"Are you enjoying your breakfast, onii-chan?" Suguha rang out from the kitchen.

Kirigaya Kazuto, who was still fiddling the food with his utensil, hardly realized his younger sister was calling him. "Ah." Crap. "Hai! Everything tastes great Sugu, Arigatō!" He returned, which seemed to satisfy the other Kirigaya. Who continued pouring herself a drink.

Kazuto might've not been all that accustomed to the art of drinking in itself. Still, he heard it did wonders helping temporarily suppress any unwanted feelings on the mind. After yesterday, a cloud of guilt raised over him that he wished it to rain somewhere else…Not like his sister was actually pouring herself alcohol or anything like that. And he was sure it'd cause more harm than good. I'm pretty sure she is drinking green tea or something close to it. He thought, since it was a favorite of hers from time to time.

For now, water would do fine.

When Kazuto finally got around to putting a piece of rice ball in his mouth -it was surprisingly good this morning, Suguha somehow materialized behind him. "Care to explain this?" She said. Leaning in and hovering her tablet over his face.

"What is it?" He asked, it was far too close to make out anything on the go. No sooner had Kazuto had the words leave his mouth did Sugu point to the top screen. "GGO Qualifiers' finalists?"

"Yup." She nodded, eagerly. "And guess who's name I found around there?"

"Who's…?" Kazuto entertained, knowing who's name she was talking about.

Sure enough, her finger slid down towards a certain someone inside Block D. Listed under contestants. Among three others that were moving on to the main tournament of the Battle Royale. "This one..." She grinned. "Kirito."

"Kirito?" Kazuto acted surprised. "Funny. Someone decided to take my name up there?" He asked, taking a sip from his plain water. "Small world."

Suguha's eyes narrowed, and she poked him in the ribs. "Maybe because that someone is you?" She reminded him -or at least that's what her tone came out as. How right she is.

Kazuto didn't come right out to say that, but he kept his face still to not show what he was thinking. "I don't know what you mean, Sugu?" He tried starting for a while. "Anybody can use another player's name if they...they..." Slowly, Kazuto's voice lowered and continued until an abrupt stop occurred.

Not least because of how he was trying to plead his case or come up with another partial lie to save face. No, it wasn't any of that. He just remembered what happened back in GGO, again...about that player, Garrett.

He still wasn't sure if Garrett had gotten disconnected due to server issues. Whether it was his Fulldive console battery running low. Or other sensitivities that might have triggered a response from his AmuSphere to shut down (sleeping in your avatar was technically one of them).

For whatever reason, the former player of Aincrad didn't believe in any of that no matter how much he tired and wanted to. Deep down inside, he already knew something more dreaded had occurred to that poor guy. If trying to get a hold of Kikuoka Seijirou was hard enough; his partner, Reggie McKnight, wasn't better off. Since the most Kirigaya Kazuto got from the American -from yesterday last afternoon to this mid-morning- were nothing but ignored phone calls and being left on 'Read,' from his texts. If that didn't say what Kazuto feared about, he didn't know what would change his mind.

The only thing that threw him truly off from the previous day, besides Garrett's disconnection, was why did Reginald suddenly have a burst of fury and anger when he mentioned Laughing Coffin?

Sure Kazuto and everyone from SAO remembered those psychopaths -especially when those Laughing Coffin members were trying their best to kill them. They terrorized the thousands of players trapped there and caused, from all accounts, hundreds of deaths by their hand alone. So it made sense why that name invoked such a response.

But for his partner...it seemed a whole lot more than that. Which was strange as Kazuto didn't think many foreign players made up a significant portion of Sword Art Online's servers to be noticeable. The game was -far as he could tell- entirely exclusive to Japan. Could he have still managed to buy a copy and enter the game somehow? Or did he know someone who did?

Again the possibility wasn't absolute. Reginald's Japanese was reasonably good enough to pass above average. Which maybe he blended in during that whole crisis. Yet, the other teen still seemed inadequate with the culture and his mannerisms screaming out -at least in the real world- he wasn't from around here.

One way or the other, Kazuto needed to learn more as to why Kikuoka brought this kid over anyways. Because the math wasn't adding up.

Forgetting Suguha was still staring at him this whole time, Kazuto was quick to recompose himself and apologize for it. "Sumimasen," He shook his head. "I was just…spacing out for a sec." He rubbed his black hair to confirm with the -partial?- lie.

"Uun," Sugu responded, "it's okay, onii-chan. I understand."

This time, he turned back at her. "Y-You do?"

"Mm," She nodded in sympathy. "Asuna told me a while ago about the new job you took up with that man from the government. She saw you were acting funny and I guess I could see that, now. And...also...you had that other guy come over..." A small flush appeared on Sugu's face for a brief moment. Kazuto needed a second to realize she was talking about McKnight. When he made a little amused face back, she turned red. "I-I guess it's this game, right here?" She jabbed a forefinger at the enlarged tablet.

Kazuto couldn't openly admit that was true. But, he didn't very much go out and deny it. "You're on the right track. Well...I believe you and Asuna are anyways." Which seemed to suffice.

Gently, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Just be careful out there -whatever exactly you're doing. Everyone back at ALfheim is right behind you." She said softly. After what they went through a few months ago to get Asuna back from Sugou Nobuyuki, the research's ex-chief at RECT Inc., RECT Progress, who kept over 300 ex-SAO players prisoned there. Kazuto was glad for his sister helping then and now more than ever.

Even if his heart and consciousness weren't in it. "I will." He replied, meeting the gesture in his own way; by lightly bumping her hand with his. "You know me?"

His younger sister snorted. "Unfortunately,"

Leaving him to his own thoughts to go grab something she left in her room upstairs. There wasn't much to think about. He just didn't want to for the moment.

The next few hours went by in a flash. Kazuto had just finished starting up his bike when a small vibration went off in his pants. It was a text, judging from the single buzz that came from it.

Diving his hand in and pulling out his smartphone. He read the message. 'Hey, I'm not going to make the trip to the hospital this time around. Make sure to report there on time...See you in Gun Gale. -Reginald'

Kazuto's face behind his helmet squinted. He half-expected the other teen to throw in a 'Black Swordsman' or 'swordsman' there somewhere. Even through text, Kazuto could feel the jeeringness radiate off them whenever his partner sent them to him. Reality made that notion clearer.

The fact he did none of the above, and was letting Kazuto go to the hospital by himself without watching him like a hawk rubbed him the wrong way. Something wasn't right.

Kazuto arrived fifteen minutes from Tokyo traffic and drove into Toritsu in nothing flat. When the dark khaki teen was nowhere to be found, Kirigaya swallowed a sigh.

Moving up the stairs inside the medical facility (he didn't realize he was using them until he was near the seventh floor). He refounded room 7025 from being here two times already. Hoping this was his third -and last- time here.

He opened the door and found nurse Aki Natsuki still running and setting up the monitor system connected to his soon-to-be bed. He must've been pretty quiet because she hardly noticed him come until she looked up and let out a startled squeak. "Geez, don't go scaring me like that!" She wagged a finger at him, embarrassed from her own fright.

"Gomen'nasai, Aki-san." Kazuto apologized, plaintively, enough.

The glasses nurse clouded at him, "Are you okay, Kirigaya-kun? You sound terrible."

"No, I'm fine." He lied, trying to mask his thoughts. "Just been a long day, is all."

"Is it about the game?" Natsuki asked. "Or...what maybe happened the previous day?"

Had the four-eyed bureaucrat ran that by her before he got here, the swordsman never knew. Nor did he bother asking, what's the point? Instead, he solemnly shrugged. "Something like that." Leaving it more ambiguous than if he didn't.

But the message got across. "I see." Natsuki nodded. Then the nurse paused, "You know I still provide 'free-counseling' if you want to get what happened off your chest?" She raised a hand up. "Don't worry, the government man made me mostly aware of what happened. I won't say a word." She crossed herself. From the way she sounded, Kazuto felt relieved.

He took a seat next to her on the bed. Giving her a small summary of the previous day's events. And about Death Gun (or the former Laughing Coffin members). Along with the massive guilt and pain when he discovered all this. Kazuto clutched himself and wanted to let his emotions boil out and not keep them in anymore. It was all too much. And now someone else had died because of it. "..it's all fault." He cursed with tighten fists.

Natsuki gently laid a hand on his shoulder, just like what Suguha did earlier today. "You know you're too hard on yourself, right?" She told him.

"You mean 'not enough?'" Kazuto tried correcting. This time he was the one who made a surprised noise when she brought him close, resting his head against her arm.

"If that was the case, you wouldn't have so many friends and family looking after you now, wouldn't you?"

His eyes narrowed. "...I guess so."

"I may not have been through what you had back in SAO. However, remember this. Sometimes, no matter how good a person you are -or how much good you'll do- outcomes out of your hands will transpire no matter the circumstance. It's only how you face them and move on afterward that defines you. And so far, you and that other guy are doing a job -while uncertain- will save more lives, just like what you did in that game." Aki Natsuki smiled, "Understand?"

Thinking strongly about that, he needed more time to respond. And he admitted, it was hard to when a smile crept out.

Kazuto, still deep down, felt regretful about all this landing on his shoulders. But, It's only how you face them and move on afterward that defines you; part helped him seem through the fog -even only a little. "Arigatō," He wiped a tear he hardly knew was there under his eye. "Thanks a lot."

. . .

Standing at Mr. Seijirou's desk had always been -for the past several days- a mostly entertaining event on Reggie McKnight's end. While the teen boy would try to act as formal as he could when relaying his reports. His bespectacled boss, since he got here in Japan nearly a whole week ago, would then forward the latest events on the investigation happily enough.

Overall, the experience wasn't as foreboding as if it were strict and professional twenty-four seven. Which suited Reggie just fine, actually.

If there was a moment in time, he wished it wasn't...this morning was it. "... You're joking?" McKnight asked in a cold and dry sweat.

Mr. Seijirou, in a much more disappointed tone of voice, confirmed. "Yes. The body we discovered in Chuo City, southeast of here, was Garrett's. Based on the time and state, we found him late last night. The ID on his AmuSphere seems to confirm that issue, as well, sadly." Reggie wasn't deaf to hear the hollowness in his once cheerful boss' tone once more, even in English. He started to wince and glared darts to the ground because of it.

He had his own fears that whatever happened to Garrett when he disconnected wasn't going to be all fine and dandy. Other three-winner blocks before McKnight's got in all well. And Garrett's was no different. Now, that guy wouldn't know that. Two other players would move on without him. Giving a free slot to another person in Reggie's block instead -whoever that was. Whether it was him, Kirito, or most definitely, that annoying sniper, Sinon, Reggie guessed it didn't matter anyway.

Damnit. The teen glared even harder at the polish floor as he bit the side of his cheek in gnawing pain.

It was a good thing he stopped when he could. He definitely would've drawn blood had he not picked that moment to stop. For Mr. Seijirou went on, "Most of the public has still not taken notice of Garrett's unfortunate absence, which will buy a day or two to think of an excuse," His boss put it in a way that didn't sound so bad when he knew it was much worse than that.

The photos of XeXeeD, Lightly Salted Tarako, and Pale Rider sprang to mind whenever Reggie wished to be reminded what happened to those unfortunate to be there. It made his stomach turn into knots whenever he thought about them too long. And hoped their end was quick.

Interlocking his hands together, Seijirou managed to say, "However, my supervisors aren't happy about all this, my friend. Not happy at all. So they wish for someone to take responsibility for its failures."

Shit. Reggie's expression twisted, knowing who's fault that was. "I'm...sorry, sir. I didn't reckon those Death Guns" -at this point, it was hard to deny those Coffin members weren't them- "would strike us this early around so many people watching." He bowed tightly.

"If you think I'm referring to you Reggie-kun,"" Kikuoka Seijirou corrected him to the point of a tiny amused chuckle, "you're deeply mistaken."

Reggie looked back up and gave him a perplexed look. "Then who is it, sir?"

His boss, in clear English, told him: "Myself."

"What?" Reggie shot back up, suddenly quitting the formalities.

His employer held his hand up as if taking an oath: "I am the head of this operation and investigation into Death Gun -or Guns from what you showed me. No one else is going to take the blame for both possible successes and failures but me. Especially with a fourth body showing up so soon, more questions and bigger fears will appear in not just Gun Gale Online but other games. And my people won't contain this rumor for so long. Which is why they ordered me to...to return you back to America." He said, mournfully.

In just three words, that left Reggie McKnight speechless. More than speechless, actually. He was sure he couldn't turn any whiter than if he tried. "I..thought you said it wouldn't be till we catch 'em?" His voice managed, going soft.

Mr. Seijirou dipped his head, "Yes, I know. But my own higher-ups don't want this local incident to turn into a more international one should you stay any longer in Japan. Whether you catch one of those Death Guns or Laughing Coffin members, this day is uncertain, and my superiors don't wish to wait that long-"

"But, sir, I -we can get them today! I swear on my life we will catch those bastards today." Reggie begged, not remembering the last time he sounded so desperate and sure of himself at the same time. "Please, sir. This is all far too sudden when we have them by the ropes. We'll get 'em, I swear to God we will!"

"It's not that easy. Believe me, I didn't wish any of this all to happen," Seijirou heard the urgency, too. Why not? He was the one who brought him here. "Another person had died, and they wish to blame someone for it. There's...nothing I can do. Several small teams of newly-created player accounts from the department have been sent inside GGO for 'monitoring' reasons. They believe if the Death Guns are inside the game and register to play -they could somehow catch them before the tournament starts. Maybe during it even, who truly knows?" Seijirou finished. Which all sounded quite good off face value.

The Japanese man had told him once-upon-a-time (last Sunday) that if they were to catch Death Gun, they'd need to know not just the user's gamertag inside Gun Gale, but, also, from...Sword Art, too (along with the probable cause and plenty of evidence on how they managed to kill someone ingame if they did). Hence why Kirito was brought along to fill that requirement and add more of a tightly knit expeditionary force inside the online shooter. He was the righteous hero of Aincrad, wasn't he?

Not to me, he is, McKnight thought with resentment to the name: Kirito. To him, that name amounted to a grain of salt. But who gave a damn what he thought? Mr. Seijirou's high command certainly didn't for throwing him out so soon. They had information that said those two Coffs were inside the game. And they mostly had a description of them. What more was there to do besides catch one or both of them with their pants over their ankles and pazza! case closed?

The only real issue was...so what? They didn't have any names of the two player-killers in either game. If they did, how were they going to explain the four dead people starting from November all the way up to this Saturday? Hell, neither the swordsman nor he didn't know all the above. Just how they looked. Reggie didn't think those teams could fair any better. And from his boss' expression neither did he.

Then Reggie asked something he should've from the start, "Is he staying?" Expecting a big fat yes to kick him in the teeth while he was down.

"Yes. Kirito-kun will remain on the investigation until further notice." Seijirou answered, knowing who he was referring to. Reggie's shoulders slumped; now he really wished someone would kick him in the teeth (with an iron boot). Then his boss added, "As will you." towards the end.

"What?" Now Reggie felt his left eye twitch.

"Uh!...Yes," Seijirou awkwardly fixed his glasses -thinking he should've added that from the start, "they asked me to return you to the United States as soon as I could get the plane ticket." He opened the drawer to his desk, reached in, and dropped the Tokyo International Airport right on top. Set to leave in the afternoon.

Afternoon? Reggie read it twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "I don't understand."

"I'll explain it to you," Mr. Seijirou began, "it means you'll be able to participate in the tournament still. According to" -he flicked the ticket flap- "this."

Reggie, all but slowly, then asked, "Wouldn't your employers get pissed about this...uh sir?"

"Sure they would!" Seijirou sounded like he knew it the same as him. "However, that was the 'earliest' plane flying out this day." -he winked- "And since you must wait...why not -how do you say?- turn you loose, until then?" He gave the underlying tone as if under surveillance and spoke morse verbally.

Reggie luckily didn't need twenty-twenty vision to know what was what. "Okay," he nodded, shortly, "I understand, then...thanks." He bowed, quicker this time.

"Good! That's it from me, I believe." Mr. Seijirou got up and stuck out his hand, "Remember to show up outside your apartment when the taxi arrives."

"You're not going to be there?" Reggie asked when he clasped his hand to his.

"I can't, sadly. I have to make sure accounts on my end are settled for the investigation when we catch them. I'll send you many updates by the time you step off your plane on American soil. And about those individuals, we'll catch in our net." Mr. Seijirou paused. "It was good being your commander, Reggie-kun."

"Yeah," Reggie agreed. "It was...thank you very kindly, sir, for the chance."

McKnight looked back at the Bureau outside the icy winds of winter. Feeling more than a short reminiscent of how fast everything had gone. Is this how it feels like to graduate high school?

He was, technically, still a sophomore. And wouldn't have to worry about such things as graduating till he was eighteen in close to two years from now. Reggie had barely turned sixteen in October on the twenty-second.

Even if that was a long shot away, there was plenty right now to worry about. And not just Kazuto's barrage of calls and texts, either. Or how his failures to stop another body, and maybe more from those Coffin members worried him.

No, it was, "What do I tell Asada?"

Of all the damn things he could think of, this one was the one that echoed out the most. The bigger question was, why?

Despite what happened yesterday...He knew what he needed to do.

Making a note to text Kirigaya when the Battle Royale was gearing up and to tell him to go without him. Reggie found Asada's name under his contacts. Made pretty easy because there were only five names beside hers (His parents, Mr. Seijirou's, and the swordsman's). Regretfully, he sent her the place and got a call from his mother on the way there.

. . .

"Shouldn't be that terrible when I get back into GGO." Asada Shino finished telling Shinkawa Kyouji, who stayed on the swing in the empty playground they were in, while Shino gave it more push on her own. "Just need to make sure I keep a leveled-head, is all." She added, more of a note than just passing the time. The tournament was only less than an hour and a half away.

"You always do," Shinkawa confirmed with a nod. "I guess you're feeling better? You know, about yesterday's match?"

"I wouldn't say too much of that." She gently kicked the near-frozen sand under her shoes. "Those two guys will be a problem in themselves. It's bad enough that most of this season of BoB will consist of new players rather than previous veterans."

"Won't that be a good thing, then?" Shinkawa asked.

"It could be," Shino admitted with a shrug. "Maybe somehow they'll be too green for never entering a serious, free-for-all game mode before and get picked off without a fuss. Demo," she shook her head, "I don't believe that will be the case here. And without a proper way to know what the newcomers have or do: I'll have to improvise." Which was a little challenging, made worse when bullets flew by all around.

But there was another issue with what she had just said. More specifically, with the way she said 'free-for-all.' She didn't believe it for some reason.

Talk around SBC Glocken had tossed around the ideas of different changes that could be felt after all those rumors on the Death Gun missing players. Shino still didn't know if that other guy that got kicked from the GGO server, Garrett, fell aligned there. But she had a sinking feeling that was the case.

Then she remembered her battle with McKnight and Kirito, mostly the former. They indeed fell in alignment with being new faces, and she no doubt judged their lack of strength and resolve. Hence why she couldn't wait to meet them in ISL Ragnarok when the time came. "This time, I'll kill all the strong players...Including them." Asada promised meekly rather than swearing it.

Despite all that happened back there. What happened after, in the real world, helped ease her tone enough to sound less stressful. Shinkawa saw and made a disgusted face at that. "You sure don't sound as much as you hate them...Asada-san."

"I don't?" She looked back at him when his expression softened, sure she was. When he eagerly nodded, Shino thought about that for a minute, "Maybe you're right." Maybe she was being too transparent? Her time with Reggie was very...exciting, to say the least.

Especially when he almost kissed me. Asada's heart skipped a beat to catch that. She was sure the American boy was trying to. She just didn't understand why he pulled away when he did. She continued, "I must be in a better mood today than I thought. Must be a good sign?" Shino put it, rubbing her pinkish cheek.

"E e." Shinkawa looked away with a jerk. "It could be."

Shino tilted her head, "Is everything okay, Shinkawa-kun?" She asked him.

He didn't answer right there while he gently, let gloomily, kicked out some sand under him like Shino had done a minute ago. From the way Asada watched him for a response, she got the impression he was either in deep thought. Or, very possibly, finding out what to say. "Your neighbor, Reggie." He started, at last, sounding like he wanted to know she knew who he was.

"Hai?" Shino looked more confused. "What about him?"

There was another pause and a small clutch on the swing's chains her friend sat in as it rattled. For the first time in a while, Shinkawa turned and bluntly asked her, "Do you like him?"

That was a question Asada had no idea she was getting, and her face paid the price for it by turning flush red. "Eh?" She sprung up, trying to cover her tomato colored face with the nonexistent scarf there around her neck. Which made the problem worse, knowing who in particular currently holds it. "Wh-Why would you ask me something embarrassing like that?"

Shinkawa shot up and turned his whole body to face her. Shino suddenly stopped feeling red and saw the brooding glare he sent at the ground between her feet. Her open palms turned as cold as the weather outside, as did her troubled face. "Sh-Shinkawa-kun?"

"Why." He shuttered and put a hand over his heart. "Why...Why him? He's just a foreigner.. I've known you longer, but you have feelings for him but not me..?" A tear drop from his eye turned into several.

Shino blinked and gaped in shock. "What? No, i-it's not...like that! We're just-!" Shinkawa Kyouji took a step forward and, without warning, hastily wrapped his arms around her. Squeezing her in the embrace enough that the bifocal girl instantly started struggling to breathe. "Shinkawa-!... yo-u're..hurting me…!" Her face burrowed into his jacket.

"I-I'm worried about you, Asada-san. Y-You... haven't been the same since that American showed up." He held her tighter that Asada tried to desperately pry him off of her. He went on, not even remotely aware of what she was doing, "I-I-I know now that that isn't the real you! The real Asada-san would never fall for a guy like that!" He started to laugh, "Never..!" As he stroke her hair.

Asada's arms started going limp, and her vision became darker and darker. For whatever reason, he let his grip loosen enough for both her arms to fold inside his bear-like embrace. He was just about to finish saying something along the lines of, "...I like you. I really do! Please, don't make me-" A swift, near-violent shove tore him off mid-sentence.

Shinkawa landed hard on his rear to the block, concrete sand below them. Asada herself didn't expect for that to happen. She just wanted not to be crushed, and the desperation in her own actions must've shown that. The boy looked at her. A mixture of dread and astonishment washing over him.

Then, he moved his hand for something inside his green jacket. Asada's eyes widen.

For whatever reason, Shinkawa stopped. Looked around for a while; he nodded. Getting up and leaving without another word. Leaving the park and Asada with it. When she tried to go after him -once she finished clutching her sore and compressed chest once her adrenaline subsided. She coughed enough times anyone would have thought she was sick. But checking all around the neighbor, Shinkawa was long gone. Off, she didn't know where.

Grabbing her phone to call him, a notification from Reggie sent five minutes ago said to meet him by the park they were at last Wednesday -the day those feelings brewed up. Shino shifted. She tried calling and texting her other friend first to know if he was okay despite what happened.

But, sadly, no answer. Shino tried again, but it went straight to voicemail. The main question she wanted to ask was What made him do that?

Fifteen minutes later, Shino arrived at the local park fairly early from how close it was to the playground. Walking up the concrete cold steps to the hill with the bench Reggie and her sat on last Wednesday, Shino's face managed to still warm up when she found him walking towards the top from the opposite side.

Taking a deep breath (and felt a sharp pain because of it), Shino straightened her posture and went up to join him. Trying to forget what happened back at the playground for now. "Reggie-san," She greeted him when he saw her. The black scarf around his face, while warm, not keeping his rather dejectful face from showing through.

Reggie partially bowed his head, "Gomen'..nasai...sorry for calling you out here, Asada. It was the only place nearby from where I was." He answered, having trouble looking at her.

"Daijōbudayo; I didn't mind at all." She responded truthfully. "What was it that was so urgent?" She asked, not prepared for this response, either.

Unlike Shinkawa, Reggie didn't have to think hard and long about it. But, unlike her other friend, Reggie probably had the chance to think about it way sooner. He replied, "I have to go away. Back...Back home, I mean."

Shino opened her mouth to say something until she stopped. Now, her shocked expression was as frozen as the weather outside. And it showed from how her eyes started to sting for a bit.

Seeing this, Reggie appeared to have trouble also. Only momentarily did he look away, again. "I...I wanted to come by and say thank you...you're one of the kindest people I had the fortune to meet. And I'll... I'll never forget any of that." He said sincerely.

"Hai.." Asada, at this point, stopped listening. She felt it more problematic with each critical moment around her. She still didn't understand why but didn't want to ask. It hurt too much, and she didn't think she had the right. Reggie hesitated. Quite quickly, he started to unwrap the muffler around his neck. "No! Keep it." She stopped him midway, "I gave that to you for a reason." She told him, with a stiflingly thin smile.

His hands lowered, defeated. "Asada," But by then, she gave him one final scanty bow. Turned around -heart in her hand. And walked away, trying to hold back her emotions till she returned home.

It was much more challenging than she thought it was going to be. And didn't know what else to expect. Other than she wished their time together didn't end so shortly. Shino never got to learn his first name and he didn't get to know hers...

Traversing the tall skyscrapers, smoke-filled, cordite, and gun oil city of SBC Glocken. Sinon continued onward with today's tournament. A day she'd been preparing for a long time.

Whatever happened to her in the real world couldn't be afforded to affect her right now. She had to win, more than ever.

And if she could. Maybe, just maybe, she'll be able to move on despite the sting that lingered in her feelings. Even as Sinon, it remained. "Goddamnit…" She muttered, traveling down a corridor and turning north on a stone-cold bridge -ads floating all around her proclaiming the Bullet of Bullets tournament.

"Check-ins ending in ten minutes! I repeat. Check-ins ending in ten-"

Shut up, I know. Sinon glared at the energetic cat-girl as she walked past.

Arriving at the Governor's Office, a few guys she saw around the city were guarding the front entrance -looking to who was entering. About all of them wore GGO Basic gray shirts but black tactical pants, helmets, and goggles -weird enough.

"Go on, you're registered," One of them said as she grudgingly gave them her player card.

"Whatever," She returned and stomped away.

Catching the one she spoke to ground out to his buddy: "This is going to be harder than I thought."

Stepping into the terminal room of the presidential estate, two players showed up about the same time, right across from her. Two players, she recognized right away.

They spotted her, and the one in black armor gave her a semi-serious glare while his friend in light brown with red-eyes sent her a discontent but bold look, too.

Sinon, instead, gave them the same treatment with a deadly glare. Kirito and McKnight. Two players she couldn't wait to aim at.

Author's Note: Well...here we are, huh? Review, Follow/favorite the story for more updates and what you thought! We're in the danger zone now, it looks like.