1 - Noble Son, Watch Things Unfold

“Thank you for using the Tokaido Shinkansen. We are currently passing Toyohashi Station right on schedule. Our next stop will be...”

“Mmm!” Asuha Tsuwabuki wriggled in her seat and stretched with a pleased smile on her face. “Skipping morning practice gives me so much excess energy in the morning! Hey, Kiryu. You know what I mean?”

“No, Tsuwabuki,” Sera Kiryu said, manipulating a portable game with a grimace. “Unlike you, I’m an indoors type.”

That was not, of course, to say that her friend seemed particularly unhappy; this was just the way things were between them. Sera had difficulty with the honest expression of feelings, which Asuha found equally infuriating and enticing, in terms of making teasing feel worthwhile.

Asuha was on her way to the home of her second cousin, Ichiro Tsuwabuki, for a brief summer vacation visit. This was something she did every year, but this year, her classmate Sera Kiryu would be accompanying her.

Sera was a born and bred gamer, and had developed quite a reputation within the VRMMO world Narrow Fantasy Online, where Asuha and Ichiro both played. Sera’s initial response to her invitation had been, “I’ll think about it,” but eventually, the young gamer had assented.

Asuha also knew that despite Sera’s play at indifference, the Miraive Gear X virtual reality console was currently carefully packed away in her friend’s travel bag. Asuha giggled.

“What?” Sera asked.

“Nooothing!”

After a long time struggling with it, Asuha had recently begun to appreciate the fun there was to be had in a VRMMO. The “Hydro Blaster” miracle pitch she had perfected by combining the “Throwing Skill” exclusive to Thief-type classes with her real-life softball ace pitcher experience was getting her some acknowledgment from the players around her of late. (What she didn’t know was that that part of that interest was spurred by the rumor that the cute female avatar Felicia was inhabited by a genuine girl in middle school... but perhaps, in this regard, ignorance was bliss.)

Regardless, Asuha was looking forward to the sleepover more than she had in previous years. She wanted to see Ichiro and Sera engaging in game talk up close, and maybe even try weighing in on it herself.

While Asuha giggled happily, she received an e-mail on her phone. “Oh, it’s from Itchy!”

Her words caused Sera to perk up suddenly and look over at her.

“Hmm, let’s see...” Asuha manipulated the phone with practiced motions to check her e-mail. The message was composed in truly Ichiro-like perfect sentences.

“As my NaroFan account has been hacked, we may be delayed in meeting up with you.”

The contents of the message made little sense to her, aside from the part about being late to meet them. Still, it was clear that something serious must have happened.

Since it seemed game-related, she decided that the swiftest route to understanding would be to ask her companion. “Kiryu, what does it mean for an account to be hacked?”

Sera looked up at Asuha, eyes narrowing in what looked like a glare. The intensity behind it caused Asuha to draw back slightly.

“Huh? What is it?” she asked.

“The old man got hacked?” Sera demanded.

“Y-Yeah... That’s what he said.”

Sera abruptly snapped the portable game system shut, then began rooting through the bag beneath the seat, producing a large box from within: the Miraive Gear’s packaging. The fact that it had even been stored in styrofoam for the trip was an indication of how carefully the young gamer treated it.

Asuha was confused, though. What was the point of pulling it out now? “Huh? What? What’s going on?”

“A person’s account is basically their online data address,” said Sera. “It’s like an ID card, and you can do all kinds of things with it. To hack someone’s account means to steal that ID.”

“Huh? Wh-What does that mean?” Asuha asked.

“It means someone besides the old man is logged in with the old man’s avatar,” said Sera. “They can do whatever they want with it. I’m sure the devs will step in soon, but...” Sera swiftly put on the Miraive Gear helmet.

“Huh? Huh?! What are you doing, Kiryu?!” Asuha exclaimed.

“I’m going to log on using the shinkansen’s Wi-Fi. Wake me up when we’re in Tokyo.”

That was the last thing Sera said before tilting the seat back all the way, then lying still, arms folded. It was clearly an attempt at keeping the body stabilized in the most relaxing posture possible. An older foreign man sitting behind them let out a bark of surprise in response, to which Asuha offered up a fervent apology.

It seemed Sera’s consciousness had already drifted off into the quantum space. Asuha was so baffled by the whole display that she even forgot to buy the on-board ice cream she usually looked forward to every year.

Kirschwasser called his trusty steed Oukaou from his inventory, then mounted it.

Iris and Nem jumped on, as well, and the three squeezed together on the saddle. They were probably just at the horse’s weight limit, which suggested it was a good thing that both Iris and Nem wore light equipment.

“Mr. Kirsch, you have a horse?” Iris asked.

“I purchased it just recently,” said Kirschwasser. “I’ve always wanted one. I call him Green Oukaou.”

“But isn’t he black? Why green?”

“It’s a reference I suspect you wouldn’t get.” Kirschwasser kicked Oukaou in the side to get him running, and the people coming and going on main street turned curiously to see what was going on.

Iris held on tightly with one hand, while opening her menu to check something with the other. It was the guild member window. She touched the name “Ichiro Tsuwabuki” to check his current status and location.

When a guild was first created, the members were able to choose how much information its players shared between them. In the case of Iris Brand, they had gone with near full information sharing, including the ability to pinpoint your members’ exact locations.

“Mr. Kirsch, the young heir has already left town!” she cried.

“That is quite bad,” Kirschwasser said grimly.

Outside the city—in other words, in the field—there was nothing you could do to stop someone from attacking you. In the area around Glasgobara, most of the players were in the intermediate level range. A player with top stats like Ichiro could easily cause a bloodbath.

“He’s got the special ‘Flying’ status invoked,” continued Iris. “The movement icon is blinking, too.”

“Master Ichiro’s ‘Dragon Wings’ Skill has gotten quite high since I last saw it,” said Kirschwasser. “I’m uncertain if Oukaou could catch up with him.”

Kirschwasser had also raised his “Horseback Riding” Skill level quite high, in addition to taking the sub-Skill “Swift Horse.” But while the streets in town were straightforward, out in the field, they’d be running into more rugged terrain. Since Duplichiro could ignore terrain, he would be able to move around with far greater efficiency.

Oukaou took his three riders out through the gate of Glasgobara and onto the mountain road. To their right was the Great Sandsea; to the left was the road to the Volgund Volcanoes and the Lancastio Spiritwood Sea. Iris directed them left, and Kirschwasser turned the horse accordingly.

His main concern was whether Oukaou would hold out. As they were technically items, steeds came with durability ratings, which decreased if they took attacks or were ridden hard enough. They were also a rare kind of item that couldn’t have their durability restored by a Blacksmith or an Alchemist. To restore their durability, you had to use special items, or simply let time pass. Oukaou still had time to go, but Kirschwasser wasn’t sure how long he could keep the horse racing along like this.

“Ah, um, Mr. Kirsch!” Iris’s voice trembled as she clung to him.

“Yes?”

“What’s the real young heir doing now?”

“He told me he was going to contact the devs,” said Kirschwasser. “I’m sure they’ll be taking countermeasures of their own soon, but...”

“Is his account going to get frozen?” Iris asked.

Kirschwasser nodded. Yes, no matter how shoddy the devs’ countermeasures might be, the moment they confirmed unauthorized access, the account would be frozen.

“I still haven’t heard from Azami...” Nem whispered, just barely audible amidst the sound of hoof beats. But with both Ichiro and Nem contacting her, she surely must be aware of the situation, and the developers would be taking action of some kind any time now.

This was what Kirschwasser didn’t understand.

What would the impostor Ichiro—now called Duplichiro for convenience—want to hack his account for? His behavior had made it immediately clear that he was a fake, and it didn’t seem like he was trying to move items or money around. He’d just rushed out the door as quickly as he could. An account suspension would end his spree easily.

“If the young heir’s account is suspended, what will happen to Iris Brand?” Iris asked.

“MARY or The Kirihitters... we may have to borrow one of their names, even if temporarily,” said Kirschwasser. “I don’t know what happens if the guild leader’s account is frozen.”

“I hope we won’t have to break up, but... ah, Duplichiro’s movement icon disappeared.”

“What did you say?” Kirschwasser spurred his steed faster.

In the middle of the road, there was a group of Fighters all dressed in black coats. They seemed to be arguing over something. A few other players were present, and if he squinted, he could confirm that Duplichiro was among them.

“Speak of the Kirihitters...” Iris began.

Kirschwasser nodded. “Indeed...”

There was a spark of danger crackling between Kirihito (Leader) and Duplichiro. It seemed Kirschwasser’s greatest fear was unfolding. If there was any silver lining, it was that the people drawn into it included people he knew, which would give him a greater berth to explain what was going on.

Kirihito (Leader) seemed to be on the verge of drawing his sword, while Duplichiro just stood there looking aloof. He had none of the usual cool aura that hung around the real thing; he was just grinning in an irritating way.

Kirschwasser wanted to shout, “Master Ichiro would never smile like that!” In fact, it was a real challenge to temper his desire to spur Oukaou straight into the chaos and finish things straight away.

“Both of you, enough!” he called in a stern voice completely unlike that of Sakurako Ogi, then broke in between them with Oukaou.

The first response, predictably enough, came from Kirihito (Leader). “Mr. Kirsch! What has come over Mr. Tsuwabuki?”

From horseback, Kirschwasser looked out over those assembled and quickly took stock of the situation. There was one player present who had taken a great deal of damage—an intermediate level player.

So Duplichiro was on a killing spree. The fact that the player hadn’t died immediately suggested that either Duplichiro wasn’t using his full power, or that he was just playing around.

The Kirihitters must have just been passing by, and perhaps overtaken by righteous indignation, they had tried to stop him. Kirschwasser was grateful to Kirihito (Leader) for his restraint in not attacking Duplichiro immediately, among other things.

“That is not Ichiro. He is somebody else,” Nem said, and Kirschwasser dismounted with a nod of agreement.

“An account hack? Can that even happen in NaroFan?” Kirihito (Leader) asked.

“As far as I know, this is the first case of it,” said Kirschwasser.

The group as a whole cast penetrating gazes at Duplichiro. All of their gazes were critical, but there were also traces of hatred, and some curiosity. Duplichiro didn’t seem to mind at all. At least in audacity, he was an equal to the real thing.

Kirschwasser smoothly drew his Knight Sword and pointed the tip towards Duplichiro. The Kirihitters looked shocked by the sight, but they immediately followed his gesture, drawing their tie-in swords.

“Master Duplichiro,” Kirschwasser snapped. “What do you have to say for yourself? Even if the devs are about to freeze that account, I cannot allow you to cause any further violence wearing my master’s face!”

“I’m surprised you can still roleplay like this...” Iris muttered.

“If I showed my anger in the way I do IRL, it would make you all uncomfortable,” said Kirschwasser.

“That’s not fair, Mr. Kirschwasser,” Nem complained. “I wanted to say something like that, too...”

“W-Well, yes... I’m sorry...”

Even with a sword pointed at him, Duplichiro just continued grinning.

Tension hung in the air over everyone present. Kirschwasser cast a glance at the injured girl, and saw her party members standing in front of her to protect her. They said nothing, but they couldn’t hide their anger.

It was in this moment that Duplichiro sprang into action. He clenched his fists, rushed across the slope, and lashed out with a punch. It was pure luck that Kirschwasser managed to react in time. He lowered his sword and readied his shield to protect the Kirihitters behind him. Through the Kite Shield decorated with cherry blossoms, Kirschwasser felt the impact and the damage that came with it.

“Ngh!”

“Mr. Kirsch!”

Kirihito (Leader) readied his straight sword and slashed at Duplichiro. Then he stepped in closer and slashed upwards again. Duplichiro brought his fist up to block it, a bare-handed “Weapon Guard.” He then used “Art Cancel” to cut through his cooldown time and unleashed a volley of fire magic from his palm.

“Damn!” Kirihito (Leader) had to jump back, but he managed to dodge the attack.

The other Kirihitters and players began sidling towards Duplichiro, weapons at the ready. Iris didn’t ready hers, but watched over things with narrowed eyes as Nem just stood there, fidgeting.

The instant Duplichiro made a move, the players all fell on him at once. Kirschwasser’s cry of warning came all too late.

Duplichiro dodged or blocked each attack in turn, lashing out with neat counterattacks to each one. His fighting style was technically flawless; extremely efficient, but also inelegant. He simply dispatched of each of his enemies in the most economical way possible, with no hint of “play” whatsoever in his actions.

There was a bang as several equipment items fell to the ground; the death penalty from an avatar’s defeat. Kirihito (Leader) gritted his teeth.

“What should we do, Mr. Kirsch?” Iris asked. “Just hold out until his account is suspended?”

“Interfering might just make the damage worse,” said Kirschwasser. “But we can’t just leave him at large, either.”

If Duplichiro escaped here, there was a chance he might resume his rampage, which meant Kirschwasser had to work with the surviving players to buy time. But just as he was thinking that...

A black whirlwind intervened, assailing Duplichiro from the side. Duplichiro made a noiseless expression of surprise, the smile disappearing from his face. He twisted immediately to dodge the attack, but the damage visual that flashed up immediately after suggested that the sword had taken off a chunk of his health.

Kicking up clouds of sand, the new arrival glided to a stop, looked up, and glared hard at Duplichiro.

“K-King Kirihito!” the crowd cried out in unison.

“King, the young heir has been...!”

“I know.” King gave a clipped response to Iris’s words, then assumed a new stance with his sword. He ran in smoothly, drawing the tip of his sword along the ground to kick up another dust cloud before launching into an upwards diagonal strike. Duplichiro managed to dodge it, barely, but after the strike sliced through air, King gripped the hilt of his blade in both hands and redirected.

“Nngh!”

As this next strike took a big gouge out of Duplichiro’s body, the crowd let out a shout of joy.

“Ah... the clothing I designed...” Iris breathed out in frustration, wavering between two emotions. If Duplichiro died, the death penalty would cause his equip items to be dropped, so it was only natural that her feelings on the matter would be complicated.

“Iris, is that, ah, Prada? Armani?” Nem asked.

“I used a lot of references... But what? Nem, why are you looking at me like that?!”

“No reason.”

“What? Spit it out! You promised, didn’t you?” Iris cried.

“Then next time we meet in person, I will give you an earful.”

While the amateur and the pro designers conversed, King Kirihito had forced Duplichiro up against the wall. It was hard to tell whether King had dramatically improved, or whether this simply reflected a clear difference in skill between Ichiro and his duplicate. If this kept up, Duplichiro would be easily dealt with. If they could get him back to the guild house, respawned in a more vulnerable form, and restrain him...

But just then, Duplichiro disappeared.

“Hmm?”

“Oh.”

“Ah?”

Finding it strange, Iris opened a window and checked. “Ah, the young heir’s account has been suspended.”

Hearing that, King Kirihito wordlessly sheathed his sword. The crowd erupted into heartfelt applause for the hero who had appeared out of nowhere and bought time for them until the account was suspended.

The Kirihitters were in tears, apparently moved to the bottoms of their hearts—though Kirschwasser had a feeling they cried every time King appeared.

At any rate, King turned his eyes back to where Duplichiro had been.

Did this mean that the developers had stepped into action? He didn’t know much about the process for dealing with something like this, but it felt like relatively swift work. There were still a few things he was curious about, but all he could really do for now was wait for Ichiro to report in.

It seemed the interpersonal damages had been kept to a minimum, and he probably owed a thanks to the Kirihitters for keeping it that way. His first priority, though, was to issue an apology to the party that had been attacked.

“Forgive my master’s account for its unspeakable rudeness,” Kirschwasser said, bowing. All he had to give them by way of apology was Potions, but that would at least help heal the literal damage done.

“O-Oh... no... you can’t help having your account stolen...” the party member said, taking them.

“Who the hell was that, anyway?” King asked grumpily, but no one there could answer him. “I heard the old man’s account got stolen, but it wasn’t much of an imitation. He was careless, too. I’d assumed he was gonna sell his stuff off via RMT, but it doesn’t look like that’s what he was doing.”

“I fear I don’t know,” Kirschwasser responded with a shrug. “It’s possible he might have been handing items to an accomplice, but it still doesn’t add up.”

“Maybe he’s an exhibitionist? I mean, he was so conspicuous...”

“I concur with that assessment.”

In the end, they couldn’t know Duplichiro’s motives for sure. His actions would surely be in violation of the Unauthorized Computer Access Law, which meant the police might get involved. Even for someone doing this for attention, it all seemed a little too brazen, in Kirschwasser’s opinion. But there was no sign of any tangible gains he’d gotten from it, either. And while he couldn’t deny that Ichiro had gotten on the bad side of quite a lot of players, he couldn’t imagine anything he’d done that would lead someone to go to the risk of hacking his account and potentially getting arrested.

“It just doesn’t add up...” Iris murmured.

Kirschwasser nodded in silent agreement.

“Forgive the wait, Mr. Tsuwabuki.”

After getting in touch with the Thistle Corporation, Ichiro had ended up taking a personal trek to visit the company headquarters. It seemed there was quite a battle raging at present, so he had deemed it best to hear what they had to say in person. Led by the male employee who’d come to escort him, Ichiro headed for the office.

“Has your investigation turned up anything?” he asked.

“We tried tracing back the IP and found signs of a login from America.”

Ichiro had made his account using the Premium Pack, and only one account could be created from it. However, once established, an account could be accessed from anywhere, as long as one had the appropriate software and hardware. If you could get your hands on someone’s user ID and password, you could even log in from another country. The question was: How had the culprit gotten them?

“If I may ask, Mr. Tsuwabuki, did you give your password to anyone?” the employee asked.

“Nonsense. I haven’t even told it to Sakurako-san, and it’s not the kind of password someone could remember even if I had. Of course, it’s different from all of my other passwords, as well.”

The worker frowned deeply just before they entered the office.

“What’s wrong?” Ichiro asked.

“It’s just... if there was nothing wrong with your security, then...”

“Well, there’s still a chance that someone engaged in cracking at my home, but it’s also possible that someone’s gotten into Thistle’s account management system,” Ichiro replied.

The worker said nothing as he opened the door to the office on the second floor.

Inside the room, it was war. However, there was none of the chaos of phones ringing off the hook, or employees shouting down people offering complaints. It was a room full of people, mute, with eyes locked grimly on their computers. A silent war. Desks were littered with energy drinks. Eyes were bloodshot.

“Did you lock my account already?” Ichiro asked.

“Yes. We did it the minute we received word from you and confirmed it. We have Mr. Edogawa here, too, and he’s looking into the situation right now.”

“Edogawa?” Ichiro asked.

“Yes, um...” the employee said. “See, we were just in the middle of bolstering security on the server in preparation for the big update...”

“Oh, I see.” Ichiro nodded. “You were installing new security. This man is involved in developing the security program, then?” If the hacker had taken advantage of that, then it would represent extremely bad luck.

Of everyone else in the room, President Azami was the only one talking. She was speaking to another member of the company with a serious expression on her face.

Actually, he couldn’t be a member of the company. The man Azami was talking to—tall, gangly, and looking quite exhausted—was wearing a tightly-fitted business suit here in the height of summer. The Thistle Corporation was quite devoted to the “Cool Biz” philosophy and permitted its workers to wear casual clothes in the office environment. This meant he must be an outside contractor, most likely the “Edogawa” in question.

“President...” the employee said.

President Azami finally noticed their presence and stood up. The man at her side also turned to look at them. Ichiro was sure he’d never met the man before, yet his expression stiffened as he saw Ichiro’s face.

“Thank you for coming all the way out here, Ichiro,” said President Azami. “I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

“Having caused a great deal of trouble for you myself, I could hardly say anything about it.” With that, Ichiro turned his gaze to the young man in the suit.

“Oh, allow me to introduce you two,” she said. “This is Mr. Edogawa from System Ajax, Inc. Mr. Edogawa, this is a Narrow Fantasy Online player, the son of Meiro Tsuwabuki who leads the Tsuwabuki Concern, Ichiro Tsuwabuki.”

“Hello, um, Mr. Tsuwabuki. My name is Edogawa.” Edogawa gave him a mechanical smile and proffered a business card.

Since they were in a public place, perhaps this sort of formality was indeed best, Ichiro thought. He joined the man in pulling out the business card case he quite rarely employed and began flipping through the different cards inside. He had a variety of titles to choose from, after all.

The card he took from the man read “Domon Edogawa, System Ajax Technology, Inc., Sales Department.” An old-fashioned name.

System Ajax wasn’t a terribly famous company, but Ichiro did recognize the name. He knew that the headquarters was in Shizuoka and that it was a small software company. They were small enough to be overshadowed by most of their rivals, so getting to develop a relationship with a new client like the Thistle Corporation was probably a good business opportunity for them. For an account to get hacked just as they’d begun was certainly a bad omen.

Regardless of all that, Ichiro pulled out a business card with a rather noncommittal title and introduced himself. “I’m Ichiro Tsuwabuki. A pleasure.”

As he watched Edogawa return his greeting with a frozen smile, Ichiro made a connection in his mind.