"Brother, wanna play?"
A gentle breeze floated by, carrying a gaming helmet and placing it in front of Haruto.
Shiro had finally been temporarily freed from the God's Eye Project.
As the Wind God, she wouldn't need to appear at the test site for a long time.
And after undergoing the God-Making Process of the project, Shiro's constitution had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
Now, she was like the very embodiment of the wind itself, controlling the breeze as easily as moving her own limbs.
However, despite obtaining this immense power, Shiro's lifestyle hadn't changed much at all.
She still spent her days holed up in her apartment, playing video games.
The only difference was that she no longer needed to handle trivial daily tasks herself, she could simply command the wind to do them for her.
She didn't even have to worry about diet or exercise.
No matter how much she overate or how long she lazed around, she would never gain weight or fall sick.
After all, what kind of god gets sick?
Haruto felt a headache coming on.
He used to be able to use health as an excuse to order Shiro to go to bed early and go for a run on weekends.
But now, those excuses were completely useless.
Catching the floating gaming helmet from the breeze, Haruto glanced at it before shaking his head.
"An unfinished project—I won't try it out in advance. I'll play it with you later."
"By the way, I'm going to visit NerveGear Technologies, the development company. Do you want to come, Shiro?"
Hearing this, Shiro hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Jumping off the bed, Shiro quickly lunged at Haruto, breathing in his scent with a hint of attachment.
Shiro wasn't interested in the development company.
But being able to go out with Haruto was already more than enough temptation.
Gabriel stared at Haruto with resentment.
Her golden ticket had been stolen.
Originally, with SAO entering its beta phase, Gabriel was relying on Shiro to power-level and strategize.
But then Haruto showed up, and with just a few words, he took Shiro away.
Leaving her, a poor, weak, and helpless fallen angel, all alone.
Haruto simply ignored Gabriel's look.
Holding Shiro's hand, he walked outside.
"Come to think of it, the beta test helmets are limited and only available to select participants, right? Gabriel supposedly queued for three days and three nights, but Shiro never even left the house and somehow ended up with three helmets."
Haruto curiously remarked.
The beta test slots were quite valuable, and getting a gaming helmet was extremely difficult.
Since it was a revolutionary full-dive game—though currently only semi-dive—the allure for players was unprecedented.
Yet, Shiro had three helmets all to herself.
If she wanted to scalp them, she could make a fortune.
Shiro replied casually,
"I've cleared most of the popular online games, so I got invited to many beta tests. As for the helmets, I hacked into NerveGear's official system and had three of them express-delivered."
Haruto sighed, rubbing his forehead.
As expected of Shiro.
Of course, she wouldn't be foolish enough to queue up.
As for Shiro's hacking skills...
Once, in a certain game, her skills were so absurdly good that she crushed a bunch of pay-to-win players using only a starter character.
The developers assumed she was cheating and banned her account.
Though it was just a throwaway account with no real value, it really pissed her off.
So, she infiltrated a cybersecurity foundation and taught herself hacking.
Since Shiro was a genius, a few days later, a massive exploit was discovered in the game's system.
With certain in-game actions, players could bypass the payment system and obtain items for free.
A historic farming frenzy ensued.
The developers scrambled to fix the issue but found the exploit nearly impossible to patch.
In the end, they ran out of options, shut down the game, and rolled back the servers.
Not only did revenue plummet, but they were also bombarded by outraged players.
The developers and executives were left sobbing in the restroom, never knowing that their game collapsed because they banned a single blank account.
Before long, Haruto and Shiro arrived at the NERvGear Technologies headquarters by car.
Someone was already waiting at the entrance.
Haruto wasn't the type to show up unannounced—he had made an appointment beforehand.
And the identity he used?
The Momobami Clan's credentials.
One of the two major conglomerates in Japan.
With such a powerful connection, NERvGear naturally treated him with great respect.
As Haruto stepped out of the luxury car, a female secretary immediately approached with a professional smile.
"Welcome, Mr. Haruto. We've been expecting you. I was specially assigned to assist you today. Our company's president and shareholder, Mr. Shoji Yuki, are already waiting upstairs. This way, please."
Haruto responded with a polite nod.
His smile was like a refreshing breeze, even making a career-hardened secretary feel a little flustered.
She had dealt with many high-profile executives before.
But none of them had backgrounds as terrifying as this young man's.
The two major conglomerates practically ruled Japan with an iron grip.
Yet, even those with far lesser status tended to be arrogant and dismissive toward people like her.
They either treated her with indifference or outright condescension.
But this young man treated her with kindness, it was so rare that it made her heart race. Haruto had no idea that the secretary was already fantasizing about him.
In fact, he might even become the subject of her late-night thoughts.
Shiro, however, subtly picked up on it.
Without a word, she discreetly poked Haruto's waist.
Haruto was left confused.
Shiro was no longer the innocent little sister who used to help Haruto juggle multiple dates. As she grew older and gained more knowledge, she started feeling possessive—and even jealous.
They arrived at the top floor.
Blushing slightly, the secretary said,
"Mr. Haruto, this is the meeting room. Please go ahead. I'll prepare some tea for you."
Haruto nodded and pushed open the door.
Inside was a futuristic-looking conference room.
The decor was minimal, lacking the usual corporate embellishments.
At the center was a long table, glowing with a soft blue light, with floating holographic projections above it.
A 3D image of a game scene hovered in the middle.
Two men sat at the table.
One was a middle-aged man with a composed demeanor and decent looks.
The other was a gloomy-looking young man with deep, dark eye bags—clearly someone with a terrible sleep schedule.
As Haruto entered, both men stood up.
The middle-aged man put on a professional smile and said,
"Welcome, Mr. Haruto. I am Shoji Yuki, the largest shareholder of the full-dive game project."
"And this is the genius developer behind it—the creator of the full-dive game, Akihiko Kayaba."
Haruto nodded in greeting but didn't introduce himself.
His status as a representative of the Momobami was already clear, and bringing it up again would only create distance.
Instead, he stepped aside and gestured toward Shiro, smiling.
"Allow me to introduce my sister—Shiro. She's one of the SAO beta testers and a fan of the game."
Shoji Yuki's expression instantly brightened.
He had been worried about the unexpected visit from the Momobami Clan. After all, the game was already near completion and set to launch, which meant profits were just around the corner.
He had poured over a hundred billion yen into this project.
The last thing he wanted was for someone to swoop in and steal the rewards.
Meanwhile, Akihiko Kayaba's face darkened for a split second upon hearing that Shiro was a beta tester.
Haruto caught both of their reactions.
He wasn't surprised.
Clearly, just like in the original timeline, Kayaba was planning to go crazy during the game's launch.
If his so-called "death game" ended up trapping the direct heirs of two major conglomerates...
Tsk, tsk.
Kayaba must have realized that if he pushed the Momobami Clan too far, they could retaliate in ways far more terrifying than any mad scientist ever could.
If that happened, his dream world would be in serious danger.
Haruto and Shiro took their seats.
"Apologies for the sudden visit, but while my sister was playing, I had the chance to observe the game myself. I must say, this is undoubtedly a groundbreaking creation. Full-dive technology has immense potential. So, though it may seem abrupt, I wanted to come and take a closer look at the game."
Shoji Yuki's face went pale again.
Wasn't this just another way of saying, 'We're here to take a share'?
His investment had exceeded a hundred billion yen.
If he got kicked out now, it would be devastating.
But then, Haruto added,
"Of course, we're only here to observe. While we are interested in investing, we'd like to hear your thoughts first."
Shoji Yuki felt like he had just been dragged out of hell and into heaven.
This guy was actually reasonable!
However, Haruto knew that Shoji Yuki's biggest problem wasn't external interference.
It was the ticking time bomb sitting right next to him.
Once SAO's launch event turned into a massacre, forget losing his investment—if he didn't distance himself quickly enough, he'd be caught in the fallout.