Chapter 13 – Asuna
I woke up with a stiff neck. My room was in darkness, with only the moonlight streaming in from my window, and bathing the room is a soft blue light. I must have fallen asleep on my desk. I sat up and massaged my stiff neck. A breeze was coming in from the window and the night air smelled refreshing. For once I felt really rested, with a dreamless sleep.
I surveyed the desk, and realised with a start that I haven't started on any of my revision and homework. Darn, it's already 1 a.m. Urgh, I have wasted so much time thinking about him.
Since I was feeling alert after my nap, I should to start on my revision now. Then, my stomach decided to alert me of its unfed condition. With a sigh, I decided to head to the kitchen for something to eat.
I walked through the many hallways in the house, and as I turned towards the corridor leading to the kitchen, I saw a light coming from the opposite corridor. It's one in the morning, everyone in the family should be in their rooms by now. Out of curiosity, I walked towards the door, where the light was streaming out from.
As I approached the door, I recognise my parent's voice coming from the room. From the tone of my mother's voice, she sounds really agitated. I creep closer towards the door, trying to hear what my mother is upset about.
'You know perfectly well that the Kirigaya boy is bad for Asuna. I'm definitely forbidding them to have any form of contact!'
Are they talking about that guy? And me? Are we really somehow related? I leaned closer to the door, trying to catch what dad is saying.
'Calm down dear, why are you so determined that the boy is bad from Asuna? We know they had a good relationship in SAO, why are you so against them now?'
'That godforsaken game, it is that fucking game that cause Asuna so much pain. That boy will just bring back all those awful memories for her and trigger her insanity, who is going to have to clean up all the mess after that? Me!' Mother's voice rose.
'Quiet down now, what if Asuna hears us? Anyway, based on your conversation, if we can call it that, with that boy today, he's definitely not giving up on Asuna, so what are you planning to do?' Dad asks, clearly tired of the conversation.
'Well, obviously I'm going to prevent that. I can't have him just waltzing into Asuna's life now. We have spent so much time and money treating Asuna. Erasing her memories of the game, home schooling her, and building her back from scratch. I'm not going through that again.'
'I don't even know if erasing her memory is the right decision.' I heard dad sigh.
'Well, what's done been done. But that boy seems half dead today you know, so skinny, and haggard. Mezami-san even made him her special tea…'
I backed away from the door, with my hands clasped around my mouth. Was everything that I just heard real? Was I really in SAO? Do I really have a relationship with Kazuto? Oh my god, have my memories really been erased?
I ran back to my room and collapse onto my bed. Was my memories really erased? Have I really been in SAO? I tried to think back, really think back to two years ago. My parents told me that I was involved in a car accident then, that's why I did not remember anything in the few years prior to that accident. That was why I was home-schooled for a year. Instead of a car accident, could I really have been in the game instead?
As much as I tried to remember, I really couldn't recall anything. The dreams! The dreams, where people were being killed, where I killed people, all the violence, the monsters, are those real? In the dreams, I felt so helpless and vulnerable as if my life was constantly at stake. Of that comforting presence that would sometimes appear in my dreams. I know that presence was a guy, dressed in black, he was always reassuring me. Is that guy Kazuto? Were those dreams real events that actually happened? In the game? Or was it caused by the car accident?
I was really scared. What was happening? Was everything around me all this while been a lie? What was the truth? I started crying as I sat huddled in a corner of my bed. Who could I believe anymore?