CHAPTER 2
She checked the watch on her left wrist as she exited the C10 exit of Chiyoda Line's Otemachi Station.
There was more than five minutes left before the agreed time of 3:00 pm. As Yuuki Asuna was about to lower her wrist, her eyes paused casually at the small calendar window in the watch's dial.
Sunday, December 7th, 2025.
It may not be a special anniversary, but within Asuna's chest, the seed of a certain strong emotion had sprouted. As she began to walk along Eitai Street[9], she looked up, facing the main gates of the Imperial Palace and murmured without letting her voice out.
—Soon, it will have been one year...
Left unspoken were the words, "since my return to the real world."
After the floating castle of steel (SAO), to the bird cage in the treetops (ALO), she was subsequently rescued and returned to the real world in mid-January of this year. The fantasy world was gradually becoming a memory, but even so, she still occasionally felt strange about herself living like this in the real world.
The wide walkway paved with stone, the roadside trees shaking in the cold air and pedestrians walking with their faces buried beneath the collars of their coats or mufflers. Walking slowly in the midst flow of the crowd, was Asuna herself.
Everything around her was not digitally coded 3D objects, but real minerals, plants and creatures.
But how do we interpret what «real» is? If it's just made with atoms and molecules, then it would be the same as virtual polygons. Because those polygons' real identity are electrons contained in a server memory element. That is not much of a difference in elementary particles.
Saying that, the only problem probably comes from reversibility. The objects that exist in the real world, whether biological or non-living; if they were destroyed, it was impossible to recover them to the original state. But in the virtual world, then it is easy to regenerate the original object without a single byte of bad information.
...No.
That's not it. In that world – in Aincrad, what you lost and what you could not recover really existed. The two years spent in that floating castle, what Asuna touched, felt, obtained and lost were without a doubt all «real».
If that was the case.
"....The differences between the real world and the virtual world... what are they....?"
She unconsciously whispered, and to her question -.
"Just the quantity of information."
Came an answer from beside her, its unexpectedness caused Asuna to jump.
"Wa, waa!?"
She hurriedly looked for the source of that voice and noticing a boy's face, blinking in surprise.
Slightly long front hair. A very thin profile, but it made him look sharp. Dressed in a black shirt with a black jacket over it and faded black jeans.
His appearance is very similar to the avatar he used, the fact that there wasn't a sword hilt on his back felt very unnatural. Asuna took deep breaths to dissolve the sweet ache of longing arising from deep within her heart; she opened her lips and said.
"...I was surprised because you appeared so suddenly, did you use a transfer crystal?"
After hearing this, the boy— Kirigaya Kazuto revealed a bitter smile.
"It's not suddenly. Is this not the agreed time and place?"
"Eh...."
After being asked, Asuna looked around again.
The soft afternoon sunlight bathed the pedestrian street, and with the light flashing from the water surface. A little bit in front, a bridge connected with a large solemnly guarded door. Indeed, it was in front of the Imperial Palace, where she had arranged to meet with Kazuto. It seemed she was walking while thinking, and had reached the destination.
Asuna gave a shy smile and shrugged her shoulders.
"Ahaha, it seems like I was on autopilot. Umm... anyway, good day Kirito-kun."
"That's dangerous, the real world doesn't have navigation function. ...Hello Asuna."
After greeting each other, Kazuto's black eyes suddenly narrowed, staring at Asuna.
"Wh... what? What happened to you suddenly?"
Wondering if something strange happened, Asuna put her hands in front of her and asked. Then Kazuto hurriedly shook his head, and stammered:
"Ah, no, that is... Umm... I think this dress fits you well, it reminds me of..."
"Eh....?"
She unintentionally looked down at her form, it took two seconds for her to fully understand what he had said to her.
Today she was wearing a winter coat made of white tweed. Below that a knitted ivory and red checkered argyle skirt.
In short, all of the colors were associated with the no longer existing guild, «Knights of the Blood». Thinking back, in Aincrad almost every day, she was dressed in the red and white knight uniform. That probably awoke Kazuto's memory of those days.
Touching the left waist area with her fingers, Asuna gave a smile.
"...That's true. But I don't have a rapier... —That's right Kirito-kun too, today you are dressed entirely in black."
Hearing that, Kazuto also gave a shy smile.
"But without the two swords. ...In fact, I have been trying to avoid wearing black from top to bottom, but Suguha was washing our clothes this morning, and these are all I had left."
"That can happen if you leave your laundry lying around."
Her cuff met Kazuto's, and they held hands.
"Well, today we accidentally wore the «colors from those old days». What a coincidence."
She said while looking from a slightly higher position into Kazuto's eyes. Kazuto gave a small cough, and a monotone answer:
"Well, we have been meeting for a year like this; it was bound to happen sometime."
"Oh you, there you should have just said 'That's right'!"
Asuna gave a small pout then pulled the hand in the leather jacket.
"I say, don't just stand while talking, let's go. The day will get dark soon."
"Oh, okay."
Asuna stuck close to the nodding Kazuto, and the two headed over the bridge.
The old-style main gates against the white walls were shrouded in red sunset, casting black shadows on the bridge. Although it was Sunday, there were very few tourists due to the season.
They passed by the guards in thick coats, through the gate, and obtained a plastic admission ticket from a small office. Through the silver fence, it was hard to believe that it was the center within central Tokyo, with a vast and quiet stretch of woods.
Although it was Asuna who asked where they should go on Sunday, it was Kazuto who decided the meeting place to be «in front of the main gates».
The Imperial Palace itself was not open to the public, but within the moat, the «East Garden» in the northeast corner, was open to the general public on selected days of the week— that information, Asuna had not known until today. Of course, it was the first time she had actually stepped in there. Walking on the broad and fascinating trail, Asuna once again felt a strange feeling, she turned to the boy beside her and asked:
"...Oh yes, why did you choose the Imperial Palace for our date? Kirito-kun, are you interested in history?"
"Well, not really. The main reason was... recently, I was called around here for some stupid business..."
For one moment, his nose flared while remembering something, but soon returned to his original serene smile and continued.
"I'll tell you about that later, but don't you think that the Imperial Palace is a somewhat interesting place?"
"...Interesting? How so?"
Kazuto blinked his eyes, pointing his jacket right arm at the thick trees around.
"North-south about 2 kilometers, the east-west span 1.5 km. The north park and outer gardens combined area are approximately 2.3 million square meters, occupying twenty percent of Chivoda-ku[10]. Compared to the Vatican or Buckingham Palace, this is much larger, but it loses to the Palace of Versailles... It's not only the surface, there is not a single underground railway or tunnel below, and no type of aircraft is allowed to fly above. In short this place is a vertical wall through the center of Tokyo, a huge no entry area."
Hearing that, Asuna pictured a map of Tokyo in her head. Moving her left index finger round and round in the air, she nodded in understanding.
"That is to say, the heart of most of the trunk roads, ring lines, radial lines, is based on this point as the center...."
"That's right, Tokyo is not checker board shaped like Kyoto, it is disc-shaped, with a radial concentric circle city. And that center, not just the physical level, even information has been perfectly blocked. Like the old ALO «World Tree»... sorry. I remind you of the bad memories."
"No, I am fine."
For Asuna who had experienced long imprisonment in the old World Tree, she shook her head at Kazuto's consideration and asked:
"Prohibition on the physical level, I understand... but information, what do you mean?"
"Ah, that..."
Kazuto suddenly glanced at the surrounding trees, and with small hand movement points to several areas.
"You see, there and there, have surveillance cameras, right? That security system, it is now on a completely standalone system. This is a private closed network with not a single connection from the outside."
"Ah... Oh yea, the camera has a weird shape."
Looking at where Kazuto pointed, she saw a black sphere on top of a pole. It looks more like lighting than a camera if you don't know about it.
"The next generation security technology is being tested, I heard the rumor... —In short, this place is the center of Tokyo, but at the same time, an isolated «other world» as well... I might be exaggerating a bit."
"Ahaha, a little."
While chatting, they went by a huge stone wall, and the walkway changed to a ramp going up. After walking in silence for a while, their view opened up fully.
The other side is a huge lawn, almost hazy in its size. As it was winter, the grass had withered to a light brown, the leaves on the trees around had almost all fallen. With the arrival of spring, it would be a refreshing view.
"This is the Edo Castle ruins. In historical plays, the inner palace used for stage is supposed to be a bit north of the grass fields."
"Let's go see!"
Holding his hand aga
CHAPTER 2
She checked the watch on her left wrist as she exited the C10 exit of Chiyoda Line's Otemachi Station.
There was more than five minutes left before the agreed time of 3:00 pm. As Yuuki Asuna was about to lower her wrist, her eyes paused casually at the small calendar window in the watch's dial.
Sunday, December 7th, 2025.
It may not be a special anniversary, but within Asuna's chest, the seed of a certain strong emotion had sprouted. As she began to walk along Eitai Street[9], she looked up, facing the main gates of the Imperial Palace and murmured without letting her voice out.
—Soon, it will have been one year...
Left unspoken were the words, "since my return to the real world."
After the floating castle of steel (SAO), to the bird cage in the treetops (ALO), she was subsequently rescued and returned to the real world in mid-January of this year. The fantasy world was gradually becoming a memory, but even so, she still occasionally felt strange about herself living like this in the real world.
The wide walkway paved with stone, the roadside trees shaking in the cold air and pedestrians walking with their faces buried beneath the collars of their coats or mufflers. Walking slowly in the midst flow of the crowd, was Asuna herself.
Everything around her was not digitally coded 3D objects, but real minerals, plants and creatures.
But how do we interpret what «real» is? If it's just made with atoms and molecules, then it would be the same as virtual polygons. Because those polygons' real identity are electrons contained in a server memory element. That is not much of a difference in elementary particles.
Saying that, the only problem probably comes from reversibility. The objects that exist in the real world, whether biological or non-living; if they were destroyed, it was impossible to recover them to the original state. But in the virtual world, then it is easy to regenerate the original object without a single byte of bad information.
...No.
That's not it. In that world – in Aincrad, what you lost and what you could not recover really existed. The two years spent in that floating castle, what Asuna touched, felt, obtained and lost were without a doubt all «real».
If that was the case.
"....The differences between the real world and the virtual world... what are they....?"
She unconsciously whispered, and to her question -.
"Just the quantity of information."
Came an answer from beside her, its unexpectedness caused Asuna to jump.
"Wa, waa!?"
She hurriedly looked for the source of that voice and noticing a boy's face, blinking in surprise.
Slightly long front hair. A very thin profile, but it made him look sharp. Dressed in a black shirt with a black jacket over it and faded black jeans.
His appearance is very similar to the avatar he used, the fact that there wasn't a sword hilt on his back felt very unnatural. Asuna took deep breaths to dissolve the sweet ache of longing arising from deep within her heart; she opened her lips and said.
"...I was surprised because you appeared so suddenly, did you use a transfer crystal?"
After hearing this, the boy— Kirigaya Kazuto revealed a bitter smile.
"It's not suddenly. Is this not the agreed time and place?"
"Eh...."
After being asked, Asuna looked around again.
The soft afternoon sunlight bathed the pedestrian street, and with the light flashing from the water surface. A little bit in front, a bridge connected with a large solemnly guarded door. Indeed, it was in front of the Imperial Palace, where she had arranged to meet with Kazuto. It seemed she was walking while thinking, and had reached the destination.
Asuna gave a shy smile and shrugged her shoulders.
"Ahaha, it seems like I was on autopilot. Umm... anyway, good day Kirito-kun."
"That's dangerous, the real world doesn't have navigation function. ...Hello Asuna."
After greeting each other, Kazuto's black eyes suddenly narrowed, staring at Asuna.
"Wh... what? What happened to you suddenly?"
Wondering if something strange happened, Asuna put her hands in front of her and asked. Then Kazuto hurriedly shook his head, and stammered:
"Ah, no, that is... Umm... I think this dress fits you well, it reminds me of..."
"Eh....?"
She unintentionally looked down at her form, it took two seconds for her to fully understand what he had said to her.
Today she was wearing a winter coat made of white tweed. Below that a knitted ivory and red checkered argyle skirt.
In short, all of the colors were associated with the no longer existing guild, «Knights of the Blood». Thinking back, in Aincrad almost every day, she was dressed in the red and white knight uniform. That probably awoke Kazuto's memory of those days.
Touching the left waist area with her fingers, Asuna gave a smile.
"...That's true. But I don't have a rapier... —That's right Kirito-kun too, today you are dressed entirely in black."
Hearing that, Kazuto also gave a shy smile.
"But without the two swords. ...In fact, I have been trying to avoid wearing black from top to bottom, but Suguha was washing our clothes this morning, and these are all I had left."
"That can happen if you leave your laundry lying around."
Her cuff met Kazuto's, and they held hands.
"Well, today we accidentally wore the «colors from those old days». What a coincidence."
She said while looking from a slightly higher position into Kazuto's eyes. Kazuto gave a small cough, and a monotone answer:
"Well, we have been meeting for a year like this; it was bound to happen sometime."
"Oh you, there you should have just said 'That's right'!"
Asuna gave a small pout then pulled the hand in the leather jacket.
"I say, don't just stand while talking, let's go. The day will get dark soon."
"Oh, okay."
Asuna stuck close to the nodding Kazuto, and the two headed over the bridge.
The old-style main gates against the white walls were shrouded in red sunset, casting black shadows on the bridge. Although it was Sunday, there were very few tourists due to the season.
They passed by the guards in thick coats, through the gate, and obtained a plastic admission ticket from a small office. Through the silver fence, it was hard to believe that it was the center within central Tokyo, with a vast and quiet stretch of woods.
Although it was Asuna who asked where they should go on Sunday, it was Kazuto who decided the meeting place to be «in front of the main gates».
The Imperial Palace itself was not open to the public, but within the moat, the «East Garden» in the northeast corner, was open to the general public on selected days of the week— that information, Asuna had not known until today. Of course, it was the first time she had actually stepped in there. Walking on the broad and fascinating trail, Asuna once again felt a strange feeling, she turned to the boy beside her and asked:
"...Oh yes, why did you choose the Imperial Palace for our date? Kirito-kun, are you interested in history?"
"Well, not really. The main reason was... recently, I was called around here for some stupid business..."
For one moment, his nose flared while remembering something, but soon returned to his original serene smile and continued.
"I'll tell you about that later, but don't you think that the Imperial Palace is a somewhat interesting place?"
"...Interesting? How so?"
Kazuto blinked his eyes, pointing his jacket right arm at the thick trees around.
"North-south about 2 kilometers, the east-west span 1.5 km. The north park and outer gardens combined area are approximately 2.3 million square meters, occupying twenty percent of Chivoda-ku[10]. Compared to the Vatican or Buckingham Palace, this is much larger, but it loses to the Palace of Versailles... It's not only the surface, there is not a single underground railway or tunnel below, and no type of aircraft is allowed to fly above. In short this place is a vertical wall through the center of Tokyo, a huge no entry area."
Hearing that, Asuna pictured a map of Tokyo in her head. Moving her left index finger round and round in the air, she nodded in understanding.
"That is to say, the heart of most of the trunk roads, ring lines, radial lines, is based on this point as the center...."
"That's right, Tokyo is not checker board shaped like Kyoto, it is disc-shaped, with a radial concentric circle city. And that center, not just the physical level, even information has been perfectly blocked. Like the old ALO «World Tree»... sorry. I remind you of the bad memories."
"No, I am fine."
For Asuna who had experienced long imprisonment in the old World Tree, she shook her head at Kazuto's consideration and asked:
"Prohibition on the physical level, I understand... but information, what do you mean?"
"Ah, that..."
Kazuto suddenly glanced at the surrounding trees, and with small hand movement points to several areas.
"You see, there and there, have surveillance cameras, right? That security system, it is now on a completely standalone system. This is a private closed network with not a single connection from the outside."
"Ah... Oh yea, the camera has a weird shape."
Looking at where Kazuto pointed, she saw a black sphere on top of a pole. It looks more like lighting than a camera if you don't know about it.
"The next generation security technology is being tested, I heard the rumor... —In short, this place is the center of Tokyo, but at the same time, an isolated «other world» as well... I might be exaggerating a bit."
"Ahaha, a little."
While chatting, they went by a huge stone wall, and the walkway changed to a ramp going up. After walking in silence for a while, their view opened up fully.
The other side is a huge lawn, almost hazy in its size. As it was winter, the grass had withered to a light brown, the leaves on the trees around had almost all fallen. With the arrival of spring, it would be a refreshing view.
"This is the Edo Castle ruins. In historical plays, the inner palace used for stage is supposed to be a bit north of the grass fields."
"Let's go see!"
Holding his hand aga
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