I do not own Sword Art Online, Highschool of the DEAD or their characters.
Chapter 4
Floor One: Third day
It was still early in the morning when Argo came down the stairs to find Saya sitting at one of the tables drinking coffee. She got a cup herself and walked over to the pink-haired girl.
"Mind if I join you?" The Rat asked.
Saya shook her head and motioned toward one of the seats. "Almost ready to leave?" she asked.
"No, not yet," the brown-haired girl replied. "I thought I would go out and snoop around some before I come back and get breakfast. Then I'll strike out for the next town." She watched Saya for a minute before she spoke again, "So…what's wrong, Pinky? Situation sinking in?"
Saya looked puzzled for a moment until she realized she had been staring at her cup. "Ah, no," she replied. "To be honest, I've accepted what that asshole has done to us. Alice started having nightmares late last night. She woke up screaming and we couldn't do anything with her till we finally got her settled with Shizuka. I never really got back to sleep is all."
Argo shook her head, "I feel so sorry for her. I can't understand what her dad was thinking bringing a girl that young into a game like this."
"I can kind of understand in a way," Saya said. "He wanted to spend time with her and show her something new and wonderful. If this disaster had not happened, it would probably have become a precious memory for her. I know my father loves me, but we have never spent much time together because…ah…maybe I better not say anything else…"
"Saya I swear to you, I only deal in game info. I promise you, I never ever trade in personal information about players or their families," the girl said. "If you want to say something go ahead."
"Hmm, well truth is he is a very powerful politician. He works very hard for the people that support him, but he tries to be home every night. I do see him, normally several times a week. The same with mother, she is involved with his work also. Neither of them are the type that would leave for long periods of time like some parents do."
Argo shrugged her shoulders, "Well I guess it's better than not having parents or they not care about you."
Saya sighed, "Yes, but that's what I meant about I understood what Alice's dad was trying to do. Now he's gone forever. I can't imagine what her mother is going through right now."
"Yeah," said the info broker. "How long has your group known each other?"
Saya smirked, "I've known Takashi since before our first day of kindergarten. Mama has a picture somewhere of me in my new pink dress and him in a little suit with that disgruntled look on his face. Rei came along not long after in elementary and Hisashi and Morita showed up in middle school. Kohta, well we really invited him along because he was a military otkau, but he seems okay once you know him. He's been in our class since the first year of high school. Saeko was a third year captain of the kendo squad that was having trouble with her computer and asked Takashi to help her fix it so she could play. He invited her to join us and to be honest I'm glad he did. She is the daughter of a sword dojo owner and she really understands how to fight with a katana."
Argo nodded, "Quite a few people found out in the beta that kendo knowledge was helpful in learning the sword skills."
"Meh, sword skills, that's something I wish I could change," Saya said.
"What do you mean?" the other girl asked, frowning.
"I'm just not the sword slinger type. If I knew before I made my character what I know now, I would have picked the crossbow skill instead, but since I can't change it I'm stuck with a short sword."
The Rat laughed as she held out her cupped hand, palm up, "How bad do you want to be able to change your weapon specialization, Pinky?"
Saya stared at her, mouth open for minute before she recovered from her shock. Leaning forward she smirked as she spoke, "So…Rat, if I pay you for this information, will it be just where to find out how to change the skill or will it be the complete scoop on where to go and how to win the quest? And how much?"
Argo laughed again, "Very good Brain! You're learning and you ask the right questions the right way! For you…thirty col for everything. Anyone else it's gonna cost sixty."
Saya nodded and opened her menu to offer the information broker the money.
Once Argo accepted the transaction, she started talking, "On the third floor there is an NPC blacksmith in the main town. Go to his shop, it's the only one in town, and tell him how much you like his merchandise. That will activate the quest to get a crystal of weapon change. Once you have it, go back to him and give him the crystal. He will then ask you what you want your new weapon to be. First of all…it's not a hard quest. It resets every three days so if someone else in the party wants to do the same thing just hang out in town for a while, or do another quest while you wait. Now here's where you need to go and what you need to fight to complete the quest…"
About ten minutes later Argo sat back with her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for Saya to finish making notes in her journal about the quest. When the pink-haired girl was through, she spoke again. "There is one more thing about completing the quest that I'm not going to tell you," she said. "Now before you get fired up, it's a good thing. I just think it will be a nice surprise and I don't want to ruin it."
Saya smirked, "Well I guess I just have to trust you, huh?"
The Rat nodded and opened her menu. A second later a friend request popped up for Saya. "Push yes, and if I'm wrong you can bitch me out in a message, but I'm not wrong. Also call me if you need anything and if you find out more about Wolfe, the beast tamers or zombies, get in touch with me as quick as you can. Remember I pay good money for information."
"Ohayou," Kohta said as he and the others walked up.
Saya jumped up and hugged the chubby boy, "Kohta! I know how to change weapons now!" What she had done hit her and she quickly let go, jumping back as the boy stood shocked.
Argo roared with laughter as the others chuckled. With that the info broker got up also, "Well I'm going to go handle my business. If I don't see you before I leave, I'll catch you another time."
"Just a minute," Rika said as she opened her menu. A second later the girl got a friend request. "Press yes, Argo. If you ever need any…professional advice, give me a buzz."
The Rat nodded, "Sure thing, Rika-san, and…thanks. Good luck to all of you!" With that, she headed out the door.
"Well let's eat and I'll tell you what I learned," Saya said. Then she noticed Kohta was not moving, only standing stiffly with a stunned look on his face. "Eh…what wrong with him? Is he lagging?" she asked as she waved a hand in front of his face.
"I think he is in shock from your good morning," Saeko said with a smirk.
Saya blushed and drew back her fist and punched the boy in the shoulder, "Hey! Baka! Wake up, it's time to eat!"
The boy snapped out of his trance and looked at her, "OH! Ohayou, Saya-san! Is breakfast ready?"
The pink-haired girl face-palmed as the others laughed.
As they sat down, Argo came back in the front door. Her face wore a somber expression.
"That was quick," Takashi said with a smile.
"I just got a message from another beta that is still in Beginnings City. He said the Room of Resurrection, where you respawned if you died in the beta, has changed. It is now called the Monument of Life. The walls there list every player in SAO and when someone dies their name is crossed out. If you touch the crossed out name, information on how, when and where they died appears. As of a few minutes ago, there where were four hundred and eighty two names crossed out and its growing every hour. Over a hundred are suicides."
They starred at the girl stunned until suddenly the inn keeper, his wife and their serving girl walked to the middle of the dining room, where they all began to talk at once.
"I have new information! I have new information!" they said in chorus. "If an adventurer dies, they revive immediately as a zombie. This zombie has superior strength and damage resistance and can only be killed by striking it in the head. If a player is bitten by a zombie there is no healing for the wound and the player will die! All players be warned! This is new data! This is new data!" The message repeated before the NPC's feel silent and they went back to their duties.
"Argo did you…" Rika started to say, but as she turned toward the door, the girl was gone.
"I guess she's not really a rat after all," Shizuka said as she hugged Alice.
"No," Saya said. "Not much of a rat at all."
000
"So what's the first thing on the list?" Rika asked as they stepped into the street in front of the inn.
"First we find a blacksmith and get Rei a crosshead spear if we can afford it," Takashi said.
"My spear's just fine! I don't need any favors from you!" Rei said.
The boy turned on her, anger on his face. "I'm not doing you a favor; I'm doing the party one. You almost died yesterday because the weapon you have didn't do the job even after you used it properly," he told her.
"Don't you tell me…" her voice trailed off as Hisashi put his hand on her shoulder.
"Rei, Takashi is right," Hisashi said. "You came too close yesterday and the other style spear will be better."
The ginger-haired girl looked at the others and realized they all agreed with the dark-haired boy. "Fine!" she huffed, snatching her shoulder away from Hisashi.
Takashi frowned as he looked around, "Where's Saya?"
As he asked, she came back out of the inn. "While you were arguing, I asked the innkeeper where we could find a blacksmith. Follow me," she said as she walked off down the street.
The others blinked at her for a minute before doing as she said.
000
Half an hour later, Rei had a new spear that had cost fifteen hundred col. The blacksmith had given her seven hundred for her old one to help offset the costs.
While they were there Saya had priced crossbows, and was satisfied she would have more than enough money by the time they reached the third floor to pay for her own weapon upgrade.
Next stop was the butcher for his quest. They already had six pieces of mad cow meat from the previous day, but the amount to complete the quest was twenty five. After getting directions from the NPC on where to hunt, they headed out.
Three hours later they had completed the quest and were back. After Takashi finished the xp and money transfer, he looked around to see if he could spot any other quest givers.
One of the things Argo had told them was to look for a yellow flashing "!" mark over an NPC's head. This meant they had a quest to give out. Once you accepted the quest, the icon would change to green, and when you completed it, it would vanish until the quest reset for the next person/party. Simple quests like the butcher's could be done by separate parties at the same time.
Then there were quests like the weapon change one. This type of quest was a personal one, but party members could help as long as the quester finished the final part themselves.
Looking up and down the street, Takashi focused on various NPC's until he found two that had quest icons. Smiling, he pointed at one, "I guess we know now what those Dire-Minks that attacked us were for!"
On their way back from collecting the mad cow meat, they ran into a pack of small furry animals. They looked similar to a cute little chipmunk like creature, until they suddenly grew long fangs and claws as they attacked. Their bite was vicious, but did little damage unless you got swarmed. When you killed one it dropped a Dire-Mink pelt. The hard part of killing them was they were so fast.
As they stepped up to the quest giver, the other party members realized the shop was a furrier's.
"Now the pelts make sense," Saya said as Takashi talked to the shop keeper.
"Fifty pelts to complete the quest," their leader said after accepting. "We already have twenty so this shouldn't take too long. Plus he will buy any extra we collect."
As they headed out they passed the other quest giver Takashi had spotted. That one was for an alchemist.
"Go ahead and accept it too, Takashi," Saya said remembering Argo had told them they could do more than one quest at a time. "I'm betting it's for rabbit horns and we already have a bunch, so maybe we don't need to collect too many."
She was right in that fifty rabbit horns were needed and they already had thirty five.
"That was a good idea, Saya-san," Kohta said as they walked out of the city gates. "This way we will have completed three of the five quests in this town by this evening!"
"I told you," the girl said with a smirk. "Give me a chance to get a foothold and I'll figure this system out!"
The others laughed at her enthusiasm.
000
It was getting close to sundown when they arrived back at the furrier's.
"Greetings adventurer!" the NPC said as Takashi stopped before him. "It looks like you have completed my quest! I will accept all the dire-mink pelts you have!"
It only took a few seconds to complete the transaction, but instead of thanking them and going into his shop, the NPC started talking again. "Please accept a special gift for your hard work!"
Takashi was surprised to find another screen in front of him showing a fur lined cloak. When he shrugged his shoulders and punched accept, the furrier thanked him for his work and went inside the shop.
"What was that about?" Saya asked. "It looked like you got an extra screen?"
"I did," the boy replied. "He gave me a fur lined cloak!" Glancing up and down the street he continued, "But, let's get to the inn and our rooms before I show it to you."
The girl nodded. She had also noticed that the street looked busier than earlier.
When they got back to the inn, they found several new faces hanging around the dining room.
"Looks like things are picking up," Rika said as the serving girl brought them their supper.
"A lot more adventurers have started to show up," the NPC said. "I heard the festival in Beginnings is over."
They nodded and she flounced off as they began to eat. They were almost through when a man in his twenties, wearing gray armor, walked up and threw his leg over the bench the girls were sitting on and plopped down next to Shizuka.
"Hey baby! Why don't me and you party up together and go somewhere we can be alone?" he said as he put his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand.
"Go away, I'm eating," the blonde said as she made a shooing motion with her free hand.
"Aw now! Don't be that way! I can show you how to have a great time in this game! Forget about these little kids and party with a real man!" he said as reached out, taking her free hand in his…less than a second before Rika's fist impacted the side of his head from across the table.
The stunned man lifted up from his seat, and flew across the room to slam into the wall, knocking over several other players in the process.
"Sorry guys; didn't mean to get you caught in the crossfire!" Rika called out as she came around the to stand over the downed Casanova . She reached and helped a couple up as he stared up at her.
"What the hell did you do that for!?" the man shouted at her as he started getting up.
She looked around at the other players before saying, "Y'all might want to move back for this." Several laughed as they lifted up tables and chairs, moving them out of the danger zone.
Putting her attention back on the irate man, she said, "My friend told you to go away, but you had to make the mistake of touching her without her consent. Now the question is do you want to continue or are you willing to just walk away." The air was tense and silent. All the other players in the room were watching to see what would happen next.
The silence was split with the sound of a child's laughter.
"Sensei it was funny how that man flew through the air!" Alice said in her clear, shrill, child's voice.
"Oh hell…" Saya said as the man's face turned red in rage and he charged up off the floor.
Rika dodged his first two punches and then kicked him in the gut, hurling him across the room again.
Right onto a table with five other players sitting around it.
A big fighter jumped up and grabbed Casanova, "Hey asshole! We're trying to have a peaceful dinner here!"
"Fuck you!" the man replied. "She hit me first!"
"Yeah but you started it by hitting on her friend! Now I've had enough!" with that statement the big fighter slammed his fist in to Casanova's face.
"TAVERN BRAWL!" someone screamed and all hell broke loose.
Suddenly there were chairs, tables, metal plates and mugs flying everywhere. Those that did not want to participate grabbed their plates and cups and ran up the stairs to sit down and watch from the balcony.
The innkeeper came out from behind his counter with a club in his hand, clearing a path and making a beeline for Takashi's party. "Would you ladies like to join me and the missus behind the counter? I can guarantee a good view from there!"
"I think so!" Rei said as she and Shizuka grabbed up Alice and Zeke, heading to the shelter with the man. Saya huffed as she followed next with Saeko trailing behind.
Takashi and the other boys also followed, but was brought up short when the inn keeper stopped them at the bar.
"Sorry boys, but its ladies only back here. Well and me of course, but I'm the one that makes the rules. Good luck out there!"
Kohta and Morita grinned and balled up their fists, but Kohta paused to look at Saya.
She glowered at them but said, "Oh go on! Get it out of your system!"
The boys grinned wider and both shouted, "BANZAI!" as they dived into the scrum, fists flying.
Takashi stood there for minute thinking. Then he laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles as he started to walk forward.
"Seriously, you're going to do this?" Hisashi asked.
"Let's just say I have some pent up aggression," the dark-haired boy said with a sneer as he started his charge.
Hisashi sighed and looked at Rei, but she and the other girls were watching the fight. "I was wonder if my real world karate training would work for hand-to-hand in here," he muttered as he finally jumped in.
After a couple of minutes Rei looked at Saya, "Why are they not breaking everything in the place?"
The pink-haired girl rapped her fist on the counter. An icon that said 'Immortal Object!' popped up on the surface. "Everything in here except for the food is basically unbreakable," she responded.
"What about the guys?" was Rei's next question. "Won't they get hurt?"
Saya shook her head, "No. You can't get hurt in town unless you are in an official duel. Then the duel is over once one of the fighters goes to half hit points. Right now they don't even feel any pain, just the shock of the blows."
As she said that a young man of maybe thirteen slammed into the bar's front. Getting up he found himself face to face with Alice who was sitting on top of the counter cross-legged with Zeke.
"Oh hi there, cutie!" he said.
"Hello!" she replied.
He went to say something else, but was interrupted by Zeke.
"GRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrr…" the little wolf growled as he bared his teeth, hackles rising.
The boy looked shocked for a second and then back away, "Umm…I better go…see you again sometime…WHOA!" he got out before someone grabbed him from behind and hurled him back into the meat pile.
"Bye-bye!" Alice said as she waved. "He seemed nice," she told Zeke as he snorted his opinion and lay down next to her.
Saya tapped Rei on the arm and motioned. "Look at this one," she said quietly with a smirk.
The stoic samurai's face was alight with excitement as the fight ragged. She had her hands in fists in front of her and was punching slightly as she made expressions with the punches thrown. Suddenly she looked surprised as Takashi flew by to crash into the front door before rebounding. He got up and charged back in with a snarl on his face.
"Looks like Takashi's having fun," Saya said to her.
Saeko quickly cleared her throat and said, "Umm, really? I hadn't noticed."
Saya rolled her eyes as Rei snorted while Shizuka and Alice laughed.
000
The brawl went on for about ten more minutes before it finally wound down. No one was hurt, they were all just too tired to continue beating the hell out of each other.
"Are you done now?" Rika asked Casanova as she sat on his back with both his arms twisted around where he could not move.
"Yeah…" he replied tiredly.
"So say it. Say 'Uncle' and say it loud," she told him.
"Uncle," he said in a normal voice. She quickly let him know that was not good enough by twisting his arms more. "UNCLE! I give!"
"Alright then," she said as she got off his back and pointed to the floor. "Seiza. I got some things to say."
The man frowned, but did as she said. While she had not harmed him, he was well aware she beat him like a little bitch in the fight.
"Everybody listen up! I want all you guys over here! Stand, take a knee or sit, I don't care, but I got some things to say," the police woman called out.
Several grumbled, but the big fighter took hold of the scruff of their necks and shoved them over. Those on the balcony stayed there.
"Can you hear me up there?" Rika asked.
"Loud and clear!" one replied.
She nodded and started to walk back and forth as if she was addressing troops. "We all had a good time and got a little aggression out. That's a good thing, but what started this shebang was somebody being rude and almost crossing the line into sexual harassment. Now I know I threw the first punch and I'm sorry everyone else got dragged into it."
"Like hell, I had fun!" someone called out. Several others laughed at the remark.
Rika smirked and nodded, but her face got serious again. "We are all in a bad situation, and a dangerous one and we can't get home." She paused and put her fists on her hips and leaned in to glare at them, "This does not mean you can forget your manners and run wild harassing women as you see fit!"
A couple of the younger ones let out a small eek! and leaned away from her.
"Use some sense! NO means NO just like in the real world!" she shouted. The big fighter raised his hand and Rika nodded at him to speak.
"My name is Rathgar. In the real world I'm a pre-law and justice student at Todai. While it's currently a gray area, this game, players, computers and servers are located in the country of Japan. Therefore it is assumed to be under the same laws as the country of Japan during this crisis. I'm sure that any crimes against other players while we are trapped in here will be looked badly on by the police when we get out. I will bet money that by the time we get out, they will have passed laws to govern such things!" He nodded to the woman, "Sorry to interrupt."
"Oh no! You said what I was going to say!" she replied. "So does everybody understand?" she asked.
Most nodded and replied as they did.
"Well then! Thank you for coming and good night! Oh wait!" she turned to the counter. "Inn keeper is there anything you would like to say to us for making this mess?"
"Help sweep and mop the floor, put the tables and chairs back and I'll call it even," he replied as the serving girl started dragging out brooms, mops and buckets.
Many laughed as they got up to help. The work was over and done with in just a few minutes with so many willing hands.
After the team sat back down, the inn keeper and serving girl came over with fresh mugs of juice. "On the house," he said. "In thanks for helping with the cleanup."
They thanked him and were starting to talk when the big fighter stepped over. "May I speak with you?" he asked politely.
"Sure, have a seat," Takashi replied.
"I got to say that was a pretty good move you pulled there with the lawyer talk," Rika told him.
"Thanks," he replied. "I kind of knew what you were going to say. I've heard you speak before, Sergeant."
Rika's right eyebrow went up, "Oh really? Where was that?"
"Last semester at Todai School of Law. I was one of the three hundred you gave a talk to about integrating the law and the special assault teams." He smirked, "I was impressed then as I am now."
She laughed, "Well thanks! Let me introduce you around…"
When they were through, he sighed and asked, "So…are all of you doing alright? Any problems beside guys with bad manners?"
Saya's eyes narrowed, "You're a beta aren't you?"
He looked surprised for a moment before he chuckled. "Am I that transparent or are you just that smart?" he asked.
She smirked, "You're confident and it was the way you asked, like you were willing to help. Plus we have already had dealings with a couple of betas. And yes I'm a genius."
"Oh? Can I ask who?"
"Guy named Kirito, through another player and the Rat," she replied.
He chuckled again, "I never met Kirito, but know his reputation with a blade. Argo I think most of the beta testers know. I hope she didn't gouge you out of too much col."
"She and I matched wits," Saya replied. "She thinks I would make a good information broker. Calls me 'The Brain'."
This time he laughed out loud, "If Argo thinks that I bet you would be! So you know about the number of quests in this town?"
Rika nodded, "Yeah and we finished three of them today, but don't know what the other two are yet."
He hummed for a second and leaned close to her, cupping his mouth near her ear. After a minute he leaned back as she smiled.
"We have done one, four and five," she told him. "Thanks for the info, what do we owe you?"
He shook his head, "I'm not looking for anything like that. I know where to go and what to do to get money and xp. Tell you what though, let's friend each other. I might need a cop sometime."
Rika laughed, "And I might need a lawyer!" A minute later they were done.
Rathgar stood up, "Well my friends and I are going to head to bed. We are going to try to marathon all of the quests in one day and move on." He thought about something for a minute and leaned back over the table closer to Saya, "You know, Brain, you could sell the info about the quests you have already done to the young noobs that are here…"
An evil grin split the pink-haired girl's face. "Thanks for the idea!" she replied.
He laughed, "See you again sometime. Maybe we can all raid a boss together or something!" With that he returned to his friends and they proceeded upstairs.
Saya rubbed her hands together, "Now let's do this!" She stood up on the bench and called out, "Attention! Attention everyone! I have information about three of the quests available in this town. For a slight fee, I will tell you everything I know about them."
They almost got bowled over by the rush of boys running towards them.
"HOLD IT, HOLD IT, HOLD IT!" Rika shouted as the mob froze. "Everyone take a number and come over when I call you!" She pointed at the young boy that had talked to Alice earlier, "You're number one."
A few grumbled, everyone went back to their seats once they got a place in line.
The thirteen year old grinned as he sat down and asked, "How much?"
"Twenty col per quest, another twenty to learn about beast taming and the wolf."
"And get to talk to a pretty girl too? DONE!" he said as Takashi and the others laughed.
000
Three hours later they headed to their rooms. Saya had a satisfied smile on her face as she checked over how much she had made.
"You did good, 'Brain'," Kohta told her.
"Shut up, you," she said as she slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't use my professional name! I'll hurt you!"
He chuckled, "Saya you know you can't hurt me in town…"
"Oh I'll wait," she shot back. "We'll get outside the gates and I'll beat some sense into you!"
He frowned now, "I bet you would too…"
"Saya-onee-chan," Alice said as she tugged the girls arm. "Why did the thing above your head suddenly turn yellow?"
"Eh? What are you asking about…" she said as she looked up puzzled. "I totally forgot about those!"
Above each player's head, when you concentrated on them, was a diamond shaped icon. Normally the icon was green, but currently Takashi, Rika, Kohta, Morita and Hisashi's were orange, while Rei, Shizuka, Alice and Saeko's were green.
"That tells how bad you've been," she told the child. "The boys and Rika's are orange because they were in the fight. All the girls are green because we were not, but I don't understand why mine is yellow."
"Maybe because you have been beating on Kohta-kun every time he says something you don't like?" the blonde nurse said with a smirk.
'I…I don't mind…" the boy said red faced.
It was Saya's turn to blush as her anger rose. "That's because you're an M!" she shouted as she hit him in the arm again.
"Ooo, it got darker!" Shizuka said.
Now the pink-haired girl was totally embarrassed and stormed off to her room.
"See everyone in the morning," Takashi said as the others split up. Rika grinned at him and Saeko nodded to him slightly as they turned away.
A/N: It is AU that the Player Icons turn color, and then slowly fade back to green, in town if you hit or kick somebody without hurting them. Saya slapping on Kohta causes her's to go yellow fading into orange for a few hours if she hits him enough. I just thought it would be funny if there was evidence of her abusing him.
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EN: 1st posted 12/19/14
