Hello again! I'm back with Chapter 3. Bit shorter than before but I always find it hard to make the story interesting when all the characters are doing is standing around, talking and emoting. Either way, enjoy and I'll see you below.

[ArN] stands for Arfa-sys Name. This will only apply when the OC is addressing Arfa, otherwise she will be referred to as Arfa-sys.


Chapter 3

Arfa-sys

The purple blade was an inch from my neck. It could easily reach forwards and hit me, most likely draining my life because of my low stats. Which only begged the question: Why wasn't I dead?

A commotion came from up on the walkway, the place where the gunshot from earlier had come from. I didn't move my head, but I glanced up to see Kureha being held at gunpoint. Neither of us had a way out of this.

The player in front of me let out a sigh, the energy blade retracting into the handle. He looked up at Kureha and his partner. "Listen, we don't want to fight. It looks like we were too late, unfortunately." He sounded genuinely disappointed as he said the last word, but looked down at me with a smile. "It seems like this Arfa-sys has chosen your friend as its master."

I looked behind me at the NPC who was now fully awake and leaning on her arm. She looked between me and the player with a blank expression.

Kureha jumped over the railing of the walkway, gun still trained on the player that attacked me. "This person is the rare item?" Once beside me, she began looking over the NPC, or Arfa-sys as the player had called it. I rose from my crouched position and both me and Kureha took an arm each and helped the Arfa-sys onto her feet.

"Yeah. That's a player support AI, an Arfa-sys." The player looked heartbroken now. By this point, his partner had joined him, giving me an opportunity to look at them. The player that attacked me wasn't just restricted to black in his clothing. His hair and eyes shared the same colour. His partner was a lot brighter in appearance, orange hair reaching her lower back and opting for a white and red battle suit. The dark player sighed again. "Man, those things are so rare, there's barely any information on them. And I thought this tournament would be my opportunity to get one."

The girl in white nodded. "Too bad Kirito. Back to grinding until one drops."

Upon hearing his name, Kureha's eyes lit up like they had when we had seen Itsuki for the first time. "Kirito? As in, the photon sword user who climbed to the top of GGO's rankings in a month? That Kirito!?" I shook my head, not understanding what anyone was talking about. I quickly checked on the Arfa-sys, who hadn't moved from when we pulled her to her feet. Meanwhile, Kirito and his partner were having a disagreement about her nicknames.

"Anyway, this is my partner, Asuna." Kirito gestured to the girl beside him.

It was strange, but I swear I had heard their names somewhere else before.

Kureha's eyes were aglow still with admiration. "To think I almost shot someone that famous…" She then turned to the Arfa-sys. "Arfa-sys, I am your master."

"I am the Arfa System Type-X A2900-00. Master Registration has already been complete." Her tone was rather monotone, her eyes blank as they look to me. "[YN], you are my master."

I glanced at Kureha who was somewhere between furious and stunned. A pang of guilt hit me, knowing that I had stolen the reward I was supposed to help her claim. "I didn't do it on purpose." I knew my excuse wasn't going to calm her down.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kureha cried out.

Kirito chuckled. "I bet if we beat you, nothing would happen. This Arfa-sys belongs to you now."

"You seem to know a lot Kirito." Asuna frowned, crossing her arms.

"Well, it's because the Arfa-sys called the player 'master' back then. Plus…no, it's nothing." Kirito trailed off.

While those two were discussing the ownership of the Arfa-sys, I was busy being reprimanded. "Why did you go ahead and register it!?" Kureha was right in my face. "You were supposed to be helping me get the reward!"

"I didn't-"

"Enough with the excuses!" She turned away, her hands gripping her hair. "I can't believe this!" She took a deep breath. "Alright then, if the Arfa-sys is yours, then we'll share it. After all, if you hadn't picked the right path, we might've missed out completely. So I'll let you off…this time." She returned to a less volatile state.

The Arfa-sys's eyes lit up for a second in response. "Kureha is Master's superior. Confirmed. Nice to meet you."

Kirito and Asuna turned away. "Well, I guess we'll be off." Kirito put up a hand in parting. "Still have to get first place. Maybe they'll let the top players get an Arfa-sys too." He laughed, as if knowing that'll never happen.

"Hopefully it'll be something Yui likes." Asuna muttered.

As they began walking away, Kureha cleared her throat. "Um, I'm Kureha. I plan to be one of the top players in GGO. That means next time we meet, I'll be gunning for you two."

A smirk appeared on Kirito's face while Asuna sighed at him. "You've got guts. Alright then Kureha, next time we meet, I'll go all-out against you and…" He looked at me, waiting for my name.

"I'm [YN]."

Kirito nodded. "I see." He walked towards me. "I want to ask you something. Why did you protect the Arfa-sys just then?"

I took a second to run it over in my mind before deciding on my answer. "I want to protect everyone. And if anyone threatened my friend's lives, I couldn't forgive them."

"I can respect that." Kirito nodded. "We'll definitely meet again one day. When that happens, let's do our best to kill each other."

Asuna waved. "Bye you two. And bye Arfa-sys." The Arfa-sys bowed as the two left us.

The room grew extremely quiet for a few seconds until the Arfa-sys began speaking again. "Main system 90% functional…100%... System check all clear. Start up complete." She placed her fists on her hips, a huge smile on her face. It was almost like a completely different person had taken over her. "Master, you can name me. Be warned, if you name me something weird, I'll explode!"

Kureha and I exchanged a look of confusion. "You…sound different." I looked at her eyes, noticing a glint of happiness and wonder there that was absent before.

"That's it Master! The Type-Xs are superior androids that come with their own personalities!" Arfa-sys puffed out her chest proudly.

"And I'm guessing I-we got the happy one." I chuckled.

Kureha nodded. "Why don't you name it? I'm happy with whatever you go with."

I raised my had to my chin in thought. Many names went through my head. I decided to break the silence for a second. "Momiji."

"Eh!? Wha-wha-wha-what do you think you're doing, calling her that!?" Kureha looked flustered.

"I was only joking." I laughed it off before nodding to myself. "[ArN]."

The Arfa-sys paused for a second. "Registration complete." A smile appeared on her face. "I'm glad you're more sensible than you look Master." I sighed while Kureha hid her giggle behind her hand, though she looked like they both were happy with the name. "As you are my first master, I'll give you a present! The best present for you…" She opened a menu and began scrolling through, humming to herself. "This one! No takebacks." She tapped a strange looking name, probably because it was backwards for me, and a small gun with a crossbow-like design appeared in her hand. Once I took it from her, I frowned as it couldn't be reloaded.

"What is this supposed to be?"

"It's an Ultimate Fibre Gun. The UFG."

I aimed it in front of me at the wall and pulled the trigger. To my surprise, a green beam of light came from the gun. To mine and Kureha's surprise, I was dragged by the beam once it made contact with the wall. It didn't take long for me to make contact with the wall, headfirst due to my shock. I fell onto my stomach, instinctively clinging my head, only to realise that there was nothing there, not even the numb sensation from the bullets.

"What is that!? I've never seen anything like that before!" I was a little hurt at the fact Kureha seemed more interested in the UFG rather than my wellbeing.

"My master is an anomaly, so I gave him an unknown weapon!" Arfa-sys smiled.

Kureha's eyes widened even further. "Does that mean…it's an unregistered weapon? That's not just rare, that's…super-rare! It's awesome." The note of jealousy returned.

"Yes, Type-Xs are awesome!" Arfa-sys claimed the compliment as hers. "I shall teach you how to properly use the UFG."

I rolled my eyes. "Finally, someone realised that I hit the wall."

We moved out of the room, finding a large chamber with a tall wall. A ladder allowed access to the top, which Arfa-sys and Kureha took up. I stayed at the bottom, UFG in hand.

"Master, when you pull the trigger, the beam will extend. If it makes contact with a surface, keeping hold of the trigger will reel in. Letting go will make the beam go away." Arfa-sys called down.

"So I can't swing with it?" I was disappointed.

"Of course not Master, that would be silly."

I aimed the UFG at the wall and pressed the trigger. The beam attached to the wall and I was pulled towards it. The force kept my legs behind me and despite my best efforts, the first thing to make contact was my face once again. I fell back down to square one again.

"We're going to be here a while." I heard Kureha sigh from the top of the wall.

Arfa-sys, however, seemed much more optimistic. "My master will do it! After all, I'm his Arfa-sys!"

It did take a while, until the end of the tournament in fact, but I managed to get the hang on it. I had to deactivate the UFG just before I hit the wall, and push myself upwards with my feet. I had done it successfully three times before we had the announcement that the tournament was ending.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me?" Kureha looked at my new tool. "I've got to bust my butt going up and down, and you can zip around like it's nobody's business."

"I think I can carry you up if you want." I suggested, knowing it could be possible.

Before Kureha could respond, Arfa-sys began clapping. "Well done Master, I knew you could do it!"

Kureha let out a sigh. "Well, as long as I can have a go, I suppose it's okay." She opened her menu and began scrolling. "I wonder where Kirito and Asuna placed on the rankings…"

"Are they your friends Master?" Arfa-sys tilted her head curiously.

I scratched the back of my head. "I wouldn't exactly say that…"

Kureha let out a cry of surprise. "They won!? No way. I guess we did get an Arfa-sys unit, so you were the real winner today [YN]."

"There's nothing rarer than a Type-X unit…I think. So please don't break me!" Arfa-sys's self praise dwindled for a slight moment but quickly switched back on.

A light began to form around the three of us, signalling that it was time to head back. I smiled, knowing that my first day in GGO was a successful one.


And there we go. Quickly I'll go over the reviews.

Guest: I hope I can showcase their relationships develop well enough. But love doesn't just happen immediately after all. I'll make their feelings towards the OC as organic as possible.

KathrynthePyro-bitch: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Hopefully you'll continue to do so as I plan on making some changes to the plot, some minor and major. These first few chapters aren't exactly the most exciting after all.

Thank you to those who reviewed. Please continue to do so, I like to know that I'm doing well, or if I'm not, what I can improve on. I'll hopefully have another chapter up by the end of February.

Until then, stay cool!