Sword Art Online - Volume 18 - Chapter Ep3

Epilogue Part 3
Not far from the venue itself, Higa Takeru was watching the press conference at RATH’s Roppongi branch.

The gunshot wound on his right shoulder from the Ocean Turtle raid incident was finally beginning to heal; the plaster cast had been removed already. But the injury where the handgun bullet had pierced right through still remained quite clearly. Enduring another round of cosmetic surgery would set it right, but Higa decided to keep it this way.

The television changed from live coverage of the conference to the studio, and the anchor began explaining the «major incident».

“…It has been said that this organization, the Marine Resource Assessment Survey, was conducting research with a deep-sea autonomous probe within the self-propelling megafloat «Ocean Turtle», but its involvement in the raid and occupation incident that was the object of our extensive report a moment ago, has been the talk of the nation.”

The commentator nodded importantly and delivered his opinion.

“Well, one theory is that the objective of whoever initiated the raid was to seize that AI for themselves. But without being able to identify the perpetrating group, it’s very difficult to determine whether that’s truly the case…”

“Moreover, the destroyer «Nagato», which at the time was newly manufactured, had been moored in waters close by and there is still the question of why it did not come to their rescue for 24 hours. When questioned by the Diet, the Minister of Defense expressed that the safety of the hostages was their first priority, but in reality there were casualties among the security personnel…”

The picture changed, and a photograph of a man appeared.

He was meticulously dressed in JSDF Type 1 formal uniform: beneath the hat pulled low over his eyes, his expression was obscured by a pair of black, plastic-framed glasses.

A caption appeared beside the photo.

“RAIDING INCIDENT VICTIM: KIKUOKA SEIJIROU-SAN”—

Higa’s next words came out accompanied by a long sigh.

“Didn’t expect you… to end up the sole fatality of the incident, Kiku-san…”

The figure standing to his immediate right shook his head, replying:

“Goodness, it’s true…”

He sported sneakers and Capri pants under a glitzy-patterned shirt. His head had been shaved almost completely bald and there were light sideburns running from his ears all the way to his chin. His eyes were concealed behind a pair of reflective sunglasses.

This oddball of a person retrieved a box of cheap, soda-flavored candy from his shirt pocket, gently tossed a piece into his mouth, and grinned:

“But it’s for the best, Higa-kun. I’d end up being forced to resign either way, and in that case I might disappear, literally. Besides, the fact that there were fatalities during the raid incident is the only reason the opposing parties within Japan got pressured into such a pickle. I suppose I never expected the main culprit to be a bigshot like the administrative Vice Minister of Defense.”

“It looks like the Vice Minister got a fat payoff from an American arms manufacturer. But… that aside…”

Higa turned back to the television, and shrugged.

“Is it really all right to go proclaiming the existence of Artificial Fluctlights in broad daylight like this? This means that RATH’s ultimate goal, the autonomous weapons loading project, is gonna be a complete failure, Kiku-san.”

“That’s all right. The important thing is that America knows we’re capable of this now.”

RATH’s commander Kikuoka Seijirou smiled. He had taken an assault rifle bullet from the attackers right through his bulletproof vest and his side, but it had mercifully missed his internal organs, so he had made a quicker recovery than Higa.

“This way, their arms manufacturers won’t be able to force us to share our technology under the pretense of joint development — because we’ve already perfected the Artificial Fluctlight. After watching this press conference all they’ll do is give up. Good Lord… Alice looks more beautiful than a real human…”

Looking up towards the television where Alice had appeared again, Kikuoka’s lean eyes blinked briskly behind his shades as though he were staring at something blinding.

“Yeah… Truly the fruit of Project Alicization…”

The two of them fell silent at the same time, but a corner of Higa’s mind was still racing.

Come to think of it, was it really a miraculous coincidence that that girl — the complete form of «Artificial Labile Intelligent Cybernetic Existence», «A.L.I.C.E.» for short, and RATH’s method of achieving their goal — was christened Alice while growing up in Underworld?

If not a coincidence, then what reason lay behind her existence? Was she the result of some RATH worker secretly meddling in internal affairs, like Yanai had done? Or perhaps… it had been him, the only other person who had dived into Underworld other than their workers…

Higa suspended his train of thought, and turned to look behind him at the two STLs situated side by side on the far side of the wide room.

Barely two months ago that boy had used one when undergoing three days of continuous dive, yet now — Kirigaya Kazuto lay in the very same machine.

An IV catheter ran into his left arm. ECG electrodes covered his chest. His eyes were closed tight, and his face seemed to have grown gaunt over the course of his coma since he was transferred from the Ocean Turtle three weeks ago.

But his sleeping face was exceedingly calm. The corners of his mouth even seemed to betray a sort of satisfaction.

The girl deep in slumber beside him — Yuuki Asuna, had the same expression.

Their Fluctlight activity was under constant monitoring with the STLs.

Not all brain activity had ceased. If their Fluctlights had completely destroyed themselves, they wouldn’t even be breathing. But as their mental activity gradually diminished, so did any hope of their recovery.

This was a matter of course. Kazuto and Asuna endured 200 long years before the end of the maximum acceleration phase. It was an unthinkable amount of time for Higa, who was only 26. Without even considering the fact that it far exceeded the theoretical Fluctlight lifespan, it was a miracle that their hearts were still beating.

After the two of them were moved to Roppongi, Higa and Dr. Koujiro immediately explained everything and apologized to their guardians and parents. Other than the fact that RATH really consisted of JSDF officers and volunteer technicians from manufacturing companies affiliated with national security, they told them everything.

Kirigaya Kazuto’s parents wept but did not lose control, which was likely owed to them already hearing the gist of things from Kazuto’s sister. The problem was Asuna’s father; at the end of the day, he was the former president and CEO of the corporate giant RECT. Incandescent with rage, he immediately threatened to sue, but unexpectedly, Asuna’s mother had stopped him.

A college professor by profession, she said to him while stroking her daughter’s hair,

—I believe in my daughter. She would never do something like running away without telling us anything first. She’s going to come back alive and well. So please, wait a little longer, dear.

Both their parents were probably watching the press conference right now. Watching the new human their own children had put their lives on the line to protect.

No amount of grief could be allowed to sully this commemorative day, on which Alice — the Artificial Fluctlight — took her first step into the real world with her head high and chest forward.

So, please… open your eyes, Kirito-kun. Asuna-san.

Higa’s head was bowed and he was in the middle of praying when Kikuoka suddenly poked him with his elbow.

“Hey, Higa-kun.”

“…What, Kiku-san? I’m trying to concentrate.”

“I say, Higa-kun. Look… Look at that.”

“If you mean the press conference, that’s probably about to end. The reporters’ questions were pretty much within our realm of expectations…”

Muttering, Higa realized that Kikuoka’s hand, still clutching the soda-flavored candy box, was pointing not towards the live broadcast, but the sub-monitor to its right.

Information from both STLs’ real-time monitoring equipment was displayed on both windows.

Two faint white rings were suspended above a dark background. Without even the smallest of movements, that muted light was the afterglow of the boy and girl’s souls…

A flutter.

A tiny peak, infinitesimal in size, rippled out from a part of the ring and immediately vanished.

Higa’s eyes blinked furiously behind his glasses, his throat constricted and hyperventilating.

***

Dr. Koujiro’s voice echoed again over the massive press conference venue.

“…It will take a very, very long time. But there’s no need to jump to conclusions. I hope that everyone can communicate, feel, and think about Artificial Fluctlights, who will likely be born via new processes, through the medium of virtual worlds. That is the one thing our organization hopes everyone watching this broadcast can do.”

Finishing her speech, the doctor sat back down, but there was no applause.

Bewilderment remained firmly plastered on the reporters’ faces.

Immediately, yet another questioner raised his hand and stood up.

“Doctor, what do you have to say about the risks involved? I mean, can you guarantee that the AIs will never exhibit the desire to annihilate us humans and take over the world?”

Dr. Koujiro looked like she was fighting back a sigh as she replied:

“There’s only one situation where that becomes possible. When we display the desire to annihilate them.”

“But there have been an abundance of novels and films that…”

Just when he was about to continue, Alice stood up from her chair without warning. Her aura made the questioner recoil.

Blue eyes widened, ears perked as though she were listening to something far away, vision drifting into space, Alice took a few seconds before uttering two simple sentences.

“I have urgent business. Please excuse me.”

Her long, golden hair billowed as she disappeared off the side of the stage at the fastest speed her mechanical body would permit.

All of the reporters and the countless viewers in front of their televisions were struck dumb at once.

Urgent business — that was what Alice had said, but was there really anything more important than this press conference?

Left alone on the platform, Dr. Koujiro could not help her immediate look of surprise, but her expression changed as she seemed to remember something. None of the reporters noticed that after she took a long, slow breath, the corners of her mouth were briefly visited by the shadow of a smile.

***

He hadn’t imagined it.

The pulse that occurred in both Kazuto and Asuna’s Fluctlights at the same time; it was a very slow one with an interval of 10 seconds, but the heights of the peaks were undoubtedly increasing.

“Ki…Kiku-san!” Higa panted, turning again to the STL behind him.

There was no change in the pair of sleeping faces.   

No—

Even as Higa stared at them, color was slowly returning to their cheeks. Their heartbeats were growing steadily stronger. The monitoring equipment showed that both their body temperatures were rising, bit by bit.

Could they really allow their expectations to build? By some miracle the two of them were awakening — or rather, coming back to life from the deaths of their souls.

The 10 minutes that followed seemed to be as long as the maximum acceleration phase to Higa.

While he summoned all of the branch staff who were free and set them to work on various preparations, Higa periodically looked up to confirm that the pair of Fluctlights were approaching normal status. He felt that the pulsating, prismatic rays of light would vanish like an illusion if he turned away.

After they finished preparing oral rehydrant, nutrition jelly and the like — whatever they could think of, all there was left to do was wait—

The STL room’s door skidded open and revealed someone completely unexpected. Higa and Kikuoka jumped out of their skins and yelped:

“A… Alice?!”

The golden-haired girl who ought to be attending the press conference of the century at Roppongi Hills flew over to the two STLs, every actuator in her body grinding shrilly.

“Kirito! …Asuna!”

She cried their names, an electronic tinge to her voice, and dropped to her knees beside the gel beds.

Eyes wide, Higa took a cautious glance at the television on the wall. The scene had already changed back to the studio and the newscaster was frantically commenting on the sudden disappearance of the press conference’s main participant.

“……Well, Dr. Koujiro will figure something out.” Kikuoka muttered with a strained smile, and turned off the television.

Now was not the time to worry about a press conference. Higa checked Kazuto and Asuna’s conditions, then gazed at Alice, who had been praying steadily beside the pair.

Alice had been transferred from the Ocean Turtle to the RATH Roppongi branch in an idle state while in her Light Cube package. She was then loaded into mechanical body #3 — a revision of Niemom modified to suit her appearance — and awoken in the real world.

Just as she said in the press conference, the shock of being suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar alternate world was indeed great. She was only able to acclimate to her enormously different surroundings in a mere three weeks singularly because of her sense of forceful determination. The determination — to see Kirito and Asuna once more.

And now, that moment has finally arrived.

Alice’s hands rose with the soft whirring of motors and wrapped around Kazuto’s right hand, resting on the gel bed as he lay there.

Kazuto’s emaciated finger twitched very slightly.

His drooped eyelashes were trembling nonstop.

His lips parted just a tiny bit — then closed — and parted again—

Slowly, very slowly, his eyelids slid open.

Orbs of light were reflected within the black pupils, but the glow of consciousness remained absent. Say something, say something now, Higa pleaded.  

A breath, as light as a sigh, slipped from his parted lips. At last, the sound emitted from within carried with it the vibration of vocal cords.

“………It……… ll………”

A chill, colder than a shard of ice, ran down Higa’s spine. That noise sounded like the grotesque scream that the Fluctlight copy from before had emitted before collapsing…

No.

“………be……… all……… right.”

Then, a different sound.

It will be all right. Kazuto said that. There was no mistaking it.

In the room shrouded by silence, a second calm voice was heard.

“Sure.”

It was Asuna who responded, her eyes open by a millimeter in the STL to the side.

Both met each other’s eyes, and nodded gently.

Then, Kazuto turned his face to the other side and smiled softly at Alice, who was clinging to his right hand.

“…Hey, Alice. Long time no see.”

“………Kirito… Asuna…”

Alice called their names in a murmur, smiling and rapidly shutting and opening her eyes, as though she were lamenting her inability to cry.

Kazuto watched her, eyes full of affection, and spoke:

“Alice. Your sister Selka chose to remain in Deep Freeze until you return. She remains asleep on that hill on the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral.”

“………!”

Hearing words that Higa could not understand, Alice’s body shook uncontrollably and her golden hair fell from her shoulders in front of her face, obscuring her expression.

Then she buried her face into the sheets, and Kazuto placed his hand on her back—

And then he met Kikuoka and Higa’s eyes for the first time.

In that instant, something inconceivable burst into being deep within Higa’s consciousness. It was not sadness. It was not excitement. It was… fear?

Two hundred years.

A soul that had experienced the equivalent of an eternity.

To Higa, who stood rooted to the spot, Kazuto opened his mouth and spoke:

“Now, Higa-san, go ahead and delete mine and Asuna’s memories. Our work is finished.”