Asuna nodded and quickly checked her own inventory, then stood up with Kirito and proceeded to the door. She really did hope that they found whomever was responsible for the girl, but she was also dreading saying good-bye to her for some reason. They had only found her a day ago, but somehow, in that short time, the girl had monopolized all the tender parts of Asuna’s heart.
It was several months since their last visit to the Town of Beginnings on the first floor of Aincrad.
Asuna stepped out of the teleport gate and stopped, staring around with a conflicted heart at the massive square and its buildings.
This was the biggest city in Aincrad, of course, and it had more resources necessary to adventuring than any other place in the game. Prices were cheap and lodging was abundant, which made this the most efficient location for a hometown.
But as far as Asuna knew, none of her high-level acquaintances still hung around the Town of Beginnings. The Army’s presence was one reason for that, but the biggest had to be the memory of that moment—when everyone stood in this square, looking up at that stretch of ceiling.
It had all started on a whim.
Asuna Yuuki had been born to a businessman and a scholar, and she grew up with their hopes firmly imprinted on her mind for as long as she could remember. Both her parents were resolute and hard on themselves, and though they were kind to Asuna, she was terrified of how they would react if she disappointed them in any way.
It must have been the same for her brother. Asuna and her older brother went to the private school their parents selected, never got into trouble, and maintained top grades. After her brother left home for college, Asuna dedicated her entire life to fulfilling her family’s hopes. She trained in multiple subjects and only spent time with friends her parents accepted. In time, however, Asuna began to feel as though her world was tiny and compressed. It seemed like everything was funneled into one tiny path: the high school her parents chose, the college her parents chose, the marriage partner her parents chose. She grew terrified that she would be stuffed inside an incredibly small and tough shell, never to escape that prison.
Her brother came home and got a job at her father’s company. He used his connections to procure a NerveGear and a copy of SAO, his eyes sparkling as he waxed rhapsodic about the world’s first VRMMO. Asuna had never so much as touched a video game before, but his descriptions of a mysterious new world sparked something within her.
Of course, if he had simply stashed it away in his room for his own use, she would have forgotten all about the NerveGear. But the timing was poor; he would be overseas for work on the release day of Sword Art Online, so on a sudden whim, Asuna asked to borrow the game for the day. All she wanted to do was see a different world from the one she lived in…
And everything changed.
She could still keenly remember the excitement when she’d gone from Asuna the student to Asuna the adventurer, descending into an unfamiliar town full of unfamiliar people.
But soon after, when the empty god looming over their heads announced that it had become an inescapable game of death, the first thing Asuna thought of was her unfinished math homework.
I have to get back and finish that, or my teacher will scold me tomorrow. It would be an unacceptable blemish on Asuna’s life. The true severity of her situation went far beyond that, of course.
One week, two weeks—the days passed mercilessly without any salvation from outside. Asuna holed up in an inn room in the Town of Beginnings, curled up on her bed, wracked with panic. At times she screamed and beat on the walls. It was the winter of her third and final year of middle school. There would be tests soon, and then a new term. Falling off the course now meant the end of her life as she knew it.
Asuna’s everyday life was plunged into madness, until she came to one deep, dark certainty:
Her parents would not be worried about the well-being of their daughter; they would be terribly disappointed that she had failed her exams, all over a stupid video game. Her friends would lament her plight, then pity her for her failure, and eventually use her as the butt of a joke.
When these dark emotions had reached their saturation point, Asuna finally came to a firm decision and left her room. She wouldn’t wait for rescue. She would escape on her own. She would be the hero who conquered the crisis. It was the only way she could repair the bonds that tied together the people around her.
Asuna arranged her equipment, memorized the entire help manual, and headed into the wilderness. She only slept for two or three hours a day, dedicating the rest of that time to leveling up. She applied all of her intelligence and willpower to the task, and it did not take long until she was among the top players in the game. This was the birth of Asuna the Flash, the mad warrior.
Now, two years later, Asuna was seventeen, and she thought back on her old self with acute discomfort: not just her despondent state right after being trapped in the game, but the painfully compressed life she had led before that. The memories brought a heap of self-pity with them.
She didn’t know what “living” really meant. She was sacrificing her present life for some future she thought she was meant to have. To her, “now” was nothing but a step toward that proper future, and once each moment had passed, it turned into nothingness.
The lesson she’d learned from observing SAO was simple: It was pointless to have one without the others.
Those who only strove for the future drove themselves mad advancing through the game, the way she once did. Those who clung to the past hid in their inns on the first floor. Those who only lived in the present sought cheap thrills, sometimes turning to crime.
But even in this world, there were some people who could enjoy the present, remember the past, and work toward an eventual escape. It was a black-haired swordsman who’d taught her that, a year earlier. Once she realized she wanted to live like him, Asuna’s life took on real color.
Now she was equipped to break that tough shell the real world held. She felt like she was ready to live for herself—as long as she was by his side…
Asuna leaned closer to Kirito, who she was certain felt his own variety of conflicting emotions at the sight of the city. When she looked up at the baleful stone lid above them again, the pain was only a shadow of what it once was.
Asuna shook her head to clear away the painful cobwebs, then looked to Yui, who was still cradled in Kirito’s arms.
“Yui, do you recognize any of these buildings?”
“Umm…”
Yui concentrated on the stone buildings lining the open square, then shook her head.
“I don’t know…”
“Well, the Town of Beginnings is a gigantic city,” Kirito offered reassuringly, patting her head. “If we keep walking around, maybe she’ll remember something. Let’s check out the central market for now.”
“Good idea.”
They nodded together and headed for the main avenue running south.
As they walked, Asuna took a critical look around the square. She was surprised to see how few people there were.
The teleport gate plaza in the Town of Beginnings was enormous, big enough to hold all ten thousand players when the servers opened two years ago. It was a perfect circle of countless fitted paving stones with a large clock tower looming over the center and the rippling blue teleport gate beneath it. Surrounding the tower was a series of narrow, concentric flowerbeds lined with the occasional quaint white bench. It was the perfect place for players to enjoy a brief afternoon respite on such a lovely day, but all the people visible from here were heading to the gate or the plaza’s exits, and virtually none were stopping or sitting on the benches.
The teleport squares of the larger towns near the top of Aincrad were always a bustle of player activity. Between the chatters, the party recruiters, the simple street stalls, and the loiterers, it was sometimes difficult to even make your way out into the city.
“Hey, Kirito.”
“Hmm?” He turned to look at her.
br />
“How many players do you suppose are here now?”
“Good question…there are about six thousand survivors, and about thirty percent of them are in the Town of Beginnings, including the Army. So maybe just a bit less than two thousand?”
“Don’t you think it seems awfully quiet around here for that?”
“Now that you mention it…Maybe they’re all in the market?”
But even after they headed down the street from the plaza toward the market area, where shops and stalls lined the path, the town was relatively empty. The energetic cries of the NPC shopkeepers echoed forlornly off the stone walls.
Asuna spotted a man seated beneath a large tree in the middle of the avenue and called out to him.
“Um, excuse me.”
He was staring at the branches above with an oddly serious look, and snapped, irritated, from his spot, rather than turn to look at her.
“What do you want?”
“Um…is there any kind of center around here for finding or advertising lost persons?”
The man finally turned his gaze to Asuna. He stared her full in the face, his eyes glinting.
“What are you, an outsider?”
“Y-yes. We’re looking for this girl’s guardian.” She pointed back at Yui, who was dozing lightly in Kirito’s arms.
The man wore a simple cloth tunic that made it difficult to discern his class. His eyes went wider when he saw Yui, but they were soon trained on the overhead branches once again.
“Lost kid? Don’t see many of those. There’s a buncha kids gathered at the church next to the river in sector E-7. Try there.”
“Th-thank you.”
Asuna bowed briefly, surprised to have actually gleaned some helpful information from the encounter. Suddenly she felt emboldened to ask another question.
“Um…what exactly are you doing? And why is the city so empty?”
He put on a grimace, but his tone of voice suggested that he didn’t mind answering.
“Company secret, you might say. But since you’re outsiders…why not? See that high branch up there?”
Asuna followed his pointing finger. The branches of the large tree were exploding with autumn leaves, but upon closer examination, there were small golden fruits growing here and there.
“The decorative trees in town are indestructible objects, of course, so even if you climb up there, you can’t pick the fruit—or a single leaf, for that matter.” He continued. “A few times a day, one of those fruits falls off. It rots and disappears within a few minutes, but if you pick it up before then, you can sell it to the NPCs for a decent chunk. Tastes good, too.”
“Oooh.”
Asuna had mastered her Cooking skill, so the topic of food ingredients piqued her interest. “How much do they sell for?”
“Promise you won’t tell anyone…? Five col a pop.”
“…”
Asuna was stunned into silence by the pleased look on his face. She could not believe how meager an amount it was, completely at odds with the amount of work it took to watch this tree all day long.
“Um…that doesn’t seem worth it…I mean, just a single worm out in the wilderness will get you thirty col.”
Now the man’s eyes really went wide. He looked at Asuna as if she had to be insane.
“What, are you serious? If I go out there to fight monsters, I could die!”
“…”
Asuna had no response. He was right: Fighting monsters could get you killed. But from her current perspective, he might as well be arguing that one should never walk on the sidewalk, out of the danger of being hit by a car. It was allowing fear to control your life.
Was she just numb to the danger of dying within SAO, or was it that the man was overly fearful? At the moment, Asuna couldn’t be sure. Perhaps there wasn’t a “correct” answer between the two of them. However, his logic was probably the prevailing opinion here in the Town of Beginnings.
He continued, oblivious to Asuna’s inner confliction. “What was the other question again? Why isn’t anyone here? They’re still here; they’re just hanging out in their inn rooms. You might run into the Army’s tax collectors during the day, after all.”
“T-tax…? What is that?”
“It’s a stick-up with a fancy name. Watch out; they won’t hesitate to go after outsiders. Wait, one’s about to fall! I’m done talking here…”
He clammed up, concentrating furiously. Asuna bowed in thanks, then realized that Kirito hadn’t said a word during the entire conversation.
She turned around to find him focused sharply on the yellow fruit, his eyes narrowed as though preparing for battle. He was clearly ready to snatch the fruit before it fell to the ground.
“Stop that!”
“B-but I’m curious.”
Asuna snatched him by the back of his collar and dragged him away.
“Aww…but they look so tasty,” he wailed. This time she yanked on his ear to force his gaze away.
“Focus! Where’s sector E-7? He said there were a bunch of young players hanging out at the church there, so let’s go check that out.”
“…All riiight.”
Asuna took Yui, now fully conked out, and matched Kirito’s pace as he walked off, checking his map. Yui was the size of a ten-year-old, so in the real world, Asuna’s arms would give out within a few minutes, but thanks to her strength stat, carrying the girl was like carrying a feather pillow.
They continued southeast down the wide, empty streets for more than ten minutes until they reached a spacious garden-like area. Colorful, leafy trees whistled mournfully in the chilly breeze of early winter.
“According to the map, this is E-7…so where’s this church?”
“Is that it over there?”
Asuna tilted her head to indicate a tall spire on the other side of the copse of trees on the right-hand side of the path. A metallic ankh made from a circled cross shone above the blue-gray tiles of the roof. It was definitely a church. There was at least one in every town, and the altar inside offered a few special perks, such as undoing monster-inflicted curses or blessing weapons to do extra damage to the undead. Magic was nearly nonexistent in Sword Art Online, so churches were the most mysterious and supernatural places in the game. With enough regular offerings, some churches allowed you the use of a room, acting as de facto hotels.
“Wait a minute,” Asuna called out to Kirito as he started off toward the church.
“Huh? What’s up?”
“Umm…I just…want to be sure. If we do find Yui’s guardian here, are we…leaving her behind?”
“…”
Kirito’s black eyes were soft with concern. He approached and enfolded both Asuna and the sleeping Yui in his arms.
“I don’t want to say good-bye to her, either. When she was with us, it was almost like…that little house in the woods was a real home. I felt it, too…But it’s not as though we’ll never see her again. If Yui gets her memory back, I’m sure she’ll come visit us.”
“Hmm…I suppose so.”
Asuna nodded briefly, rubbed her cheek on Yui, then steeled herself for what had to be done.
The church was small in comparison to the scale of the city itself. It was two floors and had only one steeple. There were multiple churches in the Town of Beginnings, and the one nearest to the teleport square was nearly the size of a small castle manor.
Asuna pushed open one of the large double doors with a free hand. It was a public facility, so it wasn’t locked. The interior of the church was dim, with only the light of the candles at the altar ahead weakly glimmering off the stone floor. At first glance, there was no one else inside.
Asuna leaned over the entryway and called out: “Is anyone here?”
Her voice echoed and trailed away, but no one answered.
“I guess it’s empty…”
But Kirito disagreed, his voice low. “No, there are people here. Three in the right room, four in the left. A couple upstairs, too.” br />
“How high do you have to get your Search skill before it can detect the number of people behind walls?”
“Once you reach about nine eighty. It’s useful; you should get there.”
“No way—it’s so boring to raise, I’d go crazy…Anyways, why do you suppose they’re hiding?”
Asuna cautiously stepped into the church. The building was dead quiet, but she felt like she could hear people holding their breath.
“Um, excuse me! We’re searching for someone!” she called out, louder this time. The door on the right opened a crack, and a frail female voice emerged.
“You aren’t…from the Army?”
“No, I’m not. I came down from a higher floor.”
Asuna and Kirito didn’t even have their swords on, much less any battle armor. Army members wore their uniform of heavy armor at all times, so a simple glance would prove to these people that they were unrelated.
Eventually, the door opened all the way, and a single female player reluctantly appeared.
She had short, dark blue hair, and the green eyes behind her large black-framed glasses were wide with fear. She wore a simple navy dress and she clutched a tiny dagger in her hand, still sheathed.
“You’re really…not the Army’s tax collectors…?”
Asuna smiled and nodded to reassure the woman.
“That’s right. We just came here today from up above, because we’re looking for someone. We have nothing to do with the Army.”
“From above? Does that mean you’re real warriors?”
A high-pitched, boyish voice echoed from behind the woman. The door swung wide and several people came rushing out. The door to the left of the altar opened, and more figures emerged.
Asuna and Kirito silently watched, taken aback, as the group of young players, no more than boys and girls, rushed to line up on either side of the bespectacled woman. They appeared to be between the ages of twelve and fourteen and were clearly fascinated by the sight of these new visitors.
“What did I tell you? Stay hidden in the back rooms!” cried the woman, who seemed to be around twenty years old. She tried to push the kids away, but not a single one of them paid any heed to her command.