Holy mother of a bulldog, this chapter got beta'd! My friend wishes to be identified as Akorr, so you have them to thank for helping me scream at myself for however long it's been since I was supposed to upload this on Saturday. (Hint, it's Wednesday morning). The first scene for these side stories got rewritten like five or six times because we both agreed it just wasn't right. I ended up going "Screw it. It's been way too long. The next iteration is going to be the last one."

There won't be an update this week. Instead, I'm going to be focusing on going through the previous chapters and doing that whole editing/note taking thing that I mentioned in the previous chapter. Please enjoy these omakes!

I tugged her along, leading her towards the northern gate. "Come on, we're going to be late!" It was the end of the first week since we had been trapped in this world. For those that had broken down, unable to find any joy in life, there were two options. You either huddled up somewhere and wallowed in your thoughts or you threw yourself off the southern overlooks.

"Calm down, it's not like our spot's going anywhere." My companion increased her pace, moving in time with my own movement to reduce the amount of jostling she was receiving.

I cackled. "But every day more and more people are waking up! There's going to be competition soon, and I don't want to have to fight for our hunting grounds!" At the start of the first day we had found a gorgeous piece of land. Relatively flat at the top with a gentle slope, the area was a significant distance from the roads and trees where wolves and wasps would spawn. As far as safety went, there was no better place to get used to combat.

Dawn let out a groan that turned into a laugh. "Keep up then, if you're so excited!" She taunted, breaking into a run.

It was amazing how she kept her spirits up. The hours after Kayaba's announcement were grim. In spite of the shock that had settled over the masses, my blonde friend had pulled us back out into the fields, guiding me through all the steps necessary for fighting and survival that she knew. The day after when she had helped back into town, she'd toss me out of bed with an evil grin on her face and keep pestering me until I joined her on a morning run.

We'd circle the entirety of the «Town of Beginnings» before stretching on the platform in the center of town. As the days passed people would slowly join us, the American leading us in a series of stretches and exercises. When a group of older folk joined us at the beginning she freely let them take over the first day for a set of exercises appropriate for their age. After seeing it the one time she smoothly transitioned into the set when they joined us the next day.

"What are we doing today, Captain?" I joked, knowing she hated being called anything other than the rank she had left with..

"This again? Doesn't it get tiring hearing me tell you off day after day?" She gave me a sideways look, moving away slightly.

"Hearing your voice after years of only reading it? Never." I wasn't ashamed to admit I had a bit of a crush on her. It wasn't just her being a foreigner. She was younger than me by a year and she's already done so much more.I was jealous of her, but she never bragged about it or lorded it over me; anyone really. It was always these stories she'd tell from a different perspective. Like listening to somebody read you a story back when you were a child. When she got into those moods, her voice would just draw you in, painting a vibrant story that felt as if you were right there.

"You know, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you had a thing for me," she sung.

I laughed. "What can I say? You're an incredible person." The days she had been staying with me I found myself desperately wishing that I had done more in school. My job as a florist was good paying, but it wouldn't be enough to sufficiently provide for a family without having to sacrifice things. I couldn't in good conscious ask for Dawn's hand, even for a date.

She left out a huff of air. "Let's try fighting three at a time today. You did good work yesterday, so now I want to see how you can handle one more."

I let out an over dramatic groan. "Do I get to fight them in waves this time?" She knew full well that I was more than happy to oblige whatever method of teaching she wanted to use. The joker manner in which we conversed helped keep our spirits up. Better than the dark humor she used the second day or while commented on world events.

"If you can clear them fast enough," she allowed. "Call out if you need help, alright?"

"Of course." Dawn had only needed to rescue me twice in all the time we've been out here. The first time a «Frenzy Boar» had been lured over from somewhere by a group of fleeing people. Dawn and I had managed to take care of it on our own through her patented bull fighting method. The second time I'd grabbed the attention of far too many boars. We had to end the day earlier after that. I'd done so much running to avoid being attacked that I ended up collapsed due to fatigue; yet another reason why she was so adamant on making me join her on her morning runs.

When we reached our spot we immediately sat down. With monsters only spawning when you were in proximity with them, we needed to wait several minutes for enough creatures to spawn for the day's exercise. "Are you going to try and upgrade any of your other equipment?" I asked. My own sword had been upgraded yesterday as part of an introductory quest line we had taken. Alongside the upgrade, I used some of the tusks I had acquired to make a new sheath for my weapon; this one engraved with lines crossing along its faces.

"Maybe," She drawled out. "I don't mind the fuzzy boots, but if the rest of my armor ends up looking like I'm cosplaying an animal I don't think I could handle that."

I chuckled. "I'm sure you could pull it off. You have the body type to do just about whatever kind of costume you want."

"Why couldn't you have been an artist?" She complained. "You could have conceptualized all these things for me and we could have gone into fashion together."

"I am an artist," I argued. "I'm a painter of the botanical kind."

"Then where's your exhibit?" she deadpanned.

"I'll get one! Eventually," I conceded. As I was now, I was only known in my local area. It was my hope that one day I would become renowned enough to work or a hotel or event. As it was, my best best seemed to have been joining up with a larger company. "

"Looks like enough have spawned. Remember to space your kills out, alright? I need you to build up your stamina if you're going to keep up with me." Dawn got to her feet and pulled out her sword. Unlike the movies, the weapon came out with a muted sound, not the expected metallic ring.

"Why do I hang around you again?" I questioned.

"Because you invited me to stay over at your place while I visited Japan, and we also haven't seen each other in years. Also, I keep you from being a lazy slob." Dawn broke into a run, swiftly stabbing three boars in quick succession.

"It's not a mess, it's organized chaos!" I refuted, throwing myself into combat. The basics were drilled into my head. How to slice, how to stab, the basics of blocking, how to read your opponent. If you treated your weapon as an extension of yourself, it was a lot easier to pull off maneuvers because you were thinking of your weapon as part of your body and not something extra.

As all times, I lost myself in the motions of attacking and counterattacking. Dawn called it active meditation; something simple enough you could perform it without fully paying attention. With the boars, I could either step to the side to avoid their charge or use my sword to catch them by the tusks and reposition them to block an area of attack.

Doing that wasn't the best choice though; blocking an attack with another attack or my sword would just give me damage in exchange. The only safe way to deflect attacks was to use my own to forcibly change the momentum of whatever came my way.

In relative silence the hours passed. Where I needed to take a break every four or five runs, Dawn could easily go a whole hour without stopping, constantly moving around to take a new monster into her fold.

"Last pull before break alright, Satoru?" She called out.

I yelled back my understanding. I took a knee and held my weapon out to the side, bracing my sword with both hands and letting the creature cut itself for me.

With its companions gone, I latched onto the last of the boars as it ran past me, shoving my sword through its jaw. I was completely squeamish the first time Dawn taught me how to do this. It was a gruesome thing whose only blessing was that it was a bloodless one hit kill.

"All done!" I yelled, keeping my sword by my side. My companion cut though the last two of her opponents, bouncing to her next target fluidly.

"Nice work. Really nice job on that last strike," she complimented. She flicked her sword out to the sid, wiping it on the length of white cloth she kept tied to her belt. "It was a lot smoother than the last time you went for that move."

"The last time I did that was my first time," I said, appreciating the comment for what it was. When she had first shown me the move, my attempt had resulted me in overshooting the boar and landing flat on my face. Since then I had gone through the motions on my own, determined to make my next attempt something I could be proud of.

"I'm complimenting you. Shut up and accept it, okay?" She plopped down next to me and materialized a small picnic basket full of food. We had filled it up earlier with smoked meats, fruits, and bread loaves.

"Yes, ma'am," I chuckled, sitting on the other side of the basket. "What do you think they're giving us for food?" I asked. "Back in the real world, I mean."

"For those that have been brought to a hospital, intravenous drips. For those that haven't been transported yet but still have people around, I'd say liquified foods and massaged down their throats." Dawn fell silent for a moment before looking at the sky, resting the sack of jerky in her lap. "Do you think we've been moved yet?"

"Maybe. I'd like to think so, I'm pretty friendly with my neighbors, so I'm sure they've checked in on us by now." Come morning, there was around seven of us that left our complex around the same time. We had reached the point where we'd rideshare with each other to train station for where we needed to go. We also had monthly karaoke nights and small barbecues on the roof of the complex. "Ah, crap. It was my turn to bring the drinks this month." I brought my hand to my forehead, explaining my issue to Dawn.

"I'm sure they'll understand." She smiled, silent laughter spreading across her face. "Will they keep onto your stuff? It's not exactly like you can keep up the payments at this point." She grimaced. "We're going to have to buy a bunch of new clothes once we get out, won't we?"

"Undoubtedly. At the very least, my neighbors might hold onto my things. I wouldn't mind losing my apartment so long as all my books and photos are kept somewhere." I bit into my makeshift sandwich, the slices of bread having been made by tearing apart chunks from the loaf.

Dawn groaned. "I wonder how they'll handle my visa. I was only here on a visitor's pass. Do you think the government will make an exception for me? Maybe grant me clemency until I recover?"

I shrugged. "They should. I'm sure you're not the only foreigner who managed to get into this game. Probably. Maybe." I scrunched up my face. "Now I want to know the statistic of how many foreigners got in here. The ratio of kids vs adults would be interesting as well."

"Careful, Satoru," she warned. "You're starting to nerd out on me."

"Like you aren't able to follow me!" I laughed, well aware that she had taken a stats class back in high school.

"I don't get off on that sort of thing like you do." She raised a brow and lobbed a piece of jerky at me, one I moved to catch with my mouth. "We should get back to it," she said, putting the remnants of our meal away.

"Has it really been ten minutes?" I chased my meal down with a swig of water, wrapping the rest of the fruits I was snacking on back up.

"Fifteen, actually. I thought the conversation was important enough." Dawn held the hamper out for me, dismissing it back to the interface bar when I put away the bundle of food. "Stretch out a bit before you get back to it. I'll go fetch some boars. Be back in a bit!" She gave a two finger salute before running off.

I rocked onto my feet. It was only around noontime at most. The work wasn't as tiring as I expected; hours upon hours of fighting. Whether it was due to levels, mindsets, or something else, we weren't sure. Dawn guessed that it had to do with your mindset. If you were used to exercising, you could go for longer periods than somebody else who didn't.

Doing as my friend suggested, I eased myself back into the groove of fighting, slowing down at points to continue refining my steps. When Dawn returned, it was with a group of eight boars chasing after her. It seemed a little excessive, but with how graceful she was it was unsurprising she managed it.

"Hurry up and pull yours! I can't strike back with this many!" She yelled, hopping to the side to avoid two boars that charged one after another.

I ran over and slashed at four of them, herding them away so that we could have more room to work with. Dawn was skilled enough to grab new ones on the fly, but I needed to kill off all my boars before I even thought about trying to safely start the process back up.

For the next few hours, everything progressed smoothly. The boars were all behaving nicely, all my attacks were landing as they should; complete smooth sailing. It was around the fourth hour that our training was interrupted. A group of four cloaked figures dashed through our boars, vaulting over the creatures in the same manner that Dawn did when she became bored.

"Wha-" I leapt out of the way when a large boar barreled towards me, its eyes an angry red. A hasty look revealed that each of the individuals that ran past us had been chased by their own «Frenzy Boar», the monsters deciding to change targets to something easier.

Whether cognitive of it or not, Dawn had pulled two of the monsters, leaving me with the other half on top of the two «Plains Boars» that I had yet to defeat. I let out a breathless laugh, recalling the last time I had dealt with a «Frenzy Boar».

"Okay, I can do this. Dawn's doing this, so I can do this too." I took a deep breath, stepping to the side when the other boar charged towards me. My arm shot out, scoring a thin red line along it's body. "You're not too hard," I uttered, wincing at the insignificant damage the attack dealt. Where the same strike might deal 12% on a «Plains Boar», my attack only seemed to deal 6% on the «Frenzy Boar».

My next line had to be aborted when I noticed that the other boars were charging at me in quick succession. While this was going on I noticed that the «Frenzy Boars» seemed to be nearly twice as fast as their weaker brethren.

"That's just not fair," I breathed, trying to adapt to the tempo they were setting.

So far so good.

Unable to properly swing my weapon, the few strikes I was able to deal were far weaker than they should be. In a battle of attrition, my victory was secured though. So long as I kept track of everything around me I'd be fine.

"One of you needs to go," I taunted, moving with one of the «Frenzy Boars». As the creature passed to the side of me, I kicked off the ground, grabbing hold of its neck with my right arm and bringing the tip of my sword into it's jaw. The creature squealed and shattered into data. A feeling of joy washed over me. "Dawn, I did it!" I stood and raised my arms, hoping that my companion had seen the feat.

Blue turned to green. Green turned to blue. An involuntary breath escaped my lips.

What was-

The cycle of changing colors repeated once more. Furred legs trampled out of sight, their owners squealing their triumph.

Oh.

I lurched forward, a lack of sensation blossoming throughout my chest.

Is that…?

I gingerly grasped the white ivory that protruded from my stomach.

It doesn't hurt.

My head slowly moved up. The whirling dance of Dawn and her boars was moving closer. The blonde twirled out of the way, her sword arcing down like a conductor's baton, shattering the beast that was transporting me.

"Satoru!"

An eerie numbness began spread to the rest of my body as I fell to the ground, no longer supported by the tusks of the boar. The sound of breaking glass echoed around the field. I pushed myself into a sitting position, taking in the view of Dawn frantically doing her best to end all the creatures in a single strike.

"Just stay safe, I'm almost done!"

A sad smile found its way onto my face. A «Frenzy Boar» that Dawn dodged ran past me.

I can still move, right?

I tried to throw myself to the side, but nothing came. I looked down at my arms, realizing that my entire body was trembling.

Am I in shock?

"We're all clear!" Dawn looked up from the last boar, her elated face fading to panic.

I just wish…

I closed my eyes and gave her a gentle smile, refusing to acknowledge the trampling beast behind me.

I could have gotten one date.

{ } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { }

Klein: Hey

Klein: :)

Kirito: Hey.

Klein: How's things on your end?

Kirito: Annoying. Once we finished our grind for the day Asuna dragged me back to Urbus to carry supplies for her Tailoring skill.

Kirito: Why does one person need forty units of cloth?

Kirito: I get the desire for grinding, but what's she going to do with everything she makes?

Klein: Sell it, probably.

Klein: That or put on a fashion show.

Klein: Better watch out, Kirito! You might end as one of her models!

Klein: XD

Kirito: Yeah right! Like I'd let her parade me around.

Klein: Dude, have you seen the way you act around her?

Klein: She has you wrapped around her finger.

Klein: Kirito, what's that? Kirito, can you get me this? Kirito, can you bring me here?

Klein: Is there something going on that you want to tell me about?

Klein: :3

Kirito: It's not what you're thinking. She's just really dependant on me, I guess.

Kirito: Asasaki nearly killed her when we first met, and I ended up being the good guy to her bad.

Klein: Woah woah what?! Asasaki almost killed her!?

Kirito: Not what you're thinking!

Kirito: Asuna was in a bad spot when we first met her.

Kirito: Asasaki seemed really invested in trying to help her out, but she went overboard.

Kirito: I ended up having to be her foil. I'm pretty sure Asuna latched onto me as her savior or something.

Kirito: It's honestly pretty weird. I feel like I'm a teacher instead of a 14 year old.

Klein: Just be glad you have a girl willing to hang out with you.

Klein: Cherish it while you can.

Kirito: What about Asasaki? Is there anything going on between you two?

Klein: Us? We're just friends.

Klein: Plus, she has a lot of baggage she needs to work through.

Klein: I mean I'm totally willing to help her out, but you can only do so much if somebody isn't willing.

Kirito: I'm going to head off now. I'm going to need a head start on tomorrow. That boulder's really annoying.

Klein: Good luck. Both of you.

Klein: Make sure you destroy your rock first, alright!

Klein: If not for yourself, than for me.

Klein: I want something to lord over Asasaki.

Kirito: I'll do what I can.

Kirito: See you.

Klein: Take care.

{ } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { } - { }

I patted the ground next to me, giving a grin as the short blonde walked over. "Enjoyed the meal?" I asked, enjoying the liberal usage of English while I could.

"It was good. Better than most NPC stores I've been to." The woman sat next to me in seiza, quietly moving her legs out to the side after a moment.

"It's all thanks to Kinboshi. I swear that man's a homemaker back in real life." I lowered my right leg, bracing myself up to turn slightly towards her. "How's the game been treating you so far?"

"Aside from the city wide aneurysm that first day and seeing two deaths while going through just as many near death experiences, not that bad. My base abilities are still the same as how they used to be in the real world, but now they're a lot more…" Her head lolled around slowly as she searched for the right word. "Theatrical, than I'm used to."

I barked. "I know what you mean. Back in the real world, I'm used to lugging around heavy crates and kegs. But in here, I can swing around a two handed axe without having to worry about pulling anything. Could you imagine if that was actually implemented in this game?"

"There'd probably have to be a tutorial quest on how to use weapons properly." She snorted. "That'd give the argument that games lead to violence a lot of ammo, wouldn't it?"

"Ah, damn. I didn't think of it like that." I leaned back, listening to the sound of the crackling torches. "Asasaki, you're a smart lady, so I'm not going to beat around the bush. Do you have PTSD?"It was a huge gamble bringing it up like this. In most cases, forcing the answer out of such a sensitive topic would only lead to problems. But between my own observations on the girl and everything that Klein had told me, she seemed far to adjusted to normal life to not be aware of her problems.

She let out a long breath, tucking a leg into her chest. "What gave it away?"

"The 'civilian' remark back on the first floor, mostly. I don't know what you've been through, but there's people around you who are more than willing to listen." I squirmed a little before sighing. "I know this might sound shallow, but I'm available if you ever need somebody to talk to. I was an army journalist stationed over in the Middle East. I've seen a lot, even if I didn't always publish it." I chuckled mirthlessly.

"I bet I took the wind out of your sails when I apologized about that earlier, didn't I." She remarked, an amused look on her face.

"Damn right you did. I had a whole speech prepared! I was gonna tear into you before trying to do a really emotional connection." I nudged her shoulder with my forearm. "This works out just as well though." We sat in peaceful silence for a moment, staring out at the dark cavern ahead. "Do you know what you need to look out for?"

"Violent deaths, mostly. Oh, and loud noises that resemble explosions whenever I'm in a building. My squad died on me while we were clearing out a building."

I stared at her. It was incredibly disconcerting how casual she was about the matter.

"Heh. You should close your mouth. Might swallow an ant or two." She stood and stretched, a neurose smile on her face. "The event was a couple months ago. Maybe at the start of the year? Close to the end of last?" She shook her head. "It wasn't my first dance with death. Back when I was still a Specialist my squad commander died in my arms while we were getting out of hot zone." She slowly looked up at the ceiling.

"Do you know how much it sucked to tell your commander that it was alright for them to go to sleep?" She scoffed and looked away. "Even worse, he thanked me. Like I was the one that saved his life and brought him to safety." She let out a breathless gasp, her left hand clenched in a death grip. "Must have been nice, having my face the last thing he ever saw."

I stayed sitting, making a sound from the back of my throat to let her know I was still here.

She sniffed, rubbing at her eyes with a finger. "Fuck, I thought I was over this crap. I should have been over this crap." She plopped to the ground, sliding onto her back. "Five months since I last cried about this. I didn't choke up talking about it, didn't think I was in a war zone, didn't panic when I heard the sound of fireworks going off." Asasaki sighed and folded her arms behind her head. "Just dreams and conversations with myself at night." She turned to look at me. "What about you? You have any problems?"

"Not anymore," I admitted, deciding to break standard rules about the internet. "See, I have a wife back in the real world. We run a cafe together. She's been helping me stay sane. Plus, having a journal to write in helps."

"You have a diary?" She asked teasingly.

"Damn right I have a diary!" I grinned, deciding to play it up as much as possible. "I tell him all about the heart throbbingly cute boys that come in."

She burst into laughter clutching her stomach. "Oh god, please tell me you're joking."

"Only partially. I write about the girls, too." I sat up properly, motioning with my hands. "See, I copy the parts of my journal that talks about all my customers out to a different notebook. You know those stories about some bartenders who know exactly what you get depending on your mood and exactly how you want it? That's partially what that's journal's for. Once somebody orders something five times in a row, I offer them the sixth for free. If they don't say something against it, I consider it a success."

"And how often does that work out?"

"I was batting 700 or so. Sometimes people were just hard to read on their sixth time. The 'Dicey Cafe' served all kinds of folk, y'know? Kids looking for an afterschool snack, office workers, the works. We never really had super busy hours though. We have business fairly often, but we only ever got filled to capacity a few times. We were actually thinking about trying to find a new building to use before I got trapped in here." As bittersweet as it was, it felt nice talking about the real world.

The blonde turned to look up at the ceiling. "Think you'll still have the place when we get out of here?"

"Oh undoubtedly. My wife's a strong one. She's knows how to take care of herself. Plus, if needed I'm sure she could just hire an extra hand. We usually had a part-timer for our happy hours when workers would get off the clock." For a brief moment on the first day, the thought had crossed my mind that when I get out I would no longer have a wife, but if I didn't hold onto that hope I'd lose my reason to push through this world.

"Must be nice, knowing you can easily return to something." Asasaki closed her eyes, seeming ready to fall asleep.

"What about you?" I asked, curious about her own life. "Anything to look forward to when you get out of here?"

"Family, mostly. I'm probably going to head back to the states once I get rehabilitated." She lifted her legs up, referencing the physical therapy we'd all have to go through. "Hey, do you really think Kayaba has us /all/ covered? There's ten thousand of us, surely we're not all getting free health care."

I leaned back, having never thought of it before. "I'm sure they're going to work something out. It's not like the government's going to gouge us all. This isn't exactly our fault, and Kayaba's probably got his thumbs in a lot of pies. He might be a sociopath, but I don't think he's an ass."

"Forgive me if I don't agree with that statement." Asasaki stood and gazed out at what lay past the barrier. "Agil? Thanks for this. It's nice being able to talk to somebody that isn't myself." The woman gave a genuine smile, one that was inherently different from the ones she usually sported when we were travelling.

"Don't worry about it." I returned a grin of my own, glad that I was able to connect with her.

Next chapter should be out September 15-16th.