Not far from her somewhat shabby apartment was an equally shabby little children's park. It only had two pieces of playground equipment, and one of them, a tiny slide shaped like an elephant's trunk, had grown dirty and battered after years of wind, rain, and sunlight. The paint had peeled from the once-bright red trunk, and from a distance it looked ugly, almost as if patches of skin had flaked away.
Aside from that, there was only a small sandbox.
But the place was far too desolate. Not only after school, but even on Saturdays and Sundays, there was never a child in sight.
Off to the side, however, a girl sat on a swing, rocking back and forth in small, listless motions.
Kyoji Shinkawa sat on the swing beside her. The frail, reserved-looking boy simply watched her in silence. At the edge of the sky, the sun sank behind the clouds, spreading a crimson sunset across the horizon. Though it was the color of dusk, it felt far warmer than the pale, cold winter sunlight of the daytime.
Tokyo in winter was filled with steel-and-concrete buildings, and the endless flow of cars and people seemed like orderly gears in a machine. Iron gray felt like the city's main color. Especially when an icy wind swept through the streets, that sense of cold indifference became even stronger. Everything felt thin and distant.
Yet in the evening, against that warm red sunset, there was finally a trace of warmth.
Kyoji gazed absently at Shino as she swayed on the swing. She was still wearing her plain school uniform, with simple black thermal tights beneath her skirt. The tights met the skirt so neatly that not even the slightest bit of her legs could be seen. He found that a little disappointing, but even that was fine. To Kyoji, she was still more than cute enough.
If the high school girl before him had anything in common with Sinon, it was probably the faint similarity in their hairstyles. The real Shino's hair looked softer, so perhaps the only real similarity was that both wore scarves around their necks.
Still, Sinon's yellow scarf looked cooler, while Shino's gray plaid scarf had a more girlish feel. It wrapped snugly around her soft neck, covering her jaw and giving her a quiet air.
The reddish sunlight fell across her profile. From Kyoji's angle, the eyes behind her glasses were lowered, as if something had been weighing on her mind the entire time.
"Um... Asada-san?"
After watching her for a long while, Kyoji finally could not help asking in a soft, harmless voice.
"Is something wrong?"
Hearing him speak, Shino turned her head toward him.
Meeting those gentle black eyes, Kyoji could not sense the cold, powerful gaze she had in that other world.
"Well... you've seemed like you had something on your mind all day. Is something bothering you?" Kyoji asked carefully.
"Oh, I see. Sorry for making you worry."
Shino gave him a faint smile.
"It's nothing, really. That guy just left a strong impression on me."
"That guy... Samuro?"
"Yeah. I mean, think about it. Using a sword as his main weapon in the qualifiers is enough to get people talking, right? His skill has clearly been honed through countless fights. Though in our final match, something strange happened at the end. But that doesn't matter. Sooner or later, he and I will meet in BoB."
Shino thought for a moment, then said firmly, "My fight with him isn't over yet."
"That's rare..." Kyoji paused. "This is the first time I've seen you show that much drive, Shino-san. Or rather, I always thought you didn't have much interest in other people."
Shino brushed a hand through her hair.
When he put it that way, it did seem true. She had never been the type to actively try to get along with others. People like Endou had been the ones to approach her first. And by now, she had more and more of her own matters to deal with.
"You've been looking worried all day. That won't do. The BoB tournament is tonight, so you need to pull yourself together." Kyoji smiled and raised his unimposing fist, clenching it as if to cheer her on.
"I'll definitely give it everything I have."
As she replied, Kyoji kept looking at her, his eyes shifting slightly.
"But I keep feeling that, when it comes to Samuro, Shino-san, it isn't only about wanting to fight him. How should I put it? Every enemy you've met so far, you defeated them cleanly and calmly. Even when you lost, you never let it drag you down. This is the first time I've seen you like this... thoughtful, maybe?"
Listening to the boy's gentle voice, Shino once again found herself thinking of that person.
It had been more than half a year since she entered that world of gunfire, but no other player had ever forced his way into her world so directly and arrogantly. From their first surprisingly smooth team-up, to their brief cooperation inside the Star Bridge, to the moment he even blocked a bullet from her Hecate II, that person had shown her many different sides of himself.
Especially that strength unlike anyone else's.
He was probably exactly what he appeared to be.
And because of that, his strength seemed all the more precious.
He was likely exactly what she had always dreamed of becoming. Someone strong enough to move beyond his own fear.
If she could, she even wanted to talk to him, though her desire to defeat him burned just as fiercely.
But... she also wanted to know why he was so strong. What had he overcome, and how had he overcome his own fear and cowardice? Thinking back to their casual conversation at the Isaro Ruins, he might have had a rough past too.
For some reason, Shino felt a strange fire toward this BoB. And in a battle where many players encountered one another at once, she, as a sniper, could display even greater power than in a one-on-one match.
Still, against that man who fought in such an unconventional way, she had yet to come up with any plan that gave her a real chance of winning.
She had defeated him when he used a revolver, but lost to him when he used a sword?
This was supposed to be a gun-themed game...
Without realizing it, Shino reached out toward the moon showing in the sky. Then, with a suddenly childish pout, some inexplicable sense of defiance made her shape her right hand like a pistol. Treating the faint moon as that troublesome man's head, she lifted her hand.
Bang.
Hmph... I'll shoot you.
Kyoji, who had been watching her the whole time, grew a little tense. He frowned with surprising seriousness as he looked at Shino.
"Is it okay... to do something like that?"
His gaze had fallen on Shino's right hand, the one she had shaped like a gun.
"Ah..."
She quickly opened her hand and gave it a light shake.
Shino was surprised too. In the past, a gesture like that should have made her conscious of guns, causing her chest to pound and bringing on that familiar discomfort.
But just now, that awareness had not come.
"It's fine, Shinkawa-kun."
"Oh..."
Only then did Kyoji nod in relief. He looked at Shino again, then suddenly rose from the swing, walked over, and took both her hands.
The boy's hands were warm. But the feel of someone else's skin against her own made Shino instinctively lower her head.
"Wh-what's wrong, Shinkawa-kun?"
"I'm a little worried, Asada-san. You don't seem like your usual self. Um... if there's anything I can do, please tell me. I can only cheer you on through the live stream, but if there's anything else I can do..."
The modest boy's voice carried a hint of nervousness.
Shino slowly raised her head and looked at the boy in front of her. On that plain, delicate face, the eyes that usually held such a gentle gaze were now shining with a heated emotion she found difficult to answer.
"My usual self... I don't really notice it when you say that."
She answered almost reflexively, going along with his words.
Then she felt Kyoji's hands tighten around hers.
"Asada-san, you're always so sharp and capable. You're amazing, and cool. You stay calm no matter what. Even though you went through the same kind of ostracism as me... you didn't run away from school. That's really incredible, Asada-san. The truth is, I've always... admired you. You're like my ideal."
Kyoji spoke as if the words were spilling out of him.
His excitement left Shino, who was used to his gentleness, unsure of what to do. She tried to step back, but her back pressed against the swing's metal pole.
"But I'm not strong... You know how pathetic I become when I see a gun."
"But Shino isn't like that," Kyoji said firmly. "When you're holding Hecate II, when you're that famous sniper, I think that's what the real Shino is like. Someday, the Shino in reality will become that way too. Even calmer, even stronger, even more unshakable."
"So I'm worried... Your fight with Samuro made you waver. But you really are strong. I... I want to become your strength. I want to help you."
Shino looked away slightly and gave a bitter smile.
Long ago, when she was still very young, she would smile when she saw something she liked and cry loudly when she felt sad. She had not been like she was now, so-called "calm" and "cool."
Her desire to become stronger had not faded.
But what did that mean?
Did it mean armoring herself until she had no openings at all, locking her weakness away deep inside her heart? Or did it mean stepping past it, reaching a point where even if she remembered it, even if it was placed right in front of her, she could look at it calmly and face it with a smile?
Deep down, what she missed and longed for was probably that kind of normal life.
Having friends. Laughing. Talking. Sharing each other's lives.
Maybe that kind of ordinary life was not some incomparable strength beyond everyone else's. Even so, it moved her so much that it made her ache.
Perhaps the icy calm and coolness that Kyoji saw in her right now was only a mask she had put on to protect herself because she still could not get past the pain lodged inside her.
As a high school student, Shino understood what Kyoji's straightforward feelings meant. She was happy. She really was happy...
But she felt that the ideal version of her he imagined and the person she wished to become were not the same.
What I am... what I want is...
The strength to face pain directly and still feel sorrow, still laugh, and still remember.
She suddenly thought of Samuro.
Not the Samuro from the qualifiers, but the Samuro at the Isaro Ruins, when he had brought her to the safe zone and the two of them had taken a short rest. He had sat across from her, smiling faintly as he tended the small campfire, talking on and on in words that sounded like lessons about life.
His eyes back then had been kind.
That was it.
Was that the gaze of someone strong who had already made it past that pain?
"Asada-san...?"
A whisper suddenly reached her ear, making Shino open her eyes.
At some point, Kyoji had leaned in close, his arms braced around both her and the metal pole behind her.
After dusk, night gradually took over the sky. The secluded, lonely park was slowly swallowed by darkness. It was probably around seven or eight, the hour when office workers went out for a few drinks. On the street nearby, scattered figures still passed by. If any of them happened to glance over and see Kyoji and Shino like this, anyone would think they were a couple.
The moment she thought that, Shino reflexively pushed Kyoji away.
As a teenage high school girl, she instinctively felt embarrassed.
"..."
Kyoji's eyes slowly filled with distress and the pain of rejection.
"I'm sorry. I mean, I am happy. You're probably the only person who can understand me. But... right now, I still can't deal with that kind of thing. Not until I overcome the shadow in my heart."
Seeing how crestfallen he looked, Shino hurriedly explained.
"I know."
Kyoji nodded softly.
Looking at him, Shino felt a pang of guilt.
After Endou and the others had spread what she had once done throughout the school, Kyoji was the only person willing to get close to her. He would even oppose them for her sake, despite being neither strong nor forceful.
"After I defeat them... let's talk then."
With that thought, she added the words quietly.
Kyoji looked at her. Those eyes, filled with countless emotions, stared into hers.
Then he nodded heavily.
"Please defeat them... along with that Samuro."
A smile appeared at the corners of Kyoji's mouth.
...
The time had come.
The man standing in the spacious room finally withdrew his gaze from the window. He had been standing there all afternoon. Outside, the streets had changed from the grave bustle of daylight to the relaxed liveliness of night. He turned back, glanced casually at the clock on the wall, and walked to his bed.
Once more.
Once more...
I have challenged you again.
A calm smile rested on his face. That expression was almost pure, without the slightest trace of negative emotion.
"Four years... since the moment I met you."
He put on the NerveGear, the helmet of the machine once called a demon. The helmet of the death game that had kidnapped ten thousand people.
Not the currently popular AmuSphere. Not that new device loaded with safety measures, with an automatic disconnect designed to protect the user no matter what.
"Let's begin... Link Start."
...
Satoru pressed his cigarette into the ashtray, exhaled a mouthful of smoke, then casually lay back on his bed and picked up the black helmet he had been using for almost three years.
This could be considered a way to settle matters from SAO.
And if...
If you are Death Gun, if you are Morte, and if you are also XaXa of the Red Eyes...
Then you must be doing this for our settlement too.
"Shinkawa."
He spoke the name in a low voice.
"Link Start."