In a flash, the teens' realities began to distort, as their vision turned to black. Their connected Nervegears allowed them to continue to communicate. Asuna reached out, still not too familiar with the system, and felt herself grab Kirito's arm in the real world.
"Ok, stop moving for a moment. You should see options popping up around your display."
"I see them." Shino responded.
"Click the popup that I just sent you."
Kirito has invited you to play: SWORD ART ONLINE: BETA [ACCEPT] DECLINE
Accepting, she felt a flutter in her chest for knowing how dedicated of a gamer that Kazuto was, he had still made her nickname for him his standard username. She promptly entered Sinon as her permanent username.
Kirito zoned in, stretching, and made his way to where the noobs spawned. The Town of Beginnings was still packed, since the beta would only be around for another few days. Kirito had been the first one to clear the 5th floor, and then stopped caring about progression at that point. He spent more time learning the ins and outs of the game, as well as theory crafting.
He pushed up his glasses, using them only in virtual reality. In real life, he had always used contact lenses, but opted to use them in VR for a change of appearance. Luckily the nervegear would allow user entered prescriptions, so you can change the skin of your glasses at any time, or swap to contacts. Aside from the spectacles, his character looked like an older version of himself, as well as taller. His hair was a few centimeters longer, and had a more aggravated set of facial sliders.
A player spawned, a short girl with vibrantly blue hair tied to the sides of her face with ribbons, and bright cyan-like eyes. Aside from those two features, it appeared as though Shino had used the default face converter.
"Oi, Sinon." He waved her over, watching her carefully take steps in VR. "You won't fall, it feels the same as walking around IRL."
"This is really cool…" She looked around, looked down at herself, and then up to her best friend.
"Oh! I haven't seen you wear glasses in years!" She looked up at him, amazed at his appearance.
He towered over her already in real life, being nearly a foot taller. In game, it was slightly greater a difference than that due to Kirito's avatar being taller than him.
"I'll show you around, if you'd like." He gestured her down the bustling road.
"Mm!"
"So, the premise of this game is kind of like an RPG, hence VRMMORPG, Remember the Elder Scrolls Games you watched me play?"
"Yeah, the one with the swords, magic and cheesy dialogue, right?" Sinon pondered.
"Pretty much, the game's like that, except with other players."
A woman waved at Kirito from behind a stall.
"Oi, Kirito, thanks for your help the other day!" The woman seemed in her early forties, with a genuine smile.
He waved back.
"That's an NPC, non-playable character. The green text listing her name lets you know that she's not real. Above my head, you'll see the red diamond, and a green diamond above yours."
"Why is yours red, Kirito?" Sinon cocked her head to the side.
"You become a red player when you kill other players and take their gear. Aaron and I were experimenting with PvP the other day."
She giggled.
"You bully!"
He shrugged.
"Red players, well, any player can't hurt real players in towns like this. PK'ing, Player Killing, can only happen in the wilderness or dungeons."
Sinon pondered for a few moments, while looking around at her surroundings while they walked. The NPC's seemed so real, she wasn't particularly convinced that they weren't real.
"… Being a red player has some benefits, like extra perks, or powers, that you can only unlock by PvP'ing. But… Unfortunately, green players can attack me in towns, since I'm not technically allowed here, and they'd get a bounty, based on how many people I've killed."
"I see. I don't think I'd ever kill another player for their stuff." Sinon rolled her eyes, knowing Kirito's competitive personality. "So, how big is your bounty?"
"Fucking enormous." He chuckled.
She gave him a friendly punch in the chest, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, check this out." Kirito directed her into a shop, named Agil's Axes.
A tall older man in his late twenties was behind a counter, a green diamond above his head. A player.
"A red player in my shop, I should call the militia!" He said, raising his axe.
Kirito didn't flinch and gave a small laugh.
"Sup Agil, just showing a friend around."
The man put his axe down, ending his little prank.
"Mm, the beta's ending soon, if you're going to bring more friends, do it quick!"
Agil went back to his work, cataloging on his user interface, in game menu.
"Aye. So, Sinon, what kind of weapon do you think you'd like to roll with?"
The girl stepped forward, peering at all the various tools on the wall. Axes, swords, hilts, pommels, hammers, shields, and all sorts of equipment were on display.
"I.. I dunno. I don't really like to get up close. Is this going to be the right game for me?" She kept scanning, hoping to see something she'd like.
"Hmm, maybe she'd like being a mage? Or, perhaps, a ranger? I don't have any Staves, so maybe something like this." The man went back into his storage room and brought out a few bows with arrows.
"Oh, nice thinking Ag."
The shopkeeper nodded and looked back down at his wares.
"What'dya think?"
Sinon picked up a bow and arrow, humming.
"Do you mind if I try it?"
"Sure, knock yourself out. You want to shoot too, Kirito?"
"Yeah, I'll give it a go. Never done it before."
The three moved back into Agil's equipment room, with a decent range set up, the target several meters away. Sinon picked up one of the arrows, and uncomfortably held up her best position that she could assume. She noticed a small circle expanding and retracting near where the target was, and released.
The arrow collapsed out of the arrow, hitting the floor in a lame manner. Kirito chuckled, and Agil went back to his counter.
Sinon was amazed. It felt real. She didn't even care that she missed, she felt powerful. She docked another arrow and fired it. This one also missed, hitting a panel far to the right of the target.
"You got this." Kirito watched, pulling out a snack from his inventory and watching.
In pure focus, she examined the cause and effect of her movements with her bow.
'This one should fly far off to the left, after being on target.'
She let another arrow loose, heading straight towards the bullseye, and then veering off left and missing the target completely.
"Damn, so close." Kirito encouraged, with a mouth full of cookie.
Unphased, she grinned. She understood it.
'This one's going to hit directly under the bullseye.'
Her arrow flew, and found purchase directly below the bullseye, as she predicted.
"Yes!" she chirped.
"Nice!"
The new few minutes consisted of her landing bullseye after bullseye, making her arrows do increasingly more intricate paths to reach the target. Kirito was awestruck.
"Holy hell, you're amazing at it." He coughed, and put his snack away, lifting up his own bow.
Kirito looked down range, doing his best to focus, and then converting that focus to raw power. His arrow soared through the air at roughly four times the speed as Sinon's but missed entirely. He tried numerous times and kept missing with no progress.
"Fuck me, this is aids. Any tips, Sinon?
She got excited eager to help him whenever he needed her help.
"Um, focus exactly on where you want the arrow to go, and then wait for the small circle you see moving around to center right over it."
Another arrow flew, hitting a wall.
"Fuck."
Sinon approached him, placing her hand on his arm, straightening it out, and then looked into his eyes. She then diverted their gaze to the target.
"Focus, Kirito."
The room went quiet, as he held the bow taut, her hand still on his. It soothed him.
"Release."
The arrow punctured the target, not a perfect bullseye, but bore through a portion of the target on the outer rim.
"I'll take it. You're good though, kudos, Sinon."
She blushed, and bowed.
"All done in here?" The shopkeeper poked his head in, politely asking.
"Mm! I'll take it." Sinon exclaimed, reaching for her purse, patting her butt for her wallet, and realizing she was in VR.
Kirito walked up next to her, swiping his hand through the air.
"Swipe your hand like that."
She did so.
Her options were before her, like a hologram, including her inventory.
"So, top right, you'll see you have no money, but when you do get money that's were it'll be. I'll pay for the bow."
"Oh, okay. T-Thanks!"
She made her way back to the counter, entire option menu still clumsily floating in front of her.
"Close it with a side swipe."
She traced her finger through the air, and it closed with a small ringing sound.
"That's so cool."
They finished their transaction and said their farewells to Agil. The remainder of the afternoon consisted of the pair venturing around the Town of Beginnings and Kirito showing her the ropes. She caught on quickly and seemed to enjoy it immensely. Their busy day of exploring ended in the booth of an inn, as they relaxed over drinks.
"Kirito-senpai? Her voice was rather tired.
"Hm?"
"It's already dark out, and I feel so tired." She yawned.
"Ahh, time travels faster in S.A.O. It lets people play during the in-game night time when they may not be able to IRL. It's probably not even dinner time yet."
"Time travels slower in real life?" This peaked her interest.
"Aye. Also, interested in playing the real game when it comes out? I like having you around." He said, downing a cola, clearing his throat.
Sinon was excited. Kirito was always going off and playing games that involved tournaments, livestreams, and paths where she wasn't able to follow. This time, he actually wanted her around, rather than watching him destroy others on a video.
"Of course!" She smiled hard, feeling her dimples get a bit of soreness. She must have been smiling a lot.
"Great. Think I'm gonna' log, you can keep playing if you'd like." He swiped his menu and paused before logging out incase she would join him.
"Kay." She followed along.
The smell of Kazuto's room returned to both of their nostrils, as well as the subtle sound of the swishing ceiling fan. Shino let out a relieved sigh, and placed her Nervegear on the nightstand behind them, as Kazuto also did. The two lay in silence together, next to one another.
"Thanks for showing me around, that was fun."
"No prob'." He yawned, checking his phone, it was nearly 6:00PM. He got up, moving to his drawer.
Shino turned, watching him. The smell of his room soothed her and made her feel at home. His computer was on, his screensaver bouncing around on a black background. Returning her eyes back to him, he was now shirtless, changing into a t-shirt from his nicer clothes from class. She would always blush when witnessing his physique, but her eyes landed near where his muscles were, a series of deep scars along his abs. She remembered that day, feeling helpless as a police officer carried off, while Kirito lay motionless in a growing pool of his own blood.
Sinon rose to her feet, and approached him, gently touching his scar as he was bringing the shirt over his head.
"Hm? Sinon?"
"Do you still think about that day, ever?" Her voice was now more solemn, her eyes growing cloudy.
"Every day. Why?"
She looked up at him, shocked, and saw the hurt in his eyes. Each of them had to kill someone in self-defense, and they shared that burden.
"It's been bothering me lately… I feel" She folded her arms nervously, as the left side of her lower lip began to tremble, making it tough for her to speak. "I feel like I'm responsible for it. Y-You know? If I hadn't screamed…" She wiped her eyes.
Kirito waited, listening to her completely. The two stood in the dark room, lit only by the screensaver still bouncing around in the corner.
"Why lately?" He asked, tenderly brushing the hair from her eyes once.
She took a deep breathe, and did her best to continue, and not choke up.
"It's just been on my mind. I couldn't help but feel like, maybe I could be strong, you know? When I picked up the bow in S.A.O., I felt like I had real potential, and didn't have to be a weakling anymore." She choked slightly, her sentence ending abruptly.
Her sleeves were now damp on her clothes, and she gave a sarcastic giggle.
"I probably sound like an idiot, bringing up a game at an important time like this." Shino added.
"I don't think that." He calmly responded. "I know what you mean. I use these games as an outlet too, thinking if I become the strongest, I can compensate for my failures that day. I feel responsible too."
"W-Why you? I am the one who screamed…"
"I couldn't protect you. If I was stronger, you would have been safe-"
She shook her head several times, and burrowed her head into his chest, hugging him. She could still remember the faces of the men who assaulted them, but she would not blame Kazuto for those horrible memories.
"It's not your fault, Kirito-Senpai."
He returned the hug with one arm, and lowered his mouth to her ear.
"You're like a little sister to me, Sinon. I want to be there for you."
She gasped slightly, hugging him tighter. She felt similar, he was always her older counterpart throughout their childhood, and always depended on him for everything. But… Another part of her heart stirred and squeezed inside of her. She didn't just want to be a burden to him, but also walk alongside him.
"Thank you, Kirito-Senpai." She sniffled, wiping her eyes on his shirt.
He pulled the bottom of his shirt over his scar, hiding it from view.
"No problem." He smiled and ruffled her hair in an extensively long and slow pet, causing her bangs to swish in and out of view from her glasses.
With Kirito's unique power of improving her mood, she felt good as new, and let out another relaxed sigh.
"…Reckon I'll take you home in a bit here."
"O-Okay." She frowned, upset that their embrace ended. "Oh, I'll leave the jacket I borrowed here with you, I don't want you to go too long without having it."
"Don't you usually just end up taking another one?" He asked, slightly confused.
"U-Um. Yeah, but I don't want you to go without one for too long." Her excuses to get jackets and hoodies that smelled like him got worse over the last couple years, but he still seemed oblivious.
"All right then, grab your gear, I'll have you home before you mum makes supper." Kirito exclaimed, while he replaced his contact lenses.
…
Near Shino's Residence
Kazuto's motorcycle rounded the final corner and was now on Shino's street. The autumn air nipped at the bits of naked flesh on each of their hands, as winter was soon approaching. He parked near her apartment, keeping his helmet on.
"Thanks, Kirito-Senpai." She gave him a brave one-armed hug and made her way to her home.
"Game comes out soon, I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Yeah, can't wait to play it a bunch with you! Cya!" She waved, unlocking her door.
Kirito fed his bike some gas, departing once he was inside and shut the door, and made his way home. From down the street, Shinkawa Kyuoiji grit his teeth in jealousy and anger, and made his way home.
