the room they rented in

Yggdrasil City atop the World Tree in Alfheim was home to her,

Kirito, and Yui.

As they walked toward Hirakawa Gate on the north end,

Asuna turned to Kazuto and asked, "Can you log in tonight? I

want to tell Yui about what we just talked about."

"Yeah, sure. Is ten o'clock okay?" he answered with a smile. It

was soon wiped away.

"What's wrong? Do you have something else to do?"

"No, it's not that. I'm pretty sure I can do it tonight, but… actually, Asuna…"

It was rare for him to be at a loss for words like that. He mumbled for a few seconds, but what he said next froze Asuna's heart

with fear.

"…Pretty soon, I might be converting my ALO Kirito to a different game…"

"…Wh-what?!" she screamed. Startled, a few birds took off

from a nearby branch.