Title: Rat Says

Prompt: Secrets

Summary: Argo drags Kirito out to the edges of Aincrad's first floor. She has something eating away at her. Maybe he can help this soul, where he feels weak to help any other.

Sword Art Online was a beautiful game world no matter where you went. Crafted by polished AI code and human imagination, every vista and landscape became an artful masterpiece.

While a beautiful cage induced by Kayaba's death game, it was hard to find a bland place amongst the immaculate virtual construction. However, by the rule of abundance something less-perfect would emerge.

Turns out such a place existed in the western reaches of castle Aincrad's first floor among the deep forests, just before the map ended at the exterior wall and gaps open to the groundless space surrounding the floating fortress no one could escape. There awaited an unremarkable forest dungeon without a name roofed by an ancient and overgrown white oak tree.

Dangerous monsters probably lay within. Traps and tricks once intended as forgivable lessons turned into instant fatalities. Aincrad, a dangerously beautiful game world. Despite its horrors and overhanging threats – room remained for admiration and appreciation.

And Argo chose to drag Kirito to the one drab frontier with nothing to look at.

"What exactly are we looking for, Argo? Nobody has shown up for hours."

The brown-cloaked girl rested under a makeshift knoll of upturned grass and tree branches next to her black-cloaked male companion under a similar earthly disguise. Like a sniper-and-spotter duo, hiding in wait for their prey. All they needed now were a couple hunting rifles. Not that those existed in Sword Art Online.

"I need to make up for my fucking screw up. If I don't, someone's going to die."

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Her? Death?

This was the problem with Argo and panic, or otherwise her anxieties. Tomo, or otherwise Carina, was a sharp girl. But her single-mindedness could be as much a benefit as a curse. She left out critical information when it really mattered. It wasn't her fault per say, she just overlooked things in the moment.

For as long as Kirito had known her in real life, not as his screen name but as Kirigaya Kazuto, Carina was an intensely focused person to a fault. Concentration came natural to her and it got her far to great success. A respectable student, a fairly-popular former V-tuber, the lead editor of her high school's journalism club.

She could read through hundreds of pages of dry text without fail, or finish entire Tolkien-level novels in mere hours. Carina refined conversation into a fine-tuned blade and turned over people's words at a Sherlock Holmes level before shoving it back into their face. She teased her friends like they were mere playthings, reducing even the toughest boys into mere putty. One day she might become a world-class investigative reporter.

But more than once Argo complained of calls to the academic counselor's office over unmotivated work. Daydreaming and letting assignments or easy points slip past her. For all her ability, she could only apply her focus to one thing at a time.

Snapping Carina out of the zone often ended with disastrous results. Sometimes humorously with her popping off like a confetti maker in fright and crawling underneath the nearest thing capable of provide her cover from the world's unimaginable horrors and surprises. And sometimes like a hot-headed grenade, Carina screaming like a baboon as her face turned into a tomato and her vocabulary devolved to the language of dolphins.

But what mattered most was Argo's habitual omission. Her inability to sometimes spot the obvious and the overt complication. Or when she did know – she said nothing anyway. For fear, guilt, or any other reason under the sun.

Trust was something Argo didn't give away easily, rather faking kindness as it came easy. For as much as Kirito had her trust, there were parts of her she refused to reveal. A smart girl, a well-meaning girl. A hidden girl.

When Argo said "death," she meant it. But what death did that entail? There was no answer to find except within the clouded space between her two ears.

Unaddressed questions floated in the air. Of what, why, how? For circumstance and responsibility. Why of Argo – what made this her mistake?

"Argo. What is going on?" Kirito tried again, eyes glued to the remote dark woods and the lack of anything but wind moving among them.

No answer came.

The faint glimmer of her eyes in the sunset light was distant and elsewhere. A night-and-day difference from the excitable and animated Carina he met in Kawagoe a year ago. She was radiant then, dragging Kazuto up-and-down-stairs and even up walls it sometimes seemed.

All for a friend's birthday gift. Someone Kazuto never met. But the trip between gift shops, arcades, and the mall was some of the best fun the boy had in some time.

As Carina revealed back then, 'I didn't think you would come if I didn't call it a date. You're one of those Internet-types, Kii-bou. No idea what girls are thinking and assuming the worst of yourself. So, cheer up a little. Won't you please?'

Despite the energy and fear Kirito invested in that day, romance hardly came to mind. More surprisingly, he felt invested in just having fun with a real and true friend.

Carina was so different from his classmates. Most were standoffish, overly formal, and particular in expressing themselves. But that was more a reflection of Kazuto himself. But this girl hidden behind a jubilant online personality named Argo, turned out to reflect much of the same energy she did as a caricature.

Of course, there were differences between Carina and Argo. But there was only so much someone could exaggerate about themselves without collapsing the lie or coming back around to being honest. The longer one spent on the Internet and in particular communities, the sooner inhibitions died. Comfort and trust in the familiar brought the true person from below the mask out into the light.

Argo was Carina, Carina was Argo. A happy, go-getter and extravagant person buried in too much school and club work to express herself. A quiet heart able to boom when let out to play.

Kazuto admired that and brought out his own inner-Argo in kind. A reflection of his own trust in Carina, the girl who got him banned off his favorite gaming forum. But he knew of her quiet side. Of Carina's hidden and negative side – expressed as vindictive game reviews, mustering her audiences into social media hysterics, and long-winded expletives.

Kirito didn't know what to do here. Nothing about their situation was normal. But they were still here. He shifted his grassy knoll until he was shoulder to shoulder with his companion and gave her a soft jostle.

"Hey. Come on. Tell me what's up."

Argo shifted to face Kirito even as her dark brown eyes remained distant in the early evening light. She looked at him, absorbing his messy dark features under the hood of a proverbial swamp creature.

Her stare was long and unfocused – more unable than unwilling to communicate what lay underneath. Argo made several quiet gasps across a long minute period, as if attempting to thoughts-to-words but never starting.

Kirito hummed at her. There wasn't anything he could say but keep trying. They both knew Argo had to open. Help wasn't coming without honesty. Correction wasn't happening without explanation.

Argo gave a heaving sigh and finally spoke.

"You'll probably hate me."

Kirito shook his head immediately.

"Yeah – that's hard to believe. And even then, you have your reasons. So, spill."

The female SAO player sighed once more and tried again.

"You'll hate me because… I lied to customers as an apprentice of the «Infohouse»."

Kirito raised an eyebrow.

"I… That in it itself wouldn't make me hate you, Argo. You know me better than that—"

"It wasn't a small thing either," Argo emphasized. "Really. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. The Infohouse is in its infancy despite it running during the beta. But this time is different. The information we give is now a matter of life and death. What you know and what you don't can get you killed. So… I've been testing the waters to see how rumors and information flow by word-of-mouth since we lost things like forums and message chains with the death game."

Kirito shivered a little at the seriousness in Argo's voice. She made a grave point, and an important one. But it also brought to light some real concerns too. Her self-deprecation wasn't entirely unfounded.

"What kind of messages did you pass around?"

"Just basic starter quests, tutorial exploits, and dramatic gossip. I did append my handle to the rumors so people know they come from me. It's going to hurt my reputation in the short term but this should help me understand how the population is going to handle info brokers going forward. Something like growing pains. In these coming days, tolerance for mistakes is going to hold but not for long. People need trusted resources. If I make a mistake later down the line, especially if someone dies – it will cost me my reputation. Maybe worse if what some of the older members suggested comes true."

A deep frown carved into Kirito's forehead. "What would be the worst-case scenario?"

"Think about the European witch trials, Kirito. Or the Cold War Red Scares… Angry mobs. A distrust of information providers, a movement towards alternative facts if the entire profession of info broking goes under."

"You've put so much responsibility on your shoulders," Kirito lamented, placing a firm hand on one of Argo's shoulders. "You're just a high school student. Are you sure you want so much responsibility?"

Argo was adamant. "Someone has to do it. I have experience and talent for it… I think?"

The fledgling info broker's eyes drifted to Kirito, leaning into his hand, and pressing into his own shoulder. Kirito nodded silently, confirming her self-confidence and his trust.

"You're good, Argo. I'm just worried you're biting off more than you can handle. You did a great job building that wiki for the beta… But you don't have a website any longer to manage, and you said yourself this is life-or-death now. You don't have to do this."

"And let someone else make a mistake? No. And I don't trust anyone but myself to get the job done right. I don't trust information if it's not me gathering it firsthand or if I can't verify it. There are lost game developers trapped in here with us. Other beta testers. Someone needs to dig them up and form an information base that will outlast our individual human memories. Kayaba gave us… An unfair predicament, but fair rules. He interfered in his world of sorts but it's been almost a month and nothing more. I'm not sure he's actively trying to stop us or fighting us to finish the game. Who knows what he's up to right now?"

That wasn't really a thought Kirito wanted to consider. What did a madman and mass-hostage taker do with his time now that Sword Art Online ran in a standalone state and it didn't seem he interfered with the players since the horrible day it all started. Maybe the police already caught him and they were trying to get everyone out. Maybe he was on the run in the real world somewhere. Maybe he watched above as he claimed from the «Ruby Palace» high above on the hundredth floor. Maybe he walked amongst the game populace, all unknowing of the menace among their number.

Kirito really didn't want to think about that horrifying, final prospect. The madman among his hostages. A real Joker. Someone so insane but scheming, manipulating desperate and fearful people from the shadows.

"I don't want to think about him right now."

"Yeah…" Argo mumbled in agreement. "But he is out there somewhere. What scares me most is that… the rumors ruining me right now are from him."

Kirito looked back at Argo in confusion. Was this what she meant earlier?

"What do you mean? Ruining you?"

Argo sighed, squinting her eyes as virtual, hyperreal tears dripped from her eyelids. Sword Art Online was an exaggeration on real life, even emotional expressions from players tend to dilate.

"I—Some—Someone is using my name to claim that the dungeon beneath our feet, that one from «Descent of the Swamp Dragon» side quest, is a secret escape back to the real world by reaching its lowest section. Remember that no one ever reported reaching the bottom of the dungeon during the beta? People are making plans to attempt it anyway. I've heard it a couple times now in taverns in the «Town of Beginnings». I have my bosses asking me if its true as if somehow, I found something profound because it continues to pop up in my name. I've having to pay people to squat in the «Black Iron Palace» to make sure nobody I overheard managed to kill themselves on this stupid suicide mission."

Kirito gave no response, simply listening as Argo vented her personal crises since the game started. While he spent his days on the frontier of the first floor grinding quests, a whole different world was forming among the populace still hiding in the starting city.

"I'm just getting by on information-trading at this point. I have no time for quests, exploration or grinding. This is pretty much my whole life right now. I never said this place was an escape back home. If it was… I would've been the very first to jump down the well. And I wouldn't dare look back." Argo admitted with a deathly finality.

"If you even had a possibility of that chance. I would ask you not to jump," Kirito admit. "Or at least take it slow."

"Why? You saw all those people jump off Aincrad's «Grand Balcony». Kirito… Wouldn't you want to fastest way out of here if you knew it would take you home?"

"I would want to make sure I did it right. No mistakes, you know? Death still hangs over us one way or another. And I'd like to make sure people after me knew how to replicate it safely after I was gone, or if I could lead them to it."

Argo nodded in understanding. "I'm of the same mindset. I'm… I'm just scared really. This world is so different from home. And I've got someone using my name to get people killed. I don't know who, I don't know why. But I'm trying to find out why."

"You're doing a good job," Kirito offered, pressing closer into Argo, and pecking her head with a comforting kiss. He didn't feel anything special from the action. Rather it reminded him of what he did for Suguha when she got scared when they were little. He liked Argo, there was a part of him that still wondered if she liked-liked him. But this was neither the time nor place.

"Not good enough. I… I-I need your help in watching this spot, and turning people away if they try to go down the dungeon."

This Argo was so different from the Carina that Kirito/Kazuto knew. But this was a different world with different rules. They adapted. Argo and Kirito were still the same people, just trapped in a totally different situation and outside their comfort zone by a universal stretch.

"I'll help. All you needed to do was ask me, Argo. I'll be there for you. Always."

Argo continued to lean into Kirito's shoulder, their bushy knolls morphing together as if becoming a rat's nest. Neither of the two minded the dirt or the proximity. It was Argo and Kirito, a familiar and needed companionship in a hostile world.

"Thank you. I… I just worry that if we dig too far deep. We won't like what we find."

"That Kayaba might be using your name to create chaos among the player population?"

"Yeah…" Argo whispered.

Kirito nodded in dread. Despite his own growing fear shivering every part of his soul, he didn't run. He lay at Argo's side and watched the forest like the vigilant hunter that he was.

He wouldn't run away. Not when Argo the Rat said she needed him. Not when his best friend needed him.

Kirito would be there for her. Always.

A/N: This entry is a little late and not exactly how I intended for it to go. It was more exposition and dialogue than anything else. I didn't go in with much of a vision but that might also be said about my other story entries for KiriArgo Week 2021. Despite that I think it turned out okay. I really hope it was in-character and at least maintained some continuity between the previous entries. I know that was a concern among some readers due to the time skip and not addressing the date in the first chapter. Hopefully this answers a few questions or concerns.

Next time, Dungeon. Even if maybe this entry would've worked there too.