Two Years Later

Hey guy! Well... I'm a little pissed. I already wrote all of this, but I was an idiot and didn't save the file! So, I have to reedit all of this chapter. *sigh* Sometimes I hate my computer.

Well, I got various reviews from the last chapter on things such as any changes, name issues (mainly just Kurain) and other stuff.

Well, changes. For one, every love interest of Kirita's (sans Shirika) are being changed to males. So Sachi, Rizubetto, and Asuna. Sachi has the same name, as that one is pretty gender neutral. But Rizubetto, thanks to Knowledgeseeker66 suggested Yoshino, thus, Yoshino is born to take Rizubetto's place (same person, different gender). Knowledgeseekr66 also gave me suggestions for Asuna, and I chose Akira. So Akira is born (with some minor personality changes).

Kurain, for those who were wondering, is Klein. Shirika is Silica, and Rizubetto is Lisbeth. I use rōmaji when I give names or titles (there are times I don't like in this chapter I don't use the rōmaji names for common items, creatures, etc.).

Knowledgeseeker66 also asked if I have voices for my characters. I really only have a few right now, including Egiru and Kuradīru (wanna' see if you guys can figure these two out). Here they are:

Kirita: Amanda Lee (YouTube LeeandLie).

Akira: Johnny Yong Bosch

Kurain: Cirspin Feeman

Kayaba: Robert McCollum

Egiru: Andrew Love

Kuradīru: Mark Stoddard

This chapter is a mix of Lite Novel One chapters four, five, and half of six. Four was explanation, five was Kirito getting the Ragout Rabbit's meat and six was he and Asuna eating it. So I merged those together, with the end beginning Kirita's reminiscing of the events leading up to that moment ('Aria in the Starless Night', 'Lite Novel Volume Two', and 'Lite Novel Volume 8'). It will start with the last chapter of volume eight (which is as the Death Game begins), then go onto 'Aria in the Starless Night', then the last chapter of Volume 2 (Red-nosed Reindeer), then the first chapter of Volume 2 (The Black Swordsman), then the first chapter of Volume 8 (A Murder Case in the Area), then the second chapter of volume 2 (Warmth of the Heart), and will go back to Volume 1, and continue till Kirita and Akira get married, and will go to the third chapter of Volume 2 (Morning Dew Girl) and then will finish up the Sōdoāto Onrain Arc. Yeah, it doesn't go in order. But I had already started this chapter, and didn't feel like stopping to in chronological order. So, I made this plan, which the flashback chapters all go by in the span of, like, one conversation. But who cares, it doesn't have to make much sense. It's an anime/manga/novel, it could actually happen.

Enjoy the chapter!
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One month into the game, two thousand people were dead.

The hope that outside help would come had been crushed, not even a message had gotten through.

I didn't see it myself, but they said that the panic and the madness that took hold of the players when they realized that they really couldn't get back was unbelievable. There were people crying and others wailing, some even tried to dig up the ground of the city saying that they were going to destroy this world. Of course, all buildings were non-destructible objects, so this attempt failed without any results to show for it.

They said it took days for the players to accept the situation and think of what to do afterword.

The players were split into four categories.

The first consisted of a little over half of the players—they were the ones who still wouldn't accept the conditions that Kayaba Akihiko put forth and still waited for outside help.

I understood what they were thinking painfully well. Their real bodies would be lying on a bed or sitting on a chair fast asleep. That was reality and this situation was «fake». If there was even the smallest discovery, they might be able to get out. Of course, the log out button was gone but there might be something that the creators of the game might have overlooked….

And outside, the company who ran the game, Āgasu, would be trying harder than anyone to save the players. If they could just wait they might be able to open their eyes, have a teary reunion with their family, and then return to school or work and this would all have been just something to talk about….

It wasn't really unreasonable to think like this. I think I was hoping for the same thing. At least, deep inside.

Their plan of action was to «wait». They didn't take even a single step out of the city and used the money they had been allotted at the beginning of the game (the currency was called «Col» in this world) sparingly, buying only the food they needed to get through the day and finding cheap inns to sleep in, and walked around in groups spending each day without any thought.

Thankfully the «Starting City» was a city that took up 20% of the first floors surface and was large enough to fit a Tokyo district. So the five thousand players would have had sufficient room to live in.

But no help was forthcoming, however long they waited. On some days the sky outside was not a crystal blue but cover with grey clouds. Their money couldn't last forever and they realized that they would have to do something.

The second category consisted of about 30%, or three thousand players. It was a group where all the players worked together. The leader of it was the admin of the largest online game info site.

The players who made up this category were split into several groups and shared all of their gains, collected information on the game, and set out to explore the labyrinth area where the stairs were. The leaders of this group set up their base of operations in the «Black Iron Castle» and sent orders to their various groups.

The huge group didn't have a name for quite a while, but after all the members received a uniform, somebody gave them the somewhat grim name, «The Army».

The third group consisted of, at an estimate, a thousand players. It was made up of people who had wasted all their Col but didn't want to make money by fighting monsters.

As a side-note, there were two basic bodily needs in SAO: one was fatigue and the other was hunger.

I understood why fatigue existed: virtual information and real information were no different to the users' brains. If players became sleepy they could go to an inn and rent a room to sleep in, depending the amount of money they had. If one saved up a lot of Col they could buy a house, but the sum needed wasn't small.

Hunger was a need that many players thought of as strange. Although they didn't really want to imagine what was happening to their bodies in the real world, it was most likely that we were being force-fed nutrients somehow. That meant that the emptiness we felt here had nothing to do with our real bodies.

But if we bought some virtual bread or meat in the game and ate it, the emptiness disappeared and we felt full. There was no way to find out how this strange mechanism worked short of asking a professional in the field of neurology.

So the opposite was true too: the hunger didn't disappear unless we ate something. We most probably wouldn't die if we starved, but the fact that it's a need that's hard to ignore doesn't change. So the players visited the restaurants that the NPCs ran daily and ate some food at least virtually.

Also, there was no need to excrete your waste in the game. As to what was happening in the real world, I didn't even want to think about it.

Well, back to the main point….

The players who had squandered all their money in the beginning, who couldn't sleep or eat, usually joined the huge organization that a mentioned a while ago, «The Army». This was because they received at least something to eat if the followed the orders from the top.

But there are always those who can't ever cooperate with others however hard they try. The ones who never wanted to join, or got kicked out for causing trouble, used the slums of the «Starting City» as their base and started thieving.

Inside the city, or the places mostly referred to as «Safe Areas», there was protection implemented by the system and players couldn't hurt each other. But it wasn't like that outside. The stragglers made teams with other stragglers and ambushed other players —which was in many ways more profitable than hunting monsters (not that I would do something like that)— out on the fields or the labyrinth areas.

Even then, they never «murdered» anybody —well, at least during the first year.

This group got slightly larger until they reached the aforementioned number of a thousand.

The final, fourth category was, simply said, the rest.

There were fifty groups created by people who wanted to clear the game but didn't join the huge organization. They numbered around five hundred. We called these groups «Guilds» and they had a mobility that «The Army» lacked. Using that mobility, they steadily grew stronger.

Then there were the very few who chose the merchant or craftsman classes. They only numbered about two to three hundred, but they created guilds of their own and started training the skills they would need to earn the Col the need to get by.

The rest, around one hundred players, were called «Solo Players» — this was the group I belonged to.

They were the selfish group who had decided that acting alone would be better for strengthening themselves and simply surviving. If they could use the information they had, they could level up quickly. After they had gained the power to fight against monsters and bandits themselves, there was truthfully no merit in fighting with other players.

An additional feature of SAO was that there was no «Magic»; in other words, there were no «long range attacks with a 100% accuracy rate», so one could fight large groups of monsters alone. If one had the required skills, playing solo was much more effective in getting experience points than party playing.

Of course, there were risks involved. To give an example, if a person was «Paralyzed» and if he had party members with him, they'd just cure him and that'd be that. But if the person was playing solo, it could lead straight to death. Actually, in the very beginning, solo players had the highest fatality rate amongst all the players.

But if you had the experience and knowledge to wind through all this danger, there was a much better compensation for all this risk, and the beta testers (myself included) had both of these things.

With this precious information the solo players leveled up at a fierce pace and a huge gap soon opened between them and the rest of the players. After the game had calmed down a bit, most solo players got out of the first floor and used the cities in the upper levels as their bases.

Inside the Black Iron Castle, where the «Room of the Resurrected» had been during the beta testing, there now stood a huge metal monument that hadn't existed during the beta testing. The names of all ten thousand players were carved on its surface. In addition, a line appeared through the name of a person who died and it gave the time and cause of death next to it.

The first person to get the honor of having his name crossed out appeared three hours into the game.

The cause of death was not losing to a monster…

It was suicide.

He believed in the theory that 'according to the structure of the Nerve Gear, if a person is cut off from the system they'll automatically regain consciousness'. He climbed over the iron fence at the north end of the city, at the edge if Ainkuraddo (explanation soon), and flung himself off.

Beneath the floating castle that is Ainkuraddo (told ya'), no ground could be seen however much you strained your eyes. There was only an endless sky with several layers of white clouds. As countless players watched him, the boy got steadily smaller, leaving a scream and finally disappearing into the clouds.

The short line was crossed mercilessly over the boy's name two minutes later. The cause of death was «Falling in midair». I didn't even want to imagine what he went through during those two minutes. There was no way of knowing if he had returned to the real world or, as Kayaba had said, he had his brain fried. But most people believed that if there was such a simple way of escaping the game, the people outside would have already pulled the plugs and saved us.

But there were still some who gave into this easy way of dealing with things. Most people, including me, found it hard to take the «Death» in SAO as reality.

That had still not changed. The phenomenon of the HP bar reaching zero and the polygons that made up our bodies being destroyed was too much like the «Game Over» that we were all too familiar with. It was probable that the only way to understand the real meaning of death in SAO would be to experience it yourself. This shaky truth would have been the reason that the decrease in players is slowed.

On the other hand, a lot of the players who were part of «The Army», especially the ones who had first belonged to the first group, started losing their lives while trying to clear the game and fighting monsters.

Fights in SAO needed a bit of getting used to. It was less like trying to force yourself to move but entrusting your movements to the system.

For example, even for a simple uppercut with a one-handed sword (like my own), if the player learned the «One-handed Sword Skill» and then equipped «Uppercut» from the list, they would only need to assume the starting motion; then the system would almost automatically move their body for them. But if someone without the skill tried to copy the movements, it would be too slow and weak to use in actual combat. It was like inputting commands in a fighting game.

The people who didn't adjust to this just swung their swords around and even lost to boars and wolves they would have been able to beat if they used the single strike skills they had by default. Even then, if they just gave up and ran away after losing some of their HP, they wouldn't have died but…

Unlike the attacks of 2D monsters that we see through a monitor screen, the battles in SAO were so real that you'd feel afraid. It was as if a real monster was baring its teeth at you and giving chase with the intention of killing you. Though, since that day, that was exactly what it was.

Even during the beta testing there were some people panicked in the middle of a fight, but now death awaited you if you lost. The panic-stricken players forgot about using their skills and even running away, their HP disappeared and they were expelled from this world forever.

Suicide, losing to monsters. The number of crossed-out names multiplied at a terrifying pace.

When these reached two-thousand, only a single month into the game, a cloud of despair hung over the surviving players. If the number of deaths kept increasing at this pace, all ten thousand would be dead in less than half a year. Clearing the hundredth floor seemed like a mere dream.

But, as we all know, humans adapt.

A little over a month later, the first labyrinth had been cleared, and the number of deaths started to slow quickly. People started spreading information in order to survive and most people started to perceive that monsters weren't all that scary if you gained enough experience points and leveled up properly.

It might be possible to clear the game and return to the real world. The number of players that started thinking like that increased slowly but steadily.

The top floor was still far away, but the players started moving with this vague hope… and the world started turning again.

Now, two years later and with twenty six floors left, the number of survivors is around six thousand.

This is the current situation in Ainkuraddo.
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After ending my fight with a formidable opponent that prowled the Labyrinth Area of floor seventy-four, I recounted my way back, as well as the past, and let out a sigh of relief as I saw the light of the entrance.

I emptied my head, walked quickly out of the passageway, and took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air.

In front of me, a narrow lane went into the thick, overgrown forest. Behind me, the labyrinth area I had just come out of soared high into the sky — until the bottom of the next floor to be precise.

Because the game was based on getting to the top of the castle, the dungeons in this world weren't underground labyrinths bug existed as towers (don't ask me why they were called labyrinth areas, they just were). However, the basic setting hadn't changed: monsters stronger than the ones you met out on the fields roamed within, while the boss monster waited for you in its deepest reaches.

Right now, 80% of the 74th floor labyrinth area had been explored, or in other words, had been «mapped». In a couple days, the boss room would most probably be discovered, and a large scale team would be made (and I'll probably be requested to join, oh joy!).

I smiled at myself for being both expectant and frustrated at the same time and started walking down the lane.

For the moment, my hometown is the biggest city in Ainkuraddo, «Arugeddo», which is located on the 50th floor. Well, in mere size, the Starting City was larger, but that place had now totally become «The Army»'s base of operations, so it was a little uncomfortable to walk around in.

As soon as I made it out of the now darkening plains, a forest full of old trees stretched out before me. If I walked for thirty minutes through here, I would arrive at the «Housing Area» of the 74th floor and just use the «Teleport Gate» there to warp myself over to Arugeddo.

I could always use one of the instant teleportation items in my inventory to return to Arugeddo at any time. But since it was a little expensive, I was reluctant to use it unless I was in a dangerous situation. There was still some time before the sun disappeared completely, so I resisted the temptation of returning to my house as fast as I could and entered the forest.

As a rule, the edges of each floor in Ainkuraddo were usually open to the sky,, apart from the support pillars. The threes burned red from the light that entered through that gap. The mist flowed in between the rays of light that shone brilliantly as it reflected the light of the sunset. The cries of the birds, which were common during the day, were hard to hear now, while the sound of branches swaying in the wind seemed magnified.

I knew quite well that I could fight the monsters that appeared in this area even while half-asleep. But the fear that comes with the dark was hard to suppress. A feeling, similar to the one I had as a kid when I was trying to get back home after losing my way, filled me.

Bid I didn't dislike this feeling. I had forgotten about this primitive fear sometime when I was living back on the other side. The feeling of loneliness that you get when you're traveling the wilderness with nobody in sight however much you look—you could call this the essence of an RPG.

While I was absorbed in these nostalgic memories, a cry that I'd never heard before suddenly entered my ears.

It sounded only for a moment, high and clear like a reed pipe. I stopped my feet and carefully searched for the direction the sound came from. If you heard or saw something that you'd never experienced before in this world, it meant that you were either very lucky or the opposite.

As a solo player, I'd trained my «Scan for Enemy» skill. This skill prevented ambushes and when you became more proficient at it, it gave the player the additional ability of being able to detect monsters that were in 'hiding'. Through it, I could see a monster hiding between the branches ten meters away (roughly nine yards).

It wasn't very big. It had green fur to camouflage itself in the leaves and had ears longer than its body. As I concentrated on it, it automatically became my target and a yellow curser appeared along with its name.

I held my breath (and an inward squeal) as soon as I read the name: «Ragout Rabbit». It was rare enough to earn the adjective super. That, and if it were to be cooked, it could make the best stew in all of Ainkuraddo!

It was the first time I'd actually seen the real thing! The plump rabbit that lived in the branches wasn't all that strong, nor did it give you that many experience points, but…

I silently drew a thin throwing pick from my belt. «My Knife Throwing Skill» wasn't as high as my «One–handed Sword Skill» or my «Cooking Skill» (yeah, yeah, laugh it up) unfortunately. I had simply chosen it as a branch on my skill tree at some point. But I'd heard the Ragout Rabbit was the fastest monster among the ones that were currently known, so I didn't really have much confidence in catching it with my sword.

I had once chance to attack before the opponent notice me. I raised my pick, praying mentally, and assume the «Single Shot» position.

Well, however low my skill was, my hand was backed up by my high dexterity and threw the pick in a blur of motion. The pick glinted once and then was sucked into the trees. As soon as I attacked, the cursor, which showed the direction the Ragout Rabbit was in, turned red and the HP bar appeared beneath it.

A high pitched scream sounded from the direction which I'd thrown my pick. The HP bar faltered a little and then went down to 0. The familiar sound of polygons shattering resounded.

I made a fist with my left hand. I raised my right hand and opened the main menu. I opened the inventory quickly, with even my hand movements seeming too slow to me, and it was there at the very top of the newly acquired item list: «Ragout Rabbit's Meat». It was a rare item that could be sold to other players at a minimum price of one hundred thousand Col. That amount of money was enough to tailor a full set of the best armor and still have change leftover.

The reason that this was so expensive was pretty simple, as it was set as the most delicious food ingredient among the numerous ingredients available in the game.

Eating was just about the only pleasure in SAO, but the only thing you could eat usually was the soup and bread that tasted as if they were from the European countryside—well, if you don't have a very high Cooking Skill, that is.

For a while, I stared at the name of the item and kept wondering what I should do. The chances of me getting this sort of ingredient again was very low. To be honest, I really wanted to eat it. But, cooking this would make a lot of food, and I would never be able to eat that much food in my life. And I couldn't save it, as food expires and shattered into polygons.

Consequently, as I didn't know anyone who'd eat with me (well, there was always Shirika and Yoshino, but Shirika was still in the 8th Level, and Yoshino… well… that's a story for another day).

I closed the window as if to get rid of my regrets, and scanned the area with my skill. There wasn't a very high chance of a bandit appearing on the front lines, but you couldn't be too careful when you had an S-Class item in your hands.

I'd be able to buy all the teleport items I wanted once I sold this, so I decided to minimize the risk and started rummaging through my pouch.

The thing that I'd taken out was a crystal shaped like an eight sided pillar that shone a rich blue. The few magic items in this world where «Magic» had been excluded were all shaped like gems. Blue was for instant teleportation, pink for recovering HP, green for antidote, and so on. They were all convenient items that produced instant effects, but they were also expensive. So in most cases, people used cheaper items such as slow-acting potions after running away from a fight.

Telling myself that this, without a doubt, was an emergency situation, I grasped the blue crystal and shouted.

"Teleport! Arugeddo!"

There was the refreshing sound of many bells ringing and the crystal in my hand shattered into pieces. At the same time, my body was engulfed in blue light and the forest disappeared from my vision as if it was melting. A brighter light then flashed, and when it disappeared, the teleportation was over. In place of the sound of the rustling leaves, the sound of a smith hammering and the loud sounds of the city invaded my ears.
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The place I appeared at was the «Teleport Gate» that was situated in the middle of Arugeddo.

In the middle of the circular plaza, a gate made out of metal stood over five meters high. Inside, the air swirled as if a mirage, and people who were teleporting, or who had just teleported, came and went.

Four large roads stretched in all four directions out of the plaza, and on the sides of all these roads, countless small shops were gathered. The players who sought a short refuge after a day of exploring shared conversations in front of the food menus or pubs.

If someone tried to describe Arugeddo in one word, it would be «messy».

There were no big streets like the ones you could see in the Starting City and crisscrossing alleyways covered the whole city. There were shops that you couldn't even tell what they were selling, and inns that looked like you could ever get back out once you went in.

Actually, there were a lot of players who'd accidentally gone into one of the alleyways of Arugeddo and wandered for days before getting back out. I've been living here for almost a year now, but I still can't remember half of them. Even the NPCs here were strange people whose class was hard to guess, and it makes you think that people who use this as a hometown were all sort of strange.

But, despite the fact that Arugeddo might not have been the best place for a girl to live, I loved the feel of these streets. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the only time I felt at peace was when I was sipping some strange smelling tea (that I made sure wasn't poisonous) at a corner shop I frequented, or standing in front of my stove cooking meals for myself. The reason behind this was that it reminded me of a electronics store I used to frequent—well not really, or I at least hoped not.

Thinking that I'd deal with the item before going back to my house so I wouldn't have to resist the urge of cooking it before I sold it, I started walking towards the shop.

If I followed the road that led west out of the central plaza, I would arrive at the shop after working my way through the crowds for a little bit (throw in some lustful stares as well). Inside, it was so small that five players would feel cramped in there, and it had the trademark dizziness of a player shop: the tools, weapons, and even the food ingredients were messed up.

The shop owner was busily getting worked up bargaining.

There are two ways of selling items. One was selling to an NPC, a character controlled by the system. There was no danger of being tricked but the price was always the same. To stop inflation, the price was set lower than the actual market price.

The other was trading with another player. In this case, you could sell the item for a high price if you bargained well, but you had to find somewhere to buy it, and arguments between the players after completing the trade weren't uncommon.

Therefore, merchant players who specialized in trading items appeared.

Merchant players couldn't live on trading itself. Like the technician classes, they had to fill half their skills slots with battle unrelated skills. But that didn't mean that they could stay off the fields. Merchants had to fight for goods and technicians for ingredients, and, of course, they had a harder time than warriors. It was hard for them to feel the exhilarating feeling of beating an enemy.

Therefore, the reason that they chose these classes would be the noble one of helping the players who fought on the front lines every day. So I respected them deeply, if secretly.

…Well, I respected them, but it was also true that the character in front of me was someone who was very far from self-sacrificing.

"Okay, it's settled! Twenty-five «Dusk Lizard's Hides» for five hundred Col!"

The owner of this shop I often came to, Egiru, thumped his bargaining opponent, a weak looking spearman, on the back with his thick arm. Then he quickly opened the trade window and entered the amount in his trade list.

The opponent seemed to be thinking, but as soon as he viewed Egiru's face, which looked frightening to resemble one of a seasoned warrior —in fact, Egiru was a top class axe warrior as well as a merchant— (though he was really a big softy if you knew the guy) he hurried to put the items in his trade list and pressed OK.

"Thank you every time! Please come again!"

Egiru thumped the spearman's back one last time and smiled brightly. The hide of the Dusk Lizard could be used to create high standard armor. I thought that five hundred was too cheap however you looked at it. But I stayed silent and watched the spearman leave. 'Take this as a lesson to never give any ground when bargaining,' I muttered in my mind.

"Hey, you're going about your business shamelessly as usual!" I drawled to Egiru.

The bald giant looked my way and smiled at me comment.

"Hey, Kirita! Our shop's motto is to buy cheap and sell cheap," he said without any sine of remorse.

I rolled my eyes in response and smirked at the balled man. "Well, I'm a little suspicious about the 'sell cheap' bit, but that doesn't matter. I want to sell you something too."

I think the last part came out a little bit more depressed than I intended it to. I really wanted to cook that stew!

"You're a regular, so I can't trick you," he joked, smiling as he stretched his thick, short neck and looked in the trade window I'd offered. "Well, let's see…"

In case you were not aware of this little bit, the avatars in SAO were all replicas of the players real body which had been created through scans and calibrations (a process I really didn't feel like going through again). But every time I looked at Egiru, I always asked myself how someone could have a body that fit him so well.

All 180 centimeters (roughly five-point-nine feet) of his body were packed with muscle and fat, and he had the head that rested on top of it that looked as if it'd fit a pro-wrestler villain. On top of that, he had set his hairstyle, one of the few things that could be customized, to be bald. The effect was at least as scary as the barbarian monsters.

But, as I stated before, he was a real softy. He had a charming face that looked childlike when he smiled (and, I'll admit, I thought he looked extremely attractive when I first met him roughly two years ago, nearly a month after the game started). He looked in his late twenties but I couldn't even guess what he did in the real world. Not asking others about «The Other Side» was an unspoken rule in this world.

The two eyes that were below his thick eyebrows widened as soon as he saw the trade window.

"Wow, it's an S-rank rare item. «Ragout Rabbit's meat», it's the first time I've actually seen one… Kirita you're not that poor are you? Don't you have any thoughts of cooking this?"

I actually pouted (pouted! I haven't done such a thing for years before the game began). "Of course I have! It'll be hard to come across something like this a second time… But I could never eat as much as this could make by the time the food expires! At least, not on my own…"

Then someone behind me tapped my shoulder.

"Kirita-chan."

It was a masculine voice. There were a good amount of male players that knew my name, but none of them could make me blush as much as this one did.

"Second eating partner acquired."

"Wh-What?"

With his hand in mine, the person stammered with a suspicious expression on his face.

The large face, well larger than mine yet not as large as Egiru's, looked strangely like Kirito's did before Kayaba's Hand Mirror change our avatars to what the Nerve Gear had saved as our actual appearance. A narrow face, one you'd expect to see on the very attractive hero or villain, sporting beautiful (yes, I call men beautiful) chestnut hair that reached the middle of his neck on every side (except the… well… sides, which actually reached just below his ear lobes), the bangs parted to the right with a strand in the middle, several strands spiking out increasing his handsome look, and his two sparkling chestnut eyes were almost blinding. His lean body was covered by a red and white knight-like combat uniform. The only part of his attire that ruined the look (at least, in others' opinions, not my own) was an elegant silver-white rapier sheathed in his white leather scabbard (others call it feminine. I don't really think as much).

His name was Akira. He was so famous that everybody in SAO knew of him.

There were a lot of reasons, but the first was that he was the owner of a face that lacked absolutely nothing to the rather small female population.

It's hard to say this in this world, where everybody had their real bodies, but truly handsome men were a rather rare presence within it (not as rare as beautiful women, like myself, according to many of the men I've interacted with). You could most probably count the number of players that were as handsome as Akira with your fingers.

Another reason why he's famous was because of his red and white uniform which belonged to the guild «Ketsumei Kishidan». The members were called the KK (at least to the Japanese players. Every language had their own abbreviations, but the most popular were the Japanese KK or the KoBO who understood Japanese and the English KoB, as «Ketsumei Kishidan» translated into «Knights of the Blood» or «Knights of Blood Oath»). Out of the many guilds, everyone acknowledged them as the best (excluding myself).

While it was only a medium-sized guild of about thirty players, but they were all high leveled and seasoned warriors, with the leader of the guild being its strongest member and almost a legend within SAO (with myself being right below him among those who knew of me). Also, Akira was the sub-leader. His skill with a sword was so exceptional that it earned him the title «Senkō».

So his appearance and sword skill were at the zenith of six thousand players (including the few hundred male players that hated him for attracting all of the good looking female players). It would have been strange for him not to become famous. He had numerous fans, but among them were stalkers that I like to call Fangirls, those that loved him so much they basically worshipped him. Shockingly enough, he never developed much of an ego (or, at least, his ego never grew any bigger). So he either didn't care as much about that, or he was that ignorant and thick he never took notice of his fangirls. As I stated earlier, there were also those that hated him, so it seems like he's having a hard time.

Well, since he is a top class warrior, there shouldn't be that many that would challenge him directly. But as if the guild wanted to show that they'd protect their higher ranked members, he's often trailed by two or more bodyguards. Even now, there were two men a few steps behind him, fully equipped in metal armor and KoB uniforms. One of them, with his hair in a ponytail, was glaring at me and put his hand on Akira's shoulder.

I let go of his hand, shook mine in the other guy's direction, and replied.

"What's up Akira? For you to be coming to such a rubbish heap like this."

The face of the man with the ponytail and the ship owner's faces convulsed; one because I didn't call Akira with his title and other because I called his shop a rubbish heap. But the shop owner…

"It's been a while, Egiru-san."

…gave a sunny smile after hearing Akira's greeting.

Akira looked back at me and furrowed his brows in discontent.

"Hey, what's this? After all the trouble I went through to see if you were alive for the boss fight that's going to take place soon."

"You've already listed me as a friend so you'd be able to tell if you just at that. Anyway the only reason you could find me was because you used a friend trace on your map."

Akira turned his head to the side as soon as I answered. He was so prideful. Akira might not have had an ego, but he sure head pride.

He was also responsible for progressing through the game in the guild as well as being a sub-leader. That job included searching out selfish solo players like me and forming a part to fight bosses. But even then, to actually come to see me, there should be a limit to how devoted a person could be (not that I was complaining that is).

Looking back to me, Akira arched his brow and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, you're alive and that's all that matters. M-More than that, what do you mean? You were saying something about a 'second eating partner' or something?"

"Oh, right right. Well, I have a meal that I want to make, but I could never eat the amount it would make by myself before it expires."

Akira arched his brow at me again. From what he knew, when I wasn't in the front lines battling monsters or mapping labyrinth areas, I spent time cooking to raise my cooking skill.

"Oh? And what is that?"

I smirked pridefully, one of my few flaws. I have points where I come off as extremely arrogant, believing I was able to do anything.

"I have obtained myself some «Ragout Rabbit's Meat»!"

Akira's eyes widened in shock. "Uwa! That… that's and S-rank food ingredient! How high is your cooking skill!?"

I answered his question with another proud smile. "Listen and be amazed! I «Mastered» it last week."

"What!?"

Oh, I knew what he was thinking 'She's… an idiot', or something along those lines.

You see, training skills was mind-numbingly boring and extremely time consuming, and could only be «Mastered» after leveling them up 1000 times. On that point, levels didn't have anything to do with skills and when up by gaining experience points. The things that went up with the levels were HP, strength, stats like dexterity, and the number of «Skill Slots» which decided how many skills you could learn.

I had thirteen slots, almost the highest amount of slots one could have, but the only ones I had mastered were my one-handed straight sword skill, Scan for Enemy skill, Weapon Guard skill, and my cooking skill. It had meant that I spent a lot of time and effort on a skill that wasn't even of any help in battle.

In a flash (hah, see what I did there?), Akira grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up a few inches. Then he pushed his face to a few centimeters before mine.

"Give. Me. Half!"

I nodded; honestly thinking if he only listened at times he wanted to a he dropped me onto the ground. I closed the window and spoke while looking at Egiru's face.

"Sorry, I'll stop the trade.

"No. It's fine but… Hey, we're friends right? Eh, can you give me a taste?"

"I'll give you an eight hundred word essay on it."

"D-Don't be like that!"

As I cold heartedly turn my back on Egiru, he called out in a voice that seemed as if it was the end of the world. As I made to walk away, Akira grabbed the sleeve of my coat.

"Eating the food you cook is good, but where are we going to do it?"

"Ah… well, we could always grab the smaller appliances from my house and bring them to yours."

It's not that I didn't want to show Akira my house (I'd love that), it was more like my house was messy as hell. I enjoyed cooking, but I wasn't one for cleaning anything that isn't my sword(s) or my cooking tools.

Akira nodded, most probably knowing what my hidden message was. "Okay, but just this once."

I smiled at Akira as the man behind him glared at me. "I'm going to teleport to «Saremubaggo» soon, so it's fine if you go. Thank you for your hard work."

"A-Akira-sama! Coming into the slums was bad enough, but to invite someone as suspicious as her to your house. Wh-What were you thnking!?"

Oh dear God. Did he just say «Sama? Akira even has fanboys? As I looked at Akira with these thoughts, the person in question had an annoyed expression on his face

"Okay, maybe you could call her suspicious, but her skill is unquestionable. She's most likely ten levels above you Kuradīru."

"Wh-What are you saying? To say that I'm not equal to someone like that…!"

The man's voice sounded all the way out to the alley. He glared at me with his heavily lidded eyes. Then his face scrunched up as if he suddenly recognized something. Well it certainly took him long enough. How many other female players were there who wore all back and used a one-handed straight sword?

"That's right… You, you were definitely a «Beater»!"

Beater was made by mixing «Beta tester» and «Cheater». It was a word meant for people who used unfair means (besides the fact that I was very fair) and a swearword that was unique to SAO. It was something I'd heard a lot of times. But however many times I heard it, it still hurt me deeply. The face of the person who had first said I to me, who had once been a very dear friend, suddenly appeared in my head.

"Yeah," I nodded, hoping the hurt didn't show through my expressionless gaze and tone. "You're right."

When I affirmed it, the guy started talking excitedly.

"Akira-sama, these sorts of people don't care about anything as long as they're fine! There's nothing to gain from mixing with these kinds of people!"

Akira, who had been calm until now, suddenly knotted his eyebrows in disgust. A crowd had suddenly appeared and the words 'KoB' and 'Akira' could be heard here and there.

Akira looked around and (noticing that I was starting to get annoyed and angry) said to the man who was getting more excited by the minute.

"Well, please leave today. That's an order."

He spoke bluntly and grabbed my arm with his left hand. Then he started walking towards the gate plaza, dragging me as he went.

"Err… hey! Is it okay to leave them like that?"

"It's fine!"

Wow, talk about snappy. And I thought I was the girl here. Well, I've got no reason to complain. We made our way through the crowd, leaving the two guards and Egiru, who was still disappointed. When I glance back one last time, the furious expression of the man called Kuradīru stuck to my vision like an afterimage.
________________________________________

Saremubaggo was a beautiful castle-city on the 61st floor.

It isn't all that big. But the city, with a castle which has serene spires at its center, was delicately built from white granite and contrasted beautifully with the overflowing green foliage. There were quite a few shops in the market so a lot of players wanted to use this as their home city. But since the houses were crazily expensive —they must be three times the price of Arugeddo— it's almost impossible to buy one unless you were at a high level.

When Akira and I arrived at the teleport gate in Saremubaggo, the sun had almost set, and the final rays of light lit the streets a dark purple.

Most of the 61st floor was taken up by a lake, and Saremubaggo was located on an island in the middle of it, one could see the setting sun reflected on it like a picture on a canvas. Saremubaggo was truly beautiful, and I was envious of those who got to live here, but solo players were rarely able to afford home cities as expensive as this one, no matter how high a level they were.

I gazed at the city in awe, my breath taken away by its beauty as it shined blue and red with the vast lake behind it. Not that it would be that hard for the Nerve Gear to create lighting effects like with CPUs of the new generation and their diamond semiconductors.

The teleport gate was placed in the plaza in front of the castle and the main street, which headed north going through the city and was lined by street lamps. The stores and houses stood orderly on either side of the street, and even the NPCs that were walking around looked well-dressed somehow. I spread my arms and breathed deeply, as even the taste of the air differed from Arugeddo.

"Hmm. It's large and has few people. I like how it feels so spacious."

"Then why don't you move?"

I shook my head at the question. Akira still didn't get that solo players earned a very small amount of Col as compared to Guild members.

"I don't have anywhere near enough money," I answered with a shrug before fixing my expression and asking hesitatingly.

"…More importantly, is it really okay? Back there…"

"…"

As if he realized what I was trying to say, Akira twirled around were his head bowed slightly.

"…It's true that some bad things happened a couple of times when I was alone. But to assign bodyguards to me, it's going a bit too far, right? I said I didn't need them, but… the members said that it's guild policy."

He continued with a subdued voice, which honestly scared me. The Akira I knew would never be so submissive, unless he was threatened by one far stronger than himself, even stronger than I.

"In the past, the guild was small with the leader inviting people individually by talking with them. But as the numbers grew, it started changing… Then when it began to be called the greatest guild or so, something became a bit strange."

He stopped talking and turned around slightly, his head risen a bit. Something in his eyes seemed like he wanted to rely in me, and I subconsciously stopped breathing and my insides froze a little while I blushed slightly outwards.

Not only was Akira scared of something and wanted me to protect him (when has the story ever had the male being protected by the female), but he was also silently asking me for reassurance. I had to say something. I thought that, but what could a selfish solo player like me say?

'"A beater like you never had any right to join us"'. As Keita's words flashed through my mind, my heart was stabbed again. If it hadn't been for me, neither of them would have died. If I hadn't lied to them about my level or my status, they would never had ran into that trap. Again, that is a story for another day.

Akira turned his gaze first. He watched the lake, bathed in soft light, and said, as if to get rid of the awkwardness,

"Well, it's nothing much, so you don't have to worry! If we don't go quickly, the sun is going to set."

I had a feeling that he was saying this more for himself then for me.

Akira set off first, and I followed suit. We passed by quite a lot of players, but none of them stared at him.

I only stayed here for a couple days when the front line had been here, so I never really looked around properly. As I looked at the delicate carvings that adorned the city, the thought that living in a city like this for a while wouldn't be too bad came unbidden to my mind. But then I changed my mind and decided that it would be better if I only came here once in a while to sight-see.

The house where Akira lived was a small but pretty three-floored maisonette which you could get to by walking eastward from the downtown area for a few minutes. It was, of course, the first time that I had come here. Now that I thought about it, I'd only talked to this guy during the boss fight conference; and we'd never even been to an NPC restaurant before. As I became conscious of this, I stopped in front of the doorway, suddenly tense, and asked.

"Is it… alright? Y'know…"

"What? You're the one who suggested it, but I agreed to it!"

Akira turned his head and bounded up the stairs. I steeled my resolved and followed him.

"E-Excuse me."

I hesitantly opened the door then stood there, speechless.

I'd never seen a home so well-ordered before. The wide living/dining room and the kitchen adjacent to it had furniture made out of light-colored wood and was decorated with moss green cloth. They were all most probably the highest-quality player made items. I mean, dear God, Akira was more of a girl than I was, and I actually had a second 'X' chromosome.

"Erm… how much did this cost…?"

At my materialistic question.

"Hmm-, with the house and the furniture, about 4000k? I'm going to change so just sit anywhere you want. Unless of course you want to change with me?"

I blushed as he leered teasingly at me. I scowled as he disappeared through a doorway. I'd be the one cooking, yet he was the one changing?

My mind wandered to how he replied to my question lightly. 'K' is short for thousand, 4000K meant four million Col. I practically lived on the front line, so I could save up that much if I tried. But I always wasted it on either some strange item or sword that caught my eye, so I never saved up. Well, no matter how much I had changed, becoming more feminine in the two years I had been here, I was still somewhat of a tomboy mentally and fashion wise (when it came to battle clothing).

Akira appeared after a short while, fully changed into a simple white button up shirt (with the top button (not counting the collar) unbuttoned) and a simple pair of jeans. Well, I say changed, but there's no actual taking off and putting on involved. All you have to do is fiddle with the figure in the stats menu. But there were a few seconds when the player was only dressed in their underwear. So unless they were a very bold male player, most players, especially girls, did not change in front of others. Our bodies may be nothing more than just a bunch of data rendered into 3D, but that sort of thinking got hazy after two years, and right now my eyes went to Akira's muscular chest.

You see, Akira had the figure of a professional swimmer. So his body may have been lean, but he definitely had muscles. Not as much as Egiru or body-builders (which was way too much), but a good amount.

Akira, with some idea of my inner-conflict if the smug look had anything to say about it, threw a sharp look my way and said.

"Are you planning to stay dressed and cook like that?"

I glared at him in response.

"You didn't offer me a private room to change, as I'm sure as hell not changing in front of you, and simply taking my coat and sword off is not enough."

Akira blushed in response, embarrassed that he hadn't asked before, and gave me directions to a room.

I rolled my eyes and followed the directions; coming to what I believed was a guest room.

When I entered, I quickly locked the door and removed all of my clothes except for my black bra and black thong.

I quickly put on a black tunic and a black knee-length skirt, the attire I wore while at home relaxing or cooking.

As I walked back into the living/dining area I saw Akira simply sitting at the table, reading one of his various books. When he saw me, I noticed his eyes quickly snap to my exposed legs and arms. I blushed, not used to the looks. I may have gotten them from Sachi and Yoshino, and from Kurain for a while, but I was not used to being what many males defined as 'sexy'.

I quickly opened my menu screen and brought the «Ragout Rabbit's meat» out and put it, which was in a clay bowl, on the table in front of me.

"So this is the legendary S-rank food ingredient— …So, what are you making?"

I shrugged and tied my long hair into a high ponytail. "I was planning on making some stew."

Akira nodded, and followed me into the kitchen.

The kitchen was large, and the various appliances that I could see next to the oven looked expensive. Akira didn't even cook, so what did he need with these appliances (apparently we didn't even needed to stop at my place)? I walked up to the oven and double clicked on its surface, set the time on the pop up window that appeared, and pulled a metal pot from the cupboard (Akira was telling me where everything was. Apparently everything had already been here when he bought the house). I put the raw meat in, and threw in a couple herbs for flavor, and then poured water inside it before closing the lid.

"If I was actually cooking, I would need to make all sorts of preparations. But in the SAO, it's so short that it's no fun."

Cooking had been one of the few things my grandfather saw as 'feminine' when he was still alive. It was also one of the things that caused me to continue bonding with my sister after I started attempting to distance myself from her.

I complained as I put the pot in the oven and pressed the 'Start' button on the menu. Even as the 300 seconds counted down, I moved about with precision (still being informed of where several things were), making a variety of other side dishes. If I was eating with someone else, might as well make a meal, right?

In just five minutes, the table was fully set, and Akira and I sat down across from each other. The brown stew looked incredibly delicious as it rested on the plate in front of me, and I could tell Akira was thinking the same thing. Its smell enticed me as the steam rose slowly from it. Smooth, rich sauce covered the thick meat, and the creamy white marbling on it was truly enchanting. I had truly outdone myself with this meal.

We lifted our spoons and felt that even the time saying, "Thank you for the meal," was too long. Then we ate a mouthful of the best food in existence is SAO. I tasted the head and flavor in my mouth, and as I bit into the meat, the juices inside poured out.

Eating in SAO didn't calculate the feeling of biting into the food. Instead it used a «Taste Reproduction Engine» that Āgasu and an affiliated environment programming designer had made together.

This sent preprogrammed sensations of «eating» various foods and could make the user feel as if they were actually eating something in real life. It was originally designed for people who were on diets or needed to restrict the amount of food they ate, so it sent fake signals to the parts of the brain registering heat, taste, and smell to trick it. In other words, our real bodies weren't actually eating anything right now, and all that's happening was that the program was wildly stimulating our brains.

But thinking of such things was just not cool. I was, without a doubt, eating the best food I've ever tasted since logging on (my meals tasted great, but this stew was on a whole other level!). Akira and I didn't say a word and continued to go through the process of scooping up the soup with our spoons and bringing it to our mouths.

Finally, as we cleaned our dishes —in every sense of the word, as though the stew actually existed— and left the empty plate and pot in front of me, Akira let out a big sigh.

"Ah... I did well to stay alive till now..."

I totally agreed. As Akira talked about how he felt as if he were born in this world, my mind wondered to the beginning of my stay in this world, two years ago.
________________________________________

Well, there you guys go. What did you think? Any names you didn't get, that you need translated? If so, tell me. 'Cause I will be sticking to my use of rōmaji throughout the story.

So, the text in parenthesis were Kirita's thought that weren't actual though, those are put in the traditional 'Italic' style. Also, I gave Kirita one Skill Slot, strictly so she could cook, as Akira isn't really the type to cook, at least, in the author's eyes he isn't.

Well, now begins the very long and confusing flash back chapters (they will be split up into chapters). As soon as I finish 'Warmth of the Heat', we will be returning to this exact point in the lite novel. So I'll have that saved somewhere... bah, i just won't close the page. And if I do, I'll make sure to remember where I was.

Here is the order the story will go in:

The order is basically the first six chapters of volume one (I skipped the first two), than the last chapter of volume eight, than all of 'Aria in the Starless Night', then the last chapter of volume 2, then the first volume of volume two, then the second chapter of volume two, then the first chapter of volume eight, then back to the first novel till chapter 17 (7-17), then the third chapter of volume two, then back to volume one till chapter 25 which is the final chapter. Then straight through volume three and four if I remember correctly, then straight through volume five and six if I remember correctly, then the second chapter of volume eight, then volume seven, then straight through volume nine and ten. I don't have volume eleven yet. But I should be able to obtain it by the time I get to it.