.hack//C.S. Chapter 10

We somehow managed to get 8 subjects.  Now that we can finally begin moving forward with the plan, I’m a bit reluctant.  Amagi has recently been acting without consulting anyone.  It concerns me.

Some of the subjects are company employees, but we’ve also involved some students.  The results from the previous incident dictate that interfering with the A.I. Aura is dangerous.  Still, no matter how compatible someone is, students are unrelated.  At any rate, regardless of the results, we must avoid harming the subjects.  With Amagi also partic.i.p.ating as a subject, I like to believe she also desires minimizing the risks.

Day One,

We decided to extend the length of regular maintenance for this.  We didn’t begin by using general P.C.[1]  Each person logged in using a P.C. hosting an epitaph.  With no rejections, the first stage is cleared.

I am partic.i.p.ating as a harvest cleric in order to provide a.s.sistance to the subjects.  Some of the children are playing net games for the first time and need to be taught the basics.

A week has pa.s.sed and no particular abnormalities have been detected.  I believe that the members with high precision ratio have now been gathered, however, I’m writing this down because of a concern.  Off in the distance, the P.C. controlled by management flickered.  We don’t just need to monitor the subjects, but our fellow staff members as well.

Two students complained about poor health after another week.  Having someone who doesn’t have a gaming habit manipulate a controller for 10 hours a day is unreasonable.  Regardless, this physical fatigue clearly doesn’t stem from avatar possession.  The 2 will be given some rest while the remaining 6 move onto the next stage.

This experiment with avatars has much to offer[2].  This is the first time such an endeavor has ever been attempted.  I doubt even Amagi can perfectly foresee what will happen from now on.

Earlier, I went to a dungeon with a student who operated a blade brandier.  His P.C. name is Ikaruga.  He’s a modern day gamer and prefers to play alone rather than in groups.  We didn’t speak much.  I told him to follow my instructions to which he responded, “Yes.”

The epitaph installed in Ikaruga’s P.C. is the 1st Phase, Skeith.  Its alias is the Terror of Death.

The 8 phases are recorded to have been decomposed by Aura in the previous case.  As according to the manual, I… I increased the mental pressure against Ikaruga.  Whenever a player is psychologically cornered, a possession becomes that much more likely.

I wonder if there is a better method of carrying out this experiment.  We’ve somehow collected personal information on not just him, but his family members as well.  So far, this isn’t an invasion of privacy.  However, if the subject were to learn of these doc.u.ments, not just this project, but the C.C. Company itself, would end.

I am carefully pilling up questions and slowly guiding him along.  Doing it like this, I sincerely believe I want to make this clear.

Ikaruga successfully made contact with Skeith 3 days later.  Gorre, Magus, and Fidch.e.l.l awakened afterwards.  Macha will be difficult as it was once possessed by an A.I.  Tarvos is personally being handled by Amagi.  Its situation is being concealed.

“Doc.u.ment with Pa.s.sword”  (There are a few discrepancies in the factor for Tarvos.  I think something might have happened between the designer and Amagi.)

With Amagi not yet making contact with Tarvos, I believe the leaders.h.i.+p is being affected.

A month has pa.s.sed since this project began.  The factor for Innis is starting to affect its player. She is a student from the same vocational school as Ikaruga.  I often see her speaking to him during breaks.

Her feet go numb.  That shouldn’t happen with the moderate breaks being provided from staying seated.  Yet, she loses feeling from her toes all the way to her calves.

A staff member and I immediately pressed Amagi to investigate if this development was the effect on the Real that I feared.  Amagi surprisingly kept her composure and decided to go to an area with her P.C.  I also worry about Ikaruga, but it seems like I’ll be allowed to partake in today’s a.s.sessment.

For some reason, the other staff members and I were excluded from the field transfer.  The area word was conveyed to the system, but I can’t even guess how.  From what I can tell, only 3 people know what is happening.

The girl’s numbness appears to have disappeared upon returning from the area.  Was it the area?  Or did it have something that could heal her?  Various conjunctions were tossed around by the staff, but they soon became meaningless.

Amagi may have also forbidden Ikaruga’s player from discussing what happened.  His replies were, “I don’t remember,” and “I was too far away.”

The worst outcome to this project happened 4 days later.  The 8 subjects, including Amagi, didn’t return.  We lost contact with them during the middle of the G.o.ddess revival ceremony.  Did they make some sort of contact with the Eight Phases?

We later understood that their brains underwent a high voltage load.  While some subjects died, others became comatose.

The family members of the subjects are still being lead to believe that the project has not ended.  Fabricated data is being submitted on the experiment’s progress.  n.o.body knows about these victims.

Any further information reported on the R.A. Project is deemed unnecessary.  Continued doc.u.mentation is terminated.

T/N:  Well, this answers a lot of questions.  The biggest one is how Ikaruga learned about that spring.  I wonder if it’s something created by the system?  Can any .hack players enlighten us?  The second is about the connection between Ikaruga and Haseo, or more accurately, Ikaruga and Skeith.  Well, there isn’t much more I can say about this chapter.

Thanks for reading,