Kiriko, who had just realized her true gender was exposed and was panicking about how to explain it to the other party, was suddenly stunned.
'What did she just hear? Kiriko? How did this guy know my nickname was Kiriko?' (T/N: Kirito = Kirigaya Kazuto, Kiriko = Kirigaya Kazuko.)
"Do you know me?" Kiriko looked at Yusei in confusion.
Her voice had changed now, becoming the familiar tone she knew.
Noticing this change, Kiriko mentally noted, 'As expected.'
SAO's replication was unprecedentedly realistic. When players input the start command, their vocal characteristics were also fully recorded.
Hearing Kirito's, no, Kiriko's words, Yusei also realized the problem.
He had been so surprised by the sudden 'feminization' that he'd subconsciously called out the name 'Kiriko'.
"Actually, for some reason, I gained an ability called 'Insight' in my game skills. It lets me observe the attributes of players and monsters, including their IDs."
"Eh?" Kiriko was taken aback, puzzled, "There's a skill like that?"
She was a beta tester and knew about many skills, including those for observing monster and player attributes... but those were available only after changing classes and reaching higher levels.
"There is."
Yusei opened his game menu and showed it to Kiriko.
[Insight: Can observe the attribute values and weaknesses of monsters and players.]
Seeing the skill description, Kiriko was dumbfounded, 'Such an overpowered skill, and probably a unique one too? This situation was completely absent in the beta.'
"This... no wonder you and your sister coordinate so well," Kiriko finally managed to say, feeling a bit embarrassed. Checking someone else's skills without permission was a serious breach of etiquette, and in this death game, it could even affect their survival.
'But... he showed it to me voluntarily, right?' Kiriko thought.
"Cough, this... I suggest you shouldn't show your skills to others in the future."
"Of course I know that. But this skill is no big deal… it's just an observation skill."
Among SAO's information-gathering skills, there were those for observing monster attributes, which Yusei knew about.
So he figured adding a weakness detection feature wasn't too outrageous, right?
The [Insight] skill just had one extra feature, seeing weaknesses, compared to others.
And most importantly, Insight was actually just one of the abilities of his current Three-Tomoe Sharingan...
The abilities under the Three-Tomoe Sharingan included Insight, Stat Boost, Copy...
Copy allowed him to replicate not only players' sword skills and movements but also monsters' combat techniques.
Of course, Yusei felt this ability wasn't very useful. After all, what sword technique could be more effective than Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu?
Kiriko, looking at Yusei's nonchalant expression, sighed.
"Alright, suit yourself."
The giant figure in the sky had already vanished. The bloody hue at the horizon dissipated, revealing the sunset glow that had been there before.
In this Virtual World, the sunset was so real, so beautiful.
Yet, everyone present was still immersed in the earlier fear, in no state to appreciate this beauty, let alone calmly consider Kayaba's words about clearing the game.
What they were thinking about now was: when would people from the outside world come to save them?
Kiriko, looking at the restless crowd, turned to Yusei and Shiro, "I know a safe path to the next grinding spot. Do you want to come together? With just three people, resources can be allocated efficiently."
"Is that so? In that case, then I'll…"
Just as Kazami Yusei was about to accept Kiriko's invitation, he caught sight of a particular spot out of the corner of his eye, or rather, a particular person.
"Sorry, I might not be able to go. Will you be okay on your own, Kiriko-chan?"
"Eh?" Kiriko was startled, looking at Yusei in confusion, "You have a strong initial skill, so you can level up quickly..."
"It can't be helped. I didn't expect she would also be here. If I don't look after her, her grandfather will probably chop me up."
"... Well then, good luck. I'll be going first."
After exchanging friend requests, Kiriko quickly left.
(A/N: I have no preference for turning the original male protagonist into a female character and then romantically involving them with the main character. The reason for gender-bending Kirito into 'Kiriko' is simple: I don't want male characters hanging around the protagonist. In SAO, there are already many female characters. Besides the original cast, I've also added Shiro, Kaguya, and several high-combat-power beauties I plan to introduce later. So, why would a male Kirito need to linger around the main character?)