Mash-up Anime World: Creating the SCP Foundation to Contain Anomalies Chapter 262 - 257: Turmoil Outside the Game, the Confused No

Casually taking off the headset—

Haruto stretched lazily.

His real body just felt way more comfortable.

While other SAO players might have gotten used to their powerful in-ga avatars and feel empty upon returning to their real bodies, Haruto was the opposite—he only ever felt hollow when using his digital body.

Standing up, he looked at the two girls lying flat on the bed and tapped their headsets lightly.

"It's just a ga. Don't get too obsessed."

"Big brother, I'm doing a quest!"

"Almost leveled up! Just a sec, just a sec!"

Eventually, Shiro and Gabriel found a quiet corner in the ga and logged out.

"Alright, ti to eat," Haruto called out.

Gabriel felt like complaining.

Seriously, it's a death ga, and this guy dragged them out to eat like it's nothing?

The three headed downstairs and ran into Rem, who had been about to co up to call them.

Haruto scooped up the young Rem in his arms.

This version of Rem, still in her childhood, was far from the composed demon maid she'd beco in the future.

Though she didn't resist Haruto's touch—in fact, she really liked it—the sudden hug made her cheeks flush bright red.

"M-Master Haruto, it's ti to eat..." she stamred.

Haruto humd in delight.

Rem was small, soft...

As they went down the stairs, Tohru happened to see Haruto holding Rem and imdiately dashed over.

"No fair! I want a turn too!"

The apartnt was always lively like this, and the other girls were already used to it. As they sat down at the table, Nao cleared her throat softly.

"Big bro, about the SAO situation—things are blowing up in Japan right now."

Haruto nodded, not surprised at all.

Honestly, it'd be strange if there wasn't a huge uproar.

Ten thousand beta testers trapped in a ga.

The developers had no solution. The ga's creator committed suicide in the company office.

It was a social bombshell of a news story.

The only reason no one had died yet was because Haruto had intervened.

There's a huge difference between people dying and not dying.

"Have the Momobami... no, both financial conglorates step up and take social responsibility. Transfer all trapped SAO players to hospitals for dical care."

"SAO isn't ending anyti soon. Just allocate funds and build a new hospital, don't take up public resources."

Haruto laid out his plans thodically.

He had already prepared for this the mont SAO was discovered.

Spending a bit of money wouldn't just earn him public favor and a solid reputation, it would also give him a legitimate reason to get involved with the SAO project, paving the way for eventually taking over full-dive ga tech.

Hearing his plan, Nao nodded and passed on the instructions to the Foundation.

Just then, Haruto's phone rang.

It was a familiar number—Shozo Yuuki was calling.

Haruto picked up.

Shozo's slightly anxious voice ca through the receiver right away.

"Mr. Haruto, have you seen the news about the SAO incident?"

Haruto gave a casual "yeah" and said offhandedly,

"No casualties so far. I've already made arrangents to minimize public panic."

If you wanted to talk about victims of the SAO incident, aside from the ten thousand trapped players, the Yuuki family was also one.

As shareholders, they had been completely played by Kayaba, that bastard.

Forget making a profit—they were about to get dragged down with the sinking ship.

Shozo fell silent for a mont. He hadn't expected Haruto to actually step in and help at this ti.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Haruto. The Yuuki family will never forget your kindness. But... the real reason I called wasn't to ask for help for the Yuuki family. It's... Asuna also got trapped in SAO. Does your sister have any way to help...?"

Haruto raised an eyebrow.

Clearly, Shozo had tried everything and still couldn't get Asuna out of SAO.

So he thought of Shiro, the genius, hoping she could help.

Guess the guy really did care about his daughter.

More than the family business, what he worried about first was Asuna's safety.

Too bad his judgnt sucked, partnered with a madman and picked a psycho for a future son-in-law.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. The SAO root server is completely sealed off—external access is blocked. Forcing a breach could corrupt internal data. It's risky."

That was Haruto's official response.

In truth, unless soone had installed a hardware backdoor ahead of ti, even a genius wouldn't be able to do anything.

Shozo fell silent again.

Japan's governnt had already gathered a bunch of top engineers to try and break into SAO.

But just like Haruto said—it was hopeless.

That last bit of hope shattered.

Just as Shozo sank into despair—

"But, Mr. Yuuki, there's no need to panic. Asuna should be fine. During a system inspection, Shiro discovered the headgear had so risks. So she added a failsafe—SAO headsets can't actually kill players."

"At worst, it'll put them into unconsciousness. Judging by Kayaba's mindset, once the ga is cleared, Asuna will wake up."

"If you're still uneasy, you can have Asuna transferred to the Momobami Private Hospital. They'll ensure her physical well-being."

Shozo was overjoyed.

If his daughter wasn't going to die, then there was still hope!

And Haruto's suggestion made perfect sense.

The dical tech controlled by those two financial giants was beyond anything publicly available.

Sending Asuna there was the safest option by far.

"I really don't know how to thank you, Mr. Haruto... you've done far too much for us."

At this point, Shozo felt almost unworthy.

How could the Yuuki family possibly deserve this level of help from the Momobami?

Even if they handed over all their assets, that massive organization probably wouldn't even blink.

Haruto could sense Shozo's confusion and added casually:

"Don't worry about it. I felt a strange sense of familiarity when I first t Asuna. I'm genuinely concerned for her."

Hearing this, Shozo finally understood.

Ah—it was for his daughter's sake.

Considering Haruto was around Asuna's age...

Shozo figured this was already the best possible outco. While he was deep in thought, Haruto added another line casually,

"By the way, I doubt Kayaba Akihiko was the only researcher on SAO. Even if he was a genius and the others were just support staff... With a risk that big in the system, none of them noticed anything before launch?"

Haruto had just said that offhandedly—trying to redirect Shozo's thoughts a little.

But to Shozo, it was like a bolt of lightning.

"You're right, Mr. Haruto! I'll go find them imdiately!"

After getting Haruto's approval, he hung up the call.

Haruto, on the other hand, was left confused.

Find people?

Find who...?

anwhile, Shozo's face was dark as storm clouds after the call.

Nearby, Koichiro Yuuki was anxiously watching his sister.

"Koichiro, take Asuna to the Momobami Private Hospital. Call this number when you get there."

Shozo's voice was grim.

As Asuna's brother, Koichiro was stunned to hear that.

The Momobami Hospital? That place didn't even accept regular patients. But seeing his father's stormy face, he didn't ask further and nodded obediently.

After morizing the number, he watched Shozo storm out of the house.

"Father, where are you going?"

Shozo didn't even turn back.

"To find soone!"

The front door slamd shut with a heavy thud.

Shozo floored the gas pedal and sped all the way to Nobuyuki Sugou's house.

Burning with fury, he kicked the door with all his strength.

Inside, Sugou nearly died of fright from the loud bang.

Because of the SAO incident, he'd already been grilled by the governnt and scolded by players' families.

Now, he was holed up at ho, too scared to go out.

He tiptoed to the door and peeked through the peephole.

Seeing it was Shozo Yuuki, he sighed in relief.

Opening the door carefully, he was just about to ask why his old boss had co—

Shozo barged in and kicked him flat on the floor.

Sugou was completely dumbfounded.

Shozo grabbed him by the collar.

"You bastard! Is this because I kicked you out of the Yuuki family?! Was this your revenge?!"

"Do you know what you've done?! Ten thousand players, ten thousand families—how dare you?!"

"If anything happens to Asuna, don't even think about living to see tomorrow!"

Shozo's roar left Sugou completely stunned.

Huh...?

What does this have to do with ?!