Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow Bridge is a bonus side story that was included in the Limited Edition version of the Extra Edition
Blu-ray/DVD sets. It is a sequel to the Extra Edition Story.
The full translation is available onGsimenas's blog on SAO wiki, but only part 1 is properly proofread, so
there might be some errors in meaning within the text, as well as a lot of awkwardness. The translation
will be published on www.dreadfuldecoding.blogspot.com once it is revised.
btw what is Leafa doing in the pic? O.o

Sword Art Online Extra Edition Rainbow Bridge

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
A castle shining in a madder-red colour, floated in the distance of
the violet sky.
Two months have passed since the reborn Aincrad was
implemented, yet when I look up from the surface of Alfheim's
ocean, I still find myself captivated by a mysterious sensation. I
just cannot believe that this small structure, and the floating castle
that once existed in the skies of a different world, were really of
the same size.
Of course, if I spread the wings on my back, take flight and ascend
towards the New Aincrad in the faraway sky, before long, the
castle will reveal all of its majesty that I will not be able to fully
picture. After landing on the first floor from the aperture in the
outer circumference, there will be a vast field with various
mountains and lakes. I guess that walking from one side to the
other will take as much time as it did in the old Aincrad.
While still trying to comprehend that, I continued with my own
thoughts.
About being trapped inside that castle during those two years.
About wandering through the roadless wastelands, fighting
atrocious monsters, encountering lots of people, and then being
separated from them. About my battle with Heathcliff on the 75th
floor, where we were both defeated and the death game came to
an end. I wondered if that was truly reality.
Or.
About landing in Alfheim in search of the slumbering Asuna, and
successfully releasing her from the cage of malice at the end of a
short but hectic journey. And now, about how Im spending the
tranquil days together with former allies and new friends in both
the real and virtual worlds. Again, I wondered if this is a reality.

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While I was surrounded by such endless thoughts, I silently

looked up at the floating castle illuminated by the evening sun,
and
Suddenly, a loud, horn-like koooon sound broke out next to
my feet. My avatars legs lost their ground, as the grayish-white
texture of the ground shook violently. Reflexively, I raised my
arms and grabbed Asunas hand with my right, and Kleins with
my left.
Woah, wh-what the--?, Lisbeth screamed.
I-it cant be planning to drop us off here, can it?, Klein shouted.
If so, we could just fly, right?", Agil calmly retorted right away.
The small hole in the ground in front of us spread out suddenly,
and a large quantity of water was blown out of it with the force of
a geyser.
Kyuuuuuu! Hawawaaaaa!
These screams were from the small dragon Pina who was just
above the hole, and the smallpixiefairyYui who was riding Pina,
respectively. Although the abrupt water current shot up to no less
the five meters, at that moment Pina spread out its wings and
restored her balance, lightly hovering over the top of the water
fountain. Joyful laughter resounded, as if I had imagined Yui's
scream two seconds ago.
While using my left hand to avoid the small drops of water that
were falling down, I exchanged glances with Asuna, and we both
gave a wide smile simultaneously.
Wow, it spouted like a tide, huh.
At that moment, Asuna nodded and answered,
What can I say, it is a whale, you know.
That's true.

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The party comprised of 7 people, including me, Asuna, Leafa,

Silica, Lisbeth, Agil and Klein, and also Yui and Pina, were
travelling on the sea, on the back of a giant white whale one
with such a huge size that even an Evil-God Class monster would
flee.
Everyone uh-huhed to express their agreement to Asuna's remark
and, as the whales spouting ended, Yui came down from the skies
and said while flying to Asunas left shoulder,
This does not mean that the whale-san in the real world actually
sprays water from its blowhole. It is just that when they exhale
close to the surface of the sea, ocean water is also carried along!1
Whaaaat?!, the seven people exclaimed in unison.
Yui, who just showed her usual encyclopedic knowledge and
strong memory, simply said ahem and set her small hands upon
her hips. While thinking that her posture was lovely, I once again
looked up at the floating steel castle in the night sky.
As the reborn Aincrad revolves around the skies of Alfheim at a
considerable speed, the outline of the castle I saw a while ago was
getting smaller and smaller. I motionlessly fixed my eyes onto the
location approximately one-fifth of the castle from the bottom
the place where the profoundly memorable 22nd floor should
be.
Although, for now, only the first ten floors have been opened, I'm
sure that we will eventually climb up and reach the 20th floor and
beyond. When I see the log house built in the depths of the snowcovered forest once again, will I truly be able to believe, I
wondered. Believe that the former Aincrad disappeared to distant
memory. And believe that the world where games are meant to be
played has returned.
The white whale carried us from Thule Island in Alfheims
southwest sea to a beach in Sylph territory.
1

Actually, the air inside the whale is typically quite warm from the whales body heat. When its
exhaled, it meets the much cooler temperature of the air outside and immediately condenses, making it look
like a spout of water. http://gizmodo.com/whales-don-t-spray-water-out-of-their-blowholes-1445483468

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Chapter 1

Then, with a voice that sounded like a giant tuba, it prompted us

to get off. After watching us safely get off his back and land on the
white, sandy beach with a gentle expression in the eyes, it turned
around leisurely, and swam towards the bright red evening sun in
the horizon, in the company of a school of dolphins.
Whale-saan, thank yooou! Let us ride on your back again
sometime, okaaaaay?!
In response to Yuis voice, the white whale spouted a very high
column of water once again, and its large body sank into the ocean
bit by bit. Before long, it could no longer be seen. Yui, who was
sitting on Asunas shoulder, gently lowered her hands that she had
been waving affectionately.
While smiling, I called out to that slightly lonely-looking face.
Im sure youll meet it again someday. The quest back then looked
like it was hinting that it will somehow continue.
"Oh, ho-hold it right there, Kiri-no-ji!2 "
The loud voice that interrupted me and spoiled the atmosphere of
the farewell was of course Kleins. While scratching his unshaven
face, he continued with an expression that could not be
understood.
What the heck was the deal with that quest3? Like the mermaid
princess turning out to be an jii-san, the jii-san turning out to be a
giant octopus, then the giant octopus turning out to be the lord of
the abyss, and something about divine beings; I didnt get any of
that stuff.
The first one about the mermaid princess was merely your
aspiration.

Klein nicknames Kirito as .

Quest is shortened to just que in this case.

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Although I gave a tsukkomi4 sort of retort by reflex, I too could not

give an immediate reply to Kleins doubts.
Fleetingly looking around my allies, I saw that the former devil of
clearing Asuna, the Norse mythology expert Leafa,
tank
the muscle
head intellectual Agil, as well as Lisbeth and Silica, had
all folded their arms and said hmmm.
Today is July 25, 2025, Friday.
In order to grant Yuis wish of seeing a whale, we challenged the
Deep Sea Plunderers quest that was rumoured to have a large,
aquatic-type monster.
We were requested, by an ojii-san, to search for an item in a
dungeonjust a common errand-type quest or so we thought.
But the truth was that the ojii-san was actually pulling our strings.
Unwittingly, we ended up stealing a treasure that was sealed in an
Underwater Temple. Well, this was still a common plot5, but from
here on, the super rapid development, or should I say, an overly
rapid plot twist began. The ojii-san had seven HP bars and
transformed into a gigantic octopus-type monster, Kraken the
Abyss Lord, who beat us to a near death status with ease - just a
single hit from a single tentacle. But, before we could even think
that the quest was impossible, a gigantic oji-san, calling himself
Leviathan the Sea Lord, descended from above. Just as the two
of them completed their hard to understand conversation, Kraken
sunk into the depths of the sea Leviathan then recovered the pearl
(which was actually a large egg) that we had taken out of the
temple and, at that moment, a quest cleared fanfare played It
was such an incomprehensible quest, even after thinking about it
again and again.

A "Tsukkomi" is the straight man in a Japanese comedy duo. Means something like "butt in" and "expose
other people's error" then "bring a conversation back from nonsense" as a verb. In Manzai(Japanese stand-up
comedy), Boke is the crazy joker(like Klein) who makes nonsensical remarks, and the Tsukkomi(in this case
Kirito) hits him with a paper fan while telling him the truth/clarifying up the nonsense.
5
The raw uses the English word story in katakana. This was changed in the translation because it
sounds weird in this context in actual English.

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Still dumbfounded, we were initially discouraged by the thought

that the rumoured aquatic-type monster was Kraken, but then the
oji-san calling himself lord of the seas summoned a white whale,
which took us to this beach. So, in any case, the initial objective of
Yui getting to see a whale was accomplished. And we all lived
happily ever after although that is true, I understand Klein's
feelings of wanting to say I didnt get any of that stuff.
After humming for a while, I looked around faces of my comrades,
and said,
I wonder if anyone can accurately remember the talk between
the octopus and the ossan6?
If this was in a conventional MMORPG, we could just scroll up the
message window with a mouse wheel and browse through the
conversation that took place during the quest; however in
VRMMORPGs, theres basically no such convenient function.
Therefore, theres a technique of using a crystal to record an
events conversation if it sounds l important. However, this time,
we didnt have such a luxury at all.
In response to my query, the six of them simultaneously tilted
their necks, and then shook their heads left and right.
Heh, indeed a vanguard-only party with no mages at all.
Just as I finished my comment with a sigh mixed in, Liz raised her
right hand overhead with the motion of a pitcher about to throw
the ball, and consecutively thrusted her index finger towards me
three times.
"You too! Can't talk down! Other people!"
Yeah, sorry.
However, at that moment, Yui flew up from Asunas shoulder, and
landed on my head with a pose just like Leviathan's descent at the
Underwater Temple.

Rude term for a middle-aged man.

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Chapter 1

I guess it cannot be helped. Although it is kind of cheating, let me

reproduce the conversation!
All of us shouted ooo in an amazed voice, and, puffing her chest
with an "ahem" sound, the pixie began the narrative while
skillfully imitating the tone of the octopus and the oji-san.
Leviathan: Its been a long time, my old friend. I see youre up to
your old tricks.
Kraken: The same to you7. How long will you be satisfied as a
servant to the sir? Youre an embarrassment to the name Lord
of the Sea.
Leviathan: I am satisfied with being a king. And this is my
domain. Knowing that, do you still wish to fight, Lord of the
Abyss?
Kraken: For now, I shall withdraw. But I8 shall not give up, my
friend! One day, I shall claim the princes power, and make the
accursed gods pay! Until that day!
Leviathan: That egg belongs to the one that will someday rule all
the sea and air. I must find it a New Home9, so I shall take it back.
That is all!
After Yui's reproduction of the conversation ended, all seven
people applauded. Even Pina, sitting on Silicas head, flapped its
wings lively.
"Thank you, Yui. "
After thanking my daughter for the job well done, I started
pondering about it once again and continued my speech.

Uses (kisama), which is considered to be one of the most insulting ways to say "you" in modern
Japanese (it's like saying "you bastard").
8
Uses (washi), which is a personal pronoun used by elderly males to refer to themselves
9
(, mimuro), which means "home of a nobleman", is used for "home". This seems to be a
proper noun.

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Hmm The proper nouns that concern me are sir10 and

Prince. I have a feeling that I've heard something like that
somewhere, but
Heere!
The one who said this while raising her hand enthusiastically, was
the windSylphfairy mage and swordswoman, Leafa. Possessing the
most knowledge about myths and folklore among all of our partys
members, she stepped forward and explained with a clear
enunciation,
The sir are a family of gods that come from Norse mythology!
You guys have heard of gods like the chief god Odin, the thunder
god Thor, and the mischievous Loki among others, havent you?
I have I have I have
Six people gave their acknowledgement one after another, and
Leafa gave a big nod in return.
Then, as for the Prince
Go on go on go on
I have no idea at all!
Bam, all of us openly made a falling to our back motion, and
started pondering again.
Sith
Beast Tamer
The next one to speak was the catCaitfairy
beast
user, Silica.

Err, in short, the Kraken-ojii-chan detests the sir, but, since he

hasnt been able to win yet, he wants to obtain the Princes
power to become stronger is that how it is?
If even that giant octopuss ridiculous power was no match for
the sir , I wonder what kind of power do they have, said
Leprechaun
the blacksmith
fairy Lisbeth, while tossing her metallic gloss pink
hair.

10

sir is the plural form of ss in Old Norse, which is why "are" was used.

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Chapter 1
Undine
Well, they are gods after all, said the water
fairy Asuna, adding on
to the conversation. Then, the one who interrupted with a selfSalamander
important tone was the fire
fairy, Klein.

Thats right, ya younglings might not know, but Odin is actually of

the strongest class. The moment hes summoned, bam! And the
monster is sliced into two
Gnome
Oi oi, thats not the plot within the myth., the ground
fairy Agil
inserted a tsukkomi with a stunned expression, and everyone,
including Yui, burst into laughter.

Understanding the parody11 in Kleins remarks, I formed a wry

smile as well. While doing so, I thought about why I felt a faint
sense of discomfort in this conversation.
The answer immediately came.
During the quest, Kraken and Leviathan appeared as NPCs until
the very end Even though they were essentially boss-class
monsters. It can be expected that their conversation was nothing
but a scenario written by the scenario writer-shi12 of Ymir, the
company that manages ALO.
And yet, all of us talked about Kraken and Leviathan as if they had
their own individual consciousness.
Perhaps the reason for that is that their words sounded far too
human. The remorseful and angry expression of Kraken, unwilling
to accept his defeat and declaring "I will not give up!",
inadvertently led us to think that "Hmm that octopus must have
went through a lot"
Or possibly, Kraken and Leviathan are not mere NPCs?
Asuna and I encountered and adventured with a female dark elf
knight during the early stages of old Aincrads floor clearing.

11

Klein's remark is a reference to final fantasy. Odin (, din) is a recurring Summon Monster
in the series. Most commonly, Odin will appear and slice through enemies with his sword, cleaving them in two
and inflicting Instant Death.http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Odin
12
(shi) is an honorific similar to -san, but more formal and not as common.

10

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She was called Kizmel, but, despite being an NPC, she was not just
a moving object that repeated standard phrases. Her ability to
reply to our words could even be regarded as volition.
ALO has a software architecture that is almost identical to the one
in the old SAO. That means, even when looking at the ability
Cardinal
of Control
System, the existence of Highly Intelligent NPCs13 like
Kizmel was already possible.
However, in that casewont Kraken become an existence that
doesnt just act according to the quests script, despite being a
quest NPC? Meaning that obtaining something like the Princes
power, rising against the sir, such things are all that big
octopuss own will?
That cant be the case, right?
Realising that my thoughts were going too far into the field of
absurdity, I halted such mutters and conjectures. At the exact
instant, Klein, who had been facing Silica and the others, lecturing
them on how powerful were the Odin and Bahamut14 of the good
old days, suddenly started shouting hysterically.
Awwww, crap! I have a pizza delivery order at ten oclock!
Oi oi, that's in three minutes. You know, it will take ten minutes
to fly to Swilvane from here.
At Agil's calm points, Klein held his head with both of his arms and
bent backwards as much as he could.
MY15 SEAFOOD PIZZA AND DRAUGHT BEER!
With the nostalgia brought up by the line that I had also heard a
long time ago16, I went to the katana user and tapped him on the
sleeves of his large Japanese-style armour.

13

Original text is "AINPC" which literally means "Highly AI-fied NPCs".

A mythical fish from Arabic mythology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahamut, but probably
referencing the summon Bahamut from the Final Fantasy series.http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Bahamut
15
Uses the (-sama) honorific after (ore) (I, my), which indicates arrogance. It is like saying "I the
highness's"
16
See volume 01 chapter 2/anime episode 1
14

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Well watch over you until your avatar disappears, so calm down.
You must enjoy it to the max this time, yeah.
After I said that, Klein blinked for a moment and then expressed
that he understood the meaning of my words with a light hehe
laughter.
Right. In that case, Ill take you up on your kind offer and excuse
myself for the day.
"I offer my best regards to all the shrimps, crabs, cuttlefish and
octopuses on the pizza~"
While making a complicated-looking face to Lizs words, Klein
opened his main menu.
Well then, great work, everyone!
After tapping on the logout button, the salamanders avatar
automatically switched to a one knee kneeling position, closed its
eyes and stopped moving.
In ALO, to prevent people from Escaping from player
skirmishes, the players avatar will remain on site for a little while
when logging out in the field. Naturally, its highly likely that
monsters would target the player. The player would then find
Remain Light
themselves in the form of a left behind
fire when they logged in
later.
Therefore, when logging out outside the area, a players allies
would normally protect their avatar until the timeout elapses and
the players avatar disappears. Thankfully, it doesn't look like that
this beach has many strong monsters spawning, thus I looked
away from Kleins body and proposed,
If anyone else beside him wants to logout, go right ahead.. Ill
watch over you till the end.
At my words, Asuna was the first to bring up her right hand
apologetically .
Err then Ill be logging out too, if its okay
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Although I havent met her yet, I have heard stories that Asunas
mother was a very strict person, so I nodded quickly.
Its fine. Thanks for today.
Yeah, thanks to everyone for today too, thank you for the great
work17!
As Asuna nimbly operated the menu to log out and her avatar
switched to a standby position, Agil, who has to stock his shop for
tomorrow, Liz, who has a TV show she wants to watch, and Silica,
who has to complete today's homework, all requested to instantly
log out and left the fairy homeworld together.
When Silica went into a standby posture, Pina, who was sitting on
Silicas head, began to look around restlessly, as if trying to protect
her avatar. How noble while thinking that, I stretched my
limbs.
At that moment, my eyes met Leafa's, who had taken the exact
same pose at the exact same time.
Somehow, we grinned together, and then I turned my eyes
towards the west horizon.
Before I became aware of it, the sun had completely set, with only
a deep vermillion left above the horizon. Yui, who was sitting on
my head, used my shoulder as a springboard to plunge into my
chest pocket, and made a lovely yawn.
Papa, the whale-san was really big, wasn't it?
I gently brushed the head of the pixie who said this in a sleepy
voice with my fingertips.
Yeah. Lets ride it again someday.
Yeah
Yui nodded and closed her eyelids, then, immediately afterwards,
she began sleeping, breathing softly.
17

The first instance of thanking is (lit. thanks for today), while the second instance
is , which is a set expression for thanking someone for their work.

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Yui, an AI independent from ALOs system, has no need to sleep

like a human, but when she has a large quantity of information
input and nothing urgent to process, she often conducts memory
sorting in a sleeping state. In all likelihood, todays adventure was
being played back in Yuis dream right about now.
After a while, at first Kleins avatar, then Asunas, after that Agils,
Lizs, and Silicas avatars, as well as Pina, all scattered into beads
of light and disappeared.
I faced Leafa and, while casually extending my right hand, said,
Well then, Sugu, shall we return to Swilvane in one flight?
Upon that, my little sister pouted lightly.
You know, Onii-chan, since were not in the water, we dont have
to fly while holding hands.
AhI-I see Sorry, didn't mean to
However, the blonde mage-and-swordswoman quickly snatched
the hand that I withdrew.
However, since Im better than you in the sky, from here on, I'll
be leading the way!
I-Im counting on you
We spread our wings at the same time and took off from the sandy
beach that was being dyed in purple.
Returning my glance to the northeast, the gigantic silhouette of
the World Tree in the background of the sky, where stars had
begun twinkling, came into my view. Before us, a cluster of green
lights glittered like jewels. It was the dear Sylph territory capital,
Swilvane.
After confirming that Yui was in her place in my pocket, Leafa and
I nodded, and we took off riding on the sea breeze.

New Chapter in Progress!

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Credits

Credits
Translation18:
Gsimenas, 1caiser
Editors:
Dennis Lee, Pryun, 1caiser
Raw:
Takazuki
Consultation:
Tap

Thanks!

Compiled:
Mamue

Chapter 1 from http://dreadfuldecoding.blogspot.de/2014/11/rainbow-bridge-1.html on 1st

June, 2015
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