Chapter 1: (Virtual) Reality

December 7th, 2025

"Well, the map says I'm in the right place," I muttered.

Cutting the engine on my bike, I hit the kickstand and leaned it over, swinging my leg up and over to stand lightly on the curb; I pulled my helmet off and locked it to the bike before pulling the keys from the ignition and placing them in my pocket. I shook my head to make a small attempt at fixing my helmet hair, but since it's not like I really cared about it at all I eventually just ran my fingers through my hair and called it a day. I should probably get a haircut soon, but Kana did say she liked me with slightly longer hair... I'll ask her when I see her later today. Glancing at my phone one last time, I scanned over the address the agent had given me that morning. "Yeah, this is the place. Hope whatever he wants to talk about doesn't take too long..." It was already 1:00 in the afternoon, and I was meeting Kana - in the real world, no less - at 5:00. Hopefully I'd be out of this sweets store before that time so I could go change. I mean, Kana probably wouldn't care, but... Eh, humans and their dating rituals. Might as well make the effort - she's worth it.

I entered the building and scanned the foyer before spotting a directory. Glancing over it, I tapped the name of the store Kikuoka wanted me and Kazuto to meet him. Noting the floor, I moved over to the elevator and hit the up button; the closest one was on the 4th floor, so I'd have to wait for it to get down. Tapping my foot absently, I swayed from side to side without really noticing what I was doing before turning slightly to my left and scanning the foyer behind me. It was definitely an upscale location, with polished wood floors, comfortable-looking couches, and neat little vases of flowers scattered here and there breaking the brown and cream color motif. I felt my nose twitch as I registered the scent of the flowers and rubbed at it, adjusting my glasses automatically before turning back to face the elevator.

I felt a presence as people stepped up behind me, and I glanced at them - two people, both older ladies. They seemed to be well-dressed, but I could feel their eyes on me. Probably looking at me and wondering why I was here, dressed in regular street clothes. I'll admit, my jacket wasn't very fancy, just a black coat with red lines making a haphazard pattern along the fabric, and my pants were cargo pants, but it's not like I had to be all fancy just to meet with the agent. The elevator bell rang and the doors opened; I stood aside in the event that anyone was inside, but since it was clear I stepped in and hit the button for the 6th floor. As I moved to the back, the ladies entered as well, chattering away about one lady's son and his girlfriend; I grimaced and sighed through my teeth, growling slightly. Couldn't I just have a quiet elevator ride in peace? I hated cramped spaces to begin with anyway, and having people there just made it worse. I could fix it, though, and my mind helpfully provided me with a good method how - slam a fist into the one on the left's cheek and take advantage of the surprise to break the other's nose with a backhand, then crush the windpipe and -

I froze and crushed down the bloodlust again; I forced the viper back into slumber, pulling out my earbuds from a pocket and putting them in my ears before turning up the music. The music scattered my thoughts, keeping me from listening to the serpent's voice telling me to kill, maim, and destroy. By scattering my thoughts I couldn't focus on the bloodlust and it drifted away, falling back to slumber; the shield that pulsed with my heartbeat reformed with the extra shell of the music to support it. Sword Art Online had broken me in ways I was still discovering, and I was fighting a constant battle to keep what was left of my sanity intact - or at least, fake it well enough that the rest of the world had no idea. Ever since I had taken Yui's advice and stopped actively trying to repress my emotions, the rage spikes had been consuming me more and more frequently. Spending time with Kana helped immensely, but I was still damaged goods. Oh, a few people knew about that - Kana, of course, knew everything, and Kazuto and Asuna knew how shattered I really was, and since I was pretty open with them I had a feeling the rest of our little friend circle had some sort of clue. But to everyone else, I was just another poor kid trapped in a nightmare by a madman - to everyone else, I was just some poor damaged young child, my development warped by two years spent in a death game. They didn't know - couldn't possibly know - that I had been cracked before that, my psyche already ten kinds of screwed up.

Ugh, I hate it when I lose control because then I always get so mopey and overdramatic for a bit afterwards. Shaking my head to break the thoughts – Kana taught me well – I glanced at the elevator's display - we were almost at the 6th floor. Since the women didn't hit a button either, they were going to the same place I was. Strange how things work out, isn't it.

The elevator came to a stop and I rode the brief feeling of weightlessness, rising up on the balls of my feet and then settling my weight in one fluid motion. My martial arts training had been for more practical reasons than riding elevators, but hey, it was a side benefit. Not complaining. The women stepped out and I followed them, turning down the music slightly and looking around. Soft lighting offsetting the sunlight that still managed to filter through the white curtains, a nice wood paneling on the walls... Yep, this place was classy. Wonder how much it made in a year, and how much of that was spent on training their employees how to be snooty without actually ever seeming to look down on you. It was a very impressive skill to have as I observed the host take the women's names and verify that they had a reservation before calling a waiter over to take them to their table. The place was definitely high-class, and I felt a little like the ugly duckling in my blood-red coat among the swans dressed in their finest white plumage. Eh, fuck them. They can take their expensive jewelry and dresses and suits and shove them up next to that stick up their collective -

"Can I help you, sir?"

- asses. I nodded and stepped up to the desk. "I'm here to meet someone for a business meeting," I told the man, giving him a level stare as his practiced eyes scanned over my body in a heartbeat. With just that, he was probably able to tell how much money I had on me - I assumed my clothes and manner of bearing told him I was probably middle class, with a small allowance that could afford to eat here if I saved up. "A Kikuoka, I believe."

The host nodded and scanned a list before tapping a few keys on his keyboard and examining his computer screen. "Yes, the gentleman is in the back left corner. Please, go have a seat and someone will be with you to take your order shortly."

I followed his advice, picking my way through the tables and making my way to the corner. It was easy enough to move in, with plenty of space between tables - it gave the place a feeling of being airy, almost, kinda like the feeling of a café outside or something. Or maybe I was just reading too much into it and the space between tables was to ensure that the waiters or waitresses didn't drop their burdens. Either or. I spotted Kikuoka as he studied the menu, and slipped into a seat with my back to the window. I would have preferred Kikuoka's seat, actually, since he was more or less in the corner, but this was the next best thing. At least this way I could keep an eye on everything that happened around me, which was all I wanted anyway. The host stood behind the chair and I stood up briefly, shifting forward as he moved the chair closer to the table.

He handed me a menu and I nodded. "Thank you." He bowed in response and went back to his desk, waiting for the next person to arrive. "Well, Kikuoka?" I asked calmly as I scanned the menu. Everything here was expensive, and I tried to remember exactly how much money I had on me. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Hello, Nick," Kikuoka said with a smile. "C'mon, let's talk about business later. Order whatever you want - it's on me."

"I don't like sweets," I murmured. "And it's too cold for ice cream." I placed the menu in front of me with a sigh. "And I'm assuming I won't get an answer to my question until Kazuto arrives, yes?" Kikuoka just smiled. When a waiter stood by the table, I simply asked for a glass of water. "You couldn't have us meet somewhere that serves hot food, could you," I grumbled. "No, of course not."

Kikuoka laughed, sipping at a cup of tea in front of him. "I'm glad you don't feel awkward around me," he said. "Every time I speak with Kazuto he's so formal."

"You don't deserve formality," I told him bluntly.

I would have said more, but the elevator across the room let out a soft ding and my attention snapped to it; a teenage boy in black stepped out and I felt some muscles relax. Kazuto was my friend, and I couldn't even conceive of being threatened by him. He spoke with the host briefly before Kikuoka shouted, "Hey! Kirito!" and started to wave, laughing. I just sighed and hid my face in my hand, telling myself that killing Kikuoka in front of all these witnesses was a very bad idea. Besides, he was useful every now and then. But more so the witnesses, because there was no way I could manage to get them all.

Obviously looking embarrassed and somewhat defensive, Kazuto sank into the chair opposite Kikuoka, to my left. "Hey, Nick," he muttered.

"Yo."

"Go ahead," Kikuoka said. "Order anything you want. It's on me."

Kazuto glared at him slightly. "Thank you, sir," he said. "That's really kind of you." I felt my lips twitch slightly - if he could sound any less enthusiastic I'd be very surprised.

Kikuoka chuckled. "Come on, you don't have to be so formal with me. Relax, and talk to me like you would in ALO."

"Okay..." Kazuto picked up the menu in front of him and started reading through the contents. "If you say so, then... I guess so..." A second later, his eyes widened and he made a sound of confusion. I chuckled slightly and rested my chin on my palm, staring off into the distance. The waiter came back for Kazuto's order, and he said, "I'd like the parfait au chocolat." I winced at his horrible, horrible mangling of the words - my mother had family in France, either her mother or grandmother or something like that, and had insisted I learn basic pronunciation. It came in handy exactly never, but it did make things a little awkward when I listened to Kazuto try so hard. "The framboise mille-feuille... and a hazelnut latte." The last bit of his order came out in a rush as Kazuto found himself on familiar ground again and I chuckled. I wasn't sure what the framboise whatever he ordered was, but I recognized the first and last item.

As the waiter walked away and Kazuto sighed with relief, Kikuoka leaned forward, resting his chin on his laced fingers. "Sorry to make you come out all this way, Kirito, Rythin," he said.

"If you're that sorry about it, why'd you ask us to come to Ginza?" Kazuto muttered, placing his menu in front of him. "And would you mind not calling me by that name in public?"

Kikuoka glanced at me and I shrugged. "I'd prefer Nick in this world, please." He'd used our real names earlier, so maybe he was just trying to irritate Kazuto.

"What's with all the attitude?" Kikuoka asked. "And here I thought we were all buds. I was the first to visit you in the hospital, Kazuto, remember?" Kazuto glared at him, but didn't refute his statement. It wasn't true in my case, since the Dual Blades Swordsman was obviously more important than me, but Kikuoka was one of my first visitors. Well, third, technically, if my parents counted. Still, I hadn't had a visitor that I actually cared about - Kazuto was still too weak to travel, and Kana didn't even know I was alive until I sent her that message. And, of course, Asuna was still trapped by Sugou.

I leaned back and stretched my legs out under the table, sitting comfortably. "So why exactly did you call us here, anyway?" I asked him. "I'm sure Kazuto already told you everything about Aincrad over the summer."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Kazuto grumbled to me. "Slipping out to go with the girls and leaving me to deal with him by myself."

"Don't mention it."

Kikuoka closed his menu with a clap, startling both of us. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else." He rummaged in the briefcase that was sitting against his chair before pulling out a tablet and handing it to Kazuto. "Have a look at that."

Kazuto tapped the tablet and placed it on the table, angling it so that I could see as well. "Who's he?" he asked.

"This won't be pleasant," Kikuoka said, taking back the tablet. "So last month, on November the fourteenth, a landlord of an apartment complex in Tokyo noticed a foul odor while cleaning." I frowned, giving him my attention. "It was coming from one of the units. So he disabled the lock and discovered this man, dead."

I chuckled grimly, picturing the scene. "That's gotta be a shocker. Check in on one of your tenants and they've died?"

"His name was Tamotsu Shigemura, and he was 26. He'd been dead for five days." I wrinkled my nose as I imagined the odor. Kikuoka slid the image on the tablet, showing us what appeared to be a picture of the man's apartment - it was filthy, with plastic bags and dirty dishes everywhere. Bachelors. How do people live like that? I couldn't stand the mess, if only because it would be a pain to pick my way around the floor. "His place was a mess, but no signs of burglary. He had something interesting on his head, though..."

Kazuto tensed and his eyes narrowed. "An AmuSphere?"

"Yeah..." Kikuoka sighed, and I closed my eyes and swore softly under my breath. The agent slid to the next picture, an image of the man's head. The AmuSphere covered his eyes, but I could still see them, wide and staring. He had some stubble on his chin and cheeks, like he hadn't shaved for several days. "It was ruled an unnatural death, so they did an autopsy. The cause of death was found to be acute heart failure." So not brain damage?

"Wait," Kazuto said slowly, "heart failure? You mean his heart stopped? Did they find out why?"

"No, they didn't," Kikuoka told him.

Kazuto stared at him, eyes distant, before snapping back to reality when the waiter arrived with his order. "Here you are, sir," he said, handing Kazuto what appeared to be a chocolat parfait, a coffee, and a slice of cake with a raspberry on top. So that's what the framboise mille-feuille was.

He then handed me a glass of ice water, and I nodded gratefully. "Thank you," I said politely. I may be an asshole, but there was still merit in being polite, at least in public and to people who didn't know me very well. I could get things more easily if they thought I was nice - and besides, I had worked customer service for like a summer before the whole SAO thing. I knew how shitty it was.

Kikuoka waited until the waiter left before continuing. "Unfortunately, because so much time had passed since his death," he said, "and foul play was ruled out as a cause, the autopsy wasn't very thorough." Incompetents. "We do know he'd been logged in for two days straight and hadn't eaten anything the whole time." I shook my head silently - humans could survive for about a week, maybe two without food. It would suck, and eat away at their muscles eventually leaving no means to get more food, but two days wouldn't do much more than leave him feeling weak and dizzy. Nothing that could stop the heart.

"That's not that unusual," Kazuto said. "Players do that all the time." His eyes met mine, and I realized we were both thinking about SAO - how we had been logged in for two years, not two days. "Wait, why are you telling us about this?"

"That's... a good question, actually," I said. "So, Agent? Feel like spilling?"

"He had a game installed on his AmuSphere called Gun Gale Online," Kikuoka said, the light from the window behind me catching his glasses and turning them into shining discs. "Do either of you know that one?"

I nodded with a small shrug. "Steampunk, essentially an FPS MMO. Like the name says, it's all about guns."

"It's the only MMO in Japan with professional players," Kazuto added.

Kikuoka nodded. "Well, this past October there was a tournament to decide the most powerful player in GGO."

I frowned and sighed, the breath hissing through my teeth. "Let me guess. This dead guy was the winner."

"Exactly." I grimaced again. "His character's name was XeXeeD." A revenge killing, maybe?

Kazuto absently tapped at his slice of cake with a fork. "Was he playing GGO when he died?" I noticed the small hesitation before he said the final word, but didn't say anything - SAO left scars in all of us.

"No." I glanced at the agent, one eyebrow raised in confusion. "When it happened, he was appearing on a show called MMO Stream. As XeXeeD's avatar. We know the time from the logs." Kazuto took a bite of his cake - a neat square piece - and I crossed my arms, watching the agent. "This next bit of info still needs to be confirmed... According to another player's blog, at the same time Shigemura had the heart attacks something strange happened in GGO."

My eyes narrowed. "Strange how, exactly?"

"Some players were at a bar in-game, watching the show, when one of the players stood up and started acting erratically." I snorted in disgust - couldn't people just sit down, shut up, and watch TV without shouting? Though, to be fair I wasn't exactly innocent of that either, since I liked to talk to the characters. But I only did that while alone, so whatever. "The blog states, the player was shouting stuff about judgment and power at XeXeeD's image on the TV, and then fired his gun at it." I blinked and raised an eyebrow - that was pointless in every sense of the word except maybe the bullet's point. Why would this be important? "At the time, another player in the bar happened to be recording audio." Convenient. "He uploaded it to a video site. Since the file had a Japan standard time counter embedded, we know that the shot fired at the TV and Shigemura's avatar disappearing from the show happened at about the same time." So the shot fired coincided with the death? That was either the best timing I'd ever heard of, or pre-planned. I don't like coincidences.

Kikuoka showed us the tablet, and I blinked as I realized the video had already gotten three and a half million views. Was it really that popular? "Probably just coincidence," Kazuto said, taking another bite of the cake. By this point, the cake was about halfway done.

"I happen to disagree," I murmured. "Agent? What else?"

Kikuoka chuckled. "What makes you think there's more?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because if it was just the one death you probably wouldn't be asking us about it. Now hurry it up, I have a date later."

He smiled. "Well, I'd rather not be the cause for keeping a lady waiting, so..." He tapped at his tablet. "There was another death, though."

I inhaled sharply, and Kazuto jerked back. "What?" he asked incredulously.

"This one happened on November 28th, somewhere in Saitama Prefecture. Same setup as before - the deceased was found at their apartment." He showed us pictures, and it was about the same kind of mess as the first guy's place. "A guy delivering the newspaper happened to look in the window. He saw the victim lying in bed, wearing an AmuSphere rig. Said the smell was -"

"Ahem!" My head snapped to the source of the sound - it was one of the ladies that had been in the elevator with me. Several customers were glaring at us, probably because we were discussing the smell of a rotting corpse in a restaurant.

I glanced at Kikuoka. "Let's put aside the sickly-sweet smell of rotting, decaying flesh and rotten food. And we probably shouldn't mention the stench of urine and feces, since corpses often evacuate their bowels on death," I said, slightly louder than usual, and was rewarded by the women standing up in disgust and leaving. I grinned viciously and felt a small stirring of satisfaction as I chuckled. Almost as good as physical attacks.

Kikuoka coughed. "Anyway, heart failure was the cause of death." My eyes narrowed – a second one, also wearing an AmuSphere. "The victim was also a top-ranking GGO player. His character's name was... Usujio Tarako?" He sounded confused for some reason, but plowed past it. I didn't care - by this point, seeing somebody name themselves after food was just another drop in the bucket of stupid VR names. "Well, he was playing when he died." He showed us the images - the deceased had a bandana and war paint on in one picture, and I assumed it was just an image of him in combat. The second picture was a structure of some sort, almost like a lighthouse. It reminded me of the town at the base of the World Tree in ALO. "It happened in the central plaza on Glocken. He was in the middle of his squad... I guess that's the same as a guild." If what I had heard of the game was correct, party would probably be closer to the mark, but close enough that the comparison made sense. "A strange player went up to him and shot him, point blank."

"Do you know if it was the same guy that shot XeXeeD?" Kazuto asked, sipping at his coffee.

"Most likely. He said some stuff about judgment and power, and then identified himself by the same character name."

Kazuto frowned. "What name?"

Kikuoka lowered the tablet and looked at both of us seriously. "Death Gun."

"Death...Gun..." I murmured.

Clouds in the sky shifted, and the sun beamed through the thin white curtains, illuminating the table while simultaneously making the shadowed corners darker. There was a shift in the atmosphere - like everything up to this point had just been three people catching up over a meal, and now things were getting serious. Kazuto set his cup back on its plate and frowned. "Are you absolutely sure both victims died of heart failure?" I recognized the change in his voice as the voice he used when we needed to fight and win, and I shifted posture slightly, automatically reacting to that tone and coming alert.

"What do you mean?"

I leaned forward. "Is it possible they died of something else? Something else related to, say, brain damage?" Kazuto and I exchanged a quick glance - the AmuSphere was supposed to be designed to avoid being able to damage the brain with its microwave scan, but if something had been tampered with...

Kikuoka shifted, and the light played across his glasses. "I was wondering about that, too," he said with a small smile. "So I asked the coroner if there was any trace of damage to either of their brains, and he said they were both fine." My lips were pulled back, baring my eyeteeth, and I was a half-step from growling; Kazuto wasn't doing so well either. "Besides, the NerveGear rig used high-output microwaves, powerful enough to fry the signal elements and destroy the brain. On the other hand, the AmuSphere was designed so that it couldn't emit electromagnetic waves that powerful. At least, that's what the developers claimed."

"No," I said slowly, "there would be so much oversight on the development of the AmuSphere that they couldn't get away with that. They'd need to make sure it was safe."

"Sounds like you guys have done your homework," Kazuto told Kikuoka. "But even so, your story's built around coincidence and rumors."

Kikuoka sat back and the light from his glasses hid his eyes again. "True, it could be a coincidence or even a hoax. I'm not sold either way. For now, and this is hypothetical, mind you, do you think it's even remotely possible to stop a player's heart in the real world with virtual bullets from a virtual gun?" It's happening again. Again and again and again only this time it's a gun not a sword.

How remarkably odd; it felt like I was swaying, but I was sitting perfectly still - no, wait, it's my vision that's acting strange. Like I'm seeing myself sitting at the table and seeing from my eyes at the same time. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to come back under control. "No, I don't think so," I heard Kazuto say, and I opened my eyes to see him looking just as shaken as me. "But, hypothetically? Let's say this Death Gun did send some sort of killer signal to XeXeeD and that Taruko guy's AmuSpheres. What would it be?" He brought his hand to his chin and thought. "Maybe a sight or sound... a taste, a smell, a touch? Or maybe some other sensation..."

"Terror." I heard myself say, and realized both Kikuoka and Kazuto turned to look at me. "If they were weak, and they suddenly received a massive emotional shock that shook them to their very core, it's possible their hearts could stop - they'd literally die of fright." Kikuoka sat back and rested his head in one hand before chuckling. Both Kazuto and I looked at him, confused, before I had a sudden flash of insight. "But there's no need for us to say anything, is there," I growled. "Since you and your team have already come up with these ideas on your own."

"Oh, I get it!" Kazuto snarled. "You and your guys can't figure it out, so you invite us to coffee to pick our brains!"

Kikuoka leaned back and waved his hands in the air in front of him. "No, what are you talking about? I-I'd never do something like that to you, honest! I like talking to you two, and just wanted your opinion... Honest..."

Kazuto sat back with a sigh before standing up. "We're done. You want my opinion, here it is - you can't stop a player's heart in the real world by actions in-game. Shots fired and the heart attacks are coincidences." Coincidences? I'm not so sure... Something seems off.

He started to step away from the table, and Kikuoka said, "Wait! Hold on! You can order something else, just sit down and hang out for a bit!" Kazuto turned to look at him over his shoulder, uncertain. "Please. I can't tell you how relieved I am to put it into words." Kikuoka folded his hands in front of him. "Fact is, I'm of the same opinion as you. I don't believe the deaths were caused by in-game gunshots either. And now that we've talked, I want to ask you officially..."

He leaned forward and gave both of us a smile. "Would you log in to Gun Gale Online and make contact with the player calling himself Death Gun?"

"And once we do find the guy, then what?" I challenged him. "Get ourselves killed by a heart attack, just like the other two?"

"You want us to get shot, is that it?" Kazuto spat.

Kikuoka rubbed the back of his head, giving us a shameless grin. "Woah now, hang on -"

"Well screw that, I don't wanna get killed!" Kazuto shouted, whirling to leave.

With a clatter of cutlery and dishware, the agent moved faster than I expected; in a heartbeat, he was on his knees, grabbing the back of Kazuto's coat. "That's not possible! We just agreed it wasn't, didn't we?" Kazuto tugged, trying to get free. "Besides, this Death Gun guy is only going after specific targets. They have to meet his criteria!" Kazuto turned at the last word, ceasing his struggles.

I looked around, uneasy with the number of eyes on us - it seemed like the entire restaurant was staring at the commotion in the corner. "Can you please stop?" I snapped at Kikuoka. "Kazuto, sit down, please, we're making a scene. I don't like being stared at." Kazuto sat down, and I nodded at him while Kikuoka returned to his seat. "Thank you. Now, Agent, you were saying something about criteria?" The waiter passed by again, and Kazuto ordered another desert - this time, some sort of strawberry cake. I wasn't listening to the name. "And you didn't think this was important before? Something that, I don't know, might be useful to know?" Idiot. I hate dealing with him sometimes.

"Okay, here's the deal," Kikuoka said. "XeXeeD and Usujio Tarako weren't just any old players, they were top-ranked. So it's safe to assume he's not interested in newbies. If you, Kazuto, were strong enough to beat Kayaba at his own game -"

"That's different!" Kazuto snapped. "Look, I don't know what you've heard, but GGO's no walk in the park. It's filled with pro gamers!"

"Hold the phone!" Kikuoka said, pointing at Kazuto. "You said pro gamer. What does that mean, 'pro'?"

"Professional," I said calmly, my temper under control again. "Literally. From what I've heard, GGO allows for conversion between game currency and real-world currency."

"What?" Kikuoka asked, seemingly confused. I knew him too well, though - he wasn't surprised for a second. He wasn't even a desk jockey, really, but an agent of some other organization on loan to the Ministry of Defense.

"Do well enough in game, you've paid your monthly subscription. Do even better, you get a nice fat paycheck in the mail. The top-ranked players make a living off of playing GGO and winning tournaments," I said. "I believe the current salary, as it were, for pros is around 200, 300 thousand a month."

"It's an awesome gig," Kazuto said, sighing. "That's why the high-level guys in GGO are so hardcore. They pour more time and passion into it than players from other MMOs." Well, it was true - I know that if I was getting paid real money for Trinity's contracting, I'd be playing ALO a lot more and actively searching for jobs rather than just waiting for people to come to me. "Someone like me or Nick can't just log in and match players like that. You should find someone else."

"Woah, hold it, hold it!" Kikuoka exclaimed, holding his hands out like that would literally stop Kazuto. "Who else am I gonna find, you two are it! I need your help in this investigation, and if taking these pros on is that big a deal, I can pay you... this much." He held up three fingers, and Kazuto gulped.

Slowly, I grinned. It wasn't a nice grin. "So this is a contracting?" I asked calmly. He nodded. I chuckled. "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place? If this were Trinity, I'd be having a bidding war with Death Gun. But, since I probably can't talk to him... 350 thousand each plus expenses for both of us and you have yourself a deal." I could probably have gotten more out of him - he had just said we were his only option - but it wasn't a good idea to ask for too much out of him. Besides, we were getting a month's worth of a GGO player's salary for a few days of game time. Seems like a good gig. Kikuoka winced, but agreed.

Still, Kazuto tried to play it cool. "Ah, I don't get why you're so hung up on this. You find horror stories like this all the time online."

I shook my head. "It's the hardware, Kazuto, not the software." His eyes widened as he put two and two together, and I nodded. "Yeah. If people think the AmuSphere is unsafe, there goes the entire MMO market. Everything's getting shut down. And this time, there's not going to be a Seed to regrow it."

"The effect of FullDive technology on the real world is the hottest technology today," Kikuoka said slowly. "Literally everyone's researching it." Hopefully not literally. "People are going to try to use these deaths to regulate the technology. We want to know the facts before that happens. We want to be sure." He leaned forward and rested his chin on his laced fingers. "That's why we're interested."

"You guys could go directly to the admins about it," Kazuto said, and I snorted; because that worked so well the last two times you and I got involved with something like this, buddy.

"Right. But Zaskar, the company that developed and hosts GGO, is in the US. Their address, phone number, and email... none of it's been made public, so we can't contact them. Ever since the Seed was released, all kinds of shady VR worlds have popped up."

"Eheh..." Kazuto and I exchanged an almost guilty glance - well, his was guilty. Mine wasn't – couldn't be, after all.

"Yeah..."

"Maybe they're legit, maybe they're not. Either way, if we want to find anything out we've gotta do it from the inside," Kikuoka said. "We have to try contacting them from in the game. I'm not asking you to get shot. We'll take whatever safety precautions we have to. Just evaluate the situation and report back. So will you help us or what?"

"So, a recon job?" I asked. "Eh. I'm better with tactical jobs and assassinations, but I guess I can do this. The price is right, after all." Mercenary, maybe. Profitable, definitely.

Kazuto looked down, staring at his plate; I had a feeling he was thinking about the deaths in Aincrad, how this stupid Death Gun was bringing back the memories that had just started to fade away. Eventually, he looked up at Kikuoka, and I smiled at the steel in his eyes. "I'm in."

"Excellent." Kikuoka sat back, relieved. "I'm glad to hear you two say that. So..." He smiled and reached into his briefcase again, producing two small disks. My eyes narrowed - had he expected us to agree the entire time? Bastard played us like a fiddle. "These disks will install Gun Gale Online to your AmuSpheres... Ah, Nick, you have one, right?" I nodded, and he continued on. "It should also pay the first connection fee for you. You'll have to pay the 3000 yen yourself from that point on if you want to keep playing, but... Hopefully this will be wrapped up before we have to renegotiate."

Sullenly, I took the disk - I hated being outplayed. "Right," I grumbled. "We'll get on that eventually." As Kazuto took his own disk, I stood up, draining my glass of water. "Thank you for the time, Kikuoka. I hope you are ready to pay up when we're done."

Outside the building, I chuckled as I realized Kazuto had parked his motorcycle right next to mine. "I still get surprised when I see this thing," Kazuto told me absently while staring at my bike. "I mean, you didn't strike me as the type to ride one."

I shrugged. "Needed a way to get around. Easier than a car." I started to unlock my helmet, and turned to Kazuto. "Hey, Kazuto?"

"Hm?"

"What are you going to tell Asuna?"

He froze and then sighed slowly, leaning his weight against his bike. "I don't know. I mean, we have to do this, don't we?"

"You're thinking about the deaths."

"Yeah..." He ran his fingers through his hair, looking surprisingly lost. It wasn't often that I saw him at a loss for what to do. "We just aren't allowed to forget, are we..."

"We have to tell them, though," I said. "At least Asuna and Kana. The others might not care as much, but we'll be crucified if we transfer over without telling them."

Kazuto just sighed. "Maybe I'll figure out how to tell her later today." He grinned at me. "We're going to the Imperial Gardens." I gave him a thumbs up and he chuckled.

"I'm sure she'll understand. Though, I wouldn't tell her the exact reason we're switching, hm? She might get a bit stressed if she knows we're about to go try to take down a serial killer in the making." Only two so far, but if one more body shows up then it's a serial killer.

"Makes sense." Kazuto gave me a wave before putting his helmet on and turning the key in his bike's ignition - the engine roared to life, purring like a kitten. A large, metal kitten with two wheels. Maybe a lion cub? What not-bird animal only has two legs, anyway? The only ones I know about are humans, some gorillas, and whatever bipedal monstrosities existed in Australia. And Godzilla, but he doesn't count.

After dropping the disk off at home and changing to something just a bit more formal - I changed from sneakers to boots, because that's totally more formal, me - I walked to the place where I was supposed to meet my girlfriend. She wasn't where we had set the meeting place, but then again I was fifteen minutes early - it was only 4:45. That was fine; I just sat down at the bench by the fountain and turned my music up. It gave me time to think about the situation I had found myself in.

So people were getting killed, huh? And it was by a guy in-game shooting them with a gun. But it wasn't like they had any sort of marks on their body or damage to anything, apparently - just the acute heart failure. If I didn't know better, I'd assume they were just two people that died from a heart attack. But the whole timing thing with Death Gun made it way too much of a coincidence. I sent Kikuoka a quick message asking him to check for any history of heart disease in the family of each of the deceased - I doubted it would bring up anything special, and I'd assume they'd already thought of that, but it was still worth a shot. I honestly didn't expect them to find anything, though. Something just struck me as off - Kazuto might be determined to see it as a coincidence, but some sixth sense was telling me something was wrong. It was like Future Step was bleeding to other aspects of my life.

Suddenly, a face with curly brown hair and brown eyes filled my vision, and I smiled. First thing to do, turn off the music. "Kana, so good to see you." I was struck by a sudden urge and wrapped her in a hug, enjoying how comforting she felt.

"Ack! Crushing, crushing!" I laughed and let go, looking at my laughing girlfriend. "What was that for?"

I shrugged. "Don't really know. Just felt like it, I guess."

Kana smiled. "Well, did I make you wait long?"

"Nah, I've only been here for fifteen minutes." I scanned my girlfriend; she was wearing what appeared to be a regular street outfit. I didn't really have a good eye for fashion, so I couldn't say whether or not she looked good in it. "You look very beautiful," I said regardless.

Kana giggled and spun around before flicking my forehead lightly. "Liar. You can't tell a difference, can you?"

"I know you're beautiful despite that," I told her. "Just because I don't have a concept of physical beauty doesn't mean you aren't pretty."

"Flatterer."

"So where are we going?" I asked her, stretching and twisting to loosen my muscles. I jerked slightly when my spine popped, but the relief was worth the instant of discomfort. "I did promise you dinner, but that's not for an hour or two."

"I don't know," Kana said absently. "Let's just walk for a bit." Saying that, she grabbed my right hand in her left and started dragging me along, just going off in a direction. "We'll figure out something to do along the way."

I followed her with a fond smile on my face, catching up to her and walking alongside the girl, matching her strides. "So are we just going to wander around for an hour or two, or did you want to check anything out?"

"Hm..." Kana hummed in thought and looked at me finally. "What do you think Asuna and Kazuto are talking about, right now?"

Surprised by the non-sequitur, I stumbled over my words for a few seconds. "Ah... I don't know, really." I gave the question some thought, and finally said, "Knowing those two, something about the real world and the game world. Probably a question about the difference between the two."

"And Kazuto would say something silly like 'the amount of data', right?" Kana laughed. "So... What do you think?"

"Hm?"

"What's the difference?"

I hummed in thought. "Well, I'd have to say that to me there is no difference, really, not now. I mean, one's a body of flesh and blood while the other's a body of data, but... it's still my brain, my mind controlling my actions." I shrugged. "Does it make a difference whether my mind is controlling my real body or the one made by data?"

Kana leaned her head against my shoulder as we walked, and I shifted my gait slightly to match her footsteps exactly in order to keep her comfortable. "Strange way of looking at it. I think there's a difference, but I don't think it's in the amount of data. I think it's in what we can learn."

"How so?"

"Well, let's take the game world first. Sure, there's information that we don't know yet, but it's a finite set. There's an end to the new information we can learn about the game, even with how advanced Cardinal is. Everything in the virtual world has an algorithm to it that explains exactly why it is what it is. When we know that, we know what it's going to be." Kana sighed. "But the real world... There's no upper limit on what we can learn here. Everything is mutable and the future isn't set in stone."

I grinned. "Trust the best info broker in the game to think of things that way, eh?" Ruffling her hair to elicit a squeak from the girl, I poked at her cheek. "It makes sense, though. I get it."

"Yeah, yeah." Suddenly, Kana examined a store we were passing by, a bookstore that the two of us frequented. "Hey, I think they got some new books in. Should we check?"

"Sure, why not."

The bell above the door rang as the two of us entered; I checked to see who was minding the store today, and smiled and waved when I recognized the owner. "Oh, hello, Nick, Kana," the woman said. "Nice to see you today. Are you two out on a date?"

"Yep!" Kana said, giving her a wave. "What's new?"

"Nothing you're interested in, Nick," the owner told me, "but I think you'll like a few books, Kana." Somehow, the owner not only knew every book she had in the store, but knew where they were in the shelves and had read most of them. It was like she had a photographic memory for books. With that, she was able to recommend books that she had a feeling the two of us would like.

Since there was nothing new for me, I wandered around, looking for the other attraction of the bookstore. Not finding my goal, I looked up and smiled. "Hello there, kitty." The owner had renovated the inside slightly, installing ramps up along the walls that led to the rafters up above, as well as adding connecting segments of wood between each bookshelf. The overall look of the place was a bit eclectic, but it made it easier for the cats to get around – the owner took in strays and helped find homes, so there were usually two or three felines running around. The cat – a Siamese, one that I'd met before – meowed and just jumped from the top of the bookshelf; moving swiftly, I crouched, letting the cat land lightly on my back. I felt the weight of the cat, followed by it kneading my back while purring. "Don't get too comfortable, kitty, I do have to go get dinner with my girlfriend."

The weight disappeared, and I stood up to see Kana cuddling the cat. "Hey now, I'm the only one allowed to get close to him like that," she scolded the feline. "He's mine."

"No need to get catty," I told her, scratching at the cat's head and smiling at Kana. "I like you more than I like the cat anyway." I glanced at her hand to see a bag of books there. "Get everything you wanted?"

"Yep. Ready to go?"

I gave the cat one last pet and nodded. "Yeah, we should probably get going. The reservation was for 6:30, so we've got about a half hour to get there."

Despite the rush, Kana complained about having to carry the books and made me hold the bag for her. I didn't mind, of course, so both of my hands were busy. It did make me a little uneasy, not having a free hand, but I could put up with it; after all, if something happened I could always use my feet, and Kana would know to take the bag back. Fortunately, we made it in time, even though I was feeling on edge the whole time. I'm pretty sure Kana realized that, because she took point in getting our table at the restaurant. Once we were seated, though, and I was back on somewhat familiar ground, I came back to life slightly.

About halfway through our meal, Kana grinned at me. "So, Nick, what do you need to tell me?"

I glanced at her, busy chewing a bite. "Mm?"

"You've been meaning to tell me something ever since we met up," she said. "I just don't know what it is. So c'mon, spill."

Setting my silverware across my plate, I sighed and laced my fingers, staring past the woman I loved into the distance. "I've been hired for a recon job," I told her. "But it requires I transfer to a different game."

Kana frowned, giving me her full attention. "Are you sure?" I nodded slowly, still not looking at her, and she pursed her lips. "Who's the client?"

"Agent Kikuoka."

"Crap..." Kana sat back and stared at the ceiling, thinking. "And you already agreed to it?"

"I had no choice, really. It was either I agreed or I let Kazuto go alone."

"I get it," Kana said, "I really do. But that just means things are going to be a little awkward in Alfheim. I've heard the Steel Hearts were thinking of hiring Trinity for a dungeon raid, so..." The Steel Hearts was a guild that had surprised me at first - it was led by Ziria, the Imp I had fought with the first time I left Cait Sith territory. Apparently she really did remember me, and when I set up Trinity she and her guild decided to hire me for a quest at one point. Since then, they'd hired me every now and then, more to hang out than anything.

"I guess I'll take care of that before I go, then." I grinned at Kana, and she came back to Earth. "Good news is, by the way, Kikuoka's paying for dinner."

"Expenses, too?" I just grinned at her and she snickered. "Wow, he really was desperate. Think we could justify a shopping trip for supplies as expenses?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but it's certainly worth a shot. Maybe tomorrow, if we don't have too much homework after classes."

"Recon in what game, if it's not classified?"

I smiled grimly, but I could feel a hint of humor behind it. "Gun Gale Online."

Dinner was a success despite the awkward topic brought up - it being free helped lift our spirits immensely - and Kana and I went back to my place afterwards. Parent knew Kana was coming over and had prepared the couch where I would ostensibly be sleeping. Since she knew there was no way that was happening, she had also changed the sheets on my bed and opened the window to let it air out. My mom happened to like Kana, and it made things far easier for me. Though, every now and then I got the feeling she was just glad I had found a girl in the first place.

When we got back to my room, we immediately beelined for the bed; I flopped down, followed by Kana hitting it a second later and crashing into me. I caught her in a hug, trapping her for a second until she managed to squirm out of my admittedly weak hold; laughing, she tossed me the AmuSphere that had been sitting on the desk by the bed before pulling her own rig out of her purse. I swear, those bags are bigger on the inside, like a whole separate dimension kind of big. There's no way everything she needs would fit inside that thing.

After I opened my eyes again, I was resting on the bed in the house I owned in-game. As I sat up with a stretch and yawn, Argo appeared next to me in a flash of light before she went through the same waking up routine I did. "Hey, Imp," I said with a grin.

"Hey yourself." Argo looked around aimlessly, her pale purple eyes tracking the room, before rising from the bed in a languid motion and standing in front of the mirror. "Are you going out mob-hunting today?" She tapped a few screens in her menu, and her sleeping clothes were replaced by her typical outfit, the brown cloak hiding violet leather armor.

I did the same, equipping my gloves, weapons, and Bloodwyrm Coat before checking to make sure the throwing knives were still in place. "Yeah, the others are meeting up in a field to get Liz some blacksmithing materials. I was gonna drop by, lend a hand. Unless you need me?"

Argo waved away the question. "I think I'll be fine. All I had planned for tonight was sales trolling anyway. Somebody contacted me over the forums for advice on a particular dungeon."

"Which one?"

"The dungeon right inside the edge of Salamander territory. You know, the one with the scythe traps and the falling rocks and stuff? Turns out they're tired of wiping and are just buying the locations of all the traps."

I glanced at the time and shrugged, glancing at my girlfriend while she sat at the one desk in the room, flipping through some of her notes. "I can come with, explain how exactly to avoid them if they're willing to pay extra."

Argo twitched slightly. "Nah, if the others are expecting you then I don't want to keep them waiting. Asuna would never forgive me."

"They aren't expecting me until a little bit later," I said. "They knew we were on a date. Besides, it's not like I'd be all that much help - Leafa, Liz, and Silica can handle most of the monsters by themselves, and Kirito's there to fix any problems that the rest can't handle."

Argo leaned back over her chair, staring at me upside down. "You, turn down a fight? That's new. Trying to get a little bit of distance, make the shift easier?"

"Eh. Not really." I moved over and poked her nose, making a silly little 'Boop!' noise as I did. Argo crossed her eyes at me and stuck her tongue out before sitting up straight again and focusing on her notes again. "I'd just much rather spend time with you."

"Correct answer. Full marks."

I grinned. "And in any event, I'll be spending a few days with Kirito in about a week anyway, so it's not a huge deal if I miss out on quality time with the others now."

"I could use a little help," Argo said slowly. "They've only paid for a map of the place, but who says they won't want something more?" I leaned on the back of the chair and crossed my arms around her, resting my cheek on the top of her head. She patted my hands with a free hand before scribbling something on a note. "Well, we should be going. I think they're waiting for us by Agil's shop, so if we want to be at the meeting place in time leaving now would be a good idea."

As we exited the house, standing on the balcony, I grinned and cracked my neck. "Standard race path?"

"Nn," Argo agreed, summoning her wings and lifting herself off of the balcony, perching on the railing. For my part, I just sat on the railing, my back to the open air. "Ready?"

"Coin flip... now." I pulled out a small coin - the smallest denomination of Yrd, just 1 Yrd - and flipped it in the air. As it spun in the air, I leaned back with my eyes closed, letting myself fall.

The coin rang out as it struck the ground, and my eyes snapped open; summoning my wings, I pushed off of the wall behind me and launched towards the nearest rooftop. Above me, Argo soared into the air, following her pre-determined path in the air. I was, just by stats alone, faster than she was, so I had the slightly more involved route. As usual, I went roof-hopping, using my wings to increase speed and maneuverability, while Argo was free to more or less fly straight to Agil's shop, with one or two detours to change course.

I landed on the roof and rolled on the rough surface, getting to my feet with a surge and moving forward without losing speed. The next rooftop on the fastest path - I had done a mental map the first few times Argo and I raced, and this was the path with the objectively least distance, minimizing backtracking - was higher up, so I needed to rise on the vertical plane. Launching myself into the air, I let Acrobatics take over; I grabbed a protruding pole and swung, throwing myself forward before using the nearby wall as a launch pad to clear the roof. I knew I wouldn't have been able to reach the pole without my wings, let alone make the jump requiring split-second timing - despite that, I kept moving without hesitating.

As I raced forward, I glanced over to see Argo soaring, only a little bit ahead of me - she could fly without the flight controller, but she couldn't hit speeds like Leafa or I could manage. That alone let me keep up with her while running. Suddenly, my instincts warned me of danger, and I reacted without thinking - jumping and twisting in midair, I watched as several flying players passed under me, one wrenching out of the way to avoid where I would have been and crashing into a chimney. I just hit the ground, coming out of the flip, and kept moving without calling out an apology. It wasn't my fault he hit the roof, after all.

Thirty seconds later I leaped, flipping in midair, and landed on the roof of Agil's shop with a light thump; with a grunt, I crouched and rolled backwards, catching myself on the eaves of the store with my hands before dropping lightly to the ground. I looked inside the window, giving Agil a wave; he held up a sign that read 5.5 and I shrugged. It wasn't my best dismount, and I knew it.

A second or two later, Argo landed next to me, her purple wings folding behind her back. "Aw, and I thought I'd beat you when those players almost ran into you," she said.

"Better luck next time, Miss Rat." I'd specialized in speed and acrobatics in Aincrad, whereas my lady love had taken skills that let her sneak around unnoticed. She was a magnificent eavesdropper, but it did mean I was faster than her.

When the group of players arrived ten minutes later, Argo and I were calmly sitting, discussing the homework that we had been assigned the previous day - it was the weekend, so there was plenty of it. "...and I'm just saying, you should pull out the constant first because otherwise the differential gets -" Argo broke off what she was saying, picking up the scattered notes we had scribbled down. "Hey, Ry, look who it is. Customers!"

I glanced at them, taking in their appearance - it looked to be a party from a guild, since there were plenty of different races in the mix of eight players. Then again, ever since the World Tree quest had turned out to be a hoax, players from other races were mingling with each other more than before. It was entirely possible... nah, not likely. People were still pretty segregated, at least for the most part. I nodded to the players politely before pulling out a book from my inventory and sitting back to read. If they didn't buy the information, I had no reason to talk to them.

About twenty or so pages in - I read fast, but they were long pages - Argo tapped me on the shoulder. I glanced up, making a small sound of confusion, and she said, "Ry, they're asking for how to dodge the traps."

Sighing slightly and putting the book to the side, I looked around at the players sitting on the other side of the table. "How much? All of it, or just the path to the end?"

"Quickest path, with detours for the marked treasures."

I frowned. "Map, please." Argo handed me the map of the dungeon, and I spread it out over the table. After scanning it for a second, tracing the brown line inked in that marked the path they should take as well as the red paths that led to treasure, I nodded. I tapped the first trap, a simple pit trap that extended a long distance - normally, with our wings it wouldn't be a problem, but since the dungeon was underground, only Imps could fly over. "Without an Imp in the party, you'll need to hit the disarm trigger with a ranged attack. Throwing knives, bow, or any single-target spells that don't explode will work."

"What about wall -"

I glared at the Sylph that had spoken, slightly irritated at being interrupted. "A good idea, but it's longer than the wall-run distance." Theoretically, a skilled player could jump off of the one wall and barely manage to land on the other one, but it was risky – and I'd never pulled it off myself, keeping it in the realm of purely theoretical. He nodded and leaned back, staring at the map. I tapped the next trap along the path - this one was on a red line, surrounding a treasure chest mark. "This one is a pressure plate trap..."

By the time I had finished explaining the best ways to disarm or dodge each trap - the swinging pendulums across a bridge took some time to explain, but it was more them just not understanding the concept of timing - it was about time for me to meet up with the rest of the group. As the party packed up the materials we had provided for them, I fidgeted slightly and Argo definitely noticed. "Time for you to leave?"

I nodded and leaned over, bumping my forehead against hers. "Yeah. See you later, Rat."

"Get out of here, Ry," she said with a smile. "I can manage without you for a while." Spreading my golden wings, I took off with a grateful smile and twitch of my ears.

I flew east for a bit, passing past both my and Argo's house and the apartment Kirito and Asuna shared; as I left the bounds of Yggdrasil City, I felt my body tense slightly once I lost the protection of the Safe Zone. There wasn't even a mark on my HUD as I crossed the invisible line; but still, my instincts noticed the shift and reacted accordingly. After a few more minutes, I arrived at the destination we had set for meeting. Our targets were monsters in a low-level field dungeon, so we needed to meet up just outside of it; as I approached the hill in front of the dungeon containing these strange-shaped platforms, I could see my friends and the rest of the party waiting patiently, though at that distance I couldn't see them very well. From the pink hair alone, I could identify Lisbeth; the smaller one beside her was probably Silica, and the tall blonde Leafa. "Looks like Klein isn't here," I murmured, the wind throwing my words away.

As I closed in on them, I folded my wings a few feet above the ground without slowing down first; I plunged toward the ground, but rolled the second I hit the dirt and transferred the momentum to a leap that carried me straight into Leafa. She hit the ground, and when the dust cleared I was perched on top of her, grinning madly. "Get...off..." Leafa grunted.

"And the most wonderful thing about Rythins is I'm the only one!" I sang before rolling off of the girl. "I'm the only one! Mraow..."

"And thank god for that," Lisbeth remarked.

I grinned at her from my seat on the ground. "What, you don't like classic children's literature?" I was missing the stripes and the fur on my cat ears and tail was brown, but I think my bouncing ability was pretty close.

"No, I just don't like you."

Stretching, I took Leafa's extended hand and she helped me to my feet. "Is that anything to say to someone who's here to help you get materials for your work?" I asked her in a patronizing tone, deliberately trying to get a rise out of the blacksmith.

At this point, Kirito stepped forward slightly. "If you're done harassing my sister and irritating Liz, I think we should get going. I mean, we do have school tomorrow."

I opened my mouth to say something smart-assed like I always did when Asuna leaned forward and smiled at me sweetly, saying, "Rythin..." Every animal instinct in me immediately told me to get the hell out of Dodge, and I managed to get that reaction down to just whimpering slightly. After a second, I swallowed and nodded, and Asuna's smile changed to something less terrifying. "Good." Lisbeth made a whip-crack sound, and without looking I flipped her off.

When someone tapped me on the upper arm, I looked over - and then down to see Silica standing there. My fellow Cait Sith said, "Hey, Rythin? Could you help me with homework after this? I'm a little confused on some of this stuff..."

I grinned at the girl. "Sure thing."

She smiled. "Thank you!"

Hearing a soft chuckle, I turned to see Leafa standing there, arms folded underneath her, ah... assets, let's say. "It's a surprise to see you being nice for a change."

"Racial bias," I told her. "And Pina is adorable so I want to play with the dragon for a bit." Leafa just smiled and moved on, striking up a conversation with Lisbeth. The blonde seemed to be doing better recently; during the summer, she had been a little out of it, but according to Kirito she was doing just fine at home as well. Good for her; I considered Sugu a sister, part of my very small family, so I liked it when she was happy. It bugged me when there was nothing I could do to help, but at the moment it looked like I didn't need to do anything.

I slowly drifted over to Kirito and Asuna; as I stood there, arms folded, Kirito leaned over. "Did you tell Argo?" he murmured.

"I did," I replied quietly. "And you? Does Asuna know?"

Kirito inhaled, then exhaled slowly. "I'm telling her later today. Hopefully knowing a week ahead of time won't make her too mad." I nodded solemnly. Shaking his head, he stepped forward and clapped his hands, catching everyone's attention. "Is everyone ready to go?" I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck, missing the typical cracking sound from the real world. It didn't fix anything or make my neck feel any better in game or out of game, but somehow the sound effect just made it slightly more visceral.

"So, Liz, what's our goal for today?" Asuna asked.

"Let's see..." Lisbeth opened her menu and tapped a few buttons, bringing up a list. "I think all I need is the Thick Roots one of the monsters here drops, so 50 or so of those?" She grinned. "The rest of the monsters drop useful stuff too, so it's not like we should ignore them."

Kirito turned, his longcoat flaring in the faint breeze. "Well, let's get to it, then."

"This'll be fun." I grinned and cracked my knuckles before drawing the Moonblade and spinning it a few times, the blood-colored blade staying red even through the gray filter of Future Step. "I can't wait to start killing." I might be… a bit fucked up in the head.

With most of us working together – most, because about halfway through Kirito and Asuna flew up to rest on one of the mushroom shaped protrusion-thingies that rose up from the ground here and there – we slaughtered the monsters quickly enough. Since I was working on my Illusion and Fire magic skills, I was keeping back, using my spells to fight; that meant, of course, that when things inevitably turned sour I was out of magic to help, since it was the end of the run and I had been chugging the mana potions like they were – well, I would say Tic Tacs but that would be a more accurate comparison if I were taking tablets or other pills, so maybe energy drinks? Except I didn't drink those either, so… It doesn't really matter.

When things went tits-up as they always did, we were fighting the final Mutant Gerbera in the area we had chosen for grinding; the girls were close, using their melee weapons, and they had requested I stay back and provide backup support only if needed. I had no problem being lazy but reaping the rewards anyway, so I was content to sit back and relax on one of the elevated thingies. I really need to come up with a name for those, don't I? I think hill works, even though it looks like something rather large took a bite out of the base. Kinda like an apple core, in a way. Oh, hill cores! That works.

Anyway, I was relaxing on the hill core, watching as the three girls circled the Mutant Gerbera; it roared at Silica, trying to bite at her, but its teeth closed on thin air when the girl ducked and dashed forward suddenly. With a shout, she opened up a long large gash on its side with a leaping slash; as she leapt clear, she grinned triumphantly. However, two long tendrils snaked out and wrapped around her ankles, and she was hoisted into the air upside down with a scream. Leafa called out, but before she could move to rescue the Cait Sith Silica grinned. With a laugh, she summoned her wings and righted herself, grinning smugly at the monster. "I've got a new trick up my sleeve," she taunted.

As if in response, some of the roots of the monster rose up and twisted behind it with a ripping sound, weaving together and interlocking until the tangled mass formed into wings; with a roar, the monster actually lifted off of the ground. Silica blanched as she was inverted, her bangs falling down out of her face, and started flailing wildly with her dagger while using one hand to hold her skirt up. I snickered. "It does too, looks like," I called. The monster we had fought on the 47th Floor, the Garish Gerbera, had done the same thing to the girl; that time, she managed to sever the vine holding her aloft and kill it, but this time it looked like she was having a little bit of trouble. Sometimes I wonder - Silica must attract all of the tentacle monsters somehow.

"Let… Leafa, help me!" Silica shouted while fruitlessly flailing at the vines holding her.

"I'm coming!" Leafa shouted, soaring toward the airborne plant creature; with a single slice of her katana, she severed both of the vines holding Silica, setting the girl free. "Lisbeth!"

From above, Lisbeth streaked towards the Mutant Gerbera, the sun at her back; I squinted, watching the Leprechaun spin past the grasping tentacles and slam her mace into the center of the monster's head with a meaty crunch. It roared in pain before shattering apart into the polygons it had been made of. Amusingly enough, Silica had forgotten to resummons her wings after being dropped, and so she hit the ground with a thump. Liz and Leafa, on the other hand, floated down much more gently, and high-fived for successfully killing the monster. "Yay!" Leafa exclaimed.

"And, let's see what we got," Lisbeth said, her wings disappearing as she tapped at her rewards screen.

Standing up and glaring about impartially, Silica said, "Please tell me that's the last of it." Pina was clinging to the top of her head, but the dull irritation in Silica's eyes and her deadpan delivery made me snicker. I'm a child.

"Hmm…" Lisbeth brought a hand up to her chin as she hummed in thought. "I think I've pretty much got everything I need."

"You wanna keep going some more?" Leafa asked. "You're always hooking us up at your shop, so if you need some more we'd be happy to help." I would complain about being volunteered, but since it was Leafa and I needed to raise my skill with the magic, well, I couldn't really whine all that loudly. Or mean it when I did whine. One of the two.

Lisbeth turned and grinned at Leafa. "Thanks, guys. Although…" When she paused, I sat up and looked around from my perch on the hill core – I couldn't see any more of the monsters in sight, and leaving to go find some more could put us at risk of dying, meaning the entire trip would be pointless at best and actively detrimental at worst.

"Hm. We sorta picked this place clean, didn't we?" Leafa mused.

Stretching, I glanced at my mana bar – it had slowly been recovering while I was resting, and by this point I was back up to mostly full. With a jump, I landed lightly behind the girls on the stone path and moved up to them. "Are we moving on, or just hanging out here and letting them respawn?"

"Let's take a break," Leafa decided. I just shrugged; I was fine with either option.

"Okay," Silica said with a sigh. She was obviously not looking forward to dealing with more of the monsters that seemed designed solely to make sure she ended up inverted in the air, the skirt she wore in danger of falling. It would solve most of her problems if she would just wear pants while fighting, like me or Kirito or even Liz, but the young girl absolutely refused. Then the Cait Sith looked up at the nearby hill core, where we could see two players resting – one in black, and one in light blue. "They're so into each other…"

"It's not fair," Lisbeth grumbled. "Dammit."

"Now, now," Leafa said with an uneasy smile.

Lisbeth just made a rude sound. "It doesn't matter if they're at school or here, they can't keep their hands off each other!"

"You mean they're like this at school, too?"

Silica frowned slightly, staring at the two jealously. "All day every day."

"Eh…" Not even Leafa could manage to support that.

After a second, all three girls sighed at the same time, and with the same tone in their voice; exchanging a glance, they all burst into giggles at the absurdity of it all.

I summoned my wings and flew up into the sky, circling slightly; I had no real reason to stay on the ground, and I kinda enjoyed flying. Like Sugu always said, it was free in a way that just moving on the ground could never hope to match. In the sky far above me, the floating castle of Aincrad passed over us, and I blocked out the castle with the palm of my right hand. The gleaming diamonds on the knuckles of my gloves distracted me slightly, and I brought my hand to my lips, absently gnawing at the gem. It really was a shame I was going to have to deal without my equipment when transferring; normally, it would be lost when my character data was wiped from Alfheim's servers – they only kept the stat data in case the player transferred back, so the player's stats were more or less the same with only a small penalty – but I could just give everything to Argo before transferring, thereby keeping everything. I'd still take the stat hit on my non-mastered skills, but eggs, omelets, and so forth.

"You're kidding!" I heard Asuna exclaim, and I glanced over to see Kirito waving his hands, hurrying to explain. With a sigh, I leaned back and closed my eyes, trusting my instincts to keep me hovering without actually keeping an eye on my position.

"Rythin?" Asuna called out, and I froze. "Could you come here for a minute?" She was sitting by Kirito's side, and the boy was grinning at me ruefully, mouthing an apology.

Exhaling slowly, I flew over to land beside my friends. "Can I just say you're looking lovely today, Asuna?" I asked, trying my damnedest to do as much damage control as possible. "Did you do something with your hair?" Yui waved from her perch on Asuna's shoulder, and I spared a smile for the adorable little Nav Pixie.

Asuna smiled sweetly at me. "Kirito tells me that you two are going to be transferring to a different game in about a week."

I nodded slowly, and her smile shifted instantly to a very fierce glare. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice," I complained. "It's not…"

"And you didn't think you should ask me, first?" Asuna demanded.

Kirito sighed. "Asuna…"

"Asuna, you're like a sister to me and I love you," I told her, "but this is something we have to do. I'm sorry we didn't consult you first, but…" Helplessly, I could only shrug. "If you're dead set against it, Kirito and I can talk to Kikuoka, see if he's fine with just me going."

"N-no…" Asuna murmured, "It's not that I don't want you to go, it's just…" She sighed. "I wish you'd at least involved me in the decision process," she said to Kirito.

He winced slightly. "I'm sorry, Asuna."

I tapped my friend on the shoulder, and she looked at me. "Er, if it's any consolation, we are getting paid handsomely…"

"How much?" I leaned in and whispered the amount into her ear, and her eyes widened as she sucked in a quick breath. "That's… a lot."

Kirito nodded. "I really am sorry I didn't say anything, Asuna, but… I have to do this. Please understand."

She sighed. "Well, if it's a favor for the agent, I guess I can't really complain. He did help you and Nick out earlier, so I guess it's only fair you repay him." She pointed at us. "But you'd better get done as quickly as possible, got it?"

I snapped off a quick salute. "Yes'm."

"Uncle Rythin?" Yui hopped off of Asuna's shoulder and settled down on my knee. "Take care of Daddy, okay?"

I grinned at the girl. "You got it, kiddo. I was gonna do it anyway, but how could I say no to such a cute face?" I poked the girl's cheek gently, making her whine in protest. "Anyway, he's probably going to end up protecting me just as much, after all." I glanced up to see both Kirito and Asuna smiling at me and Yui, and I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing," they both said innocently before exchanging a glance and bursting out laughing.

Grumbling, I laid back and stared up at the sky. See if I ever help him out of relationship drama again. Hmph.

So hey! It's Nightblade III.

Nick might know who he is, but that doesn't mean he's at all stable. He's got himself more or less under control, but brief rage strikes like the one in the elevator are sadly very common. But he can handle them, he knows how to manage himself, and he's got Kana to help him out if things get too bad. She makes him feel human again, quiets everything inside.

Some things about this story:

1. First-person. It's going to be told from Nick's point of view, with occasional interludes from Kana's perspective.

2. This story will span all of Season 2 – the GGO arc, Calibur, and Mother's Rosario.

3. Don't bring up the April Fool's joke. Just don't.

4. Absolutely no spoilers about anything that happens later on – nothing about Death Gun and GGO, nothing about the events of Calibur or Mother's Rosario, nothing AT ALL. Got it?

5. Just in case, I'm reiterating – NO SPOILERS. Okay? Yes this is fanfiction, and yes the majority of you are familiar with the source material already, but I happen to know for a fact that some of my readers are not familiar with it.

Oh, and by the way, someone made a TvTropes page for the Nightblade series. Thanks, dude and/or dudette, you're pretty chill. Readers, help me out here, fill it in! I'm sure there's stuff that isn't on it yet.

Well, that's about it from me. Now it's your turn – favorite, follow, leave a review!