Sword Art Online Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Warning Spoiler Alert: This article or section contains details about plotlines not covered in the anime. Do not proceed unless you wish to be spoiled.

Cordial Chords (コーディアル・コード, Kōdiaru Kōdo?) is a Sword Art Online anime Blu-Ray/DVD bonus side story written by Kawahara Reki. It was initially released as part of the limited edition version of Ordinal Scale's Blu-Ray/DVD on September 27, 2017.[1] Cordial Chords is a sequel to the events of Hopeful Chant and Ordinal Scale.

The story is set a week after YUNA's first live concert during Ordinal Scale, chronicling the aftermath of the Ordinal Scale incident and an issue that led to YUNA requesting Kirigaya Kazuto's (Kirito's) help, which prompted the boy to meet with Nochizawa Eiji once more.

Plot[]

Prologue[]

On May 7, 2026, Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna were spending their lunch break in a difficult-to-reach green zone on their school's campus. With his girlfriend sleeping on his lap, the boy gently caressed her hair as he contemplated on how the sensation of hair, among other things, was handled in games. Having suddenly awoken in the midst of his musings and discovered where she was lying, Asuna attempted to rise to her feet due to feeling embarrassed. However, she was stopped by Kazuto, who urged her to sleep a little longer, arguing that they still had twenty minutes of their break left, while Doctor Kurahashi had stated that sleep would accelerate her recovery from the memory scan conducted on her. Despite showing some resistance, the girl once again lay her head on Kazuto's lap, before returning to sleep.

Part 1[]

Kazuto recalled the scepticism that the Augma was met with when it was announced, due to being developed by a company that had specialised in social networking games and video streaming services, rather than being a manufacturing company. For most people, these doubts were completely eliminated with the release of Ordinal Scale, a game that had attained tremendous popularity upon release due to a variety of reasons. However, Kazuto remained suspicious, as the technology employed for the Augma to allow it to send visual, auditory, and limited tactile signals into the user's brain was far too advanced for company that had just entered the industry. Although the announcement that the Augma's development was spearheaded by Kayaba Akihiko's mentor, Professor Shigemura Tetsuhiro, explained how the company was able to develop such advanced technology, it did not lessen Kazuto's cautiousness.

Then, at the end of April, Kazuto discovered about the professor's plans to use Ordinal Scale to scan the memories of Sword Art Online (SAO) survivors in order to use their memories of his daughter, Shigemura Yuuna, to recreate her as a digital ghost. The professor was thus able to create «White Yuna», an Artificial Intelligence (AI) with his daughter's personality and limited memories, based on the language engine of An Incarnation of the Radius, the monster that was meant to serve as the final boss of Sword Art Online before it became a death game, and the collected memories. However, as the personality of the AI was too accurate, it assisted Kazuto and the others in defeating the boss in order to stop the professor's plans before it could kill a large number of SAO survivors, despite knowing that the defeat of the boss would result in the AI itself being deleted.

However, even eight days after the incident, Kazuto could not stop thinking about two things. The first was Nochizawa Eiji, Shigemura Yuuna's childhood friend who had been helping with the professor's plans. Due to the bodily injury Eiji had inflicted to the members of Fuurinkazan, Eiji had surrendered himself to the police two days after the incident and was still being detained, though he was likely to avoid prosecution due to the Fuurinkazan members not pressing charges against him. The other was YUNA (Black Yuna), the Ordinal Scale image character and Augmented Reality idol, who possessed a simpler personality than White Yuna and was still working as an idol. While Kazuto felt it unlikely to meet either of the two ever again, he believed that he would not be able to forget them so easily.

Part 2[]

That afternoon, while contemplating on his and Asuna's commutes to school, Kazuto returned home. There, he was greeted by Kirigaya Suguha, who had returned home earlier than usual. Discovering that his cousin was secretly eating some ice cream, the boy persuaded her to share some with him, before going to his room. There, Kazuto noticed the Augma lying on his desk while considering doing his homework. Although the device had not been confiscated by the government and was still popular, since the truth about the incident at YUNA's concert had been concealed from the public, while the memory scanning feature had been eliminated, Kazuto decided to stop using the Augma nonetheless.

Just as Kazuto equipped his Augma and was about to begin the procedure for formatting the device, the boy noticed a push notification on the device's virtual desktop with a reference to Yuna. After tapping on the message by reflex, he discovered that it was an announcement for a new YUNA desktop mascot application for the Augma. Driven by the curiosity, the boy installed the application in order to say his farewells to Yuna. While the little YUNA mascot did not seem unusual at first, shortly after Kazuto gave it his in-game nickname, the mascot suddenly glitched, pleading for his assistance in a serious tone, before returning to normal just as abruptly.

Confounded, the boy pondered on the mysterious message. As YUNA was now the property of Kamura and her data had been reset, he concluded that only White Yuna could have sent the message, meaning that she could possibly still be found in the old SAO server. Due to not knowing Professor Shigemura's whereabouts, Kazuto decided to instead call Kikuoka Seijirou for information on the only other person whom he could question about Yuna and the SAO server. Just as he finished the call upon acquiring the information he needed, the boy heard Suguha calling him for a dinner.

Part 3[]

On May 7, seven days following his surrender to the police, Nochizawa Eiji was released from the Yoyogi police station without indictment, due to no one pressing charges against him. Standing within the premises of the police station, Eiji considered his next course of action. He was reluctant to return to his apartment, as this would result in him returning to his life of despair. This made the young man recall how he had secluded himself in an inn on the 1st Floor ever since Yuna's death in Sword Art Online. His days were spent agonising about what he could have done to prevent the incident, gradually beginning to blame the other members of his party, especially the two members from Fuurinkazan, for Yuna's death.

Having been kept alive by the faint hope of Yuuna being spared, Eiji became only more depressed upon returning to the real world, only to discover that his hopes were in vain. As his parents had divorced and cared little about him, Eiji decided to continue living alone in seclusion. His dreary life in despair lasted until he was one day contacted by Professor Shigemura Tetsuhiro, who gave Eiji reason to live again by inviting the young man to help with a project to resurrect Yuuna in the form of a digital ghost.

However, as their plan had failed while the man whom he had trusted deeply had betrayed him, Eiji no longer had a place to go to after being released from police custody. Lacking a goal, Eiji deliberated wandering aimlessly through town to avoid returning home, when he noticed the man he least wanted to see waiting for him in front of the station upon leaving the premises.

Part 4[]

Having learnt that Yuuna's death was similar to the demise of the «Moonlit Black Cats» guild in its circumstances, Kazuto felt he understood the antagonism expressed by Eiji upon seeing him, as Kazuto himself had shown similar attitude towards Asuna and Klein after the death of his guild. Before he could even greet Eiji, the latter demanded to know his reason for coming to see him. In order to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Kazuto proposed moving to a nearby family restaurant before answering his question.

After placing their orders at the restaurant, Kazuto informed Eiji of the existence of a YUNA desktop mascot, adding that Professor Shigemura had transferred the rights to YUNA to Kamura and a company named «Ario Room». Revealing that the mascot had pleaded for assistance, Kazuto requested Eiji's help in FullDiving into the Sword Art Online server.

Part 5[]

As accessing the server required opening an access gate from the server side, Eiji led Kazuto to Argus's office in Minato Ward to connect to the server directly. With Yui looping the cameras inside, the two used Eiji's identification details to gain access to the building and reach the server room below the office. Once inside, Eiji quickly retrieved a worn AmuSphere from one of the boxes there, insisting on connecting to the server himself as well, preventing Kazuto from having a chance to dissuade him.

Once the two boys logged into Sword Art Online simultaneously, Kirito found himself on the 100th Floor, outside the Ruby Palace, where he had left his avatar after the battle against An Incarnation of the Radius. However, as Eiji had not participated in that battle, he spawned at the Town of Beginnings, the last place he had been at before Sword Art Online was cleared, instead of appearing in the same area as Kirito. Realising that the boy would not have the patience to wait for him and would instead immediately depart on a search for Yuna on his own, Kirito rushed to the floor's Teleport Gate to pursue him.

Part 6[]

Having logged in as Nautilus, Eiji found himself in his inn on the 1st Floor, with Kirito nowhere in sight. Unwilling to wait for Kirito, Nautilus rushed to the Teleport Gate to travel to Jaileum on the 40th Floor in order to reach the field dungeon where Yuna had died in Sword Art Online, believing it to be the only logical place to find Yuna on the server. Fifteen minutes after reaching the dungeon and defeating the monsters blocking his way, Nautilus reached the dungeon's boss room.

Upon using his final healing potion, Nautilus entered the room to reach the spot where Yuna had died. However, just before he could reach the spot, the Feral Warder Chief, the boss of the room, reacted to Nautilus's presence and sealed the room, forcing Nautilus into a fight. Although Nautilus attempted a preemptive strike on the boss with his «Sonic Leap» Sword Skill, his attack was blocked by the boss, leaving him vulnerable to a counterattack. With barely any hit points left, Nautilus found himself unable to control his avatar due to his fear triggering an episode of his FullDive Non-Conformity condition.

Although having learnt from Professor Shigemura that his condition was the result of an issue with the connection between his brain and his FullDive device, Nautilus recalled Kirito as an example of a man capable of overcoming grand obstacles through the strength of his will, rather than skill. Just as Nautilus was able to regain control of his body by following this example, Kirito himself arrived at the scene along with Yui, throwing an enormous golden sword to Nautilus from beyond the bars sealing the room.

After easily defeating the boss and its henchmen with one hit from the sword, Nautilus ran to the spot where Yuna had died. The moment he reached it, a glitched YUNA materialised on the spot, falling into Nautilus's hands. As Nautilus began panicking in confusion, Yui explained that YUNA had begun collapsing due to her programming being unable to bear the discovery that her management company had created copies of her. Just then, Yui noticed that a higher-ranked Artificial Intelligence module was stabilising YUNA's condition by using its own data. However, it could not complete the repairs due to lacking a memory core, a set of data representing YUNA's most precious memory.

Considering what could represent such a memory, Nautilus suddenly recalled YUNA's interest in a bottle of candy that he had given her. The moment Nautilus retrieved an identical bottle of candy that the real Yuna had left to him just before her death from his inventory and gave it to YUNA, the pieces of candy inside it began to glow and lodged themselves into the broken parts of YUNA's avatar. Just then, Nautilus witnessed how a white-hooded Yuna stroked YUNA's cheeks, thanking him for keeping the bottle with him for her, before disappearing entirely. Embracing the now fully-repaired YUNA, Nautilus began weeping like a child.

References[]

Navigation[]

Sword Art Online Publication Navigation Bar
Aincrad Arc Fairy Dance Arc Extra Edition Phantom Bullet Arc Calibur Mother's Rosario Ordinal Scale Alicization Arc Unital Ring Arc
Progressive Arc
Light Novels Main Series Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05 - Volume 06 - Volume 07 - Volume 08 - Volume 09 - Volume 10 - Volume 11 - Volume 12 - Volume 13 - Volume 14 - Volume 15 - Volume 16 - Volume 17 - Volume 18 - Volume 19 - Volume 20 - Volume 21 - Volume 22 - Volume 23 - Volume 24 - Volume 25 - Volume 26 - Volume 27
Progressive Series Progressive 01 - Progressive 02 - Progressive 03 - Progressive 04 - Progressive 05 - Progressive 06 - Progressive 07 - Progressive 08
Alternative Series GGO 01 - GGO 02 - GGO 03 - GGO 04 - GGO 05 - GGO 06 - GGO 07 - GGO 08 - GGO 09 - GGO 10
Clover's Regret Volume 1 - Clover's Regret Volume 2 - Clover's Regret Volume 3
Material Edition Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05 - Volume 06 - Volume 07 - Volume 08 - Volume 09 - Volume 10 - Volume 11 - Volume 12 - Volume 13 - Volume 14 - Volume 15 - Volume 16 - Volume 17 - Volume 18 - Volume 19 - Volume 20 - Volume 21 - Volume 22 - Volume 23 - Volume 24 - Volume 25 - Volume 26 - Volume 27 - Volume 28 - Volume 29
Character Edition Lisbeth Edition - Silica Edition - Pina Edition
BD/DVD Specials Main Series Cordial Chords (OS BD/DVD) - Distant Journey (Alicization BD/DVD Vol.1) - If We Could Walk Together (Alicization WoU BD/DVD Vol.8) - If You Were Here (Alicization BD/DVD Vol.8) - If You Wish It (Alicization WoU BD/DVD Vol.2) - Rainbow Bridge (Extra Edition BD/DVD) - Sugary Days (Season 2 BD/DVD Vol.5) - Sisters' Prayer (Season 2 BD/DVD Vol.9) - The Day After (Season 1 BD/DVD Vol.9) - The Day Before (Season 1 BD/DVD Vol.1)
Alternative Series How LLENN Stopped Fretting and had Her Fire for Combat Sparked by Pitohui (AGGO BD/DVD Vol.6)
Magazine Publications Calibur SS - Celeste Fairy - Objectors! ~VRMMO Development Tragedy~ - Open-Air Bath - Salvia and the MTB
Crossover Dream Game -Crossover- - Versus - Versus II
Dengeki Fair Main Series 16.8.5 (2014) - Agil and Klein's Exciting Meal - Breaking the Damage Limit (2012) - Bluish Memories (2021) - Defensive Power (2015) - SAOP 4.1 (2016) - Summer Memories (2019) - The End of the Summer and the Straw Hat (2018)
Alternative Series LLENN and Fukaziroh Talking About Dates (2016) - Mizugi de Tatakaeru ka Online (MTO) (2018)
Other Specials Main Series chromatic colors (abec Art Works) - Cooking with the Wife (SAO x NewDays collaboration) - Hopeful Chant (Ordinal Scale screenings) - prismatic colors (abec Art Works Wanderers)
Alternative Series (AGGO) Girl Meets Gun ~P90 ni tsuite Yoku wakaru Online (PYO)~ (P-90 Airsoft Gun bonus) - Her step, step (ReoNa's Prologue Album) - Minami no Island Online (MIO) (Dengeki Island!) - MZO (Dengeki Splash) - Pitohui, Elsa, and a Fine Day for Handguns (AM.45 Airsoft Gun) - Sugoimizugi Jam (Dengeki Girls Swim Wear Festival) - The Untold Tale of the Vorpal Bunny's Birth ~Otherwise Known as the Worries of Two Gun Nuts~ (Vorpal Bunny Airsoft Gun bonus)
Alternative Series (Clover's Regret) Idle Talk - The Shinobi's Reckless Remarks (Dengeki Bunko Magazine Animate bonus) - The Story of the Matchmaking Bakeneko (Clover's Regret Vol.1 Animate bonus) - The Strange Tale of Makuwa Melons (Clover's Regret Vol.1 Melonbooks bonus)
Web Stories There is But One Ultimate Way
Manga Aincrad Volume 01 - Volume 02
Fairy Dance Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Phantom Bullet Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Mother's Rosario Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Calibur Tankoubon
Alicization Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05
Progressive Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05 - Volume 06 - Volume 07
Progressive - Barcarolle of Froth Volume 01 - Volume 02
Progressive - Scherzo of Deep Night Volume 01 - Volume 02
Girls Ops Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05 - Volume 06 - Volume 07 - Volume 08
Ordinal Scale Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05
Kiss and Fly Volume 01
4koma Manga Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
SAOAGGO Manga Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Comic Anthology Volume 01 - Volume 02
4koma Anthology Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Hollow Realization Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03 - Volume 04 - Volume 05
Alicization Lycoris Volume 01 - Volume 02 - Volume 03
Aincrad Night of Kirito Tankoubon
Kirito's Gun Gale Wars Tankoubon
Anime Season I - Aincrad Arc Episode 01 - Episode 02 - Episode 03 - Episode 04 - Episode 05 - Episode 06 - Episode 07 - Episode 08 - Episode 09 - Episode 10 - Episode 11 - Episode 12 - Episode 13 - Episode 14
Season I - Fairy Dance Arc Episode 15 - Episode 16 - Episode 17 - Episode 18 - Episode 19 - Episode 20 - Episode 21 - Episode 22 - Episode 23 - Episode 24 - Episode 25
Season I - Special Episodes Sword Art Online Extra Edition
Season II - Phantom Bullet Arc Episode 01 - Episode 02 - Episode 03 - Episode 04 - Episode 05 - Episode 06 - Episode 07 - Episode 08 - Episode 09 - Episode 10 - Episode 11 - Episode 12 - Episode 13 - Episode 14 - Episode 14.5
Season II - Calibur Arc Episode 15 - Episode 16 - Episode 17
Season II - Mother's Rosario Arc Episode 18 - Episode 19 - Episode 20 - Episode 21 - Episode 22 - Episode 23 - Episode 24
Movie Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-
AGGO Episode 01 - Episode 02 - Episode 03 - Episode 04 - Episode 05 - Episode 06 - Episode 07 - Episode 08 - Episode 09 - Episode 10 - Episode 11 - Episode 12
Season III - Alicization Arc Episode 01 - Episode 02 - Episode 03 - Episode 04 - Episode 05 - Episode 06 - Episode 07 - Episode 08 - Episode 09 - Episode 10 - Episode 11 - Episode 12 - Episode 13 - Episode 14 - Episode 15 - Episode 16 - Episode 17 - Episode 18 - Episode 18.5 - Episode 19 - Episode 20 - Episode 21 - Episode 22 - Episode 23 - Episode 24 - Episode 25 - Episode 26 - Episode 27 - Episode 28 - Episode 29 - Episode 30 - Episode 31 - Episode 32 - Episode 33 - Episode 34 - Episode 35 - Episode 36 - Episode 37 - Episode 38 - Episode 39 - Episode 40 - Episode 41 - Episode 42 - Episode 43 - Episode 44 - Episode 45 - Episode 46 - Episode 47
Sword Art Offline Episode 01 - Episode 02 - Episode 03 - Episode 04 - Episode 05 - Episode 06 - Episode 07 - Episode 08 - Episode 09 - Extra Edition
Two Episode 01 - Two Episode 02 - Two Episode 03 - Two Episode 04 - Two Episode 05 - Two Episode 06 - Two Episode 07 - Two Episode 08 - Two Episode 09
Ordinal Scale
Drama CD Accel World + Sword Art Online Drama CD Ordeals of Kirito
Ichiban Kuji STAGE2
Ichiban Kuji STAGE3 Melodies Go Beyond the Forgetting Curve... - The Grand Plan for a Summer Festival Performance! - The Grand Plan to Overcoming Picky-Eating! - When Asuna and Yuuki Changed into Swimsuits
Ichiban Kuji Ordinal Scale A Brief Instant of Reminiscing Right Below the Concert - From Asuna's Diary on a Certain Day in Late April
SAO x KYOTO NIPPON FESTIVAL The Great Barrier of the Old Capital of Kyoto
Lycoris Drama CD Another Heroine Inverter
Sword Art Online Art Book and Guide Book Main Page
Advertisement