On the top floor of the Yggdrasil Corporation headquarters.
In the vast and empty top-floor office, Akihiko Kayaba met two people so young they seemed unbelievable to him.
"You two are... the directors of Yggdrasil?"
At Akihiko Kayaba's question, Luo Shu, sitting in the sofa chair behind the desk, couldn't help but reveal a slight smile. "I don't think anyone would deliberately play such a crude joke on you, Dr Kayaba."
Hearing the pointed remark, before Akihiko Kayaba could say anything, Shigemura Tetsuhiro at his side quickly interjected, "It seems my disappointing student has been left stunned by the two of you!"
Shigemura Tetsuhiro smiled, breaking the ice, and turned to introduce them to Akihiko Kayaba. "Kayaba, this is the director of the Yggdrasil Group, Mr Luo Shu."
"And the lady beside him is Senior Managing Director Kasumigaoka. Both are senior executives of the Yggdrasil Group, so there's no need to be surprised."
"Of course, if you want to lament that you've wasted your life, then by all means, go ahead. After all, even I, your professor, can't help but think that every time I see these two."
Hearing Shigemura Tetsuhiro's ice-breaking words, Luo Shu lowered his gaze slightly, glanced at Akihiko Kayaba, and then said with a smile, "Dr Shigemura, you're joking again."
"Compared to cheaters like us who rely on our backgrounds, researchers like you are the true cornerstones of Yggdrasil."
One good turn deserves another. Since Shigemura Tetsuhiro had praised him, Luo Shu naturally didn't mind returning the favour. Besides, even if he didn't consider Shigemura Tetsuhiro's feelings, he had to consider his daughter Yuna's. As a relative of a Familia candidate, Luo Shu might even become family with Shigemura Tetsuhiro in the future, in a sense. A little courtesy was, of course, necessary.
At that moment, although Shigemura Tetsuhiro was delighted to hear Luo Shu's praise, he maintained his composure and said, holding back a smile, "To describe me as a cornerstone is a bit too much of an overstatement."
"I've merely combined some things already researched by the Copernicus labs with existing industrial technology to create some derivative products."
"If we're talking about a true cornerstone, it has to be Kayaba."
At this point, Shigemura Tetsuhiro paused and said with a smile, "My apologies, I seem to have gotten a bit carried away."
"Since I've brought him here, I won't disturb you any longer."
Understanding that some matters were not for him to know, Shigemura Tetsuhiro tactfully took his leave. But before he left, he clapped Akihiko Kayaba on the shoulder as he passed and reminded him, "Seize this opportunity."
With that, Shigemura Tetsuhiro left the office without a backward glance.
Once the man was gone, Luo Shu finally turned his gaze to Akihiko Kayaba.
Looking at the man before him, dressed in a white lab coat with a scholarly air, Luo Shu found it somewhat hard to imagine that this was the kind of madman who would trap ten thousand innocent people to die just to fulfil his own dream.
But regardless, now that they had met, the necessary assessments had to be made.
"This might be a bit forward of me, but Dr Kayaba, you're supposed to be speaking at the press conference tomorrow as the game's designer, aren't you?"
Hearing this, Akihiko Kayaba subconsciously fiddled with the hem of his lab coat, then said in as calm a voice as he could manage, "The CEO did indeed make such arrangements."
At this, Luo Shu said with a smile, "Would you mind telling us your thoughts for tomorrow? For instance, how are the preparations for your speech coming along?"
Hearing that Luo Shu was curious about this, Akihiko Kayaba breathed a sigh of relief, his expression relaxing slightly. "If Director Luo and the Senior Managing Director don't mind, I can briefly outline my ideas."
Just as Akihiko Kayaba was looking directly at the two people behind the desk, speaking eloquently, the space behind the desk he was staring at was, in fact, completely empty, with only a row of enormous, transparent floor-to-ceiling windows.
Yet, even though no one was there, Akihiko Kayaba's gaze remained fixed on that spot, as if two people were supposed to be there.
At that moment, by the bookshelf to the right, Luo Shu leaned against the wooden shelf and said with a smile, "How's the subconscious probe going?"
As Luo Shu asked, Utaha Kasumigaoka, dressed in her Toyogasaki High School uniform, slowly opened a black book with Akihiko Kayaba's face on its cover and began flipping through its contents. "Just as you explained to Jinguuji, this guy did indeed tamper with Shigemura Tetsuhiro's game helmet design, adding some illegal devices."
"Not only that, but he also secretly adjusted the developer permissions within the dedicated servers set up by Yggdrasil."
"If we hadn't planned to intervene, he really could have turned Aincrad, which goes on sale tomorrow, into his personal paradise by holding the players hostage!"
Hearing this, Luo Shu narrowed his eyes and said knowingly, "In other words, there's not much difference from what I already knew?"
"...The only difference is probably that you increased the number of beta testers tenfold." Utaha Kasumigaoka closed the book, then glanced at Akihiko Kayaba and flicked her hair. "I've already sent all the details of his little tricks to Tabane Shinonono."
"So, you made a point of meeting him just to control all the variables and prevent any accidents?"
At this, Luo Shu smiled. "After all, with the number of people rising to the hundred-thousand mark, I was worried Akihiko Kayaba might choose to give up."
"After all, there's a bit of a difference between killing ten thousand people and killing a hundred thousand."
"I'm sorry, but this man's head is filled with nothing but his dream of another world. As for how many people will die, apart from a single 'sorry', he has almost zero other emotions."
With that, Utaha Kasumigaoka looked up at Akihiko Kayaba and said, "This man is a madman who only thinks of himself."
Luo Shu fell silent for a moment, sizing up Akihiko Kayaba, before sighing. "So, there's no mastermind behind him?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka immediately understood, and the book formed from his subconscious reappeared in her hand. She sighed, speaking with a practised air, "Go on, who do you want to frame? I can edit it right now..."
"Don't make it sound so bad~" Luo Shu chuckled, then narrowed his eyes, a playful smile on his face. "However, an incident of this magnitude does need a suitable scapegoat..."
"But, as of now, I haven't decided who the scapegoat will be."
"You haven't decided on a target yet?" Utaha Kasumigaoka was a little surprised to hear this.
Just then, Luo Shu smiled, his tone full of teasing. "What can I do? After all, I don't know who's going to sing a different tune from me at the Union meeting tomorrow."
Utaha Kasumigaoka was suddenly silent. "So, the meeting hasn't even started, and you've already prepared a crime for someone!"