? ?, ?. Aincrad Standard Time: ?. Current Highest Floor: ?

I bumped into two players while I was running through the forest. One of them almost fell over because of the sheer height difference, but both seemed terrified of their lives. Were they connected to the screaming I heard earlier? It seemed so because they both had tears in their eyes.

I was about to apologise when Kenji, Ryoma, and Zenji appeared from behind, scaring the living shit out of me.

"Hideyoshi, what the fuck is that?!"

I turned to Kenji and then at the two girls in front of me. The screaming continued. Since I was closer, I realised it was a scream of agony coming from a male player.

"Please! You have to save them! Oh god, I can't listen anymore!"

Were they dying to other players? High-level mobs? It didn't matter. The pleas of cries from the short one had gotten to me.

"Kenji, Ryoma! Get these two to the guildhall and keep them safe!"
"Hide, those screams don't sound normal. You're running into pure suicide if you go!"
"I don't care! Just go!"

Kenji and Ryoma went around to the two girls and carried them on their backs. Kenji glared at me, frowning, walking back to the space we came from.

With a hand on my sword, I ran towards the screaming, while Zenji followed behind. We arrived at a narrow opening that had trees at either end, so we could peek out and see what was going on.

I saw a player tower over another on the ground with his sword to his neck as another player yelled at him to finish the job. He didn't want to do it, regardless of how much another berated him. Dozens of players watched.

I gritted my teeth. I couldn't just sit and watch. Zenji realised and held my arm, stopping me from drawing my sword any further. "Hideyoshi. As much as you want to save everyone, you can't. He's gone for."

The reality of the situation, when it finally dawned on me, was that he was right. As good as I was at this game, we could not take upwards of an entire guild. My stomach clenched as I watched the sword being raised. Through the screaming from all parties, all I heard was, "I'm th... Sha...w...sin!", before the sword slammed down, shattering the player. Upon realising what he'd done, the killer dropped his sword.

Upon awakening, I discovered my body drenched in sweat. I turned around to check my bed. "Fuck.." The time was still 11

I rubbed my face, sighing, before leaving my room to go downstairs to the kitchen, sitting down at the table meant for ten by myself. I slammed my head into the table, resting my hands on my head.

"Third time?"

I raised my head to Kaede, who'd just flipped on the lights, sitting down next to me. "Imagine if I was there even ten seconds earlier..."

"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't save them, even if you had tried. I'm sure Ikuno would understand."
"I know. I just feel guilty because she thinks they just died to some mob. But someone murdered them in cold blood."
"Are you going to tell her?"
"I don't know."

She got up from her seat to walk over to the kitchen counter, coming back to the table with two cups of tea, placing one in front of me. I looked down at the liquid, reliving the killing blow in the reflection repeatedly, a frown forming on my face.

On that day, three players had died; Kano, Zane, and Sae. I was told that Sae had the kindest heart, and Ikuno had loved Zane with all her heart. I'm sorry, Ikuno, I'm so sorry I couldn't save them.