I managed to mumble vaguely and had to run to keep up with Sinon, who was walking away in front of me.

After completing our registration at the hall of the presidential estate through the machine there, Sinon brought me over to a large spacious underground area. As the lights were dimmed to a minimum all around, I could barely see the faces of the players that were gathered at different tables. The few large-screen panel monitors on the ceiling were dazzling with their original colors.

Sinon went into a booth that was far inside and then looked at the menu displayed on a simple metallic board. She then pressed a small button beside the iced coffee label. Soon, the similarly metallic table opened up a hole, and a glass that was filled with black liquid appeared from within. Compared to having to order our food with the NPC and waiting for them to serve it up in Aincrad, this method is somewhat simple, but it also does fit the game atmosphere of GGO.

I pressed the button for ginger ale and grabbed the glass that appeared before gulping down half. While waiting for the imaginary bubbles to disappear from my throat, I decided to start off.

"...The battle royale finals is to put 30 players in the same map, and to begin a gunfight once we meet the opponent, and the winner will be the guy that lasts till the end...am I right?"

In the end, Sinon glared at me through the coffee glass, and said, "See, you're intending to let me explain, right? Speaking of which, this information's written on the e-mail the operating company sent to the participants."

"I-I did look through it..."

Actually, I did look through it briefly. I intended to read the specifics after logging into the game, but before that, I met Sinon who was a veteran, so I guess it'll be faster for her to teach me directly...I wouldn't dare to say that, so I merely coughed dryly to continue on.

"Well...I just want to check if there's anything wrong with my understanding..."

"You actually dared to say that."

That extremely cold voice of hers caused my heart to freeze in half. Luckily, Sinon placed the glass back at the table and quickly started to explain the rules of this round.

"...Basically, it's like what you just said, the final round is really held with all 30 players fighting each other on the same map. The starting positions are randomized, but every player will be at least 1,000m away from each other, so there won't be cases of the enemy appearing right in front of you out of a sudden."

"1... 1,000 meters? That means that map's rather big...?"

I couldn't help but interrupt, and the blue laser-like eyes shot back at me.

"Did you really look through the e-mail? This was written in the first paragraph.. The map of the final round is a circle with 10km diameter. It has hills, forests and deserts, so nobody will have superior equipment or abilities."

"10-10km!? That's rather big..."

It's about the size of the first level of the floating city Aincrad. However, that means that in this area that's large enough for 10,000 people to hunt, there are only going to be 30 people that will be separated from each other by 1,000m.

"...But, can we really meet our enemies like this? There's a possibility we can't even see anyone until the tournament time's up..."

"This is a game where we fight each other using guns, so there's a need for such a wide map. Sniper rifles have 1km shooting range, and assault rifles have about 500m. If all 30 people are all packed in a small map, everyone would be shooting madly, bang bang, when it starts, and more than half the participants would be dead already."

"Hahaa, I see..."

I nod my head in agreement, and Sinon continued with her detailed explanation. Maybe behind this sharp and cold avatar is a kind and gentle girl-if she finds out that this is what I thought, she'll definitely walk away without finishing off, so I still continued to listen to her explanation, "-Well, just as you said, you can't fight if you can't meet an enemy. Some people will also use this to hide until the last person remains. Therefore, the participants are automatically given a device called a "Satellite Scan Terminal"."

"Satellite...is it some spy satellite or something?"

"That's right. Every 15 minutes, the satellite in the air will be set to scan through. At this moment, everyone's terminal will receive the location of all the players. And the name of the players will be indicated if you touch the flashes on the map."

"Fmu...so, there's only 15 minutes to hide at one spot? So we're likely to be ambushed once our locations are shown on the map, right?"

"That's the case."

I smiled and asked Sinon, who's nodding away.

"But isn't this rule bad for snipers? Aren't you suppose to hide and cover like a taro and snipe at the enemy?"

"Describing me as a taro is too much."

Sinon glared at me with those explosive blue sparkling eyes, and then coldly snorted and gave a proud smile.

"15 minutes is enough for me to fire one bullet, kill one person, and move 1km."

"Is...is that so."

I don't think that would be an exaggeration. If I try to ambush Sinon through the satellite information, it's likely that she will snipe me from afar instead. I remembered this dearly in my heart, coughed dryly for a bit, and then sorted through the information I received.

"Eh-this means that I have to continue to move and take down the enemies once the round begins, and then hang on until I'm the last one...something like that. And every 15 minutes, the map terminal on my hand will show the locations of all the players, so I can tell then who's alive and who's not-well, is my understanding correct?"

"That's basically it."

Sinon nodded her head in affirmation and finished up her iced coffee before forcefully putting the glass onto the table and got ready to get up.

"Then, there's nothing else, right? I'll fire the trigger without any mercy the next time I meet you..."

"Waa, hold on hold on, I'm just getting into the main point."

That really sounded like a line from a certain civil servant, I secretly thought as I hurriedly reached out to tug at the corner of Sinon's jacket.

"...What else do you want?"

Even though she showed an extremely irritated expression as she deliberately look at the military watch on her left wrist, I continued to nod my head without looking dejected, and Sinon sighed hard before sitting down again. She placed both elbows on the table, and then pressed her small chin against the fingers that were intertwined together, telling me to continue with the movements of her eyebrows.

"Erm, well, I'm...I'm thinking about asking something that's a little weird..."

I stuttered as I finished and quickly waved my left hand to call out the menu window.

VRMMO that were in the specifications of "The Seed" have an almost similar menu window, so I changed it into a mode where others could see it and quickly scrolled the tab down.

I showed the page with the names of the 30 players the operating company sent to the participants of the BoB finals. Of course, we could see the names of the finals of group F, first place 'Kirito' and second place 'Sinon'.

After glancing at the screen I showed her for a moment, an angry twitch appeared on Sinon's nose as she frowned like a cat-no, like a jaguar.

"...What, are you gloating your victory over me in the finals yesterday?"

On hearing that spiteful low growl of hers, I hurriedly gasped and shook my head with a serious expression.

"That's not it, I didn't mean that."

Perhaps she noticed my change in attitude? Sinon frowned her beautiful eyebrows and said, "...Then what do you want from me? Showing this participant list all of a sudden."

"Among the 30 people on the name list, how many do you not know?"

"Haa...?"

I ignored Sinon, who was giving an extremely surprised look as I moved my fingers down the name list that's not really long.

"Please tell me. This is very important to me."

"...Well, it's not like I can't tell you..."

Though she still had a bit of suspicion, Sinon still continued to look at the purple holographic window on the table, and her blue eyes quickly scan through from left to right.

"Erm...it's already the 3rd BoB, so I know pretty much all the people there. Those first-timers in the finals...other than a certain infuriating light saber user, there are 3 other people I don't know."

"3 of them? Their names?"

"Nn..."Jyuushi X" and "Pale Rider", and...this "Sterben" guy, right?"

Sinon stiffly read a few names, and I read through the names on the window to check personally. Except for the "Jyuushi X", the other names were written in the English alphabet. I closed my eyes and repeated these three names a few times.

At this moment, Sinon looked half-shocked and half anxious as she said to me.

"Oi, what's going on? You've been asking the questions up till now, and yet you haven't explained anything to me."

"Ahh... yeah..."

I used an ambiguous reply to buy time as my mind continued to think.

The 3 names Sinon told me- One of them should be the reason why I came to this world. He's related to the two mysterious deaths, and also a survivor of SAO who's affiliated to the red guild "Laughing Coffin"-the character commonly known as "Death Gun".

The reason why I deduced this was because up till now, Death Gun kept his real name rather privy. If possible, he would really want to use "Death Gun" as a character name, but in that case, he'll get lots of spam e-mail, and will even cause lots of trouble. Also, if the real character becomes overly famous, the rumor of the "Death Gun" he would have painstakingly built up will disappear. Thus, he has to hide his real name up till now, and Sinon definitely won't know of this person's existence.

Now, the problem will be, which one of them is the real "Death Gun"...

Just when I was pondering, a white slender hand entered my vision. That hand was prodding at the surface of the table with the thumb.

Looking up, I saw Sinon narrow her eyes as she glared me me.

"...I'm really going to be angry. What the heck are you doing? Is this some strategy to make me angry and get me to make a mistake in the finals?"

"No...that's not it, I didn't mean that..."

On feeling that sharp high-temperature flame-like stare, I bit my lips tightly.

I really couldn't decide immediately whether I should explain the truth to her. I believe the rumor that 'There's a player in GGO who calls himself "Death Gun" and has been shooting on streets and in bars, and the players who were shot by him never logged in again' would be rather widespread, but there's still no player who would believe that they were killed. Of course, Sinon in front of me should be the same too.

To be honest, I didn't really believe this completely. For a player to fire bullets in a game to kill someone in real life-is completely impossible no matter what reasoning Kikuoka and I used when we discussed this a few days ago.

But right now, I can't even laugh at Death Gun's ability. If that guy was really an important member of the old "Laughing Coffin", he'll definitely be one of the killer players who were enthusiastically taking away the lives of many players in Aincrad. Maybe he developed a certain way of killing that far surpassed Kikuoka and my own imaginations during that terrifying experience. This possibility still exists.

If I tell all I know to Sinon and also that the power of the Death Gun may be real-you may die, you shouldn't take part in the tournament this time, will she listen me? No, absolutely not. That image of Sinon as she showed me the side of her desperate face because she nearly missed the registration after shopping with me. This girl should have some important reason why she has to take part in the BoB tournament...

The blue eyes that were glaring at this silent me-suddenly softened.

Her light-colored lips said without moving too much, "...Don't tell me that the reason why your face suddenly became weird during the preliminaries yesterday was also because of that?"

"Eh..."

Sinon and I exchanged looks, and for a moment, we couldn't say anything.

However, I forgot all my reasoning and thoughts as I nodded away like I was prompted to. A teeny-weeny voice came from my own mouth, "...Ahhh...that's right. Yesterday, I was suddenly called by someone who used to play a similar VRMMO in the underground dome...I thought that he would be taking part in the battle today. I'm afraid that one of the three people was him..."

"Were you friends?"

I shook my head hard on hearing Sinon's question, messing my hair up in the process.

"No, quite the opposite...we're enemies. Me, and him, we seriously tried to kill each other before. But...I can't remember that guy's name back then. I have to recall it. I want to meet this player in the finals... find out why he is here, and what he is doing..."

After explaining till here, I realized that my words may have confused Sinon. In a normal VRMMO game, even players in opposing guilds are technically still rivals playing the same game. It'll be too much of an exaggeration to use the title "enemy".

However- The sniper with the aqua blue hair didn't laugh at my words, but widened her small eyes, and then muttered with a weak voice that system could barely identify.

"...You tried to kill each other...enemies..."

And then, she used the same soft volume to raise another question that's enough to pierce through my consciousness.

"...Is it because your play styles didn't match, or your relationship between each other worsened when you were in a party because of some trouble? Or..."

On hearing till this, I shook my head in reflex.

"No, we were really betting our lives and trying to kill each other. That guy...that guy's guild did something unforgivable, and both sides couldn't come to a peaceful resolution. We had no choice but to settle this with swords. I wasn't regretful about doing this, but..."

I know this will only bother Sinon, but my mouth just couldn't stop. I grip the hands that were placed on the table, trying to look deep into those blue eyes, and try to force out my voice from the dry throat.

"...But, I-I just continued to run away from the responsibility I should have taken, and never had I thought about the meaning behind this action. Until today, I was forcing myself to forget...but now, I can't continue to escape. I have to solve this problem head on."

These words seemed to be said right back at myself. Of course, Sinon shouldn't be able to understand at all. The moment I shut my mouth, Sinon looked down as well. The thought that she got a weirdo here deep inside her heart should be even greater now, I think.

"...Sorry for such ridiculous words. Just pretend that you never heard them. Anyway, it's just my past grudge..."

I deliberately forced a smile and prepared to simplify things.

But Sinon muttered to interrupt my words.

"-'If your bullet can really kill a player in a real world, can you squeeze the trigger without hesitation'."

I quickly gasped.

This was the question I asked from deep inside me to Sinon during the tournament preliminaries finals yesterday. Actually, I still don't understand why I asked this, but at that moment, I did ask back instantly, as fast as a spark, on hearing Sinon ask 'how do I get to be as strong as you'.