Chapter 7

Shino's POV

The two months of the beta flew by as though it were only a few minutes. Today was the last day, and the beta server was hosting an event. All gear would be free and rare drops were seventy five percent more likely to drop. I didn't understand why they would do that. They were just going to reset our character for the official release, so any gear or drops that we got would just disappear. Kazuto told me that it just gave players a good feeling to get rare items.

That was another thing. With all the sad feelings that came from the beta closing, also came good memories of the time I spent gaming with Kazuto. We still hung out in the real world, but when we weren't, we were hanging out in SAO. We were almost never apart, and it made me feel fuzzy inside. Being around Kazuto gives me the best feeling I've ever had. If I had to say, I think my little infatuation extends way beyond a simple crush. I still couldn't tell him that though.

I put the NerveGear on my head, and call out "link start!" Kazuto and I were going to enjoy the event, and spend the last of the time left in the beta finding secret and tricks to give us an edge in the game. The usual startup did it's thing, and once again, I found myself in SAO. Everything was decorated for the event.

I opened my "friend finder"; once of the many tricks I picked up, and searched Kazuto's "handle", Kirito. It pulled a small map up, and guided me to him. He wasn't far away.

I find It strange, how any time I'm on, he will be too. It's like he never logs out. Normally I'd get on and he'd send me a private message, or party message, asking; "What's up?"; "How's it going?"; or even just saying "I'm glad you're on." That last one makes me giddy every time.

I really need to talk to Sugu about this. She'll know what to do. Although every time I've asked her for help, or for an explanation on what I was feeling, she just tells me to tell him how I feel, or to drop subtle hints. She's said it so much that I've actually started considering it. I just can't ever work up the courage I need.

I walked to his location on the map, and sure enough, there he was. A devious smile graced my lips. I had a plan, and I think it'll be funny. I used my sneaking skill to get right behind him, but as I was about to cover his eyes, he turned around. I stopped dead in my tracks. But how? I thought.

"You do know my detection skill is really high right?" He asked with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"I didn't, actually. Good to know." I deadpanned.

He just laughed heartily, smiling all the while. Honestly, I like the real Kazuto better. His avatar was more masculine than he was, sure. But Kazuto just had a certain charm about him. His face is so cute, especially when He laughs. Even if I had to miss his appearance in the game, at least it was still Kazuto, and his voice was the same. To add onto the pile of things that I like about him his voice is another thing. His voice, at least to me, was soothing, and comforting. You know what, let's just make it understood that I loved everything about him.

After a little more banter between he two of us, we set out on our last adventure of the beta. We wanted to at least clear the current floor, but I didn't see that happening. We killed countless monster, got unbelievable amounts of rare item drops, and found plenty of tricks that would give us an edge in game. We played till the virtual sun was setting, which meant about sunset in the real world too.

We were sitting on a cliffside, on the third floor, watching the sun. This seems like something right out of a romance novel. Watching a sunset with you partner. I thought. I used to shake those thoughts out of my head, or scold myself for having them, but now, I almost welcomed them. It was my own personal fantasy; Being together with Kazuto. I knew he was way out of my league. He was popular, funny, cute, and so nice. I was not of those things. I definitely am not popular. I can't honestly say that I'm funny, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I am in no may extremely attractive. And anyone you ask will say I'm a terrible person.

I turn my head to look at him, and he keeps his eyes on the sunset. I tried to work up enough courage to at least hint that I like him. Although, "He is really ignorant to those kinds of things" In the words of Sugu. So even if I do work up the courage, my hints might not be enough.

"Kazuto?" I ask hesitantly.

He turned away from the sunset to look at me. "Yeah? What is It Asada?" He asked.

"Do you… like the sunset?" I asked. I chickened out of asking the real question that I wanted to know the answer to: Do you think we could be more than friends?

He smiled wide. "Yeah. The sunset looks so realistic. Although, It's the real deal that gives the imitation it's beauty."

"What?" I questioned. I wasn't following.

"Okay, look at it this way. What gives a painting it's beauty?"

"The artist's interpretation?"

"No, but close. I think that a painting is given its beauty from the real image. If the image that was painted never existed then the beauty never would have been copied to a canvas. So that's where the beauty lies. With the original. Same deal with the virtual sunset."

"Oh." Was All I could muster up. That was deep.

The rest of the time we spent sitting in silence, watching the sunset, until we finally had to log out.

Yesterday was fun, but now it's November sixth: the official release of the game. It was launching at one o'clock, and I wasn't gonna miss one second of it.

I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was was twelve fifty eight. I had two about two minutes until the servers went up. I started to get excited, I just couldn't wait any longer. I put the NerveGear on, and laid in my bed, staring at the internal clock of the headset.

The clock went turned to twelve fifty nine. One more minute until the game starts. Then Kazuto and I will be back in the game, and we will beat it. No matter how long it takes. We had both agreed on that at the start of the beta.

I waited and waited and waited. Who knew a minute could feel like an eternity? Finally the clock turned, I I called out the very familiar phrase.

"Link start!"

I was once again enveloped in the colorful startup of the NerveGear. I had come to love the passing of the colors. To me, it symbolized a better version of myself. In the game, no one picked on me, I had a long list of friends, and I could almost look like whatever I want.

I entered my username and password into the system, and it gave me a list of avatars. When I say a list, I mean one name: Sinon. I don't have to redesign my avatar? Cool! I thought excitedly. I selected "Sinon", and everything disappeared, only to be replaced with large words that read "Welcome To Sword Art Online"

I was transported into the game. I took a moment to marvel at the number of people in the spawn. I had heard that all ten thousand copies of SAO had sold out in minutes, but from what I could tell, all of them were logged on. I didn't expect this many people to log on at the exact moment it opened.

I started looking around for Kazuto. Unfortunately, when it saved my avatar, it didn't save my friends list. I could always send another request to Kazuto, but I didn't know whether he decided to keep his old avatar, or make a new one. If he chose to make a new one, then he probably would change his handle as well, but after about ten minutes of looking, my patience was wearing thin.

"Screw it. I'm gonna try to send him a request." I mumbled under my breath.

I opened the menu and opened the friend request window. I typed in the name Kirito, and pressed the circle button that would confirm the request.

To my surprise it actually found a player with that name. Okay. Maybe I should have done that earlier. I scolded myself. If I had, I could have found him ten minutes ago. What further surprised me was that he responded to the request almost immediately. I got a little flustered at that. Was he just waiting for me to send a request?

I opened the friend finder feature, and stared at the map. Kazuto is in the boar fields? I thought he was gonna head straight for one of the questing locations. Either way, I wanted to meet up with him as soon as possible, boars or not. I started walking in the direction of the field, and gradually started picking up speed until I was in a full blown sprint.

It didn't take long to get to Kazuto's locations. As soon as I saw him, I slowed down. Who is that that he's with? I thought. Next to Kazuto stood a boy, or at least the avatar looked like a boy's, but Kazuto told me that sometimes players will play as the opposite gender. I didn't understand why exactly, and any time I'd ask Kazuto, his face would go red, and he'd avoid the topic.

The "boy" standing next to Kazuto was about his height, had long pinkish-red hair, and wore a bandana. He was in a stance, as if he had just used a sword skill, and then he broke into a giddy dance. Guess he killed something. I thought.

I was only a few feet away when I heard this guy say "Holy crap, you gotta be kiddin! I thought that was a mid level boss."

I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter. I knew this guys was new, but I didn't know he was that new. I figured he'd at least know that that was a field monster. My laughter got Kazuto's attention, and he turned to look at me, as did the new guy.

"Hey Sinon!" Kazuto greeted enthusiastically. We had both agreed to call each other by our player handles when around other people.

"What's up Kirito? Showing someone the ropes?" I asked. I was smiling, which to the new guy, probably made me look like I was mocking him. However, the smile was not directed at him. It was directed at Kazuto. It never ceased to amaze me how he was so kind.

I turned the majority of my attention to the boy who I had dubbed "The New Guy." He was acting pretty blank. He just stood there, staring at me with wide eyes, and mouth ajar. It really made me uncomfortable.

"Uhh… Hello there. I'm Sinon, and you are?" Most of manners were absent in that question, but he was making me uncomfortable, so I don't really care what he thinks of me right now. That's not normal for me. Normally I care what everyone thinks about me. Then again, I'm not me right now. I'm Sinon.

He still stared at me. I couldn't tell if he was lagging, or just acting weird. Then all at once it became really clear. "My name's Klein. I'm twenty two and single. What about you?" He blurted out.

My face was probably really red, but I definitely wasn't flattered. I was embarrassed, and flustered. I looked at Kazuto for support, but he seemed just as shocked as I was.

"Oh… Gotcha…" Klein said. He sounded dejected.

What made him back off that fast? He said that as soon as I… looked at… Kazuto… Oh no. Now I was really embarrassed. What I wouldn't give for that to be the case, but the last thing I needed was for Kazuto to get awkward around me.

"Kirito, you're a lucky guy. I have been trying to find a girlfriend for forever." Klein congratulated Kazuto.

"No, it's not like that." Kazuto defended. As much as I appreciated him dulling the embarrassment, I could also feel my heart break. I knew he wasn't interested in me in that way.

"Oh…" Klein drawled out. "Then she's single?"

"Hey!" I yelled. "I'm right here you know! You could just ask me!"

"Alright. Are you single?" He asked hopefully.

Now I was in a panic. What do I do, what do I do!? I said the first thing that came into my head. "No. I have a boyfriend back in the real world." Why do I talk?

Kazuto's head spun back toward me and away from Klein. He looked surprised, as well as something else that I couldn't place. "You do?" He asked.

"Y… Yes?" I stuttered. It was more of a question that anything else. I was having an internal debate admit my lie, or keep it going.

"Oh." was all he said. Just great. Now I have absolutely no chance with him.

Klein drop to his knees. "Dang it!" He cried out. "Why are the cute ones always taken!?"

"No offense Klein, but for one, You are a bit too old for me, and for two, you don't know what I look like in the real world. I'm not near as attractive there." I pointed out.

Kazuto looked at me sideways, with a concerned and questioning glance. I don't know why he looked at me like that but now that he had, he and Klein were both making me uncomfortable.

"Wait a minute… how old are you?" Klein questioned.

I know that it is unusual for you to tell other players anything about yourself in the real world, but I wanted to make a point, so I opted to tell him. "I'm thirteen." I deadpanned.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" He cried. After that he was more talking to himself. "I really have to stop hitting on random girls!"

Well that says a lot about his character. I thought. I don't think that I'm going to like this guy.

Despite the situation and the way that I was acting, Kazuto just started laughing. He finds this funny? Klein had gotten up, and was staring at Kazuto.

"You alright man? You sound kinda crazy." He said. He was smiling though.

"Klein, you're hilarious!" Kazuto cried between his fits of laughter.

"Yeah, well I try." He said.

Wait, what!? He was joking? I couldn't tell whether he was serious and playing it for humor or if he was just making it up all together. I've know Klein for five minutes, I know almost nothing about him, and he is still driving me mad.

I stayed quiet after that. I didn't want to talk to him, or be around him. Unfortunately Kazuto had other plans. He invited Klein and I into a party. I accepted because it was Kazuto, and I was really hoping Klein Wouldn't, but no such luck.

We all started farming, but in the first few minutes, while Klein was killing yet another boar, Kazuto pulled me aside.

"Do you really have a boyfriend?" He asked.

"No, not really. I just wanted Klein to leave me alone."

"Oh. Thank god." he said, sounding relieved.

Why would it be that much of a relief? Unless… Nah, it couldn't be.

We spent a lot of time farming the lower level monsters so that we could get some more money, and drops. We even leveled up a few times. Klein had been more tolerable than I thought he would be, and now we were all hanging out in a safe part of the field, watching the immaculately realistic environment.

"Well guys, I have a pizza coming at five thirty, so I gotta logout." Klein said. He sounded almost depressed that our farming would end.

He swiped his hand and opened the menu, selected "options" and went down to the logout option. Or rather, where It should have been. "Uh, guys, where's the logout button?" He asked

Kazuto looked at him like he had two heads. "It should be…" He was cut off when we were teleported.

We were back in the plaza, and people were still teleporting in. From the looks of it, all the players who had logged in earlier today, hadn't been able to log out either. Fear started creeping into my mind. Why are we stuck here? Is it a bug? When will it get fixed? I asked all these questions to myself, but I heard others voice my thoughts perfectly. Some in shouts, some in whispers.

The sky turned red, and divided into polygons. Each one either reading "system announcement", or "warning." A red liquid, what I could only assume was blood started seeping through the seams of the polygons, and a human like figure appeared.

"Attention players. I welcome you to my world." The gargantuan figure proclaimed, his voice reverberating from every wall in the plaza.

At that point I stopped paying any attention to the figure that I could only assume was the game master. I was too busy looking around at other players reactions. From the looks of it they were all thinking the exact same thing that I was. What does this guy mean by that? Why does he say that it is his world? I stayed in a deep state of thought for most of the speech that the figure was giving. I only snapped back to reality when he announced that death in the game, would result in death in reality, and when he said that he had left a gift in our inventory. I looked at Kazuto, who was opening his inventory, and I followed suit.

When I opened the inventory, I only had the items we had from low level monsters, which, for the most part is only good for selling, and a new item. I selected that one. When the item description came up, it read "mirror" I equipped it, and it appeared in my hand. Blue light started flashing everywhere. It looked like the teleport animation.

I too, was enveloped in the light. At first I was freaking out. What is happening!? I thought. Am I being teleported again? When all the light in the plaza faded, nothing looked the same. I looked over to Kazuto, and that just what I found. Kazuto was standing there, not Kirito, but Kazuto. I did a double take, and then looked in my own mirror. Just as I thought. Instead of looking into the face of Sinon, I was looking into the face of Asada Shino. I was looking at the real me.

My eyes grew wide. Not only was this the real me, but I wasn't wearing my glasses when I put the NerveGear on. No no no no! I thought. I need my glasses.

The figure started to seep back into the seams of the hexagons, and then everything returned to normal, except, that everyone was completely still. Completely silent.

Kazuto was looking at me with a dumbfound stare, as if I was the weirdest thing that was around at the moment. He looked away from me and turned to Klein.

"Klein, I'm sorry. I would offer for you to come with us, but it's really hard to get xp. I need to keep my group as small as possible." Kazuto said, apologetically.

"It's fine dude. I have some friends that I need to stick with anyway. Just stay alive you two." He responded, and walked off.

I had no idea what Kazuto was talking about. Come with us to where? Kazuto grabbed my hand, and started to run in the direction of the Taizo village. That village has a lot of side quests, and xp. Oh, I get it. By getting to the best spots first, we secure that we get stronger. At least that was cleared up for me.

We ran for the longest time. We would encounter a monster every once in awhile, but it wasn't hard to kill them at all. Eventually we slowed down, and started walking, and out of the corner of my eye, I would see Kazuto stare at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked timidly. Great, back to my shy old self. That's just wonderful.

"No reason," He said quickly. "I want to ask you something when we get to the village though"

"Why not now?"

"We need to stay focused. I want to live through this game. I refuse to die."

We got to the village fairly quickly. Kazuto and I both knew the safest paths, and fastest routes. Night had fallen, so we started looking for an inn to stay for the night. We figured out in the beta, that if you go long enough the game actually simulates sleepiness. Something about your mind actually needing to rest despite it being in a game.

The village had changed a little bit since the beta, which presented a few problems. One: Now we have no idea where the inn is located, and two: What other changes had been made to the game?

Despite the changes, we found the inn pretty quickly. We walked in, and Kazuto walk up to the NPC behind the counter.

"I'd like one room please." Kazuto said. Another thing in the beta was that each room was set up so that it could be used by more than one character. There was enough room for two people, and two bed. So I wasn't too worried about sleeping arrangements.

The NPC responded. "Absolutely sir. You'll be in room one. Enjoy your stay." He extended his hand with a key, and a confirmation window appeared in front of Kazuto.

He accepted it, and the key was transferred to his inventory. He started to walk in the direction of the room, and I followed him. We both started up the stairs, and that's when I brought up the question that he wanted to ask.

"So what is it that would wanted to ask me?" I questioned.

"Oh yeah. I was going to ask why you don't have your glasses."

Shit. Of all the questions he could have asked. I wanted to lie to him so bad, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Before I could answer him he spoke up again. "I mean the manual said that you should leave glasses on because the scanner in the NerveGear rig will pick it up and adjust in game eyesight, as if you were really wearing glasses. The NerveGear actually uses real eyesight as your character's eyesight. So It's just weird that you wouldn't wear your glasses."

It never ceases to amaze me how much he knows. "Actually," I mumbles softly looking at my feet. "My eyesight is two times better than an average person's. The glasses that I wear are not prescription. They are made of an NXT polymer. It's a bulletproof glass. It just makes me feel protected I guess."

We arrived at the room and Kazuto unlocked the door. "Oh. Does it have something to do with the rumors at school?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I didn't really, but it is long since overdue that I talked to someone about it, and who better than the boy who I have a crush on, and who has always accepted me for who I am. "When I was really young, I was in a post office with my mom, and a man came in with a gun. I think he was on drugs or something." I started. I took a deep breath and continued. "He started swinging the gun around, and pointed it at my mom. I freaked out and bit him. He dropped his gun, and I picked it up. The first time I shot him was an accident. He was trying to wrestle the gun away from me and was pointing it at his chest. The second time was because, even after being shot, he tried to hurt me. The final time was because even after all of that… he came at me again. The third shot killed him."

By the time I had finished the story tears were running down my face like a waterfall. I had tried to hold them in, but I had never made it through the story with a counselor. Every time, I'd get to the first shot, then go into a panic attack. Somehow, I manage to tell Kazuto about the whole thing.

He let go of the door hand, which he had been standing at for the entire story, and swung around. He flung his arms around me and hugged me, firmly. It wasn't tight, or uncomfortable. It was just firm. Like he was trying to comfort me, and didn't want to let go. I hesitated a moment, and then returned the hug. We stood like that for a long while.

Finally, after my tears had stopped I let my arms fall. He pulled back slightly and grabbed my shoulders. "Thank you for telling me."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room, and closed the door. Even if we were the only ones in town, that's no reason not to be cautious. I looked at the room, and instantly notice a dilemma. There was only one bed.

Kazuto turned away from the door, and noticed my discomfort. Then he took notice of the bed situation. Not that the bed wasn't big enough for the both of us, but...

The mood went from depressing to plain uncomfortable. Not that I would mind sharing a bed with him. I just don't know how he would respond.

"I'll sleep on the floor." I said, offering up the bed to Kazuto.

"Oh hell no. I'll take the floor."

"I'm not letting you do that."

"Yeah? Well I'm not letting you do it either."

"Well then what are we gonna do?"

That one got him. Or so I thought. "We… Could share it." His face had turned a dark scarlet, and mine was definitely on its way there.

"O… Okay, that works." I was definitely embarrassed, but for some reason I also felt excited.

We both turned the lights out, and climbed into bed. I felt nervous, and uncomfortable. I was looking at him from behind. His back was facing me.

He flipped himself over and looked me in the eyes. My face was definitely getting even more red. I'm glad it was dark and he couldn't see my face.

"Asada? You still awake?" He asked.

I thought of just staying quiet. After all, we were supposed to be sleeping. But my curiosity got the best of me.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"I just forgot to tell you," his voice was soft. Is he even awake right now? Is he talking in his sleep? "You look even more beautiful than usual when you're not wearing your glasses. You said earlier that you aren't pretty. You were wrong thought. You're beautiful."

Now my face was probably so red that it created a whole new spectrum. He has to be asleep right? "Kazuto?"

"Yeah?" His voice was till soft, but he was responding, so he had to be awake to some degree.

"Thank you. You are the nicest guy I've ever met." And with that. I dozed off into unconsciousness. To my surprise it was really easy to sleep. Easier than sleeping in my apartment. I think, that just maybe, sleeping near Kazuto, is what let me sleep so well.

My last thoughts were: Yep, this definitely goes way deeper than a crush.

A/N: Dear god that was a long chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed the story, and the moments between Asada and Kazuto.

Next chapter: Even more fun romance, and an funny beggining. And a quest for a rare item? Oh my! Stay tuned!