Alright, there's chapter four. At certain points it has been like pulling teeth. At first I was stuck at this point, later at that one. And today I've written the last two thirds of this chapter in a rush. It was quite surreal, to be honest, Now, let's hope this continues.
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I keep this brief, since I want to post this =D
Have fun reading!
Chapter 4: One Down…
Nearly a month had passed since the launch of Sword Art Online and the game had already lead to two-thousand deaths. The player morale had dropped deep and many were hidden away in the Town of Beginnings. It was the safe haven of those who did not wish to die or were too afraid to fight for their lives. Others tried their luck with fighting monsters, getting stronger, and searching for the first-floor boss room.
It had taken time, but once Argo had finished the manual she had worked on with the other beta testers and distributed it, the number of players dying each day had dropped instantly. Argo mentioned that the only beta testers who could not contribute had been those that had died before meeting with her.
There had also been several instances of players collapsing suddenly. Everyone collapsed at least once. To some of them, it happened more often. Nobody knew the cause at first. It could have been a malfunction or a glitch or a widespread medical phenomenon.
It had nearly caused a mass panic until a message was sent to each player. A collapse occurred when the NerveGear was disconnected during the transfer to a nearby hospital. Those that lived in smaller towns or villages collapsed more than once because they were transferred multiple times, first to a hospital near their home and then to one in bigger cities.
A few players even spend entire days collapsing repeatedly. Each disconnect could only last an hour at most, so ambulances had to make multiple stops to ensure they didn't accidentally kill their patients.
Then one day, Argo cemented her reputation as a fair information broker.
She distributed a notice that the first boss room had finally been found and that there would be a strategy meeting the next day. At once all players that wanted to fight traveled to Tolbana and/or trained if they had the need and time.
Benihime was one of those that trained.
~HnS~
"Take that!" One three-hit-skill hit and the monster burst into pixels. One more stood nearby and with another swift sword skill, it was defeated as well. Sighing in relief, Benihime looked around. She had taken several quests for the region around Tolbana to reach level 12 like Weaver and Washi.
She sniffed irritated. They had originally intended to go questing together the previous day, but Benihime had to stay behind. After waking up she had collapsed multiple times so she had just told them to go ahead, that she would stay in their room at the inn. Now they had reached level 12 and had gained a new skill slot each, while she was still just level 11.
It wasn't that she was angry at them. She was angry about having collapsed so often. While Weaver and Washi would tell her what was said during the strategy meeting, she was curious about how it would go. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any -
"Kreeee!" A loud screech made Benihime flinch. Spinning around, she searched her surroundings for the origins of the sound. It came from somewhere north of the clearing she was in and it had to be something big. Without thinking much about it, she tightened her grip on her spear and started to run toward the sound. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she needed to do this. Someone was going to die if she didn't.
"Hieee!" Benihime shrieked as she stumbled into a large clearing. Before her towered a large menacing crow. Its sharp beak hacked down to the ground in front of it, while spreading its wings wide in a threatening manner. In front of the crow was a boy, who stumbled around as he dodged the beak attacks.
Benihime's breath hitched. His health bar was already yellow and he didn't have any weapon in hand to defend himself.
"Fall back!" She shouted to the boy and ran forward to attack the crow. The boy flinched and turned to look at her before he leaped back and out of reach of the crow. As she charged a sword skill with a high chance to stun, she looked at the crows level and nearly chocked. The crow was level 20! There was no way that they could defeat it.
When her sword skill hit and caused the crow to stun, Benihime stumbled back, grabbed the boy's arm, and ran in the other direction. They had to get out of the crow's area or they would surely die! The crow screeched behind them and thundered through the trees behind them. With a hammering heart, Benihime ran as fast as she could and felt the boy's hand tighten around hers.
Then there was silence.
Benihime and the boy came to an abrupt stop. Looking behind them, they could see the crow walking back to its original area. They did it! They left the area and were safe now!
Panting heavily, Benihime let herself drop down onto the ground and looked at the boy she had saved. He sat near her slumped down onto his back. His hands trembled as he ran them through his red hair and took shuddering breaths.
Flicking open her menu, Benihime took two potions out of her inventory and held them out to him.
"Here." She said and gave him an apologetic grimace as he flinched at her voice. He looked from the potions back to her, before he took the offered items.
"Thanks." He said, his voice quiet and unsure. Now that he was looking at her, she saw that his eyes were the same shade of red as his hair and his pupils were a different shape than normal. They looked elongated in several directions.
"How did you end up going against that crow anyway?" She asked him softly while he drank the potions. "It was a very high level for this floor. He could have killed you." The boy sat there for a moment, looking into the distance.
"I met a player in Tolbana." He began. "He said that he and his party were going after a very rare boss, with rare strong loot, and needed another member. Three members died and the other two fled while the crow was attacking me." He smiled lightly at her. "...Thanks, by the way…"
"That's…" Benihime didn't know what to say. "I… Are you okay? That must have been horrible!"
"I-I don't know…" He mumbled with a sad frown. "I feel like… It's just… I'm not sure how I feel…"
"Hey," Benihime interrupted him. "we're in a bad situation. I don't think anyone really knows how they feel. And we're all different."
"Maybe," He said quietly and gave her a small smile. "I'm Terry, by the way."
"Benihime." She said and got to her feet. After dusting herself off out of habit, she held out her hand to help Terra to his feet.
"Let's go back to Tolbana." She proposed and pulled him up. "You need to rest a bit and I'm meeting up with the rest of my party there. They went to the Floor Boss meeting. Do you want to come with me?"
"Sure." He agreed and Benihime sent him a «Party Invite».
It was only when his name appeared on the edge of her view, that she noticed the other two names that were there now. They hadn't been there earlier, so Weaver and Washi must have added them. Kirito and Asuna. Wasn't Kirito one of the other beta testers Washi had told them about? Well, she could ask once they were in Tolbana.
"Let's go."
~HnS~
The walk back to Tolbana was not difficult.
After Benihime had given Terra the sword she had gotten from doing the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest, they could easily defeat any monster they faced. They worked well together and Terra knew the 'switch' strategy from earlier parties.
When they weren't fighting monsters, they talked. They talked about the game, their friends, or lack thereof, and their families. It was different from her talks with Washi and Weaver. He was her age and understood her better than they could. His life was also frighteningly similar to hers.
Terra showed her the white spots on his face and explained that he often had scrapes and injuries. The spots were the band aids he had on his face when he started playing. It seemed that he was just as clumsy as her. After his avatar took on his real appearance, they became a permanent discoloration on his face.
They were talking about other games they had played when they reached Tolbana. Benihime stopped once she saw Weaver and Washi waiting for them, along with two teens just a few years older than them, a boy and a girl. The only indication it was a girl, was the skirt she was wearing, as most of her body was obscured by a long red hooded cloak. The boy had short black hair wearing a blue shirt with light gray armor over it and black pants. He was talking animatedly with Washi, while Weaver tried to talk to the girl, which didn't seem to go well.
"Beni!" Weaver waved when she saw them. "Good to see that you're alright." The others turned to look at them and the narrowing of Washi's eyes told Benihime, that he wasn't happy about something. Did something happen earlier?
"How was the meeting?" She asked when they had reached the others and Weaver pulled her into a short hug. "This is Terra, by the way. I helped him escape some high level crow boss."
Weaver kept an arm around Benihime's shoulders and grinned at Terra.
"Nice to meet you, Terra. I'm Weaver. That big lump is my husband Washi and those two are Kirito and Asuna. We've teamed up for the boss fight tomorrow." She said, before turning to the two mentioned. "This is Benihime, we told you about her."
"Nice to meet you," Kirito said while Asuna simply nodded in greeting. She didn't appear to be very sociable, but it might have simply been because of the situation. Several players became depressed since being trapped.
"The meeting went… as well as can be expected." Washi mused and rubbed his neck. "There was some guy, Kiba-something, that tried to stir people up against beta players. Said it's our fault that so many people died. It was resolved by Agil, a tall African-American player. He told that Kiba-guy about our involvement with the handbook and invalidated his arguments."
"We'll leave tomorrow at ten in the morning and head to the boss room." He continued and Behind nodded. "We'll stay together as a party and fight with the other parties as a raid. The best would be to optimize our gear and get to know each other. Mostly our strengths and weaknesses, so we can adjust our strategies."
"I don't..." Terra started and flushed red. Weaver glanced his way and smiled in that dopey way, that Benihime had come to be familiar with. It meant that she was holding back a squeal of "cute!" that wanted to escape and was aware that Terra would be uncomfortable with it. "I-I don't have anything to give you for gear... or anything else..."
"Don't worry about that" Weaver said dismissively. "We can give you the gear and you can give us something for it later, if you want. The important thing is to be as safe as you can be to fight."
"How about we head to the inn and talk there?" Kirito offered. "We can trade gear there and rest for a bit. The market is also right outside and we can sell off any unwanted items as well."
"Alright" Washi said with a smile. "Let's do that and go over each of our roles for tomorrow."
~HnS~
Even if they had spend the better part of the previous evening preparing for the boss fight, the walk to the boss room still filled Benihime with nervous energy. She had a really bad feeling about the day. Beside her, Terra continued looking her way, while she chewed on her lower lip and kept glancing around. Over the past weeks, the constant head-ache inducing feeling of fakefakefake in the back of her head had lessened, but in it's place she had a feeling of, well, paranoia. It wasn't the right word, but she didn't think it was simply a gut feeling.
Since the launch she had followed it often and it always had a positive effect. It was, after all, what lead her to save Terra. Right now, the feeling told her that something bad was going to happen in the boss fight. She didn't know what exactly, only that it was the part of that feeling, where lives were on the line.
"Beni, are you okay?" Asuna asked quietly. Weaver and Benihime had spend some time with her in the evening and the girl had opened up a bit more. She had not wanted to be in the game and had only borrowed it from her brother, when he unexpectedly couldn't play on the launch day.
"I have a bad feeling..." Benihime admitted just as quietly. "I don't know what, but something is going to go wrong. Something with the boss fight..."
"Do you have an idea about what it might be about?" Terra asked from her side and closed his hand around the handle of the «Anneal Blade» he now carried. Benihime had completed the quest to get it in order to sell it to other players, but had decided to give it to Terra, so he could have a decent blade.
As it turns out, Kirito had the same blade and gave him some tips to improve it. In the end however, he hadn't had an opportunity to visit a blacksmith to improve it, since none of them had enough materials for it. And even then, Kirito had cautioned, it could fail and destroy the blade during the process. While the first few improvements had a lower chance of failing, it was still there. So it was risky so shortly before the boss fight.
"I'm not sure..." Benihime said still thinking. "It's just a feeling, nothing specific. We just have to be careful I guess."
Until they left the forest and entered the labyrinth to get to the boss room, they went over their strategies. Their party, called Squad F for the raid, was tasked with keeping the minions,«Ruin Kobold Sentinels», occupied, with Washi as their leader. Within their party, they were pared up with one partner and they would apply simple switches. One would parry the kobold's attack and their partner would switch and attack them. Washi would work with Weaver, Benihime with Terra and Kirito with Asuna.
"Listen up, everyone." Diavel, the raid leader, said and placed his hands on his sword in front of him. "I have just one thing to say. Let's win!" A sense of grim agreement and determination passed through all members of the raid. They all knew that this was the first step towards fighting for their freedom.
"Here we go!" Diavel announced and pushed the doors to the boss room open. He stepped into the large open room, with the raid members following him. It was dark inside and they could only see a giant shadow moving at the end. The shadow moved and a pair of beady red eyes seemed to glow in the dark. Only moments later, when the last raid member had entered, the room was filled light and the shadow sprang forward.
It was a monstrous being, with redish skin, clawed feet and a long tail, clad only in a loincloth and few pieces of armor, with most of his body exposed. He threw his head back and roared, while the words «Illfang the Kobold Lord» appeared over it. Sowers of light sprang up surrounding Illfang and the «Ruin Kobold Sentinels», smaller kobolds like the boss appeared, clad from head to tow in armor with large crude two-handed maces in their hands, their names also over their heads.
Without much warning, both the Sentinels and Illfang charged forward.
"Commence attack!" Diavel shouted and the raid parties charged to meet the enemies. Weapons clashed and lights flashed from sword skills. More Sentinels appeared and clashed with the raid parties. Four parties were solely focused on the boss, two others focused on the Sentinels, while the last two parties supported the others where they could. Diavel stood in the background and kept and eye on everyone there, ensuring the fight went smoothly and without the cost of lives. "Squad A! Squad C! Switch!"
Benihime focused on the Sentinels she and her party were fighting. Washi, Kirito and Terra would deflect the enemies attack to prime them for a switch attack from their respective partners. Kirito and Terra's swords and Washi's shield and mace made it easy to parry. Meanwhile, Weaver, Asuna and Benihime would use their higher agility points to deliver swift and merciless strikes. Asuna and Weaver had the same amount of agility, which was a terrifying display, and it was only the faster attack speed of Weaver's dagger, that made her the fastest among their party.
"Here it comes! Squad B, block! Squad C, continue guarding and prepare to switch! Now!"
Diavel's commands washed over Benihime without much notice. She held an ear open for orders for their party, but among the chaos of the battlefield, she could not spare much of a thought to the other parties.
"Continue switching and prepare to target the flank!"
Her heart was hammering in her chest, even as she once again attacked the Sentinel in front of her. She and Terra were working well together, almost instinctively knowing when the other was going to prime or strike, able to fight in an easy harmony. Beside them, Weaver and Washi were fighting with a kind of rhythm, this one more intimate and secure, born of their trust and love. Only a bit behind them, Kirito and Asuna were acting around each other, with a different kind of rhythm, that was tinged with security and a hint of desperate anger.
"Squads D, E, F and G! Keep the Sentinels off us!"
"What do you think we are doing?" Washi hissed through clenched teeth as Weaver spun around the Sentinel they were fighting, before she took advantage of the ear openings in their foes helmet and thrust the blade of her dagger into it's head. It burst into pixels, while Weaver grinned with a flushed face.
Suddenly, all attention was captured by Illfang, as he roared in rage and it became apparent why. Of the three health bars that hovered in front of him, two were empty, while the last remaining health was red. He would use his secondary weapon, Benihime remembered, even as dread filled her stomach. The bad feeling was practically screaming at her, as Illfang threw his ax and shield behind himself.
"Just like the guildebook said." Someone that she didn't know said. She remembered the part in the book. The best strategy would be to surround him now, it had said. "Stand Back. I'll go!" She turned to see who said it, Diavel? Why would he do that?
"The Last Attack bonus..." Washi realized behind her. Benihime watched as Diavel charged a sword skill, ready to attack Illfang. The boss reached behind and grasped the weapon on his back, a talwar - no, she saw in horror, a nodachi!
As Diavel charged, Benihime heard Kirito shout something, but she couldn't hear it. Before she could think, she ran forward. Illfang jumped from one pillar in the room to another around Diavel and reared back to attack. Benihime collided with Diavel, pushing him to the side, while she raised her spear to parry the attack.
For a moment she felt the power behind the swing, thankfully not against her body. Her feet slid across the ground, as the swing of the nodachi continued and like a baseball she was flung to the side into a wall. She barely saw anything from where she lay, She could see the dangerous red color of her health bar and a small emblem beside her. A status effect?
She could hear shouting around her and felt arms around her. A blotch of red color appeared before her blurry eyes and she felt something being pressed against her lips. A liquid was purred into her mouth and she barely registered when her health bar filled up again.
Several minutes passed before her vision cleared up and she recognized Terra in front of her. She was leaning against Weaver and sitting in her lap. Feeling lightheaded, she looked around and gasped. All around them, players were cheering and celebrating, while a word hovered in the air.
«Congratulations!»
"What...?" She mumbled and Weaver hugged her tightly. Washi, Kirito and a brunette girl, Asuna, she realized, jogged towards them. Terra held her hand in a tight grip and looked down, while biting down on his trembling lip. Washi knelt down in front of her, and gripped her chin to raise her head, to make her look him in the eyes.
"Never" He said hoarsely. "Do that again." While the words were short and harsh, his eyes showed exactly what they meant. He was scared. "Do you hear me? You could have died!" At these words, Weaver's arms tightened even more around her, while a small sound escaped Terra. Washi lent forward, wrapping one arm around Weaver with Benihime in her lap and the other pulled Terra into the hug as well. Only moments later Asuna and Kirito, too, joined the group hug.
It lasted only a few moments and when they pulled back, Terra helped Benihime to her feet. Though he refused to let go of her hand, his own shaking slightly. Weaver's hands flitted around her, straightening her clothes and armor, as if to make sure she was okay.
"Excuse me?" Turning around, they saw Diavel walking their way, with a spiky haired ginger guy behind him. Weaver had just whispered a quiet "That's the Kiba-guy" her way, when Diavel stopped before her. "Your name is Benihime, correct?" At her nod, he bowed deeply. "Thank you, Benihime. I owe you my life. I must admit, I was being... cocky and overconfident. If you hadn't pushed me aside, I don't think I would have survived."
"I would like to return the favor" He offered as he straightened up. "If possible, I'd like to offer you my friendship, that you have the possibility to call for my help, should you need it." Kiba-something, behind Diavel, looked like he had bitten into a lemon, but he wasn't looking at Benihime, he was glaring at Kirito. He was against beta players, she remembered, and Kirito was one. Did he find out?
"I acted before I thought about it" She admitted. "I don't want you to owe me anything." A bit quieter she added "I wouldn't say no to friends, though." While she didn't know him well, he seemed to be a nice and earnest person. With a few swipes through their menus, he was added to her friendship list, which so far included only her party members. And Argo. But many had Argo as their friend.
Benihime looked around to find her weapon, while Diavel and Kiba-something left. She had used it to block and it wasn't on her back after all. Frowning she turned to Weaver, but before she could do more than open her mouth to ask her where it was, the blond sighed deeply.
"When you blocked the attack, your spear took the brunt of the attack" She explained. "When it sent you into the wall, well,... it gave out and... broke." Benihime's face fell. She had liked that weapon. She had spend some time to gather the materials to upgrade it and now it was gone.
"We'll see which quests give out weapons" Washi assured her. "In the mean time, we'll get one in the first town on the second floor." While Benihime was not happy that her spear was gone, she couldn't change it now.
"Now, than." Weaver said and looked at the rest of their party. "Terra, Kirito, Asuna. Would you like to remain with us as a party?" Each of them reacted differently to the question. Terra's hand remained around Benihime's, atill gripping it just as tight. Asuna looked thoughtful, as if she was debating with herself. Kirito just looked apologetically.
"Thanks for the offer" Kirito shrugged and swiped to leave the party. "But I prefer to remain solo. You can send me messages, though, if you want to team up again."
"I think I'll remain on my own as well." Asuna decided and did the same. "But I'd like to stay in contact."
"I'll stay" Was the only thing Terra said.
"Alright!" Diavel called out to get everyone's attention. Him and Kiba-something had had a heated discussion for the past few minutes. It appeared to be something concerning beta testers from what little Benihime could hear. "Let's go the the next floor!" The other raid members cheered and followed him to the large door.
"One down..." Weaver said releaved and gave a small grin to their little group.
"...Ninety-nine to go." Washi finished.
While they made their way to the next floor, Benihime looked at the items she had earned from the fight. Money, items and two pieces of gear. No weapon though. Glancing at her level, she selected her skills. She had reached level 12 due to the fight and could now select a fourth skill. There was something different, though.
"Washi?"
"Yes, Beni?"
"What is an «Outside System Skill»?"
~HnS - Bonus Chapter~
[Trigger Warning: Mentions of Suicide]
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi frowned as he prepared for the afternoon rush. It was sunday and he expected to have a busy few hours, but he was sure he would need to keep Takeshi home for today. While he was normally okay with letting his son train at the batting cages, he couldn't afford to now.
A month ago the game Sword Art Online was launched. Some part of him would have itched to see what it was like then, he certainly didn't anymore. All those people were trapped in the game and had to fight for their lives. He was very familiar with that, but most of those people were civilians and never had to do that before.
Over the past weeks, he had more work than before. Two of his waiters, Taguchi Tohaku and Ninomiya Nao, were players. They had certainly been very excited to play in the days leading up to the launch. Hell, they had taken the day off to be able to play. Two days ago he had heard the grave news. Taguchi-kun had died the first day and Ninomiya-chan had died barely a week ago.
A few of his guests, who knew them outside of his shop, had speculated that Ninomiya-chan had died by her own hand out of grief. While he didn't like the thought, he could understand the reasoning behind it. Taguchi-kun and Ninomiya-chan had been madly in love and he had caught them more than once, when they couldn't keep their hands from each other. And he was certain he hadn't been the only one to do so.
Still, for now he would need Takeshi to help out until he could hire more waiters. In the beginning he hadn't hired someone in hope that they would be freed soon, but now it was no longer a possibility. To honor both of them, he had, with permission of their families, put up a photo of both of them, with a black ribbon so guests would know what happened to them. They had been favorites with their friendly personalities and bright smiles.
He would also have to wait a bit before he put up a sign that he needed help. The thought of doing that so soon after he was informed of their deaths, but a bad taste in his mouth. If he did that, it would seem as if he didn't mourn them, as if their death's were insignificant to him.
The door opened and a man and a woman entered. They were regulars, Sawada Nana and Watanabe Renji. Sawada-san usually comes once a week on week days with her daughter, while Watanabe-san only comes when he is visiting the Sawadas. He liked both of them and Sawada-chan. Despite his thoughts concerning Sawada-san's husband, he liked his regular guests. Sawada-san's airheadedness was certainly concerning, but Watanabe-san seemed to 'ground' her. She paid better attention when he was visiting. Now they only came on the weekend and looked depressed and exhausted.
They took seats near his counter and continued to speak in low tones. He tried not to listen to their conversation, but it was loud enough for him to hear and he had to admit, it was hard not to. Their conversation revolved around Sawada-san's daughter being stuck in Sword Art Online and Sawada-san blaming herself for it.
Tsuyoshi felt his heart drop. Sawada-chan was the same age as Takeshi and, if he remembered correctly, also in his class. He could understand Sawada-san's fear for her life. What would he do if Takeshi was in danger? And if it was caused by his own past?
"What can I get you two today?" He asked them, trying to keep his mind from spiraling into the wrong direction. "Your usual?"
Watanabe-san nodded and seemed thankful for the interruption. Sawada-san had looked around, before her eyes landed on the picture of Taguchi-kun and Ninomiya-chan. Tsuyoshi wasn't sure if she remembered them, but going by the look on her face, she did.
"It's all such a mess" She mumbled and rubbed her hands over her eyes. "So many dead or in danger... So many parents fearing and mourning... Why did they do this?... How could I let her...?"
"Nana" Watanabe-san said and put an arm around the woman's back. "It was not your fault. No one knew what would happen. For now we have to believe in them. Tsuna-chan will come back."
Tsuyoshi could only imagine how often the man had said these words. Going by his tone it had been several times. Making up his mind, he reached for his special teas. The plants had been grown in fields saturated with flames and had different effects depending on the flame type and the intend behind the flames. These ones specifically, from a sun flame user who specialized in activating moods, were designed to cheer people up and to lift their mood.
"Here" He said quietly, once the two teas had finished brewing. "On the house. You seem like you need it." Sawada-san gave him a wobbly, fake, smile and lifted the tea cup to her lips. It was apparent that the tea acted faster than usual. The only outward sign of the sun flames within the tea was the subtle color shift in Sawada-san's brown eyes. But her depressive body language shifted slowly to a more hopeful one.
Watanabe-san also drank from his own tea and showed similar changes. His eyes appeared to have a slight greenish hue, compared to their normal dark-blue color. To Tsuyoshi's amusement, it also appeared, that he felt slightly bolder in showing his affection to Sawada-san. He wondered when those to would realize that they simply needed to make their feelings known to be the family they craved.
Tsuyoshi watched as Watanabe frowned and pulled back from where his hands were clasped with Sawada-san's. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "It's Hanasaki-san." He said and held the phone up slightly. "Would to mind if I take this call?"
"Go on" Sawada-san said and her smile appeared more genuine. "Give her my regards and ask about her son." Watanabe-san nodded and quickly stepped outside. He was only gone for ten minutes, before he reentered and sat down with a bright smile on his face.
"I have some news." He explained. "Hanasaki-san said that someone managed to hack into someone's NerveGear and can get information about the current situation. They made a twitter account called "SAOUpdates". The last tweet blew up. One hour ago the first floor boss was defeated!"
"Really?" Sawada-san asked hopefull. "Could they get information about Tsu-chan?"
"I took a quick look on the images they managed to get and..." He hesitated. "I don't think you will be happy about it." Sawada-san raised an eyebrow and Watanabe-san sighed. "Based on the images... Tsuna-chan was there during the fight and... nearly died..."
Sawada-san paled drastically and tried to jump from her seat towards the door, but Watanabe-san held her still and made her look at him. " I called the hospital as soon as I saw it" He assured her. "Tsuna-chan is alright. Apart from slight fluctuations in her temperature, which is not dangerous and monitored, everything is fine. She also has people in game that will be there for her. I recognized two of them. One of my distant cousins and her husband. Based on the images, they are close to Tsuna and I know them. They will look after her. There is no need to worry."
Tsuyoshi had to give it to the man. He knew Sawada-san. He knew exactly how to calm her down and what to say to reassure her. It was enough to make him slightly jealous. In their years of marriage, he had never been able to calm his late wife down so fast. Without the use of flames, anyway. And based on his senses, Watanabe-san did not use any.
To help them a bit, he focused a tiny bit of rain flames into the nearly finished sushi. No enough to neutralize the tea, but enough to smother the panic in them. He placed the dishes in front of them and returned to his preparations for the rest of the day. The afternoon rush would begin in an hour and he still had things to do. While he prepared ingredients, he continued to listen to their conversation, only adding to it here and there.
Tsuyoshi was sure, that Sawada-chan would return. She loved her family too much to give up. Sawada-san and Watanabe-san beamed at him when he said as much out loud.
Gotta admit, the Bonus chapter is very rushed and I'm not really happy about it. I might revisit it at some point in the future.
Anyway, when I said a certain red-head? I might have forgotten to mention, that Shoichi wasn't the wasn't the only redhead from KHR in the game. :p
Also, to be honest, the last part with Beni was quite the spontaneous idea. My original plan was to keep it close to the original episode, aka, let Diavel die. Then I was writing a bit much about Beni's intuition and it just fit, I guess.
I also played a bit with the characters. Specifically Kirito and Asuna. I think Asuna would be closer if she had someone, in this case Weaver and Beni, to talk to about her situation. For Kirito, it was the change after the boss battle. Here, instead of the beta testers being blamed for 'withholding information', I think Diavel would tell Kibaou about being a beta tester as well.
The battle and team formations were also a tiny mix of anime and wikia. In the anime Kirito and Asuna were supporting the squads as a two men party, here they are in a squad with the others. I worked with the information on the raid from the wikia and basically added a "Minion DD"-squad, as I called them in my notes.
Now then, since I don't want to change the poll in my profile at the moment, here is a question for you:
What should be the name for the Outside System Skill Benihime gained?
I had originally planned on using Hypersense or even Precognition, but they don't really fit. My current idea is Premonition (Definition via google: "a strong feeling that something is about to happen, especially something unpleasant." ), but I'm not sure. I don't want to call it Intuition, but many things don't really fit what I had in mind. What do you guys think?
I hope you had fun reading! Please leave a review!
Answers to reviews (from the last update (Feb 9, 2020), 'cause I have no idea which I have already answered. If You want and answer to one I forgot, please inform me and I will add them in an edit!):
Zahndekh: I don't know yet, concerning events in the storyline, like the MBC, but I'll keep Sachi as a possibility, but Suguha is unlikely. I, personally, can't really see them that way.
Hikari Nova: Thank you for the advice, I'll keep it in mind for the future. Usually my problem is that I'm not happy with what I've written or I don't know how to proceed with a scene. I've been playing around a bit with the idea of "Filler Chapters", which have an impact on the story, but could, potentially, be set at different points in the timeline.
CAD270895, Guest (Feb 11, 2020): Thank you, for the votes!
SoralTheSol: I gotta admit, that info blew my mind. I can see it now, but I'm still not happy with the designs.
Guest (Feb 24, 2020), Guest (Apr 5), alicia7788: I'm happy you like it! I'll try my best, but it still take some time.
DemonShimada: This chapter has a bit more of the HI than I had originally planned, but it went into a good direction (I hope). That being said, there will be more HI in the future! The idea with the rare drops and similar actually helped with my planning for her final weapon (and her connected title ;D), but sadly, she won't be able to emulate a certain blue-haired lancer. She will most likely not get a Unique Skill, but a different weapon skill, that I'm working towards (But that's sadly a spoiler)
