Chapter 5; Kirito

GAROST

I blinked my eyes as soon as I set my gaze on him – he looked somewhat different from the person in my memories… maybe the new outfit and the fancy sword. I proceeded to make my way towards where he was standing; The meeting point, a strange place on the first floor. The place was inside of a town, not sure what the name was – didn't bother to read it or ask for it.

On another note, the location itself was of a respectable aesthetic scene, there was: a fountain, a garden, some trees, and it was also a little dark to provide that false and simple illusion of secrecy. Though there was honestly nothing out of the ordinary except a girl with long hair and a dark-brown hooded-cloak who just so happened to be sitting with body language that indicated a shy and closed in personality, a great contrast to the girl behind me pouting and openly throwing herself at me all the time…oh right, speaking of throwing selves at people… I kissed her back there – didn't I?

I openly shivered… with some form of disgust mixed with pleasure.

"What's wrong?" Haku asked me.

"Nothing – just got a chill." I answered, pretty much telling the truth but lying at the same time – with style that only I knew of… unless there's other people who think exactly like me.

Kirito was wearing a black coat, different than the one of midnight – but black… oh… always black. "Hey, Garost." He said while waving a black fingerlessly gloved hand in my direction.

I took a step forward, and Haku took hesitant step from behind me.

"And Haku." He said with a wave using his other hand.

"Good evening." I stated and Haku just gave a hesistant half-wave in response (Half-life 3 confirmed). There must be been some bad blood between the two of them or something.

Still, I was curious as to who the girl was and before we got down to business and discussed the important parts… I nodded my head in the girl's direction. "Who is she?" I asked bluntly… so as to not offend anybody by saying too much… unless she was a he… which I doubted.

She shifted uneasily, and I felt a sudden urge to feel that hair… THAT HAIR! I shivered again, with self-disgust this time.

WHAT COLOR… is that hair?

Chestnut? Peachy-orange? I don't know, it's too OP. Needs nerf.

I felt guilty for some reason…

…Well, it's not my fault Haku's hair is short.

"Uhmmm… not sure – we were just at the town meeting getting ready to kill the first floor boss when a system announcement was made that Garost, Saito and Hakuma killed the first floor boss." Kirito answered after a brief pause, and I just continued to stare at the girl for a few moments, then my head snapped upwards towards Kirito and I looked him directly in the eyes.

"Some Saito guy saved my life, but took the last hit on the boss in exchange." I replied.

"What did he get?" Kirito asked; genuine curiosity was the only thing that could describe his expression.

"Coat of Midnight, though I doubt the stats are even much better than what you're wearing right now."

"What? This? This is a Coat of Twilight." He replied, and I felt the urge to laugh at the word Twilight – but resisted successfully… not a snicker was heard.

"Looks like the same thing, except black with white aesthetic secondary – like the shoulders." I said in interested reply.

Of course, he still looked envious of the guy who managed to score the last hit on the boss. So I changed the course of the conversation towards something that would be news and interest to an individual like myself.

"So, what have you been doing for the last fourteenish days?" I asked him.

"Oh… grinding, questing, getting map data and selling information, as well as buying some." He explained, in a really blunt and relatively easy way to understand.

"And where does she come into play in all of this?"

"Met her seven days ago, at the boss meeting… name is…" He was about to give up a name, but the girl tugged on his sleeve. "Sorry, she said earlier that she doesn't trust the likes of you."

Hngh!

I felt like something just punched me in the face, and then proceeded to rip my kind heart out of my chest – then recovered immediately; throwing my head back and raking my hand through my glorious white-hair that remained at a constant and perfect length. "Well, I wouldn't trust me either… since my motto is in fact: Trust no-one. Not even yourself." I explained, being a sore loser and trying to act cool about it.

Kirito just gave a slight nod and smile in response, his way of saying that he was glad I understood and was the slight smile indicated he was also somewhat amused by my pathetic display of indignity – no matter.

"Well, introductions aside… I received some information from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that the Cardinal AI is going to be releasing a gameplay update increasing complexity exponentially. The reason is theorized to be because after the first floor was cleared – people started getting ideas and the first three floors have already been cleared in the past seven days." Kirito went on to explain – and hell… it was news to me.

"So what does it mean by complexity?" Was the only thing that came to mind.

"Markets, Professions, Crafting skills, combat immersion, more sophisticated AI, and the introduction of Archery." He explained, bluntly – like I should know all this.

"Wait! ARCHERY?!" Haku exclaimed, throwing her arms out to her sides and we both looked at the face twisted into hideous and irrational disbelief. "WHY ARCHERY?! It's called 'SWORD-ART' ONLINE for a reason!" She exclaimed.

"Come on… imagine if we're stuck here for two years locked on life-support with nothing but swords – don't you think that it'd get a little boring after awhile? We should be happy that the Cardinal AI system is at least evolving into an even better Artificial Intelligence and making the experience of a Death Game more realistic and fun – don't you get it?" I explained and looked at her adorable little face with my eyes… and fought the urge to make up some sort of annoying and guyish statement that gives a subtle hint that I like her.

Kirito spoke up this time, "Well… I see your point – but… I don't think…" He stopped mid sentence, as if contemplating something. He is a gamer, and he no doubt loved full-dive during the beta, and even on the first day. So he was probably weighing fun and his life on either hands.

So I decided to change the subject.

I stroked my face, or chin as some would call it. "So these new introductions the rise of complexity to existing skills will both work to our favor and against us."

"Exactly, it basically means that we'll honestly have to join a guild if we want to have any hope of completing this game." Haku stated.

"Probably true, but the introduction of Archery should make boss and mob-killing more… simple and open up combat opportunities that weren't there before…" I stated bluntly.

"…Well, throwing knives and daggers were always there." Kirito said, and we all let out a long 'hmmmmmmmmn' – except for the orange haired girl, who just bit into a CREAM COVERED BISCUIT AND DEVOURED IT IN MOMENTS!

"Where'd that cream biscuit idea come from?" I asked Kirito, wearing a completely indifferent expression, to hide how I currently felt – like I did for the past 14 days now.

"Ahahaha…" Kirito chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "It just adds a bit of flavor to the dry, fresh, or flavorless bread." He explained, "A lot of people do it now."

"So it's just something you came up with on the sp-" I began my question – but never got around to finishing because of a very rude interruption.

"HEY, GAROST – I KNOW IT'S YOU… DUEL ME!"

I turned my head towards the source of the guy – who was behind me. He must have followed us down the dark alley for unknown reasons – funny but also stupid I see it that way… since he just gave me his reason.

"Duel, you say?" I asked, blinking my eyes and making myself look as innocent as possible. "Why would you ever want to duel somebody that doesn't even know how to PvP?" I asked with a nervous smile, and forced anxiety onto myself – a rather convincing façade.

But he didn't bite.

"Don't give me that shit! I know you know what you did, give Keiko back to me! NOW!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Keiko… My sibling?

"You mean my sister? Are we talking about the same person?"

"Don't give me that SHIT! YOU KILLED HER!" He shouted, and something in my head just gave way.

I could feel my face twist into the rage that manifested itself over the last fourteen days – the annoyance of not being able to remember… the fact that my life was now a simple video game and I couldn't get out of it… and the accusation going so far to accuse me of taking the life of my own little sister?!

A dark and deep growl made it's way up from my chest and up through my throat – and I felt the urge to let the feral roar off my chest.

HAKU

My head was facing forward but my eyes were on Gabriel and I watched as he clenched and unclenched his fist and jaw. He was letting out a low and constant growl.

He strode towards the guy with squared shoulders and stopped right in front of the guy. "Tell me – did I really kill her, or are you just making shit up to try and get on my nerves?" He asked, his voice was dark and resonated powerfully even though he seemed to be speaking with a quietened voice.

I saw it… the guy swallowed. "Yes… she's dead… she has to be – she was stuck in the dungeon of the 4th floor last I heard and we saw this guy in white with a Scythe… he was attacking us and went for Keiko last I saw… I was the only one who made it out of there… so I came to avenge her."

"A rival?" I asked.

"There will be no rivalry. I'm going to the dungeon immediately. There's only been one day that has passed since we got to the fourth floor, and we've already gotten to the dungeon… the one in white may be an impersonator or a boss based on the most glorious player in the game." Said Garost as he turned away from the half-armored guy, he wore platelegs and a chest-plate but no shoulders or anything else. Not even a set of heavy armor boots… just leather. Oh, he also wore some sort of tiara – or a circlet.

"Me?" Kirito asked, pointing to himself. "But I don't even like white?" He said with a smirk.

Garost tried to force back his grin and mask it with anger, but he couldn't… I could theorize that he thought it was too out of character for Kirito… why do I know that? And wait… give her back to him? I turned towards Garost and his eyes were glowing a bright red – a sword skill… or is his rage just so powerful? He must've realized the same thing as me just then.

"What do you mean… give her back to 'you'?" Garost asked with a devastating and horrifyingly malicious grin.

"Uh… I-I'll be leaving now." He murmured and ran off.

"Well Kirito…" Garost turned back to the duo and sent him a party request. "Will you and your new… girlfriend be joining us on our journey to save Keiko-chan?" He asked.

"Well, yeah – but… nevermind." He stated – best to leave it at a yes with Garost, he has a very… volatile personality when it comes to his family.

"Let's go first thing tomorrow morning – Night-mobs are too dangerous and if they're still alive… they're probably in a good hiding place." Garost stated, ultimately making it obvious that he was already taking into consideration that the worst may already have happened.

Then like that, we learned the girl's name.

"What made you change your mind?" Garost asked, the moment he saw Asuna's name pop up on the list.

"You seem…" She paused for a moment, "...reliable." She replied, bluntly; and I gave her a nod and thumbs up behind Garost's back – he sure as hell wasn't trustworthy.