Sword Art Online Crossover: They're all close friends, how did I become a player?

The sword spirits, who were originally captivated by the Saniwa's limited-edition skin, were suddenly jolted awake when they heard that the Saniwa was going into battle with them.

Although the spiritual energy transmitted from them indicated that their master's strength was certainly not weak, the master's age was still too young for a sword spirit with a history of hundreds or thousands of years, and in addition, their appearance was extremely deceptive.

Moreover, they were all at level one except for Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, who had just been summoned. Therefore, the sword spirits were really worried about their master going into battle with them, fearing that if they encountered danger, they, as swords, would not be able to protect their master.

"Don't worry, you have to believe in my abilities. To be honest, even though I look like this now, I've been through many battles."

Yu Bai reassured the tense sword spirits while exuding the aura of someone who had experienced the bloodshed of the An Lushan Rebellion, successfully silencing them.

Although he did prefer to lie around and be a couch potato, he was also curious about the Time Government's teleportation mechanism and deployment locations because of his love for his swords.

So after explaining things to everyone, he took the legendary weapon of the Gugu Sect, Fujin, which he had placed in the castle tower. After putting the Heavenly Sound Dream he used for Xiangzhi into his game backpack, he put on his school uniform and appeared before everyone.

After realizing they couldn't stop the Saniwa from going into battle with the team, everyone secretly resolved to protect their master.

As the teleporter flashed white light, the group disappeared into the citadel.

……

"Master Saniwa, this is Hakodate, Master Saniwa...!!!!"

"Master Saniwa! Where did my enormous Master Saniwa go?!"

After the distortion of spacetime teleportation subsided, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, Yagen Toushirou, and the others successfully teleported to their destination for this sortie: Hakodate.

But Kitsune-no-suke, who was traveling with them, soon realized something was wrong. Where had his huge Saniwa gone?

Besides myself, there were only six knife spirits present.

The Saniwa, who had just set off with the sword spirits, had vanished without a trace.

Shokudaikiri Mitsutada and the others, who had just been teleported and heard Kitsunenosuke's screams, also realized that something was wrong.

"My lord! What happened to Kitsunenosuke? You were with us just now!" Hasebe grabbed Kitsunenosuke and began to shake him.

"I...I am, I am searching."

"Mr. Hasebe, put Kitsunenosuke down quickly! You're shaking him until he's dizzy! If Kitsunenosuke gets dizzy, he'll really be unable to find his master!"

Seeing Kitsunenosuke being crushed by Hasebe Akira and seeing stars, Horikawa Kunihiro quickly stepped forward to stop him.

"Hasebe, calm down. The Admiral's own combat strength is very high, he will definitely be fine. The most important thing now is to let Kitsunenosuke see if he can contact the Admiral," Yagen Toushirou calmly analyzed.

"Yes, Hasebe, put Kitsunenosuke down quickly." Seeing that Hasebe had calmed down a bit, Shokudaikiri Mitsutada quickly rescued Kitsunenosuke from his grasp.

"Kitsune-no-suke, can we find out where our master went now?" Maeda stroked Kitsune-no-suke's fur, his eyes filled with worry.

"...No, I can't get in touch with him." Kitsune-no-suke closed his eyes and tried to contact Yu Bai, but when he found that he couldn't, he turned to Yamanbagiri and the others and said.

"I'll contact headquarters now to see if we can find any trace of the Saniwa through the teleporter's location."

In the anxious wait, time seemed to slow down.

A while later, Kitsune-no-suke, who had been in contact with the Time Government headquarters, ran over: "We have news! We have news! According to the Time Government's location, it seems that the Master was affected by spatial fluctuations during the process of crossing the time-space channel and has traveled to another timeline."

"Where is Master?" Yamanbagiri Kunihiro felt utterly useless for a moment, unable to even take care of his master, and now he had even lost the Saniwa.

"Please be patient, everyone. I'm searching for the location where the Saniwa fell... I found it. According to the signal, the Saniwa... it seems the Saniwa fell overseas QAQ."

Kitsune-no-suke was almost in tears. If the Saniwa had fallen into the Sakura Kingdom, they could have found her there using the teleporter, regardless of the era.

But now it has landed directly in the historical timeline of other countries, so even if the Time Government tries its best to find it, it will take a lot of time.

"What overseas? Owari?" Hasebe asked anxiously.

"...No, it's cherry blossoms overseas."

"..." For a moment, the air was eerily quiet.

The history of cherry blossoms is far less extensive than that of the flowers themselves, but every country has a history that, due to its dramatic ups and downs or its more dramatic and fashionable aspects, has been adapted by modern people into various movies, TV series, anime, games, etc., so that even people from other countries will know a little about it.

For example, the Qin Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, the Tang Dynasty in China, or the medieval Arthurian era in the nearby Eagle Kingdom, etc.

When it comes to Japan, the most well-known period is undoubtedly the Heian period, because there was a top star during that time: Abe no Seimei.

Beyond that, there was the Sengoku period, when Oda Nobunaga's style was on par with it, and the late Edo period, with its Shinsengumi male troupe.

During those periods, the area in the "Sakura Country" that was called a country was probably only the size of a small county town in China today.

This is why the Tsukumogami didn't initially think of the option of having cherry blossoms abroad.

"In any case, the most important thing now is to find the Saniwa. Your levels are too low, and the location of the master is too far away. No one knows what's there."

Now I need to help you quickly clear Hakodate and upgrade your character, and then try to follow our master's trail to find him. I believe our master will contact us as soon as he realizes we've lost contact; don't forget, we have a [contract] between us and our master.

Even if we're far apart, as long as the [contract] isn't broken, everything is fine.

That's also why they haven't gone crazy yet.

Whether it's due to the unique nature of the Saniwa or something else, they discovered the moment they were awakened that the [contract] between themselves and the Saniwa was even stronger than that between the Time Government and the Saniwa.

Because of the [contract], even though the Saniwa doesn't know which era they've been transported to, they can still vaguely sense that everything is alright there.

Yamanbagiri Kunihiro clutched the hem of his clothes tightly; it was a gift from his master to the general store.

Currently serving as the team leader, the Saniwa's initial sword, and the only high-level sword spirit in the team.

Yamanbagiri Kunihiro was no longer as introverted as he had been at the beginning. As a fully-leveled sword, his unique characteristics, unlike those of the newly awakened level 1 tsukumogami, were now on full display.

After quickly and calmly arranging everything, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro unleashed his maxed-out abilities, taking down enemies one by one with a single strike. He led five tsukumogami—Yagen Toushirou, Maeda Toushirou, Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, Horikawa Kunihiro, and Shishikiri Hasebe—through Hakodate in a swift and decisive attack.