Sword Art Online - Volume 5 - Phantom Bullet

by Reki Kawahara

She put the vegetables, tofu, and other things she bought from the supermarket into the refrigerator next to the sink, then she walked deep into the six tatami room, where she breathed a sigh of relief. As the last rays of sunlight shone through the curtains, she touched a wall switch to turn on the lights.

  The room was nothing to be proud of. The floor was covered with vinyl tiles, and the curtains were a plain ivory color. Before the right-hand wall was a black pipe bed, further down on the same side was a similar dull, black colored writing desk, and against the opposite wall was a small chest and a bookshelf, in line. A full length mirror beside them was the main piece of furniture.

  She put her school bag on the floor and removed her white muffler. Taking off her coat, she placed it and her muffler on a hanger, and put them into a small closet. She pulled the glossy, dark green scarf from her almost black colored sailor uniform, but while her left hand was pulling down the zipper, she stopped and looked at the writing desk.

  After school today had been somewhat troublesome, but she managed to face Endou’s threats, so a little bit of confidence remained deep in her heart. True, she did fall into panic, but even so she stood her ground without running away.

  And two days ago, inside GGO, she won a death match against the strongest enemy she had ever seen. She felt that her heart was forged in a remarkably strong fire.

  Shinkawa Kyouji told her that Behemoth guy was invincible in a party fight. She felt that legend wasn’t exaggerated, as that man had released incredible pressure. During the fight, Shino/Sinon had resigned herself to defeat and death - however in the end, she had managed to obtain victory through her own strength.

  Perhaps…

  Perhaps, now, she would be able to face that memory, and force it to yield.

  While not moving, Shino continued to stare at the desk drawer.

  Tens of seconds later, she threw the scarf, still in her right hand, on the bed and quickly walked to the desk.

  She took a few deep breaths to chase away the fear creeping up her spine.

  She put her fingers on the third drawer’s handle and slowly pulled it open.

  Inside were small boxes for organizing writing utensils and other related items. As she kept pulling the drawer out, what was behind the boxes was slowly exposed. As the box line ends, «that» shape appeared. Shining, dull black, was a small—toy.

  It was a plastic model gun. But the make was very detailed, the tiny hairlines running on the surface gave the toy a metallic look.

  She fought to calm her beating heart upon seeing that shape, and stretched out her right hand. Her trembling right hand touched the grip of the gun, held it, and then took it out. The profoundly heavy feedback. The freezing cold as if it sucked in all the cold air from the room.

  This toy gun was not a model of any existing, real world firearm. The grip was shaped in an ergonomic curve, and above the large trigger guard was a high caliber gun barrel. It might be said to be a Bullpup style gun, with the dull machine part with heat vents placed somewhere behind and above the grip.

  The gun’s name was «Procyon SL», an optical gun in Gun Gale Online. It’s category was handgun, but it could fire in full automatic, so it was a popular sidearm for fights against monsters.

  Although Shino has a storage room in Gurokken, this thing that the real Shino holds, is not something she bought. It is not something that is sold in the market anyway.

  It happened a few days after she entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament two months ago and lost with a rank of 22nd. Addressed to Shino’s game account was an e-mail in English from «Zasker», GGO’s operation company.

  Though it took her some effort to interpret the contents, it seemed to be a BoB Participation Award. She could choose to receive in-game currency or items, or a Procyon SL model gun in the real world, was what it seemed to say.

  Even if it was a toy, she couldn’t stand receiving gun related items in the real world, so she initially decided to pick the in-game money. But then she thought of something.

  In order to confirm the effect of her use of GGO as «drastic treatment», one day, she must touch a model gun in the real world. That said, for her to go buy a model gun in a toy shop would result in too much psychological conflict. If she asked Kyouji, he would probably happily lend her one, but she couldn’t stand the thought of going into panic while accepting it. Buying one on the net was probably her best choice, but looking at various gun pictures in the net shop would weigh her down, so she could never actually buy one. And, of course, there would be the problem of money.

  If the GGO operation company sent her the model gun for free, that might be the best way for her. So, after being indecisive up until near the deadline, she chose to accept the Participation Award in the real world.

  A week later, the heavy International Postal Parcel (EMS) arrived.

  It took her another two weeks to decide to open it.

  However, her reaction to it at that time greatly betrayed her expectations. Shino had pushed it into the deepest part of her desk drawer and hid the memory in a corner of her mind.

  And right now—Shino once again held Procyon in her hand.

  The gun’s cold air passed from her right palm to her arm, up to her shoulder, and seemed to seep deep into her body. It was only a resin model, but its weight felt tremendous. It should have been a handgun light enough to spin around with a finger, but she could only feel that it was a chain binding her to the floor.

  The gun became warm, stealing the body heat from her palm. And in the cold and sweat soaked warmth, Shino felt another presence.

  Who is that?

  That is… that… man.

  Her heart rate increased to a speed beyond her control. Cold blood coursed through her body, ringing loudly in her ears. She lost her sense of orientation. The floor under her feet tilted, losing solidity.

  However, Shino could not remove her eyes from the gun’s black shine. She stared at it at closely as if it would swallow her up.

  There was a ringing in her ears. It became a high-pitched scream. It was a small girl’s scream soaked with pure terror.

  Who was the one screaming?

  That was… me.

  Shino did not know her father’s face.

  It didn’t just mean she had no memory of her father in the real world. Just as the words said, Shino had not seen the person that was her father, not even in pictures or video.

  When her father passed away due to a traffic accident, Shino was not even two years old.

  That day, the family of three, her father, mother, and Shino, had been heading to her mother’s parents’ house to celebrate the new year. Their car had been driving near the northeast border of the prefecture, where an old, two lane road ran along a mountain side. Since they had left Tokyo late, it was around 11pm at night.

  The cause of the accident was evidenced by the tire tracks at the scene: a truck coming from the opposite direction lost control of its steering on a curve in the road and crossed over into their lane.

  The truck driver crashed through the front glass and hit the road, dying instantly.

  Their small car was directly hit on the right side, was knocked through the guardrail, and rolled down the side of the mountain, only stopping when their car hit a pair of trees. At the time, her father, the driver, was unconscious from serious injuries, but still alive, while her mother sitting beside her father had a fractured left leg. Baby Shino in the backseat was tightly belted down and sustained almost no injury. However, she doesn’t have a single memory of that event.

  Unfortunately, even the locals didn’t use that road too often, especially late at night, so there wasn’t a single car passing by. Also, due to the crash, their car’s cell phone was broken.

  By the time a driver on the old road noticed the accident and reported it the following morning, six hours had passed.

  During that time, Shino’s mother could only sit and watch while her father slowly became colder and eventually died from internal bleedi
ng.

  At that moment, somewhere deep within her mother’s mind, something broke.

  After the accident, her mother’s mental state regressed to when she was a teenager and met Shino’s father. Shino and her mother left Tokyo and went to live with her mother’s parents. All her father’s belongings, and any pictures and video containing him, were gotten rid of by her mother, and she never mentioned any of her memories.

  Her mother wanted peace and quiet, so she started living like a country girl. What her mother saw Shino as, she couldn’t be sure even 15 years after the accident; perhaps, she viewed Shino as her little sister. Even so, her mother still deeply loved Shino after the accident. She remembered her mother reading picture books and singing lullabies to her at night.

  That’s why, in Shino’s memory, her mother was a frail girl who was hurt easily. Naturally, when she started to understand better, Shino thought that she had to become strong. She thought that she must protect her mother.

  Once, when her grandparents were out, a very persistent salesman sat in the entrance, scaring her mother. So, the 9 year old Shino chased him away by telling him that if he did not leave, she would call the police.

  For Shino, the outside world had many elements that threatened her mother’s peaceful life. I have to protect her, have to protect her, that was her single-minded thought.

  That’s why—Shino thought back. That’s why that incident happened. In a sense, it was inevitable. Shino kept trying to keep the outside world far away, and so that malicious world came for revenge.

  Shino, the eleven year old, fifth grader in elementary school, didn’t play outside often, usually opting to return home from school immediately and read books borrowed from the library. Her test scores were good, but she didn’t have many friends. She was especially sensitive to external interference; there was an incident where a boy played a harmless trick by hiding her indoor shoes, so she hit him for real and gave him a bloody nose.

  It happened on a Saturday afternoon, after the start of the second school semester.

  Shino and her mother went to a nearby small post office together. There weren’t any other customers.

  While her mother filled out paperwork at a window, Shino sat on a bench, dangled her legs and read a book placed there for people waiting. She didn’t remember the title.

  Squeak, she heard the sound of the door, looked up and and saw a man enter. A skinny middle-aged man, wearing grayish clothing, one hand holding a Boston bag.

  The man stopped at the entrance and looked around inside the office. His eyes met Shino’s for an instant. She thought his eye color looked strange. In the center of his yellowed whites, dark pupils like deep holes moved rapidly. Thinking back now, his pupils were too dilated. It was uncovered later that the man, before he came to the post office, was injected with some stimulant.

  But at that moment, Shino didn’t have time to question it, as the man quickly moved to a window.

  As Shino’s mother was completing some sort of procedure at the «transfers & savings» window, the man suddenly grabbed her right arm with his left and pulled. He then threw her away violently. Her mother fell without making a sound; the shock was so great that she froze with her eyes open.

  Shino instantly stood up. She was going to loudly protest the sudden, unreasonable violence on her beloved mother.

  Then, the man dropped his Boston bag on the counter loudly, and took out a black object from within. By the time Shino realized that it was a gun, the man had already pointed it at the male worker in the window. Pistol—toy—no, real thing—robbery—!? A few words flashed by in Shino’s mind.

  “Put the money in the bag!”

  The man shouted in a hoarse voice. Then, he continued.

  “Both hands on the counter top! Don’t press the alarm button! You there, don’t move!!”

  Moving his gun left and right, he restrained several workers in the back.

  She should immediately run out of the office and call for help outside, Shino thought. However she could not leave her mother lying on the ground and go.

  While she hesitated, the man shouted again.

  “Hurry and put the money inside!! All you have!! Hurry!!”

  The male worker at the window, with his face stiff, held out a 5cm thick bundle of money in his right hand—

  At that moment.

  Her ears went numb. It took her some time to figure out it was from the loud, explosive sound. Next, ding, a small, metallic sound followed. Something had hit the wall and bounced, falling down around Shino’s feet. A small, golden metallic tube.

  When she raised her head again, she saw that on the other side of the counter, the male worker’s eyes were round and both of his hands clutched his chest.. She can see that under his neck tie, his white shirt was dyed red. At that time, the worker on his chair leaned backward, along with a file cabinet near him, and fell to the ground.

  “I told you not to press the button!!”

  The man’s voice became high-pitched. She could see that his hand holding the gun was shaking. A smell reminiscent of fireworks reached her nose.

  “Hey, you! Come here and take the money!!”

  The man’s gun pointed at two female workers who stood, frozen.

  “Hurry and come!!”

  The man’s sharp voice rang out, but the female workers just shook their head and didn’t move. They probably had training to counter robbery incidents, but actual bullets could not be blocked by training from any manual.

  The man kicked the lower part of the counter many times in frustration. Maybe he was thinking of shooting another person, as he raised his right hand holding the gun, again. Screaming loudly, the female workers crouched down.

  But then, the man did a half turn, and faced the customer side of the room.

  “If you don’t hurry, I’ll shoot another person!! I’m going to shoot!!”

  The man’s gun was pointing at—fallen down on the floor, Shino’s mother who was looking into space with empty eyes.

  The scene happening in front of her was too much for her. Her mother couldn’t even move her body. Instantly, Shino thought:

  —I need to protect my mother.

  The thought that she continuously had since she was a little child, that willpower forced Shino’s body into action.

  Shino dropped her book and ran out, she held onto the man’s right wrist holding the gun, and instantly bit down on it. The child’s sharp teeth easily penetrated the man’s skin.

  “Whaa!?”

  The man gave a surprised shout, then swung his right arm along with Shino. Shino’s body hit the side of the counter. She lost two of her baby teeth at that moment, but she didn’t feel it. In front of her eyes, that man’s black gun slipped and fell from his hand. She picked it up while he was preoccupied.

  It was heavy.

  The heavy weight of the metal was felt through both of her hands. In contrast, the lined grip held by the man earlier was soaked with his sweat, with the man’s body heat. It felt like a living thing.

  Shino as a child knew a bit about what the tool was for. If she used this, she could stop the terrible man. Led by those thoughts, Shino held the gun up near level with her eyes, both hands’ index fingers went to the trigger, and pointed it at the man.

  At that moment, the man let out a strange sound and jumped at Shino, trying to get the gun away from her hands. His two hands latched onto her two wrists.

  That action was very good for Shino, and in a way it was very bad. She still couldn’t figure it out right now. But the simple truth was that, as a result, the man steadied the gun pointing at him.

  Right now, Shino had more than enough information on the gun used in the robbery incident—«that gun».

  In 1933, 90 years ago, the Soviet army officially used the gun «Tokarev TT33». Then, the Chinese copied it and produced «Type 54 Black Star». That was the gun’s name.

  The gun was 30 caliber, that is, it used 7.62mm diamter steel core bullets. Compared
to the mainstream 9mm guns developed later, its caliber is lower, but it uses a lot of gun powder. For that reason, the bullet’s initial speed is beyond the speed of sound, so it has the highest penetration power among all hand guns.

  But as the recoil was also large, the Soviet Union in the 1950’s designed a smaller gun using 9mm bullets. The «Makarov» replaced the Tokarev as their official gun in history.

  This kind of gun was not something an 11 year old child was able to aim and shoot properly. But when the man strongly held onto her wrists trying to steal the gun away, at that instant, Shino pulled the trigger on reflex.

  The violent recoil spread from her hands to her elbow then to her shoulders, but the majority of it was absorbed by the man’s hands. The air expanded by heat again.

  The man made a hiccup-like sound, released Shino’s hands, and staggered back a few steps.

  In the man’s patterned grey shirt near his belly, a dark red circle rapidly expanded. “Aa… Ahaaa!!”

  While he released a high pitch cry, he pressed his hands to his abdomen. Maybe a large blood vessel was hit, as from between his fingers a spray of blood gushed out.

  But the man did not fall. Black Star used a small caliber Full Metal Jacket bullet, so while it could easily pass through the human body, its stopping power is low.

  With a strange sound, the man moved his blood covered hands toward Shino, again trying to catch her. The blood spraying out of his wound fell onto Shino’s hands.

  With her shaking hands, as if convulsing, she pulled the trigger again.

  This time the pistol made a huge jump, pain shooting through her elbows and shoulders. Her body was thrown backward, her back hit the counter, knocking her breath out. She didn’t really hear the gunshot noise this time.

  The second bullet hit below the man’s right collarbone, once again going through him and hitting the wall at his back. The man staggered, then foot slipped on his own blood, and he collapsed onto the linoleum floor on his back.

  “Gaaaaa!!”

  But that still didn’t stop the man. He roared in anger and put both hands on the floor to try to stand up again.

  Shino was panic-stricken. She thought, this time, if she doesn’t «stop» the man for sure, she and her mother will absolutely be killed.