The data had normalized.
The infection had disappeared, The World had been restored, and all networks were restored.
Those who participated in the final battle and those who were comatose all returned.
Such was the power of Aura, who had evolved into the ultimate AI.
She had the ability to control all networks and normalize them.
“Morganna and Aura may have had to die once in order to be born,” Helba said after all was done.
“Apoptosis, one of the modes of life and death,” Wiseman said after her.
But to me, that kind of discussion felt like something far off.
I collapsed following the fierce battle, completely exhausted.
In any case, such a theory didn’t enter my mind.
Aura had protected Morganna and Morganna tried to protect Aura. Was that a good thing?
At the beginning of the year, my father hurriedly set out to prepare for his single assignment.
My mother also accompanied him on the day trip.
After noon, my sister came down to the kitchen as I was cooking the rest of the rice cakes in an oven toaster.
“Want some?” I asked.
“Yeah, I could eat,” my sister said, nodding.
“How many?”
“Four.”
Eventually, the fragrant smell of cooked rice cakes filled the kitchen.
My sister and I sat across from each other and ate the rice cakes in silence for a while.
“Hey, are you angry at me?” my sister suddenly said.
“Angry at you?”
“You’re not treating me poorly to vent your anger?”
“This is out of the blue.”
“When you say stuff like that, that means you’re desperately thinking about how to answer.”
That was hard to do with relatives.
“I don’t think we were like this when we were in elementary school.”
“We’re fine, aren’t we?”
I finished eating my rice cakes and clapped my hands together to get the crumbs off.
“Anyway, I think that’s a healthy thing. We grow little by little and change in various ways. Sometimes we have fights. That’s normal. Even if I take out my anger on you for a while, it’s right to not hold it against me. We’re brother and sister… but as your brother, let me just say one thing.”
My sister was listening with a serious look on her face.
“I think having four rice cakes is overeating.”
“Go away.”
I stood up.
“You always like looking at things from a weird perspective. You speak sarcastically. You haven’t changed at all,” my sister said angrily.
“Humans are not things that grow or change so easily.”
“What I said earlier is different.”
After that, I spoke to Mr. Tokuoka on the phone only once.
We confirmed each other’s safety, reported the situation to each other, and that was the end of the conversation.
I didn’t know where Mr. Tokuoka was or what he was doing right now.
Subject: Are you well?
From: Aura
Message:
I have something I want to give you.
Please come to
Δ Delta Server Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field.
A couple of days later, around the end of the winter, I received that email from Aura.
The area words in the email were familiar to me.
They were for the dungeon where I had my first adventure with Orca. This was the place where I first met Aura and was attacked by Skeith.
Just what did she intend by calling me to this place?
I decided to have BlackRose go with me.
There was no danger to be found here anymore.
It was an area set up for beginners, and it was like lukewarm water; you simply wouldn’t think of it in your adventures.
We dived into the dungeon and talked about our lives.
BlackRose’s younger brother, who had fallen unconsciousness, recovered and was now in good health.
“By the way, did you hear about the offline meeting?” BlackRose said.
“Hmmm,” I said.
“What’s that mean?”
“It just means something like ‘hmmm’.”
“Are you not interested in this conversation?”
I nodded.
“I’m not really interested in talking.”
“Oh, I see. Hmph,” said BlackRose. “Well, I think we should get a notification email from Lios or Wiseman soon.”
“What will you do, BlackRose?”
“Me? I wonder… what should I do? Maybe I’ll go. Yeah. I think I will.”
We walked along slowly, but we arrived at the deepest part of the dungeon before we knew it.
Aura was waiting there.
“Aura?”
I hesitated to speak to Aura.
I had a lot of questions to ask her, but when I faced her, my mind went blank.
Aura’s presence was completely different.
Until now, her image had been ephemeral.
It had been like a heat haze that disappeared when I touched it even a little.
However, today’s Aura had the godliness of a “goddess” that controls the system.
It was as if she had merged with Morganna and inherited her abilities.
As if she had integrated with The World itself.
“Take this.”
At the same time as Aura said this, I felt the return of a familiar “weight” on my right arm.
For a moment, my right arm glowed, the shape of the bracelet appeared and then disappeared.
“Kite, it’s…” said BlackRose.
“Yeah. The bracelet is back,” I answered while staring at my wrist.
“An immense power… the ability to save or destroy at the whim of the user.”
Aura’s body began to fade.
“Now you understand the meaning of this.”
With that said, Aura disappeared.
But to be honest, I didn’t really understand what she meant.
The fact that Aura gave me this bracelet again… did it mean that there were still virus-like monsters like the Eight Phases and Cubia in The World?
As was typical, I thought that Aura didn’t explain herself well enough, but whatever.
Now I wouldn’t have to be so worried about having my hammer.
I now had the bracelet for the time being. I didn’t want to use it anymore if I could avoid it. I didn’t want to end up having to use it.
Could I perhaps say that I had a new agreement with a new goddess?
“Aura, I definitely accept this power,” I said. “I will never lose it again.”
“Why do you say that while looking at me?”
“By the way,” I said, “we’re meeting offline now.”
“Well, have fun,” Yasuhiko said while lying on the bed. His usual complexion had returned.
“I still have to have a complete physical, so I can’t participate. I can’t enjoy it with you.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to rub it in,” I said in a hurry. “It’s my first time participating in an offline meeting with the others. I want to get your advice.”
Yasuhiko looked at me, squinting.
“No, you don’t need any advice from me,” Yasuhiko said. “Just talk to them like you would in the game.”
“I wonder if I can.”
“You absolutely can.”
I nodded without much emotion.
When he said that, I felt like I could do it.
The cafe that Lios – that is, Mr. Tsuchiya – arranged, was on the second floor of a tidy, nice-looking building.
I took a deep breath in front of the cafe door.
BlackRose, Balmung, Wiseman, Helba, and Lios were now on their way here.
In addition, some of the people who had become my friends along the way – hackers of Net Slum, and members of the System Admin Pig Squadron – would also come.
It looked like it would make a great picture as I imagined it.
As a matter of fact, I wasn’t really interested in the offline meeting. The World was definitely a good game, but I had never thought about the real lives of the friends I met there.
I didn’t want to meet them in real life. It was not that I didn’t want to meet them at all. I did want that, but I found it annoying, and I was the type of person who didn’t want to meet so many people face-to-face in the first place.
I still wanted to participate because BlackRose had said she would go.
I wanted to meet her in person and thank her.
Since I usually didn’t say such things, I recited what I would say in my head.
I’m glad you stayed until the end.
I’m glad you were the first person I met.
Thank you for calling out to me back then.
I opened the cafe door.
.hack//Translate 