Author's Note
Oh hey! I said I'd make this like a year ago. Never even considered starting it until yesterday, when I was stumped on how to continue literally everything else I'm working on. Thus, this first chapter was born.
This is the rewrite of Shoot to Thrill, Swing to Kill (It will also include a rewrite of the sequel, Forgive – Forget = Love, if this ever gets that far). It aims to fix the biggest flaws in the original piece – namely, the dreadfully fast pacing and relationship progression, the lack of description, and the unbearably short chapters.
This chapter was going to be edited by ForteDragon, my cover artist, but she was busy, so I just went ahead with the publishing. I may have her edit future chapters, but for now I guess I'm going solo. No editing of proofreading has been done on this. Should be okay at least, I typically have decent grammar with no edits, so it'll at least be readable. Please point out any mistakes you find so I can fix them at the soonest available opportunity.
So, let's get on with the warnings, shall we? Some of them are general stuff that I do for all my fanfics while some of them are specific to this story/the one it's based on. For example, major differences between the original story and this new version are included as warnings.
Kirito is female. I also changed her personality a bit from the original Shoot to Thrill and gave her a new quirk which you will see this chapter. To be specific, something new and different for her to really, really like…
There will be yuri. Specific pairings include female Kirito/Sinon, Asuna/Yuuki, female Kirito/Yuuki (in flashbacks) and female Kirito/Asuna (also in flashbacks). I may add more pairings with other characters as the series progresses, but for now, those are the only ones in the outline.
In addition to changing the female Kirito, I changed a lot of stuff from the original. From the characters and their likes/dislikes to certain events (and their chronology sometimes) to even the time the story starts. The original story started in the fall, but this one starts in the late summer. I'm also adding a whole bunch of all-new events to pad out the bad pacing of the original, too.
That's about it I think. If you aren't bothered by those or were a fan of the original story, go ahead and read. It should be entertaining.
Airsoft Guns, Bamboo Blades and Unyielding Love
Chapter One: Free Spirit
Normally, Shino Asada didn't mind sitting near a bunch of kendo club members at lunch. They were typically quiet, reserved, and polite – the ebony-haired girl supposed their training and way of life made them better people to deal with overall. However, there was one scenario in which she simply couldn't stand being in the same room as them, let alone sitting right in front of them like she did.
Specifically, when anything noteworthy happened in the kendo world. The club seemed to be full of kendo geeks who would go on and on about the sport with only the slightest provocation. They were just so damn annoying when they had something related to their extracurricular activities to gab about.
She knew she could always go find another spot to spend the period, but she felt that if she were to move because she couldn't stand being near them, then she lost to their annoyingness. And besides, finding a new spot was easier said than done. The only place she could think of that would be devoid of other people would be the roof, but the doors were all locked. If she wanted to go up there without being noticed by teachers, she'd have to climb the branches of the big old Sakura tree by the gym, and that was difficult to do when holding a book or lunch in one hand, so in the classroom she stayed.
"You saw it, right? That Kirito guy won the nationals as a teenager!"
Unfortunately, they did in fact have something to geek out about this day. On the bright side, it actually sounded kind of interesting. From what Shino knew of the sport through these girls, kendo was something that took decades of experience to become truly proficient at. Yet they were saying the national tournament was won by a teenager… it was quite intriguing, to say the least. The unintentional listener put her bookmark back into her book and shut it, deciding to pay more attention until she lost interest.
"Yeah! Not only is he highly skilled, he's also insanely fast… his movements are hard to even follow, let alone counter!"
So then this teen won by speed blitzing his opponents? That actually made a surprising amount of sense to the bespectacled girl. After all, by the time one typically became highly proficient at kendo, their physical prowess, speed included, would likely have dropped a bit. A physically fit teenager with proper training would still be young and full of energy, which meant higher speed potential.
"Isn't it weird that even after winning it all, he didn't show his face?"
"Yeah. I was hoping for a big reveal if he managed to win, so it was kind of disappointing when he kept all his gear on even through the award ceremony!"
Wait, so nobody knew what this person looked like? How were they so convinced it was even a boy, then? For all they knew, it could just as easily have been a girl under that gear! Did they just assume that this person was male based on the speed they exhibited in the matches?
Shino opened her book again, having heard enough of their conversation. She pushed the bridge of her ovoid-rimmed glasses up with her free hand – though they provided no real visual correction, she still couldn't stand it when they slipped too far down her face, which happened quite often after an incident in PE with a basketball a week prior. She decided she really had to consider going to an eye doctor to get them adjusted to fit normally again sometime soon.
Just as she found her place and began to read, a loud ringing broke her concentration. Apparently lunch period was over. If it weren't for the teacher returning to the classroom right then, the ebony-haired girl would have turned and told off the three girls behind her for keeping her from finishing a single page of her light novel with their idle gossip.
After school ended, Shino decided to go to the town's eyeglass shop and get her glasses fixed. She made the trek from school in about ten minutes, finding the glass door wide open to allow the nice, cool late summer breeze to circulate through the building.
She walked into the store and found that other than her, it was pleasantly empty. The eccentric owner of the place didn't seem to be out front, but the ebony-haired girl could hear something going on in the back room, so she knew that she wasn't totally alone. Still, the place being devoid of other customers, as per the usual on weekdays, was nice – it made it quiet and serene.
The walls of the place were lined with every kind of glasses frame one could imagine. There had to be at least a thousand unique pairs to choose from. The owner of the shop designed a great number of them herself, often spending a significant portion of her free time playing around with a computer program for concepts, or so she often said to excuse almost never being at the glass front desk to greet customers.
In the middle of the room was another desk, this one mahogany, with a single black leather chair. On top of the desk's glass top layer on the right resided a mirror, and on the left, a small rack with transparent plastic circles of varying colors (which represented the various tints they could give lenses). Typically, the customer being served would sit there whilst getting their glasses adjusted. For convenience's sake, there was a small round bell on both this desk and the one at the far end of the room that one would tap to get the attention of the owner from the back.
Shino walked up to the closer desk and rang the bell. She promptly heard some sort of loud bang coming from the store's back room, followed by a somewhat angry shout that she didn't think she wanted to know the exact wording of. After a few more seconds of waiting, the shop's owner emerged from the back room and walked up to the spot in front of the bespectacled customer, a hand covering the top of her head of brownish blonde, short, curly hair.
"Hey there, Sinon-dear," she said, using Shino's standard gaming nickname. Typically she did that if she herself was playing video games right before coming out, since they knew each other pretty well online on PlayStation consoles. "My wireless mouse fell, so I went under the desk to get it, and then you rang the bell and startled me into hitting my head."
Normally, blaming a customer for one's problem right after they arrived would be terrible business practice even if it really was their fault. But aside from having a vendor/client relationship, Sinon and this very short, young-looking woman were good friends, though they were also highly competitive with each other. As such, they didn't hesitate to call each other out on things like this – in fact, they each took some form of pleasure in pointing out when the other was at fault for something.
"Talk about having terrible timing. Though I guess for you, having things happen at the worst time is pretty normal," the ebony-haired girl said while pushing up her glasses by the bridge. If she was going to get blamed for it, she decided she may as well fire right back.
The eye doctor and glasses designer immediately caught this gesture and smirked. "Oh, looks like you got your glasses messed up again. What's this, the third time this school year? Let me get them fixed for you, dear."
She grabbed Shino's glasses right off her face before she had the chance to react, then made for the back room again. Not five seconds later, the sound of footsteps alerted the ebony-haired girl to the presence of two people entering the store.
"Why did you drag me here? Neither of us need glasses," a somewhat sharp, unfamiliar female voice called. The girl whose glasses were taken knew just about everyone in the small town she lived in by voice, so that meant this person must have been from somewhere else.
"But I've never been in an eyeglass store before!" this voice was equally unfamiliar, but at the same time, somehow striking. It was light and clear, sounding almost like the voice of a pro singer. "I had to check it out when I saw it. After all, I probably won't get the chance again for a long time!"
Shino's curiosity overpowered her. She turned around in order to put faces to these new voices, and she was instantly taken aback by their… physical attributes. The one who probably spoke first, looking like she wondered why she was even there, had, to say the least… huge assets.
And the one who replied, looking really excited for whatever reason, well… she was just beautiful all around. She had a perfect hourglass figure, long, lustrous black hair that came down to the waistline of her matching-colored V-neck, and smooth, light porcelain skin completely free of blemishes. She had the flawless beauty a life-sized doll…
"Oh, hey, another person!" the doll-like girl exclaimed as her eyes found their way to Shino. "Oh, but she's not wearing glasses… you'd think everybody who comes here would be, but I guess not."
What a weirdo… she actually seemed disappointed when she saw that the shorter-haired girl a few meters away from her wasn't wearing glasses. Did she have a thing for them or what? Why would she even care if she didn't?
If anything, this girl's straightforward nature compelled Shino to be equally forthright, though she couldn't quite place why. "I do wear them. They're just being adjusted in the back room right now."
"Oho! You're already cute without them," the energetic beauty replied, seemingly unaware of the gravity of her words. "I bet your glasses really suit you!"
How could she just say all that so casually? How did she not get even the slightest bit embarrassed? For that matter, did she really think the short-haired girl was cute…? That didn't make any sense… it just wasn't true.
"Sorry about my big sister," the other girl, whose black hair only came down to her shoulders, apologized. "She just says whatever she thinks and does whatever she likes. It's pretty hard to handle, trust me."
"You're just jealous you can't be as honest and straightforward as me, Sugu," the apparent older sister of the two replied, smiling confidently. Her attention quickly shifted back to the store. "Ah, glasses are so nice. I wish I needed them so I'd have an excuse to try on a pair…"
She really was a weirdo. And one with a thing for glasses. Shino began to worry about what would happen when her own glasses were ready. But before she could think about it too much, that very time arrived and caught her by surprise.
"You know, we also do non-prescription orders," the familiar voice of the owner chimed in from right behind the short-haired girl. When had she gotten that close?! "So even if you don't have vision problems, I could still fit you with a nice pair of sunglasses or just regular non-prescription lenses. By the way, I'm done adjusting yours, Sinon."
"Please don't encourage her," the little sister pleaded on deaf ears.
The ebony-haired girl found her glasses sliding back onto her face. The nose pads seemed to be a good fit again, so the sliding problem would be gone until the next time they got damaged. Hopefully she'd be able to keep then in serviceable condition for at least a few months this time…
"Oh, an employee appeared!" the doll-like beauty said it like it was a random encounter in an RPG.
"She owns this place, actually," Shino explained, not even bothering to turn around to thank her gaming buddy.
"Ding, ding! She's right, I own this dump," the shortest girl in the room said, surprisingly getting in the pre-emptive strike of calling the shop a dump before her younger friend and long-time client could. "The name's Alice. But since it's hard to pronounce right, just call me Argo. It's my gaming name."
"You're the owner? But you barely even look like a teenager!" This girl… it seemed like every other thing she said was an exclamation instead of normal speaking.
"Aw, thanks!" Argo replied brightly, quite happy with being perceived as so young.
This was one of the many times that Shino wondered just how old her eye doctor friend was. But whenever asked, she always said she charged a hefty fee for the info, getting everyone to back off in an instant.
"Hmm… I was right," the excitable beauty decided, putting a hand to her chin. "Your glasses really do suit you. It's amazing!"
"Sis, just stop before you drive her nuts," her sister commanded with a sigh.
The bespectacled girl once again found herself questioning the words spoken about her. She was just plain – not cute at all. What did this girl see in Shino when she said things like that? She wanted to ask, but at the same time didn't want to start this sort of conversation with a perfect stranger.
Nicely enough, the once again bespectacled girl realized she had no further business here. She turned to face the owner of the shop and bowed lightly. "Thanks for fixing my glasses. I'll be going now. But I'll be online later tonight, so if you're on then, we can play some co-op."
"Will do. Catch you then!"
As Shino left the shop and headed for her home, she inwardly kicked herself for not getting the names of the two people she didn't recognize. But somehow, for reasons she couldn't quite explain, she had the feeling she'd see them again.
Author's Note
Yeah, I totally just made Argo an eye doctor. For those wondering her real age, she's in her mid-twenties. That's as far as I'll narrow it down to. She's totally going to have a significant role in the story now. I won't say how just yet so the story can still have some unpredictable parts even as a rewrite.
Since I added a different character introduction scene for Kiriko, I'm saving the scene that originally served as Kimiko and Sinon's first meeting for next chapter. It's going to be different, but will still bear some resemblance to the one from the original.
So, what do you think? I stand by the belief that this chapter is in a different league from the original one in a good way. But your opinion as the reader is still important here, so let's hear your thoughts in some reviews!
Also, if you're just going to say some generic message that a five year old could think of, don't bother reviewing at all. I'm looking for critique here to improve my craft, and telling me "Great chapter, update soon" (or either part of that phrase on its own) doesn't help me in any way whatsoever. So if that was your plan, either don't bother or come up with something better to say.
See you next time! Next chapter will be titled, "First Time Anxiety", with a not at all romantic context, if you can wrap your head around that.