Sword Art Online: X

Keeping Up an Act - Kirito

We were all shocked, to say the least.

I didn't know X had such impeccable analysis skills.

Heck, he managed to piece together what happened by just a few bits of information.

And I thought that he just didn't care for others' lives.

"Oh, let's just say that I made an educated guess." X replied to Yolko's question.

Yolks seemed conflicted about something, but she eventually looked back up, "Please help me. Me and Caynz are trying to get the other player to confess."

X thought about it for a moment, "Sure."

To say we were shocked would be the understatement of the century.

"Wait, what?" Asuna yelled, "You were so unhelpful before, and now you want to help?!"

X just laughed, "Oh please, even if I were to say no, this idiot," He jerked his thumb towards me, "Would've forced me to come anyway. But this is interesting, I would really like to see how this plays out."

I chuckled, of course. If something piques his interest, he would do anything to keep it going.

Especially if it was an event like this.

"So who forged the sword?" X asked, "Surely something like this wasn't purchased from an NPC."

Yolko shook her head, "Another guild member, Grimlock, made it."

I could see X piecing together the puzzle in his head, and he made a satisfied nod.

"Cool. Where does this other guy live?" He asked.

"His name is Schmitt. I know where he lives, follow me."

And Yolko led us out of the restaurant.

On our way there, X explained what happened to Caynz.

"He teleported out with a well-hidden teleport crystal as soon as the durability of his armor expired, and since the item-expiry animation is incredibly similar to the death animation, it can fool a lot of inattentive people into thinking that it was a mysterious death." He said, "I almost didn't notice until the end of the animation, because I was too focused on him being a human piñata, but you know."

There he goes again.

...

We arrived at an inn where Schmitt was staying. 

"Remember, pretend like we're trying to crack the case." X reminded us.

We entered the room.

"Schmitt, we need to talk." Yolko said.

Yolko sat down across from where Schmitt was.

Asuna and I stood by the door whilst X just sat down on the windowsill.

"What did you need?" Schmitt asked warily.

X cut in abruptly, "Somebody decided it was a good idea to make sweet love to your friend Caynz's chest with the business end of a broadsword in a safe zone. Now we're trying to figure out who did it and how."

Asuna's eyes widened as her face convulsed, "X! Phrase it more delicately!"

Sachi, who was standing to the side of the two chairs, raised her hand, "We know that the sword was forged by a player named Grimlock, but we don't know how he was able to forge the sword to drain someone's HP in a safe zone."

"So we were going to ask you if you knew anything about that, since you were in the same guild and whatnot." I added.

Schmitt thought about it for a moment, but shook his head, "It's understandable that he might perhaps want revenge for his wife, but I don't think there's anything that allows a player's Health Points to be drained in a safe zone with the exception of duels."

Yolko also pretended to be deep in thought, before realizing, "No, it's not Grimlock. He couldn't have killed Caynz in a safe zone!"

X sighed, "Thank you, finally, a voice of reason! Caynz can't be dead."

"It was the ghost of Griselda! She is angry and is seeking to wreak revenge and havoc on us all!" Yolko ended up screaming.

X was silent.

"Sorry, did I say reason? I meant the screaming monkeys that apparently live within her mind." X eventually choked out.

"It's all starting to make sense now! Ghosts don't have to follow the rules of the game! Her vengeful spirit is trying to find the one that killed her, and is getting her revenge by killing the one that killed her, disregarding the others that die in the process!"

"Okay, I think we can safely assume that a ghost is not the culprit here! Right, Kirito? Sachi? X?" Asuna said.

I nodded whilst Sachi let out a small hum, but X seemed to have other ideas.

"No, obviously it was the gods above seeking to smite whoever killed Griselda in such a dishonorable way!" He said.

"Dammit, X! We're serious here!" Asuna yelled.

Yolko backed towards the windowsill, forcing X to move out of the way, and then a stabbing sound could be heard, and Yolko turned around, revealing the dagger in her back.

She fell out of the window, and the shattering sound could be heard.

X ran to the window, and looked down.

"X? How is she?" Sachi asked.

"Well, I'm not a doctor, but I don't like her chances." He said, then looked back up.

"I have eyes on the suspect, pursuing on foot!" He yelled as he jumped out the window.

I ran to the window and jumped down to recover the dagger that was left behind.

After a while, I heard X's voice, "SHIT!"

Followed by a crash.

We waited for him patiently at the Inn.

X returned to the room.

"Did you get him?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Nah, damn bastard got away." He tsked, and then stared at Schmitt, "What's his deal?"

"Well, ever since Yolko died, he was just sitting there, muttering to himself about how Griselda's Ghost was going to kill him and whatnot." Sachi said.

X sighed, "Look, Schmitt, if I were you, I would probably go apologize to whatever ghost you're thinking about if it can help to soothe your frayed nerves."

He was being surprisingly friendly.

Schmitt stood up and bolted out of the room.

X's shoulders dropped, "God, putting up a friendly persona is tiring."

"So... What now? Do we wait?" I asked.

X shook his head, "I have an idea of where they are. Asuna, track her from your friends list, we're going to confront them later."

"Later? Why not now?" Asuna asked.

X shrugged, "Schmitt isn't going directly to wherever he needs to go to pay his respects. He's making a detour, or at least that's what I gathered from his posture."

I sighed, X had unbelievably accurate observatory skills, so I'll trust him on this one.

A/N: And there we go. This part but with X and Sachi in it was quite fun to write.

Fun my ass.

Yeah, yeah, you're just mad because you didn't get to write.

Fuck off.

Ha. Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, consider voting and leaving a comment. It helps out a lot, and is free.

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Peace out, everybody. Goodbye.

Photonfrost 95, signing out

Shadowflame 95, signing out