Sword Art Online

Chapter 13

Asuna fought against an increasing uneasiness as she continued to wait for the moment to arrive.

Three minutes ago, she logged out from her room in Yggdrasil City, went back to the Dicey Cafe in the real world and then dialed that person's number. After questioning that person and forcing him to log into ALO, she went back to where everyone was gathered. It has been less than a minute since she logged in, but each second just felt extremely long.

“Calm down, Asuna...but you won't be listening to me anyway.”

Sitting beside her on the sofa was Lisbeth, and once she said this, Asuna then exhaled slightly before answering in a stiff voice,

“Yeah...sorry. But...I just have a bad feeling. Something big must have happened for Kirito-kun to hide this «Laughing Coffin» incident from us and convert to another world. This is definitely not because of a grudge...maybe there's something dangerous in the real world...”

“After seeing that just now...I can't say that you were thinking too much...”

What Lisbeth referred to was the strange incident that happened in the tournament event of the other world «Gun Gale Online», which was airing on the large screen on the wall that's facing the sofa.

The player in a mantle used this chilling handgun to fire one shot at the other player. And then, the player who was hit suddenly disappeared because of a disconnection. And the live telecast they were watching showed the mantle guy declaring to countless players “Don't forget. Nothing is, over. Nothing, is, over—it's showtime—”

On hearing these words, Klein, who was in front of the bar counter felt extremely shocked, but still indicated with certainty that the player under the mantle was a member of the SAO red guild «Laughing Coffin».

During the two years they wandered in the floating city, Asuna herself went through many large-scale battles, and the crusade alliance against the Laughing Coffin members may be one of the most dangerous ever. In a group battle of players vs players, there had never been a case when more than 30 players died.

To be honest, Asuna herself had forgotten about the details of this battle. However, what left the deepest impression on her was the back profile of the «Black Swordsman» that continued to swing his sword like a devil as he stood right in front of the crusade that was about to collapse. If it wasn't for him—Kirito's fighting, the crusade could have been wiped out.

The duration of the battle was rather short compared to clearing boss levels. After the deathmatch, there were about 10 casualties on the crusaders side, and Laughing Coffin had more than 20 casualties. They locked up the survivors of this red guild into the prison of the Black Iron Castle and then held a little mourning for those who died in battle—after that, nobody mentioned that battle again. No matter who it was, Asuna, Klein or Kirito, everyone forgot about this in their own way. That should have been the case...

...However, the unexpected thing was that it's been a year after SAO was cleared and every player was released, yet the bloodied past appeared right in front of them in such a manner.

In the room, Asuna, Klein, Lisbeth, Silica and even Lyfa, who had no direct connection to this continued to remain silent and wait, waiting for the person who should know what was going on.

Another minute after Asuna logged in again, someone finally knocked on the door. That person probably tried his best to log into ALO after receiving contact. However, Lisbeth shouted 'too slow!' the moment he opened the door, which did reflect the thoughts of the other four people.

“...I, I flew over here directly from where I logged in. If ALO has a speed limit, I'll have my license revoked.”

The person who said such a joke was the Undine mage who was like Asuna. His tall and skinny body was wearing a simple robe, and his deep blue hair was casually scattered aside. His gentle and skinny face was wearing silver round glasses.

The man's avatar name was called «Chrysheight». And he, who's considered an ally of Asuna and the rest, had been playing ALO for almost 4 months. However, those who know that his name was formed from the English words that could be translated from his name, «Chrysanthemum» and «Height», were only Asuna and Kirito.

His name in the real world was Kikuoka Seijirou. He was a member of the «Virtual Division» and also an investigator in the «SAO Incident Countermeasure Team». He assisted Kirito in all sorts of ways after he returned to the real world, and also helped save Asuna, so he should be considered their savior. As for why this person, in such a situation, would come over to ALO to create a new character, was because he said that 'I hope to play VRMMO to get more familiar with you guys, Kirito', only for Kirito to coldly state 'I bet this is for gathering information'. Asuna herself did feel that Kikuoka was a little suspicious, but there was no real need to refuse him. Thus, he, who wouldn't log in often, fought with the rest of the party as an ally. Until today, at this moment.

Chrysheight, no, once Kikuoka Seijirou closed the door, he went to the middle of the room in a familiar manner as compared to 4 months ago.

Asuna stamped her boots and arrived in front of Kikuoka, looking at his eyes that were as kind as the real world and simply asked,

“What happened?”

She called from Dicey Cafe, and said that she wanted to know about why Kirito converted to GGO, so she invited him over to her house in Yggdrasil. But as it was Sunday night, and Kikuoka was a civil servant who's single, it was a little too much to ask of him. Luckily, he was at home, so Asuna didn't need to say even more forceful things to him and managed to solve the problem. He said that he was at home, but his voice sounded really soft on the phone, and the phone had an even softer voice in the background. However, Asuna had no time to think about this. Speaking of which, since he rushed over in less than 2 minutes, Asuna should be the one apologizing for asking him out so suddenly, but the anxiety inside the girl made her ignore those words.

On hearing Asuna go straight into the topic, the eyes behind Chrysheight's delightful round spectacles suddenly blinked a few times. Asuna, who was familiar with Kikuoka, knew that he wasn't just shocked, but that his mind was thinking quickly as he showed this expression.

This mage who looked like a teacher coughed dryly a few times before saying,

“If I have to explain it in details, it may take quite some time. To be honest, I don't know how to begin...”

Just when Asuna was about to give him the 'don't mess around', a little figure appeared from the shadows of the glass cups and teacups on the table. The profile looked up at Kikuoka in an adamant manner.

“Let me help you explain it then.”

The owner of the voice was obviously Yui. That face which normally had a cute expression showed a serious expression like Kirito's, and then she said in a silver-bell-like voice,

“The self-proclaimed «Death Gun», or the player «Death Gun» started appearing in the world of «Gun Gale Online» from year 2025, November 9. He shot at the screen in the bar area in the capital of GGO, «SBC Gurokken»...”

Yui began with that and then explained the terrifying situation for another two minutes.

Inside the «anti-crime code area» that makes attacks ineffective, there were two seemingly meaningless shooting incidents. However, what happened then were disconnections that seemed to be triggered by the shooting. The two players who were hit never logged in again. And—in the real world, there were two strange corpses which died at the same time as the shooting.

“...As the news reports only mentioned that the deceased were playing a VRMMO, I couldn't tell if the game was GGO. But as the death symptoms were way too similar, I didn't need to hack into the morgue network system to deduce that the two dead people were «Zekushiido» and «Usujio Tarako». And also, I determined that «Pale Rider», who was disconnected by «Death Gun» 6 minutes 40 seconds ago should be dead in the real world.”

Saying that, Yui closed her mouth and leaned on the glass cup beside her. Asuna quickly reached her hand out to cover the pixie's little body and carried her in front of her chest.

From how she researched the public news on the internet, to personal news, being able to make such conclusions and her language ability to use perfect Japanese to say the data out, the AI Yui's completeness would be rather astounding. But speaking of which, though Yui's ability was outstanding, her emotion process wasn't really strong. When she was the SAO «Mental health counseling program», she nearly crumbled as she was unable to handle the fear, greed, evil intent and negative thoughts that came from countless players.

To her, it should be a huge burden to find information about «Death Gun» and process it. Though the urgent situation Yui talked about brought a huge shock, Asuna still silently brought her lips over to Yui and whispered 'thank you'.

It seemed that Lyfa, Lisbeth, Silica and Klein, who were in the same room were all shocked, so everyone remained silent.

At this moment, the one who first broke the silence was Chrysheight's sturdy words.

“...That was really shocking. I thought that this little thing was the ALO support system «Navagation Pixie»... but to gather so much information and make conclusions in such a short time. Little girl...are you interested in ra(Katakana:ラas in the Japanese version)...no, do you want to work for the «Virtual Division»?”

This bespectacled mage was glared at by Asuna after making a careless joke. He immediately raised his hands and said in a defeated tone,

“Sorry. I don't want to beat about the bush now. What the little girl explained...it's all true. «Zekushiido» and «Usujio Tarako» died soon after they were shot by «Death Gun» because of serious heart failure.”

“...Oi, Chrysheight-san. Are you the one who requested Kirito to investigate? In other words, you knew about these murder incidents but still asked Kirito to move over there?”

Chrysheight raised his right hand to gently stop Klein, who jumped from the bar counter and approached him. At this moment, his spectacles reflected light, hiding the expression under the lens.

“Hold on, Klein-shi. Kirito and I came to the conclusion that those weren't 'murder cases' after discussing these two incidents.”

“What are you trying to say...?”

“Think about that, how do you kill people in a game? AmuSphere's not Nerve Gear. You people should know this best, right? AmuSphere was designed to prevent any damage, so no matter what method was used, it couldn't harm the user's head. It would be even more impossible to stop the heart which wasn't even directly connected to the machine. Kirito and I discussed this last weekend in the real world for a long time, and came to the conclusion that 'A gunshot in the game couldn't even hurt a real body in the real world'.”

On hearing the words Kikuoka said as if he was calming a raging student with calm and perfect logic, Klein could only growl as he went back to the round chair.

Then, Lyfa's hoarse voice broke the silence.

“Chrys-san. Why did you request onii-chan to enter GGO?”

The slender long legs reached out from Lyfa's bright green divided skirt as she stepped on the floor before standing up. Then this top-notch swordsman amongst the Sylphs slowly closed in on Kikuoka like it was a kendo match.

“...You should have felt before...no, you should have realized that there's something wrong now just like us, right? That player called Death Gun has some terrifying secret.”

“...”

This time, Kikuoka finally went silent, and at this moment, Asuna said a fact he shouldn't have known.

“...Chrys-san, «Death Gun» is a SAO Survivor like us. And he was also a member of the worst red guild, the «Laughing Coffin».”

The mage's tall and skinny body jerked, and his thin lips gasped.

Even this high-ranking official had to feel shocked. His normally narrow and kind eyes immediately widened. Two seconds later, Chrysheight said with a deep tone,

“...Is this true?”

“Yes. I can't remember his name, but Klein and I can testify as we had taken part in the «Laughing Coffin Crusade». In other words...Death Gun didn't kill in the game for the first time. Could you call it a coincidence?”

“Bu...but...then, Asuna-kun, do you really think there was some supernatural power or curse existing? Did Death Gun use some supernatural power from SAO and used it to kill?”

“Well...”

Asuna could not nod her head immediately and could only bite her lips.

During this time, Lisbeth used this opportunity to say,

“Asuna...does Chrysheight know about SAO? I heard that he was an official involved with the internet in the real world and came to play ALO to research on VRMMO...”

At this moment, Kikuoka himself unexpectedly nodded his head to admit it. Maybe he never intended to keep his identity a secret. He started explaining his position.

“You're right, Lisbeth-kun. I used to work in another job though. I was a member of the «SAO Case Victims Rescue Force» once. Even so...we couldn't think of any counter-action, and is just a group with no real power...”

On hearing him say this, Lisbeth widened her eyes slightly, showing a complicated look on her face.

Chrysheight acted like he didn't do anything, but what he said wasn't true. The «Rescue Force» took action actively in November 2022 after the SAO incident happened, and quickly moved 10,000 victims over to hospitals all over the country. It was said that it was hard to get rooms and fees, but the groups' continued negotiation through soft and hard means caused the government department to take action. Asuna heard from Kirito that this Kikuoka was the center of this group. Right now, all the SAO Survivor knew about the tough fight the «Rescue Force» did, and every single one of them was grateful for what they did.

Being hard-pressed between the anger they had about him requesting Kirito to do such a dangerous job and the fact that he helped them before, Lisbeth and Klein could only remain silent. Asuna herself represented everyone and said silently to Kikuoka,

“Chrysheight...I don't know how Death Gun killed. However, I can't just let Kirito fight alone against this sworn enemy. You can find the real address and name of this player who called himself Death Gun, right? It's not easy, but if we list all the survivors of «Laughing Coffin» and then check whether their houses were linked to the GGO server, or if you ask the contracted network server to provide data...”

“Ho, hold on. There has to be a warrant from the court before we can do these, but it will take quite some time to explain the entire situation...”

Kikouka raised his arms to comfort Asuna, but blinked as if he noticed something and then shook his head weakly.

“No, this can't be done. The data the Virtual Division has on SAO players were the real names, character names and final levels. Their guild name and their... number of human kills were unknown. Thus, we can't find his name and address in the real world just by knowing that he was originally a member of «Laughing Coffin».”

“...”

Asuna bit her lips hard. She did have an impression on «Death Gun»'s manner of speech and actions. She definitely saw him during the crusade and when they were clearing up after the crusade. But no matter what, she was unable to remember his name. No, she never once thought of knowing his name as she wanted to quickly remove the memory of that guild...

“—Onii-chan must be in the battlefield trying to remember his name.”

Lyfa suddenly said this.

In a certain sense, this girl was closer to Kirito in the real world than anyone—as she was his kin. She held her hands tightly in front of her chest and continued,

“Onii-chan looked scared when he came back last night. I guess he should have noticed that a member of «Laughing Coffin» was in GGO during the preliminaries yesterday. And he found out that person could really kill someone through some method. So to remember that person's past name and make him stop «PK»...onii-chan would want to put an end to this...”

Hearing this, Asuna gasped slightly.

Though she was a little unhappy, Lyfa's guess should be right. No, Kirito would even think that it was «his responsibility». It was their duty as members of the Laughing Coffin Crusade to stop them from doing evil ever again.

—Kirito-kun, you...you're always like this no matter when...

“This...THIS IDIOT...!”

Klein shouted and slammed at the bar table. The chin that had a full moustache twisted his lips and continued shouting,

“THAT'S TOO SELFISH! IF YOU HAD JUST SAID SOMETHING...IF YOU HAD JUST SAID SOMETHING, EVEN IF I WOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH HELL, I WOULD HAVE DEFINITELY TRANSFERRED OVER...”

“Yeah...but Kirito-san wouldn't say this. He won't get us involved once he feels that there's danger. He's that sort of person...”

Hearing the crying and smiling Silica say that, Lisbeth beside her smiled and nodded.

“...That is right. He was like that from before... If it's like that, then right now in the tournament, he might be protecting someone from the enemy.”

On hearing those words, everyone looked at the large screen on the wall like they were attracted over.

There were scenes of special effects coming out from the guns, but there was still no sign of Kirito's name, and the mantle guy who called himself «Death Gun» never appeared.

Thinking about it carefully, everyone present didn't know how Kirito looked in GGO. If he wasn't even the main character that the camera was focused on which shows the name, but as an opponent fighting on the screen, Asuna and the rest wouldn't even recognize him. However, at least the player namelist on the right side of the screen had Kirito's name on, and the other players were quickly shown to be [Dead], he was still [Alive]. This meant that he was having a savage battle silently with «Death Gun» on this wide lone island that became a battlefield.

Asuna couldn't take part in the tournament even if she converted over to GGO, so she could not help Kirito. But she wanted to do something to support, protect and encourage her lover.

Asuna held the passionate feelings inside her and asked Lyfa,

“Lyfa-chan, Kirito-kun didn't dive in from his own room, right?”

“Yeah, that's right. I only know that he dived into GGO from somewhere in the city.”

Asuna herself heard of this from Kirito. The reason why she didn't log into ALO at home but at the Dicey Cafe in Okachimachi was that she wanted to meet Kirito immediately after the tournament's over. Asuna nodded her head and turned to Kikuoka.

“...Chrysheight. You should know where Kirito-kun logged in, right?”

“Ah...well...”

The mage in long robes shook his head and murmured, and that sea-colored hair of his continued to shake with a strange angle. But just before Asuna was about to step forward, he immediately nodded his head and said,

“—Yes, I know. I arranged for the place to log in, so the safety's alright. There's CCTV, and someone is keeping him company all the time. I can guarantee that Kirito-kun's body in the real world won't be in any danger...”

“Where's the place?”

“...Well...that's...in the hospital at Ochinomizu in Chiyoda...but don't be insecure that it's a hospital. I chose that place to allow easy access to an ECG. Of course, it's not like I knew that something could happen to the body...”

Kikuoka continued to say words that sounded like excuses, but Asuna waved her hand to interrupt him and questioned him,

“The hospital in Chiyoda? That one Kirito-kun stayed at as he recuperated?”

“Yeah, that's the one...”

—It was nearby. Right between the Dicey Cafe in Okachimachi and Ochinomizu was Suehirochou. It wouldn't even take 5 minutes to get there by taxi.

Thinking this, Asuna said firmly,

“I want to get over there. To where Kirito-kun is in the real world.”