After that, things changed a bit.

Kesuta starting inviting me down to his flat. He wasn´t much of a cook, but we laughed and talked so much that it didn´t really matter. We never noticed our food going cold. Kesuta and I had finally confessed about how we felt about each other, and we both felt relieved that the other felt the same way.

We also started going into dungeons again and started training to hone our skills. We needed to be ready for the 50th boss. The 49th was hard. This one was going to be harder.

We went out into safe-zone territories and convinced people to do the same. If they wanted to survive, they would have to start training as well. We took groups out to help them improve their technique and give them tips on fighting.

But the best part was definitely the fact the Kesuta was no longer giving up. At least, for now. I still held a suspicion that he might go back to his shell if things started getting too dangerous. He had made me promise to back down if things got too much for the both of us to handle, but we would have to see how long that promise lasted.

All in all, things were going really well. Better than things had been for quite some time.

If only it could have stayed that way.

A few days after the fight, we were walking through a safe-zone town to find a place where we could buy some supplies. We were low on potions of Restore Health, which would be useful in the field. We were currently standing in the square with players and NPCs alike bustling about. Kesuta was debating which path we should take out of the square to get to the shop, but he was interrupted by a hammering sound coming from somewhere in the middle of the square.

Everyone who was walking about stopped to look at the source of the hammering. A nervous looking player was hurriedly hammering a sign into a brick wall. When he noticed all the stares he was getting, he hammered even more quickly. When he finished he scuttled away and disappeared down an alley.

Immediately people starting crowding around to get a look at the poster. Kesuta and I pushed our way to the front and began to read. The sign said this:

Warning!

Player Killer Koroshi has been sighted near the safe-zone of the 50th floor. This player has been given a permanently orange Color Cursor. They have killed 17 players and have been marked as a highly dangerous player. If you see this player, please contact the Patrol Guild and keep your distance.

In SAO, the act of killing another player is equivalent to killing another person in real life.

- The Patrol Guild

After I finished reading the sign, I grabbed Kesuta by the elbow and pulled him away from the mass of people that were surging to read the sign. We ran down an alleyway and came to a small courtyard with a fountain and a few benches. No one was nearby, so we sat down on a bench and began to discuss what we had just read.

"Player killing, huh. Never thought of that ever occurring. This needs to be stopped, Kesuta. We have to be the ones to put an end to this Koroshi. If we could just –"

He didn´t let me finish. "Asami, are you crazy? There´s probably a whole guild full of these player killers. There are probably even multiple guilds. We can´t take them all on. We´ll only end up dying." He put a lot of emphasis on this last word and looked me straight in the eye.

"Asami, let´s just let the other players handle this for once and try to beat the boss so we can head to the next floor. We´ve been preparing for this battle for a while now, and you know it. We can´t get sidetracked."

"Kesuta, this is a player killer we are dealing with!"

"Asami, we aren´t dealing with ANYTHING."

"You don´t get it! They could kill us and lots of other innocent players, too! This is a real problem we have on our hands! We have to track them down!"

He sighed and ran a hand through his lightly colored hair. "Asami… I know this is difficult to understand, but can´t we just lay low for once and not become targets for other player killers? If we try to turn this Koroshi guy in, we´re only going to anger his buddies. Then we will have a BIG problem on our hands. Let´s just sneak past these guys and pass to the next level. Then we can solve this player killer problem."

I persisted. "Kesuta."

"Yes?"

"We have to take care of this. Not later. Now."

"…Fine." Kesuta slumped back on the bench, defeated. He didn´t have it in him to argue any longer.

"Yes!" I pumped my hands in the air in celebration.

"On one condition. If your HP bar gets below 50%, you will back down immediately and go straight to a safe-zone. You will not use a recovery potion – you will go right back home. I don't want you in a fight that you can´t handle."

"But –"

"It´s either that, or laying low and not dealing with the problem."

"…Fine."

It was my turn to slump on the bench while he grinned to himself. Noticing my gloominess, he playfully punched me on the shoulder. "C´mon, Asami, don´t be so glum." Then he turned serious. "Asami, I don´t want you getting hurt because of this player killing business. This is serious stuff and you know that. I don´t want you getting killed."

"I don´t want you getting killed, either. We´ll both be careful, okay, Kesuta?"

"Yeah. We´ll both be careful."

After that, we took a teleportation portal back to the 35th level where my flat was. I made dinner, and we laughed and talked most of the night. Just like every night I had cooked for us, he eagerly forked down his food. I was secretly glad that I had maxed out my cooking skill, because I loved to see him enjoying it.

After he had left to go back to his flat back at the 47th level, I hung up my apron and went into my bedroom to change into nightclothes. I turned off the last light and went to sleep.

Watching from the street outside, a solitary figure saw the last light in the flat go out. Without a noise, they quietly slipped away down the street, disappearing into a cold mist that formed in the night air.