Kazuto Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 和人)

When Kayaba announced the start of the death game, he is surprised, but unlike everyone else, he quickly gets over it and accepts it to an extent. He invited his friend Klein to go with him but Klein had to find his friends in the game. He was invited to join them but he declined as he couldn't take the pressure of protecting them even with his beta testing knowledge of the game.

Kirito tends to use a single handed straight sword. The blade that he uses most often is the Elucidator. Later on, he acquires a second blade called Dark Repulser that was made by his blacksmith friend, Lisbeth.


He has a unique skill called "Dual Blades" which allows him to dual wield two swords and use Swords Skills. It's the special skill designed for the Hero that defeats the Demon Lord at the last floor. He found it in his skills list after a year in the game. After nearly mastering it, he only uses it in emergencies to avoid attention for being one of the few people to have a unique skill.

He befriends a girl by the name of Yuuki Asuna who later becomes his lover.

In the 10th volume of the Accel World novel and the 5th volume of the Accel World manga, Kirito is featured in a special chapter, in which he fights Silver Crow, the burst linker. In the chapter, Kirito is playing as his old SAO avatar, wielding the Elucidator and Dark Repulser.