Level Three: Emotional Turmoil

Tokyo Hospital – 9am

Akemi walked into the hospital, waving at some nurses or doctors walking by, stopping at the reception counter. "Welcome back, Akemi-chan~" the woman smiled at the girl. "Makoto-kun was asking for you, go on in."

"Thank you, Umi-san." she bowed her head before heading down the hall to her brother's hospital room. She took a moment to stand at the door, running her fingers over the name plate silently before she spoke. "Makoto?"

"Come in." she heard him cough, calming herself down before walking inside, smiling. He was sitting on the chair by the window, playing video games on a handheld console. "Morning, Nee-san."

"Morning." she chuckled, petting his head and placing her bag down. "Feeling better yet?"

"I'll be better after I eat... you have the leftovers?" he asked, making her smile. He paused his game and looked up at her. "... What?" he pouted a little at her.

"Nothing." she chuckled. "I'm just glad you're feeling well enough to demand your food." she knelt in front of her brother, looking up at him. "I missed you, Makoto."

"... You're so weird." he was blushing a little and averting his gaze from his sibling. Not that she minded. Her brother was always like this. "Quit doting so much, it's awkward." he added, tousling her hair until it was a mess.

"Hehe, okay okay." she smiled, hugging him. "I'll try." she really couldn't help but dote on her brother the way she did. In her eyes, there was no immediate family to speak of... sure their Aunt and Uncle were around, but... with their mother having passed away years before and their father always away on business, she took it upon herself to be her brother's caretaker... his protector... "What game are you playing?" she asked, perching herself on the arm of his chair.

"Nevermind this game, how's Willow Lake?" he asked, putting his game aside. "Did you get to do anything interesting recently?"

"Ehehe, actually yeah~ a couple of nights ago I went on that quest you told me about for a friend of mine, and we got through it and my summoner quest in one night~" she smiled. "I think you'd like Kirito, you know~ He's pretty similar to you. I'd assume he's around your age... oh, and he's a sword user too~" she smiled. Makoto listened as the girl described Kirito in vivid detail. He'd never seen her this happy about meeting someone online... it was kind of weird. But he smiled a little.

"Glad you're enjoying it." he said, reaching up to pet her head. "So… was there anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

"You talk about this guy like he's the coolest thing ever, do you have a crush on him?" he asked simply, Akemi laughing a little. "What?"

"Makoto, I'm sure he's your age, I'd get in trouble if I liked him."

"It's online, no one cares." He replied.

"… Well." She tousled her brother's hair and smooshed him in a hug. "I care… If I do like him, I haven't noticed yet."

"Well figure it out." Makoto grumbled. "Cause I want to meet him in game so I can assess him."

"Haha, you're always so protective. You take after Aya." Akemi said cheerfully, letting him out of the hug. "Even the gaming thing, you and Aya are more like siblings than even we are."

"Everyone at the hospital thought you were my girlfriend for like, 3 weeks… no one thought we were siblings except that doctor who was taking care of me." He sighed. "Besides, I don't want to be Aya's brother… we'd constantly be competing… that's annoying, and too much effort."

"Hehe, okay okay I'm sorry." Akemi smiled at her sibling. "Oh anyway, about Willow Lake…"

Two and a half months into the Closed Beta: Willow Lake – 44th Floor

Black Fox stood waiting at the dungeon gate, wondering where White Fox was. This was the final part of their summoner quest to attain their 3rd level summons, and she was taking forever to get here. But then she heard White Fox walking her way, talking with someone. Black Fox glared at the man who walked into view with her friend. "Who is this?" she asked.

"Black Fox~!" White Fox latched onto her friend. "This is Florien~ He's a summoner like us~"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Black Fox." He took her hand and kissed the back of it, but Black Fox felt uneasy about him… "White Fox has told me much about you~"

"… I wish I could say the same." She replied simply. "Are you running this dungeon with us as well, then?" she questioned.

"Yes, I suppose I am." He smiled. His smile made her cringe internally; something was most definitely not right about this man. But, White Fox seemed to trust him… so she would, at least for this dungeon. She turned to open the door and sighed. "Let's go then."

Akemi's Apartment – 10pm

Akemi opened her eyes and removed the Nerve Gear, looking quite upset. "The hell, Hiwa." She picked up her phone and sent her friend a message. "What the hell are you thinking? Don't lead on older guys in game, they'll want to meet IRL and get in your pants." She sent it, practically fuming. Hiwa had been straight up flirting with Florien when they finished the dungeon and gotten to the 45th floor. Akemi didn't understand, was she playing games? Was she just messing around because Hibiya wasn't really making a move on her? Either way, Akemi was getting really fed up about Hiwa's behavior. She got a message soon after, but it wasn't from Hiwa.

"Akemi, Hiwa's acting really weird, call me, I need to know what's up." It was from Takuto, Hiwa's older brother. She sighed, dialing the older boy's number and waiting for a response. "Akemi, sorry for bugging you I know it's kind of late-"

"It's fine, Takuto… what the hell is going on with your sister? She's acting weird."

"Weird how?"

"She started flirting with this guy in Willow Lake, a summoner named Florien… I don't know the handle, but he's obviously older by at least a good 6 or 7 years, if not more." She stated. "It's like she's completely disregarding Hibiya and it's pissing me off."

"No way, seriously?" Takuto sighed, ruffling his hair. "What the heck, she's had that crush on Hibiya since the 5th grade, why is she going off and flirting with another dude?" Takuto was fairly laid back about the age thing, though. "It's not so much that I care he's older, it's just not like her to do stuff like that."

"Exactly." Akemi stated. "And Hibiya's been off doing all his own quests so I don't know where he is and I don't want to bring it up at school… besides, if Hiwa finds out I talked to him, she's gonna get all weird and jealous like she always does…"

"Want me to talk to him?"

"If you could, at least find out if he knows anything about why Hiwa's doing stupid stuff." She stated. "Hibiya's pretty aware of himself and what he does around her, so if anything happened between them, I think he would know…"

"Got it… I'll let you know when I find out."

"Thanks… and Takuto."

"Yes?"

"Make sure your sister knows I'm pissed. This isn't kosher, it's sitting badly with me."

"Hah, got it Akemi." He replied. "I'll make sure she knows. G'night."

"Night." She hung up, nearly tossing her phone across the room. "Hiwa… the hell are you doing?" she asked, laying down to sleep, only to end up staring at her phone waiting for her friend to return her message… but she never did.

Hiwa and Takuto's Apartment –

Takuto stared at his phone for a minute before he looked to his bedroom door. Hiwa had been acting weird recently, like she had stopped caring about school or much of anything except this game. She wouldn't even spend time at dinner with conversation unless it was about Willow Lake… He sighed, ruffling his own hair again. "Damn it, Hiwa… what are you doing?" he put his phone down and laid back on his bed. He'd have a word with his little sister in the morning over breakfast… maybe knowing her best friend was upset would snap her out of her headspace and make her realize what she was doing? But… then again, Hiwa did love to do things her own way… He pulled his laptop onto his bed and began searching the game forums for this guy's handle. Florien, he had to know about this guy… no one, not even Hibiya was gonna get with his sister without thorough investigation. And Takuto was a huge name in gaming, so if he made inquiries someone would answer. Noir was famous… that made it easy. But with his sister, things had become different. Hiwa was drifting and there was no explanation for it. So Takuto had to find out what was going on. He stayed up for hours, investigating this guy, but nothing substantial came up. By 5am, he called it quits and decided to pick it up in a couple of hours, after he'd made breakfast and taken a nap.

Willow Lake – Next Evening, Floor 45

Black Fox was still brooding over the night before, Hiwa having not logged on for one reason or another. Black Fox was thinking about just logging out for the night when Kirito arrived and they noticed one another. "You got her quick." She smiled mischievously. "Miss me?"

"N-no." he averted his gaze a little. "I was just stopping in for some repairs to my weapon is all." He looked back at her shyly and her heart started to beat a little faster. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I WAS waiting for White Fox… but it looks like she ditched me tonight." She shrugged. "I was just gonna wait around here… maybe explore the scenery for once… I've pretty much been on the move non stop since the last time we met."

"Oh, ok… well since I gotta wait for my weapon, do you want to walk around with me?" he asked. He was so innocent in asking, Black Fox smiled.

"Sure." She was happy he asked. "But~" she mentally slapped herself but she wrapped her arm around his waist. "Are you sure that's all you wanna do?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" he blushed, she could see it. It made her smile. "C-c'mon let's go." He said, heading to the repair shop and letting Black Fox trail alongside him. Once he dropped off his weapon, they headed out to see the town. "I see why they named it Grandure City." He said, the building almost like skyscrapers in a way. Everything was so ornate and tall… the streets were lined with fancy light posts and beautiful glass-window shops.

"It reminds me of a mid 20th century European city…" Black Fox said. "It's beautiful." Kirito hadn't seen her look so pleased in a while… she had seemed rather off recently. Had she had some sort of falling out with her partner? "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing…" he shook his head. "It's just that I didn't think you would be so interested in the scenery."

"Well, one reason I play a game is for good graphics." She smiled. "And diversity is good too…" she looked at the sky, seeing the colors change to dark. "… I dunno, does that make me sound like a nerd?" she asked, chuckling a little.

"No." he shook his head. "It's nice to see someone appreciates the graphics as much as you do… I guess… a lot of people just take it for granted." He didn't admit that he was one who did that often. "It's… refreshing."

"Is it?" she smiled. "Well, I'm glad you don't find it odd." They continued to walk together, talking about things as they went. Mostly about how they'd been since their last meeting, and what they planned to do next. When they were ready to log out, they said their goodbyes and promised to meet up again before the 4 month Beta was over. But when Kirito logged out, Black Fox felt someone watching. She turned to see Florien, a chill running up her spine. "What do you want?"

"Nothing." He smirked. She hated that smirk. "I just thought I'd come and see how you were doing without your partner." He chuckled, staring at her with that look… she didn't understand what was so off putting, it just bothered her. But Florien didn't care. He slid his hand over the girl's exposed shoulder, licking his lips. "You're much more endowed than White Fox is… Do you perhaps, want to have some fun instead of hanging around that kid?"

"Back the hell off." Black Fox stated, trying not to show weakness. She hated being touched, and because this game had a sensor feature she could feel his hand on her. She wanted so badly to run. But she maintained her cold façade. "And you'd better keep your hands off of White Fox."

"Oooh, how scary… I see what she meant by you being like a big sister." He laughed. "Well, maybe you'll come around." He walked past her, being sure to brush by her as he did. "Goodnight, my harbringer of Bad Luck." At that Black Fox froze, turning to watch him leave. Why had he called her that? She felt her breathing get heavy and she was highly disturbed. She couldn't log out fast enough.

Akemi's Apartment –

Akemi bolted from her bed, feeling extremely upset. What did Florien mean by that… was he referring to her Black Fox handle? No, he seemed to know something… like he'd been let in on her real life secrets… had Hiwa said something? Did he know her from school? Who was he? She curled up into a ball, trying to calm herself down. "… I'm not… bad luck…" she felt her tears running down her cheeks. "I'm not… I'm not bad luck…" she shook her head, burying her face in her pillow. "… Mama… I'm sorry…" she cried. She continued to cry until someone called her phone, calming herself down as quickly as she could before answering. "Hello?"

"Akemi? Are you okay?" It was Takuto. "Do you want me to call back later?"

"No, I'm fine." She shook her head, taking a deep breath. "What is it Takuto?"

"I couldn't find anything on Florien, but I talked to Hiwa… she said she was tired of waiting for Hibiya, so she just decided to try out flirting with other people." He stated, sounding dissatisfied with the answer. "But she heard you were mad and she said she'd make it up to you as soon as she could."

"She already ditched me tonight."

"I heard. But she promised, and you know she keeps those without fail."

"… yeah." She sighed, feeling herself shaking a little still.

"… Hey."

"What?"

"If you need someone to talk to, like if bad stuff happens, I'm here for you to talk to… you're like a sister to me too, okay?" he said, knowing something was up. "Besides, if you don't let it out, someone's gonna start making up rumors."

"… I know."

"So talk it out, okay? If not with me then with someone else… but do it."

"… okay…"

"Good." She could almost see him grinning. "G'night Akemi."

"… goodnight…" she let him hang up and stared at the wall for a minute before she put her phone down on the night stand. Takuto was good about calming her down, he was so reassuring… A lot like her cousin, Ayaori… only Aya was a lot more blunt and he was never one to sugar coat anything… he came off as mean to a lot of people, but Akemi knew the sweeter side to the boy. He was kind… she began to think and her mind wandered to Kirito, face coloring a little. "Ahhh, stop it." She told herself. "No thinking about boys before sleep." She told herself as she laid down for bed. "… maybe tomorrow will be a better day…" she told herself before turning out her light.

((Haha, chapter's up~ ; v ; I guess I'm kind of still on a roll...

I hope you all enjoy this new chapter~ I hope I can keep up this pace for at least a few more days~

Please look forward to next time, because I have a surprise in store for you all~

-Winter Cheshire))