58Chapter 29: The World Seed
I Don't Own Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンラインor Any of Characters, All Rights Go To Reki Kawahara and ASCII Media Works
Author's Note:
* Hello, and welcome to the final chapter. Well, for now, it's the final chapter, anyway.
* I can't really think of anything that I can say, so I suppose we should just get right into the chapter.
Kazuto/Kirito
Tokyo Hospital – December 13th, 2025
The image of Asuna finally being awake again kept me going all the way to the hospital. It felt weird to be here. Just a little over a hear ago, we had been here, during our rehab. Why would Sugou choose this place to hide Asuna? I had abandoned my bike at the gate, which was unattended and ran for the main entrance to the hospital. I kept running, until a white van came into sight. A man stepped out from behind the van and I ran around him, feeling a sharp sting of pain in my upper arm as I did so.
"You shouldn't have come here." A hoarse voice spoke out.
I came to a stop, as I felt something running down my arm. I slowly turned to look at the man, who was shrouded by shadows and hadn't stepped into the light that the streetlight gave off. As he was still in the shadows, I inspected my arm to see that my sleeve had been cut.
Drip, drip.
Something had fallen onto the ground and had made a wet sound upon impacting the pavement. I brought my hand to my face and saw the red running over the back of my hand. Blood.
He had cut me! What had I done for him to do this?
"You shouldn't have come here, Kazuto Kirigaya."
I looked up at the shadowy figure with shock.
How did he...?
"How do you know my name?!"
"And you shouldn't have taken my Titania from me." He spoke, disregarding my question.
Titania?! That's the name that Sugou had called Asuna! Wasn't it?
"Sugou?!" I blurted out.
He let out a weak chuckle, before emerging into the light. The first thing I saw was the shine of the knife that he had in his hand. But the thing I saw next was disturbing. Sugou looked terrible. He looked severely underweight, his hair was an absolute mess and was dirty, his eyes were blood shot, his skin was pale, and he had the worst case of five o'clock shadow I had ever seen. I nearly gasped with shock as I saw him.
"Sugou? What happened to you?!"
He chuckled and began to cough a bit before speaking.
"This is what happens when you spend nearly twenty four hours a day inside the virtual world."
Nearly twenty four hours a day? If he was like this now, then this must have been going on for a while.
"Why do this to yourself?"
I couldn't believe that I was actually somewhat concerned for Sugou Nobuyuki, but here I was.
"I was onto something. There was so much researching and testing that I had to do, that I couldn't afford to spend time in the real world. And after what you did to me, don't pretend that you care."
He was right. I didn't care. I was just a pretender. A monster like Sugou Nobuyuki deserved to be locked away for the rest of his natural life. I couldn't even think of what to say now.
"You shouldn't have come here." He repeated.
I couldn't believe that this malnourished man was threatening me.
"Because of you, my Titania is awake. For the moment. And I can't have you seeing her before I put her back to sleep."
"Her name is Asuna." I replied through gritted teeth.
"I'll call her whatever the hell I want!"
"I'm not going to allow you to keep me from her. So, I'm going to walk past you now."
"No, you aren't. You've done a very terrible thing, Kazuto. And I have to make sure that you pay for it."
"It's over. Stand down and turn yourself in for your crimes. Make it easy for yourself."
"I can still feel everything you did to me."
He disregarded what I said.
"Turn yourself in, Sugou! You're finished!"
He scoffed.
"Hardly. There are still lots of companies who would kill to have me and my research. And once it's complete, there won't be anything or anyone to stand in my way. Then I'll be the God of this world!"
I rolled my eyes.
"There you go again, with believing that you're a phony baloney God!"
"But before all that, I'm going to kill you, Kazuto!"
I honestly couldn't believe that he was threatening me, I didn't think he even had the strength to. However, he attacked anyway, rushing towards me with his knife ready. I effortlessly dodged him as he ran past and struggled to avoid falling over. I turned back to look at him.
"Stop! Sugou, you need to sit down before you fall down!"
He just laughed like the insane man that he was, disregarding what I had said to him and charged again. That was the only warning he would get. Now I had to force him to stand down.
"You think that you can mess up my plans? Well, you can't! The punishment is death and I won't accept anything else!"
He swung the knife towards me but missed entirely. He stared down at the blade with surprise.
"Damn, my right eye is still fogged up." he muttered. "No matter, this time I won't miss!"
There isn't going to be a "this time", I thought.
I ran forward and he tried to counterattack, but I didn't give him enough time. I punched him in the face and followed up by punching him in the stomach. That was all it took for him to fall over, dropping the knife as he did. I picked it up and set it up on top of the van, out of his reach.
"Come on, get up." I said.
He grunted as he slowly forced himself to get back up, using the van for support.
"I have no real power in this world, Sugou." I whispered. "But that just means that you don't, either."
He tried to lunge at me without warning and I kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him back first into the van.
"Why couldn't you have just turned yourself in, Sugou?" I asked. "I could have run to get you help from the hospital! You need help! You and I both know it! You hardly look like you can stand! You're crazy and you need help!"
He laughed in a hoarse tone, as he slowly got up again.
"No, I'm not crazy. I'm in love! And you tried to take her from me! She belongs to me!"
I felt a surge of anger rush through me and I then sent a swift, hard kick to his groin. He collapsed onto the ground, struggling to catch his breath.
"She was never rightly yours in the first place, Sugou. She never belonged to you." I said. "I won't say that she belongs to me, but I will say this. She belongs with me, a guy who will care for her in sickness and in health. Don't get back up. Someone will find you sooner or later."
I let out a sigh as I began to walk away from Sugou's defeated form. I clutched my arm as I walked. It felt like it was on fire and it hadn't stopped bleeding. I eventually walked to the entrance and entered the building. The lights in the main floor were mostly off, except for a few that were still on above the help desk, which was manned by a young woman. She got up from her seat as she saw me approach.
"Sir?" she asked.
"I'm here to see Asuna Yuuki." I said in a tired tone.
She stared back at me with a confused expression.
"Sir, we don't have a patient by that name."
"Save it. Don't lie to me. I know she's here. Sugou Nobuyuki told me himself."
"I don't know who you're talking..."
I put up my hand and she stopped talking.
"Look, I am exhausted and annoyed. I know that she's here!"
I clutched my arm as another wave of pain rushed through it. She caught notice of this, and her eyes went wide with alarm.
"You're bleeding!" she exclaimed. "I have to get you in to see a doctor!"
I lifted my hand again.
"No, no doctor. I need to know where she is, damn it!"
"Please, you could need stitches! I need to get you to a doctor!"
I heaved a sigh.
"Fine, let's make a deal, then. You answer my questions, and I'll accept medical attention. If you don't, I walk out of here right this second!"
She must have been desperate, because that's when she broke down.
"Okay, yes! We have a patient by the name of Asuna Yuuki! She's here and so many others are, too!"
"There are others? How many?!"
"Several dozen."
"Several dozen? How is that possible?!"
"Sugou Nobuyuki needed a place with enough space and equipment for his experiments. We would have turned him away because of his unethical ideas, what he bribed us with a large amount of money. Our higher ups couldn't say no."
"Really?! Money is all it took for you to turn a blind eye on that monster's experiments?!"
She looked scared.
"Well, you know what they say: 'Money makes the world go round'?"
I knew that I must have been scaring her.
"Look, I don't mean to frighten you. It's just the fact that that man, that monster, he's kept me from someone I consider near and dear to my heart. I have to see her again. I can tell you myself that Sugou's 'game' is over. When you're through with me, send someone outside. They'll find him collapsed against a white van. While you're at it, call the police and tell them everything he's done!"
She nodded.
"Yes. Are those all of your questions?"
"That I can think of at the moment. Well, you've done your part. Now it's time for me to deliver on my side of the deal. You can take me to a doctor, now."
"Right. Follow me, please!"
She led me through the vacant halls of the hospital after leaving the help desk.
"What's your name?" she asked as she began writing on her clipboard.
"Kazuto." I said. "Kazuto Kirigaya."
She looked at me with surprise.
"Kazuto Kirigaya? You mean you're the legendary Kirito?"
I couldn't help but cringe after hearing someone I'd just met say that name.
"Yes, I'm Kirito. How did you know that?"
"Sugou told us all about you, about the things that you had done. I don't understand VRMMOs, but I must say that it was quite cool to hear."
I couldn't help but blush a little.
"I, um, thanks. You confirmed that Asuna was here. Where is she?"
"Sugou reserved the entire top floor for his use only. His guards are all up there, along with his 'patients'. No one goes in or out with his or his guards' say so."
"And she's up there?"
She nodded.
"Mmm-hmm. He seemed quite confident, in fact."
"Confident? What do you mean?"
"Tonight, he sent all of his guards home. He didn't allow any of them to stay behind."
"Why would he do that?"
"I believe that's because he knew that you'd find out she was here tonight. He knew that he'd face you tonight. He believed that he would remove you from the equation tonight."
I was silent for a second.
"You're right."
"I am?"
"He was too confident."
Sometime Later
I had gotten the cut on my arm stitched up and bandaged. My jacket and shirt had been confiscated for evidence in the inevitable investigation on Sugou's attack against me. And I was finally on my way up to see Asuna. I had gotten up to the top floor and looked for the room that the lady had told me about. I had finally come to the door and I let out a nervous sigh.
I put my hand on the door handle, twisted and pushed the door open. I slowly walked into the room and saw a curtain blocking my view of the bed. I took another deep breath and slowly pulled the curtain back. There she was, staring right at where I was standing. It was the same astonishing face. The same beautiful, flowing brown hair, the same amazing brown eyes. She smiled at me.
"Hi." She said at last.
I smiled back as I took another few steps forward.
"Hi." I replied.
I finally found myself beside her bed. She took my hand, beckoning me to sit down. And so, I did. The longer I stared into those stunning eyes of hers, the more I wanted to give in and break down. And eventually I did. Tears began to run down my cheeks.
"I'm sorry." I croaked out, giving no attempt to fight the tears.
She gave me a concerned look.
"Kirito, you already apologized!" she said. "And when you had nothing to apologize for!"
I shook my head.
"No, that's not what I'm talking about."
She nodded for me to go on.
"In the time after you disappeared, I realized how miserable my life is without you. I realized that I can't live without you."
She looked at me with surprise and I looked back at her, wiping my tears away so I could see her clearly.
"I'm sorry that I didn't say it earlier." I whispered.
She now looked at me with confusion.
"Sorry that you didn't say what, Kirito?"
"Asuna Yuuki, I love you."
She stared back at me with surprise, as a light pink blush appeared on her cheeks. Eventually, she smiled at me.
"I love you too, Kirito."
She leaned in and pressed her lips against mine and I welcomed that what I thought I'd never feel again. She took one of my hands and after a few seconds, pulled away and hugged me. I hugged her close to me, hoping that this would never end.
"Kirito, I want to always be with you." she whispered.
The way she said that tugged at my heartstrings. I hugged her tighter.
"I'll give you everything I have." I whispered back to her.
As I sat there with Asuna resting her head against my chest, I suddenly heard cheering, accompanied by a wolf whistle. We both jumped with surprise and turned to look at the door that I had left open. Standing in the doorway, was Klein (who must have been the one wolf whistling), Lisbeth, Sachi and Agil. There was also the one blue haired guy, who I now knew was Diavel. I felt my face grow warm.
How long had they been standing there?
I didn't get to say anything as Klein approached, followed by the rest of our friends. He came to a stop next to me and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Well, you did it, Kiri-Dude!" he exclaimed. "Never doubted you for a second!"
I felt my face grow even warmer.
"Oh, uh, thanks, man." I said, finding my voice. "But honestly, I couldn't have done it without you guys."
Asuna finally spoke up as well.
"I take it that you pushed Kirito to keep going after I disappeared?"
"Oh, you know it! There was no way in hell that I was going to let him give up on you!"
"Well, thank you. I really appreciate that you kept him going!"
Lisbeth and Sachi approached now, however, before anyone could speak, someone cleared their throat. We turned to look at the doorway. Standing behind Agil and Diavel, was Asuna's father.
How could I have forgotten to contact him? Did Sugu get into touch with him? If she did, I owe her a thank you.
"Kirigaya, Could I speak with you out in the hall, please?" he asked.
I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was nervous. I didn't want to talk to him. I could almost hear him demanding for me to leave Asuna alone. I eventually found myself nodding and I put my hand on top of Asuna's.
"I'll be right back." I whispered to her.
She nodded back at me and I got up. I walked away from the bed, past my friends and followed Mr. Yuuki out the door. He closed the door behind us, and I walked a small distance down the hall before I came to a stop. I finally turned to look at him.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Yuuki." I replied in a shaky, nervous tone. "I just had to see her again. After this, if you want me to leave Asuna alone, I'll understand."
He surprised me by putting up his hand.
"Kirigaya, I believe that I owe you a full apology." He said at last.
I could feel my eyes go wide with surprise.
"What?" I asked.
"I suspected you of being involved with my Asuna's disappearance, when I had no right of doing such a thing."
I was even more surprised now.
"What? Of course, you had the right to suspect me! I was her boyfriend! People always look to the boyfriend first when a girl disappears!"
He put up his hand again.
"Please let me speak. I didn't even stop to consider that her unstable ex, Sugou Nobuyuki, was behind her disappearance. Instead, I looked to you. And I shouldn't have. So, I apologize."
I shook my head.
"I can't accept the fact that you're apologizing. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I know that you want me to leave her alone from now on. And I plan on it."
He sighed.
"Actually Kazuto, I want quite the opposite."
Hearing him use my first name surprised me.
"What?" I asked again.
"Her disappearance wasn't your problem. And yet, you were the one who found her in that VR world and uncovered where she was being kept here in the real world. I can't thank you enough."
"Um, you're welcome?"
"I don't want you to leave her alone. I want you to stay with her. Through your actions, you've proven to me that you're the right boy for her. I never gave you my blessing before beginning to date her, but you have it now."
"Um, thanks."
"And when she's able to come back home, I would be quite honored if you would join us for dinner sometime."
I felt my face begin to heat up again.
"Then, I will have to take you up on that."
He then shed a rare smile, reached out and patted my shoulder.
"Let's not keep her waiting. Let's get back, shall we?"
"Okay."
And so, we began walking back to Asuna's hospital room. As soon as we entered again, Asuna immediately noticed and looked up at me with uncertainty. Mr. Yuuki came to a stop while I returned to her bedside and sat back down next to her.
"Is everything okay with you and my father now?" she asked.
I nodded.
"I think so."
She smiled at me.
"Good. I'm glad."
That's when her smile disappeared, and I felt her hand on my bandaged arm.
"Kirito, what happened to your arm?"
I let out a sigh.
I guess everyone was too busy being happy with Asuna being back, that no one cared to say something about my arm.
"It's okay, it's nothing serious. I just ran into Sugou outside in the parking lot."
She looked concerned.
"You ran into him?"
I started to nervously scratched at my cheek.
"Um, he may have cut me."
Her eyes widened. Before she could speak, I beat her to it.
"No, it's okay! I had a doctor stitch and bandage it! I'm fine!"
She let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, if you say so." She spoke before looking at me with a serious look. "What was he like?"
"He looked horrible. Severely underweight. He looked like he needs help."
Klein cleared his throat.
"And you're showing him sympathy?"
I turned to look at him and shook my head.
"An hour ago, I would have. But that was only because of how surprised I was by his appearance. But I can now say that he deserves no sympathy. Not after what he did."
He nodded and grunted in agreement.
"Now, can we please change the subject?" I asked. "I don't want to hear his name again."
Sometime Later
Everyone had departed. Now it was just me, Asuna and her father. Unfortunately, I was going to have to leave soon as well. I patted the top of her hand.
"I should probably let you get some sleep. I'll be back in the morning to see you, okay?"
I was about to get up, when she suddenly grabbed my hand. I looked back at her to see a pleading look in her eyes.
"Stay with me tonight. Please?"
I stared back at her, before looking to her father. He gave me a short nod. I then looked back at her.
"Um, I'll still have to go home. I want to check on Sugu and pack a small bag. Speaking of Sugu, she wanted me to tell you that she said hi."
She looked back at me and eventually nodded.
"Well, I'm glad that she's thinking of me. Just don't take too long, okay?"
I nodded.
"I'll be back before you know it."
She nodded again.
"Okay."
I got up now and moved towards the door. Mr. Yuuki got up as I walked.
"I'll run you home, Kazuto. It's getting late and you don't need to be taking too long."
"I appreciate the offer, but I left my bike at the gate. I should grab it."
Mr. Yuuki moved past me with a bag in his hand.
"You can ask someone to go get it for you or we can have staff hold it somewhere for the night. Either way, I insist."
I let out a sigh. I suppose that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Alright, you got me."
He dropped the bag next to her bed.
"Here's a bag full of goodies from home. I don't want my daughter wearing one of those itchy and uncomfortable hospital gowns all night."
"Thanks, Daddy."
"No problem." He said before he kissed her forehead. "Come on, Kazuto. We're wasting time."
I gave Asuna one last wave and then followed Mr. Yuuki out of the room.
Sometime Later
I had returned to the hospital after getting home to check in on Sugu and pack a small bag. Mr. Yuuki opted to just drop me off, instead of coming up with me to see Asuna again. I stood in front of her door and was considering knocking, but I didn't see the point, as she knew that I was coming back. I just opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind me again. As soon as I walked in, Asuna came running, now wearing sweatpants, a long sleeved shirt and socks.
"You're back!" she exclaimed as she continued to run to me.
As she got closer to me, she began to slip and fall. I quickly stepped forward and caught her. I had forgotten to mention that she'd be staying in the hospital for a while. After being in a coma for a couple weeks, her motor skills may have slightly decayed and the doctors thought that she may need rehabilitation.
"Of course, I am! You knew that I was coming back!"
She hugged me tight, refusing to get up from our spot on the floor.
"I know, it's just... I don't know. Part of me can't believe that this is real."
I chuckled.
"Well, believe it. We're really here."
Half An Hour Later
Sometime passed and we eventually turned in for the night. We were snuggled up against each other in the hospital bed. Asuna lay on top of me, with her head resting underneath my chin as I gently rubbed her back. We laid like that for what seemed like hours, before she let out a yawn.
"Good night, Kirito." she whispered to me.
I gently kissed the top of her head.
"Good night, Asuna."
After that, we fell asleep holding each other.
Suguha/Leafa
A Few Days Later
I had stuff to take care of on campus a few days later. I hadn't assumed that I would run into Nagata, however. I was about to leave campus when it happened.
"Hey, Kirigaya!" a male voice called out. "Wait up!"
"Huh?" I grunted as I turned to look in the direction of the voice.
I saw Nagata, better known as Recon, standing there.
"Nagata?" I asked. "What is it?"
"I just wanted to apologize for what I tried to pull in ALO. I get it. I'm sorry and I'll leave you alone now."
He turned and was about to walk away. I couldn't let him.
"Nagata! Wait!"
He turned back to look at me with red cheeks.
"What?"
I stepped closer.
"Please, don't apologize. I'm the one who should be doing that. I was terrible to you. I apologize. I'm sorry."
He was silent, so I had to continue speaking.
"I've been going through stuff in real life lately. Really complicated things that would be too hard to explain. If I read your actions the other day correctly, which I think I did, then I'm not ready for a relationship yet. I'm sorry."
He looked back at me with a hurt expression.
"But it won't always be like that. Maybe one day I'll be ready."
He continued to look at me after that, before he smiled and spoke.
"I think that I can live with that chance, Kirigaya."
I felt my face grow warm now. I stepped forward and gently took his hand.
"Please, call me 'Suguha', Nagata. You don't have to call me by my last name."
"O...Okay." he spoke in a shaking voice.
Kazuto/Kirito
April 17th, 2026
It had been about four months since Asuna had returned to the real world. And everything was back to normal. For the most part, anyway. Sugou was in jail for life after his experiments went public. No surprise there. And school had been in session for a while now. Asuna, Lisbeth, Silica and I all went to school on the same campus.
Speaking of Silica, she was one of the SAO survivors that was experimented on. It feels odd to think that during that entire time, she was gone and one of Sugou's victims. Her rehabilitation took a bit longer, but she did eventually get back to normal. And Asuna finally revealed how Sugou got to her.
Sugou actually had her kidnapped while she was walking home from our last date in late November. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I felt like I had failed as her boyfriend. How could I have been so careless and allow her to walk home by herself? If I had walked her home that night, would Sugou have been able to kidnap her?
Would the disappearances ever have been solved? Just then, I heard the sound of a bell ringing. I looked up as I rubbed my eyes, to see everyone getting out of their seats. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I had missed the last five minutes of class.
"Looks like that's all for today." Our teacher replied as he got ready to leave himself. "Keep an eye out for homework files twenty five and twenty six. Then be sure to upload your answers by next week."
That was what school was like. Most of, if not all of our work was done digitally. Gone were the days of standard paper and pencil. That probably had something to do with the fact that we had gotten used to a digital system while in SAO. Also, even though Asuna and I were a year apart in age, we managed to end up in one class together. So, that was kind of cool to find out. I got up from my desk and grabbed my bag. I left the room, along with my other classmates.
Five Minutes Later
I left the building on campus that I had been in and was walking to meet Asuna out in one of the courtyards. It was a nice enough spring day for it, anyway. I continued walking through the courtyard and I eventually came to a stop. There she was, in all of her glory. Asuna was sitting on one of the courtyard benches, not noticing me yet. I couldn't help but continue looking at her with a longing gaze. I eventually snapped out of my trance and decided that I should maybe approach her before she caught me staring. I walked over to the bench and now noticing me, she looked up and smiled.
"Hey, you." she said.
I smiled back as I dropped my bag to my left and sat down next to her.
"Hey." I said as I pecked her cheek.
As we smiled at each other, she eventually gave me a weird look.
"What?" I asked.
"You were staring again, weren't you?"
A surprised look came to my face as I shook my head,
"No, I wasn't! I swear!"
She continued to look at me before she sighed.
"If you say so." She replied before she smiled again. "Well, how are you?"
I nodded as I stretched and let out a yawn.
"Good. But tired. And also, hungry. Tired and hungry."
Her smile lessened a bit.
"You're starting to sound like an old man, Kirito."
"Yeah, well, I feel like I've put on a couple years in the last month alone. I feel old and I'm only seventeen. I honestly can't believe that it's been a year and a half since SAO."
"Not quite a year a half yet."
I shrugged.
"Yeah, whatever. Also, I told you not to call me Kirito. Call me Kazuto. It's rude to call people by their avatar name."
"That coming from the guy who still calls his friends by their avatar names, even in real life. And speaking of which, I told you that I'll always call you Kirito. On the account of that's who I knew you as. But now that I think of it, everyone will automatically know who I am, since I never came up with a 'real' avatar name."
I sighed.
"Well, it's not like it's a big deal. Every student on campus is an SAO survivor, so it doesn't matter much. So, my cover's probably blown, too."
She chuckled and went silent after that. After a few seconds of silence, I gently put my hand on top of hers, which surprised her.
"Asuna, it's been quite a while since your rehab ended. So, are you still getting around okay?"
"Mmm-hmm!" she nodded with a smile.
"Good." I said as I returned her nod. "That's good to know."
Suddenly, her cheeks turned a light pink.
"What? What is it?"
"Kirito, um, did you know that this courtyard is in full view of the cafeteria?"
I let out a light gasp as I felt my own cheeks heat up, but I eventually let out a sigh and chuckled.
"Oh, well." I said as I leaned back into the bench and put my hands behind my bed.
"That'll cost you lunch."
I shrugged.
"Sorry. Besides, you're the one who decided to meet here."
I knew that would ruin any argument that she would try to start.
"Alright, alright. Here you go."
I looked over, to see her handing me a sandwich just like the ones she made in SAO. I drew back a breath of disbelief. I would never get used to how good her cooking was (well, it wasn't cooking in this situation, but whatever). Honestly, I loved it.
"Asuna, you are a Goddess." I replied as I took it from her.
She chuckled with a smile as her cheeks turned pink again.
"Keep telling me that."
I bit into the sandwich and began eating my lunch. Silence passed between us for a while and so I spoke after I swallowed the chunk of sandwich that I had been working on.
"Hey, Asuna? How's your father doing?"
She looked back at me with a sad smile.
"He's doing okay. Daddy had to dissolve his company. He's retired now, but he plans on finding a hobby or getting a part time job."
I nodded.
"That's good. I'm glad to hear it."
Shouzou Yuuki was the former CEO of RECT Progress. Sugou Nobuyuki worked for Mr. Yuuki, even though he ran his own division. They still worked together, even after Asuna ended her relationship with Sugou. After the ALO Incident, Mr. Yuuki felt somewhat responsible for the whole thing and so he wanted close the company entirely. I looked up at the sky as I forgot about my sandwich.
A that night in the hospital parking lot, Sugou was arrested once his unethical experiments came known to the public. Later during the interrogations, he tried to deny his actions and pin the blame on Akihiko Kayaba, who had been dead for several months. A true psychopath. Once the police interviewed one of his employers, he then confessed to everything. The experiments, the kidnappings and the big one: that ALO was one big experiment in itself, never meant to be a serious gaming experience.
As for the SAO survivors? Well, all of them would make a full recovery and most of them had no memories of the experiments. No one suffered any psychological or neurological problems. Most of RCT Progress employees were let out with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, while Sugou's entire private security force, the ones responsible for the kidnappings, were all arrested. And unfortunately, the VRMMO genre has been dealt another fatal blow. The genre had already been on thin ice after the SAO Incident, but the ALO Incident may be the final nail in the coffin.
RCT Progress had to be dissolved. Which according to Asuna, is exactly what Mr. Yuuki wanted. Their parent company also suffered a hit. And of course, ALO had to be shut down entirely, which may have been for the best. As for the other five or six VRMMOs that were all in development, they've all been cancelled. Due to negative attention from the media, there most likely wasn't another way out.
"Hey, come to think of it, what happened to the Commander in the end?"
Asuna's question snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Who?" I asked.
"Oh, come on! Heathcliff! Akihiko Kayaba! That guy, or whatever you want to call him!"
"Oh. Um, yeah. Kayaba's dead now. They say it was suicide."
"Suicide?!"
I nodded.
"Yeah. As Aincrad collapsed, he did a high-output scan of his brain. I think that's how he got a copy of his neural mapping into my NerveGear. But after the scan, his mind was fried. Just like the countless others that died while in SAO."
She went quiet and I didn't blame her. Talking about the deaths in SAO left a depressing and negative feeling in the air.
"Was he actually trying to copy his consciousness to the Net?"
"Well, while there's a one in a thousand chance of it working, I know that he could have pulled it off. Hell, I spoke to his consciousness directly on my final day in ALO."
As I sat there, I couldn't help but think about that thing that he had given me that day. The Seed.
"Kirito? Earth to Kirito!"
I looked back up at her.
"About today's meeting with the others..."
That's when I remembered the meetup that we had scheduled today.
"Oh, right. Sorry, I was spacing out!"
She scooted closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder.
"You've been doing that a lot lately. It doesn't matter if you're in the game or in real life. The minute you relax, you space out like a champ!"
We sat there in silence for a few seconds before I spoke again.
"Shouldn't we get a move on?"
She let out a sigh as she continued resting her head on my shoulder.
"No. Let's just stay here for a bit longer."
I sighed myself as I rested the side of my head against hers.
"Okay."
Lisbeth/Rika
The Cafeteria
I stood with my hand on the glass window, squeezing the juice pouch in my other hand with anger at the sight of Kirito and Asuna kissing up to each other.
"Liz... I mean, Rika, seriously! You're driving me crazy!"
I turned to look at my two friends, Silica/Keiko and Sachi sitting at the cafeteria table in front of me.
"Leave me alone!" I complained as I looked back at the window. "He's practically drooling on her! They can't act like that at school, it's so wrong!"
"Spying on them is kinda wrong, too, you know."
I let out a sigh as I fell into my chair across from Keiko and Sachi.
"If I had known that it'd be like this, I wouldn't have let you guys talk me into a month long truce!"
I looked at Sachi.
"Why aren't you upset about this, Sachi? Didn't you like..."
The black-haired girl in question put up her hand.
"Hey, this is your issue. Leave me out of this."
I let out a sigh of defeat.
"Besides, it was your idea." Keiko replied. "Not mine."
I rolled my eyes and decided to change the subject.
"It's gonna be cool to meet everyone today, huh?"
"Yeah, totally!" Sachi replied.
"I can't wait!" Keiko said.
Kirito/Kazuto
The Dicey Café – A Couple Hours Later
Asuna, Suguha and I walked towards Agil's café, while Sugu trailed a bit behind us. I turned my head to look at her from over my shoulder.
"Sugu, I forgot to ask before." I spoke. "Have you met Agil?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. We went hunting a couple times in ALO. His avatar's ginormous!"
I chuckled.
"Yeah, well get ready. He's that big in real life, too! Prepare to have your mind blown!"
She flashed a smile at me, and we continued walking. We eventually reached the door, which had a sign on it, reading: 'closed for private party' and opened it, to see our entire friend group inside, plus a few other acquaintances. Asuna chuckled and waved while I sighed.
"Don't tell me." I said. "We're late, aren't we?"
"Nope!" Rika replied as she approached me. "We gave you a later time so everyone could get here first! It wouldn't be right for the guest of honor to show up before all of his guests do!"
She then grabbed my hand.
"Well, don't just stand there! Come on in!"
She pulled me to box in the back of the room and had me stand on it. She then grabbed a microphone and spoke into it.
"Okay, get ready everyone! Let's get a cheer on three!"
Three seconds passed and then:
"Congratulations on beating ALO, Kirito!"
Afterwards, confetti was blasted into my face and I could sense that there was a banner, saying: 'congratulations' rolling down behind me. I was getting a serious case of déjà vu right now. I let out a grunt as Lisbeth put a glass into my hand, filled with a liquid.
"Cheers, everyone!" she exclaimed as she took a drink from her glass.
Seeing as everyone back to drink from their glasses, I did the same.
"Cheers!" everyone cried in unison.
Sometime Later
Sometime into the party, I was approached by Diavel. We occasionally saw each other after ALO, but it was cool to see that he was here.
"Hey, Diavel. How are you doing?" I asked.
He smiled.
"I'm good. Good as can be expected. What about you? How's school going?"
I nodded.
"It's going alright. I'm getting by."
"That's good to hear."
"Well, I'm going to go to the bar to get a drink. If you'd want to join me, that'd be cool."
"I'll take you up on that!"
The two of us moved to the bar and sat down on two of the vacant stools.
"Bartender," I spoke with a sigh. "Bourbon on the rocks."
A small glass full of the requested drink was immediately slid down to me, while Diavel ordered the same thing. I looked up to see Agil winking at me. I picked up the glass, took a long drink of it and then cringed.
"Come on, Agil! This is Oolong tea! Pour me a real drink!"
"Agil, give me a big boy drink." Someone said.
I turned to my right and grunted to see Klein standing there.
"Seriously, Klein? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
He took a drink of his 'big boy drink', as he put it, before he answered.
"Alcohol makes the overtime go by faster."
I now noticed that Diavel wasn't complaining about his drink like I was. So, he either didn't care or Agil gave him a 'real drink'.
"Uh oh, chick alert!" Klein replied.
I turned to look at his direction, to see Asuna talking with a group of girls, Rika and Sachi being among them. I think I recognized one of the girls as the lady who ran that church full of children in Aincrad, but as for the rest of them, I was lost.
"Long time, no see." A male voice replied.
I turned to my right, to see that the man I had known as Thinker in SAO had sat down next to us. I smiled as I saw him.
"Hi, Thinker! How've you been?" I asked. "I heard that you and Yulier are married now. I know it's late, but congrats!"
I put up my hand and we clinked our glasses together.
"What he said." Diavel replied. "Congratulations, man."
Thinker nodded at him.
"Thank you. There was a period of adjustment after SAO, but I'm glad to say that everything is back to normal now."
I grinned.
"I'll drink to that! I can say the same thing."
"Well, I am finally fully adjusted back into work mode again."
Klein, like the obnoxious guy that he is, slammed his hands down onto the bar.
"Well, congrats on getting that far! I read the new MMO Today and I have to say, great work!"
Thinker chuckled.
"Yeah, I wish it were better. It could have used a bit more content."
"You'll find something." I said, before I turned to Klein. "Klein, do you mean to tell me that you still haven't settled back into your work life?"
He just shrugged.
"Anyway, with the way MMOs are now, who needs walkthroughs and news?" Thinker spoke once more. "Those things will be irrelevant soon anyway."
I chuckled.
"Yeah, well you know what they say about the universe being born. First there was chaos." I looked up at Agil as I spoke. "By the way, Agil, has the Seed been doing okay?"
"It's doing amazing!" he replied, as he walked over to his laptop, which sat on another section of the bar. "We got fifty mirrors already set up and it's been downloaded a hundred thousand times."
He turned to look at me with a smile.
"And wait till you hear this: It has three hundred big ass servers that are actually running it!"
I felt someone put their hands on my shoulders, but I didn't think anything of it. After I had stayed the night in the hospital with Asuna that night, I took the thing that Kayaba had called 'the Seed' to Agil and asked him to analyze it. It turned out that it was a full-dive MMO that Kayaba had developed. It came in a program package, called 'The World Seed', a stripped down version of the Cardinal system that could run on small servers.
Kayaba had modified the program, that way, anyone with access to an ordinary server could easily download it and use it to create their very own online world! After Agil determined that it was safe to use, I had some thinking to do. I could delete the program and forget that it had ever existed, or I could let it 'sprout', as Kayaba had put it. However, if I had deleted it, then I wouldn't be thinking about it right now, then would I?
Well, even though I hated the VRMMO genre after the ALO Incident, I couldn't deny that the genre still had endless potential for the public. So, I decided to let it grow and care for it in it's early stages, which it was still in. I had Agil to upload it to servers worldwide, that way anyone could download it for free. It turned out, that was exactly what the dying genre needed. And in a way, I saved the genre from dying off.
As for ALfheim Online, all of the data was transferred to a new company that decided to keep it online and running, hopefully this time with planned, new expansions that Sugou would never have thought of doing. But the new ALO wasn't the only thing that was born from the Seed. Everyone from individual gamers to a few hundred small companies were suddenly creating brand new worlds on their very own virtual game servers!
It may have been only three and a half months or so since I had it uploaded, but these new worlds were still appearing, and they showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. And if you ask me, the best part of all this, was the fact that they were all interconnected with each other. It's almost to the point where you can create a character in one world, then transfer it to another, with all its skills intact!
I looked up at Agil.
"Hey, has anything changed for tonight's after party?" I asked.
"Nope. We're still on for eleven! We're meeting up in Yggdrasil City!" he said.
"That's great! Um, is it still ready?"
He nodded with a wink, but said nothing. I let out a sigh of relief as I sat back with a smile on my face.
Suguha/Leafa
ALfheim, Cait Sith Territory – Above the Capital City, Freelia – 10:50 P.M.
I flew in the skies of the New ALfheim, all by myself. In this new version of ALO, players now had unlimited flight, except for in dungeons, so I was trying to push myself to my limits. I could see the moon above me, and I pushed myself to fly even faster. Just when I thought I would touch it; my flight came a stop and I was greeted with a system warning.
Warning: Altitude Limit, I read as I began to fall.
I just let it happen. I made no effort in recovering from my fall. I felt myself pass through the cloud layer, back towards the ground and that's when I felt someone catch me. I let out a gasp of shock and opened my eyes, to see Kazuto/Kirito holding me.
"You know, I was afraid that you'd fly up too high." He said with a smile. "It's almost eleven, so I came to get you."
I smiled back at him after a few seconds.
"Oh, okay. Thanks." I said as he let me down to begin hovering again.
I flew a small distance away from him and looked down.
"Hey, Kaz... Kirito, you know how ALO is now being ran by a different company and you can use your old SAO avatar?"
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Well, everyone is using their old avatars. So, why aren't you?"
"Hmm. I guess because in that world, the old Kirito's purpose has ended."
I turned to look at him with surprise. I eventually smiled again.
"Yeah, I guess so. So, I guess that I, Leafa the Sylph, was the first to meet Kirito the Spriggan and travel with him to The World Tree. That's pretty cool."
Kazuto/Kirito
I resisted the urge to tell her that it was Klein the Salamander who had met Kirito the Spriggan first. Suddenly, Leafa flew over to me.
"Hey, Kirito!" she replied as she took my hands. "Dance with me!"
"Huh?" I asked with surprise.
"Dance! It's an advanced technique that I just mastered. You just hover and slowly spin on your X-axis."
"Uh, okay."
I followed her instructions and slowly spun on my X-axis for about half a minute.
"Yeah, that's it!" she said. "You're doing great!"
She then took out a small jar of some kind, popped it open and a nice music began to play. It floated into the air and came to a stop above us as we continued dancing. We danced in silence for a while, before I spoke.
"Hey, Sugu?" I asked, not calling her by her avatar name.
She didn't seem offended by it.
"Yeah, big brother?"
"I'm sorry about that night back in December. You know, before Asuna had been freed?"
It may be odd, but until now, neither of us had brought it up. So, this seemed as good a time as any. She shook her head.
"Don't apologize. I should be apologizing. I overreacted that night. I had no right acting the way I did."
I shook my head this time.
"No, that's not what I'm talking about that. I don't care about that anymore. You were right about what you asked me that night. About me always avoiding you. Even after SAO, even though I tried to do the exact opposite, I still ended up avoiding you for the most part. I should have tried harder."
She looked at me for a few seconds, before she spoke again.
"No, it's okay. After a while, I actually understood your position. I can't imagine what I'd do if I discovered that my Mom and Dad, your Aunt and Uncle, weren't really my parents. Now, I could of see your actions to be somewhat understandable. But it means a lot to hear you say that now."
"Sugu, I meant what I said in that letter that day. You are important to me. To me, you aren't my cousin. You're my sister, regardless of what my birth certificate says. You have always been my little sister. And you always will be."
Her cheeks turned light red after that, but she eventually hugged me, and our dance momentarily stopped. Eventually, she pulled away and our dance began again.
"Hey, Kazuto?" she asked. "Have you checked out the Internet recently?"
I shook my head.
"No. What's going on there that's so interesting?"
"Oh, nothing in particular. It's just the fans of your manga. After the ALO Incident, their clamoring for a sequel or another manga from you."
I chuckled.
"I'm flattered. But if we're being honest, it's not my manga. It's our manga. You deserve just as much credit as I do. Without your illustrations, I couldn't have brought the world of SAO to life through pages."
Her cheeks turned red again.
"That's really nice of you to say. So, what do you say? Do you want to do another one?"
I thought about it for a few seconds.
"Actually, no. I don't plan on writing a sequel or another manga."
A look of surprise came to her eyes.
"What? Why?"
"Because, that story is personal to Asuna. I don't think that I can do that to her. Besides, I feel like the concept of a damsel in distress is overdone and even a cliché in popular culture. I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Well, wasn't SAO personal in a way? To the families of the deceased? Did you let that stop you?"
"Well, with all due respect to them, I think the story of SAO had to be told, as it happened."
She continued to look at me.
"I got it!" she eventually said.
"You got what?"
"I have an idea! Instead of Asuna being held against her will, what if it was you who was being held?"
I wrinkled my nose.
"Me? Why does it have to be me?"
"Think about it. Couldn't you see Sugou having you kidnapped and tortured within ALO as punishment as stealing Asuna from him? Or so he believes, anyway?"
I had to admit. That was pretty intriguing.
"You know what? That has some real merit to it, Suguha."
"Will you at least think it over?"
I nodded.
"I will. I promise."
We were eventually interrupted, by the sound of several wings flapping in the distance.
"Come on." I said as I took her hand. "We should get going to Ygg City!"
I grabbed her hand as she tried to protest, and we burst away from the skyline that we had danced by. Eventually, we came to a stop in front of the Tree. I looked up at the sky, as I heard the chime of a bell.
"It's coming, now." I said. "It'll be here any second now!"
"What?" she asked as she looked around. "What is it?"
I stared up at the sky for a few more seconds.
"Not yet, not yet... Okay, now!"
That's when the silhouette of something massive began to move in front of the moon. She let out a gasp next to me.
"No way! Is that...?"
"Yep, it's Aincrad!" I replied as it slowly began coming to stop in front of the moon. "Or, as it will be called: 'New Aincrad'! A world where death is no longer a threat to players!"
As it stopped, it began to shine bright like the setting sun.
"That's the floating castle. Redesigned floor by floor and adapted for gameplay within ALO!"
"How? I mean, what's it doing here?!"
"Because, so many people never got to experience the original Aincrad. And this version, is close enough to the original. And also, because this time, we're going to beat it. All of us, floor-by-floor. All the way until Floor One Hundred."
I patted Leafa on the head.
"Sugu, I went ahead and reset all of my stats. So, I'm a lot weaker now. I want to conquer Aincrad floor-by-floor, but as a level one like I was two years ago. I want to do it the right way. Even though I'll have to learn the strategies and monster algorithms all over again, I'll have you guys to help. And I have no doubt that we'll beat that castle."
She stared back at me, before smiling. And she nodded. We stood there, with my hand on her head, before we were interrupted.
"Hey, Kirito!" a male voice exclaimed. "You're late again, as usual!"
We turned to look at the mass of players that were approaching. At the forefront, was Klein as Salamander, Agil as a Gnome, Lisbeth as a Leprechaun, Silica as a Cait Sith, accompanied with Pina the Feather Dragon, Sachi as a Spriggan and Asuna, who now played as an Undine. Among them, I noticed Diavel (who still played as an Undine), Thinker and Yulier, Sasha (I finally remembered her name!), Lady Sakuya and Alicia Rue, accompanied by Sylphs and Cait Siths respectively, General Eugene and his Salamanders and Recon (or Nagata, Suguha's friend from real life).
"We're gonna leave you in the dust!" he exclaimed again.
"Go on ahead! We'll catch up with you guys!"
They flew past us.
"See you there!" Agil exclaimed.
"Come on!" Lisbeth exclaimed.
"Hurry!" Silica exclaimed.
Leafa and I looked at each other, smiled and nodded at each other. Eventually, Asuna flew over to us and came to a stop.
"Come on, you two!" she exclaimed as she took our hands in hers. "We're gonna miss the grand opening!"
And so, the three of us, hand in hand, flew onward, with nothing but the future ahead of us.
The End
Review Responses
SwordY05hi (Chapter 28): I'm sorry for what you went through on the last two chapters. Even if those fools did those things to you, I still like this story a lot. As a fellow writer, you are doing a wonderful story. You still have me enjoying all the way. That includes the squeals too. Go my awesome go. Also Merry Christmas and Happy New Years too. Go awesome writer, go.
Well, I appreciate your kind words. Even though I myself can no longer look at The Death Game as my crown achievement, I appreciate the things that you say. I'm glad that you like this story. That makes me a bit happier. Um, by squeals, did you by any chance mean "sequels"? I kinda doubt you did, but who knows? Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too. Thanks for the review, as always.
Naruto Sakura Uzumaki (Chapter 28): You definitely did well in painting how psychotic Noboyuki Sugou in this version. I already thought of him as psychotic and a sore loser in canon, and your version really improved showing his twisted personality. I still despise Sugou, because he has no care for humanity, ethics, or sympathy. He is worse than even PoH with his personality and twisted thoughts involving moral and human ethics.
Now it makes sense about the picture that Kirito received in the mail IRL in the beginning of this arc in your version of SAO. I was wondering about that for a while, but I didn't want to ask in the case of spoilers. I am glad that you are giving this story a chance of (eventually and hopefully) being continued after next chapter. Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Thanks, Naruto. I'm glad you thought that I did well of painting the picture of Sugou's insanity. What did you think of how unhealthy and underweight he was IRL? Um, about Kirito and Asuna's reunion (I was hoping that people would notice this), I had them use the only two lines of English lyrics from Aincrad's intro (as far as I know, anyway).
Asuna says one and Kirito says the other. Anyone like that? Or am I the only one who liked that thought? Yeah, about this story getting adapted again, I'll get to that in a little bit. So, thank you for being the reader that gave the most in-depth reviews on this story, it means a lot to. So, thanks for the review as always and happy 2020!
Author's Note:
* And so, my adaptation of SAO: Season One is finally complete! I hope those of you that enjoyed the story enjoyed the finale! Before we get into the details about Part II, I have something I want to say something.
* I have two thank yous that I want to say. So, first, obviously, I want to say thank you to those who have always supported this story. The fact that you've stuck around this long, means the world to me.
* But most of all, I want to say thank you to all the haters. Some of you may question my decision in doing this. If there are any readers who hate my story and you read this far, I owe you a big thank you. The fact that some of you readers who presumably hates my story, yet have read this far, it just blows my mind. I just wanted to thank the haters for sticking around (even though they didn't have to). I think that's more important than thanking my supporters, but maybe no one agrees. And if that's the case, then it's fine.
* Okay, now onto some details on this chapter, as well as all the details that I can give on the next adaptation. First of all, I had a lot more that I wanted to do with this chapter, but I had to cut a good amount of it due to time constraints. Also, I did actually have a "post credits scene" in mind, similar to what I did prior to Fairy Dance (when I dropped Sugou's name), to lay the ground work for the Phantom Bullet arc.
* Unfortunately, seeing as my adaptation of SAO II may never see the light of day, I had to cut the post credit scene. I didn't want to leave this story on a cliffhanger. However, if SAO II ends up happening (more on that later) I will go back and edit in the additional scene and cut the final The End subtitle. That's all on this chapter that I wanted to talk about. So, now onto SAO II.
* I think I have a lot more to talk about on SAO II. First, the way I would have gone about it. One, this story would have ended either way. I would have picked up SAO II, in a new separate story. My reasoning for that is for the longest time, on Netflix, SAO I and II were separate properties. It wasn't until over halfway into 2019 that they finally recognized SAO I and II as the same series.
* Seeing as that is now the case, I didn't have to do it that way anymore, but I still would have. Because I feel like launching a new story or "series" would have been a unique method to go about it. And I want to mention now, that the planned name I had ready to go was: "The Fatal Scythe". I decided to do this as a reference to the boss from SAO, as well as the fact that in SAO II, death is a big story element, maybe even more so than SAO I. And besides, I didn't want to call it: "The Death Game II" or something tacky like that.
* Now, for a little details into the plot (no spoilers in case it still happens). One reason why I decided to cancel "The Fatal Scythe", is because of how radical the ideas were compared to The Death Game. They were so radical, that I considered the fact that "The Fatal Scythe" may ruin SAO even more than my previous iteration did. I know many of you claim that I didn't ruin SAO, but that's just my thought process.
* As for a couple of these "radical ideas", they ranged from moving the Phantom Bullet arc to a different season to omitting a plot point all together, just because I didn't see the relevance of having it in this version, because of how The Death Game came out. That's all I'm willing to reveal. Hopefully it doesn't sound cringeworthy. But if anyone does think that it is cringe, it's fine. I don't think I care anymore.
* Now, for the final thing: What can you, as a reader, do to get SAO II or "The Fatal Scythe"? Well, here's what you can do for me. If my readers want another adaptation, I need at least ten people to tell me that they want another adaptation It can be either through reviews or private messages to me. That may seem like an absurdly small number, but I literally don't think that there are even five readers who care about this story.
* If there are ten, or way more than that, fine. That's cool. That's great even! It'd give me a boost in self esteem that I lost when this story took a deep dive. If the story does happen, then here's what I'll do. I will go back, cut out everything I mentioned and add that one scene, and put in a "next chapter" entry. So, that's all I got.
* If the story doesn't happen, I'll continue responding to reviews to this story as long as I shall get them. That's sort of a way to give back to the readers who still bother reading this. I know that I said this chapter would release on New Year's Eve and it's actually New Year's Day now. But I still think it counts. This will be released early, early, early on New Year's Day anyway.
* Like I said, thanks to all those who read this. I hope you all enjoyed this extra long finale! And without anything else to say, thanks for sticking around this long and I'll catch you on the flipside!
