A residential neighborhood in Kita, Akabane, Tokyo ── stepping back into my real-world home after a two-year absence filled me with a disorienting blend of familiarity and confusion.
The hallway stretching from the entrance and the stairs leading to the upper floor remained exactly as I remembered them. However, the arrangement of the sofa and the television in the living room had shifted slightly.
I climbed the stairs and entered my room for the first time in two years. It was so clean and orderly that it hardly looked like the room of someone who had been gone for so long. The muted colors of the bed, the desk facing the wall, and the monitors and computer sitting above and below it—everything remained as it was in those distant days.
"Well? What do you think? It's spotless, isn't it? I made sure to clean it constantly so it would be ready the moment you returned, Sui."
Standing behind me, pride radiating from her voice, was Kanae Saijo ── my mother's younger sister, my aunt. She works as a writer for a magazine specializing in computer technology. It seemed her lifestyle—spent hunched over a screen as it groaned under the weight of looming deadlines—hadn't changed at all. I vividly remembered her visiting me in the hospital, looking utterly exhausted after finishing her work.
"Because of you, I've become quite the cleaning expert. I've logged two years' worth of labor onto your tab, so I expect full payment later."
"Really? Then I suppose your room must be just as clean... wait, impossible. You're Aunt Kanae, after all."
I swung open the door to my aunt's room across from mine. A chaotic explosion of clothes and documents scattered everywhere greeted me, despite it being the end of the year. I had truly hoped her aversion to tidiness might have changed...
"Ah... h-hey, that's enough! It might look like a mess to you, but it has a functional logic that only I understand—"
"I'll consider the two-year debt settled if I do a deep clean of this room for you."
"Oh... well, fine. I get it. I can't have someone who just recovered doing the cleaning anyway, or my sister would definitely kill me."
I assigned my aunt the task of cleaning her own room as a primary objective—just to make it walkable again—then returned to my room. I noticed two unfamiliar boxes sitting next to the desk.
"Aunt Kanae, what are these?"
"Hmm? Oh, those. A lot has happened in the world of computing while you were asleep. Don't be shocked, but those old hard drives we used for so long—and even SSDs—are becoming a thing of the past. Now, MRAM is taking over. It's a non-volatile Magnetoresistive RAM that makes data reading incredibly fast and smooth."
As an expert in the field, my aunt had a remarkable ability to keep up with such information. I listened to her explanation, my eyes gleaming with genuine interest, but I shook my head to clear the excitement and followed her as she retreated to her room.
"Wait, you say that so casually... but this tech only emerged about a year ago, didn't it? It must have been incredibly expensive."
When I first entered Sword Art Online, there was no talk of such products. This meant MRAM began hitting the market between 2023 and 2024. Tech components like CPUs and GPUs sell for high prices even second-hand; a storage medium with unlimited write cycles must have cost a fortune.
"I missed your birthday twice. Last year—actually, the year before that, too. This is to make up for it. Your mother paid for it; she said I was the best person to pick the right parts, so I chose this for you. Don't forget to thank her later."
"I see. Thank you."
I went back to my room and sent a text to my mother, telling her I had arrived home safely and thanking her for the birthday gift. A moment later, she replied: "As for last year's birthday, let me know if there's something you want, and I'll think about it."
Given her job at a major advertising agency, she seemed as busy as ever. Yet, she had still carved out time from her schedule to rush to my hospital room the second I woke up. I felt nothing but gratitude for my mother, who had raised me alone after her divorce. Fortunately—or unfortunately—my aunt had moved in with us. Since her schedule was more flexible, she looked after me when I was in elementary school in exchange for establishing one chaotic "disaster zone" of a room in our house. I was grateful to her too, even if I wished she cared a little more about organizing her space.
Thinking of this, I opened the side panel of my PC, swapped the parts, and transferred the data. The other box contained a wireless headset. I remembered the one I used two years ago was at the end of its lifespan; I had actually requested a new one back then. I thanked my mother and aunt in my heart once more and hung the new headset on the wall hook.
After finishing these minor changes to the room, I pulled something out of the bag I brought from the hospital. It was a technical helmet with peeling paint in some areas, its glossy surface dulled by time ── the NerveGear. The device that had tethered me to that world for two whole years.
This machine, which had transformed from a vessel for a dream journey into a demonic engine that harvested souls, was supposed to be collected and destroyed by the government after the incident ended. However, thanks to a strong connection I had recently established, I managed to avoid that and brought it home.
It was true that this device had claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 people, but that was merely a matter of how it was used. I couldn't deny the dreams I had lived in the virtual world through this helmet. I decided to keep it as part of my gaming collection.
And beyond that... I might need to wear it again someday.
I placed the worn-out helmet quietly in an empty spot on the shelf next to the desk, wishing with all my heart that such a day would never come.
Two months had passed since then. I finished changing quickly, shoved my phone into my pocket, and glanced into my aunt's room.
"Aunt Kanae. I'm heading out now, so don't slack off on the cleaning this time."
"I hear you... get going. Be safe and watch yourself."
I left the house, wondering if she would actually clean anything.
The trip from nearby Kita-Akabane Station to my destination in Tokorozawa takes less than 50 minutes by train, but I decided to walk to Ikebukuro Station as part of my physical therapy. Since a normal walk takes about an hour, I picked up my pace slightly along Kan-nachi Road in the mid-afternoon. I crossed the pedestrian bridge and headed south via Naka-Sendo. I followed Yamate Road parallel to the Shuto Expressway, and by the time I reached Theater Street, Ikebukuro Station was right before my eyes.
As I walked through the streets of Ikebukuro—a place I frequented to buy various gadgets before SAO—I reached the Ikebukuro West Gate Park. In my old memories, the square was just a wide space with a large fountain, but it seemed it had been renovated over the last two years into an open-air theater. As I crossed the square...
"Please, stop this. I'm waiting for my friend. You're bothering me!"
"Don't reject me so quickly! I know a great cafe, you'll love it! Your friend can come along too."
The voices of a man and a young woman arguing reached my ears.
At first, I thought it was just a lovers' quarrel in broad daylight. But looking at them, the man wore flashy clothes that screamed "scammer." The girl was young, with short black hair and wearing a hoodie ── young?
I looked again before turning away. The girl looked very young—perhaps my age at most. The man was definitely an adult, and from the way she spoke, they were clearly not a couple.
I looked around and saw some passersby noticing the man harassing the girl, but they walked by in silence, adhering to the principle of "avoiding trouble." Since I had seen it, I couldn't ignore it. I sighed and walked toward them.
"I told you I'm not going!"
"Don't be like that! Look, I'll pay for everything—!"
I grabbed the arm of the man who was trying to pull the girl away by force.
"Huh? Who are you?"
"She's with me. Do you want something from her?"
"What? You're with her...?"
The man looked at me with suspicion. I winked quickly at the black-haired girl without him noticing, signaling her to play along.
"Y-you're so late! Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?!"
"Sorry, my train was delayed... Anyway, back to the point. Do you want something from her? Depending on your answer, we might have to head to the police box right over there."
"...Nothing. Dammit, you should have said you were with a guy from the start."
The man hurried away after muttering a faint curse. I took the girl's hand—or rather, I grabbed her wrist, as I hesitated to hold her hand—and led her toward the police station. I glanced back to make sure the man wasn't following us, then let go.
"Sorry for making you go along with that story."
"No! I'm the one who should thank you! Thank you so much for helping me."
The girl bowed respectfully, and a brief silence fell between us.
"Ah... well, I'm going now. Be careful so no one bothers you again."
"R-right! Thank you very much, truly!"
As I hurried toward the station, I remembered the feel of her arm I had just held.
Since I practice at the health club as part of my physical therapy, I realized something—and I know describing a girl her age this way might be rude—but her arm was remarkably strong for a female. Perhaps she was born that way, or she exercises regularly. In any case, she probably didn't need my help at all.
Regardless, I arrived at Ikebukuro Station safely and boarded the Seibu-Ikebukuro line toward Tokorozawa.
The general hospital in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture ── that was where a portion of the ten thousand Sword Art Online players had been transferred. And that was where "that girl's" name was registered.
The first person to visit me in my hospital room after I woke up was a man wearing black-rimmed glasses named Seijirou Kikuoka. He claimed to be from the "Ministry of Internal Affairs SAO Incident Task Force." Despite the name, they hadn't been able to do much over the past two years; their work was limited to preparing medical facilities for the trapped players and partially monitoring their data. Still, as someone who lived in that world, I believe moving our physical bodies to hospitals was a commendable feat.
Kikuoka, as a member of the task force, requested information about what had happened inside the game after it was cleared. When I asked him in return to confirm the fate and location of three players who came to mind, I saw him press his hand to his forehead in worry. I quickly learned that the player nicknamed "Kirito"—one of the names I requested—had returned to the real world safely. It seemed Kikuoka had visited him before coming to me. As for the other two names, I did not receive the answer I had hoped for.
I finished the paperwork in the hospital lobby and pinned the visitor pass I received to my vest pocket. I took the elevator to the top floor and walked quietly down the empty hallway. This floor seemed dedicated to long-term patients; the people here were few, even on holidays. I kept walking until I stopped in front of the door at the end of the hall.
The nameplate next to the door bore a name ── "Ms. Asuna Yuuki."
I used the keycard to open the door and saw the curtain separating the bed from the washbasin. Faint sunlight reflected off the window, casting a shadow behind the curtain, meaning someone had beaten me to the visit.
I took a few steps forward, and Asuna appeared before me, lying on a large medical bed. Beside her was a boy with black hair wearing a black jacket, holding her hand.
"I knew you'd be here."
"Ah... Mitsuki—?"
"...That's right, you didn't know my real name."
"N-no, I know it. I asked about you once I confirmed your safety. It's been a long time, Suigetsu."
"And you too. You look healthier than I expected, Kazuto."
The trusted comrade who fought on the front lines of that steel fortress, the "Black Swordsman" Kirito ── his real name was Kazuto Kirigaya. I had expected this; as I thought, he was visiting Asuna. It seemed he had been coming here constantly since his release, just like me. It was truly strange that we hadn't crossed paths over the last two months.
Kirito and I exchanged the information we had—though it was largely identical.
We spoke about our end in that world ── in the battle on the 75th floor, when I defeated "Graphite" while he struck down "Heathcliff" and fell with him simultaneously. Then his conversation with Kayaba, and his vision of Aincrad's end with Asuna amidst the sunset.
Why did we survive even though our HP hit zero? Kirito guessed that in that world, there was a brief window between HP reaching zero and actual brain destruction. Since we died at the exact moment the bosses died, we were considered to have cleared the game at the very last second.
However, Kirito explained that his HP had hit zero before he defeated Heathcliff, and that he had dragged him down in a final death blow. If Kirito survived, it wasn't surprising that Asuna, who died at nearly the same time, would return as well. Yet, she remained in a deep sleep ── and she wasn't alone. Out of all the players who were supposed to be freed, 300 players had still not woken up.
In public circles, voices were rising to accuse the vanished Akihiko Kayaba of orchestrating this conspiracy. But as the last person to speak with him, I didn't think so. Kirito shared my opinion.
"And what about... that matter?"
Kirito asked cautiously. I replied:
"...Nothing yet."
Alice ── the "Noble Knight" who fought with us until the end and was the most precious person to me. Her whereabouts remained unknown despite two months passing since the game ended. I didn't know which hospital she was in, or if she was even safe.
"I see... I hope you find her soon."
"Yeah... and when I do, I'll come visit her every day."
Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I excused myself from Kirito and checked the screen. It was an incoming call from ── Seijirou Kikuoka.
"Excuse me, I need to step out for a moment."
I left the room, moved to the corner of the hallway, and spoke in a low voice.
"I'm at the hospital now. Keep it brief."
"Sorry to bother you. May I ask which hospital?"
"Tokorozawa Hospital ── where Asuna is. I'm here visiting her."
"That's perfect. I'm nearby for work. Can we meet for a moment? I want to talk to you directly."
"Talk to me...?"
"About the matter you asked me to look into."
"...I understand. I'll wait for you behind the hospital."
I gave Kirito a quick word, then headed to the agreed spot and waited for Kikuoka's arrival.
"Hello, Mitsuki. Sorry to keep you waiting."
Kikuoka appeared, smiling a smile that suggested kindness in a suspiciously deliberate way. He started talking about the traffic and a restaurant he liked on the way. I feigned a cough to urge him to get to the point.
"I didn't call you for something trivial. It's about the player you asked about ── Alice."
"...Did you find her?"
Kikuoka's expression turned serious. He hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"I'll give you the conclusion first. No trace has been found of the person who logged into Sword Art Online as 'Alice' anywhere in Japan. We've contacted every hospital that received players, and the result is negative."
"Wh—"
I held my breath. Before I could say a word, Kikuoka pulled a tablet from his bag.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs has data matching in-game player names with their real-world identities. The name 'Alice' you mentioned is indeed in that data... but for some reason, she is the only player for whom we have no personal information. We can't access anything regarding her ── and logic dictates that she doesn't exist at all."
An avatar name is linked to a real name via the account information registered on the NerveGear used to log in. Since wearing the device is a prerequisite for diving, that link must exist.
"Additionally, there is a very mysterious point. On the day the official service started ── specifically two or three days later—we received an unused copy of the game from a buyer who miraculously escaped being trapped. At that time, there were only 10,000 copies of the game. Since one copy was unused, that means the number of trapped players should be 9,999. But as you can see, the data shows exactly 10,000 players. An unidentified player is the 10,000th person who wasn't supposed to be there... This can't be a coincidence."
"...What are you trying to say..."
"Based on all this information, we conclude that the player called Alice is nothing more than an AI created by Kayaba to fill the gap in player count after some people backed out ── in other words, she's just a phantom player created by the system—"
Before he could finish, I found myself driving a heavy punch into Kikuoka's face with my clenched fist. Even though my muscles weren't what they were two years ago, the sudden blow was enough to make him stumble and let out a faint groan.
"That's a lie! It's impossible! She's human! She's as human as any of us... in that world!"
"...I understand your feelings. But the truth is, you don't know a single piece of real information about her. And she herself said she had no memories before the game. This is your own testimony."
"That's... but...!"
"...I'll give you my personal opinion, setting aside objective results. If we assume Alice is a real human, no one could dive without leaving personal data unless they had Game Master privileges. This means if she were human, she would be Kayaba's accomplice in his crimes. And if she were found, she would be arrested as a partner or a key witness."
These harsh hypotheses shattered what remained of my fractured heart. I walked past Kikuoka, one step at a time.
"...My words might be harsh, but you have to stop chasing the ghosts of the past. You still have a future ahead of you."
I stopped in my tracks and said:
"...That future... was just lost."
I don't know if my words reached Kikuoka. I left him and walked away with stumbling steps.
I walked through strange streets I didn't know. No destination. No goal, no meaning, nothing. I walked because I had nothing left to do but walk. I bumped into some passersby, but I didn't care.
Alice doesn't exist ── a thought so logical it was hard to deny, so realistic it was hard to mock, and so heavy it was hard to accept.
I didn't want to believe. I would never believe. Yet even as I tried to stop myself from believing, Kikuoka's words seeped easily into my mind.
What disgusted me most was that I thought for a moment, "It might be true." I should be the one who believes in her existence most. My words, whispered in her ear in that world—"You are human"—should not waver. I felt a deep nausea toward myself.
Suddenly, a drop of water fell on my shoulder. Then more followed, filling the road with dark spots from the cold rain. I kept walking, ignoring the downpour. Perhaps because of the rain, my vision began to blur.
Why am I... why did I stay alive alone? If it was going to end like this, I wish I had disappeared with her.
I want to see her, I want to hear her voice, I want to hold her, I want her to smile at me, I want to apologize to her—
What do I do? How do I reach her? ── She doesn't exist; she vanished with that castle ── no, she exists. She's definitely alive. That man just lied to me ── then why can't I find her? Why didn't she come to see me? Why hasn't she even tried to contact me?
It doesn't matter. I'll do anything to be with her.
As I walked mechanically, the glare of car headlights flashed before my eyes ── and a sharp horn blast tore through the silence.
"Watch out!!"
I found myself sprawled on the wet road. Beside me, a girl with black hair held my arm, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"What are you doing?! You almost killed yourself!!"
"You..."
I raised my head and recognized her. It was the girl I had met in Ikebukuro earlier today. It seemed she had saved me from being run over.
"...Thank you. I'm fine now. So—"
I tried to stand up and walk away, but she gripped my hand tightly.
"Liar. Your eyes don't say you're fine. Someone who stands in the rain without an umbrella and nearly throws themselves under a car is not 'fine'!"
She tilted her umbrella to cover my head.
"...Where is your house? I'll take you there."
...Right, where was I now? Because I had walked without thinking, I no longer knew my location. I looked around, and the girl told me we were in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture.
"Kawagoe... I've come quite far."
Getting back from Kawagoe Station to Kita-Akabane takes more than 50 minutes by train.
"...Anyway, you'll catch a cold if you stay like this. Please come to my house. It's not far."
"No, but..."
"No arguments! Come on, get up—"
She pulled me with unexpected strength, and I stood. I began to feel the biting cold now that my body was completely soaked.
"So... can I know your name?"
"...Mishima, Suigetsu."
"Mr. Mishima, then. I'm Suguha ── Suguha Kirigaya."
I followed the girl named Suguha to her home ── which was also "that person's" home, as I would later learn ── heading to the Kirigaya residence.
And in the depths of my mind,
"You can't be fine! Ever!!"
The voice of "that girl"—Alice—scolding me fiercely, echoed once again.
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