Kari: And we're finally back for another chapter! Hope you guys are excited as we are! This chapter's by me, and now we can finally figure out what was on that tablet! Yay! Anyways, I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter!
Angel: Angel here! Yep, yep, here's all of the details that wraps up the last chapter's cliffhanger.
Disclaimer! We don't own SAO, although seriously, we would love it if we did. We only own our original characters and possibly the plot. Refer to Chapter 1 if you really care where all the ownership details lie.
I groggily pulled the «AmuSphere» off my eyes. I blinked as the pale blue walls of my room slowly came into focus. Groaning as I glanced at the clock at my bedside, which read 3 pm of the next day, I got up from my bed. I padded over to the closet, stuck my hand in there, and grabbed the first thing my hand felt. I rolled my eyes as I saw the matching outfit that came out of the closet. Curse Mom and that stupid closet of hers. Too lazy to attempt the closet again, I changed out of my pajamas.
My cell phone started to ring in my office, blasting out my ringtone, which I suddenly found very annoying. I sighed and went to go retrieve it and saw it was Dad calling. I rejected his call, I know, so very nice of me, and went downstairs to make something to eat. I half-heartedly listened to the answering machine on my phone as Dad rambled.
"Hey Kari. Just saw you reject my call, guess you don't want to talk to me right now, huh? But seriously, the reject message this time was 'I don't know you'? Now, that was cold. Well, uh, anyways, I heard about the Anniversary Challenge. Hope it wasn't as bad as it sounded…er, you know what I mean. I just wanted to tell you-" I sighed and muted the rest of the message and fished out some Pocky from the snack closet. I opened up the fridge and peeked inside; there was some leftover cake from the other day, some milk, some eggs, and a few left over vegetables. This will have to do for now; too lazy to go do grocery shopping right now.
I grabbed a pot, filled it with water, and started heating it on the stove. I threw in the left over vegetables and eggs. As I waited for everything to cook, I scrolled through the messages on my phone and the 500 missed calls. I gave up halfway through and left my phone on the kitchen counter.
My mind wandered back to the boss battle that just happened. Valeria, that name, it seemed so familiar. And the guy, I felt like I've seen him somewhere before. Vampires. I blinked as a thought suddenly occurred to me. But before I could contemplate the thought anymore, I heard the doorbell ring. The screen underneath the clock turned on and Asuka Kato's face popped up.
"Kari-chan! It's me! I've got something to show you!" I got up from my seat and went to go get the door.
"Asuka-chan? Why-" I looked at the girl's disheveled ponytail, the frantic look in her brown eyes, the tablet in one hand, and waffle chips in the other. "Never mind, come on in. Want something to eat? I was just making something, was just going to throw in the noodles."
"Thanks. I found something on the jerk Fukui's tablet. Thought you might want to see this." She said as I led her into the kitchen. She took a seat at the table, and I opened a drawer and threw her a first aid kit. She looked surprised for a moment, "What's this for?"
"Your arm," I said while I threw a stack of noodles into the pot. The girl glanced down at her bleeding arm and sighed.
"Not again," Asuka sighed and rolled some bandages over it. I set two bowls of noodles down on the table.
"Eat. Forget the waffle chips; they aren't going to fill you up after you had no food for a day." I sat down in the chair next to Asuka. "So, what's with the code?" I asked nodding towards the tablet screen.
"Well, you won't be able to guess, well you probably can. Guess anyways."
I sighed, "It's the blood patch that's been annoying us in the Anniversary Challenge."
"Right. I found it while I was going to play games on here."
"So, basically, Daisuke's the one behind this? Is he behind the challenge too?"
"No, the challenge is legit. The blood patch isn't."
I thought for a moment. If the challenge is legit, then, those two are just programs. Well, Valeria is for sure, but that other guy; he didn't seem like a program for some reason. "I feel like there's still something fishy about the challenge itself too. You sure he didn't pull any other stunts on us?"
"Well, this is the only file on this tablet. I'm surprised he left this code out in the open on this tablet. Unless-"
"No, he wanted you to find it."
"But, why? If I knew, I could turn him in for this."
I sighed, "Like the other 7 billion times that you could have turned your whole family in? Face the facts Asuka-chan, he was betting on the fact that you weren't going to turn him in. I'm thinking he wanted you to do something else with it. But what?"
"Well, if I knew, we wouldn't have this big problem right now." Before I could respond, Asuka's cell phone rang. She looked down at the caller ID and picked up. I scrolled through the code as Asuka talked., I didn't need to think hard to figure out who it was. It was obviously Katashi Kurosawa, probably worried out of his mind.
Like I suspected, the coding on the tablet was only a blood patch, nothing more. I still knew nothing about that guy and Valeria.
Asuka hung up after a while, and I smirked, "Kurosawa-san called didn't he?"
"Yeah, he was being annoying again."
I just had to look at the expression on her face to know she didn't mean it. "Sure."
"It's true!"
I laughed as Asuka's face started to turn a couple different shades of pink and red. "Anyways-"
"How have you and Haruki-san been?" She asked with a smirk as she took a stick of Pocky out of the package.
I ignored her question, "Anyways, there's something about the challenge itself that bothers me. They never made an official announcement about it. I understand why they might not do it beforehand so it would come as a 'big surprise', but even up until now, after some of the groups have cleared the challenge, they still haven't made an announcement."
"Hey, it's all over the news, I'd call that an announcement."
I rolled my eyes, "You know what I mean."
"Hmm, but, lately I've been hearing the jerk talk about expanding his profits and becoming a 'legit' company."
I laughed, "I'd like to see that happen. Daisuke isn't really known for doing 'legit' company stuff."
"Point taken. Well, how would he expand his profits though?"
"That's not that hard. He could probably just buy out a company and continue selling the said company's product or service to gain revenue, or he could just sell off his company. I don't think he'd do the latter though."
"If he did the first, assuming it works given time, which company would he buy out?"
"Probably one of the big ones. Think he wants to buy out RECtO?"
"It could work. Fukui works with codes a lot, as well as other technology; he could totally pull it off if he wanted."
"Doesn't seem like Daisuke's style does it?"
Asuka thought for a moment and shook her head, "No, it doesn't."
I sighed and picked up my cell phone as it rang, "Hello? Hikari here."
I cringed a little as Dad's voice came on, "You picked up this time! Finally, I was wondering how much longer you were going to ignore me. You've rejected all of my calls the last few weeks."
I sighed, "What is it this time? If you're just calling to tell me that the board is making you stick around, then don't bother."
He paused, "Well, it could be that, but I figured you didn't want to hear it." I didn't respond and he continued, "About the Anniversary Challenge, well, I figured you were probably logged on at the time. The thing is, RECtO only did the challenge because they had a sponsorship. I thought you might want to know who it is."
I rolled my eyes, "Just go on. If you're trying to build suspense, then don't bother."
He sighed, "You're always like that. Hmm, don't suppose your M-"
"Don't even go there," I said icily.
"Alright, alright, forget I said anything. Anyways, you and your friend might want to hear this. After all-"
"It's Fukui and Company," Asuka raised an eyebrow at me when I said that.
"Yup. Well, I'll get going now before you start snapping at me like last time. Bye-" I clicked the red button my phone before he could finish.
"So, what'd your Dad say?" Asuka asked, "I heard something pertaining to the jerk."
"He's sponsoring the Anniversary Challenge."
Asuka froze, "He's what?!"
"Yeah, this makes things even more complicated."
"Why in the hell would Fukui go do that?!"
"Beats me."
Asuka's hand formed into a fist, and I had a feeling she was going to punch something. "Him, it's always him and his rotten family."
"Let's forget this for now." I said as I closed the file on the tablet and handed it back to her, "Don't suppose you'd want some desert? I have some left over cake from the other cake."
I got up and went to retrieve the chocolate tiramisu cake from the fridge. I cut a slice for Asuka and me and slid the plate in front of her. She was currently engaged in a heated conversation on her phone. It wasn't hard to guess who.
"Eat. Then you can go text Kurosawa-san all you want." Asuka's face turned red as she slipped her phone into her hoodie pocket. She took the fork and started to eat. "We should tell the others what happened."
"I don't want to worry them though. This is technically my-"
I rolled my eyes, "Don't go there. If Daisuke's willing to sponsor an Anniversary Challenge in «ALO» then I doubt it's just 'your problem'. We are telling the others, and if you're not going to do it, I am."
Asuka sighed, "Whatever you say, Kari-chan. Well, where should we all meet?"
"What about the café?"
"And I thought you hated going there."
"Aw shut up, Asuka-chan. C'mon, you make your calls and I'll make mine."
"Whatever you say," Asuka said with a shrug and started dialing on her cellphone. I grabbed my cellphone off the counter and started dialing as well. But, still, even if Asuka's stepdad was sponsoring this challenge, I still felt that something wasn't right. After all, there are more than enough people out there who are still willing to screw around with VRMMORPG's. Let's just say that I made a pretty good guess.
Kari: Yup, we're involving the rest of the guild that logged out before the challenge now. Hope you guys are excited xD Anyways, thanks again everyone for all of your continued support! We couldn't have gotten here without you guys! Please continue to follow, favorite, and review! Thanks!
Angel: Thank you for all of your continued support! Every review, follow, and favorite is fuel towards a quicker update!
