Shino Asada walks home from school one day when she is confronted in an alley by a group of bullies, demanding money. When Shino refuses, one of the bullies, Endo, points her finger at her in a gun-like gesture, triggering a panic attack. As she taunts Shino by promising to bring her collection of toy guns to school. A passerby then calls out to the police, claiming to see a mugging and causing the bullies to flee. The passerby turns out to be Shino's classmate and friend, Kyoji Shinkawa.
Shino and Kyoji meet in a cafe to discuss GGO. Shino, who plays the game as Sinon, plans to participate in the "Bullet of Bullets" tournament soon. Kyoji decides against it, since he had an Agility-build on his character that made him weak. He was also studying to be a doctor so he could take over his family's hospital, as much as he doesn't want to. Having a crush on Shino, he offers to walk her home, but she declines.
Back in her apartment, Shino wonders if her battle with Behemoth helped her overcome her fear of guns...
As a child, Shino lived with her mother following the death of her father. While visiting a post office one day, an armed robber barged in demanding money. When the robber threatened to kill Shino's mother, she wrestled the gun away from him and shot him repeatedly. As a result of the traumatic experience, her mother's fright, and the subsequent bullying she suffered, she developed post traumatic stress disorder and a crippling fear of guns. Her phobia is so severe that she can't hold a toy gun in her own apartment without triggering a panic attack so severe that it makes her physically ill, as she affirms when she tries to hold one again, but ends up panicking and throwing up. She started playing Gun Gale Online in an attempt to cure herself of her phobia, as she can be around the guns of this VRMMOFPS without being triggered. She hopes that she can conquer her phobia once and for all by winning the upcoming "Bullet of Bullets" tournament.
Meanwhile, in ALO, Asuna is upset at Kirito's decision to transfer his character to GGO, although she relents when she hears that it's a request from Kikuoka, but tells him to return to ALO soon. With that, Kirito makes his way to a hospital where Aki, an overly flirtatious nurse who oversaw his physical rehab after SAO, would be monitoring his vitals while he was in GGO.
All the while, the player behind "Death Gun" chooses his next target: Sinon...
