"And what about YOU then? What's the deal with us not taking any breaks?" A young man complained, trotting down the ice-covered path, nearly slipping.

"Oh, fuck off Will, will yeh? It'll be done when it's done."

"And what was Rebecca going on about when…" The voices of the traveling players got further and further from the tree in which Kirito was perched in. Despite the frigid temperatures of the winter which was on its way to a close, the swordsman was rather warm. His access to various coats and gloves and anything of the liking was vast, as he had completed most of the fetch quests for NPC's on the first 50 floors.

Sadly, much of his interaction over the past two to three months was in fact with NPC's, leaving his social life rather stale. With the harrowing long over, the fear of pk'ers had finally ceased, but that did nothing to save Kirito's reputation amongst the populace. From the few rumors he had gathered, there was an extremely bloody battle and siege at the town of beginnings after the green players were not able to capture him; beginning a widespread belief that Kirito was just as evil as any laughing coffin member.

Kirito would open his menu and pull out one of the scopes for a sniper rifle that he had been tinkering on and was testing the various variable zooms down the mountainous paths below him. It seemed like the game had some visual assistance and range indicators when using such scopes. Nice.

Kirito's work was nearing completion, as with the evolutionary theme of Aincrad, he had hypothesized that modern weaponry would be the best long-term solution to clearing the final floors. The main issue now was his tarnished reputation, especially since he'd need Asada to wield the weapon he was making.

With a sigh, he began to recollect XaXa, and the whole lot of laughing coffin which were truly despicable individuals, yet XaXa had correctly proved that people were monsters in general. His mind shifted to Heathcliff, and the various pawns that would believe in their guild leader's decision to try and kill Kirito, and they were supposed to be the good guys.

He felt himself get angry and noticed he hadn't made any further progress with his scope testing, which prompted him to take a deep breath and try not to think about it. Regaining his focus, another thought snuck into his mind, that of his black-haired friend smiling at him in his bedroom, remembering the tender moment they shared the days prior to entering this hell hole.

He missed her.

For months, he hadn't spoken with her in fear of her being caught up in his now always-wanted reputation. A few times he had, while he felt ashamed of it, followed her using his metamaterial camouflage cloak. She wasn't danger at these times but found solace in seeing her when he could. It was in his best interest and her best interest for them to stay far apart until he found a way to make the green players not want his head, but they were just so horrible.

Again, realizing how distracted he was, staring at the same ridge in the mountain for nearly two minutes, he cursed and pocketed the scope.

He checked his clock and hopped down from the tree after activating his MMC.

Very shortly, he would be stalking the clear team as they worked on the next floor and would keep an eye on them. Luckily the clear teams harbored no ill will against Kirito, despite Heathcliff's influence. Red, Green, nothing mattered when it came to further the progress of humanity through the game.

…

Floor 64 was nothing special, the harder bosses tended to be on the new tiers, like 70 or 80, but Kirito showed up either way, disabling his cloak.

"Sup Al." The red player muttered, causing a few knights to jump as he seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Ah, there he is!" Alfred, a player donned in a full suit of armor. He was the leader of a, thankfully, normal clear guild that had been popular in the last few weeks They were simply called "The Squad". Kirito had been assisting them in the last few weeks, feeling more desperate to be out of this hell hole of a game.

A new emergence of people wanting to escape had risen due to a new form of death occurring, which people had been calling "expiring". People were randomly dying in their sleep, or just at random times during the day. At first, it had been thought to be laughing coffin, but it wasn't murder.

People without ample medical resources in real life, were passing away.

"Standard plan, prebuff and then we just face check the boss? I have no info on this floor."

"That's the plan, if it gets too hot, we just port out." Al nodded, handing a spear to his guildie.

"No prob- "

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Asuna walked up glaring at Kirito.

Kirito sighed. 'Shit.'

"Hello."

"Don't you hello me, where the hell- "

The swordsman shot her a powerful glare, prompting her to stop talking. A few of The Squad were looking over, interested in what their new recruit Asuna would want with the renown red player

"Oh, I'm sorry miss, I think I stole your sword a month or so back! Haha." He lied, ushering her to the side.

"Sinon has been crying her eyes out! -"

Now further away, Kirito finally responded.

"Are you stupid?" Kirito asked, bluntly. Asuna's normally confident and aggressive demeanor of problem solving backed down, looking a little sad.

"I just… There's so many questions…" She bit her lip.

"Firstly, you probably don't want to be seen with me, or pretend to know me, my reputation has gone to shit. Also, do not mention Sinon and me, it would put her in danger." He commanded.

"Why did you vanish? We were so worried about you. I was worried." Her voice went soft, as emotion caught up to her and began to show in her eyes.

"Those fuckers tried to kill me, and they are blaming me for the massacre that took place after since I didn't go along willingly."

"But why did you leave me? Why not find me and talk…? I can be there for you, you know?" Asuna anger was gone, but her sadness stayed.

Kirito looked towards The Squad.

"People change. I remember in high school reading about these children who were trapped on an island, and how it changed them. The people in this game are no different, I don't trust them."

"But… You can trust me, Kazuto." Asuna put a hand on his chest, missing his warmth.

"Exactly, if they know we're close, who knows what'll happen to you."

"Can I at least tell everyone you're alright…?"

Kirito sighed, but nodded.

"Yeah."

It looked as if The Squad was going to start soon.

"Oh, and Kazuto?" Asuna asked, prompting him to look at her one more time before departing.

"Hm?"

"Are we still… Like… A thing?" Her eyes were very curious, and still filled with visible anxiety.

He rolled his tongue around in his mouth in thought, thinking back. They had had sex multiple times, and messed around in high school, but when it came to be wanting to be with someone, he could only think about the girl who looked up to him so dearly, Asada Shino. The thought of someone else being her protector filled him with rage and menial emotions, which helped give his answer.

"You are very important to me, Asuna, you always will be, we know a lot about one another. But I think you know where my heart belongs."

"I see." She said after a pause and cleared her throat. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I just joined these guys so let's go see what they've got."

Kirito grinned. "They're not bad. Also, pretend you don't know me please."

"Fine."

They set off into the floor's dungeon, eager to reach another step towards going home.