Beta: TwistedFilms
Sometime in the mid-twentieth century, just after the collapse of Imperial Japan, a large academy was established. Its purpose was to raise the gifted youth of Japan to become future leaders and developers of the world. Today, Aincrad Academy is the top preparatory school in the nation, with only the best and brightest able to attend. And I just happen to be one of those people.
The name's Kazuto Kirigaya. I'm 17, and a third-year student at Aincrad. I'm one of the few who are considered 'impure', as I transferred into Aincrad when I was a first-year. Most of the student body has been here for, well… ever. They are practically raised here, and see me as an intruder on their territory.
Needless to say, I didn't have many friends, and the ones I did have were also unpopular for one reason or another. Save for one, at least, but I'll get to that later.
Aincrad Academy was a boarding school, which meant that all the students slept on campus in dormitories. There were some exceptions, such as clubs having their own "houses" similar to fraternities in college. At the moment, however, I was not associated with any of those.
I lived in the common dormitory, with my roommate and best friend, Eugeo. He was a transfer student, like me. However, he had traveled a bit farther to attend Aincrad.
You see, Eugeo is American, which is a somewhat rare find in Japan. His blond hair doesn't help matters, since it attracts a lot of attention. The school actually tried to force him to dye it black once, but Eugeo's parents put a stop to that idea. It also helped that there were a few other foreign students with similar shades.
And, speaking of Eugeo…
"Kirito! We're going to be late! Wake up!"
I groaned as the sweet embrace of sleep finally released me, forced away by the annoyed voice of my dormmate. Eugeo had an amazing grasp on the Japanese language, but his cultural understanding was still a bit void. He never used honorifics, and had a habit of calling people he just met by their given name over their family name. Not to mention, he always came up with little nicknames for people, hence him calling me 'Kirito'. Apparently, he made it by combining the first four letters of my family name with the last two of my given name. Real creative, I know.
"Kirito, get up!"
I rolled over with a sigh, finally opening my eyes. Harsh sunlight blinded me, the curtains beside me having been left wide open. Eugeo stood at the foot of my bed, dressed in the school's blue uniform. He tossed my own uniform onto my not-so-sleeping face.
"Get dressed already, class is in ten minutes!"
I fumbled with the uniform, and, for a moment, even managed to get myself all tangled up in it. With some effort, I was able to free myself again, a baleful glare coloring my features.
"And a good morning to you too," I said with a sarcastic lit.
"Oh, come on. Don't be that way. You slept in, and now we might be late because of it!"
Oh boy, he was not happy. I got out of bed and proceeded to get dressed. Eugeo, bless his soul, packed up my notes and slid them into my bag. In less than two minutes flat, I was ready to go. Which was great, because there was a twenty minute walk to my first class.
"... and as we can see here, the effects of the machine were significantly positive…"
Professor Kayaba's lecture was audible even outside the classroom. Eugeo and I paused beside the door, waiting for the tell-tale sound of chalk on board. Not a second later, the Professor started writing something out, giving us the window we needed to slip in whilst he had his back turned.
I pried open the door as quietly as possible, tip-toeing my way towards my desk in the back corner.
"Kirigaya-san, that would be detention," Kayaba's monotone voice called out from the front, back still turned. I winced as the class giggled at my plight.
"Yes, sir," I said with a sigh. "But how come Eugeo doesn't get it as well?"
A certain blond gave me a very pointed look at the comment.
"Because, in all likelihood, he ran late due to you, I'm sure. As is the case most of the time."
Kayaba finally turned around, gently placing the chalk down as he did so. A small part of my mind noted he had white dust from the board on his grey vest.
If one word could describe our professor, it would be 'normal'. He looked like an everyday passerby you would see on the street. Even his outfit - khaki slacks, white dress shirt, and the aforementioned grey vest - looked like something you'd see some rando on the street wear.
I took my seat by the window, hanging my bag on the small hook attached to the desk. Kayaba began his lecture again, leaving me to ignore him and gaze out the window instead. Cliché, I know, but I am very easily bored. Sue me.
Suddenly, some sixth sense evoked alarm bells in my mind, telling me that something was off about the current situation. It didn't take me long to figure out what, as my eyes met an ice-filled gaze on the other side of the classroom.
Asuna Yuuki was staring at me with thinly-veiled contempt. Her seat at the front-right of the class gave her an unrestricted view of me, which she seemed to enjoy using to glare at me. It wasn't the first time the class rep had tried to kill me with a look, nor did I expect it would be the last.
You see, Yuuki was one of those 'purists' I mentioned before. Raised from childhood at Aincrad, she became part of the student council in the beginning of high school. Which, I should also mention, was easy to distinguish, due to student leaders always wearing custom uniforms.
The average student wore a blue and white uniform, like me and Eugeo. The jackets on them were reminiscent of military dress uniforms, but with small cross designs on the collars and sleeves.
The leaders had similar-looking garments, however, there were two major differences. One was the coat length. The student leaders had coat tails that went down to their knees, creating honest-to-God trench coats. Ours were just normal jackets. The second difference was that the leaders got to choose their uniform colors. Yuuki's uniform, for example, was white and red.
Despite the frosty impressions, Yuuki wasn't a bad person by any means. I'd personally seen her dedicate entire weekends to helping other students with their work. Academically speaking, she was a genius. She studied constantly, almost obsessively. And, to top it all off, she was quite attractive as well, with hair colored a rare shade of chestnut, and eyes to match.
The reason we didn't get along well was pretty simple. I didn't really care about school. To me, high school was nothing more than a pit stop, a simple break in the road before I moved on. To Yuuki, however, school was everything. If her life was not in constant orbit of it, her entire existence could be considered a waste.
I supposed a difference in upbringings had a little to do with that.
Yuuki was a rich girl, with her whole life planned out for her. Meanwhile, I was just some lucky kid who got a scholarship and decided to see where it led. That was why she spent all of her time studying, while I hadn't studied in months. Which was another reason she didn't like me.
Asuna Yuuki was the second highest scoring student in our grade. As for the highest scoring member? Well…
"Kirigaya-san, if you keep zoning out in class, you won't get first place on the exams this quarter. Pay attention please, or I'll put you up for more detention," Professor Kayaba said, his voice a touch strained. I broke my gaze with the Ice Princess and 'focused' on the lesson, though in truth, I already knew most of the material by heart.
"Late again, Kirigaya-san? Though, I guess I shouldn't expect anything else by now."
Yuuki spoke in a dismissive tone, which was instantly annoying to me. The lunch bell had rung not even a minute ago, and already she was harassing me. I hadn't even left my desk!
"Oh, so sorry, Asuna," I said, deliberately using her first name as a means to annoy her. "I guess I forgot you actually have to go to class to score on the exams. My mistake, I won't make light of your shortcomings again."
The girl looked at me in shock, jaw practically on the floor. It was the first time I had ever been so disrespectful to her, but honestly, I was getting tired of the daily back-and-forth with her. She was just so… annoying… to deal with.
"I… What… You-… You stupid idiot!"
Her face was red, bottom lip trembling with anger. It honestly made her look kinda cute... Huh, there was an idea.
"Hey, you're cuter when you're angry."
If she was red before, she would be a supernova now. She stormed off, clearly frustrated at her inability to win the verbal jabs today. A familiar chuckle drew my attention away from the chestnut-haired princess.
"Nye-he-he, ya sure showed 'er, didn' ya, Kii-bou?" a nasally voice said before a weight settled on my shoulder, pressing against my back. "Didn' know ya had it in ya."
"And a good morning to you as well, Tomo," I replied, trying to ignore the very soft sensation on my back. The weight was relieved as its owner skipped out in front of me.
Tomo Carina Hosaka, otherwise known as 'The Rat'. She was a girl of diminutive stature, with striking, straw-yellow hair. Her alias had been given to her because of her social role within the school. Well, that and the whiskers she always painted on her face.
The Rat called herself an information broker. Basically, you came to her with something you wanted to find out, usually some dirt on a student or a teacher, and she would find it for you. For a price, at least.
In my opinion, 'information broker' was just a fancy name for gossiping for cash. Not that I'd tell her that, since she'd probably find some particularly nasty rumor to spread about me in return, true or not.
"Come on, Kii-bou… Ya know I can' have a good day 'less I get my fix of affection from ya."
I couldn't stop a sudden blush from fighting its way onto my cheeks, and the Rat's continued chuckle told me she had noticed.
"S-Shut up, you just do it to get a rise out of me."
Tomo's grin took on an almost feral edge.
"Oh? Are ya sure 'bout that?"
She stepped closer to me, standing right next to my desk. One of her hands came up to cup my cheek.
"Are ya really sure?"
Tomo leaned down, her other hand fisting my collar to drag me in. I clenched my eyes shut, only to be surprised as I felt a small peck on my cheek. I opened my eyes to find Tomo back in her original position, laughing hysterically.
"Nya-ha-ha-ha! Oh, ya should have seen yer face! That was priceless!"
She continued her fit of hysterics while I sulked in embarrassment. She quickly took note of my silent torture and, of course, moved to capitalize on it. "Aww, Kii-bou, I didn' mean ta tease ya like that. If ya want, I could always make up fer it with a real kiss."
"Come on, Tomo, don't tease him so much." My savior, Eugeo, finally came back from the cafeteria to enter the conversation. "It's mean to lead him on like that."
Tomo's eyes met my own, a hidden message passing between us. Eugeo might be my best friend, but there was one secret he wasn't aware of.
"Fine, Eugi-kun, spoil my fun, why don' ya!" She leaned down to give me a friendlier hug, before whispering in my ear. "After school, gym storage." A moment later, she was gone, walking out the room and heading back to her own class.
"She certainly is something," Eugeo said as he sat down at the desk next to mine. He tossed a packaged sandwich my way, which I tore into with glee.
"Tha's un way to pu' i'" I mumbled around my food.
"Kirito, don't speak with your mouth full. What did you say?"
I paused to swallow before speaking more clearly.
"That's one way to put it."
Eugeo nodded like a proud parent, before diving into his own sandwich. We ate in comfortable silence for the most part, only pausing to make some minor small talk. We finished with a few minutes left of lunch.
"So, are you going to tell me what was up with you and the class rep earlier?"
"Damn, you saw that?"
Eugeo gave me a pointed look.
"Anyone with eyes saw that. I actually got to the cafetera late because of it."
I could tell he wasn't going to let this go.
"Fine. I just got annoyed dealing with her B.S. all day. Figured that was the easiest way to shut her up."
Eugeo hummed around a carton of apple juice, before the bell rang. He got up and went back to his desk, while I zoned out at the window as usual.
Classes finally ended a few hours later, allowing me and Eugeo to regain our freedom. I told him to head home without me, which wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. Especially since Tomo had started asking for me more and more.
I walked through the first-floor halls slowly, taking my time through the large academy. There was still a good number of students around, mostly club members. The halls were filled with the brown uniforms of first-years, as well as the grey and blue of second- and third-years.
I spotted one third-year in particular of whom I was very familiar with. Or rather, with his fist. Kibaou. I didn't know his family name, and I'd never heard anyone say it. He was a larger boy with cactus-spiked hair. He was one of the few students at the academy who sported some facial hair as well.
Kibaou was known to be one of the bigger bullies in school. He was also on Tomo's 'No Custom' list.
The bully was walking through the halls with a bit too much put-on swagger. He rammed his shoulder into a second-year girl, causing her to fall and drop all of her books.
"Move, stupid transfer!"
Kibaou hustled on, not stopping as the girl stayed on her knees.
I didn't really know what to do. On one hand, this girl looked like she needed help, and I didn't want to just ignore that. On the other, I was going to be late for my 'appointment' with Tomo if I delayed any further. My mind struggled on this conundrum for a while, until a certain sound reached my ears.
"Sniff-… What did I do…?"
The girl began crying softly, the sound echoing in the now mostly empty hallway. Goddammit, me, just help her already!
"Hey, are you okay?"
I knelt down in front of her, collecting the books off the ground. The girl looked up at me with tear-stained eyes. The bottom half of her face was covered with a brown muffler, which I was sure I'd seen before at some point.
"T-Thank you."
Her voice came out wavering, probably from the clear distress she was in. I stood up with her things and offered her a hand. The second-year accepted it with careful gratitude, allowing me to lift her to her feet.
"Don't mention it. My name is Kazuto Kirigaya, what's yours?"
"I'm Shino Asada. I just transferred her last week."
Ah, that would explain it. She was getting the short end of the stick for being 'impure'. Still, it was pretty rare for someone to transfer in the second year. I wondered why Aincrad would wait that long to invite Asada if she was smart enough to be here.
"Well, I apologize for those other students, Asada-kouhai. They don't like transfers like us very much."
The way her eyes lit up at the end of my sentence made me more than a little nervous.
"You're a transfer too?!"
"Yeah, of course. My first year."
She seemed ecstatic to find out this little piece of information, her former bad mood evaporating like it had never even been there.
"I haven't met any other transfer students yet. Thank God I found one!" Her expression changed to one of mild embarrassment a moment later. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get overly excited."
"Heh, it's fine. Trust me, I'm used to excited girls." One of which is currently awaiting my presence, so let's wrap this up, please.
Asada didn't seem to notice my tense expression as I imagined all the terrible things Tomo would do to me for being late. She did seem to turn an even darker shade of red after I spoke though, for some reason.
"Y-Yes… Well, still. I'm sorry you had to stop and help me. That stupid jerk just won't leave me alone." Her face darkened. "I wish I could get some peace."
"Hey, next time he bothers you… let me know, okay? I'll help if I can."
Asada immediately brightened up. "Really?"
"Yeah sure, why not."
"Thank you!" She finally took her books back from me, before running off. "Thanks again for helping me senpai!" I didn't get to reply before she had already rounded the corner.
Strange girl.
Running towards the gym, I silently prayed that Tomo wouldn't be too mad at me.
The gym storage room door opened with a slight creek. I stepped inside, the limited visibility and dim lighting not giving me much to work with. The door closed behind me, the click of the lock engaging reaching my ears. Before I could turn to investigate, something landed on my back, almost knocking me over. A small hand settled over my mouth, while someone's breath tickled my ear.
"What do we have 'ere? A wild Kii-bou?" Tomo whispered before pressing her lips to my neck. She dropped off me, pulling me around to face her. "Took ya long 'nuff."
"Sorry, I had to help a kouhai."
Tomo pressed herself up against me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Ah, the shinin' knight Kii-bou comes to the rescue again. I'm sure the fair maiden was grateful."
"I never said it was a girl," I replied, snaking my arms around her waist.
"Maybe not, but I know you well enough."
Her lips suddenly crashed against my own, desperate and hungry. My hands trailed down from her waist, onto her butt. Tomo took the sign for what it was, jumping up and wrapping her legs around me.
I backed up, before my legs hit something, causing me to fall backwards onto whatever it was. I landed on a stack of gymnastics mats, with Tomo on top of me. She never broke our kiss, not even during the fall.
I tore away for a moment, trailing kisses and pecks down Tomo's chin. When I reached her neck, I nipped the pale skin lightly, eliciting a light mewl from the Rat.
"N-No marks, Kii-bou…"
I trailed back up to her lips, resuming the make-out session. It was pretty tame from then on, just light kissing and cuddling.
"So," Tomo started, hand trailing up and down my shirt as she laid on my chest. "Did ya manage ta save the fair maiden?"
"Hah, only you would want to hear about another girl after that."
Tomo looked up at me with a smirk. "Wha' can I say? I'm curious."
"Well, I didn't exactly save her…"
I told her the whole story, not that there was much to tell. Tomo listened with rapt attention, looking almost intrigued. Once I finished, she hummed to herself.
"Shino Asada, huh? She transferred 'ere very recently. Right in the middle of the semester, too. I knew it was suspicious, but I haven' had time to look into it yet. Guess I will now."
She lifted herself off me, taking time to stretch. Her uniform lifted enough to give me a slight glimpse of skin, something my hormone-addled brain enjoyed greatly, even if I knew I shouldn't be looking.
"Ya should probably head back 'fore Eugi-kun gets worried."
With that, she sauntered off, not even giving me the chance to say goodbye.
I feel like I should clarify something. Tomo and I weren't dating, nor were we in a casual relationship. I'm not really sure what you would call us, or if there even was a label to describe it.
It started in our first year. Tomo was just as infamous then as she was now, but the stress of carrying her gossip-… sorry, information business, while also keeping her grades up, was starting to get to her. I was listening to her complain about some pushy client when all of a sudden, she kissed me. Just out of nowhere.
I was obviously confused. Even more so when she didn't stop.
When she finally broke away, she apologized, saying she was just stressed. From then on, every time she got stressed, she singled me out for a kiss or even just some light cuddling. Apparently, it helped her cope. Somehow.
As a reward for 'putting up with her', she gave me some minor information for free. Although, to be honest, making out with Tomo was the only reward I needed.
Coming back to the present, I was still on my 'just kissed a girl' high while making my way through the school building. My locker just so happened to be on the other side of the academy, and so I had a bit of a walk to get to my stuff. A sound soon stopped me in my tracks, though, breaking my daydream-like state.
"Mmmph… No, we-… Mphh-… can't! Father said to wait!"
The voice was female in pitch, and oddly familiar. Whoever it was sounded like they were in some distress. I approached the classroom it was emanating from slowly, trying my best to be stealthy. I peeked through the window on the door, my eyes widening in shock at what I saw.
It was Asuna Yuuki, the class rep. Her normally pristine uniform was wrinkled, pushed up in some places to reveal more skin than I cared for. Her face was pinched, an unreadable expression present on it.
There was one other person in the room, who I suspected was responsible for her disheveled look, seeing as he was all over her. The Deputy Headmaster, Nobuyuki Sugou, also known as Yuuki's fiance. Arranged, that was.
The Deputy Headmaster was currently nibbling down the girl's neck, something Yuuki looked very unhappy with. His hand was slowly drifting up her thigh, pushing her skirt higher as it went.
I had no idea what to do. Part of me knew that leaving was probably a good idea, but the pained look on Yuuki's face stopped me from doing so. I wanted to help her.
Then… her eyes met mine.
She looked surprised, to say the least, face burning with what I was certain was shame. I am not too proud of what I did next.
I ran.
I made it all the way to the exit before stopping. My mind was whirling with activity, trying to figure out what I had just seen. It was obvious Yuuki had not been too enthusiastic about the situation.
My hand went to my pocket, pulling out my phone. I flicked through the few contacts I had, before stopping on one in particular.
'Tomo, need to meet tmrw. Info trade, u up 4 it?'
Not even twenty seconds later, I got my reply.
'Of course. I got u ;)'