SAO: I replaced him?

Let's skip over the whole "players freaking out in the town square" bit. Morin had no interest in sticking around for the mass hysteria. Instead, he was already on the move, dragging along a certain cloaked girl who had just latched onto him like a lifeline.

After all, his two biggest objectives in SAO were related to Asuna and Kayaba Akihiko.

Finding Asuna on day one? Mission accomplished.

Confronting Kayaba? Yeah… that one was not happening anytime soon.

For now, he had better things to do—like making sure the terrified girl clinging to him didn't collapse from sheer panic.

---

"Asuina— ahem, I mean, Asuna."

Morin turned to look at the girl he had just yanked out of the chaotic square, trying not to feel too much like a kidnapper. The maroon-haired beauty was still in shock, her hand trembling slightly in his grasp.

"But hold on, why isn't Koichiro here?" Morin asked, genuinely puzzled. "Didn't your brother log in too? I thought you two would've played together."

Asuna flinched. She bit her lip, looking like she was debating whether to answer. Finally, in the smallest voice possible, she mumbled:

"I… I took my brother's NerveGear and logged in without telling him…"

Morin blinked.

"…Wait. You stole his headset?"

Asuna turned an even deeper shade of red.

"I-I just wanted to try the game for a little bit! I didn't think this would happen!"

Oh, man. That was… rough.

Morin had read Sword Art Online, watched the anime, the whole deal. He knew Asuna as the brilliant, fearless fighter—the Lightning Flash, the proud sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. But the Asuna standing in front of him right now?

She was just a panicked, regretful teenage girl who had made one very bad, very unfortunate decision.

"…Wow. That's, uh, that's some luck you've got there." Morin sighed, shaking his head. "You broke the rules once in your life, and now you're trapped in a death game. That's gotta be some kind of record."

Asuna groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Don't say it like that!"

---

The more Morin thought about it, the more ridiculous it became.

The Asuna from the anime? A total powerhouse.

The Asuna standing before him? A girl who got grounded by fate the second she tried rebelling.

If she had just waited for her brother to play first, she'd be chilling in the real world right now. But nope. Now she was here, stuck with the rest of them.

And worse—she was scared out of her mind.

Morin glanced at Asuna's expression, which was a mixture of horror, guilt, and complete and utter regret.

(…Alright. Maybe now wasn't the time for teasing.)

With a sigh, Morin reached out and lightly ruffled Asuna's hair.

She froze.

"M-Morin?!" Asuna stammered, completely thrown off.

"Relax," he said simply. "You're in shock. I get it. This situation sucks, and honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably be panicking too. But freaking out isn't going to change anything."

Asuna still looked flustered, but her wide, brown eyes softened just a little.

"From now on, just call me Morin, alright?" he added, taking his hand away. "Titles, real-life status, all of that doesn't matter in here. We're just players now. We're all facing the same danger."

For a moment, Asuna was silent.

Then—her shoulders started trembling.

Morin blinked. "Uh—"

"Pfft—"

Wait, was she laughing?

Asuna quickly covered her mouth, but the corners of her lips were definitely twitching upward.

"…You're weird, Morin," she finally said, shaking her head. "But… thank you."

Morin smirked. "You say that now, but give it a few days. You'll be calling me a genius."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

A little bit of her fear was still there, but at least she wasn't on the verge of a full breakdown anymore.

Good. Progress.

But then, right as Asuna seemed to be calming down—her eyes widened again, as if reality had just hit her all over again.

"…Morin," she whispered.

"What?"

"This is real."

Morin raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah. I think Kayaba made that pretty clear."

"No, I mean… If my family knew I was in SAO, they would've done something. They would have pulled off my helmet, called the police—something. But they haven't."

Morin fell silent.

She was right.

Kayaba had warned them that if someone in the real world tried to remove their NerveGear, it would fry their brains. And if Asuna's wealthy, high-profile family hadn't forced her out of the game yet, it meant that the news had already spread. The entire world now knew that Sword Art Online was a death trap.

That wasn't a theory anymore.

It was fact.

Asuna swayed slightly, looking like she might collapse—until Morin grabbed her hand again.

"Asuna."

She looked up, startled.

"We'll figure it out," he said firmly. "Right now, we need a game plan. So let's focus on surviving first, yeah?"

For a moment, she hesitated. Then, slowly, she nodded.

"…Alright."

She didn't pull her hand away.

Instead, for the first time since logging in, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and followed Morin toward the town's outskirts—toward whatever awaited them next.

------

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