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.

Personality
Originally, Premiere was a null NPC, an NPC with 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, Kirito literally bumped into Premiere outside the Black Iron Palace. Apologizing for not paying attention to her surroundings, she was revealed to be 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, with a reward of only one Col on completion and 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. Yui revealed that unlike other NPCs, Premiere had no original coding telling her how to act. Feeling sympathy for her absolute lack of backstory and purpose, Premiere was given her name by Kirito's group, which she accepted with equanimity, and taken under their care until they could learn her original settings and why she had become the way she was.

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 identity of Premiere's quest and the modifications the Cardinal System had performed on it to reenact the events of the Great Separation, while discussing the new developments and their next course of action, Premiere approached the group with a progressing quest marker over her head and the quest log detailing the location of the next quest destination. Disturbed at how the questline was advancing on its own without any input from them, Kirito and the others decided to have Premiere accompany them to the area while they checked it, just to be safe.

After reaching the location and defeating a minotaur miniboss, Premiere found a cave dungeon with a hidden room in the back, although it strangely lacked any traps or difficult monsters, as if someone had found the place before her and Kirito. However, upon arriving at the end of the cave, they were surprised to see the Sacred Stone missing, even after diligently combing the entire area for it. After their unsuccessful search, Premiere wondered where else to look, but was persuaded to abandon the pursuit by Kirito and return to the Town of Beginnings. At his comment on her development and growth since her first meeting with the group and how he was pleased at her becoming comfortable with herself, she grew embarrassed, though she was unsure why.

At that moment, Genesis entered the cavern and briefly teased Premiere and Kirito on their appearances before unveiling his possession of the fifth Sacred Stone and then his control of another girl identical to Premiere, revealed to be her sister and the Other Goddess. As Premiere stared face-to-face with her twin, Genesis disclosed how he had learned of the altered Ground Quest and his desire to bring about the destruction of both Ainground and Aincrad. After Genesis and the Other Goddess left the dungeon, Premiere inquired Kirito about Genesis' words on the whole world burning, worried it would mean she could no longer be with Kirito and the others, but received no reply.

Not long thereafter, Premiere encountered Kirito in town while the latter was troubledly contemplating the Other Goddess' situation with Genesis. Sensing subtle differences from his usual thinking pose and feeling concerned, she clung to his arm, as she had been told by Asuna that the latter often used the tactic to make him happy. When Sinon and Leafa found them, Premiere released her hold on Kirito upon hearing his claim that his emotional state had improved. She then followed the girls as they led her and Kirito to a forest camp supposedly holding the sixth and last Sacred Stone that was inaccessible without her presence.

With Premiere in the party, the group were able to enter the instanced location of the encampment from the woods. The NPCs guarding the Sacred Stone initially refused to discuss the item they were protecting, but became awed when Kirito showed one of the other stones he had and at the sight of Premiere, as well as the stone's glow. At Kirito's cue, Premiere introduced herself as a Goddess, whereupon the chief NPC revealed how he and his fellow villagers kept faith in old legends detailing the rise of a being with dawn's light in the middle of darkness and violence, and trusted in the Goddess defending them whose stone they were holding. However, in order to confirm her identity, the NPC requested to have the Goddess present her twin to them, upon which Premiere thanked him for the information.

Shortly after the defeat of the boss of the Kurjiez Desert, Premiere observed Kirito was still constantly and visibly worried and tense. Resolving to enhearten and make him smile again, she thought of the social interactions she had experienced that gladdened her, thus she proposed having a picnic to him, Asuna, Yuuki, Philia, Strea, and Yui, who all found the idea agreeable. 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, the former of whom was simply pleased that the latter was no longer depressed.

While searching for a beautiful and spacious area to have the picnic in, Premiere tried lying on the ground of one possible location to test the feeling of its environment. Perceiving the gentle and soothing details of their surroundings, she remarked on how the place made her feel like she and Kirito were the only people in the world. Having fun in their current activity, she stated her excitement was enough to make her burst out of her dress, which she had learned from Klein. Then Premiere inquired Kirito on how happy she needed to be for that to happen, as she had been informed by Silica and Leafa that such an event would only occur if she was extremely happy and in the presence of someone she cared about extremely much. Just as Kirito managed to convince her not to focus on the matter, a quest marker appeared over Premiere's head, and she was asked to set aside finding a perfect picnic 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 in the area. Upon hearing a sound, they ran toward the source to find the Other Goddess executing the last of the NPCs, and listened to her explanation that she killed the guardians when they refused to hand her the stone, per her master's orders. From there, Premiere watched as Kirito, and later Asuna, did battle with the Other Goddess and then Genesis to prevent the latter two from taking her to complete the final part of the questline. After Genesis and the Other Goddess were forced to retreat, Premiere reported she was alright before she, Kirito, and Asuna returned to the Town of Beginnings to discuss the newly transpired incident with everyone else.

At the end of the final battle between Kirito and Genesis, Premiere attempted to dissuade Tia from continuing the quest, but her attempt failed. Later, Premiere disappeared, forced by Tia's will to help her complete Aincrad. With the help of Kirito, however, she managed to overcome the control over her, before crying in his arms, stating that her true wish was to stay with him forever.

Afterwards, Premiere joined Kirito's party in raiding the incomplete Aincrad in an attempt to stop Tia and prevent it from destroying Ainground. When the battle was over and Tia attempted to commit suicide, Premiere stopped her with a speech about all she had experienced with Kirito and the others. In the aftermath of the battle, Premiere went with the group on a picnic to celebrate their victory.

Gallery

 * See Premiere/Image Gallery

Trivia

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