Hello there, people of the internet, I am DxDBourne!
It's been a short while, and yes I apologize once again, but your waiting is not in vain as I have made some very potent progress with the story and MAYBE I can upload a couple of chapters not too far after each other but no promises.
Also fun fact, I had the COVID-19 sickness a couple of weeks ago but have since fully recovered! I hope all of you readers are staying home and staying safe.
(I DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE OR IT'S CHARACTERS)
"As if I could ever do that," Toran replied. The two of them continued to embrace each other for a short while longer until Sinon got a message from Leafa wondering if they were done with the quest.
"Oh crap, we should probably get going," Sinon exclaimed as the two of them started making their way back to Coral Village. Toran was worried that the walk back would be rather awkward due to their little moment but to his surprise, it was the most welcoming chat they'd ever had.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you start playing GGO if you hated guns?" Toran asked her curiously.
"One of my old friends introduced the game to me as a way to try and help me overcome my fear of guns, and it worked pretty well in the game, but it never helped in real life," She admitted.
"I can't imagine how hard that would've been for you, but at least you have good friends to help you through it," Toran said, unaware as to who exactly she was talking about.
"Well, that 'friend' in particular is no longer my friend anymore, especially after the Death Gun thing," She said, sparking Toran's deeper curiosity.
"He didn't do anything weird to you, did he? I'll give him a piece of my mind if he did," Sinon laughed and calmed him down before explaining everything that happened with the Death Gun incident. The bullies in real life, the meeting Kirito and thinking he was a girl, the events of that B.o.B tournament, and the awful bit with Shinkawa right after that Kirito saved her from.
"Oh boy, that idiot is lucky I wasn't there. I might've hospitalized the guy for doing something like that to you," Toran said angrily.
"That was the moment when I developed feelings for Kirito, I mean, it's kind of hard not to when someone risks their life so heroically," Toran nodded, albeit jealously. "But that's all in the past now, Shinkawa is recovering at a mental hospital and as you know, I'm not romantically interested in Kirito anymore. I still check up on Shinkawa's recovery progress every one and then though," She said, causing Toran to be quite surprised.
"So, you still talk to that guy? Even after what he did to you?" Toran questioned.
"You make it sound like I still care about the guy," Sinon laughed, sensing some jealousy in Toran's voice. "He was my only friend for quite a long time so out of respect for his past friendliness, I'm seeing his recovery through. When he finally gets discharged, I want to hear him apologize to me before I cut all ties with him," She admitted. Toran was still a little iffy about this Shinkawa guy but he understood her intentions. The fact that even in the face of such horrific memories, she still found a way to be her kind self was awe-inspiring to him.
"What an angel," He thought to himself.
They continued their chat as they made their way back through Coral Village and eventually made it back to the player house owned by Kirito. As they walked in they were greeted by Leafa, Klein, and Chrysheight who was Kikuoka's avatar. As they all said their hello's, Leafa immediately noticed something.
"Sinon! You're wearing an unfamiliar ring!?" Leafa gasped as she thought of the possibilities "You guys didn't-"
"No no, it's not that. The ring was given to us for beating that puzzle cave quest and Toran let me have it is all, calm down," Sinon interrupted to diffuse the situation. Meanwhile, Toran turned his attention to Chrysheight.
"I don't believe we've met?" He offered a handshake for a greeting.
"Not formally at least, Greetings Toran. My avatar name is Chrysheight but my real name is Seijirou Kikuoka," Chrysheight greeted as they shook hands.
"Oddly trusting of you to tell me your real name this quickly," Toran questioned.
"I'm a lieutenant corporal of the Japanese Special Defense Force and the main overseer of the current quest to get information of the medicuboid out of Akihiko Kayaba on the hundredth floor," He admitted, causing Toran to bow and apologize.
"Please forgive my rudeness, I didn't know you were of such class," Toran fell to his hands and knees and apologized profusely.
"Do not worry, I may be of high class but I only wish to be treated as a friend by you all," He reassured as Toran got back up from his kneeling position. "I do wonder something though, you're involved with Kirito's group, yes?" He asked rather seriously.
"Y-Yeah, why?" Toran replied slightly nervously.
"We specifically wanted everyone within Kirito's group to only dive during government surveillance so we set up a specific hospital for all of them. However, I don't recall seeing you there. Are you under professional supervision elsewhere or are you diving by yourself?" Chrysheight seemed to have a rather gritty tone to his voice as he said this as if he was about to grill Toran for not following their guidelines. However, he was saved by Leafa.
"Oh, we only met him after the mission began. Plus, we didn't tell him much about the mission either, until you did just now, I guess," She chuckled as she continued cooking to level up her cooking skill.
"I see," Chrysheight bowed apologetically towards Toran this time. "Please forgive my forwardness, I thought I was made unaware of another person involved. Best you probably try and forget what I told you,"
"Uh, will do," Toran said awkwardly while mentally thanking Leafa for the save. As Chrysheight sat back down, Toran wondered if maybe Chrysheight would be a good person to ask about what hospital in Japan his body is lying in, or if he's even alive at all.
However, he decided against it due to the presence of both Klein and especially Sinon who he didn't want knowing about his story. At least not yet. So he saved it for another time and decided to leave. "By the way, there's something that, um…needs my attention on the first floor. Can't really say what it is but I'll be back in a bit," Toran suddenly announced before walking hastily towards the door.
"Wait, if you want I can-" Sinon started to say before he stormed out and closed the door behind him. "…go with you?" Sinon was starting to get curious about his behavior now.
"You know, I just don't understand him," Sinon whirled around to see that Klein was the one who said that. He was slouching on a couch in the far corner as he spoke.
"How do you mean?" Sinon asked him.
"Well, it's like, most of the time he acts pretty normal. But every now and then he just has these sudden mood swings, I guess you could call them, and he'll start acting so distant and cold. Then all of a sudden, next time you see him, he's back to his normal self. It's strange, something must be bothering him," Klein deduced and Sinon, as she thought about it more, kind of started to agree with him. She loved nothing more than being with him while he was acting normal. But like that moment when they were walking to the cave entrance just earlier when he straight up ignored her out of nowhere. Or even just now when he just ran out of the room before she could finish talking to him.
At first, she was worried that maybe he disliked how close she was trying to get to him, but after hearing Klein's observation, she started to see all the same signs. Every time he's been in a conversation with them, he's fine for a bit then suddenly changes.
She could only come to the conclusion that there's obviously a specific topic that he's really struggling with but she didn't know what it was. Last time it was the topic of where he lived, this time it was the topic of the government mission they're on. There must've been a way those two topics are related to one that he wasn't good with but she couldn't figure it out.
"I kind of agree with you, maybe I should try messaging him about it. It might be easier for him to explain if it isn't face to face," Sinon decided as she pulled up her menu to message Toran. In the meantime, Leafa had finished her cooking and given it to Chrysheight for review, who said it was delicious but the flavor was just a bit lacking, which made sense considering Leafa was only halfway to the max cooking level. As Sinon typed away on her holographic menu, she was suddenly embraced from behind by the blonde-haired sylph.
"Sinonon!" She exclaimed cheerfully as she hugged Sinon from behind.
"W-What are you doing?" Sinon cried with embarrassment as tried but ultimately failed to struggle out of Leafa's grip.
"Oh c'mon, tell us how it went!" Leafa teased with a smug expression.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Sinon replied softly as she looked away.
"Don't think you can fool me, girl. I just know you and Toran are getting it on. Now tell me all about it!" Leafa asked with stars in her eyes. Sinon continued to look away with cherry red cheeks.
"T-There's nothing to tell, w-we didn't do anything," Sinon stuttered as she spoke.
"I don't believe it, you two have been all over each other for a month now. Surely something happened," Leafa continued to tease the poor girl in hopes of squeezing that juicy info out of her, but Sinon refused to budge.
"I'm telling you it's not like that! Nothing happened at all," Sinon said as she finally broke loose from Leafa's hold.
"Is that so? Oh well," Leafa sighed, surprising Sinon for a second. "If there's nothing between you two then I guess he's free for me to take," Leafa winked cheekily at Sinon, and that really did it. Her face went redder than ever.
"W-W-WAIT JUST A MINUTE! Y-YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT!" Sinon exclaimed as Leafa laughed heartily in front of her.
"HA! I knew it, you're lovestruck!" Leafa teased as she continued to laugh at Sinon's embarrassment.
"DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD!" Sinon cried as she chased Leafa around the room. The two continued to frolic until Sinon eventually captured the teasing sylph and pulled her cheeks as punishment, though it didn't stop her from laughing still. The two kept at it until a depressing groan was heard from the corner of the room, they all looked to see it was Klein.
"Ah, it's so unfair! First Kirito, now Toran. How come girls never fight over me?" He cried very audibly to himself. As he sobbed, everyone in the room kinda stared at him, not in disgust, but in like a somewhat awkward pity.
It was then when they noticed that, at some point recently, Chrysheight had logged out. So they all calmed down and got back to whatever it was they were doing before. Sinon continued typing her message to Toran and Leafa got back to improving her cooking skill. Asuna and Agil were currently logged out, Asuna at a family function and Agil spending time with his wife and running his café. Kirito, Lisbeth, and Silica were still doing the Wizard of Oz quest in the mountains which is inaccessible by anyone who isn't apart of the quest, and Toran was somewhere on the first floor doing god knows what.
This left Sinon, Leafa, and Klein alone in the house, free to do what they please. Of course, they could go on a raid of the floors labyrinth but there hadn't been any notifications about raid party's being formed so that wasn't an option just yet. It wasn't a Sunday so the festival event quest wasn't on. They could do some general grinding in the eastern parts of the forest but none of the enemies here dropped loot of any real value so that would be pointless. That meant that the only thing they could do was chill around the main village or log out, which is what Klein decided to do.
"Alright, I'mma log out. Probably not gonna be on again 'till the next floors been unlocked. Plus, I got special permission from Doctor Kurahashi to take the next two days off. I know they said our studies would be on hold during this thing but I may as well keep my brain moving," Klein said before saying his goodbyes and departing the virtual world.
"You know what, that might just be the most sensible and responsible thing I've ever heard him say," Sinon said with an amused sigh.
"Amen to that," Leafa agreed as she kept at her cooking grind. A few moments later, Sinon finished typing her message to Toran. Being the self-proclaimed grammar nazi she was, she re-read the message at least four or five times to make extra sure there weren't any mistakes. It read as follows;
Hi Toran, It's Sinon.
Listen, I been spending a lot of time with you the past month and a half and it's become obvious to me that something is bothering you. I don't know what it could be but that's why I really want you to talk to me about it. To be honest, it worries me a little. If you need any help whatsoever, I want to be there to help you through it.
Please at least consider. I'm starting to worry about you.
After going through it one more time, she finally sent the message and awaited a reply. Leafa stayed mainly silent during this time. She and Kirito were the only two people in the game who knew the true story of Toran and what horrible things have happened to him, so she could actually tell Sinon right here and now. But she just didn't have the heart. She now completely understood why Toran kept his story from them, especially Sinon. Considering how close the two now were, he knew how much it would probably sadden her. But unfortunately for him, he can't keep that secret forever. Plus, she decided it was best for him to be the one to tell Sinon himself, which was the main reason she kept quiet as Sinon typed away. After only a few minutes of waiting, Sinon received a notification.
"He replied, that was quicker than I thought it would be," She said as she opened the message and read it aloud:
Sinon…I appreciate your worry, I really do. But it's just not something that I want or need you to worry about. I'll be fine.
Leafa may have been busy doing a multitude of stuff in the kitchen but to Sinon, the entire world may have just gone silent. She didn't know what to think about this at all. She put her heart into that message she sent him and has seemingly been brushed aside. "So, that's all I am to you then," She said aloud but quietly enough to not let Leafa hear, and as much as this message had hurt her, she somehow found herself unable to shed a single tear.
"Have you gotten a reply yet?" Leafa asked cheerfully from the kitchen as she cleaned the bench. Sinon looked at her briefly before adorning a classic artificial smile.
"Nope, must be busy," She said with a chuckle before standing up and stretching, despite actual muscle pain not necessarily existing in-game.
"Heading out?" Leafa asked curiously.
"Gonna walk around the lake and check out the other reaches of the floor, sitting around doing nothing isn't really for me," She said as they laughed together before leaving the house and heading for the pier.
Of course, she had no intention of walking around and looking at the scenery, she could've cared less that she was even playing a game at the moment. Her only intention was to find a way to stop this surging sadness building in her chest. It was a feeling that she felt like should've allowed her to be able to cry as much as she wanted to but she was still, like before, seemingly unable to shed a single tear.
She had felt somewhat betrayed by Toran. She had felt like the entire past 2 months were all for naught and all the time they spent together meant nothing. This feeling itself was so new to her. She never felt this about Kirito, but that was probably because Kirito never made her feel like she was close enough to be able to get hurt.
Then as she reached the end of the pier of the lake, all the different thoughts and emotions she was having turned all that sadness into anger. Anger at Toran, anger at the inability to cry about it, anger at her inability to do anything about it. All these thoughts culminated and built-up pressure within her to the point where in order to try and release any amount of the pain within her, she took the ring that Toran had given her out of her inventory and hurled it as far as she could into the lake, and it was then when she finally felt a tear escape from her eyelid.
As she watched the ring splash down into the water a good few yards from her, she sat down on the edge of the pier and attempted to look at her reflection, which was quite hard to see due to the ripples from the splash of the ring she threw. It was then when she also decided that she hated being sad and that it made sense why she locked such emotions like that away for all those years.
Part of her was tempted to log out of this game and dive back into the lead-filled world of Gun Gale Online where she felt the most comfortable with herself, but this was still a government mission and she had already used her off days for the week so in the end, she did actually decide to walk around the lake. It wasn't far into this walk when she managed to find a part of her old self when she told herself, "I've always been better off by myself anyway,"
ZOMG what's gonna happen with Toran and Sinon I'm on the edge of my seat :O! = how I like to imagine all your reactions to my cliffhangers.
Ok, so maybe not the longest chapter ever but at least it's something :) Oh and as a sneak peek for the next chapter, we'll be moving back to Kirito and his adventures in Oz so stay tuned, it's a little arc that I'm pretty proud.
And btw, thanks for 15,000 views on this story of mine! I know it's a pain to stick around due to my shocking upload rate but this story would've died a long time ago if I didn't have any of you readers so give yourselves a nice, well-deserved pat on the back.
pls excuse all spelling and grammar errors, proof-reading ain't my strong suit, and remember to stay home and stay safe!