"Kazuto? What's wrong sweetie? Is it the potion?"
Thrown and shaken by Sugou's threat to Marzanna, his mouth runs faster than his brain, "Is there anyway for magicals to know if someone's lying?"
Lily turns to him more fully as her eyes sharpen, "Yes, there are multiple methods, but if they aren't connected to the magical world, it can be difficult to get permission to use it on them. Why?"
The response yanks him right out of his descent into despair, and for a moment he just stares at Lily with wide eyes, then he stutters out at her, "Oh. I. I thought that stuff was just in fiction about magic…" Then he steps forward as he swipes his tongue across his upper lip quickly in a bout of nerves, "I. Listen. I was just visiting Asuna, and her dad was there. He brought some guy that works for the VR portion of his company."
He lets out a shuddering breath as he looks down and purses his lips, "He was acting like. Like a total creep to Asuna, and he said he didn't like the fact that me and Marzanna were close to Asuna, so he said I wasn't allowed to visit Asuna anymore. And then he pointed out that RCT's VR division, which he runs, is in charge of the players still unconscious, and said something about it being such a shame if Marzanna survived two years in SAO only for him to make a error out of distress over finding out I was still visiting Asuna that lead to Marzanna's NerveGear getting set off and killing her."
Lily sucks in a sharp breath and a crash and shattering of glass indicates that Kyrie had dropped the flower vase. A beat of silence rings out, and his brow furrows, "Look, I. I know that I'm just some teenage SAO survivor and he's some respected big shot in Asuna's father's company, but surely just checking-"
He's cut off by hands gently landing on his shoulders causing his gaze to snap up, only to find Lily looking at him with a reassuring, slightly pinched expression, "I wasn't quiet because I don't believe you sweetie, I was just trying to process it." Then she takes a deep breath, "Now, we Sparda's have quite a bit of pull, but while there are such things as truth potions and the like, one of the methods is Legilimancy, the art of reading someone's mind and looking through their memories."
She squeezes his shoulders, "I know Legilimency, and even with our pull, it would be significantly easier if I can tell them that I'm wanting them to open an investigation, not because I'm taking your word, but because I've viewed your memories and verified your claim already."
His eyes are huge, "You can do that?"
She nods, "Yes. It is, however, illegal to use it on someone without either their permission or just cause. So I'm asking you formally. Kazuto, do I have your permission to enter your mind? I promise you, that I won't actively go looking for anything else, although given that you aren't a practitioner of Occlumancy, the art of organizing and defending the mind, I can't guarantee you I won't see anything unrelated to the memory in question."
He blinks quickly in surprise, "Oh. Yeah, I understand, you can go into my mind." His eyes flick down, then return to her, "How does it work?"
She smiles faintly, "I just need you to maintain eye contact with me. Recall the memory as well, if it's at the forefront of your mind, it should be one of the first things I come across and mitigate the possibility of me seeing something else. So, just recall it as best you can and tell me when you're ready."
He nods briefly, and focuses as hard as he can, then mutters, "I'm ready."
She gives him one last squeeze to his shoulders and a reassuring smile before her eyes unfocus a bit, like she's looking into the middle distance. For a few beats he's left there just sort of. Awkwardly staring into Lily's eyes while he concentrates on what had happened a bit ago. It's long enough at least for him to realize that he can only tell her eyes are unfocused because of how close they are. From a distance she probably just looks a little lost in thought.
Suddenly, Lily shakes herself a little and her mouth turns down into a frown, "What an absolutely two faced creep." Then her smile raises back into a reassuring smile, "Don't worry sweetie, I got what I needed, and there was plenty for me to get them to look into things. They probably won't even need to question you or anything of the like either, given that we should absolutely be able to swing using truth potions or something even if he isn't a magical, which given that Asuna's dad was good friends with Sugou's father and was intending for him to marry Asuna, he likely is, or at least in the know."
She leads him over to one of the seats, "I'll take everything from here, you just visit Marzanna as you were meaning to while I go make a call."
He nods, a bit numb at the idea that it was just that easy. She gives him another smile before turning to leave as she pulls her phone out.
It's ten o'clock at night when his phone rings. As he picks it up, he frowns a little in confusion at Lily's number before answering it, "Lily?"
Then the divine voice that he's been yearning to hear over the past two and a half months washes over him, "Hey sleepyhead."
He sucks in a sharp breath as his other hand shoots up to clutch at his phone as well, "Marzanna. What- How."
She laughs, "Technically. It was your doing. Mom said you kicked it off by reporting Sugou threatening me. Me and everyone else hadn't woken yet because he took advantage of being in charge of the digital side and siphoned us over to the VR he'd made, which I've been told is called Alfheim Online, so he could experiment on the others to try and figure out non-magical mind control."
He sucks in another sharp breath, "He was experimenting on you?!"
She sighs, "Not me, no. He took me because he was working with… people my family wouldn't gotten onto his ass immediately about if they found out and I was meant to be a hostage to keep them off his back. Asuna was also left out of it, but that was because he's both got some creepy obsession with her, but wanted her out of the way so she couldn't object to them being married. Everyone else was taken for experimentation."
He clenches his teeth, "That. Doesn't surprise me really. He threatened me with you just because I was visiting Asuna. And he was creepy as all hell the entire time."
His other hand let's go of the phone to rub at his eyes tiredly, even as his voice turns desperate, "But you're ok?"
She huffs a laugh, "Depends on your definition of OK, given the atrophy and the fact that while I wasn't an experiment subject, he was sadistic enough that he was bombarding my brain with all sorts of negative shit." She sighs, "I'll be alright though."
He lets out a shaky breath, "Good. That's. That's good."
There's a beat of comfortable silence before he tentatively cracks a joke, unsure if this one would be welcome, "Though, going back to your greeting, given you were asleep for two and a half months longer than me, I'm pretty sure you're the sleepyhead at this point."
She barks a laugh, "Never! No one will ever dethrone your title of sleepyhead, so I suggest you get used to it."
He laughs, even as eyes turn to his clock even though he knows it's well past visiting hours and sighs, before murmuring dryly, "Tomorrow can't come soon enough."
Marzanna makes a questioning noise, "How come?"
He huffs a laugh, "It's way past visiting hours. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see you."
She hums, "Not necessarily. I might be able to swing you being allowed to visit for a little bit, but I doubt it'd be for very long. Depending on how far you live from the hospital, even if someone from my family was willing to pick you up, it might not be worth it."
He gives a watery smile, even though he knows she can't see it, "Even a second of your time, of getting to see you, has always been worth it."
She gives a bit of an embarrassed laugh, "I'll see what I can do then."
