Everything happened in slow-motion for the orange-brownish chestnut hair girl named Yuuki Asuna and the black haired girl, Sachi as both can only helplessly watched their boyfriend's now fiancé/brother in law, Minamoto Kirito got stab with the syringe in the chest by one of the murderers behind the Death Gun's incident, Kanamoto Atsushi or famously known as Johhny Black, a survivor member of Laughing Coffin, an infamous Player Killing orange guild in Sword Art Online.

It's all began with Yami, Kirito, Sachi, Asuna, and Shino met at Dicey Cafe a few hours before the incident took place. As they discussing BoB and STL, Asuna noticed that it was nearly six o'clock, thus prompting the group to finish their conversation and leave the café.

Rejecting her boyfriend's offer, Shino departed from the cafe and make her way back to her apartment while Yami escort Asuna back to her house. When the four reached a small park near Asuna's house where they typically parted ways, the couple was approached by a man, who asked for directions to the station.

However, having realized that the man had been following them since they had left the cafe, Yami and Kirito confronted the man who later identifies himself as Johnny Black or known by his real name, Kanamoto Atsushi.

Prioritize Asuna's safety, Kirito pushed Asuna out of the way when he saw Atsushi produced a syringe filled with succinylcholine from within his jacket and rushed at them as he did the same at the man with the umbrella in his right hand.

Asuna's eyes widen in shock when she saw Atsushi injected Kirito with the drug by pressing the needle-less injector against his shoulder, while the black-haired boy stabbed the tip of his umbrella deep into Atsushi's thigh. Both of them then lurched over and toppled onto the street, fainted.

Asuna: Kirito!!

Immediately, she rushed to her brother in law's side, and seeing Kirito in a motionless state, Sachi hurriedly called an ambulance, which promptly arrived on the scene. The paramedics attempted using atropine to counter the effects of the succinylcholine; however, the black-haired boy soon entered a state of cardiac arrest.

She sees Yami's eye as it was filled with bloodlust.

Time Skip, Location: Setagaya General Hospital

Having accompanied her injured boyfriend to the Setagaya General Hospital for treatment following the attack, Asuna, Sachi, Yami waited in front of the operating room for Kirito surgery to be complete.

After calling 911, Johnny Black was then arrested and taken into custody while Yami went towards the police station. Kirito was rushed to the hospital. Due to the injection, Kirito went into Cardiac arrest and his heart had stopped.

Just as Asuna was sat down on a bench next to the operation room, her parent-in-law, Minamoto Raikou, her comrade, Kirigaya Suguha, and her adopted niece, Minamoto Yui and sister in law Minamoto Sachi came running in from the corner and saw her, clenching her hands tightly worried of Kirito's safety.

Suguha and Sachi: Asuna!

Yui: Auntie!

Asuna turned her head at them with a sad frown. When she was transferred to the hospital, she immediately called her parent-in-laws(Kirito's and Yami's(me) to come to Setagaya General Hospital after telling them what happened to their son. Suguha who visited the Minamoto family followed them and Yui, the resident of Minamoto Household also followed them, worried about her uncle's conditions.

Sachi: Suguha... Yui... and Auntie Raikou...

Raikou then embraced Asuna and Sachi in a hug who started to break down in tears as she blames herself for what happens to Yami or Kirito, however, Raikou, being the good mother-in-law told Asuna and Sachi that it's fine and everything will be alright.

After Asuna calm down, everyone sat down on the bench, waiting for Kirito's surgery to be complete. From the right, Raikou, Yui, Sachi, Asuna, and Suguha sat on the bench. While waiting for the results, Asuna, Suguha, and Yui's eyes fixed at Kirito's and Yami's slow/rapid heart rate on Asuna's smartphone.

The pink heart on the screen beat in slow motion and the digits on the readout stayed to zero with cruel precision. Asuna, Suguha, Sachi and Yui can only pray for their beloved brother/in law/uncle safety.

——
Time Skip, Date: Monday, June 29, 2026

After a few hours of waiting, the red light of the operation room turned off, meaning that the operation is already over and family visitors can go in to check the patient. Immediately, Asuna and others stood up from their seat and made their way to the room.

Once they entered the room, they saw the black-haired boy on the other side of the room currently hooked to different machines and his breathing is very slow. They looked at Kirito with mixed emotions, part of them was glad that he was still alive and another part is confused at the situation. Confuse on why Kirito remained comatose in bed despite undergoing an operation.

The doctor then came up to them and started to inform them of what's happening to the black-haired boy.

Doctor: He's no longer in critical condition.

Suguha: Is that so... Thank goodness.

Doctor: However, he went into cardiac arrest for five minutes, so there's a possibility he will have incurred some brain damage.

Everyone gasped at the sudden news, shocked to hear that Kirito might have sustained permanent brain damage due to the long period of cardiac arrest.

Doctor: It's possible that this episode will affect his mental or physical abilities, or perhaps both, and may have suffered lasting damage. In the worst case, he might never regain consciousness.

Yui: No way...

As the door opens they looked to see Yami but he was bloody as his eyes were not filled with love or anything but dead inside.

Yami:...

Sachi: Y-yami?

Yami walked towards Kirito's body and starts to whimper.

Yami:*mutters* I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I should've taken the hit, I'm sorry.

Then his fatal error arms appeared as it hugs the bed as he passed out.

Sachi: Yami!!

???: Asuna... Suguha... Sachi... Yui...

Hearing the familiar voice on their left, Sachi, Asuna, Suguha, and Yui turned at the source and were slightly surprised to see Kikuoka Seijirou here. However, Asuna had a bad feeling when she saw Kikuoka approached them.

Suguha: Kikuoka...?

Kikuoka: Can you tell me where I can find Raikou?

——

(Date: Monday, June 29, 2026, Location: National Defense University Hospital)

Later that evening, Asuna, Sachi and Suguha currently patiently stood outside of the National Defense Medical College Hospital, the institution where Kirito was supposed to be currently hospitalized under Seijirou's advice.

Asuna, Sachi, Suguha are currently in their casual attire and waiting for Yami's parent to park their car. The three took the day off from their school as they decide to see Kirito and Yami while the white-haired boy's other girlfriend will visit them in turns.

As they waited for their in-law to parked their car, they suddenly heard Yui's voice from the right, causing the two to look at the black-haired girl who walked up to them.

Yui: Mama! Auntie!! Suguha! Thanks for waiting!

Suguha: Where's Auntie Raikou?

Yui: Grandma said to go ahead and signed in.

Sachi: I see...

The three then looked at the entrance door of the hospital.

Asuna: So this is the hospital where Kirito and Yami your uncle and father are being treated.

Yui: Yes. Uncle was brought in by ambulance earlier today while Father passed out.

——-

Back to the present, Asuna, Sachi, Suguha, and Yui entered the hospital and made their way up to the receptionist. Once they reached their destination, Suguha gave the receptionist a paper that has Yami's and Kirito's pieces of information.

Suguha: We'd like to visit a patient.

Doing her job, the receptionist took the paper and started inspecting it.

Receptionist: Minamoto Yami and Kirigaya Kazuto, is it? One moment, please.

As she started to search for Yami's and Kazuto's name, something popped up on the screen of the computer, making her eyes widen in surprise. Asuna and Suguha noticed the surprised expression on the receptionist's face got curious.

Receptionist: Umm... I need to go check something with my manager. Please wait a moment.

Just like that, the receptionist stood up from the chair and went to check something with her manager, leaving Asuna, Sachi, Suguha, and Yui stand there, looked at each other with a confused expression.

——

Time Skip, Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 Location: ALfheim Online, Sylvain

The following day, Asuna, Sachi and Leafa met with Yami's other girlfriends, Lisbeth, Silica, Yuna, Sinon, and Yuuki in ALfheim Online, where the three informed the girls that the hospital refused to allow their visit due to Kirito and Yami being treated with specialized equipment at the time.

Lisbeth: You couldn't see him?

Asuna: He's being treated in some kind of special machine. Visits aren't allowed until he recovered.

Silica: Can they do something like that? I mean, we're his fiances! No visits are one thing, but not even being able to see him...

Sachi: strange and it's worrying me the most.

Sinon: Something doesn't seem right.

Asuna: I agree. We thought it was strange, too, so we did some digging.

Leafa: According to the data, he's definitely a patient, but the ambulance that transported Kirito never arrived at the hospital even with Yami who passed out.

The girls were shocked when they discovered that Kirito ambulance had never arrived at its destination, despite the boy being admitted to the hospital according to the records. No matter how you saw this, it was very suspicious as it was a plan.

Silica: Then... Do you mean Yami and Kirito isn't actually there...?

Yuna: Didn't Kikuoka tell you anything?

Asuna: His phone's been out of range, and he hasn't returned my emails. When I called the ministry, they said he's been away on business since yesterday.

Lisbeth: No matter how you look at it, it's suspicious! That sneaky scoundrel's up to something!

Sinon: Kikuoka Seijirou... I always thought he was up to no good, but he wouldn't be trying to get Yami and Kirito involved in something again, would he?

Silica: That can't be! Yami and Kirito are unconscious, remember?

Kirito's absence at school was simply labeled illness, so none of their classmates knew about the attack, the only other person who knew of Yami and Kirito missing is the MoonLit Blackcats, Klein, Nautilus, and Agil who were Yami's best friends.

Sinon's steel-blue eyes looked down at the table, then narrowed with the focus of a hunter on its prey. Suddenly, the Sniper Neko's eyes widen in shock when she realized something important, something that she was told by her fiance two days ago.

Sinon: Unconscious...? True, but that's only how it looks on the outside, right? If they use a machine that can peer into the human soul...

Asuna: ...The Soul Translator?

Asuna gasped, stunned that she hadn't thought of that yet. Sinon nodded her head in affirmative as the others looked at the two with a confused expression, don't know about this STL yet since Yami and Kirito only told Asuna, Sachi and Sinon.

Yuuki: Soul Trans...

Yuna: What's that?

Asuna: It's a new type of dive machine that can read human souls. It's being developed by a company named Rath.

Leafa: Rath...? Isn't that the company Yami and Kirito was doing some work for?

Asuna: Did he tell you about it, Leafa?

Leafa: Well, I don't know the details... But I did hear that their office is in Roppongi.

Sinon: Then Yami and Kirito might be somewhere in Roppongi?

Sachi: Actually, there's one thin lead thread that might lead us to Yami and Kirito.

Yuuki: What do you mean, Nee-chan?

Sachi: Because of this incident, I forgot to gave this to you girls but I told you about it the other day, Shino...

Asuna swiped down her finger, opened her menu, and brought out the heart app from her smartphone and everything was stagnant.

Sachi: Something linked to Yami.

Sinon: Oh, right... that heart monitor. You said it was sending information to your cell phone over the Internet...

Silica: What? What's that?

Yuna: Is that... anti-cheating system?

Sinon: No, no, Yuna! That wasn't part of the system... I think. To make it simple for everyone here, that thing can sense Yami and Kirito's heart rate and everything and send it to Asuna's and Sachi's smartphone in real-time.

Asuna: That's right. The signal died out a while back, but it's possible that if we retrace the source of the signal to when he was in the fake ambulance, we might pin down his location. So I asked for an analysis of the information.

Yuuki: ...Asked who?

Asuna answered by calling out into the air.

Asuna: Yui-chan? Are you done?

Just on time, Yui in her fairy avatar appeared a few inches above the table in a little burst of light.

Yui: Yes! I will now report the results of my analysis!

Before they met in ALO today, Asuna had told Yui to analyze the data of an application connected to sensors implanted in Yami and Kirito's chest as part of his job, in hopes of finding something that could lead them to his current location.

Yui waved her hand, and a holographic map of Tokyo appeared on the tabletop beneath her. She flew a few steps to point at a particular location. A red dot appeared with a soft bing.

Yui: I was only able to lock in three positions. This is Setagaya General Hospital, where Papa and Uncle was first taken. And this is the first location I was able to pinpoint...

She took a few more steps and pointed to a new light.

Yui: Aobadai 3-Chome in Meguro Ward. The time was around 20:50 on June 29, 2026. I will indicate the predicted travel route.

A white line appeared along the roads between the two points. Yui moved to the southwest again and indicated a third point, which the line expanded to reach.

Yui: The second location was in Shiroganedai 1-Chome, Minato Ward. At around 21:10 on the same day.

The route was heading a bit too far south to be straight from Setagaya to Roppongi, Asuna noticed apprehensively, but she waited for Yui to continue.

Yui: And... here is the third and final transmission source.

To their surprise, Yui pointed to an area of reclaimed land along the coast—far to the east of Roppongi.

Yui: Kaigan 2-Chome, Minato Ward, at around 21:20 on the same day. Since that time, there have been no signals from Papa.

Yuna: That's neither Tokorozawa nor Roppongi.

Asuna: Yui-chan, what's at that address?

Yui: It seems to be a warehouse located in the harbor district.

Sinon: Why would they take him there?

Asuna: Minato Ward...?

Asuna looked at the last location with narrowed eyes.

——

Time Skip

Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 Location: Near Minato Ward

Later that same day, Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuki requested Tsuboi Ryoutarou, or familiarly with the name Klein to drive them to Yami and Kirito's last known position at the Shinagawa Wharf in Minato Ward, hoping to find more clues as to the two boy's whereabouts.

Ryoutarou: It's nighttime, and the roads are clear. We'll be there in no time.

Asuna: Klein-san, thank you so much for driving us.

Ryoutarou: Come on, I keep telling you there's no need to thank me! It feels so weird. I just saw him in GGO the other day. I hope that Kitsune and Kirito are okay.

He said to Asuna who sat on the front passage seat while Yuuki and Suguha sat on the back passenger seat.

Suguha: Yami and Onii-chan has a way of getting tangled up in the craziest things.

Yuuki: Yeah... I gotta agree with you Leafa. Even though I just knew him for a few months, I can see that Kitsune is something.

Ryoutarou: By the way, didn't you say that these "Rath" people are in Roppongi? Shouldn't we be searching there, too?

Suguha: Hai. the others are on their way there.

The group then decided to split up on their search. Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuki search on Minato Ward while Shino, Sachi, Rika, Yuna and Keiko

Yuuki: But Rath is a complete mystery.

Asuna: Yeah. Yui-chan investigated them carefully but couldn't come up with much more than a location. Nothing about who they are and what they do.

Suguha: As for the "Soul Translator", we couldn't find anything at all, including any patients they applied for.

Ryoutarou: Reading and writing the human soul is one hell of an invention, and they haven't even applied for a patent? Talk about thorough... Oh! We are almost there.

——

Mini Time Skip

Location: Shinagawa Wharf

After a few minutes, Asuna and her group arrived at the Shinagawa Wharf and after parked their car outside, the group made their way into the entrance of the harbor.

Ryoutarou: This is it, I guess.

To communicate with Yui in her pixie form better, everyone then equipped the AUGMA, and once they equip the items, Ryoutarou then asked a question that lingering on his mind when he looked around the harbor.

Ryoutarou: Hey... Do you think Kitsune and Kirito's in here?

As Asuna was about to answer his question, she got a phone call from Rika. Immediately, Asuna answered the call and put the smartphone against her right ear.

Asuna: Liz?

Rika*call*: We did find Rath, but the security here's pretty strict. They wouldn't even talk to us. What's more, we had Yui-chan check all the security cameras around here, but there's no sign that Yami and Kirito were ever brought here.

Asuna: Really? I see...*hung up the call* Yui-chan?

Answering the call, Yui suddenly appeared on the AUGMA on her pixie mode as her real body was still at the Asuna's house. Because this is an important matter, Yui was allowed to stay late past 22:00 to help them finding Yami and Kirito since she was fundamental in the operation.

Yui: Yes, Mama. I've checked the security cameras in this area, too. At 21:20 yesterday, a helicopter took off from that open area over there.

She flew and pointed her finger in the helicopter pad direction, making everyone's face paled as they were shocked at the sudden news and much to Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuki's sorrow.

Yuuki: A helicopter?

Yui: Yes. I believe Papa may have been on it.

Suguha: Then you mean Yami and Onii-chan was taken even further away...

Sachi: Well, hold on a sec. Yui. This is the last place that any signals were picked up, right?

Yui: Yes.

Sachi: Even if Yami and Kazuto did get carried away by helicopter, they'd eventually have to transport him to some kind of facility. Shouldn't he have come back in range at some point?

Yui: Right. One possibility is that he may have been transported overseas.

Ryoutarou: Overseas?

Yui: Under the circumstance, that seems the most likely explanation.

Ryoutarou: If that's the case, then there's no way for us to go after him.

Yuuki: Yami... Where did you go?

Asuna: Kirito....Yami...

Felt the weight of their helplessness bearing down on them, Sachi, Suguha, and Yuuki looked down as Yui tries to cheer them up.

Yui: Please cheer up, Mama! Suguha-san! Yuuki-san!

Sachi: Yui-chan...

Yui: When Papa and Uncle searched for Auntie Asuna in ALfheim, he never gave up, not even once! And Papa never gave up to protect Suguha, even it took many years! When Yuuki almost dies, Papa never gave up and gave all his life to make you happy!

Sachi: But...

Yui: Now it's your guys' turn to search for Papa and Uncle!! There's sure to be a thread you can follow to him. No matter who stands in your way, there's nothing that can sever the bond you guys have with Papa and Uncle!! I just know it!

The three of them started to think back about what Yami and Kirito has done for them.

Sachi: No matter what kind of danger he found himself in...

Suguha: the two always made it back safely.

Yuuki: Yami never given up and gave his best to make everyone happy.

Sachi, Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuki: So we're sure he's safe right now, too.

Yui said with an encouraging smile that was astonishing in its gentleness and warmth. Sachi, Asuna, Suguha, and Yuuki smiled gratefully at Yui's encouraging words.

Asuna: Thank you, Yui-chan! We're not giving up!

Yui: That's the spirit!

Asuna: If only we had a bit more information... Something that connects Rath and the two boy's whereabouts. Yuuki, do you remember anything they might've mentioned?

Yuuki: they've been away at work, so we hadn't much time to talk lately. But Yamk did say the machine at the job in Roppongi was based on the Medicuboid.

Asuna: The machine must have been the STL. The Medicuboid... I remember Yami and Kirito telling us something once. It was created by aomeone but the one who created the basic design for the Medicuboid was the commander, Kayaba Akihiko, but someone else developed it further for the Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare. I think the name he mentioned was... Koujiro... Rinko.

Yui: Let me check.

Yui said, half-closed her eyes again, accessed some distant database, then looked up. After a few seconds, Yui opened her eyes back when she managed to get information about Koujiro Rinko.

Yui: The person most likely to fit that profile is a researcher working at a university in California. Here she is.

She waved her right hand, and a screen appeared in front of everyone. It showed data of the woman in her mid-twenty who goes by the name Koujiro Rinko. Rinko has short, straight, black hair. The data have information of where she goes to study and many more.

Yui: I've accessed the university database. Looking at her background, it seems that she's a former member of Shigemura Lab at Toto Institute of technology's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Suguha: Wasn't Shigemura the guy who developed the Augma?

Asuna: Not only that, but the commander was also a lab member.

She said, took a closer look at the picture of Koujiro Rinko who is standing beside Kayaba. Unlike Kayaba who is standing beside her with a straight face, Rinko has a smile on her face.

Asuna: This person might know about STL... about Rath...

——

Location: California, U.S.A.

The following evening in California, while checking her mailbox, filled with invitations from Kikuoka Seijirou to participate in his project, Rinko reminisced about her days with her lover, Kayaba Akihiko.

The man had once shared his lifelong dream: a large castle, consisting of multiple floors with a palace at the very top. While closing her eyes, Rinko then grabbed the locket around her neck and mutters something softly.

Rinko: Liar...

Suddenly, Rinko opened her eyes when she was alerted to a new e-mail has arrived in her mailbox.

Rinko: Again?

To her surprise, when she looked at the new email, she raised an eyebrow when saw it was from someone she had never heard of, rather than being another message from Kikuoka Seijirou.

Rinko: Minamoto...Sachi?

Rinko looked at the mail with a suspicious look. She had had the option to delete it and move on. But for some reason, she hadn't, or more like she can't. She felt like the mail has a chance for her to move on and pushed away from the question she'd asked herself many times in her mind, Rinko opened the email and start to read it.

Sachi(email): A machine called Soul Translator, based on the Medicuboid, the medical full-dive machine you provided the technology for, is now being developed by an organization called Rath. While involved in the test runs for this machine, Minamoto Yami and Kirigaya Kazuto disappeared without a trace.

Rinko: Minamoto Yami...

Flashback

In March 2025, after Rinko was released on bail and later acquitted, she was contacted by Minamoto Yami via email, asking to talk with her. A week later, Yami met with Rinko at a coffee shop near a Tokyo station to talk.

Currently, Yami is at the coffee shop where he now sitting on the opposite side of the table from Kuojiro Rinko as he called her after he got the world seed.  After talking for few minutes, Yami managed to learn about Akihiko's aim of scanning his brain and storing his memories and thoughts as digital codes on the network.

Then, Yami decided to tell Rinko of his meeting with Kayaba when he was fighting Sugou.

Yami: Inside the old SAO server, I met Kayaba's digital ghost.

Rinko's eyes widen in shock when she heard that Yami met with Kayaba's digital ghost. As the accomplice of Kayaba Akihiko, she later was arrested after Kayaba died. While awaited for her trial, much to her shock, she was released by a person named Minamoto Yami.

Thus, for Rinko, meeting with the person who saved her from death and at the same time killed her lover, Rinko has mixed feelings about the white-haired boy in front of her.

Yami: It was there I received a certain program. Kayaba called it the World Seed.

Rinko then looked down saddened before looked back at Yami.

Rinko: ...If you really hate him, go ahead and disposed of what he gave you. But if there's... If there's something besides hatred inside you...

Present

After finishing her reminiscence, Rinko continued to read the email from Asuna.

Sachi(email): I found your email address in the contacts list on Yami's computer. You're the only one who can lead me to Rath... to where Yami and Kirito is. Please will you help us?

Time Skip

Looking out of the window, it was a brilliant close-up on whitecaps and breaking waves, nothing like the high-altitude view from a passenger jet. That's what Koujiro Rinko is seeing at the moment.

It's been several days since she received the message from Sachi and currently, Rinko and the other passenger beside her, whose eyes were shadowed behind sunglasses and long golden hair are inside the helicopter, heading for somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

Helicopter driver: It's coming into view. There it is. The Ocean Turtle.

Rinko and the person beside her looked outside of the window and saw what was in front of them and it was a ship.

The ship takes the form of a large, four-sided black pyramid with 2:3 ratio edges. The height of the facility is that of a 25-story building. It is 400 meters long and 250 meters wide, with large black solar power panels covering it like a shell.

Rinko: Turtle... I see. It certainly looks like a turtle. Though its face looks like a pig. A turtle-pig. Didn't something like that appear in Alice in Wonderland?

???: Rath?

As the helicopter landed, Rinko and the golden-haired woman were greeted by a young man with a shortcut hairstyle and wearing a coat.

Man: We've been expecting you, Dr. Koujiro. And this is...?

Rinko: My assistants, Mayumi Reynolds and Grace Valerie

Mayumi: Nice to meet you.

Grace: hello, it's good to meet you.

Both said in fluent English and stuck out her hand. The man accepted it awkwardly.

Nakanishi: I'm Lieutenant Nakanishi. I've been assigned as your guide. Now then, this way, please.

He said, motioning toward a staircase at the end of the heliport. They walked about two hundred yards, turning right and left, until they came to a door dead ahead, attended by a man in a navy-blue uniform.

The man then saluted to the four as Nakanishi returned the salute and announced.

Nakanishi: Dr. Kojiro, a visiting researcher, and her assistant, Reynolds-san, will be entering Sector S3.

Officer: Confirming identity...

He opened a metal device and gave Rinko a piercing facial comparison to the picture on the monitor.

Office: Confirmed.

Once he was satisfied, the clean-shaven guard looked at her assistant.

Office: Excuse me, but I need you to remove your sunglasses.

Mayumi: Sure.

Grace: yes

Both said in English again, pulling off her large sunglass. Just like he did with Rinko, the officer gave Mayumi a piercing facial comparison to the picture on the monitor.

Officer: Confirmation complete. Go ahead.

After the four walked past the officer, Rinko exhaled and turned to Nakanishi to note.

Rinko: Your security's pretty tight for being in the middle of the ocean.

Nakanishi: Well, at least you don't have to submit to any full body checks. Of course, we already ran you through metal and explosive detectors three times.

He replied, removing a small ID card from his suit pocket and inserting it in a slot next to the door. Then, he pressed his thumb to a sensor panel. A second later, the door slid open, granting them access to the core of the Ocean Turtle.

Nakanishi stepped inside followed by Rinko, Grace and Mayumi from behind. Once they step inside the room, Rinko gasped when she saw what's inside the huge screen in front of her. It was a city. The buildings were all made of chalky white stone and had strange rounded roofs.

Crowds of people walked over paths of the same white stone, connected to countless stairways and arches through the trees.

Rinko glanced around the scene and noticed that far beyond the expanse of the city was a brilliant white tower looming in the distance, surrounded by four smaller sub-towers. The top of the main tower went right off the boundary of the window into the blue sky beyond it.

Rinko took a few steps forward, trying to see if she could glimpse the tip of the tower, and finally realized that she wasn't looking at a window but the footage on a massive monitor wall.

???: Welcome to Rath.

Rinko turned her head to the left, in the direction of the voice. Just in front of the nearly movie-theater-size monitor was a console setup with a few keyboards and sub-monitors.

Two men were standing there. However, Rinko's eyes were focused on the other man resting his back against the side of the console met Rinko's glance and smiled, his glasses glinting.

Rinko: Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka... Why are you dressed like that?

She scowled when she looked at Kikuoka who currently wore a yukata of fine Kurume fabric tied with an elegant obi, with bare feet in wooden geta sandals.

Nakanishi: Alright, if you excuse me...

Nakanishi said, saluted and Kikuoka returned it before left the room. When the door shut, Kikuoka leaned back on the console again and drawled.

Kikuoka: You can't blame me. I've been stuck here in the middle of the ocean for a month now. I can't always be wearing my uniform. I'm beyond thrilled to have you here at Rath. My persistence in summoning you finally paid off.

Rinko: Though I can't guarantee I'll be any help.

Rinko said and bowed. Her assistant, Mayumi did the same. Kikuoka raised an eyebrow, and his gaze briefly lingered on that stunning blond hair before the smile returned.

Kikuoka: And you are the final member of the trio I considered indispensable to this project. And now all three of you are here.

Rinko: Ah, I see... I should have known one of those three would be you, Higa-kun.

Rinko said to the other man who currently sitting in the chair and typing away with his back to them. He stopped typing and swiveled in his chair toward them. The man named Higa is wearing a T-shirt that is faded in color, three-quarter length jeans, and sneakers with damaged soles. He also wears round, rimmed spectacles.

Higa: Well, of course, it's me. As a member of the Shigemura Lab, I have to carry on the senior members' ambitions.

Rinko: Honestly, you haven't changed a bit. So? Who's this third and fourth person?

Kikuoka gave her one of his inscrutable smiles and shook his head.

Kikuoka: I'm afraid I can't introduce you to them quite yet. Maybe we'll have the opportunity in the days ahead...

Mayumi: Then why don't I say his name instead, Kikuoka-san?

Grace: why? Answer us.

Mayumi and Grace said after been lying low in their shadow all this time. Immediately, she strode forward, ripped off the blond wigs and the oversize sunglasses, and stared right into Kikuoka with hazel-brown eyes, revealing the person to be Sachi and Yuuki Asuna, Yami's first fiancé and second fiancé.

Kikuoka: Asuna, Sachi... Why are you with Dr. Kojiro?

He said, stunned at the sudden revelations along with Higa while Rinko has a triumphant smile on her face.

Rinko: I received an email from her.

Due to Seijirou's astonishment, Rinko explained that the young girl had informed her about the Soul Translator and Yami and Kazuto's disappearance to request her help in reuniting with the two boys.

Rinko: Do you see why I suddenly decided to finally accept your invitation, Kikuoka-san?

Kikuoka: To verify your assistant's identity, I'm positive that we ran all kinds of checks on a photo we acquired from the university database.

Asuna: Yes, I was starting to get annoyed at how they kept staring. But I'd already switched out the photo in the database for my own. We'd have a rather ingenious little hacker working on our behalf.

Rinko: By the way, the real Mayumi is probably on some beach right now, working on her tan.

Asuna: ...Where's Yami and Kirito?

Asuna said, stood in front of Kikuoka, and sent him a glare, demanding an answer regarding Yami and Kazuto's whereabouts.

Sachi then said a question towards the two men.

Sachi: where is my fiancé and brother in law? Answer me or you'll face the wrath of me.

End of Volume