Hello there people of the Internet, I am DxDBourne!
It's been a hot minute but as always, I have returned with a new chapter.
A quick disclaimer though: This chapter slightly tackles a bit of a hard topic so just letting you know. So now that you know; Enjoy!
I DO NOT own SAO or it's characters.
"Yup," Kirito thought to himself as he embraced his in-game wife and daughter. "This is the life," The three walked into the currently empty house and made themselves at home.
"Everyone else is going to be here soon, they're just off doing their quests and whatnot. But Sinonon is here, she's just resting in the guest room," Asuna said from the kitchen as she was in the middle of making some in-game lunch. Then, as if on queue, Sinon emerged from the guest room and flopped down on the sofa opposite Kirito and Yui's one.
"So, how did your puzzle quest go?" Kirito asked as he caressed his daughter's head while she leaned on his side. Sinon heaved a long sigh before replying.
"It was alright, could've been better but I'll spare you any details," Sinon said in a muffled voice since she was lying face down on the sofa.
"That's a shame, but did you get anything good out of it?" Kirito once again asked. He was especially curious because this was the quest that Asuna did to get her trusty Lambent Light rapier.
"Toran got a very rare Sword and Shield after we finished, which actually looked kinda cool," She said with tired enthusiasm.
"What about you? Surely you got something," Kirito inquired. Asuna had never told him whether the other person that she did it with got a reward but rather than asking her right then, he simply looked to Sinon for an answer.
"No I didn't really get anything, I was given a ri-" Sinon suddenly stopped herself for whatever reason.
"You were given a what?" Kirito asked curiously.
"I was just given a…recipe since I guess I leveled up my cooking somehow. But other than that, he was the only actual rewardee," Sinon said lazily. She had obviously meant Toran when saying 'he' but the strange use of the word made Kirito a little curious but he simply assumed she was just using some slang due to her obvious laziness at the moment. "How about your Oz quest? That go well or nah?" she asked as she rolled onto her side to face Kirito and his smiling daughter.
"It was very unusual," Kirito said, causing Asuna to flip around briefly.
"How so?" She wondered aloud so he could hear.
"It was strangely different from when we did it last time. Like, it was generally the same story but so many different elements and enemy spawns and what not. It felt like the quest had been completely revamped or something," He explained as he went into as much detail as he needed to on all the different things they faced compared to last time as well as explaining the quest to Sinon. Most of it was pretty straight forward but the Evil Dorothy really surprised Asuna.
"Seems like Kayaba's still somehow influencing this game to me, it's not the first time you've told us about him messing with you," Asuna recalled as she served a small dish for her, Yui and Sinon.
"Yeah, I really can't wait to get to the hundredth floor so I can sucker-punch that guy," Kirito said, getting a small laugh out of the girls around him. "But for now, I kinda feel a little tuckered out so imma go grab a bite IRL and come back later,"
"No worries, we'll probably still be here when you get back," Asuna said as she and Yui waved him off.
"Oh, and by the way Asuna, there's…something I want to talk to you about when it's just the two of us, and preferably IRL so whenever we get that chance," Kirito said quickly and awkwardly as he opened his options menu to log out.
"O-Ok, sure," Asuna replied kind of curiously. Shortly after that, Kirito departed the virtual world.
After a bright flash of light, plus some groggy moans, Kazuto was assaulted by rays of golden light coming through the open windows of the hospital room in Tokyo that they were currently in. He looked around and saw everyone except Ryotaro and Andrew were still logged in. He also saw Nurse Aki and Dr. Reki keenly focused on something happening with the server computer. A few creaks from his hospital bed as he sat up caught the attention of Aki.
"Ah, Kiri-, uh Kazuto, what brings you out of the game?" She asked from behind Dr Kawahara's chair.
"Just finished doing a really long quest and felt a bit worn out if that makes sense," He replied as he rubbed his eyes. Naturally, he wasn't actually tired but his consciousness was making his brain believe that he had been doing a whole bunch of moving around, thus sending brainwaves to his body and giving him the phantomous idea that he was actually tired. This kind of thing wore off after a few minutes as the brain realizes that you weren't actually doing stuff and were just lying down all that time.
"No question marks over here. By the way, you logged out just in time," The normally playful nurse said in a slightly serious tone.
"Why's that?" Kazuto attempted to get off the bed as he asked but must've been too ambitious as his body denied him his movement for the moment.
"Well, the server seems to be experiencing some…issues, if you will. Dr. Kawahara's been attempting multiple online fixes but it's not being very cooperative. So basically, he needs to offline the server so that he can troubleshoot the problem more properly," She explained in a way that Kazuto could easily understand since he wasn't very awake but didn't sugarcoat it either as Kazuto was already studying similar things.
"Meaning everyone will be auto-logged out?" He continued questioning while moving his body around to help convince it that it wasn't tired.
"Quite the opposite actually, no one will be able to log out while the server is offline and anyone that's already logged out at the moment like you won't be able to log back in until the server's online again," She revealed. Kazuto cringed, not at the thought of everyone not being able to log out, but just at the simple memory of what it was like being trapped in the original SAO coming back to him. He knew his friends would be fine, hopefully, they wouldn't even notice it.
"So, how long will the server be down?" Kazuto asked yet another question as he finally felt his body return to normal and stood up.
"If the issue turns out to be minor then probably within two hours, but if it's quite a major one then it might not be on until tomorrow. But it will be fixed, don't worry about that. Mr. Kikuoka didn't hire Dr. Kawahara for nothing," She reassured him, hoping that he wasn't too annoyed by it.
"I'm not worrying, I know you'll figure it out," Kazuto said with a thumbs-up as he walked over the water dispenser and poured himself a glass. "Sorry for asking so many questions, but I got one more; It's still pretty light out so I was just wondering why you guys are here so early if you're the night team?"
"Questions are perfectly fine, it's part of the reason I'm here after all and you have a right to know. As for the answer, Kikuoka asked us to come earlier today due to the server issues as the day team were unable to troubleshoot it and decided that they needed Dr. Kawahara's intelligence," Just after she had finished speaking, Dr. Kawahara briefly whirled his head around to look at the two of them.
"Server is now offline," Was all he said before putting his head back down and focusing.
"Well, guess I've got a day to myself," Kazuto observed aloud as he finished his water with a breath of relief.
"Yay, that means we can finally hang out together," Aki returned to her playful and teasing self, expecting to be ignored like normal.
"Sure thing, what do you wanna do?" Kazuto asked with a smile. Aki froze completely for a good few seconds before replying.
"I, uh, didn't expect you to say yes to that, I was only teasing you," She said as she looked away and blushed. Whether this was also apart of the tease or not, Kazuto didn't know.
"Ah, come on, why not? What else is there to do?" Kazuto asked as he got up and held his hand out towards her.
"You're having me on, aren't you," Aki pouted.
"I won't force you to come, you seem pretty keen on staying so you must be needed or something, I'll see you l-" Was as much as Kazuto said before someone, obviously Aki, hurridly latched onto his arm. She was a bit taller than him so it looked awkward but it didn't look like she cared.
"No no, I wanna come," She said quickly with a laugh. "It's rare for you to be so caring so I gotta take advantage of this. Hey, I know, why don't we go get Dr. Kawahara some lunch? as well as ourselves of course," She recommended as she laughed and bobbed around in a look that did not represent her age well.
"Sounds like a plan," Kazuto agreed as they left the hospital room. Aki quickly let Dr. Kawahara know about their decision and he replied with a quick wave from behind. As the two walked down the corridor, Kazuto felt the need to comment on something.
"Y'know, you don't have to hold my arm the entire way," He reminded her, but the smiling nurse didn't budge.
"You're the one who asked me on a date, you have to deal with it," She said cheerfully as she only increased her grip on him. Kazuto sighed in defeat as the two walked down the basically empty halls seemingly connected to each other. Even when they got outside, she didn't let go. Though there wasn't too many people around either and the café was pretty close so Kazuto allowed it. Once they reached the café, they ordered a nice bacon and mushroom quiche for Dr. Kawahara to go and then ordered some food themselves. "By the way, the food's on me," Aki suddenly said as Kazuto reached for his wallet.
"Are you sure, I can pay for myself at least," Kazuto suggested but the nurse wasn't having it.
"You already asked me all the way out here, the least I can do is pay for your food. Plus, I get discounts here since I'm a nurse who also works for the Japanese Defense Force so it's also cheaper if I do," She revealed, so Kazuto allowed her to pay for both of their food. Kazuto went for a simple but sweet shepherds pie with a glass of pineapple juice while Aki went all fancy and got a rolled crepe filled with bananas and whipped cream as well as a bowl of kiwifruit.
Instead of using chopsticks like normal, both of them opted for a classic pair of knife and forks as pie and pancakes are a little challenging to eat with chopsticks. Not that it can't be done but they would rather not cause a mess on their plates. As they ate, Kazuto was genuinely surprised at how quickly Aki woofed down her crepe, she must've been hungry.
"Hey Aki, aren't you married?" Kazuto suddenly asked, causing Aki to almost choke on a piece of banana, though she made a quick recovery.
"That was very forward of you, Kazuto. I would recommend at least asking me out to dinner first," She teased, possibly unaware that they already were technically eating dinner together.
"Don't get the wrong idea," Kazuto said with an unimpressed look. "I just happened to notice that you don't have a ring on, and I'm pretty sure you did during the Death Gun incident," Aki was rather shocked to hear something like that from him and found herself looking at her hand which indeed did not have a ring on it. "Sorry, that might be a bit wrong of me to ask,"
"N-No, not at all, I'm just really surprised at how perceptive you are. I didn't think anyone, let alone you, would remember or notice something like that," Kazuto felt a little flattered at her words. "But, the truth about that is, my husband and I filed for divorce a few months ago," She revealed.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought back that memory for you," Kazuto hurridly apologized but Aki was just as quick to correct him.
"No, it's okay, it's a good thing," Aki reassured him. "My husband was abusive so It's something to celebrate actually,"
"R-Really? Like, he would hit you and stuff?" Kazuto asked curiously.
"No, it wasn't physical abuse, more mental or verbal. He would shout insults at me a lot if I did things he didn't agree with and threaten me with stuff. To be honest, I don't like remembering it, part of the reason I joined the Japanese Defense Force was to be able to spend more of my day away from him, especially if his own work had put him in a bad mood," Kazuto couldn't really believe his ears, to think that this utterly innocent and pure nurse had been suffering behind closed doors at the hands of someone who was supposed to love her unconditionally. Suddenly, she started laughing to herself like a goofball as if everything was fine. "Ah, what am I doing. Talking about that kind of stuff with a kid,"
"Well hang on a minute, why didn't you just go to the authorities about it!? Domestic abuse is a crime," Kazuto asked in a very serious and also slightly raised voice.
"Would you have the strength to do that, Kazuto?" Aki asked, stopping Kazuto in his tracks. Of course, his immediate answer was yes but the more he really thought about it, the more he found himself unable to say anything. Of course, she would want to leave someone like that, but if her life with him was already hell, how much worse would it get if she tried to leave? The constant fear of those threats being acted out on her would terrify anyone. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but I've already separated from him so it's fine now," She said to him with a calm but clearly not a happy smile.
"You say that, but you don't seem too happy about it," Kazuto deduced, though Aki didn't reply to those words. Kazuto didn't really know what to say next, this conversation had kind of made this 'date' a little awkward. He wondered why she wasn't ecstatic about being away from her abuser if getting away was what she wanted. "Did he say something to you when the separation happened?" He asked. No sooner had the last word left his mouth, had Aki suddenly stood up.
"Guess it's time to head back now, let's go," She said in an attempt to sound cheerful but Kazuto just grabbed her hand, causing her to stop.
"Aki, I may be a lot younger than you but that doesn't mean I can't be there to listen to you and comfort you. You helped me through a really hard period during my rehabilitation from SAO as well as during the Death Gun incident and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have made it to where I am today. If that is something that I can repay, I will tenfold," Kazuto said as sincerely as he could because he meant it. Though, he did think that maybe he was pushing his limits. "If you really don't want me to, then I'll back off from now on, but please know that I'll always have a shoulder for you to lean on, just like you had for me," By now, he had let go of Aki's hand but she hadn't moved even after he had. After a small period of silence. He heard her heave a deep sigh and then laugh shortly after.
"Y'know, I think I see why all those girls like you now," She said teasingly, her face returning to its cheerful norm. "Okay, how about this; why don't we promise to always talk to each other about our problems. I promise to rely on you whenever I need cheering up and you rely on me whenever you need it, how's that sound?" Aki suggested as she reached out her hand to help Kazuto up from his chair.
"Deal," Kazuto replied as he stood up with his hand in hers. "But remember, you're first,"
"Yeah, I know. But I wasn't lying when I said we should go, we've been here a while already," The pair thanked the café owner for the food and took off back towards the hospital. "So, by the way, you were right. I'm still worried about my ex because he said something to me during the whole seperation thing," She admitted during the walk. "He told me that he promised he would ruin my life and make it a living hell if I signed the papers. The only reason I was able to withstand his threat was because I had my lawyer there with me,"
"Were they protecting you?" Kazuto asked curiously.
"Basically, my ex would never abuse me if someone was around so I convinced my lawyer to be there with me to protect me while I signed the papers. Honestly, it was a real shitshow. So much shouting happened that it hurts to remember it." She recalled calmly but also painfully.
"It's ok, please don't force yourself to remember something like that, just remember that I will help you if he ever tries to do anything to you," Kazuto promised with a thumbs up. To this, Aki just smiled to herself.
"By the way Kazuto, y-you know this does mean that I am single now so…I wouldn't mind if you…y'know," Aki teased with a cherry red blush as played with her fingers in embarrassment.
"Uh, m-maybe that's a bit far," Kazuto scratched the back of his head and looked away in awkwardness as he said that. "But, if you don't mind, I would like you to keep being in my life for a while. Especially so we can maintain this promise of ours," Aki blushed hard for real this time, it obviously wasn't a date request but she was happy with what she got.
"Of course, as long as you remain in mine as well," She replied in such a cheerful tone that she almost squealed as she wrapped her arms around his and continued to walk back to the hospital the same way they had earlier.
Alrighty, thanks for reading and I hope no one was affected by the content. It's just something that a few people in my family have suffered from in the past and I wanted to give it the time of day because domestic abuse is a real thing and it happens so much more often than it ever should; which is never!
Also, with this 25th chapter, we are now a quarter of the way to 100! We're on the trail that we blaze!
So to sum up, thanks for reading once again and being patient with my terrible upload schedule and please Follow/Favourite/Review and give me your thoughts :)
pls excuse any and all grammar and punctuation errors, the ting sometimes doesn't go skrrra