"An adventure?" Pitohui asked, tilting her head.
"Yup," Shana replied.
"So, like, mob hunting? Sure, it's great for leveling up," she said, her tone matter-of-fact.
Shana shook his head silently.
"An adventure means exploring the unknown. Mob hunting's just a side effect."
"Huh? I don't get it."
"You sure talk big about 'setting your soul ablaze' for someone who doesn't get it."
"Ugh!"
Pitohui flinched, her face twisting as Shana jabbed at her recent blunder.
"Let's continue this outside town, where it's quiet," he suggested.
At Shana's prompting, the four moved to the city's outskirts. There, he turned to Pitohui with a sudden question.
"So, Pit, what do you think GGO is?"
"Uh, a stress-reliever?"
"How do you relieve stress?"
"By crushing annoying players with overwhelming force!"
"So you went to the popular, efficient hunting grounds, farmed mobs to level up, then focused on PvP, right? Oh, and you've been buying in-game coins with real money, haven't you?"
"Y-yeah… Is that, like, a problem for you?"
Pitohui, assuming Shana was scolding her, looked down sheepishly, glancing up at him.
"Nah, it's not a problem. If you've got cash to spare in real life, spending it to fast-track your fun is fine. It keeps the game's economy spinning."
"Right?"
"Your playstyle makes sense, given your job. Mob hunters and player-killers stick to the main hunting grounds, so you've mostly just shuttled between town and those spots, yeah?"
"Pretty much."
Shana fixed her with a cold stare and declared:
"Let me be blunt—you've barely played one percent of this game. You've touched a tiny fraction of it and think you're having fun. You act like you're relieving stress, but you're not. It builds up again fast, so you dive back into reckless play. You're stuck in a vicious cycle."
Pitohui's eyes flashed with anger at his harsh words. She shouted back:
"So what, Shana? Can you magically wipe away my stress?"
"No chance. But I can help you get a little closer to what you want."
"How?"
"You know about Akihiko Kayaba, right?"
Shana abruptly changed the topic. Pitohui nodded, confused.
"The guy who made SAO."
"Do you know what he did right before he died?"
"Something about frying his brain to kill himself, I think…"
"That's what the news said. But it's not quite true."
Pitohui realized Shana was about to share a piece of the truth she'd been craving. As someone who'd cleared SAO, his words carried undeniable weight. She listened intently, not wanting to miss a single syllable.
"Right before he died, Kayaba scanned his brain at full power. His consciousness is probably still out there, somewhere on the net."
"No way… That's crazy…"
Despite her trust in Shana, Pitohui couldn't help blurting it out. But his next words hit her even harder.
"And I received 'The Seed' from what remained of Kayaba's consciousness. With my friends' help, I spread it. That's what gave birth to the new ALO—and this GGO. You know about The Seed, don't you?"
"No… way…"
Pitohui was speechless, repeating herself as the revelation sank in. If that was true, then Shana was saying…
"So, GGO is…"
"Yup. You could call it a variant of SAO, in a way. So, in a roundabout sense, you're already fulfilling your dream of playing SAO."
"But the gameplay's totally different…"
"Why assume that?"
Shana's expression turned serious.
"Think about this game's setting. It's a world where, after a final war, we escaped to space and returned to fight on this planet, right? Guns aren't the main focus of the setting. What I'm saying is…"
"Yeah?"
"This world is way bigger than you think. You've only seen a tiny piece of it. That's why it's an adventure. Exploring the unknown here is no different from adventuring in SAO. There's so much you haven't seen. Pit, come explore this vast world with us."
Shana extended his hand. Pitohui, her face flushed, grabbed it firmly.
"Sounds like you worked things out, even if I don't get the details," Shizuka said.
"Whoops, my bad. I'll explain briefly," Shana replied.
"No, I got this," Pitohui cut in.
"Alright, it's yours."
Pitohui explained to Shizuka and Kei how she'd once tried to play SAO but couldn't.
"So, Pit, you could've been the second female player in the clearing group," Shizuka said.
"Clearing group?"
"That's what we called the top thirty players," Shana clarified.
"Oh, cool, they were called the clearing group," Pitohui said, her voice bright with excitement at hearing SAO stories.
"Well, it was a mix of a few guilds. Knights of the Blood, Holy Dragon Alliance, stuff like that."
"Were you three in a guild?"
"By the end, we were with the Knights of the Blood. I was the strategist, Shizuka was vice-leader. The leader was the Holy Sword, and the Black Swordsman stayed unguilded. Oh, Kei didn't play SAO."
"Oh, got it. I'm so glad you and Shizuka made it out safe, Kei."
"Thanks, Pit!"
Pitohui's unexpected thoughtfulness caught Kei off guard, and she thanked her sincerely. Shizuka, however, raised an obvious question.
"Hey, Shana, is it cool to spill all this?"
She figured it was fine since Shana was sharing, but she checked anyway. He nodded, glancing at Pitohui.
"She can't go against me, so it's safe."
"Really?"
"Yup. I've got a solid grip on her in real life."
"Yup, he's got me! You can trust me!" Pitohui chirped.
"So, like Rosalia's position," Shizuka muttered, catching on quickly.
Even Asuna, once so innocent, was starting to pick up on the dynamic surrounding Yahata.
"Alright, let's get moving. I'll grab a car, so you three wait here."
"A car?"
"Yeah. These days, hardly anyone has a manual driver's license—almost no one can drive one. But you can rent them in town. That said, I could only drive automatics until I got my manual certification recently. The car I'm grabbing is mine, though. This world's too big to explore on foot."
Shana headed back to town alone, leaving the three women behind. They hit it off, chatting animatedly, when a female player happened by—Sinon, out to practice sniping on mobs. She tensed, especially wary of Pitohui, whose reputation preceded her. But the trio only glanced at her, showing no intent to attack, and continued their cheerful conversation. Intrigued, Sinon lingered, watching them.
Noticing they were all female players, she was stunned. Aside from her mutual aid group, she didn't know any other women in GGO—except Pitohui, the only solo female player she'd heard of. Then, a large vehicle roared up from town—a Humvee driven by Shana.
"That's not one of the rental shop's cars," Sinon muttered, surprised.
She'd never seen one driven before. Curious about the driver, she kept watching and was shocked to see Shana step out. Noticing her, Shana met her gaze but, assuming she was heading out to hunt, only gave a small wave before turning away.
"That's Shana… with three female players? And one's Pitohui?"
Sinon wanted to know more but couldn't muster the courage to approach. Meanwhile, Shizuka, noticing Sinon's staring, spoke briefly with Shana, then started walking toward her. Unable to leave, Sinon watched Shizuka approach.
"Hey there!"
"Uh, h-hello."
"You're Sinon, right? Shana accidentally sniped you the other day. I'm Shizuka, a newbie who just made my character today."
"Oh, I'm Sinon. Nice to meet you, Shizuka."
"Yup, you too! So, we're about to head out on an expedition in that car. If it's not a bother, wanna join us?"
Surprised but intrigued, Sinon nodded instinctively.
"Uh, sure, if I'm not in the way…"
"Awesome! Come on, Sinon, I'll introduce you to the others!"
With Sinon in tow, the group of five set off on an adventure to the ends of the world.
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