3
Yumari broke into a crooked smile as she walked through the city gates.
"First mission, success," she said rather wickedly.
She was feeling quite good about herself after deceiving Hinomaru.
It meant her acting had been spot on; she'd had him in the palm of her hand.
She merged through the crowd stockpiled in front of the "Newbie Stand", a nickname given to an NPC stand that handed out free guidebooks and sold starter items.
If you had no prior knowledge of SAO, this is where you would go to learn about all the different skill systems and combat sword skills as well as information on different monsters and even floor bosses.
Yumari, or Takeru, had already studied the game months before it was released.
He'd spent a long time listening to developer interviews, watching videos about the beta tests, and reading long paragraphs that explained the mechanics of SAO.
Being a fast and almost instinctive learner, he was able to apply everything he knew as soon as he had spawned into the world.
Therefore, Takeru had no need for any instructions.
He considered himself on par with a beta-tester's skill level, and despite having done his information search before logging in, his skill was not a result of his knowledge; he was simply a naturally skilled gamer.
As a result, Takeru had already planned his first few hours in SAO, and he was determined to take the character, Yumari, as far as he could—deep into the taboo of cross-gender roleplay.
Thus, Yumari, the female player, continued past the Newbie Stand and emerged into the main plaza.
Beautiful stone bricks lined the pillars and filled the ground, creating a grand sight and an appealing opening to the world of SAO.
Yumari walked straight through the center of the plaza and headed for Satou, the recruiter NPC that gave out the first quests of the game.
The quest that she needed to return was a simple kill quest that required the player to defeat five boars.
With Hinomaru's much obliged help, she had been able to do this much faster than other players without a party, and it brought the opportunity to advance quicker than other players.
However, she didn't really care much about that.
Honestly, Yumari just wanted to break the poor guy's heart.
Takeru felt power when he was a girl in the gaming world, and Yumari was the perfect way to exploit that power.
Why do I do this?
It's fun.
All those virgin losers playing games in their rooms all day… they bow down to me just because I look and talk like a girl.
It's hilarious!
Takeru indulged himself in his thoughts and laughed under his breath.
He didn't notice the player that had tripped into his path until it was too late.
"Look out!" the player shouted just before Yumari's legs were swept out beneath her and she plummeted to the ground face first.
"Ahh!" she yelped, and her face met the stone with a thud.
Although there was no pain, the impact still jarred Takeru.
As Yumari's body flattened onto the floor, she heard the voice of a male saying, "Oowowow…!"
After sliding three feet past Yumari on his stomach, the owner of the voice quickly picked himself off the ground.
He rushed over to where Yumari lay on the floor.
"Um, are you okay?" he said tentatively at the body sprawled out in front of him.
Just as he leaned down to touch Yumari, she suddenly turned to face him and growled ferociously with the face of a very, very, angry cat-like creature.
"You dumbass! Watch where you're going, you doofus-idiot brain-lacking virgin!" she exploded on the guy.
"What the hell are you thinking, trying to kill me or something?!"
Yumari, despite herself, screamed into the poor player's face at the speed of light, "Where has your brain gone? Did you sell it to buy some erotic magazines just so you could enjoy yourself while you're rotting away in your lonely room with no friends or family or something? Or maybe your brain was so rotten that your sad little parents had to dispose of it before it rotted your entire body away until there was nothing but your tiny little BEEP! and you'd have to just kill yourself!"
She rose to her toes and tried to make herself as tall as possible.
"You failure of a human being! Just go die in a hole somewhere and don't BEEP!-ing get near me! And goddamn this automatic censoring! Just let me say BEEP! you stupid game!"
Every curse she attempted to spit out was cut off with a high pitched tone that drowned out the profanity.
After a few more seconds of fury, Yumari finally stopped her bombardment of insults, heaving heavy air in and out.
Despite her extremely harmful and energy-sapping comments, including the complete loss of air inside her lungs and the stress on her mind that left her lightheaded, she had failed to come off as intimidating, considering that she was about one and a half feet shorter than her opponent.
Instead, quite the opposite had happened.
Yumari slowly looked up to glare at the player's face.
Both of his hands were planted on his cheeks, squishing his wide open mouth into an oval shape, and his eyes sparkled in thousands of tiny lights.
"So-" he began, "So cyuuuuuuute!~"
He kneeled and patted Yumari's head.
"Omygosh, how do you look so cute?!"
He rubbed her head and sent strands of hair swinging left and right, "Hehehe… So soft!"
The miniature fluff of hair under his hand peered up, eyebrows raised.
"..." Yumari half glared, half goggled, at the guy, "Did you hear a word I said?!"
"Heh?" He sifted through her hair and grinned stupidly, "No, I heard absolutely nothing…"
He sighed blissfully.
"You- are you mocking me?" Yumari attempted to stare daggers.
"Mocking? Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," he heaved out, gradually sinking into the sensation.
At that point, her hair had become a cloud.
Somehow, the rubbing began to feel strangely comfortable; the monotonous, but also necessarily rough movement of hands melted into a soft encompassment of a sort of pleasure.
Suddenly, Takeru recalled a moment in his childhood.
For whatever reason, it felt as though the game itself had forced the memory to resurface.
A bath.
White, foaming around him, and through the sensation came other senses.
He was sitting.
The tight, restricting female clothes he'd been wearing melted away and replaced itself with a coat of water and bubbles.
He heard the echo of clatters, the scrubbing of his hair, and the soothing sounds of a voice...
It doesn't hurt, right? He heard.
Does it feel good?
A small, seven year-old girl sat behind an even smaller Takeru.
She washed his hair with the technique of a professional.
Smiling, she listened to the boy's weak protests, who was unable to fully revolt against the comfort.
Their parents liked to send them in the bath to "bond" and take care of each other, but somehow it was always Natsumi that ended up giving Takeru a scrub-down while Takeru couldn't even operate the shower head.
Although he was older by a month, Takeru was much shorter than Natsumi.
When discussed by the people in the area, they were called the neighborhood Queen and the Prince because Natsumi acted a lot like his mother.
Natsumi was never embarrassed to be with Takeru—she was sure to be by his side wherever they were—but Takeru, on the other hand, grew red every time she did something to him.
He'd yell, "Devil! Demon! Go away!" as if she were an evil curse possessing his life, but his face would glow so red, so scarlet, that everyone imagined smoke leaking out of his ears.
It was the worst in the bath.
Takeru's entire body would flush a bright red, while Natsumi's care for her prince would leave the poor boy defenseless in the confines of the pink tiled room, water splashing its way into the nooks and crannies of the walls, floors, and corners as the naked children innocently washed their bodies.
It was a strange memory—nostalgic but spiteful.
Why it had popped up then, Takeru hadn't the slightest idea, but he could feel everything so real…
S-Stop! Takeru would protest.
Hehehe! But you're so cute! She would answer.
And secretly, the small boy would smile inside.
You'd think Yumari would be the one to stop the hair petting, but she was locked in a trance.
The male player finally realized that his actions were a little strange.
"Oh!" he yelped and took his hands off, "Sorry…!"
Takeru suddenly ejected out of his memory and returned to Yumari's body.
She looked up at the guy, anger gone from her eyes.
"No… it's fine," she said, "Do you usually start rubbing the crap out of someone's hair after sprinting into them?"
"Ah, ahem, no, not usually," he replied, blushing.
Yumari fiddled with her hair, attempting to fix it, but failed miserably.
She tried once again, but the strands still stood strong.
"Ah! Screw it!"
She swung down her menu and quickly tapped up a storm.
Within a few seconds, a small flare of blue particles shimmered on her head and her hair was suddenly redone; a few blonde streaks of hair wrapped themselves up into two little pigtails while the rest fell down behind her neck.
Yumari flipped her hair up and let it fall as an attempt to undo the impression she'd made on the player, applying seducement rule number one - always display your appealing parts.
In this case, her hair was obviously something that this player was interested in.
Flipping up the hair would showcase the beauty and quality of the hairstyle, while possibly spreading its scent into his nose.
Yumari smiled.
It was surprisingly easy to get into a guy's heart if you knew how they thought.
The male player widened his eyes.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, "You can even do that in this world?"
"Do what?"
"That little hair reset thing!"
A little put off, Yumari replied, "Yeah, of course."
"That's amazing!" he said, "How do you do that? That's so useful."
"It's just a thing you can use in the character tab. There's a button."
"Um," he swung a finger around in front of him, trying to open the menu.
Yumari sighed.
"...Swipe down."
"Oh."
He swiped his finger down on the menu button and gasped like he'd done something unspeakable… then froze, looking confused again.
He looked up at Yumari with a little dog face.
"Are you dumb...?" she asked, unsurprisingly unsarcastic.
"...Select Character," she sighed out.
The player, wearing a face of determination, hesitantly tapped on the virtual button.
With pursed lips, he navigated the menu carefully.
"So then I just use this Restore Outfit tab?" he asked.
"Yes."
He tapped on the button and he shimmered with blue particles.
As the game cleansed his appearance, the dirt on his clothes disappeared, and he generally looked cleaner - a fresher version of himself.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, staring down at his hands and arms.
"If only it were that easy in real life," he said, "I wouldn't have to spend so much time in front of the mirror."
Yumari raised her eyebrows.
"You spend a lot of time in the mirror?"
"Well, kind of…?"
He chuckled like he'd made some kind of mistake.
Yumari decided not to judge him and honestly didn't care.
As she was about to end the conversation, she suddenly realized something.
She had completely broken character.
What the hell? Why is this guy throwing me off my tracks?
She had spent so much time in the VR custom world, practicing her persona, nailing her smile into the camera, and adjusting it so many times, that she could draw it out masterfully, despite never touching art before.
She'd thought up situations in her head and came up with several hundred different reactions to their respective scenarios, making sure to practice each and every one of them with the same picture perfect smile etched into her mouth.
She had even gone so far as to create and memorize catchphrases and signature poses for her character, such as making a "peace" sign over her head and executing a little hop in the air almost like she was imitating a bunny.
So why was this girl-guy taking her persona for a spin?
He reminded her of someone in a strange way, but it felt so…off.
It wasn't just his strange attitude and demeanor that was getting to her.
It felt like she was talking to someone he loved and hated at the same time.
Takeru felt a chill down his spine, and it wasn't because of the virtual wind pushing against Yumari's back.
"Anyway, I gotta hop!" Yumari popped back into action, "I got some things to do!"
"Ah! Wait please!" The guy grabbed her hand as she tried to take off.
"C-Can you please teach me how to play this game…?" He asked timidly, eyes flickering, pink lips glaring against the sun, "I… I just logged in from my brother's account. Even though I don't play many games, I really wanted to try this one out."
His hand quivered a little, a firm but anxious hold, while the other hand was clutched weakly on his chest as if he were keeping his heart from dropping out.
Yumari winced at the sight of such femininity exuberating from a male.
Her feelings shriveled and convulsed at the sight, one side of her completely grossed out, and another side screaming "MOE!" at the top of her lungs.
"I…"
"Please?...!" The player tightened his grip on Yumari.
Strangely, she started to feel sorry for the guy.
What is this…? Feminine charm? No… It can't be that. That's right. He's just a puppy, a lost puppy, and I'm only helping him because I'm the kind little Yumari.
"Okay! I'll help you!" she said, just like a kind little Yumari.
"Thank you very much!" the guy bowed a little and grasped Yumari's hand with both of his, "...But um… Why does your face look so mad?"
"Huh? What do you mean?..." she smiled at him with a quivering eyebrow, veins popping out of her forehead, "My face is perfectly fine."
"Uh huh…" he answered, confused but not fazed, "Well okay! Where do we start?"
At this point, Yumari realized that she had gotten herself into a very undesirable situation.
A very undesirable situation.
She sighed.
Ah, screw it. Screw the act, he doesn't even react to it. I'll just help him out a little then ditch him. God, I can't believe I'm doing this.
"Okay," she sighed, letting the anger seep out, "this is your first time playing, right?"
"Yes."
"You've never watched any videos or anything before?"
"Unfortunately, no. I don't really play video games that much."
Yumari sighed. "Alright, it looks like I gotta start from the beginning."
"Do you know what R-P-G means?"
"Oh, yes, yeah, I know. It means 'rocket-propelled-grenade' right?" He said.
"Uh... no. It's role-playing-game. What, do you watch a lot of American war movies or something?"
"Ahaha... My dad is a military nerd, so he tells me a lot about guns. Sorry." He blushed, "So role-playing-game… What exactly does that mean again?"
Yumari thought a little. "Well, let's just say it's basically a game where you defeat monsters and level up as you progress in the game."
"Okay?" He still seemed confused.
"Um… You hit monsters until they die and then you get stronger."
"Oh, okay."
How unfamiliar with games is this dimwit?
"So, first thing's first…"
After Yumari finished explaining the basics of the game to the player, he introduced himself as Kiruta.
He had just come home from school and heard that his brother had bought the NerveGear, but was busy at work.
Kiruta had taken it upon himself to test the console out before his brother came home.
Yumari listened to his story with an irritable expression on her face, tapping her feet increasingly faster as he went on.
Eventually, she stopped Kiruta in the middle of a sentence, imploring him to shut up.
"Okay, let's just move on, alright?" she said, exasperated.
After having moved to the side of the plaza to talk a little, they once again made their way through the player-infested area to the NPC called Satou—Yumari's original destination.
As they approached the northern entrance of the plaza, Yumari saw a line of players standing in front of Satou.
The blonde-haired knight was conversing with each player one-by-one, handing out rewards and giving instructions.
The NPCs in Sword Art Online were only able to handle talking to one player at a time, which meant popular NPCs were often queued up with players.
While many people considered this to be a nuisance and "poor game design," Yumari actually liked this feature, as she could interact with the lined-up players.
It gave her more opportunities to lure in newbies and practice her charm—an activity that felt quite vitalizing to Takeru.
The two approached the line while Kiruta fiddled a little with his brown hair.
Glancing up at the six foot tall hunk, Yumari wondered why Kiruta made his player model so handsome.
The sharp angles on Kiruta's face and the chiseled collarbones under his revealing neckline looked much too masculine for his personality.
He had some serious muscles under his tunic, and Takeru could picture him as some high school jock—the kind he hated most.
However, Kiruta's strange feminine attitude really skewed the impression that he discharged.
It was like watching a man dance around in a wedding dress.
Somewhat disturbing.
"So Yumari... Why are we lining up again?"
"You're going to accept your first quest."
"Oooh!" Kiruta perked up, "What's a quest?"
With a small facepalm, Yumari sighed.
This was going to be a long day.
The virtual sun was beginning to set behind the distant mountains as Kiruta was finishing up the last of the slimes.
Wielding sword and wooden shield, Kiruta had already gotten a feel for the game, utilizing his sword skills to slice through the gooey monsters.
It was surprising how effective he was at switching between defense and offense.
With furrowed eyebrows and a familiar determination, he raised his shield to deflect a blow from the slime, then came around with his sword arm to hack the slime in half.
"Hyah!" He yelled and activated a sword skill, empowering the blade in a red glow as it sliced straight through the slime.
In an explosion of blue polygons, the slime disintegrated into the air and an icon appeared, rewarding experience and the final piece of "Slime Goo" they needed to finish the quest.
"Whew!" Kiruta said and wiped his brow, "I think I'm getting the hang of this!"
Staring at the slightly invigorated Kiruta with raised eyebrows, Yumari replied, "Yeah. You're actually not that bad at this."
Before she had realized it, Yumari had ended up in a party with Kiruta.
She didn't quite understand it herself, but Kiruta felt different from Hinomaru.
Yumari realized that it was the connection between them that did it; it felt real, rather than just an act.
Takeru had stopped trying to put on the Yumari facade (mostly because it didn't affect Kiruta at all), and it was making him a little calmer.
All the stress he had been building up from school and his family and Natsumi subsided as he watched Kiruta smile whole-heartedly.
Natsumi, huh?...
Takeru thought about her.
Her scarlet brown hair.
Her soft hugs.
The way she used to give him those warm smiles was the thing he liked most about her.
Takeru remembered the way he would tense up every time she hugged him.
He would turn bright red every time she kissed him on the cheek.
The days when they were just tiny little kids were the best days of his life.
…
But he couldn't forgive her after what she did.
There was no way in hell she was the same girl that she was 10 years ago.
Right now, Takeru was going to focus on himself.
He was going to be the best girl that ever lived.
Yumari opened her mouth to speak just as the light began to surround them.
"Kiru…ta…?" she faltered, a swirl of bright blue light shooting up around them.
"Wha-... Ehh?! What's going on-" Kiruta questioned before being whisked away by the light.
Yumari panicked a little, waving her hands in an effort to swipe away the light.
Eh…? Ehhhh?!
She closed her eyes and blocked the blinding light with her arms.
Yumari and Kiruta, along with thousands of other players, were transported to the Town of Beginnings to be introduced to a mysterious GM.
This GM set forth the death game that was known as Sword Art Online—a game where one's life was always on the line.
Along with Hinomaru, a couple hundred players had already died because of families and friends forcefully removing the NerveGear.
Amidst the chaos, Yumari and Kiruta had looked at each other, an unusual understanding coming between the two.
This was real, there was no going back, and they might never see their loved ones again.
And when the mirrors had emerged, turning the appearances of all players into their real selves, Yumari had not changed.
She had remained the cute celestial mystic that likes to hang out with anyone and always makes clumsy mistakes—the short, blonde-haired girl with small pigtails and a messy smile.
Takeru had gotten his wish to experience what it was like to be a girl.
Perhaps he would have been a little happier and a little more carefree if he hadn't looked up to see Kiruta's real appearance.
And perhaps he wouldn't have lost his life in the death game called Sword Art Online if he hadn't peered up to see his childhood friend Natsumi staring right back at him, the username "Kiruta" hovering right above her.