Chapter One
It was November 6, 2022. The person was sitting at the desk, reading some posts on the internet talking about the release of the new VRMMORPG: Sword Art Online, SAO for short. Being a lucky beta tester of the game, the person was able to get a NerveGear and reserve a copy of the game ahead of most people before it sold out. While the person was on the computer, looking at the news about SAO, someone opened the door of the room. "Hey, I'm leaving for work. Your brother will be coming back from work in about an hour. Also, lunch is on the table so don't spend too much time on your game ya hear? You need to eat properly this time. Remember when you were beta testing that game of yours and you nearly lost 20 pounds because you eat virtual food?"
"Ok, big sis. I get it. I won't miss lunch or dinner again. I'll just play for like an hour and then eat. Don't worry about me." said the person.
The big sister sighed, "Sometimes you say that and then you get yourself tangled up into some trouble."
The person got off from the chair and went up to hug the big sister, smiling, "I promise you nothing will happen me. It's just a game."
The big sister smiled back, "I know but you know… being the one of the people who can support you for the longest time can develop this parenting instinct.I am just looking out for you." Then, she let go of the person, "Alright, well I need to get going." She patted the person's head, "Have fun playing your game."
After the big sister left the room, the person closed the door and looked at the time on the computer. "Hmm, 12:55. It's almost time for the official opening of the SAO servers." The person grabbed the NerveGear and laid down on the bed. The person put it on and plug it in. Then, the person watched with excitement and anticipation as the the clock read 12:59. As the clock finally reached 13:00, the person smiled and closed the eyes. "Link Start!"
As the person said that, the screen turn to white and many colors appeared. Then, there was a system check and then the login screen appeared. The person enter the info and was greeted with a screen saying if the person wanted to keep its character creation. The person selected "Yes" and then the screen greeted the person with "Welcome to Sword Art Online". As the letters disappear, building started to form and there the person was. The person was finally in the back in the game during its official release. As the person looked around the surroundings, the person heard a familiar voice from the distance, "Finally, I am back in this world!" The person looked to the side and was happy to see a familiar face from the beta testing.
"Yo! Kirito!" yelled the person. The person waved at Kirito to get his attention
Before Kirito was about to take off, he looked to the side and saw a familiar male avatar. It was his best friend from the beta testing. He waved at the him, "Hey, Kitsuki!" Kirito ran up the Kitsuki and gave him and firm fistbump. "How are you doing dude? I'm glad to run into you, especially this early."
"How can I miss the official release of the game? I loved it when we played in the beta and now it's here." Kitsuki gave Kirito a soft punch on his shoulder, "Although, I didn't think you won't find me or remember me."
"Eh? Come on, you are the only the person that wanted to befriend me. Beside, how can I forget that gray hair of yours?" Kirito looked over at his friend's avatar. Beside the noticeable really short messy gray hair, Kitsuki wore the default beginner clothing with a dark gray shirt and fingerless gloves. He was the same height as Kirito and Kirito saw a shade of ice blue for Kitsuki's eyes. Kirito smiled at Kitsuki, "I'm happy to see you again. Are you ready to play some SAO?"
"Yea, dude. Let's go." Kitsuki said excitedly. Both of them high-fived each and ran pass new players and through the Town of Beginnings of the SAO world, Aincrad.
As the two boys ran through the markets of the Town of Beginnings and into an alley, a player noticed them rushing through the place and decided to yell to get their attention. "Hey, you two over there! Wait up!"
The two boys slowed down their pace and turned around to see a long red-hair male avatar trying to catch up with Kitsuki and Kirito. "You mean us?" The two of them said at the same time.
The player finally caught up with the two boys and stopped to catch his breath. When he can breathe, he looked at the two boys, "You two looked like you can move around this place with no problem, almost like you have been here before. Were you guys beta testers?" The red-haired guy asked the two.
"Y-Yea." Kitsuki answered.
"That's really cool." The guy said, "Hey, do you two mind if you can teach me about the basics. Today is my first day and I feel like I am going to be lost in this game. Please, help me?"
"U-Uh, well…" Kirito trailed off.
The guy clapped his hands together and bow down in front of Kitsuki and Kirito, "Please, I'm begging you." Then, he stood up straight, "My name's Klein. Nice to meet you two."
"The name's Kitsuki." He said as he smiled at Klein.
"I'm Kirito. Now come on, I know a place for you to start off with." Klein nodded and the three of them went out the grassy meadows of Aincrad.
Out on the field, Klein was practicing his Sword Skills on a wild boar. He kept failing miserably as the boar hit in the crotch. Klein fell onto his back and held his crotch as his yelled in pain. "Gah! Why the crotch area?" Kirito and Kitsuki sighed in disappointment. "Klein, you are over exaggerating. You shouldn't even feel pain in the game right now." Kitsuki explained.
"Huh? Oh you're right." Klein stopped his overdramatic act and stood up straight and brushed himself off. "Hehe, I guess it's just a habit you know. A natural reaction that guys are just used to."
Kirito shook his head, "I told you, Klein. What's important is your initial motion input." He explained.
"Yea, yea I get it but it's hard you know. He keeps moving around so it's difficult to get a hit." Klein complained.
"It's actually easy once you get the hang of it." Kirito turned to Kitsuki, "Mind demonstrating for him?"
"Sure, dude." Kitsuki bend down and grabbed a small pebble from the ground.
Kirito went to Klein's side and pointed toward Kitsuki. "Look at Kitsuki and how he throws the pebble. If you do the motion input right and activate the sword skill," Kitsuki held up the pebble and aim at the wild boar. Once on target, the pebble glowed red, indicating a skill being activated, and Kitsuki threw the pebble, managing to hit the target. "The system will ensure that the technique connects. Do you get it now."
"Motion input… motion input… I think I get it a little bit." Klein said.
"Hmm," Kirito pulled out his beginner sword, "How should it put it?" The boar ran toward Kirito and he blocked the charge. "Add a slight pause, and when you feel the skill begin to activate, let it explode."
"Explode?" Then, it hit him. Klein held up his sword and began to charge up his sword skill. Kirito saw this and smiled. He knocked back the wild boar and kicked it toward Klein's direction, making it charge at Klein. Once it was close, Klein yelled and used his sword skill to charge at the boar, finally able to kill it. When the boar's HP bar hit zero, it disappeared into blue pixels and showing a screen with his results. Klein smiled widely and yelled with happiness, "Alright! I defeated it!"
Kirito and Kitsuki looked at each other and sighed. Then, they clapped their hands, "Congrats, Klein. You managed to kill the weakest enemy of the game." Kitsuki said sarcastically.
"Eh? Are you serious." Klein looked at the two as he was surprised, "Aw man, I thought it was a mid-level boss or something."
"Of course not Klein. You are new player and low level one, too. I wouldn't take you a place where you fighting an enemies that way beyond your levels." Klein charge up his sword skill again and swung it. Kirito witnessed this and smiled, "Pretty exciting, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's nothing like before." He swung his sword again, "There's a lot of skills here, right? Like blacksmithing and other stuff?"
"Right. From what I heard, SAO has an unlimited number of skills for many players here." Kitsuki answered, "However, there is no magic. Everything here is based on one's levels."
"Wow, an RPG without magic? That's a pretty bold decision if you ask me." Klein swung his sword one last time. Then, he squealed with excitement. "This is amazing."
"Yeah, I understand your excitement." Kitsuki chuckled a bit while Kirito just smiled, "When we first became beta testers and FullDive for the first time, it was really fun how you can fight and move with your own body. Isn't it."
"Hell yeah it is." Klein grinned widely.
Kitsuki and Kirito looked at each other and just smiled at each other. Then, they looked at time. "I think you are ready. Let's go to the next area." Kirito suggested
"Alright, let's keep going. Let's go grind for those levels." Klein said happily. The three went and walked together to the next area and grinded for experience.
After many hours of fighting enemies, sunset had fallen in Aincrad. Kitsuki, Kirito and Klein were taking a break out in the field, looking at the beautiful sunset scene. "Man, I still can't believe it, no matter how many times I see it… we are in a game. We are actually inside of a game. Whoever design this game is a genius and change the video game industry. It really is amazing…" Klein smiled widely again, "It makes glad that I was lucky to be born in this time."
Kirito and Kitsuki sighed again, "You make a big deal out of everything."
"I can't help it. It's my first full dive experience." Klein said.
"I assume this is your first time playing a game with the NerveGear, right?" Kitsuki asked.
"Yeah, I rushed out and bought the hardware to play SAO. I was really lucky to get my hands on one copy out of the ten thousands. But I'm not as lucky as you two. You guys were able to be two of the thousands beta testers of this game."
"I guess you could say that." Kirito said as he scratch his head.
"So, how far did you two make it in the beta?" Klein asked with curiosity.
"Within the beta testing time period, we only managed to get to Floor 8." Kitsuki explained. Then, her face turn into determination, "But, this time, our goal with be one month."
"Eh? You two are really into the game." Klein pointed out.
"To be honest, during the beta test, SAO was all I thought about, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. It may be a virtual world, but I feel more alive here than that of the real world. Not only then," He turned his head and face Kitsuki. He noticed this and smiled at Kirito, "I found a really good friend through this beta testing."
"Thanks, Kirito." Kitsuki placed his hand on Kirito's shoulder. "I wouldn't want it any other way." Then, Kitsuki and Kirito turned around and faced Klein, "So, do you wanna go and hunt some more?"
"I'd love to and I would but…" Then, a growl came from Klein's stomach, "I am really hungry so I'm logging out. I ordered a pizza to come at 5:30."
"Ahh, look at you, you are actually prepared." Kirito said.
"Yep! And after I eat, I will come back here and play some more."
"I see. Well, while you are doing that, Kirito and I will keep on fighting some monster before turning in for the day." Kitsuki said to Klein.
"Hey, why don't you two come with me? I'm meeting with some people I know from another game. Wanna friend them so we can all play together."
There was a moment of silence, "That's a nice offer Klein but…"
"I think Kirito and I will stick with each other for now." Kitsuki explained.
"Oh, I understand. It's okay, I'll introduce you two another time."
"Yeah, sorry… Thanks." Kirito said.
"No problem. If anything, I should be thanking the two of you." Then, he placed his two hands on each of their shoulders, "I'll find a way to repay you two for this but until then, thank you so much." He stepped away from the two guys, "I'll see you guys around."
"Same here, dude. If you need anything else, just tell one of us and we'll come and help you." Kitsuki suggested.
"Yeah, I'll do that. Well, goodbye dudes." He waved at Kitsuki and Kirito, then he pulled up the player screen and tried to log out. But then he noticed something wrong, "Umm, guys. This must be a stupid, noob question but how do you log out?"
"What do you mean, Klein?" Kirito pulled up his own player screen, "All you have to do if go to the main menu and look at the bottom, you should see- huh?" When Kirito pulled up the menu, he was surprised to see no logout button. "Wait, there is no logout button."
Kitsuki was shocked to hear that, "What?" Then, he proceeded to pull up his own player screen and went to the main menu. His eyes widen as he saw there was no logout button for him, too. "That's strange. Where did the logout button go?" Then, Kitsuki looked at the time on the screen, "Hey Klein, isn't your pizza coming soon? It's 5:25 right now."
"Oh crap! My teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale!" Klein fell to ground in defeat, "I can't believe I'm going to miss it."
"Cut the dramatic act and call the game master. I'm pretty sure it's a glitch in the system." Kirito suggested.
"I tried, but nothing's happening. I'm not getting a response. Maybe he's being flooded with the sudden messaging of the problem. Do you think there is another way of logging out? Like taking the NerveGear ourselves?" With that said, Klein attempted to take off the NerveGear himself but no luck.
"You can't do that. We can't move our real bodies while we full dive. The NerveGear intercept anything we tell our bodies to do here." Kitsuki explained. "The best thing we can do right now is wait til this problem is solved."
"Seriously?" Klein groaned, "Is there another way to get the NerveGear off?"
"I mean we could also wait til someone in the real world to take off the NerveGear for us."
"But, I live alone." Klein dropped his head, "Now, I am really stuck until this is solve." Then, he lifted his head and face the two boys, "What about you two?"
"I live with my mom and little sister. They should notice me missing by dinnertime so-" Suddenly, Klein rushed at Kirito. "What?"
"D-Did you say little sister? H-How old is she?" Klein said with excitement.
"Uh, she's on a sports team and she hates video games. She doesn't want to be involved with people like us." Kirito explained to Klein
"That doesn't mat-" Before he could finished, Kirito kicked him the crotch and sent him flying to the ground. Klein yelped and grabbed his groin in pain until he notice he can't feel pain. "Oh right, it doesn't hurt. I keep forgetting." Then, he looked at Kitsuki, "How's your situation?"
"Well, I live with my older brother and sister. And before you do anything, you better think twice before you do your stunt, Klein." Klein heard this and just sat there. "Anyway, they should notice me by dinnertime as well."
"This is really strange case." Kirito scratch his chin, "If this really is a bug in the system, they should've forced player to log out and fix it right now. There wasn't even an announcement addressing this problem." There was a moment of silence among the three boys as Kirito made a possible theory.
Suddenly, they heard a loud ring from the giant bell. The three boys found themselves enveloped in a blow light, teleporting to the Town of Beginnings. All of them looked around and saw that players were also being teleported to the Town of Beginnings. "A forced teleport? But why?" Kirito asked.
Soon, the sky of the town begun to fill up with red polygons, reading "Warning" or "System Announcement". After the sky was completely filled, red ooze starting to come out of the cracks of the sky, forming a large floating figure, causing a little fright for the players. Once the figure finished taking its shape, it spoke to the players. "Attention, players. Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person and creator who can control this world. As you may notice, that the logout button is missing from the main menu. I assure you this is not a defect of the game. I repeat: this is not a defect of the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO yourselves and no one of the outside world can shut down or remove the NerveGear. If they should do this, there is a transmitter in the NerveGear that will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life."
The players were shocked and scared as they heard this announcement. "That's impossible. This guy's is losing his marbles, right? Kirito? Kitsuki?" Klein asked.
"It's true that the transmitter's signal in the NerveGear work just like a microwave. If the safety were to be disabled, then it could fry a brain. So it is possible." Kirito explained.
"But, if we were to cut the power-"
"You can't do that Klein. The NerveGear has an internal battery." Kitsuki explained as well.
"Tch, this is crazy! What's going on?" Klein exclaimed.
Kayaba Akihiko spoke up again, "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families did not heed this warning and tried to remove their NerveGear. This resulted in 213 players erased from Aincrad and in the real world. As you can see, the news from across the world had spread the report of this, including those players who have died. Thus, you can assume that the danger of the NerveGear being removed is now minimal. Instead, you should relax and focus on clearing the game. But do remember this clearly: there is no longer any way to revive other players within the game. Now, if your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be gone forever. In addition, the NerveGear will destroy your brain once you die in game. When you die in game, you will die in real life." There was a moment of silence as the players were taking in the news. "The only way to escape this game is to clear the game. You must clear all 100 floors of Aincrad in order to guarantee your escape."
"Clear all 100 floors?" Klein grunted in anger, "That's impossible. Not even the beta testers made it that high during the beta testing period."
Kayaba Akihiko spoke once again, "Finally, before I leave, I have added a present from me to your item storage. Please, see for yourselves and enjoy."
Upon hearing this, Kitsuki open up his menu and saw his storage that in his items, a mirror was there. He tooked it out and looked at the mirror in his hand. As he saw, he noticed that Kirito, Klein, and the other players were being enveloped in a blue light. "Kirito! Klein!" Soon, he found himself being in the blue light as well. As the blue light finally died down, Kitsuki felt weird somehow. Kitsuki looked at the mirror again and was shocked. It's my real body and my real face! Kitsuki now had long messy black hair, a feminine face and small roundness at the chest. What happen to my male avatar?
Suddenly, she heard her name being called by Klein and Kirito. "Kitsuki? Where are you? Are you alright dude?"
Kitsuki turned around and saw two boys: one was shorter and had messy black hair and looked like a teenager, around her age. The other was much taller and had scruffy short red hair and looked like a college student. "Umm, who are you two?"
"Who are you? Have you seen Kitsuki?" The shorter boy asked. Then, it hit them all at once. When they looked around, they all saw that everybody had reverted to their real life bodies. "Wait, that means…"
"You're Kirito/Klein/Kitsuki?!" The three of them said at the same time as they pointed at each other.
"Kitsuki, you're actually a girl?" Kirito asked in confusion.
"Yes. I am. I played as a male avatar in the beta testing so that no boy would be a creep and hit on me. Plus, I wanted to wear something I can feel comfortable in and girl's clothing and gear look uneasy for me." Kitsuki confessed to them.
"But how? How are we able to look like ourselves in real life?" Klein asked.
"It must be that scan…" Kirito thought, "The NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density signaling device. So it can definitely see what your face look like. But how does it know our body shape and height?"
"When we first used the NerveGear, we had to calibrate it, right?" Klein pointed out, "We had to touch it all over our body."
"Y-Yea, you must be right Klein." Kitsuki said, "It must have gotten that data from that calibration."
"But… But…" Klein smacked his head, "Why? Why do all that?" Then, Kirito pointed at Kayaba.
"I think he'll tell us the answer." Kirito said.
"Now, you're all probably wondering, 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this? My goal was already achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason… to create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete." Anger grew in Kirito and Kitsuki. "This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players." After he said those final words, his body distorted and turned into black smoke, sneaking back into the sky.
Once he disappear and the red polygons were gone, there was a moment of silence among all the players. Then, someone scream in fright, causing everybody to realize that this is happening to them right now. Everybody went into panic mode, screaming, yelling and trying to run away from the Town of Beginnings.
Kirito reacted fast and grabbed Klein and Kitsuki by the arm and dragged them into an empty alley. "Come on, you two. We need to go."
Once they were away from the crowd, Kirito spoke up, "Listen you two, I'm heading to next village right now. Please, come with me. If what he said is true,the only way to survive this world is by making yourself as strong as possible. The resources here will be limited. Money and experience will be used up soon. We need to leave to the next village as soon as possible. Are you guys in?"
Kitsuki nodded in agreement, "Of course, Kirito. You're my best friend. We have to stick together if we want survive and clear this hell."
"Alright." Then, he faced Klein, "What about you, Klein? Are you in?"
"Kirito, that's a nice offer but… but you know, I spent a whole night in line to buy this with my friends from the other game. They're out there, in the plaza. I can't leave them there on there own."
"I get it, Klein." Kirito then placed his hand on his shoulder, "You need to be with your friends and they need you." Klein nodded, "... go Klein. Go and find your friends."
"Kirito…" Then, Klein felt another hand on his shoulders. He turned his head to see Kitsuki, "Kitsuki…"
"Don't worry about me and Kirito. We will have each others' back. Now, go and look for your friends. I bet they are wondering where you are as well."
"Alright." Then, he gave a thumbs up, "Don't worry about me also. I ran a guild in the last game. And I will use what you two taught me to help me get through."
"Alright. I guess we will say our goodbyes here. If something happens, send me or Kitsuki a message and we'll come and help." Kirito suggested. Klein nodded at him, "Okay," he turned to Kitsuki, "come on and let's hurry, Kitsuki." He turned to Klein again, "Goodbye, Klein."
"Goodbye, Kirito. Goodbye, Kitsuki." Klein said sadly.
"Goodbye, Klein." She said to him. Then, she and Kirito started to head out.
"Kirito! Kitsuki!" There was a moment of silence among the three of them. Then, he spoke, "Both of you actually look cute. Especially you Kitsuki."
Kitsuki turned around and smiled at Klein. "And that short hair actually suits you better than you dumb long hair." After saying that, Kitsuki and Kirito ran but stop for a moment. They turned around to see that Klein was instantly gone.
Sadness grew inside of them and the two of them dashed out of the Town of Beginnings and into the field. They ran for their life and emotion. Then, a wolf spawn in front of them. Kirito saw the enemy and letting his emotion get him, he drew his sword in anger and charge at the wolf. Using his sword skill, he slash through the wolf and killed it, turning it into pixel. Kirito dropped to the ground and caught his. This world… I will survive. I will survive this damn world. Suddenly, he felt two arms wrap around his body, embracing him in relaxing hug. Kirito calmed down and sighed. No… we will survive this damn world. I'm not alone.
As Kitsuki hugged Kirito from behind to calm him down, she remember what she said to her older sister earlier. "I promise you nothing will happen me. It's just a game." Then, tears started to stream down her face. I'm sorry, big sis. I broke my promise… this isn't just a game anymore, it's survival now.
Author Notes:
Hello everybody, NepNeko here. This is finally the new fanfic I have been working on for a while. I was actually inspired by my favorite author, A New Username, who is well known for their SAO yuri fanfics. Lately, I have been obsessed with SAO because of the new movie which I watch a long time ago. I do like SAO but there are some aspects that I do not like. Anyway, I hope you like it. I will still work on Neptunia but I just wanted something to occupy myself. I like writing stories but I need to work on different themes in order to motivate myself. I hope you understand and I hope you guys keep reading my fanfics.
