I do not own Sword Art Online, Highschool of the DEAD or their characters.
Chapter 6
Floor One: Morning of day fifteen
"I have found an apartment that will meet our needs and is cheaper per week than the inn we are staying at now," Saya was saying as they gathered for supper.
"Here in Tolbana?" Rika asked as she munched on her bread.
"Over at the edge of town under the shadow of the walls," the pink-haired girl told them. "And I did take everyone's situation into consideration."
No one said anything, but Hisashi nodded to her in thanks. He and Rei moved into the same room together at the end of their first week in game. No one brought the matter up because no one truly cared. The couple was basically ignored. Rika and Shizuka spoke to them some, but a pecking order had definitely fallen in place, and they were at the bottom of it.
Saya was loyal to and followed Takashi. Kohta did the same, but it was apparent he was following Saya more than anything. Little Alice either stuck to Saya or Shizuka at most times.
Morita had become much more sober than the wisecracking boy they had known originally, while Shizuka and Rika stayed to the side, supporting Takashi, but not shunning the couple either.
Saeko had become even more like the samurai of old. Quiet and stoic, she watched the interactions of the others and spoke only when spoken too unless she had something to say about fighting…and fighting was pretty much all she thought about.
Takashi was much the same as the dark-haired sword mistress. He was broody and withdrawn; he fought with a ferocity that could be scary, throwing himself into battle without regard to his own safety. He had taken up smoking the same cigars as Rika after the woman bought a large quantity and shared them with him. He would sit alone for hours on the balcony of the boys' room, staring off into the distance, smoking and drinking the bottled juice like it was alcohol.
Rika would tease him, telling him he could always move in with her and Shizuka. It amused her to see Saya's frown when she did this, but the really interesting one was Saeko. The samurai would watch the byplay without facial expression, but Rika could see something in her eyes, something that told the older woman she had thoughts on the subject as well. Takashi would smile slightly and just say he still had his rain check.
Another thing Takashi had started doing was hunting. Some mornings he would get up and leave before the others, going out into the woods and fields north of the town and sitting down to wait for a wandering monster to come along. If she caught him leaving; Saeko would accompany him as would Morita, Kohta, Rika and sometimes Saya. Even Hisashi and Rei came along, but only to contribute in fighting, rarely to interact with the others.
They had learned there was an army of Kobolds between the town and the doors of the dungeon that led to the second floor entrance. Every day, players went out in groups and fought raiding parties as they tried to gain strength and xp. It had been told over the information brokers' network that until the field boss was put down, an extra-large and extra powerful raid chief, you could not enter the dungeon doors.
Except this morning Saya wanted to settle the matter of living quarters. They all knew she was right; they were wasting money living in the inn all the time, even if it did provide them with one meal a day.
She had just called for a vote; one she knew would be approved, when she suddenly collapsed.
They stared at her in shock for a moment before Kohta and Shizuka dove toward her.
"Saya!? Saya!" Kohta called as he lifted her up to slightly. "Sensei!? What's wrong with her!?"
Shizuka still played the part of the healer, even though there were no such class in the game. She always kept extra healing potions ready and was the first to a wounded player's side, even if they were not of the same party. Now she looked over the girl, studying her hit points and stats as best she could.
"I don't know," she said. "It's like she just fainted. She's not losing HP and her stats are steady."
"Maybe something happened in the real world," Rika suggested. "Power failure or something that has caused her gear to put her on hold or lag for some reason."
"Your guess is as good as mine," the blonde said as she sighed. "Kohta dear, please take her to our room. I'll watch over her for now."
The boy nodded and lifted the girl up in a princess carry. He climbed the stairs and placed her on her bed before moving back to take a seat in the corner. He watched quietly as the nurse checked over the girl again.
"It'll be alright," Takashi murmured as he squatted down next to his friend. "I'm sure she'll be fine."
Kohta nodded, but the worried look did not leave his face. The whole group knew he had fallen for Saya, but no one said anything. It was considered none of their business, though Saya did not acknowledge the boy other than to order him around.
Suddenly Takashi slumped to the floor.
"EH! Sensei! Takashi's down too!" Kohta cried out as he caught his friend.
"What's going on…" the blonde was saying as she too collapsed.
Kohta stared in shock as one after another all of his friends settled to the floor or beds, unconscious.
Thinking quickly he ran to the door and looked over the balcony rail down into the inn's great room. Every player he could see was in the same state while the NPC's simply walked around them.
Puzzled he went back inside and knelt down beside Saya's bed, taking her hand in his as suddenly he too succumbed to the spell.
000
Tokonosu, Japan: Mansion of Takagi Souichirou, leader of a right wing nationalist movement.
Noon of day fifteen
Don Takagi was tall for a Japanese, standing close to six foot made him an imposing figure. The man walking to his right, though shorter, was no less imposing than the politician.
Busujima Kage wore a perpetual frown since he found his daughter in her room wearing the nerve gear after the shocking announcement of two weeks ago.
The pair of old friends climbed the main staircase of the Takagi home and marched down the hall to turn into a room that had until a few days before, been a sitting and entraining area. Now it was lined with seven hospital beds, of which only one was currently occupied.
A violet-haired woman stood beside that bed, holding the hand of her pink-haired daughter.
"How are things, wife?" the tall man said as he gently placed his hand on the beautiful woman's shoulder.
"It is fine," Takagi Yuriko replied. "The transfer went well and the system is back up and running again. As the company said, the head gear's internal batteries were more than adequate to keep things going while we moved her here."
"When will the other children arrive?" Kage asked as he looked around the room.
"It should not be long now," she said. "They started with Takashi and Saeko. Rei, Hisashi, Kohta and Morita-kun will all follow within minutes."
Some called it 'moving day', others the 'great exodus'. Whatever you called it, it was the day that all of Japan had decided to move those trapped in the death game to hospitals and clinics all across the country. The computer system engineers had been able to put the game into a 'hold' mode, but for only a certain number of hours. This at least guarantied no player would die because of monster attacks during the transfer of their real world bodies.
The Takagi's had made the decision to remodel a room in their home to hold their precious daughter and her friends that they knew were in the game with her. They had not been hard to find since the other students in their class had known the group was going to dive the game. The Takagi's had known the Komuro's and the Miyamoto's for years, as they had Kage. They also now knew there were two teachers and at least a dozen other Fujimi High students trapped in the game also.
Their thoughts were interrupted as the first gurney came in with Takashi on it. Saeko's followed right behind and it only took a few minutes before their computers were running again and the teens hooked back up.
Kage watched as the techs finished their work and wheeled the stretchers out. He glanced to his side as Yuriko lay her hand softly on his arm.
"Do not worry, Sensei; she could not be with any better friends. Takashi is an honest, strong young man and since he was the one that invited her, I am sure he will be watching over her and my Saya."
He nodded, "I understand, Yuriko-san, but I am still a father and she is off with a boy after all."
The woman laughed, "Ah humor! I'm glad to see you still have yours! Do not worry. Takashi is honorable and we trust him."
"Speak for yourself, wife," Souichirou said with a smirk. "I thought the boy to be rather wishy-washy to be honest."
"Oh stop it," she replied. "You both know he's at that age."
"It's that age I worry about," Kage said with a frown.
"Don't worry, Kage-san, he and Hisashi have always been gentleman with Rei," said Miyamoto Kiriko as she and Komuro Himiko, Takashi's mother, walked in from the hall. "They are bringing her and Hisashi up now," Kiriko told Yuriko.
Himiko took her son's hand and squeezed it as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Don't worry, dear," Yuriko said as she hugged her old friend. "They will be fine. I will spare no expense in taking care of them."
The elementary school teacher nodded and looked at the men. "Do you have any news?" she asked.
Souichirou shook his head, "Not yet. The police are searching the length and breadth of Japan for Kayaba, but he has hidden himself well. Do not worry though; Tadashi-san is keeping me informed if anything shows up." He was referring to Miyamoto Tadashi, Kiriko's husband and Rei's father who was a police Chief Inspector.
The attendants brought Rei and Hisashi in and hooked them up. The parents all watched as the final two were wheeled in.
"I don't know anything about them," Kiriko said as Morita was hooked back to his computer.
"I think Takashi mentioned Morita-san before," Himiko said. "I believe he has been in school with them since second year of middle school. But I must confess I know nothing about the other young man."
"Hirano Kohta," Yuriko said. "His parents work in Europe and they flew back as soon as the school contacted them he was missing. I have convinced them to give him over to our care, as I did Morita-kun's parents. One of their other classmates said he remembered Takashi asking the boy to join them in the game because he had extensive knowledge of military and weapons."
"In other words, an otaku," Kage said with a smirk. "Well, I suppose you could call me a sword otaku. It is not always a bad thing to be dedicated to something. If they are truly fighting battles…it may be of benefit."
They others nodded as Yuriko squeezed the chubby boy's hand. "Let us hope then," she said.
000
Saya felt like she had been asleep for days when she opened her eyes. She was surprised to find Kohta kneeling unconscious at her bedside, his hand wrapped around hers.
She thought about this for a moment, but did not blow up; more concerned with the fact that everyone else was still out cold.
Slipping her hand free, she checked several others before petting Zeke on the head where he was lying down watching over Alice.
"Well you're not going nuts so I guess she's not in any danger," Saya muttered as she headed to the door. She did the same as Kohta had done and ran her eyes over the great room, seeing the players unconscious and the NPC's just standing still.
Going back into the bedroom, she went to the window next and looked outside to see the same scene being played out.
"Its system wide then," she muttered as she sat back down on the bed. She smirked as she ran her fingers through Kohta's hair. "He's like you, you know," she said to the little wolf, who was watching her with his big blue eyes. "Loyal to a fault, like a good puppy."
Her face got a mischievous look as she leaned over and brushed her lips across the boy's. She smiled as she found them soft and warm.
Hearing a moan she quickly sat up to see Takashi rubbing the back of his head from where he sat against the wall.
"What the fuck just happened?" the boy asked as he looked around.
"You know as much as I do," she replied as Saeko suddenly sat up straight from her position on the floor.
"Do you always get up so quickly, Busujima-senpai?" Takashi asked teasingly.
The girl's eyes were wide as she looked around the room at the others. "No," she replied. "But I thought I heard my father's voice…"
Takashi and Saya glanced at each other as Rei and Hisashi started waking up also.
"Something had to happen in the real world," Saya said as Morita sat up next, looking confused.
Kohta stirred next, but only sniffed and leaned over to snuggle against Saya's leg. She glared at him for a moment before saying, "Hey! Aren't you awake yet?"
"Just five more minutes, Saya-chan…" he mumbled.
The pink-haired girl snarled and punched him in the shoulder, knocking him across the floor.
"Yes ma'am! I'm awake ma'am!" he shouted as he sat up.
The others laughed as Saya grumbled, "About damn time!"
Alice stretched and hugged Zeke to her before she sat up to look around sleepily. "Did we take a nap, Kohta-onii-san?" she asked as she crawled over to get in Kohta's lap.
"Seems so, munchkin," he replied.
It was a few more minutes before first Rika, and then Shizuka woke up.
"It seems like the whole system was shut down or on some kind of standby mode," Saya was telling Rika a few minutes later.
The woman shook her head, "Don't know, I don't understand how that stuff works. Main thing is we're all awake now and looks like there are no ill effects."
"Looks like everyone else is moving again also," Morita said from the window where he could see players and NPC's interacting again.
"Well we've wasted enough daylight," Takashi said. "I'm going hunting for a while." Saeko, Morita, and Rika got up to follow.
Kohta looked after the group for a moment before he glanced at Saya.
She huffed, "Go and grind some; you need the levels. Shizuka and I will walk over and pay for the apartment."
"You don't want me to stay and…protect you…?" he asked.
She started to explode, but paused, "No, Zeke is with us so there should not be any trouble. Most other players are scared of him anyway."
The boy nodded and followed the others out the door.
"I think we will go also," Hisashi said.
"Be careful!" Shizuka told them as they left.
"Now," Saya said. "Let's go get this done before we lose the place."
000
They had taken down several groups of kobolds before it started getting dark. As they headed back, Takashi got a message.
"Saya says come to the new place," he told the others. "But she didn't bother to tell me how to get to the new place…"
"I know how," Saeko said as she punched her menus. "All you have to do is locate where she is."
"Ah," he said as he frowned. "I didn't know you could do that. Is that how you've been finding me when I am off hunting solo?"
Saeko smirked, "A girl needs her secrets, Komuro-kun…"
Following the dark-haired girl they arrived at a two-story town house style apartment…that had half a dozen boy players hanging around outside of it.
"What's going on?" Takashi asked as they walked up.
"Dude! A bunch of good looking girls just moved in here!" one of them exclaimed, as he turned to look at who he was speaking to. His eyes went wide as he realized there were three more beauties in the new group. "HEY! Now three more have shown up!"
Teenage boys seem to come out of the woodwork. What started as six was suddenly a dozen and growing as others ran from down the street.
"What the hell is this about!?" Takashi shouted as the mob started pressing around them.
"What do you think it's about," and older looking boy said as he pushed to the front. "Only fifteen percent of the players in the game are girls and you seem to have an extraordinary amount of fine looking ones around you," he said as he sneered at the boy. "Time to share the wealth boy."
"Why you little piece of shit!" Rika said as she drew back her fist to punch the asshole in the face.
There was a flash of silver as Saeko beat her to the blow. She drew her katana and slashed at the boy's neck, causing him to jump backwards into more of the group, bowling them down
"What the hell!?" the twenty something roared as he jumped up. "Who the hell do you think you are, little girl!?"
"I am Busujima Saeko of the clan Busujima, kendo master and samurai. You have insulted my friend and I will have the satisfaction of a duel!" with that she punched up her menu and keyed the start of the dueling sequence.
"You'll get it, chick, and when I win you'll date me and do what I say!" he replied as he accepted the challenge. "I'm fifth level! A little girl like you won't be able to stand against me!"
"Wait a minute," Morita said as he looked at Takashi. "Did he just say fifth level? I thought Saeko topped out at eighth level today?"
"Yep," Takashi said as he crossed his arms and stood back to watch.
"What?" the older boy said as he overheard the remark. Behind him one of the other boys spoke up.
"Dude! That's the zombie killing chick! I saw her take down like a dozen zombified players! You don't stand a chance against her!"
The asshole frowned as he held up his sword and shield; no longer sure he was walking the right course. Everyone backed away to open a spot as Saeko replaced her sword in its sheath and leaned forward, ready for her quick draw.
The system voice counted down to one and the girl exploded in action. She drew and slashed crossways, shattering her opponent's shield. She back slashed shattering his sword next. For her third move she stabbed in, shoving her katana through his shoulder and knocking him to the ground.
'DING! DING! DING! Duel conditions have been met! The winner is Saeko!'
Only she did not draw back. A sinister smile crossed her face as she held her sword embedded in the boy's body watching his hit points bleed out.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" he shouted as a look of terror crossed his face.
"Oh didn't you know?" Saeko said. "The duel is not finished until I withdraw my blade. This is the way you can kill in the game and not end up with an orange PK icon…"
"Saeko stop it," Takashi said, walking forward. "He's learned his lesson, now let him go."
She smiled at the boy, "Do you know how good it feels, Takashi? Holding someone's life in your hands like this? It is exhilarating!"
"Stop her, please!" the boy pleaded with Takashi. "I give! I give! I'll never come near any of you ever again! I swear!" His HP entered red and slowly slid toward zero.
"What about you, Rei? He insulted you also, acting as if we were property to be passed around as they pleased. Do you think I should stop?" the samurai asked.
"Yes! Please stop, Saeko! You're…you're scaring me!"
The tall girl frowned and withdrew her blade as the boy's HP began to blink danger. With a flash her sword was back at his throat though. "Understand me, filth, if you ever again think to treat a woman like you wanted to treat us, I will hunt you down and finish what I started here tonight." She leaned forward where she was face to face with him, "I will take your life in the most gruesome way I can and make sure you never act this way to another female."
"I…I understand!" he stuttered as he slid backwards away from her.
"Everyone else understand!?" Rika called out to the now terrified group of teenage boys standing around. "You're all a hundred years too early to face such as us! Now go away and don't come back!"
Two grabbed the wounded one and boys scampered in all direction to get away from the scary women.
The policewoman spun on Saeko next, "What the hell were you thinking? Do you understand if you had killed him I would have to arrest you and keep you locked up until we get out of this game?"
The girl looked away from the irate woman, face reddening, "It seems I was not thinking at the time, Minami-san. I was caught in the throes of battle rage. I apologize to you."
Saeko nodded, "I apologize to you also, Takashi. I was not of my right mind at the time."
The boy nodded in return. "Just don't do it again," he said as Saya came out the front door.
"Are you through now?" she asked. "We still have to do something about supper."
"Oh! Saya I want to try to cook!" Saeko declared happily as she headed into their new home.
Rika shook her head. "We are going to have to keep a watch on her," she told Takashi. "I'm thinking there is a problem there…"
The boy simply nodded as he followed the others inside.
000
Floor One: Day twenty eight
"That's it! Scratch off one field boss!" the big axe user named Agil called out as the raid chief exploded into data.
"Good work, everyone!" the self-proclaimed knight named Diavel said as they all stopped to take a rest. "We'll start on the dungeon tomorrow and I hope to be ready to fight the floor boss by the end of the week!"
"You guy's going to come?" the black man asked Takashi and Saeko.
"I don't know, Agil," Takashi said. "We've been grinding pretty hard lately. We might take a day and let the tanks make some ground and map before we come in."
"Yeah I came see that," the man said as he leaned back on the grass.
Takashi and his friends had met the man a few days before in the square in Tolbana. He had been told to look for a pink-haired girl for information and found Saya, Kohta and little Alice sitting near the fountain. Takashi and the others had arrived while they were talking. They were all surprised at the man's size but found him to be a nice gentle person with a big smile who loved kids.
"Well I slumped around in Beginnings to long so I'm behind the curve," Agil said. "I guess I'll be here."
"Be safe then, Agil-san," Saeko said as they got up to head back to town.
"Nice guy, I like him," Rika said as she put her arms behind her head and stretched.
Takashi was only half listening as he scanned through his drops, looking to see what he had gotten.
Rika sighed and glanced at Saeko, who was walking while looking straight ahead. The woman had been watching the pair closer over the last few days after the fan boy incident.
Kohta had been staying close to Saya, Alice and Shizuka since then. Rika had thought the Takagi heiress would have complained about the boy, but she just shrugged her shoulders and went on about her business.
Morita pretty much went where Takashi and Saeko did, while Rei and Hisashi tagged along on the fringe as normal.
Party conflict does no one any good, the woman thought as she pondered what to do.
As they entered Tolbana, Saeko stopped and picked up items for their supper. The girl was really leveling up her cooking skill. Saya and Rei helped too and they all enjoyed the food the trio had been putting together.
"Maybe we should invite Agil-san to supper one evening," Saeko said as she put her purchases in her item storage.
"He might like that," Rika said. "He talks about his wife's cooking a good bit."
They arrived home to find the others there with Alice, Zeke and Kohta sitting outside.
"Did you get any new information, Saya?" Takashi asked as they sat down to eat.
"Not really," the girl replied. "Found out about a couple of special quests on the west side of the floor, but that's all. It's like…it's like everyone is holding their breath waiting for the floor boss to be taken down."
"Well it will show that we're making progress in clearing the game," Rika said. "And to be honest, once the other floors start to open up, there will be less crowding everywhere."
"The way people are dying, you would think there would be less crowding anyway," Kohta said.
The others frowned at him for bringing up the semi-forbidden subject. To date, three thousand, two hundred and twenty one people had died in game, many by zombie attack.
"Takashi, I want to talk to you and Rika tonight. I saw a new crossbow today and I think it might be time to upgrade," Kohta said.
The dark-haired boy nodded, "Okay, I'm going to take a walk after this, so we can discuss it then."
The chubby boy nodded and they all concentrated on their food.
Later Takashi, Kohta, Saeko, Rika and Alice walked slowly around town together. Alice was running ahead with Zeke, but always staying in sight.
"So what are the advantages of the new bow?" Takashi asked his friend.
"It will cut two seconds off my reload time," Kohta said. "Plus it's a heaver model so I should be hitting harder. If I upgrade to hundred arrow quivers at the same time, it should up my combat effectiveness by a couple of factors. On top of that, it can be enhanced to a +8 where the bow I have now can only go to +4."
"Sounds good to me, how much do you need from party funds?" the teen asked as Rika nodded agreement.
"That's just it," Kohta said with a grin. "I only need a few col. What I want to do though is save my old bow for Saya so she can have it when she gets the weapons change skill."
Rika shook her head, "Don't. I understand what you're trying to do, but by the time we get to the third level there should be a bigger selection of gear. Everything we hear says that's the level when a lot of armors and weapon upgrades are unlocked."
"Well I was just trying to think of the money it would save," the boy replied.
"Do what you want to," Takashi said. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to have a backup. I've heard other players talking about that especially after the incident the other night when Saeko broke that guy's shield and sword."
"It seemed to be of much inferior quality to a good katana," the girl said.
"Yeah and I'm surprised you didn't break your sword, by-the-way," Takashi said.
"Well I must admit the durability of mine is getting down around fifty percent," she replied.
"Maybe what we need to be doing is getting all of our weapons looked at," he said. "Right now though, I think I'm ready for a bath and bed."
They called Alice to them and headed back together."
Back at the apartment:
"I guess we'll call it a night," Hisashi said as he and Rei nodded and went to their room.
Saya only frowned slightly as she glanced up from the new player's handbook she was reading. These had shown up in NPC shops a few days before and had a ton of info from the beta testers in it.
"Are you ever going to forgive them, Saya-chan?" Shizuka asked.
"I don't know if I can," she replied. She leaned back and sighed as she looked at the nurse. "For years I thought Takashi might be the boy I ended up with once we got to high school," she said. "But Rei came along and he fell head over heels for her. Now I can understand that life is not a manga and the childhood friend does not always end up with the guy. But for her to lead him along like that and then cheat on him with his best friend…I find it very, very hard to forgive something like that."
She picked the book back up again, "I have nothing more to say as long as they pull their weight."
"Hmm," Shizuka murmured as she thought. "So what do you think about Kohta-kun?"
The pink-haired girl flinched slightly like she had been poked in the side, "I don't think anything about him. He is loyal and a good friend and that's as far as it goes."
"I see," the blonde said as she smirked. "He does have a nice broad back though…"
Saya glared at the woman as the blonde flounced over to welcome the rest of the group back from their walk.
"Saya, Kohta is going to get a new crossbow tomorrow and we decided to look at upgrading our weapons at the same time," Takashi told her as he sat down across from her.
She nodded, "We are doing rather well money wise right now so it would be a good time to do it."
"It's decided then," the boy said as he headed toward the bath.
The girl just shook her head as she watched him go. Rika came over and sat down in the seat Takashi had just left.
"Problems, Takagi-san?"
"He's just so different lately," she told the police officer.
"I don't know what to tell you, you know him much better than I do," the woman replied.
"Yeah, so I thought," Saya said as she went back to concentrating on the book.
000
Floor One: Day thirty one
The group was attending the meeting for taking down the floor boss. Takashi leaned back as he watched Agil debate the beta-hating idiot Kibaou.
"What the hell is wrong with that guy's hair?" Saya asked as her face wrinkled in disgust.
Takashi shook his head as he looked at Kibaou's head, which had what looked like brown ice-cream cones sticking out of it. He glanced around at the other attendees and his eyes narrowed as he focused on one pair.
It was a boy he recognized from the first night of the death game, Kirito he though his name was, Scruffy Guy's beta friend. He was sitting with what looked to be a girl wrapped in a long brown cloak.
"Yeah that's who I thought that was," he heard Saya say. Turning back to his group he asked, "Who was what, Saya?"
The pink-haired girl smirked, "Argo was standing up top. She disappeared real quickly when dumbass started his tirade about the betas. I messaged her and invited her to supper. What were you looking at?"
"Over there," he said as he pointed, but when he looked back, the couple was gone. "I thought I just saw that beta that we saw the first night with Scruffy Guy."
"Well if he's around I bet he's going to be in on the raid tomorrow," she said.
He nodded as he followed the rest back to the house.
000
"Aww man that was good!" Argo said as she rubbed her belly and stretched after supper. "You're a great cook, Saeko-san!"
"Thank you," the samurai said as she bowed he head slightly to the girl.
"So how have you been doing?" Rika asked as she lit one of her smokes.
Argo started to extend her hand in the 'pay me' shape, but stopped and laughed when Saya frowned at her. "Just kidding, Pinky. I'm fine, though I'm getting wary of this anti-beta tester movement."
"I can understand why," Saya said. "I've been accused twice now, but thanks to having a guard, they didn't dare try to do anything."
"Yeah I heard about Saeko-san roughing up the fan boy horde," the other girl said with grin. "Wished I could 'a seen that! I've had trouble a couple of times, but nothing that brash luckily."
"Well, be careful," Rika said. "You're running solo so that makes it doubly dangerous for you."
"Are you going to the boss fight tomorrow?" Kohta asked.
Argo shook her head, "I try to stay away from the heavy hitters. I'm too small to do much good anyway."
"I was thinking of going," Saya said.
The Rat shook her head again, "What level are you, Brain? Fifth? Don't go unless you're at least eighth or higher. They have the info on that guy, but if something has changed from the beta, it could get very ugly."
"I'm going to stay here with Alice, Argo-san. If Saya-san is going to stay too, why don't you join us for the day?" Shizuka asked the girl.
She thought about it for a minute and then nodded, "I think I will. Brain and I can compare notes and work on being ready when the gates open up."
Saya thought about it for a minute and nodded also, "Alright, you've convinced me. I'll stick around here." Her eyes drifted to Kohta though, who was looking greatly relieved at her decision.
"So…what's for dessert?" the Rat asked with a grin.
000
Floor One: Day thirty-two. Floor Boss battle,
It had started to turn into a nightmare like Argo said it might. Takashi, Saeko, Morita, Rei and Hisashi worked on holding the right flank against the 'Kobold Ruin Sentinels' while Rika and Kohta along with several other ranged weapon users, peppered whichever monster came closest to the rear guard.
On the left side Takashi had seen Kirito and the girl in the cloak holding that flank, until 'Illfang the Kobold Lord' made his weapon change.
Suddenly Kirito was running forward screaming at Diavel about it being the wrong sword and everything became confused from there.
Minutes later Diavel was dead and Kirito with the help of the beautiful girl, who had lost her cloak in an attack, had killed the boss. Agil took zombie Diavel's head as the fight ended.
After a few minutes of cheers, the beta-hating idiot Kibaou started his accusations.
"Bullshit!" Takashi called out as the players argued. He was stunned as the rest when Kirito acted like a fourteen year old with 'Chuunibyo' or '8th grader syndrome', praising himself and then naming himself a 'beater,' forging the word from 'beta cheater'.
Takashi had to laugh as Kirito jogged off with the girl following him as the rest of the fighters stood stunned.
"Where are you going, Takashi?" Saeko asked as he ran forward also.
"Second floor," the boy said. "I want to see what it looks like and I want to talk to Kirito a minute also!"
She and the rest of their group chased after him as the others fussed about dividing up the drops and col.
Takashi arrived at the top of the stairs to find Agil peeking out of the big double doors. The man held up his hand for Takashi to wait when he ran up.
"What's going on?" the dark-haired boy asked as Saeko and the others queued up behind him.
"They are having a moment," the big man said with a grin. "Let's leave them alone for a bit."
"How sweet," Saeko said with a smile as she looked at the couple talking. As they watched though, they waved goodbye to each other and the girl started back as the boy jogged off.
"No more waiting! I need to talk to him, Agil!" Takashi said as he burst from the door and chased after the swordsman.
The surprised girl stopped as Takashi rushed by. She turned to look at what was going on as Saeko stepped up beside her.
"Have you known each other long?" the samurai asked the rapier user.
"Wha…ah…no not really," the chestnut-haired girl replied, confused. "Uh, why is he chasing him?"
"Do not worry," Saeko said. "He simply wishes to speak with him for a minute. He means him no harm."
"Oh…okay," the girl said as she watched for a second before turning to Saeko. "I…I didn't know there were any other girls in the fight today."
"We were in the back and holding the right flank," Rika said as she stepped out to look at the scenery of the second floor. "Your boyfriend there was pretty impressive! You should be proud of him."
The girl seemed to gobble for a second before she found her voice again, "Oh! Oh no! He's not my boyfriend! He's just a…well he is a friend that taught me a lot…"
"Give it time," Agil said as he and Rika laughed.
The girl turned bright red and rushed around the group to get back into the dungeon.
000
"Hey man wait up!" Takashi called out as he chased after Kirito. "I want to talk to you a second!"
"About what?" the younger boy said as he stopped and placed his hand on his sword hilt.
"Peace!" Takashi said as he raised his hands. "Peace! I just wanted to thank you."
"For what? Killing the boss?" the other boy asked, now totally confused.
"Well," Takashi said as he grinned. "Congrats on that, but no. I want to thank you for the first night of this game."
Kirito stared at him, shaking his head. "Umm, did I do something? Because sorry if I did I don't remember you."
Takashi laughed, "Well no, but you had a hand in it. We saw you that first night talking to your scruffy friend and spoke to him after you left. He told us you were a beta and explained what you had said about the resources. Because of that we moved on the next town to the west and have been ahead of the masses ever since."
"Scruffy friend? Klein? Rough looking guy with an ugly bandanna?"
"Yeah that's him," Takashi said with a laugh. "I didn't get his name so I've just been referring to him as 'scruffy guy' ever since."
Kirito laughed. It was a joyous laugh, like a weight had been lifted off of him. He shook his head, "Klein looks like the type you would not want to meet in a dark alley, but you're right, I think he's a nice guy."
"Oddly enough, a dark alley is where we met him!" Takashi said as he shared the other boy's laughter.
This only caused Kirito to laugh harder. They went on for a few minutes before Kirito stopped and got his breath back. "Thanks…I…I didn't get your name…"
"Komuro Takashi, but you can call me Takashi," he said as he bowed slightly to the younger boy.
"You used your real name? You know that's a kinda noob move right? No offence meant…"
"None taken," Takashi replied. "A group of us entered the game together and since most of the girls were new to gaming, we thought it might be best to use our real names. Of course we didn't know it was going to end up like this."
"A bunch of girls, huh?" Kirito said as he looked back over Takashi's shoulder where he could see Saeko and Rika talking to Agil on the door's steps. "Take care of them, Takashi, the male to female ratio in this game is very unbalanced, and that's a problem."
"Yeah we have already had some problems, but to be honest," he said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Our girls are pretty tough! Maybe as tough as the one you were with today."
Kirito smiled a second before nodding, "Yeah, she's tough and going to be tougher. I think she will be one of the most powerful players one day. Hey, sorry but I need to go. I have to get to the main town on this floor and touch the teleport arc to officially open the floor. After I do that you will be able to gate back and forth. Oh, the main town here is Urbus. Don't forget the name, you need it to port. It will give you another big jump ahead of the others."
"Any other wise words of wisdom before you go?" Takashi asked as he held out his fist for the other boy to bump.
"Yeah, see that mountain over there?" the boy said as Takashi nodded. "Climb that mountain and find the martial arts master's hut. It's an individual quest, but each person that completes it gets an extra skill. It's useful in hand to hand."
Takashi smiled and nodded, "Thanks. Stay safe beater!"
Kirito laughed, "Thanks, you too! See you around sometime!"
With that he ran over to a set of steps in the cliff face and started down on his mission.
Takashi jogged back to where the others waited. He smiled as he approached and stopped to look back.
"It looks like some of the mountains of Japan," Saeko remarked as she joined him in looking at the view.
"It's a lot more than that," the boy said. "It's the start of the end of this game."
"Amen to that, brother," Agil said as Rika nodded.
A/N: Please Review, Favorite and Follow!
EN: 1st posted 12/27/14