Premiere

Premiere (プレミア) is a game adaptation-original character in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. Unlike the other main characters, she is a Non-Player Character (NPC), born from the creation of Sword Art: Origin.

Appearance
Premiere looks almost identical to her sister Tia, the only identifying difference between the twins being the presence of a small mole right under the corner of the former's right eye. Like Tia, Premiere has blue eyes and short black hair. After requesting fighting lessons from Kirito, she began wielding a rapier.

Personality
Originally, Premiere had no pre-programmed settings to determine her behavior or interactions with players. However, after meeting Kirito's group, she began to develop an inquisitive and childlike nature, often learning and utilizing words and phrases she heard from other players.

Hollow Realization
Premiere was first seen staring unwaveringly at Kirito from among the players in the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings on the day of the beta opening of Sword Art: Origin. When Kirito noticed and tried to reach her, Premiere turned away, saying something inaudible, and disappeared into the crowd.

The next day, Premiere was encountered by Kirito again, who discovered that she was a quest giving NPC, albeit one without a name. However, the quest only consisted of bringing her to a location outside the town and fighting several boars, and ended with a reward of a single Cor on completion, as well as an utter lack of background content. Upon conclusion of the quest, Premiere was accompanied by Kirito on her immediate return to the town, where they encountered the latter's friends. After Yui revealed that Premiere was an NPC with no original coding telling her how to act, Premiere was given her name by Kirito's group. She accepted the name with equanimity, and was taken under their care until they could learn her original settings.

By the time Premiere met Kirito, Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth again while wandering the streets aimlessly, very few players had any interest in her quest anymore due to her insignificant rewards, thus Premiere received help from Kirito's group. At the end of the quest, after the players invited Premiere to call upon them if she ever needed help, she thanked them for their assistance.

Some time later, when Kirito met with Asuna to complete a special event quest, Premiere appeared and silently gave them the impression that she desired their assistance with her quest line, thus the two agreed to forgo the special event. Along the way to their destination, the trio stopped to eat some homemade sandwiches, which Premiere enjoyed as she had felt hungry in a sense. After the meal, Kirito suggested taking a scenic detour from Premiere's usual route, during which they decided to explore a cleared cave.

However, upon reaching the end of the cave, the group was surprised to find a path existing in the place of a wall. Wondering what could have caused such a change, they proceeded further into the dungeon and defeated a skeleton miniboss, before finding themselves in a long hall with a mysterious stone on a pedestal at the end. As they approached the stone, Premiere folded her hands in a praying gesture. At that moment, the stone began glowing, only growing doubly brighter when Kirito and Asuna directly handed it to Premiere, who simply commented on its beauty. Stunned at the turn of events, Kirito and Asuna decided that the stone's reaction to Premiere's touch was part of her true quest, and allowed her to take possession of it before returning to the Town of Beginnings to report their findings to their friends.

At a later time, when players were misinformed that killing NPCs would earn them great rewards, Premiere was assaulted by another player, who was only stopped due to the intervention of Kirito and Argo, outside of town. After the player was forced to retreat by an attracted monster, Premiere was warned by Kirito of the possibility that other players might repeat the stunt on her, thus she was asked to allow him to protect her, to which she agreed.

Later, while Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon were discussing how to advance Premiere's quest further, Premiere unexpectedly approached them and personally requested Kirito to teach her how to protect herself. After Kirito hesitantly agreed to train her, Premiere was taken to the fields outside the Town of Beginnings, where she was taught how to wield a rapier, though she initially experienced difficulty performing Sword Skills. She offered to terminate the lesson, as it was merely a personal request, but Kirito encouraged her to continue. With a little more persistence, Premiere finally executed a successful Sword Skill, much to her satisfaction, and they proceeded to practice her techniques on several boars. After the lesson, she was allowed to join Kirito's party in battles outside of town.

A while after Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop was opened, Premiere approached Asuna and Kirito while they were discussing a dungeon, which was possibly linked to the glowing stone they had found earlier, and greeted them with a line she had learned from another player. Premiere was informed of their findings and invited to join them, to which she agreed with another line she had heard.

About halfway to their destination, a quest marker appeared above Premiere's head just as Asuna and Kirito were considering where to stop for lunch, and at that moment, Premiere requested to take a detour to another location. As the two players agreed to do so, the quest cursor changed color, signifying that the quest had been accepted, and Premiere winced as if it had hurt her. The three followed the quest marker and found the Divine Tree that they had to receive protection from for the quest. Premiere walked past her companions toward the tree, bowed her head, and serenely folded her hands in prayer for several minutes. Once the sound indicating the completion of the quest resounded, Premiere had no objection to the resumption of their journey, though she insisted on having lunch before proceeding.

At the dungeon, the three discovered they had wandered further than the map data they had purchased from Argo had recorded. Deducing they had entered another secret area, similarly to their previous adventure, due to Premiere being in their party, they continued deeper into the cave and faced a ram miniboss. After the monster was dispatched, the group found themselves in a hall similar to the first, with a second mysterious stone on another altar at the end. As Asuna cheered over the accuracy of her finding, Premiere extended her hands and briefly hesitated before taking the stone, whereupon it began to glow like the first one. An inscription described the item as one of six sacred stones bestowed by the Goddess. As the two players speculated on the identity of the Goddess, Premiere confessed she had eaten more than her share of Asuna's lunch, prompting them to laugh. With Premiere in possession of the stone, the group returned to town.

While Premiere attempted to subtly manipulate Kirito into escorting her to another location after the defeat of the boss of the Oldrobe Forest, Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth informed them of a place in the swamps that was potentially related to the former's quest. Premiere and Kirito were led by the girls to the area in question, where they located an ancient dungeon holding the third Sacred Stone in a secret room at the back. Premiere retrieved the stone, which began to glow upon contact, and thanked the others for coming with her. The group searched the site for clues to location of the next quest, but to no avail. After they discussed how the questline felt as though it was unfinished, Premiere was requested to help Silica acquire materials for a quest, to which she agreed.

Once enough materials were gathered, Premiere followed Kirito's group as they trailed a large party that was using NPCs as bait to distract a powerful dragon boss, and joined them when they volunteered to take the NPCs' place. After the other party left at the conclusion of the battle, Premiere wondered about Kirito's pleased expression and the reason for the argument among the other players before the start of the fight. After discovering that Kirito was glad about the avoided casualties and conflict with the other party, Premiere pondered on Kirito's wish to protect lives, including those of NPCs, as they began returning to town.

Some time later, Premiere accepted the invitation of Kirito, Asuna, and Yuuki to visit a large tree, similar to the one she had prayed to earlier. However, nothing indicating any advancement on Premiere's quest occurred when they reached the tree. Thus, the group decided to return, encountering Genesis along the way.

Premiere was later invited to investigate a place potentially relevant to her quest with Kirito and Asuna. Having defeated a lion miniboss in the dungeon, the trio found the fourth Sacred Stone held in a secret room in the back. After taking the stone, Premiere thanked her companions for their assistance and patience. At that moment, she discovered an inscription that spoke of two Goddesses, who would descend when the land was covered in chaos to eradicate the darkness.

After Kirito's group uncovered the true nature of Premiere's quest and the modifications the Cardinal System had performed on it to reenact the events of the Great Separation, Premiere approached the group with an active quest marker hovering over her head. After a few seconds of surprise from the others, Premiere accepted their request to have her follow them to the location marked in the quest log.

Having reached the location of the quest, where they defeated a minotaur miniboss, Premiere found a cave dungeon with a hidden room in the back. Strangely, the cave lacked any traps or difficult monsters, as if someone had found the place before her and Kirito. Despite diligently combing the entire area at the end of the cave, they could not find the Sacred Stone. After their unsuccessful search, Premiere wondered where else to look but was persuaded by Kirito to abandon the pursuit and return to the Town of Beginnings.

At that moment, Premiere and Kirito encountered Genesis, who unveiled his possession of the fifth Sacred Stone and his control of a girl identical to Premiere, revealed to be her twin and the Other Goddess. As Premiere stood face to face with her sister, she listened to Genesis' speech on his desire to complete the altered Ground Quest, which would destroy Ainground and Aincrad in the process. After the greatswordsman and her sister departed from the cavern, Premiere inquired Kirito on what Genesis had meant but received no answer.

Not long thereafter, Premiere encountered Kirito in town while the latter was concerned about the Other Goddess' situation with Genesis. Sensing subtle differences from his usual thinking pose, and feeling concerned, she clung to his arm, a technique she heard Asuna often used to make him happy. After they were approached by Sinon and Leafa, Premiere released her hold on Kirito upon hearing his claim that his emotional state had improved. She then followed the girls to a forest camp that supposedly held the sixth and last Sacred Stone but was inaccessible without her presence.

With Premiere in the party, the group was able to enter the instanced location of the encampment from the woods. At Kirito's cue, Premiere introduced herself to the NPCs guarding the location as a Goddess; however, in order to confirm her identity, she was requested to present her twin to them before they would give them the stone.

Shortly after the defeat of the boss of the Kurjiez Desert, Premiere observed that Kirito was still constantly and visibly worried, as well as tense. Resolving to enhearten and make him smile again, she proposed having a picnic with him, Asuna, Yuuki, Philia, Strea, and Yui. While the other girls busied themselves with preparing the materials for the event, Premiere and Kirito were charged with locating the ideal spot for holding it, Premiere being pleased that the latter was no longer dejected.

While they were testing one of the possible locations and having a conversation about happiness, a quest marker appeared over Premiere's head, and she was asked to set aside finding a perfect picnic area and return to the location of the last Sacred Stone.

Arriving at the encampment, Premiere and Kirito were disquieted at seeing an utter absence of presence of the guardian NPCs in the area. Upon hearing a sound, they ran toward the source, where they witnessed the last of the NPCs being executed by the Other Goddess. Premiere watched as Kirito, and later Asuna, fought to protect her from being taken to complete the final part of the questline by Genesis. After the greatswordsman and the Other Goddess were forced to retreat, Premiere, Kirito, and Asuna returned to the Town of Beginnings to discuss the incident with everyone else.

Some time later, Premiere accompanied Kirito deep into the Temple of Prayers, where they found Genesis and the Other Goddess waiting for them. Premiere expressed her concern when Kirito accepted Genesis' challenge to fight him but was told not to worry and to stay out of harm's way. When a victorious Kirito realized the absence of the Other Goddess in the aftermath of the battle, Premiere reported her twin had fled deeper into the temple.

Premiere and Kirito raced to the Alter of Prayers at the heart of the temple, where they found the Other Goddess awaiting them. There, Premiere was asked by her sister, who revealed her name to be Tia, to help her complete the Ground Quest. However, Premiere declined, stating she had no desire to end their world, as it was not their place to judge the world on a whim. She argued passionately in favor of preserving the future they and everyone else had, asserting they would be accepted by others, contrary to her twin's claims. Despite her attempts, Premiere was unable to dissuade Tia from her course, thus she could only watch in shock as her sister forcibly summoned the Sacred Stones to float around her, teleporting from the temple to initiate the Great Separation.

Forced to aid in finishing the Great Separation by Tia's influence, Premiere disappeared from the Town of Beginnings later that day. Despite Premiere's attempts to resist when Kirito found her that night, a quest marker materialized over her head, signifying the system's control of her. However, Premiere continued to hesitate and, with Kirito's encouragement, managed to regain control of herself, shattering her quest mark.

Upon returning to town, Premiere silently observed the group's anxiety at her disappearance to calculate an appropriate response. After learning they bore no grudge for her actions, she apologized for causing their agitation and expressed her gratitude for finding her.

When Kirito and the others learned of Tia's plan to crash the incomplete Aincrad into Ainground, Premiere led them to a Teleport Gate connecting to the floating castle. After defeating the giant treant miniboss guarding the gate, Premiere offered a brief prayer to activate the structure, before the group returned to the Town of Beginnings to prepare for the upcoming fight.

Not long afterwards, Premiere joined Kirito's party in raiding the unfinished Aincrad. Fighting their way through the numerous monsters and barriers blocking their path, they reached the direct center of the castle, where they found Tia sleeping within the Prayer Conduit, a giant mecha construct coding the destruction of Aincrad. Despite her twin's awakening and efforts to stop them, Premiere and the others succeeded in destroying the Prayer Conduit, stopping the castle's descent.

When Tia attempted to commit suicide in despair over her defeat, Premiere pleaded with her to stop. She refuted her sister's claims that the weak deserved to die, proclaiming everyone had an inherit right to live. She further extolled the potential within every heart and mind to grow, describing all she had experienced with Kirito and his group. When Tia expressed agitation over the likelihood of the future possibly being worse than the present, Premiere stated no one could know for certain until they experienced it, asking her to place her trust in her friends. After her twin, contemplating her words, teleported away to an unknown location, Premiere voiced her hope that they would be reunited, reaffirming her wish to remain with Kirito and his friends, before leaving Aincrad with them.

In the aftermath of the battle, Premiere joined the group on a picnic to celebrate their victory.

Gallery

 * See Premiere/Image Gallery

Trivia

 * Premiere was given her name based on the fact that the day she first encountered Kirito's group was also her first day, or "premiere", as an independent person with her own personality. After asking Asuna how to write it, Premiere had it officially registered within the system.