Second part to chapter 12. Leave Power Stones if you enjoyed.
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Somehow growing even more surprised than she was, Sinon's body recoiled as she dropped the weapon like it were acid. "W-Wha-What?! Y-you WHAT?!" She sputtered, scanning the weapon now laying flatly against the grass. "B-But I thought this was that Hero guy's sword?!"
"So you recognized it, huh?" Kirito nodded at her deduction. How could anyone who wields a sword forget such an impressionable blade? "Now we know why it's so extravagant. The thing is absolutely broken."
"That's not the point! You're saying you fought him?!"
"I did. Kind of had to..." His words trailed off. That was a bit of a lie. He wasn't obligated to fight Kayaba at the time. The option to walk away and pretend he never saw anything was there, he just didn't want to take it. After the fight, he'd been left with some conflicting emotions, but he didn't regret his decision. It felt right.
"You had to?! Did he ambush you or something?!" Sinon was getting worked up, feeling further on edge the more their conversation went on.
Picking up on that and realizing he'd gone about this the wrong way, Kirito tried easing her worries. "Hey, it's fine. He's gone for now and he's not gonna come get me. Just relax a bit."
That too had been a lie, considering there was a low possibility of him getting blinked out of existence with an admin command. He ignored that detail and kept it to himself, knowing it would only spark more panic.
Calming her down, Kirito detailed the events of his encounter with Akihiko Kayaba; otherwise known as the player Hero. He started with his plan for the day - a plan he incessantly pointed out had only come into existence after getting snubbed by her and Asuna, and continued to when he saw Hero fighting the field boss alone.
Distorting the events like he'd done with Yuuki, Kirito depicted Kayaba to be the aggressor, pretending the man had caught him spying and intended to kill him for it. Defending himself, Kirito slayed the man in a life-or-death battle, turning orange by avoiding getting hit a single time. That last bit may have been farfetched for most others, but it was believable for a player like himself.
Cutting out his confrontation with Yuuki, he skipped over them and finished off with him trying to distract himself from his criminal status by hunting birds to wait out his timer. After summarizing, her response was an expected one.
"Are you crazy?!" Sinon rebuked loudly.
"No! I already told you I had to fight him." Kirito expressed, hoping to avoid another scolding.
"But you could've gotten away BEFORE he noticed you, right?!" Sinon shot back, holding her head as she felt a headache brewing within. Recalling the reason he was even there, her glare returned tenfold. "Wait, you were going to fight ANOTHER boss on you're own?! How stupid are you?!"
"I'm not! And didn't I already tell you I had no choice? You two left me alone for the day!"
"HAD NO CHOICE?!" She seethed, his comment driving her mad. "You HAD a choice! A choice to do something NORMAL! Hell, couldn't you have just taken the day off?!"
"A day off?! I could never!" Kirito rejected instantly. His ears could hardly bare such blasphemy.
"Yeah? Then what about the time you spent with Asuna and I during Christmas?!"
"That was different and you know it!" He refuted. Little did she know he actually ran off during the night.
"Oh, bull." She sighed, placing a hand on her hip. Her emotions were beginning to simmer, but she still couldn't forgive such idiocy. "Because you're soooooo productive... It's not like you're sitting around wasting time hunting toucans. Why couldn't you have just done that in the first place?"
"...You're joking, right?" He deadpanned.
Sinon scoffed, "ANYTHING would have been better than what YOU did. Don't pretend like that situation was unavoidable. God, how can one person make so many consecutiv-"
"Alright, okay. I got it. I won't try to have fun anymore." Despite trying, he couldn't hide his sarcasm.
She growled lowly, his half-assed response only agitated Sinon further. "That's. Not. The. POINT!" She stomped aggressively.
"I know! Geez!" Kirito answered reflexively, deescalating with his hands. "I'm super dumb and you're super smart! I'll listen to you from now on!"
She slapped one of his open hands away. "Why I oughta..."
"No, seriously!" Kirito interjected before she put her paws up. "I won't try to fight bosses on my own anymore! I'll listen to what you have to say!"
He knew the risks that came with fighting a boss solo - having done so and surviving. He was confident he could combat his way out of an unwinnable situation if he ever found himself in one. There was always a way to get out of a situation, no matter how impossible it seemed. The risks were fun to take on, but what was more risky was his identity being revealed. Bosses were magnets to players, despite the danger. The rewards were just too valuable. Just like how he'd come across Kayaba taking down a boss, the very same could happen to him.
Hell, it definitely would have. Had Kayaba not fought Wiron, he would have, which would lead to Yuuki witnessing him solo a boss. That kind of outcome was much worse to him than having her see him kill another player. Soloing bosses were unheard of, after all.
Wincing under Sinon's scrutinizing gaze, Kirito continued, "I know I'll take tons of risks, but I won't go searching for trouble. I know that situation was more dangerous than any other encounter I've been in. I'll be more careful," He said honestly, hoping to reassure her.
The intensity of her bluish-yellow eyes felt like bullets piercing his flesh as they fluttered across him, analyzing everything he told her. Another heavy sigh left Sinon, her hand returned back to her forehead. "That's not... I'm not trying to boss you around. You know more than I do and you're a lot stronger than me." She admitted, albeit reluctantly. Had this been a more casual conversation, Kirito would've puffed up with pride. "Just... don't go seeking out trouble."
Kirito nodded back tamely. "I won't. Think I learned my lesson today..." He too sighed, looking distantly across the jungle leaves whishing against virtual air. His focus was more on the attention than any boss. Running across Akihiko Kayaba like that could have been a death sentence. And Yuuki... what if that had been a whole party of players who all tried apprehending him?
Would he have had to murder them all?
"So..." The blue haired girl began, rustling a few leaves as she sat next to the tree root he was on. "...Is he dead?"
"No," Kirito answered back. "Wouldn't count on it... If he was thorough enough to get us all in here without getting caught, he'd have a failsafe to avoid dying."
"But he was still a player, right? Couldn't he... no..." Her voice died down, already knowing she would be wrong. Hoping against hope wouldn't disprove facts. If Kayaba would cheat against a boss, he would cheat to survive. Angrily grabbing at her hair, she snarled, "Argh-! It's so frustrating! What are we supposed to do now?!"
"The same as usual. Nothing has changed. Other than me and you, no one even knows what occurred."
'And Yuuki.' He left out.
"You haven't told Asuna what happened?"
"No and I don't really intend to." Kirito stood back up and grabbed the discarded Excalibur blade. It had a lot of time before despawning, but he didn't wanna risk losing such a beauty.
"Why not?" Sinon looked puzzled. "You told me, didn't you?"
"I did, but only after you figured out I became an orange player," Kirito pointed out, letting the sword stand on its scabbard as he held the pommel. "If I can avoid telling her, then I will."
Sinon studied him, searching for his intentions before a sly grin began to form. "I see... you're trying to get into her good graces, aren't you?" She accused.
"No. I don't want her to think of me as a murderer."
She froze. A mind-numbing chill ran across her body, filling her with a displaced cold that contrasted the warm humidity of the jungle.
Murder... Did he think of himself as a murderer...?
...Is he?
Memories from years ago clouded her mind. A dreaded, disgusting scene playing out over and over.
Murderer... Murderer...
"Sinon?" Kirito lightly shook her shoulder.
"Huh? Oh... sorry, I was just thinking about what you said," She answered faintly. He didn't seem satisfied with her answer and frowned. She shook her head slightly, attempting to free herself from the constraints of her mind. "I... don't think you're a murderer, for what it's worth."
"It's worth a lot, I think." Hearing her say that so candidly helped put some worries to bed. He was most worried about what his two friends would think about it. At least now, one of them didn't think less of him. "Thank you."
"Mm..." She nodded weakly. That's right. You can't be a murderer if the person you killed is still alive. Unlike...
Snapping the girl out of her thoughts was the grinding of a blade being drawn from its scabbard. Wielding the holy sword in his right hand, Kirito stood a ways back giving it some test swings. Sinon couldn't help staring at him incredulously. Was he seriously playing with that thing like it was a toy?
Kirito smirked, pointing the sword outward with both hands in a heroic pose before glancing at her. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Idiot! You know that thing is dangerous!" Within a flash, her growing melancholy was balled up and tossed away, replaced with a righteous fury towards a giant knucklehead. "You should get rid of that ASAP!"
"Whaaat?!" It was his turn to look at her incredulously. "Why the hell would I do that?!"
"I just told you! It's dangerous!"
"Dangerously cool!"
"Oh, zip it!" She stood up and approached him, eyeing the golden sheen of the overpowered weapon. "That thing belonged to Kayaba, didn't it? What if he comes back for it?"
"He ain't gonna do shit." Kirito carelessly waved her off. "For all he knows, the weapon was destroyed with his body alongside all his other equipment. I lucked out that he dropped it long enough for it to remain."
"Lucked out? Give me a break..." Every time like always, her energy seemed to allude her when dealing with this idiot. Her hands returned to her hips as she spoke dryly, "Didn't I tell you to avoid seeking trouble? You know that sword is trouble!"
Kirito glared childishly, holding Excalibur away from the fiendish woman. "...You're just jealous."
"Uh huh, jealous. Let's see how jealous I am after you get shadow banned and your brain gets microwaved." She rolled her eyes. "You know that weapon now belongs to a 'dead' player, right? Someone is bound to notice the moment yo-"
"That's why I'm not gonna use it," Kirito cuts her off, sheathing the blade so he could spare it from her verbal abuse.
Her mouth fell open, unresponsive before a finger jammed into his chest. "Then what the hells the point of even having it?!"
"...Safekeeping?"
The dainty finger began twisting against him, his light chest equipment just barely protecting him from the brutality of her fingernail. "You're tellin' me that you're taking all that risk just... just because?!"
"...Yeah?"
"You IDIOT!" Her finger shoved him. He remained unmoving, but boy were his feelings hurt. The girl's hands came up to her face, running them down as if trying to wipe away her irritation. "So it's just gonna sit in your inventory?"
"Y-yeah..." Kirito answered dejectedly. "For the most part, anyway."
"Unbelievable..." After dealing with the black haired swordsman and his eccentricities so many times, she would've thought she could get used to his ridiculous antics or decisions. At this point, she believed that would never happen. Crossing her arms, Sinon let it go, knowing it were futile. "So what will you do now? Are you just gonna stand around looking at toucans until your cursor is green again?"
"Not like I have many other options," He flicked open his menu, returning the modified weapon into his inventory. "It's hard to track through the jungle and not many players have reasons to be here. If someone did, the foliage makes it easy to hide from them. They're all trying to weaken the Irrational Cube, anyway. I'll be fine."
"I know you'll be fine, it just doesn't sound very 'Kirito' like." Sinon placed a finger under her mouth in contemplation. "...Or maybe it does?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked at her dryly and sighed. "I told you I don't have many options. This is all I have for now. No point risking getting caught."
"You're right about that." Sinon stepped away, taking in the ambiance of an illusory nature. Despite her sour opinions, the virtual world was still incredible. The feel of the large blades of grass crunching under her boots and the misshapen bark against her gloved hand. It wasn't real... but it was close.
Turning around on her heel, the swordswoman withdrew her blade and pointed it at her friend several meters away. Kirito stared at the sharpened steel quizzically. "...What are you doing?"
Sinon gave him a playful shrug. "I'm challenging you to a duel."
He blinked, a smirk beginning to form. "A duel? I am a criminal, you know." He put a palm on his chest. "Gonna arrest me and take me to jail for my crimes?"
Laughing, Sinon dropped her stance and shook her head. "Actually, I kind of wanted you to show me some moves. Now seemed like a good time with you trapped here like an animal."
That sounded almost too mocking, but he could deal. Kirito walked, raising his hands over his head. "Don't know... birdwatching has become an important hobby of mine. Might join a club soon..."
"I'm sure. You'll have loads of fun together with all your friends." Her lips tilted upward smugly.
"...Harsh," He commented, withdrawing his sword from his back, rolling his shoulders and neck. "Don't go running away crying after I spank you."
"Spank me? Wow, you are a criminal."
This girl...