A sudden floating sensation swept over her.
By the time it faded, Sinon was Shino again, lying on the bed in her apartment in the real world.
No.
The problem was whether she was the only one there.
She could not open her eyes yet.
She could not move.
Keeping perfectly still, her eyes squeezed shut, Shino began listening for sounds around her.
Several reached her.
First came her own breathing, then the fast, heavy thud of her heartbeat. Near the ceiling, the old air conditioner hummed as it pushed out warm air. The humidifier bubbled softly. Outside, the fading noise of a car passed along the avenue, and from somewhere else in the same apartment building came the muffled bass of a stereo.
That was all.
There were no other unusual sounds inside the room.
She slowly drew in a deep breath. What entered her nose was the calming scent of the herbal soap she kept beside her bed, almost like an air freshener.
There was no one in the room except her.
That was what she thought, but Shino still could not bring herself to open her eyes. What if someone suddenly appeared on the left side of the bed, staring down at her?
That fear had not disappeared yet.
No.
Even if no one was in the room, they might be in the kitchen, the bathroom... or on the balcony. It was a tiny apartment, but if someone tried, there were still plenty of places to hide.
They could even be under the bed.
I hate this.
I can't move.
Satoru should be on his way here right now. He had contacted the police too. If she waited a little longer, she would hear patrol cars.
In that case, staying still until then was the smart choice.
Just as she squeezed her eyes shut again, the old air conditioner suddenly stopped.
The air blowing out, no longer heated, brushed across Shino's bare thighs. Cold spread over her skin and through her body.
Then, all at once, her nose began to itch.
She resisted for only two seconds.
A small sneeze slipped out before she could stop it.
Shino's body went rigid as she waited for some response from somewhere in the room.
But just as before, there was nothing.
Shino opened her right eye a crack.
The lights were off. Only a little streetlamp glow seeped through the gap in the curtains. First she moved only her eyes, then slowly her neck, scanning the room.
At least within her field of vision, there was no one.
Still, Shino quietly removed the AmuSphere from her head, set it on the pillow, and sat up without using her hands. Then she quickly looked around the room again.
Nothing.
Just as it had been a few hours ago, when she had gone into FullDive.
On the table were a bottle of mineral water and, beside it, a slightly large stereo radio. Her schoolbag on the floor looked untouched too.
Shino lifted the bedsheet, swallowed, and looked into the gap between the bed and the floor.
There was nothing there.
Raising her head, she could see the aluminum window latch through the gap in the curtains. It was properly lowered.
Barefoot on the floor, she craned her neck to check the kitchen next. The space was only about three tatami mats wide. There should not be anywhere to hide.
She stood and, without meaning to, crept on tiptoe to the wall. She pressed the light switch.
A moment later, white light filled the room and lit the entryway across from the kitchen.
Looking carefully, the door lock was also in its proper horizontal position.
Shino stood there for a while longer, preparing to check the tiny unit bathroom just beyond the wall. No strange sound came from there either. She rose onto her toes again and walked from the six-tatami room toward the kitchen.
The bathroom door across from the sink was tightly shut. It was not locked, and there was no light inside.
Her right hand, slick with cold sweat, gripped the aluminum knob.
She took a deep breath, held it, pressed the light switch with her left hand, and yanked the door open.
"..."
For a while, she stared silently into the bathroom.
"...I really am an idiot."
She muttered it under her breath.
The tiny molded-resin bathroom, pale brown from floor to ceiling, was of course empty.
Only then could she finally breathe out.
Shino's neck and shoulders slumped. Her whole body seemed to lose strength. She turned halfway around, leaned against the wall, and slowly sat down.
There was no one else in the apartment, and there were no signs that anyone had broken in.
Of course, it was still possible that someone had unlocked the old electronic lock, entered the room, watched the GGO broadcast on a portable terminal, and left after seeing Death Gun lose.
If so, the intruder might still be somewhere near the apartment, and they might come back.
She should contact Kyoji Shinkawa for help as quickly as possible.
But she had no strength to stand.
She glanced at the kitchen timer on top of the refrigerator, the one with a clock function.
10:07 p.m.
Those three hours had felt so long. Before diving in, she had eaten her yogurt and thrown the container into the trash bag right in front of her, but that felt like something from ages ago.
She felt as if something in her had changed.
At the same time, she felt as if nothing had changed at all.
Still, the restlessness that had lived in Shino's heart for so long had receded a little. The thought that she wanted to be strong, that she had to become strong, felt strangely empty now.
Maybe that was what she had learned.
Everything had to begin with taking the first step on her own feet.
"All... right."
She said it softly to herself.
As if only then realizing how dry her throat was, Shino went to the sink, filled a glass with water from the purifier, and drank it all in one go.
Just as she was about to pour another glass...
Ding-dong.
A thin, old-fashioned chime rang through the apartment.
Shino stiffened on reflex and stared at the door.
Would the lock open just like that?
The thought made her hold her breath.
Maybe it was the police. She looked at the clock, but only three minutes had passed since logout. No matter how she thought about it, that was too fast.
As Shino stood frozen, the doorbell rang again.
She moved lightly toward the door without making a sound.
Chain first.
She timidly reached out with her left hand.
Just as her fingers touched the chain...
"Asada-san, are you there? It's me, Asada-san!"
A familiar, slightly high-pitched boy's voice came from the intercom beside the electronic lock.
Shino let out a breath of relief. With one bare foot on the entryway step, she pressed her face close to the door. Just to be safe, she looked through the peephole.
In the hallway, distorted by the fisheye lens, stood the very person she had been about to call: Kyoji Shinkawa, her classmate and the one who had invited her into GGO.
"Shinkawa-kun...?"
Should she answer him through the intercom? While she hesitated, his voice came again.
"Um... I really wanted to congratulate you no matter what. This is from the convenience store. Sorry it's not much."
After hearing that, Shino looked through the peephole again and saw that Kyoji was holding something like a cake box.
"Th-that was fast."
She could not help saying it aloud.
Even counting the time she had spent in the standby area, less than five minutes had passed since the tournament ended. Maybe he had not been at home, but had watched the match in a nearby park and run to the convenience store the moment the winner was decided.
Still, somehow, being one step ahead like that felt very much like Spiegel.
And it saved her the trouble of contacting him herself.
Shino let out a long sigh and reached for the doorknob.
"Wait a second. I'll open it now."
As she spoke, she looked down at herself.
She was wearing a track jacket and shorts. It was a little sloppy, but so be it. Shino shrugged and turned the doorknob ninety degrees.
When she pushed the door open, Kyoji Shinkawa stood there with a shy-looking smile. He wore jeans and a military-style jacket with a fur-trimmed collar. Even dressed that warmly, he still looked cold.
The chill from the floor spread up through Shino's bare feet, and she hunched her shoulders.
"Ugh, it's cold. Come in already."
"Yeah. Sorry to intrude."
Kyoji hunched his shoulders too and stepped inside.
When he saw Shino, his eyes narrowed as if he had seen something dazzling.
"...Wh-what is it? The room will get cold. Hurry up and come in, close the door... Oh, and lock it, please."
Kyoji's gaze made Shino a little embarrassed, but she hid it and said what needed to be said. Then she turned and walked back toward the room.
Click.
The metallic sound of the door locking came from behind her.
Back in the six-tatami room, Shino picked up the remote from the table and turned the heater higher. The air conditioner gave a strained hum, blowing warm air that chased away the cold.
Shino perched on the edge of the bed and looked up.
Kyoji was still standing at the room's entrance.
"Sit wherever you want. Ah... Do you want something to drink?"
"No, I'm fine."
"I'm really tired, so if you say that, I really won't bring you anything."
At Shino's joking tone, Kyoji finally smiled. He set the cake box on the low table and sat on a cushion nearby.
"...Sorry for coming over so suddenly, Asada-san. But like I said, I wanted to congratulate you as soon as I could."
He hugged his knees like a child and looked up at her.
"Um... Congratulations on winning BoB. Really. That was amazing, Asada-san... Sinon. You finally became the strongest gunner in GGO. But... I knew it. I always knew you'd win someday. You have a kind of strength no one else does."
"...Thank you."
Shino felt a little happy, and her lowered head moved slightly.
"But even though I won, it was only a tie for first... And if you watched the broadcast, you probably noticed there were a lot of strange things about this tournament. The result might end up being declared invalid."
"Huh...?"
"Um... well..."
Looking at Kyoji as he tilted his head, Shino hesitated over whether she should tell him about Death Gun. Even if she wanted to explain from the beginning, she did not know the details herself.
Besides, now that she was here, everything that had just happened felt almost unreal.
What if...
What if everything had been coincidence?
Could someone really be shot in a virtual world and poisoned to death in the real world at the exact same time?
All Shino had seen was Pale Rider disconnect and disappear. Had he and the other disconnected player really died? Had Death Gun's crimes truly existed at all?
None of it could be confirmed until the truth came out.
Either way, the police would arrive soon.
She could explain everything to Kyoji then.
Thinking that, Shino changed the subject.
"No... It's nothing. I just thought there were a few strange players. Anyway, you got here really fast. The tournament only ended about five minutes ago."
"Ah, well... Actually, I was watching the livestream nearby on my mobile terminal, so I could come congratulate you right away."
Seeing Kyoji hurry through the explanation, Shino smiled.
"I thought so. It's so cold out, so be careful not to catch a cold. I'll make you some tea after all."
But Kyoji still shook his head, refusing her offer.
His smile gradually faded, replaced by a look that seemed almost resigned.
Shino blinked.
"Um... Asada-san..."
"Wh-what?"
"The stream showed... the cave."
From those words and from Kyoji's expression, Shino realized what he was about to say.
She remembered what had happened in that cave, and heat rushed from her cheeks to her ears.
"Th-that... that was..."
Until just now, she had completely forgotten it. Or rather, she had pushed it out of conscious thought.
But Kyoji had seen it.
Shino crying uncontrollably with her head resting on Satoru's lap while he sat against the cave wall.
Now that she realized that, there was no escaping it.