Chapter Six: Memory Panes
Yui looked around a little sad after the training session.
"Time to log out?"
Asuna shook her head
The training session is over but we're not done yet. After all there's plenty of action happening off the pitch… and some of the squad are going to have a drink afterwards in team facilities.
"Not just yet, some of the squad are going to have a drink afterwards at the players village so we should join them."
Kirito moved alongside her.
"Sounds like a plan. I've got an idea but I could do with some more signals if there are more people around."
Asuna looked at her suitably chastened fiancee.
"Are you ok?"
Still smarting he stared back at the training pitch.
"That was tough but I'll get better over time. I'm sure of it."
They kissed.
"I know you will, you've been in worse places than this stadium and still managed to play well. I'm so glad that I'm not out here alone."
Kirito nodded
The difference is that I've always had some kind of sword or weapon in my hand even with Ordinal Scale and that Augma. This feels different. No it is different and not just because of the game we're playing.
"Anyway at least Yui did well and you're really happy aren't you"
Even though she should have been tired the girl was practically skipping.
"Hai, that was cool. I can't wait to start playing matches!"
Asuna grinned
That is the first time I've seen Yui so happy outside of Aincrad for so long. It's as if she fitted in so easily. Let's see how she gets on socially though…
It was a fifteen-minute walk from the training fields past Liberty Stadium to the players village and they found the clubhouse easily enough when just after Yui and Kirito had gone in a familiar face reared its head.
"Get out of here while you can Asuna and take your family with you!"
Megumi again but…
"Why on earth are you acting like this Megumi?!"
Megan pointed at Asuna
"Because you're in way over your bleeding head Asuna and I don't want to drag you in any further than you are. I just want to play my part in this bloody tournament and go home!"
Not a chance and in fact…
"What are you in Megumi?"
Megan had her hands outstretched
"Put it this way Asuna. The prize for winning this tournament isn't the only one at stake here!"
But what else is-?
But before Asuna was about to challenge her Megumi ran off in the opposite direction leaving her former teammate to clench her jaw.
You weren't normally this way back in school, if anything you were completely the opposite. But now… you're terrified and don't want to draw me in to something but what?!
Anyway…
She shook her head
It's time to go into the clubhouse.
Asuna walked through a hallway into a large living room with pictures around its edges of different places.
All of these are different places in the British Isles, that's a bridge in Inverness, the Wallace Memorial in Edinburgh and Carlisle Cathedral.
More nostalgia of better times before Brexiters as well as Remainers made some nasty, lethal, miscalculations about each other and politicians and their staff started getting attacked as a result, just after the second referendum. In fact, it was the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff who was first to die with all the consequences THAT caused! Anyway, that's a picture of Berwick Upon Tweed with the full span of the Royal Border Bridge.
This isn't as much a home for survivors as it is some kind of home for unity.
And there's a picture that's not even part of the UK.
Kirito gave an uncharacteristic groan
"I don't believe it, it's that lake!"
Asuna moved towards it mouth curving towards a smile
"Border Lake neh?"
Kirito sighed
"Hai Muldar's favourite place in Aincrad to argue about with anyone."
Asuna rolled her eyes as Muldars message pinged in.
"Ah yes the beautiful Border Lake, still bears an uncanny resemblance to Loch Ness huh?"
That drew a response from Kirito who knew where this was heading.
"I keep on telling you Muldar! Kayaba never set foot in Scotland. I've been through his old journals and…"
Asuna couldn't help but roll her eyes as she continued to look at the picture.
Leave those two to argue Asuna.
They once had an hour-long debate in Aincrad about Kayaba having Scottish influences when designing Sword Art Online, with that lake being the cornerstone of Muldars argument. It's where one of his greatest poems came from. The one that got him one of his nicknames, the Bard of Dunbar came from and he still goes down there to do a bit of poetry sometimes.
In fact, he has the same affection towards it that Kirito and I have towards our house in Floor 22. So, this place is definitely in Muldars image.
Asuna felt a tug from Yui.
"Do you think that our team is part of Muldars project?"
Asunas grin turned to a frown.
"Without a shadow of a doubt. This place has his fingerprints all over it and Lisbeth playing as part of this team is no accident whatsoever. The question is where does Megumi fit in? I'm surprised she's in the British Isles at all."
Yui had a flash of characteristic maturity
"Time can change a person."
Asuna shook her head
"Not with Megan. Remember the group of girls who got me into playing that game? Well Megan was the most relieved to get out of that "bloody firefight". She lost far too much of her family in The Battle of Birmingham."
A shudder went through her.
But other reasons could have-
"Look mama, someone's shaking in the far corner."
Asuna followed Yuis gaze to see a teenager shivering in the corner of the room. That kid was far more focused on the practice pitch. Never saw his face though…
Asuna put a hand on her daughters' shoulder
"We'll go and help him"
Then she walked over to the teenager.
"Hello"
As the teenager turned towards her Asuna had to stop herself from reacting.
It looks like…
"How are you feeling?"
"Uh excuse me are you. Asuna Yuuki?"
Asuna nodded
"Yes I am"
The eyes of the teenager widened.
"The Asuna Yuuki, the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath?"
He held out a slightly shaking hand .
"I'm Stuart…Stuart Lyles, nice to meet you."
The youngest person to go missing. No wonder he's anxious!
Asuna shook his hand
"Nice to meet you too Stuart. How has it been here?"
Stuart looked around and clenched his fists.
"Scary now that we can't log out. Every time I've tried the button's there but it's blocked out of my reach."
A little vague
"Out of your reach, in what way?"
Stuart fists were vibrating.
"Like it's greyed out, shaded out?"
As if he's been stripped of something, possibly user privileges. We didn't have a log out button in Aincrad so in a way he's got it worse. It's as if something or someone's taunting them…
"Then don't think about it. It's hard to say but in the end the only way that I could survive was not thinking that there was a log off button. "
Stuart closed his eyes for a moment then nodded.
"Hai, I'll do my best to."
Asuna smiled.
"Good. These first few days are really tough. But they do get better, believe me so keep on playing the game and you'll do fine. How are your teammates treating you?"
Stuart shrugged
"They're treating me fine, I guess. I'm not the easiest of people to get to know."
Another note came from Muldar:
"Lisbeth said that Stuart's an older version of Silica when she was in Sword Art Online. A very sweet kid, a little skittish and anxious off the pitch but he can be very effective in the backs, when he's confident."
Interesting point but why was Lisbeth playing in this tournament?
"Uh sorry, are you ok?"
Asuna nodded
Got distracted a little longer than I should have there.
"Sorry Stuart I just received a message from someone. Nothing for you to worry about."
She paused
"Can I have access to your data?"
Stuart nodded took a deep breath and brought up the menu.
"Done. I'm going to go and rest now. Good to see that you're here though."
Asuna smiled as the teenage rugby player stood up.
There's still nerves but there's strength there too, just like Silica.
"Thanks, you've done well so far so keep on going."
Asuna turned to Yui as Stuart nodded and walked purposefully upstairs.
"Yui chan do you remember the research that you did for oba- chan?"
Yui nodded.
"Yes-mama chan?"
"After we log out, I want you to do something similar for me. Go through all of the rosters of the teams taking part in this tournament and see if there's anyone or anything that stands out apart from Megan and anyone in our team. "
Yui nodded
"Hai and saying grandma would have been ok Mama-chan. We're are nearer Scotland than Japan after all."
Her mother laughed and patted Yui on the head.
"If I call her that, she'll never let me live it down and she won't let you live it down either you know. Gurandi would be ok with a bit of Scots English though."
Both grinned at each other and then Asuna saw someone else, a middle-aged Japanese person with greying hair. She shouldn't have been surprised.
"Mama-chan isn't that Yoshida-Sama?"
Asuna nodded eyes narrowed yet again.
"Yes, it is and come to think of it…"
Something jolted her bolt upright
"There's something rather familiar about him."
Was he at one of mums parties?
Asuna shook her head.
Iie, If he was mum would have been pushing me to marry him regardless of her promise about arranged marriages. Good thing they were in effect almost outlawed a year ago, much to her irritation!
No, I've seen him somewhere else… at our security briefing during the World Championships! But why is he here?
Better try and ask him
"Hello have we met before?"
He turned and looked at her.
"I believe we might have done. Asuna Kirigaya right?"
Asuna nodded
"Yes I didn't know you played rugby yourself."
Yoshida shifted nervously
"I used to at university before I joined MEXT."
MEXT? The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. That can't be right can't it.
Anyway he's very uncomfortable around here even with his team mates, even though we're in a safe space and he's keen to get out of here…
"Excuse me I'm really sorry but I've got to meet someone in the entertainment district. Good seeing you again Asuna. I look forward to playing alongside you."
Then he strode off leaving Asuna frowning.
"That was awkward…"
Another voice came up
"Polite dismissal from Yoshida-sama huh?"
Asuna turned to see Hasketh looking at her with a small smile sipping a glass of water.
"He's like that when he's off the pitch but I saw just how well you did with Stuart. It's the first time in the past few days that he's come close to relaxing around here!"
He paused
"So you're the legendary Vice Commander sent to get us out of trouble?"
Asuna nodded causing the veteran player to look upwards.
"I knew it, Lisbeth talked about you and Kirito. In fact, she wondered why you hadn't been invited here sooner given things were kicking off."
Asuna tried to relax her shoulders but something was gnawing at her.
"I'm wondering the same thing at the moment. How is everyone coping?"
Hasketh eyebrows narrowed.
"The team or those of us who are "caught here"?"
Asuna nodded
"Caught here would be a good start."
The veteran rugby player looked around him as he sipped his drink
"The simple answer is that we're coping as best as we can by just trying to play the damn tournament. A little homesick in certain cases and bloody nervous as you can see but we're just hoping no-more people join us in this "state"."
Kirito who had joined them looked around .
"Has whoever's done this to you tried to contact you themselves?"
Hasketh raised one finger
"Once, with a message to say that we're being taken care of and we'll be finished at the end the tournament, whatever that means. So we're all training hard in the hope that we can win and go home."
He tapped his hand on the table as he stared around him.
"I can't hear or feel anything from offline whatsoever although when I was first here, I thought I was being moved. I could hear the constant throb of some kind of generator or engine."
He took a sip from his drink
"Then after that absolutely nothing."
Asunas eyes narrowed.
"What kind of generator"
Hasketh closed his eyes.
"No idea just a low constant throb, it sounded like a diesel motor."
A diesel one? I'm not an engineering expert but… that's strange even for the British Isles although not for Scotland. I remember reading on the flight here that diesel was being phased out even in England which is surprising.
Anyway, they're in some kind of sensory reduction chamber at least possibly more than that. Wonder what the generator is though?
Asuna looked up as Hasketh snarled
"Still I know who put me in here though."
Asuna's foot started tapping
"Megumi, no Megan?"
A snarl pulled at Haskeths face as he nodded and then his expression turned to disappointment
"That… person asked to meet me at The Ricoh two weeks ago. I was there at the arranged time but then got jumped by someone from behind. The next thing I knew I ended up here in game with no way to log out. "
No way in hell…
"Why?"
Hasketh closed her eyes.
"I wish I knew. Megan said that she knew this tournament was a front for something but she was unclear about what exactly it was."
Hasketh gripped the table.
"She wasn't even supposed to be playing to begin with. But then she got called up by Hallowed Turf just before Yoshida got captured. I don't know why she's here but she apparently had a choice between playing for us and Hallowed Turf. The Tombstones were also interested in her but she didn't have the right background for them"
Asuna raised an eyebrow
"The Tombstones?"
That sounds awfully familiar too…
Hasketh's face turned into snarl.
"Oh, you'll see them soon enough. They wear white coffins on black jerseys as if they think the purpose of the game that we're playing is to put their opponents into early graves. I don't know how they get away with having those things on their shirts or that name!"
Something for both Yui and I to check out.
Kirito smiled
"I wonder if we'll face them sooner rather than later."
Hasketh gave Kirito a wry look.
"Bad ambition to have Kirito, they're tipped to win Pool A at the very least and by an absolute canter at the most. Apparently, they've got a lot of people who are thrill seekers, extreme sports athletes and something else. But we've still got to get out of this pool first."
Asuna nodded and checked the calendar just as Hasketh did.
"Our first warm up match is coming at the end of the week. How do you feel about being on the pitch?"
"Fine with me."
Hasketh placed his hand on the table
"As fly half?"
That drew an intake of breath from Asuna.
Not the first time I've been asked to lead.
But…
"I'm a relatively new player on to the team James."
The veteran rugby player nodded and raised a hand.
"And I know that being asked to be a kicker brings unpleasant memories for you but we need someone out there leading us from the outset. I'm a veteran but although some of us had a brief experience in Unital Ring we're used to sitting tight rather than fighting for our lives."
Asuna nodded and raised her head up.
"I'll do my best."
James looked at his watch
"Do it would be good to have our team lead by somebody who's led people through situations like this."
Anyway, we've seen enough for today so head upstairs towards our bedrooms.
But as Asuna climbed the stairs her attention was drawn to the painting on the landing.
Why has this place got a picture of a town on the 5th floor of Aincrad? That's not an obvious location.
Quickly take a photo of it. Done, now it really is time to log out!
There's a reason that this clubhouse has so many pictures of Aincrad dotted around it. But we won't find out why by staying in game for now. Instead I've got to start figuring out why Felix is taking us down memory lane and why so much of this is about Aincrad.
.A/N- Commiserations to Japan but congratulations on winning their pool in the Rugby World Cup and what a run including winning against Scotland. It's been an interesting tournament so far and despite us getting a more stereotypical version of "World in Union" in the UK.
DaManWithOutFear: Eugeo and Alice are Cardinals but of a non-sporting kind. More will be revealed and hopefully sooner rather than later!