There was no wind back home. The afternoon came to an end, and we were busy putting things in order, making sure everything was neat and properly set before leaving. There was no time to be lost, we had so little of it left. We were really heartened, and it was done very quickly; plates back in the drawer, curtains closed, each room given a sweep, windows cleaned... Merely an hour and a half, and the house looked like we had cleaned everything before going on a trip. I smiled at the thought; yeah, we were going on a trip. Except that it was one-way only, and that we'd never come back.

I looked through the window, and saw that clouds were coming; they were grey, but not menacing. They looked like a very long and very wide carpet of light grey that was covering both night and earth. The sun was already hidden beyond the horizon. I looked up and saw the first stars appearing, not long before being swallowed by the clouds. I thought it was going to rain tonight. I closed the curtains and went back to our room.

When I entered, I heard music. It was a slow, melancholic tune. Kazuto was sitting on the bed, playing his guitar, drawing deep and forlorn sounds from it. I felt the sadness of the melody, I heard the lament of the song. He didn't like to do much outside of gaming, but he sure knew how to play guitar. When he saw me, he started playing faster, and it made his music more high-pitched. I preferred it when he played like this. The melody sounded just as ineluctable to the ear, but at least it wasn't filled with despair. It sounded like… acceptance. It sounded as if the musician was walking to his doom, the head high, a smile on his lips, while playing this tune, sneering at heaven and hell, knowing that there was nothing where he was going, but he had to go anyway.

Kazuto was always better with music than he was with words, and this music… I broke a little inside when I heard him going up all the range of the strings… Then I was mended when I heard the melody after. It was his favourite piece, the one he practiced in secret at night, at times he should be sleeping. The only piece he ever learned by heart. Unconsciously, I started swinging my head to his melody. I loved this piece too; I could hear it over and over for hours.

When he had finished, he put his guitar back in its case, and then back in the closet. I heard him sigh. "Man, I'm so tired… Time to go to bed, I guess." I smiled, and nodded. "Yes. It's time to sleep, Kazuto." I undressed, put on a nightgown, and lain down by his side. We shared a short kiss, before putting on our Full-dive devices. I never understood why he kept his NerveGear; to me, it was reminiscent only of horrible memories. But maybe he forged good memories with it. He never told me, I never asked him. I felt with certainty that I would never get to ask him; I didn't know why. It was stupid from me, knowing that we'd soon get reunited on the other side. But there were some fears you could never get rid of.

I was about to connect my AmuSphere, when I saw that Kazuto had already started his NerveGear, and most likely closed his eyes; His breath was dwindling slowly. Soon, he'd be waiting for me on the other side. I took off my necklace; on it was the wedding ring he offered me, a simple golden ring – it wasn't worth much, that was true, but to me it had the special worth that only gifts like that have – and I put it around his neck. I kissed him one last time, he was about to go, and I whispered in his ear "Happy birthday, Kirito." And I closed my eyes.

***

In Tokyo, there was snow in the evening. The city that had fallen silent, devoid of voices was now covered by a white blanket, falling with the night, that made it devoid of any sound, any soul. This night, Tokyo became white, and cold. Tokyo was dead.

***

I closed my eyes. The NerveGear was covering them, so it didn't really matter; I felt it was a good thing, though. I'd go with a relaxed face, as it should be. I felt Death coming; it was blue, like a wave slowly sweeping through my body, millimetre by millimetre, making it cold, making it dead. It was like a hand that I had taken, leading me away from my body. I knew that at the second I'd be completely gone, I would instantly be back in the NerveGear's memory, and then I would become a sentient program on the world's internet. But right now, there was nothing. I was not gone yet. I felt the blue coming to my head, and I sighed my last breath.

Dying… It was an indescribable sensation. Who could ever say "I know how dying feels"? Nobody could. It wasn't even really a sensation. It was like… a lack of every single possible sensation in the world. You simply didn't feel yourself anymore. Then, I saw Death. It was infinite. Not infinite as in, "immensely immense", but infinite in the true sense of the word. Infinite as in, "It ends nowhere." Truly. I saw where Death came to an end, and it was Nowhere. And Death smiled at me. I didn't see its smile. But I felt it. It was a snarky grin, and I knew Death was amused.

I heard its voice. The voice of Death… Imagine Agil's voice, or the deepest baritone possible. Now imagine that, but even deeper, and spoken through the tubes of an organ. Now think that you have barely started scraping the surface. Ninety-nine percent of it is underwater, like an iceberg. Well, even that is far from what it felt like. Death's voice is infinitely deep. To the point I am not even sure that it said anything. Perhaps it simply made me think something, and I dreamed the rest. I don't know. But I understood. "So, you come to say hello?", he said. "It's a shame you can't stay longer. I was eager to talk with you. Well, if it can't be helped… See you next time, Kazuto Kirigaya, my friend." And Death was gone. There was only darkness, I felt it. But I wasn't dead; for the shortest instant of a split second, I had been, and this instant is all Death needed to come to me. But I wasn't dead. I felt something grabbing my belly button, and dragging me back, byte by byte.

Darkness vanished as I faded away, and byte by byte, I was whole again. I felt the familiar sensation of coming online, and I saw the NerveGear's lobby materialize around me. There was only whiteness, that boring whiteness. I waited for my program, "Trickster Hand", to activate. Trickster Hand had only one goal; overwrite the NerveGear programming, and allow me to fully become an internet entity, with administrator rights. I counted down the milliseconds. Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…

"Link Start", I whispered reflexively. And I came online. It was staggering, excruciating, shattering; the amount of information circulating on the internet. I read, I heard… I felt every piece of information. It was at this moment that I was glad to be a program and not a human being anymore. I think I'd have died from the information overflow. I saw that there were many questions about my death. Yeah, I hadn't given any sign of life since last week. "Yeah, I died", I thought, "I died and I came back to life on the internet." And I felt that thought propagate throughout the entire internet network. Anyone who was online could feel my thoughts. Kirito had died and became virtual.

Oops. I didn't mean to ping everyone. Quickly, I separated the internet from my consciousness. It was becoming painful, and I didn't want to share my every thought with every single person. Once that was done, I checked my parameters. Kirito, administrator, Root account, SEED administrator; all my games were also there. It didn't really matter at this point, since I could infiltrate any game, but I felt like it wasn't really okay to do so. Yeah, I'd play them, but I'd pay for them first. I'm not poor, I can spend the money I have. Not like it'll have any other use at this point. I didn't even need electricity. Yeah, I had been uploaded from my personal computer, but now I was part of the entire internet, without a need for a connection to reality. For obvious reasons, I didn't need food or water anymore, nor medical care.

I thought of that manga I liked to read, back in my youth. It was called JoJo's Epic Adventure. I remember the second arc, Combat Tendency. The villain managed to become "the ultimate lifeform" through magic. It was quite boastful on my part, but I briefly thought the same way. I needed nothing to live, and could do almost anything I wanted to. Through technology, I had become something of an ultimate lifeform too.

It was blasphemous, I thought. I wasn't ultimate. I didn't want to be. You're so lonely, at the top… No one can come by your side and give you hugs. You cannot feel anything anymore, because you've surpassed everything else. It's boring. I wondered, how does God feel, up there? I bet he plays a lot of games, simply to keep himself entertained. I shook those thoughts away, and I started connecting to ALO to meet up with everyone. It was around 23:00, everyone should be online. As I entered the connection queue, I heard footsteps behind me. I looked around, and I saw Kayaba coming towards me, the hands in the pockets of his lab coat.

He greeted me with a smile, that was somehow negated by his ever-distant, bored gaze. "Hiya, Kirito. How does dying feel?" he asked me.

- “I didn't really feel anything at the moment. Before, I was all comfy in bed; during, there was nothing, and after, I was here. Anyway. Good evening, Mr. Kayaba. How are you doing?”

- “Before that, let me wish you a happy birthday. Then, to answer your question, I was waiting for you. Since I heard the news of the epidemic outbreak in Japan, I was wondering whether or not you'd survive through the endeavour.”

- “Ah, I did. I died, too, but I survived. Now, I'm about to meet up with Asuna in ALO. I guess you still haven't made a character for the game?”

- “You're right, I still haven't played this game. To be honest, in the early years of ALO, I feared the people's reaction if I ever were to connect to a game. I didn't want the internet to turn into a massive witch hunt; I didn't want the SEED to be erased because I took the freedom to enjoy myself. So, I played minesweeper."