Keiko strode across the hilltop, looking down upon the horde of monsters in front of her. All manner of beasts, from orcs to trolls to undead, surged towards her, likely to reach her position in less than a few minutes. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed that while the enemy troops had sword and spear in abundance, they were distinctly lacking in any form of ranged weapons—hopefully an advantage she could exploit. Of course, with a force of over six hundred strong, they weren't going to be pushovers, even with that possible advantage.

Turning around, she held up her hand to block the sun as she looked over her own small group of men and women. Numbering just shy of two hundred, the force of heavily armed and armored soldiers stood ready, with perfect battle lines set up in the shield wall formation she had ordered them in. Unlike the vile creatures just behind her, these brave souls were the very definition of discipline and order and would likely fight to the last to protect the town behind them. Not only that, but their skill and gear was second to none, each one of them given the best that could be afforded for this most important of missions. Of course, while that made each one of them worth at least three of the monsters, they were still at a heavy disadvantage.

Of course, that was why she was here.

An allied soldier came running from the left, took a knee and bowed his head in front of her. "High General Keiko the Great, the men are ready and formed up."

Keiko nodded. Quickly, she turned on her heel and, after brushing her long onyx hair behind an ear, looked back down on the sea of enemies just starting to reach the bottom of the hill. "Good. What's the word on the men? Are they holding up well?"

There was a momentary pause, before the soldier replied. "They'll fight, but they are feeling... nervous. Being outnumbered so heavily is making a few wonder if there is even a chance to survive."

Keiko nodded again, resting her left hand on the hilt of her sheathed blade. "Understandable. Thank you, Captain. That will be all."

The sounds of the captain standing reached her as he said a last, "Yes, ma'am!" and moved off to his position in the line.

Looking over the monsters a few seconds longer, she shook her head. Again, she turned around, this time facing the soldiers—her soldiers. Slowly, she walked down the line, the silvered plate armor leaving a distinct clank with every step that she took. What the captain said was true. Every single one of these soldiers came here prepared to fight to the last to save the town behind them, and each would undoubtedly say that they would follow her to hell and back. Yet, she saw their true feelings in the few eyes she was able to make out through the helmets: each and every one felt that they were sent here to die.

"Brave men and women," she started, folding her hands behind her back as she looked onto her soldiers. "You have been gathered here today to protect the innocent people of the kingdom. If not for you, those vile creatures down there would charge into there, steal everything, and capture or kill all the innocents of that town. You all are the only ones standing in between them and that fate. Even so, most people would simply run away and think of nothing more but to save their own lives."

Keiko took a second to let the words sink in, then smiled. "But you are not most people."

Turning around, she paced back the other direction. "Instead, you are two hundred of the best men and women that I have ever had the honor of serving with. You soldiers—no, you heroes—make me honored to have the privilege of leading you into battle. Each one of you is worth more than a dozen of them, so despite them outnumbering us, it is them that should be terrified of you. Let's show those cowards what real warriors are made of!"

All along the line, there were cheers of fellow men and women. Some were screaming out her name. Others were yelling out the name of the kingdom that they lived in. Some few were simply hollering nothing in particular, just wanting to make a wild noise. A small number drew their swords and lifted them high in the air. Many more bashed the flats of their swords against the sides of their shields. However, what was universally true was that all of them were ready to fight.

Taking a few steps to take her place in the line, she drew her two handed sword on her hip, and raised it high into the air. Avenging Light was its name, named after the scores of evil it slew, all the while keeping its mirror-like sheen. The blade itself five feet long, the absurdly long blade would normally be too much for any woman to wield. However, at six feet tall herself, it was a simple matter. So instead of barely being able to lift it off the ground, she held it up high in the air and let it be a beacon for the rest of the line to look to.

Soon, the monsters were a mere twenty yards away. Lowering the blade into a vertical guard near her right shoulder, Keiko spread her stance and grinned. "And you better leave some of them for me!"

As soon as the words slipped out of her mouth, she took a step and swung out with an upward strike, starting the battle by slicing an orc from hip to shoulder, killing it instantly. Shifting to the right to avoid the now lifeless corpse crashing towards her, she followed through with her swing by rotating it around in a half circle and slashed forward with a horizontal cut, tearing into another orc across it's chest. With a kick, she shoved the orc away from her and into the monster behind it.

All around her, chaos erupted along the line as the various monsters crashed into the line of shields in the attempts to break the shield wall and bulldoze their way through the formation. As expected, the wall held, followed by a quick jab of her defenders from the gaps in between and below the shields, cutting into the front line of the orcs. Next to her left, a man smashed his shield into an enemy's face, following up with a quick jab into its neck, killing it.

Keiko had no more time to observe the line herself as she was set upon by more enemies. With a twist, she brought the full weight of the weapon she held onto the enemy in front of her with a downward strike. Unlike the last two though, this one had the sense to bring up his sword and take a small step to the side, allowing her own greatsword to slide along the orc's weapon and nearly into the dirt, leaving her exposed. The orc immediately jabbed forward to catch her while she was off balance, forcing her to lean back to try and dodge the stab. The potentially lethal blow was turned into a glancing hit along the right side of her chest, the blade grinding across her plate armor and over her shoulder. The orc stumbled forward as it overcommitted on the failed attack, and, with a grin, she twisted and thrust her weapon forward, slicing the side of the orc as she brought the weapon back to her. Stiffening for a moment, the orc slumped forward and onto the dirt.

As she scanned the group of enemies in front of her, she spotted what must have been the commander of the force: the orc's armor, shield, and sword actually resembling something worth bringing to a battle. She surged forward, hacking and slashing through the mass of orcs that feebly attempted to stop her. Nobody, not even the ten foot tall troll that got in front of her, could stand up to her unrelenting flurry of strikes, her presence being a near force of nature. A few more steps and another orc corpse, she found herself face-to-face with the orc commander.

Allowing no time to let him prepare, Keiko charged, throwing out a downward strike from her shoulder. He deflected the strike with a sideways parry of his sword and then took a step forward to bash her in the face with his shield. Staggered, Keiko could only barely shift herself partially out of the way of the orc's slash, catching most of it against her breastplate. Before she could retaliate, the commander shoved her away with his shoulder, making her stumble a couple arms' reach away from him.

Keiko raised her sword again and, with a glare, charged at him with another downward swing. Again, the orc parried it with his sword, raising his shield immediately after to once again bash her in the face. However, this time she hopped backwards, dodging the shield entirely and continuing the downward swing of her sword up and behind her so that it was at her left shoulder. His shield out of position, she lowered the point of her sword and jabbed it forward. He pulled his shield back and diverted the blow from his armpit, the sword glancing off of the armor on the orc's tricep, though she could feel and see that, even through the leather, she was able to cut into his arm a little.

Before she could push her advantage, the commander roared out and charged into a tackle, slamming both of them into the ground. Her sword fell out of her grasp, and she quickly found herself trapped under the bloodthirsty monster's massive form. The orc laughed, switched the hold on his sword to an overhand grip, and thrust the tip down onto her face. She jerked her head to the right, a few hairs getting caught under the deadly tip. Keiko brought her right fist forward, catching the orc in the jaw with the punch. She jabbed a couple more times against the side of his head before pushing against his form, flipping him over with her now on top.

Despite the slight disadvantage, the orc attempted to jab out with his sword. It did little as Keiko dodged the strike by shifting right and then trapped his sword arm under her left arm. Not giving him any chance to struggle, she quickly reached around with her right hand, drawing the dagger that was at the small of her back and pressed the blade against the orc's throat, causing him to stop his struggles.

With a few pants, Keiko smiled. "Any last words, you freak?"

The orc commander glared for a moment, then snarled, "What's the answer to question four?"

Keiko blinked, adjusting the grip of her dagger slightly. "Huh?"

"Number four! What is the value of X in question four?"

Keiko blinked, rubbed her eyes, and suddenly found herself sitting in her math classroom with her teacher hovering over her, the woman glaring right into her eyes. Recoiling back, Keiko glanced around the classroom, seeing a few of her classmates already snickering. Gulping, she tried desperately to look down at her book and find the question. "Umm... number four... umm..."

"Four X plus seven all over three equals nine. What's the value of X, Ayano?"

Blinking again, Keiko's eyed her notes, desperately looking for the answer as if it would just hop out of the text and call out to her. Unfortunately her luck didn't allow for such magic, her notebook remaining as empty as it was when her mind had wandered off some time ago.

"Umm," Keiko said, her voice cracking as she racked her brain for the answer. "The... umm... the answer is... uhh... twenty?"

The entire classroom laughed, causing her to slump in her chair. She could feel her face heating up as her teacher sighed and shook her head. "Ayano, have you been paying attention at all today?" Not pausing to for an explanation, her teacher turned to another student and said, "Sato, do you know the answer?"

Sato stood up. "Yes ma'am. The answer is five."

"Correct. Good work, Sato." The school bell suddenly rang out, and the teacher started walking back to the front of the room. "Remember, class: homework tonight is page ninety-seven, numbers one to twenty. Make sure to show your work. And please, read over the chapter again if you don't know exactly what you are doing." She looked right at Keiko. "Or didn't catch a few parts of the chapter."

The entire class rose and stated to pack up their things, Keiko sighing as she did the same. Putting her books and the very much untouched notebook into her bag, she quickly stood and made her way out the classroom door. Not bothering to wait for anybody, she walked through the hall, down the single flight of stairs to the first floor, then out the front doors of the school to head home.

"Keiko!" Keiko heard from behind her. Turning around, she noticed a few of her friends were waving at her. Stepping to the side of the sidewalk, she waited for the group of three brown-haired girls to catch up. Keiko smiled as she waved back, and the girl spoke again. "Dang, you were heading out of here like you were a girl on a mission!"

Keiko giggled as the now group of four made their way along the sidewalk. "What do you expect, Akane? Do you want to stay in school all day and night? I just wanted get out of there as fast as possible."

"Uh huh," Hitomi said before Akane could reply, eying Keiko with her brown eyes. "Are you sure you weren't just trying to get out of that classroom as fast as possible because you were caught sleeping in class?"

She couldn't help but to wince at the memory. "Ugh, don't remind me. I've never been so embarrassed in my life. And I wasn't asleep... technically."

Hitomi crossed her arms, seemingly closed her eyes, and nodded her head. However, she was still peeking out from the corner of her eye at Keiko. "Uh huh. Sure you weren't."

"I'm serious!" Keiko said again, eliciting several giggles from the other three. "I mean it! I was just... thinking."

"Thinking? Thinking of what?"

Oh, only about the coolest game that's going to come out ever and how I'm definitely going to be able to play it. Keiko thought to herself, before shaking her head. "Oh, I... uhh... I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Hitomi shared a look with the other two girls, before nodding again. Leaning in closer, Hitomi slung her arm around Keiko's shoulders and didn't quite whisper into her ear. "You sure you weren't thinking about 'You Know Who?'"

Keiko's eyes flew open, but before she could say anything, Akane gasped. "You mean Iwoa? Oh my god!" She sighed as she hugged herself, her hair flowing with each step. "That guy is perfect in every way. I can't believe he still doesn't have a girlfriend. You think he'll like me? Either way, Keiko," Akane said as she grasped Keiko's right hand with both of hers and held it up to their faces between them. "I promise that if you have feelings for him, I'll let you make the first attempt if you want it."

"What!? No! No no no!" Keiko shouted as she flailed around, shrugging off Hitomi, stripping her hand out of Akane's, and took a few staggered steps forward. Turning around, she closed her eyes and stamped her foot on the pavement. "No! Ew! Like, no! I can't imagine even thinking about being with him. That's like... ew!"

There was a moment where both Akane and Hitomi did not respond. After a few moments, Keiko opened her eyes to see the two of them, as well as Sakura, looking at her with furrowed brows. In unison, Akane and Hitomi both said, "Ew?"

"Yeah, just, ew." She turned back around and started walking down the sidewalk again. "Like... all he is is... you know... mur!"

Behind her, again the two girls questioned, "Mur?"

"You know..." Keiko took a few hurried steps forward before turning back around, brought her fists near her stomach in front of her, hunched over a tiny bit, and flexed. "Mur!"

The three kept walking forward as Hitomi said, "You mean like he's a strong guy?"

"I mean he's a meat-head." Keiko shrugged as she turned back around and walked alongside the other three again. Clasping her hands on the strap of her bag, she continued. "Like, okay fine. He's a decent looking guy—I'll give him that—but he's a total jerk, he treats every girl he talks to like they're his 'things,' I think he's an genuine idiot, and I saw him bullying someone a few days ago. Further, he burps in the middle of class sometimes, he chews with his mouth open, and I think I saw him doing nothing but draw motorcycles in his notebook yesterday too!"

"So what you're saying is you want a nicer, shorter guy who's smarter and likes to treat you like a little princess, right?" Keiko swore she saw Akane flash a look towards Hitomi as she spoke.

"Exactly! A nice, smart guy!"

"Hmm?" Akane grinned. "That sounds exactly like a certain brother we all know, now doesn't it?"

Keiko nearly fell flat on her face as she stumbled over her own two feet. Feeling her face heat up for the second time in an hour, she clenched her hands around the strap of her bag and looked down. "I do not have a crush on my brother!"

Hitomi continued for Akane, seemingly oblivious of Keiko's reaction. "Hmm... Keiko and Sanso... I can't say that I would see them as the best couple, but even though he doesn't hold a candle to Iwoa in looks, he's not that bad on the eyes, he'll probably treat you nice, plus I'm sure he'll be able to support you in the future considering how smart he is. Gotta say, Keiko, I didn't take you as one who was hoping for the long shots."

Akane's smile grew wider. "So, who do you think is the adopted one? Keiko looks a lot like her father, but Sanso looks a lot like his mother."

Gasping, Hitomi covered her mouth with her hand. "What if neither are adopted, but they are actual blood siblings! That's so—"

"Oh my god this conversation is over!" Keiko yelled as she covered her ears and shook her head, desperately willing any thoughts that even dared to enter her mind out. Thankfully, the pair decided to keep silent after that, allowing her to relax and try to think about anything else than that... that... horrid thought process.

Sudden, Sakura whispered, "Sanso and Keiko would be cute together though."

Keiko screamed as Akane and Hitomi burst out laughing on either side of her. It was right around then that she got to the train station, and for the first time in a long long time she was glad that she was leaving her friends behind for the rest of her trip home. Bidding them a very quick farewell, she stormed ahead, grumbling to herself as she quickly scanning her pass to get onto the train station, and soon afterward the train itself.

The train ride itself went by as it did every other day, with Keiko absent-mindlessly looking out the window towards the passing town as she wandered into her own thoughts. These days, those thoughts always fell back to the same subject: the upcoming game Sword Art Online. Slated to officially launch tomorrow, stores were actually selling the games starting at around noon today. Of course, with a game as crazy popular as this one was hyping up to be—being the first legitimate virtual reality MMO ever easily being its biggest draw—it was sure to have sold out the moment it was put on only people getting copies of the game at this point either waited in lines for days, were lucky enough to purchase it online during the short few minutes it was available, or the even luckier people that had been in the beta. Sure, there were the small handful of copies that were given out as prizes in various promotional contests and a couple given to the media, but for all intents and purposes, every copy was probably already claimed five minutes after they opened the floodgates.

Or at least that was what her brother had told her when he went on and on to her about this new game he was going to get. Keiko wasn't one to normally be into games like that—she was much more interested in phone games. However, the more he told her about the "World of Swords," the more she wanted to live out being a hero, so when he was done telling her about the game, she definitely surprised him by asking if she could play with him. Even more surprisingly, considering she assumed he would want to play with his friends, he had thought it was a pretty cool idea for the two of them to play together.

Keiko swallowed, rubbing her hands against one another. What if Sanso decided it wasn't worth waiting in line for it? What if he wasn't able to get a copy? What if mom and dad found out? Keiko swallowed again. What if he decided he didn't want to play with me after all?

Shaking her head, she focused on her breathing. Forcing herself to leave that train of thought, she closed her eyes and thought back to the little daydream she had a couple hours ago. She had to get a copy of the game, she had to be the series' biggest fan, after all. Months and months of waiting for it to come out. Sure, I wasn't able to get into the beta test, but that didn't mean that I'm any less of a fan than those players... right?

Smiling, Keiko opened her eyes, and pumped her fists in front of her. "Right!"

A few minutes later and the train arrived at her stop. Not wasting any time getting out of the train, she nearly ran the rest of the way home for the chance to talk to Sanso about his "mission." A trip that normally took fifteen minutes went by in less than five, ending with Keiko running up to the front door and reaching for it. Stopping for a second, she lowered her hand, took a deep breath, and moved her hands to her hair, doing her best to fix what must have been her somewhat disheveled twintails. After messing with them for a couple seconds and catching her breath, she opened the door and yelled, "Mom, I'm home!"

She heard yelling coming from the kitchen, but she couldn't make out the exact words. Figuring it was just mom saying hello, she immediately ran up the steps. Skipping every other step, she got to the top and, instead of taking a right to get to her room, took a left and went to Sanso's. She knocked on his door lightly and said, "Sanso, you in there?"

Sounds of fumbling came from behind the door, then the door opened to reveal Sanso. Keiko looked up at his bearded face as he leaned up against the doorframe and said "What's up?"

"Don't 'what's up' me," Keiko said as she pushed past him and looked in the room for her prize. "You know why I'm here. Where's the game?"

Keiko heard the door click closed behind her and she whirled around to look at her brother. With a sigh, he sat on the bed and rubbed his hand through his short, black hair. "Jeez... how do I say this... well... okay. So, you know how I got in line a couple days ago and all, and how there weren't many copies."

Keiko gulped. "Y-yeah. I know. That's why you got in line yesterday afternoon."

"Well, apparently there were a lot of people there that were there since a couple days before. Hell, I heard that the person in the front of the line had been there for almost a month! I mean... there were a lot of people in front of me." Sanso sighed and leaned back, supporting himself with his hands behind him on his bed. "I was at least a hundred people back."

As much as she didn't want to, she could help but to start feeling the burning of tears threatening to start. No, I'm not going to cry. I prepared myself for this. I knew it was possible... and I... and I... "Y... yeah. Okay... so... so you..."

Suddenly smiling, Sanso reached under his pillow and pulled out a small box that said Sword Art Online on the front. "I got you the last damn copy."

Gasping, Keiko couldn't help but to fly into his his arms, barreling into him and knocking him backwards into the bed as she laughed. She grabbed him tight as she squealed, her eyes now filled with tears from him pulling her emotions in every direction. She felt the two of them sit back up, his hands on her back to hold her up so she wouldn't fall onto the floor. With a smile still on her face, she leaned her head back and knocked her forehead against his chest in a pitiful excuse of a headbutt. "You jerk."

"Please, you know I absolutely had to do that," Sanso replied as he pulled her up into his lap entirely, sitting her on his right thigh. "Besides, I missed an entire day of classes to get it. Do you know how much mom and dad would kill me if they found out I not only lied to them about staying over at Yuu's place last night to study, but then skipped college today to buy that game?"

Keiko giggled again. "Probably not as much as if they found out you bought a violent game like that for me," she said, wiping her nose on his shirt.

"And now I'm your personal tissue," he said, smiling wider. Narrowing his eyes, he flicked her on the forehead. "Seriously though, you owe me big time here."

"Yeah yeah, I know," Keiko said as she rubbed her forehead. Sighing, she leaned against her brother's chest. "So we're actually going to be playing together, huh?"

She felt him take a deep breath, then release it, her head moving with the action. "Well... that's the bad news."

Scrunching her brow, she kept her head where it was. "Bad news?"

"Yeah. See, when I said I got the last copy, I mean I got the last copy, not two copies." She felt him shrug. "It stinks, but whatcha gonna do? You know?"

"Oh." Keiko's felt the lightness in her heart stop as she was brought back down to earth. With a frown, she mumbled, "Well, I hope you have fun with it."

"Me? I just told you I got you the last damn copy."

Keiko looked up, her eyes wide. "Wait... what? But... you have been looking forward to this game for... like... months!"

"Yeah, sure, but I have a lot of school I gotta do before winter, so I don't think I'd have much free time before then anyway. I'll just get one in the next wave or something." He smiled down at her and poked her nose. "Besides, with how much of a idiot you are, I'm sure that even if it takes six months, it'll only take a day or two for me to catch up."

Keiko punched him in the arm lightly, only eliciting a giggle from Sanso. "Oh shush. You watch, I'll be the best hero in the server by far! You'll be begging for the honor of kissing my boots!"

"Uh huh, I'm sure." He said. "Still, I'm a little surprised that such a big budget game with such a huge demand is only selling ten thousand copies initially."

Keiko leaned her head back against his chest, closed her eyes, and hummed to herself. "Server capacity, maybe?"

"That'd be a weird reason. I mean, standard MMOs can have several hundred thousand users online the first few days. Going away from that, other online games can have millions online at the same time on the first few days. So why only ten thousand?"

Keiko shrugged, but this time she didn't provide an additional answer, content with simply leaning against Sanso's chest. Sighing as the smile on her face grew even larger, she felt Sanso's arm wrap itself around her back to support her better. After a few seconds, she felt his the hand on top of her head, softly petting and scratching her head through her hair.

"Sanso and Keiko would be cute together though."

Keiko's eyes flew open, leaping out of Sanso's lap, nearly tripping and falling on her face in the process. Straightening out her shirt and skirt, she looked at the floor in front of her. "A-a-a-a-anyway! I'm going to go load up the game into my Nervegear!" she said, walking straight for the door.

Just as she reached for the doorknob, she heard Sanso clear his throat. "Umm... Keiko? You forgetting something?"

Flinching, she turned around and looked up, seeing him waving the game around idly as he looked at her. Nodding she walked up to him and reached for the game. "Oh... yeah... thank you."

When she tried to take it, Sanso didn't let go immediately. Instead, he just held onto it, looking at her with furrowed brows. Keiko lowered her head, desperately trying to hide what had to be her face lighting on fire. She wasn't sure if she succeeded or not, only that Sanso eventually said, "Yeah... okay... have fun," and let go, letting her quickly make her way out of the room, through the hall, and into her own room.

Taking a deep breath, Keiko dropped her shoulder bag on the floor and flopped on her bad on the bed. With the game box in one hand, she folded her other arm over her eyes to block out the light of the room with the inside of her elbow. "Stupid Akane. Stupid Hitomi. Stupid Sakura. Stupid everyone. I'm not..." She lay on her bed for a while—exactly how long she wasn't sure. She simply let her mind clear as she focused on her breathing, feeling the cool air in her room fill her lungs.

Eventually, she got up and reached under her bed. Grabbing onto the box under there, she slid it out, opened it up, and, with a grunt, hefted her NerveGear onto her lap. She had to admit, the thing was much heavier than she had expected when she first got the thing—almost as heavy as her shoulder bag when it was filled with all her books. Granted, it wasn't like she was going to run around with the thing on, though the idea of her doing just that brought a smile to her face. Leaning over, she plugged the thing into the wall and turned it on, allowing it to have the minute or so to warm up. As it did that, she reached over to the other side of her bed and plugged another cable into the headset, this one coming from her computer. Standing up, she walked over to the computer and pressed the power button, waking it from its sleeping state, and waited for the two devices to get ready.

Finally, a green light lit up on the front of the NerveGear, signaling that it was ready for use. At the same time, her computer came up to the login screen, asking for her password. She plopped into the chair, typing her cat's name into the prompt, and the desktop screen greeted her. Unfortunately, the only thing she would be doing today was preparing the NerveGear for tomorrow. Opening the game box, she put the first of four game disks into the CD tray, closed it, and with a few clicks later, let the game download into her NerveGear.

As she did this, she busied herself with looking over the box and the rather large manual. Most of the first few pages were about starting up the game, which she made a note to read later. After that, the pages were filled with lore of the game world, which she also skipped over. Reading further, what caught her eye though was that of the options in the game, more specifically that there was a note that magic and bows were not in the game. "I thought Sanso said those things were standard for any fantasy game," Keiko muttered to herself as she turned the pages.

After the first few pages, she found herself no longer really reading anymore, instead looking at the artwork in the book. Pictures of gallant knights and sneaky thieves fighting were littered here and there in the book, with most of the pictures actually being of good quality, especially for a game book. She busied herself like this for a while longer, until she heard a ding from the computer. She set the book on her nightstand table, stood, and walked over to the computer. She set the next disk in, closed the tray, and watched as the install resumed.

With a grin, she grabbed a ruler off of the desk, spun around, and pointed it at a space in front of her. "Evil demon, your time has come," she whispered, puffing out her chest. With her left hand at her side, she grinned wider. "Any last words before you die?"

It is not I who will die today, Keiko the Great! she imagined him saying. It is you!

Keiko stepped forward chopping and jabbing at the air in front of her, stopping the ruler halfway through each attack as the imaginary demon blocked her every blow. "You are a fine warrior," she whispered again, moving her head to the side as she dodged a stab at her head, "but you are not nearly good enough to defeat me." With a last step forward she went to finish the monster with a last stab.

Her foot caught the strap of her shoulder bag, tangling her feet up. With a cry, she stumbled once, then fell over the bag, barely catching herself with her hands. Still, she fell roughly with a "thunk." Groaning, she sat up, her legs at her side as she rubbed her head. "Stupid bag, why are you in the middle of the room? I ought to—"

She heard the computer ding again.

Scrambling to her feet, Keiko ran over to the computer, ripped the disk out of the computer, then placed the third disk in. Soundly defeated by the demon earlier, she picked up the book again, looking at the rest of the pictures as she lett the entire game load up into her headset. Finally, the last two disks ejected itself from her computer, signaling that the entire process was done, and while she was still unable to play the game, she felt her chest swell from that step being done.

The rest of her evening went by in a sort of blur. She eventually came down to dinner, listening to mom, dad, and Sanso talk about their day while they ate. Keiko tuned in enough to give vague answers to mom and dad's questions about her own day, while noticing that Sanso was telling them some lie that he must have come up with about dealing with studying or something to further solidify why he didn't come home last night. Regardless, mom and dad apparently bought it, the two smiling and praising his studiousness as he finished. Keiko got up after they were done, did the dishes, and, with dad and mom sitting down to watch the news on the television and Sanso going to his room to do... something, she went to her own room to force herself to do the homework—especially the math section—that she had been assigned, lest she be forced to stay behind after school for disciplinary action. A couple hours later, when all her homework was done, she went to bed early, hoping that going to sleep would help her pass the time.

Sleep barely came to her that night, with the excitement over the game tomorrow filling her mind with a whirlwind of thoughts. Even when she finally did get to sleep, her dreams were filled with nothing but swords and monsters and heroes. Like her daydream during class, she was clad in the brightest polished armor that was like a silvered mirror, her large height towering over man, woman, and monster alike, her jet black hair attracting the attention of the most attractive men around. So exciting were her dreams, that when her alarm woke her up the next morning, she must have been visibly upset, for mom had asked what was wrong. She nearly told mom that she was feeling sick so that she could stay home from school, but decided on just saying she was tired. Sure, while starting the game right at one o'clock at the time the server started sounded awesome, mom finding out she skipped school to play her video game was a fast way to forever lose said game.

Of course, she regretted that decision the moment her first class started and she started to daydream yet again about the same scene as yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, she wasn't called on to answer any questions—either that, or she was so distracted by her thoughts that not even the teachers could break her out of it. Of course, even with her daydreams passing the day, school felt like it had entered a different dimension, where time passed at a much, much, much slower rate than it was supposed to. It obviously had nothing to do with the fact that, whenever she broke out of her daydreams, she spent the entire time staring at the second hand of the clock. Worse yet, when the clock finally hit one o'clock, she couldn't help but to mentally whimper about how so many people were probably logging in right now, playing the game.

Thankfully, after what felt like a week, the last bell finally signaled it was two-thirty, her feet launching out the door immediately. She flew out of the room, barreling pasted a few classmates that were unfortunate enough to be in her way, and made her way through the hall. Only slowing down enough to make sure she didn't flash her underwear, she near literally jumped down the stairs, taking three or four at a time. Heck, she probably did expose herself, though she didn't see anybody around that might see. Taking only a few seconds to switch into her normal shoes, she slammed the door open and ran outside.

Just as she made her way to the front gate, she heard a familiar girl's voice cut through the chatter from behind her. "Keiko! Hang on! Stop running!"

For a split second, Keiko debated acting like she didn't hear Akane yelling for her and instead simply to continue running down the street towards the train station. After that split second, the more logical and sensible part of her mind won out, and she turned to her friend and said, "Hey Akane! I was surprised you got to the doors so quickly!" Unfortunately.

"Yeah, I saw you running down the stairs and I wanted to make sure that I caught you! What were you doing, training for the Olympics?"

"I... uhh..." Keiko shifted her eyes to the right, "...thought I saw Hitomi leaving, so I was trying to catch up with her so we could walk together!"

Akane blinked. "Isn't Hitomi in the same class as you in the last period? How would she be in front of you?"

Keiko raised her hands level to her shoulders as she shrugged. "It's Hitomi. For all I know, I really did see her and she's down the street right now. Hitomi's weird like that."

"Weird like how?" Hitomi said as she turned the corner and walked up to them, her bag slung over her shoulder. Sakura was next to her, her bag clasped in between her hands in front of her. Together, they walked through the growing crowd of students to make their way to the rest of their group of four. "And whatever they said, I swear it's a lie."

Keiko let out a giggle as she turned around and let out a quiet sigh as she started to make her way out of the school and towards the train station. Sure, she wouldn't get there as fast as she exactly wanted to—she was planning on running the entire way there—but she probably would only miss one train in between. Heck, if she was lucky she might still get on the same train anyway. Besides, it was only a few minutes that she would be missing.

Thankfully, she was going to have a few days off because of the weekend, which meant that for the next couple of days she had almost free reign to play to her heart's content. Sure, she had to get off to make sure that mom didn't freak out over her playing too many games—and possibly finding out what game she was playing in the process—but that still left plenty of time to play. Of course, if mom saddled her with a bunch of chores tomorrow as she sometimes did on weekends, then she might have herself a problem, but she'd deal with it the best way she could. Besides, even with that in her way, it still left her enough time to get herself situated within the game and become one of the top players in the game, if not the top player!

Keiko smiled. After all, a hero like myself won't stand for second best.

"Keiko!" A hand slapped itself on her shoulder, causing her to stumble a couple of steps forward.

"Huh? What?" Keiko shook her head as she looked at Hitomi.

Keiko heard Akane sigh from over her other shoulder. "I was asking you if you wanted to go shopping, maybe do some karaoke or something, and then sleep over at my place. My parents already said it's alright for me to have you all over for the night."

Her eye twitched ever so slightly, but she, hopefully, hid it from her friends well enough. "I would love to... but I can't. I mean... my mom has a lot of chores for me to do when I get home, plus... uhh... my brother said he had something planned for me later tonight or something. I... he didn't say what."

"Oh? Sanso has something planned for you?" Hitomi said, a touch of humor in her voice. "Maybe that does mean that—"

Keiko turned and glared at Hitomi. "No." Turning back to Akane, she continued. "But yeah, so I can't hang out this weekend. I'm really sorry!"

Akane sighed, but let a smile cover her face anyway. "No, it's fine. It was last minute plans anyway, so no worries!"

"Stinks to be you though," Hitomi said as she slung an arm over Keiko's shoulder. "While you're doing chores, we're going to be having a singing contest."

"Yeah, right." Akane rolled her eyes. "As if any of us could beat Sakura in a singing contest. I mean, with the way she is, I would be surprised to see her being a famous singer five years down the road."

Keiko could barely make out Sakura's voice behind her. "I won't forget the little people."

"Oh ho!" Hitomi said, peeling her arm off of Keiko and falling back to pull Sakura into a side-hug. "You best not, or these little people are going to tell everyone all your dirty secrets. Like that time where you—"

"Anyway," Keiko said, breaking away from the completely derailed conversation—an act Sakura better thank her for later. "Point is I can't make it this weekend, so I'll have to take a rain check." Looking to her left, she saw that they were already at the train station. "Anyway, I gotta get going! Akane, make sure to tell your mom I said hello and I'm sorry I couldn't make it!"

"Will do!" Akane said as she and the other two waved goodbye. "Make sure to do the same with yours!"

With that, Keiko turned around and ran to the station. Jumping up multiple steps at a time, she scanned her boarding pass, accidentally throwing it as she pulled it out of her bag, and dashed to the boarding platform. Jogging up to her spot, she took a glance at the schedule, and growled as she made a face.

"Of course I missed it by a minute," she said to herself as she took a seat near the back wall.

Closing her eyes, she easily lost herself into her thoughts and thought to what kind of character she was going to make. Every time she daydreamed, she saw herself as wielding a massive greatsword, similar to the heroic figures of medieval Europe might have wielded, or at least in the stories. Not only that, but she had been told by Sanso on more than one occasion that greatswords were typically the best weapon to go with in an MMO, so she'd trust him on that. Of course, even if that was the case, that wasn't to say that other weapons weren't going to be powerful! After all, if they were put into the game, they had to be viable in some sense!

The standard sword and shield combo that was a staple in any fantasy was also very "heroic looking." After all, there was something about panting a giant picture or symbol or whatever they were called on the shield and smashing it into a monster's face that just sounded cool. She could also go with a mace and shield, which was almost the same, but she'd assume slower and more damage, but still gave off heroism. A spear... well... she couldn't remember any heroes using spears, but they were pretty cool too! There weren't any bows or crossbows in the game, but even if there were, she wouldn't bother with any of those: a true hero didn't fight at range like a coward.

Keiko hummed to herself. "I wonder if you can have multiple characters..."

A few more minutes went by before the train arrived. Quickly walking up to the doors, and after letting the few passengers getting off at this stop disembark, she stepped into the train and found herself a spot to stand in. Now situated again, she once more let her mind wander, replaying the epic battle between her heroic figure and the evil orc army. Every time, she would play through the battle, but she couldn't quite find an ending to it all. No witty one liners, no cool signature moves, and definitely no flashy acrobatics or anything. Still, replaying it was just as fun as it was the first time she came up with the daydream.

Soon, she got to her stop. She made sure she was the first off the train and ran so fast through the streets she swore her feet never touched the ground. This time, however, when she got to her house, she didn't even bother waiting outside the door to hide her heavy breathing. Instead, she nearly ripped the door off its hinges and leaped into the house and up the stairs. She swore she heard her mom yell something from the living room, but it was drowned out by her feet thumping against the steps as she skipped every other step. Rounding the corner at the top of the stairs, she ran into her room, slammed the door shut, literally threw her bag away as she locked it, and booted up her NerveGear.

As she waited for the helmet to warm up, she went through the Sword Art Online book and looked at the Preparing for Your Full Dive section in the front of the book. "Let's see," she read off to herself. "Before you complete your Full Dive experience with your NerveGear, it is recommended that you take a few steps to ensure that you come out of the experience as comfortable as possible.

"One, find a suitable location to relax during your Full Dive experience. Such a location should be large enough to comfortably lie on fully. The most recommended location would the the user's bed, but some users have commented that a hammock, large couch, or even the floor are preferred locations, so it is up to the user."

Keiko looked at her bed. "Check.

"Two, clear away any tripping hazards around the chosen location for your Full Dive experience. It is normal for users to express dizziness after coming out of a Full Dive, and it is highly advised to remove any object that may cause one to trip and fall." Setting down the book on the bedside table, she started picking up the few clothes that she still had on the floor, as well as the bag that she had just thrown a minute or two ago. It only took a minute's time before she stood back and admired the cleared floor. "Check!"

Picking the book back up, she continued. "Three, it is advised that one have some sort of snacks and beverage nearby. Since it is impossible to feel physical hunger or thirst while experiencing a Full Dive, many users have found themselves feeling hungry or thirsty afterward." Keiko nodded to herself, placed the book on the bedside table, and made her way back down the stairs. Not wanting to bother mom, she went to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, grabbed a granola bar, and went back up the steps without a word, relocking the door behind her. Finally placing the items next to the book on the table, she nodded. "Check!"

Picking up the book again, she paced as she read. "Four, it is recommended that the user wear nonrestrictive clothing while using their NerveGear. Doctors have stated that tight clothing can result in medical complications due to restricting blood flow. Recommended clothing consists of string-tie shorts left untied, tee-shirts, and other large and loose clothing. Unrecommended clothing consists of jeans, long pants, tight elastic pants, button up shirts, long-sleeve shirts, form-fitting clothing of any kind, watches or other jewelry, and any form of footwear."

Nodding, she put the book down again. Double checking to make sure the door was closed, she unbuttoned her skirt and let it drop. Stepping out of it, she unbuttoned her jacket and blouse, taking both off one after another. Reaching to her head, she undid the clips holding her hair in twintails. She paused for a moment before shrugging, reaching back behind her to undo the clasp of her bra, taking it off. Looking at the elastic on her underwear, she paused for a moment.

Yeah... that's probably fine. She thought to herself. Quickly grabbing the clothes, she put them away so that the floor wouldn't be cluttered again. That done, she went to her dresser and pulled out one of Sanso's old tee-shirts, and pulled it over her head—the hem reaching just past mid thigh. "Check!"

She walked over to the table and read the book without picking it up this time. "Lastly, it is highly recommended that you let someone know that you are going into a Full Dive. While you are in a Full Dive experience, you will be completely unaware of anything going on within your surroundings. For safety reasons, having someone present that is able to manually remove you from the system in case an emergency situation arises is heavily advised." Keiko shrugged. "Sanso knows I'm going to play, so that's a final check!"

She set the book down on the bedside table one more time and placed herself on top of the bed. Pulling the hem of her shirt down under her butt, she picked up the NerveGear that she had set aside a while ago, and placed it on her head. Carefully, she lay onto her pillow, settling into it as she got herself comfortable. One last time she fixed the hem of her shirt to make certain she was adequately covered, then she took a deep breath, held it for a second, then released it.

With a smile, she said, "Link Start!"