The previous day, 1830 AST.
It was nice of Asuna to allow them to crash at her place. Despite being the third-in-command of the «Knights of the Blood», Shiranami doesn’t have a permanent place of residence; she instead chooses to hunker down in random inns on random floors where she usually doesn’t stay for longer than two nights. Yuna and Nautilus have consistently insisted that she find herself a proper home but she outright refuses to do so.
This time was an exception since on top of being extremely exhausted from the boss fight and from her episode, she was also running low on spending money and refused to depend on the guild. Asuna had brought them down to her house in Selmburg and told them to relax while she went to report their victory to the boss, however, not wanting to be a useless paperweight, Shiranami volunteered to go with her to which Asuna adamantly refused. “You literally just woke up from fainting in the boss room! I’m not letting you, Shira-chan.”
She shook her own head. “Just so you know, I am the Assistant Vice-Commander. This much hard exercise will not do me in.” She turned towards her juniors in rank and ordered, “Just hold down the fort, Yuna, Nautilus.”
Asuna gave up as she knows how stubborn the girl in front of her can be once she’s set her mind on things. “Alright, fine. Oh, make sure to put Kirito in bed. I can’t believe he’s out cold already…”
“Ahaha, he’s quite lazy at times. However, I can see why he would sleep right away. That battle was very tiring.”
“I concur. Alright, let’s make this visit quick so we can rest up.” The girls, still in their guild-issued uniform, marched out of the front door and headed back towards the Teleport Gate Plaza; their destination was the headquarters of their guild located in the so-called «City of Steel», the main settlement of the fifty-fifth floor, Granzam.
In Granzam’s Teleport Gate Plaza, two portals of equal size emitted a shining blue light that materialized into the bodies of two players. One was the girl known as the «Flash», the second-in-command of SAO’s strongest guild, Asuna, and the other was that same guild’s third-in-command, a player who is extremely highly revered by most of the playerbase. She was known as the «Snow White Songstress». Due to her status, everyone knows her name from real life. She was the eldest and only child of the Shiratsuyu family, Ayanami Shiratsuyu, a child idol who gained fame at the wee age of nine. To the dismay of the person herself, the player body calls her by her real-life name; if anything, the only people to use her in-game name of ‘Shiranami’ were her own guildmates alongside her closest friends, including Kirito, Suzaku, Tohka, Klein, and the rest of his friends in the «Fuurinkazan».
As such, she was hardly surprised as she looked around the plaza and was immediately swarmed by players; despite her exhaustion, she forced her business smile onto her face and shook people’s hands. After dealing with the flood of fans, she remembered the purpose for their visit and immediately made their way to their guild headquarters. The plaza was a circle measuring about ninety meters in diameter. It was located in the center of the city and conveniently, their headquarters were directly north of their location. “Come on, Shira-chan.” Asuna grabbed her hand and pulled her along as they both ran to their left since the gate had ejected them to the west. After getting into the relative quiet of the streets, Asuna spoke again. “Are you alright?”
“Oh…” Shiranami concluded that Asuna was worried about her mental health. Well, of course, it was for a good reason; Shiranami had an above average level of mental strength. She needs this trait if she wants to do her job of singing in front of massive hordes of people properly. “No, no, I’m perfectly okay, Asuna. Come on, let’s just get this report over with.”
Asuna, being a fellow girl, could tell that she was lying; after all, it was written all over her face no matter how much she tried to hide it. However, Asuna knew that Shiranami wouldn’t ever reveal her weaknesses and so, she chose to keep her mouth shut; she could never understand the life that Ayanami went through. She simply nodded. “Yeah.” The two girls spent the next four minutes in silence weaving through the streets before finally reaching the entrance of their headquarters. The two guards on duty spotted them and immediately saluted the two girls. “At ease, gentleman,” Asuna ordered.
Marching past them, they ventured into the inner sanctum where the council seats were located. Still seated in his position at the head of the half-moon-shaped table was the founder and the commander of the «Knights of the Blood». Indeed, he had the air of a proud leader of knights. His name was Heathcliff. “Ah, Second and Assistant Second. What brings you in at this rather late hour?”
Asuna replied, “Commander Heathcliff, I would like to report that the seventy-fourth floor has been cleared.”
The man’s face, clearly evident of signs of aging, cleared up slightly as he smiled radiantly. “Oh-ho? I’m surprised. I sent you out this morning to complete the mapping of the Labyrinth. I thought you would report to me when the boss room has been discovered.”
“That was our intention,” Shiranami nodded. “However, there were… certain extenuating circumstances which forced us to engage the boss without any prior preparation. As such, I sincerely regret to inform you that we have suffered the loss of four players.”
The man winced slightly and sighed. “That… is indeed unfortunate. Are the casualties one of our own?”
Asuna picked up the story from there. “Fortunately not, sir. I feel incredibly hypocritical to be glad that we did not lose one of our own but we still lost a great leader in Corvatz, one of the generals of the «Aincrad Liberation Force», who led an army into the Labyrinth. We encountered him as we were planning our exit for the strategy meeting, however, he insisted that he would go and assault the boss room himself. As such, including himself, three members of the ALF lost their lives.”
Heathcliff lifted his chin from where he was resting it on his cupped hands and shook his head. “Poor man. What a terrible time to have such a major lapse in judgment.” The man sat up properly in his chair and waved his hand in a ‘go on’ gesture. “Please continue.”
Asuna nodded. “Well, we were going to exit the Labyrinth, however, a scream from the boss room echoed through the corridors. I quickly called for a strategy meeting but it was decided that it would be better to assault the boss room with the power we had on hand which is part of the reason why I believe we lost those four players.”
Shiranami continued, “The group who assisted us was Klein-san’s «Fuurinkazan»… and Kirito.”
“Ah, that infamous solo player?” Heathcliff asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Yes,” Asuna confirmed. “We had the Black Swordsman’s aid.”
“Who dealt the Last Attack?”
“Kirito did, sir,” Shiranami answered.
“Oh-ho,” Heathcliff chuckled. Any other notable occurrences that need mentioning?”
The two girls exchanged glances and proceeded to have a silent conversation. Should we inform him?
No, I don’t think so, came Shiranami’s silent response. I doubt Kirito would want us to reveal it.
I think we should tell him.
Shiranami did her best to shrug with her eyes. Alright, you do it, because I’m not the one who’s going to reveal the existence of that skill.
Having won the argument, Asuna turned back towards the commander and said, “Yes. It seems that Kirito-kun has a «Unique Skill».”
Heathcliff slammed the table with both hands and stood up, grinning. “Oh, now that is an interesting piece of information! So, where is the rumored skill holder now?”
“He’s sleeping, sir,” Shiranami stated. “As it was he who dealt the final attack, he’s the one that spent the most energy.”
“Ah, that is unfortunate,” Heathcliff nodded. “That is fine; let him rest. I would like to see him tomorrow though.”
Asuna and Ayanami looked at each other again. Ayanami ventured, “Sir, are you thinking of inviting him into the guild?”
“But, of course!” he declared. “The Knights of the Blood is in need of such a strong player as him. Now, no more arguments. I thank you for your report. You are both dismissed.”
Both girls wanted to argue but thought against it. They both curtsied and in harmony, answered, ““Understood. Good day, Commander.”” The two turned on their heels and marched back out the way they came. Once they were out on the streets, they both were silent. “Asuna, are you sure this was the right choice?” Shiranami lamented. “Doesn’t Kirito have traumatic memories concerning guilds?”
“Yes…” she nodded. “He and the «Moonlit Black Cats»; he’s told me the story before. I’d rather not tell you about it but… it was definitely over a year ago.”
“Is that so…”
“Yes and Kirito still has not gotten over his fear of guilds. Actually, aside from us, Suzaku-kun and Tohka-san, and Klein-san and Tomoe-san, I’m quite sure he’s scared to be around fellow players too.”
“Yeah… Honestly, I’m still not sure if it was a good idea to put the idea of recruiting Kirito in the Commander’s head.”
“I’m having second thoughts too… however, we need to help Kirito move on,” Asuna asserted, reassuring both herself and her friend that they will be helpful. Shiranami nodded too as they continued to walk until they reached the north entrance of the Teleport Gate Plaza. A few more steps and they would be home, however, they weren’t able to do so because they heard a loud commotion occurring a few meters away from the teleport gates.
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“Hey, I’ve told you already, she’s not interested!”
“And who are you to interrupt, you little twerp? Get outta my way!”
At its surface, it seemed to be nothing more than a little scuffle that got out of hand; a group of men surrounding two people, a boy and a girl by the looks of things. The older girl, clad in a layered floral print kimono and rat mask to highlight her silver hair, sighed in disappointment as the boy continued attempting to reason with the disagreeable men. Even as he was pushed aside, though, the black military uniform-clad lad with an equally dark ponytail continued to push his point, growing more exasperated by the moment. “Look, just— please, leave us alone already! Can’t you see there’s already a crowd forming?”
Still, the group of male players didn’t let up. “Shut it, kid! Can’t you see we’re trying to talk to the beautiful girl there? What business do you have with her, huh!?”
“Yeah, right! Who are you… Yoshiki? Isn’t that the little blacksmith runt that snuck into the Clearers way back!? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, being carried by everyone else while all you do is fix their shit!?”
“… Yoshiki-san?” Shiranami mumbled. “What the heck has he gotten himself into this time?”
“Must be because he’s escorting that young lady,” Asuna observed.
Standing his ground still, the young man started to grow more frustrated as he spoke, clearly not having planned to waste his time here. “Look, this isn’t the time or place, can you guys please just let us go—”
“Oh no you don’t! I’m still not over your inclusion, you piece of shit! All you do is sit by the wayside and fix people’s shit while we have to grind to catch up with the rest of the Clearers — and you get to be one of them!? Seriously, what’s with our luck today…”
“Goddamnit, we’re not leaving with nothing — Oi, Yoshiki! I challenge you to a duel!” The argument seems to have reached a high as the man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward, his height and build towering over the raven-haired lad. “If I win, we get to ask that girl out and you have to apologize to us all — and you will give us all your stuff!”
“Yeah! If you’re really a Clearer, then prove it! Or what, are you gonna back down like a coward!?”
“Come now, they really don’t understand that while lacking in certain areas, Yoshiki-san’s strength is most certainly on par with the rest of us…” Shiranami snickered.
“Well, jealousy does addle the brain so really, it’s their fault,” Asuna shrugged. “In any case, should we interfere?”
“Nah,” Shiranami rebuked. “If memory serves… the big guy challenging Yoshiki-san is one of the best members of the «Paradise» guild… Uhh… Stetzer?” Asuna shrugs again in reply since she honestly doesn’t remember average-ranking players well. Still, before they could make any further comments…
“Humu… yep, this'll certainly be somethin'. Why don'cha giv'em a show, Yuu-kun?”The petite girl accompanying the lad finally spoke up, an air of maturity lingering with each word. “Either way, the crowd's watchin' ya' — migh' as well please 'em plenty, yeah~?”
“Wait, but…” Even as the lad tried to raise his voice, the duel invitation was already sent; the holographic panel centering on his front as a crowd now surrounded the lad. Looking back towards the imposing man, and then back to his guildmate one last time…
“...Right. I’ll accept your challenge.” Glancing over to the invitation screen, the lad could see clearly the details for the upcoming fight: a timestamp of 1903 and a Half Loss duel, of all things… Perhaps the other player was of the mind that he wanted to make it hurt or something but Yoshiki had no room to argue; a duel was a duel and he accepted regardless of the risks involved and soon, the sixty-second duel timer began counting down.
“Well, well, looks like we're getting a show after all!” Shiranami cackled.
“We should stop them though…” Asuna said worriedly. “They're doing Half-Loss…”
“That's on the other party,” Shiranami replied. “Besides, do you think Yoshiki-san would take damage at all from these seriously average nobodies?”
“Fair…”
Regardless of the two’s knowing comments, the majority of the other players still seemed to share a particular opinion, that is, agreeing with Stetzer’s jealousy and cheering for the admittedly incredibly reckless player. For Yoshiki’s part, he was instead settling into the right mindset, calming himself with a series of deep breaths as he began tweaking his inventory for the fight. Knives, flasks and various other random knickknacks manifested themselves, hanging from or attached to the lad by his belt and thighs.
More laughter rang from the crowd as Stetzer’s own greatsword manifested itself just as the man finished. “Hurry up now, will you? Seriously, I don’t have all day for this, brat!”
“J-Just a second, please…” With such short preparation time… If this was a First Strike duel, perhaps Yoshiki would’ve had the chance to go with something simple and wrap things up near-instantly. Still, as the timer dropped below two digits, Yoshiki finished setting his loadout and exited the menu; a deep breath left his lips as he finally sized up his opponent. The timer counted down now, from five.
And by the time it was zero, the combatants sprung into action.
Assuming the stance for «Lightning», a basic one-hit sword skill for the two-handed sword, Stetzer charged Yoshiki, attempting to take the lad down with pure brute force, yet the blow was sidestepped ever so easily. This left Stetzer frozen in his post-motion delay as Yoshiki calmly reached for his belt, dropping three flasks into his grip as he launched them into the air. He then leaped back, retrieving a kunai and performing three spins into a beautiful flourish—the wind-up motion for «Critical Strike» for those who were familiar with Yoshiki’s presence in Floor Boss raids.
“What the fu— my weapon’s gone!?”
Just as soon as Stetzer managed to recover from his post-motion delay, the man found his weapon shattered, the holographic shards still fresh as the culprit kunai dropped onto the floor. Volatile flame burst from the flasks Yoshiki had also thrown, surrounding him in a wall of blazing verdant danger. On the other side, Yoshiki approached, his pace slow and calm as he retrieved another kunai from his belt. Raising the weapon above his head as he entered the motion for «Single Shot», Yoshiki launched his throwing weapon again, striking Stetzer in the knee; that one strike was all it took to eat away a good chunk of his health—a feat that finally drew the crowd’s attention to Yoshiki’s level, 88, outstripping that of Stetzer’s which sat at a measly 57.
The battle was as good as over by now; not even ten seconds had elapsed and Yoshiki already had trapped Stetzer behind a wall of flames and left him just moments from defeat. Yoshiki proceeded to return everything to his inventory and pocketed his hands as he waited for the green flames to finish the job. A few seconds later, the system acknowledged Stetzer’s loss once his HP hit 50%; his hands still in his pocket, he snapped the fingers of his right hand and extinguished the green fire. “Ahaha, wonderful,” Shiranami cackled. “As always, the jadepyre Roshigumi concocts is as fantastically potent as ever.”
“We can always trust Yoshiki-san’s aim…” Asuna mumbled. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be the target of those flames.” The rest of the observing players murmured in agreement and slowly began scattering as clearly there was nothing more to see. Asuna and Shiranami too moved as they had seen their fill, however, they were stopped by several whining voices.
With Stetzer down and one of his friends tending to him, the rest of the players accompanying Stetzer bunched up to fall all Shiranami’s feet. As snitching on a playground bully, the group wailed, “Aya-tan! Please do something about that… that cheating runt over there!”
“Yeah, he came out and just suddenly picked on our boss! Please get rid of him already!”
“He absolutely cheated in that fight, you know?! Using those things is against the rules!”
"Seriously, bringing jadepyre into a sword fight… th-that's just unfair! Please, just — punish the bloody runt already, Aya-tan!"
She kept her face straight but Shiranami had already hardened her gaze. “That much is barely anything. As a Clearer, Yoshiki has far more than just jadepyre in his arsenal.”
“No, no, no, you’re not supposed to take his side!”
"What's he ever done for you!? We're the ones who've been supporting you from the start, not like that kid!"
"Yeah! We've rooted for you since your debut, you should be taking our side? Aren't you our idol!?"
Shiranami’s eyes narrowed as she internally cringed. Asuna too was ready to snap but before she could, Shiranami had already reached for her blade. She drew it from her waist, scabbard and all, and made three sharp cuts, an uppercut to strike the one at the center, a left-right horizontal strike which slammed the head of the one to the right, and a final vertical slash which also struck true on the left player’s head. All three of them toppled on the spot and Asuna relaxed, having watched from start to finish as Shiranami’s (sheathed) blade cut through the offending players.
Watching the scene unfold without any real ability to interfere, it would only be now after they had been struck down that Yoshiki would approach, trying to lend a hand to the idol's poor victims. “Um, are you all alright…? That… probably wasn’t the best idea, you know—Shiranami-dono's your idol, yes, but going so far with your impertinent attitudes… The use of «Sharp Nail» is a bit…” The rest of the sentence went unsaid, however, he continued it in his mind, … excessive. To think she’s able to use sword skills without system assistance. That was very clearly performed at the exact same speed you would actually execute «Sharp Nail» at.
“…! S-Shut up, we know that!”
“F-Fuck off, kid! Y-You don’t get to interfere in our business!”
“Yeah, what he said! Stop being so nosy!”
Even as the three swatted away the lad out of pride, they remained grounded, groaning in the pain caused from the idol's sudden outburst (it shouldn’t need to be repeated but SAO dulls all pain to almost zero)—leaving the lad to turn to Shiraanami and bow out an apology. “Umm… my apologies for the trouble, Shiranami-dono… I wasn't expecting any of this to escalate this far, truly.”
Shiranami returned her blade to her waist and threw back her head, a smile of genuine happiness forming on her face. “Bwahaha! Nothing of note happened here today. That’s what I will consider to be the truth as my thanks for showing us a magnificent show.”
“Humu, humu… yep, he’s indeed somethin’ amazin’, a’ight,” With a satisfied smirk, the young lady accompanying Yoshiki spoke up—she was a guildmate and one of Roshigumi's founding five, Totomi. As quickly as she had finished the comment, though, the kimono-clad girl turned to the rest of the crowd with a smile—continuing with a sharp saleswoman-like follow-up. “Still, should any of ya ever require physical firepower or otherwise… well, I do hope this live demonstration here's enough to convince y’all~. I shall patiently await your orders at our store, ya know?”
“In any case, we probably should depart,” Shiranami said. “Asuna and I are quite exhausted from that.”
"Right, then. Have a good day, you both…” Yoshiki trailed off before he suddenly remembered something. “Ah, actually. Just one last thing, if you don't mind.” He then continued, his voice dripping with curiosity, “I've heard the way to the seventy-fifth floor just opened up recently… if that’s true, then I’d presume your group was responsible, yes?"
“Er…” Asuna balked.
“I don’t see why we have to hide it so I’ll just tell you straight,” Shiranami declared. “Yes, we did clear the seventy-fourth floor with an unplanned raid.”
“Is that so…” A sigh of relief left his lips as Yoshiki continued, “That's good to hear. By any chance, uhh… how is Kirito-kun doing, anyhow? I've been meaning to check up on him since the last visit and all, since he usually runs solo and all, no?”
“Well… to put it lightly, he’s tuckered out. I’m betting he’s slobbering all over Asuna’s bed,” Shiranami snickered, sending a smug glance Asuna’s way.
“Aaaah… right, right. He must've been exhausted, then. My apologies, I'll go ahead and look for him another ti—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the older guildmate cut in. “Nahh, ya can jus’ give him ‘is regards. Yuu-kun’s jus’ concern’d ‘bout ‘at new mastahpiece an’ all — the Dark Repulser or somethin', no~?”
“T-Totomi-nee—!?” Even through the raven lad’s protest, Totomi simply smirked and continued on with nonchalance to the other girls.”Shoul’ be fine ta let ‘em know, I'd say. ‘Sides, both of yer’ rather close with ‘at one, aren’t y’all~?"
“Ah, yes, the ‘constipated dragon’ incident?” Shiranami nodded sagely, crossing her arms and smoothly sidestepping the older woman’s accusation of her feelings for Kirito.
“W-Well, if you put it like that… pfftaha—” Yoshiki found a chuckle escaping himself, as Totomi giggled with a knowing smile. “Y-Yes, that's the one. Still, if you guys can give him my regards, I’d be happy.”
“Humu — and do swing by if yer lookin’ fer stuff~! We’ve been stockin’ up fer a while, y’know — migh’ find somethin’ killer fer a damn good price, if yer lucky ‘nough~."
“Yes, I’ll probably drop by in a few days for some maintenance and strengthening of this little girl here,” Shiranami said, patting the hilt of her sword. “It’s quite the gluttonous one, you see. I trust you can tend to her needs again, yes, God of the Forge-san?”
“It’s the least I can do though, it is getting somewhat close to maxing out on upgrades… no matter. I’ll see to it that the job gets done, Snow White Songstress-dono.” A smile after a moment of contemplation, Yoshiki made for a friendly jab in his reply; all in all, he was satisfied with how this surprise encounter went, despite the… somewhat messy altercation earlier. Still, just as he thought he could give things a break…
A ping came through, prompting Yoshiki to glance at the sudden notification; it was a message that read, “heyyy!!! came by to drop off some stuff for later, you there?” Yoshiki scratched his head and he said, “… Uhm, my apologies but something's come up suddenly. I'll be looking forward to see you all in our shop then, if that’s quite alright—” Replying to the group at hand as the message reminder remained in sight, Yoshiki bowed once again in apology, this time with a slight smile on his lips, as he excused himself from the situation and rushed toward the teleport gate.
In turn, Totomi could only sigh, guessing correctly as to the sender of the message just from Yoshiki’s behavior. “Yuu-tan came by ta drop off som’ stuff, it looks like. Sorry, but I’ve go’ stuff on my en’ as well—he gets a bit lenient when she’s involved, ya know how it goes. Gotta keep the margins up, ya know~?”
“It was certainly a pleasure to meet you outside of the raid meetings, Yoshiki-san,” Shiranami nodded. “We’ll excuse ourselves as well. Come on, Asuna.” Asuna nodded and the two girls returned back to the former’s house.