~Delay 2~

Yuuki, Leafa and Sinon had decided to practice together for the day after hearing about Philia inviting Anabelle and Ana out to enjoy the day together. Yuuki had been having Leafa teach her kendo whenever the time and mood was right, when they had the time to do so. Yuuki had been growing at a slow pace. She was fast, but she had a lot of mistakes that needed correcting, as Ana had measured of her before. Really, Yuuki was more a tachi type of fighter. She didn't wield her katana properly at all, and it encouraged at some point that Ana replaced her katana with a tachi, which was meant for being wielded with less strength than a katana.

Ana had given Yuuki a lesson before, on the history of the katana, and more accurately about the weapons a samurai had on them. A katana was the primary weapon a samurai had. Katana were difficult to forge in the past, only few master smiths forging them for distinguished families. Otherwise, the lesser swords of tachi were considered a short, unimpressive version of a katana, without a guard. Not short enough to be considered a house knife or a dagger, but not long enough to be considered a katana. Samurai, the people most common to have a katana, many even did not have the chance in the past to wield a katana, used tachi instead, practising in many ways to wield their weapons properly.

In history, samurai often had two tachi with them at all times. The katana was the staple weapon of the samurai, but the tachi were the most common because it was easier to produce them. Two tachi were always on hand, even for those who had katana, so that they would always have another back up weapon. Some samurai trained in the use of dual wielding their tachi either if they didn't have their katana, or if they were unworthy of wielding a katana. Some, were more suited to dual wielding their tachi. The better known samurai who used katana, often only used their tachi in emergency situations, and they only used one. Their off hand designated tachi.

Yuuki thought about it more, and she sighed before making another downward slice. Leafa taught her more the discipline of kendo, the basic movements and the manners of the basic movements, and Yuuki would have to go from there. Learning kendo would only help her when she would return to using a katana, not help her with her use of the tachi.

The katana was a weapon of graceful movements which were meant to be seen. It was a weapon of pride. The tachi, was more like an assassin's weapon. It was used often by ninja, and well known for being the killing weapon of many leaders in the East Asian Wars in the past.

Yuuki had become quite proficient in using the tachi with some instruction from Ana, but she wanted to continue working on her ability with the katana. No matter how much Ana told her that she didn't suit the katana, she wouldn't give up on it.

Yuuki didn't know why she had such a heavy interest in it though. She didn't know why she was so interested in the past. She didn't know why she was so invested into being good with the katana. If it were only for her time within Aincrad, she was already good enough to help the people around her which seemed to be such a great, growing family. She could just settle with how skilled she had become with the tachi and live with it, but she somehow felt soothed while doing the kendo exercises with Leafa.

Sinon had also begun training in kendo again. Sometimes Kirizu could be found practising kendo as well, but to Yuuki, she saw Sinon's training as something to help her gather her thoughts and find some kind of peace. It was kind of like yoga for her. For Kirizu, it seemed her training was levels beyond Leafa and Sinon, but Kirizu was also alone while she did her kendo training. She was definitely using hers for a calming exercise, to try and find her calm like Yuuki often heard Beta talk about. Kirizu's health was steadily getting a little better every day, but she still had a lot of energy and she was pushing her heart a lot in real life regardless. As a person Kirizu had become quite impressive. She cared about everyone in Beta. She treated Agil like a friend, yet like a respected uncle as well. He treated the rest of the girls of Beta as sisters, aside Asuna who she was incredibly close with. Sometimes, Kirizu's kendo practice was also done with Asuna, as she would do traditional rapier practice.

Yuuki was happy to see the family which formed around her. She truly was happy. She was happy to experience such a wonderful, full life with the people around her. Thoughts of outside, and friends, the family she left behind in the other games available with the Medicuboid project...those reminded her that she wasn't completely happy. She didn't want to forget, and yet she was sad to remember.

Yuuki remembered that, she was a critical condition patient, and the Medicuboid project had been being operated from the lead of someone from Ana's previous colleagues in the study of virtual technology. So far, the Medicuboid project led by Mai-san had kept her alive a full year more than her life expectancy. A full year. All she had left were rare visits from other interested doctors and physicians who were interested and trying to understand how to make the device fully restore a patient.

Yuuki had made friends...friends she considered family after she lost connection with most of her family, who were other patients of the Medicuboid project. Friends she could no longer contact. She was sad every time she remembered that they were probably waiting for her and possibly worried for her sake, being trapped in Sword Art Online now. Some of the other patients of the Medicuboid project, they seemed that they might be able to be cured some day in the future, but all the project did for Yuuki, was delay her from dying.

Her past was cruel, full of unfortunate events which were caused by medical mistakes mostly. She had an older sister, and sometimes she looked at Ana, or even Asuna or Kirizu as older siblings with how wonderful they could be. Kirizu would have been the most accurate considering the similarities, but of course it couldn't be like that. Sometimes, Yuuki would find herself staring at Kirizu for a time and there were times when Kirizu or others would ask if there was anything wrong.

Yuuki avoided talking about herself mostly, but she was becoming tempted more and more to talk with Ana. Ana was so busy with trying to help everyone toward the goal of getting out of Sword Art Online, but Yuuki also knew she was one of the most important contributing factors to the Medicuboid project running early. The technology department partners, Nekano Mai and her main doctor, Kurahashi were the people keeping her and the other Medicuboid patients alive, but Yuuki felt that the missing link in herself and the others actually living through to the end could only be cured by Ana.

A large part of Yuuki just wanted to smile through the situation she found herself in, enjoy whatever she could, enjoy a normal life she never had the chance to because of the mess from the infections she fought to live through, and the way other people saw and treated her. She wanted to, but knowing that Ana was involved in the project which was helping her live, she felt that she had to know if Ana held the key which would save her and let her have a real, normal life again.

Yuuki was happiest with one factor that the Medicuboid brought by being early. Her older sister waited with the other Medicuboid patients. She only hoped that her sister would still be alive and waiting for her when she would get out of Sword Art Online, but confirming if Ana could figure out how to save Yuuki soon, would also answer whether they could save Yuuki's older sister from passing away. Yuuki felt desperate with the possibility that Ana might be the answer, to cling to her, but she was conflicted by her usual behaviour and her desperation. She hadn't worked up the courage to talk to Ana about her personal situation, and she had already told the others not to worry about her...

Some time in the afternoon, when Yuuki was no longer training with Leafa and Sinon, she walked around on floor ten looking around for something to do. When she was about to walk past the training ground, she could hear the clang of weapons colliding, so she turned and walked over out of curiosity. This was more like her, checking out if there was someone strong that she could fight. Of course she wanted to someday match Ana in battle, but that was a day very long off. When she saw that Ana was one of the people there, she was tempted to ask her for a match. She hung at the entrance of the training ground and watched. Ana was training Philia with a strange looking magic sword in Philia's hand. Anabelle was watching them and cheering the both of them on. Yuuki saw that Philia was growing close to being exhausted, and Ana closed the duel.

Ana walked over and sat beside Anabelle, pulling a water glass from her inventory to replenish a bit of energy she might have expended. Philia staggered over to sit down with them, and stopped along the way when she noticed Yuuki standing at the entrance of the training ground. When Philia stopped, Ana and Anabelle turned to look at Yuuki.

"Oh, would you like to join us for some training?"

The message window from Ana was met with a heavy mind behind Yuuki. She wanted desperately to finally act on her desire to ask Ana if she would be able to save her and her sister from dying...she walked over and sat with them, sending a private message to Ana.

"How...would you feel about being in contact with Mai-sensei and trying to solve...never mind..."

Yuuki sent it, but she was still too nervous to ask further. A part of her hoped for Ana to pick up the conversation from there, but another part of her wanted her to ignore the message and continue on with the training. When a response from Ana came asking what needed solving, Yuuki pulled together all of her courage and typed out the next private message to her. She asked if Ana knew anything about the medical conditions Yuuki and her sister were being treated for, if there was anything Ana knew about how to cure their medical conditions and save their lives...

When Ana received the message, she became serious and wore a very thoughtful expression. She arrived at some kind of thought, and started a call with Ryra, which she asked to have put through with Nekano Mai. Ryra was confused, but shrugged and patched the call through after they exchanged greeting and a confirmation of their love for each other. Mai answered her part of the call immediately as well, and she stared in surprise when she saw the people on the other side of the call.

"Ana-san!"

Ana typed her response. Mai wasn't the slightest surprised to receive text response from her.

"About the Konno family patients, I'd like to see if I could help you cure them completely instead of just delaying their symptoms from getting worse. After we all get out of here, maybe see if there's a way to get me onto your project team and save all of your patients in the Medicuboid project."

Mai's eyes swam with tears while reading the request from Ana.

"Of course. Is it fine to just sent you all of the information like this? I've been hoping you would come back and do something else amazing with your projects you left unfinished...this is the best Christmas present ever!"

Yuuki, Anabelle and Philia all laughed at the happy response of Mai on the other end of the call. Seconds passed, and a massive wall of information was sent to Ana, which saved to her messages, which she opened again and she started listening through the contents. Ana started highlighting a few things, and she sent another message to Mai before continuing to analyze the information.

"I'll need more information on both Yuuki and her sister in order to give you an answer, and it might take a week or two. I'll also need information on the medicine treatments and other treatments you're performing on them."

All of the people around Ana were surprised how little of a time window she was giving herself to solve how to save Yuuki's life. A week or two? To cure a terminal illness? What kind of brain did she have? None of them knew about what kind of schooling she took, but Ana thought about how she hadn't just done online linguistics, programming and her writing after her high school graduation. She didn't want Ryra to be the only one trying to get her back her eyes. However, she didn't need her eyes back, and even when she had found a method during her studies, she was determined to keep her normal. She could always cure her eyes when she returned to real life and recover properly, but she was keeping so much to herself. She liked appreciating the life she could live without vision, because of how rich everything else was.

The point was, Ana had studied medicine and...well, a lot during her time after high school. It was seven years, and with how fast she learned, she had actually learned most of her programming in very little time. She hadn't officially finished any of the virtual reality projects because she hadn't reached a guaranteed safe method, but she knew she was close. She just wasn't ready to promote something like Sword Art Online happening.

Ana's mind opened up, and after a few minutes of information being sent back and forth, Ana sent a formula to Mai, a medicine formula to use on Yuuki and her sister.

"That one is the first test. It is perfectly safe, and if it works, then you have a cure for three terminal illnesses. Send my part of earnings to Ryra please."

Mai stared at the formula that Ana had come up with after analyzing the information and she muted her end of the call, the obvious sign of how she reacted on the other side showing how excited she was.

"I never would have thought...! I'll call you this evening and let you know if there's any change!"

Mai cut the other end of the call, and the people around Ana looked at her with expectancy to tell them what Ana had given Mai.

"The answer to most of the most dangerous diseases and infections we contract in our lives is rarely a huge formula of a lot of tiny chemicals. The more chemicals, the more chance of there being adverse side effects. Yuuki and her sister have a certain information in their bodies which told me what was wrong when I heard them. The formula to solve those is shared with the same as the formula I came up with to force the body into a regenerative and healing state to eliminate illness from the body..."

Ana hoped that they wouldn't clue in on that it was also the cure to her voice and vision. She knew that if Mai told Ryra about what it would do, then Ryra would immediately use it on Ana to cure her vision. If Ryra found out that Mai got the formula from Ana...

Ana sighed and stood up, ready to continue with the training.

"So, who wants to do some more training?"

Yuuki understood what Ana had done in that short time. In minutes, Ana might have saved her life. She might have saved her and her sister's lives. She might have even saved some of the other patients. She stood up and walked to the other end of the training ground, and faced off against Ana. She wanted to express how happy she was that Ana went along with her selfish request, how thankful she was, and she would do that with however much she had managed to improve with the katana.

Yuuki readied herself and pressed the accept button for the duel. Sadly, she still couldn't land a single hit on Ana. She knew she had improved though. Nobody could land a hit on Ana. Not even Anabelle, and Ana went easy on Anabelle because of the obvious reason.

After the first practice match, Yuuki received a more detailed message window from Ana telling her what Ana's formula would do for her. The formula specifically sought out the infections that were ailing and threatening Yuuki's life currently, and would help her immune system redevelop since the information told Ana that Yuuki and her sister had collapsed immune systems. After the immune system would be reestablished, the immune system and the body would use the formula to resist and destroy the other infections that Ana had found in the information.

Yuuki was only more surprised to hear that Ana had been able to listen through all of the information that fast, let alone understand it and come up with a life saving formula from it. After the duel, Ana walked up to Yuuki, and Yuuki suddenly felt her body collapse.

Ana caught Yuuki from falling and she shook her head with a sigh.

"Is Yuuki okay?!"

Philia's concern for her was very welcome, Anabelle had run over. She wouldn't be able to tell from the avatar with them, but the first sign that the formula was working, was that it would knock the patient completely unconscious first, even the mind, meaning the avatar would be forced to sleep, for the beginning of the process to start.

Ana whispered this answer to Philia and Anabelle, and she carried her over to the inn Beta used. Yuuki was set down on her bed and Ana secured the room after leaving her there. She just needed to let herself rest through the treatment.

After they left the room, Ana received another call, this time it was straight from Mai.

"Well, they're both completely unconscious like the first part of your formula. Darn though...I didn't expect to see readings like that on their information to change. Seriously, that formula needs to be put to use all over the world. It could save so many people! It's working so fast too...they might even be completely cured by tonight with how strong the formula is!"

Ana touched her palm to her forehead with her left hand and typed a response to Mai's words while shaking her head.

"How much of a dose did you give them?"

Mai responded with...twice what Ana had given her. One creation of the formula to the specifics she had given Mai, was supposed to be enough to be used on both of them.

"Well, then they might just be cured by tonight, or you might have given them enough of a dose to make their bodies extend beyond their healing capability and die. That would be your fault for not reading the part about the formula being enough for two patients."

Mai's expression went from excited and proud of Ana's accomplishment with the formula, to horrified.

"Actually, the formula doesn't push the immune system to work hard until the immune system is restored completely, so it's more likely to restore their immune systems faster and push the regenerative abilities to recover any health they had lost...well, guess this just goes to show I was right in telling you it was safe. It is safe. I forgot for a moment that this formula works that way. They're safe. They'll be severely exhausted and physically a little weaker though for a few weeks after this because of how much the double dose will push them to heal faster."

Mai sighed in relief and made a show of making a full respectful bow to Ana.

"Seriously, you should have just gone into the medical field professionally, Ana-san! This could save so many lives! Too bad though...it won't be able to solve the Sword Art Online issue..."

"No need to worry about that. We can work on it from this end. If we complete Akihiko's requirements and we don't get set free, then I'll worry about figuring out a formula for saving everyone stuck in here. Until then..."

Ana closed the call and led the way down to the restaurant of the inn and back outside. She continued on to the training ground and returned to training Philia with the magic sword. Philia was getting better quite fast, but she still didn't learn as fast as Asuna or Kirizu. Nobody else in Beta learned as quickly as Anabelle. Philia was about between Asuna and Kirizu, and Leafa and Sinon as far as learning pace. Fast, but not remarkably fast.

Ana's mind was somewhat occupied with the information for Yuuki's situation while she was training Philia. She was concerned with how all of the medical issues had piled up like that. She really did need something akin to a miracle in the medical community to live. Usually, formulas like Ana's would be shut down by the governments around the world because they would cause too large a shift in balance of the population growth and fall. Some people could be saved in the tests, but patenting a cure all or anything that could be used to save a lot of people from something such as cancer, those would be shut down by the governments in a heart beat, and the medical community couldn't survive without the government.

After dinner, Ana brought Yuuki's plate to her room, to find her sitting confused on the bed, staring down at her virtual hands.

"You sure woke up quickly. I thought that idiot's double dose she gave you would have you out until midnight. Guess you're just that energetic. Here's some dinner."

Ana placed down the dinner on the bed table which appeared in place after selecting the option which would provide the table for Yuuki.

"Mai-sensei...she woke me up..."

Ana nodded her head, understanding that Mai was definitely the type to disturb a medical sleep if she regarded it as safe to do so.

"Mai-sensei told me that already, I'm...thank you so much, Ana-san...! Thank you...!"

Yuuki was in tears. She was so happy, that she couldn't hold it back.

"It's because you were strong enough to hold on for so long you made it. I suppose talking to me about it was part of it too, with how some things happen in the medical community. I hear your sister went right back to sleep and gave Mai the cold shoulder after waking her up. Her condition is doing very well. A full recovery in a week, and the possibility for her to return to a somewhat normal life in two months, after rehabilitation for her movement and strength. Not quite as strong as she would have been before your involvement in the Medicuboid project, but strong enough to get around. Another of the patients is also being treated with the formula, and is showing good signs of recovery already. Now, we just need to get you out of this game to get you back to your sister and your other friends."

Yuuki cried a lot. The happiness she felt was...it was the greatest relief in her life. She had felt a massive relief when she and her sister were invited to take their chances with the Medicuboid project even though it was in large untested, and it was working, but there had always been the thought that eventually, it would come to an end anyway. That she had to live her life like every moment mattered, and she should spend it happy. With the new situation made clear that she was going to have the chance at a normal life, without any of the medical issues she'd had, she could truly look forward to her future.

Eventually, Yuuki managed to cry herself out, and she was hungry for her dinner. With the first bite, her tears arrived again. She could truly enjoy every bite. It was so good...she wanted her sister to be able to eat such good food with her later. She thought of taking Ana's cooking lessons, and she thought about how much easier those must be than the combat lessons.

With every bite, Yuuki could feel the reality of her situation sinking in. She didn't have to stop living her life like every moment had to be happy. She could still definitely do that. It was in her nature. Now, she just didn't have the nagging thoughts to ask Ana if there was a way to save her and her sister. She could just live out her experience in Aincrad with her new friends and wait like them for the communications from her sister and friends through the same method of communication they were able to use.

When Yuuki finished, Ana deemed it time to convey the last of the information that Mai told her about. Yuuki's parents. They as well had many of the medical issues that Yuuki and Aiko, the daughters had. They were also being treated with the formula, but because of their bodies being older, and because there were other medical issues present, they were likely to be immobile for a period of time to simply recover from the exhaustion the formula would give them. Ana had been given their medical information to listen over, and unlike the issues Yuuki and Aiko had, their parents had other present medical issues which had been growing worse because of the presence of the issues the family shared. Yuuki stared at Ana as if she had just told her the worst tragedy ever had occurred, after the best news of her life.

"Y-you...you can save my parents too, can't you?"

Ana was emotionally torn to be giving Yuuki the news herself. Ana wasn't a doctor. She wasn't accustomed to people dying around her. That she had to tell Yuuki that the illnesses her parents had developed beyond what the formula could work on, it hurt her as well. The illness was also something that Ana couldn't understand. As raw information, it was essentially the same as encountering a glitch which couldn't be fixed. She would have to rework the information countless times, and even then, it was unlikely to find a cure which would save them from the newly developed illnesses. Nothing in the medical community could be done. The estimated amount of time Yuuki's parents had left, was about a year. Yuuki and her elder sister Aiko...would be orphaned.