Sword Art Online - Volume 5 - Phantom Bullet

  So, even if Asuna loved Yui like a daughter, and Yui yearned for Asuna as a mother, there was always a wall in the space between the two of them, separating them between the virtual world and the real world…

  Suddenly, Kazuto held onto Asuna’s left hand.

  “Don’t worry, one day we’ll be able to live together. FullDive technology will evolve more, and AR environments will become more commonly used, surely.”

  “Mm… Right… that’s right.”

  “Yeah. The boundary between real and virtual will become more and more blurred in the future. Right now, there’s still a difference in the amount of information making a wall though…”

  After listening to Kazuto talk, Asuna deeply bowed her head, and firmly held his hand, then suddenly raised her head.

  “Oh that’s right, you said that earlier. The difference between the virtual world and the real world is only the amount of information. What did you mean by that?”

  “That is…”

  Kazuto looked away for an instant, and then looked to their hands together on the bench.

  “For example, within ALO, holding hands like this, it is different from the real world right?”

  After being told, Asuna focused her senses on her left hand.

  The elastic of the palms in contact. The warmth that drove away the cold winter air. Thus far, the ALO fairy avatar could feel the same thing. However, the skin to skin attraction, the friction of their palm lines, and the weak pulse due to their blood flow, is something that even the most advanced FullDive virtual technology could not fully reproduce.

  “Yeah… that’s right. The real hand can feel a lot more… I see, this is «more information», right?”

  “Yes. But afterwards Amusphere will continue to evolve, what happens when the feeling of skin and the throbbing can be reproduced? Only through contact, are you able to distinguish between a real and an avatar hand?”

  “I can.”

  Asuna’s immediately answer, was beyond Kazuto’s expectation, so he blinked. Looking at his face, Asuna went on to add:

  “If it was Kazuto’s hand, that is. If it was someone else, then probably not.”

  At that moment, Kazuto’s hand temperature and pulse increased. Upon noticing this, Asuna laughed and continued:

  “Not just touch, but sight, sound, taste and smell all have more information in the real world now. So… even if the current Amusphere has AR function…”

  “Yes. After looking or touching, you will know whether it’s real or not.”

  AR function means to use the Amusphere while awake, combining real sight and sound with digital information. If that was possible, then it could replace computers and mobile phones. In your view, you could have a virtual desktop where you could browse the net or type mail, do street navigation, have information tags on people or things, the use would only be limited by imagination.

  Currently, RECTO started working with large information producers to develop that machine, but due to physical activity leading to the pulse focus being shifted, the need for high-capacity battery, and other problems, it had not reached a practical level.

  “…Unfortunately, with the current headgear type, there is argument that constant AR is not possible. However, one day there will be breakthrough in technology, if we are able receive large capacity five senses data in the real world… That is, without a bed and electrical plug, we can full dive anytime.”

  Asuna nodded to Kazuto’s words, and continued where he left off.

  “We will cross the barriers of the world, and be together with Yui always. …That day will surely come.”

  “Yes, for sure.”

  Their words, without a doubt, were almost same as what they said while thinking of the separated Yui in the twenty-second floor in Aincrad. Noticing that, Asuna felt a warm feeling spreading through her body and rested her head on Kazuto’s right shoulder.

  That reunion promise, was delivered in a few months.

  That’s why for sure; their words now would soon become a reality.

  The short winter day made the sun seem like it was falling behind the trees to the west. The sky was dyed red; the returning birds were flying in groups.

  Hundreds of years ago, the people who lived in the city on that huge lawn probably looked at the same sunset. And then hundreds of years in the future, in a different world changed by time, someone will look at this same red sky…

  “…Ah…”

  Asuna’s chest suddenly tightened with a homesick feeling and she gently sighed. She glanced at Kazuto beside her. When she met his eyes, she smiled.

  “Somehow, I understand. The reason why you brought me here.”

  “Eh… you do?”

  “Yes. - If the world exists in the «time» axis and the «space» area, then Tokyo… that is our center of the real world, there is no doubt this is the place. Then… currently «The Seed» which allows the expansion of the virtual worlds, their axis that no longer exists, that «castle». That’s why this sunset color, is so nostalgic…”

  At Asuna’s words, Kazuto blinked several times before he opened his mouth wide.

  “I see… that might be. I did not really consider that aspect. But… after listening to Asuna’s words, I am able to understand one thing.”

  “Eh, what is it?”

  “Aincrad’s shape. It might be that laminated conical structure is a symbol of the «time axis and space area».”

  Asuna thought for a moment and then nodded slowly.

  “Yes… that might be true. But if that were so, the world that Leader created, with a sophisticated schedule, it will converge and perish. That is, if someone or other didn’t make it suffer a huge explosion in the middle of it.”

  “S, sorry… Miss sub-leader.”

  They both softly laughed at the same time. After a few seconds, Kazuto took a deep breath, and still holding hands with Asuna, he stood up from the bench.

  “Now then, it’s about time we head home, this place closes at five.”

  “Mm, next time let’s bring Lizbet and Lyfa-chan as well. Eating lunch on the lawn will be a very happy occasion, surely.”

  “Sure, when it’s spring. Of course.”

  Pulling on Kazuto’s hand, Asuna stood up as well, she looked to the sky and the sunset one more time.

  ‘I want to go home’, she thought. However, Miyasaka in Setagaya-ku, where the Yuuki residence was located in the real world, was not what she was referring to. On the twenty-second floor of Aincrad, though it only existed for a short time, their «forest home».

  Although that little log house was erased, along with the collapse of the floating castle - now to Asuna, a single warm place existed in her heart. Prior to its realization, above ALfheim’s World Tree, the rented house in «Yggdrasil City» had become Asuna, Kirito and Yui’s home.

  Walking toward the north Hirakawa gate exit, Asuna asked Kirito:

  “Hey, can you login tonight? I want to tell Yui all about today.”

  “Yeah, sure. Around 10pm should be fine.”

  He smiled and nodded, and suddenly began to express a very difficult expression.

  “Huh, did you have something to do?”

  “No, that’s not it. Tonight should be okay though… That is, Asuna, I…”

  Kazuto, who rarely stammered when he spoke, mumbled ‘Uhh - umm - err’ for a few seconds, but what he said next would scare Asuna:

  “…I, very soon, might convert ALO’s «Kirito» to another game…”

  “…Eh, eeeh!?”

  Birds erupted from the tree nearby in response to Asuna’s sudden exclamation of surprise.

  Chapter 3

  Part 1

  Twilight.

  The low lying clouds were stained yellow by the setting sun.

  In the wilderness of rock and sand, the shadow cast by the tall relic building ruins was getting longer and longer. If we continued to wait for another hour, we must consider switching to night combat equipment.

  Fighting
with night vision goggles dampened the excitement of killing or being killed, so it was not Sinon’s preferred way. Before the sun fully disappears, please let the target party appear quickly, she muttered while crouching behind the concrete. Moreover, her five partners who were also waiting gloomily in ambush were no doubt thinking of the same thing.

  Voicing the doubt lurking within everyone’s mind, a front line party member lowered his small-caliber short handled gun and whispered.

  “Really, how much longer are we supposed to wait… Hey Dyne, are they really going to come? Is the information reliable?”

  The man in question, Dyne, with his large rock-solid body and rough face, is their squadron (guild) leader, he lowered the large assault rifle from his shoulder and said while shaking his head.

  “Those guys have been using the same route to go hunting for the past three weeks, at nearly the same time everyday. I have personally confirmed that information. Indeed today they are a bit late, they must have ran into some Mob (Monster). That means our share will increase, so stop complaining. “

  “But.”

  The front line man became even more displeased and pouted.

  “Today’s prey is the same group we attacked the previous week, right? They may have changed their route as a precaution…”

  “It has been six days since the previous ambush. Since then, they have always gone to the same hunting grounds. They are a squadron specialized for farming Mobs…”

  On Dyne’s face, was a mocking smile.

  “No matter how many times they were attacked, even if their loot was robbed, they think that they just need to hunt more to make up for the loss. For anti-personnel squadrons like us, they are the best prey and we can do this two or three more times.”

  “But, that’s hard to believe. Normally, if people were attacked once, they will come up with some kind of counter measure.”

  “The day after they may be alert, but people become careless after a while. They are used to fighting the predictable algorithm of field Mobs every day and hunting only those things for so long makes them act like Mobs themselves. Just a bunch of people without any pride.”

  The more Sinon heard, the more unpleasant she felt, and she buried her face deeper into her muffler. Emotional fluctuations slowed her trigger finger down and although she understood that, hearing Dyne’s impertinent speech caused irritation to bubble up in her heart.

  Laughing at a specialized routine Mob hunting party, his own supposedly PvP (Anti-personnel) squad ambushing that kind of party continuously didn’t seem to hurt his pride. Instead of waiting for so many hours in this neutral field, it would be better to go to the underground ruins and fight a high level squadron, that would result in higher gains.

  Of course, the chance of total defeat, dropping equipment and returning to the street through «Death Return» was higher too. But that is what a real battle is and only through that sort of tension was the soul forged.

  It had been two weeks since she was invited to this squadron that Dyne led and she soon regretted joining. Their PvP main objective was sort of a lie, because they only went after weaker opponents. And if there were even a minuscule sign of danger they would retreat, it’s a safety first kind of group.

  So far Sinon had followed the squadron policy without a single objection, quietly following Dyne’s instructions and pulling the trigger. However, she was not doing it out of loyalty. She was gathering data on his way of thinking, trying to learn his movements, for when she would need to put a bullet between his eyebrows (head shot) when she and Dyne become enemies on the battlefield one day.

  She didn’t like his personality, but in the previous Bullet of Bullets he was ranked 18th. This man’s stats build and the rare «SIG SG550» assault rifle below his shoulder that spits out 5.56mm caliber bullets, its power is real. That’s why she was not saying a word now, just her eyes flashing, collecting information that the unguarded Dyne spilled out.

  Dyne continued his speech.

  “…In general, for hunting Mobs they usually bring optical guns, they should not have prepared enough anti-personnel real bullet guns for everyone. At best, having one support fire gun is the most they can do. To smash that guy, I had Sinon bring her sniper rifle today. There are no blind spots in the battle plan. Right, Sinon?”

  Having the conversation suddenly turn toward her, Sinon slightly nodded with her face buried in the muffler. She kept her mouth shut, showing she had no intention of joining the conversation.

  Dyne made a bored snort, but an attacker turned to grin at Sinon and said:

  “Well, that is true. Sinon’s long distance sniping being one of the best hasn’t changed. - that’s right, Sinon…”

  With a smile on his face and without leaving the cover of the material’s shadow, the attacker crawled on all fours to Sinon’s side.

  “Today, do you have time afterwards? I would like your advice on improving my sniping skill. Would you have a cup of tea somewhere with me?”

  Sinon took a quick glance at the weapon on the man’s waist. His main weapon was a bullet type sub-machine gun «H&K UMP». He seemed to be an AGI type, his evasion during face-to-face battle being above average, but his level and equipment information didn’t make him enough of an opponent to be worth memorizing. She had to think hard to remember his name, and she bent her head slightly.

  “…Sorry, Ginrou-san. Today, I am busy in the real world…”

  Her voice was similar though not the same as her real world voice. It made a high, clear and cute sound that made her feel tired inside, which was the reason why she disliked speaking. The man called Ginrou didn’t seem to care that he was rejected and his ecstatic smile never faded. It seems that for certain male players, just hearing Sinon’s voice made them feel a certain arousal and thinking about that made her break out in cold sweat.

  When she first started this VRMMO-RPG «Gun Gale Online», she wanted her avatar to be male, with rough and no personality types. She soon found out from the title choice that you can’t pick a gender different from the player, so then she wanted to be tall and muscular, like a female soldier, she thought.

  However, generated according to random parameters, was a small and delicate female shape, almost doll-like. She instantly thought of deleting that account and making another one. But her friend, who had invited her to this game, had said “What a waste!”. Due to his strong insistence, and since she had gained so many levels in the meantime, she couldn’t start over again.

  Because of her looks, once in a while troublesome events like these happened to her. For Sinon whose only motivation in the game was fighting, this was just depressing.

  “I see, Sinon, are you a student in the real world? A university student? Do you have to write a report or something?”

  “…Yea, well…”

  As a result, if he had failed once, then he might use school as an excuse to relentlessly invite her. She was actually a high school student, but that was something no one would hear from her mouth.

  Then, the other two front line men, who had been tinkering with their status windows, came near as if to restrain Ginrou. One of them, with smoke treated goggles and green front hair, opened his mouth.

  “Ginrou-san, you can see that Sinon-san is troubled. Don’t talk about real-world subjects here.”

  “That’s right, both he and I are lonely bachelors.”

  The other, a man with camouflage helmet, grinned, then Ginrou pushed on both their heads with his fists spinning and replied,

  “Say what, you two obviously haven’t had a spring in many years.”

  Sinon shrunk her body more beside the three “Hahaha” laughing men and had to wonder.

  When the battle is for fighting with other players, while waiting you should concentrate or check your equipment or some other useful way of passing time. If you just wanted to make money to convert to electronic money, then joining a Mob hunt only squadron would be better. If you just want to meet girls, then even in a fixed-ge
nder kind of title, it doesn’t have to be in this unpleasant killing world, a fairy tale game with more female players would be a better choice. What is the reason that these people come to this world anyway?

  Burying her face deeper into her muffler again, Sinon used her left hand to caress the body of the large rifle sitting on a two leg stand next to her.

  - One day, I will use this gun to blow away your avatar body. After that, can you still smile while talking to me?

  She whispered deep in her mind, and as if her irritation was being absorbed by the cold rifle barrel, she slowly calmed down.

  “- They are coming.”

  Whispered the last member of the party 20 minutes later, he had continued to scout for enemies with his binoculars from a hole in the broken concrete wall.

  The three front line men and Dyne paused their conversation and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

  Sinon glanced up to the sky. The yellow clouds had slowly turned red, but the brightness was still adequate enough.

  “They finally appeared.”

  After muttering quietly, Dyne moved while crouching down and took the binoculars from the scout. He looked out a hole with them to check the enemy combat strength.

  “…Those are our guys. Seven people… that’s one more than last week. Four front line people with optical type Blasters. One person with large caliber laser rifle. And… yes, one person with a «Minimi». That guy used an optical gun the previous week, he must have changed to an actual bullet type in a hurry. He will be the one we snipe. The last person… is covered in a cloak so his weapon can not be seen…”

  Hearing this, Sinon got into her sniping position, and placed her face near her rifle’s high powered magnification scope.

  The six people of Sinon’s party were hiding in the ruins of a previous civilization that was built in a slightly higher place. The broken concrete wall and steel frames provided ample cover and it was the best location to observe the vast wilderness in front.