The Black Swordsman and The Scarlet Bolt (On Hold)

~4~

Reina snorts causing Asuna to look over at her seeing both her and Kirito watching, she gasps stuttering. "Good morning, you slept like a rock." Kirito greets. Asuna grabs her rapier scaring Kirito who ducks behind the wall leaving Reina to put her hands up in defeat. She unsheathes her rapier shaking, she then sheathes it back still shaking but also blushing. "You get one meal." She tells Kirito. "Huh?" Kirito asks peering at Asuna over the wall. "One meal. All you can eat my treat." She says again standing up right looking away from them. "Then we'll be even. Deal?" She asks looking at Kirito. Kirito looks at her bewildered but agrees nonetheless. 

Floor 57: Martin

The trio went to a restaurant on floor 57. They sat in silence with Asuna's hands clasped in front of her mouth and her eyes closed, Kirito's head laying on his palm as he looked out the window and Reina leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed and eyes closed. "That's Asuna and Reina from The Knights of the Blood Oath." Someone points out. "Really." Another player asks. "Yeah, they call them the Lightning Flash and Scarlet Bolt." The first player confirms. "Who's the shady-looking guy dressed in black?" A player asks. "Well anyway..." Asuna starts drawing Kirito and Reina's attention away from the whispering. "...thank you for today." Asuna thanks not making eye contact with Kirito. "Why?" The boy asks confused. "You kept an eye on us while we slept when you didn't have to." Reina explains. "Oh, sure." He dismisses them. 

"The towns are supposed to be safe zones and unless you've agreed to a duel, a player can't attack or kill you. But when you're asleep you're vulnerable." Asuna shares fiddling with her fingers. "Yeah, now we have player killers who can cheat the duel system. Duels are normally supposed to be tests of strength. Not a fight to the death, but even if you duel in a safe zone, your HP is still gonna go down based on the damage you take." Kirito explains. "All a sleep PKer has to do is manipulate a sleeping player's finger to click the 'OK' button. The duel begins like normal, but the sleep PKers doing all the attacking. God knows how many times it's happened. So anyway thank you." Asuna thanked him one more time looking away. "Sure anytime. Well, you'd do the same for me." Kirito says letting out a sigh. They sit in silence for a while when someone screaming alerts them. 

The trio quickly get up and race outside to where the scream came from. Looking around they gasped upon seeing a man tied to the church with a spear lodged in his chest a crowd of people stood below in shock. "Hurry, pull it out!" Kirito shouts as they get closer. The man gasps and looks over at Kirito with wide eyes before attempting to pull the spear out. "I'll cut him down you two catch him." Asuna commands walking inside the church. "Got it!" Reina replies and she and Kirito run below the man. "Help's on the way!" Kirito tells him The man gasps again twitching. "Dammit, hurry up Asuna." Reina mumbles. The man tries pulling the spear out again screaming before falling limp and bursting into tiny polygons leaving the spear to fall and the noose to hit the building. People scream while Kirito and Reina stare in shock. Kirito looks around, "Everyone look for the player with the winner icon!" Kirito instructs and Reina looks at him. "You think he might've been in a duel?" She asks. "It's the only way he could've died." Kirito nods. 

"There's no one here the room's empty!" Asuna tells them from the balcony. Reina scans everyone's HP gauge in hopes of seeing a winner icon but sees none. She looks down in defeat turning to Kirito, "Come on let's go see if we find any clues inside." She tells him grabbing his hand walking inside the church to the floor Asuna was on grabbing the spear on the way. Once inside they see the rope tied to the railing. Asuna leaning on the wall beside the entrance to the balcony and Reina and Kirito leaning on the way behind the railing. Kirito takes the spear inspecting it. "So any idea how this could've happened?" He asks. "Well, there's always the obvious There was a duel and the other guy impaled the victim with that spear. Then he put a noose around his neck and pushed him out the window. Wouldn't you say that's about right?" Asuna asks. "I guess, but who duels in a building much less one with so little space? Also, I couldn't see any winner icons." Reina explains. "Me neither." Kirito adds. "It had to be a duel. It's a safe zone and a player died a duel's the only thing it could've been." Asuna explains and everyone falls silent for a couple of seconds. 

"Or maybe not, either way, we can't ignore this." She adds. "I know." Kirito agrees. "As it is a player takes a huge risk going outside the safe zone, but if someone found a way to PK inside, no one's going to be safe in the towns either." Reina explains. "Yeah, you're right." Kirito agrees once again. "I guess we won't be going back to the front lines anytime soon." Asuna says pushing off the wall approaching Kirito. "Listen, you're going to work with us until we solve this thing. Until we do there won't be any time for napping, okay?" Asuna tells him with her hand stretched out in front of her. "Okay, but you two were the ones napping." Kirito replies shaking her hands, Asuna blushes and squeezes Kirito's hand hard while Reina giggles. "Well, looks like we're teaming up again." She smiles opening her menu and sending them both a party invite. Asuna accepts it immediately and Kirito hesitates before accepting it as well. "Okay, let's see if we find anything outside." Reina suggests pushing off the wall walking down the stairs with Asuna and Kirito following behind.

When they got outside the crowd was still outside waiting. "Listen up, did anyone see what happened before that player died? If someone did please speak up." Kirito advises, everyone looks around whispering to each other before a blue-haired girl walks out from the crowd. "Sorry, I can't imagine how frightened you are. Could you tell us your name?" Asuna asks. "Sure, my name is Yolko." The blue-haired girl replies. "Were you the one who screamed?" Reina asks. "Uh-huh. I knew him. His name was Caynz, the two of us used to belonged to the same guild. And he... we came here together today, we were going to have dinner somewhere in town but we got separated in the plaza." Yolko explains, her voice shaky and tears running down her face. "I looked around for him and I saw him hanging from that balcony and..." She stops talking and covers her mouth sobbing. Reina walks over to the girl rubbing her back reassuringly. "Was someone else up there?" Reina asks. "For a second. I'm not sure, but I think I did see someone standing behind Caynz." Yolko sobs. 

"And this person, had you seen them before?" Asuna asks and Yolko shakes her head. "I know, this is hard for you, but think back and try to remember. Could there be someone anyone with the reason to kill him?" Kirito asks. Yolko gasps her eyes open wide for a second before she shakes her head. Reina looks between Kirito and Asuna shrugging. "Here, we'll walk you to an Inn." Reina suggests her teammates nod in agreement, so they head off to the nearest Inn. "Thank you for walking me back. Sorry if it's out of your way." Yolko apologizes. "No worries, but we'd like to talk to you again tomorrow. If you're feeling up to it." Asuna suggests. "Ok." Yolko agrees bowing to the three and closing her door. "So, what do we do?" Kirito asks. "Simple we follow the only clue we have. If we find out where that spear is from it might lead us to the killer."