Hello, everyone! This is a new story and I hope everyone will enjoy this new story! Without further ado, let's start!

Normal POV

After the Neon Messiah incident was over, Aichi and the others were now at Card Capital discussing a few things involving their club when the door opened. A brown haired boy entered as he looked around before seeing Aichi.

" Hello, are you Aichi Sendou?"

" Yes. And you are?"

" Eiji. Eiji Nochizawa."

" I see. Is there something you need from me, Nochizawa-san?"

" I heard that you were the Asia Circuit Champion. Would you mind teaching me how to play Vanguard?"

" Huh? Me?"

" Yes. I would be grateful if I could be taught by a Asia Circuit Champion."

" I see. Then alright, I'll teach you. Misaki-san, do you have a trial deck for him to use?"

" Sure. I still have the Narukami Legion trial deck."

" Yeah, that should do. You don't mind, do you?"

" Yes, it's fine."

Misaki handed him the trial deck while he read the instructions for a bit before nodding.

" I'm ready."

" Then I'll go first to teach you the rules again, is that alright?"

" Yes, I'll be glad to."

" Stand up, Vanguard!"

~ After the fight~

The sixth damage landed on Eiji's Damage Zone as Aichi heaved a sigh of relief.

" That was a great fight, Nochizawa-san."

" But I lost to you. And just Eiji is fine."

" Alright... Then, Eiji-san, would you like to fight again sometime?"

" That should be fine. Could we exchange contact info?"

" Oh, sure!"

Both exchanged their phones to enter their contact info and when they were about to exchange their phones back again, Eiji muttered something which only Aichi could hear.

" Switch."

" Huh?"

Once their phones were back in their pockets, Aichi looked at Eiji more closely.

" Have I met you from somewhere?"

" No, we've only met today."

" Must've been my imagination then... I'll see you again then, Eiji-san!"

" Yeah."

Eiji left the shop and smirked as Naoki and the others approached Aichi.

" That was a great fight, Aichi! But as always, you're merciless!"

" Sendou-kun?"

Aichi was breathing slightly heavier while his face darkened as Naoki shook his shoulder. Aichi's breath hitched a little in surprise as he looked over to the others.

" Oh, guys..."

" Are you okay? You look pale."

" Yes, I'm just fine..."

He wiped away his sweat a little before regaining his composure.

" Now, let's get back to discussing about the club."

" Are you really okay? We can stop here if you want to."

" No, it's fine."

They started to walk back to their table when Aichi's vision blurred and he started to fall backwards. Just as he was about to hit the floor, a pair of warm arms caught him as he tried to identify the figure when a vision came.

" Eiji... kun..."

And he fainted...

~ In Aichi's dream~

He was in a grassy plains with two other figures as the girl with white hair was singing and playing her music on her guitar while Aichi was lying down on the grass with another boy.

" Hey, Nautilus-kun, Yuna-san. I've been thinking. If one day, we could meet in the real world, can we be friends just like now? I mean, we've been trapped here for two years and I've been thinking about it for some time now."

" We can. I'm sure of that."

" And we can hang out together on a place like this. And stop with the honorifics."

" I'm sorry, it's my habit."

" Once we get back to the real world, I'll treat you guys to one of the best ramen I had."

" I know! Let's exchange our real names and addresses! So when we get out of here we can find each other!"

" That's a great idea, Yuna!"

" So I'll start first. My name is already known."

" Huh?"

" I used my real name for my avatar name."

" You too?!"

" Aichi too?! Come on, you two! You guys should know that you don't use your real name for your online name!"

" I didn't know what to name myself so..."

" Yeah, me too."

" Now it's your turn, Nautilus!"

" My real name is Eiji Nochizawa."

" Eiji-kun, huh... It's a wonderful name."

" Yeah! So it's a promise! Once we're back in the real world, let's all see each other again!"

" Yeah!"

They also exchanged their addresses as they had fun again on the grassy plains.

~ Aichi's dream end~

Aichi's eyes snapped opened as he quickly sat up while covering one of his eyes with his hand.

" That dream just now..."

" Are you finally awake?"

Aichi looked at his side to see Kai with a towel around his neck as Aichi blinked before blushing after realizing his situation.

" W-Why is Kai-kun here?!"

" Why? Because this is my apartment."

" K-Kai-kun's?! But why am I here...?"

" I came into the shop today but you collapsed and I caught you."

" So that was you..."

" Yeah. I tried to bring you home but your mother called your phone. She said that she'll be out of the house for a week and your little sister will be staying at her friend's house. Then she asked me to take care of you. I brought your daily necessities that she put at the front door of your house. It's in that bag by the cupboard."

" T-Then I'll be staying here until then...?"

" Yeah, it seems so. The others wouldn't when I asked them to after all. I'm the most free one around."

" I see... I'm sorry... I must've worried everyone when I fainted."

" Besides that, before you completely lost consciousness, you said 'Eiji'. Ishida and the others said that it was the name of the guy that asked you to teach him Vanguard today."

" Did I...? I can't remember..."

" You seem like you had a dream too. What did you see?"

" A grassy plains... A song... And..."

He paused a little as he put his hand over his eye again while he tried to remember.

" Nau... tilus...? Yu... na...? Meet... in the... real world...?"

" Aichi, get ahold of yourself! Look at me!"

" His real name... Eiji... Yuna and Eiji... Trapped... Two years... The real world..."

Aichi clenched his head as Kai shook his shoulders and Aichi snapped out of it.

" Aichi! Are you okay?!"

" Kai-kun...?"

" What's going on? Is something happening to your memories?"

" Memories...?"

Aichi suddenly went into a daze again as Kai tried to shake him again.

" Aichi? Aichi! Hey, snap out of it!"

He suddenly lifted up two fingers as he started to make motions.

" Aichi? Hey, Aichi!"

Aichi's eyes widened as his hands shook.

" Yuna... Don't go..."

Aichi clenched his head again as he started to wince in pain. After a few moments, he fainted again as Kai caught him and laid him back down on the bed.

" Aichi..."

Kai sighed in relief after making sure Aichi was sound asleep again as he rethink about what Aichi had muttered out and wrote it all down.

" Nautilus. Yuna. Eiji Nochizawa. Trapped... Two years. Real name and real world. Meet in the real world. Those motions he did. And... 'Yuna... Don't go...'. All of this seems to link together. I better get some help." Kai thought

He dialled a few numbers as he explained everything that had transpired and what he'd taken note of before putting his phone down.

" I'll need to know what he meant by all this by tomorrow... Who knows what'll happen..." Kai muttered

He then looked over to Aichi, who'd shifted a little in his sleep, as he wiped off a single tear that escaped. Without his knowledge, he slowly leaned forward towards Aichi's cheek. Just as his lips were about to make contact, his phone rang as he snapped out of his thoughts and answered the phone call.

" Hello?"

" Hey, Kai. I did some research right after you told me what happened. Remember there was a period of time after the Link Joker incident, Aichi-kun had to be admitted to the hospital several times?"

" Yeah, so I heard. His body was suffering from a few exhaustion shutdowns, which causes him to faint often. Isn't it because of the Seed that time?"

" That's what we thought at first but right now, I found out that during that period, there was another incident going on."

" Another one?"

" Yes, the SAO incident."

" SAO incident?"

" Sword Art Online. The NerveGear that allows people to full dive into a virtual environment. For two years, about 10,000 players were trapped in that virtual world with the danger of 'If your HP goes down in the virtual world, you die in the real world.' There's been many cases of deaths by the NerveGear, which could've been cause by the death in the virtual world."

" Who in the world is that crazy to trap 10,000 people in a death game?"

" The one who created SAO, Kayaba Akihiko. He died as well because when the game was cleared, he did a high levelled scanning to his brain. I think that's what caused his death."

" Then he joined the death game too...? But I don't get what's it got to do with Aichi."

" During his trips to the hospital, the company for SAO was creating a new device, the Amusphere. Aichi-kun didn't know about the incident either and he volunteered to enter that world using the prototype Amusphere."

" Aichi did...?"

" Yes, we confirmed it from the hospital itself. But when he full dived into that world, his memories and the data of others alive inside that world, got their memories jumbled as well. It made Aichi-kun think he was in that world for two years as well. I think he also eventually made friends with that Nautilus and Yuna people."

" But why didn't Aichi say anything?"

" He can't remember. Whenever he comes out of that world through the company's system, he didn't remember anything that involved being in that world. And when the game was cleared, the experiments stopped as well. I think it was for a month, that was before Aichi-kun decided to disappear from this world as well because of the Seed."

" Then when he said 'Yuna, don't go'..."

" That Yuna person must've died inside that world. The trauma was huge if anything. For someone like him to see a friend killed in front of him must've been scary. I don't think it would've mattered since he can't remember being in SAO after being disconnected from the Amusphere but if Eiji Nochizawa is the SAO survivor, Nautilus, it can be safe to assume that seeing him triggered the memories."

" I see. Thanks. Tell me more once you find out anything new."

" Leave it to me!"

Kai put down the phone call as he sighed.

" Aichi was in an experiment and I didn't know...?! I promised myself after the Link Joker incident to protect him but I..." Kai thought

" ... What foolish things you did, Aichi..."

Kai went to make their dinner as Aichi woke up soon after and Kai didn't ask any questions and instead, took care of Aichi like he was supposed to. The next few days were normal for Aichi as he suddenly received a message during lunch.

" Oh, it's Eiji-san."

He replied the message and kept his phone. After lunch, he walked back to class with Naoki and Shingo at they entered class to see their classmates staring out the windows.

" What's wrong?"

" There's some guy standing by the school gate. He looks like he's waiting for someone."

" This early?"

" School doesn't end in a few hours time too, I wonder who it is."

They checked on who it is as Naoki and Shingo flinched.

" It's Eiji-san!"

" Aichi, you couldn't have told him about our school, right?"

" Well, yes. He said he wanted to fight me again so I did say he could come over for club activities. I did tell him the time too but I didn't think he would be this excited to fight again."

" That or you're just too dense..." Naoki muttered

" Huh?"

" Nothing. You should tell him to go back to his home first or something. Club activities don't start so soon, right?"

" Yeah, I should."

Aichi ran out of the classroom as Naoki and Shingo kept watch. Aichi seemed to greet Eiji while Eiji nodded. He then took out a small white box and handed it to Aichi as Aichi shook his head to reject it while Eiji just gave it to him despite his denial. Aichi then seemed to chat with Eiji a little longer before heading back to class again.

" I think I'm starting to not like the guy either."

" You think someone like that has an ulterior motive in befriending Sendou-kun?"

" Maybe. Kai said he's been acting weird ever since he met him and fainted that day. Something about that Nochizawa doesn't seem right. We better keep our eyes on him."

" Well, if you say it like that..."

Aichi entered the classroom again with the box as he sat down on his seat. Some of his classmates, including Naoki and Shingo surrounded him.

" So what's in the box?"

" Something he called the 'Augma' or something. He said that instead of virtual reality, it uses augmented reality without needing to 'full-dive'. I honestly don't understand but he insisted on me having it."

He opened the box to see a white wearable device while Naoki picked up another white device inside the box.

" What's this?"

" It's for something called Ordinal Scale. He said that if I hold onto it while going into Ordinal Scale, it becomes my weapon."

" For literally fighting?! No way!"

" I don't think I'd want to use it though. It doesn't feel right. I'll just return it to him later."

" I guess so."

The bell rang as they went back to their seats while Aichi kept the box away. A few hours later, school ended as Aichi and the others went into the clubroom to see Eiji already sitting inside.

" Eiji-san!"

" That was fast..."

" Hey, Aichi. How's the Augma I gave you?"

" About that... I'd like to give it back to you. I really can't accept such a gift."

" Well, you won't know unless you try. Here, I'll put it on for you."

" It really is fine!"

Eiji had already placed the Augma on Aichi as he activated it. Suddenly, a white haired girl popped up in front of Aichi as he squeaked in surprise.

" Aichi?"

" Oh, sorry. Yuna, greet him properly. Don't come so up close when he just activated the Augma."

" Sorry, sorry! I'm Yuna!"

" She's an idol in the Augmented Reality. Unless you wear an Augma, you can't see her."

" I-I see... Oh! I-I'm Aichi Sendou."

" So you're Aichi. Eiji's told me a lot about you."

" I-I see..."

" Who's Yuna?"

" As I've explained, without the Augma, Yuna can't be seen. And besides, I came today not just to give you the Augma, Yuna has a request."

" Huh?"

" Let's be friends!"

" Friends...?"

" Yeah, friends! You can't?"

" N-No, I'll be grateful to be your friend."

" I was really surprised. Yuna usually only goes by her program. But today, she suddenly said she wanted to make friends with you, so I came by to hand you the Augma."

" I see."

" We're going to have so much fun together!"

" Y-Yeah..."

However, when he looked at Eiji and Yuna again, a vision came for a split second as he saw the same people from his dream. His eyes widened as he started to clench his head.

" Aichi?! Hey, Aichi!"

" Why am I having these memories...?! I can't remember! When did I have them...?!" Aichi thought

He snapped back to reality as he tried to regain his composure.

" Aichi, are you really alright? You're not having those exhaustion shutdowns again from last year, are you?"

" No... I really am fine..."

" Sit down and rest at the table for a bit then, Sendou-kun."

" Yeah..."

The door opened as Kai entered and he ran over to Aichi when he saw his pale face.

" Are you okay?! Your face is so pale!"

" I'm okay... I'm just a little tired..."

" You'll have to go back home. Ishida and the others can handle the club by themselves."

" But..."

" No buts. We're going back."

Kai carried Aichi on his back while getting Aichi's bag as Yuna ran over to them.

" But we just became friends!"

" Yuna, let him rest. We can hang out next time."

" Huh? Yuna?"

Aichi removed his Augma as he wore it on Kai and Kai showed a similar reaction to Aichi as he staggered backwards a little.

" Who's this girl?!"

" An Augmented Reality Idol, Yuna." Eiji replied

" You can't see her without the Augma I wore on you... Sorry, Yuna... Maybe next time..."

" Alright..."

" She said alright."

Aichi nodded as he laid his head on Kai's shoulder and slept. Kai made sure Aichi was properly on his back before going towards the door.

" Then I'll be going now."

" Yeah, take care of Aichi."

" Yeah."

Kai walked back to his apartment as he looked at the Augma.

" I'll look up on it once we're back in the apartment..." Kai thought

Once he was back in the apartment, Kai took off his and Aichi's shoes before carefully lying Aichi down on the bed. He then tried out the Augma as he then contacted Ren again.

" Hello?"

" Ren, do you know anything about a device called 'Augma'?"

" Oh, that? It's pretty popular lately. Want me to explain?"

" No. Aichi received it from Nochizawa. And the AR idol is called Yuna too. Ring any bells?"

" Yuna... Oh, that AR idol. She's been popular lately and that makes people want to use Augma more."

" Get me one of those things. I'll return this Augma I have to Aichi first and I'll use another one to search up on what I want to find out."

" You're curious about the coincidence, huh... Why are these Eiji and Yuna involved with Augma? And why is Yuna, who's supposingly dead, in the AR world, right?"

" Just do it."

" Leave that to me. I'll have it delivered by tomorrow morning."

" Yeah."

Kai put down the call as he removed the Augma and placed it on the bedside table. Aichi woke up after that as Kai helped him to sit up.

" I'll need to shower you since you're still so weak."

" No, it's fine... I don't want to trouble you for so long..."

" I'm worried about you, Aichi. Not just that... I... I love you."

" Huh...?"

Kai leaned in and kissed Aichi on his lips as Aichi also closed his eyes and returned the kiss. They broke the kiss after awhile.

" Please... If there's anything that worries you, you've gotta tell me. I can't take always having to see you suffer."

" Yes... I love Kai-kun too, so I will..."

" That's good. Now, let's go take a shower together."

" Yeah..."

Kai carried Aichi and got the Augma as well as he settled Aichi in the bathroom while getting the tub ready. He then placed the Augma beside the sink as he helped Aichi to take off his clothes before taking off his own clothes. He then helped Aichi to wash his hair and body before settling him inside the warm bathtub and also washed himself before going into the bathtub.

" How are you feeling?"

" Just a little tired... But I'm fine..."

" Come here."

Aichi shifted himself a little as he leaned on Kai's chest and closed his eyes.

" So warm..."

" Rest a little while then."

When he didn't receive any response, he looked down at Aichi to see him already sleeping soundly as he sighed. Suddenly, he felt a presence as he wore the Augma and Yuna popped up.

" You?!"

" You two sure are getting close."

" W-What are you doing here?! What's a girl even doing in a bathroom with boys?!" Kai whispered, blushing a little

" But I was worried and just when we became friends too..."

" I don't care whether you're a person from Augmented Reality or not, you can't just barge inside here when we don't wear the Augma."

" But you were quite smart. You could sense my presence without the Augma."

" I just sense it... And when did you get in?!"

" The whole time. From when you confessed to now. I saw everything."

" E-Everything?!"

" Yeah, from top to bottom."

" J-Just get out of here already!"

" I got it... Don't need to be so rude."

Yuna disappeared after that as Kai sighed in relief. He got out off the bathtub while being careful to not wake Aichi as he dried themselves off and wore their clothes before turning the lights off and heading to bed.

Meanwhile, Yuna appeared from behind a tree near the apartment where Eiji was at as she told everything.

" Yuna, I already told you. No going into the bathroom."

" I know but I was worried."

" Don't worry. The three of us will be back together soon like last time." Eiji muttered out the last part

" Like last time?"

" It's nothing."

" I'll fulfill our promise. The three of us will be together again once Yuna is revived." Eiji thought

" Let's head back now."

" Yeah!"

They headed back to their city as the night deepened.

And that's the end of this chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and of course, there are spoilers from the SAO movie from chapter 2 onwards, so read with caution if you don't want to be spoiled! I'll see everyone in the next chapter!