There was a pleasant but slightly cold breeze in the air, the sun forcing the sky to be a bright orange tinge, the half of the sky its warmth didn't occupy being a steadily darkening pale sky blue.

Typically, there would usually be the sound of people running around, making shop and trade.

That was, again, the usual way things were in the Town of Beginnings.

Endrance walked alongside the other children in his guild, intending to take them to their school house.

After a good deal of thinking and time, the "grown ups" in Thanatos Renaissance had decided to enroll the younger part of the guild into school.

Notice the quotations around "grown ups".

That was how they called themselves, even if only about four of the guild members, including Endrance himself, could actually qualify for being a "grown up".

They had chosen him to be the children's guide to school, even though he was very sure that they'd be fine by themselves.

Especially with Zelkova being part of the group.

As the boy knew his way around the Town of Beginnings like the back of his hand in the short time he'd spent there, and also due to the fact that he was able to be ranked as one of the top five most powerful members of Thanatos Renaissance, the fact that Endrance had to be there seemed a bit strange to him.

But then again, the requirement for entering the school at all would be for their parent/guardian to sign them in.

As expected of a school environment.

Anyone who knew that probably would still be wondering why the group had chosen Endrance of all people to be the guide, despite his seemingly very lucid disinterest in them.

The answer to that question came in the form of a girl wrapping their arms around the lower half of his.

She rubbed the side of her face back and forth on it, in a rotary motion, and Endrance had grown so used to Saku doing this that he didn't even really notice it anymore.

He'd probably even forget she was there if it weren't for the feeling of her rubbing her face in his arm.

Everyone (well, almost everyone) who had been classified as the children of his guild had been outright willing to try and go to school, even if some were a bit more hesitant to than others (i.e. Bo and Gaspard).

Everyone except Saku.

She refused to, and she was determined to not go even if they tried to force her.

It had been then that someone got the idea to indirectly bait her into going anyways.

And he was the incarnation of that bait.

He had just taken up the children and left without her, her later waking up only to find that both her brother and her crush were both gone without a trace.

When she asked about their whereabouts, everyone just told her that Endrance had taken everyone to school.

As he'd been told, and thus as he'd expected, he could hear the loud thundering footsteps of the 11 year old twin girl running to find them just a few minutes before the estimated time he'd been given.

He was just outside of the house and going through the forest when that happened.

Saku now realizing what her going there meant, she decided to go to school just for the sake of rubbing up against his arm.

Her "alone time" with him as Endrance believed she called it.

Though he wasn't sure he could call it alone time if there were several people with them...

At that moment, it marked the second week that they had gone to school.

They'd missed the day before due to the duel between Haseo and Kirito.

He wasn't worried about it though.

He was sure that the instructor that was there would understand.

"Hey," a girl's voice said in a would be discreet way, Endrance looking to find that it was Bordeaux, "Are you sure you can't do anything to keep me from going here?"

"No, I said it before and I'll say it again. I cannot do anything about your current circumstances." Endrance said, in his usual drawl-like tone of voice.

"But..."

"You shouldn't complain. It could very well be much worse for you little girl." Endrance said before she could continue.

"Quit calling me that!" She hissed at him.

Endrance lifted a hand and pressed it down on her scalp, rubbing it like a parent would a small child, "You shouldn't complain." He said, walking forward in his quick stop to do this once more.

He could feel her glowering at the back of his head, but much like several other things, Endrance hadn't the ability to care.

Nor the will to.

He just kept walking, in his own attempt to get everyone to the school quicker.

Though he couldn't help admitting that he enjoyed being the one to have the adult supervision duty.

Even if he wasn't talking to them very much, they were all starting to grow on the twenty year old man.

Simply listening to their conversations as they went was enough to make him feel as though he was learning more about them.

Most of them all seemed to have their own reasons for playing "The World" before this whole incident had occurred (except for Zelkova, the reason being him being absolutely nothing but an AI when R:2 had been created).

Those reasons all seemed to vary greatly between them, at least in details, but overall it was for the same reason.

To simply find a world that was better for them to live in other than reality.

And in that likeness, they were no different from him.

At that he smiled softly to himself.

He could remember when he was just like that...

Just at that age...

In the passing weeks of Cubia's defeat, Endrance had been cutting back on his time in "The World".

After all, upon Haseo's advice, he'd decided to try and return to his real life.

In doing this he also started to spend more time with his parents, which surprised them slightly but still left them a bit more happy than before.

He could recall his mother telling him to go out a little more, and so he followed her direction, the result being him exploring his city, it bringing upon him a realization so powerful that he wondered if he had basically given up on life for "The World".

And that was how much it'd changed over the years.

He almost got lost because half the buildings had either been run down and demolished never to be seen again or just replaced or remodeled for business purposes.

Thinking back on this, he sighed again.

He also couldn't help wondering whether his parents would have been so willing to keep him for so many years had he not been bringing in money from playing "The World".

CC Corp. had, after the Twilight incident, given most of the dot hackers (or ".hackers" as the group's name was stylized), a chance at getting jobs at the gaming organization for all their work.

Most mainly dealt with playing "The World" and giving feedback on how the game could've been improved.

The more notes they gave, the larger the amount of money they would give, though there was still a limit to that.

But said notes were actually only bonuses for the whole salary.

The job itself was something Endrance was only allowed to tell a select few about, namely his parents.

It'd been kept a secret as it wasn't very fair for the workers at CC Corp. to be getting money close to the amount that people who were only enjoying their work got.

Thus, it was kept a secret to anyone.

But speaking of the group...

He wondered how the .hackers were doing now.

After that fire that pretty much destroyed all of R:1's servers, there wasn't much for anyone to stick to each other by anymore.

It got to the point that they had called for a party where everyone was to meet up with each other.

But that only stalled the inevitable.

As time passed, everyone started growing up, and soon the .hackers were all but gone.

He hadn't heard from any of them in half a decade, so any chance of them getting back together was pretty slim.

Now that he'd thought about it, it'd be pretty nice to see them again, even if it only ended in a pretty awkward experience.

But he couldn't hope for something like that.

His time as "Elk" was over now, after all.

Though a part of his mind wondered if that could really be proven true, what with that whole AIDA infecting him fiasco...

He sighed for a third time.

Soon, just when he was close to reaching the school, the group of children suddenly stopped in front of him.

Wondering what it was, Endrance looked forward, finding several armored soldiers blocking the way.

They seemed to be arguing with a woman about something.

Endrance only tried to mind his own business, simply walking up to the soldiers as they were blocking the way to the school.

"Would you mind moving over? I don't wish to intrude... but these children need to get to school." Endrance gestured the people he was guiding.

They stared at him for a moment, before one spoke to him, "Why should we? This day care is part of the school here. And it still hasn't paid it's taxes to the Holy Dragon Alliance guild."

"Really? Since when did anyone ever owe this little guild of yours a tax?"

He got a moment of stunned silence as a response.

"Well?"

"You must be part of a pretty powerful guild, if you're calling us little."

"Whatever makes you think that?"

"You've never heard of our guild before?"

"Oh, don't worry, I've heard of you."

"Then surely you understand the rules that have been set in place."

"Who exactly enforces these "rules" of yours? Not you sorry fools I hope." He lifted a hand, his voice almost mocking of them.

"What did you just say?" One growled.

"Oh, my apologies... I didn't intend to offend you if that's what I did." He deliberately did a very poorly faked apologetic look, his voice not helping at all.

Two of the group grasped their swords, "Leave all of your equipment on the ground and maybe we'll let you leave with a warning."

He actually found himself chuckling at that, "You make me laugh..." He said, it being in his voice still, "Are you really so sure you're in the position... where you can make such idle threats?"

One soldier charged him, drawing their sword and swinging it at him.

Endrance didn't even bother to pay much attention to it, or at least not show it, sidestepping him as his fist glowed, punching the man square in his helmet, the impact so great that a dent was formed along with the crack.

He was blown back, and Endrance smiled at them, it not at all friendly, "Now... I'll give you one warning... and one alone. Leave these people's "taxes" to you with their rightful owners. A guild that can't even support itself... isn't a guild worth existing in my point of view... having to force children to give up their own items to pay those taxes... that tragically only makes it worse."

"You damn little...!" Another charged at him, and Endrance pulled his sword out, hitting the blade meant for him up into the air, spinning in the spot his feet held, finally swinging into the man's stomach, him being blown away as well, him having no reduction in HP, it not surprising Endrance as they were still in a safe zone.

He pointed his sword at the remaining soldiers, "Does anyone else not wish to heed my warning?"

He almost wanted to see their reaction, only to look up at the sound of a trumpet like song playing.

Both he and the soldiers stood there for a moment, both sides simultaneously wondering if they were hearing things.

Endrance gradually felt himself looking at the rooftops behind him, towards a figure that was right in front of where the sun currently was.

Based on its shape, Endrance could only guess that it was a bulky person.

It jumped off of its edge, doing a front flip in the air, landing right behind the soldiers, revealing it to be a person wearing a golden armor that looked as though it was heavier than what the burden was worth of wearing it.

"Slow doberman! Prepare thyselves, for the awakening of a lifetime! The lord who bows to all!" He made several poses and movements as he spoke, then finally pointed up into the sky, "Piros the 3rd!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, a small star appearing at the edge of his mouth as he added a, "Tada~!"

Everyone stared at him, not knowing how to react.

"...why exactly... would a lord bow down to anyone...?" Endrance asked at long last, for the first time having a look of surprise that said, "What the hell just happened?"

Piros the 3rd pointed a hand at the soldiers, "As the one who will slay the merciless Akihiko Kayaba, I cannot allow such wrong doers to go unpunished!" He pulled a giant axe like weapon from him back holster, "Now, prepare thyselves!" He started to run at the men.

But the axe proved to be much too large, and he slipped and fell face first into the ground, a loud noise coming up upon his impact.

"...if you're going to be the one who defeats Kayaba, as you say, then how can we be sure of that when you can't even weild your own weapon properly?" Endrance echoed the thoughts of the people around him.

Something passed by him next second, so fast that he felt a light wind, hair blowing in the direction it was going.

Endrance stared in surprise.

What was...?

He couldn't even register what had just happened before several flashes of light appeared in front of his eyes, all in rapid succession, and before Endrance knew it, the men were all screaming out their surrender, begging the bringer of the sudden attack to stop attacking.

It turned out to be a woman who was a few years older than he was, and with her eyes wide with an almost insane look, he found himself wanting to take a few steps back, even as he held his sword.

Which he did.

The woman beside him had other plans however.

"I think you've done enough miss...!" She cried out in fear when the woman turned to her, her crazy eyes and smile making her fear for herself even though she was in a safe zone.

Then her eyes closed themselves, and she stood up straight, "Alright, I understand." She smiled at her, then walked towards Piros the 3rd, the soldiers getting up and running away from there.

"Ah... thank you, I suppose...?" Sasha said, staring after them.

She helped the golden clad man back to his feet, a severely visible dent on his armor in the chest plate area.

"Your entrance was just a bit off this time..."

"Thank you for assistance Natsume. I will make sure to perfect my entrance. As the bringer of justice in this world, I must be perfect in everything that I do! So I'm off!" He hopped slightly in the air, thrusting a fist up as he disappeared in a flash of light, obviously using his teleportation gem.

Natsume smiled, turning back to Endrance and Sasha, "I hope that you'll be fine from here on miss." She bowed politely, then started walking away.

Endrance looked at her as she passed by him, "Wait..." She turned to him, "Is it possible that... I've seen you somewhere before...?"

She gave him a look, studying his facial features, and she spoke in a voice that said that she wasn't very sure of herself, "I admit, you do look familiar, but..."

"Tell me..." Endrance could remember Piros the 3rd, his name bringing on one memory, "You wouldn't be one the .hackers... would you?"

Yes, now he remembered.

There had been one man with a voice and body shape similar to Piros the 3rd's in the .hackers, him coincidentally being called Piros.

Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence at all.

Not to his own surprise, she nodded, "Yeah, I am one of them. But how did you know about me?"

"It's me." Endrance gestured to himself, "I'm Elk."

Several minutes after signing the children in, Endrance was already talking with the woman, who'd identified herself as Natsume.

"It's been a long time since we last saw each other. I didn't think it'd be under these circumstances that we'd do it again though." Natsume smiled up at him.

"Regardless it's... quite a pleasure to see an old friend. I was just thinking of all you minutes before you arrived."

"So what are you doing here Elk? Did CC Corp. ask you to help the players to beat this game too?"

"No, that isn't the case." Endrance shook his head.

In actuality, just days before the first day of this game came to be, he had been with Haseo, who had told him about how he was getting Sword Art Online.

So, out of the shameless obsession he had for the boy, he felt obligated to getting the game as well to spend as much time with him as possible.

A lot of good that ended him with.

He often wondered how his parents were reacting to his condition, it being no better than him being a Lost One.

He wondered how much more they'd be willing to take...

They were almost middle aged citizens now.

He was too much of a burden on them...

"What's with that look?" Natsume leaned down, looking up at him, smile dropping.

"It's nothing. I assure you." Endrance looked away slightly, "But is it safe to assume that in your case, the CC Corp. requested your assistance?"

"You bet. They asked all of the .hackers, actually."

"Really? So does that mean that everyone is involved?"

"Not everyone. They had their own personal lives to think about too."

"Then what of Piros the 3rd? He has a spouse and child in the real world, does he not?"

"He was probably the most willing of all of us to join in here."

"That sounds incredibly strange," Endrace gained a faraway look as he looked away, thinking back, "But from my own memories of him... that isn't too surprising."

He tried especially hard not to let his face show how bad he felt for Natsume as he remembered what had happened to her after Corbenik's defeat in "The World" R:1.

Apparently, Piros had convinced himself that he had fallen in battle after being hit by one of those vector like Data Drain attacks the Rebirth Epitath had launched against them.

So that feeling alone was enough to possess him to dramatically fall backwards, right on top of Natsume's poor PC.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem. Except in Piros' case, of course.

His PC's large body had made for a large amount of virtual weight, and that proved to be too much for her PC to handle when trying to move.

It was a rather painful thing to look at.

"But... does that mean that you were willing to help as well?"

"I wasn't very willing at first." Natsume rubbed the back of her head.

"What made you decide to help then?" Endrance looked at her in curiosity.

"It was because Kaitou decided to help out."

Endrance's eyes widened, then they relaxed at the information.

He could imagine very easily Kite helping out.

And he was yet another person he'd shut off, him especially so.

He had still felt a bit bitter towards him about what had happened to Mia.

But looking back on it now, he felt slight guilt.

He shouldn't have treated him in that way.

Kite only had done what had needed to be done after all.

He did it due to circumstance, not choice.

He mentally sighed.

He really had very much to do in his real life.

Perhaps he'd have to try patching things up with Kite the next time he saw him...

"We don't really have the time to play around in here like in "The World" though." Natsume added, and he looked at her again after having subconsciously looked away in his thoughts.

"Why is that?"

"Since all the NerveGear systems sold out the day SAO came out, we could only use the ones leftover from the beta tests. And since there's a limited time for each beta tester per day... you can figure out the rest."

"What happens when your time runs out?"

"I get forced transported to the title screen while this big notice pops up, saying something about how "your beta testing time" is up."

"That could be very annoying I imagine. But then, why are you here and not assisting with the boss levels?"

"There's more to helping than just beating the game. Since there was a death penalty system put into place, there have been other orders given to us, mainly saying for us to help out in inter-guild disputes and as generic thing, stopping PKers."

"Really..." Endrance gained a look of deep thought, then looked back at her, "Would it be alright if I were to assist you in doing that?"

"It'd probably would be helpful to have an extra pair of hands helping, so sure."

"Then I'm glad. It shouldn't be too difficult, as my spouse is currently the leader of what people here call the "PKer Purge" unit of possibly one of the strongest guilds in the game."

"Spouse?"

"Yes. I am currently married."

It was hard to tell whether Natsume was staring or not, as her eyes were closed, something he always wondered about when it came to the question of how well her sight was an aid to her.

All he knew was that she looked in his direction for a long long moment, before visibly leaning back, it being impossible for it to be anything other than a flinch.

"W-Wow, I didn't expect that one..."

"What? Isn't it common for people to get married?"

"Not people who basically just go emo on their friends out of nowhere." Her voice was blunt, and it was Endrance's turn to look surprised.

"Emo...?"

"Yeah, you kind of did look a bit emo to all of us... even when everyone met in real life..."

"Well, this has given me a large amount of things to reflect on..." Endrance brought a finger to his forehead, his downcast head making his face become veiled by his hair.

"Well, anyways, since you've already got the PKing thing down, I guess that leaves the inter-guild disputes."

"Alright. What disputes are there as of yet?"

"Well, the largest one has to deal with two guilds, one being a guild filled with nothing but PKers. The guilds are actually at war with each other right now. Piros and I came here to try and negotiate an alliance with them."

"What are their names?"

"One guild is the Laughing Coffin guild, and the other is the Holy Dragon Alliance guild."

Endrance stared at her.

"What?" Natsume finally asked.

"Which side are you on exactly...?" Endrance asked, still looking at her.

"Laughing Coffin is a PKer guild, so obviously I'm for the Holy Dragon Alliance."

"And you wanted to make an alliance pact with them, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Then was it really such a good idea to attack members of that very guild as severely as you did?"

"Hm?"

"Those soldiers you attacked... they were..."

"I never attacked anyone."

He gave a slightly altered type of stare, "...yes, you did." He said finally.

"I don't remember that happening."

Oh right, this was Natsume they were talking about, Endrance thought.

She must've had one of "those" moments...

Natsume must've realized what had happened.

"Oh, so I guess I lost control again..."

Endrance rubbed his head lightly.

"Well, looks like I screwed that one up." She laughed it off.

"I suppose you could say that." A sweat drop came on the side of Endrance's head.

"Well, if you ever have the time, it'd be useful if the group saw that you were with us. So if you ever do get that chance, try looking around for us at the most recently unlocked floor."

She started to walk away, but Endrance stopped her, "Wait, Natsume, I believe I have enough time on my hands for that. Please, take me there."

"Are you sure? I don't want this to be too much of a bother to you."

"I don't have any plans," Not as though he really ever did, except for taking the children to school and back, "I just need to notify him before I go."

""Him"?"

"My spouse."

"Wait, you got married to...?"

"Yes, he's a man." Despite his own words, Endrance showed absolutely no signs of caring, or even acknowledging Natsume's facial expression.

"... looks we've both got a bit of reflecting to do." She rubbed her head.

Endrance had been sending Haseo a quick message ("Sorry Haseo, but I had a recent run-in with a friend of mine. I shall return soon, so do not worry if my late return bothers you."), and after sending it, he nodded to Natsume, "I'm ready to go now. Shall you lead the way?"

"Yeah. Follow me."

Endrance followed her to the center of the town, where Natsume brought led him to go up to the highest floor to be cleared as of yet, the 79th floor.

When there, he continued to follow her, until they reached what seemed to be a hotel.

As they went in, Endrance walked while taking in his surroundings.

It really was a completely normal hotel...

Natsume walked outside of the room at the end of the hall, then knocked on the door, opening it once she got the command to come in.

The first thing that Endrance noticed about the room was how it was set up.

Typically it wouldn't be wrong for anyone to expect the room to have the set up of a regular bedroom.

But the way this room was set up would have people mistake it for an office in seconds.

A minutely sized conference office room if one were to be exact.

There was long symmetrical oval shaped table, its wood waxed to shine brightly in the daylight.

There were already some sitting in the room, as though in a business meeting, the only thing marring the appearance of it being the attire of all the people present.

Even the one person who had legit clothing on could probably be considered as wearing unprofessional attire if one were to look at him without trying to compare him to the other people present, namely the man who seemed to have the clothing of the stereotypical caveman in the era of time where neeanderthols still existed.

Said regularly dressed person looked up at them as they walked in, "Hey there Natsume. Any luck on getting the pact?"

She shook her head sheepishly, "Sorry Kite, I didn't get the chance to."

"It's fine. It isn't as though we really need to make the pact with them." Kite's voice had deepened dramatically since Endrance had last seen him, he noticed.

"But if you didn't get the chance to do that, then who...?" Kite set his sight on Endrance.

"This guy is Elk. Do you remember him?"

"Really? Elk?" Kite looked at him curiously, then stood up, walking up to Endrance.

"It's been quite a while, hasn't it Kite?" Endrance said, smiling at his former companion.

"Yeah, it has been. It's a bit surprising to see how much you've grown, but I guess it'd be weirder to see that you haven't at all after all this time."

"Yes, that'd be rather unnatural, wouldn't you say?"

Kite laughed, while Endrance only smiled heartily at him.

Everything else about Kite hadn't seemed to have changed very much though.

"I came here in the hopes of aiding you in your goals for this game. Was that right of me?"

"Of course it is. Help is always welcome Elk."

"Actually... It's Endrance now, but I'm glad to help."

"Good."

"Were you all discussing something of importance before we entered?"

"Yes, we were." Kite looked behind himself, towards one girl who was seated next to a winged man.

Endrance followed his gaze, and after taking only one look at her, his eyes went wide.

"That girl..."

"You know her Endrance? Well that makes it a little easier. Can you tell us who she is? We tried to get a word out of her but she refuses to say anything."

The girl looked up at Endrance, and she recognized him, blue eyes going wide.

"I know who she is." Endrance walked forward, towards the girl, face returning to normal, "But may I ask why you're here as well Aina?"

A/N: Ah, another chapter.

Just watched Attack on Titan for the first time on Toonami. Seems like it has a great amount of potential. Just hope no one spoils everything for me though.