Hel-LO everyone! Issy the otaku here and I have returned from the perilous journey of... Work. Yea, almost didn't want to type this since I was so sick of typing shit since I had a few essays to finish before August -_-
[It's your own fault for putting it off until now.] Oh, shut it you. Anyway, it's finally time for the flashbacks to end, and our hero Hairukio stops thinking back and gets on with playing SAO. He's wasted like
5 minutes thinking. What a waste. But hey now he's that much closer to 13:00! But unlike most people, he knows what's coming. I'm not going to spoil how, that may come up soon or in a few chapters. I'm just as anxious as whoever bothers to follow this story, except it is because I'm the one typing. [Oh, boohoo. Get over it.] ...You can be such an ass sometimes, Techhy [Searching for fucks to give... No fucks found] Exactly. BUT! I would like to thank all of you who read and/or favorited and/or followed and/or reviewed this story. I know SAO isn't the most popular fandom and I'm thinking of ideas for more stories. But do not fret; I'm keeping this one up. Anyways, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own SAO and never will. :( [Otherwise it would be a kick in the balls for the fandom] Yea...
{The True Artist}
Chapter Three: Back to the Present
As I hopped back into my car, A 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata for all you vehicle aficionados [I had to tell him to include that, too many people neglect the small details.] (And now you know where the first story's speech came from), I drove like a madman back to my house. I felt bad for the other 9,999 players I knew would log on soon. I knew what was coming for them. At the same time, I both wanted, and yet would have hated the circumstances, game, and myself if Asuna logged into the game with the others. I really did not want anyone to die. I did not want the pain and suffering. But what are the few lives… to the enjoyment of the many? And now, don't go thinking I'm sadistic or anything, those were HIS words… the words of Akihiko Kayaba himself. Yes, I knew the man. I thought I did at least. He was once a brilliant and great man, focused on improving studies of technology and the nervous system. His leaps went so far that he could use it to map out any person's system and brain, mainly used to search for and/ or repair any sort of damage caused. But then came Virtual Reality gaming. Sure, false, barely realistic versions have been going around, but those were mainly just googles or whatever that turned and moved with you. What he was able to do was… astounding to say the least. He made a machine that literally uses microwaves to redirect the passage and path of transmissions sent and received by neurons in order to not only make the player 100% in contact with the game, sight, smell, pain. But the game responded to them individually. He ditched his scientific research to devote everything to video games. Every time he accomplished something significant enough for the game in his eyes, whether it is progress, skills, NPCs, or even bug fixes, he came to me. I rarely ever died, which I think played a hand in his decision to use me to alpha-test everything. Every now and then I hear someone saying "Oh yea! I know such- and- such who was a beta tester for Sword Art Online. You know that amazing game that everyone has been talking about!" I would mainly just ignore them, seeing as how my accomplishment trumped theirs. I was no beta tester. I was the ALPHA tester. The original. But in some ways… I didn't like it. It was lonely in the Alpha. Nobody but NPCs and, on occasion when we wanted to see something for himself or test a new weapon/idea before sending it to me, Akihiko Kayaba himself. Or, as he liked to call himself, Heathcliff. The red knight.
In Sword Art Online, everyone is free. There are no true limits. Granted, there are repercussions, such as getting your account suspended, as I discovered when I attacked an NPC village. That day… was a bleak one. My sister had been put in a coma. I didn't know why, or how. All I know is one day, my mother came home crying. I only lived with her and my sister Yuzu, because my dad was a pedophile in secret. More about that later (like in the next few chapters. Remember this. It'll affect his feelings towards a certain character. If you're anything like me, you'll know who.) [Like you? A lonely writer? OHHHH! You mean- Wait a minute. I know who you're talking about. Shit. I'm not lonely! I swear!]. As I was saying, one day, about ten months ago, I was having myself a good time in the game. Akihiko himself joined me to "test out the capabilities of his newest weapons on some updated bosses," but I knew he kept those in reserve for when he wanted to enjoy himself. I mean, with being the creator of a video game, mindlessly typing code or fragmenting and compiling data charts and configuring player stat totals and analyzing this or that, would be endlessly boring, so I completely understood that all he really wanted to do was take a break from the typing and enjoying the fruits of his labor. As the old saying goes, "There's nothing more boring than watching someone else play a video game."
After we killed a few bosses, got some assorted loot that we sold, I had to log off for the day to get something to eat, since the food in Sword Art Online of satisfies your character's hunger, not your own. I 'woke' from the dive only to hear the sound of sobbing coming from downstairs. I quickly went down to the kitchen, only to find my mother sitting at the table, weeping and covering her face with a handkerchief. That day, I learned two things. One, that nothing is more important than family, because while I was distracted 'testing', the second thing happened. My sister, the one I had been protecting her whole life. My sister, who may be four years younger than me, but made up for it in her feistiness. That formerly inextinguishable fire… was put out. I visited her every day. After I went to the hospital for about an hour or two, I came home and prayed. I would rarely eat or sleep. I either was visiting, playing Sword Art Online, or trying to sleep without success, and lied awake. I could never bring myself to do anything. I just slogged through the day, not caring about anything. The beta test came by for Sword Art Online. I was excited, and forced myself to be just as happy outside the game as I was inside of it, but the thoughts still lingered. I never stopped visiting Yuzu, though. She was the person I was closest to. I would just sit at the chair beside her bed, bring her new flowers, and wait for her to wake up from her coma, and then everything would be okay. It never happened. As the months in the beta test passed, it started affecting my virtual life. Asuna noticed, but every time she asked me what was wrong, I merely told her that I had some 'family issues' going on. She knew I wasn't being completely honest, but she just moved off of it. I hated that I had to lie to her, but I didn't want anything in my life making anyone else's worse. I didn't want to be a bother, and at the same time, I didn't want to be bothered.
The full release of Sword Art online made everything better. Especially since, being Akihiko's Alpha, and generally his friend, (He is not in a yaoi relationship with Akihiko. I could never bring myself to write yaoi… it makes me sick reading it. No offense to anyone.) I was able to convince him to help me with my sister's condition. With a little tinkering of his, and me helping him adjust a spare NerveGear™, we were able to change the basic function, working in an almost-shutdown brain, to work on unconscious people. Specifically, my sister. I was finally going to be able to talk to her again… All the more incentive to continue with playing Sword Art Online, even though I fully knew the repercussions of playing it, especially within the first 10,000 players. I could only hope that all our theoretical testing would be compatible. I took the disks and the NerveGears from home, and floored it to the hospital. I immediately put them into a backpack, and took it to Yuzu's room.
"I'm sorry I need to do this, Yuzu. It's for us. I've missed you and now we can enjoy each other's company." [What is this now, an incest fanfic?] (No comment.) [A) this is going to be one, isn't it? Dear god… B) Saying no comment IS a comment…] (Also, don't say anything about the plot. I told you everything about it... almost. Now that you said all that, I may not add it in. Maybe. You'll have to read to find out!)
I slid one on her head, and made her as comfortable as I could before putting my own on. It was about 12:58. I closed my eyes, leaned back, and when it reached 13:00, I shouted, both for me and Yuzu, who was looking peaceful. It was just me but she looked like she was smiling.
I yelled loud enough for the birds on the windowsill to flap away,
"LINK START!" (This would have been a perfect place to cut off, but my work count is only at 1,700 so I am going to describe his experiences logging into Sword Art Online.)
Luckily for me, Akihiko had set a small delay so I and Yuzu could meet up before the horde of people appeared. He conveniently disguised it as a color tunnel, and so when I and Yuzu had logged in-Me and Akihiko had already made her a character- we immediately saw each other. She looked around with widened eyes, at herself and at her surroundings, and then looked at me. I talked about the game so much around her, that she recognized it. She immediately ran up to me, and threw her arms around me. I was so overjoyed to see her. It's been over a year since I've seen her awake. I embraced her tightly, and was so happy she was here with me. I let go, and the other players started to log in. I looked down at my younger sister, hoping the best. I then had the smile wiped off my face, as I remembered one thing about this game. I looked over at the other thousands of players with pity. I lowered my head, but brought it back up when Yuzu started talking.
"So, big brother. Where am I? What happened?"
"Yuzu… I don't know how to tell you this. We're in Sword Art Online, the game I was helping Akihiko Kayaba to create. The reason you don't know… well…"
"Well what Hairukio? Did something bad happen to you?"
"Yes… and no. It didn't happen to me, Yuzu. You... You're in a coma in real life."
"How silly! If so, how can I be here, talking to you?"
"This game uses nerve technology that uses you mind, not your body. I made an adapted version to be able to take you here. It took a while, but I was so eager to have you back that I couldn't wait."
"That explains why it feels like my mind has just been blank for so long… I wasn't dreaming or thinking... it was blank… But wait! Since I know I'm in a coma, can't I now get out of it? Like a dream?"
"Yuzu… It doesn't work like that. Even if it did, we can't get out of here. There's something… special about this game. You can't leave."
"W-what do you mean?!"
"It's impossible to 'log out' until the game is completed. I knew this right from the start… If you die in here, you die in real life. If someone takes off your NerveGear, you also die. I'm so sorry I brought you into this… I just wanted to see you again, and the doctors thought you'd never wake up, and so I thought we may as well and… something else."
"Rukio-kun, what is it?"
"If we beat the game, the NerveGear ™ will send out a euphoric signal that is used not only for feelings of pleasure and achievement upon waking up, but is capable of repairing mental damage occurred in game. It's highly likely that it can repair whatever it was that caused your coma."
"Oh Rukio-kun, I'm so happy! And we can be together in the game forever until it's beaten!"
"Uhm… What?" I replied as an anime sweat drop appeared on my face, causing several nearby players to look in confusion, and then return back to business.
She started blushing wildly, stammering as she attempted to clarify that she meant we should stick together to avoid dangerous situations. Unfortunately, the damage was done, and I now had a distinct memory of my sister accidentally professing love to me. Disturbing, yes. Completely unwelcome, I'd like to say so. But something in the back of my mind wasn't completely leaving it out. I ignored it, thinking it was just the joy of seeing her again, talking to me. I then said,
"Yuzu, I'm going out to look for someone in particular. I want you to stay beside me so nothing happens, okay?"
She nodded, still blushing a bit as I patted her long blonde hair. I chuckled as I saw her magenta eyes look up at me every once in a while, not believing it was me and not some dream that she wanted desperately to be real. With that, I held her hand –So she wouldn't get lost in the crowd, not because of… that. I'm not trying to come onto my sister [Not yet at least!] (Baka aro!) [Oh come on, don't use Japanese on me. Most readers won't know half of what you said. If they're as otaku as you, maybe.]- And searched everywhere for Asuna, only to get shoved by some ignoramus and fall right onto a... soft… cushion? Ohhhh no…. I looked up to see a pinkette furiously blushing, well more like all around furious.
I quickly backed up, and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry miss! I wasn't looking where I was going and tripped. My sincerest apologies for this… Uncouth action. Oh, my name is Hairukio by the way." I gave a small bow as my sister chuckled behind me.
"You'd better be sorry, pervert! And my name isn't 'miss', its Lisbeth! If you're going to embarrass me, get it right! But… You are kinda hot… and nice too…" She whispered that last part, but Yuzu glared at her and I chose to ignore it to not make her more embarrassed than she was.
I threw another apology over my shoulder as I hurried off with Yuzu, slightly blushing and looking for Asuna. Shame I didn't look back, or I would have noticed Pinkie- I mean Lisbeth- back there looking at me dreamily, and blushing while holding her hands to her chest, clasped above her heart.
"I will meet you again… Hairukio-san…" Lisbeth said to his fleeing figure.
Well that was certainly a… off- putting chapter. With all the talk of COMAS and DEATH and PEDOPHILIA [BY THE WAY ITS-] NO! MY STORY! OUT! [Techhy has been banned by server. Reason: DON'T SPOIL IT!] Now THERE'S something you'd understand. A Minecraft ban screen. Anyway, thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. It really means a lot to me. Even though he doesn't acknowledge it, or does anything, he still takes it as gratitude whenever someone follows this since he beta-reads and interjects in the story. I'm sure he'd like to thank you but, I kinda banned him a few minutes ago, so thanks for all your support! From both me and Techhy. Also: Next time, we're going to meet ANOTHER new character or two. And I mean, I guess I overdid the Lisbeth scene but I was like 'why the fuck not' and Techhy thought it was written well if not making the most sense character-wise. Then again, it's also an OOC story. Anyway, thanks especially to Techhy (For beta and reviewing) and MattyTF for reviewing.