Chapter 5

It must look weird I thought, the infamous beater and a KoB member walking together along the streets. Even worse, I didn't know what restaurant we were going to, and was just following Kirito to wherever he wanted to eat. I had gotten used to people staring at me but, right now, it seems that it increased ten fold just walking with Kirito.

We were now in a restaurant and eating our food.

Muttering I said "Thank you" "Huh?, did you say something Saki-san" "No, nothing..." I felt like I had to ask this question...

"Why are you such a bother for Asuna?" "B-bother?" he sweat-dropped. "We just don't agree on some things that's all" He said nervously for some reason. Did I make him feel uncomfortable? I shrugged it off.

Just then, a loud scream could be heard. Kirito stood up immediately, "Oi Saki-san! Let's go, quickly!"

He started running out and I ran behind him, not beside him, not so far behind, just enough so that I knew where he was. When we arrived where the screaming was heard, we saw a man in armour hanging by a rope with a sword through his chest. Everyone was in shock and terror.

"Pull it out, now!" Kirito shouted. The guy looked at us and started trying to pull it out.

"Saki-san! Don't just stand there! Get up there and get him down, I'll stand down there and catch him!"

"Yeah..." Tsk, who does he think he is? Bossing me around like that.

I opened the big doors and ran up the stairs anyway. I was just about to reach the top when I heard the burst of something shattering, the same shattering when someone dies in SAO.

He wasn't in a duel! So how could he die!? He's not dead... It's just some trick...That's what I wanted to believe, that my father wouldn't be any more crueller and allow people to die in the inner-areas, would he? What about the innocent people!? The ones that don't fight and live in the inner-areas!? It wouldn't be safe for them anymore!

I looked around, not a soul in sight here... "There's no-one in here that I can see..." I said down to Kirito.

He came up and showed me the sword, "He seems to have been impaled by the opponent by a sword, tied around the neck and then pushed out the window."

"What do you want to do then." I said.

"I couldn't find the winner notification anywhere" "You didn't answer my question." I said annoyed.

"Well, we can't just ignore this"

"WE? I never said I was apart of this!?"

"This is dangerous, if someone's learnt how to PK- "I don't believe he was killed by another person, or killed at all as a matter of fact" I cut in.

"What?"

"I said, I don't believe he was killed by another person! Its impossible to get killed in the inner-areas." Maybe I was just trying to convince myself, reassure myself, who knows?

"How do you know! Kayaba Akihiko could easily change the settings, or someone could've found a bug in the system, or anything?!"

OK, I'll admit... The second possibility did make me annoyed, I mean, I helped my dad create this game, so finding a bug in the system did feel like a punch in the gut.

"Hmph... So your expecting me to help you figure out who did it...?" "Basically, yeah" He said.

"But we'll be away from the front lin-"That's fine" This time him cutting me off.

He held out his hand for me to shake, "We'll be working together for this, so let's get along well"

"..." I shook his hand, this guy makes me really annoyed, so I tried my best not to try and crush his hand...

Maybe my best wasn't too good... Since I crushed his hand with as much force as I could anyway... He yelped out a little due to it. That's when I smiled at him, maybe it looked a little too contagious since he looked quite scared.

"Let's work hard okay Kirito-san~!"

Walking out of there, Kirito asked the crowd:

"Did anybody see the whole thing? Please tell us if you did." The crowd murmured to each other and a woman slowly walked out towards us. "What's your name."

"U-Um, my name is Yoruko.." "Oi Saki-san! Be nicer!" Kirito said with a frown on his face.

Hmph, there he goes again, don't tell me what to do you bastard!

"Was that first scream yours? Yoruko-san"

"Y-Yes, I came here to have dinner with the man who was just killed, his name is Kains. We used to be in the same guild. We got separated in the town, and I found him, he was hanging from the church window" She was crying now.

But no-one ever taught me how to console people... So I just stood there with my usual mask on, watching on.

"But, for a second, I think I saw a figure behind Kains."

"Sorry to ask this but, do you have any idea why anyone would've wanted to kill Kains-san?" Kirito asked. She shook her head.

"Thank you for walking me here"

"It's fine..." I said. "We can talk more tomorrow"

"Okay." She said bowing and going into her room.

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked. "We'll have a look at the information we have and try to find where the spear came from" He said.

"We need someone with the appraise skill, do you have any frie- ah... You wouldn't would you..." "What's that suppose to mean?!"

"Just to let you know, I have plenty!... It's just that most of them only got acquainted with me because of Asuna..."

"Then answer the question" He said impatiently.

"There's a blacksmith I know, but she's probably really busy right now." I thought about Lisbeth.

"Fine, we'll go to this item merchant I know"

We were on the 50th Floor now, and going into a run-down alley. Kirito opened the door leading into a shop and he started talking friendly to the shop-owner. Tsk, so he did make friends despite what happened at the first boss-room.

No actually... That's the same guy who defended beta-testers if I remember correctly.

When he saw me, he grabbed Kirito by the neck and pulled him over the counter. I couldn't hear them properly but it was safe to assume that they were talking about me.

I wonder how he would've reacted if Asuna was here as well. Maybe he would've thought Kirito was a total playboy, walking in with 2 girls with him. Ugh, just the thought of being paired with him makes me sick.

"Someone's HP dropped to zero in the inner-area? And he wasn't in a duel?"

"Yeah, nobody saw a winner notification either" Kirito replied. I spoke up "It couldn't have been sleeping PK either, since he was walking with Yoruko-san before it happened too"

"The method was too involved to be some random duel, we can assume it was premeditated PK, and we have this" He gestured to the spear that lay on the table.

Agil picked it up and began examining it with his skill. "It's player-made"

"Really. Who made it?" I asked.

"Grimlock, never heard of him... He's not a top-ranked swordsmith, that's for sure. And there's nothing particularly unusual about this weapon."

"But it should still be a clue we can use" Kirito said, and I gave a little nod. "Tell us the weapon's name too"

"Let's see, that would be 'Guilty Thorn'"

He gave the spear back to Kirito. He stared at the weapon before preparing to stab himself. I grabbed hold of his wrist before he could though.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? That has already killed someone" I said.

"Well, we should still test it out, you know? Anyway, you even said yourself that you don't believe he died."

"I might have changed my mind a tiny bit"

"Or is it that your worried about me~?"

"U-Urusai!" I took the sword and handed it to Agil.

"You hold onto this!" I said a little flustered.

"Hey Saki, it's getting late, so we should go now." Kirito said. "Y-Yeah" I replied.

As we parted ways, He shouted out "Take care getting back" And I shouted out in equal volume "I don't need you to tell me, baka" Muttering the last bit smiling.

When I arrived at the inn me and Asuna were staying at, she asked me where I was, I just said "Investigating something, that's all"

"You seem to be in a good mood Saki-chan"

"Yeah, maybe~"

I didn't like to admit it but , I guess I had a little fun with Kirito. I also lost my composure around him sometimes, but like I was going to tell that to anyone. The long day was now over.