Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-29019849-20160712233047/@comment-27384850-20160713034331

It's not known, your logic makes sense but at the same time Kirito says "I'm sorry. I couldn't save your friend." That points to him having been too late, but the idea of him letting Pina die in order to have Silica be his lure is also possible. Either way, it's never directly stated if this happened the way you're suggesting or not.