>>291467
>>I must finish my business in the Arena

>>291467
>I must finish my business in the Arena
We really need to get back our Mel Gibson movie.

>>291467
>Learning more couldn't hurt
BOOKS ARE GOOD

>>291467
>>I must finish my business in the Arena
Gotta get those keys and do those side quests.

>>291467
>>I must finish my business in the Arena

You stand in front of the Arena, ready to enter. The minions inside have never been a problem, and now, with your new formal wear, they’ll be even less of a threat.
You’re ready to support Archer to a much higher degree and to finish your business on this floor.

Your professor’s shirt is in your hands, and your matrix is in the other. With a nod, you step forward and into the Arena.
Your Servant materializes by your side immediately, and the slaughter begins. By now, even the larger enemies do not constitute a threat anymore.

You start exploring the mazy arena with Archer, uncovering all its secrets. You find some more item folders, containing either virtual cash or additional healing items.
“Master, we should look for item folders that glow with a different light. The green ones contain lower-tier items, the golden ones should contain either Formal Wear or the key we’re looking for”.

During your exploration, you come across an open folder. It’s not the one you opened yesterday, as it is located in a different area of this floor altogether.
“Hmm… maybe this doesn’t need to be emptied. It needs to be filled!”
You put your professor’s shirt in there. The folder locks and emits a red light.

“Bingo!”, you exclaim, satisfied.
Archer gives you an approving nod, and the two of you resume your quest for the key.
“The Arena is much better now that the enemy isn’t around, am I right?”, you ask.
“Don’t jinx it, Master”, she responds promptly.

After walking around some more, you finally see it. A golden folder, protected by what seems to be a squirming lion.
The eyes of the beast are bloodshot, and he seems to be in pain, something that makes him more scary.
Your Servant jumps into action following the standard protocol: immobilizing the enemy first and then finishing him with a fatal blow.

But this time something unexpected happens. The lion crumbles, and the things he was trying to contain erupt.
A swarm of insects leaks from the lion’s carcass, advancing steadily in your direction.
Without hesitation, the Legendary Soul standing by your side attacks the swarm, leaving most of the critters for dead.

Some do escape her deadly arrows however, and as they come closer, she abandons her bow in favor of her short knife.
The close quarters combat that ensues leaves her wounded, the perfect occasion to try your new Formal Wear.
Your matrix rings, and you receive a message reading ‘Code Cast: Southern Breeze’.

>>293688
Archer’s health and mana are restored, while your MP (which you presume stand for Master Point) are partially depleted.
With no more obstacles between you and the key, you step forward to grab it.
Your new item is immediately registered by the matrix, and you sight with relief.

“All right Archer, shall we leave?”
“That’s up to you, Master. Do you wish to stick around? Maybe our opponent will come later today, and we could learn more about his Servant by fighting him”.

>Keep farming, wait for Kirito
>Leave
>Write-in

>Keep farming, wait for Kirito

>>293690
>>Keep farming, wait for Kirito

>>293690
>Keep farming, wait for Kirito

Let's get an explanation from him on why he has a murderboner for us.

>>293690
>>Keep farming, wait for Kirito

“That’s certainly true. Might as well wait for the fuckface to come over”, you decide.
Archer nods approvingly, picking her bow up and and nocking one more arrow.
The hunt continues for a few more hours, but there’s no trace of Kirito.

“It’s true that time works differently here”, you think out loud. “But this is rather strange. Archer, come with me!”
“Understood!’, she responds.
The two of you head towards an empty room in which minions don’t spawn. You will wait for him here.

Your plan is to let Archer rest so that the she will be ready for the fight. You will, on the other hand, focus on Kirito’s abilities and weapons. Maybe some of them will provide an hint to discover his Servant’s true name.
You wait for what feels like an eternity, your sanity slowly eroding.

Frustrated, you stand up grunting.
“This is pointless, Archer. Let’s leave”, you tell your Servant.
“Are you sure, Master?”
“I don’t know why, but he’s not coming. Not today at least. We’re wasting our time”.

“Very well. In that case, hold my hand, Master”.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. Grab my hand, I will show you something”.
You oblige, and suddenly you feel like you’re being dragged by a runaway train.

All you can see is the Arena warping as you pass by at a breakneck speed, and the minions trying in vain to attack you.
You divert your attention to Archer’s feet. They’re glowing with a silver light.
“What do you think of this, Master? This is my ability, Dwarvenpath!”, she screams at you to overcome the noise caused by her extreme velocity.

“Just don’t shout it out loud during a fight, and we’ll be good”, you shout in response.
The trip is over in a heartbeat. It probably just felt longer because it was unpleasant, but in the bat of an eye, you’re in front of the Arena entrance again.
Fighting the urge to puke, you activate the portal on the ground, which teleports you back to school.

As per usual, night has already fallen, and while you’ve seen Ainz standing in his usual place right in front of the stairs before, today he’s not there.
“I will inform my teacher tomorrow. Can’t wait to get my precious movie back”, you comment.

You head for the stairs, when something catches your attention. The noise of footsteps coming from the second floor, where your room is.
Your Servant immediately understands your intentions and dematerializes. You proceed with the utmost caution.
From the top of the first ramp, you can clearly see who’s walking around in the dead of the night: your roommate Hikigaya.

‘That’s dangerous… what should I do?’

>Follow him to cover his back
>Persuade him to stop
>Go with him
>Go back to your room
>Write-in

>>294829
>>Follow him to cover his back

>>294829
>Follow him to cover his back

>>294829
>>Follow him to cover his back
Aw man, we're totally going to end up fighting him aren't we?

Is this dead?
If not
>Go with him

You decide to follow him stealthily. It’s better for now not to reveal your presence: this way you can cover for him.
Hikigaya seems to know where he’s going very well. He has whipped out his matrix and reduced the luminosity setting to the minimum.
There is no formal rule about not going out during the night, but there’s something suspicious about your roommate and his nightly activities.

He suddenly stops and crouches. He fumbles with the his matrix for a bit, then points it at a door and waits for what feels like 20-30 minutes at least.
You, on the other hand, wait by the corner, a position in which you can keep two corridors under control at once.

You frantically look left and right, trying to keep the situation under control.
Then the unexpected happens. The silhouette of a girl seems to be quietly advancing towards your position.
Your heart stops beating and the time freezes to a halt as you weigh your odds and make your call.

>Try to scare them both off by emitting a loud sound
>Rush to Hikigaya’s side and help him escape
>Write-in

>>297868
>>Try to scare them both off by emitting a loud sound

>>297868
>Act like you've been aimlessly walking around, "accidentally" stumbling onto the scene

>>297868
>"Accidentally" bump into the girl, and apologize loudly enough for Hikigaya to hear while blocking her path.

>>298115
>>297894
>>297893

I am not a huge fan of the 'just roll a die' system, we'll wait until a tiebreaker occurs.

>>298115
This sounds like the best choice.

File: 73ef6c563b195cffc31e05b40(...).png (238 KB, 640x360)

238 KB PNG

You will have to take one for the team.
Heading towards the girl at a steady pace, you ‘accidentally’ bump into her.
You recognize her right away: it’s the crazy chick who threatened to kill Hikigaya.

Seizing the opportunity, you apologize loudly. “MY MY, LOOK WHO IT IS: IT’S PEE PEE POO POO”
“My name’s Koko Kaga, you swine! What were you doing here?”
The sound of hurried footsteps echoes through the corridor, and the girl attempts to sidestep you to take a peek.

Luckily, your roomate is nowhere to be found. You breathe out maybe a bit too loudly, because the girl seems to have understood that you were hiding something.
“That perv was here once again, wasn’t he? Don’t bullshit me, you bastard!”
“I really have no clue. I was here only for a walk”, you lie through your teeth.

“Hm”, Kaga comments, visibly upset. “In any case, you’re in my way. I am going to see my boyfriend tonight”
“Oh are you? Have lots of fun before your and/or his inevitable demise!”
“At least we won’t die as pathetic virgins, unlike you”, she viciously retorts.

You withstand the blow with sportsmanship, cocking your head slightly to the side.
Without anything else to tell you, the girl turns around and heads for the room Hikigaya was spying.
You decide to leave and get to your room. You’re quite tired after all.

But once there you will have to deal with Hikki. Are you going to confront him about this or wait until the brings it up himself?

>If he won’t talk about it, I won’t either
>I need to know what he’s doing
>Write-in

>>299110
>I need to know what he’s doing

>I need to know what he’s doing

>>299110
>>I need to know what he’s doing

Ded

This was a close call. The girl might have actually tried to kill him, or he might have ended up receiving a penalty.
In either case, you’re going to confront him about it once you’re in your room.
You find him sitting on the bed, staring at the matrix’s screen.

“We made it by the skin of our teeth. Let’s not do that ever again”, you tell him.
“I see. So that was you, after all”, he responds.
“Yeah. That woman is unpleasant and I doubt she’s lying about killing you. Besides, what the hell are you even doing? Wouldn’t it be better to fight him in the Arena and learn about his skills?”

“No”, he responds, without a second of hesitation.
“Well then, how do you plan to beat him? What’s the next step in your masterplan?”
He looks at you with a pensive expression on his face.

“Skip the Arena tomorrow. It will make you tired. Come with me instead”, he proposes.
“You mean stalking that enemy of yours in the night?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean. Trust me, I will make it worth your while”.

“No homo though”
“No homo. You’re just gonna learn something important in the next few days when it comes to fighting, that’s all I am saying. We are the underdogs, I hope you haven’t forgotten that. We have to even out the natural advantage of the winners in some other way”.

“Even so, some lines shouldn’t be crossed”
“You don’t know what I am doing, do you? So come with me and I will show you”.

>Accept
>Refuse
>Write-in

>>300893
>>Accept

>>300893
>>Accept

>>300893
>Accept

“Fair enough. I guess I will, then. You’re quite the twisted guy, are you not?”
“Oh yes, very much so. In any case, try to stay awake for as long as you can tonight. I don’t want you to be sleepy tomorrow”
“Ah, that’s gonna be difficult. I feel wrecked”

“What about your movie? We could finish watching that”
“Don’t stick the finger in the wound, man, Apparently the system deleted it and the only person who can help me is my retarded teacher”.
“ ‘Apparently the system deleted my favorite movie and the only person who can help me is my retarded teacher?!?’ is a good title for a Light Novel if you ever plan to write one, in any case”.

You spend the night discussing trivial topics and exchanging information about minions, the Arena, the Commissary Shop and the Servant System. You eat something together in the cafeteria, and then, exhausted return to your room.
Hikigaya falls asleep faster than you do, so Archer decides to materialize and chat with you for a bit.

“Is it really alright to skip one day of training, Master?”
“I think so. It won’t hurt, especially if we can learn something from this experience”
“So do you think we stand to gain?”

“It’s a definite possibility. Otherwise we’re just going to spend double the time in the Arena, no?”
She chuckles. “Bold words coming from you, Master. You don’t have to do the fighting, do you?”
“Eh, you make a point. But trust me on this one, please”.

Archer turns serious all of a sudden.
“Of course. I won’t let my feelings get in the way of carrying out my duty ever again, I swear”.
“But you never did, Archer”.

“Not this time”, she replies, before disappearing.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable about your Servant’s words, you struggle to fall asleep.
When you do, you slumber so soundly that your roommate has to shake you to wake you up.

“Damn you, Hakuno. It’s time, we have to go”.
Rubbing you eyes, you bolt out of the bed and grab your matrix.
Hikigaya nods at you to seek confirmation, and you nod right back at him.

“Lower your screen luminosity to the minimum on your matrix and follow me”, he tells you in a resolute tone.
You comply and follow him to the same spot on which he was crouching the day before.
You imitate him and point the matrix in the room’s direction just like Hikigaya did.

He grabs it from you and starts pressing a weird combination of buttons, then hands it back to you.
He does the same with his matrix, and intently stares at the screen.
You, on the other hand, devoured by the anxiety, keep looking left and right.

“Keep your eyes on the screen”, he whispers to you. “She won’t come tonight”.
Compelled by curiosity, you stare at the screen, but it’s too dark to see anything.
Slowly but surely you adjust to the darkness, then you start to make out the contours of the figure on the screen and…

“What the fuck am I watching, Hikigaya? I thought you were going to teach me how to handle a more dangerous enemy”
“I am, shut up now!”
“How is this supposed to help?”

“I said shut up”.
You do not talk to each other for the rest of the evening. Wordlessly, after you’re done, you take separate paths (“for safety reasons”, as Hikigaya put it) and head to your room.

Apparently your roommate’s path was shorter, since he is already there when you open the door. He cuts you off even before you can start complaining.
“Look, I know you’re shocked. But this is all going to make sense tomorrow, alright? So, will you come with me tomorrow morning for the final act?”

>In for a penny, in for a pound
>I had enough of your bullshit.

>>301184
>In for a penny, in for a pound

>>301184
>>In for a penny, in for a pound

>>301184
>>In for a penny, in for a pound

>>301184
>In for a penny, in for a pound

“I am far too much involved in this situation to chicken out now”, you respond. You firmly believe whatever comes next will be wrong on more than one level, but it’s just as you said. It’s too late to go back.
“Very well then. Lend me your matrix then, I will have to edit the video slightly”, he asks, extending his right arm in your direction.

You give him the matrix and he starts fumbling with it. He seems to be much more skilled than you are.
“How did you become so proficient with that thing?”, you inquire.
“Ah, my Servant taught me. He’s rather good when it comes to technology”, he answers, giving the matrix back to you. “Now let’s sleep. We’ll end this tomorrow, so be ready for the grand finale”.

You lay on your bed still full of energy. You’re excited and worried about tomorrow, and you simply aren’t tired enough to just close your eyes and fall asleep like in the afternoon.
There is no doubt that whatever Hikigaya has planned, it’s gonna be a low blow at the expenses of Itou. You’ve seen it with your very eyes, after all.

Little by little, a sense of lethargy pervades your body, probably caused by your stillness and by the surrounding darkness.
You nap just for a few hours, waking up when the artificial sun shines on your school. Hikigaya is still sleeping, so you decide to let him rest.
“Are you sure this is the right way?”, your Servant asks, without materializing.

“I think it is. I must take responsibility for my actions. Whether I’ll like what Hikigaya will do or not, I can’t pretend I am not involved. In fact, if I wanted to claim to be extraneous to these facts, I should have stopped him that night 2 days ago. Now I must face the consequences”.
“You can be quite wise and responsible when you want, Master”.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“In a way, yes”, your Servant says chuckling. “I have faith in you, Hakuno, but I can’t say the same about your roommate”.
“Me neither, really”.

A few more hours pass before your roommate wakes up.
“Oh good morning Hikigaya, how did you pass the winter?”, you mock him.
“Shut up. I really, really wish I was a bear, so I could hibernate”.

“Yeah, well, your masterplan isn’t going to execute itself. Time to rise and shine”.
“What a pain…”
Complaining the whole time, Hikigaya gets ready and the two of you leave.

“We need to corner Itou where he can’t run. Possibly his ‘girlfriend’ too. Keep your eyes open”, he whispers as you walk through the corridors.
Finally you meet the two of them. They’re walking on the third floor as the overly cheesy lovely-dovey couple they are.
“Doesn’t that sight make you sick to the stomach, Hakuno?”

“It does, although I can’t honestly say if it is because I am jealous or disgusted”
“That’s a good answer, I like it. Well, let’s put an end to this farce, shall we?”
You wordlessly nod. The two of them put themselves into a dead end.

Kaga went to the bathroom and Itou decided to wait for her outside.
This leaves him only one route of escape: the corridor on their right. In fact, on the left there’s a wall, in front of him the women’s restroom, and behind him a glass window.

You and your roommate quickly move to block his only way out, as Hikigaya casually greets him.
“What do you want, Hikigaya? The battle will be the day after tomorrow!”, Itou blurts, in a tone in between the frightened and the angry.
“Me? Nothing at all. In fact, I came here to talk with your ‘’’’’girlfriend’’’’’ “, the boy with rotten eyes responds, putting a strange emphasis on the last word.

The blonde beauty storms out of the bathroom, staring at Hikigaya furiously.
He seems oddly in control. You know what’s gonna happen next.
A beeping sound comes from Kaga’s pants.

“What do you want, you disgusting stalker perv?”
“Shouldn’t you check your messages?”
“Don’t try to change the topic!”

“I am not. I am sure the mail you received is very much on topic”.
With her hands trembling, Kaga whips out her matrix and clicks on the message received.
A loud moan and other sexual noises echo through the corridors as the girl watches in horror.

“This can’t be… this must be fake!”, she stutters in disbelief.
“No, no it’s not. There’s no reason to be surprised. That’s just the kind of guy Itou Makoto is”.
“Shut up! You know nothing about him!”

File: fucker got caught.jpg (19 KB, 616x337)

19 KB JPG

“Oh, is that so? I think YOU know nothing about him. You see, I might not be Itou’s closest friend, but I know exactly what kind of guy he is. He sees nothing special about himself, and rightfully so. He’s bland, boring, and all around average. Yet a lot of stunning girls, yourself included, have thrown themselves at him. He couldn’t find a reason for this either, so he decided that the best course of action was to say ‘yes’ to each one of them.

He didn’t know how long it would have lasted. He thought that one day you all would have waken up and seen him for who he really is. He thought one day this would have been over for sure, so he decided to take advantage of you girls while he still could. When you feel worthless, useless, the scum of Earth, every little display of affection is precious. I know that better than anyone else, because I am much more worthless, useless and despicable than you are.”

Kaga Koko’s eyes are swelling with tears, while Itou seems to be in a trance, not able to move or respond.
On the verge of crying, the girl throws herself against the two of you. Surprisingly, Hikigaya dodges her and lets her go.
“Don’t worry about it, Itou. I’ve recorded plenty of videos of you having sex with other girls, and by now, the whole school is aware. You were right when you thought this couldn’t last forever, because it just ended”.

Saying so, he turns around and heads downstairs.
What stands in front of you is a broken man, one who lost everything.
What stands behind you is a man who destroyed himself to defeat his opponent.

>I need to talk with Hikigaya
>I need to talk with Itou
>This is none of my business. I am heading for the Arena
>Write-in.

>>301612
>I need to talk with Itou
Let's get as much information from him before he perishes. either from Hiki or getting stabbed like usual

>>301612
>>This is none of my business. I am heading for the Arena
We've fooled around enough, we're kind of screwed if we don't get that second key or even visit the second floor of the arena at all.

>>301775
Good point, changing my vote for this

>>301218
>>301252
>>301360
>>301377
But the pound is on its way to be worth a penny

>>301872

good one

>>301612
>>This is none of my business. I am heading for the Arena

>>301612
>This is none of my business. I am heading for the Arena

>>301612
>This is none of my business. I am heading for the Arena