Sword Art Online

Chapter 6

Turning on the LED lights and leaning sideways to turn while on my bike, I passed through a large gate.

At that moment, feeling the critical gazes of the people walking on both sides of the avenue, I lowered the speed of my bike in a hurry.

This 125cc, 2-stroke, Thai-made, dilapidated motorcycle obtained through Agil's connections was, in this era where electric scooters are common, emitting noise. When she rode with me, Suguha would explode with complaints like "Noisy— Smelly— Uncomfortable to ride." Each time, I'd lie by saying that if she could get used to the wind then she could get used to the noise, but I regretted not choosing a 4-stroke scooter as well.

Possibly, the place I was rushing to was somewhere like this, especially if it was within the grounds of the hospital.

With the speed of a donkey pulling a wagon, I slowly continued along the avenue and saw the parking lot entrance ahead. Relieved, I rode in and parked at the edge of the motorcycle lot. I took out the real ignition key even in this era, and while taking off the helmet, I could faintly smell disinfectant riding on the cold December wind.

It's Saturday, one week after my meeting with Kikuoka in the expensive cake shop.

I had left after reading the email saying that the preparations for my starting area in Gun Gale Online were finished. What kind of place was I heading to? It was a large municipal hospital in the Chiyoda ward, a municipal of central Tokyo. Though I don't usually enter the heart of Tokyo, I already knew the way. It was the same hospital I was previously hospitalized in for my muscle rehabilitation after being freed from SAO.

Though rehabilitation had only taken a month before I was discharged, I had continued to commute back and forth along this road many times for examinations and the like. In the past half year, I hadn't visited the hospital, but when I looked up at the white building, which had become a familiar sight, strong feelings of nostalgia and forlornness rose to the surface. I lightly shook my head, shook out the sentiments, and started walking in the direction of the entrance.

The discussion six days ago on Sunday in which I explained my current situation to Asuna reappeared in my mind. It had been at the promenade in the Imperial Palace near this hospital.

"...Eeeeeehhhhhhh!? Ki...Kirito-kun, are you quitting ALO...!?"

I saw Asuna's eyes, wide with disbelief, begin to grow teary, and shook my head vigorously in a hurry.

"Th... that's not it, that's not it at all! It will just be for a few days; I'll immediately transfer back! The... the truth is, because there is a certain reason, I have to check out another VRMMO..."

With this appeal, Asuna finally relaxed her shoulders and, this time, a dubious look rose to the surface in her eyes.

"Check it out...? If that's the case, why can't you make a new account like usual? Why do you have to convert over?"

"That, that is... It's that 'Glasses' from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications..."

Then, with some difficulty, I explained why Kikuoka Seijirou's summons comprised half of the reason why the place of the date was the Imperial Palace while intentionally omitting one part.

Just as we arrived at the gate, we finished our general conversation, returned our admission ticket at the window booth, and when we were near the Hirakawa Gate Bridge that spanned over the moat, Asuna, with a really complicated face, said.

"Kikuoka-san's request... Then it seems like it can't be helped. I, somehow feel unsure if it's alright to put my faith completely in him or not... But I am extremely in his debt..."

"No, I have the same feeling."

At that moment, we both wryly smiled.

But Asuna immediately returned to a serious expression, gripping my hands tightly and saying.

"...Return as quickly as you can. 'That' place is our only home.."

I nodded, lowered my gaze to the surface of the moat and replied.

"Of course. I'll return to ALO as soon as possible. It's just research on what's going on in the «Gun Gale Online» game."

—That's right.

I wasn't completely honest with Asuna about the true purpose of Kikuoka's request. In short, the core of my mission was to contact the player who might possess a mysterious power, the rumored «Death Gun». I didn't tell her, because I believed that if I did say it, she would undoubtedly stop me, or perhaps propose to dive together.

It was a selfish excuse, but I had already decided that I have no intention of letting her anywhere near a virtual reality with the slightest hint of danger.

Of course, I also believe that, probably 90% of the time, the «Death Gun» talk was a product of rumors.

That, from a virtual reality, a human in the real world could be killed.

No matter how many times I thought about it, I could not believe that such a thing was possible. AmuSphere, no matter how you say it, is only a machine a bit more technologically advanced than a normal TV. Technology such as «Virtual Reality» and «Full Dive» tend to seem magical but, in the end, it was merely a convenient tool, and was by no means something like a magic item that could detach the soul from a person's real body and transport it to a parallel world.

But, the remaining one-tenth of the probability moved my legs to this place.

Many months ago, I was sorting an accumulation of old electronic magazines within my PC storage; one magazine was published just before the operation of SAO. In it I discovered a short interview with Argus Director Kayaba Akihito. There, while he was alive, he talked about 'it'.

—'It' referred to the «Realized World» called An Incarnating Radius, abbreviated as Aincrad. Within it, all players would see many dreams becoming a reality. They would find swords, monsters, and mysteries, without stopping to realize that amongst those game-like symbols, a power which forces even the players themselves to change exists in that world—

Undoubtedly, I've changed. Asuna, as well, has changed. Even Agil, Klein, Liz, Silica and the others, as in that world, in the two years that passed, we definitely experienced a change in personality to a degree that we cannot return to how we once were.

But, what if we assumed Kayaba's «evolution» did not stop there...? Thanks to the VRMMO execution package «The Seed», now, while at the nook of the limitless growth of the VR Nexus, if we can assume the framework called reality and virtual reality itself are able to change, what kind of factors will be born...?

Making an *uin* sound, the automatic door in front of my eyes opened and the smell of detergent and warm air surged forward and interrupted my unending thoughts.

On top of the fact that two GGO players died in the real world, I cannot affirm that contacting «Death Gun» would pose absolutely no danger. After I return to ALO, if I am honest about this to Asuna, she will definitely get mad. But eventually, she will surely understand.

To me —who supposedly cut off the time to monitor Aincrad, the person named Kirito who released «The Seed» package into the world— there were no other choices beyond this.

After visiting the bathroom, relying on the printout of Kikuoka's email, I finally arrived at the designated room on the third floor of the hospital ward. There wasn't a patient's name on the plate beside the door. After knocking, I pulled the door open—

"Ossu! Kirigaya-kun, long time no see!"

The one who greeted me was a nurse I was acquainted with. She took care of me previously during my long rehabilitation.

Under the nurse cap, her long hair was braided into three thick strands where at the end of that, a small, white ribbon swung. Dressed in a light pink uniform, her considerably tall stature for a girl cast a sharp silhouette that most certainly appeared to be a temptation for the hospitalized patients. On the left side of her chest was a small nameplate with «Aki» written on it.

The small face expressing a smile was certainly, appropriately clean and beautiful like a white-robed angel, but, responding as necessary, knowing she can become scary when she likes, I got out of my stupor in one second and hurriedly lowered my head.

"Ah... He-Hello, sorry for not contacting you."

At that moment, Nurse Aki suddenly extended both of her hands, and touched me, from my shoulders to my arms, and tightly grasped the sides of my stomach.

"Wa...waaa!?"

"O—, you've sufficiently put on some meat. But, it isn't sufficient yet, have you been eating correctly?"

"I, I've been eating, I've been eating. But, uh, how should I put it, why is Aki-san here?"

I looked around the room but in the small, private room, there weren't any other people.

"I heard about you while talking with that government official with glasses. By all means, for the sake of that government official, the virtual... network? You're doing an investigation? Even though it hasn't been a year since you came back, it's difficult, isn't it? Given that, since I was in charge during your rehabilitation, I was requested to keep check of the monitors, and today, I got out of my normal shift. Having talked to my superiors, as one would expect from the power of the state, I certainly felt that. Anyway, again, for a short while, we'll be working together, Kirigaya-kun."

"Ah... Sa-Same here."

Somehow, believing that I am weak to beauties, he came up with this shrewd plan, Kikuokaaaaa— while cursing the agent who wasn't there in my mind, with a smile, I grabbed the hand that Nurse Aki held out.

"...So, that government guy with glasses didn't come?"

"Yeah, he said something about a meeting that he couldn't get out of. He entrusted me with a message for you."

I opened up the manila envelope that was handed over and took out the handwritten piece of paper.

'The report was forwarded by mail to the usual address. It has been requested for the overhead expenses to be paid completely with remuneration after the mission is completed. P.S.: Just because you are alone with a beautiful nurse in a private room, you shouldn't let your youthful impulses run wild.'

At that moment, I crushed the memo completely with the envelope and threw it into the pocket of my rider jacket. If this was read by Nurse Aki, her harassment act could really be prosecuted.

Offering a stiff smile at the suspiciously winking female, I said.

"Ah— ...Well then, we should immediately connect to the net."

"Ah, yes yes. Let's start the preparations."

At the side of the bed that I was guided to, bright colored monitors were lined up and on top of the bed rest, a brand new AmuSphere was giving off a silver radiance.

"Now then, strip, Kirigaya-kun."

"What... What!?"

"The electrodes, to stick them on. In any case, when you were hospitalized, I saw everything already so you don't have to turn red—"

"... Uh, is only the top okay...?

After Nurse Aki thought for a moment, fortunately, she nodded. Resignedly, I took off my jacket and my long-sleeved shirt and lay down on the bed. All at once, the electrodes used by the electro-cardiogram monitor were stuck to various places on my upper body. In terms of AmuSpheres, there exist some that also have heart rate monitors but Kikuoka seemed to have misgivings that the feature might be taken down by cracking. Looking at that one thing, I understood that he is, at least somewhat, truly concerned about my safety.

"Alright, with this, everything is ready."

When the nurse checking the last monitor nodded deeply, fumbling, I picked up the AmuSphere, put it on my head, and turned on the power.

"Uh, well then... I'm off. Probably, I'll be diving for around four, five hours so..."

"Alright. I'll properly watch over Kirigaya-kun's body so don't worry and take care."

"I... I'm in your care."

I wonder how things turned out this way... While I was thinking about this question, seemingly after everything that had happened, I closed my eyes.

At the same time, with my ears, the electronic sound informed me of standby completion.

"Link Start"

After reciting the command, the radiating white light that I had grown used to seeing blocked my field of vision, my consciousness was released from my body.

The moment that I landed in the virtual world, I remembered that faint uncomfortable feeling.

The reason was confirmed after a few seconds. That's because the sky had one side dyed with yellow with traces of faint reddish tinges.

I heard that the time inside «Gun Gale Online» was synchronized with reality. In other words, since it was just one o' clock, the sky was supposed to be the same blue that could be seen through the window earlier in the hospital. Despite this, the sky showed the depressing color of twilight, there was no discernible reason for this.

Anyway, after imagining one thing after another, I shrugged my shoulders and ignored it. The desolate earth setting of GGO was modeled on Earth after the last war. It was probably a production for the sake of giving an apocalyptic atmosphere.

Once again, I turned my eyes to the majestic appearance of GGO's central city «SBC Gurokken» spread out in front of me.

As one would expect, an excellence that only exists in SF VRMMO, that form differs a lot from the newly established capital city «Yggdrasil City» of the world up in the tree, Alfheim and from the previous Aincrad's layered levels' fantastic townscapes.

The buildings with a metallic feel rose as if piercing the heavens, air corridors connecting them together like the mesh of a net. Neon colored hologram advertisements were busily streaming in the gaps between the buildings; approaching the ground, they increased in number, like a flood of color and sound.

Finally, I looked at the ground and what I was standing on was not anything like soil or stone, but a path paved with metal plates.

Behind me was what seemed to be a domed building established as the initial character starting location, and in front of me, a street like a city's main street stretched out. To the left and right of the street, questionable shops were tightly lined up in a spectacle resembling some side street in Akihabara.

Then, the players coming and going were also only groups that held an atmosphere that couldn't go straightforward. Overwhelmingly, there were a lot of males. Perhaps it was due to my experience with ALO, which has a relatively high proportion of females, or possibly, that world's inhabitants' delicate fairies. The sight here instead was overwhelmingly of rough men, strutting while wearing military camouflage jackets and black body armor. Truthfully, it gave a feeling of oppression and, how should I put it, excess, or if I say it clearly, filth. In addition, with all of those unfriendly eyes, truthfully, it was hard to talk to them.

The reason to be overwhelmed was also, that the usual players hung on their shoulders and back; the clunky, black, rustic weapons— guns.

It lacked the decorative-like element of swords and spears and instead, there was only one intention with guns. They are weapons. It was only for the sake of defeating the enemy that it was of this form and color.

In other words, I saw something that can also be said of this world itself and I affirmed it in my mind.

The only purpose to exist in this game is to "fight, kill, and rob." ALO's touted component of "enjoying activities in an illusionary world" was almost completely stripped away.

Therefore, magnificent and pretty figures were probably a negative factor. For the sake of intimidating enemies, outward appearance was an important parameter for the soldiers. Why many of the males grew out their beards and carved out conspicuous scars on their faces was perhaps for this reason.

As for how it concerned me, what kind of appearance does my avatar give off?

I immediately wondered and looked over my own body. For the sake of my objective to be targeted by the prominent evil "Death Gun", I wanted the form of a macho soldier from a Hollywood movie—

...I had an unpleasant premonition.

The skin on both of my hands was glassy white and the fingers were also surprisingly thin. My body, which was wrapped in a black military fighting jacket, depending on the circumstances, was more slender than me in reality. From the feeling of my viewpoint, somehow, I didn't exactly think that my height was very tall either.

Corresponding to the dive into Gun Gale Online, as I explained to Asuna a few days ago, I didn't generate an initial character from the beginning. If I had done that, I would probably never be able to meet "Death Gun", who targets strong people.

Using the VRMMO development and support package, "The Seed", and making generate— more than that, if I were to go into detail, for the worlds that operate with the "Cardinal" system, only one mutual meta-rule existed.

If you use that function, it is possible to maintain those abilities if the character data that was built up in the game was transferred to a game administered by another company. It greatly resembled the SIM cards of cell phone terminals that you can potentially freely replace with a different carrier's terminal.

For example, you transferred a character with stats of 100 strength and 80 speed built up in a game labeled A to Game B. After doing so, a "Relative Preservation" transformation of Game A's strength would occur, and in Game B, a character with 40 STR and 30 AGI would be born. To put it simply, a fighter-type warrior with strength in the upper middle level in ALO would be reincarnated as an upper middle fighter in GGO.

Of course, this isn't a function that increases the copies of a character. The moment it is converted, the character in the original world is completely eliminated and more so, because the only thing that could be transferred was the character, items could not all be brought over, though it is convenient, it was an act that required courage. This time, when I had to transfer over the character that I used in ALO "Spriggan Kirito", to GGO, I forcibly left almost all of my items in a safe in the new general store that Agil just opened up in the Yggdrasil City.

Now then, by the convert function, I acquired the strength of ALO's Kirito, though, because the character was re-rolled and built up, it wasn't the ridiculous status of the Kirito in SAO, but because I couldn't bring over my appearance, like items, I couldn't predict what kind of form would be randomly generated. Therefore, I might as well hope for the form of a brawny soldier, but...

While feeling this unrelenting discomfort, I surveyed my surroundings, and walked up to the mirrored glass that adorned the dome that I had just left.

Then, my eyes widened in astonishment.

"What the hell is this!?"

What was being reflected in the glass was a form that was a hundred light-years away from my hopes.

The height was obviously shorter than when I was a Spriggan, and furthermore, it was thinner. The hair color, without changing, was still black but, the hair flowed smoothly from the top of my head to around my shoulder-blades. My face was, just like my hands, an almost transparent white, and my lips were a vivid crimson.

The eye color as well, even though it was black identical to the hair, it was shining excessively. Those eyes that were fringed with long eyelashes raised a pure yet bewitching sight from the mirror, so much so that I unintentionally forgot that the image was of myself and let my eyes wander freely. Again, I looked at the facade, and let out a long sigh.

Asuna often said that SAO's Kirito had a considerably feminine face, but this form was already beyond that level anymore. Just where the heck would you find a soldier's strength in this form, and with that, I stood frozen in place, in a daze. A guy who was eating something a little way away suddenly waved at me and from behind, called out to me who was reflected in the glass.

"Hey young lady, you have good luck! That avatar, F1300 type! That type rarely comes out. So how about it, since it is now, you only just started, why don't you sell that account? I'll give you two mega credits!"

".................."

Stopping my thoughts about my current state for the moment, I looked at the guy's face but, suddenly, a certain possibility arose and, in a fluster, using both hands, I touched my chest. But fortunately, there was just a feeling of flatness so my misgivings were gone. It seemed that my fear of a sex reversal accident was unfounded.

The recent VR games, for almost all of the titles, forbid changing the sex of the player and avatar. The reason is because the long-term use of an avatar of the opposite sex results in adverse effects for the spirit and body that cannot be ignored. However, I have heard that, because the identification of the players' sex occurs due to the players' brain waves, in extremely rare cases, due to some impulse the system decides with the opposite sex, players have been startled when they dive in.

Now that I think about it, changing the sex setting was possible in the original SAO, but immediately after the start, the system reverted us to our original sex, I wonder if after all, it was because Kayaba understood the adverse effects... And with those sudden out of place thoughts wandering around in my head, I finally looked at the male face, and while shrugging my shoulders, I replied.

"Uhh... I'm sorry but, I'm a guy."

That voice too, though slightly lower, was sufficient to be a tone widely used by girls. Dejectedly, while I was waiting for an answer, the guy, after becoming speechless for a short while, started to talk on and on with vigor.

"Then, then, is that M9000 type!? That's, that's amazing.. Then I'll give you four, no, five megacredits. Sell it to me, by all means, sell it to me please!!"

Selling it, let alone giving it to you, I wanted to exchange it with your outward appearance but, unfortunately, that isn't something that I can do.

"Um, this isn't my initial character but a converted one. It can't easily be exchanged for money. Sorry."

"I... I see..."

The guy, with a characteristic face of disappointment, observed me from all sides but before long, pulling himself together, he asked,

"Gossip then, that rare avatar seems to have been used for a long time in a previous account. As a reference, can you count up your previous account's play time for me?"

"What? My, my play time?"

I suddenly thought about it. The account before I converted, basically, the play time of the swordsman Kirito that went from SAO to ALO was at least around 2 years... in other words, seven hundred and 30 days multiplied by twenty-four hours.

"Uhh... ten thou..."

I started to answer truthfully, but I quickly caught myself. Because it has only been three years since the VRMMO game genre came out, the only ones who have up to ten thousand hours of dive experience are the former SAO players.

"Uh, around one year. That's why, of course it's a coincidence right?"

"I see... well, if you change your mind, please contact me."

After saying that, he pushed an item resembling a transparent card on to me and reluctantly departed. These were cards that had the character name, sex, guild and other things written on them, but then it disappeared into light particles while I was looking at it, but the data had probably been added to the address book or something else in the system window.

With a sidelong glance, I still glared at the me that was unrelentingly reflected in the evil glass, and I wondered if there was something that I could do about it, but nothing came to mind.

This conversion log is embedded into my character data so when I returned to ALO, I will be in Kirito's pointy-haired Spriggan form, but if I convert to the GGO world once again, I will get assigned to this avatar which one couldn't tell apart whether male or female.

'Looking for good luck inside of misfortune' is my motto so I, for a few minutes, thought about this and that and finally, I spun out a "good thing."

The reason that I came to this world was solely to contact the rumored player who was called «Death Gun» and although I didn't want to be attacked, it was the only way in deciding the authenticity of that power by any means possible. For that reason, as long as I showed off my strength, I would definitely stand out.

Because GGO, from the nature of the game, probably has a very small amount of female players, this form that looks like a pretty girl at first glance will definitely stand out in a way that I didn't want to. They would be extremely unlikely to wish for even a fragment of such things like the intimidating air of a battlefield, but here, there is no choice but to covet more combat capability.

In relation to advertising strength, for now, there is one way.

With the common gameplay— in other words, with things like dungeon clearing, and something I don't want to do, namely player killing, time is needed for your name to become famous. However, fortunately, in this game, in just a few days, the event to decide the strongest player «Bullet of Bullets» will be held. I'll register for that event and advance to the finals of the battle royal match. If I cut to the top, I would certainly be noticed by «Death Gun» or perhaps, depending on the circumstances, there is the possibility that the person himself would show up on that stage.

Diving into a game for the first time, I felt uneasy about how I was going to fight or how much, but anyway, I couldn't do anything but try and find out. Fighting against someone who fights with a gun is probably not the same as fighting an archer or a mage in ALO but, generally speaking, there are limits with VRMMO's; there should be a decently common feature. I can only try as much as I can— If I can't reach that power, at that time, it would become the responsibility of Kikuoka who forced this unreasonable task on me.

Anyhow, first is the tournament entry procedure and then the equipment purchase.

I looked at my body one last time, sighed, turned in the direction of the main street, and then started to walk. Immediately afterwards, I realized that I was unconsciously fingering the hair that was swinging against my cheek and was assailed by a dark and gloomy mood.

—After a few minutes, all too quickly, I was lost.

The city with the strange name of «SBC Gurokken» seems to take the form of a huge floor with many multilayered structures seemingly piled on top of one another. In front of me while I was standing still, there were a series of hierarchical buildings like a smaller scale of the floating city Aincrad, the colors of the sunset peeping through the apertures in the distance. The buildings, lined up as if to penetrate the layers and connected with escalator and elevator like corridors through the air, shining and sparkling were, truthfully, beautiful but, in all practicality, were also rather complex like a dungeon.

Of course, I could have brought out a detailed three dimensional map from the main menu but, with my current position, in actuality, it couldn't compare to the scene spread out right before my eyes.

If this was a standalone RPG, I would recklessly walk around in desperation, and even have to walk back to the starting point, but fortunately, this is an MMO. At times like these, there is a measure that one could take.

I found the tag of a person coming and going in front of my eyes that were not of an NPC but a player, and trotting over, called out from the rear.

"Excuse me. I seem to be a little lost..."

And then, immediately thought that I had messed up.

It was because, however I looked, the person turning around was a girl.

The thin pale blue swaying hair was casually short but there was a tuft of hair tied up on both sides of her forehead. Under her distinct eyebrows, large indigo colored eyes that gave off a feline ambiance were shining, and a small nose with a color that continued to her thin lips.

Unwillingly, I had a thought that by some possibility, this person was the same as me and was a boy with a girl-like avatar and ran my eyes over her body with lightning speed but, under the sand-colored scarf, through the open zipper of the jacket, the shirt visually expanded out. Furthermore, she had a considerably small stature. Why I didn't realize that was because my line of sight had also been considerably lowered.

In VRMMO's, situations when a male player who calls out "I've lost my way" to a female player, up to 70%, were entirely to flirt.

—However, unexpectedly, that kind of facial expression immediately disappeared.

"...Did you just start this game? Where are you going?"

The mouth that talked in a clear and pretty voice even had a faint smile appearing. Puzzling it over in my mind as to why that could be, I finally hit upon the reason. This girl was making the same misunderstanding as the avatar buyer who had talked to me earlier. That I was a girl like her. How the hell did this happen.

"Ah...um..."

On reflex, I thought to clear up my gender but right on the verge of doing so, I stopped.

There is a certain reason to this, as the circumstances of this situation seem to be good. After this, at another time, if a male player were to call out to me and misunderstand that I am female, it can become a little bit of a difficult situation. 'Use whatever you can use' is my second motto so, though it is a bit mean to this girl, it's best to just leave this misunderstanding as it is.

"Yes, it is my first time. Where would a cheap weapons shop and the administrative building be? I want to go to those places but..."

After answering with a comparatively, slightly less husky voice, the girl inclined her head in confusion.

"The administration building? What are you going there for?"

"Well... To register for the battle royale event happening soon..."

The moment she heard that, the girl's big eyes grew wide and started blinking with surprise.

"Uh...uhhhh, even though you just started today? Well, there is nothing about who can or can't register for the event, but your level is probably not sufficient..."

"Ah, this isn't an initial character. It was converted from another game...."

"Wow, so that's how it is."

The girl's indigo blue eyes momentarily flashed, and this time, her mouth rose up in a clear smile.

"Is it alright if I ask? Why did you decide to come to this game that's full of dust and reeks of oil?"

"That is... Uhh, until now, I've always been playing just fantasy games but, I thought once in a while, I should try a cyber-like game... Something like a gun battle seemed interesting."

Well, this wasn't exactly a lie. How far the VRMMO sense of someone like me who specializes in fighting with swords can go in GGO somewhat interests me.

"I see. That's why you suddenly want to attend the BoB. You've got guts."

The girl, after a laugh, nodded.

"Alright, I'll show you around. It just so happens that I'm also going to the administration building. Before that is the gun shop right? Is there a gun that you like?"

"Uh, well..."

Even though she said it, nothing immediately came to mind. After I couldn't come up with an answer, she smiled again.

"Well then, let's go to a market with many different types. This way."

Immediately turning around, I frantically chased after the tail of the scarf worn by the girl who had already started to walk.

We walked through winding paths, walkways, alleys, and staircases from one to another that I thought were impossible to remember and after walking a number of minutes, we reached the main street that the path had opened up onto. Positively, I saw a dazzling shop that I thought was a major company's foreign investment group.

"Over there."

She smoothly wove her way through the crowd and approached the shop.

The large interior of the shop was full of various colored lights and noises that it was like an amusement park. The NPC clerks were all beautiful women scantily clad in large silver costumes and lavishing an innocent business smile, but what was shocking was what they were all holding and what was adorning every wall. Shining with a black light, they were all hand guns and machine guns and the like.

"It's... It's certainly an interesting store."

After saying so, the girl next to me also let out a wry smile.

"Truthfully, rather than at the overall shops aimed at beginners, you can find better bargains at the more specialized shops. But anyway, if we can find the gun type that you like, then that's fine too."

Even if she said so, there were many players wearing flashy colored clothes loitering around the inside of the shop, who, compared to the desert color of this girl, gave off the feeling of being beginners.

"Now then, what kind of player are you?"

After being asked, I immediately thought about it. Due to converting from the other world, the tendency of the character's abilities would have been brought over.

"Umm, main focus is strength and then speed... I guess?"

"A strength-agility type huh. Then, probably the type who carries a heavy assault rifle or a large diameter machine gun for the main arm and a handgun for a sidearm would be good... but, you just converted right? Then, money is..."

"Oh... right"

In a flash, I shook my right hand and brought out my window. Even if my abilities were transferred by the convert, it couldn't transfer over items and money. Therefore, the amount of money shown at the bottom of the storage column was—

"Um... 1000 credits."

"...So the initial amount."

When our gazes met, I was met with a troubled smile.

"Yeah..."

Her expression returning, the girl touched her thin lips with her fingertip and inclined her head.

"...With that amount of money, you probably can't buy anything more than a small ray gun... for a live ammunition gun, a second hand revolver... what to do... umm, if it's okay..."

Guessing what she was trying to say, I hurriedly shook my head. No matter what MMO, a newbie who receives too much help from a veteran cannot be praised. I didn't come to this game to have fun but, even so, as a gamer, there is a line that I cannot cross.

"No, it's okay. You don't have to do that. Um... Is there somewhere where I can make some money fast? If I'm not mistaken, I heard that there was a casino in this game..."

The girl, as expected, showed a smile that was slightly amazed.

"For such places like that, it would be better if you have an excess amount of money. That said, around here, there are both small and big ones. If I remember correctly, in this store..."

Pivoting her head, she pointed to the inside of the shop.

"There's a similar kind of gambling game. Look."

Looking closer, it was a large walled off area that, in terms of game machines, was an excessively large substitute.

It was roughly 3 meters wide and 20 meters long. Laid out on metal tiles, surrounded by a waist high fence, an NPC dressed with a gunman butt strap was standing the furthest inside. At the front, instead of a fence, there was a metal closure bar where I could see a square cashier-like pillar.

Behind the gunman, who would sometimes draw his handgun from the holster on his hip, twirl it around with the end of his finger, on the brick wall with countless bullet holes etched into it, at the top, there was a pink neon sign with the word "Untouchable".

"...This is?"

After I asked, the girl, while shifting her finger, explained it to me.

"It's a game where you enter the gate in front of you and while avoiding the gunfire of the NPC inside, you try to see how close you can approach. The highest score until now is, look over there."

Where her index finger was extended and pointing to, in the inner part of the fence on the floor, there was a thin, red, luminescent line. It slightly exceeded two-thirds of the entire area.

"Wow, how much can you receive?"

"Um, it costs 500 credits to play and you get 1000 if you break through ten meters, and 2000 for fifteen meters. And if you can somehow touch the gunman, you get all of the money that players have poured in up until now."

"All, all of it!?"

"Look, the sign indicates that there is a carry over. 1, 10, around 300,000 huh."

"That... That's an incredible amount of money."

"But it's impossible."

The girl immediately replied and shrugged her shoulders.

"That gunman, once you cross the eight meter line, will respond with cheating quick draws. Even though it's a revolver, with an unreasonable high speed reload, it does a 3-round burst fire. By the time you can see the prediction line, it's already too late."

"Prediction line..."

At that time, the girl pulled my sleeve and with a small voice, whispered.

"Look, there is someone who will increase the sum again."

Returning my eyes from the gunman to the entrance, a three-person group of guys were approaching it.

In that group, one person, the guy who was wearing a military jacket apparently intended for use in cold areas with a gray on white camouflage, stood in front of the gate while psyching himself up. He pushed on the top portion of the cashier panel with the palm of his right hand, and with just that, the fare was paid and exceptionally lively fanfare resounded. All at once, from here and there, a gallery of around 10 people gathered.

The NPC gunman shouted a "Let's knock this bastard's ass up to the moon!"—like slang, and brought his right hand to the holster holding his gun. In front of the cold camouflaged male, a green hologram indicating a large number {3} materialized, with a sound effect accompanying the decrease to 2, 1 and at the same time as it reached 0, the metal bar at the gate opened.

"Nuuuuuooooooorrrryyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The cold district guy, while raising a war cry, dashed a few steps or so I thought, and spread out both legs and did an emergency stop. He opened his eyes completely, and suddenly, bent his upper body to the right, raised his left hand and right foot in a strange posture.

'What kind of dance is that?', is what I thought and at that moment, bullets, shining brightly red, passed through the space ten centimeters to the left of the cold district guy's head, under the left armpit, and under the left knee. The NPC gunman had pulled his gun from his holster and fired three shots in a row. It was a splendid evasion but it was like the cold district guy seemed to understand the course that the bullet traveled through.

"...Just now, that was the trajectory...?"

I whispered, turning my head and the girl with the water colored hair nodded, and replied with the same low voice.

"That's right. Evasion by means of «Trajectory Perception»."

The cold district guy ferociously dashed again right as the firing line disappeared and again, halted immediately. This time, he spread both legs wide and bent his upper body ninety degrees.

Immediately, along with a high-pitched growl, two bullets passed above his head and one below his crotch. Forward again and then halting. It was like a game of «Red Light/ Green Light»

The cold district guy showed quick movements, and all at once, he had advanced seven meters. At that moment, I thought, 'another three meters and he can get back twice the amount he used to play.'

Up until now, the NPC, who has been rapidly firing three shots steadily in the same interval, unloaded the bullets with a lag between the first two bullets and the third bullet. The cold district guy avoided the bullet that flew late with a jump but, with the landing, he destroyed his balance and one hand approached the ground. When he tried to stand up in a rush, it was already too late. The gunman's right hand flashed and the emitted firing line scattered orange colored sparks on the guy's white vest.

A miserable fanfare played. The gunman shouted out abusive victory words and the pool money display in the background, accompanied by a small metallic sound, rose by five-hundred credits. The cold district guy dropped his shoulders, and dejectedly walked out of the gate.

"...so?"

The girl next to me, while slightly smiling under her scarf, shrugged her shoulders.

"Because you definitely can't move in a straight line, you can only move largely to the left and right and whatever you try, that is the limit."

"Hmm...I see. When you can see the perception line, it's already too late."

While I was muttering, I was moving my legs forward and approaching the gate.

"Wait... Wait a sec, you..."

To the girl with wide eyes trying to stop me, I returned a light smile and pushed my right hand on the cashier.

I heard a sound like an old style register. A lively sound reverberated.

Perhaps because of the appearance of another fool or perhaps due to my own appearance, the audience and the three man group grew astir. The girl with the scarf put both hands on her hips and was shaking her head slightly with a fed up expression.

At the same time as the gunman's abusive voice that was different from earlier, the countdown started right in front of my eyes.

I lowered my waist and took the posture for a full power dash. The number decreased and the moment the metal bar opened, I kicked off and jumped onto the floor.

While advancing a few steps, the gunman quickly raised his right hand and from the tip of the tightly held gun, three red lines extended. They were pointing at my head, the right side of my chest, and my left leg.

—The moment I felt this, with all of my strength, I jumped forward to the right. Immediately after, an orange firing line passed through to the left of my body. Right away, I kicked off the panel with my right leg and returned to the center.

Of course, inside a VRMMO game, this was my first time confronting a gun.

However, in ALO and SAO, there are many monsters that attack from long range with bows and arrows, venom, and magic. There is one way to avoid the trajectory of those attacks and that is to read the shooting line from the enemy's eyes. Probably due to the developer Kayaba Akihiro's fixation on details, the behavior of the monsters in VRMMO's based on the cardinal system were all given the characteristic of pointing their sight at the targeted point without any deviation.

The NPC who was pointing his gun at me at this moment was also probably not exempt from this rule.

I stared at nothing but the gunman's eyes, not even looking at the red trajectory perception line or even at the black muzzle. From the lifeless, twitching movements, I grasped the hint of the trajectory that the bullet will fly, and at the same time, just barely moving to the left or the right, and possibly up or down, and avoiding the soundless indicated perception line itself. In fact, when the bullet passed through, I was already entering the stance before the next dash.

When I had avoided two sets of three-burst attacks, it seemed that I had passed the ten meter mark and a short sound effect sounded. However, that sound nearly didn't reach me.

The gunman released the cylinder that had become empty after shooting six bullets and at the same time as he hurled the empty cartridge behind his back, with his left hand, he fully loaded the gun with six bullets. The entire series of operations took half a second —truly a cheat-ish quick draw— to pull off before again being pointed towards me.

The next attack was not the clear cut three-shot rapid-fire up until now. More than half of it due to intuition, I avoided the irregular rhythm of two, one and then three bullets and moved five meters. Again, there was a short fanfare. At the same time was the gunman's lightning fast half second reload.

The remaining distance was five meters and I was already in front of the enemy. It might have been my imagination but I could clearly see the bearded face distort into a loathsome expression.

Under the ten gallon hat, the black eyes quivered a little and moved down to the same level as my chest. Deciding that avoiding to the left or right was impossible, I threw my body down, sliding on the metal tile. I passed under the six firing lines that were released like a machine gun and reached two and a half meters remaining.

With this, the enemy had no more bullets again. Even if there was a half second gap to reload once more, it was enough for a touchdown.

While rising, what I thought was that I saw the gunman's eyes broadly grinning. At least, that was what I felt.

On reflex, I changed the intention of my last dash and jumped up with all of my might.

Without any reload, six laser beams from the revolver passed through the space where I was standing just before.

While screaming 'What the hell was that!' inside my mouth, I spun a complete rotation and landed in front of the gunman.

Here, I wanted to shout out something cool but, before any further trump cards are used, like a beam coming from his eyes, I should decide the match, so I quickly leapt at the leather wearing opponent's chest.

After a moment of silence as if the sounds in the shop had disappeared.

"YOU ACTUALLY....!!!"

Along with that grandiose shout, the gunman collapsed onto the floor onto his knees holding his head with both hands. At the same time, there was a storm of disorderly fanfare.

A collapsing sound resounded, and raising my head to it, the brick wall behind the gunman collapsed as if it exploded from within. Without losing any time for surprise, a rain of all of the goods roughly flowed out from inside. It sprang back up at my feet and as a good sound came from it, it disappeared.

Underneath the neon sign, the digital numbers of the carry-over sum hectically decreased and before long, it became zero and at the same time, the money colored waterfall also stopped. A noticeably noisy sound echoed from inside the shop as the game was reset and the gunman, too, rose up and started to spin his hand gun around his fingertip. As usual, he started to yell out provocative slang but after the cheatingly extreme display of 12 rapid-fire shots earlier, it was doubtful if anyone who decides to challenge him will appear.

"...fuu"

I let out a breath and escaped the game lane from the exit on the left side.

At that moment, from the audience of people that had multiplied at some point, a swirl of commotion sprang forth. Voices saying things like 'what was that earlier', 'who is that person' mingled together.

From the edge of the crowd of people, the girl with the water colored hair, half-jogging, rushed over to me and with both eyes unintentionally wide open like a cat, stared at me. After a few seconds, a jumbled and cracked voice flowed out from her lips.

"... You, what kind of reflexes do you have...? That last moment, in front of my eyes... You avoided the laser beams from two meters away... Even though, at that range, there's already nearly no time lag between the bullet path prediction line and the actual fire..."

"Uh, ummm... that's because..."

I hesitated for a short moment as to how to answer and in the end, said.

"That's because, this bullet avoiding game is a game to predict the bullet path prediction line isn't it?"

"Pre...Predict the prediction line!?"

The girl's cute scream traveled through the air inside the shop. All of the audience also opened their mouths and fell silent.

.................................

After a few minutes, finally, at the point when the crowd had broken up into small groups, I was twisting my neck here and there to see the rifles inside the showcases.

"Umm... Even though the caliber is smaller than the submachine gun, why is this assault rifle bigger?"

I tried the simple question on the kindhearted girl standing next to me, but it seemed like she still hadn't cooled down from the lingering effects of the shock, and like a cat that saw something it doesn't usually see, she was staring at me with eyes mixed with caution and curiosity.

"... You don't even know something like that and you have such an unthinkable evasion skill... You said you converted right? What kind of game were you in before?"

"Uh, umm... I was always in a fantasy type game..."

"I see... Well, whatever. If you're entering the BoB preliminaries, there's an opportunity to show me how you actually fight. Now, what was it, the reason the assault rifle has a small caliber? That started from America's M16, with the high-speed small diameter bullet design concept based on accuracy and an emphasis on penetrating power..."

At that point, abruptly closing her mouth, the girl frowned as if she felt bitterness from her own words. But that strange reaction also disappeared in a moment and right away, a more temperate smile took its place.

"... That kind of thing doesn't matter does it? Now, let's hurry up and finish your shopping."

"Ri...Right. Let's go."

While I was doubtfully nodding, she turned her sight from me and started to slowly walk in front of a large showcase.

"Having earned more than 300K, I think you can buy a pretty good one but... because it comes down to what the person likes and is committed to in the end, the first thing is to know that."

"Committed to...?"

I followed after the girl and looked around at all of the gleaming black guns but, no 'ping' would come. That was natural, as in terms of my knowledge about guns, it ended at 'for handguns, there are revolvers and automatics'.

While groaning, before I knew it, we had reached the end of the display cases that were lined up inside the shop without any gaps. Since it's come to this, I'll leave it up to the girl to decide——— is what I thought when something strange entered my field of vision.

In the corner of a long showcase, something that was clearly different from a gun, a few metal, tube-like objects were lined up.

They were three centimeters in diameter and around twenty-five centimeters long. On one side, a metal fixture like a mountaineering carabiner hung down, on the other side was slightly thicker and in the center, there was a black hole like some kind of discharge opening.

"Umm... What is this?"

Hearing me, the girl gave a fleeting glance and shrugged as if there was a kink in her shoulders.

"Ah... That is a 'Kouken'."

"Ko-Kouken?"

"Sword of light, written as 'kouken'. The actual name is «Photon Sword» but everyone usually calls it 'Laser Blade' or 'Light Saber' or 'Beam Sabre'."

"Sw-Sword!? In this world, there is a sword?"

I rushed up to the showcase. Now that she mentions it, it strongly resembles the weapon in an old science fiction movie that the knights who protect the order of the universe wielded.

"There is but, in all practicality, there's no one who uses it."

"Wh... Why not?"

"Well, that is because, if you don't cross over into close-range, you can't hit, and to get that close, without a doubt, you'll become like a honeycomb..."

The girl stopped her words there and with her lips slightly open, stared at me.

Almost grinning, I just smiled and responded.

"In other words, it's alright as long as I can get close, right?"

"Bu-But, even though your evasion skills are amazing, against a full auto gun... ah."

While the girl had not yet finished speaking, with my finger, I pressed on the one with a metallic black hue coating that I liked. I selected [BUY] from the choices in the popup menu that appeared and with great speed, an NPC salesperson rushed over and with a smile, presented a metallic panel like object. I realized that the green surface scanner in the middle of the board was the same as the cashier in the earlier game and pushed on it with my right palm.

The sound effect of the cash register chimed happily, and the panel showed a black photon sword appearing with a *fuun* sound effect. I took it, and the shop attendant said 'thank you for your patronage~' and bowed before returning back to its position.

"...Ahh, I bought it."

The girl glanced over me from 45 degrees to the right and said this,

"Of course, everyone has their own personal fighting style."

"Yeah. If it's sold, it means that it can definitely be used, even if it's this."

I answered as I used my right hand to hold tightly onto the short cylinder shaped weapon, and then brought it right in front of it. I used my thumb to press the switch, and with a low *Guun*, a purplish-blue energy blade vibrated out as it reached out with a length of about 1 meter, lighting the entire place.

"Oohh."

I couldn't help but simply call it. I had already wielded swords of different sizes up till now, but this is the first time the blade I'm wielding is made of pure light.

I stared at it for a while, and found that the sword itself didn't have any direction as the entire circular section was just like a long and thin cylinder. I tried to swing in a horizontal manner, and then used the one-handed sword skill I was familiar with in SAO even without the system assisting, the 'Vertical Square'.

*Bu-n*, *buon*, the light saber let out a delightful sound as it sliced out into the air in complicated trajectories before finally stopping. Of course, my hand didn't feel any resistance because of the weight of the sword.

"Heh—"

The girl clapped a few times beside me and showed a shocked look.

"You really looked like the real deal there. Is that a skill from a fantasy world...? Looks like I can't underestimate you, huh?"

"No, not really... but this is really light."

"Of course. This weapon has no other advantages other than being light. Alright— If you want to use that as your main weapon, it's better to have an SMG or a handgun as your sidearms. You have to restrain your opponent if you want to close in."

"...I see. That's true."

"How much do you have left?"

I called out the window. My 300,000 credits had dropped to 150,000 credits. I said out the amount, and the girl blinked before shrugging.

"Uhe, so a light saber is so expensive? 150K left... You have to have money to buy bullets and protective gear. Looks like you can only buy a handgun."

"I'll leave the rest to you then."

"If you want to take part in BoB, it's better to have a powerful weapon... If you want to hold the enemy off, it should be more important to take accuracy over power...hm..."

The girl coughed dryly as she slowly moved towards a shelf with a pile of handguns over there. Finally, she pointed at one of them and said,

"You'll run out of money like this, but this «FN Five-Seven» should be good."

Her slender finger pointed at a small automatic handgun with a smooth round grip.

"Five...seven?"

"It refers to the caliber. It's 5.7mm, and a little smaller than the normal 9mm Parabellum bullet, but the shape is similar to a sniper bullet, so the accuracy and piercing ability are rather good. It's a unique bullet, so it can only be shared with the assault rifle «P90» that was also made by FN, but I guess it's alright since you only have this gun..."

"I-I see..."

On hearing such an unrestrained explanation from her, I again felt a slight interest in this girl with light blue hair.

GGO is a game where the gender is fixed, so she should definitely be a girl in real life, but I really couldn't tell her race and age. What I could tell from my gut feeling is that her age should be about the same as me.

Since we're playing this MMORPG, it's natural to be familiar with the items in the game. It's like when Asuna and Lyfa were mentioning the swords and magic in ALO. It wouldn't end without talking for 50 minutes.

But— for some reason, I feel that the 'gun' and those things were completely different. Also, I heard that most of the guns that appeared in GGO were weapons that existed in real life. Also, this kind of weapon would easily make one think about bloodshed and killing. This girl who's of the same age as me would actually dive into such a world, and continue to fight until she becomes a veteran player that understood all the guns. I'm rather interested in her motivation and driving force to play this game...

"Oi, are you listening?"

"Ah, ye-yeah."

I hurriedly interrupted my thoughts and nodded my head.

"I'll buy this then. Is there any other thing that I should buy?"

I bought the «Five-Seven» pistol she recommended, no, the handgun, and also bought pre-prepared bullet magazines, a thick bulletproof jacket, a belt-type «Optical gun shielding Field» and other small equipment. Once I finished my purchase, the 300,000 credits I earned in the dodging game went up in smoke.

I felt the weight of the light saber on my right waist and the «Five Seven» on my left waist as I walked out of the shop, and once I went outside, I found that the sunset sky was gradually reddening.

"Sorry to delay you for so long. Thank you very much."

I lowered my head and said my thanks. The girl smiled under the muffler and shook her head before saying,

"No, I didn't really have anything to do before the preliminaries...Ah."

The girl stopped midway through as she spoke, and hurriedly looked over at the large and thick chronometer on her left hand.

"Damn it. The registration closes at 3. Wah, I might not be able to make it even if I rush over to the presidential villa..."

"Eh, you're going to register now too?"

"Yeah."

Having been affected by this girl who's giving a pale look, I looked over at the digital watch I just bought. The time over there showed— 14:51.

I looked up and frantically asked,

"The-Then, isn't there any teleport movement skill or something like that? Like a transport item or spell or some superpower or something!?"

"I'll tell you as we run!"

After shouting that, the girl hurriedly turned around and ran over to the north side of the road. I hurriedly followed that swaying muffler and spent a few seconds to catch up to her. She glanced over at me and said with an anxious voice,

"...There's only one kind of instant movement in GGO. That's when you revive after you die. The revival area in Gurokken is at the Presidential villa, but the HP definitely won't decrease on the streets, so we can't use that technique..."

We dashed straight down the street where NPCs and players were, and the girl continued to explain to me from time to time. Also, I had to use my entire effort just to catch up to her. I couldn't get used to the visual line that's weaker than ALO, and she was really running very fast. It's more of her refined movements than the support of her ability, and I could tell that she was completely used to movement after she dived.

The girl again looked at the watch in her hand and pointed at the street in front before saying,

"...The presidential villa's over there. It's at the north end of the street, so there's still 3km. it'll take about 5 minutes to operate the registration machine, so if we don't reach within three minutes...!"

I looked over at the main street that was extended out, and found that there was a large tower that was giving off red light because of the sunset. It was a straight path, but even if we run at a speed of 1km/min while dodging people, it would be very tough in the VR world even if we can't pant.

If I can't register in time, it'll be because I didn't do my investigations properly, but if the light blue-haired girl beside me didn't help me, she could have done the job easily. Feeling somewhat guilty, I glanced over at her and saw her gritting her teeth. The side of her face was showing desperation, and a slight voice came with the virtual breathing sound could be heard.

"...Please...Please, got to make it..."

—I suppose that to this girl, the preliminaries of the 'Bullet of Bullets' that's about to happen shouldn't be just a game, but something with a huge meaning behind it. There must be a reason why she had to take part in this tournament...

After I instinctively realized this, I hurriedly looked around, hoping to find a way to get to the presidential villa that's far away within 3 minutes.

At this moment, an advert billboard appeared in my eyes.

On the wide land on the left, there was parking space that expanded after a while. There were 3 mini vehicles that were colored red, yellow and blue, and deep inside at the upright panel, there were words «Rent-A-Buggy!» on a Neon Sign. Of course, I immediately knew what that meant.

"...That's the one!"

I hurriedly grabbed the left hand of the girl and started to change direction. The girl let out an 'eh!?' in shock, and nearly floated up as I grabbed her, but we still moved through the pedestrians and rushed into the carpark with the «Rent-A-Buggy!» sign.

The vehicles that were lined up inside were all buggies, each having a wheel at the front and 2 wheels at the back. I tossed the girl into the red buggy that's parked in front of me and leaped onto the front seat. I found a fingerprint scanner under the meter panel that was similar to the one when I was shopping, put my right hand on it, and the engine immediately started with the sound of a checkout.

Luckily, the front part of the buggy was exactly the same as the motorbike, and it was fully manual. I gripped hard on the handle and pushed the throttle valve without saying anything. The ignition switch inside let out a roar, and the front wheel of the buggy rose up before shooting onto the lane like a bullet.

"KYAH...!"

I heard a cute cry from the back seat, and two slender arms were wrapped around my waist.

"Hang on tight!"

Though it might be too late for it, I cried that out, and after a right turn where the wheels practically scorched the road surface, I threw the acceleration to the max right as we got on the road. After shifting gears up several times, the meter finally crossed 100km. I truly felt glad that I wasn't riding on an electric scooter but an old bike with manual gear selection in the real world.

As I continued to dodge the incoming four-wheelers of the future on the street, I continued to switch gears, and heard the girl shout out into my right ear,

"W...Why!? This buggy is really hard to handle. There aren't even that many male players who can drive it well...!"

—Sorry, but I'm one of those male players that are the exception.

But in such a situation, of course I couldn't say the truth, so I could only vaguely hide it and say,

"No...not really, I played a race-type game before... Woah!"

The large bus in front suddenly changed lanes, and I could only use the rear wheels to glide fully to dodge it. After lowering gears, I again accelerated before moving past it. In fact, in the age where the year 2025 is about to end, it's logical that not many people had the experience of riding on an old-fashioned manual bike. In the first place, the standard for practice at training institutes was electric scooters. I got my bike because an acquaintance of Agil was willing to hand it over to me for free, which was why I worked so hard to get that medium license that allowed manual vehicles. However, a while after collecting that bike that's made from Thailand, I noticed that it was meant to save th