Chapter 2 - Project Alicization
Part 1
The silvery white full moon, segmented into four by the cross-shaped window frame, could be seen looming above.
In the southwest corner of ALFheim, in the land of the Sylphs, the streets of the capital city Sylvain were wrapped in a thick veil of darkness.
Most of the shops had their sturdy metal shutters pulled down, and few players were moving around on the main streets. This was because the time was 4am, when the least number of people would be connected.
Asuna turned her eyes from the window to the table, and picked up the still steaming cup. She brought the thickly-colored tea to her lips, and could feel the illusory heat stimulate her tongue. Although she was not sleepy, her brain felt slightly fuzzy; she has had practically no sleep for the past 3 days.
She closed her eyes and used her fingers to tap her temple slightly. The other Sylph girl who saw this asked worriedly,
“Are you alright, Asuna-san? You haven't been sleeping.”
“Yeeah, I'm fine here. You too, Lyfa. It must be tiring for you to walk around everywhere, right?”
“My real body is resting properly in my bed, so I'm alright.”
Though they said they were fine in unison, they realized neither sounded very energetic at all, and gave wry smiles.
This place was the player home of Lyfa, the avatar of Kirigaya Suguha in ALFheim Online. The walls surrounding the round room had a glossy, iridescent sheen that constantly shifted in colour, creating a somewhat surreal atmosphere. A pearl white table and matching chairs were placed in the centre of the room, three of which were currently occupied.
On hearing the duo's conversation, the ice-blue haired girl with triangular ears clasped her fingers together on the table, opening her mouth,
“If you force yourself too much, your minds won't be able to work well during crucial moments. Even if you can't sleep, it makes a whole world of difference if you simply close your eyes.”
The owner of the calm voice was Asada Shino, in the Cait Sith avatar which she had been diving in for the last half a year. The characters name was the same as the user- Sinon from Gun Gale Online. Asuna looked over and nodded.
“Alright... After the meeting's over, please allow me to use the bed here. Really, if only sleep spells were effective on the players as well.”
“I think you can sleep well only if onii-chan sleeps on that rocking chair there...”
Asuna and Sinon smiled at Lyfa's mutterings, but the smiles they gave were tired ones.
Lyfa placed the cup she was holding with both hands back on the table, took a very deep breath, and changed her expression.
“Then... we'll start with the information we have gathered today, no, yesterday. In conclusion, we couldn't find any solid evidence that onii-chan was taken to the Tokorozawa National Defense Medical College Hospital. The data shows that he was definitely transferred to the Neurosurgical department on the 23rd floor, but they denied all access to the wards and not even the level can be accessed. There were also no signs of the emergency ambulance arriving there at the supposed time. We know this for certain since Yui has hacked into the surveillance cameras and checked the footage.”
“In other words... There's a high probability that Kirito may not be in the Defense Medical Hospital... Something like that?”
Lyfa nodded, agreeing with what Sinon said.
“It's really hard to believe... But I'm surprised that not even family members can see him. It's strange no matter how you look at it...”
The rest of the words were left unsaid and simply replaced by collective headshakes. At that moment, the room descended into deep silence.
Lyfa's brother Kirito—Kirigaya Kazuto was attacked by the fugitive from the Death Gun incident, 'Johnny Black'—Kanemoto Atsushi just two days ago, on the 29th of June.
Kazuto was injected with a highly-dangerous drug, succinylcholine, by Kanemoto near Asuna's house on the streets of Setagaya area Miyasakai 1-chome in Tokyo. Under the paralysing effects of the drug, he quickly entered cardiac arrest. Even after CPR and medication were administered in the ambulance, the loss of oxygen caused his heart to stop soon after. He was classified as Dead on Arrival (DOA) the moment he arrived at Setagaya General Hospital.
Perhaps it was the expertise of the doctors in the ER or Kazuto's own will to live or that they had the best of luck on both accounts that he finally regained his heartbeat and started breathing normally once the drugs took effect, escaping from the claws of death in a miraculous manner. As Asuna heard this outcome from the doctor who came out from the ER, she relaxed her distraught look but was left speechless by the words that followed.
The doctor told her that as Kazuto's heart stopped for more than 5 minutes, it was possible that he could have sustained some damage to the brain. There was a possibility of long term damage to thought processes or motor functions, or both, and that in the worst case scenario, he might never wake up again—and,
The doctor concluded that a detailed investigation using an MRI was necessary to tell if this was the case, and they would probably transfer him over to a hospital with better facilities. Asuna fought against the anxiety that struck again and contacted Kazuto's little sister Suguha to explain the situation. In the end, she started crying the moment she saw Suguha.
That night, Kazuto's mother, Kirigaya Midori came running over from her workplace in Iidabashi and spent the night on the bench in front of the ICU.
The next day, on the 30th of June, Asuna and Suguha were convinced by the supervisor that he was already 'out of danger', and went back to Asuna's house which was nearby, and Midori went back to her house in Kawagoe for the time being to deal with his health insurance scheme.
After both of them had a shower, they each contacted their own schools about a leave of absence, chatted for several hours, then entered a light sleep. About an hour later, Asuna was woken by Midori's phone call.
She dashed toward the portable terminal and Midori told her that unfortunately, Kazuto had still not regained consciousness, but he was to be transferred to the Defense Medical College Hospital that was nearer to her house in Kawagoe for closer observation and a better equipped facility. After that, the ambulance arrived to transfer Kazuto. Midori said that she would head over in a taxi once she was done with the procedures, and Asuna told her that they would soon arrive at the new hospital.
The unconscious Kazuto was definitely moved from the Setagaya General Hospital through the emergency exit and into the ambulance at around 1.45pm on the 30th. Yui clearly investigated it from the clear visuals of the surveillance cameras of the hospital. The records showed that the ambulance reached the Defense Medicine College Hospital in Tokorozawa in Saitama. Kazuto was immediately admitted into the neurosurgical department on the 23rd level for intensive care, and was under observation— Asuna and Suguha both believed it without a doubt, and they went to visit him two days ago late at night, but they were not allowed to see Kazuto or even view him from afar.
Asuna analyzed Lyfa's words as she nodded slightly and said,
“It's true that Kirito-kun was sent from the hospital in Setagaya by ambulance and the destination was the National Defense Medical University Hospital. There's an admission record for 'Kirigaya Kazuto'... but there's no report of how Kirito-kun looked, nor were there records from the surveillance camera. It's possible the ambulance Kirito-kun rode on went to some place other than the hospital... like a mix up of patients or some other accident— but, most likely not...”
“There's an intent to lie, which means that it was planned by someone... Abduction?”
Sin
on said with a calm voice, even as her triangular ears jerked sharply.
“But in that situation, the ambulance in question would be disguised, right? Leaving aside the paramedics, the vehicle itself would be fake, right? I don't think anyone could have predicted that onii-chan would be attacked in Setagaya by that guy called Kanemoto or something, and be hospitalized. Also, it was only 18 hours after he had been hospitalized.”
“It's physically impossible to arrange a fake ambulance after they knew that Kirito-kun collapsed.”
Asuna's doubt again overlapped with the question Sinon raised.
“But in that case, if there's an abduction of a patient using a fraudulent ambulance, what if the person who planned this right from the beginning targeted Kirito simply out of coincidence...”
“To put it simply, it doesn't really feel that way.”
Lyfa swung her ponytail sideways and started to explain in a surging manner,
“Fuu, when the hospital transfers a patient, it should make a call to request an ambulance from the emergency control command area, but according to Yui's investigations, nobody made a call that day, and the ambulance in question appeared at that moment. Then, it would be the same for the paramedics who rode on the ambulance, and the situation with the Tokorozawa Defense College Hospital should be the same as well. Not only that, they even knew onii-chan's name. The supervisor who was in charge of it did say that they had not made a mistake.”
“...Then, they were targeting Kirito right from the beginning in a ploy to abduct him.”
“Yeah, the culprit got news once Kirito-kun entered the hospital and sent a real ambulance for their own purposes.”
Both of them nodded in a hesitant manner in response to Asuna's words.
The reason why they were so hesitant was because it was too scary to conclude and link everything together. Asuna herself had the same feeling as well. If everything was true, the opponent who abducted Kazuto was someone influential enough to mobilize the ambulance service.
To be honest, those thoughts may all have been excessive thinking on their parts.
It could be that Kazuto was being treated in the Defense Medical University Hospital, the images of the hospital room could not be seen because of the sophisticated machines, and at the moment he had arrived there, there was no record because the surveillance cameras seemed to be faulty... No, it could be said that this line of consideration was not normal. In fact, Kazuto and Suguha's mother Midori did not doubt the hospital's current explanation. The abduction and falsified information was just the imagination of the three girls who loved to worry. The culprit in real life did not exist, and Kazuto's treatment would be a success and they would definitely be notified with news the moment he regained consciousness...
However, a certain part of Asuna's derailed common sense had a pained feeling within. That must be the same with Kazuto's little sister Lyfa, and Sinon who had nearly crossed the line of death with him.
They were not assuming that the third 'Death Gun' Kanemoto's attack when he injected the toxin succinylcholine into Kazuto was part of the plan. However, the person probably made use of this incident to abduct Kazuto.
“Whether it's an organization or a person, that guy can be considered an 'enemy' in this situation.”
Asuna said in an adamant voice. Sinon blinked, and then showed a slight smile. “Before I arrived here... today, I thought you two would be very despondent and I was rather worried. To Lyfa, it's because he's her most important brother, to Asuna, it's because, well, he's her boyfriend... And that guy disappeared like this while unconscious...”
Speaking of which, I wasn't as shocked as I thought I would be after hearing these unexpected words. I was crying so hard when I saw Kirito-kun collapse that night... Asuna felt some sense of disbelief as she thought about this, and Lyfa, who had both hands clasped tightly in front of her chest, said,
“Well... I'd definitely be worried. However, when I realized that onii-chan may not be in the hospital, I felt somewhat uneasy and yet had a little feeling that it was like this. Onii-chan definitely got involved in some astonishing incident again... I really can't imagine how chaotic the places were since I wasn't there. It was like that in the SAO incident, the same with that Death Gun incident... So this time, I'll definitely...”
“Yes... I see.”
So I can't compare to the little sister who has lived with him for a long time. Asuna murmured within her heart and she nodded hard.
“Kirito-kun is definitely fighting like normal someplace as usual, so we have to carry out the fight we can handle.”
Of course. Sinon glanced aside for a moment and continued to stare at them.
“Sinonon doesn't look too despondent either.”
“Eh... That's because... to me, I strongly believe that I'm the only one who can beat him...”
After exchanging doubtful looks with the stuttering Sinon for a moment, Asuna went back to the original topic.
“Anyway... Just by looking at the ambulance, I guess the influence of the enemy is rather large.”
“How about we report this to the police? If we're together with the police, the hospital will at least have to provide us with some information, right?”
Sinon's suggestion made some sense to them, but Asuna shook her head slightly to disagree.
“In that Defense Medical College Hospital's server, the time Kirito-kun arrived and the time the neurosurgical department took him in were all recorded. The records show that Kirito-kun was definitely in that hospital. The basis for our assumption that he was kidnapped is that 'There were no images of him reaching' that place, and the police won't mobilize for such a reason, I guess... And also, the one who checked the visual records was...”
“Yui-chan who hacked in.”
Sinon gave a slight grimace as she muttered, and seemed to think of something else as she continued,
“Ah... But in that case, can we hack into the camera network inside of the hospital through the surveillance cameras outside the hospital? If we can check the images in Kirito-kun's room...”
“But the internal hospital's security system is different from the outside. It's most likely protected by a very powerful firewall that even Yui-chan can't break through.”
Lyfa weakly shook her head.
Yesterday, she went to carry out various investigations on Setagaya General Hospital and the National Defense Medical College Hospital which were far away from each other. Even though she had the help of the AI Yui who was bound to the portable terminal, just progressing was really hard.
Of course, Asuna herself went along and it seemed like Kirito's condition had already stabilized, but by then she had already skipped school for 2 straight days without permission. The electronic money payment terminal that was supposed to be backup power was left with Lyfa when they rode on the taxi, and naturally, she was not able to concentrate on her classes at all.
In school, Kazuto's absence was explained by a critical illness, and the same was told to their classmates. Amongst their friends, Lisbeth/Shinozaki Rika and Silica/Ayano Keiko did not know about the attack at all. The guilt of hiding the truth from the two of them who were both worried about Kazuto ripped at their hearts.
However, this had been discussed with Lyfa yesterday morning. Before they knew the actual situation— whether Kazuto was really in the National Defense Medical College Hospital, they would keep this secret between the three of them, including Sinon.
The reason why they only contacted Sinon was that she had met Kazuto at the 'Dicey Café' before the attack and because she was involved in the Death Gun incident. However, it was thanks to this that her calmness and intellect boosted everyone's confidence. Asuna stared at the side of the sniper Sinon's face, a face that never changed in ALO, and said,
“I feel that the greatest weapon we have is that we understand more about Kirito-kun than anyone else. So, let's take a step back and discuss. The enemy targeted Kirito-kun, but for what reason?”
“If it's for the sake of money, the kidnapping would be aimed at Asuna, yet the culprit never contacted us, right?”
“Telephone, e-mail, or letters, there have been none at all. Besides, this kidnapping was too reckless. They even prepared a fake ambulance to kidnap onii-chan specifically from the hospital, who isn't anyone significant.”
“Then... I don't really want to consider this, but what if it's because of a grudge...? Do you know any opponent who hates Kirito...?”
This time, Asuna shook her head slightly.
“Even though there are people amongst the SAO survivors who hate Kirito for sending them directly to prison and for clearing the game, the only opponent who has such financial strength and organization ability is...”
Asuna recalled the face of Sugou Nobuyuki, the ambitious person who once trapped the SAO players as test subjects in his abominated research and was handed over to the police by Kirito. However, that person was locked within the walls of the detention barracks, and his attempt to escape overseas caused his appeal for bail to be rejected.
“...Yeah, we still haven't thought of who can do such a thing.”
“It's neither for money nor a grudge, huh...? Hmm...”
Sinon lowered her head for a while, used her fingers to tap the tips of her ears, and said in an uncertain manner.
“...Well, I guess it was just completely baseless conjecture... The motive isn't for money or a grudge, but he was still kidnapped. That means that to the enemy, Kirito is an existence which still needs to be kept alive. To put it more specifically what they want is Kirito himself, or what he has... In game terms, his 'element', right? What can we think of?”
“Swordsmanship.”
Asuna immediately answered without hesitation. Whenever she closed her eyes and imagined Kirito's silhouette, the first thing that would appear was the normally black-clothed Kirito of old who would wield two swords and slash at enemies like a hurricane. It seemed that Lyfa had the same impression on him after travelling with him in ALO as she immediately continued,
“Reaction speed.”
Sword Art Online - Volume 10 - Alicization Running Page 1