Sword Art Online - Volume 18 - Chapter Ep7

Epilogue Part 7
I surveyed my own room, having finally returned after two months.

A toneless computer desk and wall shelf; a futon and undecorated curtains.

Before I could even feel nostalgic, I was taken aback by how dreary it all was. Really, from my own point of view, it had been two years and eight months since I’d last seen this room. I’d spent a full two and half years in Underworld.

My room in North Centoria Swordcraft Academy was fitted with imposing wooden furniture and a beautiful rug, adorned by framed art and fresh flowers in all the right places; a welcome feast for my eyes.

Most importantly, I was always surrounded by the smiling faces of swordswomen-in-training valets Ronye and Tiese, and… Eugeo.

Pain, keen and fresh and supposed to be memory by now, reawakened in my chest, clogging my throat.

The bag of clean clothing dropped heavily to the floor. I took a few steps forward and sat down upon my bed. I let my body fall, and smelled the sun on what must be freshly dried sheets.

I closed my eyes.

Indistinct voices swam deep within my ears.

—Finish your Sacred Arts homework before taking a nap. Are you trying to copy my answers again?

—Oh right, I made a small change to that trick you taught me earlier. Let’s go to the training grounds later.

—Hey, you snuck out to buy snacks again, didn’t you?! I get a share, right?!

—C’mon, get up, Kirito.

—Kirito…

I slowly turned over and buried my face in my pillow.

Then, I did what I’d been holding back ever since I woke up in RATH’s Roppongi branch.

Grabbing fistfuls of sheets, I clenched my teeth and cried at the top of my voice. Tears came without end and my body quaked as I sobbed my heart out.

If I’d known then, I’d have—

I’d have deleted all of my memories to begin with!

Deleted all of my memories ever since the instant I woke up alone in the forest, walked to the small river guided by the sound of the axe, and met a boy at the roots of a giant black tree, and every moment of the two and a half years that followed!

No matter how much I cried, the tears would not stop, with no hope of ever running dry.

Eventually, there was a retrained knocking on my door.

I did not respond, but then came the sound of a turning knob and soft footsteps. Keeping my face planted in the pillow, I felt a slight depression in the sheets near me.

Fingers hesitantly caressed my hair.

A calm, but exceedingly firm voice reached out to me, as I kept my face engulfed in the pillow.

“Hey, tell me, onii-chan. Everything happy and everything sad that happened in that world, all of it.”

“…………”

I said nothing for several seconds.

A beat later, I turned my face to my right and saw Suguha’s smiling features — the face of my only little sister through a curtain of tears.

I was back. Back home. Back beside my family.

The past was gradually slipping away, while the present continued on. Continuing to stretch onwards and onwards, without end.

I closed my eyes, rubbed away my tears, then parted my trembling lips.

“……When I first met him in the middle of that deep forest, he was just a normal woodcutter. You’re not going to believe this, but there were many generations of people over 300 years all trying to cut down one tree…”

I completed my rehab on August 16, 2026, and returned to my home in Kawagoe, Saitama.

That evening, I spent all night telling Suguha what happened in Underworld.

The morning after, I was woken by a phone call.

It came from RATH’s Roppongi branch, and brought the news that Alice had disappeared.

Monday, August 17, 9:00 AM.

“Di… Disappeared?! You mean the information is gone?!”

I was clutching my phone in a T-shirt and boxer shorts.

On the other side of the line, Dr. Koujiro replied in a restrained yet unusually anxious tone:

“No… Even her mechanical body is gone. According to security camera footage, last night at around 9:00 PM she released the security lock by herself and slipped outside when the guards weren’t looking.”

“By… herself?”

I let out a bit of the breath I was holding.

Groups or organizations displeased with Alice’s presence in Japan were likely to number so many now that you couldn’t count them on both hands. Add to that the people who want to destroy her for purposes of material gain, religion, creed, or other emotions, and the number becomes difficult to imagine. If guys like those got ahold of her, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself with a sword or Sacred Arts.

RATH’s awareness of this fact had led them to fortify the security of their Roppongi branch to that of a small fortress. But Alice’s voluntary disappearance had been a blind spot.

Now we had to figure out why Alice would do such a thing—

In my mind I recalled words she had spoken to me a week ago, just before she hung up the voice chat call she made to me in ALO.

Inarticulate, I heard Dr. Koujiro’s pained voice in my ear.

“I’m worried whether we’ve given Alice too much stress. But I asked her several times, ‘Are you tired?’, or ‘Want to rest?’, and she just smiled and shook her head…”

“That’s… what she does. She’s a haughty knight, she’d never admit weakness to anyone.”

“Except to one person, and that’s you… Kirigaya-kun, I believe Alice will contact you first for sure… and… I’m terribly sorry for this, you were just discharged…”

The professor’s voice faltered and died; I hurried to reply:

“Yeah, I understand, it’s okay. If Alice contacts me, I’ll get to her as fast I can… —But, doctor, can she travel such a long distance in her current state?”

“We’re worried about that, too. Even a full charge on her internal battery will only last 8 hours, and running will cut that time by about half. If she gets stuck near Roppongi… and someone with unkind intentions finds her…”

“And her appearance doesn’t help either…”

My face tautened at the fresh factor of unease. Alice’s dazzling golden hair, practically transparent skin, beauty painstakingly wrought by practiced artisans, and the fact that she was a robot, were all equally conspicuous.

“Every free staff member is currently looking for her around here. We’re also monitoring any internet posts and we’ve even tapped into the public security cameras to check their footage.”

“I’ll head over to you first, then. It’s best to move quickly when she contacts me.”

“That would be great. We’re counting on you, Kirigaya-kun.”

Then the call was hastily disconnected.

I pulled clothing from my closet at random and had just gotten my arms and legs into it before snatching up my backpack, phone, and bike keys and bolting from my room.

The ground floor was silent as I dashed down the stairs. Mom and Dad had said they were going out together for Obon festival and Suguha ought to be at morning kendo club practice. The whole family was intent on celebrating my recovery tonight, but it honestly wasn’t the time for that sort of thing right now.

Taking several large gulps of orange juice from the fridge and holding a bagel sandwich that Suguha had probably made for me, I hurtled towards the front door. Just as I’d stuffed my feet into my riding shoes and closed my fist around the doorknob, a piercing noise came from the intercom beside me.

For one instant, it felt like my heart was going to leap out of my mouth. Could it be — somehow Alice had traveled here on her own?

“Ali…”

I unlocked and pushed open the door as the final “ce” dropped from my lips, and standing there was…

A very ordinary delivery guy in blue uniform and cap.

There couldn’t be a more inconvenient time than this, but I looked at the huge droplets of sweat beading off his face as he said brightly, “Hi, package for you!”, and didn’t have the heart to tell him to come back later.

My hand had only just closed around the stamper seal we often kept on the shoe cupboard when the guy decided to kick me while I was down:

“It’s cash-on-delivery!”

“Oh… Okay.”

I was just about to retrieve my wallet from my backpack when I remembered that there was a convenient item called electronic money in this world. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and directed it towards the guy’s outstretched tablet computer.

“Thanks!”

Watching him turn tail and leave right after thanking me, I took another look at the package left in front of the vestibule.

It was larger than I’d expected, a cardboard box about 70 centimeters in width. With a mind to leave it here and just be on my way if it wasn’t perishable, I checked the invoice. The description was Electronics. The sender was—

“What the…”

Marine Resource Assessment Survey, in Mincho font. A shipment slip from the stock at RATH’s Roppongi branch? It was addressed to my name and residence in clumsy, angled handwriting I’d never seen before.

If Dr. Koujiro had sent this, she would have mentioned it in her call just now. Was it from Kikuoka, or Higa, then? Was there some contraption inside that had to do with Underworld, or the STL, perhaps?

Biting my lip, I made my decision and placed my fingers upon the tape.

I began carefully tearing it off. Then, I gently pried apart the slightly raised flaps, and — opened the box…

“……AHHHHHHHH!!”

And let out a terrible scream.

The box was stuffed full to the brim with human hands and feet, bent at highly unnatural angles.

Leaning far back with eyes wide, I was forced to let loose a second high-pitched scream.

“EYAAAHHH!?”

Within the darkness of the gaps between the hands and feet, a set of eyes snapped open and stared straight at me.

I cowered as a white hand reached out from inside the box and seized the wrist of my right hand that I’d placed on the box’s edge.

Before I could unleash a third scream, I heard an exasperated voice.

“Could you stop shouting and hurry and pull me out, Kirito?”

Three minutes later.

I was sitting on the door frame in the vestibule and holding my head with both hands.

Just as the «express home-delivered beautiful robot girl» trope that’s appeared in an abundance of fictional works since time immemorial was threatening to actually become real, I tried in desperation to adjust my own mindset — but…

“…How?!” I yelled, giving up entirely and jumping to my feet.

Turning my head I saw the beautiful robot girl clothed in her familiar uniform, drawing a finger across a column in the hallway with apparent interest.

Finally, Alice Synthesis Thirty, the third best Integrity Knight of the Underworld Axiom Church and the true bottom-up AI piloting the robot — or more accurately speaking, «Electroactive Muscle Operative Machine #3», threw me a slight glance and smiled:

“This house is constructed from wood, is it not? Just like the house we lived in inside Rulid forest. But this is much more splendid than that hut.”

“Ahh… Yeah… I think it’s been seven, eight, or ten years since it was completed…” I replied weakly, and her blue eyes swelled even larger.

“What substantial Life it has! Surely it must use lumber of the highest quality…”

“Yeah… Something like that… Something like that!”

I crossed the hallway with large strides, seized Alice’s shoulders, and was just about to demand what the hell was going on, before stopping cold at the sight of her smiling face, like the blooming bud of a flower.

“Might I be allowed to restore the Life of this Metallic Element body first? Hmm… «charging», as you call it over here.”

Correction.

This is the reality of an «express home-delivered beautiful robot girl charging herself with a household outlet».

The Real World had already transitioned to the future while I was diving in Underworld.

“Oh… charging… please, knock yourself out…”

Pushing Alice’s shoulders, I guided her to the living room.

She withdrew a charging cable from her uniform pocket, pushed one end somewhere in the vicinity of her left hip bone and the other end into an outlet in the wall, then sat straight-backed onto the sofa and continued surveying her surroundings nonstop.

—I almost rose to brew some tea before finally remembering that Alice probably didn’t need to eat or drink in her current state. And so I was assailed by another violent bout of disquiet.   

To calm myself, I thought it best to resolve a tiny question at hand first, so I asked:

“Umm… You want to first tell me how you pulled off the stunt of sending yourself here by express delivery…?”

So the golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty shrugged as though my question had been as mundane as anything else and replied:

“It was very simple.”

And she told me—

Having prepared a payment-on-delivery shipping label, packing tape, and an extra-large reinforced cardboard box, Alice first intentionally allowed the security camera to record her leaving her own bedroom.

Then, she assembled the box at the entrance outside of the security camera’s view, pressed on the shipping label inscribed with my home address, and disengaged all of her joint locks while inserting herself into the box. She applied tape to one of the top flaps only and pulled it shut over her from inside. Afterwards, she sealed the top in a simple fashion with tape from within.

Following all of that, she sent an email to the shipping company to come pick her up. The worker who arrived would of course be checked by the door guard, but the email definitely came from inside the building and there was definitely a package waiting at the entrance. Having no way of knowing that the box concealed a beautiful robot girl, the worker promptly resealed the loose tape, loaded the package onto his truck, and the following morning, delivered it to Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture…

“……I see……” I muttered, sliding slowly off the sofa.

From a certain point of view, Alice hadn’t set foot outside the Roppongi branch building at all. So there was no way to determine her route.

But what was shocking wasn’t her ingenious technique, but the fact that she was able to come up with something like this within just a month of arriving in the real world. When I told her this, the beauty in school uniform shrugged and smiled.

“When I was first appointed as a Knight-in-training, I used this method to leave the Central Cathedral and tour the streets.”

“…I…I see.”

In that case, what would happen once Alice became familiar with information technology? She didn’t need an AmuSphere to instantly dive into a virtual world; in a certain sense, she was born for the internet.

—Shoving aside this disturbing thought, I repositioned myself on the sofa and finally raised the most basic question.

“But… Alice. Why did you do this? If you just wanted to visit my house, all you needed to do was tell Dr. Rinko and she ought to give you time to do it.”

“I thought so as well. She is a good person, that woman… She is always very concerned about me. Therefore, even if I did earn the opportunity to visit your home, Kirito, I would likely be followed by a team of guards in black.”

Her eyelashes, which didn’t look manmade at all, drooped.

“…I am also quite ashamed of my actions, which amount to desertion. Dr. Rinko is likely very worried about me at present and searching for me everywhere. I will gladly face any punishment when I return. However… I wanted to earn this period of time no matter what. The time to talk with you alone… not with a false image of you, but with your real, physical body, Kirito.”

Her large, cerulean eyes stared directly into mine in front of me.

Those blue eyes of hers were probably optical instruments crafted from sapphire lenses and CMOS image sensors, but they concealed a breathtakingly beautiful gleam. Perhaps the light of tiny circuits connecting with each other, the light blooming from her Fluctlight itself.

Alice stood up with a fluid movement and the soft sound of actuating motors.

She walked around the glass table and stepped closer and closer to me.

Just then, the charging cable connected to the wall was pulled taut, impairing her movement. Faint sadness presented upon her snowy white cheeks.

I drew in a sharp breath, and stood up like her.

I took two steps forward and arrived in front of Alice.

Her eyes, positioned slightly lower than me, masked an intense willpower, flashing with dazzling light. Then her lips moved, emitting a sweet, clear voice that was nonetheless muddled with traces of electronic noise.

“Kirito. I feel very angry.”

I didn’t need to ask to understand what she meant.

“I… know.”

“Why? Why… did you not tell me back then that we might never see each other again, that it might have been our last goodbye? If you had just told me at that «World End Altar» that we would be separated by a wall of time lasting 200 years and we would never again be able to meet, I… I would not have fled on my own!”

Alice shouted, an expression on her face that would surely be dotted with uncountable tears if her mechanical body had the ability to cry.

“I am a knight! I am a human built to fight! But… why did you choose to face that terrible enemy alone and refuse my presence at your side?! What in the world am I… Alice Synthesis Thirty, to you?!”

Her small fists were raised, thump-thump-thumping away at my chest.

Her petite, bowed head trembled as her forehead fell upon my left shoulder.

Without a word, I wrapped both hands over her golden hair.

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“You are… my hope.” I cast out a murmur.

“Not just mine. You are the irreplaceable hope to so many, living and dead, in that world. That’s why I wanted to protect you no matter the cost, why I didn’t want to lose you. I have to extend my hope… into the future.”

“…The future………”

A wet voice came from between my arms.

“What form will the future take? What exactly will I gain from this world of chaos, bestowed with an unfree body of steel, attending needless banquets, and continuously enduring loneliness that knows no bounds?”

“………I’m sorry, but right now, I don’t know either.”

I put force into my arms, trying desperately to at least convey my own feelings and thoughts for her to understand.

“But, you being here will allow the world to slowly change. It will be changed by you. I believe at the end of that change, Cardinal, Administrator, Bercouli, Eldrie… and Eugeo’s wishes will definitely pay off.”

It wasn’t just that. In a different world of the past… the lives of the many young people who lived, fought, and died in a virtual castle were connected with this location, this moment.

Alice, her forehead still resting on my shoulder, kept her silence for a very long time.

Finally, the knight from a different world silently drew her body away, smiled, and spoke as though she had when we met in the marble tower:

“…We must contact Dr. Rinko. It would be horrible to make her worry too much.”

I kept my eyes on Alice’s for a moment. I still felt the tightness deep within me.

But what more could I say? Perhaps this was a problem only time could solve at its own pace.

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

I nodded, and pulled my phone from my pocket.

When Dr. Koujiro learned the situation over the phone, as expected she was speechless for around five seconds, but the first thing that came out of her mouth was an apology to Alice. She really was a good person. She really was the only woman under the sun to ever sway Kayaba Akihiko’s heart.

“…It’s my fault for not realizing how she felt. I was too dependent on Alice-san.”

After her reflection, Dr. Koujiro told me to do something unexpected.

I hung up and smiled at a worried-looking Alice.

“Relax, she’s not angry. She actually wanted to apologize to you. And… she said that you can stay the night.”

“Re… Really?”

A smile was quickly blooming across her face.

“Yeah. But she said that she would activate your GPS tracker just to be careful.”

“A small price to pay.”

Alice nodded, blinked a little too slowly, then stood up at high speed.

“Since that has been decided, you should take me around this house and your courtyard. This is my first time seeing a traditional building of the Real World.”

“Yeah, okay… But it’s just a normal house, there’s nothing to see, really…”

I tilted my head, and an inspiration suddenly came to me.

“Ah, let’s go to the courtyard first.”

I waited for Alice to reel in her charging cord upon reaching full battery, then crossed over the threshold into the pebble-strewn courtyard.

I pointed out the pond where goldfish and koi fish swam, the pine tree with clearly defined branches, and other features to an exceedingly interested Lady Knight, all while leading her to—

The rustic dojo erected alone in the northeastern corner of the property.

The instant that Alice slipped off her shoes and stood atop the wooden floorboards, she seemed to realize what purpose this building served. She immediately looked to me and said in a breathless voice: “This is.. a training ground, is it not?”

“Yup. We call it a dojo here.”

“Dojo…”

Alice murmured and turned back forward, then performed an Underworld-style knight’s salute with her right hand to her chest and left hand at her waist. I followed with a Japanese-style salute and walked in alongside her.

Constructed by my late great-grandfather and used only by Suguha now, the kendojo’s floorboards were wiped so clean that they gleamed jet-black. Even in midsummer, my bare feet felt icy against them. Even the air seemed different.

Alice first stared straight towards the hanging scroll on the opposite wall, then began walking towards the shelf positioned beside it.

She stretched out her right hand and quietly picked up an ancient bamboo sword.

“This is… a wooden blade for training, is it not? But it is completely different from the ones in Underworld.”

“Yeah. It’s made from bamboo and designed not to seriously injure even if you’re hit with it. Underworld’s wooden swords will take off a third of your Life if you’re not careful.”

“I see… There are no instant-effect Healing Arts here. Training in the sword must be exceedingly difficult…”

Alice nodded deeply, then fell silent for a few seconds.

And all of a sudden…

She turned and thrust the hilt of the bamboo sword at me with surprising speed.

“Huh? What are you…”

“It is settled. There is only one thing to be done in a training ground.”

“Wh… Whaaat? Are you serious?”

But Alice’s left hand had already closed around another bamboo sword. Left with no choice, I gripped the sword handle she gave me.

“Bu… But, Alice, with that body…”

“Do not worry!”

Whoosh.

She cast out sharp, determined words.

All I could do was watch the girl advancing towards me on the wooden floorboards with my mouth half open.

Even by 2026’s technological standards, Alice’s mechanical body possessed state-of-the-art equipment. They were only able to load movement ability exceeding that of #1 and #2 in the Ocean Turtle into a much slimmer body because… they could ignore the biggest hurdle that came with a bipedal robot: balance.

Ever since we humans started walking upright, we would be unconsciously and constantly adjusting the weight we applied to our own two feet to maintain balance. Attempting to reproduce this ability with sensors, gyroscopes, and software just would not allow all this related hardware to fit within a realistic human shape. But Alice was not subject to such limitations. Her Fluctlight had a self-balancing ability exactly the same as we humans did. All we needed to do was hand over control of every joint actuator and composite muscle to the Light Cube output signals.

—That said.

At present, her movements were still behind a true human’s. All you needed to understand that was to observe the rough script she had written onto the shipping label. I really didn’t think she could endure complex, high-speed movement like whirling a bamboo sword around… or any sword.

All of this passed through my mind in an instant, and I felt troubled.

But Alice’s feet moved without hesitation right up to a position around five meters away from me, and with both hands she brought the bamboo sword up to her head.

The beginning stance of High Norkia Style, «Heavens and Mountains Break».

Without warning, a gust of chilly wind swept over my skin. I couldn’t help but hold my breath and take half a step back.

Swordmanship.

Just as I formulated the thought, It can’t be, how is it possible—

My body moved on its own. With both hands, I raised my bamboo sword to my right in a perpendicular posture. Then I quickly lowered my waist, and inched my left foot forward. The beginning stance of Serlut Style, «Whirling Current».

When I think about it now, not only was I fresh out of rehab, I was nothing but a weak online gamer in the real world. I had no right to judge the abilities of a mechanical body. Even so, it was perhaps out of courtesy that I tried my best to meet her needs for this round.

I smiled slightly, and Alice returned the gesture.

“This reminds me… of the time I first traded swords with you in the garden on the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral.”

“You beat the hell out of me then. But it won’t be that easy this time.”

There was no referee to shout Begin, but the smiles slipped off our faces simultaneously.

Without changing our stances, we inched towards each other and closed the distance. The taut air ripped with current, and the cries of the continuously yowling cicadas also gradually faded away.

Silence, painful on my eardrums, grew thicker and thicker without end.

Alice’s blue eyes narrowed suddenly.

A streak of light like a moment’s lightning flashed deep within her pupils—

“Eeeyaaahhh!!”

“Seeiyaaahh!!”

Even as we both screamed loudly enough to shear through cloth, all I could do was stare mesmerized at the knight bringing the sword down upon me from ahead, golden hair trailing behind.

Whiiin!

Accompanied by the loudest shriek yet from her actuators, a ferocious blow struck my hands. Next moment, a clear slap tore through the entire dojo. Both bamboo swords left both sets of hands and tumbled left and right, spinning away in opposite directions across the floorboards.

Unable to endure the force of our strikes, Alice and I collided head-on and fell to the right. On reflex I oriented my own body to land beneath hers.

My back slammed into the floorboards. I then heard two heavy impacts: thump, thump. The first was Alice’s forehead smashing into my own. The second was the back of my head violently hitting the floor.

“Ow…….”

Alice was staring into my moaning face from a very close distance, and then she cracked a smile.

“My victory. Winning technique, Secret Move «Steel Headbutt».”

“I… I’ve never heard of… that technique…”

“I created it just now.”

After a storm of giggling as though she were very pleased with herself, her snowy white cheeks descended again to touch my own. I heard a voice like spring wind at my ear.

“Kirito. I am fine now. I can continue to live in this world. As long as I am able to swing a sword, no matter where I am, I will still be myself. Now I realize… my battle is not yet over. Neither is yours. That is why we must look forward and only forward, and advance with one direction.”

That evening was filled with a tension completely unlike the kind during our duel.

After spending goodness knows how long apart, my family of four was congregated in my living room — in addition to a guest, to celebrate my recovery.

Having long since befriended her in ALO, Suguha had warmed up to Alice very quickly on this side as well and both were currently deep in talk about kendo. With Mom, Alice would mainly use things I’ve done for conversation topics as they chatted amicably.

However, there was an exceedingly strained air flowing between me and my old man, who sat opposite me on the right side of the table.

My adoptive father, Kirigaya Minetaka, was someone with a personality that was the polar opposite of mine in almost every conceivable way. Serious. Diligent. A prodigy. After graduating from a top college, he attended business school in the US, then directly took an on-site job at the biggest brokerage firm there was. He had almost never returned to Japan these past years. It was lucky that he had no strife with — I should say, that he was able to maintain a devoted husband-wife relationship with my much more free-spirited mother.

Pop had drank a lot of beer and wine already, but he still looked at me with unchanged expression, then officially cut into tonight’s main topic.

“Kazuto. There is a great deal I wish to tell you, but I want to hear what you have to say from your own mouth beforehand.”

In that instant, the left side of the dinner table fell silent.

I laid down the drumstick I was about to bite into, cleared my throat, and stood up. With both hands on the table’s edge, I bowed my head deeply.

“…Pop. Mom. I’ve made you worry again, I’m sorry.”

Whereupon my mother Midori-san smiled warmly and shook her head.

“We’ve gotten used to it. And you had a huge job this time, didn’t you, Kazu? When a person accepts a job, he has to finish it no matter what. If you agree to write a manuscript, then you have to write it, and if you agree to a deadline then you have to make it!”

“Mama, your personal stuff is showing.”

The air relaxed with Suguha’s quip, but Pops pulled it tight again.

“Your mother may say that, but she was extremely worried about you while you were missing. The people at the Marine Resource Assessment Survey have explained it to us, and we know you fulfilled an important duty because we see this young lady over here, but you cannot forget, Kazuto, what your duty is.”

It would have given me no greater pleasure than to reply, being a swordsman! But there was no way I could say something like that now.

“Being a high school student.”

I seemed to deflate right there and then. It was as though I were a little kid being lectured by his mother and father. Alice’s wide-eyed, speechless stare stung against my cheeks. I’d faced so many strong enemies in Underworld, but I was still like this in the real world.

My old man nodded, then continued in a sterner voice:

“Indeed. Then you should be well aware of what you should be putting your greatest effort into.”

“…Studying hard, and continuing my education.”

“It’s summer after second year now. I remember hearing from your mother that you wish to study abroad in the US; how’s that going so far?”

“Ahh… about that…”

I shut my mouth, glanced towards Mom, then Pops, and lowered my head again.

“I’m sorry. I want to change my path.”

My old man’s metal-framed eyes seemed to harden even further.

“Elaborate.”

At his request, I made the decision to confide in him the new path I’d only told Asuna until now.

“I want to study electronics engineering at a Japanese school… Touto Institute of Technology, if possible. Then, I want to work at RA… the Marine Resource Assessment Survey.”

Clatter!

Alice’s chair had made the noise as she stood up.

She stood with hands clasped in front of her chest, eyes wide. I stole a glance at her teal eyes and gave her a swift smile.

What felt like an eternity ago — but really only two short months before, I had told Asuna of my wish to study in the US and learn related information about the Brain Implant Chip. This was because I believed that the BIC was the natural evolution of the FullDive technology pioneered by the NerveGear. Compared to the STL, which utilized data of a different form such as the Mnemonic Visual, I preferred a FullDive device with traditional polygonal data.

However…

My days in Underworld had turned my viewpoint upside down.

I could no longer leave that world, and I had no intention of doing so. I had finally discovered a concept that I wanted to spend my life bringing to reality.

The unification of Underworld and the real world.

Alice stared straight at me and broke into a flowery smile, then turned her gaze to Pops and spoke:

“…Father.”

The term of address seemed to startle Suguha, whose eyes shot wide open.

“My own father never allowed me to walk the path of a knight, not even until the very end. But I am no longer regretful of this, because I have declared my faith through my actions, and I believe my father will understand. Kirito… Kazuto is someone capable of this as well. He may only be a student in this world, but in that world, he is the without doubt the strongest swordsman of them all. He is a hero who battled valiantly and protected countless numbers of people.”

“Alice…”

I couldn’t help the urge to stop her from going on, because I knew that talking to my old man of knights and battles was a surefire way to prevent him from understanding.

However…

“Alice-san.”

I received a great fright when I saw that the corners of my old man’s mouth, which never lost their austerity, were actually showing hints of a smile.

“His mother and I are very aware of this. Kazuto is already a hero in this world as well. Am I wrong, «Black Swordsman»?”

“Wha…”

Shock of even greater magnitude caused me to lean back in my chair. My parents couldn’t possibly have read that gossipy, nonsense book, The Complete Records of the SAO Incident?

Pops withdrew his smile and fixed me with a blunt expression he had perfected in the US:

“Kazuto. Deciding your path, studying hard, taking tests, continuing your education, and getting a job may all just be a process, but they are the fruits we are given in our lifetime. Even if you’re confused, or influenced, you must lead a life that you will not regret.”

I closed my eyes, and drew in a deep breath—

Then bowed my head a third time and replied:

“I’ll get it done for sure. Thank you Pop, Mom.”

I looked up, and the right side of my mouth lifted in a smile as I added:

“It’s not much of a thanks for your valuable advice… but Pops, if you have shares in Glowgen Defense Systems or any related companies, you might want to sell them fast. I think they recently made a large gamble that cost them enormous losses.”

In response to my tiny pushback, my old man only raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? I’ll keep it in mind.”

—And just like that, bit by bit, reality is getting more realistic.

I thought as I lay onto the bedspread in my own room.

Our family party completed without a hitch. Mom and Pop had retreated to the first floor bedroom, while Alice was sleeping with Suguha in her room on the second floor. It scared me a little to imagine what they might be discussing while alone together, but I was always glad to see their relationship deepening. I believed it was good if Alice could slowly get used to the real world like this.

Summer break was about to end, and the second semester of school was going to start.

From a sensory point of view, I hadn’t taken a high school class in more than two years, so I was subject to Asuna’s hellish training for the final two weeks of summer. I had to overwrite the Sacred Arts I learned in North Centoria Swordcraft Academy saved in my memory regions with equations and English vocabulary.

I know what Alice said, but it looked probable that I would never again see the opportunity to take up a sword and fight.

From now on, in order to achieve my goal in the real world, I had to devote all of my time and energy to it.  I would study hard, continue my education, and putting aside whether I could realize my wish, first I would have to get the job and walk the path as straight as I could.

This was also an important battle. A lonely one, nonetheless.

But someday I will no longer be a boy.

By the time I realize how precious was the golden age dappled with sunlight, clear breeze, cheers, excitement, adventure, and many other unknown things, it will have departed to a faraway place, never to come back.

I guess I’m quite a lucky kid.

I’ve been able to hold my beloved sword in my right hand and a blank map in my left and run through many a different world, filled with exhilaration. I’ve been able to carve these many shining memories into my soul, like gemstones of motley colors.

Outside the window, I could hear the last train of the day crossing a steel bridge somewhere faraway.

The insects in the grass of my courtyard were performing the song of ending summer.

A cool breeze rustled the curtains through the window screen.

I drank in a wealth of sound and smell from the real world, and closed my eyes.

“…Goodbye.”

And with that quietly murmured farewell—

Another era had passed by.