"Akihiko? You knew him personally? Wait, no—the news explicitly stated that Kayaba was dead..."
"Well, the news wasn't entirely wrong. We did see his physical body with our own eyes."
"Yeah," Kirito agreed. "We drove all the way out to his mountain villa in Nagano where he was hiding out to confirm it."
Trying to piece it together, Krishna rattled off the facts as she understood them.
"Wait, then how...? The official report said Kayaba was cornered by the police and threw himself into the ocean. They recovered the body, but it was in no condition to be shown to the public."
"That's just the media narrative."
"What? Then what actually happened?"
Still showing a bit of reluctance, Hachiman began to piece the story together chronologically.
"Kayaba and I actually went way back. Using that connection to our advantage, Kirito, our friends, and I managed to expose his true identity on the seventy-fifth floor. We backed him into a corner and managed to defeat him within the game. That should have freed him from SAO just like the rest of us. But immediately after, he used a high-output experimental scanner on his own brain. The process effectively fried his cells, killing him instantly."
"He scanned his own brain?! Don't tell me... his consciousness is still preserved somewhere?!"
"As expected of a genius, you catch on quick. Exactly. In fact, I ended up having a full conversation with Kayaba's digital consciousness inside ALO later on."
"No way... That's... how is that possible...?"
Hachiman and Kirito assumed Krishna was just reeling from the sheer impossibility of the feat. But her next words completely shattered their expectations.
"If only my research had been further along back then... I might have been able to help him preserve his consciousness in a completely flawless state..."
"Wait, what?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Pressed by the two boys, Krishna began to explain the nature of her own work.
"My primary research thesis is titled 'An Analysis of Neural Pulse Signals Regarding Memories Stored within the Temporal Lobe.'"
"I knew that much, but..."
"Are you saying it's actually close to a practical application?"
"Yes. To be frank, we've already successfully figured out how to safely copy human memories. The only bottleneck right now is the processing capability of the AI hosting them. With conventional AI architectures, the data structure breaks down during preservation, eventually leading to catastrophic system bugs."
"Ah... So that's why you were so..."
"Exactly. That's why I was so obsessed with Kayaba's AI. Being here today has completely solidified it for me—this architecture is the missing piece that will blow my research wide open."
"Replicating memory..."
"And essentially giving birth to a new version of yourself."
Hachiman and Kirito could only mutter the words in sheer disbelief.
"Oh, don't make it sound so melodramatic. I won't deny that people might label it forbidden science, but I truly believe this research will be a vital contribution to the future of humanity."
"The future of humanity, huh?"
"It's a bit too grand for a guy like me to wrap my head around," Hachiman admitted.
"Same here," Kirito agreed.
"Honestly? Same for me too," Krishna laughed.
The three of them looked at each other and shared a hearty laugh. Eager to dive deeper, Krishna spent the next while actively chatting with Yui and Kizmel, who politely—if a bit nervously—did their best to answer her rapid-fire technical questions.
"You really are something else, aren't you..." Hachiman said quietly, walking over to Krishna after her intense interrogation session finally wound down.
"Do you think so? I feel like most researchers are like this."
"Still, I'm amazed Yui could keep up with all that jargon."
"Yes, Papa! In order to properly care for the nuances of the human heart, possessing a baseline of psychological and technical data is essential!"
"It goes entirely over my head, I admit," Kizmel noted.
"Well, that makes sense for you, Kizmel. Your primary role was always combat-oriented."
At Hachiman's words, Kizmel offered a bright, serene smile.
"True, but I find managing the household to be quite fulfilling as well. In a sense, it is a battle against one's own limitations."
"You're not wrong. The tea you brew keeps getting better and better, Kizmel," Kirito noted.
"Hearing you say so fills me with a distinct sense of pride."
"It's a win-win for us, too. Keep winning those domestic battles, Kizmel," Kirito encouraged with a grin.
Kizmel nodded warmly in return.
"Hey, let me ask you something," Hachiman said, shifting his gaze back to Krishna. "Hypothetically speaking... if someone were to somehow intercept Kayaba's consciousness while it's drifting through the net, would it be possible to transfer it into a prepared AI shell? Just a thought experiment, don't think too hard about it."
Krishna Adopted a thoughtful, analytical expression.
"Let's see... I suppose it would depend heavily on the sheer volume and integrity of the data representing that consciousness. But theoretically? Yes, I believe it's entirely possible."
"Is that so..." Hachiman murmured, his expression turning solemn. "In that scenario... do you think that AI could be held legally accountable for his crimes?"
"Legally? Probably not. But from a societal standpoint, it would undoubtedly face massive moral and ethical condemnation."
"Yeah, figures. And yet... even knowing that, part of me still really wants the chance to talk to the guy one more time."
"If it ever becomes possible, I'd love to talk to him too," Krishna admitted.
"Two geniuses in one room. I bet you'd get along famously."
"Flattery like that is honestly a little embarrassing."
Then, Kirito spoke up, tossing out a casual idea of his own.
"Let me throw out a thought experiment then... What if you took a person's memories by extracting them from the recollections of the people who knew them, synthesized them, and injected that into an AI? What kind of entity would you end up with? Let's say you also managed to scrape whatever fragmented server logs were left behind of that person and added them to the mix..."
Krishna answered without a moment's hesitation.
"In that case, the resulting entity would ultimately just be a personality constructed to convenience the people around them. The data would inevitably be warped by the subjective biases and impressions of those source memories."
"Right, makes sense. Okay, what about this? If someone has amnesia, could you extract whatever fractured memories they have left, process them, and reintroduce them to their brain? Could that serve as a catalyst to unlock the rest of their mind?"
Krishna looked visibly startled, her eyes widening in genuine appreciation.
"Kirito-kun, that's brilliant... I hadn't even considered that angle. I can't say for sure without data, but I absolutely think it's worth testing. If the temporal lobe has sustained physical trauma, it might be difficult, but a significant portion of amnesia cases are triggered by psychogenic shock."
Krishna's gaze locked onto Hachiman, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh, I want to try it! Hachiman, why don't you volunteer to get amnesia? I'll start by hitting you really hard in the head."
"What the hell are you saying so casually?! Hey, wait a minute, Kirito, why are you rolling up your sleeves?!"
"It's for the advancement of science, Hachiman. Make the sacrifice."
"I refuse!"
"Aw, what a shame..."
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