-Makoto Aiko/Aikoto-

As Makoto silently walked home in his usual attire, he looked around the general area, finding myriads of people smiling and giggling for the most part. Some of them spoke about what plans they had for the night while others were heading straight for home. Makoto inhaled the air around him, the familiar scent of salty sweat filling his nostrils as he traversed down the streets with a few of his friends and rivals who were in Kendo. From what he could easily discern since they had no inside voice was them excitedly talking about SAO. Makotos eyebrows slightly cocked up as he bared his teeth in irritation. He felt that this was sort of pouring salt on the wounds or letting an infection fester. He disliked the though of frittering their time a way, and his most nonchalant voice, he spoke out against their conversation.

"Ch, playing this games is nothing more than a waste of time for anyone to the most part. We could be doing something more productive at the moment than diving into such paltry numbers and algorithms which are meaningless in the real world. Honestly, I wish you guys would actually start acting serious and log off for an regulated amount of time so you can admire the world around you... Anyways, we are heading to his place right now, correct? Well, lets get a move on it, we don't want t keep the others waiting."

*A few hours later.*

Makoto was sitting in his room, gritting his teeth for an elongated period of time. The day was so young as he enviously stared outside while his sister began to see everything up. Yui was happily humming to herself as he watched her connect all the wires to his computer while setting everything up. He had to calm himself down as they really never did specify how long he would be online. Makoto would play, he the heck off and then let his sister take the reigns for the rest of this game. He could only wonder what tho would be like since he never had experienced this before. Eventually his older sister had finished setting up everything in his room and plunked the helmet onto his head.

"Alright, looks like you're the one who is going to be taken your first steps into Aincard brother! I'm so jealous of you! Ugh, why did your pride have to show through this time?!"

"Yui, its because I didn't think they would ask me to go on a date with you! Ugh, lets just get this whole thing over with so I can play, log out, and go back to reading or something!"

As the nervegear was on, he lied down on his bed, and looks upwards as if there was a solemn sky ahead of him. He eventually took a deep breath and started the whole thing up with one swift word which quickly faded out of existence as his own mind entered the game. He dove through the shining lights around him, each dancing in it's own sense and felt too surreal for the most part. As he looked around, he found himself at a character creation screen. Since he was going to turn this over to his sister, he began working on intricate details to make the avatar look like her... sort of. He didn't exactly have the measurements for her chest so he couldn't exactly tell if it would work. Eventually, he just scrapped the whole idea, sorely recalling that she came up with this plan and created the avatar in his own image to an extent... He chuckled to himself, feeling he outdone himself in the character creation. Makoto could only hope that she enjoyed being a dude with heterochromia, two inches from his regular height, and a slightly beefy body.

...

The boy stared down the face of a boar as it rushed towards him in an attempt to take his life. His friends watched from the sidelines, giggling at what would come if he managed to lose to such measly prey. Thankfully, they managed to teach him the basics on hiw to survive, and he easily picks up on the rest. As he silently bided his time, the enemy continued to rush on forward, reigning its ugly head as it almost bashed itself into Aikoto. He had enough sense in him to quickly pivot around and dodge the unrelentless assault and make a clean slice through the most with was. His friends cheered as they congratulated him on his progress, cheering for him since this was his first time playing a video game.

"Not bad Makot-, I mean Aikoto. I mean, you're easily picking up on this whole thing with little ease! Seriously, you should of starts playing games sooner, I bet you would of been a frickin' champ!"

"Just shut up Kazuki..."

"Hey, it's Kazanova to you my friend!... Heh heh, anyways, I've got a little idea since I'm obviously the better at Kendo than you, this should be no sweat. All of us will have a contest to see who can get the highest level the fastest! Whoever does is obviously the superior swordsman. Here, lets add each other; I'll call you all back to this field in thirty or more minutes! Don't chicken out on us now Aikoto!"

Even though he could easily discern this as a way to force him to play the game longer than he expected, his shattered pride wouldn't handle such dishonor. He would make sure to beat them out swiftly and show them who was better in Kendo. He could sir of use his skills from the outside to help him a bit, however he for one had to real on the mechanism of such an eloquently crafted game. Looks like the race was on, and with she's determination he powered through rather quickly. Earlier on be for he started grinding, he noticed simple patterns in monster hordes and was able to easily find the biggest amount of monsters in quantity that he could and cut them down in seconds. It wasn't long before he found himself immersed in this game world, slicing, dicing, and mincing monsters to bits. Eventually time was up and they all recalled themselves to the field where they first met.

"Ugh, I've barely managed to make it to level two, I just needed a little more exp..."

"I know, Kazuki and I just barely managed to make it to two, however I have a higher amount of exp than him... I have seven percent started on level two so far while he has three... Hey Makoto, how well did you fare?"

As the boy quietly read a guide he procured earlier before encountering his friends, he snapped back to the real it before him. He silently pocketed the book, and with a smug smile that would put a snake to shame stared at his friends as confidently stared each of them down. His grin elicited  a frown from each of them, and he could easily discern that they were nervous despite them not showing any emotion. Aikoto then pointed his chin upwards, stark at the sky above him be for announcing the progress he managed to make at a rather quick pace.

"I'm already level three and I need forty-two more percent to level up from what I know... Next time you guys should memorize the patterns of where each monster goes, otherwise you may never level at a quick pace and beat this game... thing. Anyways, I'm going to get off and let my sister play... Consider this the first and last time I'll play a simple game... maybe... Time to log off, see ya guys on the morrow!"

As the boy openness up his menu, he began to search for a way to log off before asking where the log off function was. They chuckled slightly as they looked for it, only to abhor whee silence as they stared at these things in dismay. There was no way to log themselves off. They thought of this as a sheer bug, and frantically explained that the creators of the game must of forgotten to intigrate it in.

What Aikoto... no, Makoto heard next was the stuff of nightmares.

Apparently the creator of this whole ordeal search it so they could never, ever log off. Most people thought of this was a joke. As Makoto looked around he noticed everyone, including his friends, panic level started to rise up at a swift pace. He could also easily suspect that most might of disconnected at this point in an attempt to escape... the only problem was what he heard next. This guy thought of everything in a sense to keep people from ever leaving this world. His sister Mus of saw the news that was appearing, and knew what must of become of her and his parents... And the only way out was to make it to the top floor, and kill this man. While his friends stood there in disbelief, he stayed calm, understanding that going into a mass panic would only bring more trouble. He pivots around towards his friend, and in an instant found themselves with the same appearance they had in real life... which made this whole ordeal even more awkward since one of his friends was in a battle skirt. He let out a sigh before pushing up the glasses on his face and looked at his friends, a commanding aura coming about him.

"I've studied what I can about the game while wandering around be for running into you. We need to form teams and make friends with other people to win this survival game... otherwise, we may spiral out of control. The bigger and stronger the teams the better... maybe. If you can't find anyone, go it out solo. If someone is in need, help them. I'm... we are going to make it to floor one-hundred and make it out of here alive, got it?! Now get to it!"

As soon soon they heard his call, they felt reinvigorated as if they had been endowed with relinquishing power from mere words. As they scattered into the crowds, he gave a slight huff as he analyzed the crowds, searching for potential partners. As he was going about, he stayed calm in the chaos of the storm. Eventually, he took note of two people. One trying to calm the other down while another tried to escape in a frenzy out of the world. Others soon joined up with the motley bunch, which made it a lot easier to spot a group. Thanks to him allocating himself properly, he dashed through the crowds towards the bunched up people in an attempt to converse with them so he... they could win this survival game. As he managed to catch up with them since he darted fate them, he eyed them and spoke to them cooly with a mundane voice, showing no signs of fear to them.

"Hey, it seems you all are rather in a hurry to get to the next town... As much as I would love to go solo, it's better to group up. The more company the easier it will to take care of business... so it's best to recollect yourselves and come up with a plan. I don't know why this man came up with a plan which would cause such madness, but we can't let this be the better of us... So could both of you stop being so tense? A lion with acute senses could smell that a mile away."

"... By the way, the name is Aikoto... Mind if I team-up with you guys? The bigger the party, the better... maybe. (A blonde guy and young looking girl he I can assume is my age, along with a couple of others. I wonder what coursed through their heads to make them play games... Then again, we all nerve one it would lead to this.)"