Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

At noon the next day, decorate the front of the tower.

"Is this what you called 'perfect disguise', Liz?" Asuna looked at her companion with a twitching mouth.

There were three yellow warning cloths with the words "Caution! Slippery Ground" printed on them draped crookedly on the bushes, with half of a forging hammer sticking out from underneath.

What's even more outrageous is that Lisbeth actually wrote "There are absolutely no beautiful girls lurking here~" on the surface of the fabric with fluorescent paint.

"You know psychology, don't you?" Liz said with a proud thumbs-up. "The more suspicious the disguise, the more likely that guy will wonder, 'Is this really a trap?' And then..."

"And then he'll come over like a shark smelling blood?" Asuna said doubtfully.

"Hachiman is coming soon, hide."

After hiding for a while, Hachiman's figure appeared in the distance. He was obviously frightened when he saw this side and approached cautiously.

“Very cautious indeed.”

"Leaving out too early will make him escape."

"Asuna, try to lure them to the closest distance."

The two men waited with bated breath as Hachiman gradually approached. After an unknown amount of time, Hachiman finally reached out and lifted the cloth.

"Explode now!" Lisbeth leaped out with her warhammer, while Asuna's rapier blocked their retreat.

However, Hachiman seemed to have predicted their attack and slid through the gap between them.

"W-What are you doing... Damn, it's a trap!"

Hachiman turned and fled toward the street, but Asuna was prepared and fired "Stardust Splash" from her scabbard at Hachiman's back.

Although there was no harm in the circle, the shockwave knocked Hachiman to the ground. Lisbeth immediately pinned him down and said the line triumphantly:

"Okay Hachiman, if you don't want to be thrown in jail for... sexual... harassment... then just tell the truth."

"You, you guys are too cruel."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"B-I was planning to talk about it when I had the chance."

"Will there really be a chance to tell?"

"I-I'm sorry, Hachiman-kun. Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt, but you were definitely serious just now, right?"

"Is it an illusion?"

"Yes, yes."

Looking at Asuna's smile without any smile, Hachiman unconsciously used honorifics.

"What exactly is here?"

"Hey... follow me."

After Hachiman operated the window, a door opened on the side of the tower.

"Huh? What is this? A secret base of an evil organization?"

“Ah… This is my home.”

"Hachiman's house!?"

The two were shocked by the unexpected answer, but they decided to go in and take a look. The spiral staircase led to the upper floor.

"Wow~ That's quite tasteful. Asuna, hold Hachiman down while I take a look. If you dare to run away, I'll activate the... sexual... harassment... warning."

"Ah, sorry Liz, I already turned off the harassment notifications for Hachiman-kun."

"Hey?"

"what?"

Hachiman and Lisbeth were both stunned.

(No wonder there was no prompt when I touched Asuna before)

Lisbeth quickly came to her senses:

"Hachiman, you didn't hear anything, right?"

"Good, good."

"Then let's go up and take a look. Hachiman leads the way."

When they arrived at the top floor, they were stunned by the spacious space, excellent facilities and decoration.

As Asuna entered to take a look, she suddenly froze in place for a moment—under the velvet cloth she had just lifted, there was a scaled-down map of Aincrad!

Each floor is marked with a different color, and there is a small flag on the 22nd floor: "The place where Asuna first made curry pork cutlet dish"

Asuna felt a slight burning sensation on the side of her face. She pushed the nonexistent hair behind her ear as if to hide it, and then walked towards the bedroom.

"Hachiman-kun..." The rapier user's voice suddenly became eerily gentle. "Can you explain why my life-size pillow is in the master bedroom?"

"Th-That's a decoration gift!"

(Ahhh, the intention is too obvious.)

Under the coercion and threat of the two, they were forced to give the key, and the two were delighted when they got it.

“Don’t move in.”

"Don't worry, I'll be careful!"

"It's okay to stay overnight, preferably two people together."

"OKOK, Hachiman is so generous!"

"There are three rooms left. It's up to you whether you want to live together or separately. You can move the furniture yourself. Once you've confirmed the room, I'll set it up so only I can use it."

"Okay! Now let's go shopping Liz!"

"Is it okay if I put my forging tools in the annex?"

"Okay, that's useless anyway."

"Thank you! Asuna, let's go!"

In this way, Hachiman's secret base was forcibly divided up.

(But this isn't bad.)

I feel that I am still not good at rejecting others, but also that I am no longer so resistant to getting along with others.

Hachiman swallowed the "Secret Base Usage Rules" back into his stomach. He touched the design drawings of the newly bought four-person tea set in his pocket, and a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

SAO: Chapter 32 "Destroy" Aincrad Liberation Team

About a month had passed since Hachiman secured the base that could be considered a secret base.

The strategy was progressing smoothly, and just when the 24th floor was safely completed, a problem occurred.

----

The iron kettle made a sharp sound on the fireplace. Hachiman reached out and clicked the button to turn off the heating. Light blue data stream fireflies were floating outside the window. This was the unique night view of the 24th floor.

"Don't you think today's celebration party is too tense?" Agil suddenly paused while wiping his battle axe.

Hachiman dropped a third sugar cube into his tea. "Is that Kibo guy arguing over the equipment distribution for the final attack again?"

"This isn't just a small fight. I heard the Holy Dragon Alliance got three rare materials, and Linde stuffed them all into his warehouse."

The next day, a system prompt suddenly sounded, and a translucent message box appeared: [Emergency Call! Guild representatives, please go to the Central Square immediately.]

When they arrived at the fountain in the square, Ya Wang was holding Lind's collar armor, and a crystal ball was floating between the two of them, which was still playing the battle video.

"Is this what you call elite tactics?" The veins on King Ya's forehead bulged. Behind him, more than twenty members of the Liberation Team drew their weapons. "Last week's floor boss, the final hit reward was taken by you again..."

"Watch your words, you scumbag!" Lind pushed the other's hand away. "Without our intelligence team, you wouldn't even be able to find the boss's door."

Asuna suddenly thrust her rapier between them. "We're going to fight in the arena. Here, the system will deem it a malicious PK."

Although the situation was temporarily calmed down at that time, the fire seemed to continue to smolder.

That night, Asuna and Liz visited Hachiman's house under the pretext of a consolation party.

The ends of Liz's newly dyed cherry pink hair shone with rainbow light under the chandelier, and the lace edge of her red dress rose and fell as she fiddled with the tea set.

Asuna expertly cut the cake, twirling the silver knife between her fingers. "Liz's new look has caused quite a stir. The forums are all buzzing about the poster girl for the 'Flame Fairy Forge' now."

"Oh, that's annoying, but thanks to Asuna's manipulation, sales have increased by 30%."

"is it?"

"I think Liz would definitely fit in with this style."

"Right, right!"

Lisbeth's hair had changed from the brown it had been a few days ago to a pinkish brown, and her clothes had changed to a slightly brighter red dress. She would wear a white apron when doing business.

Hair colors like pink, emerald green, or sky blue would normally look unnatural, but perhaps because it’s in a game, they miraculously don’t look out of place.

They continued chatting until the end of the party. Both of them seemed to be very considerate and never stayed overnight. Hachiman was grateful for this consideration.

Although two guest rooms were prepared and furnished separately, Liz often worked in the other courtyard even when she stayed overnight.

They always contact each other in advance to avoid chance encounters, and occasionally entrust each other with collecting materials or hunting together, maintaining a proper sense of distance. This does not cause any trouble for Hachiman.

"See you two next time."

"Goodbye, Hachiman-kun."

"Come back for forging tomorrow at noon, please, Hachiman."

"Okay, got it Liz."

After seeing the two off, Hachiman took a bath and prepared to go to bed.

A few days later, when the breakthrough of the 25th floor was just around the corner, something unexpected happened and Hachiman was suddenly visited by Argo and Asuna.

"Miss Argo said she had something to discuss."

"But this is such a nice house! Even I want it."

"Absolutely not. So what's going on today?"

"Hachi, Asuna, be prepared. The Liberation Team was completely wiped out."

"......ha?"

"......Why?"

It took Hachiman several seconds to comprehend the meaning of this, and he asked Argo blankly.

"Hey, what's going on? What happened?"

“I heard that the Liberation Team discovered the BOSS room not long ago, but concealed the information and challenged it alone.

According to the survivors, they launched a surprise attack thinking they had obtained sufficient intelligence to attack the enemy on their own, but it turned out that the intelligence was completely wrong, and the boss's strength was completely different from before."

"survivor......"

Asuna heard the ominous word "survivor" and looked at Hachiman, who resolutely asked:

"How many people participated? How many survived?"

"Seven teams, forty-two people participated, and the survivors... eight."

Hearing this number, the two were shocked and speechless. Hachiman was the first to recover and continued to ask:

"How's Kiba-o?"

"Just barely survived."

"Could it be...that Joe did something again?"

"The survivor said he brought the boss strategy information."