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 Near the end on two of the pages their are six little scenes showing the various .hack characters relaxing. So question one, is Albireo back to playing the game, since he appears in what may or may not be a flashback in one of the six scenes.
Second, in the scene that shows Hotaru and Sanjuro talking who's the girl to the right of Sanjuro?
Then in the scene showing Tsukasa and Subaru who are the two on their right?
The last question, who's the other character that's shown with Hokuto? Is it supposed to be her first character, Yeates?

1. It's safe to assume that he did return this time.
2. I'm not entirely sure, but some have said that she may be the girl who befriended Morti from the Anime version of LotTB. As for the other two, they are Alf and Curl of .hack//Zero
3. That's Rumor. Rumor appears in A.I. Buster 2.

Woah, that was Rumor, I couldn't tell.
So that's Alf and Curl, alright.