Okay, so here we have the next chapter.

First of all, I'd like to mention that I'm not exactly proud of the title of this chapter, but what shall I say? I simply didn't have any better ideas what to call it, so... yeah.

I had to split up this chapter, too, because - and at this point, I'm not even surprised anymore - it turned out longer than anticipated. I'll say a bit more about the upcoming second half at the end.

On another note, Argo will be in this chapter, and... I really hope I'll get her dialect somewhat right. To be honest, I'm not too confident, but Argo wouldn't be Argo without dialect, so I'll try my best.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online Re:Hollow Fragment or Sword Art Online in general.

Kirito left the inn, ready to begin a new day in Aincrad. He still had to settle for a destination, though.

Asuna was busy with her duties as KoB's acting commander today, so exploring or questing with her was out of the question.

Well, he could do something with one of his friends, but Silica, Lisbeth, Leafa and Sinon were "in Akinym's care", and he didn't allow them to do field missions yet. Agil was busy with his shop… Hm, he could accompany Klein and Fuurinkazan for a change.

It was tempting, actually. Recently, he had come to the conclusion that he should value Klein's continued support more than he had used to. Oddly enough, in their dire situation, he finally realised just how valuable all his friends really were, and that keeping them at distance wasn't the way to go. That applied to one of his oldest comrades, too, of course.

However, Kirito had no idea what they were up to. Sure, he could send Klein a message to find out, and he kept this as an option.

For now, he fancied the idea of exploring the Hollow Area. That place was still a mystery, there was so much more to do. He wouldn't have to worry about finding a partner, too, since he could always ask Philia.

It was just that… Now that he thought about it, there was also their mission to clear the game. Taking a look around, Kirito noticed that the streets were almost empty. Arc Sophia was still the central city on the upper floors, and he remembered times when it had been unthinkable for such a city to not be busy.

Where were all the eager teams heading out? Well, nowhere, because the Assault Team still lacked manpower. Kirito figured that, in times like this, he shouldn't "play around" in a mysterious area and focus on supporting the Assault Team instead.

Speaking of which, what was there to do? Hm… The Assault Team had discovered the boss room on the 78th floor, they had finished all the intel quests, and the date for the boss battle was set. Until then, the involved parties made some final preparations, mostly leveling.

Kirito's best bet was to pay Argo a visit. Maybe she knew something productive he could do. If not, he'd go with his idea to explore the Hollow Area, leveling over there.

Finding Argo wasn't hard. These days, she liked to hang around the teleport gate, eagerly waiting for clients.

Funnily enough, she seemed to talk with one when Kirito found her. Well, she was the only info broker on the upper floors at the moment, so she absolutely was the person to go to when you needed information.

Kirito chuckled at the thought of how Argo might use that monopoly to suck her customers dry. It was only a joke, though, it was merely how they rolled. He knew perfectly well that Argo always made fair offers.

He had just decided to wait for his turn when he noticed something familiar about the guy who was with Argo right now. This completely grey equipment… Could this be…?

Now he was curious, and he subconsciously barged in.

Kirito: Hey, Argo!

Argo and her client turned towards Kirito. Just as he had thought, the other player was Akinym.

Argo [cheerfully]: Oh, hey, Kii-bou! Fancy meetin' ya here! [seriously] Sorry, but ya hafta wait a moment here, 'kay?

Kirito [comes closer, slightly apologetically]: It's okay! [to Akinym, slightly curiously] I didn't expect running into you here, though.

Akinym [slightly surprised]: Why exactly? Argo-san is a reliable info broker, and I don't see anything unusual or questionable about doing business with her.

Well, Kirito had to admit that his initial surprise had been exaggerated. Knowing about information trade was a must for any successful SAO player, so it was only natural for the Hollow Instructor to know about it. Not to mention that Leafa had mentioned something about Akinym telling her about info brokers the other day.

Argo [cheerfully]: Nyehehe! Yup, Akinym here is a bit of a regular, always comin' to lil' ol' me for some intel on older quests. I usually work on the recent floor, it's a bit strange if someone comes 'n asks 'bout a previous one, but I'm not gonna complain 'bout some extra col! Nothin' wrong with that, right?

Kirito [defensively]: Of course not, I'm not accusing you of anything! It's just… [curiously] Aren't you busy with your students?

Akinym [slightly exasperatedly and dejectedly]: I had to postpone today's training. I… [sighs] Frankly, I've noticed that I'm not really ready to fight on the upper floors. It's a pretty intense difficulty spike for me, too, and I need to level up to get ready. It might be okay if it was just me, but when push comes to shove, I probably can't protect my students here. Therefore I've asked Argo-san for some good quests to earn EXP.

Incidentally, Akinym was at level 71, which had been – combined with his careful preparation and playing style – sufficient for playing around floor 70, but he really was underleveled for floor 76 and above.

Kirito [slightly nervously]: Ah, I see… On the hunt for some good quest info, huh? [teasingly] But watch out, Argo rips her "trusted clients" off if they're not careful.

Akinym: I honestly don't know what you're talking about. From what I can tell, her deals are always fair. She sells high quality information, which, of course, comes at a corresponding price.

Argo: Nyehehe, that's the kinda attitude I like in a customer! [teasingly] Why dontcha follow his example a lil', Kii-bou?

Kirito [slightly annoyed]: I get it, I get it! No reason to gang up on me like that! And you don't need to take this so seriously, Akinym, that was a joke, for crying out loud!

He said that, but actually, Kirito was quite happy and relieved that Akinym had defended Argo right away.

Kirito knew that a lot of people had reservations about Argo, although she took her job and her role in clearing SAO very seriously. He took the fact that Akinym didn't seem to think much of the rumors about Argo as a sign that he judged her work objectively.

Frankly, he was a bit concerned that the person who was in charge of preparing his sister and his friends for battle on the higher floors might do a bad job. Sure, Akinym had a reputation as a teacher, but Kirito was not one to think much of that. He had seen too many cases of misguided judgment for that.

His friends had told him a few things about Akinym's training, and he had heard some rumors, and to some extent, he was worried. There were, however, more than enough signs that Akinym knew what he did. All this had made Kirito a bit curious, and moments like this allowed him to learn a little bit more about the so-called Hollow Instructor and his methods.

Now that he thought about it, there might be a way to solve all the problems that had brought him here and a few more…

Kirito: Hey, Akinym, if you really want to do some leveling, how about we go to the Hollow Area? I wanted to go myself, and I can take one person with me, so…

With Akinym, he would have another person for leveling at the Hollow Area, so this would solve that problem.

In addition, by helping Akinym, he indirectly helped his students. Akinym's work was the best chance to strengthen the Assault Team at the moment, so this seemed like a good idea to Kirito.

Akinym [slightly quizzically]: Hollow Area? [calmly] Oh, it's this new, exclusive area that you've found, isn't it?

He had heard Silica and Lisbeth talking about it. To be honest, he was a bit curious about this place.

Furthermore, he was curious what kind of person SAO's top player was, especially since he had learnt that Asuna was his partner and lover. Akinym was curious what kind of person would pique the interest of the Assault Team's de facto leader, let alone win her heart.

Not to mention that 75 per cent of one of his trainee groups was apparently totally smitten with him…

Argo [feignedly upset]: Eh, tryin' to ruin my business, Kii-bou?

Kirito [apologetically, slightly panicking]: A-ah, um, sorry, Argo! It just came to my mind, and…

Argo [chuckles]: Nah, don't sweat it! [slightly dejectedly] I didn't have any good ideas anyway…

Akinym: Hm, I see… In that case, Kirito-san, if it's okay with you, I'll gladly accompany you.

Kirito: Well, then it's settled!

They walked over to the teleport gate while Argo was seeing them off with a snarky remark about coming by whenever they looked for "juicy intel" or had some to offer.

When the light of the teleportation effect faded, Akinym found himself inside a large, dome-like room. The only thing that came to his mind as a first impression was that he had never seen anything like this place before.

There were several screens on the blue dome above them. Akinym had no idea what was depicted on them, and he had a feeling that, given his limited knowledge of (or interest in) computer science, he wouldn't be able to make much sense of them even if he tried.

The floor was particularly peculiar. What was it even made of? Akinym had the feeling it was made of black glass. There were also several blue patterns randomly lighting up all over the place.

The most noteworthy thing in sight – apart from the teleport gate – was a console with a large screen above it. Kirito walked over to it.

Kirito [slightly awkwardly]: W-well, welcome to the Hollow Area! [calmly] This place is called "Administration Area". It's a safe zone, so you can relax for now. I'll have to choose a destination for the teleport gate at the console over there, so just wait a moment.

Akinym just nodded in response. While Kirito was busy working at the console, Akinym took another look at his surroundings.

At one point, Kirito asked him if he wanted to do anything in particular. Akinym answered that he was fine with anything that would allow them to level efficiently. Apart from that little exchange, they kept silent.

That is, until Akinym spotted someone who entered the room from an adjacent corridor.

Akinym: Kirito-san, someone is here!

The person in question was startled by Akinym's sudden outcry. It was a girl with light brown hair (although it might've been dark orange, Akinym wasn't sure about that) and light, mostly blue equipment.

When she saw Akinym, she instinctively drew her weapon, which seemed to be a jagged blade, but she relaxed when she spotted Kirito.

Meanwhile, Kirito was also slightly startled, although it was just that Akinym had triggered his survival instincts. Given all the trouble he had had with a few orange guilds and Laughing Coffin, his subconsciousness wouldn't let anyone catch him off-guard.

Kirito turned around quickly to face the "unknown intruder", but he relaxed just as well when he saw who it actually was.

Kirito: Oh, it's Philia! It's okay, Akinym. Hey, Philia, glad to see you again!

Philia: Kirito, so you're back… [hesitantly] and with someone new…

Akinym relaxed slightly after seeing that Kirito seemed to know her. Judging from his reaction, this girl wasn't a threat.

He remained relatively tense, though. He didn't expect to run into other players here, although he faintly remembered Lisbeth ranting about "Kirito picking up yet another girl over there" when she had talked about the Hollow Area.

Philia came closer and took a look at Akinym. Her expression was relatively careful and doubtful at first, but she became a bit surprised once she could take a closer look at Akinym.

Philia: Oh, it's not a girl!

Akinym raised an eyebrow in response. What was that about?

Well… So far, Kirito had only brought Asuna to the Hollow Area, and he had told Philia about some of his other friends and – classic case of not knowing what he does – had only mentioned his female friends. So… yeah.

Kirito [dumbfounded]: Um, yes? [thinks] I don't get why that's even important. [says aloud, calmly] Anyway, there's no reason for either of you to be so on guard! [points at Akinym] Philia, this is Akinym, he's someone who helps the Assault Team in Aincrad, so I brought him here to help him with leveling. [turns to Akinym, points at Philia] Akinym, this is Philia, she's a player I've met here. [slightly at a loss] It's… um, a long story, but she helps me explore this place.

Philia [slightly nervously]: U-um, yes, it's as Kirito says. It's a pleasure to meet you. [slightly apologetically] And I'm sorry about that remark, it's just that Kirito made it look as if all his friends are girls…

Kirito [upset]: Hey, what did I say to make you think that?! I have friends who are guys, you know?!

Akinym [clears throat, slightly exasperatedly]: Well, it's okay, pay it no mind, Philia-san. It's nice to meet you.

Akinym took a closer look at Philia. When he focused on her and the cursor appeared above her head, it caught his attention immediately.

Akinym [thinks, slightly shocked]: An orange player?!

Philia saw his expression change, and given what he was probably looking at, she could tell why. She looked a bit down and very nervous after this.

Kirito also noticed the change in the atmosphere, which made him feel quite uncomfortable. He came to the same conclusion as Philia.

He couldn't really blame Akinym. Of course you'd be on guard around an orange player in SAO. Hell, he hadn't reacted differently when he had run into Philia!

It was too bad, though. Kirito had planned to invite Philia to join them. The monsters in the Hollow Area were quite tough, and a third person to help them would've been great… However, given the sudden tension, bringing her along would probably cause trouble.

Kirito made mental note to work on this issue later, but for now, they should get going.

Kirito [slightly awkwardly]: So, yeah, we… We better get going, Philia! Sorry to leave like that, I promise I come back another time, and we'll continue to search this place, okay?

Philia just nodded in response.

Kirito turned back to the console. It was probably for the best to get this over with as fast as possible before things could get even more awkward, so he chose the first destination that seemed suitable and finished setting up the teleport gate.

Kirito: Okay, that's it. Let's go!

Akinym gave Kirito a quick nod and followed him to the teleport gate. However, he cautiosly glanced over at Philia every few seconds, as if to confirm that she was indeed not following them.

Kirito and Akinym spent the next few hours making their way through various parts of the Hollow Area, completing several Hollow Missions. Currently, they were fighting a band of goblin bandits.

During their previous battles, they had noticed what a bad team they were. Both of them had been solo players for a long time. Technically speaking, Akinym still was one.

Sure, Kirito had Asuna now, and they had established a good fighting dynamic, but that only worked with Asuna. They knew each others style, and they almost didn't even need to tell each other when to switch since they had developed a feeling for the right timing. That was something that just didn't work with Akinym.

Akinym, on the other hand, understood the concept of Switching perfectly. Well, of course he did, he had taught several parties how to bring their Switching to perfection. However, teaching others who he could just observe calmly from the sidelines and doing it himself with a stranger were two very different things.

Since ordinary teamwork tactics didn't work, they settled for a different method. They split the enemies up, and each of them took care of a certain group. There were archers, which Kirito took care of, and swordsmen, which were handled by Akinym.

Kirito basically just took the archers down one by one with powerful Sword Skills. Sure, their proficiency had been reset because of the massive system error, but he had leveled them up again quite well after that.

Nevertheless, the archers were a bit of a hassle. Their attacks, coming from different directions, were hard to dodge, yet Kirito managed to avoid most blows thanks to his good sense of his surroundings and his fast reactions. He also had to corner them to get a good chance to attack since the archers just ran away when he got to close.

It wasn't too bad, though. Despite having to deal with all of this, Kirito still found time to observe Akinym in battle. He had done that in every battle they had fought here.

Leafa had told him about their sparring match, and she seemed to be quite impressed. Kirito didn't know what to think about it… After all, he wasn't even sure how strong exactly Leafa was. Sure, he knew that she had practiced kendo in the real world, and that she had some VR combat experience, but that didn't really give him an idea. However, it had made him curious.

Long story short, Kirito tried to observe Akinym's fighting style as much as possible.

When fighting the group of swordsmen, Akinym tried to circle around them, confusing the AI. He moved around extremely fast and precisely, and he outmanoeuvred his enemies until they started to get in each other's way.

It reminded Kirito of one of the ideas behind Switching. It was hard for several people to fight a single enemy at the same time since they could easily get in each other's way if they didn't coordinate their attacks. Therefore, they attacked one after another rather than simultaneously.

Akinym pretty much turned this idea around. Monster AI was still nowhere near the human mind when it came to battle tactics, so monsters would never use Switching. Thus, Akinym could pretty much force his enemies to bump into each other and to obstruct each other's movements. Kirito dubbed this tactic "Reverse Switching" in his mind.

It took a lot of speed to pull this off, though. However, Akinym did indeed have the necessary speed. In fact, Kirito couldn't think of anyone else with that kind of speed other than Asuna.

That said, Akinym's speed seemed a bit… different. Asuna was – more than anything else – a quick and precise attacker. In contrast, Akinym's actual attacks were not that fast. In fact, he seemed to hold back when it came to attack speed since he seemed to have minor issues with aiming and controlling his attack movements at his maximal speed.

Akinym's actual strength appeared to be his dodging. His evasive movements were absolutely on point. He also paired them well with blocking or deflecting attacks. Even though he fought five enemies at the same time, he hardly sustained any hits or damage.

Kirito could also see what his friends had meant when they had told him about Akinym's martial arts abilities. He had seen how Akinym used several techniques that he believed to be judo throws or something like that. For instance, Akinym had grabbed the arm of a goblin swordsman after blocking its attack, twirled the monster around and slammed it into another foe.

All these techniques were executed with utmost precision and speed. Kirito could clearly see the experience behind them. It was the kind of movements that only someone who had been fighting in the virtual world for two years could pull off.

Judging from what he had seen, Akinym seemed to prefer one-on-one combat when it was possible, and he tried to get in position to fight the goblin swordsmen one after another. He only used a few AOE Sword Skills if the monsters began to surround him, and he only did so to get free.

Speaking of Sword Skills, Akinym mostly relied on ordinary attacks, and if he used Sword Skills, they were relatively short, usually not more than three hits, although Kirito had seen Akinym use Needle Rain, a powerful seven-hit thrust combo for spears and pretty much the strongest spear Sword Skill at the moment. Well, of course he would have a finisher move.

Akinym's offensive technique seemed to be to outmanoeuvre his enemies until he only had to face one, and then, he attacked it with short, controlled blows. His favourite Sword Skill seemed to be Armor-Breaking Lance, and Kirito could understand why. It was a good Sword Skill to begin a fight.

Hm… Now that Kirito thought about Akinym's offensive abilities, he noticed that the goblin swordsmen had sustained several hits, but relatively low damage. Only one of them had a HP bar in the yellow zone…

It didn't take Kirito long to figure out why. Well, for starters, Akinym's sparse usage of Sword Skills was certainly a factor. Sword Skills were still the most efficient attacks, and while Akinym certainly included them in his style, he should probably use them more than he did.

Well, Kirito had the feeling that Akinym tried to avoid the delay after using a Sword Skill since it would obstruct his agile fighting style. Figures, but it still made his fighting style inefficient.

Moreover, Kirito assumed that Akinym's low DPS was also the result of Akinym's character build. With this style, he probably had a strong focus on stats like Dexterity. However, he couldn't do so without compromising on other stats. He probably had a low Strength, and correspondingly, his DPH was probably rather low.

There was also something odd about the way he used his spear. Most spear-wielders used them as thrust weapons and to keep monsters at bay, and the set of Sword Skills for this weapon reflected this, but Akinym used it more like a bo stick – a weapon that didn't exist in SAO as far as Kirito knew – with a blade on top of it. He seemed to prefer slashes over thrusts and close combat over (slightly) ranged one, even though there were hardly any Slash Sword Skills for spears and these weapons were actually meant to keep enemies at distance. Given Akinym's close combat defensive abilities, it made sense, though.

Overall, his fighting style appeared to be extremely defense-oriented. As far as Kirito could see, it was the perfect style – and execution of this style – to guarantee survival, but it came at the cost of efficiency.

Kirito wondered how Akinym had managed to play solo successfully. Sure, as a solo player, it was necessary to take special measures to guarantee one's survival, but the chance to level and farm very efficiently was one of the few advantages of playing solo in the first place. This, however, only applied if the player did it right.

In Kirito's experience, building a well-rounded character was the best option for solo players, you couldn't just focus on defense like that. Akinym managed to whittle down his enemies' HP bars, but it took him so long that he probably couldn't level more efficiently than he would in a small party.

Kirito actually wondered how Akinym had managed to keep up with the Assault Team when he had been a member. Sure, he had the skill to fight on the frontlines, Kirito had seen that much by now, but for a member of the Assault Team, there was no choice between survival and efficiency. Efficiency equaled survival.

At first, Kirito had thought that Akinym had become underleveled after leaving the Assault Team because he hadn't had enough time for leveling once he had started his work as an instructor, but now… Akinym had probably worked insanely hard just to make it to level 71. In all honesty, he had to.

Why would he not join a party anyway? Kirito could easily imagine parties among the Assault Team that would be interested in Akinym. In a sense, he would work best as a tank, a very unique tank. He wouldn't take hits while the others fought, he would keep the opponent's occupied without getting hit, which might be even better.

From Kirito's point of view, Akinym was a mystery.

Kirito's train of thoughts was interrupted quite rudely by an arrow. He had been so deep in thought that he had let his guard down for a moment. However, he snapped out of it immediately and took out the remaining archers quickly.

After that, he went to help Akinym with the swordsmen. They had done this before. Kirito defeated his group of monsters while Akinym was keeping the rest busy, and once Kirito had finished off his group, he took care of Akinym's group, which Akinym had already weakened at that point.

It wasn't different this time. Kirito gave Akinym a quick signal, and Akinym backed away to give Kirito enough space for his AOE Sword Skills. All of the goblin swordsmen had lost around half of their HP at this point, so Kirito could finish them off with ease.

After that, a notification popped up in front of him. He was glad to see that they had finished this Hollow Mission and sheathed his swords.

Kirito: And we're done. Good job!

Akinym came closer and took a look at the window himself.

Akinym [slightly curiously]: Kirito-san, I've been meaning to ask you this pretty much since we finished the first one of these… quests: What are these "Hollow Missions" actually about? They seem like quests, but the rewards are a bit strange.

Kirito [contemplatively]: Hm, it's a bit difficult… To be honest, I don't really know myself, it's just part of the mystery that this whole place is.

Kirito looked at the time display in his field of vision. He was a bit surprised that it was already quite late in the afternoon. For some reason, this place seemed to make him lose his sense of time…

Kirito: Wow, when did it get this late? [calmly] Um, Akinym, if you don't mind, we should call it a day. It's better to head back, I guess. [contemplatively] Actually, we might stop by a certain place before we return to Aincrad. It's a good place to talk, and there are a few things I've been meaning to ask you myself, especially about your work. [slightly awkwardly] Um, if that's okay, and I could share what I know about the Hollow Area in exchange.

Kirito chuckled nervously while he was worrying if Akinym was even willing to share any information about this.

Those were pointless worries, though. Akinym didn't mind answering questions about his work as an instructor… or questions in general as long as they were reasonable. It came with the job.

Not to mention that Akinym took an interest in the deal Kirito offered. There had been some questions on his mind, too.

Akinym: Alright, that's acceptable. But… What "place" are you talking about?

Well, that place will be revealed in the next chapter, although anyone who knows the Hollow Area and some of the character sidestories there can probably figure out what place that is.

The interaction between Akinym and Philia is based loosely on the "character x and Philia meet for the first time" events in Hollow Fragment, although Akinym's first impression of Philia is certainly... quite different.

By the way, I don't know if any of the spear Sword Skills in this story actually exist in canon, I've honestly made all of them up.

Little Preview: There's just a long conversation between Akinym and Kirito, and as a result, they'll get... a certain impression of each other.