If the morning sun didn't wake Reggie McKnight for the day of the Bullet of Bullets tournament -he didn't know what did. Luckily, he had gotten up earlier and was in the middle of brushing his teeth when his phone blared.

"Crap." Spitting the contents out in a flash, he hurried over and picked it up. "Hello?" He heard some excitement in his voice.

"Reggie-kun!" That might have been a bad call. Or, the very least, directed at the wrong person. "I sense you're in a cheery mood today?" His boss, Mr. Seijirou, inquired.

Reggie grunted. "Er-yes, sir. Absolutely!" He now heard the surprise in his own voice. Again all for a different reason. "But I reckon that wasn't all you wanted to call me about?" Many texts, emails, in-person reports, and -he guessed- calls now, said it mostly had to do with the investigation. Which made perfect sense.

"Right the first time, as I hear you occasionally say," He heard Seijirou begin shuffling papers over the phone. "Judging on the rest of your reports and the ones prior, you mention the rapid increase in GGO's population from last Sunday night to yesterday, yes?"

"Yes, sir." Reggie nodded, not that Seijirou could see him. "About every time I dived-in, especially yesterday, the player count has gone up." He took a second to yawn. "I don't know about today if I'm frank, but I wouldn't doubt if it exploded with the tournament starting up."

"Uh-huh?" The scribbles of a pencil or pen could be heard on the other line, too. Reggie had to move his phone away from how loud it was next to his ear. "Oh." Mr. Seijirou must've noticed. "Sorry, I placed the phone on speaker." He laughed.

McKnight laughed a little, too. Though it was more polite and, because, his head was having what alcoholics have: a hangover from waking up earlier than usual. Usual being about nine in the morning. It was about eight-thirty or, well, 08:30 hours in military time here.

Without knowing it, Reggie had sat on the side of his cozy bed and laid his back on it. With his phone somehow still by his ear, he listened on to his boss, "Well, that covers most of what I had on that matter. If what you and Kirito-kun said is true, our chances of finding and possibly catching Death Gun today might be slim. However," He gave a silent pause and made an aha! sound for finding the paper he was looking for, "today would be the perfect chance for him to strike again. Is that right?"

"Exactly on the reports, sir," Reggie couldn't help but guess that was the report his employer found.

The only thing that decided to reel its ugly head around the corner was how cynical the plan sounded. Since the investigation here in GGO for finding the bastard, Death Gun, already leaned towards using the populace as bait. He and Kazuto had previously mentioned that it might be harder now. Players were a little more aware of who was passing by and traveled in numbers to give peace of mind. But, wasn't Salted Tarako with a group, too? And he still died after Death Gun shot him in Glocken?

That part didn't make much perfect sense. Yet, what did nowadays? Long as no one's been shot and killed in-game since the beginning of December, the tactic must be working. Or the very least binding the killer's time until it was time to strike, once more. Who knows? The bureaucratic director then asked, "Do you think Kirigaya is prepared for today by any chance?"

Reggie paused for this one. Not that he didn't wait practically long to answer. He admitted with another shrug: "More or less, you were right about him though, and I hate to admit it." I really do "But after what I saw him do yesterday in Gun Gale?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Nobody first starting could've moved that fast. I still believe he still needs work on shooting back." Yesterday Kirito shot all over the place. He went on, "I'd have to see how he acts out in the field today. There's no two ways about it...sir."

"Subarashī! That's great news!" Mr. Seijirou seemed to be jotting that down too. Like a reporter during an interview -even if it was far from it. Reggie deadpanned over the phone. "Okay, my friend, I see you're handling the situation quite nicely. I'll issue the time to the both of you later today until further notice. Till then, watch each other's backs in there. Best of luck!" He hung up.

"Best of luck?" Reggie echoed, but he was speaking to a deadline at that point.

He sighed and lazily threw his phone beside him. It flopped about on the soft mattress a few feet away. And Reggie let out another massive yawn. This time he was incredibly tired.

Yesterday's dive into GGO beat the crap out of him from getting the swordsman to shoot straight and not spray his bullets all over the place. Nearly hitting him after forgetting about turning the safety off. No doubt Reggie had to make sure Kirigaya didn't do anything like that today. Here's hoping, anyway.

He wanted to shut his eyes and go back to sleep. And he must've had. Because a small pool of drool escaped his mouth minutes later. Out of all the days, he starts getting tired: today had to be it.

Seeing how standing close by his bed wasn't the best option, Reggie got up and made sure to go for a little run around the apartment complexes. The weather -thank God- wasn't tempted to give his nose a run for its money in the reasonably early morning where the Sun stayed mostly dominant. Aside from a few clouds and a single sneeze, he got back into his room with enough time for a short shower. He wanted to take a small peek at Gun Gale's player count before the tournament at 15:00. He had to escort Aincard's Hero around late noon when his boss texted him back the details for the hospital they were at the previous day.

Reggie had just finished getting dressed -despite his sandy hair being wet- when a knock came from the door to his room. He drew on his dark brown jacket. Hurried over and answered it. Letting in the cold wind slap his pale face silly. "Asada...?" He held back another sneeze.

"O-Ohayō Gozaimasu!" The bifocal girl bowed respectfully. "Sorry for stopping by so early. I trust you slept well?"

Sadly, no, I did not. Reggie felt a sweat drop but kept that comment to himself. "Just about." He returned the gesture -it was still crooked but better than taking his sweet time the first time around.

Asada's pale features brighten. "I'm glad to hear it!" The fact the glasses girl was pretty layered up for today -having equipped a large overcoat and black scarf. Reggie couldn't help feeling dizzy. Again, not because of the weather -despite that part being worse since his run.

Whenever he was with Asada, he felt this way...But wasn't there a better word to describe all this? Was it feeling weird? Sick? A bit of both? He couldn't understand why, but it got progressively worse to the point that he started taking more aspirin to help out. But nothing out of the ordinary changed. Right?

Then Reggie tilted his head at her. Were her eyes always this bright gray? He could've sworn they were plain black. It was tough to tell because he didn't pay much attention. And Asada wore glasses all the time and they kind of reflected occasionally whenever the sun's glare bounded off them. Why was he barely realizing them now?

"R-Reggie-san?" Asada repeated a second time, making the teen snap back to attention.

"Ah, sorry! I was just," Reggie rubbed his heated cheeks. "Lost in er-thought." What the Hell is wrong with me?

"I just came by to say if we could reschedule sometime this afternoon," Asada repeated softly and without hesitation. "I-If that's okay with you?"

"Why so late?" Reggie asked, not that he was complaining. He assumed they'd go first thing in the morning, which he was afraid of.

Asada looked away. "There's something I have to do first that's important. Very important to me. I uh..should've brought this up sooner after you helped me out yesterday, but looks like I was lost in thought, too, huh?"

"I reckon so..." Reggie sniffed and started feeling lightheaded. He didn't think it was the weather this time around since he placed a hand under his nose while his shoe prevented the door from slamming shut.

Until that notion was chucked out the nearest window. He let out a sneeze back inside his room. Almost making him curse out loud from how painful it was -the worse one too. The wind probably figured if it couldn't go under his nose by force it could always sneak on through. And Reggie just couldn't have noticed. "You really need to take care of that cold," Asada frowned worryingly at him. "It sounds much worse."

"See...I would say no," -Reggie sniffed when rubbing his knuckle against his running nose. He felt a hiss and his nose sting from doing that- "but I would be a liar if I said so." He inhaled and felt the sting again. He wanted to quite literally strangle his allergies for getting the best of him once again. Out of all the days, He cursed himself.

"Sōdesu ka,"

Since he was facing away from Asada. Reggie McKnight hardly noticed the oval-lenses girl walk up behind him and calmly wrapped the surprisingly warm scarf she had on around his neck. "A-Asada?!" He turned back around.

"Daijoubu," She assured softly. "Trust me, you need it more than me so try and not to move so much, okay?"

"B-But," Reggie looked embarrassed and tried to protest some more. Ultimately, he subsided and let her continue.

When she was done, she took a step back. Placing her hands behind herself. "Better?"

The American boy sniffed. Another cold breeze, probably the same one, came by back. He clenched his teeth and waited for another go around. But instead of sneezing outright. His nose felt tucked in from the Japanese girl's scarf. Not even a tiny twitch or reaction from Japan's elemental artillery. "Hai." Reggie nodded sheepishly. "B-Better."

"Yokatta," The warm smile she gave pinned him in the chest and made him more ashamed-and embarrassed- for making her go out her way to do this for him. Especially for him not thinking of getting one sooner.

After giving Reggie the name of the library, the time, and what concepts Asada needed help on, English Lit (mostly) and Math. It was over in a flash. Reggie hardly remembered it being over when she bowed her head and headed down the street.

When it was time Reggie to leave, too, an hour and a half later, he brought the scarf with him. When Kirigaya Kazuto roared off his bike and met him at the front entrance of Toritsu Central Hospital. The Hero of Aincrad gave him a funny look. "Nice muffler, Reginald."

Reggie pulled the muffler over his nose with heat. "Let's get inside, swordsman." He twisted around on his heels. "It's a big day today."

. . .

The familiar scent of cordite and smoke in the air-filled Kirito's in-game nostrils with much vigor than warranted. At least not entirely in the wrong way. What wasn't so much was the number of people here in the supercity of Glocken.

Shortly after meeting up with his partner IRL, Reggie McKnight, at the hospital's entrance, he got the message from the American's boss. A bit abrupt, too, because Kirito already knew the tournament for the qualifiers started in the early afternoon.

The fact he had to practically "sneak out" while his sister, Suguha, was practicing kendo gave him the chance to rush over. He left a vague note explaining where he was. Not going into details. But good enough that she was, more or less, aware of his job with the board-leader of the Virtual Division, Kikuka Seijirou.

Another fact? Was when he first pulled over to park his motorcycle and got off to ask four-eyes' exceptional help why they had to dive in a few hours before the preliminaries started.

The last thing Kirito expected for the American to wear was a girl's scarf. The fact his own girlfriend, Asuna, wore one that was of equal cut that was pink made it seem that way. Not that Kirito planned on asking Reginald what he thought. The answer was going to be distinct, and McKnight didn't seem inclined to give him the straight one when he mentioned it. He just covered more of his lower face with it.

It was about 13:00 when Kirito first dived in after his nurse, Aki Natsuki, settled him inside the hospital bed once more and gave him the green light. She hadn't been this touchy when he first left a year ago for his SAO rehabilitation. It almost seemed too long to remember how frail he was back then.

That usually happens after spending most of two years inside a game that could kill you at any moment. So Kirito guessed he was lucky there.

Now that he was here in Gun Gale Online again. One of the things McKnight ordered him to resume was gun practice at the shop they were in yesterday. Adding that he'll meet him somewhere either before or just a little short of registering for the Bullet of Bullets tournament at the Governor's Office. And since Kirito knew he needed the extra practice, mostly missing his shots at the dummies and, almost, shooting his partner in the process - the Black Swordsman gave the American the benefit of the doubt.

The only issue that plagued Kirito's thinking was...where the hell was the gun shop again?

He legitimately didn't know where. SBC Glocken wasn't as large as many of the areas inside ALO. Flying helped make everything look smaller than it was hundreds of feet in the air. Having your feet planted firmly on the ground in a place you didn't know helped little in navigating. Go figure.

He tried asking several of the more numerous player groups around the city. However, the ones that didn't just try hitting on him (funny enough, there were only a few compared to last time) gave him suspicious looks. Or actively tried to keep a firm distance away. Hands always on the trigger.

Kirito would sigh -on both cases- and spent more than half an hour wandering and looking around. With some shops, areas, and floating advertisements talking about the tournament, seemingly more familiar than others. If the entire cyberpunk city didn't share the same metallic and, at the same time, ancient ruin feeling to it. He never would've known where he was.

Passing through yet another foggy bridge, Kirito began turning a corner near a few abandoned shops somewhere, he believed, down southeast of the city. Or was it in the northeast? Damnit! He sighed unhappily, I'm so lost.

When he finally turned it, he paused. And took a big mental step back. Another player was cutting through the small alleyway right in front of him.

Once they stepped clearer in the light, that person stopped, too. "Kirito..?" She called out. "Is that you?"

"Sinon?" Kirito blinked. Recognizing the indigo-haired sniper girl that tried fighting his partner back at the gun shop. "I- didn't expect to bump into you like this?" He said honestly but with more thought than necessary.

Remembering Sinon's anger towards McKnight (Reggie's username here) and vice-versa. Kirito rightfully didn't fully know the story as to why, yet.

However, like last time, Sinon didn't bear her fangs at him. Instead, she gave him a toothy smile and said, "Small world, huh? I was about to head over to the Governor's Office for today because of BoB."

"The Governor's Office." Kirito echoed in familiarity. Obviously, he knew about it. He just didn't know where that was either.

"That's right," Sinon nodded to his repeat. Then, for a short hiatus, she looked behind Kirito's shoulder for a second. Her voice went flat. "I'm guessing you're heading over there with McKnight?"

"Sort of," Kirito answered back. "He and I agreed to meet there sometime before registration closes. I guess I've been wandering around the city in the meantime to find the local gun shop from yesterday. I'm trying to practice my aim before the tournament." He laughed nervously.

"Why didn't the two of you dive in together? Isn't that what couples do?" Sinon asked with a quirked eyebrow. "If you don't mind me asking."

Kirito spread his pale palms out. "To tell you the truth? He wasn't very straightforward," He answered truthfully. "All McKnight said was that something major was brought to his attention in the real world and would be a little late."

Sinon pondered that for a moment, then nodded conspicuously. "Well, so long as he's signing up for the tournament too, that's okay." She muttered under her breath. Which made Kirito uncomfortable about being between this feud. He sighed and Sinon must've seen him being transparent, "Sorry for asking. I guess that doesn't matter to you, does it?" The blue-haired girl rubbed her light-pale cheek to show she probably aimed her feelings at the wrong person.

"Don't worry about it." He shook his head. "I know he can be...difficult sometimes." Which was an understatement from his interactions. It got an amusement chuckle from the blue-haired girl

"You're not wrong," She looked back down the street she was going to walk down towards. Then returned over to Kirito. "You wanted to know where the gun shop is, right?"

"Sōdesu!" Kirito nodded firmly. "Very much."

"Jā kite," Sinon waved him over down the path. "I know a shortcut there."

The fact the two of them got to the gun shop within five minutes or less was insane. Kirito could've sworn that it was on the complete opposite side of where the armament store was. Turns out, the shop just had to go up an escalator or two to get there.

They entered the store with the familiar techno speakers rolling. There were a lot more people inside now. Kirito guessed they were most likely trying to get more ammo or a different type of weapon they had stocked. According to McKnight, the weapon type you would see in player versus player combat were live ammunition guns -resembling the real ones, as his pistol. The other was optical guns that worked perfectly against NPCs (Non-Player Characters) but were almost useless against real-life players. Those resembled more futuristic weapons and fired bolts of plasma or energy, not bullets.

Kirito actually ended up almost losing track of Sinon as she walked ahead. His eyes 'accidentally' spotted two other curvy girls in futuristic armor covering their arms, legs, and a bit of their torso. However, they wore rather skin-tight suits displaying those optical guns out on top of a podium to sell them. It must've been working because it drew a crowd of males.

Shaking his head and catching up to Sinon when they entered the Gun Range, the blackish-blue area across the vendors held dozens of test dummies. Players already behind several of the firing-posts there were already banging away at them. Kirito had to plug his ears like last time, "Mō," He nearly swore from all that noise. "I still can't get used to all this."

"I'm guessing I don't have to tell you what this place is for, right?" Sinon joked, having to speak over the ripping noises of gunfire to convey her message.

The two teens ended up finding an empty vendor somewhat further down the line to start the trial. Since Kirito was acquitted -or as acquitted as you can be with VRMMORPGs. He didn't need Sinon to hold his hand to open the interface panel and locate his gun. He pressed it, and the small, black pistol pixelated into his hand. "A Beretta M9?" Sinon asked, intrigued.

"Un," Kirito confirmed. "McKnight told me," More like coerced me "into getting it."

Sinon studied the pistol in his hands. Unenthusiastically, she pointed out: "I'll give your partner that much." She said at last. "He has pretty good taste. Is that the only gun you'll be using?" She asked, expecting an, of course, not type answer.

Instead, Kirito quite energetically replied: "Of course it is."

The sniper girl turned back in surprise. As if she didn't hear that correctly. "You... don't have a primary weapon?" She asked, confused.

"If you mean the photon sword I bought, then no," Kirito continued. "Why do you ask?" Then it finally hit him.

He had almost this exact conversation -or Kirito believed Sinon was going to go about it similarly- with McKnight when buying the Kagemitsu G4 plasma sword. Instead, Sinon questionably asked, "What other games did you happen to play before coming to GGO?"

"Well," Kirito tried to look innocent enough and oblivious to what she was pointing at. "You know, just a plain old fantasy game." Sinon crossed her arms and gave him a skeptical look. Which made him almost winced in response.

Luck, though, seemed to be on his side today. Sinon didn't look convinced but gently shrugged. "Okay, then. For now, let's try and improve your aiming. I don't need to tell you you'll be dealing with a lot of players who will most definitely take you as an easy kill with a sword in a gunfight -despite your reflex skills from Untouchable." She paused and gestured to the dummy out in front of him. "But, if you can get close enough...that's a different story."

For the next few minutes, it could've been less than one, Kirito took whatever he was able to pick up from his short time in this game yesterday and its basics and banged away with the small black pistol. An improvement from his first shot that scared the hell out of him.

He thought he did a pretty good job with handling the Bullet Circle. And to best decrease, its expanding and shrinking intervals was to steady your breathing. That way, it'll fire chiefly wherever your gun's crosshair pointed towards. But when Sinon pressed a button by the vendor to see the damage on the dummy. Kirito looked disappointed. "I only scraped its shoulder?" His own shoulders slumped in defeat.

Retracting the dummy, Sinon seemed to understand his pain. "Let's try that again, shall we?" She suggested until Kirito got it right the next few times.

More or less.

. . .

Sinon was by no means a beggar and couldn't be a chooser. Most of what went on in GGO was built like that. Sometimes you'll have an advantage here and there. Then, somewhere along the line, while you believe it's time to relax, something terrible comes up. And you're unable to stand back up to face it.

The Bullet of Bullets tournament was the embodiment of that today. It was do or die this time. She wanted to prove she was more than just another top-notch sniper. She wanted to show she was the top-notch sniper and win it all. Hoping that some of what she won here, could maybe, just maybe, prove her worth outside of this game. In the real world.

The last thing Sinon expected on her way to register for BoB was to run into her rival's girlfriend, Kirito. Helping the long black-haired teen in her aiming skills. She still wasn't sure exactly what prompted her to do so. Sinon would be wrong if she didn't admit it wasn't a welcome surprise.

As the two girls walked out of a gun shop and back outside to the smoke-sweat city of SBC Glocken, Kirito bowed her head respectfully. "Sumimasen for helping me today," She exclaimed genuinely. "I think I have a better grasp of the basics and aiming now more than ever!" The other girl exclaimed cheerfully enough.

"Tondemo nai," Sinon shook her, appreciatively. "It's always good seeing another girl player. Plus, I didn't have anything to do before." She smiled.

Scanning around the sparsely busy streets of the Glocken. Sinon found a time-poll right over Kirito's head. And when she looked up...her heart flatlined for a moment's notice when she caught the time. Then, at the same time, sighed in relief. I thought I was going to experience a heart attack or something.

"What happened?" Kirito must've noticed, too. For she looked around, too in alarm. Pointing to the back of the poll that was behind her -and following Sinon's light finger to the top of it. The new girl started to relax. "It's only...14:32?"

"Un," Sinon said, with another relief. "Thank, goodness. Had it been ten or fifteen minutes from the registration closing, we would have had to run or sprint to arrive on time."

"You're not wrong there, I think," Kirito chuckled. Not that it was practically funny, especially for Sinon. Seeing this, the younger girl, Sinon went off from their appearances, coughed in her hand. "Should we get going?"

Looking down the long stretch of road passing the gigantic and enormous super-skyscrapers that surround Glocekn. The highest towering triangular pillar that served as the Governor's Office came into view.

Checking the time-poll and back down to the superstructure, Sinon said, "Good idea. Better we go now, then run into problems later."

Traveling down over to the Governor's Office took more nerve than steel. Typically, going on foot wasn't too bad. GGO's quick travel system, unlike most VRs, was nonexistent. So high tailing it around from point to point was done exclusively that way. Unless you got your hands on something with four or more wheels -sometimes more than that- to get to where you wanted to go faster.

That's what happened when Kirito spotted one of the several rent-a-buggy stations off by the Central Highway down below it. Sinon was hesitant to get on. Saying something along the lines of how incredibly hard they were to control. Kirito, on the other hand, went right up to it, scanned her hand to purchase the tiny green beast, and jumped on top of it. Pulling the lever to startle the engines to a violent roar.

More hesitant, Sinon got on behind her on the second seat. "Don't worry," The other girl assured. "I um played a lot of racing games to maintain dominance over one of these things." The engines blurred out from another twist of the handle.

Sinon felt herself turn white. Ghost white, in fact. "W-What do you mean raci-Ah!" The force the buggy sent as it raced off down the ramp leading into the highway traffic was terrifying.

Nearly smacking face-first into an armored truck. If it wasn't for Kirito swerving the bug to the left and speeding past multiple other smaller and much bigger cars nearby. Sinon had to bury her face in the other girl's back from it all.

"Are you all right?" Kirito asked, concerned.

Sinon lifted her face up and started to laugh. "This is great!" She exclaimed feeling the digital adrenaline pump into her avatar's veins. Holding the sides of her seat in place, she went on, "Punch it! Let's get there faster!" Her comrade nodded and, after a second of consideration, started laughing, too. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" Kirito shouted as the tiny vehicle jumped up to incredible speeds Sinon didn't know possible. Other cars nearby zoomed past her vision like blurs in the wind. "It's just that you remind me of someone who had trouble getting used to this!"

"Who was that?" Sinon shouted back.

Kirito didn't respond. Maybe she couldn't hear her now with the amount of wind blowing into their face and ears. The incoming and encompassing view of Glocken's triangular centerpiece took all her awes and attention away for now. Getting her closer and closer to her end goal. Or, more specifically, a pretty damn good step towards it.

When they arrived at the Governor's Office, the whole area resembled that of a spherical-shaped waiting room like at an airport. The metallic and vibrant surroundings gave a good reminder that it wasn't the case.

There were plenty of open terminals that had small barriers between them to resume privacy when registering for the events around here. The Bullet of Bullets especially.

Seeing how the two of them had, better enough, more than fifteen minutes to spare, Sinon and Kirito walked over to the closest ones.

Nudging the other girl, Sinon had to say, "Domo Arigatō, Kirito. For getting us here on time."

"Oh!" Kirito didn't look like she expected some thanks. "Hai. No problem."

Sinon made an amused noise. "Call me over if you need help registering."

Kirito nodded willfully as she got to the station next to hers. She was acting a little timid, but with the time they had left, Sinon made a note to check why. Though she had a vague idea of why. And it had to do with that red-eyed mercenary, again.

Keeping to the task at hand. Sinon quickly plowed through the registration. Not that she was trying to beat the clock or anything. It was the same usual business. BoB only really required you to scan and confirm your entry via username and hand-scan. The rest of the questions consisted of email, phone number, personal address, things like that.

That way, if you placed pretty high on the qualifiers. Or, hopefully, the battle royal: the game would send you real prizes. Varying from in-game gun skins to rare weapons or game-inspired props for the real world. The last Bullet of Bullets, Sinon placed 22nd in the battle royale and got an optical laser-pistol. However, she never takes it out from her desk drawer anymore. Except for that one time earlier this week…She clicked her tongue between her teeth.

Pressing the red Enter button, Sinon turned back to Kirito and asked, "Were you able to sign up?"

"H-Hai!" She nodded sharply. Sinon got a quick glance at the long-haired girl's screen before she submitted hers. Almost certain the other teen left some optional information out. Kirito's screen then displayed the bracket she'll be fighting in.

Leaning for a better look, Sinon muttered: "Bracket D, huh? Nice." She congratulated, "I guess you and I are going to the same place." Hers had the same station as well.

"I guess we are?" Kirito looked back at the screen until it timeout after a few seconds. Asking for the next person who was going to sign up with their ID and hand-print.

Now it was to get down to business. "Look, Kirito," Despite what happened today, Sinon had to make one thing crystal clear. "Even though you helped me get here on time, and I helped you practice for the tournament." Her back straightened, and her eyes mildly frowned Kirito's direction. Her voice went hard and flat, "I won't hold back if we meet in the qualifiers. I can't. Not for you or...him, either. I'll be playing to win." An iota part of Sinon hoped she wasn't too harsh for saying things like that.

However, sometimes you had to put things as they were to get your point across. For the new girl, she seemed to be smart enough to understand what Sinon meant. In fact, she was thrilled at the prospect. "All right then." Kirito returned a confident grin. "If we meet there, we'll give each other our all! No holding back." She concluded in stride.

Sinon respected her for that. But couldn't tell if Kirito actually understood her to the extent she meant. Guess I'll wait to see what she's made of.

A statement, for whatever reason, that appeared in more ways than one.

After taking a stroll into the starting room -where participating players stood by, showed off their guns and equipment, until it was time for the tournament. The two teens couldn't find a certain player matching the description of a light brown uniform and stupid crimson eyes. They looked around for a few more minutes before giving up and heading to the changing rooms -Sinon guessing the damn mercenary was around, but hiding like a little kid.

When they got there, Sinon started to change from the casual wear she wore around the city to her underwear. Kirito, on the other hand, abruptly yelped and covered her eyes. "What's your problem?" Sinon asked, raising an eyebrow. "Hurry and get changed too."

"Right! I-I just-!" Kirito bowed 'her' head and embarrassingly apologized. And pulled up her user interface and swiped it to directly face Sinon.

Still, confused. Sinon gave the player card a quick look...Then found herself going red, too, on the Gender part. "M-M-Male?!" She shouted out.

Kirito stayed silent and kept his eyes down the whole time. But when he managed to look back up?

Let's say when they ended up leaving the changing room and back outside with the other players. And, coincidentally enough, find a certain light brown mercenary frantically looking around in between a small crowd. Sinon's mixture of an annoyed and heated glare would've melted the iciest of storms. The noticeably radiated red mark across Kirito's pale face said the complete opposite.

Pervert! Sinon darted her blazing eyes from the mercenary back to the cross-dressing boy in question.

McKnight spotted them approaching and sighed. "Thank God! I was looking all over-" He stopped when he saw the hand-print on Kirito. "What happened to you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sinon asked with held-back malice. Kirito sighed and rubbed his shoulder from the black armor he wore.

Sinon saw through McKnight's tinted visor when the boy realized what had happened. Then the heavily-equipped soldier wagged a finger at his "partner". "I told you this was a bad idea, didn't I?" Kirito looked away. He laughed and turned back to Sinon. "Arigatō. For watching over him, I mean." He grinned shrewdly at her.

I'm going to kill him. Sinon thought, savagely. Then switch back to Kirito. Both of them.

Music began emitting from the staging area's speakers. "Now hear this! Ladies and Gentle Gamers! The tournament starts in five minutes!" The cheerful female announcer announced, "Five minutes, everyone!"

A few of the group-players around them cheered in anticipation. But five minutes was still a long way off. Especially now. Sinon blew out more smoke against her new rivals. Lucky me.

Author's Note: Hey, thank youfor reading! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review and favorite/follow the story for more updates! It will be much appreciated...especially for what I have cooking up the next chapter. Till next time, have a good one.