Phantom Bullet 2

by Reki Kawahara

  “Um…”

  Shino didn’t know if this was a question that could be answered, but she had to ask it anyway.

  “What’s going to happen to Shinka—Kyouji—after this?”

  “Hmm,” Kikuoka grunted, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “Shouichi is nineteen, and Kyouji is sixteen, so they will be tried as minors. However, given that there are four fatalities in this mess, I think they’ll probably get moved from the lower family court to a criminal prosecution. There, they’ll be subjected to a psychiatric examination. And depending on the results of that…Well, I think it’s likely they’ll be sent to a juvenile medical institution, given their actions. After all, they seem to be living outside the bounds of reality…”

  “No…I don’t think that’s true,” Shino muttered. Kikuoka blinked and motioned for her to continue.

  “I don’t know about his brother…but to Kyouji…I think reality was on the inside of Gun Gale Online.” She held up a hand and swiveled her fingers. “I think he decided that all of this in the real world was worthless, and the only truth was in GGO. Sure, everyone else might see that as simply an escape from the real world, but…”

  Kyouji Shinkawa had tried to take Shino’s life. The fear and despair he inflicted on her was massive. But even then, for some reason, Shino couldn’t bring herself to hate him. All she felt was a deep, deep misery. It was the pain of that sorrow that moved her to speak.

  “But the more energy you pour into an online game, the more it eventually turns into something other than just recreation. I mean, it’s a boring pain to keep grinding experience and money just to get stronger. Sometimes it’s fun just to mess around with your friends for a bit…but when you’re like Kyouji, committing hours of grunt work every day just to be the best, I think it has to cause an incredible amount of stress.”

  “A game…causing stress? But isn’t that completely against the whole point…?” Kikuoka asked, aghast.

  She nodded. “Yes. Kyouji literally flipped his world upside down. He switched this world…for that one.”

  “But…why? Why would he need to go to such lengths to prove that he was the best?”

  “I don’t know the answer. Like I said earlier, to me, the real world and the game world had their own separate continuities…Do you know what I mean, Kirito?”

  She looked to her right and saw Kirito leaning back against the chair, eyes shut. Eventually, he murmured, “He wanted to be strong.”

  Shino shut her lips, thought on the meaning of that statement, then nodded slowly. “Exactly. I was the same way. Maybe every VRMMO player is the same way. We just…want to be strong.”

  She turned back to face Kikuoka. “Um, when do you think I’ll be able to see Kyouji?”

  “Well, once the case has been filed with prosecutors, he’ll be held for a while, so it’ll have to be after he’s moved to juvenile classification.”

  “I see. Well, I’ll pay him a visit. I want to tell him what I’ve been thinking…and what I’m thinking now.”

  Even if it was too late, or her words didn’t get through to him, Shino felt she ought to do that much. Kikuoka gave her what felt like a genuine smile for once.

  “You’re very strong. I highly suggest you do that. I’ll send you the details of his arrangements at a later time.” He checked the watch on his left wrist. “Pardon me, I ought to be going. For a dead-end post, there certainly are a number of duties to stay on top of.”

  “Sorry about taking your time like this,” Kirito said.

  Shino bowed her head. “Um…thank you. Very much.”

  “Not at all. It was our lack of foresight that put you in danger. This is the least I can do. I’ll let you know if we learn anything new.”

  Kikuoka picked up his bag from the nearby seat and stashed the tablet away, then rose to his feet. He was about to reach for the check on the table, but stopped.

  “Oh, and Kirito.”

  “…What?”

  “Here’s what you asked me for.” He put his hand into his suit pocket and pulled out a small scrap of paper, handing it to Kirito across the table. “When the investigators told Death Gun…er, Red-Eyed Xaxa…that this was a question from you, he answered it at once. But only under the condition that he be allowed to send a message back. Of course, you have no obligation to hear him out, and of course, we can’t go leaking messages from suspects in the middle of a case, so officially, this never left the department…What do you say? Want to hear it?”

  Kirito made a face like he’d just tasted the bitterest coffee ever, but nodded. “Well, since you went to the trouble…”

  “Very well. Ahem.” Kikuoka pulled a second memo out of his pocket and looked down at it. “ ‘This is not the end. You don’t have the power to end it. You will realize this very soon. It’s showtime.’ That’s his message.”

  “…He really is a crafty bastard.”

  Ten minutes had passed since Kikuoka left, waving good-bye. Kirito was grumbling on the walk back to where he had parked his motorcycle.

  “Who is that man, anyway? He said he was a ministry official, but…he seemed more like…”

  Shino thought he was a very hard person to get a handle on. Kirito shrugged.

  “Well, I’m absolutely certain that he’s part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ department in charge of monitoring the VR world. For now, at least.”

  “For now?”

  “I mean, it’s only been two days since everything happened. Don’t you think he’s a little too in the know about the police information? Especially in Japan, where every government department sections itself off?”

  “…What are you saying?”

  “I think maybe his true affiliation is somewhere else. Maybe he’s in the police department…or maybe—but it couldn’t be…”

  “…?”

  “I met him here once before, and I trailed after him when he left.”

  Shino shot him an exasperated look, but the boy didn’t seem to take any notice.

  “There was a huge black car waiting for him in a nearby parking garage. The driver had short hair and a dark suit, and he looked like trouble. I tried my best to follow on my bike, but they might have noticed me… Kikuoka got off in front of Ichigaya Station, and I lost sight of him while I was looking for a place to park the motorcycle.”

  “Ichigaya? Not Kasumigaseki?”

  “Right. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is in Kasumigaseki…but it’s the Ministry of Defense that’s in Ichigaya.”

  “Def…” Shino was speechless. “You mean…the Self-Defense Force?”

  “That’s why I said it couldn’t be. I mean, the police are even more ornery with the SDF than the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” Kirito said, shrugging, but something about this struck a chord in Shino’s memory.

  “Oh…speaking of him, I was noticing that the lens on Mr. Kikuoka’s glasses seemed…very weak, maybe? Possibly even flat. I didn’t notice any refraction through them.”

  “Ooh…interesting,” the boy responded, clearly finding something of note in that revelation.

  Shino asked, “But…let’s say he is involved with the SDF. Why would he be doing investigations into VRMMOs? I mean, shouldn’t that be completely out of their jurisdiction?”

  “Hmm. Well, from what I’ve heard, the American military has a plan to use full-dive tech for unit training.”

  “H-huh?!” Shino exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. Kirito stopped with her and gestured with a hand.

  “Yeah, like, for example…Oh, is it okay to…talk about guns?”

  “U-um…as long as it’s just talking.”

  “Good. Let’s say you were handed a real sniper rifle right now. Could you load it, fire it, and all of that?”

  “…”

  She thought back to just hours before, when she shot Endou’s Government model gun, and nodded. “I think…I can. If it’s just firing. But I won’t know if I can handle the recoil until I use it myself, and I probably wouldn’t
be able to hit the target.”

  “Well, I don’t even know how to load a bullet. Think of how economical and safe it would be to learn the basics of operating a weapon in a virtual environment, without burning ammo or fuel.”

  “Um…I don’t know…”

  She dropped her eyes to look at her hand. What Kirito was talking about was so huge that she couldn’t process it for herself.

  “It’s just a possibility. There are tons of different potential uses for full-dive technology that have popped up in just the last year. Anything could happen in the future. I’m just saying, it’s worth keeping an eye out for him,” Kirito said breezily, then approached his motorcycle and undid the U-lock on his rear wheel. He handed one of the two helmets to Shino and started to say something.

  “Urm…so…”

  “…What?”

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

  “I’ve got nothing going on. I’m not logging back in to GGO for a while.”

  “I see. Well, if you don’t mind, I could use your help with something…”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, it turns out that our little scene in the cave during the BoB final was on the stream…and some of my old SAO companions saw it. They realized that ‘Kirito’ was the same Kirito they knew…so I’d really, really appreciate it if you could help explain to them that what we were doing wasn’t romantic in any way.”

  “…Oh?” said Shino, who couldn’t help but crack a grin. She did feel a bit self-conscious thinking about that moment, but it brought her more than a little savage pride to know that the endlessly selfish rogue was getting a taste of his own medicine, answering to what other people thought about him and her.

  “I’m surprised they figured out it was you, even with the same name. Even if they were your old friends.”

  “Yeah…it was the sword style that gave me away.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, fine—but you owe me one. You’ll have to buy me a slice of cake sometime.”

  Kirito’s face sank pathetically. “You don’t mean…at that same place?”

  “I’m not going to be that heartless.”

  “Th-that’s good to hear. Well…can you swing over to Okachimachi with me, then? It won’t take that much time.”

  “Oh, it’s just next to Yushima. Right on the way home.”

  She took the helmet and stuck it on her head. As Kirito gave her chin-strap assistance again, Shino couldn’t help but rue that she hadn’t just gotten used to helmets in GGO like she ought to.

  They went from Chuo Street in Ginza to Showa Street, then headed north for a while, coming across the redevelopment district on the east end of Akihabara Station. The looming silver high-rises brought the sights of Glocken to mind, but when they reached the boundary of Okachimachi, it turned into a very old-fashioned urban sprawl.

  The bike puttered along, heading left and right down narrow alleys, before finally stopping outside of a small business. Shino got off the seat and removed her helmet. The dark gleam of the wooden exterior was a bit offputting, and the only thing that identified it as a café was the metal sign of two dice hung above the door. Below that was stamped the words DICEY CAFÉ, the name of the establishment, but the sign on the ugly door said CLOSED.

  “…This is it?”

  “Yep,” Kirito nodded, extracting his key and pushing right through the door. The door jingled, and the strains of slow-tempo jazz drifted through it.

  Shino stepped inside, guided by the fragrant scent of coffee. Though the interior was cramped, the orange-lit, shine-polished wooden interior was full of warmth that eased the weight she’d had on her shoulders.

  “Welcome,” boomed a smooth baritone from the counter. It was a large man with chocolate skin. His hardened warrior’s features and bald head were imposing, but the dainty bowtie tucked under the collar of his white shirt added an air of good humor.

  There were two guests already in the café, girls wearing school uniforms seated on the stools at the counter. Shino noticed that their jackets were the same color as Kirito’s uniform.

  “You’re late!” complained one girl as she hopped off the stool. Her shoulder-length hair was curled slightly inward.

  “Sorry, sorry. Our talk with Chrysheight went long.”

  “I ate two whole pieces of apple pie. If I get fat, it’s your fault.”

  “H-how is that my fault?”

  The other girl, whose straight, brown-ish hair hung to midway down her back, just watched their bickering and smiled. Eventually, she got to her feet and broke into the conversation with familiar ease.

  “Well, are you going to introduce us or not, Kirito?”

  “Oh, yeah…right.”

  Prompted by a hand on her back, Shino walked into the middle of the room. She bowed her head, trying to squash the little insects of fear that crawled on her whenever she had to interact with strangers.

  “This is the third champion of Gun Gale Online, Shino Asada—aka Sinon.”

  “S-stop it,” she protested, but he just laughed and continued the introductions. He pointed out the proactive girl who’d just argued with him.

  “This is Rika Shinozaki, better known as Lisbeth, the rip-off blacksmith.”

  “Why, you…”

  He nimbly evaded the attack of the peeved Rika and extended a hand toward the other girl. “And this is Asuna Yuuki, the berserk healer who normally just goes by ‘Asuna.’”

  “Th-that’s mean!” she protested, but never lost her smile. Asuna turned her beautiful, clear eyes toward Shino, and she made a smooth, floaty bow of her head.

  “And that over there,” Kirito said, jutting his jaw at the manager behind the bar, “is Agil, better known as Agil the Wall.”

  “Why do I have to be ‘the Wall’?! Besides, I have a wonderful name that my mama gave me.”

  To her surprise, even the manager was a VRMMO player. He grinned and put a hand to his burly chest. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Andrew Gilbert Mills. The pleasure’s all mine.”

  When he said his name, it was in perfectly native pronunciation, but the rest was all fluent Japanese, which caught Shino by surprise. She hastily bowed before it got too awkward.

  “C’mon, sit down,” Kirito said, pulling out a chair from one of the pair of four-seat tables in the place. Once Shino, Asuna, and Rika were seated, he snapped his fingers. “Agil, I’ll take a ginger ale. Anything to drink, Sinon?”

  “Uh…I’ll have the same.”

  “He makes it spicy here,” Kirito said with a smirk, then called out, “Make that two!” to the bar, and folded his hands atop the table.

  “So… Liz, Asuna, we’re going to explain exactly what happened on Sunday.”

  Even in a digest form, with Kirito and Shino taking turns filling in for the other, it took over ten minutes to go through the events of the BoB and Kikuoka’s further reporting.

  “…And the media hasn’t announced anything yet, which is why we didn’t mention any names or details, but that’s pretty much the whole story,” Kirito finished, sinking exhaustedly back into his chair and downing the last of his second glass of ginger ale.

  “I don’t know what it is about you…but you always get wrapped up into things that don’t involve you,” Rika said, shaking her head.

  But Kirito only looked away. “No, that’s not true in this case. I had a long-ago score to settle with this one.”

  “Oh…I see. Man, I wish I could have been there too. I’ve got plenty of things I’d like to say to that Death Gun jerk.”

  “And he’s probably not the last one. I think there are more people out there whose souls were warped by their experiences in SAO.”

  A gloomy silence settled on the conversation, eventually broken by Asuna’s gentle smile.

  “But I think there are others whose souls were saved, like mine. I’m not going to defend SAO, and what the commander did…and many people died there…but I don’t want to deny or regret what happened in those two years.”
/>
  “Yeah, good point. If you hadn’t been holding my hand during that last battle with Death Gun, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off that move. It must have been a connection that only existed…because of the years I spent in SAO…”

  Shino didn’t understand what he meant. She gave him a confused look, and he abashedly smiled and explained.

  “I told you I was diving from a hospital in Ochanomizu the night of the tournament, right? My location was supposed to be a secret, but Asuna here ran Kikuoka up the flagpole to make him give it up.”

  “I did no such thing!” she protested, cheeks puffed. He laughed mischievously.

  “So she raced from her dive location right here over to the hospital, and…just at the moment I was fighting Death Gun in the desert, she squeezed my hand from the real world side. It’s weird, but…at that exact moment, I felt her hand. That’s the only reason I remembered to draw my Five-Seven, I think.”

  “…I see…”

  The way he explained that made her wonder if the two were a couple, but she pushed that out of her mind instantly. No one else seemed to pick up on it, though, and Kirito moved on.

  “And that’s not all. After I logged out, Asuna taught me that Death Gun’s registered name, ‘Sterben,’ was a German word meaning ‘to die.’ But she said it was only used in Japan by doctors and nurses, and it hit me…You said you were going to contact your friend, the doctor’s son, and I just got a bad feeling about it. I didn’t think the cops would make it in time, so I hopped on my bike and raced to Yushima…though ultimately, I wasn’t able to help…”

  This revelation filled Shino with a strange, quiet shock.

  “…Sterben. So it wasn’t ‘Steven’…” she whispered, shutting her eyes for an instant. “And in medical terminology, it means ‘to die’…I wonder why he would give himself a name like that.”