Seeking Solace
Kazuto watched as the wind gently rustled the leaves of the trees, blowing them in a small, swirling, circular motion through the air. Summer was just about here. You could tell by the fullness of the trees and how green they were. And the weather was getting to be pretty warm as well, though not uncomfortably so just yet.
Uncharacteristically, Kazuto felt an urge to go outside and enjoy that weather. Usually, he wouldn't really want to be outside at all, considering he was a gamer at heart, but right now, videogames weren't exactly working for him. Why? Well, it was all because of—
"Kirigaya?"
Blinking, Kazuto looked away from the window, taking his chin out of his hand, to look toward the voice that had just called out to him.
"Asada? Hey," he said in answer, his gaze coming to meet a girl with ebony hair and dark brown eyes behind oval-shaped glasses. Normally, he wouldn't be able to assign a specific color to Shino's eyes, but the summer sun somehow warmed them up just a bit so that they looked brown.
Shino eyed her classmate a little worriedly. "Are you ok? I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."
Kazuto just blinked again. "Really?" he asked sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess I just had a lot on my mind."
It took her a second, but Shino just nodded in response and sat down without another word. That was the good thing about Shino, she knew not to pry into other people's business, especially if it seemed to be on a touchy subject.
The black-haired boy turned around in his seat to face his classmate. "So…what were you trying to get my attention for?"
Shino shrugged as she took out her notebook and placed it on her desk. "I tried to say 'good morning,' but you didn't look like you heard me."
"Oh, well… 'morning?"
The girl rolled her eyes, an amused smirk gently tugging at the corner of her lip. "You need to get yourself together, scatterbrain."
Kazuto rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Yeah. I'll try," he answered before turning back around in his chair.
Yes. Shino Asada was the reason why he wasn't really into videogames at the moment. More specifically, it was her other persona, Sinon, that was the problem. After their little… falling out,Sinon had said that she had forgiven him for misleading her for so long. Kirito had been glad for that, at least she didn't want to outright kill him anymore…
But then she stopped talking to him.
In the beginning, Kirito thought it was just temporary, that Sinon still needed time to come to terms with him not being a girl. But then it seemed more than that when she ignored him and deliberately spoke like he wasn't there. She had even 'accidently' almost shot him to death several times. And when they weren't on mission, he tried to talk to her, follow her around, but she always walked away from him, not speaking unless to say 'go away' or 'leave me alone.'
But that was the thing: he couldn't do that. The whole point of this was trying to help her, get close to her, and he couldn't do that if he left her alone.
Besides, she was the only one he knew in GGO. He had no one else to hang out with; he told her as much.
And that's why he's here now. He felt like if he tried to connect with Sinon any more online, then she would fill him with bullet holes whenever they so much as made eye contact. In the real world, however, he would have an easier time talking to her. She didn't know who he was, and best of all, Shino Asada and Kazuto Kirigaya had begun to form a nice little friendship, so there wasn't any murderous tension between them.
"Kazuto!"
Hearing his name, the boy looked up to see two girls making their way over to him. One was a girl with short, brown hair held back by hair clips on either side of her head. The other girl had chestnut-brown eyes and matching hair that went down to her waist.
"Rika. Asuna." Kazuto said, sounding slightly surprised as the two girls came up to his desk.
Just behind him, Shino sighed and thought 'Great, more girls from his harem.'
Rika smiled in her usual confident way and waved at Kazuto. "Hey there! How's it going?"
"Fine. I guess." He answered, before Asuna caught his eyes. She just gave him a faint smile and waved. Quite honestly, he didn't want to see Asuna right now. He didn't even want to be in the same room as her. He just felt a little bitter, so he waved curtly and turned his attention back to Rika. "Do you need something? Isn't your homeroom down the hall?"
"Well, yeah, but we have a while before classes start. I have an important question to ask."
By the look on her face, Kazuto had a feeling that he would regret having this conversation. "What?"
"Why haven't you logged-on in a while?" Rika asked, slamming her hands down on Kazuto's desk.
A desk away, Shino felt a bit interested. Kirigaya plays videogames?
"Uh. Well—" Kazuto tried to explain himself.
"I mean, seriously, I know that you and Asuna broke up, but does that mean you have to avoid her in-game?"
And he had a girlfriend? Shino was learning a lot today.
"It's not like that!" Kazuto said quickly, waving his hands in front of himself. "You-You see, I have this friend that wanted me to play with them in another game, so I converted my account."
Rika scoffed playfully. "Don't lie, Kazuto. We all know that you don't have any friends outside ALO."
Kazuto wasn't sure whether to panic because she saw through him or be insulted.
Surprisingly though, Asuna spoke next.
"Kirito, you don't have to feel like you have to avoid gaming because of our relationship. We're friends now so…"
Kazuto sighed. "Asuna, I told you, that's not the—"
"Kirito?"
Blinking, Kazuto turned toward the voice to see Shino, her face hidden by her hair. "Yeah?"
The girl was quiet for a minute. "…Did she just call you Kirito?"
"Uh… Yeah." Kazuto began. He guessed Shino would find that weird, Asuna always seemed to call him by his username—Wait!
He looked at her again, his eyes going wide and his breath catching in his chest.
Oh, shit.
To Rika's and Asuna's surprise, Shino abruptly stood from her chair, pushing her desk up violently. Before they could process what was happening, Shino was next to Kazuto, her fist clenched in the front of his shirt.
"You're Kirito?" Shino asked, glaring daggers at him. She had thought that maybe she was over-thinking it, but now that she thought about it, it was the same name, no mistaking it.
And these eyes belonged to that name.
Kazuto was pretty sure that he was going to die now. Shino had finally figured out who he was in the real world thanks to Asuna (how fitting that his ex-girlfriend would lead him to his death), and now she would be after him with a vengeance.
He just couldn't catch a break, could he?
Now, nowhere was safe.
