Hey guys, the second part of the story is out and I'm glad to be able to finally introduce Kazuto's part in the whole mystery and intrigue thing. Sorry it took a week, I'm generally a slow writer so please forgive me. Now on to the main event!
T-minus 35 minutes to Kendo practice
6th November 2022, 12:55 Local Time
Kirigaya Residence
"Onii-chan, I'm heading out for kendo practice!" Suguha called out from the bottom of the stairs. An eerie silence ensued. Realising that she would not be receiving a reply, Suguha pouted her cheeks and muttered under her breath. "Baka."
She hurriedly checked herself in the mirror one last time, careful to prevent her shinai from falling out of her school bag, before running out the front door. The first thing that greeted her was the chilly winter breeze striking her face. Where the average teenage school girl could hardly get through the front door without a thick winter jacket, Suguha's years of discipline had desensitized her to the forbidding temperature and winter snow.
Just as she was about to turn around the street corner, Suguha's attention was drawn to the second floor window of the Kirigaya residence. The window to Kazuto's room. Onii-chan's room. She and Kazuto were siblings, yet she could not shake off the inevitable feeling that Kazuto was steadily succumbing to the vice grip of augmented reality. Kazuto's consistent A's in school were more than enough proof for their mother to approve of his gaming habits, but Suguha was not easily fooled. Ever since Kazuto received that package from «Argus», he has been ceding more time to «Sword Art Online». 2 hours on the first day, then 3, 4…
A single tear streaked down her left cheek, her fists shaking uncontrollably. The overwhelming sadness and hatred was not directed at Kazuto, but herself. A small price to pay for allowing video games to steal her brother away from her. Suguha recalled her childhood days when she actually spent time with her Onii-chan. She could still remember that time when she was 8, and him, 9, where he would accompany her to the local park. They would play on the swings and even hide-and-seek amongst the autumn leaves. Or the other time during her 9th birthday when Kazuto returned from the video rental shop with a stack of vintage kaiju movies. They stayed up late watching classics like Ultraman and Godzilla on a school night, only to be chased by their fuming mother back to sleep. Or the other time in the mall… Or the other time on Children's Day… Or the other time… Or…
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep
The watch on her left wrist sprang to life, buzzing and vibrating against her pale skin. One of these days I really ought to ask Kazuto to fix this ancient piece of clockwork! Checking the time, Suguha could not help but fix her eyes in shock on the time. Aiee! It's 1pm already? How did I just end up daydreaming for the last 5 minutes? After a short bout of panic and running around in circles several times, she finally grasped her sense of direction and sprinted towards the direction of her school.
Wait for me, Onii-chan. I promise when I get back, I will take you out to the park just like last time. Wait for me.
T-minus 5 minutes to official release of «Sword Art Online»
6th November 2022, 12:55 Local Time
Kirigaya Residence
"Onii-chan, I'm heading out for kendo practice!"
Kazuto instinctively looked up from his magazine and stared at the door. His mouth opened, willing it to say something encouraging like "have fun" or "take care" but all that came out was an incomprehensible croak from his throat, irritated from unuse. Sigh. Forget it. It would have been too awkward if he had chosen to chase after Suguha to apologise.
As Suguha's footsteps receded into the distance, Kazuto stood up from his seat to approach the long glass window beside his desk. The view from the second-storey window overlooked the house's front garden, which was also Suguha's preferred location to practice her kendo swordsmanship. Although Suguha had already left, he could still picture her in her kendo robes with shinai in hand, repeatedly lashing out overhead strikes at an invisible enemy. This she would undertake without fail every weekend morning. "Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!" The fearsome cries of the swordswoman punctured the early silence of dawn in rhythmic cycles, as if synchronising with the systoles of his heart.
Ironically, the disciplined schedule of the tireless fighter always coincided with that of the Black Swordsman. While one was in reality, fighting for the national title, the other was silently hunting in the depths of the darkest dungeons of virtual reality, training to become the strongest swordsman there ever was in the history of mankind. They were two siblings in alternate dimensions with similar passions and dreams, yet conquering different paths to achieve them.
Siblings? Kazuto caught himself in a moment of thought. Yes, he and Suguha were very much related by blood, but not as close as they had initially perceived. In truth, they were maternal cousins, those you were supposed to know and talk to during annual family events (maybe your experiences differ from mine). It was only through a heartless hand of unyielding fate that created a young orphan out of him, merely a year old. A tragic car accident had robbed him of another life, not that he would have spent a happier or more fulfilling childhood. In fact, it was the moments with Suguha, playing on the swings, friendly sparring back when he still practiced kendo, or even just table talk over dinner, these were the most treasured experiences that he reserved in a special place of his mind.
However, what he yearned for was of the truth. This, most unfortunately, was his undoing, or more specifically, how he uncovered the years of white lies and b^llsh!t that his aunt had been feeding him. On any other unexceptional weekend morning while clearing through a social studies assignment, he was tasked with constructing a family tree of ancestors. Bonus points if you can trace back more than ten generations. Like any other hardworking millennialist of his tech-savvy world, he looked up the national identity records only to stumble upon a broken link. The link, unused for exactly 10 years, was that of his biological mother. Confused, the then innocent Kazuto began ploughing through the gruesome details in the attached hospital records.
Cause of death: Car accident. Patient suffered extensive internal bleeding, followed by brain haemorrhaging.
Children: 1 (Kirigaya Kazuto), adopted by aunt (Kirigaya Midori)
Him, adopted? The shock that rang throughout his mind took a huge toll on his psyche. Kazuto thought that an identity crisis was one of those cheap plot clichés a teenager would experience in those action-packed novels. You know, realizing that his entire parentage actually consisted of secret service agents? Heard of that one before?
A ten year old child adolescent would want to seek confirmation of his parentage, not have his entire definition of a family get ripped to shreds, obliterated in a blink of an eye, existentially speaking. The motherly figure that he had loved and adored was, in essence, a lie. An untruth. A misconception. Not a pretence, but just … a mistake, in a way? To think that his aunt would hide a fact as crucial as his parentage was cruel enough to make him harbour trust issues later in life. A growing abyss of doubt clouded his mind, gnawing away at his conscience. Kazuto and his Aunt Midori had earlier reached a compromise – Suguha would be informed only when she was 14, hopefully by then she would be mature enough to understand of the implications without a mental/emotional breakdown.
Kazuto massaged the numbing pain in his temple. Once he would have thought that such a complicated back story was reserved for those long-winded serial dramas to keep the audiences hooked to the very end, say, 800 or so episodes later? Now, it only gave him a headache. Returning to his seat, he quickly scanned the contents of his room. It was a 5 by 5 metre square room, complete with a comfortable bed, triple-screened desktop and desk, an unremarkable closet built into the wall and finally, a multi-tiered trophy case decked with local kendo competition champion trophies, notable school accolades and a sleek platinum silver «Nerve Gear» headset, by far his most cherished possession. The three screens on his desktop were all set to different websites – the central one was set to the local news agency reporting live ground coverage of «Sword Art Online» sales. Donning a pair of earphones (a gift from Suguha for his 11th birthday), the reporter's coverage and background chatter immediately blasted into his ear drums.
"The stores in the Shinjuku district are packed with office workers and teenagers alike and we aren't even experiencing lunch time traffic! What could be the cause of all this commotion and buzz right in the middle of Tokyo's business and shopping district? The release of «Argus'» newest release of «Sword Art Online»! It is said to be the most anticipated full virtual dive game of 2022 and probably this decade. «Sword Art Online» promises an experience that is years ahead any of «Argus'» competitors are able to develop. All orders for online purchases of the game were fully booked within minutes, while half of the number of copies literally vanished within the first 10 seconds alone. The fervour from the fans doesn't even end there. I even heard that the first person in line for the district sales was camping in front of the stall for the past 3 days, armed with nothing but a sleeping bag and bowls of instant ramen. Now moving on, our reporters were granted an exclusive interview with high-ranking executives from «Argus»…"
Kazuto muted the news feed before the news agency could change the scene. After all, what would you expect of a business executive anyway? Let me list the ways. One, how do I increase my profits? Two, how do I exploit my workers without getting a labour rights lawsuit? Three, kick back and count my money bags. And the list goes on and on. Speaking of executives, he should really show Suguha the viral video where Kayaba Akihito, chairman of Argus, purportedly punched a rival executive in the face repeatedly to the tune of Harlem Shake. Slightly bemused at that prospect, he casually chuckled to himself. The two of them would be reduced to a laughing fit for an entire night. No questions asked. "Maybe later, Suguha. Onii-chan is going to check out «Sword Art Online» first." Kazuto fancied. Glancing at his digital wall clock, Kazuto quickly grabbed his head gear off the shelf and began shutting down his personal computer. The server officially comes online at 12pm sharp. It would have been an absolute waste if he were to be a second late. By 11:59, Kazuto was fully reclining on his bed in his sleep wear. It was nothing fancy, a long-sleeved shirt with a pair of similar fashioned track pants.
After conducting the preliminary checks of remaining battery life and whether he was in a "comfortable position" devoid of "atmospheric extremities" (whatever the guidebook meant), Kazuto's eyes intently peered through the head gear's visor, gazing at nothing except the bare ceiling.
Wait for me, Suguha. Onii-chan will be back for you, I promise.
Like reciting a well-rehearsed mantra or inputting a secret access code into his private star ship, the Black Swordsman readied himself for the brave new world.
Link start.
And his whole world faded into absolute darkness
The Kings' First Move
6th November 2022, 13:00 Local Time
London, Unregistered Soho Apartment
A laptop screen flickers to life. The CPU initiates a long, complex list of commands including wiping the memory drive 103 times repeatedly and erasing any internet trails its user may have left over the past year. Within 11 minutes, the entire process was complete.
In a dramatic climax, the computer activates a pager connected to the computer with a cheap USB cable. A cylinder of military-grade HMX explosive was electronically triggered through an improvised cell phone bomb, primed at the foundations of Waterloo station. The primary and secondary blasts buried the tube station and the several thousand commuters along with it. No one even had the time to scream.
Counter Terrorism Command investigative units were scrambled to the scene with the fire department and paramedics on standby, all within ten minutes. The fire department worked tirelessly around the clock to rescue any survivors. None in any aspect were alive.
To add more salt to the injury, the unknown laptop launched the last command. An insanely strong Trojan virus was inserted into London's Central Operating System, hacking into all the public display boards all around the collapsed Waterloo station. The name of the Trojan virus, aptly termed «Haxorz», occupied the bottom right of the screen. Instead of the usual sportswear advertisements, the public display boards now showed a single message:
"I love it when a plan comes together.
It's as though fate is no better.
The heroes might try
But I will not lie –
Life just got a hell lot sweeter…" – Dr J.
Under the pale moonlight, as the rescuers toiled and laboured, the words were scarred into the recesses of their minds.
Taunting, taunting.
It looks like Haxorz has launched the first offensive for the Kings! Ooh, the suspense is killing me. Will Kazuto be able to survive the Kings' assault? Only one way to find out! Stay tune and I promise to come up with the next one soon enough.