Chapter 2: S-F Day
Kazuto was disoriented. His memories were a confused jumble.
Where am I?
Slowly his eyes started to focus. He saw a smiling girl sitting next to him that he did not recognize.
It felt like he was still in a dream. Who was she? She wasn't Asuna. Was it Suguha? No, the face and hair were off. Could it be Yui? No, that was impossible.
"Who are you?"
"It's me, Sachi."
"Sachi?"
No, that was even more impossible.
"Yes. I have been taking care of you this whole time. You are finally home."
No, totally impossible.
Then he understood. I must be having that nightmare again.
He had seen Sachi so many times in his bad dreams. It was always in slow motion: The booby-trapped locked room, the horde of dark dwarf miners and granite elementals that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the Moonlit Black Cats being overwhelmed. Ducker dieing instantly under an onslaught of pickaxes, then Tetsuo, then Sasamaru, leaving Sachi and Kirito surrounded.
In his nightmares he was always yelling as he lunged to try save Sachi, but he could never reach her in time. Over and over he saw it happen. The granite elemental slashing her back open, then her turning to face him with a gentle smile.
In that terrible nightmare she had always spoken those same last words to him, words he could not hear. Those unknown words had haunted him ever since.
And then she was gone.
Sachi, I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you.
It had all started two months earlier when Kirito had joined a guild called the Moonlit Black Cats at the behest of their leader, Keita, who was the president of the group's high school computer club* back in Yokohama. The members were Keita, Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Sachi. Sachi was the only girl in the computer club.
Shortly after Kirito had joined the Cats, Sachi had secretly confided to him her private fears. Although she had tried to put on a brave face for the benefit of the other team members, she admitted to him that she felt weak and timid, and that she was in fact very scared of the Death Game. She was fearful of the monsters. All she wanted to do was hide in the Town of Beginnings and never venture out. Because of her cowardice she admitted to him that she didn't think she was going to make it.
Kirito reassured her and told her she would survive. He resolved to watch over her and keep her safe. He promised that he would be her guardian, her protector. He would not let her die.
His promises made her feel better, but she still couldn't sleep at night. Late one evening she knocked on his bedroom door. He opened the door and saw her in her night clothes holding a pillow. She said sheepishly that she couldn't sleep, and she shyly asked him if she could sleep next to him. He said it would be fine, so she crawled in bed with him. She smiled as she closed her eyes and slept by his side, warm and safe.
Earlier Keita had asked Kirito to be Sachi's mentor and teach her sword fighting. He did, and so as the days and weeks went by they began to grow closer. He became her best friend, and she was happy that she was now such an important part of his life.
But it was not to last. She died on June 22, 2023 at 5:54 PM.
Kirito was devastated by what happened. The poor girl who had looked up to him and had trusted him, the girl who so afraid of the monsters, who had clutched to him in bed every night to keep the monsters away, had died. He had allowed the monsters to take her.
Shortly afterward Keita committed suicide.
Kirito became like the walking wounded. He fought on alone with reckless abandon, not caring if he lived or died.
Some months later he heard of a difficult quest that offered a rare resurrection item that could revive a dead player. He fought like a whirling dervish to get it so that he could bring her back, but it didn't work.
He had failed her. He had failed all of them.
He resolved to play the game alone and never join a guild ever again.
And then, on Christmas Eve, six months after her death, his SAO menu panel had chimed to alert him that a delayed audio-recording crystal was now available. It was inside a shared inventory page that he and Sachi had set up. He played Sachi's recording.
Merry Christmas, Kirito. By the time you hear this, I'll probably be dead.
How can I explain this? To tell you the truth I never really wanted to leave the Town of Beginnings, and I knew that if I fought with an attitude like that I would end up dying some day.
Kirito, ever since that night when you found me hiding under that bridge you kept telling me I wasn't going to die no matter what. But what if I got killed anyway? I knew that if I died you'd blame yourself. That's why I decided to record this for you. I set the timer on this message for Christmas because I wanted to try lasting that long, at least. I want to walk through town with you while the snow was out.
By the way, I know how powerful you really are. Sorry, I sort of peeked when you weren't looking. I wondered why you weren't telling the truth about what level player you really were.
I wondered why you decided to fight with us. I never figured it out though. You know what, when I found out how strong you were, I don't know, it made me so happy. I felt relieved.
So even if I die promise me you'll go on living, okay Kirito? Stay alive so you can see the end of this world and find out why it was created. Find out why a weakling like me ended up here. Find out the reason you and I met.
Please. That's what I wish.
You said that everyone has a role to fill, that there was a reason everyone was here, even me. That made me really happy.
He had lied to her to comfort her. In reality he had felt the game was pointless and meaningless, and that her fear, pain, and death had all been for nothing.
She sang a song. Then she bade him farewell as she spoke her final words to him.
I'm so glad I met you and could be with you. Thank you. Goodbye.
14 words.
He now realized that she had soundlessly mouthed those same final words to him just before she died.
The recording broke him. He was never the same after that.
Stay alive so you can see the end of this world and find out why it was created. Find out why a weakling like me ended up here. Find out the reason you and I met.
She became one of his prime motivations for clearing the game, no matter the cost to himself.
Sachi, I'm so sorry.
He looked around the room in confusion. The strange girl had put her hand under his chin. She gently turned his head to face her again.
"Kirito, relax. Look at me. Look at my face. It's me, Sachi. The Moonlit Black Cats? Do you remember?"
He blinked his eyes at her.
"Sachi..? You're alive?"
She smiled again. "Yes. We all are. I'm fine, see?"
He stared at her.
Sachi leaned forward sympathetically. "Look, I know how traumatic this must be for you. You just died a moment ago, and you you were probably fighting a terrible monster at the time. Dying like that is never easy. But you are safe now. It's over. I won't let anything hurt you. The monsters are gone."
He just kept staring at her.
The poor man must be catatonic. She tried to sooth him with her gentle words. "Kirito, wake up. It's me, Sachi. I'm okay. You're safe. The game is over."
He continued to stare in silence.
"Look, I know you must be scared right now. Believe me, I was scared too when I woke up."
That was an understatement. Seventeen months ago she had awakened from SAO in a complete panic. She was totally disoriented. Like all SAO victims she had lost her memories during the seconds just before her actual death. She only remembered what happened immediately prior to that. The monsters. Monsters were everywhere. Ducker was being killed..
And so she woke up believing that she was still in the game. She thought that she was still fighting the monsters, so she tried to attack the orderlies who came in running to sedate her. It was a very common reaction by the VRDPs in their first waking moments thinking they were re-living their final minutes in the game fighting for their lives.
As soon as Kirito started coughing and stirring Sachi had pressed the emergency call button. She had expected that Kirito would wake up hallucinating and thrashing, thinking she was that monster who was trying to kill him, so she braced herself expecting to be attacked before the orderlies could run in to restrain him.
Be he didn't attack her. He was just staring at her.
Where are the orderlies? Why were they taking so long?
Kirito was taking his death far better than most she thought. Well, he was always strong.
She took a chance and held his hand. She spoke to him as soothingly as she could. "It's okay, Kirito. You're safe now. The monsters can't hurt you anymore. This is a normal part of the awakening process, part of what we call VRDP syndrome. Right now your body is flooded with adrenalin and cortisol stress hormones from whatever battle you were fighting. It's a normal fight-or-flight response. It makes you really jumpy and anxious. So please, just relax.
He stared.
"Kirito, look at me. I'm not a monster. I won't hurt you."
And then something happened.
Kirito suddenly lunged and grabbed her.
Sachi tried to pull away but he was just too quick. Oh no! Help!
But wait, he wasn't attacking her.
He was hugging her.
He was sobbing. "Sachi.. oh, Sachi.. I'm so sorry. I let you die. I broke my promise.."
She was relieved that he did not attack her, but she was also a bit confused. She had never heard of any SAO victim waking up from the death trauma like this. They always woke up very agitated, which was the standard initial phase of VRDP syndrome. But he wasn't acting that way. Instead he was acting like a grieving child.
She decided to set aside her questions for now. And where were those orderlies, anyway?
He was hugging her tightly. She slowly returned the hug, then she rocked him back and forth in their mutual embrace. She kept reassuring him, "It's okay. I forgive you. I know you did your best. Just relax. Everything is okay now. Shhsh."
She had an idea. She started to sing to him softly.
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose..
His eyes widened in recognition of the song. He calmed down as he listened to her gentle voice, reliving the memory of it.
When she finished singing he pulled back and looked at her.
Finally he spoke.
"Sachi, it really is you."
Her smile widened. "Yes. I'm glad you finally recognized me."
She decided that he had recovered sufficiently to begin the recuperation process. "Here, let me help you take that off." Using some extra pillows she propped him upright in the bed, then she leaned over and started working on pulling off his NerveGear helmet. As she did so she kept talking to him. "I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Sachi Watanabe. I live with my mother not far from here."
With Kazuto's help she finally pulled the helmet off his head. The hair under it fell out, and she saw that the unreachable sections along the sides of his face were matted and dirty. She made a mental note to get a bowl of water and shampoo.
She placed the heavy helmet in her lap and started to work on shutting it down.
Sitting up, Kazuto finally was able to get a good look at the girl who had taken care of him for so long.
Sachi was taller and looked older now. Kazuto had noticed that she actually had a figure under that pink sweater, which looked a bit too tight for her size. The sweater was buttoned over a white long-sleeved blouse with a Peter Pan collar, and around her neck was a thin gold chain with a pendant tucked below the sweater. On her cuffs were two small brass cufflinks in the shape of intersecting half-ellipses. Under her pleated skirt was a pair of bobbysocks and black shoes with low heels.
Her hair had grown longer. It now extended well past her shoulders. He saw that her face had not changed. She still had soft round tarame eyes under high black eyebrows, a small beauty mark on her right cheek, a dainty nose, small mouth, and pointed chin.
He wondered why he didn't recognize that face sooner, for he had often studied her kind and gentle visage in SAO when she had lain with him in bed to try to sleep. She would always gaze back at him with a smile, then quickly fall asleep.
Kazuto said absently, "You used your real name.. You shouldn't do that.."
She kept the conversation going. "Yeah, I know. The rule is that we are not supposed to use our real names in a VRMMO. But I was in a hurry when I created my character. It was Day 1 and I was rushing to get in early, so I didn't really put any thought into it." She looked down. "Besides, I didn't care if anyone knew who I really was."
He shook his head. "Sachi, you really should be more careful about your revealing your real name like that. You need to protect your identity. You don't want to be attacked by a stalker or something."
She looked up from her work on the NerveGear helmet. "Who, me? That's silly."
Me attract a stalker? I should be so lucky. Boys never gave me a second glance.
"Yes, I mean it. A pretty girl like you needs to be more careful."
Huh? He thinks I'm pretty? Oh come on.
"Oh just stop it. You're just saying that."
He was earnest. "No, I mean it, Sachi. You've changed. I didn't even recognize you at first."
"Well, my hair is different.."
"Yeah, the longer hair looks nice. But that's not all. You've also, uh, well.." He was beginning to get embarrassed.
What was going on?
He's averting his gaze. Why is he not making eye contact with me?
He's looking down. I have no idea what he is talking about. Ugh, I look so frumpy in these clothes. This sweater is too old and worn, and I do need a new one. It's gotten way too tight recently anyway, and.. wait..
"Oh!" She grew flustered and scrunched her sweater.
His face turned red. "I'm sorry!"
She was stunned. She had never gotten that kind of reaction from him before.
True, they were close in SAO. Very close. He was her confidant, her friend, and soon he became her best friend. She was the one person to whom she could share her fears and her secrets, that she would likely not survive SAO while fighting against such terrible monsters.
The monsters gave her nightmares so she could never sleep. Eventually she had taken into crawling into bed with him. Then she slept like a baby. Looking back she felt mortified that she had done such an immature thing. It was something a young girl might do with her parents, to crawl in bed with them to keep the night terrors away. He never took advantage of her foolishness, something that she now realized could have easily happened in such a situation.
In real life she had never known her father, who had left her mother before she could remember. Her mother was forced to find work. She couldn't afford to pay for day care (which in Japan was almost impossible to find anyway), so the little girl had grown up mostly alone.
Looking back at her time in SAO, she had finally realized what was really going on in her relationship with Kirito. She was just a foolish and immature girl who had unwittingly pushed all of her burdens onto Kirito's shoulders, forcing him into becoming the father she never had.
He acted like a father to me...
And in doing so she had hurt him terribly. In her innocence she had foolishly given him a postmortem 'farewell present'. Looking back she now realized she could not have hurt him more if she tried.
She wanted to make amends. She started to take care of his sleeping body, tending to his needs every day, keeping him groomed and clean. She watched over him for weeks, then months, then a year.
And in doing so she had grown up. She had changed from a timid little girl into a young woman who could now take care of herself, and she vowed to help others in turn. She volunteered to help VRDP victims and their recovery, becoming a well known fixture in the wards. But whenever she was not on duty she would spend most of her time in his room.
She often sat at his bedside and simply watched his sleeping form as she tried to imagine what his life in the game must be like, and how much he must be suffering because of what she had done.
And so she made her decision. With steely resolve she promised that she would devote her life to him, to pay back her debt, even though she knew it was a debt that she could never fully repay. And so she took care of him as best as she knew how
She acted like a mother to him.
Their roles had reversed.
And now that he was awake? She knew that their roles were about to change again. She did not yet know what form that would take.
No matter. She would follow his lead wherever it went and no matter the consequences to herself. She would do anything he wanted to pay back that debt.
She knew that she had to devote herself to Kirito for his own needs, not her own. She would follow him anywhere, do anything, in any role he wanted for her.
He thinks I'm pretty? I never heard those words from a boy before.
He turned back sheepishly. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude like that.."
"It's all right. You're just waking up and you're still loopy. You're just making silly talk, don't worry about it."
"Still, I'm sorry."
She waved him off. "I said forget it. You just surprised me a little, that's all. I don't see any boys much. It's because the school I attend is girls only, and I go there for only a few hours a week for PE and to take tests, and I don't have any friends there anyway."
"School? It's been so long I forgot that school even existed."
"Yeah, since SAO I don't care for it either. Most VRDP's don't. I heard rumors about the government trying to create a new special school for VRDPs, but I'm not sure many will enroll. Meanwhile I spend most of my time as a volunteer in the wards taking care of the SAO victims. I've been studying for an LPN certificate. Volunteering in the wards like this is actually part of my training."
"Really? That sounds great."
"I really like it. As I said I don't see boys much. The only boys I see regularly all wear NerveGear helmets, and they never say anything nice to me."
They both laughed.
"Well, you have plenty of time to recuperate before you need to worry about school or anything. It takes a full day for your memory to fully re-integrate, so for now just lie back and get some rest."
She added, "Oh, you are going to have a lot of physical rehab ahead too. At least two months minimum. Don't worry, I'll help you with everything you need."
He nodded and laid back down in the bed.
Then he remembered.
He sat bolt upright. "Asuna!"
The beeping on the monitor increased rapidly. Sachi leaned forward and checked the med panel. She saw that his BP and pulse rate had shot up.
Sachi asked, "Who is Asuna?"
He started to remember. Clouds. Aincrad disintegrating.
A kiss.
He tried to climb out of bed. Sachi gently but firmly pushed him back down. He was too weak to resist. He struggled under her gentle but strong hands.
"Please, I need to see Asuna!" His voice was hoarse.
"Kirito, just settle down."
He rasped, "I need to go!"
"Relax. Do you even know where you are going? You don't even know where she is. She's probably in another facility. We only have 500 patients here, less than 10% of the total."
His eyes were pleading. "Please..."
"Did she die with you?"
He thought a moment, then shuddered.
He said softly, "Yes."
Sachi understood. It must be one of his teammates in his guild. They must have just died together side-by-side in battle. That was always hard.
She stood up. "Okay. Look, let me get you some water for your throat. I don't know why the attendant isn't showing up yet. I'll get your water then we'll talk about your friend and I'll see what I can do to help you find her."
Where are those stupid orderlies? I hit the emergency-call button five minutes ago! It's lucky his VRDP agitation is so minimal. I've never seen such a mild case. Still, I'm going to give Nurse Aki a stern lecture about those orderlies slacking off.
Then the PA sounded overhead.
All personnel, this is a Code Orange alert. Medical teams please report to your stations immediately. Repeat Code Orange.
Sachi knew that Code Orange indicated a that a major disaster had just occurred, like an earthquake or a tsunami. What was happening?
Kazuto asked, "What's going on?"
She ran to the door. "Don't worry about it. I'll get your water and be right back."
She opened the door. A flurry of people could be seen running in the hallway.
Kazuto could see the commotion outside. "Hey, what is it?" He tried to sit up.
Sachi whirled around and raised her hand. "Don't try to get up! I'll be right back."
Kazuto was now fully sitting up. He had only one thought on his mind.
Asuna, where are you?
Meanwhile, Sachi was running down the hall. She spotted Nurse Aki ahead with her long brown hair and glasses. The nurse was bent down grabbing supplies from the med station.
Sachi ran up to her. "Aki-san, what's going on?" Shouts and yells were coming from the public ward just ahead.
Aki didn't look up as she gathered the supplies. The tall woman said quickly, "Several of them are apparently waking up from the death trauma. More than a few from the sound of it."
"Which ones?" Sachi guessed that it was probably a TPK, maybe a bad boss fight. She knew the aftermath could be nasty. There could now be a dozen panicky patients who were now trying to claw their way out their beds.
The chaos grew. The shouts and yells coming from the public ward were getting louder and louder.
Aki began to run down the hall while cradling a bundle of med supplies in her arms. Sachi had her own armload and tried to keep up. She asked again, "Who is it? Which ones?"
Aki turned and yelled "I don't know! Just hurry!"
Sachi caught up with Aki just outside of the Public Wards section. These were a set of three long rooms, each with 150 medical gel beds, and each bed containing an SAO victim.
As a volunteer Sachi was very familiar the layout of the wards, having spent a thousand hours in them while tending to needs of the SAO victims. She knew that monitors and security cameras were everywhere. Power to the room came from two large redundant uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) driven by a pair of Daimler-Benz diesel generators with 10,000 gallon fuel tanks that could let them run for a week without resupply. A third short-term emergency battery UPS was located in a closet within each room.
Each bed was the same: an adjustable medical bed with a gel mattress to prevent bed sores, a BP/pulse vitals monitor, an IV stand, a flat panel showing status information, and a small nightstand to place flowers and pictures. Rails ran along the ceiling to support temporary privacy screens when visitors were present.
Each NerveGear helmet was plugged into an RJ45 jack that led to a 4-port 100GBASE-T switch under each nightstand. Port 1 was for the helmet, and ports 2-4 split the network connection between three main routers, each of which led to three different IT rooms that in turn connected to three different WAN carrier backbones, all of which took three different routes across the city to converge finally on the Argus main headquarters.
The final path to the SAO servers was within the Argus headquarters somewhere. Nobody knew precisely where the servers were actually located. Public records indicated they were in a basement five levels below street level, but given the large uplink sat dishes on the roof it was possible that the real servers were moved and weren't even in the same building anymore. Akihiko Kayaba had warned in his worldwide announcement on Day 1 that any attempt to interfere with the final link to the building or cut its power would trigger the microwave beams in all the NerveGear helmets.
During the first week of the incident the JGSDF engineers took a chance. Late at night they secretly broke in to the first floor of the locked building. They had determined that all the other floors and access points to the elevators, stairs, and roof were indeed booby trapped. Sensors, pressure plates, and infrared beams were everywhere. There were probably several other security systems as of yet unidentified as well. Their infiltration triggered a recording from Akihiko that announced that any further breech attempts would trigger the helmets. The JGSDF determined that it was too dangerous to proceed any further.
And so the links were left alone.
Sachi braced herself and entered the first ward. Simultaneous VRDP awakenings were always bad and often caused injuries to the patients and to the medical staff. She had heard about the nasty boss fight on Floor 25 where twenty players had died, and if this was a similar case she knew that this one would be bad, with violence and chaos in the wards. One death-awakening could be handled, or even two or three. But multiple death-awakenings could rapidly spiral out of control and turn the whole ward into a madhouse.
Aki and Sachi reached the outer door, which was closed. They couldn't hear anything except an incredible din of noise. They both took a deep breath and prepared to rush inside.
To Sachi it felt like she was back in SAO again standing just outside a dungeon door with her weapon. Her sense of deja-vu was strong.
But this was not SAO, and she was not a scared little girl anymore. She was no longer Sachi, the timid 14 year old lancer of the Moonlit Black Cats. She was now Sachi Watanabe, 16 years old, and a VRDP Care Volunteer. She knew her duty. There were people inside who needed her, people who were disoriented, panicky, and flailing as they fought the shadow monsters that still surrounded them. She needed to help restrain and sedate them as soon as possible.
The old Sachi had trembled at that door. But the new Sachi did not. In her new maturity she was neither reckless nor heedless of the danger that she knew was just beyond that door. She ran in knowing her duty, and she remained focused on that.
She went inside.
She saw hundreds of patients inside. They were awake.
All of them.
But there was no violence.
None at all.
Instead they were all laughing, back-slapping, high-fiving, hugging, whooping, or glad-handing each other. Some were standing alone or just laying up in bed with silly grins on their faces.
She saw the flustered medical staff trying to check their vitals as the patients pulled out their IVs and crawled over each others' med beds in joyful, loud, and sometimes teary embraces.
It was a scene of pure unadulterated joy.
Sachi knew what must have happened.
Yes! Someone cleared the game!
She jumped and made her own whoop for joy.
"Yahoo!"
She hugged Nurse Aki, who was standing next to her and looked bemused by the whole scene.
An older boy that Sachi didn't recognize (who she had later learned was a player with the handle Klein) was also standing right next to the pair. He saw the hug, so he decided to celebrate his freedom by joining in. Before Nurse Aki could react he bent her backwards and plastered a kiss right on her lips. There was a flash of light as someone took a picture with their smart phone.
That photo was uploaded to Facebook a minute later.
In ten minutes it went viral in Japan.
In an hour it went worldwide.
The photo looked almost exactly like the famous photograph taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on V-J Day (August 14, 1945) at the end of World War II of the sailor who had grabbed and kissed a passing nurse during the wild impromptu celebration in Times Square.
The next day that photograph was displayed everywhere, in headlines and in banners in news media bureaus from New York to Beijing, all celebrating their freedom in what would later be called 'S-F Day'.
Poor Nurse Aki never quite lived it down.
Sachi quietly re-entered Kazuto's private ward. She silently closed the door behind her to muffle the noise outside.
Kazuto was still sitting up in bed.
He looked very grumpy.
"You forgot my water."
She didn't respond. She was just looking at him.
He crossed his arms. "Well? I'm thirsty."
She approached him.
He asked "Hey, did you find out anything about Asuna?"
She didn't respond.
She continued to approach.
Finally, she spoke. She said quietly, "You did it..."
"Did what?"
She was standing right next to his bed. "You cleared the game..."
"Huh? Uh, yeah, I guess I did."
"Oh, you wonderful, wonderful..."
She broke down and grappled him, bowling him over. "Whoa!"
She lost her footing and tumbled into bed with him.
They were now in the bed together with her arms wrapped around him. Tears flowed down her face. "You did it! I knew you would! I knew it!"
He patted her head. "Okay, okay, calm down. Yeah, I busted Akihiko Kayaba on floor 75."
She looked up at his face. "I'm so happy you're back."
"Me too. Uhm, look, I know this was a thing between us in SAO, but can you please get off me?" He chuckled, "Or do you need a bed buddy again to keep the monsters away?"
She finally noticed they were in bed together. She felt mortified. She quickly got up and brushed herself off. She was totally flustered, her face turning red.
"Oh! Sorry.. I got carried away... I'm sorry. It's just so crazy out there. I guess I got caught up in the mood. I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
The muffled commotion could still be heard outside.
She grinned again. "You should see what's happening out there. It's nuts."
He sighed, "Yeah, I can imagine."
"Do you want me to keep them away?"
"Oh god please yes. I don't want to see any media or anyone."
"You got it." She turned and looked up at the TV panel. The beginning of the news bulletin alert was already scrolling by in big red letters at the bottom of the screen.
"And please tell me where Asuna Yuuki is. I have to see her."
"Okay. I'll do my best to find her for you." He didn't need to worry about a teammate who died with him, she thought. If this Asuna person had woken up from the death trauma as well adjusted as he was, then she should be just fine too. None of the newly awakened who did not die had shown any sign of VRDP syndrome either. Still, it was kind of him to be so concerned about another team member.
Then she remembered something.
"Oh! Your family! I need to contact Midori and Suguha right away. I have to tell them you are awake. I'm sure they will want to come see you as soon as possible."
He glanced up at the news alert bulletin, which by now was being broadcast on every channel. "I'm pretty sure they already know by now. They are probably on their way here right this second."
Sachi nodded, "Of course."
She thought a moment, then sat down on the chair next to him. "Look, we might not have much time." She scooted her chair closer.
"Time for what?"
She lowered her voice. "Listen, there are some things I need to tell you before they get here."
"What kind of things?"
She hesitated, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Uhm, well, first of all, when I came back your sister didn't take it very well."
"Really? Why not?" Kazuto had noticed that Sachi had called his step-mom 'Midori'.
Her face became serious and she looked down. "A lot of things happened during the years that you were gone."
He grew concerned. "Like what? Please tell me."
And so she did.
A/N:
* The term 'high school student' can colloquially refer anyone attending a secondary education institution, particularly a combined one. All it means is that Sachi was at least 13 when she entered SAO, and because nearly a year had passed since SAO started before she had left the story she could have been as young as 14 at that point, and that is how I am playing her here. (She is 16 now.) Otherwise Sachi would have to be much older than both Kirito and Asuna, which does not match her appearance in SAO.