[IRL, Tokyo, Tokyo Dome City]
[Malzeno's POV]
The Tokyo Dome City was a massive entertainment complex that surrounded the aforementioned dome. You could find just about everything here; from shops, eateries, as well as a theme park in view with a Ferris wheel and its massive incline for the rollercoaster. While a lovely place for friends, events, or lovers, I couldn't quite find the time to suggest such a place to Yuuki. I had a job to do.
I didn't bring Riku with me this time, for the moment, I needed answers alone, or, alone with some experienced help. Yuuki skipped alongside me, and to my right, help I requested along the way.
"Hm, well ladies, I have spotted someone brooding, mopey, and just a pinch of edginess to our twelve o' clock," Finding my humour again, I pointing past the various players standing by to the man glowering around at the crowds, having just seen Yui fly off.
"Someone's pretty pumped up, huh?" My other companion for tonight, Sinon, made our presence known.
Similar to both of her VRMMO game avatars as the Cold Sniper/Archer, Sinon, or Shino Asada, had thin hair tied in small ribbons by the sides of her face, with the back cut short. Unlike her avatars, she had dark hair. She also wore a pair of half-rimmed glasses with oval-shaped lenses.
Her skin was pale and she had black eyes. There was also this black spot on her right hand, though, she has never told me why, only that it's a personal topic. Some broker's know when to cut a question short.
Kirito looked bewildered to see us. "Sinon, Malzeno, Yuuki? Why are you here?"
"You told everyone it's too risky to fight the bosses, but you're doing it anyway," Sinon pointed out, smiling knowingly the whole time.
"But, it really is dangerous. If you get killed by the boss, you'll end up just like Asuna-" I can see it in how worried Kirito was, hence why he felt it best to strike it out alone, but that too was a huge risk.
Sinon exhaled lightly through her nose. "I'll be fine, after all, I'm not an SAO survivor," She tacked on.
I tapped my knuckle to my own temple. "Nothing left to steal from these two brain cells, so what have I to lose?"
"Yeah, like Sinon said, I'm not even here anyway, so I'm like the safest person here!" Yuuki waved her arm through my body.
"As long as we have no memories to scan, nothing can happen to us, right, Yui?" Sinon inquired, leaving Kirito muted as he practically ganged up on him.
"Yes, I assume so," Yui came to land on Kirito's shoulder, but he still looked to protest.
"But there's no proof-" He tried to reason but we had already discussed it on the way here.
"Too bad I can't remember ever listening to your advice then, huh?" I smirked triumphantly, guess there are some silver linings to memory loss.
"Don't forget who kicked your butt twice now, and besides, you're not the only one who's frustrated here," Yuuki declared, putting her foot down. "I failed too, you know, I couldn't save Asuna or Mal, so I'm not letting that happen to you either, end of story, Kirigaya,"
"If you're that worried about me, then make sure to protect me, alright?" Sinon placed a hand on her hip, smiling confidently at the ravenette who couldn't get a word in.
"Daddy, please look out for Sinon, Yuuki can look out for Malzeno!" Yui stuck to our side, just as people began to sync with the game. With a sigh, Kirito smiled appreciatively, finally taking our side.
"Sync up," I waved my hand around.
"Ordinal Scale, Activate!" The four of us declared, our bodies overtaken by our equipment once more as I felt my bow land in my hand, two handcannons locked to my hips. I may've lost SAO's experience, but I still had ranged experience down pat.
Sinon's equipment, like Yuuki's, was black for the middle of the combat dress, the main colour hunter green with black sleeves transitioning into gloves, and thigh-high socks tucked into hunter green boots. She clutched a gunmetal grey sniper rifle with a neon green strip through the chamber and down the barrel.
In seconds, the whole landscape of the Tokyo Dome twisted into this wasteland of jagged crags and obsidian jutting out from the dome like tusks or horns, chains strung along from the tips with even the Ferris wheel formed into a decrepit sewing spindle.
A pyre of crimson flames drew us to attention, only now, I felt a hand squeeze my right, looking to my side to see Yuuki's hand gripping mine for a moment whilst the event boss spawned. I squeezed back, nodding to her eye that watched me from the side, seeing her lips curl into a smile before letting go, allowing me to draw three arrows between each finger.
That's when Kirito gasped at what spawned. "What... the 18th Floor Boss, The Dire Tusk? Wasn't today the 13th Boss?"
"Well, that big ass dragon happened to be from the 91st Floor, so at this point, whatever we assumed before can be tossed out the window," I deadpanned, already, this game was instantly against us.
The Dire Tusk was a big monster too. It had dark green skin and was like an orc with a pig head and big tusks. It had thick, brown fur covering its back and torso with a mohawk of all haircuts. A thick, iron collar around its neck attached to a thick chain-link driven into the wall behind it. Though its crimson eyes quickly set their glare on the player straight ahead of it, squealing angrily.
"Currently, 10 monsters are appearing in multiple locations across the city!" Yui declared, much to the dismay of my now sinking stomach.
"That's what I call splurging," Sinon made a 'hmph' sound at the over-generous game design.
"You said it," Yuuki hummed in agreement.
"In addition, all boss locations have been shuffled," Fantastic, though I knew Yui was only filling in the blanks for us, she may as well say whoever's behind all this really just hates SAO players.
"That really is the Dire Tusk?" I heard a player state, if he knew the name, then...
"Let's get it!" Another called out, that wasn't good, there were other survivors here.
It charged, but was choked by its own chain, holding it back from the player by mere inches, thrashing and spitting all over the place. I levelled my bow and loosed the three arrows, puncturing its thick hide with the resounding crack of Sinon's sniper, sending the pigman sprawling.
"Say, Kirito, what's the strat then?" Yuuki asked, not wanting to risk engaging just yet.
"It's going to switch to long-distance mode soon once it pulls the chain out to use as a weapon," The ex-frontrunner elaborated for us.
"We'll play it by the book then," I agreed with Sinon, quickly nocking another two arrows as she aimed through her scope, pelting the beast with arrows and bullets from other gunmen.
As Kirito stated, it retreated and began to tug on the thick bolt that kept the chain in place, other players were quick to assume it was trying to run and charged. Yeah, I may have no recollection of SAO, but even I know that's never a good idea.
Kirito and Yuuki rushed the boss, trying to warn others but by then, the chain suddenly arched as a red object came crashing through the ground, forcing me to shove Sinon to one side as the thick dual-bladed battle axe embedded itself inches from my feet. Okay, far too close!
"You good?" I stood up and offered a hand to the sniper.
"More or less, good reaction," She accepted the hand as the chain rattled and dragged the axe head backward. But her black eyes widened over my shoulder. "Crap..."
I turned, seeing another gunman fall backward in fright at the red gash that tore his health away in one hit, no... he was a survivor too... all we could do was watch him fall as Asuna and I had, only now, I watched as a golden orb shot from his Augma.
"The hell was that?" I breathed, rushing over. "Hey, easy!" I caught him before he hit his head, but it was too late, he looked close to passing out after the strain on his mind being scanned atop the trauma.
A firm grip fell to my shoulder. "Sorry," I heard Sinon say, but I honestly too angry to care.
"It's fine, really," Standing up, I felt my bow strain under my own grip, turning to glower at the Dire Tusk. "Let's put this thing in the ground, yeah?"
Sinon didn't let it show, but her eyes were burning too, nodding once as we both took off running towards the chaos. The chain wrapped around the length of the boss' left arm as it swung at Yuuki who slid under the wide swing, slashing across its bicep and side before rolling to evade the sweep of the axe at her feet.
It lunged, bringing its axe down with its full weight on a tank who barely kept his shield raised as Kirito ran past, slashing angrily at the boss that hopped away from both his strike and Yuuki's own thrust, the two still having trouble adapting to the weight of combat in AR.
"Pace yourself!" Sinon yelled next to me as we positioned ourselves.
"Try to close the gap first!" I added, seeing the axe sweep over Yuuki's head, grazing a few strands of hair as she fell with the attack, quickly pushing her hand under her to throw herself backward on both feet in time.
The Dire Tusk swung vertically, obliterating the ground ahead of it, both Kirito and Yuuki nearly blown away by the wind pressure and chunks of earth. Both held on, slashing to intersect their blades only for the chain to unravel around its arm, whipped up into a metal whirlwind that parried their swords.
Lines of chain swatted the ground, striking at every player it could whilst sparks flew between Kirito and Yuuki, both attempting to ward off the flurry of strikes from the chain-link, unable to push through.
Meanwhile, I took a deep breath, steadying my aim. "On three," My eyes flashed to Sinon's sniper muzzle. "...three!" Together, her bullet and my arrow struck home, the bullet breaking a link in the chain, causing it to shatter whilst my arrow lodged itself into the right eye.
Howling in fury, Tusk swung rampantly at anything that moved, leaving itself wide open to another thunderous ping from a sniper, combined with a constant flurry of arrows, even if my arms burned, I continuously pulled the string back, watching as arrows and bullets shattered in an accumulation of emerald-teal and scarlet light.
Sweeping through the dust cloud, Kirito picked up speed, finally pacing himself to make the connection to the boss' axe, slashing high to redirect the blow skyward. Yuuki slipped through, thrusting her blade in a five-prong strike, leaving puncture wounds across the torso before twirling to evade the off-hand's grab, an arrow piercing the palm, allowing Yuuki to dive underneath.
Kirito rushed forward with a war-cry, the axe coming down only to be deflected by another sniper round. I watched him stumble but manage to drive the length of his sword through the nape, dragging it down the length of the Dire Tusk with a curse, splitting one side of the pigman wide open, Kirito tumbling after cutting through.
We watched the boss erupt into a firework's display of colourful lights, all quickly absorbed back into a focal point before vanishing. This time, we beat Ordinal Scale at its own game, the world reverting back to its original state.
I spared my side a glance, seeing Sinon nod and hold her fist out to me. Smiling with a heavy exhale, I bumped it lightly, the two of us heading over to our two MVPs.
"Impressive," Sinon spoke up.
"But needlessly reckless," I chimed in, quickly raising my hand to catch Yuuki's high-five.
"Yeah, but I think I'm getting my footing right," The purplette hummed, hopping from one foot to the other.
"My bad, you guys saved us," Kirito apologized.
"You can pay me back with cake in Ginza, okay?" Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Sinon made her request clear as I snorted a laugh.
Immediately, Kirito tried to avoid eye-contact with her. A bad idea, really. "Would you let me off the hook if I give you a beef bowl coupon?"
Sinon's face fell to a flat glare. "I don't want that!"
"She saved your butt, you kinda don't get a say on what she wants," Yuuki wagged her finger.
"Best to take the hit, Kirito, not worth the trouble, believe me, Sinon will collect her life tax from you," I shivered, even I knew when to just bleed the wallet with her.
Relenting, Sinon smiled with her eyes shut, "Alright then, at least give me a ride home on your bike,"
But Kirito didn't respond this time, I followed his eyes and saw... Yuna? Only, it wasn't the idol everyone was obsessed with, this girl wore a white hoodie and seemed to be walking off somewhere else, but her hood fell, revealing red eyes and snow-white hair, practically identical to that of the idol.
"Please wait!" Kirito ran after her, myself not far behind. Even now, I felt the fuzziness in my head react to her presence. Who was she? I knew the idol but this feeling in my head... was she... from SAO?
We caught her at the bottom of a flight of steps, but she didn't respond, only pointing in a random direction. "Who are you?" Kirito called down to, but she vanished like a ghost.
"What the hell was that?" I muttered, jogging down the steps as the girls caught up to me.
"She wandered around like a ghost, freaky..." Yuuki grimaced, rubbing her arms.
"Dammit!" We all flinched when Kirito punched the vending machine beside him, I didn't catch what Yui said, but it's clear the stress was eating away at him before he composed himself. "You want something to drink?"
I and Sinon shook our heads, I packed water anyway for these events, so Kirito got himself a drink with a nod, he must've had a reward saved as he didn't pay for it. But he paused, something flashed in his eyes, enough for him to ignore the drink and turn back to Yui who landed on my shoulder.
"That's it; Yui, do you remember which direction the girl in the hoodie was pointing?" Kirito asked as the little pixie flew off my shoulder.
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"I want you to plot it over a map of Tokyo," Heeding Kirito's request, we all gathered to have Yui project a large map of the city. Several red markers appeared where Kirito had encountered this girl, all the lines then shot across the city streets, but only one place was intersected by all of them.
"OO-okayama in Setagaya Ward?" Sinon pursed her lips at the locale.
"I have... absolutely no idea what's there," I looked between the girls, Yuuki shrugged herself with a silly smile.
"Don't look at me, only so much I can do in a hospital room," She admitted.
"Yui, what's there?" Kirito asked our greatest source of info.
"Daddy, this is where the Toto Institute of Technology is located," Yui answered, but again, it was a strange place to point out through vague directions.
"Why this Institute in particular?" Yuuki questioned ahead of me.
"I'm going to cross-reference Toto Institute and Eiji player data and run a search!" Yui declared, closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate. I finally twigged on.
"Right, this girl looks like Yuna, and Eiji's clearly got his hands in us SAO players losing our memories to Ordinal Scale, so if he's been going to and from here..." I trailed off as Yui brought up dozens of tiny screens filled with data I couldn't read and pictures of the location.
"This is..." Kirito pointed to one picture that was a group photo. I walked around to see it... and there he was, the memory robbing rat himself in the picture. However, Kirito's gaze fell to the older man in the back.
"It's the Augma's designer, Professor Tetsuhiro Shigemura," Yui answered.
"I guess we know where you're going tomorrow," I spoke up again, the map fading around us. "Well, best we call it a night, I... don't particularly feel like throwing myself against another blast from the past,"
"I second that," Sinon raised her hand slightly.
Nodding, Kirito smiled a little, it felt more genuine, likely due to the new lead he was given. "Yeah, and... thanks for helping tonight, especially in your state, Kazuki,"
Rolling my eyes, I held up my hands. "I'm fiiine, little memory loss isn't about to put this merc down; besides! I've made an ingenious strategy as a fallback plan!" I held up my hands with some dramatic flair. "With my fractured genius, I have since been writing down every last detail I had of SAO, what little remains, which... is nothing. Ahem, but I've also been documenting everything else. GGO, ALO, school, you name it, I've written it down! Hah!"
In reality, if I did lose more than SAO, if my feelings were to vanish with those memories, it would be troublesome. So, I've taken the liberty of detailing everything, including how I felt in those moments. In a way, it's like writing a book or autobiography, so that, in the off-chance I did forget, I could try to feel how I felt back then.
What should I call it though? Gotta have a good title...
"Don't worry, we'll keep him from getting himself hurt," I was suddenly cut from my brilliant plan as a ghostly hand swept through my shoulder by Yuuki and that cheeky grin of hers. "You find out what this whole memory loss thing's about, we'll be on stand-by, right?"
"You cut my whole flow on purpose," I deadpanned, earning her tongue sticking out, much to my chagrin.
"And no more soloing either" Sinon strolled up to Kirito, her cold glare keeping him stiff before her knuckle tapped off his chest. "You'll just give everyone more reasons to worry, got that?"
"Y-yes ma'am," Kirito forced out with a gulp, and Sinon's cold exterior melted into a considerate smile, the duality of GGO's best sniper.
"Good,"
Hm, with friends like these, who needs memories?
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
Another boss battle concluded, we're gonna have quite the line-up in the coming chapters, oh the things I have planned for Kazuki too. I'm excited, I don't want to just skip all the way to the final act, there's much to see. So, I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Players!