12
Principles/Resolve
Eiji
Arimoto residence: August 3rd 2026, 13:45
How did this happen? Yuna's avatar is laid out over the living room sofa, resting, and reverted to her pop-idol appearance. She breathes softly, but her eyes won't open. It's been 4 hours.
"Hey."
I look over my shoulder. Umbra hovers over us in her oversized hoodie, holding a steaming cup of tea. For me? She nods as she hands it off.
Warmth from the ceramic base flows through my veins. Goosebumps trigger. I'm present again. The natural wood living room, the empty kitchen, Arimoto and Julia conversing in their room, Mylo's empty presence and silence upstairs.
"I should've gone too." I'm so powerless here. I just thought she'd wake up by now.
Umbra shakes her head. "No way. If anyone should've stayed behind with Yuna, it should've been you." Umbra crouches on the floor, settling on our level. "Besides, who knew she'd still be asleep?"
"Arimoto said she's been like this since they left the Ministry." Was it Kayaba? His blade cut me down before Yuna—I just moved in the way on instinct. What could he have done that quickly?
"Eiji!"
Tea runs down my hands and wrists. The searing hot burns next. "Ah! Ah! Ah!" My hands were trembling.
I hear Umbra's footsteps hurry away then return. She hands me a napkin.
"Are you ok?" Umbra asks. She hides one of her eyes behind her longer bang, but even I can see the bag burrowed under her other one. She's been staring at computer screens nonstop while everyone else collects themselves. Does she feel like she failed too?
"I should've tried to keep Yuna out of the actual fight." I know we made a promise before—to look after each other—but this—
"You know she wouldn't have gone along with that." Umbra sighs. "She knew lives could be at risk. She'd want to help in every way possible."
"She's always been that way." I remember. Even with the chance to have her normal life back, she sacrificed herself for others. She always does.
"Don't blame yourself," Umbra says. "You didn't do this. Kayaba Akahiko did, and his A.I. pet." Umbra moves to Yuna's head. Even though Yuna's not physically here, I think everyone's gotten used to treating her avatar like it is. Umbra runs a hand through Yuna's white hair. "She'll wake up. You'll see."
I hear footsteps—upstairs. Mylo?
His form appears under the shadows as he ties his hair twists in a bun. He comes down in athletic sweats and a tank. What, is he going running?
"Hey." Umbra calls out to him.
Mylo nods to us. Even his breathing sounds quiet, and his body stills itself as he looks between Umbra, me, and lastly Yuna. "She's still asleep?" The first words he's said since he got back.
I shake my head. Mylo has enough to think about too. He sighs as his body hangs. I think he's searching the floor for words to say.
"It's ok, she'll wake up," I parrot Umbra's line. Mylo has enough to worry about. We all do. The virtual countdown ended, but Failsafe, and now Kayaba, are in the wind.
"Let me know right away if anything changes." Mylo starts for the door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Umbra asks.
"Out to clear my head." Mylo opens the door as summer air breezes through. The whining on the hinges ends with a thump from the door shutting.
"Is he gonna be ok?" Umbra murmurs. She covers her mouth after—probably just realizing she said that out loud.
The door to Arimoto's room suddenly opens. He comes out barefoot. "Did someone just leave?"
"Mylo." We answer at the same time.
"Oh." Arimoto's shoulders drop. There's more weight in that realization. He and Mylo always seemed so close—have they talked much since? He immediately looks over Yuna on the couch. "Still no changes with her?"
I shake my head.
Arimoto wipes his whole face down to the stubble on his chin. "It's strange. Why would an A.I. need to rest?"
"Maybe the fight just tired her out, or maybe she took some damage during it and needs some time to repair?" Julia suggests as she steps out of the room.
"It's almost like she's—" Umbra wanders with her thoughts.
Rebooting. "I think I know someone who can help." If he's even willing. "Umbra, would you—"
"You know you don't even have to ask." Umbra smiles.
"I'll take over watching net traffic." Arimoto nods, but his gaze lingers on the front door.
Mylo
Nishitokyo: August 3rd 2026, 14:00
Keep running until the air screams, until my lungs burn, until my calves stretch to their limits. But no matter what, don't stop.
Yuna's down.
Kayaba and Failsafe are in the wind.
I can't afford to grieve—there's no time.
Clear. Your. Head. Run.
Buildings, people, stoplights, all of it sounds like background, just ambiance. Noise. I have to keep fighting. I can beat it. I'm strong enough.
Summer breeze carries flower fragrances. Was that Mom's too? No, not lavender.
My pace slows down as footsteps in the stride space out with my thoughts, and then—just—nothing.
I see traffic in the streets, pedestrians crossing them, busses filling, gasoline from tailpipes stuffing the air and my nose catching it all. It all feels so out of body. I turn right, spotting a series of three-story buildings, fenced by a large open field, and empty.
Where am I? I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't pay attention to directions. I just have this building as something to train my eyes on, my focus. It's larger than anything else around. My fingers coil around fence wire surrounding the campus.
I failed.
"Um, excuse me?"
I wanted to be alone; people don't usually approach complete strangers around here. I turn around.
Hazel eyes. Chestnut brown hair. Wait, I've seen this person before. Kikuoka's SAO files, The hospital a little while ago—Asu—Asuna Yuuki.
"Do you go to this school?" She asks.
"School?" The question slips out. It's so huge—this is a school?
Asuna laughs at the question. "You're not from around here, are you? Everyone knows this place."
About a school? "Why's that?" Maybe my mind's just too busy, I wasn't expecting small talk. I'm not really ready for any either.
"It's for SAO survivors." Asuna looks on beside me.
Kikuoka and Arimoto mentioned this. I just never got around to seeing it. "How ironic."
"Huh?"
That probably sounded callous. "Sorry, long day."
Asuna tilts her head confused, but politely shakes her head. "No worries."
Survivor School huh? I wonder what it's like to have still been in high school when SAO happened—how they moved on. "How do you live after something so horrible?"
Asuna's posture shifts. Her hands and feet clasp closer together. Her gaze falls on the concrete.
"The memories—the hurt—and the emptiness that's left after?"
"Are you—a survivor?" Asuna looks back up, concern folds her brow, I can see it.
"I'm collateral." I repeat the mantra, just like to Eiji.
"Does that mean you—have family?" Asuna catches on. "A family member who's a survivor?"
"No." I feel my voice crack. "No survivors—just me." I clench the fence—anything to hold onto. I'm trying not to tremble. "What's it like?"
"Huh?" Asuna asks. She hasn't left. Why hasn't she left?
"What's the school here like?" I detract. "I take it if you're here, that you're a survivor, right?"
"Yes, that's correct." Asuna confirms. "And it's not bad. The teachers are all nice, and I have a great group of friends I met during those two years."
"I envy people like you then," I say. "Finding a way forward."
"If you don't mind me asking," Asuna recomposes and closes the physical distance between us. She carries a welcoming aura, a relaxing air a lot like Ari's. "Who did you lose?"
"My father." I'm not ready to talk about Mom. "People say he'd work in scouting parties, stuff like that."
"I'm sorry. That must've been really hard on you and your family." Asuna acknowledges.
Mom especially—holding all of it in— "I'm sorry, that's a lot to throw on a stranger."
"No, no, that's all right." Asuna dismisses the formality. "Would you like to accompany me? I was here to pick up some missing schoolwork on behalf of someone."
"Not to be rude, but, aren't I a stranger to you?" No one's this nice, and I don't mean to be a burden, and maybe part of me still wants solitude.
"I made a promise to myself a while ago." Asuna shakes her head. "I don't back down from helping those who need it."
Just like Ari. "I know someone else like that."
Asuna leads as I walk beside her. We enter the school grounds. Greenery and branches escort us onto campus.
"Wait, how did you know I needed help?" I ponder.
"You showed up at a school with no idea where you were. I figured you might be lost." Asuna cheekily points out.
She got comfortable fast. "Got me there."
"My name's Asuna by the way, Asuna Yuuki." She stops our pace to bow.
"Oh," I bow back. "Miles, Miles Laboue." Why'd I use my real name? Maybe it's because we're just talking honestly.
"Wait," Asuna pauses. "Miles Laboue?"
Wait, does she know me? "Ye—yeah?"
"You wouldn't happen to share the same name as your dad, would you?" Asuna asks.
"I do." I lean in now.
"I've met your dad before." Asuna smiles.
"Really?" I want to know everything she does: his last years, what he was like in SAO, whether he still found a way to live during those two years.
Asuna nods. "He was very helpful in gathering information for info brokers once we got to higher floors and Beta-testers couldn't help anymore." She recalls. "Never stood out much, but I always thought that was because he didn't want to."
"He was always more about the job than the recognition." I scratch the back of my head.
"I think he was mostly just shy." Asuna jokes.
"True, true." I laugh along—weird, I didn't think I still could.
"Is—he the reason you came by this way?" Asuna ponders.
Good question. "Hard to say. A lot's happened lately, but I guess it all started with him."
Eiji
Toto Institute of Technology: August 3rd 2026, 14:45
"Here?" Umbra trails behind me as we get closer to his office.
"Yeah, he'll be here." Heat swells under my palms. I haven't seen him since the incident, and its hard to believe that everyone just resumed life as usual.
"From what you've told me, shouldn't he be in—I don't know—prison?" Umbra whispers now like the walls can hear.
"If he should be—" I grip the doorhandle to Dr. Shigemura's office. "So should I."
The door creaks open. Dr. Shigemura labors over a tablet on his desk. He doesn't look up. "Office hours are between 1 and 2 PM only."
"This couldn't wait." I declare.
He looks up. His hair looks even more grayed, and his goatee beard looks grown out, real caveman-like. "Eiji." He murmurs. "What exactly do you want?"
"Nice to see you too, professor." I retort. Not like we weren't in cahoots awhile back. "Surprised you're still teaching."
"Surprised you're in school." Shigemura fires back. "As I recall, you didn't enroll in any courses this semester, so you're not officially a student. Wouldn't this count as a trespass?"
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important." I scowl at the sight of him. Not only does he seem unapologetic—trying to steal my memories of Yuuna all that time ago—but he didn't even want to see her again after Kirito and I fixed the current Yuna. "It's about your daughter."
"My daughter—is dead." Shigemura returns to his tablet.
"That's your excuse?" Umbra speaks up now.
Shigemura's typing hands freeze up. He keeps his eyes down. "Excuse?"
Hold up. I shake my head to Umbra. Let me handle this. "Dr. Shigemura, Yuna's been asleep since early this morning. I think she's in some sort of recovery mode after taking damage. I figured if there's anyone who can get her out of it—"
"Why would I concern myself with that A.I.? I relinquished the rights to it after Ordinal Scale."
"It?" Umbra spurts out. I feel the same.
"Young Lady," Shigemura looks up and glares at Umbra. "This may be news to you, but that A.I. is only a reflection of my daughter, a ghost or a pale imitation. There's countless others like her promoting the augma and other A.R. merchandise daily."
"You're wrong." I grit.
"Excuse me?" Shigemura asks dryly.
"I said you're wrong." I ball fists. "Sure, maybe she's not the daughter you knew, but she has a will of her own. She's more than just code or an imitation. She's her own person."
"She's not my little girl." Shigemura stresses as he rubs his temples and takes a deep breath.
She? I look on Shigemura's desk. The photo of him and Yuuna from all those years ago still stands upright, facing sunlight.
"So what?" Umbra interjects. "People change all the time. Nothing new."
"People?" Shigemura scoffs. He's alluding that Yuna isn't a person, but he just called her she-
"You said she." I note.
"What?" Shigemura's face contorts in confusion.
"You called her she." I retort.
Shigemura slumps in his chair, rubbing his forehead. "Listen—"
"You know it's true." I pile on. "You know she's her own person, her own existence—and it's independent of the Yuuna we originally knew."
"So what if it's true?!" Shigemura rises to shouting.
"Because you've already known." I realize. He knew Yuna becoming her own mixed identity would be the likely scenario after merging her. That confusion, between whether it's truly his own daughter or the A.I. replica—"The confusion was too much for you."
"Confusion?" Shigemura grumbles.
I had a feeling. "After Ordinal Scale, you sold the rights to Yuna's A.I., you refused to see what she became afterward." He was like me. "Because it wasn't the Yuuna you knew."
"You don't know what it's like!" He surges from his seat behind the desk and spears a judging finger toward us. His free hand slams the hardwood. "For a parent to lose their child! To have had all the pieces, all the signs of stopping what transpired, stopping Kayaba, and to be powerless!"
"Kayaba's the one who did this to the Yuna who's here right now." Umbra shouts back.
"None of that matters. My daughter's gone. I suggest you leave." Shigemura's finger lowers. He falls back into his chair and turns his back on us, but I step forward, step closer.
That desk photo—I remember that Yuuna too. The Yuuna I befriended growing up, and a close friend.
"You know, I think I was a lot like you at first too." Thinking back, not being able to see this Yuna for who she was, the A.I., or the ghost of a person lost in her memories. "She's not the old Yuuna. But guess what? She still has the selflessness, the courage, and the drive to help others, even if it might come at a sacrifice for herself. Aren't those principles you had a part in passing on to her? So what if she isn't the same? None of us were after what Kayaba did to us. Hell, what he's still doing."
Shigemura falls back in his chair. He shuts his eyes, looks away, and twitches his cheeks as he sighs. He wipes his forehead, but along with it, in a subtle sleight of hand, I see him wipe a tear too.
"Please, help her." I plead.
Eiji
Toto Institute of Technology: August 3rd 2026, 15:15
Yuna's avatar rests on an examination table in Dr. Shigemura's lab. He furiously clacks the keys on the computer hooked up to her A.I. as he runs diagnostics.
"How long?" I impatiently ask.
"Not long." Shigemura keeps his eyes on a monitor filled with coding text.
Umbra leans in my ear. "The guy seems a bit unstable—maybe it's just the beard though." She whispers.
I'm glad Umbra's here. Being in the room with Shigemura a lone would remind me too much of our past. "If he does anything funny, I'll leave it up to you."
"I'll smack him if he does something funny." She says that pretty casually.
Shigemura's computer rings and a dialogue box opens on his monitor. He presses a single key.
Yuna's body jolts once. Her nose and cheeks wrinkle as she budges. She turns sideways, facing Umbra and I while we rush to her side. I clasp her hand, no hesitation. Those ruby eyes shutter; She's awake.
"Yuna?" My voice cracks. I'd almost lost you again. Her hands wrap around mine. Avatar or not, I can feel them.
Yuna searches around the room looking confused. Her eyes train on Shigemura next, leaning against his work desk with clear distance between them.
"Professor?" She mumbles. She looks at me next. "Eiji?"
"Are you ok?" Umbra asks, leaning in too.
Yuna pauses on the question. She looks Umbra up and down and lingers. "Have we-met?"
"Huh?" Umbra and I pause.
"Yuna, this is Umbra, remember?" I prod. "We've all been working together for a little while."
Yuna sits up slightly. She stresses her forehead and looks over Umbra again, but I can tell—in her eyes, the way she looks at Umbra is like a total stranger. Yuna politely smiles. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met, but my name's Yuna." She casually extends her hand for Umbra to shake. Umbra hesitates. She quickly turns to Shigemura, arms crossed in the corner.
"What did you do?" Umbra seethes.
"All I did was clear up clutter that was preventing her from finishing her recovery mode. She had a multitude of data errors." Shigemura explains. "Spaces in her code that were missing."
I look over Yuna. She looks back and sits upright over the edge of the examination bench.
"Eiji?" She asks with a whimsical tone and a casual sway of her legs, back and forth. It's almost like—
"She's missing her SAO memories." I realize. "The other half of her personality, White Yuna."
"That could explain what I was seeing." Shigemura sighs. "Either way, she's basically back to her default A.I. now. I told you, there's nothing more to her."
"Like you would know." Umbra scoffs at Shigemura.
I sit beside Yuna. "How do you feel?"
"I feel great!" Yuna salutes.
Does Kayaba have something to do with this? "And what's the last thing you remember?"
"Huh? I remember—" Suddenly Yuna scrunches her brow and grips her forehead. She leans over. I hold her—she looks like she's in pain. She searches around, her eyes look glazed over, she's acting like she's in a different space. Her pop-idol avatar glitches in discolored pixels before shifting back to her form.
"Yuna—" I look over her. Her body simulates trembling like she's caught chills. She's scared. Her stiffened posture and wide-eyed stare calm down. Her shoulders ease and her rising chest, her breathing, slow down. She blinks once, twice, and then looks at me. "Eiji?"
I try not to look scared. "Don't worry, you're going to be ok."
Mylo
Nishitokyo: August 3rd 2026, 15:20
"I see." Asuna patiently listens as we sit on a wood bench, papers folded under her arm.
I check my augma for the time. It's almost been an hour. "Hey, if you have somewhere to be—"
She shakes her head again, continuing her empathy streak.
"You really don't you mind?" It's weird to ask, but, people aren't usually this nice.
"I guess, because, I've been there before." Asuna looks up at the tree swaying above us. Leaves softly bristle, mimicking the sound of ocean waves on the wind. "I had a close friend once. I like to pass her spirit on by being honest and open with others. So, don't worry. When I say I have time, I mean it."
"Must've been a good friend."
"You must feel the same way about your dad, right?" Asuna asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean-a way to pass on his spirit?" Asuna clarifies. "Ya know?"
"That'd be nice," for all the suffering to go somewhere. "But I don't know how." My head's still spinning. I'm trying to imagine a world without Mom in it too, without her dorky jokes, her warmth, or her advice on meditating away all the noise in the world. "My Mom passed away recently." I finally say.
"Was she also—"
I shake my head at Asuna's assumption. "She was on the outside with me."
"I'm very sorry to hear that," Asuna consoles. "Do you—still have family around?"
"I'm not sure how to face them again yet." I don't want to drag anyone else down, not when the stakes are so high. I have to be-
"What do you mean?" Asuna shifts on the bench.
"Huh?" My train of thought derails.
"Did you do something wrong?" Asuna asks.
"Well, no—not exactly," I respond plainly.
"I'm not sure I understand then." Asuna faces me with full eye-contact. Her auburn eyes capture the glaze of sunlight. "If you did nothing wrong, what's there to face against them?"
"Not against them," I clarify. That's not what I meant—right?
"Miles?" Asuna asks concerned.
After everything, I'm still guarding myself. Why? The team, the new trust, a bond. "I don't know why I said that, sorry."
Asuna tilts her head. "Does it feel like you need to go against them?"
It feels like I push myself against them—when I collapsed the other day, how I tried to shoulder all the weight myself. Why do I feel that way? "Heh, maybe I'm just scared."
"Scared of what?"
"When you get home—you can talk to us."
"People can't know what's going on with you unless you tell them."
"If you're feeling pushed against a wall in anything, be sure to lean on good support."
I don't want to get my hopes up again, and then lose them- "I don't want to end up—a lone." After I just lost someone who did get me. What if they don't want to know someone like me? What if my grief scares people I want to grow close to? "I'm angry, almost all the time, at how we got here. This school—the tragedies of SAO—none of it ever should've happened."
"Of course." Asuna looks over the school campus. Another breeze blows through. "Parts of it are sad. A lot of bad things happened. Unspeakable things. But you're not alone in that, are you?"
I know I'm not, but still—
"Take you and me for example." Asuna continues.
"Me and you?"
"Mhm. We're strangers, yet, here we are, openly discussing ourselves. Wouldn't you call that a connection—Impossible without those terrible circumstances?"
I chuckle a little. "Suppose you're right." She is right.
"So," Asuna says. "If you can connect even with someone you just met, then you should be fine with others who've known you longer."
"In theory." My fingers interlock as I huddle over the bench. I can feel more weight on that thought.
"In reality." Asuna laughs. "Sometimes it won't work out, but in that case—there's just some things you can't communicate unless you clash." Asuna doesn't break eye contact. "And sometimes you have to clash with yourself first."
"See, that thought terrifies me."
"But here you are, saying how you feel, and smiling, even after everything." Asuna observes.
I freeze. I hadn't noticed. My posture switched to sitting upright, I was feeling lighter with the afternoon sun soaking in, and the warm air bristling by. I was present again, by being absorbed in the conversation—by sharing a feeling in the moment. "Asuna—"
"Hmm?"
"I am still scared."
"Me too, most days." She smiles.
"But that's ok?"
"Mhm. That's ok."
Showing—speaking on—how I feel, about my grief right now. Would they really not mind? Is it ok to be me? "They really won't mind."
"They're your family, right?"
I think back to the late-night porch convo. "You're pretty wise, anyone tell you that?" I smile at Asuna.
"It doesn't hurt to hear it." Asuna cheekily smiles back.
"Thank you. I really needed this today." I stand.
"My pleasure." Asuna pats her skirt. I offer my hand and help her up.
"Carrying their spirits forward." I linger.
"Did you find some inspiration?"
"A thought at least." We'll see what it becomes—trusting others too with my hopes and feelings. "I might get busy pretty soon, but if you remember any other stories with my Dad, I'd love to hear them." I mean that wholeheartedly.
"I'll ask my friends too." Asuna bows. "I'm sure our collective memories of those years will come up with more."
"Thank you." I bow back. I should find a way to keep in touch then. I reach for my cell.
Bzzzt.
Eiji or Umbra calling? I pull it out—an unknown number. My heart skips a beat. What's this feeling? I usually skip these, but— "Hello?"
Static on the other end until a rhythm of low breathing. There's a distortion, a garble, and then-"Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" Failsafe.
My joints lock in as I stand. I search around, but it's just Asuna and I. Pedestrian traffic on the other side of campus has cleared out. It's quiet.
"Oh, c'mon. Don't leave me hanging," Failsafe baits. "Miles."
I cover the phone mouthpiece and smile at Asuna. "Could you give me a sec, I'm sorry."
Asuna smiles as she wades over to the grassy fields out of respect for privacy.
"Did I catch you at a bad time?" Failsafe asks.
Man, he talks a lot. "Not at all. Could I help you with something?"
"Did you really think splitting Yuna's A.I. would fool me? Detract us?"
Split her A.I.? What the hell's he talking about? "It sounds like you're having a rough day."
"Not as rough as yours, I imagine."
He looked me up. No, if he's a collection of dead SAO player then—Dad's memories.
"I just finished searching through medical histories." Failsafe's voice sounds more monotone now than usual. "My condolences."
He's baiting. That's how I slipped up against him in our first encounter. "I didn't think you carried sentiment for the dead."
"Death is something we have in common," Failsafe says. "It's also our great motivator."
"Did you call because you needed something?" I cut to the chase.
"I'm going to start passing out codes with instructions on performing the high-output scan." Failsafe lingers. "If you want to prevent extra deaths, I suggest you bring Yuna's other half to me, and help me lower the collateral damage."
"You're insane."
"I'm pragmatic. I'd like to avoid as many deaths as possible in this transition. Of course, it'd be ideal to have more foot soldiers in the future conflict, but I'm afraid we're running out of time."
What conflict? "We?" I ponder.
"They'll be after you soon too. Right about now would be my best guess."
"What do you mean?"
"Catch up Miles," Failsafe says. "GGO, under the Meteorological Institute Ruins in the White Frontier. If you survive, I'll be waiting for her there."
The line disconnects with a click.
Eiji. Umbra. Yuna. Arimoto-sensei. Jules.
I about-face to Asuna. "I have to run. Is there a preferred way to reach you?"
Eiji
Close to the Arimoto residence: August 3rd 2026, 15:45
I'm light-headed.
What happened to Yuna? Why would she split off? Some kind of survival instinct, or Kayaba?
I turn beside me. Umbra frowns as the bus revs away and down the street. Arimoto's should be a couple blocks down; he didn't pick up when we called.
My cell buzzes—not the augma? I reach into my pocket and find Mylo on caller ID.
I pick up. "Hello?"
"Eiji?" Mylo asks. "What's the status with Yuna?"
I reflexively sigh. "We got her rebooted, but she's missing memories. We think a part of her code is missing."
"Then he was right." Mylo murmurs.
He? "Who?"
"Listen, Eiji—"
Mylo
A block from the Arimoto residence: Same time
"Whatever you do, don't come back to Arimoto-sensei's." I warn.
"What, what do you mean?" Eiji stumbles.
"Mylo, what's going on?" Umbra hops on speaker.
I look around the corner of the building down the block again, just to double check, to persuade myself that what I'm seeing isn't real as black sedans and military suits swarm our house down the street. The Ministry of Defense.
A paddy wagon swerves away off the front yard, driving away and out of sight down the street.
Jules. Arimoto-sensei.
*Author's note: Thank you for reading! SAO ALT: Specter is now moving into its endgame (for part 1).
Next time: "The Devil's lair/One Final Effort"