Shinkawa Kyouji

Shinkawa Kyouji (新川 恭二), known as Spiegel (シュピーゲル) in «Gun Gale Online» (GGO), is one of the antagonists during the Phantom Bullet Arc, alongside his brother Shinkawa Shouichi. Kyouji is Asada Shino's (Sinon's) friend and the one who introduced her to GGO in a bid to help her overcome her fear of guns. His avatar is an Agility (AGI)-build character. Kyouji also makes an appearance in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, playing Sword Art: Origin (SA:O) with an avatar named Richter (リヒター).

Real Life
In real life, Kyouji is a small and skinny boy who wears jeans and a dark yellow, nylon pullover, with a dark green backpack over his shoulders. A black baseball cap sits over his little, round face. Although he looks like a middle school student, the dark shadows beneath his eyes betray his youthful visage.

Gun Gale Online Avatar
Kyouji's avatar in Gun Gale Online had a tall and skinny body with long, silver hair. He wore a grey-patterned, streamlined camouflage with a somewhat large machine gun slung over his shoulder.

Background
Kyouji is the second son of the director of a hospital. Kyouji was bullied at school and was also being pressured by his parents to succeed them, therefore he gave up on reality and turned to the virtual world. He believed that being strong in virtual world would cover his weakness in the real world. He later developed a hatred towards XeXeeD, as well as other Strength (STR)-oriented players, for suggesting players to focus on raising their AGI parameter, which later turned out to be a bad choice as a STR focused build turned out to be better in the long run due to such players being able to wield heavier guns, thus destroying Spiegel's development.

Phantom Bullet Arc
On November 9, 2025, Kyouji logged into Gun Gale Online as Sterben, his brother's avatar, to watch XeXeeD's appearance on MMO Stream's This Week's Winners program from a bar in SBC Glocken. Quietly incensed at XeXeeD's mocking of GGO players with agility-focused avatars, Sterben restrained himself for a few minutes before walking directly under the pub's holo-panel broadcasting the channel. Having withdrawn a Type 54 "Black Star" from its holster, loaded the gun, and pointed it at the screen, he condemned XeXeeD for his actions and declared he would judge him with his true power. At exactly 11:30:02, having performed the sign of the cross, he fired the handgun at XeXeeD's image on the holo-TV. When XeXeeD abruptly disconnected thirteen seconds later, Sterben proclaimed this was a demonstration of true strength and true power, naming himself and his weapon as Death Gun, before logging off in triumph.

Weeks later on November 25, Kyouji logged into Gun Gale Online as Sterben again to invade a squadron meeting held by Usujio Tarako in SBC Glocken's central square, where he fired at the man with his Type 54 "Black Star", causing him to suddenly disconnect at 22:00:04.

A month later, Kyouji saved Shino from Endou and her group of bullies who wanted her to withdraw money for them from an ATM on her way home. He scared them off by pretending to be bringing a police officer to the scene. Later, he brought Shino to a cafe and there, he offered to be Shino's protector by accompanying her from school everyday. Shino declined, but thanked him before parting ways.

After the Bullet of Bullet (BoB) tournament was concluded, Kyouji went over to Shino's apartment to congratulate her. During their conversation, Kyouji mentioned the scene at the desert cave and asked whether she was threatened by Kirito then asked to confirm that she had no feelings for him. Kyouji then confessed his love to her, but Shino nudged Kyouji away from herself.

Shocked by Shino's actions, Kyouji claimed that only he could save her and she could not be attracted to other men. Kyouji then took out a needleless syringe from his jacket and placed it on Shino's neck, warning her not to move or scream. He revealed his plan to slowly inject a drug that would paralyse her muscles, causing her heart to stop. This made Shino recall the Death Gun plot, thus she asked whether Kyouji was a part of it. The amazed Kyouji confirmed this and revealed he was the one who shot XeXeeD in-game but would not allow anyone, including his brother, to touch her, thus he chose to be active in the real world on this occasion.

Before Kyouji could kill her, Shino used an opportunity to grab the cylinder of the syringe. Shino attempted to pull the syringe out of Kyouji's hands but failed. After being punched in the shoulder, Shino hit her writing desk with her back and one of the drawers opened, with its contents scattering on the ground. While trying to get up, Shino realised that she had touched the model Procyon SL gun that she had won from the previous BoB tournament. Shino grabbed the gun and pointed it and Kyouji, tricking him into believing that she could kill him with it.

While Kyouji showed no signs of consciousness, Shino ran to the door and unlocked it, but Kyouji recovered, grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. Just then, Kirigaya Kazuto ran into the apartment and kicked Kyouji. During their struggle, Kyouji managed to punch Kazuto in the face, then took out his syringe and seemingly injected it into Kazuto's chest. Several moments later, Shino swung her stereo at Kyouji's head, knocking him out.

During Kazuto and Shino's conversation with Kikuoka Seijirou several days later, the Death Gun incident was summarised. Kyouji, along with his brother, Shinkawa Shouichi, and another Laughing Coffin member, Kanamoto Atsushi (Johnny Black), planned to kill players in the real world, allegedly by killing them in the virtual world. As nobody believed in the deaths of XeXeeD and Usujio Tarako, his brother entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament under the name «Sterben» to make the rest of the world believe in their supposed killing ability, while in reality, Kyouji and Atsushi would inject the players in the real world with a syringe filled with succinylcholine, which stopped the heart. They had obtained the address by watching players type in their real addresses, while hiding under a «Metamaterial Optical Camouflage mantle», during the BoB registration process.

Hollow Realization
In the aftermath of the Sword Art Online incident, Kyouji encountered Shino in the library while the latter was concentrating on reading gun manuals. They began talking to each other and once joined the same party in ALfheim Online.

During the beta of Sword Art: Origin, Richter began stalking Sinon and once attempted to purchase information on her from Argo, until he was exposed when Sinon and Kirito faked a date. He quickly identified himself to Sinon, who recognised and briefly introduced him to Kirito. He apologized for his actions, explaining that he had meant to greet Sinon for a while but found it difficult when she was surrounded by her friends. He was chided for his actions but invited to converse normally with her.

Some time later, Richter met with Sinon in the Town of Beginnings to complete a delivery quest. Just as he returned from finishing his part of the quest, the two encountered Kirito. Discomforted at Sinon's casual banter with Kirito, Richter reminded the former of her plan to travel to the convenience store in the real world. After she logged off, Richter questioned Kirito on his relationship with her, remarking that Sinon seemed more open to Kirito than with him, and thus he threatened Kirito to refrain from bothering Sinon or being friendly with her, before leaving.

Over time, Richter began constantly following Sinon, unnerving her with his continuous showers of praise of her abilities. He later approached her, offering to accompany her with whatever she was doing, but became disappointed when she and Kirito bluffed about having planned some private questing in a secret hunting spot. When the duo returned to the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings afterwards, Richter, who had been waiting for them there the entire time, greeted Sinon and repeated his request to her. After Sinon accepted the request, Richter enthusiastically expressed his wish to see her knife skills again, before reminding Kirito of his warning to stay away from Sinon.

Due to Kirito asserting his right to be friends with Sinon, Richter contended she had no desire to keep company with Kirito's group. When Sinon voiced her concern at his uncharacteristic behavior, Richter asserted she was the one acting out of character. Although she protested that she was the same as always, he insisted her real personality was one of calm and composed strength. Thus when Kirito ordered him to cease his delusions, Richter declared the former had no idea of the spearwoman's real nature. Despite Sinon's objection that she was just a normal person, he revealed she had killed someone in the real world. Ignoring Kirito's shock and heedless of Sinon's stunned horror, Richter continued describing how she shot a man with a handgun, comparing her to a real life ronin impersonally dispensing justice to criminals. While proclaiming the ease of learning of the shooting incident online, he became surprised when Sinon began running away in distress, with Kirito following her.

Having been concerned as he was unable to contact Sinon during the next several days, Richter was relieved when he finally found her in Sword Art: Origin. However, he grew anxious when he witnessed her acting like the other girls, thus he confronted Kirito over it the next day. Refusing to accept that Sinon was displaying her true self, Richter questioned Kirito over his knowledge on the matter, ominously concluding the conversation when the latter claimed ignorance on the subject.

Some time later, Richter made contact with Sinon and had her immediately follow him to a secluded cave. Despite Sinon's attempts to convince him otherwise, Richter refused to accept that she was different from his preconceived image of her, and thus assumed that she had been brainwashed. In an attempt to provoke her memories, Richter suggested portraying the robbery again and struck her, receiving an orange cursor in the process. When Kirito arrived at that moment to stop him, Richter became furious at the interruption and attacked the swordsman, though he was easily defeated.

While tearfully bemoaning Kirito's intervention, Richer listened to Sinon repeating that she was not as special as he thought she was. Though protesting that the Sinon he knew was strong and perfect, Richter slowly accepted her stance and begged for forgiveness. Accepting her offer to continue being friends, he vowed to start over perfectly from the beginning. However, once Sinon had moved out of earshot of the boys, Richter cryptically warned Kirito that their quarrel was not over and that his older brother would punish the swordsman for his interference, before logging out.

Soon afterwards, Kyouji and Shino met with each other in the real world, the former announcing he would be temporarily quitting Sword Art: Origin to focus on his studies, though he promised to make some time to talk with her whenever he could.

Fatal Bullet
Sometime after Sinon started playing GGO, Spiegel encountered her for the first time in SBC Glocken's urban district. Still hoping to mold the girl into his preconceived impression of her, he praised her affinity with guns and what he believed to be her best qualities, despite her visible discomfort. However, their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Afasys, Kureha, and the Protagonist, who had noticed Sinon's unease. Reluctant to continue discussing the sensitive details of the sniper's past with others around, Spiegel took his leave.

A short while later, Spiegel met Afasys, Kureha, and the Protagonist again in the streets of SBC Glocken. Having learned of the trio's reputation, he confronted them on how they had become well acquainted with Sinon and her group of friends. Particularly envious of the Protagonist's meteoric rise among the playerbase despite their relative inexperience, the boy complained how he had listened to misinformation that AGI-focused builds were superior. Although Spiegel had attempted to reallocate his stats thereafter, he could not acquire equipment to fit his new playstyle, thus he was unable to grow strong enough to be ranked among the top players. His frustration reignited by this remembrance, the boy warned the three not to get close to Sinon like Kirito did, declaring the sniper was too special to associate herself with them.

Shortly after the release of the SBC Flügel, Kyouji complained to Shouichi how XeXeeD's misinformation had ruined his character's development. Upon learning how his brother had stolen XeXeeD's real-world personal information and that of several others, the two began developing a plan to murder players in real life in such a way to make it seem they had been killed from within the game. During this time, Spiegel heard an obscure rumor that a new boss monster had been implemented which had a low chance of dropping an extremely rare and powerful sniper rifle. Enamored with the idea of Sinon possessing what could be the strongest sniper rifle in GGO, he located her in the middle of conversing with the Protagonist. Ignoring the other player, Spiegel informed the girl of what he had discovered and the coordinates of the dungeon where the boss spawned, urging her to obtain the weapon before more people could learn of its existence. Apologizing that he could not accompany her due to having promised to help his brother on an important matter, the boy wished the sniper good luck on the venture, before taking his leave.

Once preparations for their Death Gun scheme was complete, Kyouji logged into GGO as Sterben. Having activated the game's privacy function to hide his avatar name, he entered a bar in SBC Glocken, where one of the monitors was streaming an MMO Stream broadcast featuring XeXeeD. Incensed by the man's self-important attitude, Sterben approached the holo-panel and condemned XeXeeD for his haughtiness, proclaiming he would judge him with his real power before shooting at the screen with a pistol. As XeXeeD abruptly disconnected with a pained expression, the cloaked gunman announced this was a demonstration of his real power and strength, naming himself and his weapon as Death Gun, then quickly left the bar while everyone was distracted by what had happened on the monitor. However, very few actually paid serious attention to Death Gun, even after the brothers repeated the feat with Usujio Tarako shortly afterward. Thus, the brothers decided to enact a more drastic demonstration by killing people during the upcoming third Bullet of Bullets.

Sometime after a mysterious incident wherein all players were suddenly disconnected from GGO's server, Spiegel encountered Afasys and the Protagonist. Having heard the latter was being considered the best player in the game due to being the leader of the first squadron to complete the SBC Flügel questline, he decided to test the Protagonist's character by inquiring their opinion on Death Gun, praising the mysterious gunman for dispensing justice on vainglorious players who ascribed their fortune to their own strength. Disgusted when the other player expressed skepticism over his claims, the boy denounced the Protagonist as just another person attempting to corrupt Sinon from his ideal image of her, cryptically warning them Death Gun would target a luck-dependent top player like them.

As part of their planning for the BoB demonstration, Spiegel traveled to the governor's office to watch the preliminaries for the competition. There he encountered Sinon, who to his shock divulged she was entering the tournament to defeat Death Gun for the sake of her friends and herself. Reluctant to involve the sniper in his scheme, the boy urged her not to participate in the battle royal, declaring she was already strong and special enough to not need to rely on anyone. However, he acquiesced to the girl's refusal of his request, promising he would talk to her once the tournament was over.

After Sinon won the BoB alongside Kiriko, Kyouji visited Shino's apartment to celebrate her victory. While the two conversed over some cake he had brought, the boy inquired the girl on how she felt about Kirito. His jealousy resurfacing over Kirito's association with Sinon due to having seen the photon sword user accompanying the sniper during the tournament, he asserted only he could be that close to her and disclosed he had fallen for her ever since he learned of her past. Therefore, the boy withdrew a needleless syringe containing a muscle-relaxant drug, declaring he would kill Shino with it so they could both be reborn into another world. Before he could follow through on his plan, however, he was interrupted by Kazuto's arrival with the police following close behind, after which Kyouji was arrested.

Gallery

 * See Shinkawa Kyouji/Image Gallery

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