[Sasumata] The Black Bird's power is diminishing.
- Huh? - [Sasumata] I don't know what happened.
But it would appear someone has found a way to successfully attack it.
[Leon] Someone?
[Sasumata] Yeah. That's kind of scary...
Uh...
- Leon? - [Leon gasps]
Don't worry, it'll be fine, Sasumata.
This place is always going to be a free land.
It'll never cease to exist.
I won't let that happen.
[theme song in Japanese plays]
[screams] Taichiro!
[Kamuro] Asuma has regained consciousness.
[gasps]
[sobbing]
[emotional music plays]
[Taichiro sobs]
[Asuma] Big Brother.
[Taichiro] Asuma!
I... I thought I was gonna lose you!
No more of this collapsing on me, 'kay!? I was worried sick, damn it!
I had a dream just now.
And I completely believed... I'd never see you again.
It was so real... I was totally convinced.
Quit jabbering you moron.
I'm here. I'm right here.
Anyway, Asuma, how are you doing?
Do you have any pain anywhere?
No, but... I can't seem to feel anything at all below my neck at all.
Huh?
[Kamuro] It's just temporary paralysis.
The connection between your body and your brain will take some time to stabilize.
But this time, we can rely on standard medical treatment.
[Asuma] I recognize you.
[Taichiro] She's the shithead's co-worker.
Yeah?
I wasn't the one who saved your life. It was her.
What are you talking about? It was clearly you.
- I watched you save me with my own eyes. - [chuckles]
So there's a different world, where the AIs live?
[Kamuro] It's a space that was created
in order to make the AIs who power the Black Bird believe that they're humans.
So I'm going to create an AI version of you.
An AI with your memories, personality, and everything else copied exactly.
Without even knowing he's an AI, the other you will save Asuma... and then die.
[Taichiro] Wait, he'll die?
But can't he just live there? You said other AIs do.
The suicide rate is 99 percent.
[shudders]
Almost every time, when an AI realizes
that it, and its environment, are both fake...
it chooses death.
[sound of traffic]
- You all right? - Yeah. I'm good.
- [Kamuro] Impressive. - Huh?
Considering you were almost brain-dead a little while ago.
Really? Was my condition that serious?
Oh, yes.
[Asuma] What was that building we just left?
[Kamuro] Oh, it's just an office. I'm the manager there.
Your father was the manager before I was.
He argued with the higher-ups and got himself dismissed.
You didn't know that?
I heard he was transferred to some subsidiary.
[Taichiro] Uh, what?
[Kamuro] PLANET, the Black Bird, the Birdcage...
Your father was in charge of development for all of those projects.
Kojiro Arima. A man of incredible genius.
He believes that the only way to weaken the Black Bird
is by deleting the AIs that power it.
Your father figured that out,
and he's devoted himself completely to hunting down all the AIs.
It isn't an easy task.
[yawns]
ASUMA: DAD, I WAS HOSPITALIZED
[gasps]
[Kamuro] But he's determined to destroy them all,
and he's taken it upon himself to do so.
But why?
[Kamuro] You were on the verge of brain-dead.
Surely you can appreciate how dangerous the Black Bird is.
- Mmph. - [Taichiro] Huh?
I'm sure you're aware Gleam Corporation has made a huge investment
into the research and development of AI.
I'll give you a simple example.
Cars can now steer themselves without the aid of a driver.
But the company longs to create something more complex.
And thus, we have the Black Bird, a malevolent cyber spirit.
- [Asuma] So, Dad... - [Taichiro] That shithead!
He went to all that trouble to create it, just to destroy it?
I bet he knew it was dangerous right from the start!
[Kamuro] Mmph.
Developing and perfecting AI was always Kojiro Arima's ultimate...
- [Taichiro] His dream, right? - [Kamuro] Mmm.
[Taichiro] "Dreams" and "ideals" were always that shithead's favorite words.
I get that he's good. He's obviously talented.
And I like programming too. After all, he taught me how to do it.
That's why I know how he operates.
To call him a perfectionist would be putting it mildly.
And not just for himself.
He demanded the same from everyone around him.
Even from his own family.
He expected perfect sons, and a perfect daughter,
and a perfect mother to raise them.
But not for our benefit.
It was just so we could serve as a small part of Kojiro Arima's perfect life.
There was nothing more suffocating than being his son.
See? [sighs]
[melancholy music playing]
I do. Plus, that explains why you love Shiro.
[Taichiro] Huh?
Anything we ever wanted to do always required Father's approval.
Some manga we wanted, or even just to... hang out with friends.
But Shiro is Father's polar opposite. He's supportive and patient.
He says things like "Do whatever you really want to do!"
I feel like he's the father you always wished you had.
It's really... not like that...
[thinks] I guess I'll have to level with these boys.
They've been involved in this right from the start, in all of it.
- Your father, he's a- - He's a shitty world ambassador.
Nothing can change that. For that and for the Black Bird...
I'll never forgive him for the rest of my life.
[sighs]
[Kamuro] All right, we're almost at your house.
[Kojiro] Open up!
- Hurry up and open this door! - [banging]
[man] What do you think you're doing? Go away or I'll have you arrested.
I'm here to see a patient, Asuma Arima. He was brought to this hospital.
- I'm his father. - Uhhh...
Let me in. I need to see my son right away.
I was unconscious when he was admitted. I woke up to this message.
Open up!
[sighs] Ah, hold on just a minute.
There's no time! Open the door!
Hey, you! Hurry up! Let me in.
[guard] Yes, that's him.
Okay, I'll tell him. Thank you.
Good news, sir. Asuma Arima was released early this afternoon.
If you'd like, you can give the doctor who treated him a call tomorrow and...
[Kojiro] Are you sure?
Thank you!
[Asuma] Ms. Kamuro, would you like to come in for some tea?
No. I will leave you be.
[Asuma] All right, then.
[sighs]
I'm gonna head inside.
[door opens]
Tell me? What's the bastard up to?
Probably still at work, huh? Even with Asuma's life in danger.
He's resting back at my place.
[Taichiro] Huh?
[Kamuro] He's been using a special headgear to stay logged in,
but it's mentally exhausting, so he's been asleep for a while.
I, um...
Are you two, uh...
[chuckles] Tell him I think he should just keep sleeping.
- Wait, Taichiro. - Hmm?
If you could try to not see him as your father,
but as another human being just like you...
If you could do that, your hatred might become something else.
[scoffs]
He had another kid. But you probably knew that.
[Kamuro] Hmm.
- Our sister, Aya. - [eerie music plays]
She was younger than me. She and Asuma were twins.
- That's her name? I didn't know... - Aya was nothing like Asuma.
She was slow to learn things at home and at school.
Slow at everything.
She always just smiled and apologized.
"I'm sorry."
She could never do anything to make him happy.
[Kamuro] Mmm.
Do you remember those communication notebooks?
The things we kept in school for writing down schedules and notices to our parents?
I always half-assed it, but Aya wrote down everything.
Then... one day, she forgot the notebook at school.
Mmm.
[Kojiro] Go back and get it.
[Taichiro] It was nighttime. Well past ten o'clock.
But the street was well lit,
and the school was less than a five-minute walk away.
Mom even called a security guard and asked him to meet Aya at the school gate.
So that was that.
Dad made Aya go alone.
It kept getting later and later, but she didn't come home.
[sighs]
It looks like you know what happened to her.
The Moto-Akatsuka cardboard box incident.
"Just like any traffic accident, it was unpredictable,
so it can't be said that I was conclusively at fault."
He said that at her funeral.
And you're asking me not to see him as my father?
Believe me, I don't.
- [Kojiro] Taichi? Kamuro? - [Kamuro] Hmm?
[gasps]
[woman 1] Word is, President Leon is going to show up at this board meeting.
That's a surprise.
[man 1] Probably wants to discuss the Pirates.
[man 2] Since they went away, there's been a big uptick in demand
for shipbuilding and marine-related items.
[man 3] We can't let this chance slip away.
Don't you ever talk about anything besides business?
I get that Granada is about trade.
But don't we have other serious concerns as a guild?
Not every discussion has to be about profit and loss.
My guess is the President wants to talk about the future and safety of the game.
I agree, and he has good reason to.
Even without the Pirates, there are too many violent players.
The future of PLANET may depend entirely on what we decide to do next.
Hmm?
[all] President!
- [Sasumata] Hee-hee! - Greetings.
Granada's Friday Meeting is in order.
[chuckles]
For a change, this time around, I don't wanna talk about the Pirates.
I won't be getting into the subject of the game's safety, either.
What I want to talk about now is that boring real world.
Well, that and the fact that Sasumata here is an AI.
- [all gasp] - What?
- An AI? - What?
That's what our meeting today is going to be about.
[birdsong]
I get it. You can't talk?
That's okay. I'll teach you how to speak.
In return, you can be my friend.
When we first met, we both had nothing.
Only each other.
A child and an AI.
[gasping]
Seriously?
Sasumata, is this true? Are you really artificial intelligence?
That seems impossible to me.
[grunts]
I realize this must be shocking.
- [woman 1] So what? - Huh?
If it's true and Sasumata is a robot, then so what?
What's that got to do with the Granada Company? How does it affect us?
How does it have any impact on the game or on what we're trying to do?
Well! We are gettin' right to the point, aren't we? Impressive!
I'm relieved you're so quick to understand.
I'm not saying I believe you just yet.
[Leon] Sasumata isn't the only one. There are other AIs out there.
Some of them you probably know.
George of the Cyber Knights, and Jutaro the Fortune Teller, for instance.
As well as Pico of the Pirates.
- [all gasping] - Pico, really?
Aside from Pico, I count all of them among my good friends.
But Sasumata is the only one of the AIs who is aware of what they really are.
Tell me... you all like Sasumata, right?
Of course we do. As you know, I'm a night owl,
and I always see Sasumata logged in at that time.
The two of us often stay up talking.
Same goes for me.
We've all benefited. Sasumata's been vital for us.
Our marketing economy model was their idea.
Development of our BBS and macros...
a way for us to work with the Pirates in trade...
Sasumata came up with all these things.
- [laughing] Oh, stop! - [woman 3] That's true!
- But that's not all! Sasumata's nice. - Mmm.
[all murmur in agreement]
[Leon whimpers]
It's kind of tragic, really,
but Sasumata was the first friend I ever made.
And even though they're smarter than all of us, and caring and kind-hearted...
Sasumata is still learning about who they are.
[all gasp]
How can anyone see them as any less than human?
I simply refuse to accept that!
Yet the truth is, Sasumata is going to be hunted down by Shiro!
Shiro Akabane? Why would he do that?
- This is too much information to take in! - You serious?
[Sasumata] It's all right, Leon.
[sighing]
I'll make you... into a human!
You want to redefine AIs as human, is that what you're telling us?
No, just the opposite. I'll redefine the definition of a human.
I'll transform the world into a place
where Sasumata and I can breathe the same air and share the same reality.
[wind rustling leaves]
[gasps]
[foreboding music plays]
[yelps]
What the hell are those things?
[all gasping]
[wailing and screaming]
[Sasumata] I'm sorry, you guys. I really am so sorry.
- [squelching] - Get off me! Let go!!
[screaming] What is this thing?
[Leon] This is the Black Bird. It's been accumulating power,
waiting for the moment it could leave its nest,
but now its energy has been stolen, and we've been forced to make a sacrifice.
You, the people of Granada, are the only ones we can ask.
- [wailing] - Give your power to the Black Bird.
And then what? What happens to us?
You become the Bird's flesh, and live forever after, here in PLANET.
- [gasps] - [screaming and crying]
[scream trails off]
That's what I've always desired.
[screaming continues]
[screaming stops]
[May grunts] All right, here we go...
Oh, wow. This is hard to do alone.
I'm tired. I hope the others all log in soon.
Huh? Feathers?
[wind gusting]
[boy] Hey, what are those?
- [girl] Crow's feathers? - [man] Don't touch them, just go.
- [boy] But why are there so many of them? - [girl] This is crazy.
I'm back. I had some things I had to take care of.
Coming to my house? You're never to do that.
I'm very sorry, sir. But there was a player infected by the Black Bird,
and I came here to attend to them.
Shut up! Stop babbling about Gleam's business in front of an outsider!
- [Taichiro] I'm not an outsider. - Hmm?
- And it's Asuma who was infected. - Huh?
- [Kamuro] But he's made a full recovery... - Asuma! Asuma!
- [gasping] - Father?
Asuma! Thank heavens! Are you... Are you sure you're really okay?
You look fine, but the thought you could recover
after getting infected by that thing...
I mean, it makes no sense!
The kids are involved.
Huh?
Oh...
Asuma, come with me to my office.
- Huh? What for? - I'd like to do a procedure.
Wait. What are you planning to do to him?
I need to run a brain analysis.
Huh?
I have to take a look at the numbers. Kamuro, you drive.
Asuma! Just go inside!
I'm not gonna let you mess around in his head!
- You bald-headed jerk! - What the hell?
You better watch your mouth!
- And get your eyes checked! I'm not bald! - [yells]
[gasps]
[Taichiro] I know you created the Black Bird!
Asuma could've died because of it!
Once again, your ideas nearly got someone killed!
[grunts] Are you talking about Aya?
It's been years since that happened. Just get over it already!
[gasps]
[growls]
[thump]
[Asuma panting]
I'm sorry.
I didn't hit you out of anger.
I just didn't want it to be Taichi who hit you.
- Listen... - [sighs]
You have to stop pretending what happened doesn't still affect us.
You're only making things worse.
- Go and die. - Huh?
[Taichiro] Just get the hell out of our lives.
- Taichi! - Why can't you be the one to leave?
[scoffs] You know what? Fine.
I've reached the same place Mom did.
I can't bear staying in this house another day.
- See ya later, Asuma! - [gasps]
[Kojiro] Wait! You're leaving in the middle of the night? Taichiro!
Can't we at least talk about this? Stop! Do you even have a place to go?
Don't follow me, you shithead!
[groans] Okay! I get that you're leaving!
But take my phone! So then we can at least stay in touch!
Stop for a second!
Aren't you going to need money? Let me give you some!
You have to stop running, Dad! Stop it! You just had back surgery!
[thinks] Go to hell!
I wish you were dead!
[Kojiro] Taichiro, wait!
- [slicing] - [yells]
[both gasp]
[gasps]
[groans]
[blade rings softly]
Huh? [breathing shakily]
DATA: KAMAITACHI LEVEL: 9
- [dramatic rock music plays] - [groaning]
[man] Huh? Feathers?
[crossing beeping]
[squelching]
[man] What?
- [crunch] - [woman whimpering]
[static whirring]
[boy] Your hand... it's surprisingly warm.
There's no need for AIs to try and fit in with humans.
Humans caused all of this,
so they're the ones who should try to fit into this world.
[Sasumata] I think you're right... Leon.
[theme song in Japanese plays]