Joshua

"I believe you already know me quite well. At last, we meet, Chrysheight."

That's Tomo Hosaka, known to Kazuto Kirigaya and me as Argo the Rat, the great info broker from SAO and occasionally a help later on. I've known her to be a dispensary of knowledge, but her knowing not just who Seijirou Kikuoka is but the identity of his ALO avatar is surprising. Kazuto and I glance at each other, with many questions running through our heads, and even Kikuoka himself is shocked Argo identified him.

Forgetting that Kikuoka rarely logs on to play ALO with his undine character, how would she know that character? How did she connect the man to the avatar? Speaking from personal experience, it took me quite a while to recognize Kazuto, Asuna Kotone, Keiko, Nijika, and Rika when I met them after SAO despite seeing (for the most part) their actual appearance over that two-year time span. But the biggest question in my head is how she knew we were meeting him too?

"...I see, so it was you that one time..." Kikuoka drops that bit of information that throws my mind haywire so much I almost ignore the waiter who comes for our order. Since Kikuoka is paying, I decide to get a chocolate mousse cake and hot cappuccino, about 3,400 yen total (less than $30 USD, this place isn't for the faint of wallet). Despite being rich, I try to be frugal, even with virtual currency. Kazuto's bill for the same drink and cheesecake with chestnut sauce comes to a total of 3,100 yen, while Tomo wins the most expensive order award with an order of the month's special cake and hot royal milk tea totaling 3,500. In total, we're a perfect 10,000 yen, about $72 USD.

For the couple of times I came here with Rika, Kotone, Momiji, Shino, or Koharu, I allowed them to get what they wanted, no matter the cost. Yet I've never breached a bill of 6,000 yen. And the last time Kazuto and I were here not too long ago with our girlfriends, the four of us didn't breach 10,000 yen when our meals were combined.

Argo is still expensive, and I don't even want to know how much Kikuoka's pear parfait costs.

"Well…I needed to get in contact with you again anyway, Argo, so…"

"So how do you two know each other?" Kazuto finally asks.

"We're client and investigator," answers Tomo.

"Which one's which?"

"Do you even hafta ask? This fella's the client."

"What's she doing for you?" I inquire Kikuoka.

"You know a public servant isn't supposed to talk about their official duties."

"But you're a fake government agent."

"Well, that's just rude…but to tell you the truth, it's not worth hiding from you two anyway," Kikuoka then lowers his voice to a whisper. "You know the company Kamura, right?"

I nod...for multiple reasons, but I choose to voice the most pertinent one. "The Augma devs."

"Yes. We've got info that they're doing something fishy with a VRMMO world, which is why I hired her."

Kazuto scowls. "Fishy? I hope it's not something like the Ordinal Scale incident all over again." I nod my agreement on that. During that time, Klein, his guild Fuurinkazan, Asuna, and many survivors of the SAO incident temporarily lost their memories of Sword Art Online. While that sounds like a blessing - I wouldn't disagree with someone for saying so, like Klein did - it was forced upon us by Dr. Shigemura. He used the Augma and the AR game Ordinal Scale to collect those memories of SAO as we fought against Old Aincrad's bosses and relived our fear. That data was, in turn, a ploy to recreate his daughter, Yuuna Shigemura, who died in SAO, with her artificial intelligence clone and current AR idol, Yuna. We were reunited with Yuuna's childhood friend Nautilus, going by his real name Eiji now, and even faced the true final boss of SAO.

Kikuoka raises his hand to deny Kazuto's claim. "No, I wouldn't ask Argo to handle something as dangerous as that. Besides, I hired her before Ordinal Scale. It's just about a game that obviously has no profitability-in fact, it's certainly losing them tons of money-and is getting almost no publicity, either. Based on Argo's reports, I haven't seen any evidence that might link to criminal activity. She's just as good at her job as the stories say...but I didn't expect her to track me down in real life like this, too."

"Why? Did you skip out on your payment?"

"Not at all. I paid her exactly what she invoiced me for. I just haven't yet been able to provide her with an extra line item she asked for as a bonus."

"For me, what you call a 'bonus' was the main prize. That's why I came to you in person, to try to jolt ya into action so I could collect."

I tune out the conversation for a moment, no longer caring how Tomo found the lieutenant colonel. My mind couldn't leave the coincidence of the last two days. Yesterday, Tomo Hosaka and Shikimi Kamura appeared at the survivor school for no real reason. Tomo may have had a good reason back last March when the school opened, but not when she, like me, was two semesters away from graduation. As for Shikimi, she's not a survivor and at the same point as us in her education with a scholarship overseas. Despite the curriculum's academic freedom, she has zero reasons to be at my school for the latter alone.

Yesterday was a mere coincidence, just two names on a messy investigation whiteboard. Today, there's a red line connecting the two. Kikuoka asks Argo to look into Kamura, the company, and on the same September day, the investigator and heir appear at the same place. Furthermore, Tomo is investigating Kamura for a VRMMO that no one's heard of and is losing the company money...but why?

Before I get ahead of myself, I take a bite of my cake and fix Kikuoka with a stern glare. "Okay, I see why she's tagging along, but what about Kazuto and me?"

He looks at his watch and assumes a severe look of his own. "Before I get to the real reason you're here...may I assume that you're going to be a member of Kirito's army, Argo? Assuming you're not part of Jaymes' little squadron?"

"H-hey... I don't recall ever starting an army!"

"Then call it Team Kirito, or Kirito and His Band of Merry Companions. My question is, will she be fighting on your side if there's any trouble."

Argo shrugs. "Mmm, well, I guess I'd say my plan is to join the Kiri-boy army in Unital Ring. Outside of that, I'm considerin' my options in other VR worlds."

"Yeah, but pretty much all of them have been absorbed into UR, haven't they?"

"There are still VR worlds that don't belong to The Seed Nexus, kiddo... So tell me, Chrysheight. Did you call up Kiri-boy to talk about a world that isn't hooked up to the Nexus?"

"Huh? Did you?"

I don't know what annoys me most about Argo. I've known her for four years, and I cannot determine if I dislike how knowledgeable she can be at the least expected moments or how she seems so smug about it. I look at Kazuto, who looks shocked that the reason we're brought here is not because of Unital Ring. I, of course, figured it was a matter of another world that is not connected to the Seed Nexus as intimately as ALO or GGO but still uses the system as a base. It is the world that's been on my mind recently, and when I received Kikuoka's message about today, Unital Ring was not a thing yet.

"Yes, that is true. What I want to speak to you two about today - what I want to ask you to do - has no direct relation to this Unital Ring business. I'll be upfront with you because we don't have all day: Kirito, will you dive into the Underworld again?"

"...That sounds great," Kazuto replies hoarsely. He looks at me with a look that asks if I know what's going on, in which I respond with a clueless expression. "But why would you say that to me in person? Surely you could just tell Dr. Koujiro to pass the message along."

"Actually, Dr. Koujiro was against getting you involved again. She told me that if I wanted to rope you in, I was welcome to go and explain it to you myself."

"Ah..."

"In the same vein, Jaymes, I know I don't need to ask you to go, and you already have permission to dive at your leisure. But the reason you're unaware is for the same reason, she felt it would best to explain it to you both at once."

"Hmm." Since my family's company has partial ownership of Rath (the other part being the government for now), my father oversees Project ALICE more directly than he did when Rath and RoboTeliigence were partnered on the matter. Since the reveal of Alice Zuberg to the world, I've only been back to the Underworld once, when we, Kazuto, and Asuna returned to get a glimpse of the world we left behind after two centuries. I've been tempted to return since I met with my fluctlight a couple of weeks ago and learned what I personally left behind. "Okay. What is the matter?"

Kikuoka glances around to make sure no one is listening despite the adjacent tables being empty and a low volume of people at that, but he whispers anyway. "Someone has broken into the Underworld somehow."

"What?"

"Broken in? What do you mean? Who did? When?"

"Does my father know of this?"

"Hold on, hold on." Kikuoka lifts his hands to spot us. He looks to Tomo. "How much do you know about the Underworld, by the way?"

"It pains me to admit, as an info dealer, but I don't know any more than what the mainstream media reports on it."

"So you know the Underworld is contained on the Ocean Turtle, and the Ocean Turtle is on lockdown at sea near Hachijojima."

"Yeah, but I don't really know whatcha mean by 'on lockdown,' specifically."

"Exactly what it sounds like. There's a guard ship from the Maritime SDF and a patrol ship from the coast guard keeping watch twenty-four hours a day so that no one gets close. Remember how the media boat tried to push past the blockade, and the patrol ship had to fire warning shots to scare them off?"

"Yeah, I remember that piece of news. Welp, it's about what I expected." For some unknown reason, it bothers me Tomo doesn't know more.

"When I said that someone broke in, I'm not talking about someone physically sneaking onto the Ocean Turtle, of course. A week ago, we found traces of someone diving into the Underworld who wasn't from Rath."

"Diving..."

"Wait, not from Rath, you say?"

"Yes...and no, no one from RoboTelligence either." The Underworld is accessible mainly from the Soul Translator units, as the virtual world is built on a special data structure called Mnemonic Visuals. A crude way of explaining it is that our souls, or fluctlights as we call them, interact with the world, not through the brain interface SAO and other worlds incorporate. But as I said earlier, the Underworld was built using the Seed program without being part of the Nexus. But it is possible to log on from an Amusphere or Augma if one knows how to do so, such as the thousands of players, including our friends who entered the Underworld to fight the Otherworlder War. I've been told that the experience from an Amusphere is no different from SAO or ALO, so to fully experience the Underworld, you must log in from an STL.

With that said, there are four STLs at the Rath Roppongi branch, where Suguha, Shino, and Koharu entered during the Otherworld War as the goddesses Terraria, Solus, and Lunaria. The Ocean Turtle houses five, and that's where Kazuto, Asuna, and I logged into the world. When we last returned, we used the Roppongi Branch, and Alice had to connect to the IP address. As for why I hinted at questioning RoboTelligence, it is because I know there are employees present at Rath.

Speaking of that IP address... "But...how did they get in? The only way to dive into the Underworld now is through that server in Iceland whose IP address got sent to me... I mean, to Alice. Right?"

"Yes, the satellite connection Rath has used has been blocked on the government's orders. Presumably, that means the infiltrator must be using the same route."

While Kazuto goes silent, I ask the question Kikuoka hasn't answered again. "Does my father know of this intrusion?"

"Yes."

"Wonder why he hasn't said anything to me then...and while we're at it, how did you learn of this? Roppongi cannot monitor who logs in and out from external servers in real-time."

"Fortunately, I'm able to at least see an access log from the gateway server on the Ocean Turtle, thanks to that special exterior server. The log saves all access from the outside."

"From the outside?"

"The Seed Nexus' Japan node. Meaning that someone converted their own character into the Underworld."

After our meeting with Kikuoka was over, I split from Tomo and Kazuto, driving straight home with the promise to see them later online. I did not mean to not offer them a ride home, but the last thing I needed was knowing where Tomo stays...and I have things on my mind that I don't wish to voice just yet, at least around her.

I trust Tomo and Kazuto with my life, of course, but what's on my mind is something I cannot even speak to Koharu just yet. My mind just got more messed up in a matter of an hour.

Tomo is investigating a mysterious, unprofitable VRMMO made by Kamura.

The Underworld intruded upon via an Amusphere.

Tomo and Shikimi's arrival at the school.

Unital Ring as a whole.

So much to think about in such a short amount of time...yet I chose the latter after getting home later than I expected and slowly making the climb upstairs to my bedroom. After a quick change of clothes, I drop down on my bed and place the Amusphere on my head. Before I say the activation words, my mind stumbles back to the Underworld.

Kazuto, Asuna, and I believe that the digital existence of Akihiko Kayaba is the reason for the IP address Alice and Kazuto received. If so, it would make sense if he "logged on" to the Underworld, but the fact there was a character conversion dissuades that idea. To my knowledge, he has not directly interacted with the gaming worlds since SAO despite his presence appearing in ALO, GGO, and SA:O. Given his annoying nature to follow us, I wouldn't be surprised to know he created an avatar as he did with Heathcliff.

But the last time I heard from him, it was during the earliest moments of the two hundred years I had to stay in the Underworld when he told me (and retold by my fluctlight) to let go of the Crimson Warrior and become the Integral Factor. Two weeks later, I still have no idea what that means.

And again, returning to the Underworld means I'll have to face my past there. As eager as I am to reunite with the woman who I - or the me who belonged to the Underworld - fell in love with and ruled the Dark Territory alongside for all those years, as eager as I am to see the descendant of another woman who was close to me that the thought of her haunts me as Eugeo haunts Kazuto, and as eager as I am to see my realm after skipping out on it last time, a certain piece of information the Crimson Emperor told me makes me anxious to return.

But that's for another time. I'm late to Unital Ring, and I can sense my childhood friend preparing to yell at me. "Link Start."