It has been three days since the Sleeping Knights cleared a floor boss, and Yuuki has not logged into ALO since. Asuna asks Siune about her, but no one has been able to contact Yuuki. Asuna wonders if the Sleeping Knights were trying to distance themselves from her for her sake, but Siune insists it's the other way around. She then begs for Asuna to forget about them before logging out.
Afterwards, Asuna meets with Kirito on the roof of their school. While working on his mechatronics project with Yui, Kirito ascertained the whereabouts of Yuuki's player: a hospital that was running test trials for a Fulldive device called a "Medicuboid".
Asuna arrives at the hospital and asks to visit Yuuki. When she introduces herself and asks about the Medicuboid, the staff immediately realize who she is and have her meet with Dr. Kurahashi. Kurahashi explains that the Medicuboid was a Fulldive device that gave off stronger microwaves than the Nervegear, and over a larger area. This allows the device to cancel spinal reflexes, making it highly effective as an alternative to anesthesia. Along with the ability to provide sight and hearing to patients lacking them in a VR environment, it was improving the quality of life for patients in terminal care...
With Yuuki's permission, Kurahashi tells Asuna about her: Yuuki Konno's mother had complications during her birth, necessitating a C-section operation. Unfortunately, the blood transfusion she received during the operation had been tainted with the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. Yuuki's entire family wound up contracting the virus. Yuuki fought the disease fiercely, but she had contracted a strain resistant to medication that, in the fourth grade, developed into full-blown AIDS. After her immune system became irreparably compromised, Kurahashi offered to let Yuuki test the Medicuboid. She accepted, and her body was kept in a clean room to prevent infection. She had been Fulldiving almost continuously for three years.
Asuna asks about Yuuki's family, and if she had a sister. She did, an older twin sister named Aiko. Her parents passed away two years ago, and Aiko, only a year ago.
Seeing Asuna cry via cameras in the adjacent room, Yuuki, using an intercomm from within the Medicuboid's virtual environment, tells her not to cry. She asks to meet with her again in ALO, at the place where they first met.
Using an Amusphere Kurahashi used to converse with Yuuki in ALO, Asuna logs in and meets with Yuuki. The two bond together, with Yuuki wishing she could go to school one last time before she died.
Asuna believes she can actually make that happen...
