Author's notes:
-This fanfiction is set during the Phantom Bullet arc of Sword Art Online II.
-Time indicates during which episode(s) this/these moments is set, so that you can go watch said episode(s) and have a better understanding of what's going on meanwhile.
-If I write a sequel to this, it will be about the shady American company behind GGO (Gun Gale Online), Zaskar.
-As I'm using the anime on Crunchyroll to write this (pulling references from it) I may sometimes reuse a line or two from the subtitles. I will cite when that happens, but not in text (with quotes or such), as it would break immersion from the reading.
Introduction
Time: Episode 1.
Kirito in the end, didn't feel like much had changed. After all he had gone through hell and back (twice!). Yet, something didn't feel right. He had Asuna, who should be helping him with his anxiety, his stress, his depression, but she didn't feel much present these days. The fact that Asuna's mother didn't approve of him wasn't helping, but he also felt like Asuna did not understand what he had been through, what he was going through even now, despite the fact that she'd been stuck in SAO with him too.
He knew his girlfriend, wasn't an outlet, that his therapist was the one for that, but his therapist was a professional, not a friend. She was nice though, that wasn't the problem. The issue was that he felt a great empty void, one that hadn't been filled since the day he lost Sachi.
There had been times where he thought it could be filled, either with Silica or Lisbeth. But both of them had problems. Silica was too young, and reminded him of his sister (cousin). Speaking of his cousin, he didn't mind Suguha. Though he wasn't against incest, the fact remained that he w̶a̶s̶ is in a relationship at the time. Really, the problem was that he did not/does not see her in that way. She has always been like a sister to him, and that probably would never change. As for Lisbeth, he started getting interested in her, until she basically told him outright to hook up with Asuna.
He still suspected Asuna had whispered something into her ear when they returned to the shop, possibly something about "Lay off Kirito, he is to be mine."
Anyway, he liked Asuna. She was kind, she was... Wait what was she? A sudden realisation came into his mind: Asuna, had nothing. No personality, and no defined interests, except being in love with Kirito every waking moment of her existence. And when she wasn't doing that, she was sticking to his side at all time, whether in real life or in ALfheim online.
He had to get out, find someone new. Otherwise he would not survive the surely coming next psychological trauma, this one possibly in the form of the investigation that he was just given by Kikuoka Seijirou, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Communications Networks Promotion Division Section 2, AKA the Virtual Division.
He had to go and investigate the popular VRMMO GGO, short for Gun Gale Online. He expected it to be done quickly, as Death Gun seemed like to him like yet another creepypasta, a mere Internet horror story.
But if SAO had taught him one thing, it was this: expect the unexpected, and you can never be enough paranoid.
Citations: "Kikuoka Seijirou, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Communications Networks Promotion Division Section 2, AKA the Virtual Division" and "Internet horror story" are both taken from the Crunchyroll subtitles.
Also shout out to SAO Abridged for inspiring me to use this: "As for Lisbeth, he started getting interested in her, until she basically told him outright to hook up with Asuna. He still suspected Asuna had whispered something into her ear when they returned to the shop, possibly something about "Lay off Kirito, he is to be mine."