Happy July 4th! And here is a late update and so I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow! I mean, tomorrow is SEASON 2 OF SAO FIRST EPISODE! Well, I have no idea what to say so...
Thanks to Impstar, Riku Uzumaki, InvisableTarget, DemonFoxBK201, and Are all the names used for reviewing last chapter! Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 11: The Game of Oni.
There was one thing Klein and Asuna noticed with their time with Kirito. He was odd. Kinda dead too.
Kirito was always near, but he was always distant. In front of everyone, he was calm, collected, and mostly gave looks of surprise or disbelief. There was barely a smile. Well, there were forced and half-hearted ones, but no genuine smiles.
Klein and Asuna personally made it their goal to make him smile. Sadly, it was easier said than done. They tried to crack lame jokes (which got raised eyebrows from the guild members and rolled eyes from Kirito), come up with something entertaining to do (Kirito had to walk out of the room before he got the chance to roundhouse kick Klein), even indulge in sweets (much to Asuna's delight since she knew she couldn't gain weight in SAO). Long list short, they tried everything to get Kirito to smile. Well, almost everything.
._._._._._.
"Oni?" Klein asked as he led the way from the restaurant after they finished their lunch to any random place. Asuna and Heathcliff were walking by each other while Kirito was in the distance between Klein and the two.
"Yeah, ever heard of that game?" Kirito asked. Asuna smiled.
"Of course, I've heard of that! I played that game when I was really small." she answered.
"Every child should've played or at least heard that game." Heathcliff added. He gave Kirito a slightly raised eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest?"
The teen frowned and came to a stop. "If I tell you, you guys would think I'm...well, deprived."
"Deprived...?" Asuna echoed as she stopped with a hand resting on her rapier. "Exactly, what do you mean...?"
The grown ups (Heathcliff and Klein), shared a look of slight confusion as Kirito ran a hand through his hair in hesitation.
"This is really stupid. Never mind." he said as he shook his head and resumed walking until Klein stepped in his way. He instantly paled slightly when Klein gave him one of his spit-it-out looks. "Ah."
"Actually, I'm quite interested." Heathcliff admitted. "What were you going to say?"
Kirito looked up at Heathcliff and bit the back of his lip in embarrassment. His cheeks had a tint of red as he spoke. "I...never played that game before..."
A heavy silence fell on them. Kirito shifted his weight a couple of times as they gave him blank, dumbfounded stares. He slowly waved a hand in front of Klein in hope that he would snap out of it, but nothing happened. He sighed as he dropped his hand in defeat.
"See, I kinda knew this was going to happen." he muttered to himself.
"YOU NEVER PLAYED ONI BEFORE?!" Klein suddenly exploded. Shock appeared on Asuna and Heathcliff as Kirito spun on his heel and ran away in fear of Klein's upcoming rant. "HEY! Get back here! I'm just asking a simple question!"
Asuna blinked out of her stupor and tapped Klein on the shoulder.
"What the-" Klein couldn't even finish when he saw Asuna taking off.
"I bet you can't catch me, oni!" she taunted over her shoulder. Klein stared after her speechless. Heathcliff chuckled and shook his head as he patted Klein's shoulder.
"Good luck trying to catch us." he wished. Klein was standing like a mute, gawking duck as he watched Heathcliff run off as well.
It finally registered in his head two seconds later. "Why me?!"
Without a skip of a heartbeat, he took of after them.
._._._._._.
Kirito ran all the way out of town and skidded to a stop. He only had the chance to take a couple of seconds of air before someone suddenly collided into him. He yelped in slight pain as fell to his side and a flush of chestnut hair covered his face.
"Ow..." he hissed. "Asuna, get off me please!"
"Ah! I'm really sorry!" she apologized as she scrambled off of him. Kirito slowly sat up with a hand rubbing his sore side.
"Dang, Asuna. How did you catch up to me?" he asked. Then he shook his head as he thought over his words. "No wait, scratch that. Why are you following me? You're not going to drag me back to Klein, are you? I don't want to be deaf for the next hour."
Before Asuna had the chance to answer, Heathcliff ran past them with a small smirk.
"You better get running!" he called back. "The 'oni' is not too far away!"
Kirito's jaw dropped in shock. "Did he just-?!"
Asuna quickly cut him off by grabbing his hand as she shot up. "There's no time! Klein's right there!" she laughed. Kirito scrambled to his feet and saw a determined Klein rushing out of town.
"What's going on?!" he demanded as he reluctantly followed Asuna, who practically dragged him. She gave a good-natured laugh.
"What does it look like? Klein's the oni! You don't want to be him, now, do you?" she asked in amusement. Without waiting for an answer, she ran ahead.
"Oni? What do you guys mea-" Realization dawned on him. He took one last look at Klein and gave a happy, real, excited smile. "Oni!"
In a split second, Kirito was already two feet behind Asuna. Their little game went on for hours. Asuna nearly backhanded Klein when he tapped her on the shoulder. Heathcliff gave Asuna a small frown as she swung around a tree and used the momentum to literally fly into him (Kirito saw the whole thing and quickly decided that Asuna is scary in and out of battle). Kirito stumbled over his feet and fell face first when Heathcliff "accidentally" tripped him, making him the 'oni'.
"You'll pay for that Heathcliff! I don't care if you're a leader or not, I'm going to make you fall and make you feel my wrath!" the happy teen declared with amusement in his voice as he chased after Heathcliff (who shot a teasing smirk). Asuna and Klein couldn't help but laugh as they watched Heathcliff run away from an excited Kirito.
"Haha! Go get him, Kirito!" Klein cheered. Asuna stood next to him and waved.
"Don't be so vengeful on Heathcliff! He is my leader after all!" Asuna called. She gave a small laugh as the two disappeared into a forest near the town. "Wow, I've never seen Kirito this carefree before."
Klein nodded in agreement. "In the long months he's been with me, he never complained. It's good to see him laughing and smiling instead of frowning."
Asuna rolled her eyes. "It was more on worry and uneasiness. But, what can I say? I don't really know him. You know, I think made our first goal."
The guild leader grinned as he fist-pumped the air. "Getting the Black Swordsman to smile, accomplished! Figuring out what's wrong with him and beat the game..." He faltered. "Kinda getting there..."
The Sub Leader placed a hand at her hip with a small smile. "Yeah, getting there..."
They waited patiently for the two to pop back out of the forest, hoping that it would just be five minutes or so. But soon, those simple five minutes slowly became six, then seven, then eight, then ten, then fourteen. Before they knew it, they were gone for over thirty minutes.
Klein furrowed his eyebrows. "What's taking them so long?"
"Something's wrong." Asuna said in a small voice. She looked worriedly at the forest as she curled her hair around her fingers. "Klein, I'm getting a bad feeling about this..."
Without another word, the two dashed into the forest, silently agreeing to find Kirito once more (and hopefully for the last time).
._._._._._.
~Thirty Minutes Earlier~
Kirito laughed as he followed Heathcliff through the twists and turns of the forest. For the first time in a while, he was having fun. Sure, his left leg burned with needles stabbing him, but he ignored it. He was having way too much fun to even stop and remember why he was doing this in the first. He was constantly running to avoid his friends. Who didn't want to be the oni?
He never knew the feeling of freedom of running (or rather, he couldn't remember) until now. The joy of going all out just to catch each other. The excitement of running away and pretty much trying to outsmart each other.
In the past eleven years, he never had the chance to play oni. He could only remember sitting at the sidelines and watching other kids run around the small park in the hospital grounds. Well, he tried to play but was scolded by Rinko-nee-chan before he actually got up.
But this? This was amazing. He never thought that people he even didn't know would actually play such a childish game with him. Asuna and Klein don't know him in real life and yet they want to keep an eye on him. He tried pushing them away, but they keep coming back. It made him wonder. Was there really people out in reality that actually cares about strangers?
The more he thought about it, the more confusing things got for him. Before SAO, he only knew a handful of people. A very small handful of people.
Snap!
Kirito stumbled to a stop in the middle of a huge clearing in the forest, finally remembering why he brought up the game 'Oni'. Not too far away, Heathcliff at the other side facing him. The Guild Leader stood tall and stared unblinkingly at Kirito, as if he was trying to search for something. Neither of them spoke for a long while.
Finally, Heathcliff broke the tense silence.
"Are you enjoying this game of 'oni', Kirito?" he asked politely with a smile.
Kirito returned it with a small smile. "Of course, I am. I haven't had this much fun in ages, and with strangers of all things." He paused and dropped his polite act. "Well, except one."
Heathcliff sighed. "I guess my suspicions were right. You are Kazuto-kun." he said with a straight face, "I never expected the Black Swordsman to be you of all the players. Neither did I think that I would meet you prematurely."
Kirito scoffed. "I never thought that you of all people were him." He crossed his arms and gave a small glare. "why'd you do this, Aki-nii-chan?"
"Still calling me that after all I did?" Heathcliff asked as he equipped his famous sword and trademark shield. "Surely by now, you would stop."
"After knowing how much it annoys you and how much you kept visiting me for ten years straight? Heh, it's a habit I should be trying to break but I can't seem to do so." Kirito answered as he unsheathed his black sword.
The paladin opened his menu and sent a challenge request to him. "I'm sure you'll hate me after this...that is..." if you live. those words were left unspoken, but the boy was quick to figure it out. There was no way he was going to lose this battle.
Kirito looked over the challenge. First to lose half of their HP loses. Without hesitation, he accepted. A thirty-second counter appeared above them and immediately began its countdown.
30.
"Aki-nii!" Kirito called, "If I win, you will grant me one request, right?"
26.
"Yes." Heathcliff confirmed, "And if I win, you know what happens."
19.
Kirito huffed. "Of course, I do."
15.
Heathcliff narrowed his eyes. "Then I wish you luck, Kazuto-kun."
9.
Kirito readied his stance and held his blade tightly. "Same to you... Akihiko-nii-chan."
5. 4.
The paladin frowned and muttered something to himself. "I am really sorry."
1.
Kirito took one step and-
Black.
SYSTEM COLLABORATION AT FORTY-TWO PERCENT.
WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED?! Hahaha, that's a bit of a cruel cliffhanger, huh? Anyway, tell me what you guys think about this chapter! Hopefully, there will be another chapter this week. Hopefully. Enjoy your summer!
-CloudyLightning