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If someone unfamiliar with how VR games worked were to enter the White Frontier, Kirito was sure the first thing they’d do would be to log out and turn up the heat in their home. The White Frontier was cold , the coldest map out of any in GGO save for the blizzard zone below it. It was colder even than Alfheim’s winter map or the cold snowy mountains in SAO. The only thing that could compare would have to be either real winter or the frigid cold that existed in the winter months of The Underworld.
“If there’s one thing Zaskar knows how to get right, it’s battlefield conditions,” Kirito comments.
“Zaskar?” Eugeo asks curiously by his side. “You mean the people who created this world? If so, then I have to agree with you. Even the food is like that on a battlefield.”
“Oh, yeah.” Kirito nodded at that. “I think I’d rather go back to eating the stale bakery bread than eat the field rations anymore.”
Eugeo nods in agreement. “I have to agree with that. It tastes… well, dry and tasteless .”
“Oh, there are a few good things, though.” Kirito pulls a bag of sweets that LLENN had introduced him to from his inventory, popping one in his mouth before holding one out to Eugeo. “Try some!”
“Maybe later,” Eugeo holds his hands up to refuse. “I feel bad snacking right now while Alice and Asuna are like that.”
The two cast a glance at their surroundings. They’ve sheltered from the wintry weather in a cliff side cave after clearing out the resident snow scorpions while Alice and Asuna regenerate the arm each they lost in a surprise ambush by enemy players.
Kirito flinches in sympathy when he sees them. “Right… That looked pretty painful.”
“We can’t feel pain here,” Eugeo reminds him.
“I know,” Kirito nodded, “Which is why I said ‘looked’.”
“True enough.”
Asuna and Alice seem lost in their own little world, each of them focusing on treating their own injuries, when Alice’s head suddenly pops up, a slight tinge of red on her cheeks. She’s focusing solely on Asuna, as if she’s forgotten Kirito and Eugeo even exist.
“Um… It’s strange,” She blurts out all of a sudden. Asuna’s head pops up in confusion, focusing on the other girl.
“What is?”
“Whenever I spend time around you, Asuna, I feel restless…”
Kirito nearly spits out the candy he’s just eaten. This is happening now?! He sees Eugeo’s mouth open and swiftly covers it, shaking his head frantically. We can’t ruin this!
Asuna looks a bit flustered by the strange comment, but recovers quickly. “Hmm… that’s funny. I feel the same way around you.”
It’s happening now.
“It’s like…” Suddenly as if realizing what she’s doing herself, Asuna scrambles for words. “It’s like I’m tense, but I’m also more driven to improve myself! I wonder why that is…” She ends it with an almost-silent sheepish laugh.
Alice snaps to herself as well. “Perhaps it is a sign that we share a fateful bond.” Then she suddenly goes stiff and spits out: “We may yet find ourselves to be good rivals in the future.”
Wait what? No, you idiots! He can see everything that’s been building up slowly being pushed back in the works. Beside him, Eugeo’s face is introduced to his own hand.
“Y-yeah! That!” Asuna agrees cheerfully as if that was what she meant all along. Alice WHY? “B-but seriously, why did those players have to go and lop our arms off like that?” ASUNA STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!
“It was very rude of them.” Alice agrees. She suddenly seems to remember that Eugeo and Kirito exist. “How long does it usually take to regenerate a limb?”
“I haven’t lost one before, but LLENN told me it takes about fifteen minutes.”
“We’ve been waiting for about thirteen… almost better, then.” Alice suddenly laughs. “It’s strange; in The Underworld this would be considered a crippling, life-changing injury. Here we’re better in fifteen minutes.”
“It’s because these aren’t our real bodies,” Kirito explains. “If the developers wanted, they could make it so we couldn’t lose limbs or be seriously injured at all. The only reason we can be is because of the setting and theme of this world.”
Eugeo suddenly punches him in the shoulder and he realizes he’s just helped her change the subject. He stiffens, groans, and drops his face in his hands.
“Kirito, Eugeo, what’s wrong?” Asuna asks.
“Oh, nothing.” Eugeo sighs.
“Hmm?”
“You’ll figure it out on your own.” Kirito agrees. Suddenly, Alice and Asuna each grow a new arm.
“Oh, they’re back!” Asuna chirps. She walks up to Alice and extends her newly-regrown arm to help her stand. “Back to hunting?”
Alice pauses, her actions uncharacteristically shy as she puts her palm in Asuna’s hand and grips her at the wrist, accepting the offer. The two girls walk out of the cave ahead of them.
“...Should we arrange for them to suddenly not have legs and be stuck in a cave alone together?” Eugeo asks. “I feel like things would go more quickly that way.”
“Eugeo… that’s strangely sadistic of you. Why can’t we just lock them in a closet?”
Eugeo blinks in surprise. “Oh, sorry. We could…” Then he pauses and shakes his head. “No, they’re too strong for a closet. The poor thing would be destroyed in seconds.”
“...Landmines of fate it is then,” Kirito jokes. “Landmines of fate it is.”