Sword Art Online
After The Incident
Chapter 42 – Shino Steps Out Of Her Shell
~Sinon's POV~
I once again found myself on that same old swing, in that old playground. It was a place I had grown fond of visiting, even when I wasn't down. I had it easy whenever I would visit this place, and I would visit this place even more often than the safe haven I showed Kazuto before his tournament debut in GGO.
I had often thought about why this place calmed me so much. It was a question wrapped in mystery for me, even when I tried my hardest to figure it out. But now that I had matured since then, I had realized why that was so. It was because this held one of my best kept memories. It was the place I had met Kyouji, the one boy who had kept me from growing insane.
The fact that my trauma was held down this much, and that I hadn't grown mental already, was all because of him. Because he had the heart and the will to approach me, to talk and to socialize with me, despite about all the rumors that went around about how I was a psychopath that would shoot anything in the face that provoked me. All because of that damn bank robbery when I was little.
Ever since then, people had avoided me, terrified of me because of what I had done. To some amount, I understood their intentions. I did kill somebody after all, and only as a little kid. Who knew what I would be capable of when I grew up?
In the beginning, people understood what had happened perfectly. But the rumors about me quickly spread, corrupting people's sense of meaning, and shortly after, people went in a long circle around me. Even worse, some of the girls from a bigger grade began hating me, pushing me around because of what they thought I had done, though I never did anything of the sort.
On top of that, when they learned about my trauma from one of my parents' friends, they started to psychologically ruin me. Started to use my trauma to their advantage, and make me do all kinds of things unless I wanted to vomit and piss myself in fear and disgust. Just the fact that one of them would make a gun with two of their fingers would be enough to make me tremble on the ground in terror.
Then, one day, as they confronted me in that same playground, about to make me go in and buy all kinds of snacks and soda for them, be their errand girl, Kyouji saved me from their bullying. Fended them off and told them to stay away from me. They had destroyed my jacket, so he lent me his, and told me he would make sure to get me home safely.
I had felt so safe and so warm in his embrace. His jacket smelled of sweat and bad deodorant, but I liked it. I think I've had a crush on him ever since then, but up until now, I've never really known what true love was.
But I knew that after seeing how much Kazuto liked Asuna. He would go through the debts of hell and back again, just to see one of her smiles again, and I respected him colossally for that.
And, after seeing what kind of passion he fought with, I finally understood what kind of feelings I had for Kyouji. I could finally distinguish a best friend from a lover, and I had settled my sight on him becoming mine.
But I was still unsure about how to approach it.
Sure, he had asked me out before we helped Kazuto back in GGO, but I had asked him to wait until that whole situation had died down. He hadn't asked me further about it after the GGO incident.
Which was what had driven me back to this old playground. I had finally resolved myself, and made it clear in my own mind that I would ask him out. So, I had invited him over to the playground, to hang out and possibly have a talk about what was on my mind.
So, now I sat there once again, on that same old squeaky swing. The rusty chain squeaked ever so slightly whenever I would swing forward on it, and I smiled every time I heard it. I looked up and sighed nervously as I watched the sun spread it's rays of light throughout the world.
I let my gaze fall onto the gravel under my feet, but was quickly brought up once again as I heard a set of footsteps approach from outside the playground. As always, the first thought that ran through my head was that it was one of those girls, but luckily, and to my big relief, it was Kyouji, the one I had been waiting for.
I smiled quietly and quickly jumped off the spring as I saw him, and he flashed me a small smile as he went through the entrance to the playground. We quickly met in the middle, and he smiled at me shyly as we now only stood a few feet away from each other. I could also feel the heat rise to my cheeks.
"Hey"
"Hey"
A small breeze ran over the area as we stood there awkwardly.
"S-So what did you want to talk about?"
So he decided to break the question. I gulped down my spit and squeezed my left arm with my right hand, before pulling myself together.
"W-Well, do you remember you asking me out before going to GGO?"
"Yeah, of course I do, Shino" he mumbled nervously as he rubbed his arm "H-How about it? Have you found an answer?"
I gulped down my spit from nervousness and blushed as I nodded.
"Y-Yeah" I mumbled silently, barely even able to look him straight in the eye "Well, do you remember when we first met? That time you saved me from those girls?"
He nodded quietly and smiled a little, scratching his neck nervously as the sun shone from behind him. It darkened his features, since he was facing away from the sun, but it also gave him a resonance of higher substance.
He blushed a little as I took a step forward.
"W-Well, I think…" I mumbled, barely audible due to my nervousness "I think I've had an answer for your question ever since then… I just didn't know I did, not before now"
"W-Well?" He mumbled quietly, visibly getting anxious "What's your answer?"
I blushed dark red and felt goosebumps roll over my arms and my legs as I finally braced myself.
"M-My answer is yes, Kyouji" I mumbled as I tried a small smile "I-I'd love to go out with you"
You could literally see the happiness roll over his face, and the anxious and confused expression he had worn was instantly washed away by the excitement and pure joy of relief that replaced it.
He smiled widely and instantly burst forward, catching me off guard and pulling me in for a tight hug. I blushed dark red as I felt the same embrace wrap around me as I did the first time I met him. He hadn't changed a bit. His jacket still smelled of the same bad deodorant it had back then, but to be honest, now that I experienced it again, I realized that I had missed it.
I smiled quietly after recovering from my surprise and wrapped my arms around his waist as well, before looking up at him with a blush.
"Are you going to plan something?"
"H-Huh?"
"Well, for our date of course" I said with a small blush "Isn't it the guy who's supposed to plan that sort of stuff?"
"I-I don't know…"
I could physically feel how his body began to heat up, and I chuckled quietly at his embarrassment. Not that I was much better either.
"Hey, it's me, right?" I said with a small smile "You know me. You can act like you always do around me"
He nodded quietly and rubbed his shoulder softly.
"Yeah, I-I know" he mumbled with a small smile "Sorry Shino, I'm just not used to this kind of thing"
"Yeah, me either" I mumbled with a small smile "But let's take it slow, and see what happens over time, okay? No need to be nervous"
He nodded quietly and smiled. I felt his arm move and I blushed as I felt his hand snake it's way into mine, before giving it a small squeeze. I smiled and squeezed back.
"Let's go home for now, okay?" I mumbled after we had stood there for a while "It's getting late, and we can go home to plan our date. Sound good?"
He was pretty silent from there, but at least he smiled and nodded as an answer. I smiled and nodded back before leading him back out of the playground. I smiled and took his hand in mine shyly, before leading him back to my tiny apartment.
As we stepped into the entranceway, he smiled and politely took his shoes off before going in, though I never cared much for small things like that. I smiled and lead him in as I pulled off my jacket as well.
"Make yourself at home" I said with a small smile "Do you want some tea?"
"Don't you want me to make it?" He asked politely.
"No it's okay" I said as I grabbed the kettle and a couple of teabags "You've always sucked at nifty stuff like this"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, it's true" I said with a giggle "You literally ruined three bags of tea, trying to prepare them back when you rescued me from those girls"
"That's true" He admitted with a blush and a small chuckle "Though, I'm older now. I can actually make tea just fine"
No doubt that you can" I said with a smile "But just let me do it okay? It will only take a few seconds"
"Fine" He said with a soft smile "I'll just try to find your dirty little secrets instead"
I blushed dark red and looked back at him in shock.
"W-What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"
~Later that same day~
I smiled quietly and sat up on my bed. I looked over at Kyouji, who at some point had fallen asleep and now was lying quietly beside me. When did we fall asleep anyway?
I looked up at the digital clock on my nightstand. The time was 10:30. It was pretty late already.
"Kyouji?" I asked quietly as I shook his arm "It's time to go home and get some real rest"
I shook his arm a bit more until he finally woke up, and he yawned and stretched a little before looking at me, a small blush rising on his cheeks. I guess it was from how close we had lied on my bed.
"Do I really have to go back home?" He mumbled quietly "My parents are working late again today, you know?"
"Yeah, but still. Wouldn't it seem a little…" I blushed quietly, carefully considering my next words "suggestive, if you stayed over here?"
"To who? My parents? No one should care, Shino"
He said it so matter-of-factly that I couldn't help but kind of agree with his argument. It was true, we could pretty much do what we wanted without anyone had to care, at least as long as it was legal.
"Okay, you can stay. But just for tonight, okay? We have to go to school after all"
He nodded quietly and smirked.
"That's in two days though. We could stay up all night if we wanted"
"You're right, and we properly just had all night's worth of sleep" I mumbled, having to agree "So, do you want to stay up and do something?"
"We could eat snacks and watch scary movies all night! Just like we used to do!"
"That sounds like a good idea actually. Alright, you stay here and see if I have anything lying around we can eat. Then I will go buy drinks, okay?"
He nodded and smirked before jumping out of bed. I did the same, and immediately headed for the entryway, before pulling on my jacket and shoes and heading out into the busy street.
I have to admit, I was excited at the idea. The only thing was maybe it was so late nothing was open anymore that day. But I wasn't that worried. Some gas station had to be open or something.
Even at night the city was as buzzling and lively as it could be. It reminded me a lot of the spawning city in GGO, in many ways.
I quickly found an open place and bought a big pack of sodas, Kyouji's favorite, before heading home. On the way though, I met a couple of nasty obstacles. I could instantly recognize them, though they all naturally had grown and matured. It was the same girls who used to traumatize me when I was younger.
It wasn't planned. We coincidently bumped into each other in the busy street.
"Hey! Who do we have here!?"
Their leader, smirked quietly and took a firm grip in my arm. I growled a bit and tried to resist, but they quickly dragged me along to the same playground I had been on with Kyouji earlier that day.
"Now now, we're all friends here, right? We just want a friendly chat"
I knew that was bullshit of course, but I had no choice but to follow along. They were three against one, and even if I would have tried to resist, they would certainly overwhelm me.
They put me in the swing and I glared up at them, my drinks neatly put by the side of the swingset.
"What do you want?!"
"Do we need a reason to mess you up?" The girl in the middle said with a smirk "You killed someone, I'd only be appropriate for justice to be served"
I growled up at them with hatred in my eyes and lashed out at them, a strike which they easily dodged by stepping backwards.
"You wouldn't know justice if it walked up to you and hit you in the face" I snarled at them, pissed they were still after me "Do you guys really have that little of a life, that you need to pick on someone smaller and weaker than you?"
"Shut up" the girl in the middle growled at me softly as she kicked at my hand "We might have to resort to some tougher tactics"
She pulled the backpack she had on her back onto her arm, before rummaging in it a little. After a while, she pulled out something I'd rather never have been near again.
She held a gun. Not a real one, though plastic. I was immediately convinced it was one of the airsoft guns I had heard of. It looked just like a normal pistol, except whenever you would take a closer look, you could easily see it was made of plastic. I had heard several bank robberies had been attempted with those things, though luckily, all was failed.
That didn't matter much to me though. The trauma I had went through as a child was quickly triggered, and I could feel my stomach turn around itself, and my legs turn into jelly. My knees and teeth began shaking and I collapsed onto my knees as I stared up at the fake gun in complete hysteria.
"What are you doing!? Take that thing away!" I screamed at her, most of all wanting to turn away and close my eyes.
"Not so tough now, are you?" The girl said with a sadistic smirk. I couldn't even avert my eyes as she brought the barrel closer to my forehead.
Just as she put the finger to the trigger, and my fear was at it's peak, just before they could achieve the total humiliation of me that they wanted so badly, a yell suddenly cut sharply through the silence like a knife.
"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!"
I looked up with a fearful expression, and saw Kyouji stand by the entrance to the playground. I widened my eyes as he ran straight towards the three girls, and sucker punched the girl with the gun across the cheek, sending her sprawled onto the ground with a thud.
The two other girls looked at Kyouji with their glares and stood in front of their leader protectively as she got back onto her feet.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" She growled at him as he helped me onto my feet.
He was staring at them with a defying look and was about to stomp over to them, when I took his arm. I shook my head at him and stepped in front of him, before gathering my resolve and stomping over to the girls myself. I shoved away the two girls before taking a firm grip in the shirt of their leader and pulling her upper body upwards menacingly.
"If you EVER touch me again, I do not know what I will do to you, do you understand me!? I've killed before, and I can kill again!"
She looked up at me with a shocked expression before scooting to her feet and running out of the playground, followed close behind by her two puppies, and ran down the street as fast as they possibly could. I huffed quietly and dusted off my clothes, before looking over at Kyouji, who was looking at me with a stunned expression on his face.
"H-How did.. Did you…?" He mumbled as he stared at me.
I blushed quietly and looked away.
"I had to stand up for myself for once" I mumbled quietly as I rubbed my arm "You can't save me everytime someone has something on me"
"Then, why now? Why not earlier?" He asked as he finally stepped up to my side.
"Because… I didn't have the courage back then" I mumbled quietly as I blushed "But now that you're here… God, you're making this so hard to admit"
"W-Well, uhm… I'm happy to help?" He asked in a slightly confused tone.
I nodded quietly and smiled a little at his nervous tone and chuckled.
"Come on, let's go home"
And with that, we walked home, me making sure to pick up the drinks I had left by the side of the swing set. Before we turned the corner of the sidestreet though, I blushed as I felt Kyouji's protective embrace around my shoulders.
´I guess…. Today really was a good day´
A/N
Hey guys! It's Dragondemolition, and I'm finally back bitches!
I've already explained the reason for my absence, so no reason for that. Instead, I want to provide some information for you guys.
KIRITOASUNA22 brought quite the nice question from the last chapter's review into view.
And that was, if I was going to be releasing a chapter for each of my fanfics every month, or just a single chapter from only ONE of my fanfics.
And sadly, I have to say, I will only be posting one random fanfic chapter. I simply just won't have time to make youtube videos, while at the same time keeping enough inspiration to keep up 3 fanfics at the same time. That's too much on my mind, and I hope you guys understand. Though it really depends on how much time I have on my hands. Sometimes I might only post once a month, other times I might upload 2 or even 3 chapters. It depends how much time in a month I have.
Now that, that is out of the way, I want to thank you guys.
The support in my absence has been absolutely incredible. The amount of nice and supporting messages I have received from you guys has just been enormous, and there is no way my little heart can contain the amount of love I have for you guys.
You are the reason I continue to do what I love to do, and I can't thank you enough.
So thank you guys so much for reading and watching my content, and I hope to see you guys once again, next month.
Peace out guys 3