[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor One Coliseum]
[Yuuki's POV]
My match was up next, Malzeno had completely swept his opponent, one of the toughest Salamanders in ALO no less! The way he fought reminded me of when me and him duked it out for the first time, how he actually pushed me with a weapon class I clearly underestimated. He looked so cool, and confident, and...
I watched as Malzeno left for the food stalls with the other archer, Sinon, the two seemed to have talked about something and made off. It still made me feel strange, those two are close, huh...? That train of thought made me inwardly panic and shake my head-I'm overthinking it again.
"-uuki, hey, over here," To my left, I felt Nori drag me away to speak privately by a tree with Asuna, both smiling back at me while I remained confused by what they were grinning away for. "Okay, so...?"
"So..." I slowly made a circle gesture with my hand, and Nori scoffed, slapping the top of her head.
"Have you told our resident man in dark leathers?" Nori insisted again, and I froze up, turning my head sharply. Everyone else was too busy, good, then I pressed my finger to her lips. "Relax-" She pushed it aside. "-no one's in ear-shot,"
"And no, I haven't-this isn't really the best time for all that stuff anyway, everyone's focused on the tournament and I don't want to distract him or anything..." I wanted to say something, but today was a busy day and my own anxiety kept me rooted in place.
Asuna, my voice of reason, tapped her cheek in thought. "I agree, there's no reason to rush into this, but, you don't want to leave the impression you're not interested. Mal, for all his strengths, is very insecure, especially with how people treated him back in SAO,"
Nori clicked her tongue, wincing soon after as I felt my chest tighten at the reminder. "Right... orange player and all that," She paced for a second, then spun around with her fist in her palm. "Alright, nothin' too crazy, but droppin' a hint ain't a bad idea. If he's insecure about romance then this is important, he's only going to question how he feels about ya otherwise,"
"...he's not the only one..." I murmured, rubbing the back of my neck as it felt hotter with the topic. "A-are you sure this is okay? What if I, I dunno, spook him?"
The undine girl smiled at me, patting my head. "Like Nori said, this will be something small, and something you yourself need to be comfortable with,"
"Exactly. Setting's not all that important, but make certain nothing's around to suddenly interrupt or cause a big scene," Nori instructed, wagging her finger at me like some lecturer, and I had a nagging question because of it.
"Why are you so knowledgeable about this stuff?" I had never heard her once talk about being in any romantic relationship, so this was all new to me. Normally, Nori's the first to tease any of us about anything romantic.
The ravenette smirked, puffing out her chest. "Believe it or not, but I'm the former matchmaker in school before I got stuck in hospital for my treatment; still got the Nori Guarantee,"
Asuna giggled at this, "I can vouch for her, everything she's said is correct. Most people, not just guys, need little hints that the person they're interested in feel the same way. Go with that and you'll know when the right moment is,"
These two really are determined about this, even Siune... I ruffled my own hair up, trying to clog up all my stupid emotions with a bashful, yet thankful, smile. "Thanks, you guys,"
"And I show that by kissing his cheek, are you kidding me!?" I slapped my hands to my face, groaning as the heat returned to my face. "I'm so stupid...! Now he's probably even more confused-or I'm confused if he's confused or not?Aaaah!" I needed to stop thinking about this, I did it, it happened, not a lot I can do but just... have faith.
A lot of good that's done me over the years...
I leaned up against the tunnel wall, knowing he'll be heading back any second now. My arms fell to my sides, tilting my head up slightly. "What do I do now, Aiko...?" I'm not so lucky I'll get an answer like some anime protagonist. Straightening up, I wore a firm face, pacing similar to Nori. "'You can't undo what's been set in motion, regretting now isn't going to help you in the present, just calm down and focus on what's in front of you'," Yeah, Aiko would say something like that.
"You're up, Cupcake," Jumped from my internal thoughts, the very guy in question came walking by, I couldn't really tell if he was still flustered, nor was I able to tell if he knew I was. But, he did put his fist out to me. "Word of advice, Sinon's learned to fight close-quarters just like me,"
My brow raised at him with a smirk, "Isn't she gonna be mad if you gave away her secrets?"
That made Malzeno snort a laugh, "Pfft, in GGO, good rule of thumb, 'always expect your enemies to know more about you'," I made an 'ooh' sound, guess that makes sense, if you expect to be up against a player that knows your style you'll live longer. "Money's on you, Cupcake,"
I sighed, "Figures..." My knuckle brushed off his with a tap, taking his place out into the spotlight once again with my own luck at my back.
~Alrighty everybody, time for the second-to-last match of the Twelfth Finals!~ Guess there wasn't much time to contemplate anything with Cliffheart running the show. ~The fabled Absolute Sword, Yuuki of the Sleeping Knights!~
Giving a sheepish smile, I waved my hand, earning a massive boon of encouragement from the crowd. Across from me, nocking an arrow, was Sinon. She was a strange one since I haven't had much time to chat with her, but she's got this cool and calm personality to her, but I can tell from her interactions she's a real softy.
~And her opponent, the silent assassin and one of the only two archers to enter this tournament, Sinon!~
"Mal told me about your first fight with him," My concentration broke a moment, meeting her cool, blue eyes. "He said you gave it everything to win at the end when he pushed you back; do my a favour, and do the same for me, I want this to be a real test of how far I've come with a bow,"
That's right, Malzeno said she asked him for help adjusting to ALO after moving games for a bit, so going from a sniper rifle to a bow and arrow must've been tricky. I gave a lopsided smile, "Yeah, I struggled a bunch when I first joined ALO, so I getcha- wanna keep this on the ground then?"
"Sure, that suits me," Sinon nodded, good, that makes things nice and simple. Then I paused, giving her a flat look.
"You... don't use coatings, do you?" My question made her brow raise for a moment, then rolled her eyes with a scoff.
"He tricked you with them too?"
"You too?"
"Yep..."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but giggle, even as the countdown already began. "Hahaha, well, that's good to hear, here I come, Sinon!"
"Ready," She drew back an arrow, already it turned an ice-blue tint at her knuckle.
{BEGIN!}
An arrow bounced off my obsidian blade at the last second, making me yelp. The timer only just went off and Sinon was plucking arrows at me with considerable speed. I advanced, slicing down the whizzing arrows one-by-one. A green hue overtook three arrows, and I dropped to my knees, Buckshot missing but Sinon had already pulled away, another arrow crackling red.
From Sinon's expression, she was like a hunter; calm, focused, barely making a fuss when I made quick work of her arrows, she was so cool! Whatever was announced didn't fall on my ears, not when I was fighting, everything else became a blur.
Driving my sword into the earth with a lilac skill, I dragged it through and high, Serration Wave displacing the dirt in front of me, the tip of Sinon's arrow split in two, exploding in two rivers either side of me. Through the smoke, I gasped, raising my sword to block her sudden lunge, boot curved around my blade as it heated with a bright orange.
Sinon dove over and kicked off my back, rolling as I felt the light puncture of two arrows to my shoulders. The third nearly skimmed my cheek just when I swatted it aside. Swinging wide, I covered the area in front of me with two wide horizontal arcs. The orange tint faded, and I tanked an arrow to my left forearm, keeping my head safe from her icy glare.
Feeling my right arm move, I instantly channelled a deep blue skill to cut through the dust, Cross Arc's horizontal whipping the air at her stomach, followed by an overhead slam that struck her bow. I had my chance, advancing to push and kick Sinon backward, twirling my broadsword in a cross slash from Snake Bite, carving across both her arms.
Wincing, her body fell and her boot dug against my stomach, throwing her overhead, I kept my form, adjusting my forearm back, fixing the blade tip to hover over my open palm just when Sinon's teal-tinted arrows, ten in total, all poised toward me. Oh crap...
Quickly readjusting my form before I landed and became a pincushion, I sucked in a deep breath, and blade took on a deep purple pigment. Delude released from Sinon with some strain, and all ten arrows left little room to evade.
With unparalleled grit, I thrust my arm straight five times, managing to clear a path down center but the other arrows sliced at my petite frame, it wasn't enough to stop me, diving off my toes toward Sinon. She loaded another arrow, but the follow-up vertical downward split it in half, my rising vertical disarming her.
Giving a finally twirl, I hopped off one foot, driving my blade down in an overhead strike, the 8-Hit skill, Howling Octave, and inspiration for the start of Mother's Rosario. My aim was true, and I left a deep wound down Sinon's torso, knocking her backward.
That last attack dropped her health far enough for the match to conclude, given she wore cloth armour but I'm impressed, she actually dealt a good amount of damage to me. "Mal's right, you're so cool!" I gushed a bit as the crowd ate up our duel. "You didn't even flinch and kept coming in close, I wasn't expecting that!"
"I've learned to try and take fights against players closer with a bow, seems it still needs some refining, good moves yourself, guess all that talk about your reaction times wasn't just hot air," Sinon, still on the ground, looked up at me when I offered her a hand.
"Hehehe, thanks a bunch, let's fight again sometime, not many archers want to fight me," Though, I totally understand why.
~With a flawless battle, Yuuki leaves us with a sweet ending, but let's give a hand to the brazen archer who dared to face a swordswoman head-on!~ Cliffheart got a loud applause for Sinon, her cool and calm demeanour remained as she collected her bow and did a curt bow of her head. ~Yuuki moves onto the Quarter Finals!~
Sinon did let out a disgruntled sigh, running her fingers through her hair to her cat ears. "It's times like these I wish I had Hecate with me," Then, she gave me a friendly smile, making mine expand, seeing her offer a fist bump.
"Good Game!" We chimed together with our knuckles bumped.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
That's all for this round, the last is just between some extra characters, but now we're into the Quarter Finals, and I've got a surprising entry for Malzeno if anyone will recognize the name. Sinon's an amazing ranged fighter but as we've seen when she contends with Kirito in GGO, close-quarters is still a handful for her.
That's enough commentary from me, hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Players!