Chapter Three; Origins
One Week Later
We were in the town of Bruma, just outside the entrance to the Second Floor. Our current place of residence was a Tavern by the name of 'Black Ichor Tavern'. They sold beverages that could be described as alcoholic... and black. It was stated such drinks wouldn't actually be in this game when released globally – this is a loophole sort of thing; but alcohol in japan isn't even a big deal, and yet while it isn't alcohol, it still has the same effect on the body and mind of whoever drinks it.
Of course, rather than give a damn, I had Haku make us a couple juices in a couple of our owned glasses with permission from the NPC Owner of course, so as to not have a bounty placed on our heads – which would make the guards surround us and force us to pay our col bounty or spend time in jail.
I held the glass in one hand and read the town newspaper in the other, nothing of note – just wheat fields and potential quests involving the heartless slaughter of mobs; or monsters in normal person terms.
I tossed the newspaper back on the table, dropping it and having the reading device removed from my equipped items. I then pressed my mouth against the ice cold rim of my glass, and sipped the source of the cold. The texture of a pulp-less juice was smooth and the flavor brought involuntary tears to my eyes – but I couldn't describe it because I didn't know what it was.
My thoughts and pleasures were rudely interrupted by the one and only… HaKu.
"You still didn't answer my question," She mumbled to herself at the other end of the table, drinking her juice and smiling contently with each sip – despite her obvious annoyance with my involuntary ignorance.
"Which question?" I asked, lowering the glass to speak to her without distraction.
"The one I asked you on the way here, you fool." She replied.
I took another sip of my juice – as a distraction to the tinge of annoyance I could feel nipping at the edge of my rationale. "I don't recall," I finally answered her after swallowing another mouthful of the juice.
"You know… how you even know how to do that full combo even though you can't actually remember anything before a week or so from now."
The question went right through my head, but something else came into it in place of her question.
"STRAWBERRIES AND… KIWI!" I shouted, standing up in the middle of the tavern, and laughing triumphantly as I remembered the taste I could put to the juice – finally one of my memories return.
"Ughh… were you even listening?" She asked, her face indicated childish poutiness.
"Yes… I think… something about a combo with my scythe and not remembering… I don't know – I could just smell it." I offered a reply, so as to make her feel less annoyed.
"Smell it?" She inquired with a tilted head and confused expression. "Who the hell draws a perfect combo from their sense of smell?"
"Smelling is a part of remembering." I replied, and took another sip of the juice, pacing myself to make it last longer.
"Not as big a part as you make it seem." She muttered under her breath, intentionally loud enough so I could hear; an obvious indication of skepticism.
"Haku, I'm playing this game and I have to clear all the way up to floor 100 with a flawless death record… at least try to make the stress easier to deal with for me."
That shut her up, for once – but I felt bad… and we sat in awkward silence for far too long, it's not like I said anything really mean either.
"I wonder when other players will start to show up." I mused, and timidly drank from my glass.
She sniffled, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Baka." She started sobbing.
"Why are you crying?" I asked, suppressing any indication of emotion, "It's not like I'm going to say sorry or anything… but I didn't mean to antagonize you." I mumbled, I couldn't bring myself to look at her – so I settled for gazing at the wooden plank floor and stone-foundation of the seemingly moderately-low quality high end-tavern; which was illuminated by a variety of fashionable lanterns that burned indefinitely with some sort of unknown chemicals; which were always activated and burning brightly; except when it was time for lights out.
"T-that's not it..." She murmured a few moments later, her voice was shaky and I could see the glint of tears in my peripheral vision.
"…I want to go home." She said, her voice a sad whisper and those were the last words she spoke for the remainder of the hour.
The girl who I normally thought was obnoxious was sobbing quietly to herself, and I didn't know what to say. It was probably best I didn't say anything.
Even so, I had time to think during the hour long tear session – and came to the conclusion that the vast majority of players trapped in this world must feel the same as her after the sixty-eight or so days it took to beat the first floor boss. With that in mind, I slammed my fist on the table, rattling the glasses and cups and ultimately received an immortal object notification.
Haku jumped, "What the hell was that?!" She demanded, getting to her feet and glaring at me.
I grinned, "Quit crying, we'll be fine if you do as I say and we get functional members in our guild," I said those words in probably one of the most blunt and poorly explained ways possible.
She laughed, at my idiocy. "I almost forgot that your amnesia acts as a cure to homesickness," She replied, "I wish I was that lucky."
"Really?" I asked her with so much disbelief I could hear it in my voice, "It's not like I wandered the first days after waking up, completely oblivious to what was happening and living as a human without purpose – it's hard to find one of those things." I explained pessimistically to her, in short terms… I wasn't exactly lucky.
"Oh come on… your purpose is to come up with reckless plans and nearly die at my behest just to satisfy my expectations of you…" She giggled, a hint of playfulness in her tone.
"You make my idiocy sound like an honorable thing." I grumbled, feeling horribly embarrassed by my miscalculations and near death.
"I do it for both our sakes… just don't try to come up with a suicide plan again." She stated, somberly this time.
"Garost-Senpai will do all in his power to get all of you out of here." I spoke in third person, like some sort of egotistical and cliché superhero wannabe.
"Shut up, no you won't – without me you're nothing." She said, playing the part of an antagonizing and arrogant teammate, whilst wearing a playful grin.
Then I had a flash memory… a girl, white hair – maybe a couple years younger than I am.
"Hey… do you know a girl with white hair?" I asked, suddenly.
"Yeah, but we haven't seen each other since launch, and I forgot to ask for her username before we logged in." She replied, letting out a deep sigh. "I don't know where she is."
"I see… well I have a feeling that I need to find her… this person who I just remembered exists."
"Can you put a name to her face?" Haku asked, and I could tell I had her curiosity piqued.
"No… just a smell." I replied, stroking my chin like one would stroke their bead.
"I'm finding this smell thing kind of creepy… what do you smell?"
"Vanilla, strawberries… shampoo." I murmured.
"I also find it creepy you remember the smell of her shampoo." She laughed. "If we're talking about the same person, her name is Keiko." She said, suppressing a snicker, and trying to find her serious expression; it wasn't working.
"Okay, I've had enough of your laughing – go back to crying." I said and got up from the table, feeling annoyed with being laughed at when I'm dead serious… about smelling stuff.
With that, I got to my feet and made why way outside, only to find myself completely surrounded by players. "Problem?" Was my only reaction and response to the situation. I took a moment to inspect the guy in front of me. He was a low level, stressed out, and had messy brown hair, he looked like he wouldn't get along with me – so I punched him in the face.
He was sent reeling back and clutched his nose – despite not feeling a damn thing. I took this chance to grab Haku by the hand and drag her outside. "What's your real name?" I asked her, like nothing had happened – then pushed open the door to the outside world.
Oh god…
Players filled the town square and were moving about with no quarter left to chance, but I guess this is expected after a week of the first floor boss being dead – people get curious so hundreds come to see what the next floor is like.
"Uwah!" She cried as we bumped into somebody and sent them stumbling a foot into another player. "What kind of a question is that at a time like this?" She demanded.
"I want to know." I answered bluntly, without explaining myself.
"Why?!" She exclaimed as we rammed past everyone and through the crowds, all for the sake of getting to the edge of town.
"Just because… it's not like I want to know who you are when we get out of this mess… or anything like that." I stated.
"I see." She answered, and I could smell the rise in her body temperature.
I walked in feigned ignorance, "We need more col to buy a temporary guild hall so we don't have to worry about these kinds of things." I changed the subject, bashing aside another player who fell forward into a rack of weapons, knocking them all over and taking a negligible amount of fall damage.
"Hey!" I felt a heavy hand land on my shoulder. I turned my head and then hissed at the guy – who jumped back with a; 'what the hell' expression on his face.
After continuous walking and rudeness, we finally made it to the edge of town.
"We're alive!" Haku shouted ecstatically, doing a twirl then stopped to face a large group of no less than angry players who followed them out. "…Oh."
"Hey… are you that White Reaper guy?" One of them asked me.
"That white who guy? Do I look like a white reaper to you?!" I demanded, being dressed in a complete white ensemble with a Scythe equipped on my back probably didn't help my situation out at all.
"Uhh… actually yeah." The same guy answered.
"Don't be ridiculous!" I shouted, laughing exaggeratedly and somewhat nervously. "Why? What do you want with him?" I asked when I started to get weird looks from the group of once angry players who are now trying to hide their excitement.
"He punched me in th face – I want a duel!" It was that stressed-out guy from before who just ratted me out.
"Oh… did I?" I tried to play it innocent, "I'm sorry I must've accidently hit you on my way by."
"Come on, Garost – how often do people grab somebody by the collar of their chest plates then smash a fist into their faces on accident?" Asked Haku, another rat – I could smell the betrayal and expectation building up.
"Okay… so you want a duel?" I asked, and waited for the guy to look away to begin his duel request.
When his eyes were turned, I also turned – and ran off into the wilderness. Haku chased after me, and in a second I was out of the duel request range.
"Why the hell are you running away!?" She cried out to me, barely managing to keep up.
"Because I can't duel!" I answered, looking over my shoulder for a moment. A branch appeared, and I narrowly ducked beneath it.
"Why not!?" She continued hating on me.
"Scythes are mob-killers I don't know how to use them on players yet!" I replied, and what I said was true. Scythes were primarily used to kill mobs and bosses, but I had no yet tried to use them on players do to their heavy weight, lack of defense prowess and there uselessness in close combat. I turned off the path and came to a sudden stop, Haku smashed face first into my back which sent a chill up my spine – direct contact with humans tended to do that.
"You still have the short-sword skill don't you?" She asked, her voice muffled by the back of my trench coat.
"While that is true, I still didn't bother to use it and it's still just a level one skill." I explained, letting her in on 'the know' as to why I didn't bother dueling and ignoring this disgusting feeling of her words vibrating against my vertebrae.
"Meaning?" She continued with her seemingly infinite amount of questions.
"Meaning that if I were to use the short-sword, I'd only have access to the most basic abilities of the sword skill arsenal until I level up my short-sword skill in a futile attempt to win duels against players," I explained in as simple terms using as few words I could manage.
"Oh… so you're afraid of losing." She reasoned, I wanted to say it was completely irrelevant, but it was relevant.
"Nothing of the sort – I just have more important things to do right now." I said with a sigh in my words.
"Like what?" Her curiosity was like that of a newborn child – but then again it may have been her first time in full dive at launch, and the concept of a VRMMORPG wasn't so bad, even if this one was a death game that fried your brain on the outside world when you died in this one.
"Like answering your constant barrage of questions you ask with that annoyingly educated sounding voice of yours – your very character…" I turned to look at her and cupped her face in both hands, "…says you wear glasses…" I said softly, and her cheeks flushed a deep red.
She pulled her face away from my hands, "Sh-shut up, wh-what are you doing… so suddenly?" she asked, her voice a quiet and embarrassed murmur.
"Hey… you want to do it?"
SLAP!
"N-n-n-n-n-NOOOOOOO!"
A/N: Uhh... right, so uhm... TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR MORE SAO: White Rose.
Oh, but before I forget; I'm currently accepting OCs to utilize in this FF and I hope you appreciate the longer yet still short chapter. I'm just getting back into the writing 'groove' after a long absence so take it easy on me... if you want... You don't have to though.