Fifty-Fifty

by Aperax

Just the mention of her name was enough to make your heart pound. As Sinon returns to GGO to pick up where she left off, you join her in her adventures, dedicated in doing whatever you can to support your partner, your friend, and maybe something more as you balance the danger in GGO with a blossoming relationship. Reader X Sinon.

24. Headhunters: Chapter 24

I'm really sorry about taking a while to get this one out to you guys. I've been dealing with some health issues that started up around the beginning of September that didn't leave me with a good mindset to write. But the good news is I'm recovering and I was able to get this out right as the anime's Alicization arc ends, so hurrah! Hope you enjoy!

---

Chapter 24

There are some pretty neat things the AmuSphere is capable of. VRMMO's were the bread and butter of course, but it wasn't all the headset had going for it. Around the time Full Dive games started gaining traction, a handful of developers pitched the idea of adding apps to work in conjunction with the AmuSphere's systems — internet browsing, music players, streaming services, e-books, you name it. All of it could be accessed at any point, no matter what game you're playing. The SAO survivor school even had an application of its own, giving students the chance to do their homework while in Full Dive, an admittedly nice option for those who felt more at home in the VR world.

It was no surprise then that MMO Stream counted among those with an app. The internet news network was probably the biggest one around, boasting a number of shows and special segments tailor-made to VR gamers. One of them was This Week's Winners, a kind of Monday talk show with the guests of honor being top players from any given VRMMO. It was a fine show, if a little...rife with overinflated egos.

It's also the show where a man named XeXeed was killed live on camera. By Death Gun.

MMO Stream tried their hardest to scrub the entire incident for obvious reasons, but recordings still existed if you knew where to look. I didn't want to. It happened before I started playing GGO, and I wasn't exactly itching to see someone die. I've had enough of that to last more than a lifetime.

This Week's Winners was still trucking along in spite of the whole awful business. A lot of people still watched the show, numbering in the thousands last I checked. Which, in the end, worked out perfectly for us. We needed as many witnesses as possible.

"Did ya get your ticket?" Argo asked. She tossed a glance over her shoulder at me from Third Eye's bar counter. Rei was sitting next to her, scarfing down a bowl of mixed nuts gifted to her by the elderly bartender. Argo had taken to asking her questions per our agreement for favors past. Since the broker managed to piece together Ikuchi's SAO identity, I gave her express permission to question Rei about anything she liked. Whatever info she managed to acquire would be hers to keep. Or sell, if she found it profitable.

Off in the corner adjacent to the front door, Noya was hunched over a table covered in various firearms, going about the process of disassembling them, cleaning them, then putting them together in a practiced, methodical fashion. I idly noticed one of those expandable batons sitting on the leather sofa next to him, well within easy reach. Seems like even in a safe zone, he wanted to be prepared for sudden violence.

I leaned back into my own leather couch and checked the holographic window next to me. The entire thing was splashed with the bright colors and eye-catching designs of MMO Today's app page.

"Says I'm fifth in line," I responded.

Argo sniffed and turned away from me to glance at the front door. "It's almost time. Wasn't Sinon supposed to be here by now?" she asked.

I nodded. After we secured Pitohui's and Llenn's allegiance a couple days ago, we agreed to meet up today for the next step of the plan. Technically, Sinon didn't need to come — I was the one who was going to be issuing the challenge — but she insisted. She wanted to be here when it happened.

Only now, she wasn't.

"She should be on her way," I said. Another holographic window sprang to life with a simple gesture of my hand, listing the few friends who were online, either in GGO or in other games. Sinon was near the top. "Yeah, just give her a few minutes."

"She better hurry. Won't be long before we get to the part everyone's waitin' for,'' Argo said. She turned back around and continued typing methodically on the holo-keyboard in front of her, addressing Rei without actually facing her. "So you're an Artificial Financial Adviser System, eh? What's the extent of your programmin' when it comes to handlin' money?"

Rei stuffed a fistful of peanuts into her mouth, and appeared to be in heaven the whole time doing it. She washed it down with a glass of water and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her bodysuit. "Anything Master can do with it, I can! As long as it supports him, then nothing is outside my capabilities."

"So you're an extra pair of hands, basically," Argo said.

"Anyone can be an extra pair of hands, but since I'm the super special Type-X ArFA-Sys, I can evolve and learn to do almost anything. If Master allows it, I can understand how to play with financial stocks one week, then the next I can learn how to win multiple chess matches at once."

Argo gave a low whistle. "Crazy. This is some Sci-Fi movie stuff. How the heck did Zaskar create you without anyone knowin'?"

Rei made a face like she didn't understand the question. "I dunno. I don't remember being created. Or being...awake."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She looked at me, and chewed on her bottom lip. "It's...hard to describe. I feel like I existed for a really long time, but...I didn't know I existed until you activated me, Master. Because that's when I suddenly knew all sorts of things, like what I am and what I'm supposed to do."

"Like...waking up after sleeping?" I guessed.

Rei paused, seeming to consider it for a moment. "I think so. Maybe."

I pressed the tips of my fingers from both hands together, and thought about it. "If you existed for a long time, then most likely Zaskar didn't create you, huh?"

"I...guess not," Rei said.

"Do you have an idea about who did?"

"No. I'm sorry, Master."

I waved a hand in the air, "Ah, don't worry about it. You're here with us now, that's all that matters."

Her face lit up with a childlike innocence as she nodded. "Yup. There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

"Aww, what a touchin' scene. It warms my heart," Argo said, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. She looked at me and said, "But y'know, if we put in the time to piece together where she came from, then it could potentially lead to some interestin' discoveries."

"Which you can turn into a profit," I said.

"C'mon, ya can't sit there and tell me you aren't at least a little curious about it," Argo replied.

I couldn't deny that. It's not every day a highly advanced AI falls into your lap, especially when said AI has very little idea as to what her origins were. Could there be more intelligences like her somewhere out there, inert and waiting to be activated? If there were, who created them? And why?

"A little bit," I said, resting the foot of one leg on the knee of the other. "But one thing at a time."

I looked up at the little TV display hanging over the shelves of booze behind the bartender. The show was already in full swing. The stage was more or less an empty circular area with four stools spread intermittently across it. The show's chatroom scrolled along the back wall, mostly with messages of excitement or encouragement, with the odd spammer here and there. The hostess, a young woman wearing an orange ensemble of rubber shorts, crop top, gloves, and knee high boots, sat at the far right in the row of stools, speaking into her microphone with the kind of zeal normally reserved for cutesy J-Pop idols.

"Thank you three so much for meeting with us today. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to meet with some of the fresh talent in GGO," she said, waving a hand at the three guests sitting to her right.

I didn't recognize the man on the far left. Short blonde hair with streaks of red in it. Orange eyes which couldn't seem to sit still for an instant. Lean build covered with a bomber jacket and cargo pants. He had to be in his late twenties if I had to guess. A holo-window below him bore his name: Tsuga.

Next to him was a girl, and though her hair was a steely grey, she had to have been around my age — maybe a year or two older. Her faded purple hoodie was pulled up over her head and the bulletproof vest she wore over it had an assortment of decorative pins on its right side. A rather futuristic respirator mask covered the lower half of her face. The holo-window under her read: Mox-E.

Then there was the third guest, sitting right next to the hostess. Ikuchi. He sat with perfect posture, his hands folded in his lap, a small, but friendly smile on his face. His eyes lacked the glint of smug arrogance they usually held. If anything, his entire demeanor came off as someone who wanted to be there and was grateful for the opportunity.

"The pleasure is all mine, miss. It's a humbling experience being up on this stage," he said, sounding every bit as genuine as he looked. Geez. It was almost scary how well he played the part of a humble and gracious young man.

Tsuga was the next to speak, and his voice seemed to belong to someone even younger than him. "I have a really busy schedule, but when I got the invite to appear on the show, I just couldn't resist showing up," he said. His grin was so wide it couldn't have been anything other than rehearsed.

"Showing up to show off. Again," Mox-E said. The respirator she wore made her voice come out warbled and synthesized as she rolled her eyes. "You gonna flirt with her too, Tsuga?"

"Now, now, maybe we should save this for whenever we're out on the field," Ikuchi laughed, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

Tsuga glared at the girl, but she made a point of ignoring it by turning to face the hostess. "Thank you for inviting me to the show. It's an honor."

The hostess' smile never wavered. "Amazing. Even when off the field, everyone's competitive edge is still as sharp as ever. Just what I'd expect of GGO's newest pros."

After typing some more, Argo glimpsed over her shoulder at me again, a spark of interest flashing in her eyes. "So a little bird told me ya got your hands on a photon sword. Ya think it'll help?"

"Maybe," I opened one side of my jacket without taking my eyes off the TV. The photon sword was secured to a strap inside. "I just know that if I ever need it, it's there."

"Considerin' who you're up against, you're definitely gonna need it," Argo said. She flicked her hand side to side, imitating the motion of a sword swing. "Shouldn't ya be practicin' with that thing at least? So you ain't completely outclassed once ya cross swords with him?"

"You make it sound like I don't have a prayer against him otherwise," I said.

"Ya seen him for yourself, haven't ya? Conventionally, it'd be difficult," Argo said.

I tore my attention away from my holo-window and cocked an eyebrow. "So be unconventional."

Argo grinned. "Easy?"

"Easy enough," I said. "I have something cooking. The photon sword wasn't the only thing Sinon picked up for me," I casted a meaningful look at Rei, but she was too engrossed in her snacks to notice. "But I am going to get some training when I get the chance. Won't be much, but it's better than nothing."

The hostess on the TV screen pumped her fists and said, "Now let's get the first segment of the show underway. Live questions! We have a line of people dying to ask about you three, so I hope you can give us some interesting insights about what it's like on the road to becoming a pro in a gritty game like GGO!"

The door to the bar suddenly opened.

I've seen fast before. Hell, I can name a lot of things that move far more quickly than what most normal people are used to in their everyday lives. It comes with the territory of living in a VR world, where people can be the closest thing to superhuman if they know what they're doing.

I can safely say that Noya was one such person. In the time it took for the doorknob to turn and open, he had already gotten to his feet, baton in hand as he whipped it out to its full length, ready to brain the person walking inside.

Sinon met his gaze with casual acknowledgement as she shut the door behind her. "Hello, Noya."

The pale man's breath flared out from his nostrils and the tension gathered in his limbs released themselves as he lowered the baton to his side. "Sinon. My apologies. Can't be too careful whenever I'm on the clock."

"Don't worry about it. I would do the same. Good reflexes, though," she said.

"You honor me," Noya said, bowing slightly. He folded the baton back into its handle before taking his seat again.

Rei gave an enthusiastic wave with her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel's before winter. Sinon raised a hand in reply in greeting. Then she saw me.

I started to greet her, but before I could, she walked up to me and said in a low tone, "Can we talk for a minute?"

The way she said it made my stomach twist. I tried not to let it show on my face. Instead, I nodded and said to Argo, "Hold onto this for me?"

I touched the holo-window with MMO Stream's app with two fingers and swiped it towards her. It glided effortlessly, like it weighed no more than a cloud, and the info-broker stopped it using her own fingers.

"Don't take too long. You're fifth in line, but these questions can go quick," she said.

Sinon led me over towards the back of the bar. Even though we were far enough away to avoid anybody overhearing us, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me even closer until there was barely a foot of space between her body and mine.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Sinon's eyes flickered with something like worry, "This is going to sound weird, but do you play Ordinal Scale?"

I furrowed my brow. I'd heard of it before. Anyone who has even a slight interest in VR technology knows about the Augma, and by extension, its number one game, Ordinal Scale. All the fun of virtual reality stuffed into a headset no bigger than your average headphones. It worked on the same basis as the AmuSphere, sending signals to the user's brain in order to project images and stimuli in real time. But it wasn't VR. There was no transfer of consciousness between the real world and the virtual, leaving your flesh and blood body in a state of dormancy. It was Augmented Reality, layering one world over the other until they were both one in the same. A Full Dive wasn't required when using it, and in a world where people lost their lives to tech like the NerveGear, that was enough to garner national appeal. Commercials and testimonies from respected tech sites gushed about it as the safer, more convenient, and cheaper alternative to the AmuSphere. With that kind of glowing praise, it was no surprise the Augma flew off the shelves on the day of release. Nowadays you couldn't go down the street without seeing one.

Even better, as a show of good faith — or good PR, depending on your level of cynicism — the creator of the AR headset donated Augmas to every student attending the SAO Survivor School, including yours truly. I gave the device a fair shake to see what all the fuss was about, but I never went as far as trying out Ordinal Scale. I mean, come on, I was kind of busy dealing with a certain someone's bounty.

"No, I don't. I've barely even touched my Augma. Why?" I asked.

Sinon breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. There's something strange going on in that game."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Strange how?"

"SAO floor bosses are appearing in it."

Every muscle in my body stiffened at once and it was all I could do to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. "Seriously? Floor bosses from — are you sure?"

"Positive," she said. "Most of my friends, the ones I've told you about, they're SAO survivors, too. They're absolutely sure."

My mind started spinning with questions, and I braced my hand against the wall trying to sort them all out. It felt like someone clubbed me in the back of my head with a baseball bat. It couldn't be real. It couldn't. SAO and everything in it was gone — destroyed along with Kayaba when the game was beaten. There was no trace of it left. The entire thing self-destructed. It was impossible for someone to bring the floor bosses back and stick them in Ordinal Scale.

Right?

"I mean...maybe it's just some really tasteless joke or something," I said. I really wanted to ignore the voice in my mind saying it wasn't.

"It's not. Because there's more to it," Sinon said. Her voice turned as hard and cold as an arctic glacier. "Somebody's been attacking SAO survivors. There are people in the hospital. And...and I got a call about a half hour ago. One of my friends is losing her memories of SAO after being hit by a floor boss yesterday."

A growing tension settled on my shoulders. "You're kidding me. How is that even possible?"

"I don't know the specifics, but it has to do with the way the Augma interacts with the user's brain," Sinon's eyes fell and I saw her jaw clench. "She doesn't deserve this."

I frowned. "And you're sure this is all connected to Ordinal Scale?"

"From what I can tell, yes," she said, her expression set in a grim frown. The hard edge in her tone suddenly dulled into something more uneasy. "That's why I asked if you played it. I was afraid that since you were a survivor too, maybe you'd be targeted by whoever was attacking people in the real world."

I blew out a breath and hung my head to absorb all the information she'd given me. Floor bosses coming back from the dead, an unknown person assaulting SAO survivors, and people losing their memories in the middle of all that. It sounded like something out of a movie. If I heard it from anyone other than Sinon, I would have thought they were pulling my leg.

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm okay. I haven't played Ordinal Scale and now that I know what's going on, I'm not about to start," I said.

"Good," Sinon said. She stared at me for a moment, then she took a step closer, her voice gradually turning softer, more intimate. "Keep yourself safe. Just in case. I don't want you getting hurt too. And please tell me if you see anything weird out in the real world, okay?"

I cleared my throat and nodded. "What are you going to do?" I asked, keeping my voice a whisper.

"I'm not sure yet, but I can't sit by and do nothing," she said.

"I wouldn't expect you to."

There was a sharp whistle and we both turned to Argo. She raised three fingers over her head. The stream was on its third question. We didn't have a lot of time left.

Sinon let out a little sigh and fiddled with one of the hair clips framing her face, "Well, as long as you're out of harm's way, I think I can keep going without worrying," She said. She smiled and started to turn and leave.

I reached out and took her arm before she could. She glanced back at me, and I met her eyes, trying to find the words.

"Worry can go both ways, Sinon," I finally said. I squeezed her arm ever so slightly. "So be careful, alright? I know you're not an SAO survivor, but still. I care about your safety too."

Sinon's hand rested over mine. Then she remembered we weren't alone and dropped it to her side a second later. "I will. It'll be okay. I'm with people I trust."

Which helped assuage my fears a little. I nodded. "Keep them close."

The two of us padded over to Argo in the middle of question number four. I stopped behind Rei and she wordlessly offered me the bowl of peanuts she'd been satiating herself on. Being the kind of man who doesn't refuse free snacks, I grabbed a few and popped them into my mouth. Rei then extended the bowl towards Sinon. Her face turned hesitant, as if she wasn't sure whether she should. At least until Rei kept pushing the bowl against her chest. Sinon scoffed lightly and obliged, picking out a couple nuts for herself.

"Here we go," Argo said. She passed back the MMO Stream's app window to me. I took it, holding it up and close to my face as if it were a microphone.

"How many people are watching?" I asked.

"Almost one hundred thousand," she said.

Oh. Yikes. My heart lost its own rhythm for a second. "Um, that's...a lot," I muttered.

Argo shrugged. "S'about average for one of these streams. These Q and A parts are always pretty popular."

I swallowed. It's not like I was having doubts about the plan, but when a small town's worth of people were about to hear what amounts to your worldwide debut, then you start evaluating your public speaking skills real quick.

Sinon must have caught on to it because she stepped a bit closer, leaning forward to see my face. "Nervous?" she asked.

I blew out a breath and rotated my hand in a 'so-so' gesture. "Just hoping I don't bite my tongue or anything."

"Is there any chance I can join Yokai? It's like my number one dream right now," Said a voice from the TV, presumably the person calling the stream.

Ikuchi let out a warm laugh. "We're always looking for people who are willing to do what it takes to come out on top. If you can find Gozu, I'm sure he'd be happy to help you out."

"Plus one for Yokai's number," Argo said. "Ya ready?"

I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. Once things started moving, the end of this fight would be inevitable. I couldn't afford doubts anymore. There was no room for them. This was it. The point of no return, the line in the sand, the freaking knife edge separating the weeks of hostilities between me and a group of rogue SAO survivors from the absolute end.

What I was about to do today would be the single most outrageous thing I've ever done, full stop. And a hundred thousand people were going to watch me do it.

I shared a brief glance with Sinon. She closed her fingers and bumped her fist against my shoulder, the gesture small and encouraging — speaking enough words to fill a novel, but simple enough to be distilled into one basic message.

She believed in me.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I flexed my fingers. "Let's steal the show."

The hostess of the stream nodded at Ikuchi and said, "Very admirable of you. I'm sure Yokai would welcome anyone with that kind of enthusiasm."

"Enthusiasm is one of the things I always look for," Ikuchi replied smoothly. "When people demonstrate that kind of willingness, I can't help but be reminded of my own start here in GGO. I was just as new to this game as anyone else. I had a lot of trouble at first. It wasn't easy getting this far, not by a long shot. But I pushed on, taking on harder and harder challenges, fighting squadrons like Buckwild and Hyper Kings. Believe me, it was a struggle to get to where I am, so I hope Yokai Squadron can do the same for somebody else."

The holo-window in front of me flashed a simple message at the top of the screen: Your turn is coming soon. Please have your question ready!

"And now for our next caller. I can't wait to see what they have to say to our guests," the hostess said.

Argo cracked a devilish smirk, "Me too, lady."

The holo-window in front of me flashed green, and then a countdown appeared, going simultaneously way too slow and way, way, too fast for my liking.

Three. Two. One.

"Okay, caller, you're on the air! Tell us what's on your mind," The hostess said.

I cleared my throat, pulled the holo-window closer, considered my words, and said, with all the confidence I could muster, "So Ikuchi, now that you're in showbiz, am I going to see you in one of those corny dancing shows now?"

Oh boy, did he recognize my voice. His face turned to absolute frost. Man, I should've taken a picture.

"Or maybe a cooking segment on Good Morning Tokyo? Because man, you're about to be real salty in a minute," I continued.

The hostess recovered first and lifted her mic up, her voice turning a shade more brittle. "I'm sorry, do you have a question for Ikuchi here?"

"Tons. What does he use for his hair? Does he talk about me sometimes? Why was six afraid of seven?" I asked. "But those are gonna have to wait, because I need to give him a message. It's something he's going to want to hear. Actually, it's something everyone should hear."

The muscles along Ikuchi's jaw tightened into a faint grimace. "Whatever your message is, you don't need to resort to such a blatant method to deliver it," he said, somehow keeping his composure.

"Why not? I thought you liked blatant stuff. I mean, you did post a fake bounty on my head. Remember that? You suckered every broker into thinking I had a keycard that you were hiding from the very beginning. And let's not even get into the fact that you abducted my friend last week."

Everyone on stage with Ikuchi looked at him with varying degrees of shock from the mild to the gobsmacked. Ikuchi, for his part, crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were steady, giving nothing away.

The hostess turned away slightly from the cameras and pressed a finger against her ear, speaking in a low tone. Smart money was on her trying to get me disconnected from the line. That wouldn't do.

"We've been itching to get back at you for that one," I said. "So guess what? Sinon wants to settle accounts."

The hostess froze in place, her mouth dropping open, and both Tsuga and Mox-E began whispering harshly to each other. I glanced at the chat log scrolling by on the screen behind them. Before now, it was moving at a steady pace, slow enough to read what everyone was saying. Now it moved faster than a bullet train. I couldn't read one message fully before it was pushed out by a dozen more.

A fierce grin spread on my face. It wasn't a secret that Sinon held the distinguished honor of being one of the most famous players in GGO. Taking into account her win in the BoB tournament, her run in with Death Gun, plus the notoriety she already gained as the most skilled sniper around, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say her reputation rivaled some of the biggest heavy hitters of the game. And here I was, spilling the beans on her fight with one of GGO's rising stars. With one sentence, I turned this call from an isolated incident into a potential breakout story. And everyone loves a good story.

Heat flashed in Ikuchi's eyes. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath, then he said, "There is nothing to settle, I'm afraid. This was a waste of your time."

I smirked and made no effort to hide it from my voice. "The way everyone is gossiping around you tells me otherwise."

The hostess was still talking into her earpiece, but Tsuga and Mox-E both looked at the cameras as if they'd been caught trying to steal from the cookie jar.

"Even if that were the case, I have no reason to entertain whatever this stunt is trying to accomplish," Ikuchi said. "Please, you're making everyone uncomfortable with this. It's better if you hang up now to save yourself any undue embarrassment."

"Hmmm...let me think abou— No, I don't think I will," I said. "We're done dancing around this, Ikuchi. You want to prove you're so much stronger than Sinon? Well, here's your chance. So listen up, all of you."

The irritation evaporated from Ikuchi's face, and he crossed his arms over his chest, settling back into his chair, waiting patiently as his fellow guests ended their whispers and turned their eyes towards the hostess. She said something else into her earpiece, went still as she waited for a response, then gave a slow nod and turned back to the cameras, wearing her award-winning smile as if nothing had ever happened.

"My, we have quite the spectacle today! GGO must be quite an exciting world if things like this can happen. Why, it's only right to our viewers all around the world to see where this goes," she said.

Ikuchi's eye twitched. I think I was the only one who noticed it.

I leaned forward and braced a hand on the polished bar top. "Ikuchi, you've been itching to take Sinon down for a long time. Fine. I get it. GGO is all about fighting other players to come out on top. It's only right then that we settle this in the spirit of what this game is all about," I said. "You've heard of the Squad Jam, I take it?"

"Of course," he said.

"Then here's how this'll go. You're going to sign up for it. So are we. If you manage to kill us once we're out in the field, then that's that. Sinon and I bow out and admit you're stronger than us."

Ikuchi lifted an eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"Yeah. With the thousands of people watching us right now as witnesses, we swear to acknowledge your victory over us," I took a deep breath, then said, "But if we kill you...if we beat you, then you stop trying to come after Sinon. You won't ever attack her again."

Ikuchi seemed to consider it for a moment. "The Squad Jam has multiple teams participating. What happens if one of them kills you before I do?"

Leave it to Ikuchi to not even consider the possibility of him dying first.

But that was fine. Overconfidence is a known killer.

"Then I guess we do this again in the upcoming Bullet of Bullets. If that doesn't work out, then we do it in the next Squad Jam. Point is, there's no stopping until one of us beats the other," I said.

Ikuchi went silent, and the eyes of every other person on stage fell on him. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was trying to work out my angle, looking for the catch in my words, the hidden dagger. He wouldn't find any. I knew, because in actuality, the dagger was in plain sight. The whole point of calling him out in public was because of the thousands of people watching us, listening to us, recording us. By issuing the challenge on a livestream, I was leading him to make a tempting choice. If he accepted the duel, he'd have his chance to put Sinon down and come out as the indisputable victor of our feud — in front of a live audience, no less. Sinon and I couldn't even hope to question the results if they weren't in our favor. For all intents and purposes, Ikuchi would win. Just like he wanted.

But if he lost, he'd be stuck between a rock and a hard place. GGO prided itself on competition. Its biggest events were tournaments like the Squad Jam and the Bullet of Bullets. Win or lose, you accepted the outcome with grace and sportsmanship. To do otherwise would tarnish any reputation you had. Which is the exact thing a rising star like Ikuchi would want to avoid if he wanted to shine any brighter. If he tried to back out of the deal after agreeing to it, he'd be looked down on by the majority of the playerbase. Yokai's popularity would be dealt a crippling blow.

If Ikuchi lost, he would have to stop his vendetta on Sinon, and I'd have all the evidence I'd need to show him how the strength he's been so obsessively chasing wasn't worth the pain he was inflicting on himself and others.

All he had to do was accept.

"I don't accept," he said.

What the hell? I narrowed my eyes, stifling a frown. Thankfully, the calm cadence of my voice didn't waver. "Why not?"

"When I win, all I get is your acknowledgement? A paltry reward for beating Sinon, one of the most infamous players in GGO, isn't it?" he asked. "We must give the people something more to be excited about or what's the point?"

Sinon and I looked at each other. She narrowed her eyes, and I saw the gears turning in her head. Neither of us knew what Ikuchi was hinting at, but I'm sure we would both agree it wouldn't be anything fun.

"There isn't much more we can put on the table. You're just going to have to make do," I said.

Ikuchi gave the same smug and venomous smile he always wore whenever he got the upper hand on us. It sent the hairs on the back of my neck to standing. "On the contrary," he said. "there is one thing we all hold dear to us."

I ground my teeth. Sinon stood unmoving, her fists tightening.

"If you and Sinon die by my hand," Ikuchi said. "You will leave Gun Gale Online. Permanently. Sinon's legend will die."

I grimaced. Risk our accounts. Face the possibility of never being in Glocken again. That was his price. I couldn't stop the frown from showing itself this time. Ikuchi wanted to bury us, like every other person he fought. All things considered, I didn't have too much of an attachment to my GGO account...but if I was gone, what would happen to Rei? I couldn't leave her alone.

And there was something else too.

I eyed Sinon. She had a good poker face when it mattered, but I couldn't help but wonder what she was feeling underneath the calm and collected visage she put on. To say she had a history with this game would be putting it mildly. She'd been through one ordeal after another and came out stronger for it, facing death and betrayal and heartbreak. And that was just the stuff I knew about. GGO was a part of her life. I don't know how big, but it was certainly significant, acting as a catalyst to so many things in her life, both good and bad. And now she had the choice of whether to have it all hang in the balance for a man who tried to — and still would — use her own traumatic experiences against her.

"Sinon," I said, quiet enough so that it wouldn't carry over into the call with Ikuchi. "What do you want to do?"

Her icy blue eyes flicked towards me. She turned her chin up, the gesture small, almost unnoticeable. She couldn't have been silent for more than maybe a few seconds before she said, "We're doing this."

I furrowed my brow. "You sure?"

"If he thinks he's going to scare me out of this, then he doesn't know me," she said, her voice resonating with absolute resolution. "Nothing changes. I'm ready to face him."

I knew better than to argue with her on this one. Once she set her mind on something, very little would get her to change it. It was just who she was. Quiet, pure, steady, stubborn will.

I turned back to the holo-window in front of me, staring Ikuchi down through the TV. He couldn't see us, but the simple action filled me with determination all the same.

"If you had a moustache," I said to him, "I'd bet you'd be twirling it right now. God, talk about villain cliches."

Ikuchi's eyes flashed with contempt. "Give me an answer, if you'd be so kind."

"Well, since you asked so nicely," I said. "We accept. Looks like we have a fight on our hands."

"Indeed. I give you my word that I accept this challenge and the conditions you've set," Ikuchi leaned forward, hands on his knees, and spoke directly at me as if we were in the same room. "You've proven yourselves to be immensely challenging opponents, but I don't hate you for that. It's rather exhilarating to be crossing swords with you both. It's forced me to surpass my limits, and for that I am grateful. But at the end of the day, only one of us will come out on top. So allow me to be clear about one simple thing," he said. His eyes bored into mine with an almost physical pressure. "I will not hold back. Not against either of you."

What he meant to say was: 'I won't hesitate to use every dirty trick I have.'

"Fine. Works for me," I said. "By the way, I want to be clear about something too. I got your number. Frontliner."

Ikuchi's eyes went wide.

Guess Argo was right after all.

I cut the line and closed out the holo-window.

It was done. The die was cast. For better or worse, we were on a collision course with Yokai, and everyone who was watching the stream now knew it. The news would spread from one side of Glocken to the other, and people were going to talk about it all the way up to the day of the Squad Jam. All eyes would be on us. Everyone would be expecting — salivating, even — for a grudge match that could end with Sinon's legend being put to rest for good.

Assuming, of course, we lost. I wasn't planning on it.

"How'd I do?" I asked out loud.

"Ya did just fine," Argo rubbed her hands together, and then with a few complex motions, she opened a new holo-window to what I recognized as a chatroom of sorts. At first I thought it was the one belonging to This Week's Winners' stream until Argo said, "Oh baby, the brokers are going nuts. Everyone is trying to get the story straight."

I blinked at her. "They know already?"

"'Course they do," Argo said as if it were obvious. "After what ya just did, people are gonna be beggin' for answers. The brokers are gonna provide. By this time tomorrow, I'm willin' to bet everyone in Glocken is gonna know about what happened today."

I looked up at the TV. The hostess was trying to regain control of the show, but the other guests weren't having it. They were too busy whispering to each other. Except for Ikuchi. He was standing completely still with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes half-closed as if he were in deep thought.

Sinon nudged my shoulder with hers and said, "We should start coming up with a plan. I'll do some research tonight on Squad Jam tactics and run them by you later."

"Sounds good," I said. "Hey, are you really okay with this? Gambling your entire GGO career?"

Sinon tilted her head to one side. "Why wouldn't I be?"

I lifted my hands slightly. "I don't know. It's where you've been for so long. You've invested so much into this game. GGO is like your home, isn't it?"

She put her hands on her hips, looking thoughtful. "I guess it must seem like that, huh?"

"It's not?"

Her jaw moved as if she were chewing on her tongue. "GGO...is special to me. I won't deny that. I came into this game with the sole intention of getting stronger. And I did. But what good is that strength if I don't use it to make things better?" She cocked her head towards the television. "GGO is important, but defeating Ikuchi is even more so. It doesn't matter what I have to risk, I'll do it and accept the consequences. I have to. Otherwise the strength I've gained means nothing."

I stared at her, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that she meant what she said. There wasn't any boasting or grandiose declarations. Sinon spoke every word with calm sincerity born of surefire confidence that only came from experience. And that meant more than anything.

"You're a hell of a girl, you know that?" I said.

Her gaze shied away from mine and she let out a little awkward cough. "That's going a bit too far. It's what I feel. That's all."

"Y'all need a rundown of the Squad Jam's rules?" Argo asked. "I can tell ya, free of charge."

"I've seen the previous Squad Jams. It's not all that different from the Bullet of Bullets, right? Battle Royale. Last team standing wins," I said.

"For the most part, 'cept for a few key things. Obviously, you're workin' with a whole team, but one of ya has to be the official leader. That person is the only one who'll show up on the scan that happens every ten minutes."

I nodded, recalling the information myself. Everyone would spawn with a PDA displaying the whole map, and every ten minutes a satellite scan would reveal the location of all the team leaders. A tempting target for sure, but with the right strategy, the team leader's position could be used to lure unsuspecting teams into a trap. A viable plan to consider once we were in the field.

"Should I be team leader, then?" I asked.

Sinon shook her head. "No, it'd be smart to have someone else do it, so we can keep our positions concealed."

"You too, Sinon?" Rei asked.

"I'm a sniper. I work best when no one knows where I am. If we're lucky, I can take Ikuchi out before he even knows I'm there," She said.

Unless he thought of that possibility already. Ikuchi was smart. He did his homework. If he studied Sinon enough to learn about Death Gun and the Black Star he used, then it was likely he'd come up with a laundry list of precautions to take to avoid getting sniped.

"You think I should ask Pitohui or Llenn to take it up?" I asked.

"I'm sure one of them would be fine with it," Sinon said.

Argo raised a hand. "There's somethin' else ya oughta consider. In the Squad Jam, the teams can have up to six members. How many ya got with you?"

I paused and counted off each person with my fingers. "Me, Sinon, Rei, Pitohui, and Llenn. We're one short."

"Ain't mandatory to have a six-man team, but it can't hurt to have one more person to watch your back," Argo said.

I pondered on my choices and found them to be depressingly low. Most people I knew in GGO were acquaintances at most. There were a few mercenaries I was on speaking terms with who would be willing to help, but they'd ask for compensation first. If not money, then favors, and after selling my soul to Piothui, I wasn't too keen on adding more debts onto my already impressive collection of them. Philia would absolutely throw in with me if I asked, but while I admired her treasure hunting capabilities and her sharp observational skills that mirrored my own, she lacked PvP experience. Not to mention if we failed, she'd run the risk of becoming a target of Ikuchi's inevitable retribution.

For a scant second, I considered asking Sinon if she could enlist any of her friends for help, but the idea died as soon as it came to life. After what she told me about the weird things going on in Ordinal Scale, and about how one friend in particular was missing her memory, I highly doubted any of them would be in the mood to compete in a tournament.

"I have a solution." Noya looked up at us from his collection of guns. "Boss, if it's alright with you, I'd like to fill in as number six."

Argo cocked a golden eyebrow, not quite smirking, but it was close enough to make the distinction. "Why, Noya, what makes ya say such a thing?"

"Owe a debt to him," Noya jerked his chin at me. "Intend to pay it."

It took me a second to remember what he was talking about. "What, you mean giving you back that locket after you died at Valley Moor? Is it really that important?"

"To me, yes," he said. "Let's just say losing it would have been very inconvenient for me. You saved me from a headache, so I'll save you from one. Assuming it's alright with the boss, of course."

All eyes fell on Argo and she responded with an exaggerated shrug. "I dunno. Technically, you're under contract for me and only me. But I guess I can make an exception this one time. Be good to him, will ya? That's an order."

"Affirmative. Consider it done, boss," Noya looked over at me, his expression changing by degrees until it took on a professional detachment. "If you'd like, I can take the role as team leader. Anyone who tries to get the jump on me will get more than they asked for."

The corner of my lip twitched up in a quick grin. "Thanks, both of you."

"Ya can thank us by winnin'," Argo said, pointing her finger at me in the universal sign of a gun before bringing her thumb down. "Ya got a strong team with ya, all things considered. Long as you keep your head on straight, I got faith you'll bring home the gold."

"So, are we all set for the Squad Jam?" Rei asked.

"Should be. Sinon, could you go ahead and shoot Llenn and Pitohui a message, tell them to meet us at the Governor's Office?"

She nodded. "What are you going to do?"

I blew out a breath, patted the spot on my jacket where the photon sword hung inside, and said, "Going to shake the rust off."

---

"One. Two. Three. Four."

Don't overthink. Don't doubt. Just let your body move, find its rhythm.

Again.

"One. Two. Three. Four."

Flow with every step. Commit to every motion. And stop hesitating. Hesitation costs lives. Being quick and decisive saves them.

Again.

"One. Two. Three. Four."

Too slow. Too clumsy. Have to keep trying. It needs to be perfect, or as close to it as it can possibly get.

"Again," I said.

I corrected my hold on the photon sword, took a couple paces back until I stood at the edge of the empty city square I had made my temporary training area, and focused, using my mind's eye to recreate the attacks I remembered using from so long ago. I shifted into place, spreading my feet a shoulders width apart, and assumed a stance I hadn't used for over a year, holding the hilt with both hands next to my ear, the blade parallel with the ground. Slow, steady breaths filled my lungs.

"One," I said. I thrusted the sword forward, the blade humming like dozens of angry hornets. Right away, I knew the angle was wrong. My shoulder protested from the strain of overextending itself, but I kept following the motions. "Two," I followed up with a quick upwards slice, but the strain of my arm cut it short and left me vulnerable. A glower tried to force its way onto my face. I kept it down. "Three. Four," I waved the sword over my head, brought it down in a diagonal slash and ended with a horizontal swipe.

I sighed and dropped my stance. Two out of four. Not terrible, but not good either. And this was one of the more simpler techniques I knew. I anticipated getting back into fighting shape would be difficult, but I underestimated just how frustrating it could be. Without SAO's Sword Skills systems to complete the attacks for me, I had to do everything on my own, which is about as difficult as one would expect, given I had no real sword fighting experience to speak of. My speed and reflexes weren't a problem. In fact, they were as sharp as ever thanks to all the fighting I was doing already, but without the skill to guide them, they could only get me so far.

"That was amazing, Master!"

I turned around to see Rei standing a few feet away, concealed in Argo's cloak just like I instructed her whenever we were out in public. Either she was getting better at sneaking around or I was way too invested in my training to notice her.

I laughed a little despite myself, and shut the sword off. "Glad someone thinks so. I've still got a long way to go."

"Really? But it looks so good already," she said.

"Can't ever stop practicing, Rei. Not until you can't get it wrong. It takes a lot of hard work to get good at anything, and I'm basically starting over from scratch right now."

Rei pursed her lips. "How long will it take to...get good with it?"

"Hard to say. Might take a few weeks at best. Months at worst," I said.

Rei cupped her chin. "...Wack."

"Very, but what can you do?"

"I can budget your credits, provide support in firefights, supply boundless moral support, and — "

I laughed. "It was a rhetorical question."

"Oh. Master, you need to warn me when you're going to do that," She huffed, putting her fists on her hips.

Sometimes I forget Rei is technically a couple weeks old. As advanced as she was for an AI, there were still some noticeable holes in her knowledge about human beings and how they socialized. They were a foreign concept to her, and she relied on me to teach her about those sorts of things, which was honestly kind of a humbling thought.

"I'll jot it down in my notes," I said, tapping the side of my head.

Rei nodded, apparently satisfied, then looked at the photon sword in my hand. "So...you're training to use that?"

"Yup."

Rei tapped her pointer fingers together. "Then...do you think you can maybe train me, too?"

"You...want to use a photon sword?"

Rei nodded. "Waving that around seems like a lot of fun. And it's super cool to look at. And I want to...do the same things you do," she said. Her hopeful expression reminded me of a kid asking for a new toy.

There was a time in SAO when I didn't know much about fighting. I mean, what teenager does, really? Fear for my life and the inexperience that comes with every fourteen year old made it difficult to really nail down the finer points of combat. It wasn't until I joined the Ryuujin that I really began to take the steps needed to becoming a competent fighter. My fellow guildmates were some of the finest people I knew. They were the ones who picked me off the street, gave me the resources to grow, and they were skilled as all hell. Everything I knew about fighting, I owed to them.

And now Rei was asking me to teach her what I learned from them. The cycle begins again.

Well, if she wanted to be taught, I wasn't going to stop her.

I flashed my ArFA-Sys an easy-going grin. "Yeah, yeah, check it out. It's not so hard once you get the hang of it. Besides, I could use a refresher on the fundamentals myself." I put the hilt in her hands and moved to stand by her side. Rei fumbled with the photon sword like she was afraid of accidentally turning it on and cutting herself with the blade. "The first thing you want to do is to hold it firmly with both hands. It gives you better control and leverage, and it'll make it harder for your opponent to knock it out of your hands."

"Uh, o-okay How do you do that exactly?" she asked without taking her eyes off the hilt.

"Like this," I placed my hands over hers, shifting them to the proper position. "Keep it like that. Perfect. Okay, widen your stance a bit and bend your knees."

Rei followed my instructions to the letter. I helped her make tiny adjustments, but her movements were unsteady and hesitant, clearly unused to being set in a way other than what she'd grown accustomed to. "It's kind of awkward to stand like this, Master," she said.

"You'll get used to it. Think of it this way, learning how to do a proper stance is probably the most important thing to learn in swordfighting," I said.

"Really? Why?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Stances between shooting a gun and holding a sword are the same basic concept, but there's a lot more footwork involved in the latter. Take it from me, close quarters fights are a brutal, exhausting, and precarious business. They don't afford any room for error either. If you mess up your stance, you run the risk of being caught off balance, and that's a death knell for even the most experienced fighters."

"Wow," Rei said, turning her head just enough to look at me. "You really know a lot about this stuff, Master."

I smiled. It came out wooden. "I had a lot of motivation to learn."

Thankfully, Rei didn't seem to notice. She faced straight ahead again, her face alight with the photon sword's luminous blue glow. "Okay, I will too. What do I do next?"

"Take a few swings," I said after backing up a few steps. "Don't worry about how. Just go with your gut. I want to see how much instinct you have for this."

Rei nodded and reeled her arms back as far as they could go. Then she swung with all her might, slashing the air with a series of wide, telegraphed arcs, as if she were swinging a baseball bat rather than a sword. Every swing progressively became wider and slower until she stumbled at the tail end of her last swing, barely managing to recover her balance before she tripped over herself.

She oriented herself again and glanced over at me, breathing heavily. "Uhm, how was that?"

"For a first attempt, it wasn't terrible. But there's a lot of room for improvement," I said, approaching her. Her shoulders slumped and I quickly added, "But don't be discouraged, alright? Nobody's an expert on their first try."

Rei frowned. "What exactly did I do wrong?"

I crossed my arms, pressing my lips together. "Well, you put all of your weight into those swings. Sure it's good for power, but you see how you almost fell over doing it?"

Rei gazed down at her own feet with a sheepish expression. "Um, yeah."

"Unless your opponent is wearing armor, you don't need to swing hard to cut them with a sword. Heck, with a photon sword, I doubt it would matter much anyways," I said. "But all the same, you shouldn't rely solely on power to win the day. It leaves you open for counterattacks, and that's just as deadly as losing your footing."

She nodded. "O-Okay. What else?"

I thought for a quick moment. "You were mostly using horizontal swings. It helps if you vary it up a bit. Otherwise, your attacks become predictable. Which, well, is just as deadly as leaving yourself open for counterattacks."

Rei scratched the top of her head. "Uh, this is way more complicated than shooting a gun."

I grinned. It came easier than the fragile smile from before. "A lot of people in GGO feel the same way. Takes a lot of effort for a reward you won't get until much later. Some people don't have that kind of patience. After all, it's a lot easier to pick up a gun and kill someone with extreme prejudice. Heck, I do it all the time," I looked Rei straight in her eyes and said soberly, "You sure you still want to learn how to use a sword?"

Rei bit her lower lip, but she nodded with clear-cut surety. "Yes. I do."

My grin widened and I clapped her on the shoulder. "Alright. I'll do what I can. If you want, we can even be sparring partners."

Rei's posture eased up a bit, and she clasped her hands against her chest. "I'd really like that. I'll show you just what an X-Class ArFA-Sys can do, Master!"

"Having fun?"

I looked past Rei to see Sinon walking up to the two of us with her arms crossed.

"How long were you watching us?" I asked.

She shrugged one shoulder. "I saw Rei swinging around your sword. I guess she wants to follow in your footsteps?"

"Right on the money," I said. "You want to give it a try too?"

Sinon gave a casual laugh and shook her head. "I'll pass. I'm not really a sword kind of girl," she said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. I'm all ears."

"Why hold the sword with two hands? Can't Rei hold it with one? I've seen people do it before."

I gave a little half-shrug. "Sure, but then you'd be getting into some of the more advanced stuff. Using both hands is great for learning the basics and building a foundation to build off from. Plus it's a good style to fall back on when you're up against another sword wielder. In my experience, most people holding a sword in one hand are using shields in the other, or they need the hand free to use something like tools."

"Or they're dual wielding," she suggested.

"Or that," I said. "So what's up?"

Sinon hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "Llenn and Pitohui are up at the Governor's Office. Are you ready?"

After asking the photon sword back from Rei, I stowed it inside my jacket and said, "Yup. Let's go meet the team."

The Governor's Office was, with no exaggeration, the pinnacle of SBC Glocken's cityscape — the Taj Mahal of GGO. Lorewise, it used to be Glocken's command center back when the city was still a spaceship. The crash landing that turned it into the city we knew now did nothing to offset the sheer scale of the place. The Governor's Office was a monolith well over five thousand feet tall and built of space-age steel, it easily dwarfed all other buildings in the game, and even the tallest skyscraper in the real world could only boast being a little over half its height. Trying to crane your head to even look at the top was an exercise in futility and a punishment to the muscles in your neck. Its curved architecture gave it a distinct shape easy to pick out against the jungle of other skyscrapers.

The three of us entered into the main foyer, which was mostly a big empty room with holographic banners strewn around the place advertising upcoming events, and spotted Pitohui and Llenn standing off to the side and chatting in quiet voices.

Pitohui was the first to notice us as we approached. "If we're here, that means Ikuchi took the bait, yeah?"

"That he did. The game's on. We're just waiting on our sixth member," I said.

"So this is really happening. Once again, I'm going into a Squad Jam with crazy stakes," Llenn said, pinching the bill of her bunny eared-cap.

"Ah, that's a good thing, Llenn! It means this is all second nature to you now," Pitohui replied.

"I think you're really overestimating me."

Pitohui snickered, then spotted Rei as she stood behind me and to my left. "Who's this little cutie?"

"Her name's Rei. She's our fifth member," I said.

Without warning, Rei burst out from behind me and took Llenn's hands in hers, her voice brimming with excitement. "Llenn! I'm so happy to see you. Please do not betray us again or I will be forced to kill you. With extreme prejudice!"

Llenn's face was stuck in an expression between surprised and horrified, and all she managed to get out was a blubbered, "Wuh?"

Pitohui on the other hand gave a full bellied laugh. "I like her style."

Before I could say anything else, the entrance to the Governor's Office opened, and Noya came strolling inside, wearing his usual navy blue fatigues. He noticed us, and came over, giving me a curt nod before turning his attention to Llenn and Pitohui, sizing them up.

I knew something was amiss the moment Pitohui's laugh died an abrupt end. The moment their eyes locked onto each other, Noya and Pitohui stared each other down. Neither of them budged an inch. The tension in the air suddenly grew as thick as sludge.

Guess I should probably do something about that. Having two of my teammates at each other's throats wouldn't be an auspicious start to our alliance.

"You guys having a staring contest?" I asked with my best cheery voice.

Pitohui cracked a disarming grin and said, without breaking eye contact with Noya, "This is the guy I killed the first time we met, right?"

"With a grenade launcher, yes," Noya said before I could, his manner relaxed.

"Ah, that's what I thought," Pitohui looked at me out of the corner of her eye, and I heard the laughter bubbling up from her voice as she spoke. "You keep suprising me. You must have some deep pockets if you've been hiring guys from Cerberus."

She said the name like I should've known it. But I didn't. I never really went out of my way to learn more about Noya, aside from the fact that he was Argo's helper.

"Is this going to be a problem?" I asked.

"No problem," Pitohui raised both hands, palms out. "It just makes me feel all warm inside knowing that I killed one of these guys."

"As good a reason as any to feel proud of yourself," Noya said. His polite demeanor didn't so much as twitch. "We have a tournament to sign up for, however. We should do that now."

Pitohui shrugged, looked at me, and held her hand out to a series of terminals behind her. I took the closest one and started pressing buttons until I reached the Squad Jam's sign-up form. It wasn't anything complicated. It asked for our usernames — including our real world names, occupation, address. Things like that. Putting down personal info was purely optional, but it was required if you wanted to receive real world prizes like model guns or merch. I reached a finger out to start inputting information — then the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Somebody was standing behind me.

I didn't have anything to go off of besides my own instincts, but they were hardly ever wrong about these sort of things. I turned my head just enough to take a peek out of the corner of my eye.

It was Sinon. She stood with her back to me, her head turning from one side of the large room to the other, as if she were keeping an eye out for trouble.

"Uh, everything alright?" I asked.

Sinon regarded me from over her shoulder, blinked once, and let out a faint sigh. "Just...making sure no one gets any ideas about spying on you."

Confusion made me knit my eyebrows together. It took me a second to realize what she meant. The way Sinon was standing made it so that she was blocking anyone from sneaking a look at the screen.

"Oh. Good call," I said.

Sinon's face didn't move, but her lips twitched like she wanted to say more but thought better of it at the last minute. She nodded and went back to scanning the room and making sure no one was paying attention to us.

I started filling out the sign-up form, filling out the participants sheet and who would be the team leader. "Never heard of Cerberus before. You know what that is?"

"No," Sinon said. "But if Argo is paying Noya to help her, then it stands reason to believe Cerberus is some kind of mercenary group."

"You worked with mercs before, right? Anyone ever mention these guys?"

"Never. But it's not like I made an effort to learn every merc group there is. There's too many to count, and a lot of squadrons in GGO don't advertise like Yokai does."

I reached the last item on the sign-up sheet, the team name. I chewed on my lip, trying to think of a suitable choice. "From the way Pitohui described it, they must be pretty hardcore."

"They have to be," Sinon said. "Remember when Noya practically fought an entire town by himself back in Valley Moor?"

I thought back to that day. She was right. Noya had been faster, more equipped, and deadlier than any one of us. While Argo and I were holed up in a building and Sinon was perched on a hill away from any serious fighting, Noya had thrown himself into a thicket of gunfire, sweeping through the entire town and killing people like it was second nature. If he'd survived Pitohui's ambush, he may very well have put a bullet in her too.

"I'm glad he's on our side," I said.

"Yeah." Sinon went silent for a beat, then she said, "You did a good job, you know. Recruiting everyone. With the team we've got assembled, we stand a good chance of taking Yokai on head to head if it comes to it."

"Couldn't have done it without you," I said.

Sinon shook her head. "No, you could have. None of this would have happened without you. I'm sure of it."

Our eyes met for a brief instant, and we shared a smile. Hers was breathtaking.

"Well, let's put a pin in it for now. The Squad Jam awaits," I said. I finished up with the form and submitted it, then we joined the others as I said, "Okay, team. Huddle up."

We came together in a tight circle. Within seconds of each other, everyone received a confirmation message in their personal inboxes. After everyone approved their participation in the Squad Jam, I looked at each and every one of them, their faces set in determination except for Pitohui, who looked more excited than anything else. But that was to be expected. It's Pitohui, after all.

"First off, I appreciate you guys for coming together on this. And I won't lie to you, there's a lot riding on what happens. If we fail, then Ikuchi is going to have free reign to continue his power trip, and more people could get hurt. Including himself. We either stop him now, or there's a very good chance we don't stop him at all. Which is why I'm more than grateful to have you guys with me on this one. Remember, defeating Ikuchi is our number one priority. After that, we can have a bit of fun and try to win the game," I said. I pointed a finger at Noya. "He's going to be our team leader on this one. If he asks you to do something, then you should listen. Everyone okay with that?"

There were a round of nods.

"Alright. Gather everything you need. Next time we meet, it's going to be at the war room downstairs. First thing we'll do is work out a strategy, then its game time," I said. I turned to Sinon and said, "You still have that stuff I asked you to buy the other day, when I asked you to get the photon sword?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, let's get to work."

Llenn frowned and said. "Uh, what are you going to be working on?"

I glanced at her, felt a grin slowly spread across my face, then placed a hand on Rei's shoulder. She looked over at me, her deep violet eyes flashing with surprise.

"Our ace in the hole," I said.