Pairings: Shigehiro/Tamaki. Kirito/Asuna.

Warnings: AU Universe. OOC. Gender swap. Minor character bashing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke and Sword Art Online or any of the characters, but the OC characters belongs to me


Chapter Seven: Illusion

~February 18, 2024; Floor 50: Algade~

Tamaki was sorting through all her items in her inventory whilst sitting on a bench in the town plaza of the town of Algade one night when she realised that it had nearly been a year since they've gotten trapped in Sword Art Online.

The clearing guilds—the lead group had managed to reach up to Floor 56 thus far, suffering minimal casualties due to careful planning and by following the strategies that Tamaki had came up with. For now, there is a lull in conquering the floor dungeons as the various guild leaders have decided to earn more Col to get better equipment and gear so as to prevent more deaths.

'It's been nearly a year, huh?' Tamaki mused almost sadly as she eyed the internal clock on her menu interface that showed the date and time. 'I wonder what is going on outside now?'

After all, while the players trapped in the game could still connect with the real world by posting status updates and even pictures of their status to put the minds of their loved ones and friends at ease, they have no way of knowing what's happening in the real world.

It's been nearly two months since Kirito had officially joined the Phantom Blue guild, and it had caused quite a ruckus in the beginning—that the Black Swordsman, the famed beater that solo the front lines had finally joined a guild. And not just any guild, but the Phantom Blue guild. But as it isn't like the members of Phantom Blue haven't heard it before, not a single member of that guild had cared about it.

After all, they're relatively well known for being a guild of beta testers (even though nearly half of their members aren't beta testers), and they have their fair share of gossipers when the guild was first founded, especially with the high skill and level of the members of the guild. And it didn't help matters that Phantom Blue is easily one of the top guilds in Sword Art Online, despite being a small guild with less than twenty members.

It was almost awkward for Phantom Blue in the beginning when Kirito had first joined them, as the Black Swordsman isn't exactly what you would call a social person. Klein is usually the one dragging Kirito into conversations and all that, though Kirito do talk to his fellow beta testers, and after nearly two weeks of awkward conversation, have managed to struck up a kind of tentative friendship with the rest of the guild.

Two weeks after Kirito had joined the Phantom Blue guild found the entire guild as a whole heading back down to Floor 22—Coral, to purchase their guild house, as Tamaki and the entire guild as a whole is getting tired of having to rent inn rooms or even camping outdoors for months.

Floor 22, Coral, had been one of the floors that the Clearers—the lead group had cleared the fastest—clearing it and defeating the Floor Boss in just a mere three days after unlocking the floor. The difficulty level is relatively low, with no relatively important quests. As such, not many players frequent this floor. The only ones that do are mainly those that have Fishing and Woodcrafting as their sub classes.

Phantom Blue had fallen in love with the place when they've first arrived at Floor 22 along with the rest of the lead group during the early days of the formation of Phantom Blue and the lead group, and they were almost reluctant to leave when the Floor Boss had been defeated.

Floor 22, Coral, is a place particularly reminiscent of the countryside in the real world—with several deep coniferous forests, grass plains and even numerous lakes that dot the landscape. The forests and lakes in Coral alone occupy most of the floor's area, along with a humongous lake.

As there are no houses for sale by the lakeside or even the forest area—much to Tamaki's disappointment, Kris had actually suggested purchasing part of the land in the area and building a house from scratch. That idea had merit for the entire guild, as Floor 22 is extremely peaceful—and they could just forget that they're trapped in the middle of a death game and have to fight their way out just for a few hours.

In Sword Art Online, players are allowed to purchase land or even buildings—making it their private property provided if they have enough Col. And with the amount of Col that Phantom Blue had earned since day one since they've been diligently fighting monsters and completing quests since their guild's formation, they have more than enough Col to purchase a 500 acre land in the surrounding areas of the forest and lake. It isn't cheap, as it had taken more than half of the Col in their guild bank, but all of the guild had willingly paid the price for it, as they honestly wanted a home to call their own instead of camping all over the place.

It is only after they've made the purchase of the land when Kirito and Klein have accidentally stumbled upon a log cabin tucked away in the forest that is already part of Phantom Blue's private property—part of the reward for a quest available only for this floor alone that no player had ever attempted as the rewards are too low for the difficulty level.

Nirali (Mochida) had actually jokingly stated to Ciav (Shigehiro) whilst out of the earshot of most of their guild members that with the amount of land that they have purchased on this floor, should Shigehiro and Tamaki actually decided to get married in-game one day, they will have enough land to build a private house just for the two of them.

Most of the guild members had actually wondered at the reason behind the loud howl of pain that Mochida had given out that had actually startled several birds into flight from the trees. And also why the entire guild had came across Shigehiro moments after that disgruntling making a health potion appear from his inventory into his hand and handing it to Mochida who had half his health bar down in a supposedly safe area.

As none of the members of Phantom Blue had chosen Woodcrafting as part of their sub job classes, Tamaki and Shigehiro have to search for a player with a high enough skill in Woodcrafting to build their guild house.

Thankfully, there are plenty of players with the Woodcrafting skill lounging about in Floor 22. And not to mention that after things within the game had stabilised, there have been players that are creating merchant guilds or even crafting guilds—preferring to focus on that part instead of being a frontline player due to the fear of actually dying in the game. As those guilds actually made life easier for the more combat oriented players, no one had complained.

Thankfully, Tamaki's reputation as the head of Phantom Blue and as the leading strategist for the lead group had actually helped Phantom Blue in their search for a high level Woodcrafter, as Michitaka, the head of the largest crafting guild in the game had actually responded to Tamaki's request. His guild, Oceanic Systems actually consisted of players with every single crafting sub class ever known in the game—and all are high-level players.

Michitaka himself is a pretty high level Blacksmith, and after listening to what Tamaki and Phantom Blue wants for their guild house, he along with ten of his guild members have came to Coral with the various building supplies that they need to build a house. It had taken them nearly a week, but the end result had pleased all of Phantom Blue—as they now have a house that they can call their own. It is more of a log cabin that had two levels—with the second level mainly being their bedrooms. Now each guild member can have their own room. The first level is mainly the sitting area—with a fireplace and everything. The guild members of Phantom Blue had actually done quite a lot of shopping to furnish their guild house after that—as Michitaka had refused to accept payment from Tamaki, saying that he owed her several large favours anyway—and for her to consider this being one of the favours returned.

Sighing, Tamaki opened up her menu interface, selecting the cheese sandwich that Shigehiro had made earlier that morning for all of them. The rest of the guild have gone about completing quests or even level grinding that day whilst Tamaki and Shigehiro have opted to gather some intel due to an alarming increase of rumours regarding red and orange guilds lately.

The other clearing guilds have also been concerned—but thus far, all that the major guilds could do is to increase security around their various territories to decrease the chances of the players within their territories to get attacked by red or orange players.

The soft sounds of footsteps reaches her ears just then, and Tamaki looked up only to see Shigehiro approaching her with a solemn look on his face, and with a copy of the SAO Daily in his hands. He sat down on the bench next to her, handing the paper in his hands to Tamaki who took it without a word. The headline news is that of another guild getting attacked by some orange guild on one of the lower floors.

"…It's getting way out of hand." Shigehiro said with a sigh. "We're going to have to do something."

"Honestly, we should already have seen this coming ever since Laughing Coffin had came into existence." Tamaki mused even as Shigehiro brought up his menu interface and making a beef sandwich appear in his hand from his inventory. "There has been an increase of red and orange players of late—even quite a few orange guilds. You know that—half the cells in the prison were full because of us."

And it is true.

After all, during the time when they got off from being on the front lines with the rest of the lead group—they spent it cracking down on orange or red players. Tamaki, Kirito and Shigehiro were particularly aggressive when it comes to hunting down the red and orange players—most probably due to what had happened to Ryusei and Pandemonium, and even Shinya.

Caet had even managed to max out his crafting skill just a mere week ago so that they no longer have to buy the expensive customised teleport crystals to bring those red and orange players to the prison cell. But instead, Caet could make the teleport crystals with materials. Those materials aren't cheap either—and they often have to get it from the various high level merchant guilds or even those high level merchants that have shops. Sometimes, when their usual routes couldn't secure those materials, they have to source for those materials by approaching the item hunters. But compared to continuously buying the customised teleport crystals, buying the materials for Caet to make those teleport crystals makes more sense.

Tamaki and Takao have also nearly maxed out their sub classes—having picked their sub jobs about a week after Kris had joined them. Takao had chosen to be a Brewer—much to their confusion. But no one had complained—especially not Klein and his friends who have missed the taste of alcoholic beverages. Takao's starting drinks had tasted horrible however, and it had taken lots of prompting and several test tastes from Caet and a cautious Kris before they were brave enough to try drinking Takao's drinks once more.

Tamaki on the other hand had chosen to be a Tailor after seeing the alarming number of pelts, leather and even cloth that they have gathered from all their level grinding—and after realising that being a Tailor meant that she could create high level armour and gear for her guild that wouldn't be available in shops—something that her guild needs if they want to survive long enough to reach the final floor.

Shigehiro said nothing—it is true after all.

"It's been nearly a year." Tamaki said suddenly, and Shigehiro turned towards her with a quirked brow. "It's been nearly a year since we've been trapped in Sword Art Online." Tamaki managed a small sad smile. "I wonder… What is going on in the real world?"

"If I know Seijuro at all, he will no doubt be in a pretty bad temper ever since we've gotten trapped in here." Shigehiro tried to joke to take Tamaki's mind off the more serious things. "He always is whenever it comes to you."

Tamaki smiled, and Shigehiro let out an internal whoop at seeing Tamaki smile—he hadn't seen her smile ever since their first year at middle school when he'd came over to Tokyo for the end of year holidays, spending nearly a month with both Seijuro and Tamaki. And with everything that had happened at Teiko during her final two years, Shigehiro isn't surprised in the least.

Tamaki then leaned her head backwards, looking up at the night sky full of glittering and shining stars—all sparkling like diamonds on black velvet. "…The night sky is beautiful tonight," she said at last. "You could never see a sight like this back in the real world. Sometimes, it makes me forget that we're in a game." Tamaki gave a small smile. "Ciav, have you looked at the night sky like this in the real world?"

"No, I haven't."

"I have. Countless times. More than I care to remember." Tamaki whispered. "My parents are never around when they were still alive—caring more about their jobs than anything else. They aren't the best parents in the world, but still…" She trailed off slowly, and Shigehiro looked sad. He of course knew about Tamaki's family situation from Seijuro before he'd moved away. It is mainly the reason why Tamaki and Seijuro have spent so much time together with each other when they were children—they are all that the other had. Tamaki because she is always alone, and Seijuro because of his father. "Whenever I feel lonely, I used to climb to the top of the roof and watch the stars from there—or at least, whatever stars that I could see anyway. It makes me feel less lonely. Whenever I feel sad or even upset, I do the same thing." Tamaki gave a weak smile. "But I guess, it's no good after all…"

Shigehiro was then taken aback as he felt Tamaki leaning against his shoulder.

"Tam—Tsuyu?"

"Sorry. Just let me stay like this… For just a little while." Tamaki murmured, her eyes closed.

Shigehiro smiled before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah. Stay as long as you like," he whispered, listening to Tamaki's breathing even out as she drifted off to sleep.

With just how stressed that Tamaki had been lately—both with the issue with the red and orange players and then with the lead group, it is a wonder that Tamaki had been able to get any rest at all. In fact, the off days that the lead group had gotten had been mainly due to the various guild leaders in the lead group noticing just how hard Tamaki had been pushing herself as their leading strategist and also as one of their frontline fighters, and all of them have petitioned to let all their guilds and the solo players in the lead group to have two weeks of vacation to recharge themselves.

Shigehiro leaned in close to Tamaki before he hesitated, and drew back again. He stared at his clenched fist—the one not holding Tamaki in place. "It's not good, is it, Seijuro?" he whispered, looking upwards at the night sky. "We might be childhood friends, but…" He trailed off slowly before closing his eyes briefly. "…Just let me stay by her side. It's enough for me."

XXXXXX

~February 20, 2024; Floor 30: Lisan~

"Are we missing anything else?" Kirito asked Tamaki and Shigehiro who were both looking through the shopping list that Tamaki had with her, crossing out the items that they've gotten, and had placed away in their inventories.

The trio have gone on shopping duty that day, since the others either want to go level grind some more, or gather some intel on any new quests that they could take to earn more Col. With just how much that the land that they've built their guild house on had cost, let alone the furniture and items that they've bought to furnish it, each and every single member of Phantom Blue is running a little low on Col right now—both the guild bank and their own private funds. It is just fortunate that they have a Pharmacist (Kris), thus, they do not have to worry about running low on health potions.

"Uh…" Shigehiro peered over Tamaki's right shoulder, with Kirito peering over her left shoulder. The two could easily do that since they both towered over Tamaki by a head at least. Even Kris who is by far the smallest in the entire guild is taller by Tamaki by a few inches, much to her annoyance. "I think we've gotten everything. We just have to remember to drop by Michitaka's guild to collect the items that Caet had requested for his teleport crystals. We're running low on that, apparently."

"We need more food ingredients as well." Tamaki stated, shoving the shopping list into her pocket and turning to face the two boys with her. "We're running low on that as well—and we need energy to function."

"Let's drop by the merchant's then." Kirito suggested. "Or even the item shop—"

"Please! Avenge them, I beg you!"

"What's going on over there?" Tamaki wondered, looking towards the source of the disturbance only to see a crowd forming in the middle of the marketplace.

"Let's go check it out." Shigehiro suggested, and his two companions nodded before they moved towards the crowd.

The three teens pushed their way through the forming crowd until they are somewhere at the front only to see a man with dark brown hair dressed in Swordsman gear with a frantic look on his face, with tears forming around his eyes, clutching at the cloak of a nearby Swashbuckler who looked bewildered.

"Please! My guild! Avenge them, I beg you!"

"What's going on here?" Kirito wondered in complete confusion as they watched the man approaching player after player.

"Poor thing." A Swordsman not too far away from the trio whispered to his companion. "I heard that his entire guild got wiped out by one of the orange guilds. He was the only one that managed to escape the massacre—and that is only because he's got a Teleport Crystal with him."

Tamaki, Shigehiro and Kirito exchanged quick looks with each other the moment they heard the words 'orange guild' and they nodded. Tamaki approached the distraught Swordsman with Shigehiro and Kirito close behind her, dropping a hand down onto his shoulder. The man turned around in surprise, desperation all over his face.

"Please!" He pleaded again. "Please help me! Avenge my guild, I beg you!"

Tamaki exchanged looks with the other two boys again before she sighed, turning towards the Swordsman. "…We'll listen to what you have to say," she said at last.


Half an hour later, the three members of Phantom Blue along with the Swordsman are all in the restaurant on the first level of the Laughing Cats Inn—the inn of this particular floor, all nursing a cup of warm tea in their hands.

"My name is Haz." The Swordsman introduced himself the moment that he'd managed to calm himself down, sitting across the three members of Phantom Blue. "I'm the guild leader of Silver Flags."

"It's a relatively new guild if I'm not mistaken." Tamaki frowned, trying to remember what she knew of that guild. "It's one of the combat guilds, but also one of the smaller ones."

"Yes. That's right."

"What happened?" Kirito asked bluntly. "You keep asking for someone to avenge your guild."

Haz's hands started to shake. "…It happened in one of the field dungeons on level 29," he said at last, raising his eyes to meet the eyes of the three in front of him. "Silver Flags is a relatively new guild, you see—having just five members—including myself. And we neither have the funds or even the skills like some of the top guilds in this game. We've been spending every single day just level grinding to improve our skills and level—hoping to at least make it out alive of this game." He placed his head into his hands. "…It happened six days ago. My guild and I were level grinding in one of the field dungeons on level 29. We met this woman who claimed that she had gotten separated from her party, and asked for us to escort her to the town in level 30—saying that she'll pay us a handsome amount of Col if we agree. As we are all running low on Col and potions after the last monster quest that we were on, we didn't really have a choice. And some of our weapons and gear need replacing too. That woman is a green player, so we didn't find anything off about it—since there are players from time to time who require a party escort to a safe area. We agreed to her request."

The three members of Phantom Blue exchanged looks. They had a pretty good idea where this is leading now. Because this is almost exactly like the modus operandi of one of the orange guilds that they've been on the lookout for some time now.

"But we ended up running into a trap." Haz clutched at his hair with his fingers. "That woman lead us to some field dungeon before an entire group of orange and red players cornered us. They killed my entire guild! I barely got out of there alive—and that is only because I have a Teleport Crystal with me. Please!" Haz clutched at Tamaki's wrists. "Avenge my guild! I beg you!"

Tamaki sighed, trying to ignore the curious looks from several of the other players also in the restaurant. Shigehiro glared at the curious bystanders before they flinched and pretended to busy themselves with whatever that is in their hands.

"First things first. Let go of me." Tamaki requested politely, before Haz blushed and released his hold on Tamaki. "And let me ask you this now: when you ask us to avenge your guild, do you mean that you want us to kill them in retaliation for what had happened to your guild?" Tamaki's voice had turned extremely low and frightening.

"Heavens, no!" Haz protested immediately, eyes wide with shock. "I will never ask you to be a Player Killer!" He said. "No." He shook his head. "I would never ask you to do that. I would never ask you to kill them. It's not what my guild would want." He paused before looking into their eyes once more. "I just… I just want you arrest them and jail them." He said at last, much to the surprise of the three members of Phantom Blue. "I don't want anyone to kill them. I want them in prison—until we all get out of this game—whenever that is. Please." He pleaded again. "I'll give you every single bit of Col that I have if I have to! Avenge my guild. Arrest them. Please."

The three members of Phantom Blue exchanged looks before nodding. If this is really an orange guild, they can't leave it alone. The guilds in the lead group have all been unusually concerned about it of late, due to the number of murders and crimes that have been taking place lately.

"Tsuyu." Kirito sighed, looking at the guild leader of Phantom Blue.

"I know. We can't leave this be." Tamaki murmured before she looked back at Haz who is looking at them hopefully. "We'll take your request. We don't need you to pay us for this—keep your money. You'll need it."

Haz hesitated and nodded. "…At the very least, let me buy the teleportation crystal for you to jail those guys once you find them," he said. "It's the least I can do."


"I'll send word out to the others—telling them to keep a lookout." Tamaki said the moment that Haz had said goodbye to them after buying a teleportation crystal that had basically taken him all his money to get. The guy wouldn't take no for an answer even though Kirito and Shigehiro have both tried to explain that a member of their guild could create a Teleport Crystal. Haz had even stated that if they're doing this for free as it is, then the least that he could do is to secure the teleportation crystal for the jail for them. "And I think I got a pretty good idea which orange guild it is. Their modus operandi… It is pretty similar to that guild."

"Titan's Hand." Shigehiro added, and the other two nodded. "Funny that they would appear on level 29 when our info stated that they're somewhere between floor 33 to floor 36."

"They're probably searching for potential victims since most of the territories belonging to the major guilds like the Knights of Blood Oath, the Liberation Army along with a few other guilds have seen an increase of security of late thanks to Laughing Coffin." Tamaki sighed. "The guild leaders of ICE and Black Blade are saying the same thing too, since there has been a spate of crimes happening around their individual areas as well. And not to mention that we have that meeting amongst all members of the lead group on floor 50 in a month, and the floor dungeon battles before that." She murmured.

"I'll poke around myself for information on Titan's Hand." Kirito volunteered. "The both of you get back to the others and tell them about it. We'll meet up in a few days. We have at most a week to get this settled since we have to get back to the frontlines by then."

"All right. Sounds like a plan."

XXXXXX

~February 23, 2024; Floor 35: Mishe~

It was nearly three days before both Shigehiro and Tamaki received a message from Kirito, telling them that he had a new lead after stumbling upon a girl—a Beast Tamer in one of the forests on floor 35. Her beast—a blue dragon was unfortunately killed in a scuffle with several of the forest's monsters before Kirito had showed up, and he had offered to assist the girl to revive her tamed beast at the Hill of Memories—a place where the tamed beasts in SAO could be revived as long as they do it within three days, and if they still have the pet's heart. And of course, the pet's owner must be present too.

Kirito had also stated that he had word from some of the information brokers that members of Titan's Hand had been seen around Mishe, and for the both of them to head there immediately.

The rest of Phantom Blue had understood the situation, and though more than one of them wanted to go with both Shigehiro and Tamaki to assist Kirito (Klein and Kaz), they would be attracting unnecessary attention if too many of them appear on Mishe. Hence, it was decided that the rest of the guild would head back to the front lines to assist with the battles until they get back.

Tamaki had opened up her menu interface and her friends' menu the moment that Shigehiro and herself have arrived in Mishe that night via the Teleport Gate. Mishe actually used to be one of the main adventuring areas for the mid-level players. But as more of the upper floors were unlocked with the Floor Boss of each area defeated, Mishe soon became less populated.

"He's in the town." Shigehiro murmured as he saw the icon representing Kirito flashing on Tamaki's map interface. "Let's go."

As Mishe isn't a very large town to begin with, and not to mention that all of Phantom Blue had been here before as part of the lead group, both Tamaki and Shigehiro knew their way about the town.

Thus, it wasn't too long before they found Kirito standing next to a girl maybe about thirteen or fourteen with hazel coloured hair tied in two pigtails with orange ribbons, wearing a yellow and brown tunic. The two seemed to be arguing with a trio of players—the leader whom seemed to be a redhead woman that gives off a nasty vibe.

"—But at your level, will you be able to clear it?" The woman openly mocked the younger girl.

Kirito said nothing, but a muscle in his cheek twitched, and it is at this point when both Tamaki and Shigehiro decided to announce their presences.

"What's going on over here?" Shigehiro asked, even as they approached the group.

Kirito turned towards them in relief. "You're late!" he reprimanded, though he had a small smile on his face as he said so, thus, the two knew that he isn't entirely serious. "The others?"

"They've gone on ahead. We're on our own for this." Tamaki said, eyes flickering between the girl by Kirito's side, and then to the three players in front of them. "What is going on here?"

"Nothing much. I can handle this." Kirito assured them before he stepped in front of the girl with him, semi-glaring at the trio of players before them. "Silica will be all right. She can clear the level. It isn't that hard anyway."

The redhead looked annoyed as she sneered at Kirito. "You're another one she's seduced?" she sneered. "You don't look particularly strong to me."

Tamaki sighed. "Let's go," she told the three who nodded, and as one, they moved down the street, with Shigehiro actually stamping on the foot of the redhead as he passed. The girl with Kirito—Silica actually laughed as the redhead let out a series of curses as she nursed her foot, with her two sidekicks flailing beside her.


Tamaki booked an inn room large enough for all four of them in the local inn before Kirito started trying to calm Silica down in the inn's tavern, since she was actually on the verge of crying earlier before Tamaki and Shigehiro have arrived.

"Why is she so mean?" Silica sounded upset.

The three older players exchanged looks, not knowing what to say. They've seen several players who have became really nasty in recent months—probably due to the situation and everything.

"Is SAO your first MMO?" Tamaki asked at last, glancing at the younger girl sitting beside her who nodded. "In any online game, a lot of people's personalities change. Some enjoy playing as outright villains." She murmured. "In every virtual MMO, online crimes come with the territory—it happens in every MMO. For example, in SAO…" She trailed off slowly before pointing upwards—towards her player cursor. "Our players' cursors are green, right?" Silica nodded slowly.

"In Sword Art Online however, there are rules that players have to follow—even though there are no really serious consequences for committing crimes." Kirito added, stirring his tea. "If you commit a crime in SAO, the player indicator will turn orange." He gestured towards the player indicator above his head. "The worst criminals, the Player Killer—in other words, those who've killed someone, are also known as Red Players."

Silica gasped. "You mean the murderers?" she whispered.

"In most MMOs, lots of players have 'fun' that way—by hunting down fellow players and hurting or killing them." Shigehiro said darkly. "I've played a few virtual games in the past that actually encourages the players to kill fellow players. In any other game, they could've had fun while role playing as the bad guy." He exchanged looks with Tamaki and Kirito who both have grim looks of understanding on their faces. "However, Sword Art Online is different."

Silica's lips trembled as she remembered what Kayaba Akihiko had told all of them on the day of the official opening of Sword Art Online nearly a year ago—when he had announced that Sword Art Online had became a death game.

It is no longer just a simple game any longer.

"This game is not just a game any longer." Kirito growled, his hands tightening around his cup as his eyes darkened over—recalling what had happened with his former guild, and what he had almost became had Asuna and Tamaki not pulled him out of his inner darkness, and if Egil, Klein, Shigehiro and all the other boys in Phantom Blue had not been there for him. Ryusei and Shinya… They are the proof that this game is no longer just a simple game any longer.

"Kirito." Shigehiro sighed, giving an obvious gesture with his eyes towards a scared looking Silica, and Kirito snapped out of the dark mood that he is in.

"Oh… Sorry." Kirito murmured.

Tamaki exchanged looks with Shigehiro before turning towards Silica. "We haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we?" she enquired. "I'm Tsuyu. Nice to meet you."

"Silica." Silica said timidly, grasping Tamaki's hand in a handshake. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Ciav." Shigehiro added. "We're Kirito's guildmates. He told us about your situation, and we came to help." He glanced at Kirito. "Well, we have some business on the way anyway, so it is no problem for us."

"So how are we going to get to the Hill of Memories?" Shigehiro questioned before Kirito brought up his menu interface, and in a flash of light, a map appeared on the table in front of them. "Normally, we can usually warp ourselves over there as we've been there before, but Silica hasn't been there before, right?"

In Sword Art Online, once a player has been to an area once—be it a floor dungeon or even a town, they can immediately warp themselves over to the location by usage of the Teleport Gate that could be found in every town.

"We have to walk there, I guess." Tamaki murmured, finger tapping on the table as she glanced at the area map of Floor 47: Floria. "Let's go by this route, and—"

As one, the three older players stiffened before they turned towards the same direction at the same time, one hand on their weapons only to see a dark shadow fleeing out of the inn at the same moment when a couple of Swordsmen entered, laughing about something.

"Who was that?" Silica asked nervously, tugging at Tamaki's sleeve. "Are they spying on us?"

"Tsuyu. They heard us." Kirito said grimly, and his two guildmates nodded.

"B-But whoever they are—they are sitting quite far away, aren't they? They couldn't have heard us—"

"It's different if your listening skill is high enough." Kirito cut in, exchanging looks with Tamaki, since both of them have maxed out their skills in Searching, Hiding and Sprint, though Tamaki had chosen Listening as one of her skills too. It is what makes her so effective and deadly as an Assassin. "But few people invest the time to raise it."

"But why would anyone want to listen in on us?" Silica wondered.

"I wonder?" Tamaki murmured, exchanging knowing looks with the other two.

XXXXXX

~February 24, 2024; Floor 47: Florida~

Floria on Floor 47 is one of the most beautiful places in Sword Art Online—though as what Kaz and Kris would argue—Coral is much more beautiful as it has lakes and forests as compared to the endless fields of flowers that Floria has. Due to its blooming flower fields, it is a popular place for dates amongst the players, with few single players wandering on this floor.

Silica was delighted when they've first arrived at the famous Flower Garden—the gate plaza of Floria. There is a bout of awkwardness however when Silica had apparently realised that this place is full of players on dates. Thankfully, Kirito is too oblivious to realise Silica's already developing crush on him.

Honestly, Tamaki has no idea whether Kirito even realises that half the girls whom he'd met had crushes the size of Aincard on him, or if he did realise but pretended that he didn't see anything. Honestly, the teal head pitied poor Asuna…

The pathway towards where the flower of revival is located is beautiful—with fields of different coloured flowers blooming, but there are also lots of powerful monsters around to hinder their progress—the same with any other field dungeon. But due to their high levels and skills, Tamaki, Shigehiro and Kirito could deal with any monster threat with their HP bar barely falling into the yellow zone, while also keeping an eye on Silica to make sure that she doesn't fall into danger.

It was nearly noon by the time that they've reached where the flower of revival is located, and Silica was delighted when she could finally hold it and place it into her item inventory. And while she wanted to revive her faithful tamed beast as soon as possible, Kirito had suggested that they revive the beast once they're back in town due to the field dungeon crawling with powerful monsters.

"Someone's here." Shigehiro murmured in Tamaki's ear even as he slowed down his walk, hand dropping to his blade by his side. Beside him, Tamaki nodded, having sensed several presences with her Seeking skill.

Silica was humming to herself happily as she almost skipped along—a fair contrast to how she had been for the past day when Tamaki and Shigehiro who were both bringing up the fore of the party stopped in their tracks, and Tamaki held out an arm.

"Tsuyu-san?" Silica squeaked, and Kirito who is beside her held her back by her shoulder, a frown on his face. "Kirito-san?"

"Whoever's behind those trees, come out." Tamaki commanded in a dangerous voice. She had a pretty good idea who those players that she can sense are, especially if that redhead woman whom they've met in Mishe is who Tamaki suspects to be.

For a moment, nothing happened before a lone figure emerged from the trees.

"R-Rosalia-san?" Silica squeaked as she recognised the redhead woman. The three other players with the Beast Tamer recognised the redhead as well—it is the same woman who had been awfully mean to Silica in Mishe the day before.

"If you can see through my hiding skill, your detection skill must be quite high, Assassin." Rosalia said with a fake smile plastered on her lips, a tri-pronged spear grasped in one hand. "And it seems you've managed to get the flower of revival." All traces of pleasantry fell off her face just then. "Now hand it over."

"W-What are you talking about?" Silica squeaked, confused beyond anything else right now, but was determined to protect the flower of revival that she had gone through so much for.

"That isn't going to happen, Rosalia-san." Kirito said with narrowed eyes even as he took half a step forwards, gesturing with his eyes towards Silica that both Tamaki and Shigehiro understood—and the two took up positions by Silica's sides immediately—if anything happens, the two would protect the lower levelled player. "No." Kirito shook his head. "Or should I say, leader of the orange guild, Titan's Hand. We've been looking for you." He added, his lips curling and his eyes flashing dangerously.

Unlike some the members of his guild, Kirito had never held such severe dislike towards the red or orange players of Sword Art Online. However, it is true that he held them in contempt. And after hearing from Kaz what the entire guild had witnessed when Pandemonium had met their end at the hands of Laughing Coffin, Kirito isn't surprised that Tamaki, Shigehiro, Kaz, Nirali and even Caet have disliked them so much. Hell, even Kris and Klein detested the red and orange players.

"O-Orange guild?" Silica echoed in confusion, looking from Rosalia to the other three players with her. "But her player indicator is green!"

"It's a pretty simple trick." Tamaki said, eyes narrowed at Rosalia. "The green members find targets, and lead them to where the orange players are waiting. That had been the modus operandi of Titan's Hand." She glanced at Rosalia. "Last night in the inn's tavern, that had been one of your guild members that had been listening in on us, right?"

"T-Then the reason we were in the same party for two weeks…" Silica looks about to faint at this point.

"That's right." Rosalia said with a cruel smirk upon her lips. "I was assessing their strength while waiting for them to earn money from adventurers. And then you said that you were going after a rare item." Her eyes went towards the three players with Silica. "However, you knew all that, but went with her anyway? Are all three of you idiots?"

"Nothing like that." Tamaki said, eyes narrowed. "If it's one thing I hate, it is orange and red players." She said, her voice going dangerously low, and next to her, Silica gulped. If this is Tsuyu-san getting angry, then the Beast Tamer knew that she never wanted to have Tsuyu-san honestly pissed at her. "We've also been searching for you and your guild, Rosalia-san." Sharp blue eyes flickered around the surroundings, carefully pinpointing the hiding spots of the various players whom she could sense.

"What are you talking about?"

Kirito narrowed his eyes, recalling how desperate Haz had been, and how he had spent days begging every player that he had seen to avenge his fallen guild members until they'd stumbled upon him in Lisan.

"Ten days ago, you attacked a guild called the Silver Flags." Kirito stated, the light undertones of anger lacing his tone. "Four people, all but the leader, died."

"Oh, the ones with no money." Rosalia said uncaringly, twirling a lock of her hair in between her fingers.

Kirito narrowed his eyes at Rosalia. "Their leader went from the warp point to the front lines, from morning until night, begging someone to avenge them. But he didn't want you killed. He wanted someone to jail you. Can you understand how he felt?"

"Nope." Rosalia said uncaringly. "What kind of idiot would take this seriously? There's no proof that killing someone here means they die in real life."

Tamaki narrowed her eyes. It is one point in common with the orange and red players—they either refused to believe or did not believe Kayaba Akihiko when he had stated that Sword Art Online had became a death game. The ideals and beliefs of Laughing Coffin especially had spread, and that is why more and more orange and red guilds had started forming.

"Anyway, shouldn't you be more concerned for yourselves?" Rosalia questioned with a smirk on her lips as she snapped her fingers. And then, from the trees surrounding her, several players with orange and red indicators above their heads emerged.

Silica took a step backwards in fear, and only a hand on her shoulder from Tamaki stopped her from actually fleeing or falling to the ground. "T-There are too many!" she squeaked in fear.

"Calm down." Shigehiro told her. "It'll be all right. We can handle it." He glanced at Kirito's back, seeing that his stance is tense—indicating that he is ready to move. Honestly, with how low levelled that these guys are, as compared to them, there is no way that any of them could kill them even on their best day. "Do you want to handle it, or should we?"

"No, I'll handle it." Kirito called back over his shoulder. "You both keep Silica safe."

"Will do."

"There are too many of them, Kirito-san!" Silica said, worried. She then turned towards the only other female in their current party, and who had also become a sort of older sister to the Beast Tamer. "Tsuyu-san!"

The members of Titan's Hand save for Rosalia paused in their steps as they heard two of the more well known names of the players that are known to be on the front lines of the lead group. "Kirito? Tsuyu?" One of them echoed slowly, studying Kirito's form from top to bottom as he approached them with a sword in hand. "Black clothes. A one handed no-shield style…" He then glanced at Tamaki only to see the guild leader symbol next to her name, with the name of the guild below it, and his eyes widened. "It can't be…! Rosalia-san, they are members from the Phantom Blue guild, one of the top guilds that are on the front lines. They're in the lead group!"

"The lead group?" Silica echoed in confusion, looking from Kirito to Tamaki and Shigehiro and back again.

"Someone from the lead group wouldn't be down here!" Rosalia said, not believing that she had members from one of the top guilds in front of her. "Go get them! And take everything they own!"

Silica gasped in horror even though neither one of the other three players with her were concerned in the least even as the members of Titan's Hand slashed at Kirito with their blades at every part of him that they could reach. And yet, Kirito did nothing to defend himself but just stand there. And neither Tamaki nor Shigehiro were concerned in the least.

"Kirito-san…!" Silica trembled even as she reached for her blade only to pause in her actions when Tamaki drop a hand onto her shoulder.

"Calm down, Silica. They won't be able to so much as harm Kirito." Tamaki told the younger girl. "They're way below our levels. And not to mention that Kirito had Battle Healing as one of his skills. He can stand there all day, and they won't be able to so much as whittle his HP down five percent."

"What?"

Now that Silica looked closer, she could see that Kirito's HP bar kept regenerating back to full, no matter how many attacks was launched on him.

"About 400 in 10 seconds." Kirito murmured, glancing around him at the exhausted players. "That's the total damage that you seven can do to me. I'm level 78. I have 14,500 HP. My battle healing skill auto-regenerates 600 points every 10 seconds. We could stand here all day, and you'd never beat me." Kirito stated, and some of the players glared. A few even turned their eyes towards where Tamaki and Shigehiro were standing with Silica. "And if you intend to target either Tsuyu or Ciav, I'll advise you to drop the idea—not unless you want a first hand experience in testing out just how fast and deadly a level 78 Assassin or Swashbuckler could be."

"But if you want to try, then by all means, go on ahead." Tamaki stated, stepping in front of Silica and drawing out one of her blades. "I've said before that I hate orange and red players. It is people like you that people like Shinya and Ryusei who did nothing wrong but just be in the wrong place at the wrong time wouldn't be going home. It is people like you that Ryusei's sister wouldn't be having her brother back. It is people like you that over 200 people are already dead! We've searched for you for nearly six months." Tamaki brought out her menu interface to make the teleport crystal that Haz had given them appear in a flash of light in her hand. "Haz, the leader of Silver Flags spent his entire fortune to buy this warp crystal. It's set to take you to the prison where all of you would stay until we get out of this game—whenever that is." Tamaki took another step forwards, and the players surrounding Kirito took a step back in fear. "You would all be going there—you would be accompanying the several red and orange players that we've already sent there!"

Kirito smirked to himself before his eyes snapped towards Rosalia who tasted fear for the first time in her life—realising that she's totally outclassed as compared to the three high level players in front of her. Is this what a member from the lead group is?

"I'm green, so if you hurt me, you'll go orange—"

Whatever that Rosalia said was cut off as Kirito vanished in a flash of light, and placed the sharp edge of his sword against Rosalia's neck. "Just so we're clear, I couldn't care less if I go orange for a few days—just like how the rest of my guild wouldn't care if they are permanent orange players due to what they have undertaken just to protect the rest of the players in SAO." Kirito hissed. "All of us in Phantom Blue made that resolve long ago—to stop the red and orange guilds. You wouldn't be hurting anyone ever again."

XXXXXX

~February 24, 2024; Floor 35: Mishe~

"Sorry Silica. We ended up using you as bait." Kirito apologised hours later after Rosalia and the rest of Titan's Hand were forcibly transported to the prison via the warp crystal that Haz had bought for that purpose. Silica had also witnessed a teary eyed Haz as he thanked Tsuyu, Kirito and Ciav over and over again for helping to avenge his guild. "Phantom Blue is famous—and sometimes, not in a good way. It isn't like we thought that we couldn't trust you. It is just that we'd learned early on not to tell anyone that we're from Phantom Blue." Kirito exchanged a wry smile with Shigehiro and Tamaki who were both leaning against the wall on opposite sides of the door in the inn room that they're in.

"I understand." Silica said, all smiles now that she had her Tamed Beast with her once more. Said Tamed Beast is now snoozing in a corner atop one of the pillows in the room. "Kirito-san, Tsuyu-san and Ciav-san are all good people. I believe that."

Kirito smiled slightly as he glanced at Tamaki and Shigehiro. "…I wasn't always with Phantom Blue," he said out of the blue, much to Silica's surprise. "I was with another guild before I'd joined them. But something happened with my guild—all of them died." He admitted, and Silica's eyes widened in horror. "I was in a pretty rough place after that—I just don't care whether I live or die. But it had been Klein, Tsuyu and Ciav that have dragged me out of that dark place. Asuna had helped me to heal after that." He admitted. "I…just don't want someone to become like me in the past."

"Kirito-san…" Silica said sadly. "So you're all leaving then?"

"Yeah. We've been away for long enough. We need to get back." Tamaki sighed.

Right on cue, there was a light beep from Tamaki's menu interface just then, and she brought it up only to see that it is a message from Kaz—asking for them to get back to the front lines at once.

"Is it from Kaz?" Kirito asked, and Tamaki nodded.

"We're needed back on the front lines." Tamaki sighed. "Kirito, we should go."

"I know."

"The lead group is amazing." Silica said, with envy in her tone. "I could never be one, no matter how hard I tried."

Tamaki had a small smile on her lips. "Levels are just numbers in the end—especially for a battle level system like SAO," she said. "Besides, no matter how real things seem to be in here, none of it is real. In this world, strength is just an illusion."

Kirito smiled before getting to his feet. Shigehiro had opened the door—with all three members of Phantom Blue ready to leave. "Silica, get stronger." Kirito told the girl. "Let's meet in the real world the next time—all of us." His eyes flickered towards Tamaki and Shigehiro. "We can introduce you to the rest of our friends at the same time as well." He promised. "Because while strength in this world is an illusion, the bonds and friendships that we've formed are real."

XXXXXX

Strength in this world is an illusion, but the bonds and friendships that we've formed here are real. Kirito said something like this today to this Beast Tamer that we've befriended when we're fulfilling a request for someone.

I wonder, if our first year at Teiko is an illusion too? We were so happy back then. What had changed, Sei? It's been nearly a year since then. In a few more months, it would be what should be our second year of high school. How is everyone?

We haven't given up yet, Sei. We're coming home. All of us.

I promise.

Posted on 24 February 2024 | 06:00PM | Poster: Tsuyu


A/N: Honestly, I'm not really sure what to think about this chapter. It might be one of the longer chapters, but also one of the more 'canon' chapters. The next SAO chapter is an original chapter, as it involves one of Phantom Blue's chases after Laughing Coffin, and also deals with Shigehiro's feelings for Tamaki. As for the next chapter, it will involve Seirin as I've been leaving them out of the loop for awhile now.

Kuroko Tamaki: Assassin, Tailor (Tsuyu)
Takao Kazunari: Swordsman, Brewer (Kaz)
Mayuzumi Chihiro: Samurai, Crafter (Caet)
Ogiwara Shigehiro: Swashbuckler, Chef (Ciav)
Mochida Kanata: Defender, Blacksmith (Nirali)
Sakurai Ryou: Swordsman, Pharmacist (Kris)

Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter, and please read and review! Reviews give me inspiration to update!