The Captive Swordsman

Chapter 10— One Foot Forward

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Original Title: Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)

Original Concept by: Kawahara Reki

written by: wrathie

Author's Notes: Thank you, bowpurity for the beta!

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Yuuki Shouzou, the CEO of Recto Progress found himself listening to something that he could never have dreamed off. As the CEO of a very successful organization, he prided himself in being able a good judge of character while being impartial, far as well as to never betray his own personal values of being fair, patient, as well as understanding to everyone and anyone who raised an issue to him.

But even he was caught flat-footed by what his daughter had produced and placed to him in absolute privacy and confidentiality in his own office. Even if Shouzou's first and initial reaction was utter denial that Nobuyuki Sugou could be such an individual, even going to the lengths to blackmail and threaten his daughter, he suppressed those feelings for more practical ones, like reaffirming that the tape was not doctored, or fabricated in order to get out of marrying Nobuyuki Sugou.

Shouzou had his doubts on that, he knew his daughter well and she was an individual just as stubbornly noble like how his fellow friends, rivals and admirers in the top management had called him. His daughter, Yuuki Asuna would not resort to underhanded means to discredit someone that she disliked, especially since she had already plainly shown her dislike of him.

'… You did not create this tape to implicate Nobuyuki-kun to get out of the engagement, did you, Asuna?'

His tone was controlled as he smoothed his expression to one that he wore while conducting official business, and it seemed that her daughter could sense the not-so-subtle shift in her father's attitude and personality for Asuna had adjusted herself as well, her back was now up straight and she was meeting his eyes firmly with no signs of wavering. Even if it was rude to do meet the eyes of a superior in the eyes in the eastern cultural norms, he had always stressed to his family that they should never back away from their own convictions and should never question themselves if they were right.

He was heartened that his lessons had been driven home to Asuna as his daughter shook her head to his question.

'It happened exactly like how the conversation detailed it did. I was visiting Kirito-kun last night when I found him visiting Kirito-kun as well. The rest... I don't like it father, I know he's saying the truth and he's keeping Kirito-kun from waking up somehow.'

Unfortunately for Asuna, Shouzou had very little technical knowledge and know-how on the 'full-dive' technology that had been developed by Kayaba Akihiko and was maintained by Nobuyuki Sugou, and as such was unable to immediately verify his claims.

'Regardless of whether it is the truth or not, does not matter now. What matters to me now is what you are planning to do about this, Asuna. At the very least, the tape is suggesting that Nobuyuki-kun is blackmailing you to marry him. It is something that I cannot condone, both as a person as well as your parent.'

'You believe me, don't you, father?'

Asuna smiled in relief for a second but when she saw that her father was still wearing the same grim expression on his face as he ran through the facts in his head.

'Even if I do, Asuna, there are several very serious charges that was hinted throughout the entire conversation. … Even if you do wish for us to take action, it would take time for us to gather the evidence needed to firm a case against Nobuyuki-kun.'

'B-But, why? He all but admitted to me that he was behind all of it!'

Asuna had stood up in her panic, or perhaps in disbelief and Shouzou was about to ask Asuna to calm down when he noticed that she was already doing just that, swallowing her anger and sitting down again. Shouzou felt a sense of warmth grow within his chest at seeing first hand how much his daughter had grown.

'That might appear so, however all of this is circumstantial. And as it is circumstantial, we would only have both yours and his testimonials to judge and compare against. And honestly, Asuna, from the way you treated Nobuyuki-kun... you are in the disadvantage. I am your father, and I trust you when you answered my question earlier. However, that might not be the case for those who would be investigating this case. You have a stronger motive to implicate Nobuyuki-kun, and as the 'Full-Dive' technology that is being contested is under the control of Nobuyuki-kun, any case or action that is taken against him would have to be strong enough to ensure that he is arrested or taken into custody before he could act on those threats that was detailed in the conversation.'

Asuna's father's words were similar to what Agil-san had told Asuna, and she found herself shivering in disbelief at how it had all turned out for naught in the end. That was enough to cause her to have some doubt in her heart before she looked up to see her father still staring at her intensively.

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Asuna had seen her father talk-shop a few times when he was visited by some of his fellow partners in their home, and in those few occasions, she had seen a totally different side from the gentle and soft-spoken person that she associated with.

Her father was in a very high position in the organisation, and befitting of his position, he commanded both the authority, the knowledge as well as the determination, ability and courage to translate intent into action and then results.

Her father was challenging, and asking Asuna whether she was a chip off the old block, whether she had the same intent he could muster when he set his mind out to do what he had set out to accomplish, turning intent into real results.

Of course she did, she had already promised Suguha as well as her fellow clearers in SAO that she did not want any regrets, that she did not want to remember that she had backed down and had fallen prey to her own fear when it was obviously the time to act.

'Asuna. I believe you. But this is a hard battle, both for you and for me. Do you still want to start it, or rather... do you want to participate in it? I, no, we can take over from here as well.'

The chance of failure was quite high, and even if Asuna was hedging a lot of that risks by taking as many precautions that she could, it was also true that there were elements that were totally out of her control, and that was not even considering the cards in Sugou's hands as well.

He was the dealer, and even if he had slipped up and revealed a few cards by his reckless flaunting, that didn't mean that Asuna's cards were any better than his.

In fact, she couldn't even reveal any of his cards... or perhaps he had already seen the cards in her hands, thus his confidence when showing his own. There were many scenarios that Agil-san and Thinker-san had detailed before, the same scenarios that had obviously been considered by her father.

Hence him suggesting that she step away from this now, and let him handle everything for her. It was a tempting offer, one that might solve all of her problems, but at the same time...

'Father, please lend me your strength. I... would want to start this battle, and I would be participating it... Please support me as best as you could, father. There are things that only I can do with my friends, and there are things that father could do that could help us. We... I, want to end it in our own terms. I told father that Sword Art Online was not a game, it is something that is very precious to all of us, the players who were trapped into it... and...'

There was a pause as Asuna took a deep breath before smiling at her father confidently, causing him to blink a few times in surprise at the faith Asuna had in herself.

'Its not over till everyone is back. Even if it's only one person, Sugou-san is still trampling on our memories, suffering, happiness and everything else about Sword Art Online that made everyone who they were after Sword Art Online. So please, father, help us, but do not leave us out!'

..

Kirigaya Suguha wiped the sweat off her forehead as she removed the protective headgear she had been wearing for her Kendo practise while trying to cool down.

It hadn't been a good practise session, but it hadn't been a bad one either. Suguha was embarrassed to admit that when she started practise, her thoughts had wandered to how she had seen Asuna fight against the Salamander troops the night before. Suguha was not embarrassed at all to admit that the way she handled combat been absolutely stunning and beautiful.

As compared to her own style which was more focused on practicality as well as set patterns rather than the loose and unpredictable style that she had seen, Suguha was unsure whether she should be jealous of Asuna for being able to execute her attacks with such flair and devastation even if she never trained in any kinds of sword form, or to applaud her natural talent at sword play.

That moment of conflict was enough for her to lose focus and to be chewed out by her instructor for not gathering her focus in practise today.

But when she had re-focused herself, she found herself imagining that Asuna was in front of her, her rapier held in front of her in a challenging moment even as Suguha swung her sword in front of her in the same practised patterns that she was focusing on today. Suguha was proud of her accomplishments in ALO, she was no doubt one of the fastest of the entire Sylph race, and had very good results in the various competitions that she had participated in ALO.

There was no surprise that what she learnt in Kendo had been liberally utilized in ALO as well, even if it swinging swords on firm ground and fighting in the air was a totally different thing altogether. Like Asuna, Suguha preferred to end and start duels on firm ground, but through experience, she had gotten much better in fighting in air as well. Choosing Sylph as her race was a good choice as well as the race specialized more in speed rather than all out attacks like the Salamanders or the magically focused Undine Races. That said, Suguha had learnt spells that were more focused on support rather than the offensive that was available to the Sylphs. The Sylphs may have considerable weaker magical attack potential than the Salamanders and have weaker healing potential than their Undine counterparts, but it was also true that the Sylphs had both of those capabilities and was the best in raising parameters of their own stats magically speaking.

'Good job today, Suguha.'

One of her kendo mates gave her a tired smile even as she slunk off towards the showers to bathe, leaving Suguha to her own thoughts as she wondered what did she really feel about Asuna. It was very very conflicting indeed.

..

'Good afternoon, Leafa-chan~'

Apparently the matter that Asuna had to confront her father with had ended earlier than she had expected, and Asuna had called Suguha almost immediately after that to arrange a time for them to meet.

Unfortunately, she had been besieged by Recon or Nagata Shinichi, her classmate who had wanted to know whether they'll be partying today in ALO as well. Suguha didn't really dislike Recon, but at times his inability to stand up for himself made her feel a little frustrated when he was speaking with her. Then again, she was also conscious that perhaps her time in the Kendo club did make her look more than intimidating when she starts lecturing others. A trait that might have double the effect on Shinichi, which was kind of ironic since he had been the one who was her mentor until she had surpassed him in ALO.

Suguha had been a little worried that he would be upset or bitter at her about that, but as he hadn't seemed to mind, and he was still more knowledgeable about dungeons and monsters due to him being one of the best in tracking and scouting in the entire Sylph race, she still frequently teamed up with him in ALO.

However this time Shinichi was less inviting and more 'asking' her presence in the team that had been created by Sigurd, the assistant of Sylph Race Lord, to train and hunt monsters together. The dream of all players in ALO was to scale Yggdrasil and to change their entire race to Astrals, allowing them have unlimited flying time. Flying wasn't unique to VRMMORPGs, but ALO had the best interface and the best system to enjoy flying. The only cons of the system was the limited flying time for all the races and players, and this would be remedied by climbing Yggdrasil and seeking an audience with the Fairy King to turn them all into the Astral Race.

Leafa was one of those players who would die to do that as she loved the sensation of flying and was more than happy to party with people to try and get better to further those goals. However, in this case, the assistant lord, Sigurd, had more or less strong-armed her into the party to challenge the harder dungeons in ALO. Leafa normally wouldn't mind, but she did dislike how he liked to behave as though she belonged to him, ordering her like a subordinate instead of a team-mate.

This had led to her reminding him repeatedly that she had defeatedhim in a few of the Sylph Fighting tournaments, the painful reminder enough to cause him to stop ordering her around for a short while.

In short, Leafa really didn't like teaming up with Sigurd, and she only agreed to do so due to political pressure. She had also made it clear to him that she would only join up if she was free to leave and go as and when she wanted, she had other friends to play with in ALO after all.

Apparently what was agreed on fell on deaf ears and she had to explain to Recon that she was going to party with Asuna instead to head to Yggdrasil before losing him on the way back home.

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'Good afternoon, Leafa nee-chan~'

Yui popped her head out from the pocket she was hiding in before flying towards Leafa with a happy smile. Asuna had logged in earlier and had taken some time to actually go around the place, checking the equipment and getting a few spares and extras for her own use before Leafa logged on herself.

Yui had been very happy to meet her Mama, and they had spent quite an enjoyable time chatting with each other during her little shopping spree, much to the confusion of the many people who thought she was speaking to herself out loud. But Asuna really didn't care at this point.

Her shopping spree had ended up with her wearing a played crafted set of one piece armor that was similar in design to the one she had worn in SAO. Although it was one that was decorated with white with black markings instead of white and red, Asuna was also able to accept it more as in her a burst of romantic fanaticism, she was able to picture it as a bond that she shared with Kirito.

She had always been dressed predominantly in white after all, and if Kirito-kun was in black... this new armor's design was totally fitting to their relationship!

Now to get Kirito a matching set with black and white markings instead!

'Ah, Yui-chan~ Good afternoon~'

Leafa smiled happily at her niece, or perhaps her little sister as she waved at Asuna cheerfully as well. Leafa did take note of how Asuna's shopping trip went and smiled appreciatively when Asuna quipped that she had upgraded her armors and weapons to the best of her ability.

'I wasn't sure whether I'll get ripped off, but this armor is just perfect! So I had to get it!'

Asuna had sparkles in her eyes even as she spun around to show off her clothes, making Leafa giggle as she nodded in understanding.

'Well, customization has always been something that all players love to dabble in. I took a while before I decided on mine though.'

Leafa thoughtfully mentioned even as she held her long skirt up a little, looking at it fondly while Yui commented that the two of them were very beautiful.

'Aww, thank you, Yui-chan~ Mama will buy you some sweets later on, okay? Even better, I'll make sandwiches if I can borrow a kitchen.'

Asuna beamed at her daughter even as Leafa blushed as well, looking a little self conscious before shaking her head and grinning as well.

'Well, with maxed cooking skills, I guess no one could beat Asuna-san in the kitchen~'

'Mm! Papa always drools when waiting for Mama to cook too!'

'Ohh~ I wish I could see that!'

'Haha~ The way to Kirito-kun's heart could lie in his stomach after all. But I won't relinquish that title so easily!'

Asuna pumped a hand into the air, looking and enjoying herself in the game as though nothing was wrong even if the clock was still ticking down.

...

Asuna had not been idle after the meeting with her father, after she had gotten his cooperation and his aid in the matter, where he would start internal investigations, Asuna had contacted the rest as well through the forum that they had set-up in MMO Today.

They weren't allowed, or rather, it was silly of them to announce their intentions so openly to everyone. To do so would not only jeopardize the entire operation but also cause negative publicity for MMO Today as well, so they had all agreed on a few selected code-words when speaking about topics in the new sub-forum that was created within the forums of MMO Today.

Asuna had created a new thread detailing that she had started on another 'avenue' with another 'party' and was conducting a 'raid' with different methods in the game just today. The people who were in the know would be able to pick up on what Asuna had set about to do today and to give their comments on the way forward as well.

Asuna had also been heartened to see that thread dedicated to the mystery dungeon in the roots of Yggdrasil had became quite active, and there had been many comments and tips from players who were not part of the group in the thread as well, there were those who were commenting to wish them luck while others to simply ask if they could help as well.

Things were moving on, even if it's slowly, but they were indeed moving on.

'Let's go, Asuna-san. If we set off now, we might even be able to reach Lugloo before dinner. We could have a look around the equipment there as well, Asuna-san.'

Leafa spoke casually even as the two of them made their way to the tower, which would help the take off for the long-distance flight. Apparently their destination was quite some distance away and it would be best to take of from high ground to shave some time off the ascent.

'Oohh... Right, I'm not that used to flying after all. Gomen neh, Leafa-chan.'

'Coming from an individual who could keep up with me going full out all the time, Asuna-san, that's not convincing at all.'

Leafa pouted even as Asuna shook her head, admitting that she still had difficulty landing after all.

'Ah, well, we can work on that later on again.'

Leafa laughed cheerfully while scratching her head, dismissing a worried Asuna's concerns even as they entered the tower. The tower itself was packed with people, and Asuna was a little disappointed when Yui hid herself into Leafa's pocket to hide herself even as she unconsciously started to walk nearer to Leafa.

It was something that she only did when she sensed that she was being watched constantly, and like before, it wasn't that hard to see why they were quite attention grabbing.

Two very beautiful female players going on a party together by themselves was quite rare after all, and one of them being one of the winners of the Sylph Fighting Tournament meant that she was already used to it. Asuna however, wasn't as comfortable due to the new surroundings as well as the curious looks that the players were shooting her.

Asuna didn't even notice when she started schooling her expression to something similar to what she wore as the deputy commander of the Knights of the Blood.

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'There's the place~'

Leafa replied cheerfully even as she tugged Asuna towards the elevator, only for her to pause and wince when she heard another voice calling out to her.

'Leafa.'

It was Sigurd, and she pressed down the frown on her face even as she turned to greet him politely.

'Sigurd-san, good afternoon.'

The tall Sylph player nodded in acknowledgment even as Leafa turned to look at him advancing towards them with two other members, members which Leafa remembered to be his lackeys for they obeyed his every command.

'Is it true that you'll be leaving the party?'

'Yeah, I'll be doing that.'

Leafa answered evenly as Asuna tried to wrap her mind around the situation here. When they had met up together, the first thing Leafa had did was to ask Asuna to join her party, apparently quitting her other one in a jiffy. There were times when she had simply ignored messages or calls from other players up till now. Asuna frowned at that, was Leafa really ignoring her friends to party with her and help her?

Then again, Asuna also reasoned that it was probably not the case. Leafa was a nice girl, and well, she couldn't imagine a nice girl like Leafa/Suguha, to not be popular amongst her friends. Asuna trusted that Leafa if she could, she would have tried to explain the situation to them and not just simply ignore them when they called or messaged her.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that Asuna was once also female player who had been aggressively courted by guilds or players alike for both her strength and her beauty. Leafa/Suguha had both of that, and Asuna frowned even more when the conversation got even more heated up.

'Did it even occur to you that it might cause trouble for the other members?'

'You did promise me that I could participate at my convenience and leave whenever I wanted, didn't you?'

Leaf explained evenly even as Yui popped her head out of Leafa's pocket, the conversation no doubt agitating Leafa even as Asuna walked closer to her, even subtly squeezing her hand behind her back calm her down.

'But everyone knows that you're a member of my party and won't invite you to join theirs. We did finalize this with Sakuya-san, didn't we?'

Sigurd gave a stern glare to Leafa that she returned, all the while Asuna was looking from one party to another helplessly. She was also glad that she wasn't being targeted due to this, but was also slightly disappointed, if she had been targeted, she might be able to defuse this situation. Well, maybe anyway.

'It'll also affect my reputation if you just leave on a whim, Leafa.'

Asuna tensed when Leafa expressed a complicated expression on her face, but honestly, Asuna had enough. Perhaps there were things going on that she didn't quite understand. Politics were, well, politics and were extremely hard to keep track off. Not to mention super complex and could be the most dangerous in the world, even more so than a sword at the back.

But regardless of what agreement had been made that caused Leafa to look so conflicted, Asuna didn't care. For he had said something that was utterly selfish to Asuna, and to Kirito-kun as well. She should know, for the two of them had hammered the same sentiments into each other with different words, but similar feelings.

'That's being selfish of you, Sigurd-san.'

Asuna spoke up calmly, her eyes hardening even as Leafa started at her sudden interruption.

'If you are only concerned about your reputation, then I'm glad that I asked Leafa to party with me for a short while. With an attitude like that, you'll never earn the respect of those who are following you.'

Author's Notes: Thank you, for all of your support that you have given me so far! Really, thank you!