Anime Crossover: Master is Not Here Today

"Ritsuka, do you want to shower together? If we shower together, we can help each other scrub our backs."

Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't think much of it and nodded with a smile:

"Okay!"

Asuna.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's soft voice drifted from the bathroom.

"Well, what happened?"

"Didn't you say you were going to rub my back? Why are your hands on my stomach?"

"Hehe, I just wanted to touch it."

Even though it's just a virtual game character, the feel of it is surprisingly realistic!

Asuna discovered a new piece of knowledge.

-

In a vast, deep blue data space resembling the depths of the ocean, a studio stands out starkly from its surroundings.

In the studio, a black-haired little girl dressed as a maid placed two drinks on the table and smiled at BB, who was sitting on the sofa:

"My BB, your milk tea and coffee are here!"

"Okay, go play by yourself."

"Yes!"

Upon receiving BB's command, the little girl smiled happily and vanished from the spot in an instant.

"I never expected that a real AI would be born here. Although it is still very immature, it is really surprising."

BB sighed sarcastically:

"Is this what they call human beings? They always like to repeat the same mistakes and tirelessly try to bring destruction upon themselves."

Then, she looked at the man sitting opposite her, dressed entirely in dark green, and raised an eyebrow, saying:

"So, instead of staying obediently by your side to protect your senior, what are you doing here?"

“I don’t remember any relationship between us that would allow you to visit me.”

"Be careful, or I might break you down as junk data!"

The dark green-clad man, the Cave King, ignored BB's threatening words and asked:

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with handling 'garbage' this way?"

"Hmph, keep your pointless suspicions to yourself until I throw you away as trash too!"

BB glared at him fiercely and snorted coldly.

But soon, she smiled playfully again, and said confidently:

"Of course there won't be any problem. This is my home turf. Besides, I'm quite the expert when it comes to handling garbage, BB!"

"In short, this time I'm unusually refrain from doing anything wrong, and I'm genuinely trying to help my senior solve their problems, okay?"

"Oh dear, I wonder if my senior will be so grateful when he finds out all this that he'll willingly become a toy for me to play with?"

BB rested her chin on her hands, imagining with anticipation:

"It definitely will, right? It should, right?"

"."

The Cave King remained silent. He knew that the other party was indeed capable in this regard, which was why he allowed him to do so.

After all, no matter what, Fujimaru Ritsuka's safety is the absolute priority.

In addition, it's best not to let her know about all this.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 147 Two Weeks, Meeting, Change

147.

2023-11-29

They met Kirito again two weeks later.

At this point, they had arrived at Tolbana, the closest town to the labyrinth area and the largest town outside of the starting town on the first level, located in the valley.

There are almost no leveling areas left here; further ahead is the first level of the [maze area].

Looking at the deserted landscape ahead, Asuna couldn't help but ask:

"Has Kirito arrived yet?"

"Should be arriving soon?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka scrolled through the chat history and said:

"Twenty minutes ago, he said he had already entered the valley. He should be arriving soon, right?"

At that moment, Asuna suddenly whispered:

"Ah, here it comes!"

Just then, a handsome, dark-haired male player carrying a single-handed straight sword gradually came into their view—

It was none other than Kirito, the lone player they had been waiting for.

Kirito noticed the two of them at that moment, and his pace quickened. He jogged up to them, put his right hand behind his head, and said somewhat shyly:

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

“It’s okay, we didn’t wait too long. We left our room after you sent the message.”

Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and waved her hand.

Hearing that the other party didn't blame him and their attitude towards him was no different than before, Kirito breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled:

"long time no see."

"Yeah, long time no see!"

They exchanged a few pleasantries, then smiled at each other again, a strange sense of joy welling up inside them.

Even though Kirito actively chose to be a solo player, it doesn't mean he doesn't need friends.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he asked the two of them curiously:

Do you know approximately how many players are currently in [Tuberna]?

"Um"

Asuna hesitated for a moment, then answered somewhat uncertainly:

"We're not entirely sure about that either, but we haven't seen any other players along the way from our lodgings to here."

"If nothing unexpected happens, Kirito, you're probably the third player to arrive in town."

As for the first and second place players, they are naturally her and Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Thankfully, I wasn't left behind.

Asuna's reply made him breathe a sigh of relief again, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a little surprised and emotional.

After he separated from the two girls, they would occasionally use the friend system to contact each other, either to exchange information or simply to chat for a bit.

Thanks to this, he, who is mostly a solo player, has also had the rare opportunity to experience the essence of MMOs, namely the fun of social interaction.

Especially in SAO now, even having a partner with whom you can only exchange a few words occasionally can provide great emotional comfort.

What's more, his friends are two super cute female gamers, which is a dreamlike plot that only exists in visual novels.

What impressed him even more was that just two weeks ago, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Asuna were just SAO newbies who needed him to provide detailed information and advice.

But in the following two weeks, the two of them caught up and surpassed him, not only quickly but also becoming the first top players to reach Torbana.

The most terrifying thing is that, despite having information from the closed beta period and believing himself to be among the fastest levelers, he has only just reached [Torbana].

After all, SAO these days can't be played like a regular game where you can just blindly push forward. Every step has to be taken with extreme caution, and this level is already its limit.

But as far as he knew, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others had arrived here yesterday. That's what they told him in a message.

When he heard the news, he was incredulous and couldn't understand how they had done it.

Could they be the legendary gaming geniuses?

Just as his mind was racing with thoughts, a sharp, nasal voice, lingering at the end of sentences, suddenly came from the side, interrupting his thoughts—

"To be precise, Tongzai should be the fourth player!"

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw a tiny female player who was more than a head shorter than Kirito, who wasn't even that tall.

The other person had three lines resembling animal whiskers drawn on her cheeks, which were covered by a big smile. Combined with her short, curly, golden-brown hair, it always made people unconsciously think of some kind of rodent.

The opponent's armor was made entirely of cloth and leather, and his weapons were a small grappling hook on his left waist and a throwing needle on his right waist. It didn't look like the kind of equipment one would use to get to the front lines.

But Kirito knew that his opponent had another, even more powerful weapon—

Argo the Rat was Aincrad's first intelligence merchant. He was a beta tester like Argo and was quite well-known among the beta testers.

If you chat with a "rat" for five minutes, you might unknowingly have hundreds of Cor's worth of information stolen from you, so be very careful.

Someone once gave him this advice.

Due to a series of coincidences, he and Agor were acquaintances in the game, and he would often trade information with him.

For example, to fill in some fuzzy memories from the closed beta period, he would spend 500 Coles each time to buy the latest issue of the "Floor Strategy Manual" from the other party.

The manual contains detailed information about the terrain, monsters, items, and quest descriptions for the first level that have been explored so far.

At the bottom of the booklet's cover, the advertising slogan, "With the Argonauts Guidebook, you won't have to worry," is written in huge font. Well, it's not an exaggeration at all.

Undeniably, Argo was indeed an exceptional intelligence broker.

However, Kirito couldn't help but feel a little confused when he saw Argo suddenly appearing openly in front of him.

You should know that he wasn't the only one here; there were two other new players beside him.