Omake 1
Nothing really plot driven in this chapter. Skip if you want. This is mostly to break up the first 3 episodes, which seemed designed to rip poor Kirito's heart out. Plus I've ended the first two episodes with Kirito being hugged. He needs a little fun, especially for what's coming next. I might use this again, to kind of give the characters to review what's been going on. Plus it's fun. :)
Kirito was surrounded, but in the good way. He was holding the two most important women in his life, and they were hugging him back. He pressed his nose into Asuna's hair. One of the best things of being back in reality, it was the return of the sense of smell. Sure there had been some manufactured scents in virtual reality, especially around food, but players didn't have scents. Since coming back he had discovered that Asuna smelled like rosemary and honey to him. It was really calming, and the humming was nice too. Wait, humming?
Kirito turned his head to listen. Between the soft melody and scent he was in almost trance. Words began to be sung along with the melody.
...Still not understanding why, I stand behind myself, scared. Projecting reality onto today.
The atmosphere had been so peaceful, until several gasps broke Kirito out of his trance. He and the girls immediately looked up at the others. Asuna slid out of Kirito's lap, and Leafa also broke the embrace. Asuna moved like she wanted to draw her sword, but settled for clenching her fists.
"Guys look at the screen." Klein called out while pointing to the previously black screen. Now there was a frozen image of two Asunas floating midair. One dressed in Asuna's armor in Sword Art Online, and the other dressed in more casual clothing. The two girls peered at each other, separated by a see through glass. Kirito narrowed his eyes, in the background he could see a village like many of the towns found in fantasy RPGs.
Kirito turned towards Klein. "Did another episode begin?"
"Naw man." Klein shook his head. "That's what's so creepy, the images just popped up, but they're not continuous like all the images. This one starts, stops, and then begins again. Not sure what exactly it's doing."
"Could it be because of the singing?" Sinon asked.
"What singing…Oh." Kirito blushed. Leafa had used to sing to herself all the time, at least until Kendo practice had taken up all of her time.
Klein grinned, and moved over to clap Kirito on the shoulder. "Got a little distracted huh? Can't blame you there pal. I know I would be if two lovely ladies were clinging to me like that. Plus, who knew the little lady over there could sing?" Now it was Leafa's turn to blush.
"Knock it off." Kirito pushed his over enthusiastic friend away.
"Still, it is odd that the projection system has all of sudden began to malfunction." Kayaba pointed out, bringing everyone back on topic.
"D-oo you really think it was because of my singing?" Leafa wondered aloud.
Sinon got up from her seat, and walked over to Leafa. "One way to find out. Try singing something." She stood shoulder to shoulder, silently giving her support.
Leafa quickly glanced at the others in the room. Kibaou was still out of it, and Kayaba just didn't seem to care. Everyone else was staring. She cleared her throat, and began to sing. "…This must be my fleeting heart…"
"Look it did it again." Klein shouted. Sure enough the image on screen had changed to the square in the Town of Beginnings. Now even Kibaou was becoming interested.
"So what? This thing responds to voice commands all of a sudden." Kibaou crossed his arms. "How does that help anything? We're still trapped."
Kirito shrugged. "You're right, but it breaks the pattern. So far we've had no choice in anything this thing shows us." He looked at the other six occupants. "We've all been passive observers. Now we have the opportunity to actually do something."
Asuna raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Yes, but does this thing only respond to singing?"
"Maybe so or maybe not. What we do know is that so far it has been responding to Leafa so far." He turned to his little sister. "That song you've been singing, what's it called?"
Leafa blushed. "I don't really know. You know that intro at the beginning of the episodes? It's from that."
"But we've only heard that music twice, and you've already memorized it?" Sinon teased while bumping shoulders with the blushing girl. "Nice hidden talent Leafa-chan."
"Great. We've established she can sing. Big whoop." Kibaou grumped.
Kirito scowled at the orangette. "What it means is that maybe the screen only responds to things from the show."
Klein laughed loudly. Kirito narrowed his eyes at the shit-eating grin that stole across his friend's face. "Klein…" Klein just ignored him, opened his mouth, and began to belt out another song.
"MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB, LITTLE LAMB. MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB WHOSE FLEECE…"
Klein didn't get to finish. He was double teamed. Asuna punched him, while Sinon took out his legs. Asuna stood over him, hands on her hips. "Never ever do that again." She glared when Klein just grinned up at her.
"As amusing as this juvenile behavior is. I don't think it had the effect you were looking for." Kayaba told them all, while pointing to the screen. The image had changed to a blue screen, with words reading out 'DOES NOT COMPUTE'.
"Hmm. I think you're right Sinon. The screen only changes to things coming from the images we've seen so far." Kirito pondered for a moment. "Maybe we can use that to find out what our mysterious benefactor wants us to see."
Klein, by this point had managed to sit back up. "Great idea. Hey,' screen thingie show us the image our shadowy friend wants us all to see."
The group waited with bated breath. The image on screen changed again. This time the screen turned white with black lettering that spelled out 'NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME'. Several disappointed sighs escaped everyone's lips. Apparently it wouldn't be so easy to escape as they all hoped.
"Useless." Kibaou grumbled. "What good is this thing if we can't use it show us what we want to see? So far all it's been good for karaoke."
Kayaba stood up. "As fascinating as this speculation is, I have another idea. Perhaps this screen cannot reveal anything we've not already seen before, like the advent of Sword Art Online." All the players turned toward the screen as the image changed again. A large red cloaked figure hovered over thousands of bodies in the main square of the Town of Beginnings. Kayaba smirked. "Well it seems I was correct."
"So we can review anything this thing shows us?" Sinon cocked her head to the side. "Like the songs at the beginning and end? Any past dialogue? We can watch any of the past events? That could…actually be pretty useful."
Kibaou harrumphed. "I still don't see how this is helpful AT ALL."
Sinon ignored the grumping, and held up three fingers. "First we can use this to review any material we might have missed while talking amongst ourselves. Second we can use this to clarify any questions about we've seen." Sinon smiled, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Plus there is the entertainment value."
Klein whooped. "You got that right sniper-chan. Let's see…we could do a montage of player's funniest moments."
Kirito huffed. "I would like to see you act your age just once." The image on screen changed to a picture of Klein with his arms crossed, right before Kirito was about to leave him behind.
"Ask and you shall receive." Asuna teased.
Klein wanted to get on the teasing too. "What about some of Kirito's funniest moments?" He huffed when the screen white again, 'NOT AVAILIABLE AT THIS TIME' being spelled out it black letters.
Kirito was ready for payback. "Show us some of Klein's more embarrassing moments." The screen changed again. First was an image of Klein sent flying by a boar monster. Shortly after another image appeared of Klein getting kneed in the groin. Another image appeared of Klein freaking over his pizza. Several more images appeared one after another, until they began to repeat. They played one after another in a loop. Even Kayaba cracked a smile at the absurdness that is the pink samurai.
Klein looked back at the black swordsman. "Yuck it up now. The screen said the images weren't available now, not that they couldn't show up in the future." Kirito nodded in response, a smirk playing on lips. Klein read that as challenge accepted.
The room quieted down when the images on the projector switched. A red screen with a countdown began. White letters on the top read 'COUNTDOWN TO NEXT EPISODE'. Everyone returned to their seats, preparing themselves for the next set of revelations.