(Katsumoto)
The next day, Yuzuki family home in Kyoto,
"Five wishes?" I repeated Shitori's words.
"Yes. I'll grant you five wishes, within reason of course," he told me. "I do have one condition. One of your wishes has to be something for both you and my daughter. Whether it is an expensive trip to a different country, or even your own home to live in, we'll do all we can to supply it."
"A house? You trust me that much now, Otou-san?"
"If I didn't trust those words you told us yesterday, you would likely be in jail Katsumoto-kun while I'm buried underground," Shitori jested, laughing while doing so. "But yes, if you so wish to have a house, then I shall grant you two a private living space wherever you want, though it has to be within the country. My sphere of influence only reaches only from Okinawa to Hokkaido, as well as some parts in western United States. The Ymir corporation has grown astonishingly with the help of the people who gave us the funds to run ALfheim Online. In the future, we are hoping to merge with RECT Inc."
"RECT?" I asked, curious as to why he had interest in the Yuuki family's industry.
"Yes. With the large quantity of lawsuits and hatred they are receiving for the damages they caused with ALO, they have lost quite a lot of money. Their former investors switched over to us, but they too recognize RECT's value, which is why the corporation has already begun negotiations with them. Ai-chan's relationship to Asuna-chan is helping quite well as I can speak directly to her father, the former CEO of RECT."
"I never actually bothered to look it up, but what does the Ymir corporation do other than run the servers ALfheim Online?"
"Ymir is actually a conglomerate much like RECT, as we have several divisions based on goods and services. Our main branch here in Japan is under my supervision while the smaller one in the United States is still under development. I supervise all of our subdivisions, which include medicine, defense contracting, technology development and the game development. Other than our game development branch, which only focuses on maintaining ALfheim Online, our medicine branch is our fastest growing. However, most of our income comes from our defense contracting branch, the original company owned by the Yuzuki family."
"I knew the company was huge, but I didn't expect anything of that scale," I said in awe.
"Yes, but we still have many more obstacles to overcome if we wish to expand. One obstacle includes a certain company called Rath. It's a rather mysterious company as we only discovered it recently in the last year, but it seems they are our most dangerous rival when it comes to our defense contracting branch. Our lack of information is proving to be quite costly, as we do not know of the technologies and resources they possess."
"Never heard of that company before, but they sound a bit skeptical being so hidden, especially as a defense contractor… Isn't the United States and United Nations already giving Japanese defense contractors a hard time with the demilitarization after World War 2? If so, Rath should be very careful or they will suffer greatly."
"It's not just them who will suffer. If Rath or any defense contractor based in Japan produces any sort of offensive weaponry, there will be collateral damage that surges through the rest of the industry and even the government. To be honest, it is solely because of this reason why they're our most dangerous rival."
"Sounds real tough to run a business like yours. I could never possibly be the leader of something like that," I stated in amazement.
"I was hoping my daughter would choose a partner fit for becoming the heir to the company, and if she didn't choose a partner at all, I would've chosen one for her that fits my tastes."
"You must be very disappointed then," I laughed out.
"Who knows? Maybe I could train you."
"Sorry, but I really don't think I'm suited for such a position. Anyways, these wishes of mine… Can they be something inside of ALfheim Online?"
Shitori furrowed his brow and tilted his head slightly as if silently asking me to make sure he was hearing right. I repeated my words more slowly again and he snorted before laughing. His laughter was clearly towards my request of an in-game wish, but I didn't take any offense to it as I knew it was a weird wish to ask for. He was laughing so hard that he clutched his stomach before wiping the small tear that formed in his right eye.
"I was worrying that you'd make some expensive requests, but now I'm worrying as to how much time you'll be spending in the virtual world compared to the real one!"
"If I didn't need to eat, drink or go to the bathroom, I would spend all my life inside the virtual world," I laughed out lightly.
"Speaking of which, I do have some conditions for you in order to get these wishes in the first place, and because i've gotten to know you a little bit more in these past few days, you may not like it…"
Shitori quickly went from a happy, relaxed tone to that of a serious business man. Shitori turned his head from the rural Kyoto view to face me directly. He was no longer leaning on the guardrail, but he still hand one hand rested on it. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a card. He handed it to me and I flipped it over to read its contents. Upon reading the word therapist, I knew right away what he wanted me to do, and I indeed didn't want anything to do with it.
"That person is my family's personal therapist. He also works together with our doctor, dentist and psychiatrist so that communication between them is solid. Other than the doctor and dentist, our family saw no need of them until now. Ai-chan has already agreed to periodically visiting the therapist once every two months, but we went through quite a struggle persuading her to do so. I know you had a mental health counselor during your time in the hospital, and we've received the information he's gathered, as well as some supplementary information from Ai-chan and Vitushi-kun. I hope you are aware of your diagnosed illnesses."
"Depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, and nightmares disorder. While those are the fully confirmed illnesses, it's likely I have dissociative personality disorder and dependent personality disorder. I'm also vulnerable to psychosis, explosive outbursts, panic attacks, and paranoia. Quite the list, isn't it?"
"Ai-chan did not get a full diagnosis of any mental illnesses or disorders, but she has a minor case of dependent personality disorder like you. Because of that diagnosis, both Alluka and I felt even more guilty about putting you guys through that whole experience. We never really valued mental health until now, even with our own depressive episode between Alluka's parents. Thankfully, mental health counseling has improved greatly over the years, and now we've found a great use for it."
"Even if I choose to accept to visit this therapist of yours every so often, I still have my doubts as to whether or not it will doing anything of benefit. If there's one thing you really need to know about me, it's the fact that both my mind and body can be extremely stubborn to change."
"We all have human traits in all of us, no matter how different we are from each other. Human stubbornness is the double-edged sword we've wielded since ancient times. I hope you will learn how to wield such a dangerous blade, in time."
"You're quite a philosopher, unlike your daughter," I lightly laughed out. Shitori smiled back, allowing me to see the extents of which I can jest with him.
"Ai-chan is much like her mother. They have their periods of brilliance, but most of the time their brains enjoy not being too stressed out about such thoughts. In fact, I too think I need to take a break from this conversation. This supposed vacation of mine wasn't planned, so my wife and I cannot stay here in Kyoto for much longer. We'll take our leave tomorrow morning, and I suggest you two do the same. The message you left will surely stir up quite a commotion amongst your friends back home."
"Oh trust me, it has. I've received a hundred text messages from my friends overnight. I haven't checked them since this morning, but I'm confident there will be at least a hundred more now that people are awake. I caused them great distress when I attempted suicide, so i'd rather not tell them that Ai attempted it as well."
"Likewise," Shitori agreed. "I'll try my best to keep it a secret, but you should persuade Ai-chan to do the same, for the sake of your friends."
"Well, I'm confident she's smart enough to not need any kind of persuading, considering she kept me hidden for so long, but i'll make sure nothing will happen," I assured him.
"Well," Shitori said as he took a big whiff of the wet summer air. "I'll take my leave then."
"Oh, before you go…" I quickly interrupted his departure. "Yuzuki is your wife's name, is it not?"
"Yes, it is."
"May I ask what is your name then?"
"Watanabe. Is that all?"
"Yeah… Thanks..."
Ai's father pushed himself away from the railing and walked through the beautiful garden before retreating into the protection of his home. I remained standing beside the railing, absorbing both the sunlight and the breathtaking view in front of me. The rain from yesterday had already dried up, making the somber appearance of the garden transform into a more peaceful one. However, the view couldn't entirely be peaceful due to the sheer cliff right below my feet. The memory of yesterday echoed in my mind, and I quickly brushed it aside before the Voices could make me hallucinate anything dark. Whoever built this home clearly didn't account for any safety hazards, or for anybody who suffered acrophobia.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, breaking me from my train of thought. I looked to see that I had received a text message from Ai, and it simply read:
"Come to my room. I want to talk about something."
Without questioning her reasoning, I put my phone back into my pocket and made my way towards the house. I passed by several patches of various flowers and walked underneath a roof of cherry blossom and magnolia trees, making me wonder as to how they managed to fit in so many trees in such a small space. I walked over the koi pond, admiring the small kois swimming underneath the surface of the water. I stepped onto the back porch, removing my outdoor footwear for my uwabakis. I traversed through the highly decorated corridors of the massive house, passing by multiple vacant bedrooms. Some of them still had remnants of the Yuzuki family reunion, as clothes, shoes and drinks were left behind by the occupant families.
Ai's family was considered the main branch of the fairly large Yuzuki family as they were the only ones who continued to pass down the name. Because of that, they received the biggest room in the house. Each of the smaller rooms matched the size of Ai's bedroom back in Setagaya, but the main branch's bedroom was a house all in itself. It had all the commodities a household needs: kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, everything. The so-called "bedroom" had two stories to it, with all the smaller bedrooms on the upper floor. I passed by Nagato, who was in the kitchen preparing our lunch meal for later, though the butler didn't notice me due to my quietness. I walked through the living room and made my way upstairs, heading towards Ai's open bedroom door. I entered its threshold, closing the door behind me and startling Ai, who was looking out the window at the time. She was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt at least two sizes bigger than her usual shirts. It was large enough to cover most of her black hotpants, but I could still see the black denim peeking out underneath.
"Jeez… Even in the real world you move around so quietly," Ai yelped.
"Sorry. Can't help it. Maybe I should wear a bell around my neck for everyone's sake."
"Hah… Not a bad idea, but I think that's too much."
"Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"
"Come sit down first," she asked of me as she proceeded to sit down on her bed, facing the window. She pat the area right next to her, and I obeyed her wishes. The moment I sat down on the bed, she leaned her head against my shoulder and wrapped her arms around one of mine.
"Something wrong?"
"No… Nothing's wrong…" she reassured me. "I was just wondering if we should go somewhere before the summer break ends. Somewhere nice and isolated, kind of like the 47th Floor of SAO."
"Even if we could go to a place as beautiful as that, don't you have school activities to take care of during the break?"
"Well… Because of that whole drama I caused during the final exams, I relinquished my student council position. Even if I didn't, I would've probably been forced out of it. Mother forced me to retake my exams before I came here to stay for the summer. As for my homework, you can help me out during our vacation."
"I think I've had enough of school work recently… I spent hours helping everyone else study for their own final exams while I was doing my rehab. And with all of the stuff regarding our relationship, my brain wants to take a good rest. A vacation to some place nice is indeed something we both need."
"Got any plans in mind?"
"Actually…" I spoke as I took out my phone. I unlocked my phone and searched through my junk-filled inbox to find the email I received yesterday. I showed Ai the email and she began reading its contents. Her face expressed her curiosity as clear as day, as I had never talked about this person with her before.
"Who is he? It's a he right?"
"Don't worry… It's a guy. His name is Vincent. He and I used to go to school together several years ago. After a certain tragedy, he was forced to return to his home country and live with his grandparents."
"Not trying to be rude or anything, but what exactly does this have to do with our vacation?"
"Fortunately, I can kill two birds with one stone. Vincent was born and raised in the Philippines before he moved here to Japan during his first year in junior high school. He takes great pride in his homeland, and he used to tell me countless stories about all the fun and wonderful experiences he had there. Last night, I was actually looking up some stuff about it and figured it might be a nice place for a honeymoon."
"Philippines? Where is that again?"
"It's southwest of Japan, between Indonesia and Taiwan. I don't remember too much about it, despite the hours of information Vincent told me about his homeland. He was quite passionate about his home country, but it was so long ago I don't remember, Frankly, I don't think I cared enough to listen to him… And he considered me his best friend…"
"Was he your best friend?" she asked.
"In a sense, yes. Before I met you, he was my closest friend, and the person who came closest to changing who I was back then. In fact, if it wasn't for our separation, he would've succeeded, and he may have even joined SAO with me."
"Now I'm more interested in going. Did you tell my father yet?"
"No, not yet. I only recently learned of the five wishes your father granted me. Since we're going on this trip, I may as well use one of those wishes to spend some time with you, away from all this."
"We can go talk to him later. You should contact your friend too. Get some more information from him so we know how things work over there."
"Will do," I said as I stood up from the bed. I was about to walk off before Ai pulled me back down with enough force to make me fall on my back.
"I didn't say you could leave…" she scolded me before proceeding to get on top of me, effectively pinning me to the mattress. "You can't just leave me here alone after I went through the effort of bringing you here."
"You texted me to come here… It's not like you had to walk as I did."
"Oh just shut up…"
Ai grabbed my face with both her hands and planted her lips against my own. She was kissing me with such great passion, but I didn't return as much back as my anxiety was continuously growing. All I could think about was someone walking through those doors right now and catching us in the middle of our make-out session. The reconciliation happened yesterday, so I felt awkward doing such a thing with Ai so quickly. In fact, it's been a long time since we ever kissed like this, excluding the time we spent separated from each other from the whole fiasco. Ai noticed this, and grunted heavily as she stopped our kissing.
"Why are you being like this?" she pouted.
"I just think its still a bit too early for us to be doing this."
"We've known each other for two and a half years. We married in-game and acted like a real couple in SAO. It's been a long time since we did something like this. You're starting to make me jealous of the relationship Midori-chan and Ryu-kun are having. I want to kiss and hug you too you know…"
I saw how hurt she was from my rejection of her motives, and so I placed a hand on her cheek for reassurance. I was still surprised as to how a girl like Ai, who typically shows innocence, could express such hunger. I couldn't really blame her because I too longed for the comfort intimacy brings me. Using my body, I pushed up against her, causing her to roll over her back and allowing me to get on top. I quickly kissed her on the lips for a few seconds before breaking away to tell her:
"If we get caught, I'm telling them you started it."
(Mortifer)
A few days later in the weekend, 9 PM, «Yggdrasil City»
While browsing through the Internet, I remembered finding something about this western holiday called Thanksgiving, where people express their gratitude while eating extreme amounts of food. I knew of the Labor Thanksgiving Day that Japan has, but I didn't know about this other one. Since Violet and I returned from Kyoto with our relationship back together, our group of friends decided to host our very own western Thanksgiving party as a celebration and a way to reconcile.
I was planning on inviting all of the Lords except Mortimer, but I decided against it and only invited Sakuya, Alicia and Silver. Leafa had already informed them of the situation we were in during the time when I sent the Sylph and Cait Sith Lords the invitation. According to my sister, they were overwhelmed about the sudden revelation and quickly realized why I was being so demanding to them at the time. They apologized to me profusely as they didn't know our situation and because they were too busy to attend our party.
As for Violet's brother, Silver had a hard time accommodating himself since ViVi was present as well as the rest of the group. Silver betrayed ViVi by revealing my relationship with Violet, and the betrayal caused the group a great deal of emotional pain. Not only that, but ViVi still suffered from the words Violet told him that day, and she couldn't muster up the courage to apologize. She was felt so guilty about what she did that she asked me for help, though I redirected her to Asuna since I was the last person she should ask for apology tutoring. I saw them step outside for a bit, making me assume Violet was having a private conversation with him. They returned in a few minutes, and I caught a glimpse of the reddened eyes and wet cheeks of ViVi—remnants of crying.
The moment the clock rang the ninth hour, everyone gathered around the table for the feast. With the help of Agil and Cayonz, Violet and Asuna set down all of the food they prepared on the table. While the two girls were extremely tired from cooking several hours straight, they were proud of what they accomplished.. Along with the traditional Japanese sushi, gyoza and yakitori, an entire oven-roast American turkey sat in the middle of the table along with Korean bulgogi, Russian beef stroganoff, Spanish seafood paella, South African boerewors sausage, Mexican al pastor, Brazilian pão de queijo, Swedish laxpudding, and finally Egyptian shawarma. It was by far the biggest and most diverse feast I've ever seen, and everyone was eager to get a bite. Before we could eat however, Asuna stood up on a chair for everyone to see.
"I would like to thank everyone for being here today." Asuna gleefully spoke. "I know you guys can't wait to eat the food, but first I would like to introduce to everyone Violet's brother, Silver, the Lord of the Leprechauns,"
Everyone turned their heads to the Leprechaun Lord. While some people like Paradox, Konno and Trish greeted him with friendly smiles, everyone else wasn't so nice as they knew he was the one who told Violet's parents about my relationship with her. ViVi couldn't even look his cousin in the eye, either because he felt betrayed or still couldn't forgive himself for what happened.
"H-Hi… I'm Onii-chan's younger brother. My name is Yuzuki Hitori. I'm sorry for all the troubles I have caused," Silver nervously greeted us. Now that I think about it, his personality in-game back when we first met was completely different from what he was like now. The loud-mouthed Silver I met back then hadn't spoken a word in the entire party till now. "I don't expect to be forgiven, and if you want to beat me up then I am prepared."
Silver bowed his head down and placed his hands behind his back. He was trying to prepare himself for the beating he was suspecting, but he could not hide his worried face, even underneath his long hair.
Everyone turned their heads towards Violet to seek guidance, but she closed her eyes and maintained a blank expression on her face, telling us that we had to decide for ourselves. Asuna stepped down from her chair and moved to Kirito to whisper into his ear. Nobody made a move for a while until Zed approached Silver. The boy noticed his approach and his whole body started shaking out of fear of Zed. However, instead of throttling Violet's brother, Zed grabbed Silver's head from the top with his right hand and made the Leprechaun look straight at him. He then took both of his hands, grabbed both edges of Silver's lips and stretched them into a deformed smile, causing Silver great discomfort.
"Smile, dumbass," he commanded the Leprechaun Lord, catching Silver off-guard from his profanity. "After all we've been through these past few months, I've had enough of people always sulking around. I hereby ban sulking in this household. No exceptions."
"Hey! Where is my say in this?" Paradox pouted, putting her hands on her hips.
Because of Zed's method of lightening the mood, I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt as he was being scowled by Paradox. My laughing seemed to be contagious as everyone else joined in on the laughter. Even ViVi found himself smiling slightly. Only Silver remained composed, mostly due to the unexpected reaction he got from Zed. Violet reassured her brother with a pat on the back, and motioned for him to take a sip from his mug. Because he hesitated, Violet showed him that there was nothing to fear when she too took a swig of the virtual ale inside of the mug. The happiness displayed on her face eased Silver's anxiety, and he too took a sip of the fake alcohol.
"Cheers to a new beginning!" Asuna shouted. In unison, we all yelled in response:
"Kanpai!"
Everyone, even Trish and Silica, the youngest of the bunch at fifteen and fourteen respectively, drank some of the magical ale only to spit it out right away. They weren't the only ones as Lizbeth, Konno and ViVi also spat out the ale. They complained about the terrible taste of the alcohol, but Rizer informed them that almost all alcoholic drinks tasted like that. Of that group, only Konno decided to keep drinking, making me suspect he either wanted to get accustomed to the taste, or so he could better fit in with Zed.
"Well… It tastes better than the rum we had back then," Paradox coughed out.
"You should really start buying some better tasting alcohol Rizer," I told him as I swirled the drink around my cup, trying to get used to the taste.
"NPC vendors don't have a review history you know," Rizer complained. "Plus, if we really wanted to try out some good tasting alcohol, shouldn't Paradox be making them for us with her «Completed» «Mixing»?"
"No way am I going to brew alcohol for you guys! My vials are for medicinal purposes only!"
"Yet you're called Poison and brew paralysis poisons potent enough to down me for five minutes," Rizer jested.
"Hey, there are some poisons out there that can heal people," Zed spoke up as he grabbed Paradox by the waist, pulling her very close to his body. "You just need to know which ones are good, and which ones are bad. I've found mine right here."
A sudden kiss on the lips startled Paradox, whose eyes remained open for a few seconds. She glanced at us, showing her surprise before yielding to Zed's advance. Many of us rolled our eyes from the sight, but we simply shrugged it off and let them continue. While ViVi, Trish, Lizbeth, and Silica took their seats on the table, everyone else finished with their serving of ale before following their lead. As soon as Zed and Paradox sat themselves down, the food frenzy commenced. While every dish of the feast was delicious, we all found one dish we adored more than the rest. Seeing the joyous faces of everyone, I was even more grateful for Violet and Asuna's hard work while also feeling bad for asking Violet to recreate my favorite spicy beef curry when she and Asuna already had so much stuff to do.
As we all celebrated a new beginning for me and Violet, I noticed Silver sitting on my left shedding a single tear that streamed down his cheek. He noticed his first tear and tried to wipe it away, but more tears soon started to form. Embarrassed, he stood up from his seat without catching anyone's attention but mine and Violet's. Violet, who was at the opposite head of the table persuaded me with puppy eyes to go check on Silver, and I obliged. I stood up from my seat and tended to Silver, who had exited through the front door. I opened the door and shut it behind me. When I turned around to greet Silver he wasn't there. Before I called out for his name, I heard someone sobbing above me. I materialized my wings and slowly ascended to meet Silver at the rooftop.
"When I found out that Onee-chan got trapped inside of SAO, I was so mad at myself for allowing her to play on my NerveGear…" Silver spoke softly. "My family kept on telling me that it wasn't my fault, but if I just didn't allow her to do so, or if I had taken the NerveGear with me, she wouldn't have been stuck in that death game. But now, after seeing her with her friends, and you especially… I've been starting to wonder… Would she have been this happy if she wasn't in SAO? Would she have ever met you if it weren't for SAO?"
"I'm not one to say this, but you should stop dwelling on the past. Live in the present," I told him as I sat down next to the Leprechaun Lord. "Push on ahead towards the future, no matter how terrible it will be."
"Yeah, but… How were you able to do it?"
"Do what?"
"Attempt suicide."
When the words reached my head, I then realized just how much Violet's brother had been beating himself up. Not only did he feel guilty of getting Violet trapped in SAO, but he felt guilty of informing his parents about my existence, which almost led to our demise. I didn't know what else to tell him except for my answer to his question.
"For me, it was quite the spur of the moment. When my emotions take over, I have no self-control. If my mind tells me to do something, no matter how stupid it is, I won't be able to stop myself from following through. If you want to talk about the courage of attempting it, then you should ask your own sister. She told me she was planning hers as soon as I let go of her that day you Lords sent me to assassinate Mortimer."
"Then… Would you do it again, if you were put into the same situation?"
"I don't know… If you're planning on doing it, but still seek help from yourself, I'm really not the right person to talk to. But… If you want a recommendation to someone other than some professional therapist, then first I suggest you speak with ViVi. Your sister hurt his feelings quite terribly that day, telling him that nobody enjoyed being with him and that you guys only liked him out of pity. You betrayed his trust, and he suffered a great deal of emotional pain because of it. Reconcile with him, then go to your sister."
"Easier said than done…" Silver muttered out.
"That's exactly why it's so hard for people to get out of periods like this. We seek help and salvation, yet we're scared to talk about it. We slowly suffocate in our own grasp before we are either saved or found dead. I despise people who think their suffering is worse than others when they don't know what others have been through. Even so, that doesn't stop me from being hypocritical and declaring to others that I have suffered far more than they have. Compared to mine, your problems are nothing. I don't even have to remind myself of all the sins I've committed in this life of mine."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know exactly how it works, but if it does, then be ready."
I grabbed Silver by his head and butted it against my own, surprising the kid. I placed my free hand on his shoulder, expressing my need for him to be calm. Once he relaxed, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I willingly delved deep into my head and reached into the darkness deep inside it. I pictured myself grabbing at the Voices from underneath a black sea, and I dragged them from its dark waters and into plain sight. The Voices, which had been a very distant whisper ever since I reunited with Violet, became highly audible. My head burned from the shouting and crying, but I endured. From all of the Voices inside of my head, I reached for one specific Voice and imagined it traveling down a wire that connected into Silver's brain. When I was done uploading the image into his head, I opened my eyes to see his own eyes wide open as if in shock. He backed away from me, removing our connection. His face displayed unparalleled horror. However, the horror he expressed wasn't because of me, but because of what I had shown him.
"Onee-chan… That was her, wasn't it?" he questioned. I turned my head away but still gave a nod in response.
"There are many more of those, and I can share these Voices in the real world too. Being able to share my pain with people like that is so strange. It's like I have magical powers that break the boundaries of science and reality. Either way, this is the life I have to live till the day I die."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. This curse of mine has nothing to do with you. I'm just trying to show you that everyone else is struggling to survive in this world, some more so than others. If I can do it, then I am confident you can as well. So, come on. Let's go back inside."
For several seconds, Silver gave no reaction. After looking up at the starry night sky, however, he let out a long sigh and stood up. He made the first move and floated down to the doorway below us. I followed closely behind him. We entered through the wooden doorway, and I shut the door behind us to prevent the world from breaking into our tiny bubble.