It had been a full day since logging into Sword Art Online (SAO).
Yuuki Asuna still couldn't log out. There was no Log Out button anywhere.
She'd added a few people as friends just to confirm their situation.
The result: almost everyone was still online.
Almost—not all.
Because one person's icon had changed, and then that person never showed up again.
And Asuna hadn't seen her at the respawn point, either.
So what was the truth? Had she logged out? Or had she actually died?
Like Schrödinger's cat, it was impossible to tell unless you tested it yourself.
But if you got it wrong, that "test" meant the end of your life. Who would dare?
Some people did.
On day one, Asuna had watched a handful of players refuse to believe Akihiko Kayaba. One of them walked straight to the edge of the massive floating castle and jumped.
So after a full day, almost nobody was stupid enough to try that again.
Over ten thousand players had been stuck online for more than twenty-four hours. This wasn't some "official prank" anymore.
In the real world, it would be a massive incident—total chaos.
Still, some people clung to hope. In novels and anime, time often didn't flow the same way in virtual worlds.
Maybe, just maybe, hardly any real-world time had passed.
Watching the sky darken toward night again, Asuna started thinking seriously about the possibility of being trapped for nearly two years—and what she'd need to do to survive.
First of all, she couldn't do nothing. She couldn't just sit around and wait for rescue.
Sure, she could stay in the safe zone and not worry about monsters killing her, but even then she needed somewhere to rest, right?
Fine, she could sleep on the street if she had to. But this game had a setting for hunger.
If you didn't eat, you probably wouldn't literally starve to death—but the gnawing emptiness was miserable.
You could push through it for a short while. Long-term? No chance.
Which meant she needed food.
And food wasn't free. It cost money.
So where would money come from?
It couldn't appear out of thin air.
Even if you had some starting funds, you'd eventually run out. That meant she'd have to earn the game's currency somehow.
And in games, there were plenty of ways to make money. Some quests didn't even require going out into the field—running errands for NPCs, doing minor chores, that sort of thing.
But the rewards for those were obviously small.
And there were over ten thousand players packed into the Town of Beginnings right now. Where were there enough little errands for everyone to take?
In the end, that left only one real option.
Go outside and hunt monsters.
So starting tomorrow, Asuna planned to begin monster hunting.
It should be fine.
When she first logged in—yesterday—she'd fought field monsters and managed to take them down.
If the monsters out there were still around that same strength, she should be okay.
She just had to be more careful.
Killing monsters wouldn't just earn money. It would earn EXP, too—letting her grow stronger. And she needed to level up. She had to.
If Kayaba wanted this world to become the "true fantasy adventure" he imagined, then sooner or later he might even make the starting town unsafe, forcing everyone to fight.
So building strength mattered.
"Gulp, gulp…"
Water slid down her throat, and the emptiness in her stomach eased even more.
The scrap of paper that had been wrapping her bread vanished the moment she finished eating.
And the bread itself had tasted like nothing at all.
Come to think of it… that livestream feature. Was the progress on the energy meter tied to plot development?
More like: when the story hit a dramatic high point—like a novel or anime reaching a peak—the bar jumped more noticeably.
Yesterday's stream had started in the afternoon and ran until late night, and it had climbed by five percent.
But from this morning until just now, it had only climbed by one percent.
Right. Now it even displayed a percentage. Kuroneko-san had said it didn't show that before.
So after finishing dinner, Asuna decided to log in and see if anything had changed.
She logged into the Hyperdimensional Channel.
…Huh?
She blinked, surprised. A lot of people were online this time—almost everyone, by the look of it.
Was it because of the member with the ID "Mr. Golden Toilet"?
He was the one who'd crossed worlds into Saeko's world, and now he was about to return to his own.
So naturally, his stream would draw attention.
And he was also the person most likely to be able to help Asuna.
But Kuroneko-san had warned her—his situation was terrible. His world was in absolute crisis, and he was basically struggling on the edge of death.
She hadn't explained the details. She'd only told Asuna to watch the stream when the time came. If he could still start the stream at all, Asuna would see what was happening.
Also—Saeko and "Mr. Golden Toilet" weren't online. That was probably fine. It just meant they hadn't logged in.
Asuna entered a livestream room—one opened by the "Martian" girl.
Inside, the Martian girl was asking Whisperer-san to help her analyze a group of people.
She was sharing information through the stream so everyone could see, including a recorded video of a meeting she'd had yesterday with a count.
As Asuna watched, she gradually understood who the Martian girl really was.
She dressed like a princess—and apparently, she actually was one. A princess of the Mars Empire.
Her world had advanced far enough that people could migrate to Mars.
But it wasn't peaceful there, either. Mars and Earth had fought a war—one that had even blown the Moon apart.
And "Mr. Golden Toilet" seemed to know her world's situation. He'd told her that a second war was probably coming soon, which had left the princess completely panicked. She was desperately looking for a way to break the deadlock.
Even though these were people from her own world, she still had to rely on outsiders—people watching through a screen—to judge who she could trust.
It was… hard to put into words.
Then, suddenly, the Martian princess said they'd stop the discussion there. She said the time was almost up.
What time?
After Kuroneko-san spoke, Asuna understood.
It was time for "Mr. Golden Toilet" to return to his own world.
Everyone left the stream and went back to the main public channel.
"Busujima Kendo Style: Ten seconds."
The entire channel fell silent.
Asuna started counting down in her head.
10… 9… 8… …0!
The instant it hit zero, nothing happened.
Five seconds passed.
The atmosphere grew heavy. Suffocating.
Then, in the next moment, an ID came online—and a livestream began.
Asuna immediately clicked in.
The screen was filled with fire.
There were piercing alarm sounds, mixed with screams that sounded like metal twisting in agony.
What was happening?
It lasted about five seconds. The flames seemed to dim.
Then—like someone bursting out of a blazing inferno—the image finally cleared.
And the instant Asuna saw what it was…
Her breathing hitched.
(End of Chapter)
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