Shuuichi inaba attends a unique high school designed for gifted students and uses the latest and most popular app called alice in cyberland. this application features an ai that allows users to communicate with it as if they were speaking to another person. when some of his classmates begin to experience attacks from an unknown assailant, shuuichi becomes determined to solve the mystery. during his investigation, he discovers alice - a unique type of program that requires only one thing in return for its assistance: knowledge of his most closely guarded secret.