Our thanks goes out to Joeskunk for getting us the vobs for this project.
If people can connect to one another, even the smallest voice will grow loud.
If people can connect to one another, even their lives will become longer.
So...
Lain? I'm coming in.
Lain?
Thanks.
But I already verified that register a long time ago.
That's hilarious!
Right...
I can't wait for the next-gen protocol to come out.
When it does, I could...
Why are you guys so nice to me?
No, that's not what I think.
It's just a little strange.
I don't have many friends.
Thanks, Knights.
Yeah, right!
Connect
Hard at work studying, I see...
Listen, Lain...
It's like you're going back to your old self lately.
Come hang out with us again sometime.
Life's depressing when you're alone all the time!
I know, but I'm not alone.
Huh? Who's with you, then?
Everybody comes to see me.
No, that's not right...
Maybe I go to see them.
What? The Wired, you mean?
A net-pal isn't the same as a real friend.
Reika sure is an old fogey when it comes to some things, huh?
Yeah, an old fogey!
So what if I am?
Anyway, Lain, what kind of sites have you been hanging out at?
It's a secret.
Oh, acting high and mighty, huh?
Come on, tell us!
Hey, this'll look good!
No way! You should just give up!
I think this one's better.
No way! This one's better! Right, Lain?
Hey, let's go to that store we went to the other day.
They say they're having a 30-minute all-you-can-eat ice cream special today.
I'm hungry!
Huh?
What? What is it?
What's with that kid?
Beats me.
Come on, let's go!
Let's go, Lain.
Lain, what's...
No way!
What is that?
What the...?
Lain? That's...
You've certainly been coming home early lately.
Now it's Lain who's staying out late.
Do you think you'll get that college recommendation?
Speak of the devil.
A strange phenomenon appeared in the skies above Tokyo today.
People in the area who observed it report being deeply unnerved by it.
Was this a malicious prank?
Was it merely a natural phenomenon, or was it a deliberate act?
Hello, Navi.
Hello, Lain.
Connect to Wired.
So you're Lain, huh?
You're somethin' else, to be able to translate your real world form...
...so well here into the Wired.
Stupid Cheshire Cat wannabe...
"Wannabe," nothing. At my user level, this is the best I can do.
Most people can only manage ears.
I'm way better than them, don't you think?
Shut your hole. Just give me the information.
I helped Lain... This is gonna make me a hero with the local users.
You're more noise than signal...
Tell me about the game that all the grade-schoolers are playing.
A game? There's all kinds of kids' games.
Moron.
You've got a hunch that tells you it's a game?
To a kid, anything can be a game.
So you called up the search result...
Now I get it. This man might know the answer.
The child-killer scientist.
You live up to your reputation, Lain! You searched him on your own!
In the real world, he's just an old man waiting to die in a private hospital ward.
I helped you.
A little.
Ask him about KIDS.
I already know. You're not much of a guide, Cheshire Cat.
Now it's your turn, Professor Hodgeson.
Tell me all about it.
You look very lifelike, young lady.
What's "KIDS"?
It's so peaceful here...
I want to relax here until my body rots in the real world.
You know what's happening, don't you?
What's "KIDS"?
Time passes so beautifully here... And quietly, as if it will last forever.
Show me the experiment data from 15 years ago, Professor Hodgeson.
I never meant to put the children in any danger.
I don't mean 15 years ago, I mean the game that all the kids are playing now.
They're reproducing your experiment, aren't they?
Somebody dug it out of the trash can.
I thought I had erased all the data.
Tell me about the Kensington Experiment.
Psi, parapsychological ability, is present in most children,
although very faint in most.
It's nothing as outrageous as ESP.
It's just good intuition, or enough physical ability to bend a coin.
What're these that are attached to their heads?
We called them Outer Receptors.
That's what receives the Psi.
This is KIDS.
Individually, their Psi may be weak,
but if I could collect their power...
What were you expecting?
Something beyond imagining.
That's what I wanted to see, young lady.
What did you make them do?
Science isn't merely about proving hypotheses.
That's what I believed.
That's not what I mean...!
So, you didn't give any thought to the children.
As you say.
It was the KID System that converted the weak...
...electromagentic waves of the brain received by the Outer Receptors,
...and enhanced the functions of a specific area of the brain.
That is what KIDS really is.
When the children's Psi was combined, how much energy was generated?
Stop it...
Enough!
I smashed KIDS to pieces so that it could never be rebuilt.
But its schematics found their way onto the Wired...
...and eventually coalesced somewhere.
Someone found them.
And updated it so that it could manifest...
...phenomena without Outer Receptors.
If it can influence these new children to that extent as an emulation...
...I'm forced to acknowledge their talent.
Is that all you can think about?
You don't care about the children?
No matter how much I punish myself,
those children won't return to the real world.
And there's even less that I can do about this current group.
Talk about self-centered.
So who's using it now?
Young lady...
All this talking has worn me out.
It was nice meeting you.
I don't know what you plan to do in the Wired...
or what sort of being you're trying to become,
but you're powerful. Incredibly powerful.
If there really is a god here in the Wired, you're a blessed child.
I... I'm not...
I wonder where the power of the rogues that run the KIDS emulation...
...and this other kind of power come from?
Rogues?
If you'll excuse me, then...
I'm a little tired.
My body's time has run out.
My wish has come true.
Knights...
Shut up!
Who are you people? Why did you try to tell me all this?
Was I just your toy? Is this all a game?
What do you want to use the children for?
Are you just doing it for kicks?
You'll do anything if you can do it and if you think it'll be fun!
Then you're just a bunch of losers!
Aren't you going to speak up? Isn't anybody going to answer?
Them...!
Now I get it!
You!
You're Knights, right?
You are, aren't you? You're Knights, right?
Please get down.
W-What the hell was that?
The coolant system in your room.
They must've planted a parasite bomb in your coolant system.
It almost sounds like you're saying you didn't do it.
It wasn't us.
Who was it, then?
Who did it?!
The Knights.
I thought I was innocent, but I'm being punished.
I didn't start this, but I have to finish it somehow.
I can't say I didn't know about it, but I don't remember taking part in it.
I get the feeling my freedom cost me dearly,
but I don't remember selling my soul cheaply.
Hey, hey!
Until I die and say goodbye...
Hey, hey!
...no one can catch me.
You probably don't know the eternal outlaws...
...who wander the distant night.