Asuna’s captors slowly turn her body around. As expected, it was same two slugs from earlier.
Their 4 tennis ball sized eyes set with orange irises, moved to and fro on their stalks. The expressionless eyes turned to inspect Asuna’s body and face, then the left slug’s circular mouth moved oddly, a rasping voice coming out.
“—Who are you? What are you doing in this place?”
Asuna fought back her fear, and pretending nothing was wrong replied in a casual voice.
“Put me down now! I am a friend of Sugou. I came here to observe and now I’m leaving.”
“Oh? I haven’t heard anything about that?”
The slug on the right, turned two of its eyes as if it was tilting its head.
“You heard anything?”
“Not at all. ‘sides, ain’t it bad if outsiders see these?”
“Oh… wait…”
One of its eyestalks lengthened, the round eye getting a closer look at Asuna’s face.
“…It’s you right. You’re the person Sugou-chan locked up at the top of the World Tree…”
“Yes. I heard about that. How selfish, the boss keeping such a cute girl to himself.”
“Arg…”
Asuna looked over her shoulder at the console and extended her left leg to try to push the button. However, from the mouth of the slug came another tentacle that entangled her foot. Asuna struggled to reach the console, but her efforts amounted to nothing.
Because of going over the time limit, it returned to the initial screen.
“Hey, hey, don’t try to act violent.”
The slug extended more tentacles, and wrapped up her entire body. Enfolded mercilessly, the wire-like tentacles cut into the flesh of her stomach and thighs.
“Ouch…! Stop… Let go of me, you monster!”
“Oh, how cruel. Especially when I’m still experimenting with bathyesthesia mapping.”
“That’s right. Manipulating this body like this needed a lot of training.”
Being warped in silk like sharp pain that only exist in the illusional world, Asuna frowned and she desperately said:
“You two are scientists right…!? Participating in this… illegal, inhumane research, do you not feel ashamed!?”
“Ah, I feel this is much more humane than when we experimented with an animal’s exposed brain by using electrodes. These guys are really just dreaming.”
“Yes, yes. Sometimes we even let them have good feeling dreams. They should be thanking us!”
“…You are crazy…”
Asuna whispered, her body wrapped in a freezing chill. Those people, their true forms were those unfeeling slugs.
Paying no attention to Asuna, the two slugs start consulting each other.
“The boss is on a business trip, right? You go back to the real world and ask for instructions.”
“Che, guess I have no choice. Yana, don’t enjoy yourself while I’m gone.”
“I know, I know. Hurry and go.”
The slug removed some of the tentacles from Asuna’s body and dexterously operated the console with one tentacle. After pushing the buttons a few times, that huge body of his disappeared without a sound.
“…!!”
After seeing that, Asuna was driven by scorching frustration, she shook her tied up body recklessly. Right there in front of her - was the exit to the real world she had dreamed of. The exit opened a little, and the bright light from the outside lit up the floor.
“Let me go!! Let me go!! Let me go back home!!”
Asuna cried almost crazily, but the tentacles showed no signs of loosening.
“I can’t do that, the boss will kill me. More importantly, aren’t you bored in this place with nothing? How about we play with some electronic drugs? I was getting tired of those dolls anyway.”
As he said those words, the cold, damp tentacles stroked Asuna’s face.
“S…Stop!! What do you…!?”
Asuna desperately resisted, but the slug immediately extended new tentacles. Touching the skin of Asuna’s leg, the tentacles slowly reached up into her dress.
Asuna endured this unpleasant feeling, and pretended to lose all the strength in her body, and the ability to resist. The slug, taking advantage of that, moved a tentacle toward her mouth. Just as it was about to touch her lips -
Asuna raised her head and bit down -hard- on the tentacle.
“Ayhaa!! Ouchhhh!!”
Asuna ignored the screams of the slug and continued to bite down without mercy.
“S, stop, ouch, I understand, I understand!!”
After confirming that the tentacles were removed from her clothes, Asuna opened her mouth. The slug hurriedly retracted the injured tentacle.
“Ouch, I forgot to cut off the pain absorption…”
The slug withdrew an eye stalk and complained, then a pillar of light appeared beside him. The other slug appeared with some sound effects.
“…? What are you doing?”
“Nothing. What did the boss say?”
“He was crazy furious, he wants us to immediately put her back in the birdcage above the laboratory, change the door’s passcode, and monitor her 24 hours of the day.”
“Che, when I had finally found something to play with…”
Extreme depression caused her sight to dim. A golden opportunity had slipped through her fingers.
“At least we could walk her back instead of using the teleport function. I would still like to feel her a little more.”
“You like it too.”
The slug once again wrapped its tentacles around Asuna’s body, using it’s legless body to move toward the entrance of the room. At that moment, when the two slugs were not looking, Asuna quickly stretched out her right leg, and with her toes, pulled out the key card that was still in the slot of the console.
The screen disappeared, but the slugs didn’t seem to notice it. Bending her body like a shrimp, she moved the card from her toes to her hand.
“Come on now, you mustn’t act violently.”
The slug once again lifted up Asuna’s body and aimed for the exit.
With a clank, the latticed door to the birdcage closed. The slug used its tentacles to manipulate the number lock then waved it at Asuna.
“So long. If you have the chance, come and play again.”
“I never want to see your face again.”
After saying that bluntly, Asuna walked to the other side of the cage. The two slugs kept staring at her, but they finally turned around and crawled over the branches.
After a while, the world was wrapped in the darkness of night. Asuna stared at the blinking lights of the city far below, she whispered to herself:
“I won’t lose, Kirito-kun. I will never give up. I’ll definitely get out of here.”
She turned to look at the silver keycard in her hand. It was useless without a console, but now it was her only hope.
Asuna walked over to the bed, and pretending to lie down, hid the keycard under her pillow.
As she closed her eyes, fatigue fell over her and slowly wrapped her in a veil of sleep.
Chapter 7
Part 1
Out in the garden, a thin layer of snow still covered the ground, and the cold air wrapped around my body. Even so, the residual drowsiness would not leave my mind.
I shook my head a few times and then headed to the washstand in the corner of the garden. I twisted the antique silver faucet and placed my hands in the cascading water.
I threw some ice-cold water onto my face, and my facial nerves immediately winced with a numbing pain, and I marveled that the water hadn’t frozen. Ignoring the pain, I splashed water on my face two or three more times, then took a sip of water directly from the tap.
As I wiped my face with the towel hanging around my neck, the sliding glass door into the porch opened and Suguha came down the stairs wearing her jersey. Usually, she was very energetic in the morning, but today was a rare day, she was only half-awake with her he
ad wobbling.
“Good morning, Sugu.”
Hearing the sound of my voice, Suguha unsteadily walked in front of me, blinked, and said:
“Good morning, onii-chan.”
“You seem awfully sleepy. When did you go to bed yesterday?”
“Well, about four o’clock.”
More than a little surprised, I shook my head.
“This is not good at all, a child shouldn’t stay up so late. What were you doing?”
“Well… I was on the net…”
The answer surprised me a little. If it was the old Suguha, I could not imagine her staying up on the net so late. This girl… she has grown up quite well in the past two years that I wasn’t here, I thought with a pang of emotion.
“As long as it is in moderation - not that I’m someone with the right to say that…”
My voice sounded vague as I said the last part, and suddenly I remembered something that happened last night, and so I said:
“Hey Sugu, turn around.”
“….?”
Still only half-awake and tilting her head at my request, Suguha turned half way around. I put my right hand under the faucet and thoroughly wet my hand, then I pulled down the neck of her jersey and let at least half a dozen drops of cryogenic temperature water drip down her back.
“Piaaaaaa –-!!”
Suguha jumped and let loose a scream that echoed grandly.
Suguha kept pouting during stretching and exercising, but I promised to take her to a nearby family restaurant to eat an expensive raspberry cream parfait, and she easily recovered her good humor.
Today, since we had both overslept, by the time we had finished training and took turns showering, it was already nine o’clock. Our mother was, as usual, still sleeping deeply in her bedroom, so Suguha and I made breakfast together.
As I washed some tomatoes and cut them into six equal parts, she chopped up a head of lettuce, Suguha then looked at me and asked:
“Onii-chan, what are you planning to do today?”
“Well, I have a promise to keep a little after noon, but I think I’ll go visit the hospital this morning.”
“I see…”
Since I became aware of Asuna’s situation, visiting the hospital every other day had become my most important habit.
In the real world, I’m only 16 years old, and there was little I could do for Asuna. No, one could say I couldn’t do anything at all. All I could do was hold her hand and continue to pray.
The photos I received from Egil surfaced in my mind.
After finding a clue, I stepped into the imaginary world of ALfheim and after two days, finally arrived near the location in the photo, even if there was no evidence that it was Asuna. I might just be looking in the totally wrong direction.
But in that world I will find something - that I’m positive.
Sugou wished for Asuna to sleep forever, and ALfheim Online is administered by the company under that guy’s control. The character data of «Kirito» existing in that world, and the presence of the SAO mental care AI, «Yui»… I did not yet understand what kind of puzzle those pieces would build.
I intended to breakthrough the final challenge of that fairy land and climb the «World Tree» today, as soon as the ALO server maintenance was complete. Every time I thought about it, my back trembled in anticipation. It didn’t seem like I would be able to quietly endure waiting for the maintenance to end just sitting in my room, asking myself if I was following the correct path or not.
That’s why, before that I would like to see the real Asuna again and feel her warmth. Sugou may have told me to not go back and see her, but he basically can’t do anything about me visiting anyway.
With the cut tomatoes, lettuce and watercress mixed in a bowl, I sprinkled it with dressing and stirred. Beside me, Suguha, who had been silent for a while, looked up and opened her mouth to ask:
“Say, onii-chan. Can I go with you to the hospital…?”
“Oh..?”
I’m a little bewildered. Thus far Suguha had never bothered to learn about anything regarding SAO. I had told her about who Asuna is before, but other than that I hadn’t told her my character name or anything else.
Last night, overwhelmed after learning of Asuna’s marriage to Sugou, I had burst into tears in front of Suguha. Although I still felt a little awkward, I nodded with a calm expression.
“Oh.. sure. Asuna would be very happy about that.”
After hearing this, Suguha smiled and nodded. I don’t know why, but it seemed that her smiling face also contained a hint of sadness as I looked into her eyes. But Suguha turned around, took the bowl and walked to the kitchen table.
After that she did not show any strange looks, and I soon forgot about that awkward smile.
“Onii-chan, what are you going to do about school?”
Suguha inquired while sitting on the opposite side of the table from me, noisily chewing the crisp, raw vegetables.
That was a reasonable question. I was fourteen and in the autumn of my second-year of junior high school when I was trapped inside SAO. Escaping after two years, I was now sixteen years old. I should have been a second-year high school student as of April this year, but I didn’t take the entrance exams. Even if I took the exams now, the majority of my memory had been devoted to the enormous amount of SAO-related data. To forget the price of items and the attack patterns of monsters, then memorize History and English would take a long time.
On this point, a man in a suit and tie with glasses from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications came and spoke to me. My mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of Asuna, and did not pay much attention, but despite that I somehow recalled what he said.
“There seems to be… plans to take a school building that had been abandoned due to unification and reorganization, then transform it into a temporary school, specializing in teaching the middle and high school students that returned from SAO. Everyone is accepted without an entrance examination and will be eligible to take the entrance examinations for university when we graduate.”
“Oh, I see. That is good to hear… I guess …”
Suguha smiled, but then she frowned, and in a low voice said:
“…It feels like that is, too much wholesale support…”
“Oh, your intuition is good.”
I grinned at the words of my younger sister.
“I think the government’s goal is just that. After all we have spent the past two years in a brutal game of death. The bureaucrats are probably worried about how our mental health has been affected. So they are throwing us all together, that way they can manage us all in one place, giving them some peace of mind.”
“How could….”
Suguha’s face distorted in irritation, so I hastily added:
“However, despite the management, I have to thank them for the safety net. Even if I want to take the entrance examination for a normal high school, I’d have to cram for a year. Of course, it is not compulsory for us to go to this temporary school, we can select to study for exams ourselves if we want to.”
“You could do just that, Onii-chan’s marks are good.”
“That should be past tense, I haven’t studied for two years.”
“Then I’ll tutor you!”
“Oh, then can I ask you for help with mathematics and information processing?”
“Ugh….”
Grinning at Suguha, who seemed to be at a loss for words, I stuffed a piece of buttered toast into my mouth.
Actually, I was in no state of mind to be thinking about school at the moment. There was still Asuna’s situation to consider, at the same time I had no real feeling about being a student.
In the two months since I returned to the real world, I’ve felt uneasy without the two beloved swords on my back. I understood that this was the real world, there are no monsters which want to attack me and take my life, but I still felt uneasy. The essence of me, the «Swordsman Kirito», going to school
and attending classes as «Kirigaya Kazuto», which still feels like something of a illusory existence.
That was, in my heart Sword Art Online hadn’t really ended yet. Until Asuna had returned to this world, I couldn’t put down my sword. After I returned her to this world - then everything could start.
Paying for the tickets using my cell phone, Suguha and I took the bus today. In the past I had always ridden my bike to the hospital, but I decided to take a little break from stamina training today.
Looking up at the hospital, Suguha’s eyes widened and she blinked in surprise.
“Uwaa, it’s a big hospital.”
“The inside is amazing too, it’s equal to a hotel.”
Waving to the guard, Suguha and I went through the front gate. After walking a few minutes on the path that was surprisingly long by foot, we stepped into the huge, dark brown building. As Suguha seemed to have heaven-sent good health, visiting a hospital at all was rare for her, so she looked around everywhere. I had to pull her by the collar to get to the reception desk so I could ask for some passes. Riding the elevator to the top, we came out into a corridor with very few visitors.
“Here….?”
“Yes.”
I nodded my head, inserting the pass card into the slot on the door. Looking at the metal plate next to the door, Suguha muttered:
“Yuuki… Asuna-san… her character name is her real name. You rarely see that kind of person.”
“Oh, you know a lot. As far as I know, Asuna is the only person who used her real name…”
While we spoke, I slid the card into the slot. The orange LED light turned blue, and with a discrete sound the door opened.
A strong scented aroma drifted out from the flowers inside. Holding even the sound of my breathing, I stepped into the sleeping princess’ peaceful bedroom. Suguha stuck to me as we walked in, and I could feel her tension.
Reaching for the white curtain, I, as usual, uttered a short prayer.
Sword Art Online - Volume 4 - Fairy Dance Page 7