Author's Note

Okay, it's short. Sue me. It was originally going to be at least a thousand words longer, but then I realized that a certain spot would be the perfect place to end it for a hell of a cliffhanger. So I stopped a little early. Bright side: because of that, this chapter got released sooner than expected, and the next one's first half (the conclusion of what I start this chapter) already has a clear outline.

As for the quality… I dunno. I mean, I don't particularly hate this chapter, but I also don't like it much, either. Especially the first seven-hundred words or so. Too much telling and not enough showing, blegh.

Well, I'm done with this note. If it gets any longer I'll have to make the story longer to justify it.

Gun Gale Online: The Swordswoman

Chapter Twenty-Two: Clearing Obstacles

I began walking towards the exit, having said most of my piece. At the edge of her hearing range, I stopped, then said one, final thing. "I lost people important to me back then, too. It tore me up, and it didn't help that the world turned against me with only shreds of evidence to go on. So if we ever meet again, keep that in mind when you're deciding how to deal with me."

With that, I left the cemetery. As I walked away, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I finally settled things with Sinon. Maybe the wounds she inflicted would start to heal soon.

Yeah, right. Like it'd be that easy…

A smile crossed my face that I didn't notice until I next looked in a mirror.

A recurring pattern in my life seemed to be that just as I solved one major problem, another one would present itself. There was never – and I mean never – no problems in my life that needed to be fixed before I could keep moving forward with it at a decent pace.

Conforming to this pattern, starting the day after my confrontation with Sinon at the cemetery, I noticed a strange and fairly upsetting event that repeated itself whenever I tried to make contact with Argo.

She avoided me like insanity.

That day, January second, I sent her a message, asking if we could meet up. After all, though I had sort of responded to her confession already, I still hadn't said how I wanted to treat our current relationship yet. There were a lot of things between us that needed to be cleared before progress could be made.

In addition to that, I had also come across some information that would be vital to unlocking the twenty-first checkpoint boss, which as of that point was inaccessible. There were other people I could tell, but informing the leader of the legion that both sent the scout team to feel out the boss and organized every raid meeting was simply the most productive route. That, of course, meant telling Argo, which meant setting up a meeting.

About five minutes after I sent the request, I got a rather short and teasing-absent response.

"Sorry, not today."

I thought it was highly out of character for her, but I didn't say anything. I waited a day and asked again. It was only when I got an almost identical reply a minute later that I realized something was up with her.

So the next day, I used the friend trace option on her to see her location, then tried to go meet up with her directly without bothering to ask. I figured if I found her doing business or fighting a monster, I could wait until that had concluded before approaching her. I ended up finding her haggling with some player merchant I'd seen a few times around the front lines. When she noticed me approaching…

She ran away. I was so shocked, I didn't even chase her.

Frankly, it kind of hurt to receive direct confirmation that she was avoiding me. It was painful and confusing, but at the same time, it only tripled my desire to actually meet with her and talk things out.

So started a two-day game of cat and mouse. A few times a day, I'd try to meet up with her, and each time she'd escape somehow. By the end of the first day I started playing strategically, only choosing to attempt contact at place it would be hard to escape from, but then she just used her «Hiding» skill and left that way.

I realized pretty early on that this method wouldn't solve anything – on day one of the cat and mouse game, actually. Even if I did manage to catch her, she probably wouldn't be willing to talk with me. I just used it as a way to pass the time while I thought of my real plan.

What I decided on doing was to catch her at one of two times where she couldn't run away: the times between her entering or leaving her house and sleeping. Luckily, I did happen to be one of only two living people who knew the location of her virtual home, so finding it wouldn't be a challenge.

Fast forward three days. Since I had no idea exactly when she would be back for the night, I decided to watch for her from the roof of her one-story log cabin in a forest of the thirteenth zone. I started at eight pm – I knew she stayed out fairly late on most nights, so this was more of a precaution than anything. Just to ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that I got there before she did.

After two and a half hours of watching, I saw someone through the oak trees in the distance. A few seconds later, the figure was close enough for me to make out the familiar equipment and whisker marks. I backed up half a meter so she wouldn't be able to see me once she got past the trees, and from there it was a waiting game.

About a minute later, I heard the sound of the front door opening, then closing in the next moment. I took that as my cue to move – once that closed closed, she wouldn't hear anything on the other side unless I knocked on either the door or the window to its left. I stood up on her flat wooden roof, then hopped down to the porch, instinctively softening my landing.

I walked up to the door, touching it lightly with my closed left fist, not even enough to make a sound. Simply making contact would be enough to register as knocking, which would then allow both sides to hear one another's words and actions even through closed doors. I took a deep breath, then spoke, my voice calm and practiced.

"The field boss is in the center island," I started off the one-sided conversation with pure business, just as I had rehearsed. "In the same map where the Christmas boss spawned. Getting a decent-sized raid group there will be difficult, but possible at the right time of day."

Silence. Since I would have heard the sound of footsteps if she ran into another room, that could only mean she froze upon hearing me through the door. I shook my head at the absurd lengths I had been forced to go through just to get her to not run away from me.

"Look. I don't know what I did to make you start avoiding me. And given the circumstances, it's twice as hurtful and confusing as it normally would be," I told her, allowing my voice to show a fraction of my inner feelings to better convey the message. "But I want to fix things. So once the twenty-first checkpoint raid is over with and I have the LA bonus, let's talk this out so we can move forward, whatever that may mean for us. Okay?"

I waited five seconds without hearing anything. Just as I turned around to leave, the wooden flooring under my feet creaking ever so slightly under my low weight, I heard a single, tiny squeak of a word that was completely unlike the usual calm, collected, cocky «Rat» I knew.

"… Okay."

"I'll see you then."

With that as my parting message, I left, teleporting away once I reached the forest.

"So in light of this new information, we have decided to form a smaller, more elite raid party to defeat the field boss. Six members have been nominated prior to this meeting, and an additional four will be decided before we finish discussion. If you hear your name, step forward."

The strategy meeting for defeating the field boss of the twenty-first zone had been devised on short notice, with the invitations making the rounds of the clearers only two hours in advance, at ten in the morning. At the time I received the message, I had just woken up, and if it weren't for my rather important role in the meeting, I almost certainly would have bailed. But those damn morons made sure I had to be there, and as such, I went through the painfully slow and arduous process of fully waking up in order to be there, though not without a nasty scowl to complete my Kazuto ensemble.

The meeting itself took place in the main settlement of the zone, a volcano-side village with what would be called third world-level technology back in real life. Quite possibly the only proof that we were still in a sci-fi themed VR game was the teleporter at the center of town. What they lacked in tech, however, they made up for in leisure spots – there were three hot springs, several high-quality hotels, and lots and lots of nice open spaces that were just perfect to hold meetings at. One such spot, a limestone-floored amphitheater with seats made of gray igneous rock built into the moderate decline of the side of the volcano, was where the bigwigs of the clearing party decided to host this event.

Honestly, it was going about how I expected it to. With the enemy on the center island of the caldera, all methods of access to which were limited by timing, number or both, that made reaching it with a full raid party incredibly difficult – in fact, it would take a minimum of two hours to actually get sixty players to the island, never mind getting them back off it.

So apparently Lind and Heathcliff, the members of the two most prominent clearing legions that did more than scouting and info dealing, devised the idea of just getting ten people there, which was coincidentally was the limit of passengers for the time-restricted ferry.

"The first nomination was unanimous. Step forward, Agil-san."

The giant sub-leader of «Thousand Eyes» stood up from his seat and moved to stand to the right of the speaker, Lind, who himself stood on Heathcliff's right. The blue-haired man had never stood right next to Agil before, and the sheer height difference was enough to make him pause for a moment. After forcibly clearing his throat and turning back to the crowd, he went on with the show.

"The second nomination was decided on with an equal lack of argument. Asuna."

He didn't tell her to step forward because she already stood on Heathcliff's left, facing the audience as a leader like always. She nodded her head, and after receiving the acknowledgement, Lind continued calling out names.

"The third was decided after reviewing her performance in the nineteenth checkpoint battle, where her well-aimed sniper fire out-damaged almost everyone in the room. Sinon-san, please step forward."

This would be the first deviation from my expectations. The blue-haired girl stood up and walked to stand beside Agil without complaint, and for the first time, I realized just how terrifying friendly fire being enabled could be. A shiver worked its way down my spine as I sat in the center of the second row, wondering just how the hell I would get through the coming battle.

"The fourth nomination was proposed late, but was ultimately accepted with no objections. Kazuto, please step forward."

The lack of honorific did not go unnoticed by me, but considering I was the one who told him not to use one ten zones back, I really had no right to complain about it. With a great sigh, I arose from my spot and walked until I stood next to Sinon. Calling the situation awkward would be the understatement of the century, though I didn't let it show on my still-scowling face. I found myself very grateful for the presence of at least thirty people around us, because otherwise, I didn't know whether she'd actually refrain from shooting at me again or not.

"The fifth was the subject of a small amount of debate, but in the end, most everyone saw fit to add him. Klein-san, please step forward."

I had wondered whether he would be on the list or not. All in all, I found myself very grateful for the always-welcome presence of my redheaded friend, who left his legion mates and walked up to the spot on the other side of me before flashing me a goofy smile. I held out my right fist facing up, and he tapped down on it with his own before Lind sounded off the next one.

"The sixth was proposed to round out the party, and though his offer was unexpected, no one could deny his ability, so he was met with no resistance. Heathcliff, the leader of the «Bloody Oath of Arms», will be joining the raid."

How convenient.

It really was perfect. One of the biggest reasons I hadn't yet decided whether or not to join his legion was because I didn't know much about him. But through witnessing one battle, you could find out all sorts of things about them. This would be the perfect chance to see his abilities as well as his tendencies for myself.

"I trust there are no objections? If so, we will begin the nomination process for the four remaining—"

"Just a minute, Lind," I interrupted him, raising my hand as he turned to me with surprise evident on his features. "I have an objection."

"To which nomination?" he asked me, his eyes making it painfully clear that he couldn't fathom what I was thinking.

"My own," I replied, watching as quite literally everyone in the amphitheater nearly dropped their jaws in surprise. "It's not that I don't think I could pull my weight or something. I can keep up with everyone else nominated just fine. But there's one other problem – it's the whole reason I came to this meeting in the first place instead of ditching. You see…"

I waited a few moments, until I knew that I had everyone's full attention. Then, just before the tension I created myself burst like a bubble, I continued.

"I'm leaving the front lines."

Author's Note

And you guys thought Kiriko's response to Argo's confession meant they would get together right after… silly readers, where the hell is the drama in that? I can't call myself a writer with a flair for the dramatic if I make that process that easy now, can I?

And as for the coming field boss battle… I'm sure some of you caught it already, but that fight's primary purpose is going to be to introduce Heathcliff in a combat setting, since I haven't written much about him fighting yet other than that he's good. I mean, yeah, he's not going to be the only focus when there will be four other important characters plus the protagonist there with him, but… well, you'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Trying to keep this author's note short as well, since the chapter isn't long enough to justify bigger ones. Review non-retardedly with a unique message please, yadda yadda.

See you next chapter!