Prologue There were three deep green lighted dots, they were aligned like a modest constellation. Kirigaya Suguha extended the finger of her right hand, probing the lights. The LED indicators displayed the current operating status of the FullDive model VR machine, «Nerve Gear». Situated on the front part of the headgear, the indicators monitored—from the right—the main power, network connection, and cerebral connection. At the moment that the light on the far left edge were to turn red, it would signify the destruction of the brain of the gear’s user. The owner of the gear was on a spacious gel bed in the middle of a completely off-white hospital room, in a never awakening sleep. No, that was not an accurate expression. In actuality, his soul was currently fighting day and night in some far away parallel universe—risking his liberation along with several thousand other people being held as captive players. “Onii-chan...” Suguha called out to her quietly sleeping brother, Kazuto. “Already two years have passed, huh.... I—next time I’ll be a high school student, you know.... If you don’t return soon, I’ll eventually get ahead of you...”