"Well that went surprisingly easy," Kirito said.
"Yeah," Asuna said.
They had gotten out with very little incident. A couple guards on the way, but they had handled them. Well, Monica and Yuri had done most of the heavy lifting.
The group had kept up their fast pace until the base was almost invisible behind the thick mist. Then, they finally slowed down.
"So what now?" Natsuki shivered.
"We'll have to hike a little," Kirito said. "Once we're out of these mountains Kikuoka can pick us up."
"Who's Kikuoka?"
"Just some guy," he dismissed her. Kazuto brought his hand up to his earpiece. "Yui? Can you patch me through?"
[On it, Papa.]
A couple seconds later, he heard a familiar voice in his ear.
[Kirito. How are you?]
"I got them all out," Kirito reported.
[Good, good. How far away are you?]
"Far enough, why?"
[No reason. Oh, you might want to cover your ears.]
"Come again?"
Then, he heard the sound of an airplane.
"Are they sending an airplane after us?" Sayori asked.
"That makes no sense," Monica said. "From where would they do that? Where would it even-"
"No, that's us," Kirito said. He realised what would happen.
"What?"
"Cover your ears."
"What for?"
"Now!"
They were just in time. A massive explosion made the ground beneath them shake. A pillar of smoke rose up where the base used to be.
Even though he covered them, his ears kept ringing for a couple seconds after.
They all stood there, shocked.
"W-What just happened?" Natsuki said eventually.
Kazuto reached up to his earpiece again. "You bombed the base?" he asked, surprisingly calm.
[No risks. That Third Eye stuff is way too dangerous.]
"But I never told you what it is."
[I'm not an idiot, Kirito-kun.]
"You were watching me," Kirito realised.
[For your benefit.]
Now he did lose his nerve. "You fucking-"
[You want a ride or what?]
Kirito looked at the girls. They didn't seem in the mood to do a lot of hiking.
"Fine," he grumbled.
[Great. I've got a helicopter fifteen minutes out. Just wait right there. Ah and while you're there, could you check the base for survivors?]
"Fine. Over and out."
"And?" Asuna asked.
"There is a helicopter on its way. We should go back to the base so they can find us."
"Alright."
"Are we sure that's a good idea?" Natsuki said.
"You prefer hiking?"
She hesitated one more second. Then, with resolute steps, she walked towards the base. The others followed.
Looks like he had underestimated Kikuoka. They were always planning to bomb the base and kill anyone inside. But he wanted to give Kirito a shot at getting them out first. If he had failed…
Kirito shivered at the thought.
After a couple minutes, they reached the base. Whatever bomb Kikuoka had dropped, it was powerful. Instead of a base, there was only a giant crater with debris all around. No way anyone had survived this.
They waited for a bit. Then, he heard it.
"There," Natsuki pointed.
A large double bladed helicopter was coming towards them. When it landed, the sudden wind messed up their hair.
The doors opened.
"Let's get out of here," Kirito said.
They climbed into the helicopter one by one. Kirito made sure to wait until last. That way, he was certain everyone was safe.
When he entered the helicopter, all seats were taken.
"Here," Asuna said, offering her seat. "I can sit on your lap."
"Alright."
Kirito got on her seat and she sat down on his lap. Asuna looked around defiantly, as if she was daring anyone to protest.
No one did of course. Although Yuri threw them an intense look.
"Strap in," the pilot said. "We're taking off."
They clicked their seatbelts in place.
Kirito let out his breath. It was over. They were going home.
He wrapped his arms around Asuna.
The helicopter took off.
[Well done, Kirito,] a voice in his ear spoke. [The helicopter will take you to the plane and then you can come back home.]
"Home? But what about the girls? Not all of them are from Japan, right?"
[No, probably not. But we can sort that out once they are here. Just leave that to me.]
"I could-"
[No, no. You've done more than enough already. You saved them all, Kirito. Now relax and leave the loose ends to me. You go and have a party.]
"Sure," Kirito said slowly.
He was getting a little nervous.
"Everything okay?" Asuna asked.
"Yeah," he said. "We're going to Japan by plane. From there, we can figure out a way to get you all home."
The girls nodded. They all looked pretty tired.
His eyes wandered to Yuri.
Kikuoka had been very keen on tying up loose ends. He bombed the entire base just to make sure there were no traces left. But Yuri had the Third Eye power. If he learned about that…
Wait, but that made no sense. He let Kirito save the girls even though he knew where the base was. He cared not one bit about all of the people inside, but for some reason he did want to save the host-
Oh no.
Of course.
He didn't care about the hostages. He wanted Yuri's power to himself.
Yes, that made perfect sense. Kikuoka learned that she had the power. He only needed Kirito to locate the base and cause a distraction. And then Yuri would get out using her powers.
This wasn't good. He had to get her out of-
"Kirito," Yuri said.
He looked at her.
"It's okay," she told him."
"What do you mean?"
"I have a plan."
"But… What?"
"You've done enough. Leave the rest to me."
"A-Alright."
Odd. Did she know what was going on? Had she arrived at the same conclusion?
But then what was her plan? Use her ability to control Kikuoka? That didn't make any sense. He was hardly alone. She may be able to control a handful of guys, but not an entire organization.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Kirito told her.
"I do," she assured him.
"Are you two done?" Asuna asked.
"Hey, calm down."
"I am calm," she barked.
"It's okay," their pilot suddenly barged in. "It's just the stress. Why don't you sleep for a bit?"
Before any of them could reply, nozzles in the ceiling turned on, spewing green gas in the entire cabin. Asuna rose from his lap, but as she did, she felt her legs turn to jelly.
Then, everything turned black.