Chapter 7

Sinon squinted, feeling a slight itch in her trigger finger.

She tried to rub the sensation loose against the side of her

thumb, but the prickling feeling that plagued the core of her finger did not ease up. And she knew why.

It was Kirito. That rude, arrogant, insolent newcomer had

squeezed her hand too hard.

Her common sense told her that this was impossible. Sinon

was in the midst of a full dive through her AmuSphere, and no

matter how hard anyone squeezed her hand, it could not possibly

affect the flow of blood or the pressure on her nerves in real life.

Every physical sensation she felt in this world was false, a machine-created signal sent directly to her brain via electronic

pulses.

But…

The fact remained that Sinon still felt the pressure and

warmth of the black-haired swordsman's grip. And that was two

hours ago.

She gave up on trying to eliminate the sensation and put her

hand back on the antimateriel rifle, secure on its stand. Her index

finger traced the trigger, its springs set to light sensitivity. The

grip of the Hecate II, which had accompanied her through countless battles, melted into her hand like an extension of her arm.

Even then, the itching continued.

Sinon was crawling on her stomach beneath some bushes at

the lip of a short cliff, waiting for her chance to snipe.

The map was "Crossroads of the Wilds": an intersection of two

straight roads in the midst of parched highlands. The name of her

opponent was Stinger. Roughly twelve minutes had passed since

the start of their fifth-round battle, the first of the Block F semifinals.

If she won this, then no matter what happened in the final, she

would gain entrance to the BoB battle royale tomorrow, Sunday

night. But Stinger had won the same number of matches as she

had—this would be no walk in the park.

Just because he shared a name with the portable Stinger missiles did not mean he had them at his disposal. His main weapon

was the FN SCAR carbine rifle, which was quite dangerous on its

own. With a high-functioning ACOG scope, the gun's bullet spray

was much tighter and deadlier. If he could get within naked visibility range, Sinon wouldn't be able to stop him.

Fortunately for her, the two roads split the map into four

quadrants, and it was impossible to pass from one to the other

without traversing the center intersection. Since the two players

started at least half the map away from each other, there was no

way they could be placed in the same block.

So Stinger knew that he had to pass through the intersection

in order to get Sinon within his SCAR's range, and she knew that

she had to succeed at sniping him when he did.

Therefore, she expected that Stinger would delay his charge

until the last possible moment, hoping to catch her when her concentration was exhausted. On the other hand, she couldn't deny

the possibility that he would defy that expectation and charge

early, so ultimately, her only choice was to keep staring through

the scope, every nerve at full attention.

At the present moment, over half of the fifteen tournament

blocks from A to O had finished their entire lineup of matches,

and there were only about ten other battles currently in progress.

Back in the dome and the first-floor hall, as well as pubs around

the world, her match was being broadcast without interruption—

and anyone watching Sinon vs. Stinger had to be bored out of

their minds. Twelve minutes, and not a single shot had been fired

yet.

On the other hand, the other Block F semifinal currently in

progress had enough excitement to make up for the tedium of

this one, with change to spare. That match featured a close-range

specialist with two SMGs against an even closer-range fighter—

one swinging a lightsword.

She couldn't lose concentration. But even still, Sinon couldn't

help but think about the mysterious black-haired girl—er, boy.

When she finished her first-round fight in about ten minutes

and returned to the waiting dome, Spiegel—Kyouji Shinkawa—

greeted her with a rousing celebration. She thanked him briefly

and returned to the original box seats, only to be surprised by

Kirito beating her there. She hadn't expected him to win before

she did, and she was striding over to offer a bracing compliment

when she was hit with a different kind of shock.

Kirito, who had been so consistently impudent before the

match, had his head in his knees and his hands around them, his

downturned black head and slender shoulders trembling.

Poor thing. Fighting against a proper gun put that much fear

in him, even after he won the match.

She reached out and patted the night camo jacket the boy was

wearing.

Kirito jumped in surprise, and slowly, fearfully raised his head

to look at her.

The pretty, delicate features that anyone would have assumed

were feminine were painted with deep, terrible fear—like he had

just peered over the abyss into Hell.

"…You look like you've seen a ghost," Sinon muttered. Kirito

blinked several times in rapid succession and put on an awkward

smile.

He muttered that he was all right, it was nothing, and Sinon

asked him if the battle was really that bad. But the boy merely hid

his face under that long black hair and sighed, offering nothing

else.

She had no further obligation to be involved with him.

Kirito had intentionally utilized her misunderstanding about

his avatar's gender to take advantage of her directions, shopping

advice, and even followed her into the same changing room.

Of course, Sinon bore some fault for not requesting his name

card and for assuming he was a girl. So more than half of her

anger was really at herself for being careless.

After she'd been used like a tool by her classmates, Sinon

swore she'd never rely on another person, she'd never need

friends again. And yet she forgot that oath the instant the rare female GGO player asked her for simple directions.

It was fun, going shopping in the market and riding on the

back of that three-wheeled buggy. She realized that she'd been

smiling and laughing in GGO for the first time in ages. Sinon

wasn't really angry that Kirito was a man. She was angry because

she couldn't forgive herself for letting her defenses down around

him.

Which was exactly why she was so pleased to see that Kirito

won his first-round fight.

She needed to split that pretty face with a bullet from her

Hecate to prove that she could be stronger than when she met

him. And yet he had become a prisoner to his terror, a different

person completely.

Before she realized what she was doing, Sinon hissed, "You're

never going to make it to the final if that's how you're feeling after

one fight. Get it together—I've got to collect what you owe me, remember."

She had clenched her fist and pounded his shoulder again.

But the next moment, his white hands clenched hers. He

pulled it down to the breast of his fatigues.

"Wh-wh…what are you doing?!" she yelled, trying to pull away,

but Kirito held her hand tightly, with a strength that didn't seem

possible from his delicate body. His hands were cold as ice, and

the breath that touched her skin was just as freezing.

At that point, an icon started blinking in Sinon's view, advising

her to issue a harassment warning. If she touched the icon with

her left hand or said the word, Kirito would be banished to

Glocken's prison zone for a fair amount of time.

But Sinon couldn't move or speak.

She felt a strong sense of déjà vu from the sight of that fragile

avatar trembling in fear and clutching her hand. She'd seen a girl

suffering in this way before. It didn't take long before she realized

that it was herself.

Not Sinon the sniper, but Shino Asada. Curled up in her bed,

terrified of her memory of the scent of blood and gunpowder,

whispering for someone, anyone to help.

The instant she recognized this, all the strength went out of

Sinon's arm.

"…What's the matter…?"

He did not answer. But Sinon could feel it.

The black-haired character clinging to her hand—no, the

nameless, faceless player behind the avatar—was plagued by the

same darkness that Shino knew.

Sinon wanted to ask what happened. But just before the words

could leave her mouth, his body was enveloped in pale light and

disappeared. His next opponent had been determined, and he

was whisked away to his second-round battle.

She knew he couldn't put up a decent fight in that state. Sinon

sighed.

The loser was returned not to the underground dome, but back

to the hall of the regent's office. So if Kirito lost, she would likely

not see him again today—if ever.

And that was fine. He wasn't a friend, just a person she ran

across and accompanied to the office. She would forget his face

and name by the day's end, and that was that.

Or so she told herself, as Sinon pulled her dangling hand back

up to her chest.

And yet, Kirito defied her expectations and won the second-,

third-, and now fourth-round fights with just his lightsword and

handgun.

Just once, during the waiting period between her own fights,

was Sinon able to catch a glimpse of Kirito on the monitor. His

style was that of reckless suicide strikes, all desperate fury and ferocity. He shot back at the assault-rifle-toting AGI type with the

Five-Seven handgun Sinon had picked out for him as he charged

headlong, ignoring any bullets that hit his extremities and using

that lightsword to block the fatal shots in a display of mad

bravado. Once he'd closed the gap entirely, he sliced clean

through the enemy and his rifle.

Not a single player had fought this way in either the first or

second Bullet of Bullets. Sinon could only watch, wide-eyed, amid

the murmuring surprise filling the dome.

At that rate, Kirito was quite capable of reaching the final of

Block F. But how to fight someone with such an extreme style?

Even after her next match started, Sinon continued to mull

over her strategy. At the same time, she couldn't help but wonder

about Kirito the player.

That natural, curious smile when they were shopping for gear.

The cool, aloof attitude once she learned that he was a man. The

weakness he showed as he clung trembling to her. And now, the

demonic savagery of the blue blade he used to slay his foes.

Which one was the real Kirito? And why couldn't she keep herself from thinking about him?

Plagued by irritation without a reason, Sinon bit her lip and

kept her eye pressed to the high-power scope.

On the left side of the crossroads a kilometer away, a large

shadow leaped out from the profile of the cliff. Sinon adjusted the

Hecate's crosshairs automatically. The wind was coming at 2.5

meters from the left. Five percent humidity. She pulled the center

of the glowing reticle just a bit above the shadow and tugged the

trigger on the very first contraction of the bullet circle.

A blast.

Through the scope, she saw the .50-caliber bullet tear a tunnel

of heat haze through the air. Its gentle spiral down and to the left

connected with the upper half of the shadow.

"…Oops," she muttered, yanking the Hecate's bolt handle. The

empty cartridge popped out and the next round fit into the chamber.

The shadow that crumbled away did not belong to her opponent Stinger, but a simple mass of stone about three feet across.

The next instant, an even larger silhouette emerged from the

same direction, spitting up dust.

It was a High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle

(HMMWV), better known as a Humvee. Vehicles were not the

personal property of either player, but left somewhere in the map

as a bonus awaiting whoever found it first. Sinon immediately noticed that despite the fact that the cars in the stage appeared in

pristine condition, this one's front bumper was already dented.

That meant he had rammed that first rock out into the open with

it.

Stinger, sitting in the driver's seat, must have known that

Sinon's weapon was a bolt-action rifle that couldn't fire consecutively. He also knew that she would be camping out, watching the

intersection he needed to traverse.

Therefore, he set up a plan to use the Humvee to knock the

boulder into the crossroads and cause her to fire, then race

through the empty space before she could get off her second shot.

It was a good plan. In the space of time that Sinon pulled the

handle, the car was already halfway through the intersection. She

had time for one more shot, if that, and no time to focus on aiming.

But Sinon did not panic.

Although Stinger had stolen the sniper's best weapon—the

first shot without a warning bullet line—he had given her valuable

intel. The trajectory that her first shot traveled was now burned

into her mind. If she kept her wits about her, the second would

move the same way. If she made use of that information, she

could fire with much greater precision on the second shot.

Sinon shifted the barrel and quietly pulled the trigger. Another

blast.

The bullet honed in on the Humvee's small side window as if

sucked into it, easily piercing the heavy bulletproof glass.

The next moment, the vehicle shot sideways, rolling up against

the rocks at the shoulder of the road. It stuck against the far cliff,

and dark, reddish smoke billowed out of the hood.

"If you'd jumped out of the car and run, you might have been

able to avoid the bullet line," she admonished, loading her third

bullet. With her eye still stuck to the scope, Sinon kept the burning Humvee in her reticle. Stinger did not appear for several seconds, which suggested that he might have died right in the driver's seat. She did not ease herself out of firing position.

Sinon crawled out of the bushes and got to her feet only after

the Congratulations! message appeared in the sunset sky.

The match time was nineteen minutes and fifteen seconds.

She had cleared the semifinals.

Now she had her ticket for tomorrow's BoB main event. But

Sinon didn't even crack a smile, much less pump a fist. Her mind

was already on the Block F final match coming up in moments.

She had no doubt that the mysterious newcomer Kirito had

won his semifinal match in shorter time than she did. His opponent was a close-range fighter who held an SMG in either hand.

No matter how many bullets you could produce, once the swordsman got within range, he would slice his foe with that fatal energy

blade before you could carve his HP away. Kirito's reaction speed

was so quick that he could predict the bullet prediction line. If

you wanted to beat him in close combat, you needed one of those

M134 miniguns.

So Sinon kept the Hecate secure in hands, frozen in place until

the teleporter carried her to the next battle. A few seconds later,

she was moved not to the domed waiting room, but the preparatory space before the final. As she expected, the name of her opponent displayed above the hex-panel floor was Kirito.

When she opened her eyes after the next teleportation, Sinon

saw an elevated bridge, arrow-straight, and a bloodred sun in the

process of setting.

It was the "Transcontinental Highway" stage. The size of the

map was the same as the others before it, but there was no way to

scale down the hundred-yard-wide highway that crossed the map

from east to west, so it was actually quite a simple, narrow area to

fight in.

On the other hand, with all the countless cars, trucks, downed

helicopters, and bulging chunks of pavement, there was no way to

see from one end to the other with the naked eye.

Sinon spun around and confirmed that she was on the eastern

edge of the map. Which meant that Kirito, her opponent, was at

least five hundred yards to the west.

She glanced at her surroundings and started running. Her target was the double-decker sightseeing bus ahead on the right.

Sinon raced inside the ajar rear door and climbed the stairs to the

second deck. She threw herself belly first onto the floor of the

center aisle and deployed the bipod, pointing the gun straight

ahead—out through the panoramic viewing window at the front

of the bus. She was in firing position, the front and rear flip covers on the scope open.

The sun was directly ahead. That meant that no matter where

she was hiding, there would always be the danger that the sunlight would catch the lens of her scope and tip the enemy off.

There was no easier target than a sniper exposed.

But the mirror-coated windows of the bus would help hide the

reflection of her scope. It was also tall enough that she could see

over nearly all of the impediments below.

Kirito was probably making his way over at high speed, flitting

from cover to cover. With his skills, there was no way she'd be

able to snipe him with the bullet line visible; Sinon would only

have one chance: while he was unaware of her location.

I can hit him. I know I can, she told herself, and pressed her

right eye to the scope.

Even she couldn't fully explain what drove her to desire this

victory so badly. Yes, she had helped him with directions and

shopping advice while he was hiding his gender from her, and he

had watched her change clothes.

But that was all that happened. She hadn't suffered any item

or monetary loss, and the only underwear he'd seen belonged to

her avatar. They'd spent less than an hour together from meeting

on the streets of Glocken to separating in the domed auditorium.

She could easily forget something that brief.

Yet Sinon wanted to beat Kirito with such a fiery passion that

all the countless other battles she'd fought in GGO paled in comparison. Yes, even Behemoth, the terrible minigun user. Why was

she so fixated on someone who'd just shown up here today, and

who insisted on being a minority lightsword fighter rather than a

gunner…?

…No.

No, maybe she already knew the reason why.

Because somewhere in my heart, I haven't fully accepted him

as my enemy. When his frozen hands clutched mine as he trembled atop that hard, uncomfortable seat, an emotion without a

name was born in my heart.

Sympathy? No.

Pity? No.

Empathy…? Definitely not.

I don't empathize with anyone. There is no human being alive

who can bear the darkness that plagues me. I've had that hope

and been betrayed before, over and over and over and over.

Only my own strength can save me now. I'm in this spot because I've learned that fact.

I don't want to know Kirito's problems, and I don't need to.

One emotionless bullet will destroy his bewitching avatar and

bury it among the countless other targets I've reduced to dust.

Then I'll forget him.

That's all I need to do.

Sinon stared through the scope and traced the trigger with her

finger.

Which was why, when she saw the black silhouette stand

against the red of the setting sun, Sinon forgot her sniper's instincts for a moment and gasped.

"Wha…?"

Long black hair rippling in the breeze. Slender limbs in nighttime fatigues. A lightsword handle hanging from his belt. It was

Kirito.

But he wasn't running. He didn't even seem to care about hiding. He was walking, very leisurely, down the center of the highway on a slightly raised bulge in the road. It was a completely defenseless maneuver, absolutely unlike the last match.

Does he think that he can dodge my shot, even without the

bullet line?

The challenge sparked her mind like an explosion. Sinon

trained her scope's crosshairs right over Kirito's head. Just as she

was about to put her finger to the trigger, she realized that her

conjecture from a second ago was mistaken.

Kirito wasn't facing forward. His face was downcast, his body

devoid of strength. He was simply moving his legs one after the

other. It was a lifeless plodding, the polar opposite of his possessed charge in the clip she'd seen earlier.

He could not possibly dodge Sinon's shot in this state. The

Hecate II fired bullets far faster than the speed of sound, so he

wouldn't hear the gunshot until it was too late. With his face to

the ground, he wouldn't even notice the flash of the muzzle.

Meaning…Kirito had no intention of dodging at all. He would

take her shot and lose on purpose to bring an end to the match.

After earning the right to appear in the final battle tomorrow, he

didn't care about the battle with Sinon at all. That was all it

meant.

"…Why…you…" she rasped.

She put her finger to the trigger again and tightened it. The

green bullet circle appeared and rapidly pulsed over Kirito's head.

Its frantic rate indicated the wild state of her heartbeat, but the

wind was weak and the target was only four hundred yards away.

If she fired, the shot would land.

Beneath her index finger, the trigger spring squeaked. But her

finger relaxed again. She tensed it, and the spring squeaked. Then

back.

"…Screw this!" she yelped, the wailing of a crying child.

At the same moment, Sinon squeezed the trigger. The roar of

the .50-caliber rifle filled the tourist bus and the large front window cracked cloudy white and exploded outward.

The bullet split the crimson sunset sky and passed well over a

foot away from Kirito's right cheek to slam into the belly of a car

on its side far behind him. A pillar of fire erupted, followed by billowing black smoke.

Kirito stumbled a bit at the air pressure from the 12.7 mm bullet passing by his head, then stopped and looked up. The only

readable thought on his feminine features was disbelief that she

would miss. Sinon stared at that face through the scope, pulled

the bolt handle, and fired a second round without missing a beat.

This one flew far over Kirito's head and disappeared into the

far distance.

Reload. Pull trigger. The third shot gouged a huge hole into

the asphalt to the left of his black boots. Reload. Fire. Reload.

Fire. Reload, fire.

The sixth cartridge clattered next to Sinon briefly, then disappeared.

Through her scope, the unharmed Kirito continued to stare at

her questioningly. Sinon got to her feet unsteadily, cradling the

Hecate in her arms, and walked up the aisle of the bus. She made

her way through the frame of the missing windshield and hopped

down onto the street.

After a few dozen steps, when she was just fifteen feet away

from Kirito, Sinon stopped. She stared down the unmoving

swordsman dressed in black.

"…Why?"

Kirito understood the question and the accusation behind it.

His black eyes wavered and returned to his feet. Eventually he

spoke, but his voice was as bland and lifeless as an NPC's.

"…My goal is to appear in tomorrow's final—that's all. I have

no reason to fight now."

She expected that answer, but couldn't stand to hear it. That

disgust flooded her chest and pushed out her next sentiment.

"Then you should have taken that gun and shot yourself the

moment the match started. Did you not want to waste the ammo?

Or did you think that standing still so I could rack up one more

on the kill counter would satisfy me?!"

She took another step toward the silent man.

"It's just a single match in a stupid VR game—you can think

whatever you want! But don't force me to play along with your

stupid philosophy!" she shouted, her voice shaking. Even she

knew that she didn't really believe what she was saying.

If anything, Sinon was forcing him into her philosophy. If

what he did was unacceptable, she should have hit him with the

first shot and forgotten it ever happened. Instead, she wasted six

shots trying to intimidate him, and now she was hurling all her

emotions at him up close. If anyone was acting irrationally, it was

her.

But…

She still couldn't stop herself. She couldn't stop the arms

cradling the Hecate from trembling, the muscles of her face from

scrunching up, or the teardrops that spilled over the rims of her

eyelids.

The silhouette of Kirito against the setting sun across the horizon still had its eyes shut tight. His mouth was clamped down.

Eventually, the tension drained out of the delicate avatar, and

he spoke in a weak voice with just a hint of emotion behind it.

"…I…I once blamed someone the same way you did, just

now…"

"…"

Kirito glanced at Sinon and dipped his head briefly.

"…I'm sorry. I was wrong. It's just a game, just one match, but

that's exactly why I need to do everything I can…Otherwise, I

don't have a reason or the right to live in this world. I should

know this already…"

The swordsman from abroad raised his head and stared into

Sinon with those black eyes.

"Will you give me a chance to make it up to you, Sinon? Will

you fight with me?"

In her surprise, she momentarily forgot her anger. "Right

now…?"

The BoB prelims were more like encounters, battles that began

without knowledge of the enemy's location. Now that they had

come face-to-face without fighting, there was no way to return to

the starting conditions.

But Kirito smiled weakly and pulled the Five-Seven from his

waist holster. She tensed up automatically, but he held out a hand

to stop her, and pulled the slide. The cartridge flew out and he

caught it in midair, then returned the gun to the holster.

Twirling the 5.7 mm bullet in his fingers, Kirito said, "You've

still got ammo, right?"

"…Yes. One shot."

"Let's have a duel, then. How about…we separate to ten yards.

You use your rifle, I'll use my sword. I'll toss this bullet up, and

the fight begins when it hits the ground. How's that?"

Sinon was less surprised by this than exasperated. She did not

realize that her anger from moments ago had somehow dissipated away.

"Are you thinking that's going to make for a proper fight?

There is no way I can miss at ten yards. Between my skill proficiency, my base stats, and my gun's specs, the game will guarantee a bull's-eye. You won't even have time to swing your

lightsword. It would be the same thing as committing suicide."

"You don't know unless you try," Kirito sassed, his red lips

curling into a grin.

The moment she saw that look, a buzz ran up Sinon's spine.

He was serious. The swordsman actually thought he could beat

her in a serious, Old West–style duel.

Yes, there might only be one more bullet in the Hecate II's

magazine, which made him feel that if he could somehow dodge

that shot, he could win. But that was foolish. You couldn't "somehow" do anything to a bullet that was guaranteed to hit. The

speed, accuracy, and power of her gun was miles ahead of that

antique revolver in the shopping mall's bullet-dodging game.

But—what if there was something to Kirito? She couldn't help

but want to see that.

Sinon nodded and said, "All right. That will settle this."

She turned around and took ten paces to the east along the

center divider, then turned back to the sun.

They were exactly ten meters apart. She raised the Hecate, set

the stock against her shoulder, and spread her feet to brace

against the recoil.

In the real world, even the strongest man could not accurately

fire an antimateriel sniper rifle from a standing position, but with

enough strength in GGO, it was possible. The blowback would

knock her off her feet, of course, but with only one bullet, that

didn't matter.

She pulled the bolt and popped the last remaining bullet into

the chamber.

With her cheek pressed to the receiver, Kirito's figure filled the

entire scope, even at minimum zoom.

There was none of the lifeless emptiness in his girlish beauty

anymore. His obsidian eyes sparkled and flashed, and a confident

smile played across his lips.

With the bullet from the Five-Seven held between the fingers

of his extended left hand, Kirito removed the lightsword from his

waist. He flicked the switch on with a thumb, and the pale blue

energy blade buzzed to life.

At this point, anyone watching the Block F final had to wonder

what the hell these two were doing. But that wasn't their concern.

One bullet against one blade. It shouldn't have been a proper

fight, but the prickling tension that curled the hairs on the back of

Sinon's neck was real.

There is something to him.

The Hecate's sights slipped just a little bit. On the other end of

the scope, Kirito's lips moved.

"…Here goes, then."

He flicked his thumb. The bullet went spinning, spinning, high

into the air, glittering in the evening sun like a ruby.

Kirito dropped into a crouch, his left side leaning forward and

the lightsword in his right hand drooping downward. It was an

easy stance, not a hint of tension from his toes to his fingertips.

Yet there was an invisible pressure exuding from that fragile

avatar, the pressure of one whose heart is in the sights of a gun.

Sinon could tell that her own senses were heightening as well.

The 5.7 mm bullet spinning through the air was moving far too

slow. All sound disappeared, leaving only her body and the

Hecate II. In fact, even the boundary between those two things

was gone. Shooter and gun became one, a precision machine designed to hit a target with a high-speed bullet.

The white reticle and green circle vanished from her view. The

bullet dropped in slow motion, tumbling, turning, before the

silent swordsman. It passed through the field of her scope and

vanished, but she could still feel it: It spun end over end as it approached the pavement; its pointed head touched the asphalt; the

game system determined that two objects had collided, generating the appropriate sound effect; the sound echoed through the

AmuSphere as an electronic pulse, into the auditory center of

Sinon's brain, and—

Ting.

The instant the sound hit her ears, she squeezed the trigger

with her index finger.

Within her accelerated consciousness, Sinon witnessed and

processed with vivid detail a number of phenomena that occurred

in the next second.

Orange fire spat from the large muzzle of the Hecate.

Across the way, blue lightning split the darkness at a diagonal

angle.

Two sparkling comet lights split left and right into the distance.

As the massive recoil of the antimateriel rifle toppled her

backward, Sinon belatedly understood the meaning of what she'd

seen.

He cut the bullet.

The instant that the bullet serving as the signal to duel hit the

ground, Kirito sliced the lightsword diagonally, splitting the .50-

caliber bullet that should have killed him in two. The two comet

tails she saw were the pieces of the shattered bullet grazing the

sides of his body as they flew apart.

But that was impossible!

It would be one thing if he guessed on the bullet's trajectory,

swung in blind desperation, and got lucky. But Sinon had deliberately pointed away from the center of his avatar, aiming for his

left leg instead.

Large-caliber bullets like the ones the Hecate shot added an

extra effect called Impact Damage. At this ultraclose range, the

impact effect meant that even a hit on the arm or leg would

spread damage to the entire body, easily wiping out his HP.

Being brand-new to GGO and having zero knowledge about

guns, Kirito could not possibly have understood this. So if he was

going to guess the trajectory of the bullet, he would protect the

center of his body, naturally.

Yet he accurately caught the bullet screaming toward his left

thigh with the blade of his lightsword. It wasn't a gamble. At that

range, that speed, without any bullet-line assistance. But why

—how?

Even in that moment of shock, Sinon's arms kept moving. She

took her left hand off the Hecate as she fell and tried to pull out

the MP7 on instinct.

But before that could happen, Kirito closed the thirty feet that

separated them with a lightning dash, bearing down on her. The

blade in his right hand growled and lit her world blinding blue.

She was going down.

But Sinon did not shut her eyes against the blow. She kept

them open, taking in the fan of sleek black hair splayed out

against the giant setting sun—

And then everything stopped.

Sinon was still falling backward with the Hecate in one hand

and the MP7 in the other, but still she did not hit the pavement.

Kirito's left arm was around her back.

And in his right hand, the glowing blade was held still against

her defenseless throat. The growling plasma sword and the dis-

tant whistle of the wind were the only sounds.

Kirito was crouching deep on his left knee, while Sinon lay flat

on her back. It was like a still frame from a dance scene.

Those pitch-black eyes were right in front of her face. She'd

never let anyone get this close in the virtual world, much less the

real world, but Sinon didn't even think about this. She just stared

back at him.

"…How did you predict where I'd shoot?"

His lips parted on the other side of the energy blade.

"I saw your eye through the lens of your scope."

Her eye. Her line of sight.

The black-haired swordsman was claiming that he could tell

where the bullet was going based on her line of sight.

Sinon had never considered that someone in this virtual world

might have that skill. A sensation, much like a chill but not entirely, shot through her back to the top of her head.

He was strong. Kirito's strength transcended this VR game.

But that made the question even more pertinent: Why had he

been curled into a ball and trembling in the corner of that waiting-room dome? Why had he clung to Sinon's hand with those

freezing fingers?

An even quieter question escaped her lips.

"If you have this much strength, what could possibly terrify

you?"

Kirito's eyes wavered slightly, and after a brief silence, he

sounded like he was holding something back.

"This isn't strength. It's just technique."

For a moment, Sinon forgot about the deadly blade of light

pressed to her throat, and shook her head fiercely.

"Liar. You're lying. You can't cut a bullet from the Hecate with

technique alone. You know something. How did you get that kind

of strength? That's…that's what I'm here to learn…"

"Then let me ask you," he muttered, his voice low but burning

with blue flame, "if that bullet could actually kill a player in real

life—and if you didn't kill them, either you or someone you care

about would die—could you still pull the trigger?"

"…!!"

Sinon forgot to breathe. Her eyes bulged.

For a second she wondered, Does he know? Did this mysterious visitor know about the event hidden in the darkness of her

past, the incident that had blackened her life as she knew it?

No, he doesn't. He doesn't know. But he's probably experienced…something like it…

The hand supporting Sinon's back tensed hard, then relaxed.

Kirito lifelessly shook his head, the tips of his long bangs brushing her forehead.

"…I can't do it anymore. That's why I'm not truly strong. I…I

didn't even know the real names of the two or three people I cut

down…I just shut my eyes, covered my ears, and tried to forget

everything…"

Sinon didn't understand what he meant.

But one thing was for certain. Kirito harbored the same darkness and fear that dwelt within her. And in the time that he'd

spent waiting for the next match in the dome, something had

happened—something that drudged up the darkness he'd thought

was buried.

The MP7 slipped out of Sinon's hand and clattered on the asphalt. Her empty hand rose upward on invisible strings to approach Kirito's white cheek, beyond his glowing sword.

But just before her fingertips could brush him—

The impudent smile returned to his face. There was still a look

of pain in those dark eyes, but he shook his head and stopped her

hand with a word.

"So…shall we assume that I've won the duel, then?"

"Huh…? Oh. Umm…"

She blinked in confusion, unable to switch gears. He leaned in

even further.

"Would you mind resigning, then? I'd prefer not to slash a girl

in two."

It was that shameless, rude, show-offy line that finally got

Sinon to reassess the situation—pathetically and miserably immobile, held tight with a hand on her back and a sword at her

throat, their bodies pressed together. And this scene was being

broadcast live into the tournament dome, the regent's office, and

every pub in Glocken.

Sensing the blood rushing to her cheeks, Sinon gritted her

teeth and spat back, "I'm glad I get another chance to fight back.

You'd better stick around in tomorrow's final until I have a

chance to take you down myself."

Then she turned her face away and shouted the command to

resign.

The time of battle was eighteen minutes and fifty-two seconds.

Block F preliminaries for the third Bullet of Bullets were over.