"Asada-san, what is Kirito to you?"
Asada-san leaned against the wall, remembering the words of what Asuna had asked her the other day. That had caught her off-guard that she couldn't stop thinking about it.
She sighed.
Even if she did have feelings towards Kirito, she couldn't let it out. Asuna had been nice to her and the least thing she'll like to do is take Kirito away from her. Besides, Kirito loved Asuna. It couldn't be possible that he liked her....
Could it?
"This is Asuna. Best chef in Sword Art Online."
Why would Kirito address Asuna as a best chef and not his girlfriend when they first met?
She shook her head. She didn't want to think too much on this situation and get her hopes up. She felt her air conditioner turn on as she stood up from her bed.
Why couldn't life be simple?
She walked over to her bath and decided to wash her problems away. The water gave a sensation on her skin as she closed her eyes and blocked everything off her mind.
Silence.
She sunk deeper into the bath. And let her hair flow on the surface.
"I am Asada Shino. I make my own thoughts. No one owns me. I'm my own boss and security," she said to herself.
After a while, she stepped out and put on her black shorts and a long white shirt that went up to her thighs. She laid down on her bed and looked at the ceiling.
"What do I do?" she asked herself.
She looked over at her nervegear and picked it up.
ALO, huh?
She placed it on her head and clicked the power button on.
"Link Start!"
A whole bunch of multicolor surrounded her vision until she saw the big worlds of: Welcome to ALO. A whole bunch of suggestions to customize her character were all handed out to her. She clicked on her hair and made it the same way as she had Sinon. She gave herself the turquoise color and with the outfit that had a green coat with white chest armor.
She was ready to click "next" but she had to give her avator a race, since it was fantasy. She clicked on what came first in mind and picked the Cait Sith race which automatically gave her some ears and a tail.
Everything disappeared and she found herself standing in the middle. A light green color wings appeared on her back as she gave an amazed look. The black room around her dispersed and she saw trees below her.
Below her?
She widened her eyes as she fell down from the sky and onto the ground. She rubbed her head and looked back at her wings in dissatisfaction. They sure seemed useless. She checked in her log and took out the map navigation. She walked towards a path and decided to head to town and meet some people or possibly find Kirito.
"Come back, Pina!"
A small girl appeared from the bushes and seemed to be looking for something. She had caramel hair in pigtails with big ears and a tail. She was dressed in a blue overcoat armor. She was also a Cait Sith, like Sinon.
She stopped in front of her and looked at Sinon curiously with a nervous smile. A small sound roared above her as she looked up to see a small light blue dragon on her head.
She froze and then shrieked, trying to get it off her.
"Pina!" the girl said and retrieved the dragon from her head. "Sorry."
"That thing is yours?"
She nodded and petted the small dragon as it gave out its small roar.
"Her name is Pina. She's friendly, though. She won't hurt you," she said and placed the dragon on her head. "I’m Silica. I noticed you’re a Cait Sith."
She nodded, unsure of what to do.
"I'm Sinon."
Silica looked at her and raised her eyebrows a bit.
"You look familiar. Do I know you?"
"Eh, no. I'm new here," Sinon said waving her hands in front of her.
"A newcomer! I'll be glad to show you around. Is there anyone you know here?"
Kirito...
Sinon shook her head. "Not really..."
"Oh, well that's alright. I'll introduce you to my friends," she said and started to walk.
Sinon followed her and looked down at the ground, confused on why she hadn't mentioned Kirito to her. She looked all around her and there were trees all around her. No building. No dirt. No mountains or hills. It was all too mystical.
"We can join a fantasy-game like if you want..."
She gave a small shriek as Silica turned around to face her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah...it's just that I'm not used to this kind of game of a fantasy realm."
"Oh? What type of MMO were you in before?" she asked making her way out of the forest.
"Um, well it was the total opposite of this. It involved guns."
Silica stopped in front of her and gave her a thorough look.
"Hmm, are you sure we haven't met before?"
Sinon shrugged and fiddled around with her tail. She still wasn't comfortable with all this. She looked back at her back and her wings had disappeared. She gave out a breath of relief. She was better off on the ground.
Silica formed a smile and ran ahead with her arms spread out. Pina roared and started flying to where she was headed. She motioned Sinon to follow her as she looked ahead and saw a creature in the distance and three players attacking it.
"Lyfa!" she yelled out.
Sinon stopped walking and watched as Silica ran up to a girl with long blond hair that was tied in a ponytail and had on a green outfit.
Sinon rubbed her arm and watched as the other two attacked the creature. She was amazed.
"Sinon, this is Lyfa. Lyfa, this is Sinon."
She looked away from the battle scene and waved hello.
"Hi! So you're a newcomer huh? What was your first experience here like? I remembered Onii-chan first experience," Lyfa said and laughed.
"Well I got wings, but they're a bit difficult to use," Sinon said.
Lyfa placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.
"Eh just like Onii-chan. Would you like me to help you out?"
Sinon nodded as Silica clapped her hands. She looked her way and saw the creature had dispersed into crystals. The two players had their swords in their hands and their back facing towards them.
"Onii-chan! Come here! We want to introduce someone to you," Lyfa yelled.
He turned around and had black shaggy hair. He wore everything black but had a bit of white on his collar. His eyes were a black grey color. He looked so familiar.
"This is-"
"Sinon!" he said and walked towards her. "You've made it."
Lyfa looked surprised and a bit annoyed that he had cut her sentence off. Silica joined them and looked at them both.
"Eh? I didn't know you knew Kirito," Silica said.
Kirito!
"Kirito?" Sinon looked at him carefully and smiled. "You look different. I didn't recognize you."
He laughed.
"I see you met everyone here. Asuna, join us!"
Sinon looked over his shoulder as she walked towards them. She had turquoise long hair and elf ears as well. Her outfit was the same color as her hair. She looked so similar to her actual appearance.
"Well since we're all here, I want to introduce you to Sinon," he said. "Or as you all know her as Asada-san."
"Oh!" Lyfa and Silica chanted.
"I was just about to teach her on how to use her wings," Lyfa said.
"I can teach her that," Kirito said.
They all looked at him as Asuna put her sword away, closing her eyes. Sinon looked at her. Was she mad? A little girl appeared out of mid air and sat on Asuna's shoulder, touching her cheek.
"Mama, are you ok?"
Kirito looked back at Asuna and walked towards her, grabbing her arm softly.
"Asuna?"
Asuna opened her eyes and flashed a smile.
"Of course I'm fine, Yui. Kirito you go show her around. Welcome to ALfheim, Sinon," Asuna said.
Sinon put on a blank face. That was an awkward moment. Sinon looked away from them, thinking this had to do with what they spoke about the other day.
"Well we'll meet you later at Lisbeth's shop. Take care of Yui," Kirito said and walked back to Sinon.
Asuna nodded and waved at them. Silica smiled at them as Lyfa had her arms crossed.
"Onii-chan sure is acting strange."
"Mama, who's that with papa?" Yui asked.
"Just a friend," Asuna said as she watched them leave. She was just a friend of his.
Kirito put his hand on her shoulder and walked away from the others. Sinon looked back and she noticed that they were walking away too, but Asuna stayed standing there until her name was called out. She turned to look at Kirito.
"You didn't have to show me around you know. Lyfa could have done it," Sinon said.
He shook his head with a shrug.
"I think its just fair. I mean you showed me around in GGO. Doesn't that mean I should show you around here? Plus I'm the one who invited you here."
She smiled and pushed her hair back.
"How did you know it was me?"
He scoffed at the question and stepped in front of her.
"You're just so obvious, Sinon."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
He laughed. Sinon and Kirito were always getting themselves in an argument.
"Just the way your character looks like. It's exactly like the one from GGO."
She pushed him away from her and walked past him.
"Sinon is a part of me. She is who I am."
"I know that and that is also what makes you stubborn," he said.
Sinon blushed a bit but pushed that away and scoffed.
"Well you're not being a really good host. We've only been walking back to the forests."
"Oh you'll know why."
She arched her eyebrows in confusion and when she looked ahead of her, she noticed she was at a cliff. She looked back at Kirito.
"I don't understand why you took me here, Kirito."
He took a step towards her and stretched out his arms casually. She looked at him oddly. He looked off into the distance as if something was there. Sinon looked back too but didn't see anything. Kirito laid his hands on her back and gave a her a push off the cliff.
Her eyes widened as she found herself falling.
"Kirito, you idiot!"
She shouted rude things until Kirito flew after her and held her against him. Her face was red, angry that he had pushed her. She punched his chest which only made him laugh.
"Are you stupid?! This is how you welcome me?"
Kirito grabbed her hand to stop her from hitting him. Sinon was taken aback on how close they were. She couldn't do anything or else she would've fallen from his grasp.
"Calm yourself down first. Relax," he said in such a soothing voice.
Sinon looked at him. His words were so determined. They were always so determined. She relaxed herself and put her trust in him.
"Look at my wings. Try and do the same as me."
She nodded and looked back to see her light green wings. She gave her force into them and they flapped. She laughed, glad that they were useful for something.
"You think you got the hang of it now?"
Sinon stayed quiet and looked at him. Her eyes were focused on his as he held her. He had her so close to him as if they were embracing each other. She had felt as if this was dejá-vu and that this had happened before.
And it had.
She remembered in the first BoB tournament, Kirito had her against him and told her that killing girls wasn't his thing. He had humiliated her.
She pushed him away and stood on her own. She was a bit unsteady but she arched her back and relaxed herself, making her feel balanced.
Kirito smiled and flew over to her.
"I'm glad you were able to get on today, Sinon."
"Why is that?"
"I missed our battles and how we worked together. I don't forget about my partners, Sinon." He looked at her. "Especially not you."
She felt herself blush, but remained modest. She crossed her arms across her chest and waited on what else he had to say.
"Why not me?"
"Because you're just like me. Let me show you something." He grabbed her hand and flew over to the top, where the different worlds were located. "Life's too short to waste. Your life is special. I know you hadn't had a good start, but I'm willing to help out. All of this, we will seek together in adventures. You won't have to feel alone."
She looked at them and thought on his words. They were inspirational. Kirito had a way of talking that sinked into your mind and soul.
"From the look of this, maybe a fantasy game isn't so bad," she said. "Though, I have one more thing to say."
"What's that?" he asked.
She let go of his grasp and placed her hands on her hip.
"Stop treating me as if I'm a playtoy!"
Kirito laughed as Sinon flew away from him.
"Well you are a Cait Sith."
"What is that supposed to mean? Can you just show me around and get to the point?"
Her voice sounded irritated, but then again she was enjoying the time she was spending with him. Though, she didn't want to get too close to him...for the fear that she might hurt Asuna.
"I don't forget about my partners, Sinon."
But it has seemed that he had forgotten about Asuna...