-1731- Have you ever killed?

Hearing a voice from behind, Rozen stopped in his tracks.

There was no need to turn around.

Rozen knew there was only one person who would call out to him in this manner.

"Hold it right there!"

The icy-blue-haired girl ran up from behind, lugging a heavy sniper rifle on her shoulder. Her expression was a mixture of emotions that Rozen couldn't quite read.

Rozen finally turned around, his gaze falling on the girl who had caught up to him.

"What is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

That this girl, who practically harbored a grudge against him, would chase him down with such a complex look on her face was genuinely surprising.

Even Shinon herself was baffled, not knowing why she had followed him.

She only knew that if she didn't, she would regret it.

Because...

"What's your relationship with that cloaked man?"

Shinon finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at her mind.

Rozen blinked and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Oh?" he asked cautiously. "Do you know him?"

"No." Shinon shook her head. "I don't know him."

"You don't know him?" Rozen gave a helpless shrug. "Then why are you asking? Don't tell me it's just out of concern?"

"Ugh..." Shinon couldn't form a response.

She knew full well she had no standing to ask such a question.

She had no ties to the cloaked man, nor to Rozen—whose relationship with her was more adversarial than anything else. There was no logical reason for her to care.

Yet she couldn't stop herself from caring.

The thought of Rozen's confrontation with that man, and the aura that had surged between them, left her breathless.

That aura was no ordinary one.

It was the kind of atmosphere that only arose in life-and-death battles between people determined to kill each other.

Shinon knew that feeling well.

After all, she had experienced it before.

It was the nightmare that haunted her life, the reason she had entered Gun Gale Online (GGO) and become an icy sniper—to overcome that fear.

And so...

"I can't ignore it."

Shinon stared directly at Rozen, her expression more serious than it had ever been, and asked, "I want to know—what's your relationship with that cloaked man?"

Shinon's demand was reckless.

To inquire about someone else's private affairs without explanation and justify it with "I can't ignore it" was undeniably selfish.

But Shinon couldn't afford to care about that.

If her guess was correct...

"He was your enemy in that other game, wasn't he?"

Shinon hesitated, then spoke those words.

Clearly, based on the confrontation she had witnessed, Shinon had pieced together a plausible scenario.

In the modern world, how often did people truly intend to kill one another?

At least in ordinary society, such occurrences were impossible.

But if one referred to that incident...

It all made sense.

That incident, resolved just a year ago, had lasted two years. It trapped 10,000 players in a virtual world, forcing them into a death game where their lives were on the line.

Rozen was one of the survivors who cleared that Sword Art Online (SAO) death game. His fame as the strongest and most prominent player was widely known.

With that context, the enmity between Rozen and the cloaked man—and the intense atmosphere—could be easily explained.

They were former enemies in SAO, locked in a deadly battle.

In a game like SAO, such situations were entirely plausible.

Shinon had pieced together most of the story.

Still...

"This doesn't really concern you, does it?" Rozen said, meeting Shinon's gaze. "Does me being his enemy cause you any trouble?"

Of course, it didn't.

Whether Rozen and the cloaked man fought to the death or even perished together had no bearing on Shinon.

Trouble? That was out of the question.

If anything, Shinon would only feel frustrated that someone else had taken out the rival she had been targeting.

However, if Rozen and the cloaked man truly had been adversaries in SAO, and had tried to kill each other, there was one thing Shinon wanted to know.

"...Have you ever killed someone in the game?"

Shinon paused for a long time before summoning her courage to ask the question, staring at Rozen intently.

This string of strange questions caused Rozen to frown and fall silent.

Then, locking eyes with Shinon, Rozen responded bluntly.

"Yes."

That single word made Shinon's breath catch.

Kill.

Rozen had indeed killed.

Not only in the game—even in reality, Rozen had eliminated countless enemies who sought to take his life but were instead killed by him.

In SAO, when confronting members of Laughing Coffin, Rozen never hesitated. He often fought with the intent to reduce their HP to zero.

It was only natural.

"If I didn't kill them, they would kill me—or worse, the people around me."

Rozen stared directly at Shinon as he spoke deliberately.

"So, I had to kill. No matter what, I had to. Even if I were given the choice again, I'd make the same decision."

Those words pierced Shinon's heart.

"You...!"

Shinon, caught up in her emotions, wanted to retort.

But she was interrupted.

"Shinon!" Spiegel came rushing out of the presidential hall, calling to her. "Your fourth match is about to begin! If you're not in the underground venue, you won't be transported to the battlefield, and it'll count as a forfeit!"

Hearing this, Shinon halted, her expression wavering as she glanced back at Rozen.

In the end, she turned and left without another word.

Spiegel hurried after her but shot Rozen a wary look before departing.

Seeing that look of suspicion, Rozen chuckled to himself.

"Little kid."

Rozen smirked and walked away from the presidential hall.