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Blogging the World

Entry 1: Kirikozou and Tomara

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Author's Notes: This fanfic is the first product of my recent obsession with .hack, and I can guarantee it won’t be the last. I’ve never written a .hack fanfic before, but I read the Legend of the Twilight trilogy a couple of years ago and loved it, and I’ve just (as in, finished the second one earlier today) read the two .hack//AI Buster novels. I’ve also seen a few episodes of .hack//Sign, but not enough to grasp the storyline, only to squeal at the sight of familiar characters like Balmung (<3) and Orca. xD

The .hack//AI Buster novels have turned me into a complete die-hard Watarai fan. I LOVE HIM!! If you do too, please review and tell me so ^^ ditto if you know any good Watarai-centric fanfics, especially WataraixHaruka (or AlbireoxHokuto, either is good). If not, never mind, because I’ve got a few ideas in the works myself, fwhahaha.

Disclaimer: I do not own The World, which is the property (I believe) of Rei Izumi and Tatsuya Hamazaki. However, all of the characters in this story (so far, may change later) are my own creation.

Hey! My name is Kathryn, Kat for short, though online I usually go by KaEme. That’s a username made up of the first two letters of my first name and the first three letters of my last, though I’m not going to tell you what my surname actually is.

This is my first blog, though I don’t know why it never occurred to me to create one until now, since in real life I regularly keep a diary, and I’m really chatty too! I didn’t start this up to try and make a name for myself or attract lots of readers, which is what lots of people do. In fact, I hope I don’t get many readers, because that would be embarrassing! I’m not out to be popular, although a few friends are nice.

No, I started this blog in order to write about my adventures in The World, the best online game ever! I regularly log on to both the American and Japanese servers (though don’t think I’m a crip, because I’m not! I have a life!), and even though I live in America, the Japanese one is my favorite because The World was born in Japan, so it feels more authentic. I’m bilingual, so communication isn’t a problem for me. (My dad’s Japanese, and I lived there until I was about three years old).

My character in The World is called Kaeme, just because I’m so used to having it as my username, and it’s not a bad name. It even sounds a little bit Japanese! She’s a Blade User, of a moderate to low level. Although I’ve been playing The World for a while, I much prefer socializing to leveling up!

Playing on the Japanese server, I’ve got so used to hearing the language all around me that a voice in any other language sticks out a mile! So when I heard two guys arguing in English today, I homed in on them immediately! They were already attracting a lot of curious looks from the people around them.

“This is great! Bloody great! We’re stranded in the middle of a Japanese root town and I hardly speak any Japanese!! How are we going to ask anyone anything, or even understand what the NPCs are saying?!”

This outburst came from the shorter of the two, who looked young but who had spiky hair of a pure silver colour. Fascinating! His clothes were fairly boring though: a tank top and loose trousers, no shoes or anything. He should have some more imagination! My character has purple hair and violet eyes, with her hair wound up either side of her head in a complicated plait style I’ve never been able to replicate! She wears a lilac T-shirt over a mauve long-sleeved top, and has a long indigo skirt. Her shoes are almost like ballet shoes: white, with ribbons that criss-cross all the way up her legs. Cool or what??

“Calm down, Tomara,” urged his friend, who sounded embarrassed even though his character’s face was impassive; it needed him to type in certain commands to convey that emotion, and at that moment he was more occupied with other things! “My Japanese isn’t bad, and this version of The World isn’t very different to that of the UK server.” Ah! They were British! Doubly cool!! “I’ll email Alyssa, and see where she is. She must be here somewhere.”

“She’d better be,” muttered Tomara.

I gathered from this exchange that Alyssa was supposed to be their ‘guide’ around the Japanese server, but for whatever reason, she hadn’t showed. Not to worry! I was always willing to help a newbie out, and these two might as well be, for all that they had played The World before.

“Hey there!” I greeted them brightly, approaching. The second one to talk, a tall guy with long red hair tied up in a ponytail, turned towards me. He was a Heavy Blade, and dressed like a samurai of old from the Meiji era, in a forest green kimono and white hakama. I wondered if he was an anime fan. I am!!

“Hello,” he greeted me with a smile, his voice relieved. “You speak English!”

“Yup. I’m American! I’ll be happy to guide you around the Japanese server until your friend shows up. If you like.”

“That’d be gre-” The samurai broke off and paused, as if listening to something. I realised his friend must be talking to him in Whisper or Party mode. It seemed a little rude, but I did my best not to be offended, instead smiling up at the redhead’s classically handsome features. If I weren’t used to seeing good-looking avatars, I might have had a crush on him! Not to mention that he was friendly, and seemed as if he could be pretty charming when he wanted to. But you never knew who anyone could be online, not even in The World; voice alteration software could be used to make someone sound younger or older, and avatars didn’t have to be true to real-life appearance or even gender!

“That’d be great,” the redhead repeated firmly after a moment or two. His friend was scowling, obviously not afraid to show that he disliked the decision, probably disliked me. What a hard guy to please! First he’s complaining about being ‘stranded’, then when a guide shows up and offers her services, he doesn’t want them!

“I’ll send you a party invitation,” continued the samurai. “By the way, I am – that is, my character’s name is – Kirikozou, and this is Tomara.”

“I’m Kaeme. Nice to meet you,” I replied brightly, accepting the invitation Kirikozou sent me. “You have interesting names. Did you make them up?”

“Yeah,” Kirikozou laughed. “I literally just pressed some random letters on the keyboard with my eyes closed, and made a name out of what came out. I like it.”

“Well, why not?” I replied with a smile. Kirikozou was a lot more open and easy to talk to than his friend, who just trailed along silently behind us as I led them towards the Chaos Gate. I sure wasn’t going to ask him where his name came from! “Do you fancy doing some fighting? I haven’t done any in a while; I could do with the experience.” From their character specs, which had appeared at the bottom of my screen as I joined their party, I could see that Kirikozou and Tomara were of an identical level, one much higher than mine. “That is, if you don’t mind fighting with someone who has such a low level,” I added, feeling a little self-conscious.

“Not at all!” replied Kirikozou, sounding surprised. That was a relief; nevertheless, I targeted him and Whispered, “What about Tomara? I don’t think he likes me.”

Kirikozou shook his head. “It’s not that. He’s just not much of a people person,” he reassured me. I nodded and didn’t say any more, in case Tomara got suspicious about our silence.

We had reached the Chaos Gate by this point, and so I recited in Japanese the three co-ordinate words which would take us to my chosen destination. It was a place I’d been before whilst playing with my Japanese cousin, but the monsters were way too high-level for me back then – and now, probably! Still, I figured they ought to be more Kirikozou and Tomara’s level.

“Darkness, hidden, labyrinth.”

Within moments, our little party had been transported to the labyrinth in question. ‘Darkness’ was a good co-ordinate word for it – we could barely see a thing! I strained my eyes, even though I knew that it wasn’t possible for them to adjust to cyber-darkness. What wasn’t visible simply wasn’t visible.

“We must beware, milady Kaeme,” warned Kirikozou, who had equipped a large, two-handed sword to his avatar and held it before him, ready. I recognized that he was role-playing the samurai he was dressed as, and suddenly realized that he had spoken in Japanese. (Of course, this is an approximate translation!)

“We must,” I echoed in the same language, drawing my own, thinner katana. Although my character looks like a modern teenager, I think it’s more fun to talk like they do in fantasy novels! Role-playing also gives me a chance to be someone who I’m not in real life. Kaeme is a lot braver than I am, just like a manga or anime heroine should be!

I expected Tomara to scoff at this sort of thing, and to be annoyed that we were speaking in Japanese, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the clang of metal on metal, and found Tomara standing in front of me! He’d blocked an unexpected attack from a monster, using a large axe. He turned and looked over his shoulder at me.

“You ought to be more careful… milady,” he murmured. In English, but even so! Turns out Mr. Stoic could be chivalrous when he wanted to!

Fighting in that dungeon was one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done in The World. My hands were rigid and sweaty (yuck!) round the controller, and I jumped every time a monster loomed out of the darkness at me. Kirikozou and Tomara fended off most of the attacks, but there were still a few coming my way! The thing about the monsters was that all you could see of them was their horrible, glowing yellow eyes; everything else was just a shape, and only then when you got close. On the BBS I’ve read them described as shaggy, brown werewolf-like creatures, about shoulder height to the average man. (Though ‘average’ takes on a whole new meaning in The World!)

After what seemed like an indeterminable amount of time, the attacks stopped. Both Kaeme and I were breathing harshly; I switched to third-person POV and scanned the area for more monsters, still on edge. At the corner of my screen, it was still calculating the experience points I’d gained from contributing to the fight. There were quite a lot! I’d used up almost all of my supply of health drinks.

“I think the last of the beasts have been defeated,” said Kirikozou, who was a little out of breath, but not as much as I was. Tomara, too, seemed largely unaffected by the fight, though he still stood stiffly with his axe held in front of him, anticipating another wave of attacks.

As if responding to Kirikozou’s words, a blinding flash suddenly lit the screen. “Ack!” I exclaimed, shutting my eyes reflexively. I could see bright red as the light filtered through my eyelids; then it faded, and I cautiously opened them.

“Hahaha! Is this what we were fighting in?” The labyrinth didn’t look nearly so scary; the light levels had returned to normal, signaling that we’d completed the area. We were standing in what looked like a cross between a maze and a dungeon; the walls and floor were made of gray stone, and in front of us stretched an endless corridor.

“This light is all very well, but how are we to solve the maze?” asked Kirikozou. Gating out was always an option of course, but then we wouldn’t have truly completed the event.

“Well, it can’t be that hard,” I said, more confident now the monsters had gone. “Of course, there’s no map for this area; that would be cheating!” Feeling like I was excluding Tomara, I added in English, “Any ideas for getting out of here?”

“No,” he replied in Japanese, surprising me. “I-”

We didn’t hear what he was about to say, because he broke off, staring ahead of us. I followed his gaze and my eyebrows shot up (in real life, that is!) as I saw a figure approaching. I typed in the command /surprise to make my avatar show the same expression.

I switched to Party Mode and muttered, “Is this an event?” in English to my two companions.

“I think that’s another user,” replied Kirikozou.

The figure stopped a few feet away from us; it was dressed in a long, hooded cloak, meaning that its body was swathed in fabric and its face shrouded in shadow.

“I was watching you fight,” it said, in a voice that sounded female, but was flat and emotionless like a machine. Definitely voice-alteration software. “You are three brave warriors.”

It – though for some reason I think the player was female – approached Tomara, and held out a hand. “I congratulate you on your victory.”

Hesitantly, Tomara took the offered hand and shook it. Just then, a string of what looked like computer code appeared above his head!

“Tomara, it’s a virus!” yelled Kirikozou, who was quicker on the uptake than me.

“I can’t take it back!” Tomara shouted back in a panic.

His and the stranger’s interlocked hands seemed to glow for a second, and then they stopped and suddenly, the stranger was gone! Above Tomara’s head were the words,

“Tomara? Can you move?” asked Kirikozou urgently. Tomara’s avatar went through a series of poses – sitting down, lying down, standing back up, clapping and jumping in the air – as he tested it.

“Yeah, everything seems to be working,” he replied, his voice a little shaky. “And my specs haven’t changed, or any other data that I can see.” It sounded like he cared more about the game than he let on. Aww!

“Maybe it was just done to scare you,” Kirikozou speculated.

“Or it could be something hidden in your system, that won’t reveal itself until later,” I pointed out.

“Yeah,” Kirikozou agreed, sighing heavily. “Um… shall we gate out? I don’t really fancy solving a labyrinth at the moment.”

The virus – if it really was one, since we didn’t know by that point – must have shaken him too. I made my avatar smile, and then targeted him and gave him a hug. He smiled back.

“Sure, let’s get out of here,” I said, and returned the party to the root town we’d originated in.

No sooner had we appeared at the Chaos Gate once more, than someone from far away hailed us in English.

“There you are! I’ve been fuckin’ lookin’ all over for you!”

I had a feeling I knew who this was. I turned Kaeme, switching back to first person POV, and sure enough saw a tall, tanned girl with long navy hair running towards us. She was wearing a fairly skimpy outfit: a black, low-cut top which revealed a good six or seven inches of her stomach, and black short shorts, accompanied by knee-high black boots. I gathered from the spear strapped to her back that her professional category was Pole Arms.

“Why didn’t you stay put?” demanded the girl. “And who the heck is this?” she added, pointing at me.

“Nice to see you too, Alyssa,” said Kirikozou with a smile. “This is Kaeme; she kindly offered to be our guide around the Japanese server.”

“Hi,” Alyssa greeted me offhandedly. “I’m Alyssa, although my character’s name is Arissagirl because Alyssa was taken. Don’t call me that, though.” ‘Arissa’ is how the Japanese would pronounce Alyssa, since there is no ‘l’ sound in Japanese.

“Alyssa, where the hell were you?” said Tomara. “Don’t have a go at us for moving, you’re the one who bloody abandoned us in the middle of a Japanese server!”

I glanced over at Tomara and did a double-take. His hair was orange! When did that happen? Is it something to do with the virus? I thought worriedly.

Alyssa looked over at Tomara as well and started laughing, making her character mimic the action. “Nice hair, Tomara,” she commented. “When did you change it?”

Tomara was bewildered. “What do you mean? My hair’s always been like this.” There was a pause, in which I assumed either Kirikozou or Alyssa Whispered to him that his hair was orange. “Orange?!” he exploded. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Just then, red streaks shot through his hair! “Wow, your hair changes colour!” exclaimed Alyssa. “Is that an upgrade?”

“What the hell is going on now?” yelled Tomara. More red streaks appeared in his hair. He was starting to cause a scene; he’d attracted the attention of several players, and many of them had noticed his color-changing hair and were starting to ask questions. “Wow, where did you get that?” “Are you a programmer?” “Is that a special upgrade?” Fortunately, I doubted many of them could understand us fully.

Kirikozou turned to me. “We need to go somewhere with less people,” he said urgently. “Can you take us back to the labyrinth?”

“Labyrinth?” scoffed Alyssa. “I know a better place than that.” Before any of us could say a word, she spoke the three Japanese co-ordinate words for her chosen destination: “Sakura, forest, glade.”

Our surroundings dissolved and then re-solidified into a deserted glade, with the odd cherry-blossom (or sakura) tree dotted here and there.

“This is the site of last year’s Tanabata event,” said Alyssa. “Apparently some career werewolf caused a huge scene by thrashing some random undead skeletons. I wish I’d been there – it sounds awesome!”

Tomara rolled his eyes. His hair had mostly faded back to silver, but it still had a couple of orange streaks in it. I was beginning to form a suspicion about what triggered the colour changes. But, not knowing Tomara, there was no way for me to test my theory.

Maybe Alyssa was thinking along the same lines as me, or maybe she just felt like teasing Tomara; either way, she said,

“So anyway, Tom, what happened? Did you get your ass kicked by a data-altering monster? Or did some pretty girl seduce you into accepting a trade that turned out to be a virus?” She grinned.

“It was nothing like that!” said Tomara hotly, and I zoomed in on him a little; sure enough, his hair was rapidly turning bright pink, and at the same time, more orange streaks were appearing, clashing with the pink.

“I’ve got it!” I exclaimed. “Tomara’s hair is changing colour according to his emotions.” I addressed Tomara. “As far as I can work out, orange is annoyance, red is anger and pink is embarrassment.”

“That sounds interesting,” said Kirikozou, sounding amused, although his avatar’s expression remained neutral, probably for Tomara’s sake.

“I’m not embarrassed!” Tomara protested, but his hair gave the game away, turning to an even deeper pink. Beside him, Alyssa was laughing herself silly, both over the microphone and with her avatar’s actions.

“Shut up!” growled Tomara, taking a threatening step towards her. Kirikozou hurriedly put a hand on his shoulder, something which I didn’t think you could do with an avatar. I made a mental note to ask him the command for that.

“Maybe we should log out now. It’s pretty late,” he said, and I realised that in England, it must be some six or seven hours later than where I live.

Without saying another word, Tomara disappeared. Kirikozou sighed, and Whispered to me, “It was nice meeting you, Kaeme.”

“You too,” I had time to say, before he logged out as well. Alyssa and I were left standing in the glade together.

“I’m going to go get some food,” I told her. I wasn’t that hungry, but it was the best way to avoid the awkward situation.

“AFK,” Alyssa typed back. Fair enough.

Author's Notes: Well, what do you think? As you’ve probably gathered by now, the cast of this fanfic will be almost entirely original characters of my own creation. I might feature a couple of minor characters from Legend of the Twilight or AI Buster (for example, Luke from the short comic Here Comes Mireille-chan! at the end of LOTT) and mention some more well-known ones in conversation (I’m hoping some of you picked up the reference to Ouka?) but this is primarily an OC fic set in the .hack universe. However, like I said, I do intend to write some fanfics starring characters people will be more familiar with, so watch this space!

Oh, and I know it might seem like a coincidence that all of my characters speak at least some Japanese, but you’d be surprised how many people I know who learn it: it’s really quite popular. Besides, since the game originated from Japan, any true fan of the game would want to play it ‘authentically’, on the Japanese server. (Or at least, I think so).

Entry 2: The Enchanted Sleeper

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Author's Notes: Since last I wrote, I’ve started watching the .hack//sign anime properly on YouTube, and so far I’m up to episode 10. I like it a lot, even if the characters have a penchant for confusing, cryptic and somewhat pointless conversations x3 It’s inspired me to continue with this, even though I haven’t received any reviews on here; I have two or three readers dotted around Gaia Online, and I’m thinking of putting this up on another writing website, to see if people are willing to ignore the fact that it’s fanfiction and read anyway.

Entry number two!! :D Where did I leave off? Ah yes, I remember. Well, after that I think I just logged off and went to get some dinner. Later, I logged back in, but on the American server this time. I did some wandering around, looking for people I knew, but there were none! It’s boring playing The World alone, which I’ve been doing periodically ever since my party disbanded about a month ago. Every so often I join a new party, like yesterday, but they never last very long. Now that Kirikozou and Tomara had found Alyssa, I reckoned they probably wouldn’t want me in their party any more.

Out of boredom, I investigated the message boards, and found that there was a new announcement from the Cobalt Knights, a body of administrators dedicated to keeping The World safe from cheaters and bugs. That meant the announcement had to be pretty serious. I clicked on the announcement, and as I read, my mouth dropped open in shock!

A few minutes later, while I was still reeling from what I’d just read, I got an email from none other than Kirikozou! He wanted to meet up in the glade that Alyssa had taken us to earlier. I was surprised, since I thought he’d hit the hay already; it was almost as if he knew what I’d read on the message boards. I shivered, even though I knew it was impossible, and debated about my reply: should I force him to come out with it, or act like nothing had happened? Should I meet up with him at all??

In the end, I worded a normal, friendly reply and logged into the Japanese server. In a few minutes I had transported my avatar to the abandoned sakura glade.

I caught sight of Kirikozou leaning against a tree, and as he turned to meet me, my accusations faded from my mind – for the moment. He looked visibly tired, something I hadn’t noticed before. I knew it was only an avatar, but to make things more realistic, avatars became scruffier and more ragged-looking the more time you spent in them and the less time you spent logged out. So you can usually spot a crip quite easily. I wondered briefly whether Kirikozou was one. He seemed so normal, and yet you never knew. My perspective on things had changed a lot in light of that announcement from the Crimson Knights.

“Hey,” Kirikozou greeted me in English as I approached him.

“Hi,” I replied in the same language, smiling. “Is something wrong? I thought you and Tomara had gone to bed.”

Kirikozou shrugged and smiled slightly. “He has. And I did, but I couldn’t sleep, so I logged back on here. I was hoping that you’d be around so that I could have some company.”

“Well, here I am!” I said cheerfully. I sat down on the grass, and Kirikozou followed suit. “You don’t look like you get much sleep ever. Are you…” I paused, wondering if I’d been too blunt, but since I’d started, I continued, “…an insomniac or something?”

Kirikozou gave a soft, mirthless laugh. “I suppose you could say that.” His ambiguous answer annoyed me a little. I let the silence last for a few more moments, before saying abruptly, “Were you planning on telling me?”

Kirikozou looked at me, puzzled. “Huh? Telling you about what?”

“The AI. Being on the run from the Crimson Knights. Being the subject of announcements on every English-speaking message board,” I replied angrily.

Kirikozou groaned and put his head in his hands. “Are you serious? All of them?”

“I expect so,” I said. “Kirikozou, I…” I broke off and tried again. “How…?” How could someone so nice be a rule-breaker on the run? I wanted to ask. How could you do this to The World, to yourself? And above all: What exactly happened, and why?

I wasn’t sure why I felt so cheated. It wasn’t like I could know Kirikozou inside-out from just one meeting. It wasn’t like we were the best of friends, or even good friends… maybe not even friends at all. But I’d wanted us to be!

Kirikozou was silent for quite a while. Finally he said, “I don’t know what to tell you, Kaeme, except that it’s only a matter of time before the three of us are found again. You can’t be the only one on this server who reads the English-speaking message boards, and we attracted a lot of attention yesterday. Someone will remember us. The best thing you can do is to forget about us completely, and not associate with us again, so that you don’t get into trouble too. I’ll disband the party.”

I bit my lip. That was exactly what I’d intended it to do, but hearing him say that… he sounded so hollow and sad. I decided to find out some answers first, before leaving.

“Kirikozou, what exactly happened?” I asked. “Did you really… cheat?”

“No!” His response was immediate and emphatic. “At least, I don’t think we did… but in the eyes of the Cobalt Knights…” He took a breath and started again. “All we did was…”

“Was what?” I pressed, sensing he was close to the answer. But he shook his head.

“It’s a long story, Kaeme, and you shouldn’t be here…”

Ugh! I had had it up to here with him always dodging questions! I stood up. “Well, fine. If that’s the way you want it to be, then I’ll go.” I turned around and blinked in surprise: there was another user lying on the grass behind us. “Uh… Kirikozou, there’s someone else here.”

“What?!” he exclaimed, and whirled around. There was a moment of silence, in which it seemed as if he’d stepped away from his console, or his computer had frozen; his character wasn’t moving at all. “Kirikozou…?”

“It… it’s him,” said Kirikozou shakily. “He’s followed us here! Somehow…” He trailed off.

“What? Kirikozou, who is that? Is he all right?” I zoomed in on the user. He looked pretty normal; he had long, ruby-red hair and an innocent, almost angelic face. If Kirikozou hadn’t said ‘he’, I would have mistaken him for a girl!

As it was, he appeared to be a young teenager, around 13 or 14. He was dressed in black, slightly scruffy clothes that seemed more detailed than those of the average user, and his feet were bare. There was a gold locket - or similar sort of thing - around his neck which glowed slightly. His eyes were closed, and his chest rose up and down a little. IRL, I would have said he was asleep, but I didn’t think that was possible in The World. I looked for the markings on his body which would indicate his Wave, but couldn't find any, so I assumed they were underneath his clothes.

“Is he asleep? I didn’t know you could do that in The World. Then again, I suppose not many people have tried it…” I mused aloud. I zoomed back out again and panned round to look at Kirikozou, who was shaking his head.

“No, it’s not possible for normal users. Only for an AI.”

It took a second for me to realize what he meant! “W-what? You mean…” I swiveled round to look at the boy again. “You mean this is the AI?” He totally didn’t fit my mental image. I’d always imagined AIs to look like robots, or monsters, or strange geometric objects. Not ordinary players!

“Yes, this is him,” confirmed Kirikozou. “He was asleep when we found him, too, on the UK server. Yamo- er, we call him the Enchanted Sleeper.”

I smiled. “Sounds like Sleeping Beauty. But I don’t understand: since he looks just like a regular user, how did the Cobalt Knights know he was an AI?”

Kirikozou sighed. “Beats me. I guess they just have a sixth sense for illegal data.”

“Illegal data?” Somehow, that didn’t seem right. The Enchanted Sleeper looked far too real to be labeled as just ‘data’.

“Yep.” Kirikozou gave a grim smile. “To the Cobalt Knights, that’s all he is.” Suddenly he seemed to come to. “But this makes it worse for you, Kaeme – you can’t stay here any longer! If you’re seen with him, the Cobalt Knights will just assume that you’re helping to hide him, or something – you won’t be given a chance to explain!”

He sounded so urgent, almost panicked, and I was pleased that he was so worried for me. But it didn’t feel as if we were in any danger, somehow. “I think we’ll be all right for the moment. This’ll be the last place they think to look for us. I want to hear the whole story.” I smiled up at him and sat down next to the Enchanted Sleeper, to show that I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Kaeme…” Kirikozou hesitated, then gave another sigh. “Fine, although there’s not much to tell. The three of us had just completed a dungeon in the UK server – a pretty hard one, but nothing out of the ordinary – when we reached the final room and found him inside, asleep.” He gestured to the Enchanted Sleeper. “He was the only thing in there – no treasure chest or anything – so we assumed he was part of an event that we had to complete in order to get a prize. And yet none of us could wake him.”

I shifted slightly in my seat in front of the computer and leaned forwards, resting my chin on my hands. “What happened then?”

“Well, we tried to decide what to do, and in the end Alyssa picked him up and we carried him outside to see if that would wake him up. When we got outside, we found a whole group of Cobalt Knights waiting for us.”

I gasped, even though I knew the confrontation was going to happen at some point. I could picture it so vividly! “Did you run away?”

“We weren’t going to… We tried to explain that we had just found him, and thought he might be an NPC or something… so they told us to hand him over so that he could be deleted. ‘Hand the AI over for deletion and you will not be charged. But if you try to resist, you will be punished accordingly.’ That’s what one of them – a guy with glasses – said to us.”

“God, how arrogant can you get??” I exclaimed. I never realized the Cobalt Knights were so bossy and self-centered!

“To be fair, they were only doing their job,” Kirikozou reasoned. “But Alyssa didn’t like it at all.” He smiled slightly. “You’ve met her; you can probably imagine.”

I laughed. “Yes, I can.”

Kirikozou grew serious again. “She utterly refused to hand him over. Called the Cobalt Knights all sorts of names… Two of them made ready to attack her, and then all of a sudden she disappeared. And here’s the strange thing: later she told me that she hadn’t touched a single button. It just happened. But of course the Cobalt Knights thought she was running away, and started to interrogate us about where she might have gone. Neither of us said anything. We didn’t want to risk letting something slip… but of course that entitled us to the same punishment as Alyssa.”

I shivered. “That was really brave of you. I don’t think I could have done the same thing.” I thought back to the way Alyssa had been acting earlier, and wondered if she really deserved friends as faithful as Kirikozou and Tomara.

Kirikozou smiled at me. “I bet you would have. You’re at least as brave as we are.” I blushed at the compliment.

We sat in companionable silence for a while. Every so often I rotated the view around to look at the Enchanted Sleeper, to check he was still there and still sleeping. I turned the problem of his existence around in my head, and puzzled what we should do.

Yep, we. I’d decided to help Kirikozou, Tomara and Alyssa. I knew in the back of my head that I would get into trouble for it – might end up with my account suspended or even deleted – but I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, because that would make me as bad as the Cobalt Knights! The way I saw it, now that I knew about the Enchanted Sleeper, I was part of the secret anyway, so I might as well help them, because the only other course of action would be to tell, and I couldn’t do that. No way!

But how exactly I was going to help them… that was another matter.

“Hey, Kirikozou.”

The red haired samurai didn’t respond, sitting unnaturally still on the grass. I frowned. “Kirikozou?” I called, louder. “Hello?”

“Huh?” he responded groggily, sounding as if he’d just woken up. I bit my lip as I remembered how late – or early, probably, by now – it was where he lived. He must have dozed off; I should have let him sleep.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing. Kirikozou, you really should go to bed,” I said, concerned.

“No, no, I’m-” he broke off in order to yawn, “-fine. What was it you were saying?”

I rolled my eyes at the blatant lie, but gave in. “About the Enchanted Sleeper. What do you plan to do now?”

He sighed wearily. “I really don’t know. No doubt Alyssa will have some sort of haphazard plan that I’ll have to go along with… But we can’t run from the Cobalt Knights forever.”

“There must be a way to resolve the situation somehow,” I said. “Maybe it is a sort of event. I mean, this is a game. Things don’t just happen for no reason.” I think I was partly trying to convince myself.

Kirikozou said nothing.

“It could be like a puzzle!” I continued, warming to my idea. “Maybe you have to figure out his identity. Or maybe he’ll wake up at a specific point in order to help you out… or maybe you have to wake him up.”

Still silence. I strained my ears, and heard the sound of light breathing coming through the headphones. Kirikozou had fallen asleep again… I wondered if he had problems in real life. Maybe he played the game in order to escape from them. So many people did that.

Suddenly there was a thud, and Kirikozou’s voice, sounding startled. “Huh? Wha? Oh, Kaeme… I’m so sorry… What were you saying?”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “Did your head just hit the desk or something?”

“Yeah,” he affirmed ruefully. “Ow, that hurt…”

“Kirikozou, log off and go to bed,” I ordered him sternly. He ignored me, instead asking, “Hey, did you say something about a puzzle or was I dreaming?”

“Yeah, I did,” I replied. “I said maybe the Enchanted Sleeper is like a puzzle we need to solve… but hey, stop changing the subject!”

“Hmm, you may be right,” he mused, once again focusing on the things he wanted to hear and ignoring everything else. Agh!

“Do you know of any users who might be able to help solve the puzzle?” I asked, shoving down my resentment in order to focus on the more pressing issue at hand. “What about that person you mentioned earlier?”

“Hm? Who?”

“You began to say their name, and then stopped. Yam someone?”

“Oh, Yamokuna…” said Kirikozou. “Yeah, she might be able to help… She’s a very advanced player, and an old hand at the game. I think she was one of the few who tested the game in its beta version… she knows some really famous players, too.”

“She played Fragment?” I asked, shocked. I’d only heard about the legendary beta version through gossip and rumors on the BBS. Only around a thousand users were picked to play it, and almost all of them were now seriously hardcore players in The World. “Wow, that’s amazing!”

“Yeah, but don’t spread it around, okay?” said Kirikozou, sounding uncomfortable. “She doesn’t like people to know about her… she’s kind of an elusive player. That’s why I didn’t want to mention her earlier.”

“Okay, I’ll keep it a secret!” I promised. Secretly I wondered whether this Yamokuna had other reasons for wanting to stay out of the public eye. Maybe she was a dodgy user… but hey, I wasn’t in a position to judge, being involved with an illegal AI myself! The thought was thrilling and chilling at the same time.

“Well, I think I’ll log out now,” said Kirikozou.

“Oh, finally!” I exclaimed. “I’ve only been telling you to for the past twenty minutes! Heck, it’ll be my bedtime soon! Well, slight exaggeration, but hey.”

Kirikozou laughed tiredly. Suddenly, I had a thought. “Oh hey, but what will happen to him?” I indicated the Enchanted Sleeper.

“He’ll disappear when you and I do, and reappear when we log back on,” Kirikozou replied. “For some reason he’s only present when one or more members of our party are online. Goodness knows where he goes the rest of the time… maybe he just doesn’t exist. Everything’s different for an AI.”

It was enough to give anyone a headache! “Okay, well I’m going to log off too, so I’ll say goodnight,” I said. “Will you come back to this server tomorrow?”

“Yeah, might as well,” said Kirikozou. “I’ll try and track down Yamokuna, and see if we can meet up with her.” He smiled at me. “Goodnight!” He disappeared, and shortly afterwards I logged out as well.

Entry 3: Yamokuna

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Author's Notes: Not much to say really… I’m up to episode 17 of .hack//sign now, and it’s what’s keeping me inspired to write this story. I know I’m neglecting a lot of current works in the process, both fanfiction and original, but at least I’m writing something. And moreover, I’m enjoying it.

I had such a weird dream last night!! I know this isn’t a dream journal, but I feel as if I should put it in because it was about The World… Maybe because it’s been on my mind lately, although it feels like it’s more than that… but anyway, you’ll see what I mean later.

First of all, I dreamt of the encounter between Kirikozou, Tomara, Alyssa and the Cobalt Knight Brigade. I saw it all happen as if I was there, how Alyssa defied the knights and then was suddenly teleported away, and then how the knights interrogated Kirikozou and Tomara, who stood their ground and said nothing. Finally the knights ran off to look for her.

Then, it seemed like the encounter was playing out again in front of my eyes. The Cobalt Knights advanced upon a user… but this time it was just Alyssa, and the location was different. She shouted at them and tried to fight them off, but they overwhelmed her (it was a totally unfair fight!) and surrounded her, then all teleported away to somewhere. In that instant, I woke up.

Today when I logged on to The World, I did so in the American server first. I trawled the BBS apprehensively, and as I expected, there was loads of gossip about Kirikozou, Tomara and Alyssa as well as the AI. Some of it was really elitist and callous, calling for their immediate deletion, and some people treated them as heroes for having evaded the Cobalt Knights. A lot of the information being passed around, such as where they were hiding, was completely untrue – but only I knew that! There was some more accurate discussion and speculation being done by the shrewder players, but no one was even close to the truth.

I was! As I scanned through various threads, I felt both angry at all the rumors that were going around and excited that I was in the know. I resisted the temptation to post in case I let something slip. Instead, I went back to the original announcement by the Cobalt Knights to check how much information had been given, so that I could judge whether or not any of us were in immediate danger.

This was the post:

Haha! So the Cobalt Knights thought the Enchanted Sleeper was a girl! I had to laugh at that. I was just an ordinary user, and yet I knew more than they did!

Just then, I realised that there was another post below that! I scrolled down and read it with apprehension, my eyes widening as I did so.

A prison cell? Transferred for questioning?? “Some game!” I said aloud. It was a good thing that Alyssa had – or, they thought she had – information that the Knights wanted, otherwise they’d just delete her account straight off. I’d known of users who’d broken the rules and had their accounts deleted, but it had never affected me personally before.

I logged out of the US server and into the Japanese at top speed, wondering if Kirikozou had seen the announcement. If he hadn’t, I would email him about it. As soon as I accessed my account, however, I saw that I had an email – and it was from him! I opened it up, and saw that it had been sent sometime during the night – for me, anyway. It read simply:

I replied:

Half an hour later – which I spent fidgeting in front of the terminal, unable to play properly or focus on anything at all – he sent a reply.

Kirikozou obviously wasn’t one to waste words. (Unfortunately, I usually do!! XD) The brief, emotionless tone of his messages worried me a little, but I reasoned that it could just be how he usually wrote. Anyway, I was about to see him, so I’d be able to judge how he was feeling then.

Within minutes, I was in Mac Anu and approaching the Chaos Gate. It wasn’t busy, so we were spared the strange glances at the unusual sight of a samurai standing in front of the Chaos Gate with what appeared to be another user on his back – not to mention the guy with color-changing hair standing next to him. Picking up another user was a very recent upgrade that had prompted an epidemic of piggy-back games when it was first released. I had never found a use for it, but it definitely came in handy when you had an AI who wouldn’t wake up to transport around!

I spoke as soon as I had reached the Gate, in order to avoid an awkward silence. “So, where’re we going?”

“Nowhere,” replied Kirikozou. “This is just a meeting-point. Yamokuna’s home is in Mac Anu.”

“Oh! Okay.” It hadn’t occurred to me that we might be going to an ordinary user home. I’d imagined us traveling to some remote, hidden area of The World in order to meet this Yamokuna. Since she was such a hardcore player, I pictured her avatar as a stern and formidable warrior, maybe a Heavy Axe or Heavy Blade user. After that mental image, I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet her!

Kirikozou led us through the root town, pausing every so often as – I assume – he checked the instructions he was using to find Yamokuna’s home. (As a newbie to the JP server, there was no way he could have found it otherwise!) Tomara and I just followed in silence. I was bursting to say something to break the silence, but I wasn’t sure what, and I didn’t want to interrupt Kirikozou’s concentration.

Eventually, we arrived at a user home, simple in appearance, which had been designed to look like a feudal-style hut. I gotta admit, I was expecting something more like a stone fortress! The appearance was especially surprising when you consider how much freedom users have to design the outside their homes. Most players’ homes look like something out of another dimension as a result!

Kirikozou knocked on the door, and a woman’s voice sounded from within. Definitely an adult, but it was hard to tell how old. Another surprise – I was expecting something more like the machine-like voice of that rogue player who altered Tomara’s character data, I think.

“Who is it?”

“Kirikozou, with Tomara and Kaeme – the girl I told you about,” Kirikozou replied. He added in a quieter voice, “We brought him as well.”

“Excellent. Please accept my invitations.” A second later, an invite from Yamokuna popped up and I accepted it. I assume Kirikozou and Tomara did too, because she then opened the door wide and we stepped into her home.

On seeing Yamokuna, I have to admit I stared. Forget ‘formidable warrior’ – more like ‘middle-aged hippie’! Yamokuna’s avatar appeared to be in her 30s or 40s, with long white hair that had two tiny braids plaited into it, meeting round the back of her head like a crown. Kind of like an elf from Lord of the Rings! (The movie, that is). Tiny purple flowers were woven into the braids, and she was dressed in a white top with long, loose sleeves, and a sky-blue skirt that reached down to her feet and half-hid her brown sandals. I noticed some wavy lines on one of her hands and zoomed in on them; sure enough, they were the symbol for the Water wave, which was my Wave as well!!

I zoomed back out and hastily said, “I- I like your avatar,” to excuse my staring. Yamokuna smiled. “Thank you very much.”

Yamokuna’s home was as simple and old-fashioned as her avatar, and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. The Feudal Japanese design was continued inside as well as out: there was only one room, the floor covered with a woven tatami mat, a low wooden table in the middle, and a neatly-made futon in the corner. That was it! I couldn’t resist Whispering to Kirikozou,

“For such an advanced player, her home is really empty!”

For some reason, Kirikozou typed his response; it occurred to me that maybe he was already having a spoken Whispered conversation with Tomara, or Yamokuna.

Intrigued, I did as he instructed and gasped as a whole array of rare items appeared in the room! There were so many that I couldn’t begin to list them all: leaned up against the wall, scattered across the table, and clustered around the edges of the floor. Some I recognized, like the Staff of Timidity leant up against a table leg, and a Golden Grunty lying on the futon, but most were completely new to me and obviously very valuable. I remember a gold coin with a dragon on it, a handful of exotic-looking feathers, a heavy jeweled necklace that seemed to glow slightly, a thick leather-bound book (is it possible to read books in The World?), a stone disc with the Yin and Yang symbol carved into it, a crystal with a mysterious inner light, some glittery reptile scales and fang-like things that were probably obtained from a monster, and a dream-catcher hanging over the window. And that isn’t even half of it! All of these items transformed Yamokuna’s home from a bare hut into a treasure trove of mystic objects, like a new-age teashop or something.

I was most drawn to a colorful and intricately patterned staff leaning against the wall. It looked like a Wavemaster’s staff, so I gathered that was Yamokuna’s professional class. I moved towards it, zooming in to get a better look at the design, and heard Yamokuna approach behind me. “Ah, so you’ve noticed my staff?”

“It looks really rare,” I said wonderingly. “Is it… from Fragment?” I zoomed back out again and turned to look at her. She was smiling and nodding. “Yes, it is. Kirikozou told you about that, I take it?”

“Yeah, he did.” I found it quite funny how Yamokuna knew there was no question of Tomara having told me. I switched to third-person POV and saw that Kirikozou had seated himself on the tatami mat, the Enchanted Sleeper beside him, but Tomara had remained standing. His hair, for the moment, was still gray.

I moved over to sit next to Kirikozou, saying, “All of this stuff is amazing. It must have taken forever to collect!” I sounded all gushing and fangirl-y, but believe me, you should have seen the place!

Yamokuna smiled and sat down as well, which prompted Tomara to finally join us on the floor. “I have been playing The World for a long time, as I’m sure you’ve worked out by now. You could say I’m a rare hunter of sorts, although I don’t actively seek out rare items; I just like to keep them when they come along. However, I don’t adventure quite as much as I used to, so my collection hasn’t grown much of late. But it’s growing in value as time passes, and there are many users who would covet such items as these, so I hide them using a special program.”

I nodded, not knowing how else to respond to that, and we lapsed into silence. After a few moments, Yamokuna said in a serious tone,

“So, I hear that young Alyssa has been taken into custody.”

Kirikozou nodded, and it struck me that I hadn’t heard him speak in a while. No sooner had I had the thought than he said,

“Yes, and I mean to get her out of there, but I know that we can’t do that if we get captured as well.” He sounded sad and resigned, and I wanted to give him a hug.

Yamokuna nodded. “It would be best, then, if you could hide somewhere until you can formulate a plan.”

“Yeah,” Kirikozou agreed. “But anywhere we go, no matter how remote, they’ll still find us eventually. Is there anywhere in The World that the admins can’t get to?”

I jumped, those words striking the chord of a long-ago memory. I remember something about that… a place in The World where the admins can’t go… agh, if only I could remember what it’s called…

But I didn’t need to remember, because Yamokuna knew. “Yes, there is such a place,” she replied.

I heard Kirikozou’s sudden intake of breath over the headset I was wearing. “There is? Do you know how to get there?”

“Alas, it is a difficult place to reach, and one that I have been to but once or twice in my whole time playing this game.” Yamokuna didn’t sound optimistic.

Kirikozou was still hopeful. “But you have contacts, right? Could you ask them how, or arrange for our transportation there?”

“I may be able to,” Yamokuna said, “but in the meantime, there is somewhere else… I think…” She said the last two words almost to herself. I caught Kirikozou’s eye and frowned in slight confusion. Though Tomara’s avatar showed no expression, the ends of his hair were turning purple.

If Yamokuna noticed, she didn’t say anything, but continued with her cryptic musings. (Her confusing musing! Haha! XD). “Yes… I once heard of a place that is accessible only at a certain time and location… of course, this was some time ago, and I doubt the conditions will be repeated… but the place must still be there, even so… and I wonder, if the correct co-ordinate words were used, whether it would be possible to warp there.”

Her conclusion was met with a blank silence from the three of us; we had no idea what she was on about! After another moment or two of thought, Yamokuna seemed to realize that we were lost, and began to explain. “Some years ago, there were a number of rumors circulating on the message boards about a secret location in The World which could only be reached… what was it? “When the Twilight Eye doth open.” That was it. Apparently some players managed to work out the time and place in which this ‘Twilight Eye’ opened, and reach the hidden location.”

“Okay…” I said, just about managing to follow. “So I guess you’re saying this is someplace we can hide out? But how do we know that this ‘Eye’ will open again? If it was years ago…”

Yamokuna shook her head. “We don’t know, and in truth I doubt it will. But each place in The World has three co-ordinate words which can be used to warp there, and this location is no exception.”

Kirikozou frowned. “But if this place can be reached via the Chaos Gate just like any other, surely it’s not such a good hiding-place?”

“That would be true, if it could be reached by the Chaos Gate; but it cannot.”

Tomara’s hair was growing increasingly purple, and finally he burst out, “I don’t get it! Yamokuna, you’re not making any sense.” If Tomara was talking, things must be bad!

Yamokuna smiled apologetically. “Forgive me; I’m still thinking the matter through. What I’m trying to say is that as well as the three co-ordinate words, a special ability is required in order to reach a place that can’t technically be accessed – the ability to operate outside the rules of The World.”

There was another silence as the meaning of her words sank in. Of course, we all understood what she was implying: what else operates outside the rules of The World, but an AI?

“Kirikozou, you said that when Alyssa defended the Enchanted Sleeper from the Cobalt Knights, she was unexpectedly warped to another location, isn’t that right?” said Yamokuna. Kirikozou nodded vigorously.

“Yeah, and she didn’t press a single key. So you think the Enchanted Sleeper did that? Even though he’s asleep?”

“It’s the most fitting explanation I can find,” Yamokuna replied. I was getting seriously excited; everything suddenly made sense! And if we could manage to warp to this hidden location, a lot of our problems about getting caught by the Cobalt Knights would be solved. Not to mention that an AI with special abilities could really come in handy in a tight spot.

Kirikozou, too, was a lot more up-beat than before. “So, once we know these three co-ordinate words, we’re set! Yamokuna, do you think that you could somehow manage to find them out?”

“I’ll do my best,” Yamokuna promised. “I have several contacts who specialize in information of this sort, and I expect that at least one of them will have heard of the area.” That didn’t sound like Yamokuna would be able to provide an answer as quickly as I’d hoped, but I bit my lip and didn’t criticize her methods. It wasn’t like I could do any better!

“In the meantime,” Yamokuna advised us seriously, “I suggest that you stay at my home. It ought to have some protection from CC Corp should they manage to track you down. But I’d rather that they didn’t, of course, so I will see if I can organize some way of having their search misdirected.”

Wow, that is so cool! I thought. Yamokuna’s contacts must all be hardcore players as well – maybe hackers! I instantly felt bad about having complained, even if it was only in my head. Yamokuna was obviously doing her very best to help us, and she was taking the risk of getting into trouble by doing so.

Soon after that, I had to log off for lunch, and Kirikozou and Tomara for dinner. I haven’t had time to log back on since – even though it’s summer vacation, I still have chores and other annoying things like that. I keep thinking about the Enchanted Sleeper, and trying to work out the answer to the ‘puzzle’ that he is. Maybe Yamokuna will know it.

Author’s Notes: Oooh… dun dun dun! Hehehe xD I really wanted to finish this, even though I have homework that I now probably won’t have time to complete… so I hope you enjoy! >:( Oh, and if you’re confused by Alyssa’s apparent change of username, I had to alter that because a) there’s no reason why she’d write her username in Katakana when she’s not even part Japanese, and b) if she had, the admins would probably have traced the three to the JP server by now. I’ll try to go back and change chapter 1 to match soon, and I’ll probably make some other small changes as well, so don’t be surprised if you re-read it and find it’s changed. Things are always coming to light as I write, and watch more of .hack//sign).

Entry 4: Haven

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Hey again! Where did I leave off last entry? …Oh yes!

When I logged back in to my account the next morning, my avatar was standing in Yamokuna’s home just as I’d left her. No one else was there, except the Enchanted Sleeper, for whom a space had been cleared on the futon. The hut was dark, because the sun (or rather, the group of pixels which made up the sun in The World) hadn’t yet risen. I panned around, taking in the contents of the hut in this new light, and then jumped as Yamokuna materialised in front of me!

“Don’t do that!” I gasped automatically, before realising that it was a stupid thing to say, since there was no way she could have known I’d be standing nearby. “I mean..”

“Don’t worry,” said Yamokuna with a smile. “I am sorry for startling you.”

“…Isn’t it kind of late where you are now?” I said, kind of hesitant about asking a RL-related question to someone I’d hardly spoken to. And I wasn’t even sure that she lived in Japan! I didn’t, and yet I used the JP server.

Yamokuna didn’t seem to mind, though. “Actually it’s early, technically. But you’re right, I am rather tired… however, I logged on in order to give you something.” A moment later, a pinging sound told me I had a new email. “I could have sent it whilst offline, it’s true, but that would have been a little impolite.”

Curious, I opened up the email and saw that there was an attachment enclosed. I downloaded the file, opened it, and my eyes widened as I saw it was the transcript of a thread in the message boards. A pretty controversial thread at that. From the posting times and the fact that it was written in English, I guessed it was from the US boards. “How did you get this?” I couldn’t help but ask her.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Yamokuna replied with a tone of mysterious amusement. “That is, on the message boards before the thread was deleted.”

Here’s what the thread said:

POSTER: UBIQUITOUS SPY

TIME: 9:32 AM CST

Well here’s something I never thought I’d see. The Cobalt Knights, arguing on a public message board! Of course the announcement in question was deleted before us curious users could get a good look at it, but yours truly had the presence of mind to take a screenshot. Now I’m timing how long it takes for this thread to also be deleted… but enough of that; here’s the announcement:

I finished reading and looked up at Yamokuna, unsure what to think of what I’d just read. One thing was for sure: my view on the Cobalt Knights has changed drastically since a couple of days ago! Not only were they revealed to be arrogant and abusive, but they didn’t all agree, either! I used to think that they were like - well, knights really - an elite and efficient force existing for the good of The World, and nothing else. I suppose some might be like that, but it was silly to think that none would ever try to misuse their powers, or let them go to their head.

But the information the post contained… “Is this good or bad for us?” I voiced aloud. “This tip-off that said we were on the Chinese server… You did that, didn’t you?”

“Not myself directly, but yes, I engineered it,” Yamokuna confirmed with a smile. “My contacts work unusually efficiently… already a spanner has been thrown into the works of the Knights. Metaphorically speaking of course.”

“But that thing the last guy said…” I re-opened the window and scanned the post again. “It doesn’t sound like it had any effect.”

Yamokuna laughed a little. “It’s true that Cobalt Knight Lao is one of the few Knights with any sense… which means that he is sure to be overridden. On top of everything else, the Knights have an image to maintain, and so they are sure to try and make things look as if they are going well. They will perhaps humour him by keeping lookouts posted on this server, but their efforts will be concentrated on the CN server.”

“Right,” I replied. That was good, then. But I couldn’t help thinking that we were definitely criminals now, after - what was the phrase? - ‘perverting the course of justice’. (Always thought that was kind of a weird phrase xD And a bit dodgy!) Before, I’d been reassuring myself that we hadn’t actually done anything wrong, and that maybe the Cobalt Knights would realise that somehow, but now we were officially outlaws. It wasn’t as cool as I’d thought it would be.

And yet at the same time… If we really hadn’t done anything wrong in the first place, which I was sure we hadn’t, not even Alyssa really, then was it justice the Cobalt Knights were delivering by punishing us? I really wasn’t sure, and I’m still not. Thinking about it makes my head ache, and I expect my ramblings are boring to you anyway, so I’ll carry on with the story

Kirikozou appeared suddenly next to Yamokuna, and I jumped for the second time, but didn’t say anything about it. The appearance of his avatar was a little better, but he still looked worn out. Yamokuna turned to him and seemed to be examining him as well. “Should you be on here?” she asked gently. I wasn’t sure if she was worried about his health, or whether or not he had permission from his parents to be online.

Kirikozou shot a glance at me, seeming uncomfortable at having Yamokuna ask the question so openly. He was silent, and I think he must have replied to her in Whisper mode. I was about to go and examine some of Yamokuna’s rare treasures, feeling uncomfortable standing there like that, when their conversation appeared to end. Yamokuna shook her head and said,

“My contact has promised to retrieve the co-ordinate words for your hiding-place within a day. I will also try to obtain some information about Alyssa’s captivity, to aid you in your rescue efforts.” My heart sank at the reminder that we still needed to somehow rescue Alyssa - something which I’d put at the back of my mind. “For now, whilst we wait, perhaps it would be best to discuss your AI, the Enchanted Sleeper. He-”

Just then, Tomara materialised in the room, and I felt guilty at having not noticed that he wasn’t there. I’d kind of forgotten about him, since he’s normally so silent.

“Hello, Tomara. Do sit down - let’s all sit down,” said Yamokuna, and so we all did, in an area of the room that was largely free of objects. “I was just talking about your AI, the Enchanted Sleeper. I’ve been doing some tentative research, but I am wary of asking around for fear of attracting undue attention. However, I can assert that AIs are by no means a new concept in The World; in fact, I would go so far as to say that they are fairly common.”

“Not if the Cobalt Knights have anything to do with it,” interjected Kirikozou with a surprisingly bitter tone of voice.

“Well, quite,” acknowledged Yamokuna, “but AIs are remarkably adept at evading capture, and like Alyssa, there are many users who wish to protect them, and see them not as bugs or irregularities but just as another aspect of the game.”

“Like NPCs,” I clarified.

“To an extent, yes,” said Yamokuna, nodding. “Except that NPCs do not have the power to upset the entire system, and this is why the Cobalt Knight Brigade fears AIs so greatly.”

Fears? I frowned. I’d never thought of the Knights as being afraid of AIs. More like the other way around! They’re the ones with the power to delete, after all.

“The Enchanted Sleeper has already displayed signs of unorthodox abilities - specifically, the ability to transport a user at will, without the use of the Chaos Gate, even whilst asleep. It is likely that this is not his only ability.”

There was silence as we all took that in, and the complicated way that Yamokuna put it across. I found myself thinking that she must be a serious intellectual IRL, with all the long words she uses!

“So what else do you think he can do?” asked Kirikozou finally.

Yamokuna shrugged. “The answer to that… is probably beyond our power to imagine, because our imaginations are limited by the boundaries of the system.” I think I understood what she meant by that. “It is likely that we will not see just how much he can do until he awakes; however, I would also hazard a guess that the locket by itself has some abilities, perhaps data-altering.”

“Maybe it can fix Tomara’s hair!” I suggested with a sudden stroke of inspiration. Tomara suddenly seemed more interested in the conversation, but Yamokuna was doubtful.

“Whatever data alteration is causing your hair to change colour isn’t entirely confined within this game, Tomara,” said Yamokuna gravely. “Think about it. It changes colour not in response to any keys you press, or any data you input, but in response to your emotions, something which shouldn’t be displayed in the game unless you yourself choose to display it.”

The silence, this time, was stunned. Again, Kirikozou broke it, saying shakily, “S-so what does that mean? Will things in the game be able to affect Tom in real life?” Tomara poked him for using the hated nickname - or maybe it was his real name - but Kirikozou didn’t seem to notice. Yamokuna sighed.

“I have no idea…”

After that, the mood was very serious. It seemed like The World was becoming less and less of a game, of an escape from real-life problems, and more and more like a sinister entity, with a whole new set of problems for us to deal with. And yet at the same time, there was even less question of me stopping. I couldn’t back out now that I was involved in such heavy stuff, and besides, it was the kind of adventure I’d always secretly wanted. I’d heard of the Dot Hackers, and the Descendants of Fianna, and of hardcore players like Yamokuna who’d been involved with the beta version. I’d never thought that it would be possible for me or my friends to become as famous as those players… but we were already infamous, so it was a start! (Although granted, no one actually knew yet that I was involved).

Somehow, though, I wasn’t sure that Kirikozou and Tomara would think of it the same way. Tomara logged out shortly afterwards, claiming that he had to go to his part-time job, but I had a suspicion that it was more than that. I did my best to console Kirikozou in Whisper mode.

“You shouldn’t worry about it… really, there’s no way a game can affect someone in real life. Tomara will be fine.”

“Mmm,” he replied, sounding unconvinced. “But there’s something different about this game, you know? It’s not just your average MMORPG… it’s like another world altogether.”

I knew what he meant… but I still had to try and convince him, and me, that things would be okay. “Listen. Don’t think too much about it, okay? Log off and… do something else fun… and when you come back, Yamokuna will have the hiding-place co-ordinates and we can concentrate on rescuing Alyssa.”

Kirikozou was silent, and I bit my lip, waiting anxiously for his reply. What else was there for me to say?

“She’s right,” said Yamokuna, and I jumped horribly. How did she…?! “Sorry to eavesdrop, Kaeme,” Yamokuna apologised. “I have a program enabled which allows me to hear Whispered conversations, and I never thought to turn it off…”

Kirikozou laughed softly, which took me by surprise. I felt embarrassed, and tried to remember if I’d said anything personal to Kirikozou in Whisper mode. Crap, I’d insulted Yamokuna’s home…! “That’s really not fair,” I objected, deliberately trying to make myself sound like a sulky child in the hopes that it would cheer him up further. “I embarrass myself enough anyway without you using special programs!”

Yamokuna laughed as well. “I am sorry. I will remember to turn it off the next time we meet.” I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but I let it go. I badly wanted to ask what she and Kirikozou had been Whispering about before - after all, it was only fair! - but that would undo all the work we’d done on making him feel better.

“I think I will log off,” said Kirikozou, sounding, at least, a little less down. Like before in the dungeon, I targeted him and gave him a hug, then he disappeared as he logged out.

My stomach rumbled, reminding me that it was almost lunch-time! I was about to excuse myself when Yamokuna spoke.

“In recompense for my overhearing your conversation, I feel I ought to tell you what Kirikozou and I were talking about before…” she said, and my eyebrows went straight up. Could she read my mind as well?? “Kirikozou’s home life is… not the happiest.”

Hearing my intake of breath, she guessed what I was thinking and reassured me. “He isn’t abused, no, but… well, it isn’t my place to tell you the exact details. But you know that Kirikozou suffers from insomnia, of a sort…” I nodded. “And he is under a lot of stress… So, he uses The World as an escape from that: more than he should. I used to reason that it was fine as long as it made him happy, but now… since this business with the AI… it is not the haven for him that it once was. And so, he has nowhere else to go…”

My heart went out to Kirikozou. Even though I didn’t know exactly what his problems were, I could see for myself that he was unhappy. The World had been an escape for me, too, at times, and so I could imagine how it would feel to have that tainted by having me and my friends chased and persecuted. And at the same time, I could understand why he couldn’t just stop playing the game… I sighed heavily.

“Don’t take too many of his problems onto yourself, Kaeme,” Yamokuna said. “It isn’t good for you either. You’ve done all you can for him; you mustn’t spend too much of your time worrying about an online world.”

She sounded as if she was speaking from experience, as if she herself spent a lot of time worrying about Kirikozou. I couldn’t help but ask,

“Are you and Kirikozou… related? Somehow?”

Yamokuna laughed a little. “No, although goodness knows I act like his mother! No, we’ve never met offline, but being an adult, you feel a certain responsibility for young people on the internet.”

I nodded, and after a couple of minutes, logged off for lunch. Later, I thought about her words, and wondered if that meant she felt responsible for me as well.

Author's Notes: -sigh- Once again I have been horribly neglecting my workload in order to write this. Kirikozou’s not the only one with an obsession with The World ;-) If his situation seems similar to Tsukasa’s in some way - or in many ways - it’s not intentional. I don’t know the whole of Tsukasa’s story yet (working on it!) so I’m unable to avoid details that coincide. Besides, I reckon it’s not uncommon for players to use The World as an escape from RL.

Oh, and if you're confused about the mention of a locket, that's been changed since I wrote chapter 2. Basically, the Enchanted Sleeper also has a locket around his neck now.

And finally... the mistakes in Court Jester's email are intentional - both on my part and on his. He has a thing for homonyms ;)