Sword Art Online - Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning Page 8
In addition, Shino thought that the disappearance of the intense reactions of denial upon seeing images and photos of guns, such as fainting and vomiting, was already more than enough. She also no longer felt alienated at school. She was now able to eat lunch with several friends. However, it put Shino in a slightly complicated situation as the topic they always talked about concerned the boy sitting in front of her waiting at the school gate to take her on his bike.
As Shino was unawarely thinking about that, Kazuto noticed her mild expression, and nodded,
“Then, everything from the Death Gun incident is already over, right?”
“Yeah…… That’s… right.”
Shino also nodded slightly, before shutting her mouth. There was something, she seemed to recall something from the corner of her mind and tried to pull it out, but before she could do so, the shopkeeper appeared from the kitchen before placing two steamy plates on the table.
The scene of glossy amber colored kidney beans with cube-cut bacon placed in the middle caused an outbreak of hunger from the stomach, which had already digested that day’s lunch. Shino grabbed the spoon as if she was pulled towards it. At that point, she returned to her senses and quickly pulled her hand back before speaking,
“Ah, I-I didn’t order this.”
Then, a faint mischievous expression floated on the rugged face of the big framed master.
“That’s fine, it’s a treat… from Kirito.”
By the time Kazuto who had heard it opened his mouth wide to protest, the shopkeeper had already went back to the counter calmly. As Shino tried to suppress her laughter within her throat, she grabbed the spoon again before slightly waving it at Kazuto.
“Thanks for the treat.”
“……Well, it’s alright. I just finished my part-time job, my wallet is still warm anyway.”
“Heh, you’re taking a part-time job? What kind is it?”
“The one I mentioned earlier about neither eating nor drinking for three days. Well, we can talk about that after clearing today’s main topic. For now let’s eat while it’s still hot.”
Kazuto grabbed the small bottle of mustard and dropped a lot of it at the edge of the plate, before passing it to Shino. She did the same then used the spoon to scoop a heap of beans into her mouth.
A nostalgic and simple western style taste could be felt from the cooked beans, which was fluffy to the core and released a lot of soft sweetness. The thick bacon which had no excessive fat, broke down into pieces on her tongue.
“This is also…… very delicious.”
As she muttered, she looked at Kazuto who was eating greedily before asking,
“He said Boston style right? What kind of seasoning does it use?”
“Hmm…… I forgot its name but, it seems to be a crudely produced syrup. What is it again, Agil?”
The shopkeeper, who went back to polishing the glass, glanced toward them with his face lifted before replying,
“Molasses.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Heh…… of American cuisine, I thought you only knew hamburger and fried chicken.”
The latter part of her words was reduced to a whisper, Kazuto gave a bitter smile,
“That’s prejudice. I have talked to quite a few good guys from over there too.”
“Yeah, definitely. Just the other day, I was deep in talk about sniping with a girl from Seattle over the GGO international server for three hours. Ah―, but…… it’s just him that I can’t understand……”
“Him?”
Kazuto, who had already emptied more than half of his plate, repeated the word while still chewing.
“That’s today’s topic anyway. You knew about last week’s fourth Bullet of Bullets individual final already, right?”
Abbreviated to «BoB», it was the name of the battle royale tournament to decide the strongest in Gun Gale Online, Kazuto immediately nodded.
“Yeah, I watched the broadcast with everyone. Oh, I still haven’t congratulated you yet. ……Well, it might be a regrettable result to Sinon though. Anyway, congratulations for the second place.”
“T……Thank you.”
She wore a serious face while saying that so as to hide her embarrassment, then quickly continued,
“If you’ve already watched the broadcast then it’s quicker. Even though the winner is the player named «Satrizer»…… He, it was his second time being the champion.”
Kazuto who heard that blinked a few times, his consciousness seemed to followed his gaze upward.
“Come to think of it…… In the field of the third BoB I participated, you told me about the US player who only had a knife and a handgun but managed to win the first tournament…… ——Eh, but I’m certain that since the second tournament, the server was divided into US and JP, it was no longer possible to connect from America, isn’t it?”
“It’s supposed to be like that…… Actually, there was no US entry in the second and third tournaments. But this time he somehow managed to avoid the block, or there was a connection to the management team…… Well, either way he was accepted. But you would realize the legend of «Satrizer» just by watching him fights once.”
“Yeah. Even though it was from the broadcast screen, I noticed that Sinon was fired up”
Kazuto grinned as he said that. Shino pouted before replying.
“I-It wasn’t just me. All thirty finalists…… no, since he is not included, all twenty-nine finalists were fired up too. And there were even some among us who had lost to him in the first tournament. Even though America is the home of FPS, but breaking into the battle royale stage of Japanese’s GGO, which is the origin of «The Seed» engine…… but, when the lid is opened……”
“A repetition of the first tournament…… right?”
Shino nodded with her lips protruded and bent into a ヘ shape. The spoon in her right hand carried the last thick cube of bacon into her mouth, savoring the simple yet rich taste of the food had reset her thought, and last week’s memories resurfaced.
“……Even though the result was like that, the topic went circles around his complete victory. Because that guy, at the start, didn’t have any weapon.”
“Eh……bare hands?”
“Yeah. Well, instead of weapons, he had the «Army Combative» skill. He defeated his first target just by grappling, robbed the weapon from his target, then used it on the next target….. he just repeated this. The scene of him using just his bare hands to defeat other players while they were reloading didn’t only occur two or three times. It can be said that…… the battle was in a different dimension……”
Shino muttered while letting off a sigh, Kazuto folded his arms before shaking his head,
“But…… In short, Satrizer’s build was the close combat type, right? If so, he shouldn’t be able to retaliate a mid-ranged or long-ranged attack, should he? Rather, more than half of all GGO players are of those build too……”
“You… you actually saw the scene when I lost to him, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, in ALO. When Satrizer was approaching your hiding place in a straight line and was less than three minutes distance away, everyone was like [Not that way―!] or [Sinon, behind you―!] together.”
“Yeah, that.”
Shino let out a big sigh as the amazing and at the same time disgracing scene revived in her mind, before saying in the calmest tone she could muster.
“I heard from eleven people who had been defeated directly by him after the tournament, almost every one was defeated using the same method. He shouldn’t have had any data about them, yet he was able to clearly read their movements, as he ambushed them at an extremely close range, killing them without giving them any time to use their weapons. I don’t know about America, but far from grappling fights in the JP server, even using knives to fight with is unheard of……”
“……Eh, I heard that after the third tournament, the number of players using light saber had increased though…�
�”
To Kazuto who faintly said so, Shino inadvertently gave a bitter smile.
“That’s…just trying to imitate your showy performance. It’s true that early in this year, there were players practicing to cut bullets with the light saber, but it seemed no one could actually accomplish it.”
——Even though she said that as if it was about other people, Shino herself had purchased a small sized light saber and practiced in secret with the soldier mobs as well. As a result of one month’s struggle, aside from the initial shot from the rapid-fire assault rifle, she still couldn’t reach the level required to defend herself from successive bullets, and without at least defending against all three shot burst, it couldn’t be used in real combat. The dream of reaching Kazuto’s level, who could defend himself from more than ten shots of rapid-fire, remained a dream, and she eventually gave up. The light saber was currently acting as a charm inside her storage.
However, if that time, she took it out of storage and equipped it on her waist, she wondered if she could be able to wound Satrizer at all. Shino immediately shook her head. This isn’t the time for that. Switch thoughts, return to the topic.
“……Anyway, there was not a single JP players who could even aim their rifle at him, let alone shoot him. What was really terrifying about Satrizer wasn’t his close combat technique, but his ability to predict the battle situation.”
“Yeah…… I see…… But, is something like that possible……? It might be possible against beginners, but those participating in BoB’s main battle are veterans, the chance of predicting their actions at a hundred percent shouldn’t even exist……”
To Kazuto’s words, whose expression was still in doubt, Shino shrugged lightly as she replied,
“He defeated more than ten people the same way, so it’s already can’t be considered a fluke. Well…… even though they’re veterans, there might still be patterns in their actions. For this terrain, they should take this position, or using this route for their movement, there might be a hole in those veterans’ theory.”
As she spoke, Shino felt she realized a certain fact too late and gave a small sigh.
At that time, just before the conclusion of the fourth BoB tournament.
Shino, who was the last person left against Satrizer, was at her sniping point with her beloved Hecate II on the top floor of the partially collapsed building. Her prediction was, from the window of that floor she should be able to confirm Satrizer position, as he must cross the road below.
However, the enemy had read her prediction and hid near the sniping point in the same building ahead of her. Waiting until she had set up her rifle on bipod and laid in a prone position…… approaching her from behind, like a cat attacking its prey.
However, Shino didn’t really want to be on the top floor, but a floor below, as its height was still able to provide enough angle to fire. The reason she didn’t do so was because there was a library on the floor below. The reawakened memory of her sole relaxing spot in her middle school self had disturbed her concentration, by the time Shino realized that she was lost in thought for a few seconds, she was already on the top floor. And in the shadow of that floor, was the enemy who was waiting for her with a sneak attack……
In other words, Satrizer could predict Shino wouldn’t be on the floor with the library but would set up her sniping position on the floor above. However, the reason she changed her sniping point wasn’t a rational decision made by a sniper, but an entirely personal reason. Being able to read Sinon the sniper’s actions was one thing, but he shouldn’t be able to see through the real world bookworm Asada Shino. Could it be just a coincidence that Satrizer decided to pick a hiding location on the top floor of the same building? Or had he seen the library and was confident that Shino wouldn’t choose that place for some reason……?
If the latter was the case, he didn’t base his prediction on data or experience. But on something beyond the skill category of VRMMO game players…… which was reading the minds of other people……
“……non. Oi, Sinon.”
With the fingertips of her right hand stretched out and fixed in mid air, Shino winced and lifted her face. As her eyes met Kazuto’s worried face, she quickly said,
“Ah…… S-Sorry. Where were we again?”
“The patterns of veteran players, and the theory.”
“O-Oh. Well…..yeah, for that reason…… I think the player who didn’t use those patterns, whose actions aren’t based on the theory, should be able to take up a position behind Satrizer……”
She said that half automatically, as she finally understood the core of the reason she had called Kazuto out today. She switched her mood, and drank the cold water from her glass, of which the ice had almost completely melted, but the chill sticking to her back didn’t leave so easily.
Yes…… he crept and captured Shino from behind, defeating her in just a few seconds, as Satrizer stopped her from breathing and she was on the verge of losing the last bit of her HP gauge, he whispered in a low voice. Back then, she couldn’t understand the meaning of the almost silent, English whisper, and it now came back to her ears as she thought about it,
[Your soul will be so sweet.]
It has an unusual meaning. In a net game PvP, it would be the speech said at the end of the battle, or just a sharp parting remark said by many players. Just roleplaying, it was just that.
After hearing herself saying so, Shino deliberately reopened the discussion with a cheerful tone.
“……So, talking about a person who defies theory, «No reason-no sense-no care», didn’t a single person’s name floated up? It maybe a little too early, but I’m thinking of reserving a spot in the fifth BoB for that person——”
She then made her right hand into a hand gun shape, and pointed it to Kazuto who sat in front of her.
“Thus, my invitation to you.”
“E……Ehhh, Me?”
As she gave a smile to her companion who was taken aback, she gave her prepared speech at the same time,
“About that, I’m not saying an unreasonable thing like asking you to convert from ALO to GGO again, I’m just certain that you were indebted to me a little. Hey, after that, is the legendary weapon comfortable to use?”
“Uu.”
Kazuto —— Kirito’s golden long sword, «Excaliber» that he possessed in «ALfheim Online» was what Shino had collected just before it would have been lost in a bottomless pit. As she had awarded him the extremely rare item, of which only one existed in the server, she had the right to say something with such self-indulgence. Also, it would be attractive to Kazuto to be able to fight against a strong opponent.
As he didn’t want to betray Shino’s expectations, Kazuto cleared his throat before saying,
“I do have a feeling of wanting to fight that Satrizer too…… But, I think the main reason I, who was a gun novice, stood a chance in the last tournament, was because the other participants were inexperienced with fighting against a sword user. However, after listening to your story so far, Satrizer seems to be a close combat expert in addition to a gun master, doesn’t he? I wonder if I have a chance of winning……”
“What’s with that weak comment, it’s very unlike you. It’s true that he’s strong, but he’s still a VRMMO player, speaking like it’s pro vs amateur is just……”
“Yeah, that.”
Kazuto leaned his back against the old-fashioned wooden chair, his hands behind the back of his head.
“Is Satrizer really an amateur…… really just a VRMMO player?”
“……What do you mean? If he’s not a player then what could he be?”
“A professional. Whose objective is not to play, but to practice in gun fights. Like a soldier…… or a member of the police’s special force.”
“Eh―!? You can’t just say something like that.”
To Shino who gave a bitter smile as she was certain it was a joke, Kazuto kept his serious expression as he continued,
“…………That, can’t be……”
As Shino was about to say Kazuto was reading too much into it, she recalled the sharpness of Satrizer’s supernatural readings and the smoothness of his movements. The way of he fought could be described as a battle machine, thinking about it, it was certainly beyond the level of an amateur gamer.
However, if that man was really a professional soldier or police, would he spit out that speech just before he brought down his target? The soul is sweet, for something like that…… he was a real «Professional» but rather than a soldier, it was an assassin…………
At that point, Shino had to forcibly stop her thoughts. All virtual worlds including GGO existed for enjoyment. It had nothing to do with what kind of a person Satrizer was in the real world. The next time she met him in the battlefield, she would blow him apart using her fifty caliber. As she was satisfied with her decision, she gave a clear call,
“No matter who he is, in GGO our conditions are even! I won’t lose to the same opponent twice, I will absolutely win next time, I’ll use all methods to achieve it!”
“……That «Method» is me, right?”
“One of the methods, to be exact.”
Well? As Kazuto made a face saying so, Shino wore a grinning smile as she gave additional explanation,
“It’ll be anxious for you alone against a close combat expert, so I actually called another person here. But mainly acting as a brake, preventing you from running wild, a controller in a sense.”