zelkova

You know, I'm getting even more interested in you, Haseo!

Little Zelkova, as wee as he is zen, leads the guild Moon Tree. At first, Zelkova seems to be a little too good to be true: intelligent, curious, compassionate, friendly, warm-hearted, and most of all, possessing perfect stats and a whole lot of dough. Everyone wanted to be Zelkova. Well, everyone except those in Sakaki's anti-Zelkova faction of Moon Tree, of course. And Haseo, but Haseo doesn't want to be anyone except himself. That's why we love him.

Haseo and Zelkova first met at ΔDelicious Past Weed Eater. He and Pi saved him from AIDA, though at the cost of Pi's infection. After straightening that little ordeal out, Zelkova invited the two to Moon Tree. From then on, Zelkova expressed a strange interest in Haseo, and even went so far as to tell Kaede to find Haseo should anything happen to him. He aids G.U. when the players are transferred to an AIDA server, and remains a prominent background entity in the story.

However, it's not until game 3 that we learn a little bit more about the mysterious little guildmaster. He is actually the master of Net Slum Tartarga, an illegal server full of strange netizens and a hacked system that allows inhabitants to transfer to any server from a single hub. He provides the real Project G.U. with sanctuary there, and helps organize the fight against Cubia. Proving himself quite the hacker, he is also responsible for the merging of Skeith and Haseo, and consequently the unlocking of Haseo's Xth Form. Shortly after, Zelkova is available to join your party, at which point you learn that he's "interested in: Haseo" and "wants to perform an operation on: Haseo".

Well, then.

Zelkova also moves Canard's @HOME to the Net Slum, which sounds like a great deal until you realize that now all members of Canard, including Silabus and Gaspard, have to hang out there, too. I'm sorry, but isn't that a little difficult to swallow, especially since Zelkova's reasoning is apparently just so he can "see Haseo more"? What about poor Silabus and Gaspard?!

Gaspard: S-S-Silabus? I need to go to our @HOME and restock again...
Silabus: Oh boy. I'll go with you. The Net Slum is safer with the buddy system.

Zelkova's Max Affection ending begins with he and Haseo meeting at the warp gate in Mac Anu:

Zelkova: Oh, he's here! It's Haseo! I'm really excited about going adventuring with you, Haseo! It's gonna be fun!
Haseo: Zelkova... Okay, shall we get going?
Zelkova: Yes!

In the end, Zelkova remains a mystery to most. There is even speculation that he exists only in The World, and does not have a corpreal presence in reality.

Cool.