The SRT team has its hands more than full trying to protect Merida Island from three rampaging Behemoths. Sousuke and Kaname attempt to deal with their own frantic situation, as Amalgam's Kurama drags the students of Jindai High School into the fray.

Ignaz, a wheat broker in the city of Aitheria, is concerned about the timid personality of his sister’s fiancé, Kamil. He hopes the young man will become a person capable of protecting his sister. In order to test his resolve and bravery, Ignaz gives him an assignment: eat raw fish. Specifically, a dish called “sashimi” served at Nobu. But despite Kamil’s assumption that eating raw fish is dangerous, he finds himself stunned by the beautiful, shining plate of sashimi presented to him…

Two nobles, Johann Gustav and his niece Hildegard, arrive at Nobu one day. Hildegard makes an almost laughably complicated order. “Something tasty, but nothing smelly, spicy, sour, bitter or hard. And absolutely no potatoes, porridge, eggs, bread, or stew.” Not even the most famous of restaurants in Aitheria have been able to meet her request. Just how will Nobuyuki get himself out of this pickle? He whips out a pot and a strange device that can make fire. What exactly is he up to…?

The man in the cape shoots Pale Rider and he is eliminated despite the fact that he has HP remaining. The man says that he is Death Gun, and declares that he will bring true death. Asuna and her friends are watching a live stream of BoB and realize that Death Gun is one of the leaders of Laughing Coffin.

Kirito decides that Death Gun and the man in the cape will be appearing in BoB. He uses the remaining time to exchange information with Sinon and find out more about the contestants. Sinon sees how strange he was acting during the qualifier and asks him what happened. She learns that he is a SAO survivor. The main BoB tournament begins and 30 players are dropped in a 10km wide field.

The man in the ragged cloak is an SAO survivor, and he might also be a player Kirito fought with to the death... This thought consumes Kirito, and his anguish is palpable - to the point that it worries Suguha.

A man in a beat-up cloak watches Kirito fight his first battle and demands to know if he's "the real thing". The man has the tattoo of Laughing Coffin, a murderer's guild that existed within SAO. He tells Kirito that he'll kill him someday, and vanishes.

To register for BoB, Kirito starts entering the required information into a terminal, but is astounded to see that the form includes columns for his real-world name and address. He is temporarily torn when he realizes that without this info, he won't be eligible for the top prizes...

Kikuoka has recruited Kirito to investigate GGO, and so he logs in. To lure Death Gun into targeting him, he hopes to enter Bullet of Bullets (BoB), a tournament to decide the most powerful gunman in GGO. But as a first-timer, he doesn't know his way around this game, and soon loses his way, when he catches sight of Sinon and approaches her.

In real life, the player Sinon is a high school student named Shino Asada. On her way home from school, she’s dragged into an alley by delinquent girls. Their leader, Endo, tries to extort money from Shino, but she bravely refuses.

Getting to experience the outside world, Yuuki’s days are more satisfactory than ever before. In ALO, the players have a barbecue and end up on a quest. In the real world, Asuna and the girls take a trip to Kyoto. One day, Asuna receives an email…