I turned my head toward her and…

Damn. 'She' was actually a middle-aged and balding dude. Guess I was wrong.

I'm just screwing with you.

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

My breath hitched. There she was. Shino Asada, the most beautiful girl in school. Her hair was a dark brown that was cut short in the back, but thin strips of longer hair were tied up by ribbons that dropped down the sides of her face. She wasn't wearing her glasses, it seemed, but I didn't mind. I could barely breathe after just the sight of her, anyway.

But something ruined it all, and all of a sudden, I felt terrible for forgetting myself while looking at her. Her face was rolling through emotions again, from scared and terrified to livid and determined. I had to be there for her, I couldn't be spacing out like this.

And so the tense silence of people shocked at their predicaments bore down on us. Until one girl fell to her knees and screamed. All of a sudden, as if a switch had been flipped, everyone began panicking. I saw Shino fall to the ground and stay down. I wasn't sure how to handle this situation, but I knew that she was hurting.

So I decided to try and make it better.

I pulled her up and into my arms before running out through some of the town's alleyways. By going through them, I avoided the Main Street which was most certainly crowded with players by now. I was curious if I'd see Kirito and Klein here, but chances are, I wouldn't.

Shino was pretty heavy (not fat, just heavy), but thanks to the game's strength stat, I was able to carry her much easier than I would be able to in real life. Sometime later, while I was passing out of the town's border, she began struggling against my grip, so I released her. Shino looked at me, dead in the eyes, and asked me what the hell my problem was.

"Uh, I'm sorry, what?" I asked, confused.

"I said, what the hell is your problem?" she repeated.

"Yeah, no, I heard you, just what are you talking about?" Did I grab the wrong girl? I swear it's her.

"How are you okay with this?! How are you so calm and stoic, how can you possibly be fine?!" she yelled. "First, you find out we're stuck in a game and we're gonna die for real if we screw up, and you just stand there, emotionless? Then, you find out I lied to you about being a guy, and the first thing you do is grab my hand?"

I paused. I suppose I didn't think about how it would look to an outsider.

"So, forgive me for asking, but what the hell is your problem?!" she cried, her eyes shut tightly.

I didn't know how to respond. She asked me questions I wasn't entirely sure about myself. Why was it that I didn't have the visceral reaction to the news like all of the other players? Knowing it with foresight was helpful for overcoming the pressure, but I didn't feel like it had fully sunk in just yet – just how deep crap I was in.

But I could answer her other question.

"I knew you were a girl," I spoke softly after her outburst, a little bit afraid of how she might respond.

"..."

Well that wasn't how I wanted that to go. Gosh, why do I always mess these things up? It's not like it's that hard!

"So you were jerking me around in a circle this whole time!?" she yelled, slapping me on the cheek. To my surprise, it actually did hurt. Not direct pain, mind you, Sword Art Online's pain absorption prevented that, but in a surreal manner almost, I could feel all of the discomfort that came with the hit.

"Agh, damn it, why am I so bad at these kinds of things? Shino, listen, I knew you were a girl because of how you act." And maybe because I didn't want to believe I was falling in love with a guy. "That's it; nothing else. And I only figured it out recently."

"...How did you know my name was Shino?"

Ohhh shit.

The brown haired girl, standing at a solid 5'1 to my 5'4, looked me dead in the eye with a scaringly calm expression.

"I said, how… did you know… my name?"

This time, the speed at which she said it rattled me in my skin.

"It's because we go to the same school," I finally said. I may have some hope for escaping this.

This time, she looked at me more intently, as if trying to remember something. I shirked under her glare, and she suddenly burst into laughter. She kept laughing for a good few seconds, but I still felt so deep under pressure that all I could do was smile awkwardly in return. I can't tell if this laughter is normal or the type that supervillains make before killing the hostages.

Eventually, she slowed down enough to talk again.

"You're Kaito Yamoto, that emo from Algebra, aren't you? That makes way too much sense; the antisocial one that can't speak, doesn't participate, and hasn't once even interacted with anyone, is the idiot who plays SAO with me, acting like a damn hero. Of freakin' course."

I hesitated before nodding.

"Figures it'd be you, right? Y'know, when we were friends online only, I had fantasized about us meeting. I thought you'd be some tall and handsome guy who'd sweep me off my feet. I didn't expect you. I wish I had anyone else but you."

That made me flinch. Visibly. Her words cut deep, I couldn't deny that. She was so clearly disappointed that I was Deruta. I wish I could be all of that for her. But surely she didn't truly mean that… she's probably just emotional over the SAO announcement.

"You killed someone. In front of me. You're no hero. You're a fake," she said, pointing at me. "I wouldn't be in here if it weren't for you. I didn't want this game; I only bought it because you told me to. This whole thing is all your fault, you get that?"

What she said was painful to hear, and harder to admit. I wanted to be the hero, so damn bad. I felt a primal rage of anger rising up through my body as I processed the words.

"Okay, Asada, I'm tired of your verbal abuse. You're right, I'm not a hero," I said, but the words felt sour in my mouth. "But you're no better. I've heard the rumors, I know what you did two years ago."

I held up my thumb and forefinger in the shape of a gun and pointed it at her, and I saw her cringe from the action. Sadistically, I smiled.

"You're a murderer, Asada. Who's the real monster here, the one who killed someone in a game, or the one who brutally and mercilessly murdered a man at the ripe young age of eleven?" I glared at her as I pointed the finger gun in her direction. The shock and desperation forced her to her knees.

With a savage level of sadism and ruthlessness, I pulled the imaginary trigger. Her screams erupted into the air and cut through my thick layer of arrogance immediately. I dropped the hand shape and stared at her intensely. I went too far.

She was shaking and flat on the floor, attempting to crush herself inwards upon herself. I definitely did.

And then the rationalization phase kicked in. You've been crushing on this girl for weeks now, and right when she finds out, she does everything in her power to crush you down? Doing this was more than justified, she deserved the grief, damn it.

Collecting myself together, I realized the consequences corresponding to my actions. At that moment, I already knew I would regret what I did forever. But that took much too long for me to understand.

I flipped the girl over and aimed her face at me. Her eyes were wide open, but they wouldn't respond to any external stimuli like my hand waving over them. She was having a nightmare in daylight and couldn't wake up.

But when I tried to pick her up for transportation, Shino pushed me off of her and screamed louder than before. Falling backwards, she looked at me as if I were the devil himself. Crawling backwards at a rapid pace, she did everything in her power to escape me even with her compromised condition.

My options were limited. I didn't want to let her leave because she may die, especially with how fragile she is right now mentally, but something inside of me knew that we couldn't be around each other right now.

Scrambling to her feet, Shino almost tripped over herself as she ran away from me, not even looking back once. She ran from me because I had hurt her. She ran because I am a monster. I am the reason why she was scared.

But I was so livid. The anger she made me feel was real. The genuine rage I felt when she called me all of those things - well, it hurt more than I wanted it to. I told myself not to get attached, but she was right. I had pushed her into this death game, and I knew exactly what I was doing while I was at it.

It's all my fault. It really is.

"Happy birthday, Shino…" I muttered to myself.

Sighing, I put my fingers to the bridge of my nose and squeezed. It wasn't worth thinking about anymore. She's strong, she'll do well on her own.

Me, on the other hand? I had a job to do and some steam to blow off.

And so that was my first day in the digital world of Sword Art Online.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

I ran down the tattered path to the early-game dungeon and passed through a multitude of looted chests and other signs of players. There wasn't much time, I wasn't sure if I would make it.

My feet bounded down the cave hall after crossing the threshold. A few minutes later, and I had found the stairs down to the below levels. The clock was ticking, and I was still nowhere near where I needed to be.

I practically flew down the flight of stairs and landed, only to find myself in an even larger labyrinth of a dungeon. I growled under my breath as I dashed through the place. I had not finished mapping all parts of the dungeon yet, but I knew most of the common spots that people went to, as well as the most dangerous areas.

Now, call it whatever you want, but at this moment, I felt an immediate sense of despair and urgence. Foresight or real-life foreshadowing, but I knew in my gut that I needed to go into the danger. As is probably obvious, I was hesitant. But then I remembered my pact.

I had made a pact with myself a month ago. I knew my life would be endangered frequently while I played this game, and I would probably be overtly nervous and scared to act. After all, I had seen too many animes where the main character became traumatized and refused to act reasonably. Life better not become a darn horror movie.

If that were ever the case, I promised myself that I would never let my resolve falter. If I needed to do something for the sake of saving others' lives, I would do it, no matter the cost, so long as it is the logical thing to do.

And so that is why I'm running. It's why I'm doing everything in my power to save them. I can't bear to watch another player's health meter drop to zero.

The enemies I saw I brushed through. Many are capable of pursuing, but those that do in this area have low speed and are easily outrun, and the ones that are faster have sentry AI, so they'll remain within their patrol radius.

Knowing that, I ducked and weaved through the foes that dared to obstruct my way, but deep down, I knew it still wouldn't be fast enough.

The people in question were a group of players who had recently teamed up in a party and were heading off to a 'new treasure location', according to the rumors. I knew that it had to be trouble, and I didn't want anyone to get hurt, so I decided to play the hero card.

My tracking skill lit up. There were players within ten meters of me, but… I was in a corridor and no one was within sight. I looked up and below me, but still nothing.

The thought came too late. They were on the other side of one of the walls.

Pressing my ear against the right wall, I heard screams. The cries and pleads for help shook me to my core.

Checking my map on my HUD, I noticed a hidden path blending into the wall on my right, but I was pressed for time. I couldn't afford to waste even an instant, so I hurdled down the hallway and turned in the loop until…

A brighter light burned my irises as the small hall grew into a wider room. There, I could see people.

Five players, to be more exact, and tens of enemies. Goblins surrounded the party and attacked from every side. They were grouped up in a closely-knit circle, attempting to fend off the creatures. However, it was obvious to everyone that their strategy was set up to fail.

As I raced to them, one of the low-level enemies broke their defenses and, rather quickly, their entire party collapsed in on itself. One-by-one, the players were swamped by the horde of goblins. This was, unfortunately, not my specialty. I still don't have an Area of Effect attack to deal with crowds, so I was at my limit, stabbing and piercing through the mobs individually.

A few goblins jumped me from behind, but I swung them off with relative ease. It was like trying to run in knee-deep water; not impossible, but cumbersome, and goodness forbid you trip and fall into said metaphorical water.

But, as I thought that, three of the five fell in. I pulled the other two back by the necks of their shirts and bunted the nearby goblins to knock them off of their collision course with me. I began to ignore the purpose of my spear.

I swung it like a damn baseball bat.

The goblins around me took little to no damage, but the knockback effect was what I was needing. I pushed group after group to the sides until I could reach the fallen players. Eventually the horde was split firmly in two, like Moses parting the waters.

I activated a Linear and pushed forward, clearing through the remaining enemies that tried to close the gap.

The players were there, just a few inches away from grasp. I reached out, and… wait, weren't there three?

My fingers clasped around one of their forearms and I pulled as hard as I could. The player was surprised, but he quickly grabbed onto his teammate, and the two of them flew backwards to safety. The goblins were seemingly sizing me up before they were to pounce on my group of protectorates. But I didn't care.

The sounds of the final player, a girl, cried out. I heard her screams as I looked around. I couldn't see her anywhere! Where the hell did she go?

And then the thought came to me. I brought my head up to look at the ceiling.

There were ropes, and thousands more goblins on them. They lived in the upper portion of the cavern, and would ambush unsuspecting players from above with little notice. And to make matters worse, they'd pull the ropes back up so that you couldn't pursue them. It was an effective strategy that made traversing this area difficult; it must be why it wasn't fully marked on my map…

I grit my teeth. The last party member was dangling from her feet as she was pulled upwards. This was bad; I didn't have any skills that gave jumping powers.

What could I even do?

I closed my eyes for a split second to think. For as cruel Sword Art Online is, it's still fair. That means that it must be designed with a way for the player to continue, even without some exclusive skill like Sonic Leap.

But how?

But then I thought of something: The goblins from before are still down here, and they're not all dead.

I rushed over and picked up one of the remaining goblins still trying to attack the grounded party (they were handling them better now), and narrowed my eyes as I focused. I only had, what, twenty shots at this, and less than a minute before the goblins decided to kill her?

I could make this work. I rolled the goblin into my right hand and flung it. My aim could use some work, but given the sheer mass of the goblins, it was guaranteed to hit something. And that was all I needed, anyways.

The monster collided with one of its airborne comrades and set it off course, crashing down and pulling the rope with it. Both enemies burst when they landed on the floor with a splat, but I didn't pay that any mind.

With the newfound access to the roof, I quickly grabbed onto the rope and began climbing. The goblins weren't idiots, though. They immediately began cutting the rope, causing the slack to prevent me from climbing further and eventually fall past me, hitting the ground.

But I had already made it high enough to grab onto another rope. And another, and another. I pulled them down forcibly, causing the goblins on them to rapidly descend. Once they got close enough, I'd kick them off or use them as stepping stones. The monsters quickly became a makeshift staircase for me.

Using them and the cavern walls as leverage with the rope, I scaled the walls and gained more and more height until I reached the level at which the girl was. At this point, the goblins knew they were up against a more skillful opponent and started to surround the girl protectively. I was confused; wouldn't they just kill her instead of trying to shield her from me?

It was as if they wanted to save their kill. Monsters act strangely like humans.

Whatever the matter, I flew forward with a mid-air Linear and blew through the barricade. The goblins around her either perished or were thrown downwards. The ones that weren't in the way of the skill jumped out to the sides, as if they had decided they weren't going to die on this hill. The goblins were finally gone. I had saved her.

But I made one, drastically critical mistake that I would soon come to realize and regret forever. A blade will cut through more than just monsters.

The rope snapped, and the girl and I were sent tumbling down to the bottom. I was a meter above her, and just barely unable to reach her as we fell. My fingers gripped one of the surviving ropes on the way down, but she was too far at that point.

Her body fell and smashed against the floor. As if in a ripple effect, her body progressively became shards of green and shattered into a million pieces, scattering all over the floor.

My arm went slack, releasing the rope, and my feet hit the ground hard, but I couldn't feel it anyways. The sudden shock and realization brought me to my knees, and at that moment, everything felt numb.

I killed someone. Again. She died from my ignorance and idiocy. If I had spent even just two seconds longer thinking before I went and did something stupid, none of this would've happened. I'm… a murderer.

But I'm not an idiot, and I made a pact. There are still goblins, and still people to save.

I bit through the pain and pushed myself to my feet. My mind felt hazy, but I couldn't let it dominate my senses. I still had a job to do.

The next few minutes were a blur, and I only remember a few split-second images from the entire experience, but I certainly remembered what happened after I killed all of the goblins. My spear penetrated the final enemy as it blew into sparkles. That was the last one, and I had finally saved them. I saved them.

But not all of them.

"Why…" a man asked. He appeared to be a few years older than me.

I couldn't answer, so I just bit my tongue and turned to the side, avoiding eye contact.

"...Why did you LET HER DIE?!" he screamed as he walked within reaching distance and grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt, then pinned me against the wall. I still couldn't bring myself to look him in the eyes.

"YOU KILLED HER!" he yelled once again. "She – we would've all been FINE if you hadn't interfered. She… SHE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!"

I was frozen in my place.

"...You came here on purpose, didn't you? You're an orange player. No, not just an orange player, you're a red player. Heard there was some special loot out here, and you didn't want us to have the chance to take it, didya? SO YOU KILLED YUNA, YOU MOTH-"

"Hold on, Yuna?" My eyes widened. No… this can't be happening. "You don't mean – you can't possibly… What's your name?"

He narrowed his eyes, but he seemed to be slowing down from his rage.

"Nautilus. My name is Nautilus, and you are the worst kind of person."

No… no! Nononononono this can't be happening, this can't actually be… NO. I meant to save her… she was a huge part of my plan… I was meant to save her… I killed Shigemura Yuuna.

"I bet you think you're some kind of hero, right?"

Holy – I just killed…

"Well you're not."

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to die…

"Are you even listening to me right now? I said, YOU'RE NO HERO, YOU'RE A MONSTER!" Eiji screamed, punching me in my face, and that finally woke me up out of my stupor.

"I'm… I'm…" I stuttered. How could this happen…?

Nautilus was fed up at that point. He gave up punching and readied his one-handed sword. He activated a skill and stabbed. I felt the blade enter my chest entirely.

I'm the worst hero ever.

"Nautilus, stop!" one of his friends yelled out, but I couldn't focus my eyes to lock on which one. Nor did I care to.

My vision began to blacken as I started to faint. I had yet to even once check my HP bar since entering this room, but I could hear that annoying beeping noise that having your health in the red gives you.

I felt my grip on reality begin to slip, as if it were just a figment of my imagination, a dream I had that I couldn't quite remember.

…

I'm sorry, Yuuna.

I'm sorry, Shino.

I'm sorry, Dad.

…

And then my will clamped down on that last figment of reality with an ironclad hold. My pact… I had almost forgotten it. I wouldn't let anything get in my way of saving people; it was my entire purpose for living. The future being revealed to me… it meant it was my duty to protect these people using that information.

If I let go now, I'd break that pact – that one fated promise. I couldn't - no, I wouldn't let myself fail that. I will do whatever I can to save everyone. No one will die… those words felt almost foreign to think now, but they'd have to do.

I pulled his sword out of my gut and caught my composure. Then, I trudged past him, ignoring him and the other party members. They won't forget this experience, so it's unlikely they'll be reckless from now on. But still… Nautilus… Yuna…

An arm blocked my retreat. It was Nautilus. He glared at me.

"We're not done," he said, his words exuberating anger and fury.

I sighed, exasperated, before pulling out a health potion, downing it, and tossing it to the side. The capsule broke and disappeared from existence once it hit the ground.

I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry." Then, I walked past him, forcefully pushing his arm to the side and exiting the room.

Maybe Yuuna was fated to die. Maybe not. But, regardless, I knew our story wasn't over.

Sunday, September 18th, 2022

My name is Kaito Yamoto, otherwise known as Deruta in-game, and I hate this place.

What happened in that dungeon was pretty much a microcosm of how my first month went. As much as I tried to scout the perimeters of the towns, the people were too sporadic and spread out for me to make a real difference. And it wasn't like people would listen to me and not be reckless. Annoyingly enough, it seemed Darwinism was pulling its infamous Natural Selection for the first two thousand players, regardless of how I tried to interrupt it.

For every person I saved, I'd fail to save one more, and it just hurt that much, as if their final gasps for life were etched into my soul as I missed shot after shot in this stupid, stupid game.

There was something about watching people die in front of you that really burrowed deep into your brain and wouldn't let go. During my time of training (which was usually at night, I patrolled during the day), I had seen too many deaths for any sane person to go through. Yes, watching someone's body burst into pixels didn't exactly hold the same level of fear and anguish as the real thing, but knowing that they'd never respawn? Well, it sent shivers down my spine.

And the worst part was how often it happened. Everyday, no matter where you were, there'd be adventurers, and if you stayed long enough, you'd watch them die, too. I'd always try helping, and sometimes it worked, too, but…

More often than not, these people would sign their own death contracts. And there wasn't anything I could do to stop them, because who would listen to an orange player who circles the outsides of town constantly during the day? It didn't even matter how many players I saved, there'd always be ten more that fell because I couldn't stop them.

And the cursor that kept on cursing me, well, it was essentially irrevocable at this stage of the game. I couldn't complete the alignment quest without more powerful gear, and without a green cursor, I was barred from entering most parts of towns. Not to mention the distrust involved with it.

I regretted killing Morte for more reasons than one, but this kind of punishment was just straight up annoying. I've dealt with at least ten 'heroes' trying to bring me to justice for my crimes.

Since Morte had yet to kill any players in the service version of the game, his cursor was still green when I popped him. That meant I was considered a criminal, and my cursor's status was updated to orange in order to reflect that.

I sighed as I sat alone against a pillar in the floor's most formidable dungeon. There was so little purpose for living now. All I ever did was fight, and I kept on fighting, it was starting to get old. A month of playing this stupid game with no pause was just fine not even a month ago during the beta test, but there is a lot different now. It isn't just a game, and it's my fault for even thinking that I could make a difference.

But whatever. I'm here now, and it's my obligation to do everything I can.

The spot where I was was very intentional. It was just outside the floor boss' room in the final section of this damn labyrinth. I had scouted out the entire damn place within the first few days after my fight with Shi… never mind. Anyways, the other players seemingly sucked at this game. None of them were necessarily terrible at it, but the strong were too afraid of exerting themselves, and the weak were too comfortable with it.

I would be in the first category, but… I've dedicated myself to end this hellhole, so I've grown used to fighting fire with fire. If this game's gonna be tenacious, you might as well play on the same playing field.

However, one thing I haven't seen in the past month was Sinon. She never removed me from her friend list and nor did I her, but by no means have we contacted each other. Perhaps it's just a subtle reminder that the other is still alive, but why should either of us care? Why should I care? She…

But I do care. And I hate that about myself. I hate that I care. I hate the responsibility I feel for all of this, even if it's justified. I hate the shabby job I've been doing at hero-ing, I hate that players die regardless of how I act, I hate the death everywhere… I hate seeing people die, damn it. It's too common now. Far too common for anyone to reasonably endure. And the worst bit is, I don't want to become numb to this terrible feeling, as much as I want it to go away.

I sent another middle finger to Fate for this entire situation. It's been growing too easy to just blame my lack of competence on some figure in the sky who probably doesn't even exist. What's the phrase? 'Fate's a bitch', right?

Ugh.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of steady footsteps. I lifelessly turned my head toward the sound before my combat skill engages and I jump up to avoid a strike directed at me by a rapier. Dodging to the side, I crouched to assess the situation. A cloaked being, a player obviously, was holding me at swordpoint with the express purpose of ending my life.

Oh joy. Another one of these idiots. I thought I'd out class all of them in the dungeon, but it looks like one of them still slipped through the cracks.

However, much unlike the ones before them, this player did not say something dumb like "What are your final words" or "Die, murderer!". Instead, the player just glared at me from under their covert hood's protection. I don't mind not being able to see the face of my adversary.

With my spear primed and ready, I decided to drop them down a peg in hopes that they'll back off and leave me alone. I activated a sword skill and sped forwards with spear in hand, aimed at the player's weak spot.

I was not expecting, however, to be perfectly parried, knocked, and then pinned to the floor.

Ah. Ahhh.

So I've finally met her.

"Hello Asuna Yuuki, daughter of Shouzou Yuuki."

A grin slid up my face for the first time in a while.

"So you are the infamous orange savior, Deruta, is this correct?"

"Do you know a person by the name of Misumi Tozawa, Asuna Yuuki?" I asked, and she fell silent.

"Answering my question with a question? Bold. Let me phrase it this way; if you are not Deruta, your death right here and right now is guaranteed. Speak now, or forever hold your peace," the cloaked figure warned.

"How about Kirito? Does that name ring any bells for you?"

"Are you always this insufferable?" she retaliated.

"What can I say? I'm a smooth talker."

She and I glared at each other, her not moving from her position above me which pinned me to the floor. The stare lasted for multiple seconds before she eventually snorted.

What.

Asuna Yuuki. Laughed. Damn.

"You really are as pompous as they say you are," she chuckled, her voice quavering as she did so. "Sinon said you'd be a real ass. Guess she was right."

"Wait, you know Sinon?!" I yelled on accident, making her cringe and tighten her grip on me. "Er, sorry, but how do you know her?"

"Why do you need to know, hmm?"

"What the hell kind of a question is that? You just established that we knew each other; of course I'd want to know…" I spoke shamelessly.

"I don't know. Sinon said Deruta would be a dick. She never said anything about some unnamed orange PKer, so I can't really help you out there," she said as she grinned spitefully.

"Ugh, fine, yes, I'm Deruta. And so about those questions I asked you – you gonna answer them?" I really wanted to know if the progressive novels/movies were canon here. The existence of Mito would help immensely. Then again, I don't know why they wouldn't be canon.

She gracefully lifted herself off of me but didn't bother to lend me a hand for getting up myself.

"Which ones? That you recognized a billionaire's daughter by her appearance? Bravo. It's not like my username conceals anything. But my friends? You're edging on stalker now, buddy."

I liked her spunk. Reminded me a little bit of Si…

"Cool. So are we done here?" I asked.

"No. You're in front of the boss room chambers, and a large party of floor clearers are on their way to this very location right now. A special someone tipped me off that you might be here, so I came to let you know that, if you want to live longer than the next thirty minutes, you'd better get the hell out of dodge."

"How thoughtful. But no, I actually have the intention of fighting the boss myself. Thanks for the offer, though," I replied

"Are you stupid or something? I just told you that the largest player base of greens are about to raid this area, and you want to join them? You know that you're target number one, before even the boss in these quarters, right? This is suicide," she disapprovingly glared.

"That's why I bought this," I said as I flipped through my menu until I landed on an item and equipped it.

A black-lined cloak covered my head and shoulders. All of a sudden, my cursor and health bar were hidden. They weren't visible unless the vanity item was either removed or damaged.

Finding this particular piece of equipment was much more of a task than I thought it'd be. See, it was a little bit more common later on in the floors (where it was eventually replaced by the Hiding skill), but I was lucky enough to even find it here. It enabled me to conceal my state of being an orange player so I could enter into towns and walk nearby players. The only reason why I knew it existed was because of some Laughing Coffin foreshadowing in one of the anime episodes. An orange player, revealed later in the episode, was shown residing in a town without a hitch.

That's how I knew to look for it, and my goodness did the questline for grabbing this bad boy suck. But I'm not going to go into the details.

"So long as I'm not unveiled, no one will even notice. Besides, I'm just here to cover from the sidelines. Consider me backup," I said, waving her off.

"I'm going to ignore how unsafe I suddenly feel that an item like that even exists, but so long as it's just in your hands, then I suppose it's okay," she stated, uncertain. "But you'd better not abuse this. And don't make yourself obvious, alright?"

"Wow, it almost feels like you genuinely care. Thanks, Asuna," I said honestly. "But could you do me a favor?"

She nodded, but remained suspicious of me. And rightfully so, might I add.

"Please don't tell that 'special someone' that you saw me here."

She looked reluctant, but eventually, she agreed and set back to rejoin with the group.

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

Somewhere, in the suburbs on the edge of one of the cities of Japan, a tired man arrived at his house after a heavy day of work in the office. He wasn't often called in, but today was different for whatever reason. He especially didn't enjoy it because it was the last day of summer vacation for his son, and the quality time he used to spend with his child had become more and more scarce as of recently.

Something had changed in Kaito, and he wasn't sure what had happened exactly. But one thing was for sure: It had something to do with the NerveGear.

Mr. Yamoto had thought that his son would love it, given how much he had spoken of it for the past two months, and he certainly seemed to get the use out of it considering how many hours he had logged on the beta for that upcoming sword game alone.

But the son couldn't hide everything from the father.

He knew the stress his son suddenly felt. He recognized it the moment Kaito unwrapped his present and held the device in his hands. A look appeared on his face that his father had never seen before. It was a blend between terror, disgust, and fear. His son immediately tried to cover it up, but he knew what he saw.

And it didn't make any sense, either. Kaito talked about he and his friend Sinon's adventures constantly during the beta trial, and all of it seemed like fun, but the more and more his son played, the more tired he appeared to grow.

Mr. Yamoto, quite frankly, had no idea what to do. Kaito's erratic behavior was unusual and unwarranted.

So when he finally reached home, the father walked quietly into the boy's room and flicked on the lights. His son lay there on the bed, motionless and plugged into the virtual world.

He sighed excessively; like father, like son in that respect of conduct. Exasperation ran in the family.

But what caught his notice wasn't his son playing video games relentlessly on a school night. No, it was something much more surprising.

A note was plastered to the top of the NerveGear, and it was addressed to him.

Dear Dad,

Please don't remove the NerveGear until you see the news.

Love,

Kaito

Dear Kaito,

I love you more than you could ever know. I really hope you knew that before you entered this infernal simulation. Please know that I will do everything in my power to get you out of there. Just sit tight buddy, okay? Daddy's coming to get you.

Love,

Dad