Okonogi Masaya sighed as he walked to his room in the Final Course dormitory.

His third year at Vincennes would start soon, and he knew that he would be fine in terms of studies. He had never had troubles in his classes, and when he missed something, he could usually catch up immediately, most of the time with the help of one of his friends.

No, his sigh wasn't due to his studies.

It was because he had nothing to do when it didn't come to classes.

Last year, he has been so focused on not just his studies, but his debt issues, the Premier Judgment and Grande Vote, and getting to know everyone in the school, that he never saw the need to join a club or something similar, despite his friends' pushing. Rise and Chiho wanted him to join the choir and track clubs, respectively. Ruriko wanted him to be in the baking club. Konomi wanted him to be in the naginata club. All for the same reasons: to be with them in their respective clubs. Ritsuko, Mitsuki, and Ayaka, as far as he knew, weren't in clubs, but even they had pushed him to find something to do in between classes or on off days.

Despite all this, though, he had yet to do so, mostly because none of the clubs in Vincennes drew his attention. So, to satisfy the extensive free time he saw coming in his future, he decided to look outside the boarding school and, after a month of searching, found something that he believed he could happily do.

Virtual Reality Online Gaming.

He had heard of it due to a passing comment from one of his old friends from Eitatsu Auxiliary. His friend had mentioned that Virtual Reality has taken a very strong jump forward, and at the moment, an MMO was being developed for the only VR console in existence: the NerveGear.

It was called Sword Art Online.

Masaya was never much of a gamer, due to his tough lifestyle, but now that his life had slowed down and he had more money than he knew what to do with, he decided to give it a shot. It was something that he could do in his spare time, and he had to admit, he was very curious about what Virtual Reality was like.

As such, after asking his friend for details, he had gone online and signed up for the lottery of the Sword Art Online Beta.

Now, heading to his room, he was wondering if that may have been a waste of time. He highly doubted he was going to get the chance to play the beta, but maybe he'd be able to snag the game once it officially came out.

Let it be known that if Masaya knew his thoughts could change fate, he might have asked for world peace.

His Vincennes phone suddenly began to ring, stopping him just as he was about to enter his room. The caller ID showed it was the Gardiane.

"Hello?" Masaya answered.

"Hello, Okonogi Masaya? This is the Gardiane captain. I'm calling to inform you that a package has arrived here for you whenever you can come pick it up."

Masaya nearly dropped the phone in shock. It couldn't be...

Shaking off his stupor, he nodded to himself and said into the phone, "I'll be there in a bit."

...

Walking back into his room, now with a box in his hands, Masaya couldn't quite believe it.

He had actually been chosen for the beta testing of Sword Art Online!

Since he had no classes today, he decided to give it a try immediately and began to set up the console. Before that, though, he figured it would be best if he told his friends of what he would do so they wouldn't worry. So, without preamble, he pulled out his Vincennes phone, pulled up the contacts of his friends that were still in school and would possibly arrive today, and wrote a quick e-mail.

Their responses varied accordingly.

Rise: Understood, Masaya-san. Please be careful, and have fun!

Chiho: I got it, Masaya. Don't spend too long playing, okay?

Ruriko: Have fun, Masaya-san!

Mitsuki: I understand, Masaya-san. This VR technology you mentioned is fascinating.

Tamie: Got it! Mind if we talk after you come back so I can write about it? It sounds really interesting!

Ritsuko: Understood, Masaya-sama.

Konomi: You were able to get Sword Art Online?!

After a quick explanation to Konomi, Masaya was ready to go!

Putting on the helmet, he went through the necessary calibrations to set it up, then inserted the game, laid down on his bed, and said the necessary words.

"Link start!"

…

Opening his eyes a few minutes later, Masaya was astounded at what he was seeing. According to what he had seen in the manual, he was currently in the starting city, an incredibly large place that looked somewhat medieval to him. Everything seemed so lifelike, even though he knew that it was basically a simulation. He hadn't really gone in depth on the specifics, but it didn't matter that much! He was in Sword Art Online, and he was going to do his damn best to learn to make his way through this game!

Looking over his character, he was happy to note that it wasn't that different from his actual self. He could admit that his features were 'bland', so he was able to find a suitable hairstyle, body build, and clothing style to fit him. His current clothing was a simple, short-sleeved red shirt, over which was a leather vest for protection, and cargo pants in a desert-camo finish. Simple black boots finished the ensemble.

"Alright..." Masaya whispered to himself, looking at the horizon. "Let's get this party started."

As he took a step forward, though, he was surprised when someone ran into him, almost knocking him to the ground. Shaking his head a little, he looked behind him and noticed a handsome young man of similar height and dark, almost navy, hair standing there, holding his head. He was wearing similar clothing to him, but his character had a blue and beige colour scheme, and his shirt was long-sleeved.

"Ouch…" The young man muttered. "Sorry about that, uh…"

"Name's Masako," Masaya said with a small smile. "And it's cool."

Masako, a name simply created from taking the first two syllables of his given name and the second syllable of his family name. He had gone through several variations to use, but Masao felt odd to him, and Okosaya just sounded hard to pronounce, as was Masanogi.

"Ah, alright. My name's Kirito," the now-named player introduced himself, holding out his hand. After shaking, Kirito looked around the place and seemed to spot his target, for he turned away and waved over his shoulder at Masaya. "Sorry, Masako, but I'm eager to get started! Catch you around!"

"Sure thing!" Masaya called back, waving at him. Once Kirito was out of sight, he turned away and pinched the index and middle fingers and thumb of his right hand, pulling it downwards to open up his menu. Searching for the map option, he checked it and looked for a good place to start levelling up, or more likely grinding.

The fields west of the Starting City should do.

…

…

…