#2
Both Haiyamoto and Kirito stiffened up almost immediately. Unless Klein was just losing his marbles, then there's no reason for the log out button to be missing. If word had gotten out that one of the most basic functions of an MMO was omitted, the game's future would be placed into jeopardy.
"That can't be right," Kirito finally replied.
"Y-yeah, Klein," Haiyamoto followed. "If there's no log out button, then we would've heard about it ages before we logged on."
"Check it yourself, then," Klein insisted. "But I'm telling you it isn't there!" Hurriedly, Haiyamoto brought up his menu box, tapped the tab titled "Settings," and sure enough, the place that held the log out button on the beta was replaced with a blank icon. This was bad.
"Not there," Haiyamoto grumbled.
"Same with me," Kirito followed.
"See? I told you I wasn't crazy!"
Haiyamoto's eyes beamed. "But if there's no log out button, what are you to do about your pizza?"
Klein bolted upright.
"That's right," Kirito continued. "In fact, it's 5:25 right now."
Klein's expression changed to that of anguish. "OH NO! MY PRECIOUS PIZZA! WHAT AM I GONNA…" Kirito slugged Klein in the gut before he had a chance to finish.
"Guh!" Klein groaned. He once again fell to the ground as the hogs had moments earlier.
"Oh, right," Klein remembered, "it doesn't hurt."
"Guys!" Haiyamoto managed to get the other two's attention with a single, ear piercing screech.
"I know you two might be able to last a little while longer in here, but I've got my priorities to handle in the real world. Can you guys just shut the hell up for two seconds so we can figure out what we can to do log out already?" Both Kirito and Klein were shocked by his bluntness of speaking; in fact, Kirito seemed to have grinned slightly at Haiyamoto's attitude as if he respected him for it.
'H-hey, Kirito," Klein started, "is there some sort of emergency log out feature? Like a secret code word?"
Kirito thought for a minute. "Nope," he replied.
"Damn," Klein cursed.
"Did you try contacting the game master?"
Both Klein and Haiyamoto nodded.
"I did," Haiyamoto replied.
"I never got through," Klein added.
"Well, that's unusual," Kirito stated. "If the log out button was found to be missing, you'd think there'd be some kind of announcement about it by now, right?" Haiyamoto pondered this over for a moment more. It was true that an absence of the log out feature would cause a mass hysteria among gamers; in fact, with a NerveGear game, this hysteria would be further heightened by the fact no one could actually MOVE their physical bodies whine in a full dive.
Haiyamoto finally answered. "You may be right…"
"Hells yeah it would be a problem," Klein piped in. "I mean, a game like this would have a few bugs on launch day, but this is a bit extreme. I mean…"
Haiyamoto gasped. He was instantly covered in a familiar blue veil of pixels, and he was beyond startled. Through the veil, he saw Kirito and Klein covered with the same pixels.
A teleportation portal? He thought to himself. He knew for sure he wasn't dead, so it was the only logical explanation. After thirty seconds of blinding light, he opened his eyes only to find out he was teleported to the town's center with every other player in the game, including his two comrades who teleported with him.
W-what the hell? Haiyamoto once again thought to himself. Why would they be brought here for apparently no reason whatsoever? Unless…
Just as he began to think, the sky suddenly lit up a brilliant crimson red; the majestic blue sky had been replaced with thousands of tiles that read "System Announcement." Kirito, Klein, and Haiyamoto's expressions all instantly changed.
"Are they finally issuing a statement?" Haiyamoto asked.
"If it is," Klein started, "then they better have a damn good explanation for this."
"No kidding," Kirito followed. As he finished that statement, brilliant blue lighting began to sizzle and crackle, and a large blob of red goo began to seep down from the artificial ceiling. The blob then began to morph rapidly and, before long, floated brilliantly in the air as a humanoid figure covered in a crimson robe and wearing white gloves. However, upon further inspection, there was no physical person inside the robe.
The figure began to raise his arms up. "Greetings, players," the figure started, "and welcome to my world." A murmur began to rise up from the crowd.
"The hell does he mean his world?" Klein asked.
"Perhaps he's the game master?" Haiyamoto suggested.
"Maybe," Kirito added.
"For those who don't know, my name is Akihiko Kayaba, the developer of Sword Art Online, and I have come here to shed some light on a recent discovery made by those in game."
"Kayaba?" Haiyamoto stiffened in shock. Akihiko Kayaba was the genius mind who invented the NerveGear and, subsequently, SAO itself. This man was a legend, and he wanted to tell his players personally about this flaw? At first, Haiyamoto was in a state of awe at this man's humbleness.
"Now, I know most of you have noticed that the log out button has been removed your menu."
Get to the point! Haiyamoto thought.
"Let me assure you, this is not a flaw. It is a feature of SAO." Now the crowd began to drown itself in a constant uproar.
"A-a feature?" Kirito exclaimed.
"N-no way," Klein panicked. "There's just no way! Does he think he can just keep us locked up in here like this? Well, he's DEAD wrong!"
"Pipe down," Haiyamoto sternly stated. "I'm sure he's going to tell us the basics right now."
Kayaba continued. "In addition, if you die in the game or if someone tries to forcefully disconnect you from the game, the NerveGear will send powerful microwaves directly to your brain, killing you instantly." Now the crowd was enraged. There were even a few screams of terror breaking through the crowd. It was pure madness in every direction.
Instantly killed? Haiyamoto once again thought. All this information was so overwhelming to him that his mind was a cluttered mess. If you die in the game, you die in real life. If someone tries to remove the NerveGear, you die instantly. There is no form of player revival if a player's health reaches zero. Granted, he had been close to death once, but he never thought he would be at death's door yet again.
"There's no way," Klein remarked. "The NerveGear would need one powerful ass battery to fry a person's brain."
"It's not impossible," Kirito responded. "A third of the NerveGear's weight is an internal battery, so I'd bet it's more than enough."
"N-no way," Klein gasped in disbelief.
"One last thing," Kayaba's smooth, emotionless voice snapped Haiyamoto out of his trance. "Inside of each player's item inventory lays a gift I have provided for all of you. Feel free to look at it." Kirito and Haiyamoto both hastily opened up their inventories, and in both, the same item resided there. Mirror. As soon as Haiyamoto tapped the item, a plain mirror materialized in his hand. His avatar's stoic face with dark hair reflected back at him.
What am I supposed to be looking at? He asked himself. Suddenly, Klein lit up blue once again, followed by Kirito, and finally himself. He looked around to see everyone in the area blinded in a blue veil as well. When the blue flashed a blinding white, Haiyamoto squeezed his eyes shut with all his might, but the light still managed to blind him regardless.
After what seemed like an eternity of light, his eyes darkened, and he slowly reopened them. At first glance, everything seemed exactly the same as before; however, when he looked at his mirror, he saw something that probably scared him more than anything else in his life.
In the mirror, he saw a stern faced teen with grey eyes, grey hair, and an emotionless expression on its face.
"I-it's me?" Haiyamoto was baffled. He knew his avatar looked just like it did when he logged on not too long ago, but this was insane. How did the NerveGear manage to create an exact replica of his face, not to mention all of his physical features like his height and his body frame?
Now completely overwhelmed, Haiyamoto dropped his mirror and it shattered on impact with the ground. Looking to his right, he saw two people who he thought were Kirito and Klein, but he wasn't too sure. One of them was a short kid with spiked, short black hair, and the other looked like a red haired bandit with a bandana and a little scruff on his face.
"Umm," Haiyamoto started, "who are you?"
"I should be asking the same thing, punk," the man replied.
"Want to fight, then?" Haiyamoto asked.
"Sure," the man growled. The two both drew their swords and prepared to strike.
"Hold it," the kid scolded just as the two began to bring their swords down. "Were you two standing by a player a few inches taller than me a second ago?"
"Yeah, so?" the man asked.
"Wait," Haiyamoto interrupted. "Does that make you…"
All three suddenly pointed fingers.
"You're Kirito?" Haiyamoto asked the kid.
"You're Klein?" the kid asked the man.
"You're Haiyamoto?" the man asked Haiyamoto.
All three stumbled backwards; in fact, they managed to startle each other with how different their avatars were now.
"How is this possible?" Klein asked.
"I think he's about to explain." Kirito pointed at Kayaba, who looked ready to speak again.
"You're probably asking yourselves why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, the inventor of the NerveGear and SAO, do this?" He paused for a moment before continuing. "In honesty, my goal was to fill a virtual world inhabited by thousands of people, and I feel I have achieved that goal. However, thanks to various outside sources, there are now 213 fewer players inhabiting the game."
213? Haiyamoto thought. This guy is a madman. From Kirito's expression, he felt the same thought inhabited Kirito's mind.
"But do not be alarmed," Kayaba continued, "the chances of any more accidental deaths are slim now. The news regarding the deaths has been spread far and wide, and right this minute, your bodies are likely being transported to hospitals with adequate security. Therefore, you can think about nothing else but clearing the game." Once again, the crowd roared in panic, and it wasn't hard to see why.
"Not even us beta testers got above floor eight in a month," Yamamoto yelled. "So how are we even gonna clear the whole game with a mix of 10,000, mostly inexperienced players?" He was worried that there was a chance the game would never be cleared, that this game would become his new reality. It wasn't a pleasant thought.
"This concludes the tutorial for Sword Art Online," Kayaba stated. "Best of luck to you, players." Suddenly, the robed figure began fogging up as it morphed back into a crimson blob, retreating back behind the announcement tiles in the sky. As soon as all traces of Kayaba's presence ceased to exist, the sky returned to a bright blue, cloudy and all.
The circle remained quiet for only a minute afterwards.