Koumori

It had been decided that we'd be making a large snowman. Starrine joined me on the ground and began packing the snow into a little ball. Through her gloved fingers she continued to add snow until she was ready to roll it around. She was so engrossed in her work that she totally lost track of me. I had a slight jump on her so I was already rolling mine while she was still patting, but as I continued I rolled it quite a distance away, collecting as much snow as I could. I pushed the ever growing ball in a huge circle around where she was sitting, still oblivious to my actions. I had to stop every once in a while to pat it down and round it out but it was certainly taking a good shape. As I continued I noticed Starrine was nearing completion on hers so I rolled my ball back to where she was kneeling. As I approached she stood up and asked me what I thought, brimming with excitement. I felt sorry id have to put stage her. I was standing behind her when I spoke, "For the torso maybe" I said almost sarcastically. When she turned to look at me she would see what I meant. My snowball was so large that it reached over halfway up my chest to the point that I could lean on it as you would on someone's shoulder, which I was doing. In the real world I wouldn't have been able to accomplish this by myself but in the game our strength was augmented to a degree. I wasn't leveled up nearly enough for this difference to be great but it was enough to make this ball. I was proud of my efforts. I stood smiling awaiting her response. 

Starrine practically flung herself at the door at the mention of the word snowman. She waited for me to approach before she jumped back out into the wonderland, brimming with anticipation. I was happy to see her like this. I knew I was helping her in someway and that was good enough for me. I followed her out, although in a much more subdued manner, and watched her walk around. She wanted to know what kind of snowman we should make. Obviously there was only one answer. I slowly rolled up my sleeves as I approached her, a grin appearing yet again on my face, "big" I said. There was no one to be seen in this area of the town, which seemed strange, but that meant we could do our business right here without any disgusted looks. As such, I dropped down and began collecting some snow.

"Well you see I had hoped that the experience would allow me to understand the essence that is the baby bird so that I could finally achieve my dream of flight." I said this in the voice of a philosopher contemplating his most important discovery, this was sure to give the guy a laugh. I regained my composure and answered his real question in my usual serious and flat tone "I wanted to see this place differently. It's become stale." The person whom I was speaking with seemed very perplexed by my actions. He no doubt thought that I was so sort of idiot, spending my days climbing trees and playing with bunnies. Well that was far from the case and I was angry at having a first meeting like this. I didn't want word to spead that I was a wimp. 

Mack took my comment just as I expected he would, but then escalated it something I hadn't seen coming. He got right up into my face and challenged me to a duel. Is this how people solved their problems in SAO? Someone says something challenging and the only way that can be found to settle it is a sword fight. Whatever happened to talking things out? Mack couldn't possibly expect to gain my understanding or trust by jumping to the most violent approach possible. If anything it was having the opposite effect. I didn't want to duel him, but I wouldn't just let him shut me up. I assumed the others would have something to say about this, which I was right about, so I waited for them to finish before offering my response. When it was my turn I squarely faced Mack and put on the most smug face I could muster. "I'm going to be honest here, I don't trust you. I can't tell if you're telling the truth or hiding some sort of motive. Dueling you now would only make my suspicions worse, plus I'm not going to stick my neck out on something so pointless. But! If you can't make me change my mind about you by the time were done at the cafe, you're on but under my conditions. How about that, big guy?" I wanted to avoid a fight as much as I could. I didn't want to do this in front of Rose, she was sobbing only a few moments ago. I turned to look at the other players gathered around and saw that they were probably feeling the same way, about the duel and about Mack. "By the way, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Koumori" I said to the group with my back to Mack. 

(I might be busy for the next few hours)

My face didn't take to kindly to the abrupt stop but the pain wasn't great enough to cause me to bring my hands to it. It took a few seconds for my legs, which were sticking up in the air, to comically succum to gravity and meet my face at ground level. Once the spinning sensation stopped I spun myself in the grass so that I was looking upward and I was greeted by the hand of the other player. I reached out and grabbed it for him to pull me up" Yeah just a little. I can shake it off" I said to him. When I was on my feet again I brushed myself off and fixed my clothes. After cracking my neck I looked back to the player to apologize "Sorry for almost flattening you" I said jokingly

The fields of floor one were starting to become too familiar to me. I knew them like the back of my hand at this point. Going out there everyday was clearly to blame for that. Since I've been in SAO, I've pretty much only hung around this floor. I don't know why that is its just turned out that way. Especially now considering that enemies are all comparatively weak. But I didn't want to take any risks until I got new gear, namely a sword. I had already contacted a blacksmith and was merely waiting for him to finish. Once I got that sword I'd be more confident. In the meantime however, I wanted a new perspective. As I wandered the fields I decided I'd try and find a new way to see things...so I climbed a tree. I found a relatively larger one and took my time climbing up to the very top. Once I got there I was amazed. The slight increase in altitude almost opened up a whole new world. It was truly amazing. I continued looking around and spotted something in the distance but as I leaned forward to get a better look I lost my footing. I slipped from the top branch and began tumbling down the tree with loud thuds until I landed face first on the ground, right in front of another player. "Ugh. Need to work on the landing"

"Call me crazy" I said with a laugh as we descended the dark stairwell. "I don't think so. This is probably just for the mission we're on." I didn't think there was an NPC black market in SAO that would be ridiculous. I was sure that this was something made just for this quest line, if you could call it a quest. As I continued contemplating Miriko made comments about the need for lights. For sure the tunnel was unnecessarily dark, but I didn't say anything return. After what seemed like minutes, we finally reached the bottom. We stepped off the bottom step and on to the landing and were then greeted by a single door. We both stood looking at it for a second before Miriko told me to open it. After giving her a "you little" kinda of look I reached forward and opened the door. I walked through and examined what lie on the other side. It was a small square room, totally dark except for one light in the center, with one square table...wait on the table! That was the book. The book that the NPC described was sitting right on the table. Before I ran forward to grab it my thoughts got the better of me. How could this not be a trap? I looked over at Miriko to see what she thought. 

(I hate looking back on my posts and seeing typos ahhhh)

Glory's spirits seemed to take a jump to the stars when I mentioned giving her a tour of Tokyo. I wasn't expecting that kid if reaction so it caught me off guard, my eyes widening a little bit to show it on my face. Glory didn't seem to noticed though because she was making use of her renewed appetite to wage war against her dessert. I decided to take that time to finish off my own, but in no time at all Glory spoke up once more. She said that she was surprised at out different lives and that should didn't know if she could handle being alone. Based on the look on her face this seemed like the time to do a little comforting again. "You won't have to find out. You won't be alone here either." Someone should've told me I had chocolate on my teeth. "I get it. It's easier to be comfortable with people you're close to. No need to explain yourself" I said as I raised my arms to form an "X" in the air. Seriously why would I do that? Stupid, stupid, stupid I thought as I lowered my head to the table. If it was possible to turn into a chibi character in real life that's exactly what would've happened at that moment. Luckily for me though I regained my composed quickly and snapped back to my previous position. I looked back at Glory as she continued to speak and noticed a frown appear on her face when she mentioned the topic of home and how she missed it. I returned my gaze to meet hers "Then you'll just have to make a home here"

Starrine's cheeks were a little red after that first comment. If I didn't know better I'd say it was from the cold, but i decided I wouldn't say anything about it and just played it off. "You're the boss." She said thank you as I held the door open for her. We both made our way inside and began examining the apparently empty shop. Various types of weapons adored the walls for our viewing pleasure. Most of them seemed very well made. I casually looked around while Starrine ran around like a kid in a candy shop, eying up every blade she saw. At one point she placed her hand on her own sheathed blade, undoubtably considering the need to get a new one. I myself was in the same boat, but a little further along. I had already purchased a new sword and was only waiting for the blacksmith to finish forging it. A long wait to get a sword that actually had a name, one besides "starter blade" or something equally as bland. Anyway, Starrine finished looking around rather quickly and came to stand next to me once more and asked where I'd like to go. I put my finger up to my lip as I thought. The going through shops thing didn't seem to be working too well. It wasn't like it was in the real world. You couldn't just go into a random store and buy random stuff. It was different here. Wait, bingo! "Well, we could..." I formed a sly grin "...build a snowman" I finished looking directly at her. As someone who loved snow I was sure she would love this. 

It seemed Starrine was beginning to think the same thing as she started to rub her hands together then made a side comment about needing to bring warmer clothes. While the weather was cold, it certainly wasn't unbearable and it definitely didn't detract from the beauty of the place. In any case, she followed me ask I began to walk down the streets but she quickly threw in that she had no col to buy anything. I had some and it was the girls birthday so it's wouldn't hurt..."I've got some, not much, but if you like something just speak up. Think of it as a birthday gift" I said with a grin as I goofily pointed my index finger in the air. I didn't know if she'd accept my offer or not but I felt I should at least put it out there. Starrine seemed to get lost in thought after that. I wondered what she was thinking about. Could it have something to do with anxiety about today? Eventually, however, she broke the silence and asked about my level. "Oh I don't mind, it's nothing to brag about. 10" I said honesty. That truly was my level. I should probably do some quests I thought to myself. Eventually we reached what appeared to be a blacksmith shop, the first store that caught Starrine's eye. She turned to be and joyously asked if I wanted to go in. With a nod I went to the door and held it open so she could enter.

(Haha. I see you made a new avatar. Nice)

Starrine was equally as awestruck as me. I watched as she played around in the snow like a child. She really did love snow. Anyway, I was really glad. I was happy that I could help her enjoy her first birthday inside Aincrad, her first birthday away from her family. If I hadn't come along she very well could have continued sulking around the first floor, trying to forget what this day actually was. Maybe it was good to talk to people every once in a while. I brought my attention back to her just in time to hear her ask me what we should do next. This one didn't take nearly as long to answer as I thought there was only one clear answer. "I bet there are a lot of shops here. How about we check them out?" I said smiling as I idly walked around, still absorbing my wintery surroundings. I should've brought gloves.

(sorry for the delay. Autocorrect was wreaking havoc on me with this one)

I scowled a bit as Mack made a show of sheathing his axe. He obviously wanted me and me specifically to see it. Normally I'd say it's because he was trying to impress me, but I could tell he sensed my animosity and was instead trying to threaten me. Well it didn't work. I begrudgingly followed as the group made its way to Mack's shop, beginning to regret the decision to stay. But I immediately changed my mind when I actually saw the shop. Actually, shop was too strong a word. It was a tent. Seeing this only made a small smirk spread across my face. I didn't usual harbor this kind of ill will towards other players. Perhaps I was just in a bad mood. We all entered the "shop" and Mack quickly went to grab two swords and present them to Rose. It looked like he wanted to gift her one. Seriously? He brought us her so that he could butter her up? What was with this guy? I began opening my mouth to speak when, yet again, for the fourth time today I was interrupted. Abalasster grabbed me by the arm and took me off to the side of the room. Before I could offer any resistance he spoke to me in a muffled voice. It seemed he didn't want the others to hear. He told me he also didn't trust Mack but for some reason he did trust me. I wondered what his reasons for that could be. He went on to say that he was hoping we could all form a party. Now, my immediate reaction should have been "no" but I felt like this situation called for discretion. After mulling over my thoughts I spoke, "You're right, I don't trust him. Right now I'm not sure how I feel about the rest of you either." I turned to look the player in the face and continued "I usually like to fly solo. I want to see how this plays out before I agreed to anything. And my name is Koumori." I cringed at the thought of this guy coming up with a name for me so I was sure to tell him what it really was. With that I walked with him back to the gathering. Rose was taking a liking to the swords that Mack was showing her and the two other guys were just standing and watching. Seeing this brought me back to my previous thought, why were we here? I walked my way next to Takao and crossed my hands over my chest before speaking once more, "It looks like you're feeling better now, that's good" I said directed at the girl before shifting to the resident smith "But why would you just give her one of your swords for free?" Obviously Mack would pick up on the accusation in my voice and I was hoping he would. I couldn't help but wonder if he was playing some sort of angle. He only put off a pleasant air when talking to the girl. 

(Sorry for always being a jerk to you Mack)

I will one day reach the point where memes will be made of me (T ^ T) this is my goal!

(btw Yami, that was the greatest thing I have ever seen)

I was really striking gold right now. I couldn't remember a time when the things that I said were so well conceived so many consecutive times. If it was even possible, Starrine got even more excited at the mention of the word snow. She hastily agreed with my suggestion and then swiped the air with two fingers of her right hand, bringing up her menu. As it was in privacy mode I couldn't see what she was entering but she finished fairly quickly and ran over to the teleport gate. With modest hesitation she said the words to teleport to Snowfrost Town. I figured then that she had simply been looking up the name of the town so that she could actually use the teleport gate...wait, she was so excited she left without me. I hadn't even reached the gate by the time she teleported out so I was left standing their by myself like a dork. Bringing my hand to cover my face I laughed to myself for a second. Boy this girl was something else I thought. After I regained my composure I entered the gate and echoed her words, "Teleport, Snowfrost Town." With that the teleportation animation enveloped me and a mere second later it swiftly vanished. I stepped out of the gate and approached Starrine "Hey you could've waited forrrrrr......woah" I cut myself off mid sentence as I began taking in the town around me. Everything I had heard was certainly correct. Everything was covered in a thick layer of glistening white snow. The small cottage like buildings of the town emitted through their chimneys the only color on the landscape that contrasted the frozen wonderland. I couldn't help stand with my mouth agape as I took it in for the first time. 

Upon hearing my suggestion, Starrine's eyes began sparkling. She practically jumped at the idea of venturing to a higher floor, any higher floor, anything besides floor one. I watched her as she giggled with joy and thought of the best floor to go. Not many stood out to me as particularly amazing based on what I heard. However, floor four I was sure would appeal to this girl. It was supposed to be a wonderland, a place shrouded in eternal winter. I have even been looking forward to seeing it myself. "Well I've heard that the fourth floor is supposed to always be covered in snow. How's that sound?" The amount of excitement I presented in my speech didn't nearly come close to that which Starrine exuded, I may have seemed cool and calm to her but I really was pumped inside. 

I don't have any memes, but welcome nonetheless!

Starrine seemed to take my suggestion very seriously. By this alone I could tell she didn't really want to go monster hunting. Surprisingly though it took her a few minutes to finally come up with a response, one that I must say was a little underwhelming. I scratched my head as she asked me if I had any suggestions. Well I had wanted her to choose something herself, it being her birthday and all, but it seemed like she was just looking for some adventure. Conveniently enough, I had something that I had been itching to do. Perhaps this was the time to try it out. I returned my hand to my side and looked up "Let's go explore a higher floor. We can stick to the town where it's safe, just to get a change of scenery. How about that?" I asked her with an inviting smile.

Glory seemed to be over-joyed to hear my response. It seemed that she had never gotten the chance to visit Tokyo herself. Being in Osaka it was quite the ride so that was probably the reason. She also told of all the family and friends she had back home. She almost seemed to glow talking about the real world. In fact she was so happy that she must've forgotten her embarrassment as she didn't hesitate to hold my gaze. I'd probably ruin that for her. "It's something else. If you ever get the chance to visit you should, I'll show you around" I said with a slight laugh. "Really? I was usually alone. It was just my mom and I didn't have many friends, mostly by choice, but I usually kept by myself." I didn't really say this sadly, because I wasn't sad about it, but she'd probably interpret it that way as someone who was always busy. "It's good that you can be happy thinking about it. Sometimes a break from SAO is nice" I added so it didn't seem like I had dismissed her. We really were getting into some pretty personal stuff in this conversation. Deeper than I had expected. It was nice

Starrine gleefully responded and I could see that she began to size me up as well. She seemed to be satisfied with what she saw as she didn't flee. Suddenly though her demeanor changed. She became a little more...down. She told me she didn't have many friends and didn't have anything to do. Still in her downtrodden state, she asked if I'd go monster hunting with her. That seemed like an odd question to me. I know on my birthday I wouldn't go out and grind, I'd take it easy an relax. Maybe she really just didn't have anyone to spend it with and didn't know what else to do. Well what a predicament for me then. I don't usually go up to players at random and talk to them in the first place, but her I was contemplating spending this girl's birthday with her. After briefly weighing my options, I decided I'd do it. Retaining my smile I responded to Starrine's request "You want to go monster hunting on your birthday? You can't do that. There's got to be something you'd rather do" at this I my smile turned into a nudging one. Maybe my reassurance would help her. Then again, we didn't even know each other. She might think I'm being creepy. 

I couldn't tell by Glorys response how she felt about what I said. She seemed like she was happy about it but she added that "I guess" at the end so i didn't know how to read that. "Y-yeah" But the way she fiddled with her hair could be a clue. No matter, the silence had to end. We'd get no where if we didn't say anything to each other. At that moment Glory read my mind and asked me where I used to live. The way she spoke was filled with way more studders than usual for her, it was quite apparent that she was shaken. Nontheless, I practically jumped at the opportunity to talk about something and answered her very quickly. "I lived just outside of Tokyo, in a small house with just my mom." This time as I spoke I attempted to make eye contact with her. Maybe that would help a little bit. So I kept my gaze fixed and didn't waver. 

As I should've expected, the girl was not expecting to hear my voice. She jumped up and fell forward on her face. Maybe it would've been a better I idea to say it in front of her and not sneak up behind her I thought. As I got ready to assist her in getting up she did all the work for me and practically leaped to her feet and spun like a top to great me. All shreds of surprise gone, she extended her hand and gleefully greeted me. I smiled back at her and reached my hand out to hers and lightly shook it. "I'm Koumori." After I got a good look at her she appeared to be slightly older than me but from what I had seen so far she acted like she was much younger in comparison. "Its no fun spending a birthday alone." I added

After Glory received her food from the waitress she readjusted herself to sit back in her old position. That was a good sign, at least she had decided to stay. I looked at her every now and then and noticed she was doing the same thing as me: playing with her food and hardly looking up. But unlike me she didn't eat a bite. Perhaps I ruined her appetite at the very least. Eventually her face regained some of its usual color and she responded. She asked me if I had mean what I said. Well now that I thought about it, the girl in front of me was cute, I couldn't claim that she wasn't. When I made the comment to her it was just a comment, but it seems like it's what I truly thought. This was an odd occurance to me. Well before I think anymore about this I had better say something before she thinks I'm searching for a lie I thought to myself. I summoned my voice up from the back of my throat and spoke, "Of course I meant it. I wouldn't lie about something like that." For the first time in what seems like an eternity I gave her a warm smile, "Yeah.." Our faces were reaching almost equal levels of flushness. I also just so happened to notice that I had tensed up considerably and quickly adjusted myself. We both looked like we felt pretty awkward to onlookers too I was sure. 

Just as we were about to get an easy out Mack had to open his mouth. Instead of the simple solution of going to the cafe he wanted to force us to go to his shop and then to a bar which would exclude some of us here. Didn't he consider the still trembling 14 year old girl standing just off to his side. In any case, it seemed the other players shared my concerns. After everyone gave their two cents it seemed like we were going to Macks shop then I'd take Rose and the others to a cafe while the silver haired guy would take Mack to a bar then meet us. Well I say we but I didn't have to go along with any of this. I could just leave if I wanted. But no. This seemed like it would be interesting so I decided to stick around and find out. However, I was still peeved at this purposefully threatening Mack character. Looks like we'd be heading off to his shop. I turned around to glare at him, "I don't know why the bar is necessary in this situation but whatever. Let's go to your shop" I said motioning for him to lead the way and walking forward myself. I also turned to the yet unnamed silver haired player and spoke to him as well "Please don't call me kiddo." The way I spoke wasn't necessarily aggressive or angry but more like a request. I was still going to act like myself but I didn't want everyone here to hate me right off the bat. 

The blacksmith accepted my materials and hurried back to his forge. I stood with waiting for a little while before he returned with the bad news. He had no luck making a perfect and would resume later. Oh well, nothing I could do. "No problem. I'll see you later then, Thank you." And with a wave I left. 

Today I decided I'd begin early. I set my internal, and I do mean internal in the most literal sense, alarm to about 5:00. That way if wake up just around sunrise. Just as scheduled my alarm buzzed and I slowly opened my eyes and scratched my head. For the first few minutes after I wake up i usually remain very groggy but after that passes I'm ready to go. That in mind, I got up off the bed and equipped my gear. Skipping breakfast once again I began heading straight out of town. Luckily it didn't take to long to reach the gate as not many people were up this early. It had been awhile (relatively) since I got trapped in SAO and I was slowly beginning to step up my game to reach the top. The thought of going out for another day excited me rather than scared me. As I walked through the bountiful grasslands the morning wind blew through my hair and the fresh dew sparkled in my vision. Today was already shaping up to be a great one. I soaked in my surroundings as I continued to walk through the fields, but then I noticed a girl sitting alone on the ground. Normally I'd continue walking and ignore her but I just happened to pass by near enough to here what she was saying. Apparently today was her birthday. This game was harsh on people considering you couldn't see your friends and family, so I imagined that this was a sad day for her. She could probably use someone wishing her I happy birthday. So I decided that would be me. I walked up behind her and in a soft voice said "Happy Birthday"