Level Twenty Five: Fellowship
AGSO BoB Battle Field – Desert Sector
Kirito stood in the middle of the desert, the scan just 10 seconds away. He was acting as the bait, Black Fox having set up Ricochet Points and waiting in hiding while Sinon was ready to snipe Sterben from the safe zone out of the scan's reach. Majin was backing her up, prepared to snipe the man as well, but more than ready to get his handgun out for a fight too. Kage and Falcon were coming back from clearing the rest of the field, preparing to block Sterben's exit into the city. This vast landscape of sand was the final field. The scan opened up, and Sterben was there, heading their way. Everyone prepared themselves, seeing only 4 players on the map since Sinon, Majin, and Black Fox were hiding. The cameras were all focused in the desert now, and anyone watching was anxious to see this fight go down.
Kirito stood waiting, photon sword at the ready, taking a breath and staring out into the desert. He wanted to end this himself, but it seemed there was no way that was happening now. He was still wondering how Akemi had managed to get all the pieces together so quickly, but he had never seen Ayaori in action so he didn't know what he was capable of. He assumed her family was just full of amazing people. A genius hacker cousin, a gamer brother that was as capable as anyone Kirito knew, and then there was Akemi... he stopped himself there, knowing that he was going to get distracted thinking about Akemi. He needed to be ready... he needed to be prepared. He turned around to glance at the surrounding dessert when a shot flew by him, grazing his cheek. His eyes went wide and he looked around, seeing that another shot was being lined up. He moved out of the line of sight.
Sinon lined up her shot, as did Majin. Sinon's shot was dead on, but the target moved. Majin fired next, barely managing to scrape Sterben's arm.
Suddenly, a shot flew by Majin, scraping the rock right next to him. "Shit, he knows we're here." He moved out of the cave with Sinon to get out of the way as Kirito began firing back at the masked man, trying to hit him but missing, thanks to all the dodging he had to do. He needed someone to land a shot. He fell back and was about to get stabbed by a sword that Sterben pulled from his cloak when a shot rang out, a few pings following before the sword fell from the enemy's grasp, stabbing into the sand. "Do it, Kirito!" Black Fox continued to fire shots from where she was, the ricochet points continuing to knock the masked man for a loop. The player began falling back, his cloak taking effect again. But as soon as it did, a shot hit him from behind, Majin's sniper rifle smoking at the barrel. Kirito took the opportunity to slice the opposing avatar in half. As the others came to his side, he had a little chat with the man behind the mask. He had a bad feeling. Black Fox arrived first, hugging onto him. "You are as amazing as ever."
"Haha…" he rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. "It was fun."
"Find anything out?"
"I think… Sinon is still in danger." He said, his partner nodding. "What do we do?"
"Well we have to figure out where she is... then we need to get there as fast as possible…" Akemi said simply. "After all…"
"Bad feeling?"
"You feel it too, huh?" she smiled. Majin and Sinon arrived, Kage and Falcon soon after. "So what do we do now, everyone?" she asked, trying to remain calm.
"Well we have to figure out who wins, right?" Sinon mumbled. "I doubt they'd be okay with there being 7 winners…"
"In that case, I'm out." Black Fox smiled. "See you kiddies later." She immediately took out her gun. "Kage? Falcon?"
"I'm out. I don't have any more ammo." Kage said, Falcon agreeing. "Fire away, Black Fox." The girl nodded, firing one shot and allowing her ricochet points she'd set to send the bullet through Falcon first, then through Kage. Both players went out without a fuss.
"Have fun~" Black Fox waved before she took herself out with her pistol. Majin sighed and Sinon looked shocked.
"Why did they…?"
"Because they're weird." Majin grumbled. He looked to the other two. "… Man we're all a mess…"
"Then let's take it out with a bang." Sinon pulled something out of her pocket, Majin smirking.
"A bang?" Kirito looked confused.
"Just stay where you are." Majin stated, Sinon pulling the pin from the grenade and tossing it to Kirito. When he realized what it was, he panicked and tossed it around, Majin catching it and letting Sinon pull them both into a loose hug, all three grinning. Competition was over… The BoB winners were all caught in the fight-ending explosion.
Kirito and Akemi's Hospital Room- 10:15pm
Akemi and Kazuto sat up immediately, unplugging as fast as they could, Aki hurrying to clear them before the ran out, Akemi picking up her phone and dialing Ayaori's number. "Aya! Asada, Shino. Do you know where she lives? Meet us there as soon as you can, she's the next target of the masked guy from AGSO!" she stated, Kazuto getting up and hurrying with Akemi to his bike so they could go and help Shino.
Asada Shino's Apartment - May 21st, 2025; 10:30pm
Asada Shino awoke in her apartment, the dark keeping her calm. She was alone… she removed her amusphere and put her glasses on, proceeding to look around for any intruders. Soon, someone came to the door. Her friend, Shinkawa… she gladly let him in. But their little get together soon turned dark, and he turned on her with an injector… She had to run… she had to get away. She steeled her nerves and paused for a second before she glared at him.
She whacked away the boy who had asked her to be his girlfriend earlier today, scared out of her mind and trying to think of how to get out of this situation. He almost injected her with that chemical… She managed to get out of his grasp and ran for the door, but she was grabbed and pulled back into the hallway. As she was knocked to the floor and Shinkawa slid his hand up her shirt, her door flew open and a blur of black flew past her, knocking her attacker for a loop and sending him barreling into the wall. "Oi, Asada." There in Shino Asada's bedroom was a boy with black framed glasses, standing over Shinkawa. Shino felt a hand on her shoulder and was pulled back by a familiar face.
"Kirito?" A girl with plum hair stood behind him, watching the tussle. "… Black Fox?"
"Pardon the intrusion." The plum haired girl walked past Shino and watched as her cousin kicked Shinkawa in the head to knock him out. "Aya, too aggressive…" she scolded.
"Get better security." the tallest one of the bunch turned to Shino, his eyes set in a constant glare. He was an upperclassman, the silent lady-killer that attended her high school, Ayaori Aihara. "Find it?" he asked the girl with plum hair as she knelt down and removed the syringe from Shinkawa's pocket, Shino sitting there and looking shocked.
"Got it." the girl smiled, using a handkerchief to pick it up before she emptied it out in the trashcan. "Shino-san, are you alright?" she asked, kneeling next to where Kazuto was keeping Shino calm. The girl nodded, rubbing her eyes and trying to dry her tears.
"Thank you... Black Fox... Kirito... Aihara-san..." she said, letting her tears fall. Kazuto and Akemi looked shocked that she knew who they were, and who Ayaori was, but they both smiled. "Thank you... for saving me..."
"It's fine." Kirito pet her head as Akemi sat next to her and hugged her, the girl trying to calm down. Akemi turned to Ayaori, the boy nodding and calling his Uncle to let him know what had just happened. Now 10 minutes later, the ordeal was being cleaned up and everything was basically settled. Seeing as Shino wasn't able to stay at a crime scene overnight, and Akemi's aunt was worried sick about her niece and nephew, the group headed to the Aihara household.
Aihara Household - 11pm
"Welcome home." Ayaori's parents welcomed everyone inside, Akemi's father having driven them there himself. "Akemi, show Shino-chan where things are so she can clean up and whatnot." she said, the oldest child nodding and turning to Shino, showing her around the house and helped her prep for a bath and whatnot. Kirito to play a game with Ayaori and Makoto while the twins watched in fascination, Akemi soon returning and sitting next to the twins, who hugged onto her and watched the boys play their games. Akemi's father and uncle went to talk about things outside while her aunt went about her household chores.
"... it's over, huh?" Akemi smiled, Kirito looking over his shoulder at her and nodding.
"It's over." he nodded, smiling as she took his hand.
"Oi oi, stop being lovey dovey." Makoto said as he bit into a biscuit, Ayaori rolling his eyes at the pair.
"Oh so Aya." Akemi changed the subject quickly, the boy with glasses looking at her. "You go to school with Shino-chan, ne?" she grinned. "I asked her while I was getting her towels and stuff, and she said you're quite the lady-killer~ Do you think perhaps you would be-"
"Shut up, Ake-nee." he ruffled her hair till it was a mess, cutting off her sentence. "Most of the boys in our family are lady killers. Look at Makoto, he's got girls swooning like no tomorrow. And Majin's got a huge fan base." he added.
"Well so does Aya." Makoto retorted, half glaring at his cousin. "And at least I'm not branded a lady-killer. Girls only talk to me cause I don't go to school for long periods of time sometimes." the two got into an argument over it, Akemi laughing a little at them with Kazuto.
"Kiku and Riku are gonna be lady-killers when they get older too." Akemi reminded them, the twins looking confused. "Aren't you, my precious little ones~?" Akemi hugged the pair, making them squeak a little as they were hugged.
"Ake-neeeee, stop it!"
"Ake-neeeee."
"Hahaha, sorry sorry~" she pet both of their heads. Soon, Shino came out wearing some of Akemi's old clothes and walked over to sit nearby, the twins asking her all sorts of questions about Sinon, their love of gaming deep in their veins thanks to their 3 closest family members being avid game junkies.
"So Akemi-san and Ayaori-san are cousins? And Makoto-san is Akemi-san's brother...?"
"There's no need to add the -san bit." Ayaori said. He was very informal for the most part, he only used honorifics if they were absolutely necessary. To many it made him kind of improper, but that was just how he was all the time.
"Yeah, we're friends, aren't we?" Makoto asked, leaning back against the couch. "Drop the honorifics." he sighed, Akemi smiling at the girl and nodding as well.
"We're not exactly the most formal family, Shino-san." she added.
"B-but, Akemi-san still uses the honorifics..."
"Cause Ake-nee is a weirdo." the two boys replied at the same time. Akemi chuckled and Shino gave in, addressing everyone by their regular names, but still calling Kazuto by his gamer handle since she knew that was probably reserved for Akemi's use only.
"Yes yes I am a strange girl~" Akemi latched onto her brother and cousin. "But you both still love big sister very much, yes?" she ruffled their hair, making them sigh at her. "Hehe, good good." she straightened out their locks and turned to Shino, talking a bit about what the blackette girl was going to do now that she'd technically won the BoB.
"... I guess... I'm going to move on to another game." Shino said, staring at the floor. "Do you have any games to recommend?" she asked Akemi, who smiled.
"There are so many~ Currently I'm on Rise of the Autumn Moon, but after completing it I don't know where to go next..." she shrugged. "I mean, you know, there are always plenty of games to look into... but Aya's more well versed in what kinds of games are out there..." she turned to glance at Ayaori, who had since gone back to playing games with the other two boys around his age in the room.
"Rise of the Autumn Moon... that sounds nice." she smiled at the girl, both nodding and chuckling about things.
"But I hear that the original creator of Ryuuko is looking to revamp it." she smiled. "And bring it back as a safe version compatible with the Amusphere." she added.
"What, really?" Shino questioned. "But after all that bad press?"
"Haha, right? But since Willow Lake was originally a different program entirely, run off of a safe server created by the company. When Ryuuko was created, they had to just get mass servers due to money constraints." she smiled. "So if they release the new version on safe servers~"
"Then they won't get any bad press for it... wow that's amazing." Shino nodded. "But..."
"But?"
"... Are you really going to go back?"
"Of course." she chuckled. She turned to Kazuto and smiled, the boy looking up at her and string, blushing a little and turning away to get back to the game. "Ryuuko was where Kazuto and I made our connection... despite how scary it was... despite all the crazy things that happened... it holds a lot of good memories..." she then looked to Makoto and Ayaori, then turned back to Shino. "Makoto really wanted to play the game, so I know he wants in... and when I told Ayaori that there are a lot of strong players there, he wanted to get in on the action."
"I see..." she pondered something for a moment.
"Maybe I'll go in and play that game too..." she said softly, Akemi nodding with a smile at the girl. "Do you have a lot of friends there?"
"Yes, we're going to meet them tomorrow." Akemi nodded. "When they found out we were all okay, they insisted on a party... though, I think they just want the chance to see Kazuto~" she chuckled.
"Hey, I heard that." Kazuto grabbed Akemi around the waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. "They want to see you too... and they want to meet Ayaori and Makoto."
"Ahaha, well if they hit on them I'll have to get defensive~ Aya's not so interested in girls, but Makoto is my baby~ I must protect him~" she smiled, petting Kazuto's head. "Just as I must defend you~"
"Yeah yeah." he let her do as she pleased, soon throwing a teasing comment at Shino, who slapped him for it. "Owww!"
"Haha, that's what you get." Akemi said, smiling.
Unknown Location -
Meanwhile, a group of people were talking in a ratty old bar and trying to figure out a new plan since their two "leaders" had been taken out by the same girl and her group as their original leader had. But a brunette man stood up from the table. "My brother was a failure, as were those two. We are stronger than that. And we WILL take out that girl and her little friends..." he raised his glass. "Just give it time... the Allegiance of the Red Rain will soon flourish and be stronger than any guild any game has ever seen." he grinned, the others raising their glasses with his and cheering. The brunette had a pendant hanging from his neck, that symbol catching the light and revealing it's shape as the one of Florien's elite followers. The same mark as the one on Sterben's arm...
Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture : May 22, 2015 - 4pm
School was out for Shino and she had just confronted some girls who had preyed on her fear of guns, heading out the gate when a friend stopped her. There stood Ayaori with Kirito, no Kazuto Kirigaya and Akemi Ryugazaki. "Shino-chan~!" Akemi waved with a smile. Everyone was shocked, wondering if she had started dating Ayaori, or if she was dating the other boy with the group.
"I know I said we could meet but for you all to cause a scene like this…" she grumbled, walking over.
"Shino-chan is too stingy~" Akemi smiled. "I made Aya wait for us so don't worry~"
"Ake-nee is a pain in the ass…"
"You're a pain in the ass." She retorted, glaring at her cousin. "Come on, you need to give Shino-chan a ride… we have to go see Kikuoka-san." She said. "And that other person."
"Oi, shut up and let's go." Ayaori grumbled as Shino got onto the back of his bike.
May 23, 2015 - 5pm
After their meeting with Kikuoka and Shino heard the words she needed to from the woman that she had saved the day she shot the robber from the post office, Ayaori had taken Shino home and told her that she needed to come along tomorrow for Akemi's planned event. She only agreed because Akemi had told her if she didn't, she would do something unsightly and terribly embarrassing to the girl. "Alright, alright, I'll go…" she had grumbled, though she was smiling about it. She was better now that she wasn't punishing herself. So today, Ayaori had waited for her at the school gate and driven her to the café that they had gone to the day before where she met the woman and child that she had saved, noting that Kazuto and Akemi were waiting outside for them, a boy who looked a lot like Akemi standing along side them. "Um…?"
"Before you go in, I wanted to make sure to introduce you to Makoto~ Also known as Majin, your co-winner of the BoB~" Akemi said, Makoto waving a hand.
"I heard about you from Aya… didn't think you went to school with him though…" he mumbled. Shino bowed her head in greeting, slightly amused by the boy's behavior.
"Nice to meet you…"
"Don't be formal, we're already friends." Makoto stated simply.
"R-right…" Shino looked to Akemi while the others walked to the entrance of Dicey Cafe, Kazuto opening the door to see the others already waiting. Akemi followed him in, having pulled Shino along by the sleeve, Makoto and Ayaori trailing after Shino. The conversation started up quickly after everyone got an order in to Andrew.
"So, Akemi, you didn't tell us you had TWO hotties in the family." Asuna teased. "I think those two have a thing for the younger one." she motioned to Rika and Keiko attempting to chat with Makoto while he sat at the bar, the boy's reactions polite but rather dull. "And then there's Sinonon~"
"What's with that nickname, seriously?" Akemi asked, smiling a little. "But yeah, she and Aya go to the same school, so I think they're pretty cute together~ Plus he's older, so~"
"But I thought he was 2 years younger than you, doesn't that make him 19?" she asked.
"Haha, not till December." she smiled. "Since he's late born he got held back. He should be prepping for college." she chuckled. "... then again, so should I." she sighed, looking depressed. "21 and no job, no school... it's pretty pathetic on my part. I need to pull my act together."
"Don't worry you still look young." Asuna chuckled at the girl next to her. "It's hard to believe that it's been so long since it happened..." she looked over at everyone, smiling.
"Yes it certainly has." she nodded in response. "Oh, so are you and the others going to go check out the new Ryuuko when it comes out on the 1st?"
"Oh yeah definitely~" Asuna nodded.
"Great~ We'll have plenty of friends~" she smiled. "I heard from Andrew-san that a bunch of the old Ryuuko players want to have a reunion on opening day."
"Awesome~ We should definitely do that~"
"So... we're really going back to it, huh?" Kazuto and Akemi were walking back to Akemi's apartment, having left last thanks to helping Andrew clean up his cafe before his night rush at Akemi's insistence.
"Yeah... crazy, huh?"
"Crazy is an understatement." Akemi said, holding Kazuto's hand. "But it's wonderful too~ I get to relive the memories~"
"Haha, you sound like an old woman." Kazuto said, leading her along back to her apartment. When they arrived, he stopped her, pulling her sleeve. "... hey."
"Hm?" she turned to him and was met by a kiss, eyes going wide.
"Next time we meet, let's make these last longer… like we used to…"
"Hehe, okay okay. Goodnight." they both smiled before Kazuto went home, Akemi watching as he went with a smile. Makoto was already home since he left with Rika and Keiko to walk them to their bus before he headed back. Akemi walked in and sat next to her brother, watching the news for a while. "You finally get to play it."
"Yeah..." he mumbled, smiling a little. "We can do it together..."
((Here's the next chapter, thank you all for reading~ ; v ;
Next time there will be a little filler chapter before I post the next Prologue for a new arc~ The filler is a revamp of the Extra Edition episode of SAO, so please look forward to it~
Also, for those who haven't already, please go check out the Willow Lake Closed Beta story I wrote~ ; v ;
Reviews are always appreciated, and I hope you're all still enjoying my writing~
-Winter Cheshire))