CH 3 - Family Matters

January 4, 2025

"You alright?" Dad asked from behind me.

I nodded. "Yeah.."

"Don't worry - your room's just the way you left it." Mom chimed in as we walked away from the car and into the front of the house.

After a few more days in rehab, I have been deemed healthy enough to go home. After that, the hospital called my family, and we all rode back to a place very familiar to me.

I looked up. It was a modern-styled, two-story house with a garage shed on the side. This house was just one of many houses in the neighborhood, but I have the honor of calling this house my home.

Well, it's been a while. Let's take a look.

We entered the house. I looked around. There's the living room - an L-shaped sofa with a coffee table and a TV. There's also the dining room and kitchen...all of it looked more or less the same. Maybe even too similar. Did they do that on purpose?

Beside me, Dad rolled his sleeves and put a floral-pattern apron on. "Alright. Let's do this."

"Right behind you." Sakura said as she grabbed another apron.

"What are you two doing?" I asked as the two of them started to take stuff out of the fridge.

"We're making nabe for dinner!" She replied. "You know, the one with the miso base and lots of meat and veggies!"

I tilted my head. "...dinner, huh?" If I remember correctly, these two were hopeless at cooking.

"Don't worry." Mom chimed in, as if reading my mind. "They've improved a lot. Let them work. Come on, let's go to your room."

I nodded. "Lead the way."

Mom nodded back and started to walk towards the stairs.

Before they were fully out of view, I took one last glance at dad and Nee-san.

No dirty looks, no passive-aggressive mumbling between them. I'm happy, but it's a little weird to see the two of them that cooperative with each other.

It was apparent even before I got out of the hospital, when it was the two of them that visited. They've gotten along during the time I was gone, it seems...

With that, I followed Mom upstairs. She went to my room and opened it, motioning for me to go in. I went in and looked around.

It was fairly small, consisting of a bed, a shelf, a wardrobe built into one of the edges, and an L-shaped desk stationed at the far corner at the window that housed my PC, with one desk unit supporting the desk alongside a couple of chairs. "...it's quite cleaner than I remember." I muttered.

"And I expect you to keep it clean. Understood?" Mom said.

"...yes, mom." Walked right into that one.

I went to the center of my room and took a deep breath. Memories from two years ago came flooding back, and I recalled the exact day that I had put on the NerveGear. The absolute joy I had as I played it when it was a game...and the dread that followed not too long after.

What followed was misery, loss, and the fear of death. However, I also felt growth, camaraderie, and love.

SAO was the worst and best thing that had happened to me. And now that I'm back to where I was before...I don't quite know what I'm feeling.

"Rin." Mom's voice snapped me back from my reverie. I turned around to face her. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"..." I silently nodded. "...it's just a lot to take in."

She smiled and spread her arms spread wide. "Come here. Give mommy a hug." I complied and wrapped my arms around her. "Welcome back, my baby boy...mm~" She hugged me tightly.

I grunted and chuckled. I know lots of kids my age dying to tell their parents how they're 16 and therefore not a kid anymore. But this...this is nice.

A few moments later, we heard shouting from below. "What happened?!" That was Dad.

"What's it look like?! I'm cleaning the freaking beansprouts!" That was Nee-san.

"Then why'd you flood the kitchen floor?! WHAT'RE YOU DOIN'?!"

"MY BEST! I'M DOING MY DAMN BEST!" Though they were getting rowdy, I could tell by their voices that it was just banter.

The two of us broke away. "Well...I'll go make sure that they don't wreck the kitchen too much." Mom giggled. "Go make yourself comfortable. If you need anything, just tell us."

After I nodded, she closed the door and left me alone.

I took a deep breath and opened my wardrobe. Because of the rehab, I was the fittest that I've even been in. Gotta admit I was a bit confident that my rippling deltoids and 24-pack abs would fill my clothes up. Maybe even tear them apart.

It didn't. Before they picked me up from the hospital, Ryou had procured the clothes that I had on me two years ago when the incident started. That was what I was wearing currently.

It was a perfect fit.

Well...on the bright side, I don't have to buy new clothes.

After some more moseying around, I found myself walking closer to the bedroom window. I opened the blinds and peered at the horizon. It was a familiar urban city, filled with modern-style houses. Tall buildings hung at the far horizon. It was a view familiar to me, as I have lived in this house ever since we migrated.

I felt like yawning, and I closed my eyes and stretched my limbs as my mouth opened. When I opened my eyes, the scenery changed to something equally familiar.

It was the view that I saw when I looked out of my bedroom window in Aurelia. A vast medieval city, its buildings covered by light snow…

Before I could question it, something got caught in my eye. I gently rubbed them with one of my knuckles. When my vision focused once again, the scenery had turned back to the modern urban cityscape.

…

Hm.

Loading...complete

The dinner was surprisingly edible. Not quite how Mom makes it, but not terrible. At first, I felt a bit awkward since it was my first time eating at home for a while. However, that quickly changed.

"Really...it's a good thing that the government decided to go all-in with those medical beds a few years ago." Dad remarked. "Back in my day, you still would've been halfway through recovering."

"I'm thankful as well. It did a lot to preserve my muscles, so I don't have to rehabilitate as much as, say, coma patients. The doctor said that my brain stayed active during these past two years, so no cerebral atrophy related to that. Bed's a little weird to lay on, though."

"So since it takes care of body wastes, were you afraid that you're gonna get used to pooping your bed?

I chuckled. "Nah. The sound I make when I fart while I'm in that bed is hilarious, though." I said before I mimicked the sound of a fart with my mouth, paying a bit more attention to give some extra bass, like a balloon violently deflating.

"Ugh…" Nee-san groaned. "Can we not? We're in the middle of dinner."

"Oh, come on. Like you aren't used to this." He turned to me. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to buy you some adult diapers."

"Dad…" Nee-san squeezed the bridge of her nose before she turned to Mom. "Can you tell your husband to behave?"

"I'm surprised that you're not used to it." Mom responded with a giggle.

"...heh…heheh…" I couldn't help but chuckle. As always, our dinner topics were quite the thing. Even more so now that I really couldn't sense even a tiny bit of thin ice between Nee-san and Dad.

After dinner, I tried to help them clean up, but they shushed me out and told me to just relax. I nodded and went to my room, sat on my chair, and turned the computer on.

Immediately, I was bombarded with system and app updates. Fortunately, a lot of those could run in the background as I browsed the internet.

While it was doing that, I reached over and opened my drawer. After some scrounging around, I found a box cutter. It was relatively small, and made satisfying clicking sounds when I pulled the blade in an out. I did that for a bit before I got bored and put it back.

It wasn't long before someone knocked on my door. "Come in." I said.

"'Sup, buddy?" He replied as he came in. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing much. Just...reacclimating."

Dad looked at my screen. It was a live stream showing a room full of kittens. "...reacclimating?"

"Yep."

He pointed at the screen. "With cats?"

"Yep."

"Ookay. Ooh. Look at that cat. He's playing with the cat toy!" Dad said as he pushed himself in between me and the computer screen, obstructing my view.

"Dad…" I groaned.

"Ohhh, it's so cute~." He spent the next moments just being an absolute nuisance.

Enough of this farce.

I pressed my finger to a part of his stomach where he was ticklish. "Oof!" He backed off with a grunt before he let out a chuckle. "So...everything alright?"

"Yeah...no issues so far."

"That's good. You know, how 'bout for tomorrow, the four of us go out for a drive?"

"The usual?"

"Yeah, the usual. We'll have lunch there."

'The usual' was a short drive to a nearby park. While there wasn't anything special in the park during this month, there was a small shopping area nearby, which also housed a ramen restaurant that Dad loved.

"Sounds good." I replied.

"Alright. Now, go get some rest. Mom and I have some things to work on so we'll be in our rooms, but feel free to tell us if you need anything. Also, Sakura offered to babysit you if you have any trouble being alone." We exchanged smiles before he headed to the door. "Take it easy, aight?"

I nodded at him. "You as well."

He exited the room, and I went back to reacclimating. When I got bored with that, I sighed and laid on my bed.

I felt myself almost floating. It was very comfortable.

Maybe even too comfortable.

Wait. I have an idea.

I stood up and walked over to my desk. I took my box cutter and hid it under my pillow before I laid back down on it again.

Much better. Heh, old habits sure die hard, eh?

However, I still couldn't sleep. It was only 9 pm, and I wasn't even tired.

Maybe it's time for me to check out what Nee-san's been doing.

I got up from my bed and went over to the front of her room.

I knocked lightly on her door. The door opened, revealing my sister. "Hey." She greeted.

"Hey." I greeted back. "You doin' anything?"

"Just doing some light studying." She opened the door further. "Come in."

I entered her room and looked around. As always, there was quite a bit of pink in her room. Aside from that, her room was normal, with a desk containing a computer and a digital clock facing her bedroom. At the center were a round chabudai (Japanese-styled short-legged table) and floor cushions. At the edge was a cabinet. The top half of the cabinet door was transparent, showcasing her multiple karate medals and certificates.

As Nee-san went to her computer, Something caught my eye - a small Hello Kitty plushie sitting on the edge of her desk. I walked closer to it and picked it up. "I didn't know you still had this." I remarked. "God...how long has it been? 7...8 years ago?"

"Yeah. It was a few weeks before we had to leave Canada to live here. I was sad that I had to leave my friends behind, so you got me that." She let out a sigh. "I still remember how cute you were - acting like you didn't care about lil' old Onee-chan being sad."

"Yeah, yeah…" I put the plushie back and walked back, sitting on the cushion.

"Speaking of friends, have you talked to yours? The ones you had before all this?"

I pursed my lips. "Well, you know me - I don't have that many friends. There's only two of 'em that I could call friends, and they're glad that I'm alive."

"You should hang out with them, and catch up on things that happened these past two years."

"That's the thing, though. They've advanced two years in their lives, while I've nothing to show for it."

"And if they're anybody worth calling a friend, they wouldn't care."

"...good point." I adjusted the chair so I can lay down, and I stared at the ceiling with a sigh.

The fact that 2 years had passed in the real world was a thought that stuck to me ever since a few days after I was set free. In all honesty, the world hadn't changed that much, but the people around me did. It's two years away from them that I would never be able to take back.

However, my newfound friendship and love inside Sword Art Online made those years much more bearable. I feel bad about leaving them behind these two years, but I honestly truly enjoyed the time that I had with my SAO buddies.

"You look like some off-brand noir film private investigator having the monologue of his life." Nee-san's voice pulled me out of my reverie.

"Mind reader." I quipped with a chuckle before I let out a deep breath. "Say…"

"Yeah?"

"...what did we use to talk about before all this happened? Things kinda...slipped through my memories..."

"Well...we were talking about anime. You were gettin' real excited about that Meruru thing or whatever."

I perked up at that. "Oh yeah." Memories came flooding back. "Did you watch it?"

"Not yet. Not as big of a Meruru fan as you. I can stream it though, and we can watch it together right now if you want to."

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, I kinda made a pact with my friends that we're gonna watch it together. So, uh...as much as I want to, I can't."

"I see…"

"We can watch Naruto again. I know how much you gush about Rock Lee."

"Hm. Maybe next time. But for now…" She reached into her desk drawer and took out a DVD of anime. The cover showed a young girl in a school uniform, firing what appeared to be an FN P90. "You know this anime?"

"I think...is that the one Dad said was one of his favorites? I remember him saying that we had to be older to truly appreciate it."

"Yup. He gave this to me so both of us can watch it, and he wanted our thoughts on it whenever we finish. Have you watched it already?"

"Nope."

"I'm surprised you didn't watch it behind his back. And I know the games you play and the anime you watch when Dad and Mom are not looking."

I shrugged. "It sounded like it's something important to Dad, so I obeyed even though I was quite curious."

"Well, today's the day." She said as she popped it in her computer.

We sat side by side on her bed. It was some old-ish anime where the main characters are a group of secretive government agents overseeing their respective girls, with the girls being cybernetically-altered assassins in their teens or younger. Based on the first episode, I expected it to be an action-oriented romp, but as the episodes went by, they seemed to be more of a character study, elaborating on the girls' and their caretakers' backstories, motivations, and general character. It was pretty engrossing.

While we could barely tear my eyes away from the screen, I could hear Nee-san yawning. When one of the episodes ended, I checked the time and it was almost 1 am. She was never really a night person. "You wanna sleep?" I suggested. "We can continue it later."

"...nah. I think I…" She was cut off by a yawn. "Haah...sorry. Anyways, I think I've got one more episode left in me. It's the weekend, so I can stay up late and sleep in."

"...alright."

Halfway through the episode, Nee-san leaned back and laid her body perpendicular to the bed. I turned to ask her if she had had enough, but I could tell that she was already out like a light.

Chuckling, I went over to her computer and put it on sleep mode. Then, I turned around and draped her with her blanket.

As I did that, her eyes opened slightly. "...Lynn?"

"...yeah?"

"...are you...leaving…?" Her voice was detached, but soft. Was she still half asleep?

"...I mean...I'm gonna sleep in my room which is next door."

"Can you… stay…" She whimpered. "...please?"

I tilted my head. Well, this is a little different. Usually, she'd strongarm me to do something, and I'd either tell her to piss off because I'm busy, or just go with it because I didn't have anything better to do. However, I've never seen her so meek before. I guess she missed me...

"...sure." I said as I laid perpendicular to the bed, a little ways away from her.

"..." With that, she let out a warm smile before her eyes closed once again.

I guess I should try and get some shut-eye as well. I tried my hardest to sleep, and after some tossing and turning, I opened my eyes with a yawn.

I sat up for a bit and looked at the clock. 6:30. Still a little dark out, but it's getting there.

Not too long after, Nee-san shifted and stirred. "Nn... " Oh yeah, this would be around the time that Nee-san would wake up. Her eyes opened and her head turned to look at me.

"...hey." I greeted.

"...hey." She replied before she turned her body towards me and held her arms out. "Hug."

"...what?"

"Huug~" She insisted.

I sighed and relented, shifting my body closer to her. She then wrapped her arms tight around me.

Like mother, like daughter, eh?

"What….time is it?" She asked.

"Around half past 6. Sleep for a bit more, you've stayed up late."

"What about you…?"

"Still acclimating. Don't worry too much."

"Mn…"

We stayed like that until half past 8, then we went downstairs to see Dad and Mom heating some leftovers for breakfast.

We said our thanks, and we started eating. The lively conversation persisted, but now, I couldn't help but feel that something was off.

I waited for a moment of silence before I steeled myself and took a deep breath.

"Alright." I spoke up. "We're gonna have this conversation sooner or later, and I'd rather have it sooner." I looked at my family. "It may not look like it, but a lot's happened to me these past two years, and I know the three of you are curious."

It's something that I noticed ever since I woke up from my two-year dream. They kept asking me about my rehab are just talking about current events. It's plain as day that they're not going to ask about what I had experienced. Either they're waiting for me to initiate, or they're just willing to let sleeping dogs lie.

For the latter, it's something that I can't accept. That would be implying that everything that I experienced in SAO was bad, which is simply not true.

A moment of silence permeated. They looked at each other and nodded. "How did it feel like...living inside that game?" Dad asked. "How different did it feel from the real world?"

"Hm...it felt...real enough." I replied.

"I see...do you know what an AmuSphere is?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but not the specifics." I tried to recall the details. "It's basically the successor to the NerveGear but with massively beefed up safety features."

"That's right." Mom nodded. "When you were still trapped, it was released to the public, and alongside guarantee after guarantee of improved security, included in the hardware was a software demo that simulated a medieval fantasy world. Its objective is to spread awareness of people who were, at the time, trapped in Sword Art Online. We rented three of them and tested it together."

"I see…how was it?"

"It's strange." Nee-san replied. "I felt...different, but very similar. That world was beautiful...perfectly picturesque." Her face darkened. "But true to the marketing, it wanted us to have the whole SAO experience...so monsters were included in the demo."

It was called a 'Dire Wolf'. It was a big, terrifying wolf. " Mom said, suppressing a shudder. "We were completely invulnerable during that encounter, and the monster was forcibly taken away from us after only a few seconds, but even then it was so very terrifying. I couldn't imagine facing that with my life on the line."

"Dire Wolf, huh…" Memories came flooding back, and I let out a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"...Dire Wolves did quite a number on me. They were responsible for one of the times I almost died." I looked around and I could sense the immediate concern that emanated from the three of them. "Guys, I'm right here. No need to get worried." I hurriedly added.

"Wait, one of the times?" Dad chimed in.

"Yep. Learned pretty quickly after that one, I'll tell you that much.."

"So you didn't remain in the safe areas?" Nee-san asked.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Why not? It's better than almost dying."

"I think being stuck in the safe areas, powerless, while your real body rots does more damage to your mind. I was capable of taking whatever that death game threw at me, so I had no reason to cower in safety."

"How did you cope with it, knowing that one wrong move can kill you?"

I shrugged. "It didn't feel anything more than crossing a busy street, or even riding a bus or an airplane. It gets easier on the mind after the first handful of times. And honestly, unless Sword Art Online is really out to get you, you're not going to die because of just one bad decision. Say what you want about it, but it's is a competently-designed and rewarding game that's hard but doable."

"I see…"

"And to be honest, it wasn't completely doom and gloom despite the fatal consequences. I've met a lot of friends there, and I've felt that I've grown from this experience, even if it was only a little bit. It's why I'm not that hesitant to tell you guys all of my experiences in Sword Art Online...well, most of my experience, anyways. "I paused and gave them each a glance. "So, enough about me for now. It's my turn to ask questions. What happened to you guys when I was gone?"

"When we learned that you were trapped...it devastated us. It's not something that I want to remember." Dad admitted, his eyes sweeping over Mom and Nee-san. "The three of us had coped differently, and it was unhealthy for us. For me, I shut everything off and just drowned myself in work."

Mom looked away and scratched her chin. "...when I wasn't working my bones off, I drank heavily. I've drank quite a bit these past two years."

I turned to Nee-san. "And you?"

"...you saw my new medals, didn't you?" She asked. I nodded. "I kept pushing my body to its limits because I wanted to make a stress ball out of everyone that I faced. It's a miracle that I don't have any long-term damage."

"That was our lives when you left us." Dad said. "But sooner or later, something had to break...and six months before you woke up, all of us broke." He looked around. "Before that, we were a mess. If we weren't ignoring each other, we were at each other's throats. We've had fights before, but nothing as bad as that."

"But I think...deep inside...we all still wanted to be together." Mom reminisced, wiping off the tears that formed on the edges of her eyes. "It was the lowest time of our lives, but by some miracle, we were able to make up to each other."

I looked at Dad and Nee-san. "So the two of you aren't putting up an act? The two of you buried the hatchet when I was gone?"

"Yeah." Nee-san replied. "Even before you were gone, our relationship wasn't that horrible. But we lost you, and we were afraid of losing any more."

"Lynn." Dad called me. I looked at him. "You wouldn't want us to fall apart because of you. We know what kind of person you are. You're the type that wants to be left alone, and not be a burden to anybody. If you weren't coming back, it'd be our way of honoring you, and if you did come back, we didn't want you to come back to a broken family."

He paused. "...when you left us, it took us a year and a half to get over it. Now, you might be thinking that that isn't so bad, but I'm talking for everybody here when I say -that's bull. You are an irreplaceable part of this family. Rain or shine, we'll be here for you."

"That's right." Mom said.

"...what they said." Nee-san chimed in.

A chuckle escaped from my mouth...

…

Hm…

My vision's getting a little blurry.

Wow...I can't believe how much that got me.

I looked away from them and stared to the side, taking deep breaths to get my emotions in check. As expected, they picked up on this and allowed me a moment.

"...did you guys rehearse this?" I asked with a whisper.

I heard Dad chuckle sheepishly. "Well, you know me. To an extent, all of us just get along usually, so we rarely do heart-to-heart talks. I figured that there's enough miscommunication that went along the three of us, so the least we could do is to not subject you to that."

I took a deep breath and turned to them with a smile. "I've missed you guys. So very much…"

Beside me, Nee-san came over and held my shoulder. Mom and Dad reached over and held my hand. We stayed like that for a few moments.

Eventually, I turned back to them with a smile. "So, enough of the sappy talk. I've loads of fun stuff that I can talk about right now. Interested?"

The three of them smiled and nodded.

We continued the conversation. I told them about my victories, the wacky quests I took, and just bantering and hanging out with the handful of friends I had made. However, I kinda held off the fact that I had married Keiko, among other things. Not gonna open those cans of worms just yet.

They had their own stories as well. Just like me, I know that they were hiding some of the rougher stuff, but they had a lot to tell, like the fun things they did when they got a hold of themselves.

I'm very lucky to have them as family.

Now, the next thing to do is figure out how to help the family that I've made during my time in Aincrad.

Chapter End

A/N: I think this chapter went well, and I felt that it was appropriate to dedicate a whole chapter to the Mizushima family dynamic. I so very much want to avoid the classic "Hilariously Abusive Family" trope that is all too prevalent in a Self-Insert character's background.

If you know what anime the two of them watched, then you're awesome. If you don't, then give Gunslinger Girl a watch. Just a little side note - the anime didn't fully cover the manga, so give the manga a read if you find one. Also, while I think it's very engaging, it contains quite a bit of gore, as well as some adult themes, so I guess exercise some viewer discretion.

Now, onto the reviews.

Thanks for the review, Zetazero246. Yeah, Dark Souls mimics kicks all kinds of asses, especially with that awesome jumping roundhouse kick they have.

Thanks for the review once again, yaelburstine. I'm happy the misunderstanding is cleared.

That's the biggest reason I didn't get into the recovery process - I have no deep understanding of the recovery process of patients that have been immobile for a considerable amount of time.

However, I think I made two main reasons to address this. Firstly, while they were technically in a coma, it's because of the NerveGear's interference. The usual reason people go into a coma is because of brain damage, and also, coma patients have reduced nervous system activity resulting in atrophy. The people stuck in SAO still have active brains that they use to move around in the virtual world, thus keeping the brain healthy and leading to faster recovery. Aside from blocking the brain's signals to the rest of the body and diverting it into the virtual world, the NerveGear doesn't influence or damage the brain any more than that...well, aside from frying it if the victim's HP reaches 0 in SAO.

Secondly, the medical bed they're using is something out of a work of science fiction. The bed was present in the novel, but they took it out in the anime. Dunno why they did that. The only canon thing it did was that it broke down involuntarily-excreted bodily wastes, but I decided to add to that. Built-in EMS, heart rate monitor...the whole works. It could even change its interior temperature to make its occupants more comfortable. In my fic, it has been loaded with the appropriate systems to preserve quite a bit of its patient's physical state at the time of internment. All that's left is a little exercise.

All in all, I acknowledge that they recovered quickly because of fictional circumstances and solutions. Well, in terms of physical recovery, at least.

As for the feelings of lost time and other mental consequences, you can see in this chapter that I've discussed it a bit. And even then, Rin was lucky. While he was trapped for two years, he found friends, as well as the love of his life during that time. It might be a death game, but his experience was a net positive.

On a side note, I researched Canadian hospital food, and the consensus is that they are not very good. The same can't be said for Japanese hospital food, though.

That's all for now. Thank you very much, and have a good one.