“How do we do this? This is a battle royal, so there should be a winner decided when one person’s HP is zero, right?”
“It’s rare, but I heard that the first BoB in North America was won by two people. The reason was that the person who should have won accidentally got a underhanded trick called «Gift Grenade».”
“Gift Grenade? What’s that?”
“The losing player will throw a grenade to drag the enemy down—un, here, this is for you.”
Sinon reached her hand into her pouch and then pulled out a black ball object onto Kirito’s right hand that reached out in reflex. She then set the countdown of the fruit-like grenade to 5 seconds.
This was the plasma grenade she got after she checked that Kirito defeated Death Gun and ran to Yamikaze on the west side of the rocky hill. At that moment, Sinon had already decided to use this to end this tournament.
Finally realizing what was placed in his hand, Kirito widened his eyes and got ready to throw it away instinctively.
To prevent him from doing this, Sinon wrapped both arms behind Kirito’s back and held his hands in.
Soon after, an abnormally dazzling flash appeared between the two avatars, engulfing the wryly smiling Kirito and the smiling Sinon into pure whiteness.
The time taken for the tournament was 2 hours, 4 minutes and 37 seconds.
The 3rd Bullet of Bullets battle royale finals ended.
The result—[Sinon] and [Kirito] won at the same time.
Chapter 15
From the time she was being transported from the lone island «ISL Ragnarok» to the waiting area, Sinon kept looking at the rankings and the countdown till log out while trying to calm herself down.
Though the tournament was over, the situation with «Death Gun» wasn’t. Death Gun’s accomplice might still be near her in the real world. Kirito said that the police would be there soon, but his log out time would be the same as Sinon. Also, he would need to contact his associate, so it would take at least 10 minutes. During this time, Sinon could only protect herself.
First, she had to check if her own room was safe. Then, she had to get Shinkawa Kyouji to come over to her house. Though there was a chance that he would meet Death Gun, these people weren’t using guns or knives as weapons, but syringes with poison—as that’s Kirito’s view—so they wouldn’t randomly inject drugs into people who are awake. Of course, Sinon was ready to tell him to be careful.
The large countdown timer quickly flew by, and there was 10 seconds left till log out.
She looked at the large results screen one last time.
Sinon and Kirito, who won at the same time were glowing at the highest level. Even though it was her ultimate goal when playing GGO is to let her name appear there, unfortunately, the outcome this time would most likely not count. The situation was way too abnormal, so she would pin her hopes on the 4th tournament.
There was no 2nd place. The 3rd place was Death Gun’s log in character name «Sterben». Sinon herself didn’t know how the name should be read, but to the mantle guy, «Death Gun» should be his real name, so his log in name should be used to cover up his true identity.
The 4th place was «Yamikaze». Most of the people bet money on him as they felt that he would be the champion, so the official betting company should have earned a lot now. Starting from the 5th position, there were names that were more common, but after names like «Dyne» and «Xiahou Dun»—the ranking ended at 28.
The bottom most place showed the names of the two who disconnected, «Pale Rider» and «Garret».
As expected, there were 2 victims of Death Gun in this tournament. This meant that he had 2 accomplices. What kind of organization did those 3 people take part in a VRMMO, what kind of experience did they have that would cause them to take part in such a horrifying plot…
As the countdown timer went to zero, Sinon didn’t feel the exhilaration of victory, but an abnormally cold chill.
A floating feeling descended on Shino, and as this feeling disappeared, she was already lying on her bed in her room in the real world.
No—it’s possible that it wasn’t just one person. She told herself not to immediately open her eyes or move about.
Shino didn’t move at all but merely closed her eyes and started noticing her surroundings.
At this moment, there were some slight sounds that went into her ears. The first was her own breathing, and next, it was the heartbeat that was rather fast.
Bellowing down near the ceiling was the air-conditioner that was giving off warm air, and also, there was the humidifier that was letting out a buzzing sound. She could hear the sound of a vehicle running by from afar, and there was also a deep sound of a stereo woofer from a room in this apartment.
—But other than these sounds, there weren’t any other strange sounds.
This time, Shino tried to take a deep breath softly. Her nose took in the particles of air, and there was just a little fragrance. Shino knew that it was the vanilla soap she placed above the storage box to act as air-freshener.
There wasn’t anyone else in the room.
Even though she thought this way, Shino still couldn’t open her eyes immediately. Maybe someone was watching her beside her bed—this fear remained in her heart.
No, even if it’s not inside the room, he may be hiding in the kitchen or the bathroom…or the balcony…even in this small little suite, there were many places for a person to hide in if he or she wanted to. Also, there’s a likelihood that he was hidden underneath the bed. No, I don’t want to get up.
Right now, Kirito—Kirigaya Kazuto should have contacted the police through his associate, and she should be able to hear the sirens of the patrol cars. In that case, maybe it would be most safe not to move.
As Shino thought about this and got ready to close her eyes tight—
The old air-conditioner suddenly lowered its temperature, and the icy wind that was blown up floated on Shino’s exposed thighs. A cold air covered her skin, making her feel itchy in the nose.
Shino herself probably resisted for 2 seconds. Then, her eyebrows and nose curled up, giving off a clear sneeze that disobeyed the owner’s respiratory system. Shino froze, waiting for a reaction to this sneeze from a certain point in this room.
However, there was still no movement in the room.
Shino then stealthily opened her right eye.
Inside the dark room that had the lights turned off, the street lights from the gap in the curtains were the only ones that brought some light. Shino checked first to be sure that it could be seen from her eyes, and then slowly turned her head around bit by bit to check her room.
Anyway, there didn’t seem to be anyone in her view. Even though she just sneezed, Shino carefully took off the AmuSphere on her head and put it beside the pillow. She used the strength of her abdomen to raise herself and looked around the entire room quickly.
—It looked like it wasn’t any different from before she dived in.
Whether it was the mineral water on the table, the large sound box beside the table or the school bag that’s left on the floor, nothing was moved at all.
Shino placed her hand on the mattress and then moved it alongside the bed. She gulped her saliva down and then poked her body out to look underneath the bed. It was obviously empty underneath.
She looked up, and checked through the curtains that the lead windows were locked up.
Then, she got off the bed barefooted, reached her neck out to take note of any movements in the kitchen. Speaking of which, that space which was only 3 mat big didn’t look like it had any place to hide.
At this moment, Shino finally got up and subconsciously walked to the wall before pressing the switch. The room was immediately lit with white light, and even the corridor on the back of the kitchen lit up.
Looking closely, the lock on the door didn’t look like it was touched before. Shino stood for a while before noticing that there weren’t any strange sounds from the place behind a wall—the bathro
om. In the end, there wasn’t anything strange. Thus, she again tiptoed towards the kitchen.
The bathroom door was tightly shut, but wasn’t locked, and there wasn’t any light inside.
Shino grabbed onto the aluminium door handle with her right hand that’s full of cold sweat.
She took a deep breath, held it, and pulled the bathroom door aside as her left hand turned on the lights.
“…”
Shino wordlessly inspected the bathroom for a while.
“Why am I scaring myself…”
She muttered. The rice-colored bathroom was obviously empty.
This time, Shino finally lowered her neck and the shoulders on both sides to relax her body. She turned halfway around and leaned her entire body on the wall before sitting down.
There wasn’t anyone else in the room, and she couldn’t see any evidence of other people who have entered.
Of course, there was a possibility that—the intruder who broke the old electronic lock was using the handphone to check the live telecast of GGO through the phone, and left after seeing that Death Gun was defeated.
If that was the case, the intruder may still be near this apartment. As she couldn’t guarantee that he would not turn back, she had to hurry up, call Shinkawa Kyouji and invite him to her house. Shino felt this way, but just couldn’t motivate herself.
She glanced at the kitchen timer that’s placed on the fridge. It also functioned as a clock, and the numbers indicated on it showed that it was 10:07pm.
—It was a long three hours. The yogurt container that’s in the trash bag in front of her was thrown in before she dived in, but it seemed to be a long time ago.
And her own heart seemed to feel that something has changed, but it didn’t.
However, at least the anxiety that resided in her for a long time was gone. During this long time, perhaps her anxious feeling of only realizing that she had to get stronger was all wasted. She had to slowly work her way up.
“Okay…!”
Shino softly encouraged herself and got up before realizing that she was extremely thirsty. She went near the basin, used the cup to catch the water that flowed out from the tap and gulped it down.
And just when she was about to drink another cup—
DING DONG. The doorbell rang at this moment..
Shino tensed her body instinctively and then turned to look at the door. She suddenly had the thought that the person may open the door himself and couldn’t breathe at all.
Thinking about it, maybe it was the police. She then turned to look at the clock, but the time since she logged out was less than 3 minutes, and it would be too fast.
Just when Shino was standing there, the doorbell rang again. Shino held her breath and stealthily went to the door.
It’s better to chain the door up. Just when she thought that way, she timidly reached her left hand out, but just when she was about to touch the door chain—
“Asada-san, are you there? It’s me, Asada-san!”
The electronic lock that had a speaker function gave the slightly sharp voice of a boy. Shino was rather familiar with this voice.
Shino herself immediately heaved a sigh of relief. She stepped on the slippers and brought her face near the door, and then looked outside the door for safety reasons. She saw a boy standing in the corridor, looking distorted because of the concave effect. That person was the friend she was ready to call to her house—the ex-classmate who invited Shino to play GGO, Shinkawa Kyouji.
“Shinkawa-kun…?”
Shino called the other person’s name through the speaker, and then a somewhat hesitant voice came over.
“Well…I couldn’t help but want to say congrats to you…I bought this from the convenience store, but it’s just a little token of appreciation…”
After hearing these words, Shino again looked through the peephole. Kyouji outside was holding a small cake box.
“You, you’re really quick…”
Shino couldn’t help but question. Even after including the time for her to log out, it was only about 5 minutes ever since the tournament ended. Looking at things now, he probably didn’t watch the telecast from his own house, but hung around at the park nearby and waited to buy the cake from the convenience store once it was decided before rushing here. His impulsive manner was really just like what the AGI-type Spiegel would do.
But this would remove the need to contact him herself. Shino exhaled and reached her hand out for the door.
“Hold on. I’m going to open the door.”
She said as she lowered her head, and found that her upper body was still wearing a tank top and pair of shorts below that showed a lot of her thighs. The girl felt that this was somewhat revealing, but she still shrugged and opened the door.
After opening the door, the smiling Shinkawa Kyouji was standing at the door. He was wearing a pair of jeans below and a military coat with feathers on top. It looked thick, but just didn’t look like it could resist the cold air outside.
Shino was trembling because of the cold air that came at her feet and started saying,
“Wah, it’s cold. Hurry up and come in.”
“U, un. Excuse me then.”
Kyouji nodded his head, shrank his neck back and entered the corridor with the concrete floor. On seeing Shino, he narrowed his eyes as if his eyes hurt.
“Wha, what is it…hurry up and close the door, or else the room’s going to get cold. Ah, remember to lock it.”
Kyouji’s eyes made Shino somewhat embarrassed, and she pretended to throw a tantrum to hide this feeling. She then turned around and walked towards the room. Behind her, the electronic sound of the door being locked could be heard. Shino returned to the 6 mat room, took the remote control on the table and adjusted the air temperature higher. The air conditioner bellowed in an exaggerated manner and breathed out warmer air that shook off the cold air in the room.
Shino quickly sat down on the bed, looked up, and found that Kyouji was standing at the door in a somewhat lost manner.
“Please take a seat. Ah…do you want a drink?”
“No need. There’s no need for that.”
“I’m tired now. There’s nothing now if you really say so.”
The girl said that jokingly, and Kyouji’s face finally showed a smile. He placed the cake on the table next to the tea set and sat down on the cushion beside it.
“…I’m sorry for arriving so suddenly, Asada-san. But…as I said before, I really wanted to celebrate things with you fast.”
He covered his knees like a kid and then looked up at Shino.
“Well…congratulations on becoming the BoB champion. Asada-san…Sinon was really amazing. You finally became the strongest gunman in GGO. But…I knew it. Asada-san would one day succeed. Because Asada-san had real strength like no others…”
“Thanks…”
Shino felt somewhat embarrassed, and thus, she shook her neck that shrank back,
“But there’re two winners this time…and if you saw the live telecast, you should have seen that there were a lot of unnatural things that happened…maybe, the tournament will be declared as invalid…”
“Eh…?”
“Well…how should I put it…”
For a moment, Shino couldn’t think of how to explain the «Death Gun» incident to the puzzled Kyouji. She didn’t really know about the entire thing too, and couldn’t continue on with the explanation. And—right now, even she started wondering that this may be like an illusion.
Maybe…
All these were merely caused by coincidence…? Could shooting someone in the virtual world really kill a player by poison in the real world? To be honest, Shino only saw Pale Rider being disconnected. If he and the other player who disconnected were really dead, it would mean that Death Gun’s crimes were real, but Shino would have no definite proof until she had news that they died.
The police would come over in another 10 minutes, and then I should explain everything to Kyouji, right? S
hino had this thought and changed the topic.
“Oh well…it’s nothing. It’s just that there was a strange player. But you were really quick. The tournament just ended 5 minutes ago.”
“Ah, well…I came over near your house and used the handphone to watch the live feed so that I could immediately congratulate you…”
Kyouji hurriedly said this, and Shino smiled on seeing him like this.
“I had a feeling that it would be like that. It’s cold outside. You’ll catch a cold. Let me brew you some tea.”
But Kyouji shook his head to stop Shino. His face gradually lost its smile, showing a nervous look. Shino could only blink.
“Well…Asada-san…”
“Wha, what is it?”
“I…saw the footage of the desert cave…on the telecast…”
Shino could guess from these words and Kyouji’s expression what he didn’t say out. Thinking about what happened back in the cave, Shino couldn’t help but blush.
“Tha…that was…”
Shino forgot all about it—or rather, she deliberately forgot about it; but she was lying on Kirito’s knees when he sat down at the wall, crying and screaming. Kyouji did see that footage. She could only say that she was too careless and caused things to end up like this.
Shino lowered her head in a sorry manner, but Kyouji continued on. She thought that he would ask her about her relationship with Kirito, but what he said next surprised Sinon.
“That guy…must have threatened you, right? You could only do that because he got something on you, right?”
“Wha, what?”
Shino looked up in surprise.
Kyouji’s eyes were giving off a strange light as he bent forward in a half-kneel position. A hoarse voice came from his irregular moving lips,
“You were threatened by him, and even sniped at the player he was fighting against…but you made that guy relax and then brought him down with you with a grenade, right? But…I don’t think that’s enough, Asada-san. I said it before…you must show him some attitude…”
“Ah…that…”
Shino couldn’t say anything, and then frantically thought of how to explain it.
Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet Page 24
