Chapter 5:

Bonds Mending

Thursday, October 7th, 2021

"So I was thinking that we should go to Hebra first to get Vah Medoh since that's the easiest one," Deruta typed on their chat app. Shino and he had recently discovered a new Switch game and were grinding the heck out of it, but right now, Shino wasn't paying Deruta her full attention.

Shino had a lot on her mind as of recently. It was that time of year. The one-year anniversary of her… of the 'incident'. She kept thinking about how he would react if he knew. It wasn't hard to imagine a scene where he left her after finding everything out.

"Then again, you're already near Ruta, so that may be faster for you," he continued, oblivious to his partner's self-reflection.

She had come to rely on him as a constant. No matter how life was going for her in the real world, he'd always be there, ready to play with her in the virtual one. His existence gave support and stability to her home life. She just wished someone would be there to give the same care when she was at school. But that was, perhaps, too much of a delusionally wishful dream.

"What do you think, Sinon? If we divide and conquer, we may be able to find more secrets to share with each other, but if we stick together, we'll be able to cooperate on individual puzzles in real time."

She finally mustered up the courage to send the message that had been left sitting in her input field.

"Deruta, if you were stuck between protecting someone you love and killing another person, which would you choose?"

The line fell silent for a solid minute. And then Deruta sent back two simple words.

"I'd kill."

Shino was shocked. Did he even understand what he was saying? Surely he'd choose a different option if he knew the true repercussions of the decision. She chose wrongly, and now, she lives with that pain everyday.

But before she could reply, he sent a follow-up.

"Ideally, I could protect them without hurting anyone, but if that person meant the world to me? I don't think I could continue on with life, knowing that I had a chance to protect them and deliberately chose not to," he typed, choosing his words carefully.

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. That kind of thinking was foreign to her. It really made the thoughts in her head twist and turn. What if she hadn't done what she did that day? Her mother… would her mother still be around?

That wasn't enough to justify it, but… it was a different look on things that she had never thought of before.

But not all her questions were answered.

"But what if you were the loved one? Could you really forgive a murderer, even if that murderer saved your life?"

Deruta didn't say anything for a while, again. Shino suddenly felt bashful and backtracked.

"Er, you don't have to answer that – I'm sorry for asking, I –" she started but was interrupted.

"No, it's an important question. I was just imagining it…

"I don't think it would change anything. I'd know the innocence of my protector. Because, well, in the end, I still love them," he finished.

"But I'm not innocent, I –" Shino paused again. She couldn't admit her sins to him yet. She just wasn't ready. "Sorry, I mean, it's nice you think that way."

Shino just hoped that her mother felt the same way Deruta did.

Sunday, September 18th, 2022

When Asuna brought back news of her estranged friend showing up in front of the boss raid, Shino Asada wasn't sure how to react. She had the feeling that he'd be there, but she had hoped that she was wrong.

And as she and the raid group entered the dungeon room, she noticed him off to the side. She couldn't make herself step forward to fight him, but oh did she try. She wanted to hurt him so bad — hurt him the same way he hurt her. But when she raised her weapons, she found herself stuck in the memory of what happened that day.

She couldn't forget the words she said. The words she didn't mean. Shino didn't know what made her so angry that day, but everything in her body made her want to throw her arms up and scream. The game, Kayaba, everything.

And so she took it out on her best friend. She voiced the small thoughts that went on in the back of her head out loud, and she regretted it.

But what he did back to her made her hate him. He was unforgivable.

Deruta couldn't be Kaito — he couldn't be. After all, Deruta was always there for her. He was always making her laugh and loved doing everything with her.

Kaito, though? Kaito was not the same. Kaito was some nerd that tuned out the rest of the world much too often.

What she didn't realize was how similar they acted. Deruta would occasionally just stop what he was doing and stare off into the distance. Deruta would be nervous to talk to other people in the games they played. Deruta… was Kaito.

And that was the irrevocable truth.

But she still felt a sense of displacement when thinking of the two as the same person. No matter how different or similar the two were though, it didn't mean anything in the end. Deruta and Kaito were one and the same. What truly baffled her was how he acted toward her.

It was as if he snapped. When she needed him to be an emotional constant, he grew angry and attacked her. He knew it would go like this; he said that he knew her situation and everything that happened. That meant it was out of malicious intent that he traumatized her. And that didn't help his case for trapping her knowingly in this game with her. Then again, she knew he couldn't have known it would be a death game, but she still felt like he was responsible.

Shino found herself separating Kaito away from Deruta in her thoughts. It had to be Kaito that hurt her. It had to be Kaito that killed that guy. It had to be Kaito who ruined their friendship. It was silly and she knew it, but she still felt herself attached to the Deruta of the past and her experiences with him. He was everything to her, and it wasn't easy to change that.

She had not removed him from her friend list for a reason: So that he could contact her when he was ready to talk again. Perhaps she felt an obligation to that, but never mind it. Either way, he had not once messaged her.

He must be just as done with her as she was.

But that did not explain why he had not left her friend list after all this time. Shino scrunched her eyes closed and sighed heavily. She had landed on a decision:

Tomorrow, she'd talk to him, and that was final.

When the boss fight with Illfang the Kobold Lord started, I scooched myself into the room without much of an issue. Nobody noticed me immediately, and that was all that I could ask for. Besides, I was only here for one reason anyway: Diavel.

The raid group rushed into the room, and I noticed that most of the players there were ones that I would soon recognize to be notable players on the Assault Team. That was a cheerful thought. These people wouldn't be so quick to die.

However, I wasn't here to judge them for their appearances, even if they weren't as dumb as they looked. No, I was here to prevent the loss of one of the more competent players in the game early on. Diavel was a beta tester who led the raid groups during the first floor clearing phase of the anime.

With someone who has that level of expertise, the game will be much more poised for success than before. There was another special person I wanted to observe here, as well, but that could wait until later.

I watched the motions of the other players as they followed the orders of Diavel. Squad A and C would often drop back far enough to reach me as they were healing, so I had to remain cautious or else I'd be spotted. Then again, I think that they had more pressing concerns to worry about.

It was then that I spotted her. Sinon, I mean.

She was covering Asuna and Kirito as they'd parry, switch, and strike the sentinels. It was a clever strategy, I had to admit. One player runs in to block a hit and reset the enemy's charge time while the other switches in and rushes to attack. And if either are too late or off with their timing, then Sinon unleashes a perfect cover that protects their mistakes.

And even when they aren't missing anything, she can still chip away at the monsters' health steadily from far behind using her throwing weapons.

I found myself surprisingly engrossed in watching their coordination as they pulled off attack after attack. I know for a fact that they just met today, and yet they work so flawlessly together, it was insane. It took Sinon and I weeks to get that smooth with our teamwork.

I shook myself to try and get focused on the task at hand. I had someone's life to save.

Waiting patiently, I watched as the groups worked fluidly together to bring the boss' hit points down several bars. However, once it reached the last bar, Diavel ran forwards, ordering the other groups to surround Illfang while he took it on one on one.

I smirked. These poor guys had no idea about the AoE effect an Odachi-style weapon has for enemies.

What was really the kicker was watching Kirito, Sinon, and Mito all yell out at once to warn everyone before the shockwave of paralysis energy hit. I didn't mind it since I was more than a couple paces behind the main group.

Illfang flew into the air, preparing to strike directly at Diavel, which I knew would continue into a combo that would ultimately end his life. This fight was following more along the lines of the Progressive movies than the anime (ignoring my tampering).

But before the sword could crush down on Diavel, another blade clashed with it.

I had thrown my backup spear using the Spear Shot ability, which parried the boss' attack midair.

Before it could land and continue its onslaught, I ran in, equipping my main weapon and thrusting at the blade to knock it to the side. My plan worked, as I threw Diavel a curing crystal and he scrambled to use it and move backwards, out of the splash zone.

The boss was not happy that I was interfering, though. You see, it's rather difficult to block an attack from a sword using a polearm without said polearm snapping in half. Especially when the one delivering the attack is five times the size of an average human.

That being said, I thought long and hard about how I'd enter into combat with sword users. To put it very simply, spears are superior weapons in just about every way. Maybe not more popular, and certainly not more mobile or compact, but they had the advantage of range, speed, and strength. Finishing a fight with a spear is as simple as starting the fight.

In close quarters, though? That's where it gets tough. So a very particular skill gave me an advantage when it came to these kinds of things.

Spinning Shield has been one of my most useful skills as of recently. It enables me to switch between going on the offensive and defensive near instantaneously and with absolutely zero equipment switching. Mid-combat is where it shines, and if you time it right, you can even use it to follow up into your next attack.

As he struck at me, I activated the skill and parried his attack, before capitalizing on the opening and landing a few more hits of my own on the boss. It was not my intention to finish it, though, nor was it to do most of the work. I was only here to keep it on its toes and help the players fighting it recover. My purpose was to make sure this fight was bloodless. On the players' side, anyway.

Kirito ran forward and switched with me to continue the fight. He and Asuna performed combo after combo, each pushing the boss back incrementally with each hit. Mito ran in and slashed at Illfang a few times to protect Asuna. It was a symbolic, almost, of her regret for abandoning Asuna earlier on and trying to make up for it.

These cues are much more difficult to spot without the knowledge of the whole timeline.

But what really surprised me was Sinon. She wasn't in the original (once again, thanks to me), but she knew of the AoE effect during the beta test, too, so she wasn't affected by the attack. Besides, being a backliner, she wouldn't've been hit anyways. What caught me off guard was her boldness.

I had never seen her so fired up. She ran forwards with a determination that irradiated off of her body like a fiery aura. Several throwing knives popped up between her fingers, and as she extended her arm outwards from her body, they flew toward her target and struck, stunning Illfang momentarily.

With this time bought, she dashed with her Sprint ability and, using his Odachi as a de facto jump pad, threw herself into the air above the boss.

There, she uncovered her main melee weapon: the dual daggers. It was one I was familiar with from when we were a guild. It made me reminisce for a moment before retaking my attention on the situation.

As she skyrocketed downwards, she activated a powerful airborne attack, Aerial Slash. The ability allowed her to multiply her damage depending on how much fall damage she would normally take and negate the recoil entirely so long as she landed on the target enemy.

Her blade pierced the boss, and its HP went down rapidly. I was now admittedly interested as to if Kirito was even going to get the final attack bonus after all of this went down.

Given the wrench I threw into the plans, it's possible that he doesn't even receive it at all this time around. That being said, if he does, it could be a sign of the original plot still existing as an underlying and self-fulfilling construct to reality. Fate. Sure would suck, considering my goals.

Asuna charged up another Linear and flung herself at the boss, each rapier strike dealing more and more damage. Eventually, Illfang grew tired of this sucky method of foreplay and jumped upwards, preparing itself to take out Mito and Asuna.

Using her rapier, Asuna pushed him back into the sky for even just a moment longer, and Kirito, who was charging a Sonic Leap, flew forward and slashed through Illfang, dealing the last bits of health.

I smiled. It worked out exactly how I wished it would. I didn't feel as good about it as I thought I should've, but that didn't matter. My goal was to protect everyone, and it worked.

As the boss slowly exploded into a bright show of congratulatory lights, I stepped back to further myself in the shadows. I still had a purpose here; my plan was not done.

Step one completed.

The loud cheering and applause broke the silence which was thick as molasses. Kirito, Asuna, Mito, and Sinon all turned to see the other raid group members celebrating their victory. Even Agil was there, applauding as well. Diavel, on the other hand, still seemed stunned from the whole ordeal. I knew his intentions of stealing the final attack bonus, but other than that, he wasn't a shady guy. He was one hell of a leader, and his leadership helped the raid team immensely. Not only did he organize the whole thing, but not a single player died thanks to his excessive planning.

That was why I wanted him to live. And he was one more player to go against the beater stereotype.

But, like all sour people, Kibaou had the need to object, despite there being no real point to it this time. I knew he just wanted to manipulate the people in favor of an extra buck, but that was neither here nor there. He was actually rather useful now.

"Stop cheering!" he yelled. "We almost died today because of them!"

The noise of the crowd slowly came to a still as their interest was suddenly piqued by his words.

"You all knew the technique the boss would use, didn't you? Admit it; you risked all of our lives so that you can snag that final attack bonus for yourselves!" he screamed, his voice peaking and his face revealing his supposed pain at their alleged 'attack'.

"You have to be a beta tester–" he began before I cut him off with a spear to the chest.

I didn't place the blow heavily to make sure he wouldn't die. His death wouldn't help get my point across.

Grabbing the top of my hood, I threw it aside, which displayed my orange cursor to the world. Many players gasped, and most brandished their weapons. I smirked. I had one chance to change the outcome of this, and I wasn't about to blow it.

"You idiots. Anyone with a brain could've seen that attack coming. If you seriously can't see something as simple as that, then you're going to have a lot of trouble with players like me in the future," I said as I gestured to my status above me.

I made sure to grin as manically as I could. Conveying a stupid amount of confidence was necessary to making this work.

"It's not like it's rocket science, people. You're all prey, and I'm the predator. If you don't get your act together and work as a team, we're gonna pick you off, one-by-one," I said, chuckling evilly. "Orange players like me are the threat, and you're too weak to stop us. Come on, I dare even one of you to just try."

I did not want to fight the boss for this very reason. I parried a few hits and took no damage myself for the express purpose of conserving my stamina and health. These raiders, on the other hand? They weren't in the condition to fight me. All I needed to do was instill fear.

Fortunately, someone came up and tried. He was a brown-haired guy that looked like your average joe, and I felt somewhat bad for absolutely decimating him in front of everyone else. I held him backwards with his arm pinned behind him, struggling with only a sliver of red HP left in his health bar.

This seemed to trigger a reaction in people as they finally felt compelled to fight. It didn't take much to knock most of the people there down in the red, and with little incentive to continue fighting, they'd back off to heal or avoid fighting me entirely.

Eventually, it was just me and Kirito. Asuna held back Mito, and Sinon didn't even make eye contact.

At the beginning, he was decimating me. He'd slice and dice, and all I could do was block for a while. It was especially a compromising situation when the other raiders were with him.

Each sword strike would push me back further and further until my back was against a wall. The other players were covering him from the sides, but it wasn't difficult to manage them after a few AoE attacks I bought in the skill tree.

Before long, the others backed off so that Kirito could handle me. His sword skills were otherworldly, and every blow I aimed at him would either be parried or miss the mark. But, to my credit, none of his hits landed either. However, since I was in a corner with nowhere to backstep to, I'd soon be forced to fight. Until then, I'd play defensively.

Finally, I spotted my opening. Disabling my Spinning Shield, I flashed forward with my spear in hopes of hitting Kirito in his chest. As expected, he blocked rather easily, but this was where my plan came into effect.

Mid-push, I activated my Sprint skill, which gave me a quick boost in speed that would otherwise be physically impossible. With that speed, I could overpower Kirito's sword arm and knock it out of the way. With the sword no longer an issue, I was able to pierce Kirito with my spear. His HP dropped into the yellow again, but I didn't stop.

I kept pursuing. Now that he was off balance, I quickly used my advantage and enabled another skill of mine named Multi-Strike. My spear moved rapidly around laterally, each time dipping into Kirito at a quick pace. An individual attack wouldn't do much damage, but the speed of these stacked together racked up a lot of damage.

Kirito stood there, his HP gauge in the red, completely void of emotions. I could not recognize what he was thinking of right now. I smiled and laughed evilly.

What? Don't look at me like that. I had to sell it, okay?

Finally, I knocked him off his feet and he dropped to the floor. He would've kept going; I could see it in his eyes, but I sent him a glance of desperation. I tried my hardest to let him know wordlessly that I wouldn't hurt him and to please play along.

I wasn't sure if he understood my request, but he did give up the fight and drop to the ground, still glaring.

"Wow, you all are pathetic. Imagine if an orange player came in here for real and you all put up a fight like this? Every single one of you would be dead. You hear me? Dead," I preached, nudging my spear in the direction of Kirito. "This kid was your best fighter."

The people were dangerously on edge. Diavel, who had not sustained much damage during the battle, was gripping his sword mighty tight.

"Relax, people. I'm not here to kill you," I said, trying and obviously failing to dissuade their concerns. "I'm just here to give a warning. A declaration, if you will. A declaration of war. The orange players are coming, and they're not playing this game fairly. If even one of you thinks that you're safe at any one time, you're wrong."

I walked backwards toward the next floor's doors.

"Next time you come unprepared, death may be inevitable," I warned. "The game isn't the threat; the players are."

With that, I left.

It may be asked why I, an advocate for human life, would attack the group of the greatest players in the game and threaten them with death. I walked into a room full of players that were the future of this game and beat the crap out of them. What a stupid idea, right?

Well, it may have been, but I had a reason. My ultimate goal is that we make it through this game with the least amount of deaths possible. Removing the discrimination against beta testers/beaters was one part of it, but really I was there to unite the players.

By making their enemy as clear as possible, my goal was to save hundreds of lives in the end. After all, if they're on their toes, then that's less time they can be caught off-guard and die. This works two-fold, as it also means the raiders and the Assault Team are going to be preparing to fight against orange guilds early on.

Removing the chaotic and evil players early on will serve us well later on, hopefully.

The one, obvious downside is the new target painted on my back. But hey, maybe even that'll come in handy in the long run.

I just hope that Sinon doesn't blame me for my actions. I'm not sure how she felt over that. At least Asuna seemed to understand, and I really hope I didn't make an enemy out of Kirito.

Regardless of the outcome, I believed that I made the right decision. Unifying our forces against a common threat (even if I get lumped into said 'common threat') will be crucial to the extermination and deterrent of orange guilds.

Things weren't going exactly the way my plan was written out, but then again, I didn't predict Sinon would follow me into the game and I'd become an orange player. That meant I had to improvise some, and so far, I think it has been working.

Making my way up the stairs, I left the sights of the other players, and from that moment on, I ran my way to the activation gate. I had no intention of lingering here long enough for the players to recover and pick another fight with me.

But once the gate doors opened, I sighed a breath of relief. The beautiful landscape before me was breathtaking. The groves of trees flooded the floor with life and beauty. I could even see the mountain in the distance where I knew the Martial Arts master resided.

The breeze picked up and brushed my dark black hair aptly. I felt at peace with where I was. But like all good things, it had to come to an end eventually.

Picking myself up from the ground where I found myself seated subconsciously, I finally began my journey to the first town's outskirts.

There are places where I can find NPCs and shops dedicated to providing resources to orange players. Especially black-market dealings and all of that – they're the only reason why I'm still alive to this day.

And so I started, for the second time this year, my journey across the second floor of this accursed game.

Monday, September 19th, 2022

The climb up the mountain felt worse than the heat of the fourth floor back in the beta. I could feel the stretch in my muscles as I ascended the gigantic mass of rock. Each stroke of rock climbing was aggravatingly exhausting my energy, but I finally made it to the top unscathed.

I didn't recall exerting this level of extraneous effort when I first climbed the mountain. I know that I didn't have a higher strength stat back then, so maybe I just didn't notice the drain on my energy because I was with Sinon. Talking with her sure did help distract me back then.

Ignoring the painful reminiscing, I continued my walk to the Martial Artist's hut to start the quest. I had a few plans involving this skill, but mostly, I just didn't want to rely on the feeble durability of my weapons. If there was an opportunity for death, I wanted to have already planned for it, and breakable weapons means training myself in a skill that doesn't require them.

But as I walked toward the hut, I paused. Something was… off. I felt the air shift unnaturally, and the once quietness of the breeze seemed to be interrupted. What was that?

I couldn't prove that anything had happened, but I'd prefer to heed to the warning of my sixth sense rather than to ignore it. Equipping my spear, I closed my eyes and breathed in…. and out. Then I stayed silent. My surroundings did not.

"So you're still as on-edge as you've always been, Deruta," a familiar voice sounded out from behind me. I lowered my weapon and turned around, keeping my eyes closed.

"Don't sound so condescending — it's well worth it if it saves my life, even just once," I replied matter-of-factly.

"I can get behind that. So… are you going to put that spear away, or are you just really happy to see me?"

"It's good to see you, too, Sinon."

Asada had changed appearances since I had seen her yesterday. Her hair, which was once brown like her real life counterpart, had once again been dyed bluebell, but her eyes remained the same dull brown that I had seen in the past. Colored contact lenses cost quite a bit of Cor, so I didn't blame her.

Other than that, she was the same, recognizable friend that I had relied upon for the past two years. Well, former friend, now.

Sitting next to her was awkward. We were seated in the old man's hut as he went on and on about the various details of his life and how he wanted to teach the next generation the arts of his father and his grandfather but never had the opportunity to settle down and get married and blah, blah, blah; I couldn't tell the rest because I lost interest at about that point. Decent backstory, but it gets real old when you speak at the speed of a sloth.

Ever since meeting up here, Asada hasn't said a single word about… well, about anything. I know that she knows I can't stop thinking about it, and I'm sure she can't, either, but what am I supposed to do about it? I never read this far in the 'social' manual. Life isn't always straightforward.

I stole a few glances at her now and then, but our eyes never connected, so I didn't know if she was looking at me, as well.

"If you two are to be my apprentices, you must complete a trial. A rite of passage, if you will," the old man spoke.

"If we do what you ask of us, will you teach us the arts, sensei?" I asked.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose that is a fair exchange. As apprentices, you will learn the various arts and techniques that have been passed down generations upon generations in the family, and…"

…and I zoned out again! Somehow, it's even more boring the second time.

"Psst, Deruta." Asada elbowed my arm lightly. "What do you think he'll do if we just skip out on waiting for his monologue to finish?"

"You mean completing the trial early? Since he hasn't given us the quest objective yet, it may not count, but, on the other hand, if we complete the quest requisites before he issues them, we may automatically fulfill it," I said, contemplating. "And if it works out, we'll be able to just let him talk in the background while we do the work."

"That's what I was thinking. Then again, the worst case scenario is that we have to redo the quest," she replied.

"Yeah, that would suck."

"Want to try?"

I scratched my chin in consideration.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," I finally said, shrugging.

"That's the spirit," Shino remarked, looking back at me with a smile. I almost choked on air. She looked… radiant. Breathtaking. Stunning. Beautiful.

Slow down there, buddy. You have no right to think those things about her. You've hurt her in ways unimaginable; you're lucky she's even talking to you right now.

But damn.

Shino stood from her chair and walked out the front door. The old man didn't even pause to breathe, so it's unlikely that he noticed. Actually, can he even really see us? I'm suddenly rethinking this guy's spatial awareness.

I got up to walk out with Shino. When I exited the door, I found her standing alone on the edge of a cliff, staring at the sunset. I hadn't even realized that it was so late. I guess traveling here took up most of the day.

Stepping lightly, so as not to make a sound, I approached the cliffside beside her and gazed out at the sun's final rest. It felt so realistic, and so… peaceful. I had to remind myself that it wasn't real.

"Hey, Deruta?" Her voice was so low that I almost missed it.

"Hm?"

"Do you still stand by what you said to me that day?" she asked.

Oh no. Here it is. Exactly what I've been dreading: The Talk.

"I – I was just so emotional, and I didn't know what I was saying, I swear I didn't mean any of it, I –"

Shino glared at me and I froze.

"That's not what I'm talking about, idiot." That's a bit more like her. Then her glare softened up a little. "A year ago, I asked you a question. Do you remember what you said?"

Remember… a question? Asada had asked me lots of questions between then and now. How could I possibly remember a specific one?

Calm down, Kaito. This is clearly something emotional for her, so it couldn't have been something trivial. But what could she be thinking about right now? What could she have asked?

"You said… you said that you'd kill. You said that you'd kill if you were ever in that situation, and…" she started.

Shino's eyes teared up a little, and her voice trembled.

"If you had to kill to protect someone you loved, you'd kill," she finished.

…

I did say that. No, I did that. Morte… he's not around anymore. That will weigh on my shoulders forever.

"So tell me why… tell me why you hate me. Tell me why you said what you said to me that day when you yourself had done the exact same. You killed someone to protect me. So why did you say I was the monster? Why?!"

I couldn't respond. My voice was still. Asada was much closer than she was a minute ago. I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eyes.

She took my silence as an answer.

"...I see. You're just a hypocrite. A goddamn hypocrite."

"Shino…"

"Why did you say all of those things to me… why did you knowingly do something so horrid… if you knew what it felt like yourself?"

Tears dribbled down her cheeks.

"Shino."

"Where's all the empathy? Who the hell do you think you are?"

She was touching me now. Her fists balled up and were lightly pounding on my chest, as if all of the strength had been sapped from her body.

"Shino!"

"What do you want from me, you damn liar?" She sniffed.

"Your tears are staining my shirt."

She faltered. Then, she chuckled.

"...you're a real dick, you know that?" she whispered.

"Shino," I said quietly, lifting her head by her chin with the tip of my forefinger. "I'm sorry. I – I'm so sorry."

"You're such an asshole," she said before stuffing her face in my chest. Gathering her head under the crook of my neck, I held her, and we stood there for a few minutes as she finished her cry.

I cried, too. I tried not to show it, but I let out plenty.

After the crying had stopped, I broke the silence.

"Shino, I meant what I said last year. I could never hate you. You're not a murderer. You're not a monster. You're Shino Asada, the girl who was strong enough to protect her mother."

"Deruta…" she said, turning her eyes up to meet mine. Then, suddenly, they squinched tight.

"How do you do it, Deruta?" she asked me. "How do you just go about your day carefree, knowing that you killed him? What keeps you standing? How are you so strong?"

I paused, unable to answer her for a minute. Finally, I responded.

"Because, whenever I think of his body shattering into millions of pieces, I don't see him for his death. I'm not even sure if I see myself as a murderer for that. I can only think of who I was protecting. When I think of how I killed Morte, I think of you. For as terrible as what I did was, I know that I can't regret it. If I were put in that situation again, I would do the exact same thing, every time."

Shino looked at me in awe. She seemed to thoughtfully consider what I had said.

"So it's the people who you protect, isn't it?" she muttered.

"It always was."

Another chuckle escaped her lips.

"I guess that's just how you are, you righteous jerk. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what I said, too. I shouldn't have snapped like that at you," she apologized.

I shook my head.

"You were justified in that, and I probably deserved it, for acting like such a creep."

"Hey, take the damn apology, okay?!" she yelled.

"Okay, okay, sheesh!" I backtracked before she could stuff her apology down my throat.

I smiled.

"Friends?" I asked, holding out my hand.

"Friends," Shino agreed, gripping my hand and shaking once. "Kaito."

The two went on to continue their quest for achieving the Martial Arts skill. After much back-breaking heaving, they had successfully pushed the huge boulder off the cliff and into the abyss.

However, after consulting the Martial Artist NPC, their little 'work-around' did not count toward their goal after all, as the rock just appeared again in the place where they had once displaced it from. They looked to each other and sighed before setting off to do the whole thing all over again.

This time, it resembled how it was before their falling out. This time, they were together again.

Because, sometimes, people can be redeemed.

Determination

Mr. Yamoto had not had a good week. In fact, he couldn't even have said it was a decent week, because, if he had to choose, this entire year was the worst of his entire life.

It all started a few days ago when Mr. Yamoto returned from work after a long day in hopes to find his youngest (and only) child waiting patiently for his arrival. He and Kaito had always had a healthy relationship; the two of them were essentially attached at the hip.

So it can be inferred the absolute horror he felt when he turned on his computer and was exposed to the internet. Hundreds upon hundreds of articles, all detailing the same incident, were covering his front page.

VRMMORPG Traps Thousands of Players

Over 200 Dead Due to Malicious Video Game Attack

Creator of Sword Art Online Refuses to Make a Statement

What hurt the most was that he couldn't even grieve for his son because of that little glimmer of hope still shining in his heart. He knew there was still a chance for Kaito, but it killed him, being worried sick constantly like this.

However, as he stood up from his desk, a small envelope fell from the overhang storage space his desk allowed. It was labeled 'To Dad'.

Dear Kaito,

Today, I found the letters you wrote to me. Please don't worry. I promise I'll save you, and then we'll be together again. Just, in the meantime, don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed in that damned video game, alright?

I love you, now and forever,

Dad

End of Arc 2: Bonds