Just as a friendly heads-up, this is Book 3 of Nightblade IV. You might have missed the first two Books, as they were hidden in the crossover section. It's suggested that you go read them, but you also have the option of checking out the Author's Note of this chapter, where I'll toss a very brief overview.

Enjoy!


The bus drove away from Kunugigaoka Junior High, purring along. It felt like an ending, finally. The end of my time with Kunugigaoka Junior High. The end of my time with Class 3-E. And... the end of my time with Korosensei.

I settled back and closed my eyes, letting the exhaustion I'd been hiding wash over me. As I fell asleep, I saw a bright light envelop me...

...as I was logged out of the world.

...

...

...

...I opened my eyes.


Chapter 1: Awakening

March 19th, 379 HE

Then, I immediately closed them again and groaned. Too bright... My eyes hadn't adjusted to whatever source of light had been shining at me, so I'd experienced stabbing pain straight into my eyeballs. Ow. Well, I can tell by the light shining through my eyelids that they'll adjust eventually given the time, so I can take the time to wait a little bit.

The brief moment of sight I'd had before light decided to do something rude and unspeakable to my vision had been entirely over-exposed, so all I remembered was a brief flash of white. Well, I'm not going anywhere until I can see, so I might as well try to focus and figure out where I am.

Hmm... If I can't use vision, then I'll use my other senses. I could feel a warmth on my face and body; I was propped up against something hard behind me. A wall, maybe? No, it feels too irregular to be a wall. It's probably a tree trunk or a rock, nothing man-made. By listening carefully, I could hear the slight rustle of leaves in the breeze that lightly ruffled my hair, so that confirmed my suspicions that I was outside. I could also hear something else, a sound that reminded me of a secluded area in a forest...

A flowing river, my mind supplied, even through the haze that clouded my memories. I couldn't remember what I'd been doing before waking up, but when I focused I could make out a few pictures here and there. A wooden classroom, at the top of a hill... A yellow blur, something that made my heart fill with nostalgic warmth when I thought about it...

I carefully opened my eyes, pretty sure that I'd given them enough time to not get murdered by the sunlight - because I had to be sitting out in the open, the sun overhead - and hissed in irritation when light stabbed them again. Despite the adjustment period, it was still incredibly bright. At this point, I could at least see, so progress was being made. I lifted my hand and shielded my eyes with my forearm, finally getting enough of a reprieve that the light didn't make me squeeze my eyes shut again for the third time. Slowly, my eyes adjusted, and I could finally start making out my surroundings instead of just seeing black and white shapes that didn't make any sense.

Really weird, how my eyes just don't work well sometimes. That's why I wear glasses.

Speaking of my glasses, I was clearly not wearing them, for whatever reason, or my lenses would have darkened from the exposure to the sunlight. What I was wearing was a simple reddish tunic, some pants, and a pair of comfortable boots. They were all well-made but simplistic, as if a talented rural tailor had made them for me. In the end, it didn't matter, just wasted my time while I waited for my eyes to adjust. Now, where was I? Without looking around, I could see pretty far; tree branches reached out above me in a failed to provide me with a little shade. I was sitting at the top of a hill, and a gently sloping hill ran down to a river, the source of the water I'd heard with my eyes closed. The grass was emerald green and the sky above me was the kind of clear blue that made me feel like I was falling into it. Coupled with fluffy white clouds, it felt a lot like... well, a perfect imagining of the countryside.

"Arcadia, huh...?" I murmured. This really did feel like the utopia, especially with the line of trees on the other side of the river. "Well, worse places to wake up." I pushed myself to my feet and swayed a little bit. I'd been sleeping for a while, it seemed, because my legs wobbled and my head swam. Fortunately, I had this nice big firm tree to rest against, so I took a few deep breaths until the world decided to stop spinning. After I could see straight and the tunnel vision went away, I took a few cautious steps down the hill towards the river. My legs decided that they were going to cooperate a little bit, though my first few steps felt awkward and gangly for some reason.

I still felt stiff as I knelt down, though rolling my neck earned me a few satisfying pops as my vertebrae realigned themselves. I raised my arms over my head and sighed with relief when cracks and pops ran down my spine. "Much better," I said. After kneeling down and splashing some of the ice-cold water on my face, I sat back on the edge of the river and stared out at the forest.

I can see without my glasses... Enough of my memories had stayed with me that I remembered the conversation with Shino, Asuna, and Kazuto back at the Dicey Cafe. I also remembered nearly dying after being injected with succinylcholine by Johnny Black, but the time between passing out on the street and waking up under the budding trees was a blur. It felt like something important had happened... And as the mists in my head cleared, I felt a pang of sadness. Korosensei had... He'd died, by our hands, lying in the back of E Class.

Even though my heart felt a little heavy, I didn't so much as tear up. I'd already mourned for Korosensei, the night we'd killed him. I'll miss him, but in the end I can't let myself get hung up on the past. I gathered my feet under me and pushed myself up, groaning. Still stiff, yep. Fortunately, with my memories of E Class came memories of stretches, so I was able to run through a quick five-minute routine and work out the kinks. In the process, I'd figured out why I'd felt unused to my body, despite training as an assassin for a year - my youth from E Class had disappeared, and I was back to my usual age.

Now that my body was feeling limber again, I -

"Mmnnn..."

...That's not my voice moaning. It came from behind me and to the right, and I turned cautiously to see who else was nearby. I didn't expect anyone to be here with me; Asuna and Kana should be safely in RATH, and while they might try to join in I don't think they would. One or both of them would have stayed with me in E Class if they could have. My hand dropped to my belt where a dagger was always sheathed in E Class, but naturally closed on air. "Tch." Irritating. I wish I had a weapon -

- to confront the girl my age, sitting up and sleepily rubbing her eyes. I stared in amazement. She was wearing a simple linen dress that was mostly grey with a few white highlights near the collar. There was a nice red ribbon tied around her neck in a loose bow, but other than that it all looked like casual clothing a cute girl might wear in ALO. What was really striking was her purple hair; it was mostly short, except for two long twin-tails that fell down her back to her waist. She stared up at me through her bangs, her blue eyes meeting my grey ones, and after a second her eyes widened to match mine.

Of course I was surprised. I was staring at Ritsu... except she was older, my age at least, and human.

Ritsu was one of my classmates back at Kunugigaoka; she sat directly to my left in class. Or, well, 'sat' in the loosest sense of the term, because Ritsu's name was actually short for Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery. The last time I'd seen her, she was an artificial intelligence, newly created for the sole purpose of killing Korosensei as a trial run for combat-ready AI. Even putting the issue of recursion aside, her core program was housed in a huge console. We'd only been able to interact with her by talking, either with her main self or the mobile version that she'd downloaded to our phones. ...Which I don't have on me, son of a -

Ahem. That's besides the point. Why is Ritsu here?! Why is Ritsu human?! Why is she nineteen!?

"...Ritsu?" I asked cautiously.

Her eyes shone. "Nick!" she exclaimed. Still propped up by her hands, she tried to scramble forward. Her movements seemed clumsy, like she wasn't used to moving - of course she's not used to moving around she's an AI and why would I expect her to whoops she's falling over. Ritsu had dragged her legs a little bit, but in her rush to crawl towards me she'd failed to move fast enough. Naturally, she'd nearly fallen over, letting out a cute little, "Eep!" before she fell into my waiting arms.

"Careful there, Ritsu," I said. I didn't know how she was here, but I didn't want her to hurt herself. "Take it easy, you might be a little disoriented."

"I missed you!" she exclaimed, burying her face in my chest. "I missed you so much. It's been three years, and I've finally found you..."

Three years... It seems like time's passed differently for the two of us. "Has it really been that long?" I asked almost rhetorically. "Sorry you had to wait that long, Ritsu." Even if it had only been a timeless moment for me, it had been three years for her. I'd nearly gone mad being separated from Kana and my family for only a few months. Three years... At least she had the rest of E Class with her.

"You're here, so it's okay," Ritsu sniffled. "...Where is here, by the way?"

I couldn't help it, I chuckled. "Come on, where's your situational awareness? Did you sleep through that class?"

Ritsu pulled back to pout at me. It was strangely dangerous to look at... "Don't tease me, Nick!" Then she blinked and tilted her head. "You look... different..."

"Probably because I'm three years older. This is what I really look like, in the real world."

"So this is the real you..." Ritsu reached out with her hand, and then her eyes widened again. She stared at the back of her hand in what looked like amazement and wonder, and then looked down at her body. She let out a cute yelp and start patting herself down, running her hands up and down her sides. "Wh-wh-what is this? This isn't my avatar! And it feels weird! I-I'm dreaming, right?" She tugged at her cheek, probably in an attempt to wake herself up from whatever dream she thought she was having, and yelped again, this time in mild pain. "Ouch!"

I reached out and placed my hand on her head, tousling her hair. "Alright, remember Karasuma's lessons, Ritsu. Just chill, okay? I'll explain what I can."

Once she calmed down a bit, I sat down down next to her. "So what's going on, Nick?" she asked me.

I smiled at her. "Well, I never really got to answer your first question." I spread out my arms and gestured to the huge vista in front of us. "Welcome to the Underworld, Ritsu."

"The Underworld... You mean, that other simulation? The one your... brother is in?"

"Bingo!" I tilted my head. Even if I couldn't mimic Korosensei's signature gameshow buzzer at the successful answer, it felt right to move my body like this. Ahh, I'm glad I'm back in my original body! "You remember Kana and Asuna, right?"

Ritsu stared at the grass around her. "How could I forget?" she asked.

"Well, I asked them to try to get Agent Kikuoka to move me to this area once I graduated from E Class," I said. Hmm, the breeze on my face feels nice. It played with Ritsu's bangs and ruffled her hair, even after she fixed it. I hid a smile - she's not very used to being human and not having her entire world under her control, huh? "Looks like they succeeded."

"That's good," she said. She giggled. "So why am I here? Did you ask for me to join you?"

I shrugged helplessly. "Kana and Asuna probably wanted someone to help me. Man, I wish they'd trust I could handle myself..." No, they know I'm capable. If anything, they probably just wanted someone to be with me in case I needed help. They always were telling me I should rely on others more, huh. "Oh well. I'm glad you're here with me, Ritsu," I said, and smiled at her.

Her eyes widened and she ducked her head before I could do more than see her start to return the smile. Uh, Ritsu? Are you okay? "This body is weird," she muttered. "It just does what it wants."

"Well, see," I said with a teasing grin, "that's because you always had your machines do the heavy lifting for you. You never had to join in any of our conditioning."

"Oh, shut up," Ritsu said and giggled before looking at me and frowning. "I had my own problems too! Trying to sort through all the data I got on a daily basis was hard, you know!"

I'm just glad she's looking at me again. She's been acting weird, not like the Ritsu I knew in E Class. Then again, that's probably because she's not used to this body. When the silence between the two of us stretched a little longer and Ritsu growled under her breath playfully, I chuckled and nodded. "Right, right, sorry," I said. "You're right, you worked just as hard as the rest of us."

"And don't you forget it!"

I stood up and stretched, rolling my shoulders and humming in satisfaction. "Any other questions before we get going, Ritsu?"

"Get going?" Ritsu blinked. "Oh! To find shelter, since we don't want to be out in the woods all alone!"

"Yep." We didn't have weapons, and while I could probably defend myself against bandits I wasn't quite sure how I'd fare against wild animals. I don't know much about the rules of the Underworld, but it feels a little bit closer to VR than the E Class simulation. Martial arts would probably be useful, but not as deadly as they could be. Plus, I'd like to find somewhere safe to sleep for the night. Camping out is fun, but we have no equipment, and don't know anything about the land. "Ready to go?"

Ritsu smiled up at me. I extended my hand, and she placed hers in it. A series of complicated expressions flashed across her face before she tugged, pulling herself to her feet. "Let's go, Nick!"

...

Okay, so walking through the woods is a pain. I never really understood how nice it was to have military-grade equipment for clothing when I went out in the forest before I had my rough cloth snag on branches and twigs multiple times. At least I was used to moving around, and I was back to my usual smooth movement after about ten minutes or so. Not having to worry about my immediate surroundings meant that I could relax a bit; I was able to actually listen to my environment instead of just focusing on myself and my personal space. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees and the repeated chirping of insects. It was exactly like walking through the forest of Aincrad on the 22nd Floor, which made sense given this was a virtual world.

I could also hear another feminine sigh from right behind me. "Need help, Ritsu?" I called back over my shoulder.

"I'm a member of E Class too!" Ritsu exclaimed. "Just because I'm not used to this body..."

I grinned without looking back. I didn't want her to think that I'm getting too much enjoyment out of her suffering. I mean, I'm getting some. But not too much. She's my precious friend, after all. "When we find a town, I'll see if we can barter for a hairbrush or something. You'll probably need it to get all that forest you're bringing with you out of your hair."

"Don't be a jerk," Ritsu huffed. I snickered at her, but the banter did bring to mind another problem I was trying to avoid thinking about.

Namely, money. We have exactly zero cash, gold, col, yrd, or whatever we need to pay for things. If we're lucky, we can barter for things or do emergency hunts. If we're not lucky, well... I'm sure there's some people out there in whatever village we find that have a little bit too much free cash. I'm not above stealing, though I'll try to do it when Ritsu's not looking.

"This forest is really pretty though," Ritsu said when she caught up to me. Her hair was a little tangled, but nowhere near as bad as I'd been teasing her about. Just a few twigs and leaves. She was still cute enough. "It's so different from experiencing things through a camera. The feeling of the sun, and feeling my body move... It's so wonderful!"

"Glad you're enjoying yourself," I said. "Though we should really start to hurry." I glanced up at the sky. It was still nice and blue, but the sun was starting to lower towards the horizon at our backs. "We've been following this river downstream for a while now."

Ritsu shook her head. "Korosensei taught us what we should do if we're lost in the woods during summer vacation, remember?"

"You're the one that still remembers all of his summer handbook," I said. Seriously, she has all those massive tomes memorized along with every creation schematic she'd used in E Class, even if she didn't have access to the plastic she used to generate the guns. "It's not like I could just download it into my brain or something."

"Bleh." Ritsu stuck her tongue out at me. "But we're supposed to follow the river downstream, that's the best way to find people. That's what he said!"

"I also vaguely remember something about staying in one place if we're lost in the forest, Ritsu."

"Yeah but that's only if people are going to be looking for us." Ritsu waved a finger in the air. "Page 492 told us that, and statistics on the following three pages supported all the evidence."

"Y'know, you were a lot easier to ignore when I could just mute my phone and put it in my pocket."

Ritsu giggled. "You know you like talking to me. Or you wouldn't be smiling right now!" I just rolled my eyes, but didn't bother trying to hide the grin on my face. She was right, we both knew it; I was just being petulant for the sake of playing around and being petulant. "If we keep going this way I'm sure we'll find a village, or a town, or something!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll double-check, but there wasn't anything for a while." I bounced on the balls of my feet for a second and then kicked forward, running towards a tree. My body felt strangely heavy and when I jumped at the nearest tree, reaching for the lowest branch, I nearly missed the first shot when I didn't jump as high as I expected. My hand still managed to snag the branch though, and I mostly stifled the grunt when I hit the trunk. Ritsu's giggling didn't help. "Oh shut up, I haven't trained this body properly," I grumbled.

"I didn't say anything at all, Nick!"

"Yeah but you were thinking it!"

Once I was up in the tree branches, they were thick enough that I was able to swarm up to the top of the trunk pretty easily. I stood on top of one of the branches, balancing my weight so that the branch didn't bend or sway, and peered around. We'd been following the river the whole time after I'd climbed the tree we woke up under and saw nothing in any direction, but that had been a while ago. It was possible that... My eyes narrowed. It's a good thing I don't need glasses in this world and everything I saw was perfectly crisp, or I might have missed it; in the distance, almost like the top of another tree, I could see the tip of a spire. It was definitely man-made, the way it reflected the light.

I dropped from the tree without thinking about it, and tucked into a roll neatly to bleed off momentum. My lessons in parkour from Karasuma were still valid, even if this body wasn't conditioned the way I'd really like. "Did you find something?"

"Yeah, it's a little bit further downriver. Don't say anything," I grumbled when Ritsu's face lit up and she smiled. "I get it, you were right. I could see a grey circular spire poking out over the treeline, and I don't think that's a natural occurrence."

"Seven point two-five percent chance it occurs naturally, with an additional five point three percent chance it's the result of previous human action before they left the area," Ritsu said immediately. I stared at her flatly and she giggled. "Don't worry, I totally made those up!"

"Somehow I guessed that," I said flatly. She's not a super-computer anymore, she's the same as me. Those kinds of probabilities couldn't be calculated that quickly on her own. "Now let's go. You've had a few hours to get used to your new body, so we're gonna pick up the pace."

Ritsu sighed, but didn't complain. I could tell that the news that we were on the right track and en route to find some sort of theoretical civilization had buoyed her spirits, same as it had mine. If Ritsu and I were more used to our bodies, I would have wanted to take the trees instead of walking; they're harder to move around, but in a forest this thick I'd definitely be able to cover ground faster. Then again, Ritsu... She was good at adapting to her environment, so she was able to keep up with me after a bit, but there was no way she could run through the tree branches. I glanced over my shoulder at where she was several steps behind me, dogged determination on her face.

I grinned to myself and turned around again, doing my best to pick out the route that would be the fastest but also make it easiest for Ritsu to keep up.

While we were walking, a melodic chime echoed through the forest, coming from the direction we were going. It was a good sign that we were heading in the right direction since, well. It was definitely man-made. As we got closer to whatever I'd seen in the distance, I could see little signs of human life. There were dirt paths cleared through the forest that let us pick up the pace, mostly. As well, there were fruit-bearing trees that had most of the lower fruits plucked; that didn't really mean anything by itself, but the fruits higher up were still there and there wasn't anything rotting on the ground. Plus, the edge of the forest was abrupt rather than thinning out naturally.

Another little sign of human life was the massive stone wall rising up in front of us. Just a small hint that people lived here. "Whoa," Ritsu breathed.

"Guess we're on the right track." I grinned at her. "Well, it's a wall, there's gotta be an entrance somewhere, right?

As we circled around, I couldn't help but notice that there wasn't any farmland anywhere, despite the height of the wall and the length of time we'd been following the wall without seeing an entrance. The place inside must import most of their food, since as far as I was aware the Underworld was supposed to be an agricultural world. And that meant...

"Found it!" Ritsu cheered as I stepped onto a wide cobblestone path, and she jumped with both feet from the grass to the hard stone. It was well-worn, the bricks faded from what looked like plenty of sunlight and use. "I hope the townsfolk are friendly."

I shrugged. "We'll find out. How are you holding up?"

"My feet hurt."

"That's normal. Welcome to a regular flesh body," I said drily.

Ritsu pouted, a dangerous expression now that she was my age. "You could offer to carry me on your back!"

I grinned, but didn't move to crouch down or pick her up or anything. "I actually might, if I had the strength from Karasuma's training right now. As things stand, we're roughly on the same level. Unless you want to carry me?"

"Nick!"

I laughed cheerfully at her yelp. If she can pout like that, then that's good.

...

As we approached the entrance to the city, two men flanking the large archway stepped forward. Guards, probably, given the sheathed swords on their hips. "You two, please stop for a moment," the one on the right said. "Where did you come from?"

"Nick, what do we do..." Ritsu whispered.

"We'll be fine," I told her. Then I grinned at the guards. "We came from the forest that way." I pointed off into the woods we'd come from.

The man on the left frowned. "The forest? You mean... from Erith?"

"No, the forest." I shrugged. "When we woke up, we were lying on the grass along the river. No idea how we got there, but it took about an hour of following the river before we saw the city."

The two men exchanged glances, and then their shoulders relaxed. I grinned faintly. Looks like they believed us, for whatever reason. "You two really don't remember anything?" the first man asked.

Ritsu and I shook our heads. "Nope," I added. "Just our names. Ritsu, and Rythin."

"Rythin?" Ritsu muttered.

"Heh," Guard 1 laughed. "Two Lost Children of Vecta. I never thought I'd meet one, let alone two on the same day."

"Lost Children of Vecta?" Ritsu asked.

Guard 2 raised an eyebrow. "That's what they're called wherever you two come from, aren't they?" he asked. "When someone disappears from the city or village and turns up in a forest or field. A Lost Child of Vecta. The Dark God Vecta is a fan of pranking us humans by snatching us up, stealing our memories, and dropping them somewhere far from their home."

"Oh, right. Sorry, we don't remember much of anything at all... but that definitely rings a bell." The lie flowed smoothly from my lips. "Anyway, we're kinda in a bit of a situation here... The Dark God must have stolen our money too, because we don't have anything. Is there anything we can do, or..."

The guard nodded. "There's still time in the day. Do either of you remember your Callings?" Ritsu and I shook our heads. It's probably something like a job, if I had to guess. "I didn't think so. You seem... thin, boy, but you might be able to find some work in the city to earn some coins. Girl, you'd better go to the church and explain your situation. If your friend can't earn enough to cover the inn fee, then I'm sure the Axiom Church will be able to lend you beds for the night."

"Thank you very much," Ritsu said with a polite bow. "We'll do that."

The two guards nodded. "And welcome to the city of Veshire."

Veshire, huh? As we walked around, I glanced at our surroundings. The buildings were made from a grey brick, the same as the cobblestone path outside and the pavement we were walking on now. The roofs were all some sort of grey slate or something like that. I couldn't be certain, since I wasn't an expert on building materials. There were a couple townsfolk walking around down the streets, but most of them seemed to be on one errand or another so they barely gave us a second glance.

"Rythin?" Ritsu finally asked.

"Huh? Oh, the name I gave them." I shrugged. "If we're looking for Kazuto, it'll catch his attention way faster if he somehow hears about me. Moreso than Nick, anyway. Same with him. If he's realized this is the Underworld like I expect, he's probably going by Kirito. His avatar name."

Ritsu blinked. "Oh, that makes sense." She giggled. "I was a little surprised when you just said it right away."

"Heh. I've used it for a long time, so it's just as much my name as Nick." I stretched. "Well, the day isn't getting shorter, so we should probably split up. Where do you want to meet?"

"The church is a good landmark," Ritsu said. "I can see it from here, so I think it'll be okay if we meet there before it gets dark."

"Sounds good, Ritsu. See you... in a couple hours, I guess."

Just before we split up, another melody played through the air. The bells tolled for a few seconds before fading away. "We heard those in the forest, didn't we?" Ritsu said. "The melody was different this time."

"Mm-hmm. But I'm pretty sure it was about an hour between chimes. And come to think of it..." I looked around. "I haven't seen a clock anywhere. You'd think that a city this big would at least have a clocktower, let alone street clocks."

Ritsu nodded. "That is strange... Then, in two melodies, we meet up at the church, okay?"

"Sounds good. No promises on finding a part-time job, though." Bleh. Work sucks.

"Good luck anyway," Ritsu said.


The sun had cast the cobblestone in orange light by the time I sighed and finally admitted defeat. No matter who I talked to, they were either busy or had no time for a nineteen-year-old kid. At least everyone accepted that I was one of those Lost Vecta Kids or whatever when I explained my situation. I'd even been given a few bronze coins out of pity or charity or something. Apparently it would be enough to buy a few things of bread early in the morning, when the bakery only had day-old bread. That sounded... less than appealing, but food was food. It even gave me nostalgic memories of the old black bread Kirito and I used to buy on the first Floor of Aincrad.

That aside, despite the pity or charity the people I'd talked to had shown, I hadn't managed to secure a job. Sure, we were set for one meal, but that was only dinner or breakfast. Our assassin training hadn't really trained us for skipping meals; Korosensei would always make sure we had a break for lunch. 'A healthy meal for healthy minds and healthy bodies! Then you can put those to work trying to kill me, nue-heh-heh-heh!'

I smiled wryly. I miss Korosensei. Though, the ache I feel when I think of his loss is a little bit muted. Maybe because I'd been one of the ones to kill him? Who knows.

Hmm... My course of action is set in stone, then. I'll use these coins to buy some food for me and Ritsu to eat for dinner, and then we'll hopefully be able to spend the night at the church. And then, I'll go, er... liberate some funds for the two of us. There was an opulently-decorated house with statues that was at least twice the size of the second-largest building in the city that I'd seen, and I could tell. That right there was someone with too much money.

Sure, it felt a little off for me to steal from someone here, but on the other hand, they wouldn't miss a few coins. Just enough for me to buy Ritsu breakfast and then I'd do my best to find an actual paying job for lunch and dinner. I apologize in advance. Who knows? I might even go back and repay my unwitting donor for their 'kindness'.

Either way. I'm not going to get too hung up on it. As I approached the church, I saw Ritsu standing outside. When she saw me, her eyes brightened. "Ni- Rythin, did you have any luck?"

"Good to see you again too, Ritsu," I teased the girl. "I missed you too, that's so sweet of you to say that when we've only been apart for a few hours." She wrinkled her nose at me and folded her arms across her chest. Idly noting that puberty had been kind to her, I shook my head. "Sorry, no luck today. But I did get a few donations, so we can get something to eat for dinner and breakfast tomorrow. No idea what we're doing for lunch, though, and even if we did without food entirely it wouldn't be enough for two inn rooms."

"That wasn't funny," she muttered. "Stop teasing me."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Anyway," she shook her head, "I talked to the sister in charge of the church, and we'll be able to stay the night for as long as it takes! Plus, they said I could help out around the church and they'd pay me a small wage, so that's enough for us to afford food."

I grinned. "Great! Now, if only I were as useful."

"Don't say things like that!"

I laughed while the two of us headed out to find a cheap bakery. The food we managed to get didn't look like much, and a cautious bite showed me it tasted like it looked, but it was filling and enough to keep us sated until breakfast. Ritsu, after I'd choked down the first bite, brought her bread up to her mouth and took a cautious chomp. "Mmph?!" she mmph-ed into the bread, and I shrugged.

"Sorry your first taste of human food isn't great," I said. "I promise, as soon as we get our feet under us and can afford real food, I'll buy you something nice, okay?"

Ritsu swallowed. "It's, it's fine," she said. "Just drier than I expected. ...Oh!"

I watched as she held the bread in one hand and started drawing her pointer and middle fingers over it. Ritsu traced an S shape, and my eyes widened as a glowing blue sigil followed her finger. At the end of the S shape, she tapped the center of the S and a glowing screen appeared, hovering over the mini loaf of bread.

My breath caught in my throat for an instant. The way she held her hands... It was exactly like swiping open my menu in ALO or GGO. Then again, Underworld ran on the Seed, so it made sense. "Take a look at this!" Ritsu said.

"Let me see..." I mimicked her motion and grinned when the S I'd drawn expanded into a screen over my own bread. Ha hah! Take that, bread! I will examine your secrets! "Huh, it's a status window or something."

"Sister Alyssum called it a Stacia Window," Ritsu told me. "You can see how much Life an object has left with it. Did you have anything like this in... It's weird to think of it like this, but in our- my world?"

"Not really," I mumbled as I studied the screen. "Would have made finding Korosensei's weaknesses easier if I did."

The window itself didn't give me much information; it was purple with some circuit-looking lines tracing the edge of it. At the very top right there was a line that read 'Unit Type: Object/Food' which was probably its main classification. In the large segment that took up the left half of the screen, there was a Unit ID that looked like a random string of three letters then a bunch of numbers as well as a few white bars that probably denoted something. Not that I have any idea what. The rest of the status - or, Stacia - window had three lines: a Class, which apparently was None; a durability, which was at 40 of 45 and ticked down to 39 of 45 as I watched; and an empty line with no text in either the value or the descriptor field.

I wonder if it works on everything? I tried the gesture out on the bench Ritsu and I were sitting on and was rewarded with the Stacia Window for what was apparently an Object/Furniture with 200 durability. Neat.

I raised the bread to my mouth, and then realized something kinda important. "Ritsu? Did Sister Alyssum happen to show you how to close the window?"

"She did," Ritsu said. "Tap the top right, like this." She tapped at the screen and it faded away in a shimmer. I did the same, and could get back to the important task of eating my food. Bleugh. Dry, tasteless. But it was bread. Maybe there's an Object/GoodFood type somewhere? Or would it still be Object/Food, just with the Good Class?

I finished before Ritsu did (she kept screwing her face up before each bite, which while cute was just a reminder of how her first taste of food was this) and stared up at the sky until she finished. The stars were just starting to peek out over the horizon, and there were more than I remembered. Then again, the light pollution here would be way less than in the real world. I guess it makes sense that I could see more stars here, even if I couldn't pick out any of the few constellations that I knew.

"Ah, it's almost night," Ritsu said, and I looked over to see her staring up at the sky just like me. "The sister said they had a curfew later, so we should hurry back to the church."

"Yep, let's go." I stood up and stretched indolently. Ritsu did the same before she grinned at me. I just rolled my eyes before I grinned in response. "Oh nooo, I forgot how to get back, help me Ritsu~."

"Hey, you know how to get back to the church," Ritsu complained. She folded her arms and frowned at me. "Mr. Karasuma taught all of us to have better situational awareness than that!"

"Noooope, I have no idea."

"Ugh, you're just being difficult, aren't you?"

"I would never!" It's fun to tease her.

Ritsu hesitated, before she frowned. "You're messing with me. You have to be. Rythin!"

I cackled in glee while my friend threw her hands up in irritation and huffed before she started to storm off. Still snickering, I followed behind Ritsu to the entrance to the church. At least she'd calmed down from my earlier teasing, not that I had been serious or that she'd been seriously upset. She knocked on the wooden door to the church, but nobody answered right away. So, I spent the time studying the door itself. It had ornate carvings on it, something that no other door in the city seemed to have. They looked really nice, though.

The door opened up and a stern-looking woman stood in the doorway. I think stress lines around her mouth and brow made her look older than she actually was, and the simple habit she wore didn't do much to help the image of severity. "You're just in time," she said. "Come inside." This must be the Sister Alyssum that Ritsu talked to.

Ritsu and I exchanged glances but it's not like we had anywhere else to go. So, we followed the sister into the church. The inside of the church was lit up by lamps that all lined the wall, and the warm light set something inside me at ease. Aside from that, the occasional painting that hung on the wall and nice wood paneling gave me the impression of stepping inside a nice hotel instead of a church. It actually reminded me a lot of the hotel we went to on the Okinawan island.

At least, I hope it's just the decor that makes me think like that and not anything like assassins trying to attack me. That would suck.

"We have already eaten dinner," Sister Alyssum said without looking back at me or Ritsu. "It's almost time for lights out, so you two will be assigned rooms. I hope there's no problem with separate rooms, is there?"

She phrased it as a question, but I was pretty sure she wasn't really asking. After all, why would she let two young adults like me and Ritsu stay together? Something might happen~. Though... really, I was probably the safest person to sleep in a room with Ritsu. I wouldn't do anything at all, naturally.

"It's fine," I said. "You're kind enough to put us up for the night, we won't complain."

The sister glanced at me over her shoulder before she nodded once. "Very well." As we passed another room, Sister Alyssum flagged a younger girl down. "Take the young man to his room, Ruri."

"Yes, Sister," the young girl said. She wore a smaller version of Sister Alyssum's habit, but other than that nothing really stood out about her. "Come on, I'll take you to your room."

I nodded. "See you tomorrow morning, Ritsu," I said with a smile. Ritsu grinned back before Sister Alyssum started moving again and my friend scurried to catch up.

...

"Here," Ruri said. "I brought you a blanket and a pillow."

"Thank you," I said, and accepted them gratefully.

The room I'd been shown to was small but cozy, with a window looking out into the street and a single lamp on the wall. Aside from the bed I was sitting on and a desk and chair sitting against the wall opposite me, there really wasn't much. The clothes I'd woken up in were sitting on that desk; I'd been given something to change into as pajamas of a sort, though they weren't really pajamas. It was just a slightly softer tunic and pair of pants. Probably made out of a different material than my original shirt and pants.

"Prayers begin at six. Breakfast at seven," Ruri told me in a flat voice. "Please wake yourself in time for prayers, and do not miss them. I will come check on you in the morning just in case."

"Eheheh... sure. I'll try my best."

Ruri nodded once. She's taking this seriously... I wonder if she's the oldest kid? She seems a little unemotional, though I'm not sure why. "There is a curfew after lights out. Please do not leave the church once curfew begins."

I studied the pillow and think blanket, then looked back up at Ruri. "Understood." Good. Fewer witnesses for when I sneak out, at least. "Thank you."

She didn't reply. "If you remember how to turn off the lamp, then I will leave. Have a good evening."

"Yeah, sure. Night." Once Ruri stepped out of the room, I stretched and rolled my shoulders. "Mmmm... Alright, this is going to be a fun night. Hopefully I can just get in and out." Talking to myself was probably a bad habit? But, I'd gotten into it back in Aincrad and never really seen a reason to break it. Now, I just need to turn off the light, and...

Hm. How do I turn off the light?

I studied the little glass thing and tilted my head. I tapped the glass a few times thoughtfully and then hummed again when that produced no results. Maybe the Stacia window? That'd be silly, though. All that just to turn things off? And besides, the Stacia window was just a status screen. It shouldn't have any controls...

...Ah! When I tilted my head, I saw a little nubbin on the bottom of the lamp. I twisted that and the light went out. Nailed it.

I put the pillow and blanket on the bed before I stretched, raising my arms in the air until I felt my back crack again. "Mmmmn…" Aaah, that feels better. If we hadn't managed to find a place to stay and a small way to get some money, I would be dozing right now, waiting for the curfew so I could sneak out to go steal some coins without anyone catching me. Since we didn't really have to worry about that, I could actually relax for a little bit. In that case… I'm gonna go to sleep a little early.

While I dozed on the bed, I heard footsteps out in the hall, along with some chatter from what I assumed were kids. They sounded like young voices. Come to think of it, Ruri herself was pretty young, right? Maybe a few years younger than my age of 19.

After a little bit of sitting on the bed with my eyes closed, I snorted and rolled over. This is ridiculous. Even after walking for an hour or so and then searching for work until dark, I couldn't fall asleep. Mmm… Maybe walking around for a bit will help me get sleepy.

I stood up and opened the door. The hallway was empty but I still walked quietly, putting all of Karasuma's lessons to work for moving. If someone else was asleep, then I didn't want to wake them up with my wandering. Being quiet wasn't really hard, all things considered; I'd gotten used to my body through the rest of the day. I just needed to walk properly and the noise from my movement all but vanished -

"...hair is really pretty!"

"Thank you!"

I froze outside the door I'd been about to pass. It was closed but I could still hear through it - the doors were pretty thin. The reason I'd stopped though was that the second voice was Ritsu, replying to a young girl.

"Miss Ritsu, was the guy your husband?"

"N-No! He's just a good friend, that's all..."

Heh. Sounds like she's getting along with the kids, at least. If we have to stick around for a while, that won't be the end of the world, I guess.

I stepped out into the small yard behind the church. There was a stone well and some farming implements like a hoe and a rake leaning against the wall. They weren't even going to lock the tools up? That's strange. Maybe people just really trust each other here.

Putting the matter aside for the moment, I looked up at the night sky again. Kirito… Where are you? I hope you're okay. Though, knowing you, you've managed to land in some trouble and come out on top, haven't you? Heh. He's probably managed to capture the heart of some number of girls by now. Asuna and the others will be pretty mad at him if he manages to flirt with more girls.

…Oh well. There's not much I can do for right now. First things first, I need to find a way to get some supplies. We were lucky this time, but Ritsu and I probably can't travel very easily. We'll need supplies and a way to defend ourselves if we can't find someone going out. That was the second reason I'd been looking around earlier.

After all, if it worked once, it'll work again. The best thing to do is to get my name out there and have people know who I was. Kirito might not be looking for me – he probably won't even know I'm in Underworld – but if he hears 'Rythin' then he'll know I'm nearby. And what better way than to get my name out there than by finding the capital?

Part of what I'd been doing this afternoon while asking around for work was asking people what was around here. Unfortunately, we were about two weeks of travel away from the capital, Centoria. We'd need to find a way to carry some supplies and weaponry to defend ourselves against wild animals if we wanted to try to walk that far. If we didn't want that – because it would be expensive – then the next best thing would be to hitch a ride with merchants. Veshire was mostly self-sufficient, but they still needed to import certain goods that they couldn't make themselves. Mostly meat, since nobody had the Calling of 'Butcher' in town.

Why that meant they couldn't just raise cows or pigs on their own, I didn't know, but whatever. It meant that merchants came from Centoria several times a year to bring shipments of salted meat. If one showed up, we might be able to travel to Centoria with them.

I heaved a sigh and rubbed at my eyes. They were starting to feel heavy. Guess that walk helped out after all. It was past curfew once I slipped back into the church, but I didn't get caught sneaking through the halls back to my room.

Once I fell asleep, I slept soundly.


I couldn't stop smiling. I didn't want to rub it in Asuna's face, but I just couldn't stop smiling.

I got to see Nick again! And he was perfectly fine!

"Ah, Kana," Asuna said, "doesn't the ocean look pretty in the sunset?"

I peered up at her. She was standing on the ceiling, which was weird. Then I rolled over and sat up on the bed instead of lying on my back, and everything turned rightside-up. "Yeah," I said, hopping up. "lemme take a look."

I tried not to let my joy show through too much while we look out the long and narrow window on the other side of the bed, but Asuna looked at me and smiled. "I'm happy," she said. "I got to see my brother, and he was fine. I can't imagine how happy you are, Kana."

"Nyahaha," I laughed sheepishly. "Sorry... I didn' want ta rub it in since we still haven't seen yer idiot yet, but..."

"It's fine," she said. "And... I like your accent."

I blushed a little bit. Only a little. My lying ears felt hot, but I will deny it to my dying day. "Thanks," I muttered. Nick said he liked it, so... Asuna just giggled and smiled at me. "How'd th' gals take the news?"

"Pretty well," Asuna said. Her hand drifted over to the AmuSphere she'd brought with her; while I'd read a fantasy book Nick recommended me, she'd Dived into ALO to let the girls know what was going on with Kazuto and Nick. "Sugu and Shinonon looked so relieved that the boys were safe."

I grinned and turned back to my book. "Good ta hear."

The pages had long since captured my attention and drawn me into the story when something in our room suddenly buzzed loudly. I jumped, searching for the source of the noise, and then relaxed when I realized it was the doorbell equivalent. Asuna and I exchanged a glance before she pressed the remote answer button. "Yes," Asuna said.

"It's me, Koujiro. Can I come talk to you two for a moment?"

I nodded when Asuna looked at me. "Of course," my friend said as she pressed the open button on the control. "I'm opening the door now."

The door slid open, and Professor Koujiro stepped in. She glanced around our room for a few seconds before she stepped over to the window and stared outside. Unfortunately for her, it was dark outside, and clouds had blocked the stars.

The professor placed a few plastic bottles of oolong tea on the table before she sat down on the hard sofa. It really wasn't comfortable to sit on - I'd already tried it out earlier - but it was still better than standing. "Go ahead and drink," she told us, gesturing at the bottles.

"Thank you very much," Asuna said. "I was just feeling thirsty."

"Have you tried the tap water?" Koujiro asked us.

I glanced at her over the bottle of tea, and rolled my eyes. "Maybe I'll try drinkin' some river water back in Tokyo, might taste better."

"Well, it seems to be purified seawater. There wouldn't be any trihalomethanes mixed in... Who knows, it might actually be healthier than the desalinated water you can buy in stores."

I kinda just stared at Koujiro over the top of my bottle. Tri-what now? I can kinda guess from context, but still, c'mon.

Exhaling hard after a gulp of her own bottle of tea, Koujiro said, "It's too bad you couldn't see Kirigaya. At least you got to see Weyr."

"Yeah," Asuna smiled. "And now that I know one of them is fine, I feel like I know Kirito is gonna be okay. I'm so happy I feel like I'm dreaming."

"Such troublesome men, suddenly disappearing to the middle of the ocean like this. You two had better tighten their leashes," Koujiro told us.

I just laughed. "Nick knows better 'n to try somethin' like this again," I said with an airy wave. "But... thanks f'r accepting our request, Professor Koujiro," I said, making an effort to keep my accent down a bit. "We asked something really unreasonable, and you helped us out... I don't know how we can thank you."

The professor shook her head. "There's no need. And, please, just call me Rinko. And... this hasn't lightened my guilt I feel. For what I did to you two, and Kirigaya and Weyr." She took a deep breath and stared at us. "...There's… something I have to confess to you. No, not just you... I owe one to all the SAO players, living and dead..."

Asuna and I exchanged a quick glance, but didn't say anything. Rinko unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt and opened it wide. As she retrieved a thin silver necklace, I could see a scar to the left of her sternum. "Do you two know... this scar?" she asked.

Asuna stared right at it - right at her heart - and I nodded. "Yer heart," I said. "That's where the long-distance micro-bomb was planted while ya were up in the mountains, hidin' out. Akihiko Kayaba used it to threaten you, so that you would care for his body while he was in Aincrad."

"Correct," Rinko said, putting her necklace back down and buttoning her shirt again. "I was forced to take part in that terrifying plan and care for that person's body as he Dived for a long time. That's why I wasn't sued, my name wasn't disclosed, and I was able to move to America. But... that's not the truth."

I raised an eyebrow. Everything I'd read supported that, and I'd like to think I was good at research...

"It's true that the bomb was taken out at the police hospital, and that it could have been triggered, but I knew it wouldn't explode. It was a bluff to keep me safe. The only gift he gave to me."

Asuna and I kept watching her. Asuna had a better poker face than I did; she hadn't even flinched.

"When Akihiko got into the Toto Institute of Technology, he was already the head of development. But I didn't care about that. I just saw a scrawny loner who only cared about his research. We were total opposites, but we started dating. Counting the time we spent in higher education, we were lovers for six years... but I'm the only one who thought that way. I might be older than you, but I feel so stupid because I couldn't see Kayaba's heart at all. All he wanted was one thing, and I had no idea.

"I knew about the SAO incident through the news, and I recognized Kayaba's name and photo. I couldn't believe it, but when I saw the police cars surrounding his mansion I knew it had to be true." Her voice had a slightly hollow ring to it. Talking about this clearly hurt, but she kept going. "He never said a single word to me until the end, just like when he started. Not a single email. Yeah... I was really an idiot. I helped with the basic design of the NerveGear, and I knew that he was making games at Argus, but I never knew what he was thinking.

"When he disappeared without a trace, I ran around Japan looking for him. I finally thought of something - in the past, there was a marker in the Nagano mountains in his car navigation log. Something inside me told me he'd be there, so I went without saying anything to the police. Maybe if I had, the SAO incident would have ended differently..."

She shook her head. "I avoided police surveillance and went to Nagano alone. I spent three days searching for the mountain villa, I was covered in mud... I worked so hard to find him. I... wanted to kill Kayaba."

Her voice started to shake as she said, "But... I'm sorry, Asuna, Kana. I couldn't kill him. He knew I had a knife and just said, 'What am I going to do with you' like he always did, before putting on the NerveGear again and returning to Aincrad. He never cared about the long beard he grew, and... I... I just..."

In the end, she finally had to stop talking and focus on breathing. I looked at Asuna, and she said gently, "None of us ever blamed you, Rinko." She smiled faintly at Rinko. "To tell you the truth, I can't really say I hate the commander either – I mean, Akihiko Kayaba." I winced. Most of the time, we all forget that she was the second-in-command of the guild Kayaba created in SAO... "I'm not saying Heathcliff should be forgiven. He shouldn't. Because of what he did, a lot of lives were lost. But still... I know it's selfish of me, but I feel like the short time I lived together with Kirito in that world is the best memory of my life at this point. I wouldn't trade anything for that time."

I nodded. "I was an info broker, in the game. I bought and sold information that led people to their deaths. But at the same time, I met Nick in SAO," I said. "If it hadn't been for the incident, who knows what might have happened?"

Asuna's hand twitched towards where her rapier always hung. "Yes, the commander committed a crime, and so did Kirito and I. So did Kana and Nick, and so are you, Rinko... We all did something wrong. And in the end, even if we're punished, there's no way to make it right. I don't think the day will ever come when we're forgiven. All we can do is own up to it. There's no choice but to face our sins, and keep going."


My eyes cracked open when the door to my room opened. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, half expecting to see Asuna or Kana, or - but it wasn't any of the girls, it was just Ruri. "You are awake," she said. "Good. It is five thirty. Prayers begin in thirty minutes. Do not be late."

I nodded dumbly and she backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Well, okay then. She'd scared me a little bit. Maybe took a few weeks off of my life or something like that.

...Hey, hang on a second. Life, that's the thing Ritsu said durability was called, right? I wonder if I actually lost any. After a quick stretch to loosen up my limbs, I traced the S pattern on my palm and opened up the Stacia window. Let's see here... Unit Type, Human/Male. Good, that's right. I'd be worried if that had changed in the middle of the night…

Unit ID WWD6-6321, alright, cool, that means nothing to me. But what was really interesting was the Object Control and System Control fields. The Object Control was marked 'Authority', whatever that meant, and had a value of 38. That one was located where the empty Class field from the bread had been. System Control was probably also the Authority class, but why was that 1? Why was the number marked differently?

I shook my head. Gods, I should know better than to try to figure this stuff out when I have a small amount of time between waking up and getting somewhere important. It's too easy for me to get sucked down the rabbit hole when I'm tired.

Morning prayers were... weird, though I was dozing through half of them and missed almost all of it. I still heard a few things about the Axiom Church, as well as prayers to Stacia, Solus, and Terraria. While drifting in and out of sleep, I slumped to the side. "Rythin!" Ritsu hissed quietly as she shoved at me. "Rythin, don't fall asleep!"

"Mmm, 'm awake..."

"You're not! You're sleeping on my shoulder - oh, what's the point... You always dozed through morning classes anyway…"

Mmm, comfy.

I was roused from my doze after about forty-five minutes by Ritsu shrugging her shoulder and disturbing me. I sat up and rubbed at my eyes stealthily. "Sit up," she whispered. "They're almost done."

"Thanks..."

"And you have some, uh..." She tapped at her mouth and I brought my sleeve up. Bluh, I hate when I drool in my sleep. "You got it."

I smiled. "Thanks Ritsu, you're great."

Once prayers were over, Ruri and Sister Alyssum headed to the kitchen to start preparing food. Lured by the alluring thought of getting food earlier, I followed them. While they were working, I watched from the entrance. "...Can we help you?" Ruri asked as soon as she turned around and noticed me.

"Would you mind if I help?" I asked. "That looks like a lot of food to prepare."

Ruri blinked, and then looked at Sister Alyssum. "Will that be against the Taboo Index?"

"Forcing a guest to help would be," the sister replied. "But as he has offered his assistance, no."

Taboo Index, huh? I let that turn over in my mind while I picked up a knife and started chopping the ingredients. A list of things that were forbidden... If I had to guess, a few of the things that had confused me were on that list. Things like 'Taking tools that didn't belong to you' or 'Raising farm animals' were probably forbidden for whatever reason. I wonder what happens if someone breaks the Taboo Index? Would it be like Aincrad, where the 'Taboo Index' was just a renaming of the world's rules and it's literally impossible to do something against the rules? Or would it be like my world, where it would break the law and I would only get in trouble if I got caught?

"Your Calling... Maybe a chef?"

I blinked. I'd been deep in thought, but Ruri's voice brought me out of it. "Hmm?"

Ruri looked at the food I'd already chopped with precise movements. "You handle that knife like it's something you're used to. Perhaps your Calling was to be a chef."

"Maybe it was." Not like I can tell them that my calling was to be an assassin, or anything else like that. A chef, huh? That'll explain like, maybe a quarter of my talents, but that's good enough for anything I'm going to willingly show people. "You're probably right. Thanks, Ruri." The quiet girl nodded and went back to focusing on her own meal preparation. As for me, chopping something was just letting my hands do the work, so I zoned out until food was ready.

It was nice to not have to worry about things for a little bit and just do some productive work, for a while.


So! Been a while, hasn't it? But we're back, and ready to get going. Nick's adventure through the looking glass begins... again? Re-begins? I don't know.

First and foremost: Ritsu. I was always going to have someone come along with Nick's adventures; he needs backup of some sort, and I'll be honest - a solo adventure at this point just seems boring to me. Originally, it was going to be another original character, but then I saw a few reviews saying how much they liked Ritsu, and figured why not? Just throw Ritsu into this as well, and there we go. Perfect companion for Nick.

As for the Underworld geometry, we don't really know much about it in general, so I had to guess. Obviously, every Underworld character and place has been made up, save for a few of the more important names. Wesdarath (the Western Empire) has very little information about it and so I kinda just guessed at the type of land, based on the small glimpse of the Western Empire we got in the anime; there's a long-distance shot of Centoria that shows a dark grey coloration so I just rolled with it and made it the swampy area.

Let's have fun with Nick's last adventure, everyone.


Overview of the last two adventures:

Rythin, instead of being dropped into Underworld after being stabbed by Johnny Black, was added to the world of Assassination Classroom, where he underwent training to be an assassin. He also learned to fucking chill for once in his life, and has the worst of his anger issues under control.

Ritsu, who he met there, is/was an AI student in the classroom. She's very close to him (to the point of having fallen in love, and remained in love for three years); she was added to the Underworld with Rythin at Kana and Asuna's request, so he wouldn't be alone.

That should... hopefully be everything you need.