Sword Art Online - Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet

by Reki Kawahara

  “That’s really amazing.”

  Kirito frowned as he took a sip of coffee.

  “I have the same feeling too. Anyway, I think it’s just a matter of time before Kanemoto’s arrested. Let’s get back to the incident and summarize this…”

  Kikuoka’s fingers moved on the tablet PC, and then shrugged, lifted his head and said,

  “You should be more familiar with the rest than I do. Shinkawa Kyouji immediately came to Asada-san’s house to attack after the tournament was over, but luckily, he was arrested without achieving his goal. Shinkawa Shoichi was then arrested next, and the remaining Kanamoto Atsushi is being wanted. The brothers are still being interrogated in the Fuji branch. Sorry for taking such a long time…but my report ends here. That’s all the information I have now…do you have any questions?”

  “Well…”

  She felt that this may be a question that couldn’t be answered, but Shino couldn’t help but ask,

  “Shinkawa-kun…Kyouji, what will happen to him from now on…?”

  “Mu…”

  Kikuoka pushed his spectacles up with his fingers and bemused.

  “Shoichi’s currently 19, and Kyouji’s 16, so they will be tried under the juvenile laws….but this case is a huge one that involves 4 lives, so the juvenile court would probably send the case back to the prosecutor. Also, they probably need a psychiatric evaluation. Even though we have to wait for it to end…but looking at their actions, I think there should be a high chance that they would be sent into a juvenile jail. That’s because those two have lost their sense of reality…”

  “No…I don’t think they lost their sense of reality yet.”

  After hearing Shino mutter this, Kikuoka blinked and indicated with his eyes for her to continue on.

  “I don’t really understand the older brother…but Kyouji…to Kyouji, Gun Gale Online’s the real world to him, which was why he decided—”

  She raised her right hand, pointed her finger straight, and then placed it down again.

  “To abandon everything in this world and head to that real world called GGO. Maybe people in this world…would feel that he was just running away, but…”

  Shinkawa Kyouji was the one who wanted to take Shino’s life away. The fear and despair he gave Shino was unmeasurable. But even so, Shino still couldn’t begrudge him and felt reluctant. This painful feeling caused Shino to continue to say,

  “But I guess this online gaming wouldn’t just be a game of entertainment to us once our minds and time were spent to a certain level. Earning experience and money to become stronger is really a troublesome and difficult thing. Of course, it’s nice to play with friends occasionally…but there’s a lot of pressure to continue playing like they’re working just to be the strongest, like what Kyouji did.”

  “Stress…caused by playing games? But…wouldn’t that be the complete opposite of its purpose…”

  Kikuoka said in surprise, and Shino nodded at him and continued,

  “Yes. Kyouji…reversed this world with that world.”

  “But…why? Why was he so willing to sacrifice so much to get this so-called title of being the strongest…?”

  “I’m not too sure about that…I just said it before, to me, this world and the game are all connected…Kirito, do you know why….?”

  Shino looked right, and found that Kirito was leaning his back on the chair, closing his eyes and thinking. Soon, he opened his mouth and muttered,

  “Because you wanted to be strong.”

  Shino closed her lips, thought about this short sentence, and then nodded her head slowly.

  “…That’s right. I was the same the last time. Maybe every VRMMO player is the same…just trying to be stronger…”

  Shino turned her body around and faced Kikuoka from the front.

  “Then…when are visitors allowed to meet Kyouji?”

  “Well…he’ll probably be kept in custody after we cross-examine him. We have to wait until he’s sent to a juvenile observation center.”

  “I see—I’ll go see him. Once I see him, I want to tell him what I was thinking before…and what I’m thinking now.”

  No matter how late, no matter how much he didn’t want to listen to her, Shino felt that she had to do this. This time, Kikuoka finally showed what looked like a whole-hearted smile.

  “You’re really a strong person. Un, please do. I’ll make arrangements to his management plan in the future and send an email to you.”

  He then looked at the watch on his left wrist and said,

  “Sorry—it’s about time for me to leave. I can be said to lack leisure, but there’s really lots of things to handle.”

  “Un. Sorry for troubling you.”

  Shino also thanked him after Kirito.

  “Well..thank you.”

  “No need to be so kind. It was my negligence that caused both of you to be in danger, so this should be what I should do. I’ll notify you if I get some new information.”

  Kikuoka placed the tablet PC into the office bag beside him and stood up from the chair. Just when he was about to reach for the bill on the table—he suddenly stopped.

  “Oh yes, Kirito-kun…”

  “…What is it?”

  “This is what you wanted me to get.”

  He took a small piece of paper from the inside pocket of his western suit and handed it to Kirito.

  “Death Gun…no, Red-eyed XaXa—Shinkawa Shoichi, once he heard that this was the question you raised, he answered it without hesitation. However, he asked us to send a message back to you. Of course, you don’t have to care about him at all, and any messages from a suspect can’t be revealed in an investigation, so the police appeared to have refused his request…so, do you want to hear it?”

  Kirito’s face looked like he just drank some really bitter coffee, but he still nodded his head in the end.

  “Since you brought it here, I’ll listen.”

  “Then…muu…”

  Kikuoka took out the second piece of paper, saw the contents, and read,

  “…‘This isn’t over. You don’t have the power to end everything. You’ll soon notice. It’s showtime.’ just like that—”

  “…Such a slippery guy.”

  It’s been about 10 minutes after Kikuoka smiled as he waved his hand and left.

  As both of them left the cafe and headed for where the bike was parked, Kirito suddenly grumbled.

  “…Who is that guy? He called himself an officer of Internal Affairs Ministry…but somehow…”

  Shino thought that he was really an enigmatic person and said this to Kirito. However, Kirito merely shrugged his shoulders and answered,

  “Un, I can be certain that he’s under the VR world Management sector. At least for now.”

  “Now?”

  “Think about it. Things just happened less than 2 days ago. Don’t you feel that he knew too much about what’s going on inside the police force? The Japanese jurisdiction departments would never get involved in each other’s department, so that shouldn’t be common.”

  “…What do you mean?”

  “He originally said that he wasn’t really in a single unit, like the police or something…it’s not really possible, but he…”

  “…?”

  “I once met him here before and followed him when he went back.”

  Shino gave a look of disbelief as she watched Kirito walk beside her. However, the boy just looked like nothing happened and continued,

  “In the end, there were 3 large sedans waiting at a nearby underground car park, and the driver sure didn’t look like someone you want to mess with when he has short hair and a black suit. I tried my best to follow them with my bike, but maybe I was discovered…Kikuoka was dropped off in front of Ichigaya station, and he disappeared while I was looking for a parking spot.”

  “Ichigaya? Not Kasumigaseki?”

  “Un. The Internal Affairs Ministry’s in Kasumigaseki…but what’s in Ichigaya should be…the Ministry
of Defense.”

  “Min…”

  Shino immediately couldn’t say anything and could only continue blinking.

  “This means that…he’s from the self defence force?”

  “So I said it wasn’t really possible. The police’s relationship with the defence ministry should be worse than that of the internal affairs department.”

  Kirito shrugged slightly. At this moment, Shino finally thought of something.

  “Ah…speaking of which, Kikuoka-san was wearing…I guess, spectacles with very small degree or no degree, because the lens didn’t really reflect much.”

  “Is that so…I see.”

  Shino looked at the boy who seemed to understand and then said,

  “But…even if that person has some relationship with the defence ministry, why must he investigate VRMMOs? They shouldn’t have any relationship with each other right?”

  “Un…I heard that someone intended to use FullDive technology to train soldiers, even though that’s the situation with the US Army.”

  “Wha, what?”

  This time, it was Shino who was shocked and stopped. Kirito then stopped and shook his right hand.

  “Like for example…hm…can we talk about guns?”

  “U, un…it’s alright if it’s just listening.”

  “Good. For example, if I give you a real sniper rifle, can you successfully finish the loading until the firing?”

  “…”

  Shino recalled how she shot the can with the Government model gun a few hours ago and nodded her head,

  “I guess so…if it’s just firing. But in the real world, I don’t know how to lower the recoil, so I may not be able to hit the target.”

  “But I don’t even know how to load bullets. If we can train weapon and basic operations in the virtual world, we may be able to save a lot of ammunition and fuel.”

  “Rea…really…”

  Shino couldn’t help but look at her right hand. The scale Kirito was talking about was way too big, and it was really hard to imagine such a situation.

  “Of course, this is just a possibly. Just this year alone, we have no idea for how many purposes FullDive technology can be used for, so it won’t be strange to see whatever new thing that happen in the future. Anyway—better be more careful about that guy.”

  After saying that casually, Kirito walked over to the bike and took off the clamp on its back wheel. As he handed a helmet over to Shino, he said with a rare hesitating attitude to her,

  “Well…”

  “…? What is it?”

  “…Sinon, do you have some time after this…?”

  “I don’t really have anything to do. Maybe I won’t want to log into GGO for a while.”

  “I see—sorry, I have something I want to ask you to help out with…”

  “What is it?”

  “The image of that cave during the BoB finals were seen by…those SAO-era friends of mine. And they knew that I was that «Kirito»…well…if you can help me explain to my friends that we weren’t flirting, I’ll be really happy.”

  “…Heh.”

  Shino started feeling that it was interesting and gave a smile. Even though she felt very embarrassed about that, after hearing this boy who would do things at his own whims say that he’s bothered about being suspected of having an affair with her, she had a ‘now what are you going to do’ thought.

  “But even if they’re your old friends, it’s amazing that they could recognize you from your name.”

  “Un…they recognized my sword skills.”

  “I, I see—it’s alright to help you out, but you owe me one. You’re treating me cake next time.”

  After hearing her say that, Kirito gave a sheepish look and said,

  “Are…are we going back to that earlier shop again…?”

  “I won’t do such a cruel thing.”

  “That’s great. Then…please follow me to Ochinomizu for a while. It won’t take you much time.”

  “What, isn’t that just beside Yushima? That’s on the way home.”

  She received the helmet and put it on her head. After Kirito buckled it for her, Shino couldn’t help but think ‘I should have learnt how to put on a helmet in GGO to save myself trouble’.

  After moving up Ginza highway to Showa highway and moving north for a while, they arrived at the redeveloping around the east side of Akihabara station. They went past the silver skyscrapers that looked like the streets of Gurokken and entered near Okachimachi. The surroundings had a heavy old town like atmosphere.

  The motorbike turned around the alleys like a old bull dragging a cart, and they finally stopped at a small shop.

  Shino got off her seat, took off her helmet and looked up. This black glowing wooden building gave a chilly feeling, and only the metal signboards that was formed by two dices on the door which incidated to her that it was a cafe. Looking down, the words «Dicey Cafe» was carved in, which should be the shop’s name. The sign hanging on the icy cold door was flipped to the «closed» side.

  “…Over here?”

  “Un.”

  Kirito nodded and took out his bike keys before pushing the door without hesitation. The slow-tempo music of jazz accompanied a quick ‘Clink’ as the door was opened.

  Shino entered the shop like she was attracted by the fragrance of coffee. Under the orange light, the wooden boards were glowing too. The entire space was small, but it had an unspeakable warmth. This made Shino’s tense shoulders relax.

  “Welcome…”

  Upon entering the shop, a clear baritone came immediately. Looking around, Shino spotted a large man with chocolate-colored skin standing behind the bar. That face of an old war veteran looked intimidating, but that white shirt and little butterfly knot bow tie on the collar gave an amusing feeling to that.

  There were already two customers who were in the shop. On the round chairs in front of the bar counter, there were two girls wearing school uniforms. Shino noticed that their uniforms were the same color as Kirito’s.

  “You’re too slow!”

  One of them, a girl with shoulder-length hair curling inwards jumped up from the round seat and exclaimed that to Kirito.

  “Sorry, sorry, Chrysheight spoke too much.”

  “I ate 2 apple pies while waiting for you. Kirito! It’ll be your fault if I grow fat!”

  “Why, why is it my fault now…?”

  The other girl with slight brown straight hair down to the middle of her back merely laughed as she heard their conversation at the beginning, but soon after, she got off the bench and interrupted with a tone that seemed to show that she was rather used to this situation,

  “Hurry up and introduce us, Kirito-kun.”

  “Ah…you’re right.”

  After Kirito nudged her on the back, Shino arrived at the center of the shop. She tried her best to suppress the fear she would have when meeting someone for the first time and nodded at them.

  “This is the 3rd winner of Gun Gale Online, Sinon, real name, Asada Shino.”

  “Do, don’t say that.”

  Shino protested slightly after hearing this unexpected introduction from Kirito, but Kirito merely chuckled and continued. He pointed at the energetic girl he was quarreling with and said,

  “This is the cheating blacksmith Lizbet, real name is Shinozaki Rika.”

  “You bastard…”

  The girl called Rika immediately gave a bad look and attacked Kirito. He dodged and raised his left hand towards the other girl.

  “And this is the berserk healer Asuna, real name Yuuki Asuna.”

  “Tha, that’s too much!”

  Asuna protested, but her face was still smiling. She then stared at Shino with clear beautiful eyes and then nodded at her.

  “And that…”

  Kirito finally pointed his jaw at the shopkeeper inside the bar.

  “That’s Iron Wall Egil.”

  “Oi oi, am I an Iron Wall now? My mom gave me a nice name, okay?”

 
; What’s shocking was that it seemed that even the shopkeeper here was a VRMMO player. The giant laughed and placed his right hand on his sturdy chest and said,

  “Hello. I’m called Andrew Gilbert Mills. I hope we can get along.”

  As what he said was all in fluent Japanese except for his name which was in English, Shino couldn’t help but blink a few times and hurriedly lowered her head to greet him.

  “Let’s sit down and talk first.”

  There were two 4-seater tables in the shop. Kirito walked towards one and pulled the chair out. After waiting for Shino, Asuna and Rika to sit down, he flicked a finger at the shopkeeper.

  “Egil, I want ginger ale. What do you want, Sinon?”

  “Ah…the same then.”

  “The ginger ale here’s really spicy.”

  Kirito chuckled and said ‘two glasses’ towards the counter, and then cupped his hands on the table.

  “Then, I’m going to explain to Lizbet and Asuna what happened last weekend.”

  Even though Kirito and Shino had already collated what happened during the BoB finals with what Kikuoka said, it took them more than 10 minutes to explain everything to others.

  “Un—as things aren’t revealed on the media yet, the real names and detailed information couldn’t be revealed, but that’s basically it.”

  After concluding things, Kirito looked somewhat tired as he laid his tired body on the chair and finished the second cup of ginger ale.

  “…You, for some reasons…you really get into lots of trouble.”

  Rika shook her head and sighed as she commented. However, Kirito looked down and shook his head,

  “No…Well, I can’t really say this. This incident did involve me after all.”

  “…Is that so—ahhh, I knew I should have been there. I have a whole lot of things I want to say to that Death Gun.”

  “That guy’s not that only one who got his soul twisted by SAO. There’s likely lots of them.”

  At this moment, Asuna smiled to chase away the current moody atmosphere.

  “But I feel that a lot of souls were saved, like mine. Of course, I don’t mean that I agree with SAO…the guild leader’s actions…because of that a lot of people died…but even so, I won’t deny these two years I lived, and I won’t regret about them at all.”