Sword Art Online V27 summary: Chapter 2

Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone! Due to family health issues, and my laptop breaking down to boot, I unfortunately didn't manage to find much time to work on any translations the past month. And it's about time I got back to summarising... and heck, finishing my read of, volume 27.

I hope you enjoy the release.

If you have any suggestions/requests for what to work on, feel free to leave a comment or contact us through Twitter/Discord/Email.

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Gsimenas

Chapter 2

(Kazuto's perspective, Rath's Roppongi Branch, STL Room)

Now logged out, Kazuto awoke to the sight of a metal ceiling with panel lights, as the STL headset had already been taken off him. In this room, he found Alice still in her reclining chair, having yet to awake; meanwhile, Asuna was doing a stretch on her own gel bed. After exchanging greetings on a job well done, Kazuto got off his bed, grabbed a mineral water bottle from a trolley, and gave it to Asuna. Seeing her drinking, Kazuto was reminded of the fact that he himself hadn't eaten or drunk anything in the real world while they were diving into Underworld... for the past ten hours. Thus, the boy presumed that Rinko may have been so strict about their logout deadline to ensure they had timely rehydration without resorting to IV drips.

After taking a new bottle of water and gulping half of it down, Kazuto was reminded of the existence of his stomach, but food wasn't allowed in the room, which made the boy a bit jealous of Alice's mechanical body. While letting his mind ponder like that, the boy took out his smartphone from his bag and unlocked it with facial recognition to find Yui on the screen. After the three exchanged pleasantries, Yui reported that there had been no attempts to infiltrate Rath's network while they were in Underworld, nor did she find anyone suspicious on the surveillance cams. Having finished her job, Yui then signed off to head back to Unital Ring.

After returning his phone to his bag, Kazuto and noticed that Alice had yet to awake. Just as Asuna was about to try shaking Alice, Rinko came into the room. Since the three of them hadn't logged out on time, Rinko had assumed that something important may have been going on at that moment, so after discussing things with Kikuoka Seijirou (who had stepped into the room after Rinko), they decided to leave Alice in Underworld.

Kazuto: "Sup, Kikuoka-san. What're you up to all the way out here?"
Seijirou: "Hey now, I'm the founder of Rath. What's so strange about finding me here?"
Kazuto: "I heard you foisted the role of representative onto Rinko-san in favour of prowling around."
Seijirou: "You sure are mean, calling it prowling..."

Asuna then exchanged greetings with Seijirou.
Asuna: "Long time no see, Kikuoka-san."
Seijirou: "Come to think of it, it's been what, two months, since I last saw you, Asuna-kun. Nice to see you're doing well."
Asuna: "Thank you very much. How are your injuries, Kikuoka-san?"
Seijirou: "Confirmed to be fully healed a while ago, though some scars do remain."
While their conversation did sound amiable at face value, Kazuto felt that there was a tinge of tension in the air between them. The boy assumed this was because Asuna placed Seijirou somewhere in the midline between a good person and one who's not, while Seijirou was either feeling guilty about the trouble he had caused, or had some other reasons.
Kazuto (internally): Not like I can imagine Asuna physically hoisting Kikuoka up in the real world, although I could see it happen in the virtual world......

At that point, Rinko clapped her hands.
Rinko: "Now then, please get ready to head back home, you two. You'll make your family members worried if you're late."
Kazuto: "Wha......but do you not need to hear our report on what happened during the Dive?"
Rinko: "I'll ask Alice about it later on. I know you must be exhausted after that long Dive, but could I ask you to brief Lieutenant Col...... I mean, Kikuoka-san on what went on yourself, Kirigaya-kun?"
Kazuto: "Well, sure, but it will take more than just two or three minutes to finish up, you know."
Seijirou: "Not to worry. (Takes out a keycard for a car and waves it around) I'll take it upon myself to drive both you, Kirito-kun, and you, Asuna-kun, home, so I'll hear you out on the road. There's some other thing I'd like to discuss with you, anyway."
Kazuto: "You want to discuss something.....with us?"
Kazuto (internally): I sure hope you're not planning to stack more work on my plate here (glares)
Seijirou: "Go down the elevator to the parking lot at Floor -2 when you're done changing. See ya later."

Once Seijirou was out of the room,
Asuna: "What identity is Kikuoka-san using right now? As the official story goes, he's supposed to have passed away back on the Ocean Turtle, right?"
Koujiro: "Well, I may as well share it with you, but you'll just think that I'm pulling your leg and avoiding to give an actual answer to the question......"
Asuna: "We won't!"
Koujiro: "Kikuoka Reizaburou (菊岡礼三郎)."
Asuna and Kazuto: "Pardon?"
Kazuto: "Who's that supposed to be?"
Koujiro: "Seijirou's twin brother."
Asuna: "......Kikuoka-san had a younger brother......? And he's borrowing the man's identity?"
Koujiro (with an expression filled with exasperation): "Of course not. Higa-kun falsified the family registry at his municipal government, as well as the copy registry and basic resident register at the regional legal affairs bureau to make up a younger brother for him."
Asuna and Kazuto: "............"
The two decided that it would be a waste of time delving deeper into things, so Asuna got dressed.
Kazuto: "Ehm......if possible, I hope you could allow Alice to spend the night on the other side, at least this time....."
Rinko: "Sure, that was the plan. Be sure to get some sleep, you two."
Asuna and Kazuto then left the STL room.

----------

(Kazuto's perspective, Rath's Roppongi Branch, Parking lot)

Asuna and Kazuto stepped out of the elevator and approached a mid-sized sedan waiting for them. Both of them hopped onto the back seats. Kazuto wanted to pull a "Ladies first" move being the gentleman that he is, but since Asuna would be dropped off first, he decided to take the seat further away from the door.
Kazuto: "Sorry for the wait...... Knowing you, I was expecting we'd be riding a car that looked more shady."
Seijirou: "Hu-huh. Why, I do ride a more shady-looking car on my private time. This one is a work car from Rath, however."
Kazuto: "Makes sense......"

As Kazuto thought about what information he should share with Seijirou en route to Asuna's house,
Seijirou: "Kirito-kun, there's a box on the front seat; could you open it up?"
Kazuto looked at the seat and noticed a carton box that looked a tad bigger than a shoe box. The boy picked it up and placed it between himself and Asuna. If it had been wrapped, Kazuto would have assumed this was a belated birthday present for Asuna, but there wasn't even a single ribbon on it. Instead, it had 【試—4】 (Prototype - 4) written on it. After exchanging a glance with Asuna, Kazuto opened the box and peered inside...
Kazuto: "Uwah!?"
Asuna: "Whaaa!?"
Inside, they found what appeared to be a kitten less than a year old, curled up amidst a lot of package cushioning.
Kazuto: "Whoa now, don't just stuff a cat into a box like this!"
In a fluster at the unexpected finding, Kazuto's hands plunged into the box and picked up the fluffy gray kitten... only to freeze up when he noticed that the kitten was utterly cold and stiff. Just he was about to let out a shriek, he realised that the kitten wasn't dead. It was too heavy for its size and its joints felt kinda weird to boot.... which meant...
Kazuto: "Wait, is this an imitation......?"
Asuna: "Wha? (Timidly touches the cat's back) Oh......it actually is. Kikuoka-san, what is this?"
Seijirou (arrogantly): "A cat robot of the future. There's a switch on its right armpit; try holding it down for a bit."
Kazuto looked around the base of cat's right front paw and found a round button. Once he kept it pressed for around two seconds, the kitten quivered, opened its eyes and looked straight up at Kazuto.
Kitten: "Meooow"
Feeling a tinge of dissatisfaction in the cat's voice, Kazuto lowered the empty box onto the floor and then brought the cat closer to the seat. It hopped off, stretched like a real cat, and then looked up at Asuna.
Kitten: "Meeeu~~"
This time, the kitten's voice was clearly fawning for attention. With sparkles in her eyes, Asuna began scratching the kitten's chin. The kitten allowed Asuna to continue scratching it for a few moments, before it eventually jumped onto her lap and curled up.

As the catbot began purring like a real cat,
Kazuto: "Kikuoka-san, is this really a robot......?"
Seijirou: "Didn't you just turn on the power for it yourself? It's a prototype robot pet made from the same CNT actuators......or synthetic muscle, in other words, that we used for Alice's machine body. It's the fruit of Higa-kun's ardent labour."
Kazuto: "Whooah...... and here I was thinking I hadn't seen the guy in a while; so this is what he was working on, I sees."
Kazuto (internally): Whoops, I let some Higa mannerisms slip in at the end. (Higa has habit of adding ス ("s(u)", the slangy abbreviation of "desu") to the end of his sentences)
Kazuto: "So, is this Higa-san's little indulgence? Or it yours, Kikuoka-san?"
Seijirou: "Whoa whoa, we've devoted a whole lot of funds into developing this one little guy. If we were to have used that kind of money on a mere indulgence, Professor Koujiro would sock me good for that."

After confirming the traffic situation on the GPS Seijirou was using,
Kazuto: "If it's not just a little indulgence, then what is it for......"
Asuna: "Could it be that you're planning to commercialise it?"
Kazuto: (shocked)
Seijirou: "I expected nothing less from you, Asuna-kun, you've got good instincts. You're exactly right......our tentative plan is to release a commercial version by the end of next year."
Kazuto: "WHAAA? Rath's going to be selling these?"
Seijirou: "Heavens no, our work ends with planning and development. We intend to partner up with a major manufacturer - on the scale of RECT, for example - to handle production and marketing."
Asuna (maintaining her smile): "Seeing as RECT itself has put some pet robots on the market, I think they would be interested in the proposition. Though, do be prepared for some tough negotiations."
Seijirou: "Hahaha, I wouldn't be surprised. Though, I am confident you wouldn't find anyone better at making machine body tech in the entire world. I'm sure you'd agree after a single look at our Yon-chan there."
Kazuto (internally): I'm guessing it's Yon(4)-chan because it's Prototype - 4, as the box implies. First Ichi(1)emom and Ni(2)emom, now this; who on earth has this weird naming sense.

After petting the now-somewhat-warm robocat,
Kazuto: "True, this might just sell well......"
Seijirou: "Right? If Rath succeeds in securing multiple stable sources of funding, it would make it easier to oppose forces plotting to dispose of Underworld."
Kazuto (internally): If that's what the the pet robot project is for, guess I'll have to support it.
Kazuto: If this here cat robot's the thing you mentioned back at Roppongi that you want to discuss with us, Kikuoka-san, I'm betting that you were hoping to have us help with something, right? So, what do you want us to do?"
Seijirou (grinning): "I'm glad you're quite the perceptive one, as always."
Kazuto: "I usually hear people say the opposite of me."
Seijirou: "As a matter of fact......we've pretty much got all the features Yon-chan needs down on the hardware side, but we have been having trouble with the software side of things."
Asuna: "Huh... seems like it's doing a very fine job of acting natural to me."
Seijirou (shaking his head): "Oh, it has no trouble reacting appropriately to human contact. It's just that spontaneous actions are not quite its forte, you see...... If we programmed in all its behaviour from A to Z, it'd lose its individuality, but when we leave it all up to the AI, it gradually starts acting less and less like a cat. Just yesterday, Yon-chan decided to see if it could walk on two legs at all times, until we reset its learning data."
Kazuto: "............You know, I get the feeling it would find its audience somewhere. Anyway, what are you ordering us to do? I don't think we could help you with anything that Higa-san hasn't had any luck with himself, though."
Seijirou: "Oh no, I'm not asking you to do something to fix Yon-chan. Well, see... Underworld has cats of its own, right, Kirito-kun?"
Kazuto: "Haah? Well, sure......"
Seijirou: "And were those cats acting like proper cats?"
Kazuto: "Well, they weren't walking on two legs or barking, at the very least. Oh...... so you want us to bring a cat out of Underworld for you, is that it?"
Seijirou: "Exactly."

Seijirou argued that animals in Underworld started off as simple programs that came with The SEED package, but with over 500 internal years of learning, the AI should have evolved to a high grade of complexity and polish. Kirito remembered Nuts and how it didn't show a single shred of being an imitation. While Nuts was special in a way, it wasn't too unreal to expect to find a cat with a similar level of complexity around somewhere.

Kazuto: "Bringing a cat out of Underworld is easier said than done; I hope you haven't forgotten one important thing, Kikuoka-san. Underworld's server is back on the Ocean Turtle all the way out on the ocean. While we may be able to dive in with the STLs in the Roppongi branch, we couldn't bring out a single stone out of the place, let alone an entire cat."
Seijirou: "Of course I haven't forgotten about that. It's still on a hypothetical level, but with Alice's cooperation, there is a possibility that we might be able to extract small amounts of data from Underworld. Though we would need to manage the process through the internal system console."
Kazuto (with figurative question marks over his head): "Alice's cooperation......?"
Asuna: "Could it be that you're thinking of using Alice's Lightcube for storage?"
Kazuto: "That's just plain reckless, Kikuoka-san. Even if Alice's Lightcube did have sufficient free space to spare, if Alice's Fluctlight became damaged in the process of burning the cat's data onto the cube, we'd have no way of fixing it."
Seijirou: "Of course, of course. I didn't mean to use Alice's Lightcube itself. You see, the cranial shell in her body......the place used to store her Lightcube, still has some open space, so we've been looking into the possibility of installing an auxiliary memory storage device or something there."
Kazuto: "......That still sounds dangerous. You don't mean to tell me that you plan to conduct something akin to human experimentation without Alice's consent, do you?"
Seijirou: "Of course not. In fact, it's her own request that started the whole thing."
Kazuto: "Alice asked for something like that......?"
Seijirou (before Kazuto got a chance to ask): "You won't hear Alice's reasonings from my mouth. Ask her yourself someday......now going back on track, what I wanted to discuss with you, Kirito-kun and Asuna-kun, is whether you could keep an eye out for a cat with a good head on its shoulders during your next Dive into Underworld."
Asuna: "Well, sure, there is nothing wrong with keeping an eye out for one......but if we were to bring the cat out of Underworld, wouldn't it disappear from Underworld? That would make its owner sad, I believe."
Seijirou: "Oh, it won't come to that. In the case of Underworlders with Fluctlights, the only way to bring them out into the real world is to physically extract their Lightcube, the 《container of their soul》, from the cluster, but with objects like dogs and cats, we could just copy them onto a generic media. Naturally, making a copy wouldn't erase the original. The person... or rather the cat, itself wouldn't even notice that they were copied. The only problem is that we'd need to head over to the Ocean Turtle to create a duplicate like that. Though, we've been considering whether it would be possible to use the internal console and Alice's auxiliary memory unit to take out the data even on the Roppongi Branch side......"
Asuna: "......All right. One more thing......if we do manage to copy the data of a cat from Underworld, are you planning to overwrite Yon-chan with it?"
Seijirou: "Nah, if you do manage to find us a decent cat program in Underworld, we'd load it onto Prototype-5 that's still in development. What you find will probably be adult-sized anyway, so it would cause issues to load it onto the kitten-sized Yon-chan."
Kazuto: "So, what're you going to do with Yon-chan then? Dispose of it?"
Seijirou: "Oh no, no, the little guy might still have room to grow. ――On that note, Asuna-kun, would you care to give a shot at rearing Yon-chan?"
Asuna: "Wha, you want......me to do it?"
Seijirou: "As I recall, you mentioned not having pets at home, right?"
Asuna: "Yes......Our family members tend to be away from home a lot, so we wouldn't be able to manage looking after one......"
Seijirou: "But Yon-chan requires neither feeding, nor toilet cleaning. It's programmed to go into sleep mode and charge up when there are no people around, see. Though, well, there's still quite a high probability that it'll start doing non-catlike actions as before, but I'd leave it up to your discretion, Asuna-kun, to decide whether its learning data needs to be reset. What do you say?"
Kazuto: "Asuna, there's no need to force yourself to......"
Asuna: "Thanks, Kirito-kun. But I'll be fine. ――Kikuoka-san, I think I shall take you up on the offer and take the little guy under my wing."
Seijirou: "Oh, good. You'll find the instruction manual and the charging pad inside the box. Also, since it's technically an industrial secret, I hope you'll refrain from letting people other than family members see it."
Asuna: "Understood."
Kazuto (internally): Oh, so you don't mind if its her family seeing it. No way Kikuoka hasn't taken into account that Asuna's old man is the former CEO of RECT, while her brother Kouichirou-shi is a candidate for the company's executives. Maybe that's actually his goal, in fact.

At that point, Asuna asked Kazuto to bring over the box, so he did just that. Asuna regretfully turned off the robocat and placed it inside the box and then put the box itself onto her lap with a gentle smile. Looking at her expression, Kazuto got the sense that Seijirou might actually have given Yon-chan to Asuna as a birthday gift. Around that point, Kazuto noticed that the car had already reached Setagaya street, so Asuna's house wasn't far away.
Kazuto: "Asuna, you must be tired after all we've been through today. Be sure to head to sleep early when you get home."
Asuna: "Kirito-kun, you're planning to check in on things on the other side, no?"
Kazuto: "Well, yeah......"
Asuna: "Then I'm going in too. Seems like quite a lot happened while we were away, anyway."
Kazuto: "I see. Don't push yourself too much though."
Asuna: "Yeah, thanks."

Just as Asuna gave Kazuto a nod, the car came to a stop. Asuna got off and headed home, Kazuto seeing her off with a wave until the automatic gate lights turned off. Seijirou prompted Kazuto to move to the front of the car and they set off towards Kawagoe. Along the way, Seijirou decided to start some small talk about how a new road would be opened up in five years, making it easier to traverse from Kawagoe to the city centre.
Seijirou: "By then, Kirito-kun, you'd be twenty-two...... or make that twenty-three years old, huh. Have you made plans for your future course?"
Kazuto: "............"
Kazuto had already told his parents and Asuna that he was planning to seek employment at Rath in the future; Koujiro seemed to have also caught onto his plans, but he wasn't sure whether Seijirou was in the know. To avoid cornering himself, Kazuto spent a good three seconds thinking over his response.
Kazuto: "Well, I do plan to go into higher education, for what it's worth."
Seijirou: "I see, so you're not planning on turning into a pro gamer."
Kazuto: "H-hey now......"

Kazuto monologues about how pro gaming is no longer the kind of eccentric career path it used to be, seeing as in addition to the traditional methods of earning income from gaming (game tournaments, streaming, belonging to a pro team), nowadays there are even games like GGO that allow converting in-game currency into real money, or games that allow earning virtual currency and tokens in-game. He also doesn't deny that some part of his mind had been fascinated by pro gamers... until his fourteenth birthday.
Kazuto: "......I can't make a living out of going pro."
Seijirou: "Why's that? Putting aside your ambitions for the future, I think you'd be able to show off pro-level skills in most FullDive games, Kirito-kun."
Kazuto: "You're giving me too much credit. Besides...... (reveals his innermost feelings) I don't think I'd be able to get into a do-or-die mindset on a regular old game anymore. My fighting style in Aincrad and Underworld relied on setting my whole being ablaze to the utmost till burnout comes; I wouldn't be able to pull that off anymore even if I wanted to. And that makes me unqualified for going pro."
Seijirou: "......I see. (in an unusually meek tone) In which case......The job I came to you with must have been a cruel twist of fate......After all, it forced you to recall all your experiences in Underworld from three months ago without giving you a say in the matter."
Kazuto: "Oh, well...... I did get to recall quite a few things...... but my experiences back in that world were by no means all hard on me. Heck, I'd been pestering Rinko-san to let me head back into Underworld once more, anyway."
Seijirou: "I'm glad to hear you say that......However, I will etch your words into my heart, Kirito-kun...... Now, then. It would be awkward of me to ask this of you after all that......"
Kazuto: "You don't need to feel all awkward. You wanna ask about the whole intruder thing, right?"
Seijirou: "Indeed. Did you manage to find any clues?"
Kazuto: "Nothing."
Seijirou (after two seconds of silence): "T-that so. Well...... I guess it's not that easy of a task to find a single particular person when Underworld is the size of an entire continent."
Kazuto: "Make that the size of two entire planets nowadays."
Kazuto spent the next fifteen minutes or so giving Seijirou a rundown of the events of his Dive. By the time Kazuto finished his story, the car had reached a highway and began cruising at 100 km/h.
Kazuto: "Say, where are you residing these days?"
Sejirou: "Huh? Oh......in Shinonome."
Kazuto: "Shinonome...... so right next to Ariake, huh. Have you always been living there?"
Seijirou: "Nah, only after I changed my name...... wait, whoopsie, we're heading into top secret territory. If you want to know more, I'd have to welcome you into the fold."

After his jest, Seijirou asked Kazuto to confirm whether Underworlders were still unable to break rules and regulations. The boy confirmed that he believed that to be the case: not a single piece of trash lying around town, and the cars were driving very orderly too. Though, certain people he'd met on his trip gave off pretty arrogant vibes, so it wasn't the utopia it used to be.
Seijirou: "Hmm... So, I take it this means the current governing institution of Underworld, the Star Empire Unification Council, holds the same level of authority as the old Axiom Church used to?"
Kazuto: "Mmm, well, the Axiom Church and Supreme Priest Administrator acted like proxies for God, see. I can't say whether the Star Empire Unification Council is worshiped, or feared, to the same extent, but I do believe that their authority is unwavering."
Seijirou: "And yet you say that someone has been engaging in subversive activities against the Integrity Pilots under direct control by this very Unification Council, that there's a base on Planet Admina not under the council's control, and that illegal experimentation was being conducted there?"
Kazuto: "Well, yeah......"

The boy recalled a certain man he met at the base and realised he forgot to share something important with Seijirou.
Kazuto: "Sorry, a while back, I said I had no clues as to any intruders, but I might not actually be as empty-handed on that front as I thought."
Seijirou: "Meaning?"
Kazuto: "It's just a deduction with nothing to back it up whatsoever...... but Eol...... I mean, the Commander of the Integrity Pilots pointed out the possibility that some intruder from the Real World was pulling the strings behind the plots against the Order of Integrity Pilots."
Seijirou: "Oh my, the Commander sure has some flexible thinking. I myself have been trying to guess who the intruder could be, but my options were limited to saboteurs sent by some other country, or corporate spies sent after our STL tech."
Kazuto: "I also felt that the idea was a bit far-fetched, but the Commander said as such: Seeing as Dark God Vecta who incited the Otherworlder War was a person from the Real World, it wouldn't come as a surprise for the same thing to happen a second time."
Seijirou: "......I see, he does indeed have a point. However......if that's the case, things have just got far more complicated. If the intruder's goal isn't to interface with the system console, but rather to interfere with Underworld...... that would mean the guy has full grasp of Underworld's current history, geography, and social climate. Though I can't imagine how such a person could exist......"
Kazuto wanted to affirm Seijirou's opinion, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that someone in the Roppongi Branch was using the STLs to gather info on Underworld, similarly to a certain insider who had shot Seijirou three months prior. On the other hand, the fact that Seijirou denies such a possibility would imply that he has a strong reason to do so.

At that point, Kazuto looked out the window and got a sense of deja vu looking at the sky. He got the feeling that he recalled gazing at the stars of the night sky from the window of a car, cruising at a constant speed... but the person behind the wheel was neither his father, nor his mother......
Seijirou: "The sun's starting to go down earlier than usual."
Kazuto: "Well, we're already past Shuubun no Hi, after all."
Seijirou: "Do you know how Shuubun no Hi is called in English?"
Kazuto (with 99% certainty): "ｔｈｅ　ａｕｔｕｍｎａｌ　ｅｑｕｉｎｏｘ......no?"
Seijirou: "Bzzt."
Kazuto: "Wh...whaa?"
Seijirou: "Too bad, but that's just Shuubun. Shuubun no Hi is called Ａｕｔｕｍｎａｌ　Ｅｑｕｉｎｏｘ　Ｄａｙ."
Kazuto: "H-hey, no fair! That was a trick question, I call foul!"
Seijirou: "You'd never win the Rath Quiz Tournament if you fall for trick questions like that."
Kazuto: "......You're actually holding quiz tournaments?"
Seijirou: "We'd be happy to have you on our next one."

As Kazuto enjoyed the comfort of the cruise, he soon found his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier. The boy tried to force himself to stay awake to talk more about the intruder, when...
Seijirou: "Feel free to get some rest."
Kazuto (internally): If I gave into the flow and fell asleep here, I'd just look like a regular old primary school pupil...
Kazuto: "No, I can keep going."
Despite his struggle, Kazuto failed to lift his head from the headrest. Seijirou turning on some slow jazz was the clincher that made the boy's consciousness give in.