Chapter 0: Origins of a Commander

Weekly Interview, Friday

Nishitokyo, Tokyo - Japan

Garost – Founder

The room was small and the interview was well underway. She had placed a recorder down on the center of the table between the two… in order to openly record the interview for analysis and reference. Just so she would have a basic gist on the progress of his reintegration into human society. Garost sat with both feet planted on the floor, making direct eye contact with the interviewer… so he would like to believe.

The Interviewer was a woman, her eyes were a deep blue and her hair was white and was roughly shoulder length. Her body was voluminous, curvaceous and attractive by the standards of this society.

"The breasts are real." Garost said with a slight nod, taking note of the overt vellications with each movement the woman made, even despite the inhibition the clothes she was wearing had on the… devices.

"Excuse me?" She turned her head towards him, her eyes narrowed slightly. On her casual business suit, she wore a nametag. Gold plate, with her name engraved into it; just so it wouldn't wear as easily. Her name was F. Azuka.

"Observation, standards of society in this day in age… I am attracted to them." He stated, with remorseless sincerity; wearing an expression that could only be described as dead serious.

She blinked, once.

"It may come as a surprise to you…" She began her sentence without hesitation to his remark, then closed her eyes and brushed a stray strand of hair back over her ear. After that strand of hair was dealt with, she systematically proceeded to adjust her rimless spectacles for no reason in particular other than to most likely jog thought processes or give herself time to think while providing the illusion that she was just dealing with those two things. Likely both.

'Meganekko' Garost thought with an urgent sense of dead seriousness.

"…but you aren't supposed to say things like that to family members." She finished her sentence and explained to the oblivious gamer; who had lost the vast majority of his memories during his time in the Death Game known as Sword Art Online.

"Why not?" He asked, only because he did not have the answer himself.

"In this society, that would be considered an immoral and perverted thing to say, and I am inclined to believe that my own son has become nothing more than a common pervert. However, I am well aware of your circumstances so I will disregard those thoughts." She explained to him, in a way that he would understand.

"I do not understand that reasoning, I was merely referring to the fact that they are indeed real… wait… oh! You thought I was attracted your breasts." He began, and buried his face into the palm of his hand, "I meant the standards of society." He explained, disappointed in himself for allowing himself to be misinterpreted.

She blinked her eyes a few times, and offered a slight smile – on that almost permanently serious face.

"I'm afraid that's all we have time for today – but I'll answer your questions next week if you ask anything new." She said with a smile, slightly bowed her head and rose from her chair, then left the room with her things packed in her relatively large purse… the recording device included of course.

Gabriel was left there, sitting in an office chair completely dumbfounded. "Distracting, if anything." He murmured under his breath and then let out a huff as he rose from his chair and flexed both of his hands and created fists with them; always and interesting feeling… the skin tightening over his knuckles. "My appearance finally matches my gameworld appearance after months of grinding… therapy. Suppose satisfied with results, will have to maintain through dieting and regular exercise." He thought out loud. A habit.

He made way across the room, and opened the door, made of wood. An enjoyable substance with an interesting texture he never truly noticed in the floating castle known as Aincrad. No matter, he stepped outside and began his walk down the halls; brushing past individuals who he never bothered to acquaint himself with. Garost could feel discomfort creeping from his spine outwards into the rest of his body… he pulled his balaclava up over his face and his hood over his head.

Now… he felt falsely secure, but it was better than… discomfort.

"Time to go home." Garost mumbled, his voice was slightly muffled by his mask.

He pushed the door open and paused just outside for a moment, hesitation. Brought on by his absence from PK hunting for so long… he was growing fearful of relapse into his old habits.

"Suppose the reward of returning home outweighs staying here." He continued to think out loud, oblivious to the individuals around him. "Can use best alternative when I get back…" He added, in reference to the newest release on the AmuSphere: Inclement Online. A science fiction game set on an iceworld that a distant future's earthling seeder ship crashed on after one-thousand years in something known as warp-space. It is beyond Garost's comprehension, who is only a tactician and hunter.

As he walked home he found himself glancing back and forth between the bodies of females, appearances varied due to genetics. Some more fuller than others but there was something for everyone; he supposed. Personally, he liked the appearances of almost everyone. Except those that buried themselves in one of the cardinal sins. As for the Cardinal Sins… they were useful, but he did not believe that a higher power like god existed. Due to the constant confliction between the perspectives of what is considered god or a god.

No matter, Garost made his way home and took the long way. So that he could spend money on some sort of food that he could eat and like; despite it's overall unattractiveness and unhealthiness.

The store he purchased it from was a small sort of general store of sorts, and the item he obtained was none other than…

…A chocolate bar.

He kept it in his pocket on the way back and seemed to tower over a variety of people in the city who walked past him. Sure he didn't like people seeing his white hair or his face because of what kind of person he was… but that didn't mean his clothes had to be dark. He was garbed in a his own version of a school uniform that did not adhere to the school uniform rules that existed… which basically meant that he went in casual attire… and nobody truly cared because he was a scarred and solitary individual who lost all of his memories, sense of morality and the ability to speak both the English and Japanese languages. Then he taught himself all of these things by observing the behaviors of the people he hunted. The cues, the calls… the sounds… he acquainted himself with them and learned to mimic them.

Simple.

In what seemed like no time at all, Garost found himself standing outside of the maid café that doubled as his humble abode, a fourteen story building that was all his, it was a gorgeous building as well. There were condos and apartments from bottom to top. The entrance to the building itself was also an extravagant façade with some types of small waterfalls; which descended into pools with glorious symmetry. The main steps were user friendly and ascended slowly. There were also ramps on either side for those unable to utilize the front steps.

Apparently the original Garost liked this sort of thing… being surrounded by girls who constantly uttered the ridiculous 'nyan' phrase on Fridays. "I'm the 'master'… not the landlord." He muttered under his breath, in English.

Security stood aside and one of the guardsmen offered a slight smirk in Garost's direction as he nodded. "Nice to see you, boss." He said.

"Same to you," Garost responded awkwardly, and made way through the automatic door. He pulled his mask down as soon as he believed the air was safe to breathe, and did the same with his hood.

He then made a break for the-

"UWAH!"

He tried to spin out of her grasp, but the soft skin of her arms were tightly wrapped around him and-

CRASH!

-the two of them were a tangled mess on the floor. His hands were holding her arms against the floor and her clothing was pulled up, exposing her bra, her stomach and white panties. Garost stared intently into her averted eyes.

Her cheeks were red, "M-m-master-sama… it's em-embarassing…" She murmured, covering her mouth with one hand.

Garost turned his eyes downward, and found himself looking at the exposed body of one of his employees. He turned his gaze upward, and slowly drew back from her. "You should fix your clothes… you might get cold." He stated and sat on his knees, without any reaction.

The girl was Minako and she looked down at herself.

"KYAAAA!"

SLAP!

Garost was too quick to react; he simply blocked her arm with his wrist and then nearly slammed his fist into her face – withdrawing a second before the weaponized hand made contact with her face. "Ah…" Was his only response as he got up, pulled down her clothes and lifted Minako to her feet. "Sorry!" He said with a smile. Then his face returned to its constantly annoyed state as he brushed past her and made for his room.

When he looked back, she still stood there, trembling with fear at the realization he had almost knocked her out cold and harmed her beautiful- her face. He let out a deep sigh as the elevator doors closed and also slammed his forehead against one of the walls in the box attached to a cable. "Just stop it." He muttered.

'Stop what?'

"Hurting people."

'Keh heh… it's not me… it's you.'

"Whatever…" He grunted as the doors opened and he walked out, feeling somewhat insane for having a discussion with himself but entered his condo nonetheless. The hallway had tiled floor, but the living area had a floor with wooden-paneling and all the bedrooms were the same. Of course he also had a carpet beneath the coffee table loaded with aesthetic and meaningless decorations that served no other purpose than to fill space and look pretty. Garost let out a sigh as he removed his chocolate bar and sat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen.

He nom'd his unhealthy food in contempt silence.