Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Shino closed her eyes and got ready to utter the keyword that would shift her soul. The next moment, the room clearly resounded with her rather strong-willed voice.

"LINK START!!".

The horizontal gravity the body felt suddenly disappeared, and a somewhat light floating sense replaced it.

Next, the sky and ground seem to rotate about 90 degrees. Sinon's toes touched the hard floor like a soft slide, and only opened her eyes once the senses of the fake body was completely aligned.

First, what appeared in front of her eyes was a large neon red hologram that was flying as it dragged its tail through the night sky that had no stars. The red words 'Bullet of Bullets 3' were flashing on the tower.

Sinon appeared at the middle of the north end of Glockenspiel street, the plaza in front of the presidential complex. Normally, this would be a place that rarely had people around, but today, this place is full of numerous players, and each of them were holding food and drinks and partying about. Actually, this was to be expected. Now, the betting pool for the upcoming BoB finals began, and more than half the money that existed in GGO was gathered in this plaza.

The payout rate was shown on the hologram in the air, and the bookmakers who were dressed in a rather splendid manner-what's scary was that they weren't players, but "official bookmaker NPC" that were created by the operating company-and information brokers who were selling suspicious information were swarming about. Sinon suddenly remembered about something and went near a bookmaker NPC, and then looked up at the window, only to find that her odds payout were rather high. This should be because of how she lost yesterday. Thinking about this, she looked for Kirito's name, only to find that he was one of those who had a high payout as well.

Fu, Sinon snorted and thought of wanting to bet her entire fortune on herself. But after thinking about how this would wear off her main objective, the girl turned to leave the crowd. As her appearance was known by all, and as a regular in the BoB finals, there were many looks from all over as they watched her leave. However, nobody had the courage to approach her for everyone knew that Sinon was "a wildcat-type girl who'll take action mercilessly once she finds someone to be an enemy".

She wanted to enter the dome waiting area to gather her concentration, and thus moved towards the presidential tower. After walking for a while, someone suddenly called her by her name from behind.

"Sinon!"

There was only one player in the world of GGO who would call her that way. The moment she turned around, she saw Shinkawa Kyouji, who she left several minutes ago in the real world, controlling his avatar "Spiegel" as he waved his hand at her and ran over. A tall and skinny M model avatar that had city clothes on seemed to be slightly red from excitement.

"Sinon, why were you so slow? I was worried about you-what's wrong?"

Spiegel felt weird after seeing that Sinon had a smile on her face.

"It's nothing. It's just that I found it amazing that I could immediately meet someone in a game after having just met that person in real life."

"...I'd say, I'm not so cool looking in the real world as I am in the virtual world. What about you? What are your chances of winning? Do you have some tactics?"

"If I have to put my chances of winning...I can only say that I'll do my best. Basically, it'll be to search out the enemy continuously, snipe and move."

"That's true, that's true. But...I believe that Sinon will definitely win."

"Yeah, thanks. What do you intend to do next?"

"Well...I can only watch the live feed in a certain hotel..."

"Okay, once it's over, I'll meet you at the hotel. Are we going to celebrate for me, or are you going to drink some wine with me to sober up."

Sinon again smiled as she said this, and Spiegel again looked down before looking up again. He suddenly grabbed Sinon's right arm and dragged her into a corner of the plaza. Spiegel didn't even care whether any other players could see them as he quickly spun his head around to look at the rather nervous looking Sinon, who could only blink her eyes.

"Sinon...no, Asada-san."

Spiegel should have realized how rude it is to call others by their real names in VRMMO, so this really shocked Sinon.

"Wha...what...?"

"Can I trust your words just now?"

"My words just now..."

"You said that you want me to wait, right...? Asada-san, you said that after you determined your own ability, you and me..."

"Why-Why are you saying that out of a sudden!?"

Feeling her cheeks burning up, Sinon hid her face inside the muffler, but Spiegel stepped forward and again grabbed Sinon's right hand.

"I...I, I really like Asada-san..."

"Sorry, can you please don't mention this now?"

After saying that in a slightly stern mode, Sinon shook her head.

"I have to concentrate on this tournament now...I have to fight with all I've got to have a chance of winning..."

"...I see, you're right..."

Spiegel let his hand go.

"But I-I'll trust you. I'll believe, and wait for you."

"Y-Yeah. ...then, I-I think it's time to get ready...got to go."

Sinon would probably enter the tournament with a wavering heart if she continued to talk with Spiegel, and so she backed away.

"Do your best. I'll cheer for you."

She nodded her head at Spiegel, whose voice was full of enthusiasm, and gave a stiff smile before leaving. During the time she exited the dark corner of the building and quickly headed towards the entrance of the presidential estate, Sinon felt those stares that seemed to burn her back.

After passing through the glass entrance and arriving at the inside of the building that had very few people, the girl finally relaxed her shoulders.

Thinking whether her attitude made him misunderstand, she leaned on the stone pillar.

Kyouji's affections for her were expressed blatantly, but to be honest, it's already tough for her to handle her own problems.

Sinon couldn't remember how her deceased father looked at all. To her, the male face she had the biggest impression on was the criminal who robbed the post office that day. Once trouble happened, her phobia would work up, and that person's face would appear in her head. That seemingly endless depth in the heinous express seemed to be hiding in the darkness around Sinon, looking at her.

As for getting a boyfriend like the other girls, chit-chatting on the phone, going out on weekends, these things weren't things that she never thought of before. However, if she went out with Kyouji like this, one day, she may see "those eyes" in him. This was what she was most afraid of.

If the trigger to her phobia wasn't just "gun", but that she'll feel scared on seeing a "man"-it'll be extremely tough for her to continue surviving.

She could only fight. That's all she could do right now.

*Gash!* Sinon forcefully stamped her soles at the floor and head towards the elevator that's deep within the atrium.

However, someone again called her from behind. This voice that called her name was clear and somewhat hoarse, different from the deep voice of Spiegel. Sinon could only close her eyes on hearing this voice call her.

As she turned around with an irritated feeling, the one who was standing in front of her was obvious- "that guy" she so hated.

Chapter 9.

The place I landed at was at the most northern area of GGO's capital, "SBC Gurroken", on the corner near the presidential tower.

Under the depressing sunset sky, the bustling neon lights continued to move through the crowds. The contents above seemed to be corporate advertisements. If this was ALO, the players would be complaining loudly about how this would 'destroy the world view', but the depressing scenery does match the theme of a futuristic wasteland city. And of course, the most glaring one of these neon lights was that advertising the upcoming 3rd "Bullet of Bullets" tournament. My body started to tremble the moment I saw those bright red words. Of course, this wasn't out of fear, but out of excitement-or at least I would hope to believe.

I heaved a sigh and turned around, and subconsciously flung the black hair on my shoulders. As my hair came to rest back on my shoulders, I found myself sighing at my actions, but still managed to convince myself that in the end, this is the proof that I'm already used to my own avatar.

I intended to complete my registration at the tournament and then move slightly far away from the presidential estate, but there were a few stares aimed at me from both sides of the road. This felt somehow unbearable. I wanted to glare back at them, but decided against it in the end.

Actually, they weren't really noticing me. It was just that my avatar here looked just like a girl-a pretty girl at that too. If our positions were switched too, even I would be looking.

Normally, there wouldn't just be stares, but also two or three players coming over to talk me up. However, the guys will immediately keep their distance once they saw me approach. I guess the reason was because everyone saw me fighting like a berserker with the photon sword and charging at the enemies yesterday during the preliminaries of BoB.

The tournament only revealed the names and number of times participated in the tournament from the data of the participant, and "Kirito" was a gender-neutral name. That's likely why everyone in GGO felt that I was "a girl who is also a psycho; a savage killer that deliberately chooses to swing a saber, instead of a gun".

I didn't really wish to be viewed as such a person, but that misunderstanding was worth it if I could let the other players in the BoB finals hesitate. Besides, my aim wasn't to win, but to meet that guy with the broken mantle-"Death Gun".

The "Death Gun"'s name wasn't amongst the 30 finalists, but he was definitely participating in the finals. If his aim was to show off his power in the world of GGO, the BoB in the game would be the best stage for all to see. Death Gun's real name-even though it's weird, should be the name of the other character in the system.

First, I have to find his name, and then talk to him again in the tournament. Once I find out the name he used in SAO, I can use that information to find out his name in the real world. Kikuoka Seijirou said that he should be able to access the player account data that had become classified. Once we get to know that person's real name, we should be able to find out whether he really killed "Zekushiido" and "Usujio Tarako", no, if he could really kill.

However, during this process, I need to go through my own past crime.

That fear still hasn't disappeared.

But this is a necessary emotion to prevent myself from choosing a path to run away, to forget.

I clenched both fists, stomped hard on the ground with the soles of my battle boots, and headed towards the large tower of the presidential estate that was gradually appearing in front of me.

As for a tournament against others, I would get excited during ALO, and even during SAO.

Unexpectedly though, I would have to take part in this tournament with fear.

As I showed a self-depreciating smile, I headed up the wide stairs that lead to the tower, and found that there was a familiar sand-colored muffler swaying about at the entrance hall in front of me.

Without even looking at her clear blue short hair and the long legs that extended out from under the jacket, I knew that it was the avatar of my final opponent in the preliminaries yesterday the sniper "Sinon". She was the only person I knew of in GGO, but I was still hesitating over whether I should head forward to greet her.

As I was immediately lost the moment I dived into this world yesterday, I had to brace myself and ask Sinon, who I just met, and at that time, I didn't realize immediately that she mistook me as a female player because of my appearance and somehow ended up acting as "a beginner girl who didn't know what to do at all". Other than asking her to explain the game mechanics and helping me to choose my equipment, I even went overboard by witnessing her avatar wearing only her underwear in the rest area.

No-That wasn't all.

During the tournament, I suddenly met the shooter "Death Gun" and was approached by him. I learnt that he was "a survivor of SAO" and also a member of the red guild "Laughing Coffin", which really shocked me. Thus, in the finals against Sinon after that, I nearly gave up on it. Basically, I was walking weakly during the start of the battle, trying to get Sinon to shoot the fatal round at me so that I could lose the battle.

However, Sinon didn't hit me.

She shot 6 rounds that were burning in blueish-white flames due to anger, then gave up her advantage, and met me straight on and shouted.

She said, stop joking around, I should die alone if I wanted to, and even said that it's my right to think that this was just a match in a game, but I should not force my values on others- To be honest, these words hurt me deeply.

Actually, I said something similar to someone else a long time ago.

It was four years ago. At that time, I was just promoted to second year of middle school, and was very lucky, or rather, unlucky to be chosen as a player of the "Sword Art Online Closed Beta", and everyday, I would dive into what I didn't know was a death game, the floating game city Aincrad until the next morning.

It was really a little embarrassing for me to say that, but the "Kirito" that later became a legendary warrior wouldn't really interact with people back then as compared to now even though I used to be a little famous for being amongst the top in PvP events, so I didn't have any people I could call friends in games. However, amongst the people I knew, there were still a few players who I thought that I could become friends with. One of them was a mild-manner tea-haired swordsman I would often meet in a duel event. He was skilled in using a one-handed sword.

This person would often fight with great logic and sharp senses, and I've always hoped to meet him in the finals of the tournament. I had been secretly wishing to fighting him in the finals, but when that stage finally arrived-I received a great shock. At the last moment of this intense battle, he deliberately took the slash that he should be able to avoid. I guessed that he deliberately lost to earn some quick cash from gambling, and basically blasted him with those words Sinon said to me.

I was scolded like how I scolded him during the final stage of the BoB tournament, so I sincerely apologized to Sinon. Even though we faced off against each other head on, it should be hard for Sinon to accept it. No matter what, she's a sniper, and her greatest weapon is to shoot those long distance sure-kill bullets. During the battle royale tournament today, I suppose she would be trying her best to shoot that bullet of revenge right between my forehead.

Because of the above mentioned reasons-or rather, because I caused all of them, I was hesitating over whether I should say hello to Sinon, who was a few steps in front of me.

But after a few seconds, I shook off my hesitation and took huge steps up the stairs before calling her by her name.

"Yo, Sinon, please guide me through today too."

That muffler of hers that looked like a tail stopped, and the aqua blue hair looked cat like the way it pointed upwards. The sniper girl who spun around with the right foot as her axis gave an irritated expression that showed that she hated me to the bone, and then coldly snorted.

"...Please guide me through. What do you mean by that?

The anger in her blue eyes made me immediately regret it, but I didn't call her just for naught. It'll be bad if I said something wrong and made her ignore me. Thus, I said with a rather serious expression, "Of course...I hope we can both fight with all we got."

"Stop being disgusting."

--Looks like I made a mistake right off the bat. However, I didn't give up as I continued, "Speaking of which, why did you dive in so early? There's still 3 hours before the tournament."

"Wasn't that because a certain someone caused me to nearly miss the registration yesterday."

Sinon looked away and grumbled before glancing at me, who's giving off cold sweat.

"...Speaking of which, aren't you logged in now too? Why are you talking like I'm the one who had nothing to do."

"The-Then, let's use this time effectively! How about we get a drink before the battle begins...no, exchange information..."

I really won't dare to say this to a real person in the real world. No, considering that I already have a girlfriend in Asuna, it's unforgivable even in the virtual world. However, I dare to swear to god that this isn't about trying to get a date in the VR world, but to fulfill my duty and mission, and also a necessary step to ensure Sinon's own safety.

--In the end, Sinon seemed like she didn't notice my complicated entanglement as she glared at me for a few seconds before snorting and nodding her head with the minimum action.

"Alright then, I'll be the one telling you all the information again."

"I-I, well...it's not that I didn't have this intention..."