"Seriously…? What on earth is that guy doing?" "Is he trying to challenge Kirito?" "Hey, Yui, Kizmel—you two didn't seem surprised at all…"
At that question, Yui replied with a troubled look on her face.
"I'm sorry, Papa told me to keep it a secret."
Kizmel nodded as well, agreeing with her.
"Which means…" "That's actually Hachiman…"
Three people were visibly shaken by those words: Asuna, Komachi, and Yukino. The three of them gathered huddling at the counter, whispering softly to one another.
"Wait, but Shana definitely showed up earlier, right?" "What does that mean?" "I wonder if one of them is the real deal and the other is an impostor." "Huh? But everyone's here except for Soleil-san and Mebius-san, right?" "Is there a chance it's one of those two?" "No way. Both Soleil-san and Mebius-san said they were busy with work. Liz asked them to join right before logging in, so there's no way they could've made it in time."
Then Yukino offered another possibility.
"Could it be one of the Ten Wolves?" "Hmm… M-san or Ikoma-kun? I doubt it." "...I wonder who on earth it could be." "Well, if we keep watching, we'll probably figure it out soon enough!"
Pretending nothing was amiss, the three returned to their original spots.
"Now then, I wonder what kind of fighting style he'll use…"
The moment someone muttered that, Hachiman on the screen began to move.
"Huh?"
Musketeer X was the first to react to Hachiman, simply because the appearance was far too familiar. Musketeer X hurriedly looked over at Shana, but Shana was merely staring at the screen with an expressionless face. Then, one after another, people began reacting to the name Hachiman.
"Huh? Wait, could that be… wait, what? Shana?" "No way… What's going on?" "Huh, seriously? Wait…" "Wait, I don't get what's happening at all…"
Such was the reaction from Pitohui, Sinon, Yamikaze, and Usushio Tarako—the members who knew Hachiman in real life. Kirito was similarly wide-eyed.
"Wait… could that be Hachiman? Oh man, did he figure out I was in GGO?"
That seemed to be what Kirito was worried about. Meanwhile, the others were shocked in a completely different way.
"Wait, by Hachiman, do they mean that Hachiman from ALO?" "The famous guy? No, no way…" "Maybe it's just someone with the same name." "Or maybe it's just a fan of ALO's Hachiman!" "It'd be pretty interesting if it's the real deal, though."
Similar reactions could be seen all across the city.
"Is that the real deal?" "It'd be awesome if it's the real one." "Right! I'm a fan of that guy!" "I wonder how he fights…"
And then, a strange silence enveloped the city.
"He moved!"
Someone shouted, and Hachiman on the screen started moving.
"Is that gun… a Beretta 92?" "No, looks like he's got something strapped to his waist too…" "Could that be…" "A Photon Sword?" "Huh? But isn't Ikoma-kyun the only one who can craft Photon Swords right now?" "I'll check with him to see if he made a Photon Sword for anyone recently."
Saying so, Sinon sent a message to Ikoma. A reply came back from Ikoma almost immediately. Apparently, Ikoma hadn't crafted a Photon Sword for anyone outside of the Ten Wolves yet.
"He says he didn't make one." "Though, if there's any possibility, it'd be for Shizuka or Benkei, who aren't here, right?" "We can tell by the blade color! So, which is it—pink or silver, Yozakura or Hakugin?!"
Hachiman used the Beretta for suppressive fire, skillfully utilizing obstacles to gradually close the distance to the enemy.
"His movement is smooth…" "Feels like the opponent is slowly being backed into a corner." "To put it nicely, he's faithful to the basics. To put it bluntly, he's average?" "Nah, guys like that are the most annoying to deal with. Style-wise, he resembles Xeccd."
Everyone nodded at Usushio Tarako's words. And then, the moment finally came. Just when it seemed the distance between him and the enemy had closed enough, Hachiman drew the sword at his waist, leaped, and sliced the opponent clean in two with a horizontal sweep.
"So fast!" "Before I even realized it, the enemy was cut in half…" "It looked vaguely like an iaidou draw…"
After the enemy vanished, Hachiman made a gesture as if flicking blood off the blade. The color of that blade was… black.
"It's neither pink nor silver?!" "Are you kidding me, black?!" "Isn't that Shana's…" """""""Acht X?!"""""""
Everyone present shouted in unison.
"For real? So that's one half of Shana's Acht X?" "Is it Left? Or Right?" "Pito, that's not the issue right now." "Yeah, hey Shana, what on earth is going—…huh?"
Before anyone realized it, Shana had disappeared.
"Hey, where's Shana?" "He was right there a second ago…" "Did he seriously run off?!" "Shana, where are you?!" "Hey, Kirito-kun, did you see Shana?"
Sinon called out to Kirito, but Kirito didn't respond.
"Kirito-kun. Kirito-kun!" "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was glued to the screen." "Hey, how did that fight look to your eyes, Kirito-kun?"
Sinon asked out of curiosity.
"Hmm? You mean the talk about whether that's ALO's Hachiman?" "Well, to put it plainly, yeah." "That's not Hachiman. If you ask me who he resembles, I'd say Klein." "Klein-san? Ah, the katana user?"
Sinon recalled her knowledge of Valhalla and said.
"You're well-informed." "Well, I looked it up before." "I see. Well, you're right. In short, those are the movements of someone who usually uses a katana." "A katana…" "But it's not Klein. That guy can't use iaidou." "I see…" "Things just got interesting…"
Kirito's eyes gleamed like a beast targeting its prey as he muttered those words.
"Hey, good work."
In one of the private rooms available for players to freely use, Shana greeted Hachiman.
"Man, talking to myself feels absurdly weird…" "It feels absurdly weird for me too, but at least not having stiff shoulders is nice." "Well, the chest, yeah…" "Well, as for the weirdness down below…" "Whoa, hold it right there. Dirty jokes are banned, Ai." "Can't be helped then. Well, I'll check it out in the restroom later anyway, so it doesn't matter." "Just so you know, there are no restrooms in this game." "Boo."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the room's entrance, making both of them jump.
"...Who is it?" "It's me." "I can't tell who 'me' is." "It's your Max, Shana-sama." "Max?"
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