Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

"You guy..."

Hachiman and Kirito sat by the wall away from the crowd and talked. They never talked about dropped items with others, but they would occasionally communicate like this when they were alone.

Asuna looked over here from time to time, but she seemed to have her duties as deputy leader and had no intention of coming over.

"Should we pause the raid next?"

"You look happy, Hachiman."

"Let someone else activate the portal on the fifty-first floor. I'm going back now."

"Okay, see you later, Hachiman."

After saying goodbye to Asuna, Hachiman used the teleportation crystal to return. Exhausted, he fell asleep.

As Hachiman expected, due to the urgent need to reorganize the combat force, the strategy activities were temporarily suspended. Taking this opportunity, everyone began to collect crystal props and strengthen equipment again.

A few days later, the situation stabilized a little, and Asuna sent an invitation to the celebration party for the 50th floor breakthrough, which was to be held in Algade, the main street of the 50th floor.

Hachiman responded with his usual "I'll go if I can," but he knew that Asuna would be angry if he missed the event, so he adjusted his plan and said he would be there later.

It was almost time for the party, and he unexpectedly received another message from Asuna, who wanted him to wear the dress she had given him before. Thinking that if he didn't wear it on this occasion, he would never have the chance to do so in the future, he thought about it and decided to do it.

Standing in front of the "Laurel Crown" private room in the tavern, Hachiman took a deep breath and tugged at his black dress with a patterned collar.

Klein's signature loud voice could be heard through the wooden door: "Information dealer, are you sure you can win this bet?"

He deliberately increased the volume of his footsteps when he pushed the door open, and the originally noisy box instantly fell into an eerie silence.

Klein's beer glass, raised mid-air, hovered in the air. Agil froze while wiping his glass. Kirito's fingers, texting, hovered in the air. Everyone stared at Hachiman as if he were a rare monster.

"Everyone, this is..." Asuna stood up while suppressing her laughter.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Agil." The bald man suddenly switched to a VIP-friendly voice. "Could you recommend a cocktail from our restaurant?"

Klein spat out half a mouthful of wine. "Wait, wait! Could this be an NPC character event?"

"You idiots..." Hachiman couldn't stand it any longer and loosened his tie. This action made Argo suddenly jump up from his chair.

"That impatient sigh definitely comes from that little scoundrel who spends all day on the 23rd floor!"

Asuna finally broke down in laughter and fell back on the chair. Her bell-like laughter woke up the dazed Kirito.

The black swordsman's pupils trembled violently: "Hachiman? Your modeling parameters are wrong. SAO should not have a plastic surgery function."

"So it was Miss Asuna's conspiracy." Hachiman sat down helplessly.

"Hachiman-kun, you were looking at yourself in the mirror in the fitting room for ten minutes!" Asuna retorted, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Miss Ashley's handmade equipment is rare equipment with a small chance of triggering an agility bonus."

Klein suddenly leaned forward, his hands on the table, his scorching gaze burning through Hachiman's face. "Wait, wait! If you look closely, that dead fish eye is definitely Hachiman! But why is the modeling three levels more detailed than ours, you idiot?"

Argo had already pulled out his notepad and was frantically writing down his thoughts: "Shocking! The biggest mystery of the strategy team has been revealed—the sharp-tongued advisor is actually a hidden handsome boy! This information is going to fetch a lot of money on the black market..."

"If you dare to sell it, I'll expose all the gossip about you." Hachiman sneered and crushed a piece of honey biscuit. The crisp cracking sound made the information dealer sit up straight in an instant.

"Please stop!" Asuna finally put away her smiling face, but her pretty eyes were clearly chuckling. "If you keep talking, Hachiman will really run away, okay?"

At this moment, the glass window of the box reflected the images of Hachiman and the others - a boy in a jet-black suit and a girl in a pure white dress sat side by side, surrounded by their friends laughing and playing. The moonlight from the fifty floors outside the window penetrated the transparent barrier and sprinkled stardust-like light on the ends of Asuna's hair.

At this moment, Argo suddenly whistled: "Everyone! I just captured an incredible scene—"

The suspended light screen captured the moment when Klein pounced on Hachiman and pulled his bow tie. Hachiman dodged sideways, while in the background, Riasuna's panicked expression as she stretched out her hand to stop him and Kirito's face as he tried to suppress a smile formed a wonderful composition.

The clamor gradually blended into the night. When Klein began to say "This is unscientific" for the seventeenth time, when Agil brought out the third barrel of special mead, when Asuna secretly removed the bitter melon from Hachiman's plate and replaced it with caramel pudding - a warm emotion quietly grew in my chest.

Perhaps this is the meaning of Hachiman's battle, in this death game built of death and blood, they still clumsily guard this infuriating daily life.

After all, their journey is only halfway through.

SAO: Chapter 40: The Threat of Malicious PK Guilds

Three months had passed since Liz announced she wanted to buy a house.

"Clang clang! This is my private savings passbook!"

Liz slammed the translucent data panel onto the table. Amidst the distinctive metallic smell of a blacksmith's shop, Asuna's hand, stirring the honey tea with a spoon, trembled slightly, while Hachiman choked and coughed.

"You've saved enough for the down payment in three months. You've certainly worked hard." Asuna's long chestnut hair shone softly under the lamplight. "But... Liz, you didn't forget about the renovation budget, did you?"

The air suddenly froze, and beads of sweat oozed from the blacksmith girl's forehead. She mechanically turned her head to look at the black-haired young man leaning against the wall.

Hachiman slowly raised two fingers: "Two hundred thousand kel, 3% monthly interest—"

"A vampire?"

"I'll borrow it!" Lisbeth rushed over to the bar and grabbed the man's collar, "But the shop must be called 'Lizbeth's Weapon Shop'!"

"This name..." Hachiman squeezed out the words from between the girl's fingers, "It's like 'Stupid people with a lot of money, come quickly' written on a sign..."

In this way, the preparations for the store were completed and the opening day finally arrived.

Although there weren't many customers due to the lack of publicity, a few members of the Blood Knights came through Asuna's connections, and old customers from the street stall days also showed up to support the business, so the opening went quite smoothly.

In the future, Yawata will continue to supply materials at low prices, and the store should have good prospects.

A few days later, Aigil rarely contacted Hachiman, seemingly wanting to discuss something, and Hachiman came to Aigil's stall.

"Oh, thank you for making such a special trip."

"fine"

"I asked you to come here today because Liz opened a shop, right? I want to open my own shop too."

"That's it, no problem."

The two then visited several candidate locations and ultimately decided that a storefront in a building in the main block would be more suitable than a player's residence.

"Are there enough funds?"

"I had originally considered buying a house, and this size is okay."

"I didn't expect that people I know would open shops one after another. It's really touching."

"Artisan players are gradually gathering, and the system for supporting the front lines is also improving."

“But I’m a little worried.”

"what?"

“Perhaps more and more people will feel that it’s not bad to stay in this world.”

"...Indeed, there are many such people, especially among the lower-level players."

"It would be fine if this world could last forever, but..."

As they passed the central square, Hachiman suddenly stopped. Several figures in tattered cloaks were huddled beside the fountain, one of them revealing calves with purple bruises. That was the virtual world's reaction to muscle atrophy caused by long-term bed rest.

"Agil," Hachiman's voice suddenly deepened, "What do you think we are like now in reality?"

Agil paused.

"Last week, I saw a player completely paralyzed on the 32nd floor." Hachiman's fingertips unconsciously stroked the hilt of his sword. "There might be something wrong with his neural connection system. He can't even feel pain here."

"That's why those crazy people in the clearing group rushed forward without caring about their lives... They'd rather die in the boss room than become the living dead.

After saying that, the atmosphere became a bit gloomy, and Hachiman waved goodbye and went back.

A few months after the strategy was restarted, the front line advanced to the 58th floor. One day, Hachiman, who was resting at home, received a contact from Argo, saying that there had been frequent PK incidents on the 30th floor recently.

"Hachi, all the members of a guild have died!" Argo's message flashed on his retina, "and all the deaths recorded have the same person alive."

"Bait?"

"There may be spies luring people to vulnerable terrain."

"Want to monitor that guy?"

“Let’s start with this step.”

"name?"

"Rosalia is your type."

"What an annoying type... I'll go check it out."

The investigation revealed that Rosalia was indeed the type that Hachiman disliked (confident and jealous), and following her, he discovered that she had a base on the 47th floor.

One day, we tracked Rosalia and found her wearing a hood and heading to the 19th floor to meet up with the orange players. This confirmed that she was related to a criminal gang.

Later, during the surveillance, Argo sent a message saying that all members of the Silver Flag Guild except the leader were wiped out.

"Rosalia didn't take any action today."

"The surviving leader claimed to have obtained information about high-quality leveling grounds from Rosalia, but was ambushed at one of the locations. The rest of the information was true, so there was no evidence left."

"Damn it, I should have been watching over there! It was my mistake..."

"We didn't expect that either. Next plan: Hachiman will continue to monitor Rosaria, while Kirito will be dispatched on the scene."

"Hachiman, don't always carry it all by yourself. There will definitely be no problem if you two work together."

"Those who survived took the Corridor Crystal to the fifty-first floor and requested that they be imprisoned."

"Not demanding execution but imprisonment? This chief is remarkable."

"In response to this kindness, let's accept this commission."

"The guild's name is the Orange Guild, Titan's Hand."

"We must destroy the Titan's Hand!"

SAO: Chapter 41: Graduation of Sobu High School

Today is Sobu High School's graduation ceremony. One year and three months have passed since Hachiman was trapped in SAO.

Yukino was confirmed to have been admitted to the country's top university, Yui had finally been admitted to a private university in Tokyo, and Isshiki had served as student council president for two consecutive years, which seemed to be a first since Sobu High School was founded.

Komachi was successfully admitted to Sobu High School and is currently participating in student council activities. It seems that she will be taking on an executive position next year.

"Mr. Hiratsuka, thank you for your care over the years."

"Teacher! Thank you so much for always being here!"

"Well, I'm very happy that you two were able to successfully enter university. I was hoping to send another child to graduate with a smile on their face..."

The three of them all thought of Hachiman, who was supposed to be present today, and the atmosphere became a little lonely.

"What are your plans from now on?"

"Yes, the three of us are going to Hikigaya-kun's hospital room with Isshiki-san."

"That's it..."

"Would you like to come with me, teacher?"

"I have too much work today. Let's make a formal visit another day."

Ye Shan and Tobe visited people who had had contact with Hachiman.

After collecting the message book for Hachiman, the three of them came to Hachiman's ward with it.

Yukino, Yui, and Isshiki often came together to visit Hachiman.

Whenever something happens at school, one of the three will say, "Let's go report to Hachiman." This has become their fixed procedure.

The three of them took turns talking to Hachiman, who was unable to respond. This had become a daily sight in the eyes of the doctors and nurses in the hospital, and everyone watched this scene with gentle eyes.

"Hikigaya-kun, we're graduating today."

"graduating!"

After the two of them decorated the hospital room with the guestbook, Yukino deftly hid the coffee can at the bottom of the bedside table. Yuigahama was tiptoeing to hang a thousand paper crane wind chimes on the IV stand, while Isshiki was adjusting his bangs in the mirror. "If Senpai suddenly opened his eyes and saw my makeup today, he'd definitely be so overwhelmed that he'd faint for another three months, right?"

"Compared to this," Yukino put the copy of her graduation certificate under her pillow, "Hikigaya-kun's survival record in the game is quite stable."

Her fingertips traced the smooth curve of the monitor, and her eyes were suddenly pierced by her own reflection in the light of the display screen - this angle subtly overlapped with the posture of someone who always liked to curl up in the corner of the service department.

Yuigahama suddenly took out a Polaroid camera from her bag: "Let's take commemorative photos!" Before the two of them could react, the camera made a cheerful clicking sound.

In the picture slowly emerging from the photographic paper, the boy wearing the VR device was sleeping soundly as before, but the figures of the three girls were blurred into hazy halos due to shaking hands.