Asuna placed her hands on her waist and spoke while pouting.
“Then doesn’t Kirito-kun want to go somewhere and play?”
In response to that, Kirito grinned broadly and waved his left hand, calling out a map. Switching it to its visible mode, he presented it to Asuna. The floor’s arrangement of forests and lakes were displayed on it.
“Right about here.”
What was pointed out was a corner of a forest, not too far away from their home.
Being one of the lower floors, the twenty-second floor is naturally quite wide. The diameter of the entire area is possibly over eight kilometers long. A humongous lake exists in the middle and to the southern coast lies the main town, «Coral» Village. On the northern coast, the labyrinth. The rest of the area is covered by a beautiful coniferous forest. The little home belonging to Asuna and Kirito is in an area on the southern edge of the floor, and what Kirito was currently pointing to, is to the north-east, roughly two kilometers away.
“Well, it’s about a rumor I heard about in the village yesterday… In this part, where the forest thickens… “It” seems to come out.”
“Hah?”
To the subtly smiling Kirito, Asuna doubtfully responded.
“What does?”
“…A ghost.”
Rendered speechless for a moment, she timidly asked.
“…That means, a monster of the Astral type? Something like a wraith or a banshee?”
“Nope, it’s the real thing. A player… that is, a human spirit. Apparently a female.”
“Aah…”
Asuna involuntarily winced. Towards topics like this, Asuna is confident only of being affected worse than the average person. She was bad enough with them to think up random reasons to ditch the clearing of the old castle labyrinth, stretched over the sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth floors, renowned for its horror theme.
“B- But you see, this is the virtual world of a game. Something like— a ghost coming out, something like that could never happen.”
Forcing herself to keep her smile, she started protesting vehemently.
“Just how true is that, I wonder…”
But for Kirito, who knew that Asuna was weak against ghosts, he enthusiastically went on the offense.
“For example… A player who died with unfulfilled regrets, possessing the NERvGear still attached and switched on… wandering through the field, night after night…”
“Stop th—!”
“Wahaha, sorry about that, it was just a bad joke. Well, I doubt that a spirit will really appear, but if we’re going somewhere, it’s best to head for a place with a higher chance of something interesting happening, right?”
“Aaah…”
Curling her lips into a pout, Asuna shifted her focus outside the window.
Despite winter soon approaching, the weather sure was fine. The sunlight seems warm and gentle, pouring down onto the garden’s lawn. A time most unsuitable for events such as the appearance of a ghost. Due to how Aincrad was structured, although it’s impossible to see the sun directly except during early morning and evening, thanks to the adequate ambient lighting, the field is vividly lit up.
Asuna turned back towards Kirito and replied, with her head held up high.
“Alright, let’s go. To prove that there’s no way something like a ghost could actually exist.”
“And that’s that. —If we don’t find it today, we’ll go in the middle of the night next time, yeah?”
“No way!! …I won’t be making any food for a bully like that.”
“Gah, scratch that. You didn’t hear anything.”
Giving Kirito one final scowl, Asuna broke into a grin and laughed.
“Well, let’s finish up the preparations. I’ll be grilling the fish, so Kirito-kun, cut the bread, okay?”
Quickly stuffing a lunch box with fish burgers, it was nine o’clock in the morning when they left the house.
Stepping onto the lawn in the garden, Asuna turned back to Kirito and spoke.
“Hey, let me ride on your shoulders.”
“Let you ride on my shoulders!?”
Kirito replied wildly, returning the question.
“You see, always looking from the same height gets boring. It should be a piece of cake with Kirito-kun’s physical strength stat, right?”
“Well, that might be true… Geez, just how old are you…”
“Age doesn’t have anything to do with it! Isn’t it fine? It’s not like anyone is watching.”
“Al- Alright, I guess..”
Astounded, Kirito squatted down and turned his back towards Asuna while shaking his head. Raising her skirt, she lifted her legs onto his shoulders.
“There we go. But I’ll be sure to hit you if you look back, alright.”
“Aren’t you being unreasonable…?”
Grumbling about the situation, Kirito nimbly rose, resulting in an instant rise in the point of view.
“Waa! Look, you can even see the lake from here!”
“I can’t see it!!”
“Then I’ll do it for you later too.”
“…”
Placing her hands onto Kirito’s head, slumped over with his exhaustion over the current events, Asuna spoke.
“Now, it’s time to depart! Set a course, north by north-east!”
Laughing cheerfully aboard the shoulders of Kirito, steadily walking forward, Asuna was able to grasp how precious these days were, being able to live together. She could wholeheartedly believe that this was the time she had felt most «alive», in all the seventeen years of her life.
Strolling along the path— well, Kirito is the only one who had actually put in effort, but— After about ten minutes, one of the numerous lakes dotting the twenty-second floor finally came into view. Perhaps tempted by the gentle weather, several players were already there from the morning, casting into the lake, lures dangling in the water. The path curls around the lake, heading uphill, quite a distance away from the lake shore. But as they approached, players who noticed turned towards them and waved. It seems that everyone they saw smiled at them and some were even laughing aloud.
“…This isn’t like no one’s watching at all!!”
“Ahaha, so there were people around… Hey, Kirito-kun, wave back at them too.”
“There’s no way I’ll do that.”
Despite his complaints, Kirito showed no sign of wanting to let Asuna down. Asuna understood that he was actually amused by the turn of events.
The path soon sloped downwards, towards the right, heading into the deep forest. Weaving through the space between the enormous coniferous trees resembling cedar, towering over all else, they strolled on lightly. The rustling of leaves, the murmuring of a small stream, the chirping of small birds. All of these sounds served as a complement for the forest scenery, dyed in the colors of autumn.
Asuna turned her eyes towards the treetops, which were closer than they usually were to her.
“The tree sure is big… Hey, do you think you can climb it…?”
“Hm… Mm…”
In response to Asuna’s query, Kirito thought about it for a while.
“It’s probably within the limits of the system… Want to give it a try?”
“Nah, let’s leave that to next time. —Now that I think about climbing.”
Asuna stretched her body while mounted onto Kirito’s shoulders and looked towards the outer edge of Aincrad, through the gaps between the trees.
“Those things around the edge, the ones that look like supports, they are connected all the way to the next floor, right? I wonder… just what would happen if we climbed up those?”
“Ah, I tried that before.”
“Eeh!?”
Bending her body, she turned and peered at Kirito.
“Why didn’t you invite me too.” “
“Well, it was from when we didn’t know each other that well yet.”
“What, that’s just because Kirito-kun kept running away.�
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“…D- Did I really do that?”
“That’s right. I’ve always tried inviting you, but you weren’t even willing to accompany me for tea.”
“Th- That’s… We- Well, putting that aside.”
Steering the conversation, that had started taking a strange turn, back onto the original topic, Kirito continued.
“If you were to judge based on purely the results, it was a failure. Climbing from the parts where the rocks were more rugged was surprisingly easy, but after climbing for around eighty meters, an error message came out, going all, ‘You can’t go beyond this area’, pissing me off.”
“Ah ha ha, so as expected, cheating doesn’t work, huh.”
“It’s not a laughing matter. My hands slipped from the shock and I fell magnificently…”
“E- Eh!? Wouldn’t you usually die from something like that?”
“Yeah. I thought I was doomed. If I was another three seconds late with that Teleport Crystal, I would have became a new enlist on the list of players killed in action.”
“Geez, that was dangerous. Make sure you don’t repeat it, alright.”
“That’s what I wanted to say!”
Strolling while exchanging their aimless conversation, the forest gradually became more dense. Even the cries of the elusive birds around, as well as the sunlight, leaking through the treetops began to fade away.
As Asuna glanced around once again, she questioned Kirito.
“Hey, that… place in that rumour, just which way is it?”
“Well, it’s…”
Kirito waved his hand, checking their bearings on the map.
“Ah, we’re pretty close by. We’ll reach it in a few minutes.”
“Hmm… Hey, about this case, were there any details on it?”
She didn’t really want to hear about it, but not knowing anything made her just as uneasy, prompting her to ask.
“Well, about a week back, a woodworking craftsman (woodcraft) player seemed to have came around here to gather some logs. The lumber that can be harvested from this forest were of fairly good quality and engrossed in the task, it grew dark… The player hurried to return, but covered by the shade of the trees… there was a fleeting sight of white.”
“…”
That was already the limit for Asuna, but Kirito mercilessly continued.
“The player got flustered thinking that it was a monster, but apparently, that wasn’t it. It was a human, or rather, a little girl, as the player had mentioned. Long, black hair on white garments. Slowly, walking towards a grove of trees. If it wasn’t a monster, it could only be a player, the player thought, gazing at her.”
“…”
“—There wasn’t a cursor.”
“Ee…”
A soft cry unintentionally leaked out from her throat.
“There’s no way that’s possible. Despite thinking that, the player got closer. And even called out to her. Doing so, the girl ceased all movement… she gradually turned around towards him…”
“Th- Th- That’s e- eno…”
“Then, the man finally noticed. The girl, as the moonlight shone down onto her white clothes, the trees next to her— could be seen right through her.”
“——!!”
Stifling a scream, Asuna gripped onto Kirito’s hair tightly.
“It’s the end of me if she turns around, he thought and ran away. Finally getting away far enough to spot the light from the village, he figured that he was safe and stopped… wheezing, he turned to look behind…”
“——h!?”
“And there wasn’t anyone there. And he lived happily ever after.”
“…Ki- Ki- Kirito-kun, you idiot—!!”
Jumping down from his shoulders, she raised her fist, seriously getting ready to let loose a punch at his back— at that very moment.
Deep within the depths of the forest, gloomy, despite it still being midday, at a distance from the pair, something white peeked at them from the side of the trunk of a coniferous tree.
Assaulted by an ominous aura, Asuna became frozen with fear. Even if it’s not as much as Kirito’s, Asuna’s perception skills too, were rather refined through experience. Passively toggling the usage of the skill on, she’s able to improve the clarity of whatever she’s focusing on.
Something white appeared to be fluttering in the wind. It’s not a plant. Nor a rock. But cloth. Or to put it into details, it was a one piece dress with distinct lines. Peeking out from the hem were two slender, long— legs.
The girl stood still. Almost as Kirito had described, she was a young girl clothed in a white one piece dress, unmoving, silently staring at the couple.
Feeling faint as her consciousness leaked away, Asuna somewhat managed to open her mouth. She let out a raspy whisper.
“Ki… Kirito-kun, over there.”
Kirito quickly followed Asuna’s gaze. Immediately, he too, froze up.
“Th- This has gotta be a lie…”
The girl did not move. Standing roughly ten meters away from the pair, her gaze was fixed on them. At the very moment that Asuna, thinking that she will definitely faint if the girl gets any closer, braced herself.
The girl’s body swayed— unsteadily. Like a mechanical doll that had ran out of energy, she tumbled onto the ground, with a motion unlike that of a living being. A light thud gently resonated out.
“There’s…”
At that instant, Kirito narrowed his eyes.
“No way something like that’s a ghost!!”
And ran as he yelled out.
“Wa- Wait up, Kirito-kun!”
Despite the pleas to stop from Asuna who was left behind, Kirito rushed towards the fallen girl, without even taking a look back.
“Geez!!”
Asuna reluctantly stood up and chased after him. Despite her heart still trembling, she had never heard of a ghost that could faint and fall over. That could not be anything but a player.
Late by several seconds, upon reaching the shade under the coniferous tree, she found the girl already cradled within Kirito’s arms. She was still unconscious. Her eyes, shaded by long eyelashes, were still closed, with her arms feebly hanging straight down. Gazing earnestly over her figure, wrapped in the one piece dress, Asuna reconfirmed that it was not translucent in any way.
“I- Is she alright?”
“Hmm…”
Kirito spoke, peering into the girl’s face.
“Well, to be frank… There’s no need for breathing in this world, neither do hearts beat…”
Within SAO, most human physiological functions can be reproduced, but are omitted. It is possible to deliberately take a breath, along with the sensation of air flowing through your respiratory tract, but the avatars have no need to breathe subconsciously and will not do so. Likewise, for the beating of the heart, despite the sensation of it beating harder through tension or excitement, there is no way to feel that of others.
“But still, she’s not vanishing… so she should still be alive, I guess. But this… certainly is strange…”
Finishing his comment, Kirito tilting his head towards the side.
“What’s strange?”
“She can’t be a ghost, seeing as I can touch her like this. But still, the cursor… isn’t coming out…”
“Ah…”
Asuna once again concentrated her vision onto the girl’s form. However, the color cursor that would definitely appear when dynamic objects in Aincrad, such as players, monsters, or even NPCs, were targeted, did not in this case. It was a phenomenon that had never happened up until now.
“Is it perhaps, a bug, or something like that?”
“That’s probably it. In a situation like this, one would usually call for a GM in a usual net-game, but there aren’t any GMs in SAO… But still, it’s not just the cursor. For a player, she looks way too young.”
That is true. The body supported by Kirito’s hands was unusually small. She does not even seem to be beyond ten year
s of age. There was supposed to be an age restriction while setting up the NERvGear, before being able to sign up, forbidding children, probably below the age of thirteen, from being able to use it.
Asuna softly stretched out her hand, brushing over the girl’s forehead. It felt mildly cool and smooth to the touch.
“Why is… there a girl, as young as this, in SAO…”
Firmly biting his lips, Kirito spoke as he rose up.
“For the time being, we can’t just leave her alone. We should be able to find something out when she wakes up. Let’s bring her back with us.”
“Yea, that’s right.”
Kirito got up as he held the girl in his arms. Asuna casually glanced over the surroundings, but being unable to find anything aside from a large, rotting stump, she did not manage to find out the reason for the girl’s presence in the area.
They dashed for nearly the entire way back to the path, but the girl did not regain her consciousness even after exiting the forest and arriving back at their home. Laying the girl down on Asuna’s bed and setting a blanket, the pair sat down, side by side, on the adjacent bed, belonging to Kirito.
There was a momentary stillness in the air, before Kirito nonchalantly broke the silence.
“Well, if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that she’s not a NPC since as we managed to move her in here.”
“Yeah… that’s right.”
NPCs under the control of the system have their positions fixed within certain ranges of coordinates and thus, cannot be moved according to players’ desires. If they were to try touching or holding them, the harassment report window will be triggered within seconds, giving them a painful shock and blowing them away.
Lightly nodding to Asuna’s agreement, Kirito continued with his deductions.
“Also, it couldn’t be the opening to some kind of quest. If that was the case, the quest window should have refreshed the moment we touched her. …In other words, this kid would be a player, who lost her way… or at least, that should be the most reasonable conclusion.”
Quickly shifting his gaze towards the bed, he continued.
“Not having a crystal on hand, perhaps not even aware of the methods of getting around, I believe she had never ventured out to the field, and only stayed within the «Starting City». I don’t know why she came all the way to a place like this, but in the Starting City, we might find someone who knows her… maybe even her parents, or guardians might be there.”
Sword Art Online - Volume 2 - Aincrad (Side Stories) Page 12
