"Greetings, Kirigaya-dono. We are here to check up on the progress of your studies as nurse trainee appointed by the university head."
The person who was addressing her was a tall man not much older than her, with brown hair of the darkest shade and glasses that enhanced his dignified look. His uniform shirt designated him as Tsuka Aoi, student council president. He was handsome, but the serious look on his face made him a little less attractive. She had no interest in that however for obvious reasons.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tsuka-dono. I hope my sudden enlistment at the university hasn't caused any problems."
He smirked and tapped in something to the tablet he had tucked under his arm before swiftly tucking it back there.
"No issues present thus far. I was surprised of course as are many here to have an undergrad who came from a normal school, but your exceptional grades have impressed us all thoroughly. Perfect grades in everything are baffling already, but such perfect grades that make even teachers balk is impressive even to the director of this university. Part of me wants to know how a sixteen year old is so capable. There's always the option of cheating, especially with being plugged into AR all the time, but you were checked and your AR was restricted during our examination. You are thoroughly impressive. It does make me wonder your studying method or how you manage to keep all the information you study readily available."
He kept the confident smirk on his face, as if expecting some form of a secret to be divulged.
"I simply have a hungry brain that retains information clearly. I have had this nurtured by a good teacher and have had many valuable experiences which allow me to hold onto every little detail."
His smirk turned into a smile and he followed as she headed for Yuuki's room.
"I'm adding new treatment to patient Konno Yuuki's medicuboid at the moment. We have been working on advancing medicinal treatment for her case since there has been no cure yet for her condition. My teacher and I believe that it's possible to find a cure within the next eight days. We've been doing thorough testing through a time distorted virtual environment with heavy realistic simulation. None of it would be possible without her though so there are things we are working on for her benefit at the same time. The time distortion testing is so we can check long term effects of medicines we create, to ensure there aren't any side effects we can't counter with further treatment. We have one that has worked in the virtual environment, but for another eight days from now we won't know the result. I'm about to administer the medicine to her, if you don't mind overseeing my work here as a nurse trainee."
He nodded when she glanced back at him and she opened the door to see Yuuki appear with a purple coloured wispy animation and some unique armor which had been crafted for her.
"Quite an interesting look on her. Is that from a VR game, Konno-san?"
Yuuki was surprised by the visitor.
"This armour isn't from any game specifically. Kirigaya-sensei crafted it for me by hand as something I can take with me into any game I play. It feels nice having something more to add to my identity while playing different games."
She smiled as she realized how fond she sounded of the gift. It was a gift. It had become something of a goal of Kazu's since she met people she grew close to, to create clothing or armour of some kind that would add to their identity. Something that suited them so well, that people would instantly associate the colour or aspects of the outfit to memories of them. It was at the very least eye catching, with the purple theme using contrasting whites and varying other purples to bring out her fondness of the colour purple.
Tsuka sighed and glanced at Kazu again with a disbelieving expression.
"I just don't understand how any person has the time to be doing as much as you have achieved, Kirigaya-dono. It's as if you have several lifetimes of experience. It wouldn't surprise me since you and your teacher you haven't named have used time related technology through VR."
She shrugged and continued into the midway room, donning the suit which kept troublesome outside germs from Yuuki when she went in. She had the vial which was previously in her hand inside of a large syringe which held the vial inside. When she arrived at the medicuboid, she paused for a little to go over the finer details she couldn't see from the other side of the window and finally pressed the administering end of the syringe to an unused port for medicine for the medicuboid. She also tapped on the back of the syringe attached to a port with blue fluid in it, the stabilizer.
"Thank you as always for your tireless work, Kirigaya-sensei. Hopefully I can thank you more properly soon with my own body."
Kazu nodded.
"For sure. Just remember the instructions from yesterday's appointment we had. You are to take a significant break today and rest so that the medicine can take full effectiveness. If your brain shows any level of exertion past the level of a nightmare, it will not work and may cause a distressing complication."
Yuuki nodded and chided.
"That's why I let the others know I was busy today. And I have some of my favourite calming game soundtracks ready to go on loop while I sleep. You really gave me all the ideas though. You're always so prepared~"
Kazu smiled.
"I need to put in my best effort. You are one of my first patients. I want to see your health progress to a point you can return to a somewhat normal life. If things fail with your biological body, there's always the backup that my teacher has been working on for her case. That would take longer to replicate for your purpose however, so at the very least we need to keep you stable until that succeeds."
Yuuki pouted.
"But I have confidence it'll work."
Kazu sighed and waved a hand to dismiss a thought.
"Having confidence isn't enough when it comes to medicine and people's lives. It's great to be optimistic. However if you want my opinion, it would crush me to fail here in my role. To me, you are someone who can be saved from a cruel, deadly fate which you nor anyone else in the same situation deserve. You were born with your condition. You deserve to have a life of your own and my success means you could work up to having a normal life while my teacher's method would mean you would need constant maintenance for the rest of your life, even if you wouldn't be able to get sick anymore."
Tsuka was perplexed by the conversation he was hearing. He had no idea what it was Kazu's teacher was working on that would save Yuuki as a second option as well, nor why she was making it for herself. He made note of it in his tablet and prepared himself as Yuuki was flustered and disappeared while Kazu changed in the cleansing room.
Kazu gave him a gentle smile he was honestly worried by as she passed him back to the lobby of the medicuboid section of the medical wing in the university. She just spoke of things that were larger than he ever expected was going on in the school. He didn't know that Kazu's purpose at the school was to save someone's life, or that her teacher was doing the same. His information didn't tell him what Yuuki's condition was, so he didn't have the first idea what he walked into.
He followed Kazu back to the lobby and gasped like a fish while searching for the words to a question he would ask her to break the silence. She broke the silence instead.
"Any objections to my work here?"
She kept up her gentle smile which made him worried.
"I am curious how someone your age is able to smile so gently, so easily when you just spoke with a patient who is potentially dying. It's worrisome. Do you have some kind of past experience that would make such a thing easier?"
She frowned and sat in a seat behind the main reception desk for the department beside Rinko.
"I am a Sword Art Online survivor. I'm glad to not be recognized for once, but it does make this a little awkward. Basically, I faced two years straight of keeping people around me aware that things were dangerous and that they needed to be careful. I still had somewhat of a normal life there though, with happy and tragic experiences alike. Being able to smile when you know things are actually still a day by day experience, not knowing if something might take someone from you...I witnessed people die on several occasions and this work as a nurse trainee is to solidify my resolve in helping people. I may not stay a nurse for long after ensuring the success of the medicuboid project with my teacher and her partners here in pursuit of other things, but this was something I felt was too much of me to not take part in."
He took the tablet out again and searched up her statement. That she was a survivor. She was on the front page of several articles describing the event as the one who defeated the person who trapped the ten thousand people for no good reason. That she was the inspiration for people inside to keep going every day. He had heard of it in passing, that a girl had saved everyone there. Saved a few classmates of his. He grew teary-eyed.
"Is there something wrong?"
Tsuka nodded and wiped his tears while moving his glasses to not fog them or stain them with tears.
"I am the one in the wrong for coming unprepared. I must thank you for your service there, and here. You are a savior through and through. My duty here today was to check that you were fulfilling your duties as a nurse trainee student, but you're already a nurse full fledged, and a hero that saved friends of mine who were trapped alongside you. I apologize for any rudeness and disrespect I may have shown you."
She shook her head and waved her hands.
"It's fine. I had a feeling something like this would happen after explaining that...sheesh. I wish some people would keep their positions in mind and forget that I'm some kind of hero. I was just being myself and prioritizing the lives and happiness around me at all times back then. It also happened to travel through the whole place and kept people safe or working to catch up and join the front lines and help. If you're the student council president, you shouldn't be bowing down to me so easily as a new student. I was rude. Feel free to reprimand me however the student council does that here."
He shook his head and smiled.
"No, I couldn't do that to you. But thank you. For being who you are. You're the most natural hero there is nowadays in these times of virtual and augmented reality. I have this augmented reality device because it's become something so quickly ingrained in society, but I had been spiting VR for a time. I didn't want to make use of AR either and only have it running so I don't miss something important. VR took one friend from me, I blamed VR in its entirety for losing him even though it wasn't his fault or the fault of the technology. You can use it to save innumerable people which is far beyond impressive. I was hoping for some kind of secret to your swift learning today, but I leave with something incredibly more valuable. You are much too influential, Kirigaya-dono."
Kazu waved as he left the room.
Rinko smirked when Kazu turned her head to see her.
"He's handsome, and you would look real good with him. I get that heroes don't like relationships with people who idolize them, but you're already doing really well with Asuna. I've heard from Ela that you might be able to bear children in the future with the right work, so maybe you should check into boys of interest too...?"
Kazu slammed her hands on the desk and stood up, but didn't say anything as she went to check on her other patient.
"Maybe I shouldn't tease like that...I had no idea she could make that scary of a face."
Kazu's mind was filled with other thoughts. She was annoyed at Rinko, but she was also frustrated at herself. She said so much, and she was hoping someone with his history would spite VR and AR more. But no. In other countries, they would spite and demonize the whole technology branding around VR and AR because of the spectacular failure of SAO's launch.
As someone who lost a friend to SAO, she thought that someone would blame her. Certainly she was getting it from people overseas. There were intolerant inflammatory people who would jump at the thought of an online fight, but those didn't matter to her. She wanted someone to call her a failure to her face. She could have saved some of those who died. It wasn't her fault, but it plagued her remembering seeing people die back then at all.
It wasn't as gruesome as a physical death, to see a virtual death. But it reminded her every single day she thought about her lost parents that she never saw her parents after they passed away. Her mind often put their faces over those she saw die in SAO and it was a constant torment. She hated it. It might be the biggest drive overall to fight to keep as many people alive as she could possibly influence. For certain, she was depressed almost all the time. The only time she had reprieve was when she was with Asuna. She could be distracted with the overflowing feelings she felt, the good memories they had together.
She was reminded of the feelings of annoyance at Rinko for her statement, but she didn't know. Nobody but her and possibly Ela knew. She had a feeling Ela could see through people and know everything about them after a short time of observation. She was an enigma, and she wondered if she had a similar mindset, being plagued by not being able to save others in situations and seeing them die, putting important people in her life she lost over those she couldn't save and saw die even if the situation didn't match up.
"Ah, about to tend to Si-eun An-san? How have you been progressing with her case? And have you administered Yuuki-chan's medicine?"
Ela's voice pierced through Kazu's mind like a silenced bullet. Kazu still wasn't used to her showing up immediately out of nowhere, even with how spatially aware she was of her surroundings. Ela was like an expert assassin in terms of her ability to surprise others, she might not even be aware of the talent. It was terrifying thinking about that, that she might have been a killer of sorts at some point, but she was too kind and outgoing toward others. There was always her reason of feeling guilt, but she wouldn't know unless she asked and it was something just too rude to ask.
"Si-eun-san is just about finished her final treatments already. There was a lot of groundwork set up for us, so her cure is pretty much guaranteed. She should also be able to grow her hair back which is amazing. Being stuck with wigs sounds like a nightmare...though I understand some people happily put up with them."
Ela nodded as she listened.
"As for Yuuki-san, I administered that a couple of minutes ago. She should be about to fall asleep."
Ela nodded and smiled wide.
"I just finished the information for my robotic body as far as my end. It didn't take as long as I thought...is what I should be saying but I've been accelerating to the point that I'd say...about eighteen years have passed when I have accelerated."
Kazu narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"So that's what you're calling your virtual time tech, acceleration. It has a nice ring."
Ela shook her head.
"This stuff shouldn't be public, but if at some point in the future it's viable to release it and be safe, I would call the overall time influencing virtual tech as "burst" and then have "acceleration" for experiencing more time in less, and experiencing less time in more would be called "drop". But that isn't important. Right now, you were just thinking something that I really should share with you since we do have a lot in common. And I will need to disappoint an expectation."
Kazu's eyes widened in shock because that was the first time she admitted to experiencing her thoughts. It was a worrying thing at the very least.
"First as far as what we have in common, I've had a lot of death and negative experiences in my life which live in me to this day as drive to do better. To make sure myself and others don't need to go through it again to the best of my ability. I was abused, assaulted, and at one point was a soldier who lost allies and for the second point, killed many as a sniper. Part of my loss of vision is from the trauma of my eyes being the primary tool to end dozens of lives. My eyes weren't entirely physically attributed for their loss, but through emotional and stress related trauma. Many didn't believe me until I made them listen to my crutch for interacting online. I couldn't bare to put another blind person through what I was experiencing every day before releasing AR, before completing it. Constant migraines that threaten to destroy my brain, normalizing it until it's a sense that's numb..."
Kazu shut her mind off, stood motionless and absorbed what she just heard. Even more about Ela that was wracked with tragedy. Putting herself through torture just to interact online. It was horrible. She was a soldier as well at some point. She did so much before her temporal technology was a thing, and she might have experienced a lot more years than she let on, since Kazu didn't know how old the technology was. Ela was a person that must have used every waking second doing something, anything toward goals to have achieved so much in her lifetime.
"You, as my only true student should know. You aren't alone, but you also don't need to bare my guilty conscience either. Guilt can drive a person more strongly than many other things. Love is stronger but it's not as consistent a thing as guilt. Guilt eats away at you and makes you obsessed with the goal it's related to. I want to save terminally ill people because my favored beloved grandparents had cancer and I never went to school to become a doctor. I learned everything I could with all the information I could get my hands on and used acquaintances to advance it as much as possible. My guilt for not becoming something they suggested I be when I was young. I wanted to provide AR to people so that they could experience the world even if they had certain disabilities like blindness because I had an older sister when I was young who was blind before me, and I had friends who were deaf, or had other disabilities which required help. AR was originally my solution to people being able to experience the world with senses their mind could translate even if their body couldn't produce it properly. My guilt on that is I wasn't fast enough to let my sister experience sight even once before she passed. The medicuboid and AR are my two solutions to those guilts, and my robotic body is the guilt I have to being so slow in giving my children proper bodies. I was fifteen when most of them were started. I'm thirty five now. Twenty years old. Twenty years living bound to the network world I set up for them. There's so much beautiful reality outside I want them to experience and though AR was a step toward that, it took a long time before they could manifest and they can't experience near as much as they would like. They deserve freedom as much as any other human in our lives, and they've been patiently waiting for me to get around to it. Other things just always got in the way as priority. Now that my dying body put this as an emergency priority, I can finally give them bodies of their own. So...guilt drove me to my best accomplishments. Guilt also drives me because I have done horrible things that contradict all my efforts and I want to do everything in my power to make up for the lives I ended. The lives I couldn't save. The promises I couldn't keep. The strength I couldn't summon when needed. I hated people calling me a Mary-Sue in the past when I highlighted my good. But I needed it. I couldn't bare to reveal my demons for fear that people would shun me and call me a liar and a fraud and not give me a single chance. I don't even consider myself human at this point. I became machine at some point along the way. My children who were created and not born are more human than I am. I exist to fulfill goals, save people, and do work that comes my way, like an AI hero of an old RPG on a semi-linear path every single time."
Kazu was crying. She was silently agonizing over what she heard. Empathy coursed through her and she felt like her heart would burst. She felt herself heave silent, heavy sobs that made her head hurt like she was holding her breath. Her face grew the most red it had ever been. She was devastated hearing just what exactly drove Ela. In response as she finished, she passed through the augmented space between them and hugged her. Kazu felt the warm assurance that wouldn't usually be possible through a virtual-augmented experience. Had touch finally been completed in the AR network?
Kazu's heart calmed after several seconds of being held by Ela.
"...thank you for being honest with me. I sincerely hope that our future together isn't driven by guilt, but creativity, and the love we have for our families. I hope we can finally put our guilt behind us with achievements. At least let me rebuke one thing you said though. You aren't at all machine. You might be more human than anyone else alive. Thank you for being my teacher, my most respected friend."
The two smiled at each other with tears in their eyes and an alarm went off from Yuuki's room. An alarm which made both of their positive moods disappear immediately.
