The next day, SM Megamall

"Do you guys even have enough space for this?" Vincent asked me, worried about not having enough space in our luggage carriers for all of the clothes we were buying.

"Well… She said we can just buy another one and pay for the extra costs. She also said most of this is for Katherine to keep," I explained, scratching my head as I too was a bit worried.

"W-What? But I didn't even wear any of these to see if I fit in?!" Katherine said, stunned by the words she heard.

"She has some experience in tailoring, so I guess she knew your proportions just by looking at you, isn't that right Ai?"

"Hmm?" Ai hummed, turning around to face us.

"Did you determine her proportions just by looking at her?"

"Pfft. No. I'm not that good yet. She just happens to be a size bigger than me in all ways. I checked by going through her clothes."

I narrowed my brows and turned to face Katherine, observing her body shape. Although her top was a rather loose-fit, her pants were at least skinny jeans. Katherine was the same height as Ai but she indeed was a little bigger in terms of weight or muscle. Just by comparing the tops they both wore now, I could see that Katherine was indeed a size bigger than Ai, if not the same or two sizes bigger. Even if it didn't perfectly fit, there's a plethora of clothing alteration venues around us, both inside the mall and out.

"She said she just checked your clothes for the size," I told Katherine. "I guess she did it last night before we went to the hotel?"

"But… Are you guys sure about this? This is a lot of money you guys are spending."

"I'm not too sure about the difference in the standard of living, but I know that I'm worried about how much we are spending on this trip. But, I can't stop her because she sincerely wants you guys to just have a good time."

"Ahh, there!" Ai exclaimed, pointing towards the Victoria's Secret store.

She then pulled out the grey credit card Shitori had given me, but upon taking a second look, I realized it wasn't the same card. Ai handed me the card and I then saw her name written on it. I looked at her in confusion, wondering why she handed me her own card.

"You boys can go shopping with this card. It's linked to my dad's account anyway so it's not like I'm spending my own money. We'll send you guys a message when we're done. Have fun! Come Katherine!"

Ai dragged Katherine to the Victoria's Secret store. Katherine, visibly blushing, looked back at Vincent for reassurance, but he just nervously waved in her direction. The two girls disappeared into the store and the two of us were left alone.

"Well, you feel like getting anything?" I asked Vincent.

"No… Not really. You wanna find a quiet place to just chill and talk? I never did tell you why I wanted to fight with you yesterday night," he responded.

"I thought you just did it to test your Muay Thai against me."

"God, you can be dense sometimes. Here, let's go over there," Vincent said, pointing at a lone cafe in the corner. "It looks quite cozy there, and there's no customers yet. We can talk there."

I followed him to the cafe, instinctively going to the furthest corner of the store due to habit and because Vincent wanted a private conversation. Before he sat down, Vincent ordered a slice of ice cream cake and a cup of hot chocolate. I settled for just the hot chocolate as I didn't feel hungry. The two of us sat down in our seats and sat there silently for a bit before Vincent finally spoke up.

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... For when you gaze long into the abyss, the gazes also into you… Do you know where that came from?"

"Of course… Friedrich Nietzsche…" I answered.

"Then how about this… You'll die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain."

"Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face from the Dark Knight movie… Where are you going with this?"

"The way I see it, you view yourself as a monster. You view yourself as someone who took a bite from the forbidden fruit and in turn, became corrupted. But, at the same time, you seem to view yourself as two different persons as well. In-game, you try to play the role of this edgy, powerful persona who is capable of making the impossible possible. Someone who can turn the tides of even the most dreadful situations, whether you are the flames of hope, or death incarnate. In fact, it seems that the name Mortifer suits you more than it ever suited me. Heck, even I didn't know at the time it meant 'death bringer' in Latin."

"Okay, I get it. In-game, I view myself as some god. But—"

"But you're not like that in real life. In the real world, you are Kirigaya Katsumoto, and while you can be rather cold, blunt and apathetic at times, in reality you deeply care about your friends and family, even if you don't realize it yourself. You want to view yourself as two persons in one body because the thought of being one scares Katsumoto, the you that is present now. I hate to break it to you, but the two of you are one person in one body. This isn't some dissociative personality disorder with two alters, but one guy who refuses to forgive, let alone acknowledge certain aspects of himself… Need I continue?"

"What's your point in all of this Vincent?" I demanded, getting impatient from him repeating things I've already determined about myself.

"You think that regardless of what reason it is that made you do it, you can never forgive yourself for the sin of killing another person. Why are you letting those Voices of the past corrupt you like this Katsumoto? They may be a surreal phenomena of schizophrenia that can be shared, but you can't let them dictate your life."

"How do you know about them?" I asked, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.

"Last night, I couldn't sleep. So many thoughts were fleeting in my head. Thoughts about the past, the present and the future. I went into the living room, hoping to quietly stare out at the night life as I gathered my thoughts. But, you started mumbling a lot in your sleep, moving around and breathing raggedly. I grew concerned and I decided to check up on you. I barely grazed your neck when the image of some sort of colosseum invaded my head."

"So you saw it then… That, massacre… I was having nightmares about it last night..."

"I don't have any context on what happened, but I can tell you didn't seem to be in control. The scene also seemed a bit surreal, though it was a nightmare after all."

"My nightmares and hallucinations are always like that. That's why I can never really get a good night's sleep. Every time has something."

"Then it seems to me you haven't learned to accept your past doings."

"Of course I can't Vincent… No regular human being should be able to accept such a burden."

"But you're no regular human now are you? You don't even consider yourself a regular human anymore, yet why do you still want to believe you are one? You're making no sense."

"I don't know!"

The last statement I said a little too loud as a few nearby heads turned to our direction, but they quickly lost interest. I calmed myself down, taking a few more sips of my hot chocolate. Vincent gave me time by eating more of his cake. After a minute of letting me calm down, Vincent continued,

"This is a bit obvious, but I think your problem is that you're never looking at the good side of things. You've only focused on the bad,"

"Okay, and?"

"Let's say this: because you are so pessimistic, you're only looking at the people you have killed. You know how many people you've killed and most likely the way they died as well. After all, you get haunted by visions of it every night, no?"

"Okay, yeah… Go on?"

"Have you ever tried looking at the opposite of that? Have you actually tried looking at how many people you've saved?"

I was about to respond to his question before I stopped myself to rethink my answer. No… In fact, I didn't stop to rethink my answer—I stopped because I had no answer. Cases where I was protecting my friends didn't matter to me nor Vincent since it was the obvious choice, but I don't recall actually thinking about how many lives I saved instead of how many I've taken.

"You may have killed a lot more quote-on-quote 'innocents' during your time in SAO as compared to real criminals, but what if said innocents weren't so innocent after all? Everywhere we go, there is always some sort of evil afoot. You might've killed what appeared to be a random, innocent player in SAO, but what if it turns out that they were part of some mafia guild or even a Player-Killer? Maybe one of those players had ill-intentions to another player, or were planning on something malicious. You remember watching Game of Thrones with me, right? You remember Jaime Lannister? He was ordered by Aerys Targaryen to kill Tywin Lannister and to burn King's Landing to the ground. He killed the Mad King and saved half a million people. Want another example? Jon Snow killed Daenerys Targaryen after witnessing her burn down King's Landing, potentially saving the world from another Targaryen driven to madness. How about that one anime, Code Geass? Suzaku kills Lelouch in order to bring about a change in the world for the better. Even if the reason seems ludicrous, just try to view this as one big trolley problem. For once… Just try to think about the people you're saving rather than the people you are killing…"

"The people I've saved…"

I understood where Vincent was coming from completely, but it just seemed so hard. While I did kill quite a number of Laughing Coffin members and other red players, I still think the majority were innocent players. Even so, if I hadn't killed those «Laughing Coffin members, what would they have accomplished if they were left to run around freely? How many more victims would there have been? If people like those who came to the SAO Survivors Reunion can forgive me, then do I really have a chance for redemption?

"Everyone has something they regret in their life." Vincent spoke quietly. "Before meeting Katherine, I regret ever leaving Japan, but at the same time, I regret leaving my home country in the first place. I know I couldn't do anything at the time, but if I had the choice, I would've wanted to stay in the Philippines and not alienate myself from the friends and family I had there. I would've done the same for Japan since you were the closest friend I ever made despite us not being alike at all. But, I wanted to know… Do you regret failing to kill yourself, or attempting it in the first place?"

I turned around to look at him in the eyes, silently asking him how he knew. Knowing what I was asking of him, he pointed at my arms which still had plenty of visible scars from my suicide attempt. I had been trying to hide it by wearing long sleeves, but the heat of the country made me instinctively wear something much more comfortable.

"To that, I don't really know the answer to… Maybe both? Maybe even neither? I saw my parents in the dream I had during my near-death experience, and it was something I really needed, but my actions caused a lot of problems for everyone around me. But, at the same time, it's helped bring my friends closer together, in a weird way."

"Who saved you?"

"My brother and sister. While it was very close, they managed to control my bleeding long enough till the medics arrived. Once again, I lucked out of any permanent damage, though I don't think I'll be so lucky next time."

"Once again? Is this other time related to that scar on your eye?" Vincent questioned, reminding me of the scar that wasn't there the last time I saw him. "I didn't want to question it too much, but it did surprise me a little bit when I first saw it."

"You know of the ALfheim Online incident, right?"

"Yeah, I do. Did you also partake in foiling that as well?"

"It just happens man. Anyways, my original goal was to just help my brother save someone important to him. I never expected to be fighting another battle with the game's creator. During our… Fight of sorts… He set the game's pain absorber to zero from ten. When an AmuSphere or NerveGear's pain absorber is set to anything three or below, it will start affecting the real body as a way to simulate the pain. Words can't describe the torture I had to go through that day, but just know that I was stabbed a lot. I should've had major organ damage and maybe even permanent blindness on my eye, but I got away with just a scar."

"Jeez, you really are one lucky man. First, the car accident, then that, then the suicide attempt? And no lasting damage except for a single scar on your eye?"

"I'm sure the next time something happens, I'll for sure suffer some type of lasting damage. I'm confident that my luck has run out at this point. I've used it all up fixing the situation I had with Ai these past few months."

"You still haven't told me what happened."

"It's a complicated Romeo and Juliet-esque story that almost ended in tragedy. The two of us were put to the test by her parents to see the strength of our love and faithfulness. Every passing day became more grim till I finally just had to give up, but even then I couldn't. At the end of it all, both of us almost committed suicide, but her parents finally revealed the cruel truth behind the test and apologized with the entirety of their souls. My engagement to Ai as well as all of this is the fruit that bloomed from those dark times."

"Man… And I thought I've had a shitty life these past couple years. You've had one hell of an anime character arc. Would you go through it all again if it meant being with Ai?"

"Of course… I can't live without her. Why do you want to know this again?"

"Because I feel the same way towards Katherine. She doesn't actually know this herself, but she saved me from doing it myself. You remember that place I told you about? The place I wanted to die at?"
"I remember… After all, we have pretty similar locations. You wanted to die somewhere in the Philippines, at the top of a mountain with a view of the island and the sea. You wanted to be surrounded by nature, with little to no signs of civilization around you except for maybe a few houses popping out of the trees, or maybe a beach town. I even remember the weather you wished for: bright and sunny, but not too hot and with a cool breeze. You want it to be in the middle of the day, when the sun is at its highest point, so that the sky could be a brilliant blue… Did you find it?"

"Yeah… I was planning on doing it myself as well when I met her. I was just sitting on a rock near this ledge while drinking a six-pack of beer.. I had a bunch of sleeping pills in my pocket to do the deed, but I wanted to enjoy the view a little more. That's when Katherine appeared, telling me I stole her spot. I apologized to her, telling her that I won't be there for much longer, but she decided to just sit down next to me. She was also lonely at the time, and the two of us talked whilst drinking beers. We talked till the sun set on the horizon, and she made me promise to meet her again at the same place in a week's time. To think that a complete stranger changed my life that quickly… I'm forever grateful to her…"

"Well, I guess in a way, I'm the complete opposite. The first time I met Ai in SAO was when she was on the brink of death due to poisoning. She told me to leave her to die since the «Safe-Zone» area was so far away, but I refused to give up. I nearly died trying to save her, and she tagged along with me because of it. After that, I saved her a few more times, though I also tried to kill her a few times as well. Courtesy of memory loss and my loss of self-control via mind-manipulation by Kayaba Akihiko."

"Memory loss? Didn't know about that…"

"I don't really know exactly what happened either. I fell into a river from a very high cliff and somehow lived, but maybe my NerveGear didn't realize it and sent a small, but powerful microwave burst. Maybe it only affected my hippocampus? I haven't actually gotten it checked up yet, but I haven't felt that anything's off ever since I regained my memories with the help of Ai and my friends.."

"Well if you want one, it's pretty cheap here in the Philippines, so may as well try, though I doubt money is a problem to you right now with that soon-to-be father-in-law of yours."

"Look, right now, he's just being like some sort of genie. He gave me five wishes of my choosing, with the condition that one of them has to be spent with Ai in mind. This vacation was one of them. He did buy me this expensive ring without using up my four remaining wishes, but I don't think he'll just let me spend his family's money like it's nothing."

"Ha, okay then. Do what you want. It's your trip anyways. Regardless, I'm happy that you found someone special to you."

"Likewise…"

"So, when are you guys heading to Siargao again?"

"In three more days. And remember, you guys are coming as well," I reminded him.

"Ah… Yes… Are you guys still sure about that? I feel like we're third-wheeling in a sense."

"Just think of it as a double date. A very expensive and luxurious double date."

"Siargao… I've always wanted to visit that island, but I never had enough money nor free time to do so. The surfing capital of the Philippines… Where are we staying again?"

"Um… If I remember correctly, it's at this place called Dedon Island, over at General Luna."

"D-Dedon Island? Like, the Nay Palad Hideaway Resort?"

"Yeah! I think that's the name. The four of us will be sharing their master suite. We'll be there for two weeks I believe?"

Vincent stared at me blankly as I made the last statement. I looked at him confused before he proceeded to look up the resort on his phone. He then proceeded to show me a picture of the hotel Shitori had booked for me and Ai, and my mouth dropped at the sight of the master suite. Vincent scoffed and smiled at my reaction.
"You really pulled a lucky one with Ai."


Three days later, Island of Siargao

After spending the last few days in Manila breaking Katherine out of her shell and living a luxurious life, we took a plane ride to Siargao, leaving early in the morning. A few hours later, we arrived at the airport where we were then picked up by the resort's Guest Relations Representative on a jeepney.

Before heading to our hotel, I asked to make a quick detour to this so-called Coconut Paradise, where we saw a plethora of coconut trees surrounding us from all sides. For several minutes, all we saw were coconut trees and other humans in the Coconut Paradise. Since there was a clear abundance of them, we bought four coconuts to drink to consume during our ride. We finished them rather quickly since nothing could beat a fresh, and chilled coconut. Finally, after over a forty minute drive, we arrived at the front of the resort where the representative assisted us with our luggage and gave us the keys to our villa.

"Thank you for coming to our resort. Please enjoy your stay, sirs and ma'ams!" the hotel representative bowed as he got back in the jeepney.

"Ah! Before you go," Vincent quickly stopped him. "We would like to go on the island tour as soon as we drop our luggage off."

"Oh, then you are just in time! In thirty minutes, the group island tour will start. Just please wait here at the entrance along with everyone else."

"Okay, thank you!"

With our luggage in tow, we walked into the resort grounds and admired the scenery. Despite the resort having only ten available villas with high rates, the resort was more crowded than I expected.. I found myself thankful because it would allow us to basically have free reign in the resort as the costs were all inclusive. When I checked the website to see the cost of this villa, it even told us that once we make a reservation, we won't need a wallet as everything else was free. At the same time, I spoiled myself by learning the contents of the highly anticipated Perlah Villa we had booked.

We ran into slight trouble with adding additional people to the booking last minute, but Shitori didn't mind paying the extra fees along with the extra rates. After walking to the far end of the resort, the four of us stood in front of the entrance to what very well could be a mansion. The main building consisted of three interconnected cone-shaped straw roofs, making up what I believed to be the two master bedrooms and the in-door lounge. I could see the treetop terrace poking out above the left master bedroom. Full of excitement, Ai ran into the villa with Katherine forcefully in tow. The two of them left their luggage behind for us two males to carry inside. I let out a mix of a sigh and chuckle as Vincent and I brought our bags into the villa. Upon entering, I pointed at the master bedroom directly in front of me, saying:

"We'll take this one."

"Then we'll take the other one over here," Vincent said, pointing at the room on our left.

"Naw, I thought you were going to get the double bedroom over there by the lounge."

"Oh, shut up. Aren't you going to be the one who needs it with your nightmares and all?"

The two of us laughed at our quick exchange of remarks before we entered our chosen rooms and set out carries aside. Through the white curtains, I could already see Ai and Katherine standing in the white sands of our private beachfront. I decided to take off my sandals in order to go barefoot since the sand looked so nice to touch. Vincent and I met back up in the foyer and proceeded to rendezvous at the beach with the girls. I circled around the right side of our private pool, admiring the cabana next to it while Vincent circled the other side. As expected, the moment my bare feet touched the soft white sand, euphoria filled my body.

"The warm sand, a nice sea breeze, a perfect view…" Vincent sighed.

The four of us stood by the edge where the waves could reach us. We all stared out into the sea, taking in the wonderful view. To our left was a small island full of trees and life while far in front of us, a lonely pagoda stood above the sea. A few boats were out in the distance as well as small groups of people were to our sides on their own beaches. The four of us had this beach area all to ourselves, and we could use those all-inclusive benefits as much as we want. But, we decided to restrain ourselves temporarily by going on the five-hour island tour first.

"How much time do we have before we leave for the tour?" Ai asked.

"The tour guide said thirty minutes so we still have some time left. We should probably use it to unpack some stuff and get accustomed to our living space," I suggested as I held Ai's hand in my own. "Let's save the beach for another day."

"Oh, how about we drink tonight by the campfire right there?!"

Ai turned around and pointed at the campfire and the set of cushions behind us. With the way the seats were arranged, we would have a perfect view of the beach and the starry night sky. It would be perfect since we would be coming back at around four in the afternoon. If needed, we can rest in our rooms or even go out for a swim in the pool to make us even more hungry for dinner. Then, with the all-inclusive benefits of the resort, we can spend the rest of the night drinking and enjoying life on the island. Just imagining it made me look forward to the rest of the day.

"Sounds perfect. Now, let's get ready for the tour!"


Later that night

As stated in the website, the island tour took five hours to complete. Since the group was bigger than expected, the four of us actually got our own jeepney while the other resort guests shared the main jeepney. It actually turned out to be quite nice since we could control the pace of the tour to our liking. We once again passed through the massive coconut tree forest, as well as visiting famous places such as Cloud 9, the most well-known and revered surfing spots in the island. We took many photos at the viewing pier of the location, and also traveled up north to see the Tak Tak Waterfall. During the ride, the tour guide would tell us the history of the island and each location we were heading to, always telling us that, other than the surfing spots, Siargao's best tourist attractions were the island-hopping tours. However, since we were staying on the island for two weeks, we had plenty of time to do the island-hopping tours. The four of us were in no rush whatsoever.

At the moment, we had just finished eating dinner at the resort's bar and restaurant. One of the chefs invited both Katherine and Ai to cook with him, and the live-cooking session turned into a cooking class with the chef teaching both of them how to cook and fillet the fish he was serving the guests for dinner. Due to Ai's previous cooking experience in both real-life and in virtual reality, she surprised everyone with her skills, making even the chef admire her skills. Ai's beauty also helped captivate the onlookers as all the males stared at her, making me feel a bit protective. Either way, the dinner ended in success with everyone satisfying their stomachs with the wonderful meal. Most of the guests retreated back into their villas while a small group gathered at the main pool to watch Titanic on the outdoor cinema. The four of us, as planned, went back to our private beachfront and gathered around the now burning campfire.

In what he called "true Filipino style", Vincent and Katherine both stuck with beer, opting for bottles of San Miguel, a popular Filipino beer brand. Following their example of choosing drinks from their homeland, I chose sake for both myself and Ai, who couldn't decide what exactly she wanted to drink despite being the one who suggested the idea in the first place.

"You'll get used to alcohol sooner or later," Vincent encouraged Ai. "Since you seem to only drink it for social situations like this, I doubt you'll develop a dependence, though it'd be interesting if you do."

"Oi, you can't tell a girl that," I scolded him, making him and Ai laugh. "What kind of manners is that?"

"Talking to me about manners?! Didn't you just completely ignore and walk by every girl who tried to ask you out in middle school? You destroyed their self-esteems completely!"

"Hey, hey! Don't say that out loud right next to Ai!" I panicked, making Katherine chuckle slightly while Ai's expression became confused.

"That's why I'm talking in English, baka."

"I don't know what you guys are saying, but I'll let it go. Can you ask Katherine how she's doing? Is she fine? Or is all this too much?"

Vincent nodded his head and leaned towards Katherine, whispering the message to her ear. Upon hearing it, Katherine turned to face Ai, who looked at her with puppy-like eyes. A blank expression was plastered on her face at first, but her eyes then wandered to the dark horizon in the distance. A few moments of silence passed before her blank expression disappeared, replaced by a faint smile. Katherine then spoke, and I translated:

"I was reluctant to go on this trip for many reasons, and one of them is because I knew I wanted this kind of life for a long time: to live so carefree and enjoy life to its fullest with the people closest to me. It's been a dream of mine to go to such beautiful places and explore parts of the Philippines I haven't gone to yet with Vincent by my side. But with the life that we were living, I knew it was impossible. We would need to work till we were old, and even then we wouldn't be able to do something like this. I thought I hated the rich for exploiting the poor and for being able to live such carefree lives, but in reality, I just wanted to be like them. Now, that we're on this vacation that I never thought would happen, my dream has been satisfied. At the start, I wanted to get out of this dream and go back into my reality since I didn't want to get too used to a lifestyle that I could never have, but… Even that was only during the start… In these past few days, I've never felt so happy before, and I know it will only get better in the upcoming days. Because of that, I've decided to just cherish every moment of this trip you have given us, and do as much as possible with it, in hopes that this dream can be achieved again in the future. Thank you, Ai."

As I finished my translation, Katherine's smile grew wider while Ai's expression became more happy and relaxed. Tears streamed down both the girls eyes as they looked at each other. Seeking a hug, Katherine stood from her seat and approached Ai, standing and waiting in front of her so that they could convey their emotions to each other. Unable to stop her tears from flowing, Ai took a large swig of sake before returning the hug and drunkenly crying on Katherine's shoulder. The girls remained hugging for a long time while me and Vincent smiled at each other and admired the starry night sky.


(Ai)

5th day in Siargao, Cloud 9

Per Vincent's request, we stopped by the Cloud 9 pier to go surfing. Neither Katsumoto nor I knew how to surf while Katherine didn't want to challenge the bigger waves Cloud 9 offered. In reality, this half-day trip was just for Vincent to fulfill his desire to surf bigger waves. We brought some snacks with us to eat while we watched Vincent tackle the waves brought forth by the ocean. With a rented surfboard, he easily surfed every wave he rode, performing some tricks here and there to impress other surfers. His skill and technique piqued everyone's interest, but he wanted something more. Half an hour and one extra surfboard rental later, I found myself on the waters of Cloud 9 with him. Even though I volunteered, I was starting to regret my decision.

"Um… I'm not so sure about this anymore. Are you sure you surf with me on board?" I stuttered, looking at Vincent for reassurance and moral support.

"Don't worry Ai. When something goes wrong, I'll be sure to take most of the impact for you," Vincent said, smiling. "After all, if I get you hurt, Katsumoto's going to kill me. Just trust me on this, and listen to whatever I tell you to do."

As soon as he finished, the blue ocean water beneath us started to slowly move backwards. I looked behind us and saw a fairly large wave forming. My survival alarms were blaring in my head as the wave approached closer. My first instinct was to swim sideways to avoid the wave, but I was stuck on the board with Vincent, and if I panicked, I would probably capsize us both.

"Don't look behind us. Just face forward and start paddling as hard as you can!" Vincent yelled as he too started paddling. Trusting his word, I faced forward and paddled towards the shore, moving my arms as fast as I possibly could.

The water started rising as the wave began to approach. I wanted to stop paddling so that the wave would just pass under us, but it didn't seem like it mattered as Vincent's paddling was the driving force of our motion. I felt ourselves getting lifted up and starting to tilt downwards as the wave was on the verge of crashing. As it happened, Vincent quickly got up on his feet, shaking the board slightly but still causing me to panic. The peak of the wave started crashing from our right while Vincent yelled:

"Get on your knees and maintain your balance!"

I reluctantly did as I was told, getting on my knees to no longer lie flat on my stomach. The barrel of the wave continued to approach us until we were completely inside of it. The wall of water in front of me started getting closer and closer until it was right in front of my face. I screamed, preparing for the two of us to be wiped out when our board made a turn to the left, now facing diagonally from the wave. We picked up speed and continued to ride the wave for longer than I wanted. We exited the barrel and sped our way away from the wave before it crashed on top of us.

"See, I told you to just trust me!" Vincent laughed as he continued to ride the dissipating wave.

Cheers and applause emerged from the spectators around us, from both surfers and non-surfers alike. The people watching from the three-story pier were the loudest as they had the best view of every surfer around. I knew it was already hard enough for one person to maneuver a surfboard, yet Vincent managed to do it while tandem surfing with me. His skill and technique told me that he has done it before, probably with Katherine. Vincent waved at the spectators who praised him, and he encouraged me to wave as well. However, while we didn't wipe out, I was still drowning from anxiety. The fact that we weren't slowing down as we torpedoed our way to another group of surfers

"Watch out" Vincent yelled in English, as we alarmingly approached them.

Without warning, he crouched down and hugged me from behind as he pulled me into the water with him. Although his actions made me panic and alarmed as my head submerged beneath the water, I knew that he had to do it. He couldn't maneuver the board to avoid the people with me still on board, and with his foot tied to the board, he was hoping that by the two of us falling, he could stop the board's momentum. I quickly recovered myself and emerged from the water. I gasped for air as I looked to make sure the others were alright. As expected, the board that was still tied to Vincent's foot stopped before it could hit the surfers.

"Sorry! We weren't paying attention!" Vincent apologized to them as he resurfaced.

"Don't worry! We were the ones who didn't move in time. You had a passenger as well too," a member of the group responded.

Vincent went to go retrieve the board and he helped me up before getting on himself.

"Well, I think that was enough fun for today, no?" he said, smiling.

"Y-Yeah… Let's go back to Katsumoto and Katherine."

"You can rest. I'll paddle."

Even though it left him with so much work, I took his offer and remained sitting on the back of the board while he was in the front paddling. I was still too anxious at what had happened and just wanted to catch my breath. Katsumoto and Katherine were waiting for us at the bottom floor of the pier, with a mix of happiness and worry on both their faces. We reached the staircase of the pier, allowing me to get off the board safely and ascend. Vincent took care of the board, carrying it over his shoulders.

"That was a sight to see. I could hear Ai's scream even from all the way over here," Katsumoto teased me, making me punch him on the shoulder out of retaliation.

"Stop it! That was really frightening you know!" I cried.

"That was a close call. Good job avoiding them," Katherine praised Vincent, kissing him on the lips right after.

A few of the spectators were looking in our direction, with some of them being surprised by the kiss Katherine gave Vincent. They probably thought that Vincent and I were together, only to realize I was with Katsumoto and Katherine was with Vincent. Nonetheless, a few people still gave praise to Vincent, who smiled and waved back in response.

"I think I've had enough fun for myself today. Shall we go back to the resort?"


(Katsumoto)

8th Day in Siargao, Daku Island

We had been in Siargao for over a week now, and while we were running out of unique things to do, each and every experience was still memorable. Yesterday we went to Sugba Lagoon and explored the area on our rented canoes. We found many beautiful, secretive locations at the cost of an extreme arm workout. Vincent was already taxed from surfing yesterday, so he was the most tired amongst the four of us. We could've gone to the spa, but decided to postpone it to later tonight once we finished the island-hopping tour which was the last thing on our bucket list of things to do here in Siargao.

We had visited Naked Island, whose name is quite literally what it meant since there was nothing but sand on that island. It was an interesting place to take pictures, and while it was much larger than pictures showed, it was still quite small. Not to mention, the amount of tourists made it hard to take great pictures. Straying away from the typical path, we went to Guyam Island next where we relaxed amongst the palm trees. On the side opposite to the sandy beach, the rocky pools were nice and cool, making it a great place to escape the heat. After an hour though, we left for Daku Island, where we planned to stay for most of the day till the evening when the boats returned back to the main island.

At Daku Island, we explored the local area and managed to find two. We rented out two scooters to travel the island with, letting us explore more within our half-day time limit. With the help of Vincent and Katherine, we asked locals about the specialties of the island and places that we should visit. We were informed of a secretive beach location that wasn't too well known, so we packed some lunch from a notable seafood restaurant by the main beach, then headed off to the other beach. Once we arrived at the supposed location, there wasn't even a proper parking place, so Vincent and Katherine stayed behind to hide the scooters while we went ahead to scout the area.

"Hey, can I ride on your back? My feet hurt," Ai asked as she ran a little bit ahead to block me from moving forward. Her unique smile shone like a beacon on her shaded face.

"Eh? I would understand your arms, but your feet too?" I groaned.

"Oh, come on, pretty please. It's hard to walk on this hilly terrain with these flip-flops."

"Well, you're right about that last part, but what about my back? There's still a bit of sweat back there."

"We're going swimming, Katsumoto. It's fine if I get a bit sticky from your sweat."

"Okay, fine."

"Yay!"

I took my flip-flops off and handed it to Ai. While she took off her own, I crouched down for her to get into a good position to get on my back. Before she got on, she went to a nearby plant and ripped a large leaf off it's stem. She then used it to wipe the sweat off my back, and I simply rolled my eyes and scoffed at her actions.

"You shush. I'm getting on now."

Ai positioned herself with her breasts planted against my upper back, right below my shoulder. She wrapped her arms closely around my neck, curving downwards so that she wasn't choking me. She positioned her legs on either side of my waist, and I positioned my hands right below her butt so she wouldn't fall off as I hoisted her up. She wasn't too heavy for me, but it made balancing on uneven terrain a bit harder. We adjusted the position a few more times before I started making my way down towards the beach. Many palm trees and greenery were in front of us, but a clear dirt path showed us the way. As we traversed the forest, a cool breeze blew past, rustling all the leaves and branches around us.

"It really is beautiful everywhere we go here…" Ai pondered.

The summer sun beamed down through the vividly green leaves of palms, blinding our eyes from seeing what was front of us. Ai used her own hands to shade my eyes while she turned her own head to the side, resting her cheeks on my left shoulder. She began to slip off my back, and so I readjusted her position by pausing momentarily and allowed her to move further up. I placed my hands on her thighs and held on more tightly as we traversed barefoot on the sand-covered earth. We continued to advance closer and closer to the light, helping each other take on the world's challenges. When we finally broke through the darkness of the trees, we looked upon the most divine heaven we could ever find in this new world of ours.

The sea-green waters of our heaven were sparkling in the summer sun, its beauty unharmed by the atrocities we'd seen already in this world. The white sands were scorching hot, but the heat warmed my soul as the cool sea breeze swept past by.

"You can set me down now," Ai whispered into my ear, captivated by the view in front of us.

I listened to her orders and kneeled for her to get off my back. After doing so, she ran out to the sandy beach, out into knee-deep water. Her clothes dampened as she produced salty splashes with her feet. She joyfully basked in the sun and turned around to me.

"So, this is what heaven feels like!" she cried out gleefully.

"Yeah… I thought I would never get to experience it."

I stepped into the cool, salty seawater, wading out to where Ai stood. I took my time as I wanted to admire the view, but Ai grew impatient and hurried over to drag me further away from the shore. I allowed myself to be pulled into the sea by Ai up until we got to waist-deep water where it became too hard for her to pull me. I noticed a sandbar further ahead and decided to pick up Ai once again like a damsel in distress. She playfully laughed out from my sudden movements and reluctantly let me carry her. I began a slow ascent into the protruding sandbar, slipping occasionally from the slippery sand underneath my feet. When we reached the top, the water only reached up to my heel. The two of us admired the afternoon sun for a brief period until I noticed Ai look back towards me.

"You can put me down now," she told me.

"And if I don't want to?" I teased her.

She gave me a mischievous smile before quickly rolling out of my arms. She landed on her feet, splashing both water and wet sand all over the two of us. All of a sudden, Ai jumped towards me with great speed, and wrapped her arms around my neck as we made contact. Her momentum carried over to me, and my unpreparedness caused me to fall from the lack of balance. I landed hard on my back, but the fall didn't hurt me. The seawater did splash into my eyes, irritating them greatly. I groaned from the impact and tried to sit up, rubbing my eyes to cease the pain. Before I could sit up, Ai positioned herself right on top of me, sitting directly above my stomach. She pushed hard against my chest, forcing me back down.

I chose to remain lying down, and Ai gave me her special smile, approving of my submission to her. She flipped her hair around her head so that it gathered at the right side of her face. Her wet hair clumped together instead of flowing freely and separately, showing a sexier side of Ai that I rarely got to see as I always saw her wearing some type of armor or casual clothing. Her hands slowly slid down my chest and towards my abdomen before they began to come back up from my sides and past my shoulders. She planted her hands on either side of my head and bent down so that our faces were a few centimeters apart. I stared at her in wonder, anticipating a kiss. She seemed to have read my mind as she gave me one of her special smiles. She then closed the gap between our faces, and our lips connected with a fiery passion.

Ai moved her arms, pulling up my head slightly so that she could wrap them around it. Her body was now much closer to my own, and I lustfully placed my hands on both her hair and lower back. Our kiss continued for a long time, eventually turning into a make-out session. We were so focused on maintaining our connection that neither of us realized that I somehow managed to get on top. We only noticed when we finally stopped to breathe for air, causing us to open our eyes. The sight surprised both of us, and Ai found the scene to be funny. She started to giggle, causing me to chuckle in response to her contagious laughter.

"The two of us can finally be alone again… Seems like death actually gave me a life better than life itself."

"Heh, what do you mean? Alone? Death?" I questioned.

"Okay, we're not exactly alone, but you know what I mean… I really was afraid that I lost you forever back then. You made me feel so sad and hurt that my heart couldn't handle it. I was prepared to die so that I can maybe meet you at a better place, or at least the you that I loved. Both of us were the same way… But now, we're here after we almost took our own lives, and this is the happiest I've ever been. How about you? Can you say the same?"

"Of course this is the happiest I've ever been. I'm with you in the real-world, at a paradise that I can only dream of. I just wish it can last forever."

"Well, nothing can last forever, though I wish we could've visited another big island. This place is definitely amazing, but if not for our resort, I think I would've gotten bored by now."

"Ha, true. If you want, instead of spending the last week in the mainland, we can spend it at another island. Maybe we can get Vincent to show us one?"

"That doesn't sound too bad… But let's figure that stuff out later. Let's enjoy ourselves here…"

Ai pulled my head in for another kiss, and I let my body takeover as the two of us expressed our love for each other. However, not even a few seconds had passed when a loud shout destroyed the romantic atmosphere.

"Hey!" Vincent shouted from the shore. "Stop before your flip-flops drift too far away!"

I opened my eyes and grew alert since I just realized Ai was no longer holding our footwear. She too panicked as she sat up a bit too quickly, hitting her head against my nose.

"Ow!" I yelped.

"Sorry!" she apologized. "They're over there though."

Ai pointed to our side where the flip-flops were quite a distance away but not unreachable. The waves had pushed them quite far while the two of us were kissing. I got up and made my way over to retrieve them before returning to Ai. I set down her pair while I slipped into my own.

"Let's eat our lunch before it gets too cold, then we'll go and swim!" Vincent shouted from the shore

"Sounds good!"


Later that night, back at the resort

My body and mind was in complete bliss as I laid in bed. We ate another wonderfully cooked seafood dinner at the resort's restaurant, drinking a bit during our feast. Afterwards, in order to relax our mind and bodies, the four of us had gotten nice, relaxing massages from the resort's massage parlor. Since only two of us could go at a time due to the amount of recipients, I even incidentally learned a few techniques from observing the masseuses perform their art on Ai and Katherine. The combination of aromatherapy, hot stones and Swedish brought forth a euphoric and relaxing experience. All of my built-up muscle pain over the days of swimming, surfing and canoeing were slowly massaged away. After a nice hot shower, I lied in bed, staring up at the chandelier while letting my thoughts roam.

"Are you going to sleep here for once?" a soft voice called out.

I turned my head to the origin and saw Ai walking out of the bathroom. She sported a white bathrobe provided by the resort. Her black hair was still mildly wet from her shower despite blow-drying it for several minutes. She looked at me with longing eyes as she set her phone down on the nightstand beside the bed. She sat down beside me, still looking down at my face.

Even though the bed was massive and very comfortable, I was still too scared of sleeping next to Ai. Especially now with her Voice lingering in the back of my head and the occasional nightmare regarding her, I didn't want to risk anything bad happening to her. And so, I had been sleeping either in the lounge, the treetop terrace, or anywhere that had a comfortable place to lie down with some pillows. But, her eyes were begging me to stay, and since she was my fiancé, it didn't seem right for me to never sleep in the same bed as her.

"Yeah…" I spoke in a hushed tone. "I'll stay with you here tonight."

Maybe, just maybe… I can improve my mental state by overcoming this fear of mine.

"Good."

Ai let herself fall onto the bed beside me, her head landing next to my own. She laid on her side whilst staring at me, so I too repositioned myself onto my side and stared back at her. The two of us remained like this, silently staring and not exchanging any words. Soon, she looked downwards and took my open hand into her own. She scooted closer to me and wrapped her arm around me. I followed her example and brought the two of us into a hug. Once again, we remained like this for a few minutes, just sharing in each other's warmth. It was when Ai, whose face she buried in my chest, looked up to my face. Her eyes expressed such great longing and sorrow before she closed them and planted her lips on my own. I surrendered myself to her advance, closing my eyes so that I could focus only on Ai. Her smooth lips were soft to touch, but I could sense a hint of aggression in them. Taking a peek, her squinted eyes revealed to me that her eyes were not only showing longing but a suppressed pain she had been holding back. I knew the cause of this pain, and it was because of me.

Even though this trip was meant for the two of us to enjoy life together, I was still trying to separate myself from Ai. She had been by my side for more than two years, and I had dated her for around half that time. Heck, we even got married inside of Sword Art Online and went on our own honeymoon trip there. Yet, here I was, still trying to distance myself when we finally had the time to be as close together as we possibly could. For all the things that she's done for me, I should really pay her back.

I closed my eyes again and used my spare hand to cup her cheek. She reactively put her own hand on mine. My hand trembled from her brushing her hand against mine while an affectionate warmth traveled from her cheeks and into my hands. Getting uncomfortable with our position, I rolled over on top of Ai, kicking the sheets off the bed along the way to clear up some space. I made sure I didn't put all my weight on top of her as I 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 her lips. She placed one hand behind my neck, and the other behind my shoulder. We started kissing more aggressively as our tongues brushed and entangled with one another. A mysteriously divine taste reached my lips, making me assume I had just tasted a forbidden fruit.

As our tongues and saliva continued to mix, I couldn't stop myself from reaching down towards Ai's right leg. I pulled up her bathrobe to expose her thighs which I then grabbed with my hand. I caressed her thigh starting from her butt all the way to the back of her knee, causing her body to shiver from the sensation. Grasping firmly on the center of her thigh, I pulled her leg upwards towards my hip and continued to caress it while we continued to kiss. Our hearts continued to beat faster while our breathing became more ragged. Ai's fingers were clutching on my skin so firmly that her nails had begun digging in. However, the pain was miniscule compared to the pleasure.

A few more minutes of aggressively conveying our love to each other passed before I ended up ripping apart Ai's bathrobe, exposing her body and breaking away from our kiss. I opened my eyes and gazed at the beautiful 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 laid in front of me. Underneath the bathrobe, Ai had worn a white sheer nightdress that exposed a lot of skin due to its transparency despite covering the entirety of her torso. Her plump breasts were the only parts that remained unseen, though her cleavage was still very prominent. Unable to help myself, I slipped my hand underneath her nightdress and gently caressed her waist.

Ai gasped from my movements and quickly moved her own hand to stop mine. I looked at her 𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, wanting to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt Ai or make her feel insecure. I stopped my hand and dragged it out from underneath her nightdress. I cupped her cheeks with the same hand and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"You want to stop here?" I asked, brushing strands of her now messy hair away from her face.

"N-No… W-We can keep going…" she stuttered out, making it seem like she was unsure of her words. "I want you to keep going… Till the end…"

"What's the end?"

"Oh, come on… You know what I mean… Let's do it…"

Her face flushed a bright red, and I was about to tease her if it weren't for the fact that I could feel the same thing happening to myself. Even though I had anticipated that it would happen, and even got direct permission from her parents, I still staggered at the thought of it actually happening. Not only that, Ai being the first one to say it caught me by surprise. My heart pumped faster as 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 continued to build within me. Both of us were clearly nervous, but I knew that one of us had to take a lead, and that it would probably be me. I swallowed down my worries, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒚.

"Shall we take off our clothes then?"


Author's Note:
Better 4 months late than never, as expected of my inability to keep promises regarding a chapter's release.

I had a good stride going for a bit, but summer classes, fall classes, and just writer's block prevented me from doing as much as I wanted. The chapter is still not finished yet, and there is still some more that I haven't posted but I want to save it for when I at least finish the part that I'm trying to write at the moment. This is definitely the longest chapter this series is likely every going to get (other than one of the origin stories), but I don't plan on splitting it up into smaller pieces because I'd rather keep this chapter whole due to its personal meaning.

Anyways, hope everyone has been doing well during the pandemic. I would like to say I have more time to write because of it, but I know I'm just going to be playing video games or doing other stuff. After all, I'll have brief periods of thousands of words a day/month, and then proceed to write nothing for the next several days/weeks/months. Definitely haven't touched this in the last month, which is why I figured I should at least post something now.

I honestly have no clue when I'll finish this since I have a lot of other stuff to do that is more important than this, but regardless I'll try my best.

Section Word Count - 9.6k

Total Chapter Word Count - 36.5k

- Mortifer V