Yuuki Asuna couldn't figure it out.
What exactly was a "doujin"?
She thought it over, but still couldn't understand why a word like that would make her famous.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: @Mr. Golden Toilet, you know "Doujin Asuna," right? Explain it.]
Kuroneko clearly didn't want to say it, and that reluctance only made Asuna more uneasy.
Was it sothing serious? Sothing tragic—like Puella Magi Madoka Magica?
Serious enough that Kuroneko couldn't even bring herself to spell it out?
[Mr. Golden Toilet: "Doujin Asuna"? What's that? I know the story of Miss Yuuki Asuna's world, but I've never heard that nickna.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Don't play innocent. Your typing gives you away. Say it—how many have you read?
Mr. Golden Toilet: How many what? What are you even talking about? Kuroneko, be clear.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Heh. Doujinshi. The R18 kind. Asuna's. Don't tell you haven't seen a stack.
Mr. Golden Toilet: Oh. I "three-six-zero" get it now. So that's where "Doujin Asuna" cos from. But I really haven't read any.
Mr. Golden Toilet: I have read a tiny bit of Kuroneko's, though.]
Even Asuna understood now.
Because of how she was raised, she didn't touch otaku culture—but that didn't an she knew nothing.
The mont she fully processed what they were saying, her face went burning red.
[Asuna: Um… l-let's not talk about d-doujins… Could you tell what's happening in my world instead, Kuroneko?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Right. Almost forgot. Asuna—what's your situation? How far are you in SAO? What floor?]
So she really did know.
She knew Asuna had logged into Sword Art Online (SAO).
[Asuna: The VR ga Sword Art Online (SAO)? I just logged in. I was only doing the initial trial.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: What?! N-no—hurry, log out! If you can log out, do it now! Don't play this ga! It's a death ga! If you die in there, you die for real—log out, now!]
The sheer urgency in those ssages made Asuna feel like soone was right next to her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.
Die in-ga… die in real life?
That sounded too absurd to be true.
Besides, the ga had gone through testing before launch. If a bug like that existed, there was no way it could be kept quiet.
Still, even if Kuroneko sounded unbelievable… logging out first wouldn't hurt.
She could always talk after she was out.
So Asuna imdiately brought up the main SAO nu and raised her right hand—index and middle fingers straight—then swept them downward, the standard gesture to open the system window.
A long, violet-glowing panel appeared.
Asuna stared at it—and then scanned the options again.
And again.
…Huh?
What?
Had she rembered wrong?
Was the log-out button sowhere else?
She searched, and as the seconds passed, her face drained of color.
No matter how many tis she checked, she couldn't find "Log Out."
[
Asuna: Um… I-I can't find the log-out button.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: No way… Then it's over. It's that guy—Kayaba Akihiko. The developer did it on purpose. He shut off log-out. He's trapping all of you in there.
]
Trapped?
That couldn't be right.
If Asuna stayed logged in too long, her family would co into her room.
They'd force her off—pull the headset right off her head.
[
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Don't think they can just take the headset off and save you. If they remove it, you die on the spot.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: There's a component in the headset that fires a high-output signal and destroys your brain.
]
Asuna went even paler.
[
Asuna: Kayaba Akihiko did this? Why trap tens of thousands of players? What's the point?
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: The point is to make you play. He's got this "dream," like he wants to be the protagonist in a novel—cross into another world and go on a fantasy adventure.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: So he built this ga… but a ga is still just a ga. To make it "real," he turned it into reality: in this world, if you die, you really die.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: The only way to end the death ga is to clear it—beat the ga.
Asuna: He… he's insane.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Yes. He's sick in the head. A straight-up psycho.
]
Even so—if tens of thousands of people were trapped in a VR world and dying, the governnt wouldn't just stand by.
There would be rescue attempts. There had to be.
But then—
[
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Asuna, don't assu you'll be rescued soon. In the plot I know, it takes about two years before the ga is barely cleared.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: And in that ti… thousands die.
]
Asuna's body trembled.
Thousands… dead?
And two years to clear the ga?
Which ant the outside world couldn't break them out.
aning she might have to survive two years in this place.
And here, she didn't know anyone.
Not a single familiar face.
She'd have to live through it alone?
[
Asuna: M-maybe it's a system bug. Maybe they'll fix it any minute.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: If only.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Listen—next, the mastermind should show up. You'll probably see it soon.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Everyone will be forcibly teleported back to the central plaza of the Town of Beginnings. Kayaba will appear in the sky in a creepy form and tell you the truth.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: He'll announce you're trapped, you can only log out by clearing the ga, and if you die here—or if soone removes the headset outside—your helt will trigger and destroy your brain.
]
So… all she had to do was wait.
Wait and see whether that "mastermind" really appeared.
Whether—
A bell rang.
The sound rolled over the Town of Beginnings' central plaza, and at the sa ti a blue pillar of light swallowed Asuna whole.
A chill went straight through her.
The light drowned out everything until she couldn't see, couldn't orient herself—then it faded.
Her vision returned.
And the world had changed.
She was in the central plaza.
A sea of people packed shoulder to shoulder—players everywhere.
The crowd erupted into confused chatter.
Most people assud it was so kind of announcent event, a special program, maybe a launch-day spectacle.
And Asuna heard it, too—voices saying they couldn't find the log-out button.
The atmosphere tightened.
Panic edged into the noise, and the plaza felt like it might boil over at any second.
Then Asuna's pupils shook as she looked up.
The sky had turned a deep, blood-red hue—ominous, like the entire world had been stained.
At the center of that red, sothing thick and viscous gathered, like an enormous drop of blood.
It swelled, shaped itself—
And beca a giant wrapped in a dark crimson cloak, looming in the air above them.
Exactly like Kuroneko said.
"Players. Welco to my world."
The voice was low and heavy, and Asuna felt her heart sink.
If it were just a GM doing theatrics, those words might have been nothing.
But this wasn't that kind of atmosphere.
This felt… wrong.
Not like an event.
Like a declaration.
Like a god speaking down to insects.
"My na is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am the only person who can control this world."
Asuna's hope collapsed another step.
The developer himself. Logged in. Acting as GM.
And speaking like a terrorist who had seized hostages and was savoring the mont.
Please.
Stop.
Don't say it.
Don't say the thing I don't want to hear—
Asuna begged silently.
(End of Chapter)
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