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Sinon     It's probably less than half an hour since the annual Bullet of Bullets tournament finished, and some people may still be smarting from that spectacular explosion. Where did they get the original idea for that anyway? Does Shino read The Hunger Games? Anyway.

    Owing to the possibility that there may still be some degree of danger, it's probably a good idea to go to her RL address to check on her, circumstances being what they were.

    Shino Asada lives in a small apartment complex of single-occupant tenancies in a reasonably high-class part of her ward. It's currently after nightfall.
Kirito     Although he's logged out, KIRIGAYA KAZUTO isn't helpless. Knowing that there's a strong chance Shino might be in danger, he's told the group where he's going, grabbed his Abstractum (stuffed into a long sports bag...) and dashed for Shino's apartment!

    He's in casual clothing, although most of it's... shades of black with few other colors...
Amalthea     Amalie said she was in Japan for the Bullet of Bullets. She did not say WHERE in Japan though. The fact that it's in the same town, well. That was supposed to be a surprise. Surprises however can't always be sprung when people always like them, and with the BoB over, Kirigaya Kazuto is not alone.
    It's a small figure in a hoodie that just sort of steps into pace with him, hands stuffed in pockets, one blue eye peering out from the shadow of her hood.
    The cheesy and obviously fake French accent is unmistakeable though.
    "You're heading to her place, yes? How about I come with~?"
Sinon     Now, and here's something you may be somewhat worried to notice when you first get close to Shino's house. Now, usually people who play MMOs do not usually leave the front door to their house ajar when they are fulldiving. Also, they don't tend to have broken locks on their front door, because as we mentioned, high-quality part of town and generally high standards of liohwhyarewedancingaroundtheissueherfrontdoor'sbeenbrokeninto.
Kirito     There's no small amount of apprehension over being joined by Amalie when she arrves, but Kazuto's expression is more startled than anything. Not that he stops his charge for the apartments. "It could be pretty dangerous!" he warns, but nope, no rejecting help.

    Still, when he sees her door ajar and lock broken, Kirito's blood runs cold. Is he too late?!

    He shuffles up against the wall and leans in to peek and see if he can learn anything from the door without alerting whatever intruder there might be to his presence.

    Meanwhile he draws Double Fault from the bag. The Abstractum's been instructed to keep quiet for now unless it's EXTREMELY important. He really shouldn't be hauling weapons around, after all. Talking weapons would make things even weirder.
Amalthea     "I come all the way from Massachussets to see you and not even a hello? But I don't think even in Japan it's custom to leave your door open while wholly and completely alone and vulnerable is it?" It's a mild tease when told how dangerous things can be, Amalie seems fairly non-chalant. Though the door being left ajar does result in a look. It's a pointed look that says very many things as Kirito takes position against the wall.
    She falls to silence, relying on a few curt wordless hand gestures. If he's been paying attention at all, the fact that she's military- or ex-military probably shouldn't be all that surprising as she sets her hand on the knob, pushing it open for a peek inside.
Sinon Well, what you've got to keep in mind is that despite doing an awful lot to make girls fall head over heels for him, Kirito's kind of awful at knowing what to do with them when he has them. Kind of sad, really.

    In much the same way one would peer through the keyhole of a room in the days when keyholes could be peered through, Amalthea (isn't her hoodie going to have an unusual raised-up part?) takes a look to see what's going on in--

    Wait.
    Are we sure we logged off here?

    Because what she sees through the keyhole is in fact not actually something awful or tragic. Instead, what she sees is... well, it's Sinon.

    Walking out of the kitchen.

    Wiiiith a sandwich.
Kirito     "This isn't the time for that!" Kirito squeaks under his breath, near panicked. The door is opened carefully thanks to Amalthea and, having not seen anything with his peeking... he decides to dash in with Double Fault ready! "SINON!"

    A few hurried steps into the apartment later...

    He freezes right in his tracks. Blinks a few times. Lowers Double Fault. Glances at Amalie. Then...

    "... Si-... Sinon?"

    The boy's face breaks out in the WEIRDEST boggly-eyed, open-mouthed twistaround of pure dumbfoundedness.

    Reality check time, seriously.
Amalthea     Annnnnnd there she is.
    For the record, the hoodie hides important details like the horn fairly well for the sake of plot purposes, still that lone blue eye blinks once in a mild look of confusion when there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong except.
    Sinon is right there.
    Sinon-Sinon and not normal human girl-child Sinon that might have been what Amalie and Kirito expected.
    "... Ah. You left the door open."
Sinon "AHHH WHAT"

    In agonizingly slow motion, Sinon reacts in shock to someone shoving the door open. In her surprise, her hands flinch.

    Her sandwich, made of an assortment of pickles, cheese and spiced tofu, flies a few inches into the air. It splits apart, contents falling onto her hands, and then the seperated pieces of it tumble to the ground.

    It lands on the ground with a noise that can only be described as 'pat'.
    And so, it came to pass that on this day, sandwichkind recieved a grim reminder. They lived in fear of the Kirito and were disgraced to live in these cages they call breadbins.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOOKJIIhH14

    Sinon stands there for a moment, looking at a piece of giardiniera.
    And then at the people in her doorway, one of which has a sword.

    "Why... I should have known that my first meeting with that guy would end up being like this."

    "Although I guess I did leave the door open."
Kirito     Kazuto... WINCES. Down goes a sandwhich. He's not sure WHAT to say now, so the bewildered gawking continues for a good ten seconds. ".. Sorry, didn't mean... to startle you."

    "That's some hardcore costume work..."
Amalthea     To be fair in Amalthea's defense, an open door could mean a lot of things! Thankfully Sinon is fine, albeit very digital. So the Gamer-From-Massachussets rubs at the back of her neck with an awkward sound, tapping one toe at the floor briefly.
    "We wanted to check up on you after the BoB." ... "Sorry about the sandwich."
Sinon     "Costume?"

    Sinon crosses her arms and pouts, then realises she's pushed said piece of pickle up one of her sleeves. And that her sandwich is still on the floor. She makes some muffled grumbling noises, picks up the remains of the sandwich and puts it on a side table, grumbles some more, tries to dust her hands off and is forced to use a paper towel.

    Amalthea mentions the reason they're there and she... softens her expression considerably.

    "Yeah, I thought you'd come here. I guess that's sort of why this happened, really, now that I think about it. So..."

    She cracks her neck, and there's the visual effect of a user logging out around her... but all that happens is a change in Sinon's hair colour, from blue to black, and the change of her outfit from GGO norm to... glasses, shirt and short skirt.

    "When I say 'thank you for checking on me', I mean it in far more ways than just one."

There's this brief moment of silence. Then, Shino realizes that this is in truth the first time that her and Kazuto (and Amalie, but mostly Kazuto) are meeting IRL, him holding a sword, her with an interrupted sandwich, her presumably just kind of embarrassed by the whole thing.

    Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush.
Kirito     Oh boy. Kirito's seen that expression before. He's not really sure what to make of it. He eventually shakes his head. "I promised, didn't I? Wait... Hold on a second... what.. HAPPENED here? The lock's broke, door's open... don't tell me...?"
Amalthea     "What happened." Amalie is right to the point. Though she does flash a glance between the now blushing girl and Kirito, the completely and totally american RPer from Massachussets gawks mildly at Sinon... Becoming Shino.
    Shoulders sag briefly as one hand disappears into her shadowy hood to rub at that lone eye. She's never actually seen any of the other VRMMO players do that kind of thing- not that she says so. Right now anyway.
    But someone is getting too old for this crazy kind of stuff.
Sinon     "OK." Shino says, and the blush quickly clears as things go from 'awkward hijinks' to 'business' once again very quickly.

    "Sit down."

And she gets whatever she has left to sit down on- Shino never really expects more than one guest, so she's sitting on her bed, there's one chair, and there's a small stepladder for changing lightbulbs for the third person. You get to fight over who gets what. No swords allowed.

    "I had this friend," past tense important, "Named Kyouji. Shinkawa. He came over to check on me first after the tournament ended. In a manner of speaking."

    "At the time I hadn't checked the door, which meant I didn't realize he'd actually broken into my house while I was fulldiving. He must have been basically standing over me while I was playing..."

    She takes a minute to take in a deep gulp of breath. "I don't know why we didn't figure it out. I've been putting all of the pieces together since it finished. Death G- Sterb- whatever we want to call him. Must have used his metamaterial optic camouflage to watch players as they were putting in their names and addresses. During the tournament he was signalling to someone else. If ... whatever he was doing in GGO didn't work, then he had someone who broke into their house to kill them."

"That must have been why Reker survived. Because that person was Kyouji... and he was in here with me."
Kirito     Well that's a bomb and a half. Kazuto does take a seat, expression rather broody and glum over this new bit of information. But the gears in his head whirl fast to digest and process it. "That fits some of the theory I'd had... and why I thought you were in danger. I was thrown off by Felidae Z... if it had been just XeXeed and Usajio Tarako, I'd figured out how that would work. Felidae Z didn't fit the requirements... but I was wrong. It DID. There were multiple methods of murder. One mundane, one supernatural..."
Amalthea     'Sit' Sinon- or Asada now- says. And sit, Amalie does. She has no problem with the step ladder, plopping herself on the top rung and propping one foot on the step beneath, to rest her elbows on one knee, and her chin in her palms.
    "So then Death Gun did have collaborators."
    It sounds like someone else had a similar theory there. "But then that still leaves us in the dark about how Reker survived-- thankfully he did- if there was no one there to try and off him." She at least assumes there wasn't anyone. "I'm guessing Sinon there fended him off, mmm?"
    That last part's a mild tease. About the whole green-hair look from moments ago. "Considering what Kirito can do when he's logged in on his Spriggan."
Sinon     "Almost didn't," Shino replies. "But I..."

    She looks at the carpet for a moment. "You have to understand that... Kyouji was my... only friend. So when he came in, I didn't..." And it's at this point that her voice begins to quicken, gradually. "I was happy to have him there, but he started /talking/ about these weird things, like XeXeed, and these plans he made, and then he started getting kind of scary, then he started getting real scary, and that's when he took this injector out, and he was holding me down and I--"

    She clenches her teeth, as if to try and get a hold of herself. She breathes through her nose for a few seconds, trying to normalize the breathing she didn't realize had become so fast.
Kirito     Realizing how bad things must've been and how much Sinon's NOT saying, Kirito reaches out and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. Squeezes.

    "It's alright. You're alive. You handled it." FOCUS and RELAX are the key factors of his tone, but he's sounding pretty tense all of a sudden himself.

    "... So they must be related..."
Amalthea     "Was your only friend." Amalie confirms, arms folding across her chest. "You've got more now, you know." Pointed out rather casually. "Ones that care enough to show up at your house and check up on you- without trying to kill you." Noted as she jerks a thumb at Kirito.
    But then, she sighs. "He held you down. But you're here now and he's not, which means you fended him off. So. Do you finally feel stronger?" Sinon had never answered Amalie's question during the Bullet of Bullets. And now seems as good a time as any to ask it and head off letting the girl remind herself of the trauma of being so close to getting killed, by swapping to another equally relevant topic, if she can start wandering around like that in the real world.
Sinon     Shino leans forward. It's clear she kind of needs a hug again, but for more ... well, some of the same reasons as before, but some new ones as well.

    She looks up at the two of them, and nods. "Un. I ... don't really understand what happened, but... Shino and Sinon were always the same person. I just... needed to be reminded of that. And when I realized that you were coming here," looking at Kazuto then Amalthea, "and he could hurt you as well, I... well... you saw."

    "That's a thing I can do now. And it makes me understand that I've become stronger," she continues, having realized finally who the other person is.

"Since then I've just... sort of been trying to figure out what I can do now... oh, yeah, he did say Sterben was his brother. Must be how it all got started."
Kirito     "Sorry you got caught up in this mess." Kirito murmurs under his breath. There are tons of unanswered questions, but he feels no need to state the obvious. Instead he sticks close for comfort. too awkward to initiate any kind of hug for various reasons!

    "You had this strength all alone. You just had to find it. Right now the authorities are after his brother. Just going to have to trust they can handle it. Thank heavens you pulled through, Sinon. I was worried that we'd be too late..."

    He ooks now at Amalie. Kind of like a deer caught in headlights. WAT DO, his face says?
Amalthea     "I saw, yes. Are you happy with your newfound strength?" Confirmed with a tip if the head.
    Was that a sparkle that just fell out of her hood? Whatever it was, Amalie casually brushes it aside while trying to not draw too much attention to it, cool as a cat.
    Though then Kirito gets a jab. "She got in this mess on her own, you told her everything and she still chose to keep at it." Noted gruffly. "But she bailed herself out on her own, on her own power and strength, and that's all that matters." Conceded after a beat before standing herself up. "I don't know about you two, but I could use a drink after all that chaos."
    That's what do, Kirito. That's what do.
Sinon     "I think I really like it," Shino confirms, with a smile. With another blink, she changes into Sinon once again. "I think I like what I feel." Changes really open your eyes.

    Cut forward a little in time. We're off to Dicey cafe for the afterparty!

Sinon's probably eaten TWO sandwiches by now, and Kirito definitely paid for both of them. She's been talking to some of the others, just... over there, off to the side, filling them in on the details of what happened. In a way, the more she tells other people the more she comes to terms with it, until it's completely ... well, not easy. But.

    Eventually, she comes back to the other group, sitting on Kirito's other side (the one Asuna isn't asleep on.)

    "So, something else occured to me," she says, sipping a drink.

    "What does 'prime resonance bonded' mean?"
Kirito     "PRIME RESONANCE?!" Kazuto nearly jumps up. He's a clear foot off his perch, hands slamming down onto the table.

    "That can't be the same thing... don't tell me... that red glow was... an Abstractum?!"
Amalthea     Sinon has been through two sandwiches... AMALTHEA has been through two beers. That was probably a doozy. When the unicorn tugged her hood off and let even more glitter get everywhere. "So now you've met the gang at our best. Not being griefing kill-stealing dottering noobs with no attention span."
    Amalthea is unmistakeably Amalie of course, even after ditching the stupid accent, the design on her eyepatch is proof enough as she sips her drink as casually as a unicorn with a bottle of beer.
    "Thaaaat sounds like something Abstractum related, yeah. Mine's sleeping more often lately than not though so I can't ask him."
Asuna Kirito goes up, and Asuna goes down. The startled reaction from him causes her to tip right out of the chair, having been leaning on him a little too heavily. So down Asuna goes to the floor in a crumpled heap of warm jacket and dress. She just flops there for awhile - before she whimpers.

Sad and now hurt Asuna is sad and now hurt.
Sinon     And she's met a robot unicorn, making this average out into the best day of Sinon's life.

    She hadn't QUITE expected Kirito to have such an... explosive reaction to this. She just thought it was 'a multiverse thing' which would be something everyone else took for granted, not... well...

    She sloooowly puts down her drink. And clears her throat. "That... was not /exactly/ how I expected you to react."

    Look at Asuna. Pick up Asuna.
    Sotto voice. "I think that we should probably leave it at that for today."
Kirito     The moment Kirito bursts upwards he realizes he's made a grave mistake. "--Ah--" BUT THUMP. Down goes Asuna. The most horrified, regretful look ever flashes across his face. "SorrysorryAsuna! I was too focused on that subject!"
Amalthea     "Someone's sleeping on the couch tonight. Good job loverboy." Amalthea murmurs dryly, setting her bottle down with a huge yawn. "Anyway I've had my cloak and dagger fun, but now I've gotta handle the paperwork for this mess Union-side, so I better get to it. I've got a long night ahead." A streeeetch and small hissing vent of steam and she rises to leave. "Keep in touch, Shino. And maybe sometime we can have that rematch- because don't think I've gotten over that headshot."
    She won't admit it, but the unicorn is still salty and buttmad about it. "I'll leave any FURTHER investigation in someone else's hands, so let's have a rematch sometime, or something."