A Renegade of Reality

Chapter 9: Impending Doom

30th March 2027, Tuesday, 3.15 AM

At The Hamarikyu Gardens Main Entrance

Three ladies stood in the dark, waiting for Asuna and the others right in front of the main entrance to the park. Soon, a taxi halted not far from them with two long-haired girls exiting the car.

"A-chan! Over herE!" Argo yelled, waving her hand at both Asuna and Alice who had just got out from the taxi. "Oh, Alice-chan's here toO."

"It's been awhile, Argo-san." Alice nodded, greeting the girl.

"Sorry for the wait and thank you, Argo-san, Sakuya-san and Alicia-san. I'm sorry for causing inconvenience to you all." Asuna apologized with a short bow, the scarf that was wrapped around her neck to keep her warm from the cold night, fluttered in the cold night breeze.

"It's fine. We are willing to help any way we can, especially when things are this bad." Sakuya placed a hand on Asuna's shoulder as she said so. "Is this everyone?" She asked.

"The others should be arriving soon. Oh, there they are!" Asuna said as she saw two other cars parking at the empty lots. "Sorry for bothering you so late, everyone." She said to her friends that were exiting the cars. Klein and Agil both went and picked up Suguha, Sinon, Silica and Lizbeth before heading over.

"Don't be such a stranger, Asuna-san. Kirito is our friend too." Klein waved casually with a smile before flinching in nervousness at the sight of the two ladies before them. "A-Asuna-san, w-who are they?" He asked, blushing a little as he stared at their slender figures in awe.

"Oh, they're Sakuya-san and Alicia-san. It was a coincidence that they bumped into Argo-san in the area." Asuna explain. Seeing Klein still stunned, Agil smacked him in the back of the head in annoyance to snap him back to reality.

Clearing his throat and gather himself, Klein frowned once more with seriousness. "So, is he really here?" He asked and Asuna shook her head.

"We're not sure. Argo-san said that the person looked similar but she could be mistaken." Asuna answered and Argo stood beside her, nodding at what she said.

"Well, I guess the only thing we can do now is to go check it out and pray hard it's really him." Klein said as he looked at the pitch dark entrance.

"Hey, does that car belong to someone?" Sinon asked, pushing up her spectacles to see a car hidden behind a bush in the far corner of the empty car park. Everyone looked over and squinted their eyes before noticing the car as well.

"Ah, you're right! Sinon-chan, you sure have good eyes. Why didn't we notice that befor-" Alicia said in her usual playful tone before stopping her sentence abruptly. Her facial expression immediately changed to a frown. "Hey, Sakuya-chan. Isn't that car the one we saw before that passed by here?" Alicia asked her best friend.

"Hmm. I think you're right, but if that's true and the boy we saw was really Kirito-kun then..." Sakuya trailed off and looked towards Asuna, who had fear shown on her face.

"Then, Kirito-kun might be in trouble!" Asuna said and hastily ran towards the entrance but was grabbed by Argo by the arm.

"Wait, A-chan! We should think this througH! If what we assumed is true, then that guy who is after Kii-bou could be dangerous. We can't just charge right iN!" Argo said as she tried to hold Asuna in place and the latter calms down slightly to listen. "This place is huge and Kii-bou could be anywhere. We need to split up into two groups, preferably a guy in each group to be safE." Argo suggested while everyone nodded in agreement.

After the groups were decided, they headed inside and found a path leading to the central area diverged from the main path that surrounds the whole area. Due to Kazuto's safety at risk, the gang decided not to wait for Kikuoka, Rinko or the police' arrival. Asuna, Argo, Sinon, Suguha, Alice and Klein went on the main path, while the rest of the gang headed towards the central area. Everyone had their phones' light turned on for better visual in the dingy place and proceeded on their respective paths with caution.