Aincrad 2

  In a way, Asuna had to curse her poor fortune that she hadn’t met Kirito sooner. Ever since their first encounter, her days had been filled with more color and pleasant surprises than she’d ever experienced in real life. Only with him did she feel like her experiences here were actually worth remembering.

  Which meant that every second they spent together was like a delicate jewel to Asuna. She wanted to visit every place she could, speak with him on every subject there was.

  Asuna pouted, hands on her hips. “So you don’t want to go out and have fun?”

  Kirito grinned in response and pulled up his map. He set it to visible mode to show Asuna. The map showed the series of forests and lakes that made up the floor.

  “This is the spot.” He pointed to a stretch of woods slightly removed from their home.

  Because the entirety of Aincrad was egg-shaped and the twenty-second floor was closer to the bottom, it was relatively spacious, a good eight kilometers in diameter. There was a massive lake in the middle of the floor, the southern shore of which seated the village of Coral, the floor’s main settlement. The labyrinth was on the northern shore. Everything else was covered in beautiful conifer forests. Asuna and Kirito’s home was close to the perimeter, nearly at the southern tip of the floor, and Kirito had singled out a location perhaps a mile and a half to the northeast.

  “Yesterday, I heard a rumor in the village…about the depths of the forests here…and what might be lurking there.”

  “Huh?” Asuna responded to Kirito’s enigmatic leer, confused. “What’s there?”

  “A ghost.”

  After a moment of silence, she hesitantly pressed him for more details.

  “Meaning…like, astral-type monsters? Wraiths and banshees, that sort of thing?”

  “No, no, the real thing. The ghost of a player…a human being. A little girl.”

  “Uh…”

  Her faced ticked uncontrollably. She was more susceptible to ghost stories than the average person, she knew. The ancient castle labyrinths on the very spooky horror-themed sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth floors were so bad, she’d had to find excuses not to participate in their conquest.

  “B-but this is a game; it’s all digital. There can’t possibly be ghosts here!” She forced herself to smile desperately.

  “Are you sure about that?” Kirito knew about Asuna’s fear of ghosts and gleefully piled on more pressure. “What if it’s the vengeful spirit of a player who died and now haunts her still-active NerveGear? And logs in late at night to haunt the fields…”

  “Stop!!”

  “Ha-ha-ha, sorry. That one crossed the line. Look, I don’t really think there’ll be a ghost there, but if we’re going to explore, why not pick a spot that might have something neat to find?”

  “Aww…” Asuna pouted, looking out the window.

  The weather was good for the season—rapidly approaching winter. The warm sunlight was lighting up the grass in the yard. The physical nature of Aincrad meant that you never saw the sun directly except for early morning and sundown, but the game’s lighting system ensured that everything was uniformly lit during the day. And at current, it might be the time of day that was least likely to feature any ghosts.

  Asuna jutted her chin at her husband defiantly.

  “Fine, let’s go, then. But only to prove there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

  “That settles it. And if we don’t find it today, we’ll have to go at night next time.”

  “Not on your life! And if you’re going to be this mean, I won’t fix you a lunch.”

  “Ugh! Forget what I just said, then.”

  She gave him one last glare, then smiled.

  “C’mon, let’s get ready. If you cut the bread, I’ll cook the fish.”

  It was nine o’clock once they’d finished packing their fish burgers in their lunchboxes and headed out the door. Out on the front lawn, Asuna turned back to Kirito and said, “Let me ride piggyback.”

  “P-piggyback?” he yelped, stunned.

  “Well, it’s no fun always seeing things from the same elevation. It should be easy with your strength stat, right?”

  “W-well, that’s true, but…you’re too old for this…”

  “Age has nothing to do with it! Come on, it’s not like anyone’s going to see.”

  “Fine, fine! All right, then…”

  He crouched down, shaking his head and presenting his back to Asuna. She rolled up her skirt and straddled his head, one leg on each shoulder.

  “There we go. And if you try to turn around and look, I’ll slap you.”

  “That seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?”

  Kirito stood up easily as he grumbled, and she found her eye level delightfully higher than usual.

  “Wow! Look, you can already see the lake from here!”

  “I can’t see it!”

  “Okay, I’ll give you a ride a little later.”

  “…”

  Asuna placed her hands on his slumped head and commanded, “Forward march! Set course north-northeast!”

  As Kirito started trekking away, Asuna laughed wholeheartedly from atop his shoulders, keenly aware of how much this time with him meant to her. Without a doubt, she was more alive now than she’d ever been before in her seventeen years of life.

  When they had walked down the path—technically, when Kirito had walked—for a dozen or so minutes, they reached one of the many lakes on the twenty-second floor. There were a number of fishermen players with lines cast into the water already, perhaps due to the gentle weather. The path ran over the hills that surrounded the lake, and although there was still some distance to the shore on the left-hand side, the fishers noticed the pair and began waving. They all seemed to be smiling, some of them even laughing at the sight.

  “You said no one was going to see us!”

  “Ha-ha, I guess they did. Go on, Kirito, wave back.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Kirito grumbled, but he didn’t attempt to set her down. She could tell that he was secretly enjoying the fun.

  Eventually the path made its way down a hill and deep into the forest; they made their way through massive pine trees that resembled Japanese cedars. The rustling of the needles, babbling of the brook, and twittering birdsong played beautiful accompaniment to the calming sight of a thick forest in late autumn.

  Asuna cast a glance at the branches of the trees, which were much closer to her than usual.

  “These trees sure are big. Do you think they’re climbable?”

  “Hmm,” Kirito pondered. “I don’t think the system limits you from climbing them…Wanna try?”

  “No, we’ll save that for the theme of our next adventure. Speaking of climbing—”

  She straightened up as best she could from his shoulders and looked to the outer perimeter of Aincrad, through the trees ahead.

  “There are those things like support pillars around the outer edge, going all the way up to the ceiling of this floor. What do you suppose happens if you climb all the way?”

  “I’ve done that before.”

  “What?!” She leaned over to look at Kirito’s face from above. “Why didn’t you invite me along?”

  “That was before we were as close as we are now.”

  “Oh, come on. You were avoiding me the whole time!”

  “Uh…was I?”

  “Yes, you were! I asked you out over and over, and you wouldn’t even go out for tea.”

  “Th-that’s because…Well, more to the point,” Kirito said, trying to steer the conversation away from its current dubious course. “It basically didn’t work. It wasn’t that hard to climb, since the rock had all kinds of notches and handholds, but about eighty yards up I got yelled at by a system error saying, this is an off-limits zone!”

  “Ha-ha-ha! See, you’re not supposed to cheat.”

  “It’s not funny. It startled me so much, I lost my grip and fell off…”

  “Wait, what? That fall would be fatal.”
>
  “Yeah, I thought I was going to die. If I’d been just three seconds later in getting my teleport crystal, I’d be on the list of the fallen.”

  “Jeez, that’s so dangerous. Don’t ever try that again.”

  “You’re the one who brought up the idea!”

  The forest was getting deeper as they chattered on. It seemed as though the birdsong was growing scattered, and even the light through the branches was weaker than before.

  Asuna took another look at the surroundings and asked, “So…where’s the place we’re supposed to be heading?”

  “Let’s see,” Kirito said, checking their location on the map. “Ah, we’re almost there. Just a few more minutes.”

  “All right…So what exactly did the stories say?”

  Asuna didn’t really want to find out, but not knowing also made her uneasy.

  “Apparently, about a week ago, a wood-crafting player came around this area to collect some timber. The wood from this forest is supposed to be pretty nice, and he was so focused on his task that he lost track of time. When he turned around to go home, he saw something white flit into the shadows of a nearby tree.”

  “…”

  This was already too much for Asuna, but Kirito didn’t stop.

  “He panicked, thinking it was a monster at first, but he was wrong. He said it looked like a human being, a small girl. White clothes and long black hair. She was just slowly walking away into the woods. So he focused on her, thinking she must be a player rather than a monster.”

  “…”

  “But there was no cursor.”

  “Eek…!”

  A tiny, involuntary shriek caught in her throat.

  “ ‘That can’t be right,’ he thought, foolishly approaching the girl. Then he called out to her. The girl stopped where she was…then slowly turned around to face him, and…”

  “S-s-st-st-stop…”

  “That’s when the woodcrafter realized, under the light of the moon…that he could see the tree through her white clothes.”

  “—!!”

  Asuna trapped a silent scream and clenched Kirito’s hair.

  “That’s when he took off running, knowing it was all over if she completely turned around. Once he was close enough to see the lights of the town, he thought he was safe. And when he turned back to look…”

  “—?!”

  “There was nobody there. The end.”

  “…You…stupid…jerk!!”

  Asuna jumped off his shoulders and prepared to punch him solidly in the back. But suddenly, something white caught the corner of her eye, far off in the dark conifer forest.

  With unbearable foreboding, Asuna trained her vision on the thing. While not at Kirito’s level, her Search skill was quite advanced. The skill’s effect automatically kicked in, rendering the area of her focus in much sharper detail.

  The white something appeared to be flowing in the breeze. It wasn’t a plant. It wasn’t a rock. It was cloth. In fact, it was a simple one-piece dress. There were two thin lines extending downward from the hem—legs.

  It was a little girl. A young girl in a white dress, just like the one in Kirito’s story, watching them in silence.

  Asuna’s consciousness was in danger of slipping away. She opened her mouth and managed to croak out a few words, barely louder than a breath.

  “K-Kirito…there.”

  He followed her gaze, then froze just as solid as she was.

  “Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me…”

  The girl did not move. She stood where she was, perhaps a hundred feet away, staring at them. If she starts to walk toward us, I’m going to faint, Asuna felt certain.

  The girl’s body swayed. She fell to the ground in a strangely inorganic way, like an animatronic figure that had just run out of power. They heard a quiet thump as she landed.

  “Wait a second.” Kirito narrowed his eyes “That’s not a ghost!”

  He dashed off toward the girl.

  “W-wait, Kirito!” Asuna shouted as he left her behind, but he continued dashing toward the fallen girl. “Oh, honestly!”

  Asuna had no choice but to stand and follow. Her heart was still racing, but on the other hand, she’d never heard of ghosts fainting before. It simply had to be a player.

  A couple seconds later, Asuna reached the foot of the pine tree where Kirito was holding the tiny girl. She was still knocked out: Her long-lashed eyes were closed, her arms hanging limply at her sides. Asuna took a cautious glance at the girl’s dress, but it wasn’t see-through.

  “D-do you think she’s all right?”

  “I think…so,” Kirito mumbled, peering into the girl’s face.

  “Then again, nobody actually breathes or has a heartbeat here…”

  Most basic human biological processes are omitted from SAO’s simulation. You can actively breathe in and feel the sensation of air down your windpipe, but player avatars themselves do not engage in automatic respiration. When in a state of tension or excitement, you can feel your heart pounding, but it’s impossible to actually pick up the pulse of another body.

  “She hasn’t disintegrated…which means she must be alive. But this is very strange…” He trailed off, uncertain.

  “Strange how?”

  “She can’t be a ghost, because I can touch her. Yet there’s no targeting cursor…”

  “Oh…”

  Asuna trained her gaze on the girl’s body again. Any kind of living, moving object in SAO, whether player, monster, or even NPC, would always have its own color cursor, but this girl did not. She had never seen this phenomenon before.

  “Maybe it’s some kind of bug?”

  “That’s my guess. In a normal game, I’d call a GM about this, but there’s obviously no GM here…Plus, it’s not just the lack of a cursor. She’s too young to be a player.”

  He was right. The body cradled in Kirito’s arms was too tiny. She couldn’t have yet been ten. The NerveGear had a cautionary age restriction, meaning that children under the age of thirteen could not use it.

  Asuna felt the girl’s forehead. It was chilly and smooth.

  “But how did such a little girl get inside Sword Art Online?” she asked, biting her lip in concern. “We can’t just leave her here. I’m sure we’ll find out more when she wakes up. Let’s take her home with us.”

  “Yeah, good call.”

  Kirito stood up, still holding the girl. Asuna took another look at their surroundings, but the only thing of note was a dried-out old stump, and nothing that would suggest a reason for the girl to be there.

  Even after they’d hurried out of the forest and back home, the girl did not wake. They placed her on Asuna’s bed and pulled up the covers, then sat on Kirito’s bed nearby and watched her.

  After a length of silence, Kirito finally spoke in a soft voice.

  “Well, the fact that we were able to carry her into our home means she’s not an NPC.”

  “Yeah…that’s true.”

  The system controlled NPCs, and players couldn’t move them out of a certain fixed range of coordinates. If you tried to hold or grab them for more than a few seconds, a harassment warning would pop up, and you’d be buffeted away by an unpleasant shock.

  Kirito continued his train of thought.

  “And it’s not an event that kicks off a quest. If that were the case, it would have updated our quest logs the moment we touched her. Which means the most likely explanation is that she is indeed a player and just happened to be lost in those woods.”

  He cast another glance at the bed.

  “If she didn’t have any crystals or know how to teleport, I think she would have stayed in the Town of Beginnings from the moment she logged in, rather than wandering out in the wilderness. I don’t know why she’d have come all the way out here, but maybe someone in the Town of Beginnings knows who she is…Maybe we’ll even find her parent or guardian there.”

  “I agree with that. I just can’t imagine such a small child being able to lo
g in on her own. She must have come here with her family…I just hope they’re safe.”

  Before she voiced her last thought, she turned to Kirito and locked eyes with him.

  “She will wake up, won’t she?”

  “Yeah. The fact that she hasn’t disappeared yet means there are still signals going to and from her NerveGear. She must be closer to a state of sleep. So she’ll wake up eventually…I believe.”

  He nodded firmly, a clear note of optimism in his voice.

  Asuna got off the bed and knelt next to the sleeping girl. She reached out and rubbed the tiny head.

  She was a very beautiful girl. She almost looked more like a fairy than a human. Her skin was a pale and delicate white, like alabaster. Her long black hair shone in the light, and her clear, vaguely foreign face seemed as though it would be bewitching, once she opened her eyes and smiled.

  Kirito crouched down next to Asuna. He hesitantly reached out to brush the girl’s hair.

  “She can’t be, what…more than ten? Eight, maybe?”

  “That’s what I’m guessing…She’s easily the youngest player I’ve ever seen in the game.”

  “Definitely. I met a beast-tamer who was really young, but even she was at least thirteen or so.”

  Asuna abruptly spun around to Kirito, the information unfamiliar.

  “I didn’t realize you had such a cute young friend.”

  “Yeah, sometimes we trade messages…b-but that’s not my point! There’s nothing between us!”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. You’re awfully dense.” She turned away in a huff.

  Sensing that things were turning against him in a hurry, Kirito hastily stood up and said, “Oh, look at the time. We should eat lunch!”

  “You’re still going to tell me all about her later.” Asuna glared at him, then grinned, deciding to let him off the hook for now. “C’mon, let’s eat. I’ll put on some tea.”

  As the late fall afternoon lazily passed and the red light from the outer perimeter vanished into darkness, the little girl kept sleeping soundly.

  Asuna was closing the curtains and lighting the wall lamps when Kirito returned from the village. He shook his head without a word to show that he’d found no clues about the girl.