Unital Ring II: The Virtual Study Society

To the Stiss Ruins

Kirito, Level-16, with proficiency points in One-Handed Swords, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Woodworking, Stoneworking, and Beast-Taming; skill points in Brawn.

Alice, Level-15. with proficiency points in Bastard Swords, Pottery, Weaving, and Tailoring; skill points in Brawn.

Jaymes, Level-15, with proficiency points in Riding, Woodworking, Night-Vision, and Stoneworking; skill points in Brawn, Toughness, and Sagacity.

Philia, Level-8, with proficiency points in Thief, Woodworking, and Stoneworking; skill points in Swiftness.

That's the current outlook for my party of four that travels south along the river to the starting point for ALO players, the Stiss Ruins, where we're to meet up with Argo the Rat. Alice and Kirito run ahead while Philia and I converse and lag behind. The conversation we're having is not one I want to fall on the ears of Kirito, though it is only because Philia tagged along that I can speak the inner workings of my mind.

Namely, the strange appearance of a classmate of Philia's, Shimiki Kamura.

"Kamura...well, I can tell you that she's gorgeous and popular in our room. Her dark hair, slender frame, and mysterious nature make her very attractive. Out of your league, if I may say so yourself."

"And what is my league, Kotone?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. You seem to select whichever one fills a gap in your life. That's terribly pathetic when it's said out loud, but it's true."

I can't take the stabbing truth to my heart right now. It hurts more with the fact that Kotone used to bear feelings for me while I dated Rika. I regret asking that question and continue with the original topic. "So, in class, there's nothing weird about her?"

"Nothing. Granted, it's only been two days. I may need a week before I sense any change of attitude. But knowing the full story, what you've learned from Kikuoka, it does seem suspicious. I, too, felt it was weird that she transferred there so late in her high school career with her credits, and to the SAO school at that. But knowing the Kamura company is doing something shady... What's your take on it?"

I close my eyes and think things through. At the SAO Survivor School, the names "Kirito," "Asuna," "Jaymes," "Koharu," and "Lisbeth" are well-known; the four of us as renowned frontier players and Liz was a popular blacksmith and the first legitimate one. "Silica" and "Philia" have their fan clubs, sure. But besides that, no one at the school - and I say that without truly investigating - has ever come after us harmfully. Far as I can tell, Laughing Coffin hasn't infiltrated the school (it did at Shino's, though that's purely circumstantial), and in the last year and a half, our other adventures in ALO, GGO, and SA:O haven't gained us greater notoriety. As a matter of fact, Koharu's admission into the school after the summer break was the only time since school began that we were in the limelight.

As far as I know, Shikimi is not an SAO survivor. Her attendance at the school doesn't prove it, as Argo didn't attend until yesterday; my friends from SAO, Sanya, Liten, and Shivata, are still in school but don't attend ours; Rain doesn't attend high school at all as her idol career has had a successful start the last year and a half.

So to answer Philia's question... "I don't know. I just have a Sugou-like feeling all over again. Maybe I'm wrong, but too many times, the one to do us harm has been someone we've known right there at our side. Laughing Coffin, Heathcliff, Itsuki, Pitohui... even Eydis and Medina. It's been too many times."