Actually, that IS Balmung. Balmung's player character was shown besides Orca's and Kite's (without showing much in facial features). Balmung is an older kid at the time of the first set of games and is obviously older by the time this series took place.
Also consider the fact that Komiyan's player character is the same age as Rena's and knows her and Shugo from school.
i hate to break it to you... but that is balmung, notice how much taller he is than shugo and rena, there's no way he's the same age, also balmung's player character is blond, while albireo has dark hair. on the official [dot]hack wiki it clearly states that it is albireo not balmung whose back is turned. link: http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Albireo
the_rocker said: i hate to break it to you... but that is balmung, notice how much taller he is than shugo and rena, there's no way he's the same age, also balmung's player character is blond, while albireo has dark hair. on the official [dot]hack wiki it clearly states that it is albireo not balmung whose back is turned. link: http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Albireo
A bit late but, yes that is (or can be) Albireo, but Balmung is not on that picture. So, that Komiyan is Komiyan.
I'm not sure who the guy labeled as Komiyan is, but that's definitely not him. He's supposed to be in Shugo's and Rena's class. And the guy labeled as Balmung is NOT Balmung. He's definitely Albireo.