Author's Note: It's been over a month since my last chapter update. I'm just letting you readers know that I definitely do not intend to drop the story. If you're curious on what future plans I have, read this chapter all the way to the end. I hope that my preview does not disappoint.
Chapter 4: Surprising Appearances
Floor 17: Jungle Area
Venus, Asuna, and Mikoto set out for their expedition through the seventeenth floor. Luckily there were no deaths on the previous floor's boss fight, which left everybody in merry spirits. At the rate the frontline groups were progressing, people were beginning to feel optimistic about the future. Optimistic about how it would be possible to clear all 100 floors and get everybody back to reality. Not everybody on the frontlines were there for righteous reasons, there were a noticeable number of individuals that were on the frontlines for the glory. Right now there were no players that really stood out in Aincrad, which meant that a shot at fame was still in everybody's reach.
However with that thirst to prove themselves, people became reckless.
Some people whose levels were not high enough would meet their doom if they faced against a higher leveled monster. There were even bolder individuals that became solo players in order to reap more of the rewards. Solo players were the ones at the highest risk for obvious reasons.
Venus grouped up with Asuna and Mikoto because she was facing the limitations of being a solo player. Though Mikoto found it interesting how Venus was able to survive the frontlines as a solo player. There was only one solo player that Mikoto actually knew, but he was an exception. He was one of beta players that everybody had a negative view of.
At the moment Venus' sword skills and levels were not up to par with Mikoto and Asuna. Asuna was the strongest of the trio in terms of speed while Mikoto specialized in her defense.
"Misaka-sama, shall we head out to the jungle area now?" Venus asks.
Mikoto was uncomfortable when people referred to her with the sama honorific, but she knew there was no way to convince them to call her something less formal. Even though she was a famous figure in Academy City, she never viewed herself as higher than other people.
Right now was in the middle of the day, a good time to go out to explore this uncharted floor.
"Uh yeah sure…" Mikoto responds.
Today was the second day since the seventeenth floor just opened up. The other day the other three girls decided not to head out to map it since they wanted a brief break. The boss raid at the 16th floor was tiring, so they decided to rest before continuing back to the combat field.
Outside the town area was literally a real jungle like setting on the seventeenth floor. There were lots of trees, with dense greenery and vines covering everything. One could easily get lost in this floor if they did not draw up a careful map.
"Did you have a good time exploring the area yesterday?" Asuna asks Venus.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Venus says back.
Mikoto notices how Venus' response came off as defensive. Perhaps it was just the Railgun's imagination that Venus sounds like she was hiding something.
"Oh right, I almost forgot that I went out yesterday on my own." Venus smiles nervously. "I am a forgetful person at times."
Yesterday when the three girls were resting in their inn, Venus was gone for a quite a while in the afternoon. She said that she wanted to have some time alone to explore the area, which was something that didn't seem suspicious to the two other girls.
The monster farming area of the jungle consisted of trees, lots and lots of them. All of these trees made it perfect for monsters to hide and ambush players when their guard was down. Those who were best suited for this type of environment were those with a developed detection skill.
Within the Tokiwadai group of three girls, Mikoto was the one who had the highest detection skill. She decided to devote her time to improve detection skill since spotting any hidden threats would increase their chance of survival.
They were so far making real progress defeating the jungle type of monsters such as the dangerous gorillas and giant bugs. Right now they were in the middle of the jungle area, within an area with dense tropical trees and vines. Everywhere seemed to scream green.
Mikoto's detection sense picks up something a small incoming projectile. She immediately turns around, with her shield forward.
PING!
Her shield immediately blocks an incoming small blade that was just thrown directly towards her.
"We're being ambushed!" The Railgun shouts out.
The three girls went in a formation where their backs were against each other.
Asuna immediately gets into an offensive stance with her sword.
Venus has her sabre out and instead of looking wary, she grins.
Venus sends her sword towards Asuna's way
The corner of Mikoto's eyes was paying attention to Venus, so she immediately caught on what was going on.
"Look out!"
However it was too late as the sabre was able to make its mark. Asuna's eyes go wide as she was hit by the sword.
Before Venus could inflict upon any more damage Mikoto sends a slant slash at Venus, resulting in the two girls's swords clashing.
"What are you doing?!" The Railgun yells at Venus.
Mikoto could see that Asuna's HP was now in the yellow zone, but the rapier user was overall fine.
The sabre user's grin goes wider. Venus then jumps back and takes some more steps backwards. "Leave it to you to always have your comrade's backs."
"Asuna are you alright?" Mikoto looks at her friend worried.
"Y-yeah I'm fine." Asuna regains her composure and then looks towards her former comrade.
Before Mikoto could charge forth at Venus, a few voices sound from the nearby trees. Her detection skill could pick up the presence of more players.
"You were right, Misaka Mikoto is really in this cruel world." A voice chuckles.
"We can't waste an opportunity like this." Another voice says.
"In this world, she is not the untouchable level five esper. She's actually normal."
"I've been looking forward to finally take down Tokiwadai's Ace and Beauty."
4 figure immediately appear from some nearby trees. Each of the 4 figures were girls and armed with weapons.
The first thing Mikoto immediately noticed was how their icons were orange colored.
Her eyes immediately went wide. The emotion of fear was coursing through her being.
Orange players were those who committed crimes in SAO. Their crimes included stealing or harming other players. They were considered the worst players anybody could ever encounter.
The 4 orange girls then went to Venus' side.
"Orange players?" Asuna stares at them surprised.
"I can't help but feel that these girls look familiar…" Mikoto mutters.
"We're also from Tokiwadai… but you wouldn't know that right?" One of the girls scoffs. "You're always up on your high pedestal being worshipped."
"You certainly aren't a figure who deserves to be worshipped." Another girl adds in
"Do you have any idea how disgusted I felt every time I called you Misaka-sama?" Venus says with a venomous tone.
The five menacing girls then surrounded Mikoto and Asuna. Mikoto could clearly see what was going on, how she and Asuna had actually kept a rat in their midst for the past few days.
"I was so fortunate to coincidentally run into Academy City's famous Railgun and even Tokiwadai's Beauty. My group members decided to have me go out and map some parts of the level 15 dungeon by myself… I felt a bit scared and betrayed at first. That all changed when I met you two. When your backs were turned, I immediately messaged them about my situation."
The anger in Misaka Mikoto was boiling; she resisted attacking Venus right there and then. The Railgun wanted to hear more of Venus' villainous monologue.
"I told them that I ran into some other Tokiwadai students- students who Tokiwadai's Queen does not think highly of."
"Queen?" Mikoto's eyes go wider in surprise.
Tokiwadai's queen was also Academy City's fifth ranked level five esper, Shokuhou Misaki. Misaki was known for her esper ability named Mental Out, an ability that makes her the strongest psychic in the city. The Queen's faction had a considerate amount of Tokiwadai students in it, meaning she was a person with heavy influence in the student population.
Are these girls followers of Queen?
Misaka Mikoto was never really on friendly terms with Misaki. Some students believed there was a rivalry between the Ace and Queen of Tokiwadai, which is why the Misaka fan club and Queen's faction were often disagreed with each other.
"Our Queen would applaud us for taking this opportunity for disposing you two. She believed that Tokiwadai's Ace and Beauty were threats to her popularity and influence…" One of the girls smiles fiendishly.
"However that's not the only reason why I decided to stab you two in the back."
Mikoto could now see Venus' eyes looking sincere.
"You see... at Academy City I was considered a nobody. Do you want to know why?" Venus glares intently at Asuna and Mikoto. "I was a level 3 electromaster and no matter what I did, I never got recognized for my accomplishments! Tokiwadai's Ace was always getting all of the glory. I was always being compared to Misaka's power! Every time there was a system scan, the teachers would always say 'too bad you aren't able to level up like The Railgun'."
Mikoto grit her teeth and could feel her sword was shaking. Her body was shaking in anger.
"You don't deserve your popularity at all, Queen is the one who deserves to be the most recognized student at Tokiwadai. She chooses not to flaunt herself like you do!"
One notable characteristic of the Queen was that she never likes to show herself in public. She usually had her fans act as her representatives.
"How dare you use some excuse like levels to even judge us?" Asuna speaks out. The long haired girl had a resolute spirit in her voice.
Mikoto could see a hint of anger also in Asuna's eyes.
"Just because Mikoto is a level 5 you shouldn't just assume her personality. Haven't you seen how kindly she has treated you?"
"Psh, kindness is weakness. She is kind in this world because she is now weak. Her level 5 status no longer applies here. We are not afraid of her." Venus scoffs. "What are you going to do against us? You both are outnumbered."
"Do you plan to kill us?" Mikoto utters. This was one of those times where she would have given her enemies a small rant, but she did not want to waste her breath or words.
"We haven't actually killed anybody yet. So far we've just taken down some weaker players to steal their items. We want to make you two suffer and take your items. From what I saw in your storages, you two have some valuable items that would fetch a lot of Col."
"Taking down the Railgun will certainly be a pleasure. Maybe you two will end up being the first people we actually kill." One of the girls says viciously.
Mikoto knew that some of the students back at Tokiwadai were not mentally stable. It was especially those of high power whose mental states were questionable. This was the case with some of the level fives.
Asuna and Mikoto looked at each other and realized that this was a fight they did not want to endure. They nodded, understanding what the other was thinking.
Mioto knew that this was the time to take out their teleportation crystal and teleport back into a safe town. However while she was digging into her pockets, she felt no crystal was inside it.
"What the-?"
"Looking for these?" Venus holds out two blue colored crystals. "I took them from you two while you were sleeping last night. It would be tragic if you were able to escape from this trap oh so easily." She smirks satisfied.
Mikoto and Asuna were forced to endure this unfair combat.
The first orange player came in with a forward strike that Mikoto was able to block with her shield. However she could hear somebody else was approaching behind her and had her broadsword out to block an incoming horizontal attack. Right now she was holding up against two players at once which felt a lot more challenging than fighting against a group of monsters.
"Hah!" Asuna charges forth with a linear attack, but her attack completely misses because the girl she was aiming for moves to the side.
"We know the way you two fight." The girl who was in front of Mikoto's shield says. "Venus told us everything we needed to know, such as how the mighty Railgun is useless without her shield."
Mikoto was doing her best holding off the two girls at once. This was the moment when her body would become a fighting machine, when the life of the people, or in this case person important to her was in danger. She was about to let herself loose, let her fighting instincts instantly take over her body.
However before she could do anything further, her detection skill picks up another group of players that were closing in on her position.
"What are you guys doing picking on two innocent girls?!" A male voice yells out.
Asuna, Mikoto, and their attackers turn their attention to the sudden voice that seemed to sound out of nowhere.
They could see a group of red armored fighters in close proximity. The one leading them was a spikey, red haired guy who was wearing a head band. He and his group were dressed like Japanese samurais.
The leader grins widely at his sudden entrance.
"From what I see, it looks like you orange players are trying to do some more harm! I Klein, the leader of the Fuurinkazan guild will not tolerate this injustice." The red samurai unsheathes out his katana and points it towards the group of attackers. "You orange players have made the enemies of the worst guild possible."
The rest of the Fuurinkazan guild members gave out a warrior cry and charged forth.
"What the hell are we going to do?!" One of the orange girls mutters frantically. "They're one of the clearing guilds and they look strong!"
Mikoto and Asuna take advantage of the situation by continuing their attacks upon the orange players. The orange players were focusing most of their attention at the incoming samurais that they briefly let their guard down.
"Charge!"
The samurai warriors go forth and help out the two girls. The Fuurinkazan guild was able to surround the attackers, to prevent them from trying to escape.
Venus begins panicking and takes out a teleport crystal.
"Teleport to -!"
Before she could finish what she was about to utter, Mikoto knocks away Venus' crystal with a sword strike. The crystal falls to the ground and breaks into pieces.
"What are you going to do to me now Railgun?" Venus sneers. "In this world we're both on the even playing field. You're not that all powerful level 5 that everybody worships, you're just an ordinary player like the rest of us."
"Even if I don't have my esper powers in this world, but I've learned to find my strength elsewhere. In Aincrad, a sword can take you anywhere. Allow me to show my conviction through my sword." Mikoto points her broadsword's tip inches from Venus' face.
"What kind of cheesy line is that?" Venus scoffs. "To think that you're so dense enough to even find optimism in this world. Go ahead and take away my life. There's no proof that if one dies in here, they die for real."
"It's sad to see somebody who doesn't appreciate their own value."
Mikoto pulls the tip of her sword back.
Venus half smirks and pulls out a dagger she had in her pocket.
"You're weak hearted and you know it!"
Venus jumps towards Mikoto about to stab the Railgun with her dagger.
However before the dagger hit could make its mark, Mikoto's left hand relinquishes her shield and she grips onto Venus' wrist.
Venus' dagger strike was inches from Mikoto's face, but its path was stopped because of Mikoto's grip onto the dagger user's wrist.
"Trust me when I say that I am really holding back against you." Mikoto's eyes had a dangerous tint to it. The people that she hated the most were the types who were deceitful and hurt her friends.
The Railgun followed through by performing a hand twisting maneuver on Venus' dagger that made Venus let go of her dagger.
Mikoto afterwards holds her sword so that its edge was dangerously close to Venus' throat. If Venus dared move, she would risk injury from the sword.
"You know… we really could have been good friends…" The Railgun utters regretfully.
"At least I know that I was able to make you and Asuna feel weak and vulnerable. You two probably feel so exploited right now… if I made you two feel terrible, then I say I did a job well done." Venus smirks, proud of herself.
"As if I have time to spare emotions on you… what you did was terrible but it would do me no good to dwell on the past. As far as I am concerned, you do not exist to me."
"Hmph…" Venus remained silent afterwards.
When the fight was over, the winners were the Fuurinkazan guild and the two Tokiwadai girls.
Asuna and the red samurai's HP's were not too low luckily.
Upon defeat, the attackers had their hands bound and tied. Venus did not dare to say another word and her eyes were completely locked onto the floor.
Venus and her comrades were taken to the iron prison back on the first floor by some of the Fuurinkazan members.
At the moment there was now only Klein, the leader, and two of his other members present with Asuna and Mikoto.
"N-nice to meet you two, I'm Klein." The red samurai bows his head down towards the girls.
"Thank you so much Klein-san, I'm Asuna."
"And I'm Mikoto."
"You looked very cool back there Klein." Asuna praises.
"R-really? Well thank you. Being out here on the frontlines must be very dangerous for just you two girls. Why not party with my guild? It's not like I'm asking you two to join my guild or anything, I just want to make sure you two don't get into any more unnecessary danger."
Klein's flustering words made his other guild members chuckle.
"Hey leader, don't make it so obvious that you're very nervous when you're around girls." One of the guild members calls out.
"O-oy! Don't say such weird things." Klein retorts back.
Asuna and Mikoto look at each other, amused and chuckle as well.
"I suppose we can party with you and your guild members, but we wouldn't want to be a burden or hold you guys back." Mikoto responds.
"I don't think you girls would be a burden at all, you two must have pretty good sword fighting skills if you managed to hold against those orange players." Klein says.
"Y-yeah..." Asuna's eyes shift away.
Mikoto notices Asuna's change of expression and has an idea of what her friend was thinking. It was just a short while ago that the two girls found out that Venus, their so called comrade, set them up for a trap. Mikoto generally found it difficult to trust other people and felt herself be taken like a fool because she was beginning to trust Venus.
"Uh- did I say something offensive? Because if I did, I humbly apologize!" Klein nervously waves his hands in the air.
Mikoto realizes that she and Asuna were having sad expressions on their faces and so she regains back to her usual composure.
"Oh no, it's just we are still a bit distraught over how we were just attacked earlier."
"Let's get your mind off that terrible situation and continue going through this wild jungle. With all of our combined strength, we'll surely get through this together!" The guild leader fist pumps in the air.
Klein's enthusiasm was making Mikoto feel better. Perhaps Klein was indeed a genuine person they should stick around with.
Misaka Mikoto and Yuuki Asuna continued along with Klein's guild to the dangerous jungle.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Look out!" Ryuu, one of the Fuurinkazan guild members shouts out.
Klein was barely able to avoid the strike from the jaguar warrior and counters back with a forward thrust from his katana.
"ARHHHH!" The red samurai lets out a war cry as he executes his attack.
The jaguar warrior's HP was depleted and the warrior exploded into a thousand polygons.
Ryuu, the player with a pole weapon that had a V shaped metal end sighs relieved.
"Thank goodness you're alright leader. Sometimes you can be pretty reckless."
The others let out a good natured laugh.
"D-don't try to embarrass me in front of the two girls here!" Klein babbles.
"You're pretty good with a katana Klein." Asuna compliments.
"Why thank you." The red samurai gives her a thumbs up. "In order to use the katana, I had to obtain the katana sword skill. There are not many players who can use that type of sword." He adds with pride.
"I think we should head back to our rented house soon. Our other guild member probably feels lonely being by himself." Ryuu mentions. "I'm sure the others also returned back too after heading to the black iron prison."
"Oh that's right!" Klein turns to the two Tokiwadai girls. "Will you join me and my guild members for dinner?"
"Uh sure that sounds fine." Mikoto answers. "Asuna and I really don't want to trouble you and your guild."
"It's no trouble at all!" All of the Fuurinkazan members resound together.
Back at the town area of floor 17, Fuurinkazan had rented out a small house for one sole reason. Because their newest member had a relatively high cooking skill and only houses had kitchens available to use. According to Klein, this one member decided to stay behind at the house today so that he could prepare a big meal for the other guild members.
"We're back!" Klein announces while opening the door.
The house was designed like a humble cottage. It had two stories; the first story was devoted for a comfortable sized furnished living room and the kitchen. The house was owned by an NPC, and the rent for the house per day was twice the amount of staying at an inn for one night. However Klein and his guild members farmed many monsters, meaning they had a lot of Col to spare and spend.
"Everything is almost done now leader." A spikey haired boy appears near the entrance in an apron. "I spent most of my time experimenting with all kinds of sauces and trying to get delicious flavors."
"I hope you made something good today, because we brought guests here."
"Guests?" The boy gazes over at the two girls who just entered into the house.
Mikoto looks at the boy.
Her eyes go incredibly wide and her mouth opens.
"EHHHH?!" The boy and Mikoto scream out loud at the sight of each other.
The two individuals apparently recognized each other.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" The Railgun and black spikey haired boy screamed at each other.
They spend the next 10 seconds staring at each other in disbelief.
Everybody else in the room had question marks appearing over their heads.
Nobody had any idea what was going on.
"Uh… do you two know each other?" Klein asks.
"I didn't expect to see you here Biri Biri." Touma, the unfortunate boy of Academy City, can't help but grin. "It sure is nice to see a familiar face though."
Kamijou Touma, the boy who was the target interest of Academy City's Railgun. The boy possessed a unique skill called Imagine Breaker, in which his right hand was capable of nullifying all forms of magic and esper abilities. Ever since Mikoto met him, she was always confused as to why she felt flustered in his presence.
In Aincrad, Touma looked like his usual self, except for he was wearing SAO type of clothing and donned an apron.
"How many times do I tell you not to call me that! Besides… I can't use my electrical powers in this world."
"Whew thank goodness." Touma sighs relieved. "Now I don't have to worry about you shocking me every single time we meet."
However Touma sweat drops nervously when he sees Mikoto about to pull out her sword from her sheath.
"Okay never mind! Now you're probably just as dangerous with a sword." The unfortunate boy holds his hands up near his face defensively.
"Since I can't use my esper ability; that must mean that right hand of yours is just a normal hand."
Mikoto calms down and moves her hand away from her sword's handle.
"Can somebody answer my question?" The red samurai speaks out.
"Well leader, this is Misaka Mikoto, the crazy electromaster who comes from the same place as me back in Japan." Touma answers.
"Who are you calling crazy?!" Mikoto glares at the spikey haired boy.
"You really need to learn how to properly talk to girls." Klein puts his arm around Touma and whispers into the unfortunate's boy ear.
"Oh… so Touma is also a student at Academy City?" Asuna asks to clarify.
"Yup, and I can't believe this idiot is also stuck in Sword Art Online as well." Mikoto sighs.
"Is my presence that annoying to you? It's not like I've done anything to you." Touma gestures wildly.
"Oh, you have no idea what things make me annoyed about you!"
Asuna watches the two of them bickering and an amused smile cracks from her face.
"So this must be the gentleman Shirai-san has been referring to all of this time." The long haired girl mutters lowly to herself.
"Do I need to give you two a room?" Asuna asks them.
"NO!" The black haired boy and short haired girl exclaim at the same time.
"Looks like you've met some really interesting people so far Klein." Ryuu utters to Klein.
"Haha, those two really sound like an old married couple." The red samurai grins.
"HELL NO AM I IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THAT IDIOT!" Mikoto roars.
"How can you say such a disturbing thing Klein…?" Touma looks a bit distraught.
"Anyways we should get started on eating dinner. Touma's cooking is pretty impressive so I hope Mikoto and Asuna enjoy it." Klein says.
"Eh? So you know how to cook?" Mikoto asks.
"Of course I do. I live by myself, which means I have to be a man and learn how to cook."
(Author's note: I should mention that since this is an AU story, Index is not included in this universe. So technically Touma lives by himself)
"With your luck, I'm surprised you haven't burnt yourself to death."
"Hey hey! At least I actually know how to cook. I bet you are clueless about making food for yourself since you're an ojou-sama."
"Here they go again…" Asuna sighs.
"WHY YOU-!"
They continued bickering back and forth until Klein and Asuna stopped them.
Ten minutes later, Touma was finished with his cooking and everybody was sitting down at the dining room table. Once everybody had their bowl filled with curry, they began eating.
Mikoto took a spoonful of the curry and her mouth tasted an explosion of flavors.
"This is really good…" She admits while wolfing down more curry.
"Are you really being lady like by eating your food that quickly?" Touma comments.
CLANK
Mikoto drops her spoon down and holds up an angry fist.
"It's not like I need to be lady like in this world! I can do whatever I want!" The Railgun blushes.
"I've never really seen this side of you Mikoto." Asuna sniggers.
A few days ago, Mikoto was finally able to convince Asuna to call her by her first name, Mikoto instead of the more formal "Misaka-san."
"This guy brings out the worst of me." Mikoto huffs.
The long haired girl smiles awkwardly and she decides to change the subject.
"How long have you been with Klein's guild?" Asuna turns to Touma.
"Just one floor ago actually. They found me on a lower floor while I was fighting against some players who were bullying a girl. I thanked them for helping me out by cooking them dinner. Klein saw that I was strong enough to join his guild at the frontlines and so I accepted. For a while I was a solo player, farming monsters and gradually leveling up. Cooking has sort of been my hobby if I'm not fighting."
"Can you teach me the basics of cooking? I really want to learn how to cook." Asuna asks, her eyes lighting up.
"Sure of course. Though cooking can be a bit oversimplified in this world." Touma admits
While Mikoto was listening to the conversation between her friend and Touma, she can't help but want Touma to teach her as well.
There was definitely more to Touma that she wanted to know about.
Everybody continued the dinner with bouts of laughter and good conversation.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
CLANG!
CLASH!
CLANG!
Early in the morning Mikoto challenged Touma to a "friendly spar."
CLANG!
"Ah! You could have almost killed me there!" The unfortunate boy exclaims.
This supposedly "friendly" spar was now becoming dangerous.
"I can't kill you within a town zone anyways. Your HP is in no way at all at risk." Mikoto grins while charging at him with a combination of sword strikes.
"That still doesn't mean you can release your anger towards me!" Touma did the best he could to fend off Mikoto's attacks with his katana.
Asuna was at the side, watching the two of them fight each other.
"AHHH!" Touma executes the sword skill sonic leap, in which he dashes towards Mikoto and delivers a downward strike.
Mikoto uses her shield to block the incoming sword skill and immediately retaliates back by using the horizontal skill strike to aim for Touma's side.
The spikey haired boy was able to position his sword downward to his side to block Mikoto's strike.
"You're not bad at all." The Railgun smirks.
"I think I feel relieved that we can fight on a leveled playing field instead of you throwing electricity at poor ol' me."
"I still don't get why my electricity can never harm you!"
The two tradeoff some more slashes, dodges and near hits.
"I think I'm at a disadvantage because you have a shield."
"That doesn't mean I'm going to go any easier against you."
More near hits and blocks occurred.
"How much longer are we going to continue this…? Is it until you're satisfied with chopping me up into pieces?!"
Mikoto grunts angrily and now became the epitome of an offensive tank.
She unleashes out barrages of sword strikes that became even more difficult to miss and block.
"Gyaaahhh!" Touma falls down to the side, dropping his sword.
He looked like a dog that was lying on the ground, which made him looked pathetic yet laughable at the same time.
"I-I give up…" The boy groans.
He was the dog trying to play dead.
Mikoto stops her sword attacks, now experiencing the sensation of déjà vu.
"Don't screw with like that! I know you're just pretending to give up, you've done it before!" The Railgun screams at the unfortunate boy.
"It's your victory, I don't care if it's my loss!" The boy gets up, waving his hands frantically in front of his face.
"I'm not going to be satisfied until I give you a real beating!"
Mikoto lunges towards him, as if she was about to smack him with her shield.
"Why do you keep doing this to only me?!" Touma runs off, as if his life depends on it. In Academy City and now in Sword Art Online, Touma was still afraid of the Railgun's actions.
"Come back here and fight me!"
While watching the two of them verbally and physically fight, Asuna sighs amused.
"Those two can be so carefree." The long haired girl smiles.
Mikoto, with her sword swinging, continued to chase after the spikey haired boy. It was like they never left Academy City.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Mikoto finally stopped chasing after Touma when she realized how ridiculous she looked. She could feel her entire face turning warmer than usual when she went back into the house and washed her face. She puts her hands on her cheeks and sighs.
"Why am I like this?" She utters quietly.
"Touma said that he is going to give us cooking lessons today." Asuna walks right up to Mikoto.
"Ah!" The Railgun was startled. She immediately puts her hands away from her cheeks.
"S-sorry about that… I didn't mean to scare you."
"Er it's fine… so should we head to the kitchen right now?"
In Aincrad, every player had 11 skill slots. Most players chose to fill their 11 slots with entirely combat skills, while there were others who wanted to have a more balanced skill set, thus choosing to have noncombat skills. Asuna and Mikoto discussed a short while back that they desired to fill one of their remaining skill slots with the cooking skill.
Mikoto was at first hesitant about that choice since she wanted to invest her skills entirely to combat, but then she realized that her life in Aincrad should not be completely devoted to fighting.
While fighting was definitely a significant aspect to her life, she wanted to learn to enjoy her time in the virtual world instead of dreading it every minute.
Asuna and Mikoto head to the kitchen, which was a relatively decent sized one and see Touma was in his apron.
Mikoto tries to resist the urge to laugh, but she obviously could not hold her laughter back.
"You look so ridiculous like that." The Railgun cracks up.
"I'm just wearing the appropriate cooking wear." The spikey hair boy looks a bit embarrassed.
"Is it really necessary?"
"I-it makes me feel like I'm back home!" Touma reasons.
Touma puts out his two fingers in order to access his window and some ingredients appear before them at the kitchen counter.
"First of all, cooking is like any other skill in SAO, you need to practice it repetitively in order to level up. Each of you should start practicing how to use a knife first."
Touma accesses his window inventory and two more knives appear. Mikoto and Asuna grab onto the knives.
"Now go ahead and access your skill window and to add the cooking skill."
Mikoto uses her two fingers from her right hand to open up her window and sees that she still has 3 open skill slots. The other slots were occupied with combat skills.
She clicks the option to "add skill" and chooses the "cooking skill".
Once she confirms the addition of her new skill, she sees that she now has 2 open skill slots left.
"Somehow I get the idea this is your first time in a kitchen biri biri." Touma comments.
"Why do you still call me that? I can't even go biri biri here!"
"Eh… so you admit that my nickname for you is justified?" The spikey hair boy grins pleased.
Mikoto holds the knife in a threatening manner towards Touma.
"Do you still think I'm such a helpless little girl even without my electricity?" She utters darkly.
"D-don't point the knife at me like that!" Touma shouts back.
"Geez… you two are never going to get anything done." Asuna shakes her head.
Touma begins instructing the two girls on the basics of cooking and even whips up a few of his own cooking creations. Asuna and Mikoto eat some of his cooking and were even more amazed at his skills.
"Even if my ingredients aren't too high class, I still make do with what I have." Touma adds with slight prideful tone.
"You know, you could have been a cook in this world." Asuna notes.
"Though there isn't any job class in this game, but it would be interesting to do something like own a restaurant here."
"Why don't you?" The long haired girl asks him.
"Because I feel that I can't just sit around while players risk their lives at the frontlines every day. Back in the real world, I was never the idle figure that just let things happen before my eyes. I prefer to intervene in the situation and do everything in my power to change the outcome for the better. Most players are too scared to go to the frontlines and risk their lives. I decided to be one of the individuals to carry the burden of rescuing everybody else out of this world. When lives are at stake, how can I not take action?"
Touma pauses and his eyes have a serious tint to them.
"You two probably understand how I feel right?"
Asuna and Mikoto nod.
"Right…" Mikoto utters.
Mikoto recalled this sense of helplessness when she entered into this world. She was once one of the most powerful espers, but in this world she became as normal as everybody else. However she was able to break past that helplessness and learned to adapt and adjust to SAO. Touma was right about how she felt that she had the duty of fighting onwards. Everybody in the lower floors was counting on her and the other frontline members to clear the game. Mikoto definitely could not let them down.
"Tomorrow I'll go with Klein and the other guild members to the dungeon. Will you two lend us your strength?"
Mikoto knew that Touma was not asking her or Asuna to join Fuurinkazan. Perhaps he felt it was his gentlemanly obligation to not let two girls venture through a dangerous dungeon by themselves. It was this attitude of his that made Mikoto smile on the inside.
Touma's presence made her feel better and strangely happier. Being around him made her forget about the terrible feelings she felt after the whole Venus incident. Touma was a person who could make her release out her anxiety, thus make her feel not as stressed. His righteous attitude made him admirable, especially how he believed in protecting those who do not ask for help.
He is a person I never want to disappear from my life. He makes me feel that I can endure through any hardships and continue treading forward.
The Railgun mentally utters.
"That sounds good to me." Asuna smiles. She then turns to Mikoto. "What about you?"
Without hesitation, Mikoto grins and answers
"If we all have the same goal, there's no harm in working together to achieve it."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
PREVIEW OF FUTURE UPCOMING CHAPTER:
The gray haired player watched in horror at the spectacle before him.
His eyes went wide, his entire body shaking.
While his mind was screaming for him to take out his teleportation crystal, his entire body was frozen.
He finally mustered enough strength to take out the crystal and opens his mouth to shout out the location he wished to teleport to.
Before he could utter anything from his mouth…
SHING!
A bright silver flash went by his right side.
"T-teleport Pria!"
The player shouts out loud, but nothing happened.
He was not teleported, was the crystal a dud?
He goes to look at his right hand, which was supposed to be holding onto the crystal.
What he saw was very disturbing.
His right hand, more specifically his entire right arm, was no longer attached to his body.
On the ground was his entire right arm, with his right hand still clasping onto the crystal.
"AHHH-AHHHH-AHH!"
Before the player could run off, five cloaked figures surrounded him. The same cloaked figures that killed his guild members just half a minute ago.
"Ha ha ha." They chuckled lowly.
"To think it took you that long to notice that your entire arm was missing. Either you're that stupid or I'm just that good with my chopping."
One of the cloaked figures whispers eerily into the player's ear. This figure was uncomfortably close to that player.
This particular cloaked was wielding a butcher knife, the knife that swiftly chopped off the player's entire arm.
The gray haired player was trembling even more than before.
"Now boys…" The cloak figure with the butcher knife turned his attention to the other figures. "Do you know what time it is?"
The others sniggered and began cheering loudly. It was like they were watching a live entertainment spectacle.
"It's show time!"
The cloaked figure raises up his butcher knife and executes the gray haired player with a downward strike to the head.
The gray haired player explodes into a thousand polygons once he was hit with the fatal strike.
"Way to go leader!" One of the other cloaked figures claps.
"This is only the beginning boys…" The leader of the group readjusts his grip on his butcher knife. "All of Aincrad will know who we are… they will receive our message… that none of them are safe from us."
The leader takes a half second to breathe before he shouts out.
"WE ARE LAUGHING COFFIN!"
Author's Note: I know that the beginning of the story and its progression was rushed, so sorry about that! I couldn't think of a better way to format it. I promise I will make it up with the Laughing Coffin arc.
What did you readers think of that preview? I've been planning to do an arc that features Laughing Coffin's role in Aincrad since the light novels do not elaborate too much on that.
I'm sure most of you are aware of this bit of news, but it just makes me so excited whenever I think about it – TO ARU KAGAKU NO RAILGUN IS GETTING A SECOND SEASON! When I heard that news, I was mentally jumping for joy. Another season means for Misaka Mikoto moments! Those of you who have read my stories know that I am a big fan of Mikoto.
I also need suggestions for what type of sword Touma could use since I never specified it. Since he's part of Fuurinkazan it will be some Japanese sword, though I'm not sure what kind. Most likely he'll become a katana user if I can't come up with any good ideas. Another question I would like to ask my readers: since Asuna is eventually going to be known as "The Flash" should Mikoto get a nickname too? Any suggestions?
My next update will probably take a long while since I am still in school. Perhaps I can make my next update once winter break comes around.