The next day

"Hey, Philia, I see you're here already."

The blonde treasure hunter waves and smiles as I walk over to the Scenic Outlook's fountain. "Yeah. It's been a quiet day. What about you?"

I take a seat beside her and exhale. "After we split up yesterday, I touched base with Argo about Genesis. Seems what she saw matches what we witnessed. So i did some research on digital drugs and such, but nothing conclusive to explain what he is. But… I don't wanna bore you with the details. So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Oh! Well, there's this shop nearby that I've been wanting to try out. Come with me?"

"A shop?"

"Yeah. Apparently they added a 'Jaw Dropping' drink menu."

"Hmm, interest is piqued."

"Right! Doesn't it sound awesome?"

I stand up, extending my hand to her. "Let's go. I'm in. Let's check this menu out."

"Yesss!" Philia takes my arm and latches on to it as we walk out the outlook and around town. As we walk around, I begin to notice that a lot of people are in similar positions to us. Oh… Yeah, I've totally forgotten what today is. However, Philia looks happy as she chatters about a quest she recently went on, either fully aware of our situation or totally ignorant. Considering her long-term crush on me in previous years (if it is still present) I would be surprised if she is blissfully ignorant.

But I'm not going to say anything about it. She's happy, so I'm happy.

Once we get to the shop, we take a seat outside. An NPC server brings us menus to look at, and as we look at the menu, I read out some of the names. "'The Drops of Ascertainment'... What does that mean?"

"Wh-Who knows?"

Curious, I order two. As the menus vanish into polygons, I look up, seeing Philia looking quite fidgety. "Is everything alright? You seem kinda distracted?"

"Huh? Uh...um… I was just thinking… There sure are a lot of couples in here."

"Really?" I look around, seeing that there are many male and female players together, with a female couple close by. "Well, today is Valentine's Day, after all. Not too surprising. Besides, we fall into the category as well...as a male and female player together, of course."

Philia nods with a blush. "Yeah, I forgot today was today… Though you didn't have to say it like that."

"Say what?"

She frowns. "Never mind! Idiot… Oh, look, a waiter is bringing our drinks."

"Thanks for waiting. Drops of Ascertainment for two. Enjoy."

As the waiter leaves, I stare at my order. "Now that I see it, I still have no idea what this drink is."

"Probably just tropical juices, p-piled with fruit on top of that, and...and… Oh."

"Oh." How we didn't realize it before, but there's only one cup with a double-headed straw shaped into a heart.

"This is totally a couple's drink, isn't it? Isn't it?"

"But I ordered two, not one…"

"The waiter did say 'for two'. And there are two straw ends. On top of that, I don't think NPCs can get orders wrong."

I nod. "Good point."

"Um, I… Um… That is to say, I wouldn't… I you want to d-drink it together, that's...that's fine."

I take a breath and recenter myself, then smile teasingly at Philia. "So sharing a drink gets you all nervous, but dressing in your nightgown and sharing a bed in SAO was no problem for you?"

"Don't say it like that!"

"Hehehe. C'mon, Philia. I mean, eliminate some factors we are on a date on Valentine's Day. I don't mind sharing a drink with you, but don't be weird about it."

"I'm not…" Philia sighs and takes her end of the straw. "Fine, but...we'll never talk about it to anyone to avoid...stuff."

"Agreed." I take my end and together we take a sip. As we lean back, my eyes widen as the sweet and sour fruity taste of the drink excites my tastebuds. "Oh my god."

"What in the world is in this? It's INCREDIBLE! I've never had anything this good before! It's mixed perfectly. Fruity sweetness counterbalanced by the tart sourness of the citrus. It's heaven in a glass! Mmmhmm! Ish sho good!"

"Hey, hey, don't drink it all!" I reach for my end and join her in drinking. "It is the best thing ever! The fruit flavor is so deep and complex and the aftertaste is almost as good as the first sip!"

Her nervousness overwhelmed by the drink, Philia's face is stuck in a smile. "Right?"

"We could drink this all day!" As we drink again, we share a glance, realizing how close we are to each other, almost nose to nose, like a real couple… Yet she doesn't look embarrassed, and I have read all laws of relationships to know this isn't cheating.

As the liquid is fully consumed, we sit back, unhappy it's over yet satisfied we drank it. "Ahh! That… Was… Delicious!"

I nod in agreement. "I gotta say, they weren't kidding when they said they served 'Jaw Dropping' drinks."

"So it must be a Valentine's Day exclusive drink… Shame."

I chuckle as we rise up to keep our "date" going. "We'll have to find out then by coming back after the weekend. Maybe we'll find out if it's truly a couple's drink."

Philia smiles as she joins my side. "Letting a girl have her fantasies, aren't you?"

"Heh… Hey, is that Klein and Agil over at that table?"

"I think it is. Hey, you two!"

As we approach the men, Klein freaks out. "Gyaaah! Wh-What the heck are you two doing here?"

I chuckle. "We're on a friends' date. Why are you getting so flustered? Hmmm?"

Agil coughs. "We're not flustered! That's just crazy. Damn crazy! We're taking a break too… A bro break...from doing bro stuff."

Philia suddenly breaks out in laughter. "You two got that couple's drink, too!" Ah, there it is sitting between then, the Drops of Ascerntainment.

"It's not what you guys think! I swear! We didn't know it would come out like it just...it just did!"

"Some people were telling us the place made good drinks. Whatever! Ain't nothing wrong with that! We're just trying it!"

I can't help but grin. "So it's not just exclusive to Valentine's Day and comes as a couple's drink when ordered for two… That answers that. Oh, and that answers something else, too."

"Hey, what are you implying?"

"Of course not! I got a wife!"

"Agil, it's fine, it's cool. It's 2026 and Valentine's Day, maybe this is your moment of truth. The drink is very good, we just had one ourselves."

Klein sighs. "You two got the same result? So it comes like this if two people order it?"

"Don't do that, Jaymes, had me really going."

Philia cannot contain her laughter as she grabs my arm again. "Well, as lovely as this is, we still hate our date to continue. Congratulations, you two. I'm 100% positive that they only serve it to couples."

"WH-WH-WHAT!"

"LIKE HELL! I COULD DO MUCH BETTER!"

Philia and I continue to laugh as we wave goodbye to the lovers of the day. "We're so not keeping that a secret."

"I totally agree on that."

Later...

"Hey, Sinon."

Sinon jumps in surprise as I come up behind her. "Huh? Oh, hello, Jaymes. I thought you were with Philia?"

I snicker, remembering what just transpired about two hours ago. "She actually just logged off. Hey, if you're free, why don't we go questing or something? I'm making a point of asking you now. Hehehe!"

"Sounds good, but I was actually just heading down to the shops. I didn't expect us to meet before the appointed time."

"True...well, I don't mind joining you at all, since we're going to be together-"

"Hey, Sinon!" My sense of danger immediately kicked in at the recognition of that pathetic voice. Fortunately, for the newcomer, this is the safe zone, but I can still beat his ass with my fists. That unkempt grey hair, those sleazy gold irises… No, wait, just how the hell is he here? "Hey, hi! I've been looking for you all over the place."

Sinon is quite apprehensive, but she greets him all the same. "Richter. Hi."

"Richter?" To me, he's known as Spiegel, and in real life, he's in jail for his part in the Death Gun incident with his brother XaXa and fellow Laughing Coffin guildmate Johnny Black, the latter still at large. I met Spiegel many times in GGO, it was how I met Sinon by interfering with what I thought was some sort of harassment. Not too far from the truth, eventually.

"Oh… Jaymes, what a surprise to see you here. What're you up to? Maybe I could tag along if you're cool with it."

"Um… Oh, sorry, Richter. I was just about to go questing with this bonehead boyfriend of mine, it being Valentine's Day and all." Sinon grips my hand to emphasize her point. I don't contest, but go along with her lead as I walk us towards the southern exit of the Market Square.

"That's fine," Richter says with tension in his voice. "Why don't I come along with y-"

"Beat it, Richter, Spiegel, whoever you are. I don't know how you're here, but you stay away from Sinon. If you come one more inch closer to my girlfriend, just ask your brother what I do to members of Laughing Coffin."

"And he would say that you don't have such good luck protecting your friends from them, would he?" I pause in my tracks as I hear the little runt laughing. "Sure, I'm in prison, but you returned to yours. Isn't this the same world your other girlfriend died?"

Sinon tightens her hold on my hand before I do something violent. "Richter, don't say such things, especially sensitive stuff like that."

"Sinon, remember what I told you, that I'm always watching out for you. And recently, I heard interesting tales of this 'Crimson Warrior'. You shouldn't be in love with someone like him, or any of his friends!"

Sinon shakes her head. "What are you talking about? He's my friend! Kirito and everyone else are my friends because I want them to be. And… I… I can love whoever I want."

Richter scoffs. "But does he know about you? Do you know about him? He won't accept you for what you did, but I can. We can start anew, Sinon! Leave him and his friends behind. Be the Sinon I know you are that he doesn't know."

"Richter," I say darkly as I face him. "You stop this, or I'll come down and beat the living hell out of your deluded ass."

He scoffs. "Deluded? Ha. You really don't know anything about Sinon, even after all this time? I bet you don't know her in real life and have been on a real date! Sinon… Shino is different from all the other girls! She's not normal at all!"

"H-How can you say something like that? I'm normal."

"No way! You're the farthest thing from it! You're amazing! I mean, you even killed someone in real life."

"What?" My rage at Richter literally turns into confusion as I look at Sinon. She, however, glares angrily at Richter, probably held back by our interlocked hands as I was.

"You… H-How dare you!"

"Awesome, right? Yeah! She shot a bad guy dead with a handgun."

"STOP!"

"You could look all over Japan-All over the world-and you'd never find anyone like her! She's in a way bigger league than you guys! You think you're so cool? I knew she was different from the moment I saw her! She was so focused in that library, pouring over gun manuals."

"No… No, that was just…"

"She's a real life superhero! She deals out justice to the evil with a cold detachment! A real life ronin!"

"No! Stop it! You're wrong!"

Richter smirks. "Look it up online, jerkass! It shouldn't be hard to find out."

"STOP THIS," Sinon screams, effectively silencing the area around us. Now we have a crowd drawn to the craziness, but I feel my hand empty as Sinon releases me to run away. I immediately want to chase after her, but my anger at this asshole is greater.

"What's wrong, Shino? I haven't even gotten to the best part about him! Gah!" I grab him by his armor and punch him. Stumbling, he falls down into the street. No one stops me as I pick him up again and bring my knee to his gut, then kick him down to the riverbank. And as nostalgic as it would be to put his head in the water, I decide he's good for now. I'll make contact with the police later as I was smart to record the encounter, but now I need to find Sinon.

That evening

Thanks to Silica's message about seeing Sinon as she was closing up her shop, I find her sitting on a bench at Lakeside Park, gazing out at the dark lake by herself. I take a seat next to her with some space, handing her one of the still hot pork buns Silica had left over. "Hungry?"

"...Sure." She takes the bun and nibbles on it. If the situation was different, I'd say she looks pretty cute right now. But that's the least of my worries now.

"Thought you would've logged off."

"I was going to, but… I know you well. You'd find me, whether here or in the real world… I'm sorry about him… It's my fault he's here."

"Really?"

"I thought that, if I could see him virtually, maybe I could understand him after what he did, and...we could start over. So with permission, they allowed him to use the Amusphere to play Origins. We've spent some time together, but I didn't expect to see him today. So...as you can see, nothing has changed… And you heard what he said."

"I did."

"You heard everything. He… He said I killed… I-I killed someone."

I nod. "Yeah, I heard."

Sinon turns to me, shaking in fear and confusion. "Why aren't you more shocked by it? Everyone else was. Everything he said… It's… It's true… I wanted to tell you...but all I did was pretend to be friends with you, to be your partner. Like I could be normal. But why aren't you surprised? Why are you sitting there, calm as hell?"

I set the container down between us and stared out to the lake. Sighing, I decide to tell Sinon the truth. "I told you, no matter what you did, I've done worse. You killed a man… I've killed four guys and a girl."

Sinon gasps. "Y-You too?"

"Aye. If you told everyone else, that means you know what Kirito did as well. You know he killed a player, and I know you're knowledgeable of Laughing Coffin, having encountered a member yourself. But my story...began the day Koharu was murdered by one of them."

"What?"

"What Richter said is true, I failed to protect her, on her birthday of all days. The guy that killed her, he was not just a serial killer, but a rapist as well. He would force his victims to be paralyzed and sleep, then manipulate them to disable the ethics code. But that was before Laughing Coffin was a guild, before the killings… When we found them, a group of Assault Players including Kirito, Asuna, and myself joined in. We hoped to catch them without bloodshed, but that wasn't the case. I managed to knock a few out until two players played with my admittedly fragile emotions. At that moment, I lost regard for their lives, killing them and two others who kept me from Annihilator as he escaped. But then he signed his own death certificate when he tried abusing Lisbeth...so I made sure he suffered before he died… Unlike Kirito, I didn't forget it like it was nothing, but unlike him, I don't feel guilt over it. Well, I don't know if he does or not… And if you're thinking about last year, yes, if it came to it, I would have shot Itsuki dead. It's a deluded sense of justice, but...protecting those close to me is far more important than any other moral."

Sinon drops her head, looking at her half-eaten pork bun. "I guess...that's why you're so calm. You understand."

I slide closer to her, taking her hand. "Mhm. Had to interrupt the exploring everyone else is doing, but they explained the bank robbery, how you protected not only your family but another as well. I guess Richter, Spiegel, Kyouji, whatever, is right that you are amazing. To stand up to protect others, that requires some strength. And you'll always be that to me, strong. You are my friend, my partner, my Hecate. No past, light or dark, can ever change that."

On the verge of tears, Sinon leans on my shoulder, hugging me tightly. She doesn't say anything, but no words are left to be said. I wrap my arms around her, listening to her sniffles and the lake water make noise of its own.

Usually when night comes, the Market Square quiets down, but for some reason, it's very populated. Sinon and I are just walking around the area, telling her the tale of Klein and Agil as we come across a crowd. Intrigued, we head towards it to see what's up.

"Genesis, that was amazing! Unbelievable! Sooo coool!"

Ah, him. Whatever he's done now, Genesis soaks in the praise. "Hahaha! Yeah! You left all those desperate fools in the dust! I can't believe you beat the boss all by yourself!"

"That thing was a boss," Genesis gloats. "Hmph! No different than any other pest in the world. And certainly no worse than the self-proclaimed guilds. All they do is bluster and shout. No substance. Weak."

"You gotta tell me the next time you go out, please! I can help! I'll carry your extra loot!"

Genesis shrugs then turns our way. "Ah! Greetings to you, O Mighty Savior of NPC Souls and Friends. As you no doubt heard, the boss of the realm has been slain. You are quite welcome." Ah, he speaks of Kirito, who walks up beside me along with Asuna and Argo.

"Yeah, I heard."

"At the rate I'm outpacing these pathetic guilds, they may as well call it quits now. Before it becomes too shameful, haha! Such a pity, I've left no glory for you and your little band either. Simply nothing for you to do but fall in line."

"Nothing, you say?

I fold my arms. "Well that's not very Valentine's Day of you. Besides, Mr. Bigshot, if you defeated the boss, why hasn't the next area opened up?"

"Likely, there's some restriction in place, seeing as it's still in beta and all."

Kirito turns to me. "I didn't think there were area restrictions in the beta."

Genesis waves it off. "You needn't worry in any case. Simply go about completing your little quests for all this little NPCs you love so dearly." He turns away and walks off, taking the crowd with him.

Argo sighs and rubs her forehead. "I guess that's it, then. Rumors have been livin' around that guy lately."

Asuna nods. "Word is he keeps an eye on the people actually progressing just in time to sneak past and take on the boss himself."

"He took out that monster yesterday too," Sinon grumbles.

"Yep. That gets folks to talkin'. Thanks to this latest stunt, I'll be lucky to pick up anything new for a while. Speaking of which," Argo transfers a heap of Col to me, while trying to hold a laugh.

"Thanks. I almost forgot about the waterfall information. Good work, Kirito."

Kirito scoffs. "Whatever...but tell me, is there really a restriction on the new area?"

I shake my head. "My briefing on the beta said there were four or five areas. There should be at least one more area to explore. What do you know, Argo?"

"They ask like I totally have all the time in the world to look into it. Heh! All I know is that the path is blocked off."

"At least there's more of Premiere's quest to keep us occupied."

Kirito nods. "Yeah… Argo, can I ask you to look into something?"

"Lemme guess, want me to find out if that road closin' down has anything to do with the beta? Hehe! It's cute that you think I wouldn't already be on the case. Shortcut huntin' is RPGs 101."

"Thanks, Argo. I'll go dig around too. And I definitely don't want to leave Premiere's quest unfinished."

"But not before today's over, Kii-boy. It's still Valentine's Day, at least spend some time with Asuna before you do that."

Kirito laughs. "Ah, right. We shall do just that."

"Go try that place with the new drink menu," I suggest mischievously. "Get two of the Drops of Ascertainment. Excellent drink." Kirito and Asuna walk away in one direction and Argo bids us farewell in another. Gazing up at the time, I turn to Sinon. "It's still early for a Saturday. How are you feeling?"

She stares at the central river, a small smile on her face. "Happy, despite everything. Thank you for cheering me up. And...about earlier… I hope I didn't make you unclear when I told Kyouji you were my boyfriend. I couldn't think of anything else that'd make sense at the time, plus he knows we're around each other anyway. So-"

"It's fine," I say. "It made sense for today, but if it didn't, I would have said the same thing. Not around Lisbeth, of course, but… Don't sweat it."

"...You love her, don't you? She's perfect for you."

I turn away to the river. "Yeah, I do, but... She'd disagree with you. She's great, but...not perfect."

"But..."

"My perfect girl would be able to compliment both sides of who I am, and…maybe I've been blind to that truth. Whenever I think about Koharu, or when I see Kirito and Asuna together, I...realize I'm not completely happy. As Joshua, I couldn't be better as you said yesterday, but as Jaymes…there's still a void there. I realize that having someone to come home to is not the same as having someone with you on the adventure, but Lisbeth is not that girl, nor can I ask that of her…" A hand fills my own, so I look down at it, then to the smiling owner.

"Then let me occupy the void. That's what partners do, right? As your Hecate...as you're my Lucky Red." Sinon turns away with a red face. I step around her, pointing my finger at her forehead in the shape of a finger-gun. Gasping, she laughs and "aims" for my head as well. We stand like that for a few moments, looking like a pair of idiots in the wrong game until we can't hold our laughter anymore.

"Okay, my dear Hecate, what's next?"

She taps her chin. "Hmm… I'm missing a box of chocolates. But not those heart-shaped ones, that's terrible chocolate… Oh, you know, I could go for a drink."

"You sure," I warn. "It's a couple's place, after all."

Sinon nods. "So? You went with Philia. My turn...and we're getting the drink. Wanna see the hype for myself. Plus...after today, it'll make me soooo happy. You don't want a sad Sinon, do you?"

I acquiesce to her demand, but unfortunately, it's Kirito and I who end up making Sinon and Asuna happy. But unlike Klein and Agil, there's photographic evidence of us two sharing a Drop of Ascertainment...