AN: Alas, it has finally arrived! i'm terribly sorry for the week long delay but i managed to get quite far through the story. I'm gonna keep this quick and say more at the bottom of this unfortunately small chapter. But thank you so much to all the people who have followed the story when it only had the foreward. And thank you for deciding to give my story a go!
"Hey! Suguha! I'm home!" Kazuto Kirigaya yelled out. Moment's later, Suguha Kirigaya came rushing around the corner of the doorway to the kitchen with an apron on. Giving Kazuto the feeling that dinner was already being made.
"Kazuto! Where have you been? You were suppose to get home an hour ago!" She said with a frustrated look in her eyes, which suddenly turned to a teasing look and small signs of jealousy. "Let me guess, you were out with Asuna, weren't you."
"Wow, Sugu. You can read me like a book." Kazuto said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head with no answer to give her. Once Suguha had prepared their meal, they both said their thanks and started to dig in to the fresh potato salad that was their dinner. After a few minutes, Suguha suddenly realised something. Kazuto noticed the change in expression and asked her about it.
"Is something wrong, Sugu?" He asked with his mouth full of lettuce.
"I forgot to tell you something." She said as she got out of her chair and walked over to the kitchen bench. Kazuto saw her grab a piece of paper and walk back over to the table with it. "Or, I guess saying I forgot to give you something would be more appropriate." She finished as she handed her brother the object.
"An envelope?" Kazuto said as he looked at it intently, discovering that there was no details on the front except for the word "Confidential" which was written in bold letters.
"The person who delivered it was reluctant to give it to me, but I managed to get it off him eventually on the condition that I leave it on the kitchen bench and not touch it until you got home. Whatever it is, it must be quite the secret if you're the only one who's allowed to read it." Suguha said as Kazuto stared at the letter with hesitation on whether to open it or not. Eventually he decided to wait until he was alone to open it and continued to eat his dinner with his cousin. Once they were done, he gave his plate to Suguha.
"Thanks for the dinner Sugu. I'm going to go open this envelope in my room. I'd rather open it when I'm alone, if you don't mind." He said as he slowly walked towards the stairs to the second floor of his home where his room was located.
"If you need me, I'll be watching television!" She shouted up to him before he closed his door. Once sat on his bed, Kazuto didn't open the envelope and instead just stared at it for a bit.
'What the hell am I getting myself dragged into this time.' He thought to himself as he finally opened the envelope.
Dear Kirito
I apologise in advance for sending this to you on such short notice. I have no doubts that you'll have some complaints with that.
To make a long story short, I want to talk with you. There's something that I need your help with. I was going to give you the details via this letter but I'm sure you have something to say to me.
So come and meet me at the usual restaurant early tomorrow. You know where to go.
- Kikuoka Seijirou
"Of course it's him again" Kazuto said as he let out a sigh. "I'll go anyway, but if this is anything like the last time we talked then I'll make sure to refuse his cry for help. Seriously, can't he find a single other person to do his dirty work for him?" After speaking his thoughts aloud, Kazuto went to bed. He tried to sleep but was plagued with thoughts on what Kikuoka had in mind for him. The next day, Kazuto made sure to wake up an hour earlier than normal, had a quick shower, and left the house before Suguha woke up. On his way to the restaurant he got multiple calls from her. "She's worried. No surprises there" Kazuto chuckled. As he walked into the restaurant, he was hesitant on whether to hide his face from Kikuoka or not. Of course if someone needed help, Kazuto, or in some cases Kirito, would be the first to step up. But Kikuoka had a thing for getting him into dangerous situations. After retreating into the bathroom to think it over for a bit, Kazuto decided that he would man up and at least hear what Kikuoka had to say as he washed his face with water from the sink. "Here goes nothing" Kazuto said as he opened the door to the dining room.
"Ah, Kiri- I mean Kazuto. Over here!" A middle-aged man wearing a dark green suit with glasses and nicely combed hair called over to Kazuto, almost calling him by his in-game name in the process. Kazuto sighed a reluctant sigh as he made his way over to the table and sat down. He planted his face into the restaurants food menu and waited for Kikuoka to talk. But no words came out of the man's mouth, which annoyed Kazuto greatly. Eventually, he got sick of waiting.
"Are you going to tell me why I-"
"Shush!" Kikuoka quickly interrupted Kazuto with a whisper as he finally looked up from his menu. "I'd rather not talk about it until all of my guests have arrived. Until then, order anything you want. It's on the house." Kazuto was blindsided by this but ordered the strawberry smoothie with extra whipped cream and an extra cherry on top, seen as his mouth watered when he first looked at it. As he waited for his smoothie though, he wondered what Kikuoka meant by 'All my guests.'
"I'm pretty sure that it means that another person has also been summoned here by Kikuoka, but who on earth could it be?" Kazuto thought to himself as his smoothie arrived. "Thank you!" He told the waitress who brought it out. But as he turned back to drink his smoothie, he saw a familiar person walk into the restaurant. The petite young girl with long chestnut coloured hair whom Kazuto calls his in-game wife and IRL girlfriend waved at him as she walked over to his table.
"A-Asuna, what are you doing here?!" Kazuto said with a panicked stutter.
"Good to see you too, Kirito" The girl named Asuna Yuuki replied with a dissatisfied smile as she called him by his in-game name, the only person who's allowed to do so. Kazuto put on an apologetic expression until, as she sat down next to him, he asked her something.
"Wait, so did you get the letter too?" He asked
"Yeah, my mother told me that a package had arrived and she put it in my room while we were out together yesterday." Asuna said. Kazuto nodded as the same kind of like thing happened to him. "She also said that the people who delivered it refused to leave until it was in my room and the door was locked. Seen as only I have the key to my room, I'm the only one able to open it." She finished.
"Funny, the same thing happened to me. Only the one who delivered my one was a little more trustworthy with Sugu." Kazuto said to her in somewhat of a reply. Suddenly, Kikuoka slammed his menu shut and fixated the glasses on his face.
"Right then. Now that we're all here, allow me to explain the details of the contents of those letters I sent you." Kazuto and Asuna's expressions hardened, as they prepared to listen to what Kikuoka was about to say. As he did though, Kazuto temporarily thought about how Asuna's presence had made him more calm and considerate about the situation. He felt more willing to accept a cry for help now that she was there. "Now, I'm sure both of you still remember the Sword Art Online incident, right?" The moment they heard that name, they both stiffened up a bit. "Well..." Kikuoka looked around him for a second before asking his question. "...What if I told you that you had to go back into that game?" The moment those words had finished coming out of his mouth, Asuna slammed her hands on the table and shouted.
"We would say no!" She spat out. Causing everyone in the restaurant to look at them. She laughed awkwardly as she sat back down.
"Asuna?" Kazuto asked quietly.
"S-sorry. I just did that out of habit I guess. But it's not hard to tell why, right?" She looked at her boyfriend as she asked that. Kazuto nodded his head in her direction. He definitely sympathised with her. He felt the exact same way but managed to keep his feelings towards the game hidden.
"Yes, I can understand your sudden outburst…" He paused for a moment as he readjusted the glasses on his face again. "…But it's kind of hard to have a private conversation now." Kazuto looked around him and found that everyone was still looking at them. He sighed deeply as he finished his smoothie in silence. When they were done with their meals, Kikuoka took the two to his car and drove them to a café.
"We'll be able to have a private conversation here." Kikuoka said as he got out of the car.
"But how's a café any more private than a restaurant?" Asuna asked him. Kikuoka did not answer the question though and instead, led them into the café in silence. As they walked through the door, Kazuto noticed that the café's open sign was off. Meaning that they were walking into a closed café. When they got inside, the only other person in the café was an old lady who Kazuto assumed was the owner. Kikuoka pulled a piece of laminated paper out of the inside of his blazer and showed it to the old lady. After seeing it, the old lady kneeled down and turned something. An unlocking noise was heard throughout the building and, after tipping his hat towards the old lady, walked towards the wall to Kazuto's right. After pushing on the wall for a few seconds, a part of the wall started to rotate open like a door. Once it was fully open, Kikuoka gestured for Kazuto and Asuna to enter the room. Kazuto hesitated slightly as confined spaces weren't his forte but Asuna didn't need to think twice about entering the room. Once Kazuto walked in and looked around, he realized it was basically just another room of the café but with no windows and very few desks. Once the door was closed, Kikuoka answered the question that was on the verge of coming out of Kazuto's mouth.
"This room, if you're wondering, is a secret room built by the government so that their employees had a private place outside of the main building to talk. That old lady out there, Mrs Nozomi, is a retired government officer." Kikuoka pulled out a chair and sat down. "Sit, please. Let us continue the conversation." Kazuto and Asuna sat down once more.
"So?" Kazuto asked impatiently
"So, I guess it won't help to beat around the bush a bit since we don't have any food to wait for so I'll get straight to the point. You remember Akihiko Kayaba? How he went missing and was presumed dead?" Kazuto nodded as he felt sweat being formed in his head. "Well, point is; we need him. Dr Kurahashi wants to make the Medicuboid known to the world and let people use it in their own hospitals. However, Dr Kurahashi, as experienced as he is, doesn't know how to fully operate it, and he needs it to work at one hundred percent in order for us, the government, to allow mass production. The problem is, the only person who knows how to work it is the person who created it, Akihiko Kayaba. We need him to tell us how the Medicuboid works in order to get the go ahead for mass production."
"Wait, hang on a minute!" Asuna interrupted. "I thought that the Medicuboid was working just fine. It kept Yuuki alive after all!"
"But did it make her condition any better?" Kikuoka asked her slightly vigorously. Asuna said nothing and just looked to the ground. "Exactly. Since Kayaba was the one who originally had the idea for the Medicuboid, if we can get him to show us how to properly use it then we won't have anymore cases like Miss Konno's. We'll be able to protect people against what would the cause be their inevitable death."
"I…I understand." Asuna said. Kazuto put his hand on her shoulder without straying his gaze from Kikuoka, but he knew that it put a smile on her face.
"I have a question." Kazuto said as he slightly raised his hand. "How are you going to find Kayaba if he's gone missing? And what does this have to do with us if I may ask?" Kazuto asked the logical questions as Kikuoka adjusted the glasses on his face once more.
"I can answer both those questions with one answer." He said as he took a quick breath. "I'm not the one who's going to find Kayaba. You are." Both Kazuto and Asuna looked at him dumbfounded for a second until they reacted.
"how the hell are we suppose to find him!" Asuna yelled
"How about you get off your lazy ass and find him yourself!" Kazuto shouted
"Now now. Calm down for a second. I for one don't have much to do with this apart from getting you on board. The rest is Dr Kurahashi's problem." Kazuto and Asuna sat back down in their chairs. "Now, on to the topic of Kayaba's whereabouts." Kikuoka stared at Kazuto for a bit after he said that, which made him uncomfortable.
"Well?" Kazuto asked, getting all the more impatient. Kikuoka let out a giggle.
"Come on Kazuto. Think about it." He said mischievously
"Think about what?" Kazuto asked curiously
"What is the one place that you think Kayaba will be. Where is the only place that you know where you'll find him for sure. Think about it." Kikuoka said as he raised his hand and pointed his index finger to which he then made a swiping down motion as if he was opening a menu. The moment he realized it, the painful truth suddenly dawned on him.
"N-no way! That's not possible." Kazuto stuttered out in a multitude of emotions.
"So you finally figured it out?" Kikuoka said as he sat up on his chair.
"Figured what out?" Asuna asked, confusion sweeping her off her feet. After maintaining his sanity, Kazuto gave her an obvious hint.
"Asuna, do you remember who the main boss on the 100th floor of Aincrad was?"
DAT CLIFFHANGER DOE! I WONDER WHAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT! FIND OUT NEXT WEEK WHEN CHAPTER 2 IS UPLOADED. (This story will be weekly until i catch up to where the story is at right now.) THANK YOU FOR READING X3