Higa Takeru

比嘉健 比嘉 健（ひが たける）

A young genius engineer involved in "Project Alicization." A junior in the Shigemura Laboratory at Tohto University of Technology, where Kayaba, Kōjiro, and Sugō were affiliated. First appeared in "Accel World" Volume 10's "Versus." He has a small build, wears rugged round glasses, has short spiky blonde hair, and wears a T-shirt with anime characters on it, speaking in a casual tone like "〜ッス," making him not look like a scientist. He has an IQ close to 140. He has a past where he lost a Korean friend to a suicide bombing in Iraq during his friend's military service, which also motivated his participation in the project. During the Ocean Turtle occupation incident, despite being injured by Yanai's betrayal, he connected the STL lines used by Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon, and also connected Eugeo's Fluctlight remaining in the main visualizer, prompting Kirito's revival. After the incident, he regretted the deletion of "Star King Kirito's" Fluctlight and secretly made a copy to keep. Initially, like Kikuoka, he viewed the UW as merely artificial, but the existence of the Administrator who brainwashed Yanai, Eugeo who spoke to Kirito even after death, and the existence of "Star King Kirito" and "Star Queen Asuna" who lived in the UW for 200 years made him realize they had created something extraordinary. He also understands that a significant factor in the research's progress was that Kirito and others treated the people inside the UW not as game NPCs but as individual humans. To protect the UW from the copied Kirito, he is asked to search for a copy of Kayaba to gain his cooperation and agrees to help, wanting to see what happens when the replicated Kayaba and Kirito meet.

Higa Takeru

比嘉健 比嘉 健（ひが たける）

A young genius engineer involved in "Project Alicization." A junior in the Shigemura Laboratory at Tohto University of Technology, where Kayaba, Kōjiro, and Sugō were affiliated. First appeared in "Accel World" Volume 10's "Versus." He has a small build, wears rugged round glasses, has short spiky blonde hair, and wears a T-shirt with anime characters on it, speaking in a casual tone like "〜ッス," making him not look like a scientist. He has an IQ close to 140. He has a past where he lost a Korean friend to a suicide bombing in Iraq during his friend's military service, which also motivated his participation in the project. During the Ocean Turtle occupation incident, despite being injured by Yanai's betrayal, he connected the STL lines used by Kirito, Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon, and also connected Eugeo's Fluctlight remaining in the main visualizer, prompting Kirito's revival. After the incident, he regretted the deletion of "Star King Kirito's" Fluctlight and secretly made a copy to keep. Initially, like Kikuoka, he viewed the UW as merely artificial, but the existence of the Administrator who brainwashed Yanai, Eugeo who spoke to Kirito even after death, and the existence of "Star King Kirito" and "Star Queen Asuna" who lived in the UW for 200 years made him realize they had created something extraordinary. He also understands that a significant factor in the research's progress was that Kirito and others treated the people inside the UW not as game NPCs but as individual humans. To protect the UW from the copied Kirito, he is asked to search for a copy of Kayaba to gain his cooperation and agrees to help, wanting to see what happens when the replicated Kayaba and Kirito meet.