Omake 2

Klein had just about enough of respectful silence. He stood up and clapped his hands together. Once everyone was watching, he mustered up the biggest smile he could. "Well…that was horrible."

Sinon raised an eyebrow. "You have a gift for understatement."

"Ah, shucks ma'am. I'm not much for speechifying, but I've got me an idea." His bad western accent earned him a few chuckles. He turned serious. "I was thinking that we all need a break, and in the spirit of Sachi we should hold a karaoke tournament."

Kirito shook his head in bemusement. "Seriously?"

Asuna stood up, and patted her boyfriend's shoulder. "I think it is a good idea." She swallowed her jealousy, and put on a smile. "She had a great voice. What better way to honor her memory?" The others easily accepted her encouragement, but Kirito was looking at her discernibly. She squeezed his shoulder to show she was okay. He didn't need to know about irrational emotion. She would get over it.

Kibaou grunted. "As long as that guy doesn't sing." He pointed towards Klein.

"Oi! I've got a great voice." Klein pouted.

Leafa chuckled. "Maybe if you actually sang instead of screamed it wouldn't be too bad." She got up and stretched. "I'm all for a little competition." She grinned predatorily at the group.

Klein took over from there. He set up matches for Kibaou vs Sinon, and Asuna vs Leafa. He tried to get Kayaba to join in, but one icy glare dissuaded him from trying. The winner would go against him in the final instead.

"Giving up the final match for ghost huh?" Sinon couldn't help but joke.

"Whatever. Just saving the best for last." He joked before sitting down next to Kirito.

Once the others were occupied, Kirito turned to Klein. "I'm guessing that there's something you wanted to say?"

"It wasn't for nothing." Klein told him, without meeting his eyes. Klein looked straight ahead, keeping up the appearance of being interested. Kirito copied him, pretending to watch the competition. "I'm sorry that the revival item couldn't bring back Sachi…"

Kirito cut him off. "It was never going to work. I knew that, some part of me always knew that. I just needed something to believe in. I needed some way to pay for my sins."

"Kirito, without you they never would have made it to that trap. You saved them once, and I am so sorry that you couldn't do it again. However, it wasn't your fault. That episode just proves it. You warned them not go to such a challenging dungeon. You tried to stop them from entering the hidden room. You defended them as best you could. The choices they made, was not your fault."

"Klein, I lied. I lied about who I was. What my real strength was. I even lied about my experience, if I hadn't…" Klein was the one to interrupt Kirito this time.

"If you had told them, they would have either recoiled from meeting a beater, or followed you around like a couple of sycophants. They wouldn't have been your friends. Eventually you would have told them, and they would have forgiven you."

Kirito looked sad, not relieved like Klein hoped. "Can we agree to disagree on that?" He tried to joke, but his smile was heartbreakingly fake.

"Sure." Klein rubbed his hair in frustration. "But, we're getting off topic. It wasn't your fault, and that revival item you tossed away saved us."

Kirito's eyes hardened, his protective instincts coming to bear. "What happened?"

Klein took a deep breath. "Do you remember the raid on PKers like Laughing Coffin?"

Kirito laughed. "Remind me to tell you about how that came back to bite us in the ass."

"Anyway our guild stuck together, targeting people in groups. Right after we subdued one, and we were going back for more. However, they only pretended to go down. As soon as we turned our backs…He stabbed Dale. You remember him right? He was at the congratulatory party."

Kirito smiled. "The one with the white headband, and a bow in the middle? Last time I saw him, he didn't look like a zombie."

Klein laughed, clutching his stomach. "Yeah, that's the one." He wiped a tear before continuing on. "I can't tell you how many times we teased him over choice in accessories. He still wears one, even in real life. Well the Laughing Coffin guy got a dagger right through Dale's digital heart. His HP dropped so fast, there was no time to stick a potion in him. Issin got the guy in the back, he shattered while I caught my friend. He had already gotten into the red zone before I remembered the little glass orb you had given me. I had kept it for luck. No the real luck was that I even remembered that item when I was so panicked. It took me forever to find it in my inventory. Dale had broken into pixels by the time I found it. I prayed so hard that I could activate the darn thing in time. It was amazing when he just popped back, like nothing had happened." Klein paused to wipe another tear. "I don't think anyone else noticed. It was so chaotic. If any of the other guilds noticed, I'm sure we would have gotten a lot of flack for keeping such a lifesaving item for ourselves."

Kirito was confused. "So why tell me now?"

Klein turned to face his friend. "Because you need to hear how you did save someone. Maybe not the person you wanted to, but without that reckless charge on a boss my friend wouldn't be here. My entire guild Fuurinkazan wouldn't be here without you. No one in that entire death game would be here without you. So thank you. Thank you so very much."

Kirito didn't know what to say, and Klein needed a minute to compose himself. So the two friends sat in companionable silence for a while. Just watching their friends, and frenemies having a bit of fun. When the preliminary matches were done, Klein grabbed ahold of his friend, and dragged him closer to the screen. "Hey, guys how about one more match before the finals?"

Leafa clapped her hands in delight. "Perfect." Asuna nodded her head. Even Kibaou was grinning. Klein pushed the sputtering swordsmen front and center. He glared at all of them, but no one came to his rescue.

Klein put one hand on his hip, and pointed to the screen. "Roll it!" Then the two men began singing to the tune of the introduction song. Kirito didn't give it his all, not a first. He spoke the words for a while, the volume increasing the longer the song played. Klein sang his heart out. When they finished, the room went silent.

Asuna grabbed Kirito's shoulder. Her face was extremely serious. "That was…AWFUL." The whole room broke out into laughter. Even Kayaba cracked a smile. Kirito turned the color of a tomato. Klein just grinned, and let the insult roll off his back. Klein hadn't screamed the lyrics this time, but his voice was pretty rough. Kirito had a nice mellow voice, but he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. It was determined that both singers were out, leaving Leafa the karaoke champion.

It was with much lighter hearts that everyone returned to their seats. The red screen was back, and in a couple of seconds the next episode was ready to start.

I felt like we needed a happy moment after the past tragedy. Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long. Hope you all enjoyed the update!