Chapter 3

The Last of Us

Almost two months later, the four of us reached level 43 and had been staying at Floor 35 Mishe for those last two weeks. The reason was due to another rumor, and I wasn't surprised then. Zumoka had heard that a rare spawn was supposingly to reveal itself near the lake over at the 31st floor. It was said to be a dragon who gives a quite wide variety of rare equipments and items. The downfall was the fact that it was level 50. I found that piece of information very ironic, seeing how we were almost at the peak of being halfway to being level 100. So at that point, we immediately started training our other skills that could help each other out in some way. Rayden started to train his fishing and cooking skill, Zumoka started to train her cooking skill as well, and Zunaku was the only one who didn't want to train any skill. Instead, he was training himself to be an expert of equipment enhancement and equipment in general. So, I had guessed that could work either way since I was one of the careless ones to even care about doing things like that.

As for me, I focused more on my medicine making skill than on my sewing skill. That was an immediate decision I made for myself, especially after what happened on the "Day of Resuscitated Hope." After that day, I swore to myself I would never tell anyone about my conversation with Kirito since he was the main reason why I changed to who I am now. It is still a complicated thing for me to explain to the others, yet I am not sure myself why. The fear of losing someone still lingers me, so I told myself I won't let another being like Syd die...ever.

Floor 35 Mishe - April 7, 2023

It was a great and peaceful day on the day of April 7. I had believed it was because I was feeling at ease for once. It was safe to say: I can now sleep soundly without worrying of dying in my sleep. But something on this day happened.

"It feels like we've been fighting crap less and less everyday.." Zunaku lightly complained as we both walked down a street with a medium-sized grocery bag in each of our hands.

It was around the afternoon at the time, so the town was busy. But lately, it was getting busier and busier as days go by. I had assumed it was because more players are coming to the town more because they were either behind or for other unknown reasons. I had no clue. If this was an ordinary MMORPG, I would have become irritated at the fact people were catching up. It ails me for some reason when that happens, but in this game, that was obviously not the case. I was still learning how to enjoy life in Sword Art Online.

"It's not a bad thing though.." I yawned loudly. "We need a break once a while and besides..I'm so close to finishing that antidote potion!"

"Drug addict.."

I cringed before protesting against the nickname he kept giving me. "Ah?! Excuse me sir! But it's for the good of everyone!"

We both knew he was just joking around. He was 15 years old while I was 18..Ah well, 19. My birthday was back in March. It had turned out at that time that we were both too busy training ourselves to notice that my birthday had gone by. I guessed we all had lost track of the days, heh. It was funny though; I was the shortest out of every single person in our four man group.

Zunaku was putting on a really odd face, but he calls it his signature troll face. I could actually see it..He had the grin and everything. It was a bit creepy. I had rolled my eyes at his facial expression before looking ahead in case I would bump into something. We didn't..yet. With the streets being busy, it was somewhat difficult to pass through the crowds with a bag full of random ingredients. Both Rayden and Zumoka had given us the money to buy them in either a player shop or NPC shop. I was surprised at how cheap they were!

A few minutes later, the both of us heard some kind of commotion happening. When I turned to the source, there were a bunch of people crowding up around something. They were cheering too. I had stopped due to being distracted by it, especially at the thought of how uncommon that was in this village. So without a word, I walked closer to the excited crowd. I then made a mistake of not being careful to my surroundings. One of the people had accidently nudged me with their elbow, causing me to almost drop the bag. I wailed out a small cry before being relieved when I had managed to catch it on time. I then gave a glare at the male player, who on cue looks back at me with a curious look. That seemed to dramatically change to a look of fear after realizing how irritated I must have looked.

"I-I'm sorry Miss!"

I sighed heavily, "No worries."

I changed my frown of disapproval to a half smile to reassure him. I thought that there wasn't a reason to get mad at an accident. At that time, I heard footsteps approaching me and I already knew who the noises belonged to. Glancing to my side to check if I was right, the brown grocery bag was enough to prove my assumption was right. It was funny - I was actually planning on not being caught from wandering off.

My gold eyes looked back at the male in front of me as Zunaku went to stand beside me. "So, what's going on here?"

The white haired boy asked as the player turned his attention back to what everyone was watching. He was grinning in amusement, "It's another duel between Gin and Signus!"

I immediately opened my eyes in realization with pursed lips. "Those two are always fighting it out with each other. It's becoming a daily thing now!"

At that moment, my heart had sunk deeply. It was hard to process what I had just heard. Ever since that day, I had been searching for my other friends. I mentioned it already, but I had no idea how I should start doing that if I had no idea what their game name was. The reason why I was so speechless was because Signus was the name of one of those friends. Although his real life name is Andy, I recognized that sole name because it was the same name he had when I met him in another online game.

"Asaya..You don't think that's the Siggy we know, right?" Zunaku murmured. I could hear how speechless he was by the sound of his hush tone.

Snapping myself back to reality, the look on my face drastically changed to a stoic look. Signus wasn't the only name Andy would use in online games, so I was skeptical. I didn't know who Gin was at that time, so I had assumed he was someone who had been dueling Siggy. (Yeah, that's our typical nickname for him..It's a habit really.) I had completely forgot the fact that they were "always" fighting from what the stranger had implied. The fact that they are still dueling constantly to this day still bothers me because I had heard stories of people dying in duels somehow. I wasn't sure myself if it was true or not, but the thought of it just scares me. The other thing that bothered me was that it was Signus. He is usually a very nice and innocent young man, so I was afraid that one day his kindness might get him killed. Hell, I didn't even know he was the kind to even duel!

"Only way to find out yeah?" I grinned at the boy before pushing the grocery bag into his hands. Knowing then that he had no way of stopping me, I immediately charged in the mob of people as I heard what it sounded like a very loud scream. Zunaku had either raged or screamed something in the lines of "Why you do this!?" Either way, he wasn't a happy customer. I laughed to myself.

This was the only time I actually liked being small and short because I can go through the people without having to worry about anything. When I reached the people in the front, the first thing that caught my attention were the metal clashing and the struggle. Putting on an amazed look while muttering a low 'Whoa..', I was taking a mental note of things between the two fighters. I could immediately tell Signus was the one wielding a curved blade while his opponent was wielding a scythe? Now, that startled me. I had no idea until that moment that we could have scythes in this game. Gin was probably the first player I've ever seen with one. Actually, I believe that that duel was the first one I have ever watched in Sword Art Online! The two seemed to be really focused with Signus, the always calm one, and Gin, the always raging one. They had always been the opposites of each other. In this duel though, Signus was the one beating his opponent from the looks of things. I never quite understood duels back then. For the record, I dislike dueling now. The whole time idling around and watching, I was simply surrounded by cheering players. I was actually refraining myself from interfering, but I decided not to seeing how much their duel was making such a festival.

"God dammit Siggy! Why won't you stop moving!?" Gin sneered as he continued throwing slashes at the silent one dodging his every attack.

The scythe wielder had an unique style of fashion, that is. With short dark blue shaggy hair and short bangs falling to the side, his eyes were blue that could easily be mistaken as black. He was wearing a somewhat long sleeved dark blue long coat that has one of those long flap waving behind his legs. It was as long as his height. Silver metal can be seen on the coat, giving out its status as light metal equipment. He wore dark gray pants and dark blue shoes that also has the same silver metal lining around the shoes.

As for Signus, I could see that the boy was smiling and enjoying at how he kept dodging Gin's attacks successfully. What a troll. He had dark brown eyes, and jet black hair that looked somewhat similar to Kirito's except his bangs had a sort of separation of each other in the middle. He wears a midnight blue scarf around his neck that stops around his shoulders, a dark blue that is much darker than Gin's outfit baggy shirt with a tight belt around his stomach, a pair of silver gauntlets around his wrists like fingerless gloves, and his pants were simply leather pants with what it seemed to show the black greaves under them. I only guessed that they only equip those armor parts of their equipments in battle like Zumoka and I.

Signus continued dodging around to evade any attacks from the medium sized scythe before he finally swirled around Gin and attacked him without hesitation. The opponent swayed and landed on the floor as a large picture of the winner appeared to announce his victory. This made the crowd abrupt to louder cheering as I folded my arms bluntly and nodded my head twice. In my opinion, Gin was acting pretty reckless with his attempts on hitting his opponent. From my view, I witnessed Signus's mouth moving while offering a hand to Gin.

"Yeah yeah whatever..." The guy murmured, rolling his eyes before accepting the offer of being helped up. I couldn't help but smile pleasantly at this act. Usually when I watch duels, or PvPs, in online games, a person who loses were just sore losers. Of course there are some duels where the loser would calmly accept his defeat and it's always so reassuring to me. I was surprised though when Gin didn't do anything like that, so I had wrongly made an assumption that he was the type to do so. I had thought they must be good rivals not to let any losses get the best of them. I had always assumed Siggy wasn't the type to show anger from what I know.

As the crowd started walking away to various directions from the show, I could overhear people talking about the recent duel. I stayed there watching with my eyes still on the two. Eventually, Zunaku would approach me from behind as we both waited patiently for the right time to head to the group. The both of us noticed someone else near the two, who didn't seem to be one of the people watching their duel. As Signus sheathed his sword, that mysterious guy walked up to them.

"Hey Silver, why won't you join us?"

Again, my mind went blank. "Whaaaaaat?"

The white haired spear wielder said the exact thing that was on my mind then. I facepalmed hard. Unexpectedly, one of the other people we were looking for was Gin. We both knew him as Silver from another game just like Signus, but it was evidently different in this game. I had no idea.

"Hey! I don't call you Red, don't I?!" Gin protested angrily, glaring at the taller male.

At that point, I used my other hand to smack the hand that was already on my face to initiate a double facepalm. They were all there in front of us, and I felt so dumb to not realize that earlier. You see, Signus is always with Red no matter what as if they were brothers. So I shouldn't have found that so unexpected.

"Oh. Sorry, Gin." Red remarked sarcastically with a small smirk.
"No problem Rizi." Gin replied immediately with the same sarcastic tone, glaring at the player.

I chuckled lowly under my breath at their conversation exchange before lowering my hands to place them on my hips. Despite my posture and the serious facial expression on my face, I was actually happy. I was relieved that the three I had been searching for had survived.

Rizi wore leather equipment like Zunaku. He is a tall guy, the second tallest person of the entire group with Rayden the first. With dark blue hair like Gin's, his hair was similar to his except his bangs were longer that fell to the other side. He has hazel eyes. Wearing a dark brown scarf tightly around his neck, I noticed that it was short and loose like Signus's. He wore a darker brown sleeveless torso shirt with a button that connects brown sleeves by wrapping a strap around each button on each side. There are two belts layered on each other in a criss cross manner on his stomach, connecting a ripped up cape behind him as the leather belt portion connected to the leather part covering his thighs. A black part of the pants was underneath that as belted long leather boots that covered up to his knees. I can see him holding a purple curved blade, which is also unique from my view.

"But no thanks. I'm a beater!" The scythe wielder added proudly with a bright smile, saying his self-proclaimed nickname. Zunaku and I had stared at each other with blank faces. I was feeling awkward just standing there, eavesdropping on the three a few feet ahead of us bickering.

"Right right. But, it doesn't mean you can't join us still." The persistent Rizi wasn't buying it, making the conversation more amusing to listen to.

"Dude why do you want me in your team so badly?"

"Siggy and I are planning on taking down that dragon on the 31st floor."

My eyes widened in astonishment, realizing that their intentions were the same as us four. What surprised me the most was the fact they were actually going to fight the dragon with their levels. Both Signus and Rizi were our levels while Gin was a level lower than us.

Gin literally leaned back at his answer, "You're crazy Rizi!" He then turned his attention to the silent Signus, "And you're okay with this?"

I refrained myself from laughing unlike Zunaku beside me at the sight of the boy putting on a clueless look and shrug lightly. Gin frowned at the response he just received before folding his arms in thought. I was beginning to think I should interfere at that point before Zunaku does. I didn't realize that he was enjoying the conversation that we were listening and watching.

"Come on~ We need help fighting it!" Rizi pleaded desperately, "No one wants to follow a rumor."

"But we do it all the time." Zunaku and I both commented loudly.

I then blinked dumbfounded before staring at the boy beside me, only to stare at his green eyes. It then took us a while to realize that we were being looked at by the group before us from our peripheral view. When I turned my head back to them, I could see Gin's clueless face, Rizi's confused face, and Signus's poker face staring at us. I felt so watched. At that point, I had thought that they had recognized us but at the same time, I doubt it.

"Hey ask that loli if she wants then Fernando." Gin suddenly suggested, pointing at me.

I cringed immediately with a fist in front of me, "Excuse me!? I'll come over there and kick your ass!"

My glare darkened after hearing the boy beside me laugh mockingly at the nickname. I turned to Zunaku with that look before noticing that Rizi was approaching me. Flinching in realization, I immediately took out my katana from its sheathe before pointing it towards the hazel eyed player.

"Come near me and I will slice your face off." I threatened harshly as the guy stopped his advance towards me and slowly raised his hands with a frightened look on his face.

"Wh-What? I-I wasn't going to do anything!"

"That's a lie and we both know it!"

I was practically shooting daggers at the womanizer with my piercing gold eyes. His real name isn't Fernando, but rather, it was a nickname we all came up just for him. It was a substitute name for a womanizer and someone who seduces women both intentionally and unintentionally. Rizi especially hits on shorter girls or lolis if you will, such as myself. It's annoying. Even now, he keeps pulling acts on me to the point I might actually kill him.

The flustered Rizi took a couple steps back, unsure on what to say as I also notice the fear in Gin's face. I then sighed before putting my sword back calmly.

"Anyway, why don't you guys join us instead?" Zunaku asked the three as I nodded my head and folded my arms.

"Yeah. We've been training to fight against that dragon for weeks now." I added with a careless wave of my hand. The look on their faces then showed skepticism.

"Well Rizi and Siggy would join, but I refuse! I'm not ready to die." Gin simply responded before rudely turning from us to walk away.

My face softened with pursed lips as I narrowed my eyes at the scythe wielder leaving. I could sense the worry look Zunaku was giving me as all five of us was silent in this intense atmosphere. I understood the reason Rizi was quiet was because he already tried asking the player to join, so he didn't want to ask again. Signus refused to talk because he rarely talks in the first place. Zunaku was hesitating on calling out to Gin, afraid to reveal ourselves to the rest. The word 'die' was what got to me at that point, remembering Syd's death and how we were all mourning for her death. The hands gripping my elbows tightened as I closed my eyes solemnly.

"Who said you are going to die in the first place? I'm not gonna let that happen Silver."

"How the hell?" I heard Gin cry out as I opened my eyes to see the startled looks on their faces. I had thought it was because I mentioned his other name. "Do I know you?"

I sighed before giving him a half smile. It made me glad that he had stopped his advance on leaving us. "Yeah. It's me Asaya."

"You're..Asaya?!" Gin and Rizi both cried out in unison with the scythe wielder pointing at me.

"Derp." Zunaku softly said, rolling his eyes at their reactions. Signus didn't say a single word, but I could tell from his face that he was as speechless as the other two were.

"So..That's Zunaku I assume?" Rizi asked softly, pointing at the said boy.

I nodded my head, now frowning at their surprised faces. Rizi looked at him before turning his attention at me as his facial expression grew serious. "Well you don't seem happy to see us."

I scoffed lightly before smiling sweetly at the male, "Trust me I am. I'm glad you guys are all okay but..."

Before I could explain, Gin had interrupted me the moment he swiftly approached us both to stare at us. It almost felt uncomfortable as I was ready to hit the scythe wielder with something. I was refraining myself not to.

"Are you really Asaya? You act like her and everything..Plus you're short.."

"Silver. I'm going to murder you." I glared at the boy, watching him as he quickly backed away with his hands in front of him.

"Okay that's her haha.." He laughed nervously while taking a long step back. "I'm sorry, don't hurt me!"

"Asaya we should head back before Rayden thinks you're shopping with his money again." Zunaku suggested as I raised a brow at him. "Eh? I do not shop with his money!

Of course, that was a lie.

"Where are you guys staying at?" Rizi asked curiously as the one holding the groceries departed without saying a single word. I had forgotten about the weight of the bags he had been holding. I instantly felt guilty, but I shook it off. I looked at the one who asked the question. "At an inn not far from here."

I paused with hesitation, averting my eyes to the ground before looking back at him with a gentle smile. At that point, I now felt tears welling up in my eyes. It even shocked me but I only thought it was because I was glad that they were alive. Refusing to let them see my tears falling, I turned around to Zunaku's direction with my hands together behind my back.

"But Silver..I mean Gin..I'm not going to force you or anything to join us, but it would just be nice if we all stick together. That goes for you too, Siggy and Rizi. I don't know what I'll do if I find out you guys die in this game, you know?"

I froze after hearing my voice cracking at the end, leaving me to gasp softly to myself. I started to follow after Zunaku, "Ah..Sorry, I'll see you later."

I did wanted them to stay with us because I told myself I would protect those close to me from death especially after that day. I would do anything practically, but like I had told them, I didn't want to force them to do so. In the end, you had no idea how happy I was when I saw both Rizi and Gin run pass me just to make fun of Zunaku holding the bags. I was startled to the point I had no idea how to react. I then realized that Signus was walking beside me, giving me a small smile as a way to reassure me of their decision. It made me feel weird that I felt my cheeks flushing before the boy averted his attention away from me timidly. When I witnessed that, I started to laugh softly at him before wiping my eyes to stop the forming tears from falling. I was relieved.

"Back! Sorry we took long!" I cried out first thing, entering the inn room of Zumoka's. Before we came there, the other three had registered themselves in the inn.

"God about time! You didn't go shopping again right?" Rayden replied, getting up from a chair as Zumoka did the same.

If it wasn't for his irritated face turning to a look of confusion and surprise, I would have yelled at him because of his assumption. I don't shop with his money! I do actually. The last time I went grocery shopping for the chefs, I actually did buy something I needed for medicine mixing. His face change made me smirk mischievously as I stepped inside the room to let the other four barge inside the room.

"Hey Rayden! Zumo! Long time no see!" Gin greeted the two with a hand raised up.

"Don't worry. I made sure she didn't." Rizi replied proudly as both Zunaku and I shot him a blank stare. Being silent as ever, Signus just came in and lied down on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"You found Silver, Siggy, and Red!?" Zumoka exclaimed happily, grinning as I nodded with a bright smile.

"Wow, that's surprising. Who's who?" The hammer wielder asked, walking to my direction with his hands on his hips and looking at the three curiously. At this point, I noticed Zunaku giving the bags to his sister as Rizi took a seat on the bed Signus was lying on. I couldn't help but notice the emotionless tone Rayden had.

"I'm Silver, but call me Gin. That guy sitting is Red, but he's Rizi in game. That other guy is Siggy as Signus." I had put on a straight face, watching as Gin pointed at the mentioned people respectively. It made me giggle at the sight of Rizi giving the scythe wielder a look of disapproval while Signus raised his hand to wave at them.

"Of course.." Rayden murmured, smacking his face as that made me giggle more loudly. Gin then took the seat Rayden was sitting on before as I smiled pleasantly with my hands together behind me.

"It's great to see you guys! What have you been up to?" Zumoka said to the three to initiate an one-sided conversation with them. Meanwhile, I had frowned deeply remembering the tone the tall male next to me had earlier that time. It was troubling me that I silently glanced at him to see the stoic look on his face. It even made me wonder to this day why he's been acting strange around them. That was the first time I've seen him looked so...emotionless.

I bit my lower lip before looking down at my feet, "S-Sorry..I invited them to the party, so I understand if you're.."

"No it's fine. Don't apologize." He interrupted me suddenly, giving me a bright grin. Despite that, I still looked at him with uncertainty before looking back down. The tone of his voice may sound bright, but it sounded so subtle. As much as I wanted to ask him what was wrong, I decided against it because I had always believed that everything was okay for him. I kept believing.

I felt his hand patting my head, which I ignored for I was still unsure of his answer. "Don't worry anymore~ They're alive now!"

"Yeah.." I nodded my head lightly, flashing Rayden a forced smile. The tall male then walked off towards Zumoka to help her cook as I was watching him closely. I knew then I had to find out what was wrong.


A/N: And there's the rest of the party! I'm sorry - I wanted to type and post this up sooner, but things happened. I'm making slow progress writing the story due to it, and the fact I started rewriting a Pokemon fanfic makes it slower. Also now that the Alfheim Arc started up in the anime, I might have to read the light novel now when I have the time too since I'm debating whether or not to continue Fly Away! to that. It looks like a fun game to add these guys in. -evil laugh- So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Next chapter: Dungeon Run

-barrel rolls out-