Sword Art Online: Faithful Hymn

Chapter 39: Death Wish

March 23th, 01:00 PM

"What?! How the hell is that possible?!" shouts mister Shigemura to one of his employees. The two employees are showing the wild man some footage from late night's Ordinal Scale Boss Fights. There were four Boss Fights in total, in which two of the fights would obtain Yuna's appearance, although she hasn't been sighted at the Boss Fight areas. Neither has she been spotted that entire night! Tetsuhiro places his hand on his forehead in order to think straight.

"But how... Yuna has been here yesterday and the day before, as well as the studio, meaning it took at least one Memory Candy. So why doesn't it obey anymore?"

In deep thought, Tetsuhiro's employees are merely looking at him, awaiting a response from the boss. The three workers all are in Tetsuhiro's office, which is isolated by the invisible door made out of nano technology.

"It can't just be that it malfunctioned on its own. Maybe that kid, did he lock it up? He must have noticed by now that it was behaving strange."

"God damn it." says mister Shigemura softly. It didn't matter to him whether his employees heard him swear or not. They know how frustrating it was for mister Shigemura to see a replica of his daughter wandering around the globe, not truly seeing his daughter in it. This also isn't what both Shoji's and Tetsuhiro's goals were to begin with. Although with each passing minute, Tetsuhiro gets the feeling that it was Shoji's goal all along.

That he doesn't mind that Yuuna would get replaced by machinery.

"Gentlemen, would it be possibly for Yuna to get trapped, resulting in her disappearance around Tokyo?" asks Tetsuhiro with tranquility in his heart. Despite being filled with rage and anger, he knows he has to behave himself around his employees, even though they know how Tetsuhiro could be when he gets angry.

"No sir. If it were to happen, Yuna would send a signal to our database and we would be able to obtain her GPS signal. This has not happened, meaning that she is not trapped." says the blonde-haired developer, Koshiro. Tetsuhiro knows how advanced both Koshiro and Watari, the same developers who Shoji met the same day he met Yuna are, thus he knows they wouldn't be mistaken when they tell him what they know. For the first time in Tetsuhiro's life, Watari opens his mouth.

"However, it's possible that Yuna's program got manipulated by the boy..." Tetsuhiro looks at the boy with surprised eyes. How in the world would he be able to do that, he thinks.

"Manipulated by the boy himself? How did you think it was smart to design Yuna that way? The Memory Candies are supposed to overwrite Yuna's closest ties?!" shouts Tetsuhiro at the two men. Apparently, Tetsuhiro has in mind that the two developers created the Memory Candies wrong, not giving them full power over Yuna. But that's not the worst thought Tetsuhiro has about all this.

"And don't you dare to give me the 'power of love' crap everyone else would give..."

Both men have to take a deep breath, before they are about to give the information to Tetsuhiro that he does not know about yet. Regarding the AI, Tetsuhiro almost has no knowledge. Regarding the Augma however, he is the lead developer regarding that. And as far as he is concerned, the Augma would not help them to regain Yuna's senses. Only these two men are capable of doing that, except...

"There is only one way to manipulate Yuna's program. It's via the machine itself, which should be in perfect condition." says Koshiro, taking it over from Watari. Watari nods in agreement to what Koshiro just said. "Oh is that so? Well then let's take a look at the machine, shall we?" says Tetsuhiro, who is so frustrated about the situation that it appears to be a stupid game for him. He might have minor knowledge about Yuna's development, but he isn't stupid. If these two men tell him that Yuna's capsule is the only way of adjusting her program, then the answer has to lie within that machine.

Tetsuhiro opens the door to his office, revealing the door that isolated the room from the upper floor. Koshiro and Watari lead mister Tetsuhiro to the machine, to the one place that can change Yuna's program entirely. That being: The back of the machine. The two tables next to the machine still are filled with all kinds of paper. It's such a mess on the tables, even before Shoji and Shino went to investigate the room. No one could tell the difference between before Shoji's investigation, and after his investigation in the room.

"Behind here should be five wires, each representing Yuna's lifelines. It's even written down on a paper on the table here." says Koshiro, as Tetsuhiro grabs the paper that lies on top of the table, seeing the following:

The Red-colored Wire: Power
The Blue-colored Wire: Memories
The Green-colored Wire: Knowledge
The Yellow-colored Wire: Memory Candy
The Purple-colored Wire: Inventory

After studying the piece of dusty paper, Tetsuhiro immediately knows what the issue has to be here.

"The yellow-colored wire. Is something wrong with that?" asks Tetsuhiro, while Koshiro immediately opens the panel that hides these wires. Seconds after opening the panel, both Koshiro and Watari both seem shocked to see that the yellow wire indeed got cut.

"The yellow wire, it got sabotaged!" shouts Watari, letting Tetsuhiro know what the problem is. Tetsuhiro is absolutely frantic, throwing over one table to try to control the rage he is in.

"Fuck!" yells the man all around him. He is mad at the two developers, while at the same time being mad at himself. How could he have allowed himself to let Yuna get screwed over so easily? The two men also are pissed off, and they do know that they shouldn't blame Tetsuhiro for this. It is not his fault after all, it's theirs.

"Damn it. Sir, should we cut any other wires?" says Koshiro out of frustration. Tetsuhiro knows why he suggests it. He knows that Koshiro and Watari both are in frustration as well, thus he can't blame the man for suggesting such a ridiculous idea in the first place.

"No, all of these lifelines are essential for its development regarding Ordinal Scale! Check the cameras! Find out who did this!"

The two developers head for the cameras, hoping that it won't take too long for them to find evidence.

5 minutes later

"Sir, we've found something!" shouts Koshiro, with Tetsuhiro biting his nails and tapping his feet in anxiety and anger. He then quickly stands up, shouting.

"Tell me what you see immediately!" The two men look at the vague recordings of the old cameras hanging in the room. They can definitely see Shoji in the image, as well as another person that they don't seem to recall. Since the footage is monochrome, they can't tell what color the girl has for possible identification.

"It's.. that boy! And a girl it seems, although no idea who that could be..." says the man, worrying about what will happen to him now that Tetsuhiro knows what has been happening two days ago, on the Saturday where he held his Augma Presentation.

"So it was you Shoji... How did you get in? I had the receptionist with the eyes of a hawk standing duty that day... a distraction?" thinks Tetsuhiro in himself, while the two developers are awaiting a response from him. As soon as he wants to open his mouth to the two developers, a woman arrives at the room, knowing that she is not allowed to come this far into the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt mister Shigemura, but it appears that two youngsters infiltrated this section last Saturday, while a girl kept distracting me. I assume they worked together to get in, after I sent the boy you requested me to keep away outside." says the receptionist to the man, who clenches his fists together, adjusting his glasses correctly.

"Sir, should we call the police?" It's a violation to access this area after all!" says Watari, quite shocked. Tetsuhiro keeps clenching his fists together, knowing that he would not keep his word when he decides to send the boy, as well as the girls to prison. He also starts to gain a smile on his face.

"Is this the game you want to play, Shoji?"