Sword Art Online Alternative – Gun Gale Online - Volume 3 - Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 
Applause 
Sunday, April 19th, 2026. 
The forecast for Tokyo’s high that day was getting up to eighty degrees, taking it from warm into hot. 
At 1:07 PM, a car sidled up to the street in front of a high-rise apartment building in the city. It was a deluxe German SUV, polished to a sparkle. 
“Damn, that looks nice! I wish I could cruise around in one of these!” 
“You don’t have your license yet, Miyu.” 
“I could cruise in the back seat.” 
On the wide sidewalk, Miyu and Karen had their jackets draped over their arms as they waited, chatting about the fancy car. Miyu still had the same hairstyle and glasses as when they met during spring vacation; apparently, she liked this look. Karen hadn’t changed her style since cutting her hair. 
They were dressed in loose, comfortable clothing—simple slacks and shirts—but Karen did have a cute little necklace over her collarbone. 
“So is M going to show up or what?” Miyu asked. 
“It’s Goushi. His name is Goushi Asougi,” Karen replied, looking around. 
“I’m sorry about that. I got held up by traffic,” said a voice from a parked car, drawing their attention closer again. 
Opening the driver’s door was a handsome man in a navy-blue suit, sharp and crisp, his hair neatly done. 
“Whoo!” Miyu grunted. 
Oh… He’s still alive. I’m so glad, thought Karen. 
 
Fifteen days earlier had been April 4th, the day of the event. 
After the distant shots unceremoniously killed Fukaziroh and Llenn, they were returned to the waiting area. 
SJ2 ended the moment they died, so there was no need to wait out the ten minutes. In that dark space, Llenn saw the same message prompting her to choose between returning to the bar or logging out. It also said that she was a runner-up. 
There were two MGL-140s on the floor in front of Fukaziroh, whose long hair was still undone. All Llenn had was a knife and a machine gun. 
She chose to return to the bar, rather than sit back and mourn the loss of P-chan the Second. The moment she and Fukaziroh materialized on the little stage in the pub, they were surrounded by raucous cheering. A crowd of people were congratulating them on their valiant effort. Among them were Team SHINC and MMTM. 
Llenn had only one question: Are Pitohui and M, the third-place team, here? 
The audience at the bar asked one another and searched around the room, but they were not present. Llenn apologized and promised she would be right back, before logging out. 
Karen didn’t even take the AmuSphere off when she woke up in her own room again. She sent a message straight to Goushi’s address. PLEASE, OH, PLEASE! 
The cell phone buzzed in her hands as soon as she grabbed it. The message was very brief. 
I’M TALKING WITH HER NOW. ABOUT OUR FUTURE. 
 
“Goushi, this is Miyu. Miyu Shinohara. She’s my best friend and my VR teacher, Fukaziroh.” 
“Hey! Thanks for all the help! I haven’t forgotten about the tape you slapped over my mouth,” Miyu said with a huge thumbs-up. “Wow, you really are incredibly hot. Are you kidding me? Did you walk out of a manga or something? I wouldn’t mind getting married. You doing anything after this?” 
She was as unfiltered as she was regularly in GGO. Goushi looked her straight in the eyes, neither smiling nor faltering, and said, “Thank you for the compliment. But I cannot do that for you. My heart is already promised to another.” 
“Dah!” Miyu made a show of looking disappointed. Then she asked the obvious. “Would that be Pitohui’s player?” 
“Yes.” 
“Dang it. So much for that, I guess.” 
Goushi bowed his head to her. Then he said, “I have no words to express my thanks to you two. I’ve caused you a great amount of trouble. So I would like to attempt to make up for this today. Pito’s player agrees and is very much looking forward to meeting you.” 
Karen narrowed her eyes with a grin. “Same for me!” 
Goushi’s follow-up message came on the previous Monday, April 13th, over a week after SJ2. 
The new school year had begun at college for Karen. She was studying hard every single day and had not logged in to GGO once since the big event. 
Miyu was going to both college and driving school in Hokkaido and was back in ALO, enjoying herself as much as ever. 
Fukaziroh’s GGO gear was now at rest in a locker Llenn was renting. Whether those MGL-140s would ever shoot grenades from their gaping muzzles again was anyone’s guess. 
Goushi’s actual message was simple: PITOHUI SAYS SHE WANTS TO MEET YOU. DO YOU HAVE TIME IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING NEXT SUNDAY? 
Karen accepted the offer, of course, and asked him where she should go and when. 
Goushi replied, I’LL TAKE A CAR TO YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING AT ONE O’CLOCK. GIVEN THE TRAFFIC, PLEASE HAVE EATEN AND USED THE RESTROOM BEFORE I GET THERE. 
That was the whole message. Pitohui prevented him from saying anything more. Worried, Karen called Miyu for advice. She said, “Oh yeah, she’s gonna murder you. Revenge for the game.” That was rather scary. “So I’m gonna tag along. Just tell M, ‘That cute little grenadier I was fighting with wants to meet you guys, too.’ And then add, ‘You can even pay for her trip to Tokyo, if you want.’” 
Karen e-mailed this message to Goushi, assuming he would blow off the bit about the travel expenses, but he accepted right away and sent the confirmation number for a round-trip flight. 
So on Friday evening, Miyu touched down at Haneda Airport. She would be staying at Karen’s apartment. 
Yesterday, on the 18th, Saki and the other gymnastics team members at the high school visited Karen, too. It was the tea party they’d agreed upon. 
They had chosen to help out with the plan to kill Pitohui, when they’d been looking forward to winning the event so badly, so Karen knew she owed them a show of appreciation. She and Miyu went out to get groceries and returned with an appalling amount of snacks and junk food. 
April 20th would be Karen’s twentieth birthday. The younger girls remembered that fact. 
“I know it’s a bit early, but happy birthday, Karen!” 
They had brought a present for her, pooling their allowance money together to get her a delicate necklace of tiny metal links with a little decorative item. 
“We know it’ll look great on you!” 
It was exactly the sort of thing she would never buy for herself but always wished she could wear. 
“Oh! Thank you…” 
Her eyes welled up with tears, and though it took several tries to get it right, she put the necklace on. The six gymnasts cheered. 
“Nice! And this is from me!” 
Miyu gave her an entire box of special instant yakisoba noodles that could be bought only in Hokkaido. 
And then, the 19th. 
Goushi started driving the SUV with Karen and Miyu in the back seat. They made their way through the Sunday traffic, nice and slow and safe. 
“Wow, the interior is swanky, too! You can barely hear any of the outside noise. And these leather seats aren’t too soft or too tough! If only this could be my practice vehicle!” Miyu exclaimed, enraptured. 
Karen leaned forward and asked, “Where are we going, Goushi?” 
Miyu added, “Yeah! That’s a big question! And if you think you’re gonna abduct two sweet young ladies, you’re sorely mistaken! I bet you’re trying to take us to the port to load us on a ship and sell us overseas! Well, I already set everything up: If I don’t touch base tonight, my folks are gonna call the police!” 
She was either excited or angry, or possibly both. Karen hadn’t heard that stuff about calling home, but she knew Miyu was capable of doing something like that. She made a mental note to remind her friend to call tonight. 
Goushi replied, “Oh, don’t worry. We’re not planning to ride any boats today.” 
“Well, that doesn’t tell us a whole lot! Listen, we’re both minors! Even if Kohi’s reaching the legal age tomorrow!” 
“Oh… I didn’t realize that. Happy birthday.” 
“That’s better. Don’t you have a present for her?” Miyu demanded. The car stopped at a light, so Goushi looked over his shoulder at them. 
“I don’t have anything arranged, but I bet the president will.” 
“Ahhh… And is this ‘president’ Pitohui’s real-life identity?” Miyu asked. Goushi nodded. “Then the mystery is solved! So what’s she like?” 
“She said she wanted to reveal that for herself. I cannot say.” 
The light turned green, and he resumed driving. 
With safe and practiced ease, he took them from the main road onto the highway. When they crested the hill to reach the elevated highway, it was jammed shut. The car joined the queue, but it was practically walking speed now. 
Goushi turned the car to automated follow mode and took his hands and feet off the controls. The vehicle would take it from here. 
“That’s Tokyo for ya! Is this going to mess up your plans, Goushi?” Miyu asked from the back seat. 
“I allowed for plenty of time, so we should be fine.” 
“Oh! So…I guess we’ll just hang out and chat! Or do you have something for us?” she prompted. 
“Well, let’s see,” Goushi said. “I can tell you how Pito and I came to meet.” 
“Ooooh! I wanna hear that!” Miyu said, eyes sparkling. 
“Huh…?” Karen’s eyes widened. “Are you sure…?” She just couldn’t imagine why he would suddenly offer that kind of information. 
“The truth is…Pito told me to tell you. It’s easier than explaining it later, and we’re going to have time in traffic anyway. If she hadn’t said that, I would probably have kept it hidden my entire life,” Goushi explained. 
“Ohhh, I see.” “Oh, I see…,” the girls said in unison. 
“However… It’s kind of an intense story, so you might feel a bit unpleasant as I tell you,” he warned. 
“Well, I’ve certainly experienced the sweet and bitter sides of life in equal measure at my age, but I don’t know about Kohi. What do you say?” 
“I’ll listen,” Karen said immediately. 
“You’re sure? You might not be able to sleep tonight.” 
“Well, I’ve already come this far. Plus…” 
“Plus?” 
“I would imagine that Pito asked him to tell me because she wanted me to hear it.” 
“Mmm,” Miyu murmured, actually looking serious for once. She patted the leather shoulder of the driver’s seat. “Well, go ahead, Goushi.” 
“All right. First, take a look at this,” he said, passing back his smartphone. Karen saw that there was a photo on the screen. 
“Hmmm?” “…?” 
It was of a pudgy young man. 
There were people cut off on either side of the image, which made it look like a section of a group photo. The background looked like a college campus; it was probably some sort of school club or class picture. 
He was quite overweight, fat hanging from his face and belly. His slack face looked young still, but the body type also made him look much older. His hair was long but not in a fashionable way. He wore a dirty sweatshirt and baggy jeans in a rather unflattering combination. 
In short: “Yeah, he is not doing anything for me,” said Miyu, rather sharply. “So who is this? It’s not a headshot for a marriage service, is it?” she guessed. “Because I’m sorry, but I cannot marry anyone who looks like this. What about you, Kohi?” 
Karen didn’t believe it was for a marriage-arrangement service, but she considered who it might be and why Goushi would show them something like this. 
“You don’t mean to say…?” 
She stared at the smartphone again and spread her fingers on the screen to zoom in on the man’s face. Since it was already clipped out of a larger group photo, the resolution got very blurry at once. The finer contours around his eyes weren’t clear at all, but Karen had an idea. 
“Is this…you, Goushi…?” she asked. 
“What?! No way!” Miyu said on her right. 
“Yes, it’s true,” Goushi replied at the same time. 
“Bwah—!” 
“That’s me, around the time I first met Pito.” 
“No way!” squawked Miyu, unable to hide her shock. She snatched the phone from Karen’s hands and squinted at it. “You know… Now that I get a better look at it, there’s a lot of handsome under there. This is a guy who’ll be quite the looker if he loses some weight! And at that point, I might just be in the right mood to marry him!” 
She wouldn’t be Miyu if she had any shame. Karen grimaced uncomfortably, but Goushi seemed to find this quite funny. 
Karen examined the smartphone again before returning it to the front seat. Goushi himself briefly looked at the image before turning off the screen and putting it in his pocket. The car was driving itself, but it was still against the law for drivers to stare at their phones. 
“For as long as I could remember, I was fat,” Goushi explained. “I couldn’t imagine ever being as skinny as other people. I hated having my picture taken. I think that’s the only one I have from that period.” 
Karen was going to sit back and listen, but it occurred to her that it might be a difficult thing for Goushi to talk about. And he was the driver, so he needed to pay attention to the road. She just wasn’t sure how she should respond to keep the conversation flowing. 
Fortunately, Miyu did. “Yeah, everybody’s got a past, huh? So what then?” 
I’m so glad she’s here, Karen thought. She sat back and listened. 
“I never had any kind of self-confidence. It seemed like my life was never going to turn around, until one day, I met a woman.” 
“Eek!” Miyu gasped. All of a sudden, his story was getting sentimental. 
“So I started stalking her.” 
“Eek?” she repeated, less certain this time. All of a sudden, his story was getting weird. 
And yet… 
Well, knowing those two… 
Karen was surprised at how unsurprised she was. Perhaps all her time in GGO and around them had given her a sterner spirit than she realized. 
“This is a very ugly, pathetic story about me. As a college student, I was having difficulty lining up a future job, and it was like my heart and mind were being scraped with sandpaper every day.” 
“But you didn’t lose weight?” 
“It was the stress that made me eat…” 
“Then how did you lose—? Sorry. Please continue.” 
“One evening on the way home, I was overwhelmingly hungry, and because I didn’t have any other options, I went into a really fancy, fashionable coffee shop, the kind I would never visit otherwise. When I saw the waitress who brought me water, it felt like someone had just shot a .45-caliber round into my brain.” 
There was a creeping element of happiness in his voice as he spoke, Karen couldn’t help but notice. 
Miyu asked, “And that…was Pito’s player?” 
“Yes. She was like a goddess. I had never seen a more beautiful woman in my life.” 
“Uh, have you looked over your shoulder?” 
“You two are very pretty as well, but you simply don’t compare to her. At least, not in my opinion.” 
“I’m going to sue you for defamation! Anyway… Please continue.” 
“By listening to her and the manager speak, I learned that she was working there full-time, as well as striving for her own dream career. She went to a night school for business and was studying like mad.” 
“Mmm. So what’s up with the stalker part? I mean, if you just show up at the coffee shop all the time, that only makes you a ‘regular.’” 
“Well, I was so taken by her beauty that…” 
“You asked her out?” 
“No, I followed her home.” 
“Him, officer. That’s the guy, right there.” 
“No, really, I don’t know what I was thinking at the time… I certainly could have been arrested. Just about every day, I followed her after she left the café to her school or apartment, always from a safe distance.” 
“And you didn’t get caught? Nobody notices that in Tokyo, then?” 
“I was very careful not to be spotted. I knew that if I followed her all the time, I would stand out, so I memorized her routes and studied the area so I knew which alleys I could go down at which times to naturally wind up behind her again. At some point, I just built up a natural skill for having a map in my head.” 
“Yuck! Creepy!” 
“Yes, it was very creepy of me.” 
But all Karen could think was Of course! That’s how he developed that insane spatial awareness! She had just solved one of M’s many mysteries. 
“But eventually, that period of activity came to an end…,” Goushi said sadly. 
Miyu asked, “Um… Is this safe for a minor to hear? Kohi’s still nineteen as of today.” 
“And your birthday is months away still, Miyu!” snapped Karen, breaking her silence at last. 
“Oh, we don’t need to worry about that. Please continue, Goushi.” 
“Okay. One evening, I was following her, gazing at her beautiful back and imagining myself being side by side with it…” 
“Creepy! …And?” 
“I realized that a man was following her.” 
“What, like…you looked in a mirror?” 
“No. This was definitely another man, one who had been at the coffee shop a few times as a customer. A handsome businessman in a suit.” 
“And?” 
“Like always, I changed my route several times, always winding up back behind her, and by that time, it was clear—he was a stalker. I mean, also a stalker.” 
“And?” 
At this point, Miyu’s interjections were just minimal prompts to continue. Like her, Karen was ravenous for the juicy details. 
“There was a point where her route passed by a little natural park. It was the quietest, loneliest part of her trip. Then the businessman jumped on her, holding her arms behind her and covering her mouth, dragging her into the park. At first, I was taken aback, then I felt a surge of absolute fury within me, and I remember rushing toward the spot where they vanished.” 
“A-and what happened?” 
“The next thing I knew, I was lying down in the park, and she was tending to me.” 
“Ooooh!” 
“Her beautiful face was right next to mine, and she was softly saying, ‘Are you all right?’ I thought I had died. I had to be in Heaven. But I was wrong. According to her, I suddenly rushed in screaming and started fighting with him—kind of. It wasn’t real combat, just childish struggling. In the end, I just fell over; the man kicked me once, then ran off. I hurt all over, but none of it was really that bad, so I think I was lucky.” 
“Nice one! I mean, no, it wasn’t! What happened next?” 
“She said, ‘You’re the gentleman who comes to the café quite a lot, aren’t you? My apartment is nearby, so come there with me. I need to tend to your injuries.’” 
“Yowza! And?” 
“My mind couldn’t work properly at that point, so I followed her, believing it was all a dream. When I got inside her beautifully organized apartment, it smelled so nice, I could have died happy on the spot.” 
“That’s so romantic,” Miyu said dreamily. “And after that is when you two became…” 
“After that was a total nightmare,” Goushi said in the same matter-of-fact tone he’d been using all along. “The next thing I knew, my hands and feet were tied. My memory is a bit foggy, so I don’t remember how things got there. It’s all as vague as a movie I saw in my childhood at this point.” 
“…” “…” 
“After that, she scolded me, insulted me, and struck me. She said things like ‘You stalker!’ and ‘I knew you were doing this all along!’ and ‘I wish you and that other creep were dead!’” 
“…” “…” 
“I learned that she wasn’t some sweet-hearted angel, but a horrifying demon harboring violent and destructive urges deep within her psyche. I was helpless. I bawled and wept all night. When she released me in the morning, she took embarrassing photos and said, ‘If you tell the cops about any of this, I’ll reveal all of your stalking behavior.’” 
“…” “…” 
“After that, I became her ‘boyfriend.’ If she called, I had to go to her, no matter how busy I was. I couldn’t focus on getting a job, and I couldn’t really take college classes, either. Eventually, I grew to love that life. What better calling could there be for a man than being at the side of a beautiful woman and serving her needs?” 
“Um, have you sold the movie rights yet? Because I could direct this,” said Miyu. Her talent for cracking a joke about anything was tremendous. 
So this is how Pito and M came to be. I guess this means the M definitely doesn’t stand for map, Karen thought, adopting the expression of some wise detective who’d just cracked the case. 

“Wow, that’s love for ya!” Miyu said happily. 
“Yes. At the very least, there was love between us. And there still is.” 
“Eee! So did you lose all that weight for her?” 
“Actually, I didn’t really do anything by design… It just happened while I was working as the demon lord’s henchman. When she called, I had to run to her side. She would force me to do stuff all night without any time for meals. Once I had lost a certain amount of weight, I tried to be mindful of my appearance so that I didn’t embarrass her when we walked around together in public.” 
“We should write a book about this—The Henchman Diet! It’d be a bestseller!” 
“Maybe…someday. At any rate, she and I lived together happily, if unconventionally. She made her dream come true, and I helped root her on. They were very fulfilling and successful times—until that day just over three years ago.” 
Karen finally spoke up. “You mean November 6th, 2022?” 
“That’s right.” 
Miyu glanced at Karen. “Ummm, what day was that?” 
She answered, “The launch day for Sword Art Online.” 
“That’s right!” In order to explain the situation, Karen had told Miyu that Pitohui had been an SAO beta tester and what had happened after that. “Ah yes, I see… I understand very well… It was a really fascinating story, in fact…,” she said, nodding repeatedly. 
Karen asked Goushi, “And did Pito want us to hear all about that stuff, too? That wasn’t your decision?” 
“This is by her request. She said, ‘No secrets from Llenn!’” 
“Okay…” 
After they passed through a major junction, the traffic on the highway cleared up, and the car began to travel smoothly again. Goushi took the wheel and resumed driving the SUV himself. Through the windows, the forest of high-rises rushed past. 
It took only a brief period of silence for Miyu to say “Sorry, napping” and promptly conk out, so Karen just watched the scenery out the window. 
The car exited the highway and went back onto empty surface streets. Karen continued gazing out the window, deep in thought. 
“…” 
From time to time, Goushi looked at her profile through the rearview mirror. 
“We’ll be arriving soon. Please wake Miyu up,” he requested. Karen prodded her accordingly. 
It was 1:57 now. They’d been driving for nearly an hour, which seemed like a lot, even in this traffic. 
“Oof. Where are we? Osaka? Kyoto?” 
“No, we’re still in Tokyo,” Goushi replied. Indeed, they were smack in the middle of the capital, surrounded on all sides by towering buildings. 
“Ugh, this is the problem with Tokyo! You go, like, one mile an hour!” 
They were crawling through a packed shopping district, mingling with taxis. 
“We’re almost there. It’s the building ahead on the right,” he said. They craned their necks forward to look through the front windshield at a building about the size of a school gym, black and square, with almost no windows. It was very strange. 
Miyu said, “There’s two things that place could be—and only two: either the hideout of some shady organization or a music venue.” 
“Correct. You’re very sharp, Miyu.” 
“Yes! So…it’s a hideout?” 
“No, a music venue.” 
“D’aww! That sucks, because I was hoping to go to this Elza Kanzaki concert today!” Miyu complained, flailing around in chagrin. 
Elza Kanzaki’s concert was today, somewhere in the city, and they had failed to win one of the exclusive tickets in the online lottery. And these were explicitly smartphone tickets attached to your ID, so there was no way to buy them secondhand, even if you had all the money in the world. 
“That’s perfect, then,” Goushi said as he drove into the parking garage around the back. “This is where the Elza Kanzaki event is happening.” 
“Huh?” squawked Miyu. 
“Goushi, are you saying…?” Karen started to ask. 
He looked back at her. “That’s right. Pito is the owner of this venue. She found Elza Kanzaki before anyone else and gave her the stage that made her famous.” 
“It’s going to start at two o’clock. I’ll have an employee escort you to the VIP area, where you can enjoy the show. There’s no time right now, so you can meet with the president after that,” Goushi said, then relayed his orders to a man in a suit who approached the car. 
The man quietly ushered them into the employee entrance and gave them stickers to put on their clothes that marked them as guests. He sat them in the center of the front row in the upstairs part of the venue. They could see the entire stage perfectly without having to get up. It was literally the best seat in the house. 
They commanded a view over nearly a thousand people below and sat between some very fancy men and women who clearly seemed to be big players in show business. Miyu was in a daze. 
“Ummm… Okay, you’ve paid me back for the help,” she murmured to Karen. 
Karen smiled back, just before the lights went down. 
The concert she’d been dreaming of was…well, like a dream. 
Elza Kanzaki, the petite and demure black-haired beauty, was far, far more beautiful and delicate than the pictures and videos made her look. Her voice was more pleasant to listen to than anything she’d heard from her MP3 player. 
 
When the show was over and the crowd started leaving, Goushi approached their seats. 
“Please wait here for a little while. When the crowd has died down, I’ll take you backstage. The president would like to meet you there. She says she’ll introduce you to Elza Kanzaki, too,” he added. 
Miyu sank into her chair, eyes watery. “Kohi… I think I might just die from happiness…” 
“I would agree with you—but there’s still an important mission remaining, so it’ll have to wait,” Karen said firmly. 
“Oh, right… We can’t die until we meet Elza Kanzaki and declare our undying love for her…” 
“That’s your mission?” 
“Was there something else?” 
“Ha-ha-ha.” Karen laughed. She turned an eagle eye to the stage below. Where the crew was now breaking down the instrument setup, there was practically an afterimage of the woman who’d just been singing there. 
The crowd thinned out, and the people in the VIP area left for the lobby. When the girls were alone, Goushi told them, “They’re gathering for a little meet and greet down there, but they’ll have to wait. We’re going straight backstage.” He beckoned them on. 
Miyu made a face that Karen had never seen on her before and said, “Okay, t-time to go… Just don’t get…nervous… Okay?” 
They followed Goushi down to the ground floor and past a sign that said NO GENERAL ADMITTANCE! There was a scary-looking fellow there who let Goushi pass once he recognized him. 
“Perks of being the president’s…,” Miyu muttered, unsure whether to use the word boyfriend or slave, but in any case, he had weight around here. 
After ten endless seconds down the hallway, the trio came to a stop before a dressing room door that said ELZA KANZAKI. 
“This is it.” 
Before they had time to compose themselves, Goushi knocked. 
“Come in!” said a woman’s voice from inside, cheery and bold. Goushi pushed it open and motioned the girls inside. 
“Excuse us,” Karen said, bowing her head as she entered. 
And then she saw the dressing room, about one hundred and fifty square feet, had only two women in it. 
Seated about fifteen feet ahead of them, in the same simple skirt and T-shirt she wore for the encore, was Elza Kanzaki. 
The other woman stood next to her. She looked to be in her mid to late thirties. She was tall for a Japanese woman, at five foot six, though not as tall as Karen, and her figure was full, with an ample chest and tight waist. Her long hair was dyed brown and tied in the back, and she wore accentuating makeup and a dazzling red suit-and-skirt combo. She looked bold and powerful, the instant image of a woman executive. 
Goushi closed the door and introduced them to her. “This is the owner of the company that manages this music venue, Rei Satou.” 
The kanji for her given name meant beautiful, and it seemed appropriate. She turned to them, looking slightly tense, and in a voice clear and energetic, she said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you! Now, which of you is Llenn and which of you is the grenadier? Wait—don’t tell me! I want to guess.” 
She put a hand to her chin. 
“…” “…” 
Karen and Miyu looked at each other in silence. 
“Hmm,” Rei murmured. 
Miyu just stared back. “…” 
Karen glanced at Elza Kanzaki instead, who was being ignored. She took two steps toward the chair. Then… 
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. 
She gave the little woman who stared up at her a round of applause. 
“……” 
Elza Kanzaki’s gaze was a mixture of suspicion and possibly even fear as she received the enthusiastic greeting. 
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap… 
Miyu, Goushi, and Rei all watched her with deep concern. 
“Your singing was absolutely incredible! I’ve been waiting for so, so long to give you the applause you deserve!” she practically shouted, she was so rapturous. 
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap… 
“Um… Excuse me…,” Elza Kanzaki stammered, overwhelmed by the six-foot-tall girl towering over her. She pulled back, but the table blocked her way. 
Over all the applause, Miyu spoke up. “I’m sorry… My partner here kind of loses sight of what her priorities should be when she gets overly nervous…” She walked up to Karen, who was still excitedly clapping, and said, “C’mon, Kohi, you can do that later! You’re doing this in the wrong order! First, you need to introduce yourself to Pito!” 
She tried to pull her friend’s arm. The applause abruptly stopped, and the dressing room was quiet until Karen’s voice broke the silence. 
“It was wonderful, just wonderful. Truly a wonderful rendition of ‘Demon King’!” 
This time, the resulting silence was broken by a woman’s snort. 
“Bwah! Bwa-ha-ha-haaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” 
Gales of laughter continued. 
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Hee-hee-hee-ha-ha-ha-haaa-ha-ha-ha!” 
Elza Kanzaki laughed and brayed with such force that you wondered where her little body stored this much power. She clutched her belly as she rocked in the chair, eyes filling with tears. 
“Huh?” Miyu turned back to Goushi and Rei, looking for answers. 
“Tee-hee?” said Rei, sticking out her tongue. 
“…” Goushi just stared up at the ceiling. 
And then she figured it out. 
“Whaaat?!” 
It was Elza Kanzaki, laughing at the top of her lungs, who was Pitohui. 
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Hee-heeee! Ah-ha-ha-haaa-ha-ha!” Elza cackled, kicking her feet in the air, like she’d eaten some kind of forbidden mushroom. If others could see her, she might have left the building in a straitjacket, the way she was carrying on. 
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Phew…” 
After a full twenty seconds of laughing, she finally stopped. 
“Your reason!” she demanded, without moving from her seat. She was speaking to the woman a foot taller than her: Karen. 
“For a long time now, and also on the trip to get here, I’ve found one thing to be a bit strange,” Karen answered. 
“Oh? How so?” 
“Well, as for what seemed weird today…” 
“Yes?” 
“I wondered why Goushi would have chosen to go on such a detour.” 
“Oh?” Elza said, craning her neck. “What do you mean?” 
“It took nearly an hour to drive from my apartment to this venue. With the traffic, we made it just in time, so that the performance started just after we were shown to our seats.” 
“I’m glad you made it in time!” 
“Yeah. But it seemed like it was intentional.” 
“How come?” 
“Once Goushi took us off the highway, we went down a number of surface streets. We didn’t repeat any of them, but I was watching the scenery out the window the whole time, so I could tell that he was making several unnecessary turns to eat up time. I could figure that out because of learning to read maps in GGO,” Karen said. 
Miyu snuck a look at Goushi, but he avoided her gaze. “Holy crap,” she muttered. 
Elza said, “Ahhh… And why do you think he got you here right in the nick of time?” 
“I think it was to avoid getting here early and giving up the surprise. If we had time, we might’ve struck up a conversation with the special guests seated around us. It wasn’t a guarantee, only a possibility, but he manipulated the time to ensure it couldn’t happen. And then he told us we’d meet you backstage and introduced Rei to us as a dummy. So that you—Pito—could enjoy watching our reaction.” 
“Uh-huh… Is that all?” 
“One more thing. There was something big that always weighed on my mind.” 
“And that is?” 
“Goushi knew my address, real name, and my appearance. That was impossible.” 
“So I hear. He went straight to you to beg you to be in SJ2, correct?” 
“I wondered for a long time how he could do such a thing… I never told him my name, address, or my height. I didn’t tell you, or anyone in GGO. So it was very mysterious that Goushi would have access to that information. He didn’t tell me why when I asked him, either.” 
“Mm-hmm. But why did that become a clue that helped you figure it out?” 
“I finally recalled what the only possible reason could be. Because I wrote a postmarked letter to someone explaining that my name was Karen Kohiruimaki, and about my height complex, and how I was playing GGO with a shrimpy avatar to get over it.” 
“Oh?” 
“I wrote it to you, Elza Kanzaki. I’ve never written a fan letter to anyone aside from you. And even if you didn’t read it yourself, Goushi worked for your company and could have read it on his own. You’re the president of the Elza Kanzaki Agency! If you had said Rei was the president of the agency, and not the live venue, I might have actually believed it.” 
“Dahhh! I got a bit lazy on that one…,” Elza said, smacking her forehead. 
Behind her, Rei added, “I was so ready to play along, too! Darn!” 
“Sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you later. Mentally speaking.” 
“As long as you keep singing at my place, I won’t complain. And now I’ll leave you young folks to it!” Rei waved a hand and turned to leave the room. Right before she shut the door, she added, “Oh, and your other guests are waiting, so don’t be too long.” 
The door clicked shut, and Elza got to her feet. 
“Well, I meant it to be one last gesture of resistance, but since you blew right through my cover, I guess there’s no point hiding it.” She met Karen’s gaze with her own. “I kept my promise, Karen.” 
The next moment, Karen rushed for little Elza. 
“Hrgh!” Buffeted and squished by the much larger girl, Elza briefly held her breath. 
“I’m so glaaaaad! I’m so glad you didn’t dieeeee!” wailed Karen. 
“Because you killed me, that’s why! Let go—you’re hurting me. I’m dying over here.” 
“Oh! I’m sorry!” Karen said, pulling back in alarm. 
Elza told her, “Hunch down—I can’t see your face.” 
“Huh? Okay…” 
Karen got down on a knee and lowered her tear-stained face to the same level as Eliza’s. Elza put her hands up to it. “Yep, you’re cute in real life, too! I like you!” 
Then she put her lips on Karen’s. 
“Mmgh?!” Karen blinked again and again for the two seconds Elza stayed there before pulling away. “Mwaaah?” 
Her face was as red as boiled octopus, and she tried to protest, but Elza just laughed. 
“C’mon, it’s not hurting anyone. Besides, I watched the SJ2 replay, and you totally kissed the guy who gave you the ammo on the cheek! This is way more wholesome than that sordid transaction!” 

 

“Th-that was a woman! And I was thanking her for giving me the ammo I needed to beat a c-c-certain someone!” 
“Oh, so it’s true? I thought those hips moved in a feminine way. I wonder why no one else noticed? Well, in that case, kisses with girls don’t count, so you shouldn’t mind it at all, right?” Elza said, kissing Karen again. 
“Wha—?” 
Over her shoulder, Goushi added, “I forgot to mention: She’s a heartless vixen who will put the moves on men and women alike. You should be careful not to get too close to her.” 
“It’s a little late for that, Goushi. Make that very late. Now my poor friend is eternally stained!” chirped Miyu. 
“Fwah…” Karen gasped and fell to two knees this time. She swayed, her face feverishly red. Elza leaned in, her face angelic, and right next to Karen’s ear whispered, “Oh, Karen… Do you mind if I come visit you next? We could even have a sleepover.” 
“No!” shouted Karen, red-faced. It was an instant response. “I’m not meeting you anywhere outside of GGO anymore!” 

On an unspecified day of an unspecified month, two characters sat beside each other under the red sky of GGO, backs against a boulder in the midst of the burned, sandy wilderness. 
One was dressed all in pink and was very short. Resting on her knees was a P90 painted pink. 
The other was a pretty woman in a navy-blue bodysuit who had a figure like a cyborg. At her side was a KTR-09 assault rifle with a drum magazine attached. 
“No kissing! If you do, you’ll get a harassment warning, and I’ll shoot you!” 
“Fine, fine, no kissing. Why would I kiss anyone in GGO anyway? C’mon, let’s just meet up IRL!” 
“No thanks! Goushi was angry that you’re playing around when you should be busy with your next show.” 
“What? Are you two e-mailing now? Tell you what, you can have him!” 
“I don’t want him! Take better care of your partner!” 
“Oh, but I do. However, to use a well-known literary saying, ‘This is this, and that is that.’” 
“And this is the end of that topic!” 
“Tch! Fine, then. I’m good with just spending time in GGO with you again, Llenn. Video games sure are fun, huh?” 
“That’s right. Games are meant to be enjoyed! They’re not where you go to risk your life!” 
“I said I was sorry. And I promise I won’t do anything that stupid again. As long as I live, I’ll enjoy myself in other ways.” 
“That’s good to hear! On another topic…” 
“Hmm?” 
“You really are merciless when you fight, Pito. You’re truly dedicated to doing whatever it takes to win.” 
“I guess so. But I didn’t think that anyone would be better than me at that.” 
“Wow… Who’s the fearsome opponent who would make you say something like that?” 
“Huh?” Pitohui stared at her, eyes wide. 
“Huh?” Llenn echoed back. 
“…” 
Pitohui appeared to be thinking of what to say when there was a muffled explosion on the other side of the rock. 
“Got ’em!” “Got ’em!” 
They leaped out from behind their cover, guns in hand. 
The End