As the syringe was still held at Shino's neck, Kyouji used his left hand to grab Shino's right shoulder and pressed Shino down onto the bed like that. He then got up the bed and moved onto Shino's thighs. While doing that, he was still murmuring like he was daydreaming, "...Don't worry, I won't let Asada-san be alone. I'll accompany you immediately after. We shall be reborn in GGO...no, in a more fantasy-like game, and then we'll become husband and wife and have a wonderful life. We'll have adventures...and then we'll have kids. That'll be great!"

Though Shino heard the nonsensical ramblings from Kyouji, that numb part of her thinking ability was still thinking-the police will be here soon, so I have to talk to him more.

"But...if you're not here as a partner, your brother will be troubled, right...an..and, I didn't get shot in the game. If I die, that Death Gun rumor you guys worked hard to build on will be doubted."

Shino continued to move her dry tongue as she said all that, and Kyouji moved the syringe in his right hand and pressed onto Shino's collarbone, revealing a stiff smile.

"Don't worry. There were three targets today, so nii-san brought another person also. That was another guild member of his during SAO. That person would soon take over my position, and...how can I put Asada-san in the same conversation as trash like Zekushiido and Usujio Tarako? Asada-san's not Death Gun's belonging, but mine. Once Asada-san goes off...I'll bring you to the endless abyss, and then I'll follow after. So, please wait for me halfway there."

Kyouji's left hand carefully moved into up Shino's abdomen inside the tank top timidly. He touched with his fingertips a few times before using his entire hand.

The fear and irritation made Shino get goosebumps, but she really wanted to talk on. If she moved or screamed, the seemingly gentle boy in front of her would definitely press the syringe. Unfortunately, Kyouji's voice and expression showed that he would definitely do this. Thus, Shino could only keep her cool and say, "...We, well...you haven't used this syringe in the real world, right...? The...there's still time. You can start afresh. Don't think of dying...you still have the high-school equivalent of General Scholastic Ability Test? And there's still remedial classes, right? Don't you want to be a doctor...?"

"General Scholastic Ability Test...?"

Kyouji tilted his head like he heard that term for the first time. He repeated it a few times before finally going 'ahh...'. The left hand left Shion and reached inside the jacket.

He took out a thin piece of paper from his pocket.

"Do you want to take a look?"

He gave a self-mocking smile and handed the piece of paper over to Shino.

Shino was rather familiar with this paper that had certain numbers on them-that's the mock exam results slip. However, the scores and segments for each subjects could be said to be so bad that nobody could believe it.

"Sh...Shinkawa-kun...this is..."

"It's funny, isn't it? To think that there's such a rating..."

"Bu...but, your parents..."

What Shino meant was that 'your parents would still let you play with the AmuSphere after seeing such scores', and Kyouji immediately understood what she wanted to say.

"Fufu, this sort of results slip...I can make it with a printer. Besides, I told my parents that I was wearing the AmuSphere for long-distance learning. They won't help me with GGO's monthly fees, but that small sum of money can be earned easily from the game...it should be easy to earn it, originally..."

The smile on Kyouji's face suddenly disappeared. He frowned, and the gritted teeth were exposed.

"...I had enough of this boring world. Whether it's my parents...those guys at school, they're all bastards. Once I become the strongest in GGO...I'm satisfied. At...at first, "Spiegel" was supposed to be the strongest player..."

Shino felt Kyouji's hand trembling from the syringe that's placed at her neck, and held her breath as she was worried that Kyouji would press it.

"But...Zekushiido, that scumbag...lying about how AGI-type are the strongest...that damned bastard caused Spiegel to be unable to even equip an M16...damn it...damn it..."

The anger in Kyouji's voice was so deep that nobody could tell that he was talking about the game.

"Now...I can't even earn my monthly connection fee...GGO's my everything...I gave up on everything in the real world..."

"...So that's why....that's why you killed Zekushiido...?"

Though she was thinking whether he killed him because of this reason, Shino still asked that. Kyouji blinked hard a few times and then showed a drunken smile.

"Yeah. To create the legend of "Death Gun" being the strongest in GGO...no, in all the VRMMOs, that guy would be the best sacrifice! Once I kill Zekushiido and Usujio Tarako, then Pale Rider and Garret who appeared in this tournament, no matter how foolish the other players are, they'll know that Death Gun really has the ability to kill. The strongest...I'm the strongest..."

Perhaps unable to restrain the excitement rising inside him, Kyouji's entire body started to tremble.

"...Now there's no need to waste time in such a boring world. Here...Asada-san. Let's evolve into the "next step"."

"Shi...Shinkawa-kun..."

Shino desperately shook her head and plead with Kyouji.

"No. You...can still head back. You can still start afresh. Come along and surrender yourself with me..."

But Kyouji merely looked afar and shook his head.

"...There's nothing worth living for in the real world. Come, be one with me, Asada-san..."

That left hand start patting Shino's face as it accompanied his feeble voice, and his fingers went around Shino's hair.

Kyouji's fingertips were very dry. As the cracks on the fingers stroked Shino's soft skin near her ear, she could feel a slight pain. However, Kyouji looked like he didn't notice Shino's expression as he continued on like he was daydreaming, "Asada-san...my Asada-san...I always liked you...ever since I...heard about Asada-san's situation...in school...I always..."

"...Eh..."

Shino hesitated for a bit before realizing what Kyouji was saying. But after thinking about it, she couldn't help but widen her eyes.

"Wha...what's...going on..."

"I always liked you...always admired you..."

"...Then you..."

Shino muttered in her head 'no way', and then asked with a voice that was about to disappear, "You...talked to me...because you knew about that incident...?"

"Of course."

Kyouji's left hand stroked Shino's face like he was comforting a kid and then nodded passionately.

"I think if there's a girl who once used a real gun to shoot and kill someone, you'll be the only one in all of Japan who had done that. That's really amazing. Didn't I say that Asada-san has real power? That's why I chose the "Type-54 handgun" to create the ultimate weapon of "Death Gun". Asada-san's the one I admired the most. I love you...I love you...I love you more than anyone else..."

"...How is that...possible..."

-To think that there's such an eccentric person.

Shino once thought that this boy was the only friend she could get along with other than her relatives. However-his mind was already in another world. Ever since the beginning, both of them had a huge gap between them that couldn't be measured.

Shino's heart finally sank into the abyss of despair. Her vision, hearing and all her sense lost their significance as the world gradually left her.

Shino lost all her strength in her body.

In her vision that lost focus, Kyouji's eyes above her were looming like black holes. Those eyes looked as if they were tunnels to the deep dark world- They were the eyes of that guy.

That guy who was hiding in the shadows of the night streets, the window openings, "Death Gun"'s mask and all the darkness, looking for a chance, still came back in the end.

Shino's fingers immediately went cold. The feelings of her fingertips started to leave her body and consciousness, and her entire soul shrank.

In the deepest area of this shell called the human body, Shino who was trapped in the small and cramped darkness returned back to the time when she was a kid, all curled up. She didn't want to see or feel anything.

The 16 years she lived were so icy and cruel. It took the father she had never seen before, took her mother's heart, and even took away a part of Shino's soul with great malice.

The adults in this world who saw her would look interested as if they were looking at some strange animal also had intense irritation in them. Kids at the same age however mocked her and humiliated her.

But this world itself didn't seem satisfied as it wanted to take Shino's life while she already had nothing. She really didn't want to admit that this was the one "truth" in this world.

However, this wasn't reality. These were just certain things that happened in this overlapping world. In these worlds, there should be "a world where nothing happened".

Not knowing Shinkawa Kyouji, not going through the post office incident, her father not having died in the traffic accident. A certain world should have an ordinary Asada Shino living a peaceful life. Shino curled in the darkness and gradually became a lifeless thing, but her soul kept pushing her to look for her smiling profile in the warm sun.

At this moment, Shino suddenly felt an urge to argue back at herself from the irony.

If she was unable to accept the cruel reality and escape into fantasy, wouldn't she be like Shinkawa Kyouji to some extent.

Bullied at school, being treated like that by his parents, the heavy pressure of exams...Shinkawa Kyouji gave up on these "realities" and went to the virtual world for redemption. Kyouji believed that if he could get the title of the 'strongest' in the virtual world, he would be able to cover over that weak him in the real world. But now that the wish vanished, he crashed too.

Like Kyouji, Shino yearned to be the strongest in the world called Gun Gale Online, and she felt that this goal would form some sort of inspiration, and she thought that she found a way to settle her own problems.

The icy cold hand that came from deep inside Shino's swamp of memories finally grabbed her and got ready to drag her into the dark abyss. However, she couldn't resist, and couldn't even open her eyes. Every effort was futile.

Shino could only think in an interrupted manner like water bubbles floating up from the riverbed, however, she suddenly remembered...

If it's that guy, what will he do?

That boy who was locked in the virtual prison for 2 years, took a few lives in it, should have lost important people in his long battle. He should have felt regret over it, right? He would definitely hate the virtual world that took lots of things, correct?

No, he wouldn't do that. No matter what sort of trials he faced, he wouldn't abandon the responsibility he had. It's because he was that sort of person that he was able to win in that battle of despair against Death Gun.

-You're really strong, Kirito.

Shino muttered deep inside the dark abyss.

-You finally managed to save me...but I betrayed your kind intents. I'm sorry...

Kirito said that he would get the police over once he logged out. She didn't know how much time elapsed since she logged out, but it looked like it was too late. It's unknown what sort of thoughts he would have if he knew that Shino's killed. This really made her worry...

Thinking about that, her thoughts started to create a chain reaction, and a certain worry lit the darkness in the girl's heart like a weak lamp.

Kirito---will it be over after that lightsaber warrior contacted his associate? Maybe he might even drive over to my apartment. But even in this case, it'll be too late. Once Kirito meets Shinkawa Kyouji in this room, Kyouji might do something. He might run away or stop struggling...or rather, will he attack Kirito with the syringe in his hand? From the way Kyouji showed his hatred against Kirito, it was likely that he would do that.

Maybe she was destined to die.

But-after thinking about how it would involve that boy-that would-- That would be a different case altogether.

...Even so, there's no other way.

The young Shino, who was lying in the midst of darkness, was all curled up and refused to receive any information through the eyes or ears. At this moment, the sniper girl with desert-colored muffler Sinon knelt beside her, placed her hand on the slender shoulders and said softly, ...Up till now, we had only been looking out for ourselves, fighting for ourselves, so we couldn't hear Shinkawa's inner voice. But-it may be too late, but we should at least fight for others.

Shino's opened her eyes slowly while she was sinking in the darkness. A white, slender yet strong hand reached out to her. Shino timidly grabbed that hand.

Sinon from the game smiled and helped Asada Shino out. She moved her pink lips and said clearly.

Come, let's go.

Both of them kicked the darkness and started moving up to the light at the water surface.

Shino blinked hard and again returned to the real world.

Kyouji was still holding the syringe in his right hand as he pressed it against Shino's neck, and his left hand was trying to take off Shino's tank top. However, he wasn't able to take it off with one hand, and showed an anxious expression. Soon after, he started tugging at the fabric that was about to be torn.

Shino pretended to be pulled by him and turned her body left. The tip of the syringe slid off from Shino's body and stabbed into the bed.

Shino immediately used this chance to grab the cylinder with her left hand, and then used her right palm to strongly press at Kyouji's lower jaw.

'Gu!', with a sound of impact, Kyouji went backwards, and the weight that was pressing down on Shino's body disappeared. She then used her right hand to push a few times and then tugged at the syringe with her left hand. If she didn't use this chance, her last hope will then vanish.

However, Kyouji was using his better hand to grab the handle, and Shino merely grabbed the slippery cylinder with her left hand, so Shino was in a disadvantage in this tug-of-war. Kyouji recovered and pulled his right hand back, making a strange sound as he swung his left hand.

"Gu...!"

His fist landed hard on Shino's right shoulder. As the syringe was plucked out from her left hand, Shino rolled back from the front edge of the bed. She hit the writing desk with her back, and one of the drawers slid out, dropped and scattered things all over the place.

Having been injured in the back, Shino was immediately unable to breathe and could only pant to get air. Kyouji was pressing his lower jaw on the bed, but he immediately lifted his head and looked at Shino.

His eyes were rounded, and the lips that were glowing with saliva were numb. From the way he was bleeding on the lips, it looked like he bit his own tongue. Soon after, he let out a hoarse voice, "Why...?"

He slowly shook his head, seemingly feeling disbelief.

"Wh, why must it be like this...? Asada-san only has me! I'm the only one who understands Asada-san! I've always been helping you...always been protecting you..."

On hearing his words, Shino recalled a few days ago. As she was on the way back from school, she was surrounded by Endo and the rest and was extorted, and Kyouji just happened to pass by and save her- Looking at things now, it wasn't a coincidence.

It was likely that Kyouji tailed Shino every day after she left school until she entered her own house, and would log into GGO to wait for Shino to enter the game.

That could only be called madness. Shino seemed to realize a little that he had some dangerous aspect about him, but never noticed this terrifying nature of his at all. Was this the result of not being open with someone? Even in this situation, Shino still felt bitter inside.

"Shinkawa-kun..."

Shino moved her stiff lips and said, "...Everything's painful...but I still like this world. I guess I'll like it more in the future. So...I can't go with you."