November 8th, 2024. Kawagoe, Saitama. Kirigaya House, 10:30…
With a soft sigh, Kazuto silently stared at the small rock on his hand, as if pondering something deep. The soft rays of the sun barely warmed the backyard of his house this late on the year, but, despite the cold morning, the gamer didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by the weather.
Frowning slightly, the black-haired boy reared his arm back and threw the rock over the small pond near the middle of his garden.
No effort was needed for the 'phenomenon' to start.
Sighing, Kazuto let his eyes wander through the 'frozen' world at the edge of his vision, his main focus centered over the soaring rock that now seemed to be almost literally not moving. Idly, his mind told him how he should easily be able to run over the pond's water, grab the rock before it fell and return to his sitting position, all in less than an instant.
With a wince the gamer forced down the 'natural' reaction and closed that line of thought, as he had painfully learned to do this last month, acknowledging that such a thing was 'impossible' to do and letting his 'hyper-awareness' die down, the rock splashing slightly as he saw it sinking into the water.
Looking back at his hands and closing them into fists, Kazuto let out yet another sigh.
"Great…just great."
Honestly, he didn't know if he should be worried, happy or freaking out about this 'thing' that had happened to him.
The black-haired boy certainly wasn't an expert in virtual reality, and he knew very well that many of the studies and developments related to it had suffered a severe hit and halt when SAO happened, so he had no way of truly knowing if the phenomenon was restricted to just him or if they were a side-effect from his years-long FullDive.
Certainly, he could have asked Argo or the others about it, but none of them where exactly in condition to go grab a weapon and see if they could still control them like they had done in Aincrad just because he wanted to ask if they had noticed something 'weird' going on.
Because, somehow, he was still able to 'perceive the world' like Saitama did.
That was quite a simple/crazy way of putting it, but also very accurate. After all, Kazuto had never truly stopped to think that he had been essentially moving at unreal speeds, jumping impossible distance, evading deadly attacks and ending monstrous creatures for almost two years, non-stop, and that he had gotten pretty used to it even before the first month in SAO had finished. He had never stopped to think how THAT would affect him once he returned to the real world, nor would he have been particularly worried about it if he had known, to be honest.
But now, it seemed that something had indeed affected him. Maybe it was just a side-effect of having spent two years inside the virtual world, or maybe it also had to do with the fact that, while most people of SAO was limited to what 'normal humans' could do, he had essentially been a superhuman for an ungodly long period of time, only for his mind to then return to a normal body…while still conserving all the reflexes and reaction speed of someone who could break the sky with one punch.
The black-haired boy didn't know if he should be worried about it or not. As far as he knew, maybe this was in some way harmful for his mind and he should have told his parents and seek help the moment he noticed it…but he hadn't. While in part it had been because he didn't want to give any more worries to his family after the horrible trial he had put them through while trapped in SAO, a smaller, selfish part of him did so because it MISSED being like that.
He could have acted like it didn't matter in front of Kayaba, (In fact, as long as it meant the safety of his friends and all those who had been unjustly trapped, it didn't really matter to him)…but there was a small part of him that longed for the speed to beat even the fastest cars, the strength to crush a mountain without effort, the resistance to have a meteor fall on him without being injured…
Not because of pride of power-hunger, no. Just because…it had become a part of him.
Kayaba's words once again echoed through his mind, when he had told him how he was going to return to be his True Self. That he didn't know the meaning of that anymore.
After all…how could be 'himself' when Kirito had become every bit as real as Kazuto was, perhaps even more?
At which point did the difference between Virtual and Real just become the difference in how he viewed himself…?
"Onii-chan?"
Blinking out of his complex musings, the black-haired boy turned around, looking towards the small building that was their house's dojo, to see Suguha standing tire, clad in her white kendogi and bluish hakama, her trusted shinai on her hands and a towel around her shoulders. The girl had clearly been inside the dojo doing some early morning practice, and she seemed as surprised of seeing him there as he was of her showing up.
For an instant, Kazuto's eyes wandered over the girl's cute face, noticing how lovely she looked in her kendo uniform, before shaking his head and forcing those thoughts away as if she had Punched them with the strength of his old virtual self. He was SO blaming Asuna and her endless siscon jokes for this! He wasn't supposed to think so much about how beautiful his little sister had become, dammit!
"He-hello there, Sugu. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your practice…"
"Oh, don't worry, I had just finished anyway…" ignorant of her brother's turbulent thoughts, the smiling girl sat down at the edge of the dojo's floor, looking at him with curiosity. "What were you doing anyway?"
"Me? I was just…throwing rocks into the water." laughed the gamer while scratching his head, getting a deadpanning look from the girl.
Certainly, a part of him wanted to just be honest and tell Suguha about what was happening, but that also would imply explaining everything that happened in SAO, and the boy certainly didn't want to go into THAT by himself. Ignoring the possibility of his sister thinking he was just crazy, he would feel better if he kept that part of his life and all the madness in it away from the innocent Sugu.
For some reason, anyone who had been near the bicycle parked at the side of the house in that moment would have sworn they heard it LAUGHING.
"Geez, Onii-chan, don't go around doing senseless things." despite the slight annoyance in her tone, one could clearly feel the worry on the girl's voice as she boy stood up and walked near her. "Remember that you need to rest!"
"And I also need to do some minimal exercise, Sugu, remember that I still need to recover the body mass and muscle I lost." softly answered the boy while letting a smile appear on his face, both happy and guilty that she worried for him so much, even as he stared again at his scrawny hand. "Of course, it's not as if had any real muscle to begin with…"
"Heh, then maybe when you're better you should start doing push-ups and sit-ups." joked the girl before receiving a blank stare from the boy, both siblings exploding in laughter shortly after.
"…ahahah!…God, that was a good one." finally calming down from his laughing fit, Kazuto's hand moved as if by instinct and ruffled his sister's hair, making her freeze and blush fiercely while he smiled. "Who knows, maybe I will do that…oh, by the way, Sugu, can I borrow your bicycle again?"
"Uh?" getting out of her daze, the kendoka's eyes widened softly before she looked down for a moment. "Oh…you're going to the hospital again?"
"Yeah." with a grim nod, the black-haired boy couldn't help but look towards the horizon with a frown, his hand slipping away from Suguha's head. "I am…"
After all, it had already been two months since the end of SAO and none of the last 300 people had woken up yet, neither any explanation about the WHY of it had been found.
Asuna, Keita, Sasamaru, Tetsuo and Ducker still lay on their hospital beds, motionless as their bodies kept wasting away…
"I see…" softly muttered the girl before standing up. "Of course you can use Ju…my bicycle, Onii-chan, just make sure you don't strain yourself." giving him a last smile, the girl started to walk away. "And be back soon, I will start preparing lunch after taking a shower!"
Looking on as his sister walked away, Kazuto couldn't help but wonder if things would be different if they hadn't accidentally watched One Punch-Man together that day long ago, before just smiling and deciding it was best not to think about what-ifs.
…he also quickly forced down any thoughts about her taking a shower from his mind. Oh yeah, he was SO blaming Asuna for that. Thinking about that, maybe he should introduce Sugu to the others one of these days, seeing as between their recovery and the worry for their friends' conditions they hadn't really had time to celebrate having gotten out of SAO…
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People may call him paranoid, but Kazuto was REALLY sure there was something strange with the bicycle he was riding.
Besides the surprise that his sister had not only taken it for herself, but also repaired and modified it enough to make it look even better than when it was first bought, the gamer sometimes could swear he felt as if the ride was JUDGING him when he used it to go to the nearby city of Tokorozawa (Place in which the hospital where Asuna and the others were was), as if he had offended it or done something similar.
…he should REALLY consider asking for professional help. Maybe he was really losing it after so much craziness in his life.
With yet another sigh, the boy entered the hospital (After having left the sinisterly lively bicycle properly secured, of course) and headed towards the first room he was going to visit, where his closest friend rested.
Upon entering, he was only mildly surprised of seeing there was a familiar face already there, watching over his sleeping disciple.
"Argo." greeted Kazuto with a smile, startling the pondering form of Izawa Shiori before she looked at him and her face turned into a soft grin. The boy still felt strange when looking at her face and seeing the lack of her characteristic whiskers, though. "Are you here alone?"
"Nah, I came with Sachi. She's looking over Keita and the rest right now." turning her face back to Asuna's softly breathing body, the girl couldn't help but bit her lips. "Damn, Kii-bou, this is both hard and frustrating. I'm so used to seeing her either shouting things for us to do or waving off things most would consider big problems, her ability to face them only matched by her faith in you…Seeing her there, unmoving…"
"I know." was the boy's simple answer as he squeezed her shoulder, his eyes looking back to Asuna's silent body and the Nerve Gear still encasing her head. "I'm supposed to be her 'Master' and yet I can't do anything for her…"
"None of us can, Kii-bou, don't beat yourself over it as if it was your fault." shaking her head, Shiori let out a sigh on her own while looking towards the window. "Silica, Liz and Philia came by yesterday too…dammit, I wish we at least knew WHAT's wrong with them. Maybe then we would be able to do something about it!"
"Yeah…me too." bitterly whispered the boy while closing his eyes.
Certainly, many people believed this was still somehow Kayaba Akihiko's fault, a last evil act against the world before killing himself, but Kazuto knew better.
Having clashed directly against the man in that last fight, on a level beyond what any human could have ever dreamed to achieve, and then actually TALKED to him, he knew Kayaba didn't had anything to do with this. The man had been very clear how the end of Aincrad and SAO was the end for him, and all related with his mad 'dream'. He wouldn't have kept his friends and all the others in that state for no reason.
But that only made things even more difficult, because, if Kayaba hadn't done it, then WHAT was it that kept them all still sleeping…?
Both teens' trains of thought were suddenly interrupted when the room's door opened and two men entered. The older one was someone Kazuto and Shiori easily recognized as Yuuki Shouzou, Asuna's father and CEO of RECT Inc., an incredibly successful electronics company. (And hadn't THAT been a surprise), but the other man was someone they had never seen before. He had short, slicked black-brown hair and wore glasses and a business suit with a red tie.
For some reason, despite his calm smile, both SAO Survivors couldn't help but a get a sinister vibe coming from him.
"Ah, Izawa-san, Kirigaya-kun, it's good to see you two again." nodded the CEO towards the two friends of his daughter, which he had seen several times since they began visiting her a month ago.
"Same here, Yuuki-san." nodded Shiori while her eyes moved towards the stranger, who was eyeing both of them with apparent curiosity. "And…?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" smiling charmingly, the man stared directly at the teens, sending a shiver down the girl's spine for some unknown reason, even as Kazuto felt the strange need of Punching him. "I'm Sugou Noboyuki, Chief of RECT Progress, the research institute of RECT Inc."
"…it's good to meet you." curtly answered the black-haired boy, quietly wondering why he couldn't muster any sincerity to his words.
"Noboyuki-kun has been a good friend of the family for quite some time now, especially since this latest…development, with Asuna's tragedy…" sending a sad look towards his daughter, both ex-members of the United Heroes Association couldn't help but understand his pain, the man probably taking the lack of recovery from the girl even worse than them. "…I'm sorry for not being able to stay, but I have several things that require my attention. I just…wanted to see how she was." excusing himself, the man left the room and everyone was able to hear how he walked down the corridor.
Once only the teens and the bespectacled man remained, a strange tension seemed to take over the room.
"Well…that happened." idly commented the man while walking closer to Asuna's bed, his smile suddenly much less friendly and more 'predatory', making Kazuto and Shiori tense. "You will have to forgive the old man; he's starting to get overwhelmed by his job. Soon, he will need someone else to take over the company for him…"
"I think he still looks perfectly fine as he is." acidly commented the auburn-haired girl, her eyes narrowing at seeing how Sugou snorted and started to caress Asuna's face. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Oh, just checking that my fiancée is okay, nothing more." his smirk widening at seeing the shock on both teens' faces, the bespectacled man just let out a low chuckle. "Oh, you didn't know? Well, can't say I'm surprised that Asuna didn't mention me to her 'friends'. She had never shown much appreciation for me, despite all the good I have done for her family…too bad, though, that she can't exactly refuse our marriage in her current state."
"Wait, what?!" shouted Kazuto while clenching his fists, unable to believe what he was hearing. "You want to marry her while she's like this?! Quit joking, you can't possibly…!"
"Oh, but I CAN and will, boy." Sugou cut him off with a cruel smile, even as Shiori let out a growl of anger. "You see, I'm in fact the one who is keeping Asuna alive right now because it's MY division of the company that's in charge of the SAO Servers since Argus went bankrupt as a consequence of the incident. Her father approves of me, and to help the situation move on, what's better than some happiness by welcoming a new 'son' into the family?"
"You…!" started Shiori with venom in her voice, only to freeze in almost animal rage at seeing the man grinning at them as he started to play with the comatose girl's hair. "DON'T TOUCH HER!"
"Why? She IS my fiancée, after all." smirked the man while grabbing one of Asuna's chestnut locks and starting to get it dangerously close to his face. "Also, you kids shouldn't shout in a hospital, sick people need sile…"
The man was abruptly cut off when a hand shot out from nowhere and closed in a vice-like grip around his wrist, surprisingly strong for its skinny looks, forcing him to let go of the sleeping girl's hair. His shocked gaze quickly shot up to look at the stoic and apparently BORED look on the boy's face, which somehow reflected burning anger unlike any other despite its blank stare.
Shiori herself was frozen in place from the shock. She HAD seen Kazuto moving, but it had been so unexpected and with such a 'precise' grace that she had been too stunned to properly understand exactly what the boy had done until he already was grabbing Sugou's arm.
"Touch her again…and you will regret it." despite not having any apparent emotion, the tone of the boy's voice sent a shiver running down the bespectacled man's back, for a moment he almost seeing some kind of 'fire' burning on his eyes.
Then, the moment was gone and Sugou scowled as he forced his arm out of Kazuto's grip, glaring at the boy.
Yet, he made no attempt to try and grab Asuna again, simply turning around and heading towards the room's door.
"Our wedding will be a week from now. I suggest that don't come here anymore, the faster you get used to not seeing her, the better." despite his dark and cocky words, one could have noticed that the man went out of the room a bit faster than anyone walking calmly would need to.
Two seconds of heavy silence later, the door opened again and the frowning form of Hayami Saori, Sachi for her SAO friends, appeared there, staring for a moment down the hallway before looking worriedly at her two friends.
"Who was that guy?"
"Scum." angrily spat Shiori before crossing her arms and looking at the silent Kazuto, who was staring at Asuna's face. "…why did you do that?"
"Because you were going to hit him." flatly answered the boy while the confusion of the bluish-haired girl grew, the ex-claw-user's frown only growing. "You were getting into the same stance you used when you were going to let loose a nasty Berserk Skill. And as much as he deserved it, you know it wouldn't have ended well."
With a silent curse, the girl that had been named Argo in the virtual world knew that her friend (And 'not-so-secret' crush) was right.
After all, they were the unstable teens fresh out of SAO and the bastard was the chief of an important division from a great electronics company. If they had tried to hurt him, at best, it would end up with they being kicked out of the hospital and at worst with them being detained. As much as they hated it, they couldn't do anything about that.
And it was with that realization that Shiori looked towards Kazuto's still form, fists clenched so much his knuckles were turning white. The black-haired boy was probably much angrier than she and wishing to break the man's face even more. As much as she liked to call herself Asuna's best friend, she and the gamer had been much closer during their time in Aincrad. Perhaps there was nothing romantic (At least from the idiotic boy's view) in there, but the pair of 'Master' and 'Disciple' were without a doubt the ones with the strongest bond in the United Heroes Association.
One because she had showed him what having a real friend was like. The other because he had inspired her to become better than she had ever been.
"Still…that was pretty cool of you, Kii-bou." finally spoke the auburn-haired girl, breaking the tense silence that had spawned between them and the worried Saori. "I almost didn't see you move when you grabbed him."
The boy released a mirthless chuckle at hearing that.
"I'm still fast enough for someone like him."
Not even explaining what he meant with that, Kazuto turned around and exited the room, most likely heading to see Keita and the rest. Shiori didn't blame him for just going out like that, so she opted to look tiredly at the clearly worried ex-spear-user, who was staring down the hall as the black-haired boy walked away.
"…something really bad just happened, right?"
"Yes, Sachi. C'mon, sit down and I will tell you, even though I'm sure you won't like to hear it…"
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It was later that night when Suguha stood before the door of her brother's room, already clad in her pajamas and feeling slightly nervous.
She had been worried for Kazuto since he came back from the hospital that morning. The boy had been sporting an extremely serious face and had walked straight to his room, closing the door and only coming down for lunch and dinner, even then he had barely said a word. Their mother had also seemed a bit worried, but the woman had once again needed to go work for the night, so that left her as the only one who could ask him what's wrong.
Steeling herself and casting her fears aside, remembering that she had already been in his room many times (Though not at night…), the girl softly knocked on the door.
"Onii-chan?" hearing no answer even after knocking again, a worried frown appeared on the kendoka's face. "Onii-chan, I'm coming in." prepared for anything, Suguha opened the door to find her brother…meditating?
Well, at least that's what he seemed to be doing in her eyes, what with sitting on his bed with crossed legs and arms, his eyes closed as he breathed deeply several times…before blinking in surprise at seeing his sister standing at his side and staring at him with a mix of confusion and curiosity.
"Uh…? Sugu? Wh-what time is it…? What are you doing here?" looking around as if coming out from a trance, Kazuto only made the young girl sweatdrop.
It looked like trying to sink into his 'hyper-awareness' of things to try and distract himself from that bastard's words and his apparently imminent marriage with Asuna hadn't been the best of ideas.
"I…I was worried about you, Onii-chan." accepted Suguha while sitting at his side, fiddling with her thumbs a bit before looking straight to his face. "Yo-you have been acting weird since you came back from the hospital, so…"
His expression softening, the black-haired boy sighed before sitting properly. Damn, and he had tried really hard to stay silent so as to not worry her or their mother with what had happened…
"It's okay, Sugu, it's just…something really bad is going to happen to one of my dearest friends…and I…I can't do anything about it." looking guiltily at his hands, the boy felt them shake as he clenched them into fists, the part of him wishing to still be able to split the sky with them never having felt stronger. "Despite all that we went through…now I can't do anything to help her…"
Suguha felt her heart clench at those words, both at the pain she felt on the boy's words and because she had a very good idea WHO he was talking about. Whatever had happened in the hospital that day, it had apparently been really bad for Asuna, her brother's 'friend'.
Did Kazuto really only see the comatose girl like that? Or did his feelings for her go much deeper, as she feared?
Even so…she was just unable to see the person she loved the most suffering like that, so she gathered all her courage and hugged him softly, letting the shocked boy's head rest against her bosom.
"Onii-chan…it's okay." softly whispered the girl while trying to contain her blushing face and beating heart, hoping her adopted brother wouldn't notice it. "You can't think like that…you can't give up without even trying. It's not about winning or losing, remember? It's about doing your best for that which you believe in, no matter how small or insignificant it seems…"
Letting the lesson she had learned from a great bicycle-riding hero echo through the room, Suguha smiled softly as she kept her soft grip over Kazuto's silent form.
Yes, that was right. She was going to take her own words at heart. She wouldn't give up without even trying…to win what she wanted the most…
Kazuto, meanwhile, was trying VERY HARD to not move and try to keep his mind as centered on the extremely serious situation as possible. While his sister's words certainly had warmed his heart and he was really motivated by them to try and find a way to do something to help Asuna's situation, that didn't change the fact that most of his thoughts kept, much to his 'terror', coming back to a single fact, that he was clearly feeling because of his current 'position'.
Why wasn't Sugu wearing a bra under her pajamas?!
Unaware of the gamer's panicking thoughts, Suguha softly drifted to sleep with a pleasant smile, still hugging the boy against her. At some unknown point after that, Kazuto's brain gave up trying to overcome the situation without waking her up and just 'shut down', letting the boy fall into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.
The next morning would be VERY awkward for both siblings.
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November 9th, 2024. Yggdrasil, the World Tree. A Golden Cage near the Top, 12:00...
Cursing for the umpteenth time, the chestnut-haired girl with elf-like ears slammed her fists against the bars of the golden cage where she had been trapped for more time than she could even give a fuck about, dearly wishing to have something to strangle at hand.
Her extremely high bad mood could be excused for her current situation, though, prisoner of a lunatic jerk who was not only the asshole she had thought he was before, but also a madman planning senseless things like developing brain-washing tech by doing illegal experiments on the brains of the SAO Survivors he had managed to 'mentally kidnap' when the game had ended.
Leaving aside the fact that Sugou either seemed to love his own voice too much or was just retarded enough to think that gloating about his 'evil plan' and detailing all his illegal activities to her, as if he was the villain for a bad anime, was a good idea, and how outraged she was at what he was doing to the innocent players from SAO that had never done anything wrong except getting trapped by Kayaba, Asuna was pissed beyond belief for another reason.
Her chances with Sensei had probably gone to hell, and even after all the effort she put on having him give her that final 'promise' of meeting her first on reality! Dammit! Just when she had gathered the necessary courage and promised herself she would tell him how she felt about him the moment they saw each other in real life, this idiot with his world domination-style plans had to come along and ruin it all!
The worries that any of the other girls had already confessed to him (As unlikely at that could be) aside, the ex-rapier-user swore that the first thing she would do when she got out of there was ripping out the battery of her Nerve Gear and showing it down Sugou's throat.
And talking about the King of Jerks...
"Ah, you look as lovely as always, my dear." grinned a tall and blonde figure, having pointed ears and dressed in green clothes, a stupid crown with emerald jewels over his head and greenish, ethereal-like wings, a sick smile on his face as he entered inside the golden cage. "I see that you're as lively as al..."
And that was as far as he went before Asuna spun around screaming like a banshee and slammed the golden chair she had been half-hiding with her body against his face, making the shocked man squeak and take a step back, which the chestnut-haired girl took advantage of to slam her right foot against his crotch.
Even as the groaning bastard fell to his knees, momentarily forgetting that he wasn't really feeling any pain, the ex-rapier-user was already running out of the cage, screaming 'Freedom!' at the top of her lungs as she dashed down the massive branch.
She made it more or less halfway before a massive weight fell over her shoulders and she fell face-first against the wooden surface, her muffled curses and screams going unheard as an invisible force dragged her back towards her golden prison.
God-fucking-dammit! That was her 4th frustrated escape attempt!
"Ugh..." growled the Fairy King while closing his Admin. Menu, clearly annoyed. "Another futile attempt, as you see, my dear Titani..."
"I swear I'm SO going to rip out your tongue and force you to swallow it if you call me that name again, Sugou!" snarled Asuna from where she couldn't move, sitting on the cage's bed, and glaring at the man in front of her.
"HAH! Try to stay defiant all that you want, Asuna! But in this world, you have no power to oppose me, and soon you will be forced to accept my superiority as the Ruler!" dramatically declared the madman while raising his arms over his sides, as if his hands were trying to cup some invisible fruit. "For here I'm Oberon, the King of Fairies!"
Sadly, the simmering anger she felt prevented the chestnut-haired girl from breaking out in laughter, like a part of her felt like doing every time the bastard proudly proclaimed his 'title'. It didn't stop her mind from imagining an imagination-related rainbow appearing between Oberon's hands, though.
"Fuck off, Sugou." eloquently replied Asuna while trying to discover the secret to kill a man with a glare from a virtual world. "The moment I get back to the real world, you will be SO screwed that facing whatever my father or the authorities do with you will be the least of your worries."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, my dear Asuna. But as soon as my investigation to control emotions and memories is finished, you will literally worship the very ground I walk upon, and when I take control of your father's company, I...!"
Tuning out Oberon's monologue, as she had started to do so since the first time she heard about his 'great' evil plan, the ex-rapier-user tried to entertain herself by imagining what her friends would be doing right at that moment.
...she was dearly hoping the other girls weren't trying anything to act upon their collective crush on her Sensei, though. Because if Oberon's stupid madness had made her miss her chance with him, the police would need to call the FBI to try and find the corpse of Sugou Noboyuki.
She was suddenly brought out of her sweet thoughts of brutally murdering someone by the last words said by the man she hated the most himself.
"...and those 'friends' of yours came back to see you in the real world again. The stupid boy even dared to go so far as to try and threaten ME! Heh, suck for them, for soon they will never see you aga..."
"Each and every single one of them is worth a thousand times you, Sugou." cheerfully commented Asuna with a smile, stopping the man dead on his tracks. "In fact, even the ground that 'stupid boy' you talk about walks over has more value than you will ever have."
Glaring with anger and frustration at the girl, Oberon forced himself to calm down and not try to 'teach her a lesson' by touching her, previous times he had tried that resulting in either the girl trying to bite off his virtual fingers, spitting on his face (A feature he was seriously considering removing from ALO) or, in the rare moments he had managed to molest her without consequences, resulted in her finding an even nastier way to screw him up with her next 'escape attempt'.
Trying to save the little (None) pride he still had left, the Fairy King stood up and headed towards the cage's door without another word, deciding the left the girl frozen in place until he got out of there and Logged Out, to 'teach her a lesson'.
He never noticed the grin forming in Asuna's eyes as the idiotic man let her sitting there, with a perfect excuse to stare openly at how he introduced the numeric code that closed the door of her cage (Another proof of the man's stupidity: Why not just make a cage only he could open?). Even as Oberon walked away, the girl felt satisfied knowing that her long-time plan was finally about to work.
It may have taken her like two months, but soon she would get the fuck out of there…and make sure to ruin Sugou's life while doing so.
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The last rays of the sun were vanishing as the evening came to an end, giving way to a silent and slightly cold night.
Sitting on his room, Kazuto stared at the copy of 'Alfheim Online' he had on his hands, a conflicted look on his face.
That morning, after the 'incident' with Sugu when they woke up (Which had ended with him trying to stammer out an apology, even if he wasn't sure WHY, and with the girl rushing out of the room with a burning face), he had looked his email like usual and found a message from Agil, which had greatly surprised him. After all, despite knowing him a bit, the man had been mainly a contact of Argo to get supplies when they needed them, and the ex-claws-user had been the one who knew him the most, so receiving a message from him was quite surprising.
Then again, he also had several trash messages with Spam or links to the craziest rumors around the town, like that of a girl with a bicycle running around the night and hitting criminals (He wasn't really sure about that one, he had been too busy worrying about his friends these last months and usually had zero interest in such crazy things), so he had thought that maybe it was just for congratulating him about SAO or something…
He definitively wasn't expecting to see a slightly blurry image of what appeared to be an elf-version of Asuna with fairy-like wings, angrily slamming a chair against some kind of cage where she was trapped.
A mix of hope and urgency filling him, Kazuto had headed towards the address the man added to his message (Though he had refrained from asking Sugu for her bicycle again, both because of the still lingering awkwardness and the strange 'vibe' the vehicle gave him), arriving at the bar 'Dicey Café' that Agil, Andrew Gilbert Mills in reality, ran.
There, the bald man had explained to him how the image came from a place called 'The World Tree', inside an apparently very famous VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online, based around fairies and the ability to fly (Which he accepted sounded very appealing, because which person wouldn't want to be able to fly by themselves?), and that had 'succeeded' SAO as the most famous VR game around, also helping raise the trust of people on such games again. It seemed that the Main Quest of the game had something to do with arriving at the top of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and getting an audience with the King of the Fairies to gain the ability to evolve and be able to eternally fly.
In all honesty, the gamer hadn't really cared about that as much as he did for the fact that, apparently, Asuna was trapped in there (Which meant it was very possible Keita and the others were there too). And also wondered WHY Agil had only informed him about it instead of everyone else.
His answers had been as convincing as they were…
"Hey, you were the Guild's leader and the guy I saw split the sky open with a punch, so I figured it would be best to talk to you first. Besides…I only had money to get one copy of the game."
…yeah, that.
Now, after having spent most of the day reading all the info he could about 'ALO', the black-haired boy was feeling quite conflicted: Should he inform everyone else that he MAY have found a way to help the others? Or should he just try going in by himself?
Certainly, from the most logical point of view, the second option was the best one. After all, he knew very well he was the only one out of everyone that could actually do it without problems/raising questions: He had a copy of the game, a father working overseas and a mother that spent most of the day at work. Only Sugu was actually spending time with him nowadays, and even she had several things to do since the school year started again. He was probably the only one who could use his Nerve Gear (Which thankfully was as compatible with the game as the new and much safer AmuSphere) without having to give lots of explanations to a worried family, not to mention that the girls would actually NEED to ask their families if they wanted to get the relatively expensive game (VR-things weren't exactly cheap, after all), immediately blowing up any chance of doing this 'investigation/rescue mission' in secret at worst. At best, the only thing he would be doing would be worrying everyone unnecessarily. Given all that, the best would have been to just keep the secret and try to do this by himself, as difficult as it was.
The Kazuto of two years ago would probably have done so in a heartbeat. The current one, who had learned what trusting in others and being trusted in return was, however…
"…I will just Log In, see how things are around tonight and then tell everyone first thing in the morning." he finally decided with a soft nod. That would satisfy both sides of himself.
Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, the boy stared silently at the machine that had kept him trapped for nearly two years, wondering if he could really just put it on again like that.
He didn't need to see his suddenly bored and emotionless face reflecting off the headgear to know the answer. The thoughts of his comatose friends were more than enough for that.
Game installed, the gamer put on the helmet and, once again, repeated the words that would allow him to enter a world totally different, yet extremely similar, to the real one.
"Link Start!"
And as his consciousness was washed away by the rainbow lights of the FullDive, making him unable to see how his Nerve Gear shone with an ethereal light for an instant, the boy unknowingly was also going back to his 'other self'…
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The first sign that Kirito got something was wrong (After the simple 'Race Selection' menu had been washed away when he chose 'Spriggan' ) was that he could have sworn that he heard vaguely familiar laughter echoing on the back of his head.
The second sign was that, unlike appearing on the Spriggan's hometown as he had been told, the world had 'crashed' around his vision before he suddenly found himself falling down from an absurdly high height, towards an unknown forest.
Somehow, the boy wasn't really surprised despite the incredibly random event.
"…why can't I enter a virtual world without something crazy happening to me?" sighed the gamer before, by instinct, twisting himself in mid-air and 'getting into position'.
The earth around the entire area shook when he CRASHED down, the ground cracking around his feet as he did so.
It took several seconds of standing and dusting himself off for Kirito to realize that THAT shouldn't really had happened. With suddenly shaky eyes, the boy let his gaze go down…to see his white-gloved hands. And the familiar black jumpsuit he was now wearing.
"N-no way…" whispered the gamer in absolute disbelief, even as a sudden gust of wind made his familiar white cape flap behind him. "…I'm wearing it." then, with almost fearful hesitation, the boy reared back his fist…
…and Punched the ground.
A good chunk of virtual earth cracked and went flying around before vanishing into broken polygons, even as Kirito stood up once again, a suddenly massive grin on his face.
He had NEVER felt so happy while wearing something so ridiculous.
"…to be honest, I kind of missed this thing…I think I understand how Saitama grew fond of his own…" idly muttered the black-haired boy while walking towards a nearby pond, a sudden frown on his face. "But…how can this have happe…what the fucking hell happened to my hair?!" interrupted himself the gamer while STARING at his reflection on the virtual water.
There had been no change to his height, and his face was still the same as his real one (Though his skin was a bit darker, an apparent racial trait of the Spriggans), but what REALLY made him stare in shock and almost not recognize himself despite the superhero-costume was his 'new hairstyle'.
To put it simply, he looked as if he had failed an attempt to become a Super Saiyan or had been made to be the main character of a Final Fantasy game.
…at least it was still better than being bald…but just to be sure, he was making sure of changing his hair to something less 'spiky' the first opportunity he got.
"If I can even go that far. I have no idea where I am…" with a sudden feeling of dread, the boy opened his menu, feeling relief washing over him when he saw the Logout button being perfectly functional. "Okay…that's one thing less to worry about…wait a second…" frowning, Kirito ran through his item list, the several messes of symbols that indicated damaged data filling his inventory even as he realized that his Stats (ALO didn't have levels, apparently encouraging a gameplay style based off your own ability to fight and get boosts/equipment), were a familiar mass of interrogation signs. "…these damaged items…is this THE SAME Avatar from SAO? How the hell…?" his words suddenly dying on his throat, the boy's gaze suddenly fixed itself over the only item that wasn't actually a mess of damaged data between his old possessions.
'MHCHP-001'.
Hoping against hope, Kirito let a shaking gloved finger touch the button.
Immediately, blinding light manifested itself in front of him, but the gamer refused to close his eyes, even as he felt tears filling them when he saw a familiar, small shape on a black dress materializing from the light.
Landing softly on her feet, the little girl blinked twice before looking at him, a massive smile appearing on her face as she opened her arms.
"…good morning, Papa."
"Yui…" with barely a thought, Kirito MOVED to the girl's side, hugging her with enough enthusiasm to lift her off the ground as she giggled and hugged him back, happiness filling his entire being. "…I'm so glad to see you again."
"I told you we would meet again, Papa! And soon everyone…AH! That's right!" suddenly floating out of the boy's embrace (Which made him raise an eyebrow at seeing she apparently could STILL do that), Yui quickly opened a menu and, after introducing something on it, put her hands over her chest.
A new wave of shining light later, a familiar, though slightly different, figure appeared over them, eyes closed, before quickly falling down, only for the black-haired Spriggan to catch her on his arms.
Despite her hair now being brown, having a couple of small white 'lines' on the lower-left side of her face and slightly darker skin, her red eyes were still the same as they slowly opened, a familiar smile blossoming on her face as she threw herself around the boy's neck.
"Kiritoooo!" shouted the now Gnome Strea with utter happiness while trying to suffocate the boy on her bosom, which wasn't as easy as before thanks to her new and (Slightly) less revealing armor. "I missed youuuuuu!"
"Now, now, Strea-nee, let go of Papa, please." chided Yui while waving a finger at her 'little sister'. "We need to know exactly what's going on, after all!"
"Yui-neeeee!" continued Strea, not hearing or ignoring the other AI's words as she let go of the embarrassed boy in favor of glomping the little girl. "I also missed you loooots!"
"Bu-but we were together all the time!"
"Yeah, but we couldn't talk to each other or anything, only 'sleep'! You know it's not the same!"
"…you really don't know how happy I am of seeing you two." softly chuckled the gamer while looking tenderly towards the 'sisters'.
None of them had quite said it out loud, but both he and the girls had also been missing the presence of the last two members of their guild, their 'family', that hadn't been able to come back with them to the real world despite also having 'survived' SAO.
Both his self-proclaimed daughter (And unofficial 'little sister' for the whole guild) and the bubbly and vibrant sword-user had been presences they dearly missed.
Even if they hadn't been mainly worried by Asuna and the others, Kirito would admit that he had no idea of how he would have gone about trying to recover and reconstruct their data from his Nerve Gear, especially taking into account that manipulating the machine with a battery strong enough to fry a brain if you did would have been 'a bit' dangerous.
That was why seeing them there now felt like a dream come true for him…
Getting out of his thoughts thanks to the excited/resigned talk of the two virtual sisters, the Spriggan nodded to himself and proceeded to explain the current situation to them. Almost an hour later, the three 'returned' members of the United Heroes Association had arrived to several conclusions.
First, Yui had discovered, using her direct access to info from when she was a 'normal' MHCP (Something she was seemingly really glad to have back, seeing how she had been unable to use it, for her own sake, back in SAO), that the reason why the Avatar, the Items (Though they had been damaged) and the money of the boy had carried over from Aincrad was because Alfheim Online was apparently constructed as a copy of Sword Art Online. The base of the system and the Cardinal System itself were all a copy of the same ones from SAO, only the game that had been constructed over them was different.
This had also made the young girl very happy, because it meant that she could freely use her 'psychic powers' without almost any restriction, seeing that Cardinal wasn't in 'Watchdog' mode in that world, so as long as she didn't do anything big enough to alert an actual human GM, she wouldn't be at risk of being eliminated, something that Strea had also been cheerful for, even though she seemed sad of being unable to use her old and trusted 'Darkness Blade', seeing as the Sword Skills' System hadn't been implemented in ALO.
Of course, Kirito decided to not mention aloud that that still didn't explain HOW his 'special Avatar' still could be active. Even if the data from one virtual world to the other had carried over, the ALO Servers should have detected the 'bug' and corrected it the moment his newly created account and his old Avatar 'fused'.
…unless Kayaba had been right and there was truly some superior existence around that enjoyed screwing with him, and his fleeting sanity refused to accept that.
"Okay then!" finally spoke Yui, now in her 'Navigation Pixie'-form (Something that apparently had been compatible with her and Strea's data because of how MHCP didn't exist in ALO), her black dress having changed into a more fairy-like style as she sat on Strea's head, the Gnome girl currently enjoying the 'Yay!'-feeling that was flying around the sighing Kirito. "So, in essence, Asuna-mama, Keita-nii and the rest may be trapped here, on the big-ass tree on the center of the world, and you decided to Log In first after getting a copy of the game to see how things were around before telling everything to Argo-mama and the others in the real world tomorrow…am I right, Papa?"
"Uhm, yeah, but…" for once ignoring the part of his brain that told him to NOT ask a certain question, the gamer decided to satisfy his curiosity. "Yui…why are you calling Asuna and Argo 'Mama'?"
"Uh? Oh, I just decided to call everyone on the guild 'Mama' the day before you fought Heathcliff!" cheerfully explained the pixie while the boy, confusedly, felt a sudden feeling of doom looming over him. "Because everyone is in…!"
"Shhh! Yui-nee, no telling!" suddenly shut her up Strea, unknowingly saving the confused Spriggan from a revelation that would have probably threatened his sanity even more. "They need to be the ones who tell him, not you!"
"Oh, right, sorry, sometimes I still forget some human things…" laughing awkwardly for a moment, the little AI turned her gaze towards Kirito with excitement. "So, what's the plan, Papa?!"
"Well, being honest, I'm not really sure…" frowning as he crossed his arms, the gamer suddenly seemed to sink in deep thought. "I mean, punching the earth open all the way to the World Tree and then just bringing it down is out of the question, as simple as that would make everything. Not only I don't want to destroy this world and ruin the lives of the Players that had nothing to do with all of this, but as far as I know, doing something like THAT could cause the entire game to crash and put Asuna and the others out of our reach. More so, even if the game didn't crash and collapsed over itself if I do that, the moment something like THAT happened to the Servers I'm pretty sure Sugou would make sure of putting Asuna and the rest somewhere el…"
"Wait, Sugou? As in, that jerk that wants to marry Asuna?" seeming confused, Strea landed in front of the boy while tilting her head. "You think he has something to do with this?"
"Yeaaah…I'm kind of inclined to think that the fact that he has this 'great plan' to take over the company of Asuna's father at the same time that she's unable to do anything to oppose such thing it's NOT a coincidence. Besides, RECT Inc. is the company in charge of Alfheim Online, I read it on the internet this evening. So, yes, one doesn't need to be a professional detective to put two and two together…"
"I see…it DOES make sense, when you said it like that, Papa." scratching her chin, Yui took flight on her own before smiling down at the black-haired boy. "So, guess we will have to fly our way there!"
"Ehm…yeah, fly, of course…" mumbled the boy while scratching his head, a sinking feeling suddenly filling him. "So, let's try this out."
With a decisive motion, the boy made to summon the 'Flight Controller' that the game included…and nothing happened.
Three tries later, under the confused stare of both virtual sisters, the gamer sighed and let his hand fall.
"It looks like I can't fly. Too bad."
"Do-don't give up so easily, Papa! Maybe you just need to try harder!"
"Yeah, why don't you try jumping very high to see if that helps?" added Strea while jumping up and down. "After all, you can also fly without using the controller, you just saw me doing it!"
"Okay…I guess I don't lose anything by trying." giving them an awkward smile, Kirito crouched down…and JUMPED.
Both AIs staggered back a bit from the force released at the action before their heads shot straight up, looking the black and white blur in which the boy had become soaring through the dark heavens.
"He's going up…and up…and…oh, he crashed against something."
"Yeah…I think that's the Flying Altitude Limit." idly commented Yui while their gazes started to move down. "Glad that he remembered to not try and punch through it…"
"…but now he's falling…and falling…and…" stopping when they lost sight of him beneath the trees outside their vision, both girls sweatdropped. "…guess he REALLY can't fly. How strange…"
"Maybe it has something to do with his 'powers'?" wondered Yui before shaking her head and shooting to the air. "Anyway, we can't just let Papa alone out there, let's go!"
"Oh, oh, go on ahead, Yui-nee! I will catch up with you two in a bit!" grinning widely at the curious expression her 'older sister' gave her, Strea just gave her a thumbs-up. "I also want to use my MHCP-Skills to try and do something good!"
Nodding in understanding, Yui flew after her disappeared 'father' like a small bullet, even as the Gnome girl opened several windows around herself and started going through them while humming a happy tune.
On the real world, in different places of the same city, five girls would suddenly receive emails from an address that made no sense…and their faces would freeze in shock at reading their contents.
From: Strea, yay!
Hi, everyone! No time to explain, gotta go! Reunion tomorrow morning on Kirito's house for explanations!
United Heroes Association, assemble!
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Leafa wasn't having a good day.
First, the incident with her brother in the morning (HOW the hell could she fall sleep with him like THAT, Gods?!) had made that she was unable to even look at him before going to school, and later when she had returned home he hadn't been there.
Definitively not the best start for the first day after she had 'decided' to try and fight for her feelings. So, feeling a bit depressed, she had Dived into ALO in hopes that flying and fighting around for a bit would help her cheer up, seeing as she didn't want to risk going out 'patrolling' without her brother home, dreading what would happen if he caught her returning and asking where she had gone so late with her shinai on her back.
And that led to the second 'not really good' event of the day…
"Stay still, kid Sylphs!"
"You can give up already, we won't let you escape!"
"Prepare to taste bitter defeat, bastards!"
"Le-Leafa-chan, the-they're catching us!"
…she and Recon being chased by three annoying and fully armored Salamanders, one of them a specialist in combining Magic and direct combat, apparently. Well, at least they weren't too badly outnumber…
"GOT YOU!"
"GAH! Le-Leafa-chan…avenge me…!"
…forget it, there went Recon. With an annoyed grunt, the blonde girl complied with her kind-of-pathetic friend's last request and spun around over herself, taking advantage of how the other Sylph's 'Remain Flame' blocked the cocky Salamander's vision for an instant to pierce through both the ethereal flame and his armor with her trusted katana, dragging the shocked man towards the ground as she screamed, utterly surprising his two companions.
"JUSTICE CHARGEEE!"
BAM!
"…holy shit, that bitch is crazy! She just took out Ralph as if he was nothing!"
"Don't lose it now, Chariot! Her HP must be on its last legs, we still outnumber her and we have my magic! She's NOT getting out of this!"
"…bring it on, bastards." their heads turning towards the small cloud of smoke that had formed from the previous crash, the Salamanders were able to see how Leafa stood up, grinning at them as she gripped her strange-looking katana. "I'm not failing this mission to you."
Despite her words, the blonde Sylph knew she was in serious trouble. After having taken down the idiot that killed Recon, she was now the one who had all the resources they had gotten from the day. If he died, then that would meant that the last hours of hard work would have been for nothing.
Cursing that her friend had been taken down so easily AGAIN (She was grateful with Recon, don't get her wrong, but his painfully obvious crush on her combined with the fact that she had surpassed him long ago, despite being HIM the one who showed her how to play, could get on her nerves sometimes…or most of the time), Leafa tightened her grip on Justice's Wings, the katana 'humming' in worry for her.
She was sure most people would call her crazy if she told them she believed her virtual sword was 'alive' in a way, and that she had evens started to call her bicycle in real life like it just because she believed both were somehow connected. Her mother would most likely send her to a psychologist or something, and her brother…well, she didn't want to think about that.
But the point was that, product of her crazy imagination or not, 'Justice' was now worried about her, and telling the girl to try and escape despite both knowing she wouldn't be able to do so before they got her.
Steeling her resolve and entering a kendo stance, the girl glared at the two descending Salamanders as they slowly closed around her, deciding that, if she was going down, then she would at least take one more of them down with…!
Any further thoughts were suddenly interrupted y the sound of 'something' falling down from the heavens at great speeds…and its subsequent brutal crash not even ten meters from them, which left a sizeable crater on the virtual earth, shocking the Fairies.
"…so, I really can't fly…somehow, I'm NOT surprised." tiredly muttered a voice even as a figure emerged from the crater.
If the world had BGM (Well, this one had, but you get the idea), then the three players would have sworn they heard an epic guitar solo playing on the background the moment the oddly-dressed Spriggan emerged from the smoke, blinking at them.
"…oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" questioned the boy while tilting his head to the side, looking from the blonde girl to the two fully armored men in red.
"What the…?! What's a Spriggan newb doing all the way here?" laughed the Salamander 'battle-wizard' before pointing with his lance at him. "Hey, stay out of this and maybe we will let you keep practicing how to fly without kicking your ass too, kid!"
Ignoring the laughter of the other man, Leafa was too busy STARING at the unknown boy, looking at his silly and FAMILIAR costume with wide eyes.
"No way…why is he dressed like…?"
"I see…" muttered the boy while putting a hand under his chin, looking over the scene once again. "So, in essence, you're a pair of bullies that can't even fight a fair fight about to gang on a girl, and for probably stupid reasons, if your attitude is anything to go by." the laughter of the Salamanders died down as they glared at the Spriggan, who simply stared back at them. "Ok, I suggest that you go away and leave her alone, please."
"The fuck?!" growled the Salamander named Chariot before pointing with his own weapon at the boy. "Who the hell do you think you are, kid? A Superhero?"
Though it had been really an insult/joke that the man had made based on the ridiculous get-up of the Spriggan, he wasn't expecting for him to suddenly SMILE as he crossed his arms.
"Nah. I'm just a Gamer playing Hero for Fun."
Gasping at the words, Leafa became aware too late that the other Salamander had been chanting for several seconds, and as such was unable to do more than shout out a warning when several fireballs flew through the air and crashed against the mysterious boy.
"HAH! Take that, Spriggan!" grinned the man under his helmet while Chariot laughed again. "That will show you to not mess with the Sala…!"
And that was as far as he went before Kirito suddenly appeared behind him and chopped him on the back of the head, sending the Salamader to the ground face-first with enough force to reduce his entire HP to nothing and turn him into a Remain Flame without any effort.
Chariot's laughter died as fast as Leafa's sorry for the 'newb', both of them STARING open-mouthed at the bored-looking Spriggan as he looked with a raised eyebrow towards the burning red flame that had replaced his opponent.
"Huh…so you REALLY become a bunch of fire if you die here…wonder if that feels weird…"
"You…! He…! How…?!" eyes wide, Chariot suddenly opened his wings and shot to the sky. "Thi-this isn't the last you heard of the Salamanders, Spriggan bo…!"
He was unable to finish his 'threat' because a harmless little rock flew through the air at inhuman speeds and turned his head into virtual gore, reducing his HP to 0 and probably traumatizing him for life.
Leafa almost dropped Justice's Wings from the shock, the katana somehow 'humming' a similar reaction.
"...I could actually get use to do that." whispered Kirito while scratching his chin and looking at the place where now only a Remain Flame was left falling from the sky. "Without the worry of killing someone, it IS kinda funny..." turning around, the gamer opened his mouth to ask if the blonde girl was alright before finding himself with the tip of a sword in front of his face. "Uh?"
"Wh-who the hell are you, some kind of hacker?" asked the Sylph while doing her best to sound brave and demanding, a part of her painfully aware that it was more than likely that the boy could leave her like those two Salamanders before she could even think of swinging her katana.
"Ehm, no, I think I already answered what I am..." calmly commented the boy while smiling, not seeming to care in the slightest by the katana that almost touched his nose. "Name is Kirito, and I just wanted to help out, sorry if I offended you or anything. I wasn't even planning to land around here, but as I can't fly I couldn't really control..."
"Wait, what? What are you talking about? Everyone can fly in ALO!" frowned the girl, though a part of her internally felt as if she knew the 'answer' to that. "Yeah, it's a bit difficult for newbies, but I'm sure you..."
"No, I didn't mean I can't learn how to do it, I mean I literally CAN'T." as if to show his point, Kirito made a very specific motion with his hands, showing the surprised girl how no Flight Controller appeared. "See? No controller, and I can't even make those wings appear no matter how hard I try..."
"Ho-how is that possible...?" muttered the blonde girl while lowering her blade, STARING at the boy, who just shrugged at her while looking sheepish.
"Eh, it's not really a surprise for me. After all, normal people..."
"'...can't fly, idiot.'" finished the Sylph with wide eyes, the boy staring at her in shock. "I-I'm Leafa, and, uhm...have you watched 'One Punch-Man'? Is that the reason why you're, somehow, cosplaying as Saitama?"
Unable to contain his shock, Kirito's hands shot to Leafa's shoulders, making her squeak as she saw the incredulous/happy expression on his face.
"Sweet God of Gamers, you don't know HOW happy I am right now! You're, like, the first person ever in recognizing the costume!" suddenly aware of what he was doing, the Spriggan quickly removed his hands from the blinking girl and looked away with an embarrassed blush. "So-sorry about that, I was starting to think that I was the only one around who had ever heard about the show..."
"N-no problem, i-it's good to meet another fan of it, I had started to think my brother would always be the only other one I knew that..." trailing off, Leafa suddenly blinked several times.
"Uh? Oh, what a coincidence, I was also thinking that only my little sister...knew of..." his voice also dying down, Kirito blinked and stared at the blonde girl again.
The Sylph, for her part, LOOKED at the mysterious Spriggan, actually looked beyond the spiky hairstyle and the Saitama-like costume, beyond the slightly dark skin of his Fae race and directly at his face, her mind 'replaying' his nonchalant voice several times.
On her hand, Justice's Wings hummed again as the epiphany finally hit her.
"...Onii-chan?"
"...Sugu?"
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Deep within the Virtual Void, the Entity moved, 'waking up' from its month-long slumber.
Quickly and without doubt, its eyes moved towards a specific direction, LOOKING for something.
Its dual-colored gaze finally stopped on a golden cage sitting atop a massive tree...
On its throne above Everything, Fate chuckled.
It seemed that things were going to twist even further from now on…
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NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!
"Hah! Be grateful, you peasants, for I, the great Sugou Noboyuki, am the one who is giving out the preview for the next chapter this time! Heh, and poor Asuna still thinks she can outsmart me...wait, why is everyone laughing? Whatever, next time on 'One Punch-Gamer': 'Odyssey to the World Tree!' Two fools join forces to try and venture into the realm of the Fairy King, to steal away his previous caged bird...heh, no idea what does that mean, but it doesn't matter, for as long as my superior mind is overseeing this, nothing shall-!"
END OF THE PREVIEW!