Digital: 2017 June 20 ~ 2017 October 17[1] Physical: 2017 September 08 Fanbook Vol.1 2017 October 01 Fanbook Vol.2 2017 November 30 Fanbook Vol.3 2017 December 29 Fanbook Vol.4
新約小説「.hack」 (Hepburn: Shin'yaku shōsetsu dotto hyakku,New Testament Novel ".hack") is a retelling of the events of the Games Tetralogy from the perspective of player behind the avatar of Kite.
What kind of boy was “Kite,” of the .hackers?
The story progresses from the perspective of the main character, Kite, and his feelings are explored!
This novel compliments the truth that could not be fully depicted in the game. By carefully depicting Kite's true personality, which he hides from the offline world. The story also shows the offline efforts of various characters involved in the incident.
Plot
The plot is broken up between different kinds of chapters:
chapters depicting historical events and general worldbuilding
As with as other retellings (such as the Another Birth novels), certain details in this version of the story differ slightly when compared to the portrayal of the same events in the original games. Discrepancies will be detailed below.
Kite's player wakes up at his desk, disoriented. The next day at school, he learns that Yasuhiko has been hospitalized. Kite posts the "coma" thread on the BBS.
Kite comes to the conclusion that the key to saving Yasuhiko is in The World. Meets BlackRose, goes to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, encounters Balmung and receives the Bracelet.
History Chapter: June 1990, a Boston company called “Games & Publishing” is targeted by two students who felt wronged after not receiving a poster. They were sentenced to 4 years in prison and two years in probation.
Kite and BlackRose invite Balmung to fight Skeith (Deviation from possible party members in the Games.) Cubia appears. Its roar blows the party away. Kite loses consciousness.
Kite's player and Mr. Tokuoka speak at an internet café. Tokuoka is surprised to learn that Kite defeated Skeith, and alludes to being saved falling into a coma when he encountered Skeith.
History Chapter: August 2006, Carlsbad, San Diego County, California. Harald comes to meet with CC Corp regarding his game's prototype. He meets a woman by the name Nica, who works at CC Corp.
One month has passed since Kite started playing and Yasuhiko fell unconscious. Kite's player's parents are concerned about how much time is spent on the game, but he manages to get them to drop the topic.
Kite and BlackRose both receive a suspicious, anonymous email. They go to the field and are ambushed by Lios and the other System Administrators. They narrowly escape deletion when Helba intercedes.
Lios sends Kite and BlackRose to survey an area. There, they meet Elk and Mia. Mia's voice is distorted and appears to be bugged. The two parties go down to the dungeon, defeat a data bug, and find the Aromatic Grass Mia and Elk were after. Lios asks about what they encountered in the field, and comments that they encountered data anomalies before they entered the dungeon. The mismatch in what Kite reports gives Lios pause.
History Chapter: September 2006, Harald has integrated well with the team at CC Corp. He is nicknamed "Hal," by the others. In October there are some disagreements about the name of the game. Initially Harald wanted the name "Twilight," but eventually the team agrees on "fragment."
Kite pays Linda a hefty sum of GP for information, receives keywords in return. Goes to the field, finds a Harald room, and encounters Balmung. They form a temporary truce to work together.
Linda tells Kite to find a player called Wiseman, whom he meets in Carmina Gadelica. Kite asks him to find information about the Epitaph of Twilight, and Wiseman agrees to do so once he figures out what he wants from Kite in exchange.
Wiseman's condition is to join Kite's party. Kite, BlackRose, and Wiseman investigate some rumors from the BBS and encounter Plaird, who is deleted by Lios.
History Chapter: By Winter 2006, Harald becomes visibly ill. After the new year, spring, and summer pass, Harald appears to recover slightly. While speaking with Nica over drinks, he accidentally lets slip his desire to meet Morganna. Afterwards, they part ways and Harald never returns to work.
Lios attempts to delete Net Slum, but his face off with Helba is interrupted by data distortions. Kite's appearance exposed Net Slum to Morganna. Kite, BlackRose, and Wiseman face Magus. After the fight the infected data has spread to the Root Towns.
Kite's player's family are eating and watching television. Kite tries to ask his dad about the possibility of moving again, but his father is distracted by the television, which is covering the chaos unfolding in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama. A piercing woman's scream takes over the broadcast. Everyone goes pale and watches in stunned silence.
BlackRose tells kite why she keeps playing alongside him. Her brother fell into a coma. Kite is stunned out of his depressive state. Kite and BlackRose cheer each other on.
Fragment returned to Aura. Cubia fight. BlackRose realizes that Cubia doesn't want Kite to meet Aura. Afterwards, Lios lectures them about why he can't work with hackers like Helba.
Kite wallows in guilt and self-loathing. He desires to be like the hero of Makai Tenshi GIGA. By the time December rolls around, TV programs are covering the network incidents and openly criticizing CC Corp and The World. Kite's player and his classmates are now able to visit Yasuhiko in the hospital. Mr. Tokuoka calls from Northern Gifu. He also is aware of Helba. Kite's player updates him on recent occurrences and Tokuoka offers to help him. As it turns out, Mr. Tokuoka used to be a programmer for CC Corp. He also knows Tsuchiya, Kouji, who he calls "Tsuchi." He says that convincing Lios would be impossible, so Kite should consider working with Helba to find something to tempt Lios with Collateral.
Three days after the call with Mr. Tokuoka, Kite receives an email from Wiseman. He and BlackRose go to Net Slum, which has been moved. Tartarga escorts them to meet Helba, who is eventually persuaded to try Kite's strategy. However before moving forward with the plan, she must first ask the denizens of Net Slum how they feel about undertaking such a risk. After Helba delivers an impassioned speech, the denizens of Net Slum enthusiastically consent.
Flashback to Kite's player and Yasuhiko talking at school about which mammal is the most powerful. Yasuhiko explains why he thinks the correct answer is Killer Whales (aka Orca).
The residents of Net Slum and Helba have come to an agreement, so now Lios needs to be convinced. Kite asks Wiseman to set up a meeting between Lios and Helba. Kite and Wiseman mediate as neutral third parties. The meeting ends with Lios stating that he plans to think on it give an answer later. The next morning, Kite receives an email from Lios.
Kite and BlackRose go adventuring to raise their levels. Upon returning to Carmina Gadelica, they encounter Elk. Mia is missing, and Kite offers to help Elk find her. Elk tries to refuse but BlackRose overpowers him and forces him to exchange member addresses with them.
The Vaccine Program plan is discussed. Kite talks to Lios about Mr. Tokuoka. Lios flies into a rage and badmouths him before leaving. Kite reflects that Mr. Tokuoka was wrong, though it was too late to change anything.
Kite's player finally speaks to his father regarding moving. His father clarifies that only he will be moving for work, that he'll return on weekends, and that the rest of the family will remain in their current home. He apologizes for the burden of repeatedly uprooting the children's lives.
One week until the start of Winter Vacation. Kite's player contemplates how the Eight Phases are connected to the Epitaph of Twilight. He also can find a reference to Cubia in the Epitaph, but can't find anything about Morganna Mode Gone, which makes him question who their enemy is and how she ties into everything.
December 24. Kite invites BlackRose and Balmung to an area with one of Harald's Rooms. They speak to a stone with the remnants of AI Harald. Aura appears and reveals the connection between Cubia and the Bracelet. The final battle with Cubia begins, and Kite realizes what he must do to defeat Cubia once and for all. After the battle ends, Kite loses consciousness.
History Chapter: The team at CC Corp discover the black box Harald built into Fragment. They discuss postponing the beta test and game launch, but ultimately cannot due to working with other companies, like ALTIMIT. They decide to move forward, and fragment is released in July, as originally planned. The beta ends after a little over two months. The team is ultimately unable to break into the Black Box. Despite the success of fragment, employees begin to quit after The World is launched. Of the original team, only Nica remained. She eventually is promoted to a high level position. She hid the development tools Harald left behind. Only she was able to break into the Black Box. She did so in secret, though she ultimately only made one change; she impulsively tweaked the code of the black box program to distort the system's ability for self-awareness. Her motivations were to end the "fake family" Harald had sought to build in the game, as she considered Aura and Emma unnecessary. To her, only Harald's work was worth preserving.
Kite's attempt to speak with Morganna fails. After losing many allies, the tide of the battle shifts and Morganna begins to flee. Helba receives word that Tokuoka and his friends are taking action on the outside and the party try to hold out hope. In an act of desperation, she sends a prototype of the phases after the party: Skeith ZERO, the Terror of the Primordial. Lios saves Kite and Helba using a secret vehicle hidden in the game's code: a Steam Bike. Lios announces his intent to face the enemy.
Lios jumps off of the bike and starts to fistfight Skeith ZERO. Kite realizes that this Skeith is covered in cracks and appears to have been damaged by the various battles against the Phases. Helba moves in to assist Lios. Balmung and Kite face Morganna and the Seekers. Balmung is data drained and Kite looks around to realize that everyone else has fallen, and that he is alone in facing Morganna. Kite yells at her, calling her Emma and asking if she's forgotten who she is. When he goes to land the final blow on Morganna, Aura appears in front of her. Kite watches as mother and daughter mutually try to protect each other.
Thanks to Aura becoming the ultimate AI, the game data returned to normal and the network problems ceased. Everyone who had fallen unconscious due to the game returned.
Offline, Kite's player talks to his sister after the New Year. He also speaks to Mr. Tokuoka one last time.
Kite and BlackRose meet Aura in a dungeon, and the Bracelet is returned to Kite.
Kite's player meets Yasuhiko, who is now awake but unable to attend the offline meet-up. Kite's player doesn't really have any interest in meeting the people offline, but attends anyway because he wants to thank BlackRose's player. Mr. Tsuchiya reserved a cafe for the meeting. The attendees include Lios, BlackRose, Balmung, Wiseman, and Helba, some of the other System Administators, as well as some of the hackers from Net Slum.
