Traitor

--- Kirito ---

The night before the Floor Boss fight, I was invited by Haru to eat dinner together.

I found it strange.

Although we had talked briefly in the 1st Floor Boss Room and stayed in contact, we had only shared about two or three conversations.

It was weird that he'd ask me for dinner out of the blue.

Haru was not that friendly, and I myself wasn't the type to act overly friendly with people who clearly didn't have the intention to share a bond with me.

As such, I was a little suspicious, but still, I decided to accept his invitation anyway. If I was right, what Haru wanted to talk about was something extremely important concerning the 75th floor, and since I had budding doubts from various sources as well, I didn't mind sharing them with him.

Perhaps, we might reach a conclusion.

---

Later, I met with Haru in a restaurant, and we ordered something to eat.

But...

The atmosphere was weird.

I felt a little uncomfortable as Haru just stared at his glass of water without making any discernible expression.

...

Since I didn't know him at all, I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around his thoughts, so I just took in the uncomfortable silence by also staying silent, waiting for him to initiate this discussion first since he was the one who asked me out.

Not in a weird way, of course.

It didn't take long for Haru to take charge. His gaze shifted onto me, and he didn't waste more time as he directly went to the heart of the matter.

"The reason I called you here is simple, Kirito."

He lightly tapped on the table to get my attention

"Do you have any suspicions about any player that particularly stood out so far?"

To his question, I was puzzled, not knowing what he meant, but I still tried to think about it.

After some thought, I retorted, "What do you mean by 'suspicious'"

To this, Haru gave me a knowing smile, as if he knew I would ask this kind of question.

"Think deeply about this game and its administrator's personality. The answer is not that hard."

With those clues, I entered deep thought.

It soon dawned on me what Haru meant,

Don't tell me...

I was really shocked by his suggestion

"You don't think someone..."

Haru swiftly interrupted me, simply nodding with a small smile on his face.

Thinking about it, I realized it could very well be a possibility. Knowing Akihiko Kayaba's mentality, it wouldn't be a surprise if he pulled such a crazy stunt.

But even so,

"How are you even so sure—"

I was interrupted by the food arriving, which made Haru dismiss the topic.

"All I wanted to do was implant the seed of doubt you'd been missing, Kirito. You need to open your eyes and catch onto the little clues, because that fellow will surely let something slip past, I can assure you of that."

I gulped, retorting that even if we do find someone suspicious, what would we do? Haru didn't answer the question. He sipped a bit of his water before telling me that we shall deal with him.

"But even if you are so sure, for some reason, why did you even bother telling me...?"

Is it because you don't want to Asuna, and thus I have to act as a bridge between you two or something?

Please, don't make me do that, man.

The answer was completely different from my expectations.

"Because you are the only person who can compete against something as irrational as an administrator's power."

I reacted in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

Rising from my chair, I retorted, "I'm sure Asuna is no less than me. She may even be stronger. I get that you're uncomfortable with Asuna, but this is too much. This is something that might put our lives at stake."

Haru simply sighed, responding, "It's not anything like that. It's just that Asuna is not a good match for an administrator."

I retorted, "You have no basis to say that."

Haru shrugged. "If you want to tell Asuna, you're free to do so, but I won't go out of my way because I consider it unnecessary." With that, Haru finished eating and stood up. "We'll see each other on the 75th Floor."

I felt a wave of frustration at Haru's behavior. Despite my irritation, I couldn't shake the feeling that he might be right.

Judging from his sheer confidence, I was inclined to believe his words.

After all, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even have any suspicions in the first place.

But if that's the case, would it be alright not to tell Asuna?

No wait, that question was wrong in itself. I'm not close with Asuna either. I just felt she was being judged for no reason.

Thus, there's a need to change the question.

What was Asuna missing that I had, for Haru to be like this?

I glanced at my status. There was one thing Asuna certainly didn't have: Dual Blades.

But Haru shouldn't be aware of me possessing this unique skill. So there's no way he knows that... right?

Now I'm bullshitting. 

How could he know when I have never used it.

It seems I have to ponder about this more.

---

The Floor Boss battle was fierce. I was exhausted, my HP bar barely hanging on in the red zone. There were multiple close calls, and we lost some good people today.

Sadly, that was the standard when it came to hunting Floor Bosses. It still baffled me that Haru could solo these monsters on his own, but that wasn't my focus now.

Just as Haru had urged me, I strictly observed everyone, from the rear party to the damage dealers. I didn't miss a single person. All of them showed signs of exhaustion and wear, some were even close to collapse. But two people stood out.

One was Haru. His HP bar was close to orange, his breathing a little uneven, but it was still proof that he was feeling the fatigue. The other was completely different from all others.

Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of Blood.

The one who was supposed to be just a match for Haru to the top 1 spot.

His HP bar... was green.

Even though he, on the frontlines, should've been the one who suffered the most damage.

But what irked me was something else.

His demeanor.

He made it seem like he had been on vacation rather than in a fight to the death. What gave him away the most, though, was his expression. I didn't know how to properly convey it—it was like the expression a noble would make when staring at a group of peasants working hard to survive, even though he should have been one of the peasants himself.

This, coupled with the clues Haru had left behind, made it obvious to me that the doubts were not unfounded.

But I still wasn't 100% sure.

Could I blame someone as a traitor purely based on these coincidences?

What if I'm wrong?

I'd be no better than a criminal if I accused an innocent person.

Deep down, I hoped there was no traitor, that this was just paranoia. But the risk was too great to ignore. So, I accepted Haru's suggestion.

We had to try, no matter what.

Sweat trickled down my cheek as I gripped my sword tightly...

---

Author's Note:

Please remember Kirito did not have a duel with Heatcliff in my novel, so there's no way for him to have any basis for suspicion without a rather strong push from someone who knows of it already, like Akira.