Hey guys! Here it is, the Sequel to "Surviving Sword Art Online" I hope you enjoy it!
If you haven't read the previous story, please do, as the following WILL NOT make sense without knowledge of the first story :)
Enjoy!
Ch. 1 (Saya)
It had been four months since we had all escaped Sword Art Online and our lives were back to normal. Well, at least everyone else's was. Ryou would go out of his way everyday to visit me and see how I was doing, and Amaya and Hayate visited often. After escaping that game, Ryou had changed for the better and his bratty attitude had disappeared. Amaya still hated him, but Hayate and I managed to keep the peace.
"Good morning!" Ryou said entering my room with a tray of food. Sadly, my body wasn't recovering as quickly as Amaya, Hayate, and Ryou's. This was why I was still bedridden. After seeing Katashi's family, I would randomly pass out for no reason and this worried everyone.
"Thanks," I told Ryou after he placed a tray of cooked fish and steaming white rice. I had been staying at his mansion and he continued to feed me strange foods I couldn't even pronounce.
"This is really too much Ryou," I coughed trying to stand up. Instead of standing up I fell back onto my bed.
"The doctor said not to move around!" he yelled at me positioning me on the bed.
"I feel so useless. Why couldn't Amaya watch me?" I pouted as Ryou attempted to hand feed me. I pushed away his hand and smacked him behind the head.
"Don't even try," I growled. He slowly backed away, apparently heading my warning. At that second a familiar face ran into the room. Amaya was carrying a folded up wheel chair in one hand, placed it on the ground, and came over to greet me.
"Hey," she said gently placing a hot cloth on my head.
"I'm not sick." I mumbled.
"Maybe so, but I worry you know?" Amaya said helping me up.
"Where is Hayate?" I asked looking around.
"He is at work," Amaya said with a slightly sad expression. Starting last week, Hayate had begun to work at the train station as the day guard. After this, Amaya wasn't herself. You could really tell how she felt about him whenever you saw her like this.
"Now, time to get you out of this stuffy room," she laughed helping me into the wheelchair. As I sat there and watched Amaya beat the living daylights out of Ryou, I remembered when she bullied or gave Hayate a difficult time. I weakly smiled at this as she pushed me out of the room. Even though the room was larger than most houses, I was always eager to escape it and go for a walk with Amaya.
"So, how've you been doing?" Amaya asked me as she pushed me through a beautiful park. The trees towered over us and left us in the shade. It was spring and the hills were full of beautiful Camellia's.
Everyone thought it was a waist to grow flowers without fragrance, but whenever I saw one, I was reminded of how I was a flower without any fragrance. I had spirit once, but now that all remained was a small, broken, little girl. No matter how I looked at the situation, it always looked grim. Maybe it was because I lost Katashi, or maybe the guilt I felt for being the one who caused his death. That guilt ate away at me and never ceased.
"The flowers are very beautiful, but I wish we could smell them. I bet if we could, it would be the loveliest smell," Amaya said looking at me. I turned my head around to face her. She had found me out. Sometimes I was taken aback by how smart she was.
"Maybe, but we can't smell them so there is no point in keeping them around. They all end up dying eventually," I said dreamily looking up at the sky.
"Listen Saya, I know you have had it rough, but stop feeling sorry for yourself! You have your entire life ahead of you! Thousands of people died that day, unlike you… they never had a chance. Now, make the most of what you have!" she yelled. I was surprised at her words. She had never yelled at me before and for the rest of the walk, that harsh truth echoed in my mind.
(Amaya)
I shouldn't have yelled, but she was falling apart. If she fell apart any more, it would be impossible to fix. Every time I saw her she was always daydreaming or really out of it and I was worried. I continued to push her though the park in silence and realized this was the same park Hayate and I shared our first kiss together in. Not that we had kissed more than once, but it was a special memory.
"Thank you," Saya said after I helped her into her bed after the walk.
Ryou entered and tucked her in carefully. I hated that guy, but was thank full he was taking care of her.
"Say, Ryou can I talk to you?" I asked. He nodded and followed me into the hallway.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Why are you taking care of her like this? I mean you could get one of your servants to do it! Why are you going out of your way like this?" I asked in a demanding tone.
"She needs love," he answered dully. I smacked him in the arm hard. The nerve!
"NO! Not like that! I meant she needs to know people care about her. She is literally giving up the desire to live." he finished rubbing his arm.
My eyes opened I horror to this.
"Wh-why would she not want to live?" I stuttered.
"She has no family to return to. She doesn't need to look after you now that you have Hayate and the only person she could every completely trust and love is dead. She may have Hayate, me, and you, but that doesn't mean she is happy. I suddenly felt bad for yelling at her before."
"Can we speed up her rehabilitation?" I asked.
"Possibly, but it would be hard on Saya's body. You would need to convince her," Ryou said looking at her from the hallway. She stared out the window with a dreamy expression. Then after looking harder I saw a single tear fall from her left eye.
This was too much. I ran out of the house and straight to Hayate's work. I ran as fast as my feet could carry me until I reached the station. He was usually stationed here, but I couldn't find him anywhere. So, I waited by his office. After a few hours, my eyes felt heavy and I drifted off. I was woken up as I felt someone lift me up in their arms. My eyes flew open to see Hayate looking down at me with a slightly annoyed expression. "You shouldn't fall asleep in a place like this, someone could seriously hurt you idiot." he muttered looking away from me.
"Idiot?!" I jumped out of his arms and kicked him in the crotch as hard as I could. He fell to the ground and bit his lip until it began to bleed. I wiped my hands together and gave him my hand. He didn't take it and got up himself.
"You need to stop doing that." he sighed, grabbing my shoulder. After he quit his other line of work for my sake, he began to work here. Sometimes he would work overtime just to support me. He knew I had a future. I planned to study hard and get a stable job. I was still young, but I had nothing left. Hayate took care of me so I could go to school every day and still live comfortably. And for that... I love him.
Ryou had offered for me to live with him in his mansion, but I would have rather live poorly with Hayate. I couldn't stand the guy, even if he had changed. He wasn't really a brat anymore, but just his face… I know, you shouldn't hate someone because of their features, but something about him threw me off. Besides, at the time, Hayate wouldn't even allow Ryou within a 10 foot radius of me.
"What's wrong?" He turned me towards him.
"Its Saya..."
I explained everything to Hayate and after I was done he looked as pained as I felt.
"How will we convince her?" he asked me.
"I will try to convince her tomorrow. It will be fine," I said walking away. He caught up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug.
His arms wrapped around me and he stoked my hair gently, making me turn bright red.
"Hayatteee." I complained, elbowing him in the gut. He still didn't budge. But lately, that had been the case with him. He knew I was immune to his warm embraces, but did it anyway. Maybe this is what Ryou meant. I felt loved whenever he did things like this, even if it ended with him on the ground crying. Saya just needs to know we still love her. The following morning I made my way to Ryou's, prepared with hundreds of reasons on why she should try her best to get back on her feet again.
"Morning," Saya said, smiling weakly. I sat on her bed mustering up the courage to say something.
"I want to go back to school," Saya said suddenly. I fell off the bed at this remark.
"Really!?" I yelled. She nodded and removed the blankets.
"Tomorrow is Monday, will you take me?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.
"I want to see you smile again," I mumbled. I helplessly watched as she put both of her feet on the icy floor.
"Ju-just…don't help me ok?" she asked placing her hand on the wall. Her knees shook as she stood up. She fell to the floor multiple times before being able to stand on her own.
She took one step after the other coming towards me. She struggled and continued to fall, but got back up and continued towards me. After a half an hour she finally reached me and fell into my arms. At this point I was sobbing as I watched her look up at me with a large grin. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"So, school," I said laughing. She may be small and weak, but she is one of the strongest people I have ever and will ever know.
"I may have lost Katashi, but I won't lose you," she said as I helped her back to the bed. "I was ready to die and be with Katashi, but what you said yesterday really hit me in the gut. Katashi told me to live, but in the end I just wanted to die so I could be with him. You helped me realize there are so many things to live for. Even if those things are very small, they are still important to me. I love you Amaya," she sobbed as she began to hug me. "Why is the world so cruel!?" she continued to cry. I shook my head at this.
"The world is also very beautiful, like you Saya. I admire you in every way possible and promise to never leave your side," I said still hugging her.
"Who even are you?" She laughed a bit through her tears. Saya's face relaxed a little and I laid her down. But she was right, I was different.
In a few minutes Saya fell asleep and all I could hear was her snoring.
"Amaya I have some important information on the man who killed Katashi," Ryou told me coming into the room. "I had someone track down the guy that killed him and apparently one of his acquaintances is playing a new virtual reality called Gun Gale Online. This guy is seriously wanted, but we were able to hack the servers and get some information on him.
My eyes narrowed and I asked him if I could switch my profile from SAO to GGO. He nodded and asked me why, but never answered.
"Take care of Saya for me, I am going to find out who this guy is and how he was connected to him," I answered.
"Wait, one more thing. He was in the Laughing Coffin," he said suddenly.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" I scoffed. I left the room without another word.