"Hey! We're not kids."
Strea suddenly appeared behind them as a black portal filled with codes popped up behind them. She is soon followed by Yui, who is now wearing a one-piece white dress, and another girl that wore a librarian's outfit.
The latter looked like a cute ten year-old, having chestnut colored eyes and curly hair of the same color. If one is to look at her for the first time, she'll give the vibes of a wise scholar.
"You and your jokes."
Unfortunately, she developed in a different way than her light novel counterpart. Simply put, she kept a calm facade and likes to tsukkomi a lot.
Perhaps, this is caused by their first relationship.
Ever since Shiro negotiated with her, she mostly watched him out of her interest. Though, it soon became the norm. Of course, she cares about his privacy and only watched him at some times.
"Didn't you agree to this before? That you want to know more about the world?"
"That's right. I hate to admit this, but you made me interested."
Hearing this, Kayaba was startled. Heck, even a fluctlight that he made is saying some strange things towards Shiro!
Unlike him, there's a whole variety of emotions inside her. Not only Cardinal, but also Yui and Strea.
He could only smile wryly as he thought of how his creations has something that he doesn't have.
"Thanks to the console back in the hidden dungeon." Suddenly, Shiro spoke to him. To not have any holes in his otherworlder identity, he has to make up things in front of him.
Sure, he enjoyed their meeting, but he still has his guard up against this guy. Shiro felt that they're the same, both in their current attitude and their talents.
If he turned out to be enemies, it'll be quite troublesome to fight him due to his special nature of being a virtual consciousness.
"I see, I see. You're planning to save their data inside Nervegear by turning them into in-game items. Clever plan." Kayaba said.
"See you all later."
Shiro spoke as he readied himself to leave this world.
"Let's visit the real world later~!"
"I'll tag along."
Strea and Cardinal said respectively. One is purely excited while the other is purely interested in the real world. This is all Kayaba's fault that they turned out like this.
They couldn't even access the internet during their times as AIs and only got their knowledge through the players... which is not a good idea. Lack of common sense is one of the few things that they have to deal with as a result.
"I can meet Papa and Mama again?"
Patting her head, Shiro replied, "Soon. You'll meet them soon, Yui-chan."
"Really? Thank you, Shiro-nii!"
When she smiled, Shiro has a sense of fulfillment in his heart. No matter what, him being good with kids isn't something that would be wiped off easily.
"Right, I want to ask you one last favor, Kayaba."
"What is it?"
"Can you check if someone is messing with the players who logged out?"
"Hm..."
Kayaba did some hand gestures, opening the game's console panel. With some quick checking, he found a problem. It is hidden in such a way that people other than him wouldn't notice it immediately.
Moreover, it'll also be impossible to see the logs once SAO gets deleted. That's why the government had a hard time catching RECT Inc's shady stuff and their leader, Sugou Nobuyuki.
He's also the self-proclaimed "Rival" of Kayaba that the latter didn't take seriously.
"Someone is messing with me in the last moment. I've promised them something, so I ought to fulfill it."
Wordlessly, he started fighting against the programmers on the other side. With a bit of tweaking, he defeated them easily and changed the consciousness' routes from Alfheim Online to the direct log-out of SAO.
With this, 300 plus players won't have to suffer from their human experimentation and truly escape this hell.
"Alright, everyone, we'll be going out."
Hearing this, Strea, Yui, and Cardinal turned into streaks of light before entering the [Lightcubes].
"I'll be leaving, then."
"It's been nice meeting you." Kayaba replied.
"Well... You've reminded me of myself, to be honest. That's why, good luck on your consciousness upload."
Without waiting for his reply, Shiro left. The only one remaining in this crumbling virtual world is Kayaba.
Looking at the remains of the steel castle, he thought, 'Willpower... It also sounded like he knew about my plan.'
For the first time, he met someone whom he considered as an equal. His eyes became more humane as he regained a part of himself in the past.
By the time wind blew, he crumbled into countless data. The lights on Argus' server, located in the 5th Basement Floor of its Headquarters, went off.
*****
"I'm finally back in the real world."
Shiro murmured as he wandered in the streets of Tokyo. His attire is changed to a normal one that he has, which is his white jacket and black shorts with a lot of pockets.
Yet, he still looked as if he's cosplaying. What's more, he gained more attention due to his face even with his hood on.
With each of his steps, people stopped walking and looked at him.
"Where is it..."
Beep-!
In his pocket, his phone rang out. Since this is something that he bought from the Chat Group, it's much more advance than this world's phones. It's a UC item that costed him more than 700 Points, after all.
Shiro took it out before the screen lit up.
"Seeing your face, I say that you lost your direction." Cardinal appeared on the entire screen like a virtual avatar.
She didn't hesitate to deadpan at him after seeing this.
"Even after seeing the map online, I thought I could find it..."
Alas, this is a dilemma of a world traveler. Every place is new, and its even worse now that he has a flaw like this.
"Do you want my help?" She asked.
"Wait, I'll do my best to find it."
Thankfully, he found a landmark soon after. After going to a cafe to sate a part of his hunger, he continued his way to the destination.
Soon, he arrived to a huge hospital. AI-operated robots are cleaning the hallways while some even assisted the doctors in the emergency room.
Pushing the door open, he is soon greeted by the scent unique to hospitals. He didn't head to the reception's desk and went for the elevator instead.
Again, he garnered too much attention once more. The girl beside him in the elevator is totally enamored by his face.
'It's much worse in a society, right.' He thought.
Ding-!
After seeing that it's the 14th floor, he soon stepped out of it. Though, she regretted not talking to him.
She is a petite young woman with black long hair. She might be mistaken as a legal loli if not for her popularity as a prospective singer.
In a daze, she muttered, "A perfect being... Who is he..?"
Meanwhile, Shiro stood in front of a door with a nametag beside it saying "Kirigaya Kazuto".
*****
Fact #44: Did you know that Arknights has a sequel game called "Arknights: Endfield"? While it's still unreleased, just some bits of it alone is enough to confirm several things. First of all, the planet in Endfield is most likely Terra. Secondly, they found a way to deal with the originum in the atmosphere since they've already reached outer space (You can't do this unless there's a solution to the catastrophe). Thirdly, they might've found a solution to oripathy, but they have to leave that planet at some point since it's no longer habitable. Perhaps, it is caused by wars and catastrophes (we don't know how far in the future Endfield is).
PS: The facts all of the above are merely the headcanons of me and the community; Endfield is not yet released as of the moment.
"Hey! We're not kids."
Strea suddenly appeared behind them as a black portal filled with codes popped up behind them. She is soon followed by Yui, who is now wearing a one-piece white dress, and another girl that wore a librarian's outfit.
The latter looked like a cute ten year-old, having chestnut colored eyes and curly hair of the same color. If one is to look at her for the first time, she'll give the vibes of a wise scholar.
"You and your jokes."
Unfortunately, she developed in a different way than her light novel counterpart. Simply put, she kept a calm facade and likes to tsukkomi a lot.
Perhaps, this is caused by their first relationship.
Ever since Shiro negotiated with her, she mostly watched him out of her interest. Though, it soon became the norm. Of course, she cares about his privacy and only watched him at some times.
"Didn't you agree to this before? That you want to know more about the world?"
"That's right. I hate to admit this, but you made me interested."
Hearing this, Kayaba was startled. Heck, even a fluctlight that he made is saying some strange things towards Shiro!
Unlike him, there's a whole variety of emotions inside her. Not only Cardinal, but also Yui and Strea.
He could only smile wryly as he thought of how his creations has something that he doesn't have.
"Thanks to the console back in the hidden dungeon." Suddenly, Shiro spoke to him. To not have any holes in his otherworlder identity, he has to make up things in front of him.
Sure, he enjoyed their meeting, but he still has his guard up against this guy. Shiro felt that they're the same, both in their current attitude and their talents.
If he turned out to be enemies, it'll be quite troublesome to fight him due to his special nature of being a virtual consciousness.
"I see, I see. You're planning to save their data inside Nervegear by turning them into in-game items. Clever plan." Kayaba said.
"See you all later."
Shiro spoke as he readied himself to leave this world.
"Let's visit the real world later~!"
"I'll tag along."
Strea and Cardinal said respectively. One is purely excited while the other is purely interested in the real world. This is all Kayaba's fault that they turned out like this.
They couldn't even access the internet during their times as AIs and only got their knowledge through the players... which is not a good idea. Lack of common sense is one of the few things that they have to deal with as a result.
"I can meet Papa and Mama again?"
Patting her head, Shiro replied, "Soon. You'll meet them soon, Yui-chan."
"Really? Thank you, Shiro-nii!"
When she smiled, Shiro has a sense of fulfillment in his heart. No matter what, him being good with kids isn't something that would be wiped off easily.
"Right, I want to ask you one last favor, Kayaba."
"What is it?"
"Can you check if someone is messing with the players who logged out?"
"Hm..."
Kayaba did some hand gestures, opening the game's console panel. With some quick checking, he found a problem. It is hidden in such a way that people other than him wouldn't notice it immediately.
Moreover, it'll also be impossible to see the logs once SAO gets deleted. That's why the government had a hard time catching RECT Inc's shady stuff and their leader, Sugou Nobuyuki.
He's also the self-proclaimed "Rival" of Kayaba that the latter didn't take seriously.
"Someone is messing with me in the last moment. I've promised them something, so I ought to fulfill it."
Wordlessly, he started fighting against the programmers on the other side. With a bit of tweaking, he defeated them easily and changed the consciousness' routes from Alfheim Online to the direct log-out of SAO.
With this, 300 plus players won't have to suffer from their human experimentation and truly escape this hell.
"Alright, everyone, we'll be going out."
Hearing this, Strea, Yui, and Cardinal turned into streaks of light before entering the [Lightcubes].
"I'll be leaving, then."
"It's been nice meeting you." Kayaba replied.
"Well... You've reminded me of myself, to be honest. That's why, good luck on your consciousness upload."
Without waiting for his reply, Shiro left. The only one remaining in this crumbling virtual world is Kayaba.
Looking at the remains of the steel castle, he thought, 'Willpower... It also sounded like he knew about my plan.'
For the first time, he met someone whom he considered as an equal. His eyes became more humane as he regained a part of himself in the past.
By the time wind blew, he crumbled into countless data. The lights on Argus' server, located in the 5th Basement Floor of its Headquarters, went off.
*****
"I'm finally back in the real world."
Shiro murmured as he wandered in the streets of Tokyo. His attire is changed to a normal one that he has, which is his white jacket and black shorts with a lot of pockets.
Yet, he still looked as if he's cosplaying. What's more, he gained more attention due to his face even with his hood on.
With each of his steps, people stopped walking and looked at him.
"Where is it..."
Beep-!
In his pocket, his phone rang out. Since this is something that he bought from the Chat Group, it's much more advance than this world's phones. It's a UC item that costed him more than 700 Points, after all.
Shiro took it out before the screen lit up.
"Seeing your face, I say that you lost your direction." Cardinal appeared on the entire screen like a virtual avatar.
She didn't hesitate to deadpan at him after seeing this.
"Even after seeing the map online, I thought I could find it..."
Alas, this is a dilemma of a world traveler. Every place is new, and its even worse now that he has a flaw like this.
"Do you want my help?" She asked.
"Wait, I'll do my best to find it."
Thankfully, he found a landmark soon after. After going to a cafe to sate a part of his hunger, he continued his way to the destination.
Soon, he arrived to a huge hospital. AI-operated robots are cleaning the hallways while some even assisted the doctors in the emergency room.
Pushing the door open, he is soon greeted by the scent unique to hospitals. He didn't head to the reception's desk and went for the elevator instead.
Again, he garnered too much attention once more. The girl beside him in the elevator is totally enamored by his face.
'It's much worse in a society, right.' He thought.
Ding-!
After seeing that it's the 14th floor, he soon stepped out of it. Though, she regretted not talking to him.
She is a petite young woman with black long hair. She might be mistaken as a legal loli if not for her popularity as a prospective singer.
In a daze, she muttered, "A perfect being... Who is he..?"
Meanwhile, Shiro stood in front of a door with a nametag beside it saying "Kirigaya Kazuto".
*****
Fact #44: Did you know that Arknights has a sequel game called "Arknights: Endfield"? While it's still unreleased, just some bits of it alone is enough to confirm several things. First of all, the planet in Endfield is most likely Terra. Secondly, they found a way to deal with the originum in the atmosphere since they've already reached outer space (You can't do this unless there's a solution to the catastrophe). Thirdly, they might've found a solution to oripathy, but they have to leave that planet at some point since it's no longer habitable. Perhaps, it is caused by wars and catastrophes (we don't know how far in the future Endfield is).
PS: The facts all of the above are merely the headcanons of me and the community; Endfield is not yet released as of the moment.
