Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)

SAO Loser

“Have you heard of, 〝Sword Art Online〟?”

In response to Gous.h.i.+’s question,

“Of course.”

Karen immediately replied. There was no way she could have not heard of it.

Sword Art Online. Abbreviated to SAO.

It was the world’s first VR-MMORPG (Ma.s.sively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that launched its official service 4 years ago, on the 6th of November, 2022.

It was a fiendish game that imprisoned approximately ten thousand players, who dived to play on that day, in the game’s world.

Due to the work of the genius developer Kayaba Akihiko, SAO was turned into a horrifying trap.

The players’ ability to voluntarily log out was blocked, and if their characters died in the game, or if someone attempted to forcibly interrupt the dive from the outside──

The players would have their brains fried by powerful electromagnetic pulses from the first-generation VR game machine for home use, the 《NerveGear》, which was fastened to their heads, and thus die. It was a literal death game.

Kayaba Akihiko provided but a single way to escape. To clear the game.

Karen did know the details, but after a long period of two years, SAO was cleared and the people trapped in the game returned to the real world.

However, that did not apply to everyone. She heard that nearly four thousand players had lost their lives as a result of the incident.

The remainder of the player base were equated to 〝survivors〟 of a grand incident or a large-scale disaster── in other words, they were called 《SAO survivors》.

A genuine death game where the player themselves would die if their character died in-game. That was SAO.

‘Why did Gous.h.i.+ suddenly ask about that…”

“Ah!”

A hypothesis came to Karen’s mind.

Could it really be── that Pitohui, whose mind was captivated by death, and who desired fights where she could unnecessarily put her life at stake……

However, in that case, everything would make sense: the reason behind her strength, and why she is so captivated by death.

Pitohui had once said 〝I have been playing VR games before the SAO incident was resolved〟; could she have been referring to SAO?

“Hey…… be honest with me…… Could Pito-san…… be an SAO survivor……? Did she have some horrible experience during the 2 years in the game…… and it ended up leaving a thorn in her heart…… and she still can’t forget putting her real life…… on the line……?

Karen timidly enquired,

“No.”

But saw Gous.h.i.+ firmly shaking his head.

“No, that’s not it. Pito is not an SAO survivor.”

‘What? So she wasn’t burdened by cruel fate?’

Karen felt relief from the bottom of her heart, but she could not help tensing up again after hearing Gous.h.i.+’s following words.

“It’s the opposite. Completely.”

“Huh──?”

She did not understand what he had in mind. So, she had no choice but to ask.

“What 〝opposite〟? What do you mean?”

“Pito is the opposite of an SAO survivor── I’m not sure such a term exists, but, so to say, she is an SAO loser.”

“SAO loser……?”

“That’s right.”

Gous.h.i.+ nodded with a serious look. And then, with a look that could adorn the cover of a fas.h.i.+onmagazine, he threw Karen a question.

“It’s a bit off topic, but Karen-san, are you aware of the terms 〝beta version〟 and 〝beta test〟?”

“Ehm……, I’ve heard of them somewhere.”

“Then, I’ll explain that first. A beta version, crudely put, is 〝a software that is under development, but finished to some extent〟. The trial of such a version is called a beta test, and the people who try it are called beta testers. During the beta test, the software’s issues are checked, and this influences the official version.”

“I see……”

“Even SAO had a beta test before its official service. A mere thousand players, selected via raffle, could play the world’s first VRMMO before anyone else. Also, they could get priority on purchasing the official version during its initial distribution, thus they could easily enter the ranks of the ten thousand players.”

‘If a player had the enthusiasm to apply for the test version, then they’d definitely play the official version the day and moment the service began’, Karen thought.

Karen recalled,

“What if I knew about s...o...b..forehand? Then, I think I’d have got it no matter what, and would have definitely played it the moment the service began. Scary, huh.”

That Miyu had once told her this.

Gous.h.i.+ continued.

“But, among the ten thousand who got their hands on the official version, there were people who had important affairs in RL, and could not play on the day it started, the 6th of November 2022, no matter what. Tearfully, they had to give up playing on that day.”

“Then, then……”

Hearing this much of the story, and the term ‘SAO loser’, the answer came to Karen’s mind. She asked Gous.h.i.+ to confirm it.

“Pito-san is of those beta testers, and got her hands on the official version, but couldn’t play that day……”

This time, Gous.h.i.+ firmly nodded.

“That’s right. Pito was an SAO beta tester. She was one of the lucky thousand, so she’d put on her NerveGear and continue to play SAO like mad. Naturally, she also planned to play the official version just as it began.”

“But, she couldn’t do that……”

“Yes. Perhaps because of some prank of fate, some business that she absolutely could not ignore came up. The business was so important that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to determine her future. After thoroughly weeping her eyes out, she made the wise decision to put her future first. She decided to play SAO the next day.”

Weeping one’s eyes out just because of not being able to play on the first day gave the impression of a game addict, but, honestly speaking, Karen could not understand it.

‘Also, if Gous.h.i.+ knows so much about Pitohui’s circ.u.mstances, does that mean that he’s been with Pitohui since then?’, Karen considered unnecessary details.

With some effort, she drove such thoughts to a corner of her mind,

“But because of that, Pito-san…… continued living without being trapped in SAO, right?”

Karen asked sincerely.

“That’s right. Because no one could log in to SAO as of the moment the incident began”

“Isn’t that…… really lucky……?”

“Normally, one would think so. But, Pito is different. She has always had a yearning for death that she can’t hide. What do you believe a person like that would think, if they were forced into a game that decided whether they would live or die?”

“…………”

Karen knew the answer, but still did not say a thing.

“Do you believe that they would suffer from intolerable fear like a normal person would?”

“…………”

“No, that’s not the case. It’s the opposite. They would probably think 〝I can play the best gamein my life!〟, with delight from the bottom of their heart. ──And then, what if they knew that they most likely missed their once in a lifetime chance to play it?”

“…………”

“That night. When she returned home after finis.h.i.+ng her important business. The moment she found out that SAO had become a genuine death game, via the news, Pito went into a fit of anger. She cursed her fate that she could not partic.i.p.ate in it, then shouted, lamented, cried, and raged. She inflicted self-injury, and when I tried to stop her, I was blown away, and broke three ribs and three finger bones.”

“…………”

Karen did not have the capacity to throw in the appropriate words in this conversation.

Pitohui’s actions were obviously frightening, but Gous.h.i.+, to whom these memories should have been considerably painful, yet he had still talked about them disinterestedly without showing any change, was scary too.

“But, nothing could be done about it at that point. Because joining SAO was impossible from then on. Having cried, shouted, and raged for some time, perhaps her feelings cleared up at least a bit, as after that, Pito put in great effort in her work. Probably in an attempt to subdue her anger of being an SAO loser. The job she began went on track immediately, and she has achieved considerable success now.”

“Is Pito-san a company manager or something……?”

Probing into others’ RL was against the rules, but Karen unintentionally ended up asking such a question. With some surprise showing on his face, Gous.h.i.+,

“Yes, that’s right. She’s a female company manager. And I’m one of the company’s executives.”

‘Please don’t say that you’re lovers or something while you are at it.’

Perhaps Karen’s telepathy went through, as Gous.h.i.+ did not reveal any further private details.

“After VR games returned but before the SAO incident was resolved, Pito, with me being forced to accompany her without having a say in it, spent all her time which wasn't dedicated to work playing games all day. Pito, venting her anger of becoming an SAO loser, instantly became as strong as a demon no matter what game she played, but 〝games where one didn’t really die〟 could not make her blood boil from the innermost depths of her heart.”

‘Well, it doesn’t have to boil It’s okay for it to be normal It would be bad if you died. And in the first place, you can’t play anymore if you die!’

Karen furiously thought, but kept quiet.

“And so, 2 years of her living on work and VR games pa.s.sed, and the SAO incident was resolved──”

Gous.h.i.+ continued with words that seemed like a report.

“When Pito heard details of the in-game situation leaked by SAO survivors, she once again exploded. Officially, this is an entirely unrecognised rumour, but it’s 〝almost certainly true〟 information. That there were player killers who intentionally killed characters in the game. And that there were even guilds for that.”

“──Wha?”

Karen’s brain was momentarily stunned, unable to understand the meaning behind Gous.h.i.+’s words.

Her thought process, as if untangling itself, slowly restarted.

In Sword Art Online.

Even though a player actually dies if their in-game characters die, yet PK happens.

Namely, that is──

“Isn’t that actual murder!”

“That’s right.”

Having her words, which were shouted with the desire to have them denied, affirmed without any conern,

“…………”

Karen was at a complete loss for words.

Gous.h.i.+’s ear-pleasing voice spoke about dreadful things unconcernedly.

“It seems that there were some players in SAO who did not consider banding together to survive or clearing the game as soon as possible to escape── and among them, some found their purpose in life in killing other characters. Including both the people killed by them, and those among them killed in 〝legitimate self-defence〟, a considerable number of players were killed by other players.”

“I... can’t……., believe it……”

Until now, Karen had thought that all the casualties of the SAO incident were killed by in-game monsters. In other words, the developer who devised this incident killed them.

And yet there was murder among fellow humans.

‘What on earth could the SAO survivors who killed someone with their own hands, even if in legitimate self-defence, be feeling?’

Karen was on the brink of thinking about it, but forcibly stopped her train of thought.

“I questioned the sanity of these 〝murderer players〟as well, but Pito was entirely different. Hearing this news, she had a great explosion similar to the one 2 years ago. She went into a fit of anger, breaking everyone’s belongings, including mine.”

“In…… what sense? I don’t really want to ask, but I will.”

“You sure have grown used to it, huh. Karen-san.”

“Stop it. So?”

“In both ways. She had the regret 〝I could have become a murderer player like that if I played SAO!〟, just as well as the regret 〝I could have killed those guys in the name of justice!〟.”

“That’s crazy……”

In response to Karen’s honest thoughts,

“Haven’t I said so before?”

Gous.h.i.+ gave a smile, the first that looked genuine. If they were in town, his expression would look like he was inviting a girl he chose based on appearance to come with him.

“Thereafter, Pito’s mental state wasn’t healthy for a while, but── highly ironically, as her work schedule got really hectic, at least she didn’t cause any problems for others. Although she was out of her mind, she did have common sense and sociality. She wasn’t a person who'd commit crimes like hurting others in RL. Well, she beat the h.e.l.l out of me, as I was close, every day though.”

Of course, Gous.h.i.+ said this with a smile, thus,

“…………”

Karen gave up on giving a reply.

“As I said during SJ, even now that woman has her heart captivated by that crazy game called SAO. Even so, for some months, I had believed that she had come out of it…… Having begun playing GGO, she should have had a good way of letting off her steam, since she could kill othercharacters with guns and knives…… But perhaps it suddenly became the trigger for a relapse when she could not partic.i.p.ate in SJ……”

“Is that…… so.”

Karen said, even though she honestly did not comprehend it, nor did she want to, but she did understand the story. Of course, as the story had no proof, the possibility that Gous.h.i.+ was full of lies was not zero, but, based on her experience thus far, Karen decided to drop that idea.

And she clearly recalled. That Pito said this when inviting her to SJ.

“Say, LLENN-chan. In my opinion, LLENN-chan has a lot of problems in real life, right? IRL, something is making you gloomy, right? So, putting it nicely, you came to GGO to vent your anger. Putting it bluntly, you came here to run away. You're making a 〝How did you know〟 expression, but it was simple to comprehend. ——I’m the same after all! There are far too many times when I get angry and feel like I can’t do anything, so I go wild. And thus, I shoot with my gun to kill monsters and people to my heart’s content.”

‘I see. I see.’