October 9th, 2022

"School starts in a couple more weeks," I groan, complaining on the phone to my sister, Ivy Taylor.

"You have that silly regimen where you don't get the summers off, sucker," she laughs as I hear faint screaming in the background.

What the-?!

"Ivy, why do I hear screaming?" I ask, fear creeping in my heart.

"Don't worry about it, we're watching a video about World War 2. The teacher dozed off so we're doing whatever we want, now," She replied hastily, causing me to sigh.

Ivy went to a fancy-schmancy school for smart people, and she gave money back to our family because she did a bunch of tutoring and after-school jobs that pay a lot. Well, that's what she says, at least. I try to believe her, but sometimes it seems odd that she receives a lot of money from just tutoring.

I go to my own kind of school, but it's a bit different than normal schools. I tell everyone it's a school to learn music...

...but in reality it's a school to study witchcraft. My family has had witches dotting the spectrum, and it's irregular to tell who's a witch. It's going to be my third year when I go back since I'm turning 14 today, and I'm super excited! But, if my sister knew that I was a witch, she'd probably think it's really cool, but who knows if she'll ever trust me again?!

"Did you get the birthday gift I sent you?" She asks as I look at the box in the corner of my room, still covered in purple wrapping.

"Yeah, but you told me to wait to open it," I groan, putting her on speaker as I wheel over to the box using my spinny chair.

"Open it now, I want to hear your reaction!" She laughs, "It is your birthday, after all!"

I quickly tore into the wrapping paper, gasping at what I saw in the box. "The Sword Art Online game?! Oh my gods, how did you get this?!" I screech, looking at the game of my dreams that lay before me.

When we weren't using witchcraft at school we were banned from having modern technology. So, thinking it was unfair, a bunch of kids and I would sneak out each night to play, using instant sleeping-energizer gum to keep us awake. This was game was supposed to be the best NerveGear has to offer, and there's only 10,000 copies of it!

Ivy laughed, voice crackling on the phone as more screams are heard in the back. "I have connections, and you texted me how much you wanted the game..."

"Oh, thank you so-so much!" I shout, as Ivy laughs.

"I'm glad you like the-OH SHIT!" There was a sudden scream in the background, "Oh, uh, I'll have to call you back later, Natalie, something came up, and, uh..."

I sigh, shaking my head. "Don't worry about it, I'm used to it..."

"I promise that one day I'll tell you," Ivy replies, almost breathlessly, "but I've got to go now. I love you."

There was the sound of metal unsheathing, before the phone ended with a-

*CLICK*

Ivy was always doing this to me, and she had obvious secrets. Though she tried to call as much as possible, I only spoke to her a few times a month, most of the time she had to run out on me before we can have a full conversation. What does she even do?

It's frustrating, because I only see her during the time our breaks intersect for a week during the summer. I hope she can tell me soon...

Turning to the box, I quickly pull out the hard copy and insert the information onto the electronic, plugging it into the wall when I put on my headset. Jumping on my bed, I get all cozy and comfy, pulling the fluffy blanket up to my chin.

"Link start!"

A whirlwind of colors surrounds my mind's eye, as it automatically checks the 5 senses to see if it's on point. I log into a NerveGear account, looking at the name that pops up.

Welcome to Sword Art Online, please create your character, Lee.

My nickname was Lee, which came from the pronunciation of Nat-uh-lee. It seemed simple enough to remember, too.

Looking at the blank avatar in front of me, I choose the female model, as a short-skirt wearing girl appeared before me, looking like me with enhanced features.

Set character?

...

Do I really want to look like...'that?' I mean, I just don't understand why girls have to wear skirts! It's so impractical, and you can cut your leg easier...

But girls have an advantage in video games like this, as they level faster and always have people trying to help them. But I'm not a damn damsel in distress!

Selecting the male model, I sharpened my jawline, made my eyes a bit smaller and my hair a lot shorter instead. I was bigger, buffer, and definitely not as girly-looking now.

And that's it! Pressing the confirm button, the character disappears before my eyes as a blue whirlwind surrounded me, and suddenly I was in a stone plaza, sunlight baring bright over me.

Hearing my heartbeat in my ears, I crack my back as I look at my outfit. A pair of dark purple pants paired with a lilac shirt, beginner leather armor thrust over it. Looking over my shoulder, I watched as a blonde girl teleported into the game, wearing the beginner' clothing and a short skirt.

Jokes on her! Or him, since you can select whatever gender in this game. I mean, if I was allowed to choose what I want as clothing I would've put on pants instead.

I made my way to the market next to me, looking around. Everyone seemed so happy, and as far as I could tell there was a male to female ratio of 5:1.

I've figured out a thing or two from school that wasn't academics: the longer your hair is as a girl, the more guys are interested in you.

A man quickly ran by me, and I turned my head in confusion. Where was he going?

He ducked into an alleyway, as I watched a red-head boy quickly follow him. Is there a party going on?

Briskly walking to that alleyway, I duck my head in to hear "Yeah, I'm a beta tester."

"Woah! That's so cool! Can you give me a tip or two?" The red-head guy asks in excitement, "Pleaaasseee? I'm begging you! My name's Klein. Now, we're not strangers anymore, so help a buddy out!"

"Err...alright, I'm Kirito," the blue haired guy named 'Kirito' responds, "follow me."

So, I may or may not have tailed them. It wasn't stalking, I swear! I just hid out in a bush once they got to the fields, watching how they took care of monsters.

"Right in the crotch!" Klein groans as a warthog knocks him there, and I stifle a giggle as I begin to hear large breathing behind me. Turning around slowly to see a warthog, I shriek loudly, rolling out of the bushes.

"Huh?" Kirito asks as I roll over to them, getting up quickly. "IswearIwasn'ttailingyouguys," I rush, "b-but I was observing since I'm clueless and there was a hog and a-"

"Y-you mean that hog?" Klein stutters, as I turn around to see a jet black hog huffing, smoke rising from its nostrils as its eyes blazed red.

"Y-yeah," I mutter, reaching to the hilt on my side and withdrawing the beginner's knife.

"Have you played fantasy games before?" Kirito asks, and I give a nod, eyeing the black hog wearily.

"This is my third," I reply, and Kirito nods.

"Then you should know that if you attack just right, and activate a sword skill," Kirito states, picking up a pebble as it glowed red, before chucking it at a stray hog. It smacked the hog's ass before bouncing off, the hog giving a quick squeal.

"I see..." I mutter, as I hold the knife behind my back as it glowed gold. The black hog charged forward, and I sprang back at it with my knife, stabbing it in the head before flipping over it. It pixelated before I could land on it's back, as I thumped onto the ground.

"Damn," Klein mutters, and I laugh nervously. "I'm on the gymnastics team at school," I admit, though our school had different sports teams...

I'm also trained in Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which helps slightly. My sister taught it to me, making me swear to only use it for self defense. Our school has some athletic sports teams, then dueling teams where we use magic to fight. I was on the gymnastics team during the winter and on the dueling team during spring, and I was one of the best on the dueling team.

"Sweet! I got 24 XP!" I cheer, as Kirito holds his hand up.

"Nice job," KIrito smiles as I give him a high five, "but boars are about as weak as slimes in other games."

"But it's a start!" I mention, holding my hand out for him to shake. "I'm Lee."

"Kirito," he replies, as Klein waves his hand. "And I'm Klein!"

Drawing my knife again, I noticed it was longer and less rough around the edges. "Oh, does this happen with more XP?" I wonder aloud, flipping my blade once before catching it.

"Yes, but eventually it will max out, and you don't want a beginner's sword forever," Kirito explained.

"Oh, sweet! I wonder if I can teach it some magic!" I wonder, as Kirito shakes his head. "There's no magic in this game."

"Huh? An RPG without magic? That's a bold decision," Klein states as I shrug.

"I don't know, maybe that's what they tell you to prevent from looking?" I ask, and Kirito chuckles. "That'd make the game a lot more interesting, then."

Since I'm using this game with my mind, do you think I could probably use magic within it?

"...come on, let's go grind!" Klein cheers, as we follow him to the fields to grind some monsters.

"Wooh wooh! I'm halfway to level 2 now ba-by!" I cheer, collapsing on the grassy meadow as the sun began to set.

"It's so beautiful, whoever made this game is a genius," Klein wondered aloud, "And I love it already! This is my first time doing a complete nosedive."

"Oh, you've never used NerveGear before?" Kirito asks as Klein nods.

"I was really lucky to get the hardware for SAO, too. I know that Kirito was a beta member who got access, so what about you, Lee?"

"Me? I got it for my birthday," I admit as Kirito smiles. "Happy Birthday, then."

"Thanks, in fact, I should probably get going soon so my parents don't yell at me when they get back from work at 5:45. And I still haven't cleaned my room!" I groan, collapsing back onto the grass. "I can't wait to eat some cake!"

"Ohhh, you're making me hungry now," Klein groans as he clutches his stomach, "I already ordered myself a pizza for 5:30, so I'll log off now, too."

"Alright, I'll see y'all later," Kirito bids as I smile, swiping my hand down, causing the main menu to appear before me.

"Wait, before you go, I'm meeting up with some friends from another game later and I was wondering if you'd like to friend them, too?" Klein asks as my hand pauses.

"Sorry, I tend to slow down the load a lot," I lie.

"I'm also more of a lone wolf," Kirito admits, as I smile. "It was great for you to help us anyway," I state as he smiles at me,

"Alright, time to eat cake!" I cheer, going to the logout tab-

"The logout button isn't there?" I question aloud, looking at the holographic list before me.

No logout button in sight. This is odd...

"Look closer," Kirito says, peering over my shoulder as I refresh the list. "Still not there," I repeated as Klein checked his list.

"Nothing on mine either," he added as I shivered.

What's going on?!

Kirito checked his, and he had the same problem. "Well, it's the first day, there's bound to be some bugs."

"They wouldn't have the servers up and running if there was a problem meaning we were trapped in here, though," I mutter, looking at the time.

"And it's 5:25, almost dinner time," I groan as Klein freaks out about his pizza.

"Is there any other way to get out?" Klein sobs as Kirito thinks.

"No...logging out via button is the only way to get out."

A cloud passed over the sun as I sighed. "I don't live home alone, so my family can always unplug me in case I'm gone too long. What about you guys?"

"I live with my sister and mom," Kirito informs as Klein wipes away a tear. "All alone. W-wait, how old is your little sister?!"

Ugh, that's gross. Thank god I'm a male character...

"S-she's on a sports team and hates gaming, she wouldn't be interested," Kirito retorted, pushing off Klein as he looks at me.

"What about your family?" He asks, and I shudder.

"I have a sister," I told, and he raises a brow.

"O-oh? Really?"

"Yeah, and she's a freaking black belt," I state as I shove him, standing up as I look down at him, aka my 'I'm a cold-hearted bitch' look. "Don't be a perv, or else you might wind up dead. Got it?"

"Y-yeah," he stutters, looking down. "Sorry."

That's right, no tolerance for perverts!

DONG

DONG

DONG

A church bell chimed in the distance as a light surrounded us, as I looked around in confusion.

"HUH?!"

I landed in the plaza besides Klein and Kirito, as we looked around the large circle of people. "Hey, look up there," I point up to the sky where a red, flashing block appeared, squinting to see it as it lay in front of the sunset. Soon, it caved over us, and I squinted to make out the words "Warning, system announcement."

Oh my god, is this the Hunger Games?!

A blood-like substance dripped from the ceiling as my jaw dropped, the blood twisting and turning to form a hooded man in red robes. His face was shadowed, but he was easily the size of a Titan. Forcing my aura into my eyes, I saw that he had a blood red aura around him.

That wasn't good. People with those kinds of auras are bound to be dictators or cruel men...

"Attention players, welcome to my world," the possible GM boomed, gesturing around us. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko-"

"Isn't that the guy who made this game?" I whisper to Kirito, who nodded in confirmation.

"-and as of this moment, I am the sole controller of this world."

The crowd whispered and muttered, realizing that their fates were in the hands of this man.

"I'm sure you've noticed the logout button is missing from the menu, but that is not a defect," he demonstrated, showing that it was gone. My eyes widen in realization.

If he was using his own menu to demonstrate, that means he was trapped in the game too. He might have access to the internet and whatnot, meaning there's a way to contact the outside...

Can there be a hacker skill in this game, possibly?

"It is a feature in the game."

The crowd gasped, realizing that they were trapped here as my eyes widened. If I had only not asked my sister for it for my birthday, this would've never happened...

"You cannot log outside SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can either. Should an outsider attempt to remove the NerveGear, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful micro wave and destroy your brain. This will automatically kill you, and it's game over."

I bite my tongue to prevent myself from yelling out at the red-'spooky' ghost man. This was cruel, inhumane and just down-right dirty!

"He's nuts," Klein mutters, "am I right, Kirito and Lee?"

"He's right, the transmitter has signals that works like a microwave," Kirito replies, as I think back to when a friend of mine accidentally smashed his NerveGear, and we saw the same mechanics in it from the microwave (when he dropped that, too).

"And in class we took apart a NerveGear, and inside it has the mechanics of one, though they aren't set on a high level. It does make sense..." I -half lie, thinking...

"Unfortunately, several players and their families have ignored my warnings and attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players have died."

213 innocent lives...

"As you can see," Akihiko states as news article tabs floated around him, "news articles have been reporting about this world-wide. This is a clear danger and warning to all. So, chances are low that a person will remove the NerveGear from you, so don't worry. I hope you relax and will attempt to clear the game. But remember this clearly, there is no longer any method to revive someone in this game. If your HP drops to 0, both you and your avatar will be forever lost." The tabs around him closed, as I realized what he wanted.

He wanted a show, an intense battle where he can sit on the sidelines and eat popcorn. He wants to see the struggle of people trying a real-life game with real-life risks, instead of resurrecting every time they die.

"The only means of escape is to clear the game. We are currently on floor 1 of Aincrad. If you defeat the Floor Boss of each level and make it to Floor 100, defeating the final boss there, you clear the game."

This piqued my interest, I've always loved clearing games. If I could clear the game, that means I can go home! But...clearing games take months of trials, and if I die even once I'm dead forever. But 100 floors?! That'd take months, scratch that, years to complete with a party.

And by myself? Decades.

"Finally, I've added a present to your item storage," Akihiko booms, "please see for yourself."

Wow, he is so generous. After locking us up inside a game, we get a present? All is forgiven, of course!

Begrudgingly, I open my item storage and click on the button as a small, square mirror pops into my hand. Looking into it, I see my avatar's features displayed back in it.

"I look smoking hot, as always," I joke as a bright blue light envelops Klein next to me. "Huh?" Kirito asks as one surrounds him, and my eyes widen as a light surrounds me.

I feel tingling around my scalp, a familiar weight on my chest, and my face rounding out a bit more.

The blue light faded as I looked at my hands, familiar grey-chipped nail polish on my fingers. Looking into the mirror, I was shocked to meet my long-eyelashed brown eyes staring back at me, my blonde hair curling around my face.

This is some freaky-ass Mulan moment.

"Huh? Are you okay, Lee?" Klein's voice asked from behind me, and I turned around to see a short-haired redhead, an inkling of a goatee on his chin.

"Who are you?" I ask, my voice slightly higher in pitch now.

"Bishoujo! I mean, uh, who are you?" He asks, as I look them up and down. They had that stupid bandana and stupid girl obsession...

"Are you Klein?" I ask, my eyes widening as I realize we all must've reverted back to our forms. "Y-yeah, but who are you?"

Turning around, I see a black-haired boy who looks around my age wearing Kirito's armour, and my jaw dropped.

"So that's Kirito," I gasp, looking him up and down as the two men looked at me.

"Wait! You're wearing pants!" Klein points out, as I sighed in relief. "Thank god for the clothes not changing to female ones," I mutter, looking around.

"Haha, look at the guys who disguised themselves as girls. Now they're stuck wearing female clothes throughout the game," I giggle, as Kirito gasps.

"You're Lee!"

"Yep!" I smile as Klein and Kirito's jaws dropped.

"Why disguise yourself as a guy?" Kirito asks, and I sigh. "It's a habit."

"W-wait! Now you know I'm a closet pervert, and might tell other girls!" Klein's cheeks tinted pink as I rolled my eyes, reaching down to my pant hems and rolling them up slightly.

"Agh, these will be annoying until I get some proper pants, these are so damn long..." I grumble as I tuck them into my boots.

"So, how did they know we looked like this?" Klein asked, as I began to think.

"The NerveGear asked us to pat ourselves down, right?" Kirito states, "It sees our whole body, including our body image, too."

"They must've calibrated our measurements that way," I theorize as Klein yelps. "Oh god, I feel violated," he shudders, and I roll my eyes.

Like being trapped in a game isn't violation enough.

"But the real question at hand is why are we here in the first place?" I ask, looking at my wrist to see I had a single, black scrunchie. Smirking to myself, I pulled my hair back with it as the Akihiko began his drawling again.

"Right now, you're all probably wondering 'why?'"

He's obviously listening in, how annoying.

"It was my goal to achieve this, and it was to complete a world of my own design, real people dwelling in it. As you can see, I have achieved my goal."

I seriously wanted to punch the inside of his mask. What a jerk!

I looked over at Kirito's fist, shaking slightly as I reach my hand over at him, touching his shoulder lightly as he looked at me.

"Don't get angry," I whisper, "get out of here."

His jaw loosened slightly, realizing my words as he looked at the people around us, their emotions clear.

Fear.

Sadness.

Anger.

"Trust me, Kirito, you need to remain level-headed to beat this," I finalize, "I know it'll be a struggle to do that, too."

"This concludes the SAO tutorial and launch. I wish luck to you all," Akihiko finishes, as smoke and pixels pour out of his cape, before sucking back up into the sky above him as it flickers quickly back to the sunset above us.

Hell, I thought Akihiko was going to say 'And may the odds be ever in your favor' at the end of that joyful speech.

But now that I look around, everything stayed the way it was before Akihiko showed up...but changed at the same time. We're our true selves, but the world of Aincrad was the same as it was before.

We were all frozen in place, looking at the spot where the infamous Akihiko once floated.

"Kirito, quick! Let's go before there's panic," I whisper, grabbing Kirito's hand as I burst into a sprint out of the crowd, Kirito tailing behind. Soon, the crowd busted from their stupor, all shouting swears as they complain, cry, or both. Kirito grabbed for Klein as the barrier went up, and we quickly escaped.

"Listen, Klein and Lee, I'm heading for the next village now," Kirito says as our trio marched through the streets, "I want you both to come with me."

My eyes widened at what he said. This was a big deal for Kirito, especially when he said he was a lone-wolf.

"If what Akihiko said was true, we can only survive in this world by becoming stronger. The resources in this MMORPG," Kirito explains as he pulls out his digital map, "aka the money and the XP we earn are limited. There's only so much to go around. The fields around the Town of Beginnings will soon be picked clean."

Looking over at his map at where he pointed, I realized Kirito was being honest. If we stayed here, everyone will rush to the fields to get some easy XP.

"To be efficient, we need to set up base in the next village now. Don't worry, I already know all the paths and dangerous areas," Kirito reassures, as I go over my possibilities.

Stay alone and possibly die as a newbie, or have a guy help me out who knows the kinks of the game up until floor 8?

The answer is clear!

"Thanks, but I stayed up all night with my friends to buy this software," Klein says softly, gasping at the realization that struck him. "They're probably in the plaza still! I can't leave them behind."

"That is very noble of you, Klein," I marveled, as Klein turned to me, his cheeks dusted pink slightly as he scratches the back of his head.

"Aw, really? You think so?" He asks, and I nod. "I wouldn't wish to leave my friends behind either."

"So Kirito, don't worry about me, you and shortie over here can go on to the next village," Klein states as I cross my arms.

"I'm not short!"

"Yeah, whatever," Klein chuckles, turning to both of us. "Now get your asses over to the next village! I'll be all good, I used to run a guild in my last game. And with everything you taught me I can get by, and help out others too. Think of it as a good karma-thing."

"Okay, so Lee, are you in?" Kirito asks as he turns to me.

"I have no other plans," I shrug, as he smiles slightly before it falls.

"Let's go," he mutters, turning on his heels as he marches away from Klein. So Kirito must be feeling rejected...

"Send me a message if you have a problem," Kirito calls out to Klein as he walks away, and giving a Klein a quick glance, I jog up next to Kirito so we fall in pace.

"Hey! You guys!" Klein calls out one last time, "Your real characters are pretty cute!"

"Huh?" Kirito asks, as I turn around, crossing my arms. "I better not be called shortie again!"

"You guys look way cooler as your normal selves! I like you much better that way, it's more realistic!" Klein calls out, as Kirito and I chuckle.

"And I like you better with that unshaved face of yours 10x better," Kirito chimes in, as I laugh more.

"Suits your 'Shaggy' persona from Scooby-Doo much better," I sassed as Klein's face turned pink.

"I'm not Shaggy!"

"Then I'm not Shortie!"

"Come on, we've got to get going," Kirito whispers, as I turn to him for a heartbeat, before turning back to Klein.

Klein was gone.

Looking at Kirito, we nod before bursting into a sprint, running through the grassfields of tall grass.

This birthday...I can't tell if it's the worst or best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't know when I'll see my parents or brother again, I don't know if I'll ever go to school or see my friends, I don't know if I'll ever wake up...

So, I conclude that I'll make this game the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Looking at a stray wolf that was charging towards us, I whipped out my knife, running a bit harder to push past Kirito.

"I got this!" I shout breathlessly, quickly launching at the wolf and stabbing it between the eyes as I leap-frog over the wolf as it dissolves into an explosion pixels. I quickly land on my feet, running once more.

Regardless of what will happen to me, this was one hell of a birthday.

November 12th, 2022

2,000. That's the number of how many people have already died, and how many more reasons to get out of here.

No one's been able to clear the first floor yet, and no one's even found the boss floor yet.

Raising my eyes to look at Kirito, who sat next to me on the risers of the arena, my eyes catch on his shining-silver chestplate on top of his starter clothes.

And because no one's been able to clear the first floor yet, most still have the starter clothing items.

Oh, and a magic update? I'm still able to do it, though it's harder to do. I have to evade the system a bit more, or else the computers will try to kill the magic entity that can be viewed as a 'threat.' I have to do mainly wordless, which I'm not complaining about since that's my forte, but it's annoying at times.

"Thank you for coming today, everyone!" A blue-haired man calls from the front, pulling me from my thoughts. Looking up at him, I focused my aura around my eyes and saw that it was the same blue with spreckles of grey floating about it, and I shuddered.

Everyone had auras, and with it we can use what people call 'magic.' Some people were better at using it than others, and those were the witches and wizards. If you or a witch in your family had spent an excessive amount of time around a grim reaper, AKA a shinigami, they would develop something called 'shinigami eyes,' where they can see bad fortune around a person leading to their death. Whenever someone had spreckles of grey or black floating around their aura, death would be closing in on them...

Diminishing the aura fluttering around my eyes, I leaned back. Most auras were not visible to the human eye, but with witches and wizards it's easy to see naturally. Only half of the witch population can see the grey flecks, though.

"My name is Diabel, and I like to consider my "job" a knight."

Um, what valiant deeds have you done yet? Wait...who even has natural blue hair? I remember reading in the online forums that there was hair dye potions, but they were hard to find...

...but if you already know where it is, it won't be too hard. He must be a beta tester!

That might be a good thing, too, because I don't want a nincompoop leading us.

Everyone laughed at Diabel, "There is no job system in the game!" Someone shouts.

"Take this job more seriously!"

"Is this meeting a joke, too?"

"Silence!" Diabel shouts, as the room falls quiet. "Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower."

I leaned forward in interest as everyone gasped.

"We need to finish that boss so we can get to the second floor. Then, we can tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings it's possible to beat the game!" Diabel states with a flourish, "Everyone needs to join together, as we all share this duty!"

Everyone started applauding, and I joined them, noticing Kirito was just smiling.

"Alright! Everyone, divide into parties of 6, so there'll be 5 parties in total."

Kirito looked around in fear, as I laughed slightly.

"Where will we go?" He asks, looking at Diabel. "Do you think he'll allow us in his party?"

"No!" I whisper-shout, before coughing. "I, uh, I mean I don't think it's a good idea to join Diabel's party."

Kirito arches a brow, "Why not?"

Because Diabel has bad luck and death flecked into his aura. "A gut feeling. Besides, we're both lone wolves, Kirito," I whisper, nudging him towards a person in a cloak. "And they are, too."

We both shuffled over, as I looked at the person. You can't see their face under the hood, but they seemed tiny and slim.

"You got left out, too?" Kirito asks, trying to be relatable.

"No, I just stayed out because everyone seemed to know each other," the person says, as I notice their voice is in the higher register. So, there's another girl here besides me...

Thank the gods!

"Oh! We're both solos too! Here, why don't you join our party?" I ask, bumbling happily as I pull up the party invite. "Y'know, the cast of HSM once said 'we're all in this together,' and we can't beat the boss alone."

The person nods slightly, a faint smile on their lips as I show them the invite, which they accept. Their name pops up below Kirito's, reading 'Asuna.'

Yep, that's a girl name!

"Okay everyone, since we all formed parties, then-"

"Hold up!" A gravelly voice shouts, leaping down the stairs by every 5 as everyone 'woahs' in amazement. That's so easy to do, especially when the gravity in this game is 3/4 than in real life!

"My name is Kibaou! I wanna say something before we take on the boss...you beta-tests out there need to apologize to the two thousand who have died so far!" He shouts, as my eyebrow twitches.

"Somebody hold me back, or else I'm going to drag him by his stupid hair," I mumble.

"On the day we entered this game, the beta-testers ditched the beginners, all of them disappearing! They took all the good hunting spots, quests and missions to only benefit themselves! To apologize, they should give us all the money and items they've earned! I know at least one beta tester is in here!"

Kirito was about to stand up, but I stand up instead, cupping my hands around my mouth. "You're just mad because you suck, Cactus-man!"

Everyone chuckled as he angrily looked at me, as Cactus-man shook his head, cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. "Am not! I'm sticking up for the beginners! You must be a beta-tester!"

"So, what if I am?" I respond, going down the steps one by one, "I'm not going to say yes or no to that claim, but I'll say one thing to you first."

I was towering above him by about half an inch, but it was enough to be fear-invoking. "Don't make assumptions, or you might end up dead. It's not like they killed all 2,000 people, but if you don't shut it you'll make it 2,001." I whisper as he gulps, and I giggle slightly. "Have a nice day!" I bumble, skipping back up and sitting by Kirito and Asuna.

"What was that?!" Kirito asks, as I arch a brow. "What?"

"You seemed really, how do I put this, scary!" Kirito informs as I laugh. "My sister taught me how to appear scary, besides, I have a natural RBF."

This big, black guy named Egil approaches Cactus-guy and says something, but I zone him out. How did my sister know how to do all of this stuff, yet she was a normal academic student?

"Back to what we were talking about," Diabel says, drawing my attention back to reality, "the latest issue of the guidebook has been released. It contains information that has been collected on this boss. According to it, the boss' name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He is guarded by assistants known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels, and is armed with an axe and buckler."

"He has four health bars, and when the last one reaches red he switches to a weapon called a Talwar. His pattern of attack changes as well. Whoever's party slays a monster, they get to keep that XP. Whoever scores an item gets to keep it. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their head no, as Diabel nods. "Meeting adjourned."

Hearing the shuffling of feet, I turn and watch Asuna begin to walk away. Sighing, I look at Kirito.

"I'm hungry."

"Kirito, I'm going out on the town," I call out as I leave the inn room, "I'll be back in a few!"

"Alright," he calls back, flopping back down onto his bed. I race out of the inn, letting my aura place over my eyes as I see the sparkle of auras all around me, before finding a red-peachy colored one; which is loosely concentrated around the person's body. They must be feeling pretty down in the dumps.

The reason I wanted out of the room was because Kirito is always stoic right before we go on missions, so I wanted to have a bit of fun before we did. But if there's a person feeling sad, I'm bound to help!

Walking over to that person on the bench, I see it's Asuna from earlier. "Hey, A-sun-a!" I sound out, sitting on the bench next to them as they look over at me.

"What do you want?" They ask lowly, and I smile.

"To be friends! Us gals in this game gotta stick together," I inform, as Asuna gasps.

"H-how did you know?"

"The name and your voice gave it away, no offense," I reply, leaning back on the bench. "I'm Lee, by the way."

"Asuna, but you know that already," She replies, and I laugh slightly.

"Agh, I wish there was pizza in this game, but all we have is this stupid bread." I nod at the bread in her hand as I whip out my own, and she laughs slightly.

"Yeah, I guess. I didn't have a lot of pizza from where I used to live, though," she states, as I arch a brow.

"Where did you live?"

"Err, I mean, uh-"

"You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want," I reply, as she sighs in relief. "Thanks."

"I understand. My family and I used to live in America, but we moved over to Japan a few years ago. But, my sister and I both have scholarships over in America, she goes to some fancy-schmancy school in Michigan and I go to a school in Oregon."

"What do you go to school for?" She asks.

"Music."

Ah, yes, the generic reply I tell everyone. Unless they're a music fanatic, they don't ask too many questions.

"That's cool, you must be talented then," she replies, munching on the tasteless bread.

"I really don't know anymore, I was on summer break when I entered this game. I don't know how talented I'll be when I get out," I sigh, wondering how much magic I'll remember when I'm back. Mentally practicing magic isn't the same as actually doing the deal...

"Here, I have some jam packets I stole from an inn," I remembered, pulling two packets of jam from my pocket, tossing one to her. She looks at it, obviously confused.

"I never saw these on the table?" She wonders, as I laugh.

"The NPC stores them under the counter at the Vines and Roses Inn, and if you mention fruit to the NPC the main NPC will go into a lecture of strawberry jam. He'll show you his collection, so I grabbed a couple handfuls and ran. Of course, he lectured me about it after," I explain as Asuna burst into giggles.

We spread the jam on the bland bread, before scarfing it down.

"Ah, this is so good," I rub my belly happily, "that's one good point of this game. Good food!"

"Y'know," Asuna says, licking her fingers, "I didn't come to this town to eat good food."

My smile twitched slightly into a frown, and I nod in understanding.

"No one did."

"Yeah, but now I decided to be myself here. I still want to be me. I'd rather be myself until the end instead of rotting away at the inn in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this game...no, to this world. No matter what, I'll do what I can."

"Well said, but you missed one vital point," I correct, as she looks at me. "What is that?"

"You're not going to die anytime soon," I smile, remembering her aura has no grey or black specks in slight, meaning she'll be safe for the next few weeks.

"Well, I've got to get back to my inn soon, or else Kirito is going to wring my neck," I sigh, standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll be ourselves together."

"Bye, Lee."

I walked back to the inn, before crashing for a long, well-deserved sleep.

Trekking through the forest, Kirito goes over the plan of attack for the sentinels.

"Why do we have to get the sentinels, though? We're strong enough for the boss!" I whine, as Kirito chuckles. "We're the leftovers. Besides, we'll get more XP since there's more sentinels than bosses."

I sigh, "I guess so..."

We arrive at the base of the stone tower, as Diabel pumps his fist up. "Let's lead the people to victory! Now, let's go!"

Diabel turned around, creaking open the large, wooden doors to the black, stone room. A pair of red, glowing eyes flashed from the back of the room, and I shuddered slightly.

The water color-like glass illuminated the room in a barrage of colors as the big, red ogre-like-rabbit-kangaroo hybrid jumped down from his throne, towering above us all about 50 meters away. He wore a purple loincloth, holding a shield. 3 sentinels appeared besides him, and I laughed slightly.

Why is he wearing a loincloth? How silly!

The squadron of monsters charged forward, as a sentinel ran towards the sidelines of our parties.

"Our team has the left monster!" I shout, withdrawing my blade as I charged forward at the monster. Exchanging easy parries, I rolled my eyes.

This was too easy!

Faking a left swing, I swung from the right instead, taking my sword and dragging it through the sentinel's torso, cutting it in half with a grid of red lines. My sword glowed gold for a moment, before the weird sentinel burst into pixels.

"Lee! Above you!" Asuna shouts, as I look up to see a glowing light as the next Sentinel formed. Rolling to the side just as it landed, Asuna rushed forward and decapitated it, bursting it into pixels.

"Good job, 'Suna!" I abbreviate, turning to the main boss as he let out an angry roar. Hell, he looks more like a kangaroo now...

And he's on his last health bar! Yes!

"I got this!" Diabel shouts, rushing forward as his sword glows golden. The kangaroo threw his weapons aside, whipping out a sword-

No...that's not a Talwar. That's a No-Dachi! And it looks like we're in Hell's Kitchen now!

The angry kangaroo thrashed Diabel across with his No-Dachi, sending him aside with a large gash in his chest, throwing him by me.

"Oh shit!" I shout, sliding over to Diabel as I put my hand over his cut. "P-please," He whispers as his health bar begins to drop, "run."

"No, Mr. Diabel!" I urge, pressing my hands against his chest, "I need to heal this."

"There's no healing potions available until flour 3, I'm dead."

"Close your eyes, now," I whisper, closing my eyes as they begin to blaze golden. Pouring my energy into my hands as it swarms into his cut, turning the gridlines gold as they sew it up until he's full health. Opening my eyes, I look at Diabel, laying before me.

Diabel opens his eyes as he looks at his chest, seemingly amazed. His mouth falls open as he looks at me, seemingly confused.

"Th-there's no magic in this game, though?"

"No magic that's given," I whisper, standing up, "most games have a final boss item. That's what you were after, right?"

He hesitantly nods, as I shake my head. "Prepare yourself more, and remember that you have friends in battle." Turning my body from him, I look over my shoulder. "And don't tell anyone."

No one had noticed I healed him, anyway.

Pulling out my better sword, I sheath the old one as I stand beside Asuna and Kirito. "Let's do this, guys," I whisper, rolling my neck as I bounce on the balls of my feet.

"Who else will?" Asuna shoots back as we take off running at the giant kangaroo.

Kirito charges first as I run around to the other side, and the kangaroo blindly swipes at Asuna who went in for the second attack, knocking her cape off instead to reveal a girl with flowing, brownish hair. Kirito gasps as the sheer amazingness of a girl in his attack party.

Like WOW! Who knew a girl could be under that cape? Especially with a girl name and a girly voice? Of course, you can't assume genders in 2022.

The kangaroo falls backward as I grabbed my blade, jumping at it as I slash a piece of fat from his neck (AoT style.). He roars in anger as Kirito and Asuna press on, swiping left and right. The kangaroo pushes Kirito back as I press my sword into its shoulder blade, holding on for dear life as he sends a large, angry gash into Kirito's chest, throwing him and Asuna back.

"K-Kirito?" I ask quietly, looking as Asuna hovers over Kirito's body, an upset look on her face. My lip twitches in anger, as I jump off the kangaroo, sword positioned upward at the red monstrosity.

"You mess with my friends, you hunk of Australian meat?" I roar as my eyes flicker to an amber color, the color between gold and my normal brown. My hair begins to float around me, as it does when I feel emotional, my sword turns a bright gold. My feet land on the ground with a small patter, kicking up dust around me.

"When I'm done with you, you're just going to be XP on my level bar!" I scream, running forward as the kangaroo jumps. He swings his No-Dachi, and I spin in the air to dodge it, feet landing on his shoulder as I firmly take my sword in the place I had cut his neck, dragging it down his back as I slid. He roared in pain, thrashing about to try to buck me off.

I pressed forward more, eyes finally reaching their golden peak as my blade ignites in a golden fire, completely pushing through to the other side of the kangaroo.

Landing on my feet before rolling to safety, the kangaroo finally explodes into its pixel form of blue light. My eyes fade to brown as my hair limply falls back down, and I breathe heavily. Dabbing away the sweat at my brow, I turn back to everyone as I raised my sword victoriously in the air. "We are victorious!" I crow, as everyone cheers.

The words 'Congratulations!' appeared above us as individual screens explaining our XP earnings flashed in front of us, as I turned to Kirito and Asuna, who were running towards me.

"LEE!" They cry out, giving me a big hug.

"Ah! Kirito! Are you okay?" I ask, and he nods, holding up an empty vial. "Diabel had a healing potion."

Of course he did...I'm probably going to end up sleeping for two days because of that healing I did! Of course, I don't know how tired I'll be since I only healed him inside a game...

"How much XP did you guys get?" I ask, looking at my screen.

"It's safe to say that I'm level 9 now," Kirito notes, as Asuna nods in agreement. Looking at my screen, my eyes widened.

"I got the last attack bonus?" I ask surprised as Asuna pats me on the back. "Good job, you deserved it!"

"You guys did it too," I testify, but Kirito shakes his head.

"You were the one who got the boss the most, hell, I've never seen you like that before!" Kirito exclaims, as I chuckle awkwardly. "Adrenaline, I guess."

"Why?!" A voice shouts, as the room fell quiet. We all turned to Cactus-man, as he pointed at me. "Why did you cover the boss by yourself?!"

"Uh, I didn't, everyone helped throughout the entire time and I issued its final blow," I corrected, and he crosses his arms.

"But how did you heal Diabel?! The guidebook says there's no healing potions until floor 3! That means you must have it from previous playing!" Cactus shouts as everyone whispers among themselves.

"Is she a beta tester?"

"Is that how she knew how to beat the boss?"

Looking at Diabel in the eyes, he turned away from me, not looking at me again. "She's definitely a beta tester! That's why she stole the boss for her own, and knew how to smuggle a potion for Diabel! Because she already had one! Others might be beta testers too!"

Well, it's either be a hated beta tester or reveal that I'm a witch. I stayed quiet as everyone glanced around, before I laughed lightly, before it grew louder and louder.

"Oh! Isn't that extremely flattering. Ha, not!" I announce, twirling a curl around my finger. "Me? A beta tester? Selected out of millions who submitted applications to get the game? Why, if I was into short men who come up as the definition of 'prick' I'd be interested. This is extreme flattery, y'know." I walk forward, shoes clacking on the floor as I stood before Cactus-man.

"Of course, I have faced things far worse than a red kangaroo. Monsters who hide underneath children's beds, things that go bump in the night, and things that can make a grown man cry for his mother," I look at cactus-man, a shadow falling over my eyes as they flash golden for a split second, before returning to their brown.

"Calling me a beta-tester makes me seem far less dangerous than I actually am, do not forget my threat, 2 thousand and 1." I spit out, throwing my sword up into the air as it lands backwards into my sheath.

"And, if calling me a beta-tester makes you feel safer, feel free to do so. But just know that wherever people like you," I jab my finger at the cactus man, "are somewhere, I'll be there like a shadow."

He gulped, sweating nervously. "Y-you're a devil! N-no, even worse: a cheater!"

"Yeah! Devil!"

"Never trust the cheater!"

"A deviant!"

"Deviant, huh?" I ask aloud, considering the idea. "how appropriate. I think it's very fitting of me."

The room falls silent as I open up my inventory. "And deviants, well, they doesn't give a flying fuck about standards, too."

Selecting the Coat of Dusk, a dark, purple coat fluttered about my body, as everyone looked at me in shock.

"Toodloo, everyone!" I cackle, "This deviant has places to be, and people's asses to kick, and I have potions aplenty, too!"

I strutted away from them, walking to the doors as Kirito ran up behind me. "Are you coming along, Kirito?" I ask, as he falls into pace with me.

"Well, why not?" He smirks as I chuckle darkly.

"Get ready for a world of trouble, then," I respond as I hear the shuffling of feet. Turning to see Asuna, I pause.

"Are you going to join us, 'Suna?" I ask, and she shakes her head. "I have one question for you first, before you go."

"Ask away," I respond, turning to face her fully as I stepped down a step.

"Why did your eyes glow?" She whispered so only I could here, and my heart dropped. "When you were fighting the kanga-I mean, the boss, your eyes were practically glowing golden."

"It must be the lighting, they're brownish-gold anyway," I respond quickly, pulling up my friend list and showing it to her. "If you ever want to stay in contact, hit me up. I'd love to have jam with bad buns again."

She laughed slightly, pressing the + button. "I'd like that, too."

"Alright 'Sun. I'm going to give you some advice, don't hide yourself. Be yourself, and don't rot away. Hell, join a guild who'll appreciate you," I lecture, giving her a final smile before turning and walking off.

The stone doors slowly opened, as Kirito looked at the party list, swiping the delete button on Asuna as we walked away from her.

A/N

While I was writing this, I decided to use Ivy Adams' sister, Natalie, for this.

Ivy Adams is an OC from my Kuroshitsuji series (you can read Eternitarian and be spoilers-free), and it is mentioned she has a sister a few times. Since I've written about Ivy's grandmother in her own part, I thought it'd be fun if I write about the sister.

It would work perfectly, because Natalie has her own secrets, too.

If you remembered anything about Natalie from my other series (which you probably don't) here are the only things I'm changing about her and the storyline:

-She has brown/golden eyes

-She has curly hair

-The year is 2022

-They live in Japan, because SAO is in Japan (technically speaking, that is)

She will reference Ivy, her sister, occasionally, but it's not necessary to read my other fanfic.