Sword Art Online - Volume 23 - Chapter 2.2

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The desks in the computer lab weren’t classroom desks but long desks for seating three people. We pushed two together in the center of the room to make an impromptu meeting table. Asuna and Argo sat on the left side of the desk, Liz and Silica lined up on the right, and I sat at the end, closest to the door.

All of us wore Augmas—Argo’s was painted mustard yellow, with a little rat symbol on the battery holder in the back. Once they were all booted up, a little fairy-sized Yui appeared over the desk.

“Papa, Mama, Liz, Silica! Hello!” she said in a cute little voice. Then she noticed Argo. “And this must be…”

“Oh, er, I’m going to explain in a minute, as soon as we start the—,” I started to say, but Yui just blinked once and then grinned.

“Argo! You were very helpful to Papa and Mama in SAO. My name is Yui,” she said, bowing.

Argo’s mouth just hung open. “Uhhh…how did you know I was Argo…?”

“Your biometrics are a ninety-nine percent match to your SAO avatar data!”

“But…I grew a fair bit the last two years…”

“I run a growth simulation during my identification process!” Yui chirped, at which point Argo finally seemed to understand that Yui was an AI, not an actual child.

After three seconds of silence, she reached a hand over the desk. “W-well, it’s nice to be working with you.”

“Yes, likewise!”

Yui grabbed Argo’s thumb with her tiny hands. It occurred to me that Yui’s information-collection abilities, which were far beyond those of any organic human being, had to be a source of envy for Argo, who was still doing a kind of info-dealer job in the real world. As Yui returned to the center of the table, I made a mental note to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t get recruited for any fishy side jobs.

Yui spread her hands and said, “Now I’ll connect to Sinon and Leafa!”

There was a visual effect like whitish sparks in the air, and Sinon and Suguha appeared on the window end of the table. They were both wearing their school uniforms and sat in chairs with different designs.

This was the first time trying out Yui’s AR meeting system, but the realism of the experience was stunning; it was like there were two other people physically present in the room with us. They were just as shocked, and they looked around the computer lab with amazement.

“…Wow…so this is returnee school…,” murmured Sinon, who started to get up from her chair, but I held out my hands to stop her.

“No, don’t move! What you’re seeing is being overwritten by the Augma, so if you move around, you’ll bump into stuff and fall over.”

“Oh…right. By the way, I’m in the language lab. So if some other student comes in, they’ll see me just sitting by myself, talking to nothing, right?” Sinon asked.

Yui enthusiastically confirmed this, and Suguha made a face. “Ugh, I’m connecting from the nurse’s office. Someone’s sure to come by…”

“What about your club, Sugu?” I asked.

The kendo team member stuck out her tongue. “I took time off today.”

“Wait, really? Are you sure? What if the third-years take it out on you?”

“I’ll be just fine, thank you very much! Besides, the third-years graduated from the club after nationals in August, so I’m the vice-captain now.”

“Wait, really? You should have said so! We haven’t done any celebrations for you.”

“Being made vice-captain isn’t worth making a fuss over. But if I go far in the newcomer competition in November, I’ll demand a major party!”

We were just having a sibling chat in the midst of this important meeting. But Silica looked surprised and asked Suguha, “If you’re the vice-captain, then is there someone better than you in the club?”

“Oh, you bet. I win some and lose some in practice, but I kind of follow my own individual style…You want an orthodox person to be your team captain.”

I was starting to worry about her getting bullied again, but the kendo club wouldn’t choose an unpopular member to be vice-captain. Nationals had happened in early August, when I was still in the hospital, so I hadn’t been able to go cheer her on. The newcomer competition for first- and second-years after the seniors left was coming up, so I definitely needed to be there for it.

“Anyway,” I said, “let’s not waste any more time. First of all, I want to introduce her—er, our guest, I mean.”

I pointed to Argo, who rose from her seat and bowed.

“This is a new transfer student at returnee school as of today, Tomo Hosaka…But in SAO, she was the info dealer known as Argo the Rat.”

Immediately, Liz and Silica said in unison, “Ohhh! From the strategy guides!” Sinon and Suguha looked at them suspiciously, muttering “Strategy guides?” Argo herself giggled nervously and stood up again so she could give handshakes to the four people aside from me, Asuna, and Yui—although in the case of the two remote partners, they had to mimic shaking hands.

Of course, it also occurred to me that this was only worsening the imbalance of boys and girls on the team. There were tons of male VRMMO players at this school, so if we wanted to recruit more to the group, it would have been easy, but I just never really felt like it. That was probably because I’d already met the greatest friend I could ever have after two years in the Underworld. I didn’t think I’d ever have another guy friend my age I’d reach such a close understanding with, and I didn’t really want to. When he died in battle, a part of me died with him. That was a scar that would never heal for the rest of my life, most likely.

I took a deep breath of wax-scented air, stifling the sharp pain in my chest, and stated, “Now that introductions are over, let’s get down to business. The first thing I want to know is the state of non-ALO players…You got converted into Unital Ring from GGO, too, didn’t you, Sinon?”

“Yep,” she agreed, drawing everyone’s attention.

“And just to confirm, you know that your avatar stays in the virtual space after you log out, right? Are you in a safe location?”

“Well…I think I’m safe. The birdmen are protecting me.”

Everyone, including me, looked puzzled at that. Sinon just shrugged, as if to say she didn’t get it, either.