It was August 8th 2026
The room was filled with pleasant screams and cheers coming from the audience. Soon, the dark room lit back up, now not only was the spotlight the only source of light. The ambiance was thrilled with their idol's performance. Begging her for an encore. "Encore encore encore!". The black haired girl giggled and placed one of her small palms on the neck of her guitar and the other one of the instrument's waist. She glanced at the crowds calling out her name once more and winked. A classic move from an iconic star. Leaving the stage right after.
When she arrived in her dressing room, she was greeted by her friends: Karen and Miyu as well as her manager: Goushi. Claps were audible in the small dressing room. "Clap clap clap.". The short singer's eyes filled with relief as her friends seemed to appreciate her performance. "You did great!" Miyu exclaimed and rushed over to the singer and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Elsa chuckled and hugged her back before pulling away. "And that's what happens when you practice like hell." She paused to turn to the man in the room. He was leaned against the wall, not really seeming to care about the situation. After all, he's seen Elsa returning from her performances countless of times. The girl gave a pouty face. "Well my next concert is due for next month. I can finally play GGO with my LLENN right?" She asked her manager. Goushi shrugged and got off the wall, walking closer to Elsa. "I didn't say you were never allowed. I said that you needed to rehearse for your concert." He responded. In which he was in fact right.
Elsa Kanzaki rolled her eyes. Doing him a 'shoo' gesture. "Yeah yeah whatever. Same thing." She huffed in annoyance and put her guitar down. Not bothering to put it back inside of its case. "Goushi, put my guitar inside. Will you?" She turned to her manager who nodded and picked up the paw-printed instrument. As he was doing that, Elsa looked at her friends. "So! What do you guys want to do now? GGO?" She chimed happily. It felt good to finally have a burden like a concert off her shoulders. Karen was about to say something before Miyu interrupted her: "Kyaaa! I know! How about we all go to the town square?" She suggested. Goushi put the guitar, that was in fact inside of its case back down on the ground. It leaned against a stool. "So what? Like shopping?" He caught on to her words.
Miyu snapped her fingers. "Bingo, you've got it Goushi." She paused to smile. "Plus, wouldn't a little shopping lift our spirits up. New month, new clothes." The brown haired girl commented. Karen nodded. "I'm fine with that. I was hoping to go shopping some day. I need new gear." She responded. A small laugh coming from Elsa interrupted her. "Hahahahah! Geez, you've certainly gotten used to the GGO terms, haven't you?" She teased. Karen crossed her arms and chuckled as well, her cheeks slowly turning pink at her mistake. "I guess so." She responded. Miyu stepped up. Since she was the real person behind Fukaziroh's vibrant personality, she was able to get everyone's attention. Even someone as dead inside as Goushi. "That's it! We are going shopping." She ran up to Karen and grabbed her hand, running out of Elsa's changing room.
Now it was only Elsa and Goushi left in the room. The girl fixed her white waistcoat and sighed: "You better not screw this opportunity up for me, you bastard." She glared him. The man, who was under her thumb nodded obediently. "I won't." He assured her. She walked off, not waiting for him to follow along since she already knew he would. His stalker habits don't die down that easily.
~~~~
The ride to the town square wasn't that bad. There weren't any arguments between the four friends or anything. But do take note the conversation wasn't 100% pleasant. Goushi was the driver, Elsa was sitting beside him and Karen and Miyu were behind. The topic got around to the second squad jam and the overall battle between Team LF and Team PM. The four other guys they hired died during the log cabin raid with MMTM.
"Talk about intense. That battle was too much for me." Miyu commented sarcastically and unnecessarily dramatically. Karen chuckled and leaned back on the passenger's seat. "Atleast I got to upgrade my skills a bit more. Plus, i saved someone's life as well." She smiled and glanced over to the other passenger's seat. The one close to the driver's seat. Goushi smiled at her last statement. It was clear from the side miroirs he was. Which made Miyu chuckle the slightest. "Yes, I am glad for that Karen. Really." He thanked. Elsa crossed her arms and shut her eyes. Hiding out all retorts and comments she was gonna use to defend herself and her crazy suicide plan. However, as much as she had a good poker face, slight confusion was the only emotion she was feeling right now. She turned to Goushi and smiled reluctantly. A feeling rushed through the man's mind that someone was watching him. He whipped his head to the side but was faced with the woman he loved looking out of the window. He pursed his lips and focused on driving once again. "Are you alright, Elsa?" He asked, still feeling a tad suspicious. Flustered, she let out a huff. "What? Do you think I'm ready to jump out of the car again? What do you take me for? An idiot?" She retorted despite the scarce amount of hostility between the two lovers at the moment. "Right...I wouldn't do something crazy like that.." she trailed off her voice.
"I still can't believe one of the most merciless players in the game turned out to be someone like you, Elsa Kanzaki." Karen brought up. Miyu shrieked from her seat. "Talk about a crazy coincidence! Say, how did you even come up with a username as creative as a bird's name?" She inquired. Karen thought for a second before bringing it up: "A poisonous bird if I'm correct? Someone did their research." She teased with a small cackle. The small girl sitting in the front sighed and glanced at the sky. It sure was a beautiful afternoon. "Honestly? I love animals. That day when I got into the beta test for SAO, I wanted to have a cool avatar name. I wanted people to be afraid that someone was willing to open their guts up. I wanted people to low-key fear me." She paused to smile fiercely. Karen and Miyu gave unsettled looks while Goushi just kept his eyes on the road. Totally unphased.
"That's when I stumbled across the information page of a bird only found in New Guinea. It had a lovely colour scheme. I could totally rock hellish colours. So that's what I decided to call myself. Pitohui. Plus, according to the players of the merry beta period in Sword art and recently the spectators of the second squad jam, I do tend to act like one." She giggled. Goushi flinched. "Indeed. Dead poisonous on the outside but a sweetheart on the inside." He complimented the singer. Elsa huffed. "Not even! Even though I'm in a happy mood, I could kick your ass anytime!" She retorted, trying to earn the upper-hand. Miyu leaned forward and pressed her hand on the head-rest of one of the chairs in front of her. "Give him some credit, he tries." She reminded.
Karen laughed slightly. From there, the topic was closed and the four friends talked about something else. As time is known to pass fast, they didn't realize that they were rather close to their destination.
~~~~
"Wowwwww!"
Miyu exclaimed as she pointed at the tall skyscrapers surrounding them. Vibrant violet banners hung upon them, giving the already exquisite buildings more colour. "I haven't been to the town square in such a long time Kohi!" She let go of her friend's hand. The tall black haired chuckled. "I'm surprised. For all the time I've known you, Miyu, you really do enjoy these venues and what this country has to offer." She replied to her best friend's excitement. Her screeching occurred for a few more minutes before a certain shop caught her eyes. "I see the clothing shop! Kya! This will be so much fun!" She grabbed Karen's hand once more and dragged her to the pink-coloured shop. Meanwhile, Elsa trotted behind them. A smile on her face beneath her black hood. It was something she had to wear to avoid attraction from the people here. She was a known singer here in Japan. Many people would recognize her for sure.
As they entered the shop, they were greeted by quartz-coloured shelves displaying the nicest of clothing. For example, dresses. But there were also casual wear like shirts, jeans and as well as skirts. Miyu and Karen, well she was obliged by the order of her best friend to be there with her, the two girls were sorting through the dresses. A pink one catching Fukaziroh's eye while a gold one attracted Karen over. Both girls giggled as they realized they picked eachother's colour schemes. "Trust me! I'd make a better LLENN than you!" Fuka joked earning a jokingly snarl from the pink devil.
Coming back from the parking lot, Goushi entered the shop since Elsa informed him that they'd be here. The first thing that caught his sight was the petite young woman sitting by a display stand with a sapphire jewel barrette in her hands. He walked over to her and snatched the barrette from her small hands. Elsa hissed at his action and attempted to slap his hand, the one holding the clip. "So this caught your eye?" He smirked and observed the barrette attentively. Despite not having a gun in her hands, Elsa still tried to harm him. "Dumbass, give it back." she demanded. Instead, for the first time in years, the man disobeyed her orders and moved away from her and towards the cashier immediately. The small girl simply crossed her arms and watched as Goushi paid for the accessory.
The black haired girl looked away as the man came back to her. He bent down and tucked the part of the hood over her eyes back. His fingertips opened the clip and thrust it into a strand of her hair. His expression was so calm yet so serious. Not even a smile formed on his lips. Elsa shot him down with a glare and said softly: "And what if i didn't want this? You would have wasted your money." She attempted to chuckle but right now, she was at a loss for words due to his reckless action. Goushi leaned in closer since he wanted to inspect her more with the new barrette in her hair. He reluctantly shook his head, answering her question. "Either way, liked it or not, I still got you a present, now didn't I?" Despite him turning the tables, Goushi still kept his tone at its calmest and unexpressive. The two individuals stared at eachother for awhile before Elsa sighed and pecked him lovingly on the cheek. "Whatever. You're still an idiot. Don't do something as reckless as that again or I will kill you. You hear me?" She grabbed him by his sweater's collar and threatened. Goushi nodded and waited until she let go of his collar. In which she did, but it resulted in him getting thrown to the floor.
~~~~
After their shopping trip, the four individuals all reunited walked out happily. Karen carrying a bag unlike Miyu who had about three in each hand. She gave a fantasizing sigh as she felt the light breeze dance through her tortilla-coloured breeze. "Kohi, now this is life." She mentioned calmly. The tall girl rolled her eyes at her mention. "You're just saying that because you got new clothes." She said shortly, earning a small chuckle from her best friend. "Fashionable clothes. Mind you. I don't think I could have found such clothes back at Hokkaido." She commented. Just by that small sentence, something made the black haired girl stop walking and thought for a second. Hokkaido, that's right. Her hometown, it's been a while since she visited her folks. The last time she did was after the first squad jam. The fact that she stopped walking made her realize how much she missed that place. She'd need to plan another visit. Ofcourse if there wasn't another squad jam to register for.
The day finished rather quickly, they browsed through a few more shops and ended up staying by a café as sunset occurred here at Tokyo. "Now that's what I call a day." Karen stated, lifted her iced-tea filled glass to take a sip. She glanced at the window and noticed the sky turning into a wild baby colour and twinkling stars accompanied it. Already? She thought. When you go out for the day and spend time with your comrad- er friends, turns out the day duration is the exact equivalent to one of the days she trains extra hard in GGO. Miyu drank from her perfected strawberry smoothie along with a vanilla cake. As for the two others, Elsa had black coffee as well as a cinnamon roll and Goushi just had unwillingly ordered a cup of black coffee to the order of his lover.
"I say after this, we should all log onto GGO." Elsa eagerly suggested and bit into her sugary pastry. Miyu snapped her fingers and pulled off an approved smile. She had an eye closed and her teeth was clenched. "Now that's not a bad offer. But shouldn't we call it a day? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty exhausted." she said to them before placing a hand on her mouth to escape a yawn from her rosy lips. Karen rubbed under her left eye and exhaled. "I don't know about that offer, Elsa. I'd have to agree with Miyu." She agreed with the tortilla-haired pre-adult. She immediately responded with a chuckle. "Ofcourse you do! Kohi!" She patted Karen on the shoulder.
The petite girl huffed and tugged on her hood. She still couldn't remove it off due to nearby paparazzi. She knew that it would annoy her manager like mad if she did and they got caught into an escape spree from the camera shutters. "Ugh, you guys are party poopers. No fun." She admitted and leaned back on her chair. Goushi crossed his arms, he finished drinking his drink in which his stomach didn't settle well with the ebony coloured substance. "I think it's for the best anyways, director. According to the ratings, they'd expect a new song from you, soon." The man informed her. Miyu and Karen's glances to the direction across from them. Specifically, the two people sitting in front of them. Though they were rather surprised that they were openly discussing their career business right here, in front of die-hard fans at the same time. "Heck yeah. We're waiting for your new album. " the real person behind Fukaziroh exclaimed, trying not to make a racket.
A few minutes passed and the group were finished with their small meal. Karen offered to pay and placed the cash down on the table, waiting for the waiter to pick it up and left the small place. The smell of fresh but hit coffee filling up the room. Don't worry the baked scent of strawberry shortcakes. Elsa, Miyu and Goushi were waiting outside for her. Since it was nighttime, it got particularly cold. The man wrapped an arm around the small girl as noticed she was shaking a bit in place. However, her first instinct was to push him away to no avail. She turned red slightly: "You idiot, stop that! I'm not cold! I was just adjusting my hood!" She scolded and the four began walking off. Goushi ignored her statement nor removed his hand from her shoulders. "I'm keeping you warm. I wouldn't want you getting sick while you perform." He turned the tables. It was true. It happened before in the past and boy did the singer regretted to wear her jacket that day. The cold got to her and brought her down half-way through her performance. The small girl sighed and growled lightly, still walking alongside her manager.
"Thanks for everything." Miyu looked at Karen as she said enthusiastically. The black haired girl gave a perplexed look before turning to face her best friend. "Everything? I just treated you guys to a café. It wasn't that expensive anyways." She admitted. But she earned a head shake from her squad jam II parter, Fukaziroh. "No not just the café, I was talking about my experience in GGO, as well as being an awesome friend." She smiled and wrapped an arm around Karen. In which the tall girl returned with a warm smile. At first she was surprised at such a statement until that expression of surprise faded into one that touched her heart. Her eyebrows lowered and a rosy pink tint spread on her cheeks, like jam itself. "It's no problem. Thank you as well, Miyu. I really appreciate it." She retuned softly and appreciatively.
From there, the four competitions of SJ II, all together, were considered the true champions of the event, walked back to the parking lot where they'd return back home and rest up for the night. For a new day awaited them with no hesitation.
~~~
Next time: Third Squad Jam
~~~~
LillaSmolBean: Hiya! Thank you for making it this far into chapter 1 of Meteors! If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote and comment down below if you have any thoughts! Now this chapter was around 3000 words in whcih I'm surprised since I actually intended to write more than that but I guess procrastination came over me? I really wanted to get the first part of this book over with before July 23rd(In case you guys aren't aware, Vol. 4 which is the Third Squad Jam: Betrayer's Choice part I's publication date will be July 23rd 2019.). So before I engulf myself in a Fangirl trance for that month, I wanted to atleast get the main events of our predictions of third squads done before discovering if our predictions were close or not. Which I believe not. Now I guess I can talk about something I enjoyed writing in this particular chapter? I'd say the amount of times I resisted to add in more Asozaki(Pitohui x M) moments in this chapter. Originally, there was the changing room scene, car scene(scrapped off due to writing Elsa way out of character), shop scene, café scene(Scrapped off due too way too many Asozaki scenes already) and the "freezing cold." Scene. I knew they had an abusive relationship and Pito needed to act like a total jerk to him. I obviously failed in writing that since rereading it, i made her a Tsundere, whoops. But hey, I can assure to you, she becomes more considerate to him in future chapters. So stay tuned for that! This is getting way too long for my sake. I'll end my note now, goodbye and see you on chapter 2!
RumiVoid: Ello people, RumiVoid here. Let's see, thank you for reading chapter 1 of Sword art online alternative: Gun gale online Meteors! So far, im having fun writing my assigned characters(Fukaziroh & M)'s dialogue as well as helping out with the narration.
We had a few goofs behind the scenes while writing this but we finally managed to get the chapter done! So I'm relieved. I'm peeking through Lila's note and she talks about something she enjoyed in this particular chapter? I guess we can implement that as a rule now. From now on. Let's see, something i enjoyed in chapter 1? Hands down the shopping scene between Karen and Miyu. I feel as if their bonding scene was heartwarming to write! Especially that one "thank you" scene.(by the way, I suggested that lol.) They truly form an inspirational best friend relationship and I just love it! I hope we see more of these amazing besties in AGGO: S2. I'll end my note now. If ya liked this chapter, please vote and comment down below if you have something to say! This is ya author: RumiVoid, signing out.