Kirigaya Residence
Kazuto's POV
I was lightly snoring away when I felt an irritating beam of sunlight shot through the seams between my blue curtains, hitting my eyelids. Groaning in disapproval, I shifted the pillow under my head to shield my eyes. To my dismay, this time it was my smartphone that got in the way of my sleep. I could hear the vibrations of my phone signalling the incoming morning alarm that I had set to remind me of my daily kendo training. Despite being reluctant to move, I swiftly moved my hand without bothering to open my eyes, turning off the alarm before the music could go off. I didn't want it to disrupt a certain sleeping beauty cuddling close to me.
Sighing in relief, I looked down and observed my lover in hold. She had her head snuggled up to the crook of my neck, one arm tucked in between our bodies and the other loosely placed around my waist. I could hear her soft breathing and feel her warm breath against my skin. Watching her sleeping face made my heart skipped as I gently brushed away her bright and silky chestnut locks from her face, gently poking her porcelain cheek. I couldn't help but to admire her perfectly smooth complexion, lovingly smoothing over her tender skin with the back of my hand.
"Mmmm...Ki...rito-kun...that...tickles..." I heard her mumbled between small giggles and continued to caress her face with amusement. It was rare to see her talking in her sleep. "N...no...Stop...that...mmmm...dummy...stop...teasing..." Her giggles soon turned into soft moans and I pulled back my hand in surprise. "Love me...Kiri...to-kun..."I felt heat rushing to my face as I hear her words.
'J-just what kind of dream is she having right now?' I pondered as my mind wandered off to our intimate moments back in our log cabin in SAO. Blushing profusely at the memory, I was whelmed by a sudden uncomfortable feeling from down below, my body shuddered with unintentional excitement. Ever since SAO was cleared, we had not gone any further than kissing and hugging. Unlike SAO, ALO does not have the feature of removing the ethic codes and we were constantly surrounded our friends. Thus, it was impossible for us to have conducted such acts. It was even more unlikely for us to do it in the Real World as we were both students. It would be irresponsible of me to submit to my temptations and force myself onto Asuna. No matter what, I swore to myself that I would never hurt her nor do things that she's not comfortable with.
Listening to her soft moans right now was making it harder for me to contain the beast dwelling inside of me. I shook my head to snap myself out of it, gently moving away the arm on my waist and carefully getting out of the bed without waking her. Using my head pillow, which still had some of my warmth and scent lingering on it, I tucked it between her arms as my replacement. Pulling up the blanket over her shoulders, Asuna smiled in her sleep and cutely snuggled into my pillow. I smiled at her before walking over to my wardrobe, changing into my kendo uniform for my morning practice. After placing a kiss on my lover's forehead, I left for the dojo for my daily routine.
My 30-minute morning practice ended uneventfully and I took the face towel from the bench to wipe off my sweat. Heading back into the house, I went into the kitchen expecting greetings from my mother or Sugu but I was instead greeted by the silence in the air. On the dining table, I noticed two sets of meals were placed there with plastic wrap over them, preserving its freshness. A hand-written note was placed beside one of the plates and I went over to examine it.
"Went to a friend's for a morning spar. Mom had to leave early today too so she left breakfast for you and Asuna-san. Make sure to put your clothes in the wash too. Don't blame me if you run out of clothes to wear. – Suguha."
Reading the last sentence, I grimaced at her comment. I have always had a bad habit of piling up my dirty laundry until the last minute and had to wash them all at once, limiting my choice of clothing while waiting for them to dry. Walking back to my bedroom to get myself a pair of fresh clothes before going to shower, I quietly turned the doorknob expecting Asuna to be still asleep on my bed. However, things did not go as I had expected.
Beside my bed, the said beautiful goddess stood stark naked with her smooth white back facing me. Asuna was in the middle of changing and had just finished pulling up a tiny piece of undergarment in white laces to her hips. I stood by the door completely stunned, captivated by her slender figure. While pulling the other piece of white undergarment over her arms, she finally sensed my gaze on her and twitched, timidly turning her head over her shoulders to face me. Snapping out of my trance, my face turned crimson red and I gulped in fear, realizing that I had been staring for quite some time. "S-s-s-s-so-so-Sorry! I'M SO SORRY!!!" With a panic yell, I quickly and clumsily grabbed my clothes from the wardrobe with my eyes closed, bumping into several objects along the way and scurried out of the room with haste. I shut the door behind me, leaning my back onto the wooden surface, trying to calm myself with one hand holding my forehead while taking deep breaths but the image I had just witness continued to linger on my mind. Slapping my face with my free hand, I forced my body to move towards the bathroom as a cold shower was needed to calm my nerves and the uncomfortable tightness in my crotch.
Returning from the shower, I hesitantly knocked on my bedroom door before slowly peeking inside. On my bed was my red-faced girlfriend with my grey blanket wrapped tightly over her head and around her body. She was glaring daggers at me with beads of tears at both corners of her eyes, huffing in anger. Though she looked as if she was about to kill me, her form while being wrapped around by my blanket made her appeared cute as well. Gathering up my courage as if I was facing the final boss of Aincrad, I walked towards the growling girl.
"S-sorry about that, I had no idea you were in the middle of changing." I said timidly.
"You were staring for quite some time, you know!" She growled and I yelped in fear.
"T-that's...that's because you were so...beautiful that I...that I couldn't help myself..." I trailed off, scratching my cheek with a finger while avoiding eye contact. "B-besides, we kinda did 'that' in SAO a few times...so...it's not like I haven't seen it before...I was just feeling nostalgic that's all..."
"T-that doesn't make it any better!" She shrieked and I gulped, thinking that I should stop talking before I get myself impaled by a butter knife.
"Yes, ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!" I stood straight, petrified in fear. She held her death glare for a few seconds before sighing.
"I guess I was at fault too. I should have locked the door instead since this is your room after all. I was just embarrassed that you saw almost everything. There's still some difference between the real and the virtual." She pouted while looking away. I smiled at her cuteness and wrapped my arms around my 'sushi roll' girlfriend, nestling my face into the blanket.
"Don't worry, no matter what you're still perfect in my eyes. I'd still love you the same way, maybe even more." I said.
"Dummy..." Hearing her muttered in a low voice, I playfully pulled her down onto the bed with me and hugged her tight. Her pouts then turned into small giggles as I nuzzle my nose against her face. "That tickles!"
"I'm your dummy." I mumbled, flashing a cheeky grin. "Come on, let's have our breakfast. We promised Alice that we would meet her in ALO by 11." I said, noticing the time was already 10.25 AM.
Once we finished our lunch, washed the dishes, we headed back into my room lying side by side on my bed. I helped Asuna onto her Amusphere and she did the same to me. I held her close to my body as we smiled at each other. It has been awhile since both of us had logged into the virtual world after all that has happened, our hearts were beating in excitement. I gazed into her eyes, making sure she was ready before we initiated the devices together. "Link start!" We called out in unison and felt our consciousness being pulled into the virtual reality of ALO.
Kirito Asuna's Log Cabin, Floor 22 of New Aincrad, Alfheim Online, 11.05 AM
Normal POV
"You're late." A stern voice directed towards the couple who had just arrived in the virtual world. Alice was stomping her foot on the hard wooden flooring in annoyance. "If we don't hurry it up, the quest area is going to be crowded with other players!"
"S-sorry for the wait, Alice." Kirito scratched his head as the couple gave the blonde-haired integrity knight a wry smile.
"Then, shall we head out?" Asuna said and the other two nodded. Stepping out of the log house, the trio brought out their wings and flew up into the sky. The view of below them was spectacular as they watched the shimmering lights reflected on the large lake outside of Coral Village. After the Unital Ring events, ALO and other virtual games had been restored to their original state. However, some parts of the world had been changed due to fixing the corruption caused by the catastrophe. Both Kirito and Asuna were extremely happy that they managed to get their log house back to its original location.
"So, where are we headed?" Kirito asked Asuna as she was the one who suggested this quest, he assumed she would have all the required information to initiate the quest.
"Mmm." Asuna swiped her finger downwards and brought out the quest details. "Let's see. It says that the quest location is hidden from view. If the player can discover the hidden entrance, then the quest will initiate on its own upon entering the hidden area. However, this quest can only be cleared once as there will be a permanent change to the environment once the story is completed." Asuna explained the contents of the quest summary to Kirito. Despite fully aware of the location, she and Alice had to pretend as if they were just as clueless as the black-haired Spriggan. Asuna was also sure that Kirito would have no issue to solving the mystery being as observant as he is, thus there was no need to reveal the truth.
"So this a one-time-only event, huh? It is kinda weird for the event to be placed in Floor 22. I mean it convenient for us but what kind of rare item could a place like this offer, especially when there are barely any monsters on this floor. Even if there is, they're just a bunch of weak monster with no valuable drops." Kirito began analyzing the information he had with one hand holding his chin. In the aftermath of Unital Ring, the floors of New Aincrad had already been updated till Floor 80. It would definitely be more fitting to have a special quest with valuable rewards to be placed in the higher floors where the rewards would benefit the players. The Spriggan boy was standing still in silence, deep in thought. Both Asuna and Alice looked at each other, trying to contain their urge to grab Kirito and head directly to the quest area.
"Didn't you said before that this log cabin was unlocked from a special quest? If I recall, you said that it was a one-time event as well, barely known to other players. Clearing that quest, allowed you to purchase this cabin. If something like that happened, then surely this quest might work in a similar way." Alice spoke, trying to give Kirito some hint.
"A special quest? Oh, that's it! The «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures» quest back in SAO! On the northwestern side of the floor, there's this area that was sealed off by the cliffs that made it inaccessible on foot. That was the site for that specific quest and could only be reached by riding on the flying house. But since that quest does not exist in New Aincrad, it would be the perfect spot for the new quest. And now that we have wings in ALO, it would be a piece of cake to get there without any problems." Kirito exclaimed as he gradually pieced the puzzle together while the two girls shared a cheerful grin behind him. "Alright! Let's go there right now, Asuna, Alice!"
Nodding in agreement the trio flew in high speed towards their destination. Among the tall trees not far from the log cabin, seven figures appeared from the shadows, watching the trio taking off from the ground. A man in red armour took a few steps forward and let out a few chuckles. "That's it, Blackie-sensei. Take us to our treasures. I knew it would be easy to tail someone who knows what they're doing rather than blinding searching for it." He turned to his comrades, smirking confidently. "Don't let them get too far! We'll keep a close eye on them and once they reach the final step! There's only three of them, we'll snatch the reward from their hands!" The other members roared as the leader issued the order.
At The Northwestern Cliffs
Kirito's POVHUpon reaching our destination, I landed onto the ground perfectly with Asuna and Alice closely behind. Scanning around the area, all I could see was a grassy clearing between the cliffs and a forest of tall cedar trees. Water flowed endlessly from the cliffs into a stream leading into the forest. The landscape was different from what I had remembered and thought the terrain might have been modified to accommodate the new quest. Although, the good news is that there was no sign of other players. On our way here, we saw multiple groups of players were desperately searching for the clues at the northern coast of the humongous lake, not far from the floor's Labyrinth. It was, of course, the first thing any normal player would think of as that was the only place that would spawn floor monsters.
We stood on the grassy field beside the river. Looking into my reflection is the crystal clear water, I realized just how much Higa-san had help in improving the graphics and realism on ALO. But that's not all. This scenery was so nostalgic and familiar to me that an uncomfortable throbbing began to rouse in my heart. I shook my head to shrug off the feeling.
"Kirito-kun? Are you alright?" Asuna gently tapped my shoulder.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay. We should get going-" Before I could end my sentence, I body froze when a clear, ear-splitting metallic sound rang in my ears. I knew that sound very well. That sound immediately brought back the uncomfortable feeling I had just seconds ago. I clutched the front of my clothes, my eyes widen in disbelief. "It...can't be..." It sounded like the impact of an axe hitting a thick and sturdy trunk of a tree.
"Kirito? What's wrong?" It was Alice who asked this time.
"Did you hear that?" I asked them.
"Hear...what exactly?" Asuna looked at Alice in confusion, the latter was having the same expression as well and shrugged.
"What? That sound! Can't you hear it?!" I asked in panic and then, right on time, I heard it one more time. "There it is again! It sounded like it's coming from over there!" I pointed towards the thick cedar forest but the ladies remained confused. Feeling impatient, I quickly brought out my wings and rushed towards the forest.
"K-Kirito-kun?! Wait! Don't go off alone!" I heard Asuna yell behind me but I did not slow down. I had to make sure. My heart couldn't stop beating and it was throbbing so hard like as if at the verge of bursting apart. Closing into the forest, my wings suddenly stopped functioning and disappeared. I fell to the ground with my face planted into the soil painfully. Though it did not hurt due to the pain absorber at work, just an uncomfortable sensation rubbing against my face.
"Kirito-kun!" "Kirito!" I heard the two girls yelling my name. Asuna landed and dashed over to my side, helping me up on my two feet. "Are you okay? Did it hurt?" She asked frantically and dusted the imaginary dust from my face. Alice was also bearing the same worried expression on her face.
"No, I'm fine. My wings just stopped working all of a sudden." I said with a complicated expression. Hearing this, Alice tried to bring out her wings once more but it did not appear.
"It's the same for me as well. Maybe we're not allowed to fly from this point on. Could it be that the quest has already started?" The girl in bright golden armour asked while searching around for clues.
Just then, an orange butterfly flew from the depths of the forest and towards me. I instinctively brought out my finger for it to land. The vibrant wings swayed gently as it landed on my extended index finger. A semi-transparent window appeared before my eyes, it was a quest window. We had managed to initiate it without any troubles. I read the title of the quest, «Fragments of the Past», and finger started to tremble as I recalled the metallic sound that I had just heard.
'Could it be that this quest allows the players to relive their past? But that's not possible! Without the mnemonic visual from the STL, it's just impossible for a virtual game hardware to process such heavy data.' I shook my head, racking my brains to find the meaning of this quest. My head was starting to hurt even though I am in the virtual world.
"Kirito-kun?" Asuna called my name again. I looked at her worried expression while clutching my throbbing head with one hand. It was then it finally hit me. Asuna was the one who told me about the quest. She was the one who insisted on participating in it. The location of the quest, the familiar scenery and the sound of wood chopping. There was no way that all of this was just a mere coincidence. It was like this quest was made specifically for me! My eyes widened and I roughly grasped Asuna's shoulder with my other free hand, taking her by surprise. "W-wha-"
"T-tell me the truth!" I stuttered with begging eyes. She knew what I meant, that I had realized the purpose of this quest, and she looked to the side, hesitating. "Asuna, please. I need to know right now!" I begged, gently shaking her with my quivering hand. An arm clad in golden armour reached in between us, grabbing my arm that was shaking Asuna.
"Calm down, Kirito. We only did this to help you." I opened my eyes widely at Alice's confession.
"I'm sorry, Kirito-kun. But it is as you thought, this quest was made specifically for you. This place is the replica of the grasslands outside of Rulid Village." Asuna said with her head hung low.
"B-but, why? Why would you..." I was gradually losing it. I feared the possibility of reliving the horrible experience that I had gone through in the Underworld. I had locked away those memories deep in my heart long ago, suppressing them for as long as I could. I didn't want to face the harsh reality. It was just too much for me to bear. As I panicked, the throbbing sensation in my head grew more painful by the second. My breathing quickened as I held my head in agony. The butterfly on my finger flew away and landed onto Alice's shoulder instead, the quest window disappeared from my sight.
"Kirito-kun! Deep breaths, just breathe slowly. It's okay, everything is going to be alright. Please, look at me." I felt Asuna's hands cupping my face, stroking my hair to soothe me. "I know it's hard but I know you can do this. Higa-san told me that this might just be the thing that would cure you, so I just had to try. I'm sure that you'll find the closure you need at the end of this quest, so please give this a chance, for me?" She pleaded in a soft voice. "No matter what happens I'll be right by your side, supporting you and so will Alice. So, let's do this together, okay?" Calming down from my panic, I another deep breath and exhaled before hesitantly nodded at her.
Looking into her eyes, I saw her gave me a reassuring smile. Alice, too, walked over with her smile, lightly nudging the orange butterfly towards me. The quest window reappeared and I brought my finger upwards, hovering over the 'Accept' button. Taking one last look at the two girls for confirmation, I pressed my fingertip onto the virtual button in blue.
Officially initiating the quest, the butterfly flew back into the forest, leading us through the thick forest along the river flowing through it. With minutes of walking, we saw a blinding light at the end forest path. Stepping out from the shade from the tall cedar trees, we've reached another grassing clearing but this time our eyes widen at the extravagant sight before us.
There stood a gigantic yet nostalgic-looking cedar tree in the middle of the clearing, several times taller than the cedar trees around us. With a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 7 meters, it was no doubt the Gigas Cedar from Underworld. For both Asuna and Integrity Knight Alice, it was their first time witnessing such an amazing view. I've told them about this tree and how my Night Sky Sword was forged from its branch, with its toughness far exceeding that of an iron.
I stepped forward and placed my hand against the rough bark, gazing upwards at the light rays that shone through the gap between the leaves. I closed my eyes, reminiscing the time I had spent with this tree. The orange butterfly then began circling around us and the Gigas Cedar, sprinkling shimmering dust as it flew. The gold dust then formed into holograms of three small children that started running around us with cheerful laughter. Both Alice and I immediately identified our younger selves in them as well as the flaxen-haired boy as a younger version of Eugeo. The holograms changes from time to time showing bits of moments I had shared with them as a child while residing in Underworld. Whether it was having friendly competitions with Eugeo while hacking away at the Gigas Cedar or eating the scrumptious lunch prepared by Alice, there was no doubt that we were happy just being together, the best of friends.
Clutching on the fabric over my chest, my heart ached at those memories that were once suppressed away by Rath and were now slowly resurfacing. Sensing my unease, I felt a warm pair of hands wrapping over my right hand. Looking to my right, I saw Asuna leaning on my shoulder while she watched the happy lives of the small children playing out in front of her. On my left was Alice, who was completely absorbed in the holograms. She had longed to find out about more her past or rather, Alice Zuberg's, and now her wish was finally granted.
The three children then suddenly stopped in front of Gigas Cedar, looking over at me with huge grins plastered on their faces. The mini Alice ran over to me, pulling me over to the small boys. My younger self had a cocky grin on his face and both arms folded across his chest while Eugeo had the Dragon Bone Axe in his hands, doing practice swings on the tree trunk. The orange butterfly from before hovered over the children as if telling me that there is something I need to do to proceed with the quest.
I tapped my finger onto the tree trunk and as I thought, its Life Points were shown to me. Unlike how it was displayed in the Underworld, the durability of this Gigas Cedar was displayed in the form of Hit Point bars, the same way as other floor boss monsters, rather than in numbers. Like the Gigas Cedar in Underworld, it also has a ridiculously high amount of durability, displaying six Hit-Point bars.
I took out my new pitch-black sword, which was forged by Lisbeth after ALO was fixed in, my right hand. It wasn't as good as my beloved Elucidator from SAO and Black Welt from before but it still serves its purpose as a temporary replacement. Bringing out the golden holy sword of Excalibur in my left hand, I looked to the girls standing by my side and saw them already had their sword and rapier in their hands. The children moved aside, knowing full well of what we were about to do.
"Go!" At my call, the three of us charged towards the Gigas Cedar with our best attacks, taking our turns to unleash a powerful barrage of sword skills by switching. Our coordinated slashes and thrusts slowly hacked away at the tree's durability. We panted in exhaustion, sweating profusely at the hard work. It took us quite some time before the HP finally reaches red. "Come on, the last spurt!" I yelled and Alice went head first with her sword skill, Horizontal, damaging the trunk with a single heavy horizontal slash. Asuna then jumped in and unleashed her best 8-hit combo rapier skill, Star Splash.
"Kirito-kun! Switch!" Hearing Asuna's signal, I dashed forward with both swords glowing in my hands. There were no Dual Wielding Skills in ALO but I've managed to reproduce most of the sword skills I once had in SAO with ALO's Original Sword Skill System. With a sharp howl, I swiftly attacked the tree trunk with both my swords consecutively, activating the 2-hit dual blade sword skill, Double Circular, to finish off the remaining HP.
With a loud beep, the HP bar of Gigas Cedar became empty and the tree distorts for a second before breaking into tiny blue particles of light, leaving a large tree stump on the ground. The children jumped in joy and climbed onto the stump, heading towards something in the middle. My eyes widened with a gleam as I saw a shining black blade wedged vertically in the middle of the tree stump. The children waved at me to come forward and I quickly complied.
I tapped on the black sword, bringing up a quest reward window, displaying its name, Night Sky Sword. I was filled with emotions, feeling the joy of being able to reunite with my sword in this world and the sadness of remembering how it got its name. I accepted the Night Sky Sword into my inventory and equipped it right away, replacing my other black sword. The children cheered with happiness and ran into the forest towards a mountain while waving goodbye at the three of us. The butterfly soon followed in the same direction, indicating a continuation of the quest.
The two girls and I followed the butterfly and soon we reached the foot of the rocky mountain. Being unable to fly, the only way up was to climb. I dreaded at the thought of having to piggyback Alice up the mountain as she was afraid of heights without any stable footholds. Asuna never really showed any signs of fear for heights but if she did, it would definitely be troublesome to have to carry the both of them. Fortunately, there were large boulders around forming a makeshift staircase for us to make our way to the cave above.
Standing at the entrance of the cave, I remembered the events of fighting with the goblins in the End Mountain Cave and this cave deeply resembled that one. I then noticed Alice having a tensed expression as if part of her old memories were slowly returning to her, feeling the unease of being here. Asuna then came in between us, holding our hands in her warm ones with a gentle smile.
"It's okay, we're in this together." She said, calming our nerves. Nodding in unison, the three of us then proceed into the cave with the butterfly as our lead.
The air gradually became colder and the crystal-like ice began covering the rocky path as we head in deeper into the cave. Reaching the end of the dark and narrow path into a wider area, I thought I would never witness this breathtaking scene ever again. Before us was the exact replica of the End Mountain's Ice Cave. Both Asuna and Alice watched in awe at glimmering ice enveloping the entire cave with ice crystals all over the place. We took our time admiring the beauty of the cave when suddenly, our eyes widened in shock when we finally noticed something off about the ice crystals on the ground.
An enormous ice crystal was situated in the middle of the cave with blue ice roses and its icy tendrils wrapping around it. A white sword wedged in front of the crystal had beautiful blue rose ornaments on its guard. I immediately recognized the sword as the Blue Rose Sword. However, that was not my concern at the moment. Surrounding the perimeter of the cave were smaller ice crystals compared to the one in the middle. And inside of those crystals were some of the people that I once knew from Underworld. The people I once cherished, the people I once swore to protect.
I'm back with another new chapter! I finally added the virtual world into my story. Took me a while to grasp the concept of the system they had in various virtual worlds. If I made any mistake, please do let me know!
P.S. Did you know? Spotting an orange coloured butterfly can signify that a new dawn of healing and heart transformation is about to occur for someone who has been depressed or anxious. That is why I added the orange butterfly into the quest!