Also, having learned that the number of player deaths had already reached over one thousand at that time and yet in spite of that even the first dungeon had not been broken through, she realized that waiting inside for the game to be cleared was useless. In the beginning, Asuna had locked herself within an inn room in the Starting City to wait for the incident to end, but after two weeks passed with no word from the real world, she gave up hope on being saved from outside. That’s why even she couldn’t explain why, on that day one month ago, on the afternoon of November 6, 2022, she had visited her brother's vacant room, taken the fully set-up Nerve Gear from the top of his desk, placed it on her head, and said «Link Start».įrom just one action, everything changed on that day…no, it could be said to have ended. She knew about the existence of net games, but with high school entrance exams closing in, she had no reason or motivation to be interested in them-or that was how it should have been.
#Intermission 1 and 2 free
Though not as extreme as Kouichiro, the only experience of game playing that Asuna, a third-year middle school student, had previously had up until now were free games on her cell phone once in a while. On the day before his departure, when facing her from his seat at the dining table, he had complained about it jokingly, but she sensed that he genuinely had regrets about it. On the first day of game's official service, he was sent on a business trip overseas. Ironically however, Kouichiro would not be able to play the first game he bought in his life. Why that brother of hers would be interested in Nerve Gear…no, in SAO, was something that she did not, even now, understand. Born as the first son to the president of the huge electronics-manufacturing company «Recto», he had grown up while receiving all the education and training needed for him to become his father’s successor, and at the same time being excluded from everything unnecessary to that. However, even for her brother, things like MMORPGs or anything with the name of 'game' had been unrelated to his life since his youth. The dream VR interface and cursed killing machine, «Nerve Gear», and the game disc of the prison of an immeasurable number of souls, «Sword Art Online», hadn’t been purchased by Asuna, but by her older brother Kouichirou. Why, at that time, did she touch a new game machine that was not even hers? Why did she place it on her head, lie down on the mesh recliner, and issue the start command? The moment her eyes met his dark-colored eyes, she felt small fireworks exploding in her head.įrom between her grinding teeth, Asuna-Yuuki Asuna, forced out a low, hoarse voice.Īfter being imprisoned in this world, Asuna had asked herself hundreds and thousands of times.