Sword Art Online - Phantom Bullet

Chapter 12

"They haven't really caught onii-chan on camera—"

Lyfa said as she shook her blond pigtail that had a slight green tinge to it, and beside her, Silica was moving the cat ears that came out from her light brown hair to respond to her.

"That's really unexpected...I thought Kirito-san would definitely go in and show all his skills."

"No no no. Don't think of him like that. That guy is really calculative. Maybe he's hiding somewhere and waiting for the number of participants to drop before coming up."

Klein, who was in the bar counter at the corner of the room, said casually. Asuna, who was sitting at the center of the room with Lyfa and Silica, gave a wry smile on hearing this.

"Kirito-kun couldn't possibly do such a thing...I think.."

Asuna said softly. At that moment, the small pixie that was sitting on Asuna's left shoulder started to flap her membrane thin wings. This was the AI Yui, who was Asuna's and Kirito's «daughter».

"That's right. Papa would definitely move behind the enemy at a speed the camera couldn't even catch and launch a quick attack!"

On hearing that logical conclusion from Yui, Lisbeth who was sitting to the left started laughing,

"Ahaha, that's rather possible too. Also, he's using a sword instead of a gun in a game full of gun weaponry."

At that moment, everyone imagined Kirito's situation, and then the room was filled with hearty laughter. The small dragon 'Pina' was curled up on Silica's lap.

It had been a long time since these five people and a pixie gathered together, and right now, they weren't in the real world, but the VRMMO RPG «ALfheim Online» everyone had joined. The vast virtual world inside ALO contained a giant «World Tree» on the map, and there was even a city in the sky called the «Yggdrasil City». Kirito and Asuna rented a room together in a corner of that city, and this became the gathering place tonight.

As expected of a room that cost 2,000 Yurudo monthly, the inside was rather vast. The wooden floor was polished brightly, and a sofa set was placed in the middle of the room. There was also a private bar counter against the wall. There were numerous wine bottles on the shelves. They were found amongst the pile of goods Klein obtained in the virtual world from the lands of the 9 different spirits and the underground Jötunheimr. It's said that there's a fantastical item that 'wouldn't make anyone drunk and yet tastes better than a 30-year-old Scotts Whiskey'. Of course, the under aged Asuna still couldn't understand the value of these wines.

The south side of the room was an entire wall of glass, and normally, this would allow for a wonderful view of the Yggdrasil city. But today, they couldn't enjoy the night scenery of this city. That's because that glass wall could also become a large screen which was airing the scene from another world. That was—the network TV «MMO Stream» telecasting the live view of the «3rd Bullet of Bullets» tournament in «Gun Gale Online».

The main aim for today's gathering was to cheer for Kirito, who went to take part in this tournament without saying anything, and also critique his behavior outside. Unfortunately, their ally, the axe warrior Agil wasn't here as the café bar he was running in the real world was at its busiest. Even so, Asuna herself wasn't at home, but logged in from the 2nd floor of his shop, «Dicey Café». This was to allow her to catch Kirito who was in the middle of the city somewhere and lecture him good.

"But why did that Kirito move his avatar from ALO to GGO just to participate in the tournament?"

Lisbeth was holding a glass cup that was full of jade-colored grape wine as she said that with a puzzled tone. On her left, Lyfa then shot Asuna a look. Right now, only Asuna, Lyfa and Yui knew that Kirito received a request by a friend in ALO, the Undine water mage «Chrysheight»—actually, the person controlling the avatar was an officer of the 'Virtual Division', Kikuoka Seijirou—to investigate GGO. From the way Lyfa gave the 'I'll leave it to you' look, Asuna pondered for a while before answering,