Sword Art Online - Volume 2 - Aincrad (Side Stories)

by Reki Kawahara

  “Idiot!! Hurry up, get away!!”

  Frantically struggling to move his upper body, Kirito cried out. The death god held its scythe aloft with deliberate motions once more. If she’s dragged into an attack of that range, Yui’s HP would certainly be blown away. Asuna too, tried to somehow move her mouth. But with her lips stiffened up, she was unable to utter a single word.

  But in the next moment, something unbelievable happened.

  “It’s alright, Papa, Mama.”

  Along with those words, Yui’s body gently floated into the air.

  It was not a jump. Moving as though she flapped invisible wings, she came to a complete stop at a height of two meters. She softly hung that far too small right hand in mid-air.

  “Nooo…! Get away!! Get away, Yui-chan!!”

  As if to erase Asuna’s screams, the death god’s scythe was relentlessly swung down, drawing a line of dark-red light. The atrocious pointed edge came into contact with Yui’s pure white palm—

  Right before that happened, it was hindered by a vivid purple barrier, and repulsed with a large noise. The system tag that floated before Yui’s palm caused Asuna to stare in astonishment.

  [Immortal Object], that was surely what was written there. Immortality— an attribute that no player should possess.

  The black death god spun its eyeballs about, as though it was bewildered. Immediately following that, a phenomenon to further surprise Asuna happened.

  “Gouu!!”, along with such a noise, crimson flames came forth, coiling around, with Yui’s right hand as their core. The flames scattered widely for an instant, before immediately condensing, and started to join together into a long and narrow form. As one looked on, the figure changed towards that of a huge sword. A blade, sparkling in the shades of the blaze, emerged from within the flames, extending out endlessly.

  The greatsword that appeared in Yui’s right hand was of a length that easily exceeded the girl’s height. Radiance from the metal that seemed on the verge of melting illuminated the pathway. As though rousing the flames of the sword, the bulky winter clothes worn on Yui’s form burnt down in an instant. From below that, the white one-piece dress the girl had on at first appeared. Strangely enough, even as the flames winded around the one-piece dress, as well as that long, black hair, there seems to be absolutely no effect on them.

  She casually spun the sword that exceeded her height around, once—

  Without showing a hint of hesitation, Yui challenged the death god as she drew strokes of flames.

  Despite its actions governed by nothing more than the simple algorithms from the system, within the boss monster’s bloodshot eyes, Asuna believed she saw them dyed in a distinct color of fear.

  Draped in the swirls of flames, Yui charged through the air with a deafening roar. The death god raised the scythe before itself and assumed a defensive stance, as though it was afraid of the girl, far smaller than itself. And approaching forth, Yui swung the huge blazing sword straight down with all her might.

  The blade, exuding intense flames, collided into the horizontal scythe’s handle. For an instant, the pair’s movements ceased.

  Without even a moment to think, Yui’s flaming sword moved once more. Like the metal was ablaze with withering amounts of heat, the radiant blade ate into the scythe’s grip bit by bit. With enough force to tear apart everything but Yui’s long hair and one-piece dress, as well as the death god’s robes, it flickered behind them, scattering large sparks at times, lighting up the interior of the dungeon, dyeing the area orange.

  Before long—

  Along with an explosive sound, “Gou,” the death god’s scythe was finally cut apart in halves. Immediately following that, as the energy accumulated thus far was unleashed, the greatsword turned into a pillar of flame, striking straight into the middle of the boss’s face.

  “-h…!!”

  Asuna and Kirito squinted their eyes, and shielded their face on reflex, reacting to the excessively strong force from a scorching ball of fire that appeared in that moment. At the same time Yui swung the sword straight down, the fireball blew up, swallowing up the death god’s form in crimson swirls as it streamed deeper into the passage. Hidden within that thunderous roar, a faint shriek of death agony echoed.

  When they opened the eyes closed for an instant due to how dazzling the flames were, the figure of the boss monster was no more. Small fires swayed about, left behind here and there on the road, making cracking noises. And in the center of it all, Yui stood still by herself, looking downcast. The blazing sword which stood in the ground, dissolved and crumbled down into nothing as it exuded flames just like the time it materialized.

  Asuna rose up, finally having regained the strength in her body, slowly standing up by using her rapier as a support. Kirito too, stood up shortly later. The couple approached the girl with unsteady steps.

  “Yui… chan…”

  Asuna called out with a coarse voice, and the girl turned back without a sound. Her small lips showed a smile, but in those large jet black eyes, many tears were swelling up.

  Yui looked up at Asuna and Kirito as she quietly spoke.

  “Papa… Mama… I, remember everything now…”

  The safe zone of the deepest part of the Black Iron Castle’s underground labyrinth was shaped as a perfect square. There was only a single entrance, and in the middle of it, a smooth, gleaming, black stone cube acting as a table was positioned.

  Asuna and Kirito looked on at Yui, sitting on the stone table, looking small and quiet, in silence. Yuriel and Sinker were asked to escape first, so the three were by themselves now.

  My memory had recovered, with just those words, Yui went through several minutes without speaking at all. That expression seemed sorrowful somehow, as though she was hesitant to speak, but Asuna gathered her resolve and asked.

  “Yui-chan… Did you remember…? Everything up till now…”

  Yui still continued looking downcast, but finally gave a nod. With an expression like a mix between smiling and crying, she raised her small lips.

  “Yes… I will, explain everything— Kirito-san, Asuna-san.”

  The moment she heard that polite form of speaking, Asuna’s chest tightened with desolate expectations. A suffocating belief that something would be ending.

  Within the square room, Yui’s words gently started flowing forth.

  “This world named, «SwordArt Online», is managed by a single large system. The system’s name is «Cardinal», that is, the way this world is managed, is based on its judgement. In the first place, Cardinal was designed to not require maintenance from humans. With two core programs doing mutual error correction on the other, and in addition, countless numbers of lower program bundles, they regulate the whole of this world… The AI for monsters and NPCs, balancing the rates of items and the currency, anything and everything is managed by the cluster of programs under the command of Cardinal. —However, there was one thing that could be entrusted to nothing but humans. Trouble originating in the players’ mental state; that was the only thing that could be settled by no other, than humans themselves… and for that purpose, dozens of staff members should have been prepared.”

  “GM…[4]”

  Kirito spoke with a sigh.

  “Yui, in short, are you saying that you’re a gamemaster…? A staff from Argus…?”

  After spending several seconds in silence, Yui softly shook her head.

  “…When the developers of Cardinal entrusted even the care of players to the system, they ran a trial of a certain program. Using a feature unique to the NERvGear, it monitored the emotions of players in detail, appearing at the side of players found to have problems to hear them out… «Mental Health - Counselling Program», MHCP version 1, codename, «Yui». That would be me.”

  Asuna’s breath was taken away with how much of a shock it was. She was unable to apprehend just what had been said right away.

  “Program…? Do you mean an AI…?”

  She asked in a
low voice. Yui gave a nod, a dejected smile on her face.

  “So as to not discomfort players, I was given an emotion imitation function. —It’s fake, all of it… even these tears… I’m sorry, Asuna-san…”

  Large tears spilled from Yui’s eyes, becoming particles of light, and dissipated. Asuna took a single, soft step towards Yui. She reached out her hand, but Yui faintly shook her head. As if— she was unqualified to receive Asuna’s embrace.

  Still incapable of believing the situation, Asuna forced out her words.

  “But… But, losing your memories…? Can something like that happen to an AI…?”

  “…Two years ago… The day the official service started…”

  Yui lowered her eyes, and continued her explanation.

  “Although I am unaware of the complete details of what exactly happened as well, Cardinal handed down an unplanned order to me. A complete prohibition from interfering with all players… Unpermitted to come into any tangible contact with them, I reluctantly continued with nothing, but the monitoring of the condition of the players’ mental health.”

  Asuna reacted reflexively; she guessed that «unplanned order» was due to the manipulation done by the only GM of SAO, Kayaba Akihiko. Yui, who was probably in the dark about him, moved her lips once more, her face distorted in sorrow.

  “That situation— was simply the worst… Practically all of the players were taken over by negative emotions such as fear, despair and rage most of the time; at times, there were even some that fell into madness. I continued looking into the hearts of those people. Originally, I would not had been able to stop myself from going straight up to those players, listening to their stories and settling their problems… but there was no means of coming into contact with them from my position… With that contradiction of having the sense of duty, yet the lack of authority to do so, I was gradually flooded with errors, and broke down…”

  At the bottom of the silent underground labyrinth, Yui’s delicate voice rippled out, like a trembling thread of silver. Asuna and Kirito could not help but listen attentively without uttering a single word.

  “One day, when I did my usual monitoring, I noticed a pair with mental parameters that differed largely from those of other players. I had never encountered those brain patterns picked up until then. Joy… peace… but not just those… Just what are these emotions; thinking that, I continued the monitoring of those two. Mysterious desires sprouted within me, as I pried into their conversations and actions. No such routine should have existed, but… I wanted to get closer to those two… in an intimate setting, I wanted to converse with them directly… With the wish to be nearer, even the slightest bit more, I wandered about daily, manifesting at the system console closest to the player home that the couple lived at. I believe I must have been considerably broken down at that point in time…”

  “And that is, the forest of the twenty-second floor…?”

  Yui gently nodded.

  “Yes. Kirito-san, Asuna-san… I had, always wanted… to meet with the two of you… In that forest, the moment I saw the two of you… I felt extremely happy… It was strange; it’s not possible that I could think of something like that… I am, nothing, but a mere program…”

  Overflowing with tears, Yui closed her mouth. Asuna was stricken with indescribable feelings, grasping her hands tightly, before her chest.

  “Yui-chan… you are a true AI, aren’t you? So you possess actual intelligence, don’t you…

  As she said so in a whisper, Yui inclined her head slightly and replied.

  “I.. don’t understand… Just exactly, what had happened to me…”

  At that moment, Kirito, who had kept his silence till then, took a step forward.

  “Yui is no longer a program operated by the system. Therefore, you should be able to voice out your own wishes.”

  And he spoke in a soft tone.

  “What do you wish for, Yui?”

  “I… I want…”

  Yui stretched out her slender arms towards the couple strongly.

  “To always, be together… Papa… Mama…!”

  Without even wiping away the tears flowing over her face, Asuna rushed over to Yui, tightly holding onto her small frame.

  “We will, always be together, Yui-chan.”

  Shortly after, Kirito too, wrapped his arms around Yui and Asuna.

  “Aah… Yui is our child. Let’s go home. We’ll all live together… forever…”

  However— within Asuna’s breast, Yui softly shook her head.

  “Eh…”

  “It’s… too late…”

  Kirito asked, bewildered.

  “Why’s that… what’s too late…”

  “The reason why I have regained my memories… is because I’ve touched that stone.”

  Yui looked towards the center of the room, pointing at the black cube stored there with her small hand.

  “When Asuna pushed me away into this safe zone earlier, I touched that stone by coincidence, and understood. That is not just a decorative object… It’s a console installed there in the case that a GM requires urgent access.”

  As though there was an order of some sort within Yui’s words, several lines of light burst towards the black stone. Immediately, with a fading beeping sound, a pale blue holo-keyboard rose to its surface.

  “I believe that the boss monster from earlier was stationed here to keep players away. I accessed the system using this console, and eliminated the monster with the «Object Eraser» summoned. At that time, with Cardinal’s error correction ability, my damaged language faculty was restored, but… at that same time, Cardinal also found out about me, who was left alone until then. Right now, the core system is scanning over my program. It will conclude with the answer that I am a foreign entity, and I’ll most likely be erased. I already… do not have much time left…”

  “That… That is…”

  “Can’t something be done about it! If we get away from this place…”

  Yui merely gave a wry smile towards the pair’s words. Tears flowed down Yui’s white cheeks once again.

  “Papa, Mama, thank you. This would be our farewell.”

  “No way! I don’t want something like that!!”

  Asuna desperately screamed.

  “This is just the beginning!! From now on, happily, together with everyone… living peacefully with each other…”

  “In that darkness… During that long suffering where I did not even know the end of, the existence of Papa and Mama was my only solace.”

  Yui looked straight at Asuna. Faint light began enveloping that body.

  “Yui, don’t go!!”

  Kirito held on to Yui’s hand. Yui’s small fingers gently caught hold of Kirito’s.

  “When I’m with Papa and Mama, everyone is able to smile… I was very happy at that. This is my request; that from now on too… in my place… help everyone out… give them joy…”

  Yui’s black hair and one-piece dress began disintegrating away into transient dispersing particles of light, much like morning dew. Yui’s smiling face slowly became transparent. Her presence faded away.

  “No! I don’t want this!! If Yui-chan isn’t here, I won’t be able to smile!!”

  Covered in the expanding light, Yui smiled sweetly. She caressed Asuna’s cheek with her hand, on the verge of disappearing.

  —Mama, do smile…

  As a weak voice reverberated in Asuna’s mind, an overwhelming dazzling light scattered out; as that too faded, there was nothing within Asuna’s arms.

  “Uwaaaaaa!!”

  Raising her voice uncontrollably, Asuna fell to her knees. Kneeling atop the stone paving, she cried loudly like a child. The tears spilled onto the ground, drop after drop, mixed together with the grains of light left behind by Yui, vanishing away.

  Part 4

  As if the chill till yesterday was a lie, a warm, gentle breeze blew over the lawn. Perhaps attracted by the merrymaking, several small birds descended onto a br
anch of the garden tree, appearing to look over the humans with great interest.

  A garden party was hosted without care for the season at the vast front yard of Sasha’s church, with the big table from the dining hall moved and set there. Food was taken out from a large grill like magic, raising a grand roar of joy from the children.

  “To think that something this delicious… was actually in this world…”

  The chief executive of the who was rescued just the previous night, Sinker, bit into the barbecue that Asuna had exhibited her talents in, as he spoke with awe. Beside him, Yuriel looked over the situation with a smile. She had the presence of a cool-headed female warrior on the first impression, but when she was beside Sinker, she resembled nothing more than a cheerful young wife.

  And as for Sinker, although there wasn’t much time to get a good look at him yesterday, when sitting at the same table like this instead, he had a character that gave off an aura of gentleness, very much unlike what the top of a huge organization would be thought as.

  With a stature of a degree slightly taller than Asuna, he was evidently shorter than Yuriel. His somewhat stocky body was clad in plain clothes, and he did not have a single weapon on hand. Beside him, Yuriel too, was not in her Army uniform style today.

  Sinker accepted the wine bottle Kirito offered into his glass, and apparently not for the first time, he gave a firm bow.

  “Asuna-san, Kirito-san. We are truly obliged to you this time. Just how can I thank you…”

  “No, I’m quite indebted to on the other side, after all.”

  Kirito answered as he smiled.

  “That’s a nostalgic name.”

  A broad smile showed on Sinker’s round face upon hearing that.

  “At that time, with the burden that updating daily was, I thought that I shouldn’t even bother doing a news site, but when compared to being a guild leader, it certainly was slightly easier. I would have been better off running a newspaper stand here too, huh.”

  Gentle laughter streamed out from the table.