Chapter 19: Epilog: The World Seed (Part 1)
A/N:
The story is now over, and I am very happy with how it all turned out. The original version was a much darker tale with Sachi being a hidden psycho yandere, and it would have not have ended nearly as well. (She would have died to redeem herself and stayed dead.) I am also thankful for the criticisms that I have received in reviews and PMs for the technical goofs I had made (for example, nobody in Klein's Furin Kazan guild ever died in SAO so I had to change Sugimoto to be an ex-member) for which I had gone back and fixed up as needed. You forced me to do a lot of extra research, which gave me a much better feel for the characters and improved the story tremendously. Thank you!
In the reviews I see that many of you are clamoring for a sequel (thank you so much!). But unfortunately, the way this story is structured, there is no way that I can write another huge epic climax on the scale of Chapter 18, The Greatest Love, with proper foreshadowing, buildup, surprise plot twists, etc. This is particularly true given the source material that follows ALO.
Sorry, but there is just no way that I can write a version of, say, Phantom Bullet, and make it epic like ND was. Phantom Bullet is a much smaller story and it has insurmountable structural problems given the ND premise. (Death Gun would be a really lame villain if he kept missing his shots and never killed anyone.) Another problem with PB is that Asuna is basically written out of it (why did Kawahara do that?) which makes it very hard to swap in Sachi for Sinon because it would beg the question why Asuna is not also participating. Sachi is now well established as a pacifist (she refuses to wield a weapon under any circumstances) and so I just don't see her suddenly becoming an expert marksman. [Griselda, on the other hand...]
Now, after the end of this story, we do have a few opportunities to add some extra scenes and maybe a mini-arc or two. SAO ND has always concentrated itself on the real life parts of the story, not the online parts, focusing mainly on the time skips in the original material (e.g., the November-January time gap between the end of SAO and Kazuto meeting Sugou).
There is a four month time gap between the end of ALO (January 2025) and the SAO Returnees School (May 2025) that I did not explore in the main story. After some thought, I have decided that I will now explore that time gap here, in a two chapter bonus arc.
I have a ton of unused material for this story, never published. A lot of it was for yandere Sachi and thus cannot be used here, but I had also discarded a lot of other material because I had felt that it digressed too much from the main story. I now see an opportunity to insert at least one section of it in this bonus arc. (Standard disclaimer applies: Whenever I go into full-geekout mode you can just scroll down to the next section.)
Anyway, after some careful thought, I have finally come up with an idea for what I hope is a dramatic, interesting, and emotionally taut epilog that stays true to the original story.
I hope you like it.
-HuuskerDu
P.S. I am finally off my opioid pain meds and my mind is much clearer now. I am still having significant short-term memory issues post-surgery. Thank you again so much for your kind words and prayers during my time in the hospital. -H
February 23, 2025
The morning light streamed in to Sachi's bedroom. As she lay on her futon she yawned and opened her eyes after a peaceful night's sleep.
With her open eyes admiring the morning sun she yawned pleasantly a second time. She saw that Suguha's futon was empty, which came to her as no surprise as she always left for school by 7:15 a.m.
But then she felt something behind her. It was a body - soft, warm, and embracing. Then she heard a voice.
"Good morning sleepyhead."
While still under the bed sheet she quickly rolled onto her opposite side to face the voice..
"Hey, bed buddy, did you sleep well? I sure did."
.. thus causing herself to inadvertently press her body right into Kazuto's. They were now separated only by the thin wisp of Sachi's nightie.
Kazuto smiled at her. Sachi sat up quickly, the bed sheet falling off the both of them. She saw that Kazuto was shirtless and possibly bottomless as well. "W-What are you doing in my bed?"
He gently pulled her back down onto the futon and pulled the sheet over both of them again.
While laying side-by-side he gripped her waist using his legs like scissors. "Sachi, I've been thinking about you non-stop ever since I woke up, every day and every night. I keep thinking about how wonderful you are, how you're taken care of my every need, how beautiful you've become..."
"But, Kazuto.. But what about Asuna?"
"We saved Asuna, you and I together, and I am so thankful for that. But now that she is back I realize that it is you who I really want. Asuna can never match your selflessness, your caring, your devotion, or..."
"Kazuto?"
"...or your love for me."
"Kazuto, I admit I do love you. But this is wrong."
"You will do anything for me, anything at all, whatever I want, yes?"
"Well, of course I will."
He rolled on top of her, pulling down the straps on her nightie and exposing her. "Sachi, what I want is you."
"Please, no.. think of Asuna.."
And then he began to take her, gently. She did not resist.
"Ahh.. Kazuto.. Kazuto!"
And then she woke up.
She sat up on her futon and put her hand over her face. She then removed it and checked the clock. It was 4 a.m. Suguha was still snoring loudly in the futon next to hers.
She sighed to herself, then she laid herself back down on her futon. She stared up at the darkened ceiling.
Oh great, it happened again, first time in a month.
She closed her eyes again.
Sir, please take these thoughts out of my head. Please? This shouldn't be happening anymore. Not now, not when Asuna is back.
She knew that it was beginning to become a problem.
The previous month Sachi had become mortified when she had learned that Kazuto had played her post-death USB audio recording after her third revival. It was because the recording had revealed explicitly her true feelings for him and her endorsement of his being with Asuna. Asuna had urged Kazuto not to play Sachi's recording out of respect for her privacy, but he had done so anyway. He did so mainly because he still did not fully understand Sachi's real feelings for him, and he wanted to know.
Sachi's recording had dispelled in no uncertain terms any illusions about what her feelings actually were, while also releasing all claims that she had upon him and conferring her blessings to any future marriage union between Kazuto and Asuna.
Because of this Asuna always felt awkward around Sachi. She said she felt like she was 'taking Kirito away' (her words) from the innocent girl. She had heard in detail from Kazuto and Suguha about the sacrifices that Sachi had made in rehabilitating, protecting, and eventually giving up her own life to save the man she loved so much. In doing so Asuna confessed in private to Kazuto that she felt intimidated by Sachi's almost total selflessness, and that Sachi had set an impossibly high standard that Asuna felt that she herself could never meet. Kazuto repeatedly explained to Asuna that he had no feelings for Sachi whatsoever (except as a sister), and that he loved her and her alone. He explained that his feelings for her would never change.
His repeated attestations of his love for her had helped to relieve Asuna's worries somewhat, but she knew that she would never be fully comfortable around Sachi no matter how many times Kazuto proclaimed his love and devotion to her.
Sachi herself was always friendly and cheerful around Asuna. Asuna masked her sense of intimidation with excessive politeness and deference whenever Sachi was in the room. However, Sachi had sensed her insecurity, and so she discreetly tried to avoid creating any situations that would bring her into close contact with Kazuto or with her.
Yes, it was beginning to become a problem.
It was for this reason that Sachi had decided that she wanted to give Kazuto and Asuna more space, so she had made the decision to plunge herself back into her work as an LPN trainee working with rehabilitating the VRDPs. She had transferred to Tokyo General Hospital on a full time basis along with Nurse Kurosawa, who had decided to remain at her post as the chief RN at Tokyo General as long as her myeloproliferative neoplasmosis remained in remission.
Meanwhile, Sachi had continued her education via Independent Study at the all-girls high school she had attended for the past two years. She went there in person only when necessary for PE or for exams.
Kazuto had encouraged her to enroll with himself and Asuna in the new SAO Returnees School with the rest of the SOARs, but she declined (as did almost all the VRDPs), saying that she felt that she did not fit in there.
Asuna was particularly adamant that Sachi attend the Returnees School but she consistently refused, which had simply increased Asuna's sense of guilt about pushing Sachi away, as if she herself had been responsible for Sachi's choice not to attend the same school as the person to whom she had unwittingly confessed to in that recording.
—
Suguha continued to snore loudly a few feet away from Sachi, a bit of drool having fallen from her flapping lips.
Sachi was still staring up at the darkened ceiling.
Eventually she went back to sleep.
Sunday, March 30, 2025. Evening.
Sachi was in her bedroom sitting on a chair working at Suguha's computer. She was busy looking up some biographical information about a woman named Helen Keller when Suguha suddenly rushed into the room.
Suguha hissed, "Psst, Sachi, c'mere!" She motioned at Sachi to follow her.
Sachi stood up. "Sugu? What's going on?"
"Just follow me. And keep your head down and stay out of sight!"
Sachi did as instructed. Together they silently crept down the hallway towards the stairs. At the top of the banister Suguha quietly got down on her knees and peered through the slats. Sachi knelt next to her and did the same. She followed Suguha's eyes down, and there she saw the scene that was unfolding below.
Kazuto and Asuna were sitting alone together on the stools at the kitchen nook, side by side. They were both facing in the general direction of the Kirigaya sisters, but they did not notice the sisters secretly peering down at them from above. In front of the couple was a small plate with a chocolate cupcake in the center of it. Affixed to the cupcake was a small heart shaped card. Inside the card were written only five words.
Love from Mama and Papa
Kazuto pushed a single small candle into the cupcake, then he lit it.
Asuna laid her head on Kazuto's shoulder as they silently watched the tiny flame together.
Sachi saw the tears forming in her eyes.
Several moments passed as the couple continued to watch the candle burn.
Eventually Kazuto said quietly, "Happy birthday, Yui"*.
He blew out the candle.
Asuna started crying as Kazuto held her.
Sachi had seen enough. She whispered, "C'mon, Sugu, let's go back to our room."
Suguha submitted to Sachi's gentle but firm grip on her shoulder and they both retreated to their bedroom and shut the door behind them.
Sachi plopped cross-legged on her futon, while Suguha sat herself on the chair next to her PC.
Suguha sighed, "They hardly ever talk about her. Not around us anyway."
"No they don't, and especially not with me."
It was because three days after her revival in January, Sachi had asked Kazuto some questions about his strange NPC daughter in SAO. Sachi knew only the name - Yui - and she knew nothing else about her. Who was she? Where did she come from? What did she look like?**
Kazuto was oddly evasive in his responses to her queries, particularly about Yui's appearance. Whenever she asked he changed the subject.
She tried to ask him a week later and it happened again. She pressed him further this time, but he only explained that Yui looked like a precocious five year old girl without any further explanation or details, leaving Sachi increasingly frustrated about the paucity of the information that she was given about the mysterious NPC girl.
She knew it was a sensitive subject. The third time she had tried to gingerly bring it up again when Asuna happened to be present. Sachi had caught her distraught reaction (although she tried to hide it), so she apologized to them both for bringing it up. Asuna waved off her apology as unnecessary, of course. After that incident Sachi silently promised herself that she would never ask them about it ever again.
Suguha was not so reticent, and she sometimes pestered Kazuto and Asuna about Yui when Sachi was not around, often jokingly. "So, was your kid a brat just like you were, Kazuto?" He would then laugh it off. Sachi could tell that the topic was far less touchy whenever Suguha brought it up. She wondered why.
"Sugu, has Kazuto ever told you anything else about Yui?"
"A little bit. Why?"
"I really want to know."
Suguha tilted her chair back on its rear two feet and looked up. "Hmm, okay. Kazuto never told me much about her, really. I know that Yui was cute as the dickens and that she looked and acted like a five year old, and that she was also really smart too."
"She was an NPC, right?"
"Probably, I think. Well, she was definitely not a player character. No colored icon floated above her head. But she didn't trigger any NPC limits either. She was pretty weird. Probably unique."
"I see."
"Oh, I remember one thing else."
"What's that?"
"Well, Kazuto told me once that when he was up floating in the clouds that Kayaba had said that he was really interested in her."
That caught Sachi's attention. "Really? You sure?"
"Yeah."
Sachi stroked her chin thoughtfully.
I bet Kayaba has her.
If so, I wonder what he's doing with her right now?
Sachi continued to work long hours in the Tokyo General Hospital outpatient clinic with the VRDPs, concentrating on mental rehabilitation for the more difficult cases. This often included home visits.
One day she paid a visit to Mrs. Hayashi. It was a beautiful sunny day when she knocked on the door.
Mrs. Hayashi answered it. "Good morning, Sachi. How are you today?"
"I'm fine, how are you?" Sachi unslung the medical backpack from her shoulders.
"Very well, thank you. Sora*** is sitting on the porch."
"Oh good. You know, the weather is so nice that I think we can do our session outside today."
"I think that would be a lovely idea."
"Well I suppose we should get started then."
Sachi walked out to the sunlit side porch while carrying her open backpack in front of her. She deposited the backpack on the floor of the porch and pulled out some instruments.
A young man was sitting on a rocking chair wearing overalls and a ball cap.
She said cheerfully, "Hi Keita!"
There was no reaction.
"My, my, it is really a wonderful day today, don't you think?"
Nothing.
She held the eyelight pen close to his right pupil. Both pupils dilated shut. Then she checked his left. They did the same. She jotted some medical notes on her data tablet with a stylus, then she pulled out a small needle. She held his wrist and poked it with the needle. No reaction. She wrote another note and put the instruments and the tablet away, then she pulled up the second chair and sat directly in front of him.
"Okay, Keita, we're going to do our exercises again. You ready? Fine, let's begin."
She looked directly into his eyes, then she pointed at her face.
"My name is Sachi. Can you say my name? Sahhh-cheee."
"Come on, I know you can do it. Sahhh-cheee."
Nothing.
"I am Sahhh-cheee. See? Look at me. I'm still alive. We all are. Nobody died, Keita. You didn't do anything wrong. And even if you did we all forgive you."
Nothing.
"Keita, we want you to come home. Your mom misses you."
She then looked down.
She said quietly to herself, "I miss you too."
She looked up again into his blank face.
I hate Kayaba so much for doing this to him, to all of them.
After a few more moments she stood up. "Okay, Keita, time for your PT. Let's stand up together."
She maneuvered herself behind him, putting put her hands under his armpits. She started to lift him up. Keita then raised his legs and moved himself into a standing position on his own.
He was always compliant like this. His mother could move him to bed simply by escorting him firmly by the arm. And he always ate whatever food was placed into his mouth, chewing it tastelessly and then swallowing it. He wore Adult Depends diapers under his pants but otherwise did not need any other kind of special medical assistance to meet his daily needs for living.
But this was not living. It was not the way any human should live.
Sachi escorted Keita around the porch, the start of ten laps. "Good! You are walking really well today. I'm so proud of you."
As she escorted Keita around her mind drifted off again.
Four years ago
The Club Fair at Yokohama Combined High School was in full swing, and the president of the Yokohama Computer Club, Sora Hayashi, was sitting in his recruiting booth in the auditorium next to the booths of dozens of other school clubs. He was bored and was watching the crowd. Earlier that day he had successfully recruited two more members into his club (mainly by explaining quietly that they would be playing video games mostly), but he needed one more, a fifth. It was getting late in the day and the auditorium would be closing soon, and he was worried that he would not be able to find a fifth member in time to meet the quota required to become an officially sanctioned school club.
As he idly watched the crowd he noticed a small prepubescent girl with shoulder length black hair. She was maybe 12 or 13 years of age and was looking in his general direction. She had looked down again, then she had glanced up furtively towards his booth, as if she was having some kind of inner debate or was trying to work up some kind of courage.
He was mildly amused at the sight, putting his chin on his hand as he watched her indecision. She then took a deep breath and marched right at him.
He sat up straight and welcomed her.
"Hi there, young miss. Are you interested in computers?"
She was staring at him with a blank look. Then she caught herself and stuttered, "Uh, yes. Yes! Yes I am!"
"That's great. Well, you've come to the right place." Then Sora glanced around and whispered, "Actually all we do mostly is play video games. But let's keep that a secret between us, okay?"
Sachi's eyes widened. "Oh, I love video games. I really do. It's all I do at home. I'm really good at it and.."
He interrupted her. "Good enough for me, you're in! We need a mascot. Here, sign this form." He gave her a clipboard with a pencil on a string. She took it.
She filled it out and turned it in. As she did so she asked, "Mascot?"
"Oh, sorry, heh. I meant that you're the only girl in our club."
She became embarrassed. "Oh, I didn't realize.."
He quickly reassured her. "Hey, don't worry. These guys are all cool and I can vouch for them. I promise I'll look after you. All we want to do is have fun together."
She tried to give him a small polite smile without giving away her inner feeling of pure elation. From his bemused look she had apparently failed. Still, she knew perfectly well that he was just a fantasy. After all, she was only 12 and he was already a high school junior, and given the age difference they might as well have been living on different planets. What she did not know was that he also had a girlfriend, a tall long-legged long-haired stunner who was also a junior like him. Still, it would not have mattered.
It was because Sachi had lived almost all of her young life solely inside of her own vivid imagination, Walter Mitty like, as she weaved the most elaborate (and silly) fantasies while walking to school, while eating her lunch alone, or while just sitting in class.
After joining the club, she would sit behind Keita and watch his back as he worked on the computer or played Mario Ultra Karts with the rest of the gang, thus giving her opportunities to create even more fantasies for her vivid imagination to explore.
Her idle fantasies with Keita became particularly intricate, and they usually involved either her being rescued by him with her as a beautiful buxom damsel in distress from some terrible slobbering monster, or her rescuing him in an amusing role reversal, with her wearing shining mithril armor while riding atop a great white unicorn as she scooped up the running barefoot slave from the ground and rode away with him from the chasing hoard of orcs. He would then close his eyes and grip her backside tightly as they rode on her glorious mounted steed together, with him resting his head on her proud shoulder as she galloped away before taking him to her castle.
Of course, in real life he never acknowledged her as anything other than a club member. He was, however, still a gentleman, and he had eventually carried out his promise to her when he put Ducker firmly in his place when he had tried that awkward pass at Sachi that one and only time.
Then one day Keita suggested they try out this new really cool VRMMO game called Sword Art Online. He was disappointed when he had tried the previous month to sign up for the beta test but didn't get his name in fast enough. The week before Day 1, the NerveGear helmets went on sale, no doubt as part of the game's heavy promotion, and he was able to finagle the club's advisor to buy the helmets using the club's budget, explaining that it was for the purpose of the club researching the new VRMMO phenomenon.
And so, on Sunday, November 6th, 2022, the five club members were at their respective homes waiting for the kickoff of SAO at 1:00 p.m. local time.
And then, four and a half hours later, their lives would be changed forever.
While trapped in the game Keita took on his natural role of leader, protecting his charges. He became fatherly toward the scared young girl. The others were so panicked and focused on their own survival that they saw her as nothing but another teammate in their desperate struggle to not die in the Death Game.
And then, one day, a solo played named Kirito joined up with them...
Sachi had finished walking her ten shared laps around the porch with Keita. She gently put him back in his rocking chair, picked up her things, and waved goodbye to him. Then she went back into the living room, where Mrs. Hayashi had been discreetly watching her son's therapy session the whole time through the screened-in porch door.
Sachi said, "I think he's improving a bit."
"Do you think so?"
"Oh yes. We just have to be patient."
"Thank you so much. But Sachi, may I ask, is it really necessary to call my son 'Keita' all the time?"
"Well, it is an established part of the VRDP recovery protocol as prescribed by the Ministry of Health. You see, the VRDPs are still living their lives inside the game. Mentally, I mean. The catatonic ones. They never left it, so it's best to call them by their SAO handles to try to reach them. If you try to say their real name too much it only reinforces the wall of separation between themselves and reality."
Mrs. Hayashi looked down. "Oh, I see. So I should be calling my boy 'Keita' then..?"
"Oh no, ma'am. That won't work. Not for you. You see, he knows that you are his mother IRL. Only VRDP therapists and other players should use his SAO handle, and I'm both. He is rather lucky that I was assigned to work with him personally, because now he can see that he didn't cause my death. I try to remind and re-assure him of that every time we meet, that nobody actually died and that it wasn't his fault anyway. I'm also trying to see if I can get Ducker and the others to come visit at least once to reinforce for him the fact that nobody under his watch had actually died, although I admit I haven't had any success so far with getting any of them to come visit."
"I see. Well, you are obviously the expert on this, well, phenomenon, so I will defer to your good judgement."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hayashi. See you next week!"
Sachi waved with a cheery smile as Mrs. Hayashi waved back.
On the side porch, someone's eyes blinked.
Without any other physical motion whatsoever, the person's eyes slowly swiveled and followed the 16 year old girl as she walked briskly down the path and out to the sidewalk beyond.
Two weeks later
Sachi was scrambling to put on her windbreaker. She had already hastily thrown together her VRDP med backpack.
Meanwhile, Suguha walked down the stairs scratching her face. "Hey Sachi, what's the emergency?"
Sachi rushed for the door and then turned.
"Keita attacked his mom. I'm heading over there right now. Tell Mom I'm skipping dinner and might not be home until late."
"Uh, okay. Hey sis, be careful."
"Don't worry, I've seen this lots of times. Bye!"
Keita was screaming in his bed. Sachi had already tied down his arms and legs per the VRDP protocol for a level 4 event. Technically it was actually a level 5 event, not 4, and according to protocol she should have called for a medical transport to take him to the locked psych ward at Tokyo General, but she took a chance and decided to keep him home tonight. She had already decided that she was going to stay the night with him.
He kept screaming. Sachi stood over him, bent over, looking straight into his eyes. "Keita I'm here. It's me, Sachi. Sahhh-cheee."
"Look at me. I didn't die. Nobody died. We all survived."
"Keita, you didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't your fault."
He stopped screaming and stared at her.
This was a major breakthrough.
Yes. Eye contact. Finally!
She was greatly encouraged. "Look, Keita, look around you. You're safe at home now. You're in bed. It's safe. It's me."
He relaxed and no longer fought the restraints. Was there a glimmer of recognition? She thought there was.
She decided to take a chance. "Keita, I'm removing the restraints."
As she worked to remove them she kept reassuring him in a soothing voice. "Keita, I'm going to stay with you tonight. Right here. I'll sleep with you right in this chair, okay? I'll protect you from the monsters. Nobody will hurt you, I promise."
She removed the straps and waited. He laid in bed now looking up at nothing again. He looked calm.
Sachi was elated. He had made more progress today than ever before, and Sachi did not want to lose the momentum. She walked behind the front of the bed, reached under his armpits, and started to sit him up.
Suddenly, and without any warning, he grabbed her with inhuman strength. He grappled her with both arms and hurled her right over the headboard and over his own head. She crashed on the bed between his legs, bouncing off it onto the floor headfirst, hitting her own head on the hardwood floor and knocking herself out.
After an unknown period of time she opened her eyes again, gasping for air.
It was because Keita was now choking the life out of her.
A voice was rasping. It did not sound human. It was because the vocal chords of the person using them had not spoken in well over two years.
"You.. Kirito.. led them all.. their deaths.. hid his level.. your fault.. your fault!"
He was killing her.
She tried to pry his arms away from her throat to no avail.
She gasped a final time as the darkness overcame her.
Kazuto had just come home after staying two wonderful nights as the guest of honor at the Yuuki estate. He had boggled at the lavish guest house that he was given just for his own use during the long weekend, a small four room bungalow that was next door to the great old mansion.
Kazuto had never had so much fun in his life. He played tennis with Asuna as her father watched benignly from the sideline, drinking the third Long Island Iced Tea that his butler had just refilled for him. It was about 40 proof. The retired former CEO of RECT Ltd was now gazing happily with bleery eyes at his darling little princess, having settled the last of the seemingly endless stream of lawsuits aimed at his company and himself personally, with all of those greedy attorneys working on contingency fees while going after the deep pockets of himself and RECT Ltd (with RECT Progress itself having long since gone bankrupt). He felt fortunate that he was able to prove RECT Ltd's innocence (and his own) at the criminal proceedings and that the Prosecutors Office had declined to file any formal charges, which helped the financial legal settlements move along rather swiftly, and they were all over now.
His main concern now was with his wife, Kyouko, who had still strongly disapproved of Kazuto, although she had the wherewithal to keep her personal opinions private except with him. She felt that Kazuto would be woefully inadequate as the future patriarch and CEO of the great Yuuki empire. Asuna's older brother was no better, in her opinion, and she secretly pined for Sugou to somehow return even though she knew as a practical matter that was impossible. Sugou was still haggling for a plea bargain from the Prosecutors Office, claiming that Kayaba was behind the whole thing and that he could deliver Kayaba into Kikuoka's clutches if he was given a light sentence, perhaps five years with a home monitoring device? After all, nobody had died and none of the 300 victims who had woken up on January 22nd had showed any sign of VRDP syndrome at all, nor did they appear to have suffered any malingering affects from the Inception test runs that were done on them while they were asleep.
Kazuto went to the fridge and chugged a sports shake. He looked around. "Hey, Sugu, where's Sachi?"
Suguha was busy playing a video game on the large flat panel in the living room. Without turning around she said, "Sachi went over to Hayashi's place."
"To Keita's? What for?"
"I dunno. I think she said that Keita was having an episode or something."
"Ah, okay." He figured that Sachi might not return until later that night, or perhaps not even until tomorrow morning.
Then Kazuto's smartphone chimed. It was an SMS text message.
He pulled out his smartphone from his pocket and looked at the message.
His eyes widened. The message was from an anonymous source. Was it a prank? No.
No, it couldn't be. Almost nobody knew about.. knew about..
Found Yui. Meet me at the Tachibana Grill tomorrow at 11 a.m. Come alone.
The next day Kazuto was sitting in a back booth at the Tachibana Grill. When he left Sachi still had not returned home yet. It was a steakhouse that generally did most of its business in the evening. Right now it was almost empty. He looked around but didn't see anyone.
He looked down at this phone and read the text message again.
He then sensed that someone was now sitting across from him in the same booth. He laid his phone on the seat and looked up.
Sitting across from him was a 30-something man wearing a long gray-white coat and a wide brimmed Panama hat. His face was covered with a heavy bushy beard like a band member in ZZ Top.
"Hello, Kirito. Long time no see."
Kazuto looked in shock at the man who was responsible for so much pain and suffering for so many people, the man who had stolen one-eighth of Kazuto's young life along with the lives of so many countless others, the man whom Seijirou Kikuoka had made his own life's mission to track down and apprehend no matter what it took.
Akihiko Kayaba.
Kayaba was idly reading the menu. "Try the prime rib. It's early in the day but it's really good."
"K-Kayaba.."
The man put down the menu. He clasped his hands together in a businesslike fashion.
"I found Yui. I've been looking for her for a long time. I am sorry, but I am afraid that she is in a bit of trouble..."
Kazuto continued to stare dumbfoundedly at the monster of SAO.
".. and only you and I can save her."
The man leaned in with a self-satisfied smile.
"So, do you want to help me?"
A/N:
* I am assuming for story purposes that Yui had first 'woken up' as a self-aware AI on March 30, 2024, and that she had told Kirito and Asuna about it later. (Yui did not actually meet Kirito and Asuna in the forest until seven months later [October 30, 2024].) This makes Yui one year old today (hence the single birthday candle) even though her body and emotional level are that of a five year old.
** Sachi had forgotten her experience in the First Heaven. (Mortals are not allowed to take that kind of privileged info back down with them to Level 1.)
*** Keita's real name is Sora Hayashi (I made it up).
A/N:
Yeah, I had forgotten about Yui. Shoot me. At the end of Chapter 18 I had left her either dead or missing. Given the title of this story (and the fact I had promised you a happy ending) I realized that I really needed to do something about that. This two chapter mini-arc should fix that, sorry!