"Wow, it's gorgeous out here," sixteen-year-old Nick Kelly quipped as he made his way down the street, a pre-set route that had been burned deep into his memory for the past year. "Guess the weatherman was right after all."
Nick looked up at the sky, which was currently as clear as it could be. And considering it had been raining pretty hard in ALfheim Online recently, it was a welcome change to him.
"Seriously, I thought that storm was never going to end," Nick groaned, remembering that particular event. "And one of my most useful skills is lightning-based, so that was pretty annoying."
Shaking it off for now, knowing the weather there would change soon enough, Nick focused on what was ahead.
A few turns later and Nick found himself in front of the local hospital.
"Well, here we go," Nick stated to nobody in particular before pushing the doors open and stepping into the lobby.
It was a really nice-looking place, especially considering the new technology this hospital was using after the Sword Art Online incident.
"Excuse me?" Nick called to the receptionist, a young woman of about twenty-nine. "I'm here to visit the patient on F-24."
"Oh, hello, Kelly-san," the woman proclaimed. "How are you feeling today?"
"Mostly good," Nick replied. "I kinda got rained on in ALfheim, but otherwise I'm pretty dry. Speaking of ALfheim, how is she today, doctor?"
"She's doing okay," the woman answered, knowing who Nick was referring to, as he was a frequent visitor for her, showing up just about every day just to hang out with her. "I think she misses you."
"It's only been a day," Nick teased. "So, joking aside, am I clear to go and hang with her?"
"Go right ahead, Kelly-san," the woman replied, reaching out to grab a clipboard. "Just sign yourself in and you're good to go."
After writing his name on the sign-in sheet, Nick took the elevator up to the third floor, walking a few hallways down to roof F-24. The nameplate above the door read "Konno Yuuki".
Smiling to himself, Nick turned the knob and opened the door.
Inside, on the hospital bed where the Medicuboid rested, was a girl about a year younger than him with lustrous purplish-black hair and sharp red eyes reading one of the manga he'd loaned to her a few days ago.
"Hey, Yuuki," Nick stated.
Yuuki Konno looked up from the book and smiled brightly at Nick. "Hi, Nick."
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(Never give up on your dreams, especially if you consider them to be worth fighting for.)
The Blue Time Ranger presents...
Sword Art Online: Memory Rosario
Story Created: September 14th, 2015
Rated: T for Teen
Summary: Nick Kelly and Yuuki Konno have had a rather odd life. With Yuuki constantly in the hospital, Nick has taken it upon himself to care for her, knowing that he may not have much time left with his best friend. However, a series of strange events begin to plague them. Between ALfheim Online where Nick and Yuuki are being stalked by a strange guild, and the real world where rumors are spreading about the return of Death Gun, Nick and Yuuki will have to protect each other with their lives if they hope to survive...
Author's Note: All right, guys, I'm back with my first Sword Art Online story! Now, obviously, this is an AU story, but I'm going to try to keep the events of the Mother's Rosario arc in this story as best I can. (DAMN YOU and your FEELS, Kawahara!) Now, it's hard to say where this one came from. I had just finished watching the Mother's Rosario arc of the anime (yay for Toonami), and after a bit, I thought of something. That something is this story you're reading.
Timeline Placement: Though a slight AU to accomodate my OC, this story takes place before the end of the Mother's Rosario arc (Volume 7 of the novels and most of the second half of anime season 2), basically inbetween the time when Asuna reconciled with her mother and... *sniff* no spoilers. *sob* (even though you probably know already).
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Sword Art Online. That's Reki Kawahara, not me. Anything I don't own, I am just borrowing. The character of Nick Kelly belongs to me, and he many only be used in your stuff with my permission. (I'll probably always say yes, as long as you don't make him look bad.)
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Episode 1: The Whirlwind Knight and the Absolute Sword
Nick smiled himself as he sat down by Yuuki. "You enjoying that one?" Nick wondered.
"Seriously, Nick, you have an amazing manga collection!" Yuuki giggled, bookmarking her spot in the manga. "How do you do it?"
"I read a hell of a lot as a kid, so I guess it never really went away," Nick quipped. "My grandma helped out, too. She always knew just what I wanted to read."
"That one's getting really juicy!" Yuuki proclaimed. "I seriously can't believe that he actually went back to her after what she did!"
Before Yuuki could continue rambling about the manga, she suddenly keeled over and went into a coughing fit. Nick was over there in a flash, holding Yuuki by the shoulders to steady her.
Once Yuuki had stopped coughing, Nick patted Yuuki on the head. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Probably shouldn't have started gushing so loudly," Yuuki admitted. "I forgot what happened last time I did that."
Yuuki smiled again, leaning over to hug Nick tightly. "Thank you for being such a sweetheart to me."
"Hey, you're my best friend, Yuuki," Nick answered, holding Yuuki close to him. "And that's the way it's always gonna be."
Yuuki sighed happily at that. She loved hearing that from Nick, especially since she knew she probably wouldn't live too much longer unless a cure was found for her condition soon.
"So, anything on the agenda for today?" Yuuki asked, letting go of Nick.
"Well, I'm definitely staying for a lot longer this time," Nick answered. "Mom's not going to be back until past ten."
"Why does it always seem like there's no set script for when your mom gets done with work?" Yuuki wondered.
"Blame the bigwigs up there," Nick answered. He really had no clue how his mother's job worked. "They're a bunch of nutballs."
While they were talking, Nick reached out for his cell phone and began to type out a text message to his mother.
Mom, at the hospital. Going to hang with Yuuki for a while.
"That should hold her," Nick stated.
"She's protective, huh?" Yuuki giggled. She hadn't seen Nick's mother Rhea that much, but liked what she knew of her.
"Just a mom thing," Nick replied. Nick knew to choose his words carefully when it came to talking about parents around Yuuki, as her parents had died two years ago from the same infection that had taken out the rest of her family. And even more, considering his own father had died a year ago from a car accident.
"So, what do you feel like doing today, Yuuki?" Nick asked.
"You wanna jump to ALfheim?" Yuuki offered. "I heard there's something really interesting on floor thirty!"
"A new quest, maybe?" Nick wondered, grabbing his backpack and fishing out his Amusphere. "The tech dudes were pretty blatant about the new quests that came with the update."
"Well, only one way to find out!" Yuuki laughed, laying back down on her bed and reaching out to place the Medicuboid over her head.
Nick walked over to the other bed on the right side of the room and laid on it while setting up his Amusphere.
"See you on the other side, Yuuki," Nick quipped. Yuuki flashed a thumbs-up from her side.
Then, the two closed their eyes and prepared to dive.
"LINK START!" Nick and Yuuki shouted together.
After a vortex of multi-colored light flooded his vision, Nick found himself at the entrance gate to floor thirty of New Aincrad.
Aincrad. He still wasn't used to that name, especially considering the Sword Art Online incident.
Nick actually hadn't been one of the ten thousand players trapped in Sword Art Online, having only started VRMMOs when he'd gotten ALfheim Online as a birthday present, despite his parents being extremely wary. Nick could understand them being worried that the incident would repeat itself, even though the one who'd trapped all those people, SAO's creator Akihiko Kayaba, was dead.
And, as it turned out, even ALfheim wasn't completely safe. Nobuyuki Sugou, the GM of ALfheim, disguised as Oberon the Fairy King, had intercepted three hundred players' minds to conduct experiments on mind control via fulldive technology. Even though he had eventually been defeated by Kirito, the one who'd beaten SAO, ALfheim had been shut down when the public learned of Sugou's experiments.
Though it was only temporary. Not too long after, ALfheim and many other VRMMOs were reborn through a new program called "The Seed". Along with the return of ALfheim came the return of Castle Aincrad from Sword Art Online, the players now intent on clearing all one hundred floors now that the virtual worlds were finally safe.
Nick swung his sword a few times, making sure his calibration was up to speed, before waiting for Yuuki to show up.
Nick's handle on ALfheim Online was Makoto, the Whirlwind Knight. He preferred using his swords and shields both offensively and defensively, able to think of new combinations on the fly as he continued to play. He had earned the moniker of "Whirlwind Knight" due to one of his signature moves being basically a tornado of sword slash attacks.
"Hey!" Yuuki shouted, rushing out from the teleport gate to meet Nick. "Couldn't wait for me, could you?"
"I just took a few steps, silly," Nick quipped. "Well, let's move out. Dahngrest is waiting for us."
"Dahngrest?" Yuuki repeated. "Seems like a rather silly name for a city."
"Well, from what I could gather, it's based on a similar city from a really old RPG," Nick explained. "I think there, it was a city where guilds could come together and not be bound by the rules of their corrupt empire."
"It really does look like a nice place," Yuuki quipped. "Let's go see what it's got in store!"
And so, hand in hand, Nick and Yuuki entered the city of Dahngrest. The city was similar in many ways to a capital city, and at times, Nick thought it resembled Grandzam, the home city of the Knights of the Blood Oath back in Sword Art Online.
"Are the Sleeping Knights already here?" Nick asked, referring to Yuuki's guild.
"Yeah, they already went ahead," Yuuki stated. "Cardinal only knows where they're stationed by now."
Nick would have responded if he hadn't felt something strange nearby, almost as if they were being watched.
Nick reached for the handle of his sword, the Liberty Bell, just in case anything jumped out at them.
After a few seconds, the strange feeling went away and Nick relaxed his death grip on his sword. Still, the sensation lingered, leaving Nick to wonder what exactly was going on.
Eh, probably just some idiots trying to stalk us and take our stuff, Nick thought. I'll just bet they don't know that I'm partied up with the "Absolute Sword". They'd abandon THAT idea pretty quickly if they knew that.
As Nick and Yuuki continued to explore, Nick took a good look at the horizon far ahead, knowing that the odd structure on the far edge of Dahngrest was the entrance to the floor labyrinth, which most likely wouldn't be unlocked until the next major game update in a few days, when floors thirty-one to forty would be open in New Aincrad.
"Okay, there's nothing to do here, is there?" Yuuki groaned.
"Probably because the labyrinth won't be open until the next update," Nick responded. "Wanna go back to floor twenty-two? I heard there's a new secret quest down there."
"Good idea!" Yuuki proclaimed, as they both jogged the short distance back to the floor's teleport gate. "Teleport, floor 22!"
And with that, the two vanished as rings of light surrounded them, eventually reappearing in the teleport plaza of Coral Village.
"Oh, and before you ask, Asuna's doing just fine," Yuuki giggled, knowing exactly what Nick was going to ask her. "She and Kirito-san are off on some random quest on floor 28."
"Just like them, huh?" Nick quipped. Though Nick had never personally met Asuna Yuuki, he had definitely heard of her legendary exploits. Nowadays, there was no one in ALfheim or New Aincrad who hadn't heard of "Lightning Flash" Asuna.
"Okay, let's go find that quest," Yuuki proclaimed, marching off into the forest with Nick not far behind.
But again, Nick sensed something off about the area, as if there were people watching them.
Is it just my imagination? Nick thought. Could my instincts just be playing with me? Or is there really someone trying to tail us? Do they want to swipe this quest out from under us?
Nick once again gripped the handle of Liberty Bell. Just let 'em try.
"Hey, Nick, I think I see something," Yuuki quipped, pointing towards an odd structure that easily stuck out amongst the tranquility of the Coral Forest. "You think that's where the quest starts?"
"Only one way to find out," Nick answered, and the two walked up to the structure. Nick looked at the info window above it, which read QUEST: REVENGE OF THE NORTH WITCH.
"North Witch? Someone lives in that dank-looking dungeon?!" Yuuki gasped.
"Hey, this reminds me of something," Nick noted. "There was a quest back in the Old Aincrad that was tied to that house that Asuna and Kirito own. It had something to do with a Wicked Witch of the West, so maybe they added this quest as a bit of continuity."
"Well, if she wants her revenge, what do you say we go kick her face in?" Yuuki giggled.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Nick replied, walking up and activating the quest. The wall of light surrounding the structure dissolved, and the doors opened all on their own.
"Ready?" Nick asked, drawing Liberty Bell and equipping his shield, the Dreamcloud.
"You know it," Yuuki proclaimed as the two adventurers walked into the dungeon entrance.
However, as they disappeared from sight, three shadowy figures appeared from out of nowhere, flanking each side of the dungeon entrance.
"What do we do now?" the first figure wondered. "We can't go in while the quest is active."
"We wait for them to finish and return, then we strike," the second figure replied.
"This will be fun," the third figure laughed.
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Yuuki leapt back, swinging her sword around her to defend against the monster's storm of needle attacks. "Argh, this isn't working!" Yuuki growled. "This thing's got me pinned down!"
"Let me take a crack at it," Nick replied, raising Dreamcloud in front of him and rushing towards the cactus-themed skeletal knight. The monster roared and unleashed another storm of needles, but they simply bounced off of the Dreamcloud as Nick continued to rush forward.
Once he was close enough, Nick snuck a quick glance at the Cactuar Knight's HP bar; it was down to about half.
All right, now we're ready to party, Nick thought, readying his attack.
The Cactuar Knight snarled, swinging its scimitar at Nick, but he quickly blocked with Dreamcloud, them shoved it forward, pushing the Cactuar Knight off-balance.
"Now eat some of THIS!" Nick shouted, slashing out with Liberty Bell and catching the Cactuar Knight across its chest.
Liberty Bell's blade began to glow a bright orange, and Nick began to lash out with a savage flurry of sword strikes.
A left-horizontal spiral slash, a right-horizontal flourish, a vertical uppercut, a downward spike, four left-to-right-to-left slashes, a diagonal uppercut, and a downward chop, Liberty Bell's blade leaving orange light trails with each strike.
An outward stab, a right-hand slice, two diagonal slashes in an X formation, a quick slap with the flat of the blade, and finally, Nick gripped the blade tightly, leaping into the air and slicing downward with all the force of a crashing airliner, Liberty Bell tearing clean through the monster and its already depleted HP bar. The Cactuar Knight bellowed in rage and agony one last time before exploding into blue-green shards of light.
"YES!" Yuuki exclaimed, rushing up to Nick as he returned to his normal stance. "I never get tired of watching that move, Nick."
Nick smiled in triumph. He had just defeated the Cactuar Knight with his own Original Sword Skill, Ars Arcanum, a deadly barrage of sword strikes that gave the opponent no time to counter or react once it connected. Nick knew, however, that if the first hit was blocked, the opponent could then block or counter the rest of the attack, so he always made sure to use his shield to throw the opponent off-balance before he unleashed Ars Arcanum.
"That should be the last of the knights," Nick stated, checking the dungeon map. "The boss room should be close by."
Nick chanted his healing spell, surrounding himself and Yuuki with a vortex of soft green light that instantly healed them both to full health.
"All right, you ready to take this witch down?" Nick quipped.
"Let's do it!" Yuuki proclaimed, and the two jogged a short distance to the room where the North Witch would be waiting.
Sure enough, the arena-styled room lit up with dark flames across the walls as a figure descended from the ceiling, eventually revealing itself as the boss descended, The North Witch, Embracer of Despair.
"You who destroyed my sister," the North Witch proclaimed, waving her scepter threateningly at Nick and Yuuki. "You who dare to show your faces in my lair, prepare to embrace despair unlike anything else in this world!"
Yuuki quickly raised her hands, chanting a spell that caused both her and Nick to glow a bright red, raising both their attack and defense exponentially.
"All right, Nick, we're all buffed out! Let's take her down!" Yuuki shouted. Nick nodded back, both of them drawing their weapons and charging into battle with the North Witch.
Almost immediately, the battle devolved into flat-out chaos, the North Witch flinging powerful spells every which way, and Nick and Yuuki dodging and countering as best they could while taking turns doing what damage they could. The North Witch, though she only had two health bars, seemed to have significant defenses, and was better at reading moves and countering than other monsters they'd faced recently.
The battle thankfully turned in their favor when Yuuki had opted to tank a hit while at close range and unleash a Quadruple Pain, giving Nick enough time to rush in before the North Witch could regain her balance and ravage her with another Ars Arcanum, easily emptying the first health bar.
"I see you will not be swayed," the North Witch proclaimed, a vortex of darkness surrounding her body before exploding into a dark aura that made her look even more menacing. "Then prepare to embrace oblivion!"
"All right, she's changing attack patterns!" Nick shouted. "You know the drill, Yuuki!"
"Roger!" Yuuki proclaimed, giving a cute mock-salute before charging in, lashing out with a Quadruple Pain...
...only for the North Witch to easily block it and counter with an overhead mass of dark magic that slammed Yuuki into the ground, creating a massive crater where she'd impacted.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" Nick shouted, gripping Liberty Bell tightly and chanting a spell. Holy light surrounded the blade, and Nick rushed over, dodging around another dark magic shot and swinging Liberty Bell, unleashing a large wave of holy magic that knocked the North Witch out of her flight pattern and straight to the ground. Nick didn't waste any time in leaping into the air and coming down hard, driving Liberty Bell straight through the North Witch's chest and impaling her on the ground before rushing over to where Yuuki was. Nick immediately chanted his healing spell and healed Yuuki completely.
"You okay?" Nick asked, helping Yuuki to her feet.
"I should be," Yuuki admitted. "But once I get a chance, I'm giving that witch lady a good shank! THAT HURT!"
"Well, I think we've got our chance now," Nick stated, pointing to where the North Witch was, impaled to the ground by Liberty Bell. "Okay, here's the plan: she's down to her last bit of health, so we're going to charge over there and finish her. I'll yank my sword out, and that'll most likely stun her long enough for you to whip out a Mother's Rosario. That should take her down."
"Best idea I've heard all day," Yuuki giggled, mimicking Nick's earlier words. "Let's finish off this nutcase!"
The two high-fived each other before dashing over. Nick quickly made a grab for his sword, yanking Liberty Bell out and freezing the North Witch in her place.
"Yuuki, DO IT!" Nick shouted, giving Yuuki the signal to attack. Yuuki readied her weapon and stabbed outwards five times, creating a horizontal line down the North Witch's chest. Yuuki spun around and stabbed out five more times, creating another line going the opposite way, both lines forming a sort of X. Finally, Yuuki reared back and thrust her sword forward with a loud battle cry, driving the point of her blade straight into the center of the X she'd formed with her earlier sword stabs. Purple light exploded from the North Witch's wounds upon impact, and her last HP bar dwindled to nothing.
"This is not the end!" the North Witch bellowed. "I will return! Just you wait and see!"
With that, the North Witch had spoken her last, and exploded into shards of light. The message QUEST CLEAR! appeared above both players' menu screens.
"We did it!" Yuuki exclaimed. "Oh, MAN, that was one heck of a fight!"
Suddenly, Yuuki felt something in her inventory that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. She looked down, and saw that a pendant was now hanging from her neck, surprisingly similar to the one that the North Witch had worn. Checking her information window, Yuuki saw that her new item was the Memento Pendant, obtained by defeating the boss with an Original Sword Skill.
"Oh, cool!" Yuuki giggled.
"It looks good on you," Nick admitted.
"Oh, you flatterer, you," Yuuki stated, blushing slightly, though she was immediately snapped out of her reverie when the entire area began to quake. "W-wha-what the heck's happening now?!"
"It looks like the lair's collapsing!" Nick exclaimed. "Cliché, but it works! Let's get out of here!"
Nick and Yuuki hightailed it for the exit, still cursing the fact that they couldn't fly in a dungeon.
By the time they escaped back into the forest of Coral Village, night had fallen on ALfheim.
"Holy crap, how long were we in that dungeon?!" Nick exclaimed.
"Long enough to give us a run for our money," Yuuki gasped.
Nick, acting on pure instinct, brought Dreamcloud up to block a sword strike that had been on a course to impale him through the gut.
"All right, whoever's out there, show yourself!" Nick growled, and the three figures from earlier stepped out of the shadows, all wearing brownish-black hoods that obscured their avatars.
"Hey, wait, were you morons camping outside the dungeon the whole time we were in there?!" Yuuki exclaimed, drawing her sword.
"You could say that," the first figure proclaimed.
"And now, if you would be so kind as to hand over that pendant," the second figure taunted.
"Oh, you can FORGET IT!" Yuuki growled, clutching her pendant tightly. "I won this thing fair and square, so you can keep your grubby hands off of it!"
"I'm afraid that we're not asking," the third figure stated, drawing his longsword.
"Okay, I think I'm done talking," Yuuki proclaimed, getting into a battle stance. "Hey, Nick, you want me to give these guys a taste of what it means to mess with the Absolute Sword?"
"By all means," Nick quipped. "I'm not gonna stop ya."
"Yay!" Yuuki giggled.
The figures stopped at the mention of Yuuki's moniker. "Wait, did she say... oh, shit, this girl is the Absolute Sword?!"
"I think we may have bitten off more than we can chew here."
"Assume a tactical retreat!"
"Not so fast, treasure thieves!" Yuuki proclaimed, cutting off the group's retreat with a wide sword slash that sent one of the members collapsing to the ground. This simple motion gave Nick and Yuuki ample time to unleash their Original Sword Skills and take down all three players.
"And that's how we clean house," Yuuki stated once the area was clear.
"See, I knew someone was trying to crib on us," Nick quipped. "I felt a strange presence as we got closer to the dungeon, but I didn't see anyone. I never expected them to wait until we cleared the quest to jump us."
"They probably knew there was a rare item in that dungeon and were too cowardly to do it themselves," Yuuki stated. "So they followed us and waited until we were done to get the drop on us."
Suddenly, a message flashed across Nick's information window.
"What's up?" Yuuki asked.
"That's my mom," Nick replied. "She's back home now."
"I guess that means you gotta go home," Yuuki groaned.
"Sadly, yes," Nick responded. "But it's just for tonight. You know I'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay, that's good enough for me," Yuuki laughed. "Let's get out of this forest, then. I swear all this pollen could give me allergies."
Nick had a good laugh at that as they both accepted their logout prompts together.
One bright flash later, in the real world, Nick took off his Amusphere as Yuuki lifted the Medicuboid off of her head.
"Well, that was fun, huh?" Nick quipped.
"You bet it was!" Yuuki giggled. "Got to explore a cool dungeon, got a rare item, and got to stomp some would-be treasure thieves! I'd say that's a good day."
"Well, I'd better get going before mom starts freaking out," Nick stated, adorning his backpack. "I'll see you tomorrow, Yuuki."
"Nick, wait."
Nick turned around, only for Yuuki to lean out and kiss him on the cheek.
"That's my thanks for being such a wonderful friend to me," Yuuki proclaimed. "You're awesome, Nick."
Nick couldn't do much but smile and hold his cheek where Yuuki had kissed him as he walked out of the room.
Yuuki smiled to herself as she covered up and let sleep overtake her.
As Nick walked down the street towards his house, he reflected on the time he'd spent with Yuuki. They had met two years ago, a year before Yuuki had been hospitalized, when he'd defended her from some particularly mean-spirited kids and their hurtful comments about Yuuki's condition. When Yuuki had ended up in the hospital, Nick had promised to visit her every day that he was able to, a feat that he hadn't yet broken.
Inwardly, Nick knew that Yuuki probably didn't have much time left to live unless the doctors made some serious progress on discovering a cure. But Nick had promised to always be by Yuuki's side...
...even if it was to the bitter end.
Nick began to recall the adventure of earlier, not knowing that he was being watched from afar. The shadowy figure, hidden by the alleyway's lack of light, cocked the gun he was holding...
...but decided against it. There was no fun in just ending it lickety-split like that.
Even if the boy wasn't a target, the figure knew that the boy was connected to Kirito in some way.
And the figure knew the best way to flush Kirito out.
But now wasn't the time for action. He had to gain more intel before they launched the next phase of their plan.
But the figure knew. Oh, yes, he knew.
By the end of this...
...the world would once again know the name of Death Gun.
To be continued...
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On the next episode...
Yuuki: Nick, ALfheim's been updated! The floor thirty labyrinth just opened!
Nick: Well, looks like it's game on, then. Are the Sleeping Knights gonna take part?
Yuuki: Like we'd miss the chance to take this bad boy out!
Nick: Well, how about we all party up and take 'em down together?
Yuuki: Sounds like a plan to me! ...WHOA, that thing is freaky! What's it called, again?
Nick: The Adephagos, the Gluttonous.
Yuuki: Oof, that's bone-chilling.
Nick: But even that... seems like nothing compared to these rumors I've been hearing.
Yuuki: What rumors?
Nick: Hopefully, it's just a rumor... Next time on Sword Art Online: Memory Rosario, "The Rumors Begin to Spread"!
Yuuki: This may be a game, but it's not something you play!
