Chapter 1: A long day

Akio grunted with each push-up he counted off. His dark caramel hair was matted down with sweat. He kept going, despite having lost count at around seventy-five. So, he figured he'd keep going until his arms grew tired of doing the exercise. His father and grandpa oversaw his morning training from a small distance. The boy insisted on doing his morning workout, even though they said he didn't have to since it was his birthday.

Hideko, his grandpa, whom Akio affectionately referred to as "gramps," had to admit: his grandson was tenacious, but he needed to learn that even a man as young as he is has his limits, especially when it came to working out. And he would need to understand that if he wished to earn the rank of Master Assassin.

That's right. Akio, like his dad and grandpa, is a part of the legendary Assassin Order. This is a fact that he had known all of his life growing up and has been trained as one since then. He had yet to see or be any part of actual combat, but he still wanted to be ready when the day may come.

"All right, Akio. That's enough," Hikaru, his father, said to him. "Push yourself too much and you won't be able to even fight properly, let alone eat without your arms turning to jelly."

Akio exhaled and slowly stood back up from the push-up position. He raised his arms high, stretching his muscles that have endured many rigorous workouts before; this was just another one in the life of Akio Fujimura. He grabbed his water bottle and took a swig of cold water.

"So, how does it feel to be another year older?" Hideko asked as his grandson made his way through the kitchen.

Akio snickered as he turned and answered, "No different than when I was fifteen last year, gramps." He placed a towel around his neck and made his way to the bathroom for a well-deserved shower.

Hideko took a seat at the table as Hikaru started on making his family breakfast. "Oh, how I wish I was that young again." Akio laughed quietly and continued up the steps. When he made sure his grandson was out of earshot, Hideko continued. "So, did you manage to get it?"

Hikaru turned and smiled as he broke the yoke on the eggs. "It wasn't easy, especially considering how long the line was just to get it. But, yes. I did. I can't guarantee him of getting a new one after breaking the old disc and if Ayako will be happy that she didn't receive one, but to my knowledge, she doesn't even like that kind of stuff."

"You're right about that," stated a female voice. It was Ayako, Akio's little sister. Down the stairs came the young girl of thirteen years wearing a school uniform consisting of a peach colored sweater, a white button up shirt, and a ruby red skirt. She had her caramel colored hair put into a braid that was draped over her left shoulder. Her hazel eyes looked at her dad. "However, that may change depending on what Akio has to say about this game!" Hikaru laughed and shook his head, continuing breakfast.

Akio came down dressed in his school uniform of a white button up shirt and black school pants. His black school blazer was held in his left hand as he fixed his collar with his right hand. "Man, I'm starving," he said, taking his seat. A plate with all of his favorite breakfast foods was set in front of him. He looked up at his dad with his family's hazel eyes and happily dug in.

The siblings walked to the bus stop to take them to school. While they waited, Ayako decided to give Akio her birthday gift. "Here." She handed him a small blue box tied with a white ribbon. "Happy birthday, big brother."

He accepted the small box and looked at his sister. "You know you didn't have to get me anything," he said to her.

"It's only fair, especially after you got me the necklace I always wanted for my birthday last year," she replied, looking at said piece of jewelry that hung around her neck.

Akio nodded in understanding and untied the ribbon. He lifted the lid to reveal a brown leather cuff with a watch body on it. On the face read "AF," his initials. "This…this is…"

Ayako giggled. "I know you've been looking at this watch every time we went to that store at the mall." Her face slightly fell as she continued. "Mom told me she wanted to get it for your seventeenth birthday before she passed…" Her voice trailed off.

Akio's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the watch and remembered how much he wanted it, almost begging his mom for it. She said she would get it only for a special occasion. And, now he did. He gently lifted the watch from the box and placed it on his right arm. The same arm then wrapped around his sister's shoulders in a gentle yet firm hug. "Thanks, Ayako. I love it. Now, let's go to school. Bus is here." The siblings stepped on the bus and left for another day of classes.

For the birthday boy, the day seemed to be flying, which he was more than thankful for. Lunch time soon rolled around and he was eager to eat. "Dad packed my favorite lunch! I can't wait," he said himself, the box tucked under his arm as he made his way to the cafeteria. Once there, he took his usual seat by the window overlooking the city. He opened the lid to reveal his favorite meal. It was a combination of his mom and dad's side of the family: his mom's recipe fried fish with his dad's signature spicy tuna rolls and a side of regular white rice.

Before he started to eat, there was an unceremonious flop in the seat across from him: it was his best friend, Kurogasa Yoshida. His blonde hair was usually shaggy, but still maintained a standard style that still surprised Akio to this day. "Well, well, if it ain't the birthday boy! Happy birthday, Mr. Sixteen!" The two shared a high five.

"Thanks, Kuro! Man, today has just been a great day for me," he said, taking a bite of his food."

"Yeah? How's that?" Kurogasa asked, poking at his food.

"Classes have been flying, got my favorite lunch as well." He looked down at the watch on his wrist. "Even received a gift I've always wanted."

His friend swallowed his bite before he spoke. "Oh? You mean you got the new VR game?"

He shook his head, clearing the cobwebs. "S-Sorry. What?"

"You mean SAO?" The two turned to see another friend of theirs: Yui Nakano. The girl was a spitting of image of Ayako if she was older. Heck, Yui agreed after first meeting her. "I received that game before leaving for school today. I bought it before it sold out online. I was fortunate that day!" She sat down next to Kurogasa.

"O-Oh, that," Akio said, suddenly losing his appetite. "No. I have it."

"WHAT?!" shouted his friends. "Akio! What do you mean you don have it! You played the Beta didn't you" Kurogasa shouted.

"And we've promise that we're gonna play it together," Yui added with a broken tone.

"I know, but I couldn't afford it. Not after broken the last NerveGear. My job only pays so much, you two." The two moaned at the thought of not having their best friend play the game they agreed on. "Well, I guess I can try and install a view screen to watch you two," he jokingly said to them. It was enough to get the group laughing again.

The last bell echoed through the halls. Akio quickly closed his locker; he was almost late to pick up Ayako from school. The run to the shoe locker nearly broke the school track record. "Hey." He heard Yui next to him, changing her shoes. "I just wanted to tell you-"

"Sorry, Yui. Love to hear it, but I'm running late. Bye!" He took off like a bat out of hell.

"Happy birthday," she said, dropping a hand in defeat. Kurogasa placed a hand on her shoulder. "Better luck next time." He relies. "And plus we're at his party later."

Crap! I'm late! The thought repeated in Akio's head like a broken record. He found Ayako standing outside of her school gate, arms crossed. "Sorry! I promise not to be late again!" He clapped his hands together in apology.

Ayako couldn't help but laugh; she rarely saw her brother act like this. "You know, even with that new watch, you were only a couple minutes late." Akio looked at the watch face and saw that he was, indeed, only a couple minutes late. "Now come on!" The siblings ran to the bus stop to catch the bus home

Akio felt like something was going on the moment he stepped on the front porch. The suspicion only grew as he opened the door to find the light on at the door, but not in the living room like it usually was. His senses as an Assassin were running on high alert, fearing that something might have happened to his family. "Hey, Ayako!" he called out.

"Here," she replied.

"D-Do you know if dad and gramps went somewhere?"

Ayako faked thinking for a moment. She knew what was going on and was just playing the part. "Don't think so. Why?

Akio scanned the room for anything suspicious. "Living room light's out. It's always on." He looked at the table to find a folded note that read "COME OUT BACK" in a handwriting he didn't recognize. His senses were in overdrive.

Ayako quietly giggled behind her brother. This is payback for what you did at my birthday two months ago! Turns out shoving her face in a slice of cake wasn't very funny like Akio's thought. She watched as he opened the back door and was startled when a loud "SURPRISE" was heard from the yard. Suddenly, he found his face buried in the whole vanilla cake that had "Happy Birthday Akio" written in big blue icing letters. "Gotcha!" Ayako burst out in uncontrolled laughter.

Akio licked his lips and tasted the frosting mixed with big pieces of the fluffy cake added in. "Still tastes good," he said, wiping off his face with a towel. He noticed that there were two other people, in addition to his family, present at the party. "You two had something to do with this, didn't you?"

Kurogasa doubled over in laughter, his face as red as a cherry. "Dude, you should've seen the look on your face when you 'literally' ate the cake. Priceless!"

The birthday boy looked over at his sister's older doppelganger. "And what part did you play?" Yui looked at him with an innocent face that said "I didn't do a thing" as she drank a cup of punch. "Uh huh. Okay," Akio said to her, walking up behind her with a convinced face. When she wasn't looking, Akio tickled her sides, causing her to spray the punch in her mouth all over his sister. Ayako screamed in disgust and Yui immediately apologized. "HA! Now THAT'S payback!" He was laughing alongside Kurogasa while the two girls fumed at them.

The party was spent with lots of chatter and equal amounts of food. Akio was happy to see all of his friends and family show up. Yet, he still was saddened by the one missing person he really wanted to be there: his mother, Ako.

Like Ayako said earlier today, his mom would've bought him the watch. Keyword is "would've." Sadly, she passed away about a year ago. She contracted a serious illness and lost the battle. The family was devastated. Akio suffered the most, his grades dropping enough to keep him held back a grade and his health following suit. He was able to get back on his feet, but it wasn't easy and took quite a while.

Mom, I wish you could've been here more than just in spirit, he thought, taking a sip of his punch, but I'm another year older. And I bet you're proud of that, huh? He pictured his mom smiling down on him from the skies.

"Okay, everyone! We have one last thing for the birthday boy!" his dad announced. Akio snapped out his revelry. Yui and Kurogasa carried over a box wrapped in red paper and a black ribbon sitting on top of it. "Happy birthday, Akio. This gift wasn't easy to get, but I guarantee you'll thank me for this one forever and ever…in push-ups." Hikaru ended with a smirk and a wink.

He nodded and started to tear at the paper covering the box, revealing the gift. And what it was left him speechless. "T-This…it's…how did you…" Akio found it hard to form a sentence.

"Hey, you'll get to play the game with us after all!" Kurogasa exclaimed.

The box in his lap was the new VR game system, the NerveGear, included with a copy of Sword Art Online, the latest MMO. "Getting that wasn't easy, but that's because of the line just to get the damned thing. I waited for at least a couple days just to get it. I knew you wanted it, after you broken the last one. So how could I say no?"

Akio trembled with joy looking at his birthday present. He felt like a little kid again as he jumped and wrapped his dad in the tightest hug he could manage. "Thanks a million! This is awesome!" he shouted.

"Well, don't forget your grandpa," Hideko said from the sidelines.

"Gramps?"

"That's right. I knew you wanted it, so your dad and I made a deal: I'd give him the money for it and he'd stand in line to purchase the system." He stood up and walked over to his grandson. "What? You thought I'd be the one to do the waiting? Ha! Think again." He lightly tapped Akio on the head with his cane. The smile on his face grew bigger when he also received a very tight hug. "Happy birthday, Assassin." He made sure no one heard the last part.

"Best. Birthday. EVER!" Akio shouted in his mind.

After the party ended, Akio invited Kurogasa and Yui up to his room to set up the NerveGear. He opened the box to reveal the dark blue helmet with the letters NG on the front. It felt nice under his fingers as he slipped it over his head, feeling the cushion press against his dark caramel colored hair. The screen in the visor turned on and lit up. "Welcome to the NerveGear system," he heard a female voice speak into his ears. "New users should register their account before starting any gameplay with the NerveGear system. Please enter email, desired avatar ID and password." Akio entered his email, "email reconsidered, welcome back, Ezio". Then he took a thought about what to name his avatar maybe something cooler than 'Ezio'. I could do one of the Assassin predecessors, but that not's very original, he thought. Maybe I could do a combination of names. Nah. Maybe an English name. He went with the first name that came to mind: "Ar-thur." He spoke each syllable while typing in his ID.

"Arthur?" he heard Yui ask. "That's sounds a little western"

"It's the first name that came to mind. I figured I'd go with a foreign name."

"Well, at least we'll know who to look for in the Starting City," Kurogasa said, leaning back in his friend's computer chair.

"Accepted," the voice said to Akio.

Yui was sitting on the bed with the instruction manual in her lap. Her finger traced the sentence as she read, "The next step should be calibration. It says to pat the areas displayed on the screen until the icon turns green," she told him. Akio followed the instructions, patting many areas such as his shoulders, legs, knees, etc.

"Calibration complete. Beginning facial recognition scan." Facial recognition? Oh. I guess it's to recognize my presence and automatically log me in, Akio reasoned. "Scan complete."

"Awesome. Now, to plug in and-"

"Unfortunately, the Sword Art Online beta test has ended. Please log in at one o' clock in the afternoon on November sixth to begin gameplay." And just like that, the female voice dashed Akio's hopes of logging on and immediately starting gameplay.

Yui laced the instruction manual back into the box and removed the clear case housing the game disc. The cover showed a lone horseman on a cliff, looking out towards the floating castle of Aincrad, the playing field for the game. The details looked amazing from the pictures she saw from some beta players on MMO forums. She was excited, but the feeling changed once she saw Akio's face. "Did…everything go okay?"

"You're all set up?" Kurogasa asked.

Akio sighed as he removed the helmet. "Yes, and yes." He set the helmet on his desk next to his bed and sat down next to Yui.

"Then what's the matter?"

"I really wanted to hop right in and start playing, but the official login isn't until tomorrow afternoon."

"Well, that's what you get." Kurogasa snickered as he ruffled Akio's hair.

"Trying to play without us? Some friend," Yui said, feigning hurt. She winked and laughed at him.

Akio joined in laughing. I was so wrapped up I completely forgot that it's gonna be the three of us together, he thought. I really wanted to jump right in. He stood and escorted his friends to the door, figuring he'd also walk them home to get some fresh air.

The walk home was a relatively quiet one for the three friends. But they enjoyed the quiet, only broken by the sounds of traffic and the city off in distance. "Well, this is my stop. I'll catch you two at the Starting City, one o' clock on the dot!" They exchanged high fives and hugs before he walked through his front door.

Yui lived not too far away from Kurogasa and Akio, so the walk wasn't very long. "I can't wait to start playing. It'll be like a fantasy come to life!" Yui shouted with glee.

Akio nodded in agreement. "And maybe, with any luck, the three of us can clear the whole game. 'Heroes of Aincrad!'" he declared in a high-and-mighty voice. Yui couldn't help but laugh at her goofball of a friend. "Hey." She turned to him. "Thanks for coming out today. You and Kuro were the ones I was hopin' to celebrate my birthday with." He looked at the night sky, only a few stars twinkling. "We've been through a lot, us three."

"And we're stronger than ever. We'll be unstoppable!" Yui excitedly added.

"That we will." The two met in a tight hug, not wanting to let go because of the chill. But, let go they did, and he made sure she got inside before turning back for home.

The next day was spent preparing for the SAO launch. Akio ate a sandwich he made for lunch while watching the trailers for SAO to increase his eagerness. He felt his phone buzz, notifying him of a text. It was a group text that included him, Kurogasa and Yui.

10 min! Get psyched! I am SO ready! –Kuro

Akio typed in his reply. Rewatched release trailers 2 get pumped! Let's do this!

I'm ready wen you r –Yui

Akio quickly ran down and threw his plate in the sink and the soda can in the trash. "Have fun! Don't forget that dinner's at five thirty!" Hideko shouted from the den.

"Will do!" Akio answered back. He closed the door and inhaled deeply to calm his racing heart. With trembling hands, he inserted the disc and placed the helmet on his head. The clock read 12:58. "T-minus two minutes and counting," he said to himself. His phone buzzed one last time with a good luck message from Yui in the group text.

12:59. "Let's see what this world has in store for an Assassin."

3...

2...

1...

13:00. He spoke the activation phrase: "Link start!"