The Fatal Scythe
Chapter 1: The World of Guns
I Don't Own Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンラインor Any of Characters, All Rights Go To Reki Kawahara and ASCII Media Works
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to the long awaited first chapter of The Fatal Scythe. I said that these chapters would take some time and I wasn't kidding.
* So, just like the last story, there are going to be drastic changes in my version of SAO. So, if you think that you won't like the idea of drastically changing the source material, then I would leave now. This isn't a story you would want to read, if that's the case.
* That being said, I don't think there's anything else for me to say. So, I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter.
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Gun Gale Online – Tuesday, June 9th, 2026
"These players who think it's all about their agility, man, they're living in a dream!"
The avatar speaking on the screen with blue hair and sunglasses belonged to a player called XeXeeD.
"I mean, sure! Firing speed and evasion are important and time was if you were to rock those two things, it's all you needed to be the best. Til now, that is. Yeah, hate to say it, but it don't work like that anymore. In fact, I got a message for the folks who spent the last month or so indoors boosting their AGI: Sucks to be you right now, don't it?"
Everyone in the nightclub began booing the blue-haired player on the screen as he said that. The screen was currently showing a live broadcast of MMO Stream, a very popular network that focuses its content on all things MMO related.
"Now that's the kind of comment we'd expect from the top player of Gun Gale Online, one of the most challenging VRMMOs. Talk about controversial!" the female host of MMO Stream replied.
"I guess, but who knows if I'll be on MMO Stream again, so might as well stir things up."
"Oh, please! So, do you think you have a shot at the upcoming Bullet of Bullets?"
"Damn right, honey. I wouldn't be in it if I didn't think I could win it!" XeXeeD spoke as he ran his hand through his air, waving some of the blue locks around.
More booing transpired with that line.
"It won't be that easy, XeXeeD." Another male guest, Yamikaze, spoke. "The BoB is a solo tourney, so it's way different. What worked for you up to now doesn't mean it'll work again. If I were you, I wouldn't chuck my wings up to my status type."
XeXeeD crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk playing on his face.
"Yeah, well, if anything, my results point to some big changes happening in GGO. You're all about AGI, Yamikaze. Go figure you'd be in denial."
He then stood up in a theatrical pose and spoke once more.
"Wake up, people! Til now, the best strategy was boosting your AGI and shooting a powerful gun as fast as you could. But the reality is that the balance of gameplay in an MMO is always changing! Especially in games like this one, where levels that don't let you reset your stats! You have to think ahead and be smart when using your points, cause the best weapon in one level zone, may not work for the next! Besides, the new guns going out are going to have higher strength requirements and accuracy bonuses."
XeXeeD chuckled as he waved his blue locks around again.
"Huh." One of the customers in the nightclub spoke up. "You remember when he was talking about how great being an AGI type was? That dick totally scammed us!"
I got up, becoming sick of XeXeeD's gloating. As I stood, the cloak I wore rustled around me. I approached the screen as I pulled out my handgun of choice, a Type 54 Black Star. I chambered a round and pointed the gun at the screen.
"You're nothing but a fake XeXeeD!" I exclaimed. "And now you'll face judgement from someone with real power!"
After a few seconds, the other players around me began laughing.
Fools. You won't be laughing anymore once you see what I can do!
As they continued laughing, I made a gesture with my hand, bring my fingers to my face, then my chest, followed by my shoulder and then my opposite shoulder. I shot my handgun, denting the screen right where XeXeeD's forehead was.
"All I'm saying is what's really important in the end is the player's ability to—Agh!"
XeXeeD let out a sound that implied he was choking. As he made these sounds, a look of intense pain formed on his face. He kept making those sounds as he held his hands over his chest and after a few seconds, he hunched over forwards and disappeared in a green flash, having been disconnected from the stream.
"Uh-oh!" the hostess replied. "I guess we have a bad connection here. Don't worry folks, I'm sure he'll be back shortly! Stay tuned for more MMO Stream!"
Everyone around me seemed to be spooked and I liked that. I took joy in the fact that they feared me. I waved my gun around, pointing it at everyone around me in hopes to scare them even more.
"This is real power, real strength! Let fear carve one name into your brain the name I share with this weapon: Death Gun!"
As I spoke, steam hissed from the iron mask that I was hearing beneath the hood of my cloak.
Asuna
Tokyo – Sunday, July 5th, 2026
As I stood on the sidewalk, I stared down at the messaging app on my phone. Notably, the date caught my eye.
"July 5th, 2026. Pretty soon it will be two years. Since..."
I cut myself off after that. I let out a sigh and slipped my phone into my purse, before I continued walking down the street. As I walked, a sudden gust of wind caused my hair to flare up, stopping me in my tracks. After the wind settled down again, I found myself looking up at the tree branches above me, the leaves dancing in the wind.
"I wonder what the difference is between the real world and the virtual?" I found myself wondering out loud.
I began to hear footsteps and they kept getting closer to me, before eventually stopping.
"The amount of data, that's all." A voice said.
I gasped as I jumped a little bit. I looked up to see my boyfriend, Kazuto—Kirito—Kirigaya. The boy in question was smiling at me.
"You scared me! Why would you sneak up on me like that?"
After staring at him for a few seconds, I lightened up and began to chuckle, as he did the same.
"Sorry I scared you. I'm on time, though. That's a plus, right?"
When I didn't answer, a slightly concerned look came to his face.
"What?"
I chuckled again.
"No, I'm sorry. I was spacing out. Anyway, hello, Kirito. How are you doing today?"
"It's been good so far. But it's even better now!"
The look that he had on his face made me slightly uncomfortable.
"What are you staring at? Is there something on my face?"
He shook his head.
"No, nothing like that. It's just that... that outfit looks good on you."
I just stared at him, unsure of whether or not I liked what he had said. When he noticed that I wasn't saying anything, he visibly seemed to panic.
"I mean, it brings back a lot of memories! You know?"
I looked down at the white blouse, silver cross, red skirt, white stockings and brown shoes that I was wearing.
"I guess it does. No rapier, though." I said, as I moved my hands to my hip, as if I were holding my rapier in its scabbard.
I looked back up at him, wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans, black shoes, black everything, pretty much.
"Looks like you went overboard on the black today, huh?"
He broke out in a toothy grin as he put began scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah, Sugu threw everything in the wash this morning and this is all I had left."
Hearing this made me frown a bit.
"Then stop putting your laundry off!" I exclaimed as I held up a finger to his face.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Soon enough, my temporary anger cleared up and I smiled again, as I took Kirito's hand.
"I can't believe we both dressed in our old colors today!" I said with a mild blush on my cheeks. "What are the odds of that?"
"Well, if we see each other every day for a few..."
"That was a rhetorical question." I cut him off. "Smarty pants."
I pulled him along, causing him to follow in my tracks.
"Come on!"
"O...Okay!"
Sometime Later
The Imperial Palace
"I don't know about you," Kirito spoke as we walked side by side through a garden area in the Imperial Palace. "But I think the Imperial Palace is interesting."
"Interesting? What do you mean?"
"It's two kilometers north to south, one point five east to west. And it takes up about twenty percent of Chiyoda Ward. There aren't any subways or tunnels under it and it's a no-fly zone. It's kinda cool, don't you think? I mean, it's this big, restricted area right in the middle of Tokyo. Not only is it cut off from everything physically, but information-wise as well. See that?"
He pointed at something to my left and I turned to see what he was trying to get me to see. I saw a gray pole, with a spherical object on top, looking like it was made out of glass or something similar.
"It's a surveillance camera." Kirito explained. "This place was set up with its very own closed network. You can't even access it from the outside."
"Wow. That's an odd looking camera."
"Yeah, not only is this place the heart of Tokyo, but it's also an isolated world of its own!"
I looked at him, unsure of what he was getting at. He smiled at me as he chuckled.
"Maybe I'm exaggerating its cool factor. I get like that."
I chuckled myself as I took his hand so we could start walking again.
"You think?"
We continued walking until we came to the entry point of a whole open area. I couldn't help but be awestruck by the scenery.
"Wow!" I said with wide eyes.
"This used to be the Inner Citadel."
I turned to Kirito as I spoke.
"Come on, let's go!"
I pulled him along once more, heading forward into the open area.
Sometime Later
In the time that had passed, Kirito and I had another couple take our picture and we mingled with the other guests that were visiting the area. It was now sunset and we were sitting on a bench together in an area marked as the Gohoudai Ruins. As we sat there in silence together, I eventually turned my head and spoke.
"Hey, you know that questionnaire they gave us to fill out? The one about our future plans? Do you know what you want to do yet?"
He looked on at the sunset and let out a short hmm sound.
"I guess if anything, I want to go from playing games, to being a creator."
I looked at him with a bit of surprise.
"A creator? What, for games?"
"No, not for games." He said as he looked back at me. "I want to make a human-machine interface to replace the full-dive tech that we have now. I've been going to all of these tech forums to learn all about it, but it's a heck of a lot of information to absorb."
He turned away from me again, smile still on his face. Seeing that smile made me smile as well, as I looked down at my lap.
"After I graduate, all I want is to be with you."
He turned to look at me with a grunt of surprise. Seeing the surprise on his face made me freak out and I put my hands up ahead of me as I spoke.
"No, wait, I mean... I wish we could figure out a way to live with Yui in this world, too!"
Kirito just smiled, as if he were oblivious to my panicking. And he nodded.
"Yeah, we'll be able to live with her someday. As soon as we figure out how to access augmented reality at will. The only thing standing in the way is the difference in the amount of data."
Amount of data? Didn't he...
"Didn't you say something like that a little while ago? 'The difference between our world and the virtual was the amount of data'. What does that mean anyway?"
Kirito put his fingers to his chin.
"Let's see... It's like this: If we were holding hands in ALO, it wouldn't be the same as in the real world, would it?"
I looked down to at our fingers intertwined with each other.
"No, it wouldn't." I said with a small smile on my face. "You can feel a lot more, touching a real hand."
As I said that, something occurred to me.
"Hey, is that what you mean by the difference in the amount of data?"
"Yep. Can you imagine what it would be like if we could reproduce the feel of skin and a pulse? Would we be able to tell the difference between a real hand or an avatar's hand?"
"I know I could. If I was touching your hand."
Kirito just stared back at me after I said that, a blush beginning to form on his face. I cleared my throat and spoke again to avoid any uncomfortable silences.
"But it's not just touch, is it? I mean, in the real world we get a lot of information from how something sounds or tastes. Even if our AmuSphere rigs could access augmented reality, I'd still know the difference."
"Yeah. The second you saw or touched something, you'd know if it was real or not. But hopefully, someone'll come along and make a technological breakthrough. And whatever that is, it'll have to output a ton of sensory data. All the time."
"Then we could break down the wall between both worlds and be with Yui forever! Do you think that day will ever come for us?"
He gave a short nod.
"Yeah."
"Then get to work and make it happen, okay?"
"Okay!"
I giggled and snuggled up against him, resting my head on his shoulder.
Kazuto/Kirito
Ginza – Earlier That Day
Earlier in the day, before my date with Asuna, I had something to tend to. Seijirou Kikuoka had called last month and requested that I meet him, something about a job opportunity. I never met him. I kept putting it off and putting it off. I had no interest in hearing what he had to tell me. I had hoped that he would just leave me alone. Unfortunately for me, earlier this week, he called again, told me that he really needed to speak with me.
So, I told him to message me to set up a meeting. Just for the record, it's not like I have anything against Kikuoka. He's actually a pretty nice guy. Maybe just a bit off, but nice, nonetheless. It was just that I had better things to do then listen to whatever "job opportunities" that he wanted to tell me about. I stared down at the email app on my phone, at my most recent message.
Hey, Kirito. Come here on July 5th. I'll be waiting. – Seijirou Kikuoka
As I stood there, still looking at my phone, a text popped up.
I'll be heading out soon. – Asuna Yuuki
Seeing Asuna's name made me momentarily smile, but after I remembered what I was doing here, my smile disappeared.
No sense in keeping him waiting, I thought as I walked into the restaurant that he had told me to meet him at. Let's just get this over with.
I stepped into the elevator inside and took it up to the second floor. When I came out of the elevator, I was greeted by a man in a suit, who bowed as he spoke.
"Welcome, Sir."
I almost bowed back to the man, until...
"Hey, Kirito!" a voice called out. "Over here!"
I turned to look into the dining area, filled with people, and toward the back I saw Seijirou Kikuoka, waving at me like a giddy child. I let out a sigh as I turned back to the man.
"Thanks, I uh, think I know the way." I said.
Already regretting this, I thought as I walked toward Kikuoka's table.
Once I reached his table, I sat down across from him and was pushed in by a waiter.
"Go ahead, order whatever you want." He said. "It's on me."
"Thank you, sir. That's very kind of you."
"Come on now, you don't have to be formal with me. Relax and talk to me like you would in ALO."
"Okay..." I said as I picked up the menu in front of me and opened it. "If you say so, then... I guess I'll..."
My eyes widened as I looked at the prices on the items in the menu. Most, if not all of them, were well over what I could afford. I heard someone approach the table and I assumed it was a waiter.
Well, he did tell me to order whatever I wanted.
"I'd like the Parfait au Chocolat, the framboise mille-feuille, and a uh, hazelnut latte."
As I ordered, I briefly noticed Kikuoka just smiling at me out of the corner of my eye.
"Certainly, sir." The waiter said before bowing and leaving us.
"Sorry to make you come all the way out here, Kirito."
"If you're that sorry about it, why'd you ask me to come to Ginza?" I leaned forward and whispered the last part of my sentence. "Oh, and do you think that you could not call me by that name in public?"
Kikuoka leaning forward as well, resting the lower portion of his face on the tops of his hands, so it was impossible to see the look on his face.
"What's with all the attitude? I thought we were buds? I was the first person to visit you in the hospital a year and a half ago, remember?"
I let out a shallow grunt.
He's right. When I came to, the first person there wasn't my family. It was the leader of the task force. Seijirou Kikuoka, from the Tech Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. A.K.A. the Virtual Reality Division.
As Kikuoka picked up his menu and began looking through it, with a bit of a hum coming from his mouth, I spoke.
"Well, first visitor or not, that doesn't make us friends, 'bud'."
He looked up at me, smile gone. I coughed into my hand, trying to change the subject away from what I had just said.
"So, what'd you want to see me about? If it's anything SAO-related, I told you everything I know already."
He shut his menu rather quickly, somewhat scaring me in the process.
"Actually, I want to talk to you about something else."
He reached down into his bag that sat next to the leg of his chair and pulled out a tablet, which he handed to me.
"Have a look at that."
I took the pad from him and looked it over. On it was all the information of a man who had to have been at least ten years older than me, maybe even fifteen.
"Who's he?" I asked, handing that pad back to him.
Kikuoka took the pad from me.
"This won't be pleasant, I can promise you of that. So, last month on June the fourteenth, the landlord of an apartment complex in Nakano, Tokyo noticed a foul odor while cleaning. It was coming from one of the units, so he disabled the locks and found this man, dead. His name was Tamotsu Shigemura and he was twenty-six."
Okay, not that much older than me. I guess it's just the looks. But dead?
"He'd been dead for five days. They found him in bed, his place was a mess and no signs of burglary. He had something interesting on his head, though."
An AmuSphere, I thought.
"An AmuSphere, right?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Yeah. It was ruled an unnatural death, so they did an autopsy. The cause of death was found to be acute heart failure."
I let out a bit of a sharp breath.
"Wait, heart failure? You mean his heart stopped? Did they find out why?"
"No, they didn't."
There was a long silence between us, as I didn't know what to say next. In that time, a waiter came by with my order.
"Here you are, sir."
I took another breath as he sat down my order and took a small plate from Kikuoka's side of the table, walking off with it.
"Unfortunately, since so much time had passed since his death and foul play was ruled out as the cause, the autopsy wasn't very thorough. We do know that he'd been logged in for two days straight and hadn't eaten anything the whole time."
The image of Sugou Nobuyuki briefly came to mind, namely how sickly looking he had become due to his extended stays in the old ALfheim.
"Well, that's not that unusual. Players do it all the time. I have the misfortune of knowing one who used to do it."
That's when it hit me and I looked up at him with surprise.
"Wait, why are you telling me all this?"
"He had a game installed on his system called Gun Gale Online." He said, before looking up at me. "You know that one?"
"How can I not? GGO. It's the only MMO in Japan with professional players and it took the world by storm when it was created shortly after the launch of the Seed a couple months ago. Or, it took the virtual world by storm, I should say."
He ignored my comment.
"This past June, there was a tournament to decide the most powerful player in GGO. The deceased was the guy who won it. His character's name was XeXeeD."
As he spoke, I began to dig it to my order, still listening.
"Was he playing GGO when he died?"
"No. But when it happened, he was appearing on a show called MMO Stream as XeXeeD's avatar. We know the time from the logs. The stream was shortly after his victory in the tournament."
I took a bite out of my framboise mille-feuille.
"This next bit of info still needs to be confirmed, according to another player's blog, at the same time that Shigemura had the heart attack, something strange happened in GGO."
I looked up at him.
"Something strange? What does that mean?"
"Some players were at a bar in-game watching the show when one of the players stood up and began acting erratically. The blog states that the player was shouting stuff about judgement and power at XeXeeD's image on the T.V. and then fired his gun at it. At the time, another player at the bar happened to be recording the audio. He uploaded it to a video site. Since the file had a Japan Standard Time counter embedded, we know that the shot fired at the T.V. and Shigemura's avatar disappearing from the show happened at about the same time."
I was a bit surprised, but didn't think much of it.
"Probably just a coincidence." I said as I shut my eyes.
I took another bite out of my framboise mille-feuille.
"There was another death, though."
I sat straight up as my eyes opened again.
"What?"
"This one happened on June the 28th. Somewhere in Saitama Prefecture. Same setup as before. The deceased were found in their apartment. A guy delivering the newspaper happened to look in the window and he saw the victim lying in bed wearing an AmuSphere rig. He said the smell was..."
Someone from a table away from us cleared their throat in disgust, interrupting Kikuoka. I turned my head and briefly looked at the source of the noise. A somewhat elderly lady had a look of disgust on her face.
"Let's skip the details of the corpse's condition." Kikuoka continued. "Anyway, heart failure was the cause of death."
Heart failure? With this one, too? No way, this has to be some sick joke.
"You're joking, right?"
Kikuoka shook his head.
"I wish I were. The victim was also a top ranking GGO player his character's name was... Usushio Tarako? Well, he was playing when he died. In happened at Central Plaza in Glocken, he was in the middle of a meeting with his squad. I guess that's the same as a guild. A strange player went up to him and shot him, point blank."
I imagined said strange player firing a gun.
"Do you know if it was the same guy who shot XeXeeD?" I asked as I took a drink of my latte.
"Most likely. He said stuff about judgement and power, and then identified himself by the same character name."
I put my latte back down.
"What name is that?"
Kikuoka looked back down at the pad for a second or two, then spoke.
"Death Gun."
Death Gun?
"That's... ominous."
I wasn't sure of what else to say. I put down my hazelnut latte.
"Are you completely sure that both victims died from heart failure?"
"What do you mean?"
An image of the NerveGear briefly entered my head.
"Was there any damage to their brains?"
A small smile came to Kikuoka's face.
"I was wondering about that too, so I asked the coroner if he found any trace of damage to either of their brains. And he said they were both fine."
Nothing?
"Besides, the NerveGear rig used high output microwaves powerful enough to fry the signal elements and destroy the brain. On the other hand, the AmuSphere rig was designed so that it couldn't emit electromagnetic waves that powerful. Or at least, that's what the developers claim."
"It sounds like you guys have done your homework. But even so, your story's built around coincidences and rumors."
"True, it could be a coincidence or even a hoax, I'm not sold either way. Now, and this is just hypothetical, do you think it's even remotely possible to stop a player's heart in the real world with virtual bullets from a virtual gun?"
I imagined someone firing a virtual gun inside a game, the bullet travelling through a network of wires, before emerging from an electrical outlet and nailing someone using an AmuSphere in the real world.
No, that's impossible! It's absurd! There has to be something else going on!
I looked up at him, patiently awaiting my answer.
"No, I don't think so. But hypothetically, let's say that this Death Gun did send some killer signal to XeXeeD's and that Tarako guy's AmuSpheres what could it do?"
When he didn't answer, I put my fingers on my chin and spoke once more.
"Could the sensation of a touch stop the heart? Maybe a taste or smell? A sight, a sound or some other sensation?"
I looked up at Kikuoka as he chuckled, resting his chin in his hand, with a small smile on his face. That's when I got the small suspicion that he already knew all of this.
"Okay, whoa! You already thought of this, haven't you? Oh, I get it. You and your team can't figure it out, so you invite me for coffee so you can pick my brain?!"
Kikuoka put up both of his hands, looking nervous and somewhat offended.
"No, what are you talking about? I'd never do something like that to you, honest! I like talking to you and just wanted your opinion!"
I let out a sigh as I picked up my hazelnut latte again.
No way. If he didn't invite me to get my opinion about this, then what did he invite me here for?
I looked back up at him, to see that stupid smile of his again.
Wait a minute. He doesn't just want my opinion. He knows how experienced I am with VRMMOs! He wants me to...
I put down my hazelnut latte with force, startling Kikuoka.
"No, absolutely not!"
"What?"
Kikuoka looked confused.
"What kind of idiot do you take me for, Kikuoka?"
"Huh?"
Basically repeating himself.
"You don't want to just get me opinion! You want me to dive into Gun Gale Online and check it out! Don't you?"
He looked ashamed now.
"Yes." He said in a small voice. "All I want is for you to check out GGO and make contact with this Death Gun person."
I looked at him with suspicion and annoyance.
"And let's say that I do this. Then what?"
He didn't say anything. I let out a grumble as I stood up.
"The answer's no, Kikuoka."
"But why?"
I looked at him with irritation.
"Why? Well, let me tell you. I beat SAO because I was trapped there, because thousands of people were trapped there and I had to. I kind of beat ALO because my girlfriend was trapped there and I had to get her out! But GGO? I have no connection to this! I don't want any part of this! All I want to do is chill out in ALO with my friends!"
He didn't say anything.
"We're done here."
I tried to walk away from the table, but he reached out and grabbed my forearm.
"You can't just leave!"
I yanked my arm away from his grip.
"My days of diving into new VRMMOs are over, Kikuoka. Don't try to contact me again. Thanks for paying for my lunch."
I walked back toward the elevator, without looking back at Kikuoka.
Gohoudai Ruins – Now
"Oh, now I get it." Asuna spoke.
"Huh?" I asked.
I must have been staring off into space. What does she mean?
"I think I figured out why you brought me here today."
"Oh. You did, huh?"
"Mmm-hmm. If our world is made up of an axis called 'time', and a plane called 'space', then the center of our reality is this place, in the heart of Tokyo, where a castle used to stand. And the axis of all the virtual worlds popping up now thanks to the Seed is a place that also had a castle once: Aincrad. That's why this sunset seems so nostalgic."
I turned my head to look at her, to see a smile on her face. I smiled back.
"You saw right through me."
She gave me a smirk.
"It's not that hard to do."
"Yes, it is! I'm a very difficult person to read!"
"No, no, no. You're not difficult to read at all, Kirito."
"Yes, I..."
She cut me off by giving me a gentle kiss on the lips. When she pulled away, I gave her a smile.
"What is it?"
"I think you just helped me figure something out, too. Do you remember what Aincrad looked like? Maybe its shape was supposed to symbolize the axis of time and the plane of space."
She shrugged.
"Maybe. But if its vertical axis represented time and its floor is space, then the Commander made a world that tapered to nothing! Everything ended once you reached the top! Unfortunately, a certain someone destroyed it halfway up! Now we'll never know how it ended."
"Yes, Ma'am! Sorry about that, Ma'am!"
Asuna just broke out into a chuckle.
"Don't get all broken up about it, Kirito! I'm not really mad about it!"
"Um, okay."
She got up from the bench and stood in front of me, before grabbing both my hands and pulling me up from the bench so I stood with her.
"Come on, it's going to be dark soon! We should head back now!"
"Okay! Um, are you sure that your parents are okay with you staying the night at my place?"
Her cheeks lit up in a light pink shade, but they quickly went back to their normal color.
"Well, my mother is still very wary about the fact that I'm seeing someone. But..."
As she spoke, she smirked and I saw a mischievous glint in her eyes. I didn't like that look.
"...my father trusts me—and you—not to do something irresponsible."
She winked at me after that and I definitely didn't like that. I swallowed, but my throat still felt dry. After a few seconds, that look disappeared from her face and she started laughing.
"You should have seen the look on your face, Kirito! We know better than to do stuff like that!"
I took a breath, feeling slightly relieved.
"R...Right."
She noticed the look on my face and returned that look with worry in her eyes.
"Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.
I turned my head, feeling my face heat up.
"Um, it's just that, hearing you talk like that made me feel very uncomfortable. So, can you maybe not talk like that?"
"Oh. I'm sorry, Kirito."
"It's fine." I said as I let go of her hands. "Now, enough waiting around. You're not sleeping over for kicks! We have a project to work on, so let's get back."
She took my hand as I let it fall back to my side.
"Well, let's go then!"
We began walking toward the exit, hand in hand.
"Oh, next time we come up here, we should bring Liz, Sugu and the others! Wouldn't it be fun to get everyone together for a picnic here?"
I looked back at her.
"Yeah, a picnic here on a nice fall day could be nice great."
"So, we'll do that?"
I nodded.
"Totally."
Kazuto's House – Later That Night
Asuna and I sat in my room, working on our project for class. Or at least, Asuna was. I was too busy thinking about my meeting with Kikuoka earlier today.
"Okay... What if we do this, instead?" she asked as I stared off into space.
Walking out on Kikuoka and refusing to take the job today felt so good, so why at the same time, does it feel wrong?
"Kirito? Kirito, are you listening?"
I unknowingly narrowed my eyes.
Did I make a rash decision today?
I felt Asuna gently touch my hand.
"Hey, Kirito."
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at her.
"Huh?"
"Are you still with me? It looked like you were zoning out a little bit."
I chuckled as I scratched the back of my neck.
"Sorry, I guess I was worlds away. And I'm kind of tired."
She let out a sigh as she shut her notebook.
"Well, we won't be getting any work done if this keeps up. Why don't we just go to bed and we'll try again in the morning?"
I nodded.
"Sounds good to me."
She got up and walked over to her overnight bag that she had stopped by her house on the way back from our date to get.
"Then I'll go get changed into my pajamas. Be back soon."
She left the room and I stood up to stretch before getting into bed.
Later
That night, I dreamed that I was in some kind of canyon. The walls were made of some kind of tan rock and it seemed to go on and on and on. I looked around me and spotted a guy with curly brown hair and a goatee, wearing a familiar outfit. It was the Knights of the Blood Oath uniform.
"So, I'm back in Aincrad." I said as I turned around in a circle. "Not New Aincrad, but old Aincrad."
I turned back to the other guy in the canyon, who hadn't seemed to notice me. I waved at him but got no response.
"You honestly didn't think that you could hide from me forever, did you? Kirito?"
I whirled around and saw someone who hadn't been there before. Or more accurately, I saw the silhouette of someone, with glowing red eyes.
"W...Who are you?"
The figure spoke in a disturbingly deep voice.
"Well, you should know. You're the one who murdered me, after all."
As I heard that, I felt my entire body go cold.
W...What?
As I continued to stare up at those red eyes, I gradually began to hear the sound of my heartbeat in my ears, getting louder and louder with each passing second. My skin began to break out into a cold sweat. I began to see a bright, white shine underneath those eyes and it took me a minute to realize what it was. The figure's face had broken out in a sinister grin.
"Don't you know that the past will always come back to haunt you?"
As I continued to stare up at him, I felt my entire body begin to vibrate. However, it didn't take very long for me to realize that this wasn't happening in the nightmare.
"Kirito."
It was coming from the real world.
"Hey, Kirito." Asuna whispered in a hushed tone. "Wake up."
I opened my eyes and slowly sat up as I rubbed my eyes.
"Asuna? What... What's going..."
"You were shaking in your sleep, so I decided to wake you. Are you alright?"
I slowly nodded.
"Just a nightmare. I'll be fine." I lied to her as I began to gently move over her to get out of bed. "I'll be right back. Just need to use the bathroom."
Once I was out of bed and had gotten halfway to the door, Asuna called out to me.
"Kirito?"
I turned back to her and even in the dim light, I could see the worry on her face.
"Asuna, I'm fine." I said, before turning back around and leaving the room.
I hated to lie to Asuna, as the very second I left the room, I began shaking again. I walked into the bathroom, flipping on the light as I entered and shut the door behind me. I stopped in front of the sink and mirror and looked down as I shivered. I looked up at the mirror and for a split second, I saw that figure from my dream. As soon as I blinked, it was gone and I was looking at my reflection. I let out a shaky breath.
"God, I have to get ahold of myself." I whispered as I turned on the faucet.
I cupped my hands beneath the stream of cold water and got my face wet. I shut off the faucet and used a hand towel to dry my face and hands. I looked back up at the mirror and let out a sigh. Even now, several hours later, I was still thinking about how I had walked out on Kikuoka. And once again, I felt guilty for some reason. As I gritted my teeth with frustration, there was a gentle knock at the door.
"Kirito?" Asuna spoke from the other side of the door. "Come back to bed!"
"I'll be right out." I murmured.
I moved to shut off the light as I mentally decided that I'd call Kikuoka in the morning. I'd do the job, but I wanted to hear the rest of the details first. I opened the door expecting to see Asuna waiting for me, but she wasn't there. I went back to my room, to see her getting back into bed. As I followed suit and got back into bed, she gently touched my hand but recoiled almost instantly.
"Kirito, your hand is cold as ice! And you're sweating!"
I gently took her hand and rubbed it in an effort to reassure her.
"Just a reaction to the nightmare I had. I'll be fine."
"Are you going to be okay?"
I nodded as I laid back down, prompting her to do the same.
"I'll be fine, don't worry."
She snuggled up against me and rested her head on my chest.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. "The nightmare?"
"I'm okay." I said as I began to gently rub her back. "Just try and go back to sleep."
We both laid there after that, until we both fell asleep once more.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for the first chapter. I'm sure that this chapter wasn't as good as I had hyped it up to be, but they can't all be winners.
* Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Sorry that it did take a while, but I told you that it would. Unfortunately, the next chapter will probably take a few months, as well.
* So, just a bit of a disclaimer here. Obviously, Phantom Bullet is supposed to take place in the fall. It's supposed to. But I thought that it would be interesting to twist the narrative a bit and have my version of P.B. to take place in mid-summer. This decision has had its issues. Such as the fact that this is supposed to be the third Bullet of Bullets, which doesn't line up to the date that I've decided on.
* So, I changed it to where, I believe, it's the second Bullet of Bullets that's coming up. This isn't the only thing that I've had to change, so expect more twists along the way, that will go further into separating my SAO from Reki Kawahara's SAO. I hope that you readers will be intrigued by this premise, as well as look forward to seeing these changes play out.
* I think that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go though, so have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and bye.
Next Chapter: Kazuto gets back into contact with Kikuoka. Meanwhile, inside GGO, an elite squadron led by a blue-haired sniper named Sinon faces an unexpectedly robust foe.