Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet

by Reki Kawahara

  For example, the gamers who killed in the abnormal world of SAO would get a certain type of digitalized «killing intent» or «grudge» that would be suited in the VR environment. This power is converted by AmuSphere into data, and sends out a certain type of signal through the network at the bodies of those who were shot…causing the heart to stop.

  If this hypothesis’ correct, «Death Gun» can possibly kill all the gamers in the real world through the game.

  Also, «Kirito» who wields the imaginary blade may end up killing «Death Gun» or someone else.

  I’ve killed other gamers in Aincrad before, probably more than most of the PKers.

  Up till now, I would deliberately forget those who fell at my blade. However, the seal of those memories were opened yesterday.

  No, it’s more like I couldn’t forget about them at all. During this past year, I just lived through while trying to pretend that nothing happened, and continued to escape the price of the sin I committed…

  “What’s with you, boy? You don’t look so good.”

  The tip of the white slippers suddenly knocked at my knees.

  I was so shocked that my shoulders went stiff. Looking up, I found that Nurse Aki was looking at me through the frameless spectacles.

  “…Ah…it’s nothing…”

  I shook my head slightly, but still bit my lips hard in the end. A few hours ago, I made Suguha worry for the same reason. It’s too shameful of me to let Nurse Aki worry about me even after accepting such a request.

  However, Nurse Aki gave me the encouraging smile she showed when I was doing rehab. She stood up from the chair, moved over to me and said,

  “It’s a rare chance for a beauty nurse to give counselling. Just say what’s on your mind.”

  “…I’ll likely get divine retribution if I refuse.”

  Fuu…after exhaling hard, I looked at the floor, hesitated for a while, and said,

  “…Well, Nurse Aki. You were in the surgical department before coming over to Rehab, right?”

  “Un, that’s right.”

  “Please forgive this rude and direct question of mine…”

  I glanced up left and asked in a more delicate voice,

  “…How long can those patients who died remain in your mind…?”

  This is a question I would probably get scolded for or even blank white eyes. If I were a nurse, I’ll be wondering what would a brat who doesn’t know anything about the surgical scene ask something like he knew what’s going on.

  However, Nurse Aki still gave me a smile and answered,

  “Well…”

  She looked at the ceiling of the patient’s room for a while, and slowly opened her mouth before saying,

  “If I try to recall, I can remember their names and faces. Even if it’s a patient whom I spend only an hour with in the same operation room…hm, I can still remember. I only saw them sleeping due to the anaesthetic. That’s really unbelievable, isn’t it?”

  In other words, there were some deaths in the operations Nurse Aki did before…I knew that this isn’t something that I can just touch on randomly, but I couldn’t help but ask,

  “Don’t you want to forget them?”

  Nurse Aki blinked twice, perhaps seeing my expression I don’t know of after I said that. However, the lips that had light lipstick on them continued to maintain their smile.

  “Hmm, well…I don’t know if I can answer your question here…”

  Nurse Aki said that, and then continued with a very hoarse voice,

  “Humans will definitely forget once they feel that there’s something they should forget. They wouldn’t even have any thoughts of wanting to forget. The more you want to forget, the more the memory’s ingrained in you, which will make it clearer, right? In that case, I guess…deep inside your heart, you subconsciousness, you didn’t really want to forget about that, right?”

  This unexpected answer caused me to take a slight gasp.

  The more I want to forget, the more I couldn’t forget…?

  These words went straight into my heart, leaving a strong bitter taste in my mouth. After I turned it to a self-depreciating smile, I said these words,

  “…Then, I’m really a bad person…”

  Evading the ‘why’ stare Nurse Aki was giving me, I looked between my feet on the floor, clenched my fists and placed them at my knees, and used this pressure to release the words from my chest.

  “…I killed 3 players…in SAO…”

  The dry voice knocked into the white walls of the patient’s room and returned as a wonderful echo. No, I guess my brain was the only one that was affected.

  I came to this hospital during November and December last year to recuperate, and Nurse Aki was the one in charge of taking care of me. That’s how she knew that I was imprisoned inside the virtual world for two years. However, I had never told her about what happened in that world.

  Anyone working in the medical care department would definitely feel unhappy about hearing that I took lives. However, I just couldn’t stop talking. I could only lower my head further and say with the hoarse voice.

  “They were all reds…all «murderers», but I could have chosen not to kill them and make them unable to fight then. But I still slayed them, because of my own rage, anger…and lust for revenge. I have even forgotten about them for this past year. No, I still couldn’t remember their names and faces even if I say this now. In other words…I’m the kind of guy who would even forget the people I personally killed.”

  The moment I shut my mouth up, the patient room became completely silent.

  After a while, the sound of clothes rubbing and the shaking of the bed hit me. I guess Nurse Aki who’s sitting on my left is about to leave the room.

  However, I was wrong. A hand went over my back and was placed on my right shoulder before pulling me over forcefully. At this moment, the left side of my body was stuck tightly onto the white uniform. The tense me that heard a soft voice with light breathing at a position very close to me.

  “I’m sorry, Kirigaya-kun. I said confidently that I could ease your emotional problems, but I still can’t remove the burden on you. Of course, I can’t bear it with you.”

  The hand that was on my right shoulder started stroking my hand.

  “I have never played any VR games, let alone «Sword Art Online»…so I can’t feel the weight of the words «kill». However…one thing I definitely know is that you ended up having to do that because you wanted to help someone, right?”

  “Eh…”

  Her words took me by surprise.

  To help others. This element did exist, bu, but, I can’t just…

  “In healthcare, there are also situations where we have to choose who we want to save, like abandoning an infant to save the mother, to abandon a vegetable to save someone who’s waiting for an organ and so on. In a large scale scenario or disaster, there are standards to assess the ‘level of injury’ and prioritize those who need help. Of course…it’s not that we can kill without a good reason. A lost life can’t be taken back no matter what price is paid. But…someone like you should also have the right to think that someone was saved because of you. You have the right to redeem yourself by thinking of those people you saved.”

  “Allowing me…to redeem myself…”

  After I said that with a hoarse voice, I shook my head had while Nurse Aki’s hand was still on me.

  “Bu, but…I forgot about those people I killed, threw away those responsibilities and duties, so I shouldn’t even be redeemed…”

  “It wouldn’t hurt that much if you really forgot about it.”

  After saying that with a firm voice, Nurse Aki placed her left hand on my hand and turned me to her. The long narrow eyes behind the frameless spectacles had a tough glow in it. I found that there were tears rolling out of my eyes the moment she used the thumb with the shortened fingernail to wipe my eyes.

  “You still remembered it clearly. Of course, you will remember everything when it’s
time for you to remember. That’s why, you have to remember those you helped and saved at that time too.”

  After she said that, Nurse Aki placed her forehead near my forehead.

  The icy touch causeded the swirling heavy brain of mine to calm down. My shoulders started to relax too, and I slowly closed my eyes.

  A few minutes later, I was naked on top and had electrodes for the ECG stuck on me as I raised my hands to lift the AmuSphere.

  Ever since last night, I’ve always had an icy and heavy fear and responsibility troubling me, and now this burden has finally left me. But once I meet that guy in «Gun Gale Online» again—«Death Gun», the burden will press down on me again.

  The VR screen that was as heavy as cast iron was placed on my head. I turned the power on, and immediately, there was an electronic chime that indicated the countdown before starting. I moved my vision and said to Nurse Aki who was sitting beside the screen equipment,

  “I’ll leave the control to you then. And, also…about just now…thanks.”

  “No, it’s nothing to be thankful for.”

  After saying that in a pastor-like tone, the nurse draped a thin blanket on me. I forcefully closed my eyes amidst the aroma of clean soap.

  “There shouldn’t be anything before 8…I’ll be back in 10 minutes. I’m going now. LINK START—!”

  After shouting, the colored lights appeared in front of me, and then swallowed me in.

  As my senses were gradually severed, Nurse Aki’s voice could be heard.

  “I understand. Just head in without any worries, «Hero Kirito».”

  What…?

  Before I could even think, my consciousness left reality and entered that barren wasteland of dust and smoke.

  Chapter 8

  “That guy…”

  CRACK!

  “…REALLY INFURIATES ME!”

  Exclaiming these words out of her mouth, Asada Shino used the toes of the sneakers she was wearing to kick at the swing.

  This is a corner of a little park near Shino’s house. The sky had become dark, and this park was a simple area with only 2 recreational equipment and a pile of gravel, thus, no children would come here to play on Sundays.

  Sitting beside Shino on the swing was Shinkawa Kyouji, who widened his eyes.

  “That’s rare of you, Asada-san…for you to criticize someone in such a straightforward manner.”

  “Because he’s really…”

  Shino stuck her hands inside her denim dress, leaned her back against the slanted pillar, twists her lips and continued,

  “…So thick-skinned, loves to cause sexual harassment, likes to act cool… speaking of which, who the hell uses swords to fight in GGO!”

  Everytime Shino would talk about how infuriating «that guy» was to her, she would kick a small pebble beside her foot.

  “Also, that guy was even cross-dressing as a girl right at the beginning, and even asked me to choose clothing for him! I nearly lent him money as well!, AAAAHHHHHH!! DAMN IT, WHAT ‘CAN YOU PLEASE SURRENDER YOURSELF!’!”

  This grumbling continued until there were not suitably-sized stones around. Shino lowered her head, looked beside her, and found that Kyouji was really shocked as he used a certain delicate expression to look back at her.

  “…What’s the matter, Shinkawa-san?”

  “No…it’s not rare, but I guess this is the first time you bad-mouthed someone so much…”

  “Eh…really?”

  “Un, because you normally didn’t seem interested in others…”

  “…”

  On hearing him say this, she started to realize it,

  Normally, she wouldn’t interact with others enthusiastically. Even if someone pulls a prank—like Endou and the rest, she would merely feel irritated at most because she felt that there was no need to waste too much energy getting angry at them.

  If she really had to say it, Shino couldn’t even finish her own problems. Who has the time to bother about others? Even so, «that guy» really enraged her greatly for some inexplicable reason. It’s been less than 24 hours since they interacted for the first time on Saturday afternoon, and yet that guy remained in her memories, and she couldn’t get rid of it.

  But it’s no wonder that she would be this angry.

  It’s been half a year since Shino started playing the VRMMO-RPG «GGO». However, she had never met any gamer who invaded her privacy like this. And also, she was overly shocked that he held her hand during the rest period after the first round of the preliminaries, and was so shaken up that she missed two snipes from mid-ranged in the second round after that.

  “…D, don’t look at me like this. I get angry easily.”

  Shino deliberately dragged the pebble far away with her toes and kicked it hard at the shrubs as she mentioned that.

  “Fufu~ is that so.”

  Kyouji continued to stare at Shino, but he seemed to remember something as he suddenly brought his body away from the swing and said enthusiastically,

  “Then… do you want to ambush him in some training arena? If you want to snipe, I’ll be the bait… but it’s better to take revenge from the front right? I can immediately get 2, 3 outstanding machine gunners to help. Using beam matter to stun him and then deal an MPK isn’t bad either.”

  The shocked Shino blinked her eyes at Kyouji, who was planning all sorts of PK, and then raised her right hand to interrupt him.

  “Erm, well… I don’t mean that. How should I put it… though he infuriates me, his manner of battling is rather upright. I want to have a fight with him under fair circumstances. I lost yesterday… but I know how to fight him, and there’s chance for revenge too.”

  Shino pushed the plain glasses up, and then took her handphone out from her skirt pocket to check the time.

  “3 and a half hours left before the BoB finals begin. I’m going to blow a large hole on that guy in that grand event.”

  Shino pointed her right index finger at the sky in the west, and right where she was pointing at, a red moon could be seen rising.

  Last night, on the night of December 13th, there was a preliminaries tournament for the strongest in GGO—the «3rd Bullet of Bullets».

  Shino in K group managed to beat her way through, but in the end, the one who appeared in front of her, was the one who was supposed to be a beginner—even though she had a feeling that she would be meeting him, «that guy».

  His name was «Kirito», a gamer who transferred all his unique data using «The Seed» platform from a VRMMO Shino didn’t know of into GGO.

  Shino was on her way to the capital of GGO, the «SBC Gurokken» presidential tower where she met what should be Kirito, who had just entered the game. He asked Shino where the weapons store was, and Shino, who would normally point coldly in a direction and leave, took the initiative to guide him through.

  And the reason was—Kirito’s avatar looked like a girl no matter how anyone looked at him.

  Shino later found out that this M model in GGO was called the «9000 series», an avatar that doesn’t look any different from the F model. As this model was extremely rare, the account would be extremely expensive if it were sold. Logically, Kirito’s appearance would fit a «beauty» of this price. Long, beautiful straight hair, wide eyes that were seemingly radiating the light of darkness, snowy white skin and a slender body. To be honest, it was more feminine than the real F model Shino had.

  Having played GGO for half a year, Shino never met any «beginner female players». Of course, she does know of a few female gamers, but they all had more experience than Shino—all old-timers. The time they would spend shooting at each other would be much longer than the conversation.

  Thus, Shino saw a black-haired girl—who was really a guy—being all lost here and there, and immediately remembered her past, and was soon attracted to him and became his guide.

  Both of them chose their equipment in a large store, and Shino then taught him the «bullet trajectory» unique battle system GGO has, and even told him
the way to register in the presidential tower. After that, they moved to the waiting dome below the tower and into the rest area to change their street equipment into fighting equipment. Shino then took off all her equipment except for her underwear—and at this moment, Kirito told her his real name and gender.

  Shino extremely ashamed, gave him a huge slap and then said,

  You must get to the finals. For the lesson’s end, I’ll teach you the taste of being a loser with a bullet.

  But to be honest, she didn’t think that he would have a chance.

  Kirito was a beginner who just transferred into GGO, and she did not know what this person was thinking as his main weapon wasn’t a rifle or a machine gun, but a «photon sword» that’s used for close range combat.

  It’s basically a fantasy to use a sword to beat a gun-user, Shino thought and was about to forget about Kirito—

  However, Kirito unexpectedly fulfilled the promise with Shino, and in the group F’s preliminaries where 64 people fought it out, he managed to win his way from round 1 through round 5 using a laser blade and a small caliber handgun as his sidearm as he stormed into the finals where Shino was waiting.

  At the highway under the sunset that became the stage of the preliminaries finals, Shino witnessed Kirito’s amazing fighting ability. He used the energy blade of the photon sword to block the 50 caliber bullet Shino fired from her beloved «Ultima Ratio Hecate II»—or rather, sliced it up.

  Kirito rushed in aggressively between the bullet that was sliced in half, got to Shino, pointed his blade at her neck, and muttered in close distance,

  “Can you please surrender yourself? I don’t really like to slay girls.”

  “~~~~~~~~~~!”

  Just recalling that alone made her feel the humiliation she suffered again. Shino then crudely put down the right hand that was pointing at moon. She looked around for a pebble around her that she could kick, but unfortunately, they were all kicked into the grass. Thus, she could only use the sole of the sneakers to kick at the metal pole.

  “…You better get ready. I’ll pay back that humiliation with double the interest…”