Chapter 3: Beater

How did things turn out like this?

Kirito stared at the wall, summoning all his willpower to keep from looking in the direction from which the sound of soft snoring could be heard. Because knowing his luck, the moment his determination broke, he would experience hell.

He occupied himself by thinking back on the day's events as he tried to go to sleep.

-o-

"So you're saying you only came to help on a whim?" the girl sitting on the worn-out couch asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Not quite a whim," Kirito replied from his position on the floor. He shifted around a bit until settling down in a cross-legged seating arrangement. "More like my instincts were saying it would be good to do so. Play enough games and you start to get a feel for what might be an important flag."

"A flag…" she repeated slowly.

"Ah no! I didn't mean it that way!" Kirito responded quickly. He did not need her thinking that he thought of rescuing a player as akin to a quest event and he most certainly did not want her thinking he played the other genre of games where the term "flag" was common. After all, he had never had any interest in galges even though he was now at the age where his classmates in school would trade and lend their "collections" in secret during break.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to make an unwarranted connection. Instead, the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly as she said, "I guess that means I don't have to feel obligated to thank you for your assistance."

"Well, it would help boost my self-esteem a little," Kirito suggested.

"What?" The girl did a double-take before noticing the grin on his face. "Oh, that was a joke," she stated as if there was someone around who needed it explained to. She giggled a bit at herself for not catching on sooner. To Kirito's ears, the sound was more beautiful than any music he had ever heard before.

"I'm sorry I was short with you when we first met," the girl continued. "It's just that—I kept hoping that someone in the outside world would have done something about Kayaba Akihiko by now and… I can't stand being trapped here anymore. There's no future here and it feels like every second I spend here is wasted. The players didn't even clear the first district yet! The conditions for leaving are impossible! Clear the final district? Ridiculous! This world is a death sentence anyways. I figured I might as well just die on my own terms and go out fighting until the last. At least that way, they can say during my—my funeral—that I—"

Her words stalled at this point and she looked up at Kirito from behind her hood as if just realizing that she had started to share her greatest concerns and deepest fears with someone she had met a bit over an hour ago. She brought her knees up onto the couch and hugged them to her chest as if that action would shield her from having to hear an insincere reply. Kirito, for his part, just sat there listening to her the entire time. There was a heavy silence between the two of them.

"Well? Say something…"

Kirito was glad for an excuse to break the silence, but he really had no idea what she wanted from him. Comfort? Reassurance? Vindication that her way of thinking was right? He had never been what would be considered a socially active person and now he was being pushed to the limit of his interpersonal skills. He struggled with himself for a moment, an act that was plainly visible to the girl sitting across from him, before slumping his shoulders. He would answer with his honest thoughts. That was the best he could do.

"Well, it's true that the first district hasn't been cleared even after a month and I have to agree that things right now are looking pretty bleak from that standpoint alone. But impossible? I don't think that's the case. You said that every second you spent here feels like a waste, but that's not true. In that time, you've taken the «Linear» skill to such a level that it's become artwork. I'm sure that strength will bring hope to other players in the future. It may sound selfish of me to say this, but don't think about throwing your life away so easily. Your life in this world has as much meaning as you're willing to give it."

Kirito stopped talking and looked down at his hands for a while. Thoughts frantically ran through his head. Did I sound too pompous? What if she is right? After all, the furthest anyone ever got in the beta was the 9th district.

"Well, let's take things easy for now," Kirito said, more to clear his own thoughts than to reassure the girl that everything would be alright. "No use fighting on an empty stomach. Why don't I boil some water and we'll have some noodles. My treat."

Kirito set up a portable stove on the ground in front of him, placed a kettle on top, and let it sit. He then took out a pot from his inventory and placed what would be two blocks of instant noodles in the real world into it.

"Ah, sorry to bother you after saying it'll be my treat," Kirito said. "I'll be back soon. I just want to take a quick bath. If the water's ready, feel free to get started without me. Oh, and add this to the noodles."

He placed a bottle containing a reddish sauce on the floor next to the stove.

"What did you say?"

Before Kirito could react, the girl had jumped up from the couch, flown across the room, hopped over the kettle and stove, and grabbed Kirito by the collar.

"Add the sauce to the noodles?"

"Before that."

"Feel free to eat without me?"

The corners of the girl's mouth turned downwards slightly in annoyance, "No, before that."

"I want to take a bath?"

Even though she was slightly shorter than him, the intimidating aura she was exuding made her seem a half meter taller.

"I wasn't just hearing things, right?" she asked.

"No, you weren't."

"You really have a bathroom here?"

Kirito could tell where this conversation was leading. He decided to pre-empt her request and asked, "I was planning on using it, but I can wait until later. Would you care to use it?

"Can I?"

The girl was practically squealing with joy at such a simple thing that it was hard to believe how down she had looked earlier. She released Kirito's collar, allowing him to ease back on his heels, and looked at him with bright eyes. Even past the hood which obscured her features, he noticed how beautiful they were. They were hazel.

"Sure, it's through that door. You won't be able to lock the door since this isn't your safe-house, but I give you my word that I won't go anywhere near it while you're inside."

"You'd better not," she replied, sharper than her rapier's point. And, eyes still shining like gemstones, she twirled around and was through the door before Kirito could utter another word.

Kirito smiled and poked at the kettle with a stick. It really was nice that she was feeling better, he thought. That gave him pause. Since when did he start caring about what others felt? That wasn't like him at all. He had chosen to leave his friends behind on the first day so that he wouldn't be held back. He was concerned only about his own well-being— right?

Just as Kirito finished dividing the noodles into two bowls and adding the sauce on top, there was a knock at his door. His first reaction was panic. There was only one person other than himself and Asuna who knew he had a safe-house at this location. That person would also be the most likely candidate to cause him grief if it were discovered that he had a female guest at his place no matter how valid his excuse was. Which brought him to his second reaction.

Find an escape route, he thought desperately. The windows were boarded up, but he could probably break through them. That would just leave the fall from the third story to contend with and a frantic dash through zombie-infested territory with a rapidly darkening sky above in order to reach the safety of the starting town. Kirito wished that this option didn't sound as appealing as it did.

"Hey Ki-bou, open up."

In this game, only certain noises could be heard through a closed door. A loud voice, that is, a «Shout», was one of them.

"I know you're in there, Ki-bou. I see you on my friend trace."

Damn. No other option. Kirito reluctantly walked over to the door and unlocked it. There, standing outside with her fist upraised to knock on his door once more, stood Argo. She grinned when she saw his face and walked inside without waiting for an invitation.

"What kept you Ki-bou? Oh! I know— I bet you were up to something naughty…" she said as she plopped down on the couch.

"That's a bet you'll lose," Kirito answered, returning to the bowls he had left on the ground. He set one down in front of Argo. Now that it had come to this, perhaps he could distract her with something to eat. He would have to make another bowl later. "So what brings you here, Argo? You've been dropping by a lot lately."

Ever since Kirito had secured a safe-house with a bathroom, Argo had been coming around frequently under the pretense of selling information and "visiting a dear friend." Of course, she coincidentally requested use of the bath every time as well.

Kirito must have been looking at the door nervously, because Argo chuckled and reassured him that she actually had business this time around. "Kirito," she said seriously. "You missed the district boss planning meeting."

Kirito looked up in shock. Almost choking on a mouthful of noodles, he replied, "That was today? Eh—I completely forgot about it with everything that—Never mind. What'd I miss out on Argo?"

"I can't believe you…I told you that it was today when I visited two days ago," Argo said with an exaggerated sigh. "Well, the main thing you missed was setting up the parties."

Ah, damn, Kirito thought. He could still join in as a solo or try to find a group that hadn't been filled out yet, but the first was not preferable since he would have no backup at all during the boss fight and the second was…not something Kirito wanted to do. More than likely, the party members were already used to one another and adding in a new member out of the blue would throw the group dynamics off.

"I guess there's no helping it," Kirito mumbled. "Maybe I'll just sit this one out."

"What? Giving up already?" Argo asked. "That's not like the Ki-bou I knew. You always were trying to be the first one to do anything during the—"

She stopped talking at that moment. Although the two knew each other's identity as beta testers, lately there had been a popular movement building against former testers. Since they couldn't be sure they wouldn't be overheard, it had became an unspoken agreement between the two of them to never mention the beta test.

"Well, that was then and this is now," Kirito replied, covering up Argo's near slip of her tongue. "But what else was there? The meeting was supposed to last half an hour, I'm sure more happened. And who's the one who arranged for the meeting to begin with?"

"Some guy name Diabel. I don't have much on him, but he's definitely charismatic. He seems like a decent enough raid leader," Argo answered. "Oh, and some idiot named Kiba-ou or something like that was trying to incite everyone against beta players during the meeting. Thankfully that got averted, but you should watch out for him Ki-bou. Can't miss him, he has this ridiculous hairstyle; almost like his head is trying to morph into a cactus."

Kirito thought about that for a moment. True, the people who resented beta testers had a few valid points. After all, there had been many beta testers who left the new players behind to fend for themselves right from the start. Kirito wasn't proud of it, but he fell squarely into that category. But for every beta tester who didn't help out, there was one who did.

"I'll keep that in mind," Kirito said after a moment. He got up to boil some more water. "It's probably not the best idea, but I guess it's time for me to start doing my part to help as well. No choice but to join the raid as a solo."

"I'm disappointed in you Ki-bou," Argo said all of a sudden.

"Huh? What?" Kirito looked back in surprise.

"You didn't even ask me if I wanted to join your party…and I thought we were such good friends too," Argo chided him as she leaped to her feet.

"Wait… I thought you weren't interested in fighting bosses," Kirito protested. "You never showed any interest in it back—"

He stopped speaking, realizing he had almost said the taboo word.

"That was then and this is now," Argo replied with a wry grin. "So? Are you going to offer or not? It's rude to make a girl do the asking, you know."

Kirito closed his jaw which had fallen wide open under Argo's surprise attack. When he finally managed to speak, he was surprised that he didn't stumble over the words more than he did.

"Nihihi," Argo laughed. "You could use a little work on asking for favors. But I accept. I'll even forgive you for being a blockhead for the low price of borrowing your bath."

Before Kirito could protest and let her know that the room already had an occupant, Argo winked at him and closed the door shut behind her. 5 seconds passed… 10 seconds passed…

"Nyaaa!"

A cry of surprise loud enough to register as a «Shout» was heard through the door.

"Kyaaaaa!"

It was followed by an equally loud scream as the door burst open and something flew out at a tremendous speed. Kirito caught sight of a brown cloak and slender pink legs before their owner tripped over his portable stove and barreled into him headfirst. His head hit the floor hard and just before he slipped into a semi-conscious state, Kirito was aware of something soft pressed against his face and the scent of perfumed soap.

-o-

Kirito gave a small groan as he opened his eyes. The cracked plaster of his ceiling slowly came into focus along with Argo's grinning face. To the boy, the smile plastered on her face was not a pleasant sight. It was a smirk that, on anyone else, would have meant trouble for him. Seeing that look on Argo though, Kirito felt that he would rather face the district boss alone right now than stay in the same room as her.

"So Ki-bou, how was your trip to paradise?" she asked. If anything, her grin widened even more.

"Paradise?" Kirito questioned, working his brain in an effort to remember what the word meant. He looked around the room, willing it to stop spinning around.

Argo gave him a pitying look. "You don't remember? Well, let me just say that it was quite the sight. You sprawled out on the floor with—"

"Don't say it!"

The voice that cried out despairingly belonged, obviously, to the cloaked girl who had the misfortune of having Argo walk in on her bath.

"But you two looked so adorable there," Argo teased her.

"I don't want to hear it! I can't hear it! I can't hear you!" the girl said frantically as she covered where her ears would be under her hood and shook her head from side to side.

More to have something to do than anything else, Kirito replaced the kettle on top of the stove. From Argo's words, he had an inkling of what might have happened and his face heated up just thinking about it. Luckily, he had his back turned to the two girls so they didn't notice.

But of course, Argo wouldn't leave him alone after what she had just witnessed. Before he knew it, she had snuck up behind him and was whispering in his ear, "Still, Ki-bou. You're quite the player aren't you? Having two girls over at your place at the same time…"

It wasn't until he took a page out of the hooded girl's book and clapped his hands over his ears that Argo laughed uproariously and gave the issue a rest.

As Kirito handed her a hot bowl of noodles, his guest murmured a word of thanks before adding, "You didn't see anything, did you?"

He immediately denied seeing anything, which was true. Whether she believed him or not, Kirito couldn't tell.

The girl poked at the noodles with a fork before taking a tentative bite. Immediately, the unobscured lower half of her face lit up.

"This is—" she exclaimed.

Kirito couldn't help smiling. "I know. That sauce really brings out the flavor of the noodles. Really makes it worthwhile to spend the time making it even if I don't have the «Cooking» skill." He looked back at Argo, recalling what they had been talking about before disaster had struck, and asked, "So, are you sure you want to join in on the boss fight?"

"We haven't even found where its lair is yet, Ki-bou," Argo replied. "But yes, I think that I'll try to play a more active role than just dealing in information. At least this time around."

"Boss fight?" the girl asked after slurping down another mouthful of noodles.

Kirito looked at her in surprise. "Oh, right. You weren't here when we were talking about it. Come to think of it, this is probably something that you'd be interested in. It seems like some other players are just as sick of sitting around as you are and decided to form up a raid party to take down the district boss. You should look into it; I think with your rapier skills, you'd be a welcome addition to any party."

"Why not just invite her as well?" Argo chimed in. "The more the merrier, right?"

"I'm not sure if she'd—"

"I'll join," the girl replied with such exuberance that both Kirito and Argo were taken aback. "I had a lot of time to think over your words during the bath and…you're right. Trying to escape by throwing my life away won't change anything. And I don't think I'd be able to stand doing nothing when I know that people are trying to clear the game."

So a minute later, Kirito's name and health bar in the corner of his field of view was joined by two others. Argo's he already knew, but now he was able to place a name to the hooded girl. Asuna, he thought, that's a good name.

"Alright then," he said, standing up. "I'll walk you two back to town. We can meet up in the square tomorrow morning to join in with the rest of the players aiming to clear the district."

"Um, Ki-bou. Not to nag or anything, but you haven't been paying attention to the weather effect outside, have you?" Argo interrupted.

Kirito focused on the sounds coming from outside his safe-house. It was raining heavily and the wind howled as it passed by the boarded windows. In fact, the downpour sounded so bad that he was surprised he hadn't noticed it earlier.

Weather in this world was randomized, but it was also affected by what the season in the outside world was. Since it was now December in the real world, the temperature was usually close to freezing in «Aincrad». Combined with the wind and rain, getting back to town without an expensive teleportation item (which wasn't even purchasable yet) would be a difficult task.

"Well then, Ki-bou," Argo said with a grin that sent shivers down Kirito's spine. "I guess the two of us will be staying over. Unless you want to force two delicate girls to walk back to town by themselves in the pouring rain…"

Despite scoffing at the idea of Argo referring to herself as delicate, Kirito had to agree that there wasn't any other choice. Asuna ended up winning when they drew lots for the only bed in the room, an old mattress that was placed right up by the wall in one corner of the room.

"I'll take the couch then," Argo declared, plopping down on the cushions noisily.

Kirito protested, "Wait, why do you get the couch? Here, I have a sleeping bag on me. You can use it."

"Ohoh?" Argo replied, raising an eyebrow. "I can use your sleeping bag in exchange for sleeping on the floor? That sounds like a fair deal."

Kirito was wondering why she agreed so easily when she added, "Yep, the feeling of going to sleep with the warm and calming scent of Ki-bou wrapped around me will definitely be worth giving up the couch for."

"On second thought, you can have the couch, Argo," Kirito said hastily.

Sinon sat as far away in the amphitheatre as she could from the center. Even though it was 5 minutes before the appointed time for the district-clearing meeting, most of the people who would be attending were already here. Sinon estimated that there were about 4 dozen other players gathered here today, a poor showing considering the number of people trapped within the game. And out of that number, it seemed like she was the only female present, unless one of the cloaked figures scattered throughout the meeting area was also female.

She had chosen to come without wearing her cloak today. In fact, after her first day alone, she had decided that she didn't really care whether other people saw her or not. All that mattered was becoming strong enough to survive on her own. As long as she was able to do that, she would be fine.

Still, the predominantly male player-base couldn't help but see a small girl when they looked at her. And in their minds, she was something to be coddled and protected. Even though she had chosen the most isolated spot in the amphitheatre, spacing herself far enough from everyone to send a clear message of "do not come near me," Sinon had been approached by no less than five players in the last five minutes. Four had condescendingly asked if she was in the right place, to which she responded by ignoring them until they left without a word. The last had merely been curious as to whether she was actually a girl. Her response was to glare at him so coldly that he retreated with his tail between his legs. Sinon didn't need anyone to protect or worry about her.

While everyone else was chatting away excitedly and waiting for the person who had called the meeting together to take center stage, Sinon scanned the amphitheatre for familiar faces. Despite Heathcliff's parting words of "I suspect we'll meet again quite soon," she had not seen him once since that day. It didn't look like Kirito or Klein were there either, although come to think of it, she had not seen what the two looked like following Kayaba's "gift" in the plaza. She didn't recognize anyone else here either. As a solo player, she avoided crowded leveling spots as much as possible. That didn't allow for a lot of social interaction.

"Well then, thank you all for showing up."

A man wearing a basic set of heavy armor walked up onto the stage. He had wavy hair in a shade of blue that Sinon knew couldn't possibly be what it had been immediately following Kayaba's announcement. After all, Sinon's own hair had reverted to her natural style and color after using the «Looking Glass» item. But between the sword and shield he carried and the blue color scheme he had chosen for his outfit, it was clear the man was going for some sort of "hero from a retro rpg" look.

The man introduced himself as Diabel and then proceeded to speak at length about the need to work together to tackle the obstacle before them. He interlaced his speech with humor in order to help his audience relax and his whole-hearted manner of speaking was clearly bolstering the confidence of many of the players at the meeting. Sinon felt that something was strange about the man, like he was putting on a performance rather than relaying his true thoughts, but she found herself being swept up along with the crowd by Diabel's eloquence.

An eloquent performance that was interrupted halfway by a voice filled with loathing and resentment.

"Before you go any further, I have something I want to say!"

A man with light brown hair styled up into several cone-shaped spikes muscled his way onto the stage. He looked from left to right at the members of the audience, sneering all the while. Sinon recognized him as one of the players who had approached her earlier.

"Something that concerns all of you as well," he continued, seemingly drunk on his own rage. "I know you're there, hidden amongst us hard-working players. That's right! I'm talking about you beta testers!"

He spat the last term out like it was a curse. Quiet murmuring began to fill the stands. Several players exchanged confused glances, wondering what was going on.

The man continued, "Beta testers have no right to be here! Not after you abandoned the rest of us to the mercy of this world after Kayaba's announcement. Because of your selfishness, thousands of players have died already. Instead of helping the rest of the players grow and become strong, you left us to rot! If it weren't for you selfish testers—we might have cleared several districts by now!"

The murmuring grew louder. Sinon frowned. Beta testers abandoned players to the mercy of the world? While she had little doubt that some beta testers might have done so, it was an unfair overgeneralization. Human beings are creatures that instinctively seek to better themselves. In times of stress, it often did not matter who they had to hurt in order to achieve that advantage. That day in the bank—the robber had been trying to achieve unfair gain at the expense of innocents, not caring who would be affected. Likewise, Sinon had been trying to protect what she had without heed for the robber's own situation. Those conflicting desires had clashed and the end result was the would-be-thief lying in a pool of his own blood. That was reality.

Besides, it wasn't just the beta testers who had abandoned their fellow players. The week immediately following Kayaba's announcement had been full of incidents where people took advantage of others in order to gain an edge and increase their own chances of survival. Many of those were players who had been new to the game. And then there were those beta testers who had helped others. Sinon doubted she'd still be alive if it weren't for the time she had spent with Kirito and Klein prior to the announcement in the town square.

But Sinon didn't voice her thoughts. The crowd was getting riled up by the spiky-haired man's words. Sinon knew enough about mob mentality from her tormentors at school to realize that speaking out right now would not end well for her. The message of hope and perseverance that Diabel had been espousing was now overshadowed by the hate-filled rants of this newcomer. Just as Sinon was about to leave before events turned ugly, a calm voice cut through the diatribe.

"So, what you're saying is that you wanted the beta-testers to spoon feed you. That they haven't done enough to help out new players."

From amongst the players seated in the stands, a dark-skinned giant stood up. An unearthly silence filled the arena. In «SLD», it was rare to encounter players of foreign descent because the game was released only in Japan. But it was clear from this man's physique and skin tone that he wasn't native Japanese. More impressive than his build was his willingness to speak out at that moment. Even the player who had been going on at length about beta testers could do little but gape. The giant took advantage of his silence to continue.

"You can't expect everyone to spend the time walking new players through everything. And you cannot deny that there were those who tried. But think about it; there were 1,000 players in the beta. There were 24,000 who gained access on the launch. What were the beta players going to do? Open a school and teach you everything from scratch?"

The spiky-haired man withered under the dark giant's calm stare and his words. It was clear that he wanted to accuse his aggressor of being a beta player, but he didn't have the courage to do so.

The speaker held a small leather-bound volume up into the air for everyone to see. "You cannot accuse all beta testers of abandoning the rest of the player-base. There are those who have been trying to help, but players with your mindset have all but driven them underground in fear for their own safety. This book is available at any basic shop in the marketplace for free. I'm sure some of you have seen it before. So far as I can tell, the information within is accurate and detailed to the degree that I have no doubt that a beta tester wrote it. Anyone can get a copy and it has everything you need to know about the first district. So before you try to instigate a witch-hunt , make sure you get your details straight and try not to do anything that would actually hurt our chances of making it out of this death game alive."

The two faced off for a moment, rage-filled disbelief matching up against calm stoicism. A minute filled with tension passed in silence. Finally, the speaker who had been accusing beta testers of foul play glared venomously at his counterpart and sat back down without a word.

Diabel clapped his hands together, jarring the audience out of their daze. "Well then," he said. "Right now we should focus on what's important. That is, clearing the district. Even if you don't like it, we need the strength of the beta testers. It will take all of us, beta players and newcomers alike, working together to clear this game and return to our world. But I swear upon my honor that it can be done…no, not 'can.' It will be done. And we shall be at the fore, serving to inspire others to take up this cause as well."

Diabel went on in this vein for a while longer, building up the confidence of the raid group before announcing that they should form into the parties they intend to tackle the boss with. Several people approached Sinon almost immediately, but she rejected them all. Although some might have genuinely thought that a musket-user would balance out their group, Sinon couldn't help but think that they saw her as a female player first and a potential party member second. She didn't need their protection nor did she want their help. She was strong enough on her own, she told herself.

But there were those who wouldn't take a hint. First amongst them, the cactus-head from earlier.

"Don't be like that," he pleaded. "We regular players need to stick together, unlike those beta testers who abandoned us right from the start."

Making assumptions about her skill as a player just because she looked the way she did in this world…this man annoyed her to no end. But he was persistent, following her even when she left the amphitheatre in disgust.

In the end, Sinon took drastic measures. Turning around rapidly after going around a corner, she quickly drew her sidearm and positioned it right up against his jaw.

"Quit following me," Sinon demanded, narrowing her eyes. "I said I don't need a party and I most certainly wouldn't want to be in one with you. Now leave me alone before I stop being nice."

She pulled the hammer back on her cavalry pistol.

The man's eyes widened in surprise and he sputtered for a few seconds before managing to say, "You can't hurt anyone inside a safety zone. If you didn't even know that, then you must need someone that can teach you about how this game works—"

"Still insisting I'm some novice just because I'm a girl?" Sinon scoffed. Although her tone was as angry as she felt, when presented in her real-life voice, it sounded—pouty. This was another side-effect of Kayaba's gift and yet another reason why she didn't want to be in a party. If she were alone, she wouldn't have to hear the sound of that cutesy voice that didn't belong on a hardened warrior. "Fine then, let me tell you something interesting. While I may not be able to lower your health while inside a town, this game still has an excellent physics engine. Unless you want to find out exactly what the momentum from a bullet hitting your jaw at point-blank range feels like, I'd suggest you leave—now."

He retreated, but not before shooting Sinon an angry look. He shouted something over his shoulder that sounded like, "You'll regret this!"

Sinon watched as he disappeared from her field of view before letting the air out of her lungs. She had been planning on using the remaining time before nightfall to gather the remaining materials she needed to reinforce her musket one more time, but she was feeling drained after that encounter. She decided to take it easy and return to the inn a little earlier than planned.

"Ah damn, we're going to be late," Kirito noted as the three ran through the streets, trailing a small group of undead behind them. This was a frowned upon practice but, this early in the morning; there was little fear of accidentally running their group of pursuers into other players.

"And whose fault is that?" Argo retorted.

"You could have told me the time it was supposed to start so that I could set my alarm."

The party of three made record time, reaching the outskirts of the town by 8:05. Of course, that meant that they were already five minutes late, courtesy of Kirito's heavy sleeping. By the time they reached the amphitheatre where the meeting was to occur, half of the occupants had already exited, ready to start their day's work. Argo quickly pointed out the leader of the raid to Kirito.

"Like I said, I can't allow you to participate without a party…"

The blue haired man that Argo had indicated to Kirito was deep in an argument with another player.

"What? That wasn't mentioned at all yesterday!"

The other player, a petite girl with a musket slung on her back, gestured wildly as she protested the raid leader's decision.

"That's true," Diabel said calmly. "But after discussing it with the other raid members, it's for the best. It's too dangerous to go into the field alone, especially when scouting for the boss. I don't doubt your skill since you're here and willing to help, but please consider my own situation. I refuse to let anyone die while in my raid group, so there are precautions I must take. If you're alone, there's no guarantee you won't get into a situation where the nearest raid members are too far away to help."

The girl countered his argument, sounding exasperated, "That's why I said I'll be extra cautious. I've survived on my own up until now and I won't need any backup if I'm careful. Besides, all of the raid parties are either full or I've already rejected their invitations yesterday."

"I can't help you there," the raid leader replied. "But I also won't compromise on this point. Join a raid party, I'm sure some of the ones you declined yesterday will still take you. If not, I'm sorry, but you can't come along."

Kirito walked deliberately towards the arguing pair.

"Uh oh," Argo whispered to Asuna. "I know that look on Ki-bou's face."

"Do you?" the cloaked girl whispered back.

"Yep," Argo answered. "That's his 'I-can't-sit-by-idly-while-this-is-going-on' face. Ki-bou likes to pretend that he's a heartless solo player, but he really plays the part of the hero too often to maintain that image."

"So you're saying that as long as she has a party, everything is fine?" Kirito asked, interrupting the argument.

Argo shrugged her shoulders and adopted an expression that said, "What did I tell you?"

"Who are you?" the girl and the raid leader asked back at the same time.

"Just a random busybody," Kirito replied with a grin that caused both to do a double-take. He nodded at Diabel, "But I hear that your raid needs people and that she needs a party. My group could use a good ranged fighter."

The raid leader hesitated briefly before turning to the girl. "Well, there you have it. You can join his group or try and find another on your own, but you're not a part of my raid until you do."

The blue-haired man sent Kirito a raid-group invitation and then walked off to join his own party which was waiting by the exit to the amphitheatre. He spared a final glance for the groups remaining inside before walking out.

"Don't think I'm going to thank you for this," the girl said, pointing a finger at Kirito. "I'm only joining because it's the only way I can be a part of the raid. I'm still going to act alone."

Kirito merely grinned again as if she had told a joke. "Suit yourself," he said, sending her a party invitation. "But if you get into trouble, just send one of us a message."

«Kirito has sent you a party invitation»

The girl paused with her finger over the confirmation button. Her mouth worked frantically as she looked in surprise between the boy in front of her and the invitation menu.

"Kirito!?" she exclaimed. "You're—?"

Her trembling finger brushed against the accept button which the system took as confirmation that she did indeed wish to join the party. Kirito's eyes widened when he saw the name that was added to the top corner of his vision. For once, he seemed to lose his composure.

"Sinon!?"

"I thought you were older?" Sinon said in surprise.

At the same time, Kirito exclaimed, "I thought you were—taller?"

"I take it you two know each other?" Argo interrupted. "But seriously Kirito, what I'm wondering right now is how you managed to create a party with such a screwed up gender ratio."

"You know her too, Argo," Kirito explained, ignoring the last comment. "She's that player you pawned off on me on the first day."

"Ehhh?" Argo said in surprise. "You're that player who kept having to respawn? You look like you've been doing well for yourself since we last met. And alive."

Sinon stared back at Argo. "You're the cheeky information dealer from that time? You haven't changed a bit."

"Um, you three. Not to interrupt your reunion or anything, but we're being left behind," Asuna called out from the side.

-o-

The plan was simple; each party would scout out an area of a specific radius and relay the mapping data to the raid leader who would then consolidate the information and send it back to each group. If anyone encountered the boss, they would keep their distance until everyone was ready to engage.

Even with forty-plus players searching, there was a large area to cover. Nobody expected to find the boss on the first day. Instead, they used this time to learn to fight as squads, determining what each other's weaknesses and strengths were so that they could compensate for one another if need be. By the third day, the overall feeling of camaraderie was high amongst the raiders. It reached the point where some parties had built up a friendly rivalry with the others, competing for the amount area explored each day.

Kirito's group, while only half full, covered ground almost as quickly as the leading group each day. Part of the reason was Sinon, who travelled from rooftop to rooftop whenever possible, pointing out the best routes for her companions below. The rest had to do with the speed with which the three melee fighters dealt with their enemies.

Asuna would attract enemies into a bottleneck through the use of the noise from her pistol. From there, Kirito would fall upon their enemies from behind to devastating effect while any who continued moving forwards were met with Asuna's god-speed «Linear». Argo was in charge of keeping their escape routes clear, but whenever she had the opportunity to lay waste to the enemy, she showed no mercy, literally shredding them apart with her claw-type weapon. They worked as a team so well that it was almost a pity when word came in on the afternoon of the fifth day that the boss had been located.

Their party was amongst the last to arrive, owing to the fact that they had been mapping on the other end of the district. Within five minutes of their arrival, all the groups were gathered around Diabel, who began to explain the boss mechanics to the groups and assign roles.

"Alright, everyone. Listen up," he said after each party had been assigned a letter for ease of issuing orders. "I'm sure many of you have been reading up on the boss fight from the free player guide available at the market stalls." Argo gave Kirito a grin at this news while the leader continued, "This monster is known as «The Gatekeeper » and according to the notes from the beta period, it should have four health bars. It will start off with 4 guards, called «The Risen», which are supposedly stronger, faster, and armored versions of the «Lesser Zombies» we're all used to. Each time a health bar is depleted, the guards will respawn with the exception of the final health bar in which case, 4 new guards will spawn every 30 seconds. At that point, it becomes a race to take «The Gatekeeper »down before we're overwhelmed."

"So, should we all switch to damaging the boss once it reaches the last health bar?" someone near the back called out.

"I'll get to that in a minute," Diabel replied. "But before that, I want to remind you all that this is a boss fight. Do not take any chances with your life. If your health goes into the yellow, let your party members know to cover for you while you heal up. As for the final health bar, we'll go all out on the boss until the number of additional monsters is too high. When that becomes the case, the heavy armor players will begin to gather up all of «The Risen» and then move them along in a circle around the perimeter of the battle area while one or two players hold the attention of the boss. We will take those down before returning to the boss."

The players nodded slowly to show their understanding. When Diabel was satisfied with the number of players who were following the plan, he added, "At some point during the fight, «The Gatekeeper» will equip an oversized butcher's knife. From what the player guide says, it shares the same move-pool as one-handed axes but has extended range. Until that time, it will attack with its fists. Of course, things may have been changed since the beta so we should err on the side of caution. Keep an eye on its attack patterns and fall back if you take too much damage. We will get through this without any deaths. I'm proud to fight alongside all of you on this day!"

Several players burst into cheers and a few even walked up and clapped Diabel on the back. Once the din died down, the raid group entered the tunnel which led to the first district boss in high spirits, ready for whatever awaited them.

"Looks like everything is going according to plan," Kirito said calmly as «The Risen» his group had been in charge of dispatching shattered.

"Don't get overconfident," Argo retorted as they moved to the center of the stadium where the players equipped with heavy armor were holding the boss at bay.

This boss battle was happening in an underground arena that ironically was almost the twin of the amphitheatre where they had formed the raid. There were a few differences. For one, it was larger, almost double in size. There was also a dome overhead, but the ceiling was poorly maintained and light filtered down from above through holes in the roof.

The boss roared and pounded the ground in front of him, causing the earth to shake. Some plaster rained down from the ceiling. The two shield-bearers who bore the brunt of the last attack switched out with the players behind them and began to heal up with potions. The boss fight was proceeding smoothly.

Part of the difficulty in boss-battles was controlling one's fear. Each boss that Kirito had encountered during the beta had been designed to strike terror into the hearts of the players. «The Gatekeeper» was a particularly nasty example of this. It was a humanoid zombie five times the height of a grown man. Thick chains were wrapped along the length of its arms and across its torso. These would clank loudly as it moved about far more quickly than any other monster within the first district. Almost all of its attacks were wide, sweeping blows that covered a lot of area and left a greenish cloud that reeked of decay where it had struck. The latter did not do damage on its own, but it was extremely distracting. Still, everyone was handling themselves well, switching in and out of combat fluidly while Diabel called out orders from his position at the front.

Kirito, Asuna, and Argo attacked the boss's flank while the shield-bearers kept it distracted. Sinon, like all of the other ranged damage dealers, switched targets to the remaining guards, taking those down before bombarding «The Gatekeeper» from a safe distance. Everything was perfect up until the boss went down to its final bar of health.

With a great roar, the boss drew its weapon. As the guide had stated, it was a butcher's cleaver. Although it was rusted and pitted, Kirito knew from experience that it was not a weapon to be trifled with. Following the plan laid out by DIabel, the damage-oriented players charged the boss while most of the shield-users backed off and waited for the boss's guards to spawn. That was when things began to go wrong.

First, it seemed the fight mechanics had changed; Argo's guide was outdated. Instead of spawning at intervals of 30 seconds, there were only 20 seconds between when the groups would appear. Next, every single one of «The Risen» that appeared seemed to have been granted a buff that increased their movement speed. The tank-build players in their heavy armor were barely able to keep ahead of them. Because of these two factors, Diabel called out for the players to focus on the guards just before the boss's final health bar dropped to 40%; much sooner than he had intended.

Even with all but two players switching from the boss to the weaker monsters, it seemed that the raiders couldn't kill them fast enough. More appeared than they could take down within the same time frame. The damage being done to the boss slowed down to a crawl; even though Diabel and his partner were fighting valiantly, they were both shield users and couldn't dish out as much damage as players who were built offensively. In twenty minutes time, the boss's health moved from 40% to 25% of the final health bar. In that same amount of time, the number of «The Risen» in the room had increased from 16 to 30.

Kirito was wondering if it would be best to retreat when the boss snarled loudly and the sound of rattling chains intensified. Although it was dangerous to do so, he chanced a glance over towards where Diabel was holding the boss back while his partner recovered. The boss had dropped his weapon.

No, it didn't quite drop its weapon. The rusted blade was now dangling from its right arm, held up by a chain that connected to the shackle on its wrist. Kirito recognized the weapon-type. It was the same one the «Flesh Horrors» in the 9th district used.

Diabel raised his shield to block the next attack, stepping forwards so that he would be in range to counterattack. Kirito ran forwards, shouting a warning to the blue-haired man just as the chain collided with the raid leader's barrier.

Too late.

With the sickening sound of blade piercing flesh, the chain wrapped around Diabel's body once before the edge of the butcher's cleaver struck home, cleaving through his armor easily and embedding itself in his chest. A glowing red gash appeared where the weapon had struck and Diabel looked down at the wound in surprise. He tried to break free of the chains, but the weapon had immobilized him. With a primal cry, «The Gatekeeper» flailed about, sending Diabel flying in arcs through the air and slamming him against the ground.

Several players, distracted by the gruesome spectacle, took hits from the monsters they had been fighting. That all ended when the blade finally detached itself from the raid leader, sending him skidding across the ground. He ended up only three meters from Kirito's position.

Kirito ran to his side, intending to heal him with a potion. But even as he held the item in his hands, the boy knew it was too late. Diabel's health bar was completely empty.

"Why didn't you take your own advice and just fight cautiously when he changed weapons? Very few people know how to deal with chain weapons, you should have just—" Kirito began.

Diabel smiled sadly, "So you were a beta player too—I had guessed, but I didn't know for sure. But you should know about the LA bonus, right?"

The «Last Attack» bonus which granted additional awards to the player who received the killing blow on a boss-class monster. Kirito knew about it; in fact, he had gotten the final blow on two out of the eight district bosses that had been killed in the beta. But such a thing wasn't worth dying over.

As if he could read Kirito's thoughts, Diabel continued, "I guess it really wasn't worth trying for, but just once, I wanted to play the part of the hero. Do me a final favor, would you? Make sure that no one else dies today. If it comes down to it, find a way to make them retreat. But if you ca—"

Before he could finish what he had wanted to say, Diabel spasmed and was still. Kirito knew what was coming next. Bowing his head slightly out of respect for the now deceased player, he raised his weapon high above his head.

"Wait, what are you—?" a player exclaimed. Kirito recognized him by his hairstyle, the one who was known as Kibaou.

"What needs to be done," Kirito answered, killing all emotion in his voice.

He brought the blade down just as Diabel's corpse twitched and the name «Lesser Zombie: Diabel» appeared above his head. With one final groan, the former raid leader dissolved into the air.

Kirito looked around the room. Panic was beginning to spread amongst the players. Even if it hadn't, they had been fighting for a long time now. It might just be better to retreat now and come back with more players. The number of lesser monsters would only increase until the boss was defeated but it looked like they would be overwhelmed before that happened. Before he could order a retreat, Sinon spoke up from behind him.

"Buy me some time," was all she said.

Looking at how determined she appeared, Kirito decided to trust in her.

"Heavy armor types, form a wall between the main body of enemies and the ranged units," he ordered. "Avoid the boss as much as you can, but if you need to block an attack, make sure you deflect his blade and not the chain."

With those words, Kirito fell in amongst the horde of «The Risen», leading a charge that pushed them back several meters.

"I'm ready," Sinon called out.

"Melee units, back off," Kirito commanded. "Ranged units, unleash hell."

With the roar of musket-fire and the twang of bowstrings, projectiles fell amongst the enemy as Kirito and the rest of the close-ranged damage dealers retreated past the safety of the wall of shields. But one sound above all others stood out. A thunderclap so loud that half the players in the room reeled in shock. A line of destruction led from the rear ranks of the undead all the way back to Sinon.

While those around her looked at her in alarm, she casually manipulated the bolt on the side of her rifle and loaded the next cartridge in. Kirito had never seen a weapon like that before in his life. Nearly as long as the girl holding it was tall, it was far larger than the musket she had been using earlier. From the stock to the muzzle brake, the dark gray rifle looked sleek and deadly. Sinon had fired it from a prone position, lying down on the ground in order to brace herself against the recoil. She ignored the stares of the players around her as she peered through the scope and unleashed another devastating shot that pierced through multiple targets.

The earth-shaking stomps of «The Gatekeeper» jolted Kirito back to the situation at hand. Even though Sinon and the ranged damage dealers seemed to be holding their own against the lesser monsters for the time being, they still had a boss to contend with.

"Melee damage, focus on the boss," Kirito called out. "If you aren't able to avoid the attacks, use hit and run tactics and heal up in between."

Kirito led the way into the fray, followed by a dozen players who were each shouting their own battle cries. Asuna and Argo joined up with him, standing at his side as the three of them worked together to wear down the boss's final health bar. 20%...15%...10%... But as its health diminished, its attacks became increasingly more ferocious. One after another, players were driven back out of the range of the flailing chain/knife combination. Even Kirito's two companions, both heavily focused on speed, were eventually unable to keep up and had to back down.

Kirito stood alone in that cyclone of rusted steel. He was used to this attack pattern. In his mind's eye, he could picture the direction the blade was coming from and where to step to avoid being in its path. All he had to do was adjust for the difference in speed and reach the boss had compared to the monsters of the 9th district. He sidestepped and struck once before leaping backwards to avoid the butcher knife as if came sailing over «The Gatekeeper»'s shoulder.

Most of the raiders silently watched the two players who had shattered all their expectations of what was possible in this world. Sinon was ice; cold, harsh, and unforgiving. Kirito was the wind; fluid, swift, and untouchable.

As lightly armored as Kirito was, even a glancing blow would have dealt considerable damage to him. But in the five minutes it took for him to chip away the last 5% of the boss's final health bar, he did not take any damage at all. When all was said and done, and the boss collapsed to its knees before exploding into a million shards of light, the boy calmly sheathed his sword and turned around to face the awestruck crowd.

Several players burst out into cheers, slapping each other on the back and marveling that they had finally cleared the first district. Others sat down, unable to bear their exhaustion any longer.

"Sinon, that was amazing," Kirito exclaimed as the girl he was addressing shouldered her rifle.

"Oh? And what are we? A sideshow?" Argo asked, elbowing him in the ribs.

Kirito laughed, "You two were great too. I mean, I expected it of you already Argo, but Asuna— the way you handled yourself—I'm starting to think I underestimated your talent when we were talking in the safe-house."

The joyous occasion was broken by a lone voice.

"What the hell was that?"

The source of the complaint was Kibaou, who was glaring at Sinon with a look of contempt.

"If you had access to such an amazing weapon at the start, you should have used it!" he exclaimed. "If you had, maybe Diabel-san wouldn't have…"

His words struck home. Many of the players began murmuring to one another in hushed voices. The celebration died down immediately as they recalled the charismatic individual who had met his end in this room.

"How did you come by that weapon to begin with? You're a beta tester aren't you? That's the only way," Kibaou screamed at Sinon. "I'll bet you were laughing at all of us, struggling while you had that hidden away."

The quiet mutters began to increase in volume and the players looked back and forth between Sinon and Kibaou. Their expressions were no longer joyful; most looked confused, but there were a few overtly hostile faces in the crowd. The animosity towards "selfish" beta testers, suppressed by necessity and Diabel's words of camaraderie, slowly began to surface once more.

"Sinon, you should probably lie low for a while after today," Kirito whispered to her. "Get out of here, unequip your weapon, hide, and wait for this to blow over."

"I can't" she whispered back.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't unequip it. That's why I didn't want to use it to begin with…" she replied.

"You mean—?"

Kirito glanced at the weapon slung across her shoulder, feeling a chill in his bones. A cursed weapon. It could never be unequipped or reinforced, taking up a slot permanently. In exchange, its stats grew as the user grew, eliminating the need to purchase or craft a new weapon. To many players during the beta period, it had been a Holy Grail of sorts. But a cursed rifle? In this world where sound attracted enemies, it was quite possibly the worst weapon type to take up the main weapon slot.

While Kirito had been distracted, Kibaou had begun whipping the other players into a frenzy. There were those who remained unconvinced by his words, but opinion was quickly shifting in his favor. If something wasn't done, irreparable damage between new players and beta testers would occur. No, Kirito thought, it wouldn't just end at beta testers. After all, Sinon hadn't been a beta player. He remembered how inexperienced she had been the day they had met. She had become strong on her own since they had parted, true, but that was through her own efforts. If Kibaou continued on this path… if he was allowed to convince the players that anyone who had "more" than another in this virtual world was in the wrong, then the witch-hunt wouldn't end just with beta testers. Anyone who just happened to luck out with the game's random loot generation would be persecuted as well.

But even if Kirito knew the end result, there wasn't anything he could do, right? He was just one player. Despite his stats, despite his skill and knowledge carried over from the beta, he was only one person. What could he do?

Something tugged at his sleeve. Looking down in surprise, he found that Sinon had grabbed a hold of it. It seemed as if she herself was unaware that she had done so as she continued to glare back at the players who were accusing her of wrongdoing without reason. Sinon was ice. But ice melted in the heat of anger. Ice chipped away under pressure. In that moment, Kirito saw past the mask the girl had created for herself; the mask named Sinon. And he realized that he had to do something.

It was just too much. Really…the world was unfair. Kirito began to chuckle. This world created by Kayaba Akihiko, this false reality…people were more true to themselves in some ways within it. The chuckle became a laugh. This world brought out the worst of humanity…but that didn't mean that it couldn't bring out the best as well. Kirito threw his head back and laughed. To his ears, it sounded strange, tainted with just a hint of madness. Madness? No, he was feeling quite clear-minded. He knew what he had to do.

Kibaou had paused in his diatribe and was now staring at the boy with a fearful expression; as if he were looking at a rabid dog. A silence filled the air as Kirito stopped laughing and looked straight at the crowd of players.

"Beta tester? Selfishness? You think that she fits those criteria?" Kirito chuckled, forcing himself to sound as villainous as possible. "Please—you're all a bunch of idiots! So she has a fancy gun…what of it? She can't equip anything else in that item slot now. No beta tester would have made the mistake of ever using that weapon. She's simply a fool who wished to save the other fools who were following the biggest fool of all."

Sinon shot him an angry glare. He looked back into her eyes, praying with all his heart that she would understand what he was trying to do. She would either hate him after this or she would keep her distance from him. Both results would keep her safe.

Strike while the iron was hot. Kirito continued ranting at the flabbergasted crowd. "Besides, most beta testers couldn't even be considered capable players. What you managed today was something that took twice as many players to do in the beta. And even then, they failed many times before succeeding once. The lowest body count in a single boss battle during the beta test was 352, counting the failures. Here, there was only one; a great fool whose only redeeming quality was his unwavering belief in you lot. And here you are tainting his memory by forgetting the lesson he tried to teach you: to work together."

Disbelief showed on every face in the room. Kirito wanted nothing more than to say that he was lying, that he didn't mean anything he was saying, but he was in too deep now to stop.

"Don't get me wrong, there were beta testers who knew what they were doing. But even amongst them, none were at my level. How was I able to avoid getting hit by the boss while you sat on your laurels and healed up? Because I was one of the only players who made it to the 9th district and fought the monsters there. I knew what was coming and how to avoid it. And thanks to that, I even received the «Last Attack» bonus…"

Kirito shuffled through the item drops he had received from the fight. The items he had gotten for slaying the resurrected Diabel, he placed on the ground where the former beta tester had fallen as a tribute but the item he received from the LA bonus, he equipped immediately. A dark coat materialized around his shoulders, weightless for a split second before gravity took over.

Behind him, some of the players were finally getting over their shock. Amongst them was Kibaou. They jeered at him, all anger at Sinon forgotten just as Kirito had planned. The words "beta" and "cheater" were most common amongst the terms thrown harmlessly at his back and they mixed together to form a term that would become infamous in «Aincrad».

"Beater…" Kirito remarked. "That does have a nice ring to it. After all, I do intend to beat this game. You might intend for that word to be an insult, but this 'Beater' will head on to the second district without you. There I will widen the gap between us and show you the difference experience makes. Celebrate your victory in the reclaimed first district, content in your victory, or follow behind. I don't care either way."

Without sparing a word to the girls who had fought alongside him or a backwards glance for anyone else, Kirito left the underground amphitheatre, his black coat blending into the darkness of the tunnel.

*notes: Most events here are similar to the events of Aria in the Starless Night although there have been changes as well. Kirito, as I've noted before, is a bit harsher in this world than in SAO. Still, he has that "save the girl" mentality and manages to solve problems through sheer audacity (and create more for himself in doing so.)

Ah, too tired to write more in my notes this time around. Hopefully everything is relatively clear within the chapter, but if you have questions, feel free to ask. Price for answers will be negotiable in «Col». (Writing Argo's character is definitely a bad influence for me.)