Ch. 19

As I flopped back to the bed, I heard Nemu walking around her room. She had given up on asking. Instead she just walked around her room, upset. I knew that I was hurting her, but I thought that telling her would only make it worse. It had been almost a month. I threw up almost every night. Nemu no longer left her room.

I heard my computer ping, letting me know I had an email. I opened it. It was from Clark, Nemu's cousin, who was currently living in the states.

I read it aloud, as I had anything as of late.

"Dear Neko. I just wanted to tell you that you need to snap out of it. Last night Nemu talked to me via video call. She is a wreck. I don't know what you are hiding, but it can't possibly be worse than as she thinks. She thinks that the people that you killed are coming back to haunt you. She is falling apart. Even what she thinks is true, you need to tell her. Let her help. Not knowing is eating her more than the knowledge ever could. Please, let her help. Also, don't tell her that I told you. I was supposed to keep my mouth shut. Please, Clark."

I sat looking at my computer with shock. I knew I was hurting her, but not that bad. I decided to tell her after my visit to the states. However, I needed to coax her out of her room. We would be going in a bit. She needed to pack.

"Nemu?" I called through the paper door.

"Can you come out please?" I heard her snuffle. Shit.

"I will in ten minutes." I heard her get up and head to the bath. I went to the kitchen to wait. When Nemu finally walked in half an hour later, she looked ok. Except for the eyes. The showed just how bad she was hurt.

"Nemu, you need to pack. We are going to the airport in the morning." She just nodded.

"Nemu, what is wrong. Tell me please." She visibly broke down. I jumped up and sat her down at the table. I filled a glass with water and gave it to her. She barely sipped it.

"Nemu, what is wrong?" At first she seemed hesitant. Then, seeming to make up her mind, she looked up.

"You are the problem. Why won't you tell me why you throw up every night?! Don't you trust me?! After all we went through together?!" she practically screamed at me.

"Nemu, I am sorry about that. And I will tell you when we get back. But first, we need to get ready to go to the states. If you promise to leave it for the duration of the trip, I will tell you when we get back. Alright?"

"F-Fine. But you have to let me help alright?"

"Sure." I wanted to get this over with. But the visit to states was more immediate. Then I will deal with this.

As we left the house the next day, Nemu's parents were visibly relived. Nemu had finally perked up. She was back to old self. Annoying as ever.

"Neko, what is a plane ride like? I have never been on one!" she said excitedly. I smiled, seeing how happy she was.

"It is just like a car. To be honest, I went on them a lot before SAO." She looked at me with wonder.

The walkway bridge to board the plane pulled back. Then the plane started backward. Nemu seemed a bit spooked by this, but recovered quickly. However, when the pilot revved the engines for takeoff, Nemu paled a bit. Then we started to race down the runway. The pilot suddenly rammed the engines to full. I was used to take off, so I knew how loud the engines got. Nemu didn't. All the blood ran from her face, and she grasped on to my arm like if she let go she would die.

"Nemu, calm down, the engines are supposed to do that. If they didn't, we would go too slow to take off."

"S-S-Still!" she stuttered.

Her reaction was the same when we landed. She didn't think that they reversed the engines to slow us down. She was terrified.

"Wow. Just wow. You are positively terrified of planes." I teased.

"S-Shut up." she hissed. I laughed. As we got our bags, I thought I saw something. Turning, I looked at a man to my left. But there was nothing weird about him. Huh.

"Neko? Something wrong?" I shook my head.

"No, just thought I saw something. It was nothing."

"Ok."

We were in a taxi, headed for my house, when I thought I recognized someone on the street. But before I could identify him, he zipped by. I shook myself.

Then as we got out in front of the house, I saw him again. He was the first man I had killed. Then I blinked, and he was gone. Shit. I was hallucinating now. I shooed Nemu into the house, wanting to get into my room and hide. But my family had other ideas. They made the intros long and drawn out. He appeared twice while I sat in the living room, handling introductions. Finally, I managed to get upstairs to my room and closed the door.

When Neko ran up to his room without even a glance in my direction, I knew something was wrong. Really wrong. But, I had promised to stay out of it until the trip was over. Then I would force him to spill. Willingly or no. In the meantime, I got to know his family. It was just his parents and his older sister, but they were cheerful. Then I noticed something on the display case. Noticing my interest, his mother stood up and beckoned me over. I walked over.

It was a nerve gear. The paint had chipped off, and the was visor busted. But I could recognize it. It was what had trapped me in that death game. This one must have been Neko's. Next to it sat a plaque. It read: 'In a game, almost 4,000 players died. When they died, they died in the real world as well. Those that survived it, lost two years of their lives to that world. This game was called Sword Art Online. The game's interface and executioner was the Nerve Gear. This one, thankfully, never fulfilled it's execution duty. However, many a nerve gear did. This plaque, although small, is displayed in remembrance of those that were lost.'.

I felt a sharp pain shoot through me. This, this is what killed so many. My nerve gear was taken by my parents the day I woke up. I never saw it again. They wanted to put the past behind me, and have me focus on the future. I don't blame them. But Neko's parents didn't toss it. Instead they made a small shrine of it. To remember, to think back, to realize just how lucky they were. Neko's parents were very, very different from mine.