book one: unrequited || sword art online

Chapter 3

Published: 10/6/2015; Tuesday; 9:15am; Unedited

I sat silently, wearing a black cloak to cover my short figure, though it stopped just above my knees so everyone could tell I was a girl. I glared over at Asuna's figure. She was wearing a red cloak-- of course I knew it was her.

Everywhere I go, she's there.

And I know what she looks like, it's hard to miss her.

Well, for me.

I noticed a guy in the middle of us, seeing as we were on the same row but on the complete opposite sides. He was staring ahead, probably lost in his own thoughts.

He had short raven hair and dark gray (near black, really) eyes, he looked my age and had attractive features.

But I didn't trust guys with attractive features.

"Hello, thank you all for coming today!" I looked forward, and saw a man with beautiful blue hair and eyes to match. I scowled. "My name is Diabel, and I like to think of myself as 'Knight'!"

There was chuckles and laughter around, someone shouting out that there weren't any job classes in the game. Diabel scratched the back of his head sheepishly before continuing.

"Today, our group found the boss room."

I straightened my back a little bit. We had already been here a month, it was December 2, 2022, and no one had found the boss room. I've been traveling a lot to find it; I was even a Beta Tester and had no luck.

Today was the day we hold a meeting about it. They found it! Diabel suggested that we all work together to beat it, and everyone agreed. "Alright, get in parties so we can discuss formations!"

I almost choked on my own spit.

I stared down at my lap as everyone got into parties, already knowing each other or hesitantly asking to join. I was a solo player, sure I had been a few parties in previous games, but... I wasn't exactly the most social of butterflies.

As Diabel was about to continue talking, a man shouted for us to wait, jumping down and shouting.

He wanted any Beta Testers present to give up everything we had, our money, items, everything. I glared down at him, standing up, catching everyone's attention.

"You're extremely immature," I drawled, walking down the stairs and to the front, pulling out a small handbook. "Did you receive one of these? They were free at the item store."

"The Guidebook? sure, I got it," he shot back, not understanding where I was getting at.

"Do you know who was handing them out?" I asked.

"Beta Testers," a deep voice answered, we all looked at a tall, dark-skinned man. He walked up to us and nodded at me as everyone began whispering amongst themselves about this new information.

"My name is Agil," he introduced, I nodded buy didn't give my name. He turned to the crowd, and held out the book. "Everyone had equal access to this, yet they still died. You shouldn't blame the Beta Testers on that."

Once that was cleared up, I walked back to my seat, glancing at the guy with black hair from under my hood. He was looking at Agil, then glanced over at me.

I looked away just in time, sitting down away from everyone. I sighed, listening to Diabel's formation, some people pitching in to help improve it, against Ilfang.

"Alright, we'll meet tomorrow, dismissed!"I noticed Asuna get up immediately and leave.

I stood and was about to leave when I felt someone grab my shoulder. I turned around and saw it was that guy with the black hair.

"You were left out," he stated. I shrugged. "I'm in a party with the other person that was over there. Maybe you should join so you won't be alone...?" He asked hesitantly, as if not used to asking people. I mulled it over.

As much as I don't like Asuna. I need a party. I'll bear with it.

"...okay."

He pulled up the menu and sent me an invite. Pressing accept, I noticed the names pop up under my health bar. Kirito and Asuna.

'Kirito...huh, nice ring to it.'

~*~*~*~*~

It was the next day, December 3, 2022, and we were on our way to the boss room.

Asuna and I were on opposite sides of Kirito, him explaining when to Switch.

"Switch?" Asuna asked, causing me and Kirito to snap our heads to her.

"Could this be...your first time in a party?" Kirito asked her. She nodded and I stopped walking along with Kirito. He sighed, but I groaned.

"We're doomed!" I muttered, shaking my head. How could I forget that this is her first MMO?

She realized we weren't walking and looked over at us, confused, though glared when I said my words.

If I die, it's on your head, Yuuki Asuna.

We arrived at the doors, Kirito explaining everything to Asuna while we walked behind the group. I stayed silent, listening in on his words in case I learned something useful. I did.

He's a Beta Tester.

Of course, he didn't exactly say it, but the level of his information is high, and that's not normal. So I began observing him more, and remembered he was hesitant and nervous when asking me to join because he's a solo player too.

I kept my mouth shut, planning on asking him later on when maybe there weren't any people around us.

The door opened and we walked in the dark corridor, across the room was Ilfang, who roared the room into light and the battle began.