Released as a bonus booklet for the 2023 Choukansha Fair on the event's 30th anniversary, this short story was distributed to those who purchased items at the stalls. 7th Floor, for the Third Time takes place in August 2024, 5 days after Laughing Coffin was annihilated.
RAWs provided by Kazuki.
Translated by Davigron.
Edited by Cirtoyt.
Translated by Davigron.
Edited by Cirtoyt.
“I’m boilinnnnggggg!”
Asuna shouted, not bothered by being heard by those around her.
I quickly glanced around, identifying five, six players about the Teleport Gate Plaza, and quietly pointed out:
“Weren’t you the one who suggested to have the victory party on the 7th Floor, Asuna?”
“Hey, I’m not complaining or anything. I’m just saying it’s really hot.”
After saying such nonsense with a straight face, Asuna’s expression suddenly shifted to serious, and added:
“…Kirito, I don’t think you need to keep your guard up so high. After all, the whole thing about Laughing Coffin’s hideout being on the 7th Floor wasn’t real in the end. In any case, those guys already…”
“…Well, yeah but… Let’s get a move on.”
Asuna silently nodded, and we promptly began to walk, side by side to the Plaza’s western edge.
Five days ago, the red guild «Laughing Coffin» was annihilated by a subjugation party mainly composed by the assault team’s main guilds: «Divine Dragon Alliance» and «Knights of the Blood Oath». There were plans for a victory party, but they never took place. The reason was because, despite the plan to simply capture all Laughing Coffin’s members without casualties, it resulted in a bloodbath massacre with two-digit casualties on both sides.
I didn’t hear any news about it being rescheduled, so I concluded that it was cancelled, until yesterday, when Asuna sent me a message saying, “Let’s have the party”. Honestly, despite being more in the mood to lock myself up inside a frontline labyrinth for a week, I considered Asuna would end up the most depressed since she was the one who commanded the raid, so I ended up heading to the 7th floor (the designated place for the party) to cheer her up—or that was what I intended.
The esteemed Knights of the Blood Oath Vice Commander who was briskly walking next to me looked just the same as back then, like nothing had ever changed.
Although, her personality certainly did change over time, once during the first quarter of the game when we formed a duo between the 1st Floor up until the 25th Floor, again during the second quarter when we parted ways where she then joined the Knights of the Blood Oath, and finally once more now during the present third quarter, as we conquer the 60s. Of course, I’m sure she hasn’t changed on the inside, but on the outside her personality, or I mean, her attitude towards me had hardened and then softened, like some kind of next-door neighbour’s cat.
Looking back, it had been five months since the time we had duelled in front of the assault team, triggered by an argument around deciding how to defeat a field boss on the 56th Floor. In that moment, the tension between the two of us reached a boiling point, although things gradually softened over the following months and so on, until today. Maybe it was because of something, but I don’t have a clue as to what it could be…
Just then, along the right edge of my vision, I saw Asuna widely opening her mouth. I thought she was going to complain about the heat again but instead, “Fuwaaaaaaaaaa~”, she let out a superlong yawn. She closed her mouth the instant she noticed I was observing and guiltily muttered:
“Don’t you get sleepy when it’s this hot?”
“Uh, that, seems like a symptom of heatstroke. When you’re one step before passing out or something.”
“Eh? …Really?”
Asuna’s expression turned serious for a moment, lowered her gaze to examine herself and then scowled at me.
“Even if that’s true, you can’t get a heatstroke in this world! I need to cool off so I’m running to Volupta!”
“Huh...”
I reflexively furrowed my brows, as currently we were in the centre of the plaza of the 7th Floor’s main town, Lectio, and if I’m not mistaken, the town of Volupta is five kilometres away, so it would take about an hour to get there walking at a casual pace.
As I started to run after the as swift as wind Asuna’s white overskirt through the main street of Lectio, a certain scene suddenly flooded back to my mind.
It was on April of this year—I think, when I was sleeping near the 59th Floor Plaza on a day with very pleasant weather, and Asuna appeared out of nowhere to scold me. I replied with a lazy “lie down and you’ll see” or something like that and then she slept soundly until the early evening. Thinking about it, maybe that was the event that started to relieve the tension between us… if that’s the case, I wonder if it all started because of her lack of sleep.
She probably still doesn’t get enough slept these days, so it would be nice to stop by Nirrnir’s mansion and borrow a bed from the guest’s room for Asuna… I thought and began to run faster to catch up with Asuna.