Shiro looked over the hub like he was a tourist, new to the environment. It wasn't the first time he had been there, but he wasn't entirely familiar with it yet and Kirito was still utilizing him as a guide.

"Isn't that the sign over there?"

She pointed to a cluster of terminals which had a sign over them designating they were meant for registration. There was a degree of privacy provided to the terminals so she had a feeling that they were going to involve some kind of real information about themselves.

Shiro nodded.

"Yeah, let's go register for the next tournament."

She followed as he continued forward. There were a significant number of people in the lobby of the capitol building either grouped up and chatting about events, around a quest board, around the customer service reception desk, and an info desk. There was a lot going on. The inside of the lobby was dark, even the lights not lending to make things more visible. The dark gray floor, walls and ceiling as well as the dim lights made it feel like the building was a closing down warehouse. The volume of people betrayed it and the sound filling the place was enough to make Kirito shiver a little. Shiro was surprised at how she was nervous, but remembered her social anxiety being a thing.

They both found open terminals at the tournament registration beside each other and she heard something that made her feel more alert than she already had been because of her anxiety making her more aware of her surroundings. Someone was close, but there wasn't anyone visibly nearby. She was reminded about the person from before who was hidden by an invisibility type equipment. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and listened for breathing nearby or footsteps and if she could find the hidden person.

It took her only a second of deep observation of her close surroundings to find the breathing of someone obscuring their appearance. She faced them directly and spoke up.

"I would appreciate not being followed into the registration. It's also not wise to be using such an item in a place like this."

She expected the person being revealed to be the boy she had met at the ammunition shop, but the person took a moment before revealing their self. The person revealed was taller, significantly so it couldn't be the same person unless the equipment altered their body underneath significantly. They wore heavy equipment which made it slightly possible, but she wasn't convinced it was the same person. Still quiet, wearing a big dark gray cloak over what appeared to be a black leather heavy armour which covered the majority of his body. Definitely a man, but they weren't revealing the slightest detail about their self. They had a heavy futuristic helm with glowing red eyes. She felt a sense of familiarity with the glowing red eyes, and recalled a member of the laughing coffin wearing a mask with glowing red eyes. She couldn't immediately tie him to the murders though. She didn't have enough to go off of from one detail.

"You resemble someone. Are you her?"

She gave a confused expression but she hoped her immediate hunch was right.

"That gamer tag. Are you her?"

She held back from the immediate reaction her mind was going through. She knew there was information about her out in the world, that many people could know about her.

"If I am?"

Silence followed, but only briefly.

"I would enjoy killing you. I will see you again on the battlefield if you truly have her skill."

He disappeared in a teleport animation and she took another breath to center herself before finally going into the registration booth. Shiro had left his booth giving her a confused expression.

"What happened? You should have been able to finish registering by now."

She entered the booth and began inputting her information feeling only Shiro's presence on the other side of the entrance to the booth. There was a lot of personal real information that was required for the tournament if she was going to aim for a payout. She was already going to be paid for the job, but she might as well go for a full payout if she was feeling she didn't need to worry about her security. She knew the company responsible for GGO would send emails to her and she wouldn't mind those emails, and aside from them Shiro would be the only one who would know aside from her. She finished inputting the information while replying to Shiro.

"I was dealing with someone who was wearing the invisibility item again, and this person was particularly interested in me being, well, me. Very much feels like that person might be our criminal, but might just be someone who knows about me from the news and wants to have fun with the challenge of beating me."

Shiro was silent, probably absorbing what he heard, maybe contacting Ela or Kikuoka and relaying the information. He could also be doing all the above or none of the above.

The registration period told her that the preliminaries for the tournament would happen the same night, and after a few days they would hold the tournament on the weekend. It gave people a small period to recover from the strain of the preliminaries and prepare ammunition and such in case the preliminaries make them spend a lot of ammo.

During the preliminaries she hoped to not need to expend any ammunition, but it wouldn't hurt sorely to spend some since she won so much money within the game right away. It would just be annoying to need to go back and get some more ammo.

"I've informed Ela-san what you said so she can track the gamer tag of the person who was talking to you. What was he like? Think you recognized him?"

She shook her head and gave him a smile that even she didn't know what was behind it.

"The voice was modified through the helmet equipment, the equipment covered him head to toe, and the only thing that reminds me of someone from SAO is the eyes of the helmet being red. I remember one person from Laughing Coffin wearing a red eyed mask as a piece of equipment. He was involved in their guild when I raided them on the 60th floor. I don't know much about him but he was involved with them that late. This might not be the same person, but we won't know until we catch him or whoever the criminal is."

Shiro chuckled just before she finished talking.

"Was what I said funny somehow?"

He shook his head, giving her an apologetic expression.

"Sorry, sorry...Ela-san replied back telling me that she found the gamer tag right away. That makes it really easy. He was our person. How obvious could a person be? The most competitive person who has come in second twice already in the tournament, copying the old agility build in this game. Has all the motivation required and everything against his case right now. The only thing we would need is for him to prove it's him."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"That easily? Well...how about we wait until we're done with the preliminaries and set up with law enforcement so that each of the people participating in the main tournament be followed? It would stretch law enforcement thin for a few days, but catching a murderer or potential murderers would probably be worth it. And it would protect the people participating from being killed by the person or their accomplices."

Shiro nodded.

"Ela has already started messaging Kikuoka-san for us. We can focus on the preliminaries. That by the way starts in a few minutes. If you open up your teleport options in this building, you can go down to the holding area where they send you out to the arenas for the preliminary matches."

Shiro disappeared in a teleport animation just as he finished explaining, and she quickly followed. They found themselves standing in what felt like a very open aspect American bar. There were dozens of people in there, either occupying seats and surrounded by friends, or sitting out in their corners, observing their competition. There were a few people who had their weapons visible but for the most part they were more careful about revealing what they had on them. Kirito sighed feeling she had done something right by not having her weapon out in the open.

Shiro led the way to an empty booth and she followed until they sat down. Shiro tapped at the table until an opening appeared in the table and a drink rose from inside. The drink was colourful, something that gave the first impression of candy or alcohol, but she doubted Shiro would be even simulating alcohol. And virtual restrictions made it impossible to drink when you were under your country's legal age. She tapped at the table and it brought up the menu. There were some bar foods, like spicy chicken wings, fries, hot dogs and then there was hot pot. For drinks, there was an alcohol menu which she noticed right away proved her immediate hunch right, they were off limits to her since she was under the legal age to drink in her country. There were some juices, water, sodas, sparkling water, and there was mixing of them. She decided to just go with water for the time being since she wasn't particularly craving anything.

"So, you really didn't want to get a gun before going in? It is allowed to have more than 3 weapon types."

He spoke quietly so to not attract people's attention. He didn't want to give away her weapon types before they would go in.

"No, I have played a few shooters before, but holding one is foreign to me and I need to be able to perform my absolute best. So I might as well do only what I'm best at so nothing holds me back. Having a gun on me might give me another option, but I should focus on what I can do with what I'm comfortable with."

He smiled.

"You also have...well, a lot of passive skills that probably carried over here. If I remember right, that item you were encountering earlier would be totally useless to you with your passive skills."

A confident nod in response.

"My passive skills are all still active here so I might just be totally overpowered here. Even with me going up against guns."

Shiro sighed and closed his eyes, leaning back and sliding down until he was nearly sliding out to the floor below.

"Way too overpowered..."

"Oioioi~! Isn't this an interesting pair! Did you bring your girlfriend this time, mister third place?"

Shiro let himself slide the rest of the way under the table.

"Please don't bring that up...and she's one of my older sisters."

"Ah, did you get one of those invisibility items? Lots of people are investing in the stealth game recently..."

"No."

"Ah, there you are, sneaking around like a normal person."

"Nope, just avoiding number 4 from last time."

Kirito was genuinely humoured from the interaction between them. She hadn't seen Shiro so expressive in a while. She thought perhaps he was going with a more expressive type of personality as a sort of roleplaying in GGO.

"Please don't be so cold~ there aren't very many Japanese players in these tournaments. I just want to have fun with the new talented friends I've been meeting. So is she new to the game and just spectating? Or is she going into the tournament too?"

Shiro upped his personality a bit in response.

"You should see her move. She's a professional martial artist in many ways and she has passive skills she brought over from other games that would make people here think it's unfair to let her play. You remember the behemoth we took down last night right? I gave her my materials and she crafted them into her current equipment. She's way more talented than me and you shouldn't be surprised if she takes first place."

Shiro's pride in her made her feel embarrassed.

"Please...I'm not all that you're saying. And please remember to not give too much away about me. We don't want people bothering us trying to find a weak point."

Shiro cleared his throat after being reminded to be careful.

"R-right...she's actually a bit competitive. She takes her games pretty serious, though sometimes it's warranted."

She sighed.

"It's nice to meet you. It'll be fun to fight you in the tournament when the time comes if we don't meet in the preliminaries. I won't hold back. Regardless of where we meet."

She made a shooting motion to act a little playful and the guy laughed in response.

"I already get the feeling she's stronger than you, third place. Likewise, I won't hold back whether we meet in prelims or the tournament. Please show me a good time~"

His tone was less playful and more...leading on. She sighed and watched as he walked off.

"So you met someone? And came in third place in the last tournament?"

Shiro folded his arms on the table and huddled his head in between his arms. He was depressed.

"I came closer. I'm honestly disappointed in myself the last time around because I got so caught up in the gaming and the tournament that I forgot to do my job, so the main reason you were brought on was to keep me on track or to more or less fully take over. I was so focused on the tournament and I still didn't win first place. Just makes it clear that the difference between myself and the best in this game isn't something I can achieve in a short amount of time."

She smiled and reached over to pat him on the head while he had it buried in his arms.

"It's okay. They shouldn't be expecting so much from us anyways since they're the adults, the law enforcement that should be doing this job. They're relying on our tested and true ability in virtual environments to get results. And by the way, third place in the whole world is pretty darn good. We'll be aiming for first place next time, but don't down yourself for not getting first."

He lifted his head a little showing her a pouting expression.

"I wanted to get first place at least once before you would be brought in, but now that you're playing here, there's no way I'm going to be able to get first place. You have such a massive natural advantage over almost everyone playing this game just for the fact that you lived SAO for two years. All those passive skills you worked hard for and earned are going to stay with you until you hit a game that doesn't require them."

Their quiet conversation was interrupted by the sound of an intercom announcing that the first rounds of the preliminaries would begin in ten seconds and for every participant. The two of them stood up and began to make their way to the center of the area they were in, where several dozen people were crowded in and Kirito developed a cold sweat just getting closer to the densely packed crowd.

As they stepped into the encirclement, them and everyone else who was in there were teleported off to their own battlefields. Kirito found herself in the middle of a ruin of several small buildings, surrounded by a forest. There was a sunset in the horizon which was more visually stimulating than any outdoor experience she thought she would get within the grungy world of GGO. It was beautiful in comparison to everything she had seen in the city.

The sound of leaves rustling nearby caught her attention. Nearby wasn't so nearby however, being a fair bit outside of her precise vision range when she didn't have her weapon drawn.

She swiftly ducked away from the direction that the rustling had been and she used one of her passive skills to muffle her footsteps. She swiftly moved from spot to spot, nearing where she heard the opponent moving before and sliced down into the back of the sniper before he noticed her make a sound.

"Match!"

Kirito heard that shout in English and she was ported out to a pitch black zone. She guessed that it meant she was waiting and loading into another match. While she was waiting she noticed a bunch of screens popping up, showing several other battles as they were going on. She sat down, expecting that she would need to wait until all of the battles of the first set from the preliminaries were over. A glance upward toward a battle that was just concluding showed her a timer. The matches apparently had a ten minute timer. At least the first one did. If neither side won, the tie would disqualify both fighters in a match.

She looked around intently, hoping to find a battle that had Shiro. No matter how much she looked though, Shiro wasn't there. She checked her menu for tournament participants and she scrolled through until she found winners. There were already over two dozen winners from the several dozen who had entered. There wasn't a showing for who was going to be matched up against who, so she guessed that it was an rng element which sorted challengers into their matches. That could wind up being very unbalanced, but in the end better players would get to the end of the tournament no matter the circumstances.

"Match, start!"

With those words, the countdown ended and she was thrust into another battlefield. She took a quick glance around to take in the environment and then ducked when she saw the glint of metal in the remaining sunset of the new environment. This time she was in a rooftop battlefield. There wasn't much for obstacles to utilize for her previous strategy. She sighed realizing that she would need to use at least one arrow for this match. She summoned her bow from her inventory and readied an arrow. She got her body into a good moving position before moving to peek a little from her cover. She took a half second to check for an approaching attacker. Immediately as soon as she was out of her cover, she heard the explosion of a bullet erupting from a sniper rifle. She ducked back down and took in a shallow breath, having narrowly dodged the bullet which nearly pierce both the barrier and herself. She wasn't going to reveal her ability to enter stealth just yet, she thought. She could use her movement muffling again, which is the decision she went for.

She stowed her bow away back into her inventory, moved to slowly and safely move off of the roof and sidle along the edge until she was at the corner and ducked down. She only had a tiny perch. She would wait for the sniper to come to her and ambush them.

The footsteps of the sniper were harsh at first as they got up. The rustling of their equipment which was baggy on them was harsh and they leapt from the rooftop they had been on and landed on her rooftop in only a minute. She heard item swapping sounds and knew that they were going for the close combat option as well.

"Not really a good idea to camp here...give it up-! Huh, where did she go?!"

She leapt from her cover, plunging her short sword into the man's neck to be sure she had won. She blinked rapidly and fell to her knees realizing just what she had done. Even if it was in a virtual environment, even if they were an enemy and even if that was just how the game was she was playing, it was still too visceral, too much for her to handle all at once.

She was back in the bar location, crouched on her knees and heaving out deep exaggerated breaths as she expelled the contents of her stomach. It was intense. Her mind flashed her that action but with people she knew. Being so violent, so swift and deadly made her more uncomfortable than anything she had experienced yet. Being a killer of another person hadn't really registered quite the same yet. She had killed Akihiko, but it hadn't felt quite as visceral. The reality of plunging a sword through another person's neck was gruesome. The mortified expression on the man's face, the blood instantly spraying out from the wound, the heaviness of the body going limp immediately and her holding his body weight on her sword. In only a second she had felt and observed so much and her mind swam with alternative people to the man she had taken down.

"Wow, your matches are going so fast! I haven't seen you enter BoBs yet, are you new?"

She looked up with her haggard expression before adjusting herself and the man who had approached her backed up.

"S-sorry...I am new to this game and I'm still not used to such a visceral experience."

The man placed a hand on her shoulders as she crouched back down.

"Deep breaths...yeah, it's tough especially when you're doing the physical combat here. Hmm... getting another look at your face you feel familiar. Have you been on TV? News?"

She curled up in the fetal position to protect herself.

"I'm...an SAO survivor."

He gasped.

"Wait really?! Your hair is short, but you're definitely the hero from that game right?!"

She groaned.

"Please...don't let this get out. I'm feeling out of it right now and don't want any drama during my time in this game based on my past."

She looked up and saw him nodding his head in response.

"You were so cool in that battle against that crazy guy who trapped you all."

His whispering voice was somehow very soothing. She forced a smile on her face, got up and checked her inventory for potions. Another blessing. Her potions from SAO were in there. She could get rid of the sickness attribute. After chugging her sickness relief potion and breaking the bottle to leave no evidence, she took another look at the person who she had been talking to. The man she had been hearing was an interesting type of person. He was a little taller than her, by maybe a couple of inches. He had medium brown hair and eyes which gave a mischievous type of feeling on first glance. He was a teenager like her.

"Yeah, you really are pretty...on further inspection your gear isn't familiar. Was it at some special shop? Oh but you're new to this game so you might not have found something like that yet. Maybe you crafted it? But equipment with those kinds of stats is really hard to get the materials for."

He went off on his own.

"Ah, I shouldn't bother you anymore. The next match will be starting in a few seconds. Good luck! I'll be cheering for you!"

She gave him a smile before she was whisked away to another battlefield.

When she blinked her eyes, she saw flashing of gunfire immediately. The other person she was fighting was probably just spraying because not a single prediction line landed on her. She swiftly reacted by drawing her bow and not move even slightly into the prediction lines, readied an arrow and aimed at him. Before he could compress the trigger again, she loosed her well drawn arrow and while imagining his face as a bullseye to not get as much visceral feedback, the placed her arrow directly in the middle of his target. When she blinked after the arrow pierced the bullseye, her opponent had flown back from the impact and his head shattered with his dying animation.

Back in the bar area, she was swarmed around by spectators.

"Hoooah! A hunter type with an explosive arrow ammo! Nobody like that has entered the Bullet of Bullets tournaments yet!"

"She's such a cool beauty! And she's been the fastest to win matches out of everyone so far."

"Step on me!"

She went from feeling embarrassed and wanting to leave, to feeling the urgent need to leave on the implications of the last comment she legibly heard from the crowd surrounding her. She ducked through the crowd swiftly enough that they were confused at her sudden absence and she was able to find some privacy at a booth. The privacy didn't last long as she saw a familiar red eyed fighter.

"Your fighting style. It's similar."

She sighed.

"Are from that game?"

He didn't give any form of response. The silence wasn't enough to go on considering she couldn't see his face and he didn't move at all, like a statue. Eventually, he moved, getting closer to her so that he was at the edge of the seating and reached out his left arm, pulling back the sleeve of his armour a fraction. She was confused for a second, but giving the exposed skin some attention she saw something very familiar.

"Didn't get enough there?"

"I will see you on the battlefield."

She had said her comment on the basis of what she had seen. The emblem that Laughing Coffin had used. A coffin slightly ajar with a demented laughing face peeking out. She knew immediately he was from there. What she had said gave her away that she was one and the same. It wouldn't make much of a difference in battle, but she relayed it to Ela in a message just before she was whisked away to as announced her final battlefield of the preliminaries.

She was on a bridge with vehicles which were in various states of disrepair. On the other end of the battlefield was a bus where there was likely her opponent readying to fire at her. She checked the requirements quickly to get into the BoB tournament and noticed she had already met the requirements. She could just stand there and take the hit and wait until the tournament would start, or she could get ready to fight again.

She focused her eyes like she was staring through a scope and noticed the glint of a barrel through the grime in the bus window, there being enough clear space from the opponent clearing a line of sight. She had heard in passing when in the casino that snipers got their first shot free of prediction line, so she would need to swiftly make a preemptive dodge the first shot somehow, or unsettle the opponent enough for them to get sloppy and miss. Or she could let the opponent hit her and move on.

She decided she should do her best even in her current situation without giving away more of herself, and so she dashed low to the ground, dodging the first shot cleanly. From there, the prediction line was visible and the match was essentially over on her end. She won. Her opponent resigned immediately after that and so she reappeared in the bar area once again. She had scored the most points toward entering the tournament out of all participants.

Her crowd had only grown larger, and she was more nervous of finding some of the people who made her most eager to run off before. She raised her hands to get their attention with a stop signing in sign language. Their excited voices calmed down and she moved a little so she could make way out of the encirclement.

"Thank you for your cheering everyone. I hope I live up to your expectations in the BoB."

She logged out of the game after saying that, and covered her real face in embarrassment as soon as she was out.